#excellent write up

[csmeaner]

Man, Just Take Grems Out to the Back 40

tl;dr Up here since it’s long

post related

Just get out of Grems. The staff doesn’t give a shit about you and don’t even have it in them to pretend to care like most CS staff do. Densy’s so tight-fisted that you’re unlikely to be able to get much out of her ARPG. It’s unlikely she’ll fix the Cypherus problem and I’m 50/50 on if she’ll ever finish that precious “lore”. She’s a nasty customer and I guarantee she’s talking shit about you if you dared to speak up in those screenshots.

Just leave. I promise you that there’s another funky dragon-looking species out there with an owner who will appreciate you and listen to reasonable criticisms.

Grems: Ruining a Good Thing

Densy’s (AKA MrGremble or Densetsugin for anyone searching) 20K hijinks hurt the species. It was the first big blow that would have been recoverable if Densy had been anyone else but herself since Grems were still quite popular at the time. 

I won’t go too deeply into this. Most of us already know the story, and the rest can find it in a bunch of places. Needless to say neither Densy’s nor Caravan’s story feels complete, and Densy’s is especially egregious since she waited for something like a year before coming out with obviously-curated proof against someone who could no longer defend herself.

Again, this is something Densy could have come out of with only a few scratches. She made a series of terrible mistakes, but people love a redemption arc.

Densy paid 0 attention to her community’s concerns. Remember that very polite document outlining what could be improved in Grems? archive.ph/Qk20n

The latest screenshots from the Grem Discord show the staff as thin-skinned, lazy, and disengaged. You walk on eggshells around them. It’s exhausting and downright abusive to make your community do that all the time. I think only Celestial Seas and Chowlings are worse.

Of course, also, Soyu-k/k-es-tressier, Densy’s long-time friend, was outed for having art with non-con, pedophilia, and incest (which they found “hot” as late as 2020/1). Densy removed Soyu-k from a mod position, but Soyu-k is still allowed to participate in the group.

Which brings up some salient questions: you’ll ban just about anyone who crosses you, but you won’t ban someone who left non-con, pedophilia, and incest out for the world to see until they were called out for it? Just because you go way back? Where, exactly, are you located from a moral standpoint?

Silence is consent and approval in matters such as these. Grems are no longer popular enough to tank this one. Anyone who bothers to read the callout (ie: anyone other than Soyu-k’s bootlickers) won’t accept the “but it was 10 years ago!” excuse, as if this shit has an expiry date.

The group no longer has any good designers on staff. The popufurs that propped it up have gone fishing. Nobody on staff keeps track of current trends or even what makes a good design in an enduring, classical sense.

The group is simps and people with Stockholm Syndrome playing Weekend at Bernie’s. It’ll be awhile before they give up, especially if an ARPG swings ‘round and it’s not too disappointing. I’d give it another two years. Maybe three if the ARPG is amazing. We might see a new Densy cash machine in that time.

Densy has been like this for as long as I’ve known her (Densestugin days, around the “Doggers” and Shadow Cats times). She’s always been a selfish, cliquey, stuck-up crybully and she’s stuck in her highschool mean girl days.

Just get out. Densy doesn’t appreciate you and just wants more of your money.

#submission #grems #excellent write up #i'm sure a lot of members are feeling very scorned right now and rightfully so #they've had their chance and they're actively spitting in people's faces

[underthelightstonight]

How Harry Styles Moves From Onstage Extrovert To Complex Roles In ‘My Policeman’ & ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ – Deadline

This is an excellent article..

#harry styles #my policeman #don't worry darling #review by deadline #actor harry #excellent write up

[canisalbus]

hello! i've written a short little machete fic, and i wanted to share it with you as thanks for all the incredible art and generous question-answering you've been doing these last few months. i hope that if you give it a look, you enjoy it. <3 keep up all your amazing work! archiveofourown [.] org / works / 50945128

✦ A Voi ✦

#wake up honey new fic dropped #feeling blessed #eating this out of your hands like a baby deer #it's so good you guys treat my lads so well #and write so beautifully and vividly and eloquently #I rambled about this in length in the fic's comment section so I won't repeat myself too much here #but in this one Machete has a little breakdown and gets lovingly bathed like the sad and stunned dog he is #really captured his neuroticism and endless uneasiness #excellent Vittorio content augh I adore him #I'll definitely come back to this later and draw proper actual fanart because some of the scenes are so thematically and visually strong #I need to be able to see them with my actual eyes #dangit I forgot the cut on his lip #had a minor crisis over the color of Machete's robe but maybe it'd be white like the rest of his sleepwear #as a contrast to the usual blacks and reds #fic A Voi #doomcountry #own art #own characters #Machete #CanisAlbus #blood #I said this before and I say it again #if you read the thing and like it it would be very kind and appreciated if you left a small comment to doomcountry as a thank you #you don't need an ao3 account and you can do it anonymously

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

#for the record if you ever find something kind of rancid in my fics #do please let me know #EX: I've rewritten scenes to be better Actual Blind Rep for Toph based on blind reader feedback #and I'm debating how hard it would be to ignore/re-write the canon issues of Water Tribe sexism (for the Southern Tribe at the least) #because that is a common complaint I see from the people who's RL cultures the Water Tribes was based on #probably I can do more interesting things with that going forward #in other words justice for Hama and Hahn #at least the show itself made Hama excellently complex #anyways back to doing actual writing #please no follow up questions #though I will say anyone who wants to update their own fics to use Wanyi (or any other name): go for it! #all you need to do is plop your chapters in a word editor and find/replace the ship name! it took about 40 minutes to do literally #all of my fics and I had some other editing to do besides! it'll be even quicker for you! #let's sink the Wani #avatar the last airbender #atla #Zuko

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Randomly thinking about “tolerate it” (narrator voice: it was not random) and how under the cloak of fiction it is ostensibly inspired by works like “Rebecca” (which Taylor said she read during the 2020 lockdowns I believe?), with the line of “you’re so much older and wiser” indicating that the speaker is significantly younger and inexperienced compared to the person she’s speaking to and a pretty direct reference to the plot of the book.

But I saw something somewhere once that stuck with me about how it might not be referring to relative age between the characters but chronological age as in the passage of time in a relationship. And that made me think about how in a contemporary context, it might not necessarily be referencing an actual age gap between the two characters, but rather a sarcastic or cynical response to the man’s claims that he has matured (“you’re so much older and wiser [than you were before/than you were when we met/etc.]”), which then made me think about that line in relation to the woman. And that it could be taken like, “you act like you’ve matured so much in our time together and like you know everything, while I’m supposedly still stuck as the girl I was when we first met.”

Which then made me think of the “right where you left me” of it all and did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen time went on for everyone else she won’t know it and the bit in Miss Americana where she talks about how celebrities get frozen at the age at which they got famous, and how she’s had to play catch up in a lot of ways not just in her emotional growth but kind of in general. (Which also made me wonder if she’s ever been called out for immaturity/lack of curiosity/lack of education about things in her life…)

Which then made me think about the rest of the song, and @taylortruther’s posts yesterday about “seven” and “Daylight” and the way Taylor idealizes her youth yet contrasts it with an almost sinister reality in its wake, and the line, “I sit by the door like I’m just a kid,” because the discussion raised that her relationship let her recapture some of the childlike joy and wonder she’d lost. So this line is a double-edged sword: the speaker sits by the door with childlike hope that the person will come home and cherish her, but on the darker side, feels like the child dealing with the monsters she doesn’t have names for yet and the feelings of isolation she felt as she aged.

I’m not saying the song is necessarily autobiographical; like most of the songs on folkmore, it’s clearly a fictionalized story based on media she’d consumed and created, but we know a lot of the fictional songs were infused with her own feelings and experiences and… This idea swirling in my head picked up steam and now I kind of can’t stop thinking about it. Sorry but I’m a little obsessed now.

Like maybe it might start to shed light on why she identified so strongly with the novel in the first place…

#the third eye has been opened #😵‍💫 #like tolerate it was always a difficult song #even when we learned it was based on Rebecca it obviously took on new meaning post-joever #and especially in light of ttpd #but the thought spiral i went on last night when i started thinking about all these connections #and the evermore of it all #I’m Charlie at the conspiracy board again #writing letters addressed to the fire #me thinking too hard about Taylor lyrics #evermore my beloved #tolerate it #i kinda gave myself the ick with all this 😵‍💫 #because of the ttpd of it all coming up #and i feel like i remember interviews where Taylor said joe was so well-read especially about like world events and politics and stuff #and supported her when she wanted to start speaking up (not getting into that) #but just based on ~vibes now I wonder if that was like a sore point too at some point #which again i have no proof of but just like… experience with pretentious millennial art bros lol #oh man oh man oh man #this feels like some sort of huge revelation at 1:00 am #when i started writing this lol #eta: when I queued this in the middle of the night i didn't see all the excellent discussion about the seven/folklore posts #so all of you who have been posting about them this morning consider yourselves tagged too!

[korkiekenobiconfirmed]

I don't need oxygen, I need a queer wild-west period drama like black sails. somewhat questionable historical accuracy, very slight dabbling in the mystical/spiritual, good representation on multiple fronts, themes of storytelling and history, anti-colonialism messages that make you want to tear your hair from your scalp anytime you think about them, characters and relationships that are so complex and twisted and well-written...then also just cool hats, fun music, horsies and guns.

...y'know, the good stuff.

#to the ppl who recommended the English…I’m gonna kiss you on the mouth #I watched it all today it was SO good #not queer exactly but it had everything else I needed from a show like that #black sails' combination of Cool Pirate Aesthetic and genuinely excellent writing is flawless #been watching billy the kid recently and like it's good #but it's not black sails good #GIVE ME THE FUCKED UP GAY COWBOY/GIRL MEDIA #black sails

[bloodfreak-boyking]

one of my absolute favorite wincest fic dynamics is when sam has been thinking about doing the nastiest, most wretched things to dean since like forever and has desired him carnally since he knew what that meant, and dean is just like "wow, never noticed how hot my brother is. shame i can't do anything about it bc we're brothers." meanwhile Sam is like locked in the bathroom licking the floor of the shower bc dean just got out. love it when sam is a freak ab his brother in a way that fucking blindsides dean <333

#dean would be thinkin some shit like “i wanna kiss sam but its WRONG so i have to push it down and hide it away” #and sam is actively smelling his dirty underwear and jacking off furiously before dean gets back with breakfast #sam would beg dean to eat him alive but dean is too afraid to even look for too long #ppl who write their dynamic like this - great job team keep up the excellent work 👏

[elfwithagoodgaydar]

i'd like to see buck falling in love with a man (that's not eddie) and having a really good, healthy, caring and sweet relationship. a relationship that when/if ends, he can look back and see actual love. i want buck to find real and meaningful love outside of his surroundings. he needs to know that he can be loved with ease. the idea of having only one love of your life is way too limited for someone with a loving heart as big as buck's. it'll give him the ability to recognise love again when he sees it.

#im here for the long run people #i want season (s) long arcs #bc honestly i worry a lot about the writing once the ship gets together #especially in procedural dramas!! they always come up with something really fucked up #so buddie taking long to happen and both of them having separate queer arcs and romantic relationships #its an EXCELENT thing #911 abc #evan buck buckley #buddie

[wilderflcwers]

"For both bonobos and chimpanzees, the bodies of the dead evoke many emotions. Even if the process often begins with trauma and confusion, typically corpses shift to a liminal status; not alive, but equally not a lump of meat. They're more intensively manipulated than hunted animals, and carried for longer. In some – if not all – cases, the eaters must know what and who they're consuming. Cannibalism is very probably a powerful means by which individuals and groups process the impact not only of killings carried out on emotional impulses, but other deaths too. In other words, it's about grieving. [...] "Shift these scenarios to Neanderthals, and add into the mix their far greater cognitive sophistication, and lives that revolved around using lithics. Suddenly it's not difficult to envision how skills in carefully taking apart hunted carcasses might be transposed into a grieving process that involved butchery and cannibalism as acts of intimacy, not violation."

Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art

#quotes #rebecca wragg sykes #kindred: neanderthal life love death and art #what could be a better way to start off this new year than #💛💛💛 cannibalism 💛💛💛 #& 💖💖💖 grief 💖💖💖 #this book is excellent btw if you're interested at all in neanderthals i HIGHLY recommend it #it is dense with data but the author takes care to write about it in an accessible way #& with a sense of profound wonder that suffuses everything #like even if you don't read through the whole thing i encourage picking up a copy just to peruse the little creative writing vignettes #at the top of each chapter

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

me: it'd be great if new-trek wasn't constantly so referential to classic trek, let it develop on its own without always being about legacy charac-

lwd: deep space nine?

me: OH THANK GOODNESS THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME LIFE IS THAT ROM IS THAT LEETA IS THAT THE SPACE STATION IS THAT KIRA WITH BUTCH HAIRCUT IS THAT THE PYLONS IS THAT SISKOS IS THA-

#i acknowledge my hypocrisy but consider this: spills water and runs away #with every ds9 reference we get ever closer to... cardassia.....? #to be clear also: i actually do not at all mind the referencing (i think i'll probably enjoy it in prodigy as well when i get to it) #i think it's the re-writing of legacy characters or the smushing of legacy characters into a space that doesn't suit them #for example on snw im pretty 80/20 chill with it and actively think some of the work they're doing (giving uhura more space for example) #is excellent #(the 20% is very veering on spock) #(and also the ship interior designs) #(have a lot of opinions on ship interior designs in modern trek -- why do they look so sterile!!!) #star trek #this is a joke #also ofc the thing about ds9 is that up until lwd it wasnt given the time of day

[turtle-ly]

im seeing that poll about learning cursive in school a lot on my dash and as a vietnamese im kinda bewildered bc what do you mean you cant read cursive?? because to us cursive is for capital letters only! the rest are normal letters. so ig our normal written letters are the american cursive, and our "computer" letters are your normal letters?

↑ these are the fonts we learn in school. The left are our normal letters, the right are our cursive. Oh and the thing is, these are the only fonts we actually taught a school, the "typing" font is just what we imitate from printed books. In elementary school we have "good handwriting competitions" where the participants write in the above fonts and are graded on how close it is to the table above. its like boring calligraphy

#unrelated post #my thoughts #almost all of us are taught these in elementary school and as we grow up our writing style changes #i for example have a mix between the ''computer typing'' and the traditional font above #mostly the typing. but i sometimes write in normal letters inbetween for funsies. i switch between 2 types of s the most i think #i was a good writing participant once! or more like the teacher put me in the trained team for the competition #i think it was not bc my handwriting was good but bc i was an excellent student grade-wise and they dont have better choice

[illuminatingsceadugenga]

mmmmrgghh something something mei nianqing's two cups of water xie lians two starving men and hua chengs cutting off pieces of yourself to give to others

mei nianqing asks "who do you save when you cannot save everyone?"

and xie lian asks "what happens afterwards? what if they want more? what if you have enough to save them, but not enough to satisfy them?"

and hua cheng asks "do they deserve it? is your suffering worth their ingratitude?"

#tgcf #illuspeaks #xie lian #hua cheng #mei nianqing #i really want to write an analysis on these 3 scenarios but im having a hard time putting my thoughts to paper #although the books do an excellent job building them up so maybe its not needed? #but i love how all three questions are shaped by the askers experiences #but xie lian and hua chengs naturally go a step further than mnqs #what happens after youve helped them?

[crescentfool]

i've been doing a bunch of tartarus runs in reload lately, and it got me thinking about how i miss certain ways FES's clunky gameplay can characterize minato… (ramble about the great clock mechanic + leveling up party members in reload vs fes under the cut)

when i got to yabbashah block in tartarus (block 3), i remember commending the developers for adding the great clock mechanic. it's a much more convenient way to keep party members at the protagonist's level- so when you think about p3 from the perspective of trying to make it easier for people to play, the mechanic succeeds in this respect.

but now that i'm in adamah block, and that i've done lots of my once-a-month tartarus runs… i think that i got a little too dependent on it, and the way that i played through reload feels like a vastly different experience from how i played FES.

in reload, my party's levels are very lopsided. minato, yukari, akihiko, mitsuru, and fuuka are all level 90+, meanwhile junpei and aigis are at level 79, and then… poor ken and koromaru are at 71 and 64 respectively. (i never got to have a great clock for them…)

meanwhile, in FES, my party's levels were much more evenly distributed and were at least level 90. i did all of this manually for every monthly tartarus run because i enjoyed having options available for the taratarus guardians and monthly operations.

with how i perceive minato, i feel that the way i played FES feels more in-line with his character than me dawdling around waiting for the great clocks in reload.

FES's gameplay loop left me with the very strong impression that minato has to work twice as hard as everyone else in SEES does. it makes sense because, yeah, he's the leader, but something about having minato run through tartarus multiple times with different groups of people just to make sure that they are adequately prepared speaks volumes about his character, to me.

and while the tired mechanic is present in reload to some degree, most notably with allowing you to freely raise your courage stat when you visit edogawa after school… the tiredness system doesn't hit the same way that FES does, i think.

the way your party members in FES will call it quits when they return to the entrance floor at tartarus when they're tired, versus minato, in spite of all his tiredness and sickness, still pushes through tartarus because it's his responsibility…. idk!!! i miss that! i feel like this really hammers home the difference between minato and the rest of SEES, how minato doesn't really see himself as a human with needs worth respecting as long as he's useful to someone.

i don't think that tartarus being tedious (in FES especially) is not what most people would describe as fun, and i can respect people thinking it's a slog. but, regardless of how it feels to play, it doesn't change that FES's gameplay loop is a fundamental building block in how i perceive minato…

of course, i do recognize that you can just opt to NOT use the great clock in reload (and it's great when players are offered the choice to not partake in mechanics)! i definitely think that if someone really wanted to, they could manually level up party members, but i do feel that kind of playstyle isn't necessarily "incentivized" to the type of people who are into playing games for Having a Good Time. it's kind of like… "why would you do that when there's a much more convenient option available to you."

in any case! despite my woes, i do want to emphasize that i'm glad that reload has a much more smoother gameplay loop than the original P3 did, because it does make the game more accessible to people. having played both FES and reload, it feels very strongly apparent to me how the core gameplay formula of persona has really been refined in the past 18 years (to think og p3 was 2006 and reload is 2024.. time flies!). and reload has made revisiting a story that i love so dearly much, much easier because the gameplay just bops!

at the same time, due to my "i miss characterization informed by weird and dated FES gameplay quirks" woes, i still think that playing FES is worthwhile. (really, i feel this way about all iterations of p3! i think it's worthwhile to see what each version and side media has to say even if it doesn't Land™ for you.) but i also understand why people wouldn't want to play it, so i will keep writing posts about things i liked from FES's gameplay because i'm still very fond of FES (especially in respects to minato. these mechanics are so telling about him!!!) 💪

#lizzy speaks #persona 3 #persona 3 reload #<- specifically mentions of mechanics. no added story content just tartarus talk #minato arisato #today on lizz life: lizz wakes up THINKING about minato for the NTH time and is compelled to write a tumblr post about it #tartarus in reload is excellent looking and fun but i keep thinking about what i liked about how FES characterizes minato so #here i am... LOL... with my 790 or so word ramble... im so normal about the blue boy #i needed to get my feelings out there somewhere i just could not stop thinking about HIM HE IS IN MY BRAIN 24/7 #me playing reload last night like 'minato would not fucking wait for a great clock to make sure that SEES is adequately prepared.' #and yet my sloth brain awaits the great clock... LOL gameplay convenience is not lost on me #i'm stuck in tartarus rn im grinding rubies and stuff trying to get equipment so i can throw hands with elizabeth its going to be fun #im still not done with this game i continue to be haunted by tartarus i fucking love that tower unironically #uh usually id ramble more in tags but. go read my post!! because i like analyzing FES gameplay mechanics!! i am full of passion and love!

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Childe being really smug about having this much of a fanbase in the internet and then. Finding tumblr. Finding this blog.

He's so confused.

It's not him being the darling, but the side of him formed in the abyss?

And then cue our Mothman equally confused but so happy. They are all here for them? Not for the human half?

I would snuggle our moth and never leave their side. Ever.

Childe, listen, i like you too but if i had to pick you or Foul Legacy i'd go with Foul Legacy. i cannot resist soft fluffy moth

because Foul Legacy is so used to being in the shadows, only used for Childe's most desperate moments. Legacy doesn't deserve or need love- such sweet emotions are reserved for humans, and he is anything but that. a weapon, a monster, yes- but not human, and he knows he'll never be human. he's fine with it, mostly. Childe treats him well and gives him blood and battles because that's all he needs, and the rest of Legacy's time is spent either dozing or idly watching the outside world from within the Harbinger's body, and everything is ordinary and dull- until he meets you

you're not scared or disgusted at all- in fact, the first thing you say to him, to Foul Legacy, is that he's beautiful, gently holding his face in your hands

he likes it- that's what the warm feeling in his chest is, right? your words are soft, comforting, and Legacy finds himself purring whenever you happen to wander into Childe's view. you love the Eleventh Harbinger as well, but there's a special affection reserved only for his Abyssal side, something that confuses both Childe and Foul Legacy. but Legacy finds that he adores your attention, his heart melting from your simply kindness as he trills and snuggles closer to you, bumping his head against your shoulder happily, a sponge for your affection. you can't really blame him- he's gone so long without it already

he thinks that tomorrow he'll give you a flower. that's what humans do for people they like, right?

#genshin impact #childe #tartaglia #foul legacy #foul legacy childe #genshin tartagalia #genshin childe #genshin tartaglia #chit chat #anon #used 'you' instead of 'us' because it's easier to write #but know that this applies to all of us #aaaaaa foul legacy not knowing anything about mortal courting methods #he likes the concept of giving you a flower though because i think in the abyss they give each other plants as well #not even just flowers. straight up plants because they rarely grow down there aside from the occasional moss #but flowers are pretty and you deserve one so he wants to give you one #also does mine nose smell they/them Foul Legacy??? #excellent. i approve #short scenario #other's stuff #good evening :) #FAVE

[puppyeared]

Atla live action 😐

#thats my honest reaction 😐 #to be fair ive only seen 20 minutes of the s1 finale bc my parents are watching it but. mmmmm kinda mid #like. the casting is definitely an improvement since the last time they tried a live action but it feels like the writing falls flat #or maybe im being harsh bc ive only heard negative criticism on it beforehand. but fr anytime u bring up the original its already #good and not just because its the original. so much fucking detail went into it to the point of someone noticing azula wielding mai's knive #to how well thought out irohs character is used as a way of uniting the cast especially as zukos foil #i heard that sokkas sexism was toned down and i have to agree that feels like a cheap move. like i get WHY they think it would be better #but its not about how that reflects on real world its about how it affects the story. sokka starts out as a misogynistic asshole because #it makes it that much more impactful when he changes. toning that down makes it flatter and makes his character development weak #and someone pointed out they didnt even make him wear the kyoshi warrior uniform and i know it feels like such a small detail but #come on man. they did that in the original because not only does it help him really walk in their shoes - wearing 'feminine' clothing and #makeup and having suki explain its significance but it also ties in with the shows theme of harmony and intersectionality #i was also disappointed when they had the fire sages explain how the water tribe draws power from the moon because in the original it was #IROH who explained it to aang and everyone else BECAUSE we as the audience is under the impression hes with the 'bad guys' #and it builds up to how he learned from the other nations which reconciles his past as a war general and his character overall #AND its an excellent starting point for the cast and audience to understand how the nations arent as closed off as you would think #plus you would think its only fire nation doing propaganda but they expanded on that with earth kingdom censorship and it WORKS #a lot of things in the live action also feel arbitrary like. they gave momo a near death experience for 5 minutes for no reason #im firmly on the stance of bringing back filler moments instead of putting major events right after each other so that u give your #audience a sense of time passing and to really absorb the story. but i think thats more like shock value than filler and yeah its a small #thing to gripe about but those things build up and its really annoying. the thing abt avatar filler moments is that however small #its at least meaningful. hell even the beach episode emphasizes how isolated zuko and his friends are as child soldiers #i also swore to never watch the first live action since it was that bad but i really liked the stylized tattoos they used for aang #anyway. those arejust my thoughts. im not gonna watch the rest because im a ride or die for the original aftr growing up and #rewatching it at least 20 times as a kid. but theres definitely room for improvement and i wish ppl wouldnt take it as 'better' just cuz #netflix is adapting it. i wouldve killed for them to just reanimate the entire avatar series and touch NOTHING ELSE no redub #no changes to the story. just reanimate the thing and leave the rest alone and youd make easy money just the same #ALSO its very jarring not hearing jack desena and dante basco voicing sokka and zuko cause their voices were the most recognizable to me #i get that its because its live action but im allowed to feel a little sad abt that. and uncle irohs accent was really soothing #yapping

[ao3-shenanigans]

My friend, who I love dearly, has been reading homestuck to me for the past year or so. It has been an experience to say the least but the weirdest side effect, is that I can no longer truly read any second person media without hearing it in her voice(s).

Anyways, got a fanfic 2nd pov jump-scare a minute ago.

#it’s an excellent fic #shaping up to be a long fic with angst and mystery #and it totally makes sense to use second person in the narrative at this spot #but ouch #homestuck #started the chapter with: Your Name is Martin Blackwood #and really there’s no coming back from that #lol #ao3 #archive of our own #fanfiction #fanfic #writing #kudos