#dialogue sucks until episode 6

[diabetesnscoliosis]

stranger things spoilers in the tags

#finished part 1 #really liked episode 7 #1-5 fucking suck as episodes tho #Robin has turned into some autism ADHD stereotype which isn’t her character #idc if they made her any of those and had that added to her character but it feels like a stereotype and not an addition to her character #not enough of her being lesbian too like we get one thing in episode 1 and that’s it #her friendship with Nancy feels forced they could’ve written that better #dialogue sucks until episode 6 #really liked the elaboration on El’s past #I liked the inclusion of Suzie and how Erica is still a key player #though a little late for her to come in #I liked how they elaborated on Lucas’ need for status #and how he fought that to be true to his friends #Steve better be ok #he’s my fave #bc I think he’s hot but like #yeah #not explaining that one #I thought Vecna was lame until this ep #001 is fr a psycho imagine saying that to a literal 6 year old #love how El has opened two gates in her lifetime #I hope they elaborate on that in vol 2 or s5 #would rewatch this with the context of ep 7 #and live thru the cringe lol

[pancake-breakfast]

Finishing this volume up earlier than usual isn't going to lessen the pain, but it might free me up to do a few more write-ups I need to do.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 10, Chapters 6-8 below.

Chapter 6: The Return

The return of what?? What is there to return??? Are they just gonna go back to the orphanage? The return of Livio?? I ask all these things like Nightow's not gonna answer that in the next however many pages.

Yeah, I imagine punches hurt a lot more when YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SKIN.

Ugh, Vash just... standing there, listening to Wolfwood beat the shit out of Razlo. I'm not sure what he's thinking or feeling, but I'm not sure I want to know.

I like Livio... but I think I'd be ok with Razlo never being whole again.

Vash.... Wolfwood, stop punching and go hug your mans or something. He's not doing so well.

Oh, Raz. Chapel wouldn't help you if he could. He never cared enough about you for that.

Dear lord, that's not a healthy thing to do, Wolfwood. I realize you don't have any control over it, but maybe it's time to just stop for a bit. (Side note: props to Nightow for not having his characters just arbitrarily coughing up blood all the time. Really increases the impact when they finally do.)

THE FUCK. DON'T DOWN THE LAST VIAL. YOU'RE JUST SPEEDING UP THE INEVITABLE.

Gods, Raz regenerates quickly.

Huh, his living minions have names, and he knows them. I wonder if the one he turned into chaff had a name.

I dunno if Vash is gonna tolerate this.

Yeah, Vash says no. Kicks for you. He'll allow Wolfwood to finish his business with Raz because he knows this is important to Wolfwood, but if he doesn't get to interfere, then neither does anyone else.

In this moment, I fully believe Vash will kill them if they don't lay off. That said, I'm not sure they're fully human and not some sort of construct.

Raz is doing a great job talking despite not having lips. *mumbles something indistinct about episode 12 of Stampede*

Huh???

LIVIO!!! My boi is here to save his big bro!

Gods, I love these panels. I love how they're set up like two different characters.

Wolfwood knows something's up.

Where the hell did the other Punisher come from? That's Chapel's Punisher. Isn't he dead??

DAMMIT, FUCK THIS GUY SO HARD WITH A *redacted* RIGHT IN THE *redacted* UNTIL HE *redacted* AND *redacted, AND THEN *redacted* HIS *redacted* WITH A *redacted* UNTIL IT LOOKS LIKE SWISS CHEESE!!! FUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!!!!

Ugh, I told you, Raz. I'm sorry, my guy. I know how much it sucks to find out someone you thought was there to take care of you and who you thought valued your life only ever saw you as a pawn toward a different end.

What's more, Raz, is I just skimmed back and what you probably thought was a half-hearted attempt by Wolfwood to smack you away from himself in fear probably just saved your life.

Finish that bastard off. Please. Make sure he doesn't get up again. Make sure he never hurts anyone else again. Finish what your brother started.

Honestly, Nightow could have put absolutely no dialogue on these panels and I'd still be able to hear Raz scream.

Nah, scale it back, Razlo. I know you don't know the meaning of the words, but to quote Stampede Wolfwood, he's not the one who hurt you.

Freaking Livio, man. (affectionate, full of admiration)

Listen to him, Raz. You exist to protect him. If he says you're done, you're done.

Yes. If it weren't for you, Livio would be dead. But the fight is over. It's time to end this, Razlo.

There's something very important about apologizing to yourself for the unhealthy and/or dangerous coping mechanisms you forced yourself to build up... and in forgiving yourself for for them, too.

Ah, the little peons have gone passive now that their master has receded.

Freaking Wolfwood took this time to find and light another of his terribly crushed cigarettes. Freaking addict.

Chapter 7: Wolfwood

No no no no. I know where this chapter goes. I'm not ready.

For the record, I'm just gonna play take a little hand by yoko kanno on repeat the whole time I read this chapter. It's literally been stuck in my head since I got hit with the volume's feels last night, so I'm gonna just ride it out.

"Sleep on a proper bed as much as you can." This is such a good wish. If one has ever been poor enough not to have a proper bed for any length of time, they get it. It's a wish for the luxury of simple comforts, like wishing for someone to have a full stomach or clean clothes.

He thought he was joining a good organization, a group that would help others. He was just a child.

TBH, he looks younger here than he looks in some of the other flashbacks. Here, he looks like he's eight, but in some of the others, he looks like he's 12-14.

We don't have time for the ark now, Brad! And by "time," I mean "emotional energy for whatever those crazies intend to do next." Make 'em go away!

Vash opens the door for the people from the orphanage to come out... but we don't see his face. That feels ominous. I wonder if he's managing one of his fake smiles at this point, or if he's not even bothering for once. (I say "for once," but it feels like his mask falls a lot more these days than it used to.)

Yyyyeah, it might have been a good idea to clean up some of the bodies first. Or let the kids out through the back or something.

*sigh* Vash just wanted to give them some time together.

Man, Livio looks wrecked. Not physically. Emotionally.

Ah, Brad dropped Vash off. That explains that. I remember the ship and I remember thinking it looked like one of Home's vessels, but I wasn't sure if Vash had driven it or what. I like to imagine Vash just jumped out of it from way too high up.

Heh. Wolfwood knows he can't fool Miss Melanie, but he's still trying to protect the kids. Or... maybe he's trying to protect himself. He doesn't want them to see him like this, to think of him like this.

Honestly, given how young some of these kids were, it's a wonder so many of them remember him.

Vash, still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, they can save him.

Nicholas Dickolas Wolfwood! You're only giving Vash that coin and saying, "This is who I really am," and all that bullshit because you're trying to make your passing easier on Vash, to drive him away so it maybe hurts him less. But you are too late for that. Idiot. He LOVES YOU. Deeply. It doesn't matter if or even need to be romantic. HE LOVES YOU.

LOL, Livio. Bless this man. Also maybe get him a shirt.

*sigh* Klutz.

Damn Nightow for adding this comic relief here. I know it's a lie.

*more sighing* Aaaaand there's the bottle.

Freaking couch....

Gods. Remember... remember waaaaay back when they first met, and Wolfwood went out of his way to make Vash smile? He truly loves Vash's smile. But there's no way in hell Vash could give him a genuine one right now, and that's the smile Wolfwood truly loves.

Well... dammit, Wolfwood would of course be thinking of that, too. Here I thought I was being all smart about the callback, but Nightow just spelled it out for us.

Vash is about to have a full breakdown here. Usually, it's Wolfwood praying, but this time, it's Vash. He doesn't want apologies. He just... he just wants this person who means so much to him to be here. To keep being here. For as long as possible.

Them throwing ticker tape, just like when he left before. Just like you would for a celebration, like a wedding. You... you know Stampede's opening Tombi references this, too??

Heh. Six years, and they saved all this for when he came back. He was well-loved.

Brad's incensed face in the background.

Miss Melanie went against Wolfwood's request... but she's worked with kids a lot. Desperate, hurt kids. Kids who've had to grow up before their time even if they don't show it on the outside the way Wolfwood does. She knows they're smarter than most give them credit for. And she knows some part of Wolfwood's heart needs this. He needs to know that in spite of everything, he's still loved, even by them.

Wolfwood doesn't strike me as much of a crier, unlike Vash. But... hey, now's as good a time as any, huh?

The iron bell in the tower is ringing.

Yeah. Yeah, I knew this would be the next page.

Livio knows. Vash knows. Vash can't hold it in anymore.

Aaaand the ark is here. This is going to go very, very poorly for someone.

Chapter 8: Final Parting

I'd guess Livio's about to have a very different relationship with the ark than he had before.

Ah, the ark is either not as close as the final page of the last chapter made it seem, or it passed them by for now.

Vash is stress cooking.

Livio, you moron. What did you think was happening??

Side note: I like how Livio's hair has gone from, "I am dead inside and don't care about anything," to something that's almost quirky and childlike.

This is the face of someone who's checked the hell out for the foreseeable future.

TBH, it's probably a good thing Livio clarified his "why." If he hadn't, I dunno if Vash would have been able to stay calm. He's doing his best right now, even if he's checked out.

Yeah, they better animate this in Stampede. They've already set it up to hit like a runaway train.

Gods, I wish it wasn't a billion degrees. I could really go for some tea right now. Hot tea. Coping tea.

Uhh, what happened to Vash's hair?? "But when" is right!

Ah, he took out his grief on the ark. Well, that explains why that big-ass ship is somehow missing.

WTH is so fucking funny, Knives?? Your brother is dying.

Ah, brief return of I-Hate-My-Life Livio hair. Man, this guy talks with his hair. I love it. He really does feel bad about all this now. This isn't what he wanted. Like Wolfwood at the beginning of the story, he just didn't know he could have it any other way.

Vash is right. Eat.

Heh. Vash's little smile as Livio starts eating. Livio's not Wolfwood, but he's someone Wolfwood cared deeply about, and it seems like some part of Vash is willing to accept that, despite everything, a friend of Wolfwood's is a friend of his, especially when said friend is so eager to take up Wolfwood's mantle.

Side note: it amuses me that Livio's left his shredded sleeves on. Like, my boi, your whole shirt is missing. You can probably take those off, too.

This panel. It feels like it snuck in from a completely different manga.

Heh. Vash remembering eating with Wolfwood like this.

Oh, my boi Livio. Sobbing through his food. I imagine Vash is already all cried out for now.

They're just gonna eat their sorrows away. Silverware optional. This is a hand salad now.

LOL, yeah... I had a feeling they were gonna overeat.

Hells, I don't think Livio could forget Wolfwood if he wanted to. But I get the gesture. Vash is reminding Livio that Wolfwood died to save him. And Livio's picking up what he's putting down.

Mm, Razlo is the one used to carrying Punishers, and even he didn't cart around his own. BTW, what happened to those guys?

It's definitely a fitting tombstone.

Props to all y'all who read this the first time in book form and had to turn that last page to see a full frontal of Wolfwood's blow-up doll on the couch at the end. I'm sure that's what y'all wanted to see when you were still up to your eyes in The Feels.

Archive

Trigun Vol. 1: Covers + 1-3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 || Vol. 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Vol. 1: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Vol. 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Vol. 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Vol. 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 6: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 7: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 8: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5 + Bonus || Vol. 9: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 10: Covers + 1-3, 4-5

Extra Credit: Trigun Vol. 1: Nebraska vs. Vash's Motivations, Vash's Loneliness, Vash's Depression (pt 2 of post), Soupy Brains || Vol. 2: Coin Factoids || TriMax Vol. 1: Lina, Vash, and a Haircut || Meryl, Vash, and the Pursuit of Happiness || Vol. 5: Knives, Vash, and Hatred for Humanity || Vol. 6: Coping Series: Wolfwood, Meryl, Vash || Vol. 8: The Uncoordinated Counterattack || Vol. 9: Justice, Punishment, and Mercy, The Tolling of an Iron Bell

#now if you'll excuse me #i'm gonna go have a therapy session with my cat #she says i need to give her lots of pets to cure what ails me #and maybe play with her a bit too #trigunbookclub #trigun maximum #volume 10 #pancake thoughts

[kob131]

The Jaune hate is so unreasonable I just saw someone proclaiming that because they gave Jaune a episode focused on him in rwby beyond they don’t deserve another volume it’s in the reply to this post if you don’t believe me tumblr . com/invincibleweasel/748231224518131712/seriously-this-is-just-an-example-of-how?source=share

Fuck it, I'm biting-

It absolutely is.

First off, the idea that ANYONE would want to be Jaune is ridculous. Read a Jaune-centric harem fanfic or one with Jaune as the main focus. Because 99 times out of 100- Jaune is a different character altogether. There's a reason why Coeur Al Aran basically has to rewrite Jaune everytime he uses him- Cuz Jaune FUNDAMENTALLY is not a character anyone would want to be.

He spends Volumes 1-3 being an absolute joke, being the target of 99% of the slapstick humor and a running joke about how much Jaune sucks. He spends Volumes 4-6 basically being as sidelined as possible, to the point he may have been partially REPLACED. And Volume 7-8: Oh lordy, Jaune can basically be shoved into the background until it's time to stab Penny and lose NOTHING.

Does THIS sound like a self insert to you?

And before you try bringing up Jaune's relevancy in Volumes 1-3: Let's talk about Jaune's relevancy POST Volume 3. You know, when Miles would have more influence on the writing staff?

Volume 4- Decent amount of focus, exploring his feelings about Pyrrha's passing, gets focus with his armor being replaced-Aaaand he just made it all about Ruby. Yeah, that scene of Jaune talking about losing Pyrrha to Ruby in Kuroyuri? How it references Jaune's loss and then makes it about how awesome and inspiring Ruby is?

Doesn't seem like a self insert thing huh?

Between Volumes 5 and 6, Jaune has a grand total of 5 noteworthy moments (Jaune attacking Cinder, Cinder humilating Jaune, Jaune healing Weiss, Jaune being aggressive with Oscar and Jaune's scene with Pyrrha's statue). Reminder that this is about the same amount of focus that Yang got in Volume 4. A character everyone screeched and gnashed their teeth about for being 'sidelined'...and Jaune gets roughly the same amount spread across TWO Volumes and somehow he's stealing spotlight?

Same shit with Volume 7 and 8. Here's a problem- What is Jaune's view on the Ironwood situation? We know Ruby, Weis, Blake, Yang, Nora, Ren, Oscar, Qrow, James, Winter, Penny and even fucking MAY MARIGOLD'S stances on the question, either through repeated moments, conflict or big dialogues.

Jaune, the character who started as a foil to RUBY who is the other big player in that conversation?

Jaune: Well, if it wasn't for the embargo making everybody so mad, people probably wouldn't be so quick to blame you for everything else.

This is the closest we get. This is all Jaune gets to say about the whole situation, which is BARELY about this. Reminder that Jaune started as a foil to Ruby in Volume 1. He is up there with Yang and Oscar in 'characters connected to Ruby' and they're also characters who act as major foils to Ruby's actions and stances. Jaune meanwhile is treated like a background character. Once again- could shove in the background until he stabs Penny and it wouldn't change a damn thing. In a very Ruby-centric part of the story.

People love to say that Jaune is given these big moments and thus it means he MUST be a self insert! Well, let's compare shall we? Let's go ahead and take a character we KNOW the creators love and kind of project onto and compare to Jaune-

Randy Marsh from latter seasons of South Park.

Does Randy do nothing for the whole season before getting one big moment or having a few moments spread out over multiple seasons?

Nope, Randy completely takes over the show, often acting as the protagonist of the episodes or even seasons to the point of dominating the fucking opening for a time. Because that's what a self-insert/Mary Sue/creator's favorite actually does in a show. Not THIS bullshit.

Jaune is not favored by the writers. In fact, by Volume 8, he seemed more like he was hated by the writers (well, probably one writer in particular...). Even in this case given- Jaune was given the second episode. Not the launch episode, not the penultimate episode. Not the fucking finale which could be what RWBY goes out on. No, he's given the episode that would be the easiest to forget.

At this point, people who bitch about Jaune give him more time and focus than the writers do. Because even in Volume 9, Jaune was still secondary to Ruby. And yet they huffed paint thinner until they deluded themselves into thinking Jaune was the focus.

They don't WANT Jaune to be forgotten or pushed aside. They want Jaune front and center so they can excuse acting like dipshits towards Miles because he's the weak link on the writing staff.

P.S. Gotta love the 'white boy' part. Implying that Jaune would be better if he was a different skin color. ... Also implying OP and everyone agreeing with them is fucking RACIST.

Imma go ahead and assume your words for black people who don't agree with you starts with an 'N' or a 'P/M'. Surely you have no objections!

Since this is about the same thing you pull.

[variousqueerthings]

Just the old favourites...

AND IT'S THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR! there's four "of the doctor" titles in a row at the end of this, which I will forgive, because the specials back in what 2008? 2009? were also basically about the Doctor, and this is the end of Eleven's era (one episode left after this and we meet Twelve!!!) so yeah, go on, make it a bit Doctor-centric I gueeeess (but maybe a little less?)

anyway, how do we do with the whole... Doctor thing?

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 3/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 10/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 4/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 2/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 4/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 3/10

FULL RATING: 48/100 (if I can count….)

it's got... some points. I am a big fan of Gallifrey being back on the map! I am really into the final bit from Tom Baker appearing until the last little speech. but I don't think most of this hangs together as a coherent narrative, as such. let us peruse

OBJECTIFICATION: considering how many female characters are in this episode, Osgood, Clara, Kate Stewart, Bad Wolf Interface, and Queen Elizabeth, it does remarkably well for a M*ffat penned episode. however. you can guess who suffers a bit -- surprisingly not as much as I'd remember: It's Queen Liz of course (although actually her issues come up more related to this eras ongoing Stuff around authority, and how she interacts with the Doctor)

Elizabeth, you see, is in Looooove with the Doctor, which is the thing that's going to be the single most annoying pervasive plotpoint in RTD's era. she's kind of ditzy about it, even though she's actually capable elsewhere in the episode, and she's introduced in this sort of romantic outing with the Doctor (who's doing it to out her as an alien, which she isn't)

it's not the worst, considering how this character has been described throughout nu!who, but it's also very eye-rollery

BUT WAIT! there's also the Bad Wolf Interface, played by Billie Piper, whom I'd technically be happy to see, and who does pretty well with what she's given, but...

The War Doctor, burning his hand: The interface, it’s hot Bad Wolf Interface: Well I do my best

this isn't massive, I know I know. and technically this is neither Rose nor The Bad Wolf, however... never were these characters portrayed doing this kind of dialogue. the Bad Wolf is kind of a manic pixie dream girl at times, and it irks a bit. it's not massive. but it irks.

PLOT-POINT: Clara is doing plot shit, and not much else. Queen Liz is a joke B-plot point really. Kate Stewart, noooow ok she's got some opinions on things, some things I want to circle back to, but not on this point (but the main gist is, to what extent is Kate Stewart actually an antagonist). Osgood, I'd say, comes out of this the best, she's got a neat little arc with her Zygon self, which I believe carries on into later episodes

and then there's the Bad Wolf/Moment. I quite like the Moment, actually. I think the Moment as a being + a weapon is interesting. Dunno if that much is done with it on the whole (but that's the next point down). I acknowledge that because the Interface has the face of Rose Tyler/The Bad Wolf, I'm treating it like a female character, which may be flawed thinking, but fuckit, onwards, the Moment is a plot device/Macguffin type, because the Moment has no motivations, it just is, and was introduced in this episode in order to give an object around which the Doctor could make choices. and happens to look like the Bad Wolf, but strangely even that doesn't really matter (we'll get to that)

COMPLEXITY: sOOOooo this plot is kind of a series of best-ofs smooshed together. remember the Queen Liz jokes? well, here's the story behind that. remember the fez? Allons-y, Geronimo, making fun of appearances and quirks, check check, Tom Baker (being fabulous), Billie Piper, and... it's a 50th anniversary, it's fine, I get it, but I wish it wasn't so "this happens and then this happens because this is what we need to happen and then this happens..."

and I do like the ending, even though getting to it is very messy

I kind of wish a few elements had been stripped back or entirely away, so one could zero in on some emotional depth, because while there are some great moments (Ten being the Doctor who's always counting deaths, and Eleven being the Doctor who refuses to look at them is a highlight), it moves too fast for you to breathe and take a lot of it in

take, the Moment as Bad Wolf, love it, and they do timey-wimey handwavey you'll forget all of this, so it doesn't totally fuck around with Rose just being an ordinary girl that the Doctor met, but there's this bit where The War Doctor says "oh bad wolf girl I could kiss you!" and she says something to the effect of "you're going to" and Ten goes something like "I'm sorry did you say Bad Wolf!????"... and then we move on

not that this is Ten's episode, but you brought back Billie Piper and not a single little emotional beat of Ten realising that the Bad Wolf in some way is still looking out for them (or hell, Eleven having that beat too, it's not like they're not the same character)

the Time War is the big sufferer of this though. I know it's described in books in a truly terrifying time-fucked-up Eldritch Gods type way, and what we get is a handful of scenes of explosions and screaming citizens (are they Time Lords or just locals? I don't know enough lore to know the details on how many were Time Lords), and this recurring shot of laughing kids around a maypole. what's with the maypole, idk, it's like a symbol for childhood innocence or something in this

if it had made a choice to not actually show details of the Time War, for example, a lot of that could have been left to the imagination and there could have been a different - more affecting - way of portraying the Doctor's Choice. I'm a big fan of the counting the dead as concept, for example, it says something about both Ten and Eleven

also not sold on every single Doctor suddenly beaming away Gallifrey, it's doing a lot of heavy lifting without much explanation about why it should work. a lot of rushedness to get to one single point

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: ohhh well this is the gamechanger for the plot, the shift in gears. no longer a story about someone who carries the guilt of an entire dead civilisation, it's now the story of someone trying to find their way home

it's very much a Doctor story, the Doctor interacting with the Doctor

however there is also UNIT. we've reintroduced UNIT this season with Kate Stewart (daughter of Lethbridge-Stewart), and a "science first" approach. IIIII am not so sure about it all, considering she was ready to Blow Up London, and yeah, that was halted for a second, but for now there's been no follow-up on that first intention

since I'm watching Classic!Who next to it, I notice that the Third Doctor isn't working with UNIT so much as he needs to be there, because there's nowhere else to go, and is frequently trying to curb their worst instinct, and the Brigadier is frequently the face of conservative reactions to the unknown. the Doctor at this point likes him (and also insults him), and I'm sure they'll be going through some relationship stuff in the future

but crucially UNIT's a delicate balance, and maybe kiiiind of in this iteration to, considering Kate Stewart's "blowing shit up" plan. I'm kind of wary of UNIT as uncomplicated good guys, which they weren't at that point, and could be delved into much more. also UNIT feels very... British, in a colonialist sense. there's discomfort there

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara helps them out a couple of times, but she takes a backseat in this one, untiiiil she basically drives the moment to change Time War History. I feel so bad for her as actress playing a character, because we're given so little, but she's presented as 1. knowing all of Doctor history due to being in their timestream and being "born to save him" and 2. saving Gallifrey from destruction by talking the Doctor out of it???? it's so left-field and not really connected to who she is in the narrative (that is, the narrative struggles to place her in it unless it suddenly needs her). I really like Clara, I don't like what the narrative does with her

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this has soooooo much handwavey "the Doctor does stuff because the Doctor can," and in a way it's something I'm like "fine because I also want that narrative of returning to Gallifrey and everything that comes with it" but... I do think there's a version of this story that could have done more to complicate the Doctor, but of course that's a lot to ask of a M*ffat type of Doctor Who

the depictions of Time Lord society are also... look I just don't think M*ffat knows how to do epic particularly well. he tries and it's mostly a bit silly. lot of talking and "trust me this is so cool"

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: oof, this one is... hard to parse. some of this is great. some of this annoys the hell out of me, it really depends on where you land on super special girl of all time the Doctor <- when portrayed as such -- I personally wish that something would complicate this story a little bit, and not just pull classic!who back in order to recontextualise it for new canon that I'm not sure is good enough for it

I really liked the Tom Baker cameo, but I just am not a fan of making previous Doctor Who actually about this Doctor Who. it's a thin thin line to cross over, and not one that can be done by smashing it with a hammer, and M*ffat is a hammer-smasher

that being said that last speech, with all the Doctors, big fan!

ALSO they played both Rose's theme and Martha's for some reason. why would you do me like this???!

“SEXINESS”: well, you know what everyone really missed with Ten? it was a woman grabbing his face and kissing him without his consent, because it's very funny and he's clearly uncomfortable. this happens Three times with the same character (queen Elizabeth)

also a bunch of hints from Eleven at Ten that this is all so very sexy and the like bla bla

there's also a screwdriver-comparing dick joke between Ten and Eleven.... Ten I'm sorry you would never!

INTERNAL WORLD: eehhh bit all over the place, but not as much as has been in M*ffat stuff before, which may just be that most of it has been set up before. there's UNIT, there's the Time War/Gallifrey (if very simplistically portrayed), and Elizabethan Timez. could be worse, could be better

POLITICS: Someone! Take! Authority! Figures! Away! From! Doctor! Who! by this I mean the continued glorification of Monarchy and Churchill and military we've had throughout this era, fuckn stop!

make these stories about people that matter! I note in this episode how little of it focuses on people doing shit, and is just about so-called Important People Doing Shit. the most we get to an ordinary person with real stakes in this is Osgood, who is also UNIT (and has Kate Stewart's phone no-less). yes Clara is... there, but she's there to witness the important shit

it takes the Doctor away from the sphere where we actually relate to them, and into the "actually I only worry about the hobnobs and the important things, the little picture the little person is not the Point"

I think that's what this episode suffers from the most. it's floating away in a balloon with nary a character, setting, or Theme to properly ground it, with the exception of that final bit: "At last I know where I’m going, where I’ve always been going. Home, the long way around."

FULL RATING: 48/100 (if I can count….)

and here we are, one episode from the end of Eleven's era, and it's an average M*ffat rating. bit of a mess, but with an actual good teaser at the end there for once!

I like Osgood, think UNIT has the promise to be compelling if handled correctly, and of course I'm into the Classic!Doctors fanservice. I think Ten is written somewhat to the left of actual Ten, there's some bullshit political stuff as a continuation from M*ffat's bullshit political stuff, and the Time War is presented as a bit... simple on the whole

gosh I didn't even mention John Hurt??? JOHN HURT!!!!! he's really good actually, he sells the weariness excellently and brings the Doctor down a peg from All Awe-Inspiring Heroic Being to just some guy in a bad position. John Hurt also had two of my favourite lines, first mistaking Ten and Eleven for companions (they get younger all the time lol) and then when realising they're the Doctor: "You’re my future selves? Am I having a midlife crisis?"

the interaction between the three Doctors is often very good. Eleven about Ten's Tardis: "It’s his grunge phase. He grows out of it"

ANYWAY

we're nearly there folks!

#im watching nu!who #im watching eleven who #the day of the doctor #the measurement

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

Your turn for a Ninjago question!

Which season's your favourite?

Hmm. I suck at picking favourites. It's made worse by the fact it's been a while since I've rewatched anything but season 1. So uh, I guess I'll answer this question backwards from worst to best. Have a very rambly, vaguely ordered list :)

I never watched much past S10 - the move to 11 minute episodes was really jarring and only seemed to work well for that one bit of lore for Wu and Garmadon in Crystallised. Which is great, but it's not the actual story, so :/

You've already seen my hatred for the Oni trilogy. Really all I wanted to add there is that I count it as one season, because it has the same plot structure as a regular season, but stretched out over a year for god knows why. I remember making remarks back in the day that it straight up felt like season 4 but longer and edgier, down to the bait-and-switch love interest and end-of-season war.

Hands Of Time I think is generally glossed over in the fandom, and understandably so. I remember they made jokes about iPhones and also captured Borg and there were snakes or whatever. It promised we were going to explore Kai and Nya's family dynamic and then. I'm sure they did something there? Wu's sacrifice was memorable, but absolutely nothing else was. It felt like the new writers were given a script for what Ninjago was known for, but never actually watched the show.

Season 6 I think had a good initial impact on me because of its sky pirate aesthetic but the longer it went on... Eugh. You Already Know

Season 3 I remember, but only for Zane's sacrifice and Garmadon's moments. There were really good character moments in there, but overall there wasn't much going on.

So that strikes it down to 1, 2, 4, and 5.

4. I think 2 comes last by default. I don't dislike it and find a fair bit of it fun, but they really did sap most of Lloyd's personality once he got aged up. There are filler episodes (which are fun, but still), and a second half of the season that drags on until the final fight that everybody was waiting for.

I think Garmadon had some really good moments in here, both funny and dramatic (and especially with Misako). But I think that's still eclipsed by season 1's setup of him. I've drawn fanart of it before but Misako could've been one of the funniest character premises the series had and it's a shame her character was never capitalised on.

3. Possession, as cool as some of the character moments are, is a season I think I liked as a kid mainly because of its ghost aesthetic. Which is amazing, for the record. The art directors were absolutely on point there, and the atmosphere of places like the caves, the washed-up town of Stix, and the sheer scale of the final battle are still burned into my brain.

Character-wise, it's quite nice in showing Kai's loyalty and caring towards Lloyd, and great in that it actually gave Nya a proper character arc. But a lot of the exploration of other characters feels more like... lip service? Cole is a fantastic leader and willing to sacrifice himself for the team, and now might have to deal with being a ghost. Zane sometimes has to deal with things beyond his control as a robot. Wu's carelessness as a mentor actually got one of his students killed back in the day.

What do we do with that? I don't know. I might be overlooking things but the fact these aren't truly followed up with always felt off to me. I want to say Morro himself is sort of representative of this, but I'd need another post and a rewatch to detail my thoughts on him properly.

1. I don't think I want to decide between them: season 4 and season 1.

Tournament of Elements had practically everything I wanted from Ninjago back in the day. It's got some really heartfelt dialogue about the team having broken up after season 3 (as short as that is), it's focused on the more interesting of the two Senseis, it's got espionage and revolution and this whole grand hotel to have ridiculous fights in.

It's not as laser-focused on adding to the ninja's characters as other seasons, but in lieu of that you get a lot of expansion on what we already had, and the best written plot in the entire show.

Like you know something is up with Chen from the very beginning, and so do the ninja, but you have to keep pushing on just to see what happened with Zane. I kept expecting the plot to follow a clear structure and get boring or drag out the mystery of what was going on, but they just kept switching it up whenever I thought things were going perfectly.

You thought the whole team would make through the tournament? Nope! But Cole did find Zane! Holy shit! You thought uniting the elemental masters would be easy? Nope, one of them's a fucking spy. She's literally the main villain's daughter! You thought this'd just be about Chen stealing everybody's elements? Nope, he wants to revive the long dead and conquer the world. Have fun fighting a war!

It's genuinely fascinating how much the plot evolves over the season's runtime, with everybody doing their own separate things. Not every twist works, but the writers clearly put some amount of thought into all of them, and it makes me love the season despite some of its, well, 'culturally insensitive' plot points, as Pythor might say.

Season 1's strengths lie with its characterisation instead of the story, but I still like it for largely the same reasons as season 4.

What really drew me back into Ninjago out of all the action shows back in the day was that instead of just being another 'dumb action show for boys,' it was about a bunch of friends growing and learning as they prepared to grow up. The ninja have to deal with things kids know intimately: absent parents, self esteem issues stemming from your social status, self-centeredness vs being a normal person, discovering your own heritage, feeling excluded, and coming out.

The side characters are also all fantastic. Pythor's delightfully smarmy as a villain. Garmadon's both the most dramatic theatre kid you've ever seen and the sweetest father to Lloyd. Even Lloyd had a lot to do back here! This is the only time I've seen a sad white(-coded) boy villain work out, because he's a child looking for friends. He's genre savvy due to him being Garmadon's son, and smart in suggesting that the ninja steal back the fangblades from Pythor, but he's also still like, 7.

And while the season doesn't have as strong a plot as season 4, I still think small things like the fangblades being stolen from both sides and having the ostensive 'villain' defeat the Great Devourer were fantastic ideas within the constraints of a very structured story.

#ninjago critical #ninjago #dots dots dots #asks #oblivious aro #i hope. uh. you like reading 👍 #GOD I JUST SAT DOWN FOR A BREAK AND STARTED TYPING FOR LIKE A SOLID HOUR HELP #i was supposed to be revising for my next exam but also I'm tired from today's. so. here you go #i'm glad I got this ask. I think I've been wanting to elaborate on my ideas about this for a while #as much as i think the show's. uh. 'culturally insensitive' it did leave a big impact on my psyche and writing style

[hookechoes]

hehe both criminal minds and peaky blinders if you want to

the GOATs

Criminal Minds

My rating (1-10): 7.9, its incredibly enjoyable, frequently silly, often kind of awful. a great combination.

My favourite character: Emily, which could not be more obvious w/ my url but i also love reid almost as much

My least favourite character: Gideon annoyed me a little on this last rewatch, which is a way more negative reaction than I've ever had to any of the other mains. Ashley Seaver SUCKED so fucking bad but she wasn't around long enough to be relevant to this question lol

The character I think I'd be friends with: JJ and Morgan, they've both got a sarcastic teasing streak that I really vibe with

The character I think I won't hit off with: Gideon.

My favourite episode/scene: Man. That's hard, there are so many good ones. The one that kind of lives rent free in my brain is Uncanny Valley (the doll one), and that speech that Reid gives to Riker in that episode is one of the banger scenes of all time.

Whose clothing style I like best: Reid, I love how much he loves that purple scarf

Times I watched it (and if I would again): I've never actually watched all 15 seasons all the way through! I used to watch it when I was in high school and early college, just whenever I saw that it was on TV, so I didn't get through it linearly until this latest rewatch, and even in this rewatch I only got to the later half of season 9 and then kind of fell off lol. But yeah I'd totally watch the early/mid seasons again.

Peaky Blinders

My rating (1-10): 9.2, extremely aesthetic, dialogue to die for, unfathomably fucked up. very much my shit

My favourite character: Ada!!!!!

My least favourite character: John I guess? I've definitely forgotten that he existed at some points lol

The character I think I'd be friends with: Lizzie probably

The character I think I won't hit off with: Arthur, for me he is best loved from a distance lol

My favourite episode/scene: I don't know about episode specifically, but the scene in season 5 episode 4 where Tommy shows up to Ada's house and rambles his way through a mental breakdown at her is honestly one of the best scenes in Anything

Whose clothing style I like best: Ada season 2/3/4

Times I watched it (and if I would again): Only once, and I honestly don't know if I could handle watching it again. It took so long for me to get through season 6 - the bleak darkness of it was truly on the edge of being too much. Which is where I like to be taken, don't get me wrong, it's just that I don't know if I want to necessarily subject myself to the whole thing again lol

#vertigosuite #criminal minds #peaky blinders

[magpiejay1234]

So Episode 49.

III's desire to be recognized by Tron in controlling Number 6 is of course based off Rishid's desire to control fake Ra.

III uses Final Prophecy (Japanese name: Angolmois, from Nostradamus's prophecies), to force a draw, but it opens a Dimensional Gate to Barian World, which tries to suck up everything. Takashi once again removes his D-Gazer to see what is going on.

In the Dimension Gate, III passes on his crest to Yuma, they do this by holding hands.

With Yuma overcoming crest's power with ZEXAL's power, Astral revives, and is instructed by Kazuma to save Yuma.

Number 6 absorbs III to its top, chaining him in an ironic reversal of Astral's chaining.

Numbers Club see the ZEXAL form for the first time.

Number 6, and III are defeated by ZW - Phoenix Bow, which actually has a different design (since Utopia Ray is riding its crossbow form). This will likely become its own card.

The finale of III vs. Astral & Yuma in S2's ending is the same as Kaito vs. Astral & Yuma in S1, but with different ZW - cards, and Yuma unambigiously wins this one.

III does a fair amount of Kaworu dialogue here.

With this, Yuma has Number 33, and 6, as well as the fifth, and final Heart Piece.

III will get post-humously his third Number, Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk, and his replacement for Number 33, Chronomaly Vimana (which ties into the deep Hindu lore of Barians).

With this, ZEXAL I S2 is over. We will discuss S3's structure.

So far, 12 of 24 episodes were about WDC, and 12 of 24 episodes were related to Arclight plot, though some more than others (start of this season is counted for Arclights, otherwise it will be 13 WDC-11 Arclight episodes).

III's role as the final boss will be repeated with Sora in ARC-V S1, though contexts will be very different. III will not become part of the main friend cast until later in ZEXAL II, though his role in there is already established here.

#ygo random thoughts #shitposting

[twwpress]

Creator Spotlight #1: JessBakesCakes

Welcome to our first TWW Author Spotlight! For every spotlight, we’ll ask each featured author the same ten questions as well as questions submitted by you. Thank you so much to the wonderful @jessbakescakes​ (ao3: https://tinyurl.com/m9evs4bs) for kicking us off this week!! 

All answers are directly from Jess. Let’s give her a big round of applause and a lot of love for being our first featured creator! Questions under the cut:

1) What are your top 5 desert island fics by other authors?

like love in a drunken sky by thotsandfeelings: https://bit.ly/3pttb0F This is purely a vibes thing. It’s got COS era J/D all the way through parent J/D, and it’s really lovely.

nothing but the truth of my love by LookingForShadows: https://bit.ly/3QA2ROg I’m biased because this was written specifically because of a prompt I submitted, but it’s everything I could ever ask for in a future fic.

Dream of a Common Language by Nadera Furo: https://bit.ly/3CcIl1K This fic is beautifully written and it shows just how deep Josh and Donna’s connection is from the jump. One of my favorite fics of all time.

darling, so it goes (some things are meant to be) by mikaylawrites: https://bit.ly/3QKVT8E This is such a soft little AU that brings me joy every time it’s updated. J/D and pure happiness and fluff is just so fun for me.

i fall apart (and i thought i was so smart) by RoseyPoseyPie: https://bit.ly/3JYhhoZ This one has the angst and the fluff and everything in between. I think about some of these scenes every day. It was so fun to read this in real time.

2) Do you have a favorite character to write? Favorite ship(s) to write? Are there characters or ships you'd like to write more of? (shout out to @sam-loves-seb/@sam_writes_fics for submitting a similar question!)

My favorite ship is Josh/Donna without question, so I’ll focus on other characters for variety’s sake to answer this. My favorite character to write aside from J/D is Abbey Bartlet. She’s chaotic but has a big heart and cares about all of her adopted children very deeply. Characters I’d like to write more of… Kate Harper, and Lou. I don’t think I’ve ever written Lou in a fic because I think her voice is a bit intimidating to nail but she would be so much fun. And I don’t think I’ve written Kate because she hasn’t come up but someday I would love to!

3) Tell us about your writing process (setup/location? Night or day? Snacks/beverages? Computer/phone/notebook? Music or silence? Anything else you want to share is welcome!) 

I usually write best shortly after I wake up, which is a bummer on work days. But on weekends and non-work days I vibe really well shortly after I get out of bed. I don’t have to have any specific food or beverage items, but I definitely can’t write on an empty stomach. I write best on my laptop, though I have dozens of weird notes in my notes app with one or two lines of dialogue I didn’t want to lose but ended up forgetting the context for. If I’m writing based on a song/episode, I watch/listen to the source material over and over until I start writing and then I need silence. I can write with general background noise, but too much is distracting!

4) What writing advice do you have for others who may be reading this? 

Just write. Honestly. If you get too caught up in whether it’s good or not, or worry about it too much, it sucks the fun out of it. I have a rule that I only read through something three times before posting it, or else I know I’ll never feel confident enough to post. If you need more support/aren’t sure, find a beta/friend who you vibe with and tell them up front what you need out of the arrangement. Do you need someone to build you up? Edit for spelling/grammar? Help get you out of a corner? Tell them that!

5) From where do you usually draw your inspiration? (Other forms of media, music, tropes, etc?) 

It’s usually other ships on other shows, canon divergent stuff, or music for me. Or tropes. I love a good trope.

6) What is the fic you've written that you're most proud of and why? (shoutout to @sorkingirl for submitting a similar question!)

I have a usual answer for this but I think I’m going to go with just ‘cause i think of you in bed (don’t let it go to your head): https://bit.ly/3dqqYjF

This helped me break down some of my own baggage about sharing explicit writing and helped me grow (in a good way) as a writer. I think I’m proud of it for that reason, simply because of the growth.

7) What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd read 1000 of? What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd write 1000 of? 

I have so many but honestly, soulmate AUs are the one I love to read for J/D. There’s something about the two of them finding each other in every universe/being tied to each other that’s so beautiful to me. As far as writing, marriage tropes. I’ve done a secret marriage and a green card marriage and I have at least two or three marriage ideas bopping around in my head at any given time.

8) Is there anything you'd like to try writing-wise that you haven't yet? 

More friendships/ensemble-type fics. I would love to include more characters I haven’t yet, and highlight some of the friendships in both the Bartlet/Santos administrations.

9) What's your go-to Starbucks/coffee shop/other drink order? 

Starbucks: Double chocolatey chip frappuccino

Dunkin’: Frozen hot chocolate

10) Do you have any current projects you'd like to promote or anything upcoming you'd like to tell us about?

I’ll tease an eventual Gaza canon divergent fic I’ve thought about a lot involving Sam, Donna, and Josh. And M/ @thefinestmuffins​ and I would love to have everyone hop on board J/D tropes fest! https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Trope_Soup

Submitted questions:

From @thefinestmuffin: What is your favorite friendship between TWW characters? Do you have a favorite headcanon of this friendship?

This is so tough because the found family is so strong with this show and these characters are so close. I think one of my favorites that I would love to see more of is Josh and Kate Harper. The potential there was off the charts. My favorite headcanon of this friendship is that Josh and Donna take their kids to visit Aunt Kate and her house full of dogs, and this is how Josh and Donna end up with a dog of their own.

From @thefinestmuffin: When did you start writing (fanfic or otherwise)? And when did you start sharing your fanfiction (for other fandoms and for TWW)?

I’ve been writing since I was tiny. I used to write “books” as a kid. I started publishing my fanfiction in 2007 for Gilmore Girls (Luke/Lorelai all the way), and took a fandom break for a long time while I went to grad school. I published my first J/D fic in early 2021.

From @lemonylyman: What moment made you think “I should/could write about Josh and Donna”?

There wasn’t a specific moment for them, so much as I fell into a fandom rabbit hole. I finished the show, wanted to read fic again, and around the same time, someone commented on a fic of mine from a long time ago. I got the email notification, re-read my fic that I had no memory of writing, and thought “oh, hey, that’s decent, actually” so I started thinking about if I could write Josh and Donna. The moment I started to ship them was the “All the girls think you look really hot in this shirt” moment, but there wasn’t a specific moment where I thought “I’m going to write about these two”. I did know they had me with a buzz like my older fandom days, though, so I knew I had to participate in fandom in some way.

From @mlea7675: Who was the first fandom author you read?

Thotsandfeelings! I can’t remember for sure, but my first fic in TWW fandom was let’s give ‘em pumpkin to talk about: https://bit.ly/3A39uS9 or think I love you better now: https://bit.ly/3PuaUuM

The first one’s relevant with the new A League of Their Own series coming out, but the second one is just really lovely soft and sexy future fic. They were both out around the time I started reading, so I’m pretty sure it was one of the two of them.

From @s4mwilson: do you have an earlier fic you wish you could write again ?? have any tips that have made u a better writer ?? what's the most outlandish au you've ever considered writing ??

Earlier fic I wish I could write again: Ever Forward: https://bit.ly/3pp0RfE

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this fic, but I hadn’t fully firmed up my primary parent/stay-at-home Dad Josh HC yet. I just consider this a little AU of my actual post-series HC. If I could rewrite it I’d probably make the fourth inauguration day Sam’s.

Tips that made me a better writer: If you’re not sure about something you’re writing put <your general vibes/ideas/”insert more” in brackets or something similar> so you can find and replace and connect things later. Oftentimes, I realize that I don’t need a huge paragraph to connect two things, just a sentence or two. Also, get a beta/friend you trust or a text-to-speech app to read your fic out loud. That helps me get unstuck!

Outlandish AU I’ve ever considered writing: I have a bunch of AUs at any given point rolling around in my brain, but some of my most beloved are Teacher AU, Baseball AU, and Veterinarian AU.

From @flowersinapril_: when did you first come to the show?? tell me about ur watching experience? was it recommended did you find it on your own i wanna knooow

TWW was the last Sorkin show I watched. Before I watched it, I watched Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and most of The Newsroom. A friend of mine from another fandom tried to get me to watch TWW, and I watched through 1x04. At that time it wasn’t easily streamed, so I couldn’t find 1x05 (Which of course, is The Crackpots and these Women). Had I watched that episode I would have been hooked. But I gave up and never got around to it again. I’d heard it recommended a bunch and always meant to get back to it as streaming became more widely available. Then, I was quarantined in late 2020 and did nothing but watch the show from beginning to end in two weeks during my quarantine. It was such a wild experience!

Thanks again, Jess!!

It was truly an honor to have you be our first spotlighted creator!

If you’re interested in being featured for a future spotlight, please drop us a line here on tumblr, on twitter, or email [email protected].

xx,

What’s next?

#the west wing #tww #tww fandom #west wing #tww fic #tww author #author spotlight #creator spotlight #josh x donna #josh lyman #donna moss #cj cregg #kate harper #tww fic recs

[tobysplacetoland]

Original Sin Thoughts Before the Finale

I hate this show. Not really, but kind of. I feel like I enjoy at least some of it as I’m watching, but I forget most of the show immediately after. I didn’t catch up on last week’s episodes until last night because I just don’t feel that connected to the show and couldn’t get into the mood to watch it🤷‍♀️. You better believe I was on my couch every Tuesday night at eight to watch PLL. I watched the finale on my phone in the airport, waiting for a delayed flight. But this show? Eh. I just can’t think of many positives other than the inexplicable need to keep watching it, and @broswatchplltoo’s amazing commentary. 

1. None of the characters have distinct personalities. The girls are super bland and I literally can’t tell the boys apart, except Ash and Fake Ezra. Most characters seem defined by one or two characteristics, like “likes movies” and “tragic and pregnant.” This show equates characters having trauma with having personality traits. Karen and Kelly are the only interesting characters in this show, and one didn’t even make it past episode two.

2. Most of the characters don’t have very strong chemistry and don’t seem like they actually care about each other. The friendship between the Liars was one of my favorite parts about the original show, and this one just doesn’t deliver. PLL established such an interesting group of girls from the first episode. This feels more like a group project done by people who barely know each other, with only Tabby and Imogen kind of being close. And the relationships are even worse. You can say a lot about the guys in PLL, but at least you can tell them apart.

3. The mystery is the best part of this show. While I’m not nearly as invested in who A is, what happened with the mothers and Angela is interesting. I do think the flashbacks could be more engaging (it was one of the things PLL did best; flashback Alison was on another planet), but trying to figure out what happened to Angela is probably the best part of this show. I like the idea of the mother’s past affecting their daughter’s present and hope the next three episodes lean more into this aspect of the show.

4. Rosewood sucked. They didn’t even try to make it look the same, especially the Radley. And why couldn’t it be Aria’s Books? This show has so much about men being predatory, then chooses Ezra Fitz of all characters to reference.

5. I don’t like the fashion. More of a taste thing, but Karen is just dressed like a Regina George Barbie and the rest of the wardrobe is pretty underwhelming imo.

6. A’s look is...a choice. The black hood made sense because it was both anonymous and practical. Leather Face is very extra. I get wanting a new look for A, but it could be a little less ridiculous.

7. A lot of the dialogue is cringy, but not as bad as Riverdale.

8. I do like that it seems to be filmed mostly on location, but I think Rosewood got screwed because of this.

9. This show is more like Riverdale or even Thirteen Reasons Why then Pretty Little Liars, which is upsetting since it has PLL in the title. Some might say it’s not fair to compare it to the original, but they’re not unrelated shows. It’s a spinoff. It’s only natural to compare the two, and imo this one does not live up. Most of what I loved about PLL is not in this show, and I haven’t connected to what Original Sin has to offer. Ultimately this show just isn’t for me and I’m glad so many people are enjoying it, but I just don’t really see what everyone else is getting out of it. It’s just not a very good show imo. Not the worst, but not particularly good.

#pretty little liars #pretty little liars original sin #pretty little liars os #pll os

[tomwaterbabies]

experiencing every possible pinocchio adaption i can part five

part one - part two - part three - part four

13. Pinocchio (1965)

i dont have a lot to say about this one. it was a TV stage play or something. it wasnt very good. another that had all the child characters played by adults. why. i liked some of the dialogue and small character moments but it would have been much better if it was like. a child. and also if this was better in general to support the good small moments. 3/10 whatever its not gay or trans moving on

14. “Pinocchio” from an episode of Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

so right away i DO have to respect what the show’s goal here is, each episode was a retelling of fairy tales with poc. and as a bonus this adaption was NOT bad, i thought it was good! of course part of that was that it was very clearly using disney’s adaption as the base, and i wasn’t super into that. The plot was almost exactly like disney’s, but it did throw in some fun aesthetic choices (the blue fairy being “the blues fairy” for example. fun music btw). not a great adaption but god damn am i glad to see another good one (this is rare). 6/10 not gay or trans but i like it

15. Pinocchio (1911)

a silent film that marks the first time pinocchio was adapted on film! what an interesting thing to see. until it was racist. which definitely sucks. idk its pretty bad but story-wise it still isnt the worst one i guess. just like. the second worst one or something. pacing was terrible but not torturous like some others. and there were funny slapstick moments i guess. but literally why was it racist dont answer that i know why i know what time period this was filmed in. but why. 0/10 nothing not gay or trans just bad ugly wrong incorrect

#pinocchio #long post #the pinocchio experience #text

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

Season 1 finale time baby!!!!!

1.) six people have been taken in one week by the demogorgon

2.) Joyce knows Brenner is full of shit and her telling him to go to hell is so good

3.) hopper way too calm from being tased

4.) i forgot that the kids got left at the middle school

5.) hell yeah nail bat my beloved. Jonathan made you but you’re Steve’s

6.) I did forgot that Hopper initially gave up El to the agents

7.) Brenner super thought Will was doomed and it’s not the first or last time he’s been a moron

8.) I forgot how cute Sarah was 😭 but also Hop was so sweet and gentle with her

9.) Dustin has priorities and those priorities are chocolate pudding

10.) the inherent intimacy of bandaging each other’s wounds

11.) Steve!! Steve is so sorry and so worried and then a gun’s pulled on him

12.) Steve got thrown into the deep end of knowledge

13.) I forgot the demogorgon fucked off for a bit

14.) I truly think the duffer brothers forgot how soft and sweet they had Hop be with Sarah

15.) Steve ran until he saw the blinking lights and then he truly became Steve Harrington goddamnit

16.) teamwork makes the dream work but they should have let it burn a bit longer

17.) I know they had a partner deal and they wanted her to love eggos and know nothing but what did the feed el in the goddamn facility???

18.) I forgot Mike kisses el this episode

19.) El murder spree time and then collapse time

20.) I really hate Brenner. I’m really sad he doesn’t die this episode

21.) I forgot Dustin carried El away

22.) hopper spots Barb’s body but it’s also where Will is being held so I am pretty sure it’s not Steve’s pool. Still no indication of characters knowing where Barb died

23.) the wrist rocket is definitely an It reference

24.) this self-sacrifice moment would have been more impactful had the lights not been strobing to all hell

25.) I do appreciate that since they just show the CPR motions and not try to bullshit the chest moving. Hopper definitely saved Will’s life

26.) Winona Ryder is a national treasure

27.) I do have a new love of Karen Wheeler

28.) the audio balancing of this show is terrible.

29.) I forgot Steve waits with everyone in the waiting room for Will

30.) one month laterrrrr and it’s Christmas and Mike is dming again

31.) ok this dnd session is definitely criticizing season 1 right????

32.) ok Nancy gave Jonathan the camera and Steve asks if she gave it to him but it’s not actually clear if it’s from him???

33.) it’s ok little baby Byers, I feel like I’ve been sucked into hell when I have to hack something up too

Season 1 thoughts:

I still think this season is fun and has some really good performances. That being said, the CGI aged like milk, the pacing is kind of breakneck, the audio balancing is garbage (I would turn down the volume because of a monster scene only to have dialogue be barely audible in the next) and we already see a referential problem with the Duffer Brothers here.

And what I mean by that is that they know references to much better media both by copying the visuals or by having props or by having a character mention it, but frequently they don’t really seem to understand it. And even if they did, they happen so often that they’re rendered mostly meaningless anyway. It comes across less as directors who have something new to say about famous products and more of a cheap Ready Player One, ‘hey fellow nerds, do you remember the Millennium Falcon exists and you wanted to make that toy fly?’

#stranger things #stranger things rewatch #season 1 #s1e8

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend, back after a couple of weeks visiting family and refereeing family drama (I love them but visits remind me why I physically live far away from them). Anyway I'm sorry your work is being super shitty and you have to walk a fine there right now, that sucks and I'm reviewing them poorly on your behalf 😤.

So instead of indulging in the salt this time I am here to get super excited with you over the upcoming RWRB movie!! After seeing the trailer I immediately went and read the book and I am now aggressively glaring at the calendar waiting for August 11th to fucking get here already. Its been too long since since we've gotten to flail about our blorbos on here and I am ready 🤩🤩🤩.

And do you know the best thing bestie?? There's no self-indulgent showrunner behind the scenes to force out-of-character narrative or unneeded and unwanted side characters on us because they think it makes good drama (okay maybe this will be mildly salty). The story is set, the director seems to excited about the chance to do the actual source material, and everything we've seen from clips looks on point. And its not that I don't enjoy the prospect of seeing a story unfold in new and unexpected ways that a good procedural can do, I love that anticipation and love it even more when it pays off well, but its been awhile since that's happened. It feels like all the shows we've indulged in have just disappointed and I'm so ready to have the story of my blorbos have a happy ending that makes some fucking sense for the characters, that's been built up to and not "earned" through pointless drama but through a real journey that shows the characters discovering the ending they deserved from the start.

So let's get excited about this!! And if we're going to be excited about this do you think we should be song level excited?? Let me know!

Hello my friend! I'm glad you had time to visit family, and then time to be away from family. I know that feeling for sure! Sorry I'm so late getting to this. Work is stressing me TF out, so to relax, I spent the weekend camping (RV-ing) which was nice but also did not involve a lot of good sleep (it's just...so hot. and some people like to play music until 2am). Then I nearly spent this evening on a 4 hour round trip to see my brand new nephew but that was blessedly cancelled so I have time to finish the last few rows of his baby blanket and also answer this ask before it somehow ends up being already Friday and time for RWRB!

I keep going back and forth because on the one hand, there are things from the book I know for sure have been cut and I'm going to miss (whyyyy was this not a 6-8 episode mini-series?!) or things that are going to play out differently than the book which is always a little sad when you're waiting to see how these actors deliver a particular scene only for it to never happen, or the scene to happen differently, or with different dialogue. On the other hand, everything, even if it's not exactly what I would have pictured, just looks SO good and SO funny and fun, and like it all has SO much heart and love and joy behind it. It's like...it's going to be different, but out of necessity for run time/rating, not because someone got tapped to make a story from source material they didn't particularly enjoy or respect and therefore don't really care how they butcher the source material to meet runtime, as long as the studio can make merch with pretty faces. (No, of course I haven't been burned multiple times by books I loved being turned into movies/shows by people who scorn the source material and the intended audience. Why would you think that? 🙃) So I think I can leave space to mourn the changes and missing characters (Cash my absolute beloved! The June/Alex sibling relationship forever relegated to my re-reads and my dreams, the fact that I've seen several mentions of "the/a sex scene" strongly implying we aren't getting as much spice as one would hope given the source material etc), while still being REALLY excited to see what we get and to enjoy a movie so clearly crafted with love and respect of the source material. It's going to be a wild ride of emotions for sure!

And bestie you are sooo right, that after a long string of disappointments, it's going to feel soooo good to win! (Also, the director going back and adding more f-bombs because he found out about the R rating is hilarious and I love him for it.) It's going to feel so good to not have everyone bending over backwards to push just enough subtext to keep people saying "surely this HAS to mean something!" and then turning around and telling fans they're seeing things and it doesn't mean anything. 🙄 (oops! My own salt slipped out there a bit 🤣) ALSO!! There is something that really stood out to me and it was one of they guys saying how great it was they were friends because it was important for the love to be "real". Which struck me because it was almost word-for-word what Vlamis and Tyler said about playing Malex, and the love between them needing to be real, and we all saw how that turned out! Chemistry wise, it's unmatched (even if the show squandered it at every turn) and it's getting me really excited to see how it translates to screen for Henry and Alex with TZP and NG working with the same theory of the love being real. I think they are going to blow everyone away and I can't wait to see it!

I ABSOLUTELY think we should do a song if you're so inspired and I will do my absolute best to respond before Friday and also convince my mom that we don't need to out of town to see the baby until Saturday morning so I can watch it as soon as I get off work Friday.

Cheers bestie! We finally have something to celebrate!

#my sweet nonnie friends #sleeping at last anon #red white and royal blue #rwrb #i've got this coming out and then the ed sheeran concert and then maybe a night vale live show?! #my life is suddenly full of things i love and enjoy that aren't causing me pain and heartache?! #seems fake but i am cautiously optimistic #also it could be the exercise and warm weather chasing away the depression soooo there's that #or the stress outweighs the depression for now? #either way #things are good but also very busy and i would like for maybe less things to happen every day so i can enjoy all these other good things! #always good to hear from you my friend! #i'm glad you liked the book and it's going to be so nice to flail together in joy! #i'm also actually finally reading another book instead of just fanfic because i have some brain space for once?! #go me!

[d-criss-news]

20 Questions With Darren Criss: How Acting Has Helped Him Make New Music

While Darren Criss has graced our TV screens with a range of characters, from high schooler Blaine Anderson on Glee to serial killer Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, he was last spotted just being himself, on our For You Page on TikTok. “I’m walking to rehearsal with a guitar on my back with a Trader Joe’s bag ... I did not bring an umbrella because I forgot that it was raining. I’m rocking that NYC musician life,” the Glee alum explained in the hilarious clip posted three days ago.

While Criss’ acting work has earned him acclaim and stardom, he leaned into making music during the pandemic. On Aug. 20, he dropped a new EP, Masquerade, featuring five new tracks that Criss says were inspired by the different characters Criss has embraced throughout his career. After Criss wrote songs for his musical comedy web series Royalties and Apple TV+’s animated sitcom Central Park before the pandemic struck the United States, he then used those experiences as a precursor to his new EP. As Criss continues to promote his new music, he answered 20 of Billboard's questions – giving us a peek into how his new EP came together, and how growing up in San Fransisco shaped him as an actor, singer and all-around artist.

1. What inspired your latest project, Masquerade?

Although I would have preferred that it come at a far less grim cost, I finally had the time. Before the pandemic, I had written 10 new songs for my show Royalties -- along with an original song for Disney and another for Apple’s Central Park. These were all assignments in which I was writing for a certain scenario and character. Go figure. It was the most music I had ever written in a calendar year. This really emboldened me to rethink how I made my own music— to start putting a focus on “character creation” in my songs, rather than personal reflection. The latter was not proving to be as productive. The alchemy of having this time and having set a new intention with my own songwriting and producing made me put on a few of my favorite masques and throw myself a Masquerade.

2. How do you think your background as an actor complements your music?

They are one and the same to me. I treat acting roles like musical pieces— dialogue is like scoring a melody; there’s pace, dynamics, cadence, tone. Physical characterization is like producing -- zeroing in on the bass line, deciding on the kick pattern. Vocal characterization is like choosing the right sonic experience, choosing the most effective snare sound, and mixing the high end or low end. It goes without saying that it works in the complete opposite direction. Making each song is taking on a different role literally and employing the use of different masques to maximize the effectiveness of the particular story being told.

3. On Instagram  you wrote that “Masquerade is a small collection of the variety of musical masques that have always inspired me.” Which track do you identify with most in your real life?

Everybody absorbs songs differently. Some key into the lyrics, some into the melody, some the production, some into vocal performance. When I listen to songs, I consider all of their value on totally different scales. So it’s hard to say if there’s any track I “identify” with more than any others, since I -- by nature -- identify with all of them. I think I just identify with certain aspects more than others. If it helps for a more interesting answer, I will say I enjoy the slightly more classical, playful -- dare I say -- more Broadway-leaning wordplay of “Walk of Shame,” but that’s just talking about lyricism. I enjoy the attitude of “F*kn Around,” the batsh--t musicality of “I Can’t Dance,” the relentless grooves of “Let’s” and “For A Night Like This.” All have different ingredients I really enjoy having an excuse to dive into.

4. What’s the first piece of music that you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?

Beatles audio cassettes: “Help” and “Hard Day’s Night.” I just listened on repeat on a tape-playing Walkman until my brother and I got a stereo for our room with a CD player in it, which was  when I just bought the same two albums again, but this time as compact discs.

5. What was the first concert you saw?It’s hard to say, because my parents took us to a lot of classical concerts when we were small. But I guess this question usually refers to what was the first concert you went to on your own volition, and that my friend, was definitely Warped Tour ’01. My brother and I went on our own— two teenagers going to their first music festival, in the golden age of that particular genre and culture. It was f--king incredible.

6. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid?

My dad was in private banking and advised really, really wealthy people on how to handle their money. My mom was, by choice, a stay-at-home mom, but in reality, she was my dad’s consigliere. They discussed absolutely everything together. They were a real team, and I saw that every single day in the house. They both had a background in finance (That’s how they met in the first place.) and were incredibly skilled at all the hardcore adulting things that I absolutely suck at. They were total finance wizards together. So of course, instead of becoming an accountant, I picked up playing the guitar and ran as far I could with it. Luckily, they were all about it.

7. What was your favorite homecooked meal growing up?

My dad was an incredible chef. For special occasions, I’d request his crab cakes. They were unreal. I’ve never had a crab cake anywhere in the world that was good as my dad’s.

8. Who made you realize you could be an artist full-time?

I don’t know if I’ve actually realized that yet.

9. What’s at the top of your professional bucket list?

The specifics change every day, but the core idea at the top is to continue being consistently inconsistent with my choices, and to keep getting audiences to constantly reconsider their consideration of me. But I mean, sure, what performer doesn’t want to play Coachella? What songwriter doesn’t want to have Adele sing one of their songs? What actor doesn’t want to be in a Wes Anderson film?

10.  How did your hometown/city shape who you are?

San Francisco. I mean, come on. I was really lucky. The older I get, the more grateful I am for just being born and raised there. It’s an incredibly diverse, culturally rich, colorful, inclusive, vibrant city. By the time I was born, it had served as a beacon for millions of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to gather and thrive. I grew up around that. The combination of that with having parents, who were unbelievably supportive of the arts themselves, laid an incredibly fortunate foundation to consider the life of an artist as a legitimately viable option. It’s a foundation that I am supremely aware is not the case for millions of young artists around the world. I was absurdly lucky.

11.  What’s the last song you listened to?

I mean probably one of mine, but not by choice. I know, lame. But I’m promoting a new EP, what’d you expect? But if you wanna know what I’ve been listening to, as far as new s--t is concerned: a lot of Lizzy McAlpine, Remi Wolf, and Charlie Burg.

12.  If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would it be?

The Beatles is an obvious "yeah, duh." Sammy Davis, Mel Tormé, or of course, Nat King Cole. I would’ve loved to see Howard Ashman give a lecture on his creative process and his body of work.

13. What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen happen in the crowd of one of your sets?

I feel like just having a crowd at all, at any one of my sets, is pretty wild enough.

14. What’s your karaoke go-to?

The real answer to this I’ll write into a book one day, because I have a lot to say about karaoke etiquette. I have two options here: I can either name a song that I like to sing for me, for fun, or I can name a song that really gets the group going. The answer depends on what kind of karaoke night we’re dealing with here. So I will say, after I’ve selected a ton of songs that services a decent enough party vibe for everyone else, then I would do one for me, and that would be the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling.”

15. What’s one thing your most devoted fans don’t know about you?

What I have up my sleeve.

16. What TV show did you binge-watch over the past year?

Dave is a stroke of genius. There are episodes that I believe are bona fide masterpieces. Also, My Brilliant Friend is a masterclass in cinematic television.

17. What movie, or song, always makes you cry?

It’s A Wonderful Life.

18. What’s one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

Get used to sharing everything about yourself and your life now, or more astutely, to the idea that you don’t necessarily get to control how your life is shared. I know it’s not really your thing, but you’re gonna have to get used to it, so start building up those calluses now. And don’t worry, all the stuff you love now will be cool again in your mid-thirties, so keep some of those clothes because you’ll be a full-blown fashion icon if you just keep wearing exactly what you’re wearing. Oh nd also, put money into Apple and Facebook.

19.  What new hobby did you take on in the last year?

I’ve always been a linguaphile. My idea of leisure time is getting to study or review other languages. This past year, I took the time to finally dive into learning how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Other than making music, it was one of the biggest components of my 2020-2021.

20. What do you hope to accomplish or experience by the end of 2021?

I hope I get to play live shows again.

#darren criss #billboard #masquerade ep #press #sept 2021

[girl4music]

BUFFY REWATCH - S04E22 - Restless

Tara: “I think it’s strange. I mean, I think I should worry that we haven’t found her name.”

Willow: “Who, Miss Kitty?”

*shot of their kitten, playing with a ball of red yarn in slow-motion*

Tara: “You’d think she’d let us know her name by now.”

Willow: “She will.

*looking down at Tara*

She’s not all grown yet.”

Tara: “You’re not worried?”

Willow: “I never worry here. I’m safe here.”

Tara: “You don’t know everything about me.”

Willow: “Have you told me your real name?”

Tara: “Oh, you know that.

*Willow smiles, reaches for something. Shot of a paintbrush dipping into ink jars*

They will find out, you know. About you.”

Willow: “Don’t have time to think about that. You know I have all this homework to finish.”

*the camera pulls back so we can see Tara is lying face-down on her bed, naked, and Willow is painting on her back*

Tara: “Are you gonna finish in time for class?”

Willow: “I can be late.”

Tara: “But you’ve never taken drama before.

*shot of Willow dipping the paintbrush again, moving it across to Tara’s back, which is covered with Greek symbols*

Might miss something important.”

Willow: “I don’t wanna leave here.”

*Tara twists back to look at her*

Tara: “Why not?”

*Willow stands up, looking down at Tara. She turns away toward a dark red curtain. Walks over to it*

Willow: “It’s so bright.

*pulls back the curtain to reveal a brightly sunlit desert. The light falls on Tara, who looks over. Looking back at Tara, still holding the curtain open*

And there’s something out there.”

*shot of the desert, straggly plants, rocks. We briefly see something (someone?) moving, then it’s gone. Shot of the kitten stalking forward toward the camera, in slow-motion*

I have been so anxious to get to this episode and write my meta. For all the time I’ve brought up Willow’s insecurities, this is the one and only episode that lays them all bare for everybody to see, if - and this is important -, you are clever enough to decipher the code of visual symbolism and possess the ability of interpretation. Pretty much all of the episode ‘Restless’ requires you to interpret what you see. You’re not told straight-forwardly what the dreams, each of the core 4 Scooby members have, are about and that’s precisely what I love about it and why it is probably my most favourite episode of the whole show.

Now, obviously, I’m only going to be talking about Willow’s dream in the episode because if I were to do an analysis of every character’s dream, I’d be here all day and this recap would be incredibly long. I would suggest watching YouTuber Passion Of The Nerd’s analysis for it to get the whole picture. Much of what I will write here will draw from that as I agree with quite a lot of it and think it makes a lot of sense in understanding each character. Every character has fears, worries and insecurities, and that’s what these dreams are specifically about, but Willow’s go much deeper than can be witnessed in all of the show due to her “hiding” them under a “thinly-veiled” persona of who she wants to be. For the most part, you only get to see who she wants you to see. It is not until this episode that all of Willow’s real thoughts and feelings take center-stage - quite literally. There’s a reason why both her dreams in ‘Nightmares’ and ‘Restless’ have her performing on stage. The former, being more about stage fright and about wanting to go unnoticed. The latter, about acting like something she’s not and “putting on a show” of confidence and security to the other characters, who she fears knows about “the real her”, and the audience watching her. Now, “the real her” is as ambiguous as this entire dream sequence is - meaning: it depends on your point of view who Willow is. And this is why I clash with @confusedguytoo about Willow often regarding my views and opinions on Willow. They see something different to me. However, I’ll let them better explain that if they so wish to. I’ll only explain what I see - in Willow - and in this episode.

I relate Willow’s insecurities to her accumulation of power and need for control. For me, much of what I interpret in ‘Restless’ ties in and very much foreshadows Willow’s magic addiction and ‘Dark Willow’ storyline in Season 6 because, to me, Dark Willow is less about the Magicks and more about power and rage, (Anya interjects here: “and vengeance, don’t forget vengeance”). So I will go through the meaning of Willow’s dream in ‘Restless’ from the way I interpret it and in my own words:

Starting off, we have Willow sat on Tara’s bed with Tara (well, actually Tara is laying down on it and Willow is sat on it.) Tara is turned away from Willow as Willow paints some writing on her bare back (see Passion Of The Nerd’s analysis to know what is being written because it’s very significant to the scene.) This part of Willow’s dream has more to do with Tara than Willow, but it’s important to remember that it’s all from Willow’s perspective. Willow worries that there’s something about Tara that Tara isn’t telling her. Something she’s not “facing her” with and letting her know bothers her. But other than that - she has no worries. She feels safest with Tara and, as I’ve previously mentioned in another recap, is much more invested in the relationship they share than Tara is at this point in it. And the scales don’t actually equal in that because Willow becomes uncomfortably and unhealthily invested in that she starts to abuse Tara in such a way where she wants to make sure Tara pays the most attention to her. And magic has always been the best way for Willow to have “her will be done” well before Tara entered the picture of her life. And so, she knows it’s her bread and butter to getting her way.

Moving on, we now see Willow walking the halls of Sunnydale high school and Xander and Oz are in the dream. No Tara. Meaning this part of the dream is something passed in her life but still very present in her mind. Although this is of the past, the dialogue between all 3 characters is about Willow’s then-future. There is mention of Tara and of the drama class they will take in college. I interpret this to mean that Willow can’t entirely let go of what was to focus on what is or what will be. Hence why Oz is in the scene and why he says “Oh, I’ve been here forever” when Willow asks him if he’s ever took the drama course - at which point we see Willow trying to take something out of her locker but can’t seem to get it open. I interpret this to mean she’s locked out and cannot access that part of her life anymore despite still thinking about it, and specifically Oz, in it. You see, Oz may have followed Willow to college, but he never stayed. Their relationship was only one that existed in high school and Willow has regretfully moved on from Oz and entered a new relationship that exists in college and will last beyond that. She cannot access her high school life anymore. She cannot access Oz anymore. Thus, their love affair was tied to their high school life and Willow no longer goes there.

At this point we see Willow walk out of the frame, leaving Xander and Oz behind, to stand backstage of a production in their drama class - of which Willow has never even rehearsed for and hasn’t even had her first drama class yet. And the characters of Harmony, Riley and Buffy are dressed up in costume ready to perform the play and tell Willow that she’s late but she’s “already” dressed in “costume” and “already” in “character”. Giles then enters the scene as the stage director and his dialogue in rallying his actors to get ready to perform reveals that this play is all about Willow. In fact - she’s the main character in it (go figure) and everybody in the audience, including the cast, is there to watch her perform.

“Acting is not about behaving, it’s about hiding. The audience wants to find you, strip you naked, and eat you alive, so hide.” - Giles.

Next Willow goes behind the stage curtains (which are red to represent a vagina, apparently, according to Whedon in the commentary track for ‘Restless’) and finds Tara among them with her who tells her that things aren’t going very well. Willow says that drama class is not being done in the “proper” way, she doesn’t know what to do, and the play’s starting soon. Tara then tells her that the play’s already started and that’s not the point anyway. Willow doesn’t understand. As the play happens without Willow, Tara disappears, and what was following Willow attacks her.

Buffy saves her and we go back to Sunnydale high school. This time we’re in a classroom. It isn’t clear which class but it’s presumably English as Willow reads out a book report on ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Before she does that though, Buffy tells Willow that the play is long over and asks her why she’s still in “costume”. Willow responds that it’s not a costume, she’s just in her outfit of the day. Buffy tells her that everybody already knows about her and to take her “costume” off, to which Willow panics and refuses. Buffy rips her “costume” off of her to reveal her wearing the clothes she was wearing on the very first episode of the show. Now, Willow stands in front of a full classroom of her peers (both from high school, college, and the Scooby Gang) mocking her for her appearance and her reaction to being totally exposed to what she believes everybody perceives of her as the truth of who she really is. Still a shy loser. The dream sequence ends with what was following Willow and attacked her throughout; the first Slayer sucking out her soul and leaving the real Willow paralyzed in her sleeping state. Unable to escape from her personal Hell.

So what does it all mean? Well, it really all depends on the way you interpret her dream. Some things about Willow and what she thinks and feels are clear, some are not. But how I’ve interpreted her dream in ‘Restless’ is that Willow, despite appearing a much more confident, secure and assertive person, doesn’t have any belief in herself when it comes to her value and requirement of her from her peers, friends and lovers… Or everyone that’s not her. Her need for validation in who she is and what she can do from everyone. Her worthiness in her work. Her ability and capacity to love. Her appearance to whoever perceives her. Especially the ones she loves. And her insecurities run so deep in this that even she doesn’t recognize them. She’s not aware to how much she’s acting like someone she’s not in order to please, in order to have attention, in order to feel of use to people. Now, it is not that she is still the loser. She’s definetly evolved into a much more worldly and well-rounded person since her high school days. Stronger, smarter, wiser, and more confident. It’s just she doesn’t believe in it and she absolutely fears no one else does either. In her mind she’s still the lonely nerd and she’s doing the most to make sure people don’t see that. Even though she has the belief that they do and always will. So her need for power and control all stems from these deep unconscious insecurities. Magic just happens to be the most effective tool for her to accumulate this. And she only becomes addicted to it in Season 6 because she relies on it to make her special. Even though she’s special as she is - with or without magic - to which Tara does her damnedest to make her aware of and believe. And she’s about the only person in the show that achieves it - until, of course, her death… Which, of course, triggers Dark Willow.

Willow's need for power and control as Dark Willow is channelled through rage and pain and so no amount of it is enough. Willow isn’t enough without Tara. None of these fears, worries and insecurities are the truth of Willow. But getting her to believe in and trust in that is next to impossible. Tara is only capable of it because she’s the one thing in the show that Willow truly loves. Is truly committed to. Is truly invested in. And she feels like she means and is nothing without her, without her love, without her attention, without her validation, without her light. She abuses her the most because she’s the one person in all of the show that she covets the most. That she doesn’t want to be without, that she feels the safest and is the happiest with. That she won’t let leave her life. Yes, it’s unhealthy. But true love can be when there’s so much inner turmoil. When there’s such a storm inside threatening to be unleashed with every bad day. Every screw up. Every "spaz" feeling. That's what it stems from. A loser mentality.

That is Willow’s entire predicament throughout the whole show and why her character representation, development and evolution is the greatest, the most profound, the most detailed, the most poignant. This is a character that you absolutely fall in love with very early on. To see them go from that gentle-natured, quirky, inspiring and endearing person to one of the most abusive, frustrating, corruptive and destructive people is hard. Fortunately, they’re given the endgame they deserve and become the hero. They learn to balance both sides to who they are - the dark and the light - and they become exactly who they want to be. Someone of great power and control. Someone that is valued and loved. Someone that matters. Whether she believes it or not is up to you. 😉

#buffy the vampire slayer #S04E22 #restless #willow rosenberg #alyson hannigan #tara maclay #amber benson #daniel oz osbourne #seth green #xander harris #nicholas brendon #buffy summers #sarah michelle gellar #rupert giles #anthony stewart head #passion of the nerd #analysis #insecurity #dream #episode recap #buffy rewatch #Youtube

[ravenadottir]

Okay wait, what was Hope’s original dialogue during the bathroom argument?

in the weekly releases, up until march/2020, hope was arguing about the possibility of noah leaving her for priya or mc. her dialogue had many pearls, but the worst one was this:

"i'm fighting for us to stay together, and shame on you if you don't do the same!"

with exaclamation points and sour faces to accompany her words, because the dialogue wasn't toxic enough. there was banging fists on the sink and slamming doors action. it was tragic!

this particular argument led me to write her beach hut confessions the way i did. her being so toxic was pretty much based off that dialogue fusebox gave us.

it was also the main reason for most of us, noah stans, to hate on hope and call her possessive, controlling and jealous. because she was acting like that behind the curtains, according to that scene.

after a lot of complaining, for perpetuating a negative stereotype, not only for her as a woman but also as a dark skin woman, they recognized they did her wrong and changed the dialogue.

the main reason for the complaints was because she wouldn't act like this in public at all. not that intensely, and mostly was looking for noah to be honest with her.

back then she was angry about not being the girl he wanted and shaming him for his feelings.

now when you get noah saying something about her crying being an act of manipulation is because back then it seemed that was her tactics, but they never adapted his words either, so it seems he's shaming her.

hope and noah have been sucked into this whole nope mess since the very beginning. this was probably around week 5 or 6, and it stood there for a solid five months after the finale. it was early on and people were under the impression noah was endgame because fusebox spent that whole time promising him as such.

towards the final episodes they decided to change their personalities completely and have them stay together just to reinforce he wasn't a possible li, but it was too late. too many promises had been made at that point.

so what you see today, in all dialogues, is pieces of plots that happened before but were never truly fixed according to their actual storylines.

they just villanized hope back then for the sole purpose of having a villain in his playthrough, even though they knew fully well he wasn't gonna choose mc at any given moment.

MESSY. WRONG. USELESS. OVERALL A PIECE OF SHIT PLOTLINE, WOULD GIVE IT A SOLID -2/10.

#litg hope #litg noah #litg nope #litg s2 #litg #litg season 2 #love island the game #love island the game season 2 #queue

[macgyvertape]

Castlevania kinda had a pacing problem

spoilers for all of Netflix’s Castlevania. I haven’t seen much analysis for the show on tumblr, im honestly curious if discussions I had with irl friends mirror what fandom talks about

tldr: Castlevania seems inconsistently paced from season to season, and within season as well, leads to a lot of characters motivations feeling unclear so characters repeatedly explain why they are doing something while they’re doing it

overview of the seasons:

S1 I know somewhat of a test for Netflix but it has good main trio character establishment and sets the scale of the conflict

s2: pretty complete emotional arc for most characters and resolves the plot of killing Dracula while setting up additional characters to continue the story. Isaac, Hector, Carmilla all established with the audience as characters whose story would continue

honestly I would bet this is the most popular season

S3: s2 did a bit of worldbuilding, but this season really fleshed out the world with both a wide range of locations and exploring the question of “what now, Dracula is dead but vampires and night creatures remain”.

There were basically 4 plot threads: 1) Sypha/Trevor investigating the cult & Saint Germain; 2) Hector & Carmilla (also introducing Lenore, Striga, Morana); 3) Isaac’s journey of revenge & self discovery; 4) Alucard sits around the castle and is betrayed.

overall characters roughly feel like they are in the same place if not worse. A big criticism I saw at the time, which hold up after rewatching this before s4 is nothing felt resolved for the main characters

I would say this season is where the pacing issues start to become apparent, juggling 4 plot threads that lack a central theme or even mutual character connection. If there was a central theme it would be “humans are awful to each other”. The Judge doing Hot Fuzz style murders, The Wizard in the tower, Sumi & Taka

S4: it starts with the same 4 plot threads, though upfront it is made clear that the plot theme is “people are trying to resurrect Dracula”, and the progression of the plot works to resolve unrelated plot threads until the main trio reunites for the boss fights. To me and my friends watching it was obvious that the show would reunite the main trio, the question was how and how far into the run time.

Season 4 is why I’m writing this essay, for the past 2 days I’ve been like, yeah that character sure explained their motives repeatedly maybe with some philosophical discussion, but it’s just such a weird place considering where they were in s3

Alucard’s arc:

Where he was left in season 3, it was after killing people he had trusted in self defense and impaling their corpses. It was clearly meant to parallel Dracula’s dislike of humanity. However overall his character lacked a proactive motivating force.

Honestly the most interesting thing I found in s3 was Alucard clearly misses Sypha and Trevor, however they don’t miss him or refer to him

One reason Sumi & Taka betray Alucard is for the secrets and power of Castlevania. After inviting the village including St Germain who Alucard was warned of into the Castle, Alucard makes 0 effort to secure anything, not even his personal childhood room. Guess he really learned nothing

Discussing St Germain, I think it’s funny that they had a several minute flashback sequence for his lost girlfriend (who doesn’t have a name or a voice actor), to remind the viewer of who he is, and to justify how he’s suddenly back and down for murder.

In s4 there is the call to help the village, and the walk back to the castle is a montage of Alucard opening up to Greta and becoming friendly literally overnight. He laughs off the impaling, and basically all of the darker things he went through in season 3, which has me asking what was the point of his season 3 arc then? 

Honestly writing this I realize the biggest parallel he has with Dracula is the call to action from a bold woman with a dramatic entrance speech which then leads to a romance

Isaac’s arc:

in s3, with all the other themes of “humanity sucks” I was always unsure if the townspeople were meant to appear irrational while attacking a larger force instead of letting him pass through an leave, or him not caring about how he’s provoking them is meant to show his insanity

ive seen the discussion elsewhere, curious about the Discourse here

is s4 Isaac has the whole monologue about how he now has agency but him gaining that agency was his s3 arc. In s4 he’s already at the point of accepting it. By the end of s4 he’s one of those who comes the furthest from his first character appearance to his last.

s4e5 where of Isaac attacking Carmilla in Isaac’s 2nd appearance had him resolving like 4 plot threads at once (Carmilla, Striga& Morana, Hector, and Isaac himself).

but i do wonder if Trevor, Sypha, or Alucard even know any of these people exist. I think not

I was honestly confused if I missed a scene from his dialogue about building something and what is inherent nature, to “My plan has evolved, my plan is now conquest” because he only conquests the one castle and the rest is left unclear

Upon rewatch the connection there is “killing [the wizard] felt just ... I liked that feeling”, so the show says that Isaac in the end attacked Carmilla for the sake of justice and not revenge.

Isaac in his last conversation expresses the theme of s4 “build something new on these old bones, where people can live for the future”

however, his arc honestly feel scenes were cut, and then dialogue was written around it. He’s the only living character who doesn’t show up in the epilogue and the sentient night creature “what if I could empty hell” dialogue was some of the most interesting worldbuilding. Night creatures with sentience and possibility of regaining memories!!!!

The Council of Sisters & Hector’s arc:

oh I’ve already seen s4 discourse about Lenore/Hector while searching for character analysis, a chunk of it seems to be rationalizing the absolute difference between how s3 ended with these characters and s4. It was extremely confusing for me and my friends; wondering if 1) was Hector showing more emotional intelligence than before and putting on a facade to cover up hatred? Nope 2) did more time pass than 6 weeks for there to be some kind stockholm syndrome? No, Hector seems fine to let Lenore kill herself

The slave control ring: played up in the climax of s3 and easily solved s4. s3 Lenore says if he tries to harm them, flee, or take it off it would cause crippling pain, in s4 Hector just easily cuts off his own finger.

for a control ring that they take time to show a version being on the Rebus, it doesn’t do much controlling of Hector

also guess the definition of “do harm” just refers to direct action

Lenore in s4: has no purpose in conquest, has that useless remarked on by multiple characters, is imprisoned, then kills herself after a genre aware philosophical discussion. This essay is long enough, but what the fuck happened to this character who ended s3 clearly physically and sexually abusive? Seriously this was one of the biggest writing changes to the point where she was treating Hector as an equal. Compare her last words in s3 “shh the real people [vampires] are talking”. The change in the relationship is actually something I would have taken being shown, or atleast told of what exactly caused this change other than the vague “you adopted him”

Striga&Morana get the best arc of the Council. 3 scenes: the tent argument, Daybreak armor fight & argument resolution, declaration of feelings and turning away. You could argue Castlevania is plot to be connective tissue between fight scenes, but for all the dialogue about human resistance in different seasons it was nice to see it. Overall the scenes were short but had a lot of showing what their relationship is not just telling,

unlike Carmilla. For as much hyping up as they did with her, and as much power as she had, she only appeared in 2 episodes and no other group except Isaac knew about her military conquest.

the map scene where she states her motive for conquest of wanting to take things from old men is the key example of how characterization became tell not show. How interesting was that monologue compared to the past seasons flashback to her murmuring the old vampire lord, or all her repeated insults of men/man-children that shows how she judges people??

That monologue had to carry the weight of justifying the Sisterhood bonds falling apart as well as why her motivation changed from building a human pen from Styria to Braila to world conquest. I think it did so poorly

Sypha & Trevor

really Sypha & Trevor have the main plot in the show. I checked and post season 1 the only episode they don’t appear in is s4e6, which is entirely devoted to the Isaac, Hector, and Council of Sisterhood arc. Their partnership and adventures are the main plot of the show.

Its easy to see what Trevor’s arc was over the show: coming to peace with the deaths of his family, taking up the mantle of being a Belmont, and starting a new family with Sypha.

With Sypha I actually had to scroll through tv tropes for what is her character arc, and I guess hers is disillusionment from adventure and life outside the speakers? My friends joke that Sypha’s magic is what the plot demands to look cool in a fight, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Tangent: the ending of their arc was easy to guess: as soon as Trevor went to fight the final boss alone I literally said “oh i bet Sypha’s pregnant, Trevor’s doing a heroic sacrifice, theyll use the unexplained magical dagger mcguffin, and 60/40 odds that he goes through an infinite corridor to outright come back vs just the implication he might come back”

I guess my final thought of the show, was overall the SUPER Final Boss got my by surprise. It was a good twist I enjoyed. Not that Death appeared, I had guessed that from the heavy foreshadowing, but I was surprised by who it was, because I had thought I thought the characters involved feeling shoehorned into the plot was just more bad writing. The Alchemist who put St Germain on the path or murder for no discernible motive for helping? Sure gotta move the plot along. New Dracula court member Varney who has a whole introduction with almost every character he meets and banter about his smell? Sure thats basically how all characters talk with a snarky and acerbic voice.

#Castlevania #castlevania spoilers #castlevania meta #castlevania season four #overall i enjoyed the show #id love to find some discussion of the show #this wound up being more of a recap than a persuasive essay #but i think my tldr thesis statement stands