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qwertycake · 8 months

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more qpr fluffy squishy platonic writing prompts! wahoo!! part two!!! :)

Same disclaimer applies as my first post - these are aro- and ace-spec centric, may only work for shortform fiction, and feel free to tweak them to be less specific/more specific to specific characters.

Specific is a weird word lol

Anyways…

“We both get caught out in the rain and wait out the weather under the same shelter, and either we’re meeting for the first time or we have a nice excuse to hang out together” AU

“You annotate a book for me and I annotate it right back for you, and we keep passing the book back and forth until its a mess of affectionate scribbles that we keep on the coffee table” AU

"It's hot outside and you love the heat but I hate it and you're being stupidly nice and sweet to me while I'm a grouchy mess" AU

"I can teach you how to play this instrument if you stop DISTRACTING ME by looking so ENDEARING AND INFATUATED" AU

"Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes" AU

"We're both too tired to take care of ourselves because of sickness/work/school/whatever but we immediately find the energy to take care of one another via making tea and grabbing blankets" AU

"We trade clothes for Halloween and do terrible impersonations of one another" AU

"We have a bunch of unfinished craft projects between the two of us and decide to just... finish them all in one day... 24 itty-bitty hours... oh boy..." AU

"We recreate a terrible low-budget movie together" AU

"On Valentine's Day, we decide to make a bunch of garlic bread and cake, and buy each other flowers in the colours of our respective aro-/ace-spec flags... and then the day after, we buy all the chocolate that's finally gone on sale" AU

“I teach you how to do make-up because for one reason or another you’re unfamiliar with it” AU

“Fake dating and having dramatic break ups over silly things in public for shits and giggles” AU

“So, the world might have just ended… so guess who has two thumbs and a bunker that desperately could use a roommate?” AU

“We’re made to play seven minutes in heaven at a party and after a few awkward minutes of silence we both decide to just order a pizza or something while we wait out the seven minutes” AU

“Hey, you can dance, and I can’t, teach me— no, I don’t care that I’ve got two left feet, teach me!” AU

“We’re both artists, maybe of different skill levels, and we decide to draw/paint/make art of each other” AU

“I’m a night owl and you’re more of a day person, so whenever we stop texting because you have to go to bed, I’m stuck laying awake thinking about you Please Enjoy Waking Up To A Bunch Of Messages” AU

“I’m a day person and you’re more of a night owl but I struggle to fall asleep because I’m stuck thinking about how lucky I am to be your friend Hey I Think I Could Stay Up For An Extra Ten Minutes” AU

“We’re both nervous about going to the gym alone so we try going together… but neither of us have the guts to get out of the car so we just go for a walk or something instead” AU

“You’re super into sports and exercise and I’m just getting into it but you hype me up so I’m less nervous about getting started” AU

“I bake a whole bunch, you cook big meals… at the same time of day - our kitchen is chaos” AU

“It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re hanging out at a party and everyone’s speculating that we’re gonna have our New Year’s Kiss together but the New Year comes and we just do a weird handshake” AU

“Non-Fatal Hanahaki Disease AU where we’re some of the few people who don’t experience it because we’re content with whatever non-romantic thing we have together… but we both have hay fever and are very annoyed by the constant barrage of flower petals around us and have to tell our friends to Please Stop Crushing On The Random Barista At Starbucks It’s The Third Time This Week You Are KILLING US” AU

“We’re both alien test subjects who’ve never met before and have to try and plan our escape - bonus points if the aliens are specifically testing for something like amatonormative like All Humans Fall In Love and we’re the black swans of the research since they apparently abducted Only Romantic Allosexuals Aside From Us Somehow” AU

“It’s midnight and you show up on my doorstep unannounced after a long while of us drifting apart, what on earth happened?” AU

“We’re both capable of granting wishes - you’re the monkey’s paw and I’m the guy who’s stuck remedying all the messed up things you have happen to people What Is Wrong With You” AU

And finally…

“I’m laying on the couch at a party drunk/high/exhausted/whatever and you’re looking after me, having only met me that night - I proceed to ramble about how embarrassed I’ll be when I’m older and think back to how I made a fool of myself in front of someone I wanted to be friends with really badly… but luckily for me, you’re flattered that I think you’re super cool” AU

#certified qwertycake moment #writing prompt #writing #au #otp prompt #imagine your otp #platonic otp prompt #brotp #aromantic #asexual #aroace #arospec #aspec #acespec #ace #qpr #qpp

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casasupernovas · 2 years

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i realised that the reason doctor who series 3 doesn't work as well as it should is because it focuses on the doctor instead of the companion. series 1 in my opinion is the best series of the rtd era and it's because there is so much attention to detail to the companion. which is something the show had never done before. this is also why series 4 works so well. everything about rose is cultivated. her homelife, job, social life, community, family, everything. which is disturbed and re-shaped by her meeting the doctor. the story is about rose but revolves around the doctor.

series 3 is too self involved with the doctor. the companion is the audience's eyes but not nearly enough attention or detail is paid to martha. she's the only companion with biggest family but has the least amount of episodes dedicated to them. rose and donna's stories are built around their lives and why they make the decisions they do and not nearly enough time is dedicated to martha in this way.

it's also why so many of the stories have martha away from the doctor. it's focused on the doctor and the doctor is emotionally distant and not paying attention, so martha is seperated from him a lot. not to mention martha is written to be in love with him which only focuses the story on him more. most martha centric scenes will only discuss this. there's no balance.

the narrative is so focused on this that martha gets no grace for most episodes. it's too busy focusing on the doctor's heartbreak to point out that martha cannot possibly understand or know because she's in the dark for most of the episodes (she doesn't find out what happened to rose until utopia) and it's not like the doctor ever asks martha about her life. ever. and i understand that the point of series 3 is to show that the doctor was being unfair to martha and this is why he loses her but i still don't like it. because for that to work we need consequences, and i suppose martha leaving is a consequence, but no one apart from martha and jack call him out.

he's rude to her in almost every episode but no one calls him out. even when rose (and the doctor) were behaving badly they got called out. mickey calls rose out. jackie calls her out. there's a tiny mention in 'voyage of the damned.' a brief mention in partners in crime suggest accountability but again she's never focused on when she really should have been. especially if we are working from the point of donna changing her mind from being terrified before.

we can have a whole series with rose's impact lingering but not for martha apparently. in fact, in a weird twist, the doctor tries to turn it on martha instead in 'the sontaran strategem' in him disapproving that she has become a soldier. the actual audacity. he should be feeling shame not distaste. you can't have the doctor confess to ruining her life only to turn up his nose to the consequences in the same season.

no one is in martha's corner so she has to do it all by herself, and it sucks to watch martha eventually stop trying by the end of her season. and while this is a bit off tangent but i never really liked the 'get out' analogy martha uses at the end because the man who is oblivious to a girls affections is a huge understatement to what actually happened between the two.

anyway, focusing on the doctor is an interesting concept but ultimately, at least in my opinion, doesn't work because a show about time travel and aliens etc etc will work best through the eyes of those who do not know that those worlds exists aka the companion. again, season 1 displays this perfectly.

i also think the doctor works the best when he is kept mysterious, and i think we know too much of what the doctor is thinking in series 3. i would have preferred more ambiguity because we can never truly pinpoint a character like that, someone who has lived so many lives, lived for so long. you can never quite out your finger on what he is thinking. in the 90s when they were writing the books, it was an rule to never put in a doctor pov because he was to remain a mystery and i wholeheartedly agree. i always think that the tenth doctor is the one with this most prominent problem. i can argue enough ambiguity for classic and 9, 11, 12 & 13. they're all quite impersonal and while 9's emotions are plainly written on his face, the presentation of his past and present in his stories still leave a lot of mystery i think.

i think david tennant is good enough an actor to pull off this mysteriousness, but i still think he is quite easy to read in series 3 and i'm not sure how much i like this narrative decision. i think despite the obvious love story in the second series, there was a uncertainty sometimes of what sort of person he had regenerated into. certainly the main theme of series 2 was that rose doesn't know much about him still.

i dunno, i'm not explaining myself very well.

anyways, these are my thoughts.

#doctor who #series 3 #series 1 #martha jones #rose tyler #donna noble #10th doctor #tenth doctor #rtd #criticism #?#kinda?#virgin new adventures #seventh doctor #jackie tyler #mickey smith

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heroes-villains-side-blog · 1 year

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Help, my brain wants to create another blog (blog #8!!!!)

On the one hand, I'm not into the genre much and can very well just use this or my main blog for the rare few writeblr works that interest me

On the other hand... I like organizing and wanna see what I can accomplish in the name of community

It'll be like this blog, where I reblog prompts, snippets, advice, or other things that interest me but from the following genres

🖋️ Fantasy 🖋️ Sci-fi and aliens 🖋️ Horror 🖋️ Alternate history 🖋️ Utopian 🖋️ Dystopian 🖋️ Apocalyptic 🖋️ Post-apocalyptic 🖋️ Supernatural 🖋️ Myth retellings 🖋️ Fairytale retellings 🖋️ Medieval 🖋️ Pirates 🖋️ Science fantasy 🖋️ Urban or modern fantasy 🖋️ Light fantasy 🖋️ Etc, just separate from #heroes and villains stuff, but sometimes the lines could be blurry.

The issue is that the stuff I love in the genres is so rare, and the common tropes that most authors use are stuff I don't like. No hate to those writers who like those tropes ofc. We just have different preferences.

So the blog won't be community-centric, it'll be biased towards stuff I like. Which is fine, just don't come after me lol (I ain't getting paid for this, I just like organizing).

I have hyperfixated at times on media that's fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural or myth related, so the interest is there if done right

My main novel is fantasy, yes, with a knight, royalty, magic… but it's more humor than anything and that's what I love about it. And excluding fanfics (which were fantasy or supernatural anyway), I've written some fantasy/ supernatural/ myth work so, again, the interest is there... And let's not forget the huge fairytale retelling dark aesthetic database that I made.

And I do have some fantasy stuff I wanna write but lacking an outline to start :P

Inspired by this thread because there are writers who wanna write, but finding readers seems to be the issue which could be due to the lack of systemization of the genre (just #fantasy could be used by snippet writers and writeblrs promoting their actual books, both have vastly different audiences so you can see the problem)

I'll go ahead and tag the self-proclaimed "fantasy squad" from the thread @thepenultimateword @writing-on-the-wahl @watercolorfreckles @amethystpath-writes @snowshower @puddleslimewrites @muses-of-the-mind and @surplus-of-sarcasm who accidentally pushed me down this rabbit hole today when I just told @eahravinqueen a few days ago stuff I don't like about the genre XD

For everyone else, ideas for new tags and/or systemization are most welcome! Just leave a comment or reblog in the tags or send me a message or screenshot of stuff you've seen that works or whatevs!

#speculative fiction #writeblr #new tag ideas #fantasy squad #speculative fiction squad

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spectralsleuth · 5 months

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Favorite fics? Doesn't have to be rise or even turtle related

Oh man I got very excited for this ask. I have been in a lot of different fandoms for a very long time- but lets start with some of my all timers.

Now What I'm Going To Say May Sound Indelicate (Rated E)

A Reddie fic for It CH2, which I've probably reread about fifty times. It's unfinished, and probably never will be finished, but it's absolutely worth a read. The writing is incredible, and it's my singular favorite fic of all time. A lot of medical procedures and recovery, since (spoiler) someone gets impaled at the end of the movie and this is exploring how they might live through that.

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Blue Sky (Rated T (from what I remember))

PDF VERSION

I hope this link works- the first link is fanfiction dot net, which is hard to use after so many years, and the other is a pdf I found of someone who downloaded a version to share. This fic is from 2011, and is actually pretty famous. Based off of Portal 2, what happens when Wheatley gets a body? I've actually been meaning to reread it because I barely remember it at this point, but this fic came out about a year before I graduated high school and opened my eyes to the fact that fanfiction can be actual published novel quality.

Also friendly reminder that if you love a fic, download it. Not to repost obviously, but websites disappear and works get deleted for any number of reasons and you may in fact be helping an author out.

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Wow. This is fucking wild-

From Out the Ocean Risen (Rated T)

A Pacific Rim fic that started publishing in 2013- last time I reread this, YEARS AGO, the series was as of yet unfinished. It's a fantastic body-horror-esque story of the implications of aliens and hiveminds and what makes a monster. It's Newton Giezler-centric and FANTASTICALLY written-

and it JUST updated this month in 2023. I had no idea, but searching through my fic list made me notice. I thought, surely it's just an update to apologize for abandoning the fic- but no! It's an actual new chapter.

If you guys ever wanted to show support for a fic that's been abandoned, this one deserves it immensely. Show it some love, it's never too late to hop on board and enjoy a fic and you never know what someone will return to.

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Pirate King Laurence (Rated T)

'His Majesties Dragon' is a super good age of sail book series, sometimes called 'Temeraire', that's as if a Pride and Prejudice character was captain of a dragon crew. This is a little bit of an AU to that, and is one of my all time favorite Temeraire fic series.

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the run and go (Rated M)

Post Homestuck fic. 560k words. Still being updated- enough said, it's fantastic. This is probably the longest fic on my list. Involves a lot of unpacking about Dave and Bro and not just what it's like recovering from an abusive childhood, but reconciling with the person you love who abused you. Also everyone lives. Everyone.

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>Dave: survive three years on this rock (Rated T)

One more Homestuck fic for the road- there was a period of time where the Homestuck tag was nothing BUT meteor fic. If you were in the fandom, iykyk. This one was probably the most in character Dave and great portrayal of what it would be like actually living within a universe made up of date game mechanics.

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The Other Hawke (Rated E)

If anyone's gone through the rest of my fic besides TMNT stuff, they've seen my SECOND largest fandom I've written for, which was Dragon Age. More specifically, I fixated on most peoples least favorite character on the whole series- Carver Hawke. Hahaha. I just really fixate on the oddest characters, huh?

This is a fic about what his life outside of his brother is like, and giving him a lot of depth that you don't get in the video game series. Also he is getting dicked down by Fenris, which is a fantastic pairing I didn't know I needed. It's hilarious, and romantic, and very tense.

Man. I gotta reread a lot of these. Thanks so much for the ask! Sorry if it got a little out of hand haha.

#fic rec #dragon age #temeraire #homestuck #fanfiction #pacific rim #it: chapter two #portal 2 #ask #anon ask

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lesser-mook · 5 months

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"The logical conclusion to Kratos fighting every pantheon." (I really, really like this concept, only because of how batshit insane Lore acc Jesus is strictly from a power-scaling perspective and despite everyone on the Planet knowing who Jesus is, most have NO idea what he is.)

not a bad concept, though they wouldn't have a reason to fight beyond Jesus' 2nd mission:

Off the top of my head, according to lore, he projects a sword out of his mouth, while riding a flaming horse or some shit, the sky split open (meaning the fabric of reality is breached) hence commanding legions of Angles hording through (which from text & recent visual interpretation actually look like Lovecraftian demons) to literally conquer Earth. like an interdimensional alien warlord pressing the sleep button on Humanity.

The popular central theme of this guy is he doesn't die or live in a traditional sense, and the only reason he allowed himself to be killed was to be a martyr by choice, to make a point.

Give humanity a couple thousand years to find "his/the way" supposedly, otherwise according to lore, his comeback is "The End" of post-modern humanity itself than it is the literal end of humans, I have to read it again tho.

Then another millennia of apocalyptic fallout. No nukes, no armor, just this guy showing up.

Not only would biblically acc angels be a horrifying aspect to put in a game, but Jesus himself is actually a terrifying entity despite the nice guy nature humans took for granted at the time.

Technically he can't be beaten, because everyone knows his mortality. Nobody knows what he can actually do, which is everything. He's the original Gary Stu.

We're not even factoring in the Quantum intelligence that is "God" or even the Holy Spirit which is like a glorified proxy medium. All the Angels, their ranks, their subordinates, etc.

That game would have to be psychological/cosmic horror epic themed, surrealism.

most People only know the Sunday school tales of the human side of prophets and judges, the people God used to manipulate lives to set a narrative. From beginning to end.

Going by the book, Humanity is the original (The SIMS) game.

The BIBLE? In it's raw form, it's a tale of hope, flawed characters, redemption, perseverance, with an over-arching horror story subtext. Constant genocides at God's hands, only for Humanity to pick up the slack without his help.

And In a meta sense, in theory, WE ARE The Cliffhanger.

God itself doesn't reside in Heaven strictly, like Zeus or Odin.

That's just where the followers go to honor "it."

Jesus likely wouldn't want to kill Kratos, but if this is post Revelations arc Jesus. This would definitely be the game Kratos dies in cosmic epic glory.

Because that Jesus isn't preaching love, he brings war, and his physical form is G.O.N.E.

I would love to see Kratos go up against a straight up hax-ego centric narcissist being that can't bleed, be reached or touched. Having no form.

And it's only form, his kinder nicer, human self, his Son. In canon is no more. Jesus as a physical being that can be hurt, doesn't exist anymore.

(JESUS), unbeknownst to most "Christians", actually existed simultaneously throughout the Bible since Genesis/possibly pre-Gen.

Meaning this guy CHRIST, can pass through time itself. Because he did, does, will do.

I shit you not.

Superman RED Son's (novel) ending plottwist has NOTHING ON this.

That's what i mean by "-doesn't die or live in a traditional sense", the guy existed before he was born, before he did, before he resec himself. Think about that.

Kratos needed to go on a whole ass side-quest to go through time. Jesus can just do it, technically the fabric of space-time is something he can possess, re-write, or see. Because REALLY think about what it means to exist in the past, present, and future: At the same time.

The past is gone for humans, we always live in the present. But Jesus still exists in back then. As we're in the present, waiting for the future, where he ALSO exists.

See how broken that is?

How in the actual fuck, do you "fight" that?

Everyone says the meme "Flash can go back and kill you as a baby". Jesus apparently can do the same thing. He is simultaneous.

When the text states God is everywhere, that includes timelines, dimensions, etc. This is a beyond 10th dimensional being.

Manifested himself in flesh.

Defied death after 3 days, not as a rule, but just to make a fucking point. That shit is both petty and scary.

The (Pan) in Pantheon.

Post-Revelations Jesus IS THE God, of War. And death.

That would be the sheer irony of pulling this off as a game

This is why it claims to be "THE" God. The thing, It, is literally every superpower you can imagine. We're talking serious beyond Haruhi Suzumiya+Dr.Manhattan+Cthulhu on steroids type shit.

no god of the sea, no god of dreams, none of that shit. This one wanted the title of "THE".

Alpha--Omega, period.

This thing, is next level. The religion aspect is what people turn away from, including me, but from a strictly "kaiju"/Cosmic being standpoint, "Yahweh", "Elohim", "Christ" is a serious monster.

Unless Kratos drops in during the NT or before OT even happens, because again Jesus existed during & thus by proxy before Genesis.

I used to think the whole book was corny but the Shit is mind-numbing apocalyptic, straight insanity.

Kratos cannot afford to be holding back with this one, even if he doesn't, it won't help.

The problem is most god's Kratos has fought has had physical silhouette's one way or another

Or that time he fought Zeus' ghost

or he’s had some kind of weapon to tangibly touch spirits. (GOW3)

This one, pantheon and all, is a whole different beast. These things are omi-dimensional avatars-- Vibrating between dimensions because reality is just a frequency that our atoms reside in.

Which is why we're not going to find Aliens in space or in the Earths Core. They're literally next to you, in another frequency of reality-- A dimension, that's what Parallel Earths in Comics represent. Thats what Heaven is. A frequency.

That's HOW gods do it, through sound, frequency science. Not spaceships.

And thats why people resonate with music so much, how it can control moods, frequency of sound is power, it taps into dimensions if the sound is strong enough.

Specifically the method that Christs coming is announced is through Horns, Sound. Punching through our dimension like a battering-ram on a door.

Sound is a stronger element than Humanity realizes, well the uninitiated anyway.

All in all, I genuinely want to see that game happen. Even if not accurate, (because if it is, Kratos loses hard, it's not even a fight), the interpretation alone would be cool.

Though his death was trash, GOW Thor was awesome.

#myths #judaism #god #jesus christ #revelation #son of god #horseman of the apocalypse #god of war #kratos #alpha and omega #put respect on his name #pantheon #amen (meaning “So be it”)#broken af #overpowered #lessermook

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dirty-bear-rick-sanchez · 2 years

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Aftermath

Guess who’s back with another Rick and Morty centric fic? This season has had a severe lack of Rick and Morty together (and Morty as a whole tbh) so I guess the way to remedy that is fanficfion! Also everyone was so nice and encouraging to me before (thank you all so much again for being so supportive!) so I decided to post it. I also wanted to explore the issues with how Rick treats Morty since it’s an important part of their dynamic that I don’t want to ignore and even though I love some wholesomeness between the two of them, I don’t want to ignore Rick’s shittiness.

Summary: the aftermath of Rick: A Mort Well Lived. Rick knows he’s a shitty grandpa and feels bad, and tries to make things better with Morty, who is struggling a lot. Hurt/comfort, ~2k words. Quick disclaimer that this is entirely platonic, please don’t tag as ship.

Morty is uncharacteristically quiet on the flight home. At first, Rick gladly accepts Morty’s willingness to listen in silence while his sister rambles on excitedly about her Die Hard adventure, since it means he’s less likely to give away any signs that a part of him is missing. However, as more and more time passes, Rick starts to tune out what Summer is saying - despite the grandfatherly pride he feels blooming in his chest as she recaps her adventure - as he becomes increasingly concerned about Morty. It isn’t unheard of for Morty to sit quietly after a particularly intense or traumatic experience, but Morty’s face betrays the hard work he’s doing to puzzle his way through what has just happened to him. Almost like someone who’d been split into 5 billion separate parts trying to put them back together, Rick thinks wryly. He can’t be sure exactly what Morty remembers from his time in Roy, but there is one thing Rick can be sure Morty doesn’t remember, and it makes guilt bubble uncomfortably in his stomach. For once, Rick knows he has to be an adult and take responsibility for the situation.

Snapping back into reality, Rick realises Summer is looking at him expectantly.

“Ha! R-real cool, Sum-Sum!” he replies, reaching across to touch her shoulder and hoping it’s not obvious he hasn’t been paying attention. Summer beams in response, telling Rick that he’s convinced her, but simultaneously making him feel like an even worse grandpa than normal.

“Hey, you know, I think I have the audiobook of Tower Man on here somewhere,” he taps on the dashboard, indicating the ship’s hard drive. “You can finally find out what a Die Hard really is.”

“Psh! I already out-Die Hard-ed those aliens, what’s their shitty book gonna teach me?” Summer snarks back. Rick loves Summer’s attitude and thinks she’s badass, cooler than he can ever dare to let her know, but right now his main concern is the fact that his distraction has failed and they’re still about an hour away from home.

He sees Summer notice his disappointed expression and change her tone. “But, y’know, we could listen to it… just to make fun of it.” she adds, inspecting her nails coolly but betraying her facade with a glance to see his reaction, and Rick knows that she’s seeking his approval. He wonders briefly if she truly wants his validation, or if she’s just trying to make him happy by going along with what she thinks he wants, but either way he’s got his distraction.

He grins and extends a fist out to her. “Hell yes.”

Summer responds with a grin of her own and meets his outstretched hand in a fist bump. Rick puts the audiobook on, the two of them exchanging quips and insults every now and then. Gradually, Rick starts to relax a bit and enjoy the banter, only occasionally letting his eyes flick to the mirror to check on the silent, unresponsive boy in the back.

When they make it home, Space Beth’s ship is parked in the drive, and Summer leaps out excitedly to brag to her as well. With the sole witness finally gone, Rick lets his guard drop just a little as he turns around to speak to Morty.

“H-hey, buddy. Look, since we didn’t get to stay at Blips and Chitz, whaddya say we go get some ice cream?” He offers, making his voice as gentle as his own aversion to vulnerability will allow.

Morty continues to stare vaguely at the floor. “Sure, Rick. Whatever you want.” he replies glumly, as if Rick had proposed a typical unpleasant adventure instead of a frozen dessert.

“Or w-what about pizza? You want pizza?” Rick tries again. Morty merely shrugs, not even responding this time.

“Come on Morty, work with me here. You tell me where you want to go.” Despite his best efforts, Rick hears the frustration he’s feeling spill over into his voice.

“I don’t know, Rick! OK?” Morty shouts, finally looking up at him. Rick’s brow raises in surprise as he sees tears forming in Morty’s eyes, his fists curled into balls at his sides. “You’re in charge, remember? I’m just the sidekick. You tell me what we’re doing.” As he speaks, the volume and emotion in his voice begin to peter out, and he slumps back into his seat. Even though he’s more worried than ever, Rick has to fight the automatic reaction to snap back at Morty in retaliation. Unfortunately, it’s a fight he rarely wins, and this time is no exception.

“Alright, fine! I-I-I was just trying to do something nice for you, but fuck me, I guess! Y-y-y-you wanna be a whiny little piece of shit, Morty? Fine!” Even as the words are spilling out of his mouth, Rick regrets them, wants to take them back, but they just keep coming. Morty just huffs and crosses his arms, curling into himself.

Rick takes off again, and they fly in angry, tense silence for a few minutes before landing at a nearby ice cream parlour of Rick’s choice. Rick is half-surprised when Morty climbs out of the car and follows him, but decides not to call attention to it. When they enter, Rick orders for them both, having a feeling Morty will refuse to speak anyway, but making sure to get a flavour he remembers Morty loving - mainly because he remembers that he spent most of the time making fun of Morty for choosing such a lame and boring option. Great. Yet another way I’m a shitty excuse for a grandpa.

When they sit down with their ice creams, neither of them speak, or even show much interest in their desserts. Morty pokes at his moodily with a spoon, while Rick chokes down a few mouthfuls before giving up altogether. Eventually, when it becomes clear both of them are done, Rick stands and throws some of the local currency down on the table before leaving, hearing Morty follow behind him.

They get back into the car, Morty choosing to sit next to Rick this time. The two sit silently in the parked ship until the building tension starts to become suffocating.

“Morty, look, just, just tell me what’s wrong, OK?” Rick stutters, trying to soften his tone as much as he can.

Morty looks up at him and bursts into tears. “Rick, I’m so confused.” he heaves the words out between sobs. “I-I don’t know what happened to me in that Roy machine but I feel like something’s wrong and I-I-I don’t know what it is but it’s missing and I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back and I’m scared!” His face is dripping with tears and snot, and Rick isn’t particularly big on physical affection at the best of times, but his guilt overpowers these factors enough for him to wrap his arms around Morty and pull him into a hug.

At first, Morty stiffens in shock, but quickly buries his head in Rick’s chest, sobbing violently and clinging to Rick like a life preserver. The combination of noise and mess and Morty’s intense emotions and his own guilt threaten to overwhelm Rick, but he swallows and tries his best to push through it. He knows he should comfort Morty, wants to comfort Morty, but he is wildly out of his depth. He brings one hand up to Morty’s head and strokes his hair, muttering gentle ‘sh’ noises to him.

The sensation of Morty’s hair between his fingers helps calm Rick down enough to bring him back to thinking clearly. Unfortunately, with clarity comes an awareness of his responsibility, and with that comes the full weight of his guilt.

“Sh, Morty, it’s OK, I’m here. Grandpa’s here.” he murmurs, then swallows hard and struggles to get the words out. “I love you, Morty.”

At this, Morty pauses and pulls back just enough to look at Rick’s face. He looks so hopeful yet distrustful, as if wanting to believe it but not daring to let himself. Rick can’t blame him for this, but he feels a heavy sinking feeling in his chest and stomach at the realisation that he is to blame for his own grandson feeling this way.

“Do you mean it, Rick?” Morty asks, his voice and bottom lip both wobbling in a manner more suited to a child half his age. Rick nods mutely, feeling as if his throat is too tight to speak. Morty presses again. “Do you promise?”

Rick pulls Morty back to his chest, partly because it’s easier to say it without looking at Morty, partly because he’s worried he’ll start crying too and he doesn’t want Morty to see.

“Yes, Morty. Yes, of course I do. I… I love you, and I respect you, a-and I’m sorry I never said it before.” Rick replies, fighting to keep his voice steady. Morty tightens his grip on Rick.

“I love you too, Grandpa.”

Rick loses his composure at that, just a bit. Thankfully, Morty shows no sign of letting go for the few minutes it takes for Rick to collect himself.

They remain holding each other, silent except for Morty’s occasional sniffles. They hold each other for longer than Rick thinks he’s ever held anyone or been held by anyone in his life. It’s the kind of hug he’s imagined he would give his original Beth and Diane if he could somehow have one more day, one more hour, even one more minute with them again.

Eventually, Morty pulls back, not fully, just enough that the hug is loose instead of tight, and rests his head against Rick’s shoulder. In turn, Rick rests his own head on top of Morty’s.

“Rick?” Morty’s voice is shaky, tentative.

“Mm?”

“Do you think… will I… will I be OK? After all the Roy stuff, I mean.”

“I did my best, Morty. I came in straight after you. I got you back. You should start feeling like yourself again soon.” Rick chooses his words carefully, not quite able to bring himself to outright lie to Morty, but still not prepared to tell him the truth.

“OK, Rick. I trust you.”

Fuck.

Rick tries to ignore the way his stomach drops and churns at that statement.

“H-hey, Rick? You know what you said earlier?”

Rick instantly panics, trying to mentally scan every word he’s said to Morty that day. Has Morty figured it out?

“W-w-what’s that, Morty?” He tries to sound casual.

“A-about pizza?” Morty looks hopeful, innocent, and Rick hates himself for feeling so relieved at getting away with his dishonesty. He forces a smile and ruffles Morty’s hair.

“Sure thing, buddy.”

They fly in silence, again, but it’s more comfortable this time, both of them simply too emotionally and mentally drained to make conversation. Morty is practically falling asleep by the time they arrive, but as soon as their food is ready, he perks up enough to wolf down his pizza. Rick can’t blame him; once he takes his first bite, he barely even pauses for breath until he’s finished. By the time he glances over at Morty, the kid is already asleep, and Rick can’t see a reason to disturb him. In a rare moment of tenderness, he removes his lab coat and drapes it over his grandson’s sleeping body.

Morty stays asleep, dead to the world, for the whole flight back. He stirs, very slightly, when the ship lands with a jolt in their driveway, but only stays awake for the briefest of moments before slipping back into sleep. Rick resigns himself to carrying Morty up to bed and scoops him up. Rick isn’t particularly strong, even with all the cybernetic enhancements, but Morty is small and skinny for his age, so it’s more of an awkward task than a strenuous one. As he places Morty into bed, he’s reminded painfully of doing the same for a much younger Beth, and he feels a paternal instinct rise from dormancy and take over. He tucks Morty in and presses a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“I love you.” he mumbles, almost under his breath, figuring he might as well get used to saying it. Morty doesn’t respond, and he adds, “I-I’ll get you all back, Morty. All of you.”

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nikethestatue · 1 year

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As an Elriel, who thinks the books have clearly been setting up Elain and Azriel since ACOMAF I am worried about this prolonged break from ACOTAR and the switching of the next series released to CC3 instead of ACOTAR5.

I have read some posts about the reasoning behind this and I wanted to get your opinion.

Do you think this SJM and BB strategy is because:

she changed her mind with ELRIEL and is trying to write Elain and Azriel out of a couple situation?

She realized Azriel’s bonus POV was a mistake for accidentally setting up G and Azriel, and BB and her need to fix it so there is less blow back. (Putting another book between Elain’s book to clearly set up ELRIEL)

SJM thinks that this shipwar is making her money/ publicity and is trying to get ACOTAR fans to read CC series by backpacking it onto the ACOTAR series.

They done fucked up and do not know what to do?

You may think something else. I just don’t see how she can fix this without dividing the fandom more and alienating one side.

Also love your fanfics and writing ❤️kings’ wife fan!

I honestly don’t think anything really has to do with Elriel.

I think there are a few things:

She might have overcomplicated her own writing, and with the crossover, which looked cute on paper for one chapter, she now needs to connect dozens and dozens of dots.

Honestly, it’s not easy to do. Combining all these books, potentially bringing TOG’s world in, and making sense of everything is a pretty monumental task, so she has to write a CC-centric book, with large chunks of ACOTAR thrown in, plus all the lore that she created for all of these worlds.

I think she might also be challenged by BB and editors to write something that would increase interest in CC in general, because it’s her least well-selling series. While she doesn’t like it, they might have sent her to do re-writes and edits.

She has to compete with a flood of widely-read authors now, who weren’t around 5-6 years ago. A lot of them write darker, sexier, more intense stories, and she might have to do something like that too. Her YA crutch might not be working for much longer for, IF she doesn’t want to remain YA.

She is also a publisher-tied, and not a self-published writer. I think self-published writers have a LOT more leeway. They can just write and publish whenever they want to. Sometimes, 5+ books a year. She is very dependent on BB and they dictate everything, and it’s a long process between writing, editing, publishing/printing, advertising, etc. And BB isnt going to invest any money in something that’s not being published yet. Hence, there is no advertising or anything of substance in terms of engagement. If there is ever any announcements, it’s all about some new covers or re-releases. Something that generates money for them. Not something that engages with the readers.

I honestly don’t think BB gives 2 shits about the actual books--aka, they aren’t going to press her to write Gwynriel vs Elriel vs Elucien. I think she has that freedom and I don’t think she’ll be swayed or pushed into writing something she doesn’t want to. I think they want her to write in a way that’s going to sell more books. They know that casual readers don’t care about Gwynriel vs Elriel--they expect Elriel--but i think she will write a darker, more violent and more sexual book.

I anticipate that we’ll hear an announcement next month about the next book. Feb/March, after the new TOG re-releases with the ugly covers.

Oh, AND she might also be setting up spin off novels for CC too.

Anyway, I don’t have any worries about Elriel.

I think BB are capitalizing on the shipwar for now, until the release of the next book.

PS thank you! i am slowly writing the next chapter of the Kings’ WIfe. I know it’s been a while, but it’s coming.

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qqquib · 1 year

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i use tumblr for a lot of shit, like a lot. something i recently opened the app for was fic recs. which, okay. i’ve read a LOT of dsmp fan fiction. if it’s tommyinnit-centric there’s a 70% chance i’ve read it. if it’s bad-parent phil watson there’s 95% chance i’ve read it.

now, one thing most of these fic recs have in common is them leaving out vital information about the fics AND they’re not mentioning my favorites so i’m upset.

all that said, welcome to my DSMP tommyinnit focused fic recommendations!

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please read the tags before reading them! they contain triggering themes!!!!!

Until You Leave. 8/? 31.2k Words

Technobrother and Tommy are piglin brothers in foster care. They get placed with Phil and he accidentally fucks them up big time. Ugly cried even though it was unfinished lol.

Evermore. complete. 56k Words

Royal AU and tommyinnit has hanahaki disease. Unshockingly contains bad parent Phil Watson and horrible siblings Wilbur and Techno. Major Character Death tag.

Hand in Unloveable Hand. complete. 21k Words

literally, I don't even know where to begin. tommyinnit gets unadopted by Phil and placed with Dream (who is a murderer.) Goes through Dreams killings and Tommy's involvement in detail. Cliffhanger ending i’m praying author makes a part 2.

mon dieu. complete. 115k Words.

Same thing, where can I even begin. Dream goes crazy with the revive book on Tommy, and claims himself as a god. Tortures Tommy and its described in graphic detail. If you don't like blood, guts, paralyzation, stock-home syndrome, or suicide don't read.

Dead Kids Aren’t Useful. complete. 4.5k Words.

tommyinnit has the power to heal peoples wounds-- at the cost of his own life. Vigilante SBI don't know that detail, and abuse his power to save their own lives.

A God and An Alien Walk Into a Casino (series) incomplete. 12k words

Just Golden Duo interactions honestly. Takes place in the c!dsmp before the finale.

this isn’t love (and if it is i don’t want it) complete. 4.3k Words

C!Tommy is unloved, but flowers never grow in his lungs. Tommyinnit is loved by a family who hates him. I SOBBED SO BAD BRO OMFG. My direct notes on this in my excel sheet are “best/worst take on hanahaki disease”

The End is Your Beginning. complete. 65k Words

Tommy accidentally falls into The End and a dragon adopts him <3. The ending made me angry cry.

Good Riddance Gray Albion. complete. 2k Words

Tommy is unknown at his birthday party, you will know more about his brothers than you ever will about Tommy. It's his birthday.

All-The-Way Better. complete. 5k Words

Tommy isn't happy enough-- isn't good enough. He gets replaced by the people who swore to love him.

Home is Where the Heart Isn’t (series) incomplete. 25k Words

Originally my friend was gatekeeping this from me, i argued with her until she shared it. Essentially, tommyinnit’s family comes back from whatever the fuck and they realize he isn't the same. Angst ensues and Tommy is just mad depressed bro. Sob every time,

Distant Dreams in the Dark. complete. 14k Words

Wilbur is addicted to drugs, told through Tommy’s POV. Set over the span of several years. Bittersweet ending. suicide warning though folks.

Dreaming that I’m Wide Awake. complete. 59k Words

Golden Duo + Drista. Human experimentation and like, a lot of angst. No offense to the author! But this was their first work as far as I’m aware. It is written like it, but it's worth it imo.

miserably failing at faerie kidnapping after getting too attached to the kid you're trying to kidnap. complete. 19.9k Words

Dream is Fae and adopts Tommy! Fluff and healing ensues. Bad SBI though. It's honestly one of the happier fics I've read recently.

a house with closed doors. complete. 4.1k Words

Tommy is lonely on thanksgiving :( but happy ending!

There’s always more. complete. 11k Words

Tommy is suicidal, technoblade decides a roadtrip is in order.

Cant You Stay Right Here Forever Pretty Please? complete. 2.1k Words

tommy + ranboo are falling, phil can only save one of them.

Vibrations. complete. 121k Words

tommyinnit leaves the SMP to finally heal, and gets platonically married and has a kid but that's a whole other thing.

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beatrice-otter · 1 year

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Worldbuilding 2023 Recs

Worldbuilding Exchange was a lot of fun this year, although pretty stressful for me at the end. I received a lovely Pacific Rim fic, Catch the Drift. And there are a lot of other great fics in the collection. Here are my favorites! Catch the Drift (1643 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Pacific Rim (Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Raleigh Becket, Yancy Becket, Original Characters Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Journalism, News Media, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Drift Compatibility (Pacific Rim) Summary:

A writer for Smithsonian magazine has a rare chance to see beyond the pop culture portrayals of the Drift to the more complicated reality behind the revolutionary technology.

Call of the Five (1011 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Ordol (Chalion Saga), the Father (Chalion), the Mother (Chalion), the Daughter (Chalion), the Son (Chalion), the Bastard (Chalion) Additional Tags: Fictional Religion & Theology, vocation, The Calling of a Divine, Pseudo-academia, In-Universe Meta, no beta we die three times for the house of chalion Summary:

"Some are born to be divines, some take up the call gradually, and some have divines' vows thrust upon them." - an excerpt on vocation from Ordol's Fivefold Path

Design Documents for 61st Annual Hunger Games (1489 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Gamemakers (Hunger Games), Plutarch Heavensbee Summary:

The year everyone froze to death, beginning to end

the wonder of the universe (3142 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Torchwood Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato Additional Tags: Aliens, Caretaking, Ianto's Duties, Ianto Jones-Centric, Slice of Life, Weird Little Aliens, the care and keeping of Torchwood Three's non-human residents, Alien Flora & Fauna, Telepathy, Partial Mind Control, self-surgery, Ianto is a Secretive little bastard by habit, sentient slimemold, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Comedy of Errors, Canon-Typical Disregard for Personal Safety Summary:

Ianto had meant to keep his head down, not draw any notice to himself at Torchwood Three, but somehow he keeps attracting attention from the strangest sources.

(Despite his best efforts, Ianto adopts a bunch of aliens)

The Aslan Clause (1200 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Narnian Character(s) Additional Tags: Museumverse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Modern Setting, Matters of Succession, Comment thread Summary:

In the modern, democratic age of Narnia, the argument continues over whether the Aslan Clause should be reworked… or altogether retired.

On Witnessing For the Self (6101 words) by Anonymous Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Thara Celehar Summary:

Eventually Thara Celehar gets better at teaching. Sometime much later, this happens.

A Dull Careful Person May Manage (1595 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dag Benin & Pel Navarr, Dag Benin & Miles Vorkosigan, Dag Benin & Fletchir Giaja Characters: Dag Benin, Pel Navarr Additional Tags: Book: Diplomatic Immunity, POV Dag Benin, Canon-Typical Problematic Things, Cetagandan eugenics and accompanying mindsets, non-graphic mention of Barrayaran practices of taking body parts as trophies, Ambiguous/Open Ending, star creche, Cetagandans, Cetagandan Ghem caste, title is a Dorothy Sayers quote from a Peter Wimsey book Summary:

Dag Benin considers the nameless ba's plot.

Re: Re: Transporter Duplication - Lt JG Bradward Boimler (3285 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Brad Boimler, William Boimler, William Riker Additional Tags: Epistolary, Documentation, Transporter Malfunction, Clones, Humor, POV Outsider Summary:

After a transporter accident results in an extra Boimler, Starfleet Personnel is notified so that the situation can be sorted out. There are procedures for this sort of thing.

Listening and Untangling (1536 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Young Wizards - Diane Duane Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Rhiow (Cats of Grand Central), Lone Power (Young Wizards), Urruah (Cats of Grand Central), Original Mouse Character Additional Tags: The Wizards' Oath (Young Wizards), Ordeal (Young Wizards), Worldgates (Young Wizards), Coming of Age Summary:

Surely something that was going to eat her wouldn't speak to her so civilly?

These Ink-Stained Hands Are Red (4616 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Male Character(s), Seneca Crane, Coriolanus Snow Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, Designing A Hunger Games, 72nd Hunger Games, Angst, Politics, Tragedy, Unlikeable Protagonist, Drama, office politics Summary:

A middling Gamemaker is given the chance of a lifetime. Things do not turn out for the best.

Five Times Abigail Met People From the Demi-Monde, and One Time She Didn't (9157 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Abigail Kamara & Brent Characters: Abigail Kamara, Brent, Melissa Oswald, Original Characters, Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: 5+1 Things, Podfic Welcome, Don't copy to another site, Demimonde Necessity Has Made Us Allies (5000 words) by Anonymous Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Bail Organa, Original Characters Additional Tags: Rebellion, Recruitment, Action/Adventure, Worldbuilding, Rebel Alliance Factions Summary:

Old wounds from the Clone Wars still fester, and not everyone who wants the Empire gone wants to restore the Republic.

comments Comment? https://ift.tt/8QlmohL

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destielshippingnews · 1 year

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Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 2x15 Tall Tales, Part 1

Spoilers up to 5x08 Changing Channels

This is Supernatural’s second attempt at a ‘comedic’ episode, with 1x17 Hell House being the first. However, given the fact it is a fan favourite and one which many will tell you is hilarious, it may surprise you to learn that it only tickled my funny-bone once or twice. In stark contrast to its intention as amusing, I once again came away from this episode unsettled by the fact that sexual assault of men and boys can be played for laughs so blatantly. I will leave discussion of that for part 2 of this analysis because it will get heavy and unpleasant. Expect discussion of male victims of rape and sexual violence in the context of Supernatural, The Boys, other television shows, and in real life. I will keep the age rating at 15.

First things first: this is once again an episode where a lot is told in retrospect, but unlike 1x06 Skin and 2x12 Nightshifter this does more than tease the viewer with an event in the cold open then wind back the clock 24 hours. Rather this episode lives up to its apt title Tall Tales by having Dean and Sam relate much of the events to Bobby, but their versions of events differ and feature much exaggeration to the point where the viewer is left uncertain exactly what to believe. Men are dying or being repeatedly raped in scenarios taken straight from urban legends: sewergators, alien abduction, and haunted university buildings. The culprit behind this is a figure named The Trickster, who will later be revealed as Archangel Gabriel and Loki’s doppelgänger.

Regarding the overall plot of the show, 2x15 Tall Tales does not do much except introduce Gabriel, though it will be a further 60-something episodes until the viewer learns who ‘The Trickster’ really is. In fact, it has been a fair while since the show had a plot-centric episode and any steam built up has long since dissipated. 22 episodes per year seems long nowadays with the popularity of Game of Thrones and even The Walking Dead, which pack more plot and story into 10-16 episodes than Supernatural does into 22 (except the lamentable mess that is The Walking Dead series 2). The downside of its length, therefore, is the diluted, thinly-spread nature of its storytelling. A fair amount was packed into Supernatural 2x01-2x10, but most of that was related to developing character motivations and themes and included a lot of monster-of-the-week episodes. Of course it is fun to see the characters doing side-quests but I need more story to keep the momentum going. Azazel has plans, but he is taking his sweet time bringing them to fruition and in the meanwhile the brothers are not doing anything to try to discover or foil his plots.

Compare this, if you will, to the conflict between the Scooby Gang and Angel, Spike and Drusilla in Buffy series 2, where the build-up and conflict take centre stage for a lot of the 22 episodes. The conflict even takes the lives of very important characters when least expected, so the threat is always present and threatening. In Supernatural, by contrast, I do not really care about whatever is happening to Sam or what Azazel is plotting because it plays little role. I care that Dean is so broken up with grief and the fear of having to kill his brother, but if this were a novel I would be getting frustrated, and I read ALL of Wise Man’s Fear.

This episode continues Supernatural’s love affair with Neil Gaiman which started in 1x11 Scarecrow. Some people love this but Neverwhere bored me and I could not get past page 200 of American Gods. Coraline, Stardust, and The Graveyard Book pleased me but his stories involving ‘gods’ feel anhedonic and banal to me. I get that some people enjoyed having gods be part of a story with mortals in this manner, but I have little interest in a Norse deity (and it is frequently a Norse deity because they are in vogue) reduced to a man in a suit on an aeroplane, or a figure with the oh-so-clever name of Low Key Lyesmith.

A character who is a deity should act like a deity, not your average Tom, Dick or Harry. If the writer puts no effort into making the characters godlike, the divinity essentially stops being a divinity and becomes any other character. They become banal and dull, with their divinity reduced to a gimmick.

Having said that, it can be done exceedingly well. It is likely not to everybody’s taste, but Joanne M. Harris won a place on my list of favourite authors with her books The Gospel of Loki, Runemarks, Runelights, and The Testament of Loki. Her versions of the Norse gods are very true to the Eddic sources, but with her own spin and flair added for good measure. And it is a VERY good measure; her Norse gods rub shoulders with mortals, but they are not shopworn characters who are gods in name only. Whereas American Gods and Supernatural tear their deities from their mythological context and thereby remove the flavour and character (is Odin still Odin with no Valhalla, Fenrir, or Einherjar?), The Gospel of Loki etc mostly preserve the mythological context and have gods as characters who actually are gods.

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Buffy and Angel toyed with gods as characters as well, but whether these gods were actual deities or simply apex demons so powerful and influential their minions believed them to be gods is left unclear. The Celtic mother goddess Danu brought water to the world, and Ogmios the psychopomp escorts the dead to the Otherworld. Lugus is god of the sun and creator of all arts, but whether Glory and Illyria in Buffy and Angelhad either any hand in creating their respective worlds or were close kin of creatures who did is never specified. For that reason, Illyria and Glory work for me where American Gods and Supernatural’s deities do not.

Because actual ‘gods’ being portrayed as only slightly more supernatural than the average monster is not to my tastes, I did not like this episode as much as the general fan base appears to.

Episode 2x15 Tall Tales starts with Dean being a complete douche and irritating the hell out of Sam by listening to music on the radio and eating chicken noisily on the hotel bed. Sam is trying to do research with paper and books because somebody Sam assumes was Dean stole his laptop. Sam’s justification for assuming his brother was to blame was that Dean was supposedly the only other person with access to the room: the door was locked and the hotel does not have chamber maids, supposedly. One has to stop and wonder whether Sam has actually learnt anything at all over the last 37 episodes because any kind of monster or ghost could have crept into their room through an air vent or a window, as could any of the seedy people staying in the seedy hotel have picked their lock and sneaked into their room.

In Sam’s defence (what’s that, me calling Dean a douche and defending Sam?) they have pulled silly pranks on each other in the past, but why would Dean have hidden a vital tool like the laptop? Knowing Sam as I do, it looked very much like wanting a reason to metaphorically kick Dean and seizing the opportunity to do so. His later statement that ‘...I’ve put up with a lot from you, Dean’ gasted my flabbers: I can see that Sam believes that and he clearly has a lot of resentment, anger, and other whiny, self-centred complaints festering, but do let us remember that Dean’s fiendish japes and comments about Sam’s girly hair do not in any way compare to e.g. Sam threatening and almost getting Dean killed in 2x10 Hunted, for example. He really has no right to bitching about ‘putting up with a lot’, so go on Dean: keep being a douche. Sam deserves nothing less than your douchebaggery.

Bobby soon turns up at the door, at once both welcome and unwelcome. As I said when he was introduced in 1x22 Devil’s Trap, I have much more time for him than I do John and I can tell he actually cares for Dean and Sam (if I remember, he even called Dean his favourite at some point), but his crochety attitude grates against me. For one thing, I do not appreciate the 27 and 23 year old protagonists of my story being treated like little boys by a character who has only just been introduced (looking at you, mega-bish Missouri), and for another it gets old fast. On my first watch of this show, I cared little for him and I still do not especially care.

On the other hand, Dean and Sam need more than just Dean and Sam. I love Dean to bits and I would watch Dean eating a sandwich for 40 minutes every week, but I hate their co-dependant abused / narcissistic abuser dynamic with a passion. Judging by the huge drop off in viewership in series 7 when Sera Gamble tried to kill Castiel off, so did a huge part of the audience. Some friends who are just now watching the show for the first time: they have just reached 2x05 Simon Said and have noted that because there is just Dean and Sam, there is little for the writers to do in order to introduce conflict than have Dean and Sam argue. Often there is no apparent need for them to argue and it gets tedious. The show needs more, but even with the eventual introduction of Castiel the show still had to be about the brothers, no matter how much Sam hates Dean or how suffocated Dean is.

Back to Bobby, he sits and listens to Dean and Sam tell their stories, their versions differing in small details usually with the intent of mocking the other. I believe this is the aspect of the episode which people find funny, because men in their mid twenties acting like preteens is amusing or something. Maybe if I were watching this once a week as a casual viewer and not really paying attention it would amuse me more, but the fact the episode uses sexual assault against a man for laughs puts a dampener on the whole experience. If that makes me a buzzkill, then I suppose your buzz deserves to be killed. Whatever the case, Bobby soon works out that a Trickster is behind everything.

You might remember long long ago in the first paragraph that I mentioned the episode tickling my funny-bone once or twice: both occasions were very early on. The first occasion was when Dean’s date said that looking at him was like staring into the sun, and the second came right on the heels of that moment as Sam interrupted him. Dean’s version of Sam is not too much of an exaggeration which is what made it so funny. Jared chose to do the prissy, sissy fag act with effete body language and pursed lips which is not how I see Sam, but other than that his nagging and blah blah blah were pretty accurate to how much of Sam’s whining and bitching sound to me. Sam objected to Dean’s portrayal of him by saying ‘I don’t sound like that, Dean!’ to which Dean replied ‘That’s what you sound like to me” and I must wholeheartedly concur.

Whilst on that subject, this episodes shows and suggests some serious character issues with Sam. On the one hand, he is very concerned with using the proper politically-correct language such as when he corrected Dean for saying ‘Siamese twins’ instead of ‘conjoined twins’, yet he smirked and hid his face from Curtis after finding out Curtis was ‘anal probed’ by aliens. Sam has the proper vocabulary, but like his real life counterpart Eric Kripke (whose writing in e.g The Boys is far less ‘progressive’ than his use of terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ might suggest), Sam is not the ‘sensitive, intelligent’ brother people think he is. More on that in the later discussion, as well as Dean’s reaction.

Further to the point of the brothers’ stories, the young woman whom Dean was drinking with and presumably canvassing for information on the dead professor is very different in both versions. The ‘Starla’ of Dean’s version is a PhD student in folklore and mythology, well-dressed, well-kept, and classy. Dean clearly exaggerated a lot with how into him she was, and his own behaviour in that version induced much cringe, but other than that she was believable. Sam’s ‘Starla’ was much more negative, at least from the perspective of somebody like Sam: much more ‘low rent’ than Dean’s version. Sam seems very quick to perceive Starla as a loose drunk and Dean as a horny slut for being interested in a woman like her… or perhaps the other way around: his estimation of her plummets when he sees she is sexually interested in Dean whom Sam regards as a slut. Yikes. Either way, Sam seems to have an issue with women who enjoy sex.

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What the truth is is likely somewhere between, but based on the kind of woman Dean has been seen to pick up and hit on (e.g. the jeweller in 2x12 Nightshifter), I would guess he only exaggerated on his cringy James Bond-smoothness and her staring into the sun line.

The sibling squabbles between Sam and Dean in this episode were also a source of mirth. It was quite droll to see the brothers through each other’s eyes; Dean as the slutty womaniser with no taste and Sam as an uptight ponce who treats Dean like an irritating embarrassment. Both are exaggerations fuelled by irritation, but it’s still an interesting insight into how they see each other.

Not that anybody paying attention needs to be told how they see each other, but the idiots in the cheap seats at the back might not have heard everything. It probably says a lot about how similar Dean’s and my perspectives are that he and I view Sam in pretty much exactly the same way.

Moving swiftly onwards, discussing women who enjoy sex brings the discussion around to the professor in the cold open who the viewer is led to believe engaged in lots of coitus with students. The situation of professor and student inherently implies a power imbalance, though it is never specified whether or not the students he made the beast with two backs with were his students or not. We can assume that a large number likely were since Gabriel saw fit to punish him, but the woman in the cold open appeared to be in her mid twenties and actively pursued the sexual encounter with the professor. Is that how they all happened? I have heard stories of professors being harassed and pursued by students like that, so I wonder, but for the sake of this analysis let us assume that what the show tells and implies is indeed how things happened: the professor abused his position of power in order to procure sex with students in his charge.

The professor is presumably pushed out of his window and slams into the concrete. Note that the professor did not scream as he fell, implying he was already dead before his defenestration. This happened just as janitor!Gabriel was leaving the building for the night, but for some reason Dean and Sam do not think to be suspicious of him when they question him early in the episode. He was the only one there and he found the professor, so he would have likely been one of the police’s suspects at least.

The next two incidents are a professor involved in animal testing getting eaten by a sewer alligator, and a pledge master getting ‘hazed’. Dean is the one to work out that all the men involved were linked by being ‘dicks’ and that what happened to them was ‘poetic justice’. Skipping past the implication that rape is an appropriate punishment which one can ‘deserve’ (Shiban, Kripke, and Gamble: sit on broken glass), it is not long later that Bobby gives them the final push they need to conclude the janitor is a Trickster and the one responsible for everything.

Calling Loki a trickster is not all that accurate however, as Loki is more a liar and agent of Chaos than he is a trickster. He crosses boundaries of sex, sexuality, and gender, is both of the Æsir and of their enemies the Jötunns (anti-gods), and is the sworn enemy of Heimdallr who is an agent of order and guards the borders. I praised Joanne M. Harris’ Loki earlier, but the one thing which grated on me was that her version of Loki just accepted that male-bodied gods were not supposed to engage in intimate relations with other male-bodied beings. Melvin Burgess’s Loki did not have any such inhibitions, but rather enjoyed physical and emotional intimacy with men as much as with women. ...And animals, because how is a human or god any different to a horse for the embodiment of chaos?

Moving on, the episode culminates in Gabriel attempting to win Dean’s favour in a lecture hall (note that Gabriel is All About Dean in this episode) by offering him sex with the two women he conjoured in return for Dean letting Gabriel get away. Contrary to popular belief, Dean does not think with his penis and refuses Gabriel’s offer. Dean cannot let Gabriel go, and as Dean says this Sam and Bobby appear. A fight ensues in which Dean in particular suffers some serious whumpage (inflicted mostly by the scantily-clad Bond women, implying I am supposed to laugh).

Dean manages to eventually stake Gabriel and kill him, whereupon he and the others book it before somebody finds Gabriel’s body. Sam almost apologises to Dean before getting into the car (inappropriate timing, Sam, but points for trying), and then Bobby annoys me a bit with more of his unearnt crochitiness. Right at the end it is revealed that Gabriel is still alive and that the one Dean thought he killed was only an illusion.

I have never been a big fan of Gabriel in this show. His next episode is another fan favourite which is supposedly hilarious, but he kept Sam in an endless Groundhog Day where he had to watch Dean dying over and over again. I understand that a show like Supernatural has to replace blood and guts with exaggerated ridiculousness, wherefore Dean’s endless deaths, but for some reason I am not able to laugh. This might be one of those normal people things which I am too neurodivergent to understand. Is this one of those déjá thingies?

Anyway, Gabriel locks Sam into watching his brother die to teach him a lesson, and depending on how we understand the mechanics of Gabriel’s ’magic’, kills Dean over and over again. The first death does not amuse me and not just because I do not like seeing Dean die: I actually watched an 11 year old boy get run over after school one day in 2004. Something went right under the wheels and luckily I cannot remember whether it was him or just his schoolbag. Either way, I do clearly remember noticing the seat of his trousers had ripped and my 13 year old brain latched onto that because it was easier to deal with than the fact an 11 year old boy was dying at my feet. His funeral was thrown open to the whole school, and some people went just to have a day off school. This song was played at his funeral and I remember it every time I hear this song:

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So no, not a single one of Dean’s deaths in that episode amuse me, and no I do not give a fig about killing your buzz. I also do not like Gabriel much, but I like him as an antagonist and loose cannon. Far more enjoyable than bloody Lucifer.

That almost does it for part one. Generally speaking a good episode, though it would not rank anywhere near my list of favourites. One issue I have is that The Show does not allow Sam to be made fun of in anything like the way Dean is. As Paula R. Stiles noted, Dean is ridiculed and exaggerated a lot in this episode, but other than two incidents he is just regular Sam. I have heard tell of Jared’s complaints and insistence that his character not be made fun of, and I believe it might well have been around this time in the show that he – if I have heard correctly – got angry about where Sam’s story was taking him, and tried to start a fight with Jensen on set. Whether or not this is true, I cannot say for sure (though both Jensen and Jared have referred to an incident when Jared stormed off set to sit alone in his trailer and Jensen shortly joined him and talked to him), but whatever the case may be, a noticeable disparity is evident.

Whilst on the subject of disparities, the ‘dicks’ are almost all men in this show, infrequently women. Paula R. Stiles raised the point in her discussion of Jo in 2x06 No Exit that women do not like being portrayed as the dumbass, cocky tomboy any more than men like being portrayed as useless, lazy, stupid slobs. The former is bad representation and so is the latter, but the difference is that the former is met with resistance in modern popular culture whereas the latter is actively encouraged and criticism of it is met with distinctly anti-male scorn. In a show where almost all on-screen, violent, bloody deaths are men who die as horror-fodder while women are usually killed off-screen or saved at the last minute, here is an episode where all the ‘dicks’ are men and sexual assault against men is played for laughs. Usually when I point this out it falls on deaf ears, but if I can point out some of the writers’ homophobia, the incredibly high death rate of black men, the missed opportunities for Native American inclusion and representation, and the bad writing of female characters like Jo, why do people seem so unwilling to listen when I point this out? Why do they insist I am wrong, and why do they so quickly change the subject to women talking in board rooms? I have a very good idea why this is the case, as I will discuss in the section about male victims of sexual violence.

One final point before closing part one: some have taken issue with the presence of Busty Asian Beauties. The thinking is that Asian women (here in the US meaning of East and Southeastern Asian, excluding the Indian subcontinent and Western Asia) are almost not represented at all in the show, with Mrs Tran and Dagon being the only two notable examples. It does not look good for them to be mostly represented in the form of a porn site and magazine.

Having grown up on the other side of the Atlantic from the American context, I never understood Busty Asian Beauties as anything more than a joke about how randomly specific it was, similar to Jack’s one-legged Parisian prostitute in Titanic.

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Perhaps the experience is different for North Americans, but any ‘racist’ connotations were completely lost on me. Some have even gone a little further and said that Dean himself is racist for ‘fetishising’ Asian women and being interested in Asian women specifically. To be quite honest that sounds like a load of American bullcrap. Other than it being an exaggeration of Dean’s interest for online rage fuel, I wonder whether my enjoyment of Ripped Nordic Blonds or Girthy Celtic Hotties would also be considered a racist fetishisation. The issue as I see it is the poor representation, not Dean’s interest.

Note once again that it Dean who is both given a bit more depth with stuff like this, and the one who is the butt of the joke. Never Sam.

Thus concludeth part one. Part two will follow later this week.

#Youtube #edvard's supernatural guide #spn 2x15 #spn 2x15 tall tales #tall tales #dean winchester #sam winchester #gabriel #the trickster #spn meta #meta analysis

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nicki0kaye · 1 year

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hey @mangsney, no worries, I understand why you’re asking! I really enjoyed Obi-wan, there’s some scenes that still stay with me, esp the sound design when Obi-wan and Reva have their convo while he’s ‘captured’. The handling of Vader was stellar and their final confrontation felt really well earned.

my issue is with how less integral scenes were sort of left unfinished writing-wise. Like they aren’t bad so much as...lazy. More of a sketch than a finished drawing. Any time a show leaves the viewer asking ‘why was I shown this’ or ‘how did they get away with that’, and the only real answer is ‘to fill time’ or ‘to get from point A to point B’, its not good writing. Its only really a problem because of the quality of Filoni’s and Favreau's other work within the same universe is heads and shoulders above what we got in Obi-wan. Nevermind Andor, Obi-wan doesn’t meet Book of Boba’s competency in writing, simply in establishing expectation and paying it off. And Book of Boba is far more streamlined and fat trimmed than any season of Mando. It only did what it told us it would do. It was set up and pay off, point by point, and I commend it for that, but in other series, we were allowed to just. Hang with the characters in a way I feel like they didn’t have time for in Boba. They had Mando season 2.5 to slip in. They had a limit on episodes and a very strict shooting schedule. They had every other project built off Mando’s wings to push through scripting, shooting and editing.

I’d defend both Obi and Boba for what they do accomplish and I seriously enjoyed both of them. I have to be honest tho, it was a disappointment knowing they could have been fuller, stronger and allowed us more time with these characters but were limited by production and ultimately corporate greed. If you don’t see the faults I do, good. Obi-wan deserves all the love in the world, REVA deserves all the love in the gALAXY.

Andor is fantastic, but its also hella depressing and is too human centric. they really feared losing prestige points by having any non-human central characters and it shows. And I will never not be livid about that. It’s antithetical to Star Wars imo and its upsetting that I rarely see it mentioned. That isn’t to say don’t watch it. It is well worth the watch. I’m just petty and want to bitch about how everyone’s shiney new favorite isn’t actually perfect. It’s just as calculated as every other Star Wars production, bc it has to be. Because while these are wonderful works of art, they are also reliant on their marketability within late stage capitalism, and capitalism is a fickle fucking mistress. Andor is inspiring, its cast is diverse and its performances are unmatched. It’s openly and unapologetic about its queer characters. Its cinematography is some of the best in all of Star Wars canon. It takes the time to linger and really let you invest in every character you meet. Its just also supposed to be star wars so give me a fucking alien to love for more than a single scene, Fucking PLEASE.

#nik v sw

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kimabutch · 2 years

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On the topic of book recs! Yesterday I finished Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter, a novel that took me for a spin in a bunch of ways.

The plot is like, the standard scifi trope of a small spaceship crew of misfits who call each other family, usually scavenging space parts — except everything is told from the point of view of a cyborg they "captured" and who is fucking terrified and confused by all of them. I've never encountered any media where the characters are so clearly living in different sub-genres, and it's frankly a blast the way that the author plays with different well-loved tropes. What I could predict in terms of plot beats was insignificant in comparison to the central mystery of what the fuck different people mean when they say "human," "robot," and "alien."

The novel also surprised me in that the first 15%ish is extremely action-centric, which I had a hard time following, and I was just about ready to give up on it when the book veered in a much more interesting direction.

The book also has intersex rep (and not just cyborg intersex rep), which I rarely see!

#book adventures #activation degradation

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bates--boy · 11 months

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5 Pieces of Fiction that Influenced You as a Writer and Why?

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin Really, anything written by Jemisin, but particularly this book because its plot sort of resembles Hetalia -- avatars of lands (major cities and boroughs in this case) who develop immortality and coming together in a war. However, there is just soooo much going into this story, like an alien creature who uses white supremacy and gentrification to try to defeat the heroes, awesome superpowers, and tiny elements of hip-hop sprinkled in. Overall, there's this magical realism to this story and a lot of Jemisin's works because of her incredible worldbuilding.

Bojack Horseman Yeah, this show fucked me up, so much so that I'm almost too afraid to give it a rewatch despite really wanting to. It's such a silly premise -- a (literal) one-trick pony becomes a miserable has-been celebrity drowning in booze -- but somewhere along the way, the writers thought, "This show could be so much more" and never looked back. It went from funny horse puns, slapstick comedy, and really uncomfortable bestiality scenes (does it count if the animals are anthropomorphized?) to realistic and even controversial topics like the heartbreak of being infertile, of the public opinion about abortions, and living with depression and other mental illnesses. Then the show dove even darker: generational trauma, the results of untreated disorders, childhood sexual abuse, and drug overdoses.

(So many people failed Sarah Lynn for her entire life! So. Many. People!! And I don't care that they're fictional, I will never forgive any of them!!)

God, did this show hurt, but it showed that people's tics and flaws came from somewhere, and it made me ask myself: so, what made Peter tic? Before this blog's remake, Peter was just a weirdo guy who got into bad moods and wasn't the type of muse to jump into bed with anyone. At first, it was just funny, having this sex-shy but foul-mouthed guy, but then I realized that this had to have come from somewhere. So, I had to look at some of the canon stuff with a new eye, seeing how would being semi-abandoned in a fort miles away from land for most of his childhood affect him as an adult. Why would a person who grew up in a religious setting choose to not only turn away from religion, but hate religion as a concept vehemently? What are the things that happened in the decades that Peter grew up in that broke him and shaped his worldview? The show made me think: which parts of Peter are his eccentric self, and which parts are a cry for help?

Most of all, this show raised the question: what are you going to do about that? Some people delve deeper into addictions, some give up, some find healthier ways to move on from the hurt and start their lives over.

The Invisibles by Grant Morrison It's more like bits and pieces of this series had influenced my writing, rather than the whole story. I mainly borrowed from Lord Fanny (her unabashed love for wild styles and femininity) and Jack Frost (wild child with a love of hip-hop and many other American-centric media). But mostly from Jack Frost, because I love the idea that Peter, who is this personification of rebellion, an underdog, would absolutely love the most counterculture thing in Western society: anti-government, anti-white supremacy rap that makes the upper echelons clutch their pearls. This music that speaks of The Struggle that punk rock simply can't (which, I imagine, is why Jack Frost, a "chav" street punk from a fatherless home who is introduced to readers while he's being arrested and charged, is drawn to the likes of N.W.A).

There's also the fact that, in some way, this series "gave" me permission to go absolutely bonkers with my writing as I want to or see fit. If a guy can write a story about a government/church/alien conspiracy villains poisoning the globe, and the too-cool-for-school counterculture freedom fighters, which includes a genderqueer witch and the reincarnation of Buddha, fighting them, why can't I write something just as off-the-walls wild?

Dessa's discography I'm cheating by saying that, technically, there are stories being told in Dessa's songs. Some of the songs are based on her real life, like "Call Off Your Ghost" and "The Lamb", and others seem to be fictional, like "No Talking Business" and "Sound the Bells". But no matter what, I always come back to her songs when I need inspiration or emotional fuel while writing. Honestly, Dessa's songs had partly inspired The MizFists arc, because I wanted to know what happens if Peter stops self-destructing and uses his love of hip-hop for good? Apparently, a lot happens.

Hetalia by Hidekaz Himaruya At first, I had debated adding this onto the list at all; sure, it's the canon source for the very blog's existence, and one of the reasons I had made an adult!Sealand muse was because I was fascinated by all the potential there could be from the snippets of aged up Sealand Himaruya gave us, but a lot of the time, I feel like my character's deviated from his canon characterization (both his normal age and the bits of his adult portrayal) so much that sometimes, he feels like a whole new character. I had still added it because sometimes, I still draw from the canon to write him as I do now. His canon love for Broadway is why my muse is a performer; his canonical strength of steel is why Peter is able to "tether" to his fort and draw power from it for himself and his daughter. And the way Arthur keeps turning him away and "shooting him down" in canon is why my muse had decided to completely step away from the Kirkland family and lean into the Nordic family even more.

tagged by: @nezumivc103221 Say, thanks!

tagging: @paralianprince @cryingyetcourageous @the-expatriate

#o rly? ( meme )#nothin’ but static ( ooc )#can you tell how much I love bojack horseman?

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fantasysci5 · 1 year

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Rant

It seems from this book (and watching the show) that both the higher ups and Kevin Sorbo didn’t really know how to handle a science fiction show. Billing it as an “action hour”, wanting Trance to be sexualized, Tyr had to be a team player, saying things got too dark and complicated so less story arcs and more episodic for casual viewers to tune in, and keep it more Dylan-centric for the Herclues fans that followed him over. They wanted them to wrap up and stop talking about the commonwealth, which was the whole point of the show. I’m just shaking my head in disbelief.

You’re alienating your core target audience and I’m not even sure you’re bringing in many casual fans. Sorbo literally said one of his hercules-fans that followed him over said it was too confusing and he agreed (and was part of the force that got the main writer fired). Um, excuse me? Then you shouldn’t be doing science fiction. We want the continuity, character and plot arcs, “talking” shows along with the more actiony ones.

I knew about some of this drama before now, of course, but to see it so detailed makes me so mad that they didn’t know what’s actually good. At least Babylon 5 was allowed to keep going in the same smart way that it was conceived.

(Sorry, just ranting, not going to be pretty. And this is not a reflection on the book, I love it and it’s so interesting! I learned Hohne was a frontrunner to replace Rev Bem (not the character, just another alien influence) and I would have loved that! Can’t wait to get to RHW’s original ideas.)

A favorite quote in the book from Cobb (Tyr): “We all wanted an ensemble show where our various interactions were the focus and not simply each of us as we relate to the captain.” Preaching to the choir here.

#gene roddenberry's andromeda #me ranting

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asexualbookbird · 1 year

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okay I've chewed on it a bit! So here's a messy Not Review of An Unspoken Name!

I did not hate it! the end no okay some things i didnt like

-it felt disjointed

i was most jarred by the beginning of part two, when we meet new people and it takes a bit for anyone we know to how up. like i just started caring about Csorwe and Sethannai, and now? it's over? we get new people????

-related: the timeline felt Off

or maybe the pacing? I was thinking about it and one of my complaints about A Memory Called Empire was the timeline was pretty short! Manit gets a new job, has the worst week of her life, and goes home. Wild. Here it's more spread out and supposedly that should work better for me since I generally complain about short timelines but i dont know! Something felt off to me! Most notable was the first torture scene. I'm not going to sit here and say give me 50 pages of in depth torture because I'm not about that, but afterwards Csorwe mentioned injuries and im like where'd they come from?? from the general?? and yeah i figured it out but maybe a bit more detail on the torture?

also in that scene, beforehand shes in the tunnels and the next shes in the generals room and it felt like it was immediately after but i guess some time passed? maybe transitions is what im complaining about here.

-sethannai what are you doing lol

no seriously what. is his goal. the box, yeah, but is it really? maybe it's explored more in the second book but his reasons felt flat to me! i dont hate him as a character (deffo hate him as a person lololol) but id have liked to see more of him? he felt like a background character tbh

i didnt like this but also didnt not like it but

-Plot™️

okay. look. I know and understand and even enjoy that different plot structures exist. I recognise that the plot structure i am most familiar with and have come to expect from novels is a very euro centric structure and that there are more ways to tell a story. i really think this is a synopsis problem and a me problem rather than a book problem. I went in expecting a story About Csorwe, but I don't think she's the main character here! Shuthmili is the main character! And it's wild because we don't meet her until part two! And again, different plot structures different ways to tell stories i get it, and I think had I known that going it my feelings would be different (so a Me problem). The synopsis talks about Csorwe and Sethannai, so I expected it to be All About Them. Twas not.

Things I liked!!

-THE WORLD(S)

i find it so fascinating that this is basically scifi space travel but make it fantasy. I love the different worlds i love that it doesnt feel like scifi with aliens and space and starships. (nothing wrong with that obvi but it's not my preferred reading tbh!) i thought that was done very well and wonder if there are any other books that do that because i want it explored more (which is the only reason im considering book two).

-M A G I C

WHAT A SYSTEM!!!!!!!! Again, interested in Shuthmili and her god(s), in the....Quinqureat? listening to the aduio did me no favor (quincury). I want more of that. I want to know more about all this magic how its used how its cast how it hurts the user. And honestly put this in the Did Not Like section because gotdang give me more detailed fights please. Sword fights were pretty well done (though could have been more)(thats a me problem)(i could always use more sword fights)m but I felt the magic fights were lack luster. I want more of them. This system is so cool, and it was underused!

-The Main Three

Csorwe, Shuthmili, Tal. Awful disasters, I love them so. Tal grew on me, unfortunately. Csorwe needs a hug. Shuthmili needs to frolic. They were done well, they had good arcs (though i do think Shuthmili's mind was changed a little too fast. It takes more than a cute girl to undo a lifetime of brainwashing.)

other notes are I kind of wish there was more time in the manor, simply because the friend Csorwe met was really interesting and I wanted more of her than a line later that said oh yeah and she got all she wanted and lived happily ever after :) Oranna was a good antagonist, though again. Was there really a central antagonist? Different structures yeah I know.

Overall it was Fine! I didn't outright hate anything! I'm not mad I read it! The narrator was very pleasant, did wonderful voices (though I'm more neutral on Shuthmili's voice lol) Don't really care to read the sequel, but not opposed to it.

#bookbird babbles #ezra reads the unspoken name #cannot stress enough how much i did not hate this #i feel like i want to be Nice because under different circumstances my feelings might be different lol #like i kiiiiiind of want to reread it knowing what to expect but also. i dont want to reread it at all.

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