#i probably missed a lot of things but these are all my (disjointed) thoughts for now

[lemonhemlock]

If you were one of the writers of the show , how will you write Aegon's character? His development, his bond with his dragon, relationship with his children, wife, siblings etc...

Like how he will be from his childhood to his adulthood + how he will be as a king and how he will become after the war...

Like you free to not use Tom's interpretation or Sara+ryan's interpretation if you don't want to.

I'm interested to know how will you write F&B Aegon and i hope you write it in details if you have time because i love reading your ideas.

What a monumental ask, thank you! This character has had such a hold on me; I can feel the potential radiating off this combination of screen + page. I ranted in the past about how I disagree with the choices they made with him, but they did endow him with an exasperating capacity for greatness, a lot of it thanks to TGC's interpretation.

I do think that Aegon could have been one of the most memorable ASOIAF characters and one of the most thrilling explorations of kinghood. I am not referring to people's already-cemented views of him; I am speaking of building the most compelling version of this character possible within the basic narrative of FB, beyond any fandom sectarian lines. Basically, what I'd like to do with these raw materials is to construct a character that people will love, but that they would find very, very uncomfortable, in a prickling-beneath-the-skin type of way.

I am also well aware that this will start to diverge wildly from canon, so don't feel compelled to point that out. I know already. This is going to get very, very self-indulgent since that was the nature of the ask.

Trigger warning for everything. Needless to say, I'm not writing a wholesome script here.

So let's turn him into this generation's Commodus.

This will mostly be imagery and vibes, because I don't have a lot of plot point thought out.

Some of the descriptive tags I use something when referring to green family dynamics are those of #an incestuous autophagous family gradually violating every boundary until every kind of social role leeches into the next #collapsing onto itself in psychosexual neurosis. Sound very pretentious, I know, but it's basically this idea of House Targaryen retreating within its family unit as a result of trauma, but ending in a process of cannibalization. I would have Aegon be the main exponent of this type of breakdown. So I will usually choose the most fucked-up option whenever possible, but I'd focus mostly on innuendo & psychological fuckery, rather than anything more graphic. I mean, this is a TV show, still.

Consequently, one of the readings that I find the most disturbing (and entertaining) is that of Aegon wanting to crawl back inside Alicent's womb, to revert to that pre-birth state in which they weren't separated, they were still one whole and whatever particles of him lived inside Alicent were safe and warm and protected. I am going to link to a few posts I made that describe this type family dynamic (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). This is pretty intense, granted, but imagine if there were a TV show that had the balls to implement this kind of dynamic. I mean, if you can't realise it within ASOIAF-verse, then where?

So I would have Aegon mirror Alicent in the way that she's trying to keep her family together. Aegon craves his family, he wants to feed off of them and wants them to feed off him. He wants them all to collapse into each other back to that original state of being physical parts of Alicent in a far-away time that coincides with Alicent's girlhood. It's often said in meta that Cersei views her children as extensions of herself. I want the opposite for Aegon, our most self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking character: I want him to know that he is an extension of Alicent. This will only become apparent to the viewer later, because we start in a completely different way.

I'd say that this could work very well, because on screen Alicent & Aegon look a lot alike. The casting directions really pulled through here. Alicent seems to communicate often through touch - she will anxiously grab at whomever she's talking to or she will engage in self-soothing gestures. I'd have Aegon inherit that from his mother, that need to physically connect with his family. He'd like them to hug him, but they don't initiate, so he grabs at them to stop them from leaving or just so he could feel them. In one of these scenes, I'd have him look wistfully at her and say some creepy melancholic shit about how they have the same face. "If you were a man, you'd be me." (IF I WERE A MAN, I'D BE JAIME - IF I WERE A WOMAN, I'D BE CERSEI - you get it. We're running with this).

Similarly, I would have Aegon willing & eager to accept violence from his family as an act of love. As long as his mother slaps him, it means that she loves him, it means that she cares, it means that she deigns to touch him. She can do it in public or in court & he won't react other than being weepy. (fans love this anyway, he's never beating the pathetic wet rat allegations) I'd also give Ser Criston the privilege of knocking Aegon about. Heck, the entire Kingsguard (those who did not desert, at least, because it means they are truly loyal to him). I want to toy with the idea of the trappings of kinghood - the king doesn't have absolute powers, he is a prisoner in his own right OR does he just choose to give them up and be pushed about for whatever reason? I want the viewer not to know what Aegon is going to do, whether he will pull rank or whether he will submit.

For Aemond, I've already provided a few links above on how I'd portray their relationship. With Daeron, I'd have him be ecstatic - finally, someone who doesn't look at him with disgust & disappointment! (Mostly because Daeron has been away for a long time and hasn't had time to be disappointed by Aegon, but, oh, well) Finally someone who will withstand his hugs! I'd have Aegon be very caring-big-brother like.

With Helaena, I'd give him a better relationship, because it's just more interesting to me than to have him another awful targhusband. Aegon is not someone who has a lot of patience, but for Helaena, he could channel Alicent sometimes (IF I WERE A WOMAN I'D BE MY MOTHER) and get through to her.

I've already spoken to death on the issue of their children - the most interesting and toxic option for me is if none of them know who fathered them, but they do not care. Sometimes they wonder, but as a curiosity. The children belong to all of them. They are all Alicent's, anyway. She made them all via parthenogenesis. (this is a joke lol). Feel free to disagree with this, I do not care; make your own AU.

I would also age them up, frankly, because it's ridiculous for teenagers to be doing all of these things anyway. I'd have them be in their early twenties - with Alicent maybe around 38? That's still young, before any of you gets their knickers in a twist. So maybe another 10-year time jump after the eye incident.

I've already written a post on what I'd change about Season 1, but I'll add a few more indulgent changes.

I would give baby!Aegon the white hart symbolism just to fuck with Rhaenyra.

I do like Ty Tennant's Aegon and wouldn't change much about him, except give him more things to do. If I could add an extra episode between "We Light The Way" and "The Princess and The Queen", I'd fill it up mostly with interactions between all of the children. Jace, Luke, Aegon, Helaena, Aemond & Daeron. Have them do stuff separately and together. Show more of Aemond being bullied, but also have Aegon rope his siblings into some silly adventure. Show them how to navigate the secret tunnels. Convince them to sneak out into the city. Do something cute with them, so it's not all doom & gloom.

I would portray young Aegon as someone who is naturally talented but doesn't apply himself. That annoying instinctually smart kid that never does his homework but somehow coasts by. Have his peers be annoyed at this and view him as an arrogant twerp. Make him an arrogant twerp, so it's not just an opinion.

One thing that I haven't really seen discussed all that much is the effect Viserys' illness might have on Aegon. He sees the throne cut his father and infect him to such a degree he becomes a walking husk of a man. He thinks, he knows that one day that will be him. If "all goes well", he will have to sit the Iron Throne and become infected and diseased like that. (This is false, but we'll only realise later. The throne will never cut Aegon. It will hurt him in different ways).

His father doesn't care for him anyway, so Aegon subconsciously rejects all this. He needs constant stimulation to take his mind off this gruesome fate. I would give him Prince Hal energy. Mingling with the common people, bawdy, rude, whoring & drinking his liver out. Perhaps by doing all this, he believes he will disqualify himself from the position? Or that no one would be so mad as to place him on the throne. We could have some fun by showing him getting into street fights over the dumbest shit. Just behaving like a general rapscallion. Yes, I would cut the rape and the child fighting rinks. 🤦‍♀️

I would like to develop his relationship with Rhaenyra somehow. When he's older, maybe entertain the idea of him having the same attitude towards Rhaenyra as Aemond has towards him - jealousy, viewing her as depositing all of father's love, despite her not doing anything to "earn" it. In effect, she is being just as irresponsible as he is, only that she's passing her bastards off ahead of him in the line of succession, while he's drinking and whoring. Yet, he is the only one being looked down upon.

I'd make both Aegon and Sunfyre have a soft spot for children in general. It's a surefire way to get the audience on your side. Show him playing with his own children and being goofy with them.

Blood & Cheese is a very good opportunity to delevop deranged! Aegon. Maybe have him torture and kill Blood himself. In the books, he orders every ratcatcher to be hanged. This can go as dark as you like. If you're really feeling lugubrious, he could kill them himself, one by one (???) Show him in his unhinged era, but also show him comforting his sister and mother. I wouldn't be framing him heroically here; he is turning into a villain. I'd show his family a little wary of him, like all this revenge action is getting too much. Aegon looks back at them and doesn't understand why they're being cagey - this is all for their protection and dignity, don't they see?

I have this idea of a scene of him delegating Crown business to Alicent: open court day, she is hearing petitions. Aegon insists that she be the one sitting the throne that day, not Otto. This image of him waltzing into the throne room, splattered in blood from one of his "interrogation" sessions, the whole proceedings stop, everyone bows down to greet him, Alicent starts getting up from the throne, Aegon says there's no need. His mother is the steward of the Crown. He stands there looking on in fascination as she dispenses justice, because it gets his rocks off to see her wield his power. Have him smirking at people as if to say "this is my power trip as well". I'd also include ambiguous cues that would make fans write essays upon essays on the fucked-up implications. So, for example, I'd have people address Alicent as "The Queen", not the Queen Mother or Queen Alicent or the Dowager Queen, while Helaena would be Queen Helaena. No shade to Helaena - I just think it's a lot more messy this way. I'd like to emphasize how she is the boss of them - the King is just there to be a sovereignty-donor.

I would change a lot of things about the military aspect of the war, so to speak. I would make things more even, not give Rhaenyra so many allies because it makes more sense. No ridiculous Lads army and I'd probably render Cregan Stark irrelevant by the time he decides to march down south. I'd also like Aegon to participate in more battles in his own war. So I would not give him Anakin Skywalker-level injuries after Rook's Rest. There's the southern front with the battles of Tumbleton, there's the western front where the Greyjoy fleet is attacking the Lannisters... IDK. I feel like we could give him more to do in this regard. I have this image of him maybe fighting alongside Daeron, getting injured and Daeron enforcing a shield circle around him to get him to safety. Whenever he is injured and bedridden, I'd turn him into a wet-eyed rabbit crying for his mummy. In relation to Aegon, the audience should feel like they want to push him down the stairs, nurse him back to health, then push him down the stairs again.

When he gets smuggled out to Dragonstone, I need him to use all of his car saleman skills and convince the people of Dragonstone to side with him. This should be Aegon at peak politician. Make the commonfolk start believing in his cause. I'd frame him like a cult leader here for shits and giggles. Maybe introduce some comedic moments to lighten the mood a bit. I'd like to parallel injured!Aegon to injured!Sunfyre somehow. Aegon craves affection and so does Sunfyre. Headcanons here and here.

Getting injured by Morning would be the final straw for Aegon. My idea is for Rhaenyra to take Alicent as a hostage when she flees to King's Landing and have Alicent witness Rhaenyra's demise. Have her beg Aegon for mercy, while he remains cold-blooded. This is her son, her baby boy, the one time he decides to disobey her and not heed her advice is when he decides to kill her soulmate. He holds her tenderly while she sobs and fights to get to Sunfyre. (If I were a man, I'd be Aegon).

This is where we can play with crazy, off-his-rocker Aegon. He wants to behead Baela and needs to be calmed down. He oscillated between wanting to kill Aegon III, geld him, send him to the Wall or cut his ear off. He breaks down thinking of his dead brothers. He keeps at Sunfyre's side all times and weeps bitterly as his dragon dies. He is a river of tears and they don't stop flowing. When Sunfyre finally dies, Aegon orders his bones be transported to KL and placed in his chambers.

He takes his mother and goes back to KL where his daughter is. It's time for demented girl dad Aegon! He keeps Jaehaera with him at all times, while dispensing punishments that oscillate between fair and cruel. He has no mercy for the Shepherd's lambs or pretender kings. He is the King. He keeps Jaehaera on his lap, reads to her, plays with her, entertains her child-like trains of thought. Sometimes he asks her how intense should the punishments for traitors be. (I would not make her "simple" in this re-telling, jesus christ).

Alicent advises him to marry her to Aegon III, so as to unite the two rival claims. Aegon refuses. My daughter is the rightful heir / I will not have Rhaenyra's blood dirtying my throne / Andal Law states that a daughter comes before an uncle, isn't that what you taught me all my life?? He knows that this is the best compromise, so as to avoid another future succession crisis, but he just can't bring himself to do it. He pleads with Alicent, tells her he'll sire another boy on Cassandra Baratheon. He'll fix this. Only the best for his sweet little girl. He'll create a proper husband for Jaehaera, just like his mother created the best wife for him with Helaena. Alicent nods and agrees, but doesn't hope that the future will be so simple for them anymore. "Very well, but until that son is born, why don't you betroth them, just in case". Aegon concedes.

Life is not really that great for Aegon at this stage. He is in a lot of pain, prone to bouts of weeping when he remembers his dead family members and dead dragon. He tries to comfort himself thinking of Cassandra and how he plans on claiming another dragon or hatching an egg (he's never been a hatcher, none of them were). That keeps him going for a few more days/weeks. Eventually, he realises that he cannot keep living this half-life, suffocating with this agonizing need for his siblings and dragon. He will tell his mother and daughter that his love for them is enduring and drink the poison himself.

Alicent marries Jaehaera to Aegon in the world's most depressing funerary wedding. They are all she has left - a girl who looks like her children (and her) and a boy who looks like Rhaenyra (rhaenicent reborn!). I would end the story like PRINCESS Shireen said: "two scared children spouting oaths they didn't understand, all that was left of the mighty House Targaryen".

I would end the series with the image of Queen Regent Alicent of House Hightower, hearing petitions, sitting on the Iron Throne, where her son placed her. The throne never cuts her. It hurts her in different ways. She is so young, still. Young forever. The children look like her children.

#aegon ii targaryen #SPOILER ALERT: JAEHAERA LIVES #ryan condal call me 🤙 #this has been so rambly sorry #do not read if you're not into wild AUs with a green bias #i probably missed a lot of things but these are all my (disjointed) thoughts for now #hotd fic

[farklelucas]

okay so. now that ive taken some time to breathe, compose myself, and gather my thoughts, lemme lay out why the teen wolf movie was a hot holy mess (besides, you know, the obvious) as a teen wolf enthusiast and expert.

a lot of the characters were really little more than set dressing. to be specific, i think liam could have been replaced by a mailbox with a hat and the movie would have been the same (and this is coming from a major liam fan). the same can be said for mason, malia, melissa, peter, and honestly even the sheriff (which i hate bc god he was such a core of the show). i think parrish was only useful in one specific instance and even that isn't enough to warrant him being in the film. the characters i loved felt like cardboard cutouts and that wasnt fair to me, to the characters, or to the actors. i would have rather they not been there at all tbh. like just leave liam out of this if youre gonna do him like that fr

a lot of the plot points felt... disjointed and weird. saraid said it felt like three different movies in one and i have to agree. derek and eli felt like its own thing, then scott and allison, and then everything else (whatever the hell parrish and malia had going on, the lydia and jackson buddy cop comedy, liam in... japan with a ramen shop i think? and some random girlfriend that happened to be a kitsune) kind of fell to the wayside in between.

this movie was truly so flat without kira. it was hard to make a nogitsune movie without stiles, but it was almost impossible to make without her. hikari unfortunately ended up just feeling like a woman they randomly shoved into all the plot points kira was supposed to be in. because she didnt have a character besides liams girlfriend (and because liam was barely a character himself), she just couldn't compare and so kiras lack of presence was really felt. she left a huge hole in the narrative. they didnt even mention her and you knew what was missing. if you had cut khylin and dylan sprayberrys checks entirely, im sure they would have had enough to pay her as much as the rest of her white coworkers :) but that's just my opinion xxx

this was supposed to be for fans of the original series, but really just felt like jeff davis's weird rare pair fanfiction. instead of focusing on the dynamics that already existed - melissa and the sheriff, malia and peter, scott and liam, derek and. anyone really - he ended up delving into all these new dynamics with only two hours to develop them. malia and parrish (which. i really had to mentally run through the show to see if those two had interacted before and i dont think they have), liam and hikari, and derek and eli. all of which had a shot at being interesting but because there were so many different plots going on, it all just felt. awkward and confusing.

that being said, im gonna move onto derek and eli generally. i like eli! i do. i thought he was funny, i thought the actor was super charming (although the timeline made no sense because if he was born fifteen years ago And allison died fifteen years ago he would be braedens and. hate to say it folks. thats not braedens baby. make him mixed jeff davis you fucking coward). really, i liked him. ... but not at the expense of dereks character. the derek i knew was an asshole. he was mean, he was sarcastic, he was a bastard (honorifically). its not to say that people cant change, but... the derek i saw in the movie was a complete 180 from the derek we last saw in the series. honestly, the derek i saw in the series probably wouldn't have made a good parent - we saw how he was with erica, isaac, and boyd. even with scott. derek was kind of a dick. i dont even think he would have wanted kids - i think he would raise them out of duty, and i think he would if a partner wanted him to. but i dont think kids were ever in his life plan. and i think that could have been super interesting to see with him and eli. i think making him a parent could have been really interesting and it just. crumbled.

i know i mentioned the timeline in that last bit but. the timeline. it hurts my head. when was eli born. what year is it. how long has it been since scott has been in beacon hills. im so confused.

lets talk about adrian harris. shall we. i have made a list of people who i think would have been a better villain reveal are you ready: allison, peter, theo, chris argent, kate argent (resurrected), matt daehler (resurrected), victoria argent (resurrected), kira herself, danny mahealani, rafe mccall, isaac's shit dad, coach, greenberg, me with a baseball bat filled with rusty nails, jeff davis in a wig. the list goes on. you could not have picked a more random and less memorable character to reveal as your villain. i almost felt like i was being mocked. "haha! you didnt expect it to be this guy? the chemistry teacher who also died fifteen years ago? who had almost nothing to do with the plot until season 3? stupid! idiot!" i have never been so mad in my life

speaking of villain. did they forget what a nogitsune is. it needs a host. its not some guy they can stab to death. its a concept, a feeling, a parasite. its a manifestation of mental illness. but no sorry excuse me i must be wrong bc now its also a werewolf??????? im sorry. am i the crazy one. give me void allison! give me allison as the host and shes being taken over and she has those bags under her eyes and that creepy void stare and grin! give me crystal reed emmy noms! while we're on the subject, heres some more questions about the nogitsune include: why was it in a jar? why was it with LIAM of all people (who didnt even know what that was)? why did its powers completely change? HOW was it a werewolf????????? i cant stop thinking about it.

i said it once and ill say it again: jackson fucking carried this movie. he was giving all season one jackson, he was bringing comic relief, he was even bringing up ethan when no one else would! king! he carried. but he shouldn't have had to. dont get me wrong, i think crystal reed ate and left no crumbs. this was allisons movie and it should have been. but when the other two standout characters imo were jackson (who arguably did nothing) and coach (who did even less)... you simply didnt use your characters well. i think i would put deaton up there and even chris, but... scott and lydia? this should have been their movie. but scott spent nearly the whole movie ignoring his friends, and lydia was reduced to 'woman whose plot was about a man,' again. it was horrible. lydia outgrew that song and dance by season two. and scott? hasnt been to beacon hills in twelve years? hasnt seen his mom or his friends? not the scott mccall i know.

this is not about shipping discourse this post will never be about shipping discourse so i say this as a completely objective party. that being said. st/dia was so strangely shoved in there at the end. how did harris even know about lydia leaving stiles. how did he know about her dream. how did it add to the plot. like yes the nogitsune feeds of chaos and strife but i think lydia was getting enough of that watching her friends get murdered. it felt like a weird way to explain why dob wasnt there and it simply didnt work. i would have rather they not said anything about stiles at all.

anyway, this is skipping over a lot of other little things that i thought were really bad (sexualizing malia who literally had the mentality of an eight year old for most of her life AGAIN, why was mason a fucking cop, peters lack of interaction with the hale family which is what made him interesting in the first place, the absolute insanity of allison coming back to life and just being absolutely okay even though shes been dead for fifteen years, died at the hands of her friend, and almost everyone she knew including stiles, isaac, and kira are all just gone now), but boy oh boy. for a while it was funny bad. like "oh this is bad but i can still enjoy this for what it is" bad. but those last ten minutes. what is actually absolutely wrong with jeff davis. there are very few times ive felt this betrayed by tv shows i held this close to my heart, but im there. im heartbroken. i wont go on about it here, bc honestly, it would need its own post considering how much i have to say. but if the rest of the movie was bad? that was shit was traumatizing.

anyway. so sorry this post is this long, and so sorry i couldnt come back with a positive review. this show died long ago; i think we should have just let it rest - nobody asked for a reunion, and now i can see that was with good reason. so the next time jeff davis opens up an email with a header titled 'sequel idea' and he ccs tyler posey, i think we should all just agree to ler arden cho beat him to death in a dennys parking lot instead.

#long post #teen wolf #teen wolf movie #twm #personal #shut your pie hole katie

[lemm-moxx]

Silly things abt my utmv oc's

(i don't have a specific name for this thing as the "T.U.A" is more a vehicle to interact with the wider multiverse in the story and all of the characters are picked from my other au's so likkeee)

But mainly a kinda(?) in universe analysis of random aspects of these two as i hate just explaining things upfront. WARNING theres a lot

The preceding 2 excerpts are sourced from scattered papers and tapes found in universes generally surrounding the institute (including #11567 #11542 #00145 #10001 and #23479 ) The texts overall are disjointed and nonsensical. creator unknown. [[Ask M.E dept for more info to amend case file.]] 1) He's one of the best men money can provide! He takes orders with out question or thought. Work oriented, highly professional and determined- Really he's what everyone should aim to be in this field. He's worked at the company for 15 years so naturally he's at the top.

Oh ok! I mean that's a good start i suppose, What else is there?

What else.. ? I mean what else is there to say-he's successful. That's it. That's all you need really. Well surely- What about hobbies? Free time? People aren't just their profession. Ok, but why does he need a hobby? He barely has enough free time as it is. And that's wasted sleeping and eating. Well i mean, it fleshes out the character for one? He does nothing when he gets home from work. Not even watch TV? No? Nothing, you mean like actually nothing. Yeah.....? i don't-is there something wrong with that? No- no it- I'm not insulting your writing or anything. It just seems a bit bland.... If I'm honest. 2)

[[TAPE BEGINS]]

I lived in a nervous place, at an anxious town- so it didn't come as a surprise when they all started avoiding me after my brother died. His death was an accident- I mean who leaves a small kid to babysit a toddler? Really, really if your asking me the townspeople killed him. Not me. I just feel like you need to understand why i did it y'know? Anyway I grew up alone. A house on the outskirts of town, they never warmed up to me in the end. I would work in the library day to day, for the money. Nobody came in anyway and because we also sold books i actually had a paycheck. Buy myself food and go home. Rinse and repeated until all stains are washed away. Though, i guess in my case. Some stains are too tough to be washed out. I had heard about human falling down, i was a skeptic of course. It was the smell of dust that scared me at first, every time i walked into town it was there. Nobody ever seemed to need a funeral, that was the confusing part. Maybe a couple monsters went missing day to day, but they were back without a scratch after a while. I put it as something probably explainable. That was until i died- I mean i don't know if i actually died but.. When the human finally found me they seemed, exited. They looked at me like they had found buried treasure, unveiled some kind of hidden secret. And, and I was exited too if I'm honest. Though you wouldn't be able to tell-i was as horrible as i was to anyone on the surface. But he second they stabbed me in my chest. All my sympathies were gone. And, and when i woke up in my bed. Like puzzle pieces. it all clicked y'know? I wasn't strong so i needed some kind of external force, i did it though in the end. I wasn't soppy or friendly like the rest of them, so it was easy. I ruined my clothes but some eggs need to be broken -or whatever they say. When i strutted into town i thought i was a hero. But of course they were ungrateful; couldn't even thank me, i was chased out .And that's when your head archivist found me-and uh that's at. And I appreciate the job offer, really i do! I mean i didn't realise you were lacking in employees from the look of the place, then again i guess the library was the most organised place in Snowdin and I was the only there. I just uh- i need to be in a quiet place for a bit, maybe not here- I just need to think it over really" "That's fine, i'm sure you've had a nasty scare. and there's a lot you need to understand quite fast considering your position. I'll drop you off in one of those timelines for out codes! Yes, yes someone will explain it there" "I'm sorry timeline-" "A month? How's that-is that too much? i apologise if I'm inept. I'm not very good with time these days. Maybe not a whole number, that seems too equal; 2 weeks? How's that. We are desperate for employees for the archive so i would appreciate it if you could come back sooner." "Oh well i uh-Sure, sure! ill take a look through everything on the leaflet you gave me in the mean time." "Oh wonderful! I hope to see you again in the future- hopefully as an employee ha-ha!"

[[TAPE ENDS]]

#GRRGEGRGRGR #foaming at the mouth #im so normal #MMMMNORMAL #PLEAAAASE READ INTO THE TEXT #OUGH I LOVE MAKING MY WRITING DISJOINTED AND SECRETIVE #oc garbage #utmv oc #Writing garbage

[crehador]

brother crab's winter 2024 parting thoughts: high card s2

WHAT THE HELL

HIGH CARD IS GOOD?!

tl;dr very flashy and aesthetic, consistently good in that regard, but the story was not always gripping to me. however, with the ultimate payoff in the last three eps, totally worth it imo

full review:

wow wow wow i'm kind of glad i fell way behind on anime and had the last three eps of s2 to binge all at once because hoooly shit i enjoyed that immensely

at no point did i think high card was bad, but it definitely had moments where it didn't fully grab me. there were times when it felt like all flash, no substance

and it's definitely not perfect, i have some serious and fairly significant gripes with it. mainly i'm really bummed that leo, wendy, and vijay never really got fully fleshed out. i mean i get it, finn's the main character and chris is the thinly veiled love interest also important so obviously they're going to take up most of the time, but i really feel like the other members of the crew had so much unexplored potential (especially wendy and vijay, because leo did sort of get his moment as a factor in the old man yaoi situation)

speaking of which THE OLD MAN YAOI!! man there were a lot of moving pieces in this show, and sometimes they came together in messy ways (or didn't really come together at all... some bits do still feel pretty disjointed and jumpy to me, tbh)

but overall the payoff of the s2 finale was absolutely worth it to me, particularly since it dealt with my favorites of those moving pieces: the old man yaoi and the sudden YANDERE ONIISAN ARC

i find myself really wishing the show had gone harder on both of those threads sooner, but like... honestly i'm not disappointed with how they played out. the whole theodore and ban thing could not have been more tropey (YEARS of loathing only for a "the one i wanted to protect all along was... you" and then dying for each other like HELLO yes an absolute tropefest BUT TROPES THAT I LOVE. GOOD FOR THOSE TOXIC DOOMED YAOI MFERS)

tilt has always been fascinating to me right from the character design and i am more or less satisfied with how things played out for him too, though i kind of wish we'd had more of this development spread throughout the series. i guess it was there, but... i dunno. in some ways feels like there could have been More (but i may be biased)

like you gotta feel bad for him, it's a sad story, but also that extreeemely creepy unhinged yandere oniisan "i have been stalking you i literally have a wall with giant blown up photos of you i hate the other guy who is calling himself your brother" sequence was SO FUCKING DELICIOUS LIKE WTF??? stunned and absolutely blown away by how hard they went on that, what a delight

(ironically it makes me think about how unhinged matakara in bucchigiri?! just doesn't work while unhinged tilt in high card works super well, but this is not about bucchigiri?! so i won't get too into that)

i am still admittedly just. kind of like. idk. i go back and forth on finn and chris, as characters and as partners. i don't dislike them but they aren't always all that compelling to me. sometimes they definitely are, but sometimes they just fall a bit flat to me. this probably isn't an issue with them as characters, though, just a matter of taste. i occasionally found the chemistry between them lacking as well, but sometimes it was really on point

same feeling about the crew dynamics in general. i looove a good like heist crew or spy agency crew, whatever it is, when the dynamics just click. and sometimes they didn't, here. i am too sleepy to articulate it properly right now but it just felt like there was something missing, some pieces not really fitting together. i didn't dislike any of the characters, but just... i guess wanted more team shenanigans? maybe there was no time for that but it would have been nice (like this is one show that could have done with a few filler and/or fluff episodes, imo!)

anyway. christ. my eye emoji-ing at tilt based solely on his character design finally paid off after two gay ass seasons lmao. good night

#crab watches #winter 2024 #parting thoughts #high card #GENUINELY WAS NOT EXPECTING TO ENJOY THE LAST THREE EPS THIS MUCH BUT I SO SO SO DID #although lol holy infodump tf #this show loooves its infodumps esp in the second half of the second season #i didn't personally mind all the monologuing that much i guess #like it delivered the information fine #but the fact that there were so many ''LET ME TELL YOU A STORY YOU'VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE'' scenes in a ROW #was just kind of funny #anyway. it's not like overall the best thing ever but it is wild fun and really paid off in the end (for me at least) #i am a sucker for toxic old man yaoi and the yandere oniisan was a bonus #damn that was fun #alright. going to sleep for real now lmao

[trashprinceward]

Hello Mandela people, here is a theory I had

So these are some thoughts I had from a theory video I made a while back, that I think might get more reach over here. This a theory with absolutely no bearing, but just thought I'd put it out there anyway. (please note I'm not/never have been in any discords or reddits for TMC, so idk if any of this has already been talked about or proved wrong, so if I'm way off the mark, I'm sorry, haha)

Anyway, here goes. (This is adapted from the video transcript so sorry if it's a little disjointed)

I was thinking about like Mandela catalog stuff and rolling around in my mind. This idea came up just after Mandela Catalyst released, and how that and the end of Vol.4 followed Adam, and Adam being an alternate, and his transformation and things like that.

And that's great and everything, but I just haven't been able to stop thinking about Mark, and what Mark's role was in everything, and what happened to him or more specifically for my theory what didn't happen to him.

Because, you know, the reveal of Adam being an alternate and like the transformation he's going through is all very good horrific stuff but I think a lot of people, like myself included, and I know some other people in the fandom as well were expecting that to happen they saw it coming because of all the threads and the breadcrumbs that Alex had left behind. A lot of people were theorizing it and then you know the confirmation at the end of Vol.4 was like 'yes finally it's paid off'

But this is just a stupid Theory. It's probably nothing but I can't stop thinking about it. About how Mark saw uh the Intruder, Six, when he was young. You know, the story of the scary night when Mark was four. And it's always kind of got to me that that has never been resolved. And we've seen as well like in Exhibition that Mark was stalked by alternates for a while before Caesar actually made the move toeventually like entrap him, and I just wonder why why Mark had this encounter with Six when he was young and then nothing happened. He just got tired and went to sleep the end, and I always kind of laughed at that because it's a very understatedreaction to like seeing a creepy man in your room or whatever.

BUT the lack of reaction is kind of like feeding into the theory that what if Mark was also an alternate, but he never activated. Because it seems that alternates, or at least in the case of Adam (you know we can't expect Adam to be representative of every single alternate, but at least in Adam's case he had no idea he was an alternate, he thought he was human). And I'm thinking that M.A.D., the Metaphysical Awareness Disorder, we've got it all wrong.

People aren't killing themselves because they've been fed information they don't want to know. They are instead doing so because they're realizing their alternates and they are offing themselves before the transformation. We saw in Adam's case in Mandela Catalyst, he was already undergoing his transformation and couldn't take himself out. He couldn't die, alternates can't die. At least as far as we know, not through traditional means anyway.

So what made me think this about M.A.D. is, and I picked up on it the first time around, (in my original reaction video) I pick up on the phrasing that they use of "reverse the delusion". Which is the same phrasing that Lucifer/False Gabriel uses when he says he has to reverse the delusion. So, reversing the delusion isn't snapping people out of M.A.D. it's them surviving the process of into turning into an alternate without taking themselves out. So you've got like the 97% death rate of people realizing they're an alternate and then offing themselves like Mark did, and then the three percent who survive "reverse the delusion" (the delusion being their humanity) and go on to transform into an alternate.

And it kind of it kind of makes sense as well because if you think about it, in Intruder Alert (?), it says that something like 3000 children have gone missing from across the various counties. Now if the children have been taken by the Intruder, if they are all replaced with an alternate, that would be 3000+ alternates. And not only would Mandela County and the surrounding counties be overwhelmed, a lot more area beyond that would be overwhelmed as well. But if there's only a 3% success rate of alternates transforming and going on to survive, that's a much smaller number of alternates that actually survive the process. And it's not so much a loss to the alternates because as far as they're concerned, the original children are already gone. They're already dealt with so they're not technically losing numbers. But the three percent that survive, theyare gaining numbers technically, so it's still kind of like a net win for the alternates.

So yeah I just I just wanted to sort of like get this out because the thought won't leave my head it just keeps on going on and on. So maybe Mark was taken by Six as a child and replaced by an alternate. He didn't realize because apparently alternates don't realize until they "wake up". The alternate Caesar wasn't able to get to him to activate his transformation so he was able to basically off himself before the transformation took place, or at least that's my theory. Because otherwise why have that encounter with Six when Mark was a child, you know? Why would that be relevant? Why would it visit him as a child and not take him away, leave him alone for like 17 years, and then come back and kill him later? Why would that happen?

The way it adds up to me M.A.D., or at least M.A.D. as it's been presented to the public seems to have been misinterpreted a lot, or forgotten about a lot through much of the discussion and the theories and such, and I think it's a lot more important and a lot more relevant than most of the fandom discussion or the theory discussion tends to give it credit for, and I think it's a lot more integral to what's going on than we think.

It's probably nothing, it's probably me just reading into this way too much, but it's it's a theory that I thought I would share with you

#the mandela catalogue #mandela catalogue #mandela catalog #the mandela catalog #tmc #mark heathcliff #cesar torres #adam murray #tmc six

[etherealnoir]

Found Ep. 7 Thoughts

Spoiler Warning!

So this wasn't my favorite episode. While I did like the show bringing attention to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (sort of...it would've been nice for them to add an info card or something at the end of the episode, but ok), the episode itself left a lot to be desired.

TL;DR: The highlight of this episode was learning more about Hugh's abandonment triggers, because I feel like it added a ton of context to his behavior in the past and in this episode. Everything else was a chop. I feel like they spent too much time on some things (Trent), not enough on others (Lacey), and overlooked a lot of things as well (Gabi being held accountable).

I wrote a lot, but please feel free to skip to whatever part you care the most about lol

1. The Story

It felt weirdly disjointed and all over the place. The natal doctor being the culprit at the end, despite there being NO previous indicators, kind of annoyed me. It was lazy to have it be this random man we barely saw, with a motivation we learned about in the last 5 minutes. They could've EASILY introduced that he worked with many indigenous/marginalized people early in the episode and also mentioned that he lost his own child.

It would've made more sense if he was a part of a ring of people taking babies of color and putting them up for adoption--because that's a thing that actually happens. I feel like they were originally going to have the culprit be the neighbor whose brother lost his baby and blamed it on Aida. As sort of like an eye-for-an-eye thing. But then they realized it'd probably look bad if a bunch of Non-Indigenous people demonized an Indigenous woman like that, so they changed it at the last minute.

2. Lacey

Lacey is always severely underutilized, but this time it felt just sadly egregious. They emphasized that Lacey was uncomfortable with being in the area because of the kidnapping, but...that was about it. It would've been a good opportunity to show a flashback of Lacey and Gabi together as children, or even a great chance to show Gabi and Lacey connecting over their shared experience in adulthood. Better yet, it would've been the perfect time to explore how the kidnapping has affected Lacey in adulthood, because it's clear it presents as a fear more intense than Gabi's.

Also her randomly kicking in the door and rushing into the house was odd, no matter how much they said in-show that it was ooc. Sometimes it feels like scenes are cut out that would add clarity to the scenes they leave in.

3. Trent x Gabi

As much as I love them together, I get really REALLY tired of watching Gabi use Trent and his network without any repercussions or hard pushback. I know that Gabi agreed to work closely with the police to make sure the people who committed the crimes face punishment, but I can only suspend disbelief BUT SO MUCH. Like what do you mean Gabi and Dhan can threaten a potential suspect into confessing? What do you mean they can just find things about people in less than a day, whenever they ask for it? WHY are they able to break rules with impunity, when doing so would absolutely cause the case to get thrown out in court????

As much as I know that Trent cares about Gabi and is willing to risk his job for her, I'm failing to understand why. What has she done for him that has made him want to give up his job for her? Because, from what we've seen so far, she hasn't really...done...much? We know they slept together at least once, that he has feelings for her, and that she relies on him a lot. But I feel like this show is constantly telling us that Gabi is worth sacrifice without illustrating why.

If this show is going to improve, they REALLY need to stop trying to make us believe that Gabi can do whatever she wants because reasons. It's starting to feel very Mary Sue-ish, and I don't want that to happen to her.

I at least hope that she takes accountability for taking the thumbdrive.

4. Hughbert "Sir" Evans

The one thing I did like about this episode is that we learned a lot about who Hugh is, and what his triggers are. If they choose to stay consistent anyway. Because they said in one episode that one of his triggers was mess/dirt, and then it was never brought up again lol.

In this episode, we learned that Hugh has abandonment issues. I believe that Hugh suffered from Parental Neglect as a child, which ties into this quest he had to "save" Gabi from her own perceived neglect. Hugh illustrates all the traits of someone who grew up not feeling heard or paid attention to: forcing Gabi to debate with him, him lecturing at her when she's eating, him having a meltdown when she ignores him or walks away. He threw a temper tantrum when he suspected that someone else might be taking attention away from him, because he finds comfort in knowing that it's always just him and Gabi in that house, and that she's consciously aware that he's there.

Obviously his traumatic past doesn't excuse the shit he's done. But it does add a ton of context.

These are a lot of thoughts, sorry lol This episode just bugged me. I feel like the writers room doesn't have their shit together. Maybe in S2 (if they get one), they'll find a rhythm that works. They need to. Because I shouldn't be able to tell a better story than these people who were PAID to do so.

#found nbc

[rj-winter]

Disney's 'Wish' is Disappointing.

RJ Winter

[This review contains spoilers for Wish (2023)]

Before I watched Wish, I did something I don't normally do: I let myself read one of the (non-spoiler) reviews that was published before the movie released. I don't usually like to do that, because I feel it gives away too much of the story if I want to be surprised, but I was intrigued after talking with a friend about how the critic consensus was that it was mediocre and didn't push the boundaries of Disney.

All in all, those complaints didn't turn me off the movie. If anything, it made me look forward to it; those same reviews praised the soundtrack and the homages to Disney's history, and that's arguably the most important thing for a musical intended to celebrate the studio's centennial anniversary.

As a rule, Disney holds itself to a certain standard of quality. I thought that it would be fine, maybe a little bit boring.

Let me say this: Wish is not boring.

To follow up on that, though, it also isn't good. It's not even really mediocre. I hesitate to call it bad outright, if only because there's quite a bit of potential underneath, but I certainly can't give it the same praise I've seen others offer.

Let's start off with the things that this movie does well: the visuals are beautiful, calling back to the 2D animation that Disney was built on without directly returning to that style. Most of the character designs feel the same way. The standout song, This Wish, was the only thing from the soundtrack I let myself listen to before watching the movie (as it was the first song they released), and I'll probably continue listening to it on my own time because I do really like it. Perhaps most importantly, considering this movie's entire reason for existence, the subtle homages to Disney's history were a welcome addition and a nice touch. Also, the little star critter is adorable; as is its way of communicating, given that it can't talk.

And now that I've sufficiently praised the things I thought were good, let's address the parts where the movie falls flat: first, and most damningly, Wish is a musical comedy with jokes and songs that both tend to miss the mark. A number of the homages to Disney's history aren't the subtle ones I praised before, but instead a lot more overt in a way that's often distracting.

Its comedy is often in the same vein as something like Frozen, and while I'm in the camp that does still like that movie I have to admit that ten years on I'd like to see them try a different approach. I had hope that they would lean more into the old styles of storytelling, of something timeless, but Wish is unfortunately filled with jokes that rarely land and already feel somewhat dated. The best example of that is the goat, Valentino, whose design feels as out of place as his comedic timing.

Earlier I praised This Wish, the standout song, because it made it feel like a true return to form for Disney--feeling somewhat fresh but also calling back to the classics. However, it exemplifies some other problems with the movie: first, that the pacing in this film is outright bad. It feels like they had to squish a much longer story into their 95-minute runtime, or maybe like a handful of scripts got squished together and the final product either wasn't edited at all or went through one too many revisions.

And, similarly, the entire thing feels disjointed; none of these songs feel like they belong in the same story. A musical is only as good as its soundtrack, so let's go over each song and my personal gripes with it:

Welcome to Rosas, the opening number, is a passable opener for this movie. I actually like the first minute or so of it, before it devolves into heavy foreshadowing and jokes that don't seem to land, at least for me. It does feel the most tonally consistent overall with the rest of the movie, so there's that.

At All Costs, the duet between Asha and King Magnifico, is clearly a remnant from an older draft. The demo makes it an outright love song duet, and I've heard that an earlier version had the star be a boy and potentially had a romance between him and Asha in the script, so that's quite possibly where this came from. It feels strange and out of place, especially in the scene it's in, and the alterations to make it less overtly romantic do it a disservice. I do like the demo version, though.

This Wish is, as mentioned, the standout song; my issues with it are unrelated to the music. It's a song that belongs in a movie with more heart behind it than this one, and feels like another remnant from a different take on the storyline; the movie itself feels like it was rushing to get to this point and so the moment doesn't feel earned. Several things, such as Asha recalling her late father's lessons, would have more impact if we'd seen them more clearly beforehand. Most importantly, though, Asha hasn't gone through any real development or change at this point in the story--despite the song itself claiming that it should be a turning point for her.

I'm A Star has a lot of little bits that I like, but the focus on comedy that slowly slips in brings it down; the ending having the 'homage' to Disney's history that I found the most painful to watch. I think that with less comedic asides, I would like the overall song more. It's another one that feels like it was at least meant for this version of the movie, but I don't think that's necessarily a good thing.

This Is The Thanks I Get is just not a good villain song, which pains me to say as someone who absolutely adores the old ones. It lacks style and substance, and overall it feels like a first draft song that would benefit from some heavy rewrites; as is, it's not funny or menacing. Magnifico in general suffers from them seeming to take him from being an outright villain from the start to trying to give him a sympathetic origin but only ever committing to it halfway. A villain song about someone being corrupted by the darkness in their panic can work; but he snaps too quickly.

Knowing What I Know Now is another song that feels like a very disjointed first draft. There's potential underneath it, but it's buried in how everything is so rushed and seemingly haphazardly slapped together.

The reprise of This Wish feels even more unearned than the original song does; existing solely to serve this scene in the plot rather than for the sake of the story and the characters. I like the idea behind it, it has some of the same heart, but it feels strange and out of place in this version of the movie. It definitely doesn't hit the way it was intended to.

In the end, Wish feels like several movies, all of which have the potential to be good, but none of which were successfully realized; and that genuinely pains me to say, as someone who grew up loving Disney and its history.

#disney #wish #wish 2023 #wish disney #disney wish #wish spoilers #disney spoilers #spoilers #review #movie review #rj.txt

[max1461]

In response to this post by @loving-n0t-heyting.

Well... I guess?

So I don't actually have as much of a dog in this fight as maybe I implied I did, and maybe it's ill-advised to get into this further, but I do kind of feel like this reply misses the point a little?

Right, I might be missing something, but I believe that models of FOL, and models of SOL in the standard semantics, and models of typed lambda calculus, and so on, are all defined in basically the same way? They are all special cases of a more general definition.

Like, I believe that given a first- or second-order language L with constants c_1,...,c_n, functions f_1,...,f_m, and relations R_1,...,R_k, the set of all terms and formulae of L (call this set A) is an example of a free partial algebra. This partial algebra is generated by the variables and the constants, under application of partial functions corresponding to f_1,...,f_m, R_1,...,R_k, the logical connectives, and ∀ and ∃. I might have missed one. Uh the terms of lambda calculus are generated in a similar way. And anyway, a model is just another partial algebra M in the same signature with a structure preserving map φ : A -> M (EDIT: actually, one for each variable assignment function) (EDIT 2: since the constants are part of the signature and A is free, any variable assignment functions automatically induces a structure preserving map A -> M. So a model is just another partial algebra M.). Uh and then we make some demands about the structure of M, like for FOL we force M to be the disjoint union of a set M' and {T, F}, where M' is the universe of the model as traditionally defied. And for lambda calculus we demand that M is the disjoint union of a universe M_t for each basic type t and (maximal) sets of ith order functions between the M_t.

Shit, I should actually work out all the details. I don't think this reply is going anywhere without that. I probably don't have time for that.

Right, the point is that I am pretty sure that all these different definitions of "model" are just special cases of the exact same thing. And the way we define models of simply typed lambda calculus with quantifiers exactly reduces to the way we define them for first- and second-order logic, if you just get rid of all the lambda terms and the stuff of highers types. Uh yeah. I'm like 90% certain this is true. But without working it out on paper I can't be sure. Consider this a beta thought.

Uh but Henkin semantics are not a special case of this. Because you need to fix a Henkin prestructure—the sets of higher-order functions are not maximal, like you're have some subset of M_t^{M_s} for types t and s, or whatever. It's a different thing.

But the point is like: this strikes me as the canonical way to define a model! Far from defining models this way specifically to get the results we want—which seems more like what Henkin semantics is doing, to get a nicer meta-theory—this is just, defining models like we define homomorphisms in algebra: there's one canonical way to do it, and if you do it a different way, that's the choice that students are going to ask for motivation for. Right?

But, yeah, I agree there is not a lot of mathematical content to this.

My point (that FOL is odd in various ways) would maybe have been better illustrated by talking about nonfirstorderable sentences, which I did mention in a reblog. I think it's difficult to deny, re: nonfirstorderability, the claim that "FOL is limited in certain ways by the topology of strings". Which is fine, FOL works fine, but it is weird. I am not sure what argument one could put forth to say that that is not a strange contingency for a logical system to have.

And, actually, this is directly related to the stuff about the Peano Axioms: because the axiom schema of induction in Peano Arithmetic includes one axiom for each first-order sentence, what is firstorderable directly determines what you can do induction to! And I claim that is... strange. That's really funky. That's very funky!

You don't actually need the whole of SOL to remedy this string thing, you can just allow trees of quantifiers or whatever. Various people may have looked into this.

But, no yeah actually, after having written this last bit I am slightly convinced again that there is a genuine (slight) odd thing going on here. Uh it's not just all trivial, motivated reworking of definitions as the linked post sort of implies. Well I don't know. It's late. Maybe I've made an error somewhere here; lord knows when I don't double check my math posts that can happen.

#math #navel gazing #but yeah none of this is like #of serious mathematical important #it's 、well、navel gazing

[sophieinwonderland]

Umineko Not-Liveblog from a tulpa who has never read a visual novel before

This was recommended A LONG TIME AGO because of a plural character, and I've finally decided to start it. All that I know is that it's over 100 hours, and I'm going to be increasing that by a lot if I insist on screenshotting everything to comment on it in these not-liveblogs.

So here are my mostly disjointed thoughts on the very beginning!

I loved the characters in the prologue. The dynamic between the man and his doctor was great. I... didn't really get their names. Oh well, I'm sure they'll be brought up again.

The prologue dealt with a man who was dying because... reasons? Alcohol? A witch's curse? If it gave a clear reason, I might have missed it. But the dialogue was engaging anyway. I especially enjoyed the man ranting about the witch taking his soul due to some sort of deal he made. I loved the passion of in it.

There are no screenshots from things before this because I hadn't thought of screenshotting yet.

Hmm... I wonder if I can find his name in the character list?

No, of course not. That would be too easy. Oh well, I'm sure it will be here later.

Speaking of names... George?

I can't say I was expecting a guy in this to be named George.

Random: I'm wondering how true this statement is in real life...

I know other places are similar, where professional meetings often involve drinking. Which really seems weird to me when you think about it.

If I was making important deals that might involve other people's money, I probably would want to be as clear-headed as possible.

More on names, let's talk Battler...

I guess, but I'm really still hung up on George seeming so out of place. 😜

There's like a whole spiel here with Battler complaining about how his name is weird and nobody reads it even close to how it's supposed to said. Which, fair.

But also, I think Battler is a cool name and would like to see more Battlers and fewer George's in the world.

As someone who watches no subbed anime and has never touched visual novels before, I had to look up what Aniki meant right before this.

And this, I'm embarrassed to admit...

There was this whole scene with a woman saying Battler was probably a heartbreaker and um... I interpreted it as flirting until it revealed the woman was his aunt just a bit later. Yeah, that was awful!

I REALLY should have paid more attention to the family name. Or names in general. Oops!

But you can't tell me that this woman looks old enough to be his aunt:

I blame the anime style of making everyone look super young and attractive! (But yes, I really need to pay attention to the family name. 🤦‍♀️)

After noticing the family name thing, I also was really confused about why she HAD the family name since they weren't related since I was under the impression that Japan was like America with family names being passed down.

But the character info explains this!

Cool. The game already thought of this.

Wait... What's a family register?

Huh. Okay... I'm never going to get through this 100+ hour game if I keep stopping to look up Japan facts.

[sometimes later...]

SHE THE OLDER SISTER!!!!????

HOW???

I screenshotted this to say comment on the fact that none of these names sound Japanese, (Eva, George, Rosa, Maria, Rudolf) but then clicked to continue and Battler beat me to it!

First Impressions

Having gotten to the plane that flew them to the island, I feel I've reached a good stopping point.

I'm going to say that while I thought the prologue was really good and I liked the characters introduced at the airport... the airport scene felt overly long.

As important as it is to introduce your cast in the beginning, it shouldn't have felt like it was taking half-an-hour to explain Maria's relation with Battler.

And when we got to the airplane, I was so hopeful we were finally going to get to the island so plot could start... and then instead of piling into the plane normal people, they had to do a role call of everyone there.

I hope that this is just because it's an introductory scene and that it won't be indicative of what's to come. Because if this just ends up filled with padding to make the reading time longer than it needs to be, I'm not sure it's for me.

But I have heard that the start is slow, and it is just an opening. So we'll see. 🤷‍♀️

Also, no hint of any characters being plural. Not surprising. I wasn't expecting that to be revealed in the opening at all.

I'm hopeful that it will be revealed in the Questions Arc. (The story is divided into a Questions arc and an Answers arc. Each is 4 chapters.)

#umineko #umineko no naku koro ni

[invisiblegarters]

Hidden Agenda Ep 1

Well here we are. This isn't one of the offerings that I was really looking forward to this year, but I love the type of plot. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the tropiest shit, and I'm past the point where I feel like making apologies for my tastes.

I do wish it were coming out later though, because we have at least two messy, messy shows coming at us within the next couple of months (Dangerous Romance and Only Friends), and I could use what I expect will be a bit of mostly plotless fluff (I am getting very SIMM vibes already and that's exactly what that one was) to cut the tension from one (or both? Surely GMM wouldn't give us both at the same time, that'd just be madness and of course now that I've said it I want it desperately) of those.

Ah well.

Anyway, without further blathering, initial impressions:

Aw Louis. I missed his face. I didn't even know I would miss his face but it's good to see him on my screen again.

Heh, it sometimes just doesn't feel like a GMM BL without one of the J's. I love how they just tend to show up in everything. Or maybe we just tend to gravitate to the same projects - them for acting, me for watching. :D

Oh okay, so we're going right into an antagonistic sort of thing. I am not one of the people who dunks (heh) on his acting, but I hope Dunk loosens up as we go because he is way overdoing it here. He is more natural with the friends but every time he has to act annoyed it just sort of falls apart.

I kind of love AJ and Louis (I swear I will learn these character's names at some point) being the Bad Advice Duo. I think I'm going to enjoy this friend group.

The flashback to freshman year was very disjointed. At first I thought it was a preview for next week lol. Granted it might have been a watcher error.

Joong's Joke is like the dude from SIMM. Like, exactly. I guess he's comfortable in that kind of role but I was hoping for something a little different. For all I've said about Dunk thus far I do think Zo is at least a different character than the one Dunk played in the last drama. At least this time he's not manic pixie dream...was it a nerd in that one? Hell if I remember, all I know is that everyone wanted him and it annoyed me a lot. Worst trope. And thankfully this one doesn't seem to be heading in that direction.

Next week we're gonna get even more tropes. Including a pratfall because Thai BLs love their pratfalls. And I will learn all the character's names. Or at least the friends.

I'm probably going to stick with this. It's not doing anything revolutionary as of yet but the tropes it's using are all tropes I enjoy, so. And I'm a little interested in the whole debate club backdrop. Hopefully it will bring up some interesting things. Plus I want to see Aou and Boom together. I've been waiting for this pairing since Midnight Museum, dammit.

#hidden agenda #episode 1 #initial impressions

[alostlittleriverlotus]

Wait, that was a stupid question. We already are. Then, my actual ask is, what's your favorite pass time? Like what do you do when ur not on Tumblr??

Let me think. Mostly play video games honestly. DS, 2DS XL, Switch and after I move I'll have my Wii U and GameCube to play games on.

I will sometimes draw and paint, most general art. I do write fanfiction and write stories I hope to be published one day. These are all pretty rare since ADHD and fatigue kick my butt most days.

I watch mostly YouTube as of right now. Typically the gaming side of things with like Markiplier, Call Me Kevin, RTGame, Alpharad, stuff like that, but I watch a variety of content.

I'm on my phone a lot. I mostly just check fandoms for my special interests like the Splatoon subreddit or scrolling on here. Or just checking news.

I'm in the process of moving rn so I've been busy organizing some stuff and putting stuff away.

The only show I really watch right now is Bluey just cause I'm a traumatized individual lol, but I'll get with my friend MA on call and we'll watch videos or shows together. Like, we're trying to watch the rest of The Owl House, but with her busy schedule and not getting home till like 9 pm my time, yeah, we don't really got time to do that.

It really does just boil down to mostly video games and watching something and focusing on taking care of my body since disabilities and unable to get help for em thanks to financial stuff and relying on my parents. So I pretty much just spend time in my room, chatting with my friend MA and my girlfriend, watching stuff which is whatever I feel like, playing video games, and working on the boxing stuff up part of moving when I can. I also love reading, but I have a lot of books I bought for my trauma so they can emotionally exhaust me 😅

My favorite past time is def video games and watching stuff that seems so cool to me. For instance, watching speed runs or Mario Kaizo stuff. Since my hands don't respond well, I could not do a lot of it though I do want to get into speed running one day, so I love watching these people do things I cannot do. I love commentary side of YouTube. I love video essays on stuff I would normally not care about or stuff I haven't thought about in a long time, especially when it comes to lore of pieces of media that I will never care about. I have a wide variety of games and game systems to play, I'll also often play with my friend MA when we get the chance. So those are definitely my favorites. Just doing stuff that lets me relax, turn off my brain, or watch something that will make me almost die of laughter. I've played video games since as long as I can remember, starting with like educational kids games on the computer before I could even read. So they've always been a big comfort for me and a big part of my life and I love to challenge myself now with them and explore a variety of different games.

One thing I wanna get back into is Legos at some point. I miss building with Legos and so probably for a holiday or something or if I can save up for it, I'll just buy myself a nice Lego set to build.

I rambled a lot cause my thoughts are very disjointed, but I hope that gave ya an idea of what I do. I mostly play on my switch these days since it's the easiest for my to access. With my set up in my room, it's difficult to play the Wii and GameCube without back problems or the Wii remote struggling with the sensor bar + I'm moving so I'm getting them packed away. And then for my DS's, it's just I don't keep em charged honestly 😅 though I am actually playing Leaf Green on my DS right now so yay, I finally charged one lol. But yeah, that's pretty much all I do :p with video games and YouTube being the most prominent. I also mostly talk to MA and my gf a lot of the time. They're both long distance so texting is our main way to communicate since we can't just like hang out. But yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm gonna stop now lol. It's basically just whatever I hyperfixate on most of the time.

Edit: Pffft, just remembered. I roleplay with MA a lot. Mostly just comfort roleplays for both of us. I used to roleplay a lot and even had an Envy (fullmetal alchemist brotherhood) roleplay account, but gave it up cause of how fandoms can be and just some personal reasons and anxiety around interacting with people. I do that about just as much, when MA is free of course.

#ask box #inbox #ADHD #autism #actually autistic #hobbies #mutuals

[keysimash]

Hello!!

I do not want to be bothering or rude, I am just curious if you’ve had time or energy to continue Leave, I still love the story so much and am looking forward to find out how it goes!!

But if not it’s ok, I just hope you have a nice day no matter what!! <3

Short answer , it's not discontinued but idk when I will work on it again. Sorry to be a disappointment

Long answer you probably dont want to read

I hate it. I can't even read it. I like my story, I like the plans I HAVE for the story, I just.... cant read my own writing. And this isn't some kind of compliment fishing either, it's gotten to the point I dont even like getting nice comments about it on my ao3 inbox anymore.

I sit down to work on it and I just... can't. All I can think about is how cringy it sounds ... and how bad it is, etc etc

Logically I know I'm actually a pretty good writer. But all I see when I look at this shit is mistakes.

And I come across in my writing as... way too emotional and earnest? If that makes any sense. I've mentioned I never made a plot outline, that shit is sooo obvious when i read it. And how I changed the plot three or four times. And how I changed the plot every time I got upset.

I used to not give a fuck about appealing to other people when I wrote because I didnt have anyone whose opinion I cared about reading it but now I feel like I have to write it not shittily or I'll disappoint everyone and myself. And I'm not capable of writing it not shittily right now because I would

a) have to build off the disjointed skeleton I've already made that's got plot holes and mischaracterizations

b) start over from scratch

And I can't do it right now! I cant!

I keep thinking about how my best friend told me I shouldn't put vent art on the internet at all. I feel disgusting now almost. Like people that take pics of their cuts and post em. I know shes full of shit but I cant shake the feeling. That it's my fault if I trigger somebody. That by writing anything that isnt a joke or fluff I'm doing something gross and self-masturbatory and harmful. "If you interpret the characters in a way the author didnt want you're just wrong..." that's what she said.. Its kirby and Meta knight and magolor for gods sake. What am I doing trying to make a gritty realistic darkfic... from a kids game.... cringe.... (only me tho. Nobody else counts)

Even my other works for other fandoms, it almost feels like they're on a timer as soon as I post them. I go "I like that, that's good" and post, and then a few days later I'm like "oh . That's shit now" and it has nothing to do with engagement or anything, its just like an arbitrary switch flipped in my brain

The only time I was writing well and writing consistently... was when I was being abused... I feel like I've lost my spark ... because maybe the only time I can make anything good is when I'm under so much emotional pressure I feel like I'm about to snap.... but if that were true I should be writing right now haha.

And I can sit here and know all these things, that when I'm stressed my thought process goes all stupid, that I'm actually a good writer, that I'm not hurting anybody by the fic I post, that writing something shit is better than not writing anything at all, but it doesn't do anything to change how I feel.

But. I did say it's not discontinued, didnt I?

If its stressing me out so much well why dont I delete it, well the answer to that is I HATE HATE HATE when authors delete their good shit.... deep down I know a lot of people love my stories and that they have some worth... that's why I haven't deleted them all...

I love writing, still.... writing for cotl feels less bad than kirby cos.. it feels like its expected to be edgy and dark, so I dont feel bad about what I write until later at least... but I still love to write and create....

I just need some time... I miss writing kirby stuff but I just can't face my own writing. I cant face myself. And it order to start writing again -- I think that's my problem. I would have to forgive myself for not being perfect. I would have to admit that , like my writing , its okay to love myself/my writing even with the manymanymany .flaws.

I can't. Not right now. Maybe later tho

I didnt have that last revelation before. Not until I wrote everything out. When I was trying to explain all my feelings to someone else , I ended up explaining it to myself. This post was long overdue anyway

Sorry

[syncopation53]

Overall I think lightfall felt about the same as beyond light for me, maybe a little bit less so without eramis’ lore and the lack of (narrative) conflict when it comes to strand like stasis had. I know that we’re moving beyond the “light good, darkness bad” dogma, as drifter puts it, and it’s been three years at this point since stasis has been introduced and we’ve had time to get used to it, plus the fact that strand is more of a… I want to say “neutral force” than stasis, which had been an explicit gift from the witness as we now know. I’ve seen how it almost feels disjointed from the overall narrative, and I can sort of see where people are coming from. The missions with the meditation place and vex network almost seemed like adventures rather than a part of the campaign itself, which is a shame. I can see where they were going for the “secret power that the bad guys don’t know about but is hard to master so we only use it in Important Scenes and have a training montage about it,” but that’s me filling in the blanks after the fact, not an actual thought I had while running the campaign. I found osiris and ghost’s dialogue about the whole “perspective shift” thing to be laughable because I’d been doing the exact same things with strand I’d been doing from the beginning. There was no perspective shift for me just incessant banging on bungie’s door yelling to let me unlock strand in full already. Will be interested in getting more lore on the nature of darkness-based powers vs. light-based ones in the future. As you can tell by my recent posts, the ending was the true best thing story-wise. I felt completely dead inside after that 10/10 will be crying myself to sleep thinking oc thoughts for the next week.

The story was… alright, I’ll say. Somehow bungie made it feel like nothing was happening and simultaneously everything happened all at once. Definitely felt like I missed some stuff in my race to get to softcap so that the tormentors wouldn’t eat me for breakfast but I’ll definitely be doing the campaign again in full on my hunter to see if there’s anything I didn’t catch the first time. Titan… eh, I’m not usually a fan of video game microtransactions but if it’ll let me skip right to strand titan a bitch might just buy some silver.

I will say, I’ve never been a fan of calus’ lore. I didn’t actively dislike him or the cabal/uluran as a whole, and he is an interesting character in his own right, but I just never felt that personally interested in learning more about them like I had the hive and eliksni. However comma, his cutscenes with the witness were some of the highlights of the campaign for me. They carried, as the kids say. The other part being helmet-less cutscenes for lots of pretty screenshots of xira. Osiris was also a highlight for me. His character felt more in-line with that from curse of osiris than any other season I’ve played before (I know season of dawn was a huge hit but I’d been away for college at the time and thus couldn’t play for a while so I’m not familiar with the osiris lore from that). I liked his growth from pushing the guardian to master strand and getting frustrated when we failed to helping us hone our abilities and being proud and excited when we succeeded.

I’ll also throw in my two cents into the Nimbus Discourse as a non-binary person: they were fun. I liked them. I like that they’re not a 100% perfectly androgynous anime prettyboy and I know that’s caused people to misgender them but I enjoy their design overall. I can understand being annoyed with the voice modulations, but that’s about it. I understand their character, neomuna being a separate hidden colony on the second-to-last planet in the system whose last contact with earth was during the warlord era and all, and how blasé they were about things as this would probably be the first time they’re dealing with something other than the occasional vex incursion. I honestly didn’t feel that much when rohan died, but I’d originally thought what his “battle cry” was had come from nimbus as he sacrificed himself, and honestly I prefer to think of it that way because it’s clear in the following interlude and cutscene that nimbus is trying to deal with their grief through keeping themself busy with the legion, and also I’m guessing that cloud striders (and possibly neomuni in general) have different views on dying and the grieving process than earth-bound people do. I haven’t finished the quest for the void machine gun yet but I also hear the ending is pretty good as well.

Neomuna itself is a good location, maybe a little bit jarring compared to other destinations in destiny 2, but I’m sure that was intentional. Only thing I had a problem with is the patrol space being very unfriendly to little 1650 me when I tried doing some bounties and patrols for the first time. Even my arc buddy was struggling, we were in truly desperate times running around barely above the power floor trying not to get one-shot.

Season of defiance’s one (1) battleground is already getting on my nerves. I’m this close to turning off dialogue and subtitles whenever I’m waiting to load into it. The bosses were hell and I hate them, especially the last room. Not a fan of the activity but also excited for new things such as the seasonal exotic mission. I also liked the sort of minor update to the ascendant plane look, much easier to see where I’m going. I also like how open mara is with us now, as someone who used to have issues with her character her growth has been amazing to see.

Overall I’d give the lightfall campaign a solid “I mean, it wasn’t perfect, but still enjoyable at least.”

Season of defiance gets a “you tried” sticker for compensation.

#this turned out a lot longer than i expected sorry everyone #i’m sure there are more i’ve forgotten but i have schoolwork to complete so this is what it is #long post #destiny #destiny 2 #lightfall #lightfall spoilers #destiny 2 spoilers #season of defiance #season of defiance spoilers #just in case #legacy dot text

[actualaster]

Alright, so, Thoughts on Lightfall.

Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it's not without issues. On the whole I feel it did more right than wrong, and I can very much admit that several of the things I find to be flaws may very well just be down to personal taste in writing choices rather than objective problems.

So, in general, it's mostly positive with some discussion of areas that I think might have been better handled.

Naturally spoilers abound below.

Also discussions of new/revamped gameplay mechanics in addition to the storyline stuff.

Going to be a bit disjointed and achronological because my brain does not vibe with the concept of time in general.

So, first of all, NIMBUS. I love them. They're a great character. I want to see more of them in the future. Canon on-screen nonbinary rep in a character who is great, who has speaking lines AND is a major character in the expansion, AND doesn't just get killed off? YES. It seems like a previous Cloud Strider, Stargazer, may also have been they/them? There's definitely another they/them as an average citizen in the lorebook AND somebody who seems genderfluid.

So Neomuna just casually embraces being nonbinary and it's NOT just a Cloud Strider thing it's just a normal part of their culture. Love that~

Alright, now for everything else.

I really enjoyed the new aesthetics of Neomuna! Very pretty~ I especially love the sparkly, glittery stone (or whatever) ground and caves, that's just such a pretty thing and it's always a top tier design choice. Also really love how they made the Cloud Striders so dang tall! Makes sense with their augments and whatnot, but still, great choice~

Still haven't poked around all the Lost Sectors but I loved the arcade (and the Goblin just... scanning a game cabinet lol. Absolute favorite Vex right there, a shame I had to kill it)

Haven't messed around too much with the new weapons and such, so I can't speak to how I enjoy the new perks or anything yet thought I like the aesthetics of them again.

The re-worked mod system is pretty solid, IMO. It streamlines a lot of stuff. Could use more tweaks, I miss some of the older mods and such, but the team will absolutely be monitoring things and adding new mods and tweaking existing ones and such as we go. It's a massive overhaul so it'll take time for things to fully settle, and I'll probably tweak things around further in the future.

I do prefer the perk system for the seasonal artifact as well, by the way, less of a pain than trying to slot mods into your gear and sacrificing stuff. Still struggling with stunning Champions but that's mostly because I'm still getting used to the new setup and fiddling with weapons and such.

Loudout system is great, no more needing to change up mods or appearances when you swap classes lol.

I do wish they'd maybe increase the slots we have for weapons, or something. It's getting hard to juggle and energy slots between what i need to complete bounties, what I need to stun champions, and what I run for everything else, especially if I've got an exotic catalyst or two I'm trying to work on...

Also, while Strand is fun, it feels... Slower for abilities to recharge, somehow? Might just be because most of my other sub-classes have ways to recharge themselves in PvE faster and all. Especially the loading time on the grapple grenade. I very much get why it's like that but also since it doubles as a movement mechanic and not just a combat mechanic it's a little... Tedious. But there's not really a good way to adjust that, I think, because it's not like destiny has a dedicated "extra movement method" button or anything.

Anyway that might feel a little less clunky as I unlock aspects and try to put together a decent Strand build. Need to find a decent high-stat Exotic to pair it with, tbh, the one I'm running now is just kinda.. Meh, it's what I've got on hand lol. So that might very well be coloring my opinions on it, I can fully admit that's a strong possibility. (But, also, I fully expect Bungie to tweak Strand going forwards as more and more players get their hands on it and they can see on a large scale how it's working and where it's struggling).

ANYWAY enough about that! ON TO OTHER STUFF.

So, overall, I liked the story they told. I do wish we'd delved more into the what the Veil is, however. It's obvious by the time you're doing some of the post-campaign stuff that not even the people of Neomuna have a solid grasp on what it is, and I would have liked to see that explored more... I know they're probably going to drip feed us some of that info over the seasons but I feel like that's extremely relevant to THIS expansion and I feel that expansions should balance being self-contained and setting up the next part of the story (unless it's a standalone expansion in which case it should be entirely self-contained).

Lightfall... Felt like it leaned a little too heavily on the "setting up for the next part" side of things. It wasn't bad, but I feel like we could have explored a bit more in the expansion itself. Maybe not part of the main campaign, but as a post-campaign quest or something to learn a little more about the Veil, and such.

I don't want to describe it as "filler", because it's not, but it did... Hrm... How to explain it... Like, obviously it's the link between Witch Queen and The Final Shape, that's just kind of what the expansions are--continuing the story and linking the entries that came before with those that came after. But Lightfall... It felt a little more like it was meant to just be a bridge and less like it was taking itself seriously as a full story in it's own right.

It's not bad, exactly, but it felt a little... Off. Like it wasn't quite able to come into it's own as an expansion outside of it's role linking WQ and TFS. An excellent effort was made, and that is a fine line to walk so I don't want to give the devs too much grief over it! But it does feel like it managed to fall a bit short on that.

Some of it was the pacing. The pacing felt a little... Inconsistent? Like some areas, such as Rohan's death, felt kind of rushed--we barely had time to get to know or care about these characters before he's sacrificing himself for us! And others felt like they dragged a little--Strand mastery, mostly. That somehow manage to feel like it both took up too much time and too little time.

I think that part is more... It felt like it took forever to get to the serious training to master it, and once we hit that it came very rapidly. I think that maybe if it had been a focus for one more or one less mission it would have felt better paced.

But also part of that might be less to do with the actual Strand and more to do with the content of the missions themselves. I did notice several of them had extended "no respawn" segments which were... Grueling, if you weren't very well-prepared and that can absolutely be coloring my perception of the pacing. It's hard to pull them apart, really.

Battles in segments did seem to drag on a bit, and some of the new stuff you do in Neomuna (the "terminal override" activity) seem to drag on, becoming more of a test of endurance than anything else.

Now, some of this is undoubtedly because we're all still adjusting to the new mod system and we all started out at low light compared to the recommended stuff with the new expansion and all. As we all start to get up there in light level, get better gear, get a handle on the new system, etc. I suspect these will start going faster.

So I don't want to be too hard on that aspect because, y'know, we just came off a "we've got YEARS of experience mastering the system and we're at the top of our game" in terms of gameplay so there's gonna be a learning curve for many of us again and I don't want to ding the devs on that too badly if it really just feels tedious due to needing to get familiar with things and better gear and such.

Plus, like. I know I'm not as big a fan of the battlegrounds style stuff because they take longer and I prefer quick, intense bursts of combat rather than extended firefights, so that's likely also my personal taste coloring how I feel there.

That said, not all the battle segments seemed to drag on--and several of those that were longer absolutely made sense and it really added to the emotional feelings of the mission with how they lasted longer.

Like, the run-up to fighting Calus?

When Caitatl shows up to fight alongside you with her troops through wave after wave of enemy? It felt like that fight took forever--but that worked great because it really fed the sense of "shit, fuck, NO, we have to hurry, we don't have time for this!" and that sense of "can we make it? No, we have to! We have to endure!" desperation that really, really fit the "the enemy is about to fucking win we HAVE to stop them!" that was being built up.

Actually, honestly, the more I think about it... The more I think that may have been the point all along with the combat segments that felt like took longer? To build that "we don't have time to be wasting here" sense of impatience to hurry and try to stop the Witness from getting the Veil.

But, also, again, they may have just taken longer and feel too long because I'm not totally used to the new system and still building myself up again--and I would imagine that the same could be true for others who also felt they were lengthy.

Calus' death, though, that was great. The battle was annoying because I was still trying to get a hang of swinging around with Strand and kept getting knocked off, but that was a skill issue not a game design issue lol.

I liked how in the end he became desperate, and his death just... Felt fitting. He met the end he was always destined for. Honestly a of the imagery around Calus was great, they did a great job of showing that while he gives service to the Witness he's still not actually satisfied and that his "gains" are just... Hollow. Empty. Just like him, really. All superficial opulence with no substantial filling.

His Chalice, a beautiful thing that was never filled, was a fantastic metaphor for Calus himself.

Speaking of interesting things, though.

The Cloud Striders vs the Guardians. One that chooses a life cut drastically short, not as a tragedy, but as a joyful sacrifice to protect and serve their people, a heavy mantle but one taken up willingly by those who are passionate about the cause. And one that has immortality thrust upon them without warning, without consent, and without any sort of purpose innate to the lifespan change.

They're a fun little twisted reflection of each other, and something I hope gets explored further even if only in the lore--that's a really, really neat concept that has a lot of fun potential for compare/contrast, you know?

AND, ON TOP OF THAT, the Guardian hesitates to cut their own existence short--the choice to shoot their Ghost, to save everything? (Or at least delay the Witness' plan)? And they hesitate, they can't quite do it in time (and once it's over there's no point). It's understandable, Ghost is your friend, somebody you care about and I think it makes perfect sense that we'd hesitate. I mean even outside of the narrative of "they can't have us kill Ghost because then we wouldn't be immortal anymore and that would really kind of screw with the whole 'players are immortal beings who come back over and over and over and just Get Better from grievous wounds on the fly'" thing. It just makes sense in general.

But there's also, there, that moment of hesitation in the face of sacrificing their immortality--when Rohan chose to cut his already truncated life short without hesitation to the same end.

It's not that I think we were wrong for our choice, or that his sacrifice was better or anything.

I just thing they're fascinating inversions of each other--parallel lines traveling in opposite direction.

And I think that was really well-done.

Also, speaking of well-done, the cutscene at the end of the new exotic quest for Deterministic Chaos, where the remains of Sagira's shell are enshrined in the Hall of Heroes right behind Rohan's monument/server. That was such a good touch, it was so perfect. It just feels right.

I just.

Yeah, the expansion had it's issues (what doesn't?) and things I would have changed up a bit but overall it was very enjoyable and did some amazing stuff with imagery, metaphor, and implied parallels for players to take note of. My biggest gripes are with gameplay, and those will very likely be lessened as the new mod system and subclass get tweaked and we all start getting more experience with them and such.

A fun time that deserves some criticism but really doesn't seem to deserve the more vitriolic hate I've seen.

So, on the whole, I'd give it a very solid 8/10.

#kage plays games #kage plays destiny #destiny 2 #lightfall #lightfall spoilers #anyway i hope this is at least semi-coherent lol #i have Feelings and Thoughts but Words Are Hard so #lengthy post

[myrfing]

LMAO yeah immediately after I sent that ask I remembered you posting that "not reading hearts" thing.

Okay yeah I'm just super obsessed with pandae in general so I had been wondering about your thoughts xD ty for indulging me, poyo

I like the ancients a lot! But my brain doesn't mix well with the takes I see from their fans 😔

Also!!! I might have missed your post about Themis and Erich foiling.... Can you link me .... Thank you, poyo ...

A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING PANDY and for a good reason, I think it's a good raid with an interesting storyline, it just kind of sits outside of my ballpark. and no thank YOU for indulging me I can probably go on at length about any facet of the game regardless of where it sits in my mind palace so all of this is decadent living to me.

I warmed up to the ancients a lot and it's been a lot easier to love them after being somewhat distanced from the big crowd of the fanbase for sure. but of every single place in the game it feels the least like the world I love yknow?

ALSO. ER. i tried to find them but. I do not tag my raving and ranting poasts because I don't want them circulating too hard and I believe they are lost to thee nether. if I do come across them I'll send out the poyo signal but im pretty certain that. I said it in a series of 839049034 disjointed posts I threw. off the bridge. so they can come flying back in my face later on much like dragon eyeballs

[libertyreads]

Book Review #26 of 2024--

The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten. Rating: 3.75 stars.

Read from April 9th to 18th.

When I said I needed something in my life to slow down my reading, I really didn't mean being overwhelmed with starting a class, having one of the worst migraines of my life, a car getting damaged beyond repair, and having to spend a day and a half purchasing a new car. But, really, I should know better at this point. It is 2024 after all. This is a book I would have read in 4 days or fewer if real life wasn't trying to tear me apart. And I feel like taking a week and a half to read it kind of took away from the experience. I would read 80 pages in a day and then put it down for a day and a half out of necessity. So, the reading felt so disjointed. I'm hoping when I reread the series before the next book comes out I'll have a better experience.

I really do absolutely adore a set of characters who are doomed by the narrative but continue pushing through because what else are they going to do? The thing I thought was happening pretty early on in the first book finally got confirmation in this one. It was the major plot of this one. I still really enjoy Lore, Gabe, and Bastian and it was weird in this one because it felt like they weren't as fully in the story as they were in book one. Which makes sense given the plot. I just missed them sometimes. I'm excited to see where the next (final?) book goes from here. The setting and the world still felt so real and I loved seeing all of my favorite places in this world again. In the next one, we're going to some new places so I'm excited to see it.

I struggled with some triggers that weren't there in the first book. It all makes sense for the plot and it isn't extreme at all, but it really did drag down my enthusiasm for the story as we were moving through it. I don't know if it's going to be a major thing in the next one so it does make me a little worried but I'm still planning on finishing the series.

Overall, it was a good middle book. I think a lot of authors struggle to avoid "middle book syndrome" where it feels too thin and like a bridge between set up and climax. I think if I had read this as quickly as I wanted to then it would have been slightly easier to follow and I probably would have enjoyed it at least a little more.

#book review #The Hemlock Queen #The Foxglove King #Hannah F. Whitten #Hannah Whitten #books read in 2024 #2024 reading challenge #reading challenge #goodreads challenge #goodreads #books #bookish #book #fantasy #adult fantasy