#why did i think we would get drew redemption

[edibleapplesoap]

so drake is DEAD guys (the tmf ship not the singer)

#crys #dies #crys again #the music freaks #tmf #drew tmf #jake tmf #drake tmf #i’m so delusional #why did i think we would get drew redemption #SEASON 2 THOGUH? #ALSO WHOS IS MAX WHt

[shizukateal]

In honor of Across The Spiderverse going digital, here's the Beyond the Spiderverse Prediction Bingo!!!!

Explanations below the readmore:

Spider Ham's Chekov Hammer: simple enough to guess, I'm just really waiting for that to pay off, preferably over Miguel's head.

Spider Noir and Hobie get along: just some good ole' fanservice.

Miles G. is actually a dork (he's just better at hiding it. mildly): Wow, great introduction Miles G.! Very suspenseful and intimidating!! Let's see how long you can carry that demeanor without breaking.

Margo / Miles (Miles G.?) / Gwen Love Triangle (Pavitr is annoying about it): Pass the popcorn everyone. How resentful will be Miles when he meets Gwen again? Is getting the spider-band together enough for him or is it just the first step into making amends? Maybe he feels more grateful towards Margo (and Hobie) and will give Gwen (and Peter B.) the cold shoulder for a while. Will Miles G. also enter the ring? Maybe this one really cute comic by @bubblypinkfreak will become true.

Jess Drew Subplot (baby is born?): REAL interested in finding out why Jess would ever follow an asshole like Miguel. Also she deserves more plot relevance. And fanart. Aaaaaand I kinda want to see her husband too.

The Spot Collapses in on himself: Gonna be honest with you, people, I have no idea how they'll fight him, this just seems like the cleanest solution.

Miguel's actually just as much of an anomaly as Miles: My own personal theory, not really based on anything concrete beyond some flags I get from Miguel and some stuff I'll explain later. Basically, I think Miguel's projecting on Miles, and that's part of why his beef towards him is so intense. The only explanation I can think of is that he destroyed his original dimension, not just the one with his daughter in it, and the serum we see him take is what keeps him "stable" and "belonging" to Nueva York. Or you know, maybe just the watch, but the serum is more sus to me.

Gwen Stacy Fall Subversion: Either Gwen completes her character arc by saving Miles from falling to his death or she saves herself, thus breaking her karmic cycle of getting fridged.

Meows Morales cameo?? Pretty Please???: C'mooooon he became instantly popular and he's adorable!!!!! <3 <3 <3 bonus points if multiple miles help out to fight against Miguel's squad later.

We spend some time on Hobie's dimension: No idea how the plot would get there, but the concept art of Hobie's dimension is fire and I want to learn more about him <3 <3 <3 tell us why you almost gave up the mask, darling, and did you kill a cop in your dimension? <3 why would you feel bad about it? <3 <3 <3 <3

Gwiles Morales (he hates that name): Apparently this is how some of the staff called him. Poor guy.

The Spider-Band fights Earth 42's Sinister Six: For those who don't know, they control Earth 42, as confirmed by the art book. Nothing better to sweeten Miles G. to our heroes' side than taking care of them. Bonus points if one of them is explicitly a fascist and Hobie and Noir punch him together.

Miguel Bites Someone: bonus points if it's hot as fuck. Sorry but it's true.

Lyla's the real bad guy (beyonder): I'm gonna let moviebob do the heavylifting here. Could tie to that personal theory I explained above.

Peter B. vs Miguel fight redemption: ok this one I'm biased for because I personally find Peter B. more morally culpable than Gwen in their whole drama with Miles seeing as he's the adult with a kid. But also yeah, good chance for him to redeem himself in Miles eyes (or not! maybe Miles wants more from him that just standing up to a bully) and take Miguel down a peg. Bonus points if he looses a leg, because apparently that's something that happens in Spidergirl's comic.

Prowler!Hobie somehow: Not saying our Hobie will turn into the prowler, just that the connection will be addressed somehow. Idk man, it just feels like positioning Hobie as another mentor for Miles is very deliberate.

Miles feels guilty about Earth 42: Juicy source of drama between him and Miles G. as well as a free character arc about how responsibility is more than just cause and effect.

Miguel tries to redeem himself by dying but Miles won't allow him to: Miguel O'hara has several problems, and I speculate they all come from his self-obsession. Everything about the spider society is about him erecting structures dedicated to his pain to turn himself into the martyr holding reality together. So if he's finally proven wrong, it seems pretty in character to me that his idea of making amends would be to do the same thing one last time for "the right cause", being the diva he is and how he thinks you can sacrifice one person to save everyone else and all. I don't think Miles will allow that, though. Bonus if the scene parallels the one in into the spiderverse when Miles returns Peter B. home.

That one @cheezthatboiii comic / Mileswitch: because what's the point of having a twin if you can't fool people about it?

Gonzalo/Gonza Morales: The correct alternative to Gwiles if anyone during production has braincells or is latine.

Margo Subplot (family issues): confirmed in the artbook that she ended up having more plot relevance than originally planned, and even if that wasn't the case she deserves it. And more fanart.

The Spot is defeated with kindness: Ok. Before I said that I don't know how the Spot could be defeated with violence, but maybe that's not needed? He is clearly a foil to Miles after all, and I think it would do him (Miles) a lot of good to practice some radical empathy, even on someone who kinda doesn't "deserve" it. This isn't so much about him being ""redeemable"" (fandom has ruined that whole concept) so much as how much empathy the narrative is willing to grant him.

Jeff meets Gonza before Miles reveals to him that he's Spiderman. He's confused by having 2 sons: this just feels to me like the most probably sequence of events given the franchise's usual use of bathos and subversion of expectations.

Spider Support Network Finale: No more spider society authority "correcting" the multiverse, every spider-person gets a watch so their friends can come over and lend a hand and prevent as many deaths as possible.

Aaron 42 gets severely injured/dies: I don't want this to happen, it just seems like a way of trimming some fat in the cast and getting some more drama from Gonza.

#across the spiderverse #atsv #beyond the spiderverse #btsv #miles morales #miles g morales #miles g #miles gonzalo morales #gwen stacy #miguel o'hara #hobie brown #pavitr prabhakar #peter b parker #atsv lyla #spiderman #spiderman 2099 #spider gwen #spider punk #spiderman india #spider byte #spider ham #peter porker #spiderman noir #mayday parker #aaron davis #jefferson davis #jessica drew #spiderwoman

[angelofthepage]

Memory Joey - What is your source?

Hi I did not get my full eight hours of sleep, and I am chomping at the bit with a new thought, so prepare for a slightly unhinged Kat theory about Joey.

Last night I was chatting with my partner in crime Beth about a number of Bendy things, but one of my many takeaways from that conversation was a new angle of looking at Memory Joey. So, recently I shared that I was frustrated with the narrative shift of Henry and Allison being ink copies, because it feels like it cheapens the original BATIM and doesn't do anything to serve the Joey Drew Redemption Arc (tm) narrative. We as the player know the man has a body count. Even if you take these two characters out of the mix, he's still responsible for the deaths of multiple other characters, mostly in the books, but like, come on, the whole "I own thousands of them" comment about souls in BATIM? The coffins with secret names on them? Joey you ain't slick. We spent too long establishing that Joey used his employees for their souls across MULTIPLE MEDIUMS to suddenly throw all of that out the window, and I don't entirely buy the idea that these two aren't the real deal. Granted, it still leaves us with questions about how the ink demon works given, there was also time dedicated to establishing that he was imperfect because he's soulless, but that's for another day.

But then, last night we talked about how none of these characters know Audrey is the daughter of Drew. And if they did know that, would their reactions be different? Would they still try to help her? I'm not sure. But it got me thinking about how there's a lot of things we the player know/believe that the characters don't. And that's when it hit me.

Memory Joey's story wasn't for us. It was for Audrey.

Now, that sounds obvious, like no duh, he's talking to Audrey for the whole scene, of course it's for her. Memory Joey doesn't know we as the players exist, he's got nothing to prove to us. But hear me out: that sequence wasn't meant to give us as players new information or prove he's a changed man, we weren't the ones who were supposed to believe in it. Audrey was. He has EVERYTHING to prove to Audrey. That's the daughter of the man he came from, his precious little girl, the first time he made something with the ink machine out of love, and she doesn't even remember that he's her father. Joey Drew, throughout his lifetime, cared a lot about how people saw him. Having shoes and a suit that didn't make him look poor, appearing financially stable to investors, the nasty things he had to say when he thought he wasn't being recorded, acting like he had control when everything he knew was falling apart, Joey was always trying to keep up appearances. And while I'll believe that he can mostly let go of that with time and growth, I don't think he could deal with Audrey, his daughter, seeing him as the bad guy. Especially when she doesn't remember Joey? Trying to make a good impression, sharing that yes, he did bad things, but he wasn't all bad? That he changed? That's covering Joey's ass something fierce.

Audrey isn't aware of Joey's body count. She doesn't know what happened to his employees. How Sammy became a cultist, how Susie was mistreated and manipulated to be desperate to be Alice. The entire story of Buddy Lewek and Norman Polk. She knows NONE of it! She doesn't know what he did. She doesn't know there were so many teenagers, just a little younger than her, that DIED because of his machine. And until you get the note about the kids that came before her, she has no idea she's not the first.

I often give Memory Joey a pass, he doesn't strike me as someone who would want to lie, especially to Audrey since he clearly cares about her. He delivers his slideshow presentation so earnestly, it feels like he truly believes this is what's true. But then I'm left questioning, what is his source? Why does he believe that they're clones? But maybe...maybe he is lying on purpose. I think it could be an equal opportunity for both. Joey was a liar in life, he lied about so many things (which is frustrating when he's the one giving us most of the information we look to to figure out how the heck ink works, Gent can you please give us some notes to cross reference?). Why wouldn't he lie to appear better to his own daughter? Memory Joey making that distinction for himself, that he himself cares for how Audrey sees him and Joey, would be a really valuable detail for his character, but him not knowing and believing all the information that someone like Joey left behind for him (since I'm assuming that's where his understanding of the cycle comes from) would also be interesting for his characterization.

But here's the kicker: by introducing the idea that Henry and Allison are not truly their human counterparts, if that turns out to be untrue, you've made a grave mistake Memory Joey. Audrey doesn't know any of these people were human before they became ink. I mean maybe she can deduce that other humans are in here given Allison's whole "I remember my first day" speech, but then Memory Joey throwing this at her, Allison is a creation rather than someone who was once alive? Who's to say she'd think twice about it? Wilson treats everyone like they're just ink and not worth caring for after all. But if she finds out about the sacrifices? That many of these ink creatures were once human? Oh Broseph my dude, you are gonna have a lot to answer for, more ways in which her trust in you will be utterly broken. That is a very messy, delicate balance. I kind of want to see that. I want to see him have his world view turned on its head, learning that he was wrong about Henry, and have him genuinely not know that he was fed bad information. Let him process that, let him struggle, and let Audrey grapple with the truth too.

Yeah, I don't necessarily think Henry and Allison are clones. Inhuman, yes, but clones? I think we need more than Memory Joey's word to know that for sure. So I ask again, sir, what is your source?

#batdr #bendy and the dark revival #memory joey #joey drew #batdr theory #bendy theory #audrey #long post

[ilikepjo24]

Azula's character was written for redemption...

So, as some of you may know, Aaron Ehasz was the headwriter and co-executive producer of the first two seasons of Avatar the last Airbender, so by all means, he had a lot of say about the creation of the characters and the 2/3rds of their development, or in some cases, 1/2nds. It's safe to say that next to nobody knows those characters and their purposes as well as he does.

And as some of you also know, after the show had ended, Ehasz made a tweet, publicly announcing that he always intended for Azula to have a redemption arc. Always. It wasn't a last minute decision, it was the end goal from the beginning. Which means that, naturally, in order to create a plotline that doesn't feel forced or odd, Ehasz needed to write a character that always had the potential to be redeemed. He couldn't create an irredeemable character and try to redeem them later. It wouldn't make sense.

Which is why Azula's character always was and still is a perfectly redeemable character.

I genuinely believe that the people that can't see that, simply fail to understand Azula's intentions.

I've had conversations with people that have had perfect understanding of Azula's state of mind, personality and actions, but still failed to understand why she's so redeemable, because they didn't understand her intentions. And I don't blame them for not understanding. You can look at Azula's character all you want, and you still won't see it. Because it isn't just about Azula. It's about the Fire Nation as a whole.

The thing about the Fire Nation is that they genuinely believe they are doing something that is good. It's not just a bunch of people that saw the opportunity to do something evil and did it for fun. Sozin did something evil for power and then gaslighted entire generations into believing they were going something good. The Fire Nation is a bunch of people that think they are doing something good.

In Azula's case, I drew a picture to help you understand.

(Disclaimer: Ozai's crown isn't historically accurate.)

As you can see in the picture, yes, at the end of the day, Azula does bad stuff, but not because she recognizes they are bad and genuinely wants to do then just because. She's s victim of manipulation from an adult she had every reason to trust and brainwashed by the same propaganda that controlled the rest of the nation.

So yes, she did bad stuff and she's a villain.

But she is redeemable.

Every time we see Azula try hard to complete a mission, she's passionate about it. She's passionate to do the "right" thing and she's passionate to make the person that loves her proud. That's why she doesn't evil stuff. It's not because she enjoys pain. It's not because she gets off on people suffering. It's because she thinks it's right, and she's rewarded with love.

Which is what makes her redeemable.

Because being passionate about doing something you think is right means you want to do right things. You just need your view of right to align with what's objectively right. So by that logic, all Azula needs is someone to teach her what is actually right and her views will align with that, and then she'd be passionate about doing the real right thing. The good stuff.

And someone that would do that for her, is someone who would obviously love her, or at the very least, someone who wants the best for her. So with time, it's logical to assume that sooner or later, she'll want to make this person proud.

There's nothing wrong with Azula's mentality of "do good, make proud". It's not inherently evil. Just easy to use. Right now, Ozai has used this to fill the blanks and turn the situation into "do fire nation good, make father proud". All Azula needs to be redeemed is for someone to remove the "fire nation" and "father" proud. Assuming that this person is Zuko, he should just switch it to "do what is considered good on a worldwide level, make brother proud" and just like that, Azula has gone from evil to good.

It's obviously easier said than done, but it is possible. Azula's mentality is what allows her to be anything, evil and good. It's really impressive and fascinating how Ehasz wrote such a character, but he did it for a purpose. This kind of mentality is perfect for creating an evil character that gets redeemed. And it's the exact same mentality Zuko also has. And Zuko hot redeemed, so Azula can too.

This proven.

#atla #azula #azula meta #azula analysis #character analysis

[everlastingdreams]

The Weeping Monk x Reader : Born In the Dawn Chapter 5

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Story Summary: Locked inside a dark room in a dungeon, kept alive only for your power, you believed you’d never see the daylight again. That is until the Weeping Monk finds his way down and steals you from your captors. It is the beginning of a journey that leads you through hardship and newfound hope, but nothing is assured in a world that is changing for the Fey. The magic that runs in your veins is drawing out the worst the world has to offer, does it include the man who pulled you from the dark?

Chapter Title:  The Danger That Lurks

Notes: Still proofreading a bunch of later chapters, some are twice the size of these early ones so pfew. The exhaustion I suffer from does make it a lot harder, but I'm getting there.

Warnings: Violence. Torture. Sexual Assault. Rape Threat. Gore. Enemies To Lovers. Pining. Trauma. Flagellation. Manipulation. Strong Language. Blood. Gore?. Misogyny. PTSD. Spicy and smut parts. Slight redemption arc.

Other warnings: Jealousy. Forbidden Love. Romance. Slow-burn…

Word count of this fic: +190K

Chapter:  5/ It’s a secret.

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That night, your eyes opened, you had believed they would never do so again.

You were shaking in a sweat and very short of breath. It took you quite long to notice the shadow figure standing near the wall and it nearly caused you to scream.

“You missed the whole day.”

By the sound of his voice, you knew who it was.

“Did paladins die? I hope so.” Your bitterness was stronger than your voice.

The Monk came closer, hands behind his back, witnessing how fragile all the healing had made you.

He had brought a Fey and cursed them to the same fate.

Able to heal anyone but themselves.

A curse or a blessing?

The lasting silence from him felt odd.

“What?” You snapped.

He moved his hands from behind his back and dangled a fresh looking pastry in front of your nose.

Your eyes locked on it immediately, were you delirious?

Your eyes slid to his face, to prideful to ask out loud if you could have it.

He gave a shallow nod and let you take the pastry from his hand.

It tasted so good it nearly brought out tears.

As you ate, he walked around the room.

Crumbs landed everywhere with your hands shaking so much, you did not let them go to waste either and put every single one of them in your mouth as well. “Why did you refuse to let me heal you the first time?”

He hid the compassion he had felt behind the excuse, “It would be a waste to risk your death for a wound that would heal by itself in time. You are too valuable.”

Your eyes narrowed at him at that.

Until he corrected his wording. “Your healing ability is too valuable.”

Again you were diminished to nothing more than the magic you were born with.

“Wow. Thanks.” The sarcasm dripped from you.

For a blink, he looked aware of his poor communication skills.

The shaking was slowly getting better. “That village where you found me, did you find other Fey?”

It drew his eyes to your face, a look of interest in them.

The worry for Squirrel’s safety had kept you up many a night. “You said you do not harm children. There was a boy.”

The paladins had told him of it, and he had told them not to bother catching the child.

“There was only you.” He said.

You laid down on your side, feeling how the exhaustion increased just by eating.

He tilted his head. “Have others of your clan died because of their power.”

“Many.” It was the honest truth. “The pain, we can feel it too when we use it too much.”

The Monk stepped closer and you hated how weak you felt and how healthy he looked now.

There was no fight in you left, not physically.

You forced your eyes shut, feeling the air barely able to fill your lungs who craved it so much because it hurt. “Do not think that giving me something to eat will make me forgive you for this. I will never forgive you, Monk.”

He expected as such. “I do not need your forgiveness.”

“Only your god’s?” You guessed.

By the looks of it, you had guessed correctly.

You fired it at him, “How do you think you can receive the forgiveness of a god, if you can’t even get it from a Fey?”

Even now, you did not fear speaking like this to him…

He was not amused by it. “I do not seek the forgiveness of evil.”

You mumbled between your teeth, “Not evil enough to stop paladins from using me.”

It was a fair retort.

The remainder of small glass shards cracked beneath his boot and he brushed them under the bed with it.

“Why are you still here?” It was keeping you from sleep.

“I am ordered to make certain you survive.” He admitted.

Ugh. They were keeping you alive to torment you further. “So I can serve my purpose?”

It sounded like he had sighed quietly.

The Monk knelt down next to the bed, it had your attention and glare right away. “The more you cooperate, the better your life will become among us.”

It was exhausting. “Obey or suffer. That is what you are offering, do you even realize this? Is that how they twisted your mind?”

He looked off to the side, trying to remain indifferent to what you said.

“Tell me what kind of Fey you are, and I will answer a question you may have.” He used the same tactic you had used on him.

Your answer was as indifferent as he acted, “I am not interested in learning about you.”

The change in his expression was gone not a second later.

But you had seen it nonetheless and wondered what had gone through his head right there and then.

There was one thing you were prepared to trade for, “If you bring me another one of those pastries, I will tell you what I am.”

He had not expected for you to propose a deal. “Agreed.”

“Now.” You added.

His enthusiasm was gone by the time he stood again. “Now?”

It was the middle of the night.

There was no swaying you. “Now.”

The Monk swallowed the protest now that he was so close to getting the information he wanted.

Still, it was obvious by the way he left the room that he wasn’t happy with being rushed.

Good. You weren’t happy either.

As you waited, you played the dangerous game of closing your eyes for ‘just a second’ and lost.

That second lasted until morning, and when you did open them you found the pastry right in front of your nose on the bed.

The Monk had not woken you for his end of the bargain. Odd.

Was it sympathy or pity? And why not exploit it for your benefit?

~~~♡~~~♡~~~◇~~~♡~~~♡~~~

When he came to fetch you in the morning, you were sitting up on the edge of the bed, talking some courage into yourself.

Of course you had eaten that pastry, or risked it being taken from you.

The Monk entered the room, tankard of water in hand, scanning you up and down to get an idea on your health status.

After he gave you the water to drink, he went to stand near the wall, his hands folded behind his back. “There are not many wounded today. I believe a repeat of yesterday will not occur.”

You drank the water, feeling how your body responded in gratitude.

Quietly you began, “Thank you for the water-..” He instantly locked eyes on you, “-and for the pastries.”

It had had an effect on him. “Uphold your end of the bargain.”

You did so without defiance. “I am Dawn Folk.”

The quick answer was unexpected, he had expected more wit or defiance.

“Dawn Folk…” He was pensive.

It did not make him recall anything.

You stood up from the bed, putting down the tankard, and slowly got closer to him. “I know you have been kind to me and I have not been behaving very grateful.”

Those weeping eyes were sharp as a hawk’s.

You stopped a little to his side. “But, I am.”

With the speed of a snail, you reached out and touched his arm.

A frown creased his forehead, eyes dropping to see your hand curl around his arm.

This man behaved as if no one had ever done such a thing to him before. Good, that confusion and uncertainty worked in your favor.

“You could treat me much worse.” Your other hand hovered not an inch above his chest and slowly moved down to his waist, where the daggers were on the belt.

Suddenly he grabbed your wrist, stopping you.

“I could.” He warned you what the result would be if you tried to take one of his daggers.

Dammit.

Angered by your failure, you tried to step away.

He didn’t allow it to happen. “Consider yourself fortunate that I am not as bitter as you are.”

That earned him a firm push from you and it had you break free. “Bitter?! You are keeping me here like an animal, you arrogant bastard!”

Ah, there was that fire in you again.

The Monk dared to fuel it, “You are acting as one.”

Out of sheer frustration, you picked up the tankard and tossed it at his head.

He gracefully avoided it by leaning to the side, arching a brow as if it proved his point.

Not a minute ago, you were trying to seduce him, and now this.

When he actually seemed amused by it, it baffled you.

The Monk offered a choice, “Either you walk with me willingly, or I bind your hands and take you to the infirmary. Choose wisely.”

You spat at the ground in front of his feet.

Minutes later, with your hands bound in front of you, he had dragged you through the halls towards the infirmary.

He was there to make sure his red brothers did not report missing weapons later.

You felt his eyes on your back constantly and often glared at him over your shoulder.

A paladin came to speak to him for a moment.

The only time you did not watch your back was the moment a hand hit your rear, hard enough for the sound to echo in the infirmary.

It hurt.

The paladin responsible for it was sitting on a cot and received your fist to his nose.

The next few seconds were chaotic.

There was a lot of shouting and threats thrown your way, some had drawn their weapons and were ready to enact vengeance for their red brother.

“Quiet!” The Monk’s voice thundered over them all.

Blood seeped from the paladin’s nose.

You were in a corner, trying to stay out off their reach.

The Monk pushed past them, took your arm and steered you to the door.

The wounded paladin spoke up, “She broke my nose, Brother!”

“Consider it your punishment for breaking the vow!” The Monk barked, shutting the paladin down.

You were out of that room faster than one would think possible.

By the looks of it, he was steering you towards the room again.

And he wasn’t being very alert, probably too distracted by the fact that he would have to explain this to the priest.

He was there in the room and still this had happened. Father would not be pleased in the slightest. Would he think him incapable of keeping one Fey woman in control?

You bumped into his side on purpose and got close enough to steal the short sword from his side.

With the level of skill you had with the sword, you were fast enough to lash out with it at him.

He blocked the sword from getting near his face and the steel cut through his sleeve and skin.

You ran before he could call out for the others, and never heard him do so.

It was a blessing that the ruckus in the infirmary had drawn most of the paladins there.

You heard a group running in your direction, opened the first door you saw and got inside. A set of wooden stairs lead down into the cellar.

Barrels of wine decorated the place and you wished you had a hammer to drown this place in it.

Hurriedly, you cut the ropes from your wrist loose completely with the sword.

Whilst searching for an exit or trapdoor, you heard the stairs creak and hid behind one of the barrels.

The racing of your heart had your blood pumping through your veins.

By the quiet way of walking, you knew it was the Monk who was down there with you.

To your dismay, he seemed to be walking right to the spot you were hiding behind.

With his longsword, he tapped against the barrel you hid behind.

You shot out from behind it and lunged at him with the sword immediately.

He created a distance between you when it was clear you had chosen to fight.

His skill outmatched yours, but that did not mean that you wouldn’t give it your all in a fight.

He was so damn fast and you ruthlessly kept trying to strike at him.

All that build up anger found it’s outlet, the sound of steel clashing with his was deafening

Those at home would be proud of you for standing your ground.

You nicked him on his other arm.

It made him reconsider on holding back, you appeared quite capable with the sword.

One of your favorite moves was to spin and strike, and as you began your spin it was the Hidden that struck.

The pain they brought down on you was debilitating. It felt as if they were crushing your skull from the inside.

They still disagreed with you when it came to the Monk and you felt betrayed by it.

He saw you sink to your knees while your grasped at your head in agony.

You cried out and pleaded for them to stop this, “No! Please! I beg you, stop!”

How could hear the whispers of evil now, while they tore into the one who they had forced to heal him.

The pleas were ignored and their punishment continued without mercy.

It hurt so much that you felt yourself getting closer to fainting with each passing second.

The Monk was saying something but you could not hear him past the overwhelmingly loud voices.

You felt something around your waist, and then you were pulled into him.

He was there, kneeling on the floor and holding you to try and help. “They cannot harm you if you shut them out.”

He spoke from experience. Years and years of it.

Your vision was beginning to darken. How could you shut out something so powerful?

“Help…-” The idea of never regaining consciousness again terrified you.

He readjusted his position, an arm around to support your head, hand on your neck. “Breath.”

The relief began at your neck, as if they only yielded because he wanted them to.

It spread in your body until all that was left was complete and utter exhaustion.

The short sword you had dropped had been kicked to the other end of the room and you were left unarmed in the hands of the Monk.

As if he sensed a line being crossed, he lifted his hand so it no longer touched your neck.

At this point you did not care if the enemy was holding you up in a seated position, it was that or hitting the floor.

Was this what had happened in the forest that forced you to heal him?

Once you felt a bit better, you scrambled out of his hold.

“You hear them…” You breathed out, sitting on the floor, shocked that they would let themselves be heard by someone like him.

He hated that he could hear them try to influence him all the time. “The suffering they inflict on you will lessen in time, if you reject their influence.”

You refused to be turned to the Church like he was. “If they are doing this to me, there is a damn good reason for it.”

He hit the nail on the head, “They are tormenting you to protect me.”

It was unfair. “Why are they protecting a traitor?”

Because of what he was…

It dawned on you that you did not know what sort of Fey he actually was, and the answer to your question could be the same “What…kind of Fey are you?”

From his expression, you deduced he would not answer the question.

Your eyes drifted to the sword at the other end of the cellar.

He did not have to look to see where your attention had went. “Who taught you how to wield a sword?”

Now it was you who refused to answer.

The Monk stood up and offered a hand, blood stained his sleeves from where you had managed to cut him. “I am taking you back to your room.”

You smacked the hand away.

He sighed deeply, and under the sound of your protests he grabbed your arm and brought you up from the floor again.

The weakness of your legs caused you to stumble and land into his side.

A couple of curses flew out, and you almost considered just falling over being anywhere near him.

“Weren’t there more wounded?” You remembered there were tree.

“It can wait.” He brushed the question away. “Now, will you be calm and walk along, or will you continue to fight me?”

Your eyes narrowed at him. “It can wait.”

Slowly his eyes drifted to your face, doubting it was sarcasm.

You would feel more up to fighting after some rest.

On the walk back to the room, you remembered how back in the dungeon you had sensed his presence. All alone in the dark, it was far more simple to focus on the signals nature granted to you.

This man was odd, you wished it was simple and that he was just pure evil, but it was more complicated than that.

He was Fey. He was serving the enemy and you had no idea why he had chosen to do so, it made no sense. What Fey kind was he even? Why did the Hidden insist on protecting him even if it meant hurting you?

There was more than what meets the eye and you wanted to get to the bottom of it.

He caught you staring and send you a look that translated to ‘what?’

You questioned it out loud, “Why did you run to their side?”

The Monk refused to answer and locked you back in that room.

Even though you hated being trapped, you were glad that you could rest now and that there were no paladins around to hit your rear again.

If only the wind did not blow cold air into the room through that window you had broken.

You grabbed your former shirt and trousers off the floor and tried to stuff them in the window.

By being weakened, thanks to the Hidden, you couldn’t manage it.

The idea to drag the bed under the window came fast, and you stepped on it to gain some more advantage. It went easier and you did not have to strain so much.

The door flew open as you were still shoving the fabrics in there.

Quickly you looked over your shoulder to see the Monk looking rather confused.

“I’m guessing you’re not gonna help with this.” You stated.

He approached and stopped at the bed, “What are you doing?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “Shoving my clothes in the window.”

This time he did keep his hand on the pommel of his sword, not taking any risks. “What happened in the infirmary, has that happened here before?”

You faced the window and continued the task. “They’ve tried. Why? Do you believe them to be saints?”

“None of us are.” He had tilted his head down.

Once the wind was blocked from entering, you hopped down from the bed and ignored him to push the bed back where it came from.

He took hold of your elbow. “Come with me.”

“Why?” You quickly asked.

The question went ignored and he proceeded to bind your hands together again, this time behind your back and he kept a hand on the rope while walking you through the hallways.

With his fingers hooked on the rope, he stopped and kept you beside him.

Many paladins were walking in the larger hall and you gravely disliked seeing so much red.

His eyes stayed on the crowded place, “Which ones tried to break their vow?”

It was met with great reluctance, you did not want to answer it at all. “I don’t remember.”

The Monk did not even look at you when saying, “In exchange I will offer a meal.”

Your empty stomach was making your memory return, still…

Why did he want to know? Was this a test?

The doubt must have been visible to him.

He was waiting for your cooperation. “There is no place for sin here. Describe them to me.”

“No.” You weren’t trusting those bastards to not retaliate against you.

A silence fell between you and you could sense he was trying to think of a way to convince you otherwise.

“They are not to touch a woman. Not like this.” He thought it needed explaining.

You deadpanned, “Tell that to my rear.”

Father Carden walked in your direction.

The Monk called out to two paladins before handing you over to them, then he went to speak to the priest.

You could only hear Carden ask why ‘the Fey girl’ was here now. Did the Monk not ask for permission before doing things like this?

From the looks of it, the priest was quite dismissive to what the Monk was telling him.

Father Carden walked away and the Monk was left looking disappointed.

It took a few seconds for him to snap out of it and march to where you were.

“Hand her back.” He was anything but courteous about it.

The paladins released you fast and stepped back at the sight of his anger slipping from under the stoic mask.

You were whisked away by him instantly, he walked fast, very fast.

His angry strut lasted for three hallways, then simmered down.

Something inside told you to be silent and let him come to his senses first.

You were back in the room within minutes, were he took the ropes off from your wrists.

It did not pass you by how bothered he appeared by what had been said to him.

“What? Did the priest scold you or something?” You hoped not to sound too interested.

Father’s reply had come as a shock to him.

~“She is but a Fey.”~

You were there to heal them, not as… entertainment.

That bastard proceeded to push you to sit down on the bed.

Of course you went to stand again but he just repeated the action.

“Sit down and listen.” He was at the end of his patience.

“I’m not one of your paladin dogs that you can order around!” You seethed.

How could he begin to explain the threat you faced?

Only when you saw him visibly struggle to say a word, did it silence you. This wasn’t the sort of person to appear struggling before an enemy.

“What is it?” This time you asked calmer but still annoyed.

The Monk cast his eyes to the broken window. “Avoid being alone with my red brothers.”

That was not your decision to make in this situation. “Are you serious? I am a prisoner here! Why-…”

The reality dawned on you just when you were about to ask.

He looked at your face briefly, then at the floor.

The anger dripped from you. “Does a Fey woman not count as a woman? Are we excluded from the vow?”

He could not even say it out loud that his red brothers would not be punished for taking advantage of a Fey woman.

Here he was, warning you while standing aside, it was infuriating to say the least.

You were on your feet not a second later. “Did you tell me this just to frighten me? Is that why?!?”

To him, it was insulting. “I told you this to warn you!”

To warn you against something you could barely do a thing against because they tied you up all the time?!?

“Leave me alone. You’re just as bad as the rest of them!” It was a sneer.

The door was slammed shut by him as he left.

Why would the Weeping Monk try to help a Fey? This had to be a mind game of his to keep you under control.

You sat down on the bed, still feeling the result of the Hidden’s scorn.

It was hard not to feel abandoned by them, when they preferred someone like the Monk over you.

Why else would they stop you from fighting him and leaving him to die?

Escaping this place proved difficult, but they would not remain here forever. When they traveled again, they would need you. It would be much easier to escape on a wagon.

For now, you would do what you needed to survive.

Taglist:

@ourlazydetectivekitten​​ @the-great-adventures-of-me​ @linkpk88​​  @fxrchxldws​​  @elenaoftheturks​​ @slytherlight​​ @beananacake​​    @crystallizedtime​​  @moonlightaura03​​  @angrygardendeer​​  @have-aheart​​   @5am-cigarette​​ @arcanenature​​  @thewinterskywalker​​ @notyourwildestdream​​ @coloursforyourportrait​​ @koressecretidentity​​ @nike90​​ @n1ghtlux​​ @rachlovesactors​​ @luckyzipperscissorsbat​​ @morena-doing-stuff​​  @the-fangirl-diaries​​ @gipsydanger17​​ @heavenly1927​​  @phantasmalbeiing  @labyrinthonmymind  @asarcastic-thiamstan​​  @rainyv-skies @kissingandromeda @stclairesplace​​

Please let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist of this story.

#weeping monk #cursed netflix #cursed #weeping monk x reader #lancelot x reader #the weeping monk #weeping monk x you #cursed lancelot #lancelot #the weeping monk x reader #daniel sharman character #daniel sharman #weeping monk fic

[annot8]

Top 20 RotE Moments

(Would love to know what everyone else’s favourite moments are! 20 is probs a little bit overkill but there are so many!)

Spoilers for all of RotE under the cut

20. Chade tells Fitz to go after the Servants - Fool's Quest

- Chade infuriates me to no end. But I can’t bring myself to hate him. This moment, where he only has sparing of lucidity, he subtly tells Fitz to go after Bee, even if the King doesn’t allow it. It’s a really lovely moment of two old assassins planning to deceive everyone one last time :)

19. The Quarrel - Golden Fool

- What a scene. This was crazy. Fitz’s rampant denial and homophobia was building up the whole book, and everything came to a boil here. Fitz was ready to give the Fool a piece of his mind, and the Fool completely destroyed him. Deserved. The bit that breaks my heart tho is that the Fool thought the flowers were from Fitz - I can’t with these two.

17. The night in Aslevjal - Fool's Fate

- I was dreading Fitz and the Fool’s reunion after Fitz left him behind, but I was pleasantly surprised by how warmly they greeted each other. After the Golden Fool Divorce, I was so relieved to see them get along. And who doesn’t love a ‘stay with me’ moment?

16. Alise and Cedric reject Hest together in Kelsingra - Blood of Dragons

- Hest kinda went through it in this book and I was worried we were heading down a redemption route. Thank god we got this instead. This was such a satisfying moment.

18. Fitz and Ketrricken mourn Nighteyes - Golden fool

What a lovely moment. I had been waiting for Fitz to fall apart from Nighteyes’ death, and this was probably the healthiest way to deal with it. God, I love Kettricken. I always loved her friendship with Nighteyes and I’m glad she was allowed to mourn as well.

15. The Traders come together to clean the concourse - Ship of Destiny

- Such a small but impactful moment. The traders had really rejected the Vestrits (mostly due to Davad Restart bulldozing their reputation along with his own). And in this moment, they returned to their ruined hall, and they see a lone old woman - whose family is missing and maybe dead - sweeping and continuing their traditions. And slowly, one by one, they all join in and help. No matter what else divides them, they are all Traders.

14. Fitz 'steals' Shrewd's knife and stabs it into Chade’s fireplace - Assassin's Apprentice

- My baby’s first proper act of defiance. I was very proud of my boy. And while Chade can be quite a cold character (the events that led up to this moment are proof of that),, the fact that he never moved the knife also says something about his feeling for Fitz. God, Chade makes me feel so many things.

13. Molly gives birth to Nettle - Assassin's Quest

- “and as prefect as she is, what would she have to cry about?” Why don’t you shoot in the face? This scene broke me. Molly being pregnant was admittedly the most obvious plot twist of all time but the payoff was beautiful. Burrich acted exactly the way I thought he would. And what can I say, I love Molly.

12. Fitz shows Patience his drawing of the dog - Assassin's Apprentice

- I think (it was over a year ago) but I think this was maybe the first time I cried at this series. Fitz is so desperate to do something Patience will be proud of, then he suddenly feels foolish, holding his little piece of paper with a dog on it. And then Patience sees it, asks who drew it, and is so proud of him when he says he did. You should have been mind! Ahh, kill me!

11. Fitz and the Fool reunite - Fool's Errand + Fitz and the fool reunite in Jhaampe - Assassin's Quest

- I had to put these together. They’re both so good, and both are followed by these warm times of relative peace. In AQ, the Fool doesn’t realise it’s Fitz, and in FE, Fitz doesn’t realise it’s the Fool. These bits parallel each other so beautifully and in both, their peaceful time together is broken by a calling from the Farseer crown.

10. Malta negotiates independence for Bingtown - Ship of destiny

- SHE IS THAT GIRL. Malta’s arc was so unbelievably satisfying and I was proud of her here. She had released Tintaglia, saved the satrap and his companion, learned from Kekki, held her own on that ship, and stood up for Bingtown before Kennit and the Satrap. Love Love Love.

9. Bee burns down the scroll library of clerres - Assassin’s Fate

- Ahhhhh!!!!! That’s my baby!!!!! My destroyer!!!! Bee goes through so much for someone so young, and she’s the only one wise enough to know that they must let go of the past. She begins the dragon’s vengeance and brings about the destruction of Clerres. Good for her.

8. You're not dead son - Royal Assassin

- Shut up, shut up, shut up!!!! I cannot do this!!!! The days as the wolf were so well written and this was such an emotional conclusion. Burrich, the man that you are. To see him momentarily set aside his absolute hatred of the Wit to save his boy just showed how much he loved Fitz. It’s the devastating culmination of Burrich’s parenting skills and it broke me in a way that no other scene in this entire series has broken me!

7. Burrich and Swift defeat the stone dragon - Fool's Fate

- if Burrich is gonna do one thing, it’s accept the Wit in order to save a son. This display of strength and love was so beautiful! And I was happy to see Swift have his moment!

6. Kettricken's Speech before the Forge Hunt - Royal Assassin

- Such an underrated scene. Kettricken really comes into her own here. She really becomes the Queen-in-Waiting of the Six Duchies in this moment. She impresses everyone - even Chade. I think this is where Verity falls in love with her, and of course, we get to see Verity slap Regal.

5. Prince FitzChivalry Farseer is welcomed home - Fool's quest

- I WEPT. I could not believe what I was reading. We get Starling’s song - which was such a brilliant moment of payoff for her character. And then, of all people, it’s Chade to walk over to Fitz. A man who is obsessed with secrets is the one to tell Fitz it’s time to do away with disguises and secrets. Oh my godddddd.

4. Nighteyes' last hunt - fool's errand

- I had to reread this scene because I had not at all processed what had happened. I was in public! I was on a train, sat next to a stranger, and there were silent tears running down my face. I love Nighteyes and I knew it was coming eventually, but I was not expecting it in this book. His ‘I was sure you would want to come with me,’ is one of the saddest lines in the whole thing.

3. Fitz, Beloved, and Nighteyes become go into the stone wolf and become one being - Assassin’s Fate

- what am I supposed to do with this? This was perfect and devastating. It was where they were always heading towards. Love without limits.

2. Fitz brings the fool back from the dead - Fool's Fate

- Imagine merging souls and calling him by your own name and calling him your dream, believing you can’t go on without him, and uprooting fate with love and passion and bringing him back to life. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

1. The Stone Dragons awake / Fitzloved kiss - Assassin's Quest

- The moment the first trilogy built up to. This moment seared these books onto my heart. From Verity’s sacrifice, Kettle’s redemption, Starling getting the story for her song, Kettricken fully becoming Sacrifice and getting pregnant, the Fool seeing his prophecy become fulfilled and kissing Fitz, and Fitz using the Wit to awake the stone dragons and saving the Six Duchies from the Red Ship Raiders!!!!!!! A perfect ending!

#rote spoilers #rote #realm of the elderlings #fantasy #farseer trilogy #Liveship traders #tawny man #rain wild chronicles #fitz and the fool

[not-wholly-unheroic]

Do you have any controversial headcanons that go against what is generally accepted by the fandom? Do you incorporate this into writing your muse or keep it to yourself?

For Hook please ///

I’ve been trying to think on it, and while I may have a few opinions that are divergent from the majority, for the most part, I don’t think I have any super controversial headcanons about Hook. I guess maybe the fact that I insist he lives and give him a redemption arc is unusual but not really controversial. Some of my preferred ships (and the ships I don’t like) might be a little out of the ordinary, but I mostly just don’t reblog things with a NoTP and don’t go out of my way to push my own ships.

Also, for me, who I may ship him with partly depends on the version. For example, Pirate Fairy James I think is cute with Zarina but I like Jake-verse Hook with Red Jessica. Original Disney Hook I actually like with Cruella because neither has a canon love-interest and they are both British, fashion-conscious villains without magic who just seem like they’d be on the same page in the villains hangout. Isaacs Hook and Barrie’s Hook (which I often group together as one character) I ship with an Adult Wendy…which is probably the most controversial ship I have, but I grew up with the 2003 film and was one of the many little girls around Wendy’s age who had a crush on his version of Hook so… 🤷🏼‍♀️ Some versions of Hook (like Hoffman’s) I don’t particularly ship with anyone.

Two semi-popular OTP’s I really don’t care for are Smee/Hook and Jafar/Hook. With Smee, I can at least see the reason why some people ship it…I just personally see their relationship as more of like a father/son thing and also headcanon pretty hard that Smee is aro ace and is content being single. I don’t think Hook had a loving male role model in his life and Smee just sort of ends up adopting that parental role. Smee is the opposite of the dad I headcanon Hook grew up with—violent, controlling, hypermasculine… Smee is this gentle, friendly, soft character and that’s exactly what Hook needs in a father-figure even if he doesn’t like to admit it. Jafar is more for personal reasons. He’s a great villain but in my headcanon storyline for Disney Hook, they have a MAJOR falling out that would prevent them from ever even being allies again after a certain point, much less anything else.

These days when I’m writing, regardless of the version of Hook, I often (though not always) intentionally leave any romantic interest at least somewhat vague so the reader can decide for themselves who they want to pair them with. All of that said, I do think I’m in the minority in that I headcanon Hook as being heteroromantic and somewhere on the ace spectrum. Hook is—at least in modern interpretations—often overly sexualized in my opinion. We don’t get any hints anywhere in Barrie’s original material that Hook might have any sort of romantic or sexual interest…which leaves the door wide open for how people want to interpret him. Hook’s personality lends itself naturally, I think, to romanticism (love of music, flowers, etc.) but I personally choose to interpret his lack of any canon hints at ever having had a love interest as meaning that he’s not really going out of his way here to look for someone. Also, Barrie drew at least some inspiration for Hook from his own life, and we have good historic evidence to believe that Barrie was ace even though he did marry a woman. At the very least, if Hook isn’t somewhere on the ace spectrum, he IS canonically a gentleman and I despise any interpretation that has him jumping into bed with just about anyone regardless of how they feel about him. I think the Disney Twisted Tales book “Straight on Til Morning” sums up my idea of (pre-redemption arc) Hook well when a pirate tells Wendy, “He might slit your throat, but the rest of you is safe.”

#captain hook #captain james hook #james hook #captain hook disney #disney peter pan #disney villains #jason isaacs hook #jm barrie #unpopular opinion #unpopular opinions #hook/wendy #shipping #headcanons

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (manhua) - Vol. 1

Eurgh...I think this one is even worse than the first series. However, it is mercifully short (2 volumes), so at least it will be over quick. I think copies of this manhua in English are kind of a rare commodity so I'm just reading scans.

Ch. 1

-Back at it with the rushed adaptations as illustrated by Yuen Wong Yu. So far, the art in this is looking pretty good, but the writing is a mess, just like the previous series.

-This was a super condensed intro to 02. Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadimon are all introduced simultaneously and the 01 kids don't even attempt to hide the Digiworld from the 02 kids. It bugged me that when Daisuke got his digivice he was like "so this means...!" How does he know what anything means?? He just got sucked into a computer with zero context.

-Charmingly lame translation. Daisuke says stuff like "mad skillz" and "dag yo." Honestly, he would. Sooo funny how they kinda-sorta incorporated the Japanese names. "I'm Daisuke, but my friends call me Davis." That's like saying "I'm Maxine, but my friends call me Meredith!" Just...a completely different name lol. (Then again, I guess East Asian people do choose "American" names, so maybe it's not so crazy).

Ch. 2

-I really wonder about the production of this manhua. 01 was 5 volumes, but for 02 we only get 2. The writer/artist must have known from the start that they would only get 2 volumes because of how blisteringly fast the pace is. Was this based on bad sales for the first manhua? Or maybe the fact that the second season of the anime wasn't as popular?

-This chapter starts with Koushiro saying "I found out why digivolution isn't working," but we never had a scene showing digivolution not working lol. We also see all of the armor digivolutions in this chapter...without any chapters of those getting introduced. So yeah, this is another adaptation that assumes you've seen the show so they skip all the exposition that would be helpful to a newcomer.

-Daisuke said "wiggedy wack"

Ch. 3

-Lol at Koushiro calling the 02 gang "kids" when he's like 2 years older than them. Middle schoolers do be like that tho...

-They just threw all the new digimon armor evolutions together in a way that I thought didn't really make sense. They find the digimentals and can't lift them up, but then later in the same chapter the digimentals just fly over to the kids and work? Why couldn't they pick them up the first time? Were the vibes off or something?

-I was sad to see they cut out the part where they make fun of Ken for calling himself the Digimon Emperor/Kaiser. I did enjoy Iori's "how does he do that with his hair?" bit tho lol

Ch. 4

-Wow, this one was laughably bad. Somehow we're already on Ken's redemption arc. The instant after Wormmon's sacrifice Taichi appears literally out of nowhere (he wasn't in the previous scenes at ALL) to be like "guys it's okay, Ken's brother died." WTF? How did he know that and where did he come from?? Clunkiest exposition ever. They could have at least thrown in a separate "Ken backstory" chapter to make this go down a lot smoother.

-Daisuke literally says "Dag. This thing got the bling bling" when he finds the miracle digimental loool. Why.

Ch. 5

-In horrible 90s/2000s slang news, in this chapter Daisuke calls Veemon "boo," randomly shouts "Extreme!" and says "that's straight." (I don't even remember that last one being a thing).

-I liked how they drew Stingmon. His face is a little more Wormmon-like than it was in the anime. I always prefer it when digivolutions bare a resemblance to their earlier forms instead of being totally random.

Ch. 6

-In this chapter, Daisuke calls Ken "homeslice." He's the only one they made talk "street" (or whatever you want to call it). The other characters are just like "Wtf?" lol. Of course, I'm sure none of this was in the original Chinese.

-Not gonna lie, going through this again is just reminding me how dull 02's story is :/ I think they kept presenting questions "who is this mysterious lady??" but then the answers we eventually got were underwhelming, so you were left feeling like "what was the point...?"

Ch. 7

-They mention the dark ocean, but it's completely without context because they didn't bother to adapt that episode lol. So much of this manga is out of context in general and would be a nightmare to read without prior knowledge.

-Weirdo dialogue when Hikari saves Miyako from falling off a cliff and says "I believe in you!" and Miyako's reaction is "wow! That was really nice, thank you!" As if Hikari was mean to her before...? Just awkward.

Onto the next! I bet it will be just as underwhelming (especially since the 2nd half of 02 isn't that great in the first place).

#digimon adventure 02 #manga #digimon #don't read this lol #manhua

[ginnsbaker]

Part 2 lets go

I hate the warning of “you will hate wanda more” why do you wish me pain 😭

How wanda is justifying this within her own mind is so idk the word maybe intriguing? I like how you’ve written this insight into her head.

Ew vision don’t ask about R or they might bash your head in (too soon?)

“Her lover’s apartment” - that made me feel sick

She buys a new set of lingerie—for you. - even i wanda’s biggest defender doesn’t believe this and that sucks youre killing me i knew reading this would only be heartbreaking

Hes fucking recording her. I want to kill him.

Is it petty the fact wanda is enjoying the sex makes me even more mad i hoped he was bad in bed im so petty i have to ask is reader at least better 💀

HE DREW HER FFS oh I thought she was gonna end it not give in OH HE IN HER NO PROTECTION FUCKING DICK HES TRYING TO BABY TRAP HER BASO OH THIS GUY I WANT TO KILL HIM did she take the morning after pill??? Oh thank god shes not pregnant although I would’ve loved to see what she would’ve done then

Missed feeling this way with you - EXCUSE ME IS SHE SAYING HES BETTER ISTG i like how thats what im getting mad at 😂 also i dont think i could ever let her touch me again knowing those hands have been touching another like ew god no

God i feel so sick reading this and i can’t believe im gonna say this but i hate wanda all through the series I didn’t hate her mad and disappointed but i never hated her and always wanted her endgame still but reading this i just can’t believe you’ve made me hate her (i both hate you for tjat and love you cos what a testament to your skills that is)

Im going to read part 3 but man i wish i could go back in time before i read this (in a good way) cos you have completely broken me (cos the writing is so good i hope I didn’t offend you by wording that terribly)

-🧃

i just found myself giggling at your reactions per scene. Lemme comment on some:

If the sex was bad, wanda wont keep with the affair. Lol, told you you'd hate her more in this

Nope, she simply mised being close to R, because she wasn't able to bring herself to be close to R, thanks to the guilt

Some things are really better left in the dark

Some ilgoss readers decided not to read in silent screams because they didn't want it to undo Wanda's redemption arc

But the truth is, Wanda's always carried this past with her, we just didnt know it before

#🧃 anon #Iss asks

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O’Brien & Zoey Deutch On Influencers, Erotic 80s Thrillers & Being #TeamTaylor

"I had some really wonderful, insightful conversations with public figures who have been cancelled." - by Harriet Sim

Starring in the confronting new drama Not Okay, co-stars Dylan O’Brien and Zoey Deutch sit down with marie claire Australia to talk about what drew them to the film, their first experience with influencer culture, and why they'll always been on Taylor Swift's team.

Marie Claire: Not Okay puts influencer culture under a microscope and examines how it’s become part of the zeitgeist. What drew you both to the script?

Zoey Deutch: I'm really fascinated by cancel culture. When you do a horrible thing, there are consequences, but we're in an interesting time where we sit behind our computers and play God, and decide who gets to live or die. Public shaming and cancellation isn't a new thing, but the scope, and how quick and inescapable it is, is new. I was really interested in that conversation and asking the question, should people be allowed to make mistakes? Do you believe in redemption? I think everybody looks inward. That's always been a really interesting thing for me to discuss; Internet culture, privilege and the mindless endless scrolling that we do. On social media you see war and school shootings, and then sprinkled in there are ads for hair and gummies and beyond Facetuned photos, and you're just hit with this stuff. That’s what drew me to the story.

MC: What was your first exposure to influencer culture?

Dylan O'Brien: I guess YouTube was the first iteration of it, and since then it's just had these different evolutions. It feels like anybody can become an influencer with the way TikTok is designed, it makes it easier to find your way to anyone's pages.

MC: Did any of the current influencers or make for a great character research?

ZD: We spoke to, and I won’t name names, many cancelled people. I had some really wonderful, insightful and interesting conversations with public figures who have been cancelled. They were multifaceted people who had made bad mistakes, and were suffering consequences, and were wondering, how long would they be suffering for.

MC: Dylan, you use Twitter, as a platform for advocacy on everything from pro-choice, LQBTQI rights, black lives matter ect. Why is using your voice and your platform on this medium something that is important to you?

DO: I think it's mostly driven by what's been going on in the world. The way I see it is that it’s this collective, this conversation and fight. In such unprecedented times it's sort of an emotional desperation. If you can possibly bring even the tiniest little percentage of awareness, I think it's our collective duty to do that together.

MC: Zoey you’re in Ed Sheeran’s Perfect music video and Dylan you’re the heartbreaker in Taylor’s All Too Well. What was the experience like?

DO: Working with Taylor was amazing. I can’t believe she’s real sometimes. She just naturally became a friend so quickly. It felt like we’d known each other for years, we’re the same age and have a lot of mutual friends. She’s the best and so brilliant.

ZD: What’s funny about both Taylor and Ed is they are both so prolific. They write hit after hit. Their songs are so deep, vulnerable and personal. I remember asking Ed ‘are you ever worried you’ll get writer’s block?’ And he’s like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They are similar in that sense, they just have so much to say.

MC: What genre would you like to tackle next?

DO: I’d love to do a horror movie.

ZD: Me too!

MC: Would you play the hero or the villain?

Dylan: I don’t think I’d be believable as the bad guy.

Zoey: Really? I think he could be a good creepy murderer and I mean that lovingly.

Dylan: For weeks I’ve been on this 80s erotic thriller kick. We’re got to bring back the erotic thriller.

Zoey: Dylan’s interested in being fully nude for an hour and a half. I feel confident we can make that happen.

MC: Have you read A Court of Thorn and Roses? It’s essentially fairy porn, but they’re making it into a film.

Dylan: What, no?

Zoey: Ok, we need to delve deep. Dylan’s looking into fairy porn now.

Dylan: This is cool.

Zoey: Okay, this is your next movie Dylan.

#dylan o'brien #not okay press #not okay cast #zoey deutch #taylor swift

[thequeenofsastiel]

I was tagged by @wintercrushes to list my top nine movies, so here we go.

In no particular order:

As a little girl, I found Mulan deeply empowering on a fundamental level. Almost every movie I saw had a man at the center of it, or as the protector, while women were generally either rewards for their bravery and/or damsels in distress. Mulan was brave, strong, adorably awkward, and willing to risk everything for her family. Seeing a woman be incredible like that, even if she had to impersonate a man, made me feel like I could be too. Also I was awkward as well, and it was nice to feel like that wouldn't stop me from being a hero if I wanted to be. I credit Mulan and Captain Janeway for making me feel that being a woman was a beautiful thing.

The Road to El Dorado was also a meaningful movie for me as a child, but that was related, I believe, to my bisexual identity. Miguel and Tulio were originally meant to be a couple, and I found their relationship deeply compelling, far more than most straight relationships. I was also completely in love with Chel. Dem curves. Plus it was just fun, with amusing dialogue and excellent music. It remains one of my absolute favorite movies.

Another movie I watched as a child which I believe I found compelling because of my queer identity. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I think on a deep level I understood all the queer subtext in Interview With The Vampire, and, though it was darker and sadder than I tended to enjoy, I was fascinated by and in love with Louis and Lestat's relationship. I haven't seen it in many years, though, and I would very much like to watch it again.

While I don't know how objectively good of a movie Independence Day is, it's one of my favorites that my dad and I watched all the time when I was a kid, and every 4th of July we put it on. We can quote the whole thing. I think I'll always have a soft spot for it.

Did the novel deserve better? Absolutely. This adaptation didn't do it justice at all. Regardless, World War Z remains one of my favorite movies, and is definitely my favorite zombie movie. Regrettably, I can't explain why, I just know that every time I watch it I enjoy myself greatly.

I think that Cabin in the Woods is absolutely excellent. Hilarious, surreal, an excellent parody, and entirely unique, this movie is a delight for me from beginning to end.

While this movie, as with the whole series, did not do Gene Roddenberry's vision for Star Trek justice, being far more about action and war, instead of a thoughtful commentary on social issues delivered through a vehicle of exploration of space and attempts to understand and connect with other cultures, it's still a delight to me. I adore the relationship between Spock and Kirk. In truth I find all the characters interesting and enjoyable to watch, though I didn't care at all for the relationship between Spock and Uhura. But I find most straight relationships to be a bit of a turn off and always have, so I don't think my opinion is necessarily rational here.

This list would not be complete without Ever After, my favorite of the very few straight romance movies that I actually enjoy. Drew Barrymore's Danielle is an emotionally strong bookworm whom I absolutely adore, and Henry, despite his flaws, draws me as well. I love them together. Why that is, exactly, is not something I can fully explain. But I do.

I think that The Lion King 2 is vastly underrated. Getting to see Simba as King, and all the ways his childhood trauma impacted his behavior, was fascinating. I also adored Kiara, and, as I am a sucker for redemption arcs, ESPECIALLY those that stem from overcoming poor parenting, watching Kovu shake off his mother's toxic influence, and become the kind lion that he is on the inside, was deeply meaningful for me, as I was facing the same challenges. And there was something very sweet about the two of them finding themselves in each other.

I realize that a lot of these are movies that were influential to me as a child, and I think that's likely because I much prefer television shows over movies as an adult. I like the long form nature of them, and getting to see people change in a gradual way that feels more realistic and requires fewer montages, fun though those may be (looking at you, "I'll Make A Man Out Of You") is much more appealing to me.

I'll tag @heretherebedork @absolutebl @sastiel-daily and @infinitysgrace

#my asks #mulan #lion king 2 #road to el dorado #world war z #star trek 2009 #ever after #independence day #cabin in the woods #interview with the vampire #bookmarked

[bearpillowmonster]

S7

The thing is, I think I would've been alright with the outcome of S6. When they do stuff like that, I feel like it has to justify its reason for undoing it.

Lex isn't familiar with friends or the normal way of growing up so he has an almost innocent view of people, he takes advantage of that and uses it to his advantage, that's what he was taught. Once he learns the hard way that it's not supposed to be that way, he starts to walk the line and see the difference between black, white and grey. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is his character here, he's hurt and that drives people so far that they'd start to act like him. Human. And you know who showed him that kindness that he never knew first? Clark. Alien. That's the only way he was going to get it because human nature always got in the way. He never knew how to be human, how to get along with them, so he got along with an alien and look at where it brought him. An obsession to find more like him. More friends. (more cousins as Stitch would say)

Speaking of, in addition to Chloe and Lois, we have Kara and get some cousin on cousin action.

Just disappointed she doesn't wear flannel.

But back to Lex, he played that part and now it's time for redemption. He went too far again because...it's human nature. And with human nature, Lana no longer wants him SO he's in love with Kara now.

You ever see that YT video of the guy who draws a random picture and then tries to find the guy he drew in the street. Well that's what Lex does with Kara, he thinks she's an angel that saved him from death the same way Clark did. (funny thing about those aliens, they're like the answer to your prayers and become your friend, almost like Lilo and Stitch (hey, I brought it full circle!))

But she's actually in love with Jimmy...that's interesting! But Lana...yes, Lana, I know, I know, I'm spoiling but she makes Clark realize just like with his parents, that humans aren't perfect. He has to learn how ordinary people come with flaws and some come with extremes. It further isolates his nature and shifts his goals left and right, it's an interesting decision to take that relationship.

That's the thing- time. We saw little to no Jimmy and Kara after it was introduced, it always reverts back to the way it was like a broken record. Lana is at least convincing enough because she was at one point Clark's love interest in the comics too but even she's given so many annoying factors that mirror Jimmy's. Every time Lana ends up with Clark, it lasts for what? How long? What is the longest they've ended up together, you can't ship them especially when they shoehorn her into these situations. Look at Episode 8. She had no relevance whatsoever there, she claims she was there because Kara told her so off screen. We didn't need another person to tell her what she is.

Episode 5 has a really good concept and heck, is a really good episode overall. And I understand why they chose what they did in order to keep him "held back" and "grounded mentally" but that was the perfect opportunity to learn to fly, turn something negative into something positive. It has big shoes to fill since that wasn't the moment though, so it better be even better.

They also have a small gum obsession, I suppose they were getting some good sponsorships at this point.

#smallville #clark kent #lana lang #lex luthor #this series was basically made for him #supergirl #kara kent

[smallandangry24]

A Not-So-Brief Character Analysis of one Anakin Skywalker

TW for discussion of Imperialism, Nazis, and events paralleling sh00tings, brief mention of domestic violence and slavery.

Hello there, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of ranting about fascism on the internet (I know, you’re waiting with baited breath): Star Wars Edition, featuring a very beloved character -- Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader.

Star Wars is many things -- found families. Hope. Rebellion. Democracy. The importance of standing up for what is right, and for those who do not have a voice, even if the world is against you. Holding others and yourself accountable. Corruption. Accidental baby acquisition. And the first space western among them. But at its conception, Star Wars drew a very hard line in the sand (I know, we don’t like sand, but bare with me) regarding a subject that was very relevant at the time, and I would argue still is: Imperialism, Fascism, Slavery, and Nazism.  

“But Mads”, you might ask “why would you get on the internet to rant about such things, probably bringing a very angry toxic fanbase out of the woodworks against you?” For a few reasons, one of them possibly being that I’m a fool. One of those reasons definitely being that sometimes, something needs to be said, regardless of opposition, and you need to be the one to say it, especially if no one else will (and what’s more Star Wars than that?). I hope you’ll find it in yourself to stay with me, but that’s beyond my control. So here it is:

Anakin is a tragedy, in many ways. 1. He could be anyone -- someone’s boyfriend, a brother, a best friend, a son, the guy sitting two tables down in a chili’s in the middle of nowhere Iowa (idk if y’all have Chili’s but roll with it). 2. He cared about his family. 3. He WAS manipulated in fear and put in a situation no child (yes, CHILD) should have ever been put in on the battlefield, nevermind his status as a slave. It is an ESSENTIAL part of his story, but not in the way I see interpreted by so many fans. There is a MESSAGE in his character... a great many!! Sure, he is a type of prodigal son, falling from grace but returning eventually for -- here’s where we disagree. Redemption. Can we call it that? Is he really redeemed? The Prodigal Son, at least in my interpretation, is not about redemption, but forgiveness and mercy -- given because the father, who I think the story is really about, is good -- not because that kindness is deserved (because in it’s context, the story is not about what is deserved, but I digress). Anakin, Vader, can be a story about how people cannot be summed up by good and evil, and instead are made by their choices, and that we have the power to change our choices every day, and that there can be redemption for some. 

But that’s not all there is, or even the biggest part of his character.

There are more messages. Monsters can be anyone, and if we don’t hold people accountable and learn from our past, history will come back to haunt us. My problem is that very few hold him accountable. Let’s go back to the roots. Star Wars isn’t exactly subtle. “The Empire,” “Storm troopers” (the name of Hitler’s private army), the concept of a nationalistic regime taking over under the power of a charming dictator bent on expansion by force, using propaganda to unite his people against a common enemy of a peaceful people who share a religion, etc. It’s about Nazis, and more than their well known atrocities -- about the importance of accountability, uniting in rebellion, how they can come to be, and, most importantly, punching them. 

Back to Anakin. He’s young, under the influence of the man who’s a parallel of Hitler, very stressed because he’s leading an army and just got put in charge of a child, probably needed more talking to regarding healthy levels of attachment and relationships, and he’s been put in a position of power. He’s also played by Hayden Christensen (who did a remarkable job -- this is not a criticism of his performance but an applause. The problem lies in how some interpret it), who, I’ve been reliably informed, is very cute. An increasingly common reaction is “oh it’s not his fault, poor baby,” or  WORSE, “It’s Obi-Wan’s/Padme’s/Ahsoka’s fault -- he/she should have paid more attention/proclaimed his/her love more.” 

*Is violently unimpressed*

Let’s also look at what he did!! *drumroll* He betrays all of his loved ones -- strangling his pregnant wife Padme, who tries to appeal to him numerous times while also stating her love, trying to kill his brother/father figure Obi-Wan, who’s last words prior were about how proud he is of Anakin, and proceeded to tell him he loved him and also tried to bring him to his senses multiple times while Anakin is ACTIVELY TRYING TO MURDER HIM, enslaves the clones, his friends, who fought for him, were willing to die for him, were already struggling with a lack of human rights, further betrayed by Anakin forcing them to turn on their family the Jedi and help him commit mass genocide, made worse by the fact that Anakin used to be a slave, and not only participates and initiates said genocide against his own people (but let’s also not forget the genocide and coverup of the one he committed against the native Tusken people), but cuts down the children who trust him and run to him for help. He his not only a parallel of naziim, but also domestic abusers, imperialists and, currently, school shooters. AND IT’S NOT JUST THESE CHOICES!!! There are more I’m probably forgetting, but it’s the fact that it’s not just ONE time. He makes the choice to be this person over. and over. AND OVER. AND OVER AGAIN. And for what?? To save Padme?? He just choked her out! And after she DIES, he KEEPS GOING. “He was too scared to return, the canonically thought about it,” WELL?? First of all, Obi-Wan was literally begging him to come back and secondly, even if he didn’t “return” he could have stopped, idk, actively hunting down and murdering people and supporting the Empire. Just throwing that out there. 

Yes, Palpatine chose him to manipulate. FOR A REASON: He knew Anakin was powerful enough to turn the tide of the war-- which would have just ended with the death of General Grievous -- in his favor, AND because such power would have been a threat to him. Anakin had the power to threaten Palpatine and the Empire at any time.... but instead, he repeatedly chose to use that power to undo everything he had sworn to protect, everything his friends had fought and died for. And for what purpose? Last time I checked, you don’t strangle people to say “I love you.”

That’s the tragedy of Anakin for me -- the repeated choice to fall, and that he could be any one of us if we allow it. Too often, we let him hide behind a mask and a new name. I get it -- I, too, am a sucker for transformation and cinematic symbolism. But Anakin’s transformation marks the solidification of his choices and the nature being revealed in him -- the corruption of hate and anger and obsession -- but it DOESN’T MAKE HIM A DIFFERENT PERSON. He can’t escape accountability for his actions by hiding behind a fancy new title. Are you a simp, or an apologist? I get it, he’s cute, and there’s an appeal to knowing someone would burn the world for you, but be careful of the line you tread -- with this character, it’s pretty thin.... and quite frankly, my ace ass doesn’t care how hot a Nazi is.

Today, I encountered a new perspective I’ve never seen before, regarding the line, “there’s still good in him.” Iconic, I know. And despite the above... ooops paragraphs, know that I AM A MASSIVE VADER FAN. His character is incredible and complex and (I knooooow) cool. Horribly so, but yes, you can’t deny the dramatics. And I’m an even bigger fan of redemption, hope, the idea that no matter what you’ve done, you can work to be better. I’ve struggled with Anakin -- I’ve wanted to say “YES, in the end, when he choses to overthrow Sidious, he is Redeemed!” .... but it never quite felt right. Today, I encountered the phrase “so what?” Okay, not literally, but someone might as well have written it on a brick and slapped it across my face. There was good in him. So what? He still chose to do those things. And he chose to do them over and over again. Does the fact that he was capable of good excuse the genocide? the slavery? the murder? Does it not make it worse? Do we owe forgiveness to someone who could have been a good man? Are we obligated to -- RESPONSIBLE for bending over backwards to convince someone to be good again? Even at the price of more innocent blood? Or is it HIS responsibility not to spill it in the first place?

The tragedy is in that he was good, once, if a person can be good, but he made those choices anyway. The tragedy is in that he could be anyone. The tragedy is that he is MANY someones today. The tragedy -- what makes a tragedy -- is that anywhere, in all of this mess, it could have been over. It could have been prevented. He could have stopped. The tragedy is that it didn’t need to happen, but it happened anyway.

Today I encountered “It was his choice.” Today, I saw written, “Don’t take that away from him.” 

#Anakin Skywalker #currently waiting for permission to name the author of those quotes!! #Darth Vader #Star Wars #star wars prequels #character analysis #star wars is about nazis #imperialism #slavery #the clones #obi wan kenobi #Padme Amidala #ahsoka tano #please read the trigger warning #the violent opinions of an asexual who hates fascism #I'm so scared #but it needed to be said #also Hayden Christensen did an amazing job #Vader is a good character #but that doesn't make him a good person

[haruhey]

chronological thoughts of twd 11x17

- saw sebastian and threw up a lil in my mouth

- saw negan and threw up a lil more in my mouth

- omg rick

- did judith start having an accent omg

- SEASON 5 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

- where r they

- omg lance hornsby girlboss

- daryl’s stupid scar pls

- DONT TALK TO MAGGIE SHUT UP NEGAN

- carol being the first line of defense iktr iktr ❤️

- omg daryl with the slay plan

- i hate negan i hate him i hate his screentime i hate him not a redemption arc let him die please i so viscerally need him to die

- this WILL NOT be the season i like negan shut up stop trying to make me

- oh a whisperers comeback

- omg that walker MACKIN

- i love my flustered angry boy lance 🫶

- its giving my math prof when his mic wasn’t working and he almost cried

- AHAHAHA lance got shot

- OMG DARYL

- lance is in his thanos i’ll do it myself era

- oh that scene of him glaring in the car was kinda sexy ngl hi sir

- i wish i could drive this good

- OH MY GOD THEY GOT SIDEFUCKED BY DARYL

- oh slay kill sebastian

- omg yumiko i haven’t seen her in a hot minute

- WE WANT JUSTICE DELIVER SEBASTIAN NOW WE WANT JUSTICE DELIVER SEBASTIAN NOW WE WANT JUSTICE DELIVER SEBASTIAN NOW

- overthrow the government OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT

- let rosita take her personal day mercer get ur stick out of ur butt 💔

- ew i hate negan’s stupid dumb face

- oh who is april what is the tea

- negan killed her didnt he

- they should kiss maybe i think

- wait what is this plan are they sending negan in to keep the people in there safe?? how is this accomplishing that?? is he tattling on hornsby???

- oo “if no one else is playing by the rules why are you?”

- CAROLLLLLL

- OMG CAROL IN HER NANCY DREW ERA 🫶🫶

- her shirt looks so comfortable

- omg gracie called daryl a dumb loser idiot who sucks

- omg omg omg what is going on they look like they suck so bad

- do u think if u pressed the ice machine ice would come out

- OMG THE PHOTO

- no daryl why are you so sentimental with ur stupid picture of u and the kids u love so much

- wait no i think carol just has a picture of them omg 🫶🫶🫶

- OMG CAROL IN HER MICHAEL MYERS ERA W THAT KNIFE PLSS

- THE SHOT OF JUDITH IN THE CUPBOARD PLS ITS NOT FUNNY BUT IT IS

- JERRY IS JUST SO ?? HIMBO??? I LOVE HIM???

- yo what are you doin’ here man?

- “where is carol?” me throughout 11B man

- OMG A GIRLBOSS COLLAB

- they should team up and kill negan together and then make out

- how long do u think negan practiced that line in his head so he would look cool in front of carol be honest

- OMG NEGAN SPILLING THE TEA

- carol girlboss 🫶🫶🫶

- SHUT UP PAMELA WE LITERALLY KNOW WHO DID THIS

- omg the dad slayed

- yumiko should have just let them kill pamela

- HELL YEAHHH DOWN WITH THE MILTONS THE MILTONS ARE MURDERERS HELL YEAHHHHHH

- omg yumiko and magna back on their girlboss wlw relationship love them together

- OH NO JERRY GOT SEEN

- omg the commonwealth people got their backs

- UNION STATION????

- oh my god negan shut up carol does not care

- OMG IS HE SCARED CAROL IS GONNA KILL HER

- carol is like ??? u??? when my boytoy is out there fighting for his life???

- omg maggie and daryl both look so haggard pls someone just give them a hug 😭

- ewww theyre talking about leah

- GLENN NAME DROP

- ok daryl and maggie kiss now

- gracie’s cardigan looks so comfortable

- omg they’re so super stealth rn

- that man is such an idiot fr

- god rosita is so slay i love her so much its insane

- the sewer is so disgusting i would never go down there rip to them but i’m different

- annie leave negan for maggie challenge

- carol and negan r so bold

- carol is my girlboss fr fr 🫶

- IS THAT

- oh my god hes disgusting

- yeah that’s correct u suck so bad sebastian

- NEGAN SAYING “i have seen her pull bunnies right out of her ass with my very own two eyes” CAROL GOES 😐😑

- carol continuing to be described as the epitomy of girlboss in the show iktr iktr

- ARE THEY GONNA SHOOT THEM

- omg thats what negan deserved i have no pity for him

- pamela lies! sebastian kills! period!

- wtf are those walkers how did they get so close is nobody doing their jobs

- TEAR GASSING THE CROWDS??? R U KIDDING ME??? THATS SO FUCKED??/!-???

- omg am i mercer

- be the change you want to see in the world mercer kill pamela

- rosita pubging irl rn

- OMG TORN IN HALF REST IN PIECES FR

- people in power stop drinking when there’s trouble challenge

- no fucking way pamela is ‘boys will be boys’ing this shit no fucking way pamela istg

- OH MY FOS SHE HIT GIM

- omg carol is playing along with pamela to get what she wants thats so slay of her

- where did they get all of that rope to tie that walker up omg

- AHAHAHAHA GET HIM DARYL GET HIM

- nooo the smirk lance is insane he needs to go to therapy or smth fr fr

- omg angsty caryl moment my heart literally dropped

- boo negan should just leave boo negan redemption arc booooo

- omg negan slept with mercer to get into the commonwealth

- um he also tortured the love of her life for like a week ofc shes wary of him???

- ok but yeah he does owe it to maggie idc idc idc

- AHAHAHA LANCE LOOKS LIKE SUCH AN IDIOT WHEN DARYL KNIFE TO THE THROATS HIM

- if daryl yelled at me i think i would cry i hate it i hate it i hate it

#haruviews #the walking dead season 11 #twd #twd spoilers

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Overall review

Now that I finally completed the series Dance of the phœnix, here’s my general review. For those who don’t know about this drama, it is the story of Feng Wu, a prodigious cultivator that lost all of her memories when someone stole her phœnix blood, which made her special. As she tries to regain her spiritual powers to awaken her sleeping master so she can return where she comes from, she makes friends, allies, but also many ennemies.

Plot

I would say the story is overall promising at the beginning, but as we progress through the series, things start to go astray. Character development isn’t a strength, they are all mostly the same at the beginning of the drama and at the end, except for Yu Mingye and Zuo Qingluan, who are in my opinion the two solid strengths of this story. Without them, it would have rather boring. 

My biggest issue with Dance of the phœnix is the many plot holes. Some characters disappear sometimes without any explanation and then they come back without any details as to why they left in the first place. Maybe it has something to do with the actors being unavailable? But the writers could have done a better job than that to hide it. Also, when we read the official summaries everywhere, it says that Feng Wu’s name is Meng Yuan and that she’s a medical student. BUT NEVER EVER IN THE DRAMA IS THAT MENTIONNED! There are clues here and there about the fact that she would be from our world (blowing candles for a birthday, eating ramen but has the quick ones in a box, references to Liu Bei, etc). Mu Jiuzhou, her master, mentions that she’s from another world, but we never get to learn how she came and where is she from. It really bothered me. Also there were a few stories that were a little useless. Especially the one about the wolf lady. It was cute. Then it became extremely sad and I’m still very very mad about what happened. The whole motives behind the bad guys was very weak in my opinion. Overall, it had potential, but it was wasted.

Overall, plot wise this does not deserve more than a 6/10.

Acting

There was good acting and bad acting. It wasn’t so consistent for Yang Chaoyue. I’ve seen comments saying that she seemed emotionless, but that is not what bothered me so much. I feel sometimes she was going way over the top in her acting and it wasn’t matching the character. But at some point, her character wasn’t consistent in the script to begin with, so it must have been hard to keep up. Jun Linyuan did an okay job, like it didn’t strike me as exceptional, but it wasn’t bad. It’s hard to judge when they play an emotionless character. But there were definitely some nice scenes from him, especially after he got a little more comfortable around Feng Wu as Jun Linyuan and he started teasing her.

The two actors that really impressed me were Jinna Fu and Wang Haoxuan. Jinna Fu had to portray the so ever complicated Zuo Qingluan and she did very well. I could believe in every mood swings she had. She made me hate her character, to the point I couldn’t see any redemption for her. And at the same time, I loved Zuo Qingluan just for that. She was alive, albeit motivated by the wrong reasons. I can’t say I’ve ever seen her out of character, even when it seemed a little inconsistent to me (I blame more of the writing than anything else). And finally, Wang Haoxuan. Can we talk about how Yu Mingye was perfect at all times? It was such a complex character, thorn between the expectations of his father, but his gentle nature. He could be cheeky and arrogant without me falling out of it. He made me laugh and cry. I think it was the most relatable character and Wang Haoxuan did an excellent job at showing all the different sides of this tormented child.

For me, the acting in general deserves a 8/10, but that’s because Jinna Fu and Wang Haoxuan did a wonderful job, the average was around maybe 7/10 for me.

Visuals

Here, this is what drew me first to this drama. I really liked the soft look of scenes. The costumes were simple, yet elegant. I enjoyed the colours being consistent for each sect of cultivation. The hairstyles were really a joy to look at, especially for the disciples of the Biluo Palace. I was very impressed. For sure, I’ve seen much more intricate costumes watching historical/xianxia drama, but here it was just enough. The colouring of the scenes were always appeasing. The one thing I didn’t really like is that they made the empress go darker and darker to show that she was the villainess while I think it would have made more sense if she became brighter and brighter. But that’s just my opinion.

The CGI really wasn’t so bad to be honest. Some creatures weren’t that great, but the little bird was great. I just wish they didn’t give it a robotic voice, but oh well. Also they didn’t go overboard with the spells, it wasn’t all over the place and they kept it minimal in special effects, which I like better. Cool special effects are nice, but once it starts becoming overwhelming, I lose all interest.

This drama gets a 9/10, because nothing’s perfect, but they did very well in that aspect.

Soundtrack

I think the soundtrack was one of the strengths of this drama. I really liked both the opening and the ending songs, though I didn’t listen to them every time I watched an episode. I also feel that in general, the music was appropriate to what was happening and really set up the mood of the story.

Here again, it’s 9/10, even though I don’t have as much to say.

Should you watch this drama? I would say no. It has lots of good things and I was pretty excited since it was from the same director as the Untamed, but however it didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s a sweet love story, but unfortunately, I don’t think it’s worth the 30 episodes. Everything was resolved in a very unsatisfying way, a lot of questions were left unanswered and to me the writers didn’t do a very good job to make everything coherent. This drama gets a 7/10, and I’m generous because when I first started watching, I really liked it.

List of full recaps

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30

#dance of the phoenix #qie ting feng ming #yang chao yue #xu kai cheng #guo cheng #gao ji cai #wang hao xuan #estelle chen #jinna fu #chinese drama #c-drama #cdrama #xuanhuan #xuanhuan drama #drama review #drama recap

[mdhwrites]

I think Dana explained the betas though, it was the characters in a much different, heavier and darker story, that probably would have leaned more into the idea of witches and… well hell. Since Hieronymus Bosch drew lots of purgatory images. But you cant really do that for Disney. Plus to be fair, you’re meant to be able to throw ideas at a wall (even if they are very unlikely to work) for concept art and then be willing to immediately dump stuff and try new ideas without getting attached.

 Side note, while the big selling point for the Betas is that they are edgy or can be used to explore darker subjects, people sometimes just make them borderline evil, or just… actual evil, did you know its very easy to find beta fics tagged with non con and/or underage? Yea. They make Willow actively hateful and sadistic or make the Lumity ship a copy paste of Catradora, aka have them beat the life out of each other but then say uwu owo its not toxic, they love each other.

(seriously i cannot take ship discourse in fandoms seriously, they'll say one ship is toxic or problematic and turn around and ship the same thing but worse.)

For the first point... You're absolutely right. I should not judge for someone exploring different possibilities in concept art because I have no idea when in production that art was made or what the idea for the show was at the time. A LOT of things go through a half a dozen rewrites before the public ever sees them. Frozen apparently came down to the wire for its final plot and it's a miracle we got what we did at all. And even then, I think that movie is still a bit of a mess at times.

Also, fun fact, I have considered an Owl House AU where Luz went to hell instead. In that, Eda would be a demon looking for redemption and her only real ally, but also the only one trying to be real with her so Luz keeps thinking the demons who want to manipulate her are the ones to trust. Amity would have also been an angel undercover and supposed to be giving reports to god about the comatose child who's soul went to hell for some reason when the worst she deserves is Limbo. I could do a concept pitch blog for it but *shrug*

So I think it's personally wrong to conflate canon material with fan material and what is being criticized. Fanworks and the like are one of the safest places to explore different topics or express pain and the like you've had. It also only commonly has one or two eyes on it to say something might be toxic while media on tv usually has a few dozen and the fact that no one catches the red flags is... questionable. Especially why those red flags exist.

(As a note: I can't weigh in on if Catradora is toxic or not because I have watched only one episode of that show. Not even the first. I really ought to though since it seems up my alley.)

WITH THAT SAID, fanfiction authors aren't exactly going to always be respectful about such topics and the like and it took the majority of a year for anyone to tell me people used the Betas for more than murderous, drug addicted psycopaths. Even those people praised a story for having the two get into random fist fights with strangers in a Denny's parking lot so... Yeah. I'm not going to say the characterization of the Betas in the fandom is the best, or their use for that matter.

With all that said, I feel like the nicer Amity has become, and the more the two have come closer and closer to their Beta designs, the less I see of the Betas. Even now, I see lot less blood smears and sadistic grins and a lot more "It's just a normal Lumity picture except a different design." These aren't criticisms really but more just me ruminating on the fact that I think the fandom lost a lot of people who liked the edgier possibilities because of how poorly the show handled its own edge.

As for me as a content creator, have I ever considered using the Betas? I mean, I have for a one off or two, notably a one off where Luz is a dragon and Amity the willing sacrifice to her, but a one off can be hard to capture anything really interesting about them. I'd say I've only had one idea where I maybe wanted to use the Betas and that idea is a Noir Mystery? (It's complicated) story where Amity is a brothel owner in part to make her mom mad, Boscha is both bouncer and stripper for said brothel and dating Amity and Luz is a detective but not super gritty or the like. More Columbo (from what I hear, haven't seen it myself) than normal pulpy fiction Noir types. Also her detective style would lean a lot more into reading people and connections than forensics.

Another story I could do a concept pitch blog for since god only knows when or if I'll ever get to it. That idea is WAY more fleshed out than the going to hell one though.

But yeah, the betas are fine in my opinion to exist and mostly fine in how the fandom uses them because... I mean, if you don't like what they're being used for, just don't consume it. It's not necessary AT ALL to be a part of the fandom and I think a lot of fandoms really need to learn to chill about content creators creating content they don't like.

I don't think people realize the sorts of spaces they're creating within their own fandom because of that or the damage to their show's popularity either. It's a complicated topic and one I've had to give a lot of thought as, well... Ex-erotica writer, remember? And I've still done one erotic story for TOH too, even if it's aged up.

#Betas TOH #The Owl House #Rambles