#also just... make it smaller. there's too many arcs and too many diversions from the main narrative

[leofrith]

acv hate on my dash and i can't even be mad about it because they make some good points 😶

[heliosthegriffin]

He’s channeling his energy productively.

Jaune walked down the halls of Beacon backed to his dorm, it had been a long day so far, not a hard day though, just one of those days that kept going and seemed like they wouldn’t end. Making it back to his room would at least let him spend the rest of day how’d like.

The sounds of laughter followed a group of older girls walked pasted him. It was outside of class time so the students could wear whatever they wanted. They wore clothes that were made to go clubbing.

Jaune’s eyes had a life of their own as they stared at the girls walking past, you’d think having seven sisters would make him more respectful wouldn’t you? But, having a lesbian older sister, and a couple others that were bi, all they did was teach him how to peak without getting caught.

That said he’d doubt his friends would call him out for staring, considering some of the girls here had assets that would give Yang pause.

They didn’t notice him pausing and walked by, a fragrant fruity perfume left behind. Jaune couldn’t help but look behind him, watching those girls go, a sway in their step that cause something in Jaune to rise up.

“Dammit,” Jaune cursed as his pants tightened up.

Jaune look around before he adjusted his pants, so that his zipper wouldn’t fly off by accident again, and tucking his erection down his pant leg so that it’d be less noticeable.

Jaune felt frustration well up in him, this had become a reoccurring problem since he started Beacon. The girls here were just too damn hot! It made walking anywhere a damn hassle and a embarrassment, and he had no way to release any of his damn tension in his dorm, Nora had broken the locks to the bathroom and the door; That had probably been the closest he had ever come to killing somebody.

Letting out an other sigh he resigned himself to shuffling back to the dorm as the blood went flowing elsewhere. He should just thank his lucky stars that he’d never popped a boner anywhere near Ruby, Yang would have found out somehow, probably Nora, and then killed him.

Right as he got close to the dorms, Jaune’s blood-flow was back to normal, but he still felt tense and incredibly worked up.

The sound of weights being lifted, treadmills running, and other exercise equipment sounded from nearby.

The gym was only a short walk away from the dorms. Jaune paused for a moment, Nora and Yang always seemed to go to the gym when they go worked up, maybe he should try it, it’s not like he didn’t go often anyway, so what would it hurt to work out so stress?

---------

Jaune stared at the scroll in his hands, ‘10:03′ where did the time go? He went in at ‘4:26′, went to the weight rack, and then everything seemed to go into a blur, and then the next thing he remembered was a upperclassman telling him the gym was closing in soon.

“Guess, I had more stress to work out than I thought I did.” Jaune said to himself walking to the gym showers, suddenly starting to feel exhausted and wanting to jump into bed at the closest opportunity.

-----------

The next morning was agonizing, his arms felt like they were made of pure, while on fire and being pulled apart! Maybe he went too hard last night.

He was also feeling cavernously hungry. No wonder Nora has an appetite like a black-hole.

------

Jaune’s problem came back in full force during lunch when Yang leaned too far back and the top couple buttons of her shirt decided they wanted a life in the air force.

Leaving Jaune with a delicious view of her cleavage.

Yang looked at her shirt, “Shoot, I actually liked this one.” She then resumed eating.

A hand caressing his leg, brought him out of his vision. “Are you alright, Jaune?” Pyrrha’s warm, gentle voice whispered into his ear

A mildly blush went up his face. “Yeah, just, uh, taking in the view.”

“Oh, ok then, but if your not feeling well, I can take you back to the room.”

“I’m good.” Jaune said a little too fast, as his mind started to fill in the blanks of what his monkey brain wanted to do to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha nodded.

Jaune felt thankful that Yang or Nora hadn’t found a chance to tease him about being alone with Pyrrha. 

Lunch came and went, and Jaune made sure he was the last to get up, so that his problem wouldn’t be seen. He couldn’t exactly fiddle with himself under the table without drawing attention. So with all the swiftness he had, he tucked himself into his pant-leg while getting up.

In hindsight, maybe walking behind his developed female friends, and especially Blake, was a bad idea. His other head disagreed with him.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, combat class was a mess, but mostly cause he can’t being drawn to his friend outfits, they showed so much leg.

He went back to the gym again after class, he went to the treadmill and leg exercise machine. The upperclassman had to tell him to leave again.

-------

The rest of the week seemed to follow a similar pattern for Jaune, he’d wake up sore, but a little less so each day, go to class, end up aroused, then pent up, then go to the gym when he had the free time, and only when he had free time, going into those workout trances made him lose anytime for studying, hanging out, or training. 

Training with Pyrrha was probably the hardest part of his week, literally and metaphorical, because while he loved Pyrrha like a sister, his body constantly reminded him that they were not siblings! It always made him feel disgusted when ever he looked at Pyrrha that way. No way Pyrrha ever looked at him that way.

After training with Pyrrha though, he still had two hours before the gym closed, and he was pent up again.

The upperclassman had told him to get an alarm or something, cause he wouldn’t always be there to tell him to leave.

-------------

Hanging out with team RWBY was always a... Experience, they were fun, don’t get him wrong, but it was like chaos in a bottle. The bottle was also cracked, and there was no cork either.

Today he and the rest of his team came over to hangout, and Ruby insisted they play twister.

Jaune was forming a bridge with his arms bending backwards to stay on there spot, while Ruby was draped across him with one leg over his shoulder and the other over his arm, with her front laying across his stomach, and her arms going in between and around his legs. While Nora lay under him her chest pressing into his back. It was also a really small mat.

Everybody else had dropped out, or refused to play, while Blake controlled the game, and Yang video taped everything.

Then Nora sneezed into his neck. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Sneeze both tickled his neck and scared the life out of Jaune, as he somehow managed to jump a foot into the air from his position, carrying Ruby with him. They landed on Nora with a thud.

Jaune’s position with Nora’s chest on his back and Ruby’s legs on his chest, really wasn’t going to help with his tension, as his lower-body decided to achieve liftoff.

That said he had managed to get a grip on himself lately,. So Jaune calmly got off Nora, and picked up Ruby, putting her next to Nora. All while hiding his full mast, then went to the gym again.

“You think he’s alright?” Ruby asked innocently.

“Probably just rubbing one out.” Nora said full of confidence. “These sweater puppy's of mine are of a quality most women can only dream of, yet here I sit, my majesty a reality, I don’t blame Jaune at all.”

------------

Jaune was watching with wrapt attention as Ms. Goodwitch strode across the arena pointing out several flaws in recorded fights she had on holographic videos. Tapping them with her wand to enhance the smaller images at time.

RIIIP

Her blouse broke, showing off globes of creamy white flesh barely being contained by a purple bra.

Ms. Goodwitch paused, a light blush on her face. “Well, Students this should teach us to be prepared for anything.”

Jaune then got up, walking out the door.

“Mr. Arc, where do you think your going?” His teacher asked severely, as several laughs broke out of the room, many people pointing at him.

“To the gym. I don’t think I’m going to be able to focus much today.” “Very well, any others who wished to join him?”

The gym was very packed that day.

------

Jaune enjoyed hanging out with Pyrrha, she was probably the best friend he ever had. He just wished she would stop having to bend over so often in front of him, or walking in front of him when she did that he couldn’t help but focus on her swaying hips.

Jaune sighed as he felt a rise tower start to erect. “I’m going to the gym be back later.”

Pyrrha merely looked bewildered. She though she had him for sure this time!

----

The transfer students were interesting people, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of them. They came from all walks of life, all paths, all creeds and kingdoms. From the strictly dressed military like Atlas Academy, to the survival of the fittest types and loosely dressed Shade Academy, or the storied and traditional style of Mistral. They were all interesting, diverse, strong and incredible sexy.

Ever since he ran into that black haired girl and her green haired partner, he somehow kept managing to find them in the most compromising or revealing positions possible.

So, Jaune started hitting the gym harder than ever.

--------------

1 Year later....

----

With a slight shaking arms Jaune pushed the loaded bar back up, exhaling. Then he took a slow, deep inhale as he lowered it down to his chest, then exhaled rising it up again. Inhale, exhale, till he finished his rep.

He rose up from the bench with a grate moan, feeling the warm soreness across his body. It hurt, but in a good way. In a way he couldn’t have appreciated a year ago.

Grabbing his towel he wiped the sweat off his face, and then cleaned off the bench. Treat the gym right, and it’ll treat you right back.

Jaune paused as he walked toward the shower, he had gotten into a habit of showering here so he didn’t have to make his teammate's rush to clean up, there was wall of mirror he looked himself over finding nothing of note, beside himself sweaty and his hair kinda sticky looking.

The water was cold, but high pressured, helping unwind any knots on his back and wash off grime better. He had started taking cold showers more frequently as in the field your rarely got to wash off in general, and if you did, it’s not likely you’ll get hot water, so it he thought it was probably best to get into the habit now.

Working out felt good, taking a shower afterword was just perfect. The only thing that would make it better was wearing his onesie, he had a right to comfort! But, it had gone mysteriously missing after he met Coco on his walk back from the gym half a year ago. So, for now he was stuck wearing white tank-top, and a pair of cotton shorts back to the dorm.

He waved by to the upperclassman about to close the gym, and left for his dorm. He may not have started going to the gym for the right reason, but over the course of a year, he felt like he had grown from then. In fact... what was the reason he started going to the gym? Something about women? Eh, must have been nothing. Ever since he started taking his training double seriously during the Vytal festival, it was like he just didn’t feel dating anybody till he around to being a huntsman, like that there was more to life than dating or stuff.

Jaune ran a hand through his hair, he had started growing it out at the beginning of the second year and now Pyrrha and everybody else vetoed him getting a hair cut! 

“Hahah, jokes on them though, they have to brush the knots out of my hair!”

Walking back to his dorm a fruity perfume pasted his nose, a vaguely familar laughter along with it. Then a slightly familar group of girls were walking in the opposite direction as him. They looked like they came back from a night on the town. He liked the way they dressed, it complimented themselves very well.

As he walked pasted them they paused and stared at him, Jaune paused too, but shrugged, giving them a broad smile and a wave before walking back to his dorm.

Jaune failed to miss the women eyeing fucking him as he walked away, all of them red face and heavy breathing.

“Hmm, why do I feel like I’m in danger?”

----------

Jaune wasn’t sure when, but he had grown into a morning person. It was fun to get up in the morning now, he liked watching the sun rise, seeing the sky change colors on his morning runs. 

Being team leader meant having responsibilities, so being a early riser now meant getting up his team, they were going to be third-years in a not small amount of time. So he made sure that they got up at a reasonable time to prepare for the day. Along with the fact on mission they would have to get up before the sun rise on most days.

Also, he especially liked to watch his teammates get up, it was entertaining in different ways from Nora crashing out of bed, to Ren rising from a blanket cocoon, and Pyrrha’s silly little death threats to any man stealing bitches out there.

He tended to wake them up with a gentle approach putting hand on there shoulders and carefully shaking them awake. He had forgotten how strong he was a couple of months ago when he sent Nora flying into a wall by accident, so had tried to be gentle.

The rest of Team Jnpr had learned a couple months ago that they no longer had a choice in waking up early, the only choice was before the sun was up or after.

Jaune put on his uniform for class, he frowned a little bit, as it was tighter than it was yesterday. Maybe it’s new? Guess it needs to be broken in.

Team RWBY met them at breakfast, Ruby refused to let her other bestie get ahead in the leader game by letting just JNPR get up early! Jaune didn’t notice but he often got murderous glances from Blake.

Eating breakfast Jaune felt a crick in his back so he leaned back.

Pop-pop-pop-pop, RIIIIP!

His buttons on his shirt fired off like a machine gun shattering against the walls of the cafeteria, and then his shirt fell to pieces, revealing his sculpted torso, arms and abs.

“Ahh man, I liked that shirt.” Then continued eating, not aware of the stares his friends, other students, and Ms. Goodwitch were giving his body, eyeing him up as much or more than he used to do to them.

AN: If this Jaune was ever put into a situation where couldn’t exercise for like a week, his libido would come back with vengeance and make him a unstoppable sex monster. That said, what are the odds of that happening?

[sixeyesgojo]

Team Gojo as flowers

Summary: Gojo, Yuji, Megumi, Nobara and Sukuna as types of flowers

Characters: stated above

Content warning: mild manga spoilers

Word count: -

A/N: I’d appreciate feedback here (and in general) because I’m not sure whether to do this kind of hc for other JJK characters or not. I am thinking of Toge in particular because I love my salmon boy. Also fyi, this was some time after 135 but before 140 for sure.

Gojo Satoru  - Nemophila

I just saw these and immediately thought about how good they would suit him???

another name for them would be baby blue eyes (no, I had no idea beforehand)

they symbolize prosperity, victory, success or triumph over an enemy

flashback to Gojo beating Jogo tf up... but add a nemophila field in the background <3

That being said, his profile literally states that he is perfect in every way (except for his personality but we still love that, right?), so if this isn't success in every way then idk

This flower's essence is also said to be helpful for those who put up a mask over their painful sensitivity

Gojo also displays characteristics of cynism and mistrust towards the higher-ups

Furthermore, I think he is a little anti-social - doesn't have a lot of friends. As someone from the secret Jujutsu World, he's bound to be hidden in a way. This is enforced by the fact that he is the strongest, so a lot of people and curses are out to get his head. I'd think he doesn't keep anyone too close to him so that they do not become a target for anyone. Must be traumatizing to be him.

This flower helps soothen the soul's conflict, healing it slowly, which is exactly what Gojo needs imo

it really is the perfect flower for him

but it's native to North America

Yeah, watch him teleport there to bring back a bouquet of them for his s/o

Itadori Yuji - Protea (orange)

This kind of flower comes in many different shapes, which is why it's a symbol of transformation, which is exactly what Yuji embodies by going from a regular human being to being a Jujutsu sorcerer

Diversity: Yuji is open to anything, Gojo even described him as "having a few screws loose up there". I don't even think he questions how he is being taught by Gojo or anything for that matter?

Yuji also embodies courage and is known to be daring and i don't think i need to explain this one further

I mean, the boy literally jumped right into a curse to rescue Sasaki and Iguchi and help Megumi while not even knowing what a curse is

Orange proteas represent cheerfulness, joy and happiness - if that isn't our sunshine boy, then idk. After what happened to Junpei, he seemed a little down at first but recent episodes have shown that he will not slow down because of that and will keep on being the energetic fluffball of joy that he is.

moreover, they also symbolize unlimited possibilities as his cursed technique so far probably isn't even his final technique yet - compared to Nobara's hammer and Megumi's shikigami. All we know is that Sukuna's techniques are going to be his over time but we don't even know the full extent of the said curse's power yet

If anyone ever mentioned all this to him and showed him the flower, he would think it looks weird at first but will grow to find it interesting (especially the shape). It's not like the flower is native to Japan, so he most likely wouldn't have seen it anywhere.

Gets really excited if you were to give this baby one of these flowers

Fushiguro Megumi - Anemone (purple)

hear me out

The most common symbol for the purple Anemone is 'protection against evil'. While it's Megumi's primary focus in his line of work as a professional, you ought to know he became a sorcerer in the first place because of his sister, Tsukimi.

Fragility: While Megumi shows a lot of potential for growth, it's also said that he will most likely stagnate due to the mental aspect. He's pretty insecure about his own abilities and doesn't think much of himself but that doesn't mean he won't use his powers in order to protect someone.

Anticipation: As previously stated, Megumi shows a lot of potential as a sorcerer, even to the point that Sukuna (mind you, the creature that only cares about himself) has praised him and will not hesitate to make Megumi a pawn to whatever his big, mysterious plans may be. With that being said, if Sukuna himself is interested in our blue-haired boy, we can anticipate great things from Megumi in the foreseeable future.

This specific flower seems to be a double-edged sword in terms of symbolism. In some cultural circles, it is believed to be a symbol of bad luck, whereas in other areas it's seen as a lucky charm (in which we hope this is the one for our boy). I see the same principle applying to Megumi's descent and his mysterious technique - not gonna elaborate further though (feel free to ask though)

a rather dark symbol for this particular flower: "death of a loved one". In this case, I am referring to Tsukimi, his step-sister. She may not be dead but it is indicated that she is in a comatose state due to being cursed. It seems that Megumi does not know when - or rather whether - she will wake up or not. Knowing this boy, he probably has tried anything and everything in his power to wake her up (hell, he probably even consulted Gojo) but nothing worked so far. This poor boy is anxious about it all the time.

he's surprised anyone would even associate him with flowers but wouldn't mind it

Kugisaki Nobara - Orchid (mainly orange)

I had some trouble finding something for her but orchids seem to suit her best

couldn't really pick a particular color though but I am leaning towards orange

orange orchids represent: pride, enthusiasm and boldness

Nobara is very proud of who she is. She strikes me as a person who is not afraid to tell her story, even though she despices the countryside where she is from. She also takes pride in staying true to herself all the time, to the point of admitting that she only enrolled in Jujutsu High so that she could move to Tokyo to Yuji, who was basically a stranger at that time

She is also very enthusiastic about her own future. She knows she won't ever like having to exorcise curses but somehow, being a Jujutsu sorcerer excites her.

plus points for her being enthusiastic about winning in the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc and just beating up the Kyoto students

I don't need to mention her being enthusiastic about shopping and sightseeing in big cities, do I?

Bold? Oh, she is bold. She has no filter when it comes to speaking her mind and would never hesitate to put anyone in their place. I see her going places in Gojo's revolution... and cussing at the superiors.

Yellow symbolizes new beginnings and friendships. Nobara does not have any problems making new friends, she adapts fairly well in new environments. There's also the way she mourned for Yuji, despite "only knowing him for two weeks" and I don't even doubt for a second that it was her making him hold the black funeral picture frame when he came back lol

Pink: grace, femininity, joy + purple: royalty and admiration

There is no doubt that Nobara tries to enjoy her life to the fullest *cough* moving to Tokyo

Moreover, there is something about her that just screams "queen behavior" to me and I don't even mean that in the slang sense. Have you all seen how graceful this girl moves? (I would like to thank MAPPA at this point)

Nobara shows respect where it's due - I'm just gonna mention Maki here - but is a very admirable girl herself

probably has an orchid plant in her room, ngl

Ryomen Sukuna - Snapdragon

please, the name already sounds a little dangerous

This flower shares a certain character trait with him: being unique

Snapdragons are usually associated with strength due to the way they even grow in rocky areas and if that's not screaming Sukuna's name, who is all about strength, then correct me

Deviousness is practically Sukuna's second name, so this symbol isn't exactly off the track either. Let me remind you about the way Sukuna and Mahito laughed at Yuji??

Graciousness: just like Nobara, he possesses some sort of grace that makes me percept him as a majestic being

but maybe that's just his throne of bones and title as King of Curses contributing

and him owning a shrine???

or maybe that is just the way he majestetically killed that special grade lol

"Only large insects like bumblebees can pollinate snapdragons because the petals are too heavy for smaller insects to push apart." I read this and if you reverse it a little, it somehow reminded me of the fact that Sukuna's fingers need to have a powerful vessel aka small fry won't do because they will simply die away.

Deception: despite being given the minimum amount of information about Sukuna in general, I just don't see him being anything but egoistic and evil. I just cannot picture it. So yeah, put everything evil in a pot, stir a little and don't be surprised if your result is not the Powerpuff girls but a four-eyed multi-talented and deceptive curse that is out to kill you for fun

[languishedlustre]

WIPs Masterlist

Oh boo I keep a list now?

This list is exclusively for listing my Original WIPs. For more masterlists, check out these links (when they become clickable).

- Original Characters

- Worldbuilding

- Writings/Drabbles

- Fanfics

- AUs

Main: Coalition of Timeless Melancholia

Tales revolving around the 6 emotions and their shards, painting history with their prominent sinners and saints. Will your passion bring you to justice or vice? The magic and alchemia of emotionality is in your hands.

This series features: diverse settings, too rich worldbuilding because author has no other outlets, poc + female and nombinary characters, lots of aro/ace rep, different takes regarding emotions, a modern fantasy setting, emotions as elements, alchemy and magic, sexy art (trust me)

This is not for you if: you don't like long serial stories, you prefer casts with smaller characters

○ A Silver Colored Dread

tba its 2am dear God. all you need to know for now is that its the fear arc.

○ The Portrait Made of Glass

like the above but its happiness arc and split into two sides because everyone likes confusion

○ Falling in Fragments

yadyayada tba yadaydya, sadness arc hoo

○ Blossoming Flower, Lost Town

Crystal beasts invade the realm of Lorre, and on a hunt for them a wanderer finds herself lost in a dark, gloomy town. The skies are a deep blue and the grass is a cold grey, it was a place she's never been to before. While trying to find her way back, she was soon attacked by a hoard of crystal beasts that keeps coming her way! She got help from a passing swordswoman that turned out to be an established knight of the Dark Kingdom. Though she'd love to go home, she can't rest until the dangers lurking were no more, so she joins around Mikra to help get to the bottom of this.

But there isn't just one trouble in Mikra. Between an unresolved anger and two-faced spite, she finds that there are more to this than she could handle. Will she choose courage, stepping into a world she's never been into? Some questions are better left unanswered.

Features: themes surrounding anger, forgiveness, patience, betrayal, WOC protagonist, setting in a Greek-Turkish based country (this is totally wise), adventure, and technological magic!

○ Endless Night/If Only For A Day

Tba but its very juicy and angsty, disgust arc

○ An Everlasting Dream

Also TBA be patient its the least developed one

CTM Bonus Stories

What it says on the tin. Additional fun writings for the main ceries.

○ Lessons from Anger

Meta Balledyn becomes a teacher. Not that it ends well, but he does share his experiences as a timeless mage.

○ The Princess of the Night

A princess escapee, and the nation’s worst criminal. They escape into the night to discover the truth about the kingdom.

○ 10 tales from Lorre

Myths, legends, folklore, and hearsay- She reads 10 tales of the country she originated from.

○ Festival of Faulruss

Having their struggles heard, the people of Faulruss cherish a new light. Replacing the old ruler, former maid Anita Lassi takes the role of Duchess, enforcing order within Faulruss. Yet, the journey's not over. There's still more to conpensate for the cruelty of Abel Shion, and she still has to make ends meet with a certain someone.

○ Mendacity

○ Many a Thanks!

More of Lalun/Asami Kagiru

[denimbex1986]

“...got this long tale of a pandemic, the shadow hanging over the world and in many ways, rather like your character, Bucky, we’re all sort of a little bit feral in a way, trying to get used to this - whatever this new normal is.”

Sebastian: “Of  - of course, and I think that’s one of the things that makes, you know, our show so relevant and timely, and - and relatable, because, um, it deals very much with a - with a world, um, post blip, and - and, where it’s left these characters particularly in terms of, uh, the past and now what they haven’t faced, and certainly what has happened in the time that, that was lost being gone in this blip, and uh, it’s obviously taps into very serious, dramatic arcs both of them, um, and you know, you know there’s - there’s some humor in there too.”

“Oh there’s that light and shade, right. I thoroughly enjoyed it; I am a bit of a Marvel geek I must admit, and what I found extraordinary about this is: can you imagine 10 years ago - or more than 10 years ago - when you got involved in this, that you would see this sort of scale on the smaller screen? I mean, it’s absolutely epic.”

Sebastian: “It is, but we’ve been kind of, you know, we’ve been heading that way right for - for a minute now, because you’ve had - I mean television really has been pretty consistently gaining ground and, and, and you know, developing and stuff, I mean you want to go back to like The Sopranos and then I think Game of Thrones really changed things, and, um, obviously Marvel now is, is definitely changing things, um, just in terms of; yeah the quality and, and the fact that, that you can - you can have something on the smaller screen that can be just as impactful, just as entertaining and as expensive.” (interviewer audibly laughs)

“So, so - have you gotten more expensive? Or did you, did you drop your fee for this, or you still yourself - ”

Sebastian: “Well no, I, I, I, I mean in terms of what it takes to make these, these movies - I mean like, you know, we’re, we’re streaming shows budget wise right; I mean, I think for, for, for a show that we were, again, if you want to label us, a comic book show, right - everything was locations. I mean we, we didn’t have a lot of green screen CGI, so that, that meant a lot of like actual being in - in these, in these, uh, scenes and in these locations, and a lot of the stunt work was manual and not the CGI, so there’s all these things that kind of, you know, ramp up budgets.”

“I mean the same is obviously for Anthony Mackie’s Wilson - you know, that the symbolism of this shield; we talked about the pandemic, but also Marvel increasingly diverse, uh, the idea of an affluent American holding the shield, and what the shield symbolizes and wrestling with actually what his country represents for him to - or how he can represent that country that he feels isn’t representing him. There’s so much at play here, and it’s so tiny - ”

Sebastian: “Yeah, well, exactly - and I think the show is asking those questions and very much taking us on a journey through, through his experience finally - and an experience that, that we haven’t seen from - from the Falcon, and, and we’ve never even understood really about the Falcon before because you never got a full-on backstory to him, which you’re getting now, finally. Um, and - and similarly with, with Bucky as well, it’s - it’s a time of sort of, um, re-educating in many ways, and, and, and, and - both characters along with the show I think asking the right questions of ‘What are symbols?’ and ‘What do we - do we need symbols anymore?’ And - and if so, um, can they make the leap of time, right, and become relevant again to what’s actually happening.?”

“We’re almost out of time so I’ve got to rush into - if you don’t mind - so if you’ll forgive the indulgence, some fan questions.”

Sebastian: “Yeah. Yeah, yeah, of course, course.”

“...are you happy with that? Okay. The first one is from Alex on Twitter. Sebastian, says Alex, I named my budgie Bucky. What do you think of him? (holds up printed photo) I printed it out;  this cost me a fortune in printing.”

Sebastian: “I didn’t know - I didn’t know what budgie was, okay, okay, I mean, it’s very cute.

“You’re very - ”

“Sebastian: “It looks like he’s got Winter - yeah, exactly a Winter-esque look.”

“Thank you for that Alex, and tearing through my printing cartridge. From Dasha: Hi Sebastian. If Bucky had a notebook of movies and music like Steve Rogers, what would you personally add to this list?”

Sebastian: “Oh my God; I don’t know. The Rolling Stones for one thing, I mean, um, you know Prince, David Bowie, um, yeah. I mean, um, maybe ‘cos that’s more my - “

“No, I think that’s great.”

Sebastian: (laughs) “But I’ll stop there.”

“Something for everyone there. Okay, two more. From Isabella on Twitter. In the first episode, Bucky says that he’s tried online dating - we mentioned it - what do you think Bucky would put in his profile bio and what would his go-to pick up line be?”

Sebastian: “Um, ‘Here I am, I’m just a man - (both laugh) - trying to do my best’, um, I don’t know ; ‘how are you?’ (laughs)

“..it works...”

Sebastian: “It’d be something really - yeah, exactly - ” 

“Yeah, like I say for 103, you look really well, mate. From AlexandraThomas07 on Instagram: if you could be any other Marvel character, who would it be and why?”

Sebastian: “Um, well, I mean I really kind of, um, dug myself in there with - with this Moon Knight character, but I really mean that, like I - I didn’t know the storyline of that character, but I was so excited about it, just ‘cos I -  it just sounds like such a complex character, so I’ll just go with Moon Knight.”

“You’ll go with that. I know you - you’re going to be playing Tommy Lee very, very soon. Have you spoken to him about that? Are you gonna go deep into that part?”

Sebastian: (laughs) “Ah, I haven’t even - I haven’t you know, even gone, in my mind, uh, there, yet ‘cos we’ve, we’ve been just, so, you know, excited about the show and getting it out and stuff, but I’m - I’m, uh, yeah, I’m excited to - to dive back into the 90′s.”

“Welcome aboard my friend, although the 70′s and 80′s were probably more my generation. Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it - ”

Sebastian: “Thank you.”

“And best of luck with rest of it, it’s fantastic.”

[angelsndragons]

Day 2

Oh man, I am running on five hours of sleep, let’s see how coherent I am.

I love watching Caduceus talk to the local plant and animal life. Whether to ask for help or to just be polite, the decision to do so has a couple of interesting layers for his character. First, that he sees plants and animals as no less important than the people he meets; he treats them with the same respect he would meeting a new acquaintance. The second thing I wonder is just how alone he felt at the Grove with its frogs and birds. I do think having these creatures around probably saved his sanity, even if he kind of forgot how to talk to people who talk back in the process.

Honestly, I have fun clocking Taliesin and his taking notes (physical and mental) on other people’s reactions to stuff. Caduceus is an insightful bastard but that doesn’t mean he knows how to respond to particular situations. And when he doesn’t know, he looks to the rest of the group for both general ‘how does this very diverse group of people respond to this thing’ and specific, looking to a particular person to weigh their opinion. You can see the former over the Traveler Con arc, where as the rest of the group (barring Veth and Caleb) starts getting really freaking antsy about Artagan. Caduceus goes from being rather chill with Artagan, as seen in ep 95, to being hella nervous and it is not at the same arc as the rest of the group, he is well behind Beau, Fjord, and Jester in his worrying. For weighing a specific character’s opinion you can also see it in the Traveler Con arc; Caduceus is starting to get nervous re Artagan but he doesn’t voice or start planning around it until Jester starts freaking out. We can also see Caduceus weighing Caleb’s opinions more than the others at the end of the Essek confrontation; Caleb is the first person he turns to when arguing with Veth and Beau about what to do about him. There are other smaller moments, like when they get into the Happy Fun Ball, that you can see Taliesin taking the time to watch everyone else before Caduceus chimes in on anything. 

I adore how much of Caduceus’ assumptions and biases Taliesin bakes into his 20 insight and 20 perception. It would be so easy to just make Cad a walking lie detector who always knows what someone is lying about and why. The scene where Caleb tells Jester and Caduceus about murdering his parents is one of the most obvious examples. Caduceus starts the conversation with ‘we share the road with many people, that doesn’t mean we are the same, especially when we come to a crossroads.’ Caduceus is preemptively separating Caleb from the duo because he knows Caleb has been trying to separate himself from Trent. But his assumption is wrong and it takes a decent chunk of the conversation for Caduceus to wrap his brain around that.  

For more specific moments, his green bean speech is still one of my top moments, as is his ‘you ran to get help, here we are. we are going to fix this.’ Recently, I have just loved how much looser and freer he has become. He is openly complaining, contributing to plans (both good and bad), and playing with the Nein that tells me that once he knew his blood family was okay, he began fully indulging in loving and making a family of the Nein (he was already well on his way at that point, but now he gets to have the lighter side of family too). 

*hugs the cowman* Now call your family, dammit.

[ayellowcurtain]

Wtfock seems like they take so many shots in the dark when it comes to the plot and they seem less concerned about looping the story around so that all the dots connect. This is a great worry because the sana season is typically very convoluted and easily lead astray. I can only hope for a miracle in which druck choses to simplify the script and keep amira at the center of her story rather than overload the script and create too much space for sobbe and Zoenne

The remakes are often doing this, I feel like. 

If you think about it, Skam was so raw and still amazing and emotional and I’m sure they had such a smaller crew and cast, less things to tackle, less money to make the show. And it was still amazing, so amazing that we now have these many remakes about it. And then the remakes try to make it so much harder for themselves it’s mindblowing. 

They make their own lives harder and then are not even able to achieve the goals they set for themselves to reach. If you’re not confident with the team available for you right now, if you don’t trust your script completely, just check the guidelines about the OG Skam season that you’re trying to make, change some minor details to keep your show close to your culture, your country, your characters and roll with it, it’s that simple. 

Until WTFock Down they were able to somewhat connect the dots. The problem is: they make their dots so far from each other, if you know what I mean, that’s basically a reach to get from point A to point B. The lines connecting end up being stretchy and wobbly and not always it makes sense because they’re hoping us to reach such a long road to understand what they’re trying to tell with their plot. Things were wrong from the start in Season 4 but WTFock always had problems with their pacing. 

If I were in the team, on a high enough position where my worries are heard, I would tell them to keep it simple for this one because they’re coming back from the lowest low in the skam universe, about to start a season that’s often filled with mistakes too.

Sana’s season is often the one with the most plots (not always a good thing since that ends up taking screen time from the one that matters the most - the main character, in this case, Yasmina) and so there’s not much time to waste with trying to explain to the audience how to going from A to be B.

The best Sana’s season is Italia’s and I don’t think that’s really up for debate. We can have personal preferences that differ from that, but Skam Italia basically did their homework and it paid off. 

No matter how bad they did with choosing a white, non-muslim girl to portrait Sana. Plot wise, they did the most and it still made it feel natural, not overworked, or overdramatic. It was Sana’s season and nobody else and still, we got plots about Nico, Silvia, and the ballon squad. 

With that being said, Amira’s (Druck) season was still my personal favorite season 4. If we got 10 episodes of her and her beliefs and her relationships, it would’ve been perfect! We still got Kiki’s arc during her season, and Kiki also didn’t take time away from Amira during the episodes we got in Amira’s POV. 

So if I was to write/direct/produce WTFock’s season, I would sit down, think really hard about creating a diverse team around me to write this season, think every thing through, every plot and every character, make sure to not leave too many loose ends, watch Druck’s and Skam Italia’s season 4 to know how to make this season a really good one and work really hard on it. Not only with the clips but also already planning whatever social media aspect they’ll do too. 

[betweenthepage]

Mini Reviews

As always, you can find my reviews on Goodreads and you can also follow my Instagram

Review’s for: 

1) Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland 

2) Scammed by Kristen Simmons

3) The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

4) Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

5) Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian 

6) The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh 

7) Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger

8) Tithe by Holly Black

Beyond the Black Door

The book read a bit like early 2010’s YA (which isn’t a bad thing, I was fine with it. But some people don’t enjoy it). While I enjoyed the general plot, I wish some parts of the book were left out so that Kamai—the main character—could get the ball rolling sooner. I feel like it would have made for more interesting situations. I really enjoyed reading all the characters—especially Vehyn and all his villainous ways! The diversity in sexuality was beautiful and I am so glad that people are finding themselves in these characters. I think it was done beautifully, and will hopefully open the door for more books like this. Overall, I felt like the conflict was resolved very well and realistically for the book—aka no, “everything happened because I say.” 3 out of 5 stars!

Scammed

I enjoyed the first book, but this book? LOVED. The writing is great and the twists and turns? Did not see a lot of it coming! I’ve been conned! I LOVED that we got to see more of the secondary characters (Henry and especially Charlotte who I love x3 now) and I hope even more of the other students get some screen time in the third book. Beyond Charlotte, I was surprised to see how attached I got to Moore! More Moore! Lol Some of my only problems with Scammed were that a lot of the events that happened could have easily been solved with honesty (but then...no drama!) and that Brynn—our main character—was an easy pawn. For someone who’s good at what she does, she sure got played. I’m still spinning at all the twists that happened, trying to piece things from the first book. Seeing if maybe I missed clues, suspecting everyone, questioning who the real villains are and their true motives. That makes for a good book. @ Kristen Simmons/ Tor Teen, please send me the third book today, I am ready for third book, today. I will eagerly be waiting the third book, which I am ready for today. 4 out of 5 stars!

The Kingdom of Back

Marie has once again written a beautiful book with emotion and grace. As a pianist, I’ve been obsessed with many composers, Mozart being one of them. I knew he had a sister but didn’t know how she too was just as talented as Wolfgang. This books scratched the surface of her talent and used their imagination to write a different world. While I enjoyed the writing itself, I did feel like the otherworldness was a bit confusing and for me, didn’t make a lot of sense some of the time. I had to ignore things or add my own things in order to make more sense of it. Some times I was a bit bored due to the plot slowing down. Beyond that, I was filled with rage at the real life injustice portrayed in the story that Nannerl had to face. Not only from society/the world, but from her own father. I wanted SOMEONE to shout at him. It truly is a sadness and loss to the world that her compositions were lost to the world and she didn’t get her chance to be just as great as her brother. Marie Lu talked about how she believes her music lives on through Wolfgang, I believe so too.

Chain of Gold

Normally with so many characters, I mostly enjoy them but really only care for a few. With Chain of Gold, I LOVED every single character. They all stole my heart in different ways. Though, Matthew is my favorite by far. I have a soft spot for sassy men who like clothes.

I absolutely loved all the minor plot lines; I can clearly see how they’re going to develop into bigger plot lines. Though since there were so many small ones, it made for the overall plot to be...lacking? Not that it wasn’t good, but I just felt like I wasn’t at the edge of my seat. But given everything that happened, I know it’s only going to give me more anxiety as the books continue. I also had to pull up a family tree to see who’s kid was who’s because there are so many Lightwoods. They’ve kept busy haha

I loved seeing all of our characters from TID and I LOVE how much EVERYONE knows Tessa and Will love each other. Makes me feel even more lonely lmao.

And the ending with some of the main characters...it’s a troupe I haven’t read in a while but I’m so excited.

4 out of 5 stars!

Ember Queen

I’ve finally read this! I didn’t get to it because I travelled for a signed copy and then school but finally!!

Lots of moving parts to this book, which make sense considering they’re in the middle of a war. A lot seemed a little too easy, and while many were lost on the pages, it wasn’t anyone we really knew. Thus, the feeling of it being too easy.

The big heart ache towards the end of the book, I knew was going to happen. It no longer had a plot or arc to move the story forward unlike everyone and everything else so it was made clear to me. Regardless, I was still incredibly sad as it was one of my favorite things. (Trying to be vague and avoid spoilers lol)

I LOVED that after everything Theo has gone through, even all the growth she has had, she still remained a soft hearted person, unafraid of her emotions. Embracing her tears and everything she felt. I love a strong willed woman, but we need more soft hearted women. Both are equally strong and Laura did an amazing job at capturing that.

The ending was great, I think. It took something Theo often thought about and was a big thorn to her plan and made her embrace it. It was fitting.

I was fortunate enough to start this trilogy early via an arc, and I’m so glad I got to see it to the end.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Beautiful

Right from the start, I fell in love with Celine. I love everything about her but especially that she wasn’t afraid to want power AND love. The setting and time that this beautiful (haha get it?) book was written was a time where POCs were still treated badly. I liked the fact that Celine—and others—acknowledge this as well as enjoy that all people from everywhere could have a place where they could work side by side. There wasn’t a character I did not like or love. I enjoyed them all, even when they annoyed me or broke my heart. Even the potential lives interests (plural). I love both though I have my heart set on one boy. I didn’t like that even though a lot of things were revealed, those things were still vague. I have to think it’s because grander things will be revealed in the next book, but for now, it’s left me a little confused. This would have made this a 4 star read for me. But I just loved Celine SO MUCH that I have no choice but to make this a 5 star read. She literally made this whole book for me. 5 out of 5 stars.

Steel Crow Saga

Listen...it’s an Asian inspired book filled with LGBTQ+ INCREDIBLE characters, found family, POKEMON-ESQUE things? Just buy the book already. Don’t even finish my review.

This book was great. Every character in this book was amazing in one way or another. Lee warmed my heart (we love a sarcastic thief) but Tala owns it. She was by far my favorite character. Everything she went through, has done...she’s amazing and her growth through the book speaks loudly. She fought a lot of inner turmoil (NO ONE WOULD BLAME HER IF SHE PICKED DIFFERENTLY THAN WHAT SHE DID IN THE BOOK...but I’m glad she didn’t) and all the emotions she felt? I felt them too. I just want to wrap her in a hug and make sure nothing bad ever happens to her again. I did find one of the characters, Jimuro, annoying up until the end, where his growth was finally tangible. He was big talk but finally led with actions. Good job, dude. Still want to mildly slap you, but it’s all good. The pacing of the book was perfect and I want to live in this world where I basically can get my own Pokemon. Or metal bend. I do wish some smaller details were talked about more, as it left me with a couple questions, but overall I enjoyed it. And I hope one day there’s a sequel. :(

4.5 out of 5 stars!

Tithe

Story wise, I felt it was rushed and definitely could have been longer for the pace. But I liked it for the most part. Beyond the pace, everything felt a little too easy. If that’s the case, I can make it in the Unseelie court too lol The main character, Kaye, was something. While I generally liked her, she’s very selfish and unaware of the emotions or well being of her friends and family. Possibly it could be because of what she truly is...but still. And while she apologized for some of her actions, it seemed very surface based and it just rubbed me the wrong way. Her one real friend, Corny? LOVE him. Felt for him too. I hope if he pops up again that he gets nothing but happiness because poor king. Roiben? He was cool. I generally liked him! He was kind of the calm to Kaye’s chaos. He didn’t have much character to him but I know the later story revolves around him more so I’m excited to see his development. 3 out of 5 stars.

[gtgrandom]

Where Young Justice: Outsiders went wrong

(And before you tell me to just stop watching if I don’t like it - I’ve been supporting the show since 2011 by creating a significant amount of content and giving back monetarily. I have every right to critique the writing, thank you).

Honestly, I think they pulled their act together in the finale, and this season left me much more satisfied than I anticipated. That being said, there are some issues I want to address.

Major flaws:

Overabundance of characters

Undeveloped Relationships

Lack of Continuity

Problematic Representation (getting better)

Weak Dialogue 

Lower Quality Animation

The Message

Overabundance of characters

I think we can all agree on this one. There were far too many characters in season 2, but season 3 is laughable. It’s hardly a story anymore. Instead it’s an episodic series featuring new heroes each episode to appease niche comic fans.

There’s a formula for a superhero show (and any group-oriented tale in general), and that’s having a central team of five or less. Then you can introduce one or two new characters max per episode as side characters or villains. But you always circle back to your main team. YJ did a nice job of this in season one. So did most CW superhero shows before they made the same mistake of expanding their cast to make their writing task easier. (Yes, easier - new characters means you can stop developing old ones, especially with time jumps).  YJ started to narrow down the team by the end of the season, but it still left many mains as side characters / aesthetics. 

It’s great seeing these characters brought to life - I won’t deny it. But you can’t delve deep if you have this many. You can’t focus on character development or meaningful relationship development (hence why nearly every ship was established off screen). Furthermore, you frustrate fans when you focus on one group more than another. With a smaller cast you can always count on appealing to your audience because their "fave” is always present in some way. In many ways, fans feel like they’re being dragged along simply waiting for their character to pop up because of a one time cameo. It’s not fair to the audience.

The relationships

I think the only romantic relationships we’ve seen develop on screen are:

Violet/Brion

Spitfire

SuperMartian

Robin/Zatanna

sort of Roy/Jade

- and all but one were introduced in season 1. 

The others were simply introduced as a couple with little to no previous interaction. Like:

Tim/Cassie

Dick/Babs

Jaime/Traci

Bart/Ed

Kaldur/Wyynde

Gardita

M’gann/La’gaan

Mal/Karen

That is not how you write romance. You don’t stick it in there for the sake of it. You have to show us why they work, how they got there, and why we should care.  I’m not saying there HAS to be romance, but if there is, it still has to be written well. 

Continuity

This begins to overlap into the next issue, which is continuity.  I understand that Outsiders is not necessarily a new chapter to Young Justice, but if you are going to call it Young Justice Season 3, then I expect story lines to bleed over beyond just villainous deeds.  

Let’s look at Dick Grayson, for instance.  He’s one of the only mains who has had a very consistent, though shallow, character arc throughout the series.  First he wants to lead, then fears it because of the sacrifices he would have to make - because he didn’t want to be Batman.  In season 2 though, he becomes his worst nightmare.  He risks the lives of his friends, lies to his team, and ends up losing his best friend anyway.  And in season 3, we actually get a little bit of continuity here with Dick mourning Wally and being afraid to take on another team after season 2.  It could have been expanded upon, but it was still present, and I applaud the writers for that.  Especially for driving home his leadership qualities at the end there.

Now, what about the other characters, specifically those introduced in season 2?  This season is called “Outsiders,” and yet, it seems to only focus on the original team and Violet’s new group.   

What about Bart’s entire arc of coming back, stopping the apocalypse, and then losing Wally, his mentor?  What about Jaime’s home life and the lasting effects of being turned into a villain who nearly killed all his friends?  What about TIM and his role as the new leader??  Where did that plotline go?? Why is the unfamiliar Beast Boy now the leader of this Outsiders group?  How did Ed overcome his anger issues and repair his relationship with his dad?  How did Jade go from being a supportive wife and mother into the opposite?   

The writers tried to avoid all these problems by giving us a time jump.  But that’s just lazy writing if you don’t take the time to answer how things have changed!    

Also, I’ve said this before, but continuity isn’t simply having characters mourn a dead character.  You can’t keep using that plot device to give heart to the narrative.  If that’s your only source of true pathos...and that character is dead...then you’ve got a problem. 

The representation

Okay, I’ll admit they saved their asses with Kaldur. I love my wholesome pansexual rep. Would I have preferred to see his relationship occur with a character we’d already been introduced to outside the comics? Yes. But I’ll take it.

Disappointed with Ed/Bart and Bluepulse. They could have shown us more, but they didn’t. They could have given us a story, but they didn’t.  And don’t hit me with “this is a children’s show - we’re lucky to get what we get” BS.  Because it’s not anymore.  This show is literally written by adults for adults.

I really don’t want to talk about the whole Halo/Harper kiss because it was just so wrong in so many ways, but it needs to be addressed. So, first of all, if you excuse cheating in any capacity, shame on you. I don’t care what the characters are going through or how old they are. You don’t both recognize that you have significant others and then proceed to make out!! Second, what the hell?? You’re going to have the first lgbt content be a bisexual stereotype of two girls cheating on their boyfriends (and two characters who have only interacted in one episode before??) Not to mention, underage drinking and gun use? That sends the wrong message to the audience, even if the teens were reprimanded.  

Also, Halo is supposedly non-binary, and yet they explained it away by technology, so idk, I’m hesitant to count it as legitimate rep. I still think it was a good discussion to have. But yeah...

Finally, Halo is not Muslim rep after all.  She’s a hijab wearing character, but she does not identify with her faith or her culture. She outright rejects it in her scene with Harper. So...what? Is she diversity points that you can continue to violently kill off over and over?  Not a fantastic way to treat POC. I don’t think the creators meant any harm by it, but it’s something they need to consider going forward.

(I do appreciate the number of POC characters that have been introduced however. Especially the Latinx and black characters. This show has improved its diversity. But without proper characterization, they’re sort of just...there).

Dialogue

I can’t be the only one who cringed through entire episodes this season?  Some episodes had stellar writing. But the bad ones were very, very bad.   Obviously, not every joke is going to stick the landing, but if you’re going to kill off your beloved comic relief character, you have to have a better backup plan.   

Like, do you guys remember how witty some of the lines from the pilot were?  The whole “Speedy” vs. “Kid Flash” debate in the opening sequence?  You can tell how much effort went into those scenes.  How much love was given to those characters. Because they knew that was their only chance to hook the audience, to get a green light for a full season.  So they put everything into character development and plot - and now they’ve lost so much of what made the show precious in the first place.  (It’s still precious, but it’s tainted in many ways for me now).

Animation

It’s gone downhill. That’s really all I can say without being mean.  Some episodes seem slightly better than others, but if you compare the animation from 3x01 to an episode like Failsafe...there’s just no comparison.  I could hardly watch Wally’s scene without frowning at the frame rate.

Message

I don’t understand what the show is telling us anymore (or I didn’t, before Black Lightning gave a very “on the nose” speech about what it is that we were supposed to take away from this season).

I mean this has always been an issue with the show, but at least it was a little clearer in season 1.  Then, we had several themes:

Found family (+ Actions speak louder than heritage)

Don’t call us sidekicks (AKA the kids can make a difference)

Secrets are poison (They can tear a team apart. Trust in friends)

Season 2 was a little convoluted...and sort of just recycled material. 

Secrets are poison (dammit, Dick)

You are in charge of your own destiny (Jaime/Connor)

Sacrifice (Kaldur, Artemis, Wally, Bart...they all gave something up for the greater good).

But what is the message of season 3?

Secrets are still poison (Tara, Violet, Batman v. Wonder Woman team)

I suppose it’s about healing and letting others in?  Like how  Brion and Victor have both worked through their anger?  Artemis and Jefferson and Dick and Gar sorting through their grief...somehow...off-screen...(except for the episode devoted to Artemis saying goodbye to Wally.)

Perhaps...accepting yourself?  (Victor, Violet, Brion, Connor?)

Do you see my issue here?  How much harder it is to see what I’m supposed to take away from the show now?  I’m not saying there aren’t any good messages being told, but they’re difficult to interpret.  Sometimes that can be good.  But this time I’m on the fence.

Conclusion

I love many of the characters from this show, but the fandom acts as if the writing is impeccable, and that’s just not true.  Not everything is bad.  Some of it is still miles beyond other animated television (looking at you vld).  And I genuinely enjoyed about half of the episodes this season. But I think it’s important to recognize the flaws in media, as a writer myself, and as a consumer of these shows.  

Plz be civil in the comments, and understand that this is only my opinion. 

[prettygraceful]

ok, i’ve been telling my dad this for months and i thought i’d finally share here. here is my dream scenario for when shadowhunters comes back (since i still keep hope that it will). and by that i mean what should happen- within realistic parameters- that i think would bring the show more general positive reactions, a larger fanbase, and stable success to ensure many more wonderful seasons. so we pick up shortly after where the epilogue left off- with the mains divided into the new york group and the alicante group- and they stay split up. this allows for 2 “A” storylines to run concurrently to allow for a wider audience to stay invested and more character dynamics to be fully explored, instead of shoved into rushed, very limited screentime “B” and “C” storylines. i’m thinking similar to daenerys and jon snow (pre s7) in GOT, aka equally important main leads.

clary remains the hub of the NY squad, as she’s always been. she is the favored female of the fandom, and this still honors the spirit of the books. alec becomes the hub of the alicante squad. he is the favored male of the fandom (tv time’s recent poll had him at more votes than the next 2 guys combined. he had over 700,000 while jace and magnus only had over 300,000 apiece. clary was at over 200,000). ok, we’ve got the chosen by logic “hubs” so let’s talk the “spokes”. 

NY squad includes jace, obviously, and simon, izzy, maia. but instead of sizzy or saia, they slowly develop into a polyamorous throuple. this accomplishes many things: 1st, the shippers could make peace. 2nd, maia would have a solid link to who’s always been the center of SH: the lightwoods family. and 3rd, it could trim the fat, so to speak. instead of having supporting character wlw (heline, ollie, sam- all stereotypically characterized tv wlw, who only ate up screentime that should’ve gone to the downworlder mains imo) the wlw rep could be izzy and maia- already fleshed out mains. after spending time together resulting in unlocking some feelings, they could all get together since they both still care for simon too. now they’d have to be bi/ pan obviously- so no lesbian rep- but as a lesbian myself, i’m averse to the idea that every show has to “check every box”. quality over quantity. a trio of only POC is original vs just another wlw pair with 1 white person. as long as it was written properly, it could avoid bi stereotypes. 

now the NY squad has all the different dynamic options to explore that this fandom seems to love (clace, climon, clizzy, claia, sizzy, saia, jimon, and jaia. and the jace/ izzy dynamic can finally get it’s dues!) and with a 3 POC to 2 white ratio, it’s better diversity than when things always revolved around the squad of shadowhunters in s1 thru s3. meliorn can join the fun sometimes. clary gets her powers back, but hopefully without the “mary sue” aspect. when the solution for everything was often just being shown new runes and drawing them, where was the earned achievement? (versus like when valentine was defeated, she did that!) generally, self-made heroes- rather than “born special”- are more relatable and inspirational. like arya vs daenerys- who was born able to hatch dragons in fire. she achieved so much, but without the dragons- like clary’s angel powers- none of it would’ve been possible. then again, i know daenerys is very popular, so my preference in hero types obviously isn’t universal. so either way, i guess.

on to the alicante squad (my personal favs)! magnus and luke have obviously already joined alec here, and they’re rebuilding the shadowhunter homebase to be an accepting environment. there has to be an actual lengthy, difficult power struggle here- an extremely prejudiced regime like the clave wouldn’t just topple overnight. maryse is here too and should be bumped up to be a main. then it’d be 4 women to 5 men as our mains- much more balanced. then 1 or 2 new lady characters could be introduced. let’s get some new blood on the show! and to appropriately fit into the already existing dynamic here, it’d be best if they were 30+ in age. (and hopefully they cast taller ladies, cuz aside from the mother roles- jocelyn and maryse- all of them have been 5′2″ to 5′5″ and it’s time to mix it up). they can develop solid friendships with our squad. also the parabatri needs to finally get it’s dues, since we’ve been robbed long enough. ok, and so with 1 shadowhunter, 1 downworlder, 1 sh turned dw turned sh again, and 1 sh turned mundane, there’s a lot of different perspectives here. and the new ladies could have their own unique perspectives as well. so it’d be very interesting for there to be problems they all must solve, but they each have their own ideas on how to go about it. thru compromise at times- and deferring to the one who’s perspective lends a better insight other times- they’d have innovative solutions.

to address why mizzy instead of either with clary, why the new women would probably not be wlw, and why the “hubs” are both white- it’s cuz the point of this post is me throwing in my 2 cents on what changes could be made- in the hands of new showrunners and now that we’re free of the book material- but is still possible, realistic, and viable given the way the industry machine works, and the demographic of this fandom. i’d also like to note that i just really want raphael and catarina gone, since they refuse to let magnus interact with them! they each only had 4 eps with him, yet they’re his “family”? it became beyond absurd! raphael= none in s1. 1 in s3. catarina= none in s1/ s2. only 1 in 3b- 3x22 doesn’t count cuz they didn’t talk at all. and for those who’d balk at alec being separated from jace and izzy, i say- have you never met adult siblings? it’s healthy, normal, and encouraged in society, that when siblings grow up, they go their own separate ways and live independent lives. forge their own paths. it does not mean they love their siblings any less. i have a sister, i should know. 

in conclusion, the 2 separate squads would have their own adventures in the first 8 episodes of each half season. i think most everyone agrees that politically driven themes- dealt with symbolically thru this fantasy world- would make for better story arcs rather than just good vs evil (val, jonathan, lilith) all the time (esp since SH doesn’t have the budget to make fantasy elements very exciting). since there is a nice ratio of shadowhunters and downworlders in each squad, the set up for these themes would already be in place. and then much like any show that has divided storylines, at some point you’ve got to bring them all together. this could happen in the 9th episode. a wedding or holiday celebration or whatever. they could all sit around a giant table and have a feast and this ep could just be warm and fuzzy. lightwood family time- including magnus/ jace’s long overdue friendship- and a chance for them all to reconnect, until the last scene of the ep when some big bad guy dramatic problem could arise. then the final ep of the half season could be them all working together (as a whole or separately in smaller groups) to defeat the big bad (save the budget and the big fantastical sets/ creatures for the finales). end on an exciting cliffhanger. ta da! 

[reading-while-queer]

Amnesty, Lara Elena Donnelly

Rating: Great Read Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Spy Thriller Representation: -Gay protagonist -Bi protagonist -Black protagonist -Disabled and disfigured protagonists Note: Amnesty features minimal (but present) explicit sex. This novel is NOT YA. Trigger warnings: torture, graphic injury, injury by fire, addiction, alcoholism, state violence/corruption, bombing/explosion, death

If you have not read Amberlough and Armistice, you may wish to skip this review!

Amnesty is the third and final book in the Amberlough Dossier, and with its completion I can say with confidence that this is my favorite LGBTQ series - maybe even my favorite series, period. Amnesty had me checking my calendar for months in advance of its release.  Donnelly has remarkable skill with suspense, skill which she puts to phenomenal use in the spy thriller genre, and which will make readers just now picking up the first book in the series glad that all three of them are now available.

That is the key to why Amnesty (and the previous books in the series) work: Donnelly makes you wait.  These books demand patience from the reader, and it makes the pay-off that much sweeter.  However, this is not your typical slow burn romance, only because the burn is not slow - the fire is roaring in the hearth!  Only, one of the main characters is standing outside in the snow because he is too proud to be warm, while the other is in a neighboring country.  Every time Donnelly adds another log to the fire, and you expect the romance to finally pay off, you realize, damn it all, that Cyril and Aristide are still outside in the blizzard.

Donnelly makes you wait on the romance, but that is only one of Amnesty’s moving parts.  Amnesty is not by any means a book where nothing happens for 300 pages - it’s a balancing act where the romance is drawn out slow, but the thriller-style plot keeps you frantically turning pages.  Still, Amnesty is something of an outlier of a thriller.  The core problem of the story is an open-ended question: how do you rebuild your life after you have lost everything?  The city of Amberlough has just experienced the rise and fall of a fascist regime; the country at large has not even elected a new government yet.  Our main characters are war-scarred, broke, and newly arrived back home only to find their old life is no longer there to receive them.  What do they do when one of their rank is lauded as a war hero while the another is reviled by his country as a traitor?  Not exactly typical thriller fare.  Yet Donnelly’s strongest suit is tension and suspense, so despite the lack of a heist, kidnapping, or assassination attempt, Amnesty still reads like a thriller.  The stakes are high on a very personal level, and we readers have dashed our way through the heists and hijinks with these characters for long enough in Amberlough and Armistice that the rather more subdued plot of Amnesty is not unwelcome.  The reader interest in knowing the characters come out of things okay carries some weight for the plot - but I doubt you’ll mind.  After all, you will be too preoccupied with whether the characters come out okay.

Donnelly’s world-building continues to dazzle in Amnesty, as well.  One of my favorite things about her work is that she does not coddle her reader.  You are given exactly as much information as you need, exactly as many reminders, and no more.  And because the world is so rich, and the reminders so sparing, the reader’s immersion in Donnelly’s world is nearly flawless.  With every book, Donnelly gives us a little bit more context, meaning that the reader absorbs information more like a child absorbing the world naturally than like a student committing things to memory.  It helps that Donnelly uses real-world touchstones that allow her readers to fill in the gaps, touchstones which also explicitly create room for people of color to take a starring role.  I’ve spoken about how well Donnelly uses Porachis as an analog for South/SE Asia in Armistice, and in Amnesty, she only continues to fill in the gaps on her globe.  

In this book, we learn more about the countries of Liso, Asu, and Niori.  Asu and Niori are both east Asian countries, partial analogs to China and Japan, while Liso appears to be linguistically tied to southern Africa, with minor character names like Achela Aowamma taking inspiration from Sesotho, though Jamila Osogurundi’s name may be a composite of Oso (Nigerian surname/prefix) + Gurundi (Nigerian snack).  There is no one-to-one comparison to be made.  Just as Gedda isn’t quite the Netherlands, neither are Porachis, Asu, Niori, and Liso exact analogs.  Donnelly’s writing choices here are fascinating - she gives just enough of an analog in order to create diversity of ethnicity that real-world readers will be able to understand and appreciate, while still changing enough to make her world an original, non-derivative fantasy.  It is a delicate line to walk, and Donnelly does so with grace.  I strongly recommend the whole series as a tool of study for aspiring writers, even if the genre isn’t your usual cup of tea, because it really is that good.

The globe isn’t just flavor, either.  One of the main themes of Amnesty is how one reconciles living an international life.  Lillian and Jinadh continue to play a role as main characters after Armistice.  Their arc in Amnesty, however, is about reckoning not only with the fallout from the ousted OSP regime, but the personal struggles of being displaced.  Jinadh is a Porachin prince, while Lillian is Geddan.  They cannot be married for political reasons in Porachis, but Lillian has the advantage of language and culture back home in Gedda, which is a source of marital strife for them.  Yet what choice do they have?  Is it better to live in a country where neither know the language, like Asu, or to allow Lillian the gift of her homeland, no matter how ‘unfair’? It is questions like these that build Amnesty into a story so real it is almost tangible.

Amnesty - the whole series, in fact - is a rough read.  Donnelly pulls no punches in her treatment of war and fascism, though it is important to note that her interest lies on the boundaries of war - the social consequences - not the thick of the fighting.  In Amberlough, Donnelly first questions how fascist regimes rise to power.  In the sequel, she asks how a fascist takeover unsettles the countries around it - to the point that refugees from fascism cannot count on their safety even far from home.  Finally, the last book in the series asks about the aftermath; how is history written around fascism?  How do nationally-held emotions become more sacred than law, and to what end?  And, on the smaller scale, can one recover a self that you once were, before great trauma?  Can you pick up where you left off?

If you, like me, read Amberlough and Armistice, I highly recommend picking up where you left off with Amnesty.  A rough read it may be, but one that fully rewards its reader’s patience.

For more from Lara Elena Donnelly, visit her website here.

[feynavaley]

K, T, and U :)

Thank you so much for the questions! 😊(list here)

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Well… I’m not really good at angst because, while I like to make my characters suffer, I also like to end on a hopeful/positive note. So, the angst is never too bad. 😅

That said, I guess the worst idea I toyed with was a story set in a war scenario, where the opposing forces (the humans on that side, actually) are trying to capture America to cripple the nation’s military power. (Not knowing that personifications aren’t actually vital at all to a nation’s military.) After an ambush that leaves America unconscious and Canada injured, Canada, believing to be less important than America, swaps their uniforms and leads their captors on a chase away from America. Due to his injuries, Canada is eventually captured. Afterwards, Canada is tortured for information as he’s believed to be America, while America cannot divert all his energies to finding and rescuing Canada because he still has his duty and people to think of. This leaves him feeling torn and guilty. In the meantime, Canada’s captors discover his true identity and stop the interrogation but not the torture, using him instead for some experiments on personifications’ physiology (their healing and immortality). America eventually finds out where Canada is being held. Seeing the condition Canada is in, he gives himself up in exchange for Canada – but their enemies don’t keep their words and keep both of them. Canada gets tortured in front of him to convince America to spill information he doesn’t even have (even in canon, America isn’t privy to all the decisions of his government) and he couldn’t give anyway, because his people are more important than a personification who cannot even be killed and will eventually recover, no matter how much he’s tortured. Canada can still feel pain, however, so it’s horrible for America. On the other hand, Canada feels like he’s too weak and worthless because he didn’t manage to escape on his own, which lead to America being put in danger (and basically nullified Canada’s initial sacrifice) and suffering by witnessing Canada being tortured. America and Canada would manage to break free, of course, (courtesy of America, mostly) but the rest of the story would deal with the struggles both of them face recovering from such a traumatic experience, with a lot of difficulties and setbacks. I don’t actually think I will write it, though – I’m afraid I would end up not being able to deal with such heavy themes in a satisfactory way, and I don’t want to make light of them.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Ohh boy that’s a heavy one. There’s a lot of stuff that really gets on my nerves on the long run, haha.

Before I write my answer, however, I want to specify that these are just my personal preferences. I’m writing them down because that’s what I have been asked – but I would never dream of dictating what other people can or cannot do. If I don’t like something, I just avoid reading it and keep quiet, I would never complain to the author about it. These are just very personal opinions of mine.

I have already talked about it [x] [x] so I won’t dwell too much on this, but I really don’t like how many people turn Canada into an edgy asshole. Why can’t nice characters just be nice?

I also hate when people behave like it’s canon that Canada is a stoner, when it’s not. In canon, he consumed marijuana exactly once, and his reaction and strong embarrassment afterwards hint that he strongly regretted it. I really don’t think he ever repeated the experience. (Not to mention how being a stoner would clash with his sensible, hard-working, and selfless personality.)

I don’t understand why people take the few times America displayed some insecurities as undeniable proof that the other 99% of the time he was positive and confident was all fake, and he actually has major depression issues and no self-esteem at all. I mean… people can be more complex than that. Why should all be fake? A person with a healthy self-esteem can still have some insecurities – and some moments of insecurity don’t mean that a generally positive attitude is completely fake (actually, even people with major self-esteem issues can retain a positive attitude – see Canada – so I think this last part is even more of a stretch). Of course, it is a possible interpretation, but it irks me when people claim it’s the only right one. Actually, I think that being so overconfident yet well-meaning and, in particular, always able to keep a positive outlook, is what makes America such an endearing character.

This is a very small pet-peeve – but in canon, there’s no FACE family. Not in colonial times, especially. So, I’m always a bit baffled when people write France and England living with America and Canada like a small, happy family in colonial times and consider it canon instead of the AU/canon-divergence it actually is.

Always about America and Canada, I don’t dig the ‘America and Canada are the children of Native America’ interpretation. First of all, why would there be a single personification of Native America? I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure there should be different personifications for the different peoples of Native Americans… Moreover, whether you consider it rightful or not (I’m not discussing this, but the canon portrayal) I think it’s pretty clear Himaruya wrote America and Canada as initially representing the cultural and political establishment of the coloners in North America… that, as far as I know, didn’t really have strong ties with the indigenous populations. That’s why America and Canada look Caucasian – and why it makes sense for them to be, too. Now, they represent all the different peoples in their countries and there is a lot of diversity, but they were born representing a much smaller (and less diverse) group so those were the features and ethnicity they mirrored. 

Romano being part of the mafia. a) This statement goes against canon; b) Maybe I’m oversensitive, but considering the personification of South Italy as siding with the mafia for shit and giggles feels really disrespectful to all the people of South Italy who are struggling to fight against mafia – who died fighting it.

People making everything about shipping and acting as if the slightest indication of two characters caring about each other is an undeniable proof of a romantic attraction. Don’t get me wrong, this is something you can build a romance from – but people caring for each other doesn’t necessarily mean it’s romantic. Most times, it’s not even a hint, actually.

Aand I should probably stop talking or I’ll get too salty over stuff I have no business being salty about in the first place, haha. 😅

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

That’s a nice one! Allow me to ramble a bit, because there are some truly amazing writers who have inspired me a lot and deserve all the credit they can get. 😊

@mandelene – Her writing is just fantastic. It isn’t only about the plot and characterization (which I should mention is phenomenal, too – she always paints complex and realistic characters), but also the structural aspects of the writing are incredible. The pacing is always perfect, and she strikes an excellent balance between keeping her style simple and making the story immersive – she uses just the right amount of details to let you get into the story and convey (very well) the characters’ emotions, but not become long-winded. And the phrasing and choice of words is meticulous. Just a pleasure to read. 

Emperor Kumquat – She wrote some of my favourite long fics ever. Her characterization is intriguing and well-thought and researched, and it’s also very coherent through the story. The character arcs are built naturally, you can really feel them grow. Also, her plots are something incredible. They are original and interesting, but there’s also a meticulous foreshadowing and attention to details that really pays off. As the plot unravels, you start putting everything together and seemingly random events and words get a new meaning. They are incredible reads.

Azumizai – She wrote some of the first fics I read for Hetalia (years after they were published, though), and centred on Canada in a way I really love. It’s a lot of fluff and hurt/comfort but there’s also an interesting plot and take on the characters. I think her fics were the ones that actually drove me to try writing for Hetalia.

[arcadian-rhythms]

You have honestly such a talent for worldbuilding and a unique way to justify the setting and characters used. Do you think you'll ever make a story with your own characters? Honestly I'm impressed that you created such a new world inspired by without ripping off so many forms of media and yet make it unique

Hey, thank you so much! Building the world of Arcadian Rhythms has been very fun and rewarding -- it’s definitely the most complicated world I’ve written in so far, and has become a big passion project. That being said, I actually have started up a few original stories! None of them are finished but some have a novel-length amount of content to read through by now, I’m sure. You can check out my fiction portfolio so far over here. You can also follow my Twitter if you like, I always post about stuff I’m working on. Or if you want a more concise place purely for updates on what I’m working on, my joint Patreon with my fiancée is good. Even just the public posts we do every month give you an idea of stuff that’s being worked on. I am in a transitional state this year but later in the autumn I will be buckling down to work on actually finishing an original novel for the first time. As far as my original projects go, let me share some details on what I’ve worked on so far. You can find more details on all of these, including links to more artwork and artist credits, in the portfolio post.

-What We Learned at Rokudai-

“It is important to draw wisdom from different places. If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others - the other elements, the other nations - will help you become whole. It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful. But it can make you more powerful, too.” ~ Iroh; AtLA

A group of six young adults find harmony and family in each other through the drama they endure together. Coming from different ethnic, domestic, sexual, and religious backgrounds, they grow with each other over the course of a year of college town life.

The story’s goal is to tell a multi-faceted story about young adults with their own sub plots and supporting cast, embracing ethnic/sexual diversity through organic character relationships and character arcs based on real-life issues. Told through a dominantly female-perspective, Rokudai aims to promote balance, equality, and harmony through the lens that rests between adolescence and adulthood. (inspired by characters/themes from both Avatar cartoon series)

-DownRight Fierce-

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”    ― Lao Tzu

An urban fantasy setting following four young women across two acts: Act One sees them at the tail end of high school and shows how their lives get crossed together, while Act Two will see them in their mid twenties having to reconcile the unresolved conflicts of their past. Inspired by Street Fighter, it features a world where characters have ‘powers’ that are mitigated and managed by government forces, which ends up becoming a big aspect of the plot. The main premise for this was based on how fighting games usually try to sell you a characters’ backstory in a single paragraph; I wanted a story where the first half WAS the backstory, and the second half was the culmination of the characters’ issues with each other needing to be resolved; specifically, the primary protagonist will need to accept her past self’s mistakes (from Act One) in order to become the adult she needs to be to help the other three protagonists in Act Two. (inspired by characters/themes from Street Fighter)

-The Focused-

“See no Evil. Hear no Evil.”

Yatra and Kiwidinok are a teenage couple traversing a war-weary land where only the Focused survive in the Wilds: those with the ability to tune out the rest of their senses to heighten the capabilities of one. Yatra’s Eyes can See all, and Kiwi’s Ears can Hear everything, but they are all each other has left in this devastated world. When their single place of refuge falters, they must bid farewell to what little they had and depart on a journey to find a new home.But in the Wilds, they must always sleep with one Eye open, and one Ear to the ground. (Inspired by the characters/world of Avatar: The Last Airbender)

-R+R-

Based upon the multi-layered works of Gene Yang and the parallel worlds of Ni No Kuni, R+R will follow a trio of young adults. Ryndy, a stubborn but timid mage, and her partner Roxette, a soft-hearted but brusque mechanic, traverse a fantasy land where personalized magic crystals serve as multi-tools. The pair are in search of a way to cure themselves of a self-inflicted curse. Meanwhile, a curious fellow who is connected to the pair drearily trudges through less fantastical issues. When their two worlds are reconnected, the truth will set them free.

-Untitled Fighting Game Love Story- My most recent project for which I haven’t decided on a title yet. Another modern day slice of life story, but more focused in scale and theme. This will be a lesbian love story about Rajini and Natsuki, two girls who fall for each other through playing fighting games together, and have to navigate their way through competitive gaming culture in the modern era as a queer couple of women of color. This is likely going to be the original story I finish first because it’s much smaller in scope and the world-building aspect is also much simpler than the others.

The portfolio post also goes over the breadth of fanfic that I’ve written over the past decade, as well as the above original works. If I had to estimate, I’d predict the last one I mention will be the one I finish first, with DownRight Fierce or The Focused probably following. The scope for Rokudai is larger, as the rough draft of the story is as long as the ENTIRETY of the Harry Potter series (!!) so I need to...figure out what to do with all of that! Regardless, after I finish my Life is Strange visual novel, Arcadian Rhythms will continue to be a passion project I work on inbetween original works, and will very likely be my last ever long form fanfic -- hence the bombastic “all out” nature of its world and characters. I hope anyone reading any of these stories enjoys the ride, and with some luck and focus, maybe in 2020 I can FINALLY enter the publishing world after over 15 years of writing fiction basically every week. ^_^;;

[pass-the-bechdel]

Continuum Season Four Full Review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

50% (three out of six)

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

27.31%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

None.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

None.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Ten.  Seven who appear in more than one episode, seven who appear in at least half the episodes, and one who appears in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-three. Sixteen who appear in more than one episode, fifteen who appear in at least half the episodes, and four who appear in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Despite being less balanced when it comes to gender than previous seasons, the series continues to thread the needle of being nothing special in this regard.  (Average score of 3.0)

General Season Quality:

While the storytelling can still be quite good, the actual stories the season chooses to tell are largely not great. A disappointment.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

If Continuum has an ace in the hole, it’s its commitment to telling a story about the evils of unchecked capitalism.  Even with its dubious arc transitions and occasional plotlines that don’t pan out, it has always been a series with a message and a point of view, and that has always counted for a lot.  

This season, then, shows us what happens when you don’t have that center. Granted, the show hasn’t quite abandoned its sensibilities, but with only six episodes with which to tell its story, there’s nowhere near enough time to use them to its advantage. What remains, then, is a merely decent action show.  

Let’s talk about Liber6—the group of time travelers from Brad’s hometime, introduced at the end of last season—since they’re both at the center of the story, and the center of the season’s issues.  On paper, they’re necessary in order for the show to continue, particularly after Liber8 evolved past its antagonist role at the end of the previous season. What’s more, the idea that time travelers from a future different from Kiera’s would want to prevent their own timeline from taking place is not only a logical extrapolation of the show’s premise, but explores time travel in a way one doesn’t usually see. Given proper execution and time, there’s no reason why the new characters couldn’t have gotten integrated into the show’s ecosystem with relative smoothness.  

The problem, then, is twofold. The first issue is that with only six episodes in the season, there’s little opportunity to develop time travelers as characters—especially given all the other things Continuum has on its plate. The most prominent of the time travelers, like Vásquez, get enough development to fit into familiar archetypes, but even that is only just enough to make them among the least compelling characters in the series. 

The second, related, issue is that the group’s motivations are too far removed from the series’ core themes to allow it to be anything beyond the standard genre show antagonist group.  Yes, the time travelers’ goal is survival at all costs, and yes, their hometime came about because of the war between corporations and people that Liber8 facilitated. But what does Liber6′s ideal world look like?  Are they looking to replicate the feudal military state they came from? Are they sympathetic to corporations? Would they have been content in the 2077 we see by the show’s end?  What specifically do they like about the present, aside from it not being a general shithole?  With Liber8, the series spent a lot of work having the characters acclimatize themselves to the present, and to have individual reactions to it; furthermore, they had a specific future they were working towards, and everything they did visibly advanced that agenda, or was at least related to it. The new time travelers have none of that, and what they get instead is a mysterious plan that requires them to stand on a warehouse until the season finale. While Continuum has had factions that operate outside of the main thematic conflict—see: the freelancers—these tended to operate at a secondary or tertiary level; they were complications to the existing conflicts, rather than the primary source of conflict.  

In the end, the new time travelers end up feeling like a diversion: while their existence does alter things—for one, it leads to the deaths of several major characters—their influence on the larger story is frustratingly incommensurate with the focus they obtained. Liber8′s actions, we’re told, successfully prevented the original timeline from taking place. The characters who survived the finale, we’re told, were able to bring about the version of 2077 we see at the end.  The new time travelers, after they are done with, appear to have no larger effect on the world.

It’s not a total loss. The season, in general, works much better when telling smaller stories about  established characters. While not all of them get the focus they deserve—the remaining Liber8 members, for example, end up in a sort of storytelling limbo; with the exception of Kellog, they’re all rendered secondary—those that do help provide some of the season’s best moments.

Female representation-wise, this season does...quite badly, really, which isn’t a great shock, after the series killed off many of its more prominent female characters last season. Furthermore, with no futurebacks or cases-of-the-week to showcase characters besides the regulars, the show lost another major source of characters and interactions between women. Not only that, the series continues to act identity-blind, which while refreshing in some respects, is annoying in others—as always, one can’t talk about oppression without dealing with privilege—more on this when talking about the series as a whole. 

In a 2014 interview, Continuum’s creator, Simon Barry, indicated that he envisioned the series lasting seven to ten seasons. While I’m deeply skeptical  that the show had those sorts of legs—I feel it’s also clear that this season was ultimately harmed by its compression. I’ve repeatedly mentioned that Continuum has a lot of things on its plate, and what this season demonstrates is that the series actually needs all of those things. Take away its room to breathe, and the series loses a lot of what makes it special.

[noccalula-writes]

Can you give us your detailed thoughts on Avengers: Endgame?

SPOILERY THOUGHTS ARE COMING.

The basis of most of my gripes are: if Age of Ultron hadn’t been so shittily written, a lot of this could have been avoided. Not all of it, but a lot of it. But I’ll go line item by line item outside of that thought.

First off, Steve. Y'all already know I’m a Stucky shipper, but even outside of the context of the ship - and I fully support people who feel their relationship is platonic but very intimate as long as they have been supportive of how emotional their story is, let’s do that more with male friendships please - you have to admit that there has been no greater, longer standing or fucking emotional relationship arc through the entire goddamn MCU than Steve and Bucky. Platonic, nonplatonic, whatever. We literally watch Steve tear down a branch of the goddamn government to get Bucky back, and since the first movie, Bucky has been his emotional touchstone. Steve’s singular dedication to rescuing and protecting Bucky has driven him to the heights of recklessness and has made him nearly sacrifice himself a dozen times.

But he ditches out on him, after he’s been dead for five years no less, to go back to the fucking fifties and derail Peggy’s entire well-lived life.

I don’t buy it. I think this was purposeful diversion to avoid appearing “too gay”, and it fucking infuriates me. There is an article on The Daily Dot that explores this better than I even thought to and you should definitely read it.

The idea of Steve getting to live a full life and be happy? Wonderful. But the way this was executed felt cold, clinical. We’ve spent more time developing emotional bonds with Steve than any other character in the MCU except maybe Tony, and yet we the audience were completely shut out of his feelings for the entire last half of the very last film. It felt like a door had been closed on us. There was none of the warmth of Steve, only the resolve of Captain America, and a very rash decision that felt so poorly planned after he said barely two things to the man who has been the axis of most of his decisions in this entire series.

Sam is absolutely the right choice for Captain America, though. That was what I was hoping for, and he deserves the mantel.

Tony Stark, love of my life, was set up to make the martyr play from the very first Avengers film. This is where it was always meant to go, and I have spent every movie since AoU waiting for it to happen. Honestly, I feel like Tony’s arc was the one arena where everything was done right (except, I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I feel about him having had a kid - I’m not mad at it, though). If you follow me you know I don’t think he and Pepper had real staying power no matter how much they love each other, but I also never anticipated that he’d be with anyone else, so this wasn’t a disappointment (I love Pepper, to be clear). I was proud of him. I was sorry he wouldn’t get to see Morgan grow up, but I was proud of my man saving the world.

I love him with all my heart. He’s made dumb decisions but when the metaphorical knife was against his throat, he came correct with absolute resolution.

Wanda might as well have been a cardboard cutout, which on one hand was fine because she had way more screen time in Infinity War than she’s had anywhere else since AoU (shudder), but she’s been reduced to this background character who got shipped off with Vision just so she’d have something to do (and yes, I know it’s comic canon, but it was so out of left field in the MCU that there was no way this wasn’t a factor in). Wanda is a wealth of possibility for a storyteller - think about the grief this character has endured (consider my consider, Wanda Maximoff diatribe from yesterday) and how she’s learned to use her power. Think about the evolution of going from a volunteer for a program to literally become a mutant to fight the Avengers and then becoming one and losing your fucking twin brother, the only constant in your life. Think about having to kill the only person you could try to put a life together with. Think about all of that and tell me she hasn’t been wasted in the background.

(Also - how in the fuck is Steve gonna tell his black best friend Sam that he preferred the fifties? Really? )

This brings me to what I think is easily the most egregious of all the fuck-ups in this movie - Clint and Natasha. This is where we can draw a direct line back to the problem in AoU, when Joss “Feminist Icon” Whedon decided that dropping a house, wife and 2.5 cardboard-ass kids we got zero development time on was a better answer than, oh, actually developing Clint as a character. Partially this was to promote Brucetasha, which as we all know went so fucking well through the rest of the movies, but subverting what he felt was the “obvious” ship for Nat (the irony of this being he said something along the lines of “well, Bruce and Nat made so much more sense to me” and pulled some lame ass Beauty and The Beast allegory out during an Entertainment Weekly interview about AoU and it’s ended up becoming one of the most hated creative decisions in the MCU as of yet.

Listen, if you want Clint and Natasha’s deep and intimate and formative relationship to be platonic-only, I’m cool with that. I ship ‘em but I also love male-female friendships that mean the entire world to the involved characters and are not romantic. But we were given a decision in AoU that was eliminated so many future possibilities and put us on the path we’re on now.

If you know Clint as a character, you know that he’s a loveable fuckup. THat’s kind of his schtick. I have no idea how they plan to make that work in the supposedly-happening Hawkeye series based on Matt Fraction’s run given that now we’ve got Clint married with kids and Natasha dead, but okay. Endgame takes Clint’s grief and weaponizes it, but naturally, we only ever see him killing people of color (they mention he killed a Mexican cartel, we see him going after Yakuza) ((if you couple this with the shaved haircut and the shitty Japanese-inspired sleeve, you start venturing dangerously close to white supremacist territory)).

Clint is dark and broken, and Natasha saves him - just like how Natasha was dark and broken, and Clint saved her. By not dying. So. I mean.

As I’ve said in another ask, here’s the thing: I would have been okay with Natasha making the sacrifice play if there had been no Bartons to bring back. I still would have been furious if they hadn’t loophole’d her ass back - What happens when Steve returns the soul stone? Do you get back what you paid for it? - but the idea that we had to trade the original female member of the team - the closest thing to diversity they had being a white woman is terrible but here we are - for one of the shittiest, most sloppily written things that Joss Whedon plunked down on a page? My blood boils.

It’s been like 4 days and I am still just beside myself angry about Natasha Romanoff. Furious. I love her and Clint and I don’t undersell the strength of their relationship but at the end of the day, she died so a man could go back to his family, because nuclear families are more important and Natasha has no one. I guess. I don’t know. I’m so fucking mad.

That pandering-ass “we’re doin’ us a feminism” scene of all the women fighting together, even though it made zero logistical battlefield sense and most of them didn’t even know each other, felt even more gross and cheesy and self-congratulatory considering what had just been done to one of the most important women in the series. But hey. We got a shot of a lot of women fighting. Hashtag feminism.

Thor’s ending was okay. Thor’s arc was pretty good. The fat jokes were shit but I loved the idea of Thor still being worthy even when he’s not who he used to be. I nearly came when Cap caught Mjolnir. Conceding New Asgard to Valkyrie was super smart, and I like that he’s going to go figure himself out with the Guardians.

Speaking of, Gamora’s whole story has made me feel gross. As the daughter of an abusive stepfather who also loved me a lot when he wasn’t being a monster, it def made me squirm. But the reality is I don’t give enough of a shit about any of the Guardians to care about what happens to them other than Thor, so. Chris Pratt can eat my entire ass.

The things it got right - pacing an insane amount of action in a way that never stalled, executing a beautifully woven and inlaid sacrifice arc for Tony, Paul Rudd in general - are so much smaller than the things that were just… gapingly terrible.

Did Bruce even get an ending? Did anyone remember what the hell he said he was gonna do? He got lost somewhere in the shuffle and I legit have no idea what his ending was.

Ugh. I need some ibuprofen and a nap. I’m gonna go back to writing my Natasha sex-shop au in which SHE WILL NEVER EVER EVER DIE FOR CLINT’S STORY DEVELOPMENT and wish I still drank.

[zirroxas]

Jieqiao Stage 4 - Deployment Map Prototype

It’s been a while since I put out a map, thanks to some real life shenanigans and needing to learn some new image editing tricks, but I’m back at it.

I initially planned on doing the full progression of the main field engagement in one go, but that’s going to take a bit more time to work through (as each stage is technically its own map). I therefore decided that putting out the initial map showing the arrangement of the armies would be a good way to collect some feedback and keep the blog from going radio silent on its central project for too long.

So here’s currently what I’ve got put together:

I decided to go back to the same color scheme that the map prior to the last one had, as the last one I decided was hard on the eyes. I was initially afraid it was too monotone at this elevation, but after shrinking the bounds a bit, there were enough terrain features to keep things visually diverse, and the presence of the river and the armies ultimately made the concern void.

I added the distance scale thanks to a helpful suggestion on the last map. Many distances have to be interpreted or extrapolated, and not everything is going to be arranged to scale, but I think that it’s still useful.

To keep the map from getting cluttered, I decided to omit troop counts and officers who were not explicitly commanding a unit in this battle. I may find a way to convey that information elsewhere. 

Here’s how each side was comprised:

Gongsun Zan - I left his 30,000 infantry formed into a square formation. I wasn’t able to get an answer on my earlier translation question, but given what we do know about the other parts of his force and the progression of the battle, it made sense that his infantry core would probably be deployed deeper. There appeared to be at least 1000 armored infantrymen under Yan Gang (Gongsun Zan’s newly appointed Inspector of Ji) somewhere in this formation. However, I’m currently omitting them since they aren’t relevant at this stage in the battle and represent such a small fraction of the general formation (making it difficult to convey properly).

His cavalry’s disposition are more easily interpreted from the source. A wing of 5,000 horsemen on each flank and the White Horse Righteous Followers with an unknown strength in the center, divided into a left and right regiment. Since regiments were usually between 500-1000 men, the total amount of these elite mounted archers was likely somewhere between 1000-2000. Since these troops would engage first, they were likely in the vanguard. There wasn’t a noted commander for these forces. 

Yuan Shao - As stated in the previous maps, the Yuan forces seem to be mostly infantry, and I’ve estimated that they were likely somewhere around 30,000 men, on par with Gongsun Zan’s infantry force, but without supporting cavalry that could match the Gongsun horsemen. The vast majority were arranged in standard ranks under Yuan Shao’s personal command. 

The exception would be those under Qu Yi, a former officer of the recently deposed Inspector of Ji, Han Fu, who had turned against his superior and joined Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao had made him vanguard commander for this campaign, an acknowledgement of his abilities, having only been in the Yuan camp for less than a year. He was either a native of Liang Province, or had just spent a long time there, possibly serving in the army during the Liang Rebellion. He was said to be well versed in the anti-cavalry warfare of the Qiang. As vanguard commander, Qu Yi’s men were out ahead of the army.

The core of Qu Yi force was 800 elite infantry with shields. These were likely the taller oblong or tower shields rather than the smaller double-arc shields. Since the northwest was also known for its use of long spears (essentially pikes), these men may have also had these for warding off cavalry. There were also 1000 strong crossbowmen supporting each side. This contingent could either mean 1000 crossbowmen shooting two directions or 1000 on each flank for a total of 2000. I personally believe the latter is more likely given what would eventually transpire. 

That does it for now. I’ll be trying to do the full progression of the engagement next. Let me know if I made any mistakes or omissions, or just general feedback on the maps themselves! That’s what these prototypes are for.