#all of these are compelling to look at narratively so when people erase that it feels..boring? out of character? like make a oc man

[the-bitter-ocean]

7 for the choose violence game

7) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

You didn’t say a specific fandom for this and truthfully I usually don’t hate a character solely because of a fan or fandoms interpretation of it- if I don’t like something I just block/mute and move on. That being said if I had to really think hard on it I really get uncomfortable by the way certain fans write or draw Miguel O’ Hara (Spiderverse: Across The spiderverse). It usually veers into over sexualizing and blatant stereotypes and racism which haha as a black person not fun to see! That and the whitewashing/colorism ( which is not limited to this fandom and rather a larger issue in any fandom community but that’s a separate can of worms) That makes me super uncomfortable! Lol!

Like I think Miquel is a interesting antagonist / character to analyze. Even if I don’t necessarily like him as a person or agree with his values I can appreciate the work went into designing or writing the character. So it’s a shame my brain instinctively thinks about the gross one dimensional misinterpretations of his character I see online (Twitter, tumblr, tiktok and insta) that either completely erases the fact that he did Bad Things to people (UwU he did nothing wrong ever1!1”) or makes him into A Big Bad Scary 1000% Evil Brown Man Whose Super Sexy ™️

Anywho I think that’s enough salt for now. Thank you for the question anon!

[sgiandubh]

2023 or last week

That's not really matters', what is interesting is that Caitríona has a very high level of privacy in her movements or travels

She has a private life that is completely away from notice and attention, no press, no ordinary people, no fan who meets her by chance

Wow.. as if she had the invisibility power since 2019.

Dear Privacy Level Anon,

We're going to do things a bit differently, this time, with an audio answer. Nice to meet you, by the way:

For those who need a transcript, here goes:

'Your charade has very simple answers:

No Press? The Press would have to actually care or be sold a juicy tip/story, about that elusive B-lister who is such a compelling Claire Fraser (huh?) from Outlander ('wait a minute, that nice, secksay series around 2016, right?'). Press interest is, however, likely to immediately jump up, the minute she lands a better PR team and/or a part in a really relevant cinema project. Let's see what those two next movies bring, Anon.

No Ordinary People? Imagine you're Jane Doe (aka, an Ordinary Person), traveling from 🛫 London to 🛬Bangkok. Upon arrival at 🏯Suvarnabhumi Airport , while waiting in line for the notoriously looooong passport control (full profile pic included), you spot C (or S, or C and S, or C and S and Boos 1, 2, 3... 554). They vaguely remind you of someone. That someone could be anyone from a) your cousin Matilda's co-worker you have been briefly introduced to, three years ago; b) someone who looks like your homeland's host of 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' TV show (totally random example, here); c) someone who looks like that actress you once saw in that TV series which name you can't really remember. Ultimately, the fact that you are unable to put a name on that face really irritates you. Your feet hurt, you are sleepy, grumpy and you need to go to the bathroom ASAP (🚨🚨🚨🚨). Meanwhile, S and C kiss, Boo #456 is as unhappy as you and wants his blankie. Did I mention you need to use the 🚻 (somewhere far away from 🛃) ASAP? S and C 💋💋💋💋 some more. YOU NEED TO USE THAT TOILET AND YOU'RE STUCK IN THAT STUPID LINE. Boo #433 wants their mommy's attention NOW (🥹🍼🤦‍♀️), so you sympathize a bit ('what a cute 👶, just like his/her parents') but you are really focused on your 🧻problem. By the time you dragged your 🧳to the 🚕 area, in the thick, humid heat at Arrivals, you'd have forgotten everything about it, but remember every single second of your Passport Control Ordeal.

No Fan? Outside of these Tumblr/X/Instagram jihadist pockets, no casual 🪭 would probably ask for a pic, provided they remember the name of the series (it is really poor taste to go for it and candidly tell her/them something like ' oooh, I remember you from The Last Kingdom, such a wonderful series'). Out of those who still go for it, I bet the farm:

85% keep The Nice Pic tucked in their iPhones and just randomly share at the next school bake sale/corporate teambuilding/ Rotary Club meeting with random people saying random things like 'oooh, she's nice, wait a minute, wasn't she in The Last Kingdom'?

10% foolishly post on X or Instagram, to be immediately greeted by The Fandom Vigilantes, courtesy of alerts installed on their own iPhones: 'where was it/ when was it/was she alone/yes? why?/no? why and with whom/ what did she say/ did she say anything/ why didn't she say anything'. If, by a very probable misfortune, what you have to dish out does not click with the Greeting Committee's agenda, expect to be: a) treated like a 5 year old idiot or a tortured POW ('was she alone...? was she alone...? are you sure she wasn't alone...? ARE YOU SURE SHE WASN'T ALONE? ANSWER ME, WAS SHE ALONE?'); b) Caitsplained she is married to someone else and what you saw is an optical illusion; c) perhaps even forced to adjust your own narrative (maybe that 6′ 3" Viking was Tony McGill, after all? 😵). You immediately regret posting it on your public Social Media accounts, erase the pic and go private. By the time you do it (12 hours from posting), it would have been dutifully screencapped, in a middle of a full blown Fandom Skirmish.

5% know what Tumblr actually is (at a minimum) and/or are actively involved in its Fandom Subset. The minute they post is the start of just another Nagasaki episode. The DM inbox will explode with a rich array of pleas/insults/more Caitsplaining. Comments will range from the ecstatic to the revoltingly vulgar. And remember (LOL for weeks):

The Fandom will eventually never forgive you for sharing.'

[beesmygod]

i had so much fun writing it, thank you reading!!

trying to think about, sincerely, what purpose this type of story serves and how that would translate into kui's world was really interesting to me. because i do think dateline is providing a "service" more than say, two women making jokes about someone's death who don't know anyone involved. like, just because some people consume them in the same way, doesn't mean they're made equal, right?

people mostly go to dateline voluntarily, all unpaid, even guilty people, because they recognize the team as journalists and believe their story will be told for the viewers. even if they later say they made them look bad or feel otherwise misrepresented, they still consented to interviews because of the sense that this will be *it* for the narrative and they have to have a part of it.

doesn't mean it's not exploitative, that people don't sometimes regret being part of it, that it doesn't retraumatize everyone closely involved, and that the people who refuse to be paraded out get their voices erased, but it certainly has a function and purpose beyond JUST gossip. i wanted to get all the exploitative inhumane painful bits at least touched on but also show why someone WOULD sign up for it anyway... even cithis agreed, when she didn't have to, to try to control a bit of the narrative.

Anyway, glad the idea of a Greek chorus pop-up show was compelling enough to carry it all and thank you for reading about my little elf OCs

sorry i left you hanging my friend, this was one of those asks that required more thought than usual to respond to so i had to let it marinate in my brain and stew for a while. i need a way to signal to people that i got their asks and im not ignoring them, im just Thinkin. then it turned out i had less to say than i thought except "what a cool idea".

i think is a fascinating bit of information from behind the curtain, regarding the thought process behind the work. trying to adapt the societal "purpose" of an ostensibly modern phenomenon like dateline into a lower tech setting while maintaining its structure is something i will be chewing on.

[queenvhagar]

So some people claim that Daeron will be a bastard??? Will people even think of the significance if he was especially when Nettles is removed from the narrative? Noooo, they'll probably gloss over the fact that he is bastard with no drop of Targ blood and had a dragon but will focus more on the fact that he is a bastard of Alicent???? The horror!

But jfc, I really really hate the changes, Nettles (and Morning too) was so cool and had a significant impact in the story, but nope. I'm honestly questioning HBO's choices and the ability to adapt GRRM's works, if they are planning to do a GRRM TV Show verse, the least they can do is make proper adaptation without showing any bias. But nooo..

Zero Nettles but expanding the stories of Ulf and Hugh when I actually kinda... don't give a fuck about them at all. Sad backstory Saera Targaryen's son whose sick daughter died? Ulf a drunk who probably lied about his Valyrian background cuz they erased Nettles and need to give that detail to someone?

Like damn... I kinda just... don't care... especially knowing their future arcs. It's just not compelling and I already know they'll frame them as villainous for turning on the Blacks. And knowing how the show basically frames morality as black and white... like what is the point beyond "wow more evil men who turn against women" 😭

Vs you had an actually compelling complete at for Nettles... but she makes Rhaenyra look bad and they already have enough Black characters apparently even though she's the only one whose story would actually explore Black identity 🙄 plus Rhaena has to be a girlboss because only girlboss characters are worth caring for and writing don't you know 😭 strong female character...

I guess they'll just have Rhaena run away into the sunset at the end and erase her arc of marrying a Hightower and having his babies... because obviously they can't show her with a Hightower... fuck the in universe consequences I guess 🤣 and symbolic Morning... idk what even they'll do about that

Also bet on a Daeron bastard but it being used exclusively to smear Alicent and Criston

These writers are so incompetent 😭 welcome to the new MCU 🥲

[corellianhounds]

Curious to know your thoughts on Din’s separation from Ran’s Crew… (you said you wanted a discussion topic 😉)

I meant for this to be a two paragraph response and then when I looked up three hours had passed and my back was stiff from sitting at the keyboard for so long. I wrote ninety-five percent of this in one go, then made a gyro and literally went to go rewatch the episode to double check my quotes and notes before coming back 😆

~ 3.1k words

This ended up being a LOT more context because I don’t feel like I can give a solid answer without laying the groundwork for how I come to the conclusions that I do. I’m nothing if not able to justify my reasons/interpretations, but I also try not to lock into anything unchangeable when it comes to more nebulous parts of a character’s history because I can see how things can go several different ways, all of them interesting and plausible.

One of the things I’ve always loved about Mando from a mechanical/storytelling technique perspective is that he’s one of those characters with a mysterious past we only get in relevant bits and pieces, leaving so much open to speculation and interpretation. (I think that does contribute to how many wildly different takes we see in fan spaces about his character, but I digress.) He’s like Wolverine or Snake Eyes in that, when he’s being written well, his entire past and backstory isn’t spelled out in concrete detail which frees up storytellers to add things in later as they become relevant without contradicting themselves or having to refer back to/be confined by too much rigidly established history or canon.

(Personally I think more authors should do that when it comes to how characters are used in a story (meaning, the character should serve whatever story you’re writing first and you shouldn’t get too precious about elaborate backstories and irrelevant details if they end up blocking you from making stronger narrative decisions). I like only getting bits and pieces because we as the audience fill in the gaps for ourselves and stay intrigued by the remaining sense of mystery)

Because of that, I don’t have a concrete idea in mind for how Din got involved with or left Malk’s crew, and I hope it never gets spelled out unless the writers have a specific story in mind where that comes up.

As much as I like writing Din as a genuinely good man with a strong moral compass and personal code, that does also mean that I think there were times he wasn’t a good man. People are a lot of things in life, and it’s only through genuine trial and error, making mistakes and actively bad decisions and learning hard lessons from bad experiences that people grow into being good people (keeping in mind that everybody is capable of making good and bad choices in life at every step of the way. ‘Being good’ takes active work and it takes even more work to maintain that consistently).

Characters are more compelling and dynamic when they’ve actually done things that are contrary to how they behave in the present (provided the audience is shown the meaningful progression of that change). To that end, I think Din Djarin has done some things in his life he deeply regrets. Some of those decisions may have been forced out of him by virtue of circumstance, and some of them may have been on purpose (or the lesser of two evils).

Sometimes making the right choice will end up costing you something important, up to and including your life. Survivors of any kind have done a lot of things to ensure that survival. Everybody is capable of change, but change can go in a lot of different directions.

I think erasing a character’s flaws or implications of a flawed past does those characters and stories a disservice by uncomplicating the people and world within which the story is taking place. It truncates what decisions those characters are able to get away with as a story progresses if you insist they’ve only ever been morally upstanding up to the present. It closes off opportunities and directions for writers to take regarding the character’s future. That’s not a hard and fast rule, but if you start off with Steve Rogers being a good guy, you can’t have him do a complete 180 in a story unless that’s going to be given the time and focus it would take to make that arc believable and satisfying, and sometimes you just don’t have the time to dedicate to that if that isn’t the main story.

All of that to say, Din has probably done some bad things. You don’t end up working with criminals for (it’s implied) an extended period of time without having to make moral compromises, and though I believe Din’s faith as a Mandalorian has been steadfast since childhood, there are probably aspects of the more honorable teachings that he’s lapsed in at different points of time. (He did, at one point in time, turn over the life of a child to known enemies for payment.) He probably had to not ask questions about targets they were sent sabotage or steal from because if he doesn’t know for a fact that they were innocent people, he can tell himself that he’s not at fault for senselessly hurting people or robbing them of their livelihood (even if his guilt, intuition, and conscience tell him otherwise when he tries to sleep at night).

You know what you’re getting into going into mercenary work, so you can’t get tied up into moral quandaries every time you see the person on the other side of it. The more impersonal you can make it, the more you can do the job swiftly and mitigate as much suffering and collateral damage as possible.

I say all of this because Mando doesn’t exactly refute most of the things the crew says about him during the planning and travel phase of the mission, and I don’t think he has a problem correcting people when they’re objectively wrong about him (even if he’s at a disadvantage here being outnumbered, desperate, and coming to them for work). When Ran says they did a lot of crazy stuff back in the day, Din says “That was a long time ago,” which does admit to at least some of it being true, it’s just something Din makes a point to say he’s distanced himself from. He’s saying that he’s a different person than what he was like back then, which means there had to have been things he did that he’s not proud of.

Sometimes the more you protest though, the more people will pile on the jabs and mockery, especially if said jabs come from elements of truth you as the target can’t completely deny. If you don’t give people the response they want, oftentimes they’ll get bored and move on to something else, or at least won’t linger on that particular insult.

It’s also worth pointing out that anything the other members of the crew say about him could have been false or taken out of context or were perceived entirely different than what the reality was, them not knowing what Mando’s motives were at the time because he’s not exactly forthcoming. Anything they say that implies he did some shady things could have also been things Mando did in those moments that were actually cover for something else. Him letting them think the worst of him so they don’t notice how he’s freeing hostages remotely as they work, or sabotaging their demolition-heavy escape that would have hurt bystanders, or hailing the law to show up and interfere before things go too far and people end up dead when they could be saved. The quieter you are, the more people will reveal themselves and overlook you as part of the background, leaving you free to do what you need to.

Some of the things the mercenaries say about him could also be their skewed interpretations of events. Mando could have been quick, heavy-hitting, and ruthless, but ruthlessness doesn’t always equate bloodthirsty— Ruthlessness just means the most efficient route or means from point A to point B. If he went in on a mission and had to incapacitate people quickly and cleanly, they might have interpreted that to mean Mando was a violent person who liked killing or beating people up for the fun or glory or pleasure of it if he was volunteering to be the first one going in. The reality could have been Din not wanting people to suffer or be killed at the hands of mercenaries he knew would be harsher/more careless if they went ahead of him on a job.

Maybe the mercenaries all thought he was trigger happy because he would shoot first without asking questions, but Din was, in reality, six steps ahead of everybody else and had already analyzed the situation and come to the conclusion that that was the necessary thing to do at that juncture. Maybe the fact that he was brutal and quick to fight back when people on the crew antagonized him in their downtime or tried to take his things made them think he had a short temper and was always raring for a fight, when the reality is you have a much better chance of winning if you hit hard and hit fast, and he wasn’t going to put up with anybody’s disrespect or antagonism by rolling over and letting them think they could get away with pushing him around. As soon as you give people an inch they’ll take a mile.

Even if he was doing some shady jobs, there are still things he’s not going to do even if he had the skill sets for it. Din’s not going to torture people and wouldn’t have stood for it from others of the crew. He’s not a murderer and even when he’s had to kill people in the show it’s always done quickly and efficiently. (One reason why I can’t definitively say Mando would be entirely against hurting someone for information is that he did leave Gor Koresh to be torn apart by dogs at the beginning of Season 2, so he obviously thinks there are some people who have it coming. “You won’t die by my hand, but I don’t have to save you.” He gave Koresh a clear and concise opportunity in the arena to back off and give him the info he came for without killing him though and Gor Koresh didn’t take the chance Mando gave him, so Mando’s not going to lose sleep over what he did in leaving the don hanging there in the street. It’s probable there were similar instances like that while working for Ran.)

Though there are a lot of other immoral actions that come with the kinds of jobs it’s implied that they did, Mando wasn’t killing people left and right, especially since these guys are lower level criminals and thugs, not organized crime members or assassins, and murder gets you a lot more attention than you want if your primary jobs are stealth-based. Mando retained a sense of honor while working for Ran’s crew because Qin wouldn’t have used “You need me alive to get paid; isn’t that your code? Aren’t you a man of honor?” as a guilt trip/bargaining chip at the end of the episode otherwise. Qin’s (mockingly, but probably accurately) quoting back to him what Din had said to them in the past (same as what Xi’an did in transit regarding what he says about the helmet rule). It’s both possible and likely that Din was the one reining other people in when he could, mediating or diverting the crew from killing targets, security, or civilians who ended up in the way.

The reason I think Mando only killed people back then in self defense is that he left the merc crew alive at the end of “The Prisoner” when he obviously could have killed them. To me, what we’ve seen of his sense of justice in the present shows that, had they all proven to be merciless murderers to other people, he would have dealt out equal punishment in return by the end of it has retroactive retribution. Xi’an was the only one he’d worked with before (aside from Qin) and I don’t doubt that she enjoys killing people, and she did kill Davin so she was the most deserving if he had killed her there, but Mando still gave all of them the same last chance he gave Qin years ago; left behind and captured, but alive, despite the fact they all tried to kill him.

(A possible out-of-universe explanation for why he left them alive is that the writers may have had more planned for them in Season 2; there’s concept art in the second season’s Art of The Mandalorian that has Mayfeld, Xi’an, and Burrg on Boba Fett’s ship going into “The Believer.”)

We haven’t seen any evidence of Mando taking active enjoyment in killing people. Needless murder goes against the Mandalorian code, and violence typically isn’t (or is taught that it shouldn’t be) the first resort. Mandalorians are diplomatic enough to have a conversation first, but if you instigate a fight, they’re more than ready and able to finish it. Strike fast and get it over with, don’t drag it out. If you’re going to fight, do it out in the open and be willing to consider a genuine surrender when it’s asked for.

Mando’s not a bad guy. He’s just the best at what he does, and what he does isn’t very nice.

—

So now we’ve established some plausible parameters and the atmosphere for what it was like working with Ran’s crew in the past. There’s a lot of ways Mando could have ended up on the crew, and there’s a lot of reasons why he might have stayed there. He could have been ambitious and arrogant and setting out to make a name for himself, but I’m more inclined to think it was a matter of taking whatever jobs he could that would pay a lot of money and allow him to continue forward. Poor people without resources or connections are often driven to make decisions and find crummy or unethical work that goes against their personal code or preferences, especially when there are people relying on them as a source of income.

The importance of community and family among the Mandalorians is something that’s been made abundantly clear about Din from the beginning so that was probably a driving factor in how he conducted his life and work once he became an adult, and if he was one of the few people who was able to travel to find work and bring money and resources back to the tribe, then of course he was going to do it. There are mouths to feed, children to care for, armor to be built for others. You do what you can to survive.

Now say the more jobs he does with them, the worse they get, but he makes more money that can be brought home to the tribe. Say there are circumstances with bad timing that compel him to keep working for Malk as opposed to finding somebody else (potentially just as bad) to work for; working for the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. Maybe he’s saving up for a ship. Maybe he somehow ended up indebted to Malk and was forced to work off that debt for longer than he obviously wanted.

Maybe he was desperate for any work and theirs seemed promising, especially since he had the exact skillset that would guarantee he’d succeed. Maybe the jobs they used to do were just legal enough to pass as legitimate (if difficult) work and it wasn’t until he’d been there a while that they started to become more dubiously ethical, or Ran used the fact that they had a Mandalorian with them to bargain for better paying jobs from clients (those jobs paying more because they were dirty work).

Say that he knew it would be hard to leave the merc crew because if he didn’t do it right, he knew they’d all be suspicious about what secrets and details he’d be taking with him. Who knows who he might talk to? If that were the case, they may have come after him once he departed just to make sure he couldn’t betray them and give them up.

Say Mando had other outside obligations that kept him working with Malk despite the fact he could see the red flags, and the slow, creeping decline in honest work took place over a longer length of time. It’s a lot easier to get somebody involved with criminal activity if it starts small, starts gradual, and can be reasonably justified, especially if you don’t have all the facts surrounding the circumstances under which the job is taking place. No questions asked, that’s the policy.

I think whatever job they took where Qin was left behind was close to if not the end of Mando’s time with them. I don’t get the impression they had a great relationship to begin with, and Qin also seems like he could have held his own against Mando for a good amount of time before either of them had to back down or their fights were broken up. Almost every episode involves somebody picking a fight with Din over the armor or the helmet (or just… anything really), and it’s clear he’s had a lifetime of similar treatment and he’s able to fight back every time, so it’s not a stretch to say he was probably on the receiving end of similar scuffles while working with the crew, including those instigated by Qin.

So if Mando already had reasons why he wouldn’t have risked his hide to go back for Qin, it’s possible something specific happened that was the last straw and Mando decided he would no longer go out of his way to help or protect him, meaning when whatever mission they were on went pear-shaped, Mando left him. A kind of “Those who fall behind get left behind,” mentality, considering he knew Qin could hold his own and would end up alive if he was smart enough to know what was good for him and back down when he was caught. That was Mando’s measure of grace extended Qin’s way. Mando could have killed him on the way out, but he didn’t. He considered that Qin’s last chance.

I don’t think Qin was necessarily caught by the law on that mission, but regardless of how it shook out that crew ended up back at home base with at least one less member among them and everybody having a hunch that it could have been done on purpose, even if Mando had viable justification for why he couldn’t have gone back for him without risking the rest of the mission. Mando was able to make a clean break and walk away from the encounter (because Malk wouldn’t have let him back on the crew in “The Prisoner” otherwise), but not without everybody’s suspicions cast on him as he went, and the longer time passes between people who part ways on a sour note, the more those accusatory thoughts fester and build.

Mando may have made the objectively right call in leaving Qin and had the evidence to back him up, but people’s feelings are finicky things and tend to overrule all better judgment regardless of the facts of a situation, so the fact that he’d been with that crew for a while and had a history there— one that likely included a well-known animosity between himself and Qin— meant that it didn’t matter how justified Din was. If he’d stayed and continued to take jobs with them nobody else would have trusted him to have their backs going forward, which meant there would be no way for Mando to trust that they would have his. For all he knew, their next mission would end with him being left behind, metaphorically or literally stabbed in the back for his trouble in thinking they could work together again.

[rynnthefangirl]

I'm glad you understood a little better what some fans of Aegon III and Viserys II feel, basically in my point of view the fandom expects them to sacrifice and suffer the mistakes of others, and being called usurpers when all they would do is claim something that belongs to them, it is frustrating, I've never seen anyone, except maybe one person, say that the one who had to step aside was Jace, since truly the right was Aegon's and he knew it because he was perfectly aware that he was illegitimate hence his visceral reactions when he was told so. But the responsibility always falls on Aegon or Viserys, they are the bad brothers who have to be white cloaks or maesters, or be studs for some lady of Westeros like their father was when that is not their place for the sake of his half-brother . They are always destined to be the bad guys in this fandom, Rhaenyra can fight the usurper, but Aegon and Viserys do not have the same right, because yes, Rhaenyra, to cover up her mistake, was depriving her legitimate children with Daemon of what was theirs. George makes Rhaenyra look very bad with this, a gigantic hypocrisy. And they will tell me it is not Jace, Lucerys and Joffrey's fault for being bastards, well, it is not Aegon and Viserys's either 🤷🏼‍♀️ that is my point. Some will say that kings choose their heir and Rhaenyra chose Jace, wanting to make a parallel between Viserys and Rhaenyra, but Jace was not eligible as an heir, if he were a legitimized bastard he could have been one although it would also be highly frowned upon if he headed the line of succession, but that was not the case. In short, long live Aegon III, whose existence is the salvation of House Targaryen.

I mean that all makes sense, but I guess to me it still seems like an extreme response to what amounts to only a hypothetical. Like Jace very much didn’t take the throne from anyone because never sat it. And he didn’t sit it because he died for his baby brother before he got the chance. Aegon III becomes king, and Viserys II as well, and they never had to fight Jace for it. And from what we see of their characters, they never actually wanted it anyway, and would far prefer having their family back. So pitting then against Jace feels unnecessary and contradictory to what I see as a point of their characters and their most admirable qualities (being two kings who, after the destructive greed of the Dance, truly care for the good of the realm above all and wear the crown out of duty and not desire).

But that is from more a strictly source material perspective, and fandom does change things. For instance, I probably would rather like Aegon II as a character if left to my own devices, but then the fandom goes and treats him like a poor victim who had no choice but to steal the throne, and it just makes me despise him wholeheartedly. Compare to Aegon IV, who is as despicable as any Targ, but I love his character because I think he’s fun and interesting. Two Targs that are awful people but compelling characters, yet the fandom response make me appreciate one while having nothing but contempt for the other.

All that is to say, there isn’t any fandom behavior that I myself have experienced that would make me resent the Velaryon boys despite the lack of conflict between them and Aegon III in the narrative. But I can’t discount that others might have different experiences, and seeing them shunted aside or demonized for the sake of their half brothers would be very aggravating. Particularly given how their characters have effectively been erased from HOTD (which I am still fuming about, why are they still toddlers when the Gullet is mere moments away😤), so show-only fans would be more like to dismiss their characters as irrelevant (ugh, even writing that raises my hackles). Again, not really an issue I come across, but I think we all underestimate to what extent our personal fandom experiences are not universal.

[ahli-stuff]

Me getting on my soapbox because I feel crazy but I am the only one who is irritated ivantill

Two reasons:

Undoubtedly the narrative of Alien stage surrounds Mizi—we started alien stage with her. Five of the six videos in alien stage has Mizi as a focus or a key character.

But with the release of round 6, all I hear people talk about is ivantill, ivantill, ivantill—it drives me crazy, im not trying to take it in bad faith, but. for Vivinos who has famously posted mainly feminine, lesbian, and sapphic content, what kind of message does it send that the first time she depicts a gay couple it goes viral? (who. Are not even a couple, and I say this even if Ivan had survived)

That’s the first thing im annoyed about, but the second thing is about the way people approach ivantill itself.

Don’t get me wrong, round 6 is GREAT. It has striking visuals, a compelling story, and and deeply memorable climax; so while I don’t share the excitement upon expanding Ivan and till’s characters I can at least understand it.

What I don’t understand is people framing Ivantill as this tragic love story where Till was mistaken not realizing Ivan’s love until it was too late. It’s… not that at all?

Honestly? I think Ivantill is just as shallow as MiziTill.

Ivan and till aren’t star crossed lovers. They aren’t even friends. They’re strangers at best, and stalker and victim at worse. From the very beginning, Ivan resembles more of a boy pulling a girl’s pigtails as he watches Till from afar and harasses him to get his attention. In addition to that, something that cements this stalker-ish behavior is that Ivan barely means anything to Till—Ivan is completely absent from round 2 which is supposed to be Till-centric. Afterwards, Till doesn’t even think to ask Ivan for support when Mizi goes missing.

People find that Ivan “saving” Till in round 3 and round 6 respectively to be endearing, thinking “Till fucked up, he had a good man right here while he was chasing another girl.”Not to mention Ivan only genuinely saves Till once—but what he does do is and stare at and touch??? Till’s unconscious body several times???

(They’re good and interesting scenes ; you’re meant to feel uncomfortable with the way Ivan’s eyes are pitch black and he’s often depicted looking out from the corner like a vengeful ghost.)

But that’s not even what baffles me the most.

Guys, Till doesn’t owe Ivan his love just because Ivan loves him. Till wouldn’t even owe Ivan his love even if Ivan saved him a million times. Ivan’s story is a tragedy but it’s not a crime that Till just wasn’t attracted to Ivan.

Till didn’t “fuck up” when he pursued Mizi because he loved her—that was his choice because that is his life. Ivan decided to sacrifice his life for Till’s because that was his life.

I think Ivan’s story is really good; it’s a tale of how obsession destroys you even when you use it as a mental escape from your unfortunate circumstances. It’s unnerving, tragic, and to a certain degree relatable.

But if you decide to believe Ivan deserved Till because he loved him so much, it creates this creepy narrative that promotes as long as you desire someone enough they should love you back. No.

Ivan dying for Till doesn’t make him any more deserving of Till’s love and neither does it erase the things he’s done to him. But that’s the point, I think. until the end, Ivan was this twisted ball of anger, despair, and longing—and his forced kiss with Till was just an escalation of what he had done before, until Ivan could finally go on no longer.

[quillkiller]

hi hi!! so i’ve seen “the Article” hc literally everywhere?? but i?? don’t know in-depth what it is or where it came from?? care to help a girl out? <33 xx

hello!!

so there are more than one take of the article, but all in all it seems most people who ship quillkiller agree upon the ’article’ hc :~) so ’the article’ refers to when bellatrix was outed as a death eater/for taking the mark, and rita is the one who wrote and published it !

a popular take on the article, which i’m entirely against and think is unbelievably uninteresting, is ’toxic quillkiller’ and that rita only ever dated bellatrix to get dirt on the black family and then she outs her as a death eater to hit the final nail in the coffin :/ to me, it’s just a boring narrative with such lack of character depth. it’s not even that im not compelled by toxic dynamics, like it’s not like my quillkiller is in a healthy relationship whatsoever, but sadly i think it’s so lazy to just narrow down a dynamic to ’toxic relationship where they’re out to get each other all the time!!!!’ when there are so many more layers ……….. it’s giving ’incorrect quotes’ . to me, erasing what actually makes them interesting. like this cat and mouse-dynamic COULD be so interesting to delve into if people weren’t so adamant about bad people not having personality traits other than ’evil’

and SECOND !! and this is mine (and karas) ’the article’. basically it’s about betrayal, and making sure to kill whatever feelings you’ve ever had for each other. no chance for resurrection. very much a desperate attempt to free yourself from the other but sadly its an epic fail because they haunt each other for the rest of their lives anyway. bella takes the dark mark and shows rita, and rita can’t look past it. rita whose never had a moral compass and now she’s met with something that makes her feel sick for the very first time and it shocks her. but she can’t go with bellatrix. she has to leave her here. and that’s bellas betrayal, that she gambled what they had in this way. that she’s straying outside of ritas control and swore loyalty elsewhere. so rita writes the article about bella being a death eater, a bit out of revenge and a bit to cut her ties to bella entirely. she knows bella will never forgive her, just like rita will never forgive bella taking the mark. here’s an ask kara answered about it in more detail <3

im sure there are lots of other versions of the article, but these are the ones ive seen !!! sorry for yapping….

[yurisorcerer]

What are your top five dragons?

I've thought long and hard about this, and I've come up with a list that I think is pretty good.

Spoilers for, honestly, like, a couple things below the cut. I've tagged the post accordingly.

5. Raijin, my Dragonite from Pokemon Violet

(Obviously this isn't specifically a picture of Raijin, my Switch is sadly batterydead at the moment, but this is about what she looks like in my head. Anyway!)

Somehow or another, Dragonite ended up being the very last Gen I Pokemon I'd never caught or trained in any way. I'd caught all of the others in SOME playthrough of SOME pokemon game over the years, even the ones people generally don't love or tend to forget about. (I will be a Lickitung apologist until the day I die.) I'm not sure why I avoided the Dratini line for so long. Some general subconscious backlash? I can't really say for sure. Anyway, I caught Raijin off the coast of Paldea in Violet and she quickly became essentially the ace of my team. As it turns out, Rain Dance + Thunder with an Electric terra type is a pretty good combination.

4. Black Hole Dragons, from a Dungeons & Dragons homebrew sourcebook

I looked and looked and to my IMMENSE frustration, could not find a copy of the old-school D&D homebrew sourcebook that these things are from, but please trust me and hear me out here.

Black hole dragons as depicted in this book, a truly ridiculous bestiary of appropriate foes for Epic-level adventurers, were bizarre snaking collages of geometry that could grow to be larger than the size of the visible universe and erase people from existence by breathing on them. After encountering these when reading these sourcebooks at the impressionable age of uh....like, 23, vanilla D&D's usual array of chromatics and metallics don't do a ton for me anymore.

3. Nicol Bolas, from Magic: The Gathering

This guy.

This fucking guy. This is how you do an impossibly powerful doomsday villain right.

Nicol Bolas is a dragon who's also a dimension-hopping wizard. As part of what is by my estimation one of Magic's last good sets, he also kills a bunch of faux-Egyptian deities and takes their place as the divine ruler of an entire dimension. This guy fucking rules and every single card that's ever had his name on it is awesome and if you disagree, well, that's good for you, because WoTC killed him right around the time they decided to make Magic boring forever.

2. Falin Touden, from Dungeon Meshi

No, she counts. Get back here.

If I stopped to count all of the ways I thought Falin was an amazing character we'd be here all day, but very briefly I find her arc and her interesting liminal role in Dungeon Meshi's narrative super compelling, and I find her characterization very, very relatable, and not entirely in a way that reflects well on me.

But as a *dragon.*

As a DRAGON

Falin is still one of the best to ever do it. The original Red Dragon is a very cool and pivotal part of Dungeon Meshi, and I love that too, but when Falin is fused with it by Thistle we get what is just honestly one of the most memorably bitchin character designs of all time, a ludicrously hot capital MG Monster Girl, and a huge driving force for the rest of the story. Not to mention Ryoko Kui clearly put a ton of thought into how she would work, since a key flaw in her design (so to speak) is what eventually leads to her being saved. I love her to pieces, and the form Falin finally gets at the very end of the story is honestly super cool-looking too! Although it's less dragonny than this one.

The Dragon, from "Dragon"

headspace-hotel's "Dragon" is one of my favorite poems of all time. It's easily the best tumblr post, and while I don't read a ton anymore, it's definitely one of my favorite overall pieces of literature.

I realize that being so brief in the top entry makes this a little anticlimactic, but I can't bring myself to rob the poem of its impact. I linked it there, so please go read it. More than anything else on this list, it's made me think. Beyond simply thinking it's an absolutely great piece of work (which it is), it's very meaningful to me. A reminder that the danger is still present in our time.

Some honorable mentions: the rest of the Dungeon Meshi dragons, every dragon from the Souls series and from Elden Ring, Paarthurnax from Skyrim, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Godzilla, Beast Machines Megatron, and Odious, the Green Dragon who turns into a giant d20 that I bought from Hasbro Pulse a year or so ago.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

i won't go so far as to say they annoy me, because everyone has their own opinions, but i just CANNOT agree with any takes saying that their entire relationship has been dysfunctional or built on solely on false premises or etc. anything else in that vein. i know we've been dissecting the issues a lot to explain the breakup, but i'm going to go out on a limb and say that as a whole there's way more love than problems and there's way more good than bad. and that doesn't erase the problems or the bad or make them any less in need of fixing, i'm just saying overall the love in their relationship and the good parts of it definitely win out. plus, PLEASE cut them a bit of slack for the constraints the Heaven&Hell rigmarole put on their relationship. and i don't mean in a trauma way, i mean in a physical threat, having to do everything secretly kinda way.

further asks and response under the cut:

hi anon!!!✨ okay won't lie, the first ask made my blood pressure rocket through the ceiling 😅 but you're good, thanks for coming back to clarify, i really appreciate it - bc tbh idk if i would have had the acuity to have answered this today otherwise!!!✨

i hear you - speaking more personally for a sec (i will actually address what you're saying in a mo!), i hope you don't mind, it is slightly exhausting when some read my ask responses or metas, and genuinely believe that im purposefully trying to find negativity in the story or the characters, especially crowley. im not at all; i truly just find the dozens of layers to them both (and the storyline - the ethics, philosophy, psychology!) really, really interesting, and i find it fun to examine. i don't take any joy in pointing out flaws or dysfunctions for the sake of it, but more that, for me, it makes the whole relationship so much more relatable, and compelling. here are two creatures that are literally as non-human as it can get, and they're making mistakes, or miscommunicating, or have 'issues' the same as a lot of us do? that's really comforting to me - to look at two characters that i treasure acutely, and be able to recognise the ways in which they're not perfect. their story, in that respect, suddenly doesn't feel inaccessible.

but braindump-that-you-didnt-ask-for over!!!✨

i agree that their relationship is ultimately rooted in love. i think that that love has taken in many incarnations over the course of their narrative, emerging from general attraction/fascination, to acquaintances, to uniquely-relatable-to-each-other-and-only-each-other colleagues, to friends, to best friends, to deeply-pining crushes, to being unrequited love interests, to being full-throttle in love with each other, to being each other's family and sanctuary... all of these at the same time, and some evolving and merging into others. i don't personally hold the belief that romantic love has been there since the beginning (but fully respect where people do see it that way!) but romantic love isn't the only love that aziraphale and crowley are built on.

there have been problems and misunderstandings amongst all of that, times where they possibly don't know each other as much as they like to think they do, where they've not been kind or gentle to each other, but that doesn't mean that none of it isn't all interwoven, in every fibre, with love (whatever form that takes). they may not be human, but they are navigating something uniquely human, and that isn't always going to be perfect.

add to that, just as you say, the literal threat that hangs over both of them where they're not allowed to acknowledge a single part of any of the above; to do so not only puts themselves at risk, but the other at risk moreso. that fear - that sword of damocles, as others way more poetically-minded than me have put it - is borne out of love, of concern, of respect, and friendship. it's not a question, again as you say (because i wholeheartedly agree with you!), of one loving the other more than the vice versa, and one always having to bend to the other until they break whilst the other doesn't get a look-in. the way i see it, sometimes you do have to bend to each other in relationships, friendships etc., but that's a mark of trust, respect, and love in and of itself; that you can feel that you can look to the other for support when you need it, feel comfortable in being vulnerable enough to do so, and be so deeply loved in return as to be the one to support when the other needs it themselves.

there are times in the narrative where one lets the other down, or hurts them, sure - but that doesn't mean that that's the nail in the coffin. it's not going to ruin them, or end them, or drive them apart irrevocably; it's causing/caused issues that they simply need to work to mend... and tbh, they're probably not even aware that some of those cracks are there! once again, i think it's fair to say that this happens in most relationships, and usually - usually - most problems such as the more human-like ones they're facing now (especially the ones borne out of wanting to protect one another!) are fixable with patience, communication, kindness, time, and continuous love!

i do think s3 is really going to upend this, though, and put it to that aforementioned breaking point; i think there is going to be stuff revealed which leaves each other completely bare for the other to see - no secrets, no smokescreen, no glamour - and prove to be the true test of that love. but let's face it (because it will happen); they will choose to love each other anyway. perhaps even because of what s3 will reveal. i don't think ive ever seen their love for each other as unconditional - like i said, i think such a 'condition'/test will be put to them both in s3 and turn their view of each other on its head - but their love for each other in, all its guise, is strong, deep, and profound enough that it will be what they choose every time✨

if you would like to come back off anon, that is entirely up to you and i'll leave that for you to decide - or message privately? - i don't mind!!! but again thank you for clarifying the tone, i find tone hard to read sometimes and i appreciate the follow-up asks!!!💕

[vicsy]

Recently I got back into making edits in photoshop and since that I got just a couple of questions, asking to do a lil commentary on some of editing choices, ideas etc etc. So I actually decided to do so with this edit that I am genuinely proud of. I hope this will come useful to someone!

For starters, I must say that web weaving has been on the rise for quiet some time and I enjoy the concept. Although, I never made what you would call a traditional web weaving edit, I do borrow some inspiration from the way the web weaves are created.

For me, it starts with a song. Usually. I get madly possessed by the compelling lyrics that fit my character of choice. With this particular edit, it was a twenty one pilots song called Snap Back – a banger with the kind of sorrowful mood. I singled this part out from the starters:

If I’m gonna snap necks, then I gotta snap back.

This line set the tone. I do have the urge to shove an entire song into one edit (did it once right here) but it's important to find the part that will deliver a gut punch to the people that will see it. That's how I chose a passage and divided it so I would know how many images I need.

Then begins the process of sourcing said images that fit the narrative I have created in my head. With the edit I mentioned above, this pic punched me in the face straight away. The forlornness of it all..

When it came to editing, I made a choice to have a textured background so the whole edit would be set in one, consequential tone. Choosing to leave the pics as they are felt off because of the drastic difference of the background and, mainly, because I wanted to bring Daniel to the forefront, to let him be the main focus. And having a plain background would leave me enough room to improvise on all the additional details that I would add for the narrative purposes.

Here, I took several textures and mashed them together to create a rough looking background. I didn't want it to be plain but also not too "loud". Highlighted on the screenshot below are all the layers that make up the background (sorry, photoshop is in russian):

I play around with overlay settings until I get the result I have envisioned in my head or until it surprises me with something that just hits.

After that I crop out Daniel from the pics (hate the process but we gotta do, what we gotta do), apply sharpening to the layer with him, duplicate that layer and add noise (I set the layer to 50-60 opacity usually). Then I tend to erase some bits of the layer with applied noise, especially on faces or important details, so it doesn't get lost but also doesn't look like I forgot to edit it properly. And then I do some basic color correction/brightness/contrast etc. Basically, you are left with something like this:

After that come the details which I either have on hand or rawdog ahahah. Honestly, sometimes you open photoshop with a clear picture in your head and other times you just play with textures/images until it feels right.

My photoshop folder is growing every day, I always look for more textures of all sorts but I do sometimes use regular images in place of the textures. It does require some level of massacre of said picture. If any of you will be interested, I would gladly delve into that too!

I like to follow a particular plan while making edits - start from the beginning to the end of chosen lyrics. With this edit I started from the last two images instead and then worked my way back in a random order.

The narrative here was rather clear – the choice to include a pic from infamous Monaco win and lyrics about "snapping necks" and then add more recent pictures from the time Daniel is clearly struggling cause he needs to "snap back". There is an intentional change in the font, compared to the way it was more "reserved" in the previous pics, so the narrative "screams" on your screen. In the Red Bull pic I included a background detail that resembles tree rings (actually, @flawlessassholes pointed it out correctly in her tags) and it's a callback to another pic that comes before – the one where Daniel is in the first year of his Red Bull run. It is truly about growth and finding your roots and then kind of loosing them. In the last pic, with the modern era Daniel, I really wanted to include the Miami livery colors ahahaha So I leaned into that a lil bit. The background detail was meant to be brush strokes – the story is written but it is not over. The sort of halo around Daniel's head with a little star can be interpreted more freely... up to you. I have my own lil ideas. But this is, by far, my most favorite picture in the edit.

One of the other, I'd say, narrative heavy pics is this one:

Here, apart from being an iconic photo, I broke the background rule but it was very intentional. Everything that is in color has more meaning – Daniel, the character, and the stars that surround him, signifying one of the most iconic moments of his career. Although, @boxboxbrioche pointed out that those red-colored detail look a little bit like knives and, honestly, that's an incredible observation. All the people in the background are black and white, meshing with the background textures that I used, but the water below has some color to it, once again bringing the attention to what matters and what doesn't. That jump into the pool was a part of the redemption.

The most amount of time I spent on this picture:

I really struggles with showing pressure without overdoing it and, honestly, I really love how it came out. I have butchered some plain scribbled textures to look like plans that are sort of falling apart. In the bottom right corner, barely visible, there is a texture that looks like hands reaching out – I wanted to show that other people are a part of that pressure, always reaching out but sometimes only to hurt. The blue "shadow" above Daniel also signifies mounting pressure + a lil nod to the scar on his hand and the overall body language in the pic.

I don't think that I have to comment on other pics because, to me, they are rather straightforward with the storytelling but I would gladly answer any and all questions if you have them! please don't hesitate to message me. I did put a lot of thought into this <3

A very important part of making edits is composition and I am very meticulous when it comes to that. If you notice with this edit it went like this: left - right - middle - left - right - middle + the last two images are standing out but the text follows the left-right rule that I set from the beginning. To me, composition is one of the hardest things to decide but it usually pays off greatly when you look at the overall result.

One additional comment about fonts... besties... I fucking hate choosing fonts. It's my greatest enemy but MY GOD finding out the one that works is sooo hard and yet sooooooo fucking important. It took me two days to make this decision. And I spent about 10 days making this whole edit.

Let me take two pics here as sort of a before and after (that one was a bitch to crop out):

Let me leave you with the way my edit folder usually looks like:

It helps to have everything in one place.

Overall, there is no right or wrong way to go about editing. Go with the flow and don't be scared to ask for help. 15 years ago I opened photoshop for the first time and it was scary but you pick up skills as you go. Sometimes you make something really good, sometimes you feel like you made shit. What matters is you are still creating and that really inspires others, too. So if you ever need any help or advice (tbh, I don't have any kind of graphic design background and I can't do art), I'd be glad to try and help.

Thanks a lot for sticking around and letting me yap for a lil bit <3

[spareparts-vn]

Hi! I'm really enjoying Spare Parts. I really appreciate how it has so much heavy drama, but it never feels oppressively dour or meaningless. There's plenty of more comedic or otherwise lighter moments that don't feel out of place, too. Can I ask as a wannabe writer myself, do you have any tips or processes for writing such effective drama?

thank you! i'm very bad at giving writing advice. i've written and deleted this post half a dozen times already. it's pretty hard to lay my thoughts out since my process is so tangled up in my brain's very specific eccentricities. so here's some extremely scattered thoughts that loosely connect to how i write "drama," which in my mind is just an extension of any compelling relationship between characters.

1) "iteration" is my main thing. write a bad draft, then edit it to be better, then edit it to be better, then edit it to be better, then erase the whole thing and write another bad draft that's slightly better, then edit that one to be better, then edit it to be better, then do that 100 more times until you have an epiphany that ties it all together. it's not very efficient but it helps me identify what works and what doesn't so i can hone in on what's interesting to me. in the context of drama, that means i can write out an argument between two characters and ask myself if it hits on anything compelling. if it doesn't, i scrap it, but if there's some feeling there that i want to flesh out, i can restructure it to pivot around that.

2) similar to the previous one, but i try to start broad and narrow my focus over time. taking two characters' relationship as an example, i'll start from the most generic interpretation of how they relate to one another and start adding nuance/complexity over time. i think of it like a life drawing, if you've ever taken a class for that. you want to start with the gesture of the pose first, then start to fill in shapes and values until the foundation is solid. you go around the whole drawing adding details in bits and pieces, rather than focusing on one body part and fleshing it out to completion first. you can slowly choose where to exaggerate shapes or darken shadows to add a little more visual flair to it. in telling a story, these details can often play out and develop through the course of the narrative.

2.5) this is an aside, but during my brief stint in art school, i once turned in a self-portrait for a life drawing assignment that i was really unhappy with. i spent so much time working and reworking it that it looked really smudgy from all the erased lines, but i was too stubborn to start drawing on a new piece of paper. i was very anxious about turning it in for critique, but the professor surprised me by saying that he liked the ethereal quality it had from all the eraser marks. that there was something interesting in how obvious it was that i'd redone it so many times, allowing the evidence of previous attempts to leave traces in the final image. that comment always stuck with me. i think of life, and art by extension, as additive in nature. you can't completely erase the past, so as time moves forward your canvas become more and more dense with information, even if it's been scrubbed away. relationships are the same, which i try to convey when writing my characters. the longer you write them, the more friction and drama will naturally fall out of them. so don't be afraid to start simple, you might surprise yourself with the sort of feelings that appear without you realizing it.

3) i try to imagine a person who would become psychotically obsessed with every possible pairing of characters. what would they find interesting in this dynamic? how could i give them something to chew on? how could i surprise them, or entice them to think about their relationship deeper? in spapa's case, there's obviously a lot of interplay between the most central characters, but i have internal dossiers on every obscure pair of characters that most people won't think about. but that means i'm going to write more about them and flesh them out, so the web grows more complex and interesting. (i've developed a fixation on a secret ship that i'm hungry to explore, but probably won't get the chance to for a while. i'll leave you to speculate on what that is.) every character's growth and experience is shaped by their relationships, so tugging on those threads can reveal things about my characters i hadn't realized before. and sometimes those threads are connected to sticks of dynamite, which explode. and then you get lucy and melanie yelling at each other, even though their first interactions don't really suggest they'd end up there.

4) i'm the type of person who struggle to resist cracking a joke when i think of one, no matter how inappropriate the timing is. i've seen some critique of spapa that jokes occasionally feel misplaced in really serious scenes, but personally, i think they're important! people are complicated and can have multiple modes of thought/expression at once. sometimes when you're in the middle of the biggest sobbing breakdown of your life you'll think something stupid and mundane that snaps you back to reality for a second. sometimes you're having the best day of your life and you'll suddenly remember The Incident and have to just brush it off. i try to reflect those sorts of weird moments in my writing.

5) i lean a lot on my experience in writing fanfic/doing roleplay of characters/ships that i'm interested in. taking the dynamic that's presented in the source material and bending it to suit my interests more, or to flesh out ideas that i want to explore through them as a medium. every now and then it helps to take a step back and assess what parts of my story i've built i feel are most compelling or could use some more attention. what scenes i would write fanfic of, and how i can place them in the story itself or build up to something that paints those scenes in the reader's mind. i just love characters. they're little toys i can make do anything

6) i guess overall my approach is very naturalistic/holistic. i let characters develop themselves and create drama on their own, just by being complicated little animals and thinking about them a lot. then i can take those shapes they make and mold them into something more refined. i try to treat everything as a piece of the whole. let the threads get really tangled up and leave a lot of time for exploring what those knots look like and how you might try to de-tangle them. but meanwhile there's other knots forming too. there's no getting it completely organized but you learn a lot about the mess while trying to pull it apart. the process is essential. the end product should reflect that process in whatever ways feel appropriate. imo

i don't know if Any Of This Shit makes any sense or is helpful. like i said, i've rewritten this several times already, and i've gotta do other stuff today, so hopefully you could pull something useful out of it lmao

[amaros-system]

Prison of Plastic Thoughts

So, finished Prison of Plastic. Here are my spoilery thoughts: - I think I understand better why this show is called Epithet Erased. A very core theme is the pain that these powers cause, mainly to the inscribed themselves. - I really like this decision. I was expecting this to go in the direction of "oh no Inscribed hurt Mundies" like so many stories do. This is really tired, and always rubs me the wrong way because of how they are resolved. The notion of somebody's abilities being fundamental to who they are feels very ableist (looking at you, Legend of Korra). Being blinded would change my life, but it wouldn't make me any less. - On that note, I hope we get to see a character actually have their epithet taken away and to not get it back later in the same arc. I wanna see somebody grapple with what not having it means, and grow beyond their epithet. - The thing that unites all of the antagonists, is how they view powers. Mera's epithet causes chronic pain, Zora's sucks the joy out of life, Lori possibly accidentally caused the death of her mother with it. For these characters epithets are disabilities. This has a ton of narrative potential, and I'm immensely curious to see where Jello goes with this. - When you embrace that both Mundies and Inscribed can be the metaphorical representation of disabled people, EE is actually a very compelling disability analogy. Not sure if that's intentional, but I don't care! - Further on the EE-as-disability-analogy, I think this makes Molly the perfect protagonist. The first thing we see Molly use her epithet for is prevent overstimulation. While for other characters their powers are just nice boons or even active hindrances, Molly is the only one that relies on her Epithet. She runs counter to Bliss Ocean's ideals, in an interesting way. - Moving away from disability now! - Lori is so hatable, but also so lovable. Seeing her actually play along with Molly was so such an amazing moment, very sad to see how it ended. - Also, very conflicted on shipping Lori and Gio. They have such chemistry, but also Lori absolutely does not deserve him. I need her to finish her arc so I can see this ship god damn it. - Rick is the best. I envy his energy. - I totally thought Ricks friends in Ocean Country were killed for helping a slave escape for a sec. - Naven has such twist villain energy. Same vibes as Ralsei. The way he talks to Lori and the fact he has Yoomtah as a driver are all very sus. - I really want to see what Trixie’s epithet is, assuming they have one. I’m expecting something super obscure. There’s also that crow, and the possible Songstress connection I’ve seen some people theorize about. - Giovanni kidnapping Molly is so on-brand. He was really great this arc in general, really. Didn’t have a lot of big, bombastic moments, but I actually liked that. Get to see more chill Giovanni. AKA, what makes him so cool.

[sassylittlecanary]

Cynicism and God Complexes: Thoughts on Batman v Superman

There’s good stuff about this movie. Clark and Bruce are especially well cast, some of the costumes are pretty, Wonder Woman is there, etc. But as for the rest? I just rewatched this film, and here’s my two cents.

Bruce's Characterization

I appreciate how the beginning shows Bruce’s compassion for people (especially kids), but then it’s … not really relevant ever again? What Batman does to the sex traffickers is certainly satisfying, but it's also more in line with Huntress or Red Hood’s tactics (which comics!Bruce hates). So, by making him more like Frank Miller’s Batman (aka the Punisher in a cape -- seriously, The Dark Knight Returns had horrendous characterization and we should not be basing movies on it), it erases everything about his character that defines him as Batman, which is VERY relevant in comics batfam dynamics. Furthermore, there's the moment when the media is criticizing the bat brand, and Bruce says, "They’re criminals, Alfred — they’ve always been criminals. Nothing’s changed.” This is not who Bruce is! This is not his mindset! Where is the Bruce Wayne who gets a former villain a job at Wayne Enterprises and works toward reform and doesn't see anyone as a lost cause?

There's also the question of the dead Robin (not that you can really tell it’s a Robin costume because it's freaking BROWN) who is probably Jason Todd, which makes Bruce's characterization here even more implausible. Bruce didn’t kill his arch nemesis (who’s still alive and played by Jared Leto) who tortured and murdered his teenage son, but sure, he’ll kill Superman happily!! I call BS.

Clark's Characterization

This film is all about fear of Superman, and this is best personified by Bruce and Alfred's perspective — that Kal-El is a god coming down from the sky who could reign terror on the earth and answers to no one. Sure, they’re unreliable narrators, but this narrative still ruined many people’s perceptions of Superman. Despite scenes showing Clark’s kindness, fear of Superman (plus the idea that we SHOULD be afraid of him) is woven throughout the entire film. The entire point of the Knightmare sequences is fear of Superman. Even if they’re simply meant to demonstrate Bruce’s paranoia, they still serve to instill fear of Superman in the audience as well. (Also the Knightmare sequences are literally just Injustice ripoffs and I HATE IT. Literally the worst thing to take inspiration from for a Superman movie.) It's noteworthy that Superman's first appearance shows him looking scary and imposing. That's the image many people remembered.

Also, the core of Clark's character is that he cares about people. He does literally everything in his power to protect them. The idea of him allowing (or causing) destruction to befall innocents just so he can save Lois is ludicrous. Actually, the (heavily Injustice inspired) idea throughout the DCEU that Clark prioritizes Lois over other innocent people is awful. Clark cares about all of humanity — whom he lives among and is not isolated from  — not just Lois. (Also, while I love the tenderness in their relationship, it's just not a Lois & Clark relationship. Where is the banter? The flirtation? These two are cute together, but they were also made into a very generic couple.)

Additionally, I hate Superman as a Christ figure, and I hate the "he's a god among mortals!!" narrative. Y'all. This is post-Crisis. John Byrne got rid of that. We've moved past this.

The Villain

I hate Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I get that he’s Luthor Jr, but still. He’s kinda just playing the Joker without makeup. He’s just pathetic and annoying and I cringe when he’s on screen. It's honestly embarrassing that every other actor who has played Lex Luthor was both more menacing and more compelling. 

The Tone

Beyond a doubt, this movie's fatal flaw is how bleak and cynical it is. The tone, the characterization, the very premise, and even the color scheme are so cynical. It takes all the fun and meaning out of the genre. Thanks for turning these inspiring and beloved characters into another sad soulless action movie!! Love you Zack 😘

Also, the beginning bothers me. Bruce doesn't like Clark because of all the violence he causes -- except comics!Clark cares about protecting civilians. It's just that Zack Snyder followed the 2010s action flick trend of adding tons of gratuitous, gritty violence, and now BvS is reckoning not with the characters' actions, but with Snyder's directorial choices from Man of Steel. Which is lame and I hate it.

Snyder's choices in general just bother me. He literally took one of the brightest, most colorful, most fun genres ever and was like “Actually, what if everything was DARK and BROWN and SAD.” And you know what? I do not vibe with that. Not everything has to be Game of Thrones.

Honestly, all this cynicism and moralizing would've been more suited to an Authority film than one about the DC Trinity.  I don’t WANT a dark and realistic take on Superman and how people might view him. I don’t want a movie where Superman is put on trial or burned in effigy! I want a movie where Superman saves people and brings joy and hope to the world. I want my kind and inspirational beacon of hope. I want the hero whom children adore and adults admire. Give me a real superhero movie, not a hopeless grimdark action movie with superhero characters.

[likealittleheartbeat]

Gay Friendship

I'm feeling so warm in my heart after watching a few episodes of the Thai gay reality dating show, "Boys Like Boys."

There's so much discourse around gay happy endings, but I think I just crave gay friendship, whether happy ending or not. Shows like Boys Like Boys, Only Friends, Looking, and even the Netflix Queer Eye depict the building of intimate friendships between imperfect human beings who have been through shit. After all, it's not the suffering that's unbearable, it's the belief that we must shoulder our burdens and successes alone. They each take the romance premise as a starting point (BLB is a dating show, Only Friends is a BL series, Looking follows a classic romance plot, and the first episode of QE opens with the team trying to help a man get his life together to win back his love) but the bond among the group becomes the more central motor of the overarching narrative for the audience.

One literary scholar, Amy Hungerford at Yale, in a lecture on Philip Roth discussed how homosexuality in narratives has been historically perceived as threatening to the push-and-pull of difference and otherness created by heterosexuality that urges a story along with adequate dynamic tension. (She doesn't say it should be this way, only that it has previously been thought of this way). Even when gay narratives come into the frame, they often go back to the same kind of heterosexual romance plot and place some other kind of difference between the two characters for them to overcome (think the class distinctions in Maurice) or the plot is more about the conflict between the heterosexual society and the gay character (can they assimilate and be accepted by the straights like Love, Simon, or will we get a tragic ending where they're never accepted like Brokeback Mountain, there's a third option where they stand up to an unaccepting society and go off into a new community but within the confines of the plot device of individual vs. society, this would still be considered tragic). Centralizing a group friendship reorients these plot traditions in a compelling way for the audience.

Focusing on a developing friend group supplies adequate tension and conflict with a dynamic of individual vs. society. Rather than a heterosexual society, it emphasizes the society of other gays (within a broader heterosexually-oriented world). This society of gays is a more nebulous group as far as what they might believe and represent for an individual. It changes the conversation from a binary between straight acceptance vs. gay identity into a conversation about one's place of belonging within the broad arms of gay experience. Boys Like Boys has contestants on a scale from unclear gender identities to masculine bi guys who aren't used to spending time with gays or sharing their feelings (and those two share a room and become besties on the show. Race, class, and openness all range among the contestants, too. We watch as they attempt to discuss these differences and take care of one another, even as discomfort and conflict arise. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking to hear how novel and meaningful these relationships become for the contestants.

The friendship doesn't erase the desire for romance in any of these shows. People are still trying to date and find love. In fact, the friendship factor adds tension to the proceedings. Whereas heterosexual dynamics have an immediate thrust from the assumption that gender difference will lead to eventual romance rather than friendship, the gay relationships developed in these shows are much more unclear for those involved and the audience. Both friendship and romance seem equally important, and you hope and worry at the same time about friendships transforming into something with a more sexual thrust. You have to consider how a romantic relationship with someone within or outside of the friend group will impact the whole group. How much time will they be spending with the group while they're dating someone? What if feelings aren't reciprocated, will that disrupt the friendships? What if two people are crushing on the same person? How does a friend group survive this kind of turmoil?! And how can you tell the difference between a friendly attraction and a romantic attraction!? These all become heightened in this gay friend group dynamic.

Friendship also fails to change the broader world (even though the Platonic ideal and Forster might have it otherwise). Oppressive and marginalizing systems still chug on. Families are still families. Even the gays within the friend group are still flawed people who say the wrong thing and make mistakes. A friend group isn't a cure, it's a cushion. Nor is a friend group a found family. The friends in these shows continue to seek connection and regard for their own families, or, if not possible--Bobby from QE is a good example of this--they work on building lives and family structures outside of the friend group. (Whether you like it or not, friend groups are pretty weak social structures for funding those basic needs that we expect families to provide and support--food, shelter, purposeful employment, etc.) Emphasizing a place for family might sound like reverting to the nuclear family model but family can mean many different structures, check out wikipedia for some ideas lol. Basically the family provides security and structure. The friend group is more dynamic with its structure and has more focus on emotional support than life's necessities.

Friendship, with its emotional purpose, becomes narratively powerful in these gay stories when one appreciates both the loneliness and instability with which gay people enter into gay society. Most have had to recognize how they differ from, not only the people that raised them and provided them security but the laws and traditions that were supposed to embrace and guide them as they grew older. Gay friendship offers a respite where comfort and imagination are possible despite hardship. It's not transformation of the world, but its the balm you need (and can return to) to go out with patience and compassion and deal with life, and the opportunity for you to offer that same gift to others who are different but like you.

[variousqueerthings]

Do you think that’s how Spring begins? With a group message on tree facebook?

it's the last of our non-finale episodes and we are watching "In The Forest Of The Night." do you get the feeling that Clara is maybe... kind of unhinged? (I say currently watching the next episode, but also there were hints)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 5/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 65/100 (if I can count….)

for an episode with so many child-actors in it, I don't haaate it. it's certainly giving more hope than many this season. I also note that this season has a lot of episodes with the main thread being "the Doctor misjudges the situation."

Into the Dalek the Doctor is compelled to "turn the Dalek Good Again," Robot of Sherwood and Robin is not a robot, Listen and the Doctor is making a whole bunch of misconceptions, Time Heist and it's the Doctor's heist, Kill the Moon and he misreads Clara, Flatline and he's hoping the creatures are good, and now this... the main point is that many of these misjudgements last for almost a whole episode

I feel like that's interesting, and done enough to be on purpose

OBJECTIFICATION: seriously, are we free of this? at last???

PLOT-POINT: Clara makes a choice to leave the Doctor to die along with the rest of humanity, and also there's a lot of her and Danny's relationship in this and Is Danny Ill-Used By Clara? I don't mean that as a "is Clara #Problematic" (because as we'll see next episode and have had hinted all season, Clara is a bit unhinged actually)," but more "is Danny's relationship with Clara something where she sees him as an extension of herself, rather than as his own person, and does she play games where she can keep control of every situation, which has been said in other episodes about her"

when Danny calls out that she's been lying to him, when she tries to compel Danny onto the Tardis, when he ends up giving her another chance to explain herself on her terms, etcetc. that's the real 👀👀👀 of the episode

because the "I don't want to be the last of my species" is eh, whatever, seriously if you genuinely think the earth is about to end you bundle those pre-teens onto that spaceship and deal with the trauma of losing their parents later as far as I'm concerned

COMPLEXITY: I like trees. trees like us. ignore the CGI animals. good trees. gosh I'm tired. trees. there's a bit of silliness about how trees feature in all your scaaaary fairytales, which wasn't really necessary in my opinion, and is this thing that happens so often in M*ffat era of trying to make everything into a story within a story, even when it definitely Is Not, but apart from that

trees

it does have a whole thing about a kid who hears voices and it turns out it's her disappeared sister who maybe got briefly swallowed by the trees but then comes back at the end? unclear, may have been silly not to notice what was going on there, but fairly sure this wasn't entirely explained

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Doctor's hearts grew three sizes that day, because he was schooled by some kids (genuinely enjoyed that)

the Doctor also is seeing that Clara genuinely really likes Danny... I know the word "love" has been bandied around, I'm not sure they're quite there in my head, but fuckit, they've had episodes that show them places. they went on a date. there's clearly stuff happening beyond what we see. I'll take it

and seeing that Danny ain't all bad

also Clara... may be unhinged. more on that next time!

Missy was there again... I was saying "Missy" until this point because ooooh who could it be -- but from now on we're going Master, fuck this noise. The Master. none of that "Missy" nonsense. The Master is there being like oooh interesting

COMPANIONS MATTER: this one's really about the kids doing stuff, and that's fine. I... am a grouch about kids in this era, because there's a lot of episodes with kids in the Tardis and this is fully a show for kids, but so often they're just not well-written and there's definitely some Stuff like that in here, but for the most part this lot are chill

I have a question about how this particular school is going to have a bunch of kids convinced they've been in a spaceship and what that'll do to them (like how Love & Monsters is about a man who met the Doctor as a kid and it changed his whole damn life), but eh

Clara is there. as a teacher. she sort of does some teachery things. neither her nor Danny initially notice that they're missing a kid which is wild, but I'll let it slide

Clara makes a very particular choice about "not wanting to live without her species" where it's all about saving the Doctor, because the kids would rather see their parents than... not die, which goes on the list of frankly bonkers things this show has had Clara do. Really Clara? as their current caregiver, you'd not save them from heat death because they'd be sad about their parents? is that... hmmm.....

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor gets it all wrong in this one and then the episode kind of ends

this is a bit of the downside of this style of writing -- the Doctor isn't particularly proactive in a couple of these episodes. the balance is a little off. I would have liked to have seen a bit more idk. we've communicated with the trees or something

make the trees more central as characters in a way, drop the CGI wolves and have there be more of an investigation. a lot of this episode was a bit passive

thiiiiis episode though has the Doctor echoing words in Kill The Moon, and rephrasing them: "This is my earth too, I walk your earth, I breath your air" -- I don't think we've had real development between these episodes for the Doctor to reach this conclusion, but I like it on its own. I think that's a wider issue with season 8 which is that the overarching character development of it is... poor. but that's not this episode's issue, so much as an overarching problem

maybe should make a season recap...

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's not much in this one. stands alone. Idk I kind of think this one could have benefited from a bit of connection, there's something very flee-floating about this episode, where it's sort of talking about ostensibly grand themes of survival of humanity, but you're sitting there the whole time going "yeah but earth's not really threatened and it's not quite... about anything"

and I think if it had somehow given some more context, given it a bit more grounding in the lore, so the free-floating stuff wasn't totally on its own, it would have worked better

“SEXINESS”: SERIOUSLY ARE WE FINALLY FREE!!!?? there's this one suspect line where a kid is like (paraphrased) "of course Mr Pink and Ms Oswald like each other they keep arguing," which made me squint. Oh kids, don't take in that alloromantic, het nonsense!

INTERNAL WORLD: listen, a Doctor Who episode going "and then everybody will forget" is fine enough I guess. better than just letting "and then the earth was covered in trees" hang there, although if one were to be pedantic (watch me) one might point out that suddenly appearing trees would have done some wild things to places that would have gotten people killed, and so I don't think it would be quite so possible to just... forget

it's very much a fairytale in that it doesn't explain much on purpose, but it doooes have a bit of cop out, especially since M*ffat era uses this as an excuse to undermine the lore in his own era constantly. this episode feels a bit more like it's intentionally a fairytale, but... it's been a looong M*ffat era and there's still more to come

POLITICS: this episode has an odd thing about a girl who "sees" things and "has fits," and it's actually for a scifi reason, which doesn't age greaaat as a concept -- he basically says that if a child is speaking, you should listen, which is great, I see the purpose of it, but also is one of those tropes of "psychopathy/hallucinations are actually the universe telling you things" which, I mean, I get how it got there on this show, hopefully is aged out now

it does have stuff about please be nice to trees, because trees are great! but also again, this is a very free-floating episode, and while it is for kids, I think it needed to just. have some kind of grounding somewhere

gosh I love trees though

FULL RATING: 65/100 (if I can count….)

I feel a bit inverse about this one to "Flatline" in that the more I think about it, the more holes poke out and the less it works as a story. It's a bit unformed, a bit rambling, and while I like the idea of there being no threat, except the one humanity creates, it's kind of undercut by other episodes in which there is very much a threat! also the trees could have felt like characters, but didn't really

it scans a bit like a last minute entry, kinda like how Fear Her back in s2 has good moments, but is soooo unpolished

I mean, I don't hate it. I don't think it totally works, but as you see in this rating it's not making me foam at the mouth or anything

and that puts us... at finale time! of s8!