#I cannot overstate how excited I am for this character

[riderofthewind]

[arcaneyouth]

I'm back and I'm FUCKING insane holy shit.

Ok first off

WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?????????

That was a cliff hanger and a HALF holy SHIT I'm so excited to see what we have next time around... oh wow, I'm so fucking conflicted about Dara cuz like. Ohhh I know I KNOW she wants the best for the kids but DAMN she's got issues.... and also HELLO???? THERON??? Ok so like. Ok. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say for spoiler reasons but the story that Rowena told made me go 🤨 BUT THE MEANING???? THE MEANING. HOLY SHIT. so many thoughts and theories and I'm rotating your blorbos around in my brain. I don't want to give away the story publicly but just know. I see the meaning. I see it. I have SO many thoughts I'm insane -Ollie

AHAHAHAHA WE GOT ANOTHER ONE BOYS

I'm so glad youre having fun this comic is my pride and joy and getting to see new people get into it is so fucking exciting. I've worked so hard for this I cannot WAIT for everyone to see what I've got in store for the next chapter there's so much more story to unpack we're not even halfway through the comic yet

[starflungwaddledee]

Hey got a question, is it normal for your heartbeat to beat rapidly wherever you look at really tense or angsty scenes?

It's Just a question I had in mind

putting these together because they're clearly related. i admit these have me a little bit stumped, but i'll take this in good faith and do my best! under the cut because of length.

topics include: physiological reactions to fiction, emotional reactions/empathy of creators, and finally addressing the unspoken question present in asks like this.

"is it normal to have a physiological reaction (heart beat, jitters, excitement, sadness, etc) to fiction"

absolutely! i cannot overstate how common it is to have reactions of any wide variety to fiction. the whole point of storytelling is to make you feel things! the reactions you have, their intensity, and the specific media or genre you'll have those reactions to will vary person to person. in regards to angst in particular, like i've said on this topic before: reactions will vary. some people might get excited, others might get sad, others might feel it like a gut punch but in a really good and cathartic way. none of these are better or worse or more normal or more abnormal than the other.

"do i as a creator have an emotional reaction to the work i'm creating?"

i personally do, sure. i was actually quite explicit in the tags of the comic that came right before this ask that i found it hard to draw, because seeing kirby so sad was emotionally pulverising to me. do all creators? no. do i feel a strong emotional reaction to all scenes? no. or all types of content creation? no. for me, prose is actually much easier to tackle than illustration; i can write trauma and suffering and psychological devastation until the cows come home, but drawing it is a different matter. consuming the work of others is different again. and this is different for everybody. am i somehow morally better or more empathetic than an artist that doesn't struggle to draw characters sad? hell no! being able to represent- in fiction- a strong emotion generally requires that you empathise with or at least understand that emotion. sometimes creators actually have to be able to turn this off to be able to create the content we make; the way we turn off strict adherence to reality in order to write fantasy. if we couldn't do this, content across the board- art, movies, novels- would be flattened to nothing but the cheeriest and most mediocre parts of our day to day lives. no fun monsters (because those aren't real). no challenges to rise above (because those make us sad). no characters who have different experiences to us (because how could we imagine or feel for that). and it would be okay for like... twenty minutes of all books containing 'the sun was shining and i woke up on time and had a yummy breakfast', but then it would suck, sorry. conflict and imagination are the root of content.

"it's just a question I had in mind".

a way to think about this might be; would you ask these questions about genres that aren't angst? would you ask "is it normal to be happy when these characters finally reunite" or "is it normal to feel resolution in response to a happy ending" or "is it normal to feel excitement when a character has their cool hero moment". perhaps it's because your reaction to angst is something you construe as negative, but if you wouldn't doubt your reactions to cheerful content, then there's no reason to doubt the reactions you have to angst either; these are just reactions! fiction is designed to make us feel things, but what you feel will be up to you. no one feeling or response is better or worse than any others.

lastly, i feel like there is an unspoken question here that i don't like.

and maybe you didn't intend it. i'm going to extend that grace to you, and because you seem to need reassurance about this (though i will not be reassuring about this further. i do not like reassurance seeking from strangers and this is a boundary i am setting right now), this is not an attack or even a criticism. your questions are fine if they are coming from a place of curiosity and- i simply assume- that these are new or difficult concepts to you that you have yet to have explored or explained.

but on the good faith assumption you didn't intend it, and wouldn't want to do this again (especially if you message other creators), i think you should be aware.

because it sounds like this: "do the people who make sad/angsty/dark content care at all or are you heartless to the suffering (of these characters). is angst/dark content made by bad people?" i felt it the previous time i got a question like this too when it explicitly stated "you seem like a nice person", as if being a nice person was in contrast with what i was creating.

please. we are just people. the relative light or darkness of the content you make says absolutely nothing about your morals, your real life attitudes, or your ability to be an empath.

someone making cute animal art could be a school yard bully. someone writing a complex sci-fi warhorror fic could be the most altruistic and compassionate soul in the world.

in my experience, creators are some of the most empathetic people i have ever met, and many of them know their craft intimately. these are people capable of stepping into the shoes of others as easily as breathing. of sitting down at their work station every day and finding inside themselves a way to answer "how would this really feel?" so clearly and honestly that they can put it onto the paper for you to feel it too.

[starrbar]

(If it's not clear, the blue sketches are meant to be memories that Hero is picturing as she talks. The final shot is more... symbolic, because I didn't picture this conversation in the dark, but they've bonded so deeply in the dark that I felt it a good way to shift from "I hate you" to "You're my best friend.")

Listen okay, listen, okay, Target Audience absolutely gutted me and I'm overflowing with sadness for these two. If I tried to write every intense feeling I have about this comic, I'd never get this posted, but I cannot overstate how much I love it and how severe of a reaction it got from me.

If you dunno who these characters are, I BEG invite you to go read The Property of Hate! It's a webcomic by Sarah Jolley and it's full of so much charm and whimsy and excitement, I just, aaaagh! Start here! -> Chapter 1: The Hook

The dialogue in this fanart is paraphrased from a beautiful scene from Bojack Horseman, which you should also watch if you haven't. I tried making the details fit Hero more, or I blurred them out because I felt like she might not really say all that to begin with. RGB is the one who uses big words like "vulnerability", after all. Though this whole monologue might still be out of character for her, but you know what, when I read this chapter, I almost immediately thought of that Bojack scene and how fitting the final lines are, and that's why I drew any of it.

It was all for the sake of, "And now... you're here, and I hate you. But you're my best friend, and you need me."

I am going to force myself to stop typing and just hit post now.

And then go draw more fanart of TPoH.

[ferronickel]

@stainedglassthreads asked about my inspirations when it comes to comics creation, which I am always excited to talk about! (You have unwittingly activated my trap card, so be prepared for a long ramble!)

My comics are primarily a product of the 2014 Image boom and the 2000s webcomic scene....

...and the main sources of my comics craft knowledge are the works of writer Kieron Gillen, artist Jamie McKelvie, and colorist Matt Wilson. They're an incredible team and everything they've done together is worth checking out, but I'm going to talk about two of their comics here. Young Avengers (2012) is a good place to start. Tons of formalism and interesting panel layouts. It's the first place I looked for inspiration when I was planning the design for Looking Glasses. Definitely worth checking out if you like cape comics, but also worth it if you don't, it's pretty stand alone. (Plus it introduces a lot of ideas and characters that Marvel is currently pillaging for the MCU, so it's always nice to see those ideas in their original context before my employers ruin it)

I can't talk about comics without bringing up The Wicked + The Divine (2014, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, lettering by Clayton Cowles). It's an incredible comic and a formalist masterpiece. 12 young people are reincarnated as gods, they have two years to live, and also they're pop stars. Issues frequently challenge the way you read comics, or break into completely other mediums (One issue was written almost entirely by real world magazine writers interviewing the in-universe characters). You can see my influences here pretty clearly: the interstitials, the style shifting, my recent (incredibly blatant) reference to Lucifer's transformation. Also the fashion, Jamie McKelvie is a fantastic designer! This comic is a must read for anyone interested in the medium of comics, especially Kieron's writers notes (all available here on tumblr at @ kierongillen), where he breaks each issue down panel by panel. The writer's notes are essentially a free masterclass in comics craft. (and when you've read that, check out the zine I organized with @gen-is-gone and 37 other artists here on tumblr at @iconic-zine) I cannot overstate that this comic is the reason I make comics.

I feel like I can't not mention DIE (2018, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles). Six kids disappeared into their d&d world and returned two years later, now they're adults and their past is coming back to haunt them. It's a fascinating exploration of portal fantasies, and has definitely influenced how I approach the dark world/darkners. (also, if you read DIE and want a good breakdown of the historical stuff, be sure to check out the podcast DIE-Compressed)

Honorable mentions: The visual stylings of Caspar Wijngaard in Home Sick Pilots (2021, Watters, Wijngaard, Bidikar, Muller) The colors of colorist Jordie Bellaire, in this case Injection (2015, Ellis, Shalvey, Bellaire) The work of Emily Carroll Everything from Pretty Deadly (2015, Deconnick, Rios, Bellaire, Cowles) A lot of stuff from Sex Criminals (2014, Fraction, Zdarsky), it's an incredible comic that goes way beyond it's (fairly nsfw) concept. There's a ton of formalist stuff here, and it tackles all sorts of concepts with a level of depth you wouldn't expect from such a silly setup.

In terms of webcomics influence, I am, unfortunately, a bit of a Homestuck. There's a lot to be said about this comic and I'm trying to keep my word count down here, so let's just say that it's arguably one of the most influential webcomics, and while many of it's ideas aren't necessarily unique or are derivative of other works it is singular in it's scope and presence. I find it mainly affects my own work in the way I think about the website design. (Plus, you know, Toby Fox)

Other notable webcomics that have influenced my work:

The works of Evan Dahm Barbarous Stand Still Stay Silent Lackadaisy (and a bunch more, but this has gone on long enough)

[aj-lenoire]

the grisha triumvirate, the jurda parem, matthias in hellgate, inej on the ship, mal as sturmhond, whatever the fuck is going on with alina, i am so excited for next season!!

i cannot overstate how much i am enjoying the changes made to the plot, too. i think the original trilogy has been incredibly well integrated with the crow storylines, keeping the fan-favourite stuff while mixing up what is left to be mixed up, giving us amazing new insights into characters, padding out where maybe they felt kind of flat, showing us more of the world instead of just mentioning it, i honestly really love this adaptation

[majorplayer]

i can literally never go back to TTR at this point. i cannot possibly overstate the degree to which TTCC has permanently ruined rewritten for me in the ONE MONTH i have played it consistently this year so far. (i played it for a month when it first came out but i just never got into it back then.)

rewritten is just... so bad and unfun, relatively. it's fatally stuck in the past. it's for nostalgic people who want a few months of ignorant fun, not for long-term enjoyment. don't get me wrong, TTO was certifiably The Shit back in the late 2000s and all we stupid children loved it exactly how it was (which is how TTR still is), but how can it possibly be enjoyed anymore once you've seen the greener pastures? even if clash was almost an exact copy of rewritten and the only differences were the quality of life changes, those changes are so impactful on every aspect of gameplay that i'd still feel the same way.

but it's not even just QoL changes, clash also improves on every aspect of the story, characters, the game mechanics, etc. fuck, even just the clash team is infinitely better than rewritten's. they actually respond to emails, take action against bad actors, approve names within 24 hours (rewritten takes WELL over 1 month recently), and god man, it's so so SOOOO obvious just how passionate the clash team is about the game. it's not something they need to say out loud; it's something you straight up feel as you play it. they pour their hearts and souls into making clash the best it can possibly be.

i used to play rewritten thinking i was having fun, but i am honest to god questioning that now. i don't think i was ever having fun on it in the past few years, not seriously. it's all nostalgia for a game that suffers from crushing subscription-incentivizing design and 2003 capabilities. the entire game is going through the fucking Motions, wasting your life playing the most soul-suckingly repetitive ways disney could implement to keep a bunch of 9 year olds begging their parents for a monthly subscription back in 2009 so they wouldn't get locked out of their toon before they could complete their seventh Back Nine in a row to do one CEO before their math homework. there's not even any strategy involved in the gameplay because it's not meant to pose any sort of challenge, it's just a timesink for monthly subscriptions. clash feels fresh. there's actual strategy and it can be really difficult (in a fun way!!!!) even if you're experienced.

clash is the modern take on toontown, and man do they knock it out of the park on every single account. the fact that i have recently discovered one of my new favorite fictional characters ever and it comes from clash says a lot about how good it is. meanwhile in TTO/TTR, you can generally find people laughing about lil oldman or maybe saying they enjoy flippy, but not much else love for characters besides edge cases. the story of clash has genuine replayability. i feel actual excitement to replay the managers in clash and even to grind them, whereas i would always dread having to do another suit boss or field office in rewritten. playing it is almost like an abusive relationship. i never maxed a toon in TTO, so i really wanted to max a toon in TTR since it was the closest thing... it's such an extreme example of the sunk cost fallacy, blatantly so now that i've played clash.

the fact of the matter is, i grew up. TTO was, and now TTR is, fun for people under the age of 15, and/or people stuck in the early 2010s at the latest. despite being really into clash for such a short amount of time so far, i've already heard this sentiment echoed a number of times while playing it. no one who goes into clash with an open mind and gives it an honest chance goes back to rewritten in a meaningful capacity. no one hits 115 laff in rewritten and thinks "wow, almost all of the rest of my laff will come from suits, i'm so excited to do back nines!" meanwhile i'm about to hit 115 laff in clash and i'm not even remotely finished with the (compelling, well-written, and cohesive) story, much less doing anything repetitive. i'm only excited to continue where i'm at.

[bloodlessdebuf]

what are your thoughts on milly/wolfwood….. do you think stampede will push it like tri98 did?

good lird. Good Lird. the thoughts and feelings are Complicated bestie 💀 like. taking a step back and looking at it purely objectively, i think 98s milly//wood is cute genuinely. im not personally crazy abt it but i like them both as characters and i do like the moments they gave them

that being said. the absolute whiplash it gave me EVEN W THE ADDED BONDING MOMENTS when it just cut to THEM IN BED. i genuinely cannot overstate it i have had comphet shoved in my face in media for all my 23 years of being alive and it still made my fucking jaw DROP!!!! it genuinely just came completely out of nowhere. and that feeling of it having little foundation only got stronger when i read trimax and they had even less interaction

like. i truly do like both of them i think its a cute ship genuinely. but the way 98 handled it made me so fucking mad fr esp bc like. they handled vashmeryl REALLY WELL imo so like...... girlies what happened... 🫢

as for stampede. i personally dont see them pushing any relationships to be completely on god. like obv we can all hold hands together and talk abt how vash and wolfwood are gonna fuck s2ep1 like intro scene but realistically i cant see it either. at least not overtly. the way theyre constructing the show is very much so focusing more on the severity of the twins polarizing black/white moralities with humans stepping in to provide the more gray perspectives in between, mainly w meryl and wolfwood. so i think season 2s set up for some very interesting character interactions, esp w the introduction of milly confirmed which i am. so excited for

the characters all still have a lot of growing to do as well. i cannot see stampede wolfwood, as closed off and hissy cat he is whenever someone sees past his front, entering an actual serious relationship w anyone. now obv theres a timeskip so maybe season 2s wolfwood will have settled into himself a bit more and act a bit more like the wolfwood were all used to but even then. id be really surprised to see them pushing any romantically charged relationship, esp between wolfwood and a character being introduced this season

[sweepseven]

Cirque du Soleil: O and KÀ viewing notes, post-pan edition!

First trip to Las Vegas since the pandemic and holy shit!! Was it a TIME. The When We Were Young festival was my excuse to be there, but I can’t set foot in that town without fitting in at least one Cirque show. I managed O and Ka and a last-second Atomic Saloon decision and oh my god did I have the visit of a lifetime. I’ll keep this post strictly to the circus shows, but like. Truly it was nuts. 

Anyway! O! I cannot overstate how happy I was to see this show again. This turned out to be my 50th ever Cirque performance and I couldn’t have asked for more. The detail most worth reporting is that according to a friend in the box office, whispers say the show is due for a refresh in January! It's been 24 years and O has never had a facelift! This is so so exciting! There's so much new technology they can integrate into the show, potentially new acts (though I can't imagine O without any one of its current acts), maybe even new music...I can't wait.

Richard MacDonald refreshed the sculpture gallery the very day I arrived in town and of course they're all incredible. He was there and apparently I just missed him when I went to pick up our tickets - too bad, I wanted to say hi!

Our performance was flawless, as always. One flyer fell during bateau but every other detail in the show went beautifully. I had three contortionists, and for some reason I am cursed to only ever see solo swinging trapeze but whatever, it was amazing regardless. The singers were going fucking hard, especially on Tzelma, and their little dance during Simcha was worth the cost of admission alone. I just love seeing them have fun. Crowd was solid, probably 75% full, which for O is more than plenty. There were nothing but empty rows behind us so my friends and I moved back a little ways so we could chat. I've never gotten to talk through an entire performance and it was such a treat hearing my friends react, ask questions, and just engage with the show with so much enthusiasm.

Last thing for O is that the day of the show I received a kind of "keep the magic going" email from Cirque offering up to 50% off LOVE and Ka, which is insane! Like, an almost alarmingly steep discount! And of course everyone likes to say both those shows are on the eternal chopping block, so I was a little 👀 about it. Still, hot tip for all: if you're seeing multiple Cirque shows in LV, maybe take the gamble on seats and wait until the day of your first, get that email, then book the others. I wouldn't expect to see an offer for a discount on O or Mystere, but worth a shot!

That said if anyone would like this offer, lmk and I'll gladly forward you the email. It's good until 12/31 and I won't be back in time to take advantage of it!

Next up was Atomic Saloon and I'll just say that show is an absolute fucking blast and if you can go, do. Fernando Miro is living his best life times a thousand. There's a dog. There's some of the most convincing physical acting I've ever ever seen, and I won't go into more detail for the sake of preserving the surprise for you. See this show. The end. Period.

So now Ka! By this point in the trip I am utterly fucking tapped. We had seen and done so so much between the shows, the festival, the partying, everything. I had the wildest nights I've ever had in that city and by that point it was all really taking its toll. So my attitude going in was very "Ka, I love you, but Jesus fucking Christ." Until then I thought it was impossible to feel disappointed that I had Cirque tickets. But I achieved it. Like that's how rough it was lol

That feeling lifted like a fog the minute the music started. I was so exhausted and out of it that I got an almost totally fresh perspective on a show I've seen now six times: it was just happening before my eyes and I was along for the ride. The boat rowed in and I was immediately transported. I forgot how much I missed this show, and watching each character go by as the stage rotated honestly felt like seeing old friends after years apart. And in a way that's exactly what happened! Watching the Chief Archer's Daughter put on her makeup so slowly and gently, the Firefly Boy sprinkling a handful of petals, the Jester eating his grapes, all of it felt as warm and welcoming as a long delayed embrace.

I'll be quick about acts for the most part: Pageant has some updated choreography that was very fun, Icarian games killed it, Storm isn't quite as fun to watch up close as it is from further back, the turtle scene was shorter and tighter (YAAAY), Pursuit was exact as tense and exciting as you could dream, batons remains perfect, idk why I can't care about that wheel of death act but I can't, and Battle was fine.

But listen!!! Kerren McKeeman as the Twin Sister is! A! Revelation! She's a phenomenal performer and utterly shines in the role. The straps act has some updates to highlight her strengths, and at one point she based the Firefly Boy in a lift and I lost my goddamn mind. Their chemistry together is unmatched, probably the best I've seen for this act. At the end she kisses him fully on the lips. Girl just goes for it. I wanted to cheer. I'll reiterate that I wanted to cheer, I who has spent thousands and thousands of words writing out the Firefly Boy entirely to make room for an impossible romance in goddamn clown fanfiction. Amazing act by amazing performers.

Other details of note: Forest has new bugs! The potato bug is BACK and badder than ever. Firefly Boy pets it like it's the family dog or something. Adorable. The snake was out tonight for some reasons, but there was a giant dragonfly-like one instead that I'd never seen before. There was also a green scorpion-ish thing that I don't think is new new but I don't recall from other viewings. The Counselor had new eyebrows - thicker and more sculpted. Both Firefly Boy and CAD had new, more extravagant costumes for the curtain call. Love Dance and Firefly Both have updated arrangements that I'm not sure I like yet: both give a more theatrical, sparkling impression but might not fit as well with the rest of the show's style. Def didn't hate either one. And did they turn up the volume on the seat speakers? Because holy shit were we rocking. The band killed it all night. The power of this show’s music cannot be overstated.

Okay, character details! Ie the most interesting part to me by a mile:

We had Tricia Woo as the Twin Sister and I completely adored her. She was so energetic and expressive and her chemistry with Peng was adorable. Specific shout out to her raw emotion as the ship sinks. She calls out the nanny's name over and over in this desperate scream, and never has that act had the impact on me that it did tonight. It made The Deep so much more powerful.

TS is visibly afraid of the Counselor's Son when he and his pops crash the function. In fact most everyone was, which was new and interesting to me. CAD isn't just perplexed by his pursuit of her, she's actively nervous of it and him. She turns from him in the Den, she startles when he touches her, and she cowers at his finale reappearance. It was a little chilling - you can’t help but wonder what he has done to get such a reputation.

Jason Biltz delivered yet another excellent turn as CS but it lacked the clarity I've seen in other performances. Tonight the character seemed to favor the path of least resistance and and tbh comes across as a master gaslighter: on multiple occasions he puts his hands up defensively as if asking "why are you so upset?" when he has clearly done something out of line, and he hunches his shoulders as though trying to appear smaller. He does appear to court CAD for 90% political reasons, but come Love Dance he looks truly heartbroken. And then later he doesn’t seem to give a remote shit that she just watched her father die right before her eyes, nor is he at all bothered by the way she's held with a literal knife to her throat. And if he’s always looking for an easy way out, why does he still protest the attack on the Imperialists at the beginning? What's the truth, Rensai, you goddamn snake??

Despite somewhat hazy motivations, Jason plays this bastard as ruthlessly, brutally passionate. It's honestly remarkable. His pride at his every entrance, the deliberate dramatics of his firepowder presentation, his restless and energetic pacing during the wheel of death’s construction, all of it makes him look like the real powder keg about to explode. And when that's exactly what happens, you can't help but feel like you should have seen it coming. I stand by my claim that almost every other singular character in this show could be written out except him: he is essential to the narrative and theme.

The first archer to try to present CAD with a gift was a WOMAN. It was something new, some weapon or something I don't know the name of. Kind of a weighted chain that she whipped around like water meteors. Regardless: BI CAD???? I lost it.

If anyone ever asks you to describe non-sexual human intimacy, show them Shadowplay. It is just desperately tender. The Court Jester tends to the Twin Brother's hand with such delicacy - he removes the bandage, of course, but then has TB hold his palms up so the jester can smooth them with his own. He passes the bandage gently over them, and the gesture is miniscule but it feels like something out of a broader practice. A way to prep TB for the shadow puppets to come while also guiding him away from the tragedy of what they just escaped and into this deliberate moment of peace and rest.

My hasty post-show notes say "TS and FB FUCK but TB and CAD are taking it slow :)" and I'm still kind of laughing about it. There's a distinct difference in the way the twins approach each of their new relationships. TS and Firefly Boy are magnetic and give the immediate impression that they can't keep their hands off each other. Meanwhile TB and CAD are very reserved - more whispers in ears, blushes, and hesitation to hold hands. It's an adorable contrast.

Noriko continues to reign supreme. She gave the most adorable, startled little sound when TB kissed her. 

Peng for president. He’s the best. He’s the best. He. 

And to cap it all off, I swear that theater was 80-90% full. Better than I’ve ever ever seen it. I was thrilled for the artists to get the recognition they deserve in a space so massive. I hope they felt the energy because what they gave to us that night was utterly electric.

All in all a wholly epic weekend. And O got to be my 50th! See ya at 100, CdS. Feeling very lucky, grateful, and verrrry tired. Back in LV in January for Mystere and hopefully LOVE. 💛💚

[tailsrevane]

[tv review] star trek: picard, season 3

next stop on the "catching up with reviews" train, we did finally get around to season 3 of picard about a month ago. it really is a testament to how uninspiring the first two seasons were that we, two lifelong star trek fans and one fairly enthusiastic convert, just really didn't feel any urgency to get to it.

season 3 is probably the best season of picard, but it's still not… great? but in all fairness, it was probably just never going to be.

when i first heard there was a picard-led series being developed, i was cautiously excited. when it was announced and the title was literally just "star trek: picard," i thought that was, well… weird? there's just something thoroughly un-star trek about this kind of singular focus on a character rather than a place or a group of people.

before i start sounding relentlessly negative, there were things i liked about season 3. and i enjoyed the experience of watching it much better than the previous two seasons. but it just felt really similar to like rise of skywalker where i just resigned myself to how dumb it was and enjoyed it almost in spite of itself. and it could easily have killed my enthusiasm for the future of the franchise in a similar way if there weren't so many other great things going on at the moment. picard really is a pretty glaring outlier compared to literally every other nutrek series (minus the first season of disco, which was still miles better than picard at its best).

but yeah, let’s move on from general commentary and go episode by episode.

3x01 "the next generation"

first of all my absolute favorite thing about this season is the sheer amount of jonathan frakes we get. this cannot be overstated. jonathan frakes is a national treasure, and i am blown away that i underappreciated will riker so thoroughly when i grew up on tng. he's just the hecking best.

shaw's introduction was fucking fantastic, and i love how his character went from just uncomplicatedly hateable to lovably hateable over the course of the season. just truly great stuff.

i love how laris is in this for literally like a second and then is never mentioned again for the rest of the show. like, we would have been better off if their last scene together had been the wordless ending of season 2, and we could just assume they broke up offscreen between seasons or that they had hot, steamy sex but decided that a relationship wasn’t in the cards. idk. seemed pretty pointless.

overall, though, this premiere had me cautiously optimistic for the season as a whole.

b-rank

3x02 "disengage"

this episode focuses on two characters who end up being much better than they should be thanks largely to acting.

in the case of jack it's mostly the acting of patrick stewart & gates mcfadden around him. like, that silent moment between them when she nonverbally confirms that jack is jean luc’s son is one of the all-time great moments of acting in the entire series. and as much as i fundamentally disagree with a lot of the writing around this entire story, mcfadden & stewart act their ASSES off throughout this story, and it makes the material seem a lot better than it actually is.

vadic is a character of incredible (and largely squandered) narrative promise who gets shuffled out of the way in favor of a much more boring late-season endgame. more on that last bit later. the show does give her plenty of opportunities to chew the heck out of the scenery in the meantime. despite being one of those always-frustrating examples of the writing on this show overpromising & underdelivering, vadic nevertheless manages to claim a spot as one of the most memorable star trek villains thanks to a truly incredible performance by amanda plummer.

lastly, i freaking LOVE the heroic introduction this episode gives worf. i literally pumped my fist and cheered.

b-rank

3x03 "seventeen seconds"

first of all, i just want to pause & acknowledge that it was really nice seeing riker in the center seat even if i really don’t like what the show decided to do with it.

frakes & picard act their asses off in this episode but i just don’t really buy the writing that got them to that point. like, it feels like the show really wanted both characters to have that Moment so they could get their epiphanies out of it in the next episode, but the moment itself fell very flat for me because i just didn’t believe in it.

much better was crusher’s argument with picard. i came into the argument fully behind picard in terms of “hey, not telling someone you had a kid with him is pretty fucked up, bev!” but after beverly explained her reasons i was fully able to see where she was coming from.

i still have a seriously hard time believing that crusher would have ghosted picard and all of her best friends who she went through so much with, but that’s kind of just the same exact baked-in problem that i have with this entire series. but i’ll come back to that when we get to the finale, i think.

the other big thing to mention here is that i don't love that this damn franchise found yet another excuse to reduce dr. crusher's personality to dr. mom. but at least she gets more juicy material to work with throughout the season for the most part.

i also think the changeling reveal ruled. like, at this point i was way more optimistic about the direction of the season. like, oh, changelings! we’re finally doing something that isn’t the borg! (… sigh. we’ll come back to it.)

c-rank

3x04 “no win scenario”

this episode has some great character writing, a great star trekky solution to a star trekky problem, and some blessed star trekky optimism. i wish i could say that the show was ever this good again.

shaw’s face turn starts here. his speech about having met picard before–at wolf 359–really changes our perceptions of him. he’s still dead wrong to blame picard for that, but it does certainly shed a new light on his immediate hostility towards picard. but turning that speech back on him and saying that he needs shaw’s help “even though [he’s] just an asshole from chicago” was a great moment for picard, and also a great moment in retrospect for shaw, because i think that’s the exact moment where he stopped being a hateable asshole and started his journey toward being Our loveable asshole.

the escape from the nebula (and the shrike) is a fist-pumpingly awesome scene. it’s the moment when i turned to my partners and said, “hey! they remembered to put some star trek in their star trek show!” probably the best moment of the whole series, tbh. and between that and how good the next episode is, i was actually just starting to have some hope for this damn show. sigh. to be continued.

a-rank

3x05 “imposters”

i’m going to be brief because my feelings about this are very simple.

i was NOT expecting to see ro laren again, or for the show to deliver such a resoundingly perfect conclusion to her story. this might very well be the best thing this show ever did, and i genuinely think that in spite of everything, it might make the whole rest of this damn show worth it.

a-rank

3x06 “the bounty”

transition episode. mind the loudly clanging pieces being noisily moved around the board.

shaw being a geordi fanboy was cute, though. and oh hey geordi works at a spacedock full of old starships, i’m sure that won’t have any future bearing on the plot or anything.

c-rank

3x07 “dominion”

vadic kicks ass at the “captured villain who wanted to be captured” scenery chewing, picard & beverly considering going against everything they’ve ever believed in & fought to uphold to execute her in cold blood was gross.

i’m very tired.

b-rank

3x08 “surrender”

data defeating lore by not fighting him fucking ruled. i hope the rest of the main characters in this stupid fucking show were taking notes.

riker & troi dumping on nepenthe really made me roll my eyes pretty hard, considering the episode of the same name was the best damn episode of this entire fucking show, and the idea of riker living out in the wilderness cooking pizza in his outdoor pizza oven made me so fucking happy. and riker & troi both seemed so happy & secure, their warmth really helped picard find his way through a dark moment in his life, and troi was treated with much more respect by that single episode than she is in an entire season of what was billed as essentially tng season 8. there are PLENTY of things about every season of this damn show that deserve to be harshed on and you pick the ONE THING that doesn’t? ffs.

and then vadic, the poorly-written but superbly-performed villain that made this whole damn show actually kinda work… just fucking dies??? with two episodes left to go?

uh-oh.

b-rank

3x09 “vox” & 3x10 “the last generation”

as soon as troi started probing jack’s mind to figure out what his secret was at the end of the last episode, i said, “it’s gonna be the borg.” as soon as this episode picked it back up, i said, “it’s gonna be the borg.” as soon as the vision started taking shape and deanna rushed out of the room in horror without further explanation, i said, “it’s gonna be the fucking borg, just like every other fucking thing on this stupid fucking show.”

it’s funny. i don’t like how serialized the storytelling is within the seasons of this show, but despite the storytelling being so damn serialized, the seasons themselves like actively go out of their way to just totally ignore everything that happened in previous seasons or else treat it like an inconvenience? when, isn’t the ONE benefit of serialized storytelling supposed to be that the story stays consistent?

like, i gotta tell you, i liked what the first season did with the borg the best out of any of the three. the entire focus on exbies was brilliant, and seven having to overcome all her fear & trauma to be willing to function temporarily as a queen was actually a better culmination of shit that happened in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SHOW than this show handled any tng thing that wasn’t ro laren?

i was… somewhat ok with what the second season did with the borg mainly because it featured seven as an even more prominent player, and seemed like it would take the borg off the board for the final season, and while the season was mostly un-star trekky the fact that picard needed to trust this new version of the borg and make peace with them was actually genuinely pretty cool?

but then we just bring back the borg YET AGAIN, and just… WHY? what did this accomplish? how are we any better off than we were at the end of season 2?

and just… the version of the borg here are actually the MOST BORING version? like, they’re just what i guess the showrunners decided was a Big Enough threat to be a worthwhile reveal, and i’m just… So. Tired.

i did like a few things about this stupid fucking two-episode borg digression. probably chief among them was worf being all protective of riker because i will ship riker/worf until the day i’m cremated. i also liked the very last scene of the series where picard and his crew play poker together. but i think it’s just frustratingly appropriate given my big picture issues with this entire show that this whole three season misadventure led to us getting back to THE LAST SCENE OF STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION, you know, that perfectly good ending these characters had already had, an ending that was completely squandered by a show that decided that picard just forgot all the lessons he spent seven seasons learning.

i’m just so over it, man. i’m going to rank these last two episodes exactly what i would rate this series as a whole, and move on with my life.

c-rank

s-rank: 0 a-rank: 2 b-rank: 4 c-rank: 4 d-rank: 0 average: 2.8 (c-rank)

[laterinthenight]

tag 9 people you want to get to know better. I was tagged by the wonderful @moonlitramblings 🥰

currently reading: I’m on a reread of Watership Down by Richard Adams, one of my favorite books of all time. I usually make sure to reread it once a year at least. Also Renegade Love by Ann Aguirre - love me an alien romance 😩👌

last song: La Devoción Se Hizo Carne by Carlos Viola, from the Blasphemous 2 soundtrack. Truly every song is an absolute banger; my favorite is Cante Desde Lo Profundo, because that fight is so fucking good. On a lighter note (😏) I’ve also been listening to Forklift Simulator by Sbassbear, which is unreasonably catchy

currently watching: Just finished watching Predator (1987) for the first time in years... it came up in discussion with some friends a couple days ago, and I’d forgotten how nuts the movie is amongst all the memes. Besides that, I’m in the middle of Season 2 of The Golden Girls (whiplash 😂) and a rewatch of Outlaw Star

current fic - reading: Nothing’s Wrong with Dale by @moonshine-nightlight (👀👀👀👀👀👀) (Original Work) I cannot overstate how absolutely feral I am for this fic, holy shit Sundays are marked on my calendar; An Unexpected Muse by WickedScribbles (AO3) (Red Dead Redemption 2) a truly lovely modern!AU of Arthur attending the Reader’s Intro to Drawing class in college and them hitting it off; The ThirtySix Stratagems of Wáng Jìngzé by Mussimm (AO3) (Mass Effect 2) Right after the release of Mass Effect 2, long before ME3 was on the horizon, this author conceptualized an Epic that to this day remains one of my all-time favorites, about how the Reaper War could manifest and be won

current fic - writing: I don’t write much these days (not much energy at the moment) but I’ve got a couple ideas circulating, with my OCs in a low-fantasy historical post-war thing. Very comfort, very slice-of-life, very smutty just a little something to make me happy when I need it

next on my watchlist: Tombstone (1993); The Shape of Water (been putting it off because my vibes have been off)

current obsession: Nothing’s Wrong with Dale (cough 👀👀👀), Red Dead Redemption 2 (Arthur Morgan), Our Life: Beginnings and Always (Cove Holden our beloved), Shepherds of Haven by @shepherds-of-haven , The Golden Rose by @anathemafiction

I’m not great at direct tagging because I mostly just sit to the side an quietly reblog things lol, but anybody who wants to can consider yourself tagged, if you’re interested! It’s always fun to see what people are into 💞

And thanks again for the tag @moonlitramblings ! I’m so excited for when Don’t Shoot the Messenger publishes - you craft such wonderful stories that speak to me as a demi, with actual time taken to make the emotional connection between characters plus the way you write the 🔥 scenes is god-tier 😩👌 Please take care of yourself, and I look forward to everything you create!

[metfell]

I cannot overstate how excited I am about the current arc on lmn like this is filling the cranboo-shaped hole in my cranboo-shaped heart. Miss seeing that little guy freak himself out into a panic over The Horrors (this time with PAYOFF!!)

jumping up and down excitedly IM GLAD im also scared of overhyping it i really hope you guys will like the stuff im adding to his character its going into headcanon-y au-y stuff so i hope its satisfying

[man--eater]

Hey there! It's the "feeling seen" anon again! I finally finished up your story and AHHH I love the dynamic of Al and Daphne! You've really inspired me to pick up my sketchbook again to create my husky fallen Angel called Herald! Did you draw any inspiration for Al and Daph's dynamic from somewhere or did the beginnings of their relationship just come to you as you started writing?

Hello Anon!! <3

Thank you so much!! I’m working on the next chapter of Alastor and Daphne’s story now. I’m so happy to hear that you’re feeling inspired to create your OC! A fallen angel has so much potential. I would love to see them/hear about them!

Oohh, what a great question! Alastor and Daph’s dynamic is inspired a little by a few different sources, including Howl and Sophie from the book Howl’s Moving Castle, a bit of Irina/Mirnatius from Spinning Silver, and a hint of Jane Eyre. And I did have to start writing to get to know their dynamic. But it was solidified and refined mostly by screaming about them in Discord with a couple friends, especially Sunsetofdoom <3. Bouncing ideas back and forth, gnawing on the characters, thinking about how their similarities and differences clash or fit together. I cannot overstate the value of creating stories and characters with the help of friends!

Developing the characters and then throwing them together is the best way to get started on a compelling dynamic, in my experience. For these two: Daphne has an innate need to care for things, in spite of her aloof and no-nonsense demeanor. She cares for people by making them food and putting 100% of herself into her work. She cares for her plants very tenderly, and she even tosses veggie scraps to Fat Nuggets while she cooks. She has an enormous capacity to lavish attention and care on someone, but has never had the opportunity or conscious realization that she wanted to. Alastor, in my story, had a traumatic childhood and has kept everyone at a distance, physically and emotionally, ever since. He never knew affection of any kind, and did not see a need for it other than as a tool to manipulate others. His lack of hygiene stems from never developing self-care as a skill, and is a subconscious way of keeping people away. Daphne needs to care for things, and Alastor is in need of care--there is an instinctive magnetism there that captivates and terrifies both of them. And it's very fun and satisfying to explore where that will take them. That's only one aspect of their dynamic and I can talk about them for hours because I love them so much so I will wrap this up haha

Thanks again for the ask and kind words, and I am excited that you’re picking up your sketchbook and creating a character that makes you feel seen! <3

[mymanyfandomramblings]

Gleecap 4x19--Sweet Dreams

Finn's excitement is so cute, I love it

However, I am not entirely sure that the University of Lima is the most productive study environment /understatement

Rachel genuinely does look like Barbra with her hair like that

Yes! Roz Washington--the funniest character in this show

Roz has turned into Sue, it seems

Beiste's weird idioms, my beloveds

Loving Tina's steampunk look

Sam's Australian accent is all over the shot, good grief

Brittany's sweater fascination is back

If only Marley hadn't mentioned Finn, she might have been fine

"It's like waking a sleepwalker, it might kill him"--the delivery on this line is perfect

shut up kitty, pls

SHUT UP KITTY

SHUT UP KITTY I CANNOT OVEREMPHASISE

I now cannot overstate how much the University of Lima is not a productive study environment

oh are we having an 'annoying Mr Schue' episode

It's Shelby--oh how I...don't love her

Thank you, Shelby, for preventing Rachel from becoming Barbra 2.0

However I may feel about Shelby, she is the QUEEN of duets, and she sounds stunning with Rachel

I love how much fun Finn always seems to be having when he's drumming

Sam's "no-yes" is my sense of humour unfortunately

Yes, Finchel!!

Rachel's voice has grown so much

chills. literal chills. The Original New Directions all singing together

Yes, Puck! Give that much-needed pep talk!

Roz assuming that Becky is Sue's daughter is a hilarious callback

Blaine and Becky imitating Roz's "neeeever' is PERFECT

I love the xylophone just appearing so that Becky can tip it over

I love Ryder's chair jump

Yes, Rachel's dreams are coming true!!

Outcast is a pretty fun song, even if overreliant on rhymes

[timberlakefan96]

Apologies in advance for long rant

So I’ve been on a superhero comic kick for a little while now and I got curious about where comic books are in the Space Year 2024 and I gotta ask what the hell is going on over there? I might be preaching to the choir here. I don’t know. I haven’t been in this fandom for a very long time. I don’t know where the conversation is. I’m just airing my own personal grievances on the subject. But I don’t understand how the progenitors of the single biggest movement in media in the last 20 years have been failing so absolutely thoroughly on their core product. To a point where it’s legitimately incredible. A feat of its own.

I haven’t touched a comic book in about a decade and a half at this point. I read them a lot in my teens and early 20s and the last comic book that I picked up and read with intent to continue was during DC‘s new 52 lineup back in 2011. I did not continue reading there. So it’s been long enough, I am functionally a brand new reader, right. I asked a friend who would been reading comics this whole time what he thought and he pointed me to marvel’s new ultimate lineup, which, much like the original Ultimate comics that I loved, is supposed to be a fresh start for familiar characters, each one of them having a new twist. Which sounds perfect to me!

Ultimate Spider-Man, which has only been running for about three issues at this point for example, has the elevator pitch of “what if Spider-Man got bitten as a 35-year-old family man instead of a gangly teenager?” which sounds incredible, and I needed to read that right away.

So, okay, I know what I want, how do I obtain this comic? My first thought, as I imagine most anyone’s first thought in the year 2024 would be is: “there’s gonna be an app right?” And the answer to that question is yes but no. There is an app and it does have, for a monthly subscription, “a selection” of comics, but the new stuff doesn’t arrive until after a significant delay. Like, three months. Strikes me is wrongheaded, but not particularly surprising. So plan B was still in the mindset of reading these today: Find a local comic store. Luckily, I live in a part of the United States that is very dense with nerds. There’s half a dozen comic shops near enough that I can just pop in, so I do! None of them had the comics I wanted in stock. Turns out almost none of them order more comics than they absolutely have to, because comics floppies, in an ironic twist, are actually a terrible investment for comic shops. Unless the distributor is twisting their arm, they only order as many copies of a given comic as they have preorders for. They were all very excited and welcoming, and I will be going back, but they were entirely unequipped to handle some rando like me barging into their store for a specific comic. Okay so plan C is “Can I get them delivered?” and the answer to that is yes, but not directly. Which, Dear Marvel Comics; you’re a company that pumps out monthly publications, how do you not have a subscription service? How does that happen? So you can’t just read these comics online, you can’t order them straight from the source, and you can’t just buy them in stores. At least not without great effort and pain. Or piracy. Cannot overstate the pervasive force that was the temptation to hoist the flag through this entire process.

Eventually, I did find these comics and I buy them. Just found a place online and ordered them. Not my original plan, but hyperfixations are what they are.

After actually reading these things, I got three distinct and immediate impressions. First: The comic is good! For the most part! It’s well written and well drawn. They do make good on the promise of the conceit and I probably am going to keep reading it. In fact, I might dip in a little further and go for their ultimate X-Men line which is going in a wild new direction that intrigues me! But here’s the second thing. I bought three (3) comics. At five (!!) dollars apiece. So I ended up spending $15 before taxes and shipping. Basically a month subscription to whatever streaming service I want, and all for what, 50 pages of content? That’s insane, right? Like I can’t be the only one to think that? I just don’t understand what rationale they’re using to sell these things. I don’t understand where they think the value proposition is here, when, again, for the price of only a few issues, I could get access to hundreds of hours of content on virtually any platform I want. For the cost of these three comics, I could buy a month of Disney+ and watch every single Marvel movie. It’s just not a fair comparison, and I really don’t understand why they think this is okay.

And then putting value propositions to the side for the moment, thing three is: This comic, which again I want to emphasize is good, was pitched to me as a completely fresh start free of any baggage that might turn away a prospective reader, much like the original Ultimates line. In issue one we learn that’s not the case. I’ll keep this as free from spoilers as possible, but we learn that the entire universe, and reason for this Peter Parker’s existence is because of a decision a character made in another universe from a decade ago. And if you wanna know all about that, you have to read a separate comic series. Which feels like exactly the wrong creative decision to make here. And, like, I get it, This is Marvel things are gonna tie back together, that’s just what these stories do, but you can’t sell me a fresh start with a new version of a new character and then, in issue one, tell me that pretense is false. If you want to tie it in later, as a big stakes-raising twist, be my guest, but to bring in this whole Multiverse thing in issue one just smacks of no confidence in your product. Like you don’t trust the basic conceit of your story to sell itself. Which you should be able to do! Hell, it sold me! I guarantee if I told someone this story was about a character who died in a big multi-comic event a decade ago but came back and made his own universe, most people’s eyes are going to gloss over. But if I said “Spider-Man but he’s 35 and happily married *before* he becomes Spider-man”, that’s gonna turn some heads! But I digress.

In the end, I’m not an active member of this community, I’m just an outside observer who poked my head into comic books for the first time in a very long time, and I’m just baffled. Almost everything wrong here has been solved a decade ago or more. Again, I’m sure I’m saying nothing new, and if you’re reading comics and find no relation to my plight, then go with god. I just needed to vent frustration. I don’t understand how comic books are even still a thing, when they’re this hard to get, and this hard to parse. Get your shit together, guys.

[daysofourlivesrecaps]

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Wednesdays, as I have mentioned before, tend to be pretty slow around Salem. And while a few of today's plots are little more than wheel-spinning for their respective characters, we also got a couple of MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS that just so happen to be QUINTESSENTIAL SOAP MOMENTS™, one of which I'm seeing for the first time since I started watching a year or so ago.

First up is Nicole. She's still pregnant and still confiding to Anna about it. And still not really providing us with any new insight into her character or... really, any new information of any kind. This storyline actually got me interested in Nicole for the first time ever, but I sure wish something would, you know, happen.

Eric and Sloan also talk about Nicole. Eric works out that the story about a virus at the hospital was a lie and Sloan comes clean and confesses that yeah, she did indeed lie. But she did it to protect Nicole's secret. Which Eric now knows.

Eric is none too happy about any of this, and takes his recently-harvested DNA swab and heads over to confront Nicole about it. So presumably something will finally be moving forward with all of this soon.

But not today.

Jada and Talia have a number of tearful exchanges at the police station, as Jada tries to explain to Talia that, even though Colin never actually hit her, he's still an abusive piece of shit. I do not mean to trivialize any of this as unimportant — it's good stuff; it's important stuff to talk about to an audience full of dumbs; and both performers do an excellent job with the material. It wasn't boring to watch, but it is hard to make jokes about. But don't worry — I am now pivoting to some gloriously stupid bullshit.

University Hospital has a new nurse on staff, apparently! She's one of the ladies from Fox's hit 90s sitcom, Living Single.

Not Queen Latifah.

Not Tootie.

The other one. Kim Coles.

(Apparently there was actually a fourth one but I don't remember her at all. My apologies, Erika Alexander. I enjoyed your show and watched quite a bit of it, both in first-run and in reruns. My faulty memory does you a disservice.)

Nurse Coles hits the ground running as she tends to Colin and he briefly mistakes her for Paulina.

Thirty seconds on screen and I love her already.

Paulina is actually in Abe's room, being her usual entirely impatient self and not for the first time I find myself wondering how she possibly made herself so rich in real estate with so little chill. Don't real estate people have to, like, negotiate or whatever?

Then Chanel goes in to talk to Abe and he wakes up! Yay! We love Abe!

But it gets better. Not only is he awake, but ABE HAS AMNESIA. 

I cannot overstate how excited I am by this. I have watched literally 500 episodes of this soap-ass soap and I've never encountered a proper case of actual amnesia before!

Chanel tries to jog the mayor's memory by showing him a picture of his wedding to Paulina, in that episode from last summer where they taught the white people in Salem what Juneteenth is. (I'm not gonna lie — I learned a couple of things from that one. As one of the dumbs in this audience, I'm genuinely glad they did that.)

But the picture rings no bells for Abe.

Out in the waiting area, Rafe orders this cop, who appears to be about thirteen years old, to prep Colin for his transfer to prison. This is obviously just to kill time in a short episode, and surely has no relevance to the plot.

While Chanel is off getting her mom, Nurse Kim Coles enters Abe's room. Abe, still muzzy from the surgery and having only seen a single cell phone picture of his alleged wife Paulina, thinks the nurse is his wife. The nurse, for her part, says nothing to dissuade him of this misapprehension.

Turns out she's a Mayor Abe Carver Superfan! And also? Maybe a bit crazy in the ol' pants?

And speaking of pants, Rafe checks on Colin, only to discover that Officer Skippy had his pants stolen by said gross creep. Also the rest of his uniform.

That's a rock-solid defense though, Skippy. "He got the better of me." No court in the world will convict you.

So now Colin, in disguise (as a cop whose uniform actually fits), easily slips out of the hospital unnoticed.

And right after him comes Nurse Kim Coles, pushing the amnesiac and highly confused Abe out of the hospital in a wheelchair "because he's in danger." 

 AMNESIA AND WEIRDLY UN-MALICIOUS KIDNAPPING. WE HIT THE SOAP JACKPOT TODAY, Y'ALL!