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kinetic-elaboration · 1 year

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August 6: Scream 3

Moving along through the Screams with Scream 3. I realized as I was watching that I was sort of looking for reasons to dislike it, which wasn’t really fair. Overall, and trying to be as fair as possible, it was fine, just… long. Kinda exhausting. Despite its best attempts to have some sort of plot or at least through-line or something, and to connect that plot or mystery with Sydney even though she had very little screen time, it didn’t feel so much like a coherent story as just sort of a landscape or a universe, where various random plot points, many of them murder, were happening. And like that’s fine if you enjoy the universe and just want to settle in and be in it for a while. But even though I just finished watching, it already feels like sort of a wash.

I was disappointed that they killed off Cotton so early, because he seemed to me like a character who could be interesting to see develop, a good combination of funny/ridiculous and actually quite menacing. Also, for a franchise, Scream really does kill off most of its decent characters. The ensemble in 2 was nowhere near the level of the ensemble in 1996, and yes I am one of those people who is mad about Randy getting killed in Scream 2.

Gale and Dewey carrying much of the film was fine. I do like them a lot, and their romance was probably one of the stronger story lines in the movie—and one of the more coherent. They’re good at carrying both the mystery (with their intrepid reporter and cop traits) and the humor. In truth, for being a horror-comedy series, I haven’t really been finding the movies all that funny. I would say they’re really primarily horror-slashers. Most of the humor in 1996 was of the meta variety, and when 3 included jokes, they felt, to me, often a bit randomly placed. I mean there were some good ones, like everything about the Carrie Fisher cameo, and most of the stuff with the 2 Gales, and the little joke about the broken statue or the ‘are you threatening me exchange,’ but a rollicking sense of humor did not move the plot swiftly along.

It had some good set pieces, in particular the explosion at the mansion and the encounter between Sydney and Ghostface in “Woodsboro” and I suppose the final killing spree was okay. I was pretty exhausted by that point, kind of done mentally. Also really distracted by the set being the same as the school in H20 lol. I respected the devotion to adding ever more layers of meta—not just referencing the movie-based-on-the-movie but following its actors, visiting its sets—and I liked that, versus Scream 2, it used more of the lore and backstory of the original.

I had mixed feelings about the use of the voice changer as a plot point. On the one hand, that certainly is a way to continue to push the boundaries of the scary voice on the phone, and it’s true that technology, whatever is the cutting edge of it, is a big part of the whole Scream thing. And I also get that this movie was playing around a very little bit with the is the horror psychosis angle, which gets a little deeper when characters legitimately cannot tell who they’re talking to. And yet, though it worked intellectually, somehow I didn’t feel it. I guess I like the familiarity of the Scream killer always approaching first on the phone. That is scary in itself to me, without, like, thinking you’re talking to a loved one first, without that scam of it. It’s hearing the phone ring and immediately being afraid, not having the fear come in later, when the voice switches tones.

I also felt, connecting again to how it was about 10 hours long, that the misdirection with the order of the kills was a little… unnecessary. The same misdirection existed in Scream 2, honestly. How important was it that the first victims had names that matched the Scream 1996 victims? Not very. Similarly, how important was it that a few victims had kill orders that matched the ones in the film? Not at all. And an awful long time was spent following that track, before the film just veered away into something else. Again, this is all fine if you just want to hang out with the Scream characters for 2 hours. It’s only a complain on the level of, like, plot.

And then finally, the Maureen stuff. I…. have such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I appreciated a lot of it. I liked that they fleshed Maureen out, I liked that we saw Sydney’s trauma return to the loss of her mom, I liked that we saw the ways in which Maureen herself was a victim, the why of her only alluded to unhappiness. And I think it was quite ballsy for a film like this, essentially a fun slasher, to get right up to saying the r-word, so that even without it, we all know we’re talking about a rape. But then somehow it all became about Maureen the villain again, didn’t it? The rape seemed like it was just there to explain the brother’s existence, and then to put another sin at Maureen’s feet: that she didn’t want to accept a child born of rape into her home. Well, she shouldn’t have to. That’s what I think. So what am I supposed to feel for Roman? Sympathy because his mom rejected him? Disgust because he’s the killer? Surprise at the twist and not much else because just like every Ghostface, he’s another interchangeable horror psychopath? What was that extended hand holding with Sydney at his (first) death? Was that supposed to be meaningful and deep?

I wish the killer had been a secret sister and not a brother, and that her purpose was to draw attention to Maureen’s rape. The Sydney Prescott story is famous, so you leverage that with another meta layer of murders, and leave clues about Maureen at each one, hoping at last someone will uncover her story and right the long-ago injustice. As Sydney says early on, none of the murders would have happened if her mother wasn’t… the way she was, and why was she like that? Because of entitled male violence. And the man behind the assault, if not the rapist than the instigator, the one who created the situation in which it happened, doesn’t even feel bad! And his kill is so short and unsatisfying, like an afterthought. The killer-sister would have planned to frame him, and she would still be the villain, and Sydney would still defeat her, but their final handshake would have real meaning, because she's sympathetic, and she’s a counter to all of the scuzzy men who have inhabited the franchise so far (I don’t mean all of them (Dewey) but see my notes on Scream 2).

And if it’s too unrealistic to have a female horror director in 2000, she could be the woman playing Sydney (by the way, a weird sort of sleeper favorite character of mine, among the smaller parts, I don’t know why): the big sister who wanted the life of her little sister, identifying with her, feeling she is her. Maybe part of her plan is not that Sydney takes the blame for her murders but that Sydney joins her in the murders, really and legitimately. Maybe she even considers it, for a brief moment. But only very brief, because of course, Sydney would never do that.

I will say I liked the ending a great deal, especially as an intended finale for the whole “trilogy.” A happy ending for our surviving characters, and a happy ending for Sydney, and the happiness is shown by the way she lives her life openly and with friends, not shut off, not isolated, not scared. The door swinging open in a breeze, and left open: that was really, really good.

#the year 2023 #2023: fandom thoughts #2023: movies

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lesbianrobin · 3 years

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Helloooooo, i just finished the witcher and i know you watched and want to ask you: what are you favorite characters and dynamics and what do you want from the next season???

hiiiiii so i will admit i havent actually. watched s2 yet. i'm waiting until i go back to school bc i watched s1 while studying (i would do some work and then reward myself with an episode kdcjdjd) and i enjoyed doing that so. that is why i am waiting. but i have seen a lot of gifs from s2 and been spoiled on a lot of stuff, so i'm REALLY excited to see the relationship between yennefer and jaskier develop!! i'm also really into geralt and ciri's relationship, it seems really sweet from what i've seen so far and i'm always such a sucker for adoptive parent/child relationships in media.

my favorite character in s1 was jaskier because i'm gay and predictable and after him was yennefer but like. i had Such a love/hate relationship with her dkcjdjcj which is partially just because she's a complex character yknow? she isn't always likable even if she is sympathetic but i think my initial difficulty with her also had to do with the way the show structured s1. whenever there are multiple storylines going on and the show cuts away from something interesting to go to something else, i tend to get kind of annoyed with the new thing if i don't find it as interesting, and i was usually more invested in ciri/geralt than i was yennefer's backstory. after i watched the full season and some time passed i appreciated her a lot more and now she's one of my favorites.

of course i love geralt and ciri as well, don't get me wrong. i care about them both deeply. i just kinda connect more with the sorta... nontraditional heroes?? geralt and ciri are complex and interesting and lovable, but i feel like i can point to a lot of other characters in various shows/movies/books/etc who are rather similar to the both of them. there's a lot of "gruff action man adopting powerful/traumatized/important young girl" content out there. and it slaps every time! but it's pretty familiar by this point. yennefer's journey is honestly unlike any other protagonist's that i can think of off the top of my head, and her capacity for extreme changes in personality and circumstance while remaining recognizable is really cool. she's a fun character And she makes me think a lot about the nature of power which is awesome.

idk how to really articulate just how special i think the character of jaskier is like i know he's primarily just comic relief within the show but he's just like. so refreshing. like it's So nice that within this narrative full of people with unimaginable power and grand destinies there's just this fruity buff guy who wants to sing and make his mark on the world who voluntarily chooses to get involved because he saw a scary hot dude in a bar once and decided they would be ride or die for each other regardless of what the scary hot dude wanted. AND he's a dramatic little bitch who rubs chamomile on his bestie's ass. i love him So much. what i want most from season 3 is for him to wear the gay little jackets with the puffed sleeves again because from what i've seen in s2 he kinda butched it up which. yes he looks hot and i love that for him and personally i like his hair way more now than in s1 and i like that the new look makes it harder for fandom weirdos to twinkify him. BUT i still miss the puffed sleeves.

anyway sorry if this isn't what u were expecting dkcjdjf thank u for asking!!!

#asks #the witcher

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deltaengineering · 3 years

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that was the winter anime 2021 that was

Still not quite ready for a dozen posts about how terrible the likes of Combatants Will Be Dispatched are, sorry. Watch Vivy though, it owns. Here’s some more things that are (mostly) good. As always, worst to best.

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki S3

Yatogame has long run out of hot Nagoya facts and its ensemble comedy never amounted to much, so now it seems mostly content to just spam more and more wacky character designs. About the only thing that it has left going for it is that 3 minutes a week are more effort to drop than to watch, so I expect them to make a movie next. 4/10

Go-toubun no Hanayome S2

Quints is a weird one. S1 was a barely good enough (i.e., well above average) implementation of the ages old harem chestnut. S2 is actually better at the core of its appeal, since it gives all the characters a sharper profile (things like taking Nino from joke to badass and making Ichika a villain are no mean feat), but it does pay a steep price for it. You see, to deliver a steady drip feed of meaningful character moments it apparently has to rush through the source material at a breakneck pace, which completely wrecks the "story" part of this story and makes every episode seem like a recap. And it still keeps wasting precious time on vestigial nonsense like its framing device and the Kyoto flashback scenario that was already the worst part of S1. But by far the most annoying aspect is its insistence on keeping all the options valid, since it prevents any real progress and makes everything seem arbitrary and pointless. So sure enough, after a season of much ado we still don't end up anywhere — you can't really raise the stakes if all at stake was "who wins" to begin with. It's watchable and even enjoyable scene-for-scene but it's getting harder and harder to call it a solid show overall. 5/10

Skate Leading Stars

I was watching this primarily because I didn't like Yuri on Ice much and wanted to see if something that is a blatant attempt to cash in on it would be better — because while YoI delivers on one aspect (being hella gay), it really is an absolute shambles of a sports show. And sure enough, Skate Leading has none of the auteur appeal of YoI, but it just works much better. In particular I appreciate how it managed to make me care even a little about a cast of assholes, which is a nice contrast to the nauseatingly ingratiating way YoI tries to make you love its characters. Also, Skate Leading is just generally cheap and unambitious, so not susceptible to trying hard and painfully flaming out on the presentation side like YoI is. But at some point you gotta let go of these comparisons and on its own Skate Leading is... just fine, I guess? Competent, mildly engaging, not very memorable. And that's probably where it loses to Yuri on Ice in the end after all, even if I think it's "better". 6/10

Idoly Pride

Idoly Pride sold itself on me with a really good (and hilarious/tragic) first episode that was just too bizarre to ignore — I mean, how can you ignore GHOST IDOL MANAGERS. Well, the majority of the show isn't like that. It's a competent and solid version of the idol franchise show, yes, but it really had more potential than that. Especially midseason, it gets lost in these dozens of characters, and while they're all likeable, it does seem like a waste of a good story just centered on Mana/Kotona/Sakura. By the end it comes back around to the heart of the matter with a Maeda-style sob story, which could be a disaster but seasoned veteran Jukki Hanada makes it work anyway. Overall, there's quite a bit of ridiculous hacky melodrama in this, but quite honestly that's the best part and I wish it would concentrate more on it. The rest is just okay. 6/10

Yuru Camp S2

Yuru Camp is still likely the best pure iyashikei show when it gets down to business. Compared to S1 though, this seems to happen less and less. At its peaks (i.e., basically any quiet moment with Rin) it's at least as good as ever, and there's some good cast additions like Mini-Inuko, but it appears that Yuru Camp simply has run out of things you can do with camping and it fills up the time with other... stuff. This stuff includes the generic school club shenanigans it was never particularly good at, and a gigantic helping of crass consumerism. Yeah, I would say the majority of Yuru Camp is just a straight up infomercial at this point, which itself ranges from the perfectly acceptable (which cute anime isn't about food constantly), to the sketchy (I don't know whether the Izu tourism board cut this production a fat check, but if they didn't, Yuru Camp still gives its best effort to make it seem that way) to the highly irritating – I am aware that camping requires gear and you can't just ignore that, but you most definitely do not require whole arcs dedicated to talking about raising funds for the purposes of acquiring the Lamp of Comfy Happiness at your friendly local Caribou™ either. Not to mention an arc where the aforementioned lame school club does the same, for double irritation. Make no mistake, this show is so riddled with scenes that beg for a solution to embed affiliate links in video files that it makes me wish I was watching something as anticapitalist and underground as Love Live. And irritating really is the last thing a show with this core concept, as stellar as it is at that, can afford to be. Bummer. 6/10

SKOO the Infinity

Skoo has one really huge asset: ADAM, its magnificent villain. It also has one really huge liability: Reki, its not magnificent protagonist. To be more specific, it's very good at anything outrageous, physics-defying and silly, such as most scenes ADAM is in, and quite bad at anything serious, dramatic (in a serious way) and down to earth, such as most scenes Reki is in. So, what's the verdict? Well, the rest of the cast is more ADAM-like, and Reki's co-protagonist Langa is fine as the straight (yeah, right) man. The tedious buddy drama is a comparatively small part of this show, and at least it pays off quite well in the end. Seriously, I was ready to give this a 6, but the final episode is probably the best one of the show, in all of its aspects. That's really not something you see often. Skoo's a great time. Except when it's not. 7/10

Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Speaking of the rare good ending, what about we gave one of those to a slim and inconsequential slice-of-life show? NNB has always been solid, comfy and amusing quality with a couple of standout moments (usually something with Renge), and Nonstop has that plus an ending as conclusive as any show of this type is ever going to have. Besides, it does a lot of things right by focusing on more characters than the central 4 (especially Konomi has great material in S3), it expands the universe just enough to not get stale, and it moves things forward — It's definitely a lot better than the movie, is what I'm saying. Apart from that, well, we're three seasons in, if you have any interest in this you probably don't need me to explain what's good about NNB at this point. Bonus points for being nothing but an ad for the manga. 7/10

Wonder Egg Priority

Oh boy, so here's the big one. Wonder Egg is the rare Meaningful Arthouse Show About Real Issues You Guys, as you might have heard. And well, the long and short of it is that it's a very good show with quite a few glaring problems (besides not actually being finished due to production issues, but what we have is enough of an ending to be able to meaningfully talk about it). In particular, one problem: WEP is, at its core, one of these metaphorical Magical Girl-ish series that are just a thin layer of abstraction over coming-of-age or societal problems. The issue is that "metaphorical" in this case means "literal" and "thin" means "basically nonexistent". This show is not subtle regarding what it's about, at all. This is a double-edged sword — on the positive side, some things really should just be said aloud, and I'm really, really fucking tired of the Ikuhara style of "here's some wacky things, maybe a blog post will eventually tell you how it's actually about the most important thing ever" obfuscation — if it's really so important, just spell it out. On the other hand, there are limits to this and when a second, different Ai appears I don't really need a voiceover line telling me that yep, this show is about parallel universes now. WEP spells out many important things, but it also spells out many things that are implicitly clear or better left vague. Not to mention that with being so obvious up front, the show's tendency to leave figuring out what it's actually saying about it up to the viewer can leave the wrong impression. Again, I settled on the opinion that it's subtle after all where it counts the most, but you might easily get the impression that it pulls its punches (Ikuhara does this the exact other way around — once you figure out what the fuck he's talking about it's abundantly clear what he's saying about it).

In fact, this show is so good at subtle, quiet character moments that it calls into question the need for big huge fighting fantasy layer in the first place, especially since I'm not a fan of the fantasy designs and the fights aren't great. Sure, they look impressive on a technical level (this show is very good looking in general), but the lack of actual impact or rhythm makes me think this is not made by people who are very familiar with action and maybe they should have asked some seasoned shounen veterans for this — or just, you know, not do it. They can (and do) impress with character acting in quiet scenes just the same. And while Ai's character story actually does pay off quite nicely by the end we got, and Momoe and Rika are also handled well, Neiru's backstory is significantly less good, not to mention the whole Frill subplot regarding the show's mythology that they introduced just before (and that's the part to be resolved at a later date), which is a huge can of worms. We'll see how well they handle that, I suppose, but as it is it's a weird and vestigial detour that doesn't add much besides thematic headaches.

But yeah, apart from all that — I like it, a lot. Great character writing in the details, cool looks for the most part, tons of ambition, and a message that I consider to be appropriately handled — for the most part, and for now. Not quite ambitious arthouse anime at its finest, but also not a pretentious disaster like Sarazanmai, Monogatari et al. 8/10

#anime #review #winter2021 #Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki #Go-toubun no Hanayome #Skate Leading Stars #Idoly Pride #Yuru Camp #sk8 the infinity #Non Non Biyori #wonder egg priority

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icannotreadcursive · 4 years

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Sometimes, people have different--very different--sets of headcanons and sets of ships etc for a given piece of media and cast of characters because they have basically different understandings of who those characters are.

A lot of times, that’s just because every fan as their own unique life experience to apply when engaging with and interpreting a work, so they see different things reflected back.

But when it comes to what I call Legacy Characters--characters that have had their story told and retold, adapted and readapted, reinvested and reset time and again; such as comic book characters--a huge part of who a fan understands a character to be is determined by what versions of that character they’re familiar with, what aspects of different versions have coalesced in their brain to form their sense of that character in general. Usually, the biggest influence there is which version of a character that fan encountered first.

I see both knock-down drag-out fights and casual disrespectful disparaging comments within some fandoms--especially big comics fandoms like Marvel--that on the surface of them are more of the typical dumb “my interpretation is the only right one and anyone who disagrees is wrong and Doesn’t Understand The Media” stuff, but that I am SO SURE mostly boils down to this issue of having very different but all equally legitimate senses of the characters from having familiarity with different appearances of the character, or in a different order.

For instance--using what I find to be the most glaring case as an example--the Marvel shipping wars amongst Steve/Bucky, Steve/Tony, Sam/Steve, Bucky/Natasha, and (increasingly) Sam/Bucky shippers. Sometimes the Pepper/Tony, Pepper/Natasha, and Bruce/Tony shippers join the fray.

These conflicts get so nasty. Even a lot of the more chill shippers, when prompted, have very ugly things to say about ships other than their own and the people who support them. Allegations of racism, misogyny, fetishization, and general toxicity run rampant and are often talked about as though they are the only possible reasons someone could ever have for shipping or not shipping a given pair.

I want to make it clear that I personally do ship or have shipped several of the above, including ones that mutually exclude each other. There’s a few I’m neutral on up there, and one that kinda squicks me--we’ll get to that later.

Every single one of them is a perfectly good ship. None of them are inherently fucked up in any way and I will not hear any argument to the contrary.

Do some supporters of these ships get overzealous and obnoxious? Yes, that’s kinda why we’re talking about it, but that’s not a problem with any of the ships themselves.

I’ve noticed some patterns around people being into particular ones of these ships and their personal histories with various Marvel media.

Steve/Tony: mostly comics fans at this point, either were into the comics before the MCU became a thing or the early days of the MCU got them into the comics and they’re now more into the comics than the films. Because there’s a LOT of material in the comics to support the ship! There’s so much! Including the fact that in one comics reality where Tony is a woman, she and Steve get married!

Now, there was a ton of this’ere Stony fic that got churned out in the early days of the MCU, a lot of it from fans getting into this world for the first time through the phase 1 movies, at which point other potential partners for these guys either hadn’t been introduced as characters yet, or hadn’t been fleshed out. A lot of film-main (as opposed to comics-main) Stony shippers moved away from the pairing as the MCU continued, Bucky became the counterpoint of Steve’s Character arc, Sam got brought in, Pepper and Bruce each got more screen time, and the dynamic between Steve and Tony in the films got increasingly adversarial in a way that’s less sexy more fucked up.

The battle cry against Stony from other factions, especially from the Steve/Bucky camp is usually “but they’re so toxic!” and, I mean, yeah--if your sense of these characters is primarily based on how they are in the MCU, they are. But in my experience, even if they’re working MCU events and settings, the Steve and Tony being imagined by Stony shippers aren’t really that Steve and Tony.

Steve/Bucky: look, Stucky is an MCU thing. Articles have been written and published about the fact that the dynamic between Steve and Bucky in the MCU follows the beats of an epic romance to a T. The basis for this ship is all there on screen--throw in a little bit of history nerd mojo and you’re in deep.

By my observation and estimation, most new or formerly-very-casual Marvel fans who came in via the films and remained film-mains, and who are inclined to not-strictly-heteronormative shipping at all went the Stucky route. Folks who initially shipped Stony then switched to Stucky are pretty common. People starting with Stucky and then switching to any other ship with Steve to the exclusion of Stucky? Very rare. And while for a lot of people Stucky is their OTP in the strictest sense, I do see a lot of Stucky shippers who are here for other ships as well, either in an alternate realities kinda way or an amicable exes/polyamory kinda way.

The only people I’ve seen who have a problem with Stucky as a ship (other than “my ship is a different ship, therefore this one is bad and wrong”) are comics-mains whose sense of Steve and Bucky is heavily informed by runs of the comics in which Bucky is significantly younger than Steve and kid sidekick type figure. For them, the dynamic between the general forms of these characters leans mentor/student or protector/charge, so the inclination is to read the MCU relationship as fraternal, because it being romantic is squicky based on their sense of the characters.

Sam/Steve: comics-mains, film-mains with significant comics familiarity, film-mains who just aren’t into Stucky for one reason or another, or film-mains who are just really into Anthony Mackey which is a perfectly valid reason to get behind a ship. People who know Falcon from the comics seem much more likely to be into this ship and also more invested in this ship. I’m not qualified to say much about support for this ship from the comics themselves because my personal familiarity with Marvel comics doesn’t include much of Sam Wilson at all, but I am absolutely qualified to say there’s support from the films, especially CA:WS.

The worst vitriol against this ship tends to come from overzealous Stucky OTP shippers who really need to remember that fandom is supposed to be fun, and flat out racists. That must be acknowledged and needs to be addressed. Fandom racism in general, and against Sam in particular is a thing and it can absolutely be a factor in shipping.

However it’s not inherently racist to just not ship Sam/Steve because you see them as bros, or because Stucky is your OTP, or because you ship Sam with someone else, or whatever. Worthwhile to take a minute to examine why you don’t ship it, if you don’t, and check that for racial bias in how you view and treat Sam as a character, especially if you’re white.

Sam/Steve and Stucky are the two ships I see coexist the most! A lot of people ship both of them separately and exclusive from one another, but a lot of people also go ether the OT3 or the “Steve and Sam were definitely a thing for while there but now they’re not” route.

Bucky/Natasha: comics-mains or film-mains with significant comics familiarity, particularly for the comics worlds in which Bucky and Natasha are a couple, which seems self explanatory as to why that correlates. Not a lot for it in the films, Nat and Buck don’t interact much in the films that we see, and they’re kinda trying to kill each other in much of what we do see. But, like I said, they’re a thing in some of the comics so there we have that.

This is the one that squicks me. Clearly it’s a super valid ship; depending on the canon it’s a canon ship. Frankly, they make sense together, canon or not--their individual backgrounds as spysassins and with brainwashing etc means they’d be able to understand one another in ways no one else around them really can. But my personal amalgamation of these characters from the films and what comics I’m familiar with has Bucky having been Natasha’s teacher when she was a kid in Red Room. So I cannot ship it, I can’t do it.

The fact that I personally am squeaked by it has absolutely no impact on the fact that it’s a good ship, and the fact that it’s a good ship cannot and does not negate the fact that it squicks me.

Bucky/Sam: okay, there’s not a lot of this out there yet, but what there is seems to mostly be coming from film-mains who either don’t ship or co-ship Stucky and/or Sam/Steve, and who really liked the dynamic between these two in Civil War, and I guarantee you we’re about to get so much more of this ship with Falcon and Winter Soldier premiering. I’ve already seen some hate directed at this ship from the same places Sam/Steve gets hate. I predict, though, that this one will also get co-shipped alongside Stucky by the less strictly OTP of those shippers and I’m curious to see what the dynamic ends up being between Bucky/Sam shippers and Sam/Steve shippers as this camp grows.

In conclusion, I guess, note that not shipping a ship doesn’t have to mean attacking that ship (and it shouldn’tI) and not liking a ship, even being deeply uncomfortable with a ship for your own reasons doesn’t mean that ship is bad. We’ve all got our own individual sets of experiences both in life and with the characters in our fandoms that can dramatically change how we see those characters and their relationships to one another. This gets especially complicated and diverse with Legacy Characters like those from sprawling long-running comics multiverses. Someone’s understanding and interpretation being different from yours does not make either of you wrong!

As long as no one is an asshole about it it, it’s actually really interesting and cool to compare interpretations and see how your understandings overlap and differ, to think about what bits of canon have been formative for you and what personal experience may have made you inclined to interpret certain things certain ways.

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Shipping is supposed to be fun. You can and should hype up and express love for your own ships without tearing down others.

#long post #meta #fandom etiquette #marvel #shipping #stucky #stony #sam/steve #bucky/nat #bucky/sam #squick is a useful word #don't be an asshole

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discoscoob · 3 years

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Nah peggy has received hate since long before a lot of what that nonnie mentioned happened/was known about, plus I am skeptical about much of what they said since I can't find proof of a lot of it anywhere (like her saying misogynistic stuff/encouraging that behavior etc). And unfortunately with stuff like where she shoots at him out of jealousy, that is very clearly bad writing which is more of what a reflection of what the white male writers view as a woman being jealous, because anyone who is actually familiar with her character knows she would never actually do something that absurd. That was just sexist writing. Plus since the mcu has been primarily plot driven up until phase 4, there's lots of character inconsistencies throughout, so while it has affected the way her character has been written, you can say the same for any character. So yes, the hate she receives is primarily tied to ship wars. It sounds like nonnie has more of a problem with the writers rather than the actual character itself. At some point you have to be able to see that for what it is rather than dogpiling on a character because it's the popular thing to do. People use Sharon being Steve's love interest in the comics as proof of this, when in reality the Steve/Sharon ship within the mcu has always ever had a pretty nonexistent fanbase. The movies don't strictly follow the comics anyway for the most part, so why would that be any different? A lot of people's complaints are just evidence of poor writing and lack of continuity 🤷🏽‍♀️

Taking away Peggy out of everything and if we were just considering her character since What If, I’d say she’s a pretty good character since I have never really had the interest in even discussing her until now and since I wasn’t invested in her character before Captain Carter I can’t really form a fair enough opinion on her beforehand. However I agree with you that this criticism should fall on the writers shoulders, especially since a lot of female characters fall victim to sexist writers or writers who just don’t understand how to write women. But I think it’s fair that What If Peggy should be separated from anything Peggy ever did in the movies on the main timeline and Agent Carter since she isn’t the same Peggy and I also think that she should be separated from her actor, for example, I don’t agree with a lot of things Scarlett Johansson has done but I still like Black Widow as a character.

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innuendostudios · 5 years

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The newest installment of The Alt-Right Playbook - Endnote 4: How the Alt-Right is Like an Abusive Relationship - is a little different. This installment was presented live at Solidarity Lowell, and includes a bonus Q&A section. This video expands on the ideas put forth in How to Radicalize a Normie.

If you would like more videos like this to come out, please back me on Patreon.

Transcript below the cut.

He is intriguing, yet unpredictable. He demands unconditional loyalty. He seems to have an intuitive understanding of what people want to hear but no actual empathy; he treats others as simply bodies or objects. And he’s surrounded by a network of subordinates but the personnel is always changing.

Does it sound like I’m describing The President? Because these are, according to Alexandra Stein, qualities of a cult leader.

Hi. My name is Ian Danskin. I’m a video essayist and media artist. I run the YouTube channel Innuendo Studios, the flagship endeavor of which is currently The Alt-Right Playbook, a series on the political and rhetorical strategies the Alt-Right uses to legitimize itself and gain power. And, if that sounds interesting to you, and you haven’t already, please like share and subscribe.

The most recent episode of The Alt-Right Playbook is about how people get recruited into these largely online reactionary communities like the Alt-Right, a subject which, as it turns out, is real fuckin’ hard to research.

What I want to talk about with you today is how I go about studying a population that is incredibly hostile towards being studied. It involves finding the bits and pieces of the Alt-Right that we do have data on - the pockets of good research, the outsider observations, the stories of lived experience - as well as looking at older movements the Alt-Right grew out of, that have been extensively researched, and spotting the ways the Alt-Right is continuous with them, and trying to extrapolate how those structures might recreate themselves in the social media age.

So it’s… a lot. And, in the process of researching, I found a wealth of interesting perspectives that, by focusing the video on recruitment specifically, I barely dipped a toe in. All that stuff is what I’d like to get into with you today. But I’m trying to thread a needle here: you don’t need to have seen my video, How to Radicalize a Normie, to follow this talk, but, if you have seen it already, I will try not to be redundant. This talk is one part making my case for why I think the conclusions in that video are correct, one part repository for all the stuff I couldn’t get into, and one part how I’ve come to look at the Alt-Right as a result of this research, including some pet theories I wouldn’t feel right claiming as truth without further research, but I do think are on the right track.

This talk is called Isolation, Engulfment, and Pain: How the Alt-Right is Like an Abusive Relationship. We’re going to cover a lot of ground, from information processing to emotional development, but we’re necessarily also going to cover racism and violence and abuse dynamics. So this is an introduction and a content warning: if some of these subjects are particularly charged for you, no offense will be taken if you at any point leave the room. I have to research this stuff for a living, and it is rough, and sometimes I have to step away. We don’t judge here.

Now. Requisite dash of self-deprecation: don’t give me too much credit for all this. I am proud of the work I do and I think I’m genuinely good at it, but much of this video was compiling the work of others. Besides research I had already done and my own observations, the video had 27 sources: three books, five research papers, six articles, one leaked document, three testimonials, four videos, four pages of statistics, and one Twitter joke. I also spoke to four professional researchers who study right-wing extremism and one former Alt-Righter.

Without all their hard work, I would have nothing to compile.

OK? Let’s begin.

We’re gonna center on those three main texts: Alt-America by David Neiwert, a history of the Alt-Right’s origins; Healing from Hate by Michael Kimmel, about how young men get into (and out of) extremist groups, be they neo-Nazi or jihadist; and Terror, Love and Brainwashing by Alexandra Stein, about how people are courted by and kept inside cults and totalitarian regimes.

I began with Kimmel. The premise of Healing from Hate is that extremist groups tend to be between 75 and 90% male, and that you cannot understand radical conservatism without looking at it through the lens of toxic masculinity. Which makes it all the more disappointing that Kimmel has been accused by multiple women of bullying and harassment. I found the book incredibly useful, and we’re still going to talk about it, I just need to caveat here that retweets are not endorsements. Also, if I spoil the book for you then you don’t need to buy it, give your money to someone who isn’t a creep.

Kimmel’s argument is that extremism begins with a pain peculiar to young men. He calls it “aggrieved entitlement.” I call it Durden Syndrome. You know that scene in Fight Club where Tyler Durden says, “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rockstars, but we won’t, we’re slowly learning that fact, and we are very, very pissed off”? Yeah, that. As men, the world promised us something, and the promise wasn’t kept.

Some men skew towards social progressivism when they realize this promise was never made to women, or men of color, or queer or trans or nonbinary people, and recognize the injustice of that. Some men skew towards economic leftism when they realize that every cishet white man being a millionaire rockstar movie god is mathematically impossible. But they skew towards reactionary conservatism when they feel the promise should have been kept. That’s the life they were supposed to have, and someone took it from them.

Hate groups appeal to that sense of emasculation. “You wanna feel like a Real Man? Shave off your hair, dance to hatecore, and let’s beat the crap out of someone.” Kimmel notes that the greatest indicator someone will join a hate group is a broken home: divorce, foster care, parents with addictions, physical or sexual abuse. The greater the distance between the life they were promised and the life they are living, the more enticing Real Masculinity becomes. Their fellow extremists are brothers, the leaders father figures.

The group does give them someone to blame for their lot in life - immigrants, feminists, the Jewish conspiracy - but that’s not why they join. They’re after empowerment. According to Kimmel, “Their embrace of neo-Nazi ideology is a consequence of their recruitment and indoctrination process, not its cause."

But once an Other has been identified as the locus of a hate group’s hate, new recruits are brought along when the group terrorizes that Other. Events like cross burnings and street fights are dangerous and morally fraught, and are often traumatic for a new recruit. And experiencing an emotional or physical trauma can create an intense bond with the people experiencing it with him, even though they’re the ones who brought him to the traumatic event in the first place. The creation of this bond is one of the reasons some hate groups usher new recruits out into the field as early as possible: the sooner they are emotionally invested in the community, the faster they will embrace the community’s politics.

This Othering also estranges recruits from the people they are supposed to hate, which makes it hard to stop hating them.

So there’s this concept that comes up a lot in my research called Contact Hypothesis. Contact Hypothesis argues that, the more contact you have with a different walk of life, the easier it is to tolerate it. It’s like exposure therapy. We talk about how big cities and college campuses tend to be liberal strongholds; the Right likes to claim this is because of professors and politicians poisoning your mind, but it’s really just because they’re diverse. When you share space with a lot of different kinds of people, a degree of liberalism becomes necessary just to get by. And we see that belief systems which rely on a strict orthodoxy get really cagey about members having contact with outsiders. We see this in all the groups we’re discussing today - extremists, cultists, totalitarians - but also religious fundamentalists; Mormons only wanna send their kids to Brigham Young. They are belief systems that can only be reliably maintained so long as no one gets exposed to other people with other beliefs.

So that’s some of what I took from Kimmel. Next I read Stein talking, primarily, about cults.

Stein’s window into all of this is applying the theory of Attachment Styles to what researchers calls totalism, which is any structure that subsumes a person’s entire life the way cults and totalitarian governments do. Attachment is a concept you may be familiar with if have, or have ever dated, a therapist. (I’ve done both.)

So, for a quick primer:

Imagine you’re walking in the park with a three-year-old. And the three-year-old sees a dog, and ask, “Can I pet the dog?” And you say yes, and the kid steps away from your side and reaches out. And the dog gets excited, and jumps up, and the kid gets scared and runs back to you. So you hold the kid and go, “Oh, no no no, don’t worry! They’re not gonna hurt you! They were just happy to see you!” And you take a few moments to calm the kid down, and then you ask, “Do you still want to pet the dog?” And the kid says “yes,” so they step away from you again and reach out. The dog jumps up again, but this time the kid doesn’t run away, and they pet the dog, and you, the kid, and the dog are all happy. Hooray!

This is a fundamental piece of a child’s emotional development. They take a risk, have a negative experience, and retreat to a point of comfort. Then, having received that comfort, feel bolstered enough to take a slightly greater risk. A healthy childhood is steadily venturing further and further from that point of comfort, and taking on greater risks, secure in the knowledge that safety is there when they need it. And, as an adult, they will form many interdependent points of comfort rather than relying on only one or two.

If all goes according to plan, that is Secure Attachment. But: sometimes things go wrong when the kid seeks comfort and doesn’t get enough. This may be because the adult is withholding or the kid doesn’t know how to express their needs or they’re just particularly fearful. But the kid may start seeking comfort more than seems reasonable, and be particularly averse to risk, and over-focus on the people who give them comfort, because they’re operating at a deficit. We call that Anxious Attachment. Alternately, the kid may give up on receiving comfort altogether, even though they still need it, and just go it alone, developing a distrust of other people and a fear of being vulnerable. We call that Avoidant Attachment.

Now, these styles are all formed in early childhood, but Stein focuses on a fourth kind of Attachment, one that can be formed at any age regardless of the Attachment Style you came in with. It’s what happens when the negative experience and the comfort come from the same place. We see it in children and adults who are mistreated by the people they trust. It’s called Disorganized Attachment.

According to Stein, cults foster Disorganized Attachment by being intensely unpredictable. In a cult, you may be praised for your commitment on Monday and have your commitment questioned on Tuesday, with no change in behavior. You may be assigned a romantic partner, who may, at any point, be taken away, assigned to someone else. Your children may be taken from you to be raised by a different family. You may be told the cult leader wants to sleep with you, which may make you incredibly happy or be terrifying, but you won’t be given a choice. And the rules you are expected to follow will be rewritten without warning.

This creates a kind of emotional chaos, where you can’t predict when you will be given good feelings and when you will be given bad ones. But you’re so enmeshed in the community you have noplace else to go for good feelings; hurting you just draws you in deeper, because they are also where you seek comfort. And your pain is always your fault: you wouldn’t feel so shitty if you were more committed. Trying to make sense of this causes so much confusion and anguish that you eventually just stop thinking for yourself. These are the rules now? OK. He’s not my brother anymore? OK. This is my life now? OK.

Hardly anyone would seek out such a dynamic, which is why cults present as religions, political activists, and therapy groups; things people in questioning phases of their lives are liable to seek out, and then they fall down the rabbit hole before they know what’s happening. The cult slowly consumes more and more of a recruit’s life, and tightly controls access to relationships outside the cult, because the biggest threat to a Disorganized Attachment relationship is having separate, Securely Attached points of comfort.

And at this point I said, “Hold up. You’re telling me cults recruit by offering people community and purpose in times of need, become the focal point of their entire lives, estrange them from all outside perspectives, and then cause emotional distress that paradoxically makes them more committed because they have nowhere else to go for support?”

Isn’t that exactly how Kimmel described joining a hate group?

Now, these are commonalities, not a one-to-one comparison. A cult is far more organized and rigidly controlled than a hate group. But Stein points out that this dynamic of isolation, engulfment, and pain is the same dynamic as an abusive relationship. The difference is just scale. A cult is functionally a single person having a very complex domestic abuse situation with a whole lot of people, #badpolyamory.

So if we posit a spectrum with domestic abuse on one end and cults and totalitarianism on the other, I started wondering, could we put extremist groups, like ISIS and Aryan Nations, around… here?

And, if so, where would we put the Alt-Right?

Now, I have to tread carefully here. There are reasons this talk is called “How the Alt-Right is Like an Abusive Relationship” and not “How the Alt-Right is Like a Cult,” because the moment you say the second thing, a lot of people stop listening to you. Our conception of cults and totalitarianism is way more controlled and structured than a pack of loud, racist assholes on the internet. But we’re not talking about organizational structure, we’re talking about a relationship, an emotional dynamic Stein calls “anxious dependency,” which fosters an irrational loyalty to people who are bad for you and gets you to adopt an ideology you would have previously rejected. (I would also love to go on a rant puncturing the idea that cultists and fascists are organized, pointing out this notion is propaganda and their systems are notoriously corrupt and mismanaged, but we don’t have time; ask me about it in the Q&A if you want me to go off.)

So I started looking through what I knew, and what I could find, about the Alt-Right to see if I could spot this same pattern of isolation, engulfment, and pain online funneling people towards the Alt-Right. And I did not come up short.

Isolation? Well, the Alt-Right traffics in all the same dehumanizing narratives about their enemies as Kimmel’s hate groups - like, the worst things you can imagine a human being saying about a group of people are said every day in these forums. They often berate and harass each other for any perceived sympathy towards The Other Side. They also regularly harass people from The Other Side off of platforms, and falsely report their tweets, posts, and videos as terrorism to get them taken down. (This has happened to me, incidentally.) I found figureheads adored by the Alt-Right who expressly tell people to cut ties with liberal family members.

We talked before about Contact Hypothesis? There’s also this idea called Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. A parasocial relationship is a strong emotional connection that only goes one way, like if you really love my videos and have started thinking of me almost as a friend even though I don’t know you exist? Yeah. Parasocial relationship. They’ve been in The Discourse lately, largely thanks to my friend Shannon Strucci making a really great video about them (check it out, I make a cameo, but… clear your schedule). Parasocial Contact Hypothesis is this phenomenon where, if people form parasocial feelings for public figures or even fictional characters, and those people happen to be Black, white audience members become less racist similar to how they would if they had Black friends. Your logical brain knows that these are strangers, but your lizard brain doesn’t know the difference between empathy for a queer friend and empathy for a queer character in a video game. So of course the Alt-Right makes a big stink about queer characters in video games, and leads boycotts against “forced diversity,” because diverse media is bad for recruitment.

Engulfment? Well, I learned way too much about how the Alt-Right will overtake your entire internet life. There was a paper made the rounds last year by Rebecca Lewis charting the interconnectedness of conservative YouTube. (Reactionaries really hated this paper because it said things they didn’t like.) Lewis argues that, once you enter what she calls the Alternative Influence Network, it tends to keep you inside it. Start with some YouTuber conservatives like but who’s branded as a moderate, or even a “classic liberal.” Take someone like Dave Rubin; call Dave Rubin Alt-Right, people yell at you, I speak from experience. Well, Dave Rubin’s had Jordan Peterson on his show, so, if you watch Rubin, Peterson ends up in your recommendations. Peterson has been on the Joe Rogan show, so, you watch Peterson, Rogan ends up in your recommendations. And Rogan has interviewed Gavin McInnes, so you watch Rogan and McInnes ends up in your recommendations.

Gavin McInnes is the head of the Proud Boys, a self-described “western chauvinist” organization that’s mostly known for beating up liberals and leftists. They have ties to neo-fascist groups like Identity Evropa and neo-fascist militias like the Oath Keepers, they run security for white nationalists, and their lawyer just went on record that he identifies as a fascist. And, if you’re one of these kids who has YouTube in the background with autoplay on, and you’re watching Dave Rubin? You might be as few as 3 videos away from watching Gavin McInnes.

There’s a lot of talk these days about algorithms funneling people towards the Right, and that’s not wrong, but it’s an oversimplification. The real problem is that the Right knows how to hijack an algorithm.

I also learned about the Curation/Search Radicalization Spiral from a piece by Mike Caulfield. Caulfiend uses the horrific example of Dylann Roof. You remember him? He shot up a church in a Black neighborhood a few years ago. Roof says he was radicalized when he googled “Black on white crime” and saw the results. Now, if you search the phrase “crime statistics by demographic,” you will find fairly nonpartisan results that show most crimes are committed against members of the perpetrator’s own race, and Black people commit crimes against white people at about the same rate as any other two demographics. But that specific phrase, “Black on white crime,” is used almost exclusively by white racists, and so Roof’s first hit wasn’t a database of crime statistics, it was the Council of Conservative Citizens. Now, the CCC is an outgrowth of the White Citizens Councils of the 50’s and 60’s which rebranded in ‘85. They publish bogus statistics that paint Black people as uniquely violent. And they introduce a number of other politically-loaded phrases - like, say, “Muslim fertility rates” - that nonpartisan sites don’t use, and so, if Roof googles them as well, he gets similarly weighted results.

I have tons more examples of this stuff. I literally don’t have time to show it all. Like, have you heard of Google bombing? That’s a thing I didn’t know existed. The point is, the same way search engines tailor your results to what they think you want, once you scratch the surface of the Alt-Right they are highly adept at making it so, whenever you go online, their version of reality is all you know and all you see.

Finally, pain. This was the difficult one. Can you create a Disorganized Attachment relationship over the internet with a largely faceless and decentralized movement? I pitched the idea to one the researchers I spoke to, and he said, “That sounds very plausible, and nearly impossible to research.” See, cults and hate groups? They don’t wanna talk to researchers anymore than the Alt-Right wants to talk to me. Stein and Kimmel get their data by speaking to formers, people who’ve exited these movements and are all too happy to share how horrible they were. But the Alt-Right is still very young, and there just aren’t that many formers yet.

I found some testimonials, and they mostly back up my hypothesis, but there’s not enough that I could call them statistically significant. So I had to look where the data was.

My fellow YouTuber ContraPoints made a video last year - in my opinion, her best one - about incels (that’s “involuntary celibate,” men who can’t get laid). Incel forums tend to be deeply misogynistic and antifeminist, and have a high overlap with the Alt-Right. If you remember Elliot Rodger, he was an incel. Contra’s observation was that these forums were incredibly fatalistic: you are too ugly and women too shallow for you to ever have sex, so you should give up. She described a certain catharsis, like picking a really painful scab, in hearing other people voice your worst fears. But there was no uplift; these communities seemed to have a zero-tolerance policy for optimism. She likened it so some deeply unhealthy trans forums she used to visit, where people wallowed in their own dysphoria.

And I remembered the forums I researched five years ago in preparation for my video on GamerGate. (If you don’t know what GamerGate was, I will not rob you of your precious innocence. But, in a lot of ways, GamerGate was the trial run for what the Alt-Right has become.) These forums were full of angry guys surrounding themselves with people saying, “You’re right to be angry.” And, yeah, if everywhere else you go treats your anger as invalid, that scratches an itch. But I never saw any of them calm down. They came in angry and they came out angrier. And most didn’t have anywhere else to vent, so they all came back.

I found a paper on Alt-Right forums that described a similar type of nihilism, and another on 8chan. What humor was on these sites was always shocking, furiously punching down, and deeply self-referential, but it didn’t seem like anyone was expected to laugh anymore, just, you know, catch the reference. I found one testimonial saying that having healthy relationships in these spaces is functionally impossible, and the one former I talked to said, yeah, when the Alt-Right isn’t winning everyone’s miserable.

So I think it might fit. The place they go for relief also makes them unhappy, so they come back to get relief again, and it just repeats. Same reason people stay with abusers. I wanna look into this further, so, I’ll just say this part to the camera: if there are any researchers watching who wanna study this, get at me.

Finally, I read Alt-America by David Neiwert, a supremely useful book that I highly recommend if you wanna know how the Alt-Right is the natural outgrowth of the militia and Patriot movements of the 90’s and early 2000’s, not to mention the Tea Party. Neiwert also does an excellent job illustrating how conspiracism serves to fill in the gap between the complexity of the modern world and the simplistic, might-makes-right worldview of fascism.

Neiwert also provides an interesting piece of the puzzle, suggesting what people are actually looking for when they get recruited. He references work done by John Bargh and Katelyn McKenna on Identity Demarginalization. Bargh and McKenna looked at the internet habits of people whose identities are both devalued in our society and invisible. By invisible, what I mean is, ok, if you’re a person of color, our society devalues your identity, but you can look around a room and, within a certain margin of error, see who else is POC, and form community with them if you wish. But, if you’re queer, you can’t see who else in a room is queer unless one of you runs up a flag. And revealing yourself always means taking on a certain amount of risk that you’ve misread the signals, that the person you reveal yourself to is not only not queer, but a homophobe.

According to Bargh and McKenna, people in this situation are much more likely to seek online spaces that self-select for that identity. A fan forum for RuPaul’s Drag Race is maybe a safer place to come out and find community. And people tend to get very emotionally tied to these online spaces where they can be themselves.

Neiwert points out that the same phenomenon happens among privileged people who have identities that are devalued even as they’re not actually oppressed. Say, nerds, or conservatives in liberal towns, or men who don’t fit traditional notions of masculinity. They are also likely to deeply invest themselves in online spaces made for them. And if the Far Right can build such a community, or get a foothold in one that already exists, it is very easy to channel that sense of marginalization into Durden Syndrome. I connected this with Rebecca Lewis’ observation that the Alternative Influence Network tends to present itself as nerd-focused life advice first and politics second, and the long history of reactionaries recruiting from fandoms.

So I can see all the pieces of the abuse dynamic being recreated here: offer you something you need, estrange you from other perspectives and healthy relationships, overtake your life, and provoke emotional distress that makes you seek comfort only your abuser is offering. And I found a lot more parallels than what I’m sharing right now, I only have half an hour! But the thing that’s missing that’s usually central to such a system is, an abusive relationship orbits around the abuser, a cult around the cult leader, a totalitarian government around a dictator. They are built to serve the whims of an individual. But I look at the ad hoc nature of the Alt-Right and I have to ask: who is the architect?

I can see a lot of people profiting off of this structure; our current President rode it to great success, but he didn’t build it. It predates him. It’s more like Kimmel’s hate groups, which don’t promote an individual so much as a class of individuals, but, even then, their structure is much more deliberate, designed, where the Alt-Right seems almost improvised.

Well… one observation I took from Stein is that cult recruiters often rely on two different kinds of propaganda: the winding diatribe and the thought-terminating cliche. The diatribe is when someone talks at length, sounds smart, and seems to know what they’re talking about but isn’t actually making sense, and the thought-terminating cliche comes from Robert Jay Lifton’s studies into brainwashing. So, I went vegetarian in middle school, and, when I would tell other kids I was vegetarian, some would get kind of defensive and say things like, “humans aren’t meant to be vegetarian, it’s the food chain.” Now, saying “it’s the food chain” isn’t meant to be a good argument, it’s meant to communicate “I have said something so axiomatically true that the argument need not continue.” That’s a thought-terminating cliche; something that may not be true, but feels true and gives you permission to think about something else.

Both these techniques rely on what’s called Peripheral-Route Processing. So, I’m up here talking about politics, and, Solidarity Lowell, you are a group of politically-engaged people, so you probably have enough context to know whether I’m talking out of my ass. That’s Direct-Route Processing, where you judge the contents of my argument. But if I were up here talking about string theory, you might not know whether I was talking out of my ass because there’s only so many people on Earth who understand string theory. So then you might look at secondary characteristics of my argument: the fact that I’ve been invited to speak on string theory implies I know what I’m talking about; maybe I put up a lot of equations and drop the names of mathematicians and say they agree with me; maybe I just sound really authoritative. All that’s Peripheral-Route Processing: judging the quality of my argument by how it’s delivered.

Every act of communication involves both, but if you’re trying to sell people on something that’s fundamentally irrational, you’re going to rely heavily on Peripheral-Route tactics, which is what the winding diatribe and the thought-terminating cliche are.

I noted that these two methods mapped pretty cleanly onto the rhetorical stylings of Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro. But here’s the question: cults use these techniques to recruit people. But can I say with any confidence that Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro are trying to recruit people into the Alt-Right?

The thing is, “Alt-Right” isn’t a term like “klansman.” It’s more akin to a term like “modernism.” It’s a label applied to a trend. In the same way we debate the line between modernism and postmodernism, we debate the line between Right and Alt-Right. People don’t sign up to be in the Alt-Right, you are Alt-Right if you say you’re Alt-Right. But the nature of the Alt-Right is that 90% of them would never admit to it.

So are Peterson and Shapiro intentionally recruiting for the Alt-Right? Are they grifters merely profiting off of the Alt-Right? Are they even aware they’re recruiting for the Alt-Right? Part of my work has been accepting that you can’t know for sure. It would be naive to say they’re unaware; when they give speeches they get Nazis in their Q&A sections, and they know that. But how aware are they? I suspect Shapiro moreso than Peterson, but that’s just my gut talking and I can’t prove it. Like 90% of the Alt-Right, it’s debatable.

I don’t know if they’re trying to be part of this system, I just know they’re not trying not to be.

A final academic term before we say goodnight that’s been making the rounds among lefty YouTubers is “Stochastic Terrorism.” There’s a really great video about this by the channel NonCompete called The PewDiePipeline. Stochastic Terrorism is the myriad ways you can increase the likelihood that someone will commit violence without actually telling them to. You simply create an environment in which lone wolf violence becomes more acceptable and appealing. It mirrors the structure of terrorism without the control or culpability.

And I hear about this, and I look at this recruitment structure I see approximated in the Alt-Right, and I remember something I learned much earlier in my research, from Bob Altemeyer in his book The Authoritarians. Altemeyer has been studying authoritarianism for decades, he has a wealth of data, and one thing he observes is that authoritarianism is the few exerting power over the many, which means there are two types of authoritarians: the ones who lead and the ones who follow. Turns out those are completely different personality profiles. Followers don’t want to be in charge, they want someone to tell them what to do, to say “you’re the good guys,” and put them in charge of punishing the bad guys. They don’t even care who the bad guys are; part of the appeal is that someone else makes that judgment for them.

So if you can encourage a degree of authoritarian sentiment in people, get them wanting nothing more than to be ensconced in a totalist system that will take their agency away from them, putting them in the orbit of an authoritarian leader, but no leader presents themself… can you just kind of… appoint one?

Like, if you don’t have a leader, can you just find yourself an authoritarian and treat him like one? And, if he doesn’t give you enough directives, can you just make some up? And, if you don’t have recruiters, can you find a conservative who speaks in thought-terminating cliches just because he thinks they win arguments; find a conservative who speaks in meaningless diatribes because he thinks he’s making sense; and then maneuver those speeches and videos in front of people you want to recruit? If you’re sick of waiting for Moses to come down the mountain with the Word of God, can you just build your own god from whatever’s handy?

Every piece of this structure, you can find people, algorithms, and arguments that, put in sequence, can generate Disorganized Attachment whether they’re trying to or not, which makes every part plausibly deniable. Debatable. You just need to make it profitable enough for the ones involved that they don’t fix it. This is a system created collaboratively, on the fly, with the help of a lot of people from hate movements past, mostly by throwing a ton of shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. The Alt-Right is a rapidly-mutating virus and the web is the perfect incubator; it very quickly finds a structure that works, and it’s a structure we’ve seen before, just a little weirder this time.

I’ve started calling this Stochastic Totalism.

Now, again, I’m not a professional researcher; I do my homework but I don’t have the background. I have an art degree. This isn’t something I can prove so much as a way I’ve come to look at the Alt-Right that makes sense to me and helps me understand them. And I got a lot of comments on my last video from people who used to be Alt-Right that echoed my assumptions. But don’t take it as gospel.

Mostly I wanted to share this because, if it can help you make sense of what we’re dealing with, I think it’s worth putting out there.

Thank you.

#video essay

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vampiricfairy · 4 years

Text

I Never Told You What I Do For A Living

Chapter 3

Word Count: 2183

Pairing: Jonathan Harker x Reader

Warnings: ⚠️TW ED⚠️

You rolled your eyes and grabbed your phone, calling Zoe.

“Good morning Y/N-“

“Dracula found me, I think.” You said, actually relaxed.

“WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU BE SO RELAXED?!?! I’LL BE THERE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Zoe hung up.

You sighed, you regretted going out that night.. To a certain extent, Jonathan was cool though but you probably would’ve met him regardless. You checked your texts, Jonathan didn’t text you which disappointed you a little.

After maybe 10 minutes of waiting Zoe barged into your apartment and stomped upstairs into your room.

“Y/N??” Zoe exclaimed and you gestured to the writing on the window.

“You need to be more careful, Y/N. Can you stay at one of your friends’ house?” Zoe asked.

“Probably.. I’ll have to ask-“ You said, before realizing something. “But wouldn’t that be what Dracul would want?”

“You’re right.. You’ll come to my apartment.”

“I- what? I would endanger you and- that isn’t a great idea either! I don’t want that!” You said, “I’ll.. Look whether one of my friends could maybe help me out? We have hiding place in my dads garage and it seems fairly safe.” You said.

“Just.. Don’t go out after dark and do your best to stay safe. I have to get back to work.” Zoe sighed, “I’ll check up on you later, alright?” She said and walked out of the apartment again.

After asking all your friends who possibly could help you out with your small issue.. Your friend Henry told you that you could stay at his house for the night. Would’ve been cooler if he weren’t madly in love with you, well rip you.

You took a shower and then cleaned the blood off your window as it wasn’t really a nice sight for you to seeing the blood of somebody you don’t know.

You packed all your necessary stuff.

Henry had convinced you to leave the house with him, it was sunset which made you nervous.

“I told Lucy we’d meet her.. She’s not as bad as you think she is. By the way she met somebody and wants us to meet him, I promise you it’ll be fun!” Henry said and held your hand.

“Please.. Not for long- I need to be home by sundown- I can’t stay longer outside than that!” You said, obviously you couldn’t tell him that a vampire who killed your great-great-great aunt and that he wanted to apparently destroy your bloodline, was chasing you.

“Why are you so pressed? At most we’ll stay outside for an hour! What are you so afraid of? You’re acting weird.”

“Henry!!” A familiar voice screeched.

You rolled your eyes, there she was, Lucy Westenra. Next to her stood a pretty tall man, he had dark hair and.. Wait a fucking minute.

“Bye hoes. I’m leaving.” You said as you stomped away.

“Not so fast, Y/N.” Said the man.

“Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Go fuck yourself.” You said, not turning around.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Asked both Lucy and Henry in unison.

“Nothing.. Just leave me alone!” You said and you started running.

The man followed you and you ran faster, for your life- not knowing where you were running. You saw a taxi and almost stumbled into it.

“Jonathan Harker Foundation, now.” You said.

The driver was slightly confused but started to drive, during the ride he tried to make small talk but you didn’t feel like it and snapped at him a few times. It really wasn’t his fault but you were probably being chased by the vampire that was trying to destroy your bloodline and that didn’t help your mood.

Once you reached the foundation you threw the money into the drivers lap, “Miss?? That is too much-“

“Keep the change-“ you said as you charged into the foundation and immediately flew into Zoe’s arms.

“Y/N are you alright?!” Zoe asked, a little surprised.

“H-he is with my friends- I don’t.. I don’t feel safe-“ you sniffled.

“Calm down first, what exactly happened?” She asked.

You explained it to her and she sighed, “it’ll be fine Y/N. You need to take care of yourself and maybe avoid going outside for a little.” Zoe tried to reassure you.

“What’s wrong?” You heard a familiar voice say.

You looked up and wiped away your tears, “Jonathan?” You sniffled before looking at Zoe, “how- why is he here?” You asked.

“He is trying to help us with.. Well Dracula.” Zoe said and Jonathan nodded. “The foundation is also named after him, so you’d think he would try to stick around here to help us.”

“I’ll take care of her, Zoe.” Jonathan said and tried to smile reassuringly.

“Alright, if you do try to hurt or.. Anything, you know what happens.” Zoe said, threateningly.

“I am very aware and I wouldn’t hurt her or you in any way.” Jonathan said.

“That’s cool but what’s the Wi-Fi password?” You asked.

“Count Dracula.” Zoe said before she disappeared.

“Alright, got it.” You said as you typed the password into your phone and waited as it connected.

“You could stay at my apartment if you want.” Jonathan offered, he seemed to be fairly interested in you and you didn’t exactly understand why.

“I mean if Zoe’s okay with that- but don’t you have to sleep in a coffin or something?” You asked, as you texted your friends letting you know that you’re okay. You realized something-

“I d-“ you interrupted Jonathan.

“I-I just realized that Dracula could have tracked me by my Snapchat location- holy shit-“ you exclaimed before turning off your location information on your phone.

“Snapchat?”

“It’s an app where you can talk to people and send them pictures, I forgot to turn off my location mode.. So that would explain why Dracula found out where I was.” You explained as you turned the ghost mode on.

“You have to be more cautious with your privacy, Y/N!” Jonathan said, as you looked up into his eyes to see a bit of worry?

“I’m fine- I mean I’ve survived the last 17 years and I’ll survive.. At least another 5 years- well anyways. Should I ask Zoe whether I can stay at your place?” You asked, feeling a bit silly as you felt like you were a little child asking for Zoe’s permission which made you tempted to just go but you couldn’t because you knew Zoe, out of all people would rip your head off if you didn’t let her know where you went after being chased by the vampire threatening to destroy your bloodline.

“Go ahead, darling.” Jonathan smiled fondly at you.

After a 30 minute talk about what you shouldn’t do and Zoe ranting about your safety you sat in a car with Jonathan and a driver. She told you to not fall in love with Jonathan, you didn’t really understand what’s there to fall in love with in first place- maybe that was mean but the dude low-key was a huge boomer. He had his attractive traits, yes, his eyes are fairly pretty but you were sure when Billie Eilish was singing Ocean Eyes she most definitely didn’t mean Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at you, “are you hungry? I don’t really have any food in my apartment but I could buy you something.” He offered, smiling a little at you.

“No.. Not really- Jonathan?” You asked.

“Yes, anything wrong?”

“Do you.. You know drink blood?”

“I-“ he hesitated a little, “I do. Just not as often as Dracula, I try to drink blood every.. Two days so I can function but otherwise not. I primarily try to choose lawyers as I enjoy keeping up with the law- it makes me quite happy.. Do you have anything that makes you happy?” Jonathan asked, trying to get the conversation going.

“Well I tend to enjoy listening to music and reading- it’s fun to go out with friends or learning new things, I’m pretty interested in the paranormal, occult and psychology.” You smiled, remembering the times where you would tell your friends creepy stories to watch the freak out.

“You really seem to be a Van Helsing, I’m not surprised.” Jonathan remarked.

“Maybe it runs in the blood, who knows?” You smiled sheepishly.

After a relatively long drive that didn’t feel so long, Jonathan led you to his apartment. His apartment was pretty tidy, small and rather well put together.

“You got a TV, I see- do you want to watch a movie?” You asked.

“Isn’t it a little late?” Jonathan asked, “not that I mind! I just think you should try to not sleep too late everyday!”

“Nahh! I’m good! Let me put on something more comfortable first though.” You said, grabbing your ag and disappearing into the bathroom. You kept your thigh highs on as you were wearing an oversized sweater. You honestly hoped Jonathan wouldn’t mind since he’s from another century, but he shouldn’t think about it anyway.

“Done!” You said as you walked into the living room area and flopped next to Jonathan on the couch. “I’m pretty sure you slept through all the good horror movies so why don’t we watch.. The Conjuring?” You suggested.

“I’m fine with whatever you want to watch-“ He answered with a small smile.

You took the remote and streamed Netflix of off your phone on the TV. You were feeling a little tired already, bit it wasn’t that bad yet.

You didn’t even remember falling asleep during the movie. As you feel asleep you rested your head on the next best thing; Jonathan’s shoulder. In your sleep you mumbled something and pretty much wrapped your arms around him, snoring lightly.

If he were able to blush, he would. But since he wasn’t he waited a little before carefully removing your arms and picking you up as if you were a fragile doll that would shatter at any moment. He carried you into a bedroom, placing on the bed and tucking you in.

He looked at you, admiring your sleeping and beautiful form before stopping himself from his thoughts. He quietly walked out of the room and to his coffin, lying down in it and closing his eyes. It didn’t really take long for him to fall asleep.

You woke up the next morning, a bit surprised about where you were as you walked into the bathroom and washed your face then brushed your teeth. Trying to find Jonathan you walked into a room and blushed slightly when you saw the vampire who was.. Shirtless. He seemed to have just taken a shower and maybe, just maybe, you were staring a bit.

You blushed even more when he saw you and mumbled a “I’m so sorry-“ as you closed the door again. You thought for a moment and remembered what you saw.

Jonathan wasn’t ripped or anything, his body was pretty average, he had a bit of pudge on his stomach but it was normal for the era he was from. So you knew from history lesson, yeah you’re big smart. But you somehow thought it was cute on him, wait why do you find a 148 year old cute?

You stood there with your back leaned against the door, thinking as he opened the door and you fell into his arms, luckily he caught you and you figured; today wouldn’t be a good day.

“Are you alright, darling?” He asked, a little worried, still holding you.

“I’m good, I’m great.. I-I I’m just so sorry for walking in on you, I should’ve knocked.” You said still slightly embarrassed.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.” Jonathan said, “are you hungry? If you want to I can give you money so you could buy something from the bakery.” He offered you.

“No thank you..” You smiled a little.

“How come you never eat?” He asked, slight worry in his voice.

“I-I do? I’m just not eating as much because don’t like it.. I’m trying to lose a bit weight so, why not?”

“But why? Darling, you’re absolutely stunning.” He told you as he looked into your E/C eyes.

“Cool that you think so, I don’t. I don’t want to talk about it, Zoe would fry me.” You said.

“I won’t force you to talk to me, but I do want you to know that you can trust me.” He said and you sighed.

“I’m good Jonathan.. Really. Just don’t make me talk about it because it’s embarrassing.” You said.

“Do you want to finish the movie?” Jonathan asked, knowing that that would lift your spirits.

“Yeah!!” You smiled and flopped on the couch.

After watching a few horror movies you practically held onto Jonathan, you were a bit scared even if you didn’t want to admit it so you hugged Jonathan’s arm and leaned your head on his shoulder. “Johnnyy, I’m scared-“ you whispered.

He paused the movie, “nothing’s gonna hurt you. I promise.”

“Well if you say so..” You smiled a bit tiredly as Jonathan played a little with your hair..

It all felt too good to be true.

#bbc dracula #dracula #dracula bbc #dracula netflix #aesthetic #reader x jonathan harker #jonathan harker #jonathan harker x reader #dracula x reader #fluff #drama #vampire #vampire fanfiction #Vampire fanfic #vampires

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years

Text

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Hey, it’s Ranma Rewatch, I’m on episode 7, and I don’t want to waste too much time with the preamble. I am super excited for this episode, my boi is here, I really hope it holds up, see you after I watch it again!

That wasn’t exactly how I remembered it, but not in a bad way. The episode starts with a short scene that has become pretty freaking iconic, and has been sampled in dozens, if not hundreds, of AMV’s: A man cloaked from head to toe, walking through a desert, his eyes barely visible under goggles. It is a really cool shot that catches the eye right away.

We cut from that to that same person approaching a small village, deciding to throw off his concealing clothes to reveal his typical yellow and green outfit, with a bandanna around his head and an umbrella on his back, which he takes out to slow down his descent when he jumps off a cliff. This village happens to be being attacked by a huge wild boar, wrecking everything in its way, but this fellow is able to stop the animal with little effort and send it flying. When the grateful villagers approach, he only has one question for them: where is Furinkan High School?

At first they don’t understand the question, until they look at what he has for a map and realize it’s of Tokyo. The problem is, this young man is on Shikoku, a completely different island in the archipelago. They point him in the right general direction, and he reveals before the scene ends that he is specifically trying to find Ranma Saotome.

Speaking of the show’s titular character, we get a small scene of him in his cursed form being blackmailed by Nabiki into wearing women’s clothes because all of his stuff is in the wash. After that, we get another scene of the mysterious umbrella-wielding stranger asking someone for directions to Furinkan High School, but this time he’s in Hokkaido. Once again a completely different island, only this time on the opposite end. Fun fact: Hokkaido was the inspiration for Sinnoh in Pokemon!

We get another small cut-away to Ranma in various outfits, then another of our new character somehow ending up back in that village he was in earlier. The point is being made clear to us: he is terrible at getting where he wants to go, but is also so inhumanly strong and resilient that he has no trouble surviving in the wilderness in the process.

What seems to be the next day, he finally gets to where he’s going, just as school is letting out for the day. Ranma is being chased by Akane for something, though we don’t know exactly what. (Of course, we know their dynamic well enough by now to know it’s almost certainly something Ranma did to annoy her.) The newcomer slams into the ground where Ranma is landing at the same time, leaving a crater in the cement from the force of his landing, all while screaming how Ranma has to die.

The problem is, Ranma has no clue who this guy is, which pisses him off to know end. Even after he brings up that his vendetta has something to do with Ranma never showing up for a duel, Ranma still struggles (and fails) to remember this guys name, but luckily he gives it to Ranma anyway: Ryoga Hibiki. They went to Junior High together, and they’d agreed upon a duel, but it never happened because Ranma wasn’t there when Ryoga arrived.

Now, Ranma protests that he waited in the agreed upon empty lot for three days before taking off for China with his dad, which is honestly more time than most people would have waited. As we already know though, Ryoga can’t seem to get anywhere quickly, so he got there on the fourth day. Oh, and the lot was right behind his house.

The crowd of students who only moments before considered him with awe over his fantastic martial arts abilities are now looking at him like a buffoon, and Ryoga is ready to get his revenge on Ranma already. But Ranma puts a pause on that, runs out, and comes back with a bunch of different kinds of bread. Why? Because bread was the reason for their duel in the first place. Their school was only for boys, and getting food at lunch was a nightmare. Ranma ended up snatching the last piece of bread just before Ryoga could get it time and time again, and all the bread he brought was one of each type he’d taken years before.

But Ryoga doesn’t care about that, making it clear that the bread isn’t something he cares about anymore, that Ranma has put him through hell, even if Ranma has no clue what he’s talking about. But before they can get a proper fight going, Ranma runs away, losing Ryoga enough that when he starts busting up the school looking for him, he ends up going the wrong way and out of the area entirely, leaving Ranma and Akane to wonder where he went. We do get to see where before the episode ends: once again back in that village that had the boar problem, where he gets a meal before running out into the evening to find Ranma once more.

Like I said before, this episode wasn’t entirely how I remembered it. Namely, there was a lot more humor than I remembered. For the most part, that’s not a bad thing, there was actually some really good comedy, and I don’t feel like it trampled over the more serious parts of the episode.

If it isn’t clear, I am going to say right now that I did still love this episode. The animation was really on-point, some of the visuals of Ranma darting around people or the brief combat he gets with Ryoga just looks beautiful. Also, even though we don’t get a fight between the two just yet, it’s already solidly communicated, through Ryoga easily beating the boar, barreling through steel barriers, and hitting the ground so hard it destroys concrete, that he is strong as hell.

As much as I love the opening desert shot, I actually think my favorite part of the episode is some of the conversation between Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga. Ranma straining his brain to remember who Ryoga is killed me. It was weirdly relatable too, I’m sure many of us have run into someone who obviously knows us, while we can’t even remember how we know them, let alone their name. The fact Ranma actually specifically bought one of each bread he’d taken from Ryoga before was kind of cute, more than I expected of the usually flippant martial artist.

There’s also an exchange I’ve seen on Tumblr a few times in screencaps and gifs, and there’s a reason people love to share it. When Ryoga says he’s going to destroy Ranma’s happiness, there’s this shot of him freaking out, only to turn to Akane and blankly ask if he is happy, to which Akane doesn’t understand why he’s asking her. They take such a trope-y line from a character seeking revenge and turn it around into a really good joke.

There was also a really interesting thing I noted in terms of translation. After hearing about the string of times Ranma stole bread from Ryoga, Akane makes an analogy to why it mattered so much, but it’s different from dub to sub. In the English Dub, she says the straws broke the camel’s back, a common phrase that seems to fit the situation. But in the English Sub, she says (loosely remembering) “enough dust can make a mountain”, and I think that actually fits much better. After all, we soon learned that the bread isn’t really why Ryoga is angry, but once you do know everything that happened that led to Ryoga’s rage, that analogy fits perfect: it isn’t so much one specific event, as a collection of small events that collected into an enormous vendetta.

All my compliments aside, I did have some issues with the episode. Some of the comedy didn’t really work for me, and that was most true with the early scenes of the Tendo girls trying to dress Ranma in Akane’s clothes. Some parts did make me chuckle, but on the whole the mini-plot made me uncomfortable. Primarily because, as I’ve said before, I feel like the best way to look at Ranma’s cursed form is as a trans man. Even though his body has changed, his gender hasn’t, he’s still a man. The scene has Ranma protesting again and again that he is a man, even as they try to dress him as a woman. The idea of some cisgender folks trying to force a trans man into women’s clothes just...isn’t very funny to me. It’s kind of terrible, at least from a more queer perspective. That complaint done, let’s do the character spotlight.

Oh come on, who else did you think I was going to do? If it isn’t clear yet, Ryoga Hibiki is my favorite character in the series, and he has been since I was a teenager. Who knows if that will remain true this entire watch-through, but so far I’m not liking him any less. I’ll get into why, but first let’s talk about his voice actors.

The voice actor I’m more familiar with, his English one, is Michael Donovan. Like most of the actors for this dub, he’s someone who worked with the Ocean Group for a lot of series around this time period. That said, if you’re a fan of the Fate franchise, he has done some voices in Ufotable’s recent anime adaptations, playing Risei Kotomine and Zouken Matou. In Japanese, his voice actor is one Kōichi Yamadera, and he continued the pattern of voice actors who are well-known in Japan for dubbing English works. He’s most well-known for dubbing over Jim Carrey in a lot of movies, but he’s done a ton of others as well. In anime, some of his notable roles include Spike Spiegel, Beerus in all the recent Dragon Ball movies and anime, and Gentle Criminal in My Hero Academia. Seriously, diving into this guy’s list of roles is like swimming in an ocean of great roles.

So, how do they do? Well, so far I’d say I like both of them a lot, but they do play Ryoga differently. At his core, Ryoga is actually kind of a perfect microcosm of the tone of the series itself. Ranma 1/2 is simultaneously a shonen battle anime, a romantic harem series, and a wacky comedy. Ryoga is someone who takes himself very, very seriously. His desire for vengeance against Ranma isn’t a joke, and neither is his ability as a martial artist. But he’s also a doofus who ends up crossing the length of Japan several times because he can’t follow directions properly and the reasons (so far) for his hatred of Ranma are completely laughable.

I wouldn’t say that Michael Donovan’s performance lacks seriousness, in fact when he wants Ryoga to sound menacing I think he does it well, but on the whole he leans more heavily towards the comedic parts of the character. Meanwhile, Yamadera’s Ryoga hasn’t really sounded silly once to me. He plays the character dead straight, and let’s the comedy come through in the contrast between that demeanor and the circumstances around him. We’ll have to see as we go, but I actually might be preferring the Japanese performance so far, a rarity for me.

Okay, so, why do I love Ryoga so much? There are SO many reasons, many of which I won’t go into just yet because I’ll save them for when they appear in-series. But there is still a lot shown in this episode that I feel I can discuss. To start with, I adore his design. I don’t mean the cloak and goggles, though those are absolutely awesome, I’m referring to his standard mode of dress. The yellow and green as a color scheme, with accents of black to top it off, is something really unique. I don’t know enough about art to really articulate why, but I just love every touch of his design. My favorite small touch has to be the yellow strands wrapping around his lower legs, clashing with his otherwise dark green lower half. I have no clue what they’re supposed to be for, but they just add something, almost making him look more rooted to the spot of wherever he’s standing, more solid.

That is a good word to use for Ryoga in general. Even though we haven’t gotten to see him in a proper fight just yet, we’ve seen quite a lot of evidence of his main attributes. In Dungeons & Dragons terms, Ryoga is making out his Strength and Constitution. He hits like a truck and he can be hit by a truck without slowing down. I love that because it contrasts so perfectly with Ranma’s strength: his speed and precision. I adore it when rival characters actually have qualities that make the fights between them more interesting from the contrast, and Ryoga fits the bill there quite well. He’s also a good foil in terms of personality: Ranma is easy going, likes screwing with people, and is quite quick-witted; Ryoga has a hot temper and a long memory for grudges, hates it when people trick him, and tends to let his emotions do the thinking for him.

I will say it feels like his character has some classic Early Installment Weirdness, as he uses his umbrella quite a bit in this episode. If I remember correctly, after his introductory arc, he doesn’t use his umbrella much at all for the rest of the show, preferring to rely on his fists. It definitely feels like they hadn’t quite nailed the character completely yet, if that makes any sense.

Ryoga is also doing that thing where he’s seeking revenge and really angry, but refuses to talk about why, drawing out the mystery as long as possible. While that trope can become annoying, I don’t really mind it in this case. This isn’t a situation like Godot from Ace Attorney, where Ryoga is purposefully hiding it for some grand plan or something, or to teach a lesson. Ryoga doesn’t go into specifics because A) he thinks Ranma should already know; B) Ryoga is very mad; and C) he doesn’t want anyone else to know his secret. I’m not saying it isn’t stupid that he doesn’t tell Ranma why he’s mad, but I am saying that it’s in-character.

Are you surprised that I adore this episode? You shouldn’t be, I’ve been gushing about it this whole time. Even with the parts I found more rough to watch, this is still my favorite episode of the series thus far, putting the rankings at:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

The big question is: will the next episode of this four episode Ryoga arc be even better? We’ll find out next time with Episode 8: “School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga”. See you then!

#episode 7 #Enter Ryoga the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’#ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #ryoga hibiki #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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rosa-berberifolia · 4 years

Text

The Long Haul|LOTR x Reader|Eomer x Reader - Part 3

A/N: Part 3 of 4 I think. Again, I am not super duper familiar with the books. This is based off of the movies primarily, with some changes to canon. If you hate it don’t be mean about it. I don’t know.

Warnings: violence, blackish magic type stuffs, blood, death and all that jazz

Word Count:

As the days passed after your return to Edoras you felt guiltier and guiltier. It seemed that Eomer paid no mind to the fact that he could never be with you. It seemed that his favorite thing to do when he wasn’t working with his uncle was to come find you, regardless of what you were doing, and take your hand to place a kiss to your fingers, smile sweetly at you, and then leave. Nothing had happened between you two yet. And even though that made you a bit sad, you felt it was better that way.

A raven came to Edoras one morning, for the king. It was from Treebeard, who said that the ents, along with two hobbits, had taken Isengard. You, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas were relieved. You knew that you lost the two hobbits to Treebeard before the battle at the Helm. The two hobbits Treebeard was referring to were Merry and Pippin.

So the five of you, plus Eomer and some of the king’s men went to Isengard to see what was going on. And to your great relief, Merry and Pippin were indeed more than fine, and the place was crawling with ents. You all took the two hobbits back to Edoras with you, and a few days later the Beacon of Gondor had been lit. That same day, all of the Rohirrim, your company, and Eowyn left Edoras and met under the shadow of the mountain were they set up an encampment.

You rode with Eomer the whole way. And you could see Eowyn and Aragorn give you knowing look as you rode off. You looked away in embarassment. You were definitely going to have words with them later.

///

It was an eerily quiet night. The wind was almost non existent in the shadow of the mountain. And all of the men were quiet as they contemplated how they were probably not likely to live through the battle. You felt it too, but you kept it to yourself. You just wished that you and Eomer had been intimate with each other before the end.

You knew that this battle was going to go one of two ways for you. Either you would fight and lose, dying in battle, and hopefully atoning for your past sins, or; Frodo and Sam will succeed, causing everything evil to fall, yourself included - destroying the ring means your death. Either way, you die.

You noticed Aragorn talking to Eowyn later as he appeared to be packing up his horse. You knew he was leaving to go into the mountain. You couldn’t very well let him go in there alone. You shared a tent with Gimli. You came inside to find him and Legolas playing a game where one tries to slap the others hand before they can take them away. You chuckled and shook you head at there antics.

“Aragorn is going into the mountain. Lets go.” You said and started to fill your bags.

///

“Where do you think you’re off to?” Gimli questioned with his pipe as Aragorn and his horse walked by him.

“Not this time. This time you must stay, Gimli.” Aragorn countered.

Legolas walked up behind him with the other horse. “Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of dwarves?” He asked smuggly. You walked out from behind Legolas, saying nothing but crossing your arms over each other.

“You might as well face accept it.” Gimli started, “We’re going with you, laddie.”

Aragorn smiled but then looked to you and it faltered. He shook his head. “Y/n. I must ask you stay.” Your eyebrows shot up as you shot his a surprised but scathing look. “Eowyn intends to fight in the battle.” He informed and your expression dropped immediately turning to worry. “Please stay and watch over her...if you can?”

You bit your lip to keep all of the angry words from escaping. Fuck. You sighed defeated. “Fine.” You said through gritted teeth. Aragorn walked up to you and put a thankful hand on your shoulder. You couldn’t help the smile that graced your lips. You knew and he knew this would be the last time you would see each other. Your chin wavered and before you knew what you were doing, you found your arms around him, and his instantly came around her. Y/n hugged Aragorn with a strength she didn’t know she had. But Aragorn was her best friend. Her first friend. Both knew that she wasn’t going to survive this war. Aragorn might. But she wasn’t. When they let each other go they smiled sadly at the other. Then Legolas stepped in.

“Mellon nin.” He said softly, giving a tight lipped smile. Y/n smiled back and wrapped her arms around his torso while Legolas wrapped his around her shoulders. He rubbed her back a little before pulling back.

“Aye lassie. I -” Gimli started but Y/n had quickly knelt down an hugged him tightly. Gimli sighed defeated and gently pat her back. With a deep breath Y/n got back up. She gave the three a bittersweet smile before walking slowly off towards Eowyn’s tent.

///

Y/n had gone to talk to Eowyn who lied straight to Y/n’s face about staying at the camp when the rest of the soldiers left. Y/n just chuckled and shook her head at Eowyn’s stubbornness, figuring that she would deal with it tomorrow.

Heading back to her tent, a familiar voice called Y/n’s name. She smiled to herself before turning around to meet Eomer’s warm brown eyes. He approached her and took her hand, bringing it up to his perfect lips and placed a gentle kiss there. Y\n couldn’t deny how much she wished to feel those lips on her own. She couldn’t help that her teeth took her bottom lip between them. T/n almost missed Eomer’s glance at her mouth. And almost as if it was a reflex, her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

“I - I - I - uh -” Eomer tried to form words. Y/n giggled and he shook his head and took a deep breath and started again. “May I talk to you about something?” He asked. Y/n nodded - anything to spend more time with him. Eomer held out her elbow for her and she wrapped her arm around his and he lead her away.

“Is it about the coming battle?” Y/n asked.

“I know you are planning on going.” He started, “Though I wish you would stay safe and stay here.” Eomer added with a chuckle. He knew Y/n was too headstrong. Y/n looked up at him, slightly worried. It was clear that he didn’t know Y/n’s lineage, nor did he realize she’d be dead soon, regardless of the battles outcome.

That only made Y/n want to be with Eomer even more. At least before she died. She couldn’t have been more delighted - nervous, but delighted - when it turned out Eomer had lead her to his personal tent. He lifted the flap to enter and motioned for Y/n to go in. Y/n smiled before quietly going inside.

Y/n took a few steps in the tent and took in the items inside. Eomer stepped in and let the flap close behind him. He stayed silent as he watched her take in her surroundings. She stopped when she finally noticed him standing there.

Eomer smiled and took steps towards Y/n. He put his hands on her arms and rubbed them sweetly for a moment before he stepped even closer and then cupped Y/n’s cheek gently. The look he was giving, one of longing and want, sent shivers down her spine.

Y/n licked her lips and then pressed them together. The yearning for Eomer, the want of a chance to show him how much she loved him, it was building up to be too much. Gathering her courage, she reached up and put his cheek in her hand and pulled him closer until their lips met in a sweet kiss. After a moment, Eomer pulled away smiling. He rested his forehead against hers.

“I’ve been dreaming of doing that again for so long.” Eomer said in nearly a whisper.

“Me too.” Y/n confirmed with a grin so large it hurt her cheeks. They stayed like that for a moment before they couldn’t help it, and they reconnected once more.

Quickly the kiss grew deeper and more passionate. Soon Eomer had guided Y/n to his bed and laid her down with him on his elbows on top of her. His hand had thread through her hair, pulling her incredibly close. Y/n’s hands wandered every inch of his skin that she dreamed so much about exploring. Before she knew what she was doing, Y/n had worked Eomer’s tunic over his head. Eomer took the queue and started undoing the laces of Y/n’s outfit. Shortly after, both of them found themselves bare and they held each other impossibly tight, spending their night together, taking all the other had to offer.

///

Y/n wasn’t able to find Eowyn - or Merry for that matter - before everyone left for battle. The sneaky pair must have disguised themselves. Y/n could use magic to find them, but there wasn’t time and she didn’t have the resources. Plus the amount of energy required to do magic was great, and she thought that she really ought to conserve it in case they needed it during battle.

She sat atop a horse, waiting with the kings company as Theoden made a speech about bravery. But his words had little effect when his company got a look at the battlefield. It was terrifying. Monsters and machinery littered the field waiting to get into the walls of Minas Tirith. It was one hundred percent accurate to think that she was going to die there. But with a rousing cry for death, the ensemble of heroes galloped towards the orcs and beasts.

///

It was a massacre. Olliphants crushed men and horse into the ground and Nazgul picked them from it before devouring them. The men were fighting frantically for their lives, trying desperately to make it to the end of this seemingly endless war. It was a miracle when Y/n finally spotted a familiar marking on the armor of a soldier. It was Eomer. Still alive. Still trying to encourage his men to keep going. Y/n made for him, and she called his name. He turned to see her coming towards him. The look of relief on him made Y/n smile. She came closer and Eomer put his hands on her shoulders, taking in her figure to see if she was hurt. And when he saw that she wasn’t, he gave a loud sigh and pulled her to him so he could wrap his arms around her.

“It’s pointless to try to win.” Y/n said with little hope. Eomer shook his head and then bent down to kiss her.

“Perhaps we can’t win. But maybe we can fight so we don’t lose.” Eomer said. And Y/n knew exactly what he meant. The chances that they were going to make it out of here were incredibly slim. But perhaps if they fought hard enough, Man would make it. Man wouldn’t lose. Self sacrifice for the greater good. Y/n nodded and pulled Eomer closer for one more kiss before saying the thing she had wanted to say to him from the beginning. “I love you.” And then she turned around.

She walked over to where there laid about ten dead horses and men scattered on the ground. Y/n looked back at Eomer to see that some orcs had approached them and he was moving to get rid of them. Kneeling on the ground, she reached deep within herself, finding the side of her that she had put away for so long. She knew that using the kind of magic she was about to was dangerous. The power and feeling of it like a drug that made her crave more and more until she might forget what side she was on. But hopefully that wouldn’t happen, or if it did, someone might stop her before it got out of hand.

“Maausan jiak nauk-ach avo avhe vadokan around alnej.” [1] Y/n said, her voice growing deeper and turning to more of a growl as she spoke. “Riuke agh deukavroausan avhouke shal our paavh, avogeavhas.” [2]

Black roots started up from the ground around Y/n and fed their way into the bodies of the dead horses and men on the ground. They all came together like a mass of black. Ripples opened up in the mass showing light like embers. Soon it began to form into a shape like a group of horses, black with eyes like fire. Their teeth barred like monsters, showing the fanged mouth that they now sported. When they neighed it was a low wave that could barely be heard by the human ear. The horse forms stopped the ground, eager to start with their dark purpose.

“Drepa!” [3] Y/n shouted and the mass rolled along as the devil horses pulled it.

Y/n aimed for the hoards of orcs af as her mass reached them, they were engulfed by it.Their screams were muffled as they were shredded and added to the dark mass, growing with every victim. Over and over, the same result, and with ever body added, Y/n could feel the good within her shrinking. It was happening. The thing she most feared. But it was so sweet, the power she was feeling. Like a drug in her veins pulling her farther away from the light and closer to evil. And her resolve to fight it was quickly fading.

Soon, Y/n didn’t care if it was friend or foe that her mass engulfed. She only cared about the kill and adding to her monstrous legion. She rolled along to someone trying to fight a wraith on a Nazgul. Something pulled her to them. An unknown force. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized who it was: her father.

Y/n came close enough to notice who the fighter was as they took their helmet off. A small twinge in her echoed when she saw it Eowyn.

“I am no man.” Eowyn said before crying out and plunging her sword into Y/n’s father’s face. He crumpled up into darkness before exploding, knocking Eowyn to the ground.

Y/n suddenly didn’t hear the battle around her. She did not notice the men and orc fighting. It was as if her mind and soul had been yanked from her body. The bodies in her dark mass started to fall out, littering the ground as her rolling slowly came to a halt. All of the bodies were released until it was only Y/n, and she herself fell to the ground. She could feel herself draining. Like a water-skin with a hole in it. She just lay on the ground, surrounded by the ones dead at her hand. And with her last breath she thought that she was happy to have been able to tell Eomer that she loved him at least once before the end.

///

And then Y/n woke up in a healers tent.

---

Translations

1 - May I reach to all the dead around me.

2 - Rise and destroy those in our path, together.

3 - Kill!

---

Tags

@ladyideal

@merrillbee92

#lord of the rings imagine #lord of the rings x reader #lord of the rings reader insert #eomer reader insert #eomer x reader #eomer imagine #karl urban x reader

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bravadoseries · 4 years

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Probably weird and hard, so take you time to answer, but if Audrey was canon in the comics, what changes would be made when adapting her character into a MCU? I mean stuff like the fact that Tony built his in Afghanistan in the movie when in the comic he did it in Vietnam.

this was such a fun question thank you so much! i’m gonna separate this into two parts: audrey’s comics storyline and how her mcu adaptation is different. so sorry this is so long!

audrey rogers (later audrey lange and audrey banner) was introduced in the 1950s after captain america’s popularity declined and the war ended. her original aging thing was that she aged pretty fast and then like maxed out when she was physically 18 or 20 (like the baby from twilight). she was originally supposed to speak to teenage girls and other women to encourage them to embrace patriotism and reject communism, and she’s mentored by her father (since peggy’s originally written in the comics as a pretty minor character). audrey is given her batons by howard stark but in the comics they’re much more torchlike (really emphasizing the whole lady liberty moniker).

throughout the 50s and 60s, she’s got a dual-identity thing going on. she’s audrey lange (nee rogers), a teacher married to Joshua Lange, her high school sweetheart and a young, good-hearted, all-american politician. nobody knows about her identity except for her father, howard stark, and howard’s son tony.

during the 60s, lady liberty and black widow are often portrayed as character foils and enemies. lady liberty is sweet as apple pie, she likes to kiss babies and shake hands with senators and say things like God Bless America while the black widow is seductive, brutal, and most importantly—communist. the two are each other’s biggest rivals for the beginning of their respective comics’ histories (ok i just watched killing eve and i am obsessed with it but i think they are usually trying to track each other down similarly to eve and villanelle). idk if you watch glow but it’s like the zoya/liberty belle characters. that’s what’s going on.

in the comics, lady liberty is responsible for helping black widow defect from the red room and join the American cause. their first enemy together is julian bardot, who is selling nuclear tech to the highest bidder, and both of them want to discourage their respective organizations from purchasing nuclear bombs as the comics began to go into more anti-war propaganda. audrey teams up with tony at this point and their comics characters become friends.

during the vietnam war, the whole american propaganda thing was declining in popularity so they sent audrey to vietnam as a spy, where she was known as the angel of mercy. after realizing that the war was a corrupt cause, she abandoned the angel of mercy title and began working as a vigilante with civil rights activist and empire state engineering student lindsey dubois, caroline, a secretary heavily implied to be gay (living with her close female friend and unmarried) who would become the vigilante ace of spades, chinese refugee and nurse claudia liau, and delphine lamontagne, a french exchange student who came to the US looking to find a scientist to help her understand her powers. They specifically target human traffickers.

At this point, Josh Lange becomes mayor of New York City, and the strain of audrey’s vigilantism and her unwillingness to have children leads their marriage to crumble. they divorce and it’s a big comics thing (later, backlash causes marvel to try to retcon their marriage at all and say they were just engaged)

lady liberty is written into the avengers in the 1970s again because she realizes that the vigilantism was too dangerous or something (i feel like realistically it’s just that sales were low for a diverse group of female heroes but whatever). her storylines are based around that for a few years, however, after the marvel comics watergate, captain america abandons his title and becomes nomad and audrey abandons superhero work in favor of working as a lawyer (? i think).

in the 1980s, audrey is written as working as a law professor at culver, where she meets bruce banner. i don’t know a ton about hulk comics but i think he was permanently hulked out for the 70s and started gaining control in the 80s? pretty sure. anyway audrey’s never met bruce before but he’s got a dual identity thing going on and she’s like You Really Seem Familiar. when she figures out his dual identity a) they become romantically involved and b) she tries to get into hero work again.

there was a lack of interest in her character as more than a love interest, though, so from the late 80s to ’91, audrey is kidnapped and brainwashed by hydra. she’s given powers through hydra experimentation but refuses to use them unless forced to because they cause her immense pain. she is activated through trigger words and known by the name Red Scare. During this period, she serves as one of Captain America’s primary antagonists, but he doesn’t realize that Audrey is his daughter, he just thinks she’s dead.

When the Soviet Union falls in 1991, Audrey is returned to the united states and begins working as a shield agent because of the intelligence she’d collected while abroad. Josh Lange, now running for president of the United States, proposes to her in the late 90s and they marry, but Audrey begins to secretly undermine his political agenda once he’s elected due to his staunch anti-gifted stance and preference for order, no matter the cost. Audrey is portrayed as an unsatisfied First Lady until 2005, when Tony Stark starts the New Avengers to help defeat the mass breakout of the Raft, a prison holding many supervillains. Knowing she cannot just stand by, she leaves Joshua and commits to becoming a hero full time.

During the Civil War comics arc, Audrey opposes the mandatory federal registration of super-powered beings due to her experience with politicians. However, many oppose her presence in the movement for that very reason. She and Bruce Banner attempt another romantic relationship, but he favors the registration act and they soon break up. When her father attempts to surrender in order to stop the violence, she does so instead, knowing that she will be less of a loss to the movement.

At the same time, the United States launches Hulk into space (idk this was a real thing with the whole planet hulk arc) and Thor, wanting to help turn Hulk back into banner, breaks Audrey free from prison and brings her to Sakaar. She helps him turn back into Bruce and the two actually begin a romantic relationship, with him seeing where the registration act got him (Launched Into Space). When they return to Earth, Audrey and Bruce both decide to retire from hero work and open a school not for mutants but for other powered people which becomes a rival to charles xavier’s school.

From there, it’s a bunch of sporadic storylines. I think at some point she may become director of SHIELD when Steve is president? Because I know that was like a thing in the 70s. audrey’s powers are connected to thanos in a way that’s spoilery so I won’t go too into detail but when he pops up with the infinity stones arc, she plays a part in that.

anyway!

So there’s a lot of differences between the hypothetical movies and the hypothetical comics but i think obviously the biggest is Audrey’s backstory and aging. Since she ages slowly and was without Steve’s guidance, she grew up isolated and protected from the rest of the world. Audrey’s personality at the beginning is supposed to be reminiscent of her personality as the initial Lady Liberty—very sweet and positive and very much a character foil to Natasha, but instead of Audrey recruiting Natasha to SHIELD and helping her become a hero, it’s the other way around. Obviously Peggy’s role is very different, too, as is Josh’s (he’s a much more minor character in the films than in the comics).

The first Lady Liberty film adapts her transition from more of a hollow, symbolic hero to someone who is directly involved in the fight. There’s also references to her Red Scare arc except it’s the 60s and not the 90s. Here, we also have reference to Natasha and Audrey fighting Julian Bardot and his weapons, but removed from the Cold War context and instead shifted to the post-Chitauri circumstances. Delphine is also introduced, though not as a vigilante at this point or as a student but as a capable DGSE agent. The setup here is for her to have her own adventures eventually I think.

A lot of the changes have to do with the order of things. Because the MCU takes place over a decade and not like 50 years, things get switched around. TWS and AOU are both more modern plotlines that got reinvented and brought into the MCU. I think I’m probably gonna be changing the Civil War conflict to add more of the comics element to it as well.

Audrey’s vigilante team storyline, though unpopular at the time of its original publication, works better now, so it’s brought back for the second Lady Liberty film, which is set after Civil War. Audrey at this point is much more brutal and has lost faith in the system similarly to how she lost faith in the system because of Vietnam. Audrey never becomes a lawyer, but she does have a reunion with Bruce post CW during the MCU equivalent of Planet Hulk because (though unlike the comics he went by choice) he got launched into space. Audrey’s involvement in this storyline is much more accidental in the movies than in the comics.

I think also unlike the comics, Audrey doesn’t use her powers more because she feels unnatural when she does and not because it physically hurts. She also loses control. The movies also more specifically detail how where her powers came from.

The third Lady Liberty film, resurrection, is a movie that covers Audrey, Thanos, and more of her outer space adventures lol. And the next gen TV series, which primarily just features guest appearances from the Avengers, adapts the idea of the Avengers Academy.

thank you so much again for this ask sorry it got so long i had so much fun answering it !!!

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eloarei · 4 years

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1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 13, 17, 23 (some of these are random and some aren't)

Thanks for the many questions, Socks! Sorry I didn’t answer them earlier; I decided answering asks on mobile sucks. ALSO, this is going to be super long haha sorry. 1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it? Well, my most current project is one I just started brainstorming. It’s (hopefully gonna be) a Fallout 3 series, with my latest fic being the starting point. LW/Fawkes is a ship I liked immediately when I played the series some years ago, but I never got around to writing for it, probably in part because there’s already a super good longfic about them, and I just didn’t think there was much else I could say. But my LW is different from Choco’s LW, and lately I wanted to start something self-indulgent. Although I have enough ideas for this to maybe be a single 30k fic, I’m choosing to do a series of shortfics instead, so that I’m not burdening myself with another long project. Fic series are great in that way, because it’s basically complete with every new fic. On top of that, I have... probably 3 other things I want to make significant progress on this year. First is another Fallout fic: Same Heart. I’ve posted 8 chapters already and have almost 2 more done, but due to the slow-build nature of it (and my tagging) I don’t expect to have almost any readers until at least chapter 10 (when the ship characters finally meet). I’d like to at least get that far this year. A project I’d love to finish by fall is the unreleased “The Wilderness”, a Venom zombie AU that I started for NaNoWriMo 2 years ago. It’s about 55% written, and my goal is to have as much of it done as possible before the sequel movie comes out. If it’s not done by then, I still plan to post whatever I have. And lastly-ish, my novel... thing. Rogue. I’m in the process of editing it, although I’ve taken kind of a break lately. And as soon as I’m done with the edits and can get a couple of people to read it (just so they can tell me if certain parts are stupid and need changed) I plan to start the next book in the series... which will probably end up being book #1, actually, if I do them modern-era chronologically. It’s... gonna be a process. ^^; 2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project. In my upcoming FO3 fic series, I’m honestly just kind of weirdly looking forward to... how do I put this? Exploring my own vaguely-traumatic experiences through fic. I’ll always do a happy ending, if possible, but before we get there I really want to run these two through the ringer of... being given something they were led to believe was impossible, being judged for it, having it taken away, and then being told “well maybe it’s for the best”. When it comes to future projects, I guess I’m really excited about writing the new Rogue book. “Reaper”, I guess, is its unimaginative working title. I’m anxious about it, because I thought Rogue had some really deeply emotional scenes, and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to accomplish that as well with this new one, simply because the characters don’t have the same level of desperation about each other. I need to figure out what’s unique about their dynamic and push that. I guess I’m looking forward to the challenge. 3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway) Hmm gosh. Technically there’s a scene in the later chapters of Mobius that I already wrote, but it wouldn’t take place until probably chapter 3 or later, and I just lost all steam on that fic, sadly. But every time I poke through my notes I make myself cry reading it. It’s a scene where one character knows it’s going to be the last time he sees the person he loves most, and he can’t explain his pain to anyone. I really just want to get there so I can see if it makes other people cry like babies haha. But on a completely unrelated note, there’s also this ZADR fic I started writing in like 2009, and I absolutely didn’t want to do the work to get to the fun middle scenes, but basically it was an AU where young adult Dib went to live/work in the thriving multi-species space community, where he’s... I dunno, studying alien biology I think?, and he ends up with Zim as a roommate. The scenes I really wanted to write were about the two of them getting into like a bar fight with some tough types, and Zim gets his pak ripped off/damaged in the process, and Dib has to sort of take care of him through a horrible fever. But then it turns out that the pak was not a life-support system like they thought, but actually a growth inhibitor so they (the people in charge of the Irkens) could choose who became the Tallest (the leaders). (And also it hindered reproduction, etc.) So basically the two of them accidentally start to unravel a galactic conspiracy which also involves corruption in the Earth government, etc, and Zim gets taller but spoiler alert, he still doesn’t get tall enough to challenge the Tallest lol. Sadly, I doubt I’ll ever actually write that fic. Sounds like too much effort lol. 7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree? That’s such a hard question. Ummm. How do I put any of that into words? ...I think one of the things about my writing is that a lot of the time nothing really happens in a scene, and the story mostly focuses on a character thinking. Like, enough happens so there’s something for them to think about, but I think I tend to put a lot of emphasis on POV character’s thoughts, to the point of sometimes seeming stream-of-consciousness. I’ve been told that this makes my stories feel alive though? So I think it appeals to some people, though I’m sure others would find such stories boring. Oh also, somewhat along these lines, I like to add commentary that is only somewhat relevant, usually in parenthesis at the end of a sentence or paragraph. (Honestly, it’s not unusual to see one in every paragraph if I’m writing something slightly humorous.) 9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other? I would LOVE to write primarily longfics! However, I just don’t have the time or energy for it, and I don’t write fast enough. So I end up with a lot of oneshots under 10k. I had to challenge myself to learn to write short things though, and then it’s really about writing something short, not about writing a specific story. Generally, I’m both pantster and plotter. I tend to write the first chapter/few scenes/maybe as much as 10k, just by the seat of my pants. After that, I look at what I’ve got and write out a plot to continue from there. Plotting everything out before I start just doesn’t work for me, but if I try “pantsing” anything longer than 15k I know I’m gonna have an absolute torturous hell of a time. 13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself? Lol I think anyone who’s reading this knows I share my stuff online. Primarily on my AO3, though there’s some other stuff floating around here on tumblr too. Most of the time if I keep something to myself it’s only because it’s not finish enough to share. So, sure, there’s plenty of that, but the goal is always to share it eventually. If I ever get around to finishing a novel, those will probably be the only things I don’t just post online. (Though I do post most of my OC stuff currently.) 17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations? I think that inevitably my readers will always perceive me and my writing a bit differently than I do. That’s just... interacting with people. Nobody knows you entirely. However, I am as open and honest in my writing as possible, and I actually think that reading my fic is the best way to get to know me. I like to hope that I am an open book to anyone who has read many of my words. =] While you may not know the details of my life, I think you would have a good insight into my personality. 23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest? Like... my oldest fic/story that I’ve never written or posted? Not counting stuff I’ve consciously abandoned (things from middle school, mostly), my original fic series, “Damsel and Company in Distress” aka DamselCo. is definitely my oldest story. I think I started fiddling with it in 2006-- which makes it pretty disappointing that it’s gotten next to nowhere. XD; But the story is my baby, and it’s been my baby for so long that anyone who’s followed me ever is probably at least vaguely familiar with a few of the characters. Now maybe one day I’ll actually give it the attention it deserves, though I’m sure it’ll need significant revamping. After all, a lot has changed in 14+ years. Ideas that were new and subversive then are probably already stale.

#elo talks #elo fics #ask meme #writing #long post #braincoins

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kyufiber-moved · 5 years

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got any bl show suggestions?

abso-fucking-lutely i do !! i typed out this WHOLE thing then my computer crashed so this is my second time answering this ripskfjd

also i went in depth about everything so it got long, and imma put a keep reading!! here are some bl show recs:

love by chance ::

summary: pete is a popular and wealthy student who is very shy, which is caused by the fact that he is secretly gay. he meets ae, a fellow student and they quickly become friends. pete starts to have feelings for ae, but doesn’t want him to experience ridicule for being with a man, so he attempts to repress his feelings

my thoughts: this show is amazing tbh. one of my alltime favorite dramas ever ngl. it has 5 couples that are shown on screen (with small cameos from / mentions of tharntype), all of which are cute (except klano. we dont talk abt klano.)

ending: mixed, depending on the couple. the main couple (aepete) has a happy ending, but three of the side couples have open endings, one of which is super angsty

sequel(s): there’s a second season coming out in february, in which the side couple that got the angsty ending (tincan) will be the main couple!!

where to watch: youtube

history 2: border crossing ::

summary: yuhao is rebellious and has a short temper. when he is approached by the captain and manager of the school’s volleyball team, he isn’t interested, but eventually ends up joining. he then develops a very close bond with the team manager, zixuan, which turns into something more than friendship

my thoughts: very very cute !!!!! i loved it so much omf. also the side couple is step brothers and although they don’t get much screen time, they’re still cute. also the kisses b/w yuhao and zixuan (despite 1 of the only 2 being in a dream) are F A N T A S T I C

ending: happy!!

sequel(s): there’s a 2nd season coming out sometime in 2020, but idk when. also it’s apart of a series called HIStory which has several different storylines, all of which being bl. they are not related to each other in terms of characters or anything, though, so don’t expect to see familiar characters ^^

where to watch: youtube

sotus: the series ::

summary: kongpob is a 1st year engineering student who stands up against head hazer and 3rd year arthit, who the first years feel is cruel / overly strict. the two start out as enemies, become friends, and eventually develop feelings for each other

my thoughts: no sexual stuff like many other bls, instead focuses on the romance part of it, the evolving relationship/friendship between kongarthit, the internal struggle of figuring out one’s sexuality, and the bond formed between students/friends/classmates. honestly?? storyline is gotdamn beautiful and i cried more than once just bc i was so overcome

ending: happy :)) (for all seasons and special eps)

sequel(s): there is a 2nd season titled sotus s: the series which takes place 2-3 years after the 1st season, where kongpob has become head hazer and arthit is now out of college and in the working world. kongarthit is also featured in the multi-bl special sequel titled “our skyy” which has special episodes set after the main official dramas surrounding various bl couples !

where to watch: it’s on netflix yeehaw ! but if you don’t have netflix it’s on youtube

together with me ::

summary: korn and knock are childhood best friends who meet again in college and, after a drunken night out, end up having sex. knock, who has a girlfriend, makes korn promise never to tell anyone about it and pretend like it never happened but you can’t hide falling in love forever :))

my thoughts: god SO much angst. it isnt an ep of twm if there isn’t angst smh my heart hurts watching it. BUT . it also has cute moments, funny af moments, and some SEXY AF moments . the sex / kiss scenes are unmatched bro . holy shit . watch the uncut versions too theyre even hotter i cant breathe 🥵

ending: happy

sequel(s): there are two “sequels”, one: together with me: the next chapter (which apparently wasn’t as good as s1 but i havent seen it) and then two: bad romance which features kornknock but the main couple is boyxgirl (and it aired first, but it’s set chronologically AFTER twm)

where to watch: youtube

theory of love ::

summary: third is secretly in love with his best friend, a straight playboy/manwhore named khai. he tries to stop his feelings, but is unsuccessful until he overhears something he wasn’t meant to. third, heartbroken, decides once and for all to stop loving khai- but just when third stops, khai starts.

my thoughts: anGST goddammit bl dramas love their angst huh. anyways i love the general plot of this and also like ? how aware the creators are of the plot sorta bc the movie flipped is a large af part of the show . also the kiss that ive seen ?? whew YES bro . also like before we get the happy ending there’s SOOOO much angst, even after they both know that they like each other ksjdf i haven’t finished it bc im mentally preparing myself

ending: happy

sequel(s): n/a, but if you want another drama where these actors are together, puppy honey has the same actors as a the couple pick and rome (idk if they have a happy ending though?? i havent seen it)

where to watch: youtube

great men academy ::

summary: love is a girl who is a huge fan of vier, a boy who attends great men academy (an all-boys school). one day she helps an injured unicorn by a lake (dont ask BRO DONT ASK) who then grants her one wish: to fulfill her love. unfortunately, the unicorn interprets love’s wish differently than expected, and turns her into a boy. love decides to attend great men academy in her male form, but she must remember to return to the lake and submerge herself every night before midnight to turn into her female form again, or she’ll be stuck in her male form forever

my thoughts: this drama........ whoever thought of this plot was on crack or smth. s’cute though. all the male characters are members of 9x9 (including captain, who plays noh in lovesick) also the main lead ends up with the person everyone acTUALLY wanted him/her to end up with so . YAY FOR US. still a WEIRD ass plot though

ending: happy

sequel(s): n/a

where to watch: kissasian

honorable mentions::

bolded : watched/watchingitalics : unwatchedstarred *** : hasn’t aired yet

- until we meet again (only an honorable mention and not an actual rec bc i haven’t seen it yet so i don’t know as much about it, BUT i know it’s good)

- kiss me again (the prequel to kiss: the series and also good but not PRIMARILY bl, focuses on three het couples/storylines and then the one bl storyline, but petekao is still otp asf)

- 2moons / 2moons2 (2m2 is a remake with a little better acting, a different cast, and more focus on the side couples than 2m. it is NOT* a sequel)

- make it right: the series (a bit old and kiiiinda shitty but one of the classics. also the second season is a little better imo bc the characters look more mature and the cinematography is better but ! s1 is a classic. also very . VERY sexual pls god do not watch it without headphonessjfkds)

- love sick: the series / reminders (love sick: basically the first mainstream bl uhhh ever. not particularly good / bold compared to more recent ones but it paved the way for current bls so we Respect love sick. ALSO reminders: is a modern sequel type thing set after love sick 2 when phun and noh are in university. also :: features almost all the main couples/actors from love by chance but has no relation/isn’t the same universe)

- the stranded ( i haven’t seen this but i know it has some gr8 bxb relationship shit ! but it’s not the main focus of the show i believe)

- 2gether: the series *** (hasn’t aired yet, but looks juicy af)

- my engineer *** (also hasn’t aired yet but again . i am inTRIGUED)

#asks #anonymous #drama recs #bl drama recs #recs #there's more but i dont want my computer to crash again and lose everythingskdfjds #plus like #you'll be preoccupied watching those before u need / want more recs haha !

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