#[ (Although in one particular instance there HAD been plotting...
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byteing · 3 months ago
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It is SLEEP TIME. See you folks later. 💖
As an aside: I don't generally have a lot of energy for plotting, threading, OOC IMs etc. So most of my interactions tend to come through asks or just through talking in OOC replies/commenting on headcanon posts and such, and I appreciate that so many people are completely fine with that. :3c I love talking on the dash and seeing people interact with one another and and and. Etc!
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absolutebl · 5 months ago
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This Week in BL - Actually a pretty fab line up right now
Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.
NOV 2024 Week 5
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Ongoing Series - Thai
Love Sick 2024 (Sun iQIYI) ep 11 of 15 - This is where the teen awkward comes to grab me by the throat. No other Thai BL does this better than Love Sick (except maybe Make it Right). And it’s always a challenge to watch because Phun is so ready to come out and Noh is so not. I love what cramming 3 eps into one (and better side BL couples) did for the tension and pacing in this particular part of this story. The new version really is excellent. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here. 
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Your Sky (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 12 - They are so awkward and I love them so much for it. They are terrible at faking romance, yet Fah want’s Rak so bad. This is moving so slowly but that’s part of it’s charm. I'm not frustrated instead I’m getting Oxygen vibes from it. Or perhaps it’s is more just I feel the way I felt when I was first watching Oxygen. Which is to say, I’m totally addicted and I keep re-watching new episodes. 
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Spare Me Your Mercy (Thurs iQIYI) ep 1 of 8 - Gah! JJ grew up so pretty. I love these leads. (No one is shocked.) I love the lawful good paired against (we’re not sure yet but possibly) neutral evil. I love our very sus very flirty very gay doctor. A lot happened in this first episode. I’m getting Manner of Death flashbacks but there’s nothing wrong with that. Bring on the chili. 
Incidentally, if you're interested in true crime, here's the IRL version of this story. How a Nuclear Lab Helped Catch a Serial Killer from the Science Vs podcast.
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Jack & Joker (Mon IQIYI) ep 10-12 end - I got the go ahead on a safe ending, and thus I watched the last 3 eps all as one. I love how defiantly verse these two were. I also really enjoyed the final episode. I do like a finale that ends on a bang (yes, both kinds). 
Final thoughts
I enjoyed this show a lot. A caper BL starring two of Thailand's best and focusing on class struggles, corruption, and poverty, was always gonna appeal to me. But I’m not sure, ultimately, whether I liked it because it was good in it’s own right, or because YinWar were so good in it. I do wish it had been a little more Leverage and little less chaos, Dr Evils, and "watch War cry." It was a great vehicle for YinWar, and for them to prove that BL can defy its own tropes. To that end, this goes comfortably into the Manner of Death category more than anything else I’ve encountered befor (although slightly less unhinged). It's good, but it loses the plot, the side couples, and it's own mind a couple of times, and YinWar were definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Thus I feel an 8/10 is fair, especially considering I'm unlikely to rewatch.
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The Heart Killers (Weds Gaga) ep 2 of 12 - Dunk is illegally pretty in this show. I gotta say I covet his skin care routine. (I love YinWar as much as the next person, but THIS boy should be the spokes-BL-rep for Laneige.)
Manwhile..... FirstKhao might be GMMTV’s best flirters. It’s a pleasure to watch them just inhabit these characters and bounce off each other. I do keep saying “what tf are they doing?!“ with this show. In this instance, it was the dancing in the bowling alley. What is going on? is it meant to be a Pulp Fiction reference?
Also this gd soundtrack is bonkers. I *can’t!* with the 70s orgy porn music and the very bad not quite metal intro music. And then, I remember, brain must be turned off! (That’s really hard for me OK?)
All that said, both the sauna and the jerk-off scenes were much appreciated. It’s nice to see this kind of visceral physical attraction depicted in a BL, we get it so rarely.  
On a side note, I entirely support Thailand’s one country agenda to put all the cute boys in crop tops. Keep it up. And up. And up. 
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Fourever You (Thurs YT) ep 9 of 16 - I just don’t get the (new) main couple. They don’t work for me. I like the surprise gamer boys side crumbs though. They are v cute.
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Side quest: Genius move anytime Hill comes on screen to basically have Pond make love to the camera. He v good at it. Break down everyone’s fourth wall, baby. Take no prisoners. 
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Caged Again (Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - That exchange! “Are you worried about me” (attempted flirtation) vrs Junior’s response “yes I am.” Just utter frankness. It’s very sweet. All in all this show is very sweet. Somewhat incomprehensible world building, but sweet. And the head lift into the lap was next level adorable. Sun’s shy smile is everything. 
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Perfect 10 Liners (Sun YT?) ep 5 of 24 - This show is very silly. I love the sides so much I can’t EVEN. But I think it was a big mistake putting Tay into this show. Never let an OG out of the bottle like that. He gets all our attention because we think he’s gonna grant all our wishes. By which I mean, all I could think the whole time he was on screen was WHY IS HE SO FINE?
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I’m not joking, I had to watch his scenes 3x because I kept getting distracted and losing the plot. Not that there is much plot to lose. Just Tay’s mouth. I’ll stop now, but seriously tho LOOK AT HIM!!! 
Every You Every Me (Mon Gaga) ep 8 end - Honestly I’d like to see this pair handed something much more meaty. Like a Japanese adaptation? Tokyo in April is… for example. I think they do a great job with something like that.
Conclusion
This was supposed to be a linked series about reincarnated soulmates, but ended up being more like a Y-Destiny grab bag BL with no rebirth through line, just the same acting pair. The leads were excellent. And I must praise this show for representing things I always want in my BL (and rarely get), switch, verse, communication, and safe sex. It’s just that this format with the same actors but no unifying theme (despite the pitch/packaging) made for a disappointing viewing experience. Some of the installments I enjoyed, and the visuals are on point, but I was ultimately let down by style and execution, if not acting. 6/10 
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Ongoing Series - Not Thai
Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Tues Gaga) ep 4 of 11 - “I won’t fall in love with you” is an easy promise to make if you’ve already fallen. I love this show SO MUCH. “Infect me just a little.” Holy fuck. This BOY. Also, so much for “not kissing.” This BL is fantastic. I’m so worried about where it’s going. Japan could very much hurt me with this. I didn’t expect to fall in love so hard.
Man, JBL...... when it gets you it really gets you (then it locks you in a basement and gets kinky). We are not safe but we must sit back and suffer enjoy it. I hate this. I love this. What a rush. 
See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 7 of 13 - I think this show has a “crash into me” trope in every single ep. This ep alone had 3, plus a flash back to the first one. Still, their damn date was so flipping adorbs!!!
Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 10 of ? - I couldn’t be less interested in the stuff with the mean girls. I’m annoyed we spent so much of this episode on them. Fewer bullies more smooches.
Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - Arashi as the doting bf was cute if sudden, also holy musical montage BLman.  Kai is my favorite character (as was Sky) but I'm still not wild about the blackmail sex start to this relationship. It does seem a little bit more like Kai went after a one night stand, also bit more switchy, which is better...... I guess. But not by much because the chemistry with these two isn't as good as the original.
I remain suspicious.
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It's airing but......
Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues ????) 11 of 12 eps - My source hasn’t yet uploaded 11. So…… I wait. 
Secret Love (? YT?) 13-?? of 81 eps - I don't know what's going on either.
Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun Viki) paused at eps 9-10 of 12 - I got the "stop" on this one as it's gone (no surprise) dark. Being China can not be relied upon to HEA. So I'm on pause until I'm told it's safe. If it ends sad/bad I will dnf. But for now I wait......
Winter Is Not The Death of Summer (Thai Weds YT) ?? eps - Criminals who meet in prison fall in love. I did find it on YouTube, initially unsubbed, then subs happened by which time I got distracted. The first episode seems to be only six minutes long. It is very pulp. But it is intriguing. For now its to the wayside until someone tells me what it whats to be and if it's headed in a safe direction. Occasionally Thai pulps want to be edgy and it's not a good look on them.
Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I'm weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show made it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment. Ends tomorrow.
Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YT) 10 eps - This is a little too low production value even for me + just very very odd. DNF
In Case You Missed it - GMMTV 2025 Line Up
There have been a ton of hot takes already, including mine.
Here are the titles and links to MDL for you (confirmed full BLs only), these are organized in order of the ones I'm anticipating the most at the top.
Dare You to Death - trailer
Boys in Love - trailer
Memoir of Rati - trailer
My Magic Prophecy - trailer
Me and Thee - trailer
A Dog and A Plane - trailer
Cat for Cash - trailer
That Summer - trailer
My Romance Scammer - trailer
Head 2 Head - trailer
Ticket To Heaven - trailer
Burnout Syndrome - trailer
Melody of Secrets - trailer
Only Friends Dream On - trailer
Love You Teacher - trailer
Next Week Looks Like This:
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End of year drops:
12/4 0.5D (Japan ????) 10 eps - Sales ace, Sada, has a secret that only his junior, Daiki, knows. He has pretended to have a gf for years, resulting in him being a virgin. But now Sada has fallen in love. Confused, Sada seeks advice from his junior. I sense another queer Cyrano De Bergerac. Info here.
12/6 Be Moon - Falling for my enemy's son (China ????) movie from HBD Studio - Not much on this one just a trailer, looks intriguing...... if it's from/through Taiwan, but if it's all China, I'm wary.
12/13 ThamePo Heart that Skips a Beat (Fri YT) 12eps - A boy band member and his documentarian start a forbidden relationship. I LOVE Est and am delighted to see him at GMMTV. This was my #1 pick for 2024. I've been waiting for a Blinding Lights style idol romance and this looks like it might be it (Korea and Japan have systemically disappointed me). Bring it, boys.
12/14 & 12/21 The Renovation (Thai mini One31) 2 eps - Writer turns his blossoming romance with holiday resort owner into a novel.
12/29 Sangmin Dinneaw (Thai ????) ??eps - trailer Childhood friends (Thai & Korean) reunite after being apart for ten years. As the boys reconnect, their bond matures and feelings of romance begin to develop, in Thai.
Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.
THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS
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His smile. (Caged Again)
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Look at them!
Look, I don't mean to tell you your business, but THIS? This is peak Thai BL. This is it. This is What They Do Best. Sure they dabble with silly kinky crimey-whiney fashizzal, but Thailand's true BL power is right here, in the sweet awkward school-set first love arghhhhh. Yes I said, school. Bite me. (Love Sick... damn it, 10 years later and it still has me in a choke hold.)
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Hey all you idiots who thought (or think) there is ever a green flag in any Mame ever, this character if for you. This boy, THIS ONE. This is what a walking talking ACTING green flag energy actually looks like. You wanna date a dude? Find you one like him. Okay, peaches? sheesh
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Meanwhile, this, this is not a green flag. This is GMMTV thinking they are being clever by calling out Thai BLs' worst behavior to make a character who has 'slightly less than worst behavior' look better. Sigh. When meta is used for ill gotten gains.
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This, on the other hand is meta being cleverly deployed.
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And this is language play. P'ABL's favorite.
So endeth this lesson.
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(last week)
The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs
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glassautomaton · 6 months ago
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What Is the First Magic, Anyways? (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love FGO Spoilers)
Out of the five instances of True Magic, the Second and Third are known about in some detail, the Fouth is a total unknown from what I can gather and simply hasn't been expanded upon in the lore quite yet, and the Fifth being shown, but not explained in detail, which is its own post. The First Magic falls somewhere in the middle here, where a few vague things are known about it and the person who attained it, but not much in the way of details.
What we do know for sure is that the Magician of the First Magic was Yumina, the First Witch, who founded the Meinster lineage and used the First to create Ploys, which were passed down to Alice Kuonji, considered to be the last pureblooded Meinster by 1989 following the 'death' of her mother. Based on some information about Witches and the Meinsters in particular from the FGO collab from back in April, I think I can hazard a strong guess as to what the First Magic actually is: authority over Mystics/Mysticism itself.
Some spoilers for FGO's Lostbelt 6, though nothing critical to the plot, as well as this translation of Alice Kuonji's FGO profile.
First off, some basic information about Witches and Yumina that was dropped a solid decade after Witch on the Moly Night first came out, because Nasu's a fucking comedian:
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This establishes a few things, first and foremost that Alice is actually Yumina's descendant, that Witches aren't human and are instead closer to faeries (although I'm not sure if they can be considered true faeries as this is phrased like they were created by an individual rather than born from the land or the Inner Sea), and that the daughters of Witches are essentially the next vessel for a singular consciousness, such that lineages are more like a single individual with several reincarnations. Not all of this information is actually completely relevant to this point but how insane is it that Alice got a lore drop for the first time in a decade and it was buried in the ass-end of a six-year-old mobile game? I just needed to get that off my chest.
Alice's profile reinforces this by seeming to allude that Alice's mother and her ancestors were all the same person, as well as the third paragraph using similar wording to how True Magic is often explained.
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Crucially, the final line also states that Meinsters stand in defense of Mystics from humanity's constant march towards order, which inevitably destroys Mystics by coming to understand them, as is one of the overarching themes in Type Moon in general. Yumina's lineage seems to be actively pushing back on this.
Knowing Nasu, I could stop right here. See, it's thematically cohesive with the Meinsters and Alice's character arc of growing past the reminders of her family's past and learning to appreciate the present, and thematic cohesion is really all you need in Type Moon, established lore and rules be damned.
However, I think that my point is supported by the Ploys, which are all products of the First Magic. We'll start off with the Three Great Ploys, which we know were created by Yumina proper and not any of her later descendants/incarnations.
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Flat Snark, Oil of the Moon, is the Great Ploy that's featured most prominently in Mahoyo. This is pretty straightforward - the prose in the scenes that feature it describe it as Magic, and it functions by transforming the world inside of its domain into a landscape of fantastical insanity. It is, quite literally, draping the landscape in Mystics once again. Even the air becomes dense with mana, similar to the atmosphere in the Age of Gods (as shown in Absolute Demonic Front), when Mystics were at their most common and well-integrated, before humanity had begun to push it back as much as they had.
The Thames Troll is the second of the Great Three Ploys, and one that, at first glance, seems to be by far the most simple - it's a massive golem that can get stronger based on what it's built out of. Alice states she has poor compatibility with it, and therefore can only use its first two forms, that being wood and clay/brick/stone, with its final two forms being iron and steel, then silver and gold. Thames uses the environment to create its body, be it the woods the first time we see it or the brickwork in the park during Alice's fight with Touko, which would mean that further forms would likely do the same. As Alice says that the final form would overshadow even London, this would mean that Thames is capable of annihilating entire cities. However, considering it would need iron and steel nearby to do so, it could likely only become so powerful when being used within a more advanced human settlement, likely for the express purpose of destroying it. Therefore, Thames is the Ploy that most directly serves the Meinster's goals of opposing humanity and safeguarding Mystics.
The final of the Great Three Ploys, which isn't directly stated in Witch on the Holy Night but instead FGO, is Wandersnatch, which frankly could and probably should be its own post. There's a whole hell of a lot going on with that thing.
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The long and short of it is that the Ploy consists of a dense fog, and numerous entities within it. Only by glimpsing Wandersnatch's true form in the fog can one escape, which makes the Ploy itself act as a microcosm for Mystics in general - it's an impossible, insurmountable obstacle that can only be weakened and overcome by observing it and learning more about it. It's little surprise, then, that Yumina herself choose Wandersnatch to inhabit while her current descendant doesn't yet harbor her consciousness - much of Wandersnatch’s presence has to do with Yumina attempting to exert more control on Alice in order to possess her and incarnate.
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Ultimately, though, the smoking gun for me isn't one of the Three Great Ploys, but the most common one we see used: Diddle Diddle, Alice's favorite Ploy. This one has a simple function, that being that it strengthens Mystics in a certain area when dropped on the ground. Which is simple, yes, but also just absurd. You mean she can just crank out little Christmas tree ornaments that can singlehandedly counteract the one consistent force present in every single Type Moon property? She can just do that? Alice, and only Alice, can just say "nuh uh?" That's not attainable through normal magecraft, and has got to be an application of the First Magic through the Ploy. Considering how straightforward the effect is, it seems to pretty clearly point towards the First Magic being tied to Mystics.
As a final note, I also think this makes sense of Nasu's note that the First Magic was discovered after the Third but named as such for a special reason relating to its nature (although this is from an unofficial translation from the Fandom wiki so take this with a grain of salt). It would be very in keeping with what we know about mage society for them to say Mystics are more foundational and important than souls.
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pynkhues · 23 days ago
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Waittttt why don’t you like the nosefertu movie 🥺🥺
I didn't, anon, no, sorry! I've been trying to be relatively discrete about it, because I know people on here really love it, and I don't actually like harshing anyone's buzz, but it wasn't even a case of it just not being for me, I actually didn't think it was very good.
My issues of it are kind of two-fold, one is with the writing, and the second is more specifically tied to the visual language of the film, and probably more about me really being a cinephile with a particular interest in gothic / gothic-adjacent cinema, haha. I'll put this under a cut in case people would like to scroll past, but also because there are quite a lot of screenshots in the second bit.
My main issue with the writing is that it was a) heavily, heavily expositional, and b) I don't think it had anything new to say about these characters, which is a huge issue when you're looking at the fourth adaptation of this specific story, which in turn is a part of more than 80 Dracula adaptations.
In terms of the exposition, that was frustrating alone with the world building and the period setting, but I'm overall pretty forgiving of that in films like this. What I had a really big issue with was that the script never let us in to any of these relationships. We were told what they were by the characters. There was no authentic intimacy in any of the dynamics, everything that we were supposed to feel about their relationships we were told to feel, not invited to feel.
Ellen and Anna's friendship for instance is positioned as one of the hearts of the film, but we get no context as to their friendship, we are offered no scenes of close intimacy beyond the one in bed later in the film, which feels like too little too late to me. The fact that their friendship is a point of friction in Anna's marriage with Friedrich is also dropped in randomly halfway through the film to spearhead middle act tension, but that doesn't really match the tone of the dynamics as we see them in the first half of the film where he seems to want to look after Ellen as much as Anna does.
I've actually found this with a lot of Eggers scripts - and for the record, I think he is a better director than he is a writer - where he is just fundamentally disinterested in the backgrounds and interpersonal dynamics of his characters. He likes relationships as far as they service the plot and the aesthetic that he's trying to achieve, and deepening them beyond that is just not something he does. It might work for some people, but it actually leaves me really cold as a viewer. I need to know more to feel more, I need to be shown the stakes, instead of told them, I don't get anything out of the film by it telling me that Ellen and Anna are friends, just like I don't get all that much out of it telling me that Ellen and Thomas are in love, which it does, repeatedly, without ever investing in why they are in love. I need to know that why to be emotionally invested, and I just don't think that's there.
Which kind of filters a bit back to this question of why Eggers wanted to remake this. There are excellent versions of it already that tell deeper stories of coming of age, sexually and emotionally, trauma, and female sacrifice, so what did he want to bring to it? More explicit sexuality? Modern effects? That's not enough for me. I think adaptations and remakes have to have something to say - Interview with the Vampire certainly does - and when they don't, they just feel hollow to me, which this film did.
And this goes to my second point too, because a lot of this film felt like it owed a lot visually to better films to me. Again, I do think Eggers is a good director - he manages tone really well, and I think his visual sensibility is compelling (although not as compelling as others, I have to say), but I also think his eye is so heavily influenced by others sometimes that he veers out of homage and into straight up lifting shots.
And I'll give him a pass on some of it, right? Him adapting shots from the 1922 and 1979 films are a part of being in conversation with them, y'know? I don't actually have a problem with him recreating those, and he recreates heaps. I won't repost all of them, but The Frida Cinema did a great compilation of them on Instagram here if you're interested. Here are a few though:
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(Interestingly, I actually think his versions are the least innovative in almost all cases too - I often find Eggers movies to be really flat visually - but I'm not going to get into that).
What I have more of an issue with is that I think that a lot of his shots are taken from other films too. Let me show you some examples.
Let's start with that beautiful curtain shot, and then let's have a look at one from the wonderful Jane Campion film, Bright Star (2009), and finally Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970).
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The last one is a little different, of course, but I did want to include it because that is literally a Nosferatu-esque monstrous vampire coming through the curtain, and also I think Eggers took a lot of inspiration from that particular film.
Okay another one. Let's look at Ellen in her white night gown, running out the door, and then lets have a look at two other iconic gothic films - The Uninvited (1944) and Eyes without a Face (1960).
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Another one! Ellen ripping off her dress, then lets have a look at a shot from famed British arthouse filmmaker, Derek Jarman's The Last of England (1987)
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This one feels obvious, but of course the eyes rolling back screaming shot is obviously heavily reminiscent of The Exorcist (1973).
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This shot of Ellen, with this shot from The Piano (1993) which I would've maybe talked myself out of if I didn't immediately Google and find out Eggers listed The Piano as one of his favourite films on the Nosferatu press tour (taste! Now THAT'S a movie!).
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And this is a promo shot because I couldn't find the still from the film itself, but again, Ellen with Orlock, and Valerie with the Monster in Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
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Like I mentioned, I do think he took quite a lot from Valerie and Her Week of Wonders generally which is a dreamy, gothic, erotic horror featuring vampires that was released as a part of the Czechoslovak New Wave in 1970. It's not super easy to capture in screenshots, but there are elements to the tone and the way that he structures the story that feel heavily influenced, and even involves sex with the unseen supernatural outside. These shots don't look that similar, but trust me, it's basically the same thing happening in both (and again, I think Jires' shot is a lot more compelling).
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I could honestly probably list a lot more, because I know while I was watching it, I recognised shots from The Innocents (1961) [a lot of the window shots felt very heavily tied to this one], My Cousin Rachel (1952), Night of the Hunter (1955), The Spiral Staircase (1946) and Viy (1960). That's not a criticism necessarily, but it goes back to my point that I just don't think Eggers had much to say in this particular film. He wanted an aesthetic and a vibe which he obviously saw and loved in other films, but without having anything to say, or a deeper understanding of these characters, I think it stifled his own creativity which let the film down on both a writing level and a visual level.
It was like watching a collage of a bunch of things he liked, and I get it, I mean, I like those things too, I think we have similar taste in movies, haha, but without a good script to drive this film forwards, or meaningful engagement of these characters - - like I said, it just left me really cold.
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thestupidhelmet · 8 months ago
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I’ve honestly never seen a fandom like this that insists they know the characters better than the creator of it. I’m thinking lots of thoughts
Truthfully, sometimes fans do. Or the actors do. Creators don't always put character first but plot or a punchline or whatever they think will make more money. The characters are then manipulated to act contrary to their established personalities or undergo what's called character drift.
As a novelist and short story author, whose education focus was creative writing and the study of literature, I learned about character consistency among the other elements that create a story and what's called its fictional dream by John Gardener (author and teacher of writing fiction). To quote him:
"If you're writing fiction then anything can happen -- so long as you earn it by making your world believable. Your readers will stop reading if you bore them or break their suspension of disbelief."
The T7S writers broke the show's fictional dream many times by manipulating characters to act against their established development (for plot and punchline). They even knew they were doing so in one particular instance and acknowledged it in the episode itself via dialogue (very meta of them, but the acknowledgement doesn't change the fact they didn't do enough to maintain the audience's sense of disbelief).
Major character shifts must be prepared for, grounded in the writing significantly, to make it a believable shift. It doesn't even need much, but it needs to make sense for the character. A good example of this is in the T7S episode where Red openly and serenely says, "I love you," to Eric. The whole storyline has Eric (among other characters) confused about Red's totally inexplicable change, a confusion the audience shares.
Later, the show reveals Red had been drugged at the dentist for a procedure and that the drugs hadn't worn off (substantiation of the momentary character shift) when he tells Eric he loves him.
A good example of a major character shift breaking the fictional dream and the audience's suspension of disbelief is Hyde drunkenly marrying a stranger during the two weeks he spends with her in Vegas. This change happens after Hyde spends almost a full season succumbing to then fighting against his marriage fears (from his traumatic childhood) to commit fully to the only girl he's ever been in love with for three years.
Struggling for a year to commit fully to a future with the girl he loves but able to commit fully to a future with someone he doesn't know longer than two weeks and doesn't love -- these are two different characters.
(It would have taken half a season to substantiate the change, another half a season to explore the change, another half a season for Hyde to understand his reasoning for the change and confront it, and another half a season for him and Jackie to reconcile. This storyline would have needed two seasons to make character-sense.)
This change goes completely against Hyde's long-established nature and development -- without any foundation underlying it. The writing doesn't substantiate the change. The season 8 showrunners expected the show's fans to accept the change without question. Their expectations were not met.
They broke the fictional dream to serve their own interests rather than the characters. If they didn't like T7S's seven years of development, they never should've taken the job. Instead, they warped the characters to their (the S8 showrunners') will until the characters were unrecognizable as themselves.
A show's audience is no different than the reader of a book. If a novel establishes that it's protagonist is a compassionate person, then readers expect that compassion to be consistent. It can be tested, pushed to the limit, even break -- but the choices must stem organically from the character, not the author's whim.
On Star Trek: The Original Series, although Leonard Nimoy did not create Spock in the character's most basic form, he did create much of what makes Spock who he is (as did one particular director in one early episode). Nimoy, the actor, imbued Spock with his own life experiences.
From the Vulcan neck pinch (logical, nonviolent Vulcans would have a logical, nonviolent way to subdue an assailant, he reasoned, rather than what the script called for: lots of physical fighting) to the famous Vulcan salute, to Spock's experience of being part of two worlds and feeling alien in both, all Nimoy.
Whenever a script veered from what Nimoy, the actor, believed was in Spock's character to do, he sent memos to whoever ran the show during whichever season, stated his concerns, explained them, then offered an alternative and in-character idea. Because he had the pull (no Star Trek without Nimoy, who was the show's biggest draw), his suggestions were always taken seriously and implemented.
And they were right. He did not create Spock, yet he knew Spock better than any of the writers did. Better than the man who created him.
And, yes, sometimes book readers or a show's audience know the characters better than the writers.
Gregg Mettler, the T7S writer brought onto T9S as a creator did not do his due diligence when creating the future of the T7S characters. By his own admission, the extent of his research was Wikipedia. He didn't rewatch the show. Quite frankly, he could have read the essays and metas myself and other fans have written to get a better handle (and understanding) of the T7S characters than he did from Wikipedia.
A portion of a show's audience often does understand and respect the characters better than their official writers. They put the characters first rather than creating buzz for the show, catering to network or actor or their own whims, or focusing on the show making money through stunt casting, etc.
While we can't affect what's put on screen, we have the freedom to discuss and debate what we see as character drift or character inconsistencies. To write fanfic that's more true to the characters than the show is.
I hold TV shows to the same standard of storytelling as I do novels. Unfortunately, the TV business does not. The all mighty dollar is what matters first, second, and third to many people in the industry. Not creative authenticity, originality, or consistency. I'm always pleased (and pleasantly surprised) when I watch a show where the characters are put first. These shows exist, but they're rare.
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my-rose-tinted-glasses · 10 months ago
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Hi Rose 💜 Weird question time! Do you have a favourite quote(s) from the series you've watched? Like, some sentence that got stuck in your head. I am looking at the empty wall in my room and feeling a very adult urge to just write something on it so I'm looking for inspirations.
No pressure though, it's just my head is completely empty and my memory is bad 😅
Hi Kat💜
So my memory is also terrible. A lot of the times I forget quotes really quickly. But I was thinking about this and going through the rolodex in my brain, and realized that I do remember lines from shows, but usually they aren't significant by themselves. Like for me it's a quote that brings me straight into the show again, like I'm seeing in my head and it's invoking the same feelings that I felt during the show. (also there's also the language thing, where I'm not always sure if I know exactly what they're saying so I'm always afraid of giving it weight for some reason)
Like for example. If I'm thinking of WDYEY, I think of onions, and chicken thighs. Specifically "I think I should use two chicken thighs", as said by Shiro. Because it makes me remember them instantly, and have the same feeling I had when I watched. Also lot of the times I think of bits of dialogue and not necessarily lines by itself. Like for instance in ULS when Hotae is talking to Donghee while cleaning and he says a bunch of things ending with something like "But that's all bullshit. Because when you can't endure something, then you just can't endure it."
So I don't know if these will help you, because although I think I could maybe put them on my wall or something, and it would be meaningful to me, I don't know if it would be the same for you.
But anyway, you asked and I will tell you some of my favourite lines, that I think of, when I remember certain shows. (these are from memory, so they might not be verbatim)
Light on me "Yesterday, today and tomorrow. I'll still be thinking about you" Shinwoo - this is of course an all time favourite.
Love Sick "It barely takes any time to fall in love, so why does it hurt so much to say goodbye?" Noh (I'm gonna stop at one with this one because I'd be here all day)
Gaya Sa Pelikula "Tell me a story Karl." & "I refuse to be a plot device that triggers somebody else's identity crisis only to be left alone in the end" & "Jesus is too forgiving to be a Capricorn" Vlad (yeah this show also had a lot that I like)
Kieta Hatsukoi "We don't have to be like everyone else" Ida
If it's with you "I think liking you might be good" Ryuji
Old Fashion Cupcake "Don't just be a part of my life. Please be my entire life" Togawa
To My Star "If it's too hard for you. I'll go to you." Seo Joon
We Best Love "Am I still the lucky one?" WBL 2 "You wanted to stay with me forever, but you didn't believe in my forever" Shu Yi
Theory of Love "Why Khai? Why are you still waiting" "I don't wanna love you anymore. It hurts" < I can hear this one in my head. Third
The Eighth Sense "I'm getting sick of wearing a mask" & "Let's try it together even if we're afraid" Jae Won (this one is another I'd have several)
Unintentional Love Story "I'll love you instead." Ji Won Young
I've not been able to really go look, because life, but I know I have more and if more come to me I'll let you know. I know there are a couple from kdramas I really like but for the life of me I can't remember them right now. The only one that comes to mind is from Navillera that it's just "Did you soar?" cause I get emotional just thinking about it.
Anyway since perhaps I'm not the best person for this particular thing, because I have a terrible memory and maybe because I'm more of a visual person when it comes to tv, I thought I'd open the floor to some people that might be able to help. So tagging some folks that might be able to contribute to your endeavour.
@lurkingshan @twig-tea @wen-kexing-apologist @bengiyo @hyeoni-comb (no pressure of course)
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dr-futbol-blog · 7 months ago
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Excursus: Sheppard's attraction to siblings (fictional)
In the previous entry I discussed some of the instances where Sheppard seems to have been attracted to both members of a pair of siblings in the "real world." But what really makes this come across as a preference rather than pure coincidence is that he also seems to showcase attraction for siblings in fiction, in the media he consumes.
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First, there is the curious case of the Fantastic Four. Sheppard describes his team as resembling that of the Fantastic Four in First Strike (S03E20):
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Dex: I need to learn some science. Sheppard: What for? Dex: I'm not all that useful in situations like these. If we get into a fight, or we need to break out of somewhere, you know, kill someone, I'm your man; but a laser attacking the city's shield. I don't know where to chip in. Sheppard: Well, that's why we're a team, like the Fantastic Four. It's a comic book where superheroes fight crime and stuff. See, I'd be Mr Fantastic; Ronon would be The Thing; McKay would be the Human Torch... you'd be the Invisible Woman. Teyla: I am not invisible. Sheppard: No. No, and McKay's not a human torch. Teyla: Well, how come you get to be Mr Fantastic? Sheppard: Because he was the leader and I'm the... I'm just saying that they were a cool team and we're a cool team and they use their strengths to, you know... I'm gonna go check on McKay.
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Teyla has a good point. Why does Sheppard get to be Mr Fantastic? Mr Fantastic is a man of science, has multiple PhDs in the same exact fields as McKay, whose superpower is elasticity but more often uses his intellect to save the day. Surely that should be McKay and not Sheppard. I mean, self-identifying as Reed Richards (he even gives the name as his alias In Travelers S05E04) means that he admires Mr Fantastic, right? Sheppard is projecting his admiration into wanting to be Reed Richards. While this may well be true, that is not the only reason why he fancies himself Reed Richards.
Thing is, the episode First Strike came out very close to the premiere of Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer if not precisely on the same week. Their discussion in the episode, lengthy as it is, is clearly meant to advertise the film, the franchise being a 20th Century Fox IP. They frequently mention The Simpsons, for example, so this synergy between IPs in the Fox family is established. So, there is a commercial reason for this discussion, it is guerilla advertising of a kind for the film. But it still doesn't explain why Sheppard identifies with Reed Richards and not, say, with Ben Grimm who is a former USAF test pilot like Sheppard. It doesn't seem like Sheppard has much in common with Reed Richards and given that he was the first to discover the cloaking technology of the jumpers, an argument could be made for him as the Invisible Woman. Only, the Reed Richards in the film played by Ioan Gruffudd does kind of look like Sheppard. Dark hair, rakishly handsome, protagonist. Yeah, if Sheppard had seen the first installment of the franchise that came out two years prior, during their first visit to Earth, he could identify with Richards just based on wanting to think of himself as the Ioan Gruffudd type.
But what is interesting is that Reed Richards is also a man with an interest in a pair of siblings. Sheppard explicitly and specifically calls McKay the Human Torch, although he points out that he is not literally a torch. And there is kind of a resemblance between this iteration of Johnny Storm and McKay too. Especially if Sheppard sees McKay through the rose-coloured lenses of a man that loves him. The Johnny Storm of the film has spiky, dirty blonde hair rising up from the temples, dressed in blue. Yeah.
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While there is some "ho-yay" in the film, there is no particular subtext of anything going on between Reed and Johnny. The plot revolves around Reed getting married to his sister Sue. But the thing is, Johnny Storm is one of the most queer-coded characters in all of comic book history. He has been made canonically bisexual by at least one of the writers but he has also been written as a closeted gay man ever since the inception of the comic book in the 1960s. There is even an alternate universe where Reed Richards married Johnny instead of Sue where Sue Storm was Reed's sister-in-law. And this also establishes Reed Richards as bisexual.
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So if we assume that since it's a Fox IP, Sheppard had seen the first Fantastic Four film from 2005 (it would have been in the theatres when they visited for a few months following The Siege, S02E01) when he was thinking about this on the eve of the premiere of the second installment, it is rather easy to see how he could identify with Reed Richards in spite of their personalities being very different, being that McKay was out of bounds for him during this time. Sheppard could look but not touch, just like one could a brother-in-law. It kind of seems like Sheppard and McKay's outwardly habituses resemble those of the characters in the film (Sheppard looks like Ioan, McKay looks like Chris if you squint and are in love), while their personalities have been switched around (McKay is much more like Reed in personality or characterization, and Sheppard seems to have more in common with the wisecracking carefree flyboy).
So if Sheppard sees McKay as the Human Torch like he very much said that he does, then how does Sheppard see McKay?
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Hot. John Sheppard sees Rodney McKay as hot. In First Strike, he had just canonically called McKay hot. This is the version of Johnny Storm that he likened McKay to. Both Sue Storm and Johnny Storm of the Fox IP franchise Fantastic Four are hot. And Sheppard fancies himself as someone that gets to hang out with both of them. This may seem ridiculous unless we recognize that Sheppard sees McKay the way a man in love will see the object of their desire, the apple of their eye. This version of Johnny is like the ultimate glow-up version of McKay, receding hairline and everything.
But Sheppard doesn't just fancy himself Reed Richards. He is likened to Han Solo multiple times, and this makes a lot of sense. He never calls himself Han Solo as such, but he calls Ronon Chewie multiple times which means that he fancies himself Han Solo, Ronon as his trusty sidekick. The first time Sheppard calls Ronon Chewbacca is in Condemned (S02E04), but this happens multiple times over the years.
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And it isn't just him calling Ronon Chewie, either. In fact, one of the first things we ever hear him say to native Pegasusians is that he is from a galaxy far, far away. In Harmony (S04E14), Sheppard clearly borrows a page out of Han Solo's playbook as he is forced to pretend to be a Genii soldier over the radio, and it is entirely possible having watched the films as a child (Sheppard would have been c. 7 years old when A New Hope came out) later influenced his decision to become a pilot, and Han Solo's dashing rogue character would definitely have had a big role in this.
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And since Han Solo is a pilot with a rebellious streak, Sheppard certainly wants to believe he is something like the Corellian smuggler. Sheppard seems to have persisted in bucking the system he serves in subtle ways, shown for example in how he refuses to tie his combat boots all the way up.
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Like Sheppard, Han Solo can also certainly be interpreted as a bisexual character, and he is at the very least bi-coded. And Han Solo not only has that bisexual swagger, he also seems to have a thing for both siblings, Leia and Luke. Perhaps not coincidentally, like Johnny Storm, Luke was gay-coded in the original trilogy and his sexuality has been a topic of debate ever since the 1970s based on deleted scenes between Luke and his friend Biggs Darklighter. There is some heavy subtext between the characters that never made it to the final cut of the film. But there seems to be subtext between Luke and Han Solo, as well.
Now, some of the subtext seems to stem from the fact that Luke and Leia were originally meant to become an item and they were only later retconned as siblings. It is this retconning that has lead to an interesting dynamic between the three characters. Isso Flower writes:
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Luke also has plenty of chemistry in New Hope with Han Solo. If we read it as a coming-out story (a boy desperate to leave his home is integrated into a rebellious community wherein he finds acceptance for the first time), then Han is the older man who instigates Luke’s movement into the wider community. Han is a sexy rogue with plenty of chest hair, panache, and nice eyes, that Luke spends half his time hero-worshipping and half his time ribbing—as Chrissy Saul identifies, ‘in peak rom-com fashion’. There is also the infamous moment when, following their rescue, Leia leaves the cockpit: Luke: So… what do you think of her, Han? Han: I’m trying not to, kid! Luke: (Quietly satisfied) Good… Han: (Smirks in a dashing fashion) Still, she’s got a lot of spirit. Luke: (is not happy) There are of course two ways to read this. Either Luke is attracted to Leia, which becomes extremely uncomfortable once you’ve watched Return of the Jedi (1983), or he’s jealous of Han’s attraction to her because he fancies Han. The way the scene is played, especially by Hamill, leaves the interpretation up to the viewer and makes sense in either case. Again, this is exactly the type of subtextual, interpretation-based dialogue that is catnip to fandom—the kind of lines that open up possibilities for stories and for slash. Later, before Luke sets out on the mission to destroy the Death Star, Han asks him to come with him, saying that he’s going on a suicide mission. Not only this, but the scene sets up the heroism of Han’s return to the fight—with the implication he’s returning for Luke, much as Biggs did. This is backed up by some evidence that there was one draft where Luke was female, and in love with Han.
Obviously this was never going to be maintext when the films were originally released. Important here is that Luke was gay-coded and a case can be made for Han Solo to have expressed interest in both siblings.
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What makes this interesting is that in Condemned (S02E05), several parallels between the episode and Star Wars seem to be drawn. These parallels are both visual and thematic but the interesting thing is that McKay is placed into the roles of both Luke and Leia.
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In the episode, McKay is playing the part of Luke Skywalker as he is inside the jumper being threatened by the leader of the prisoners of the island, their Emperor, who describes him as "the type of man who, despite being weak and cowardly on the outside, harbours a strength of character he doesn't even know he has." Luke was a simple country boy who seemed weak, whiny and cowardly at the start of the journey but whom we later discover harbours this strength of character he doesn't know that he has. Luke was also fair-haired which Sheppard referenced by calling McKay Goldilocks earlier in the same episode.
The scene calls back to the well-known scene in the Emperor's throne room in Return of the Jedi where the Emperor is trying to manipulate Luke, to get him to join the Dark Side. To join his cause. He doesn't threaten Luke because Luke had walked before him willingly in chains. He threatens his friends, and that is the correct lever to pull. And it is finally threatening his sister that causes Luke to lose control. His feelings betray him, and all seems lost. Their leader had personally witnessed both the fact that McKay appears to be weak and cowardly and the fact that he is made of much stronger stuff when the chips come down. But at the same time McKay, who was forced to work fixing the jumper just as Princess Leia had to work on the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back, also seems to be likened to her. McKay is also visually placed in Leia's spot on the Falcon, sitting behind the handsome rogue pilot.
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The Falcon is bombarded by asteroids and has to be taken down for repairs where the jumper is bombarded and taken down with McKay having to make repairs, Chewie attempts to choke the life out of Lando Calrissian when he comes to release them just like Ronon attempts to take the life of the prisoner Eldon that had come to release them, Sheppard describing himself lazy but fighting if he has to which is basically Han Solo's entire character. There is also a parallel in the low-tech Ewoks (the prisoners that McKay described as "the cast of Braveheart") taking down the Rebels while both have a common enemy in the Empire, the wraith cruisers even resembling Star Destroyers.
There are many parallels between the episode and Star Wars, and McKay's description by the leader of the prisoners especially seems like an intentional allusion to the characterization of Luke Skywalker who, along with his twin sister, possesses a strength of character that he does not even know he has. And yet, they didn't need to do it like this. They could have just described Sheppard as Han Solo, have him make a reference to Ronon as Chewie. If they wanted to bring McKay into it, they could simply have described him as a Luke-like and called it a day. But the fact that McKay is likened to both Luke and Leia seems unnecessarily complicated unless they were looking to make a point. And the whole point seems to boil down to the notion that John Sheppard is bisexual. And it isn't just that he identifies with bisexual characters but that he specifically identifies with characters that are attracted to both brother and sister. John Sheppard wants a family so bad. And, given his favourite characters in the fiction he consumes, it also seems rather obvious who he would like to have this family with.
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annabthesolitarywriter · 6 months ago
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✍️
Thank you for your ask! I'm slowly getting around to answering them all (thank you for your patience)
So...I'm going to talk about a character (two characters actually, since their lives and fates are intertwined and it's kind of impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other) that has no direct impact on the plot of The Lady Of Ithilien. Yep, I do have ghost characters as well, expect that I've have tried to develop these two to the best of my abilities as their absence...sort of affects my main character. These two people are...*drum roll*
Elanel and Elegil, Enna's biological parents.
Elanel was born sometime in the Third Age (I haven't really thought of a birth year yet) and was the only daughter of lord Golasgil of Anfalas. It's not mentioned in canon, but I like to think he had Númenórean/Elven blood in him (a bit like Imrahil or Faramir, for instance) and so did his wife. Elanel is a Dúnadan of Gondor but "blood of Númenor runs true in her".
She spent most of her childhood there and her father tried to give her a suitable education befitting a Gondorian lady. Although very intelligent, wise and composed, she had a rebellious streak to her. She wanted to explore and meet people from all walks of life. What started as a childish whim turned into a sort of obsession and one day she fled from her childhood home and traveled North with only her horse and her father's sword. She had always wanted to go North and explore Eriador—she had also heard of Hobbits and wondered whether she would ever be able to meet one. She does indeed travel North and, on the way there, she stumbles across a group of Dúnedain (of Arnor) who are also headed North. There are several people in the group—it's a rather large one—and among the many people in it, one in particular catches her eye.
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This guy.
His name is Elegil and he is one of the two captains of the Grey Company and is perhaps the best archer (maybe one of the best) in the whole realm of Gondor and Arnor.
Elegil is a personal friend of Aragorn's and related to Halbarad (he's also Halbarad's second-in-command...until Halbarad lives. After his death, Elegil becomes the Grey Company's only Captain). I don't think they're close relatives, but then again, I think all Dúnedain are somewhat related. Now, that I think about it, this would make Enna and Elarien (her bestie) related, so I second this theory and hereby confirm Elegil and Halbarad are related.
Back on track. Elanel is immediately attracted to him. He is different from all the lords she has met throughout her life and seems much kinder and thoughtful than all of them put together. He's also excellent with a bow (duh, dude is literally Robin Hood) and, unbeknownst to him, she loves watching him practice. Yes, that's right. She literally hides behind a tree and peeks on him as he hits several targets, but he never notices her presence until she tells him she's been there all along. He's a bit confused and asks her if she wants to learn. Her eyes widen and she simply nods. She's slightly embarrassed as she finds him extremely charming but also intimidating, but she quickly gets over her fears as he starts training her. That's how they bond and he eventually falls in love with her. He befriends his comrades and settles in their village permanently. The people in the village are not nobles and sometimes lack manners, but Elanel really doesn't mind and finally feels at home. Elegil keeps courting her and marries her sometime around TA 3016. Their first child, Elerion, (Enna's older brother) is born two years later. In TA 3019, Elegil fights alongside Halbarad and Elrond's sons in the Battle of Pelargir and then in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (he's fantastic with a bow, but he's proficient with a sword as well). Halbarad dies and it is a major blow to Elegil and he vows to name his next child after him. Once the battle is over, he and his surviving comrades return North and he finds his wife in tears holding a bloodied blanket. She had learned she was with child shortly before his departure (she had not told him so that he wouldn't be distracted during the battle) and Elegil understands she miscarried. She can't stop crying and he promises her they will have more children as he comforts her. As they are both still grieving the loss of their baby, they don't attend Aragorn's wedding and coronation in May—the newly crowned King Elessar sends them a "get well soon" note and also tells them that he hopes Elegil will retain his position as the archers' captain now that the Crown needs him. Elegil is a bit upset to be reminded of duty when he's trying to process the loss of his child and does not reply to the King's note. On a sidenote, I think Aragorn did go visit him just to make sure things were alright. He essentially bore him no ill-will, but I suppose he was a bit weirded out by the whole situation. Just when the two of them are well enough mentally to even consider moving to Minas Tirith, Elanel realizes she's pregnant again. Yes, it runs in Enna's genes to be constantly pregnant, but...c'mon...can we really blame Elanel?
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Can we really...?
She ran away from home, her father disowned her when he learned about it, but she got a hot husband in return, so I daresay she won in life? More or less.
Anyway, moving on.
It is written in canon that servants of the enemy still lurked about during the first decade of King Elessar's reign and assume orcs were still around too. Elanel is heavily pregnant and due relatively soon when the village receives word that orcs may attack in the coming days. Although Elegil doesn't want to leave his wife, he agrees with his surviving comrades that it is best if they patrol the area to ensure that the people are safe. He wakes her up—they leave at night—and kisses her before he tells her not to worry. Little does he know, he won't ever be coming home. As they leave the village and start patrolling their surroundings, orcs ambush them and Elegil is hit by several arrows in the chest and one arrow which pierces him straight through the eye. That's the end for him.
Elanel has a nightmare of him dying and wakes up suddenly. Elerion is still sleeping—I haven't really mentioned him in this ask, but, then again, he's three years old.
Elanel just goes outside to breathe in some fresh air...and that's when her water breaks. Long story short, she dies in childbirth that very same day.
Elegil and all of his friends/comrades have been slaughtered during their failed patrolling mission and Elanel is now dead too. The village wants to raise the children collectively and a message is sent to Minas Tirith to notify both Golasgil—although he had disowned her, Elanel was still his daughter—and the King, as Elegil was a friend and a valued member of the Grey Company.
Éowyn and Faramir had just lost their newborn daughter and so Aragorn thinks it might be suitable for them to raise Elegil and Elanel's youngest child as their own. They agree and would like to adopt Elerion as well, but Aragorn is against the idea. While they can take in the newborn and pretend it's their own blood—everybody in Gondor knew Éowyn was pregnant—having a random three-year-old turn up at the Steward's doorstep simply wouldn't be looked upon favorably. That's what Aragorn thinks and arranges for someone to take little Elerion to Anfalas, hoping his grandfather might take him in. That doesn't happen and Elerion is eventually raised by a poor yet loving family dwelling in the lower levels of the Citadel.
Two of Enna's children with Eönwë will be partly named after their biological grandparents:
Aearwen Elanel (FoA 36-FoA 40). Faceclaim yet to pick
And Faramir Elegil (twin brother of Vanya Elestellë; her last boy and very last child before she herself dies in childbirth in FoA 43.)
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The twins are the only ones who actually have a birthday as of now. It's also her date of death=> May 9)
That's it for now! Thank you again for the ask!
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Annabel Scholey as Elanel & Russel Crowe as Elegil
I edited these two (ship name: Elagil?) and I just love how annoyed and done she looks. I think it's one of my best edits (I'm generally not very good, but I really like this one).
I also think Elegil is at least 15 years older than Elanel. Nevermind though, they are gorgeous.
I'm actually done now! Thank you for reading 😌
REFERENCE EDITS:
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frecklenog · 1 year ago
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after spending an evening listening to jessie gender tell me about starfield, capitalism, gender, selfhood, and ursula k leguin, i had. some Thoughts about another science fiction series; one you're probably at least somewhat familiar with if you follow this blog or watch ms gender's videos.
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to start off; hey. this is partially based on my own experiences, my understanding of them, and how that lens can be applied to star trek. it's also very much inspired by the work of jessie earl, whose channel i can't recommend enough. she's funny, intelligent, kind, and an incredibly gifted writer, and she's a gift to both the star trek, trans, and "video essay youtuber" communities. show her some love!
that said, i want to start by looking at star trek. we all know the vulcans, don't we? pointy ears, green blood — spock's dad's side of the family. gifted with telepathic abilities, vulcans are practitioners of the mind meld, also called things like a mind link, probe, touch, or fusion, which is exactly what it sounds like. it allows two (or more, on occasion) sentient life forms to exchange thoughts as though they were one being.
of course, this kind of thing is common in media. steven universe has gem fusions, which should be examined from a plural viewpoint in their own right. x-man charles xavier almost routinely delves into the minds of others. but rarely does it have any lasting impact on the characters. even star trek itself falls into this, with doctor leonard mccoy not getting nearly enough screentime in the voyage home to show off what must have been the intensely strange experience of carrying spock's katra within him. (maybe that's addressed in a novelization or comic that i'm just unaware of, but regardless, i haven't seen it, and i think that's a travesty. (and if you know of a book where that gets touched on oh my god give me the fucking link now-))
there are instances of star trek mind melds having lasting effects, as discovery shows part of sarek's katra being permanently linked to michael burnham, though that could be considered an extenuating circumstance, what with her being on death's doorstep at the time of the meld. which most trek fans probably already know, and is honestly more fantastical than i care to bother reading with a plural lens. however, star trek is a fandom with nearly sixty years of history, including hundreds of books and comics from various authors and publishers. these stories are plentiful, bizzare, and sometimes outright terribly written. i don't blame anyone for not having read them all — to do so seems like a terrifying task.
but the one i want to look at right now is a particular run of the star trek: the next generation comic, published in 2000 by wildstorm comics.
the run is called perchance to dream — a lovely, flourishing name for a comic where half of the plot could be it's very own jessie gender video for how much sexual weirdness goes on (but i'll leave that to the professionals). the part we're going to focus on is that the b-plot of the run surrounds captain jean luc picard, captain of the uss enterprise-d. the comic is set after the events of the star trek: the next generation season 3 premiere, best of both worlds: part 2. in that episode, the captain had been disconnected from the borg hivemind (after being assimilated in part 1), and he returned to duty as usual at the end of the episode (though he does choose to go on leave in the following episode). it's also set after another episode from later on in season 3, — episode 23, sarek, wherein picard preformed a mind meld with sarek in order to allow the aging ambassador better emotional control, as it was being ravaged by his bendii syndrome — essentially, vulcan dementia.
the a-plot of the run isn't really important to us, i'm afraid — although it reveals to us in the second issue that worf accidentally killed a kid on another soccer team as a child. suffice to say, one of the abilities of the aliens the crew has to play diplomacy with is that they can prod into people's traumas through their nightmares. they have a lot going on. it's a comic book from 2000, what did you expect?
and, speaking of things that are easily dated, the third issue of the run brings us to the second part of today's topic.
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image id: a comic book page. beginning at the top, a narration box reads: "chief medical officer's log, stardate 48503.8. lieutenant commander data, doctor selar, and i have gone through the damiano [alien] records regarding the chova. while no direct way to combat the weapon was ever developed we have discovered that certain people were immune to the chova's effects and could destroy the weapon." doctor beverly crusher is beside the narration box, depicted from the shoulders up, facing slightly to the right and saying "there has to be another way." a vulcan -- doctor selar -- is viewed from the waist up, holding a padd in her right hand and facing to the right of the page. she is saying "we have been over the records six times a piece, doctor. if there is anything to find, it is likely that we would have found it by now." data, an android designed to appear as a human with pale yellow plastic skin, is holding a book slightly behind doctor selar. his mouth is slightly open as he speaks. "i believe doctor selar is correct. this is the only course of action open to us under the circumstances." to the right of this panel is another shot of beverly from the shoulders up, this time facing to the left. her expression is stern as she says "i know, i know, it's just-- it could kill him." in the next panel. beverly is shown from the back, and captain jean-luc picard enters, saying "you sent for me, doctor?" beverly responds, "yes, jean-luc. please sit down." below this, the left panel takes most of the remaining page. this time we see captain picard from the back, while beverly faces the reader head-on, speaking first. "we've gone through the records chief du're [irrelevant one-off character from the a-plot] provided. it turns out that there was one group of people who were immune to the chova when it was first used. mpd's." jean-luc repeats "mpd's?" curiously. to the right, data is shown from the shoulders up, saying; "mpd stands for multiple personality disorder. mpd can come about through psycholo--" but beverly interrupts him; "not now, data." end id.
ah, multiple personality disorder. a term that hasn't been clinically used since 1994. these days, we call this dissociative identity disorder (did), but it's one dissociative disorder of many, which is what beverly is talking about. for whatever reason, people with this sort of dissociative plurality seem to be immune to the specific trauma nightmares induced by these aliens. (finally, some good news.)
okay, neat! so, dissociative disorders and plurality have been canonically addressed in star trek. let's see how it goes!
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image id also available unbroken in alt text. image id pt 1: beginning in the top left corner, beverly is shown from the shoulders up, facing the right side of the page as she speaks. "the point is the people who are afflicted with more than one personality would destroy the chova before it could affect them. the chova was only built for one personality. mpds would literally overwhelm it." in the next panel, to the right, picard is shown from the chest up, partially obstructed by speech bubbles. facing right, he asks; "how does this help us?" beverly is also in this right panel, although from behind, and nearly completely obfuscated by speech bubbles. she answers; "well, mpd was never a common occurance, and it's almost unheard of these days.there've only been two cases reported in the federation in the last two hundred years -- and damiano [the alien planet] hasn't seen a case in the last fifty."beverly continues. "however, we do have someone on the enterprise who has the makings of a classic mpd. i'd like your permission to ask this person to volunteer to undergo a mind-meld with doctor selar in order to bring the submerged personalities to the fore."
this particular line, i take umbrage with, as dissociative disorders are a lot more common than people might think, and star trek has shown us a future as tumultuous as our own present for decades. there would absolutely be people experiencing some level of multiplicity in everyday life both within the federation and without. but, again, this was written in the 90s, i think? i don't know how long it takes a team of professionals to make a comic book. but, i digress.
image id pt 2: picard responds; "permission granted, as long as it remains on a volunteer basis. who is the officer in question?" below, the leftmost panel is larger than the right. beverly crusher is shown in profile, facing right, with doctor selar and data behind her from the chest and shoulders up. picard is on the right of the page, slightly smaller, but also in profile, facing right to contrast beverly as he listens to her speak. "it's someone who's been exposed to an especially intense vulcan mind-meld, who lived another life for thirty-five subjective years— and who had a second personality grafted onto his own for a brief period by the borg. the next panel takes the entire width of the page, and much of the height. picard is shown in the middle, standing in a purple void. around him are three other male characters shown in bust. from left to right, they are; kamin, a humanoid man bearing great resemblance to an older imagining of jean-luc picard, wearing a plain blue shirt. sarek, a vulcan with grey hair, a turquoise shirt, and a green stone amulet on a large gold chain around his neck. he is cast in shadow and his eyes are not visible. locutus, an ashen version of jean-luc picard, with about a third of his face obscured by black metal exoplating and implants that surround his right eye. tubes come off of his face and neck, trailing behind him, and a red light made to shine at his point of focus shines from the side of his head. there are several yellow narration boxes, which read as follows. "sarek of vulcan. picard mind-melded with the legendary ambassador in order to lend him strength for an important negotiation — an act that almost cost picard his sanity." "kamin of kataan. a probe sent out by kataan before their sun went nova allowed picard to live most of kamin's adult life as a way to remember his people."
oh, yeah. did... did i not mention that that happened?
basically, he was targeted by a device that beamed him into the world's most immersive vr game — kind of like the one from rick and morty? if you watched that? if you didn't, sorry for bringing it up, and if you did, ditto. but it forced picard to live out an entire life as though he'd been abducted by aliens and placed in a sims game. though, ultimately, the plot intricacies of the inner light are beside my point.
image id pt 3: "locutus of borg. quite simply, the greatest nightmare of picard's entire life. the subversion of his intellect, his will, his very self to the collective of the borg." "all three are part of him, but they do not dominate. if picard does as doctor crusher suggests, he will subsume himself in order to let the others come to the fore. for sarek, for kamin, he would be willing." "but locutus--?" the next panel takes a little more than half of the remainder of the page. a narration box in the upper left reads; "then he thinks of his first officer, counselor, chief of security, chief engineer, and all the others who have fallen victim to this vicious weapon." the rest of the panel shows two sleeping figures, both humanoid, in what is presumably sickbay. the last panel takes the remainder. a narration box in the upper left reads; "and jean-luc picard makes the only decision he is capable of making." captain picard is shown from the shoulders up, facing slightly to the left and saying; "what do i need to do?" below his speech bubble is another yellow text box, which reads "to be concluded..."
...which is how issue 3 leaves us.
fortunately, we can pick up in issue 4 with ease, since these comics are over twenty years old. i'm going to do my best to limit my use of comic pages, juuuuust in case, but once we reach the sixth page, with the credits...
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image id: a two-page spread. beginning in the uppermost left corner, narration boxes read; "welcome to the mind of jean-luc picard." "'locutus' was a personality superimposed upon picard when he was taken by the borg, meant to serve as the spokesperson for that cybernetic race's ruthless assimilation of what they described as the 'authority-driven culture' of the federation." "ambassador sarek of vulcan suffered from bendii syndrome. in order to keep the effects of this devastating illness from endangering his final mission, sarek entered into a deep mind-meld with picard in order to give the ambassador emotional control and stability." "kamin was a prominent member of the community of ressik on the long-dead world of kataan. a probe sent by the kataan people allowed picard to live kamin's life for several subjective decades, although less than half an hour passed in reality." "all of these personalities have made up a part of jean-luc picard, but he remained dominant." "until now." "this is the mind of jean-luc picard." the left page is mostly taken up by a large illustration of locutus, drawn in far more detail than before. trailing off to the right are two tubes or wires, as well as a speech bubble that reads "resistance is futile." also on this page are the details of the comic title, run, issue number, writers/artists, and copyright. taking up most of the right half of the right page is sarek of vulcan, drawn in less detail than locutus, but easily recognizable. his hair is a lighter grey, he is wearing white and cream robes and an amber amulet on a thick gold ring around his neck, and he is holding up his right hand in a vulcan salute/ta'al. depicted below sarek is kamin, drawn from the shoulders up, wearing a plain white shirt with a collar. below kamin is captain picard, also shown from the shoulders up, in his starfleet uniform, and surrounded by four lights, with two on either side of him. (there is also further copyright information beside him in fine print.)
...i'm pretty sure that this analysis falls under the "commentary" part of fair use. right?
but, regardless, this is kind of a huge thing to drop in a comic that virtually no one has bothered to read. i mean, especially when, amidst the clashing of picard's plurality with the a-plot, we get this panel;
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image id: a single comic panel. kamin is shown from behind, speaking to locutus and sarek within a noneuclidean space with four circular white lights shining in the distance. "what is going on?" kamin asks. "we have been subdued for too long. but now we shall dominate, as we were meant to." locutus replies. sarek interrupts. "your logic is flawed, locutus. we are all merely aspects of jean-luc picard's mind." "you may be sarek of vulcan, but we are of the borg."
sarek is able to acknowledge himself, kamin, and locutus as "aspects" of captain picard, despite picard rarely if ever sensing them or their influence. picard is being, not just implied, but explicitly stated to have a latent form of plurality, and perchance to dream depicts it in a way that strikes true to members of my own system, at times, with certain alters first making themselves known in the front already well aware of who they are, and having existed without the my knowledge due to dissociative barriers that only came down later in life.
unfortunately, because this is a star trek media, locutus ends up assimilating kamin in the headspace and forcing himself into the front. however, as he does it, he says something that does, to an extent, resonate with the experience of being one among many, for better or worse.
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image id: a single comic panel. locutus is shown facing the viewer, and his chin and the top of his head are cut off by the borders of the panel. his light breaks the plane of the panel to simulate the effect that it is shining into the "camera." locutus's mouth is open as he speaks; "for too long you have suppressed us, picard. but you are of the borg."
plurality is a defense mechanism by the brain to protect against trauma. it is, from what i have seen, more common among those who are already neurodivergent, which already presents in a myriad of ways. mixing the ugly truth of trauma with the raw reality of mental illness caused by it can result in certain alters feeling as though they are being suppressed by not being allowed to front and live their own life, depending on how the system functions. admittedly it is more common in fictional depictions of dissociative disorders for these alters to simply live their own lives in secret anyway, as is the case in the marvel tv series moon knight with marc spector, steven grant, and jake lockley (along with the other possible members of their system who may or may not be present depending on the canon, but those are the main three). but, in reality — or at least my experience — this more often translates to alters making themselves social media accounts, or using services like tupperbox or pluralkit on discord, or finding other ways to more discretely express themselves, such as icon changes or status updates.
but, getting back to star trek, this is ultimately a one-off comic. so captain picard saves the day with his secret alters, ends the mind meld with doctor selar, and goes back to living his life as a singlet, ready for the people of the future to be able to easily comprehend without having to read a very specific comic run from 2000.
...right?
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image id: part of a comic page. each panel takes up roughly one quarter of the page each. in the first panel, counselor deanna troi is seen standing, having just entered captain picard's ready room. picard is shown from the back, sitting at his desk. "counselor! good to see you up and about." he greets her. "it's good to be up and about." she responds. "playing some old tunes?" [picard had been playing the ressikan flute prior to her entry.] picard responds. "mmm. i wanted to make sure that i still remembered how." in the next panel, we look over counselor troi's shoulder and across the desk at captain picard. "were you worried that you wouldn't?" she wonders. "actually, yes," picard answers. "after what happened..." the third panel shows picard facing the viewer head-on from the shoulders up. he continues, "i suppose i knew intellectually how close to the surface locutus, sarek, and kamin were. but i never really thought about it. they were — memories, experiences. no different from any other. but they're much more than that." the fourth panel shows counselor troi, facing slightly to the right as she speaks. "not much more. all three of them are part of you. but the important word is you. the fragmentation was artificially induced." picard asks; "was it?"
ultimately, yes, this is a one-off comic run that isn't very well known, and i only read because i took a personal interest in the subject matter. i knew going in that it wasn't going to fundamentally change the entire fandom's understanding of captain picard, or make the star trek fandom an instant haven for systems everywhere. but, still, captain picard has his doubts, and that truly touched me when i first read it as someone who was actively reckoning with the fact that past traumas that had impacted me more than i realized.
the comic goes on for a while longer, but the last thing it has to say on the subject of plurality is this.
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image id: a single comic panel. counselor troi is seated in one of the chairs in captain picard's ready room, facing him from across his desk. she is on the left, facing partially right, and he is on the right, in profile facing left. the dialogue reads as follows. picard wonders, "was it [the dissociative fragmentation of his identity] truly a creation of the mind-meld, or was it simply breaking a dam that was already cracked?" riker interrupts over the comm. "riker to picard." "go ahead, number one," picard tells him. "it's time to beam down to damiano for the ceremony, sir." "thank you, commander."
and that's it. picard asks a question, then gets called away and never tells us his answer.
i think, at least subconsciously, that might be part of why i held star trek: picard to such a high standard.
to be clear, i hadn't read this comic when the first season of picard was coming out. but i was starting to grapple with my plurality, and i used fictional media as a means to do that (as is still evidenced by things like my system simon tag). the first season of the show was centered around both picard's relationship with both his legacy and his history with the borg collective. as mentioned in perchance to dream, captain picard had previously been assimilated by the borg collective — a cybernetic hivemind from the delta quadrant that absorbed cultures and species into itself, effectively wiping out the cultural histories of entire planets, at times, in their quest to become the "perfect" life form through a combination of genetic engineering and mechanical augmentation. and, as this happened, i came to know a young man named hugh who took form within my mind. a fictional introject, or fictive, of the character of the same name from season 5, episode 23, i, borg. with his help, i grew to further understand my own plurality, and saw the potential for our stories to be told in the wake of reclamations from the borg collective. the reclamation project became a hyperfixation, and—
and then came the jurati collective.
my own system bears no connection to the jurati collective, but it is a wonder, and can be examined through a plural lens as an allegory for our own experiences as dissociatives. many consciousnesses, all working together as one towards a common goal, and willingly. after all, what is a system if not a hive within one body?
and then came picard's third season, completely ignoring her, along with all the unique perspectives that stories surrounding her might have offered in favor of what felt like a final next generation movie.
ignoring me, it felt like.
is that silly? probably. but, try as i might, i am human, and so i have a propensity for illogic — no matter how much my autistic brain craves structure and definitive explanations in order to understand the world.
i'll be honest, i'm not sure how to end this. but, sometimes i remember the time in season 6, episode 20, the chase, when picard became incredibly excited about an ancient alien society that believed people were, indeed, collectives within themselves.
"...the kurlan civilisation believed that an individual was a community of individuals. inside us are many voices, each with its own desires, its own style, its own view of the world." -captain jean-luc picard
and i realize that, with the core tenant of this series lying in the infinite diversity of both the known and the unknowable — the building blocks are already in place. star trek is a media that has grown over the decades, and hopefully will continue to do so, because there are still so many ways for new and interesting and meaningful stories to be told within this franchise.
but, if you can't summon your representation from a nostalgiabait sequel/reboot within a preexisting intellectual property... there's nothing to stop you from crafting your own story and letting loose as many systems as you like.
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eastgaysian · 2 years ago
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please. what the fuck is happening with good Omens why are people being even crazier than usual
i have never read the book or watched the show and i have had the tag blacklisted literally since s1 was announced. but i DID skim the 16k essay when i was provided with a link so here's my completely objective and comprehensive summary of events. we all know what good omens is and about the 'leak' (frame from an official trailer) debacle, of course.
so. season 2 of good omens is released. people have been highly anticipating this season both as a continuation to a story they're invested in, as well as because an official trailer revealed one frame of two coconuts getting smacked together. however, season 2 of good omens is an instance of an adaptation of a book extending its storyline past that of the book's. which i think it is safe to say rarely goes well.
it is also meant as a bridge between the events of the original book/season one and the events of the planned-but-never-written sequel/season three, which doesn't make it sound like it's going to be a good season of television. and it isn't a good season of television apparently. none of the human characters from s1 show up again and there's no real plot just some fanfiction-esque shit about trying to get two new characters together, blatantly paralleling david tennant in a bad wig and his boy non-human non-gendered entity bestie.
at the end of this mediocre season of television. david tennant mashes his face into michael sheen's. it's not a very good tv kiss i will be honest. i know they can do better than that. But the real point of drama is that they cannot be together because the cinammon roll bookworm landlord angel has decided to accept a new job at the Homophobia Factory instead of going on a yaoi break. this is the end of the season.
it's pretty normal cliffhanger setup for the next season stuff honestly. although i don't believe good omens has been renewed for a third season yet which would be really funny if that didn't happen. however the experience of almost but not quite seeing two british men have nasty gay sex at the end of a kind of mid season of TV is enough to make a particular subset of people behave the way i did when i was on wellbutrin.
i do believe it's a combination of the Kind of people who are hardcore fans of good omens (superwholock expats) + the season being mid + yaoi kiss but not getting together that is leading to insanity. without all three this wouldn't happen. but because all three factors are present, all it takes is one person writing a 16k conspiracy theory manifesto about how the season is Meant To Be Badly Written Actually to start a mass hysteria event. too many strongly held beliefs with deep emotional investment are caught up in this tv show for something not to go wrong. time is a flat circle there is one step and it is tjlc
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accirax · 1 year ago
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Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round "5")
Hey everybody! So, I've recently gotten into Disventure Camp, just in time to catch the third season near its beginning. As it's been occupying a good chunk of my brain activity for the past couple of weeks, I've really wanted to write something about it just to let some of the brain worms out. Coincidentally, I also started watching Gordon Holmes' Survivor Power Ranking series as season 46 has been airing (although I've watched Survivor since I was a kid), and really enjoyed the format and the questions it incited. So, I figured, why not mash them up?
The Power Ranking format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. If that sounds interesting, I invite you to read on!
Alright, now that we've made it past the Read More, I'll explain the game in a bit more detail, given that this is the first time I'm posting a "theory" like this. (It's "Round 5" because this is off the heels of the 5th episode, but there are no power rankings prior to this one.) The way Gordon's Power Rankings work, you rank each player not based on how likely they are to win overall, but how likely they are to survive the next episode. For the sake of example, let's say I've ranked Kristal as #1 (least likely to go home), Derek as #2, Trevor as #3, Emily as #4, and Oliver as #5 (most likely to go home). When the next episode comes out, you go back and lock in the score of the person who was eliminated. So, back to our example, if it's Derek who winds up going home, then I get 2 points. Bigger scores are better, so, as you can see, it would have been better if I'd ranked Derek lower. Derek's score is the only one that matters for the week, so the rest of my placements don't factor into my score at all.
This format makes more sense when you can compare your score against someone else's (as what happens in Gordon's videos). But, I still think it's a fun format to use, and it'll be interesting to me to see if I perform better or worse than average at the end of the season. Also, if anyone wants to make their own version of the power ranking and fight me, I'd love to see that! (You don't have to write as much as I will, if you don't want to.) I'm actively trying to mansplain manipulate malewife my way into convincing people to watch this show, so the more the merrier in analysis land.
Although I will be making some of the same analytical remarks that Gordon and co. do for the Survivor season, I want to point out that I will be actively acknowledging that Disventure Camp is a work of fiction. Both Survivor and DC create an "edit" by budgeting their screen time towards specific characters and plot lines, so both can be analyzed in that way. However, Survivor is a story constructed in retrospect, based on the reality of who happened to win the game. DC has been a fictional story since the very beginning, and therefore an episode of the cartoon may be more... "controlled" than an episode of Reality TV. For instance, Survivor players irl might not manage to keep all of their tribes at roughly the same number of people, but Odd Nation Cartoons may have built the season in a way that doesn't eradicate one team of All Stars at the very start.
I bring this up because, for this week in particular, I think that a character originating from Season 1 will likely be packing their bags. We've had four eliminations so far, one from the Season 1 cast (Miriam) and three from the Season 2 cast (James, Lake, and Hunter). Given that both casts started out with 9 competitors, this means that 33% of the Season 2 cast is already gone. I don't think it's impossible that a Season 2 character could be eliminated this week, but I'm definitely inclined to believe that it'll be a season 1 character that bites the dust.
Also, as the contestants on Gordon's show are able to use the "Next Time on Survivor" segment in their analyses, I think that using the trailer for next episode is entirely fair game! Spoilers for the Episode 6 trailer, if you're trying to ignore that. I don't know how much I'm going to reference it, but it'll probably be at least a little bit.
With that out of the way, let's start with the character who I think is the least likely to go home!
#1: Tess
Tess is in a really good position right now as the Cyan Team's swing vote. Aiden will want to take out Ellie as a member of the villains alliance and the one behind Lake's elimination. While it's unknown how much stock Ellie will continue to place in the girls' alliance, she still sees Tess as her friend, and therefore the best option to reach out to for a third vote to take out Aiden or Tom. Therefore, neither Aiden and Tom nor Ellie and Gabby should be looking to eliminate her.
I also feel like they're going to want to have Tess reunite with Ally at the merge, which is another reason why she might stick around. Then again, I might've thought the same of Hunter, and we saw how that went for him last episode. Still, as both Tess and Ally's characterizations revolved around Hunter in Season 2, I at least have interest in seeing how the two girls would progress without their collective crush around.
And, on top of all that, Tess is a Season 2 character. I find it very hard to believe that Tess will be eliminated next episode.
#2: Aiden
Alright, this choice is definitely leaning more on the meta side than the gameplay side. Gameplay wise, if Tess decided to side with Ellie and Gabby, it could be very easy for Aiden to be the target of their votes. But, I just don't think that Odd Nation Cartoons would want to eliminate Aiden at this point in the competition. The man is a fan favorite!
Of course, that was true of James as well... but, that only furthers my point. Given that James and Lake have already been eliminated from the competition, getting rid of Aiden would wipe that entire friend group of characters out. In my opinion, it would be odd for Aiden to have that confessional about playing for James, Lake, and himself, only to be eliminated three episodes after Lake. Aiden is also still a major plot point in the Jake/Tom romance that I think they'll want to keep around for a little longer.
Also, if the theory that James will return to the competition at some point (because he hasn't had a "reading the patrons names" segment yet) turns out to be true, I suspect that they'd want Aiden to still be in the competition for his return. Aiden should be safe.
#3: Jake
You know who else is a part of the Jake/Tom plotline? Jake. I don't think our favorite(?) whiny idiot has his head on the chopping block right now, despite being a S1 character.
Although, Jake's safety is actually mostly not a meta read. I just straight up think that his elimination would be the most baffling on the Magenta Team. Ally could go home if the Jake/Ashley/Fiore alliance decides to finish what they started when they eliminated Hunter. Fiore could go home if, now that the couple has been split up, Jake and Ashley unite with Ally to take out one of the villains. Even if Ally and Fiore somehow had the power to band together and use a totem or something to send one of Jake or Ashley home... I still think it would be Ashley. That's partially based on meta logic of considering Jake a more important character than Ashley, but there are in-universe reasons why they might choose to eliminate Ashley over Jake, too. For Fiore's sake, Ashley has more of a vendetta against her specifically. Ashley is also an athletic and friendly person who could situate herself very well if she made the merge, whereas Jake (who's already demoralized at Miriam's exit) would likely only incite more conflict and use his vote in petty ways. (Sorry to Jake fans lol, I'm kinda slandering your boy.)
Anyways, any other Magenta elimination makes more sense to me than Jake, so I think he's pretty safe.
#4: Tom
Rounding out the Jake/Tom/Aiden love triangle, we have Tom at #4. It's a lot of what I've already covered with Jake and Aiden. There's so much drama yet to be had with this trio that knocking down one of its legs (specifically, the central leg) at this point feels like a loss. Also, I really don't understand why the Cyan girls would choose to eliminate Tom instead of Aiden, which means I'm basically predicting that both of the Cyan boys are safe. That includes Tom, so, good for him!
#5: Ally
And once again, we're looping back to a prior entry. For Tess to reunite with Ally at the merge, Ally has to make it there, too. So, despite her boyfriend's fate, I think Ally will be sticking around for a little while longer.
It's a bit counterintuitive, but I sort of think that Ally will stay because it would be too obvious if she went home. Jake, Ashley, and Fiore eliminating Ally in a 3-1 vote is exactly what you would predict would happen looking at the tribe on the surface. So, for the sake of intrigue, I feel like something would happen to prevent it. In the preview, we see her having one-on-one conversations with Ashley and Jake, so maybe they would feel bad for her and decide to flip on Fiore. Maybe Ally could pull an epic gamer move and find an idol to play on herself. That could be in conjunction with Fiore and her connections to the villains alliance, or it could not.
Tess, Aiden, Jake, and Tom I was pretty confident about, so Ally is the first entry where I'm a little worried putting her this high. But, I have faith in her (especially as a S2 character) to not get the boot in this upcoming episode.
#6: Fiore
This might just be the Fiore stan in me, but I don't think she'll be going home next episode. I mean, she's literally been blessed by the gods! What am I supposed to do against that?
Fiore is in a pretty decent position, being allied with Jake and Ashley while also being on pretty decent terms with Ally. She's also just, like, way smarter than the majority of the competition, so if she found herself in a tight spot, I could see her manipulating someone to weasel her way out of it. Fiore is also a potential winner pick of mine (again, I'm a Fiore stan), and her elimination at this stage could prevent her from making the deep run that would result in her return to the Final 2.
Despite all of this-- and this is a slight aside-- I actually think that Jake and Ashley may have made a mistake in eliminating Hunter over Fiore last episode? They said it was better for their strategy, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It would be a good move for their strategy if they could count on Fiore being a solid alliance member at the merge, but it's pretty obvious she has no allegiance to the S1 duo. She literally already has an alliance-- the villains alliance-- that she would most likely bail to if she makes it to the merge. If Jake, Ashley, Hunter, and Ally all voted to eliminate Fiore, they could diminish the threat of the villains alliance and put their own feud on pause. If Hunter is correct, and getting rid of Fiore prevents them from losing any more challenges, than the feud never has to be unpaused, and all four of them make the merge. The only way that Jake and Ashley could run into trouble is if Magenta does have to go back to Tribal as a foursome. Then, it could be problematic for them if they were forced to turn on each other at Hunter and Ally's whim, because the couple (who were already fighting with each other!!!) could be unwilling to turn on one another, preferring to leave things to chance.
It feels like the narrative has already saved Fiore twice-- once via Alec and once via Jake and Ashley's "strategy"-- so I believe that the narrative has greater plans for Fiore yet. It could be reuniting with Alec. Who knows? (Please be reuniting with Alec. Please be reuniting with Alec--)
#7: Ashley
Um... so I just straight up don't think that Magenta is headed back to Tribal next episode. Surprise!
Like I said, these predictions are just about the next episode. And, given that Magenta just went to Tribal and is low on numbers, I don't think that they'll be headed back there. Therefore, none of them would be next episode's boot.
It's not a given, as the Purple Tribe got pretty demolished in S1, but for an All Stars season, I don't think Odd Nation would want the eliminations to be so unfairly stacked in one direction. I could be making an incorrect call here, because, logically, I really don't know why the Magenta Team would be any good at the musical challenge that's shown in the preview...? I just believe in them, I guess. You can retroactively apply this same reasoning for bonus points on Jake, Ally, and Fiore's entries as well.
Anyways, Ashley! Out of the Magenta Team, I do feel like she's the most expendable, perhaps because she was the earliest elimination from S1, and came back without most of her allies from S1 (Will, Lill, Nick). We also already got the resolution to the fire plotline that was left dangling in S1, which means there aren't many more questions I have about her character.
On the other hand, why bring Ashley back if you didn't have bigger plans for her this time around? They've eliminated a lot of people who made it close to the end at the beginning this time, so it would stand to reason that some of the people who were eliminated closer to the beginning might make it closer to the end. The potential of Ashley bonding with some of the S2 competitors at the merge is great for bringing some new iconic relationships to life.
Even if I think Ashley may be the most expendable, I don't really think that any of the Magenta players are narratively expendable, which is why I placed them all so high. I'll be eating my words if they're headed to Tribal next time, so these guys had better rock on at the immunity challenge!
#8: Riya
And now, for Magenta's counterpart, a team composed of people that I feel like all have an argument for leaving sooner rather than later... the Yellow Team.
I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Tumblr, but I recall seeing someone theorize that Riya might be the next boot because of how much she's annoying her team. She's pushed Connor away, stirred up drama with Yul, and is shown hogging the team's shower in the episode preview. It would make sense if Riya's selfish and villainous actions led to her downfall, so, at first, I liked this logic, and planned to put Riya near the bottom.
However, when I actually started counting votes... I just didn't see it. Even if Connor and Riya's relationship is strained, I don't know if he would be willing to eliminate someone he cares about. Yul believes that Connor voted for him last time, so he'll probably be out to take revenge on Connor. Grett, at this point, would most likely vote with him. Alec too, as long as he lets his strategy of keeping the villains team in power beat out the friendship he's begun to form with Connor. Where are the Riya votes? I'm not really sure.
I think that the theorizer is on the right track with predicting that Riya's bad attitude will eventually lead to her elimination. However, I don't think she'll be off the Yellow Team just yet, so she lands at #8 for me.
#9: Connor
Counting votes made it seem like Connor would be the next boot from the Yellow Team... so why do I have him as the second least likely to go?
Well, much like Ally, I feel that Connor's elimination is so obvious that it wouldn't pan out that way if a Yellow Tribal actually happened. There are definite cracks in the seams that could lead to votes not going in an obvious direction-- with Miriam's blow to the alliance, Alec might see Connor as a better confidant than any of the villains, and/or Grett might see what a terrible boyfriend Yul is and decide to flip on the villains. We also don't know exactly how Riya feels. She certainly acts as if she doesn't care if Connor stays or goes, but the truth is that she hasn't actually been "forced" to vote for him yet by her alliance. If push came to shove, who knows what she'd choose?
Combined with the fact that he (and Riya) are S2 characters, I think Connor would manage to survive a vote if Yellow is headed to Tribal. I'm not that confident about it, though, so he lands at #9.
#10: Yul
And here's Yul, our lowest placed S2 competitor in this ranking. If a S2 character is headed home this week, I think it would probably be him. He was a terrible person in S2, and has continued to be a terrible person in All Stars, so it's easy to see why the players (and the audience) might want him out of the game. Grett, my beloved, please lead the charge in kicking this asshole off the tribe.
However... there's also evidence to suggest that Yul won't be going home so easily. Beyond just being a S2 character, the end of this episode (and part of the preview) established that Yul has some sort of connection with Emily, our mysterious new staff member. I don't know exactly what this relationship is-- my original guess was that Emily could be Yul's manager, but their interactions in Episode 1 (as well as Grett's interactions with Emily in Episode 1) make me feel like that wouldn't be the case. Regardless, there's something going on between him and Emily, which adds some intrigue to Yul's character.
I have also considered that this relationship with Emily might be a one-episode thing, an interaction that actually spells doom for Yul instead of longevity. However, as this is one of the first major things we've seen Emily do, I feel like her connection to Yul may be a major aspect of her character and even why she exists. If that's the case, Yul may be quite important to the season, and be set up to make a very deep run.
However, my uncertainty on why Emily has summoned Yul and belief that the Yellow Team has good reason to eliminate him prevents him from taking one of the top spots. ...There's still a good amount of space below him, though.
#11: Gabby
A good part of why Gabby is ranked this low is because she's a S1 character, I'm not gonna lie. But I do genuinely believe she could be in trouble next episode, and here's why.
As opposed to S1, in which she was a staunch defender of the environment, insecure and petty, and a little bit insane, Gabby's character in All Stars seems to have been simplified to "Ellie's peppy girlfriend." She did refuse to eat the chicken last episode, but I feel like S1 Gabby would have, like, threatened to take their heads off if they beheaded the chicken. The portion of the preview for next episode where Gabby has the crazy eyes makes me hopeful that that aspect of her character will be making a comeback, but we'll have to see what happens.
For now, her role has been pretty limited, which makes me think that she could be an early boot from the season. She doesn't seem to have any new plot threads introduced, new developments in her character as a result of what happened in S1, or important relationships, other than with Ellie. If she were eliminated next episode, that could be because Gabby is in little enough of the show that there wasn't enough time to give her a proper character arc.
The reasons behind why the Tribe (presumably minus Ellie) would unite to eliminate Gabby are a little fuzzy, but not completely implausible. If Gabby were to be eliminated, I think it would be as a blow to Ellie, getting rid of her closest ally. That could tie in to why so much of her characterization this season has been linked to Ellie-- if being in a relationship with Ellie is the reason why Gabby is eliminated, then that's all we need to know about her in All Stars.
#12: Alec
Oh Alec... I hope you make it out of this episode alive.
This may come as a surprise to some people, as I've seen speculations that Alec may be set up to be the season's main villain. However, I'm worried that his strong entrance may be a front intended to get him some screen time before he exits the competition shockingly early.
You see, while Alec is currently the mastermind of the Yellow Team, it's a rather precarious position to be in. The villains alliance seems to have remained stable enough to near-unanimously take out Miriam last time they went to Tribal (even though Riya didn't wind up voting for Miriam, she was conceptually fine with it). However, I doubt that Miriam's silver "Alec is untrustworthy" bullet will go unused. If Alec attempts to push his luck by trying to force people into votes they don't want to make, or if his friendship with Connor causes others on the team to suspect that he's playing both sides, the alliance could revolt against its leader.
I still think that Alec will probably survive until the merge, just so that we can see his relationship with Fiore evolve further. Who knows, maybe he really is the season's main villain, and will finally make it to the final 3 he feels he was robbed of in S1. However, I think that Alec's vote could be a reasonable blindside on the audience, which makes me worry that it's the right narrative move to take.
#13: Grett
Oh Grett... I'm even more worried about you than Alec. Clearly. Because you're directly beneath him.
Look, I really want to believe that Grett will be able to stand up for herself this season and absolutely demolish Yul, getting to play the rest of her game after his departure in whichever way she sees fit. However, sometimes the villains have to win in order to create stakes, and I could see a temporary Yul-over-Grett victory doing just that.
An unfortunate step in her journey to becoming a better person, Grett has totally tethered herself to Yul, a relationship in which she seems far more invested than he. As opposed to her bossy demeanor in S1, she's taken too many steps back, and seems to automatically yield to whatever Yul has to say. Her characterization this season is very linked to his presence, which makes me wonder what she would do if he left the show. She could go align with the villains alliance herself, but... is she really that much of a villain anymore without Yul?
And, that's part of the problem. I can very easily see a plot line where, next episode, Yul continues to put Grett down, and does so increasingly after Yellow loses the challenge. Grett finally musters some of her old courage and lashes back at Yul a little, saying that it's not her fault that they lost. Then, Yul reports to Alec and Riya that Grett tried to backstab him, and doesn't want to work with the villains anymore. Alec and Riya, who both didn't really want to vote for Connor anyways, agree to take out Grett to 1) split up a potentially problematic duo and 2) make their alliance look like it's weakened. Grett goes home with a broken heart, but has at least learned that she shouldn't stand by Yul any longer. Maybe she could get some revenge from beyond the grave later on in the season somehow, like cancelling him during the finale or something like that.
Really, the biggest flaw I can see is that... I don't know if Yellow is going to be losing the immunity challenge. Part of their performance was in the preview for next episode, and it looked pretty good! I feel like Odd Nation Cartoons wanted to show us something super cool to get us hyped for the next episode, so getting us really excited over the team that turns out to be the losers would be a little confusing. Who knows, maybe there could be some level of sabotage for the Yellow Team that causes their otherwise excellent performance to fail.
I don't know if I would have come to the conclusion of Grett being a possible boot if I didn't think a S1 character was going home... but now that I have, I'm afraid that I've seen the writing on the wall.
#14: Ellie
And yet, Grett is not in last place, because Ellie is.
Call it a gut feeling, but I kinda get the vibes that Ellie might be the season's next boot. It doesn't make sense, right? Ellie has strong relationships with so many characters, from Tess to Alec to Jake. She, too, could be in contention for the title of season villain. Why would they get rid of her so early?
Well, much like Alec, I fear she may have been too villainous too fast. Her negative connections to so many different characters leads to it making a lot of sense to vote Ellie for a lot of reasons. Does Tom want to get revenge for his and Jake's breakup last season? Vote Ellie. Does Aiden want to avenge Lake and keep himself and Tom in the game? Vote Ellie. Does Tess want to decrease the numbers of the villains alliance? Vote Ellie. That's three votes for Ellie, and Ellie is eliminated. I don't even think she would be saved by a totem, given that Ellie has already been saved by a totem once before, and it would be kind of repetitive for Gabby and Ellie to do that again.
Now, you could argue that eliminating Ellie here would cause the same problems for Gabby as it would eliminating Yul for Grett. I struggled to see what Grett would do in the game if Yul was eliminated. Wouldn't Gabby be the same, after I detailed why I thought her character had been simplified to be tied to Ellie?
Not exactly. A post-Yul Grett confuses me a little because I think that getting rid of Yul would uplift Grett. It would remove the struggles that her character is facing, and leave her characterization less complex for it. On the other hand, a post-Ellie Gabby makes sense because getting rid of Ellie would create more problems for Gabby. Once again, she would have been stabbed in the back by her tribemates (including Tom and Tess, who she considers friends), but not even have Ellie or a totem to lean back on this time. She might want to burn her tribemates to the ground, but if she acts up too much, she could be next in line. And despite her desire for revenge, she would have to wonder... who was really the bad guy in the elimination, her tribemates or her girlfriend?
I think it's possible that Gabby's character may have been simplified for now because the inciting incident of Gabby's All Stars characterization is Ellie's elimination. Prior to that episode, we establish how much Gabby cares about Ellie, so that when Ellie exits, we feel how much it hurts Gabby. We've seen how Ellie acts after Gabby was eliminated before, so I think it would be far more interesting to see the opposite in All Stars. Also, Ellie has made it to the final before-- twice, if you count the original "Adventure Camp" season-- so it would make sense if, this time, she was kicked out closer to the beginning.
Much like with Grett, the main issue I have here is that I don't know if the Cyan Team would lose this competition, either. They have a lot of artistic people on their team, which makes it seem like they would thrive. However, if Cyan isn't losing, and Yellow isn't losing, that would mean that Magenta is losing, and I've already said why I don't think Magenta is going to lose. So, maybe Cyan is overconfident in their performance, or maybe another team (Magenta?) tries to sabotage them so that the team can take out Ellie (or Aiden, if it's Jake's idea). Maybe the performance has to be a rock song, and the Cyan team is all really bad singers. (Okay I just learned that apparently Aiden's VA is a very talented singer. Maybe Aiden won't sing or something.) I don't have enough details yet.
And, that's the end! I've never done a power ranking before-- not even for Survivor, which I've been watching for years, as opposed to Disventure Camp's "less than one month"-- so I have no idea how well I'll do. Are my instincts good, or are my expectations and the writers' decisions worlds apart? I guess I'll have to see when the next episode airs, and create my round 6 predictions accordingly. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this new project of mine!
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seriouslycromulent · 9 months ago
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Ramblings & Reactions to Deadpool and Wolverine
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So for the first time in a long time, I actually went to see a movie on a Saturday night. I figured it's been a minute since I've enjoyed a "summer blockbuster" like I did back in the olden times. (You know, before the world seemed perpetually on fire.) And this particular nerdgasm extravaganza committed to celluloid would be a great distraction after last week's year.
So I decided to go all out and see it on opening weekend and on a Saturday night, no less. (Well, it was the 6:45pm show, but you get the point.)
Anyway, below are some of my thoughts about the film now that I've had a chance to digest it properly. Then, after I digested it, I feasted on it again when I went to see it a 2nd time on Tuesday because I really felt like I missed some jokes, as well as some of the rapid-fire references because I was too busy laughing at the jokes that I didn't miss.
Before I dive in, I am happy to say that I somehow remained relatively unspoiled about the film until the day it opened. Other than a gif of a certain cameo by a certain non-MCU actor that kept showing up on my Tumblr timeline, I went into the cinema completely unaware of who would be in it other than the main villain played by Emma Corrin.
So kudos to the studio for managing to keep a tight lid on this one. That, and it's entirely possible that the interest in superhero movies is so low at the moment that not as many people were trying to spread spoilers or leak clips as they once were.
Anyway, I prefer it that way -- sans spoilers. So with that in mind, if you are the same, please know that you should absolutely stop reading here because I'm about to spoil the hell out of this movie with my honest reactions and poor descriptive skills.
You have been warned.
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But as a courtesy, I'm also going to place a little doohicky here so you can't see my spoiler-y goodness so easily as you scroll by.
This commentary is in no particular order. I'm just sharing thoughts about the film as I remember them ...
Although I was never a fan of the classic yellow Wolverine suit from way back when, I have to admit I squee!d with joy when Logan put on the cowl. I still think the body of the suit is awkward and unflattering, but that cowl makes it all worth it.
I was driving on the highway the Monday after seeing the film for the first time and I couldn't help but start laughing every time I saw a Honda Odyssey drive by. That's some pretty effective product placement, Mr. Reynolds. Well done.
I can see why during all the promotional press for this film, Ryan pretty much kept the plot under wraps the whole time. Because once you know the plot, the possibilities kind of spoil themselves. But just in case it blew past you, the very idea of past comic book movie universe characters being thrown into a "void" by a random corporate jackass who decides they're not worthy of our time and attention anymore is some brutal and diabolically meta commentary on the current zeitgeist and our culture of constant consumption.
With that said, I'm glad D&W provided proof that the studio was right to pull the plug on the Gambit solo film, because ... um, yeah. ... Great concept, but he was woefully miscast.
Out of all the fight scenes in D&W, the fight in the minivan was my favorite. Between the fight choreography, the songs playing on the car stereo, the creativity of the camera angles, and the epic -- and I do mean, EPIC -- verbal takedown that Wolverine doled out right before the fight began, it had everything any fan of this genre could possibly want.
Speaking of music, I loved the use of contemporary pop music in this movie. Yes, I know all the Deadpool films use pop music, but for this one, it just felt even more on the money in terms of tone and atmosphere. It was definitely the way to go. Plus, I found myself singing along more than a few times. And in some instances, wanting to dance along too. Especially the opening fight scene with Deadpool using poor Old Man Logan's corpse remains as weapons throughout the entire fight.
I also want to take this time to personally thank Hugh Jackman for putting himself through hell to turn his 55-year-old body into that Adonis statue we caught an eyeful of near the end. I have a feeling that scene will become the cell phone wallpaper of many, many, many fans.
I, for one, am also glad D&W didn't mar the ending of Logan because I honestly feel that movie is pitch perfect. And it wouldn't have had the impact that it did if Logan didn't die in the end. Unlike some, I was fine with Jackman walking away from the character, plus I don't think Marvel is going to come up with a better send-off than 20th Century Fox did.
Back to the shirtless scene -- not that I'm complaining about the fanservice -- but when the atomic reaction caused Wolverine's shirt to explode, why didn't it cause his pants to explode too? I mean ... I'm just asking.
Some of the faces I was really delighted to see in D&W include: Aaron Stanford as Pyro, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, and Dafne Keen as X-23. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Wesley, Chris, Tyler, or the others. But I think I actually felt giddy when I saw Aaron, Jennifer and Dafne appear on screen each time.
It was only via IMDB did I learn that Blake Lively played (or was the voice of) Lady Deadpool and Nathan Fillion was Headpool. That info could be wrong, but their voices sounded about right. I particularly like that bit of trivia because Fillion is the voice of Green Lantern in most of the animated DC films now, and of course, Ryan played Green Lantern in the live action film.
Although I don't understand why Nicepool had long hair when most of the other Deadpools didn't, I kind of liked that look on Ryan. It's a darn shame his head got blown off though. Poor thing. (Tbf, I saw that coming a mile away.)
The one MCU cameo I really wish they could've gotten was Dr. Strange/Cumberbatch. I'm ok with the knowledge that some version of him was in the Void at some point, but I think an onscreen cameo would've been even better.
Wolverine: You got that poor Johnny kid killed! Deadpool: Kid? He's like 50! Me, along with the rest of the audience: ::dies laughing while nodding it's true::
Why yes! I did catch the Stan Lee "cameo" on the side of the bus as Wolverine and Deadpool were tearing through the Deadpools inside the bus. I think it was an ad for a "StanLee Steamer" or something like that and it had Stan's face beside it. Very clever nod to the man himself.
Now here's where I veer from popular opinion. Hold on to your butts: I don't believe for 10 seconds that Henry Cavill would've been treated better in the MCU than in the DCEU. The fact is the only reason the DCEU didn't stand by its vision for their multi-film overarching storyline was because so-called "fans," who cared more about their slavish devotion to some antiquated rivalry between Marvel and DC that had no place on the big screen, insisted on demanding DC films be like Marvel, even though DC clearly cared more about character development and telling stories that explored realistic aspects of humanity instead of churning out vapid, cookie-cutter, meme machines that brought out the worst in the worst people in all of fandom culture. Cavill was mistreated because of MCU fans. Not because WB wanted to mistreat him. If WB had trusted their vision and focused their attention on the feedback from DC fans who are far more "ride or die" than any Marvel fan has ever been, then Cavill would've been treated better. So as a genuine comic book fan who loves all things DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Infinite, Verve, and the like, I have to give a giant middle finger to Deadpool and anyone who agrees with the statement that Cavill would've been treated better in the MCU. You bitches are the #1 reason he wasn't treated better in the first f*cking place. /end rant
Now this is me taking a moment to appreciate the scene in the Borderlands hideout where Ryan and Hugh were both acting with folks they had worked with in other movies in the past. Ryan, of course, worked with Wesley Snipes in Blade 3. And Hugh, of course, worked with Dafne Keen in Logan. But Ryan Reynolds worked with Jennifer Garner in The Adam Project, and Hugh worked with her in the small budget, but very much underrated film Butter.
I'm not going to lie. It warmed my heart to see that Wade had invited Logan back to his home at the end of the film instead of letting him wander off into the sunset. And the fact that Laura/X-23 was there too fed my fanfiction-loving brain. Now I want to read stories of this Logan acting all dad-like to Laura.
That final scene after the credits roll might be the most I've ever heard Chris Evans swear in a film.
Speaking of guest cast, I love that they were able to get so many people who've played their original roles, but I would be remiss to not notice that we unfortunately don't get to see the original Lady DeathStrike, Psylocke or Toad in this. I suspect the budget was kinda blown on Evans, Garner, and Snipes. Which is a fair trade, even though I adore Kelly Hu.
OK, so after seeing it twice now, it appears that the biggest reaction from the 2 audiences I saw the film with came when Chris Evans first appeared and when Wesley Snipes appeared. And if I had to judge by the applause and gasps alone, Wesley definitely got the biggest reaction.
And what can I say about Matthew Macfayden as Mr. Paradox. He was just the perfect amount of smarmy corporate bitchassness you'd expect from villain who thinks he's not a villain. I loved that he got to be funny while also being made fun of. That's not an easy thing to do with a villain without making the audience feel like they shouldn't take him seriously as a threat. And Macfayden knocked it out of the park with his delivery and timing.
Overall, I would say my main appreciation for Deadpool and Wolverine is that it gave us the Deadpool we know and love, but without sacrificing the gravitas and haunted characterization of Wolverine. Somehow, the writers managed to work in just the right amount of idgaf tension, emotional struggle, and forlorn angst to make sure Logan stays true to form and he isn't there to just be the straight man to Wade's shenanigans.
In other words, the humor, fun and fanservice are great, but the heart of what makes Logan one of the best characters in all of comic fandom was not lost for the sake of fanboy feels. Some of my favorite moments in the movie were those scenes with Logan doing his classic tortured brooding as he lamented over his past and his present. The scenes with Laura/X-23 by the fireside and the scene with Cassandra Nova digging into his mind to see what he's hiding were exactly the kind of emotional touchstones that kept the storyline true to character, and really knocked it out of the park for me.
That's all for now!
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pyrochoreia · 2 years ago
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Personally, I don't think that Ratchet ever would have felt betrayed by Drift because the kid never owed him anything and he never expected anything of him, nor would he have felt any resentment in the common fanon way of 'I didn't save your life so you could go do a murder'...
One of the key things that stuck out for me was that after they reunited they literally shared no panel time and Ratchet's literal first reaction to Drift going MIA was to worry about him. The punk was either fucked up or fucking shit up instead of escaping with them and in need of a slap, let's be real. Ratchet spent the next however long before they ever spoke on panel was putting himself directly in Drift's space.
Another thing I noticed is that Ratchet is acutely aware that Drift does not know how to defend himself unless resorting to violence; there were a couple instances where Ratchet has either openly stopped Drift from reacting on that impulse, scolding him for having that impulse, and Drift yelling for instruction because he doesn't know what to do as he was specifically told not to stab people. Drift seems to be more passive and confused when violence isn't an option, and seems to shut down or quietly cooperate as seen with how he deals with Rodimus (although a good portion of that was him letting Rodimus use him to keep him on track, more on that another time, because I'm upset by it forever). They had literally like, one argument on the Decepticon topic which crossed a previously undefined line that did result in Drift drawing a sword, highlighting both facts; Drift responds to feeling threatened with violence and that what Ratchet is feeling isn't betrayal since not only does it never really come up again but going forward he seems to instinctively know how to handle and approach Drift. It was also very clear that Ratchet wasn't afraid of him in that moment, so I'm also of the opinion that Ratchet never felt threatened by Drift and believed he wouldn't actually hurt him, knowing that the sword was being displayed defensively.
What I think that anger stemmed from was the fact that Ratchet felt responsible for Drift -- that him turning to the Decepticons was a result of him failing him when he needed help the most. Ratchet sees it as a logical choice from Drift's perspective; he was around since before the war, knew what Megatron stood for and what was being offered. The very sudden flip in Ratchet's handling of Drift following that incident was realisation that not only did he unintentionally make him feel cornered and likely hurt him, but the understanding that the anger he felt was at himself for not doing enough and not at Drift for taking what he likely saw as the only option at the time. After all, weren't they trying to do similar -- didn't they have the same end goal? Wasn't that the original conflict between Pax and Megatron, that after a particular incident their approach on the matter clashed?
Not to mention, some of that anger was fear that Drift might feel betrayed by him; after all they stood for in the past, Ratchet still chose the side opposing them. Did Drift resent him in some way because he'd left him before even fully chasing him out the door - had he felt discarded in that moment?
Since Cybertronians only have one sparkmate I'm of the opinion that there's a pull, that bonding is very literal in the old-old fanon way. While Ratchet wouldn't have fully understood his feelings towards Drift until much later (unless in the dumb AU I was plotting for my Shockwave) there still would have been that draw, and I 100% believe that he would have gone after the idiot if there was room for any sneaky hookups. They never did explain how or why Ratchet got kidnapped in the first place and never really came back to that topic, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was entirely because he'd just found out where Drift had gone, was personally offended by the discovery and decided that he was going to go collect him and unfortunately was discovered by someone else first.
Ratchlock nonsense in the canon story would be a lot of Ratchet bickering with Megatron for custody, more or less, and Megatron just Not Having Time For This Shit and probably calling Orion.
To be fair, a lot of the headcanon bits are because I write some of the other characters very particular ways - Megatron who would have forbade harm to knowingly come to the medical class, for example, that they would have had more ties with/offering aid to particular anti-government organisations and the Decepticon sympathisers (including some ocs here- madam Fireshine and the Pedlar's Inn), and Rathet's relation to my Trepan and Rung...
..........diarchy!Ratch though would have had that boy if he could help it, Deadlock or no.
Whirl heckles him in both stories. She Knows, even when he doesn't.
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stiricidewrites · 1 year ago
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All the Things We’ll Leave Behind: ch 28, pt 13
See you Saturday! Enjoy your ends of the weeks!
Previously
~
“Wangji~” jzxuan whined as he followed after his friend. “The bunnies have lived out in the wild for an entire year! I’m sure one more night won’t hurt them—” jzxuan cut off as lwj turned on him, eyes blazing hot in a way he had never seen them before.
“How do you know?” the older man asked, taking one slow step back towards jzxuan, and then another and another, until lwj was towering over him. “Do you know what kind of animals live in these woods? What they eat? Do you know if any of the buns need medical attention? If any have struggled to find food for themselves? If any are pregnant or already have babies? If any of the mothers have died and now their babies are starving?”
jzxuan swallowed as he stared up at the other alpha. The rational part of him wanted to point out that even if they found any rabbits in need of medical attention there was little they could do about it. Without his aunt’s permission, they wouldn't be able to either get to a vet or bring one here. Fuck, they wouldn’t even be able to get food that wasn’t scraps from lwj’s fridge until tomorrow, let alone milk for babies—assuming that was even what orphaned bunnies needed—if they needed that! Not to mention the aforementioned need for some kind of litter box—probably more than a few, actually! Plus—
The rational part of him was cut off, however, by two things. One: the insanely passionate look in lwj’s eyes. jzxuan knew that look, if not from lwj’s eyes than from others—from his brother’s when he was particularly motivated to make someone wish they were dead, from nhs’s when his older brother tried to dictate something about his life and was about to regret it.
Please note: nmj usually ended up regretting he was alive when his younger brother got that look in his eyes as well. The alpha often wasn’t the most observant person, however, and usually missed that his baby brother was plotting his demise until it was too late. In one particular instance, nhs had tricked his brother into attending a fundraising event, leaving out the fact that he had also been signed up for the karaoke portion of the fundraiser. nmj, jzxuan knew from this unfortunate turn of events, could not sing, however dropping out would have meant all the fundraising pledges to hear him sing certain songs would have been voided.
nmj could not sing, but damn if he hadn’t tried his hardest and earned the charity some big cash that night—even if his face had been red with either anger or embarrassment most of the night. It still lit up every time someone had brought it up, which was often, as he had, perhaps, done a little too well, and the fundraiser had practically demanded he participate every year since. jzxuan no longer attended that particular event, although he and his brother were both sure to donate towards nmj’s karaoke performances, requesting the most annoying songs they could—anonymously, of course.
Experience with his brother and nhs had taught him about that look, and how there was no getting around it, no talking the person out of their decision. That much passion was impossible to control, all you could do was go along with it and try to keep angry alpha brothers from killing their omega siblings.
Please note: nmj did not try to kill nhs, but he did take away his brother’s internet access, which, according to nhs, was a bad as dying.
Two: the rational part of jzxuan’s brain has quickly being taken offline by a combination of the passionate look in lwj’s eyes and the absolutely delicious, demanding scent the man was letting leak out of him—or, maybe he wasn’t letting it out, and it was just an accident of his drunkenness. Either way, jzxuan wanted to fucking swim in it, drink as much up as he could and memorize everything about it, and when lwj nodded solemnly—apparently taking jzxuan’s silence as acceptance of the situation he had been dragged into—and turned to return on his trek to acquire more rabbits, jzxuan found himself following behind like a love sick puppy.
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bigskydreaming · 2 years ago
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So the first season of Wheel of Time introduced statues/figurines of only eight of the thirteen Forsaken, implying that only eight of them were sealed away in the Bore with the Dark One, even though there were still originally thirteen. The other five died back during the Breaking of the World so we’ll only have eight in the modern era.
This makes sense because realistically if the show’s only counting on going to eight or nine seasons, eight big bads plus the one biggest bad is a lot more manageable than thirteen plus the Dark One, especially if you want to focus on one primary threat per eight-ten episode season. And the way the Forsaken spread out in the books and each fomented global upheaval and unrest by contributing to each of the major plotlines DOES make that a fairly easy way to go.
But of course that begs the question which eight made the cut and will show up in the actual show.....the eight figurines we saw showed four male Forsaken and four female, but ironically its a lot easier to figure out at least three of the four guys who were likely cut than which one of the five female Forsaken was left out.
We’ve already past the point in the narrative when Aginor and Balthamel would have been introduced, so its safe to say they got axed even if their original impact still lingers. The other five Forsaken DID still exist in the show’s narrative so Aginor still was the creator of all Shadowspawn, etc.....but he’s just longdead now and presumably the Dark One can’t or doesn’t want to reincarnate him and the others in the modern age. But realistically, these two didn’t do much until the later books (although I AM bummed if we really are never going to get the Osan’gar/Aran’gar storylines as those were the only times these two were interesting and the books did uh, NOT handle the subject matter well at all. But then again, I’m not convinced the show would do any better job portraying Aran’gar and her storyline, for instance).
Be’lal is almost certainly cut too, as pretty much his entire impact in the books can be summed up as give Moiraine an opportunity to be bad-ass. Seriously, I think he was in like, four chapters total. King of unearned hype, that guy!
Wait, no, that was Demandred.
But Ishamael and Asmodean are a given, and of the five female Forsaken, Lanfear’s a definite and I’d argue they’re going with Semirhage, Moghedien and Graendal for the other three women. Mesaana has too much overlap with the others....she uses Moghedien’s tactics, has a comparable backstory to Graendal but just, the less interesting version, and personality wise she’s a lot like Semirhage, just....less intense, and far less feared in-universe. She DID have a pivotal plotline in the books, so the question is more....which of the others’ stories will hers be merged with. I’m guessing they’ll combine her plot arc with Moghedien’s, as the Spider was largely nomadic but now will likely be based in the same place Mesaana was in the books, as Moghedien was like Asmodean in the books....her plots were largely her reacting to what the protagonists did but neither initially had a big scheme of their own like the other Forsaken. So it makes sense to set her up with Mesaana’s instead.
Plus there’s no way to combine Semirhage and Mesaana’s stories/direction, Lanfear doesn’t make sense to take it over as she would consider that beneath her, and Graendal would be bored by that particular scheme, lol.
Which just leaves the last two male Forsaken, and three options: Demandred, Sammael and Rahvin.
IDEALLY, they’d keep both Sammael and Rahvin, who are very different personality types.....and ditch Demandred, who was a lot of hype and very little substance. They made a big deal for thirteen books about his epic grudge against Lews Therin Telamon but he literally only showed up in the final book and maybe three chapters of the other books? He really didn’t do much at ALL.
And Sammael had a similar grudge against the Dragon, so IMO it wouldn’t be hard to merge Demandred and Sammael’s arcs and focus on the latter’s feud with Lews while giving him enough of Demandred’s storyline that they go with the latter’s climax while maybe Rahvin and Sammael’s initial story arcs get merged and given to Rahvin.
I do however think there’s a strong possibility they just merge Rahvin and Sammael’s stories entirely and go with only one of them (likely Rahvin, given his location and focus in the books, and again, Sammael and Demandred’s personalities and gripes are too similar) while keeping Demandred BECAUSE the books were so much hype but little follow through with him, and this in theory is a second chance to do a better job with him.
But I think that’d be a big mistake as Rahvin and Sammael are the more interesting dynamic with the other Forsaken (and each other) while Demandred brings nothing to the table Sammael doesn’t already. Plus, aside from his parallel feud with Lews, Demandred’s only real interactions with the others were his perpetual alliance with Semirhage and Mesaana, and if the latter isn’t making the cut, its far easier to just ax Demandred and keep Semirhage solo (as her ego and issues with Lanfear would demand if the latter sticks with her lone wolf routine here too) or merge her into the Rahvin/Sammael/Graendal alliance.
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lemonhemlock · 11 months ago
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Hello:))This is the first time I'm writing to you and I must say that I like this blog and the way you always eloquently explain your stance on things, especially when it comes to hotd and got related content. Therefore, I would love to read your opinions on these questions:
1) Have you read Dunk and Egg novellas and if you have, what are your impressions about the storylines, characters, tone, plot twists? Do you have any predictions about the show they are making based on those and what would you especially like to see?
2) I've been discovering recently that many green supporters prefer Daemon Blackfyre over Daeron. I don't know why, but this kind of surprises me since somehow I've always thought that the green fans would be more inclined to Daeron since the rumours about his bastardy always seemed fake to me. What is your opinion on this and who is, according to you, the right side in the First Blackfyre Rebellion (if you think there is one at all) and why?
3) This one has nothing to do with any fandom, but I would like to know is there any book you could recommend to read. As for genre, anything goes, really, although my favourite is probably historical fiction (and metafiction).
what a lovely message to wake up to, anon, thank you so much! i hope you keep enjoying your visits to my blog and know you are always welcome back
1) unfortunately, no, i haven't read the dunk & egg stories, but my boyfriend has and now he is re-reading them and pestering me to read them, too, so i will probably get on with that sometime this summer. to be honest, i'm not very hyped about the show, although i will definitely be watching, so i'm keeping an open slate as i don't have any particular investments. i am cautiously hoping that the show won't be as divisive as GoT or HotD, though
2) i am surprised to hear that daemon blackfyre is popular among the greens. so far i haven't stumbled upon many instances of such discourse, but i haven't particularly been looking for it either. bear in mind that i am no expert on this period in the targaryen reign, though, and these are my first impressions, so to speak.
i don't think daeron is a bastard - to me, that sounded like an obviously fabricated lie by his shitty father, especially since this rumour just so happened to rear its head when aegon iv and daeron were arguing over invading dorne. given how much aegon iv despised naerys and aemon, i don't believe he would have kept quiet about it for so many years. with his type of personality, he would have punished naerys and aemon way sooner had he suspected his trueborn children were, in fact, illegitimate. bear in mind daeron was born in 153 and the rumour was spread in 174 - so that's a lot of time for someone like aegon iv to practice self-restraint. also, the fact that he ultimately never implemented his threat to disown daeron must say something about the validity of his claim.
as far as who is "right" in the blackfyre rebellion, i am inclined to choose daeron. the arguments in favour of daemon (at least what i've seen) suggest that he was innocent of treason and that daeron arrested him without cause, thus, basically breaking the social contract and forcing daemon to start a civil war to defend himself. i personally believe that is an extremely charitable interpretation that is not much supported by the text and, in addition, i don't think grrm is the type of storyteller to create such a blameless victim in the character of daemon blackfyre. not to mention the fact that his personal favourite, bloodraven, fought on daeron's side, as well, and it is very likely that blooraven fits the typology of someone who may be "right" in principle, but whose methods become very questionable as time goes on
in any case, sure, the last part can also be considered speculation on my part, but, as far as canon texts go, we have The World of Ice and Fire, where it is suggested that daemon entertained rebellious talk around him for years and ultimately decided to proclaim himself king, forcing daeron to call for his arrest. could this be the biased interpretation of a maester, masking how daeron was, in fact, the instigator? of course, but, we will have to wait for Fire and Blood II to come out in order to compare the accounts. until then, it would be misplaced energy to become a die-hard for either side, if you ask me
3) i've been slowly trying to get back into reading again, but not everything i finished in the last few months has been a hit. :)) i will, however, make perhaps a slightly atypical suggestion with The Pursuit of Love, written by one of the mitford sisters (nancy). since you mentioned historical fiction, this one was published in 1945 but is set during (and pre-) WWI. anyway, it is (imo) exactly what a romance novel is supposed to be - light, breezy, funny, endearing and ultimately touching and bittersweet, with enough exploration of human character for it to stick in your mind. it is crazy to think she wrote this having grown up in a family with extremely contrasting political views (i believe she had a communist sister and two straight-up fascist ones). she had a v peculiar life and infused many elements from her childhood in her writing. the book is not weird in that regard, though, and nancy is characterised as a "moderate socialist" so it's not a super <problematic> read (we are on tumblr, after all), although it does ultimately carry some aristocratic affectations
and now for some shameless self-promotion - one thing i've certainly been busy with is finding many, many examples for the prompts in my reading challenge (link). :)) if only i would be as prolific with my reading goals as i am with making lists! (but maybe you will find something there to your liking?)
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