#malina concepts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

malinaa · 2 months

Text

2023 WRITING REVIEW

tagged: no one i just wanted to do this and i forgot about it soz </3 tagging : board of directors i'd tag u here but this is mostly fic-based so sorree... anyway if u have already done this my b.... i wld like to see ur post tho @evcndiaz | @brimay | @usignedupforthis | @seek--rest | @posallys | @dustorangeheartssnowman | @adhd-merlin | @queerofthedagger

number of stories posted to ao3: 34 ±1 bc i updated a fic from a while back <3

word counted posted for last year: 90k... a feat (i wrote more but it was ofic so add like maybe 10k to that)

fandoms i wrote for: alex stern series, merlin, house md, pjo, spidey, hunger games, doctor who, & the grisha trilogy

pairings: merthur / arwen / mergwenthur / mergana, darlingstern, hilson, percabeth, petermj, everlark, tenrose, malina

stories with the most KUDOS: jealousy, jealousy (house md) with 522 <3 BOOKMARKS: except my life (merlin) with 137 <3 COMMENT THREADS: rip current (pjo) with 38 <3 *technically the answer to all of these is tested with torment but that's a fic i updated so i don't reallyyyyyy count it

work i'm most proud of (and why): thread of gold (arwen, bbc merlin) because i don't exactly post 2nd person fic and tbh most people HATEEEEE 2nd person fic AND i got people to enjoy it. HA!

work i'm least proud of (and why): coffee drinker (gen fic, bbc merlin) because it was just a promptfic and i didn't even really feel like posting it but i wrote it so i might as well yk?

share or describe a favorite review you received: any review that quotes a line but this one from judas kiss (arwen, bbc merlin)...

THIS. IS. WONDERFUL ❤️❤️❤️ *creates bookmark with gusto* I LOVE that you dug into what it might have been like for Gwen while she was under that enchantment! It was so creative to have her past memories blurring with glimpses of the present during the enchantment. I *felt* her disorientation, and it *hurt*. I felt so bad for Gwen all over again! 😭😭😭 That aspect of this story could have been a fantastic standalone one-shot in its own right, but noooo, you raised the bar and KEPT GOING and made it even better!!! I love that you showed Gwen and Merlin staying friends after Gwen becomes queen, and I love how she confides in him and how he immediately drops everything to go look for the offending piece of jewelry. The bit about Arthur’s incredulity at Merlin’s method of testing the enchantment was a great dash of humor, and I love that you fleshed out the concept of the enchantment to be something the others could experience so that they could truly *know* that Gwen had been innocent. And don’t even get me started on how much I love Arthur’s “Forgive me.” I love how he doesn’t think twice about humbling himself in front of everyone because his focus is solely on Gwen, consumed by the urgency of doing the right, honorable, and loving thing in that moment. You write Arthur and Gwen’s relationship so beautifully. 💕 Well done; I hate you (/affectionate) for all these feels. 🥰🫂👏

a time when writing was really, really hard: august through october... idek why i was literally in agony not writing

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: writing jj in spider-man: homewrecker because i've NEVER written him before (in my memory) and i was like. Hello .

a favorite excerpt of your writing: cannae lie i have a few favs so... killing is a love language (mergana, bbc merlin) Heartbreak snakes up his throat, constricting him at the sight of her. Morgana’s beauty is incontestable even like this, but her hatred wore her down to her bones. Gone were the full cheeks and rosy lips, the perfectly combed hair, the wardrobe that would put princesses to shame. Now, her face is sunken in, her hair a curled storm, her dress is merely black rags at this point. thread of gold (arwen, bbc merlin) Your father’s presence is larger than life. Larger than love. It looms. It casts shadows long enough to hide every hope and dream you’ve ever had for yourself. the boy and the girl (malina, the grisha trilogy) Memory fractures into shards. Real or not real? There’s Mal in the meadow. Mal buried beneath the hanging tree. Mal cold in her palms. There’s a sky darker than night. Her hands bloodied. A knife lodged in his heart. Her knife. His blood. Her fault. She killed him. She loves him. Her fault. Rest her head on his still chest. Her fault. No heartbeat. Her fault. No warmth. Cold light spilling from her palms. She killed him. The Saint’s only true worshipper martyred.

how did you grow as a writer last year: my hopes from last year was that i finally finish a multichap fic.... 😭 does a short 3-shot count. besides that i wrote more consistently and i'm finally Used to my writing style. i think.

how do you hope to grow this year: hell if i know if i could write something longer than 20k that'd be great 😭😭😭😭

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): the board.... @rosesau / @bipercabeth / @stellwood fnh...... i'd tag katie but she absconded from tumblr smh. anyway hi freaks n geeks

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: oh i don't even know. nothing ig

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: bro idek the more i write the more writing becomes fundamentally so hard to talk about ... sorreeee

any projects you're looking to starting (or finishing) this year: IF I DON'T FUCKING MAKE PROGRESS ON MY PLAY I WILL BASH MY HEAD INTO A WALL. THIS CAN'T KEEP HAPPENING. ATLAS AND VIVIAN YOU WILL BE WRITTEN ON THE PAGE INSHALLAH

#tag games #2023 #writing #text #tais toi lys #not the numbering getting fucked. whatever

15 notes · View notes

ryoryeonggu · 1 year

Text

I came across a post about Mal Oretsev being portrayed well as “a former soldier” and it suddenly hits me. The things that I haven’t understood yet at that time make more sense now, but I’m not sure I’m able to express them clearly.

As I remember, the OP said something about the soldiers (especially those who have been trained and been one since they were a child like Mal) being “mission-minded”, they “don’t have time for romantic gestures” so the way they show their love is how hard they focus on tasks and work on the mission for their loved one’s benefits. (That’s why I can understand some people see other people be the better match for her because those people in question either has very long life experience or grows up in the different upbringing, which makes them have different ways to cope with stress or show romantic gestures, like giving flowers or gifts; meanwhile, Mal is about using his words - very solemnly, he basically pledged his loyalty and devotion to Alina, and his actions).

And that’s what Mal does in this season. The way he emphasized not just once about the importance of finding the Firebird, destroying the Fold, we can see his growing frustration when things went off the rails. Then he found out the truth about the identity of the Firebird, knowing that he had to sacrifice his life; ironically, he is the one who urged others to the direction of killing him as quickly as possible, the fastest way to gain Alina more power, to destroy the Fold, to complete the mission, for HER. With his restlessness, and even growing to distant following every next episode of season 2, we could barely see him relax or even smile much (as well as the fun Malina banters in ss1 we adored so much) since things got heater and heater. Being with Alina possibly is the only moments he let himself loose, allows himself to be in peace in the middle of the battlefield, to be slow, to be gentle, that's how their intimate scenes were portrayed. But also it’s the reason why we saw him constantly try so hard to pull away from her, “because if I let myself feel a thing, I’d never find the Firebird - the one thing you need.”

Let’s get another example is that Zoya Nazyalensky. She is a soldier. She had no interest in romantic relationships and even showed a lot of eye rolls at the whole “we betraying our countries for love” between Nina/Matthias (and the whole concept of love in general). She remained being fixed on her goal - saving and fighting for Ravka. She was clearly distressed at the loss of her family, but she didn't let it show clearly and continued appearing to be strong so she could get things done for the sake of her country. Then there's Mal, who was dumped traumas after traumas, then had to witness the love of his life be engaged to someone else, but he put all his feeling aside everytime to do the right thing, to protect Alina. Despite different motivations and purposes, Mal and Zoya also have a lot in common about their mindset and their manners, shutting off their emotion and their pain for the greater good, constantly and restlessly moving forward to “fight for what matters most to” them. For Zoya, it’s Ravka, her country. For Mal, it’s Alina. BECAUSE SHE’S HIS FLAG, SHE’S HIS NATION.

#i have a lot of thoughts about mal oretsev and malina i have to let it out #have been losing my mind for days for how much he loves her #how much they love each other #because I'd choose him over ANYONE #mal oretsev #malyen oretsev #alina starkov #malina #shadow and bone

58 notes · View notes

riddlerosehearts · 4 months

Text

why is there so little variety of emperor's new groove merch in existence. like yeah there's the occasional funko pop or pin or whatever, and a couple of yzma dolls out there. but what if i want a kuzco doll. what if i want a llama kuzco plush. what if i want an entire minifigure set of pacha's whole family (plus kuzco, of course. in the poncho that chicha made for him.) and their little hut on the hill. what if i want an emperor's new groove art and making of book so i can read about the movie's troubled production and look at beautiful glossy prints of the concept art?? what if i even want a doll of malina from the emperor's new school??? i just think i personally deserve to have all these things 😤

#no but whyyy is emperor's new groove like the only post-TLM movie to not have any kind of art book 😭#like a) it's not like it's the only disney movie to have had production troubles and b) the documentary has been leaked for ages. come on.#i understand why they don't have new school merch though lmao. i just love malina.

11 notes · View notes

pinayelf · 4 months

Text

WIP Wednesday

officially Wednesday in my neck of the woods! working on some og art - an oc I've had for some years, Malina. the story is a modern fantasy.

malina finds out that she is a bird-human hybrid and this is related to a curse (or gift, depending how you view it) that pops up in family bloodlines

I think honestly I ended up making a bird oc cause i used to watch mulawin (a Filipino fantasy series) as a kid, tho this concept is v different

tagging: @vakarians-babe @star--nymph @ruthvelyan and @greypetrel ❤️ no pressure tho!

#art tag #wip wednesday #malina

11 notes · View notes

greensaplinggrace · 1 year

Note

for the ship game: malina and darklina :P

Malina

I love how mal and alina always represent home for each other. they are always each other's safe harbors and they always always come back to each other in the end. their relationship is built on a foundation of friendship and tenderness, on loyalty and dedication and family. they can always find each other no matter where they are, and I think the concept of them being true north to each other is a really lovely one full of so much meaning.

I love their physical connection, the matching marks on their hands, the way they are always holding each other, always reaching for each other, how they can almost feel each other's bodies even when they're separate. I love how grounding the relationship is, how solid and steady mal can be for alina, how he always tries to bring her back to earth. how they hug and touch and hold hands and cuddle at every opportunity. how every scene with them is bright and sunny and you can almost feel the wind in your hair and the grass on your skin.

I love the childhood friends to lovers aspect of their relationship. I love how they have shared memories and histories, how everything they are is tied around them both, how they know almost everything about each other. I love how they're codependent and reliant on one another and always looking for the other right beside them. how mal knows alina's favorite flower and recognizes the stag from her drawings. how they get so excited to see each other again after such a long time apart. I love how intertwined their lives are, how they can finish each other's sentences and know intimately how to comfort each other or how to make each other laugh.

Darklina

I really like the potential of darklina, especially when it comes to alina's growth. I like the many directions their relationship could have gone and the many directions alina's character could have developed with the darkling. I've always valued alina's arc of self actualization, of coming into herself and finding herself, of accepting herself for who she is. with the darkling, she is able to come to love parts of herself she was never able to love before, parts of herself that have always seen her ostracized from her peers. the darkling acting as a foil to alina that is crucial to her development will always be something I love about their relationship. and one of the potential stories for them in that regard is for alina to take back her power and forge a new relationship with the darkling on equal ground, which is one of the character dynamics I value most in storytelling.

I love the way the darkling and alina are always reaching for each other. they do this in a different way from malina - a way that is always trying to fill up empty, lonely spaces in an aching, incomprehensible void. I love how they are constantly opening themselves up to each other because of this, then closing off from the other when it gets too much, always grasping at each other and pulling away in equal measures. how without each other there will always be an aching loneliness within them and a lack of understanding on a fundamental level from those around them. how to describe who she is to mal would be like describing color to a blind person, but with the darkling she never has to, because he instinctively understands those parts of her and accepts them. but they are such polarized people that the understanding is almost too much on it's own. they are too much.

I really like the dynamic of the darkling being an older immortal and alina being a younger one. I find alina's complete and utter incapability of understanding how immortality works fascinating. because everything the darkling tells her she knows is true, she can feel that it's true, but she cannot comprehend it, and so she denies it to herself and to him. alina around the darkling is in a constant state of denial, because to accept what he says is to realize the true horrors of not only the world, but also eternal life. and I just find that particular dynamic between them interesting, because it is such a good look into the internal logic of the characters, and the disparity between them when it comes to true experience and to the extent of not only their trauma, but their understanding of the universe, of people, and of time.

three things I like about this ship (x) - I already answered the darklina one here

#shadow and bone #grishaverse #sab #me trying not to mention malarklina in a post with two of it's primary ships alskdjflskdjs #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #alina starkov #malina #darklina #aleksander morozova #the darkling #asks and answers #ask games #myramblings #anon

15 notes · View notes

sol-furor · 1 year

Text

im gonna try to respond to this because UMM

there's a reason why it's said that her character is boring and a sack of potatoes, it's because of her writing! there's very little in canon that makes her a compelling main character, fanon alina in certain fan fictions is 10x better than her canon version which makes you think of the potential she had. also she's fictional and there are a 100 other female led stories out there

the show has jessie to thank because they're trying to portray a struggling young woman who has only discovered her powers and herself. jessie is doing a pretty good job when on paper alina was never that interesting. her book counterpart is always in her head and it feels like she has very little choice in what happens in her own story, which is why a lot of us tried to make a better version in our heads, someone whose agency isn't hindered and blamed at every turn

we talk about alina losing her power because from the start we know its a pretty big deal, essential to the discovery of her own strength and well the start of her journey. and then she's punished and abandoned by the narrative. whether you think it's great she lost it or not, it's one of the final moments of her story and it feels like an involution of her character. also losing powers, going back to a "normal life" is such a bland concept that it needs to be done well for an audience to still feel involved, clearly the author didn't make it because i know when book 3 came out, the majority did not like the ending, even malina shippers

the shipping part is a given, if there's little else to talk about, her character is reduced to shipping. simple as that. also there's a strange black and white morality in the sab fandom that i'll never understand which makes her even more bland, either she's a hero or a villain, too bad she doesnt stand out as either.

the crows don't have this problem because it is enstablished that they are morally grey characters (which means that particular fandom thinks they can do no wrong) and at the end of the day they have more fun adventures that make their story palatable. we (im including myself here) like the darkling because we think he's also a morally grey character that has a long and rich history and there's lots you could do with him, regardless of the good/bad he did (ask the author why she brought him back in her later books when she clearly despises the character)

so yeah if you look for fan fictions and meta (pre-show are even better) you'll find other versions of alina that make the canon one seem the whitest flour in the shop, doesnt mean we don't like her, it's just that headcanons are sometimes better than what you have on the page and this is a good example of that

#the replies were deactivated #alina starkov #darklina #sab #just a thought

13 notes · View notes

norfkid · 3 months

Text

was tagged by @patronsaintofdesire to answer these questions and tag nine people you want to get to know better! thank you, malina :]

last song: as of writing this, marie doucer, marie colère by manon hollander from the john wick 4 soundtrack. it's essentially a french version of paint it black by the rolling stones & it's a banger

favourite colour: i always say yellow (like a gold yellow, #ffc000), but by that i usually mean the combination of black & yellow. i'm also pretty fond of the greyish-blue i use on my blog (#7b9e9a)

last film/tv show: the last thing i watched in full was point break (ty andrew @busaikuknee for initially convincing me to watch it, "keanu reeves has to learn how to surf to solve robberies" is a truly baffling concept & no one will ever do it again). i say "in full" bc also been revisiting a lot of clips from ip man 1-4 so in my head it feels like i've rewatched those too

sweet/spicy/savoury: savoury. i don't have sweet things very often, and while i can tolerate fairly spicy food i just don't enjoy it that much (i'm a massive disappointment to my family)

relationship status: philosophically speaking, aren’t we all single?

last thing i googled: cozmo and vector robots! i saw a video somewhere of these guys and got so excited. they're these rly cute little WALL-E -esque robot friends made by an american robotics/ai startup called Anki, who specialised in robotics technology for children. i looked online to see if they were still around, but they've been discontinued since the company went bankrupt in April 2019 <\3

also related, there's this article from 2019 i read called Discovery of the Uncanny Valley that briefly mentions the Vector robots, but also discusses other examples of technology made in the past that have these human-like attributes given to them. it's a light read & there are some links to other similar articles at the end if you're into that stuff :]

current obsession: well, wrestling is always a given. i've fallen out with njpw for months now, but i've been watching more pro wrestling noah instead & i'm loving it tbh

apart from that, i've been watching a lot of Donnie Yen films bc i'm a little bit a lot in love with the old man (60 y/o btw & looks like that, fucking wild man). and by proxy i've been learning a bit about chinese martial arts (wing chun, in particular (a southern chinese style that influenced guys like ip man, bruce lee, jackie chan, sammo hung, donnie yen, etc etc)) through his interviews and stuff.

it's funny that i'm always so interested in "sports" i can't ever physically do & they always have some element of storytelling/performance and coordination... the martial arts to stunt performance to choreography to dance pipeline is all just so fucking fascinating.

i think chinese martials arts has gripped me bc all these 70s/80s/90s films made in china rely so much on pulling off wild stunts and fights without the budget for cgi and equipment. not to discredit the guys that do their own stunts in hollywood, but it's rare and always cause for celebration... in chinese filmmaking it's so normal. and as a result their performances are just so real and visceral. like, i watch wrestling ffs, ofc i'm drawn to films where storytelling and physicality intertwine. you construct intricate rituals etc etc

on that note, i'm really excited by the new wave of stunt performers turned film directors we've been getting. guys like Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix Reloaded, Drunken Master) are already established in coordinating incredible scenes and stunts, but more recently: Chad Stalenski (the John Wick films), David Leitch (Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde), Sam Hargrave (Extraction), etc. there's a sort of magic lost in all these mainstream big budget marvel superhero and hollywood action films where fight scenes are so easily ruined by a thousand jumpcuts and wiring and fantasy, but these guys are bringing back that special smth, that authenticity and grittiness (not only in their choreography, but in the filmmaking and cinematography of those fight scenes too). it's so refreshing & i’m fucking nerd sorry

not so much an obsession, but i've also developed a new, old appreciation for woodwork (carving, whittling, joinery, etc) & in another life i think i would have loved to be a carpenter...

last book: admittedly, i don't read. tho i got a joblot of old hellblazer comics from ebay recently and have been meaning to revisit them

looking forward to: not much really... i find it hard to think about the distant future & i don't get that sense of anticipation and motivation from long-term plans. maybe getting this third and last year of uni over and bloody done with? which is incidentally something i'm absolutely dreading (“you need to get a job, you need to get a job, you need to get—”)

#sorry i haven't tagged anyone i've been sitting on this in my drafts for too long sdkjd #tag games #abt

6 notes · View notes

msc-ddv-ss · 3 months

Text

The Emperor's New Groove : Disney Speedstorm Season Concept ---------------------------------------

Racers:

Emperor Kuzco - (Speedster - Epic - Default Red Racesuit)

Pacha - (Defender - Common - Default Dark Green Racesuit)

Yzma - (Trickster - Rare - Default Purple Racesuit)

Kronk - (Brawler - Rare - Default Yellow Racesuit)

Crew Members:

Theme Song Guy - (Kuzco’s Epic Crew Member)

Chicha - (Pacha’s Epic Crew Member)

Azma - (Yzma’s Epic Crew Member)

Bucky the Squirrel - (Kronk’s Epic Crew Member)

Malina - (Rare Crew Member)

Ms. Birdwell - (Rare Crew Member)

Papi - (Rare Crew Member)

Tipo - (Common Crew Member)

Chacha - (Common Crew Member)

Record Keeper - (Common Crew Member)

Incan Palace Guards - (Common Crew Member)

Map:

The Royal Palace - (Kuzco’s Palace - Surrounding Jungle - Incan Village)

Unique Abilities:

Kuzco: All About Me!

Normal: Kuzco does a quick pose, boosting himself forward and obscuring the vision of surrounding opponents, while gaining a small amount of Nitro. The amount of Nitro gained increases the more opponents are around him.

Charged: Kuzco does a long-string of continuous poses, as he slowly gains a tiny amount of nitro for the duration, as long as no opponents are around him. The ability ends when stunned, or interrupted with a ram.

----------

Pacha: Llama Herd

Normal: Pacha calls two llamas that run alongside him for a long period of time, Stunning opponents they touch. Driving near the wolves gives you a tiny amount of nitro fuel. (Similar to Mowgli’s Wolves)

Charged: Pacha calls for one llama instead of two for a very short period of time. The llama runs ahead of Pacha and headbuts opponents, Stunning them. (Similar to Jasmine’s Charged Skill)

----------

Yzma: Transfiguration

Normal: Yzma throws a large number of potions forward in a random arc for a small amount of time. Each potion turns the opponent it hits into a Llama for a very short period of time, slowing them down.

Charged: Yzma throws a small number of potions backwards for a very short period of time. Each potion turns the opponent it hits into

a Llama for a very short period of time.

----------

Kronk: Angel & Devil

Normal: Influenced by the angel on his shoulder, Kronk grants himself and surrounding opponents invincibility for a short period of time. During which, Kronk also gains a very small amount of nitro per opponent in his radius.

Charged: Influenced by the devil on his shoulder, Kronk starts apologising, as he slows down everyone around him for a short period of time. During which, Kronk also gains a very small amount of nitro per opponent in his radius.

#disney #disney speedstorm #the emperor's new groove #headcannons #my headcanons

5 notes · View notes

goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 1 year

Text

Shadow And Bone Season Two Thoughts

I’m just copying over the 3.5k google doc of doom lol because otherwise I’ll never get to it. It’s in no particular order and expect many spoilers!

— The choice to stick to Alina having prophetic dreams makes sense. But they also don’t really explain it? I could understand it with the stag since it chose her or whatever but it seems odder with her seeing the shadow fold expanding. They’re meant to be tied to her “mind palace” visits with the Darkling I think, and the overall push to make their connection something more unintentional that neither really know how to use until later in the story. But also… they’re already having full conversations from the very beginning??? So I’m not sure I get the choice to have them *both* be uncertain over whether their dreams are real or whether the other is even alive. Their dialogue is just too drawn out and fully realized. I do find it really funny though that the Darkling poses the question “are you willing to sacrifice that which is most precious to you” which is clearly narratively setting up the Mal = the third amplifier reveal. But what did he think he was talking about?? He didn’t know about that?? So what was he referring to??

— The first episode was BY FAR the weakest. The dialogue was frankly atrocious, especially the exposition. I think they even managed to make really basic comments *sound* like exposition when they weren’t meant to be. And it’s very jarring next to all the book dialogue later on, especially when one of LB’s biggest strengths has always been fantastic character voice and strong dialogue. The entire made up conflict over Mal’s former commander just happening to be there, and Alina randomly finding the Sea Whip’s general location on basically the first map she finds just feel sooo contrived. I didn’t hate the majority of the new content in this season, but basically everything in this episode on the TGT front fucking sucked. Which, if I’m not mistaken, was written by the showrunner himself, and lol. lmao. (Also WHY would the Zemeni be fantasy!christian? The way they flock to help Malina feels… weird.)

— Meanwhile: why do everyone and their mother know how amplifiers work apparently? Both Mal and Nikolai talk about them super authoritatively. They are also presented as having a strong idea of how they work vs just vaguely. And it just seems… odd? Like we know Alina didn’t know anything about them before plot stuff happened to inform her. Again it just feels like clumsy exposition overtaking character writing.

— I don’t know how I feel about them tying Nikolai back to the plot to kidnap Alina in season one. On the one hand it’s a clever way to loop him into existing plotlines, and I guess it’s a fun book nod that he was supposedly studying at Ketterdam. But it also just seems like a really backwards way to go about it? That being said, Nikolai’s interaction with the Crows is VERY fun and I like how they give us a mini identity reveal moment since book fans (and anyone who’s watched the trailer or season promo) already know about the Sturmhond/pirate reveal. Also loling forever at Alina kidnapping herself for an entire second time

— I wasn’t expecting to but I did really like how they picked several aspects from Crooked Kingdom to do so early. Unpopular opinion but Crooked Kingdom just Did Not work for me in a multitude of ways (the plot structure felt really weak, the fucking magic yellow face with Wylan and Kuwei, the way the Khergud paired with the parem plotline feel like SUCH a racist set of tropes) so seeing these fairly strong parts from it divorced from context was very fun. I was initially annoyed by the concept of Pekka Rollins being aware of Kaz so early and viewing him as a rival. But they preserved him not remembering the original con he pulled on him and Jordie which was the most important part. I think I would’ve still preferred it if he was oblivious to the Crows existence for longer, but they were really speedrunning this plotline lol and I understand how it drastically raises the stakes. Also I think we got word of god confirmation that LB herself suggested this change, so I trust it a touch more. I think the scene where Kaz beats up Per Haskell and everyone at the club was perhaps the ported over CK best that worked the least for me within its new context. But eh.

— So something I was absolutely not expecting was the Darkling’s pivot into full cartoon villain territory. On the one hand… he is simply not the OG Darkling. He’s not on his level and simply never will be! But I’m interested in the choices made so far. Though most of the dialogue out of his mouth when not breaking out book quotes is frankly fucking terrible, and I understand now why Ben Barnes kept pushing for book lines lmao. His first in-person introduction in the season pilot alone was godawful. What the actual fuck was that “cook up some dinner” line??? Anyway I liked the glimpse of social repercussions to the Grisha defecting.

— Nikolai generally very pleasantly surprised me! The initial exposition is just as bad as I suspected. But his general dialogue and delivery is good. I can definitely buy Patrick Gibson in the role. His little Superman outfit change was delightful! I LOVED that they kept Alina punching him then and there once she realizes his identity. I also really liked the choice to ease up on the animosity between him and Mal and instead give them some one on one bonding. Their relationship was surprisingly effective for me!

— I was strongly suspecting we weren’t going to get the Darkling blinding Baghra, or mutilating Genya entirely out of spite, just because of how softened he was in the previous season and that’s been fairly true. I’ve seen some people be aghast at the finger bones thing but that’s at least to a purpose, frankly I think his book retaliation is far worse. I didn’t much enjoy what they did with Baghra this season? She was mostly just giving exposition. And she just wasn’t around the gang enough for her opening up about Morozova being her father to have as much weight as it should. I also just didn’t really get the choice to handle her death the way they did with the burning building etc. It felt particularly rushed and was the part I had to pause the most to explain book context to my friend who was watching it with me.

— I do wish we’d gotten a bit more mid S&S era politicking and seeing the characters navigate a glittering court setting. The show leaned more towards militaristic. Which is fine, and I feel like the climactic sequence is implying that they’re saving the more court focused stuff for later. But I wish we’d just gotten a bit more of the general climate. Or like what the fuck the Apparat is even up to. His complete absence particularly felt like a forgotten storyline when he was fairly active and creepy in season one.

— I did NOT like the shadow blade subplot for multiple reasons. The heist itself felt the weakest of the Crow schemes, on par with their season one era kind of ridiculously spinning their wheels, the quality really plummets when they stop drawing from book content entirely. It was just poorly thought out and executed on their side, for example, why send literally everyone into the house? Did they do any recon at all? Just seems really half baked comparatively. Meanwhile it really strongly undercuts the *point* of the amplifiers and magic not being the big dramatic thing that kills the Darkling. I just adore that, in the books, it’s an entirely ordinary knife that takes him down. Especially because he *only* really counts magic/Grisha power/merzost as threats. He overlooks anything else. I just hate him being taken down by a magic blade. It also just ties into the trend of like the Darkling amplifying *himself* or giving his troops of Grisha red shirts the powdered remains of his mother’s finger bones. It just points to a need for bigger and flashier, which idk just doesn’t seem like the right choice here.

Which is funny because the biggest and flashiest scenes were the ones they toned down the most! Baghra leaping to her death to steer away the nichevo’ya, Nikolai turning into a demon, the entirety of the chapel showdown. I get the sense that they probably just didn’t have the budget for these scenes, and maybe that’s why they’re trying to instead bring in random other mcguffins and amplifiers to sound cooler without doing anything that’s too fancy. The sea whip scene for example also felt way too small scale, and they didn’t even bother with the red herring firebird.

— The hallucinations during the above shadow blade plot also just felt rather cheap as ways to try to do some character work and to rush some quick backstory on Jesper’s part AND to give Wylan something to do. The butterfly antidote was beyond the fucking pale in just how contrived it was lol. Like sure. it just HAPPENS to fucking be there and it’s so easy to grab. Frankly if they really wanted to do character work like that, I wish they’d leaned into it and made it magic. Some sort of Saint/Grisha controlling their dreams and deliberately manipulating their emotions perhaps either through more muddling the worldbuilding and what magic can do even more lol or just introducing the question of parem earlier. But yeah if you’re going to make them all confront their fears and wants simultaneously then at least own it and make that the point.

— I’m also loling forever at Mal being arrested at Vasily's behest and apparently tried for desertion entirely off screen?? Right before the climactic sacking of the capital? Why was there so much focus on Mal being absent if he’s just going to randomly show up again? Was it a case of the writers not talking to each other? Did they have a more fleshed out storyline planned that got cut? That just felt like the most silly and half baked development to me.

— The attack on the palace itself just felt way less momentous. The Darkling steering Alina away from the fighting was itself kind of silly. I take it that was entirely just to cut down on how much fighting and CGI we need to see on camera lol. But like he kills a bunch of people and apparently forces the government to essentially flee? But he doesn’t even take the capital for himself??? One of the biggest missed opportunities in the books in my opinion was how we never see what the Darkling actually does once he installs himself as ruler, when there has been so much focus on him gunning for that kind of unilateral institutional power. Highlighting any changes he may have enacted (or the lack thereof!) could be really interesting! But we never get those details! And the show uh does not fill in the blanks there at all. Instead it’s even more confusing over why the fuck he just… retreats? back to wherever his base is? Why the fuck didn’t he press his advantage? Also WHO is running the fucking country in the meantime?? There’s the throwaway line in the last episode about the Apparat having ruled in the king’s staid but that’s way too late and like what even were the logistics of that happening! It would’ve just made more sense for the Darkling to take over and live out his evil overlord dreams! But I guess this season was very particularly averse to giving him any control of or deliberate choices with anything lol. Anyway, I also just have no idea where he was meant to be for the majority of the season. I feel like we could’ve used a bit more detail.

— I’m mostly cool with Darklina content being nerfed for this season. They were far too softened in the first season so this 180 feels appropriate and I just prefer getting to see the Darkling be awful. And the one scene riffing off the book’s “apt pupil” moment did actually feel like it was in keeping with the spirit of their dynamic. So I’m fairly satisfied on a shippy front, even though it had almost none of what I enjoyed from the books. The show dynamic was just too different to follow that same trajectory imo. That being said, the way his interactions with Alina become increasingly violent just feels… dull. This goes hand in hand with one of my gripes with season one as well, where he just raises his voice too often, loses his temper frequently, and even has that fist fight scene. It’s such a boring like “ooh male rage” sort of take? And it didn’t really do much for me!

I’m undecided on how I feel about them having such an extended conversation after she tears down the Shadow Fold. On the one hand they didn’t get to talk all that much. So I enjoy seeing that. But also feels a little inorganic considering just how at each other’s throats they’ve been?

The nichevo’ya attacking her and him being like STOP was really funny. In general I LOVED the choice to give him fucked up victorian wasting disease and to generally just give him drastic consequences for using merzost. I’m a little unhappy with the implication that he might have been dying even if she hadn’t killed him, because there’s so much focus on the concept of eternity and who else will weather immortality with her etc. But overall I loved how much they tore him down this season.

— Despite all that. Not sure how I feel about him offering Alina a hand. And also trying to protect her from the nichevo’ya. And while he’s remembering kissing her she guts him agufgfdhhdfjgd like on the one hand good for her.gif. But damn idk. Not very Darkling of him 😂

— I don’t get the early focus on amplifiers not needing to die (with the sea whip particularly, and later with Baghra’s finger bones) to then flip over firmly to Mal 100% needing to die once it’s clear he’s the third amplifier. I get the sense that they may have been trying to pose that question and explore it (I think maybe Baghra’s bones weren’t very useful before her death?) until it’s clear that no, death *is* necessary. But it just feels rather clumsy and I think it was already fairly well established with the stag. Though I really enjoyed the later attempt they made to rules lawyer killing him by stopping his heart for two minutes lol. It’s also a great red herring for book readers, because you’d think that’s going to be the excuse for the deus ex machina of him coming back from the dead… and then he doesn’t. So Alina has do delve into merzost.

—I’m very curious what they’re going to do with the Dark!Alina development. I have truly no idea. I’m assuming some variation of KoS and since we know the Darkling will be back, I’m guessing they might have more interactions then? I found it really interesting that word of god, and generally the show’s framing, seem to imply that he’s not wrong when he’s speaking about the cost of immortality and wanting to make a difference etc etc. So that alone makes me strongly suspect that when he’s resurrected (if the show goes that far lol) she’s meant to have a stronger understanding of him. But yeah idk! I’m curious to see what they’ll do once entirely off script for her character. I’ve seen speculation that they’re going to strip her of her power eventually like in the books. But I doubt they’ll do that unless they know they’re getting canceled and want to wrap up or if JML personally wants to leave the show. They’ve been pretty explicit about keeping them on as protagonist for as long as the show’s going. So I suspect that itself will mean we probably won’t get her becoming corrupted only to justify losing her power.

— I do think it was clever how they rearranged it so that we basically do get an attack on the Spinning Wheel type beat. But it’s so different that you’re not expecting it.

— Getting the Dominik plotline so early and sparsely is a little disappointing. But I get simply showing him onscreen when we have the chance, rather than establishing him entirely in flashback after the fact. They clearly want to do KoS so I’m expecting we’ll get more about him from Nikolai’s perspective later. That being said, Nikolai telling Dominik that he and Alina aren’t a thing (after the public engagement announcement) is SO funny. Like. Are you worried that would ruin your chances with him 👀

— On that note, I frankly do not understand the Zoyalai vs Nikolina uproar. The Nikolina scenes were pretty much entirely what existed in the trilogy already, with a couple liberties taken. And they actually went out of their way to remove a few more overtly romantic gestures and the like two times they kiss. I doubt her choosing to stay on is going to stick for very long. I think a lot of people were just expecting the Nikolina scenes to be cut entirely in order to start seeding Zoyalai (which same lol) but… this isn’t that different from the books. I’m sure Zoya will just get her romantic arc later?

That being said I did always prefer Nikolina and one of my biggest gripes with KoS was that sidelining Alina while bringing the Darkling back undercut her arc entirely. So. I won’t be mad if they do more with her. But I really didn’t think they went out of their way to like encroach on future Zoyalai 🤷‍♀️

— I did really like the choice to break up Malina, literally for Malina’s sake even. Something that was always uneven in the trilogy was how it set up the first book with the implication that Alina must let go of her codependent attachment to Mal to grow. So her winding up with him by the story’s close inadvertently ends up looking like regression. So giving them a break from each other to grow as people, only to later come back together (which I’m assuming is the plan) is a great choice to keep that thematic consistency and to let the characters breathe. I was also really impressed with how they handled the Malina conflicts, his “you’re my flag, my nation” speech always felt really sulky and guilt trippy to me in the book, but the show really sells it as a sincere and heartfelt thing to say. However, with book context, it was kind of fucking hilarious to see Alina yell at him later for being too chill with all of her decisions. The “deserve her” scene was also really good, and I am a fan of how it actually established that he has any sort of dreams or distinct personality lol.

— But, I did NOT enjoy the Darkling going directly to Mal’s dreams. Though it makes sense for him to try to be sly. But it just centers him in a way fairly similar to the climactic sequence of the first season.

OR like “Mal and I changed the world. WE tore down your shadow fold” yes technically correct but stopppp

— I was a fan of the expanded role Genya got and how we got to see more of what the Darkling was up to from her perspective. And how she begins to fear him. That being said, the confrontation with the Queen, and later Nikolai, felt rather… on the nose? The dialogue in this show isn’t the best but hm that wasn’t great. I think that underground segment generally was one of the points where the rushed writing was really showing its seams.

— Speaking of the underground segment, I was shocked by just how much they’d cut the Apparat from the plot and also the general focus on Alina as a religious figure. I guess I get it structurally because they need screen time and the Apparat plot literally goes *nowhere* in the trilogy proper, so might as well save him being a turncoat for the KoS era stuff. But simultaneously… KoS gets so strongly into what Saints actually are vs how they’re been perceived up until then, which *itself* was already high key inadequate imo lmao. So cutting that groundwork even further is… a choice. So yeah I’m really intrigued how that bee aka Elizaveta foreshadowing is going to pan out if they ever get a season three.

— I liked that we got more red shirts for team Darkling at all, if only to make my fic writing life easier lol. Perhaps the only bit of TV show content I’ll ever actually use. But the focus on a super amplified evil Grisha army that it’s okay to kill without any regret is. meh. I’m assuming they just didn’t have the money for mainly focusing on the nichevo’ya as the Darkling’s primary weapon. But they just didn’t have personalities. And the fight scene just took way too long. I was definitely missing Ivan and Fedyor. Ivan’s always been my like ancillary character fave so I was sad not to see him.

— I never particularly cared for David in the books, and especially Genya/David. I just liked Genya with either Alina or Zoya sooo much more. But the actor is really charming! And the scenes they got together were really sweet. I hope he hasn’t been actually killed off and it’s only a cliffhanger fakeout. The lack of a body and how coy they were about how he disappeared feels very deliberate. So I think it’s likely they’re planning something more with him.

—Something really noticeable was how the writers completely dropped the focus on in-universe racism. I guess they just took note on how much people hated it and course corrected. But comparatively it just makes everything that came before feel much more unnecessary. It’s like so you could’ve simply had an Asian lead without making up fantasy slurs to call them all along huh?

#overall this was silly and bad but I had fun!#shadow and bone #grishaverse #sab season 2 #sab spoilers #i ramble sometimes

7 notes · View notes