#irl most people don't get a redemption arc

[izloveshorses]

I saw a post complaining about musical Dimitri so I want to know what is your favourite things about him in the musical?

sigh... musical dmitry... giggling kicking my feet twirling my hair thinking about him. i'm always daydreaming about him. if you saw me on the street irl i almost guarantee you'd catch me lost in some variation of musical dmitry thoughts.

there are so many things i could say here, anon. his redemption arc™ from a selfish liar to the most noble and self-sacrificing slavic sadboy i've ever seen? his angsty daddy issues backstory? his bewitching silly goose ways? how he lets One Woman completely change the trajectory of his life? how he falls into an emotional spiral about it? the way he Knows Who He Is and is very self assured in his identity, and helps anya do the same? how his identity is so intertwined with his home? his role as a Storyteller™? etc????

but for this ask today i'm going to focus on how gentle he is. i don't think gentleness is something that comes very easy to this dmitry. he lost his father at a young age, as we know. he was alone on the streets and had to fight to stay alive. he cons people for a living. by the time we meet him he's very cynical about the world and doesn't really trust anyone, other than vlad. mostly he just relies on himself and can't really count on anyone else. when he meets anya, a cryptic girl who is a bit off but in need of help, his first response is to scoff and send her away, since unstable people are too risky to deal with. he's capable of being charming, but he uses this skill to get what he wants.

a lesser character with an identical backstory would be gruff and unfeeling, but... this dmitry isn't. in spite of it all, he's so hopeful, though he buries it deep. his most treasured story is about a girl he met at a parade. he is known as the 'prince of petersburg,' has a relationship with everyone on the streets. in the hartford production he calls an older woman in the ensemble 'little mother.' he rescues vlad, a complete stranger, from a firing squad. and though he turns her down at first, he agrees to get anya to paris. he protects what's his own.

you can tell it takes him a while to learn gentleness. whether it's physical or verbal, especially around anya, he is still always on the defensive for a while. fight first, think later. she's really jumpy and skittish but he doesn't start changing his behavior until they fight the ruffians together. he flags all of his movements around her, making sure she knows his intentions first. he talks about his father. he gives her a music box because he thinks it'll make her smile. because she 'earned it.' when she's crying after a nightmare he tells her a sweet, simple story from his childhood.

the train scene is the best example of this shift-- when she cowers after the gunshot goes off, he is completely lost about what to do. 'calm her down,' vlad tells him, but how is he supposed to do that? she's sobbing into his shoulder and he's frozen, panicking, because what is he supposed to do here??? but he shushes her and holds her anyway. he does his best. and it works. in such a tense situation where they very well could be shot next he is so so gentle and patient with her. and by the time we reach iacot in paris, he knows exactly how to comfort her. he learned how to hold her gently and speak in a soft voice. how softness can ground someone in need.

to summarize: musical dmitry is... really soft? and softness/gentleness isn't really something you see in the conman archetype very often. he is so special.

#asks #Anonymous #anastasia #anastasia broadway #anastasia musical #dimya #dmitry sudayev #meta #sorry this got long alkshjdf #i took a long time to answer this bc i wanted to give u a good answer lol #thank u for letting me ramble about blorbo from my show <333

[kafus]

ok i am gonna share that nightmare i had yesterday actually. tw for a variety of topics including cults, attempted murder of a young child, kind of barely an age gap relationship between a younger child and a teenager, gun violence, listen it was crazy i have no idea what my sleeping brain was cooking. i should not have to say this about a nightmare i had while unconscious but to be clear i don't ENDORSE any of these topics IRL or some bullshit like that

also this nightmare involved pokemon horizons characters for some reason so if you watch the pokemon anime and don't want to hear about hypothetical nightmare scenarios of very AU things happening to them i would also avoid

so i'm setting the stage here. as far as i can tell i was just normal me in this dream (notable because i am usually Not "just me" in my dreams) but i was a teenager again instead of a 24 year old. i was living in a large multi-story house with the main cast of pokemon horizons (everyone on the brave asagi), and like a few other people not from horizons but they don't really matter. the dream timeskipped through a lot of years of me living there, like i had been there for a while.

despite me saying the cast of horizons was there my brain was very pick and choosey with what actual character traits or recognizable features remained of these characters other than their names/general appearances. importantly liko was a good bit younger than her anime appearance, not sure of her exact age but like, elementary school. she was Extremely chronically ill with some sort of undefined illness my brain made up, i guess. she lived in the basement of the house and was totally bedridden Most of the time, as to survive she had to constantly be hooked up to a somewhat bulky machine. she could be off of it for very brief periods but to get around anywhere, that machine had to come with her. she was generally way more timid and also way more woozy and relied on everyone for care.

^ like imagine her but even smaller and very sickly constantly. if you have never watched pokemon horizons lol

^ the main other person i interacted with was amethio who was probably the most recognizable - similar personality, though it was probably what i'd imagine him to be like after a hypothetical redemption arc, still irritable and brooding but like, he has a soft side. me and him were around the same age here (14?) and we were the main two watching after liko. he was like?? in love with liko??? my brain really never acknowledged the age gap here it was just normal and no one thought anything of it. that being said that's not something he expressed directly to her and they weren't in a relationship

anyway so the major thing here is that this household was pretty much a small cult. isolated from the outside world, general actual cult shit, but also we had some sort of belief we were all indoctrinated into by the higher up adults that liko had to Die at a specific time and date, i don't remember if it was for sacrificial reasons or if a reason was even provided in the dream at all, but tldr me and amethio were expected to unplug her life support stuff without her knowing and let her die with the assumption that she would be too woozy or confused to do anything about it herself. after a lot of implied bonding with her i was expected to pretty much murder a child. suffice to say this was horrifying

we actually did the deed and like halfway through watching liko's energy fade i started thinking like. wait. why am i doing this. i know that liko is supposed to die, but is she really? am i really doing the right thing? watching her die is awful. i've cared for her so much for years and i don't want her to die. so in the middle of all of this i take amethio aside (he was off in another room because he didn't want to watch liko suffer, i was taking the role of making sure it happened) and i'm like. amethio why are we doing this. you love her right. you love liko so you don't want her to die. i don't want to kill her. and he's like. Fuck you're right this is insane i don't care about the past however many years i cannot let liko die. so we agree to plug her life support stuff back in and confront the rest of the house

after ensuring liko was hooked back up and starting to recover, i made my way upstairs to confront the adults in the house while amethio worked on getting her out of there safely, and like. holy shit.

NEVER THOUGHT I'D HAVE ANY SORT OF DREAM/NIGHTMARE WHERE FRIEDE FROM POKEMON HORIZONS TRIES TO LITERALLY KILL ME, but i GUESS this is the life i'm leading now. i was like dude why are we killing liko you can't just make me kill a child i'm sorry and his positive demeanor quickly turned sour and the rest of the dream devolved into a blur of confusing violence, one because i was being chased after multiple fully grown adults in the body of a teenager, both by violent pokemon and like, literal guns, i was being shot at, and also because from here on out the dream started heavily deteriorating, like it became more weird and less linear and stuff that didn't make sense was happening. i never knew what ended up happening to amethio and liko because in a particularly close bout of violence i suddenly woke up sweating/shaking/heart pounding. and then after i caught my breath and realized i was awake i was just like. HELLO???????? WHAT THE FUCK?????

idk the last time i had a dream this vivid much less one this off the walls. i keep thinking about it cause like, due to Reasons if i'm dreaming about liko, especially as someone in such a vulnerable and awful position, that probably means something/pertains to my personal real life trauma, like the general aura of this dream read as a ptsd nightmare to me, but fuck if i'm gonna be able to parse all that today i have no idea what the fuck any of this means. i'm just losing my shit. especially because i went back to sleep afterwards and had another dream about pokemon horizons characters but it was literally just cute shit where i was liko and in a relationship with dot high school AU style and we were hanging out after class. like the complete tonal whiplash is so fucking funny. why on earth did my brain make the most wildly contrasting pokemon fanfictions of all time while i was asleep. helpppp

#kiki was here #kiki.txt #I HOPE SOMEONE FINDS THIS INTERESTING #AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS DREAMS ARE JUST SUPER INTERESTING?? ANYWAY

[purple-scrunchie]

Who's the best Heather in the movie and who's the best in the musical? :3

Firstly, thanks for the question! I could talk about both these wonderful pieces of media for hours. (Sorry for the oncoming infodump lol, nobody irl wants to hear about this. The TLDRs are bolded if you don't wanna read the entire thing lol) Feel free to give your opinions too! To begin, let's talk about the movie.

Tl;DR: my favorite movie Heather is Heather Duke.

I love this movie with my whole being. The characters are so beautifully written and portrayed, and everybody is a three-dimensional human. While they all have strengths, each character is defined by their flaws. Since I adore them all, choosing a favorite Heather was very difficult.

Chandler is short lived, but oh so iconic. Her 30-ish minutes on screen were some of the most powerful. (I could literally quote almost all of her lines from memory lol) She's essential to kick the plot into motion, igniting Veonica's anger and setting JD off on his murder spree. Since she doesn't get as much screen time as Duke or McNamara, she's the least defined of all the Heathers. Most of what we learn about her is information shared or fabricated after her death. While this is unfortunate, it made her perfect for her role in the musical.

McNamara is a stunning example of a people pleaser relegated to the outskirts. She's certainly a Heather, but not as integral to their group dynamic as Chandler, Duke, or even Veronica. After Chandler's death, Duke often sidelines her the same way she was once sidelined. She suffers in silence the entire movie, leading up to the moment where she tries to end it all. Her story creates empathy with the audience and reminds us that these characters are all just teenagers. Duke, in my opinion, is the best of all three. She starts out as a crony living in Chandler's shadow, but changes the game and becomes so much more. In all the early scenes, she's getting belittled or shut up. She's shown to hate Chandler (rightfully so) and be looking for more in her life. In the croquet scene right before Chandler and Veronica head to Remington, her impossible trick shot sets off a bit of beautiful foreshadowing. The last person you'd ever think would stand up to the Head Bitch in Chief calculates her odds and siezes the prize. Her arc from sidekick to antagonist is one of the best I've ever seen. In my mind, it's on par with Zuko's redemption arc in Avatar.

***

In the musical, my answer is a little different.

Tl;Dr: my favorite Heather from the musical is Heather Chandler.

I love the musical adaptation almost as much as the movie. I recognize that it's meant to be more of a lighthearted nod to the original rather than a remake. Its simpler characters and impeccable comedic timing are certainly easier to write for, but it just doesn't quite hit as hard as the 1988 version (No shame to anybody who likes it more, to each their own!). Choosing my favorite Heather in the context of the musical was definitely easier since their characters are less complex.

Musical Duke isn't quite as terrifying as before. She's just a cruel, jealous ripoff Chandler. She really doesn't have any discernable personality besides being a bitch. While this transformation was a necessary evil, it was dissapointing nonetheless.

McNamara also doesn't really do anything, she's just a background comedic relief character with a few nice songs at the end. Her buildup just isn't there this time around. While I certainly appreciated her before watching the movie, I think you need to watch both to really understand her in the musical.

This leaves Chandler the most in-tact of the three Heathers. As I mentioned in the movie section, she was never meant to be entirely three dimensional. She's just as mean as she was in the movie, but this time even funnier. I love that they kept her around for the entire thing and did such a great job of preserving everything fans of the original love about her.

Anyways thanks again for the question! As mentioned earlier, I'd absolutely love to hear any different takes/ideas too!

#heathers #heathers the musical #heathers 1988 #heather chandler #heather duke #heather mcnamara #scrunchie's ramblings #long post #just shameless infodumping #lets call it what it is #character analysis

[taylors-fourth-cat-meow]

What are your thoughts about domestic violence? Sjm has written tamlin-feyre in such a realistic way that a lot of domestic abuse survivors identified with feyre and her emotional & psychological abuse (their comments were added in acomaf I think). So I want to know, since you're celebrating a canon domestic abuser while constantly invalidating his victim's trauma & making a mockery of something that affects so many women irl I just want to know what are your thoughts about domestic abuse and do you acknowledge that tamlin is an abuser?

I get wanting a healing & redemption arc for him but what I don't get is the fact that you're able to sympathize with & understand an abuser but you don't have the same sentiments for his victim. Why? Seems like blatant misogyny and normalization of abuse to me

I don't understand the point behind this ask because it's so very clear that they have already formed an opinion.

My thoughts on domestic abuse? Absolutely don't support it. It's a very sensitive topic and I feel that I, who has no experience or knowledge about it have no right to make my opinions about it and survivors in any way.

'Sjm has written tamiln-feyre in a realistic way" I- Speechless.

And since it seems that this person seems to know everything about me and this blog (even tho i've been inactive for months) they failed to notice where in countless posts I've said I don't don't like Feyre because she has suffered abuse. I don't like her because she is a badly written character. It's as simple as that? I won't sympathise or like such a poorly written character just because the author thought to gain her sympathy points. I accept Tamlin's abuse. I wasn't denying it. Wasn't denying the fact Feyre suffered it. But these are non-existent fictional ppl. You can only sympathise with them when u relate to them, understand them and form an attachment. I couldn't do that with Feyre because her holier than thou attitude kept coming in the way the writing is by any normal standards pathetic.

And since it is impossible for people to understand that you can't separate characters from their authors, I don't blame your precious Feyre for anything, I loved her in the first book and do think she had a lot of growth potential as a character, I blame Queen Maas for writing such a pathetic story with pathetic pitiful characters.

"invalidating the victim's trauma" oh dear I don't think it can ever be possible to invalidate Feyre's trauma considering its stuffed down our throats every two pages. (And I don't even understand by what u mean by that? I've never said she should go back to him that's the last thing I want? ) See? Feyre is not a real person. Stop treating her such. She's written, badly written by someone else. So when I say I don't like Feyre's character it's not her that I'm hating it's Sjm and her writing.

Now u may ask why I like Tamlin if I hate sjm's writing so much. See it's the way she kept changing his character as the plot required. One sec he's the mysterious handsome Fey the other he's an evil abuser and the next a selfless brokenhearted man. She paid so Little attention to him that it ended up creating a character that intrigued me.

And most of my posts are not rants or something like that, they're just like posts that cud make u smile or chuckle. And it's specifically for a certain small section of people who do find them funny hence the tags. Again it's mockery of sjm's pathetic writing not Feyre, or women who relate to her. Ig the tags should have been enough but if it helps I'll put up a warning in my description :)

#normalise abuse #ps if you think i am a misogynist and #with all due respect i dont really care about your opinion so.... #anti sjm #anti acotar #tamlin #anon asks #anti feyre #anti feysand #anti rhysand #anti sjm stans #pro tamlin

[feiofthefae]

People's OCs are not a reflection of their beliefs [unless they explicitly make them to be].

People's favorite characters are [generally] not a reflection of their morals.

It doesn't matter how understandable and well-written a character is, people don't have to like every character. And if someone doesn't like a character, that doesn't mean they're ignorant of the story/lore, hate the writers, or are secretly a Bad Person.

People can like one-dimensional characters (eg villains). People can like complex characters for simple reasons or no reason at all.

When discussing popular characters, some will have baggage attached to them. Sometimes it's because people "misunderstand" the character, but a lot of times it's because they're a frequent topic of Fandom Discourse and fandom spaces have a tendency of twisting things to their own liking. The majority's perspective won't always have the most merit. Neither will yours.

Using a character as a litmus test is fine. Using a character as an end-all-be-all validation for total strangers' opinions is unhinged, actually.

"[Character] deserves to be forgiven / face the consequences of their actions / start over / not start over-" [Character] won't care what you do to them. Write that fix-it fic. Write that revenge arc or redemption arc. Make them worse; make them better; make them explore their flaws and mistakes on a daily basis. Just stop demanding the creators and/or other fans do the same.

Compliance to canon isn't mandatory. I say this as a very canon-compliant person.

Sometimes an Issue is just a squick. Deal with it. Vent posts are free (just don't use them to squash someone else's fun).

Stop making everything a moral issue. Not everything is a moral issue. Stop being so puritanical about fiction. Fiction affects irl but not as much as you think it does.

I feel like I've said these things before but I need to say them again before I start biting people.

And don't get me started on ships.

#Brought To You By Destiny 2 #(and every other fandom I'm currently in) #tw rant

[dilfdoctordoom]

Genuinely torn between my hatred for the Inhumans and my hatred for synergizing Kamala rn.

Like, I haven’t liked the Inhumans since I watched Agents of Shield back before I was a comics person. They were obvious replacements for the X Men but without their superpowers or physical forms being inherent, which was always less compelling to me as a metaphor for an oppressed people. Then I started reading comics, saw that they were a eugenics-based society that tried to genocide mutants via GASSING THEM and weren’t treated as the obvious villains, and for the first time understood why comics fans hated the movies. I genuinely despise these fuckers.

HOWEVER, none of that hate applies to Ms. Marvel. Kamala Khan was always an interesting character to me because she felt like an Inhuman having to deal with both IRL discrimination and the consequences of Unhumans VS X Men, especially with younger Cyclops on the Champions. Fridging her in the worst Spider-Man story since ODM is never going to be okay, and bringing her back as a mutant, even if it doesn’t retcon her Inhuman past, is obvious MCU synergy at best and actively trying to sweep her past characterization under the rug at worst.

TL;DR I hate all of this so much

Inhumans are always so complicated 'cause Marvel never knows what to do with them & it's ended up really funny... they were best used in the Disney Ultimate Spider-Man TV series like that's embarassing....

I don't like them as a concept, but I do love some of the individual characters. Black Bolt has had some amazing stories over the years, Crystal is my cheating awful terrible wife <3 & Kamala is just...

Kamala is one of the most groundbreaking characters made in the past twenty, maybe 30, years. She's also a very rare character in that, despite the numerous runs she's had, they've had a consistent basis of quality. Some of them are absolutely fucking amazing (GWW) while others are just okay -- but unlike Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Daredevil, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc, she hasn't gotten a run that made me wanna claw my eyes out.

Until now, of course. The MCU synergy beam hit her as we all knew it would, but it feels... worse, IDK. I'd worried it was coming with her Beyond the Limits mini (its release was a lot closer to her TV series) but it didn't, it's here now, and that is, again, much worse.

She got horrifically fridged in a nonsensical story. Her family bangles - of great personal importance to her Pakistani family -- have seemingly gone to Mary Jane Watson, of all fucking people. Her death's being used to further the redemption arc of Norman Osborn, a man that canonically idolizes Hitler. She died to continue the Peter Parker Is Sad jerk circle.

And now she gets to come back, having part of her identity stripped away in favor of a new one (I know what Iman Vellani has said-- I expect that to last this mini/however long she writes the character). Debuting her as a mutant at all isn't great, but right now is worse.

X-Comics are gearing up for Fall of X, their next big shift/event. The focus is going to be there, not on Kamala.

I genuinely believe that we'll be lucky if she's cameoing in background appearances by next year, only getting random minis to coincide with her MCU movies/shows.

There are just... no redeeming qualities here. I can't even be excited about Iman Vellani, somebody who so clearly adores everything about Ms Marvel, writing for her 'cause honestly? I don't think it matters how much you love a character over at Marvel. There's always going to be a stupid editorial mandate.

#q & a #im just really mad lmao fuck marvel they need to stay away from kamala khan forever

[ur-friendly-nbhd-cardassian]

For future reference if you happen to find something in my Cardassian-related rants you find unseemly:

I do NOT excuse the occupation of Bajor

I condemn it in all it's gruesomness and feel for the victims

I am simply pointing out that nearly every 'civilized' nation behaved like rabid animals some time during their history, and that as humans we've exhibited some tendencies to somewhat improve, at least for limited periods of time

And so I want for everyone to consider what Cardassia has the potential to be, I want you to count every good member of their society that we know of, and put some faith in their ability to do better in the future

I do NOT expect the victims to forgive and forget, unless moving on would be for their own happiness and peace of mind

I want fans to excercise some objectivity and not judge all Cardassians by this period of their history alone

Also, we don't know (I think?) about it, but if you take the human history, can you honestly say you believe the Bajorans have never done any horrible animalistic wrongs, at least to each other? They had a caste system, ffs.

I realize there are wars in progress IRL even as I'm poking around in a fictional one

But since my mental health can only handle fictional conflicts or those far in the past, nothing I say reflects any of my opinions on the real conflicts, because I mostly have none and avoid the topics like a vampire avoids garlic, crosses and holy water

I know of some historical conflicts (those that I took interest in) and I view this Cardassia vs Bajor as an allegory to some, most prominently (to my knowledge) the Japanese occupation of Korea, and if you studied this conflict at least superficially (can't say I'm an expert, either), you may notice details in my writing and posts that I didn't get from the DS9 canon but from media depicting that particular RL conflict

One of those details is the painfully missing redemption arc of Cardassia which I'm planning to set in motion in my sequel, and have heavily hinted on in The Casualty itself

So yeah, I'm not all-knowing and I prefer not to have opinions on RL touchy subjects, bc I refuse to discuss them. And loving a people, even a made-up one, doesn't mean you automatically agree with all the acts of all its members (which is always good to remember, if you're one of those people who DO like to discuss real life wars).

I do like to discuss this awesome fictional thing, though 😊 Which is why I rant so much. But keep in mind that most of these posts are simply thoughts, many very fresh and unrefined and open to corrections.

It's also been preeetty long since I watched DS9, so I'm a but rusty when it comes to delivering citations and such. So some of my opinions are really just my own imagination working on my fanfic during down time 😂

(Will this empty poll I accidentally added disappear if I post this? Wish me luck.)

Ok, I can't delete the poll and can't post an empty one, so let's make use of it instead.

#deep space nine #ds9 #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic writing #cardassia

[somin-yin]

🎬📺 Share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order 🎮🃏 Then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice) /nf !!

sorry if you already got this

Thank you so much for this ask, I love these asks about characters ❤️ here are my beloveds in no particular order:

Ratan Vaish - Kali: Call of Darkness, Romance Club: The love of my life, he's everything I've ever dreamed in a character and more, the interactions with him makes me feel goosebumps every time 🛐 He's also very relatable in a lot of occasions ❤️

Spanish Berlin - La casa de papel/Money Heist: How can I not love Berlin? He's one of the most multi-dimensional and entertaining characters in LCDP, also he always managed to make me laugh 😂 Looking forward to his spin-off 🛐

Cho Sangwoo - Squid Game: My misunderstood boy, he did what he had to do to survive 🤷‍♀️ his actions were unethical yes, but there were no other options. Truly a morally grey and complex character (and I know Gi-hun and him dated in her past)

Raul Leon - Control Z: I know he's crazy and that he's a yandere but he has layers you know and I can't resist him, sue me I suppose 😂

Korean Professor - Money Heist Korea: I don't know why for some reason I like him better than Spanish professor, don't get me wrong, Spanish professor is awesome but I prefer the Korean one because he's more collected, composed and calculating. He was also kinda relatable 🤷‍♀️

Chisjen Avasarala - The Expanse: She's THE girlboss, and the true queen of Earth, she gets things done and has an unparalleled elegance, a true diplomat too, no choice but to simp ❤️

Todd Madison - Love from outer space, Romance Club: The other love of my life ❤️ my soulmate, he's as nerdy and as geeky as me and his humour? unprecedented ❤️ (he's the kind of guy I'd fall for irl, along with Ratan)

Gaius Augustine - Bloodbound, Choices stories you play: At the beginning I couldn't stand him. But then after seeing his redemption arc and the reason why he became like that, I started seeing him in a different light and he became my favourite character in Choices 🤷‍♀️

Colin Ritman, Black Mirror Bandersnatch: He's just so cool, his attitude, his style, his voice, everything in him is so cool, EVERYTHING and he gives off an aura of confidence, definitely one of the coolest characters I've ever seen, makes my knees weak 🛐

Yagami Light - Death Note: Sorry (not really) but #TeamLight all the way. Yes, he's a literal psychopath but he's very smart, complex and an overall well-written character and I can't resist that type of character 🤷‍♀️

Some of them are villains, some others are morally grey, some others are downright deranged, while others are anti-heroes but they're still my comfort characters. I connect so well with the fictional deranged I suppose 😂🤷‍♀️

Honourable mention to: Nick Nelson, Angelo Lagusa, Selena, Pierce and Kenzo Tenma ❤️❤️

Tagging my moots instead of sending because I'm lazy: @fantasyoverreality98 @jellyjinx ​@kitty-blackthorn-herondale @violentinecrl @small-lady-of-the-sea ​@leeaneea @rf-rida @unsettlingconclusions @darknessqueenrc @shawieespano ​@somewillwin @farizrz @calraquin @m00nfullofstars @teatimemols @mostlymobilegames @he-hehe-he @baexpoppy + everyone else who sees this

#romance club #playchoices #the expanse #death note #black mirror #la casa de papel #money heist korea #money heist #control z

[onewomancitadel]

For so long I have lived in a land of tranquility that I forgot about all of the 'Raven is a bad mother/Tai is a bad father therefore they should be ushered out of the story quickly and promptly' discourse. Fandom is so much fun but some people want to turn it into the most boring hobby in the world.

Anyway, I think there is something intentionally being done with the fantasy of Summer Rose vs. the painful reality of Raven and I don't think they're being contrasted in a negative way. I fully expect Raven's redemption arc in the story to coincide with more complicated facts about Summer emerging especially in relation to Salem and Grimm-cursing. That neither of them are perfect (and we don't want perfection anyway) is kind of the point and part of growing up is realising that about your parents.

I find it really disquieting that parts of the fandom for years have tried to describe Raven as a deadbeat mother as if a story with mythically-motivated stakes is exactly comparable to the struggles of mothers IRL (though I think honestly a narrative about the difficulties, fears, and pressures of motherhood is interesting, in this setting Raven being a bandit queen and ex-protagonist trying to defeat the Queen of Death makes it more complicated. I am pretty sure her absolute fear of Salem has something to do with her abandoning Yang).

Like... I get that people have complicated issues with their parents that they project onto these stories but the story is obviously interested in humanising her, it's humanised all of the 'bad' parents - chiefly the matriarch/patriarch of the story Ozma and Salem.

I think it's really telling though that we want to pit different types of parents in the story against each other when I don't think the show is really doing that. The story even tried to extend mercy to Jacques and he is probably one of the most onscreen abusive parents in the story - and that mercy was denied by Ironwood (another draconian abusive parental figure to Winter, Weiss, and Penny).

Anyway, I really really really expect anything relating to Summer to also be related to so much else in the story, especially Raven, that it's a shame this type of thing gets watered down... and sometimes characters do bad things but I guess that gets confused with bad character writing? I don't know, I'm much more interested in complicated character relationships and parent-child relationships are obviously doing a lot of work in the story lol. You kind of miss out on most of the story if you're angry about Tai being depressed.

This same demographic will inevitably say Cinder should've continued suffering, being tortured and forced into servitude in the Glass Unicorn (a type of parental abuse in the story) so you know what there was no point to writing this post because it's actually just about inherent likability of a character. Nevermind. Forget I said anything.

#a r/wby meta that I regret writing #I don't go the other way and whitewash characters either... Raven is complicated and interesting #I love that she was already intending to doublecross Cinder and weaponised false hatred for her brother #which got Cinder on board because Cinder's 'family' were always abusive #like Raven saw her and was like 'oh you have so many problems. not interested in investigating but I will use this' #so mean #btw Raven loves her brother. I just know it #Raven's Semblance is that she can't stop being tied to/loving people #despite her fear and all the things she thinks she believes #going to be so exciting seeing her again I love her

[wildflowerbloom]

Hello people on this app. Since no one cares about my opinons about this show irl you guys will get a nice review. SPOILERS AHEAD

First of all and most importantly: THE AVATAR REFFRENCES. I loved them soooo much. Guys watch out for them. I noticed 2.

Ok and now onto the "real" review. I love this show because it takes its time. In any other show i would have thought: hey 30 days till Viren dies so this means the 30 days will end this season right?

Wrong. The season takes place over what 4 days? If that. And that is great. Of course Callum and Rayla dont get together again. The trust is broken and needs to be rebuilt. So everything in this show takes time. It explains the story, explains the lore so you understand everything. Qnd it does that perfectly.

I also love how much i resent (bc hate is too strong a word) Viren and how conflicted i am about Claudia. That shows that both characters are verry well developt. Both have kind sites. And you see them every now and then. Claudias more then Virens. But their actions are unexcusable. Simple as that. And i also love that they now have a moral compass so to say with them. Terry really fits well to Claudia and i hope we will see more of both of them in the future. Also Viren like realy learns to respect him. Idk feels like Terry will break up with Claudia in the future starting her redemption arc.

I loooooooove everyones design. 10/10. No notes.

Nowww i come to a bit of stuff i found... meh.

First of all the excuse why the Dragon Queen wasn't realy present. Idk felt a bit... cheap. Also that Rayla just reappered. These are the main two story points where i think a bit more context would be great.

Bevore i forget the c plot of this season (the whole sun elve thing) was great. I liked it alot. It showed the struugle everybody has and you can see the tension. The trial is one of my favourite scenes just from the perspective of the problems everybody is facing.

And lastly my main "complaint" this season. Rayla. Girl i love you. With all my heart. But it just felt off. She reappred so randomly. And then she axts like everything is fine. I don't think anymore that she is an ilusion or something. The scene with the coins made it obvious but i think they should have showed her with more guilt. Like they showed Calum with hurt.

I think these are the main points for now. So.....

7.5/10 solid season pls get back to the 9 you were before. Seasin 5 when?

#tdp s4 spoilers #tdp season 4 #spoilers #rayllum #the dragon prince

[chocolatepot]

izzy hands for the bingo

I knew if I did this the first one would be Izzy! You're trying to get me killed!

I don't think there's any opinion you can have on Izzy that isn't like hitting a wasp's nest, but I'm in the middle so it's like two wasp's nests.

So my thing is that I think Izzy is great for his purpose in canon - someone who's Ed's subordinate/ally but also his and Stede's antagonist. He's the vinegar that makes the pie crust flaky (or whatever it is that the vinegar is doing in my grandmother's pie crust recipe). I would not want to know him IRL but as a fictional character he's fantastically horrible. He hates himself and he takes it out on everyone else, but I can't hate him because nobody takes him seriously in the show. I love his constant unforced errors, and I love writing him making more of them or just generally being kicked around by the narrative, because it's very funny.

At the same time, I do think the show is going to do something meaningful with him, because he is so twisted up inside wrt toxic masculinity. The whole point of the show is that these standards are bad, so I just can't quite see them not having him learn that lesson. Also, Con O'Neill deserves the challenge and fun of acting such an arc. Izzy will probably never be a Nice Man but I suspect that by the end he'll still be kind of a hardass but one with some ability to relax. Redemption arcs are great for me in fic, but I avoid fics where he turns out to be misunderstood or he's sick and needs attention, etc. - the fic has to accept that he's done bad things and would continue to do them if unchecked, and needs to get better.

I dislike basically all the Izzy ships, though. The kink meme is so overloaded with Ed/Izzy and Steddy Hands and I just have no interest. I don't even look at fics on AO3 that contain them. Izzy/OC is where it's at for me for the most part (it's no secret that I love @mottlemoth's John Bryce as someone to willingly deal with him and help him work through his issues), maybe Izzy/Lucius.

Especially controversial take, maybe? Izzy correlates a lot to Snape, and I always wonder how many people's opinions of both fall on the same lines.

#I consider myself the platonic form of Izzy ENJOYER #in that I enjoy him very much but am not exactly an Izzy FAN #I find his fuckups so so funny #please let me remind you again that I wrote Ed wagering him on a knife-throwing contest in order to win Stede #and it was NOT dramatic it was a snap decision because Ed's heartstrings were tugged by Stede #(this was an AU where they'd never met before) #but I worry that this makes people think I want to just write him getting punished because I hate him and it's not the case #ofmd #ofmd meta #ask meme

[banavalope]

Thank u for the thought out discussions. Shipping discourse is like the most difficult thing to talk about with any sort of nuance (in American fandom spaces) cause a huge number of ppl will take anything you say to mean “I literally love seeing irl children getting abused” I’ve never wished more to be fluent in another language so I could step out of this US-centric bubble

While I can't speak to what fandoms of other countries are like - though I have made a large number of fandom friends outside of the US - I can say at the very least, US fandom is among the most reactionary. If I'm going to be brutally honest, I can't even blame anyone in fandom for being reactionary. So many people acting in bad faith or just being too exhausted having to explain themselves, people trying to protect themselves; like, man I get it.

But like, I'm an artist working hard towards posting more of my own original content yeah? I want to have a discussion with My Audience(tm) about my characters and the narrative I'm constructing around them. I see art as a conversational device. I can use fiction to temporarily place myself in the role of "agreeing" with a perspective I disagree with, for the purpose of exploring a theme that asks a much bigger question. Maybe that's what we're failing to break down what we mean properly, and why so many people in fandom will jump to the immediate assumption that writing about a topic in fiction places you in support of it.

Like, in my writing of Amadeus, he uses his status to manipulate a situation to his advantage, and it ruins his life. In narrative I've loosely constructed this as "he's outed for cheating in a battle of the bands type concert, he parasocially manipulates his fans and pays off another band in order to win. when he's found out for this one incident, other actions of his are put under a microscope; as a result, he's banned from participating in concerts altogether, and his career takes such a massive hit that he's unable to respectably recover" This is my way of starting a conversation about cancel culture, neither in favor of nor against any side of it. Amadeus has a redemption arc as a means to explore how artists relate themselves to their art, how we place our worth on the consumption of our art, social (media) expectations, the sensationalization of innocuous events, what puts someone in a position where they feel they have no choice but to make a very poor decision, and how an artist reconciles with the mistakes they make.

The twist is, I don't actively care about making a stance on my opinions of cancel culture. You'd think I do with the way I gave a character this entire backstory, but I've tricked you. It's a thematic device.

That's the energy of discussion I want to support having with people. Far be it from me to tell people how I think they need to live their lives or experience them, all I can do is ask questions and hope I find someone with the same level of enthusiasm who wants to answer. My world becomes more informed that way.

[otakween]

I'm Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 14

Woohoo! New character and a new arc. I like new girl's shaggy hair and her black and white outfit is cute too.

Ch. 65

A nice, strong start to this volume. Very surprised to see COVID incorporated, but I guess it's set in present day after all. Interesting that the mangaka decided to use the 2020 situation for commentary/character development.

The idea of sorcerers being unable to produce viable offspring is super interesting. It's always good to give big debuffs to OP characters (unless they're child free and don't care lol).

Malita moment with Yuusuke was nice, but I feel uncomfy seeing him so wholesome all of the sudden. He's definitely developed as a character, but he still spews stupid, self-righteous BS so it's like...has he changed though??

Hakozaki confronting Yuusuke about his weirdo misanthropy was satisfying, especially the "you're no better than those who commit genocide" bit. You tell him! His "I'm just doing what seems right from my perspective" seems like a weak excuse...

Kinda yikes for a manga character to be "on the side of COVID," but at least he says "but the innocent lives being taken thing isn't cool" lol. Edgy, but not "get the mangaka cancelled levels of edgy."

Glenda based as always with her "teenagers say dumb shit because their brains aren't fully developed" observations (paraphrased haha).

Kinda hilarious how Glenda was like "Oh, by the way feminism is a thing" to Jangani and he was like "that will never catch on." Cue it immediately catching on a panel later LOL. I was surprised to see Yuusuke say "Japan is pretty behind" when talking about gender equality in the US vs. Japan. Love that a Japanese writer acknowledged that. (Not to be all rah-rah USA though).

The goblins IRL being labelled "Chupacabra" is genius.

Ch. 66

Yuusuke helps Keita rehabilitate his dad who just got out of prison. Good to see some more 1 on 1 character time.

Yuusuke's such a smartass. It's a good thing he was taken down a peg last chapter because in this one you'd think he was smarter than everyone (although I guess the bar is low with Keita's dad and his goons)

The revelation about how dragon bishops are created was interesting. I'm a little confused about the dead fetus thing. Does that mean the younger dragon bishops were that way from birth and then just grew normally?? That would be an interesting story to follow. Are they evil as little kids or does that come about during puberty? lol

Keita's dad just conveniently doesn't notice Keita and Yuusuke using magic right in front of him. Also isn't surprised by two teenagers easily beating up 3 grown men.

I was relieved that Yuusuke acknowledged that Keita's dad isn't "healed" and that he'll most likely relapse again. We don't need anymore talk-no-jutsu insta redemption

Ch. 67

Hmmm that chapter was kinda weird. All over the place in tone. Excited to have a new character and a new arc though!

New girl is Taiwanese, I like her design and air-headedness, but like a lot of the other characters, I was kinda annoyed by how quickly she got used to the idea of being in another world. Also, I rolled my eyes when she brought up feng shui (like: "geddit?? She's from Taiwan!")

Not sure if it's clever or lazy to have the fantasy world mirror the politics of ours. I guess for me it makes things more interesting because it's more relatable and cool to hear the differing perspectives the characters have on things like dictatorships and imperialism. (We get another nod to America in this chapter). Interesting to think about Japanese people keeping up with American politics (although I guess that's only natural considering America's place in the world).

Yuusuke has an existential crisis because they've time-skipped another 85 years. I feel like a big jump like that makes things less interesting because they won't be able to do as many callbacks to older characters. Will we get a resolution to Malita's story?

I liked that Hakozaki called out the fact that the Master only reaches out to Yuusuke and no one else. I really hope they continue to develop her skeptical side. It'd be cool to see her take on Yuusuke in a fight one day.

That Chinese dragon design was so cool! I hope we get to see more of that monster.

Ch. 68

The corruption of the local government and strategies for solving this arc's goal are discussed. In other words, mainly a world building/team work heavy chapter, which I always enjoy the most.

I feel like this writer is actually pretty good at explaining politics/government in easy-to-digest ways. Could they help me understand IRL stuff too, please? lol

Interesting use of the revival mechanic here where they use Hakozaki as live bait. I like that their "immortality" has a lot of clear cut rules so they can't really abuse it too often, but it's still a nice advantage to have.

Yuka getting abruptly eaten by a sea serpent was pretty funny. Hope she's not just absent for the rest of the chapter now.

I found it weird that the refugees were like "oh that money? Worthless." but then they say "it will keep the 8 of you fed for a month." So...not worthless? That still sounds like a good chunk of change to me!

Ch. 69 (nice)

Holy shit! This chapter was so, so good. First of all, Iu finally gets some long-awaited focus and second, there was just so much intrigue jam packed into this between the revelations of how the new city's religion/culture works, the different characters reactions to that, and that cliffhanger ending with Iu being suddenly acknowledged as a messiah! Only problem is...the next volume isn't out yet so I gotta sit here in suspense ;-;

The oppressive theocracy being portrayed here is clearly supposed to mirrored after the Taliban. Pretty heavy stuff for an isekai manga, but a fair target I would say. I thought it was interesting how Iu and Keita went back and forth between "well, it's a different culture we need to respect that" and "fuck that! This is inexcusable." Obviously, when it comes to the Taliban, the "fuck this" attitude is probably the "correct" one, but sometimes other cultures/religions skirt that line and you need to judge on a person-by-person basis...if that makes sense. Like how there's a difference between women who wear head coverings because of an oppressive regime (fuck that!) and those who wear them as a personal choice (different culture, let's respect it). I feel like philosophy fans would like this manga...a lot to discuss.

Iu stepping into the leader role but being insecure about it ("what would Hakozaki do?") was interesting. I kind of thought she was more confident than that, but she has so little screen time I guess I didn't really know her after all lol

Iu being like "lol kay, ready to die now" when she gets sentenced to death but knows she'll just revive was great. Imagine facing a firing squad with that kinda swagger. Kinda badass.

I've never seen Dr. Stone, but the kind of old timey engineering Yuusuke and Kusue did in this chapter (fashioning rope out of sea serpent scales to build a rope/pulley system) reminded me of that series (based on what I've heard). Fun seeing Survivor stuff like that.

#i'm standing on a million lives #100 man no inochi no ue ni ore wa tatteiru #damn I had a lot to say this time #manga #this series has come a long way

[svtskneecaps]

had a dream that i was part of one of those "team of kids who save the world" type things, w about five others, and there was a bit at the beginning that i forgot most of (bc i rarely remember the beginnings very well) but at some point there was time travel involved and although we stopped some event from happening in the past it meant (paradoxically) that we never formed the team at all, and so later we all ended up in a convenience store (run by the mentor figure) and shit went down and turns out one member of the team actually did remember everything (or was told everything by the mentor guy? unclear) but when the evil began to rise up again we were sent back into the fray with much enthusiasm but very little of our past skill, except for that ONE KID who had these powders with various capabilities (i remember trying them out on a couple birds upstairs, the two that were "strong powder" and a powder that gives you wings which the bird was absolutely thrilled about, though it wore off quickly), and bc my dreams are generally framed like movies he looked dope as shit during a kind of sequence where he's taking on a hoard of minions while the boss is off somewhere else like "they lack discipline.... all except one" (cut to that dude w jars of powder flying around him exploding over her army)

anyway i also remember a but where the big boss realizes that in the original timeline one of her current minions was the badass kid's mentor figure (i suppose there was a redemption arc i didn't get to see) and over an intercom was like "i'll fuck him up if you don't turn yourself in" and the dream cut to the scientist minion mentor like pissed as hell calling two people (friends?) on his desk phones like "i'm quitting fuck this job and that lady" (he also had a binder on his desk visible in frame with something important written in it, i forgot what it was but let's call it powder like the badass was using bc that's probably close enough).

anyway then it turns out either all that actually WAS a movie and i was somehow watching it happen on a computer in my basement? except that computer had two website links on it that were unreleased to the public and related to the movie and somehow important enough that i wrote down the urls (one of them had appeared on the scientist minion mentor's computer and the other had been mentioned during the phone call, though i don't remember what either of them are anymore)

then i went upstairs and my dad teased me about long showers like he does irl and i was like NOOO I WAS WATCHING A MOVIE and then i woke up

#not kpop #shut up vic #vic's dream tag #was wild lmao

[problemswithbooks]

Having experienced racists like billy irl and enduring their bs “growth” I’m personally very glad that he didn’t get some redemption arc or whatever. Something my mom pointed out to me: would billy have reacted the same if el were black? Racism is so hard to stop like that takes years and years if it was ingrained as it was for billy. I stop experiencing attraction once an ugly side like racism is exposed and I have a hard time understanding people who don’t stop. Maybe experience or empathy is key I don’t know. Sorry this is a topic that is so touchy and I don’t know why but even trying for a character like billy when you don’t even like him that much. I don’t know man why even try?

I totally get why you wouldn't like a character like Billy having endured their racism in RL. Those people are shitty and a lot of media does focus way to much on the white character having a change of heart, rather then the black person they terrorized. That's more then enough to leave a sour taste in your mouth and be happy Billy didn't get a redemption arc.

As for if he would have had a different reaction to El if she was black--I say probably he would, simply because the Duffers needed him to. Billy's honestly a character that only exists to be a tool for the creators. All characters are, but for main characters the narrative has to shift to accommodate them so they feel more organic. You can't just force them to do something you want if that action would conflict with prior characterization (well, you can but it's really jarring).

Billy isn't that type of character. He was originally made to be the minor antagonist of season 2--the human threat that causes problems and throws up roadblocks for the gang, especially when it comes to how/if Max can help them out. He's there to create tension, so when Max is with the gang, you wonder when he'll show up and get in their way.

In season 3 the Duffers needed him to be way more likable because suddenly his character has to carry the weight of the main plot. If he was still season 2 Billy no one would probably notice or care that he was acting weird. The Mind Flayer pleading for Max to let him out wouldn't have affected her at all because she hated Season 2 Billy completely. Most of his characterization was booted season 3 because they didn't need Billy to be the human antagonist anymore. And though it's not a great choice, for a very minor character like Billy who was already built from nothing but tropes it's easy to slot him into a new role and discard past characterization.

When it comes to Billy being attractive I think there's a difference between seeing that's he's an objectively attractive person according to society's standards of beauty and wanting to actually be with him. Personally, I just don't like it when people try to say someone is physically ugly because they're a bad person, because I think that enforces the idea that looks have anything to do how good a person is. I can see that Billy is objectively attractive, while not being attracted to his his personality.

It's fine that it's touchy subject for you. There have certainly been characters that hit to close to home for me and I didn't like talking about them, and certainly couldn't take a step back and look them as the meat puppet controlled by words on the page that they are. And being able to do that doesn't make me better or my opinions more valid then yours.

I'm white so I've never had to deal with racists like Billy targeting me, so it's easy for me to shake his character and see what comes out. To see how he works from a writing perspective and browse his tag to see how fans reacted to him and ask myself why. And that's just generally how I consume and enjoy things--by picking them apart. Even if it's not a character that's my fav.

#ask #thanks for the ask!! :) #hope I answered this okay

[thetrashywritingwitch]

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