#I really don't want to mishandle stuff

[ehlnofay]

writer asks... 🥺🛒🤡✨🎶🎨👀

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels? I think that something that always gets me is when the interaction is nice and good and lovely, and it could continue to be nice and good and lovely, but there are underlying circumstances that will not let it be and even now the cracks are starting to show. I love it when you can see the painful dissolution of a relationship long before it actually comes to fruition. it's so hhhhh and I write it a fair bit with characters like arabella and j'zargo, torr and astrid, pax and martin, and so forth

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. the thing that draws me most to writing is the characters; I think most of my writing is in some form a character study. I'm perpetually fascinated by how people react to difficulty, how they relate to one another, how their experiences inform their actions. so I think most of the themes that crop up often relate to that. I like using a lot of images and motifs, as well, but I can't think of any that are ubiquitous, though most of my characters have one or two specifically assigned to them that I like to reference

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? hmm... I'll be honest almost anything with efri has at least one thing in it that is extremely funny to me. she just says things. I'm looking through her document to give an example and there's just so much in here. in her first meeting with savos she asks him how old he is and then raps her stick on the ground and says "you're dead," before he can finish answering. she announces to the group of vampires she's sitting around a campfire with that she isn't sure how she feels about her choice to free them, you know, ethically speaking. she refers to the eye of magnus exclusively as "the ball" and when mirabelle informs her what they've been calling it she says "huh. that's a weird name" (she does not know who magnus is)

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉 I'm genuinely really happy with where my writing is right now. I'm proud of how much improvement I can see over the last few years in how I portray scenes, atmosphere and dialogue, and I see a lot of potential for growth which I find really exciting! since I was a little kid I've wanted to be a published author and I feel like that's actually in the cards for me at some point in the not-too-distant future (assuming, you know, I actually write a book)

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately? I cannot play music or listen to literally anything when I'm writing. I close the door and the windows and ask my siblings to turn down their youtube videos or else I Cannot Focus An Inch. however I do love to listen to music to help me think through my stories and characters... it helps me get into a Mood and I've gotten a lot of ideas that way. most recent song I've begun to associate with a character is the amazing devil's the calling. it's pax (ish) at a very specific story beat

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories? LOVE IT FOREVER. I still regularly look at art fight attacks and go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I want to give each of them a turn as my profile picture but I keep forgetting :(

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please! the Ludicrously Big Project.... if I keep the other sections to a similar length it will end up over a hundred thousand words, which is ABSURD. if I don't, the first bit will feel like such an insane outlier. I guess we'll see... I don't want to go into too much detail since I am only about a quarter of the way in (ridiculous) and I might trim the section I've written down a Bunch, so I don't want to like. jinx it. or say anything that ends up not being true. I will say that each main part focuses on the same story from the perspective of a different character and it is an exercise in not writing in little scenes pieced together (the reasons it is SO STUPID LONG methinks... if it was just the one character in vignettes it would have ten thousand words cut out and it would be done already) and that none of the characters in it are mine. unless you count the ones I made up expressly for this story. also it is pretty dark... which isn't super uncommon for my longer stuff it seems. I guess the more intense topics demand more space to resolve themselves. but there are parts that might be hard to read (definitely will be hard to write). whenever I post it in fifty years I will be sure to include comprehensive content warnings

[doedipus]

a large amount of time I've been spending on -untitled undefined scope original fiction project- since the last time I posted about it has been trying to develop the protagonist concept I came up with last summer or whatever into like, a character that would feel real and era appropriate.

it's fun research to do. naturally a lot of the details I assigned to her are things that I already think are cool, so it's been a lot of fun trying to trace her traits back through the relatively recent past, getting reminded of how much things have changed, or where the gaps in my intuition are, and then doing a flurry of reading to get a sense for exactly how someone like her and the people around her could have happened and what her life was probably like leading up to her present day. hopefully this results in some good good verisimilitude.

[unconventional-lawnchair]

Hehehehe okay so what if you like wrote a fic about remus lupin x reader. The reader is a teacher (preferably like astronomy) and they're sneaking around together. students are making bets and stuff to see if they'll end up together, some girls just ship them really hard.

They're trying so hard to keep it a secret but they are so bad at it.

Me @ every guy who isn't a fictional wizard from the 70s ^^

An: This fluff attempt goes out to you, rip

Rumors

Remus Lupin x Fem!Reader

cw: A lot of kisses and cursing, stapler mishandling

Masterlist

WC:4181

The halls of Hogwarts were filled with hushed whispers and mindless patter of gossip. The newest topic of the year? 

Professor {L/N}, the newest astronomy hire. An Alchemist who perfected her work through star charting. Lupin had recommended you for the post to assist Sinistra. Mostly, however, you were hired on to assist with the newest project under Dumbledore. With your studies in the North Pole, you were tasked with on and off communications with the centaur herd within the Forbidden Forest. Specifically, their astronomy masters. It was easy, given your track record with magical creatures. Creating a bridge of mutual understanding between the professors and the herd. Dumbledore also saw you valuable to both potions and alchemy class; meaning you met a lot of students very fast.

So almost everyone knew you, you ran a tight ship in class, playful and respectful to the students paired with a charming personality, no one could bring themselves to even hate you.

That's probably how the rumors began, truthfully. Who doesn't want their two favorite teachers to end up together?

Much like Lupin, the students adored you. Hermione especially, after learning of your academic achievements of the past, while being a muggleborn witch. 

Your first reaction to seeing him probably don't help. First few steps into your new place of employment and you hurry over to the only face you cared to recognize, and give him a hug and a thank you for the recommendation. 

It wasn't anything big and it wasn't anything of a spectacle, but Merlin, was Hogwarts boring. The thrill of gossip seemed to have every student in a choke hold. Some said you were both childhood friends turned lovers, some said you were married and it was a scandalous affair, most of the rumors were just students talking about how perfect you both fit together. 

Your caring, funny, and nurturing behavior, to his stern more rugged form of bonding, you were affectionately dubbed ‘mum and dad.’ 

Never to your face however, and mostly by the first and seventh years. Something about growing shame and losing it in your final days of Hogwarts, remarkable.

~~~

“I'm telling you! He looks at her like she is the very stars she teaches us about!” A seventh year sighed dreamily with her friends. She had her chin in her palms and was staring up at the front of class while a few of their classmates took the practical exam. “I wish someone would look at me like that.”

“Really! I haven't seen so much tension between two faculty before! I wouldn't be surprised to find them snogging in the halls!” One of them joked and the other girls laughed.

“Truly, but I saw Professor {L/N} wearing a wedding ring. She took it off and put it in her pocket before class started. I wonder if they are, you know~ Never have I seen Professor Lupin wear one.” She wiggled her eyebrows and the original girl spoke up with a gasp.

“Oh don't you say that! Professor Lupin and Professor {L/N} would never!” She tutted and another voice chimed in, a boy from a seat behind them, making the three turn.

“I heard that they spent Christmas at school together.” Cedric cheeked and the three girls gasped and began to murmur among themselves about it, before Lupin clapped his hands.

He found it a bit amusing, he had let them continue that far. This is what his classes have become, listening to the students muttering about him and you, seeing how close they could possibly get to the truth. Remus, at a fault, was a gossip. He learned to love the thrill of rumors from Sirius and James, but what was better than rumors about you and a colleague? Rumors about you and a colleague that were so close to the truth.

“Right now! Who's next?”

The rest of the class went smoothly, everyone finished their exams and the classroom began to file out. As Lupin got comfortable in his seat, his door peaked open.

“If you are here for tutoring, please note my hours are posted on the door, this first hour has been reserved already.” Lupin called out from his chair, head leaned back. 

“Tutoring, hm?” A song-like voice rang out from the door. He slowly smirked and leaned forward, eyes locking onto yours. You were holding a box of Merlin knows what, walking straight up to his desk with that beautiful smile. 

“Is that so unbelievable?” He teased, voice lower as he stood up and walked around his desk. Looking over your shoulder to peek into the box, seeing several random objects, including a stapler, a retractable ruler, a metal pointing stick, and other random muggle things.

“Oh, totally. I think I remember you almost lost it when Peter asked for your notes.” You teased him and he chuckled, his breath brushing against your neck. He admired the way you seemed to not flinch, but melt into his proximity. 

“Peter was a terrible student.” He mumbled and you laughed, his hand slipping around your waist and leaning down to kiss the side of your neck. You laughed harder and squirmed away. 

“Hands to yourself. Now, show me where I can hide this contraband.” You lifted the box and shook it a bit. “The things they allow in muggle schools! Hmph!” You mused and he laughed, walking you up to his office and to the far back near a storage closet. He opened the door for you and you set the box down, looking around curiously.

The room was small, but big enough for four people to stand in it comfortably. The walls were covered in shelves filled with items from all over the school years, you ran your finger along one of the shelves and let the dust collect.

“What's on your mind, hm?” Lupin mused and you turned to smirk at him.

“Just wondering where they are hiding the really bad stuff. Still in Filtch’s closet?” You hummed as he stepped into the small room with you. His eyes looked you over and you gave him a look.

“Why's that, darling?”

“Just curious, out of all the things in that closet,” You hummed as Remus wrapped his arms around your middle and pulled you against him. Your fingers dancing along his shirt collar. “Wonder how many of them were from you and that little gang of yours.” You hummed and he laughed.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to yours. It was chaste and sweet. He loved moments like this, away from everyone, where he could love you properly. He gave a hum as you got on your toes and wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down as he pulled you closer.

~~~

“I truly don't  think they have something going on. It's maddening really! The whole school seems to see it but me!” Ron groaned as he walked down the hall with Harry and Hermione, seemingly offended at the idea that the new Astronomy teacher was dating or even had interest in Lupin.

"I wouldn't put too much stock in rumors about someone's love life, Ronald," Hermione retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, sorry Ron, but you're kind of…” Harry rolled his wrists and Ron narrowed his eyes.

“Kind of what?” 

“Kind of..” Harry trailed off.

“Kind of a complete idiot when it comes to love.” Hermione finally snapped, hugging her books to her chest. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to meet Professor Lupin.” She huffed and stomped off.

Ron was left standing there like an idiot, looking over at Harry. 

“What did I do?”

Harry tried to hide his smile and patted Ron's shoulder to urge him along and out of the halls.

~~~

The kiss had grown a bit heated, Remus pushed you deeper into the closet as he muttered about how badly he needed to have you in his arms. How much he loved you, how he wanted you closer, so impossibly close.

You, of course, returned the sentiment. He was made for your hands it seemed, every moment he wasn't between them made you yearn for just another hour of listless cuddles or moments like this. Sneaking away from responsibilities to show your love and devotion to one another. 

If only it could last longer-

“Professor Lupin?” Hermione's voice called out into his office. Remus cursed and you quickly stumbled back. He cleared his throat, shuffling through the confiscated objects, to find anything he could snag. 

“I'll be out in a moment!” He called back as you fixed his tie and ruffled shirt, he grabbed the first thing he spotted and stole another quick kiss from you before leaving the room.

You leaned against a shelf and watched from the crack of the door in amusement as Lupin hurried to his desk.

“Ms. Granger, I am terribly sorry, is it possible for us to reschedule?” Remus pressed and looked at what he had in his hand.

A stapler.

Why on earth did he grab a stapler?

Quickly he sat at his desk and pulled out a few assignments. Grabbing some he had already graded and began to staple them together. 

Hermione was no fool and he knew that, she stared at him in bewilderment, slowly putting her hands on her books tighter. “Uhm, Professor? Isn't that the stapler Professor {L/N} confiscated from Creevey?” 

Lupin began to staple things a bit quicker, waving her off. 

“Yes, Ms. Granger, I think it would be, but I did borrow it from the confiscated,” He weaned on, collected and poised, a bit too good at putting up a face. Everytime you two have almost been caught, he's shown this side. 

“Why would you possibly need a stapler?” He asked in disbelief.

“To.. staple?” He lifted his eyebrow at her. “I do appreciate your curiosity, but I assure you this is none of your concern.” He spoke idley, having opened the stapler and pressed the top down against the pages and his table. Hermione seemed appalled at the misuse. 

“Now, if you'll please allow me to pick another time-” Before he could finish his statement, he attempted to raise his hand, only for his wrist to be locked in place. He looked down, just to see he had stapled his own sleeve to the desk under a few pages of paper. 

You had to cover your mouth and so did Hermione.

“Uhm, on second thought, sir, I think I'll spend my study hour in the library.” She slowly smirked, turning to briskly walk away.

Remus slowly sunk his face into his hands, the second his classroom door was closed he waved his hand to shut his office door. Only for the room to be filled with your laughter.

You walked out of the room, holding your sides as Lupin lost his front and stared at you with flushed cheeks.

“Not a word-”

“No! No please!” You wheezed out. “Several! Several words must be had!” You doubled over his desk, struggling to get the staple from his sleeves, when you finally managed, you were throwing your head back absolutely lost in boisterous laughter.

Remus wasn't even mad. How could he be? You looked so damn happy. So giddy with joy at the embarrassing show he put on. Quickly, he stood, walking around his desk with a purpose and grabbed your cheeks. You were still struggling to catch your breath as he playfully scoffed at you.

“Not very polite, Professor {L/N}.” He taunted and you grabbed his biceps and clung to him to try and clam down. It didn't help when he leaned down and began to pepper kisses all over your hot face. 

“Mercy!” You wheezed and he shook his head.

“What happened to all those words, Professor?” He teased and you shook your head, giggling as he absolutely mawled you with his lips.

~~~

The Grandhall was lively with the buzz of Sirius Black’s attacks. Managing to get into the Gryffindors’ common room was a feat that bewildered everyone.

However, what everyone was truly talking about was how he broke into the astronomy tower and Professor {L/N}’s office. It had managed to get out that Sirius Black himself left you a note that Dumbledore promptly confiscated. More accurately, the conversation was about how unbothered you were about the news.

That, and how a certain professor reacted to that news. 

He had gone down to the commons with McGonagall to check on Harry and the other students. Only when Flitwick came up in a rush and announced the break in and how you were nowhere to be found, the students watched in horror and shock as Lupin pulled his wand and ran from the towers at a speed they couldn't determine was truly human.

He found you soon after, running down the hall towards the Gryffindor tower, also looking for Harry. He stopped and pulled you into a tight hold no one could see. You were confused at first, but you eventually melted into him. You two were spied on by none other than Colin Creevey, who snapped a photo and was showing it around the lunch table. 

“See! I knew it! What a romantic! Ran straight to her in the face of danger?” One of the seventh years swooned and Ron scoffed.

“I don't get it, it's just two people hugging.” He mumbled and began to poke at his food, the twins giving each other a look before they rushed to tease Ron.

“Two people hugging,” Fred started.

“Hands below the waist!” George chimed in, holding up the photo as if to emphasize his point, gesturing to where Lupin's hands were holding you so tight your heels were slightly off the ground.

“Oh, how scandalous.” Fred concurred and Ron rolled his eyes.

“I hug Hermione, does that make us secretly married?” Ron pushed and Hermione quickly looked down at her book in a slight flush. 

“You wish.” George snickered and Fred clapped his hand on Ron's back, making him cough on his potatoes.

“Really, Ronald dearest, you wouldn't know the difference. You hardly know how to hold a girl now.” He teased and George nodded along.

“You'll get there one day, brother. For now you'll have to trust us.”

“This,” They both pointed this time.

“Is not a normal hug.” Both of them spoke at the same time.

Angelica finally spoke up. “Given the context, that man is whipped. Even if nothing is happening now, he is so in love it's humbling.” She got up and gathered her Quidditch gear.

“Come on boys.”

“Right behind you.” Fred purred and earned himself a look from her over her shoulder, George laughed as the three of them hurried off. Leaving the photo for Ginny to pick up.

“Oh yeah, there is absolutely no platonic explanation for this.” She hummed and tossed it to the center of the table, Neville shrugged, no wanting to contribute. 

“I think that whatever is happening between those two, it's clear they care about each other.” Hermione hummed and Harry finally agreed. Suddenly, he looked at his friends with a look of absolute mischief.

“Do you know how we can find out?” He mused and Hermione gave a groan and Ron shot up in his seat.

“How?”

Harry smirked and pulled out the map the twins had gifted him, showing it off to his friends with a cocky smirk. You had caught him with it days ago, and simply zipped your lips and walked away.

“If they are meeting anywhere, it's likely the astronomy tower.”

~~~

Now.. the plan didn't go exactly as planned.

“And I simply can not comprehend how all three of you continue to be the only Gryffindors I've had to reprimand this year!” Lupin’s voice filled the otherwise silent and empty Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom. Unfortunately for the trio, who were out far past curfew, Lupin just so happened to be on his way to the Astronomy tower when he spotted them seemingly just on time for his arrival.

“What about my brothers?” Ron muttered before Hermione shot him a look, elbow jabbing his side.

“Ronald.” She hissed.

The entirety of Hogwarts Valley had been buzzing with the news of Sirius Black’s newest escapade into the castle and Lupin could not comprehend why the three thought it was a good idea to do everything but what they were told. 

“Safety comes first and for me to find you lot outside of your dorms with a murder on the loose? With this bloody-” Lupin began to lift the map before his eyes snapped up at the sound of his door opening. He quickly shut his mouth when he saw you peak into the dark space.

“Remus?” You called out, before you paused and stared at the four infront of you. Your mind firing off a million excuses in quick succession. “Oh, I was unaware you had company.”

Lupin sighed and rubbed his face, seeming to untangle himself from the thralls of his anger. It wasn't uncommon for you two to find eachother late at night like this, but was certainly not the greatest idea of his yet- reprimanding the trio when he knew you'd be coming. As you always did when he didn't meet you at the Astronomy tower as promised. His favorite part of the end of a stressful day was a night full of whispers, stories and playful remarks. Reminiscing on your school years while recreating some memories long forgotten after the war. This time, not in his dorm, but his office or your room. “It's quite alright. I can still review your lesson plans.”

He was a terrifyingly good liar. That should not be attractive.

“Right. I will be in your office, Lupin.” You remarked and began to walk past the group of three who looked at you like you might save them. Sorry kiddos- he was grumpy enough as it was. 

You gave them a grimace, glancing at the map before quickly looking away with wide eyes and hurrying over to the office. Lupin caught the look and held up his hand. “Stop.”

You squeezed your eyes shut and slowly turned to face him. Giving him your adorable nervous look that you knew didn't work on him- well, you tried.

He made a come hither motion and you walked over, ready to be lectured like the kids beside you. He held up the map and you gave a nervous smile. 

“What? However, did you find this, Harry? This is supposed to be in Flinch’s office!” You gave the worst and most unbelievable fake disappointed tone, hands on your hips and frowning down at the three. You struggled not to smile as Harry gave a small one, before laughing a bit. Hermione covered her face in a mix of fluster and secondhand embarrassment. Ron was grinning ear to ear. 

“{L/N}...” Lupin warned and you huffed.

“You got me in trouble with the big boss here, Harry.” You teased and he finally cracked his lips into a brighter smile. You looked back at Remus and slowly interlocked your fingers in front of your lips, as if it did anything to hide your face. “In my defense-”

“You three are dismissed.” He mused quickly and slammed the paper on the table beside him. You tried your best to hide your smile. It was hard to take him seriously when you have seen him panic and staple his sleeve to a desk. The trio hurried to shuffle out, Harry sent you a greatful look and you simply winked at him. Something Remus rolled his eyes at.

“Did you see Harry with the map?” He asked in a stern tone when the kids left. You looked away and tried to look a little regretful. 

“It's very possible.” 

“And you didn't think to take it?” He asked in an incredulous tone.

“I mean, it certainly crossed my mind.” You slowly stopped hiding your smile and looked back to the taller man who was taking a few steps into your space.

“And you didn't?” He pushed.

“Well, in all fairness, Rem. It is technically his.” You snarked back finally and Remus gave a bitter laugh. 

“Professor {L/N}, did you think that maybe if this map fell into the wrong hands it could cause a serious danger to Harry?” He pushed and you clicked your tongue. You knew who he was talking about. A conversation you've had a million times, well, more an argument. It got worse when he heard of the note.

He was so willing to believe Sirius Black to be a killer, while you believed Sirius could bring himself to the point of ending someone's life, James Potter was more than a human to him. Even with his plea of guilty, you couldn't believe it. James, Lily, and Harry? You would stake your life on it. He was innocent.

It was what you were looking for, an explanation, hopefully that was what the note was for. But unlike your communications with the magical creatures of the forest, Dumbledore was not so willing to give up information when he had it. The old prick-

“I hate when we talk about this.” You huffed in honesty and leaned back on one of the desks of the room. He sighed through his nose and pinched the bridge that connected it to his forehead. “Honey-”

“Ah ah ah! Honey is for marriage.” You mused and he did his best to fight the smile growing on his face. Easily letting you steer the conversation from his own negative thoughts, he hated being upset around you. “That so?”

“It's very so. More so than most so’s.” You hummed and he blinked a few times at you before he couldn't help but smirk. 

“Give me my mother's ring back then.” He mused and held out his hand. You have a faux gasp. 

“Excuse you, sir. I seem to remember your mother telling you this belonged to me.” 

“When we were 18!” He challenged, letting himself fall victim to your antics. Like school children. “And last I checked, your reaction was less then pleasant.”

“We had been dating for a year and I was going to the North Pole in my defense, tart boy.” You scoffed and cringed at the memory. How you practically fall out of your chair when Hope made a comment about her ring. 

“Tart boy?”

“Tart boy.”

“I'll show you a tart boy.” He scoffed and took your cheeks. You giggled like a goofball, grabbing his lapels and trying to pull him closer. He smirked at you and kept his distance.

“Remus-” You huffed and glared at him a bit. His smirk only grew as he reached into your pocket, pulling out the modest gem. You rolled your eyes fondly and held out your hand for him, he slipped the ring back in its rightful place.

“Sorry, call me old fashioned. But I'd like to kiss my fiancé, not my coworker.” He teased and you couldn't help but laugh. 

“You absolute sap.”

“Hard not to be.” He mumbled and leaned in, finally kissing you. Both your eyelids lowered but he held eye contact. So much affection bumbling in your chests, it was too much to look away. Eventually, you gave into your shyness, closing your eyes. He slowly pushed your knees apart and slipped between them, making your face grow hot.

He pulled away at this and you huffed, he smirked at you when you looked back up at him. “Hey, sir, your lips on mine again. It's a marital duty and all that jazz.”

“Thought we had to be married for marital privileges, honey?” 

“Oh don't use anything I say around you against me, I can hardly think.”

He bellowed out a laugh at your mischievous look up at him. Slowly biting your lip as you struggled to keep your confident act up.

“Whatever will I do with you, {L/N}?”

“Well, I have a few ideas.” You hummed and began to fiddle with his tie. He curled an eyebrow and you looked forward, looking up at his hazel eyes with a playful pout. “Kiss me again. I promise, you keep my lips occupied, no more bad behavior.”

“Because you won't be able to talk?” 

“Precisely.”

“What in the world!?” You suddenly heard from the far corner of the room. Your face filled with shock and snapped over to see an empty corner, you could of sworn you heard Ronald just a moment ago.

 Remus quickly moved from between your legs and waved his wand, yanking off the invisibility cloak to reveal an appalled Ron, a delighted Harry, and a flustered Hermione.

“Bloody hell!” Remus boomed and you covered your mouth and looked away. Doing your best not to laugh.

“Yes, mum and dad do kiss when the kids are away.” You cheeked and Remus looked at you like you had just made some grand offense to his ears.

Hermione giggled and Harry’s smile grew ten fold.

Ron, however, seemed very displeased.

“I owe the twins so much money.”

[shantechni]

This hit me out of nowhere like a water balloon left in the refrigerator for 3 hours so bear with whatever madness you're about to see because I don't even know what I'm going to say but I do know I'm 100% reaching like crazy with some stuff

It's common knowledge that Splinter spends the least amount of "lesson time" with Mikey, and it's a common consensus that Splinter doesn't need to spend much "lesson time" with Mikey considering how he tends to figure things out for himself. But I don't really see much acknowledgement of their scarce amount of "lesson time" greatly impacting Mikey over the course of the series. Unless I'm not treating this enough like a "Where's Waldo" game, idk-

Putting aside Karai's Vendetta, it takes a grand total of 31 episodes for us to see Mikey get any one-on-one "lesson time" with Splinter.

We see throughout S1 that Mikey is likelier to go with the flow of one of his brothers' plans or suggestions during a mission than doing something major on his own. It's simply the more favorable option for everyone than him screwing things up or getting himself in trouble. His "friendship" with Bradford was his first time landing himself and the team in hot water, and he's evidently remorseful near the end of the episode. Not only did his actions cause trouble, but he was being used by who he thought was his first human friend, and he learns that every human isn't so accepting like April.

He screwed up, and everyone had to pay as a result.

That could be part of the reason why Mikey was so adamant about befriending Leatherhead; he saw good in the alligator and wanted his brothers to believe that he wasn't screwing things up again. The guy's a mutant like them and he's fighting the Kraang, there's no way this'll go like the Bradford incident.

Meanwhile, his moments of silliness are often reserved for lowering the tension of a situation, or because the urge is there to be given into, but his brothers tend to view this behavior as him being the typical goofball they know him as. Which unfortunately painted a permanent image of himself that rubs him the wrong way.

That leads us to Parasitica, and it's quite the significant episode because it's the second time we see Mikey express blatant frustration at his skills and mental fortitude being underestimated. He proves to his brothers that he's capable of finishing a job on his own, following directions to a T, and making things work with his own plan of action. But his earlier soiling of Leo's comic ruins his moment of accomplishment and the episode ends on a comedic note. It show us that the guys are sometimes reluctant to praise Mikey because of his tendency to let things go to his head and, in the process, Mikey sometimes doesn't feel respected by them, something he expressed to Bradford way back when.

Come S2 though, Mikey immediately screws things up and adds to his brothers' list of reasons to not respect him because he doesn't quite read the room when he admits their wrongdoing, nor does he expect April to react so strongly to something he sees as an innocent mistake on their part. He's used to joking around or speaking lightly about serious manners to ease the tension, but not only did that not work this time around, it served to make things worse in a way.

We don't see Mikey get reprimanded since he was right to tell her that their mishandling of the mutagen is why Kirby was mutated, but I'd believe it if Ciro Nieli randomly stepped forward and said it did significantly affect him. His slip up doesn't affect him too heavily though, at least not enough for him to avoid aiding the team in finding mutagen and fighting the Foot clan. Not only that, he saves the day with the help of popcorn and a septic tank when they're attacked by the squirrelanoids, and the guys willingly praise him for his actions.

But we don't get anything really centered on Mikey until the fifth episode of S2.

He has a moment of enlightenment and he chooses to dabble in some mutagen off screen to be cooler and less like the typical goofball his brothers often label him as. Of course, this greatly backfires on him as the mutagen that makes up his body becomes unstable and threatens to explode in an unpleasant manner, so the turtles spend most of the episode focused on curing him rather than trying to work through what made him resort to such measures in the first place. They even prove Mikey's point in one particular scene when he makes a suggestion that goes ignored and adds to his disappointment.

Once they finally cure Mikey and prevent him from meeting an untimely demise at the hands of mutagenic acne, Splinter is the one to reassure the youngest turtle that he needn't change himself to appease his brothers. Mikey moves on from Splinter's wisdom to gloat about being right when they didn't believe him, to which Leo tells him he just took a gamble because had no idea he'd be right about it, and the episode once again ends on a comedic note with Mikey being the one who again saves the day.

I said near the beginning of this that Mikey's usual behavior during missions was to go along with whatever was asked of him, and he has the tendency to go in the same direction that those around him appear to be going.

Post the acne incident however, there's a noticeable shift. Maybe Splinter's words really resonated with him, or maybe his learning experience gave him the realization he needed, I don't exactly know.

Either way, Mikey changed.

This happened with the giant wasps and squirrelanoids as well, but it's not until S2 is halfway over with that we see Mikey really start to trust his instincts more and become less reliant on his brothers to help save the day. He still seeks their strength and smarts when in a rough spot mind you, but when he sees an opportunity to deal with something on his own, he takes it and doesn't wait for permission or looks of mutual agreement.

His use of Ice Cream Kitty in their second confrontation with the Rat King could count as one such instance since he enacted his own whimsical plan, but I'd be inclined to include any other instance of him doing something similar before then. A better representation of the point I'm trying to make is his solo endeavour into Dimension X. It takes 19 episodes after his acne incident for this to happen, but it's our first huge instance of Mikey initiating and going through with something that goes completely against his brothers' wishes.

One probably thought Mikey would sit tight and somehow manage to involve himself in Leatherhead's rescue later on, but Mikey catches his brothers off guard by running off into danger head first without waiting for anyone. And we see when the guys find him that he miraculously adapted to the new universe; he could take care of himself, he knew how to handle these otherworldly enemies, and he repeatedly helped his brothers and educated them.

This becomes a recurring pattern whenever they enter Dimension X, but Mikey's whims pulling the others into a direction they don't expect to go happens more with each season. The same thing happened when he ran away and found Napoleon, though not to quite the same extreme; he quickly became acquainted with him and acclimated into the group of mutant frogs.

He got by in these situations by being himself. Not like a cooler version that his brothers would probably prefer, but his usual, outlandish, and unorthodox self.

Other than an astounding sense of adaptation that's far above his brothers', he sticks with his gut in the face of retaliation and doubt. He was the only one to sense something wrong with April's mom, and he isn't subtle about it at all, even when his suspicions get him on everyone's bad side. He could've easily laid low for an opening or gone along with everyone else's acceptance of her, but he doesn't. He isn't going to change his mind just because his claims seem crazy and make him look paranoid.

Again, we see something similar whenever everyone second guesses his knowledge of chemicals and compounds. Donnie nearly had an aneurysm when he found him tampering with the retromutagen before their big fight with the Kraang, but he was soon delighted to see the positive results of Mikey's tampering. And when Mikey accidentally bumped a bit of the mind control cure onto Donnie in The Creeping Doom, he decided he should be the one to fix things and made an antidote for Donnie. It's a bit funny how Mikey did both of these things without truly knowing what the result would be, and even he was surprised to see that his concoction worked to cure Donnie of his slow decay of intelligence.

Either way, he usually knows when he's right. He knows he can do so much more than his brothers believe he can at times and he goes out of his way to prove it.

This is getting long (could've been extra long if I really wanted to go in-depth), and I already briefly mentioned something similar for S5 in this post, but I just really like how apparent it is that Mikey embraces who he is more and more as the show goes on. Electric powers? Boom, I'm using them. Seal's broken? Boom, bubblegum. Mutagen bomb ended the world? Boom, I'm making a map that only I can understand.

Fr tho, he once felt insecure about his weird way of behaving and thinking, most notably when he's in a situation that would usually call for the types of planning and actions his brothers are better known for.

But now it's something he utilizes and even holds over everyone's heads at times.

[tomodachi-to-koibito]

at the very core of my person I am more than willing to eat crow, beg for forgiveness and say "Beau deMayo you weren't leading us on after all!"

buuuuut-

the shitty way Jean has been mishandled aside (and the snipped and rushed storylines for a few things)

I just can't get over the show runner saying baiting stuff like how Gambit x Rogue is the otp of the series and then proceeds to bring in the worst love triangle of the x men run and rub it in the noses of Gambit fans let alone Romy fans.

the fact that he's gleeful about perma killing Remy and says bullshit like how he needed to give him a crop top to make him likeable!???

HAH.

Gambit is always likeable and x men the animated series made him a fan favorite!

like-

It's okay for deMayo to have SOME favorites and boost em a little (that's a bonus of running a show right?) but with how some of these storylines have converged just to get to this point has been done so badly it's hurting my brain and now when somebody asks him what his five year plan was he brings up that HORRIBLE arc for Rogue where she marries Magneto and gives him a baby???

i mean-

my dude, my guy,

you're clearly super freaking biased to Magneto and for some reason ship him with Rogue to the point of torpedoing what was happening in the original series and is currently canon in the comics!???

Gambit and Rogue are McMarried, BEAU. and while you might NOT be McLoving it a LOT of people do

matter of fact-

WAY MORE PEOPLE THEN THE FEW WHO WANT ROGUE TO BE THE TROPHY WAIFU OF A MAN MORE THAN TWICE HER AGE IN A SHIP THAT IS WEIRD AND MAKES HER ACT LIKE A FROSTY BOSSY ASSHOLE

I read Age of Apocalypse! It had some really insane and cool stuff but it was also horrible for me as a Rogue fan!

She doesn't have to BE with Remy but for the love of GOD stop trying to make her into a stoic gurl boss. She's much more human then that.

i don't trust you, demayo. at all. and I'll gladly apologize (a little) if I'm super duper wrong and you aren't trying to force Rogue to make out with your favorite weathered GI Joe dolly. 🤡

[arcadekitten]

hiii arcade!! sorry if this ask comes off as rude that is not my point! i absolutely admire your work!! thats why im concerned

i saw the ask abt how mareggie were watgbs fan chars originally and in case you dont know the game [wadanohara] is full proship towards the end and the creator is a known proshipper as well! as far as im concerned you dont like those things so like i guess this ask is just to reassure myself you dont support funamusea (the creator of the game) and,,, stuff,,,

This is a concern I see once in a while so I guess I better address it before people see it fit to start spreading rumors about me *cracks knuckles*

TRIGGER WARNING below for discussions of rape

I have played the whole of Wadanohara, I know all of what happens in it already.

Do I agree with all of it? Well, no, not really. Do I still enjoy the game despite the parts focused on rape and sexual assault? Yeah, I do!

When it comes to someone creating their own original content, at the end of the day, we have to accept that some people are just going to create whatever the hell they want no matter how gross or disturbing or immoral we find it. And from there we have to decide how we are going to handle it.

I am able to look at Wadanohara and say "I like this game, I think it has a lot of good and fun aspects to it. However, I can acknowledge that the topic of rape is handled in a way that, to me, feels fetishistic and its portrayal is one that makes me uncomfortable."

I think it is always important to view things to realm of nuance, and that viewing things critically doesn't mean discarding them as soon as they do something problematic. I still like Wadanohara and a few other Funamusea games. I can still disagree with the way Funamusea handles topics like rape/sexual assault. I can like Wadanohara. I can find the rape scenes mishandled and gratuitous and gross. These ideas don't have to be at odds with one another. They can coexist.

One last thing I would like to add is that I think we as a society should learn to drop terms like "proship" and "anti". Everything you encounter will come with context and nuance. We don't have to say "I dislike this thing because it's proship". It is easier and more understandable to say "I dislike this thing because the way it handles topics like rape/assault/etc feels inappropriate and like it lacks nuance".

(Also this isn't me trying to "start beef" with Funamusea or anything. I am not saying she can't make what she makes, I'm just stating my own opinion on it and personal feelings towards it. And regardless of how I or anyone else feels, people will always create the content they want to create.)

[rontra]

your failteacher yuri AU is so so good. what's so frustrating about persona is that it has plenty of good ideas and characters that get absolutely wasted or mishandled by the actual narrative… like these two teachers. you write them with so much more respect than the games ever did. keep it up!

so as a general rule i don't tend to respond to this Genre of comment or really even enjoy it--as far as my own personal feelings r concerned, "you do [x] better than [source]" (in whatever ways it's phrased) is Not a compliment--but in this instance i gotta say it. they fucked up so bad and it makes me so madJDBHJJNSDB

so... just this once... i'll salute you... im at least glad people like my work and r enjoying a whiff of my beloved women without atlus sabotage ✊

i've said before that p3 hermit and p5 temperance are my favorite links--p5 temperance especially i think is really tight and has an interesting foundation. the actual narrative glue holding that thing together is strong. like the THING is that i don't have to go out of my way to find interesting and compelling material here (and i certainly don't have to make it up from whole cloth or anything)

i would hate for people to have the impression that i'm spinning this all out of nothing or that i hold the source In Contempt or whatever. obviously my concept/inciting incident is zany (haha) and i've added or tweaked a lot of smaller things to better facilitate this specific AU, but this story wouldn't have nearly the legs it does without the genuinely good material they put in those links, and i wouldn't bother making it at all if i didn't seriously love those characters...

...which i guess is kinda what makes it doubly frustrating... that in both cases they've just kind of stapled on some gross stuff that adds nothing (aside from ick factor of course) and doesn't fit with the rest... when "the rest" is genuinely compelling. not only is it a bad move on its own but also it drags down the otherwise good material around itself which is always annoying, yknow... like if it was Just All Bad i would at least be FREE 😭

anyway it's whatever it's whatever . i want to draw a chapter where they talk about their Deep Baggage sooo bad. and i can be like Look. Normal Hermit. Welcome To My Twisted Mind. Or Whatever

[errorwarblesrr]

do you like totk or botw better?

In short: Yes, I like botw better.

Here are my reasons, though!

I know a lot of people view it as the better experience, which is completely subjective and valid if you do and like it better, but I just view botw as being better in almost every way.

I will give it to totk. The dungeons have a lot better atmosphere. The game has some extremely high highs with the build-up to the wind temple, the whole great sky island segment, and the final boss is a much better fight (though dark beast ganon has a better theme song imo).

Other than that, I prefer botw. Totk has a much grander story, but it's completely mishandled. You can argue that totk has a great story but has poor execution, and to me, execution plays a big role in what makes a story good. You can have good ideas bit it all falls apart if they aren't executed well which ends up making the story bad. It's not that totk has a good story with poor execution, it has good ideas but the bad execution leads to a poorly told story. (I hope that makes sense). Botw has less of a story and is more like a set of events. Botw has history and backstory that is told more organically. Link has amnesia so he slowly regains some of his memories of the past with some people trying to help fill him in. It feels more real...in a weird fantasy way. I guess totk is similar with how we see Zelda's memories, but not really? It's weird to explain. Everything 100 years ago is felt in present day botw while in totk most of those things don't really matter as it happened so long ago. Things only start to resurge because Zelda wanted to investigate under the castle. Totk also has twists like a story. Idk if this is making sense but that's how I feel on their stories. There was just not much botw could mess up on story wise as the way it was presented.

Gameplay wise I can not lie totk is technical marvel with the zonai tech. That's the most impressive thing about it. Tbh building contraptions isn't my thing though, it takes too long to make and experiment with a machine when I can just do whatever that machine was gonna do much faster. I see why people have a lot of fun with it though, it just isn't my thing. One thing I HATE in totk though is the amount of menuing I have to do. Elemental arrows had a serious downgrade. Yeah it's cool to fuse stuff to arrows, but not when I have to do it to ever single individual arrow and if I want to try something new I have to scroll past 50 other items in a single line. It's just tedious. If I want to use a good weapon I have to go to the menu, drop an item, and menu again to fuse it to a weapon that will still break. Item breaking is still an issue but it's more annoying and the weapons no longer look cool. Totk has some cool abilities, but idk I'd trade them all for remote bombs lmao. I hate going through caves, especially early game, and having to deal with the rock walls where they want me to fuse a rock to a stick 10 times to get through one cave. There's just a lot of little things gameplay wise that bug me. They doubled down on botws gameplay issues and added some more annoying ones. I don't even have to mention the sages abilities, that's a whole mess.

On the topic of gameplay, botw just has the better world. Idc, exploring that world for the first time is an unforgettable experience. Totks main world is too similar so the magic is gone. The sky and depths are also unimpressive and repetitive. Botw also has the benefit on how the word felt so lonely yet alive. Everything had a purpose or a story. The world has a history. And totk just doesn't have that. Outside of the upheaval, totk doesn't really build on botws world that much. I was hoping to see if they would've added new towns or see how they'd rebuild hyrule, but they really didn't do that. We only got lookout landing, which doesn't really count as a town, and a bunch of building stuff lying around which is cool I guess. Hateno has a school and Terry Town expanded a little, but with the estimate of about 5 years since botw it makes you wonder...what have these people been doing? We can theoretically build Terry Town in one day. There could be new towns.

Totk is a sequel that doesn't really acknowledge it's predecessor which is so odd. Botw stands on its own and is an overall more cohesive experience. Everything in the world feels purposefully crafted for that world while totk just slaps things on top of it with not much thought. Botw has some amazing world building while for totk it's either "the Zonai did it" or has some contradictory world building. For example, the old sages lifted up the sky islands so that Link would be protected from Ganondorf shenanigans, but then other sky islands suggest how they've been around long before Rauru since young Zonai used to train in them or something. There is also how Zelda says Link never leaves her side, but people she interacts with on an almost daily basis do not recognize him and how even treat as if he doesn't know some facts about her. So either she is overexaggerating by a lot and/or lying in her own diary or that people in hyrule have the collective memory of a rock. There's also Zelda supposedly never giving Link the champions leathers yet as a gift, but we see him wearing it in the beginning. Idk there's more contradictories, but I haven't experienced this for botw??? Totk is so disconnected and disjointed in comparison.

I'm trying to be vague but there's a lot to say, I'm sorry. I really was enjoying this game at the beginning but the more I played the more I noticed or saw things that bugged me and just kept adding up and up on each other. Botw was never like this for me. It's just more cohesive and I like that. There are so many other things I haven't brought up like the repetitive cutscenes, or missing characters/characters that SHOULD know Link but don't (namely Bolson and Hestu). But this post is long. I can't keep complaining about this game. Botw really is that one of a kind experience, and totk tries to replicate it but worse. Botw had a vine that totk lacks. You feel so alone, but you meet knew people and make friends. You build connections as you learn about the past and help those around you. There is no story, you're just a person going through the motions and exploring the vast world around you. Totk can't replace that for me. I'm the main character playing a side role in a disjointed world where not much makes sense. Everything is similar in all the wrong ways.

And most important of all, they took away Link's fun dialogue and personality now he really is bland asf and used to defend that he wasn't.

[anakirui]

godddd as a DDLC fan the quality of mods is *so frustrating*

So many of them have, like, the seed of a fantastic idea in there, it's set up beautifully, and then it just trips and falls into the mud either because there's a blatant mischaracterization, or nonsensical storytelling presentation, or what have you.

There's one, maybe two, really good (extended length) mods, and I still have gripes with them.

Salvation Remake is ALMOST PERFECT but the Monika B plot is so much better than the SayorixMC A plot that I want to skip every single scene of it.

Also ironically re: your post, the FNF/DDLC mod is also very good lmao.

YEAH literally like yesterday, my friend and i were looking at this mod where it was about mc like... gradually realizing that he's in a game and him being self aware, and the set up was slow (paced properly) and looked somewhat promising at the start only for the characters to start jumping to conclusions WAY too fast and then there being a really mishandled scene about sayori's depression and then we stopped reading it 😭 it really read like the writer wanted to get to the "fun" part already at the cost of the pacing, and it was just a gradual decline in quality until it just became... not good. at all.

in general, i do really like the idea of mc having existentialism over being well.. a main character (and unsurprisingly, one of my favorite toby fox characters is kris deltarune, so that checks out)

and sorry for going on a tangent, i feel like he just does not have any fan content that expands on his character in a meaningful way? like he has a defined personality that also shows his supposed lack of personality since he's supposed to be nothing more than a vn mc, and i feel like there's a lot of potential to make stuff with out of that.

i tried dissecting a lot of his lines in act 1 (i haven't gotten around to going through the whole game again for this purpose), and i think it's interesting how he has underlying insecurities and also a definite sense of apathy ... which i think hints towards his "genericness" since he's supposed to be a blank slate for us to project onto (and therefore he would have no major goals, thus resulting in him seeming apathetic), but it's also interesting how this is warped in act 2 (and i haven't seen anyone talk about it?)

ignoring ddlc plus lore because i don't know how it would factor in here; mc in act 2 is interesting because i think, like the girls, something about him was modified by monika. i don't think you can chalk up his change in personality just to the absence of sayori in his life, because sure yeah while there is things like him feeling bitter when seeing groups of friends (due to not having any himself), his other actions suggest it's something else imo.

most prominently is his lack of reaction to situations, as in act 1, mc is always describing his feelings to us and remarking on how the other characters do things vividly. in act 2, his descriptions gradually become duller and duller, until he gets to the point of when natsuki sees yuri's dead body, all he has to say about it was "natsuki ran away."

additionally, he never interferes in situations where i think he would've in act 1, such as yuri's confession scene, for example, especially with how quickly he was to try and reassure sayori about her depression in act 1 (despite his conflicted feelings about the situation).

also we know the exact moment mc was fully gone, which is interesting. he thinks of some garble text right before natsuki shows up to walk in on seeing yuri's dead body, meaning that mc was probably conscious that whole weekend 😭 and just had to stare at yuri's dead body. which is. something. but besides that, the exact moment is at the end of act 2 when monika deletes natsuki and yuri and tells the player to hold on for a second, only for the interface to glitch out ... which might be part of why mc doesn't have a chr file, dan salvato not seeing him as a character otherwise . I don't know. help

[hello-nichya-here]

Let’s be real. The only reason toxic Zutarians and delusional Zukkas became so rampant is for the same reason.

Zutararians and Zukkas are two generations of the same issue.

Maiko is written so incoherently and Mai gets no development of her own. Zuko and her are a terrible match and treat each other poorly (I know the fandom can’t agree which one is at fault but I don’t think it matters).

Fans searching for a more satisfying conclusion of the fandom fav Zuko stumble into the waiting clutches of Zutarians or Zukkas who bombard them with their terrible takes, OOC writing, and admittedly beautiful fan art. Before you know it, they lose touch with actual canon.

This is all Bryke’s fault for writing Maiko terribly.

And yet people blame Zucest… nonsense!

Anon, I don't mean to be rude, but you're just wrong all around. Not only do I not think Maiko is terrible (might not be my OTP, but I am fond of it), but even if it WAS and fans had to rely on fanon for good romance, that does NOT explain or justify the way Zutarians and Zukkas not only act like their personal preference is objectively better than everyone else's but also actively lie to themselves and others about their ships totally being secretly canon but screwed over at the last second.

They do that for one reason alone: Entitlement. They're entitled, spoiled cry babies who screetch at anyone with a different preference because they take it as a personal attack.

Bryke writting Maiko any differently would not have made these people less insufferable. Hell, their ships hapenning in the exact way they wanted them to would also not do the trick, if anything it'd make them worse.

It doesn't matter what you think about Bryke as writers and people, or how you feel about the canon ships: The bad behavior of Zutara and Zukka fans is the responsibility of Zutara and Zukka fans, nobody else.

I don't like Legend Of Korra or the comics. Never sent a death threat to the people who made them. Never harassed fans of it or had them doxxed. I love Zucest to unhealthy degrees, but you won't see me claiming "There was totally a deleted scene of them kissing in the finale instead of fighting, but evil Bryke ruined it all, and if you don't believe my obvious bullshit I'll scream at you until I'm blue in the face!"

I LOATHE the ending of How I Met Your Mother with all my being, and resent the showrunners for being such dicks to fans and complaining we didn't praise their terrible writting. I would NEVER accuse them of abusing their authority over the actors and being predators just because I disagree with awful messages the finale sent - something zutarians do Kataang and Maiko fans ALL THE TIME.

It's really, really, really, really easy to not do that kind of stuff.

Be critical of Bryke and their writting, have whatever opinion you wanna have on Maiko, but let's not pretend writers/showrunners are to blame for FANS attacking people.

It'd be like going "Oh, this actress and her fans got death threats because audiences didn't like her character, clearly this is the writers fault for mishandling said character" NOPE, the blame of that kind of awful behavior ALWAYS lies solely with the people who choose to act like that.

[whoiwanttoday]

I am pretty excited about the new Fallout show that is coming and this is just because I am inclined to like this sort of thing. I don't do a lot of TV but I have a real weakness for the setting, both specifically the Fallout universe and just post apocalyptic fiction of a certain sort. Not the bleak kind but more of the trashworld kind where we have a new society built on the bones of an old one. I think it just tweaks a part of my imagination. Like, my favorite writer is Raymond Carver and I love minimalism in general, which part of it is it paints a picture but leaves a lot of gaps that your brain fills in. This tends to make for a richer world than something full of purple prose, we project ourselves onto it and our own ideas and it resonates more. And a lot of the post apocalyptic stuff gets us there. Like as a kid I loved Thundar the Barbarian because it created this sort of new Earth where I could see stuff I knew about but other than it's the future and there was a comet we don't really find out how we got there but my brain could draw the connections. Much more satisfying than someone explaining it all. Anyway, Fallout 1 and 2 are among my favorite games ever and once upon a time that was a strange thing cause no one really knew the series, they were computer only RPGs from the late 90's so you had to be a certain type of person to even know they exist. I played them because I had heard the universe was inspired by A Canticle of Libowitz, one of those books from High School I deeply loved. Anyway, I love this sort of thing and it means I am inclined to like the show because the setting is interesting enough to me that they just have to basically make a show for it to scratch that itch. It could all go poorly of course, Fallout is a pretty cynical universe and handled poorly that can be more bleak than fun, and it's humor and satire can always be mishandled but I have hope. Ella Purnell being in it is exciting too because she was one of the things I liked best about Yellowjackets for that one season I liked it. This seems to be a very different character from the trailers, though obviously we'll see, but she was very good at playing a self centered sort of person who doesn't seem aware she's kind of awful and I will be interested in seeing how she plays someone different than that. Anyway, there has been premier stuff for the show all this week and she has looked nice and so I am posting her. Today I want to fuck Ella Purnell.

[isfjmel-phleg]

March 2024 Books

Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot by Janet and Isaac Asimov

This one was a lot of fun! I should track down the rest of the series.

The World's Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson

I was very confused about what era this world was mimicking (are they Victorian? 1920s/30s?), but it was a fun story and I enjoyed the dynamic between the protagonists.

A Dig in Time by Peni R. Griffin

I remember liking this one, but it feels like I read it years ago and I can't remember everything. Time travel with a family emphasis.

The Promise by Monica Hughes

Like Sandwriter, which this is a sequel to, I initially wasn't so sure that I liked this one, and then it went in an unexpected direction that took the themes in a more complex place, and I appreciated that.

The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

I generally like fairy tales well enough, but this one was rather a slog to get through, and I ended up skimming a lot of it. There were some familiar favorites, but a lot of the tales were of the variety that consist of an interesting set-up followed by a seemingly incoherent series of events, and I regret I don't have enough interest in folklore to get much out of that.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy

Interesting from a historic perspective mostly, but I didn't connect much with the story.

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan (reread)

Reread so it would be fresh in my mind before the presentation. You already know how I feel about this one.

The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (reread)

Same as above. I have a post in drafts with some thoughts on this one that may eventually see daylight.

The Making of May by Gwyneth Rees (reread)

Already discussed this one.

A Bit of Earth by Karuna Riazi (reread)

Beautifully written and very readable and develops its themes well. Does fall into the trap of making the story about grief (Maria's late parents were frequently absent from her life, and she resents this, but she did have relationships with them in ways that her counterpart in the original book never did with her parents, so it's a completely different dynamic). I found this Colin to be somewhat underdeveloped, but I did appreciate the concept of his being fearful about failing to live up to family expectation, which is a reasonable translation of the original character's source of shame.

Charley by Joan G. Robinson

I don't remember much of this one. Didn't have any problems, just didn't have as much impact as other books by this author have for me.

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

A very derivative example of the Child Learns That They Are Magical And Special And Enters A Fantastical World Where They Must Take On The Villain sort of story. I wanted to enjoy it, but everything felt trite.

Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time Lords by Steve Tribe

This was a gift from my brother. I am a very casual DW fan and haven't really engaged with the show in quite a while (really should rewatch and catch up on new stuff but that's a pretty big time commitment right now). I think I would have got a lot more out of this if I were more than passingly familiar with Classic Who and all the lore in general.

Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu

I was interested in this one because it's a retelling of "The Yellow Wallpaper," and the concept of comparing the difficulties of getting difficult-to-trace chronic illnesses taken seriously and diagnosed in today's world to the mishandling of women's medical and psychological conditions in the late nineteenth century intrigued me. However, this book didn't really know what it wanted to be. The young protagonist's struggles with her mystery chronic illness took up most of the book, but there was also a plot about a literal ghost in the wallpaper of her new attic bedroom that needs to be defeated in the end, and neither of these things fitted well together. One or the other of them would have been fine, but the combination left me confused about the nature of this fictional world and the themes of the book in general.

Comics/Graphic Novels

Benevolent Sisters of Charity (Over the Garden Wall)

This is the only one of the OTGW comics that I wasn't able to buy before it went out of print, so I ILLed it and realized that it was for the better that I hadn't. The story was incoherent and pointless and the characters were OOC. The art was much better than the story deserved.

Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 3

I've read these as a webcomic already but wanted it in book form too. These are entertaining; you just have to go into it aware that this is The Fluffy World version of everybody and they are characterized accordingly.

The Flash by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar

Not on a level with Waid's work, of course, but the highlight of this one was the storyline in which Linda dies and Wally manages to bring her back (some good Bart content here) and a delightfully meta short story in which Mark Millar meets up with Wally to figure out what story about him to tell next...and Wally is given a co-writing credit in the end.

The Flash by Mark Waid Books Seven and Eight

An effective end to this run. Waid points out in his Afterword that he's still got another story on reserve, so...anytime he wants to give that to us, that would be great. I'll be waiting.

The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Retelling of the Secret Garden by Ivy Noelle Weir (reread)

You know how I feel about this one. (I whipped it out at the convention to show somebody who was talking to me about CEN in the present day through leaving one's child to technology that that concept was used in this retelling, and somebody nearby oohed about what a diverse retelling it was as I flipped through pages. Which is, you know, more important than effective storytelling. It should have done both! We could have had both!)

Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Omnibus Volume 5

I've read this in webcomic form already, but it's a pleasure to have a physical copy of the latest omnibus.

Sinister Sons #1-2 plus additional material establishing the backgrounds of Lor-Zod and Sinson

A sort of response to the series Super Sons (which featured Jon Kent at his proper age and Damian Wayne), by the same author. This is going to be about a teamup of Lor-Zod (son of General Zod, was Chris Kent in another continuity, has apparently been Zukoed in this incarnation) and Sinson (a young, apparently orphaned thief who believes that his father must be Sinestro, the Green Lantern's arch-nemesis). So far the boys haven't done much more than fight, but I'm interested to see where this is going. (#3 is in the mail now!)

Lor is a horrid little piece of work, but his parents' recent treatment of him puts him in a more sympathetic situation, and I am hoping he'll get a redemption arc that would move him closer to his original version. Sinson is no angel either, but he's just a child who really, really wants a family and is clinging to the only hope for one that he has--and if that means he's a supervillain's son, then he's ready to follow in those footsteps to gain acceptance.

(Also he drew a mustache on himself with a black marker to look more like his alleged father, and that's so ridiculous and kind of endearing.)

[icharchivist]

Twitter doesn't deserve Ladiva

they really do not.

This is so unfair because like. Granblue really do a lot of work with Ladiva to develop her in many complex stories and stuff, she's a beloved character who is always getting some focus and love, who is never the punchline of jokes because they care for her so much (i think there might have been jokes very early in her development but it hasn't happened in about a decade by now), who has a fantastic event about her having to learn she doesn't need to carry the burden of everyone around her and she needs to take care of herself, and people care about her because Ladiva makes people's lives better just by being in it, she's the one character who is defined by the fact people better themselves because they know Ladiva loves them, and as such, they love and give everything for her... while genuinely, genuinely, having her at the center of plotlines about "you're so loving and we love you for that but please we beg you don't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm, we can help you too, you don't need to carry all of our burdens, and we can help you carry yours, you're not our therapist friend, and while our lives are made better with your love, we're also your friends and here for you".

and despite all of that, despite almost 10 years of constant content about the fact Ladiva is both the most loving and the most beloved character in universe, people keep reducing her character to "rep bad because she doesn't feel dysmorphia."

how is that fair!!! how is that fair!!!

Like i'm sorry but like, how is constantly reducing a trans character to being a good or bad trans rep to how they feel about their body or their design good when you ignore the actual stories this character go through?

and like, we have others trans character!! you want a trans woman who feels so dysphoric she gets panic attack when she's reminded of her previous body??? read Cagliostro's stories!! even though it rarely focus on her gender, this is something that is touched upon multiple times! and she's allowed to be cocky and arrogant and a bit selfish, and the narrative framing it like "and at the same time, she's right to be so because she IS the greatest genius of the skies".

Like. Yes be mindful of the way Granblue explore trans rep! if you want to really dig holes to a trans chara Granblue mishandled most of their history, look at Balurga! and even there his last event actually tried to undo some of the damages of his previous content!

but it feels so disgeniune to constantly, constantly, cONSTANTLY bringing down Ladiva on "but she doesn't change her body to be more traditionally feminine so she's bad rep" as if she wasn't a full fledged character with her own stories to tell on top of her transness.

And that since she's all about love, and self love, and self acceptance, without having to put expectations on yourself, and it's something she has a mentality for in every single aspect of her life so of course she also projects it on her gender..... like man. man!!!

Just pay your respect to her damnit!!

[olderthannetfic]

I've been trying to keep my mind open, about The Idol, and watched the episodes that are out on a totally legal streaming site, and had to click out because it was just... so fucking boring? It's literally nothing we haven't seen already, nothing that hasn't been put to film about a thousand times already and always with the same formula.

Like... it's just badly written and badly acted softcore porn that desperately wants to be something more by trying to mix into it deep themes that are very clearly misunderstood and mishandled by the scriptwriter. It's just another man who wants to be considered special for portraying the True Female Experience™ while utterly failing to see women as complex human beings. I've taken a number of film classes, and the script for this series is the stuff you can expect an edgy freshman to write to try and shock the class with how Dark & Broody he is.

And I was genuinely thinking about it being a me problem, to the point that I began wondering if I was sliding down the rhetoric used by antis, until I realized that one of my favorite TV shows of all time is Fleabag, a series whose main female character is a hypersexual woman who consumes heaps of hardcore porn, constantly cheats on her boyfriend, and sends nudes en masse to see who pays attention to her first.

Still, you can see that Fleabag's main themes are grief and guilt, and that Fleabag's hypersexuality holds thematic importance.

In The Idol, hypersexuality and sexual exploitation are presented as being present for thematic exploration, but they don't come off as such: they just feel like another way to ogle at the main actress' body (I genuinely can't stand shows in which the main actress is constantly naked but the main actor never even pulls off his shirt; it really shows who the show was made for, imo. The Tudors wasn't a particularly good series either, but at least the men on cast weren't scared of being seen with their dicks out).

It all has the same vibe as that scene from Queen's Gambit in which Anya Taylor Joy's character is going through the roughest time of her life, her entire world is collapsing onto her, and the director depicted this "rough patch" by having her lounge on her couch in lingerie with her make-up sexily smudged while she sexily sips from a bottle of nondescript liquor. In interviews, he went on to talk about how that scene is meant to depict the hell of addiction and how it shows the strengths and weaknesses of Anya's character. No, my dude, you just wanted a conventionally beautiful actress to wear lingerie, that's about it. If her character had been male, I very much doubt he would've been made to wear... idk, his Magic Mike attire? His clubbing outfit? His sexiest lacy thong?

I just wish these Hollywood people would stop selling their crap as deep and meaningful when it's just run-of-the-mill softcore porn. But, then again, Sam Levinson ended up sobbing at Cannes because the line "Welcome to my shithole" moved him so much, so... the hell do I know of what happens in those people's heads.

--

Tragically, they probably think they did make something deep.

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #2 [PART 1]

[originally posted november 14 2023. NOTE: while migrating the archive from cohost i've discovered that tumblr has a 10 link-block limit, which means i have to split some of these roundups up in order to maintain the embeds. we love websites don't we folks]

hello from the pits of november! between random youtube recommendations and time spent trawling through cohost's video essay tag, i've discovered a lot of bangers this month. so let's just jump in!

"Why Does Attack of the Clones Look Like a Video Game?" by Empire Wreckers.

this is a fresh take on one of the internet's oldest, most time-honored traditions: complaining about the stars wars prequels. fresh in the sense that creator Edan has worked in hollywood VFX, and so brings an eye for hyper-specific details that you'll be amazed you never noticed before. clean, no-nonsense presentation full of surprising insights. immediately after finishing this video i then watched "How Bad Movies Are Made feat. The Rise of Skywalker" whose thesis that "bad movies aren't made on purpose" yields to a refreshingly nuanced perspective on exactly why the third star wars sequel was such a mess without resorting to droll hyperbole about JJ Abrams being a hack or whatever. these are great examples of materialist media criticism, in that they are as much a criticism of the production pipeline as they are the finished product. after watching these videos, i actually think that any other perspective on these later Star Wars is… kind of missing the forest for the trees? impressive stuff all around.

"women who wish they were 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬: an analysis" by Costanza Polastri.

a quick and honest overview of how straight women often misunderstand the nature of lesbian relationships, thinking them somehow free of the conflict they experience in heterosexual ones. the insight that "you don't want a girlfriend, you just want men to be better" reminded me of when i admitted to having a crush on a cisfem friend shortly after coming out as trans, only for her to get mad at me and end our friendship because "i told you i'm not a lesbian and it's frustrating that everyone mistakes me for one!" this was before i'd even decided on Sarah as my preferred name. she was more invested in my newfound femininity than i was! anyway, Costanza Polastri has an enjoyable screen presence and brings a really interesting perspective to the table-- and in pretty short videos, to boot! not an easy feat by any stretch.

"A real history of video games | Pay to Win" by Jimmy McGee.

an essential deep dive into how the history of the modern video game industry is inextricable from the history of legal gambling. if you think you know how bad it is, trust me, it's so much weirder and more frustrating than you thought. Jimmy McGee is doing some really great stuff on his channel, providing an honest materialist perspective on media analysis that i've found sorely lacking. "The AI Revolution is Rotten to the Core" digs past the obvious criticisms of AI and LLM mania into the much more pressing question of what we, as a society, value in our art. for something shorter, i also recommend "The Dream of the Internet", about the war on the internet archive and why it's such an essential pillar of the open web.

"I Played EVERY Star Fox Game… Here's What I Learned" by wizawhat.

starfox 64 has been my favorite video game since i was a child, so naturally one of my favorite genres of youtube video is "Let's All Gawk At All The Ways Nintendo Has Catastrophically Mishandled The Franchise." wizawhat does a good job giving each game its due, mostly avoiding hyperbole while still acknowledging that picking favorites in a history this checkered is an inherently emotional, subjective process. the highest praise i can give to entries into this genre is that i was nodding along violently the whole time AND actually learned a lot of stuff i didn't know before, which i genuinely didn't think was possible! his other video "I Miss the Old Nintendo" is the closest i've seen anyone else come to really hammering home why i've soured so hard against nintendo over the last few years, despite having been a nintendo defender most of my life. my only complaint is that he uses some hack corporate language at times ("content" instead of "media," "consumers" instead of "audiences," etc), but i'm gonna dig deeper into that in a dedicated vidrev another time.

"Why We Can't Stop Mapping Elden Ring" by Ren or Raven.

a great little exploration of what maps in games do, and what they mean in an era of video games dominated by post-release patches and balance tuning. i'll be brief here because i've got a full length vidrev queued up for this one too, but it's worth stating that creator Renata Price is a games writer who has turned to video essays after being laid off by Vice earlier this year. as the first entry in a presumed corpus by an experienced critic from a very different critical tradition, i find this video exciting because it's an opportunity to study how the medium affects one's message. right now it feels like Renata Price doesn't quite know how to take full advantage of the video part of the video essay just yet, and that's a great place to start from. i just find it to be such a privilege when you get to watch someone grow their craft in real time!

"Death and Thriving - Discussing 920 London" by Wolf Witch.

just a solid textual analysis of the graphic novel 920 London, Remy Boydell's followup to their devastating prior book The Pervert. digs into serious questions about the death drive, and whether or not people can change or recover from trauma. not much else to say except that Wolf Witch is on Cohost doing speedruns of Snake Farm. Snake Farm rules! support your local Snarmers today!

"That one speedrun where you change your gender" by Minoan.

an astonishing little coming-out video in the form of a Dark Souls 2 speedrun tech overview. i don't have much to say about this one except that it put a huge smile on my face and gave me some serious vicarious gender joy. i love the sound of trans women's voices!!!

[kerrikins]

My Thoughts On BOC

I've seen a lot of debate recently about BOC and whether they should be supported/why they should be supported, so I thought I'd compile my thoughts in a post as recently I have moved towards being actively critical of them after a long time being one of their defenders.

The handling of the Build Jakapan situation. (Note: I have a neutral stance on the greater issue.) This was handled extremely badly, in my opinion. I'm not talking about the initial suspension as that's completely understandable, as is BOC no longer wanting to be tied to Build. However they bungled pretty much everything after that. There was ZERO need for a conference at all. If it was done for Build's benefit then BOC could and SHOULD have insisted that it be done immediately to close the door and move on. Instead what we got were brands basically outing what was going to happen on Monday in IG comments, while the fandom as a whole was in a tizzy because people on both sides wanted confirmation and were trying to interpret things. It didn't help that Pond himself was in the comments stirring things up and seen basically having a good time in Japan while his entire fandom was in chaos. Again, this is not about Build fans, fans on ALL sides were angered by this and left in a state of limbo for an entire week. The conference itself was also planned extremely badly. When it was first announced the idea was that both Build and Poi were going to be there, which... Regardless of who you do or don't believe, that was a HORRIBLE idea. When you have almost EVERYONE in the fandom upset with you, you know you've handled things badly.

The remaining uncertainty over the Build situation due to the handling of social media. As of today, the 4 Minutes poster with both Bible and Build's faces remains up on the official BOC instagram. Yes, stuff like this *does* matter. Is it deliberate? Is it an oversight? Is it an indication they still want to work with Build in the future? *Who knows*: and that's the problem. Fans who support Build cling to hope due to its presence. Fans who dislike him are annoyed by its presence. It should have been removed immediately following Build's suspension, and definitely after he resigned from BOC - or clarification as to the status of the project should have been posted.

The seeming cancellation of Barcode's album with zero communication. Link: https://twitter.com/Innomicogni/status/1622125274803638273 I've seen people deflect and say that it's on other parties, which, okay - but again, zero communication. That is not how you treat loyal fans who want to be paying customers.

The mishandling of the BOC twitter account. Last week fans caught that the official BOC twitter account had 'liked' a post questioning Build's tone during the phone call that was recorded between him and Poi. Again I wish to make clear here: whether or not people agree with the tweet isn't the point. It's simply that it's unprofessional for a company like BOC to appear to be taking any stance at all like this unless it is a professional, written statement done after review with a legal team. 'Likes' from their official twitter account are not a good look. The fact that later an anonymous, seemingly burner account surfaced to take responsibility and apologize just makes the situation worse, especially since BOC didn't officially address things, only retweeted this account. Again, unprofessional. If someone on your account makes a mistake: own it. Acknowledge it. Don't retweet some no-name account.

The handling of the cancellation of the Vietnam concert. Personally I find the reasoning behind this questionable, however. The actors should be instructed to say nothing beyond 'we're really sad, we wanted to see you'. Apo commented on safety and this stirred up fans on all 'sides' of the fandom, even his own fans. To make things equal, Bible ran into the same issue even with the word 'circumstances'. There's also the fact that by and large the 'threats' had been debunked and this was not addressed in the post at all - doing so would have blunted some of the attacks, at least. A proper PR team would have been able to handle this. Also, this is not isolated to one segment of the fandom being angry, as I saw anger all around, particularly from Vietnamese MA fans who felt insulted by the lack of communication and late notice. There was also the possibility that BOC did not even get the necessary approval, to which I say, if it's true: oof.

Lastly, and this pains me to say it because I've been in full support of the world tour until now... The fact that the world tour is continuing in spite of the expense of it. I know it's winding down, but still. I've always said well, the actors are having fun, but there comes a point where that needs to go to the back burner. The money could be better spent hiring PR or security! While I always assumed that the world tour was not exactly hugely profitable I assumed that they were at least breaking even, so to hear Pond say that they're actually losing money on it but still doing MORE is honestly astonishing and is poor management. Of course I don't know when they booked the venues but again this points to mismanagement - either they knew awhile ago and didn't publicize it to sell more tickets, OR they organized it late even though they know it's a cost sink for them. Bad handling all around.

The silence on work for the rest of the cast. We know that Apo, Mile, Bible, Tong, Jeff, Barcode, Bas and obviously previously Build all have work. However we know nothing about the rest. If I'm being charitable and presume that they have something planned, then my concern is that they're not publicizing or promoting these actors at all. Not only that but they are bringing on more, and doing a reality show? To me this smells of a company that is going to spread itself too thin trying to do too many things at once.

The fact that most of the above are all within THE LAST TWO WEEKS. I'm not even addressing the other issues that have cropped up over the last seven months or so. They've had to do more than a few apologies/corrections, most of which could be mitigated with a good PR team and/or translator.

Please don't take any of this to mean that I don't support the actors. I DO. And honestly, if BOC shows signs of getting a proper PR team and better management - then I will happily return to supporting them. I WANT to return to supporting them because I adore Bible and Mile and Apo and Tong and Us (and the others, to a lesser extent).

I hate that I find myself thinking that maybe they would be better off elsewhere, with a more experienced company that will take the time to invest in better PR and management. They have fifteen artists (maybe more, now) depending on them, so I really hope that they can get their shit together and make a success of things. They have some extremely talented cast members and I would hate to see them go to waste and right now I'm worried that's what is going to happen.

I'm sure that some will disagree and I respect that, but I just wanted to put this out there as I've seen some debate as to why people have issues with BOC and how they've handled things recently.