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funnywormz · 3 days

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I think this shitshow with Toshiro stems from the trend of people INSISTING that interpersonal conflict must be a moral failing. Like I think there's something to be said about how people afford so much less patience to people who are autistic in the "wrong" ways, but also Laios and Toshiro just clash on a fundamental level that has nothing to do with that. Hell, you could read Toshiro as autistic as well. People related to Laios' side of the argument but instead of getting any nuance out of it they started projecting their experiences with ableist people onto Toshiro.

AGREE AGREE AGREE. i think that Fandom Brain gets people very used to thinking of conflicts in terms of "who is the bad guy and who is the good guy", so when they encounter a more nuanced conflict they don't really know what to do. i don't think toshiro is a bad person at all, in his conflict with laios he's just exhausted and starving and has been pushed to the limit and from his perspective, laios doesn't even seem that emotionally affected by the situation. i don't think what he said was right and it was pretty cruel, but i don't think he's a villain or deserves to be permanently hated as a character just bc he fucked up this time lol

also yeah you could definitely read him as autistic, and i think that highlights an issue in the autistic community in general bc like....... a lot of autistic people have conflicting needs which can lead to conflict between them/make them unable to stand being around each other. and it's not because either of them are neurotypical or bad people, they're just incompatible. like autistic people who loudly stim vocally and autistic people who meltdown when they have to be around loud noises, for example. it doesn't mean either of them is bad or not autistic, just that they have conflicting needs

i 100% agree with the last part too. i disliked toshiro at first myself bc i had been (and still do ngl) projecting onto laios hard and the conflict they had reminded me of times when people have been mean or angry at me irl for social blunders i've made unintentionally, or when someone i thought liked me/was my friend turned out to actually hate me. it's a common experience for autistic people and that scene resonates with that! but i think it also helps to take a step back from projecting our own traumatic experiences onto the scene and just look at it objectively. laios isn't perfect either and he's the one who actually starts the physical fight by slapping toshiro (i feel like i don't see many people mention this lol). i feel super bad for him in that scene but he's not a perfect victim and has done things wrong himself too

as an autistic person i've also been in situations where i can relate to toshiro too lol, like where someone is overly physically and emotionally familiar with me when we don't know each other well and i've wanted them to back off but haven't been sure how to say it without hurting their feelings. this kind of conflict is far from just being a "neurotypical vs neurodivergent" thing as a lot of people portray it in the fandom

idk i just wish people would think a little more deeply about the scene and put their own emotions and experiences aside to instead consider the conflict with the added context of the individual characters and their respective cultures + the situation they're in. people don't have to like toshiro but i wish they wouldn't paint him as a villain or make up awful shit about him just to justify their feelings when he isn't even that bad of a dude in canon yknow 😑. also we literally see him at rock bottom struggling and freaking out and i think that's important to remember. in a different context i doubt he would have ever said those things to laios

#dungeon meshi #laios touden #toshiro nakamoto #ask #tysm for the ask btw!

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fefairys · 3 months

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I just read up to the breakup with Meenah and Vriska and fuck, i really dislike that whole situation. Got any thoughts you wanna ramble about regarding that?

OKAY I FINALLY GOT HERE IN MY REREAD.

god yes everything involving meenah and (vriska) and the vriska (vriska) confrontation is extremely fascinating to me. mostly because i resonate with a lot of it so hard it hurts. long ass post below. i got very personal lol what can i say. i vriska.

(vriska) goes into people-pleasing mode when she and meenah are alone. it actually reminds me of how she would sometimes act with kanaya. the vulnerability, mainly. but like. its a little different. with kanaya it was more like 'youre the only bitch around here i respect, but im still better than everyone else. i want you to like me but i dont NEED you to! (<-lie)' but with meenah its like 'you are the only person i have and so i have to be good for you so you dont leave me.'

she backs down super easily with meenah. sometimes she does argue for herself, but ultimately she always ends up deferring to meenah. she wants to agree with everything she says. wants her to like her:

^ she doesnt want to say the carnival looks fun until she's gotten meenah's approval. she has to be cool for meenah.

her suggestion gets shot down and she immediately sides with meenah. oh yeah i didnt want to do that anyway in fact i hate horses!

it's tricky, because of some of it seems like actual Character Development, and her getting over some shit. and i definitely think these thinks dont have to be mutually exclusive. she can be realizing things about herself and moving on from them while at the same time falling into habits that are equally unhealthy for a person.

she realizes she used to care way too much about stuff and tries to counter it by not caring at all. she realizes she used to push people around to much and counters it by becoming a pushover herself. this is sickeningly relatable to me.

the scene where meenah convinces her to get a tattoo is a good example of this.

she realizes that a long-held opinion she had is actually kind of bullshit, and that she cared way too much about it for no reason. good job, vriska!

but then she pretty much leaves the actual decision of it up to meenah! she asks meenah to tell her what to do instead of thinking for herself. she justifies it by agreeing that she loves pirate stuff anyway! shes trying to make up for a lifetime of bossing people around by asking someone else to boss her around. and she convinces herself that this is making her happy! and i mean it definitely is, in a way. it feels good to feel liked by someone. to have the approval of someone you look up to. it is making her happy. but is that... good for her? i dont know! it doesn't feel good to me.

this stuff is hitting me extremely close to home on this reread because i like JUST came upon the revolution that i kinda did this? not to this extreme polarity, but it still resonates.

i was (kind of am still, it's in my nature) a very bossy and controlling person, and i lost an entire circle of friends because they were rightfully tired of me telling them what to do and being so self-righteous all the time. so when trying to make new friends after that, i turned on people-pleaser mode. and i'm kind of still stuck there and trying to strike a balance between being a doormat people-pleaser and being a huge bitch that wants everyone to behave how *i* want them to. it is a hard balance to strike. its hard knowing when i should stand up and say something and when i should let something go, so most often i let things go. and OFTENTIMES i live to regret it. "i should have said something" is something i've been finding myself thinking A LOT in recent months...

and its tricky, because it feels good when people i respect say they approve of me. i feel happy that someone likes me. but sometimes that has come at the cost of sacrificing parts of myself. and it can feel good in the moment, to feel connected to someone like that, but then one day you wake up full of dread because you dont know who the fuck you are anymore. (vriska) didn't really ever get to that point, or, she never voiced it. vriska points out that shes become an entirely different person, but she does it in a way that uhhh fucking sucks lol! and is not helpful, because vriska's not exactly doing great, herself! she shows off her hypocrisy DELICIOUSLY in this scene.

she calls (vriska) selfish for.... being dead, essentially. and she justifies all her own selfish actions with it being "for the greater good," just as she always has. this is par for the course with vriska

^ i looooove this part right here where she sidesteps the fact that she did in fact plan to go fight jack but john punched her in the face to stop her. "different shit happened!" (i actually made the exact same decisions as you, but an outside force changed things and now i feel superior to you because i got a serendipitous opportunity that you didnt)

this whole conversation hits hard with me. it literally sounds similar to conversations ive had with myself! it's hard to not want to side with (vriska) i mean she does feel like the more reasonable one in this conversation and has had more time to think and reflect on herself, and vriska is being a fucking asshole about it, but like, i don't think either of them is exactly Right?

like, vriska has a bit of a point that (vriska) doesnt seem to notice that she's gone people-pleaser mode. but (vriska) thinks this is what happiness is. she despises her old self who was obsessed with inserting herself into everything and feeling the need to be The Best and prove herself as such, to catastrophic outcomes. so of course she wants to separate herself from that as much as possible and strive to become the opposite of it. someone who doesnt care about shit, and who lets other people make decisions for her instead of her making the decisions for everyone against their will. i think (vriska) was on the right track, but just couldn't really... Get There without the right support. and meenah was definitely not the right support.

but anyways like. vriska yelling at (vriska) at how disgusted she is with her is so sickeningly similar to me, looking back and realizing that i used to like.. stand up for myself more. if someone said some shit i didnt like i TOLD them i had a problem. i didn't let people push me around. and i think god, what happened to me? i became a weak loser that bends to peoples idea of what i should be instead of being myself. am i really happy?

but its not like i was better off before, either. vriska still isn't right. yeah i didnt let people boss me around, because i bossed THEM around. when i told people i had a problem with them i was MEAN about it. i said rude shit unnecessarily. i made everything about me and didn't care about what other people thought.

my past self and my "current" self (maybe like, my 'a few months ago self' i like to think im working through it but im still having trouble lol) are disgusted with each other. im disgusted that i used to straight up bully people all the time, and past me is disgusted that i seemed to have stopped having convictions, that i let other people decide who i should be, etc.

neither of them are really happy, but (vriska) sure seems a lot kinder, at least. she's made progress, but in a way that benefits other people more than it does herself.

also i love vriska saying "what happened to not letting shit get to you because you always knew you were better than the one slinging it" that is such utter bullshit. she is ALWAYS letting stuff get to her. all of her god damn actions are because she lets stuff get to her. everything she does is to prove herself. the cycle of revenge shit?? yeah totally didn't let it get to you. thats why you killed aradia and blinded terezi. because you were just so totally better than them and not letting it get to you. this stuff:

yeah. letting it roll off your back. lol

anyways back to meenah and (vriska)

meenah recognizes this vulnerability in (vriska) and it scares her. she does the whole "im abandoning you... for your own good..." thing, which... sucks! as you said, this whole situation just fucken sucks, man.

(vriska) basically admits that at this point, without meenah, she's lost. she let meenah mold her into what she wanted, and to lose her would be to lose herself.

but i mean i don't think there was another way this could've gone. (vriska) was essentially meenah's rebound after aranea (and vriska is her rebound after (vriska) lol) and it's just.. ALL bad. its just... everyone here has such deep personal issues that they cant help but let effect each other, yknow? meenah realizes that her issues are effecting (vriska) and thinks that removing herself from the situation is best. maybe it is? it turns out okay for (vriska) in the end, at least. as "okay" as she can possibly get, i guess.

i don't know. there's a lot here! it all just hurts and sucks. teens, man. how it is.

this is just my (very personal, frankly) interpretation of the events, idk. i think i said a lot here without actually saying anything all that substantial, as i feel like i tend to do. i just resonate with vriska really hard, what and you gave me an opportunity to ramble about it lol

#asks #enviousennui #sams reading homestuck again #vriska #(vriska)#meenah

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twopoppies · 2 years

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I usually don't comment on stuff like this, because I don't make a habit of pissing on people's parades, but some of the recent things people are using as "proof" (of bbg ending, of Larry communicating with us, etc) are really wild stretches.

And, I usually wouldn't let it bother me; I understand that people (especially newer larries) are just having fun. But, as someone who's been here for a long time and who was part of the fandom when "proof" really meant concrete, vetted, and consistent evidence, I think people are unaware of how creating, spreading, and encouraging these unsubstantiated stretches and theories only support the extremely damaging stereotype that larries are unhinged and that we can (and will) make a connection out of anything, if it suits our narrative. (Which is, literally, what hets and shippers do, so yeah, forgive me if I don't want to be lumped in with that crowd.)

When we talk about Larry signaling (through clothing, warnings, selfies, the bears, etc), I think it's really, really important to remember the context in which those things happened.

They were both banging on the glass closet and seemingly seeding a potential coming out. They were at the height of their 'enemies' narrative and banned from being seen interacting, even while they were living out of each other's pockets. They were restricted by extremely abusive public identities (homophobe and serial womanizer) and contract clauses. They were making music and money for oppressive management and labels, none of which was directly contributing to or even hinting at potential personal career growth outside One Direction. They were signaling not only because it's all they had in terms of connecting with their community, but as an act of extreme rebellion and as a means of winning over even an inch of personal freedom and self-expression. (Remember, Niall wasn't even allowed to keep his natural hair color.)

And, while yes, Harry and Louis are still heavily closeted and being made to participate in (especially in Louis' case) extremely vile and abusive stunts, the context, in terms of their need to be seen (whether it be as their own people, queer people, or as a couple), has actually changed. In terms of self-expression, they're both making music that resonates with their creative identities, that they have some level of control over, and that contribute to them, personally, as individual artists. This means they actually have a personal stake in whether or not their projects do well because its a direct indicator of whether they get to continue making music that they love. Taking that into consideration, its unlikely that they want to overshadow the soul of those projects by slipping in all these little clues about their relationship into their promo. They’ve also (thanks mostly to the fans) found other ways of connecting to the queer community (which is an entirely different objective from wanting people to know about their relationship, specifically.)

To be really honest, I think they’ve actually made a collective decision to work harder to protect the privacy of their relationship, even behind the scenes, for many reasons. (Harris Reed’s recent interview, where he mentioned not really knowing Harry all that well, but alluded to leaving space for his queerness is what swayed me the most.) Being older, and having a lot more at stake (personally and professionally), makes me think they’re now (maybe in the last four or so years) very, very selective about who they share this part of their life with, one, because they each have a lot more to lose now if they’re outed, but also because their relationship is their top priority, and as Harry has said (and no doubt learned), a relationship has never benefitted from being made public (and we have to remember that even “within the confines of the industry” is still very, very “public”).

But, I digress. My point is, they've been together for twelve years, they've written hundreds upon hundreds of love songs to each other, they have their love story tattooed all over their skin. I get if you, individually, need to read into every little clue to prove to yourself they're still together, but don’t confuse that with them needing us to know it.

Again, I'm not saying this to piss on anyone's parade. I love a Larry proof to death and god knows I believe in the real ones with my whole chest (Still the One still gives me chills, Princess Park is fucking perfection, ‘waiting to wrap your legs around me' and ‘tired eyes are the death of me’ are tattooed on my heart). What I'm saying is people need to take context into consideration to keep from devaluing and trivializing actual, solid, vetted Larry proof and signaling because the only people and reputations these stretches and theories are hurting are Larries’.

Anon, if I wasn’t already married, I would marry you. THANK YOU.

#fandom dynamics #for newbies #I was going to add some thoughts #but really you made such good points #I don’t even want to dilute it

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butchhamlet · 6 months

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hi :) i don't know if it's really my place to say since i'm not sure if i actually have ocd or not; but as someone who's struggled with a lot of horrible taboo intrusive thoughts, guilt, rumination spirals and possibly trich this summer your ocd hamlet post really resonated with me.

i've been rereading hamlet and hamlet being an ocd sufferer just reframes so much of his acting and his “antic disposition”. to me it feels like he’s putting on masks upon masks upon masks not just because he NEEDS the control (if it’s all an act it means i don’t actually want to hurt anyone right? if i’m pretending to be insane i’m not actually insane?) but also because he’s afraid of being known. like my deepest fear is probably anyone knowing the extent of my intrusive thoughts and the things i feel guilty about and obsess over. so if he says all this nonsense nobody will know what’s happening in his mind—which i guess was probably the original intention anyway, the idea that claudius wouldn’t suspect him of treason if he acted insane, but i think it still fits.

there’s also his first soliloquy, “o, that this too [solid/sullied/sallied] flesh would melt, / thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” i like the reading of “sullied” because it really highlights that feeling of being contaminated. hamlet feels tainted by the immorality in the danish court, but if we’re going by the ocd reading, he also feels tainted by the horrible intrusive thoughts and obsessions he has (tying in with what you’d said about him having sexual intrusive thoughts rather than um. an o*dipus complex.) the disgust towards the flesh can also be related to physical compulsions like body repetitive behaviours (e.g. skin picking).

this one is a bit “trust me bro” but the “i have of late, but wherefore i know not, lost all my mirth…” line is just. exactly what my experience was. i’ve always had intrusive thoughts, but one afternoon everything just Went Downhill and suddenly i couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple weeks. i’d be normal for a while before it all started happening again. again, i know in the play he DOES know why he “lost all his mirth”—he saw his father’s ghost—but well.

the famous scene where he yells at ophelia too feels so striking. “get thee to a nunnery. why wouldst thou / be a breeder of sinners?” feels like such a PERSONAL fear of raising a child or being responsible for another life. obviously this isn’t unique to ocd but i imagine for people who have taboo themes (harm ocd, scrupulosity ocd, especially pocd) it’s especially prominent. i feel like the word “sinners” is really important because someone with moral/scrupulosity/religion-related ocd would be very preoccupied about the idea of sinning, and that guilt is something you would never wish on anyone, least of all a child. (HE wouldn't know this, but ocd has genetic factors so even though i don't know if i have it, the possibility of passing this guilt and anxiety on puts me off ever having kids even more).

that ties in to the next lines too: he says, “i am myself indifferent honest, but yet / i could accuse me of such things that it were better my / mother had not borne me. …. what should fellows such as i do / crawling between heaven and earth?” hamlet admits himself he’s “indifferent honest”—rationally he’s probably not the Worst Person In The World Ever—but in the next lines he does seem to consider himself the Worst Person In The World Ever. that kind of all or nothing thinking (small mistakes puts you in the same category as the worst, most morally repugnant criminals) is apparently really common in real event ocd. (https://ocdspecialists.com/real-event-ocd/) hamlet goes on to list everything wrong with him (“i am very proud, revengeful, ambitious…”) which itself feels so much like an intrusive thought. that self-condemnation just feels like he's trying to cover up his anxieties about not being a good person but telling everyone he's not a good person so nobody gets the wrong idea. (he's not an inherently bad person, but he can't possibly convince himself of this because what if he believes that and he starts doing bad things? what if not beating himself up makes him lose control and become even worse? better keep suffering to keep himself in check.)

sorry for clogging up your inbox!! i really wanted to put this out there somewhere but i didn’t want to put it out on my blog since i’ve never really talked about potentially having ocd (? i don’t seem to ALWAYS have it maybe i was just going through a rough patch mid 2023). again i don’t have a diagnosis or anything i’m just going by my own experience and hopefully i’d read enough about it for this to not be way off—though please correct me if i am!! hope you’re having a really nice day, thanks for reading this if you made it all the way through :)

!!! i'm so glad the post resonated with you! honestly, i've gotten some of the sweetest messages about that post from people who saw themselves reflected it in it, which is astonishing to me because i wrote it basically for myself. so it makes me very happy that it means something to you :]

not just because he NEEDS the control (if it’s all an act it means i don’t actually want to hurt anyone right? if i’m pretending to be insane i’m not actually insane?) but also because he’s afraid of being known. like my deepest fear is probably anyone knowing the extent of my intrusive thoughts and the things i feel guilty about and obsess over

YEAH. YEAH. YEAH! i sometimes catch myself having the paranoid thought that people around me can read my mind--i don't actually believe this, but i have a simmering fear of my Worst Thoughts sort of seeping out of me, so reframing hamlet in this light is. ohhhhh man. and sullied really is such a good word for it! the stains! the contamination! miasma theory was right <- JOKE

(also, "if i'm pretending to be insane, i'm not actually insane, right?" is the kind of thought that ocd will chase in CIRCLES, my god.)

i’ve always had intrusive thoughts, but one afternoon everything just Went Downhill and suddenly i couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple weeks. i’d be normal for a while before it all started happening again

BTW ANON THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AT AGE 14. SHAKING YOUR HAND. DOING A FANCY CODED HANDSHAKE WITH YOU. it really can get so much drastically better or worse at once and it's often (in my experience) hard to tell why, but even when it's not hard to tell why--i think the reasons for Losing His Mirth can be multiple. like, my OCD always gets way worse when i'm stressed about unrelated things. i can see a hamlet whose father's death pushes him over the edge into his worst-ever symptom flare, which exacerbates the grief, which exacerbates the obsessions, which...

i feel like the word “sinners” is really important because someone with moral/scrupulosity/religion-related ocd would be very preoccupied about the idea of sinning, and that guilt is something you would never wish on anyone, least of all a child. (HE wouldn't know this, but ocd has genetic factors so even though i don't know if i have it, the possibility of passing this guilt and anxiety on puts me off ever having kids even more).

YEAH. GOD. OH, MAN. anon your fucking MIND. (i personally read hamlet as having religious components to his OCD; this is at least in part me projecting lol but i think there's evidence throughout the play that he is a deeply religiously conflicted person, & this line is part of that.)

(he's not an inherently bad person, but he can't possibly convince himself of this because what if he believes that and he starts doing bad things? what if not beating himself up makes him lose control and become even worse? better keep suffering to keep himself in check.)

ocd will literally be like "okay so i'm not allowed to believe i'm a good person because if i let myself off the hook for one second i will become complacent and self-justifying and then become a bad person. could this possibly be maladaptive and self-harmful thinking? no, it's the everyone else who is wrong."

AND ABSOLUTELY DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR ANYTHING! i fucking LOVE talking about ocd hamlet this ask was SUCH a delight to receive. me clicking on this and seeing how long it was

also tbh anon it sounds like you are definitely having symptoms that could be grouped under OCD, and ultimately diagnostic labels are just the words we apply to groups of symptoms. which is to say, i can't armchair-diagnose you, but looking into coping skills/tips for OCD might help whether you "have" it or not!

thank YOU my comrade for the brilliant thoughts and analysis :3

#max.txt #asks #also i did have a good day. woooooooooo #hamlet #ocd hamlet #< need to start tagging this. for my archives

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ghostflowerhotpotch · 10 months

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what's your favourite moment from the movie and why?

Shoot, that's such a difficult question; I really love this movie a lot so choosing is hard.

The answer may end up changing at some point, but the beginning of the movie (aka before the starting credits appear,) is my favorite.

I know this is a kind of a cop-out answer, especially because the reason I call this my favorite, is not so much because of what happens in the beginning (even though I still love the scenes for what they are,) but because the beginning of this movie is when I fell in love with it.

I wasn't going to give a long response but let's face it I can't.

The rest of this response would be part anecdotical, part praising the hell about this movie, and probably, some incomprehensible squealing because I love this movie so much is hard to find the right words.

Let's start with the anecdotical part.

I am not a movie person in the slightest, before last month I wasn't even a big fan of going to the movies; honestly, for most of my life the big screen, the sound, and such weren't enough to make it better that watch it in the comfort of my home.

This movie changed that for me. I had no way to run the numbers but I wouldn't be surprised if I had gone to the theatre this past month more times than I had gotten the past 10 years. I am going to be certain that's going to be the case by the time this movie stops showing up in theatres.

I decided to go and see this movie when it came out because I have Fridays free, and while I really liked ITSV, it wasn't my favorite movie, just one a enjoyed a lot but wasn't able to tick all the boxes for me to get up there.

Why go to see it when it came out? Because I didn't trust the internet wouldn't spoil me and even if the first film wasn't in my top 3, and while I wasn't sure the movie could live up to the bar the first set (Especially since the trailer didn't convince me.) One way or another, I want to see it for myself with as little information as I could so I would judge the movies for merit alone.

Because of the type of movie it was, the regular seating had already run out, so I ended up getting an extra expensive viewing. I remember seating in the theatre with my also overpriced food (Since I didn't go to see movies often may as well,) wondering if this was going to be worth all this money.

Let's than 20 minutes in, the movie proves to me it's worth that and much more.

This, this was the shot that I saw when I thought "Oh it was worth it."

Is hard to describe how hard this movie hits and let me remind you, this shot is before it hits the 15-minute mark. I had never liked something this much this quickly.

I remember being glued to my seat, absolutely baffled how in so little time this movie was able to make me adore it.

The beautiful art direction, oh I wish I understood art better because I know there is so much more going on that I don't have the vocabulary for it.

I caught on other little details, like for me it was obvious how the fact that Gwen's apartment had warm colors except for her room was a representation of how much she is isolating herself, how she herself is blue by drowning in her isolation, and how she only became warm by hugging her father, the only bond he has left with someone who is active in her life.

Seeing Gwen switch between her civilian self and costume, thinking to myself to what degree she is stuck to her costume that she feels the responsibility of the mantle in her bones even when there is nothing going on.

I have 0 music knowledge really, but Self-love is my favorite song in the entire movie, and part of it is hearing the lyrics resonate with what's going on the screen.

It's funny how I went from really not caring too much about something that happened to a character, to "The first four times I watched this movie I was crying at this part."

Granted, I know exactly why. Execution, time, and tone play heavily into this, after wall, we went from the moment being said in passing to having the flashback of how it plays it out, and is of course, a lot worse.

It reminds me of Encanto in a way, where Alma talking about the death of her husband doesn't come with a twist, in fact none of what she told us is really new information. However because we are seeing things from her true perspective rather that just being told a sanitized version of it, it hits all the harder.

Which is exactly what happens here.

(I didn't include the scenes of Gwen with Peter because the ATSV makes me teary eyed and I already talked a lot about it in other posts, and the one in ITSV is funny because is deadass Peter B model. That also plays a part.)

And this brings us to another reason why this sequence made me fall in love with this movie: Gwen.

For this, I need to talk about my opinion of Gwen in ITSV: I liked her, and that's it.

I thought her design was cool, I adored the way she move in combat as if she was dancing. I liked that she was a good fighter and so put together. If this movie would have come out a few years earlier, I know my teenage self would have had a massive crush on her.

Yet that was as much as I could say about her, the movie didn't give us as much time to get to know her, and while the cool, badass persona is fun, I need more than that to like a character.

Then this movie comes, and has me crying for Gwen at the beginning of the movie.

I came from barely having any attachment to this character aside from liking the aesthetics, to wanting to hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. As far as I am concerned she is my daughter.

(Let's ignore the fact I am not even 10 years older than her and in no way, shape or form ready to be a parent.)

I don't really have an analysis to make this, this is just a good joke that I like.

It does however kind of illustrate my point now, doesn't it?

This part is moving, is emotional, is an artistical marvel and this post doesn't even mention Vulture (a lot of people had talked about that already, including people who know enough about animation that can truly appreciate it; so I will just say my jaw was on the floor by that point.) All while being entertaining as heck.

Movies tend to be too long for me, in fact, I saw the new Indiana Jones recently and I was grasping for my phone around the 50 minute mark. Not to say the movie is bad (not really my taste but that's on me,) but to illustrate that this isn't my type of thing.

The new Indiana movie is only 10 minutes longer than ATSV, yet ATSV is the movie I had watched MULTIPLE TIMES already, and still sit through without being the least bit bored. It doesn't matter the number of times I had said this already because I still can't believe it.

And is at the beginning of this movie that it encapsulates the essence as to why it works so well, this is the part that reminds me why I had gotten to watch this on the big screen the number of times I had, is the reason why this movie has basically become my comfort watch, the thing I see when I am stressed out and I want to immerse myself in something I love.

I said at the beginning is a cop-out answer, and this is why; the beginning has all the part that reminds me why I adore the movie to the degree I had done, and while I love so many scenes, this is the part that comes to mind when I think of favorite.

#gwen stacy #ask #spider gwen #atsv #itsv #across the spiderverse #into the spiderverse #I try to put my love for this movie into words so it may be a bit unhinged #but I said it when I did the introduction of this blog #I love this movie more than it is comprehensible

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grimweathers · 2 months

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grimweathers please elaborate on the magicians: it is not good it is not bad but a secret third thing and i would like to know more.

i believe there is someone named quentin in it, who may not be the guy with the silly sidepart shoulderlength hair and i assume it is about magicians and feelings (this i picked up from the gifs you reblog from time to time)

is it about magicians? why do you like it? why do you think it's good? why do you think it's bad?

OH BOY. where do i even begin. cracks knuckles. this is going to be so, so long and not even cover everything. i could truly write like a million words about this and not get to everything probably.

there were 5 seasons of the show, and i loved it up until the s4 finale, where they Ruined Everything. SUPER long story short: bury your gays trope, very triggering suicide at the end of s4 after building up a theme of hope despite pain.

i did not watch s5 but i know it does not do anything to redeem the show lol.

the main character is quentin coldwater—he's a clinically depressed bi dude who has always and continues to struggle with suicide ideation. (the show literally opens with him in an institution). he discovers he has magic, he starts going to this magic grad school, and the show branches out from there. it gets pretty dark. (but it is also very, very funny).

in the beginning of s1, when quentin starts going to this school, another character tells him: "magic comes from pain." the whole show (up until the s4 finale) essentially works on subverting that statement—there is SO much pain, internally and externally; there are monstrous people and things in the world, but it's about finding hope despite that pain.

to me, as a queer person who has also struggled with suicide ideation for a long long time, this was a really really meaningful show! i love portal fantasy shows (they eventually leave this school and go to a magical world). i really saw myself in quentin for a variety of reasons even beyond the depression and the queerness. and so this show just had a lot of things that resonated with me AND it had this message of hope. (also—it was just a lot of fun too).

and then in the s4 finale, quentin commits suicide (framed as a "heroic sacrifice," but there is a whole scene in the afterlife where he questions whether he actually made the sacrifice because he's been wanting to die and maybe it was a good excuse to do so). and his death is permanent. (other characters had died and come back to life at this point, but it was made clear this death was Final final).

it came out of left field. before the episode aired, i did think he might die, but i certainly did not think it would be permanent. it was genuinely very triggering. this post says it better: https://grimweathers.tumblr.com/post/689090800065429504

there was just sooo much behind-the-scenes messiness and weirdness that happened afterwards, but the main thing that still stands out to me is the showrunners' reaction to the backlash. people were really devastated and hurt and confused but the showrunners were extremely callous about it. they had, up until that point, talked about how meaningful it was that so many fans related to quentin's mental health journey and that they felt seen. but with the backlash, suddenly they were acting like we were just silly fragile snowflakes who just couldn't handle an edgy show. they were very transparently annoyed that people weren't falling over themselves to praise them for killing quentin off this way. (before the finale aired, one of the showrunners had literally said that people were going to write ACADEMIC essays about what a great finale it was because of the ~complexity~ or whatever lmfao. he was especially butthurt about it all i think)

they weirdly somehow tried to frame killing quentin off as a Edgy But Woke move because, hey, they killed off the main white guy!! whoa!!! weird that you guys care so much about the white guy and not the female characters!! (who, by the way, the writers eventually completely maligned). but, like—for one thing, the writers are the ones who made this entire show revolve around him. there is a great cast, but so much of the overall theme of the show hinges on quentin's journey. of course fans are going to care about him? (and yet! they opened s5 with a VERY pointed scene about with a chauvinistic literal pig man whining "but i need a MAN to be the HERO!! only a MAN can SOLVE THIS QUEST" to a female character).

when people pointed out like, hey, yes he was a white guy, but he was also queer? he's not like. a generic straight white dude with no problems who's suddenly the chosen one. the writers tried to backpedal and say he was straight, actually; he just was experimenting (despite the explicitly romantic plot line where, in an alternate-but-not timeline, he falls in love with his male best friend AND HAS A FAMILY WITH HIM AND GROWS OLD WITH HIM???? many of the gifsets you see from me are from this storyline! you can VISIBLY SEE that they framed it very romantically even without the kissing! it is not just fan projection!) (there's also the fact that they had already trotted out hale appleman, the actor who plays said love interest, and is actually queer himself, to do an interview about how meaningful it was to have this explicitly queer storyline in this show) (he eventually did an interview where he says he felt his queerness was just used for pr).

there is so much. SOOOO much and i am not the best writer and it's been a long time since i watched the show (it really hurt me so bad that i have not been able to watch any of the show again since it aired) but i think that is the best overview i can do at the moment lol. i would recommend the second link (the one about the behind the scenes messiness) if you want more info but. yeah.

if you made it to the end, i applaud you lol!!

#dead-rabbit-comics #the magicians #the magicians mess #river talks

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merrycrisis-if · 10 months

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Just read the new update and I'm heartbroken, I'm aro/ace but playing an allo character, but still, Qiu's scenes were all so relatable but I was relating more to Qiu than MC yk?

I know how its to feel like you have to live life like your parents want you to so they'll be proud, I also know the feeling of thinking you have to give your happiness away to achieve those expectation, and then thinking that "once you're there" you'll just have it all back, but you can't always get it back, be it people or your happiness or your childhood.

Kinda went off track but anyways, it was so beautiful, your way with words is something out of this world, I love your writing so much you're one of my favorite IF authors!!!! (⁠๑⁠♡⁠⌓⁠♡⁠๑⁠)

Ahhh that's so interesting!! I love that you're relating to Qiu—MC's MC/"narrator" of the story, but ultimately, Merry Crisis is a work of fiction, and I really want folks/readers to relate to/resonate with all the characters, right!

And like, I think what Qiu's going through is absolutely something that probably connects with lots of people—being young and dumb and cowardly and not prioritizing the things that we want most in the world, and instead going for the things we're told we need instead, because it's safer and it doesn't split our heart right down the middle.

After all, I personally feel like the mentality of "postponing happiness" i.e. I can go after what I really want after I get a stable job, earn enough to afford a house, and fulfill my parents' expectations etc. etc. is so prevalent in our culture today (and in the past too). It's like what you said! "the feeling of thinking you have to give your happiness away to achieve those expectations, and then thinking that "once you're there" you'll just have it all back, but you can't always get it back, be it people or your happiness or your childhood."

The realization that life can't be lived "on hold". That you gotta go for the things you want, immediately, because time doesn't stand still for and wait for "later".

Anyway, thank you so much for your super sweet ask!!! Love you, hope you have a great day!

#merry crisis #if #interactive fiction #asks #dreams

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jennyboom21 · 1 year

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Dianna Agron is running late — she’s stuck on the subway. I have no problem believing this because I am on the exact same train a few cars away, as we learn when she sends me a heads-up text. My phone slowly receives a selfie of Agron waving through a grainy train window, face curtained by long light-brown hair, along with another message about how tickled she is that we’re sharing a classic New York experience. And it’s one we continue when we finally make it to The Odeon, the iconic Tribeca bistro. “It's been a staple since the 1980s, which is what I love about this place,” she says in her lilting voice as we mull over the menu. “This is a place that was happening when I was born and didn't even know that it would be waiting for me when I moved to New York City.” We get two dirty martinis and a plate of fries before gleefully cheering to being in our 30s. “I love this time, though,” she adds.

Agron has been thinking a lot about her 30s, and not just because we’re meeting up two weeks before her 37th birthday. Her new movie, Clock, out now on Hulu, is a sci-fi horror film that explores the immense societal pressures women, in particular those without children, face in that decade of their lives. But the film’s messages about making your own choices also resonate within the arc of her career. Agron spent six seasons on the pop culture juggernaut that was Glee — and enduring the intense public scrutiny that came with it — before more recently finding acclaim with a string of indie movies like Shiva Baby and Novitiate. With Clock, Agron pushed herself again. There are big action scenes (hanging from cliffs, elbow-deep gore), as well as dark emotional depths (involving painful family secrets coming to life). “Collected experience really does add up,” she says. “And I think that the life I've lived the last 10 years in some ways has been more magnificent and more challenging than my more formative years.”

Lanvin coat, SKIMS bra, Talent’s own trousers, Pamela Love earrings

Agron never thought she’d try her hand at horror, but the Clock script hit too close to home to resist. She plays Ella, a 30-something who doesn’t want kids but eventually gives into the pressure of prying family and friends and enrolls in an experimental clinical trial, under the leadership of Dr. Simmons (Melora Hardin), that promises to help women who don’t experience having a biological clock. “The moment I turned 30,” Agron says, “the amount of questions that I felt were far too personal — and from truly everyone — just intensified year by year.”

Even for an actor who came up in the Perez Hilton era of celebrity blogging and is used to skirting prying questions, Agron still finds herself surprised sometimes. Just last year, she was on a red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival promoting the sci-fi drama Acidman when a journalist asked her out of the blue if her mother’s name, Mary, would be “top of the list” for her. “I truly had no idea what she was talking about, so I asked for clarification and she said, ‘The top of your baby list,’” Agron says. “I said, with all of the kindness, ‘You have no idea what my personal journey is. And I'm quite surprised that you asked me that at my workplace when I'm here to discuss a film that I'm in.’” The message didn’t land. “She had no remorse. She just bopped along to the next question.”

Michael Kors Collection clothing and belt, Agmes earrings

Clock only took on more meaning throughout production. Agron was in Texas shooting the last day of principal photography when the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked. “It did not feel good, that's for sure,” she says. “But then felt in some ways good that we were making [a movie that speaks] to some of the perils of being a woman and making choices that are more aligned with your own sense of self, as opposed to making choices for other people.” She dips a fry into one of the many condiments we’ve ordered. “All it takes is a film or a piece of journalism [for people] to open their eyes to different experiences that they could never imagine for themselves and have no personal touch points for. As a woman and one who very much loves women and loves the immense and enormous abilities that we have to carry so much, I wish that we had to carry less.”

When writer-director Alexis Jacknow was looking to cast Ella, she knew what she wanted: “It was very important to me that that character just already have a natural, grounded nature, a gravitas to her.” And she knew right away after meeting her that Agron could deliver. “There was absolutely nothing she wouldn’t do,” Jacknow says. “She pushed me, and there was just no hesitation on her part. She showed up every single day, 110%, and gave us everything.”

That is not an exaggeration. During one scene, Ella cracks open eggs into a frying pan and begins to eat them raw with a spoon. Jacknow didn’t want anyone to flaunt food safety guidelines, but Agron thought the only way to sell the scene was to actually do it. “Beef tartare, a whiskey sour,” Agron says, listing all the indulgences with raw ingredients she already enjoys. (There are reasons those are safer than raw eggs, but just go with it.) Jacknow proposed a compromise: Agron could put the raw eggs in her mouth as long as she spat them instead of swallowing. Agron agreed — or at least pretended to. “I winked at our [director of photography] and motioned at him like, ‘Don’t cut,’” she says, laughing. “I go to pick up the egg, I swallow it and go to take another bite. And I just hear, ‘Dianna, what the f*ck?!’”

Dries Van Noten clothing, Khiry earrings

Agron hasn’t always felt such autonomy in her career. When she was in her early twenties, she booked a role in a “big studio film” that, though ultimately a positive experience, involved an eye-opening screen test. “It was like, ‘We don’t like her hair like that, we need her to be more girly. We don’t like those clothes,’” she recalls. “I kept getting moved off set, changed, put back on stage, taken off again. I didn’t feel that I had any say in the matter, even if I had suggested something nicely. I was just a product at that point.”

Glee did not exactly help things. Agron says she was the last person cast for the show and describes getting the job as nothing short of fate. She grew up watching musicals with her mother in hotels on account of her father’s job as a manager at Hyatt. “Look, I moved to Los Angeles and I set out to find a musical. They were my absolute bread and butter. I told anybody that would listen to me, ‘I really want to do a musical,’” she says. “And [agents] were like, ‘No, try to be on Broadway.’ I just had this staunch faith that I was meant to be in Los Angeles and I would find a musical. And then it happened.”

But while she credits the show with changing her life, the show’s explosive popularity tested her boundaries. “There was a moment in time where there was not only a lack of acknowledgement in respect to personal space, there have been times where I've been put in a headlock and kissed on a plane. There have been times where mothers were grabbing you by the arm to meet and take a photo with their child,” Agron says. “There were so many personal attacks in a way that are just truly not what you do to a human. That feels specific to that time and that intensity of the feelings that people were feeling watching the show.”

So she moved to New York in 2016, eager to escape Los Angeles and its “predatory nature of people with lenses down there that just doesn’t exist in the same way in other places.” For a few years, she split her time between London — from 2016 to 2020, Agron was married to Winston Marshall of British folk-rock group Mumford & Sons — but now calls New York “my only home.” “Following my personal life is really not going to yield anything that interesting,” Agron says of public attention. And it’s true, the few times I tactfully (I hope) bring up topics that might lead Agron to open up about other aspects of her personal life, she gently deflects them. It’s clear she’s figured out a way to maintain her privacy while still being incredibly personal in the context of her work.

In New York, she’s able to follow her muse more freely. She’s reconnected with music through a string of residencies at the famed Café Carlyle, where she’s performed jazz standards and ‘60s covers. She served as a producer on Acidman and would like to do more behind-the-scenes work. And she’s relishing the chance to be a “waving the Jewish flag” kind of actor, choosing projects like Shiva Baby and As They Made Us that let her honor and explore her heritage. “I went to Jewish weekend school and Wednesday school for my entire upbringing up until my Bat Mitzvah and spent a lot of time with Holocaust survivors,” she says. “So it was a weird experience to then have many people say [in Hollywood], ‘You don’t look Jewish.’ It is weird to have somebody deny you your own personal experience.”

Next, she’ll make her return to television with The Chosen One, a multilingual adaptation of Mark Millar’s American Jesus comic book that follows a 12-year-old boy who gains the biblical powers of Jesus after a freak accident. She’s bonded with the younger actors on the show who have asked her for career advice — a full-circle moment for the now bonafide industry veteran. They’ve even watched Glee and marveled to Agron about how young she looks and seems. Her response? “I am!” she says, laughing.

By this point, our martini glasses have long been empty. Neither of us want to brave the train again, so Agron walks me up the street and, like a true New Yorker, gives me directions with a McNally Jackson tote slung over her shoulder. She gives me a hug, then turns to head deeper into Tribeca, forging a path all of her own.

#this could explain Taylor’s delayed tweet lol #Dianna Agron x photoshoot #dianna Agron x bustle 2023 #dianna Agron x fashion #swiftgron

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 11 months

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SPIDER-VERSE On The Brain

Massive SPIDER-VERSE *spoilers* are ahead... Do not read on if you haven't seen the movie...

It's been four days since I checked out SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE in theaters... And I'm still processing such a rich layer cake of a movie with all this stuff going on, just the sheer ambition of it... And... This story isn't even over, that's the mind-blowing part...

This movie did have pretty strong arcs for Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and even Peter B. Parker to some extent, in addition to introducing a major conflict and a soon-to-be-primary antagonist in Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099... While a larger threat, The Spot, still looms, and there's even a closer to home threat for Miles himself as the picture wraps up...

There's so much more to go, assuming that BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE is also going to be a pretty long movie. That this movie was, in the planning stages, getting to be so big that they had to break it up into two parts? Who knows what we're in for...

I feel a lot of ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE's narrative brilliance is within its yet to be resolved conflict...

Canon...

Back in 2018, INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE came onto the scene with its dynamic new way of rendering CGI imagery in an animated feature, while throwing in eye-candy flourishes and other dynamic art styles to really make that movie pop amongst other mainstream animated movies *and* the entire comic book movie sphere. In a neat sense, this groundbreaking new way to make an animated feature strengthened the inclusive and quite simple overall message of the story: ANYONE can be Spider-Man.

Now, if INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE said "anyone can be Spider-Man", ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE asks what that "anyone" must go through to be Spider-Man.

Can Spider-Man truly be anyone?

What is "canon"?

Miguel is adamant that every Spider, from man to woman to animal to insect, must experience some major tragedy in order to truly be a Spider-Something. A loss of a family member, close friend, or any kind of loved one... That's that about that, that's the nature of the "Spider-Verse", it is set in stone, no other way! Seems to contradict "Anyone can be Spider-Man", right? Apparently Miles can't have a relatively normal non-costumed life, someone he loves HAS to be axed... And that's the case with... How many Spiders? Over 280?

... which quite frankly sounds very controlling and lacking in imagination. And kinda dumb on paper. Miles knows that, even... It all relates back to what his mother and father want for him vs. his ambitions and desires.

"Nah, imma do my own thing"...

Such a liberating line, during such a literally and figuratively heavy moment in the film...

Between Miles' arc and Gwen's story, this autistic queer right here felt something quite resonant from all of this... I needed to see and hear these classic story tropes pulled off in such a great new way at a crucial time in my life...

Now, this works even beyond one's personal journey and how a film relates to someone: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE seems cleverly critical of contemporary superhero movie culture and most nerd-dom, from its most toxic swamps to its most boring offices. Adherence to "canon", shackling oneself to hard-set rules that mustn't be deviated from. It's especially potent coming from a movie series where the main Spider-Man is a black/Puerto Rican teenager, and his pals include a trans Spider-Woman, an older adult Peter Parker who has a child, and many more.

The insistence that Spider-Man has to be this one thing, i.e. Miguel running a Spider-Society that makes sure all Spider-People have that very "Uncle Ben" tragedy happen to them, with NO ANOMALIES... Miles' whole existence as Spider-Man, of course, is revealed to be said anomaly... In that a spider from another universe, Earth-42, got to his, Earth-1610, and bit him... Messing everything up... He's even blamed for Earth-1610 Peter Parker's death, to add insult to injury!

Or DID he mess things up?

Maybe "canon" is a bunch of bullshit.

The very kind of thing that shackles whole characters and franchises down, instead of letting those who come to the sandbox play with the toys THEIR way. INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE came to CG animation and didn't do the Pixar style, didn't do what most other mainstream animated movies were doing, didn't follow the accepted "standard" or "canon"... A friend of mine, in his review of ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, noted something very interesting: This also ties into how a lot of very online animation fans insist that every new movie now must be like SPIDER-VERSE. And like PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH. And like any other animated movie that they consider "top tier" or "based" or "cinema". Including a relatively-panned Mario movie. Screw off if you're Pixar making "mid" movies like TURNING RED and ELEMENTAL, or Disney Animation making equally "mid" movies like ENCANTO or RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON... "Canon" in feature animation, apparently, is now movies that must be like SPIDER-VERSE or PUSS IN BOOTS or whatever. Animated movie "requirements". You have to have scary dark villains, you have to have the most amazing unseen animation style ever, you have to do it all THIS WAY...

This whole "canon" nonsense also ties into superhero movies in general, as well. Even comics, like a lot of runs of Spider-Man are apparently doing... especially in a time of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC movie-verse being clamped down by such hard continuity... That has only morphed into a bigger cluster-cuss, post-SPIDER-VERSE.

I remember when watching the LOKI Disney+ series, thinking... This series is trying to explain in FIVE 40-MINUTE EPISODES something INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE effortlessly explained in less than 5 MINUTES... Then you bring in the Doctor Strange follow-ups, all this stuff about "incursions". Incursions this, Sacred Timelines that... Why is this so goddamn convoluted and wracked head-to-toe with all these RULES? Other multiverse stories don't do this, and Marvel's characters span DECADES... And a big criticism of the recent MCU output is that the continuity, the canon... Doesn't allow for the characters to have their own unique stories, told by filmmakers with individual unique visions working within reasonable guidelines. I feel these two movies, along with EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, show what a multiverse story can still be in this day and age.

And by using Miguel's rule, ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE goes right for the jugular bearing its spider-fangs.

Anyone can be Spider-Man, Spider-Man can have ANY life.

May I also add? The Spot... He's not in the movie much, but his arc... Tying this back to the worst of toxic nerd culture. The Spot is shook by being called some villain of the week and everything else that happened to him (like getting conked by the very bagel from the first movie), and instead of using his weird abilities for something good, he's going to go great lengths to prove that he is not some villain of the week. To become a larger scale threat... And for what? To fill a literal hole in himself? What validity and happiness will this bring him? I see something similar in some aspects of nerd culture, where they take being wronged (I'll humorously compare this to being shoved into lockers, circa 1988) at some point in their life, and turning it into their literal villain origin story... Growing up to be the jocks that bullied them, growing up to be the ones making life harder for other people in the community... The very people complaining about how "w0ke" this movie is for having "forced diversity", the very people who also lob that stolen word at harmless things like the LITTLE MERMAID remake and virtually anything "W0ke Disney" puts out these days, the very people who had literal shit-fits over MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, every new STAR WARS movie, GHOSTBUSTERS 2016, SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER, new MUPPET BABIES, any new STAR TREK media, the list goes on and on... That's The Spot. Funny how some superhero movies, even animated superhero movies, have these villains who feel like they've been wronged and feel like they're entitled to something...

Just more texture to this ludicrously-textured layer cake movie... Yeah, CAKE itself is a big part of the movie, too. Look at that-

All this, amidst a backdrop of hundreds of Spider-People, a surrealistic smorgasbord of visual styles and animation techniques (Spider-Punk alone, YOWZA YOWZA YOWZA!), a multiverse-spanning story, and at the end... All of it tying back to who Miles Morales wants to be. How he wants to tell HIS story... When he defies Miguel on the train, it's a monumental moment...

And the story isn't even over yet... This movie is something special.

#spider man across the spiderverse spoilers #spider man across the spiderverse #spiderverse #across the spiderverse #unorganized thoughts #animated movies #personal thoughts

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mdhwrites · 1 year

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I'm sure I'd be called crazy by the fandom for this but I actually feel bad for Belos.

After the (obvious) reveal that he was a human I didn't like him, rather I hated the idea than the character, because I much more preferred the mysterious figure he was in s1. However the Wittebane brothers conflict was an interesting concept I was curious about until it got no resolution on how things escalated to the current situations.

So I agree Belos is boring (become so to me since mid S2), but I can't hate him.

Especially when it's SO obvious that the writers want me to hate him and they're so insistent about it. It was the same thing with Odalia too, (and Boscha to some degree). And when I can see through the stupid decisions these characters are made to do, despite being nonsensical, it gives me the opposite effect and makes me pity them for the simple fact they've been done dirty. I may also do it out of spite because I hate when a show basically tells me what to do. In this case how I should feel about these characters because they are so evil~ , ok and? I get the idea, are you gonna do anything else besides this?

So the villains that I'm supposed to hate I don't hate. But (ironic) the villains that I'm not supposed to hate, I DO actually hate, which is the collector, for the same reasons you said before, he's really flawed as a character and that sad story of him being a misunderstood child didn't sell me shit, I rolled my eyes.

So this has me torn between talking about The Hand of the Author and kind of the sliding scale of villainy and its weird impact on your audience. I feel like this is mostly about Belos and why his actions never really sell you on him being a monster so let's talk about the inverted relationship between a villain's action and audience response. What am I talking about? Well... It's effectively why our response to someone killing a dog is "I'm so ready to see that fucker die," possibly even with a smile on our face while our response to someone grimacing at a person of color makes our blood boil but then the dude who kills a thousand people by destroying an entire town still needs to give us a reason to care. One is active aggression and the taking of a life while the other is a microaggression... But one that most people will actually relate to. And the last one is so beyond the realm of believability or resonance that it doesn't actually leave much of an impact. Boiled down: It's why the fandom absolutely despises Odalia and Bosch but this is the THIRD ASK where someone goes "I never got into Belos as the most evil thing there". Belos is evil to absurdity. He's killed a LOT of people for really BAD reasons so HATE HIM. Meanwhile, Boscha's just a bitch and not even that good of one and yet people HAAAATE HER. This is why it's an inverted relationship. The more a character is strictly evil, the less an audience is actually going to hate them because often times in order to do so, they become more of a caricature and their actions frankly get more absurd from a human standpoint. Meanwhile, a character who wouldn't even be tried for a crime in real life but is still doing harm is seen as much more evil because that's all too real to the human experience.

This isn't purely meta though. Part of it is that the more plainly evil a character is, the more subconsciously an audience knows they're going to get their comeuppance. This is probably part of why people hate the SU finale so much because these people have done such awful, horrendous, unforgivable things and instead of a punch out or punishment, they're talked down. I haven't seen the finale though so I can't say too much. Quick tangent: The other way around is almost as bad. I've seen Belos' death scene and I despise it because that is not Luz standing there. That is a commentary on "Happy Ever After" endings where even the villain gets to live or the main characters are just that kind hearted. TOH goes so far as to almost characterize even RAINE as being GLEEFUL in murdering this man who is already dying. There's a reason why more finales who want this will have the main character, who is good hearted enough to not want to see life lost, be pulled away by a more morally nuanced character who says it's better this way. Neither is expressing joy but they both recognize the danger needs to be dealt with so they can't save him. It keeps your good guys looking good while allowing for a final moment of moral complexity about when the kindness of the main character finally runs out. Then again, that implies Luz is an actually kind character who has endless amounts of love to give and is not just blessed by the author to make friends with anyone they want to.

Sorry. Back on track. This meta context makes it so that a pure evil villain, one who does things that are entirely unrepentant, is flagged as going to be taken down someday. There's no coming back for them. Someone with more nuance or does smaller aggressions though can still appear human which makes the actions feel less like the writer's evil thoughts made manifest and instead like a person who had the choice one day to be mean or kind... And chose mean. And that they may never choose kindness but that the chance is always there. And not only is that more compelling, it's far more painful to the audience. It's effectively what I HAVE to write a lot for Rich Witch because these characters claim to be friends but have been raised in a way that makes the inherent act of friendship almost toxic... But you can see glimpses of better. Moments like Igni and Azu talking about a book series they like. Blair and Pythia showing real care for each other. Azu opening up and taking risks with Daina even while she keeps such strict control over the rest of the friend group and even Daina. It's meant to be frustrating because that's where they're going to grow out of. And this is also why the show's attempts at humanizing Belos, at trying to pull back from him pure evil, is actually worse than him being one note. I've talked to MANY people about the fact that Rich Witch is a LONG series because these complications require time, effort and focus not only to make not all be lip service (Hi Hunter) or feel rushed (Hi Amity to some extent, because while Lumity doesn't feel rushed, your character development does). It is genuinely good sometimes to just have a one note, but fun, villain that an audience can be excited to see curb stomped. They don't need much fleshing out. They don't even need much screentime because they can set up their credentials REAL FAST. But then we get into the inherent issue with TOH: It knows one note villains are not something people praise... But it doesn't know why a show like Avatar still has Ozai. Because Ozai is not a complex villain. Any complexity comes from his children but we learn honestly very little about him throughout the series besides him being a bastard and that works GREAT. It gives us a moral opposite to Aang, who constantly tries to do right by everyone, his evil justifies Azula's evil and why we would go so far against his son and banish him and allows us to understand why the Fire Nation is as ruthless as it is... All without wasting much time! I'm pretty sure the closest we get to a real episode that is an equivalent to Hollow Mind for Ozai is pretty much during the invasion of the Black Sun when Zuko defects... AND IT'S STILL NOT EVEN MAIN PLOT OF THE EPISODE! Because what's important there is the deep villain, not the one note one. And yet TOH devoted so much time to Belos while ignoring Hunter besides backstory implications which is not how you flesh out one of your theoretically main characters at that point. Because it doesn't want to be accused of having a basic villain despite all the fun people have had with characters like the Joker.

And frankly, I feel like that comes down to not understanding either the importance of that inversion. Something going for horror or cruelty might try to humanize to cause discomfort in an audience. A reflection of our own reality but also broken is going to hurt more. But... If you're, I dunno, an adventure comedy, that sort of tone might not be useful for you. It might just be better to have someone who can facilitate really cool fights and let our heroes have a lot of Big Damn Hero Moments because those fit with the tone you're going for. It also sells us on why EVERYONE wants this fucker gone so we don't have to worry about the consequence of if the heroes murder him because you're curious why God himself has not struck him down. And not understanding this creates a problem like not understanding why simple, likable, mostly flawless main characters exist. Because sometimes that's just what's best for the story, especially if you have any sort of time limit to telling your story. But Belos only started getting spotlighted in S2B so the writers clearly didn't give a fuck about that expect, did they? So they went with what makes for a better video essay. Or blog in this case, even if it made for a worse story.

=========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#TOH Critical #The Owl House Criticism

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hzrnvm · 1 year

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That sketch you sent its about

Not having many good memories so really inflating the few you have (only 1 dangerous night) and its about only having memories of remembering things to the point where its like a feedback loop of memory where everything gets distorted and things that werent so big get made into focal points (sloppy steaks)

Also its about desperately hating how things are and deciding to make a change in yourself when you didnt even have a pattern of horribleness in the first place. And its about wanting to believe that things have changed when they really havent (pushback hair being basically slickback, he still thinks sloppy steaks are great)

He really wants to believe that he used to suck (so he tells everyone repeatedly as if looking for confirmation of it) because if he didnt then hes just making himself miserable by not being himself for no reason

Interesting !

i definitely agree! first few times i saw it i read allll the comments on the video and there were a lot of comments that mentioned how he considers himself a piece of shit but like. he didn't do anything that bad, really? the worst thing he did was be pretty annoying at a restraunt semi-regularly (enough for them to have are reputation), which is bad but it's like, not that bad. none of the things he mentioned make him a piece of shit really. glass house, white ferrari, live for new years eve? None of those things make you a piece of shit! also the car wasn't even a white ferrari, more of him distorting his memories.

another thing i really agree with is like, the thing with the pushback hair, and how he still says sloppy steaks are really really good. i feel like that's something that really resonates with me, when he says like "oh i miss those nights i WAS a piece of shit though!" (and then that's followed with the "used to be" "I SAID WAS!". he's trying hard hard hard to believe that he's changed).

I think Shane/Tim's primary problem is that he's just trying really hard to hold up this story in his mind of growth from a piece of shit with slicked back hair eating sloppy steaks to a good person with pushed back hair eating normal steaks. But really he never wanted to stop slicking back his hair. he never wanted to stop eating sloppy steaks. like. the only difference between slicked and pushed back hair, really, is that one is slicked back with some kind of product or maybe just water, and one is just pushed back with force and maybe slight wetness. but they look the same! pushed back hair, all it really is, is slicked back hair that takes more effort to achieve! sloppy steaks taste good to him. he likes them. and he could always just make them at home with takeout steaks or even steaks he makes himself! there's no moral boundary stopping him from eating sloppy steaks. but he doesn't! (while idt it was ever mentioned that he doesn't eat sloppy steaks anymore in the actual sketch, it was implied, and the script does include the line "I do miss sloppy steaks."). He's created this narrative of change and growth, and based his whole identity around it, and so when he's confronted with this idea that his piece of shit history can still be sensed in a gut feeling, everything goes out of control. i think there's a chance that in his heart, he thinks people can't change. and that's what's making him so scared. i think this mainly because of the scene with Meredith's dad. look at how he discovers that he used to be a piece of shit. all he has to do is push back his hair, and once he sees how well it would slick back, that's immediately enough evidence for him to conclude that meredith's ol grampaw used to be a huge piece of shit. like yeah he was right but meredith's father is clearly not a piece of shit. so sure, maybe Shane believes that 'people can change'. but he also believes that being a piece of shit leaves a stain. and no matter how long he works really really hard to change. no matter what he gives up: glass house, white ferrari, slicked back hair, his Dangerous Nights Crew, sloppy steaks! people will be able to tell he used to be a piece of shit for the rest of his life – even when he's as old as Meredith's ol grampaw.

this is the sketch btw, for anyone unaware:

youtube

#baby cries #itysl #hzrn #hzrn bigtalk #ask #cippy 42

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tarotmundomonde · 1 year

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You & Them Autumn 2022 love reading

pick a number 1-5 OR pick a colour: 1-yellow 2-red 3-purple 4-orange 5-blue

(them = whoever is coming towards you in love)

(ps. this reading is for practice, fun and entertainment as always)

1.Welcome to pile number 1. If you chose this pile, it looks like the focus for you will be, if someone has romantic feelings for you and the cards are saying you'll have to let them speak for themselves. Maybe you have options in love this autumn and you wonder about their identity, you wonder, if they are playing games or if they mean real business with you. Right now you seem to be taking things one step at a time. You are keeping your options open, you are giving things time. You seem to be currently optimistic about a situation or person in love, you seem to have a lot of hope about this. You seem to be viewing a situation or person as having potential to be what you've been waiting for. You seem to have quite a lot of expectations at this time. At the same time you could feel at times that nothing seems to be happening fast enough. But you are staying strong and you have faith, you are staying optimistic. Whoever the person in question is, they are good at keeping a poker face. As for now the connection between you two is still a mystery. The cards are showing that the person coming towards you is someone with a dream they are working on. Also, it looks like there is a third person involved from their side. And so it looks like they are going along with it, grabbing the opportunities given to them and making the most of them. So it looks like you are dealing with someone, who is exploring another romantic connection. This person knows they have you and they have that other person and both of you are offering them commitment and love. So they have options. Whereas you might be very patient and feeling comfortable in this situation. You might be seduced by the image and comfort of your situation. There are lots of blessings coming to you in love, you are protected. There will be some discoveries happening to you, it could feel a bit like a nasty landing, because it looks like you'll find out, what's been going on behind the scenes. Maybe something happens that causes you to question your relevance and maybe that's what sort of leads to this discovery, revelation. Nonetheless, it looks like you have someone here, who just wanted to have some fun with you, maybe friends with benefits or just a fling. Like said you are protected, so you will be freed from this situation as something better is meant for you. Your image of this person will totally crumble, you first saw them glowing like a ray of sunlight and then suddenly you realize they ain't it. It's quite the twist. But the good news is there is someone else, who has romantic feelings for you, but you know nothing about it, yet. That's why the cards are talking about taking things slow is to your benefit and to not settle for less and not lose track of your aspirations in love. Eventually the people coming towards you, their choices will speak for themselves, they'll end up showing you their true identity in terms of love. You'll know, who is not in love with you and who is. It really looks like the person, who has feelings for you is someone you really can't guess, who they are at all. And as always, don't forget to leave some feedback, if it resonates with you.

2.Welcome to pile number 2. If you chose this pile, it looks like you'll be very much in a romantic mood this autumn. You are coming through as dreamy, as being in a strong mood of wanting to manifest love, of wanting to create a romantic atmosphere and mood into your life. Perhaps you are influenced by the time of the year, maybe you are the type to be into cozy autumn days and nights. Perhaps you are influenced by romantic movies, books, manga, anime, dramas as well and by your friends. Maybe you'll be more in the mood to talk about love with your friends and that will add up to the romantic mood you are in. Really, you come through so strongly as longing for your partner or longing for a partner. Like you really want to get all cozy and cuddle and drink a cup of coffee or tea with someone special. It's like this mood is so strong that you will certainly be expressing it. Perhaps you'll do that on social media as well. This autumn you will be ready to welcome love into your life, you are going to feel ready. You are going to make room for love. If you have someone on your mind, you'll make room for spending quality time with them. This autumn you know very strongly, what you want from a romantic connection. And that's the thing, you are looking for love and romance, you want to be all lovey-dovey with someone. Now the person or people coming towards you in love are in quite the opposite mood. They are in no mood for love at all. They could very much be overwhelmed and preoccupied by other things in their life this autumn. They could have a hard time to believe all is well, because of outside distraction. It looks like they are especially more concerned about stability at this time, like finances and their education or job. In addition to being overwhelmed and having their hands full, they don't seem to be open to change. They are not really receptive of love at this time, because of other distractions. It looks like this person is also distracted by other people at this time. It looks like there is some uncertainty in the air, maybe gossips, too. It looks like you are more prone to focus on hope and goodness, whereas others might struggle a bit with it this autumn. But no worries, you are definitely catching someone's attention. It looks like someone will take their sweet little time to think things over and observe you, but it looks like in December there could be some changes in the wind. It looks like things will finally take off. Maybe they'll send you a message. And also, it looks like luck and right timing is on your side this autumn. And as always, don't forget to leave some feedback, if it resonates with you.

3.Welcome to pile number 3. If you chose this pile, it looks like whatever is happening to you and whatever is going on with the person or people coming towards you in love is completely unrelated to each other. When it comes to what's coming towards you, it looks like you are dealing with someone, who wants everything served to them on a silver plate. Even better, if it's a golden one. They want the dish ready, they want the cake and to eat it, too. But they don't want to put in any effort. They don't want to take the lead, they don't want to take any responsibility. It's like they want to maintain their position and status. In other words, they only want to make gains and on their terms. This is someone, who wants everything to go their way. They want to be served, they want you to do and be what they expect of you. They have strong beliefs about things and they have adapted certain methods in love. This person is a strategist and calculative, always trying to predict your next move and what to avoid and what to do in order to achieve the outcome they want. So for them love is a bit like playing the chess. They want to grab the opportunity, but they still want to be free from the outcome. They want to be free from whatever you would do. They are very meticulous and tactical and that's why they take their time, too, they have these plans and tactics they use. And looking at the cards, you don't come through as someone predictable. Rather you come through as someone difficult to read. Their methods and all do not apply to you. They want your love, they want you to feel for them, to love them, to have feelings for them, but you know not all that glitters is gold. And they are trying to appear as gold and shiny, but they are neither. Now on your side, it looks like you are going through some spiritual growth. It's a time of retreat and finding your spark again. It's a call for trust and faith. Something will just make you want to withdraw from the love play area, you'll feel it's not the right time for that. It looks like you are going to choose to focus on yourself, on healing and self-love. It might appear to you like nothing much is going on in terms of your love life, but a whole lot is happening behind the scenes, like healing that leads to rewards. Because you'll end up finding hidden treasures and true riches. And as you focus on your personal healing, it's leading to healthy boundaries and empowerment. It's like you realize you are enough and have all you need always. And what comes to that person or those people the outcome is you just know they are not your person. And as always, don't forget to leave some feedback, if it resonates with you.

4.Welcome to pile number 4. If you chose this pile, the keyword will be intentionality. What are your intentions versus what are their intentions. This autumn you are coming through as very focused on your goals. You are not letting anything distract you from your path, you are focusing on creating something meaningful to you. You seem to be committed to yourself and what you want to create for yourself. It's like you are working hard to level up yourself and your life. It's not just about beauty and success, but you really want to prosper and to attract high quality in life. You want someone, who'd be committed to do the same for you as well. You want someone, who adds to your value, someone, who brings higher quality into your life. You want someone, who sees you as the one. So you are not taking matters of love lightly at this time. And it could be that this autumn you feel like what you are looking for is not there, so you'll just stay on your path and be patient. You come through as very rock solid and stable. But you might also feel like you are done with the same old same old, so you might start to consider going about things in a different way, whatever that may be. What comes to who is coming towards you in love this autumn, there seems to be a lack of reciprocity. This person comes through as currently disinterested. They seem to want to spend time alone, to retreat and replenish their energy. Maybe they feel exhausted by the many changes they are experiencing and all the hard work, be it school or work. But right now their focus is on the daily life, on their education or school or work and on their own personal path, on their own life. And as always, don't forget to leave some feedback, if it resonates with you.

5.Welcome to pile number 5. If you chose this pile, it looks like it's all about an on-going situation. Things have been the same for a long time. From your side it looks like you are seeking wisdom. You are looking for answers, trying to understand a situation. It seems it could be about a new love opportunity. Perhaps there is a person in your environment or maybe it's a friend, and you seem to be aware that they could potentially have some romantic feelings for you. But they don't want to act on it and maybe that is what confuses you somehow. Like you are trying to understand why they are not doing anything, trying to see things from their perspective or what you believe could be their thoughts. But it really just looks like the person is not doing anything simply, because they don't want to deal with the stress, the pressure, the worries and such. Looking at the cards, it really looks like this autumn you are deep in your thoughts. You are looking at things from a deeper level, you are thinking about things like, how people try to fit the expectations created by society and how people are conditioned to appear a certain way to fit into society. You are not only looking at how it affects others but also at how it affects you personally. You don't seem to want to be a part of it anymore. You know you can't do much about it and others, you know you can't really correct the course of events or people's actions, you can only let it be. But miracles do happen. It seems you are really getting to the core of it and that leads you to finding yourself, to tap into the divine femine energy. This autumn starts a period of a beautiful process of you birthing a new self into being, full of life, passion, love and spirit and that leads to change from difficult time in love to better times. There is a more fertile time period starting for you at this time in love. And that will bring you many unexpected changes and miracles. Because so far it looks like you've been given nothing but rotten apples, but that will change now. There is divine protection here, no more drama for you. And what comes to who is coming towards you, it looks like these people want to be free from having feelings. They want new experiences. Their ego might get the better of them, they don't seem to really know what they truly want. They have a hard time to make decisions in matters of love. They seem to focus a lot on what things look like on the surface and they seem to just go along with things. So there might be people come and go with nothing or nothing much happening at all. It looks a bit like this autumn, whoever is coming towards you in love follows the path others are walking and that seems to mean they are not choosing love, they are not choosing a true heart to heart connection. That's what it looks like this autumn for pile number 5. And as always, don't forget to leave some feedback, if it resonates with you.

#tarot #tarot reading #pick a card reading #pac reading #daily tarot

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booasaur · 1 year

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Badhaai Do omg. I loved it but boy did it hit home. I’m Nigerian, not Indian but the cultures are really similar(the scenes with the meddling aunties, the colourism, how young adults are treated in the family, even the buildings lol)and watching everything unfold had me holding my breath while rejoicing the quieter, tender gay moments. I went into it with no spoilers, thinking it would be a cheesy rom com(I wanted a little more joy/moments from the lesbian relationship for sure)and sure there were hints of that but it was definitely more of a drama and the second half was quite serious. After the reveal, I was scared as hell at how things would play out but it worked out in the best way and I’m so glad they went with that ending. The pride scene though. I teared up through their families but those scenes always get me and this felt way too real. I wish people who complained about closeted gays would watch more stuff like this and try to get it tbh.

Oh, that's so interesting, how cultures that are so physically distant can be so similar in certain ways. And I bet there are probably some LatAm places we'd find familiar too. I'm glad this was able to resonate with you, then!

Yeah, it wasn't as comedic as I'd expected even from the trailer since I did have some preconceptions but while it had a lot of jokes it was definitely more wistful and dramatic too. The way they treated their home life, I started to get nervous even before the reveal, because of the sleeping arrangements and the family visiting, since things seemed going fairly well for them with too much of the movie still left, and of course then the other shoe fell.

I LOVED the pride scene and watched it so many times and even now have the song in my playlist. It was one of those moments that becomes larger than the movie or fictional characters and more about the real people making progress and winning the ability to even have a movie like this made.

The ending was lovely, and they almost got me with that fakeout, lol, but I really loved how it ended on a fully hopeful, happy note. Yay for them and us!

You know, unfortunately, I feel like if people can't already put themselves in the place of closeted characters closer to home and understand their decisions as what works for them, this isn't really gonna help much? Because if they have to qualify under what circumstances a person deserves sympathy, that's already on the wrong foot.

But anyway, heh, not to be too much of a downer, for sure, I really enjoyed it, though as you said, wouldn't have mined more of a romcom vibe. I feel like of these three movies so far, ELKDTAL, Badhaai Do, and Maja Ma, none have yet fully leaned into the epic romance Bollywood is known for, but you can see the good intentions and the attempts to get closer all the time.

#replies #femslash related stuff #sent on 20221019 #Anonymous #5 #badhaai do #bollywood

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lifezvictory · 9 months

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Okay, so today’s (technically yesterday’s since I’m writing this post at midnight but I don’t really consider it to be the next day until I either go to sleep, or the sun comes up, whatever comes first) episode of SaMS was very emotional, to say the least. Normally I don’t write posts about those because my possibly neurodivergent brain (haven’t been officially diagnosed but I’m almost certain it’s true) doesn’t really know how to formulate coherent, smoothly flowing pros about hyper-emotional stuff, especially when I’ve recently been exposed to it. But, I have some thoughts that I have to share, so I’m releasing them into the chaotic bowels of Tumblr. (These thoughts, of course, contain spoilers for the latest episode so only click read more if you’ve seen it or are willing to be spoiled.)

So, I have a feeling that Eclipse is really, truly dead this time. And when I first got acquainted with this orange menace, I would’ve been extátic at this. I was the first time he “died.” But now? I’ve actually got mixed feelings.

On one hand, Eclipse really was a terrible person and he kind of deserved what he got. But on the other? I’m a little disappointed with the writers’ decision. Because, it felt like they had been leading up to a redemption ark for Eclipse. All this talk about him having nobody and no purpose, I just felt like it could have been leading up to something bigger. And even though I used to hate Eclipse with a burning passion, I have read two amazing fanfics that did an ark for him insanely well, and I would have loved to see the original creators of this character’s take on it. Although, there was a part of me that thought it might not go that direction because in one q & a, someone asked if Eclipse could be redeemable, to which Sun and Moon understandably denied and I thought could possibly be the opinion of the creators themselves, and not just Sun and Moon’s.

The little scene near the end of the video, with Eclipse and Solar Flare in the mindscape right before their death really got to me, especially with Eclipse’s reaction. He was genuinely terrified unlike his first version’s death, and I’m pretty sure the guy went through the five stages of grief in those thirty seconds or so. It resonated with me because it humanizes (animatronicizes?) Eclipse, showing that he fears death as much as anybody else, but it’s also relatable to me, personally, because I have quite a bit of anxiety surrounding my own death.

One thing, or rather one person that i feel like people aren’t focusing enough on however, is Solar Flare. I know many people didn’t care about them much (The Blue Guy, in his video talking about SaMS lore said that they’re basically just Eclipse’s minion which fair) but they always held a special place in my mind. I felt like there was so much possibility for their character, especially the way the lore episodes were going. They were just developing, or at least appearing to develop, sentience and a personality/identity of their own, only to be killed off along with Eclipse when they hadn’t really done anything wrong. They were only following their programming to serve Killcode when he was evil, and actually seemed to be forming into a decent person before their demise. Only for all that potential to just be wiped away in an instant, with not many people taking notice, in universe or out. Eclipse was the only person who got to know the true them, if only slightly, and he never even appreciated them or treated them well. Hell, I don’t think Solar Flare even got a single positive interaction with anyone in their entire short existence. Yet they still somehow managed to remain so well-intentioned and wise? (I have to continue writing my Solar Flare-centric fic in their memory)

In real life, death is just like that. It cuts lives short, removing vibrant beings with lots of potential (I have no clue what happens after death but I’d like to think of it as a permanent absence and not an absolute destruction for the sake of my sanity.) But, this is fiction. And there’s a point where I’d just rather not have fiction be quite this realistic and devastating, you know?

The fact that Solar Flare was so accepting of their death made it even more heartbreaking for me, personally. They were completely accepting of it, and didn’t seem afraid at all (although it could be because they weren’t yet emotionally developed enough to express it.) This, to me, meant that they had nothing left to live for, and felt as though they no longer had a purpose. And for me who, as you would know if you’ve been reading my posts for a while, likes Solar Flare quite a lot, it devastated me. I want to give Solar Flare a big hug.

I’m not sure how to end this post. But, that’s my thoughts on the latest lore. I think this was probably the longest post I’ve made to date.

#sun and moon show #sun and moon show eclipse #sun and moon show solar flare #thoughts #sun and moon show spoilers #death #sad #ramblings

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meirimerens · 9 months

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hello my friend [writing this with typewriter and sending it via snail mail, takes 5 months to arrive by horse and ship] i saw your message about videogames as a format Comparatively resonating more with you than tv shows... and it got me curious if you have had any experiences (?) with [or opinions about] visual novels / twine games?

[asking because i feel like i've heard wildly different experiences from people... some people like em... some people don't... some people have had random experiences with one that really left a mark... It's really very subjective.]

[receives this message through a horseback carrier à la 1860-1861 pony express] a missive...!

ok so my #experience with VNs/interactive novels/twine games is. not really hard to explain but maybe hard to understan. basically i've played a few during the ages 14 to 17, but it's a period of time where i was Zoinked on meds so i remember very little, making it so i remember playing VNs & twine games, enjoying them, but i couldn't tell you which ones, or anything of the stories. which is both kinda really disheartening but also i'm kinda glad because if i were to find these games again now, i could n a way re-experience them with all the love i now have for the genre :,)

i'll tell you this: i remember really, really liking those i played. i think it comes from the fact that at my heart i'm a <3 reader <3 i've always been. even when i couldn't read books because of the Zoink + The Symptoms i still turned to things that had storytelling within them, such as movies or games. there are video games to this day which i adore i adore i know all the secrets of but i haven't Played Once: i have just watched LP after LP, but because the storytelling, and getting to experience the game as more of a story than an active, VideoGame experience, have pulled me in so much, i just devoured the thing. i'm a Stories and Narratives Enjoyer, and when i encounter games with stories i adore i've been comfortable with letting the "gamer" part of the experience be handled by someone else, and i sit and absorb the story, the characters, the world... like the little brother sitting on the couch. in that regard, twine games and visual/interactive novels really tap into this part ^ of the videogame experience for me. i understand why many people do not really fuck wit it, because you could argue they take a lot of the mechanisms of actual video game out in favor of a visual or interactive novel, but i, personally, really like the very format.

some of my favorite games that i have actually played have very straightforward of minimal gameplay; for ex. i played ANATOMY on the later end of The Zoink so i remember most of it, but it's not the very simple gameplay that sticks out to me: it's the fantastic concept and incredible writing, that you can read, and is spoken to you. it is like a story that has been given a simple shape, a visual shape, a visual set-scenes in which you can experience the story. patho 1 my fave has a... relatively straightfoward gameplay [7 different asterisks and 10 lines of references and bibliography], but what stuck out to me first, because i first watched a let's play of it which made me fall in love with it was the writing, the impeccable, interminable, verbose dialogue. nobody shuts the fuck up in this game. the classic and wonderfully-timed quotes. i love it. i truly truly love it. it's like a long, long book was given a 3D life. visual/interactive novels and twine games approach this flavor, while stripping even more the 3d elements, giving the story a simple frame.

there is also with the relatively "limiting" format of a twine game, i find some have been able to approach like… ergodic literature/textual interaction, in the same way a book like House of Leaves does with its shape(s) [do not ask me which games, because as i've said. The Zoinkening]. which i love. i do. i adore. it can turn up mixes of ergodic literature in a very like concrete way [if you were to look at pages] remixed through the filter of internet language and coding, and as someone who's. learning to code these days (mostly a lie) i can more and more appreciate the mix of the two.

i think interactive novels strike a balance in me of like. the (mostly-) straightforwardness-of-narrative of watching a show or reading a book and the interactive interface of playing a game, or watching someone play a game [my many theories on why i like the very act of watching someone play a game, but among others is the fact that i experience secondhand interactivity, i see someone else struggling and failing... the Let'splayer is almost themself a hero of the story or a character for who i'm rooting for, and whose action will decide the course of the game... etc]

again i understand why real #gamers might dislike it, because you kinda... take out the "gameplay" element of a "game", but to me, as a #reader because i'm a #writer, it's like a tasty little morsel. in the same way i am perfectly fine with a book or a movie having only 1 ending, i am perfectly fine with a game having a single, or a few very defined endings. it truly makes you Feel like the character following the determined path. also i was a theater kid so maybe it just reminds me of playing a character following my lines LOL!!!

tldr i know why many #gamers dislike the format because you don't have much in the way of #gameplay but as a #writer and a #reader i do love them because i'm a Narratives Lover first and foremost, have adored games i have never played because their storeys are just that good, and i believe the limited format of VNs or specifically twine game can give way to great instances of ergodic literature made for the internet woild. their critique of "it's just books on the screen" is actually what makes me really like em because. reading <3 characters who don't shut the fuck up <3 etc! also kinda unrelated i've been trying for years to make my own twine game but i just think i need(ed) to mature first in my #vision :,). and also git gud at code frankly!

THANK YOU FOR QUASTION...! i loved to think about it again... storeys and narratives :)

#unironically twine games are one of the things i would love recommendations on... as i've said 7 times in that answer #i'm really into exploring the ergodic potential of a literature “made for the screen” in a way #all the ways you can make your story fit for the puter... if you know of anything of the sorts lmk #ring ring (answers)#threefoldbullet

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