#and he can't play with the trope properly because he also genuinely means it

[holdharmonysacred]

Also just saw a post having a giggle about Pearl and Vriska discourse and I think that like. If you want to try to seriously figure out why the hell that particular genre of discourse gets so bad - and hell, I’ll throw The Egg Guard in as the same genre of disk horse - then the big thing to look at is that all these characters tend to be Creator’s Pets. “Character did bad things” is almost never the actual problem, if the arguing goes in that direction it’ll be because the people making the arguments don’t know how to articulate things from a Doylist angle, the actual problem is pretty much always that Character is blatantly the creator’s favorite and the creator(s) cannot stop themselves from being self-indulgent. And that constant self-indulgence means they can’t bring themselves to Kill Their Darlings or approach the Shenanigans that Character is doing appropriately.

So you get this weird genre of character who constantly does really horrible shit to the rest of the work’s cast - horrible shit that frequently crosses the “this is too real and hits too close to home” boundary - and basically gets away with it and excused for their actions literally all the time and always hogs the spotlight and is just plain annoying if you don’t like that character. And a big part of this genre of creator favoritism is that the creators just can’t bring themselves to actually treat the more villainous characters in this genre like campy villains, so you don’t even get the fun kind of evil girlbossing. And it sucks, if you’re a writer, don’t do this shit. This is the exact kind of thing that the classic “kill your darlings” advice is meant to warn against, nothing good comes from writing like this.

#now obviously in the context of the specific examples used there's some differing circumstances #for example - i think turning pearl into a campy villain would be an inappropriate way to fix her issues as a character #pearl's problems would be better solved by deemphasizing her own role in favor of the other gems getting to shine #as well as in actually allowing her character to be challenged and progress in the story #instead of constantly constantly constantly CONSTANTLY rehashing 'pearl hasn't gotten over rose's death #and lashes out and hurts everybody else over it but gets treated as the real victim' #and in vriska's case i think the problem is hussie is being Schrodinger's Asshole about it #where he tried to invoke it deliberately to make a point but also wants to have his cake and eat it too #and he can't play with the trope properly because he also genuinely means it #and the Egg Guard is just. pure waifuisms. she always gets everything she wants because she's the young pretty marketable waifu. #put her in the hands of someone who DOESN'T have a huge waifu bias and she can be a MUCH better character #i do also think there CAN be misogyny issues involved BUT think the source of blame is a chicken-or-egg situation #like yeah it COULD be the fandom getting weird about it. but it could also be the creators getting weird about it. #and the creator's own biases could be what are getting in the way of them writing what are frequently lady villains properly

[thestobingirlie]

I have to rant about this because I just noped out of a fic because of it and I need your opinion on it but,

One prevailing fandom trope in any Steve-centric fic that bugs the shit out of me is when they make Steve's popularity absolutely tank either after he drops Tommy and Carol, or after Billy shows up.

Because firstly, just because Tommy and Carol are no longer friends with Steve doesn't mean everyone else will suddenly stop liking him to. In fact, based on Barb's reaction to Nancy potentially dating Steve (excited) to when she brings up Nancy being friends with Tommy and Carol (which Nancy reacts badly to), Tommy and Carol have a worse reputation than Steve does at school so wouldn't people be happy that Steve dropped them?

Steve's also on multiple sports teams and let me tell you as a former sports team player, you don't successfully play on or captain a sports team without at least kind of being friends with/getting along with the people on that team. Getting beat up by a "loser" like Jonathan probably would get him sympathy instead of scorn considering how people seem to feel about Jonathan in general (and because I know that news of those pictures got spread around the school so people likely thought Steve was just being an ongoing victim of Jonathan's creepiness). He's also a rich, attractive, and funny guy. There's no way people just decide to drop him because he dumped Tommy and started dating Nancy.

Then there's the fact that when Billy does show up, Steve is still King Steve enough that Billy almost immediately knows that this is the person he has to beat in order to be Top Dog. He specifically says that everyone keeps talking about King Steve, so why would they be if Steve dropped off the social ladder a year ago?

No one can also convince me Steve stopped being popular after Billy beat him up because firstly, Tommy being his friend isn't an indicator that Billy is now popular (as stated above, Tommy was obviously less liked than Steve was), nor is doing 1 impressive thing at a party half the people will probably be too drunk to remember. He also wouldn't lose popularity from dropping basketball because 1) a bad concussion isn't bad enough to take someone completely out of a sport like basketball once it heals and basketball season wouldn't properly start until a full month or two after the events of S2, so he wouldn't quit because of that and despite what many, many fics try to do, Steve is would not quit to avoid Billy. He just wouldn't, it's so out of character that that's the reason I noped out of the fic I was reading.

This is also not even mentioning that everyone seems to think that if Billy is popular or king of the school, then Steve just HAS to be a friendless loser, which is such a blatant attempt to just dump trauma on Steve. I mean, if they want to make Steve lonely and friendless for the Tragic Backstory, at least have the reason make sense, like Steve pulling away after multiple counts of almost Dying because he just can't relate to kids his own age anymore.

Not to mention the fact that Steve is probably one of the least developed main characters and chances are the fact that we don't see or hear about Steve's other friends is because 1) less people they have to cast/take up screen time and 2) the Duffers just genuinely seem not to give a fuck about developing Steve or his backstory at all.

Anyway, sorry for dumping into your asks (I sincerely hope this is coherent), but this has been bugging me for months and I needed to get it off my chest.

oh yeah, that shit bugs me too. like, i don’t think steve had any super close friends other than nancy, but boy was still popular, he still knew people, he had a place to sit at lunch!!

and that’s actually interesting, about steve being well liked, but not tommy and carol. i’ve never really seen that kind of separation in fics, but it would be fun to have something about steve being the most popular of the group, and tommy and carol being the ones that drop popularity after the split.

steve being super sporty essentially means he always had people to hang out with lmao. and i do see steve obviously not playing basketball for a while, and no longer being captain, because i figure you have to play the game to be captain lol. i honestly don’t know much about sports tho, so i don’t know if you could just jump right in after not playing for a while, but yeah, steve wouldn’t just drop out because of billy. like, the other basketball guy called billy a douchebag. i think it’d be fun if in a fic, everyone turned against billy after the fight.

yeah, steve’s friends aren’t at all relevant to the plot, so we’re not going to see them. and i’ve said this before, but while s2 steve is lonely, he’s not alone. he has friends, he’s popular, but he’s increasingly not seeing any point towards the whole thing and essentially becoming disillusioned to the idea of being the king of hawkins high. but like you said, he’s not a friendless loser.

#steve harrington #stranger things #asks #somuchfuckingsalt

[bonesandthebees]

feel free to use this ask as a reason to ramble about eternal sunshine of a spotless mind, id love to hear

oh man okay you asked for it spoilers for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind under the cut

I just think this movie is such a good display of a toxic/unhealthy relationship. joel and clementine are terrible for each other. by the time they're at their bitter end, they constantly argue and insult each other and neither one feels like a good person when they're around the other. but they also truly, deeply love each other. the tragic thing about those kinds of toxic relationships is that it comes to the question of "is it more painful for us to be together or for us to be apart?"

the end of the movie is just what drives me the most insane. after hearing the tape recordings from each of their mind erasure sessions they know full well how this relationship is going to play out. it's not like they broke up, learned from their mistakes and worked to become better people, and then got back together. they didn't learn anything because they erased the other from their memory! there's no chance for them to not repeat those mistakes. it's going to happen. they both know where this is going to lead. but that love is still there even if they can't remember it. they still feel drawn to the other person. the theme of is the pain you'll feel at the end worth the love you feel during it is just one that I love thinking about. it's so raw and messy and human. you know you're going to hurt this person but you want to love and be loved by them anyway. you're not meant for each other but you're going to pretend to be for as long as you can. it's tragic and beautiful and again, so utterly human.

and of course there's the smaller things like clementine being a fantastic deconstruction of the manic pixie dream girl trope before the manic pixie dream girl was even formally named. like yes she's got colorful hair and a quirky personality but then you see that oh, she's actually fucked up. at the start of the movie when we're introduced to her post memory wipe, she's blunt and spins wildly between moods and she's got the colorful hair and talks about wanting to name the dye colors—she's got the quirky weird girl personality! then as we go through joel's memories we see that bluntness and those mood swings aren't a joke. she can genuinely be a mean person and her entire mood flips on joel in two seconds flat just because he made a single comment. the quirkiness isn't a cutesy thing, it's a facet of her personality that might seem intriguing and fun at the start, but does also cause issues in the relationship later on.

and joel is an interesting dive into the nice nerdy guy who ends up with the manic pixie dream girl trope too. yes he's awkward and nice and offers her a ride home and all that, and doesn't really know how to respond to her flirting in an awkward but charming way. but then later on (or technically earlier on as we go back through joel's memories) we see that while he's quiet, he's very judgemental. he thinks of himself as better than clementine and picks at her flaws in his head. the fact that he never puts a voice to his thoughts lets him bottle things up inside and makes him bitter. like how clementine's bluntness is strangely charming at first, joel's awkwardness is only charming until it makes it impossible for him to properly communicate his feelings with his partner.

and again, despite all this they love each other. they love each other so fucking much. and they would rather be hurt by one another than be happy with someone else.

and yeah theres also the subplots with the memory wiping staff and I really liked the inclusion of the girl who works there finding out she asked for her memory of her affair with her boss to be wiped and how betrayed and violated she feels after finding that out and all that, but the highlight for me is always just joel and clementine and everything about their fucked up dynamic.

we all know on this blog that I love unhealthy and messy relationships. and tbh I think it started with this movie! out of my top 4 movies, 3 of them (including this one) are about complicated messy relationships between people so. I have a type lol.

#ask #jiksvokrat #eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

[albonoooo]

got tagged by @wanderingblindly, thank you my beloved <3

what colour are your eyes?: a mixture of blue, green and grey that looks puddle-coloured most of the time.

tell me about your pets/your dream pet: after 15 wonderful years, our family dog paul (i named him that when i was five lol) unfortunately passed away in august 2023, i loved that dog more than most people. (there were some pictures of him here, but i got nervous that someone i know might see this so i removed them lmao). i'd love to get a dog or a cat at some point later in my life, but not now or any time soon.

share some interesting fact about yourself: i'm genuinely incredibly boring, so much so that i had to ask for help to find an answer here. the council decided on the fact that i know how to ride and own a motorcycle and am also a member in an mf in my hometown.

what was the first fandom you were a part of?: i guess the first time i was properly involved with fandom in any capacity was during my teen wolf days.

do you have any phobias?: i don't know if it's bad enough to be considered a phobia, but i'm terrified of heights. there have been several instances of me breaking down crying despite trying to keep it together while being in very high places (usually while having to climb dodgy stairs in very high buildings, among other things).

are you a picky eater? if so, what food can't you stand?: YES! and i hate it because it's so so limiting and annoying. i am incredibly sensitive regarding taste and texture and i have to physically force myself to hold back visceral reactions to foods i don't like. it'd probably be easier to list the foods i can eat tbh.

do you eat the burger and fries at the same time or one after another?: first some fries, then burger, fries, burger, fries, finish the burger, finish the fries. anything else is weird (what the fuck do you mean you eat them completely separately, liquid???)

winter or summer: winter all the way. i sweat easily, my body generally doesn't cope well with heat and i prefer bundling up and being a little cold over feeling too warm.

favourite fanfiction tropes: i LOVE a good au, any au really, but especially the cute ones. i'll read almost anything at least once and so there's just too many things i have read and enjoyed to list here. also, anything with an enemies to lovers situation. i am a sucker for that.

are you studying or working? what do you study/is your job?: both! i'm a full-time student (english major, history minor) and i am one of the student assistants in the english department's student office. i've also had other, less fun part-time jobs in the past.

what is the last country you visited: the netherlands and belgium during a day trip (by motorcycle) in june or july last year, i think.

what country would you want to move to after retiring?: i've haven't ever even considered living that long. i've always had a fascination with ireland and scotland, so based on looks and vibes alone i'd go there. or somewhere with solid winters, like a scandinavian country or finland.

who was your first crush?: hannes (played by nick romeo reimann) in the vorstadtkrokodile movies. i was ready for marriage, dreaming up a life together and everything. it also lasted until i was like 12 years old, so about six years in total. he really had me in a chokehold.

how did you get into f1 fandom?: after my interest was peaked by f1 edits that randomly popped up all over my social media one day (thank you algorithms), i did what i always do when something like that happens and opened tumblr to see what's up. and then i got stuck lol.

i have no clue who has or hasn't been tagged already, so feel free to ignore this!! @hrhgeorgerussell @bright-and-burning @borntogayz @lil-italian-disappointment @liamlawsonlesbian @piastrisms

#would you look at that i'm oversharing on the internet again #tag games

[the-stray-liger]

I AM 100% NOT OKAY AFTER TODAY'S EPISODE OF G-WITCH. FUCK.

Like... the reunion between Guel and Suletta after the former drove of Bitch Boy Elan 5 genuinely warmed my heart, especially with Guel finally, properly confessing, and clearing the air on the previous misunderstanding between them. You can tell that Suletta is genuinely touched that Guel cares so deeply for her, even though she's already committed herself to Miorine, says as much and gently lets Guel down, who takes the rejection with grace, which is a far cry from his attitude at the beginning of the series. Bravo, Guel Jeturk... you've unequivocally proven yourself to be Best Boy™ in this show.

Then we move on to the main conflict of the series. Miorine recognizes that Suletta is little more than a pawn in Prospera's schemes, and after another conversation confirms Miorine's suspicions of just how deeply that Suletta's been metaphorically brainwashed into being dependent on both her mother and the Aerial, and that because the Aerial is the one thing that Suletta refuses to give up in spite of how easily she'd cast aside everything else if her mother told her to? She's become an obstacle. So now, Miorine conspires with Guel to take Suletta's title of Holder as well as the Aerial from her, not just to save Suletta from herself, but to also provide Guel with the means to rescue his company from bankrupcty, given her own empathy with Guel's situation... all while keeping Suletta in the dark, as usual.

So... the duel. As we see, Guel is still wrestling with the guilt of killing his father, which seems to be manifesting as a sort of PTSD induced cockpit-phobia, similar in nature to another character from After War Gundam X, Jamil Neate. Guel isn't just fighting Suletta, but also himself at every turn, and it shows in just how desperately he is trying to keep himself together, even as Suletta not only overrides the Darilbade through the Aerial activating Permet Score 6, but appears to achieve a level beyond that, with Permet Score 7 manifesting as an iridescent white glow... and then Aerial apologizes before she's remotely shut down before Suletta can secure the win, allowing Guel to claim victory, and more importantly, the title of Holder and the Aerial from Suletta.

Whether you interpret that as Ericht apologizing to her sister for getting her so deeply involved with Prospera's schemes and implicitly allows herself to be shut down, or Eri apologizing to Suletta for being unable to prevent what was coming next, both conclusions are utterly heartbreaking to think about, as the entire sequence of events could be interpreted by Suletta as Guel, Miorine, and the Aerial herself all betraying her. The episode is capped off by Miorine pushing Suletta away even as she screams to be allowed to try again, everything slipping through her fingers like grains of sand as Miorine dispassionately tells Suletta that it's over between them, all because Miorine is desperately trying to push Suletta away to keep her safe from Proospera's machinations.

My only concern is that despite Miorine's best efforts... Prospera's probably accounted for all of this, and even expected this outcome.

This is an excellent breakdown and I am REALLY sorry I cant say all I want because Im on my period and in a lot of pain and the brainfog is serious dfadfjd

I love Guel so much. He came out of all he went through a much better man and he thanks Suletta for that and genuinely cares about her and Suletta accepts that in a way she can't accept Elan's gross and agressive invasion of her private space. I sincerely hoped to see Guel just beating Elan's ass I wanted it so badly

The "I have to hurt her to save her" trope drives me up the wall but I also love it. Miorine really wanted to do all of this to protect Suletta and try to free her from Prospera's grip but I am also so so so worried that she did indeed play right into Prospera's hand and honestly I cant with this show its kicking my fucking ass

I cant really say more bc Im not feeling too well but this episode was legitimately one of the most intense and heartbreaking so far somehow and it featured minimal violence. It was a masterpiece honestly

#gwitch #gwitch spoilers

[dani-luminae]

For Lia and Ayesha!

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

HEY sorry it took me like a week to get to this!!! I legitimately forgot about it until you answered my ask and I was like "hey didn't I have something to answer???" anyways -

FOR LIA: assuming this is main canon Lia,

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Fanfics, fanart (they better not lightwash/whitewash her though), just like general fandom stuff properly.

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

Well there's the Big Reveal part of Chapter 68 in RTS:

"Of course I am [in love with Lia]! How could I not be? I'm madly in love with her, because she's one of the most compassionate and kind people I've ever met!  She's been nothing but supportive, to me, to everyone! She doesn't jump at a chance to fight people or brag about how much more powerful she is. [...] Are you happy now? I'm in love with Lia Hawkins!"

And just. Tell me you can't imagine all the ficlets and gifsets revolving about Lia's boundless love for everyone around her, and this love that makes Ben love her so deeply so quickly. Just look at it!

(And maybe just Mal's betrayed face at the end of it for good measure)

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

"Rewrite the Stars", duh. And probably "Never Enough", too. Heck, we can add "A Million Dreams" to that. Yes I was totally in a Greatest Showman phase, why do you ask

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

Honestly they can take it away with theories about Lia's upbringing as it took place on Montressor, because I realize in hindsight I've really lacked fleshing that out... along with a lot of Lia's backstory.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

I'm not sure. I mean I would hope a majority of the fandom, but Lia is also dark-skinned and sadly fandoms don't have a good track with dark-skinned characters and especially dark-skinned women. I would hope that fans of color would really like her and appreciate her! I've tried to do my research and put a lot of respectful thought into her character, really trying to avoid the negative tropes about WOC (there were some missteps earlier in her portrayal, but I'm always learning.)

~~~

FOR AYESHA: again, assuming main canon

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Treading carefully to avoid grand spoilers for the prequel: the fandom is welcome to piece together the fateful final voyage of Captain Sigalu, and what exactly went down there. I'm sure there'd be a fanfic or two about that.

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

"Jim spent so much effort trying to impress everyone, and it was to no avail.

Ayesha saw him as he truly was, and she had from the start."

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

Okay, frankly I have no clue for these two. I have yet to find a song that encompasses them.

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

Well I've left the identity/fate of Ayesha's father very very... well, nonexistent in her stories. I'm sure some of the fandom would be all over that, trying to figure him out and ideas about Ayesha as a result.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

Genuinely the same answer as Lia, above.

.

Thanks for the ask!

[stormyoceans]

ahhh i see what you mean, that happened to me with love mechanics but yinwar's chemistry was actually enough to make me overlook some... things lol but yeah seems like there are some tropes there that i can't be bothered to watch, also i just really trust your taste and views. but hey! at least pond and phuwin showed their potential and now we have this gem!

what was your favorite part of the first episode? mine was probably the pool scene, i feel like so much happened there, the intense eye contact x2 and the hand over hand moment...................... he didn't have to do that but he did it for all of us! they really are seeing each other like genuinely seeing each other i bet that scares them a lot. oh the pining oh the yearning pond does it so well! like the scene when they first met HIS FACEEEE it's gonna be so great just seeing them fall in love. oH IMAGINE THE ANGST IT'S GONNA HURT SOOOO GOOD AND NOT JUST UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW THEY FEEL BUT ALSO AFTER THAT BECAUSE THEY WILL WANT TO PROTECT EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME AND IT'S GONNA BE HARD TO BALANCE IT ALL the hype was RIGHT

ugh i wish i could have the will to wait and binge watch because i think i'm able to enjoy shows more when i can do that, and space the episodes how i want or just watch them all in a day, like it's a much more intense experience for me that way and even though it leaves less time to theorize and the fandom experience and all that i personally prefer it. but i cannot see all the pretty gifs and not go to youtube and watch the episode when they are right thereee i wanna join the fun! i actually binge watched vice versa (🥰) and i feel like i liked it so much because i did! i also binge watched love mechanics and i swear to god i would have given up if i was watching that show weekly, and i had to binge watch to my star 2 too cause that was actually hurting me lol this is so long already okay i'll shut up now 💌

fish upon the sky and love mechanics actually fall in the same category of 'shows i can't bring myself to like even if the actors have an insane chemistry' for me, but between the two i did enjoy love mechanics more, even if i cannot stand cheating, so i guess this says a lot about my feelings for FUTS ;;;;;;;;

BUT!!!!!! like you said, the most important thing is that pond and phuwin are now playing in a show with a more mature storyline that makes their chemistry shine and that i can thoroughly enjoy!!!!! and that makes me ridiculously happy!!!!! JUST LIKE THE FACT THAT YOU TRUST MY TASTES?????? THAT'S SUCH AN INCREDIBLE COMPLIMENT THANK YOU!!!!!! 🥺🤧

we must have pretty similar tastes, though, because THE POOL SCENE WAS MY FAVORITE ONE TOO!!!!!! like.. both the hallway and the sneaking out scenes are A LOT, but the pool one is on a whole other level!!!!! not only the tension is already off the charts, but i love how it also says a lot about palm and nueng as characters and perfectly sets up the journey for their relationship!!!! it's the way nueng asks "if i don't tell your dad, what will i get from you?" because that's what he has been taught his entire life, that no one does anything for free, and he got further confirmation of it earlier that day when his classmate made the others stop teasing him only to ask him a favor right after!!!! it's the way palm answers "i have nothing to give you. i have no money" because he sees no value in himself but eventually he is going to (willingly) give nueng exactly what he needs - friendship, care, trust, love - and in doing that he will learn his self worth and start to build his own future!!!!

AND GOD YEAH THE MOMENT THEIR HANDS TOUCHED!!!!! i will never have the words to properly explain the importance of hands in queer culture, but they're often used as objects of desire, as conduits for future intimacy, and once the hands touch that's it: there's no turning back, you can't ignore your want anymore, and the fact that it already happens the second time palm and nueng see each other casts such a sense of inevitability on their relationship!!!! since their first meeting all their interactions have just been so full of pining and yearning and tension and this magnetic pull that makes them so aware of each other and leaves the viewers breathless even if we already know they will end up together!!!! BUT LIKE YOU SAID IT ALSO WON'T END WHEN THEY GET TOGETHER BECAUSE THERE'S GONNA BE DUTY AND DESIRE AND ABOVE ALL THE WISH TO PROTECT THE OTHER AND GIVE THEM A BETTER CHANCE AT LIFE. ALSO WHEN PALM WILL CALL NUENG BY HIS NAME FOR THE FIRST TIME THEN WHAT!!!!!!!!

anyway..... please never apologize for sending me a long message because 1) I ABSOLUTELY LOVED READING IT, and 2) as you can see brevity is not one of my virtues ;;;;;;;; so please feel free to write as much as you want!!!! 💜

gonna end this by saying that idk if i personally prefer binge watching, but i definitely understand what you mean!!! i do tend to be more forgiving when i watch a series all in one go and it also helps me keep my emotions under control sfjkshdj i think it actually depends a lot on the show itself: some series i like to see week by week because i enjoy freaking out with everyone else, but other ones i NEED to binge watch to preserve my mental health (to my star 2 is a great example, because after seeing the first episode i also went NOPE and waited for all the episodes to be out before going back to it I DON'T DO WELL WITH THAT KIND OF ANGST)

#not only idk what brevity is but i also do not feel normal about nlmg so i apologize for how long this is ;;;;;; #ON ANOTHER NOTE IF YOU EVER FEEL LIKE SHARING YOUR VICE VERSA THOUGHTS I WOULD LOVE TO READ THEM #never let me go #never let me go the series #nlmg #m: ask

[licuadora-nasir]

Which of MCL's LIs do you like and which you dont like?

Hi there! 💞

Oh, man. My route in mclHL was Kentin, followed close by Castiel. I know, a weird combination. A little part of me is a sucker for the friends to lover trope, only when it's well done, though. Kentin is so sweet, so caring towards Candy, there's no way I couldn't love him. And yeah, he was my route and will be my route forever so I hope we get mclAL Kentin or otherwise I'll crawl to a corner and cry.

Castiel is also great, but Castiel HL >> Castiel LL >> Castiel UL. He's entertaining, funny, sweet, hot and rich, the perfect man. Maybe one of the things I think says most about him is how regardless of your relationship with him, he still saves Candy's business. He's always been kind and caring, even in HL. Definitely much more than "a bad boy".

Eric is interesting and hot. I didn't play love life cause I didn't have any crush I was passionate about, but If I had played it, I'm confident I would have ended up with Eric. Not because I adore him, but for the sake of the drama. I loved the cheating plot, I think it's the best thing Love Life has to offer.

I didn't like Lysander in mclUL. Y'all gonna kill me, but I found him dull and boring. The only part of him I found interesting was his jealous side, which make me laugh a bit and find him more human and real, he was too perfect for my tastes. I like him waaaaay better in AL. If he had been a love interest in Love life, I would have played it as my route. He's more confident and interesting now, also I'm a countryside girl, so I like his way of living.

Armin is cool. I didn't like him romantically cause I've dated a "gamer boy" before and let me tell you, he'll totally choose League of Legends over you, (Not that I can blame him though, I'd choose my games and books over him too). He was funny to befriend and I always enjoyed his dialogues. I started liking him better in Iri's arc, and I'm very excited for his possible return. Also, he has a hot brother (Evan), he'd be a hell of a brother-in-law.

Rayan was meh. I was thrilled about the forbidden relationship between student and teacher, a shame we never got to do it in the campus. His writing in UL was well paced and great, but it became boring for me in LL. If I hadn't lost interest in him romantically maybe he could have been my route in love life cause the plot was great, but I can't stand his long, boring, philosophical speeches.

I don't have much to say about Hyun. That already says a lot 🤣. I'm not a person who searches for stability and the opportunity to found a family, so I was anything but interested in his plot. I don't like soft boys either and I found his marriage proposal very creepy. "Now, we'll be together forever." Iugh. Step away from me, sir.

Dare to tell me he doesn't look evil here:

I was excited about Priya at first, we didn't have any wlw routes before so I was genuinely interested in this one. I didn't really like it. Many of Priya's speeches were... EJEM, not to my tastes, to say at least. If you want to play a good wlw romance route, I suggest any of the wlw routes of Seduce me which is free btw, and especially Diana's in Seduce me 2: the demon war. Livia's route in Errant Kingdom is also great.

I'll be brief. I despise Nath. Ofc that doesn't mean I dislike Nath stans, I'm very glad and happy you could have him during three seasons. He's what I would call in Spanish a "mosquita muerta". Reasons? I hate he acts like a good guy when he has a little demon inside him. He plays nice but he can be a real nightmare when he wants to and even arrogant. To romance him properly you have most likely to agree with his way of thinking and share similar interests, also I think that sometimes he thinks he's better/more intelligent than Candy or that his job is more important than hers, but that's just probably me disliking him.

An ironic thing since he was my route in University Life. Yeah, I pledge guilty, his plot absorbed me into his route. He reached his peak in UL anyways. But what I most hate about him, what I truly despise.... Is that he's way too hot. Look at him goddammit

A pity he's a jerk and not a good one 😔

#ask #mcl #my candy love #my rambling #mcl rambling #beemoov #mcl kentin #mcl lysander #mcl castiel #mcl nathaniel #mcl rayan #mcl priya #mcl armin #mcl eric #mcl hyun

[irandomblogfulb]

FATE: What happens when you get a bunch of middle aged white guys to adapt a cartoon for girls

Well, I just went through 6 hours of fate and I have a lot of opinions on it. Yeah, this is going to be long (slightly under 3k words) so putting it under read more and obvious spoilers.

PSA before delving right in:

1) Yes, I will be comparing to the original. Any comparisons are not through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. There are parts here and there that I genuinely think were done better in the cartoon on a writing standpoint.

2) This is purely my opinion and overall negative. Don't like it? Don't read. I'm all up for discussion but I don't want another person crying to me about how I “ruined” their experience of the show.

3) If you like Fate then good for you. This isn’t me bashing people who like it. 

I've spit it up into sub sections just for my own convince.

1. The problem with the 'I'm not like other girls' trope

This pertains to the entire Bloom-Sky-Stella love triangle. I wasn't as pressed about it compared to other winxers (and I loved Stella's and Brandon's relationship on my rewatch). In fact, I was okay with it. But then I sat down and watched the show and there's a lot of underlying problems with the love triangle. Particularly pitting Bloom and Stella against each other for Sky's affection.

Now this part of the love triangle I already didn't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, since I dropped the OG Winx after season 5 but the Winx while they did have their conflicts and arguments, never fought over a boy. I really appreciated that from the cartoon so seeing that live action would fall into that trap – I was mildly annoyed at that. Then it hit me. It's Bloom and Stella.

The seemingly ordinary girl vs the pristine princess of Solaria. If the title didn't give it away, you should get the point by now. Others have already called it by now but the "I'm not like other girl's" trope in itself, while seemingly feminist is actually misogynist. Saying the more masculine type of girl is better than the feminine is inherently misogynist. Stella, the prime princess, girly and feminine, is villainized by the love triangle. Sky's and Stella's relationship is toxic and Stella's overt co-dependence and jealousy are already big fat red signs - but Sky's and Bloom's relationship is built on how she's "different". Bloom isn't like Stella, she's "real".

2. Am I supposed to like Riven?

As the title puts it, wtf am I supposed to feel about Riven. Is he supposed to be a good guy? Do I root for him? Is he morally ambiguous? Because holy shit compared to OG!Riven, this guy is diabolical and much much worse! OG!Riven is an asshole and he teams up with the trix but his arc was very simple and easy to understand. He joins the bad guys, distances himself from the good guys, the trix betray his ass, he self-reflects in the dungeon - escapes and redeems himself. Net!Riven is so bad to the point where you can't redeem him and the writers don't even try. Freddie Thorp is good in his role. (however, he definitely doesn't pass for a 17-year-old. He's 26 and it shows) and he actually makes the cringe dialogue work. But he's way too diabolical and downright predatory. The scene where he forces Dane to gulp down his spiked drink - it’s worse seeing it than reading it. That grossed me out more than the gore.

What makes it worse, nobody properly calls him out. Beatrix kinda does on his homophobia – “Homophobic bashing by GIF” - and Sky does chastise him, but they still tolerate him. It is kinda funny in a way Sky has a whole ass arc about how he's enabling Stella's problematic behaviour by still dating her after she blinded her friend but doesn't realize he's doing the same for Riven.

The only person that really puts her foot down with Riven is Terra and nobody takes her seriously about anything she says.

Everyone is very laissez-faire around him and that's not how you respond to your friend being problematic. (Hey, kinda like the other girls sans Aisha are with Bloom!) Everyone surrounding Riven is so disgusting and the notion of him supposedly being a good guy is very hard to buy into. His whole relationship with Dane has a section of it’s own because there’s just a lot to unpack.

3. Stella I am so sorry

I'm also in the majority hating how they've tarnished Stella. Basically, they turned her into the stereotypical rich bully with mommy issues.

I get that Stella has an abusive mom but that’s no excuse to be a total bitch to her roommates. And no, her roommates shouldn't accept her back with open arms. And she doesn't even redeem herself - the girls just accept her back after her mom pulls her from Alfea.

And this is also another issue with the writing were the characters suddenly just change their opinions on a whim. Suddenly Stella likes the winx, suddenly Terra misses Stella even though having that girl literally gives her anxiety. Suddenly Aisha's on Bloom's side in the end.

This isn't me simping for the cartoon out of nostalgia. I was mostly okay with the idea of Stella and Sky hooking up. But Looking at it from a creative standpoint - looking at the source material, and the many paths you can take this character, the best thing Brian Young and co. can think of for her was turning her into the stereotypical rich bully that we've seen time and time again? No deconstruction no meta take, it's played out exactly how you’d expect it.

Again, this isn't me simping for the show. Purely from a creative standpoint Stella was such a major let down. There's so much to the character and Brian Young took the easiest, saturated path.

4. That one scene with Bloom's parents

You know the one. Mike unhinges Bloom's bedroom doors and Vanessa cusses out and insults her child like a petty teen bully. Forgetting how utterly cringey that scene was, you can't have her mom go batshit insane on her child, then act like she's this loving parent that cares so deeply about her daughter. Screw that! Vanessa deserved those 3rd degree burns! She invaded her daughter's privacy. Bloom didn't even do anything wrong!

I can't buy into this narrative of Vanessa and Mike being loving parents when they do something like that. Seriously who thought that was okay?

5. Pity Parties for everyone.

I already discussed this in Stella’s section but I don’t like the “it’s okay for me be a shitty person because my life sucks :)” narrative Fate tries to pull. They did it with Stella, Bloom, Riven.

What I liked about the first season of Winx Club is Bloom’s arc and her character as a whole. Because while she went through shit, from the Trix, to finding out she was adopted, her existential crisis, not feeling like she belonged, losing the dragon flame, she went through a lot. She didn’t throw a pity party. She didn’t whine, bitch and complain. She allowed herself to feel upset, took it as it is and tried to make lemonade out of lemons. And I respect that.

Net!Bloom is agrevating. She does some dumb, reckless stuff but it’s excused because she’s the protagonist? She let the war criminal out, the school gets taken over by the bad guys because of Bloom. Faragonda fucking dies because she let the war criminal out! The burned ones attacked the school because she let the war criminal out!!! But no, Aisha’s villainized for calling Bloom out because Bloom’s existential crisis is more important then anything else.

Getting to Sky, he isn’t as bad as the others. He doesn’t become a shitty person because of his problems. (Though lowkey flirting with Bloom while he hooks up with Stella is uh not good.) But he does come across incredibly whiny. Because of the cringey dialogue and the unnecessary swearing  I can’t take his speech on opening up to Bloom seriously. I laughed throughout the whole thing and Bloom leaving his unconscious body there was the icing on the cake.

One of the few characters that deserved a pity party is Terra. She’s very much like OG!Bloom in a way. She is bullied by Dane and Riven, has body insecurities, anxiety, nobody listens to her and at most only tolerates her. Despite all the crap that is thrown her way she still reminds humble, kind, and respectful. And she is one of the few characters that deserves more support than what she got out of the season.

5. Bloom, Aisha, Tokenism and their awful relationship

I’m going to be upfront, their relationship sucks. The core of their dynamic is what Aisha can do for Bloom. It’s very one-sided. Bloom only goes to Aisha to help solve her problems, which Aisha gladly does – but when Aisha disagrees with Bloom or says something Bloom doesn’t like, Bloom suddenly goes off and Aisha’s made to be the bad guy. Even though she’s right? And Aisha has her own problems as well, shown to also struggle with her powers. But nope, that’s pushed to the back burner because Bloom needs help.

I am all for creative freedom. I can stomach Stella x actual Sky. I can stomach turning Stella into a rich mean girl. I can stomach the dark academia aesthetic but what Brian Young and co. did to Aisha is just plain racist. Screw the “it’s an adaptation” excuse. Turning this character who had a rich storyline and was a princess into a white girl’s magical negro who fixes all her problems is racist and by definition tokenism. And by whitewashing the other two characters of color, making Aisha the only poc in the group – that’s the worst thing you can do to her.

And frankly we need more black princesses on screen.

6. Dane and the homophobia of the show

Towards the show’s climax it’s revealed Dane is helping Beatrix because she accepts he’s “different”. Not only does this go back to my pity party rant but like bruh,

1)      Beatrix never really did anything for Dane? She hung out and smoked with him a bit, but that’s all. You’re telling me Terra wouldn’t accept Dane? Beatrix never helped him and he never really opened up to her about his struggles.

2)      Nobody else, not even background characters bully or harass Dane for being “different”. It’s only Riven, the guy he’s crushing on. The whole falling in love with the bad boy/abuser trope is bad in a hetero relationship and that still stands for a gay one. And I know damn well if Dane was a woman half of the shit Riven did to Dane wouldn’t slide.

It makes no sense for Dane to side with the bad guys when Riven’s the one bullying him and Beatrix is complacent in the bullying. Oh, and having your second black* character who’s also lgbt+/potentially questioning be a villain? Not good.

I’m all for gay and poly rep, but not like this. If Stella and Sky’s toxic relationship is going to be called out for what it is, why not Dane’s?

*Idk if Theo Graham is light-skinned black or biracial so I’ll just refer to him as black.

7. The plot

It’s very predictable. Personally, wasn’t fond of the ‘twist of a twist of a twist’ style of writing. The story tries to be nuanced and deep but it’s not. Common sense is treated like a big revelation. Not trusting the war criminal you barely know isn’t as big of a take that the writers try to make it out to be.

8.  Everything else

·       Beatrix is fine. No Icy but did like the gothic bookworm aesthetic.

·       Sam is just there to be Musa’s love interest and provide some dumb drama between Musa and Terra. I thought they’d go the Edward/Bella root – Musa’s drawn to Sam because she can’t sense his emotions for some reason. Nope, they just get together for the obligatory make out sessions. Don’t care much for the relationship or the character.

·       Since the powers are all elemental shouldn’t there be classes purely for an elemental? Classes purely for fire fairies, etc?

·       Musa’s powers are confusing. If she has no control over them and they are “always on”, shouldn’t her eyes constantly be glowing purple?  Very wishy washy. Sometimes they overwhelm her and other times she has complete control. Her character is just there for plot stuff.

·       Terra is one of the better characters but can’t enjoy her knowing about the whitewashing. Why can’t we have a plus sized character just exist and not have body issues?

·       Sky doesn’t feel like a prince. Characters treat him like his dad is a war hero and not the King of Eraklyon. There was a point where I thought I misheard and thought his dad was just a war hero and not a king.

·       Why try to justify Rosalind’s war crime if she’s going to be the big bad anyways?

·       The way the characters treat death/act around death is very weird. Musa and Terra see a pile of dead bodies and they’re unreasonable calm. Especially Bloom an “ordinary teenage girl from earth”, reacts very nonchalant when death and war crimes are brought up. Doesn’t help the show tries to push this “they’re kids fighting a war” narrative.

·       Can’t buy into the girls’ friendship. The Aisha/Bloom dynamic is centred on what Aisha can do for Bloom. Bloom only cares about herself and only goes to her friends to help with her problems. Most of Musa’s and Terra’s interaction centre around Sam. Stella didn’t care for the girls until her mom showed up and pulled a 180. The girls were quick to turn on Aisha when she sided with the adults.

·       I have no problem with technology existing but why do they have Instagram, Tiktok and Tumblr? The otherworld is a completely separated from Earth, why do they have the same technology?  

9. Brian Young, what do you mean by mature?

I grew up on the 4kids dub before transitioning to the Nick dub for season 4 and 5 then dropping the cartoon for good. So naturally on my rewatch of the cartoon I decided to go watch the RAI dub since I heard it’s more accurate and 4Kids are infamous for their horrid localisations straying too much to the source material. Upon finishing season 1 and currently watching season 2, a few things took me by surprise. For one, the cartoon is surprisingly dark. The schools are at war with the Trix and their army of Darkness, Sky almost dies in Season 2, Riven almost dies and the Trix thinks he suicided, it’s heavily implied in Season 2 Darkar murdered some of the pixies, the paedophilic undertones of Bloom and Avalon’s relationship, the list goes on.

When the interview with Brian Young came out, he said Fate would be a mature take on the cartoon. And I wondered, what did he meant by mature? Was he going to delve deeper into the darker aspects of the show, or did he mean he was going to have the girls swear and have sex? Watching Fate, I found my answer.

If you take out the gore, swearing, drug and alcohol usage from the live action, the maturity is on par with the RAI dub. The difference is in the presentation. This is what sucks about the mentality surrounding live action remakes. Because the OG!Winx was colourful with glittery transformations , was super girly and overall had a positive upbeat tone (not forgetting 2D animated) - it can’t be taken seriously. You have to strip all that, the colour, the kindness, the femininity in order to be deemed mature.

10. Wrapping up

I went into Fate expecting the worst and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were things I liked about it. The show looks pretty, and I did like what they were trying to do with Sky’s arc. The actors did what they could with the material. Freddie Thorp made the cringe dialogue work and Abigail Cowen proves she can carry a show as the lead.

Fate is your generic, YA, dark academia show. It follows all the tropes of the YA genre to a T. If that’s your niche, then you’ll love Fate and I’m not bashing anyone who liked it.

For me, as a creative, it doesn’t capitalise on the strengths of the source material. I’m not asking for Winx Club again, as I’ve reiterated, I’m all for creative freedom. But Brian Young, Iginio Straffi, whoever worked on this – they could’ve created something new, innovative, something that stood out from the hordes of other YA shows. They had good material in their hands! But what I got -  I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen it done better. That’s a major disappointment.

As a winx club fan, don’t bother watching this. It’s a very diluted version of the Winx. In trying to capture the interest of the adult fans who grew up with the franchise – Iginio showed how out of touch he is if he thinks this is what they wanted.

#fate the winx saga #netwinx #back on my winx club bs #long post #this took me like 4 days to write