#(i never really cared about the main plotline but it made me actively dislike it)

[djinn-ale]

me thinking i liked taao and then realizing that i only thought it was good because i focused on the parts i liked about it and skipped over literally everything else

[norgestan]

I'm going back for seconds! Viri/Hugo, Nora/Miquel, Lucasim, Emma/You. Lol tbh I just want an Emma ship and I feel like we haven't properly settled for one. 😔 Who should end up with Emma, Mia excluded since you haven't watched Druck yet?

ardi round 2, i loooove this :)

VIRIHUGO:

i think at the end of the day i’m just resigned to virihugo’s existence. do i hate that they just Start pining for each other with no setup at all? yes. do i hate that their relationship was a noorhelm+vilde esque get-together where dylan is the one who ends up alone? yes (imagine if noora had told william something like “oh lol vilde is just some slut that goes for every boy around her, she’ll get over it soon and she doesn’t really care about us being together ;)”. bc that’s essentially what virihugo did LOL). do i hate that half of their clips are they just standing still and monologuing about each other? oh yes. do i care? not really. i would resent them a lot more if viri had been the protag of s3, but eskam had really compelling couples with noriquel and norandro so i just spend my time focusing on them and not the lesser part of the season.

viri is an endearing character, and although i didn’t like most of her subplot in s3, i do think eskam made her an interesting character with what they had and i’m happy she got a nice boyfriend that she has lots of fun with. moreover, norandro was lacking the enemies-to-lovers snarky interactions (too busy being a really compelling couple!) and the trope was picked up by hugo and viri. which i kinda dig, because those interactions were the only things that i enjoyed about various noorhelms in the skamverse - if most of them were like that and less bad abusive boy feminist girl jerk-fest, i wouldn’t loathe noorhelm as much as i do. although this also makes me wish viri and hugo had been that kind of dynamic from the start, and just gotten a lot of will-they-won’t-they glances from their friends throughout the show until they finally got into each other on s3. but i guess that would’ve made it impossible for eskam to use dylan just to *checks notes* make every person in the love triangle insanely infuriating, oh well.

tl;dr: they are allowed to exist.

NORIQUEL:

ardi, you just want to see the world burn LMAO

to me it’s hard to dislike any pairing with nora on it because she’s a very good character and that just means she’ll always have great dynamics with other good characters. and oh is miquel a good character. in a lot of ways, eskam gave us two great williams in one season: my boy alejandro, who is the perfect candidate for a nora love interest, who earned his place and then helped nora earn her place as the best candidate to be his love interest as well, and then miquel, that has just enough characterization to be exactly what the narrative of the season needs him to be - not only a mustache-twirling antagonist who will punch out then smirk his way out of situations, but a real person.

see, they could’ve made miquel into a one-dimensional asshole that nora is stupidly into because he’s hot (does that sound familiar to you? LOL) but oh no, miquel is way more than that. he earns nora’s trust because he’s not an asshole, he resents olga for cheating on him and you can see how nora waits until the moment where he’ll call her a slut but it NEVER comes, he defends nora in front of his friends... he gives her what she needs, and he fits right where she expects him to. and that’s so important in a season where every other character is challenging nora in one way or another: alejandro doesn’t fit in her box of “incorrigible fuckboy”, viri doesn’t fit in her box of “helpless friend who needs my pity”, emma doesn’t fit in her box of “s/a victim”. being with miquel is easy, when he just humors her and spits out thoughts that nora agrees with all the time. it’s just REALLY great to watch. not only is her season a display of how emotional abuse looks like, but also her entire relationship with miquel showcases her shame, her flaws, the things she needs to work with to better her relationships with the people who ask more of her because it’s only fair.

i honestly never was in the miquel hate train. once you get the point of the character, it’s easy to love him for what he is. as i said before, miquel was also a call of attention because the conversations that he had with nora reminded me of talks with male friends i’ve had in my uni years, and it really put it in perspective and made me realize that i have been humoring numerous miquels by sitting through their “i’m actually a feminist, ya know” think-pieces and agreeing with the general feeling of it. and i don’t think a character like niko could EVER make anyone feel like that.

i’ve checked the middle square because that was my reaction every time eskam made a point to parallel noriquel to noorhelm. like YES. YOU DO GET ME. TRULY A SEASON FROM NOORHELM ANTIS TO NOORHELM ANTIS. what a skamverse treat. this relationship is good for the SOUL. that’s why i never got infuriated watching the couple, despite knowing what the point of their existence was: at the end of the day, i knew that the signs of abuse weren’t pointless and just fillers for an end-of-season sex scene, but they were actually going to do something interesting with them. and that’s exactly what they did. noriquel is actually a perfectly crafted relationship for what its message is and it deserves to be remembered as that.

LUKASIM:

oh BOY.

i just.... kasim is in this relationship. that already makes this REALLY difficult to tackle it. the thing about kasim is... if you only watched the season as the movistar+ channel shows it, kasim is simply a plot device. he’s not a character. he’s only there to introduce conflict and stir some shit and then fuck off to the sunset. he doesn’t have an og counterpart which meant that eskam didn’t have to actually try with him, and kasim is just what they need him to be: a way to introduce the main conflict, a reason for dounia to hate amira, boy on boy action for that sweet fanservice, misogynist microaggressions towards amira, a loose way to wrap things up at the end of the season and absolve her from any guilt or shame, etc. he just shows up when the plot needs him and then walks away very swaggily. and that’s why kasim is an essay kind of topic because to talk about him, you have to tackle the racism in s4 and all the ways they could’ve made a conflict-inducing gay muslim guy actually likable. which i won’t do here.

but then if you look at the lucas extra clips... he’s actually LIKABLE. he’s a character: he has personality, he’s funny, he doesn’t take lucas’ shit, he will only be with him if lucas apologizes and changes first. and as someone who desperately wants to protect kasim from the shit characterization and treatment he got in the show, i treasure those clips immensely - which i don’t think a lot of people do, and i can see why. it’s just sad that the moments where kasim was a likable, real character were hidden behind a paywall, and drown in a convoluted plotline of outing people when they behave badly as a good punishment. the thing about their get-together is that their impact relies only on amira, and is meant to make her life a living hell. other than that, there’s not really a narrative or character reason why they’re both into each other. is it only because they’re conventionally attractive guys and the only recurrent mlm in the show? wow, that shit’s BORING.

sigh, anyway. in a slightly better world, kasim being gay wasn’t actually a nuance as it was presented in the show. rather, kasim was out and confident about it, close to his sister, probably a regular in las labass where he could also work with organizations of other queer muslims in madrid. this also means that lucas and kasim’s relationship wasn’t the typical hidden gay love story that they were in the actual show, but they’re just, ya know. typical gay kids who made out in the club and then became just friends. or lucas’ activism on s2 warranted some instagram dms and then they upgraded to acquaintances. it’s upsetting that lucas is the only eskild who doesn’t really get to hangout or be in queer circles like other eskilds are implied to, so it would be great for him to actually have gay friends that he enjoys just as much as his primarily friend group. like, their version of lucas’ queer lifestyle being going to bars and hooking up with older guys it’s so....................... why. they didn’t have the time to say anything interesting about it and so obviously they didn’t do it lol. at this rate lucas’ only platonic queer companion is cris, which is lackluster to say the least.

the decision of making kasim lucas’ endgame is just another one on the list of things s4 got so, so wrong. what for? why does lucas need (another) boyfriend, again? why does every queer person in this show have to be dating someone and also come out to their parents? again, their relationship is just another rushed hidden gay love story that i found interesting at 13 years old and then never again. they could’ve taken it into ANY other direction, please. i’m begging.

anyways, you had really nice headcanons of lucas being the only eskild willing to revert to date a muslim guy, so that’s the only reason why i’m open to the idea of them being a couple. in a better universe, eskam actually made a case for these two being a good couple, and i agreed with it. as it is for now, it’s just really pointless, and rooted on the fact that kasim is not a real character to begin with. so i’m OBVIOUSLY sending them to superhell <3

EMMA/ME:

standard wlw relationship that would probably get sooooo much backlash about how neither of the characters Really feel like wlw and the emma love interest being boring as fuck, tbh.

alright, now that we’ve covered all that.... should dear emma grace even end up with someone in the skamverse? maybe one of the skamau girlies, given the proximity? maybe she’ll hook up with the female eskild that i know so many people dislike? idk. emma deserves a nice love story, in the same wavelength as nora. she deserves someone who is patient, who communicates well, who establishes boundaries and asks for respect, who understands she’s not only the act of crazy party girl and there are really interesting, carefully placed layers around her. maybe someone who went through a similar situation or at the very least sits down with her and tries their hardest to understand all the things going on with her life. like... there’s something about emma dropping the accusations and then dipping to another country, away from her parents and even her hometown in the states, just to throw herself in a city as busy as nyc is, that is desperately asking to be explained and explored. in a lot of ways, emma’s story is the other side of the noora story that couldn’t be told through nora’s perspective. in a perfect universe, there’s a spinoff that takes place right between s3 and s4, where emma gets the news of how much of a shithead miquel actually is and she has to question all of that yet again, and break the sense of normalcy and comfort she had built during all those years. it would be great if that story featured her closest friendships, and a newfound love. yes i was serious when i talked about the emma grace spinoff @ movistar+

[blackcatanna]

Hakuoki part 2

I love that their hair AND ONLY THEIR HAIR moves in the intro so you know that these aren't still images, they're just staring REALLY INTENSELY at you.

Okay, so I learned that the ending is super depressing if you blunder through the game like an idiot as I did on my first try...

"I'm going to go and watch the physical exams ^_^ " WTF?!!?? CHILD, NO!?! STAY BACK, YOU PERV! I DIDN'T THINK THAT THIS WAS THAT KIND OF GAME?!!? Also, for once, I'm kind of on Itou's side here. I don't have that much of a problem showing my friends my body but the moment any one tries to force it, I am GONE.

I am eternally grateful to this game for introducing me to the concept of a SNOW BUNNEH!!! 8D

Kazama is suck an absolute prick. And a creep. Please stop making rapey comments and being smug. When Harada tells him that too much of a bitch to ask you out, I was VERY happy. He is a COWARD.

Even before you meet your dad, I had already written him off as an unpleasant individual for working with Kazama: a man who is trying to kidnap and impregnate you?! Aren't fathers supposed to protect their daughters from demonic rapists?

I'm not that mad at the pc for being more useless than the skilled swordsmen and demons around her but the fact that she doesn't even TRY to learn about her demonic powers irks me. If you're going to spend so much time angsting about being a waste of space, at least ask someone like Sen for help?

On that note, Sen is bae. When she comes to get you from the Shinsengumi, I was like, "Please, take me away with you and your beautiful bodyguard! The two characters I'm closest to have abandoned me so running off with some sexy demon girls seems JUST FINE BY ME." but that was not an option and so I was sad.

This main character is so emotionally dense and inconsiderate. She says so many times things like, "It never occurred to me that he had feelings inside of him because he didn't say so." You idiot. The number of times you ask stupid questions like, "Don't you care about ****?!" YES. OBVIOUSLY HE CARES. JUST BECAUSE YOU EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS BY CRYING AND YELLING AT EVERYONE DOESN'T MEAN THAT THAT'S NORMAL. Anyway, that got more intense than I'd intended. I actually liked the pc in this game more than I thought I would but this game doesn't give you a lot of choices. Which is fine and I still love it but it has lead me to vent my frustrations on Tumblr.

Also, why do you ask so many questions about the future when it's all up in the air? They're probably wondering the same things that you are and are feeling anxious too and you're just reminding them of how uncertain the future is for them.

The guy with the beauty mark on his face who's name I can't remember? He creeps me out. I don't know why because I've only encountered him that one time at the teashop with Saito but he's seriously giving me bad vibes. So much so that his is the only dlc I haven't played (clicked) through. I guess I will play it and reconsider, perhaps.

I was so mad when you say that Iba is "almost as good looking" as Hijikata. Hijikata is not that good looking, in my probably controversial opinion (safe in the knowledge that no one will probably ever read this. If you have stumbled across this nonsense and you are a Hijikata fan, I am sorry for being a bitch 3:) but he's just not my type and I wouldn't need to be saying this if the game wasn't trying so hard to brainwash me into fancying Hijikata). Anyway, Iba is so beautiful, it almost makes up for his personality. JK, Iba is lovely but they had to come up with such a convoluted way of making him horny?! Anyway, that's the next game.

This game is pretty brutal! I've only played through two routes so far (Saito and Iba) because I'm immediately playing Edo blossoms afterwards but even the good endings seem to have your bae getting tortured by dickheads while you watch helplessly. And then Yamazaki and Inoue die!?! Tempted to play Yamazaki's route next just to stop him from dying! I wonder what the terrible price he'll have to pay while you stand by helplessly will be. Yamazaki and Inoue were just so nice a the time :'(

I'm super reluctant to give my blood to Sanan to study it but only because he's being super creepy and aggressive about it! If he asked nicely instead of barging in with a sword, I would be totally down to help my friends in that way. As seen throughout Edo Blossoms.

This game is giving me so many 19th century goth vibes, what with the beautiful men, dark secrets, mad science, vampires, horny demons, Stockholm syndrome and people dying of TB...

Much like Samurai Warriors, this game knows how to wring my heartstrings by placing a bunch of adorable characters in a historical setting and then torturing the shit out of them. I guess I'm pretty sadistic but then I'm sure that freaks like me aren't the only people who enjoy this game...

Apparently, there are all kinds of shenanigans only released in Japanese like Okita adopting a cat and naming it Toshizo and the many adventures of Hijikata's book of terrible poems (more goth points there). Speaking of, Hijikata also gets bonus goth points for looking like Sebastian from Black Butler. Maybe that's another reason why I don't like him. I never got into Black Butler. I bought the first two volumes but the pedo vibes made me super uncomfortable.

Speaking of pedo vibes, why does Chizuro look so young? I personally dislike her design because she's so nauseatingly cute and round but maybe that's just me. I don't mind her face so much in the event art but in the main character art of her, her face is just so dumb and blank. Guess that's the point of a self-insert character, though.

I wish there was more of you dressing up as a girl for both recreational and disguise purposes.

Sen: They say that bad things will happen if anyone, especially a human, uses this demon arm! ..... *five seconds later* You should use this demon arm! :D I get that these are desperate times but she suddenly seems not at all bothered about risking unspecified badness raining down on her people. I guess that that's because letting Takeda run around unchecked is potentially more dangerous... Maybe because the two arms are linked, unleashing the other one doesn't activate a second curse of ominous bad things? Idk, this whole plotline is weird and O BOY does it only get weirder from here!

Anyway, I'm done ranting about this game for now. I am in the bath and I need to wash my hair before I go out and VOTE. Normally I read in the bath but I've spent hours staring at text on my computer so it's time to inflict my own nonsense on the world.

[diarythebookwyrm]

Thoughts on Stranger Things 3

So Stranger Things 3 aired almost two weeks ago. I binge-watched the entire season on that Friday afternoon/evening/night. Naturally, that meant I had to take some time to sort through what I had just watched. I have since sorted through my thoughts and decided to share them.

Below the cut, because this is gonna get long and I don’t wanna spoil anybody who hasn’t caught up yet.

So...first, some character thoughts.

This season absolutely cemented in my mind exactly which characters are my favorites and which I couldn’t care less about. This is particularly true of the two main characters who just rub me the absolute wrong way; Jonathan Byers and Mike Wheeler.

Now, I’ve had issues with Jonathan since season one. Let’s explore why that’s the case, shall we? Within the first half of the season, Jonathan not only stalked Nancy but took pictures of her naked and having sex without her knowledge or consent. That’s already pretty damned creepy, but it gets worse when you remember that Nancy is a minor. Jonathan’s pictures count as child pornography by the modern definition. Yes, this is in the 80s, but that doesn’t make it any less creepy. Yes, he and Nancy have “shared trauma” after being in the Upside Down for a short time, but that...is not enough to build a relationship on??? Then the way he and Nancy do end up together is sketchy at best.

So...yeah. Jonathan is not my favorite character.

As for Mike...

Mike, Mike, Michael, Mikey. He is my absolute least favorite of the original Party. Why? Because he’s a selfish, entitled little asshole. I have two younger brothers; one five years and one ten years younger than me. I’ve lived in a house with a 13-15-year-old boy when I myself was 18-20. It was...a trial, to say the least. But Mike takes the typical early teen boy angst and dials it right up to thirteen. Not eleven; thirteen.

In this season, that was just emphasized even more than the past two seasons for me. His behavior towards Hopper has always been a bit of a pain for me to watch, but this season it just got worse. Just because Mike is El’s first boyfriend, he acts like that means he’s entitled to all her time and attention. Hopper was completely justified in flipping out the way he did.

Which brings me to Hopper’s characterization this season. I thought it was perfectly in line with the man we’ve spent so much time with so far. For one thing, this is the mid-to-late 80s. 

Let me put that in perspective for everyone. My dad was about Steve Harrington’s age in the mid to late 80s (my mom was about Nancy’s age). My dad was a bit of a...snark as a kid. My grandfather was and still is a very down-to-earth and straight-shooting man. He did not put up with my dad’s bullshit. Full stop. End of story. Hopper is similar to my grandfather in that respect. The scene where Hopper gets Mike alone and then lays down the law? My grandfather would have pulled that if he had a daughter with a snarky, disrespectful asshole of a boyfriend.

Hopper is also raising a teenage girl for the first time. His daughter died before she ever reached her teen years, so Hopper is figuring out what is the best method for handling things like a first boyfriend or a girl’s nights at the house. This is a man who spent years after his daughter’s death living as a confirmed bachelor who was a bit of a slob because he was also self-medicating with alcohol. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t actually follow through on the thought to kill Mike.

Joyce was, as always, my favorite of the parents. She’s a wonderful mother who is just trying to keep shit going for her boys’ sakes more than her own. I can’t really blame her for wanting to move out of Hawkins after what happened with Bob. Did that mean I enjoyed that plotline? No, of course I didn’t. But that doesn’t mean it was a bad one.

Murray was...Well, Murray. I did like his interactions with Hopper and how he’s the only person who actually was calling Hopper by his first name.

Nancy’s plotline in this season...it felt a little weak to me, I’ll be honest. Ever since Nancy and Jonathan got together last season (which...again, I think that was poorly handled from the start), Nancy has not been my favorite person. Am I saying she should have stayed with Steve? Absolutely not. It’s very clear that Nancy was not nearly as invested in that relationship as Steve was. I honestly think that if Nancy were not in any relationship, her story might have been a bit better written. As it is, she just feels like she’s filler alongside Jonathan while Steve actually grows as a person.

Steve, as always, is continuing to grow and develop in ways neither Nancy nor Jonathan has in the course of the show. When we first meet Steve, he’s the hot man on campus, the popular jock, etc. etc. etc. Did he do and say some problematic things? Yes. But, I would like to remind everyone of just what kind of dumbasses we all were at seventeen. Do you remember being seventeen? I do. I was a bitch. And it’s very clear in season one that most of Steve’s assholery comes from having shitty friends as much as anything. He had a point about Jonathan being a creep, and while breaking the camera might have been extreme, it was certainly justified. I think the worst thing he did was helping with spray painting Nancy “The Slut” Wheeler on the sign, and that was clearly more something that Tommy H. came up with. He even stayed behind to help clean the graffiti up. Was Steve an idiot in season one? Yes, but I still loved him even then because I saw potential and he has more than lived up to that.

The rest of the Party along with Max and El remained pretty firmly where they had been in my estimation before season three with only Max and Will moving slightly higher up on my list. Lucas has never been my favorite, but neither is he my least favorite. Dustin is my son and I will protect him. Will has grown on me and I just want to bundle him up in a blanket and feed him cookies. El is, as she always has been, a badass. Max wasn’t necessarily my favorite last season, but I didn’t dislike her, and she’s certainly grown on me with this season.

Robin and Alexei are darlings and I love them both dearly. Erica...yeah. Those of us with younger siblings either are like “yeah, been there” or find Erica a bit too close to home to enjoy. I’ll let you judge for yourself where she falls.

Now for the one character I never thought I would ever feel sympathy for: Billy. When Billy entered the show in season two, I hated him. I hated everything about him, and that was kind of the point. We were supposed to hate him. What I think is a great credit to both the writers and Dacre Montgomery’s portrayal of Billy is the fact they did invoke sympathy from me this season. Billy has still done awful things, but as I watched him become the pawn of the Mind Flayer, I actually felt sorry for him. Dacre was amazing in this role, and I’ll never forget the scene where El and he are facing off in the Starcourt Mall. It’s one of the most poignant scenes in the entire series, as far as I’m concerned.

Moving past the single characters and into the relationships:

I...have never shipped Mileven or Max/Lucas. Why? Because they are children. Mike and Eleven are about 12-13 when they meet, so...for me, the idea of shipping children has never sat well with me. It’s part of why I don’t actively ship series-era Kataang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. By season three, Mike, Eleven, Lucas and Max are about 14-15 which...is better, but not by much. I’m twenty-nine, so for me, those are babies. Also, they’ll grow up and probably have other loves in their life. Shipping children that young is problematic because most people don’t stay with their first love forever. It’s considered healthy to have multiple early loves, and I think that’s part of why I was so adamantly against Mileven this season.

I’ve already addressed some of my biggest issues with Jancy from last season, and I mentioned that I just felt like they were filler this season. Also, Nancy talking about “what if I just...don't let you go” made me facepalm so hard. Again, Jonathan is one of Nancy’s first loves. Few people stay with their high school boyfriend for the rest of their lives. True, it was certainly more common in the 50s-80s, but that doesn’t mean it’s something that should inspire great shipping material. Nancy is at least 17 or 18 in season three. She’s still figuring out what she wants out of life, and so is Jonathan. Making them out to be this great romance that will last forever is just...weird?

Jopper...Jopper broke my heart this season. I’d shipped it on the side since season one, but put it on the back burner when I saw how happy Joyce was with Bob. This season, it just reminded me why I love the dynamic between Joyce and Hopper. I’m so sad that they’ll never have that date at Enzo’s, and I wish the writers would stop making Joyce watch the man she thinks she could settle down with die horribly.

The plot:

I knew the Mind Flayer was going to be the Big Bad, so that was no surprise. What was surprising was the army of the Flayed, and I rather enjoyed that. The Russians were a wonderful addition as far as I’m concerned. I loved the way it was handled, both comedically and dramatically. It makes sense to me that if American scientists discovered the Upside Down, the Russians would have too. I mean, this is the end of the Cold War after all. America and Russia were constantly racing against one another to find the next great discovery first.

Overall, I loved this season. It was not a let-down in any way for me, apart from the focus on certain characters that still irk me. Also, I’ll just be in my lovely house on the river Denial quietly shipping Jopper.

[ariadnedionysia]

fandom meme : hit me up !

I was tagged by @flintvane​ and am genuinely embarrassed that i didn’t see this before now omg i’m so sorry babe

I’m tagging @sherlock-and-other-things​ , @girlwhowasntthere​ , @deinonychus-1​ , @frodobagginsess​ , and @sherlokiofpigfarts​ ! and anyone else who would like to do this meme!!

putting it under the read more bc it’s hilariously long sO

1.  YOUR CURRENT OTP(S)/OT3(S)/OTX(S)

oh gosh i have a bunch so i’m going to try and limit myself but pythacarus ( always ), gwen / leon and gwaine / percival from merlin, foggy / matt from daredevil ( i don’t watch daredevil anymore but i just watched the defenders so they’re on my mind ), jane / michael from jane the virgin, tom / sybil from downton abbey will always be a fave, dean / seamus, lavender / parvati, harry / ginny, and remus / sirius from the harry potter series, and then caleb / ben and robert / abe from TURN are my final two

2.  A PAIRING YOU INITIALLY DIDN’T CONSIDER BUT SOMEONE CHANGED YOUR MIND (BONUS POINTS: WHO WAS THAT PERSON).

i’d never considered korinna / heptarian until @girlwhowasntthere​ mentioned them and now i actually really love the ship i’d never thought about it before

3. A PAIRING YOU USED TO LOVE, BUT IT ALL FELL APART FOR YOU.

oh god. um. you know i used to watch reign and i was a really big fan of mary and francis, whom i still love don’t get me wrong, but they took mary on a really uncomfortable plotline for me in i think the second season that was unnecessary and clearly purely for //drama// and i just couldn’t quite get over them doing that and what it did to the ship it just made me uncomfortable with them and with watching the show altogether

4.  HAVE YOU ADDED ANYTHING CRACKY/HILARIOUS TO YOUR FANDOM, IF SO, WHAT.

i don’t know if this counts but i did the emily watches atlantis series? i don’t know if that counts but i think they’re funny so i’m putting it on the list?

5.  WHAT’S THE LONGEST YOU’VE EVER BEEN IN A FANDOM

harry potter. i’m super proud to be a part of that fandom and i’ve been in it since the first book came out so that’s definitely the fandom i’ve been in the longest.

6.  DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST OTP, IF SO WHO WAS IN IT.

i’m trying to think and it might’ve been richard / kahlan from legend of the seeker ( the show, not the books, i never actually read the books oops ), though i’m not sure. 

7.  NAME A FANDOM YOU DIDN’T CARE/THINK ABOUT UNTIL YOU SAW IT ALL OVER TUMBLR.

copying @flintvane​ ‘s answer and saying black sails !

8.  SAY SOMETHING GENUINELY NICE ABOUT A CHARACTER WHO ISN’T ONE OF YOUR FAVES (CHARS YOU’RE NEUTRAL ON ARE FAIR GAME, AS ARE CHARS YOU DISLIKE)

oh god. there are a bunch i have things to say about and i can’t decide bUT i’m gonna go with petra from jane the virgin. i used to really hate her at the beginning of the series, i thought she was horrible and i just couldn’t stand her, but as the series has continued she’s really become this amazing and realistically flawed woman that i just want to see happy. i wouldn’t say she’s my fave, but i do want to see her happy. 

9.  NAME THREE THINGS YOU WISH YOU SAW MORE OR IN YOUR MAIN FANDOM (OR A FANDOM OF CHOICE)

i’m gonna say atlantis for this one sO

1. another season. i mean come on, guys. come on.

2. more pythacarus, we just got the one kiss ( which was amazing a+++ ) but that was pretty much it, i know they’re not the main focus of the show, but i do love them dearly and would’ve loved to have seen more

3. where the hell are the rest of the argonauts and why did jason not go back for them i need that reunion like. two years ago. pls.

10.  CHOOSE A SONG AT RANDOM, WHICH SHIP OR CHARACTER DOES IT REMIND YOU OF

i just put my itunes on shuffle and “oceans” by seafret was the first song to come on, and it reminds me of ariadne / jason

11.  A PAIRING YOU SHIP THAT YOU DON’T THINK ANYONE ELSE SHIPS

gwen / leon from merlin. i know merthur is the Big Ship of merlin, i don’t really see many other ships there except that one. but i think a lot about gwen being pretty much abandoned by everyone she loves / loved after arthur dies, since gwaine and arthur and elyan and morgana are all dead and merlin just decided to peace tf out, but the last shot we have of her is with leon and her being a queen on her own and bringing peace to albion, etc etc, and i just think. i mean. they said they were childhood friends somewhere back in i think season two, and they were really the two people besides gaius that knew arthur the longest, and i just think that after arthur died, they would’ve been each other’s main supports, and eventually, they could’ve ended up together. this is unnecessarily long but i just have a lot of feelings about them okay and i don’t know anyone else that ships them so they’re my ship for this wOO

12.  YOUR MOST SCANDALOUS HEADCANON FOR YOUR CURRENT OTP(S)/OT3(S)/OTX(S)

i don’t think i really have any scandalous headcanons?? i’m very boring with my ships haha sorry, all my headcanons are angst or fluff

13.  DO YOU HAVE ANY HARD AND FAST HEADCANONS THAT YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING, ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL (GENDER IDENTITY, SEXUAL OR ROMANTIC ORIENTATION, EXTENDED FAMILY, SEXUAL PREFERENCES LIKE TOP/BOTTOM/SWITCH, RELATIONSHIP WITH POETRY, SERIOUSLY ANYTHING)

pretty much any poc harry potter hcs i will defend to the death, bisexual remus lupin, myka and hg wells in warehouse 13 dated at some point, bisexual harry potter, remus / tonks was unnecessary. i liked them and everything, but i didn’t really see the point of downgrading such an amazing woman like tonks to the Love Interest. she deserved better. even remus lupin knew that. danny in the defenders needs to say “i’m the immortal iron fist” less pls and thank. putting caleb and ben ( show: TURN ) with women ( that we never actually got to see ) at the end of the show was weird. bisexual musketeers. there aren’t enough lesbians in any shows m/m ships are easier to ship since there actually are some, but f/f ships are too rare and that’s a Problem. more women friendships, i’m super tired of the women being nasty to each other bc they like the same guy or whatever. peter pettigrew had a snape/lily -esque love for sirius, which is why he turned in the potters, so sirius would think remus was the secret keeper and have no one to turn to except peter. james potter grew up and evolved, pls don’t compare him to snape. neville longbottom is pure and must be protected. luna’s family can just be whimsical!! you don’t need a Dark and Edgy reason behind it, they can just be wonky and happy and weird!! every single nickname in the harry potter series is fckin hiLARIOUS. ginny weasley deserved better than she got in the movies, they did her a massive injustice. 

14.  5 FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM 5 DIFFERENT FANDOMS

1. ariadne ( i adore pythagoras but i’m gonna go with ariadne bc reasons ), atlantis

2. constance, the musketeers

3. cosima, orphan black

4. ginny, harry potter series ( /quietly pushes movie!ginny into a corner book!ginny for life )

5. ben talmidge, TURN

15. 3 OTPS FROM 3 DIFFERENT FANDOMS

i’m gonna put ones that i didn’t put in the first question : 

1. nomi / amanita ( sense8 )

2. korinna / ariadne ( atlantis )

3. luna / ginny ( harry potter series )

16. 5 FAVORITE SHIPS

THESE ARE SUCH HARD QUESTIONS OH MY GOD i’m going to try and put ones i haven’t mentioned before all of my ships that i’ve mentioned are favorites though okay

1. captain james / molly ( our girl )

2. fleur / tonks ( harry potter )

3. hernando / lito ( sense8 )

4. athelstan / ragnar ( vikings )

5. sirius / peter ( harry potter )

17.  JUST RAMBLE ABOUT SOMETHING FAN-RELATED, GO GO GO (PROMPTS OPTIONAL BUT ENCOURAGED)

i came late into the atlantis fandom, so i didn’t get much of a chance to be there before the series was over, but i remember seeing it all over my dash before season two came out, it was like the day before the second season started, and i was like. i gotta check this series out. so i watched the first episode of the first season, and proceeded to marathon the entire first season so i could start the second season with you lovely people in the atlantis fandom, and honestly, i’ve never been part of a better, happier, drama-free fandom. i love it so much and i love all of you so much and this is slightly cheesy but i just think everyone in the fandom is amazing. 

other things. um. okay well this is sort of fan-related, but i’ve met the most amazing group of people through my group, @orderfromchaos-rp. it’s such a talented and fantastic group of incredible writers, and i just love all of them to pieces, i’ve never had such an amazing rp experience. 

i’m hardcore worried about johnny depp and jude law playing against each other in fbawtft. i’m not a fan of jude law for this role and i actively, adamantly hate johnny depp, so i’m honestly worried that’s going to ruin that ship for me. 

i’m super excited about being a part of all the fandoms i’m in, honestly, i don’t totally know what to do for this part of this meme so i’m just ranting but i’m seriously hoping i can be in a fandom that doesn’t have its show cancelled soon after i enter it, because being longterm fandom buddies with new material sounds amazing and i would love to be a part of something like that again, i’m not really active in many fandoms rn and i wanna change that, so hmu with any suggestions for things i should watch!!!!

[you-did-well-my-love]

Drama Review: Hwarang

The biggest disappointment of 2016 and probably 2017, screw you writers.

Rating: 2/5. If I’m being generous, 2.5.

OST: I wasn’t the biggest fan, but that might have just been my hatred for the drama boiling over onto everything else. When you listen to the album, there are some good songs. But they kept playing the same two bland songs over and over again. I personally recommend It’s Definitely You by V and Jin, and Memories of a Miracle by Jeon Woosung. Hyungsik’s song is really nice too.

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Historical

Synopsis: History is often made on the backs of truly passionate, talented young people. During the Kingdom of Silla, a group of elite youth known as Hwarang (literally "Flowering Knights") would wield great influence. These dashing, talented knights – Moo Myung, Sam Maek Jong, Soo Ho, Ban Ryu, Yeo Wool, Han Sung, and maiden Ah Ro – could outsmart and outfight anyone as they pushed for justice in Seorabeol, the capital city. One of them would become King Jin Heung of Silla and change the course of history.

Thoughts/Review: (spoilers)

This drama was a mess, and I’m going to rip into it. If you don’t want to hear what I believe are legitimate reasons this drama was bad, then don’t read further. 

I’ll get what I liked out of the way in the beginning because there’s not much. The actors were all great. I thought the actors who played the Hwarang embodied their characters to the T and you could really feel the bromance and how well they got along off set. When their was comedy, it was great. I loved how Ah Ro called Sam Maek Jong out after the forced kiss. “If kissing me against my will wasn’t a mistake, then was it a childish tantrum?” was the best line of the entire drama. Plot-wise: I loved the romance between Ban Ryu and Soo Yeon. 

That’s about it.

This drama was an overwhelming disappointment. I waited so damn long because they kept pushing the air date back, which only built up the hype more. Then they had all these promotions with the six boys, and I was SO excited.

That is my first complaint. The synopsis is bullshit. The drama is not about our lovely “dashing, talented knights” rather it is about a pathetic love triangle with a female lead who does nothing but get into trouble and cry.

This drama was about the Hwarang. It was called Hwarang. There was not enough Hwarang.

It started out very promising, and with a great cameo from Lee Kwang Soo, and the comedy was pretty great. But the more you watch, the more it goes to shit. The reason I kept watching is because I wanted to see how things turned out. I’ve been a fan of Hyungsik’s since High Society and enjoy watching his dramas. Minho and V are my babies. And I fell in love with Do Ji Han and Ban Ryu’s character.

The first mistake was making Ah Ro think Moo Myung was her brother. The two of them did not have chemistry, and I think that just sort of killed anything that could have bloomed between them. There was no development in their romance, there was a weak attempt at internal conflict with Ah Ro and her feelings, and then they were all of the sudden in love with each other.

Also, there was literally no point for them to lie to her. This wasn’t like That Winter the Wind Blows when he was trying to scam her. They should have just told her “Hey, your brother died, this is his friend and I want to take care of him out of respect for your brother.” and then given her her right to mourn her brother’s death. Looking back, that was the first sign to get out while I could.

Their romance wasn’t the only romance I had a problem with. It was Soo Ho’s crush on the queen. If they had cast someone else as the queen, it might have been tolerable. But I could not stand the queen. Could not stand her. The actress was expressionless and emotionless unless she was screaming over something stupid.

Second thing I disliked, the first being the romance lines, was the editing. It was really jumpy, and made the whole thing seem weird. For example that one scene in like episode 7 or 8 where Moo Myung fell off the horse. He hadn’t shown signs of any problem for the past like five episodes and all of the sudden he blacked out and fell off his horse with no pulse, and suddenly Ah Ro regrets all of the terrible things she yelled at him literally three seconds before in a different scene. SPEAKING OF WHICH did they ever explain why he passed out? I don’t think they did? Add that to the list of problems...

The third thing I disliked was Ah Ro. She was so boring. I don’t blame Go Ara (entirely... some things she did and certain lines she delivered annoyed me) but the character was really poorly written. She was really shallow with barely any background or personality. All the writers had her do was run around between the two boys and cry. Her most interesting scenes were when she was acting as a physician, and there were hardly any. When they did happen, they lasted for merely seconds. Then she went back to crying and moping about Moo Myung.

It was so damn repetitive. Moo Myung gets his dumb ass injured and Ah Ro cried about it. Or Ah Ro got her dumb ass in trouble, and cried about it.

Which leads me to my next problem.

My biggest issue with the drama: terrible writing.

Such poor writing. It took them forever to set up the story, the Hwarang weren’t formed until episode four. A drama that was supposed to center around them didn’t. We got to episode fifteen and the plot hadn’t progressed one bit. Episode 19 was literally a waste of time. And boy did they twist history.

First, I want to talk about Han Sung’s death and how it showcases the terrible writing. I remember before the episode aired, a ton of articles came out saying “BTS’s V’s character revealed to play a key part in setting the final conflict into motion.” 

It’s a common trope when you have a group of friends; killing off the youngest, the purest, the last person who deserved to die. It’s used to really rip into that raw emotion of the main characters, and as the Hwarang writers were trying to do, set the final conflict into motion.

But they fell so flat. They spent less than half an episode killing him off, spent half the episode talking about him. Yeah I cried, but it was because of the emotion delivered by the actors. Taehyung did so well and so did Yoon Woo with his tears, but the second they opened up their mouths and delivered the dialogue + the editing of the scenes absolutely killed the suspense.

And his death was supposedly so important, but then they don’t even mention him again save for that one line by Yeo Wool in episode 19. Nobody even told Ah Ro that her precious friend died.

Now, about how badly they twisted history:

Someone on twitter explained this better, and I’m sorry if I butcher the facts, but the main thing is that they twisted history too much. I know that it’s necessary to do in historical dramas, but this was too much. History should be used as a guideline. 

To explain: the Bone Rank system was a very real thing, and the writers twisted it to give Moo Myung a fictional character an illegitimate claim to the throne. As the person on twitter explained it, when the queen’s brother gave up the throne (i believe it was because of his illness) he gave up his entire family’s line to the throne. Meaning Moo Myung was not a sacred bone and had no right to the throne. 

The pathetic two-episode “battle” for the throne was the worst thing they could have done for the drama. It was weak in intensity, dialogue, and emotion. And it was just plain stupid. Especially when you look at how historically significant King Jinheung was/is.

History aside, it’s still stupid. The writers spent 85% of the drama pushing Sam Maek Jong’s struggle against the queen and pushing that he is the rightful king, and then all of the sudden Moo Myung, who is supposed to be his friend, comes along and tries to steal the throne from him? Moo Myung is the main character, and the viewers are supposed to support him, but after all of the build-up behind Sam Maek Jong’s struggle to claim the throne, all I felt was sympathy towards Sam Maek Jong and resentmore towards Moo Myung for betraying his friend. That is not what I want to be feeling as a viewer.

Seriously, that is not how you sell a product to a consumer. That’s what dramas are: a product. The viewers watch dramas and support them with their money because they are captivating and enjoyable, not because it makes them feel like shit. 

Did they not have editors? Did nobody really stop and think, “Hey this concept here doesn’t push the plot forward, rather it drives it backwards”???

You could tell through the OST the mood they were trying to set. They were trying to make Jinheung the enemy, but they absolutely failed.

And the ending.

I liked the swearing of the allegiance to Jinheung. It delivered the emotion it was supposed to and was exciting. That’s the only thing I liked.

The montage basically proved that Sam Maek Jong was the real main character.

And then, oh get this, they NEVER TOLD ANYBODY ELSE THEY WEREN’T RELATED. I get that everyone probably made the connection on their own but like the viewer has to assume since nobody ever actually put it into words and it’s like jesus you can’t just drop a plotline like that. SUCH. MESSY. WRITING.

And what pisses me off the most:

Ban Ryu and Soo Yeon’s had a half-assed resolution.

Soo Ho had no resolution

BAN RYU AND SOO HO HAD NO RESOLUTION

LITERALLY THE LAST THING SAID BETWEEN THE TWO WAS SOO HO TELLING BAN RYU TO STAY AWAY FROM SOO YEON OR SOMETHING STUPID

where the fuck was Yeo Wool

And then they had a riding into the sunset, THEY RODE INTO THE FUCKING SUNSET, without Soo Ho.

I mean I understand if Minho had SHINee activities and couldn’t make it, but like they could have done something different to include him. At least say that he left and went of to travel or something.

This drama was pathetic and I’m glad it’s over. I feel bad for the actors whose hard work was wasted in bad writing, editing, and directing. I look forward to seeing them in other projects, but I am never watching anything from this writer again.

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Finished 02/21/17