#and certainly you don't need a scene by scene copy of the original

[sunlightnmoonshine]

I don't know whether anyone has talked about this yet but wasn't the main point about the Jet storyline, that fire nation ppl shouldn't just be killed off as revenge?? Wasn't it also supposed to be an instance of comparison between what a good leader is and what an edgy leader is aka sokka being the former and jet being the latter?? Wasn't it also supposed to be an instance that made katara sad because she bonded with jet over the loss of their family and nearly went down a dangerous path because of him??

1. How is replacing it with oh let's kill the scientist guy that's helping the fire nation and use that as an opportunity to kill the royals too a good change? Thereby taking away substantially from the whole innocent "fire nation" ppl shouldn't be punished for the actions of, plot point which is very relevant to the thematics of the story?

2. Why take away sokka's intuition as a leader and instead turn it into a sibling squabble where sokka has literally no role in the Jet storyline except that he appreciates Sai and doesn't think he should be killed? And instead have katara through one tiny whip of water save the day?? Thereby taking away a part of sokka's growth, even though this live action loves shoving it down everyone's throat that sokka's personality trait is that he's obsessed with being a leader?

3. Why take away from katara's emotional range? And how her fight with jet was fuelled by rage that she's coming to terms with and how betrayed she felt?? What does having jet say her waterbending is good because of him and have her say, no its because of her, add to the story??? It's like the live action is obsessed with highlighting that katara is a master water bender (which is incorrect since she trained hard and got very good at it) and that she doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to express mixed emotions?? Also their interaction, was supposed to highlight how even if two ppl suffer the same way, their approaches in response can still be very different and that revenge is not the answer, which is foreshadowing to katara's journey in the story.

I just don't understand why the story had to go in this direction and I certainly don't understand how one can be okay with how much they chipped off in relation to characters and thematics??

[feelmyskinonyourskin]

Cure [Sex Pollen Trope]

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x AFAB Reader x Frank Castle

Trope de Sept Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Sex Pollen Situation 1. A fictional substance that makes the characters experience unbearable pain if they don't fuck. "You, Bucky, and Frank are exposed to a strange chemical in an abandoned Hydra warehouse. And there's only one way to make the effects wear off faster."

Warnings: SMUT/18+ (don’t interact if your age is not in your bio). No use of Y/N. AFAB Reader. Implied sexual assault of and by Bucky during his time as the Winter Soldier. Implied past/current casual sexual relationships between the Reader/Bucky and Reader/Frank. All the dubious consent circumstances that come with sex pollen. Unprotected P in V, threesome, breeding kink, creampies, multiple orgasms, pet names (baby, doll, sweetheart, honey). 

WC: 3,200

A/N: Trope de Sept order got a little shuffle. Don't worry, everything is still coming, I just wanted to space out characters, fic types, etc. now that I have a better idea of what the rest of the fics will be.

*I never give permission for my fics, manips, or any other original creation I post on this site to be copied, posted elsewhere, translated, or fed into any AI program. The only platform I currently post anything on is Tumblr. Thanks!*

How you and Bucky managed to get separated from the rest of the team, you weren’t sure.

The Hydra base was recently abandoned. Tipped off that the Avengers were on their way, they scrambled to make their escape, leaving miscellaneous papers, weapons, and other evidence of guilt behind.

You certainly weren’t going to take anyone in on this, but at least you’d have some clues that could maybe point to where they’d be next.

You and Bucky made your way into some kind of lab, the rest of the team raiding other areas of the base. Coms were down, but you weren’t too concerned as there seemed to be no threat that required back up. Hydra left this place abandoned and disheveled due to their hastened exit.  

“Shit. There’s no one here.” Bucky lamented, sending a set of empty beakers crashing to the floor in frustration

“Not no one, but sure as shit ain’t Hydra.” a gravelly voice cut through the darkness of the lab

You and Bucky turned to the source; a tall figure attached to dusty combat boots, vest dripping with white paint smears and long-ago dried blood splatters. He wore a scowl on his tired face, a bruise covering the left side of his jaw, and had a rifle slung over his shoulder.

“Castle.” Bucky nodded toward him

“Barnes. Sweetheart.” he nodded back to the two of you

“I’m sorry– sweetheart? How do you two…” Bucky asked, pointing between you and Frank.

“Remember when you said I should get a hobby? You know when weeks go by and there are no missions?” you said

“I meant like, take up pickleball or crocheting; not get sexually involved with vigilantes.”

“Hey, hey!” Frank rebutted

“Woah!” you also interrupted Bucky’s implication “Who said anything about me sleeping with him? No, I started taking on some– let’s just call them personal cases outside of work. You know, using my powers to be the everyman's hero. I run into Frank on rooftops sometimes.”

“So your hobby is being a superhero, when you’re not at work being a superhero?”

“I mean sometimes we also sleep with each other.” Frank added

Frank was lucky your powers didn’t involve laser vision, or else he’d be burnt to a crisp by the way you glared at him.

“Really, doll? Castle?”

“You know what Bucky, I don’t need judgment from someone who's dating pool includes all four of the Golden Girls. Wait, how do you two know each other?” you motioned between him and Frank

“A mutual friend of ours, Curtis Hoyle, runs a veterans therapy group once a week. It usually also turns into a poker game at my place afterwards.”

“Wilson joins sometimes too.” Frank added

“Didn’t think this was your scene, Castle,” Bucky said, bringing the subject back to the mission “Thought you worked alone. You’re not thinking of joining up are you?”

Frank scoffed. “Nah. Following a lead. Led me here.”

“To a world wide terrorist orginization’s base?”

“You’d be surprised how many of the street level scumbags I chase down are involved in shit like this.”

“So you came here to go all Punisher on them?”

Frank raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“Sure, the Avengers have been playing whack-a-mole with them for years, but the vigilante with a rage problem and a bunch of guns is gonna do it.” you said with a roll of your eyes.

“Fairness to me, didn’t know just what this place was til I got here.”

Bucky let out a deep exhale. He glanced between you and Frank, before returning his focus to the abandoned lab around you.

“Well you’re here now, might as well make yourself useful.”

The three of you looked high and low through the lab and turned up nothing of real value that could even be a glimmer of a lead on what Hydra was planning next or where they had scurried off to.

Bucky used his vibranium arm to bust open the door of a locked walk-in freezer, the last place it seemed you hadn’t searched.

Various test tubes and bags of medical supplies sat on the shelves, some full of odd looking substances, others spilled over and shattered from Hydra’s escape efforts.

Frank walked up to a shelf containing vials of cherry-colored liquid, picking one up in his large hand and examining it curiously.

“Don't touch that!” Bucky exclaimed, lunging forward just as Frank turned his head

Their bodies collided, sending the glass canister spinning into the air and crashing down to the ground. The red substance splashed all over the concrete floor and tiny fragments of glass flew in every direction.

“Castle, please tell me you didn’t just do that.”

“The hell you mean, me? You’re the one who pushed me!” Frank argued back

Bucky’s panic stricken gaze met yours and you had never seen fear quite like this in his eyes.

“Don't breathe.” he commanded

“What do you mean don’t breathe?” you asked, shaking off some of the liquid that splattered on your boot

“Oh god, no no no. It’s too late. We’ve all already been exposed.” Bucky lamented, sinking to the floor with his head in his hands.

“Bucky, what is that stuff? What is going on?”

“It’s a serum.”

“Like a super soldier serum?”

“Yes. But also no. This one’s effects are temporary. And highly potent. And very airborne.”

“Airborne. Like we all just breathed it in?”

“Yep.” he confirmed

“So what does it do? What’s gonna happen to us?” you asked, panic rising in your chest

“When I was theirs,” he motioned to the room around you, implying his time as Hydra’s prisoner “They realized all their sick experiments finally worked on me and they wanted more super soldiers, to replicate what they’d created in my bloodstream. The problem was, this was right around the time Dr. Zola got captured and arrested by the team that would become Shield.”

You glanced up and down the shelves once more, hoping something in here could be used for first aid in treating whatever the hell was about to happen to the three of you.

“So without their best scientist, no matter how many liters of my blood they took and tried to recreate the serum with, they couldn’t. In a last ditch attempt, they thought maybe it could be transferred genetically, They thought maybe they could use me to breed more supersoldiers.”

Your attention snapped back to Bucky.

“Breed? Wait, so they made you…? Oh my god, with who?!” you asked in horror as Bucky revealed yet another disturbing detail of his past

“Usually volunteers for Hydra’s cause. Sometimes other prisoners; women they also had been doing experiments on.”

“That’s disgusting.” you commented

“Believe me, I’m aware.”

“But what does that have to do with that stuff?” Frank motioned to the mess still splattered on the floor

“Zola’s prodigy, a real peach of a human named Dr. Whitehall, wanted to ensure the maximum possibility my DNA would take and the women participants would be as fertile as possible. I mean, after all this shit they did to me before, they thought maybe my swimmers would be pretty fried and they could create something to remedy that. So that stuff is a concoction he created in the 70s, basically it enhances all sexual urges to their most primal instinct, so those exposed are inclined to reproduce.”

“So it’s horny juice?” Frank asked

“Eloquent as always Castle, but yes. I’d say we have about ten more minutes before it kicks in. Once it does, it’s really painful until it’s out of your system or until you act on what it wants you to.” he turned to you “Okay here’s what’s gonna happen– Doll, you’re gonna go outside and lock Frank and me in this freezer so you’ll be safe from us.”

“Safe from you? What do you mean?”

“This stuff, it kinda alters your self control for a while. Like I said, it makes you run more on instinct, especially when the painful side effects hit. Once it starts kicking in, we’ll do anything to get rid of the pain. Frank and I won’t be able to resist you and you won’t be up for putting up much of a fight either. Get somewhere where our coms will work again and radio to the team, have them get you to Banner’s lab immediately. He might be able to concoct something to ease your symptoms for a few days.”

“A few days?!”

“Well it fades faster if you… ya know. But if you don’t, it could take a while to move through your system.”

“What about the two of you?”

“We’ll just have to… take care of ourselves here.” he said, making lewd gesture with his hand “Won’t be as efficient as the real thing, but it’ll help.” 

“I’m not gonna leave the two of you to just jack off and suffer.”

“Sweetheart, we’ll be fine. Just worry about you.” Frank chimed in, agreeing with Bucky

“If the solution is to… you know fuck it out. I mean shit, it’s nothing I haven’t already done with either of you.”

“Excuse me?” Frank inquired, now the one whipping his head to look between the two of you

“Remember in group a couple months ago when I said I got casually involved with a coworker, but broke it off cause it was getting in the way of our work? Well...” Bucky gestured towards you

“Unbelievable.” Frank grumbled with a shake of his head

You sat on the floor across from Bucky, tac suit suddenly feeling a bit too tight and itchy against your skin.

“This freezer we’re in… it’s still on right?” you asked

“Yeah.”

“Then why do I feel like I’m gonna combust at any minute?”

“It’s the serum. Shit, it’s already taking effect.” Bucky rushed over and crouched down beside you “Doll, you sure you don’t want to get out of here?”

“No. I want to stay. I want to help both of you and I don’t want to go through this alone either.” you said, unzipping your jacket and tossing it across the room without a thought, “Jesus it feels like my blood is on fire.”

You fanned yourself with your hands to no avail. This must have been how your mother felt during your teenage years when she’d lament about hot flashes.

Suddenly, you understood what Bucky meant by pain all over your body. It started small, almost like a needle prick, near your abdomen, but rapidly spread like ink on wet parchment.

Evidence that they were both starting to feel it too was showing; the way Frank’s brows were scrunched and how he was keeled over, hands on his knees with white knuckles gripping at his jeans. Bucky’s supersoldier powers combined with his previous exposures to this substance, he seemed reasonably calm compared to the two of you. His blue eyes were glazed over in a vacant stare as he sat on the ground across from you. Sweat droplets were beginning to form on his unusually pale skin. 

“P–please” you begged to both of them, pain suddenly unbearable as you pushed your pelvis off the floor, trying to find relief with friction against nothing.

You reached out to Bucky, but he shook his head no.

“Take care of Frank first.” he lulled his head to look at you “I’m more resistant to it’s effects. I’ll be fine for a while.”

“How many times do we have to… you know, to get it out of our systems?” you asked, still writhing your body against the air.

“As many times as it takes.” Bucky said

“Frankie” you reached a hand forward, beckoning him towards you.

He stumbled as he crossed the room, still slouched over slightly as he walked.

Frank’s cock was obviously strained against his jeans as he crouched down in front of you, deep brown eyes meeting your gaze.

“Sweetheart, you sure?” he asked once more, resistance to the serum fading quickly as he ran the back of two fingers down your arm, stroking you in reassurance.

As soon as his hand brushed your skin, icy relief washed over you, sending goosebumps along your flesh. You had the irresistible urge to press more of his skin against yours, to be as close to him as possible to quell the heat still bubbling beneath the surface.

All you could do was nod in response as you lunged forward, rubbing your hand along the bulge in his pants. Frank whined, a sound you’d never heard him make in the times you’d fallen into bed together, before crashing his lips against yours.

His kisses were fiery, full of tongue and teeth, like he just couldn’t drink enough of you in. Usually so patient and tender in bed, his large hands were now clawing at you, desperately trying to rid you of your clothes as quickly as he could. 

He tugged off your boots in one motion, allowing you to shimmy your pants down your body. Both of your shirts were quickly discarded as well. Fumbling to unbutton his jeans and push them down, Frank let out a relieved sigh as he finally freed his aching cock. The cool air from the freezer hit your sopping cunt, refreshing as another wave of heat rolled through your body as the serum was now fully in control.

You glanced over to Bucky as Frank laid you down on the hard concrete floor. His eyes were squeezed shut in a mixture of pain and pleasure, flesh hand down his pants stroking himself to quell the growing anguish as he listened to you and Frank. 

“Goddamnit doll, I can smell you.” His breathing was labored as he spoke.

Frank reached down, running a trembling finger through your folds.

“Shit Barnes, of course you can, she’s soaked.”

“P– please Frank” You begged again as Frank touched you where you needed him most, the action unknowingly teasing you into more pain.

“Shhh shh shh sweetheart. I know. It’s hurting me too. I’ll take care of you.” Frank reassured, sliding two fingers into you effortlessly

A strained sob slipped from you as he pumped in and out of you, relieved at the sensation but still in so much agony from not getting what you really needed.

“I think you’re ready.” he commented, barely restraining himself from just taking you roughly

You reached for his shoulders, guiding him fully on top of you. As he lowered himself he slid inside you in one motion, sinking all the way in easily. The serum didn’t allow him any pause, hips immediately snapping in and out with rough thrusts, primal need taking full control. His ample length repeatedly hit that perfect spingey spot inside you, causing you to cry out.

God the sounds in the room were downright sinful. Frank, who had been incredibly verbal during your previous trists, now reduced to only groans and grunts being swallowed by your sloppily placed kisses. Bucky’s lewd moans echoed off the walls and combined with the sound of skin slapping and your mewling. The vulgar symphony only spurred you on. Your peak hit you surprisingly quickly, though you attributed that to the foreign chemical invading your system.

It was like no other orgasm you’d ever had, like those viral videos of a firework finale all accidentally exploding at once. It felt endless, like you’d just be there cumming on the floor for the rest of your life.

“Shit honey, keep squeezing me just like that.” Frank finally found his words, climbing his own summit to relief. His large hand gripped at your jaw, steadying you beneath him as his movements became more erratic, an improvised drum solo of a brutal pace.

His dark eyes met yours, pupils blown out as he watched you come apart beneath him once more. Another overwhelming orgasm washed over you, more intense than the last.

That was enough to drag Frank over the edge with you. He pulsed deep inside you, filling you to the brim so much that you could feel it running down your legs before he even pulled back.

“Goddamnit.” he groaned into your shoulder

Sprawled out on the floor, you were an absolute mess of your own slick and sweat and Frank’s cum, but you didn’t care. You still direly needed more relief and knew Bucky must’ve been in total agony by this point; listening and watching you and Frank go at it.

“How you doing sweetheart?” Frank asked as he rolled off you, now a little more clarity that he’d gotten one orgasm out. You could still see the strained muscles in his neck, his skin still a shade of red as his lust was not yet fully satiated. 

“Better. Still hurts a little but much more bearable. Bucky, you ready to take over?”

He was slumped against the wall, eyes still squeezed shut. His jacket and shirt were gone and his pants were undone. But he’d given up on touching himself, knowing it wouldn’t soothe his suffering in the way he needed. You crawled across the floor toward him.

“Hey Buck? Eyes on me baby.”

His eyes snapped open and looked at you, full of desperation and pity.

“Let me help, yeah?” you spoke sweetly

He nodded, watching limply as you fumbled with his fly and exposed his throbbing length.

A switch seemed to flip inside him as you straddled him and sank down, coming alive with an animalistic fervor as you rocked your hips slowly. He let out a hearty exhale feeling your velvety walls all the way down his cock, finally alleviating the anguish he’d been trying so hard to conceal. 

Every sensation in your body was amplified, every touch of Bucky’s skin against yours was exquisite, every caress of his metal arm up and down your back shot like lightning striking straight to your core. You could feel every ridge of his cock, every thrust, every exhale. Overwhelmed by it all, you collapsed against his shoulder, letting him take the reins as he began to pitch himself up into you. How different he was too in this circumstance than the times previously you’d had him. Long languid strokes to ensure you’d feel it all long forgotten in favor of dragging you down by the hips over and over to meet his pace, every slam punctuated by lust and fury. Muttering ‘oh god’ and ‘yes baby please’ into your ear.

A soft caress brushed along the back of your neck, Frank kneeling behind you placing tender, open-mouthed kisses across your shoulder blades as you and Bucky fucked it out. The urge must’ve been building in him again because his hands were all over you and soon enough you weren’t sure whose grasp was where, only vaguely aware because Bucky’s vibranium touch was cool and calm amongst the heightened temperature of your sweaty skin. 

Your orgasm with Bucky blossomed, rising from deep within your core and spreading like wings in the breeze. You cried into his shoulder as he did not relent in his pace, pulling your pelvises flush as he came inside you with a carnal moan.

But you still weren’t satiated and you could tell neither were they. Fuck, this was gonna be a long night. 

[olderthannetfic]

ONTF, you're older than I am, you're highly media literate, maybe you'll know: what was the appeal of the Joss Whedon style of writing to begin with? Everyone whateverishly wording their phrasey bits in that very Whedon-y way never did anything for me, positive or negative, and the constant need to have comedy during serious moments or interrupt a serious moment with either snark or a remark that nods towards tropes diffuses the tension to the point where I can't get invested. None of his characters ever felt capable of having sincere moments like most characters in other things I watch, and the few moments of that they did have would get undermined by one of the aforementioned flaws.

I do think the "omg worst writer EVER!" crowd is a bit much, because I've seen things so bad that Whedon looks like Shakespeare by comparison. But my half-sister, who is 25 years older than me and thus in her late 40's, swears Joss' style is revolutionary and deep. And frankly I've been wrong about a lot of media I used to hate and I'm open to the idea I'm missing something. It's super likely given my limited media exposure, though I am admittedly trying to work on that and branch out into more genres of media and more formats so I don't become that 'guy who has only seen Boss Baby thinks every movie has Boss Baby vibes' meme.

So. What am I missing? What's the context I'm missing and the key here that will allow me to appreciate the appeal of and enduring fandom for Whedon's work? I am admittedly a fandom baby but I am willing to learn.

--

I mean... I despised him from the get go, other than the Buffy movie, which I still quote that death scene from regularly, so I'm probably not the best person to describe what's appealing about his style.

But one-liners during action are a common taste even if I'm fonder of the sorts of homoerotic 80s trash Ruthless Reviews used to cover.

Ironic distance is also popular and easier to swallow than earnestness for a lot of people.

However, I do think Buffy's original audience was connecting with it emotionally. Look at the part where Buffy's all upset after the most clownishly 1980s take on loss of virginity and heavyhanded metaphors for guys being jerks that just made every writer involved seem excessively middle-aged and out of touch Giles asks if she has any idea what could have happened to Angel. For people who weren't going to high school in 90s California, that bilge was apparently very moving. Certainly, there are parts of Buffy where the quips die down for some actual emotional moments.

People like style. Something that commits to being aggressively stylized will often stand out from the bland clones that surround it. Look at Wes Anderson (another creator I don't particularly like). Whedon's godawful faux-witty dialogue did sound different from other things on TV at the time. He also lets women say some of the one-liners, which is sorely missing from most media.

But mostly, he was formative for a lot of people, and I had to live through many, many years of them earnestly entreating me to give his shitty writing another chance because this time I would somehow connect with this sex-negative parasite and his casting aesthetic that I didn't find hot or interesting.

(I like dumb and campy things. I just like them to star a bunch of body builders from New Zealand, not waifs.)

People always hold up the things they imprinted on as more revolutionary and deep than they seem in retrospect. In Whedon's case, his already obnoxious style suffers from having been copied so much since, but even if he weren't famous or popular, if you were talking to that one person whose adolescence was defined by their love of him, they'd say all this same nonsense your sister does.

[emmatgc]

The What Ifs and Assumptions they said, now its finally high time to answer with a BANG

Num #1 :Grace and Tommy will still break up ultimately, they will fight. He keeps things from her and she didn't saw the other side of Tommy. What if she saw? She couldn't handle it all. She will leave him. That's why Lizzie is better.

Tommy and Grace had 5 years together physically, 2 years apart after the 1st year and 2 years before the wedding. Don't you think they didn't quarreled or fought? They did! The show implied though that despite provocations, Tommy doesn't shouts at Grace and wants to fix the problem or fight asap. Freaking cute right? A cold blooded killer wooing his wife not to fight or be mad at him anymore. Thats Tommy with Grace. Then, what's this non sense of they might still willingly breakup huh? Heck, they were apart for 2 years and both were f*cking crazy with each other and ehem never stopped fookin each other, at least in their heads! Tommy was a mistress by all accounts, he is fine with that, his son a bastard for 2 years, didn't care and he is the King of Birmingham at that point! 🤣 Oh, don't forget Grace was a spy, an undercover agent. I believe she can handle herself quite ok. Thank you!

Newsflash! Grace left already but returned why would she leave again? When Tommy bought her that arrow house in the country side! Tommy filters what he shares, true, and why? Did he ever tell Lizzie everything? For heavens sake, he change the safe codes after they sleep together when she told her he knew haha what was that? He doesn't trust her, at least not completely. She was loyal hmm esp when it suits her purpose, too. With Grace, he doesn't want to share everything to protect them and not put her or them in danger. Legitimate business is the priority. That's a very big difference.

Lizzie was and will always not be better.

Num #2: Tommy would have cheated in the long run even if Grace is alive

Hell No! Like I said, he may have cheated with others and thought of them as Grace so why on earth would he cheat on the actual person he dearly wants, loves and adores for? Not to mention desires and lusts over totally the way a man so in love should. He wants the original, he has it already. Why would he cheat with a copy cat? He would never cheat on her.

Num #3 Grace wouldn't understand Tommy if she would have lived, she wanted him to change. Lizzie accepted everything of Tommy.

Ummmm nope. Tommy wanted to CHANGE the moment he SAW GRACE in that pub. How so? He already cared by asking her as twisted as it was but its Tommy "are you a whore" scene. He cared more for her during the dance and her jerk kimber move , and well verbally implied he is undeserving of her thus he WILL change after 1 night of making love. Just 1 night! Grace and Tommy are the same. They both had said it. What makes you think Grace wouldn't understand? She killed a man for him, what did lizzie do exactly? Distract enemies, yeah. Great. The nerve to ask or assume she wouldn't understand his dark side. Lizzie did not accept Tommy fully in fact she whines constantly and wanting him to change for her, too. For Her! Thinking he would change! Grace made him think for himself. Others just demands of it.

Num #4 Tommy loved Lizzie more or the most.

Before I answer, how can you even say this? Tommy, breathless in Grace's presence and humbled by her wit, beauty and status. Does things only a man in love does- Kiss passionately, make love sincerely, tease each other, back hugs, neck kisses and sought after her, constantly. Does not cheat on her. He needs her. He fookin needs her so bad. He listens to her. Doesn't yell not treat her like dirt. Doesn't own her like a property and doesn't pay for sex. Yes it changed, she got promoted but very limited love or affectionate if you call it. "In this room , I love you?" What does that mean? after this, I don't anymore? Tommy supposed to be a man of no limitations eh? but for Lizzie, he certainly has. Tommy yearns for Grace even after her death. A simple gesture of sitting down beneath the huge portrait he didn't take down can calm him. A strand of her hair symbolizing his undying devotion and you call that less of what we saw in Seasons 4 to 6? Ridiculous! You think of Grace is alive and Grace wanted to leave , he will be ok with it? Of course not. Lizzie left. Not a word from Tommy. They were miserable together most of the time. Accept it. There were flashes of joy, ill give you that but the love, the romance and flame, never the same, never even there.

Num #5 (oh my favorite)

Tommy only married Grace for the baby.

Hmmm i think you are confusing it with the other one. Tommy will marry Grace with or without the baby. He broke up with May even without assurance Grace is staying but with certainty in his mind she was sailing away. Tommy even said to her to lie about the baby and let her husband believe its his , that tells us something right? Yet when Grace told him "I love you not him" Fuvk. The end. He melts and "nearly got fucking everthing" scene was born. He was more interested with Grace as to be his own wife then charlie. No offence charlie. He even waited 2 years to finally get married. Oh by the way, by off chance that baby is not Tommy's but Grace wants him to adapt or be the Dad, i would bet my life, he would gladly accept it no matter what. Just for Grace. No big deal.

Fast forward, when Grace died, Tommy tried to be a good dad but he failed. Without Grace, he cant. He just cant. He continued on living but we all know, in the end its Graces picture or portrait hanging hugely not some family picture of theirs. Its Grace only and always. While Charlie is the extension of Grace, it is not the same. He is not HER.

Num #6: Tommy doesn't know what he wants so he cant love Lizzie wholeheartedly

Bullshit. Tommy knows exactly what he wants. Power. Too ambitious for his own good , too. He knows what he wants in terms of love , too and it ain't Lizzie nor others. He is damaged goods already. Grace's made his heart beat again. It cant and simply wont beat for another love again. That is mainly because HE DOESN'T WANT TO! Haven't you thought about that? Do not excuse Tommy's behavior towards Lizzie. Im team Grace but i pity lizzie. My goodness. What was SK thinking? No self worth left and finally she left, good for her. He is hot and cold towards her not consistent. He lacks loyalty and basic respect towards her. It means only if it suits both their purpose. Carnal, limited and passing. Tommy Shelby either loves you or dont. Plain or simple.

Epilogue

By all accounts, Tommy loved his family and extended family. He chose them over Grace the 1st time, she died because of his family, too. But they were never loyal to Tommy and vice versa nor trusted each other completely. Tommy said it himself "my family hates me". Tommy was only devoted to Grace. He was never alone because she is there by his side, always. They were the same. Just utterly the same. Two halves. Two souls. The devil and angel. Hell and Heaven but both FIRE.

[zilabee]

Jann Haworth was the artist who made the Sgt Pepper cover.

She will always happily say that it was 50/50 between her and her husband at the time, Peter Blake, but imo her name should go first in that collaboration. And instead she is so often not mentioned.

This is not one of those things where it was his work and she just helped a little. It was a joint project. Some people's account of it says that Robert Fraser originally brought the project to both of them from the very start. She was a known and brilliant artist who knew Robert well, and had already exhibited at his gallery, so it seems likely to me. But even if it was originally brought to Peter Blake, she was certainly involved from the design stages, right through to completion.

She freely gives Peter credit for the idea of it, the idea of the crowd of heroes behind the beatles, but she suggested they do it in her style not his - ie as standing silhouettes, rather than paper collage - which meant she had the experience and the skills to actually create the thing. She came up with the floral arrangements so it wouldn't be ruined with graphics. She did the majority of the work.

She's super well adjusted about the whole thing, she tends to set people right about it when they claim she's copying his work, rather than continuing her own in her more recent pieces. You can read interviews with her here, here, or here.

One of my litmus tests for beatles books is whether they mention her at all. They don't mostly, because they'd rather die than actually question anything. But if you think it wasn't known until more recently then know that George Martin in 'Summer of Love' in 1995 credits her fully as a co-creator. It was never a secret.

"Along with the Pepper tableaux cloth figures, Jann Haworth came up with a number of other original ideas for the venture. [...] She said that it would be very nice not to have real lettering on the Sgt Pepper cover but to do something like that kind of civic flower-bed lettering. [...] Jann spent a long time building a background, a scene against which the Beatles would be photographed, hanging the first row of photos on the studio wall, then fixing the other blow-ups on poles and spacing them in tiers at intervals of a foot or so, to give the picture the illusion of depth. Haworth also did all the hand tinting of the original black and white photographs." Summer of Love, George Martin

(Most of the sites where I found pictures of the Sgt Pepper making, DO NOT NAME HER at all, much less credit her in photos, but here she is, creating the album cover with her bare hands, while Peter Blake stands around.)

I know none of this is probably news to anyone much around here. I just needed to rant about it, having seen this quote from peter blake. It's just hilarious to me that he's complaining about the lack of money, after he's benefited from all the fame and credit for it over the years, and meanwhile she's left out of the story entirely... it's just so incredibly male of him. Any time he doesn't immediately set his interviewer straight about how that album cover was made is a disgrace. (Also his whining that he's only remembered for Sgt Pepper is a lot like when John would whine that people played Yesterday to him... if you're going to try and take ALL the credit for something, you can't complain when people tell you their favourite bit was the bit your partner was responsible for.)

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Just to be clear, will the old version of Fae Tales remain available on ao3 or will it be replaced with the newer edited versions?

I'd appreciate knowing so I'll know whether to download the older versions before their replaced.

Thanks x

Hi anon,

I've talked about this a lot over the years. But basically I have actually edited and tweaked all of my stories many times over the years firstly, so that's a thing that does happen and it's worth backing up versions (if you want to keep the typos and some of the continuity errors x.x)

Secondly, I will save the 'references to SAL' version of Game Theory, so that this version is always available. I'm still on the fence about whether I'll make the AO3 version fully original, I always said that I would, but that was before I made the decision to actually try publishing, and now I think I could probably keep both.

However, even if I do that, I get a lot of people saying they find Game Theory confusing - why was Augus defeated? What did he do wrong? What's the difference between Seelie and Unseelie fae? Etc. etc. Questions that got answered in SAL for some, and certainly get addressed in COFT and TIP, never get addressed in GT, and that's kind of an issue for a free serial that is meant to help people get interested in my writing.

Some people overcome that (or have no issue with it), but it really is the biggest barrier to folks picking up the series.

In that sense, I have considered adding extra scenes, and also removing the scenes that have been completely OOC for over 8+ years, like Gwyn masturbating early on in GT, or the spanking scene later on. Neither one fits Gwyn's character, and it's very quickly established after that - and then maintained for almost a decade afterwards - that they really don't fit his character.

Those inconsistencies might be charming for some, but they're actually really frustrating for me! I haven't been able to reread Game Theory for enjoyment for like 4+ years because of it.

So, will I fix those things to make GT have decent continuity of character and add new scenes to GT on AO3? Maybe. Will I keep the references to SAL? Maybe! This one's more likely, especially for the folks - the many of us - who love fanfiction and love AO3 and came to GT (including me) from fanfiction. There's always a transitional story for people who need it.

My biggest stumbling blocks are the character continuity issues.

Also for those who probably don't know, I've made some actually pretty big edits to SAL for character continuity re: Gwyn and Augus. Augus, in particular, has had some major reworking in that story (like 4-5 years ago).

Every single one of my stories gets edited over time, especially if I do rereads. Most don't get new scenes, but like... oof I'd say there's about 2000 extra words on Gwyn and Augus in SAL, and I remember I did an edit about 6 years ago which easily removed about 12,000 words.

No one's ever brought it up, so ideally the edits felt smooth and just made the reading process more enjoyable.

But yeah if you want old versions of anything I write, anon, save/download them.

But if I make big structural changes (removing scenes / removing chapters), I will make a back-up copy myself and host it on Dropbox or something for folks to download going forwards. But hopefully they try the edited version too :)

[onceuponalegendbg-rwby]

Reaction to RWBY Crew Commentary V9

Alright, as is tradition at this point, got my copy of the Blu Ray so let's get started.

Okay, first of all, before I even hop into the commentary, I love that the title screen for the menu is Ruby falling through that mural in the OP. That is... That is so cool man! Whoever thought of that... I love you. You're a genius.

So we start off with Kerry, Eddy, Laurie (hope I spelled that right). And addressing how they had to work mostly from home on this volume and the challenges that caused.

Yeah, quick reunion was the right call. I mean, we did the Team RWBY split for two volumes (4 and 5) and then again in V8. Don't keep the girls apart again.

Little origins! Give me! Someone that starts how Ruby started...

I mean... yeah, I assumed Ruby knew about Penny from Weiss. Like... duh.

Same peeps for episode 2 but also with Paula? Again, I hope I heard that right.

Return of Blake the Book Nerd.

Yang and Blake kind of dig the Ever After, Weiss hates it, and Ruby is lost in her thoughts.

Luci improvised Little's little song.

Oh, Yang might still think this is a dream so nothing here matters... That's an idea. Everyone grieves differently...

Man I love Weiss in this episode.

"We can't have her be the butt of every joke." .... I want to see what they cut.

Episode 3! We've picked up Conner, Dustin, and Kiersi! Lost Laura and Paula.

The animation is so good man.

Putting away depression to help her friends.

Prince Trauma(TM)

Neo Scary.

Episode 4. Kerry, Eddy, Miles and Dustin.

Curious talk.

Self critic!

"She learned her lesson in the end, right?" "Oh, I'd certainly say so."

"If there's something Ruby can blame herself for, do it!"

"Cat wanted to scope out which one of the girls was weakest."

Shout out to the VAs!!

Chapter 5: Kerry, Eddy, Paula, Kiersi!

Cat is dismissive of WBY. Focuses only on Ruby.

The Blacksmith: The Ever After itself is now reaching out to Ruby.

Walking the line between the audience knowing that Ruby needs help and WBY not quite understanding how bad it is.

Making sure the emblem wasn't on Ruby's model after was a pain.

"Oh no, he's hot."

Episode 6: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Laura.

The difference between Jaune having already lived for many years with this guilt in the Ever After and RWBY who are still fresh.

How protective Kerry is of the Bee scene is amazing.

There was an idea that the vision Alyx saw was that she saw that someone in her party was going to keep her from returning home, and it ultimately is herself before the Cat kills her.

Ya'll have already seen other posts about Kerry and crew's thoughts on the Bee scene and what it means for the Yang and Blake so I won't go into all that because, yeah, can't say it better.

"They were actually in front of each other the whole time." Excuse me!

"Now she has to step up again." ....Ow.

Episode 7: Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Dustin? I think that's what I heard.

How the meeting went: "Well he can't have been doing nothing, that would be really disappointing." *Beat of silence* "Oh, that would be really disappointing." Evil geniuses.

Stuck in the pattern of trying to be the hero. Both incredibly busy and doing nothing.

"He's more lost than ever."

Fighting on a hill. I'd never considered the complications of that either.

Miles and Lindsey kill this scene man. It's so good.

Episode 8 (oh boy): Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Paula, Kiersi.

Had to cut an episode due to scheduling and budget. Scary to have to rework that.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The flowers on the Tea Cups are Forget-Me-Nots.

Imposter Syndrome.

Neo landed on the Brother's Acre.

"Neither one of them won that fight." Neo and Ruby.

Episode 9: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Dustin, Kiersi.

Blacksmith is a therapist.

Weiss is the best, true.

What do the characters want?

Episode 10: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Kiersi, Dustin.

Aw, their kids contributed some of the background drawings for Yang and Ruby's room.

Furious Cat.

"She's the self that chose herself." "She emerges herself but different."

"I'm so happy." I love how much they love this show.

"How do we not redeem her but give her this sort of neutral path?"

Oh man, I'm tearing up before Somewhat even shows up.

Somewhat is no longer defined by having one purpose.

Dude, they keep talking about not wanting this to be filler so they had the backstory of the Brothers but I will always stand by that if the characters learn and grow as people then it will never be filler. So from the beginning this was never going to be filler.

"One small kindness, in one small moment, led to such a marvelous transformation." That line always destroys me.

Whelp, that's a wrap on the commentary for V9. Now... we wait.

[thiefbird]

H j t for the ask game :)

H: How would you describe your writing style?

Hm... I'm going to answer both ways this question can be read, I think!

So in terms of how I tackle writing, I'd say I'm both incredibly straight forwards, and incredibly chaotic. For the most part, when I'm writing fanfic or original works(and even to some extent non-creative writing like analytical/argumentative essays or research papers), I come up with the basic idea of What Will Happen, and then I start at the beginning and write each chapter, from beginning to end, without planning it. This is widely considered to be A Bad Idea, for good reasons. I'm currently trying to teach myself to at least plan out the scene by writing it as a weird first draft of a screen play, with general action cues and dialogue but no description, and it is going relatively well, so far, but we shall see if it sticks! [I also write all my fanfic by hand and then either use my reMarkable to convert it into text, or copy it over by hand because I am Not A Reasonable Person]

In terms of how my writing, like, sounds, on the other hand, I am told I have a really good skill at aping other authors' styles, so I think perhaps my writing style is Chameleon? I am a heavily masking sort of person, entirely subconsciously, and said mask adapts very quickly to what I'm around to the point that it only takes about half an hour, these days, of exposure to have an undetectably false British or Irish accent - not always even the accent I'm surrounded by, but a slightly posh central English accent, and a blend of a Dublin and Galways Irish accent, because Oxford&Coventry and Galway&Dublin are the places I've spent the most time - and this happens in my writing! Whatever I'm absorbing the most of at that time will reflect itself in my word choices, and the cadence and rhythm of my sentences.

J: What’s your favorite fanfic trope? Have you written it?

I think my favourite when it's done well is soulmate AUs, because there are so many concepts to play with in them: how does it effect the culture of the world you're writing in? What happens if you fall in love with someone who isn't your soulmate? What if you have multiple soulmates? What if you just straight up don't have a soulmate?

I haven't written soulmate AU yet, but I have an idea for one both for the Aubreyad, and a DA:Awakening into DA2 idea that I may explore at some point - the DA one next time my brain circles back to Thedas in terms of special interest du jour; the Aubreyad idea is sitting on the back burner until I either run out of ideas for So long lives this, or need to take a break from it.

Also, honorable shout-out to HMD/daemon AUs. Love those things so much. I love giving characters A Little Guy and thinking about how they as a person would sublimate part of their soul out of their body, what animal it would be, and how they would interact with it. I have a very slightly started Hannigram HMD AU(a True HDM AU taking place in Lyra's World, even, though in North America not Oxford ofc), and a partially thought out Aubreyad daemon AU(I don't know enough about the history of Lyra's world to write historical fiction within it).

T: Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Hmm... I wouldn't say I can't stand it, but the thing I'm least likely to read is probably modern/coffeeshop/highschool/uni AUs, unless there is a compelling plot point mentioned in the summary, or I am familiar with the author. I don't always enjoy when the main themes of the original are gone unless there is an equally present driving force. They definitely can be done well, and I've certainly read ones that I was doubtful of at first that I really enjoyed, but for the most part that would be what I'm most wary of.

However, I do like AUs like this where they keep the driving force and change the circumstances. Modern Thedas with magic? Amazing, 10/10, I want to know how Isabela would text so bad. Hannigram AU where Will did something not at all FBI related, but he and Hannibal meet anyways and Hannibal is still a cannibal? Divine - they always will meet because they are entangled like atoms; Hannibal will always be Hannibal, and he will always be drawn to Will.

I think this is harder to do when there are less fantastical elements to the story; I have a harder time imagining a coffeeshop AU I would enjoy for the Aubreyad, for example, just because there are no longer tall ships or Napoleon to beat - and there are, in fact, not many modern AUs for the Aubreyad; there are a good deal more for Temeraire, because there are fantastical elements to Temeraire (dragons) that can be transferred over.

Thank you for the questions, @papercranesong and I hope you enjoyed my essay xD

[filmsthatdonotexist]

Most film buffs know that; at a certain point in cinematic history; whenever a film of note came from the US, it was only a matter of time before some variety of insane Italian director would create an unauthorized ripoff of or sequel to it.

Such was the case too with the Scorcese-produced* recently-rediscovered cult-classic Goncharov. Ironically, despite its reputation for controversy in the country, Italy was one of the few places where Goncharov got any decently consistent distribution, due to a sequence of events too stupid to list here.

In fact, most bootleg copies circulating in cinephile circles before recent events were taken from fan-subtitled Italian VHS copies, which is where the rumors of it originally being shot in Italian came from if you wondered about that.

But, that circulation was a cult film even amongst cult films, and if you were in horror circles of a certain generation, bringing up "Goncharov" would have elicited a response of "Oh, you mean that insane zombie mafia movie?"

But no dear readers, that would be Goncharov Part II, the bizarre unauthorized Italian sequel to the first movie....

...Well, semi-unauthorized. The technicalities of international distribution/adaptation rights are stupid like that. And yet it still got better distribution than actual-Goncharov for decades.

The plot is very simple, two women, implied to be trying to leave a Mafia life behind, end up in the middle of a zombie gang war between the entire deceased cast (So, basically, the entire cast) of Goncharov.

The first thing will notice is the fact that this is significantly more action-packed than the often slow; talk-y original. if there is anything you can call this movie, it is not slow, it just gets going and refuses to stop.

Which would probably register as strange to those who know B-movies, because of how many of those tend to be just talking between characters we don't care about in between the moments of batshit insanity as a pragmatic measure to save on budget. They could have easily stayed true to the original by doing just that.

But, if there's anything to be said about this film (And a few others') mysterious director Cero Boyardi (A screen name), he seemed very passionate about this project and wanted to put his whole ass into it. (Literally, if the rumors about him being a very specific extra in the massacre scene are true)

And he was at least... 80% of the way to understanding the original film's themes, with things such as the scene where a clock tower is blown up (Despite one never appearing in the first movie), the food fight at the fruit vendors' and; of course; what is almost certainly the first gay zombie kiss in film history.

And even beyond those shoutouts there are hints of theme in the two female leads ending up heavily implied to be lovers at the end and their ultimately successful quest to break free of the cycle of violence and the self-destructiveness of the zombies.

But these are drowned out by the sheer madness of the events onscreen. But then again, boy oh boy what madness.

Not only do these zombies, as you can guess by the poster, have the intelligence to wield firearms and strategize, but they have a host of bizarre abilities, from the simple act of breathing gouts of toxic gas to seemingly warping streets into pocket gang-war dimensions if there are enough of them.

But, even beyond the zombies there are echoes of Bava/Argento-esque insanity, such as the Magician With The Golden Gun (A none-too-subtle reference to a recent film) who gives our protagonists the weapons they need to beat the zombies or the sewer... thing with a camera as part of its anatomy that seemingly produced the zombie plague to begin with.

This is a love it or hate it film for most fans of the original, who are divided on whether it is a kistchy mess or a kistchy mess that's a lot of fun with its heart in the right place, but for horror fans unacquainted with the classic original (IE, most horror fans until recently,) it is a blast that should bring joy to you in the same way Super Inframan did to Roger Ebert.

As a final note, the American dub of this film is also where the infamous "It's Gonchin' Time" line that came to be associated with the original actually came from.

The origin is quite simple, most dubbers for films of this... type back in this era really; really did not care about the films they were dubbing, and often tended to add jokes or even ad-lib.

And so, some nerd (I cannot remember his name, tho I do recall an interview recently I need to dig up) basically decided to make a pithy Ben Grimm reference in the recording booth. And thusly a stupid; stupid forced meme was born...

*Note that Scorcese's role in the production is highly disputed, so I figured it best to stay out of it, though my mind tends to lean towards the "involved enough to be considered co-director" in reasons I will not elaborate on here, for fear of starting yet another stupid fight.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 3: Lunar Resonance

Narrated by Jiang Xitong.

Narrator: The video is but one segment in the busy festival preparations. I soon forget clean about it.

Narrator: The most important thing is that there are now only three days left until the exhibition. I'm finally done with everything and can sit back and relax.

Narrator: I pinched my brows, exhausted. I put down my files and picked up some music scores.

Choose either "You should rest" or "Music score?"

If "rest," ...

You: Why don't you get some rest?

Narrator: Others might not understand, but this is actually my way of relaxing.

If "music," ...

You: Is it the score of the song you played during the filming?

Narrator: It's a collection of scores, including the song I played, which was called Crescent Moon.

--

Narrator: I copied all of them from snippets of ancient manuscripts, so a few are still incomplete.

Narrator: For example, I don't know what comes after the lyrics "winter moon by the temple, my sadness is ample."

Narrator: And I suspect that some of the notes in the latter half of Crescent Moon need revision.

Narrator: I love restoring scores to their original state. It's like unwrapping a present, starting a new story.

Colleague: Director Jiang!

Jiang Xitong: ...

Narrator: My colleague came darting in all of a sudden.

Narrator: He didn't even remember to knock.

Colleague: Director Jiang, that moon festival promotional video with you in it is out!

Jiang Xitong: Oh? And?

Colleague: Everyone's loving it!

Colleague: Especially your part. That segment has gone viral already.

Narrator: As little as I care about the film, I'm still happy to hear this.

Narrator: I'm glad people are more interested in learning more about the history of Cloudcrest.

Jiang Xitong: See, that's the true charm of traditional Cloud Empire culture.

Jiang Xitong: Can you send me the video?

Colleague: Of course!

Narrator: I soon receive the link from my colleague.

Narrator: The video's only three minutes? Hm, guess it doesn't need to be that long anyway.

Narrator: The video opened with a lady dancing in a gown under the moon while holding a mystic artifact.

Narrator: Her willowy form dissipated into sparks of light and eventually scattered all over the land.

Narrator: The camera panned to a moon festival celebration held in bustling Cloudcrest.

Narrator: The streets are crowded. Happy families gaze into the sky at the full moon, enjoying the atmosphere.

Narrator: In the background, a flute melody plays. The scene changes, and I see myself playing the flute in the study.

Narrator: "Many songs were themed on the Lunar Goddess. Crescent Moon, the one I just played, for example..."

Narrator: The video ends as soon as I finish the sentence.

Narrator: That's all?

Narrator: ...It's ...lacking.

Narrator: No ancient myths are mentioned, nor our profound and charming traditional culture.

Narrator: As for the reason my segment went viral...

Narrator: "Comment: So gorgeous!"

Narrator: "Repost: Pleeeeease release the full version of the flute performance!"

Jiang Xitong: ...

Choose "That's not what you wanted."

You: That's not what you wanted.

Narrator: Eh, whatever.

Narrator: At least they didn't mention the Lunar Goddess falling in love with a rabbit and stuff like that.

Narrator: I closed the page and meditated for a moment. Then, I opened up the folder for moon festival activities.

Narrator: The editing of the promotional video is certainly problematic, but there are some redeeming parts, too.

Narrator: The music, for example. Perhaps we can hold a seminar on ancient music theory. I can work on that.

Narrator: History is very much like a dream. Only a few pages of records and fragmented songs remain.

Narrator: But with these tunes, the people of a thousand years later may still relive history.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[wacky-nameless-inventor-24]

😅🥺😈🎯for the fanfic ask! :D

😅 What’s a story or scene you’ve created that you’re a smidge embarrassed exists?

Literally any story of mine that's over a year and a half old

Grow As We Go. Idk, I don't like it much now, that's all I'm saying.

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

DUNNO IF ITS OBVIOUS BUT SOFT COMFORT SNUGGLE SCENES. AUGH. Which has actually been fun to explore with Blue, because they don't often like being touched. So it's a fun little challenge for me to create comfort scenes that are able to feel as comforting even without much or any physical touch (which, ik comfort and stuff can be shown a bajilion different and sometimes more meaningful ways than physical touch, that's just the way I often show it in fics so it's been interesting to figure out other things ssldkfjdlkj).

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

sldjfslkj the cliffhanger at the end of chapter 8 of Where's My Mind. XD Leaving Mads collapsed on the mansion steps when Beakley finds him. That was right after I took my little hiatus too, so y'all are LUCKY I didn't leave you sitting with that for a month.

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

Yeah actually speaking of Where's My Mind here's a comment of yours on chapter 6....

"In fact... this whole chapter gave me another theory. To add onto my original theory which you know about, I think Gyro is going to try to kill Mads. That will be another of the murder attempts. I'm not sure if he planned to get rid of his 'worthless, dispensable copy' all along (ALTHOUGH that last highly suspicious line of his makes me think he is) or if he'll finally get so fed up with Mads' 'patheticness', but he's going to end up trying to kill him. And Gyro will probably tell him "What? You always *were* disposable. You're just a clone, that's all you ever were. You were made to be dispensable, remember?" And he'll probably tell him that he no longer has any use for Mads, that he just needed his help up to a certain point, and now that the plan has reached a certain point, Gyro will take over from there with *his* true motivations. I always thought that Gyro would cast him out after telling him he no longer needs him, saying all the hurtful words to bring back Mads' insecurity as a clone, but now I'm fairly certainly he's going to try and kill him. O.O"

Here's the ask game if anyone wants to send more!

[weatherman667]

Lara Croft GO

The original Tomb Raider was a phenomenon that swept the Video Game industry and beyond, but, was in truth, a hot mess.

While obviously inspired by Indiana Jones, the point of Tomb Raider was to combine the adventure-platforming of Ocarina of Time with gunplay.

For those who weren't there. PS2 is where we figured out how to do shooters, but didn't really do them well. Before anyone says Bioshock, remember that the shooter aspects were okay. Bioshock is great because of it's fantastic story, and it's fantastic ability to use the medium to tell this story, not because of how good it's shooter gameplay was. The PS3 era is where we really got shooters right.

Tomb Raider is from the PS1 era. And this is why people need to understand I'm not insulting Tomb Raider, as Tomb Raider was completely unprecedented. The PS1 / N64 era was where we were figuring out 3D games. Some things worked well. Some did not.

All of the gameplay elements of Tomb Raider were okay, which was fantastic for it's day, but none of them were especially good, if we use hindsight. One of the problems they had with the puzzle aspect was that their engine finally let them move your cube in a 3 dimensions. The problem is that this makes put-the-cube-in-the-hole extremely taxing, as you have to get the cube oriented perfectly, by slightly nudging it on the corner.

Lara Croft GO takes the puzzle aspects, and simplifies the controls, leaving just the puzzle. Movement is grid-based, and every time you move, the enemies and environmental hazards move with you, (don't ask why the ancient temple has working buzz saws). As for Lara, she moves and acts like Lara SHOULD move. She is confident, bold, dynamic. You will kill any enemy who's square you move into, but if you stand in front of an enemy, it will kill you. Lara will vault over their head, do a shooting slide, and all of the things Lara should do.

The original even gave you a control to do a 180˚ turn, which is done with a quick roll. If you turn 180˚s in Lara Croft Go, she uses the same movement.

The puzzles are fun an intuitive, with the game only telling you things it needs to tell you.

The newer Laura Croft games decide to copy Metal Gear Solid, and add a bunch of scenes where you lose control, and can barely move. The problem is they have no idea how MGS does them well. They also remove all of the positive traits Lara Croft had, in the name of female empowerment. Somehow.

What this means is that we simply did not get to see what Tomb Raider could do with modern hardware and gaming conventions.

Now, Lara Croft GO certainly doesn't do this. But, it is fun, and while limited, it's limited gameplay is incredibly well implemented, making it the first good Tomb Raider game we've had in... 15-20 years?

We had a revival with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, but, unfortunately, they decided to double down on the shooter aspects. While the shooter aspects were well done in Uncharted, they were simply one part of the game. As the Uncharted series continued, it started taking over the whole game. This lead to Serial Escalation, from entirely myopic developers.

I.e. you end up with snipers with highly visible laser sights and big guys in ridiculous armour with gatling guns. Instead of having Nate have to take a machine gun nest, which is not easy, and something that could allow his climbing skills to solve the problem, you have epic John Woo gunfights... against increasingly boring enemies.

[tsuki-sennin]

(For some stupid reason, Tumblr refuses to show my reaction to last week's episode of Donbros on search results. However, it can be freely read here for your entertainment! We now return to your regularly scheduled brain melting.)

The greatest union of all time is about to occur. I have no further preamble, let's just fuckin' get right into it!

Spoilers, I guess...

-We're still far beyond your comprehension, huh Sononi?

-Awwww, Sonoi do a paint :)

-You did it :)

-"When the hell did I do that?"

-Sonoza's so proud of you Haruka :)

-God, I'm gonna miss this OP soon.

-Let's not dwell too much on the future though!

-Miho is not a gamer.

-Tsuyoshi certainly has an

-Interesting sense of what someone'd be interested in.

-"Yo, whaddup?"

-"We need Juto knowledge."

-"What are they, some kinda Super Sentai!?"

-"Haha, you really been spending a lot of time with your wife huh buddy? :)"

-Y'know Tsubasa, when Naoki Shiina freed you, the Juto that copied you didn't instantly die.

-I think that might be how they resolve the Natsumi/Miho/Crane Lady situation.

-Ooooooooh, that's right! Somebody's lying here.

-"You guys are noobs anyway."

-Ah, looks like Jirou's going home yet again.

-"I miss my girlfriend. Wanna meet her, Tarou-san? And my dad?"

-Tarou :D

-"Rumi cute <3"

-RUMI GONE

-OKAY

-THIS JUST GOT REAL CREEPY OUT OF NOWHERE

-"Ohhhhhhh, this guy's crazy." -Tsuyoshi Kijino, the absolute last person on Earth who should be saying this about somebody else's love life.

-Oh, here we go

-This HumaGear-looking dude must be this week's Hitotsu-ki.

-I think I've gotten way better about identifying Sentai references, so let's see if I get this one.

-Okay, I'm 100% sure those robots on the folder are Bioman-colored. Lines up with his boss looking like Doctor Man. Incidentally Bioman was a series Haim Saban previously considered adapting all the way back in 1986, a good few years before the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. It, naturally, didn't get off the ground at all (neither did an idea from Stan Lee to adapt Sun Vulcan), but was the origin of the character Alpha-5.

-And after that, you had the simply titled and completely Saban-univolved "Dynaman", which was basically an Abridged-series style gag dub that aired on the USA Network and Nickelodeon from late '87 to early '88. I've never seen this parody before, but I assume that, since it's late 80s Nickelodeon and they renamed Emperor Aton to "Bernie Tanaka", it would've been riotously funny at the time.

-"Chief! Am I your little pogchamp?"

-"Huh? Oh, yeah sure, whatever man."

-Poor man just wants some praise. Must be a former gifted kid.

-Looks like Miho decided to go on.

-Here comes Sononi!

-Kill her.

-"I don't wanna stab my fiance!"

-"Do it, bitch boy!"

-Ooooooooh, girl bringin' out the shade.

-"In the name of my beloved Natsumi, the black dog will chomp down on the crane!"

-"Awwww, how cute! The doggo thinks he's gonna kill me!"

-Ah, right immortal. Don Clan has an annoying tendency to make their stuff TOO strong.

-I have to wonder just what goes through Momoko Arata's head whenever she's brought in for InuBro scenes.

-Ooooooh, Sononi. Having thoughts?

-Oh shit, Tsubasa's throwing down!

-Murasameeee!

-Thing I learned yesterday. Murasame is, naturally, a reference to Nanso Satomi Hakkenden, which was the name of a sword with the power to control the waters. It'd make sense he'd naturally gravitate towards somebody named Inuzuka.

-Ooooooooh, somebody's dead!

-Oooooooh, nooo!

-Sononiiiiii!

-Hello, Tarou!

-"Humans are delicate little creatures. Same things that make them laugh, make them cry. Something that you'd never get."

-Thank you, Crane Lady, for your... somewhat twisted affection for our kind.

-Ohhhhhh noo, here comes the wife guy.

-"Sononi. What the fuck, man?"

-Well, that's messed up.

-Ah, yep, Sonoi and Sonoza are here.

-"Get out, nerd!"

-YO WHAT THE FUCK GUYS?

-She's your homegirl! Your bestie! Your sister! The one woman who isn't either completely horrified and/or enraptured by your presence!

-"The dog man..."

-Oooooh, Tsuyoshi's about to kill someone.

-Genuinely.

-Ohhhhhh, she's becoming a hell of a lot like the Don Clan, huh?

-Sonoi, honey, I think you're projecting a little.

-Yeah, I knew you can't do it.

-You boys :)

-That's it, let your hearts make the decision.

-Inuzuka Tsubasa did wound somebody's heart.

-"What the fuck do I do...?"

-Oniga Parking Garage.

-It's time for a duel to the death.

-Kijino's having a serious fit.

-I guess their identities haven't registered yet to each other.

-Jesus Christ, this should be completely stupid and asinine, and yet...

-Sononiiiiii!

-And she's down!

-Even Kijino's horrified.

-Ah yep, praise man. Right on cue.

-Companion time!

-Avatar Change!

-Matsuri-da!

-LET'S FUCKING GO!

-Holy shit, Tarou

-He said a nice thing :)

-Sononi :(

-Oooooooh, I recognize this set up.

-It's identical to how Yuka died at the beginning of Faiz.

-C'mon girl, don't slip.

-Noooooooooo :(

-Nooooo

-KAITO YOU GOTTA HELP US MAN

-He's almost completely back at square one.

-Fuck, man...

-Hello, Auntie Yuriko.

-What's up, Haruka? I only mentioned you once the whole episode!

-Bedtime?

-Inuzuka Tsubasa! He was with us all along!

-Wanchan! Pupper!

-We're takin' it outta town!

-The sight of our next grand battle! Quite possibly our grandest contest of strength yet!

-S

-SONOGO AND SONOROKU

-Oh, everybody's together! Right after Tsubasa said he never wanted to see Sononi again.

-Two villages!

-A whole squad of assholes all ready to pound down!

[delusion-of-negation]

That time redbubble removed someone's art work bc "infringing on Didney IP" and "Snow White" when it was literally a pic the artist drew in their own style of Rose Red, from the German fairytale: Rose Red and Snow White. (It's a different story) (No connection to the Didney ver of Snow white btw.) And they didn't bother to appeal because they were afraid of being banned, or worse, despite it literally having no connection to Didney.

that's so fucking dumb. I can see why they were afraid, if it's their source of income or their account matters to them. I just use it for dumb jokes, so I'm not scared, but if it's your job a false dmca like this can fuck you up. I hate copyright law with a passion, I don't think you own an idea, I think the only breaches of it should be a wholesale, 100%, unchanged in any way, direct, word-for-word copying of artwork (which doesn't include if you redraw the mona lisa, reshoot a movie scene for scene, or play a song yourself, that's not a copy that's a remake, reprinting a book word-for-word, without adding pictures or a silly font or any other noticable change, or just reuploading the song and music video, that's when it should count as copyright, because your thing then becomes a replacement for the original and not its own thing) - and even then I think even what I consider valid to legally call copyright infringement, even if you profit like selling a pirated movie, should not be considered criminal or even comparable to actual theft. THAT SAID, everybody under the sun knows you can't copyright a single word (remember react? lmao), you can't copyright something too vague, etc, and that parody is allowed. and you only need to change a few specific details to make a character fair use, hence why fifty shades can exist as it is despite initially being twilight fanfic, and you most certainly can't claim wholly different characters that pre-date your movie just because they share a name. I hate false dmca shit, it doesn't matter in my case, but for small youtubers or indie artists or the like it could be life or death.

[dgcatanisiri]

Man, at this point, N7 Day just manages to DAMPEN my enthusiasm for Mass Effect...

Like in addition to my reblogged rants on the violent exclusion I've felt as a queer man in this fandom (from BioWare AND the "fans"), I've said since the damn ME5 trailer, including more Liara just makes my excitement drop like a stone.

I mean, I honestly didn't mind her voice cameos in Andromeda - they actually made sense there, Liara was a researcher of the protheans and put forward unconventional ideas, which would certainly draw Alec Ryder's attention - the man built an illegal AI, and then linked it into his own brain, he seems the type who'd reach out to the researchers whose ideas are off the accepted beaten path like her claims of the extinction cycle Liara admits them to be. Plus connective tissue to the trilogy. I was fine with that.

But between the trailer and now this audio clip... In giving all this attention to a character from the trilogy - and so I mean this BEYOND my own personal issues with Liara as a character - is just saying that the franchise cannot and will not evolve from the trilogy.

And that's going to choke this franchise more than anything else. We have already seen a lot of people saying that Andromeda was misjudged at release, but unfortunately, BioWare ALWAYS seems to base their next game on the initial criticisms, not the ones that have metastasized and grown beyond "this isn't what I was expecting so I DON'T LIKE IT."

To say nothing of, as mentioned in my aforementioned rants, the way that BioWare and the fans tend to just make me feel unwelcome as a queer man - y'know, there's the absence of M/M romances in ME1 and ME2, the fact that Kaidan's romance with Male Shepard is a beat-for-beat copy of the new Kaidan/Female Shepard romance, which, normally I'd be fine with, BUT, in this scenario, it means that male Shepard literally COULDN'T, because of the game not allowing, romance Kaidan in ME1, rather than it being an intentional choice, and that's something that deserves acknowledgement (to say nothing of the cut during the romance scene that removed any "I love you" until the Extended Cut came along). There's the mishap of Andromeda, where the game released with M/M romance being shorted compared to everyone else, where, until patch 1.08 was released, to ping the romance achievement, M/M players would have to play a sexuality not their own, because there weren't three M/M romances available, while every other variation had three options. And even in getting that patch, that still leaves the extensive issues with the two original romances, where one has a dance scene that has BroRyder and Reyes leaving plenty of room for Jesus, while SisRyder's practically up on him, and the other has a massive mess of a homophobic storyline that reduces the character in question to a turkey baster and thinks that reaching an endpoint of "gay dads" is all that is needed to win brownie points with the gay audience. All this followed up by the cherry on the shit sundae that was Mac Walters, the guy in charge of the franchise, laughing off the very idea of patching the Male Shepard/Kaidan romance into the Legendary Edition and changing the subject over to the model of Liara and how it changed over the series, as if that had ANYTHING to do with the topic. On top of the absolute REFUSAL to acknowledge Male Shepard/Kaidan as a romance in the marketing for the Legendary Edition, which I can only see as a desperate attempt to avoid being called out for the fact that Kaidan's romance with Male Shepard in ME1 does not exist, that the Legendary Edition carried forward the homophobia of 2007 without question. Or the fact that, when it comes to the official accounts celebrating the franchise, it's funny how I can't recall ANY occasions of M/M fan content being promoted. Plenty of M/F and F/F, but not the M/M stuff.

And we'd be here all day if I started talking about the homophobia in the fandom. I don't even mean the overt stuff where people brush off us "uppity queers" who dare ask BioWare to live up to its claims of wanting to be inclusive and supportive by actually making us part of the world they make, I mean the people who told us that we were making too big a deal out of the failure to include the M!Shepard/Kaidan romance, or that we're "unreasonable" for wanting more romance options than we're given, when M/M romances are consistently the ones with the fewest options, or that we're greedy when we acknowledge the disparity, since we're "just" a minority.

Yeah, Mass Effect is a franchise I love. But it's adamantly IN SPITE of the way it treats me as a queer man. And frankly, at this point, it's even odds if I even expect to add ME5 into my collection at all.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

www.tumblr.com/theharpermovieblog

🎃HALLOWEEN LIST 2023🎃

I re-watched Hellraiser: Bloodlines-Reconstruction Workprint (1996)

A fan cobbled version of Hellraiser 4.

The multi-era story of the descendants of the man who invented the puzzle box, which summons the cenobites.

This film was originally directed by Kevin Yagher and then changed to Alan Smithee (A name used by directors who choose to disown a project.) The version I watched is a fan reconstruction, which takes the finished "Smithee" version and uses deleted scenes footage, text, and poorly animated sequences to try and complete the original Yagher version. It's.....interesting. and the fan commitment is admirable.

The poorly generated computer animated scenes can be odd to watch and confusing, but its not as if a dedicated fan of the film has any money to reshoot scenes, so I suppose this was certainly their best option. And it took work to complete, which once again, is admirable.

The re-inserted deleted scenes are grainy and often missing special effects which are replaced by text in some places. Once again, nowhere near perfect, but it's what was left to work with.

Scenes from the previous Hellraiser films are tossed in as well, to attempt to bring cohesion between the first four films.

Unless you're a big Hellraiser fan and a serious completionist you don't really need to watch this. It can be rather trying, considering that this isn't that great a movie to begin with, and no copy of this reconstruction exists outside of YouTube or a few other random places on the internet. You won't find it in high quality.

I'll say this for any version of Hellraiser: Bloodlines, for all it's serious flaws, it feels like a Hellraiser film. There are sooooo many sequels in this franchise and most are unwatchable nonsense with no real connection to the source material. At least this film tries. It's more like Hellraiser 3 than the original 2, but still trying.

There's some gore that's fun, as is usual with Hellraiser, and the story could have been interesting. Sadly this film is full of characters I don't give a fuck about, and it's so cheap that it often feels and looks like an episode of The X-Files rather than a movie. A smaller film, with a smaller story would have been a better use of the budget. Instead we are wasting money on three different time periods, one of which takes place in space, the place where horror franchises go to die.

And, do yourself a favor if you watch a Hellraiser Marathon, stop at this one. It's bad, but the suffering can be so much worse.