#it's sad but in a way terribly in character for her imo

[randomnameless]

In regards to how much of the Church bad rhetoric is supported by the Fódlan games themselves, from what i've seen of Three Houses' JP script there isn't really that much support for those arguments there outside of heavily biased sources that the audience should take with massive doses of salt like Edelgard, Dorothea or Lysithea; i'd argue that it wasn't until IS and/or KT decided to, for whatever reason, take the lolcalized church-demonizing script and fandom reaction of EN 3H to heart when making Three Hopes that they really started believing they wrote Rhea and the Church as being the hidden villains of the verse, and that JP 3H is (mostly) free of the issue of making stupid arguments just to try and criticize the Church for things it can't be reasonably blamed for.

I agree with the things you say, but about the biased sources...

Well, the games of course hammer the player with biased sources, Supreme Leader and her court, Claude, the Abyss residents -

Which is doubly funny for the Abyss residents, because their "Church BaD" is completely bonkers, given how it's the Church who offers them a crappy, and yet existing shelter.

"The Church wants us gone" Dude, if they really wanted you gone, Rhea would have deployed the knights to evacuate the Abyss as fast as she organised her expedition to put the Bishop of the Western Church to the sword.

Doubly funny bcs the Big Boss of the Abyss, Yuri, is sekritly Rhea's agent!

Of course being a secret agent, he can't tell people to use their mind and think - if the Central Church wanted them gone, why are they sheltering you all here, under Garreg Mach the most important site to them, and giving you, albeit in measly quantities, food and water? Rhea is the one who named the class "Ashen Wolves" - it would be pointless to give a name to the class of abyss resident who are considered unofficial students of the officer's academy, if she really wanted to purge the Abyss, right?

I understand in CS this was used as a red herring for Aelfie, who is akshually the one who runs the Abyss and spreads the "Church BaD Rhea BaD" sentiment because of his own agenda and opinions, but with 3 (counting the DLC) routes having biased narrators against the CoS in FE16 (out of 5) you'd have to wonder what was the point -

Was it only to sell Hresvelg Grey? To sell Billy becoming God and the "new" head of Church being a necessity so the former has to suck?

IDK.

FWIW, Nopes gave us one (1) NPC who, from the start, says something positive about the Church rebuking the biased statement everyone is throwing around, Mark the NPC, who says accusations of corruption of the Central Church and wyvern poo, since Rhea and Seteth both punish people who take bribes or commit crimes...

And yet, for one Mark, we have many lines spoken with bias against the Church, and no one bothers to correct them (the church forces you to marry ? Uh, no, I've heard the story of a woman who left her land to marry a foreign king! - Church forces you to have responsabilities through crusts : no? Almyra and Brigid have royalty, and Brigid royals want to protect their people thinking it is both their duty and something they want, and yet the Brigid royal line has no crust? Ditto for Almyra? - crusts are the reasons why nobles act like asses : No, Kleimann offed Lambert not because he was jelly Lambert had a crust, but because he wanted more lands and opposed the King's reforms?)

KT wanted their golden route, but because Supreme Leader is the main thorn to any Golden Route (tfw the person who wants to conquer neighboring lands has to work with the people who don't want to be conquered and are fighting for survival in a war the previous person started :( ) everyone has to ally against a common enemy, and it fell on the CoS (with Dimitri getting the nonsensical Zahras scene) - is it it because Nopes follows an Agarthan narrative, as opposed to FE16 having Billy stand-in for a Nabatean centred narrative?

I still find it hilarious that the Nopes writers bent Dimitri, and, arguably Clout, in bonkers versions of themselves to justify Nopes, but couldn't find a way to, uh, have Supreme Leader realise the Mole People are the biggest threat to the world and the Lizards aren't that evil to begin with, provided you don't try to kill them ; that's why Supreme Bullshit started to be something interesting, Supreme Leader targets the Mole People first, but then it became a traditional Supreme Leader route, erasing the lizards took precedence over everything - even if she knows Uncle and pals are still slithering around since she never caught him - so the second she can become Emperor, she returns to her original plan, not giving a fig about Uncle and hunting Lizards to MAGA.

Compare this to Rhea, in the very same route, at the end, who has to fight against the Empire (who's out for her head) and the Mole People - and Rhea dgaf about the Empire anymore, the biggest threat to Fodlan are the Mole People - she doesn't target/aim/attack Supreme Leader and Barney in the ending cinematic, she flies over them, to defeat the "real" enemy, Thales.

#anon #replies #sorry i ranted #Supreme Bullshit reveals a lot about Supreme Leader and imo demolished a lot of stan theories #about Supreme Leader's goals #it makes another parallel though on why they didn't pursue the mole people #rhea after nemesis tries to rebuild Fodlan and look after its residents that's why she doesn't go after the mole people #and ultimately comes to the conclusion that the only way Fodlan can work again is if Sothis returns #but Supreme Leader after kicking the mole people out of Adrestia #doesn't pursue them to start her war of conquest #poor yuri #Imagine him having to keep his thoughts to himself and not frown or roll his eyes whenever Hapi talks #or random Abyss NPC 55 who tells him the Central Church doesn't like them #Nopes writers couldn't twist Supreme Leader in a version of herself who learns the truth and works with the lizards for a better fodlan no #it's sad but in a way terribly in character for her imo

[bonefall]

Thank you for removing the romance between Gray Wing and Turtle Tail, I personally never really liked that ship. Not sure why, but I like them better as friends.

I ALSO like them better as friends, but to be totally fair, I also just don't like Gray Wing lmaoooooo

He's awful in-canon. He's everything terrible about how the writers portray "nice guys" and ALL of his romances were trash. All FOUR of them.

He's totally oblivious to how Bright Stream is being pressured into leaving the mountain, because he's thirsting about how lucky his brother is to have such a beautiful woman as a mate. Then he gets her killed by tripping like a teenager in a horror movie during Eagle Quicktime Event 44 and mopes about it, until they decide her death was Nobody's Fault :)

Storm is really not that into him, she's pretty obviously just friendly and polite, but he spends all his time with her anyway neglecting all of his other friendships. Until Storm has a Hotel Transylvania ass ZING moment looking into Clear Sky's Baby Blue Eyes and falls in true love. Gray Wing doesn't notice this, of course, and gets dumped. Then when she runs off while pregnant later he just lets her, so that he can have a casual chit-chat with his brother over some guy's dead corpse.

He was treating Turtle Tail like ABSOLUTE shit the entire time he was courting Storm, screaming at her about having the wrong friends, not giving her the time of day, and when Storm dumps him he goes crawling back to her only to find out she's moving in with Bumble.

And then later he sneers about a fat woman trying to escape domestic abuse, this is a series for kids where he's framed as the good guy

and he gets to have a Wowowowow Sooo Cooool moment SAVING TURTLE TAIL FROM TOM THE WIFEBEATER, because it's as if the ONLY reason poor fucking Turtle Tail exists as a character is to serve HIS arc. Before she gets turned into a pancake by a car so he can be sad about it

And then, after THREE women have already died in various awful ways so that Gray Wing can feel bad, Slate fades into existence like a powerpoint slide halfway through the series. Now he can finally have his own children, who don't drop him the minute they find out he's not their biodad

Where was Slate before? We don't know! We killed off so many women that we had to beam in new ones. Just replace them. They're basically all interchangeable and Gray Wing was such a good boy, he "deserves" a reward.

So, for my AU... GOD no. Not happening. None of these relationships were worth salvaging, imo. Gray Wing dies in the first book like GOD INTENDED.

#bone babble #your honor. i hate him #also in BB xeir pronouns are xey/xem because BLASTED with the third gender beam. trinyary gender system my beloved #DOTC hate #Btw you can filter my DOTC hate by adding that to your tag filters #I had an influx and I'm sorry everyone new <3 I am the notorious hater <3

[kit-foley]

Nancy Drew Games are 50% off on Steam right now so here are some shitty descriptions of the games for newbies or partners (not in order, also spoilers)

Secrets can kill: dickface high schooler was pushed down a flight of stairs, find out who did it

The Silent Spy: Nancy has mommy issues and cosplays as a spy in Scotland

Sea of Darkness: all of the characters have trauma around a ship. featuring the only canonically queer character.

Deadly Device: tech bro gets electrocuted, who did it oh noooo. Feat: women in stem

Midnight in Salem: Glitch-wise, this is the fandom-equivalent of the first release of FNAF Security Breach but doesn’t nearly slay as hard and they didn’t patch any of the bugs. Haven’t played it but the fandom is 50/50 on it, maybe 80/20 against

Shattered Medallion: off brand amazing race goes wrong, feat. A recurring character who you’re supposed to know

Alibi in Ashes: Nancy didn’t commit arson (this time) so who the fuck did? See also, “I can commit major theft and prod you about your dead mom, but I draw the line at arson.”

The Captive Curse: monster and intergenerational trauma, beautifully told story. Plus lederhosen.

Shadow at the Waters Edge: ghosts and intergenerational trauma, beautifully told story. Plus kawaii

Ghost of Thornton hall; ghosts and intergenerational trauma, beautifully told story. Plus southern people.

The Final Scene: nancys friend who we’ve never met gets kidnapped. Plus magic tricks/Houdini. Plus old man.

The Haunted Carousel: Dead mom plus the most annoying daughter you’ll ever encounter and her emotional support robot. Also you’re supposed to fix a theme park

Danger by Design: Parisian fashion designer with anger issues and also might deny that nazis happened during wwii

Curse of blackmoor manor: British girl says oh no my stepmom is turning into a werewolf

Warnings at Waverly Academy; the trailer for this one said something like “I hang out with teenage girls in this one, it could be my scariest case yet”, basically be prepared to do other students homework. Also immaculate dark academia/fall vibes tho

Phantom of Venice: white boy of the month shows you his seven hour tesserae slideshow and you single-handedly bring down a crime ring while wearing stupid outfits

Trail of the Twister: someone is sabotaging a storm chasing team but Nancy cares more about asking the local general store owner about his dead wife

Secret of the Old Clock: It’s magically 1930 again, this game feels so far off brand from pretty much all of the other ones imo but the music goes HARD and there’s def some homoerotic tensions between a dead old man and his live-in psychic

Legend of the Crystal Skull: make a curio shop owner sneeze, collect glass eyeballs, watch a Gerard Way look-alike cry, and maybe get buried alive

Haunting of Castle Malloy: banshees and letterpress and a pub that conveniently only serves juice. Terrible Irish accents. Try to find a missing groom for a wedding but also enjoy a walking sim that walked so Stardew Valley could run

Creature of Kapu Cave: get stuck in a tourist trap resort by a guy who calls himself Big Island Mike, then get stuck in a forest with an entomologist who makes you do her work for her, then get stuck in a research facility with an angry white guy who makes you do his work and then falls asleep. Music slaps but no idea what the plot of the game is supposed to be. Also do a “freaky friday” style switch with the Hardy Boys every time you call them on your cell phone.

Last train to Blue Moon canyon: picture Paris Hilton inviting you on a train and then she goes missing. Also on the train with you: the worst police detective, Zak Bagans impersonator, and Colleen Hoover-vibes.

White Wolf of Icicle Creek: “I fired. And I missed. I missed again. I got sad. I had a popsicle.”

#nancy drew #her interactive #nancy drew games #clue crew

[familyagrestefanblog]

Hi! Been loving reading through all your Miraculous reblogs and the meta you've written - you have some really great stuff on this blog! I was curious if you've ever written/reblogged anything talking about how, from the very start of the show, Miraculous uses Tikki as Marinette's absolver? Marinette "makes mistakes" and "owns up to them" according to Astruc's tweets, but I find myself feeling that the "accountability" she takes is rarely related to what she did wrong in the first place, even when the show tries to tell us otherwise, and it's usually Tikki or a different yes-man, like Alya or Adrien, absolving her of her mistakes, whether the situation had anything to do with them or not. Ikari Gozen is an episode that always comes to mind for this - Marinette is absolutely terrible to Kagami, sabotaging her, badmouthing her, and going through her phone. Marinette never expresses remorse to anyone but Tikki, but Tikki absolved her so the narrative never addresses the issue again. Tikki tells her "it's never too late to make things right" and Marinette invites Kagami out for juice without ever taking accountability for her previous actions. And Kagami just GOES with it, even stating that SHE was wrong about Marinette and that she understand why Adrien values her. I I will admit, I don't really like Marinette as a character, because I find her consistent self-absorption, and the narrative's endorsement of it, to be really maddening, but I'm pretty new to the fandom, and the subreddit isn't a great place to find thoughtful analysis, so I'm looking for perspectives here! Thank you for your time!

Hey, thank you so much for your kind words! <3 sorry for taking so long. I've had my ask box deactivated for several years now and i completely forgot about me already having started replying in my drafts. 😭👏

__

No, I don't think I've ever written or reblogged something about Marinette's dynamic with Tikki, but I do have thought about it. For me, their dynamic is just lacking much... idk, substance? I remember reading from Marinette stans that they think Marinette and Tikki have a much deeper bond than Adrien and Plagg which is something I simply cant understand at all. Plagg is the only person Adrien actually truly HAS in all the neglect and bad treatment he's stuck in from all sides. Plagg takes on so many roles for his kid and has grown so much because Adrien needed it.

The thing is, Tikki and Marinette's dynamic is very different so I'm just not able to properly read them because I personally would need a Plagg in my life and that's perfectly fine. That's why I dont talk about them.

But about your point now:

I definitely agree that Tikki is one of the main indicators about what is wrong about the way Marinette is written as protagonist, especially since the retooling in season 4. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Tikki also used to have a bigger presence in the how which was by now mostly made redundant by Alya always being with Marinette and in season 4 Marinette (unnecessarily and dangerously) keeping all the Kwamis outside the box all times so they too stole screen time from Tikki.

So Tikki lost alot of her personality. I believe to remember her also being more energetic and excited in the earlier seasons, showing off more to her character, which would by now make her yet another character the show sucked alot of their life out of so they aren't in the way for Marinette. Tikki seems alot more down these days, that I definitely noticed.

Marinette has Alya now, if that makes Tikki sad because she isn't relying on her the way she did before then Tikki has to deal with it quietly and not bother Marinette (seriously, Tikki reminds me ALOT of Adrien and they're both treated badly in the narrative for Marinette’s sake :/)

And this reduced characterization makes it by now very noticeable imo that Tikki herself as a Kwami often doesn't really know what is going on because she lacks experience with alot of things. I wholeheartedly agree that Tikki is one of Marinette's strongest and most damaging enablers because Tikki is because of it not actually allowed to be challenged in her dynamic with Marinette the way Plagg is with Adrien. Where Plagg is allowed to grow, Tikki is kept the same because Marinette is not allowed to be really pushed back on.

The show has to my memory always been quite open about Tikki not being familiar with alot of things so Marinette can explain things to her. The problem comes, as you say, from the show then weirdly still acting like Tikki saying some random vaguely positive thing about whatever Marinette just did.. suddenly meaning it doesn't need to be taken care of anymore?

It's the same thing as the show has Adrichat, Alya or Luka do. Most of what the narrative and Marinette as the main character want to hear at this point is being told positive things whenever something went wrong. If that positive thing actually holds any water the way it was executed is beyond irrelevant which reflects incredibly badly especially on Marinette because she is the main beneficiary.

Again, remember Cat Charming in "Kuro Neko". From Marinette's perspective he should have no valid opinion on the Ladynoir conflict AT ALL because he just arrived half an hour ago and never even met Chat Noir in her eyes. But still, Marinette made him the deciding voice of the Ladynoir conflict, absolving her of all blame to entirely put it on Chat Noir, because Cat Charming validated her and said positive things about her mistakes so she doesn't have to really think about them as mistakes anymore if she wishes to not have been in the wrong.

Which for the show somehow equals that she isn't and they aren't real mistakes anymore she should genuinely work on (and therefore still hasn't really beyond surface level)?

Who tf cares if this is literally not how it works and how badly it reflects on Marinette as a character that any random dipshit can walk up to her, validate her, and she'll just... GO with it (making Marinette ironically the most endangered person regarding Cerise now because that girl has plenty of identities and Marinette doesn't give a damn who's validating her as long as she's validated by a person not explicitly telling her they're evil)

Where was I? Ah, Tikki!

Tikki is at the end of the day yet another character who's kindness is kinda weaponized by now by Marinette's narrative.

We've reached a point where one kinda has to say that Marinette shouldn't be told optimistically positive things anymore because not rarely will these words just be used to sweep Marinette's biggest flaws under the rug when it really wouldn't have hurt anyone to simply cover the damn conflict at hand.

As you said, there are writing rules, but I think they were "Marinette has to make a mistake every episode" and "Marinette has to learn something every episode". And as you correctly said, these two things often don't necessarily go hand in hand. To the point where the thing she learns is making the initial mistake even worse (I wanted to look for a more precise example, but at this point it's literally all of Ladynoir)

Which of course absolves her of having to properly take her blame or accountability in ot of cases, too. If I were to approach it in bad faith, I would say that this is exactly the reason why the writing rules don't specify that the lesson learned needs to be about the mistake she made... and that's exactly what I'm saying. Bad faith sounds rather realistic to me.

I remember someone having had made a post where they explained that Marinette as protagonist is written like a villain or antagonist, and the more I look at all the aspects of this show the more does that take check out.

__

(damn, I am out of PRACTICE in responding to asks! I hope I didn't talk right past the point you wanted to hear in my response. If I did, please clarity with another ask, I'm not sensitive to that)

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #ml critical #Marinette critical #Marinette and Tikki #I really feel bad for Tikki #She reminds me so much of Adrien #Ml writing critical

[noname-nonartist]

same anon as before

i wasn’t trollin i am being serious megumi act cold and aloof towards goujo similar how shiho is to shizuku and how affectionate goujo is to megumi similar to how shizuku is to shiho

don’t you see it?

:|c

I mean… I guess???

But that’s more like a superficial comparison imo.

Like sure my comparison of the Hinomori Sis and the Zenin Sis doesn’t have much in common, but I never really stated that their dynamics are similar. Just that they both have a bit of similarities but are ultimately different characters.

And the thing is. Gojo and Megumi’s relationship are so different from Shizuku and Shiho’s relationship that you can slide Jupiter in.

(Expiration under the cut I guess)

Okay. So like. Hot jjk take I guess, but I never see Gojo as like a dad to Megumi.

Like at most I can maybe. Mayyyyybe see Gojo as an older brother figure to Megumi.

But not a good older brother figure. The type of older brother that would emotional neglect and emotionally abuse you, type of older brother. And the type that would laugh off your pain.

Like Gojo… isn’t that emotional smart. Or like. He sort of aware of emotions but it would fly over his head.

Like he would notice someone is feeling sad, but doesn’t understand the source of that sadness. Ya know?

And like. Shizuku is very emotionally intelligent. Sure Shizuku is bit of an airhead, but she can always tell when someone is upset, even if they tries to hide it.

And example of this would be when Shizuku and Shiho were kids. Both of them were waiting for their mother during Tsukimi. But when their mother isn’t able to Shiho was really saddened about it. And she hid it since she felt like she was being selfish if she were to cry since Shizuku is also probably feeling lonely too.

However, Shizuku instantly knew that Shiho was feeling lonely so she instantly hug Shiho and comfort her and reassured Shiho that it’s okay to cry.

Not only Shizuku is very aware of people’s emotions, she would also go out of her way to understand the person’s feelings too even if they are being terrible to her.

During her time in Cheerful*Days (the idol group she was in before she quits and later joined the main group MORE MORE Jump), the members were being toxic towards Shizuku, always hiding her outfits before a show, talking smack about her loudly so she can hear, and ostracizing Shizuku.

And Shizuku still took the time to understand the other members’ emotions. Shizuku understood that they not only feel jealous for Shizuku’s popularity and more jobs opportunities, but they also felt like that Shizuku was using them.

In the beginning, every one within Cheerful*Days actually gotten along and were a good group together. However, due to how Shizuku’s skills in dancing and singing aren’t as good, the other members would try and support her the best they can during practice. During interviews, since Shizuku had to uphold an image that wasn’t really her, the members would try their best to help change the topic of fill in time when Shizuku started to forget her lines.

But since Shizuku was the center of the group (the mangers’ decision) and was the most popular member, she unfortunately have her schedule constantly busy and had to miss out on a good amount of practice sessions with the group.

It gotten so bad to the point where Shizuku wasn’t able to attend a concert due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict in which the members were understandably upset at Shizuku for it. And when Shizuku said that she shouldn’t be a center at all, that’s when one of the members, Arisa, snapped and yelled at Shizuku that she shouldn’t just throw away a title that people would dream to have like it’s garbage.

Hence the start of the toxic behavior towards Shizuku from the members.

Shizuku understood that the members were feeling used and that Shizuku was unintentionally neglecting them and taking their support for granted. And so Shizuku blamed herself for the spilt and changed in dynamics.

Of course that is a flaw about Shizuku, she never bear any ill wills towards other people and would usually assume that she’s the root cause of the problem. Even though in actuality the main cause were the mangers since they were the one that made Shizuku the center and were supposed to be in charge of her schedule too. But of course the other members needed a finger to point to since they are all young teens like Shizuku, so they all pointed it at her.

Ah. Oops. Accidentally got a bit sidetracked. Umm… O-O;

Basically, that’s how much Shizuku would always try and understand the other person’s emotions even if they are being horrible towards her!

What else…

Oh right. The whole “Megumi is also acting cold and aloof like Shiho” statement. Okay.

So the reason why this statement doesn’t hold any water once you actually look and understand the characters, is that….

Megumi doesn’t hold any sort of affection towards Gojo.

I mean, why should he? Gojo literally told him to get stronger of you’ll get left behind.

Sure Gojo might have good inventions (HUGE DOUBT), but like… do you know how damaging that is to tell a small kid that? You are basically saying to the kid “Hey, if you don’t get strong. I’ll throw you out to the streets.”

And tbh, I highly doubt Gojo had any good intentions anyway. He was just using Megumi for his political purposes.

And like Gojo was never really there for Megumi emotionally either, so it would make sense why Megumi is so cold and distant towards Gojo.

Compare that to Shiho.

Shiho actually makes an effort on building and maintaining relationships. Sure she struggles at first since she’s been so alone during middle school, but once her childhood friends showed their determination, Shiho is willing to respond back to that friendship in kind. And Shiho has also made new friends during her time at high school too. Like with Kohane, Minori, and even An and Mizuki later on.

And Shiho deeply (and I mean deeply) cares for Shizuku.

Not only was Shizuku there for Shiho emotionally when their parents wasn’t (not out of ill intent tho, their parents were just always very busy due to work but ya know). But Shizuku was a huge inspiration for Shiho. Shiho always sees how hard Shizuku tried during her idol career, and how professional Shizuku is being. Which inspires Shiho to work even harder to be a pro bass player.

The reason why Shiho acts a bit cold and distant is because… Shiho is just like that. Shiho generally talk in blunt and unintentional cold manners. She also pretty stubborn too.

Even as a kid. She would want to do things her way and doesn’t like it when someone tells her to do it a different way.

Hell, rumors within her middle school years started due to people spreading that Shiho’s mean and rude, when in reality that’s just how Shiho talks. (#Shiho is autistic headcannon)

And like. Shiho sometimes would like her own space too. Shizuku can be overbearing at times with her affection heh.

And I already explained how Shizuku and Shiho’s relationship became distant in this txt post, so I won’t repeat it here.

But basically Shizuku and Shiho both love each other very deeply.

While Gojo and Megumi never actually had that type of bond with each other. It was very. Um. What’s the word? Oh right. Transactional.

Gojo supports Megumi and his Sis financially as long as Megumi becomes a strong sorcerer. There was never an emotional bond between them.

But like. I could be wrong since it’s been a while since I’ve reread jjk.

Sure, jjk was my hyperfixation, but that was like… three hyperfixations ago lmaooo~

So details could have been lost to me since my memory be trash kek.

That’s all tho. I hope my explanation was somewhat coherent. =3=;

#um. I guess I should actually tag this properly since this is sort an analysis now. #I mean. I guess it is? #asks #my txt #jjk #project sekai #shizuku hinomori #shiho hinomori #jujutsu kaisen #pjsk #prjsk #pjsekai #gojo satoru #megumi fushiguro #character analysis #hinomori sisters #hinomori siblings #my ramblings #my thoughts #long post

[pawznacho]

Here are my personal opinions about the TGCF donghua S2 character designs!! (I don't have anything else to do with my life)

So, I've seen a lot of people hate on the new designs, especially on Qi Rong and Goushi Fang Xin's. I mean, they surprised me too, but I wouldn't necessarily say they are bad.

For Fang Xin (Xie Lian), his design and colors and stunning, it's just the mask that looked pretty weird to me, but I like how it's butterfly shaped. He's not too recognizable, so it'll do it.

For Qi Rong, yes, the colorful stripes, the purple lipstick, the little accesories, the neon green eyeliner are all absolutely needed and in character. Like, let's think about it, Qi Rong is probably one of the most chaotic and weird MXTX characters we could've met. The manhua version is a masterpiece, but the donghua is really...him. He would always comment on anybody and we also know that he is a born royalty, yet nobody said he's fancy or elegant. I'm pretty sure he'd have a terrible taste in outfits. While Xie Lian is elegant, simple and pretty restrained when it comes to outfits, our guy Qi Rong would have messy, greasy hair, unmatched clothes and jewellery, and absolutely zero sense in styling. He's technically an unintentionally funny, weird and stupid witch sitting in his own little cave with his "cheap son".

Now, let's take a look at Hua Cheng and Shi Qingxuan. Wake up, they are majestic!!

I adored Hua Cheng in his San Lang form. Our little guy looked absolutely adorable yet still like a grumpy teenage boy in love. His original form was also shown at the very end of S1, but honestly, his new design looks so much better. His hair got fluffier, and his features prettier. Also, I love how the edge of his eyepatch became more thin, it simply look cooler now!

Shu Qingxuan, my beloved, I literally love the whole design. I'm pretty sad the female version didn't get her pretty blue eyes, but she still looks as adorable as always. And the male version, it's perfect. He looks elegant, yet kind and adorable, like a true king/queen. Such a bestie material!!

Talking about Shi Qingxuan, Ming Yi is also just so so pretty. Altough I love the "dark 'n edgy Earth Master" vibe he gives off in the manhua, the dunghua version is (imo) better, we are talking about a god's apperance, after all. He's colorful, yet not too vibrant, which is pretty nice, most of the gods we can see there tend to dress colorfully in their own ways (it also makes it more visible that these people all come from different places, having their own traditional stuff).

And for Lan Qianqiu, he instantly became a Fengqing's kid in my eyes. For sure, this is not how I imagined him, I've got used to the dark hair and red accesories, but he looks really good, they did a great job with his design. No matter what, he'll always be a grumpy orange cat!

What do you think? 🦋

#mxtx #danmei #tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #hualian

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT

PRE-PRELIMINARY #19

Submission 55

Tohru Adachi is a better character than Goro Akechi

[SUBMITTED JUSTIFICATION UNDER THE CUT]

Pre-preliminaries will be used to determine what qualifies as a hot take. Propaganda is encouraged!

Also, remember to reblog your favourite polls for exposure! (exposure like when your exposed to critical levels of radiation)

They're both terrible people but P4 doesn't try to justify Adachi's actions even if you pick the accomplice ending and side with him, meanwhile P5 constantly goes 'but he was sad tho :( his daddy doesn't love him so he's allowed to kill ppl' after the reveal that Akechi's the traitor. Also I did the math and in the cutscene where the train gets derailed alone Akechi killed at least 100x more people than Adachi did in the entire game. There's nothing wrong with liking evil characters (IMO) but acting like they're sweet innocent babies is lame

Adachi and Akechi have similar roles in the story. They’re both the subject of the main mystery of their respective games, the killer and the traitor, and in order to hide their involvement, they have fake detective personas (lowercase p personas not Personas). The issue is that while Adachi’s fake personality is a lovable dork who goofs off work by hanging out in the lobby of a department store, “accidentally” leaks critical information about the case to a bunch of teenagers, and has a weird friendship with an old lady who thinks he’s her son, Akechi's is just generic “crime bad, criminals bad” detective man with zero substance to any of his interactions with the main cast outside of literally all of them fucking hating him (the correct and morally right response to Akechi talking to you). But that’s just their fake personalities, right? It’s totally fine for a completely false, constructed persona to be a little shallow, right? Well Akechi’s real personality is just as bad. I already mentioned how his entire motivation is “Waah my dad doesn’t love me so I’m gonna help him achieve his goals then kill him” which is completely fucking stupid by the way just kill the dude and be done with it if thats what you’re gonna do anyway man, but his personality boils down to ‘generic angsty villain whos gonna get a completely undeserved redemption arc’ (thankfully cognitive Akechi killed him before that could happen, the one good thing he did and it wasn’t even really him). Adachi’s real personality is completely unhinged, his big motivation speech can be summed up as “ACAB!” “But you’re a cop!?” YEAH AND I’M A TOTAL BASTARD WHAT PART OF THAT DON’T YOU GET!?” You love to hate him, and that’s what makes a good antagonist, not feeling sorry for him because his dad doesn’t love him. Guess what Akechi, a lot of people's dads don’t love them and none of them became domestic terrorists to try to regain his love and respect!

And you might think that I’m exaggerating with how the player is supposed to sympathise and eventually forgive Akechi, but after he explains his awful motivation, the first person to extend a hand of sympathy is Haru, the girl who’s father Akechi murdered in front of her like two months prior. The second person is Futaba, who spent her entire adolescence traumatised because she thought she was such a shitty daughter that it drove her mother to suicide BECAUSE AKECHI KILLED HER MOTHER IN FRONT OF HER (the dude’s consistent I’ll give him that.)

#persona #persona 4 #persona 5 #tohru adachi #goro akechi #persona 5 akechi #p4 adachi #persona 4 adachi #p5 akechi #hot take #hot take tournament #tournament poll #tumblr bracket #tumblr tournament #tumblr poll #persona 4 spoilers #persona 5 spoilers #unpopular opinion #pre preliminary

[chaifootsteps]

kinda sad that last time there was a longer hiatus between episodes it was after Ozzie's and fans were still looking forward to the show coming back, even those who had some reservations

now it's a break before the Full Moon episode and I'm impatient to see it solely to know how much worse it can possibly get (though I'm happy that the animators are hopefully getting a break over Christmas)

side note, but is there a fandom name where you get protective over a character solely because the narrative keeps insisting they're in the wrong when they clearly aren't? I see people calling Blitzo a POS and etc and while I get why other fans/criticals don't like him as a character, imo no one deserves to be treated the way Stolas has treated him.

No one should need to pass some goalpost-shifting 'Good Person Test' for it to be wrong for them to be exploited and coerced into sex. It's just a distraction, yet again, from talking about how what Stolas did was wrong and he has far less excuse due to his privilege for being a terrible person

I feel like there is a name for it -- TvTropes has Informed Wrongness, but that's a situation, not a character -- that's right on the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite find it. Whatever it is, that's Blitz in a nutshell. Stella too.

Vi's insistence that anyone who upsets Stolas is a gigantic piece of shit regardless of why they did it is throttling her show. It's like if 50 Shades of Gray met an 80s cartoon where the complainer is always wrong.

#Anonymous #Helluva Boss critical #stolitz critical #actual blog post #viv stuff

[dabislittlemouse]

I see you as the authority on Touya so I want your opinion if that’s okay. If some villains working with him captured Fuyumi and planned to do terrible things to her to hurt Endeavor, do you think Touya would help her or just walk away and let it happen because he knows it would hurt their father?

THE AUTHORITY ON TOUYA I CAKCLEDNSK anon plss 😭

*ahem* okay this one’s tough, we remember how Touya said “that means endeavor would suffer” when Shoto told him that Natsu was in danger and could die right?

I never believed for once that Dabi actually didn’t give a shit about Natsu, though his hunger for revenge is much much stronger. ( I need to rewatch the episode of Natsu getting attacked cause honestly I might have forgotten some details). You know when a person has gone completely insane, saying the most unhinged shit, thats how Touya was in that moment, out of his mind, but that doesn’t mean all his words were true. AHH MY POINT IS- try to see it more in depth, Touya doesn’t always show what he truly feels, despite saying the most heinous shit known to man. Just like he’s with the League, he says that he doesn’t care, but you see how he comforts Toga and Twice right..

As for FUYUMI, I personally think that Touya would never let that happen, he actually hasn’t done anything to her so far has he? He wouldn’t go as far as to hurt her just cause of the old man, Touya and Fuyumi literally grew up together, and I just KNOW that he always had a soft spot for his younger sister, no matter what. That’s my opinion.

Toya had a connection with his two siblings, something that he didn’t have with Shoto (knowing that Shoto was constantly separated from his siblings) Touya grew up seeing Shoto as his competition, as the masterpiece that replaced him.

His resentment was never towards his two siblings, it was mostly towards his dad and also Shoto who was his dad’s masterpiece, the replacement of the failure. Sadly Touya doesn’t really see Shoto as his brother imo, constantly calling him a masterpiece, Enji Todoroki’s little puppet, objectifying him in some way, and it’s really sad to see. Hence the reason why he doesn’t hesitate to kill him, to break the masterpiece as Endeavor watches. And to him that is the best version of revenge, the failure killing the masterpiece while his father watches.

My point is, even though Touya is consumed by the need for revenge, I still believe that he still has a place in his heart for Fuyumi, Rei and Natsu. We see it in the episode when he is lying down on the couch, mentioning all his family member’s names: “Mom, Fuyumi-chan, Natsu-kun, Endeavor, Shoto” so Endeavor and Shoto are the only ones who don’t get called like the others do, (Shoto-kun for example, and Dad).

So yeah I yapped this much only because I wanted to bring out this fact on how Touya’s relationship and feelings towards his siblings is.

(THOUGH Touya is still unpredictable, a walking contradiction, you can never know what he actually has in his mind, his character is just so interesting)

#B’s inbox🦋 #touya lore certified yapper is here #sorry anon its kinda 2am here and i’m trying so hard to form proper sentences #this IS JUST A PERSONAL OPINION AND HOW I VIEW THINGS #dabi #touya todoroki #mha dabi

[stupidphototricks]

Absolutely no idea why, but lately I've been on a bender of watching David Tennant shows. I'd already seen Doctor Who, Broadchurch, and Staged, but here are some other things I found easily available recently, in case anyone else is on this journey:

YouTube (the normal free version): Takin' Over the Asylum: 23yo David Tennant with floppy 90s hair! From the few clips I'd seen I was expecting something like Saved By the Bell Goes to Rehab, but it's surprisingly good. Blackpool: Bonus David Morrissey! This is a slightly bizarre concept for a TV series, but I actually dug it. It's pretty much your usual musical where people just stop what they're doing every so often to sing and dance, but instead of musical-type numbers they're all singing along to existing recorded pop music, Carpool Karaoke style. David Tennant plays a cop who is a far cry from his Broadchurch character. Hamlet (incomplete): Bonus Patrick Stewart! The video I found had maybe 20 minutes missing from the end, but maybe the rest is out there somewhere. This theater show uses Shakespeare's original words, but the costumes and props are updated. It's really compelling. Much Ado About Nothing: Bonus Catherine Tate! Basically the same Shakespeare treatment as Hamlet. David and Catherine are so good in this, separately and together, and there are a lot of hilarious bits.

Tubi (free): The Decoy Bride: Out of all of these, I found this one the weirdest, just because what is David Tennant doing in a mediocre contrived romantic comedy? But it's cute and not terrible.

Amazon Prime (not free of course, but you might already have it for Good Omens): Bright Young Things: You'd probably watch this more for Michael Sheen (who is fantastic), but it's fun that they're both in it! Casanova (FreeVee, with ads): Bonus Nina Sosanya! The only romantic pairing I've seen of her and David. This is apparently a PBS Masterpiece Theater production, so I was expecting something a little stodgier, but this was often silly--in a good way! This show was right before, and led directly to, David's run in Doctor Who, and you can see a lot of the Tenth Doctor-to-be. Single Father: Bonus Suranne Jones! Not my favorite. Sad things happen, people make bad decisions. Still worth watching imo.

Leave a comment if you have other suggestions! I believe that Staged (which is hilarious) is also free on YouTube, and the first season of Broadchurch is on Amazon Prime right now.

#david tennant #good omens #doctor who

[ssaalexblake]

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on the Ghost Monument. I know some people feel the stakes aren’t high enough, and that maybe if the racers were pitted against each other more it could be a more ‘interesting’ episode I guess, but I find the dynamics of the 2 guest cast to be interesting because they aren’t enemies, they’re not friends either but there’s not a desire to kill each other, because they are their out of necessity and to me that’s more then just being there out of ego or a prize. That surrounded by the history of the Stenza on the planet, it’s fascinating and one where I don’t think I’m fully across yet, so would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Honestly, I was mostly just shocked that people thought this episode was bad? It wouldn't make my favourites list but there's literally nothing wrong with it either in plot or the execution of it imo. I enjoy it in a rewatch! It builds important dynamics and sets up important arcs. The foundation for the main characters are more firmly set.

Also, like, whatever peoples feelings on the stakes in this episode, it should be noted that The Ghost Monument as an episode has a dark twin. Its name is Ascension of the Cybermen. Narratively they function as a pair and the second one is supposed to be a lot darker with more stakes that shows the development of the characters, so you can't really do that if the first one is absolutely Go Go Go GO high stakes all the whole way through? The tonal difference belays the seriousness of the second episode. The contrast shows to demonstrate both how far the fam have come in AotC and how far 13 has fallen from TGM.

Not to say the sitch they're in in TGM isn't serious, it is, but this is not super stressful to the doctor, she's not, till the very end, scared she can't return them home or that they'll die (well. anymore than the doctor apparently normally is. The monologue in Once, Upon Time was fabulous but very sad). The fam are mostly just following 13's lead to get through this all figuring it's their best chance. In the second episode, they show their own initiative. In effect TGM is their training wheel episode that allows them to survive when the stakes get high.

The links between 11x01 & 2 and 12x09 & 10 give me Life. Such brilliant arching plot threads. Great bookends to Ryan and Graham's time on the show.

And really? This is a personal opinion, but disaster apocalyptic scenarios (which this is applicable to even if our group aren't natives of the place) where everybody lives in hell but just fight and try and kill each other as well as the environment trying to off them are just Bad. And belays an absolutely twisted view of us as a species. I feel like them all banding together when it gets tough and forming a community, if a very terse one where not everybody gets along, is actually an accurate portrayal of people in general. Even whatshisface Enzo or whatever joined the group he hated for safety because he was a lousy person, yeah, but he was Not stupid. I cannot stand grimdark crap like those zombie shows where people just kill each other en masse in their warring factions or whatever like the whole of human history isn't us forming societies and working together.

But speaking of whatever his name is, I feel like his contributions to the dialogue of the episode played an important part in delivering the themes they were going for, so making them fight instead would just have damaged the episode's core aims.

Mr 'I love my mum she taught me people are awful and selfish and horrible by breaking my trust and allowing me to get badly injured' is, congrats, the first person in this era to talk about his terrible mother whom 13 Immediately says sucks (gee i wonder why they did that. he even got hurt because he fell and his mum didn't save him). This is also the first time the cycle of abuse is mentioned because uh, the loser in the mother of the year competition did it specifically so it'd perpetuate itself in her son. This is the episode the timeless child is first mentioned. Considering the cornerstone of the arc is that this child in the end Broke that chain of abuse I do not consider this a coincidence. I'd bet him and his mother would think that Tecteun made that child Strong by what they did to them. 13 did Not like this man and she wouldn't, he's a dark mirror but also the victim of a really shitty mother.

There are other things i take note of in this episode. It's the first time out of post regeneration weirdness we see 13 really hit her stride. It's the first time we see her eschew pacifism as Her Thing despite the fact that she's already demonstrated her willingness to use violence with a few bombs the ep previous. Contextual morality. Reoccurring theme. It Wasn't a good idea to use violence in the situation she was in in TGM. Still doesn't make her a pacifist though bc lol, the bomb thing. So it's Kind of the first blatant portrayal of 13's private actions contrasting ones witnessed by the fam which are used to make her look better in their eyes. This will continue all season.

The stenza are now explicitly portrayed as violent colonizers as opposed to weird guys with the universe's most messed up election system. The lady is going through a race from hell is here to buy her loved ones out of the hell of their society. It's the first time the theme Properly pops up in the era. The first of many times. 13 continues to be a support to Ryan here, deepening their relationship. She's dad-ing him. She's not mad, she's disappointed! (she's also mad). She's also supportive of him.

I also think that 13 totally running out of ideas and thinking they're all gonna die at the end when the others disappear and the tardis does Not appear sets up something interesting. The fam, the ones who have been sceptical about her ability to save them this ep but still figure her as their best chance Immediately bolster her confidence and try and prop her up. They continue with the 'you've got this doc, we have faith in you!!' for a while after that, i assume they think she needs the morale boost? But I think it just leaves her with this terrifying pressure in the end?

She tries to let them know later on that this travelling is Dangerous and that they could get hurt but i think they have kind of started to buy into their own hype about her by then and aren't as worried as they should be. They think tim shaw is the worst of the worst the whole of s11 and 13 doesn't barely deign to acknowledge him bc he's so beneath her. So by the time the real bad guys pop out of the woodwork that Actually scare her the fam are overconfident in her ability to save them, which in turn eventually leaves them in the AOTC situation where they have to save themselves because she Cannot save them herself. She gave them an out before then and they didn't take it because they were not worried. I think the journey to that overconfidence starts right here.

I guess if i had to gripe it'd be that the scene where the two racers decide to take the prize together was Way too easy and more of a footnote in the story? There wasn't really another way this was going to end, but still. That seemed a little weakly done to me. I'd like a little bit more time devoted to it because it's not like i can't think of a few different scenarios to get here, it's just they'd have taken more screen time. In the end, I think that the episode had more important plot threads to go into so they just rushed it a bit. Maybe that's where people wanted more conflict? I don't want more conflict as much as a deeper discussion. They Didn't have a gripe with each other beyond that they were competing against each other and wanted to win and it didn't seem to occur to them that they could just share. But also, i've not watched this for a while. Maybe i'm misremembering, but i remember it feeling short to me.

idk, in the end it reminds me, weirdly, of Jurassic park where they're working their way across the park to the guest centre when all the dinos are escaped. Yes they're in danger and at times it's severe, but they have time to talk and bond and work together using their own skills as a group. The stakes Are high, there be monsters out to kill them and they want to go home, but it's also not 100% dire at all times. It hits the same mood for me.

This episode wasn't grim but it wasn't trying to be either so i guess if you Like grim it'd be a disappointment, but it did what it wanted to pretty well with setting stuff up and having a reasonable compelling episode plot.

Also... It's Super pretty. The bright sun. Glorious.

#13stardisposts #dw shit #dw meta #kind of #i mostly just talked #i like this ep and i'm mostly just surprised people object to it so much???

[tkblythofficial]

Hi! Anon of the rant.

About this https://www.tumblr.com/zeglythofficial/742759379451953152/some-tea-z-the-discourse-on-her-man-has?source=share

I never thought RZ was that kind of person!

But appearances can be deceiving. Based on everything I've seen, I truly feel sorry for her and her future. And I hope from the bottom of my heart that she stays far away from TB as possible.

If you want to boost your boyfriend's doomed career, do it using JR's merits, but he doesn't, right?

She could have been a big star on her own, but she chose the stupidest path, partnering with someone who clearly doesn't have the capacity to even pursue a solo career without the support of her girlfriend.

It's sad to see so much promising future being thrown away. Because she actually had a chance of reaching maximum level.

Among all of them, the only one (apparently) with the right choices is TB, congratulations to him.

I'm not a zeglyth shipper, I liked their dynamic and thought it was genuine. But I was wrong.

I really hope she stops this LG and Sejanus thing. For someone who claims to be a fan of the story and the character, doing something like this is terrible.

But, she is not against using someone she called a friend until recently, story characters are the least of it.

I don’t think she is really that tbh!

1. That post was poorly written…almost on purpose.

2. We must remember that we can see zeglyth with our own eyes as well regardless of what that anon says. The BTS clips, the interviews, red carpets etc wasn’t all a lie. It’s very clear to me that Zeglyth are genuine friends. The way they touch tells me that. The way he defended her told me that. Keep in mind that R has been singing T praises way before the movie was released.

3. I do think they were telling the truth about R liking the online attention she gets from T and Zeglyth though. That’s not a lie but to say she’s only using him for that? No, I don’t believe that. She’s caught off guard by their popularity. It probably sucks that her bf isn’t well loved but her friend is. The most liked post on her IG is T’s bday post. I think it hurts her a lot to see her bf will never get that kind of attention so she’s showing him down our throats.

4. R and J will never be a power couple. It’s laughable to think about. If R and her team truly think that, they are way out of touch with her fanbase. We don’t care about J. We don’t like him. We never will. It’s a tough pill to swallow for R but she has way more chemistry with T. She knows that too which is why she’s fighting hard to promote J and Sejanus.

5. R will regret trying to boost J’s career when they break up. It will be a nasty thing to witness. I hope she braces herself for that because and I’m not saying this to be mean but it will be deserved imo. No woman should help a man’s career. He’s a man, let him do it himself.

6. This is a bad look on R. She needs to cater to her neutral fans! She has fans that don’t care about T, J, Zeglyth, THG, they follow her for her projects and her career, nor relationship drama. Did she forget that?

Overall, R/J are not a power couple, T will be successful and J’s career launch won’t go anywhere. Wasn’t TBOSAS suppose to help launch J’s career? It didn’t and Ryan Murphy is a hit or miss right now. Won’t be surprised if J’s career continues to flop.

#my answers #about r + j #about t

[fanfic-inator795]

I've talked a lot on here about my favorite characters, but what about some of my LEAST favorite characters?

Honestly, I don't have too many characters that I just hate with a burning passion or anything like that... but there are def characters that truly get under my skin. So let's have some fun and rant for a bit, shall we? Starting with least hated to most:

Sadie Miller (Steven Universe): Gonna be honest, a big reason why I dislike this character is because of her voice. No disrespect to Kate Micucci, but MAN her voice is just so grating to me personally (tbf, I feel the same way about Greg Cipes). As for the character herself, she's just incredibly whiny and annoying imo. I couldn't really relate to her frustrations with her mother, and that whole mess with her and Lars was just... yeah. Still can't really overlook the whole Stranded Island incident. Say what you will about how terrible Lars can be, but at least Lars can be funny and interesting sometimes. I just don't care for Sadie at all.

Mo Morrison (Lightyear): Laying out my biases here, I really don't like Lightyear in general, it's a very frustrating and agitating film to me personally, I could honestly rant about that movie for hours. But beyond the story/plot issues, Mo is just a very annoying character to me. They try SO hard to push him to be the comedy relief, and it just does not work. Then, when they try to push him as the team screw-up, they push too hard and just make him frustrating to watch since he literally can't do anything right and doesn't get a win until the payoff with the stupid spacesuit pen. Literally every scene with him just ends up making me go "goddamn it, Mo, why are you even here??"

Mr. Herriman (Foster's Home): As a kid who was a big fan of Frankie growing up, it shouldn't be surprising just how much I hate this rabbit. I think what really gets me is how callous and unfair he can be, with stuff like "Imposters Home for uh Make-em-up Pals", "Crime After Crime" and "Setting a President" showing him at his absolute worst. An all-around VERY frustrating and unsympathetic character to me, worse so than Bloo or any of the show's actual villains. Honestly, it makes me sad that we don't get to see more of his softer side - i.e. the life-long friendship he has with Madame Foster/the stuff that makes Madame Foster love him - as that easily could have saved his character. But for the most part, he just comes off as a huge jerk.

Stickler (The Cuphead Show): Similarly to Herriman, I think I just get incredibly annoyed with characters who put rules and procedure above everything else. What makes Stickler worse though is the voice they gave him, as while it's kinda funny in his first couple appearances, by season 3 I'm cringing just as much as Devil does whenever he pops up. They also amp up his jerkiness and pushiness in the later episodes - and while I get WHY they need to, given how distracted Devil gets, it's still a tad annoying imo.

Dr. Owen Hunt (Grey's Anatomy): Literally my least favorite character EVER. This guy... he really is just the WORST. And yes, I know there are in-universe reasons for how he acts, but when he continues being a shitty person to his wives and others, I stop caring about those reasons. He's a huge hypocrite on most things, has a 'my way is always right'/'My way or the highway' mentality, and he's just such a baby whenever he doesn't get his way or when he has to face consequences. YES, I KNOW, on Grey's pretty much everyone is a shitty person in some way because it's a dramatic medical soap opera and they need drama, but Owen really does just get under my skin the most with how stubborn and 'holier than thou' he acts a lot of the time.

...That being said, if any of my followers actually like these characters, no disrespect to you. In fact, I'd love to know WHY you like these characters, as perhaps I can get a new perspective on them.

#personal crap #random thoughts #venting #also if anyone ALSO hates these characters feel free to also comment haha

[phoebe-delia]

Chicago's 6 Merry Murderesses as Taylor Swift's songs

I thought of this earlier today and thought maybe one or two people on here might find it amusing so here you go lol.

For context, you've got to know the lyrics to Cell Block Tango. (If you don't and you want to read on, here are the lyrics.) I will refer to each of the murderesses by both their character name AND the sound they make in the song: Pop (Liz), Six (Annie), Squish (June), Uh-uh (Hunyak), Cicero (Velma), and Lipschitz (Mona)

I am assigning the songs based on the vibe their story gives me. I am also challenging myself by excluding "No Body No Crime," since that would be a bit of a cop-out IMO.

I had fun putting this together! I hope someone else finds it interesting lol.

CW: discussion of murder, guns, blood, violence

POP/Liz: "Bejeweled" from Midnights

Liz says she kills her boyfriend because she came home from work in a bad mood and he was popping his gum too loud, which was a frequent habit of his. She was annoyed and told him to stop, but he didn't, so she shot him. This is, obviously, completely unhinged. It gives me "Bejeweled" vibes because of the lyrics "didn't notice you were walking all over my peace of mind" and "familiarity breeds contempt." Idk I just see a similar feeling of "you've gotten on my last nerve and I'm done with you" from both.

SIX/Annie: "Babe" from Red

Annie says she killed her boyfriend because he told her he was single, they got together and moved in, and then she found out he had multiple wives. So then she poisoned him. This gives me "Babe" vibes because it feels like she fell fast and hard and found out he wasn't the person she thought he was. This one is all about betrayal and feeling blindsided by infidelity and I think the song fits really well.

SQUISH/June: "Getaway Car" from reputation

June says she was making dinner when her husband burst through the door, screaming and accusing her of having an affair with the milkman. She then says he "ran into" her knife 10 times. We don't know for certain if his accusations against her are true; she doesn't let on either way. If he was screaming and raging, she could've thought she was in danger and acted in self-defense. My interpretation, though, is that she was cheating, and then killed him to keep him quiet. For this reason, I chose "Getaway Car," because the milkman was her own "Getaway Car" out of that relationship similar to how Taylor describes in the song.

Uh-Uh/The Hunyak: "Haunted" from Speak Now

Her story is SUPER sad. She's falsely accused of killing her husband, and then no one will listen to her because she can't speak English and properly advocate for herself. To me, this song captures some of the turmoil and grief she's feeling, both for herself and her husband. As the song says, "Come on, come on, don't leave me like this/I thought I had you figured out/Something's gone terribly wrong/You're all I wanted." And like, obviously, her husband didn't leave her here. But I think it portrays a similar feeling of dread and panic.

Cicero/Velma: "Better Than Revenge" from Speak Now

This was the first—and I'm pretty sure only—time Taylor addressed a woman with whom a boyfriend cheated or wronged her. I think it fits Velma's story very well. Velma and her sister did a traveling dance act, and Velma's husband traveled with them. One night, Velma caught them having sex, so she "blacked out" and killed them. Just look at the lyrics to "Better Than Revenge" and see what you think:

"She came along, got him alone, and let's hear the applause/She took him faster than you could say sabotage/I never saw it coming, nor would I have suspected it/I underestimated just who I was dealing with/She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum/She underestimated just who she was stealing from."

Lipschitz/Mona: "I Knew You Were Trouble" from Red

Mona describes Al Lipschitz as being a sensitive artist. She says she fell deeply in love with him, but that he was trying to "find himself" and ended up cheating on her with multiple women. She's vague about how he died, but she does give us this pretty crazy line:

"I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive... and I saw him dead"

Anyway, to be honest, part of what made me pick this song was picturing the music video: this suave, charming artist flirting with this girl and then leaving her because he's a "loner" and a "drifter." I think the story she tells goes well with the vibe of the song.

If you made it this far—thanks for reading!! 💛

#CW: discussion of murder #discussion of guns #mention of blood #mention of violence #chicago musical #roxie hart #velma kelly #cell block tango #taylor swift #musicals #broadway #musical theatre

[monarchsthoughtsonmedia]

Now that the entirety of season one is out in the world, it's time for me to finally discuss it in great detail:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians TV Series

First off, I want to make it clear that I love this show. As a fan of the books, it was great. But there are a lot of issues.

Casting: I had to start with this because if I didn't include it, idiots would get mad. I love the actors that were casted, particularly the kids. They are incredible actors and have great chemistry with one another. The lines they are given, however, are poor at times.

Script: The writing, imo, is poor because Rick Riordan is a book writer. Script writing and novel writing are two very different arts and his involvement in the script and lack of experience script writing probably didn't mesh. Rick, however, should take this in stride and simply work at it.

Pacing: The show was terribly paced because of, yet again, the writing. But also because they were not given enough episodes to work with. Hopefully, Disney will listen and give the cast & crew more flexibility in the future.

Exposition: Personally, with or without exposition this show would have been lacking because the best way to have handled a world with so much lore would have been an at least partially animated show. If I had creative control over the TV series and unlimited budget, I would have designed the show similarly to Lizzie McGuire with animated Book! Percy showing up and narrating a bit and drawing sketches of myths and other exposition-y stuff.

Immediately Knowing Everything: I have no idea how they can fix this honestly. It was a mistake that changed pacing, characterization, and the plot of every episode poorly and we all have to live with it.

CGI: Once again a victim of the budget. We lost the pink poodle, the zebra, the hell hound, and more to the poor CGI budget that Disney granted this show. I truly hope they get more budget for season two.

Grover: Rick really tried to rewrite Grover's character to be "more important" to the plot, taking away any actual scenes of his characterization, but failed to leave out the jokes. The joke about Grover eating too much not only fell flat but felt icky to me. The nereid giving Percy four pearls only for Grover to be the one to lose one? Made episode seven my least favorite. Percy sort of blaming Grover for them missing the deadline? Not only out of character but angered me.

Gabe: I really had faith that the show would do more with Gabe after the first two episodes and actually make his eventual death earned but his death had no emotional impact because 1) he's not clearly shown as abusive and 2) Sally is not the one who kills him. It not only copied the post credits scene from the movie but also takes away Sally's control of her narrative which should have been emphasized with her characterization in the show.

Crusty's Water Bed: Boring. Should have been cut. They couldn't even bother with CGI enough to make him look like a cyclops.

The Mist and May/Sally: Not everyone who sees through the mist is a seer which is what the show implies and also they never bother to mention that Sally can see through the mist! The May/Sally parallel is extremely important!

Ares's Curse: Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't believe Ares ever curses Percy/Riptide. It's an unfortunate cut that I wish they had kept because imo it is important to the plot of the series.

Killing Alecto: This is very personal to myself and my theories but I always imagined that when Medusa turned someone to stone, their soul was trapped there. I liked that fate for Gabe in the books. Thus, her coming back was disappointing for me.

Aphrodite's Scarf: Sad this didn't make the cut. I know it's not really important but I do miss it.

All in all, I really do hope for more seasons. Hopefully, they can fix the majority of these issues with time 💕

#percy jackson #percy jackson tv series #percy jackson tv show #rick riordan

[jovenshires]

requested ONLY by @agnewbones, here is the full iwks cast as imagined by me <3 ill put all the ones i already talked ab up top and all the new ones under the cut just so they're all in one place !!

spencer: ethan cutkosky

tommy: dale whibley

shayne: owen joyner

damien: leo howard

alex: naleye junior dolmans

keith: aubrey joseph

chanse: jay lycurgou

jeremy: lucas hedges

patrick: owen teague

ify: khalid

brennan: ryan potter

tim: ty simpkins

amanda: for this current age and era of amanda (prequel notwithstanding - mayhaps ill do a different casting of that later on whos to say), i'll say bianca comparato. i'd believe she was a tired soccer coach mother of eleven who's gay for her opposing coach.

angela: not that she's had a big part in the fic (YET.......) but im gonna say gia mantegna. another actress who needs a comeback!! yes i watched unaccompanied minors. anyway she has those angela eyes.

rock: this was a close second for ify, but i just think he has a more youthful fun energy that's much closer to rock's specific vibe than ify's. he also gives the 'keeping ify in line' energy that rock most certainly needs. anyway rj cyler!!

marcus: xolo maridueña has been popping off recently and rightfully so. marcus is only a bit part but i think he can be everybody's baby the way god intended. he doesn't have The Eyebrows but we can get them there i know it

ian: this one is more about vibes than look and also it made me laugh. because who gives that sad, washed-up older brother vibe QUITE LIKE skyler gisondo. this casting is everything to me i think it's so funny.

aguilar: do you think we can get away with rico rodriguez in a serious-ish role. i mean it's a comedy role in a serious-ish show. i just think he has the range.

luke: as a fun little nod to the series that was the partial inspiration for iwks, a little bit part for mister kit connor.

peter: wyatt oleff has that swagless mess energy about him

duran: im gonna go diego josef who is also from 'somewhere inside your house'. literally cried over his character watching this terrible movie bc his acting was incredible. (he was also just the best character imo.) i also cry over duran regularly so this all makes sense to me !

josh: this one's so tough but i think im going one of my other spencer options which was griffin gluck. he just has that :) face josh has

andre: how long has it been since YOU'VE seen mighty med. devon leos. we're giving people comebacks bestie

greg: jack mulhern my beloved. now its just katies dream actors coming to hang out man

garrett: whos getting the honor.... THE PRESTIGE. wouldn't it be fucking funny if i said like jacob elordi or something. anyway cameron gellman looks appropriately sad

josh (mythical): HMMMM.... there's so many people who i think look like him but are JUST too old for this. i almost used him a couple different times in the original cast but im gonna go with rudy pankow. he's josh-shaped !

trevor: it's giving austin abrams. he just has that trevor silly lil guy vibe. it's just a bit part (for now :)) BUT i think he'd eat

zach: adrian greensmith is THE perfect vibe and you cannot change my mind

#iwks #fic #personal #once again. SO much fun thank you for asking <3333