#The Ben subplot is dumb

[daydreamdoodles]

Sofia Carson narrates the descendants audiobooks. Which is great. It adds a little extra connection to the movies and I love her voice. But she also does a surprisingly good Dove Cameron impression?

Like she mimicks the husky tone Dove uses for Mal to the point that I wondered a couple times if they cut in Dove reading lines

[funfettiheart]

Spoilers for the new season of The Umbrella Academy

I think one of the (many) things that really fucked up this season of TUA for me was how they could NEVER keep any of the siblings in the same room for 5 minutes. 2 or 3 of them would go and do one thing and then everyone else would just??? fuck off? and they constantly seemed to forget that any of the other siblings existed.

The plot felt so disjointed and slow but at the same time rushed because at no point did anyone TALK to one another. I know theyre all dealing with their own shit but the most interesting part is watching them deal with it TOGETHER and seeing how each person reacts to stuff happening. But they barely speak to each other, not that any of the subplots were connected to the main plot in any way. What was up with the subway? We'll never know. Why did they get new powers? No idea. Why does Reginalds wife just appear near the end to go "AHA! It was me all along!" like??? Why was Reginald an alien? Why was Jennifer in a squid? How does the main cast dying get rid of the cleanse when there are at least 36 other children born with marigold powers?????

Also, getting new powers from the marigold should have been way more interesting! A new start, a new problem! Or at least a big change? But it wasnt because none of the characters gave a shit! Which has been one of my biggest ongoing gripes about the series: None of the characters care about what is happening. Klaus can literally fly now and there is 0 reaction. Luthers hairy again, whatever. Allison is telekinetic now??? Who gives a shit. Fuck it: KLAUS WAS SEX TRAFFICKED AND THEN BURRIED ALIVE AND NO ONE CARED.

In fact the way the characters are all treated was downright cruel. Luther could have had some much needed depth after what happened with Allison but was reduced to a dumb guy in shiny pants. Bens a dick and becomes obsessed with a woman he's just met and the entire rest of his plot is just that. Lila ricochetes between Diego and Five and is basically just The Wife when her whole thing was being a wildcard assassin. Diego was reduced to a suspicious moron and was the butt of a load of fat jokes for some reason. Allison flashed her new powers around twice and barely appeared in the plot. Victor goes to live out his dream of working for his abusive father. Five got trapped. Again. Klaus went through hell. Alone. Again.

It felt like they forgot how to write more than 2 people interacting. Fuck it felt like they forgot EVERYTHING THE CHARACTERS WERE AND WENT THROUGH IN THE PAST 3 SEASONS. To the point where whole arcs and side characters that were vital to the plot vanish.

And then finally they had this big dramatic ending... where they all kill themselves to save the world. And I felt nothing but dissappointment. The deaths of these characters that I'd seen for seasons, that I cared about and enjoyed left me thinking "I'm glad thats over" because the characters weren't even themselves any more. They fought so hard over the past few seasons to be alive and to live how they wanted and to get away from the horrific trauma that Reginald had put them through. And then the finale is them just... calmly committing suicide with none of their issues resolved. Not to mention the endless plotholes and dropped narrative threads. I'm honestly angry that this is the ending they settled on. "Youre damaged and traumatised and all of this is your fault and it always will be. Now go die about it". How miserable. How poorly thought out. What a perfect ending for season 4.

Sorry this is such a long rant, I have a lot of feelings. But most importantly: Sorry Gerard Way.

[pyromanicsghost]

I genuinely don't understand why people hate the new season. Spoilers to follow.

To start, the Five and Lila subplot was shit. I won't front - it existing outside of the plot made it easy for me to just act like it didnt happen. Diego and Lila and Five deserved better and it sounds like the actors knew it. But if a bad romance subplot could ruin a whole show, I'd hate a lot more things.

I'm on the fence about Klaus's plot - felt like sidelining him and was questionable. But also a natural part of Klaus's life. Lila had her kids, Allison had Claire, Diego his family, on and on. Klaus's whole life was avoiding being sober and then a huge focus on sobriety. This is his thing. All y'all loved his drugged antics and it gets messy and sad especially when facing it post rock bottom and change.

I see a lot of Ben being unimportant complaints - Ben was always auxilary and a mcguffin there to bond or split the group - Umbrella Ben was a concept, a guilt source, Klaus's conscience, Klaus's id...never a character and dead before the show ever began. Sparrow Ben was literally never part of this family and plot about the family embracing him would have been nice, but him having his own solo quest because he is alone in this world was also fine. Jennifer was a plot device - and in a comic book show about another apocalypse thats not neccessarily a bad thing - especially with a group of dynamic characters I care about on the board.

I see a lot of complaints about the lack of fun villains. What was Sy (I know who was in him but that performance was fun)? Gene and Jean? Those are classic villains that are right up there with the Swedes and the Handler. Hazel & Cha Cha are still standouts but thats not cause these guys sucked.

I see a lot of ending complaints - going from "it was all for nothing" to "it was harmful". If it was harmful for you please be safe and that's a personal decision each time - but also that's media sometimes. It wasn't an irresponisble move like The Magicians or 13 Reasons or other things that just don't consider the audiences needs in order to gain shock value and I don't think they did anything irresponsible with it.

(I am a survivor of unalive attempts, one right after magicians so I get it. And I'm a year sober re: Klaus stuff.)

But, I loved the ending. I don't think it was all for nothing. They saved thier families! They saved everyone! The whole world! Universe! Future and past! Their moms! Hundreds of people who died in their fight to save it, on either side because without the conflict caused by them they're lives were different! I wish the Flash, or Winchesters, or anyone else who keeps ruining lives and causing death and strife sometimes on an apocalypse scale or multiverse timesplit scale had, at literally any point, said "Actually we should value this over my mom/brother/self"...like the scale was apocalyptic. That has a cost. And wow they fixed more than even I hoped. The families? Nice. Hazel and his diner wife are where I got emotional - very nice touch to show everyone.

Why isn't there a kugelblitz? Either the deletion of the timelines and that energy removed the issue Golden Compass style or its a fun comic book show with time assassins and a new element called marigold.. take your pick. It's never been that deep.

The marigolds at the end were probably not thought about as much as anyone on here has. I thought it was just a fun finale goodbye, like getting a bouqet at curtain. I liked that Ben and Lila both had one.

Genuinely confused and had to write to the void and see if I'm alone or crazy. I recommend a lot of people read and watch more media for literacy and stop hoping for plots that are fanservice as they often tank good things and fanfiction and your imagination remain goated, often better, or touch grass and realize the silly fun comic book apocalypse multiverse romp may just be a lil dumb and that's okay...if you read all that I'd love feedback 🩷

And I loved so much more than this stuff! Claire being an actualized young adult and loving her uncle and mom and being a teen? Viktor getting the validation he craved. Diego getting his skills and lust for life back. The fucking cut from baby shark to "He's dying" and so many shots/editing/music choices that highlight the dark comedy this show is.

[earthboundguythatlikesmother1]

Welp, with The Flash coming out and it being like swan song to the DCEU, I couldn't help but take a look back at some of the other DC movies and i was like, "why not just rank them and with my stupid opinions!"

Aight so this is the part where I explain why, originally i considered making a post of each movie like how i did it with marvel movies and shows on Twitter at some point but decided not because I'm not a poignant person with the most creative writing nor could i often keep the same attention span for it for awhile so here is the best way to review em all in a few words or less.

Will be doing it in the order they were released in.

1. Man Of Steel

7.5/10.

I actually like this movie, it's definitely has non-stop action and i can't help but think maybe I just enjoy that because I have a peanut for a brain. It definitely tries to be more grounded to see how humanity would react to Superman existing our world. I do like Henry Cavill as Superman i just wish we got more scenes of him being more warmer and more scenes of him helping and saving people. I can definitely understand why others disagree and really dislike this one.

2. Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice

3.5/10

This movie exists and is what set off panic triggers at Warner Bros. & Prettyyyyyyy much ruined the perception of Superman and Batman to a bunch of "certain" people. It crams in way too many storylines, tries to set up way too much, some miscasting, kills off superman in his like 2nd appearance, wonder woman got spoiled in the trailers and whatnot.

Ben Affleck as Batman was cool and the warehouse fight scene was cool. I'm sad that it was Dick Grayson the one who got killed.

The Ultimate Edition of this one is just a 6/10, while it does give more context and more scenes that I do like, it still has the same problems so no, it doesn't fix everything.

3. Suicide Squad

2/10

Nobody likes this movie, also nobody likes me.

I remember thinking that the comic con trailer was the coolest shit to ever exist. Then I saw the movie and remember feeling lied to and deceived.

Everything sucks, everything happens too much at the same time, characters barely feel like character at times, etc. Really deserving of that Oscar!!!!!!!

I did like Harley Quinn, Amanda Waller, and Captain Boomerang (even if he barely did anything)

4. Wonder Woman

8.5/10 Wonder Woman

Really love this movie, Wonder Woman is great, i love the characters, the chemistry, the action and her helping people.

It does stumble abit towards the end however but even then, it still felt like a great movie 👍

5. Justice League (2017)

5.5/10

This movie pretty much is the reason why the DCEU became a wild rabid animal that needed to be put down immediately.

Movie is just mediocre, humor is just "Not funny. Didn't laugh." , Action is lame, backstories are rushed, Flash is annoying, Aquaman is a dickhead for no reason, cyborg doesn't even get a backstory, they really take their time saving people, dumb Russian family subplot.

I liked the after credits scene of Superman and Flash racing. So while the movie is not extremely awful and not a bad waste of your time, it's also not a good waste of your time.

6. Aquaman

7.5/10

Really like Aquaman, love how cheesy it was, Black Manta was cool.

While i love the cheesiness in this movie, this movie does also get abit stupid at times but still a fun time where you can go off with, with a pal or smth.

7. Shazam!

8/10

I thought the movie was a fun time, nothing outrageous but nothing bad as well, just a movie i can have a good time watching.

8. Birds Of Prey

6.5/10

Cassandra Cain is not even Cassandra Cain and that still pisses me off to this day. Overall, it's definitely a Harley Quinn movie and NOT a Birds Of Prey movie. Black Mask was a cool villain. This movie felt like it was trying too hard to be like Deadpool ngl.

9. Wonder Woman 1984

4/10

It's like being asked out by someone you like so you get excited and say yes and later show up to the date all ready and stuff, only to find out it was a prank just to see if you were gullible enough to fall for it.

10. Zack Snyder's Justice League

6.5/10

Welp, i now wish the movie never got released so the people who are like #restorethesnyderverse never got the satisfaction and got to comfortable enough to become a bunch of crybabies believing they are the top of the world.

Movie is just okay, cool action, good characters for the most part but holy shit is it way too long with really unnecessary scenes. If you can't release a movie without making it 4 hours long thinking it'll make things more cohesive, well i got some news for ya pal.

Welp turns out i ran to a limit with the images so lemme make another post about it to keep sharing my thoughts on the DCEU Movies, ig this is a part 1 of 2 post.

But for now, what did you think of my thoughts? Do you agree or disagree to the point that you wanna break into my house to beat me up, kill me and burn my house to the ground.

Lmk what you think or want to hear more thoughts for me to specify.

Thanks for reading, losing your braincells along the way and have a nice day.

[nothingunrealistic]

TAYLOR: Pitched Dollar Bill and Victor. Pass from each. They love you, but… AXE: That’s the smart move. Their money’s holding them hostage. Most people aren’t crazy like you, Taylor. And Ben and Tuk? TAYLOR: Too emotional for them. The whole thing. They wouldn’t meet. They knew if they saw me, especially you, they’d just go in for a hug and never let go. AXE: Dumb move. They’ll be canned by now.

7x11 axe global. interesting that taylor doesn’t mention pitching to rian and axe doesn’t even ask, especially since rian’s subplot ends with her getting emotional at the sight of taylor and going in for a hug

[iknow-becauseiwasthere]

SPN Season 11 diary

- it took me MONTHS to get through this season. Not specifically a reflection of this season just repeat binges of this show wore me out

- partly bc I love The Darkness as a concept but her flirtation towards Dean and bra straps always make be like wtf

- I do like baby Amara though

- and love Rowena but her subplot seems strange within the larger season

- baby still rocks

- plush is legit scary!!

- Lucifer you are a breath of fresh air. Similar to Ben Linus in your ability to wheel and deal while imprisoned

- again Cas tho you are kinda dumb

- the darkness is such a powerful foe the one off episodes also seem oddly placed. Love hurts is a good plot when gods sister isn’t trying to destroy the world

- Ugh safe house hi Bobby and Rufus

- sorry misha as Lucifer doesn’t hit as well

- oh and British men of letters you are interesting but show up at an odd time

- I hate Mary

[re-x]

Never Have I Ever, to me, is not about that dumb Indian girl choosing Ben over Paxton, Des, or some other tedious dude we haven’t met yet.

No. as far as the romantic subplot is concerned it’s more about Ben choosing Devi in spite of herself, and despite the fact that he has other options.

So no, you and I aren’t the same.

[arsenalgbt]

Ohhhh I'm thinking thoughts again. My friendships rn are way too overly involved but circumstances allow for that and sometimes possibly even require that and i project on wdbz but now im thinking that could be a very fun thing to fuck around with in the uni au. Close quarters allow for over involvement and we know Ben and KT didn't always get on so well and you're comment on pt. 1 inspired a little subplot to become a little bit more of a thing and now I'm thinking close friendships and yeah plot is plotting man. Catch me at work scribbling uni au thoughts into my notes all bc this is gold. I'm gonna have fun with this. I might stay up all night to write.

-💙🤍 KT anon

also not me struggling to figure out what was censored in that ask and the rushing back when the context clicked. I feel so smart for knowing what ******* is even though I should probably feel dumb for not getting it sooner - 💙🤍 KT anon

100% no idea why did I censor jurrien's name like that damn??????? and yeah man, just letting you and everyone know that WDBz friendship will be quite chill LMAO T_T cherish your friends dude, glad you have them and I'm glad I have mine~

money is good and all but it's not everyday we are graced by awesome fic plot so yeah go for it AJSFJHJHSDFJAJHKFA

[rawwkfingers]

The Second Doctor

I really liked the Second Doctor, a lot more than 1 if I'm being honest. He was silly enough to be fun but never felt like a joke. I'm still not sure how much of it was an act either. There's a ton of scenes where I think he's just playing it up to get people to underestimate him, but then there are scenes where it genuinely seems he has no idea what he's doing

He's kind of like 11 in that way, and actually as I type that I remembered that he's Matt Smith's favorite Doctor so those parallels might have been intentional

The dynamic he had with his companions was a lot different from 1 as well. Where 1 viewed himself as a mentor to his companions, bringing in the young and trying to steer them towards making good decisions, 2 seemed to view his companions more like actual genuine partners. Though I do wonder how much that has to do with the fact that so many of Ben, Polly, and Victoria's episodes are missing and it seemed like Zoe was written much better than they were

I also liked that, now that they'd officially decided that the Doctor is an alien, they played with that a little more with the Second Doctor.

So far my Classic Doctor rankings are (below the cut)

The Second Doctor. Troughton just brought so much fun to the role and I genuinely enjoyed more of his serials I think

The First Doctor. Nothing against Hartnell, I loved the crotchety old grandpa, but somebody's gotta come last

Also I intended to do a companion ranking with 1 but I forgot so I'm gonna do his era's companions here as well

Barbara Wright. I love Barbara so much. As an older companion than most of the other women in the cast (and actually, tho I may be wrong, until Catherine Tate was cast I think she was the oldest companion ever) she never was forced to play damsel roles. She often was in charge of whatever subplot she was in, most notably in The Aztecs, and Jacqueline Hill brought a sense of grace to the role that I loved. Also, as a history buff, I have to place the history teacher as number one

Susan Foreman. While I disliked how she was written at times, I still think Susan was an excellent character. I feel like she, more than the Doctor, drove the sense of mystery around the two, with her psychic powers and oddball comments. I feel badly for Carole Ann Ford because I know she was upset with how the part turned out but I do think we were given something special with Susan

Vicki. We didn't get to see much of her because of missing episodes and a shorter time on the show than others, but from what we got I really liked her. She was more... reliable than Susan was at times and the affection between Hartnell and O'Brien was palpable on screen

Ian Chesterton. When I was watching his stories, I didn't expect to like Ian much but he definitely grew on me. While I still have many questions about just how he's able to beat trained soldiers in a fight, overall I liked the way he always felt protective over Barbara (even if it was a product of sexist writing) and routinely put the Doctor in his place

Dodo Chaplet. Tbh I'm not the biggest fan of Dodo, though I do admit that has more to do with missing episodes than anything. I liked what we did get tho

Steven Taylor. I actually somewhat genuinely dislike Steven's character if I'm being honest. He was just a bit TOO impulsive and headstrong for me, making dumb mistakes just to advance the plot

Katarina. We literally only get one episode with her because of missing episodes, but I like the gimmick of her character

Sara Kingdom. Like Katarina, we only get one episode with her but she doesn't even have a cool gimmick to bump her up in the ratings

Second Doctor companions (counting Ben and Polly here because they left in this era)

Zoe Heriot. Zoe is genuinely one of my favorite companions ever, including modern companions. I love just about everything about her. The idea of her being just as smart as the Doctor, just without the life experience and the Time Lord knowledge. The way she constantly had to deal with sexist men and always put them in their place (which I'm pretty sure was the writers trying to convince a sexist audience of her worth as a character.) Her random ability to defeat Superman in hand-to-hand combat that literally never comes up again. She was fun and exciting and brought a shine to every scene she was in and I'm really sad that the way she left makes her return a lot more difficult than others

Jamie McCrimmon. I have a love-hate relationship with this Scottish himbo. On one hand, he's the dictionary definition of a himbo. A good looking beefcake who lets the woman (and the Doctor) do the thinking for him. I loved how often Zoe and the Doctor shared glances any time he tried to use his brain. It was a really refreshing take. But at the same time, they really doubled down on him being from the past and made him act so sexist toward Zoe at times its hard for me to truly LOVE him

Polly. I LOVED Polly's introduction. The initial scene of her at that nightclub, making friends with people and having a good time. That combined with the knowledge that she was going to be part of the crew who was there for the first regeneration, I had really high hopes for her. And yet, in every episode after her first she did nothing but make coffee for people, to the point that in her last non-missing episode they made a joke about it. She's still higher up than others because of that intro tho

Victoria Waterfield. I feel so bad for Deborah Watling because she's really a great actress, but Victoria was such a badly written character. Just a constant bombardment of sexist writing and having little-to-no agency in any story she was in

Ben Jackson. Tbh he's kind of a nothing burger of a character, and we also didn't get many episodes with him for me to grow to love him

[comicaurora]

Are there any romance stories or romantic subplots that specifically worked really well for you? Maybe because they were "good friends being good friends" plots first and "romance" plots second?

it is very depressing to me that for a while I could only give a conditional "yes" to this one. There are romantic subplots I liked up to a point that the writers made decisions about them I thought were weird and dumb, or that I liked in hindsight but didn't really appreciate at the time. And despite having watched a not inconsiderable amount of live-action media, every single halfway good example I could conjure up was from a cartoon.

Catra and Adora have a fascinatingly tumultuous arc to me, but I spent the entire show genuinely believing we'd never get a payoff, and when we actually got the big kiss I was too busy being shocked to really process the ramifications. In my head I'd filed them right next to Charles Xavier/Magneto and Optimus Prime/Megatron, enemies so clearly soulmates with each other but in that special murdery way. I've been planning a full rewatch, so I might get to fully appreciate it this time!

When I watched through Ben 10: Alien Force I remember being genuinely surprised at how much I liked the romantic subplot between Kevin and Gwen. I think because they were both kinda assholes about it, but in very synergistic ways. He's the platonic ideal of an Edgy Emotionally Repressed Lancer but he's kind of too blunt and straightforward to remember to be emotionally repressed all the time, and she's a smart snarky ass-kicker who figures out that they're clearly into each other immediately and bluntly asks him when he's gonna ask her out in like episode three, which completely throws him off his game. It was very cute, and Kevin got in a few good "take the bullet for the love interest to save her" moments that I'm always a fan of, but after the first couple seasons something shifted in the writer's room and Kevin got shunted back down the "actually a dickhead" route and the characters stopped acting like they cared about each other so much. It was a bummer, and since the characters stopped acting consistently in-character I kind of disengaged. But I did like how they handled it early on!

I am, obviously, broadly a big fan of the romantic subplots in ReBoot, as I am with all other major parts of that show. The main one that got focused on was between protagonists Bob and Dot, which was kind of standard background will-they-won't-they fare for the first three seasons - some miscommunications and arguments and daring rescues - until they get in a big kiss in the finale. The problem, as ever, is in season four, when they start doing some really weird sitcom telenovela twists, including a second Bob popping out of a portal and claiming to be the real Bob, and everyone in the show spontaneously sheds 90% of their braincells to forget the fact that their Bob is the one who saved the day over and over again since getting fished out of the Web, so everyone ignores our best boy who actually did the heroics to play favorites with Other Bob. Obviously Other Bob turns out to be a bad guy in disguise, but this is revealed at his wedding to Dot, and it's just fuckin stupid that it would get to that point at all. This is a big part of why I mentally carve season 4 off the canon timeline and just let it end at the season 3 finale.

The other romantic subplot is between Matrix and AndrAIa, who meet as children in season 2 and have a cute kind of mutual crush thing going on before they get lost in the games in the season 3 timeskip and, offscreen, grow up together and enter a fully-established and completely solid relationship. Aside from a brief "matrix gets jealous" subplot in the back half of season 3 that really just serves to reflect his fascinating cocktail of trauma-induced self-loathing issues, they're remarkably stable and play off each other well. I think the fact that we skipped all the romantic will-they-won't-they drama and went straight to "they did, they have, and they're totally good" did it a lot of favors - and despite Matrix being, by any metric, an asshole, it never feels like AndrAIa is settling or putting up with him or tasked with fixing him. It's more like they're each the only person the other truly feels safe and whole around, so Matrix is truly an asshole to everyone but AndrAIa (and later Bob and Dot, his other loved ones) and AndrAIa is not guarded or defensive around Matrix.

Gargoyles also had two different romantic subplots I liked - one between heroes, one with villains. Goliath and Elisa have a great dynamic that's a little less will-they-won't-they and a little more of an unspoken agreement, "we're both really into each other but we also don't really think this can happen on account of being fully different species and we're too mature to get dramatic about it." Since they're basically on the same page about it, they don't have much in the way of drama or miscommunication, it's just all that good "rescuing each other from peril" content I like.

On the villain side, David Xanatos and Fox had a surprisingly wholesome relationship considering they're full-blown villains for the first couple seasons. It's a case where their romantic subplot made them both better people in the long run as they developed priorities that weren't selfish. They ALSO skipped all the will-they-won't-they and went straight into a wholesome, committed, mutually supportive relationship.

I do also recall being genuinely surprised how much I liked the romantic subplot between Trevor Belmont and Sypha. I think what made it work for me was the tendency for them to clearly and honestly communicate with each other - about more than just their romantic subplot. There's a great bit in season 4 where they just sit down and are like "everything's been happening a LOT lately, let's talk about how we feel about that", and I appreciated the moment I think is in season 3 where they're like "hey… maybe… leaving Alucard alone in his dead parents' castle ten minutes after helping him kill his dad… was bad for him?" It's a romantic subplot that doesn't feel like it eclipses the rest of their characterization and it doesn't mean they stop caring about anything other than each other. And it also skipped over the will-they-won't-they, so honestly no wonder I liked it.

I know there's more, but I genuinely had to google lists of shows to remind myself of the one-in-a-million examples I actually liked, so let's leave it here for now.

[picturejasper20]

Debunking common misconceptions about the Ben 10 Reboot.

A mutual of mine asked me if could write a post debuking common critiques people have of the Ben 10 Reboot. Some of these critiques are based of  misconceptions and misinformation about the show while others are more subjective, meaning there are a matter of personal opinions.

I’m going to divide this post in different sections. In each section i’m going to try debunking a misconception and explain why i think this isn’t correct. If anyone wants to give their opinion on the subject, feel free to reblog the post or leave a comment.

I’m going to add a ¨Read More¨ since it’s going to be a long post.

1) ¨The reboot only has fart jokes as humor¨

I’m not sure from where people got this idea that the only type of humor the Reboot has are toilet and fart jokes. Does it has some jokes that are based on this? Yes! But Reboot’s humor has more variety than that.

Many of the jokes come from the characters´ reactions to certain events, how silly some situations are and from the dialogue. For example: Episodes focused on Xingo as the antagonist have tons of slaptick and old cartoon humor.

Since the series doesn’t take itself too seriously, it uses this to its advantage to make fun of  tropes, franchises and popular culture. It also has many references to current trends such as youtube and social media, things that the new generation is more familiar with.

If these jokes land or not is up to debate but to say the Reboot only has fart jokes is a bit of a stretch.

2) ¨The Reboot has no plot or worldbuliding¨

This is one of the weirdest arguments for me because if you watch the show you’ll know this isn’t the case. The show has a main arc as well as some subplots. 

I think people get this idea due to how the show is mainly episodic in season 1 unlike the rest of the seasons. The thing is that even season 1 has continuity that is quite important if you want to understand the rest of the series. It introduces villains as well as secondary characters that become important in future episodes. It also has tons of character development for the main protagonists, so, skipping this season would mean missing out their character growth.

By the end of season 1, Ben gets a new Alien called Gax which is the same species as the original Vilgax. It turns out this alien was half of Vilgax’s original power and Vilgax was trying to get it back. The finale is has interesting surprises and plot twists that change the status quo of the series in some ways.

In season 2 is mainly about Vilgax teaming up with other villains to steal the Omnitrix from Ben. These episodes are quite entertaining and help to develop the main characters. What’s more is that Ben gets a new alien called Shock rock and isn’t able to transform into Upgrade, which becomes important in the season finale.

I could talk about Kevin’s character arc, Charmcaster, Glitch, the Forever Knight’s arc, Animo subplot and tons of other stuff. My point is that saying that    ¨the Reboot has not plot¨ would be a huge misconception about the show. It would make more sense if someone complained about how its episodic structure hurts and distracts from the main story arc and it would have helped the series to not have so many episodes centered around the characters going on random adventures.

3) ¨Shock Rock is a cheap copy of Ghostfreak¨

When i first heard about this complain it suprised me a bit. Look, i get why a person could think that "Shock Rock is just Reboot's Ghostfreak" since they share similar stories.

However there are a few differences between the two:

Ghostfreak was possesed by an evil entity, Zs'Skayr, who later escaped from the Omnitrix and did terrible things. This was so horryfing for Ben that for a long time he didn't turn into ghostfreak out of fear of their conection with Zs'Skayr.

In the original series it wasn't really explained how Zs'Skayr got inside the Omnitrix and for how long he was concious about being trapped.

Shock Rock was introduced as a result of a terrible glitch caused by the Omnitrix being rebooted. They replaced Upgrade's DNA pod and allowed Ben to give the aliens stronger versions of themselves.

Shock Rock isn't completely evil and never really tries to escape from the Omnitrix. All that they did was to build that tower to send a signal to the Fulmini. Once the protagonists reboot the Omnitrix again, Ben was able to transform into Shock Rock without any problem.

Both aliens are a bit similar but on a deeper analysis they have different execution in their respective series.

4) "Glitch is a copy of Ship".

This is one i get why people complain about it. Glitch and Ship have many parallels in common. (Both being mechamorphs, they are both sidekicks)

The main difference is that Ship acts like a pet and is able to transform into many electronic devices. On the other hand, Glitch lives inside the kart and can't transform in the same way that Ship does. (However he can in the future, years after developing his powers).

Their backstories and origins differ. Ship was born from a mechamorph that needed help after he crashed his own ship. Glitch was the result of Ben using Upgrade to reboot the Omnitrix in the season 1 finale which forced Upgrade to fuse with Ben's DNA to survive.

Another point i want to add (based on speculation) is that Glitch resembling is Ship seems to be very intentional. I think the creators wanted to Ship to appear again in the Reboot. So they decided to create Glitch.

Keep in mind that the Reboot makes tons of references to the original series and its sequels. It wouldn't be suprising if Glitch is a reference to Ship.

5) "Max is not clever/ is dumb"

I don't really got the impression of reboot Max being "dumbed down". He is one of the characters that acts almost exactly as he does in the original series.

I think this complain come from Max being less serious in this series: He isn't so strict with the kids and gives them more freedom to do what they want. He is also more open minded and has less "black and white" mentality that he had in the original series.

He is still almost the same character, just more easy going and down to earth in comparison. He still acts as a guide for Ben and Gwen. He still has a few arguments with Ben for not listening to him in some episodes.

@theangrycomet made a post a few weeks back about Reboot Max. I think people should check their post because they explain many things that i mention here in more detail.

Here is a link to their post: X

6) "They cancelled Omniverse because of the reboot"

This one is a somewhat old argument. Again, i don't know where people got this idea that reboot was the main reason they cancelled Omniverse.

I have been trying to find an article that could explain the reason behind its cancellation. All i was able to find were fans talking about how it ended because of the low number of toys getting sold. Nothing about the reboot.

It could one of the things lead to Omniverse being cancelled but not the only main factor.

If anyone has more information about this feel free to leave a link in the comment section or by reblog.

7) "Ben is out of character in the reboot"

This something i don't really get at all. Reboot Ben behaves pretty much the same way he does in the OS. He is still cocky, stubborn, competitive, impacient and gets into a trouble.

Is it because he appears to be nicer in this series? If it is because of that then i personally like this change. I found Ben to be more likable in this version. As well as capable of regretting his actions and learning his lessons.

Reboot Ben is a complex character. It has so much development that i would find it difficult for me to sum it up in just one post.

I think fans get this impression since they are more used to Alien Force Ben than OS Ben. That's why they believe Reboot Ben is acting OOC when in reality is he isn't much different from the OS Ben.

If anyone has a better explanation, please leave it in the comments section/reblog.

-----

Okay, those are the most common misconceptions i found after talking with some mutuals. While a few things are a matter of doing fact checking, others are based on my perspective on the series.

Keep in mind that i don't think the Reboot is perfect by any means. It has its issues like slow pacing in the first season or characters that are annoying.

However, if someone wants to give a serious critique, they should try doing a bit of research and fact-check to see if their points are valid. Otherwise,they might look misinformed at best and making bad faith arguments at worse. That's all.

[generalfandomsofthefreak]

being a YJ fan and Owl House fan is essentially just swinging wildly between being happy with the subplots, characterization, animation and everything

and then with YJ it’s Ben Affleck with a cigarette because Greg said something dumb again but still watching because that show has me by the balls

[margoshansons]

i do want ben & sophie for season 3, but polin will definitely have some random sideplot that’ll take up half the season if they’re not the leads. kate & anthony lost screen time for the dumb cousin jack plot no one cared about, and i’m still pissed. if they give s3 to polin, maybe they’d be sidelined after and s4 could be focused on benophie?

Here's the thing, Nicola is involved in the writer's room, Idk why but she is, which means that no matter if we get Benophie in season 3 or 4, Polin is going to have a big subplot regardless.

I'd rather have Benophie next so I can enjoy season 3 rather than Polin which will just kill it dead.

[clio-just-clio]

The Riverdale 102(?)-Day Sprint, Day 5: “Chapter Sixty-Six: Tangerine”

The Shankshaw Re-dumb-tion

And here we are again. Weird that of the five episodes I’ve seen so far like 2 or 3 have been from S4, not that it really matters too much. But merely from the fact this is S4 I can immediately deduce: 1) there will be some useless gang war stuff surrounding Archie’s community center, 2) there will be something about the tapes, and 3) there will be more of that tedious flip-flopping with Betty and Archie. I can’t wait for that redheaded block-jawed freak to get ritually sacrificed or killed in WW1 or whatever the hell actually ends up happening in S6. Well, I suppose I’ve put this off long enough. Here goes:

                       *          *          *

This show is doing something to me. I can feel it changing my brain in the same way being kicked repeatedly in the head does. I think I’ve predicted several major plot developments, but it doesn’t matter nothing matters why why why. I am 99% sure the Black Hood was Betty’s dad, although they haven’t outright said as much: interesting that he knew about Betty’s Dark Passenger. Is there some kind of like... inherited condition that gives you one? I should just make a list of every show this one rips off, because Dexter seems like a main inspiration here. Let’s assess the damage of the various subplots:

Archie is continuing to be a vigilante but maaaaybe he’s done for realsies this time? He seemed genuinely sad (or as genuinely sad as that oaf can in this show) when he was tearing up with his mom about it near the end, and he did almost actually kill Dodger... wait shit I just realized that and Fagin are an Oliver Twist reference I am genuinely livid. This show is the equivalent of hitting yourself in the head with a dictionary several dozen times in a row.

Jughead’s subplot is probably the least consequential here, even if it does eventually lead to his 100% fake death. His grandpa was apparently a bastard, but he’s probably dead or something so it doesn’t even matter. Jughead joins a frat in the last few minutes.

Betty has a Dark Passenger! This Dexter subplot is obscenely infuriating, because of Shankshaw Prison (get it? do you get it? do you get how clever the showrunners are?) and also the whole plot being really really dumb. Cult lady says “tangerine” three times and then I guess it makes people believe they’re Betty? Then they try to kill Betty because she’s “dark Betty” in their minds. That’s not how hypnosis works that’s not how any of that works. Whatever. Charles seems a bit detached here, as usual, and the parallels to my beloved Agent Cooper are numerous. He is definitely a serial killer tho.

Veronica Lodge’s subplot is the worst of any of them. She’s up against evil moonshiners run by her dad again, and Hiram is using copyright laws to try to quash her business. Also she has a nightclub or something. She’s supposed to be like 17 or 18. Sure, whatever fine. I was going to issue some unconditional praise because the rivalry between Veronica and Hiram is what Audrey and Ben Horne should have been doing in Twin Peaks S2, but then I realized I was unironically comparing Riverdale to Twin Peaks and I slapped myself in the face in real life.

And last and certainly not least we have Cheryl Blossom. Her actor is just owning how ridiculous this subplot is and it’s honestly a treat to watch. Apparently Mrs. Blossom is like a serial killer? So Cheryl imprisons her in a bunker or something after faking a suicide attempt, and it turns out Mrs. Blossom is jealous of Cheryl spending so much time with her twin brother’s exhumed corpse. The way this was shot and acted screams camp and I love it unironically.

Well, that’s this episode. I hate every character in this show with a burning passion, and I want to do to Archie what most people say they want to do ironically. I want to kick that character down the stairs not out of some kind of love but a hatred that is festering and growing more every day. He’s such a bland protagonist who is moody and brooding and conflicted despite the fact he has literally everything he wants. It’s quite obvious this uncle of his will be evil or something and fine whatever he’ll die pretty soon too probably, since there’s no mention of him in the S5 episode I saw a few days back. I am frothing at the mouth I should probably stop writing. Tomorrow, hopefully I get a more straightforward episode, preferably from the first season...

Tomorrow: “Chapter Ninety-Two: Band of Brothers”...damn.

quick notes

- just by the recap I was immediately right; more gang bs inbound. lovely

- apparently Betty killed her childhood dog? or her dad did and brainwashed her into thinking she did?

- wait actually that’s pointing pretty strongly to him being the man behind the slaughter Black Hood, isn’t it?

- and Jughead’s dad is actually the Hardy Boys author is something

- OH RIGHT Archie’s a vigilante! I hope he gets shot

- and Jughead’s the new ghostwriter! wow! I can’t wait for this subplot to go absolutely nowhere

- VERONICA RUM SUBPLOT how could I forget!

- love how Archie just tells Jughead’s dad/the sheriff (wait wasn’t he supposed to be dead and a gang leader?) he’s the vigilante. Sheriff Jones holds up a picture of the vigilante and says “Is this you” and Archie’s just like “yea lmao”

- right yeah Archie’s mom’s alive. what’s the deal with that? was she dead or was she just divorced in S1?

- hm. fuck. I have some unqualified praise for this show. let me think about it while I finish the episode and maybe I’ll lay it out in the actual write-up

- so Polly Cooper is Jeff the Killer or something? great cool whatever I thought she was just like... really loyal to that cult (which cult? there are so many cults in this one shitty town)

- alright I’m lost here what’s her deal? is she faking this amnesia? I don’t know the context to her character

- also. that is some. ah. quality acting

- HA Hiram’s mom is going to turn him into fertilizer

- OH MY GOD MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE HYPNOSIS with an activation phone call and everything!

- and a finger snap brings you back! just like Captain Underpants! (well technically like negative universe Captain Underpants bc regular Mr. Krupp is turned into CU with a snap. don’t ask why I remember all of this stuff from elementary school books it’s not important)

- wait so is it a magic word that can affect anyone? or is it just certain people with implanted triggers?

- I have a big-brain prediction: it’s just people related to the Cooper family, Betty specifically. We’ve only seen her sister and mom be affected, right? AND Polly attacked the nurse named Betty! the order must be to kill Betty specifically! I am only 8 minutes in and I’ve already figured this out what is wrong with me

- called Hiram’s mom kicking his ass

- “What are you doing picking fights with your daughter? Your father is turning over in his grave.” I know Hiram’s mom is the stereotypical angry Hispanic lady but I like her anyway, simply because Hiram needs to get his ass kicked more

- I swear every 5 minutes one of the 3 leads gets a phone call with dramatic news. it happens literally a dozen times an episode

- SHANKSHAW PRISON ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME I WANT TO MAIM

- The Farm is the name of the cult Polly was in? noted. and apparently it was run by a supervillain who had like... mind-control audio? that’s convenient

- Edgar... I’ve heard that name before. so the Farm’s cult leader guy is dead, and it’s his girlfriend. great. glad there was zero mystery there

- also why does Charles even need Betty’s help? he seems like the most competent member of the cast. he could end Riverdale’s problems in 2 seconds if he cared. what’s his deal? he seems off somehow, not dissimilar to a certain FBI agent I know...

- Forsythe just takes Jughead at his word about them being related? isn’t the whole reason he’s living out in the woods that people are obsessed with him or something? why would he believe some dweeb with a jug for a head?

- OH HA that Julian subplot with Cheryl Blossom is still going on! and Jason is still decaying in the living room! I fucking hate this show

- OH SUICIDE ATTEMPT PLAYED FOR LAUGHS LOVELY

- WHY THE GAS MASK??? WHAT IS GOING OOOOOOON

- ohhh ok no I was sort of wrong Forsyth(e) did write the books but some classmate stole them. sure whatever who cares

- AND MR JONES JUST LETS ARCHIE BE THE VIGILANTE JDBSBHDSBABSB

- and not only does he agree he joins in on the vigilantism! this show sure treats cops like superheroes!

- oh wow no mask or anything? isn’t a mask an integral part of vigilantism?

- Cheryl’s subplot sure does exist! I have no clue what’s going on anymore. was that story about her absorbing her 3rd twin sibling bs?

- gaslight gatekeep girlblossom. that should be the name of this subplot

- and of course Mr. Jones is like “yeah kicking the shit out of people sure is cool isn’t it” and Archie’s just like “yea lmao”. stupid bootlicking show

- huh so it turns out Forsyth(e?) is just a mediocre white guy after all and DuPont is just weird but not a serial killer. ha!

- love how the cult lady just freely tells Betty how the activation phrase works, even if it is a ridiculously stupid explanation

- oh so the name of the episode is the trigger phrase. funny. and nice Candyman reference ya pack of nerds

- wait so is Mr. Jones just dead? that won’t be good for Archie and Jug’s already rocky relationship. also lol what did they expect from that vigilante-ing?

- AHSJSBDBSSDBH Charles is just like “hey Betty what if we did a funny bit where you tried the trigger phrase on yourself? what’d happen then? let’s find out!”

- so... Cheryl’s mom is jealous of Cheryl bc she’s spending quality time with Jason... who is still a rotting corpse. huh

- this is the worst rendition of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” that I’ve ever heard. how fitting for such a lousy fight scene

- so does Betty have some kind of “dark passenger”? Is she secretly a serial killer or somethimg? will she become Dexter? Is Charles Dexter?

- BETTY HAS A MIND PALACE ANJABAHBAAHBA

- listen I don’t like making fun of kid actors – it’s not their fault. if they’re directed badly they just sink. but Dark Betty’s actor is really really not goof here

- also love how this epic confrontation between Betty and her Dark Passenger is just her saying “killing is bad actually” and her shadow self is like “yea I guess you’re right goodbye forever”

- whenever the camera pans over to Jason and his dumb dead face I always laugh. It has to be intentional right?

- “Archie... honey... why are you sitting in the dark?” except it’s TV show dark, so everyone is perfectly evenly lit

- and only now does Archie feel slightly bad about vigilante-ing. I hate him so much

- and Jason gets a Viking-esque 2nd funeral. how charming

- HA AHAHAHA AND ARCHIE’S DAD’S BROTHER SHOWS UP AS A LAST-SECOND TEASE I hate this show... so much...

- and yet another flash forward to dead Jughead! by Betty’s hand no less!

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Ranger Rankings - Power Rangers Beast Morphers

Genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this tbh.

Premise - 4

One part RPM, one part Lightspeed Rescue. I kind of like that they acknowledge the Morphin' Grid properly rather than just casting vague aspersions as to its existence.

The whole Morph-X thing works really well to drive the season forward and remains relevant throughout both seasons, and it gives Grid Battleforce a reason to exist outside of just fighting Evox.

I thought they might start playing with virtual reality a bit when they had the whole Avatars and Cyber Dimension stuff, but I'm kind of glad they didn't.

Character Dynamics - 3.5

Devon and Ravi felt a little flat at times. Their sole characteristics were 'video games' and 'art', outside of their relationships with the other characters. That'd be fine if it was just one season, but I didn't really feel like either of them changed too much over the course of the show, especially Devon when he's the Red Ranger.

Zoey and Nate were much better - Nate especially felt like he had a journey to go on, and he got there by the end of the season. I enjoyed that the pair of them got to get together midway through rather than at the end, so we could kind of explore them a bit more as the season progressed.

The supporting cast were also surprisingly good. Blaze and Roxy (both real and evil) were fun little foils, and the parents having an active presence for most of the show was nice since they had roles that meant they could keep popping up without needing to be forced into the plot.

I also kind of loved the Beast Bots. I thought they'd be a bit superfluous, or draw time away from the other characters, but they were there pretty much exactly as often as they were needed.

And I will not hear a bad word about Ben & Betty. They're dumb, but they mean well, and they're very funny without crossing the line into annoying or arrogant. A definite breath of fresh air after Monty and Victor last season.

Sixth Ranger Arc - 4

Steel! I love Steel. He could have easily just have existed to forward Nate's plots, but he had his own stories too, and something to strive for throughout the seasons. Him learning to be more human and then actually getting to be human is the perfect culmination, especially after his heroic sacrifice.

Plus he's a giant goofball. We love a giant goofball. "My butt is metal!"

Plot Development - 4

Were most of Evox's plans the same? Yes. But they usually had a point to them outside of the usual 'acquire Morph-X, ???, profit' angle.

There were enough subplots running through the seasons to keep everything moving. The Cybergate arc, and the data chips stuff in the first season, then the Ryjack stuff in the second one, kept everything from being too samey. I did find myself switching off during the Megazord fights, but then I've just watched 27 seasons of these so I think that's more on me than the show itself.

I also very much enjoyed how much they leaned into Ranger history; I don't think, outside of Megaforce where that was sort of the point, that any other season has used past Ranger continuity so well and so consistently. Doctor K showing up not once but twice was wonderful, and the Venjix reveal was super clever (even if I knew it was coming).

Villains - 4

Evox in the first season is great fun. I love that giant snake design, it really works well for me, and he loses a little bit in the second season after he becomes a robot full time. His mini arc pretending to be the Mayor was fun, but it felt like it ended a bit quick.

Scrozzle, stupid name aside, was pretty good too. I liked the banter with the other minions. There's something about 'put upon evil genius' that works for me.

Both sets of Roxy and Blaze were fun, probably moreso in the second season where the stakes felt a little higher.

And I love that they keep bringing back Sledge and Poisandra; they know that they're fun, we know that they're fun, so they just give us what we want.

Team-Up - 5

Yes, another 5, leave me alone. Seeing the Dino Charge Rangers again was great, and the plot they came up with to get everyone together built up nicely rather than just appearing out of nowhere for the crossover.

I also found the villain clip-show episode in the middle oddly fun, since it wasn't just a clip-show for the season I'd literally just watched.

It's a shame they weren't able to get any more of the Dino Rangers back; just having Jason there, while nice, felt a little weak.

But that triple Megazord fight at the end? Perfect.

Overall - 4.08

Hottest Ranger - Nate's the cutest, but Ravi and his arms win this one.

Notable Episodes:

The Cybergate Opens - The end of the first big arc of the series, and the arrival of the Gold and Silver Rangers.

Finders Keepers/Making Bad/Grid Connection - Dino Rangers, unite!

The Silva Switch - Body swap! Singing! Yesss!

Crunch Time/Source Code/Evox Unleashed - A big, high stakes finale with some excellent reveals and a guest star I'm always happy to see.

[beeblackburn]

The Anti-TBR Tag

I was tagged by @books-and-doodles! Thank you! And poor you, for I am a long-winded bastard.

1. A popular book EVERYONE loves that you have no interest in reading?

On general principle, I feel like the really popular stuff (Twilight, Throne of Glass, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments) ends up being stuff I’m inherently not going to be attracted to and some of them have their own hatedoms going on, so going after them in detail would be punching down (though I don’t particular like any of the above). So I’m going to try to go off the beaten path with these seven:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab = nothing against her personally, though I heard her The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was baaaaad, but apparently, she’s similar to Sanderson in the magic system being better than the characterization and I heard her writing’s got a white faux-female empowerment sort of thing going that I’m growing increasingly... discontent of by itself. I might try it out later, but I also got hundreds of books to drill through first and I’m in no rush.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo = I’ve been increasingly getting the sense that Six of Crows was a flash in the pan, Bardugo’s style more defined by fun than genuine substance. And given a rather scathing review that points out unearned shifts in characterization, lackluster supporting cast, and two really uncomfortable exploitative sexual assault fantasy scenes (one of which was underaged!), I’m gonna say no.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik = I generally like Novik! She’s a very solid writer to me and I’ve bought most of her books, so this is purely me not taking to the Wizarding School genre. Sorry, Novik, "a twisted, super dark, super modern, female-led Harry Potter" isn’t the selling point it once was, and even then, I probably wouldn’t have taken to it. Especially when I’ve already got The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan to read.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson = I’ve got mixed feelings on Mistborn looking back: it’s hardly the worst of his oeuvre (Elantris is that and was admittedly his first book) and The Final Empire took a few narrative risks that I admire, I also found the resulting books a tad juvenile and I don’t take to steampunk, genre-wise. I’m not even that much of a Sanderson fan, so I’d rather just read the summary for all I care.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher = given what I’ve been told about The Dresden Files’ lessening of noir roots past the first few books, how it later became more flashy-and-bang magical, and how it’s pretty sexist early on (and from what I’ve been told, doubled down on it later on and having worse treatments of its female characters), I’m in no particular rush to read them. The urban fantasy genre on them only turns me off more.

The Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss = hahaha, I’m sorry, I did read The Name of the Wind, and read select parts of The Wise Man’s Fear, but everyone, instead of waiting and devoting your time for this book to come, I would suggest reading Fitz, Who Is Actually Good and Can Wring More than Disgust and an Eye-Roll out of You in Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings, given she is far better at characterization than Rothfuss.

Anything by Paul Krueger, Sam Sykes, and Myke Cole = fuck all three of these men and the idea that I’ll pay for their stuff. While I can’t demand any of you not buy from them and I’ll hardly claim to be a saint in terms of ethics, purchase-wise, I would beseech you all please don’t buy from these three authors who have a history of inappropriateness.

2. A classic book (or author) you don’t have an interest in reading?

Charles Dickens = look, I know his word count is padded because of serial installments back then, but I’m sorry, I wasn’t that impressed by the child-sanitized versions of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. They were easily some of the most boring of out of the child-sanitized classics I read. It was the pictures that kept me going and barely at that. No thanks.

Emily Brontë =  look, if I wanted shitty people being shitty to each other, I’d much rather read Joe Abercrombie because at least I’ll get some intentional dark comedy out of dumb shitheads being terrible to each other (Best Served Cold comes to mind). And I know we’re not meant to like these self-destructive people, but I’d rather not hate everyone that much.

Alexander Dumas = Three Musketeers really didn’t age well, just from the TV Tropes page and I’m not really looking forward to an adventure that goes out of its way to valorize its protagonists being adventurous assholes who dueled, drank, and womanized harder than anyone else and we should commend that because they were men. Ugh.

3. An author you have read a couple of books from & have decided their books are not for you?

Leigh Bardugo = like I said, I feel like Six of Crows (and Crooked Kingdom, to a lesser extent) was a flash in the pan and she’s been increasingly running on fumes ever since then. Good and fun with a decent eye for characterization, but hardly revolutionary, considering how I think Crooked Kingdom isn’t quite as good as Six of Crows, and the less said about Shadow and Bone, the better.

Neil Gaiman = I’ve read some of his stuff (and I didn’t quite see the hype over his writing, but liked it decently enough) but having heard that, in his Sandman run, he wrote in a transwoman solely to get killed for an emotional ending and how he defended that choice for awhile left a battery acid taste for me to read more. He’s a formative part of people’s childhoods, so I don’t blame anyone for being fans, he’s just not for me.

Steven Erikson = really nothing against the dude, I’m sure he's probably a decent guy, but I didn’t take to Gardens of the Moon at all and skimming Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice (which were admittedly better) made me realize its prose was something I would need a hard and sharp shovel to crack through, and the darting around of many, many POVs made me feel not invested in anyone.

4. A genre you have no interest in OR a genre you tried to get into & couldn’t?

I’ll answer both because I have the time:

I’m not interested in romance, mostly because it’s an entire genre built around the build-up. It’s usually the story about the beginning of a relationship, not the relationship itself. I’d genuinely like to read about the story of a romance that doesn’t stop shortly after the hook-up or before the honeymoon period ends. The City Watch parts of Discworld by Terry Pratchett, The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan and The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold all have romantic elements that are relatively undrenched in melodrama or frills, but none of them are pure romances, which is a huge problem. I can take romantic subplots in fantasy, but I can’t take the genre as-is.

Urban fantasy is a genre I’m not against having my mind changed on liking, but right now, I generally find it insipid, a shortcut to good world-building, short on great characterization, and an excuse to lampshade and pretense to being above fantastical clichés in a tongue-in-cheek attitude while still committing to them. I do genuinely like Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch, but that’s really the concession I can give the entirety of the genre. I took a crack at Rick Riordan and Cassandra Clare’s stuff, but it didn’t feel like my sort of thing. Again, would like to be convinced, but I’d much rather read a domestic or slice-of-life fantasy set in a more overtly fantasy world than the urban one. 

Also, sci-fi, but I’m trying again with the Wormwood trilogy by Tade Thompson, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, and either the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie, or the Teixcalaan trilogy by Arkady Martine. I snoozed through Azimov’s Foundation and generally bored myself of hard sci-fi books, so I’m hoping contemporary sci-fi changes my mind on the entire genre.

5. A book you have bought but will never read?

A book I personally bought? Honestly, Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell. No particular reason, I just bought it at a closing-down sale at a branch of my bookstore on the cheap because the cover looked nice and didn’t really take to its blurb. I heard good things though, so if anyone else wants to read it...

I tag @vera-dauriac, @xserpx, @autoapocrypha, @kateofthecanals, @turtle-paced, @insecticidalfeminism, @secretlyatargaryen, @helix-eagle-hourglass-nebula, @xillionart, @jovolovo and whoever else that is following me and wishes to do this tag (I’d like to read your posts, so please tag me! :D)