#Writer problems that are not really problems

[murderbot-moodboard]

I have watched the Episode 7 three times, and naturally I have some thoughts:

- Okay, Gurathin officially has the coolest backstory I can imagine for his character. Being a former corporate spy has so many implications for who he is and what he's capable of. It explains why he's been suspicious this whole time (apparently from the moment they acquired a SecUnit) that Murderbot could be working with the Company to hurt the Preservation team. It also explains why he was suspicious of LeeBeeBee from the beginning and saw through all her attempts to get him and the others to reveal information.

- Interestingly, the rest of PresAux knows this about him, but Murderbot doesn't, which would seem to fit with the books, as I'm fairly certain Murderbot would've mentioned it somewhere if it knew Gurathin was a former corporate spy. (We could also discuss in-world reasons why Murderbot might not mention it, but I'll leave that for fanfic writers to explore.)

- Gurathin's relationship to Mensah also makes a lot more sense from his backstory. He was desperate, broken, and essentially enslaved, with no one to turn to, and she forgave him and helped him get asylum in Preservation Alliance, which had to be an involved and risky process. She was his only friend for a while, and knowing Mensah, she would've stuck with him and done whatever she could to support him through all the ups and downs (including withdrawal from his corporation's proprietary drugs).

It makes sense that Gurathin would see Mensah as a rare stabilizing force in his life. She's someone he's terrified of losing, to the point that he'd go on a survey with her in the Corporation Rim rather than let her out of sight into the dangers he narrowly escaped. Even if it means putting himself in a situation likely to trigger reminders of his past trauma and addiction and tempt him to relapse. He's fallen in love with Mensah, but his feelings are largely because of who she was to him at the lowest point in his life, and because he's become emotionally dependent on her during his addiction and trauma recovery and his integration into a foreign culture in adulthood. His going into Mensah's room to cry over her pillow, an action Murderbot misinterpreted and classified as creepy and depressing, seems to indicate rather that Gurathin doesn't think he can continue to function if he loses her.

- Okay, now that we've discussed the big reveal, I want to note that this episode made me fall even more in love with all of PreservationAux and Murderbot. After several episodes of the team being separated into groups, we get to see them all working together during an emergency. And PresAux works together really well as a team—as long as they're not being shot at by hostile SecUnits. PresAux and Murderbot... still not quite working as a team yet, but they're making an attempt.

Adding a readmore because this is quickly becoming a long post:

- I love how Bharadwaj and Gurathin basically hang out together and take care of each other for most of the episode. In past episodes, they've both seemed unwilling to admit to the rest of the team that they're struggling and need support. But with Gurathin being shot in the leg and Bharadwaj shaken by the betrayal and violent death of someone she'd cared about, I think they've both lost some of their ability to pretend they're fine. They also seem to find comfort and usefulness in looking out for each other, and possibly a distraction from their own problems that's helping them cope. Either way, the casual physical closeness is very sweet, and shows at least one way Gurathin has become more integrated with Preservation culture.

- Before I forget, I went back and replayed several times that moment in the habitat where PresAux steps back from Murderbot, and I noted two things: (1) Mensah only barely steps back, and she looks slightly cautious and evaluative rather than afraid while doing so, and (2) Gurathin, who is sitting on a box, does not step back, but just moves sideways into a more upright position no longer resting his weight on his arm, and could possibly be trying to get in front of Bharadwaj?

- In the crisis situation of this episode, Mensah really embodies her role as team leader, acting as a source of calm and decisiveness when her team needs her to be. I felt like she showed a new level of steady confidence, and I think it's partly because she's rising to the occasion for her team as a good leader does, but also because she now understands the kind of ally they have in Murderbot. Murderbot is an ally who would literally cut out pieces of its body to get them out of danger. She also gets to share the burden of command with a consultant who understands combat and the dangers facing them better than any of the team, and who has saved them several times so far. Her understanding of Murderbot as a person gives her new confidence in communicating with it and new insight in how to persuade it to work with the team, even if the insight isn't perfect.

- Let me just say, the scene with Murderbot being grown over with branches was haunting. It's true to the things Murderbot fantasizes about doing in the books, and it's also a great example of what depression can look like. There was discussion on Discord about how this is essentially suicidal ideation but Murderbot is unlikely to recognize that. It's also reflective of an aspect of depression that doesn't always get attention: the feeling of wanting to just never have to move again.

- I love that Pin-Lee got lots of time this episode to voice their opinions and suggest courses of action for the team. In my opinion, most of the characters felt like they had come closer to their book portrayal in this episode, and this was especially true of Pin-Lee. Their strategic thinking and assertiveness was evident throughout the episode. I also internally cheered when they said they wanted to sue the shit out of the whole Corporation Rim—that's our lawyer Pin-Lee!

- Arada nerding out over the worms was so funny and endearing, and definitely reminded me of other people I've known who are very passionate about their field of expertise. And it seems very in character for Arada to think LeeBeeBee was bluffing about killing them all.

- Ratthi was hilarious this episode, and came across as someone who tries to use charisma to charm his way through new or uncomfortable situations, in order to hide the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing and is making it up as he goes. It's worked enough times that it's become his main coping strategy, even when it's not a very effective one.

- Poor Bharadwaj was really not having a good time this episode. She's clearly still having a hard time with what happened to LeeBeeBee, and still angry with Murderbot for it. And then the worms show up! Her extremely repulsed facial expressions made it pretty clear she'd rather be anywhere but near those things.

- Something interesting I noticed this episode was the way Gurathin sometimes blinks while his eyes roll back in his head. I'd noticed it at least once before, in that scene where Murderbot doesn't strangle him (which I watched on loop a few times thanks to gifs by some lovely people), but I'd thought it was just a fear response or something. In this episode, though, especially a couple times during the flashback scene, Gurathin's eyes definitely did the same thing. So now I'm thinking it might have something to do with his augments. There was also discussion on Discord of whether the reason Gurathin's condition seemed to deteriorate quickly had anything to do with his augments. I have no idea, but it occurred to me to wonder if immunosuppression is necessary for augmentation (like it is sometimes currently for organ transplants), and if that would interfere with his body's ability to heal or fight infection.

Okay, I think I've covered all the things I wanted to cover that other people haven't already covered. This episode was chock full of good character moments, y'all!

[scriptseekstories]

Queen Bee’s Hive

Chapter 11- Wasp in a Beehive

A/N: See what I did there on the title? 😼 it’s not that clever- it’s also been hard to write this chapter because I had a lot of ideas but can’t just cram it all into one chapter, so I had to cherry pick what to put in.

That and writer’s block lmao

You had another nightmare this night. You fell out of your little hammock with tears in your eyes, shaking as whimpers build up in your throat. You frantically searched for your bee plush, hugging it tightly against your chest.

Rain poured down from outside, droplets splashing onto the window, slowly rocking your beehive. Staying in such a tiny room didn’t feel comforting, so you stepped out of the room and crept through the halls.

“A-Alfred…” You whispered to yourself, the dim lights from the walls illuminating your way. Passing the upstairs railing, you could see Dick and Tim downstairs, talking in such a late hour while laughing and smiling.

You wish you could run to them for comfort, but the last time you did you only got an uncomfortable smile from Dick and an annoyed eye roll from Tim. So you only continued to walk until making it to a door, knocking slowly while sniffling.

“Master (Name), why are you out of bed?” The door opened for Alfred to kneel down, worried at your teary face. The thunder outside only made you flinch more, where you shakily opened your mouth.

“M-Mama…” You only choked out before collapsing in his arms weeping. Alfred immediately began to shush you gently, his gentle tone soothing out any of the thunder outside.

“You poor dear,” He whispered, “Had another nightmare, did we?” You nodded before sobbing softly again and hugged the butler’s waist tight. He lifted you up in his arms before setting you on his bed.

“Here’s your bee,” He softly said, handing you your bee plush you dropped. You grabbed it and crawled under his covers, making him chuckle softly as this was a nightly occurrence for you to sleep on his bed.

“I will make a vow to you, Master (Name),” He hummed, sliding into his side of the bed, making sure your Wonder Woman nightlight (he never told Bruce) lit the room to keep you calm.

“I promise you, you will never have another nightmare again,” Reaching to cup your little cheek, you wiped all your tears away and gave a smile, eyes fluttering closed before sleep overtook you.

“G’night Alfred…” You mumbled. His heart ached, his breathing stuttering before smiling warmly at you, his own eyes drifting down to sleep.

“And you will never be alone,”

꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁

“I promised…” Holding your bee plush seemed to be the only thing that’s keeping Alfred from falling onto his knees and letting out another heartbreaking cry. You were alive, truly alive! You may look different, but you’re still his baby!!

Problem is… this changed everything to what the Wayne Family was struggling with. The thing that “killed” you… was really you.

And it was causing chaos.

“I say we just go track them down and bring them back!” Damien demanded, already in his Robin suit and ready to find you.

“We need to find out what caused (Name) to become that thing so we could create a cure!” Tim countered back, glaring at the younger boy.

“Guys…” Duke swallowed hard, “What if… it’s not (Name) anymore…” Alfred didn’t want to believe it, he wanted to deny and insist that you were still you. Yet… he didn’t know who you were, and it seemed like you didn’t know either.

“If that thing is no longer them… then we have to kill it,” Steph managed to choke out. The memory of seeing you dead haunted her, but knowing the thought of killing you again… She definitely took in the fact both times would be because of them.

“You’re wrong,” The voice of Cass made the yelling stop. The vigilante never speaks unless she wants to, so Cass speaks, everyone listens. She had a hardened look on her face, moving over to where Jason was sitting.

“When they broke Jason’s hand,” She lifted Jason’s cast, “They stopped before they could kill him,” The way you looked after you backed away in terror, as if seeing him- albeit his mask covered his face- gave you recognition.

“They called me Jaybird,” That was a name Jason hasn’t heard ever since his death. The one name that made him grin with joy and laugh like he was a kid again. The name that was given to him by the one person who balanced his hero life and his kid life.

“(Name) is still there, somewhere deep down in that beast’s heart,” He continued for Cass, sitting upright from his chair. A spark of hope and determination filled everyone, prepared to do whatever it takes to save you.

Alfred stared down back at your bee plush. Maybe things will be okay, you’ll be in his arms again and everything that happened will be nothing more than a memory. You’ll be his sweet (Name) again.

“I’ll find a cure to whatever they were infected with, to bring them back,” Barbara and Tim immediately got to work in searching for whatever was left in that warehouse they took. They lost the tapes your mother made about Project: Honey, but splashes of pollen and videos from your phone could give them enough time and clues for a cure.

“We’ll have our (Name) back in no time,” Duck reassured everyone, “Don’t celebrate yet Grayson,” Damien hissed, but Dick knew that tone of his brother’s voice that he was also anxious about finding you again.

“The next step is to find Poison Ivy, see if she was behind their accident,” Bruce declared, “The mere mention of her name already gave us many leads and clues as to what happened,” Hunting Ivy down was another hassle, since she usually vanishes for months before appearing for her next spree, and Harley never snitches on her.

“I know how,”

꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁

Selina was a woman of many words through action. She shows her body to save others like her, swings a leg to kick it into a face of bad people, drags a whip to crack it into a neck, speaks to lure others into a trap.

Yet when it came to Bruce, it was a roll of a dice on whether or not her actions will get through to him. She couldn’t get through to him about his No-Kill code, nor did she got through to him when letting Jason go, but now?

Nothing is ever going to get through to him with this.

“Figured it was about time you would come sniffing around us for a certain someone,” She leaned against a railing on a rooftop, admiring the moon as if it was precious jewelry.

The brooding figure of Batsy was always something she was amazed to seeing, yet tonight she could tell he was off his game, that’s how much she knew him well.

"Where’s Poison Ivy?” He gruffed out, skipping the smooth talking he combined his Batman persona with his Brucie Wayne persona.

“You know I don’t rat out my girls, especially if she hasn’t done anything bad in a while,” Selina scoffed while admiring her claws, seemingly uninterested in what he was going to say.

“But even if I did tell you where Ivy was, not like she would say anything to you willingly, not without breaking your bones. I’m all you got right now for any information,” She shrugged, her whip draped along the ground like a tail.

“Then you know the reason I’m here,” Bruce pulled out a photo, taken from a security camera catching your figure, blurred and out of focus. Selina didn’t bother looking at what he was holding.

“We weren't going have the kid to be thrown in Arkham, Bruce,” She snapped, “Whatever you see, they weren't always like that,” She stretched her body and sat up right, already ready to escape whatever interrogation Bruce was initiating.

“They were just a kid. A clumsy yet smart kid who even knew us as criminals, still smiled and greeted us as if we were still human,” She smiled at the memories of you skating along the street while waving to them, before eating shit into a pole.

“You would’ve loved them, they kinda reminded me of you,” She breathed a chuckle. She was tired, and swung her legs over the railing to leave Bats in the dust, but froze when he spoke.

“That was because they are my child,” His breathing was stilted, as Selina slowly turned her head to see Bruce pulling his cowl off, letting her see how… tired he looked. More than usual.

“Holy shit… you’re the neglectful dad?” Selina’s eyes narrowed before letting out a soft chuckle, growing into a bitter laugh, “Should’ve known, your history on loving your kids were a bit iffy, never really thought you had it in you for abandoning one,” She continued laughing as she slid back to sit on the railing.

“I didn’t abandoned them,” He quickly said, though it felt defensive rather than the truth, “Sure seemed like you did,” She scoffed, standing up.

“I mean, talk about broken home! Did you really didn’t do anything when Damien swung his sword at them? Poor baby went to Ivy for it to heal… never got rid of that scar,” Selina pressed her finger on her forehead, informing where you got your scar from Damien.

“Selina, please. I’m begging you to tell me where they are. At least where Ivy is,” Bruce clenched his hands around his cowl, voice more desperate if you recognized the way he spoke. He was trying to stay strong despite it all.

“And why should I? So you could feel better about yourself? So you don’t have that guilt in your heart reminding you that you failed as a father? That you can’t stand the thought of actually failing being what others saw you as?” Selina pressed him, glaring at Bruce as she backed him to the edge of the building.

“You might as well just accepted you never had them as your kid in the first place since you failed to see them!” The venom from her voice made Bruce clench his eyes shut, gritting his teeth before the gates burst open

“Selina please!!” His Batman voice wavered and broke into Bruce Wayne. Selina stayed silent, watching a broken man as he fell onto his knees, not being able to support the emotional wreck he was in.

"I lost them once-!… I-I can't lose them again…” He wasn’t ever going to lose you again. He will make sure that you will be loved till the end of times that you won’t even remember why you were angry at him. You’ll forgive him that he can promise.

“… Fuck, she’s going to kill me…” Selina groaned, rubbing her face seeing the pathetic face of Bruce, yet couldn’t help but soften a little. She opened a little bag on her belt and shuffled around.

“This is all I’m giving you, because despite us together, your mistakes messed that little baby up so bad they became a monster because of you,” She flicked a small card at his feet, avoiding eye contact.

“This is the only thing I’m going to do, it ain’t my place to interfere, nor help you with,” Even if she was involved with Bruce, you were first, always had and always will be.

“And watch out with Ivy finding out that not only you’re their dad, but the reason they were hurt for so many years,” Selina dusted herself off before hopping onto the ledge of the building, stopping for a moment and turning to Bruce.

“Don’t. Make me regret this,” She warned cautiously and dangerously, pointing at him before jumping off the ledge to leave. Bruce stayed silent before slowly crouching down to lift the card to him.

The card didn’t had any other information other than a name with little hexagon patterns splattered across the faded paper. Guess whoever takes card would know their way around the city to find this place.

“The HoneyComb,”

꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁

“Here!” It was easy to pin point the location to this indie club that apparently is easy to join. Barbara zoomed in from security footage that came from an undetected camera perched on a small bakery nearby.

“Oswald Cobblepot paid for the property of the warehouse (Name) spent years in by using an alias to sway any suspicion. Discretely having it under renovation during the night, construction was under wraps for days,” Tim crossed his arms and leaned against the Bat computer’s desk holder, eyes darting around to take in every detail from the footage.

“Now we know why,” Barbara piped in, “(Name) has been using the very place they worked hard in as their new home. Surveillance from other stores showed people enter and exit through the night,” More choppy videos played, yet it was clear as day what, or who they were seeing.

“Look at that…” Duke’s eyes widened when spotting familiar faces. From simple mugging or burglary, they see people that only wanted to survive that they had stopped before, “Glowing eyes… just like-,” Now they’re eyes were just like-

“(Names)’s,” Jason breathed out a laugh, “Guess their little rants about bees to me worked in our favor,” Damien looked up at his brother, confused as Jason began to explain.

“A queen bee can’t survive without drones or worker bees, so instead of laying eggs to larvae, (Name) must’ve used that honey they were so proud of as some sort of mind control to target homeless, muggers, or drug addicts to work for them,” He explained, arms crossed and nodding in realization.

“No one would miss those kinds of people,” It sounded mean, but even the optimistic ones in the Batfamily knew that they were nothing more than thieves.

“W-we can’t just let them continue with this! This isn’t like them!” Dick pleaded. He was sure that whatever you turned into has trapped your mind into a mindless state where you had no idea you were harming others! He’ll save you and bring you back to normal!

“That’s the thing… If it’s too late to bring them back, we have to arrest them…” Bruce’s hand trembled at the thought of taking you away to Arkham. Maybe he’ll pull some strings to stop it from happening.

“But if we catch them… we can’t send them to Arkham. I know that our (Name) is still there, we could rehabilitate them to regain their memory!” Duke looked scared, and rightfully so. This could go wrong in many ways, but the look in the family’s eyes means that they’re willing to risk everything.

Bruce has made many mistakes in the past, but you weren’t going to be another. He will bring you back, he will spend his entire life finding a cure to your beast and throw a big party for you when you’re normal again.

“Question is…” Alfred began, his fingers on his chin in a thoughtful manner. Going in dressed as Batman and the Robins is a huge no-no, despite not knowing how capable you are in your bee form Alfred knows how much you hated them. So in a disguise…

“Who’s going?”

…

“ME!!!”

꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁

“Honeycomb, where all is welcome,” Dick flipped the card over a few times, as if thinking there was some sort of code behind it. Dick, Damien, Steph, Jason, and Duke were chosen (or rather fought) to be disguised as homeless or low citizens.

“Tt, Grayson, why must we wear such rags?” Damien tsked, shoving his hands into his pockets while they turned a corner to see the warehouse from a distance.

“We don’t know if seeing our faces or clothes the hypnotized “drones” will alert (Name), we lay low,” Dick ruffled the assassin’s hair, making him growl. Yet he was more focused on finding you rather than biting Dick’s hand off.

The low vibrations of upbeat music indicated that they were near. Standing at the warehouse, it looked like it was completely run down just like before, but the lights shining through the cracks said otherwise.

“Please! We seek shelter, we seek a home!” Duke banged on the door, before grimacing when he pulled his hand away to see honey sticking onto him.

Jason snickered before the two doors slid open, the glowing lights from inside blinded them for a moment. Duck squinted his eyes and raised his hand as a figure stood at the entrance, a familiar grin on his face.

“Greetings, my fellow outsider bees!” A voice so familiar with memories caused all of them to freeze. A hand quickly grabbed onto Dick’s, Jason tugging at his scarf frantically. Joker stood happily, oblivious at the group’s reaction.

“Looks like we are welcoming more poor little bees who are in dire need of our sanctuary!” He laughed heartily, “But not to worry! Our queen will take you in definitely!” He gave a dramatic bow before the doors slid open, the light from inside pouring out that blinded them for a moment.

“Grayson,” Damien stilled, “That’s the Joker,” Yet those words felt like a lie. It was so clearly that it was the Joker, but he was… different. His outfit consisted on resembling of a fancy jester with strips and pastel colors splashed across, large antennas sticking out of his head, his smile still wide, but lack the insanity behind it.

And his eyes… glowing like everyone else.

“Yeah, I know…” He mumbled, squeezing the hand of Jason, who remained silent but had that look in his eyes, Lazarus green glowing.

“We are happy to take in more of our precious bees!” Joker’s antennas twitched, which caused a few younger bees to offer plates of honey to the new group, to which they declined. Jason grimaced in slight fear when seeing Ben, a young boy he saved from being in the wrong crowd when he spotted him stealing from a car.

He didn’t look malnourished the last time he saw Ben, in fact, he looked better than ever. His clothes were new, his face clean from bruises and blood, but it didn’t felt great when his eyes glowed and antennas twitching.

Dick scanned the area while Joker rambled on about how his “Queen” showed him his wrongdoings and let him in with open arms. “They truly do care about their bees,” He sniffled dramatically, dabbing his fake tears away before laughing softly. It felt unnatural, this place.

Inside had hexagon patterns for the walls and the floors, along with the rails for the three floors she has within it. What appeared to be a waterfall fountain with glowing pink and orange honey where older drones gathered in bowl, still offering them to them.

Damien sure as hell doesn’t like the fact everything felt… too happy. Everyone was safe, yes, but the music, the atmosphere had this… strain, as if it was determined to keep everything in a happy state.

“You’re just in time too! Our queen is about to begin the party!!” Joker clapped his hands with joy, a genuine smile on his face as the lights began to dim. Dick instinctively pushed the others back as the drones and worker bees gasped with excitement, all looking up at the ceiling, where a massive wax covered smaller hive was glowing.

“Party is buzzing tonight!!” A loud, beaming voice echoed throughout the hive, causing your subjects to all cheer. Damien and Duke looked at each other just as a tempo began to drop, and from the ceiling, a bright glow crawled to be revealed.

A bright smile they recognized anywhere, and the voice that no longer stuttered or sounded coarse.

Buzzzzz

“Your Queen Bee makes the sweet stuff, so make me that sweet, sweet honey!!”

A/N: Again, this may be an allegory, but who knows lmao. Anyways, here’s a chapter for you hungry pests because writer’s block actually shot be 47 times then tossed me into a ravine.

Have fun analyzing why things feel fake and too happy, I like when yall analyze things

Taglist: @pix-stuff @jellystar-star @moon0goddess @bad4amficideas @lettucel0ver @lithiumval @degenerates-posts @ryuushou @deathbynarcisstick @silverklaus @artistwithcreativeburnout @middevil465 @jsprien213 @1abi @oliviaewl @redkarmakai @nxdxsworld @the-dumber-scaramouche @sc3n3mo-t3to @tw-om-gi-hs-56387 @bunniotomia @welpthisisboring @rad4bean @ithoughtthinks @reeyy0-2 @ceramic-raven @danart501 @esposadomd @trashlanternfish360 @jjoppees @nervousalpacalady @eyeless-kun @pinkcloudcat @lunamonkeypower @soriansick @your-favorite-god

[nqueso-lies]

Hi, so this is VERY RANDOM but I'd like to hear your opinion because I'm on the fence about it and I love you and your opinions.

So I like dark themed romance and I like bucktommy so I was thinking and I'm in the middle of writing a dark themed romance for bucktommy.

My issue is if that's too much? Is it okay to write something that is not fluffy, romantic or hurt/comfort? Because most of the works I've read are like that and they great and the fandom is amazing and that what inspired me to write again after 10 years.

I'm scared whoever going to read it won't take it well and I'm scared I'll start discourse and people making posts about my fic and pointing fingers at me. I'd just disintegrate.

I'm sorry but I'm having a meltdown since a month ago and still do. I write like one sentence and then ask myself "what's the point?" And close the writing app, and this is killing my brain because I'm already a slow writer and I'm struggling with English.

And to give you an idea about it, it has stalking, kidnapping and manipulation.

Should I tuned it down, should I drop it, should I go with what everyone else is writing, what 😭.

I'm sorry, but I really didn't know who should I ask but you.

You can choose not to post this and just give me an answer or just ignore me. I'd hate to disturb your peace if this ask attract unwanted attention, I'd absolutely hate that to happen to you.

I was going to answer this with an @ anon but I think it's important that everyone see your ask because it makes me sad.

It doesn't make me sad because you want to write dark romance for bucktommy, it makes me sad that you feel like you can’t because you'll be ridiculed for it. I can't speak for all bucktommy fans but I can say that there are currently dark romance themed bucktommy fics out there and they seem to be well received and I know I read them.

Imo, if the fic is tagged accordingly, then go for it. I'm currently reading a few mob boss fics that I would describe (as well as the writers) as dark romance.

There's nothing wrong with safely exploring things through art. How many people love to watch the show 'You'? Gallavich fic is heavy on dark romance. Bucktommy are legal adults.

I feel like the CSA fics really fucked up this fandom. That was completely different. Those fics were deliberately mistagged and sent to people to trigger them. That's not what you or other writers who properly tag their fics, are doing.

If someone reads your fic and it has a trigger in it that is tagged and they get angry that's on them.

For instance, and please forgive me, I'm not calling this writer out, but there is a bucktommy series about a very specific fetish that is no where near my interest levels... and you know what I do?? I scroll past it.

Just because I don't enjoy that doesn't mean others don't.

I would recommend turning on comment monitoring (?) to get a feel on the reactions, but I don't see why you'd have a problem.

Annie, please write it. Tag appropriately and have fun! It's what we're all here for at the end of the day anyway.

[iwanderbecauseimlost]

if i absolutely HAVE to state a fault of Rings of Power, it'd probably be that it's more catering towards people who already have some knowledge of Tolkien's legendarium outside of the Lord of the Rings. I watched the first episode before I read The Silmarillion, so I was pretty confused. After I read it though, it became extremely enjoyable.

But even then, I feel like you'd only be so clueless if you have only watched Peter Jackson's movies. I just wasn't paying a lot of attention while reading The Lord of the Rings.

That also can't be considered a fault, as my friend @cleftones so rightly pointed out, because it would motivate people to read Tolkien's other works as well, meaning it increases people in the fandom.

So all the purists, who think this show is a desecration of Tolkien's works, is it really? Or do you just not understand it, because your pea brain is unable to comprehend anything beyond Peter Jackson's movies? They are obviously a work of art, but imagine adapting something that isn't even written as a novel series, like The Lord of the Rings is, and creating a wonderful show out of it! Could you even write a synopsis for the events in Second Age Arda? I know I definitely could not.

That aside, does the idea of equality and representation not sound great to you? Elves don't just have to be white people, they can be brown, black, hispanic, everything! I personally, as a brown person, find that extremely exciting. If you don't, I think that is something you personally need to work on, don't you?

If even that isn't the problem, and you just dislike the changes they've made to the story, then you must be a real hot thing at parties. How fun. You can't comprehend people having different ideas? This isn't natural law, it's a story. Have you never read an alternate universe fanfic? Or one with OCs?

It takes skill to be able to create something that so perfectly ties in with an already existing world. It all takes skill. Could you pull off something like The Rings of Power cast, crew, writers, etc. are doing?

Think about it.

[tobiasdrake]

I have a lot of qualms with the anime's handling of things. It's a lot of people's first exposure to Dragon Ball and forms the basis of how many in the fandom think of the characters and concepts. But there's... issues.

As everyone knows, the anime is not a 100% faithful adaptation like, say, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is for the FMA manga. They were adapting the manga as it was being written, usually having to fit 1-2 chapters of manga into twenty minutes of television. So they had to improvise a lot.

This is where the padding and filler comes from. Filler episodes give the manga time to get ahead so they don't have to try and squeeze 1 chapter into a full episode. And fights are padded as hell with long sequences of characters charging up or spectators gawking at them because when you only have 1-2 chapters to adapt and most of it's fighting, those panels burn up a lot faster than 1-2 chapters of plot and dialogue.

This is the commonly discussed issue with the Dragon Ball anime, especially with Dragon Ball Z. For which Dragon Ball Kai was created to try and correct for.

But the issues with the anime run deeper than "There is filler" and "Fights are padded".

First, to the problem of the filler. We often use "filler" these days to mean episodic character-driven parts of a show. But I need to stress that I mean filler in the original sense of the word. These are scenes and whole episodes that do not exist in the source material and have been created just to extend runtime and delay the speed of material consumption in the adaptation process.

The issue with the anime's filler is fairly intuitive. These are scenes and episodes being inserted into a story that were not created by its author. Like you're reading Lord of the Rings and then suddenly someone's Legolas x Aragorn slash fic abruptly appears between two chapters, and then Lord of the Rings continues afterward like that didn't happen and it's never acknowledged again.

That doesn't have to be a problem if it's a really good slash fic. But the other problem with the filler is that the people they were made by are not the dedicated Dragon Ball fandom. It's not the Dragon Ball nerds who've memorized the lore and prepared an extensive essay on why Yamcha and Piccolo are secretly lovers.

They're made by animators and writers whose job is to produce twenty minutes of entertaining television for children. That's it. That's all they're here for. These animators and writers didn't have a very strong grasp on the characters, the concepts, or the mythology of the world they were writing these extra episodic character-driven moments and stories for.

It's not your local Dragon Ball nerd writing the fic; It's the nerd's brother who was looking at his phone while the nerd infodumped, who suddenly looks up and goes, "Wait, why doesn't Frieza just break out of Hell with his awesome powers? He's super strong, right? Hell couldn't hold him." Not realizing that there is actually an established answer to that question.

Consequently, the filler episodes play fast and loose with continuity and often have an adverse effect on the audience's perception of the characters and ideas therein.

Yamcha and Bulma's relationship is miserable, but the filler gives them lots of moments together to show that they really do love each other and we should be rooting for these crazy kids to work it out.

Yamcha himself is supposed to be a womanizer who eventually cheats on Bulma, but the filler plays him as a put-upon henpecked boyfriend who is chaste, virtuous, and loyal to Bulma despite her constant abuse. This has informed much of the fandom's perception of Bulma and Yamcha's relationship, as well as the backlash against their eventual and well-warranted breakup.

(Which is not to say that Bulma's a saint in the manga either. Far from it. The point is that they were miserable together, and the best thing for both of them was to split. Which you might not realize from the way the anime depicts them.)

Yamcha actually gets a lot of this because the creatives at Toei liked him and greatly embellished his presence and role within the story. Anime Yamcha is the guy who has his shit together. He's the leader of the Dragon Team, practically the deuteragonist of the show, with Krillin falling into a dipshit little brother role and being relegated to comic relief. He's Tenshinhan's rival and bro, and they push each other to greater heights through their iron bond of mutual respect.

All of this is fanfiction, and it plays a heavy role in the ultimate disappointment when Yamcha ultimately fell from a spotlight he was never supposed to be in to begin with. If you add a bunch of extra chapters to Fellowship detailing in extensive detail what a great hero Boromir was and his many adventures and his nobility and heroism... Then you're going to get an upset fandom when he dies at the end of the book and the plot moves on without him. Don't do that.

Gohan also got hit really hard by the "Toei writing checks Toriyama won't cash" brick. In filler, Toei liked to characterize Gohan as, basically, Goku Jr. He had an independent drive and desire for adventure and martial arts. He's constantly sneaking out under Chi-Chi's nose to go thrill-seeking and work on his training.

This, again, is fanfiction that creates the wrong impression of the character. Gohan is a sweet and sensitive boy who enjoys academia and aspires to be a scholar, but who is willing to get involved and fight when there are people he loves whose lives are on the line. He has a massive potential but no drive to pursue it outside of spending time with his loved ones who do it as a hobby. If he could, he would never throw another punch again outside of sparring matches with Dad and friends.

One very notable filler episode has Gohan escape Piccolo's training and return home. But then, just when he has the chance to be free, he steels himself and decides to return to the training. He's going to fight the Saiyans for himself, because he wants this, and he finds his resolve. But then manga canon comes back and Gohan comes apart emotionally during the fight with the Saiyans and can't bring himself to act, because he doesn't have the resolve and is only here under duress.

Krillin also suffers in the opposite way of Yamcha. They can't reduce his prominence in the anime, but he does suddenly turn into a hapless loser and cowardly buffoon whenever Toei gets their turn at writing him. It's even a running joke in the movies that Krillin always gets a chance to try to fight the villains and gets comically punked out of the action; He starts commenting on it in later films.

There's a point in the Cell arc where Goku and Chi-Chi make a deal to back off on the academia and let Gohan train for the Androids. The anime elects to ignore it and continues doing Tiger Mom bits throughout the rest of the arc, despite manga Chi-Chi holding to her end of the agreement.

Bulma, like Krillin, is often characterized as much softer and sweeter than she is in the manga. Except when they're drumming up sympathy for Yamcha, she's a lot more gentle and traditionally feminine. There are also a ton of filler scenes of Bulma just sitting around fretting about Goku, even when she has no idea what he's up to. They just have her, wherever she is, doing the "I can feel that he's in danger in my heart, my heart aches from the pain he must be in," bit usually reserved for couples in anime.

It's not just the characters, though. Dragon Ball filler is rife with absurd inconsistencies. There's an episode where Goku travels back in time to learn from Mutaito, the master who trained Kame-sennin and Tsuru-sennin. This episode features Mutaito teaching Goku about ki manipulation for the very first time... Despite it being between Piccolo-Daimao and the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, when Goku's been shooting Kamehamehas for years.

Like Goku and Chi-Chi's bargain, the anime elects to ignore the fact that Senzu leaves you full and satisfied for seven days. That gets in the way of doing comedic "Goku eating a truck full of food" bits, which they love to animate and add into the show a lot. So that established metaphysic doesn't exist anymore in their version.

As aforementioned, the rules of how the afterlife works get in the way of having the dead villains cause trouble, so those are gone too. Toei loves having the dead villains break out of Hell. They did it in the Anoyoichi Budokai filler arc, in the Fusion Reborn film, and again in the Super 17 arc of GT.

In the manga, when you die, you become a powerless soul. On rare occasions, a god may permit you to keep your body, allowing you to retain your strength and cultivated ki while all other souls do not. Then you enter into the karmic cycle, with evil souls spending an amount of time in Jigoku until their negative karma is purged and they are able to reincarnate.

In the anime, all souls keep their bodies, always. If your ki is really strong, then I guess Hell just won't be able to contain you. Death is just, like, involuntarily being moved to a different physical location, but is otherwise no different from being alive.

They did actually nail this in the Ginyu Force filler arc, where Kaio explicitly states that he restored the Ginyus' bodies so they could be used as a training exercise for the Earthlings. But no explanation is ever offered for why all the other villains get to keep their bodies too.

A really funny thing the anime does, not really an inconsistency so much as just an entertaining bit of guesswork, is that they clearly wanted Goku to have a love interest. There are lots of filler bits throughout the first anime shipping Goku with Chi-Chi and Bulma... and also Snow from Jingle Village.

Snow. The redhead girl from the Muscle Tower arc. They bring her back in the Piccolo-Daimao arc and it is so wild. But after Chi-Chi is canonized as Goku's love interest, we basically never hear from her again. I think she appears in the Majin Buu Spirit Bomb "Lend me your energy" bit and that's it.

Just. Hedging the fuck out of their bets so that when Toriyama finally gives Goku a romance, they'll have foreshadowed it.

Which ultimately still ended up working against the story's integrity. Because when Chi-Chi does show up to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, it's supposed to be a huge shock. We haven't seen this girl since fucking Fire Mountain. You probably forgot she existed. Goku did.

But in the anime, we've been watching Goku pop by and hang out with her multiple times in filler just in case she's going to be revealed to be his offscreen girlfriend or something. So it completely ruins the surprise. They put in extra effort to try and foreshadow whoever Goku's ultimate ship would be, and in the process ruined a shocking reveal that was meant to go unforeshadowed.

Krillin also gets two filler shippables, Mint and Maron. And Gohan gets one named Lime. None of these characters are ever spoken of again after manga canon reasserts itself, but they don't hurt the story by existing. I'm still salty that Maron never got to meet God after winning the Nyoi-bo/Power Pole from Karin in strip poker, though. I demand my "Maron in God's Temple" scene.

There's an entire filler arc of Gohan being Great Saiyaman under Videl's nose while constantly dodging her attempts to unmask him. Which ruins the Gotcha moment where Videl nails his identity in one day because she's observant and open-minded while he's bad at faking normal. Videl's intelligence doesn't shine through in the anime, and she instead comes across as a hapless damsel for Gohan to rescue from her own self-destructive foolishness over and over.

Anime Frieza has an infinite supply of minions for the entire duration of the Namek arc when he's supposed to be down to just himself, Zarbon and Dodoria, and Appule - with those three gradually diminishing. But because they don't actually exist in manga canon, they are forbidden from influencing the plot and just hang out in his ship doing nothing. They're just there so he and Captain Ginyu can kill them in filler sequences to show off how wicked they are.

Oh, except for one episode where they get in a fight with Bulma and lose.

And that's not to mention the Garlic Jr. arc, which is a direct sequel to a non-canon film somehow happening within the anime's canon. Fuck you, that's how. Toei legitimately does not care. They don't care who the characters are, they don't care what the rules are, and nearly everything they write ceases to be canon the second the manga canon returns to the screen. They aren't really writing Legolas x Aragorn slash fic. They're writing an episode of The Simpsons and inserting it between Lord of the Rings pages.

But that's only problem 1. The other issue is the padding. And again, people say "padding" and they think of. Like. Goku screaming for ten straight minutes as he transforms. Charging up a beam attack for six minutes before firing it. Reaction shots of each individual character, some of whom aren't even present. That sort of thing.

And that certainly is present in the anime. To be sure. The manga's action is far more fast-paced than the anime. Sometimes this is, admittedly, to the manga's detriment. Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation takes like one page. It's over and done with. Vegeta throws like one or two punches at Final Form Frieza before giving up and accepting defeat.

There are moments of action in the manga that feel like this could have been longer. I will give them that.

The problem with the padding is really just more problems with filler, but in an action context. There's a lot of extra fighting inserted between panels being adapted. On paper, that makes sense as the kind of thing you might add to an episode when fleshing it out, but it has... problems in practice.

Characters will spend between 30 seconds to a full episode going through original fight choreography that the same people writing those filler episodes came up with. The problem with that is twofold.

One, this is all action happening between panels. That means that, at the end of this piece of choreography, the fight must return to the same place it was at the beginning of it. Frieza smashes Vegeta into a rock but then Vegeta suddenly gets up and they start fighting again. Nobody takes damage, nobody does anything significant, and at the end of it Frieza smashes Vegeta into the rock a second time so he can be where the manga needs him to be.

This makes a lot of the action feel weightless, because there are extended sequences of fighting where both characters are effectively invulnerable. It would ruin the story if anything changed before we get back to the manga, after all.

This filler action is where a lot of iconic Dragon Ball animation shots comes from. You shoot a ton of ki blasts into your enemy and they explode into a smoke cloud. You breathe a sigh of relief knowing you got him. But then he slowly emerges unscathed. WHAT!?

Is it because he's SO POWERFUL? Uh. No. Hitting a really powerful guy over and over usually still does some damage. It's because this part of the fight isn't really happening so he has Filler Invincibility turned on.

Goku's body is destroyed by the Kaioken but suddenly he gets a second wind and is able to jump around and throw punches like he's full of energy! Is Goku back in the fight? No. At the end of it he'll be right back where he started. It's just that this part of the fight isn't really happening so he has Filler Infinite Stamina turned on.

This is most noticeable in the Super Saiyan Goku vs. Frieza fight, which has like ten straight episodes of Filler Action. At one point Gohan's Filler Battle Lust snaps on and he comes back to fight 1v1 with 100% Full Power Frieza. He doesn't get his shit completely rocked, though, because he has Filler Invincibility turned on; he has to survive and return to the ship once the manga's ready to start up again.

This kind of stuff completely destroys the pacing of a fight. It's not a problem when the Filler Action is good. But that's where the second problem, the "Toei doesn't really care" problem comes in. The same people writing those Simpsons episodes are also choreographing these extra bits of fighting.

Filler Action is rarely innovative, rarely does anything new or interesting. For the most part, it's derivative. They lean heavily on referencing cool shots and cool scenes, and on reusing cool attacks from past arcs regardless of whether it actually makes sense.

The Shishin no Ken/Multiform technique appears one time in the Dragon Ball manga. Tenshinhan created it for use against Goku in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. However, it was critically flawed. Goku was able to pick apart the flaw and overwhelm Tenshinhan, delivering a crushing defeat. No one ever attempted the technique again. Because it's bad.

The anime makes it a staple of a completely different character whatsoever. Piccolo whips out Shishin no Ken all the time. He trains with it. He uses it against enemies. At certain points, Krillin and even Cell also use the technique? Everybody loves Shishin no Ken even though it's a bad technique that lost its only fight.

Zanzoken/Afterimage was a really strong technique at the beginning of the manga. But as the characters advanced in their study of martial arts, it became obsolete. Once ki sensing entered the picture and nobody needed to track a foe with their eyes, leaving a Zanzoken in your place as you move became pointless. You made five shadow clones. Cool. I can sense which one is real, so there is no value in doing that.

The anime continues using Zanzoken for Filler Action all the way through the end of its run. What about ki sensing, you ask? That's fine. Nobody can sense ki in Filler Action. The anime just forgets that's a thing when ever Toei is in the writing seat.

Characters who can sense ki are constantly losing track of their opponents in Filler Action. Kick up a cloud of dust in the air and you can get the drop on Goku. He has no way of telling where the next attack will come from if he can't see you with his eyes!

This is often used in tandem with... Looney Tunes tunneling? I don't know why that's a thing in Filler Action but Toei likes having characters go subterranean and then suddenly erupt from the ground to grab their opponent's feet. It always makes for a surprising ambush since the characters can't sense ki anymore.

Oh, and Bukujutsu. Characters in Filler Action sometimes forget that they can fly. There are so many Toei-written scenes where characters plummet uncontrollably through the air for tension or are surrounded/confronted by an obstacle that could be easily solved by going airborne, especially in the Baby arc of GT.

Piccolo breaks out the one-handed Makankosappo/Special Beam Cannon a lot. In the manga, he was doing it with one hand because he'd lost the other one. He demonstrates the two-handed Makankosappo in the fight with Nappa, and then never uses it again in either form. But it was an iconic moment when he did the one-handed one against Raditz, so one-handed Makankosappo divorced from context became a staple of his Filler Action moveset.

In the manga, characters are constantly innovating. Constantly evolving their styles, creating new and better ways of using their techniques while inventing new ones. But Filler Action is stagnant, with characters simply deploying existing attacks and referencing Cool Moments like playing cards from a deck. Genuinely innovative and interesting things, like using the sun to create a Solar Genki-Dama and obliterate Namekian Dracula, do happen but are few and far between.

Once Super Saiyan enters the picture, the anime uses it like Kaioken. Characters will try to fight without it and fail only to suddenly reveal that they can transform at the eleventh hour, long past the point where it actually would have made sense to do it. I have complained at length about this so I'll keep that part brief but suffice it to say that Filler Action characters often let themselves get beaten up really badly while coasting on their Filler Invincibility even when they have the ability to stop losing at any moment.

Power levels basically cease to exist in Filler Action. See above, re: Gohan surviving throwing hands with Full Power Frieza. But also in other ways, like an episode of Dragon Ball Super that features Goten and Trunks being menaced by a random jungle snake, and needing to turn Super Saiyan to escape from it. At one point in GT, Trunks has to turn Super Saiyan to lift a pallet full of bricks?

Toei has a general idea of "This character is to some extent stronger than that character". Except when they don't, like characterizing Yamcha as a worthy opponent and rival to Tenshinhan or suggesting that Chiaotzu would be a match for a member of the Ginyu Force.

For every "Goten and Trunks menaced by snake" moment, you also get stuff like "Pre-Namek Vegeta can destroy an entire planet in seconds with a casual shot fired from his fingers." They have no idea how powerful these characters are supposed to be at any given time, or what their abilities actually are, or how those abilities actually work. And so they make a lot of errors in both directions.

And it makes for hollow fight choreography where the moves being made are derivative and overly referential, none of the moves make sense as things these characters would be doing or would be capable of doing, and it doesn't mean anything anyway because it's happening between panels so it's all going to reset to 0 at the end of it. Except in the movies and GT and stuff where only two of those things are true.

Even the DBS: Broly movie, which I love to death, has a lot of shitty Toei-style fight choreography baked into it. Stepping through stages of Super Saiyan for no reason? Check. Characters letting themselves get shitstomped for no reason but it's fine because they're invincible? Check. Over-reliance on referencing iconic manga moments even when it makes no sense and breaks the integrity of the scene? Just once I'd like to see a Fusion Dance that doesn't Play the Hits of the two characters turning into Fat Gotenks. You know they have to wait an hour or so to try again, right? Because the movie doesn't.

So, all in all, the anime gives me a lot of grief. The manga wasn't this exceptionally crafted masterpiece. Akira Toriyama did a lot of improvising. He was writing by the seat of his pants. But he at least tried to present a consistent universe with consistent characters and rules.

So, for me, watching the various Dragon Ball animes is like being pricked by a thousand tiny needles. That's not how that works. That's not how that works. He wouldn't say that. She wouldn't react like that. Nobody uses that attack anymore. Why can't he sense his opponent? That's not how that works. He wasn't there for that scene. Why is Uranai Baba here?

weird question. how do you feel about toriyama's art, and the use of his art style?

Artistically, if people take anything away from Toriyama's work, I want it to be his talent for conveying action through still panels.

I've read plenty of comics and manga where the action is honestly pretty hard to make sense of. Like taking still images of one of those jumpy thousand-cuts-per-minute modern Hollywood action scenes where the images are taken like fifteen seconds apart and there's no real sense of how anyone got to anywhere or where that punch is supposed to land.

By contrast, reading Dragon Ball is like watching an actual martial arts film. Toriyama's panel work was a big part of what made him such a great mangaka. It's very easy to follow Toriyama's action from panel to panel; To read the visual language of the fight.

Look how smooth that is. People don't think of Dragon Ball fights as clear, concise affairs where every punch has weight and every move counts. But that's exactly what the manga is. This was Toriyama's greatest asset as an artist.

Look at how the panels follow Frieza's right leg. He's stepping forward with his right leg. His right leg is in front of Goku's face. His right leg kicks Goku into the air. Then he sweeps with his right leg. And then the right leg connects.

That whole sequence follows Frieza's leg. It's what is going to be used to hit Goku and so the action tracks it from panel to panel. You always know where Frieza's right leg is.

And it's why the whole "Characters designed by Toriyama" thing never really meant as much as it was hyped to be. It doesn't matter if he drew a guy's hair Goku-style. What matters is this. When the fists start flying, is it going to be his action?

Or is it going to be something like this?

Did Goku push Vegeta? Did he shoot him? Because he was like ten feet away from the fighting when that maneuver was completed. And then he definitely took that hit to the back of the neck but I guess he was just playing pretend?

Did Son Goku just fake a knockout so he could land a cheap-shot sucker-punch on an adversary?

(This same fight also had Goku defeat Granolah's knack for targeting someone's vitals by suddenly being able to reposition all of his organs somehow, incidentally.)

11 pages of pure action just to convey that Goku and Moro are equally matched. By the end of this, the fight hasn't actually moved in any way.

Goku and Moro chitchat with each other across a beam struggle?

Just so Goku can brag that Toyotaro knows what the Zanzoken/Afterimage is.

By contrast, Toriyama's Beam Struggles look like this.

Intense, strenuous affairs which are clearly and visibly taking a toll on both participants, in which one party ultimately and significantly prevails over the other.

In Goku and Moro's struggle, neither of them really seems to be trying very hard. Goku and Moro are able to water-cooler chat across the beam somehow and then they both just stop caring and leave. It was a Continuity Moment so Goku could call out the Zanzoken but ultimately Goku's Kamehameha achieves nothing and the fight just carries on like it never happened.

Also there's a point where Moro telekinetically yanks Goku down out of the air and then, on the next page, Moro telekinetically yanks Goku down out of the air again. What's that about?

The double-punch panel to show that they're evenly matched is... I have no idea where Moro got the strength to suddenly do that when last we saw was him recoiling from being hit over and over? Moro suddenly gains Super Armor between pages so he can be back in control of a situation where they were not evenly matched and he was clearly on the back foot.

The art is really good and, visually, Toyotaro has a good bead on what these characters should look like. But not what they should move like. It's not Toriyama's action, and you can feel that difference.

[somsatangpie]

Books recomended by Ateez members - Part III

Link to Part I (Seonghwa, Hongjoong)

Link to Part II (San, Yeosang)

Wooyoung

Temperature of language - 언어의 온도 (Lee Kiju) -2016

Words and writing have their own temperature. Language has its own temperature, such as warmth and coldness, and moderate warmth. When people get tired of life, some people talk to friends and talk about their worries, and some people read books and find comfort in the sentences the author delivers. In this way, ‘language’ can freeze my heart for a moment, or it can melt that frozen heart. The author of The Temperature of Language, Lee Ki-ju, enjoys eavesdropping and recording. He confesses that his bad habit comes into play when he gets on a bus or subway. This book densely contains meaningful words and writings that the author discovered in his daily life, the etymology and origin of words, and the preciousness and urgency of such language.

My note * It's completely different from something I would imagine Wooyoung would want to read.Most of the written material is from everyday life, so it is almost like a diary, but its not boring*

Link to video

Jongho

생각의 기쁨 유병욱 지음 -2017

Joy of thought by Yoo Byung Wook -2017

Synopsis

“The joy of thinking is in the process, not the result!” A writer with 16 years of experience on the non-trivial attitude of transforming small thoughts into something great.

My note: This is another case of a book that is extremely popular in Korea but completely unknown overseas. Its a very father book. In fact my father have one edition, and he loves it.

Mingi

I had that same dream again - Yoru Sumino - 2016

Synopsis

"I Had That Same Dream Again" follows Nanoka Koyanagi, a young girl tasked with defining happiness for a school project.

She meets three individuals: Minami, a self-harming teenager; "Skank-san," an ostracized woman; and "Granny," an elderly woman. Through her interactions with them, Nanoka explores their stories of pain, loneliness, and resilience, ultimately learning about different facets of happiness and how it can be found in unexpected places. The novel explores themes of bullying, trauma, suicide, self-harm, and death, making it a layered coming-of-age story.

...

I have a secret by Yoru Sumino -2021

Synopsis

"I Have a Secret" by Yoru Sumino is a coming-of-age story about five high school classmates who each harbor hidden secrets and special abilities, which are tied to their perceptions of others' feelings. The novel delves into themes of friendship, love, and the things people choose not to say, highlighting the complexities of human connection and the impact of unspoken truths. 

Dune - Frank Herbert -1965

Synopsis:

Dune is set in the distant future in a feudal interstellar society, descended from terrestrial humans, in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family reluctantly accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis.

When House Atreides is betrayed, Paul embarks on a journey of survival and discovers his destiny to lead the Fremen people and fulfill a prophecy. The novel explores themes of power, religion, ecology, and politics within a complex, futuristic society.

My note about Mingis books: *Mingi really surprised me with the books he likes. I already knew that Hongjoong and Seonghwa read a lot, but Mingi forming with them a literary trio of Ateez was deliciously surprising. All books he recommended have in common being long books, a fantasy world and the search for self identity, self knowledge, bullying, and how to deal with serious problems. Theres no link to videos where he does recomentadions because he did it on lives*

Yunho

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix - 2014

Synopsis:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör is designed to retain its luster and natural appearance for a lifetime of use. Pleasingly proportioned with generous French flaps and a softcover binding, Horrorstör delivers the psychological terror you need in the elegant package you deserve.

My note: *This book is a jewel of horror, its very Sad Yunho dont like to read because this recomendation is precious*

Link to video

[ladykailitha]

Sigh... I hate Tumblr Tags

So! If you have been following my writers tag, you may need to update it.

When I first created the tag, I misspelled it.

#ladykailtiha writes

if you look really close you can see the problem. My name has the second "I" in the wrong place.

Same with #ladykailtiha answers.

SO! Follow these instead

#ladykailitha writes #ladykailitha answers

If you could reblog this to spread the word around I'd appreciate it.

Gondor Calls for Aid!

Permanent Tag List:

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[ghosthoard]

i don't have money or time to play video games

i do want to play all the zelda games eventually for my own sake and my own writing but my friend gifted me totk two years ago (i think) and i still haven't played it because i know if i played it i wouldn't have time to create art or write because i'd be sucked in (which i can't risk because i need to focus on studying too). i've only played botw, again cause my friend bought it for me. games are expensive first and foremost and also they take a long time for me to finish and require me to set aside time. i really wish i had gotten into it when i was younger, when i had more time, but well, i got into it in grad school.

if i were to wait until i played all the games to create anything for the fandom, i wouldn't be able to create anything until at least 5 years later.

so i tend to be discouraged by people who say things like "they haven't even played the games".

it's odd, because this really reminds me of the fans in the batfam fandom who insist that the fans who haven't read the comics are dumb and really talk down on anything they make. i think i saw most of them on twitter when i used to use twitter. i'm glad i don't really see stuff like that on ao3. but again, the problem is, a lot of the fans don't have the time or money to read comics. (also for DC in general, it's a pick-your-canon situation because there are so many comic writers that have their own version of the characters too so i don't understand people who say that comics should be where you get all your information when the characters vary from writer to writer, just like in fanfiction, it's about finding a writer you like) AND ALSO DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY GENERATIONS AND ITERATIONS AND COMIC RUNS EXIST IN BATFAM ALONE??? ITS NOT LIKE MANGA WHERE IT'S A CONTINUOUS STORY BY ONE WRITER, IMAGINE IF NARUTO WAS WRITTEN BY OTHER WRITERS MULTIPLE TIMES ACROSS ALMOST A CENTURY. YOUNG JUSTICE AND TEEN TITANS THE ANIMATED SHOWS ARE FANFICTIONS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT.

anyway

i don't think its reasonable to say i should play all the games before i create something. i want to create. i want to be happy. this is supposed to be fun.

i think i'd agree that those who insist that an interpretation of a character is wrong/right when they haven't seen the source material or try to do an analysis of the character in the context of the source material shouldn't do that, if you want to do analysis posts about canon, that's when you should know the source material, but a lot of the time it's the fanon version of the character they're talking about through headcanons. and also a lot of the time, these types of fans that only know the characters through fanon are children and/or are new to the concept of fandom. i would assume the version of a character that i've seen first or that everybody is talking about was the only way to think about it too if i was new and young.

in fact at my grown age, i was one of those people who tagged a non-LU art as LU, because a lot of the links across link-meets look pretty similar, because people are designing their links based on canon so they're going to share similarities. i saw another au creator state that they were scared of giving twilight a fur detail bc it would look too much like LU but did it anyway bc they wanted to (as they should) but also i feel like that proves how easy it is to mistake the designs. after the creator of the art i tagged incorrectly corrected me, i was more alert about it going forward (honestly i've just been sticking to LU creators to be safe at this point).

and people are right, LU is very popular. it's the ONLY links-meet i knew about when i emerged from botw and my friend told me about it. i honestly wasn't aware there were other versions until way later. especially because the names are pretty similar across links-meets and again the designs are too so i don't think it's all that surprising people get confused and just tag it LU. now imagine you're new to even the concept of fandom AND still in junior high. (side note, i have a couple of cis-straight male friends who are zelda fans and they don't use twilight or time or wild to call the characters, which i think is crazy because it'd be much easier than "twilight princess link" or "ocarina of time link". actually, speaking of cis-straight male fans, a lot of them say the same thing people hating on the LU fandom say, that we (transformative fandom) as a whole haven't played the games, especially when we say we headcanon the characters as queer or if they have autism or if they act differently than the "cool, masculine character" they think the links are.) this (different links-meet aus) is a very unique situation in fandom i think, from my go-around fandoms, naruto, one piece, batfam, haikyuu, the hobbit, etc haven't had different au beef to this extent or at all. it's honestly so fascinating. it's like everybody wants to be separated from each other in a way. (edit: i GOT IT! IT'S BC THE LINKS HAVE BECOME PERSONAL OCs MORE THAN SHARED CHARACTERS, THEY'RE NOT FIGHTING OVER SHARED CHARACTERS, NOT EVEN THE INTERPRETATION OF SAID CHARACTERS LIKE MOST OTHER FANDOMS, BUT SINCE THEY MADE THEIR OWN STORY, THEIR LINKS ARE MORE THEIR OCS THAN ANYTHING THEREFORE SOME PEOPLE FEEL MORE DEFENSIVE THAN FANS IN OTHER FANDOMS WOULD, IN THIS ESSAY I WILL—also most aus are shared between fans in other fandoms, like in batfam they have talon!dick or reverse robins, in the zelda fandom it's more a personal project, also in the microcosm that is LU the LU fandom have aus within the au which are exactly how other fandoms usually do aus, it's all so fascinating!) also i think the fact that LU is so much more popular than any other au adds to it. i've never seen such a phenomenon in other fandoms where one iteration is so much more well known.

LU is popular, i think the most popular links-meet au, at least on tumblr. (jhoca and ovega-karts works are getting more attention as a result of the comic dubs voice actors have done on YouTube) it's what one of my friends called "the gateway links meet au" which means a lot of the new zelda fans are getting funneled through LU first, which means a lot of them are young, new to fandom, new to zelda, or a combination of those. (also, especially for the first two, young and/or new to fandom, means they are susceptible to purity fandom culture, watch out for that). i'm not trying to excuse if people have done harmful things on purpose in the past or in the present but i feel like ignoring this context is doing more harm than good: the context being that because LU is popular it's where all the newest fans end up, and new fans are still learning.

and i really sympathize with creators who keep having their art tagged wrong, whether it was an accident by the tagger or not, because after a while i can understand for some people it can get annoying. but like this recent situation i feel like this pent up frustration is causing people to get too eager to jump on any perceived slight and honestly come off as a bit of an asshole.

i saw someone say they should just block every LU fan at this point, (meaning for it to be a punishment i'm assuming), but honestly yes, please do if it will give you peace. we don't want to be in places we're not wanted either. but it'll be hard, because again, LU is the gateway new zelda fans will come through and they will keep making the same mistake.

[ecrivainsolitaire]

I think the biggest problem isn't necessarily that they are pacifists, but how they are pacifists.

Aang manages to avoid killing Ozai because out of nowhere a lion turtle gifts him that ability in the eleventh hour.

Steven ends a 6,000 year war by saying a mildly witty comeback to a genocidal dictator, which causes her to be embarrassed and she just quits when her hypocrisy is exposed.

In both cases the show has not set up a reasonable path for this to happen. It's an unsatisfactory solution because it comes up as a deus ex machina that realistically should not have worked, neither in their universe nor in real life.

Aang is the liberal fantasy of "the market will regulate itself". It proposes that pacifism is the right way to solve the problem, but pacifism has been completely unviable up until the second the writers need it to work. Five minutes ago this was a war, now it's a 1v1. Ozai has been humiliated and now his power is null. Zuko can take the throne and magically the entire nation follows him despite having orders to kill him five minutes ago.

Steven is that scene from The West Wing where an atheist senator puts a Christian lobbyist in her place by pointing out she's wearing mixed fabrics. It's the Democratic fantasy of "if we expose their hypocrisy, they will be humiliated and give up". This, as we are all aware nowadays, is not how politics work.

The problem with both shows isn't pacifism in itself. It is the fact that their creators could not think of a realistic, reasonable path for pacifism to be the solution from the get-go, so what they ended up doing is playing a multi year war plot that in the last second shifts into pacifism and somehow works out. In other words they're not doing pacifism because they really believe it's the right solution; they're doing pacifism because the network mandated the protagonist can't kill, and the authors tried to get away with presenting it as their enlightened choice; but because they don't actually have those beliefs, the show isn't structured around making them seem like the best option beyond "it's the one way we don't have to kill anyone".

The problem is, in both cases they lucked out. Aang had no way of anticipating he would learn energy bending; he went in resolved to kill Ozai, and then a deity just chose to give him an out. Steven didn't win, and not only that, he got ripped apart to a genetic level; it was only because White Diamond was so shocked by him self resurrecting with the power of love that he even had a chance to talk it out with her.

The problem isn't necessarily that they're pacifists; it's that, even by the rules of their universes, it shouldn't have worked. And by the rules of ours, it can feel condescending that this is presented as a life lesson. "If you're good enough, and forgive everyone who wrongs you, God will be on your side" is never a satisfying moral, particularly to people who already feel like they're being too lenient with the people who bully them. It borders on victim blaming. And that's just not a fun way to end a show you've been following for years.

aang 🤝 steven universe

adults completely missing the point of their characters and why they are pacifist

[thesoftboiledegg]

When I saw an animatic from "Cryo Mort a Rickver" months ago, I wasn't impressed. I thought the dialogue was corny, the plot was simplistic and the jokes didn't land. The polished cold open that Adult Swim released a few days ago was a little better, but I still had my doubts.

This episode appeared to lean into the issues I've had with the newer seasons: Rick's meaner just because the plot calls for it, the concept wasn't particularly original, and the characters over-explain everything. I mean, does Rick really need to tell us that the countdown timers are moving faster when we can clearly see it on the screen?

I still don't think this episode has the strongest opening (although the dig at sensationalized gore fests masquerading as "true crime podcasts" was pretty funny), but the rest of the storyline proved me wrong. This could've been another story about Rick being an asshole that culminates in a bloodbath. Instead, it had way more heart than I expected--and Rick did, too.

I do think his scheme at the beginning was excessive for someone who's supposed to be changing, but I guess Rick's cruelty at the beginning--deciding to rob the ship and blow everyone up on a whim, yelling and threatening Morty like we're back in season three--was supposed to contrast with his later development. It would've been less effective if he were nicer from the start.

Dr. Wong's clearly had a huge impact on him, because he's starting to get attached to people again. In fact, it took only a couple of days for him to get attached to the strangers who love him.

I'm still wondering what his childhood was like, too. Season two hinted that he has daddy issues, but the writers have never returned to that thread. Did he latch onto Karen and Doug because he's rediscovering his humanity, or were they the loving parents that he always wanted? Maybe time will tell.

Judging by the episode previews, people had already guessed that Rick would end up in a higher social class and Morty would be a laborer. I figured that Rick would become corrupt with wealth, Morty would get sick of being a janitor, and they'd eventually collide. The episode started going in this direction, and then it surprised me by switching to a new angle altogether.

Rick's wealthy parents don't corrupt him. In fact, they end up softening him. I loved watching him start to care for his new parents, show them affection and protect them from danger. He doesn't even try to deny it. "They were nice, so I was nice back!"

And why did Rick really join the space race, anyway? That was his perfect opportunity to grab Morty and bail. Yeah, he lives for excitement, but maybe he was a little worried about Karen and Doug, too?

He also forgot about his earlier threats toward Morty pretty quickly. In fact, he stood there and did nothing while Morty whooped his ass. Maybe he was trying to stay in character, but he could've slipped in a few punches if he really wanted to. The man who once gave his grandson a black eye for defying him is slowly disappearing.

On that note, I loved the hints of Rick and Morty looking out for each other despite their conflicts: Rick getting Karen and Doug to back down after Morty assaults him, Morty yelling "Watch out!" and tugging Rick's robe so that he falls backward before the priest whacks him in the face.

In earlier seasons, Rick would've had something diabolical waiting for Morty at the end to punish him for his defiance. Now? Morty's less of a punching bag and more of an equal partner.

As for the theme, the writers were clearly trying to make a point about capitalism, but the plot moved so quickly that I'm not sure what the ultimate message was supposed to be. Violent uprisings are bad? Money corrupts everybody? Inserting a chip that punishes you for being mean to other people would create an equal society?

You know these people are going to find a way to screw it up, but that's not Rick and Morty's problem. They started trouble, but for once, the chaos wasn't entirely their fault. Morty was just the catalyst for tensions that had probably been building for decades.

In the past, the writers have used episode endings as a reset, but not this time. Rick's still thinking about his fake parents. Sure, it's unlikely that he'll ever mention them again, but they didn't just disappear from his mind as soon as he left the ship.

Morty mentions that he's part of Rick's chosen family, and Rick actually agrees in his backhanded way. Of course, a few seconds later, he decides to rob another cryoship. Did he learn much from their adventure? Probably not, but the audience just learned a lot about him.

[takaraphoenix]

The inconsistent writing of Malia is honestly frustrating, I wish the writers didn't continuously play her trauma off for laughs.

"Malia doesn't understand how to be a human to a degree that we can make a cannibalism joke about her being willing to eat Lydia if the hunt was bad this season. But also Malia understands how to 'blend in' at a night club, something this girl who was 9 when she got stuck in full shift, should actually have no context for at all, better than Kira, so we can make a joke about Kira being awkward."

Which one is it. Which one is it.

Is Malia so much beast that she has no problem abandoning them and leaving them behind, or even flat-out eating these other human teenagers if she gets too hungry, or does she understand human society and teenage behavior so perfectly that she knows how to suggestively dance with Kira to blend into a night club.

It's just the same as with the writing on her education. They play it as a joke that she highlights everything. But also, she has been stuck in full-shift since she was nine. She should have never been put into high school, the fact that she doesn't immediately fail out of every single class within less than a year is a miracle because she is missing seven years of school education?

Malia is such a cool and badass character and her challenges with blending into human society and the fact that she presents a polar opposite to all these teen wolves who were human and got bitten and have to learn to be wolves is so fascinating.

But the damn writers decide to play every single thing that others her as a joke. And to get as many jokes in as they can, they contradict each other. It's so damn frustrating and her and her trauma really deserve better than to be treated as funny.

[devbox]

Hi!

So i might have wrote ABO AU stobotnik fic as i was sick this week. Like it just poured out of me.. its not finished quite yet. And its not edited just drafts with typos all over. But i wrote a hella lot to now. Like 81 pages with it...

Im no writer but i tought maybe i could try to release some here to see if people like it?

If you dont know what ABO is this wont make sence im sorry.

Chapter 1: Gotta do what i gotta do

"Remember to take them Ivo..."The doctor stared up at him hard not letting the packet go from his seat.

"Jezes! Quit nagging me! It happened one time!"Robotnik sneered back. Trying to snap the packet from his grasp and get the hell out of here already. 

"Thats a lie and you know it.." The doctor said with a glare. 

"So i forget sometimes! Its not like its a problem fore anyone.. Im locked in my lab most of the time, no one gets a scent.."

"Ivo your health.." The doctor sighs and closes his eyes, before opening them again filled with concern. "Going through heat alone...You know i have advised you to get a mate.. And didnt you confide in me that you suspect there are some who might know. Your superior Benson who tried to overpower you at his office?".

"Hah! Like i would be outsmarted by that ape! Alpha scum... I scared him so good he doesnt dare to look at me in the eye any longer.. he wont try anything again..".

"You were not in heat then Ivo! What if-"

"I think i had enough really..". Robotnik said low and menacing. "You calling me by my first name is making me.. want to do bad things..". He took the packet and tisked at the pitiful gaping bouffon before he turned and left. Then made a mental note get his own inhibitors from  now own. Nothing a little dabble on the government web wouldnt fix..

__________________________________________________

Back in the lab he tossed the packet in his *locked fore idiots and the like* drawer. Not like many people came by, but better safe then sorry..  And you never know. Maybe that snooping beta would dare to try steal from him. Agent Stone never gave him caution fore distrust, but Robotnik knew better.  Opportunity makes a rat. 

Speak of the devil... Here comes the patter of the opportunist.

"Doctor! Your back!" The agent smiled one of those weird grins at him. Like he was happy to see him. Liar...

"Yes, All is tip top! Never better or whatever.." He grumbled as he turned to his console. 

"Wonderful sir!"

"Lets get back to work... Go make me latte before you postpone the next meeting with those pentagoons as far as possible. I got the email last night..."

"New meeting? But the launch is imminent, what is this abo-"

"Ugh! something about safety, precautions, bla bla bla.." Robotnik waved his hand, hoping the dramatics would stop Stones yapping. 

"Right away sir". The agent replied dutifully. Leaving Robotnik to his precious toughts. He studied the blueprints fore default while he processed the last hour. 

Stupid doctor Williams.. Get a mate.. Who does he think i am? My work is my life...And i feel fine! Top on my game! Unstoppable! So what if i forget sometimes.. I get immersed! Caught up in my own genius! I can handle it anyway... Just lock myself up fore some days and sweat it out.

Get a mate.... Like anyone would- 

Robotnik knows what he looks like. Not your typical omega. To tall.. To masculine.. A oddity in the looks department too.  And the farthest from a meek and docile personality alphas love..

Maybe someone would try take him down a peg. Wipe the smirk of his face.. But thats it.. never more. Painful experience taught him that.. 

But he overcame! Hard work and a brain like no other got him unlimited funding where he could plan his world domanation in peace. 

Except a beta bodyguard/assistent who tried to buddy up to him everyday...  How long has it been? 2 years? No 4.. huh..Has he really been here that long?

"Here is your latte doctor. With steamed austrian goatsmilk".

Robotnik took it but turned back to his blueprints with only a nod. 

Stone still stood there tough.. Instead of retreating like he used to do. AH! What does he want now..

"Stone?" He said clipped. Looking up at him barely.

"I just- i dont understand what Benson and Walters want? Didnt you go by every number last time?"

"Dont remind me... They say they found a possible problem with operations in the field. They didnt specify.. Im trying to predict it myself now.."

"Hmm.. you went over everything unoumerable times sir. Seems unlikely.."

"Probably just a try to cut cost..." Robotnik mused while scanning. "Did you postpone? "

"Yes... I only managed 1 day im afraid. Urgent was the message. They will meet you at the conference in Texas"

"Conference!? What-"

"Tied up they said... "

"Those mouth breathing imbeciles! Im perfecting my babies here! I dont have time fore tea, cake and chit chat! I have half the mind to-" Robotnik stops himself before he says something incriminating.. Stone is still a agent on the payroll.. He sighs and calms before he  faces his agent. "Gotta to do what i gotta do...Better pack fore a trip Stone.."

__________________________________________________________________

"Why do i need to stay there one night? Thats ridiculous?!"

"They insisted sir. Something about wanting you attending to a speach at the conference the next day. They promised a small group..."

"They know i hate doing that...Its like they lured me just to get more clout at officials. the launch is on the way, why grovel anymore? Is there a problem with funding?"

"Nothing i have heard whispers of doctor". Stone said looking away in contemplation

"No matter.. let them know il do it. They know i cant say no so near to the launch..." Robotnik said with defeat. Pack accordingly and lets get going. I want this over.."

"The flight is scheduled and preparation in order already sir. Your ride is waiting outside when your ready".

"Dilligent as always Stone.." Robotnik praised with a smudge of venom. His bad mood was souring everything..

"Thank you Sir!" Stone beamed all the same. Always so eager to please Robotnik at every angle. Soaking up rare praise like a starving man. Kinda sickening if you thought about it. And Robotnik certainly didnt..

"And your shure, i mean, that you will be ok to take this trip? With your visit with the medical doctor-"

Robotnik got up swiftly. Looming over the smaller man. 

"What did you just say?" He got closer with purpose of intimidation. 

"Its just, i only-" Stone stuttered apprahensive. 

"You only what?" Robotnik sneered while staring him down.

"I noticed you havent been eating- more reclused than normal, a bit pale-" Stone managed like it pained him.

"You are my assistent Stone... Not my non existing mother! I can take care of myself!"

At that Stone fixed him with a stare that beg to differ. 

"There is nothing wrong with me..." He bit out. "Get it through your dumb scull already.. I am no liability, even though i know everybody wants me to be. Just waiting fore me to slip up... Including you i see .."

"What? Doctor no-" All determination slipped from Stone face. Replaced by confusion and hurt? A good actor to, Robotnik added to his skills. 

"I would never- my loyalty is with you sir!"

Robotnik scoffed disbeliving. No one had ever sided with him.. The rare times he got caught hoping, betrayal always followed. Never again he had vowed.. And even though Stone had slipped through the cracks and Robotnik deemed him tolarable as his assistant unlike many others before him, he held him at arms length. He had to.. He was a sheep hiding in the wolfs den after all.. 

"Whatever.. Lets just go, better to get it over with so i can get back to my real work. He let out a frustrated breath, tired of the human sherade that interuppts to frequently in his opinion. 

He was jolted back from his toughts when Stone landed a careful hand on his chest. 

"Doctor. Its true". Stone said in almost whisper. Eyes defiant and fond? 

A warm feeling spread through Robotnik at the touch and he felt his face heat up. That conniving litle-!

He took the hand in a crushing grip. "Dont ever.. Ever! Touch me again! you got that!?"

Stone eyes widened with horror. "Oh god! Im sorry sir-"

Robotnik let go and stepped back almost panting in rage. He could almost smell  his own sickening smell leaking out from other disgusting feelings flaring up. 

Calm... Or even a beta like him will notice..

"I only wanted to let you know im on your side- but i shouldnt-"

"My side.." Robotnik laughed mockingly trying to stabilise. 

"You think your different dont you? Well your not! Not to me... Just another ant in my way.. I believe you confuse my patience with attachment..  Dont make that mistake again.."

Stone looked gutted at the words. Like Robotnik had hit him out of nowhere and now he was lost. Robotnik could feel the pain seeping trough himself. He doubled down...

"I dont miss you when your gone..Human beings are unreliable and stupid and i care very little about them. My machines are dilligent. Relentless. They are everything to me. No one else matters... You got that?"

Stone closed his mouth and there was tension in his jaw. He looked to the side composing himself. 

"Yes sir... Im sorry fore my transgression. Il be waiting in the car".  He said and left.

Robotnik took a calming breath as the door closed. Why was he sweating? He closed a hand over his mouth trying to quiet his racing heart. The sycophant drove him to it.. But why did he look so sad about it? It seemed genuine-

Focus! Your goal is within reach. Decades of work! Dont let anyone or anything distract you now...

He took another breath before dragging his feet forward . Not noticing his lack of strength in them. And forgetting the important pills in the drawer...

[conclaveyaoi]

tumblr blog conclaveyaoi does not support any type of self-defined AI-generated material in this fandom, images (never to be called art because it isn't art) nor AI-writing (which isn't writing either). I'll never reblog or like it and whenever I see it on the eg. giulio sabbadin tag, I am extremely annoyed this is taking the place of the art from the fantastic artists and writers I have the privilege to see and interact with in this corner of the internet.

by the same token, tumblr blog conclaveyaoi has seen fantastic artists and writers be falsely accused in a witch hunt type of AI-accusation with no proof whatsoever and does not believe this is the efficient way to prevent the AI-generated slop. accusations can only stand with evidence and they have no weight without evidence. yeah, law degree and kafka fan here. a witch hunt leads to hurting the fantastic artists and writers who are then being unfairly accused of something they haven't done. this is not the same as calling out the self-defined AI-generated material (not art because it isn't art), I repeat, going around eg. the giulio sabbadin tag. there is evidence in the self-defined AI-generated images seen in that tag and I don't support any of it.

on the other hand, I've seen an artist I really enjoy being falsely accused based on a random "hunch" which I found very concerning. this is what I mean by witch hunt. if accusations = facts then we might as well leave the fandom because it'll become a battlefield of 'ragebait' people accusing actual artists and writers with no proof. not liking a fellow conclaver who doesn't use AI doesn't give you the right to make false claims without evidence. innocent until proven guilty exists because anyone can be an unfair victim of false accusation, which has always made my blood boil. in the exercise of keeping AI away from creative spaces, we cannot be hurting fellow conclavers, artists and writers because it's simply not fair to actual artists and writers (which needless to say does not include AI-users).

there is no room for AI in creative spaces. there is no room for AI in my blog because I'll never reblog AI-generated images or texts. my reblogs and my art tag are for the fantastic artists I see in this fandom, never AI.

to the person who generated the AI content in the giulio sabbadin tag and anyone in this fandom who uses AI: there's no room for your stuff in my blog. none. I don't want to see AI in the tag of my blorbo either. or in any tag. I am anti-AI for a myriad of reasons and when it comes to creativity it is firstly based on principle. it is in honour of the great Miyazaki and the late David Lynch, two of my heroes. it is in honour of ars longa vita brevis. because you took your time to justify it on conclaveconfessions, I kindly ask you to educate yourself on the tool you're using, on the political scale of the issue (especially in the US at the moment) and on the infuriating environmental damage you're causing in the middle of a climate crisis that affects primarily the most socioeconomically-vulnerable communities around the planet by your senseless AI use. technofascism is here already, it's scary and we are all just one tiny corner of the internet in the middle of a gigantic problem. still, as part of a creative space, we must stand up for art and uplift the actual artists and writers. if we don't have that, we might as well be numbers on an excel spreadsheet.

on behalf of justice, no witch hunt with false claims against actual artists and writers. on behalf of art, let's keep AI away from creative spaces and not support AI-generated material. both? both.

once again for the people in the back: this blog does not support the self-defined AI-generated material that I've been witnessing in the giulio sabbadin tag. of all tags, right in my boy's tag...

[justabardling]

More thoughts on Kpop Demon Hunters Under the thread but you know, spoilers so click with caution

Love the story itself, great concept and honestly strong execution on almost all levels.

The unique things Sony Animation keeps pushing with each of their movies is really great imo. Every movie from their animation division has done something unique with the 3D style and I love that!

The storyboarding and camera angles in this one is fire - there were so many shots that I had to make note of looking up later/hoping they show how they mapped that out.

Storywise, I like a lot of what they mapped out for what could clearly be a series of either movies or an entire season of a show. Yes, a lot of plots holes are left with that final ending sooo idk I am curious to hear from the director and writers about that. Seems a lot had to be done in a short amount of time BUT also I can't complain too much idk what to say the industry amiright.

Love the concept of rebuilding a Honmoon that's based in what the new Hunters believe in.

TBH some part of me is like 'that could have been a potentially interesting thing to explore as part of KPop idols required to live such certain lives/expectations/never shows flaws and these particular fictional KPop stars choose to literally rebuild the system they were brought into/allow Rumi and themselves to live as themselves. Idk I think it would track better with Golden! But I am also not a story writer so obviously a lot of things would have to be retooled for that.

Things I would love to see explored if they get a sequel/series

Rumi's past ofc - who is her dad/what went down with her mom and him and their group of hunters. Where is the other one?? If there's three and one died and one was left to raise her child...idk a lot to explore there.

Ditto how did Celine build Huntrix - do they just hold auditions until they find the right 'match'. I'm assuming less with voices and more with personal struggles - and maybe that's lost a bit with Cyrene anyways since she clearly bought into the older way of doing things.

Also on the subject of Celine - until we're told otherwise I'm going to assume she knew being on one side of the Honmoon meant you were fine bc that is a HELL of a gamble to take with your surrogate kid and knowing they're half demon. Like what if they sealed the Honmoon as 'golden' and Rumi was sent to the demon realm? Again it seems like that's a non-issue movie-wise.

Mira's family!!! We're told she was a problem child and a black sheep so if we get a sequel idk...Mira's brother potentially showing up?? Wanting to connect with a sister who he was never close with but sees her face everywhere?

Likewise - what is Zoey's family backstory, since it's clear in Golden she was a child of divorce - though something that I didn't see until a rewatch is that she's holding a Sunlight Sisters Record!

The tree?? with Celine?? We see it in Rumi's part of Golden and she has her emotional moment with Celine there so is something tied to that other than the grave?

Hope any sequels expand on Rumi's Demon power and yes in a fun way. If she can transport by smoke you KNOW Mira and Zoey are asking her to transport them short distances that are just a stupid abuse of powers. Rumi's like 'idk even know this works I don't want to hurt you guys' and they're like 'yeah we know let's just try it :)'

Rumi starts having this crisis of faith while fighting the demons and what they really are motivated by after she speaks with Jinu but also they are stealing people's souls so you know - maybe some kind of resolution on what happens to folks once they're down there (I'm 99% they just died?? so maybe coping with that in some way in a sequel)

Finally would love to see if they have Bobby either a) brought in on the demon thing and he just rolls with it or b) he thinks it's a new gimmick or c) DOES acknowledge that this is a Thing but also knows acknowledging it is WILD so he's just like 'Gonna ignore this and stay in my lane and do my job' while also knowing the trio is off fighting demons any time they're not on stage. Ngl when it seemed like Bobby was taken I was like 'YES' bc I love the dynamic of bff of some superhero trio needing them but often overlooked so like idk Netflix if you want a writer for a series please!! accept these notes but don't hire me Idk what the fuck I'm doing.

Idk more of the trio doing stupid things together but this movie showed the fun bits of them carbo loading and spa days so I would love more of that with them!!

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #9361:

Why is it that readers demand a five-page essay for something writers did or did NOT add to their story? And why are they always accompanied with the latest buzzword accusation?

"You didn't add a yuri pairing. Do you have something against lesbians?"

"Why isn't (insert female character) the main character? Do you have something against strong female characters?"

"Um, the popular headcanon says this character is actually trans, so you're actually being really transphobic right now."

"It's current year. Making two female characters fight over the male characters is really sexist."

The list is ENDLESS. If I wrote something, it's because I WANTED to. If I didn't write something, it's because I DIDN'T WANT to. It's that simple. Readers need to accept that simple little fact. Writers are in charge of their own story and they have the right to put WHATEVER they want in it. That does not mean there is something nefarious happening behind the scenes. There is no secret conspiracy happening. Writers don't owe anyone an explanation for anything!

I don't write yuri because I'm not interested in it. I have absolutely nothing against it. It has the right to exist, and I see that it exists. I see it. I know it. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. But I am simply not interested in it, so I don't write it. Writers have the right to choose what they write about and what they don't write about. It's that simple.

[hypexion]

Like before, Series 15 of Doctor Who only having eight episodes is bad for it. Series 14 just about held it together, but that's because the finale didn't strongly hinge on the Doctor-Ruby relationship. In constrast, the Doctor-Belinda ends up being a big deal. The problem is that said relationship does not develop in a way that actually makes sense or feels organic.

Let's review the Belinda situation in each episode:

The Robot Revolution - Belinda is kidnapped to another planet by evil robots sent by her ex-boyfriend. She watches a woman who trusts the Doctor implicitly die right in front of her. By the end, she's not fond of the Doctor and his dubious ways, and wants to go home.

Lux - Belinda gets caught up in a fight with a malevolent god, on her second "adventure". She immediately admits that the Doctor's life terrifies her. In return, the Doctor says he might not be able to get her home. Overall, she is still not thrilled.

The Well - Belinda literally almost dies, because getting shot in the chest is the only way to save her from a parasitic monster that would otherwise drive her mad. She is directly confronted with her mortality, and is again terrified.

Lucky Day - Belinda isn't really in this episode.

The Story & the Engine - Belinda has apparently mellowed out enough to be okay with the Doctor visiting his buddy instead of proceeding with getting her home (tangent: how does this make sense in the Mother Belinda timeline?). She laughs at a guy and seems to have gotten over her previous worries. There's the hook that she sympathises with the Doctor's need to find a place where in fits in, but that would be more effective if she were already warming up to him.

The Interstellar Song Contest - Belinda spends most of this episode believing that the Doctor is dead, and thus she is permanently trapped in the future. In the Mother Belinda timeline she presumably has an even worse reaction. Then she sees the Doctor torturing a genocide survivor, and still ends the episode by saying she thinks the Doctor is cool. This should lead into the nadir of Belinda's relationship with the Doctor, but instead it gets brushed off and woah finale cliffhanger.

Stepping out of the reviewing for a moment, and I think it's already clear that Belinda undergoes a sudden personality shift between The Well and The Story & the Engine. Part of this is probably just poor management where the "not hyped about the Doctor" aspect of Belinda's character wasn't passed onto the non-RTD writers. But it still ends up mangling the overall character progression. If you want Belinda to start liking the Doctor, there needs to be an episode that can make that happen.

Moving on:

Wish World - Belinda... isn't meaningfully in this one. She's been hollowed out to act as one of Conrad's perfect housewives, a fate that is both horrifying and yet somehow very boring. Other than having a bit of a scream, Belinda does nothing proactive, being pulled around by the plot. When she "betrays" the Doctor to the doubt police, it's because she's playing out a role. Rather than, say, her having a subconcious distrust of the Doctor because of all the bad times she had travelling with him.

The Reality War - Belinda remains hollowed out, her entire character being compressed down to "Mother". After sitting half the episode out, she's suddenly super buzzed to be hanging out with the Doctor and having his fake baby. You know, the guy she watched torture someone the last time she was actually herself. Although Belinda might still be in wish mode while Poppy was around so Real Belinda is even less in this episode. Then finally we get Mother Belinda, a character who didn't exist until the Doctor invents her (theories to the contrary are wrong).

Overall, Belinda has a highly disjointed "arc" if you can even call it that. She doesn't develop, but rather shift between several characterisations, and it's rather jarring. And the worst part is, you could probably fix it with two more episodes, and wouldn't you know it, Belinda isn't in one episode, and is replaced with a puppet in another.

There is too much trying to happen in Series 15 compared to the actual amount of time to make it happen. (I'll even tick everyone off by saying Flux worked out better than this, and that only had six episodes while originally being planned for ten.) I also think the episode ordering adds to the problem, as Belinda gets the worst end of adventures with the Doctor first, which should be enough to put anyone off. But no before the finale even starts she's suddenly cool with the Doctor.

I suppose the conclusion is that Belinda ends up being more of a plot device than a character, which is bad. I don't even know what else to say because this is really more of a rant than an "essay".