#Two years of hype after s3 and for what

[themidnightcircusshow]

Ozark s4 spoilers

So I read the Vantiy Fair interview with the Ozark showrunners, and now I’m just even more frustrated with the writing choices they’ve made. Particularly with Jonah. Again. 

They said that Jonah having the final shot was meant to be him ‘coming into the fold’ so to speak. That he was the last family member to get on board with being a criminal. Which just proves that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing in season 4a, and most of 4b. In my write up of the issues with 4a, I mentioned that the problem with Jonah is that none of his actions fit any sort of motivation. One thing I specifically pointed out was that if Jonah’s motivation was intended to be that he was having a crisis of conscience (which the VF interview confirms), then it makes absolute no sense for him to be working with Ruth and Darlene. If the entire point is that Jonah hadn’t been fully indoctrinated into the life of crime, then that makes that plot line even worse. 

Especially when the way they brought Jonah back to the family was by having Wendy admit that yeah, she’s been a monster, but she’s willing to put her own desires aside for the sake of her family. That basically confirms that he’s hurt not by the killing but by the betrayal, which makes the money laundering kinda make sense (she betrayed him, he betrays her) but goes against the intended symbolism of him ‘finally’ becoming a criminal at the end. 

I saw a great tweet that said if they were going to focus the ending on Jonah, then they needed to focus more of the season on Jonah, and that is painfully true. Season 4 treats Jonah like a prop to be passed around, rather than an actual character, so the ending doesn’t have as much impact as it should. Freaking Sam gets more of a storyline than Jonah in season 4. The only indication we get that Jonah wants out of the criminal life entirely is one line in the finale, which also is just him being whatever they need to be at the moment.   

[chirpsythismorning]

Skam show-runner Julie Andem clocking the fuck out of Mike being queer-coded in s1 of Stranger Things, and then using it as inspiration to queer-code Isak in s3 of Skam can be something so epic.

THIS! THIS is what I'm talking about!

In ST, there are two scenes in s1 (pretty/still pretty) that milkvans use as irrefutable proof that Mike has always had romantic feelings for El, with the primary object in the scene being a mirror.

THIS. MEANS. SOMETHING.

Mirrors in film mean something more often than not, but especially when they are the focus of a scene is when they definitely mean something. And the way they go about it differently in between those two scenes in ST, drastically differently, and considering the subject matter is very very queer coded, is how you really know there is a significance in this case.

And that scene above from Skam proves it.

Because apparently, another filmmaker watched ST, picked up on those odd details surrounding Mike and said shit I'm gonna use that...

Notice how Isak here, a gay teenager who is fully in denial with others and himself, to the point where he makes really homophobic remarks often, gets caught denying a bunch of girls as being attractive in a conversation with his friends. And so now they're questioning him and making him feel on edge bc the focus is on him and his attraction (lack thereof) to girls.

While his friends aren't even implying he is gay in this moment, it's just them genuinely being confused why he doesn't think any of the girls they think are attractive are attractive, you can still see that Isak starts to feel the pressure and so he latches onto the first girl he thinks of, Emma.

Emma just so happens to look like Natalie Portman with her extremely short hair.

Low and behold this very girl enters the room shortly after he says this and so now Isak has to face this and give his friends the impression he is fully interested in this girl, otherwise they would DEFINITELY suspect something is off. And so he goes all out.

He outs himself.

He literally says Don't you look like that boy from Stranger Things, and then follows it up with saying he would only be attracted to her if we're assuming he is attracted to boys, only to quickly backtrack and start to approach her really flirtatiously, then going all out by making out with her.

As this happens, he is kissing her in the bathroom, in front of a mirror...

Now I want to make clear, I am not saying ST was inspired by Skam. I'm pretty sure I did make that clear, it's actually the other way around, which is even more incriminating arguably.

S1 of Stranger Things came out in 2016, whereas s3 of Skam came out the following year in 2017. The hype for ST was so immense, to the point where you had Norwegian teens referencing it in everyday conversation.

The creator of Skam took scenes from ST that framed Mike very peculiarly in s1, and used it as queer-coding for a character that ended up being revealed as gay.

For those that haven't seen Skam Norway... Run. Leap. Drive. Teleport. Do what you have to do and go watch it. It's not available on any streaming, in fact it's only available online through fan-sites outside of where it's based. Conveniently, all 4 seasons with English subs can be found HERE.

Basically this show is amazing and you need to watch it. Some seasons I like more than others. But the gist of it is that every season focuses on a different character from the main group, where they experience some sort of misunderstanding/miscommunication that leads to them being misinformed about certain things, followed by them making mistakes and having doubts, though it tends to end in a way that feels so refreshing compared to what we're used to.

Skam also translates in english to shame, so the idea is that there is an arc surrounding some form of shame every season.

With Isak in particular, he's the focus for s3, though his arc starts to become more clear as early as the end of s1.

Eva, the character in focus for s1, borrows Isak’s phone to call someone, and ends up seeing that there's gay porn in a bunch of his tabs on his browser. Their friend Noora also witnesses this and she ends up being the focus of s2.

Throughout s2, we get even more blatant hints that Isak is gay and in love with his best friend...

So it's established pretty early on throughout the series that Isak is queer and in denial about it, but it isn't until s3 that he himself is able to confront it.

The way they go about this arc, with Isak having unrequited feelings, is exactly how ST would have done it IF Mike hadn't returned Will's feelings.

So if you're looking for more byler proof, go watch this show and see how they don't let Isak pine over his best friend Jonas for more than 2 seasons.

When the story finally puts Isak at the forefront, they give him his own love interest instead of keeping him pining for his friend. It's really pure and amazing and TBH I would have been fine if ST was framed this way, with it being clear from the beginning Isak's feelings were unrequited, and with the other half of the series focusing on him moving on and finding love himself, and also with his best friend and him still being very close.

Although Isak has that queer-coding from the very beginning, with him looking at his friend all fondly, he is still not able to confront any of it. The following season he dates a girl and is a little over the top about it, though we can also see that he is struggling despite not wanting to face it. It isn't until s3 when the story shows us his inner struggle at the forefront, that we see him finally confront it and accept it.

For those that don't know, Skam also loosely inspired the Nick Nelson gay test scene... So we have character that despite showing many signs of being queer, to the point where we know he literally watched gay porn, is still finding himself in a situation where he's taking gay tests 2 years later....

While he might have the knowledge deep down, he was not willing to face it. In fact he was doing everything he could to avoid confronting it.

But then he falls in love and suddenly it's not something he can ignore anymore...

[abibeur]

So. I played Side Order (or rather I finished Side Order, aside from a few completion marks that doesn't offer any spoiler stuff!).

I've been seeing stuff on Tumblr, on Discord servers, on YouTube comments by people who were… Not entirely happy with it. Or rather disappointed. "They could have done more…", "This character was underused…", "I preferred the Octo Expansion…", "Let's re-write it for something better…". And let me tell you, I was (and still am) infuriated when reading these. Not because those comments and posts and messages were unfair, unjust and idiotic or anything (well maybe the re-writing thing was uncalled for), but because I actually loved that DLC. I think that's pretty normal to be angry with seeing a thing you love being shit on, even if I get what all of you meant. But I still wanted to share my own thoughts (because why not, I like saying what I think).

First and foremost, let me just say that I have a pretty different relation with Splatoon than most people. I was in since the release of the first game. I didn't play it due to a lack of Wii U, but I watched a lot of videos. And I liked it! I even had Splatoon OCs, I could be considered a fandom veteran at this point! But after some years, I put it at the back of my head as something I loved. When the Switch came out, I didn't have the money for it and no one would buy me one, so I continued to be a PC gamer. And when I saw the news of a Splatoon 2, I dismissed it like it was something silly, "what can you say more about Splatoon!?" I knew there was some new idols, some stuff about a DLC, Callie being kidnapped, but that's all. I dismissed all of this, and as a result I don't have much of an attachment for it. But in 2021, when I saw the news about a third game, I was ecstatic again. And in 2022, when I finally could afford it, I bought a Switch. Not just any Switch, the Splatoon themed one, and I pre-ordered the game. And when it came out, I spent less than a day to finish the story mode, and it was one of the best day of my life, I played Splatoon for 16 entire hours. Splatoon 3 is now my most played game on the Switch, more than 300 hours (that can seem not that much for some of you, but I'm a casual gamer, I don't play every day, so that's still a lot!). I even bought Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion after that. Splatoon 2 story mode was incredible, because that's the game I never got to play but more mastered. Octo Expansion was incredible, because it was… incredible. But I still liked Splatoon 3 story mode better. Is it because I've played it before? Because I hadn't the one year of unskippable Off the Hook news to make me like them before the DLC (to be fair I didn't know much of Deep Cut too!)? Because it clicked more on me? Honestly I don't care. It's not important, because it's still my preferences. But let met tell you, when the news of Splatoon 3 DLC dropped, I was roaring. Every crumbs of news and trailers widened my life expectancy. I was finally sharing the hype that you felt for Octo Expansion. And…

Two days ago, I played it. And I loved it. Why? Why did I love it where so many people seem disappointed? This will not be an analysis, I'm not good at those, just… Here's how I see things. Also there will be huge spoilers so if you haven't censored the tags for whatever reason, I will hide it beneath a read more because I'm nice.

First, the gameplay. When I heard it was going to be a roguelite, I was intrigued, because it seemed interesting. I was wondering how it was going to play out, more like The Binding of Isaac, or like Hades… Okay I only played those two. And it was like Hades. But I think the best thing to come out of this gameplay is… Well, the fact is every mission from all other story modes (including octo expansion) are pretty much the same in that they have an intended way to be beaten. Sure, for OE and S3 you have a choice of weapons, and there's probably unorthodox ways to finish them (including speedruns), but it's still organised around a specific way to deal with the levels. You go at one point and there you're done. And that's why I will never re-play the story modes I already finished. I know the ropes, so… Why? But here… The gameplay itself doesn't change much. It's an amalgamation of most Splatoon gameplay since now, Salmon Run, Ranked Match, Octo Expansion levels… But the way you APPROACH this gameplay is different and that's why every thing changes. Because you are now free to choose. You don't want a stage? Choose another one, the cost of a good chip and membux not being that punishing, you want a specific type of chip? Go for it! There is so much fun combos to do, I have fun at every run! They told us it was going to be replayable. And they haven't failed to give. Because when I want to replay a game, then I know it's good. Aside of multiplayer games and games made to be replayable (TBOI, Dishonored…), some of favourite games are Half-Life 2 (my favourite game in general), Hollow Knight and Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story. Once you've finished exploring it all, well there is nothing else. But I still want to experience it again. And again. I have tens and even hundreds of hours on each of them. So yeah. If a game makes me want to replay it, I like it! And also… The final fight. The "phase 2" of the final fight. It was probably the most satisfying gameplay in all of Splatoon. Every path you took? Every path you didn't take? It was there. And you could experience it all together and finally finish your first run, empowered by it, in-game and outside. This was so good. I really wish we will get updates like more stages, bosses or even chips, because wow.

Secondly, the atmosphere. This point will be much shorter, but holy shit this game was incredible to be immersed into. The cold and sanitised atmosphere of the Spire? Amazing. Obvious Portal and liminal spaces vibes, but hey. And the music… Really the music makes a lot of it. The final fight music is absolutely incredible, one more time, and the credits theme is probably my favourite credits theme of every Splatoon game and DLC (that VIOLIN, that heckin' VIOLIN). I wouldn't be able to say which one of Octo Expansion and Side Order's atmospheres was my favourite. I guess I'm less sensitive to childhood memories and such but hey. Both DLC's atmospheres were incredible good.

Finally… The sore point of everything I guess, the story. I guess we expected more. Even myself, I expected something darker, deeper, more mysterious and esoteric… Have I been disappointed. No. I understand that some people were, but I am not. And frankly, I feel like I don't have to be. Like what do we really wished for? More octoling lore? Marina's past uncovered? Mature themes and dark atmosphere? I am just describing Octo Expansion. We didn't need Octo Expansion 2.0. Every theme that I've seen wished for? Octo Expansion tackled them, greatly even. So did we really need to do the same thing again? I feel like Splatoon 3 was the great conclusion of the other games' story modes, where all marine life finally united against the common enemy: mammals, the past of Earth's life coming back for its great revival. And it was a spectacular conclusion. And Side Order was Octo Expansion's conclusion. But it wasn't that bombastic, it was more of a calm conclusion, an epilogue of some sort. Marina wasn't in great danger or anything (well she was but less than we expected), we didn't need to expand the damsel in distress role for confirming Marina and Pearl's relation (which was pretty much hinted on greatly without it lmao), we already knew that. We didn't need some dramatic story about Marina's departure's effect on the one she was close to, like some people predicted for Acht. I think some fan comics explored this way better and Nintendo telling their own version would have been disappointing either for it or for the fan comics' versions! We didn't need more insights on Eight, because once again Octo Expansion ALREADY did this. Eight seems happy with their new name and identity, so why should we uncover more? They already won a lot with Octo Expansion and their sacrifices would have been dull if there were reveals on "who they really are".

Nah. Side Order, how I see it, is a story about fixing the damage made in the Octo Expansion. It's a story about recovery. About finally confirming your place in the world and accepting that everything will not be like you think it will. Acht is not there to expose Marina's errors, Acht is there to show how this recovery can work. She symbolises every octoling Marina left when she quit the army and ESPECIALLY every octoling she swore to help. And she's also there because it would have been less interesting to see an octoling we've never seen before, especially since she is an octoling we knew got Kamabo Co.'d! Every palette is someone we already know, an anchor to the world of Splatoon, and for Eight, an anchor to their memories, as the locker was their palette. As they know more and more people, they know more and more where their place in the world is. And the end of your first run? The start of the final boss phase 2? Yeah the music is Pearl, Marina and Acht's. But it is Eight's pulse that got everything back together. Their heart beating made the world beating again. They found freedom, now they found their place in the world. They're finally complete. Like you complete your palette with every chips at once. Octo Expansion final fight was their last fight for freedom. But I think this was their last fight for identity.

But outside of that, I think Order/Smollusk is more than that. More and more we advance through completing the palettes, we learn that Smollusk is the result of Marina's wish for order in her life (and her fellow octolings') and especially the other octolings developers dreams. And I think that's really important, because after that, we learn that why Smollusk still fights us is because it's… alone. And Acht seemingly understands that. You know why this is? Why it doesn't understand Marina's intentions by "betraying" it? Because Marina, as opposed to the other developers and Acht, found someone. She found her partner for life, the love of her life you could say, she found someone else that could offer her something great. And I think the other developers didn't find that companionship, so they had other goals with the Memverse, and Acht, left behind by Marina, felt this loneliness too, taking refuge in music, so that's why she understood what Smollusk felt. I think Splatoon story is a lot about isolation, solitude and loneliness. The (Inkadian) octolings were chased from the surface, living in the underground, isolated and forced into military life. When they risked survival, they stole the great zapfish and we sent then back into the dark. So they retaliated by stealing it again and also kidnapping Callie, separating Marie from the person she holds dearest (while Callie thought she could offer them company and finally uniting back the two people). Octo Expansion was also about isolation from the surface, for everyone involved and Tartar… Well the mammal (and adjacent) survivors don't really have it well, huh? Judd was made immortal, a great lonely situation for one of the last mammals, even if the professor give him Lil Judd for that (isolating the latter from self expression, oops!), Tartar wanted finally someone who could understand the knowledge he was bearing, and in his final instants was longing to return to the professor and for Grizz… We saw what happened in the logs! But this is not where it ends. The first final Splatfest was literally choosing between the Squid Sister, separating one from the other. And when the Splatocalypse happened, we thought it would be the same, that both option were going to be negative. A endless world of anomy where nothing makes sense against a cold and dystopic dictatorship. But we saw Chaos rather meant a world of differences where anyone can be what they want to be and still be reunited with people. So now we see what Order meant: reuniting people by putting them on equal terms. And at the end, that's what you and Smollusk agreed on! He'd be a difficult final boss and you'd be a formidable opponent for him! Splatfests weren't meant to be divisive or anything, it's just a fun way to see what do people choose in their life. So to face loneliness and meet new and fun people, what will you choose? Chaos or Order?

I guess I understand if it wasn't the story you wanted to see. But I liked it either way, as I also struggle with loneliness and finding my place in the world. And as I also like roguelites!

[genericpuff]

in reference to the have you read LO poll by god have I tried but god. God...

A vicious cycle. I go okay I really do need to plow through more of it if I'm gonna hang around the ULO reddit, and then I step on the comically placed rake. I can't do a complete skip thing bc I'll be too disorientated on where I'm at in the plot but my brain only tolerates it up until she declares she's missing her dick appointment and like, girl. Please. You committed mass murder (if not genocide) and this is a slap on the wrist considering, let alone that your moms got the worse end of the deal.

Why it's that specific moment idk but the bottom just drops out for me and it's soooo fucking stupid because like, she couldn't have just... bitched about being stuck with hard labor? That's the bitchy shit I'd sort of expect from a privileged nepo baby and even barring the twue wuv story going on it's her actual biggest issue going on right then. What she's presently living out. But yeah no, horny, we gotta establish that she's horny. Okay.

Sorry about the borderline vent over it there's just enough really interesting thoughts mixed up in the pile of flaming garbage to make one go rabid if they stew on it, and you clearly get that given the rewrite. Have a good day.

omg i've had that exact sort of thing happen with me before too tho, not in quite the exact same sense of like, "wanting to take part in a community but struggling to get through the source material it's based on", but there are like, so many webtoons and manga and stories I've tried to read - after being urged to by pals and people who read them - that I've dropped after multiple attempts of trying to read them. And they're not necessarily dumpster fires like LO (though some of them definitely aren't great) it's more like I'm sitting there wondering "when's this gonna get good? when's this gonna be worth all the hype?" Tower of God is the biggest one that comes to mind, I have tried to read that webtoon on SEVERAL occasions and I just can't justify trudging through all those early episodes for it to maybe "get good". And that's not even me saying it's bad, it's just not interesting to me in the slightest. No hate to anyone who likes ToG, I think I've also sorta drifted away from shonen over the years so that's definitely not helping, but I just can't be bothered to try and read that webtoon anymore, I've given it so many attempts and I'm doing lmao Kudos to the creator though because it's a LOT of work to make a webtoon of that length and they should be proud of that.

Back on the topic of LO though, yeah, I was following the comic when that episode was still brand new and it really made us all go 🤨 because of how out-of-pocket it was. And then like an episode (or two?) later she bullied a former classmate of hers from 10 years ago at his job. That was the precedent for Persephone's character that was set for the third season of LO and it's just gotten worse as it's gone on.

Either way, if I'm being honest, you're really not missing much by skipping over the majority of S3 (like, if you made it to the dick appointment episode before giving up then you're already pretty close to the current point in the story). Like I'm not gonna lie, you could easily skip up to the midseason cutoff point because everything leading up to that is just a bunch of nothing. Hades and Persephone get married and it's the most underwhelming scene ever despite it being the moment people had been waiting years for, also they 'adopt' Dionysus but he's barely in the comic except for when Rachel remembers he's a character so you could also get by on minimal details. Oh yeah, and it turns out Demeter had a kid during the 10 year time skip who we see in like two episodes and then proceeds to get fridged forever.

So yeah, as much as I'd recommend people read LO as a sort of "entry ticket" into the crit community surrounding it, S3 is a lot of nothing and you would frankly not miss out on a thing if you skimmed it or skipped the middle portion of it entirely lmao

[johannestevans]

Hey there, long time listener first time caller,

One of the things I’ve loved for ages about your stories is how you’re able to impart a huge amount of characterisation very quickly through character voice and fun, effective shorthand. Within two paragraphs I have a strong sense of what one of your characters is about, even if there is naturally more depth to come. I’m able to buy into the basic nuts and bolts of how they think and who they are, and want to follow them through whatever they’re up to.

I’m trying my first stab at original fiction after writing fanfic for a good few years, and I’m finding a bit of trouble. While I’ve gotten alright (from what I’ve been told) at doing (ostensibly) engaging stuff with characters whose traits and characterisation is known by readers who are already up to speed on who XYZ is and who they broadly are, I’m finding that I’m having trouble introducing the lead characters effectively. What I’m doing either comes across as 1) didactic and heavy-handed, meaning the moment I’m using to demonstrate character feels out of place or 2) weak, meaning there’s not a strong sense of character as I’m launching into their adventure.

You always have such a strong characterisation in all of your stuff, whether long form or short, how do you do it?

Hey there, Anon!

I'm a strong believer in dialogue as one of the biggest things that establishes a character, and part of crafting good dialogue is creating unique and individual - especially contrasting and/or complementary - voices among your characters.

I've done a big in-depth guide to crafting unique dialogue that's about 8.5k that I think you might find useful - it's basically in the format of explanation, and then a bunch of questions to ask yourself to help you craft this stuff from scratch, so definitely don't feel you have to adhere or use the whole thing!

Have a scan through and see whatever is most useful to you:

(And as ever if you can't sub on Medium and you're out of free articles, just use an Incognito window.)

I'll repeat this rec list of good studies for dialogue from the article because these are all pieces that do great individual characters from the immediate intro:

I have a few absolute favourite media which I consider to have some extremely tight screenwriting and/or extremely strong character-led dialogue, and specifically very unique individual character voices, which are:

Cabin Pressure (Radio comedy. Comedy, 4 seasons between 2008 and 2012. Written by John Finnemore.)

The Great White Hype (Movie, 1996, dir. Richard Hudlin. Sports comedy.)

Deep Cover (Movie, 1992, dir. Bill Duke. Action thriller.)

Hustlers (Movie, 2019, dir. Lorene Scafaria. Comedy/drama.)

The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett, particularly The Truth, Going Postal, and Lords and Ladies.

Jeeves and Wooster (TV Series, 4 series from 1990–1993, but I only really recommend S1 and S2, as S3–4 are much weaker. With that said, the whole series is very directly adapted from the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse, so I would recommend those).

A lot of this is practice-based, though, and it sounds like you're on a really good track!

I know it doesn't feel like it, but when you're reading back through and you can immediately identify the problems in your own work and where it's not hitting in the way you want, that's a sign that you've already got the skills to analyse this stuff and see what does work!

Many artists have a keen sense of what makes good art in their field, and that means we have a good critical eye in other people's work to see what works and what doesn't - when we can turn it on our own work and immediately see the problem and what we want to change, that's half the battle.

If you're coming at this from a fanfic perspective, an exercise I might advise is to pick a few favourite characters that you've written in fandom, and basically strip them down to their absolute brass tacks.

Not their whole backstory or biography, but like... Take a character you've written again and again and again. Say you're transplanting them into a different AU to their base universe - so if they're normally characters from a cop show, but you were theoretically going to write them into a sci-fi universe on a space station, or a fantasy universe with dragons, or a historical AU set in the 1860s.

For that character, what traits are most important that they keep, and will have to be adapted to the new universe to keep them "the same" character? Aspects of their appearance, their voice, their class, their parents, their upbringing, their job, their style, their personality? What stays the same, and what will change?

And then think about how you'd introduce that character to the reader within that new universe - this is someone they know and love, but they're different now in many ways. When we put a character in an AU, in many ways when we bring them to the reader's gaze, we're reintroducing them - it's the same person they know and love, but it's also a stranger.

Crafting new and individual charcters and introducing them to a reader is the next step on from that!

[bm-blog01]

Between the second part of the crown final season dropping on December 14 and lady Danbury’s actress interview I think it’s pretty clear S3 is coming next year. Do you think it will be split? Maybe January-March?

One thing I know for sure is that waiting two years between seasons seems like such a bad choice. The wait really doesn’t need to be this long. I don’t care about the fact Shonda has put a spin off in the middle. It simply doesn’t make any sense. What a disappointment.

I woke up to find out that the date many of us thought was for Bridgerton is for the release of the Crown. I am not sure if I am more upset at being wrong or the extra delay!

I am not sure if it will be split or not, I think one of the reasons that Netflix splits the release of shows is to retain subscribers, and if the rumours are true that they will be increasing their subscription cost then there is a possibility that they could split it, but I don't think it will be two months between the parts, more like a month, so Jan-Feb or Feb-Mar.

Personally I don't see how they will gain by splitting a show like Bridgerton though, most people who would subscribe, or re-subscribe, for Bridgerton will be more likely to wait until part 2 drops before subscribing for a month to watch it and then cancel again.

I agree that it does seem like a bad move to have two years between seasons, many in the fandom are losing interest which means the general audience / casual viewer has probably completely forgotten about it!

I think the spin off was meant to be treated as if it was a season and keep interest for the following year until season 3 came out, similar to how season 1 and season 2 were still trending and getting a lot of interest in the year or so after they were released. This was a miscalculation on the part of both Netflix and Shondaland because the spin off is just not continuing to generate the hype that the two seasons of Bridgerton did, and interest in the franchise as a whole is fading - even in the fandom. It is very disappointing.

[turuin]

Years ago, in a different city, in what feels like a different life, my then-girlfriend/now-wife and I bought a book. We loved it to bits, and afterwards we lent it, and then never got it in return (for a very good and very sad reason, so no grudges) and then we bought another copy. It was "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch", in its italian edition aptly named "Buona Apocalisse a Tutti" (you can roughly translate it to "Merry Apocalypse, y'all!"), written of course (as the whole world now knows) by Neil Gaiman (a recurring presence in our book collection) and Terry Pratchett, which I mostly knew after Discworld and its adventure videogame adaptation. We loved every word of it - this is why we bought it twice. Many years later, we were absolutely delighted of being able to watch the Amazon adaptation of that book - as is our habit, I watched in english while she watched it in italian; and now here we are with a season two of a book that never existed, a continuation of a story that, for us, was more or less happily concluded with the first novel. I've just finished watching season 2, in english - my wife has started it in italian earlier this evening and I was delighted to see her reaction to episodes one and two, having already been there. Having finished watching it, I can confirm it is brilliant, but that is not enough - it is necessary. Every moment, to its very final climax - because that's what it is, that sentence, and I won't spoil anything about it - made me aware that I needed a continuation of that story. That Aziraphale and Crowley had so much, so much to give yet as characters - this needed to be done, exactly the way it has been done. So, even if this post is drowned in the infinite white noise of the internet, I really feel I have to say thank you for this story, @neil-gaiman. This kind of storytelling, this kind of story is exactly what I personally needed right now, and I suspect a lot of people in the world can actually relate to that. And I believe I know now, more or less, where you will be going with S3. And I can say, I'm definitely, utterly, ineffably hyped for that. Fingers crossed, and hope all our views and rewatches combined will help you make it.

[thedesertpenguin]

A few weeks ago I saw a few posts asking how Bridgerton could be impacted by the strike when they had already finished filming/editing. And I thought I’d post my musings just to get it out of my head. I’m not involved with the industry but this is based on what I’ve read from people who are.

TLDR; it’s not about the finished product, it’s about spreading out their bigger finished projects to make up for the gaps in the schedule caused by the strike.

So yes, they’ve finished filming/editing as has been confirmed. However, they never had a publicly confirmed release date like Heartstopper or One Piece did BEFORE the strike. Netflix has many projects that come out but those smaller ones are nothing compared to their “bigger projects” (eg, the ones mentioned above).

Their bigger projects are important cause they know they’ll be huge and rake in views. Bridgerton is a “big project” and they very well could’ve intended to have it be released in Dec. 14. But now, many other big projects are just now getting back into motion. Back to filming/writing.

So now they need to spread out their big projects to make up for the lack of anything else and the lack of news on the big stuff. The Crown being released in two parts is what I think is an example, they’re probably banking on that carrying them through January. Then in February they’ve got ATLA (live action) and that’ll probably carry them through March. As they’re probably expecting it to excel like One Piece did.

That’s why I think April is the most likely candidate for S3. Because they think it’ll be around the time the ATLA adaptation hype is dying down and they can now release another big project. Bridgerton is HUGE for Netflix.

April has Polin week, they may want to capitalize on that. This also allows them months of potential marketing and promotion which usually starts around the four/five month mark before the season releases (I believe at least).

I’m frustrated by the lack of news but this is the most likely explanation that I can think of. They can’t just keep putting out big projects so close together because then they don’t have anything. As much as I’d want a January date, that’s a huge disservice to Bridgerton and not a smart marketing move. That’s basically a month away there’s no possible way to generate interest especially after a year and a half.

Or I could be dead wrong but this is the best outcome I could think of.

[raayllum]

A short post show casing (some of) the biggest moments in Rayllum’s journey as a reminder that Rayllum Appreciation Rewatch Week starts this Sunday on October 23rd! Each day has a different guidance prompt to promote discussion and appreciation of our favourite pair of star-crossed lovebirds as we go into S4 just a few days after the closing of the week on October 29th!

Sunday October 23rd: Enemies to Friends to Best Friends and Lovers

Monday October 24th: Favourite S1 scenes / Moments

Tuesday October 25th: Favourite Parallel between seasons or episodes

Wednesday October 26th: Favourite S2 scenes / Moments

Thursday October 27th: Your Journey with Rayllum (reflection and appreciation)

Friday October 28th: Favourite S3 scenes / Moments

Saturday October 29th: Favourite Theories and Hopes for S4 / TTM Appreciation Day

Feel free to make playlists, fanart, canon complaint or divergent fic, meta, edits/graphics, etc., and so much more! Contributing your thoughts, what you like about them and why, what you like about the fandom and why, is all very welcome and readily encouraged! Any and all appreciation to bolster the community and our two favourite star-crossed love birds! 

If there any follow up questions please don’t hesitate to drop them in my inbox, and as always, these prompts are just a guideline! If you want to post Modern AU Rayllum fic, go for it - if you want to talk about just one season the whole time, please do! This is just an extra boost for us all to bask in the love and hype for S4, and to appreciate how far we’ve come as a fandom in the past 3-4 years!

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 1/10/2023

the more injuries and minor surgeries i pick up throughout my life i get more convinced i do actually play first person shooters as a power fantasy but not in the normal way. recovering ok, this was prescheduled and premeditated, just extremely tired

listening

are you havin any fun? this tony bennet version is good enough. the SINGULAR line "and nervous indigestion" has been stuck in my head since thursday.

-

reading

another pitch for Molly White's Web3 Is Going Just Great, bc HOO boy did a lot of shit happen last weekend. every crypto gaming project that folds feels like a personal gift to me. i did feel slightly insane last year bc the hype was so intense, everyone at my old job was fully bought in, and i got cited on two "performance reviews" for not being "excited enough" about crypto. anyway i hope my boss' two teslas explode.

-

watching

watched a ton of shit this week, including the entire run of the vampiric interview tv show, which i WILL have more coherent thoughts about later. what a horrible, messy, incredibly satisfying bit of television.

guillermo del toro's pinocchio made me fucking bawl my eyes out and i'm a little resentful of that. stupidly, stupidly beautiful film.

i'm here to talk about s/tar wars the bad b/atch, or at least the second season's first two episodes.

the whitewashing and general racism around the clones has been a problem since attack of the clones but has really only gotten worse with time and is especially bad in this outing of the franchise. i'm not super qualified to talk about this, but i think @unwhitewashthebadbatch is a good starting point.

my biggest storytelling beef is that it feels very much like a DnD campaign that is trying to be a blades in the dark campaign. the format and tone aren't quite right. this show neither focuses on the immediacies of survival right after the republic's collapse, nor where the Bad Batch are trying to fit themselves into a new world, and it really suffers for it. there's almost nothing about parenthood (bc Omega is still tagging along on missions, and she is still twelve). i still don't really know the story this show is trying to tell, but am forced to conclude that a weekly show for children about guys who can do some sick flips is not the correct medium since i still don't fucking know what story this show is trying to tell.

there are eight products on shopDisney for this show and two of them are on clearance. i do not anticipate this series will be renewed past s3. apparently according to some advance reviewers this picks the fuck up after the midpoint of the season but i'm not holding my breath.

production wise, the backgrounds and lighting have gotten way better, they've really leaned into a luminous sort of matte painting that doesn't always pretend to have depth. i like how the rocky set in the second episode feels very much like a live-action limited-budget set. looks very much like a soundstage but animated, and i think that's oddly charming. i do like the location we visited in e2, wish we got to see more of it or talk really at all about the significance of the location. like. we have a literal castle chase and we don't talk about the castle At All. come ON.

one of the few canon trans characters in star wars deserves a better show with more coherent storytelling. love star wars! wish it was good.

-

playing

largely fallow week. shouts out to the app Flick Solitaire bc i played through a hundred and fifty levels in the past few days

-

making

some knitting problems i have to mull over before i post, bc i created an entire kerchief thing in a percocet haze but am unhappy with the finish. we shall see! might frog it but i'll post about it before i do

[strobarium]

big on introspective, ambient downtempo? come with me...

"History" from Sonic Mega Collection (& Plus)

... FUCK. FUUUUUCKING HELL.

i don't remember the exact year i got introduced to Sonic Mega Collection Plus (the PS2 version, since that's the console that only dominated my kid years) but it was a constant force of good in my early years. being able to play that many sonic games just freely (on top of other games that werent sonic games but were by the same devs) was so fucking nice. but the menu shit was just. something else to me-they put so much care and effort into the presentation of games!!! like the journey TO playing was even a nice comfy ride! so CASH. i miss THIS sega so much. what an era. damn.

many a memory playing this shit or watching it get played either in my shared bedroom w/ my older brother or in the upstairs living room w/ mom and/or grandma watching (this sonic shit ran in the family pmuch LOL my parents n grandma got into em before we did). one of my fondest memories regarding it was my i think, longest-running active friend lyko/khaliq seeing my i think oldest sibling playing S3&K (one of the greatest. games of all time by the way) and beating it. bro saw the ending cutscene and was Flabbergasted w how cool it was, already riding off the high (that i was also riding off of) watching Doomsday Zone get played. SUPER, FUCKING HYPE. LOL. amazing shit. the collection is worth it for it having That Alone but also THERES SO MUCH COOL SHIT ON IT!

YEAH!!! ... i'm glad i can listen to this normally again.

this was one of many songs i just couldn't put on and sit through after the 2013 event happened and my life got fucked into a hole. it was exhausting and would just leave me really depressed. things are at least different now, over 10 years later, i can enjoy this n sorta feel like a kid again healthily, i guess. its nice.

reminds me of something

.

so one thing abt the PS2s we did have (there were two, two slim models), shit was just Faulty after long enough. one basically picked and choosed games it wanted to run (that or the CDs were fucked up or...idk) and the other you had to like. induce pressure on the disk drive part to get games to run properly?... it was weird.

WELL, SOMEHOW, through basic i guess DIY shit or whatever, at one point (post-2013 event) i got the fucking console working! AND I GOT SONIC MEGA COLLECTION PLUS WORKING TOO! blast from the ...actually not at all distant PAST! it was cool being in the menu again hearing the music and goin around and looking at all the extras and stuff. seeing sonic n his friends just always makes me happy.

I BOOTED UP S3&K FOR OLD TIMES SAKE CAUSE OF COURSE I DID! HYDROCITY ZONE!!! ONE OF MY FAV VIDEO GAME SONGS EVER i was having SO Much.... fun...

slow, burn. realization. i was alone.

reliving hella cool shit but it was just me. older brother was off doing whatever the hell (not like i wanted to summon him anyway he was kind of fucking just...idk), and oldest sibling was just kind of, across the fucking country so i couldnt hit them up either. the finite nature of what i considered the most joyous period of my life i wasnt prepared to interface with and it just fucking, stabbed me so gradually i didnt even notice the pain onset somehow until it was too late. fuck. regardless of me doing what i did, that part of my life was still over. trying to recapture the magic just made me ever more aware that i had lost it, i guess. it was tough.

i, shut the game off, silently, go downstairs to my moms room and just, talk to her a little about how i. got it working. i just, lay on her bed next to her and i just. i start crying. for a while. not loud sobbing just. idk. quiet weeping. idk.

...

things are different now, is what matters. lot i've recovered from, but i do still miss playing it with my siblings. shrug. life goes on i guess.

~ E.K.S.G.

[wrecked-fuse]

Hey Fox! So, I’m very much in love with your work, it’s amazing and your speedpaints is one of the most educational out there. You build anatomy like flipping legos, it just mind blowing and it makes sense xD

You did a year of studying every day, right? Did it had an order to follow on the fundaments (perspective , shapes, values , etc) or you just listened to the voices in your head (lol)? Any advice on studying?

Aaaand, on a more polemic topic, what are your thoughts on the AI art situation ? 👀

Thank you for sharing your amazing work 💖💖💖

Thank you so much you’re so kind😭❤️❤️❤️ I wouldn’t tell that I took a year of study everyday, it’s more like I had been drawing for long period everyday lol. I just had a major art block for several years and then I joined one fandom im summer of 2017 and became more active and made some friends who were drawing too and I just started to draw and they were helping me out with redlining and advices on anatomy, perspective composition etc. Then after s3 came out harringrove hit me with new force and I just “listened to voices in my head” as you said and I really drew A LOT in that period and I think then in that time I had my major drawing spurt (but I wouldn’t recommend bc that’s really exhausting and I had had to deal with some of consequences later). Somewhere in between I watches some videos about perspective and values but this is still vague for me and time passed so I don’t remember videos and can’t share the direct link for them sorry (and I’m still struggling with my perspective hahaha). I sketched from photo references practiced in gesture drawings using sites like this one http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en or just from pinterest. Then there was a period I tried to learn all the muscles and what they do but I decided this one was not exactly for me (but it’s still good as a cheat shit that I can compare with if I think something I drew is too strange lol). I always recommend these two YouTube channels https://youtube.com/@EthanBecker70 https://youtube.com/@MohammedAgbadi they good tips that helped me, but you should scroll up back to 2020 or so I think. Also this twitter helped me a lot https://twitter.com/taco1704 . In conclusion I can’t give some wise advise and tips because I’m not a teacher myself all my learning is going to using references, watch how other people draw, collecting in mind tutorials so I can use them in future and draw (almost) everyday bc there’s a ship that doesn’t let you go 😭😭😭

About AI I try to be short, it was fun when I saw some memes on twt, but then oh gosh that sites have to learn some other skin tones other than white fr. As for situation with some sites gather and recycling info from art that are on these platforms or/and someone Ai recycling others works and then claiming it as their owns — these situations is no better as the cr¥₽to dudes do and everyone hopping on that fucking train of hype again, smth I don’t like. 🙃

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

(Anti?)propaganda for Nomad! Nomad is a nomad from a show called Nomad Of Nowhere. This show was created during one of the highs of Rooster Teeth. RWBY was doing well-ish and just started airing season 6 (one of the last ones I ever watched). Their gaming stuff with Achievement Hunter was going well. Red V Blue was about to drop Red v Blue: The Shinso Paradox. And I was hyped beyond belief for s3 of Camp Camp (don't worry I've grown). In the midst of all of this Nomad Of Nowhere Dropped. And unfortunately it did not do well. However! The show from what I remember was decently solid. You always have to take a grain of salt when it comes to Roosterteeth because of their style of humor with a lot of their media, especially outside of RWBY, relying on Gross out and swear-based shock humor. Despite this no matter of nowhere was an entertaining and delightful show about a nomad trying to make his way through the world. It featured a delightful cast of characters and antagonists. And despite never speaking once through the entire show, Nomad was always a favorite of the fans and people always hoped for the best for him. Though I will say despite being the namesake I remember there being a lot more fans of the antagonist and her sidekick due to their typical boss and subordinate dynamic. Where in the main villain was a big boss girl and they're her help was some meek kind girl doing it to impress her. Really a lot of people came to the show in the hopes of a redemption Arc for the villain and that the two characters would get together as it was quite evident that the sidekick was in love with her. The unfortunate part about all of this is that a lot of side projects like this never got picked back up. In my personal opinion rooster teeth started to go down the drain after this year. No matter nowhere ended on a cliffhanger and will stay that way forever. I would give it a shot, since it's all on YouTube, but do expect 2018 level humor, rooster teeth level humor, and disappointing yourself by the end to realizing any characters you've developed a connection to or story lines that you wanted to see a resolution to will never come to be.

^

[share-the-damn-bed]

Hi! Regarding the new Jancy shippers I'm also one of those who watched the show for the first time this year (about July time, hearing all the hype for s4). Honestly I wasn't sure what to think of them at first (I was quite weirded out by Jonathan taking the pictures of Nancy lol) but by the end of the first season I sort of warmed to them and I think I properly started shipping them in the Halloween episode in s2 when he takes her home. I was definitely disappointed with the direction the writers took for their relationship in s4. Overall though I did enjoy the storyline and there were really good moments, watching it all in one go made it feel kind of like s4 was a completely different show, with all the new characters and how much everyone had changed. The 3 year gap between s3 and s4 seemed so obvious. I'm also kind of kicking myself that I never watched the show earlier but I'm really looking forward to rewatching the show with all the Jancy scenes now! On that note thank you for all the gifs and keeping the love alive, I was worried that most of the Jancy blogs would be inactive now especially after s4 lol, I've really loved scrolling through all your posts!!! Sorry this was a massive ramble haha

Thank you for sharing you experience!! That’s so interesting that you didn’t start really shipping them until season 2! Like I said previously, I think it’s really cool that there are multiple entry points to enter this ship and that different parts of their relationship resonate with different fans. That’s not to say I think fans hate/dislike the moments preceding the scene that caught their heart, I just think it’s cool that everyone has a different “oh my god I love them” moment. Like in my previous post, I mentioned I didn’t get fully invested into their relationship until the fight I. Season 1 but I still love the moments that came before it, y’know?

I also find your perspective on season 4 in general (as new viewer who was able to watch the whole show in one go) fascinating. I felt the personality changes in characters were jarring between 2 and 3 with slight redemption (for the most part) in the fourth season but you didn’t notice until season 4? I find it very hard to define my thoughts on st4 because there are some great moments and then there are some bad moments and ultimately it had me in emotional whiplash but not in a good way.

I’d really love to hear your or any other new fan’s experience with season 4 is and what exactly you thought was so different than previous seasons and if that’s a good thing?

And thank you so much for your kind words!! I really do love making gifs of these two and I’m always touched when people enjoy or appreciate my work :)

[johannestevans]

Update 05/06/2022

Good evening!

Firstly, some bits of media I've very much enjoyed over the past 2 weeks:

Bloods (2021, cr. Nathan Byron & Samson Kayo) - Bloods is fucking excellent, it's a sitcom about paramedics starring Samson Kayo (Oluwande of OFMD) and Jane Horrocks, and it's so fucking funny. Really, really tightly written with so much good, strong character work, lots of commentary on paramedicine and also on NHS issues whilst being so fast-paced, excellent soundtrack, and just in general a real triumph. Also appearances from Nathan Foad (Lucius in OFMD) being painfully entitled and awkward as Jane Horrocks' son and every time he's on screen I cringe from my soul to my hole, he's horribly effective in it. ALSO SAMSON KAYO SINGS AND IT'S GORGEOUS, and every single person who watches this will undoubtedly fall in love with Daryl and Darrell. Fucking hype for S3 next year.

Truth Seekers (2020, cr. Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, James Serafinowicz & Nat Saunders) - This is also comedy but with horror - it was cancelled after one season, unfortunately, but it's still worth a watch! Also featuring Samson Kayo as a protag. Truth Seekers does some really cool stuff with subverting horror tropes as you'd expect from anything with Pegg & Frost at the forefront, but it's also just genuinely funny and quite heartfelt in places while really doing some layered, subtle work around perceptions of abuse + mental health issues. That latter isn't the core theme of the show but is continuous throughout, and while the show didn't grip me as other stuff has, I've really been enjoying that aspect.

Westworld (1973, dir. Michael Crichton) - I hadn't seen this before and watched this in preparation for starting the TV series, which I'm guessing will be more to my taste, but I thought it held up surprisingly well for being fifty years old at this point. So many 70s movies, especially sci-fi and adventure movies don't really push my buttons, but this one is quite character-centred and has some charming homoeroticism. It lacks a bit of urgency, and if you've seen Jurassic Park, you already know Michael Crichton's anxieties around nature's unpredictability vs tech malfunctions vs amusement parks, and like-- Westworld says nothing that isn't said better or more adeptly in JP, but I still thought it was good!

I've also been playing Rune Factory 5 on my Switch and loving it so far, and I really enjoyed this interview with Con O'Neill. I also watched S4 of Stranger Things this week, and if you made the decision to stop off watching it after they started doing the anti-Russian stuff and are like "hm, maybe it's doing better and I should get back into it", you absolutely should not. The writing is truly very bad in so many places, and while it's adequate as background viewing it's just... Yeesh. A lot of choices are made. Different choices would have been better.

I have few media recs this week so here are just a collection of my favourite SNL sketches:

Barbie Instagram

Meet Your Second Wife

Wells For Boys & My Little Step Children

Spelling Bee

What's That Name

Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney

Coroner

New Works Published

Erotic Short: Little Vows

An exhausted father of two meets an old uni friend for sex.

Rated E, cis M/M, 3k. Neil drops his girls off for their piano lessons and goes across the road for his regular appointment — getting himself fucking railed. Infidelity, anal, dirty talk, DILF4DILF and bear appreciation, doggy, overstim, mentions of barebacking and creampies.

On Medium / / On Patreon

Erotic Short: Stuffed

A man is handfed almost to bursting by his husband.

Cis M/M, 1.1k, rated E. Stuffing, handfeeding, D/s, begging, overstimulation, mild sadomasochism (stomach cramps etc), teasing.

On Medium / / On Patreon

Our Flag Means Death S01 E03: A Gentleman Pirate

Examining OFMD E3: A Gentleman Pirate in close detail and liveblogging/analysing the text.

On Medium / / On Patreon / / On Tumblr / / On Ao3

Fanfic Updates: Repentance & Forgiveness

42k+. Frenchie-centric, Frenchie/Izzy, plot-focused, post-S1.

On the Queen Anne, Frenchie can't sleep.

Desperate to just get whatever he can away from Blackbeard's crew, he knocks on Izzy's door and invites himself in.

On Ao3

Erotic Short: Work Hours

A man enforces the boundaries of his boyfriend’s work-life separation.

M/cis M, rated E, 1.3k. Public blowjobs out of doors, mild D/s, teasing and banter. Light-hearted and breezy.

On Medium / / On Patreon

[erin-bo-berin]

Omg anon, I’m part of/was part of the marvel fandom and hp fandom as well. The thing is things do slow down for ahwile but the good thing about social media is it never truly is gone. Like it’s been years since endgame came out but there are so many ppl who still celebrate it as a milestone and like something will always come up for it get back into media. As for stranger things ppl are still on the hype of stranger things S4 even S3 in fact like yes maybe after a year or two things will die down and they’ll forget, but there will always be people like you, people like us that will remember and reblog stuff or create new content so ppl can remember how epic it was. Fandoms will always take the back burner eventually but you never really forget where you came from no matter what you move onto next

This was so perfectly said! I love this 💕