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#when you want to make edits for everyone but all of your girls are underused and dont have the biggest selections of gifs
sweetcstfantasy · 3 years
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RANDOM SHIP SNAPSHOTS - FEATURING:
- Veronica & Lamp ( @lampstaffed ) - Eva & Billy ( @lemonadecabaret ) - Gwen & Eric ( @diamcndhearts ) - Vanessa & Dominic ( @roughxsouls ) - Casey & Jon ( @troublesomemix ) - Tabitha & Jack ( @venturingdesires )
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Let’s talk about the absolute drug-induced fever dream of metal that was Bliss. Now when I chose to watch this, it was only after watching the trailer, I had no other context, no summary, no nothing, so when I got into the meat and grime of the story I was really LIKE WHOA. If possible, I recommend going into this movie blind and unspoiled.
Bliss opens with bright, florescent, and disorienting title cards. Like colorful, moving, graffiti art flashing violently. This is not for the photosensitive viewers, and honestly, this movie may be an entire skip it for the photosensitive folks.
Enter Dezzy, a moderately famous artist, who is beautiful, and very stressed. We meet her as she is behind on her rent and at a loss with her art.
Within the first 10 minutes, she is fighting with her boyfriend, landlord, agent, and well, is being dropped by said agent, who we immediately know is massive jerk trash by his greeting.
In her agitation, she visits dealer and friend, Adrian, whom she hasn’t seen in a while as she had been staying away from hard drugs.
She’s here looking for some “inspiration,” and Adrian has just the thing, and its name is Diablo. He calls it the best bliss in town. He tells her only to do a little. She, of course, does a lot. As soon as she does a large line, she is transported into a visual trip of moving colors and transcendent beauty. Her inspiration seemingly returning. We realize she blacked out for hours.
Naturally, she does more drugs; we meet her friend Courtney, and her man, a blonde guy with sunglasses, played by our favorite Purge villain. This drug-filled night culminates in an extended scene of a threesome that was honestly beautifully shot.
When Dezzy awakes again, she feels overcome with inspiration to paint. And when she snaps out of it, she does not know where this is coming from, but she loves it. She feels odd, sees something on her neck, and hallucinates herself covered in blood.
We follow Dezzy through what seems to be the symptoms of withdrawal. She is in a bad way. She doesn’t know if it is that Diablo stuff or something more insidious going on.
When she goes out that night the pieces begin to make sense once she runs into Courtney. Her friend is unfazed by the behavior and knows just how to make this go away, a cool and refreshing splattering of blood.
An unsuspecting girl in the bathroom is subject to Courtney’s calming technique. Dezzy drinks, has a great night covered in blood, paints, and then blacks outs again. This time waking up and feels paranoid and worse than ever, fearing that Courtney dosed her. She is confused about whether or not the night before even happened the way she remembers.
She does know one thing, she is craving blood in the worst way. And goodness gracious, her first kills are brutal.
In desperation, Dezzy goes to see her friend Adrian, and after a mishap that leaves him bleeding, she is unable to control herself, she annihilates him and everyone else in the home. It is a terrifically gory scene that leaves Deezy driving through LA in her convertible with a blood-covered face and a smile. Beautiful.
After days of trying to find Courtney again, we finally get confirmation, this is a true blood-red cloaked vampire story, and oops, sorry Dezzy, there is no cure, this is forever. Courtney sends Dezzy on her way with no real answers, just a promise that she will enjoy this gift she has given her.
Dezzy tries to resist the urges, but those horrid withdrawal symptoms once again  to plague her.
And man, this is where the blood gates OPEN. My girl starts up with the bloodshed and does not let up as she gets more and more of her painting done. She is obsessed, now with her career back on track, she believes this to be her masterpiece, she is willing to kill or die for it.
Clive, her boyfriend or FWB’s, death was particularly brutal as he came by her apartment because he was genuinely worried. She murders him with this gnarly neck snap that left his neck gushing like a fountain to quench her never-ending thirst. Literally bleeding him dry.
Post-snack, she hallucinates that he comes after her and calling her a murderer.
She tries to kill herself to no such mercy. She is devastated but feels calm once she sees her painting near completion.
Clive is back! The now vampire, Clive, is back because, apparently, she turned him  accidentally instead of killing him. He feels she did this purposely, Dezzy does not seem to agree, he gets aggressive, and then Dezzy is saved from another violent breakup by Courtney, who drives a SWORD?!?!? through his heart.
Courtney has come by because she is angry at the bloodbath Dezzy has left around town. And now Courtney decides that Dezzy’s blood would be the perfect meal.
The vampire ladies battle to some metal tune with Dezzy’s painting looming in background. Dez stabs Courtney in the heart, and just like with Clive, we see this excellent melting effect of the dying vampires.
It is a really awesome looking practical effect! It looks like a doll that was melted and then sped up. Maybe a metaphor for the plastic/shallow folks dying in their hedonistic pursuits of power and well, in this case, literally blood.
More heavy metal plays, Dezzy dances wildly, and she paints with a singular purpose. Covered in the blood of her friends, she steps back to look at her finished painting.
She again hallucinates all of her victims, reaching for her desperately. This scene mirrors her masterpiece, now completed, soon after all of the screams and hallucinations fade away. She has created something that will live on forever, and forgotten are those she hurt to get here, to this moment of absolute bliss.
The sun rises, and she explodes with the light of a new day.
What I liked: This was an absolutely grimey, 80’s nostalgic, stylish, heavy metal, stress-filled joy ride. It was a fresh take on the vampire genre for something jammed packed with nostalgia shots, and grindhouse feels. I loved the subtleness of the classic vampire lore. No sun, stakes through the heart very bad. We see that narcissism of vampires that we love heightened through the lens of the LA art scene. Instead of making dying for your art romantic, soft, and beautiful, the filmmaker made it violent and a bloodbath. Sidenote: Which I think needs to be seen more, let’s chill with the idea that we need to kill ourselves to be creative. The main character was not likeable, she was talented but really lacked any personage beyond her art and drugs. You can live for your art too.  Another big up, the practical effects were incredible. Something additional I loved was this realistic look into the inescapable feeling of addiction. I think the film really used its story matter to advocate how powerless addicts can be in the throes of their illness. This movie does not glamorize drug use, it makes it look bloody disgusting.
What I disliked: As i mentioned above, the characters were not really likeable. Which I guess is fine and reminiscent of old horror movies.. Most characters we are introduced to are just there to boost the final body count, but I really REALLy, wanted to like Dezzy, because Dora Madison is absolutely incredible in this movie. She was sorely underused in the episode of “Into the Dark” i saw her in, because she brought an excellent physicality to her movements in this film, especially when she was supposed to be blacked out. When she was disorientated, so were you, and that is due to the amazing camera work and her captivating performance. The writing did not flesh out her backstory or really her story other than the surface or maybe enough for me to be gung-ho for this character. Most of the time, I was really fine if she died. Which sucks because the acting was great, but that goes for most of the characters. But if we are going by old school horror rules, I must get over it, cause everyone sucks, so by proxy; they must die?!? I guess.  My bad for wanting to root for someone.
Should you watch it: If you are a metal fan, vampire fan, or horror fan, I recommend it. This is like our Uncut Gems. Yes, I said it. Bliss is the Uncut Gems of horror. Feel free to @ me. This film is purposefully disorientating, non-stop, and will stress you out. The main character stresses you out, and you TRULY wish they made better life choices. The camera work is incredible, and you can tell this was shot with care and edited with love for the genre. Joe Begos, the director, is a horror pro, and I am excited to work my way through more of his work. So yeah, it is on the streaming service Shudder now. Watch it.
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thefinalcinderella · 5 years
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Tsurune Book 2 Afterword
Me before Tsurune: I will never translate those cliched isekais and otaku pandering web novels! I will only translate novels with originality!
Me after Tsurune: Mayhaps I should go check out Narou…
…Haha jk. But seriously translating Tsurune was a lot more trouble than I thought. I remember being lured in by those cute light novel images and foolishly thinking that it would be light and easy work…lmao past me was a dumbass. I don’t regret it though, though sometimes I did feel like giving up.
Personally, I thought the author improved a lot in the second novel. There was more focus on characterization and motivation and less on all the kyudo stuff. And of course my salty boy Nikaidou, who I thought was the senpai with target panic Minato mentioned in book 1 for the longest time. Though the ending still relied on that whole “random revelation from nowhere to make a heartwarming ending” from the first book. Second book was a lot more enjoyable for me to translate than the first one.
Even though I think more novels are unlikely, you never know. Personally I would love to see a Masa-san prequel, mostly because I just want to know what his old last name was and what happened to his biological father haha. A Kirisaki Middle School prequel would be cool too (with special appearance from Nikaidou-senpai please). Or Tsujimine prequel with Nikaidou. Just more Nikaidou. And of course, a sequel where a sixth boy joins and adds drama to the club, or even a spinoff with the girls who are so underused!
Anyways, thanks to everyone who liked, replied, and reblogged my translations. I know I don’t really answer people a lot on here but it makes me happy to see people’s comments. And thanks to Kyoto Animation for making the novels possible and creating the anime. With all that has happened in the summer, it really shows the importance of supporting creators and the power of art. If you can, please support them by buying merchandise from their online shop or even just streaming their anime on a legal platform.
Full list of translations here
Translation Notes
1. In the first edition of the novel, which I have, it was April 2018, but according to this announcement from the website, it’s March 2018. I did some searching around and discovered this magazine (高校弓道マガジン) is a free magazine distributed to kyudo clubs in Japan by the kyudo division of the National High School Athletic Federation, which means I probably will never find it. Unless one of you guys happen to know someone… (please hmu if you ever manage to get your hands on one)
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A mail-in interview with Ayano Kotoko is set to be published in the eighth issue of High School Kyudo Magazine for March 2018. (1) If you have the chance, please take a look at it.
Now, every year I draw a fortune at my New Year’s shrine visit, and I got “excellent luck” for three years in a row. The fortune I had ever drawn was terrible luck and that had a big impact on me, so I feel like it all evened out with this. And so, I share this happy news with you. Tsurune is being adapted into an anime.
For Book 2, I wrote to link the emotions of the characters with the theme of “Run, yagoe. Today’s a day of beginnings” and the teachings of “one shot and expire” and ikiai. Tsurune is a story about teachers and students as well as bow friends, and also, as I was aware that it would be animated, there are many depictions of movements and actions that are not written about much in a regular novel. I am looking forward to people saying, “Oh, so that’s what they do in kyudo” when seeing footage of scenes that are hard to understand with only written words, so I hope you will wait for the day it debuts with me.
To those who cooperated with the interviews, thank you all very much for allowing me to receive valuable experience. I am much obliged to my editor T-sama. I really loved the rough sketches drawn by the character designer, Morimoto Chinatsu-sama, and so the scene with Kaito being followed about by cats was born. To everyone at Kyoto Animation and Animation Do who were responsible for the insert illustrations, thank you all for the wonderful illustrations. To those who used Kyoto Animation’s email form to send their thoughts on Book 1 and wishes for an anime adaptation, it was especially I who was cheered up. To my beloved teachers and senpai at the dojo, my precious friends, my supportive family, thank you all very much.
Finally, I would like to give the biggest thanks to the readers who read to all the way here.
I pray for the day when the beautiful tsurune of archers will sound.
                                        Ayano Kotoko
                                           Winter 2017
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One last note: If you love sports stories, please check out the DIVE!! novels, which I also translated here!
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corellianangel · 6 years
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Fan Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story
May contain minor/some spoilers after the cut.
I suspect that Solo: A Star Wars Story might be a bit like its title character. A bit rough at the start, maybe shady, pretty good-looking, and definitely out to get your money. But, as it goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how good and truly nostalgic and lovable it is.
This is a film that “nobody wanted.” Which means...what? I wanted it. When I saw Star Wars ANH, I wanted to know all about that cool Solo guy. And finally, 41 years later, I got my wish. And yeah… I’m mostly happy. After Last Jedi, I was pretty much done with the franchise, so it’s not like I went in with high hopes.
Solo is a relatively low stakes reprieve from the “we must save the world/galaxy/universe” all-or-nothing epic trope that has plagued us for the last few years. This is an adventure, a coming of age, and a western heist. Stakes are high, but only for the characters you are relating with onscreen, making it a curious addition to this year’s blockbusters.
Make no mistake; This is a love-letter to original trilogy Star Wars fans. It’s Han Solo in an Indiana Jones style adventure ( and what could be more fun than that).
4 out of 5 stars.
The first minute of Solo is exactly how a movie about the titular character should begin. But then it immediately lags, then even more so under ill-paced exposition. As soon Han goes solo though, it gains momentum. Then a short few minutes later as Woody Harrelson appears, things get rolling outright.
Alden Ehrenreich takes a bit of time to slide into Han’s scuffed boots, both onscreen and in our fan hearts. But when he does, it works wonderfully. He’s not the sexy gruff cynic Harrison Ford portrayed. No, he’s a “Kid,” who's got dreams. He’s a romantic. He’s wide-eyed, immature, and even petulant at times. But like Harrison’s portrayal, he’s arrogant, talented, goofy, jealous, easily embarrassed and will gladly spin a terrible lie. And oh yes… he can turn it on. Not at first, no… that’s really awkward ( more on that with Emilia). He’s not Harrison Ford by a long shot, but when given the chance later in the film, he makes a scene his own, and it’s HOT.
Unfortunately though, Alden is easily five inches shorter than 6’ 1” Harrison. And it’s glaringly obvious (especially to me, as I am quite a tall person). Sadly, Alden’s 1” platform 2”+ heel boots can only add so much. Otherwise, I’m satisfied with his portrayal. Alden’s a great actor, he had huge boots to fill, and I think he’s really been treated unfairly by the fans. Give the kid a chance, he might win you over.
Donald Glover IS Lando Calrissian though.  He’s sexy, sauve and even a bit silly ( in all the right ways… make no mistake).  I daresay Mr.Glover has taken Billy Dee William’s place in my heart as the epitome of Lando. Whether he’s coming on to Han, or Qi’ra or some unspecified alien species, he’s a pansexual on the level of Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones. An arrogant playboy badass, who loves all the finest things. He is willing to enjoy everything life has to offer, and why not? It’s hard not to love him as a result. Lando movie, anyone?
Tobias Beckett is everything Han wants to be. Beckett is also in love with fellow crook Val, and his attachment to her is cemented firmly in a couple of scenes, which unlike the Han/Qi’ra scenes–have great chemistry. And Woody Harrelson’s portrayal of yet another grizzled mentor is stunning. I found him much more appealing than Harrelson’s equivalent character from Hunger Games. Though the mantel is starting to wear. Don’t get me wrong. I adore Woody Harrelson. His being in this film gave me a reason to think I might just like it. I’m just not sure I want to see him as yet another badass mentor after this.
When Thandie Newton appeared in Beloved back in 1998, I was an instant fan. I’d seen her before in a few other flicks, but she blew that one out of the water as the title character. Since then she had worked steadily in a number of critically acclaimed roles. I was absolutely thrilled to see her in this as Val. And utterly heartbroken that she was totally underused. When Val is onscreen, she overshadows everyone else, even Beckett. It’s a shame we don’t see more of her than we do. Boo!
Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra…Hmm.  She’s cute, charming, and tries her hand at swordplay here. But honestly, the Queen of Dragons is a poor fit. The original casting call was for anything other than yet another white brunette. And with amazing ladies like Tessa Thompson in the running, why oh why did we end up with Emilia? If not racism (God, I hope not); Ang’s answer: Think $$$, from Game of Thrones fans in theatre seats. I can think of no other reason. Her chemistry with Alden is tepid at best ( and any of that comes much, much later). I feel bad for Emilia here. I think she was miscast, and that tarnish will always stay with the fans. ( P.s. : the three adult heterosexual males I watched the movie with, were over-the-moon smitten with her. To each his own. I guess…)
On to the non-humans...
Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is physically brilliant. He’s stolen my heart as Chewie from the lovely Peter Mayhew (sorry Pete) over the last three movies. But honestly, we discover nothing new about Chewbacca in this. Zero. It’s rather unfortunate. I wish I could say more. But we learn more about Chewie in episode three than this. A missed opportunity. Sorry Chewie. For some reason Disney put your character in the doghouse here.
L3-37 is another definite weak spot in Solo. We have a snarky female droid (yay!) as a droid-rights advocate (cool!).  But it’s so completely overwrought. Only Lando’s constant eye rolls save this character from being as ridiculous as Jar Jar Binks. Which is another shame, because I felt she fills in the current canon equivalent of Lando’s copilot droid Vuffi Raa, from the EU/Legends novels from waaay back in the 1980’s, (interestingly they are both pilots, are both self-aware droids and have vaguely parallel fates) Some editing issues arise as far as L3′s character is concerned too. She’ll be leaning, casually watching,  while droids are being slaughtered in front of her, but only interferes with other robots later in the same scene? Why?? Were the first dead droids not good enough for her to save? It’s inconsistent, poor editing; and that really hurts the character. Sorry Phoebe Waller-Bridge, you did great job with what you had. I’m not sure that the script/editing was as good as you deserved.
The spaceship the Millennium Falcon is 100% a full character in this too. Without giving too much away, she represents her pilots as they sit at the helm. She’s treated with more respect - reverence even -  in this, than any other film. And I can say this is her movie as much as it is Han’s. Millennium Falcon fans, you are in for a treat!
And the bad guys...or one guy anyways....
Paul Bettany is chilling and utterly convincing as the gangster Dryden Vos. He also has much better chemistry with Qi’ra than Han.  I’m fairly certain this is mainly due to Paul’s astonishing acting ability.  He first came to my attention as the title character in the darkly funny UK crime film Gangster No.1. I was floored by him then and he’s still blowing me away, even as the rather challenging character Vision in the MCU. Bettany does not disappoint in Solo either. He took over this role with zero preparation, with the weight of replacing another respected actor at the last minute in an extremely troubled production. And the optics of having a white European actor taking over from an African-american are...ermm...not the best. He pulls it off, though. But I can’t help but wonder what Michael K Williams would have brought to the role. Vos is a soulless psychopath under Bettany, not unlike his character in Gangster No.1.  Would Williams have brought the tragic–almost romantic deep spirit and inner strength he brought to his gangster Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Vos instead? It’s rather sad we will never know.
I don’t think I can say much else about the other antagonist(s) without spoiling a bunch. But let’s just say...wow! Well done! Surprises and fan service all around!
There is something missing here too. We never see Han as an imperial pilot. Nor the promised Shakespeare-inspired comedic comic book characters that Ron Howard teased last fall.  These gems may be reserved for DVD releases, but I feel Han’s missing academy stint is definitely a gap in this story. And the movie lacks because of it.
Importantly, I do recommend seeing this in IMAX 2D as it is a very dark and muted film.
The usual amazing, special effects, costumes and sets we’ve come to expect from the Star Wars film franchise are all present here.  The styling is different from the previous films, as it takes place about halfway between Episode Three and Rogue One.  It’s neat to see the evolution of the Empire’s gear. 
And the easter eggs are everywhere; prequels, Rebels, Clone Wars, Star Tours ( the Disney Park ride), the comic books from the 1970′s and 80′s, the EU/Legends Han Solo novels by Brian Daley, the Lando Calrissian novels from the same era are especially referenced numerous times. Even the Indiana Jones franchise gets a significantly placed nod.
To say the least, the fan-service is strong with this one.
But not the Force. Not at all. None of that simple tricks and nonsense here at all.
Because I’m a pretty hard-core fan, I pre-bought two showings on initial release. The first time I saw Solo, I was unsure if I actually liked it, but it seemed to be a decent film.  The second viewing ( the same night) was an absolute joy. Times three and four were with different groups of adults, and they all had a blast. Five was with a group of 13 year old girls, and they all enjoyed it too.
So let’s call my rating of Solo then, 4 out of 5 stars. 
Honestly I don’t get the backlash against it.  Don’t take your Last Jedi hate out on this. It’s a fun ride with decent jokes and no space-boob-milk monsters—honest!
And if you think Solo offers nothing different, new, or imaginative. You are 99% correct...Remember, we got that full package of “different and innovative” in Last Jedi. If that’s your schtick, watch that one instead then.
Oh, and one more thing- that 1%?... two words:
Shower scene.
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kegisaroused · 6 years
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The Last Jedi
I have a lot of thoughts. A lot of them are not good. Thoughts are under the cut in no particular order. Probably a little rambling/incomplete maybe I’ll write something more put together later IDK
MAJOR HUGE SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY
Okay so first, stuff I actually liked:
-Luke seeing the two suns in his last moments. One of the few moments with Luke’s character that didn’t feel totally off. 
-Luke handing Leia the bauble from the falcon and the old love theme stabbing me right through the goddamn heart.
-Finn and Poe having very few actual interactions and still managing to be gay as hell.
-I love the Porgs and the Crait foxes fuck all y’all. 
-I also liked Rose a lot and would love to see her actually get better character development. Her tasering Finn was fantastic.
-Rose and Finn’s little side jaunt has me so torn because despite it being totally out of place and gimmicky it also had some of the better character interactions/development in the whole movie? Not that that’s saying much
-Luke basically trying to get Rey to leave by purposefully being as much of a creepy old weirdo as possible. 
-R2 playing Leia’s original message. MY HEART.
-Laura Dern ramming the cruiser into the First Order at hyperspeed was really fucking cool. 
-Yoda being Yoda (when he WAS Yoda, but that’s for the next section)
-Leia using the force FOR ONCE (though the how was real stupid, but again... next section)
-Rey being happy to see Finn having a bond with Rose and smiling at it rather than being jealous or something stupid like that.
-Rey NOT giving Kylo another chance at the end. Like... mmkay buddy I tried but you made the wrong choice I’m shutting the door in your face now BYE.
-That said, I was really afraid of the stuff between Rey and Kylo because the shippers with spoilers had been making it seem like the romance angle was REALLY played up but... it wasn’t? At all? Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t shut down that angle but the nature of their connection felt ambiguous. The music cues did not indicate a romance, and Snoke straight up SAYS that Kylo’s conflict and draw to Rey was something he was putting into his head so that he’d bring Rey to him. I also feel like Daisy and Adams acting choices were emphatically NOT hinting at a romantic dynamic. I was afraid the shirtless scene was gonna be some sort of awkward flustered Rey and instead it was her just being genuinely annoyed like STFU and put a fucking shirt on.
Now... on to THE BAD:
-The pacing. HOOOOLY HELL THE PACING. This movie was paced so badly. It felt simultaneously like it went on forever, but also moved so fast there was never breathing room. It felt manic and confused. Also the whole movie seems to take place over the course of like... a day. 
-EVERYONE was out of character at least half the time. Everyone either pulled shit that didn’t make sense for them to drive the plot or they completely rolled back their character development to rehash shit. TFA already dealt with Finn needing to stop running from his problems, why is he immediately trying to run away again? His attempted heroic sacrifice at the end would have been a good character moment... if we hadn’t already HAD that moment in the last movie. Poe was reduced to the “reckless hothead” archetype and not only had to learn a lesson that not only didn’t make sense for him, but he had to learn it twice. In the same movie. 
-The CGI gimmicks. It was treading pretty damn far into prequel territory with the unnecessary CGI animals where practical effects would have not only sufficed but felt much more organic. 
-I’m so happy they finally let Leia use the force but her floating herself back into the ship was SO STUPID LOOKING. I wanted to laugh and I am 100% sure that was not the intent. Carrie Fisher did not die for this. 
-Fake Luke at the end was stupid because it was immediately obvious. He was digitally edited to look younger, he was using a lightsaber that WE JUST SAW GET DESTROYED instead of the lightsaber he actually HAS, it was just... dumb. 
-Speaking of dumb: Luke’s entire motivation was stupid and made absolutely zero sense if you know anything about Luke Skywalker. You’re talking about the only person in the galaxy who believed Darth Vader could be redeemed. Like... that’s literally the WHOLE POINT OF HIS STORY IN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY. You’re gonna have me believe that Luke Fucking Skywalker was so easily scared by the dark side that he (even for a SECOND) contemplated killing a teenager? No, no, no fuck right off with that shit. If anything it should have been REY who thought Kylo was an irredeemable monster and Luke convincing her to give him a chance. Even if in the end he throws away that chance. You can still make the point of “maybe not everyone can be saved” without committing character assassination on Luke. Like what the hell even was that.
-The dialogue was so clunky a lot of the time. Yoda for example: there were moments where he was perfect (him smacking Luke in the face and being like YEP FUCK IT BURN THE TREE WHO NEEDS IT were very in character actions) but a lot of his dialogue felt like someone doing a bad Yoda impression (important note: I’m referring here to his actual written lines, not the voice acting). Also his puppet was really weird looking I don’t know why but it did not look right at all. 
-Some of the jokes also felt very forced and unnecessary. Star Wars needs levity, but the tonal balance was just off and there were a lot of jokes that felt very shoved into scenes that did not need jokes.
-I didn’t buy the Finn/Rose romance. I don’t actually have a problem with that ship at all. Finn/Poe is obviously my preference but lets be real I’m not holding my breath and I’d be 100% fine if Finn/Rose is where they went. But it wasn’t developed at all? They had a couple bonding moments yeah and were definitely becoming good friends, but not nearly enough to make me believe THEY’RE IN LURVE. It was like they somehow thought her sacrifice couldn’t be meaningful if it was just about saving a friend instead of saving GUY I WANNA MACK ON which is kinda bullshit. 
-There was a continuous trend of showing HEY LOOK WE HAVE FEMALE CHARACTERS. LOOK AT ALL THESE LADY PILOTS AND GUNNERS only to kill them off immediately. Paige’s death I didn’t overly have a problem with as there was at least a reason and a point to it with her being Rose’s sister, and she was given a moment to shine and a heroic sacrifice at least, but with all the background characters it felt like they were so determined to be all LOOK WE HAVE GIRLS that we saw more girls die than guys.
-Also are Poe’s whole squad from the last movie just supposed to be dead now? Like... they got their own comic and everything and are fairly popular side characters. Are you really going to just say they’re all dead? 
-The fight choreography was really lacking. Luke fighting Kylo at the end could have been so cool but it was 90% stupid CGI and just felt silly. Especially comparing it to the Rey and Kylo (I refuse to type their names with a slash because seriously MISS ME WITH THAT SHIT) fight from the end of TFA which was so well done and just... ugh. Also Finn’s fight with Phasma was very anticlimactic and she was so underused.
-Finn and Rose’s side trip was completely pointless. Which is annoying because like I mentioned before it had some of the better character moments in a character-less movie, but it was literally pointless. I get that they wanted to set up some sort moral ambiguity or juxtaposition (OOOH THE ARMS DEALERS SELL TO BOTH SIDES SO IT’S A GREY AREA. OOOH THE POOR PEOPLE AND THE ANIMALS SUFFER FOR RICH PEOPLE’S ENTERTAINMENT. AM I DOING THIS RIGHT? IS THIS HEAVY HANDED ENOUGH?), but even if they had their hearts set on doing that (despite not needing to at all) there are a million other ways they could have done it without completely derailing the plot. Especially since in the end the plan didn’t even WORK an actually made things worse because if they never brought the stupid slicer on board the original plan would have worked and most of the resistance would have gotten away just fine. The slicer character himself was pointless and one dimensional.
-What is the First Order doing? They made sense in TFA because they were a fringe group who had been laying low and underselling their strength while they prepared to attack and overthrow the New Republic. But what are they doing now? Did they seize control and establish a new capital planet? Did they install a new governing body since they literally KILLED ALL OF THEM? What is their end goal? What is their motivation? There’s nothing there and there needs to be. 
-Why on god’s green earth didn’t Laura Dern just TELL POE THE PLAN? Why was she being needlessly cryptic and withholding? She wasn’t protecting anyone by withholding information and was actually making herself look really bad and incompetant for no reason? She didn’t even say she HAD a plan. It was so stupid and made no sense.
-Which leads me to a larger overall problem: the characters were not driving the story, the story was driving the characters. The characters did things because they had to to make the plot happen, rather than the plot happening because the characters did what they would naturally do. As a result almost all the characters felt incredibly stiff and there was pretty much no meaningful character development. 
-The movie wrote its self into a corner. I get that they wanted to push it into a more unsure ending ESB type situation but they went too far. The rebellion was in an unsteady place at the end of ESB but they still had, you know... a fleet? More than 10 people? They were also extremely inconsistent scene to scene with the number of resistance fighters left alive. They act like they’ve got almost nobody left, but then they have enough people to man the trenches on Crait? And a lot of those people clearly escaped back into the base but then when they’re escaping to the Falcon there’s like 5 of them? Am I supposed to believe that the 8 year old Rose gave a ring too is the savior of the resistance? None of it seemed to be done with any forethought to the future of the story.
-Where the hell is the rest of the Galaxy? I’ve never watched a Star Wars film that felt so isolated. Even with Rose and Finn’s B plot the galaxy felt empty and unpopulated. 
Overall the whole thing felt like a bunch of unfinished thoughts slapped together into a story without a proper narrating structure. The whole movie seemed confused about where it was going and what it was doing.
I’m hoping JJ Abrams can reel it back in with Episode 9 because it’s really gonna upset me if TFA was a fluke and the rest of this is just gonna be Prequel Trilogy 2.0
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miss-musings · 7 years
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Why I want to stop watching the Blacklist (a.k.a., A Rant by Me)
This used to be my favorite show. Hands down. I would legitimately schedule things around it; I would leave events early to make sure I could watch it live; I would post about it on Tumblr and read other people’s posts the rest of the evening; I would search through multiple review site’s posts the next day.
I loved the dynamic between Red and Liz. I loved the mysteries and the little morsels of answers that we would get. I loved how, in the S1 finale, it felt like no one was safe: Meera got killed; Harold got attacked and nearly killed; Tom was shot and left for dead.
But, over the past few seasons, this show has become the bane of my TV-watching experience.
(EDIT: this post, which quietly keeps gaining notes, was written post-S4, pre-S5. So, there’s still plenty of relevant things in the post, but just keep the timing in mind.)
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I would watch it, sure. But that was because I didn’t want the folks on Tumblr spoiling it for me. It was because I thought we were finally getting answers – which is what they teased us with every other week – only to feel so disappointed.
This last year, I made reaction videos for a friend of mine for every single episode. You know what one of the most commonly said things in those videos is? “Well, at least next week’s preview looks good.” Only to be disappointed in that episode, and to say the same thing about next week’s preview, and the cycle repeated itself until we actually got a half-way decent episode (which was usually some kind of finale or premiere, because that’s the only time actual shit can happen – during Sweeps Week).
Over and over again, both online and in person, I compared this to those scenes in cartoons where someone puts a carrot on a fishing pole in front of a donkey, and the donkey runs so hard to reach the carrot, only to never get there.
That’s how this show has felt the past season or two.
It’s only a shadow of what it once was, and I’m tired of it. I wish I could stop watching it.
So many other people I follow on Tumblr have said they’ve either stopped or thought about stopping. By comparison, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead seemingly increase their viewership every season; the Blacklist has been NBC’s lowest-rated show in the demo for the last year, IIRC. The ratings for the Redemption spin-off were so low, the showrunners tried to pass it off as a one-off miniseries, when it was ALWAYS intended to be its own full-length show.
I understand that the show does well in DVR viewership numbers, and it was the most expensive TV show that Netflix had purchased when Season 1 was released.
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But, this show continues to disappoint me. There’s hardly anything I like about it anymore. Hell, even James Spader, who’s a master at his craft, seems to be bored with it. His monologues are becoming more and more cliche, and even his amazing performances can’t save this dumpster-fire.
Its protagonist, Liz, is all over the fucking place in terms of characterization. First, she was naive and learned her “husband” had used and abused her. Then, she went to the dark side, chained him up on a boat and said she’d never forgive him for what he’d done. Then, she apparently forgave him, slept with him, had his kid, tried to remarry the guy, and then faked her death to get away with him and is now living her happy dream life with her little girl and her ‘perfect’ husband.
What happened to the dark, morally questionable, grungy Liz? What happened to the Liz who was jaded and afraid after being on the run for several weeks, or months?
She just settled down with a guy who she used to hate and she’s living the dream.
What in the literal fuck?
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And, for all the time that has been invested in Liz, she has made little to no progress in her characterization these past few seasons. In fact, she’s done more of a 360. She’s right back where she started, more or less.
Why should the audience give a shit about her journey if she’s not making any progress? Why should we care that, halfway through this show, she has everything she’s ever wanted?
The side characters, like Aram, Samar, Ressler, Cooper and others are there just to serve the plot. Any time there’s a semblance of some character development or plot progression, the showrunners regress everyone back to Stage One so we can do it all over again. Aram and Samar look like they’re making progress in their possible romantic relationship? Fuck that, we’ve got to make sure Aram runs back to his abusive girlfriend and string this thing along another season! Remember when Ressler got shot, had prescription drug problems, and was in Narcotics Anonymous? Yeah, me neither.
Mr. Kaplan, who was best when she was on-screen to sass and help Reddington once every few episodes, gets pushed into the spotlight for some made-up bullshit reason that had never been discussed or hinted at previous to the “Mr. Kaplan used to work for Katarina Rostova” storyline. And while Susan Bloomaert is a fantastic and underrated actress and did her absolute best to make those scenes between her and Liz feel emotional, I didn’t really care about their dynamic at all because it felt so forced, underdeveloped, and out-of-nowhere.
Whereas the relationship that I care the MOST about – that between Red and Liz – that has been the most built-up and developed over the course of the show keeps getting thrown under the bus as Liz does the whole “love Red, hate Red, forgive Red” song-and-dance routine. She claims she agrees with Red when he tells her not to go back to Tom in Season 2… only to go back to Tom later in Season 2. She’s totally down with asking Red to help her whenever she’s a criminal on the run… but the minute her wedding gets shot up, she yells at him and says it’s his fault.
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And now, as far as the Lizzington fans go, which I count myself as one of them, the show has written itself into a corner. Because all the amazing chemistry and romantic tropes throughout the show feel incredibly creepy now that Liz believes Red is her dad, regardless of whether he actually is or not. I don’t care how they try to pull themselves out of the ginormous hole they’ve dug for themselves on that one – why the hell would a woman ever end up with a guy that she once thought was her dad, even if it turned out he actually wasn’t?
And the only real way out of it is the Impostor Theory – a well-written and well-researched theory, but one that makes people have to do fucking mental gymnastics for it to work. You have to assume a lot of people like Naomi and Reddington’s former roommate from the Naval Academy who’s now an admiral, are in on it. Whereas dudes like Finch or the Director aren’t…
Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a wonderful theory and it explains a lot. But, if it ends up being true, it means one of two things:
1) The writers didn’t plan this from the beginning and lucked their way into it
OR
2) The writers DID plan this from the beginning, which means they have the ability to be really good writers, but then they fell into all this other bullshit – like Liz’s weird arc and other things – which really means that they’re not that good of writers; they just had the one good idea.
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And if the Impostor Theory DOESN’T end up being true, in some form or fashion, that means that Red really IS Liz’s dad, and this whole fucking show – Red’s entire characterization, his relationship and dynamic with her – has been a lie. Canon can be throw out the window to rot in the sewer and fuck itself in the interim, because the writers don’t even care any more.
Which, I realize is unfair, because I know there are hundreds of people who work really hard to make this show happen, and while it’s not, like, the worst show of all time, the fact that it had such potential and has fallen so far, almost makes it seem worse than a show that was so bad from the beginning I never invested time in it.
And what makes it even WORSE is that the showrunners continue to act like this is the most groundbreaking show on television, and put it on a pedestal On High, along with the likes of Game of Thrones, The Americans, and The Sopranos… you know, actually good shows.
That would be the equivalent of the Taken director demanding that his movie should’ve gotten an Oscar. It’s like, you know it was a fine movie, and I had a good time watching it, but like, bring yourself back down to earth. Taken is okay, but it is NOT Oscar-worthy material, so get off your high horse, dude.
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I guess, if nothing else, it shows that the showrunners, writers and actors are so talented that they got me to invest in the show to the point where I can’t not watch it, even though it’s fallen so far and I feel like it’s nowhere near as good as it used to be. They hooked me and got me to care about these characters and their dynamics so much that, even though it frustrates me week in and week out, I will still keep watching it.
It’s just that, now, I might be doing it with a bottle of vodka, taking shots every time:
Red has a monologue that proves James Spader is too damn good for this show;
Liz is bitchy to Red for little to no reason, while continuing to be lovey-dovey with Tom;
Ressler survives a fight or car accident or some other action sequence with no injuries whatsoever;
Harry Lennix is completely underused as Harold Cooper in an episode, because he only tells his employees to do the obvious… and literally nothing else;
Samar and/or Aram take a step back from getting together, despite hints that they’ve liked each other since Season 2.
So, bottoms up, Blacklist fans!
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It’s 11:27 and the inbox is now open again! We closed the inbox on February 1st, and we’ve now had it closed for almost three weeks which has given us time to work through requests and get the inbox count down. We have gone from having 508 messages to 130 ( which is honestly amazing, that means we’ve managed to get through 378 asks). We now have 312 drafts instead of the original 370, and our current queue has 3 things in it. 
We’ve also accepted 11 new helpers into hoi, which is super exciting! They’re all super precious, so please give them a warm welcome! We’re all very happy to have them join the hoi team and I hope you all enjoy the resources they release on this blog!  While we have gotten the inbox count down to 130, we feel that we need a fresh start ( and a lot of the messages left now are old ones that no one has claimed ). Thus, we have decided to delete the inbox, so the inbox count is now at ZERO. A list with the deleted requests can be found below the cut. We ask that you do not resend the ones that weren’t aimed at a specific helper, BUT if you really want a request that you requested from someone you can resend it to someone else (or without a name).
We’d like to thank everyone for their patience during these 3 weeks, and also ask that you remain patient, since we still have a lot of requests in the drafts, and quite long to do lists. We hope everyone is having a good week and we’re excited that the inbox is now open once again.
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remember, if you see your request in this list and would still like them to be done, then feel free to resend the request and hopefully one of the helpers will complete it for you! 
edit: only requests that were directed to specific helpers******
Hello! Could any of the helpers please make a gif hunt of Jonathan Hyde as Eldritch Palmer from the Strain? They can be normal and don't need any style. Thank you in advance!
Could someone familiar with wrestling do some rp icons of Randy Orton? More recent ones preferably. Thanks a million!
Can I request a manip of Ciara Baxendale and Grant Gustin? Thank you so much.
to anyone, I was wondering if someone could possibly make some 100x100 plain icons of tyler young in eyewitness? thanks if anyone can!
Hi! Could I request some icons of Ayase Haruka? If possible, from the movie "Umimachi Diary (Our Little Sister)". If not, any role would be perfect! Thanks!
Hi helpers, happy holidays<3 I was wondering if I could have a crackship of Tyson Houseman and Evan Peters please?
hello helpers! is there a helper who'd be willing to possibly help me out and make some base icons of Melanie Tran? ;w; And if not, could you please direct me to where I might be able to find some? Any help is appreciated! <3
Hi guys, I was wondering if I could request some icons of Tanc Sade in his role in Gilmore Girls pretty please?
Hey! Can i please a crackship of Finlay MacMillan and Freya Tingley? Thanks!
hey can i request an aesthetic of m/m interracial couples from lottie if she doesn't feel way too busy? thank you
Hi! Can I please get a manip of Jeremy Irvine and Xavier Dolan please? Thank you in advance!!
Could I please get a lovelt mannip of cory michael smith and eiza gonzalez? <3 <3 <3
Can I please request Rahart Adams icons from Every Witch Way, Liar Liar Vampire, and Nowhere Boys? Preferably border-less 100x100 HQ/HD? Forgot to add border-less in. x.x
Hey Gillan! Can you make some circular icons of Mune from Mune Guardian of The Moon?
Dear Jay and smutty-gif-hunt-anon, Thank you for helping out with what I'd be too embarrassed to request!! Rock on!
Hello if possible could I get gif icons of James paxton of eyewitness. any style works who ever seems inspired to do this works. thank you. I'm easy to please. Thank you again for all your hard work.
Will you make some Faith Wladyka icons?from Blue Valentine? Only if you're up for it :)
Hi Jay! Since you're the resident wrestling related helper I was wondering if you could help me with something. Could you make me a manip of Taylor Swift with the Raw women's title, please? Something similar to when Charlotte visited Today after wrestlemania? I didn't see manips on your WID, but I thought I'd seen you do a manip request before. Thanks in advance for your time!
I don't know if my request was received before or after the inbox was deleted so my apologies if this is a duplicate. Can I please get some roleplay icons of (Tristan Milligan) Lyle Lettau from season 13/14 of Degrassi? Thanks! <3
could i request some Darby Stanchfield rp icons as her role from abby whelan in scandal? preferably 70x70 white a light grey psd thank you so much in advance and god i love this blog - the indie community salutes you
Good evening HOI, could I request a man up of Shin Hye-Jeong and Jessica Parker Kennedy please?
Hi, Lottie! May I request some RP icons of Ryan McCartan as Brad Majors in the TV version of Rocky Horror Picture Show in style "scarlett," please? Thank you so much!
Hey guys! I was wondering if you could please do a manip of Kacey Musgraves and Derek Theler of them and some party or award show? Thanks, love ya bye!
Hey! I'd pretty please like to request plain static rp icons of Korean actor Jo Jung Suk if possible!
Hello! Could I please request an icon pack with Lily James in Downton Abbey using Blue's B6 style? Thank you so much! <3
This message is to anyone who has space on their todo. Culd i request some rp Icons of Keir O'Donnell on Wedding Crashers please ?
hey lovelies! I was wondering if someone was willing to do a manip of Emily Rudd and Matthew Daddario for me (sibling/friends vibes)? thank you in advance :)
hey there lovelies!! could i please request plain 100x100 rp icons made of christina masterson? thank you so much lovelies!
Hey there Samantha! Just wondering if you were up to making a gif icon hunt of recent Kat Mcnamara? Thank you! xxxxx
May I please request standard sized gif icons of Laura Vandervoort from the film Damage, please?? :333 Thank you, and Merry Christmas! <3
Thanks for being helpful and understand about my technical issues & letting me send my gif pack request here (Which admin would you like to complete the request? Anyone What is the url from the video? If it’s about a movie/tv show, tell me which the name of the movie/tv show+episode so we can find suitable download links.- skins 6x07 "alo" Who's the faceclaim?- holly earl as poppy champion Any specific PSD? Vibrant, Pale, Dark, or a link to one posted. " just 160x160 QUOTE text moodboard gifs
Hi Maxie! Could I request some icons of Taylor Dearden as Ophelia Mayer in Sweet/Vicious, in the mx17 style? Thank you!
Hello Ellen. Is it possible that I could het Dylan O'Brien gif icons in EL*013? Thank you in advance! :)
Hey Helpers! Is it possible I can get a twin Lin Miranda manip, one with short hair and one with long? Thanks!
May I request some Amy Nelson rp icons? [ underused face claim ] in any psd you want, I would appreciate it :D
Hello! Is it possible I could get roleplayable icons of Kalel Cullen? With a light psd and such?
Hello lovely helpers, can I please request for a manip picture of Elizabeth Olsen (brunette) with Evan Peters please? As a couple. Thank you so much. <3
Super random but can you pretty please make me some gifs of matthew daddario doing magic. Like instead of crackship gifs of him with another person , it would be of him and a faceless gif of magic aka gifs of wizard matthew daddario lol.
May I request a family template for Rachel Hilbert fc?
Hi, can i please request gif icons of Travis Fimmel in her role in Vikings (Ragnar)??? Thanks you very much. Oh, without border pls.
may i have a family template for sarah shahi? if you can, could her father be the one who's persian/iranian and her mother be the one who is spanish? but, if not, that's totally fine! thank you so much, helpers! xx
May I pretty please request a moodboard or aesthetic of Matthew Daddario and Cameron.Monaghan as Even x Isak from skam ?
Hello, there! First of all, I absolutely love your icons! I was just wondering if it was possible to ask for gifs/icons of Daniel Miller from Berlin Station? Thank you. Have a lovely day! :)
hey helpers! i'm currently working on creating a werewolf multimuse, and i want to have two packs represented- but for the life of me i can't think of pack names beyond the cliche "moonstone/bloodstone" kind of thing. so could you help me come up with names? if it helps, the packs are kind of opposites- good vs evil kind of thing. thanks so much!
Hello!! I was wondering if you guys could make me a manip of Tom Felton as Draco and Elle Fanning. As siblings.. Please and thank you! :3
Ayo! Can u make manip of Luke Hemmings and Dua Lipa, pls? Ty. ♡
Hi I was wondering if someone could make an Angelique Boyer gif hunt? I'm wanting to use her as a FC but realized there's hardly any gifs of her out there. I would appreciate it so much <33! Thank you to whoever decides to take it on.
Hi anyway! Can i request some Jun-ji hyun gif icons from The Legend of the Blue Sea please?
Would anyone be willing to make a gif hunt of Travis Fimmel in the the 2003 Tarzan, please?
You all are super talented and super awesome. i was wondering if any of you helpers could possibly do a manip or aesthetic of david gandy and helen owen as a power couple. Whichever would be easier. It's for a story i am currently writing.
Hello, can I please request icons of model and actress Nicole Fox? For whomever reads this I know her movies can be potentially triggering, so if you aren't comfortable with those, that's completely fine (frankly I'm just glad you're reading this). She was also in s13 of ANTM. If there's anything problematic about her, I am not aware, but please let me know. Thank you very much and have a great day x
Hi! I was wondering if any of you would be willing to do a family template for Romanian Actress Madalina Ghenea.
can i please request herman tømmeraas gif icons? thank you in advanced !
may i please request icons for maxence danet-fauvel?? Thank you!!!!
Could you please make some static rp icons of Ben Barns from By The Gun? Thank you!
Sorry, ignore my last message. Could I please request crackships of Britt Robertson and Jeff Goldblum from around Jurassic Park and The Lost World era? Thank you!
hey babes! i love all the manips you all do, so i was wondering if i could request a romantic-y manip of alec lightwood and max ehrich? preferably from under the dome for max, but really anything is fine for him! thank you so much
hello helpers! would someone be willing to make plain 100x100 icons of tom austen in his role as jasper frost from the royals?
I hope I'm not bothering any of you. I hope you all have a great holiday season. I was wondering if anyone would do a manip of Jessica Lowndes and David Labrava as a couple. You all do amazing work and should get more credit for all the hard work you guys put in. You are all talented.
Hey! I was hoping one of you would have the time to help me out with something. I've got all the human icons I need for my muse, but I'm seriously lacking in phoenix icons. I know there's Fawkes in Harry Potter, but I was hoping there would be manga/anime and/or other movies/shows with phoenixes in them that I could get icons from? Or if there are any icons/gifs out there already? Anything would help, please and thank you.
Hello is it possible to get Henrik Holm RP icons in G15 from his role as Even in SKAM?
do you guys make rp icons of animes and mangas? If yes can I ask for rp icons of Sarada Uchiha please? With a tiny white and grey border?
happy 2017 helpers ! hope you all are well c: i was wondering if i could possibly request a manip of seola from cosmic girls and hyungwon from monsta x ? please and thank you so much !
Hi there, can I please request a gif hunt of Jonas Nay from his role in Deutschland 83?
If possible could I get some Icons of the French Model Johan Akan the 3d scan for Nyx Ulric of Final Fantasy XV Kingsglaive? Please and thank you
Hello lovely helpers, can I please request for crackship gifs of Lily Collins with Evan Peters? They relationship is similar of Rosie and Alex's relationship in Love, Rosie. Thank you. <333
I lovely helpers! I was wondering if I could please request a manip of David Giuntoli as an X-Wing pilot from Star Wars? Thank you for your time <3
Hi :) Could you please do some Brent Antonello icons from the tv show Hit the Floor? I'd love that.
Hey helpers! Can I request a manip of Freddie Highmore as a Blue Lantern (or a green lantern if it's easier)?
Good morning helpers! Can I ask for a manip of Hunter Parrish and Robbie Amell please?
Can I have a manip of Kristine Froseth and Evan Peters? I'd like it if it was done mid-90's Polaroid style with using Evan's AHS Season 1 resources.
Hello helpers can someone make a manip of Zach Roerig and Matt lanter as best friend please?
hi, could i possibly get crackship gifs of america ferrera with long hair and chris (the guy) from the tv show skam? thank you in advance xx
Hey guys. I was wondering if any of you would do a manip of Rhiannon Fish and Scott Eastwood as a couple.
hello ! first of all, i'd like to thank all of u for putting in time to make resources for the indie community ! u guys are awesome ! secondly, i'd like to ask if any of you would be willing to make a manip of herman tømmeraas and ariana grande as friends ? thank u in advance !
Hello, can I please request a romantic "instagram-post like" manip of Zendaya and Cristiano Ronaldo? Thank you!
hi there! i hope you're all having a lovely day! could i please request gabi demartino gif icons?
Hey helpers! Can I request a (romantic) manip of Keahu Kahuanui (preferably with facial hair) and Nick Jonas? Thanks!
Hi, can I please request rp icons of Vika Bronova?
Hi guys, I was wondering if you could help me with a url for a Lord of the Rings elf original character, I'm using Emilia Clarke, primarily in her role and Daenarys Targaryen? thnx
Hi Helpers! I would like to know if any of you could do somes gif icons or icons of Trè Samuels, if is not a trouble. Thank you very much in advance <3
Hello! Could you guys suggest first and surname's for Naressa Valdez? ( I'm not sure if this counts as two asks? ) Thank you so much!
Hello, may I please request plain ( with pixel texture) gif icons of Jan Lisiecki ? Thanks in advance !
hello dearies! can i request some plain icons (bases, to be clear) of spencer macpherson in american gothic please?
could you please give me some ronan lynch urls? tysm, i love your blog!!
Could someone pretty please make a manip of Eva Green and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, by any chance? Thank you
hi love, can you do some gif icons of ryan gosling with beard and some from crazy stupid love? tysm <3
Hello can someone please make me some crackship gifs where it looks like Matthew Daddario has super powers.
hi i'd love some simple rp icons of alex steele in her role as tori santamaria in degrassi please <3
Oops! Sorry, I didn't realize there was a form! I recently changed my mind, though, and was wanting just plain RP icons (Robby Benson from The Chosen). Is that doable? Ahh sorry and thank you!
Can I pleeaaasseee get 100 x 100 black and white light textured rp icons of Amandaschronicles/Amanda Mckenna? It would mean so much to me! Thank you sm for all you guys do!
Could I please request some rp icons of Rodrigo Santoro? Thank you!
May I have an aesthetic (or a moodboard which ever you'd like to make) of Kristine Froseth and Evan Peters (AHS season one resources pls) as heads of a mafia known as the Gemini Mafia pls?
hello, could i request icons of Çağatay Ulusoy in a plain style, please? hope you guys have a great day and thanks for all that you do!! ♥
Can I please request some gif icons or a gif hunt, I'm not sure which is easier/preferred, of Raúl Esparza, please?
Hi! I was wondering if it was possible for someone to do a manip of Lady Marian (BBC Robin Hood) and Prince Arthur (BBC Merlin) ? Thank you. :)
Hello, yes! If you're still dong manila, can I have one of Katey Sagal (as Gemma Teller) and Norman Reedus. Preferably as a couple.
Is there any chance you could do a faceless gif hunt of a couple with a blonde female and a male who has dark skin? Thank you so much in advance!
can i request a manip of ryan potter and keiynan lonsdale?
can i please get a dominic sherwood x ashley moore manip? thank you
Hello helpers! I was hoping someone would be able to make regular, 100x100 RP icons of Morgan Lily! I would be much appreciated! Thank you for all of your help!
I'm not sure If you are still doing manipulations but if you are could I please request one of Matt Ryan and Marie Avgeropolous. Thank you. You guys are flawless.
hello! hope you're all doing well! i would like to request icons of Sophie Stuckey (from any and all ages, please). I did put in a request before, but i'm not sure if that's been done (and i haven't seen them) or rejected or forgotten about? so if anyone could make them or direct me to them or .. anything else? that'd be greatly appreciated. <3
Hi helpers! I was wondering if I could ask one of you lovelies to make a family template for Alex Brooke? Thank you so much!
could i ask for billy cranston from mighty morphin power rangers (David yost) icons? thank you thank you thank you :)
hey lizzie! thanks for opening your requests again. could i please request some icons of daniel sharman in the style L6? thanks so much!
hi lizzie!!! hope you're having a brilliant day! could i please ask you for some icons of jeremy irvine in the style L7? thanks so much!
hi hello lizzie! hope this isn't too much of a bother, but would it be possible for me to request some icons of Sean O'Pry in L7? thank you x10000 !!!!
lizzie could you pls make rp icons in L7 of chris wood as jake riley? :)
hey lizzie, could i please get rp icons of ivana baquero as eretria in L1?
could i please request gif icons of bellies during various stages of pregnancy? in short, gif icons of pregnant bellies? nothing fancy style-wise, but maybe a light texture, since i think those look best! thank you so much to whoever takes this up! (and another thank you to the rest of you, since you guys help the community so much!)
Hello! I have been unable to find any resources of Maeda Goki. He's a sadly underrated FC. If you know of some that already exist, could you link me please? And if not, could you please make some plain (no texture/border) icons of him from any role? Thanks for your help!
Hi Lia, could I possibly re-request the Toby Regbo as young Jaime Lannister aesthetic I asked for, if you'd like to do it?
can you make some icons of dean and renee kissing on total divas plkease??
I'm not sure if you've answered this but I I use Marie Avgeropolous as an fc and I know Olivia Steele-Falcone played young Octavia in The 100 but I don't know if she has enough films to create an icon pack.I know you have a gif pack form but I didn't see one for icons. Is it possible for anyone to do these for me, I would much appreciate it. Or if you have already done them can you link me? Many thanks in advance. You guys have been fabulous so far.
Is it possible for someone to make some PNGs? I need some supernatural creatures/scared/crying PNGs but I can't really find any. A mix of those would be great but just scared/crying PNGs are absolutely cool too.
hello! I was wondering if i could please request some icons of Tahlena Chikami? Possibly base icons? Or at least very little editing? I'd really like to use her as an fc, but she has almost no resources that i could find. thank you for your consideration and your time!!
would anyone be willing to make a manip (preferably a selfie) of cody saintgnue and ashley moore? :)
Could someone possibly make a manip of Jon Hamm and Michelle Forbes? They are married in my roleplay so possibly something of them cuddling or anything would be fine. Just a picture of them together would be amazing all together.
hey there lovely helpers!! i was hoping i could please request some 100x100 plain rp icons be made of ming na wen in joy luck club? thank you so much!!
Hello! If icon requests are open, may I please request plain 100x100 icons of Lulu Antariksa as Rowan in t@gged? It's on go90 :)
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suzanneshannon · 5 years
Text
Advice for Technical Writing
In advance of a recent podcast with the incredible technical writer and Smashing Magazine editor-in-chief Rachel Andrew, I gathered up a bunch of thoughts and references on the subject of technical writing. So many smart people have said a lot of smart things over the years that I thought I'd round up some of my favorite advice and sprinkle in my own experiences, as someone who has also done his fair share of technical writing and editing.
There is a much larger world of technical writing out there. My experience and interest is largely about web technology and blogging, so I'm coming at it from that angle and many of the people I quote throughout are in that same boat.
Picking something to write about
If you want to write for CSS-Tricks and you ask me what you should write about, I'm probably going to turn that question around on you. It's likely I don't know you well enough to pick the perfect topic for you. More importantly, what I really want you to write about is something that is personal and important to you. Articles rooted in recent excitement about a particular idea or technology always come out better than dictated assignments.
My best advice:
Write the article you wish you found when you googled something.
— Chris Coyier (@chriscoyier) October 30, 2017
That said, I do maintain a list of ideas specifically for this site. Any writing can be done on assignment and sometimes that elicits the spark needed for something great and on-target for the audience of a site.
Write at the moment of learning
The moment you learn something is the best time to write. It's fresh in your mind and you can remember what it was like before you understood it. You also understand what it takes to go from not knowing to knowing it. That's the journey you need to take people on.
If you don't have time, at least try to capture the vibe wherever you save your ideas. Don't just write down "dataset." Write down some quick notes like, "I didn't realize DOM elements had a .dataset property for getting and setting data attributes. I wonder if it's better to use that than getAttribute." That way, you'll be able to reload that realization in your brain when you revisit the idea.
What have you learned in just the last few days? I bet there is a blog post there. Manuel Matuzovic does an excellent job of putting this into practice with the "Today I Learned" (TIL) section of his blog.
Comparing technologies is an underused format
Here's some advice Rachel shared that I don't see taken advantage of nearly enough:
There is a sweet spot for writing technical posts and tutorials. Write for the professional who hasn't had time to learn that thing yet, and link it back to things they already know. For example explaining a modern JS technique to someone who knows jQuery.
— Rachel Andrew (@rachelandrew) February 20, 2019
Tell me about how this new framework relates to Backbone. Tell me how this CMS relates to WordPress. Tell me how some technology connects to another technology that is safe to assume is more widely understood.
Technology changes a lot, but what technology does doesn't change all that much.
Careful with that intro
The main comment I add on tutorials I review is to ask for an intro that describes what the tutorial is about. I'm 600 words in and still don't know what the tutorial is about and who it is for. #writing
— Rachel Andrew (@rachelandrew) January 5, 2018
Not getting to the point right at the top of technical articles is a dang epidemic. The start of a technical article is not the time to wax poetic or drop some cliché light philosophy like, "Web design sure has changed a lot." You don't have to be boring, but you do need to tell me what this article is going to get into and who it is for.
Brian Rinaldi says:
“Does the title make the article sound interesting?” If the title interests a reader, they’ll typically read the intro and decide, “Is it worth my time reading the whole thing?” A common mistake I see in a lot of technical posts is either too much introduction or, alternatively, far too little.
A single well-written paragraph can set the stage for a technical blog post.
Careful with the title, too
I remember a conversation from years ago with content strategist Erin Kissane where she strongly advised me to choose boring titles for everything. Not just the title of blog posts, but for everything, including the names of sections, tags, and even subheadings within posts.
Here's the thing with boring: it works. Boring isn't the right word either; it's clarity. The world is full of clickbait, and maybe that's effective in some genres, but technical blogging isn't one of them.
A nice clear blog post title: Getting Started with GraphQL, Phoenix, and React by Margaret Williford
A terrible version of the same: Build a web app with modern technologies in 30 minutes!
What's a web app? What technologies? What's modern about them? What's with the weird time limit?
SEO matters and Margaret's article is going to do a lot better in both the short and long term with that clear title.
The outro
Ben Halpern says that the next most important thing after the intro is:
[...] the last paragraph.
People don't read top-to-bottom the moment when they arrive, so there is a good chance it's the second paragraph people read. Personally, I find the beginning a lot more important than the ending, but there is a certain art to the ending as well.
A lot of people just <h2>Conclusion</h2> and write a few words about what was just went over. Honestly, I don't hate that. It falls into this time tested pattern:
Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em
Tell 'em
Tell 'em what you told 'em
That helps your message sink in and brings things full circle. Technical blogging isn't terribly different from marketing in that sense. You're trying to get people to understand something and you're using whatever tricks you need to to get the job done. A little repetition is a classic trick.
Make it scannable
Brian Rinaldi says:
[...] the wall of text can be easily be made less intimidating and appear much more visually appealing through the use of visual elements that break it up. The easiest is to simply place section subheadings throughout your post.
I agree: subheadings are probably the easiest and most powerful trick for scannability.
Other methods:
Lists: Like what I'm doing right now! I didn't have to use a list. Paragraphs might have worked as well, but a list makes contextual sense here and is probably tricking some of you into reading this. Or at least scanning it and getting some key points in the process.
Images: Please make them relevant and contextual. Skip the funny GIF. Screenshots are often great in a technical context because they provide a visual to what might otherwise be a difficult concept to explain. I like Unsplash for thematic imagery, too, but you can do better than a random picture of trees, a woman drinking coffee, or a random rack of servers.
Illustrations: The abstract nature of an illustration is your friend. It tricks people into having a quick thought about what you are describing. They generally take a little work to pull off, but the pay-off for you and the reader can be huge.
Videos: You can't simply drop a 42-minute video in the middle of a blog post, but if you can make it clear that you are demonstrating something visual and the video is less than a minute, it can be a powerful choice. You've always got <video autoplay muted loop controls> as well to make it GIF-like.
Blocks of code: Technical blog posts are often about code. Don't avoid code, embrace it. I love how Dan Abramov sprinkles in code blocks in blog posts not so much to demonstrate syntax and setup, but to make points. I'm going to recommend Embedded Pens as well, because they're fully interactive demoes in addition to serving as code blocks.
Tables: Don't forget about tabular data! Presenting information (particularly data or definitions) in a table makes it more understandable than it would have been any other way.
Collapsing sections: The <details>/<summary> elements make quick work of collapsible content. If you've got a large section of content that is good to be there but doesn't need to be read by everyone, collapse it! Our reference guide of media queries for devices is a decent example of this in action.
Whatever you pick here, you should pick things that help enhance the points you're making even if in some ways it feels like trickery. It's trickery to help readability, and that's a good thing.
My favorite technique? A little bit of design. Use design principals like spacing, color, and alignment to help the readability of posts. We even go so far as to art direct some posts where design can enhance the central point being made.
The point here isn't to do away with walls of text altogether. Sometimes that's exactly what's needed because you're asking a reader to deeply read a passage that they otherwise wouldn't get what's needed from the content. However, more often than not, a post can strongly benefit from some healthy use of white space.
Use an active voice
I find this one a little tricky to wrap my head around, but Katy Decorah has a great presentation about technical writing that explains this point in great detail. It's kinda like using present tense and stating a point directly rather than passively.
Passive: "After the file is downloaded..." Active: "After you download the file..."
Passive: "The request is processed by the server." Active: "The server processes the request."
Here's another clear explanation with examples by Neal Whitman, read by Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl):
The key point is made about a minute into the recording.
There are lots of words to avoid
"Just" is a big one. Brad Frost:
“Just” makes me feel like an idiot. “Just” presumes I come from a specific background, studied certain courses in university, am fluent in certain technologies, and have read all the right books, articles, and resources. “Just” is a dangerous word.
There are plenty of others to avoid, which which I've written about before. Read the comments in that last link. Long story short: there are lots of words that do more harm than good in technical writing, not only because they can come across as preachy, but because they usually don't help the sentences where they're used. Try taking "just" out of any sentence. The sentence will still make sense without it.
Simply Clearly Just Of course Everyone knows Easy However So Basically Turns out In order to Very
Be mindful of your tone
Tone is concerned with how you say something in consideration of the context. For example, you wouldn't deliver bad news to someone with a happy tone. The way you express yourself ought to be aligned with the situation.
This is our tone goal on this site:
Friendly. Authoritative. Welcoming. We're all in this together. Flexible (nondogmatic about ideas). Thankful.
MailChimp has a very extensive guide to theirs.
It's worth pointing out that tone and voice are separate concepts. I like to think of voice as never changing (it's your personality which is a part of who you are) while tone changes to suit the context. In other words, you can have a professional voice while communicating in a friendly tone.
I don't think there is one true tone that is perfect for technical writing, but since the high-level goal of any technical writing is to help someone understand something complicated, you can use tone to help. A joke in the middle of a set of intricate steps is confusing. A bunch! of! excitement! about something might feel out of place or disingenuous, but being drab and lifeless is worse. I'd say if you're writing under your own name, let's feel a little bit of your personality as long as it's not at the cost of clarity. If you're writing under a brand, match what they have established whether it has been codified or not.
Careful about length
The general tendency in technical writing is to write too much rather than too little. Wade Christensen:
Whether trained by school assignments with word minimums or just uncritical, most of us write too much. Beyond approaching each draft with a ruthless cutting mentality, there are several ways to write short from draft one.
Word limits can help, even if they're self-imposed.
I heard from a fledgling editor recently who struggled with his writers submitting posts with high word counts, so he suggested they keep it to 1000-1500 as a guideline and that seemed effective. This post is roughly double the high end there, for comparison.
The real solution, if the resources are there, is ruthless editing.
I personally don't find that writing too long is the only issue. I've had just as many occurrences of writers going too short and not digging into the topic deep enough. I don't like focusing on the length; I like focusing on the clarity of the delivery and usefulness of the content itself.
Side note: Breaking up a post into multiple parts (as separate posts in a series) is not a solution for posts that are too long. In fact, it can exacerbate the problem. Do that only if the different parts are thematically different and can stand alone without the other parts.
Don't stop yourself from writing
There is an invisible force, built from fear, that keeps a lot of people away from technical blogging. "Meh, everybody already knows this," you might think. (They don't). "What if I'm wrong and someone calls me out?" (You aren't wrong if what you're doing is working for you.)
There can still be blockers even if you overcome those fears and start putting words to screen. Here's Max Böck:
There is a thing that happens to me while writing. I start with a fresh idea, excited to shape it into words. But as time passes, I lose confidence.
The trick for Max is not to wait too long and to ignore feelings holding you back:
I’ll publish something as soon as I feel confident that all the important points I want to get across are there. I try to ignore the voice screaming “it’s not ready” just for long enough to push it online.
Jeremy Keith goes so far to say we shouldn't even keep drafts:
I think keeping drafts can be counterproductive. The problem is that, once something is a draft rather than a blog post, it’s likely to stay a draft and never become a blog post. And the longer something stays in draft, the less likely it is to ever see the light of day.
The chances that your writing helps someone is pretty high! Matthias Ott:
Even the smallest post can help someone else out there.
Think you're too inexperienced? You're probably not, but even if you were, a perspective from someone with less experience is still useful. Ali Spittel:
If you have a blog post that contains mostly correct information, or at least your interpretation of the topic, then you're experienced enough. There are lots of excellent posts out there from the perspective of newbies, and they're really important!
Fear is a real thing in writing and dealing with it can be debilitating. While it's primarily geared toward creative writing, The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield is a good read to help break through the fear.
There is no one perfect style
We each have our own unique perspectives and writing styles. One writing style might be more approachable to some, and can therefore help and benefit a large (or even small) number of people in ways you might not expect.
...says Sara Soueidan. She continues:
Just write.
Even if only one person learns something from your article, you’ll feel great, and that you’ve contributed — even if just a little bit — to this amazing community that we’re all constantly learning from.
Technical blog posts don't have to be devoid of creativity. You could create a wonderful technical blog post that is an annotated chat room conversation between two developers learning from each other. Or a blog post that is a series of videos that build on each other.
The more introductory, the higher the bar
The web is saturated with beginner-rated and surface-level blog posts. There's a sea of crash courses, 101s, and intros out there. You've gotta knock it out of the park if you want to stand out from the pack and be useful.
There is no particular change in tone necessarily for a beginner-focused post. You don't need to do the equivalent of talking slowly or talking down. You only need to be clear, and clarity is valuable to readers at any skill level, not to mention appreciated by them as well. A very advanced programmer can and will appreciate the clarity in a technical blog post even if it's something they already understand.
But the bar isn't that high in general
You don't need a decade of experience to write a blog post. I'd say it's closer to a day of experience, a desire to write, and having something to say. I think you'd be surprised at how little you need to do to make a blog post stand out and be read. Put in some effort, make clear points, focus on readability, and you will do well.
I hope the advice in this post helps!
Abstraction is helpful, but real-world examples are sometimes better
Christine writes:
It’s one thing to describe a high-level concept, and another to explain or illustrate how that concept applies to the real world. In technical writing, you’ll often be covering complex or hard-to-understand subjects, so it’s even more important to use a well-placed example or two to showcase why your topic matters, or how it relates to the real world.
I find myself pushing back on code that is too abstract more than I push back on code that is too focused on a real-world use case. I'd rather see ["Charles Adok", "Samantha Frederick"] than ["foo", "bar"] or [a, b] any day, but more importantly, what is then done with that data to make it feel like a relatable programming scenario.
But avoid real-world examples that come at the cost of clarity. If abstraction is useful to drive a complex point home without getting lost in the details, so be it.
Blogging opens doors
Everyone I've ever met who had ever actively blogged has said that blogging has had a positive impact on their career. Besides being a public demonstration of your ability to think and present ideas, it helps you understand things better. To teach is to learn.
I'd attribute my own blogging as the biggest contributor to any success I've had. Here's Khoi Vinh, a designer ten times more successful than I'll ever be:
It’s hard to overstate how important my blog has been, but if I were to try to distill it down into one word, it would be: “amplifier.”
You get better at what you do.
There is no way around it: practice makes you better. The expectations around practice are sometimes very clear and culturally ingrained. In order to get better at playing the piano, you take piano lessons and practice. We all know this. But people also say "Oh, I'm a terrible cook," as if cooking as a skill is somehow fundamentally different than playing the piano and doesn't require the same amount of learning and practice.
You get better at writing by writing more. That is, writing with stakes. Writing and then publicly publishing what you write such that people read it.
You can go to school for writing. You could get a writing coach. My thinking is nothing teaches better than writing often. Whatever it is you sink time into is what you end up getting good at. Is 10,000 hours a good framework for you? Go with it. Heck, I find even people that sit around watching a lot of TV end up being pretty damn good at watching TV.
Your voice alone < A story with context < Stories including others < Research and data along with stories including others
An article where you just say some stuff is OK. You're allowed to say stuff.
But you can do better.
An article where you tell a true story about how something worked for you is better. Context! Now we can better understand where you are coming from when you say your stuff. Plus everybody likes a story.
An article where you combine that with quoting other people's writing and stories is even better. Now you're painting a larger picture and helping validate what you're saying. Context and flavor!
An article where you combine all that with research and data is the best. Now you're being personal, acknowledging a world outside yourself, layering in context, and avoiding being too anecdotal. Kapow! Now you're writing!
Are you pitching?
Read what the site says about guest writing. Here's ours.
Not to scare you off, but 90% of submissions are garbage. Maybe 75% is outright spam and another 15% are people that clearly didn't read anything we had to say about guest posting and are way off base. I can usually tell from the quality of writing in the email itself if they'll be a good guest blogger.
I say things like that, and then feel compelled to remind you the bar isn't that high.
Are there any useful tools?
There probably is, but I don't wanna link you off to tools I can't vouch for. All I use is Dropbox Paper for collaborative writing because the sharing model is easy and allows for co-editing and commenting. Plus Grammarly because it catches a ton of mistakes as you go.
📝🎉
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drink-n-watch · 5 years
Text
Genre: Everything that Irina Loves
Episodes:23
Studio: White Fox
It’s amazing how quickly something can seep into your normal. You repeat the same actions under the same circumstances a few times and just like that, it’s a ritual. Comforting and familiar. You miss it when it’s not around. Before you can even notice, it’s a little part of your life, and tiny little spec of what makes you, you.
Since April 12, 2018, every Wednesday evening I’ve come home to watch an episode of Steins;Gate 0, then I savoured it. I took it in my mind with me and let it settle as I drifted off to sleep so the next day, I could try to tell you all about it. I truly wanted to share the experience with you in an unvarnished, honest way. I wanted to give you all of my thoughts and feelings and to heck with pretence and pride. It often came out in a jumble of passion and directionless enthusiasm.
On Friday evenings I would relive the episode in stop motion form to capture images and put it all together, ready to publish by Sunday. Even after a long week, I enjoyed taking this time, screencapping away.
 Like most of my episodic posts, my Steins;Gate 0 reviews have had relatively modest success. But that’s fine too. It made sense that such personal and intimate posts would be seen by the few close readers that have gotten to know me best. That was comfortable…and familiar.
where have I heard this before?
 And so, for some time now, Steins;Gate 0b has become a part of my reality. It’s made a tiny mark on me. I’m the girl who looks forward to Wednesday evenings. The girl who’s a little quieter and pensive on Thursdays and a little too contempt on Monday mornings. The girl that mumbles El Psy Congroo under her breath and giggles in her head. I have come to enjoy being that girl. Today, I’m going to be that girl for the last time. I couldn’t have asked for better company.
 Steins;Gate 0 has been a ride! If you want a proper review, I’m sure you have plenty of options. This isn’t going to be one. I probably couldn’t write one even if I wanted to. I’m a little biased…
 WordPress’ digital editor always screams at me when I start sentences the same way. It’s an issue with drinking games… This is why I put this little buffer in before continuing. Steins:Gate 0 is a series that trades and relishes in nostalgia while betraying the expectations built upon those memories. I don’t think you need to have seen the original to enjoy this season, but it certainly adds a ton to it. In any case, although the story is different and the themes almost opposite, it’s pretty safe to say that it will likely appeal to the same audience. 
good pertinent cap, right? so proud!
This is a time travel story meant to take you back in time. Back to the original, which is still beloved by so many fans. It’s clearly pandering and I bought it hook, line, sinker, rod and probably part of the fisherman’s glove. This show was written for me. It did exactly what it was suppose to. It took me back to a time when I was a little anime lover and time travel otaku who had no friends to share those particular passions with and stumbled unto a fan patched version of the visual novel. To a time where I was completely engrossed in that world. For months, I live in Steins;Gate’s version of Akhibara.
I remember once overheating my laptop while playing and having it unexpectedly shut down and refuse to start up again. My only concern was that I might not be able to find the game and mostly the English language patch again. I couldn’t care less about the computer itself, everything else on it or my progress. The first time I found Steins:Gate, I found a place where all my disjointed passions came together in a format that was my preference. I found a home.
 A decade later, fearful and suspicious, I stepped back into that world that had meant so very much to me. I was suspicious and defensive. How can you possibly catch lightning in a bottle twice? And then, I was home. Only this time, for the first time, I get to invite friends over. 
little Suzu is the embodiment of adorableness
I told you this was not going to be a review…. OK this is the deal, Steins;Gate 0 is a lot like the original and also very different. By now, enough has been said on both that my post is unlikely to either sway or inform you. Instead,  this post serves as a place to hold all my feeeeelings about the season but also to tell you a bit about this final episode.
Shocker: I liked it. What can I say, I’m a girl in love. It’s not as if I’m completely blind though. I realize there were some issues. We never got back to the second Reading Steiner. Judy’s role was useless and a lot of the characters are dreadfully underdeveloped. Farris the great is lost forever in the folds of time. That’s just tragic. The darkest future lacked the narrative connective tissue to make the emotional impact it could have. Why was Moeka with Maho in the first episode? You can tell that in the editing process meant to adapt a multi branching VN narrative to a basically linear one, some plot threads where excised not quite a cleanly as they could have. I don’t care, I loved it.
And really, the final episode wasn’t perfect either. Those directorial choices were plain to see. This was a story cut down to fit the format and the director obviously had to pick what would stay and what would go. The action is streamlined and half skipped over. Only a few characters get to grab unto the spotlight. These were hard decisions but the fact is, if you want to get somewhere, eventually you have to pick a path. Steins;Gate 0 picked the prefect one.
cried when I watched it, cried when I got the screencap, cryin’ now…
Visually, the episode opens as a parallel to the ending of the first season. Okabe backlit and depressed in the streets of Akhibara. The episode itself twined around and intermeshed with the ending of the original Steins;Gate in one glorious Ouroboros. We finally got the full view of how both stories fit together, crossing paths for only one second and changing the future for eternity. Cynically you could call it a huge load of fanservice for fans of the original. At least at first sight. I call it beautiful.
Thematically though, it was quite different from Steins;Gate, and that’s what I adore about it. We never saw Kurisu again and Amadeus is gone forever. This time, the difficult choice is made. This is the worldline where love doesn’t conquer all. It’s also the worldline where decisions have eternal consequences. If Steins;Gate was about having it all, Steins;Gate 0 is about the importance of compromise. But closing one door in order to open another is a powerful gesture. There’s something deeply comforting about that. A sense of purpose and urgency that brought out the very best in everyone.
  only Mayuushi can save Mayuushi!
Mayuushi was a force to be reckoned with. This is a character that was essentially a walking, talking damsel in distress trope. And yet, our eternal little victim saved absolutely everyone through sheer strength of will and never faltered for a second. The damsel in distress was allowed to pick up the sword and become a hero. It took a decade to get there, and it was well worth the wait.
The unfortunately underused Moeka was given a sliver of agency and more importantly hope, for a second she looked like a real person and not a puppet. Moeka has always been one of my favorite characters and generally favorite villains. The idea of an average someone being so deeply broken that they willingly make themselves into a weapon as it is less painful than being a person, was as terrifying as it was sad. Her every appearance in Steins;Gate 0 send a shiver down my back. Giving her a chance at a different life, brought a smile to my lips.
As for Kagari, her trajectory is similar. In essence she’s also nothing but a tool. But Kagari had something Moeka never had. A mother who loved her.  As we bid goodbye to the season we also saw Kagari as her best self. A small child longing for her mommy. 
now that’s quite the ensemble
And Suzu… My dearest Suzu. It’s not that much longer to type out Suzuha but I always shorten her name. It’s a nickname, you see. We have a rapport Suzu and me. Few characters have endured more. It would have been easy to write her as an ultimate badass having sacrificed all emotions in order to survive. She tries to pretend sometimes. But Suzu did manage something amazing in the eleventh hours. She actually figured out how to be vulnerable without being weak.
This was an episode full of heroes.
Somewhere along the twisting and turning timelines…uhm worldlines… Steins;Gate matured. 0 is no longer the insecure kid that needs it’s leading man to be everything to everyone. It’s secure enough to spread the glory around. It can handle ambiguous relationships that aren’t clearly defined and long term friendships that don’t lead to dating. It’s also grown up enough to trust us, the audience. To let us figure out what it was saying without over explaining everything. That’s what happens when you get older, you learn to let go.
I think so too!
I adored that no one got the girl. In the end, there’s no real indication of who “the girl” even is. This time that’s not what it was about. Everybody got a turn at the wheel. For everything it failed to do, Steins;Gate 0 finally gave the little girls lost a chance to chose their path and find themselves. That’s worth a whole lot in my book
But where would Steins;Gate be without the Mad Scientist of the hour! Few characters have gone through as much growth and regression and regrowth as Okabe Rintaro. The man has his faults. Many, many faults… He can be frustrating, annoying, unbearably selfish. When he’s not being a cringe inducing doofus, he’s a complete downer. Who could blame you for being over the guy? But you still got to admit, that Hououin Kyouma’s got some swagger! 
 ‘Cmon, don’t tell me you did cheer out loud when his silhouette came into view at the last second. Now that was an epic Big Fat Hero moment.
I mean it… don’t tell me. In my worldline we all applauded and cheered, laughing loudly. We hugged and danced around the living room. Buddy watched us, confused. It was a great moment. Don’t take it away!
 I had a great time these past few months. I was really happy you were there too. If ever you want to take a stroll back down memory lane, you can relive the good times with me:
Steins;Gate 0 Ep1 – In Memory of Things That Never Were
Steins;Gate 0 Ep2 – Kindred Spirit
Steins;Gate 0 Ep3 – Little Girls lost
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 4 – Confabulation
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 5 – The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 6 – The Best of Times and The Worst of Time
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 7 – Strange Bedfellows
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 8 – Okabe And The Real Girl
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 9 – The Comfort of a Familiar Ache
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 10 – Space Time Oddity
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 11 – Anti-Thesis
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 12 – MEAMs
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 13 – Discrepancy
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 14 – The Disapearance of Kagari Shiina
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 15 – Hope for the Future
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 16 – Those Who Fail to Learn From History…..
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 17 – The Second That Lasts Forever
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 18 – Never Trust A Professor
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 19 – Meaningless Consequences
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 20 – The Once and Future Okabe Rintaro
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 21 – Going Back to Yourself
Steins;Gate 0 Ep 22 -A Nostalgic Sorrow
I’ve been reducing the number of pics. They slow down my site. Also Crunchy roll has recently changed making image capture much harder. Still I couldn’t resist this week. Here are a ton of pics. Doesn’t that Mayu and Suzu pic have slight yuri vibes?
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Steins;Gate 0 – Time Heals All Wounds Genre: Everything that Irina Loves Episodes:23 Studio: White Fox It's amazing how quickly something can seep into your normal.
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