#that says a lot about the company as a whole imho

[universe-of-peoples]

There’s a lot of different opinions about what went wrong with Wish (2023), and i think a lot of them are missing the point.

So here’s my take on what was ACTUALLY wrong with Wish (2023).

Let’s start with what the movie was. It was a cute little movie, just 1 hour 35 minutes long (for reference, about as long as Encanto and a little shorter than Frozen). It had a cute story and a powerful message about working to make your dreams a reality, with a side message of the will of the people is more powerful than one corrupt ruler. It had good music; not as popular as other movies’ music, but I added the songs to my Disney playlist and I genuinely enjoy them. The whole movie was just a fun time.

Now let’s talk about what the movie was expected to be.

Fans expected this movie to be the next big Disney Princess movie, the big important Disney 100 movie, because that’s what it was marketed as. More important of those two was the latter - this was THE Disney 100 movie, the “when you wish upon a star” movie. Yeah, THAT movie. Disney fans were understandably excited. After hits like Frozen, Tangled, Encanto, Moana, and others, Disney had proven it was capable of producing movies that were big emotional hard-hitters that could also be funny and entertaining.

Then let’s shift over to Disney. The eyes of the world turned to them as they advertised their biggest anniversary yet. They had a lot of ideas for this movie (as everyone keeps talking about), but they also had a lot of pressure on them. They probably had story ideas that would have cemented this movie in the ranks of Frozen, Encanto, Tangled, Moana. But you know what it feels like to me?

It feels like Disney got scared.

This movie was supposed to be THE movie that represented their brand. They would have to find a message, an emotional journey that fit their brand but didn’t deviate from the brand’s central theme. Other movies got to tell their own unique stories with diverse emotional journeys because while they were A Disney movie, they weren’t THE Disney movie. Not like this one was supposed to be.

So they watered down any emotional journey the characters went on, relied more heavily on the overly-relatable main character archetype (with her job interview jitters, big group of friends, quirky personality, etc), and threw in the nostalgia bait (that’s a given. It’s the 100th anniversary movie.) Compared to the other Disney movies that could be big emotional hard-hitters, but could also be funny and entertaining, I’d say this movie landed at definitely funny and entertaining, with a smaller emotional journey that definitely wasn’t hard-hitting. The story was just a bit smaller than some other Disney movies.

The thing is, none of these things are inherently bad. It’s ok to tell a smaller story. Other studios do it all the time! Heck, Disney has done lots of them in the past! It’s ok to want your main character to be relatable, it’s ok to put in some references to past works in your movie, it’s ok to have songs that are good but not good enough to break the charts.

So what’s the problem? The problem, as I see it, was the disparity between what was expected and what was delivered. A good part of that expectation came from Disney’s advertisement of the movie, and a smaller part came from fans’ expectations of any Disney Princess movie given the company’s track record. It was a perfect storm of This Movie Isn’t Going To Be Well Received.

IMHO, the movie isn’t bad. It just isn’t what it was expected and advertised to be. So please stop hating on the movie and direct your anger instead to The Mouse, the one who really deserves it.

#disney’s wish #Wish #disneys wish #wish asha #wish star #wish 2023 #disney wish #disney #disney 100

[orowyrm]

like the thing that i think a lot of ppl gloss over is that a large majority of the talon aligned heroes have little to no interest in the actual ‘goals’ of the organization (to the point where we still don’t entirely know what talon wants or why they exist, lmfao) so much as it just being a means to an end. like we can all conceptualize that sombra is pretty much just there because it gives her access to more resources she can use towards her own goals, moira is there for research opportunities and funding that she’d never get elsewhere due to the nature of her work, i can only imagine that ramattra’s alliance with talon (and thus null sector’s as a whole) is purely situational because it provides advantages he considers useful, reaper is pretty much just there because they’re against overwatch therefore he can use it as an avenue for his revenge, even doomfist doesn’t really seem to hold as much stock in talon as an organization as he does use his position as a tool to achieve his goals, if it stopped being useful he would likely just walk away.

in opposition to the overwatch aligned heroes who all seem to be coming together solely for the sake of this like, ideal of Overwatch as a concept being this paradigm of good and justice and doing what’s right, and rallying behind their faith in the organization and what it symbolizes… i genuinely don’t think any of the talon operatives really care all that much about talon at all. it’s just a job. like, sure, we’re doing cartoon supervillain shit, but the pay is decent and we’ve got benefits and i can continue to do my own thing on the side, no questions asked. it’s honestly a pretty sweet deal.

all of that to say i really don’t see why people seem so averse to the idea of sigma having that same mindset. like yeah, he’s not exactly thrilled to be using his research and abilities to assist in acts of violent terrorism, but does he have many other options? he says it himself in that interaction with baptiste, talon gives him everything he needs - funding, resources, something to fall back on after being in total isolation for decades and coming out with absolutely nothing. it’s a guaranteed safety net — so long as he’s with talon, there’s absolutely no chance of anyone dragging him off or locking him up again, and so long as he contributes when he’s needed, he’s free to pursue his research to his heart’s content. does he regret it? sure, sometimes. i think they all do. i doubt there’s a single talon-aligned hero who genuinely believes what they’re doing is genuinely morally correct and sound. but ultimately in his mind he didn’t have many options left, so he had to settle for something he knew would at least guarantee his safety and continued freedom. it doesn’t really mean he’s being manipulated or held against his will any moreso than most of the other talon heroes, imho. he’s not proud of it, but hey, it pays the bills.

i feel like he regards it with a similar level of resentment/annoyance as i felt towards my horrible soul sucking corporate retail job of several years - like don’t get me wrong, the company i worked for absolutely sucked and i HATED how they operated, policy was bullshit and so much of it was unnecessary and needlessly counterproductive. but i also really connected with my coworkers in the same situation AND i got to get paid to do stuff i already would have been doing on my own anyway, and ultimately the experience i got and connections i made were really helpful in pursuing what i actually wanted to be doing with my life. it’s like if your shitty day job required you to kill people but they also like, got you hooked up with a place to live and a healthcare provider and all that shit and paid for all of your living expenses no questions asked AND gave you a decent budget to screw around with so long as every now and then you showed them what you were making and maybe used it to kill people more efficiently sometimes. i wouldn’t exactly feel any amount of loyalty to the company paying me but i wouldn’t exactly be in a hurry to quit either

#overwatch #sigma #am i posting instead of going to bed. yeah. whatever. i think about it a lot #siebren de kuiper #fuck it. look at my posts boy

[bigyikes97]

recommend me another depressing Korean gangster movie

>:D

Hmmm hmmm ok so if you say "another", that means you maybe already watched either "The Merciless" or "A Bittersweet Life" or perhaps both, which were the depressing Korean gangster movies I posted about most on here and both of which I very highly recommend...A Bittersweet Life is one of my favorite movies of all time, if not my top fave. In case you watched one but not the other:

A Bittersweet Life - a story about a man who catches one imperfect glimpse of beauty and throws away everything in a inevitable and helpless grasp at something he knows he can never have. I cried at the soundtrack for days after my first watch, haha.

The Merciless - a stylishly shot and perhaps more hardboiled noir about a chosen one who really meant it when he said he shouldn't be the chosen one, which falls apart in a spectacular and heartrending explosion of betrayal, confusion, and devastation. Like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.

These are most definitely my top 2 in the whole world so far, and honestly nothing else really plucks exactly those same chords with me in terms of overall excellence, but here's a few others nonetheless:

A Company Man - More of a straightforward shoot-em-up. Could be taken as either an action flick kinda sorta similar to Bittersweet Life (gangster wants out, gang won't let him go) or a harsh satire of South Korean work culture, which makes it (imho) slightly more interesting. Definitely depressing gangsters, for sure!

The Man from Nowhere - it's more of a vigilante justice/revenge thriller and a lot of people liked it, but unfortunately since it was one of the first in the genre (at least from South Korea), in my opinion it's since been done better. Or maybe I'm just chronically Kdrama-ing so I have more stringent standards, lol. The main lead's looks are to die for though if that's an aspect that appeals to you--and many folks loved it, 100% on Rotten Tomatoes!

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil - On paper it looks amazing--a brash cop has to team up with a gangster to take down an even bigger criminal, exposing the corruption of the cops and the weird code of honor among the criminals. Usually that's my cup of tea and I came in SO ready to love this movie but...somehow didn't. I don't know why. It even had Ma Dong Seok, who's usually great! However, it got 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, so maybe you'll see something about it I missed if you watch it :)

Gangnam Blues - So, I didn't watch this one myself, but it's got Lee Min Ho and a historical-fiction take on the real-life corruption and money/power plays surrounding the creation of the glitzy Gangnam district from a marsh in the 70's, it looks interesting! I'll probably watch it in the future.

Speaking of, Ma Dong Seok is pretty much the go-to guy for Korean gangster movies. He's been in the genre since forever, if you search his name you'll likely find some good ones I haven't heard about.

I don't know if you're interested in extending your search to dramas, but in case you are:

Insider - one of THE best kdramas I've seen, hands down. The set-up is similar to The Merciless in that a guy goes undercover in prison to catch a gangster and ends up forming bonds with a high-ranking member while working on the inside. However, the similarities stop there. I think I binged it in like 3 days. It's gritty and doesn't let up, but the main guy is one of my favorite protagonists ever and the ending was fantastic

Big Mouth - it came out around the same time and also involves a wrongful imprisonment, but with a hilarious twist (along with some Very Not Hilarious ones) that make it a different flavor. I got busy and didn't finish (and also didn't have subtitles while it was airing)

Watcher - This one's more on the one-righteous-cop-vs-corrupt-conglomerate side of things, which will always and forever be my jam. The moody atmosphere and insanely tight writing make this one of my favorites. I've seen it like 4 or 5 times and seem to catch something new each time, the writing is extremely satisfying and there are great female characters too, which I'm all about.

Nobody Knows - I'm watching this one right now and it's also more on righteous detective vs killer side of things, but it's got a fascinating female lead, great characters, consistent plot and great storytelling so far.

Triangle - this one is about gangsters and casinos and is unique because it's one of the WORST kdramas I've EVER seen, but it's so bad it crosses the line right back into good again because it's so freaking funny how everyone manages to act the worst plot and the worst characters with the deepest sincerity. Everyone's gorgeous, which helps. It's funnier if you're a chronic Kdrama enjoyer to see all the worst tropes played out in the funniest ways with dead straight faces. They actually wrote it episode by episode based on viewer feedback and ran out of time at the end because the feedback was conflicting--and BOY does it show in unintentionally hilarious ways.

Bad and Crazy - I LOVE this drama, especially the first act. It's violent and dark, with comedy thrown in, and one of the most interesting and sensitive portrayals of a mental illness on screen that I've ever seen in both American and Korean TV. Yet another righteous-cop-vs-conglomerate plot, my beloved. I'll eat that storyline up each time though.

So that's movies and dramas off the top of my head--if I think of any other good ones, I'll let you know! Happy watching and omg, if any of those tickle your fancy I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D

*Ok, one runner up: From the director of "A Bittersweet Life", "A Tale of Two Sisters" is a psychological horror that is just. so. good. I'm not usually a horror person and I was hooked and think about it all the time, very excellent!

#kdrama #korean movies

[these-detestable-hands]

Ok so

Yes, overall, RWBY is very good! It's a story with a lot of heart, a cool world, and some rly lovable characters! It takes a minute to pick up but that's just cus it wants you emotionally invested in the characters before the real plot starts, so you actually care about what happens to said characters. It's got a great message about staying hopeful despite The Horrors too. One of my favorite shows ever tbh

Like I said tho it's not perfect and is unfortunately a victim of being rushed thru production by the company that had been behind it for its whole lifetime up until now, Rooster Teeth. The showrunners were put under rly bad time crunches and weren't given the budget to do everything they wanted. RT is shutting down now and RWBY is searching for a new company so hopefully this shouldn't be a problem in the future, but who's to say?

Some criticisms of the show are kinda blown out of proportion (there's this rly loud minority that thinks it's like The Worst Show Ever and if you like it you're The Worst Person Ever for. some reason??? heck if I know) so maybe take any negative things you've heard with a grain of salt — I'd say not to knock it until you've tried it — but dgmw it's ok to criticize it and even dislike it due to its imperfections

There's one thing that especially suffered from this tho, one thing that might break your interest, so I think you deserve to know at least the minimum of this. So there's fantasy racism. And due to it being kinda rushed (especially near the end of its plot importance) it unfortunately doesn't land well!

Now I will add that I can say with confidence that this topic was tackled in good faith; the writers themselves admitted to being "too ambitious", so I think they know they kinda messed up. And if we compare this to, say, the beastlings from Octopath 2, it's certainly handled much much better in comparison imho! However, it wasn't able to be handled with the full nuance and depth that it deserved, and so the whole plotline suffers deeply despite the attempts to do it justice. There's definitely worse fantasy racism out there, like I don't think this is the worst, but it's not the best either. It tries tho at least

I don't want to go into too much more detail bcus spoilers. But I think you've talked before on how much you hate this kind of stuff so I wanted to make sure you knew about this ahead of time. If this makes you not wanna watch the show I'd totally understand

But I do sincerely think that, if this didn't scare you away, the show is rly worth a shot! It's not for everyone but I personally think it's great despite its flaws (which I can mostly forgive due to the aforementioned external factors) and there's a lot of things here you could enjoy

If you do choose to give it a try I'd recommend going into it with as little information as possible, it's a show most enjoyed when you don't know what comes next. (I mean I am enjoying my rewatch cus I can catch foreshadowing and details but I may be biased bcus hyperfixation lol)

(But don't enter the fandom unless or until you're ready to block tags and block ppl willy nilly. It's the wild west out here, from the terrible bad faith takes to the excessive obsession with shipping. I just stick with the few good RWBY blogs I follow and call it good personally lol)

So yeah I think it's pretty cool but due to that one thing, if you don't think you'd like it I get it

Question: is it that the creators are racist (eg, what happened to the beastlings) or that there's in universe racism? (eg, dungeon meshi)

#Asks #Hira

[twopoppies]

The polari account is in no way associated with H/L, they did a series of posts or stories talking about their work and history (mostly in fashion and music) a while back on their other account, dadadaworld (states.of.flux for a while) … I didn’t screen cap any tho and now they’re gone. They post a lot of celebs, including H & L who obviously bring them attention from the fandom. But they’re in no way really implying being associated with anyone, it’s just this conspiracy theory obsessed part of the fandom that gets a high out of it and takes things out of proportion imho.

My guess is they’re a bit of a fan of Louis, I mean who isn’t? But other than that I think, all the fandom mess and click baiting aside I think polari is a really cool brand and the designs were pretty nice. So I hope, as shitty as the fashion industry is, that they make it. And I think they screen printed locally on demand so that’s a little better than many brands out there!

I don’t tend to pay any attention to them unless fans are freaking out, but it always seemed to be more than just randomly posting various celebrities. And it looked as though they were very aware of the attention they got when they posted either Harry or Louis (although it was more Louis, as you say), so they played that up more. I just don’t think there’s any way they didn’t notice fans’ reactions and theories.

Anyway, nothing against their designs, or even the company as a whole. I just find it really irritating that people have created this silly theory and whoever is running their social media does nothing to discourage it.

#Polari

[missinconsistent]

Man, I have so many mixed feelings about the "statement" that was made by Elira, Vox, and Ike.

There's a lot of debate if the three were forced to speak on the situation, and I really don't know what's true. But they've burned their bridges with Selen, and it's just really shitty seeing friends have such an awful fallout, and it all being aired to the public of bad actors to jump in and send hate.

I feel disappointed because I do believe the livers should be allowed to speak their side, defend themselves from the harassment and accusations made towards them, and they're allowed to be upset. I think it's understandable they'd feel scared their personal information and jobs are at stake. But there is no proof that the legal documents would ever go public to dox them. They only incriminated themselves further by mentioning they thoroughly went over the legal document shared with them, which was meant to be private.

Vox particularly had a certain attitude that really rubbed me the wrong way. I could understand where Elira and Ike were coming from, regardless if you agree with them, but Vox just sounded so fed up and too combative.

He spends too much time defending management about The Last Cup of Coffee video but the issue of Selen's termination was NOT that she had failed getting all the permissions because, other than some bad actors, a lot of us already understood she broke that rule. But it was literally everything else about the termination and the culmination of events that people are mad about.

Even though Vox said they don't take Selen's "attempt" lightly, it isn't proven with how they spoke about her and the whole situation. It really did feel like they were more focused on trying to paint Selen as a bad person than showing any bit of understanding for her mental health. Imho, they are allowed to be mad at her AND also show her some sympathy. But Vox, only saying they aren't taking her attempt lightly, is basically all we get. Everyone had reached out to Selen after hearing of her attempt, and getting updates through her emergency contact isn't proof that they handled the situation with care. It almost comes off as they were worried about how it would reflect on the company more than Selen's wellbeing.

It is morally grey that Selen had recorded Vox without his permission to get some kind of dirt out of him (even if it is legal in Canada), but using a very specific instance of when Selen broke Vox's trust still doesn't amount to what she went through that drove her to commit an attempt. Vox going to that moment just felt petty because it made HIM hurt that something like that happened to HIM, and HE was willing to graduate with Selen even though HE would never feel that way if it wasn't for Selen pulling his strings..?

With Ike and Elira, they, too, are both guilty of painting a bad picture of Selen in an attempt to save face for the company and their own careers within Niji. I don't like how they did that, but I understand how Elira would be worried about herself and her two close friends in Niji being doxxed. And Ike, as someone who was considered a friend of Selen, would just feel generally hurt and confused about the situation going on. It's not a black and white situation. But I wish they would have been able to express their negative emotions without feeling the need to speak badly of Selen's character.

Even though this is clearly a tough time for them and everyone in EN, I think that video would've come out a little better if they weren't so focused on trying to paint Selen as the bad guy. As a Niji fan, I wish the company- and the livers- knew how to speak neutrally. They could've just been ambiguous and say they felt upset and betrayed, but they are going to keep working with the company bc that's the choice they stand by, without pointing fingers or especially talking about confidential legal documents.

As angry as everyone is, neither of the livers deserves to be harassed. There has been incredibly dehumanizing shit said and done, and if anyone is sending hate or doxxing them, then you are no better than Anycolor. Selen is not the only person to have mental health struggles, and, she's already asked people not to bully or harrass anyone because she knows how shitty it feels. We don't need to push another liver to their breaking point and act like that is any favor to Doki, to Nijisanji, or any community.

Me venting my frustration isn't meant to be harassment towards Elira, Ike, or Vox. I think they're also victims of their management's incompetence. As a fan, it's just disappointing they blamed Selen for all the problems. And even if they never meant to harrass her, shutting down her frustrations and pressuring her to do what's told of her or else she'd been hurting everyone else while no one looked out for her, is probably what led her to feel the way she did. It shows the company hasn't been doing any introspection and are continously having their livers stick their neck out to avoid doing so.

Nijisanji is lucky that a lot of people are giving the three the benefit of the doubt that they are sharing their true feelings and are only forced to have made the video by management. And it would be nice if, for once, management would take the bullet for their livers other than the other way around and just take some responsibility for their actions without throwing their talent under the bus or using them as a shield. Then, if Elira, Ike, and Vox do choose to leave the company, they'd still have a reputation after Niji after everything they've been put through.

#nijisanji

[maychild]

unintentional love story and its callbacks

so on my first watch through of this awesome bl, i couldn't help but notice that unintentional love story has a couple of callbacks that jumped at me, and grabbed me by the throat. there are also some more subtle ones that you could take as callbacks or not, so i won't get into those, but i do wanna talk about two in particular that sucker-punched me.

first we have this lovely little exchange between taejoon and wonyoung when they meet after taejoon's photoshoot in ep. 8, during the Break-Up™.

taejoon says this:

look, taejoon, i get it: inho really did a number on you. he took a lot of money from your father to never see you again, and we can all see that he hasn't stopped being opportunistic. (he comes out of the woodwork just as taejoon's coming back into the pottery world??? like, merely a coincidence??? I THINK NOT. AND DOING BUSINESS WITH THE RESTAURANT YOU AND TAEJOON FREQUENTED????) and i understand taejoon thinks, upon finding out who wonyoung really is, that wonyoung isn't really all that different from inho. that the only logical conclusion to finding out the truth was that wonyoung must want to use him like inho did (urghhhh, yeah, even writing that made me wanna vomit.)

BUT WE, THE AUDIENCE, KNOW WONYOUNG ISN'T LIKE INHO (like, literally minutes right before this moment, wonyoung switches out the place cards on the dressing room doors JUST TO KEEP INHO AWAY FROM TAEJOON SO TAEJOON ISN'T HURT FURTHER AJFKDLSJFKDSJFKDSFJ I AM COMPLETELY NORMAL ABOUT THAT BEE TEE DUBS)

did wonyoung initially approach taejoon in an attempt to get his job back by getting taejoon to come back to the pottery world?? yeah, but the major difference, imho, is that during the whole previous eight eps, we haven't really seen wonyoung working that hard to get his job back. yes we've seen him taking vice-manager jung's calls and still reporting on taejoon, but...that's.all.he.does. he doesn't attempt to cajole taejoon any one way (and u might say that cajoling him in any one way might have given him away to taejoon much sooner, but i got the feeling that there was something else at play than wonyoung trying to be subtle about his subterfuge, esp. once he and taejoon get closer.)

but ok, taejoon is hurting and he's retreating back into his cold, hard shell we saw in ep 1, so while this is very harsh, i can understand where he's coming from.

BUT THEN EP 10 HAPPENS. for a little context, this is after they get back together and spend the night (IN MATCHING PJS LIKE THE DORKS IN LOVE THAT THEY ARE!!!)

does taejoon think this is a game??? flashing his wealth around like it's no big deal, mr.i'll-take-care-of-you, and use-me-all-you-want.

may i remind everyone that just two eps ago--TWOOOO--he was all, "i wonder if u're still hanging around because you want to use me some more?" and was all broody mcbroody about it. :((((

but wonyoung has something to say about his boyfriend being very serious about getting used:

TAEJOON IS SHOOK. WE ARE ALL SHOOK. this also references, to me, a subtle callback from ep.7 when they first confess to each other and have that talk on the rooftop about taejoon's father. taejoon confesses that he had never felt love from his father--he had felt more like a disciple than a son--which is why i think wonyoung is VEEEERY deliberate in his word choice here. he could've kept up the joking banter, but i think he was very conscious of the fact that taejoon's world is made up of a lot of people like inho, and not a lot of people like wonyoung (by that i mean, people who sought out taejoon not solely for his company or to build a loving relationship with him, but because he had wealth and connections INHO YOU DEMON) so i think wonyoung wanted to make himself very clear. (again! a subtle reference/callback to yeonhee, his friend girl, from ep. 7 also, who was like "you're very honest, and that was why i liked you.")

COULD THAT MAN MAKE IT ANY CLEARER??!!! NO and i love wonyoung for this. (i love them. *cries in single*)

ANYGAY, i am completely and totally fine and totally normal about this bl. everyone needs to watch it already tho.

#unintentional love story #meta #ish #i dont do meta #but i needed to let this out #anygay don't want to talk about the amount of times i've re-watched ep. 10 since finishing this drama #(it's an embarrassing number btw)

[grimalkinsquill]

I saw your arcadeology reblog and got curious. If you were to make a miracle box based on the Tuatha Dé Danann what animals would you put in it?

I've been ruminating over this all day, since seeing this in my inbox in the morning.

There are a lot of ways to answer this question (I did one in the reblog you mentioned, where I picked named Tuath Dé and gave answers based on very loose animal associations with each), but I honestly think the easiest would be to work with a pre-existing framework with the Four Treasures. Because if I were to go through the entire list of the Tuatha Dé Danann, well-

The box would be too big, IMHO, and it'd be hard to balance them all and give them animals without repeating them. So,

The Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann

These Four Treasures were brought with the Tuatha Dé Danann when they moved from the four island cities they originated from to Ireland, with each treasure corresponding to each city (Murias, Falias, Gorias and Findias).

Reverse engineering these Treasures into Miraculous tools and then finding animals for each would be a lot easier than attributing animals to the Tuatha (who were really fluid in nature, from my understanding, and thus didn't exactly have one animal to each, unlike say the Olympians who each have A Commonly Associated Sacred Animal).

Cauldron of the Dagda

Associated with the city of Murias, the Cauldron's main property is that "no company ever went away from it unsatisfied". It is an "un-dry" cauldron that'll never run out and will essentially make delicious food forever.

I would more or less replace the Ladybug's function with the Cauldron's by having each "akuma" (I honestly wouldn't even use akuma for this story, I'd have the Hawk Moth-esque figure draw power from the Fomorians to corrupt civilians) be purified with a good meal. The episode format would involve tricking the "akuma" into eating a bite of soup and feeling better about life again to tie into Miraculous's theme of mental health (when it feels like the world hates you, eat a little and the world will look a little brighter). More or less merge Miraculous Ladybug and Lucky Charm's functions with soup. I realise I sound like my móraí, but soup good.

I'm going to stick with Horse here because I cannot (and will not) escape the Dagda's association with horses, simply because while he is a druid, one of his epithets is Eochaid Ollathair ("horseman, all-father"). The horse carries the cauldron along in a saddle, its weapon being a big-ass ladle (the ladle for the Cauldron was said to be so big that two humans could fit inside of it, so y'know, channel the Dagda's lorg anfaid ("the staff/club/mace of wrath") with the ladle.

Stone of Fál (Lia Fáil)

This is the hard one. Associated with the city of Falias, the Stone of Fál is highly believed to be an actual landmark you can go to. It is a large, massive stone, a sacred space where all the kings of Ireland were crowned, thus giving it its nickname of the Coronation Stone.

The reason it's like that, according to the Tuath Dé version of the legend, is that the stone would "roar with joy" when the rightful king of Ireland put his feet upon it. It would also rejuvenate the king and give him a long reign.

I wouldn't have the tool be the entire 1-metre-tall rock. That'd be ridiculous. And also deprive respect given to the actual sacred space around the rock. Instead, I would have the Miraculous be a fragment of the rock from when Cúchulainn split it with his sword (long story short: he tried to have his protege crowned king of Ireland. The stone did not agree. Cúchulainn took things into his own hands from there, as he is wont to do). Maybe it's held as a pendant or similar, the stone picking its champions on the same basis as it used to kings back when it was whole.

Giving an associated animal is also hard for this one, as the Stone has touched the destiny of many kings (of the Tuatha and others). I'm going to make an arbitrary decision to go off of Bres, the more-or-less-agreed-upon "First" High King of the Tuatha in Ireland (the title is debatable, but given that Nuada will be getting his turn later in this round-up, I'm making an executive decision). Bres is, essentially, a motherfucker. He is a villain. His name might've been derived from a root word that meant "fight" or "uproar" (and more speculation with that, but I want to focus on those in particular for this). Bres is described with a couple different phrases: kindly friend, hot of valour, the flower of the Tuatha De, hot of valour, the ornament of the host, with a visage never woeful, spear-attended king. Bres's associated Miraculous in this box has the Lion, a showboat but one looking for meaning and a true master. A real king to support. With the spectre of Bres, wanting to atone for favouring his Fomorian kin (he was half-Fomorian, half-Tuath) and taking advantage of Nuada's condition to do so. When transformed, the tool is both the stone fragment and a spear (maybe give this boi a shield, too, making the spear a short-spear, for close melee, over a longer one. I'm still mulling this over).

Spear of Lugh

I know I just made a spear an accessory weapon of the Stone. Listen. There are a lot of spears in this section of folklore. They were handy.

Associated with the city of Gorias, the Spear of Lugh has many names. It's kind of like Excalibur in that way because it's such an exciting narrative that many people focused on it. It's the Spear of Lugh, mainly, but also the Spear of Assal, Ar-éadbair, "Slaughterer". Some connect it with Lúin of Celtchar of Scottish myth, but there's not enough evidence in enough texts to fully make that association comfortably, IMO. Mainly, the Spear of Lugh is a spear of many stories, where it has a lot of different attributes. The main one, though, is that it is a spear of combat prowess: nobody can win against the spear or its wielder. Other details depend on telling but include:

two incantations (one to have the spear always hit its mark and the other to return the spear to your hand)

a tip that had to be kept immersed in water to keep it from igniting

symbolism about the spear essentially being lightning as a weapon

did not need a wielder, could float on its own, and hungered for blood unless soaked in a sleeping draught of pounded fresh poppy leaves

The incantations make it work well when translated into a Miraculous framework. I would have this function similarly to how we have Chat Noir in combat: this is the strong arm to the soft arm of soup with the Cauldron. This is your "if the heroes lose this to the villains, it has to be a retconned timeline for the story to continue" affair right here. This is the only Miraculous that I'd ever give an actual mechanical time limit for (you transform and have a brief window of working through seemingly impossible combat situations before you go mad with bloodlust), adult or not. As an interesting contrast to the Stone's Lion-based combat support, I would give the Spear a Greyhound to symbolise it. Both after Lugh's hound and also to really make the sprint of the combat obvious and unavoidable.

Sword of Light

Associated with the city of Findias, we come at last to the Sword of Light (or Claiomh Solais, if'n you're inclined). While I said that the Spear of Lugh was like Excalibur, the Sword of Light is very near and dear to Excalibur's heart. Like, there are (last I checked, anywhoozies) thesis papers about the Sword of Light and Excalibur and which of them came first (a very chicken vs the egg kind of debate to me, honestly). And then there's the Grail Sword with the chair for that debate, and it's A Whole Thing.

But we're not here to have a supreme academic breakdown about folkloric swords. We're here for serotonin and Miraculous AUs.

Within the context of the Tuatha, the Sword of Light was Nuada's. While I acknowledge that its principles are "no one can escape from it once it was drawn from its sheathe, and no one could resist it", we already have an omega combat Miraculous in this box. I also don't want to deal with another one that could end in tragedy (as the Sword of Light sometimes kills its owner; note the "no one can escape" part of its core design, meaning someone has to die by it if you take it out).

Instead, I want to focus on the Tain angle of it, as Nuadu's Cainnel. Nuada's ever-glowing, bright torch.

Nuada is characterised by his silver hand and his associations with hunting and fishing (y'know, outside of when he's constantly fighting for his right to be king). We can retain the "no one can escape" feature of the sword by weaving it in with Nuada's hunting sphere of influence.

So, weaving together a bunch of different aspects about Nuada (the etymology of his name as debated being about heroes, mists, hazes, clouds, hunting, compelling), I would like to really lean into that this is fictional reimagining and make this Nuada tied to the moon, and hence, the Wolf. A hunter associated with silver and light really spells moonlight and wolves to me. It also contrasts directly with the Lion and the Grayhound by spinning the "wolves are uncontrollable monsters" idea on its head by the supposedly domestic dog being more of a threat and problem than the wolf. The Lion and Wolf wouldn't get along, to start with, until a bigger problem plays into the story (because Bres conspired, not once but twice, to take Nuada's kingship. Perhaps Bres accepts Nuada now, but Nuada, twice-burned, doesn't trust that. Thankfully, the Horse provides a mediator, and the Grayhound can strong-arm both of them should they not listen to soup and reason).

(before people get pedantic: I know Wikipedia says Elatha is the Irish lunar deity. However, given that Elatha is associated with all forms of illumination, he does not have a monopoly on the moon)

TL;DR: Horse, Lion, Grayhound, Wolf. Big, beefy bois, with the Horse as the leader-type character and the Lion, Grayhound, and Wolf serving as their combat entourage.

[susansontag]

Okay, two totally random rants from an admiring rando, but I just have a lot to say about two points you made and nowhere to say it! 1. THANK YOU re: Joyce ballet stuff. I'm becoming so fucking demoralized by the tidal pull towards absolute stupidity Twitter fame seems to have on some GCers. I'm a former ballet dancer (as in former company member, not just youth classes), and there is in fact incredibly brave criticism from women in ballet about how fucking pointlessly gendered a lot of it is, and how much that DOESN'T work with women's bodies, actually, because it demands impossible standards of strength AND delicacy, which functionally necessitates an eating disorder and huge physical damage among professionals. Letting us move (and build more muscle AND FAT) like male dancers would be a HUGE feminist win, actually. Ballet suffers so specifically from codified ideals we pretend can never be changed and were handed down by god about What Good Ballerinas Look Like/Move Like, which are just the same old sexist bullshit you'd imagine. We DON'T have to move the way we do "because of our bodies," and we ABSOLUTELY DO NOT need prominent feminists acting like these standards just are the way they are. Especially because a LOT of 2010s feminist energy brewing in the scene has been pretty much entirely squandered in favor of male-centric shit enabled through gender theory. Radical feminist analysis is DESPERATELY needed (in dance as a whole, tbh) b/c no one wants to talk about how much ballet would rather talk about/support/give $ to a male dancer queering swan lake/pointe/etc than have literally one short conversation about letting female dancers do literally anything but be traumatized twigs who are thrown away before they're 27. The difference between how the sexes is treated is so insanely stark and stable, no matter what male dancers call themselves, wear, etc -- the front line is so clearly who has a female body. To see a woman I used to admire throw her lot in here without one thought or cursory google is so disappointing. I've also loved the points you've made about Stock in the past. Fingers crossed Glosswitch and Sister Outrider won't let me down 2. You're totally right wrt Korra, and tbh, I love ATLA but fans really need to admit that season one is not that great. Like it's not terrible but it gets pretty boring in bits imho and lacks so much of what makes the show beloved -- I don't think it's a coincidence that fandom is almost always discussing events from season two and three instead. So yeah, okay, season two of LoK is weak and I think season one is a bit messy (although the high points are SO FUCKING HIGH), but seasons three and four rule, and a solid third of ATLA is lackluster. Feels like that balances them out more than people want to admit

omg, the whiplash this gave me when you went into korra at the end. season 3&4 of korra are sick imo they’re more mature and interesting than most of atla and I like the villains immensely because their ideologies are actually sympathetic.

as for everything else, thank you for this info, I’m really feeling the anger too lol it was an idiotic thing for joyce to say tbqh. honestly I’m not sure if her and stock are even necessarily feminists, certainly not radical feminists at least they turn away from and misrepresent the radical viewpoint consistently… it is very disappointing honestly

#🤷‍♀️ #asks #anon

[party-in-eldarya]

@heyseihai



- Eldarya didn't need a second season.

True. They gave us a new site that only few asked for (because Beemoov wanted to be another AP games company), but they took away lots of things for no reasons.

1 - Was it because of Lance route? Leiftan route only appeared five or six episodes after the others, why were they afraid (or too tired?) to do the same with his route?

Yesssss, they could have given us Lance/Ashcore later and plp would be happy. Some even would make replays (money for Beemoov) to get that perfect LoM ASAP.

2 - Was it for self-insert reasons? Because all the self-inserts characters were either killed or had disappeared.

Tinfoil hat theory- you may be right. Miko wasn't well loved character, and they took her. Ykhar is an OC- or self-insert of Hikaru, who as far as I know no longer write for Eldarya (does she work for them?). Alajea was removed from Eel and she was someone's OC, that person also doesn't work for Beemoov anymore. Childlish, IMHO- when you are allowed to make a unique character for public game you shouldn't take it with you, like a toy, when you are going home for dinner. It belongs to franchise and story now.

3 - Was it because they got bored? Wow, how strange. Because MCL is infinitely longer than ED and they're even planning a reboot, don't they get bored of MCL? lmao

No idea, but Beemoov looks like a strange, strange company, with no long term plans for their games and fandoms.

4 - Was it because they wanted to implement the new AP system in the ED asap and used the new season to do it? They could have implemented it at any time, whenever they wanted, whether we complained about it or not. It would be much smarter to implement this system during the ongoing season when we were still invested in the game, than to implement it in the new season at the risk of losing a part of the players.

DITTO.

5 - Was it for money reasons? They would have had a much better chance of making more money with the old season than creating a new, with new characters and without some LI's.

If it was about money they would add some events, like the ones in MCL universe- they would make those quick "play for 1/2 maana" events, special outfits (one fuking Forgotten Queen is nothing compared to HSL or even outfits for LIs b-days).

6 - Or was it because they didn't know where they were going with the story anymore and wrote the first thing that came to mind, to the point of missing some plots holes in the last few episodes of TO... so that they could reboot ED and do the same thing with ANE?

They really should have put game on hiatus, throw at us some events, maybe spin-offs, extra outfits and rewrite whole plot, characters, everything.

7 - Who is telling the truth in this whole story? Because every time someone speaks, it's to say they're not the ones to blame. Remember that back in 2018 we were told that there is creative freedom in the company (in addition to other things that were retconned over time because the post curiously no longer exists :/).

Beemoov.

8 - If there's creative freedom, who decided that ANE would be 20 episodes? Who defined which would be the LI's that would leave, after they saw what happened to AD? Even if it didn't have a big impact internationally for them, in the long run it could have become a problem, especially with the miserable amount of romance the players received in MCL-LL. It was a risky move of their, even more so considering the black swan event (aka fire event) that no one there was able to predict, to the point of having data backup. It was a mix of curious choices that, as I said, in the long run brought us to the present situation.

They never learn on their mistakes, right? People were asking for romance since episode 5. People were hoping that at least one old LI will be back, and they KNEW IT. Is Ezarel another OC of someone who left Beemoov on bad terms? Unlike Valkyon, him coming back in episode, say, 7, would and could work.

9 - Who defines who works on which game in there, if there is this creative freedom? Because I've seen more than once people working on scripts (reviewing it), in spite of saying they aren't responsible for the area anymore. But curiously, not Eldarya's script. And needless to say, illus! Seems like they only decided to pay attention to it after the "Lance Kiss fixed illu" situation. But tbt, the one who got screwed in this story was Nevra imo, if we compare his illus with the others, he's the one who ended up with more number of "a different episode, a different face" illus, and none has been fixed.

Yup, it is not a nice image when they correct Lance's illu after Chino's friend complained about it. I am not saying that person has any perks but my theory is that they are the only person that was heard- because they are close to Chino and got a chance to speak their mind. It seems like Beemoov doesn't listen all players doesn't read official forums. This is a recipe for disaster, letting your game go online not caring about feedback. Like you said, there are alternatives now.

10 - Even if we don't have access to the company's facts and figures, we can get an idea in terms of online repercussion. Before the fire, it was their second biggest game. I doubt that ML or Uncoven have beaten ED in terms of audience interest, why did they let Eldarya down like that? :/

No idea. Wasted potential.

11 - What happened to make them forget that what the players want is romance? Seriously, does NOBODY remember that?

For some strange reasons Beemoov decided that they are not interested in their target- players who wanted to date pretty and hot characters, and who wanted to customize their MC. Thus, Uncoven happened and it happened in a v tragic way.

12 - More importantly, how much longer will they be content with this "one-game company" idea? Because it's always been obvious that MCL is the only game that matters, and realizing that, almost nobody pays attention to other games. Why would I spend my time and money on a game that the company doesn't care about?

A New AP system in MCL was implemented because, and I quote it loosely "the company now is bigger, with lots of employees so they are able to make more games but also need bigger budget". And now, we are almost at the begining: ML with cut routes, Uncoven forgotten, Henri's Secret (well, my friend says it's good but with a very bad ads which I can believe, I have never heard abt the game before). MCL is trying to win them bread with honey moon eps, wedding for Lysander, Kentin and Armin- those, who were not to come back, remember? How times has changed now that Beemoov need money... Anyway, Beemoov's games are now reduced to MCL and corpes of their other titles. Growth.



#rant

[niicholas]

12:12pm

My god, it's full of boats.

This is the "vintage room" of a company called, appropriately enough, The Guideboat Company. There is a huge showroom here in the old lumber company buildings, full of boats and clothes and accoutrements. The sales-kid told me, with a laugh, "we sell the whole life-style".

They ain't kidding. I grabbed a catalog from them, which I managed to flip through some time after I took these photos. Apparently the company was started by the guy who started (and presumably sold) Restoration Hardware. Now he's at it again, but with boats and clothes. The whole operation has a sort of J. Crew meets J. Peterman vibe, but it's less preppy than the former and less lost-era faded-glamour barn-full-of-leather-bags-and-old-rare-automobiles than the latter. But with boats. They actually make and sell three different boats, as well as show off the old ones.  

The catalog starts off with a mini-essay by the founder. The first sentence reads, I shit you not, "I was fortunate."

That about sums up Mill Valley right there, no need to go any further.

But I will - the place actually has nice stuff. Some clothes of their own devising, but lots of classic manly-man stuff - and boots: Opinel knives, pewter flasks, Blundstones (an odd inclusion, IMHO), Deerskin Gloves, match safes, a scented candle ("think campfire" it says - not sure how I feel about that), hatchets with painted handles (this must be a thing, I see them everywhere, at least on the design blogs), and those German bottle-openers that have a rubber gasket and converging channels for which to re-seal your half-drunk bottle.

Looking at some of the things they sell that I actually own (am I the target market? Oh the horror!), their prices are actually fair. I mean, fair in that they aren't selling Blunnies for much more than they are in any halfway-hip shoe store that sells them.

Thinking about this place reminds me of one time we visited Restoration Hardware in Berkeley on 4th Street (gone now, I believe). They had a huge display of these tin letters - and they were set up to spell out "heart" or "classic" or something evocative like that. In a fit of mischief I rearranged the letters to spell "fart" and promptly had to go sit on one of those twelve by five (okay, 120"  x 49", I checked, but still) leather couches-cum-daybeds they sell - to stop from giggling. Of course, a serious shopper pointed it out to a sales-guy who pursed his lips and waggled his chin like Bill Cosby and marched right over and rearranged them into a more appropriate word, "butter" or "heritage" or something like that.

I digress: I did no such thing at The Guideboat Company. I was actually busy thinking how I could maybe swing or justify spending five grand on a rowboat - they are pretty sweet items. I was already picturing myself at sunset, rowing thoughtfully amongst the granite on the edges of Lake Tahoe and silently gliding up to Commons Beach, scattering the Canada Geese and Small Children that habitually congregate there. H and I would alight and head over to the Bridgetender for a pint and a greasy burger, and then crossing against the light at Fanny Bridge and shuffling back to the Guideboat awaiting at water's edge.

Man, at this point I needed lunch. I'd been walking for five hours with few interruptions. I'm on a walk, remember?

[joshithunderliger]

every single time i think of harold meij i can’t take him seriously because his introduction as the new ceo of njpw was a video of him naked in the shower

#that says a lot about the company as a whole imho

[perenians]

there are. a lot of things i don’t really get about comics fandom (and to an extent, all fandoms). for one, the whole treating companies like benevolent gods thing.

no, they are not. you are an audience that the company wants to exploit, but the good thing is that there are still people in the company who want to tell good stories. but sometimes that gets rejected, because people want to see tired, old characters that they’re familiar with. it’s a conscious choice to stick with what’s safe

then once in a while a good story gets shat out and i hear people say shit like, “what did we do to deserve this???”. y’know what? probably nothing. but did we deserve the racism? sexism? all of that bullshit? why praise the company, and not the actual people behind the comic? good stories are a long time coming, imho.

#dc woes #idk just my two cents #calm down per

[tripleaxeldiaz]

Hey there, this is going to get very long and might not make that much sense, so i apologise in advance, but i saw that you discussed the role distribution when Eddie was in the hospital a while back and i have thoughts on this. I think the way some people regard the whole „Ana staying at Eddie’s bedside“ thing is kinda funny. Because the very few EddieAna fans see this as confirmation that they are such a real, proper couple now, that she‘s acting like the perfect romantic partner and that she’s the most important person in his life now (after Chris), which is like, provably false. But even those who don’t like EddieAna tend to, imho,ascribe a bit too much importance to Ana being there.

Sure, everyone keeps pointing out how Buck took on the more important role in taking care of Chris, but that implies that Ana took on a different one, that she did anything, which i…don’t think she actually did? As in, on screen. I know the bedside vigil is a common romantic trope, but it’s not like it was fulfilled here! Ana being there was not at all emphasised, we didn’t even see her interact with an unconscious Eddie (holding his hand or whatever). She was just there looking sad. Her staying with Eddie wasn’t even explicitly mentioned at any time. And from a pure factual standpoint, staying with someone while they’re unconscious…isn’t really much of anything.

Don’t get me wrong, working in a hospital i know how important it can be for patients to have the comfort of company , especially of loved ones, even when they are not acutely aware of it.But we’re not talking about a terminally ill man here. We’re not talking about Eddie being in a coma for weeks on end. We’re talking about a few days at most, medically induced, and let me tell you, most of these patients don’t remember sh*t from when they were unconscious. They are thankful when finding out that someone was there, but apart from that it don’t really get anything out of it. (And for the people saying that she took care of Eddie while Buck took care of Chris- yeah, no, at least not physically. That’s the nurses‘ job). See, i’m really not attacking Ana here, i think it’s very sweet of her to stay with Eddie, it speaks to her character (and maybe feelings for him). I’m just saying that she didn’t really do anything of substance for Eddie, especially since it wasn’t really shown. And that this really doesn’t tell us anything at all about Eddie’s feelings for her or her importance in his life.

The real important work (that’s actually affecting the patient) starts when they wake up, and that’s when we saw Ana once- when she stepped out of the way so Eddie can look at Buck and vice versa🤷🏼‍♀️ And then it’s Buck sorting out Eddie’s release from the hospital and driving him home and …yeah idk. Of course we can assume that she was there more often, but if her being there was supposed to be meaningful in some kind of way they should and surely would have actually shown it to be.

Anyway, i’m still firmly of the belief that they were just looking for a way to logically include her in this episode without having to actually address the state of her and Eddie’s relationship and chose to use her to give the audience (and Buck, ultimately) updates on Eddie.

you make a LOT of good points anon!! i do think it’s so interesting that the “bedside vigil” of it all was just so non existent. like you’re right, she was there, and i know this ep was packed, but they could’ve shown her holding eddie’s hand?? or looking at him all forlornly like she was scared for his life?? but she was just sitting in a corner, and then as soon as buck showed up, she dipped!! where did she go!! buck got him discharged and his meds in order and drove him home. was ana setting up for the party?? if i was dating someone, i would DEF want them to be there when i left the hospital, especially if we’re operating under the assumption that they would be helping with recovery.

it’s just all very inch resting, but they start shooting again next week thank GOD, so answers are on their way

#answered #anon #thank you anon this helped me flex my clowning muscles to prep for next week 😂😂

[uponrightful]

“How did you know?”

“With a bucket… it’s easy to hide how I look.” He responded, pausing when Kenobi gave a nod after watching the digital scenario play out multiple times. “I can see it on your face… how I get around her.”

Anakin gave a nod, rocking his weight from foot to foot as if trying to feel out this newly found confidant Wolffe had provided in himself. “I didn’t know you could- I mean.” The kid struggled to say what Wolffe constantly was being surprised by every time he walked through that door. He didn’t blame Anakin for not knowing, or understanding. The truth being he didn’t understand it himself. Something told him the kid was on the same starship when it came to being around a woman. A mystery to say the least.

“Nothing you can plan for, I guess.” He gave a low sigh, feeling the stress of standing for so long building in his lower back. He wanted to take off his helmet off; Maybe relieve some of the pressure that way. But he could still smell the girl, her scent permeating into the padding. It was the only thing keeping him from taking it off.

“You don’t think I’m doing something wrong?” Finally that edge of advice crept into Anakin’s tone, reminding Wolffe of why he’d even made his way over in the first place.

“Anywhere. Frontlines with that saber of yours… or with her.” Wolffe paused, realizing that what he was about to tell Anakin, held just as much personal meaning as it did to anyone else. “Don’t let anything keep you from trusting your instinct. Do what feels right.”

I don't know how many words this is but I need to know 🤓

Commentary Track for Welcome Company

*send one in here!*

When I started this chapter, I was really in the mindset that Wolffe was essentially alone in the experience of having serious feelings about a romantic partner. And the idea of him meeting/talking to Anakin was something that not only felt right, but looked so good cinematically in my mind that I couldn't help but write it. Actually, I was so into it, that I didn't ever edit it. It's one of the only times I've never went back and changed anything. Personally, I never wanted it any other way.

Firstly, I liked the dynamic of Wolffe being the 'fatherly' figure in a way, simply because Anakin needs that. In a bad way. But Wolffe providing that, was a really easy decision because in many ways Wolffe is as much a father as he is a brother in most cases. It's only natural that Wolffe sees a young man -nat born or not- and feels a sense of responsibility in helping him make it through adversity. That's literally way he's a Commander in the first place; It's in his nature to be that way, he can't help it.

These two -IMHO- are similar in a lot of ways... Both of them hold their responsibilities to an extremely high degree, but they feel emotions just as strongly. Although neither would ever admit to such a thing. This makes for an interesting dynamic; Do they help each other by talking about the unspeakable? Or worry about breaking regulations too much, and let each other deal with it alone? So, when both of them admit to having feelings it's an impressive moment. They're soldiers, who desire love. That's why when Anakin asks "You don't think I'm doing something wrong?" there's this moment of pause, because they've both been battling that question, and actually have the support -in each other- to think about it without feeling isolated.

The poignant part for me in this, isn't Wolffe's advice at the end. It's actually when Anakin says “I didn’t know you could- I mean.” And the reason behind that, is simple but really heartbreaking. I'm upset I didn't play it up more looking back... All things considered, there isn't a lot known about what the clones are programmed with or without. So what Anakin's really saying here is: I didn't think you could love. Not, I didn't think anyone would like you because you're really grumpy. Humanity for clones is really subjective based on your personal experiences with them... at least canonically speaking. So, even though Rex is really close with Anakin, I wanted to really drive home how little the clones are thought of as human. To show that even people who appreciate clones are often misinformed or ignorant of just how normal they are.

But for Wolffe, he's really struggling at this point. Not only is he accepting that his feelings are real, but he's dealing with the fear of repercussions that could follow. I did this by focusing on how his eyes hurt. Wolffe knows exactly what can happen when you make a mistake. It will get you decommissioned. And in this moment, he's trying to fight between the fear of messing up again, and the desire to feel like he's wanted for more than his abilities as a soldier. That's a really hard decision for him, because he's so overly aware of how little his life means to the cause he's fighting for. There's a lot of questions being asked in his mind, and I wanted to give depth to Wolffe in a way most people don't. They always make note of his eye, but never make the connection that Wolffe has a more sinister view of the Republic as a whole because of it.

I love Wolffe, and seeing him interact in this way might look out of character to a lot of people... But for me, I've always seen him as someone who's got more heart than he knows what to do with. It's hard to love fully, when you're afraid of it not lasting -or being taken away. Therefore, a lot of what drives Wolffe in this scene isn't duty, but it's his unique need to care for people. Wolffe takes pride in carrying the heavy burdens of others -it's what makes him so sour- because people don't like doing that alone, and Wolffe has seen so much heartbreak that it's hard to look a life with a good opinion; So he does what he can to help others from feeling like he does personally.

I love this scene so very much. I could go on for hours about it.... But thank you for asking🤍 It means a lot knowing it stuck with you as much as it did with me.

#rightful answers #uponrightful #uponrightfulwrites #taz-107

[shinylitwick94]

Shinylitwick's summer (SF/)Fantasy reads - Part I

As it turns out trying to complete the r/fantasy book bingo and not wanting to get into heavy reads this year meant that I spent most of my summer reading almost exclusively SFF, and I read a lot of it. I'm sharing my thoughts on these with anyone who might be interested in them. This covers books I read between july and the first week of september 2021. I'll be doing this in two parts because it would be too long otherwise.

As a reminder, these are personal thoughts, not professional reviews, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Without further ado:

Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay

By this point I think I can say pretty firmly I’m a fan of GGK. I just really enjoy his “alternate history with a dash of fantasy” stuff, and I like his writing and the fact that he’s so good at capturing that sort of bittersweet melancholy I’m a huge junkie for.

That being said, Under Heaven started off amazing, spent a lot of time in eh, and finished solid. I like it, but it’s my least favorite of his books so far. I think it essentially suffers from making promises it doesn’t deliver on. There’s a lot of stories which go nowhere, which I’m sometimes fine with, but I don’t think it worked here. Especially with the sister. I have very little familiarity with Chinese history, but from what I’ve read in other reviews, he stuck rather more closely to the history here than he usually does, which maybe limited his ability to maneuver his characters. Still, I would recommend it, if this is your style.

The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski

I’ve tried reading this before…in Russian. Don’t know why I thought that was a good idea (something about maybe a better translation?). Anyway, my Russian obviously wasn’t up to scratch and the books are polish anyway.

So, English translation it was. As many of you will know this is actually a short story collection, which is the first part of the Witcher book series. I’d already watched the tv show, and played a bit of the game, so some of the stories were new to me, and others weren’t.

I liked how the book highlighted the “twisted fairytale” aspect of some of these (e.g Snow White, Rumplestiltskin) – that didn’t really come across so well in the adaptations. I think altogether it was a fun and enjoyable read.

The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin (Book 3 in the Earthsea Cycle)

Ursula Le Guin made me cry again. I’ve been talking about Le Guin a lot recently, with a friend who’s read a lot of her nonfiction, but none of her fiction, while I’ve for the most part just read the fiction. She’s one of those authors who just seems to get it, and who knows how to use the genre to its full extent. Magic and dragons aren’t just a toy, but a tool to actually say something.

She does that across the board, of course, but Farthest Shore hit me harder than the other Earthsea books have, maybe because imho it’s the saddest so far. There’s a lot about death, acceptance, and time passing, and responsibility in this which I really liked. I feel like it manages to get its themes across in a way that is crystal clear, but not ham-fisted. I loved this book, I really did, but I feel like I will need to read it again in a few years, and I’m sure it will be a different read then.

One of many nice quotes:

“When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are.”

The Black Company, by Glen Cook (Book 1 in the Chronicles of the Black Company)

This was sold to me as the granddaddy of grimdark fantasy, and I can certainly see it. It’s clearly influenced a lot of later fantasy authors (Erikson, Abercrombie, to some extent Martin). Yet somehow it manages to be less explicit, or graphic, than some modern grimdark. It can be pretty gross too, but it knows how to cut away when necessary and is usually smart about implying things. I also really liked the basic concept of following characters who work for the Dark Lord (or Dark Lady in this case). The characters themselves are interesting enough – in this first book we don’t go super in depth on a lot of them, but the ones we’re stuck with are decent, and the story holds. Still, I felt like this was more a worldbuilding book than a character book, if that makes sense. And I did like the world. It’s appropriately dark and petty and sucks, but hey that’s what we’re here for.

So overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone who is interested into the more grimdark side of fantasy. Stay away from it if that’s not your thing or you’re super squeamish.

(most of Tumblr dni I guess)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo

This was a fun little read. I had no idea what to expect going in and I ended up enjoying it. The story follows a nonbinary monk as they go through the affairs of a deceased empress and in discussion with Rabbit, the said empress’s servant, learn her story. The story is mostly told by Rabbit and each section follows a particular object. I liked how that was set up and the way in which the whole picture was slowly revealed to the reader. It’s apparently been read as a feminist story and I can see where that reading comes from, and it was likely intentionally so. It wasn’t the most important part of this to me, but up to you to judge.

I will say though, and this is not the book’s fault, but mine, that reading a story where the POV character uses they/them pronouns was more confusing than I anticipated. I kept expecting there to be more of them at random points in the narrative, and having to backtrack to understand.

It’s a short nice read, but definitely something I feel more comfortable recommending to people here than irl.

Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett (Discworld)

Not much to say here. Discworld is Discworld and can do no wrong, apparently. This might be one of my favorites so far. Loved Granny to pieces, it was fun, it was funny, it was thoughtful without being heavy. It’s the Discworld, what can you do.

The House in the Cerulean Sea, by T.J. Klune

This was pure tooth-rotting fluff, which I think I kind of needed to balance out my reading. It’s cute, it’s cheesy, it’s wholesome it owns it and is proud of it. It’s very LGBT friendly. It’s a good guys win, bad guys lose, discrimination dies today kind of thing.

I’m surprised it’s not bigger on Tumblr tbh (it’s not non-existent either, I checked, just smaller than expected; maybe it’s too nice?).

Anyway, I did like it, and I’m exaggerating just a little bit on the cheesiness. It’s a sweet little story about a character who would normally be played by Martin Freeman (if a bit chubbier) learning that there is more to life than Rules and Regulations and finding love and a family.

If that’s your sort of thing, give it a shot.

#shinylitwick reads books #guy gavriel kay #under heaven #the last wish #andrzej sapkowski #witcher #the farthest shore #earthsea #ursula le guin #the black company #glen cook #the empress of salt and fortune #nghi vo #equal rites #discworld #terry pratchett #the house in the cerulean sea #tj klune #that's a lot of tags #sorry for not putting this under a cut i was lazy #anyway if you have thoughts about any of these to share :)