#If you haven't seen that scene btw you should. I really love that series

[bonefall]

NGL: Stuff like Brambleclaw being a terrible namer is like. really fun but also kinda hits with the 'he;s not some meglomaniacl villain hes just a shitty guy'. like. you could see squirrelflight finding that really endearing. IDK if this is some mastermind shit, or if i'm just reading wayyyyy to into this, but i like how you give characters that are pretty bad dudes very humanising qualities. Especially when they're silly/cute. Kinda reminds you that like. theyre like. a person. well. cat but yknow. and they chose to do bad shit, with influence from their past, rather than being inherently terrible. 👍

YEAH MAN, that's what I'm SAYING

Abusers, ideologues, and other terrible people are not masterminds. They aren't born evil. They're not inherently smart OR stupid. They can love, they can be funny and polite, they do things they believe are justified and want to be good people. They don't think of themselves as villains.

Evil isn't complex. It's really, really not. I feel like that's the #1 cause of confusion when I get a question like, "Why does this person do this malicious act, when it's bad/inconsistent/mean?" The answer is always simple;

They wanted to control someone.

They wanted something and didn't mind who they hurt.

Spite and short-sightedness.

Look for anything deeper and you will not find it. Heroics are complex, being a good person is ongoing and changes over time. We're in a constant state of growing. Malice is childishly simple; it feels good to get what you want.

With Bramblestar especially... it always goes back to what I said here, when talking about the idea of an Evil!Bramble. He's a person, and you ruin everything that's so interesting about him by stripping away that nuance. Squilf and Bramble loved each other, truly, and legitimately. He can be charming. He can be nice. He still hurts her. Reconcile with this.

He is not wiser for what he went through, as a child. His pain doesn't make him better. Man's just a jerk... that's it.

#Sparkpelt deserves that scene from God The Devil and Bob #Where Bob finds out his dad isn't in Hell #And it INFURIATES him #If you haven't seen that scene btw you should. I really love that series #Especially if you're religious OR are like me where you aren't but are still fascinated by more human takes on biblical figures #Btw just... as a side note I am intrigued by how many of my followers are christian. It surprises me? I love you guys tho but like... #I really don't hold back in my critique of hierarchical religion #I'm glad that I am respectful enough to not alienate you guys though #I'm glad you're finding something meaningful too #I am an A-A-A-ATHEIST though with a hard ATH #I just never thought I would have so many religious people following along #OH BTW I hope all my Jewish followers are having a meaningful and somber Yom Kippur* #Bone babble #* = edited I'm an idiot

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: How To Train Your Dragon

Fucking FINALLY I can gush about this goddamn MASTERPIECE of a fucking movie, and the source of my newest obsession cause oh my god, ya'll oh my god this FRANCHISE is RUINING ME and it may not be why I decided to understake this entire Dreamworks watch to begin with (for better or worse, but worth it to get to watch through this trilogy again).

We focus on Hiccup, a young viking who's out of place among the other dragon-killing vikings on Berk, especially his stern father, Stoick. During a dragon raid one night, Hiccup accidentally shoots down a Night Fury, said to be one of the most dangerous dragons of all. Slowly but surely, however, Hiccup secretly befriends this dragon, which he names Toothless, while in the midst of dragon hunting training alongside Berk's other young vikings, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut.

So this story is so damn good, so fucking good, its so simple, so rooted in the emotions of it all, of Hiccup being torn between wanting to live up to his father's expectations while also growing closer with Toothless and coming to sympathize with dragons in general. As a result, we get some of the strongest emotional highs and lows in really any Dreamworks movie, and it all works so well and flows so beautifully. In fact, this story doesn't even need an antagonist like its two sequels do (i mean it kind of has one in the Red Death, but its more an obstacle to be taken out above all else), it's source of conflict really is what I just described above and it's so well-crafted on every level.

Hell, everything about this movie is. The characters are all phenomenal, it's not wonder this spawned two sequels and several shows (you should watch Riders/Defenders of Berk and Race to the Edge btw, they're great). Hiccup is one of Dreamworks' best leads by far, a genuis little ball of sass who is just as loyal as he is stubborn. The other teens don't get a ton of focus here, but Astrid does, and she's great, starting out as our usual Dreamworks tough gal before eventually softening up to Hiccup heading into the third act. Also, can I just talk about Stoick for a sec? They could have done this man so dirty, could have made him the usual angry father who doesn't understand or care about his son, but he isn't. He cares so damn much about Hiccup, and it shows, even if he claims to be embarassed by him, even if he seems like he wants him to change, he still loves his son to hell and back (which makes what happens in the second movie so much more tragic, but we'll get to that). And then of course, there's Toothless, who is just... absolute Baby. I love how catlike he is, and how, much like Hiccup, he's also kind of a sassy little shit in his own special way.

The animation, golly, its so pretty, The flying scenes are this franchise's bread and butter and they are just a delight to watch. The character designs are some of Dreamworks' best, especially on the Dragons. They all look so unque and have their own little quirks that make them all special. Toothless especially is animated so well. They give him these cat-like mannerisms that bring so much charm to a character that doesn't speak a single word. It's fantastic.

You know what else is fantastic about this movie? THE MUSIC OH MY GOD. This may just be the single greatest score in ANY Dreamworks movie. It's GOD TIER GOOD. The entire franchise has amazing music, but most of the themes that repeat throughout the next two movies started here and they're all so beautiful. Seriously, give this score a listen if you haven't, its just... amazing.

The whole movie is amazing! I honest to god love everything about it so much. It's such a strong start to what I think is Dreamworks' greatest franchise, to a world and characters that I am literally obsessed with now send help, and to a series that I'm so very excited to be revisiting for this watch through. Please, if you've never seen How to Train Your Dragon, do yourself a favor and watch it now. You will not be sorry.

Overall Rating: 10/10

Verdict: (gestures vaguely at Hiccup) LOOK AT MY SON

Previous Review (Monsters Vs. Aliens)

Next Review (Shrek Forever After)

#jen watches #how to drain your dragon #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks animated movie ever #dreamworks watch #dreamworks

[thermodynamic-comedian]

just re-watched asoue netflix finale episode.

you guys don't even want to read this, i am about to be so weird about this series.

ouugghhhh the. them finally driving in the fact that neither side of the schism is free of sin <2 hehe, sudden new perspective that changes the moral and ethical implications of everything that's happened in the series before *twirls hair and kicks feet* <222

olaf just being casually objectified. good. as he should. im happy. im happy he got put in that cage too btw. he is sooo pathetic and unwell and dramatic in this episode btw. if u even care.

klaus has grown up so much holy fuck. looking back at the first episodes and comparing him in them to him in this??? even his voice is so different oh my god. the boy really grew up. damn.

honestly i don't blame violet for wanting to stay on the island at first. she's been through so much, she's had to actively protect her siblings for so long, i don't blame her for being drawn to what seems like a happier, safer place.

i wish we would've seen sunny all grown up and stuff. see her be like an older sister to bea ii. might have to make a teenager/young adult sunny design. i think she'd be a culinary arts major. i also like to think later on in life she reached out to fernald and they're still friends and occasionally meet up and play card games whenever fernald's not at sea with his family :)

"you hurt people." "and people hurt me." actually losing my mind rn. that wasn't an accusation, and that wasn't an apology. that wasn't a judgement, and that wasn't an excuse. it's just two statements, both equally true. and they're both acknowledging things that they clearly haven't shared with each other before: kit's acknowledging how her feelings for olaf are in conflict with her morals, and olaf's acknowledging that his actions directly mirror the way he's been treated, specifically because he was unable to break that cycle. kit's admitting that she is not fine with what olaf's done to other people, and olaf's admitting that he's not fine with what's been done to him. it's not an emotional scene because they're in love; it's an emotional scene because of the lives they've lived.

hey do you guys think lemony ever tried to explain the complicated and could've-been-solved-with-polyamory mess that is sugar bowl gen's romantic subplots to bea ii. like was lemony ever just like "oh btw, i was in love with the woman you were named after, but she married this other guy. and they were the parents of the people that raised you. and also your mother used to date a criminal, who also used to date another criminal....and also my brother at some point probably. oh and my brother was also in love with this one librarian, and another one of our friends probably. oh and that other criminal? she also had a husband, who is now dating just some guy named charles i guess," and bea ii is just sitting there sipping root beer thinking "what the fuck man. i ain't never joining vfd this shit is wild."

#i am soooo.....unhinged abt this episode in case u couldnt tell #btw yes i just casually implied olaf x jacques and jacques x larry. its my post i get to choose the canon- #asoue #a series of unfortunate events #asoue netflix #asoue the end #asoue season 3 #fritz rambles too much #sugar bowl gen #lemony snicket #count olaf #the baudelaire children #yea nope #not gonna tag every single character lol

[atherix0]

hii o/ i came here to gush about your new mumscarian series because i just read iit and ??? it's AMAZING

first of all, you're insane (affectionate) for writing another long ass work right after the previous one, like it's actually so impressive. i love your writing so much btw i think it deserves all the praise in the world<3

the wordbuilding is so fucking good, i'm a sucker for all fantasy aus and i LOVE when the authors expand on their world and add their own little things to it like yes girl give me all the fantasy lore of your silly little world. it's just so interesting to read and i want to know more about it :D

ALSO THE CHARACTERIZATION OF SCAR…. i'm obsessed with him. i need to put your scar in a little box and study him. he's such a cool character, the fact that he pushes people away on purpose makes me sad, my boy deserves so much love but he doesn't think he does:( and i love the fact that grian just decided to befriend him as a challenge, he really saw a wild and deranged sorcerer and started domesticizing him. scar deserves a little kindness, as a treat. and their little conversations through the glyph made me so happy. also scar talking about how the glyphs work made me think that one day something will happen that will make scar dismiss his glyph and grian will think that he died or something

mumbo and grian's relationship is sooo cute, i love them a lot. grian just decided to befriend all the wild and lonely creatures out there, as he should. i'm also really curious about scar's relationship with mumbo, it's obvious that scar actually cares about mumbo but for some reason doesn't want or thinks he should have his feelings reciprocated…. i wonder what backstory do they have bc surely theres a lot to unpack throughout the seven years of knowijg each other

okay sorry for the longish ask but i had to talk about them bc brainrot<3 i love your works and i'm looking forward to seeing more of this series :D

AAAAA thank you so much <3 I'm really enjoying writing it, it's living in my head rent free right now <3 (also it's 3 AM here and I was just writing more scenes so uhh hahaa <3)

HHH thank you so much, that means the world to me <3 Long works are so fun to write, it lets me explore everything I want to explore and gives me time to tie up loose ends <3 I will admit I had not expected this one to be so long bUT I am happy to be making it even longer because there is... a LOT of ground to cover <3

Worldbuilding is one of the most fun things to write IMHO, I love it so much <3 I try to be subtle with it so as to not like infodump about the world I'm weaving but ya know <3 Sometimes I just gotta talk about it jhgfdjkfd

THIS VERSION OF SCAR HAS TAKEN OVER MY LIFE. I'mma call him Midnight!Scar since all the parts so far are named Midnight [word], but I started writing this and he absolutely took over. He's a feral thing and you haven't even seen half of how feral he can be <3 After all, you haven't even seen him in action yet... hehe~ There are things I'm quietly hinting about Scar that Grian isn't able to just see like he can pick up on Scar's manipulation, so I hope that turns out to be exciting <3 But Scar's reasons are... complicated at best and won't be fully explored immediately, but more like... lightly uncovered throughout the story, because his story has layers on top of layers. Also Scar Angst is my life fuel and I shall, in fact, delight in him suffering before he gets that happy ending. And oh yes- the glyph's being explained is, in fact... foreshadowing. Foreshadowing to what, I won't say, buuuuuut.... :) And also yes, Grian would absolutely befriend the guy who just blatantly wants him to hate him, just like "oh he's a little messed up, friend now" hhh

Gods yes they're so sweet together, like for Grian he saw Mumbo and it's Instant Crush and Mumbo is like Interest Piqued and they're so soft I love them <3 Grian is ultimately a gremlin tho so once they're established and comfy he's gonna be an absolute menace ahaha

YEAH SO ABOUT MUMBO AND SCAR'S BACKGROUND, that is exactly why I've chosen to post the story the way I'm doing it- because Third Person Limited (my favourite perspective to write from tbh) from Grian's POV means we lose every single private conversation between them, and my GOD I absolutely need to explore that deep dive because it is so important for them to Talk About It because Grian actually isn't there for a lot of it (because it's Scar and Mumbo's personal past together, so) and in the original doc, which is 100% from Grian's POV, there is a huge jump from them being hostile to being friends and it's jarring, so yeah........ buuuut I will give a little spoiler in that Scar knows a lot more about Mumbo than Mumbo knows he does, which might play a bit into why Scar cares so much. Also I want to explore/focus on them more than the way I originally wrote the story allowed since the Mumbo/Scar part of the Mumscarian is the slowburn so uhh yeah I feel like giving them the attention they deserve is super important <3

(also it's nice to post it as a series rather than a chaptered fic cuz this means I can go back and write scenes and order them chronologically on the list <3)

NO APOLOGIES THANK YOU SO MUCH this made my night honestly <3 Thank you so much! I'll be posting another part soon~ I hope my response actually makes sense because it's 3 AM and I was so happy to get this that I had to answer ASAP, thank you for sending this in! <3

#Ask #Mumscarian #I don't have a proper name for this AU?? #aaa

[gwyns]

Going through your archive I saw a post you made a while back about the book disenchanted by brianna sugalski and I just really want to know if you've read the rewritten version of book 1 and if so, what did you think of it?? I read her debut arc when it first came out but I saw some negative reviews of the rewrites she did and was wondering what your take on it was. I loved the first book, it was super fun. Should I bother to keep reading the series?

Note: Sorry for spaming your notifications btw 💞🫂

XOXO

hiii !!! no need to apologize at all <3

ok so i'm kinda the resident disenchanted stan around here so i'm very biased when it comes to this book and series lol. i personally love both versions for different reasons. the ya edition is pretty nostalgic for me at this point since i read it around the time it first came out in 2020 and it's my most read book to date. the rewrite, however, follows many of the same beats as the original version but i felt it fleshed things out just a biiiit more, character and lore wise and if anyone knows me they know i loooove lore. the world feels richer to me like it has more depth. i wish i could ramble on more but if i'm being honest, it's been a hot second since i've read this book and i'd need a refresher to try and attempt something that could be considered a review

something important to note is that, if i remember correctly, disenchanted started as a series of poems that was then turned into a book, then it was turned into a series, hence why we had that scene with garin and the duchess at the end of it. brianna said she wanted to make it clear there was more to the story that was originally a standalone. she started writing the sequel i think a little after her debut's release and struggled with it for a long time, trying to make things work before she made the decision to rewrite the first book. so i understand people can have some frustrations with a rewrite but brianna said it was important for the series going forward and i fully believe it was for the best

overall, in my completely biased opinion, i'd say it's definitely worth it to continue the series. i'd also recommend reading the rewrite if you haven't, it's kinda like visiting an old friend you haven't seen in awhile. like you know them but they've also grown a bit, they're more sure of themselves and it's a refreshing change

#disenchanted #a lay of ruinous reign #brianna sugalski #asks #is-a-bele

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Hey i really love your blog!!! I just plucked the courage to actually send u an ask fhdjhd but GOSH i love your video edits and your gifs and your meta article posts, you're so articulate and you can explain/describe moments in a way that makes me go "oh wow, i cant believe i haven't seen it that way before!!" Haha ANYWAYS i'm just here to say that i completely agree with what all u said, Free creators might do a lil fanservice here and there for the 25 ships that exists within the fandom's circle, but rinharu's storyline is clearly the most romantic one! And i'd argue it's the one closest to being canon esp after part 1, i mean the fact that they put such an explosive emotional outburst right at the end of the second to the last movie means a lot. It's like reinforcing the fact that this series has always been about them, and everything that has happened only happened either because they met or they grew appart and miss eachother. I kinda feel like maybe.. juust maayyybe there's a chance KA wants to make the ship canon, since it's the last movie and they want to end it on a highnote maybe (bcs honestly i think the only reason they've been holding back is purely bcs of the merch sales, since they don't have a problem showing a wholesome lesbian love story in kobayashi maid dragon) butt i could be wrong, maybe i'm just overly optimistic and delusional, they could somehow ruin it and give an ending that panders to all the ships again 😅🥲, but at least there's a clear-cut guarantee that part 2 would dedicate a large portion of it fixing rin and haru's fight!!! Oohh how can i wait another 6 months now!!😭😭 (sorry for the long ask btw!! 🙏🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️)

OMG thank you so so much!! For watching my vids too! ❤️❤️❤️ It really means a lot to me! Ahhhh wow, thats the longest ask I've ever recieved! 😍 I'm trying to explain myself so hard lol I'm glad its appreciated, bc sometimes I'm like "I don't fucking know how to say this" xD

Well, you know me, I only care for one ship, which is the only one with confirmed info that they're both actually gay and have mutual feelings for each other. There are some other ships in free! I'm fine with (those do not include Rin or Haru in them xD), but I just mostly don't care, bc after reading all the stuff, you can see that in some of those to one the other one is actually like his second option, which I just do not like. Others I just don't even see, bc again to me who witnessed great close male friendships and having two sisters who I'm very close to, I just do not see anything romantic in that.

It's not just Free! tbh, it's like any sports anime these days. They see two guys walking together, it's a ship. And like no one cares if they're just bros. Like I'd get i they did some fanservice fanservice, but like I never saw anyone in Free! crossing the line the way rinharu do. I can without thinking much name you 10 rh moments that no matter how hard you think can't be explain as being bros, but can't name one when it comes to others. I just find some ppl shipping everyone with everyone weird sometimes. It's like western fans see like some eastern actors or singers slap each other ass lovingly and they're like "oh they're fucking" I'm like "yeah, ofc all 500 of them, you're absolutely right". And Free! doesn't do anything even like that, I just do not get sometimes like what moment even brought on some ships. I'm genuinely confused. Albert and Haru? You fucking fell from a sakura tree or smth? I'm...

I'm especially confused when it comes to guys, whose character type is who I call "I only want this one and if I can't have it, then I'm ok" xD. It just always surprised me, when they try to pair up them with someone else, it's like a complete ooc.

I'm also not into this whole "well, if there are gays in this anime, than everyone there is gay". I'm like... huh. It's like with KNB and MDZS I had same feeling. It's like you have already couples there who are canon/borderline canon, why do you need another 10 who don't even interact or just don't even go there? I'm always so confused in those situations. Or like wangxian is married and some are like "no, I actually don't like it, let me write a fic when they're with other ppl". Lan Zhan... being in love or having sex with someone else? Yeah, that's not Lan Zhan, dude, you're writing about someone else. Might as well change the name at this point.

But last time I went to twitter someone had a thread about how if they make s4 of Free! they should mainly explore there Momo's angst (and no, it wasn't a joke), so I'm already like, I'm just.. nothing will surprise me no more. But I'm forever gonna be confused.

Yeah, I eel you about "going there". I mean seeing part of it, it just kinda cemented my confusion, bc I do not get how it can be considered platonic. We were just discussing since yesterday with @freeseafirefly how I now even more perplexed and do not understand how they will resolve it without going into relationship territory. It's just our point here is that like... no one forced them to go there (I mean its not like this whole fandom has some wild expectations or anything already), we were waiting or our usual friendship and swimming and maybe tiny conflict about struggles of pro-careers and some usual rh implications (maybe all the rh gay in dramas as always). Not some pure fanfiction coming to life here haha.

Like why I'm laughing is bc I twice used in my "fics" bringing up him leaving Haru as a force to push the confession, bc there's no way if he adresses this it won't lead to this. And now we not only have this (bc Haru just basically layed it out there), but an actual scene of him playing on their feelings for each other and a literal image of Rin leaving and "taking Haru's heart with him" to the point when he's for the first time in his life openly crying on the ground. And it's not like this scene can be interpreted as anything else, the whole fandom talks same, bc the whole fight was just about them, what Haru said was just about them, there's a literal boom of his heart getting out of his chest, before he falls and now he's heartless.

So our question is like... why go there?

It's like some say that they might still resolve it with "they're special to each other" and swimming, but still like we already knew that, there was no reason to go that far is what I'm saying. And to think that it was planned since forever giving the clues is like... ???

The whole spoon theme also throw me on the loop because like, lets be honest, it's wedding themed. And that part of the interview about part 2 there also made me go...?????? Because I mean, huh?

This is just all in all very interesting turn of events to say the least. I do not see the point of all of this if its not what I think it is, esp after seeing tweets like "even I see a rh wedding and I'm mh T_T". It's just all very unsubtle, that's why we're confused.

Like who knows, maybe we'll really by some magic turn of events get lucky and they really decided that since its the ending, it's okay to go for it. But I also don't wanna to hype myself much, I'm already really happy with it, just bc again, this scene already proves all of my points.

And yeah, I'm sure they'll pander to everyone, bc it's the end and etc and we have to handle everything on the good note and there's a whole line of ppl who's obsessed with us, esp with Haru xD, but like bromance pandering and romance pandering are different things, you know *wiggles eyebrows* and u know who always gets the second one.

#answered #a-girl-with-a-ponytail #rinharu #harurin #free! the final stroke #free! #free #rin matsuoka #haruka nanase

[lannisterdaddyissues]

since you reblogged a second ask meme, answer for matthew, bates, and tom pls?

DSHGUAFKJDGKDSF THANK YOU ANON ILYSM YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY MAKING MY NIGHT AND I OWE YOU MY LIFE <33333

Matthew:

Sexuality Headcanon: matthew is and always will be bi to me, i physically cannot imagine him being any other way <3 however, he is very closeted and very confused about it bc wtf men don't kiss other men?!?! (hc taken pretty much straight from this fic btw which is probably the greatest fic i've read for any fandom ever)

Gender Headcanon: just cis! i don't really explore gender hcs with characters that much bc i haven't experienced anything like that myself

A ship I have with said character: mary/matthew 2kforever <3 they really are the otp to end all otps and true love didn't exist before they invented it actually

A BROTP I have with said character: tom/matthew!!! their bromance was Everything to me!!!!!

A NOTP I have with said character: thomas/matthew bitch wtf is that i'm going to kill you

A random headcanon: he is a good little church boy who doesn't drink :) this is partly bc he likes to remain in full control of his mental faculties, but he also is reluctant to admit that he just dislikes the taste of alcohol lol. additionally, he is an ace at trivia! he knows so many miscellaneous facts about obscure things from reading books and takes great pride in impressing mary with the breadth of his knowledge whenever an opportunity presents itself

General Opinion over said character: he is my precious cherub and i would protect him with my life ❤️

Bates:

Sexuality Headcanon: my dude, my man, my guy...have you seen his private scenes with robert. he is so bi you can't even question it. he definitely experimented more than once while off at war when there weren't any women around and he has absolutely no qualms about checking out other men whether they're paying attention or not because they normally misinterpret it as his 'ascertaining how best to kill you' look

Gender Headcanon: this is a middle-aged man i cannot believe i have to say this but he is cis

A ship I have with said character: banna of course!! i get that a lot of people on here don't like them or find them problematic but aside from mary/matthew, bates and anna were the reason my mom and i watched downton in the first place

A BROTP I have with said character: oh definitely robert. i want all the war stories of those two, they have so much history and it's ripe for the picking

A NOTP I have with said character: defund his wife

A random headcanon: he always knows exactly what the weather is going to be like on a given day. when asked how he knows, all he says is "i just do" but it's really because his knee starts acting up whenever it rains

General Opinion over said character: he is my emotional support war criminal and i think he should get away with murder actually

Tom:

Sexuality Headcanon: also bi! he has definitely kissed another man at least once just to be sure and is comfortable checking out other men but only when they're not looking

Gender Headcanon: cis male again i'm sorry i'm boring

A ship I have with said character: i liked tom/sybil but i wouldn't say it's an otp. tbh i would probably ship him with matthew if i didn't love matthew with mary so much. i also secretly love brary, their friendship after losing the loves of their lives was just so touching and i couldn’t help reading into it a bit in some scenes in the later seasons 😭

A BROTP I have with said character: again, is there any answer except the tom/matthew bromance?? they were so special

A NOTP I have with said character: i hated edna and sarah bunting so much like can we give tom a new love interest who doesn't make me sick

A random headcanon: he's really good at card tricks! mary will think on a trick for hours after he's shown it to her but she can't figure any of them out for the life of her

General Opinion over said character: hmmm honestly it fluctuates. he had some very frustrating moments in the series where i was like wtf but i liked him from the get-go and i liked him overall throughout the series! i really enjoyed his developing relationships with the upstairs family and i was thrilled when he came back from america

#ask #reply #anon ask #ask meme #downton abbey #matthew crawley #john bates #tom branson

[cuntinaclownsuit]

i was thrilled to see your post about the new TMWFTE because it is indeed hard to find other people who have read the book or even know about it since it's not that popular. i mean it can't be exactly unpopular if there's several film adaptions of it but it's not like harry potter books that you can find from basically any bookstore in almost every country. i live in finland and i had to do some serious work to get my hands on a copy.

when i first watched the 1976 movie i didn't know about the novel and i was just very confused but also intrigued. when i found out that the movie was "based" (i put that in quotations because apparently nicolas roeg wasn't even going for a movie adaption of the novel but rather took inspiration from it and did his own thing) on a novel i was basically obsessed with finding a copy and reading it. now it's been a few years since i last read the book so i can't remember all the details but i do remember absolutely loving it and i should read it again to refresh my memory.

in a way i do understand filmmaker's need to put their own spin on things but i don't understand why they can't do so within the existing plot and characters. like write your own damn story if you're not going to even loosely follow the plot of the source material.

and YES it is so frustrating to watch the 1976 movie because bowie is absolutely perfect for the role! i don't mind the movie in itself because it's a weird 70's flick which is right up my alley but after reading the novel and knowing what it could have been it gets a lot harder to accept nicolas roeg's creative decisions. the cookie scene IS hilarious tho. 😂 i actually really like the aesthetics of the movie but i might be a bit biased because i love 70's style so much. i totally agree with you about the anthean costume design. i think it looks cool and surprisingly modern even by today's standards.

holy shit this is getting so long i'm sorry. 😅 just one more "quick" question: if someone gave you a bunch of money and told you to make a new TMWFTE movie what would you do? like who would you cast and what kind of music and locations would you use etc.?

btw after a very quick google search it seems that the 80's version is a tv movie and not series. sorry my bad!

Okay I have way too much to say so I'll put it under a cut

I remember when I was searching for the book I wasn't even able to find one until they just happened to re-release it in 2017 and I got lucky. I did this weird thing where the first time I read half the book, watched the movie, and then finished reading it, so I think if I had just watched the film first I would probably hate it less, but who knows. Last month I reread the novel so it's still pretty fresh in my head - the movie I haven't seen for years though.

I didn't know that Nic Roeg's intention was just to make an "adaptation", so that does explain a lot, but idk I just think that's annoying. I think the movie is inaccurate enough that they could have just written any story without attaching the novel's name to it but whatever. The problem is that the changes they made just make no sense and I'm going to rant about why.

The main plot in the novel is that Newton comes to Earth to build a spacecraft that will travel to Anthea and bring the rest of his people back. They destroyed their planet, wiped out two other species (which is never even touched on at all even though I thought it was one of the most interesting parts of the book), only about three hundred Antheans are left so there’s really no saving it anyway. Then, the plan was for the Antheans to live amongst the humans and attempt to help them with their superior technology and intellect in the foreseeable nuclear war. In the movie they change it to Newton building a spacecraft to take water back to Anthea which never made any sense to me. Because like… eventually the water would run out again right? What’s their future plan, to just keep siphoning water from Earth until neither planets have any left? Doesn’t sound like a good plan from what’s supposed to be an extremely intellectual species. It just makes no sense to change it.

And I don't think the characters are interesting/like-able enough for you to get really attached to them. Apart from Newton, we know practically nothing about any of the other characters. All we know about Bryce is that he’s divorced (in the novel he was a widower) and has a daughter and that he’s a fucking creep. All we know about Mary Lou is that she used to ride on trains as a kid and that she has no problems with fucking a married man. Mary Lou is just annoying. Not a single thing her character does improves the story or makes me want to watch it. She’s whiny, all she cares about is herself and drinking, she throws fits for no reason. She’s a mess, there is just nothing enjoyable about her at all. And why change her name? I don't understand the point of that. The only reason she’s there is for the romance plot-line - which, again, adds nothing and wasn’t in the book at all. Betty Jo in the novel was Newton’s housekeeper and friend, there’s no reason to add her as a love interest WHEN HE HAS A WIFE AT HOME HOLY SHIT. Betty-Jo takes interest in Newton, but it’s evident he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care so she doesn’t try to pursue it any further. The romance and sex scenes were just pointless fan service - an excuse to see David Bowie’s dick and that’s it. (Also how does Newton even have human sex in the first place when his genitals are artificial? I never got that either).

When it comes to Bowie's acting, he doesn’t pull off the wry, almost witty side of Newton at all. In the book Newton could have an attitude. He talked back to the doctors experimenting on him. He could keep up in a conversation. The only part of Newton Bowie really plays into is the mysterious, other-worldly aspects of him, but of course he pulls that off well because that’s just how David Bowie is whether he’s playing a character or not. I need more from his acting, more from the character, otherwise he doesn't give me much reason to sympathize with him at the end of the movie. I'm more sorry for the rest of his people than what happened to him.

Nathan Bryce is almost as unlikable as Mary-Lou, which doesn’t make any of his scenes enjoyable to watch either. And he betrays Newton too?? What was the point of that? His interest in the novel was in figuring out what Newton was up to, whether his suspicions on him being an alien or not were true, and making sure Newton wasn't planning on taking over Earth. He’s a great character in the book, pretty much the only other friend to Newton besides Betty Jo, and the movie just ruins it completely. Like, almost all of the characters are intolerable, so it doesn't make the movie enjoyable at all. I think if the script had actually been written well and the characters flushed out a little more beyond like one whole personality trait a piece (if that) then all of the actors probably would have done a significantly better job.

In the tags of my last post @silver-fawnx added this and I wanted to touch on that while I'm at it because it can serve as a good conclusion to my ranting lmao.

As to why people love this movie so much I genuinely think if it didn’t have David Bowie, this movie wouldn’t be that memorable at all nor would it have become a cult classic. Because, really, what about this movie stands out beyond David Bowie? It’s certainly not what Rip Torn or Candy Clark are most remembered for. It’s not like it had a mind-blowing soundtrack or revolutionary cinematography or anything. It’s a bizarre, poorly-written seventies sci-fi that happens to star David Bowie and that’s about it. If anyone else played Newton it wouldn't have been nearly as iconic. Or I could be being way too harsh and completely wrong, I don't know, it's just my thoughts on it.

Now I'll answer your question sorry I kind of went off there. If I were to make my own version of TMWFTE, I think I'd probably have most of the filming be done in Kentucky for the authenticity. For the scenes in Anthea I'd choose some cold, barren area like the arctic deserts in Greenland. I'd get Brian Eno to do some weird ambient music for the score.

Casting is hard though, because all the people I'd want to cast are way out of age range. I had a hard time deciding this and I'm still not 100% sold on my choices but: For Betty Jo, if I were making it thirty years ago I'd go with Kathy Bates, but she's too old now, so instead maybe Melissa McCarthy. For Bryce I'd go with Jude Law. For Newton I'd pick Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (who I honestly never heard of before today but he looks like he fits the physical description really well). For Farnsworth... idk Danny DeVito maybe.

I'd focus way more on the Antheans and their culture. Like how they function (the novel talks about how Newton's digestive system works, how he can only eat certain things, how he can handle cold temperatures because Anthea is farther from the sun, how the difference in gravity ways him down, I just think things like that would be interesting to focus on). I'd have far more of it take place on Anthea, like maybe we could see more of the aliens beyond Newton and his family, explore a little on the past wars that they had in the, or on Newton preparing for his journey to Earth. Like stuff about how the Anthean society used to work compared to what is barely left of it by the time the story starts; I think that would be cool. Also, I'd show more of Newton’s patents/inventions and how they work. And, finally, I would absolutely make sure the scene where Newton dips his fake fingernails in some water solution and then claps them off is in the movie. Idk I just always thought that part was so interesting.

Thank you for (once again) letting me rant about all this, I needed it 😂

#the man who fell to earth #david bowie #this was way too long I'm sorry I just couldn't stop once I started #this took like two hours to write jslkdflsk

[juletheghoul]

Hi Jules! 👋🏻 Sooo I just read the work of art that is Oblivius (not sure why I haven't read it this whole time, btw I assume it's meant to be spelled as 'Oblivius'?) and my jaw is on the floor. Oh my looorrddd I'm again reminded that the way you write is simply amazing. It makes me wonder if you would ever consider writing a Scenes From A Marriage fic? Because the way you flesh out emotions and make things feel so visceral is just.. I dunno, I think SFAM is right up that angsty alley and I think your writing style would definitely nail the complex, layered, they're-both-guilty thing going on in SFAM. Especially episode 2, have you seen it? OMG IF YOU HAVEN'T THEN YOU SHOULD IT'S SO GOOD!

I don't remember the last time I lost track of a whole hour watching a TV series since the early days of GoT and perhaps Handmaid's Tale, but those shows have so much going on that it really wasn't surprising that an hour passes by in a jiffy. I mean one literally had dragons and direwolves, and the other practically had shock factor as the main premise of the show lol. But SFAM is just two people talking. That's it. And yet..

Okay sorry for the ramble, I'm just so impressed that something so simple can be so gripping and then add reading Oblivius to the mix.. Boom. Shameless rambling lol! Anyways, I hope you're having a great day!

-🐼-

Good morning 🐼!!!

Oh my love🥺-

thank you so much, (yes it’s meant to be spelled oblivius after a strokes song!)

I can’t even explain how lovely this message is - I’ve been staring at it for a while just smiling like a dope. Truly - thank you.

Now- SFAM- I haven’t seen it yet, because I am horrible and impatient I sort of want to wait until it’s fully out and then I can binge lol. I cannot wait!

I want to start branching out a bit, write more about other characters - hopefully I’ll think of something within that world.

I hope you have a lovely day babe! 🥰💖

#julesanswers

[the-princess-with-pancakes]

A few words about Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey

I know right? they changed the title after almost a week of screening. What a plot twist.

I was pretty hyped about this movie. No mather the trailers, they were just fine, but the cast and what I was hearing about this, made me very excited. After changing the head of DCEU (or The Worlds of DC (what a weird name)) every movie coming out with the DC logo was remarkably good. Aquaman (2018) was a lot of entertainment, Shazam (2019) was fun, Joker (2019) was great and emotional at times, it didn't win two Oscars for nothing (but I'm still #teamdriver). So what about Birds of Prey: And the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)? (I like the old title better)

Now we get to the good stuff, so watch out for *SPOILERS*.

The characters, especially the main one, are the best thing about this movie, so we are gonna start with the One and Only Harley Quinn. This is one of the greatest character redemptions in the last few years. She was an awful character Suicide Squad (2016), her only two roles were to look sexy and try to be crazy. That's no way to treat such a wonderful antiheroine. But this movie changed it completely. She finally got some depth. She finally doesn't like she's from a teenager's dream and she finally is funny. About her depth, they added Harley a good between movies' midstory. Which is good, but not great, because I still want to see, how the Joker sents Harley to space, she would be saved of course, but it would be entertaining. No one said this can't be done in future movies tho... Coming back, the few scenes, where she tells Black Canary drunk, that the Joker broke with her, or when she destroys the Laboratory, or when she watches TV with the kid, it shows, that she's human, not just a 1-dimensional disappointment. And combined with Margot Robbie's acting talent and her love for the character, she plays, it makes the movie great of itself. But she's not the only great thing in this picture and that's the best part. Seriously, I can't talk about her enough, so just one more thing, the costumes, wow, wonderful. More of that, please.

She's not alone tho! Not in the third act at least. I mean the Birds of Prey. Because they fight with her. You know. I'm pretty satisfied, how they have written these characters. Although they have a lesser role, then the original (better) title would say, but, that's not really a problem. Black Canary (my Injustice 2 main BTW) is great. I haven't seen that character anywhere else then Injustice 2 and Young Justice (2010-), so I can't say much about it, but I heard she's different here. I don't care tho, she's great, a very well written, after Harley, probably the best-written character here and the second with most screen time. She's badass but also warmhearted. It took me a bit, to get used to the design, but the actress does such a wonderful job, I can't be less mad about it. Montoya isn't the best, but she's still fun. Who cares about the age, when the actress plays as well as she can and does a great job? She's based on detectives from 80's cop shows, so not much to say about here. She's just good. The Huntress, I haven't seen such a badass character made fun off so much, without hurting her image. Such great work from the writers' side. Just explicit.

The humor is the third-best part of this movie. We'll talk about the second-best in a second. The jokes mostly got me. I'm not a big fan of in-your-face humor, I like more the background jokes, but I have to say, I found most of them really, really funny. The sandwich scene was for me a little too much, but for example, the part in the police station was just the best. Or at the carnival.

The choreography during combat is just amazing. As I remember correctly, people from the John Wick team were hired, to do the stunts, so it looks astonishing. Each of the main characters has a different combat style, which just adds to the visual madness of the fight scenes. And the R category adds even more to it. Watching so many legs brake in so many directions, hurt even me.

So there were like two villains. One side villain, but we're gonna talk about him first. I like Victor Zsasz from the Gotham (2014-2019) tv series and that's really the only expression that I saw of him till now. He's different, from what I can remember, less of a silent type and more of a talking psychopath, but he's still enjoyable to watch. He got nothing on the Black Mask tho. Ewan McGregor was a great casting decision. I haven't seen him earlier playing a villain, just the good guys, mostly Obi-Wan, but the job he does here is amazing. You can see, he has so much fun, like it was his childhood dream, to play a face-cutting gangster. My only problem with him was, that he's a little underused.

But that gets into the "bad stuff" category. The movie is great, but the is no movie without flaws. And the biggest is probably the plot. It's basic. it's just a race after a diamond. The backstories of the protagonists were much better. But it's not a big problem tho. The characters, action, and humor are on such a high level, that that doesn't even bother much. The saddest thing for me is the underuse of Black Mask and Bruce (the hyena named after that hunky millionaire Bruce Wayne (I wrote it with a smile on my face)).  After a while and a lot of thinking about it, I got to an impression, that the underuse of Black Mask in the third act (or the final fight for the most part) was that to show, that he's not the unstoppable, evil monster, that his describing himself as, but just a guy. So I let myself to turn a blind eye on that. But WTF writers! You have a fucking hyena, that we see in like two scenes and doesn't even rip two guys into pieces. I'm mad about it. And why one and not two? The more hyenas, the better.

You probably heard from the internet trolls, that that's just a big budget propaganda movie. It hates guys. Another Charlie's Angels (2019). Yeah... No. It doesn't. Showing strong female characters isn't a propaganda. It does not tell you, that man are the worst and you should hate them. I can't understand why someone would even think that. I saw the 1-stars wave on IMDb and got a little affraid, but don't worry. It's a wonderful movie, not for everyone, but definietly not like the basement trolls descibe it.

The SPOILER FREE zone is active from now on.

So to sum up. It's a great movie, with funny jokes and action like from a John Wick movie. It's not for everybody, but it's just better because of it. Because it is its own movie. And that's a not seen very often in blockbuster superhero movies. (Can we even call it that? It's not that big bugdet and it's about antiheroins) If you haven't yet, go and watch it. It deserves a little boxoffice boost.

#comics #harley quinn #birds of prey #birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn #harley quinn birds of prey #dceu #black canary #renee montoya #huntress #victor zsasz #black mask #margot robbie #ewan mcgregor #rosie perez #mary elizabeth winstead #jurnee smollett bell #dinah lance #helena bartinelli #cathy yan #christina hodson #werner bros #dc wolrds #dc comics

[redmalbec]

My top 10 favorite openings

Yeah I know nobody asked for it, but welcome to discover new music and hopefully new animes/mangas if they catch your eye. I won't include openings of romcoms or a few slice of life stories since I should make a different list for them. I'll add the name of the band if I find it. There's a couple of songs here from animes I didn't watch. If you think there's another amazing opening that should be listened to, share!

BTW I tend to listen to music on Youtube music, if you can support the work of these artists with this app, or Spotify, iTunes, or CDs, please do it!

DURARARA!! [Uragiri no Yuuyake - Theatre Brook]

Wonderful music, I don't have much to add since I haven't watched the anime but it looks interesting. This only time I'll only share the link to the video (couldn't find an official one) since I reach the limit of linked multimedia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-4eQuExgE

MOB PSYCHO 100 I [99 - Mob Choir]

I always thought this was some uninteresting anime, and well I was totally wrong. The animation is AWESOME, the story is really cool and explores some interesting perspectives about life that other shonen (or seinen?) ignore. It has a different style, it's kinda plain at times (and this might be good because it avoids unnecessary complexity) but in my opinion, much better than some popular animes of the moment. I feel it's very original, and stays as part of my top 10 manga/animes too.

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD [Again - YUI]

This might be my favorite song. If I ever fall in a coma, try to wake me up with it, I'm sure it will work. I might be biased because this is the first anime I watched (when I didn't care about these kind of series) and I love it, and it's definitely my favorite (I was lucky to be gifted the first volume in japanese). The melody is calm and the lyrics are heart touching. FMA is a manga and anime you should add to your watch/read list without a doubt. Sharing short version of the song to find the channel of the artist.

BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA [The day - Porno Grafitti]

I will never regret being on the bus playing this song on my phone (with headphones) being seen by people who would think something about the name of the band (like listening to anime openings almost every day wasn't already a weird thing). None of the other songs of BNHA surpassed the greatness of this song IMO.

About it, even though it gets criticism I think it's a good story, and I feel it can be incredibly creative at times - there's a reason why it's so popular after all. I should also remark that it pays attention to a lot of characters, secondary or villains have good development (something that I haven't seen in other shonen or they fail to do it, and remember BNHA has A LOT of characters).

This story is definitely going to be long, I think it's close to reach its first half, expect probably 70 volumes or so.

NARUTO [Kanashimi Wo Yasashisa Ni - Little by Little]

Wait? WHAT? Did you really pick this opening over Silhouette? I mean, no offense to Silhouette and the fantastic band KANA-BOON, but I've listened to it so many times (best memes lol), and I already didn't have it as my favorite. There are other openings that I love (Naruto Shippuden this time): 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15 (Guren is the best one IMO), 16, 17, 20.

You didn't watch Naruto? Then what are you doing here? It's a must watch! It's a shonen with beautiful messages, inspiring characters, and this song probably embodies one positive vibe of the story - best part "the most important things are those without any shape".

PSYCHO PASS [Abnormalize - ling tosite sigure]

This anime is definitely in my favorite list, I feel it's the best seinen I've watched. Its manga is an adaptation, but the original story is the one that's animated. Some people say that season 2 and 3 aren't as good as the first and honestly it's hard to do something more brilliant than the incredible season 1, nonetheless you would miss the progress of the story and interesting characters if you only leave at the first one.

It reaches some philosophical thoughts that not all sci-fi can explore on the same way. Don't expect it to be an easy watch though - you better click pause to understand every dialogue.

SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN [Shinzou wo sasageyo - Linked Horizon]

Yeah, the first opening is AMAZING, but I might have a thing for 2nd openings. I must say that the synchronization of the scenes don't make justice for the melody of this song, though. Attack on Titan might reach the top 5 best shonen (is it shonen anyways?) anime/manga of all time.

I saw everyone talking about it and praising it, so I decided to watch the first episode and I couldn't get through it because of its disturbing art LMAO. My eye is accustomed to other kind of art, but I have to say I WAS TOTALLY WRONG. Good thing the second time I watched it I felt comfortable and discovered not only a mind-blowing story, but yeah, its animation is fantastic (take a peek at a few YT videos showing the process on the making of Levi's scenes). I only follow the manga to be updated, and I'm bad at recognizing characters, but you won't waste time or money by giving this one a chance.

THE PERFECT INSIDER [Talking - KANA BOON]

I tell you, this is a list of favorite openings, it doesn't mean I've watched all the anime, but I'm going to do it thanks to these fantastic songs, and KANA BOON deserved a mention. Also known as "Subete ga F ni Naru" this seinen anime is based on a novel.

MOB PSYCHO 100 II [99.9 - Mob Choir]

Wasn't this anime already on the list? No, no it's not (?) I mean, HOW CAN'T I INCLUDE THIS ONE. Fantastic. I thought I wouldn't be able to fall in love with the new opening but after listening to it twice I couldn't get it off my mind. There's a reason, well deserved reason, why it got chosen for the Crunchyroll awards...

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION [Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze - Yoko Takahashi/Hidetoshi Sato]

Starts with an angelic voice to a disco-like rhythm, and it's without a doubt a fantastic song. This might be the most famous opening of anime. Pay attention or watch twice if you want to understand the story, though.

🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹

There is a song that's missing, don't you think so? This one can't be part of a top 10 because it's honestly so amazing that leaving it there would make it shine less, and it deserves the BEST recognition.

Special mention

TOKYO GHOUL [Unravel - TK from ling tosite sigure]

If I'm in a coma and the song Again didn't work, then this one will wake me up FOR SURE. I love how it embodies the angst of the story, the tragedy, the bad luck of the protagonist. I recommend to read the manga instead of keeping too loyal to the anime - it's no surprise that SP messed up with the storytelling of another manga... Did I say how hard it must be to play it on the piano? Or even sing it?

#durarara #mob psycho #mob psycho one hundred #neon genesis evangelion #naruto #naruto anime #subete ga f ni naru #psycho pass #boku no hero academia #tokyo ghoul #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #the perfect insider #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemis brotherhood #anime opening

[gwyns]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone draw parallels between Feyre leaving Tamlin for her Mate to Elain leaving Azriel for her Mate. (Ignoring the fact I hate Rhysand, the books obviously want me to think he's the best person ever so I'll just pretend). Because that's what I see happening.

Elain and Azriel are so clearly rebounds for one another. Elain's still grieving her human love and life, and Azriel is still hung up on Mor. They're both quiet and available, so they jump to each other. That's it. The Azriel POV was purely about what he wants. How he wants to fuck her and taste her. He's just sex to her.

Even if E/riels had a more convincing case, it's not like SJM hasn't pulled a SIKE on us before. If she goes anywhere with E/riel, she'll undoubtedly pull it back. SJM doesn't take Mating bonds lightly, and she's stated that she loves Lucien. And if anyone deserves the happiness of a bond, it's him.

Feyre and Rhys, and Cassian and Nesta, all had relationships/lovers before Mating. Elain "liking" Az now, (which we're not even clear on), doesn't really mean much.

I'd like to hear your thoughts! You're so good at this, and you always explain my thoughts so perfectly. Love and light 💕💕💕

honestly there are quite a few feysand/elucien parallels that people either don't see or choose to ignore.

rhysand was first presented as a villain to feyre, the same could be applied to lucien just bc of his envolvement with tamlin (that he wrongfully gets blamed for btw idk why e/riels love blaming tamlin's mistakes on lucien). feyre was engaged before she went to rhys, elain was engaged before she met lucien. both were/are? still hung up on their former fiances. feysand as a couple represents the night, elucien would represent (at least in part) day. it's literally night and day with them. they're similar but also wholly their own pairing, it's fascinating to me.

anyway i think i will use this ask to spill some of my e/riel opinions sorry about that! alright let's start off with this controversial statement: i don't think e/riel was ever meant to be endgame.

i've seen it said a few times over the years that sarah changed her mind about elucien and while that's possible bc she also previously changed her mind on lucien and nesta one has to ask themselves..... if she wanted to write a mate bond rejection why didn't she stick with her original plan of lucien and nesta being mates? she's said herself that they wouldn't work but she chose to change lucien's mate to someone who compliments him better, and it's to feyre's other sister no less. that tells me lucien is important and powerful, he's mated to one of the sisters, one of the key players of the entire series.

another point is we can assume (and we could be wrong, let me put this here before someone yells at me or vague blogs about it) that sjm had an elucien endgame in mind when writing acowar, right? and when she was touring for that book hadn't she already started work on acofas? and we know that she's never on social media, so if she had an elucien endgame in mind when she wrote all of the supposed e/riel "evidence" where does that leave us?

drama. tension. conflict. angst.

i think that's what it all comes down to. people will say that elucien was a front while e/riel is the true endgame but... it all seems a bit easy, doesn't it? e/riel is right in your face while elucien is silently brewing in the background. what if the bait and switch isn't elucien, but e/riel?

sarah has shown us before that she likes to use her characters as ways for her other characters to end up with their endgame matches. for example, without tamlin, feyre wouldn't have met rhys. and moving over to throne of glass for a second, if not for chaol, aelin wouldn't have met rowan. and in turn, if aelin hadn't given yrene the money she needed in tab, chaol wouldn't have met her.

are the e/riel scenes romantically coded? yes, probably. i'm not saying they aren't, some people picked up on it but i personally didn't get that vibe myself, especially in acowar, but acofas kinda blurred the lines a bit. but even then, i didn't think they'd work out and i still don't understand the arguments that are supposed to be in their favor from that book. elain says she doesn't want a male so that excludes lucien but not azriel somehow? that line means she doesn't want any fae, she wants a human man, she wants graysen. then we have lucien saying he can't even stand to be in the same room as elain which i never read as a "oh i hate this person" kinda way. no, it's bc the whole situation between them is awkward and it obviously makes both of them uncomfortable. it doesn't help when literally all of the inner circle is constantly around them, and being in the night court in general doesn't give them the privacy to get to know each other.

some people like to ask why build e/riel up at all if they're not going to be together? one thing i've always loved about sjm's books is how she can write relationships. now, let's say you meet someone irl and you like them, eventually maybe fall in love with them, and fail to notice how they're not good for you. maybe everyone around you can see it, but you don't. you want a relationship and you're in a decent one, it should work out. like they're not a bad person, this relationship just isn't right for you in the long run. why waste your time? it's life. sometimes things are good for you at a certain point in time but not later on. sometimes you just end up in a relationship that was never good for you. sometimes you fall out of love with someone. you're constantly learning and adapting to things and that's my stance on e/riel. i think they're both looking for companionship and they're the "safest" and most available option.

taking it back to acofas, azriel was relived to not have to get elain a gift and was still gazing longingly at mor. now in acosf he's avoiding talking about her while wanting to fuck elain and getting defensive when helion mentions mor. he's not over her. he's not going to just completely forget 500 years of pining bc elain showed up, especially when they haven't even helped one another to move on. if they had, we would have seen the proof of that. not just "oh she's hot we both want sex", that doesn't make a healthy relationship.

as for elain, she's been taught she has to act a certain way her entire life. she has to downplay her trauma and emotions to appease others so they don't worry about her. maybe she's even had visions involving lucien that upset/scare her somehow and she's reaching out for something else. i think they're both lonely and desperate (at least on az's end) for someone that they ultimately are drawn to the wrong people.

as for the lack of elucien development... this is how i see it. if they're endgame, why would sarah have all of their big moments happen off screen or as a throwaway line in acosf? elain is getting a book, we know this, and with how much of the story is tied to lucien and how much is left unresolved with him, we can also assume he'd get a pov at some point. so imo it makes sense for the fact we got little to no development for them in acosf. no, she wants a huge wedge between them so we can watch them come together. the payoff will be that much sweeter. kinda similar to how she put a wedge between nessian before acosf, sure they had more development in acowar than elucien but i think that's bc sarah knew they'd get the first spinoff. she had to give them that development whereas elucien can wait, a bit longer. it's frustrating yes but i do think we'll get something in acotar 5.

maybe i'm an optimistic fool, maybe sarah did at one point have an endgame in mind for them, but i find it hard to believe she wouldn't see how wrong they are for each other in the long run. she's very good at showing us how well characters fit together with just a few lines.

#sorry this envolved into my rambling lol #i swear i was going to talk more about the feysand/elucien parallels bc i made a list awhile ago #but i forgot some of it so here we are 😬 #BUT YOU'RE SO SWEET!! im glad someone enjoys my random thoughts lol #thank you i truly appreciate it 🥺💕 #acosf spoilers #a court of silver flames spoilers #asks #aquafaith