#idk it’s just disingenuous to the character somehow for me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

proxissima · 1 year

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ENJI FOR THE ASK THING

-How I feel about this character:

MY FAVOURITE. I love him, along with All Might, but I also want to strangle him regularly <3

-All the people I ship romantically with this character:

-All Might: Enji's extreme(ly funny) obsession with All Might is what arguably made me ship it. Most of his decisions in adult life have been centred one way or another around All Might, and I can't get over that fact. While there's next to no setting that I wouldn't ship them in, my other favourite is a villain!AM AU. I have many feelings about this ship in general but you and everyone else who made the regrettable decision of following already knows that 💀

-Inko: My guilty pleasure ship, for comedy and drama. There's something enticing about a guy like Endeavor, who's otherwise got such a fat stick up his ass, having an extramarital affair with the MC's civilian mother, who's also married to someone else. The scandalousness of it is *chef's kiss*. It's also intertwined with the crack headcanon about Izuku being Endeavor's love child that I really like, as well.

-Rei: more interesting to me in fanon than in canon, simply because she's barely developed as a character in canon :/ Idk whoever came up with the idea of Rei being secretly obsessed with Enji, but what a concept

-Mirko: two very hot-blooded characters, and Mirko wouldn't have any of Enji's shit 👌

-Aizawa: Shoto would DIE. He's also unlikely to have any of Endeavor's shit.

I generally ship Enji with many and more characters than are listed here, though less romantically and more for reasons like "I like the idea of it in a certain scenario" (like Burnin) or "I simply respect the chemistry"... or for dark fics.

-In an OT3 with Toshi and Rei. Started off as a crack-ship, but I'm now actually, genuinely, honest to god, unironically shipping it. 💀 Hear me out... If this polycule had happened, AFO would simply not have stood a chance. Just the combined power of All Might and Endeavor, united, and with Rei as the mediator... They'd be unstoppable.

-My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Hawks. Enji has a rather... difficult personality, which makes me think he wouldn't have many friends in the first place. Hawks is not just willing to put up with him because he's his biggest fan but he also knows how to either calm his temper, and, just as easily, how to push his buttons. The friendship between them is rather underrated, imo.

All Might. In canon-divergence/AU settings, I can see them having an interesting dynamic when not genuinely hostile. Read: Enji being a tsundere grump and constantly protesting AM's sunshine personality while generally agreeing on work ethics and still hanging out with him.

Untenmaru, Endeavor's chauffeur. He looks like he takes none of his shit either and there's mutual respect between them.

(Basically any character that knows how to hold their own against Enji's gruff personality make for a great dynamic with him.)

-My unpopular opinion about this character:

His atonement arc feels kinda disingenuous. What I'm referring to specifically is that the cause that made him truly start thinking about what he's done to his family for the first time in his miserable life was most definitely only extrinsic and not due to any sudden gained wisdom on his part... Enji's an idiot. Would he have given his treatment of his family a second thought 1) had he somehow managed to surpass All Might on his own terms, or 2) had All Might not been forced to retire suddenly? I can't say I'm convinced that he would have, and that's what's bothering me about his big heel-face turn.

I actually like his pre-All Might's retirement persona at least as much as him post-S3. He was such an asshole but extremely amusing to watch, especially his interactions with AM. He's generally fun to put through a meat-grinder though lmao

-One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Won't happen and also OOC, but he should stop keeping looking at Dabi like there's someone in there that he can still save, and start treating him like the danger that he is and put him out of commission... Permanently.

I'm convinced that if All Might and Endeavor had just had a better relationship with each other overall, much of what happened in the series could've been avoided entirely. But alas... both of them are kinda to blame for that, and things can never be that easy... right?

Give me a character; and I'll break their ass down

#endeavor #bnha #thoughts #inbox #ask game #this one was more difficult than the others but easier at the same time #i absolutely hate having to compare enji to iroh; but when it comes to heel-face turns the cause for iroh's was also only purely extrinsic #let's be real #toshienrei

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girl4pay · 1 year

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the conclusion this post comes to feels so removed from reality like idk anything about rick and morty or the cosby show specifically i never watched either and i do think people often wrt to celebs overstress this triumphant I KNEW IT reaction in a way that’s disconnected from the actual terrible thing that has happened when someone shares they have been hurt by someone famous and treats it more as like juicy drama and def overemphasizes their experience in something that has v little to do w them but pretending that peoples misogyny and power abuses aren’t revealed in the way they go about daily life including if they are an artist in the art they produce and that those instances are ignored bcus it would be uncomfortable and ‘dramatic’ and socially disruptive + be met with scorn to be like oh these misogynistic jokes you make on your show or those comments you make about your ex gf or this story about how you interacted w someone working on your tv show are really disrespectful and weird, maybe i can make reasonable judgments about your character based on that and on how you react to hearing that, + saying ‘bad people’ who ‘do evil’ are somehow entirely removed from the rest of the world does no one any good at all its just that celebs are not like directly in our lives so even of you do notice weird shit you can’t exactly like text the guys gf like hey are you good in like a concretely helpful way but that doesn’t mean abuse happens entirely divorced of context and someone trusting their gut about a person is playing fictional detective. the shitty part 2 me is that Being Right becomes the focal issue so you never consider bias or like whether your opinion or insight has much place in that convo and then obviously this is dangerous when you’re like oh my gut feeling is telling me to insert myself and start a harassment campaign against this person whose life i am not in at all bcus i would feel better after (d*pp stans) but i think the myth of like you can never Ever know who is abusing their partner is so disingenuous and has turned from ‘just bcus you PERSONALLY are shocked does not make it a lie’ to ‘this is an entirely unknowable quantity that bubbles up from nowhere and theres no way to ever step in or prevent it we have to resign ourselves to just gasping in shocked horror every time news drops’ bcus in the case of celebs there usually is no way for you, person reading us weekly, to act constructively, regardless of what you Knew, bcus you are being afforded closeness to a life that you are in no way close to, but that’s a specific case not a wider truth yk

#abuse ment #rape ment

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definitelynotplanetfall · 2 years

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Played a bit of cdda v0.F after youtube reminded me vormithrax exists. Insufferable.

I could kind of understand the change to make crafting require your hands free. You need a safe spot to make things and if you get ambushed you should spend a turn equipping your weapon. Okay! What really sucks is that every e on a piece of furniture with items asks me to confirm whether I want to start crafting or just get the items. And newly crafted things go into your hands, not your inventory, so crafting a bunch of things in sequence requires way more keystrokes than it should. But it’s something you can get acclimated to.

The new hunger is so dumb. Some things are not interesting to model. The reason there is hunger in games is not “there is hunger in real life, and realism is categorically good, so your hunger meter should lie to you and if you eat literally every time it says you’re hungry your character will get fat.” That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of why games have hunger mechanics (or for that matter, what a hunger meter is.) The game is already giving you more information than the senses of your character, unless you’re somehow under the impression that humans have a 360 degree line of sight - the idea that a hunger meter should represent “does my character subjectively feel hungry” and not “will my character game-mechanically benefit from eating food right now” is just. What!!

But those were both in 0.E. Calling it new hunger is disingenuous on my part. The real kicker is the fucking containers.

How it used to work: you have a maximum held volume (by default it is 0, worn clothing and items held in your hands do not count towards it) and clothing with pockets increases it. There is also a maximum weight determined by your strength stat, which is not a hard cap but you take penalties for exceeding it.

It was in fact silly that you could put on two pairs of cargo pants and then hold a spare tire somehow distributed between the pockets, but what are you going to do? Track how many pockets of what size exist and assign items to one or another in particular? Sure, let’s also model having to carry food in plastic bags or it goes bad faster. Extra keystrokes to do that, of course. Are you MAD? Why would we implement this? How does this do anything but make the game worse to play? It’s like a parody of simulationist game design! Let’s also make a system where picking up items puts them in the first available pocket but the player has to periodically reorganize their pockets with a wholly inadequate interface.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Feeling very smug that I more or less called the clumsy-fiddly-ification back in 0.D when these so-called features were variously experimental to pipe dreams. I called it to myself, to be clear. 0.D really is the best version of the game lel. idk if you can even still download it

#cataclysm dark days ahead

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cutcontinuity · 3 years

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Sometimes I read stories and people seem to throw in homophobic parents like it’s an immediate-sympathy card (which it is) but as a reader half of the time it doesn’t feel like the writing expresses the trauma of it at all — like I read narratives like that and the parents and the child’s reactions feel like cardboard

#nothing wrong with deciding not to give narrative time to homophobic characters #but it’s like ‘having homophobic parents’ is like a shorthand for the character having a bad time or smth #idk it’s just disingenuous to the character somehow for me #homophobia #family

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castielmacleod · 3 years

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The D.estiel conundrum is that if 3 writers were writing Dean as in love with Cas but 10 writers were writing Dean as not only not in love, but also constantly angry with or annoyed with or belittling toward Cas, which version is the truth? Do the few episodes by those 3 writers cancel out the entire rest of Dean’s characterisation? Or are instead those 3 writers’ efforts cancelled out by the bulk of canon? Should D.estiel be considered canonically reciprocated if the bulk of Dean’s canon treatment of Cas is bad? Is the bulk of Dean’s canon treatment of Cas only bad due to the writers’ homophobia, and if so is there then full cause to ignore it? Or does it count as shipping abuse? Is Dean’s behaviour toward Cas the fault of Dean or of bad writing? Is it believable that Dean would treat Cas badly? Does it count as ooc if it’s his consistent personality 90% of the time? Do the showrunners even realise that every writer seems to have their own separate often contradictory version of Dean’s characterisation and his relationship with Cas? Which one is the most canon? Who gives a story meaning?

#The nature of this show is that it’s wildly inconsistent but like #Where Dean and Destiel are concerned it’s insane #My posts #Feel free to talk about this with me cause it’s honestly a bit fascinating #I’d like to pretend with everyone and enjoy Deancas for the handful of iconic scenes but at the same time #I can’t forget the times Dean treated Cas so unfairly #Even if I blame the writing I still saw the character do something and had a reaction to it #But I still can’t help but feel like those moments are somehow ooc even when that’s how Dean is 90% of the time #I don’t know guys #And like. I started watching this show for Deancas so it’s not like I do ‘t get it #I absolutely see what the rest of you are seeing #But I also see what d.estiel c.rits are seeing too #And idk how to reconcile exactly #Can I just ignore it??? Is it disingenuous if I do?#Am I endorsing Cas being in a relationship with someone who treats him like that so often on the basis that #sometimes he doesn’t?

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bookofmirth · 2 years

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Something weird I've been seeing from the fandom lately is this hyper focused obsession with canon as it is currently that somehow pre-determines how the rest of the books will go forward.

For examples:

Lucien makes Elain uncomfortable, therefore he WILL ALWAYS make her uncomfortable until she rejects the bond and is free of him.

Gwyn went back to the library, therefore she is not and WILL NOT be ready to leave or be in a relationship with Azriel.

This idea that characters can't grow and overcome their own fears/issues and must stay bound to just that because canon says so at the moment is so bizarre to me, given that one of the most enjoyable things about reading is the growth and development of the characters and seeing how far they've come.

It is super weird.

Something that a character said even a week ago in canon-time doesn't necessarily hold true in the current moment. It doesn't necessarily hold true in the future. Things will naturally change? The plot moves forward. Characters learn and change and grow.

"Az doesn't even see Gwyn as a friend" well cool story but the next day he was feeling that special little spark when thinking about her, that was months ago in canon-time, and since then Nesta has informed him that he is the new ribbon and he helped Gwyn and Nesta and Emerie do the Blood Rite Qualifier and helped them train, so...

"Elain doesn't want a mate" well neither did Nesta and that was a while ago and we know how that turned out, so...

Honestly... not only do these ideas not bear any scrutiny, they are directly contradicted by the journeys the characters have experienced so far. It's not specific to acotar even, it's just a normal part of life? It's a normal part of characters going through these journeys? It feels disingenuous to even pretend "character X said blah blah blah in line one of acotar in 2015 and they will never feel any differently than that!" That's just not true. idk what else to say.

#acotar #ask #anon

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class1akids · 3 years

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the thing with the series right now, is that im getting major mixed signals.

personally i get the people who are saying this is going a bit too smoothly and deku will hit a roadblock soon. because that's the way i feel too. deku's general appearance rn feels unsettling and unnatural to me at least, so im waiting for the moment where something is gonna give and everyone else will be re-introduced. im down for that.

but at the same time, it feels kind of disingenuous, because deku's not really doing it alone is he? he's got his ghost buddies that are at no real risk of injury and pretty much all think positively of him. they're all good people helping him grow and helping him do the right thing. on top of that he's got the top 3 heroes AND all might shadowing him. can that really be called doing it alone? it's not like deku ran away and is homeless, it's not like the vestiges are some shady figures tempting him to do questionable shit. nope, he's just training "solo" while still relying on teamwork albeit indirectly (shindou's attack against muscular). deku hasn't gone dark or edgy or lost his mind. he seems a bit sadder and more serious, definitely traumatized from everything in the war, but he is still smiling, and his mindset seems fine, if a little heavy leaning into the chosen one role.

we hope the narrative will eventually frame deku ditching his friends as wrong, but it's at most a shitty friend move, not a life altering mistake, not when he does still have support. we hope his focus on doing things solo will be framed as a flaw, but it would feel disingenuous since he's not doing things solo. he's just ditched his old support system for a new one, and the reason it feels so frustrating for me is that you've got this huge cast of already developed characters i care about being seemingly "replaced" (even if temporarily) by a new cast of characters (half of whom introduced in what we assume is near-endgame) with in comparison paper thin personalities that all fall into a slightly different brand of good boy.

maybe horikoshi will somehow get me to care about banjou and whoever four was beyond a surface level "oh im cool with him being on screen" but i'll still feel bad because it would mean splitting up the panel time between even more characters in an already huge cast, and eating up everyone else's moments.

maybe this could have worked if the other users had some more spice in their personalities, provided more conflict for izuku. but they don't. they're all nice and they're all love him. which isn't bad. it's just a bit boring. it's like those harry potter fanfics i used to write as a 12 year old where voldemort never existed and everyone was just happy.

and it's very telling that number 2 created such a big buzz in the fandom specifically because he reminds us of a certain someone down to the way he kicks down doors. it's almost like the moment a character with a certain personality shows up we all get excited because we see the potential for conflict and intriguing storyline. and it's not bakugou's appearance that facilitates this (i guarantee reactions would be similar even if 2 kept his personality while looking nothing like baku. the appearance is just the bonus) but rather his character. i know he's gonna provide more narrative struggle and therefore growth for deku than someone like banjou is. disagreement drives a story forward.

and that circles back to my main problem with the current arc. it's not that i hate deku or think he's boring. i just prefer his interactions with other characters and want to see him around people that will actually challenge him. the reason i like having bakugou around deku is that he provides important balance. that's why i found him entertaining in the ofa tea times. the moment he joined he started pushing them. deku and all might had been pussyfooting around each other a lot and bakugou comes in and instantly challenges them, brings a worldview to the table that's uniquely his and that contradicts both deku and all might. he brings conflict. bootleg not bakugou does that too, but even this in a subdued manner (apparently yoichi just had to flirt with him a little and he was down). whereas everyone else is just the happy circle of good person trademarked flowerchildren who can all respect each other's opinions. WHERE IS THE SPICE?

perhaps if i was more invested in deku's character or the fight level up aspect of the story i'd be more down for this. but as we are now i just read every chapter and think "... ok". i was discussing it with my brother yesterday aswell, and he agreed that there's gotta be some more spice to the ofa plot than this. it was such an interesting power at first with so much potential for mystery and intrigue. i liked it even after sixquirks popped up because i liked deku unlocking backwhip. horikoshi did a fantastic job with that scene and i could feel for izuku's frustration at being seemingly put back to square one with a volatile power after watching him struggle so much with getting it under control the first time.

but then the charm was lost because everything started going way too smoothly and all the windows for possible conflict were being rapidly shut, from the possibility of evil/unwilling users to the dilemma of giving that type of power to a kid in the first place.

just idk. sorry this got so long i just have a lot of feelings lmao 😭 i hope ill end up eating my words and that hori actually has something great planned that ive missed the clues for but well, i don't have high hopes.

I fully agree. This covers all my frustration points that I have voiced before.

And exactly the fact that he’s teamed up with ghost friends and top 3 is what makes this so frustrating. He REPLACED his friends. In order to protect them, he just ditched them, and I wouldn’t care if we would get the UA scenes in parallel, but we are not getting anything.

They just POOF disappeared from the story, and with the MC being seemingly on track, we have no clue when we would see them next. And what’s worse, it feels like they don’t matter in this post-war world. Not to the story, not to Deku, not to All Might, not to anyone.

And yeah, maybe it will lead to something, but that doesn’t change the fact that the pacing is horrible, the OFA development is insultingly dumb and there is just no sense of accomplishment.

Deku gets like candy powers and abilities that other characters GRIND years for. Bakugou’s first updrade in hundreds of chapters was this new explosion speed boost that he earned by sacrificing his life and before we even get to see it in a fight, it already looks like a rusty old car compared to Deku’s full-extra flying batmobile.

Even if we cut back to the students, their abilities will just feel too pedestrian and overshadowed by Deku. Which is why I’m losing hope that we’d see them fight ever again or get any role or development other than whatever group battle is planned for them in the end. And of course a few extra panels for the main kids.

#bnha critical #i'm glad to see so many people being frustrated #i'm not glad that the story is going the way it is #because that sucks #but at least we see the problems and talk about them #c1a asks

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gallickingun · 4 years

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hiya! could i get ummm a drunk!izuku confession type thing please? idk if you write for him but yea!

a/n: all right, i’ll try my hand at midoriya. don’t come for me if it’s trash! i told you guys i love kacchan!! can’t help but make him make an appearance in every fic i write lol

You try to ignore the cheering and shouting in the background, kicking Bakugou in the knee with the heel of your foot to shut him up. You scowl at the others, tugging Deku away from the table, throwing his arm around your shoulders to steady him. You briefly throw some comments about seeing the others tomorrow towards Kirishima and Denki, but your eyes are tugged back towards the fiery blonde standing in your path.

“I’ll kill you later,” you narrow your eyes, the sound of explosions and the scent of burnt sugar lingering in the air as Bakugou tosses a glare your way.

“D-Don’t kill K-Kacchan!” Deku whines, a little tear escaping the corner of his right eyelid. He drops his head to your shoulder, sniffling, “I know he’s an ass, b-but you shouldn’t kill him!”

“Fine,” you grumble, tucking Izuku’s head further into your chest so he can’t hear the screams from Bakugou just behind you, protesting Midoriya’s words.

You manage to drive Izuku back to his apartment without him passing out or throwing up in the floorboard of your car. Right now you’re thankful that you chose to sober up towards the end of the night, opting for water instead of vodka so you could drive Deku back home if necessary.

After all, anything for your best friend.

You’ve known Deku and Kacchan since your childhood - park days filled with sand pits and playground fights. You were there for Deku when he found out he was quirkless, that he would never be as powerful as All Might. You were the one to patch him up from Kacchan’s blasts in middle school, covering burn marks with salve and cuts with bandages.

And slowly, but surely, your heart began to fall.

You fell headfirst the night you took him to the junior high dance. Sure, Kacchan ridiculed the both of you for even going, but you knew the Deku needed something to take his mind off of the awful, terrible things happening in the world. He needed to feel something other than powerlessness. With your hands on his shoulders and his arms around your waist, he was grounded for the first time in a long time.

The look in his eyes is what cemented you to him, the cage around your heart tightening, a lock that only he held the key to.

“H-Hold on,” Deku coughs as you open the front door, assisting his stumbling feet over the threshold. You prop him up against the bar, kicking the door shut with your foot, “Izu’, honey, you need to rest. Listen, I-”

“Wait, w-wait, wait, it can’t be over!” Deku coughs into his elbow, eyes squinting as he tries to focus on what he wants to say next. You lock the door behind you, turning to press your palms to his cheeks to try and sober him up, “Nothing is over, silly. It’s just time to go to bed.”

“No,” he’s pouting now, “I’ve got something I-I need to do.”

You laugh, brushing his hair behind his ears, pushing his bangs away from his sticky face. He’s got leftover tequila and salt on the corners of his lips; you lick your finger and swipe away to rid his skin of it.

You really wish you had the guts to surge forward and kiss it off of him.

The cage around your heart rattles at your closeness, begging to bruise your skin with the confession of your feelings, begging for him to give you the key and set you free. He’s drunk; he’d never remember if you spilled your guts to him right now. Izuku has the worst memory when he gets plastered.

Deku’s eyes water again, “Kacchan told me that if I g-got drunk, I-I could finally tell the truth.”

“Drunk words, sober thoughts,” you quote, rubbing at his face with the corner of your sleeve, “Can’t believe Kacchan had such insight. What do you need to tell the truth about?”

Izuku is mumbling now, playing with his hands like he does when he starts murmuring incoherently. It’s even worse now that he’s nursing the alcohol that’s still coursing through his veins. You brush your thumb against his cheekbone to drag his attention back to you, “Izu’, what’s going on?”

His big, doe eyes look across at you, lower lip trembling, “Kacchan said that if I wanted to tell the girl I like h-how I real-really, all I needed ta’ do was get drunk a-and it would be easy to tell her but it’s not easy! If anything it just feels m-more difficult because I can’t th-think straight and my heart is hammering a-”

“Kacchan is a dick,” you sigh, bringing him to you for a hug. Your arms wind around him like they always do, like you’ve been doing for the majority of your natural born life. “He knows that you stumble over your words. Being drunk wouldn’t help that.”

Deku wipes at his eyes as you separate from him, “I-I guess. I think he was trying to help me with my confidence.”

“Literally any girl would be lucky to have you, Deku,” you’re smiling but it feels disingenuous. You know it doesn’t reach your eyes, but you don’t have the capacity to care. “You’re amazing, wonderful - hell, you’re smart and you’re a wonderful fighter. You’ve got a whole PR team taking care of the incessant fangirls running around your coattails.”

“But you don’t like me, do you?”

Your brows furrow and you’re quick to deter his comment, “Of course I like you! How could you say that? We’ve been best friends since diapers!”

“I don’t want to be best friends anymore,” he sniffles, his lips quirking as he tries to make the next words come out of his mouth. “I can’t be best friends a-anymore.”

“Did I do something wrong?” You ask, racking your brain for something you could’ve said or done in the past couple of months to set him off, but you come up blank. You start to sweat, your hands flying around when you speak, “Deku, y-you could’ve told me, we could talk abo-”

“No,” he reaches up to circle his hand around your wrist, tugging you back down to earth. He’s laughing, which is much unlike him, but it makes you pause, “This is why Kacchan told me to get drunk. B-Because I can’t think straight around you and I always screw it up.”

You’re trying to connect the dots, but he’s too close and you’re too flustered. He’s such a big part of your life, to lose him would be like losing a part of yourself.

“I can’t be just your best friend anymore,” he repeats the statement that makes your heart shatter, “it’s too much.”

You go to speak but he places his palm over your mouth, little sparks of electricity from his quirk used to hold you down, “It’s too much because every time I see you, I just want to kiss you. A-And I get angry when I see you talking to Kacchan, which I thought was just normal at first be-because I’m always angry with Kacchan. B-But I realized that it was jealousy.”

Jealousy? Kissing?

“He told me that if I got drunk, I’d be able to tell you how I-I feel,” Izuku licks his lips, his throat bobbing. “But earlier, I-I just froze.”

His irises harden into little gemstones, green flickering towards you with certainty - an emotion Deku doesn’t often feel. He sighs, tensing his shoulders as he says the next thing that pieces your heart back together, “I love you. I have for a long time. And I-I can’t hold it in anymore.”

The sparks around his hands die out, his fingertips falling away from your face as he grazes your jaw. He’s sweating now, toes curling in his socks at your reaction.

“Silly Deku,” you murmur, eyes hot with the threat of tears. You thread your fingers into his hair but this time it means something much more than it’s ever meant before, “I wish you’d told me sooner.”

Somehow the two of you meet in the middle, neither of you needing to communicate what you want next. His lips slot against yours, hands tugging you by the ribs. Your heart bursts from the cage, his words slipping down your throat to set you free.

send me a character + trope/au/scenario/prompt and i’ll write a blurb!

taglist below the cut!

@kamehamethot @simplybakugou @lady-bakuhoe @todorki-shoto @redhawtriot @burnedbyshoto @cookies-n-chaos @katsukisprincess @rat-suki @cutesuki–bakugou @k-atsukidayo @bnhatrashh @succulent-momma @voiceofreader @multifandom-fanfic @that-one-enthusiast @bitchtrynafck @cutest-celestial-princess @blue-peach14 @pastel-prynce @bokunokangae @shoutodoki @bakuoushoe @tenyaingenium @hoe-biscus @kingtamakimurder @myherofuckademia @myherowritings @lxvely-mha @myherorambles @bratwritings @samanthaa-leanne @orokayagi @queensynderella @tumblingintothefeelstrain @heroes-landing @suckersuki @yuueimagines @bnha-violetnote @your-local-bnha-writer @vnmwrites @plusultrawritings @aizawamirite @lovekatsukibakugo @ua-imagines @bnhasidebin @bnhawritten @ramen-rambles @sunbeamwrites

#izuku midoriya #izuku x reader #izuku midoria x reader #midoriya x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #bnha x reader #morgan writes bnha #my writing

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peemil · 3 years

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☕evangelion 😳

y'all are killing me

the more time i spend apart from this show, the more i find myself kind of hating it shsjhl;hjsdhjso;d. i am somehow now in an even worse place mentally than i was when i first watched evangelion but even so i am NOT letting myself fall in the same traps of woobifying shinji and excusing the behaviors i shared with him and vice versa.

starting with my most general take, i don't like the rebuilds. like, at all. granted, i haven't seen 3.0 + 1.0 yet, and i will be avoiding spoilers until there is an official english translation, but i feel like the rebuilds are kind of what you get when you listen a little too hard to people who didn't get the psychological parts of eva and spent the latter half of the series wishing it would go "back" to being a regular mecha anime (which it never was in the first place). the rebuilds lack a lot of the same internal conflicts that drive the characters (especially shinji), and higher budget means the rebuilds can be more direct in their storytelling and less reliant on alternative ways of communicating ideas, which causes the rebuilds to lose some of the avant-garde present in the original series. as a result, it's jarring to see some of the attempts made at this in 3.0, and painful to watch these attempts fail, as they have no real precedent in the film series. the best way for me to explain the rebuilds is they feel like sterilized and polished, but hollow versions of the original anime series. but maybe i'm just biased, because none of the things i liked about the original are present in the films.

on to more minutiae... i've said it once and i'll say it again, asuka langley soryu is a LESBIAN and there's nothing anyone can do to make me stop reading her character in this way. the only male characters she is depicted as having any romantic feelings towards in the series just (unintentionally) so... comphet. her obsessive flirting with kaji is rooted in her need to prove her worth as an adult, i.e., to prove to others that she is something she inherently is not. plus, he's older, and he's conventionally attractive, so if she didn't have feelings for him (or at least publicly perform having feelings for him), she'd be out of her mind, right? asuka is also someone shown to pursue connections out of convenience (literally citing it as her primary reason for wanting to be friends with rei), and any intimacy she shares with shinji (i.e., their kissing scene) is done only because 1. she's bored 2. shinji is the closest person available. i find the notion that she's a tsundere hiding her real feelings for him laughable, because we've seen what asuka is like around people she genuinely likes and whom she wants to like: the hatred she shows for rei takes a different form from her hatred for shinji: whereas asuka is disgusted by shinji, she is resentful towards rei. her resentment towards rei curiously begins only after rei rejects asuka's offer of friendship, so i am inclined to believe that asuka's feelings of anger when she sees rei receives more respect than she believes she does at nerv are compounded by the fact that she wanted to like rei and have a connection with rei, but wasn't permitted to do so. we also get to see how asuka acts around the one person with whom asuka is able to form a meaningful connection with, whom she lets herself trust and open up to: hikari. asuka actually has fun with hikari and feels safe enough around her to not only seek refuge with her and her family in her time of need, but also to admit that her rage is mostly towards none other than herself. her behavior towards shinji is nothing like her behavior towards either of these characters, but it is not much different from her behavior towards kensuke and toji, two other boys in her class, so maybe... maybe she just doesn't like boys? lol. i'm aware that asuka is genuinely homophobic and awful in the episode 24 drafts, and that it was in no way, shape, or form the writers' intent to turn that into some sort of commentary on internalized homophobia. but with the canon footage that did get animated, i'm really not sure how else i'm supposed to analyze this aspect of her character.

similarly, i don't appreciate how many fans will treat headcanoning shinji as gay instead of bi is somehow "bi erasure." number one, shinji's behavior and attitudes towards the women around him is actually kind of appalling, so i wouldn't necessarily want to use his objectification of and acts of violence against their bodies as particularly strong evidence that he's genuinely attracted to women. number two, of course a show about a young man made in the late 90's is going to try to portray the people to whom he is attracted primarily as women. partially because they can't start from the get-go with him having his teenage sexual awakening with another male—for a mainstream anime, that wouldn't be profitable—and partially because this is an anime and showing women and girls in a sexual light is profitable. and given shinji's role of audience surrogate, of course he is going to be the one doing the ogling and sexualizing because he is us, and after all, it is the viewer who wants to see the anime tiddies, no? shinji's more sexual encounters with the women in his life are always either deeply awkward, uncomfortable, and even unnatural, or they completely obectify and commodify the bodies of the women in question. for this reason, i have always seen these moments as existing without genuine attraction: only either confusion (because these situations really are quite blatantly sexual) or simply a disingenuous performance of the attraction shinji thinks he should be displaying, manifesting as the same objectification of women he has seen men exhibit for all of his life—it's little more than a mimicry of the bad behavior he has grown up watching, because that's what he thinks attraction towards women is supposed to look like. conversely, his actions with kaworu, while skittish, seem to come much more organically. shinji is constantly and consistently drawn to kaworu, in addition to being willing to open up to kaworu in ways he doesn't let himself with any other person. granted, kaworu is the only person to give shinji the love he desperately needs and craves throughout the entire course of the series, but the fact that kaworu is the first person shinji genuinely acts like a kid his age with a massive crush in a way that doesn't feel blatantly scripted around, as well as the fact that shinji goes on to feel more slighted by kaworu's perceived betrayal than any mistreatment he experiences from anyone in the whole course of the series (save for his literal father)... idk. sus lol

been awhile since i've done a proper rewatch of this show so i can't speak super generally since i unfortunately don't remember too much. one thing i will say though, i LOVE how the series is very upfront about the fact that shinji's loneliness and trauma (and loneliness and trauma in general) are going to be core themes in the series from the start. people say the first 6 episodes are slow just because they don't have as much action as some of the episodes in the middle of the series, but i remember speeding through them in one sitting because i wanted to understand more about shinji and his inner workings; i was fascinated by his psychology. people famously refer to evangelion as a bait-and-switch, and maybe that's true to a degree, because i don't think anyone really saw the shift to more trippy animation coming, but the psychological themes present in the latter parts of the series are still very present in episodes 1-4. i'm also amused by people who say they're "caught off guard" by the last four or so episodes, because the major shift towards being a show primarily about psychology really begins in episode 16, when eva unit 01 is consumed by leliel and shinji has to confront the "self within his self" for the first time in the train car of his mind. i know it begins as just another angel fight but like... guys... how did you miss that... episode 16, because it really is where this shift begins, is actually my favorite episode in the entire series. that, and it was where i was first introduced to this hegelian concept of each person functioning both as an actor or operator who carries out actions, as well as an audience perceiving and observing their actions, their thoughts, and themself. which, to a degree, solidifies the notion that anything and everything technically could be considered performance. it's made my work much, much easier and my day-to-day life much, much more dramatic.

#nge #he scream at own follower #i'm sorry for talking so much about shinji and asuka. the worst part is that theoretically i could say even more #i haven't even started with rei #though she reminds me of someone i lost contact with so i get too emotional about her to say much of any real value

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brave-clarice · 3 years

Text

“Clarice” Liveblog: Episode 1

Here are my extremely unfashionably late takes! They’re long, so strap in if you want.

okay, I genuinely thought the scenes in Gumb’s basement were ripped from the film for a second. extremely well done.

I both appreciate that they’re acknowledging the Bureau-mandated psych eval Clarice would have to go through (not sure she’d have to have another one a year later?)...

...but I sure wish they hadn’t chosen to open this show in a therapy-like session. it’s going to be subject to enough NBC comparisons as it is.

gosh, Rebecca Breeds is so pretty, and in the same almost, idk, elfin kind of way Jodie Foster is.

“Bride of Frankenstein”! a novel reference! and a Hannibal Lecter reference even though they can’t use his name! I’m excited

I was afraid of this part, though--everyone’s going to call her “Clarice” aren’t they?

it’s very significant that in the books, Hannibal is virtually alone in using her first name to address her; even Ardelia calls her “Starling.” but of course this series chose “Clarice” as its title, so...

“the checkout lady at the Safeway asked me to autograph a melon” omg

so Clarice has supposedly been “mandated” to see an FBI therapist for an entire year? hmm.

tbh, this feels kind of like a proxy for Hannibal’s scenes in the movie, especially with the therapist calling her “Clarice.” not sure if I dig it.

“...given that your last therapist was an inmate” Hannibal reference #2!

they’re explicitly talking about Hannibal without being able to name him and it’s hilarious, frustrating, and immensely satisfying all at once.

there’s no way to avoid talking about him altogether without being disingenuous to Clarice’s eventual character arc, so I’m glad they’re ripping off the band-aid early

“you let that relationship be intimate” Yeah, Clarice and Hannibal’s relationship IS intimate and YOU! SHOULD! SAY IT!!!

it’s kind of ridiculous for this guy/the show not to acknowledge that little trainee Clarice was sent to see Hannibal by someone who should’ve known better. That Crawford was doing it with the intention to save lives doesn’t mean he didn’t use the shit out of Clarice.

that’s not to take away her agency or minimize the choices she made after she met Hannibal. She wouldn’t have been in a position to make those choices if Crawford hadn’t arranged it, though.

even if they don’t have the rights to Crawford’s name, either (I have to assume that’s the case) couldn’t they at least mention this??

“hasn’t seen her own family in years” Are they actually going to address Clarice’s maybe-dead-maybe-not mother (depending on the canon they adopt, book or film) and possible siblings??? Please tell me they are!

Clarice’s “egregious” PTSD doesn’t have much to do with Buffalo Bill ofc, and this therapist seems to be making excuses to be the first in a long line of men getting in the way of Clarice’s career goals...

...which she recognizes and confronts him about. Call him out!!!

*Anthony Hopkins voice* That’s my girl.

the way she’s been written in this scene gives me a lot of hope going forward! she’s funny, she doesn’t take any sexist bullshit, she’s calm and polite but you get a glimpse of the rage underneath.

wow, they promoted Senator Martin to Attorney General!

the opening credits (if you can even call them that) are a let-down, though

she has her beads!

can anyone who’s not Hannibal please stop calling her Clarice

wonder if they’re going to touch on any of the extreme tension that existed between Senator Martin and Clarice in the novel? they didn’t interact in the movie, but in the book, Martin is under intense stress, and it doesn’t go smoothly.

of course in “Hannibal,” Martin invites her to “ride horses,” so they obviously reconciled after Catherine’s rescue and kept in some kind of touch.

and speak of the devil: horses! (and Catherine)

“I can’t have a reputation, I’ve only done it once” Thank you for being the voice of reason, Clarice.

“Paul Krendler” *ugly screaming commences*

“you don’t have any people, Clarice” Aaand that’s the plot of the Hannibal novel!

looks like they even gave her the ring Jodie’s Clarice wears!

oh yeah, this Krendler looks like a sumbitch if I ever saw one. No one will ever be as perfectly cast as the dude in Silence imo, but a much better fit than Ray Liotta.

“small carat, but it’s a sweet ring” A very in-character observation probably directly informed by her comments about nail polish in Silence.

she mentions this victim’s nail polish (!) being “tasteful,” and I shrieked a little again.

I understand it’s necessary for Krendler to be a douche, but there’s not even going to be any payoff for the audience (or Clarice) when Hannibal eats him, so boo.

wait...wait, why aren’t Clarice and Ardelia in their Alexandria duplex? They’re not just best friends, they’re roommates! For the entire seven-year story! GIVE ME THE DUPLEX!!!

BUT points for Ardelia bringing Clarice a treat, since she was always leaving her candy bars in the Silence book!

Clarice interacting with the washer/dryer is a nice nod to the books, too.

speaking of... “What did we learn in the laundry room back at Quantico?” For some reason this line made me actually cry, I guess because this whole episode has been such a love letter to something I love so dearly, and it’s making me emotional.

FIRST PRINCIPLES!

DESPERATELY RANDOM!!!

wow, the men in Clarice’s new office giving her lotion as a hazing “welcome” gift is awful, and now I’m just mad (which is the point of the scene ofc).

so this ex-military OC is the John Brigham stand-in, I take it?

if that means John Brigham won’t be here, No Thanks.

Clarice telling him she’ll drive...a tribute to Dana “Why Do You Always Have to Drive?” Scully, perhaps (who was herself inspired by Clarice) as well as a nod to Clarice’s love of cars?

“Why do they call you the bride of Frankenstein?” Sorry, I don’t have the legal rights to tell you about my last intimate relationship.

“Already on my way to West Virginia Granny Witch” Look, this show could crash and burn from this scene on, and it would still have been worth it just for these first 25 minutes.

I like that Clarice is shown wanting to help people, and the scene of her with the baby is a nice call-back to the eventual shoot-out at the beginning of “Hannibal”...but I hope they don’t try to domesticate her too much. Clarice needs her hard edges. To be tough (reasonably so)--a cub growing into its big cat’s claws.

also, somehow I doubt that Miss Valedictorian spent her six years in the Lutheran home “changing a lot of diapers,” but sure, okay. If her siblings are alive in this, she might have changed their diapers!

even though Krendler’s a real dickwad so far, he’s not slimy enough for me. Needs more grease.

“I got a call from your therapist who’s concerned that you might genuinely flip out” I really do not like this subplot Sam-I-Am. Aren’t the huge glass ceiling/Boys’ Club obstacles enough?

seriously, though, I know Hannibal tells her that the metaphorical lambs will come back--at the end of Silence, though, she’s at some kind of temporary peace, not in danger of “flipping out” any time soon.

if Esquivel really is our Brigham stand-in, I’ve got...problems with that. He was Clarice’s teacher and became her friend, not some Krendler double-agent. (Also worried they’re setting him up as a love interest for her which...eesh, no thanks.)

and sorry, I actually hate that Catherine kept Precious the dog in this.

I have no problem with Catherine being a character, or with her interacting with Clarice...that said, I don’t know if her being shown as severely traumatized and reaching out to Clarice as a form of emotional lifeline is...a good idea?

I understand the symbolism of Catherine’s smashed mirror, but...smashed mirrors are already a Thing in this series (albeit not Clarice’s chapter in it), and that’s all I can think of here.

Catherine’s a victim of unthinkable trauma. Nevertheless...she’s talking to the woman who saved her life. Who risked death to do it. I just don’t like the way this scene is written. Apparently, in this show’s canon, Catherine hasn’t gotten the help she needs. But Clarice isn’t her therapist, and it’s upsetting to have Catherine being all “I’ll never be safe and neither will you.”

how does Catherine remember “the mannequins, the autopsy table”?? And why is she throwing them in Clarice’s face?

I’m going to stop talking about this scene now because it’s making me angry and a little upset, which is maybe the point? I just don’t think it’s written well. If Catherine’s going to be a recurring character, I hope she’s shown getting professional, medical help.

Clarice finding the victim’s papers in the box of pads is a direct callback to her finding the photos in the jewelry box in Silence. Nice.

let’s agree that Hannibal and Crawford are both in Ardelia’s (too-cutesy-for-me) book

another nice little X-Files homage?

I have some qualms about that big climax, but...meh. It was capital-F Fine.

Yikes, this is a full week late. Thanks for reading this entirely-too-long post through to the end, if you’re still here!

To sum up my thoughts...

The Good:

the visual connections to the Silence film (that green coat/blue knit scarf combo in particular)

Rebecca Breeds’ performance overall so far

Clarice’s strong writing/characterization

her sense of humor and her inclination to call out bullshit

maybe it was just me, but I also got a sense of Hannibal’s influence on her in some of her dialogue--her blunt observations--and I love it

Ardelia Mapp

the repeated in-your-face references to Hannibal Lecter

the respectful, non-exploitative way the victims were treated by the narrative.

let’s just say, not all Harris-inspired shows managed to do this. :)

the many, many allusions to the novel

“you let that relationship be INTIMATE” !!!

The Bad:

the near-constant implication that all Clarice’s trauma stems from her experiences in Gumb’s basement

I just don’t understand this one...it’s not supported by the text imo

the “Clarice-is-a-psychological-loose-canon” subplot

almost everyone calling her “Clarice”

NO DUPLEX IN ALEXANDRIA! Boo!

Esquivel maybe replacing Brigham

the narrative choices they’ve made surrounding Catherine so far.

Seriously: please let Catherine seek/get help instead of screaming “HELP ME” at Clarice, who after all risked her own life to save Catherine’s, over the phone.

The Ugly: Paul Krendler, lol. Confession time: I also don’t care for the way they’ve styled her hair. Not sure why it bugs me, it just...does.

Overall, I’m thrilled to death with this. I was so afraid it would be disappointing, so even if it’s not a five-star episode (and pilots rarely are), it’s a great beginning! It’s beyond amazing to see our girl on the screen again. Just this hour-long episode did her character way more justice than the entire Hannibal film. Despite its shortcomings, it’s such a loving homage to characters and a story that mean a lot to me, and I love it just for that.

Going forward, I’d like to see more of Clarice as a person. Her hobbies and interests--cars, sharpshooting, running, fashion magazines stuffed under her bed, horseback riding, her total inability to cook...anything would do. I of course want to see more of her with Ardelia. I want to hear more about her backstory and find out which version of it (truly orphaned when her father dies or sent away by her mother) they’ll choose to explore. And while we all agree that this show is about Clarice and she don’t need no man, I won’t lie: I’d gobble up more sly references to Hannibal. He’s her endgame, after all.

I’d also like to really see the warrior underneath. There are flashes of her in the last twenty minutes of this episode. But Clarice Starling is a big cat, she’s a warrior, she’s between iron and silver. I’d hate for her to spend most of this show doe-eyed and traumatized. I want her to be ferocious, to see the woman who’s a match for the monster.

Krendler needs to get nastier. He should make us feel like we need to shower. In the novels, he wants to use Clarice--only for her body. And when she won’t allow him to, he takes his revenge. That’s what makes him so particularly awful. Let’s amp him up here.

And finally...maybe I’ll appreciate Catherine’s scene more on a second watch. Maybe I’m not being sensitive enough to her trauma, her struggles. But I didn’t like the way that scene was staged or scripted, and I didn’t like the suggestion that she just hasn’t gotten help after a year and is subsequently taking her pain out on Clarice on some level. I hope future episodes handle this subplot, and her character, a bit better.

Please let me know if you guys would like me to do another of these monstrosities for the next episode. (I promise it won’t take me an entire week this time!) And thank you again for reading!!!

#Clarice Starling #clarice #cbs clarice #rebecca breeds #media [cbs show]#char [clarice starling]#I'm sorry again about how amazingly late this is heh #you've probably all watched and processed by now and have moved on to Episode 2 but I am slow

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mochuelovelli · 3 years

Note

Lilith for the character ask?

Oh boy, a controversial character! Gotta say, I stan James Charles /J

How do I feel about this character?:

On a real note, I do like Lilith as a character. When we first meet her, she's pompous and proud. Oozing with entitlement, she's easy to route against and you like to see her get worked up and "brought down" to Eda's level as the wild which so eloquently put it. Later on, but not too much later that it feels disingenuous, we really get to see her show that she cares for her sister. One might believe it is *Eda* being ridiculous, as far as the audience is aware, Lilith's offer holds little downsides. Eda would be cured and be afforded the luxuries of the upper class AND keep her magic. All she had to do was be the Emperor's soldier.

As to not get off track by talking about Eda, (im sure Lilith herself would loathe that lol) Lilith's reveal to have cursed her sister over a spot in the emperor's coven was...controversial to say the least. I don't think it's unpopular to voice that, yeah. It could've been communicated better to the audience since I saw plenty of commentators and regular fans themselves either thought Lilith cursing her sister was *needlessly* petty and not at all thought out (which yeah it kinda was).

From where I stand on that issue is, yeah, Lilith's whole reason to curse her sister could've been avoided by just talking to her sister and asking her to let her have this. BUT, I think a lot of people forget that the Emperor's coven would want to limit the number of powerful witches in their coven. Sure, Belos would want to be protected by a bunch of loyal soldiers, but he wouldn't want too much of the population to ever have a much power as him. So limiting the number of members in not just his coven but possible in the other major covens, would aid in controlling that population.

This might be pure hogwash but like, there are a ton of other "lesser" covens. So in my mind, it's more likely that the general population of witches gets sorted into one of the various miscellaneous. If you think limiting yourself to only practicing Illusion magic sucks, imagine only practicing whatever the fuck the "swag coven" does.

Lol gonna add a page break this shit is getting too long

Romantic Ships for this character?:

Hm, it's only s1 and we haven't seen her interact w/ many characters outside of her fam/Belos/actual children. I kinda jokingly ship here with Steve lol. Kikimora and her also have a funny dynamic but in all actuality, I don't ship her w/ anyone rn.

Non-Romantic Ships for this character?:

Her and Hooty lol. I mean Eda is an obvious answer but like, Hooty fucking with Lilith is too funny to not want to see. Her and King would be great too, probably get some good B plots out of it. It would be a good contrast since they both can be petty but in different ways and I think that would help flesh out their characters a bit more and maybe cause some introspection (at least on Lilith’s end lol)

Unpopular opinion about this character?:

Lol. I feel like she is such a divisive character in general that most opinions about her aren’t too out of the main stream. I guess a more meta take is that when she’s portrayed in fanworks, usually fanfic but not exclusively, very...one note lol. She’s usually a pretty flat, boring character in an attempt to highlight the contrast between her and Eda. She’s the straight-laced, “responsible” sibling who has a chip on her shoulder. In fanon, that equates to her characterization to either be like, completely and utterly apologetic to the point where it becomes unbelievable for any person to do. Her apologizing or making amends is usually quickly forgiven by Luz/and or Eda. Sure, Luz is very forgiving person naturally but like?? She’s wasn’t mad in canon too much about THEIR well being (almost getting impaled), she was specifically pissed about Lilith betraying Eda.

So, if Lilith is a big part of your story (and it’s working in the realm of canon), then this should be a problem which doesn’t get resolved by just ONE big action. I also feel like her being on better terms with Eda would come BEFORE Luz since Eda’s main gripe with her would be about her being annoyed by Lilith’s controlling nature and the fact that she didn’t trust her enough to talk about her feelings back when she was first cursed (also her using Luz against her but I feel like that would probably be a hurdle that wouldn’t really be over come until Lilith in turn would be willing to sacrifice herself for Luz while also making an effort to care for Luz as a person not just see her as a “pet”). Hhhh this section is so long and its kinda bleeding over in the next question so-

Something I wish will happen or would have wanted to happen in canon?:

yall if you are still reading I am so sorry sksk

I want Lilith in general, not to be forgiven by either Luz or Eda. Eda probably early on stating about how she is unsure if she could EVER forgive her sister for what she has done. BUT, critically, Eda would see that Lilith is trying and she is willing to work with her (with a unhelpful dose of teasing) because at the end of the day she still loves her sister. For the relationship they had before everything with south, for knowing her side of the story even though she believes it doesn’t justify her actions. She understands and sympathizes, she’s grown a bit softer thanks to Luz, which is very funny since I want Luz to be the one who is the hardest to convince Lilith actually had a change of heart but more on that later.

Before I move on to what I want her path towards forgiveness with Luz looks like, I want to bring up a parallel that I haven’t seen many people make. Fans always talk about the parallel between the Clawthornes and Luz/Amity, and rightly so because there is a lot to extrapolate there, but I think another interesting dynamic that might be interesting to see in s2 would be an episode that focuses on lost friendship/sisterhood with the Clawthornes and Amity and Willow. It’s kinda funny that Amity and Willow’s friendship was ruined because Willow was too “weak” while Eda was too “powerful”. In a potential episode, it can show the progression both Eda/Lilith and Willow/Amity are making in rekindling their relationship with each other. For Eda and Lilith this would be a lot more rough around the edges since it both be either the first or one of the first attempts at doing so while Willow/Amity would maybe be further along yet still have some major/minor hang ups with one another. With Willow/Amity, their relationship would either be rounding the bend of fully moving past the “idk how to feel about you stage” or it is stated outright that Willow forgives Amity, (and by forgive, I mean in the “we both know what you did, you’ve actually changed. we won’t have the same relationship that we once had but I’m okay with trying again”). In contrast, Lilith and Eda would reach a understanding and come up with some ground rules on how to handle each other (Eda’s main take away from this “episode” would be what I previously stated in the last question), ones that will be more like guidelines cuz its Eda lol. Also what separates the Clawthornes conflict from the Willow/Amity one (besides the obvious) is that the Clawthornes both know how the other works. Which buttons to push and all that so both of them are going to have to learn to resist doing that, at least a bit, in order to actually progress.

ANYWAYS, I also want Luz to be the one to regard Lilith the coldest. Luz refusing to let Lilith teach her anything despite probably having more practical/book smarts knowledge on magic theory than Eda because she doesn’t trust her. If they are gonna use that masked dude as a spy, I want Luz to assume Lilith is somehow a coconspirator. This plot thread doesn’t have to be going at 100% the whole time, (in fact I would want it to be a temp thing maybe lasting a couple eps at most or like, just something that is hinted at but not dived deeply until the second half of the season). Really, Lilith has a hard time because Luz straight up doesn’t give her the opportunity to really express her regret/remorse. Lilith probably won’t at first give her a ton of reasons to forgive her as she usually attempts at coming back at Luz’s snide remarks with her own quippy comebacks. Sksk a really angsty end to an attempt could include Lilith saying something to Luz after going on a small talk with her (where yeah Lilith has improved but still needs noticeable work) that she “reminds her a lot of Eda” and Luz bites back with something like “Oh yeah? You going to curse me too? You want another person you can force to do what YOU want?”.

Hell maybe “parental problems” could have Lilith poke at, either on purpose or accidentally, Luz’s feelings about going back to the human world and Camila. Lilith reminding her, maybe unknowingly, reminds her a lot of her mom and that causes her to blow up on her. Luz would hate that comparison, thinking about how similar her mom and Lilith are to one another. That because she still has such a strong dislike of Lilith, it bleeds over into how Luz views Camila and vice versa. In that, both Camila and Lilith value respect, an adherence to the rules, have a great sense of wisdom (arguably for Lilith lol /hj), and (eventually for Lilith once she gets to know Luz better) a genuine want for Luz to succeed and belief in her even though they are critical of her actions at times. Sure Eda reminds her of that more, motherly protective kind of love, in which she would do anything for her to be happy and healthy. Lilith can be the other side of that, the worry and slight doubt. That familiar way they each go about trying to understand and get close to Luz yet not quite getting it yet would still do whatever she’d ask for her sake. Luz at first would take Lilith being disappointed in her actions as an accomplishment. As they grow closer and the more Lilith reminds her of her mom, it becomes scary. The disappointment hurts and in an effort not to feel like that again and to not want to think about the comparison between Lilith and her mother she will snap back at her. Eventually Lilith would then have to change again and reassure her that she cares and by extent, her mother cares to. It is here Lilith is willing to let go of being so constantly controlling and learns to encourage first (or do some form of the compliment sandwich) and Luz comes to peace with her feelings about her mother and understands her position better. To be able to love herself even if she knows that she will always try to do her best.

oh my fucking god you made it im so sorry i guess i had a lot of thoughts. fffffff

#TOH #lilith clawthorne #the owl house #character ask meme #luz noceda #edalyn clawthorne #yall im so sorry #this is very fanficy an long rip #if you read all this you are a champ but also no i cant cover your insurance lol

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roominthecastle · 5 years

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Hi Room! Did you read Bokenkamp last interview?? Imo, there’s hope for Lizzington, am I right?? I like his explanation about John’s parent-child thing! Idk if you are going to read it, but if you do, I would love read your opinion! Thanks!

Okay, I went and looked this up and I agree, anon.

for those who don’t know what this is about, there’s a JB interview that came out a few days ago where he - unprompted - finally addresses in detail what many of us have had issues w/, that is:

“On the parent-child thing, you know, John says that often in interviews and I sometimes get after him about it because it doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what it is — a parent-child relationship. What he means is that it is parent-child baked into the DNA of their roles. He’s a more experienced, seasoned, crazy bad guy. She started — and is still, in comparison to him — learning. And learning from him. And he has lots of advice that she takes. And so, you know, it doesn’t mean that he’s her father or, Troy, her mother, or, you know, and that it’s parent-child in that way (although it could mean that). But it doesn’t — that’s not what John’s saying. He’s just saying that there’s a — an inherent sort of parental nature that one is learning from the other.” (transcript courtesy of @alyblacklist, thank you! read the whole thing here)

Now, this is one of his better interviews, I admit, and despite everything I feel grateful that this show exists and that JB (in all good faith) tries to give us an insight into the messy balancing act of writing for a network show, but I still have 2 main issues here and both stem from the same source:

(1) “crazy bad guy” – seriously? Red is a beautiful, classic Byronic hero (or, in a broader, more modern sense, an antihero) for crying out loud. The troping is already laid in thick and somehow they still cannot articulate what it is that they have in him. I know Red is mostly James’ own creation (it shows, lbr -- the emotional intelligence, the eloquence, the self-awareness, the delicious nuance in everything he says and does) but still how can you dismiss his character like that even if it was just an attempt to be idk… funny? This is exactly what grates me to no end when these guys try to talk about Red and his relationship w Liz. It comes across so reductive, disrespectful, and disingenuous most of the time. Which brings me to

(2) apparently the actual (non-offensive) term to apply to Red/Liz is/should be adult mentoring. And when you mentor another adult, you do not label them a child ffs. This isn’t the norm btw professors and students at my uni and it’s def not the norm at workplaces where you’re assigned a mentor to supervise and orient you as you learn the ropes (at least not at those I’ve been to). In fact, it would be deeply insulting to be labeled a “child” in this situation, esp when you are an adult woman and you are mentored by a man. Also, if you insist on this being some defining element of their dynamic (I am all for it when done right), then maybe we should see some actual consistent mentoring btw these two bc it was great and def there in S1 but became kinda sporadic after that. In S6, for instance, it’s completely absent. Red giving Liz & the task force cases and then leaving them in the dark and to their own devices is not mentoring, it’s delegating.

To me it was already clear that James dislikes/dismisses the “parent-child” label (he shut down JE at SDCC, he never uses it during interviews and it’s in his portrayal of Red, too) and now it seems JB actually has a somewhat similar attitude but he’s still wishy-washy about it for some reason. “It is not that but it could be but in fact it is not but no” Come on.

Apparently, their entire reasoning behind using this label is that a hardened crime lord knows more about the practicalities of being a criminal than an FBI agent does and that he cannot stay mad at her when she rips his heart out. Okay, then. He also knows more than Cooper or Ressler, and he lets a lot of stuff slide w/ those two he normally wouldn’t w/ associates, yet those men are not characterized as “children”. I wonder why. And not being able to stay mad at someone “just” means you’re invested in them bc you love and care about them. Cooper couldn’t stay angry at his cheating wife, either. Liz couldn’t stay mad at Tim, not even after he beat her and coerced sex from her. So are these now parent-child dynamics, too? Please.

It’s a ridiculous, misused label that – at this point – is likely kept alive to appease the crybabies who need a security blanket now bc their simplistic, misogynistic fixation on “he can only be her parent” isn’t being humored on-screen anymore. It’s irritating but at least now we have additional confirmation about how little water this holds, which feels vindicating. I doubt it will resonate much w the rabid idiots who claim our ship is incest and pedophilia (bc that’s what you call shipping two unrelated adults these days when you don’t have a real argument) but oh well… JB was prompted yet refused to say anything against Lizzington (while he kept shutting down DG and MG), and he also let it slip that Red/Liz is “more” than Red and Dembe’s dynamic. That’s certainly nice to hear.

bottom line: the antis’ sad little hate platform is sinking fast and it’s amusing to watch them thrash about.

#anonymous #lizzington #tbl spec #it's interesting how things are being walked back #DG is dead #MG was crack to begin with #and now the creator makes sure to point out how the parent-child thing is just mentoring #and how there is more there than in the other mentoring dynamic which is btw red and dembe #it lines up nicely w/ a previous interview where he talked about the duality in the way red relates to liz #as a mentor and a romantic partner #which has been voiced on-screen as well #in solomon's little of both 4th wall breakage moment #and how the 'partner' side finds it hard to forgive and trust again #and i am into that #we'll see what comes of it next season

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armadil-lo · 6 years

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huh, this is quite interesting to me.. 🤔

(chatting about 13 reasons why s2 in the tags, don’t reblog~)

#me stuff #after i watched 13rw season 1 i remember crying in the shower for a while #i didn’t like how the show had approached its contraversial topics #and in hindsight it felt like the depiction of depression was honestly quite disingenuous #i haven’t rewatched it since the first time i watched it but i honestly think i’d still stand by those thoughts about season 1 today #here’s the thing though: i watched season 2 out of curiosity.#i’d forgotten quite a few of the characters and their stories bar like 5 of them?#(and there’s a lot of characters in 13rw lol)#but there was something about the writing in season 2 that genuinely hooked me in #it felt more authentic #and i GREATLY appreciated the warnings/explanations/resources offered at the start/end of every episode #obviously what happened to tyler in the season finale was just as graphic and horrible as what happened to hannah in s1 #but i think that somehow it was handled a lot better along the way #the writing of season 2 made me actually care about and root for these characters - justin alex and zach in particular #and i hated like all of the characters by the end of season 1 - but now i appreciate them for the flawed humans they are #(though of course bryce can still go fucking rot in hell.)#idk i just find it interesting because apparently critics/the internet are actually bashing season 2 even more than they did season 1?#but i.. havent seen any outraged tumblr posts about it (whereas they were everywhere when s1 came out last year)#and where s1 left me feeling that the show didn’t deserve a second season #s2 has left me genuinely wanting to see more.#¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so thats my piece lmao #pls ignore that i’m posting this at almost 5am. this show genuinely made me fuck up my sleeping schedule again #bc i was so eager to keep binging it

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gotgifsandmusings · 6 years

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My idiocy, reading lenses, and GRRM

So, I was away all weekend with family things. But as I said, I wasn’t able to stop thinking about my most recent podcast and the feedback I’ve received in reblogs, @’s, my inbox, direct messages, and replies. Which like, an absolutely sincere thank you for anyone who took the time, in whatever capacity.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Julia and I recorded a UBS episode called “is GRRM literal garbage,” which we were using as a platform to talk about the flaws of ASOIAF, while sort of being playful about the way that online dialogue puts things in such, you know, black and white terms. People are perfect or they’re toxic and garbage, right? And because of that, there are a lot of times where we feel—or really where I feel, cause it’s just my own thoughts I’m vomiting here—like content creators who at least like, *try*, really do receive unfair criticism.

But yeah, most of the feedback we got was very negative. Particularly, Julia and I—we’re two white women, and we recorded a segment on racial portrayals and racism in ASOIAF, since there are so many problems on this front that we felt disingenuous not doing it. We made sure to call out how we are white before entering into this discussion, and also said something like, ‘hey, if we miss something or if you disagree with us, please tell us so we can engage, because we are limited by our own lack of experiencing racism.’ (And anti-semitism is...not at all of the same vein; nothing pisses me off more than when white jews try to distance ourselves from our racial privilege, to be honest).

Well, not surprisingly at all, we missed stuff! Because of course we fucking did. And it wasn’t just that, but we also put ourselves in a position of saying, “oh we’re apologetic of Martin” and then trying to like...come up with reasons for what are obvious problems through the lens of intent or some shit, which is just...so not what should do ever. Hell, it’s not what we should do with any topic, let alone one where we’re entering into the conversation from such a place of privilege. So yeah, we missed stuff and we sounded like we were apologizing for racism which is not only not our place, but not even what we set out to do.

This wasn’t unique to the problems of racism in ASOIAF either; I received a lot of asks saying that it really felt like I was trying not to let my lens of Martin be challenged. And really ruminating on all this the past few days...there’s a ton of truth to that. Which is a bit silly, because I never exactly thought myself as holding Martin up in the first place—just what I got out of these book series. So what was it I was resisting?

It was Gretchen ( @gnelliswriter ) who ended up framing everything to me in a way where these things that were concatenating—all this criticism that I trying to absorb and understand, finally clicked. Because she talked about the balance of the 3 lenses: Doylist, Watsonian, and Reader Response. Which is also like, viewer response and gamer response, of course.

When she said this, it was just like...“Oh.” Because, Julia and I focus a ton on Doylist vs. Watsonian, you know? Watsonian being a character-level analysis, like “Cersei did this because she was feeling X.” Doylism then looks at what the author is trying to say. “Martin had Cersei do this because he was making a point about Y.” Julia’s the one who explained this to me in the first place—my background is engineering and I hadn’t done any type of literary analysis until the Arianne reread.

However, in terms of dialogue surrounding media, there is quite clearly a third lens. Reader Response is the *reader’s* takeaway. “Cersei did X and regardless of what Martin wanted that to mean, here’s what the message was that I saw, here’s how I reacted, and here’s the implications of it” (or just some aspect of this).

Which...this is the most obvious thing, because it’s the ONLY THING I talk about with Game of Thrones, right? Like, I say GOT isn’t worthy of Watsonian analysis, because it’s not, but then the series of retrospectives Julia and I do where we’re desperately hunting for a Doylist rationalization also reveals that...D&D don’t really have much to say anyway, and they don’t seem to particularly care. Then in these essays, we always go on and say, “Well okay, regardless of that, HERE’S the implications, and they suck donkey dick.” And fuck, I wrote an entire piece on the difference between intent and result, and why results really really matter.

So this whole thing, like... I don’t know, I realize I’m not an English major or anything, but in some ways I kind of feel like Reader Response is actually the only lens that matters? (I can hear the gasps from my academic friends right now.) Or at least, it matters the most heavily, because that’s where engagement is, and that’s where the dialogue occurs that fosters empathy and understanding. I suppose most stories I consume do also foster empathy in some ways (unless they’re nihilistic piss slop), but they’re not ever going to replace the experience of hearing a diversity of voices and viewpoints on something.

For example, with Legend of Korra, which I love, I had zero problems the first time I heard the line in the end about how Korra “needed to know what true suffering was so she could become more empathetic.” I thought the intent was clear, and it was a powerful way of showing someone recontextualizing their trauma and finding a healthy state of mind. However, after reading what many women of color in the fandom wrote on the matter, I understood why that had felt offensive to others, and why it was so uncomfortable to have had two white men put those words into the mouth of a brown, bisexual female protagonist.

So now I’ve like, written fix-it fic of that moment. Because the Reader Response to Korra’s words created that dialogue where otherwise my own lens wouldn't have been challenged, even as a bisexual woman myself. White women simply don’t have a history with the trope of being beaten to “learn respect” that women of color have in media. That’s a privilege, so learning about it was really important. All I want in life is to somehow work towards a world where people don’t feel like shit. The more we learn about the shittyness that exists and try to understand it, the better equipped we will be to fix it. Why *wouldn’t* we prioritize a lens of analysis that can bring that about?

Honestly, as soon as Gretchen labeled “Reader Response” a third lens, it’s like the clouds parted, and the sun shined onto my own striking idiocy with how I’ve been talking about everything and framing everything (I think we’re going to do a joint piece on this soon). Cause like, it *is* deeply hypocritical—my approach to GRRM compared against my approach to D&D. I say it’s because of “benefit of the doubt”, and that’s a thing, but that doesn’t really explain what was actually happening, it’s more of “I don’t really want to think about this cognitive dissonance”, and it certainly doesn’t help me grow from what went so wrong on the podcast. I was using it as a rhetorical crutch.

Like, before Gretchen parsed this out with me, I kind of thought a laser-focus on the flaws of a story was just someone being “too Doylist.” But that’s not actually a thing. How would that be one? You can’t try and figure out what an author is saying ~too~ much, though I guess if you only care about what the author’s saying you may, idk, not feel as into the characters or something.

No, what it is, is Reader Response and how you felt interacting with media, which...media is not created or consumed in a cultural vacuum. If I believe media analysis matters, which I do, it’s because of Reader Response. I’m not trying to take “death of the author” to the extreme, but there is a point where whatever authorial intent exists just doesn’t matter. There are impacts reading stories have on people, and on conversations.

So all of this makes how Julia and I approached a podcast about ASOIAF’s flaws all the more stupid. Because basically what we did was read out a laundry list of problems, which are all Reader Response by nature; if we happened to think it wasn’t much of a problem we’d say so (like when I said that I didn’t think Arya and Sansa’s scripting as sisters was sexist, which like...I’m sorry, but I’m sticking to that one), but otherwise the conversation was kind of us going, “oh this is an issue, but here’s maybe a Doylist or Watsonian reason for it.” And that’s...not constructive? I mean, what does that even do?

What should have been a tip-off, too, is that the only time we didn’t do this was when Julia tried to come up with an explanation for Dany’s scene with Irri, and I got really pissed because I just didn’t see any value or justification in it. As a queer woman, my reader response to that was super, super negative, and I had no patience for anything else. Well, Julia and I are limited by our own lenses and backgrounds, so apply that to other issues, and we don’t have experiences where we would get pissed about stuff about which other people are probably seething. But that doesn’t mean the people who are seething should have to listen to the bullshit of “well here’s a point you can consider that makes this gross ass thing valuable!” What the hell do we know about it?

Which, it wasn’t really what we were trying to do, but it absolutely is what the podcast ended up being. And frankly, it’s not like I’ve ever gotten positive or worthwhile takeaways from the way Martin portrays race, with maybe a small exception being the in-verse prejudice against Dorne getting deconstructed within Dornish POVs. That’s just because it even further hammers on POV-bias and shines a lens on Westerosi perspectives in a rather stark light, though I still question its effectiveness. And sure, you can apply that deconstruction elsewhere in the story and assume everyone is an unreliable and biased narrator (they are), but what value is there in Dorne being the only place that actually gets a closer inspection?

And even if Martin is doing something to a point, that doesn’t make it a helpful point or a necessary point. Like, oh we now know Dany’s in way over her head, and doesn’t understand the political or cultural complexity of where she’s trying to rule or what she’s trying to accomplish. Okay, but I’m about 99% sure that same point could have been made with Essosi POVs?? And almost certainly a lot better and clearer???

For fuck’s sake, if we hadn’t had any female POVs for the first three books and people were telling me, “oh it’s to make a point on women’s place in this society,” or idk to prove how unknowable women are to our male protagonists or some shit, there’s no way I’d even be reading this series. And it’s not as though I have any patience for super stereotypical jewish portrayal; it’s just that that’s not exactly possible in ASOIAF. If it were, you can sure as hell bet that I wouldn’t appreciate two goys telling me it’s all for the greater good of writing a...really gross world, or showing how much a character appreciates jewish culture. That doesn’t make any goddamn sense!

Look. Julia and I have gotten a lot out of Martin’s critique of the patriarchy. You can bet your ass a large reason for that is because there’s so many female POVs, not to mention male POVs who are also victims of this horrible setting, such as Theon and Aeron being victims of sexual assault (Theon’s chapters being a much more intimate look), Jaime struggling to define himself in a martial world now that he’s lost his hand, Sam’s trauma from his abusive upbringing, and so on. Julia and I also give Martin leeway because looking at his work chronologically, things do seem to be improving. Which...yay? Snaps?

But really, it’s something @witabif said to me that stuck in my craw as I was talking this out with pretty much anyone in my proximity the past few days: I have a huge tendency to take *my* positive reactions and takeaways to ASOIAF and apply them to Martin’s intent. I think the conflation of Reader Reaction and Doylism is the largest part of that, but what’s funny is I work overtime to not do that, especially with GoT. How many times have I said “we can’t know what’s in D&D’s head,” or steel-manned some dumbass plotpoint of theirs?

At the end of the day, all we really have to judge content creators on are their bodies of work. It’s why I say “it’s the pattern.” And Martin’s pattern? It’s one of a dude who is a pretty skilled storyteller, but also very much out of his depth in a lot of departments. Does he do better than most other 69-year-old white cishet men living in New Mexico? Probably. Is he making an effort to be more thoughtful as times go on? I mean...it feels that way in some places, but that doesn’t erase what’s hurtful in the books now, or what’s ugly, or most importantly, what’s shaping a large part of our cultural conversation because let’s be honest here: these books are hugely successful and have that power. This is why I’ve talked over and over again about fiction mattering. Fuck, this is why I engage with GoT at all and think it’s worthwhile looking at its flaws.

Really, ASOIAF isn’t any different. I mean, it tells a coherent story, so it’s different on that front. And I do find some of the takeaways of the books valuable. I also stand adamant that what Martin does with close PoV is impressive, and he is a gifted writer who can tease out nuance quite well. The battle between good and evil truly is within the human heart, and the experience of reading the books, and then rereading them where you find these other depths, has been one of an engagement I haven’t quite matched elsewhere yet.

But, part of liking something and caring about something means a willingness to engage with its flaws, no matter how deep or uncomfortable they are. Engaging shouldn’t be excusing, and even if I’ve found ways to tease out meaning (for instance, Cersei and Taena’s scene lands one way for me, but not at all the same way for many other wlw readers), my personal reaction and truth is...just that? And I do suspect that a lot of times, I’m seeing something there he didn’t see at all. Which is a tension I should have been digging into this whole time.

Looking back at the podcast, it was a horrible fucking structure for it. I don’t even know if it should have been an episode, to be honest. Because like, aside from just explaining what these problems were, and maybe sampling meta of people who had written on specific issues, there’s not much to add. We can’t proclaim someone to be literal garbage (which was part of the joke of the title), nor can we we proclaim them to be good enough, because...who the fuck are we anyway? I think what we could have done is had discussion about how to engage with deeply flawed media, as kind of a “Here’s all that’s wrong...so, what now?” thing, but we didn’t even discuss our approach beforehand.

I’m thinking about pulling it out of the feed entirely, and please let me know your thoughts on that. On one hand, I think it’s important to not hide from our mistakes and to allow a pathway to grow from them. For that reason, and because I just really want to after taking in this feedback, I’m working on a direct follow-up episode to it for the near future. On the other, I don’t want subscribers still hearing a conversation that’s out-of-balance and problematic, and I can see no reason why the follow-up discussion episode would require the former episode in the feed. I’m leaning towards the latter, but definitely value everyone’s input in the matter.

After typing all this out...it’s not complicated: it comes back to me not wanting to challenge my views on Martin. I didn’t. But now they have been, and it has been because of how amazingly thoughtful this fandom is, as well as the responses and suggestions I’ve received. And you know what? Yeah. I’m disenchanted with the guy. It’s not like a lightswitch, but seeing the misalignment between *my* reader reaction and *his* pattern/messaging has been eye-opening, embarrassing, and frustrating. He’s just some dude with a fairly unique approach to genre fiction and a few good ideas; there’s areas where he excels, and areas where he needs a lot of improvement. A lot.

I’m still going to say stop bothering him about writing speed and stop consulting actuary tables, because that shit is creepy. But otherwise, he’s welcome to fight his own battles. God knows he has the resources. I still think I will land in a different place with how effective his scripting of women is, among other things, and I look forward to continuing to have spirited discussions about all of that. However, it’s now with full cognizance that it’s our reactions and experience to the media that we’re discussing, and my own has diddly squat to do with Martin’s intent.

Which I should have realized from day fucking 1.

#the 'put it in writing'' won by a healthy margin #but I'm going to do a video follow-up too I think #should be tonight #asoiaf #grrm

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papysfuckingpissed · 7 years

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This has probably been said a bunch of times by other people already but. I’ve honestly been so bored with SU lately. Other than our most recent Steven Bomb and Room for Ruby, I’ve been picking up my phone a little ways into the eps because I can’t focus on what’s going on, or can’t see what the point is. Granted, I have some serious attention deficit problems, but I used to be able to watch SU just fine, and I don’t have this problem with many other shows.

(putting under cut since this turned out to be a long ass post)

idk it’s just like.... ever since we got more into plot, the filler/slice of life episodes have been much less interesting to me, I guess.

Now I know some people don’t think like that, they say “Steven needs to learn about his human side” and I agree! Steven’s human and gems aspects are equally important parts of him.

I think the issue, at least for me, is where these episodes are placed. We got a lot of human eps in the beginning, which was fine because there wasn’t a whole lot at stake. All we knew was these aliens who call themselves the Crystal Gems live on Earth with a little boy and they go on adventures, catch monsters, destroy old buildings that have no use anymore. Occasionally we got some lore, and maybe a teeny bit of what could be considered plot. No big deal. Human eps were interesting because we got to see what Steven and the Gems were up to when they weren’t dealing with monsters and such.

Then the plot started forming, and it was okay at first, I seem to recall a fairly equal amount of plot/lore-related eps and human eps.

But now it’s like?? There’s a ton of shit at stake, tons of different ways this plot can go. We’ve met the Diamonds, the Rubies are (or were) chasing down the Gems, Jasper and Bismuth are bubbled, the Cluster has been placated. We should be mostly plot right now, with some filler in between to give us a break. But it’s almost the opposite? We’ve been getting a lot of filler with plot in between.

And the plot we’ve been getting just seems really... inconsequential. The Peridemption arc (my favorite recent arc), while having Peridot’s redemption, hasn’t done all that much with it? Peri’s just hanging out in a barn with Lapis (whose arc with Jasper also went nowhere...). Yeah, we also got to meet Yellow Diamond, but... I feel like we should have started picking up the pace with the story once that happened. Why didn’t YD send a team of gems to ensure that the rogue Peridot hadn’t tried to sabotage the Cluster? Granted, she evidently doesn’t know that there are a few rebel gems still living on Earth, and probably figures a Peridot and maybe a Jasper can’t really do much to such a large geoweapon. But in that case, wouldn’t she still want to try to pick up and punish a gem guilty of pretty serious insubordination? It might be a good way to get the plot moving again. Whatever happened afterward, there should have been some sense of urgency, considering we’d finally met one of the Diamonds.

And the recent Homeworld arc? Sure, we learned about how the YD and BD feel about PD’s demise, and what they’re doing with humans, and where the Rose Quartz gems are--which is interesting stuff to know, and will probably be relevant later--but after the arc, right back to status quo. Still no sense of urgency, even though Diamonds are aware that the Cluster hasn’t emerged yet (which you think they might be suspicious about), there are humans trapped in a zoo that need saving, and all the Rose Quartz gems might be in danger considering that YD seems itching to get rid of them. And of course the Rubies are still stuck in space, in danger of being shattered themselves by debris while they’re in orbit.

It’s the same with major episodes, too. We’ve heard like ONE (pretty disingenuous) line about Bismuth since she got bubbled again, and the crew made a big deal out of that episode, acting like she was going to permanently join the team. Why couldn’t that happen? Since it didn’t happen, why was there never any discussion of whether she was right or wrong? And especially now that Steven knows Rose shattered PD, why haven’t they unbubbled her yet? It seems like they just don’t wanna change the way things are going.

In general, in regards to plot: There’s no sense of urgency, nor any evidence of changing circumstances. This is bad because stories are built on conflict and changing circumstances and how people react to them. So far in SU, conflict arises, subsides, and is rarely if ever even mentioned again. Things rarely change, whether it’s just situations becoming more serious or adding new members to the team. We barely even get to see the characters reflecting on what has happened.

And then there’s the filler. Or more human-focused episodes, as some people object to the “filler” label.

Like I said, at the beginning, slice of life was fine because nothing major was happening. Now, however, we’re getting a lot of slice of life with less focus on the plot, which is not how a plot based show is supposed to be written.

That’s not to say that I think these episodes focusing on Steven’s relationships with the people of Beach City are all unimportant. An idea I’ve been entertaining in my head for a while is that of the BC residents somehow either joining the Crystal Gems in saving the gems of Homeworld or proudly defending themselves, Steven, and his family from Homeworld. Because Steven’s spent all these “filler” episodes caring for his friends and helping them! Why wouldn’t they do the same for him, especially when humanity is in danger?

Think Super Watermelon Island--without the little watermelon people helping Alexandrite, it would have been a lot harder, if not impossible, to beat Malachite. (In all honesty, if SU does go this route with the humans, I think SWI could be some pretty cool foreshadowing in regards to that.)

In that case, the slice of life episodes would tie in the main plot and we’d see how Steven’s kind attitude toward the people of BC impact what he has to do in regards to Homeworld in the future.

If they don’t go that route, then I’m not really sure what the point of the slice of life episodes is. I find most of the recent ones pretty boring. But I think that’s really more of a personal issue than an objective one, though others might have other ideas as to why there’s a problem with recent episodes of this type.

Anyway. That’s why I’m bored with SU currently I guess. I really hope we get some decent plot soon. Other than Room for Ruby I can hardly be bothered to watch new episodes in a timely fashion anymore. And considering how much I used to love this show and how much it meant to me and how excited I used to be to watch it, that’s really sad.

#su critical #su criticism #ok to reblog if u want

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