#and i was so unsatisfied w it bc in the end the figure i ended up doing was so small

[britneyshakespeare]

drawing just eats up my fucking time man

[pupyuj]

CAN WE GET SOME MORE GAEUL CONTENT‼️⁉️

she’s so babygirl that it hurts

I just wanna grab her tiny waist and ruin her haha jk, unless?

i gotchu anon WE NEED MORE GAEUL CONTENT IN GENERAL unpopular opinion but she’s very baby daddy to me too and in this essay i will—i’m joking… THAT’S A DRABBLE FOR ANOTHER DAY EHEHUEE 🤫🤫

OHOHOHO ive’s gaeul-unnie being this strong figure for the little ones :(( she’s their pillar! but when it comes to you all that just evaporates into the air 🫣 she really doesn’t know what it is! every touch, every smile, everything and anything you say to her just makes her mind go blank and before you know it she’s absolutely putty in your hands 😳 it's so amusing to see for the younger members! ☺️ you coming over their dorm without a warning and surprising gaeul w the prettiest flowers and the yummiest donuts that you let the other members snack on, of course 😭 ugh gaeul being so charmed and enamoured that she kinda just lets you do anything you want to her?? ya'll are watching a movie in her room and she has no problem allowing you to pull her to your lap and touch her underneath the blankets... your cold fingertips being such a nice contrast against her warm skin.. how could she not whimper under your touch??

ofc you'd have to tell her to be quiet or else the girls will find out and tease her to no end!! and gaeul does try her hardest, she really does! but her efforts go to waste when you start playing with her tits underneath her shirt and rub her cunt through her panties :< and it looks like she's trying to stop you with the way she's squeezing her legs together and holding onto your wrist as if to pull it out of her shorts but really, she's torn between letting you fuck her completely or just tease her! "love, can i touch you?" you'd ask knowing damn well what the answer would be 😵‍💫 ugh gaeul was so whipped for you that it was her that decided to lay down on the bed and pull you on top of her...

kissing her neck would be enough to completely melt her down! she absolutely loves the way you kiss her :(( it was so addictive! gaeul suddenly grinding her cunt on your thigh when she's usually so patient and actually prefers when you take your time with her?? oh, she must be so desperate to get off! gaeul doesn't even care that she looks so unlike the 'eldest' of the ive family—when you're around, no titles matter to her. just you, and the way you make her feel.

but yeah no, it's totaly so easy to ruin her! with enough degrading words in her ear and about three fingers inside her tight cunt, gaeul would be gone 😵‍💫 just a moaning, whimpering mess underneath you who can't get a grasp of the situation bcs, well, you were just too good at what you do :(( "can you take it, hon?" you'd ask,, which is of course was useless considering gaeul can barely hear her own thoughts with the way you stretched her out while you spread your fingers inside her and the fact that you knew that she can take anything 🫣 "useless.. i was hoping you'd put up more of a fight..." saying this with a pout, deeply upsetting gaeul bcs oh no you were unsatisfied but also turning her on bcs... well, she's a slut for you, what did you expect.

"(y/n)-ah.. more... i can take it... p-please, more..."

"aw, that's right.. good girl." gosh, gaeul could cum from that alone.. her ending up hugging you as you thrusted your fingers inside her in a rapid pace :(( whining in your ear and just begging for you to completely break her bcs she needed it! especially when she has been so busy taking care of the members... being able to relax and be used like this was a blessing and thank fucking god for you while she's at it 🤭

who else is part of the clingy gaeul after fucking agenda bcs hello that's totally her!! refusing to let you go anywhere and practically trapping you underneath her bcs even your aftercare was to die for!! 🥺 but trust that after gaeul has recovered that she'll start something up again! babygirl just needs so much love rn and she knows you can provide that and more 😋💕

[newyorkkiss]

new work... the culmination of one month but more like two days. long, long, long breakdown bee low.

had the idea for this ever since dan made this tweet calling himself and the band the good boys lol. thought it would translate well to some kind of scrappy collage-y thing which i somehow end up continuing to make, maybe this is just my design path. my vibe per-se. created this file like nearly a month ago now and couldn't really hack out where i wanted it to go and sort of shelved it knowing something would click for it eventually, which it did! i was starting work on something else (that i'm going to scrap in favor of something more accurate to what i wanted, that will appear soon enough) and inadvertently figured out that this is what i had in mind for this intentionally and it had to be done.

started by hand cutting w a x-acto all the lettering for this and scanning it. i knew i could just go do all this digitally and whatever but i enjoy physical elements in my work as it makes it more personal and "real". unfortunately my actual letters scanned looked incredibly dodgy and i couldn't repair them, so the letters are just overlays using the same paper i had already pre-scanned for textures.

the picture cutouts kind of gave me more hell than i intended – all pink at the start, re-cut 2-3 times because they were feathered wrong or dissolved from magic eraser (my own fault!)

here is a early wip from 3 days ago

anyways i really hacked it the fuck out last night for a good 5, maybe 6 hours where i re-cut everything, re-colored from a new set of swatches and started to create a full arrangement of what i had in mind. i ended up settling on this icky yellow background because it did contrast nicely with the pinks/blues/purples in the text and photos. added some names which i just cut from the letters i already had and some lasso as a placeholder.

i tried to fill in the background with this extremely claustrophobic wave-y shit. i could have ended up keeping this had i had the patience to deal with evening out paths – a tedious task that i'm still quite rickety at.

so i scrapped that and went to bed completely unsatisfied.

however, as soon as i added that yellow background i was like holy fuck i'm making a ode to de la soul's 3 feet and rising and earlier i did attempt to make something in that vein in order to fill the dead space. it didn't look good, so i scrapped it and pretty much overhauled it all again...

a literal mess 👆

keeping the outline on the photos bc i think that actually made them pop just that little more, i desperately needed to create something to fill the dead space. so i re-built a background based on the pre-made .psd i used to back the spoon thing from a few months ago because i didn't want to reuse the same backing for a second time – poor practice! found what i needed amongst the sea of resources and made something nice and unique. added and recolored some scribbles and arranged them from there. boosted up the text by making it look a little more cut out than what it originally was. ended up with the final product above!

some details 👇

all credit of the photos goes to poisonous.culture on ig too btw, those pics alone really did help me come up w some direction in the first place! although i really wish the pic used of dan b was better :(

turns out i made error so actual final above jrihgdfjkhgskd error cast in iron here though SORRy uguhjdf sjhf sorry ben i cannot beleive i Renamed u. jhfbkjdfhbgklvjsd I KNEWWW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG W IT BUT COULDNT PUT MY FINGER ON ITT HGSDHFHHJJHGJGSFDGHJSFGHJSGHSFGHSGHJ fail moment

[duuhrayliegh]

watch your six - part five

pairing: eventual bucky x reader (they’re together in the next chapter i stg)

warnings: language (several f bombs bc i feel like bucky would be liberal w them), sam and bucky being little shits, bad nicknames, 

word count: just under 2500

a/n: long awaited but it’s finally here! i’m super proud of this one :) i hope y’all like it also this was the first time i’ve written something like this so constructive criticism please. i hope i did the characters justice 

p.s.: my requests are still open babes! i’m working on the next part of this series and also possibly continuing TFCL ;) my tag lists are still open as well

please like and reblog if you enjoyed the story 

xoxo ray

series m.list

ray’s m.list

***********************************

The tension in the room was palpable. “What do you mean you know her, Buck?” Steve questioned. Bucky’s eyes were flitting around the room, landing on each face of bewilderment. He honestly didn’t know what he meant but that, it kind of just came out. Where the fuck did that come from? Who is this woman?

“Uh, hello? What’s going on in that cyborg brain of yours?” Sam interjected quickly, to which he received a sharp glare from both Bucky and Steve. Sam shrugged his shoulders and a quiet snort was heard from across the room.

“He’s got a point, Terminator.” Tony said as he plopped himself into one of the rollie chairs. “You can’t just say something like that and then not explain it.” Bucky’s brows furrowed and he expelled a grunt as his response to Tony.

“Bucky, you’ve got to give us something to go on here.” Natasha said calmly as she eyed an increasingly agitated Bucky.

Since coming back from Wakanda and being brought into the compound, Steve, Sam and Natasha have learned how to read Bucky. Steve has always been able to read the one hundred and six year old, they have shared life experience. Natasha was is a trained master assassin, trained in the Red Room by the Winter Soldier. One of her most valuable skills is her ability to read the emotions of anyone around her. And Sam, well he still leads a support group down at the VA. Being a war-torn veteran himself, he knows what it’s like to have to deal with the memories.

“Look, I don’t know what I meant by it.” Bucky finally said, throwing his hands above his head in exasperation. “It just came out, ya know? I didn’t process it before I said it and now, it’s out there. And to top it off, I don’t have the fucking memories there to back it up. They’re definitely there, but they aren’t just presenting themselves to me on a silver platter.” The group around him silenced.

Bucky was known for being the quiet, brooding type. His murder stare was comically famous around the compound. Sam constantly picked on Bucky about it, so hearing the man spout more than a few words at a time was a shocking experience for all of them.

“You know, there is a way that we can know what even your own mind doesn’t want you to know.” Tony said, darting his eyes over to Steve, who stood stoically in front of the large monitor.

“Goddamn, Tony! We said this isn’t an episode of FRIENDS!” Sam shouted.

“He won’t like that Tony. You know he won’t.” Natasha cut in quickly.

“But, if it works and it tells us if this woman knows anything, then it’s worth a shot.” Tony shot back.

“Tony. No. He’s already been through that and you want to subject him to it again?” Bucky was listening intently to their conversation, trying to figure out what they were referring to.  Natasha seemed adamant that Bucky would not be a fan of whatever it was. Tony, as usual, couldn’t care less.

“What are we talking about?”

“Wanda.”

“Who’s Wanda again?”

“She’s the witch.”

“We have a witch on our team? That’s not possible, there’s no such thing as witches and wizards.”

“Uh, yeah there is, cyborg.”

“No, there's not bird brain.”

“Yeah. There is, dumbass. She’s the one who does the hand thing and then there’s the crazy red glow around her? She’s got long hair? Dating the android?”

“There’s an android on the team?” Bucky was still getting to know everyone on the team, but he was positive he would know if there was a fucking android on the team.

“Yeah, the guy with the yellow glowy thing embedded in his forehead? Do you pay attention at all, Bucky? He’s dating Wanda, the witch with the red glowy hand thing?” Sam was waving his hands in front of his face and gesturing to his forehead.

“There’s no fucking way. Steve? Is there an android on the team?” Bucky turned to Steve, expecting an answer. All of the sudden, a red mass phased through the wall behind Steve. Vision appeared, looking quizzically around the room.

“Did someone ask for me?” His British accent carried through the room, once again causing the room to silence and turn to Bucky. Bucky’s lips were pursed, disgruntled that Sam was once again right in their little squabbles.

“Alright fine, but there’s not a witch right?”

“If you’re referring to Ms. Maximoff, then no. She simply manipulates molecular polarity allowing her to alter the reality around her.” Vision said it as if Bucky was meant to understand it. When in reality, Bucky was still getting over the fact fangirling that there was an android talking to him.

“However, if calling her a witch makes you more comfortable,” Vision paused and turned towards the doorway on the other end of the room, “I believe you should ask her permission before doing so.” He raised his hand causing Bucky to follow its direction.

“Hey Tony. Friday said you wanted to see me?” Wanda glided into the room, doing a quick survey of its occupants. Her gaze eventually landed on the vibrant being beside Steve. “Vis, you left in the middle of us making dinner. We’ve talked about that.”

“Yes, do forgive me, my love. However, I believe your expertise is required outside of the kitchen.” Wanda’s orbs flicked to Steve’s first and then to Tony’s, waiting for instructions.

“We want you to go inside Barnes’ mind and retrieve memories about someone for us.” Tony stated plainly. Bucky’s eyes widened and his fear grew. She can do that? Who the fuck was going to tell me that? Can she read my mind too? Is she listening now?

“That’s not exactly how it works, Tony.”

“It doesn’t matter because I never agreed to that, Stark.” Bucky said firmly. He was tired of his brain being put in a blender. He was finally getting comfortable in his own body again. He was gaining more and more control over his mind every day. Granted, he wasn’t sleeping because of the nightmares.

No, not nightmares, because of the memories. Why the fuck would he willingly subject himself to that during the daylight? No, his pain, though constant, was only to be shown at night, when he was completely alone and there’s no chance that he could hurt anyone else.

“If this is the only way that we can know for sure, then we need to do it.” Tony pushed, “You know I’m right, Cap. After what happened with the Sokovia Accords, even though they aren’t monitoring us as closely as they could be, they’re still watching. And if we storm in there without any good reason to, then it’s our asses on the line.”

“Hey, I don’t remember giving you authority over my brain. So what the fuck gives you the right to try and get me to do this shit?” Bucky stood as he spoke, “You’re heroes, goddamn it. It’s your fucking job to save people who need you to. So you should fucking do it. With or without a goddamn reason, you prick.” He shoved the chair away from him and stormed out of the room, passed Wanda who watched with a pained expression.

“He’s right, Tony.” Steve said quietly.

“About what, Cap?”

“We shouldn’t have to have a reason to do our jobs.”

“All I’m saying is that if he has information about this woman that could help us, we need to know it.” Tony glanced back to Wanda, “What if he’s enhanced like Wanda and Pietro and we go in there guns blazing. What happens if she perceives us as a threat? What then Cap?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, Tony.” Steve was the Captain, so ultimately it was his decision. This left Tony incredibly unsatisfied, giving him a reason to implement a plan of his own. “We leave tonight. Be ready to leave in three hours.”

The room emptied quickly, everyone having their own rituals to do before departing on a mission. Steve and Sam were the last to remain in the room. “Do you really think this is a good idea?” Sam asked in a hushed whisper.

“It’s the only one I got, Sam.”

“Are you going to let him come on the mission?” Steve made a face as he clenched his jaw. “I mean, Tony has a point. If he knows something, I think we should try to figure out what it is.”

“We can’t ask him to do that, Sam. You know we can’t.”

“I’m not saying that we should, but if you bring him on this mission and he remembers something in the heat of the moment?” Sam turned his body to fully face Steve, “What are we going to do then?” Sam brought up a valid point, but Steve knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Bucky from coming on the mission.

“Like I said, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

********************************

It was somewhat therapeutic for Bucky to be sharpening his knives. He sat quietly on one of the overstuffed couches in the compound’s common area. A wide array of matte black knives was laid out on the coffee table in front of him. He held one in his hand, raking it against a damp stone to create a slick silver edge on the blade. His solitude didn’t last long, not that he expected it to, especially here in the compound.

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve ever formally met. I’m Wanda.” She stuck her hand out for Bucky to shake which he did, with great caution. There is no telling what this woman is capable of. I don’t need to get too comfortable with her.

“Bucky.” He kept his replies short, in the hopes of deterring her from wanting to interact with him. He knows that is exactly what Steve and his therapist in Wakanda told him to stop doing, but that’s irrelevant.

“I know what Tony was suggesting for us to do isn’t ideal, Bucky.” Bucky shuddered unintentionally, his fear rolling off of him in waves. “I just wanted to let you know, I would never do that to you. Not unless you asked me to and even then I don’t know if I would.” Bucky turned his head to face her. She seemed sincere, but then again people are always rotten on the inside.

“I promise, I won’t.”

“I’ve heard one too many promises in my day, Wanda.” He shifted back to his original task, flipping another knife into the palm of his hand and dragging it along the stone. Wanda nods and lifts herself to her feet, about to retreat to the kitchen.

“It’s the nightmares, isn’t it?” Bucky froze mid-drag, eyes boring holes into the table in front of him, not responding to Wanda. “The reason you don’t want me in your head?”

“What do you know of nightmares, witch?” Bucky sneered defensively.

“You would be surprised what I know of nightmares, Bucky.” She approached the back of the couch, curling her hands around the plush fabric. “My brother, Pietro, and I, volunteered for the experiments with HYDRA.” Bucky whipped his head around to face her, immediately registering her on a higher threat level. She lifted her right hand and a glowing red ball danced between her fingers as dynamic vines licked up her palm.

“We thought that they were there to help after everything that we went through in Sokovia.” Her accent thickened with each word, “After Stark’s bomb didn’t go off, we thought it meant we were destined to take him down. So we went to the closest freedom fighter group we could find.”

Bucky watched as she dropped her hand, the red energy dissipating immediately. “We weren’t the only ones, though. There were hundreds of us. Pietro and I just so happened to be the ones that were able to withstand what they put us through.” Their eyes met, gaze holding as she continued speaking. “Then, I watched their future. And in their ideal future, we weren’t there. None of us. No Avengers or enhanced people. No humans whatsoever.” She swallowed thickly, “That’s when we knew they lied. We had suspicions earlier, but we just did what we were told so we could get what we wanted.”

“What exactly did you want?”

“We wanted Stark dead.” She held Bucky’s eyeline. “But now, my brother is dead. And all I want is to see HYDRA's downfall at my hands.” She glanced back down at her hands, “What Tony wanted me to do,” hesitating as she continued, “I know he just wants me to go through your memories and pick out the ones specific to Agent Libra, but that’s not how it works.” Bucky looked at her and then leaned back into the couch cushions, gesturing for her to continue. “The way that I would go about that would be to have you experience the whole thing over again.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean,” Wanda sucked in a deep breath, “It’s like a lucid dream. Your body would be moving and you wouldn’t be in control of it. Any action that you did at that particular moment in history would be reenacted exactly as it occurred.”

“So, if I were to do this, it would be like I was the Soldier again?”

“If that’s what it felt like, then yes.” A shiver ran up Bucky’s spine, he definitely didn’t want that. “I just wanted you to know what you would be getting yourself into if you did decide to allow me access to your memories.” A stiff nod was all she received in return.

He knows she’s just trying to be nice but he can’t help but want to run away and hide in a dark room. Bucky has been through so much because of that freedom fighter organization, he couldn’t fathom people actually volunteering their bodies for their twisted scientific experiments.

“Thanks for letting me know, Ms. Maximoff.” Even though Bucky wanted nothing to do with this woman next to him, his mother still raised him to be respectful of everyone.

“Oh, you can call me Wanda.” She smiled as she began her approach to the kitchen yet again. One thing was still nagging Bucky and he had to know the answer.

“Hey, quick question Wanda.” She stopped and turned to face him, sending a small hum in question towards him. “Are you a witch?”

Her head tilted thoughtfully, “Yes, I am.” She left it at that, leaving Bucky with wide eyes and a mouth that was hanging open. Goddamn it, I fucking hate it when Sam is right.

*****************************

watch your six tag list

@indigo123789 @austynparksandpizza 

[thejgatsbykid]

.

[gimme-a-hand-scaevola]

So I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

So not gonna lie, I have a weakness for female-led superhero movies and I really liked the first one, so I was geared up to like this movie at least as a story. I really thought I’d at least find it fun. Dunno if this is a hot take but it was.... it was so bad. It was narratively so bad. 

I’m not going to talk about the racism bc like it was 1. Super clear, nice job jumping to the weird emir dude using the word Heathen then um saving little brown kids with a missile, we get it. 2. Other people have done it better than me. 

So... as a narrative. What the fuck was going on in this movie? I have a number of points that confused me. They’re not in any order. Spoilers under the cut.

1. If you’re going to use magic as a plot, you need to like explain the magic??? Tell me the rules? Let me see it. What are the parameters. Stop making me try to figure it out during your bad chaotic scenes?

2. There’s magic??? Why can’t Steve just come back? Why is he possessing a random dude? So we aren’t going to touch Wonder Woman sleeping with Steve while he’s possessing a random guy? No? That’s fine? Oh she gets a meet-cute with the random possession victim at the end? Ok. 

3. Why does Wonder Woman lose every fight she’s in? That sucks. 

4. You can’t just..... tell me the villain was abused as a kid at the very end and like expect I’ll care. I also don’t care about him being a good dad? You never showed me anything to make me care about him? He started as an oil tycoon then became a con-man then became crazy IMMEDIATELY. Oh so...we aren’t going to like build up his megalomania? Nah, don’t worry about it, just make him crazy then show me a random kid and then like his dirtbag dad then give him zero consequences for his actions ok. 

5. Oh Barbara. Oh my dear Barbara, you have the coolest look at the beginning and then like clearly go on a date with Gal Godot, the hottest woman alive, then you get saved by her from a like super creep who attacks you. Ok so I liked it through there. Then she wishes for super powers and beats the shit out of her attacker. stg this is the best part of the movie, get him. Kick his fucking ass. Oh then she’s narratively punished for that bc shes... going evil? Then she gets half-goth for some reason and decides to fight Diana ok. So we watched the finale of GoT and decided we could... write Dany worse???? She’s honestly the only good character until she goes batshit for no reason except lady jealousy. 

6. Iol catgirl. That fight scene w/ the cat girl would have been better if they’d stopped fighting and sang a duet of Memories. 

7. Um... the heels thing in the first act... I don’t...get it. Is it #girlpower? Do we need Heels High Enough to Crush Men or whatever in the year 2020? Anyway it went nowhere, they did nothing with it and it was stupid. 

8. In order to make it interesting for a villain to go bonkers crazy we have to see a moment where he is winning and his power are like... actually helping him. He was immediately crazy. It wasn’t good. It was confusing and lazy and nothing. 

9. Sleeping with someone while they’re being possessed by your dead WWI boyfriend is.... rape. So... Wonder Woman is a rapist now but it’s cute??? And... Barbara beating up a dude who attacked her twice was bad??? I guest. That’s a cool message. 

10. Why didn’t Diana also get electrocuted??? If catgirl wished for Diana’s powers and then for extra powers and Diana wasn’t electrocuted why was she? 

11. Girl, you begrudgingly deciding to let your dead boyfriend stop possessing a dude is not the same as Asteria like sacrificing herself so her people can escape to utopia. Your armor moment is narratively unsatisfying. 

12. What the fuck is going on with this Truth thing? We had a whole beginning scene where we SAW that you don’t get rewarded for shortcuts then two (basically identical) amazon women EXPLAINED the lesson to us and then it... never resurfaced until Diana like made her absolutely nonsensical speech at the end. Is it really about truth? Or did you just google Wonder Woman and saw that’s like her thing? Seems like its about not taking shortcuts. You know... like Barbara did... and Max did....but ok... no narrative payoff there. 

13. Stop making Steve better in fights than Wonder Woman?? Let him shrink in the back like a girl love interest would. Why’s he get to carry her out? Why does he have the emotional powerhouse moment where she’s crying in the street? She doesn’t make a decision she cries while her WWI ghost boyfriend makes decisions.

14. The cgi.... woof. Ok. Catgirl was bad but so was the like...lightning flying... the lasso leaping??? Girl looked like an action figure getting hucked through the air. There was no like sense of weight and swinging. 

15. I’m done. It was so bad. It was confusing, badly written, inconsistent, and actively taught bad lessons. Only good part was they made Reagan really ugly and stupid. 

[unfortunatelyilikebnha]

I say the sports festival arc is my favorite but in reality we all know that just means “‘it’s your quirk not his!’/‘it’s your power Todoroki!’ lives in my head rent free” I don’t even necessarily like the other parts that much.

I mean don’t get me wrong the other Midoriya-centric parts? Love those. Him strategizing his way to first place in the first round without ever using his quirk? So fucking cool I’m proud so proud of him. Him in the second round choosing his team, specifically picking some people and having some people come to him and then figuring out the most effective way to use all their skills (and Iida having his moment to shine on Todoroki’s team)?! Incredible thank you. Midoriya inspiring so many characters to do their best to beat him including Iida, Uraraka, and Todoroki?! Amazing 10/10. Him fighting Shinsou and sympathizing with him but being unable to reveal he understood how he felt and the fact that what provoked Midoriya to get brainwashed wasn’t an insult about him but one about his classmate/friend? Super interesting (though how he broke out of Shinsou’s control was weird & kinda unsatisfying & confusing but whatever I wanted him to win sorry Shinsou)!!!

But like,,, if it’s not about Midoriya, chances are I didn’t like that part of the arc (and I swear this isn’t just me being a Midoriya stan, the parts that didn’t involve Midoriya were just generally disappointing to me) like,,, Midnight???? She’s “the R rated heroine”, who decided it was a good idea for her to work at a school for children? She made a comment that a student’s decision “turned her on” like wtf they’re 15 that’s nasty and illegal? Why can’t Horikoshi write female characters right wtf. I don’t have a problem with her being sexual but her being sexual in an environment with kids and especially towards the kids is gross af!! Even if her comments are just part of her hero persona (which is something I’ve seen people argue), that’s not acceptable in an environment where there are children and she needs to be replaced (also not relevant but her costume is ugly af and horikoshi apparently doesn’t know how boobs work).

The fact that class 1B actually had a really good plan and effectively used their teamwork skills was really cool but of course since they decided to go against Bakugou, they had to fail despite their extensive pre planning. Yes I know that Bakugou is really strong and super determined, but Monoma had figured out almost to the exact number how many students would make it to the next round and analyzed 1A’s quirks and specifically chose his team to be the most effective so I think it would be so interesting if they could’ve made it to the next round (and I’m not even saying Bakugou shouldn’t have made it to the next round, there’s four spots available. Could’ve had him run into Shinsou during the cavalry battle which I think would actually be super interesting considering how easily provoked he is, and if he won against Shinsou it would’ve been interesting to see him go against Monoma in the tournament, if he didn’t win against Shinsou he would’ve gotten the learning experience of actually losing and realizing he can’t just assume he’s better than everyone and can automatically beat them).

Also the Bakugou vs. Uraraka fight? She should’ve won. Bakugou had been using his quirk a LOT throughout the sports festival and he SUPPOSEDLY gets backlash on his hands when he uses his quirk too much. Uraraka was smart and had a solid strategy, one that nobody predicted, and she utilized a LOT of rubble, yet Bakugou, after using his quirk numerous times to explode her, was apparently able to summon a giant explosion which he seemingly received no backlash for at the time. It just doesn’t seem right, and I personally think it would’ve been much more interesting for Bakugou “I’m gonna win” Katsuki to suffer an actual loss & start to realize that he can’t just look down on everybody and assume he’s better than them. Also I hate that people use this fight to be like “omg feminist king Bakugou!” as if he didn’t 1) change his entire fighting strategy (mostly staying on the defensive, only exploding when Uraraka got near, letting her rush him vs. his usual charging at other people, explosions blazing) for his fight with Uraraka, something he didn’t do for any of his male opponents, and 2) assume Midoriya gave her her strategy, not that she was smart enough to come up with it herself.

While we’re talking about unsatisfying fights involving girls, the whole last part of the sports festival deserves a mention. Yeah Shiozaki and Ashido easily got through round one, but then they were pretty much immediately picked off after that so what’s the point? Shiozaki beat Kaminari easily, but then was pushed out of the ring by Iida (no hate to Iida, love him & he deserved his third place win, but it just seemed a bit too easy for him to beat an opponent who had almost effortlessly beaten Kaminari the round before). Ashido won against Aoyama, but similar to Shiozaki, Tokoyami beats her easily. Momo, who up to this point had been pretty confident and sure of herself and her abilities, and had been shown to be pretty adept at using her quirk and thinking on the spot, was suddenly overcome with self doubt and was beaten by Tokoyami in the first round in like 8 seconds like wtf. Mei, who it would’ve been interesting to see what she did if she advanced in the tournament, voluntarily stepped down in the first round because she was only interested in showing off her support items. I know the series isn’t focused on the girls but seriously none of them made it past the second round of the tournament (not to mention the fact that way fewer of them qualified for the third round than the boys)?

Since I’m talking about the girls in conjunction with the sports festival, I feel like I’ve got to briefly mention the cheerleading outfit scene, which I obviously hate for multiple reasons (m*neta being gross, kaminari going along with m*neta despite the fact that he’s actually FRIENDS with the girls and in doing so he is betraying their trust - I could write a whole separate post about kaminari and why he interests and frustrates me but in not gonna do that here cause this post is already too fucking long -, some of the girls being uncomfortable in the outfits, especially after realizing they’d been tricked, etc) but I feel like those r obvious problems so I’m not gonna spend time unpacking that cause it’ll just make me angry. Neways.

The Bakugou vs. Tokoyami fight was kinda disappointing in that he had been such a tough opponent for the girls but is easily defeated by Bakugou (and yeah I know it’s cause Bakugou’s quirk was a bad matchup for Tokoyami but how convenient it was that Bakugou’s quirk just HAPPENED to be Tokoyami’s one weakness (and how come Dark Shadow was that strong earlier, it was really bright out and he even fended off Bakugou, explosions and all? But I digress)).

In the Bakugou vs. Todoroki fight I don’t necessarily disagree with Bakugou winning since it made sense for Todoroki to use only half of his power bc you don’t magically get through trauma in a day (although tbh I think if Todoroki was completely on his game and not distracted trying to start processing the fact that his fire is his he could’ve won against Bakugou, fire or no fire, BECAUSE they’ve both been using their quirks all day, BUT while Bakugou’s quirk had a physical drawback that should’ve weakened him, aka the aforementioned joint pain or w/e - and reminder that Bakugou used his quirk a LOT in the first and second tests, as well as a LOT against Uraraka, and a LOT/for a long time against Kirishima and some against Dark Shadow, so even with resting periods in between matches, unless he got healed by recovery girl which I find unlikely both because I think he would’ve seen it as an insult implying he couldn’t win in his current state and because UA and recovery girl both have a concerning attitude towards healing children, his hands should be in a LOT of pain and he should be over his limit - whereas Todoroki, while also having used his quirk a lot, had the advantage that the drawbacks of his quirk cancel each other out, and even if he wasn’t using his fire DURING matches, he obviously used it some in between - for example, to melt sero out - so he doesn’t have lasting drawbacks in the same way that Bakugou does, AND he trained for 10 years with the number 2 hero, which while end//vor is an absolutely awful person he’s obviously good at fighting meanwhile Bakugou’s only “training” that we know of prior to UA was using his quirk to bully people and even if he HAD trained I don’t think his training would match end//vor’s training so yeah that was a really fucking long winded way of saying I think Todoroki would win if he wasn’t distracted) and it made sense for Bakugou to not think of his win as a win because Todoroki wasn’t trying his best (and had brought out his full power against MIDORIYA, who Bakugou hates).

That being said I obviously have problems with how Bakugou treated Todoroki cause like,,, what the fuck he overheard him telling Midoriya about his trauma and then was a complete and absolute dick about it. Granted Midoriya didn’t handle it quite right either, but he was mostly doing it to help Todoroki rather than prove himself by beating him (don’t get me wrong Midoriya absolutely wanted to win, but once he found out Todoroki’s story he deemed helping Todoroki was more important than winning whereas Bakugou’s first priority was obviously still proving himself) so I still don’t really like that fight (and another thing: it’s really hard to watch Bakugou be so aggressive towards Todoroki after he decides not to use his fire like ik he’s mad bc he thinks Todoroki insulted him by not trying his hardest but that’s uhh none of his fucking business he even fucking KNOWS why Todoroki has such hang ups about using his fire and still!! Registers it as an insult!! He’s smart he should be able to see that some of the reason Todoroki used fire against Midoriya is Midoriya fucking SURPRISED HIM. Even if the people in the stands/watching the broadcast couldn’t hear what they were saying - I don’t remember if they could or not - it should’ve been obvious that Midoriya said SOMETHING that impacted Todoroki enough to get him to use his fire. Bakugou’s approach of yelling at him about it obviously wasn’t gonna work like it worked for Midoriya because Todoroki had already been thrown off too much by Midoriya and hadn’t had time to process it, and nothing that Bakugou said to him was a new emotional revelation. Todoroki himself later states the reason he used the fire at all in the Midoriya fight was that he forgot all about end//vor) and anyways I think the final shoudve been Todoroki vs. Uraraka.

Finally, though I’m obviously not a Bakugou stan, the fact that they fucking muzzled and restrained him just so they could force him to accept a medal he didn’t want? That’s fucked up like I know UA does a really bad job of caring for its students but who thought that was a good idea. Who?!?! It’s probably pretty fucking traumatizing to be muzzled like an animal in front of a crowd of LITERALLY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE and have that played off as a joke, not to mention the fact that I seriously doubt being restrained is a good experience for him after the sludge villain. If he doesn’t want the medal he doesn’t want the damn medal, either give the gold to Todoroki and the silver and bronze to Iida and Tokoyami or just don’t hand out the gold medal your ceremony isn’t more important than the well-being of your students!

(Also while I’m talking about the well being of UA students uhh why the fuck did UA think HAVING the sports festival was a good idea in the first place? They hype it up so much that students are willing to seriously injure themselves over a fucking sporting event in the name of “plus ultra”, not to even mention the fact that it SHOWCASES THE QUIRKS AND BY DESIGN DISPLAYS THE WEAKNESSES OF THESE STUDENTS WHO ARE TRAINING TO BE HEROES WHICH IS A HIGHLY DANGEROUS JOB ON LIVE FUCKING TELEVISION SO THAT ANYONE COULD EXPLOIT THEM - something literally every other school takes advantage of at the provisional license exams! Like,, literally Who thought this was a good idea???)

In conclusion, I hate love hate the sports festival arc and the writing really annoys me

[julibf]

WHY THE END OF GAME OF THRONES IS NOT WORKING FOR ME....

I told in some of my past metas, that I wrote after the show was done, why the ending was so unsatisfying and I am going to try to explain why here in some point. Its not because it was sad and heartbreaking, or some of our theories never really turned out to be true.

I am afraid to say, Its George RRM who is letting me down, not Benioff and Weiss. So lets start with the points that are making my head spin.

BRAN THE BROKEN KING

If accept Bran Stark as the final King of this story, I have to pretend I didnt read the past books A CLASH IF KINGS and a FEAST FOR CROWS, where we had very good contenders fighting for the Throne (Rob Stark, Renly Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon, etc) Yes, some of those men were not so good from a moral point of view, but they brought strength, militar support, militar and political alliances, legitimate claims to the Throne...

I could go on and on and on. There is absolutely no reason for why would Yara Greyjoy would bend the knee to Brandon Stark and accept him as her leader and ruler; or the Prince of Dorne, or the Lords from the Westerlands. This choice is absolutely absurd and if you read the books you would know that picking a boy king, with no claim to the Throne or no powerful armies makes any sense at all. Whe we add the fact Bran had hardly any experience ruling or leading people during the 7 years of this story, this pic gets even more and more bizarre.Not to mention, I really dislike the idea that humans are incapable to control their own emotions, and because of that we must pick a God like creature with no emotions.

 I understand George wanted a surprising ending and he wanted to go against the expectations, but this choice is an utopia. I cant get behind this choice. I am sorry.

TYRION HAND OF THE KING

Again, do I have to pretend I didnt read the books and actually know that being a Kingslayer is a very terrible sin to carry on Westeros??? Tyrion is not a beloved figure in this story, even before he killed his own father, Tywin Lannister.

Tyrion decision to kill his father, not only started the downfall of House Lannister, it also made the entire region of the Westerlands political weaker and more vulnerable to future attacks.He must be a very despised figure in the entire realm. Yet, he will be the second person in charge of Westeros??

At this point I am at loss of words. I have no idea what George is planning with this.

JON KILLING DAENERYS AS A LOVER IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.

Awful, terrible, horrible idea. Any way you slice, this was a terrible idea to end such amazing novel. Its corny, outdated and down right dangerous, considering we live in a world where females are at risk of being murdered by their male partners all the time.

This is such underwhelming decision, in a sea of underwhelming decisions that I am starting to think George was simply trying to make us all hate this ending.

We could have the realm raising in Rebelion against the Queen of Ashes; we could have second Dance of Dragons; We could have Arya using her underused superpowers as a Faceless men to kill Daenerys. No, we will have Jon Snow, still making excuses for Daenerys terrible behavior, begging her to start acting better???? telling her she will always be his queen while putting a dagger into her heart!!!

Again, this ending is coming from George himself. I cant really blame the D’s for this mess.

JON SNOW AND DAENERYS TARGARYEN ROMANCE WAS ANOTHER TERRIBLE IDEA.

Awful, terrible, horrible idea. Any way you slice, this was a terrible idea to end such amazing novel. If you dont believe Political Jon theory, then Jon Snow is just a completely fool, who fell in love with a tyrant, closed his eyes to all her terrible behavior and in the end was forced to kill the love of his life to save humanity. He is a idiot. and it breaks my heart that this is how Jon Snow will be remembered by audiences.  Some people keep on telling me. “Oh, by, I dont think this is how George will write him, I think its going to be much better” But I have to say, I dont think it will.

I do believe Jon was playing Dany in the beginning of their romance and was manipulating her in order to use her dragons and armies to save the North, but I also believe that once he finds out she is his family too, he became a little torned between his Targ and Stark family. He is a family man in the end of the day and he must feel some sort of guilty for his actions towards D@ny.

I think that George will keep Political Jon hidden between the lines, just like the show did. He may write much better and be more obvious, but I dont think it will ever be revealed explicit to the audience. And this is what kills his character. If he doesnt reveal to the audience that Jon was playing Daenerys, than it seems Jon Snow never really learned anything from his past 10 years and it sucks!!

No matter how you slice it, if George will keep Jon’s actions hidden and make the audience believe he is madly in love with this entitled monster and will keep on defending her until the very end and this is the character assassination of Jon Snow.

If, he is madly in love with Dany and has to be told several times that he must kill her to save the world from her tyranny, he is an IDIOT who never learned a damn thing in his life. If he DOESNT love Dany, but out of duty still is loyal to her, and has to be told several times to kill her in order to save the world, he is an IDIOT who never fucking learns anything. I dont get what George is doing here. He is destroying the character he spend so much time bulding as a hero, but that's exactly what he wants to do it. Maybe there are NO HEROS. (what a shit message).

I wished Jon and Dany had been just allies and later became enemies. This would be a much better ending for both characters.

CHARACTERS ARCS THAT SEEMS POINTLESS BY THE END OF THE STORY....

Jaime can not put Cersei behind him and comes back to die with her in the end;

Jon Snow can never, ever, ever learn with his mistakes and is still struggling after so much pain and misery in his life, over duty and honour.

Jon Snow years and years learning to be a leader and ruler is absolutely pointless and he is sent back to the Wall, where he started???

Sansa, who dreamed about love and family all 5 novels, ends this story completely alone;

Arya, who desperate wanted to go back home since season 1, leaves once again, this time for good??? leaving her younger brother alone in the South (where Stark men dont do well), her sister alone in Winterfell and Jon all alone at the Wall. WHAT THE FUCK?????

Daenerys can never overcome her family tragedy of Fire and Blood, and becomes the monster her father was;

In fact, it seems that its impossible for humans to evolve and become better people than their parents, a God like creature must rule us all, otherwise we are lost. (I can not repeated enough times, what terrible message this ending is, and its no even true!!!!, we live in a world of no magic, and we were able to produce rules who brought us peace, progress and humanity.)

THE COMPLETE LACK OF JOY, LOVE AND HOPE....

What really got me by surprise in the end, it was how sterile and hopeless this entire story felt. George once said that he writes so much violence, deaths and rapes in his novels because it is part of real medieval life and would be a lie to avoid those themes in his books, but you know whats also real part of medieval life?? Marriages? Marriage alliances, happy normal ones, who produce children, heirs, LIFE, FUTURE!!!

Oh we had weddings on ASOIAF, but most of them ended in slaughter, death, rape, misery. I dont think we had one happy birth inthis entire story? Gilly had a child from her father rapist and Edmure was able to produce a child too, but his bride Roselin was actualy in tears when they had sex (because she was aware of the Red Wedding plans) 

What a miserable tale this was. Our heros never really get to experience real joy. They never get to fullfill their childhood dreams. But they do get to be raped and abused, so, maybe thats ALL IT REALLY happened in the medieal times. Oh wait, its not tue, The War of the Roses ended with the marriage of Henry Tutor and Elizabeth of York. They had a very happy marriage and produced several children. 

In our story, we dont get to have laughter, joy, happiness or hope for a future. We do get several pages of Theon being tortured and dismembered in the books; or Sansa being physically and mentally abused; or Jon being consumed by loneliness and grief. But I guess, thats all it happened in the medieval times, so..........

Funny thing is, you see, before the story started, marriages and children were a common occurence in Westeros. Ned and Cat had several children; Cersei and Robbert had 3; Lysa was able to produce a child too; The Tyrells keep on making babies, even God damn Lyanna Stark, who only spent a few months married to Rheagar, was able to had a child. What miracle, its almost like those events were normal facts in those days.

In our story, no House can produce children, even bastards!!! Jon, Theon and Tyrion had quite lots of sex during this story, yet no children was ever produced. Maybe all men in Westeros became sterile, once ASOIAF started it. 

AS YOU SEE....

By the end of the day, I am disappointed in George, not really the TV show, which is even more sadder. I think he wrote a very beautiful story, but his ending is taking away all my joy for those characters and this novel. I know he wanted avoid the expected and subvert the expectations, but he is shooting his own story in their foot. And its braking my heart.

What terrible way to end such fascinating tale...

“[Bran] will be a good ruler bc he’s inhuman - which is a very depressing message. GoT was always about the struggle between human good & human evil w/in each person. Bran being king suggests that the solution to human evil isn’t human good, it’s being not human.”  

ALT SHIFT X described in great words, how I felt about this ending, and you could sense his disappointment in the final message of this story too. It's was an extremely nihlistic ending. Westeros hasn't changed in facts it's worse politically. 

A SONG OF ICE ANF FIRE VS LORD OF THE RINGS....

Now, lets compare this to LORD OF THE RINGS ending, who also got a bittersweet ending. Remember, George RRM is always comparing those stories and believes he is having a conversation to Tolkien. 

Honest to God, in comparison LOTR looks like a Disney movie. It has a beautiful coronation ceremony, humanity came together to save the world from evil, and THEY TRIUMPHED!!!! There is JOY, LOVE, HOPE. Aragorn is King of the Reunited Kingdom, the people love and admire him (can we say the same about King Bran?) . 

He marries his childhood love, Arwen and produce an heir. This brings hope and a sense of future for the reader. This story is uplifting, its inspiring, its quite frankly, a good story. 

Its impossible not feel good about this story and the ending is one of the reasons this story has touched so many people, from all over the world and has remained a classic. Because, the tale of humanity coming together to defeat the evil is a theme that its always occurring in our life times. This is something that Tolkien experienced personally, having to fight in the WWII.

The nazis were defeated because several countries, put aside their differences and fought for the good of humanity and yes, it is possible. And after WWII we actually managed to achieve a lot of humans rights for several people who were considered less in the early century. 

In GOT there was no joy or celebration, no weddings to form new alliances; to make peace; no births to bring new heirs, to bring a hope for the future. In fact, most wedding in the show were always associated with death and pain. Death and pain, yes, there was a lot of death and pain in ASOAIF. Thats all it has to offer the reader and viewer? Death, pain and misery??

I understand that George wanted to do the different and not give what the reader really wanted. But I have to be honest to you, in my opinion, this was a unfulfilling, uninspiring, unpleasant story. I said a few times, i have no desire to re read those long books. This story brought me no joy. And I understand that, stories are not obliged to bring us joy, but, they are supposed to make sense. And, I just dont think the ending made a lot of sense for those who read the books. Hey, maybe that was our mistake. Hee

What sad story :/

[annavolovodov]

ya girl saw the downton movie and has some Thoughts

if you followed me at all from 2011-2015 then you'll know i am firmly Team Downstairs and did not want this movie to happen, just so you all know what position i'm coming from here.

everything below is gonna be spoilery af. if you haven't seen it yet and want info just hmu. if you have seen it and want to talk about it please message me bc i’m always up for chatting about Downton.

okay but the title sequence with the music building and cresting as we come up over the hills and get our first shot of downton... goosebumps. tbh i don't know shit about film making but i can't fault the technical aspects (costumes, music, cinematography). the impact of the increased budget was felt from the very first second.

for the plot i’m gonna split things by character to make it easier. i’ll probably go to see it again and maybe after that i’ll have some deeper Thoughts but i missed being able to liveblog during the film so enjoy my rambling first reactions.

upstairs peeps

everything with violet was iconic. i'm glad that they didn't neglect her relationship with isobel and ofc maggie and imelda played fantastically off each other. pretty much everyone has already highlighted the scene with violet and mary at the end and it tied things up perfectly between them. violet and mary are so so similar and violet has been pushing for her to inherit since before S1. the movie showed us that mary is basically running the estate even if she doesn't get the the title and i can totally see why violet is confident in the future of downton now. that being said, i don't think violet will actually die. maggie has been talking about leaving since 2012 and fellowes obviously put this in as a get-out clause for her should she want to go, but i reckon they’ll convince her to do more. if carson's palsy can be mysteriously cured, so can violet's conveniently vague illness.

i already knew that robert and cora weren't gonna be in it much, but i wish we could've seen cora finding out what was happening with edith and helping her out. it wouldn't surprise me if there was a deleted scene there cause that whole storyline felt a little disjointed. i completely forgot that cora knew about the pregnancy and was so confused at how the queen foud out about it all. i don't think we got anything in robert and cora's bedroom, or anything with cora/baxter and robert/bates, which would've also been very welcome but i guess they can only fit in so much.

onto mary: this may be an unpopular opinion but god i miss her long hair. yeah i know it wasn't the style of the time but her wig in this one was tragic and they need to fix it. i absolutely love that t*lbot didn't exist for a solid 95% of this movie and mary got her rightful place ruling downton. i wouldn't say i’m the biggest mary fan but her arc felt like one of the more satisfying ones of the movie imo.

as someone who has been firmly #teamedith from day one i am delighted to see my girl happy and successful. literally all her outfits were A+ and not to be gay on main but those scenes of her in her nightclothes getting ready for bed gave me my rights. i’m sad that she seems like she's either given up her magazine or has less of a role in it now based on what they said outside???? she did seem unsatisfied with aspects of her position so hopefully she'll go back to doing some writing and publishing cause that was a good fit for her, and if edith and bertie are “modern” enough to travel without servants surely edith moving away from traditional grand lady duties and back to her magazine that wouldn't be an issue. 

the mention of sybil being gone seven years? yeah. thanks for the pain. tom accidentally saving the monarchy on no less than two occasions is the ultimate "congratulations you played yourself" moment but the fact he thought the army had sent someone to check up on him is the level of republican i'm trying to be on. i'm a bit ehhhh on his relationship with lucy, mainly cause i'd rather the screentime given to the newbies had went to established characters. but like sybil/tom was a wholeass epic romantic slowburn spanning several years through a war and across class divisions n shit and meanwhile lucy/tom have known each other for forty eight hours and had three conversations in a hallway so like obviously that’s just gonna pale in comparison????? like it just is???? i guess i don't hate it but it just was a bit unnecessary and the time coulda been spent on better things.

isobel didn't have all that much to do on her own but i appreciated her scenes with violet and i love that she was the one to figure out that lucy was lady whatever's daughter. penelope wilton's facial expressions during some of the exchanges with violet were great. i see lord merton has also undergone a miraculous recovery from his apparently serious anaemia but he also didn't appear much which was a big win for me!

team downstairs aka the ones i turned up to see

as a downstairs supremacist who has watched the screentime distribution in previous fifty two eps of the show, it’s fair to say i had low expectations going in. i expected a grand total of 10 minutes for the servants combined and i think that's why i was unexpectedly happy with what we got. ideally we would've ditched the subplots involving the personal lives of the royals and all the stuff w imelda staunton and her maid but oh well it could’ve been worse and i'll take any breadcrumbs i can get. anyway i'm eagerly awaiting the team downstairs cut of the film one of yall will hopefully make when the dvd comes out. the only part that was far, FAR too upstairs heavy for me was the last sequence of the film after the royals left and i think we would've benefitted from rounding things off with team downstairs after the ball.

so i guess retirement magically cured the palsy carson had, but i guess after matthew’s miraculous recovery anything can happen at downton when it comes to health. Fellowes is getting a free pass for retconning this one cause i cba with more death/loss. mary going to carson for help and him immediately coming to her aid was very sweet. kinda wish we'd find out what he was up to post-Downton (except for his gardening) tho.

i was expected zero carson/hughes content in this movie and yet !!!! and yet!!!!!! we were somewhat well-fed. like carson (incorrectly) thinking he can control the other servants and mrs hughes' "oh that went well charlie, start as you mean to go on" hdjksjs i love them. and the lil scene in their cottage ugh. also we got more of them using their first names and yeah i guess that makes sense given they've been married for a while now but as i said, i had low expectations.

mrs hughes is still like the best person ever but wbk. her vs. the royal housekeeper = iconic. i kinda felt bad for royal whatsherface in some ways because she clearly didn't know who she was up against THE elsie hughes who has vanquished much scarier foes in her time. the other servants were never gonna win that battle.

the 0.5 seconds of baby bates *chef's kiss* perfection. god i am slightly bitter it was only 0.5 seconds given the fuckin multiseason journey leading up to his birth. tbh we should've ditched everything involving the personal lives of the rando new characters and let baby bates have some of that time but fellowes loves upstairs too much to let that happen. the small interaction was adorable though and i'm glad the mention of his name was subtle enough that we can retcon it cause i truly believe anna and bates would've came up with a more creative choice than that. genuinely i'm so curious about their whole living situation and how they cope with a smol child while working full time but i doubt fellowes even considered that so y’know. what can we do. i enjoyed the breadcrumbs but i wanted more.

i did go into this film with the mindset of "something awful will probably happen to anna or bates," cause that's what usually happens in these things but plot twist!!!! we saw them smile on multiple occassions!!!! what a nice change for us all! i swear every time anna bates smiles an angel gains their wings. her scenes with mary were good and i'm happy their friendship made it into the film. you know what else i was happy to see? the EXTREMELY UNDERRATED brotp between anna and baxter. there was a couple of moments with them standing next to each other or talking to each other and it warmed my heart. like yass two of my fave people are friends. it's a big win for me. 

i'm sure i read something about brendan being involved in another project which meant he couldn't film too much (i'm curious to whether this impacted the lack of baby bates scenes?) and while it's true that bates didn't have a ton of scenes, i didn't feel like he was absent which was good.

thomas had the best storyline imo. i don't blame him for being angry that mary brought in carson and it was actually very iconic of him to go off in the library like that. i found it hilarious that while everyone else was panicking at downton he went off on gay adventures. i really wish we'd gotten this "thomas makes a gay friend then discovers the village's underground gay scene THEN gets a boyfriend" in the show cause that would've been SO MUCH BETTER than some of the other stuff that got stretched out across the last couple series (like the love quadrangle with daisy/ivy/alfred/jimmy). like, imagine thomas’ movie plot as a series-long arc. the impact. i liked the guy that was his maybe-boyfriend and i hope any continuation keeps that relationship going.

mrs p and daisy continue to be the mother-daughter duo of the century. i thought both of them were supposed to be moving to the farm post-S6 but i suppose that would've meant they wouldn't be in the film hence why it didn't come to fruition. i guess they could all move once daisy and andy get married. mrs patmore didn't get a great deal to do but i still feel like i saw her a fair amount. comrade daisy was awesome and is definitely me when i see any monarchy-related stuff. somewhere over the last few seasons she's developed into one of the most interesting characters in downton and we don't talk about that enough. andy trashing the boiler was immature af but at the same time i feel like it completely makes sense for daisy to take that as a compliment. it’s just such a daisy thing to do?????

now, there is one thing i kinda fucked up here. while i went into the film with low expectations for everyone else, i fully expected baxley to be A Thing because how could i not and boy did i come out looking like boo boo the fool. i guess baxter and molesley have continued the tradition of Agonisingly Long Downstairs Slowburns which would be okay if we were still getting one season per year but is quite frankly rude when we're on rationed content like this. the first half of the film i thought it was gonna be revealed that they were together or something but then that scene at the end implied they're dancing around each other and my god is it frustrating. i would give so much to trade tom and lucy's romantic subplot for a baxter/molesley one but once again i know that's an unrealistic dream.

definitely not enough baxter in general but that one shot of her, anna and mrs hughes standing in the same frame was worth the price of my cinema ticket. still love molesley even tho he's a monarchist.

in terms of the overall downstairs stuff, i'm euphoric at seeing all these people interact with each other again. as we all know, found family is the best trope and since the servants are literally the epitome of that every moment focussed on them is like chicken soup for my weary soul. was the revolution against the royal servants realistic? no. was it realistic for the two people who came up with most of the plot to be the ones who went to jail for doing literally nothing wrong and would therefore want to avoid stuff that could get them in trouble with an all-powerful family? also no! however, seeing downstairs all working together for a common goal is content that appeals directly to me and i am thankful.

shoutout to the last scene which is the best way the movie could've ended it for me. use of first names AND walking home together? thank u fellowes.

tldr; team downstairs fan who was strongly anti-movie, went in with low expectations, was pleasantly surprised.  there are a shit ton of things i’d change but i just really loved seeing these characters who all mean so much to me again. obviously the only reason this film happened was for financial reasons rather than a desire to continue the storyline (cause the finale tied things up perfectly imo) but i wish they'd done a two-part miniseries instead to ensure everyone gets some screentime. two ninety minute specials every few years would work much better if everyone wants to keep downton going but i guess that doesn't bring the cash in like a movie does.

[kokkuri3]

Pandora hearts !

Favorite character:

LACIE because I am incredibly predictable and she is literally exactly my type. I would fucking die for her. I have a lot of close seconds tho

Least Favorite character:

Levi. Yeah ofc Lacie stan hates him but like. Literally what did he do other than abuse Lacie and degrade Leo also be vaguely homophobic towards Oswald ig. I mean other than cause problems on purpose and be a weirdo about women in general ig. It’s so fuckin weird to me that he ranked so high on the popularity contest but what Fucking ever

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

I’m gonna be honest I don’t really like... most ? Romantic ships in PH ? Because all of the character relationships are really well written but also fundamentally fucked up so I don’t really ship anything... with that said I’m still fond of Oz/Elliot and/or Elliot/Leo bc they’re considerably more normal than the others and Jack/Oswald still fucks me up sometimes thought I don’t ship them per se.

Character I find most attractive:

Personally none of the PH characters are dateable to me. They’re all men or a woman who’s like. You know her for months on end as a friend and gradually grow close to and experience kind of lesbian longing for her but figure she’s straight bc she never brings it up and has a boyfriend until one day she comes to you sobbing bc turns out her boyfriend is an awful fucking person and you were right when you told her to break up with him and after she comes and cries for a couple hours she mentions that she’s actually bisexual and you end up making out for a while and then she leaves and you’re just kind of sad and unsatisfied and so you call up the next day and she doesn’t answer and then you never see her again. Ada.

Character I would marry:

See above but I think completely sexlessly I would marry Gil. He’d be a good husband genuinely and as a fellow homosexuals I think an understanding could be reached

Character I would be best friends with:

Kinda want to say Gil bc he’s like. A very good mix of well adjusted and utter disaster. This man does things regularly and with purpose but only so he doesn’t have to confront any of his mental health problems and I have a lot of respect for that

A random thought:

None of the PH characters are “dateable” but Jack is so pretty like I can’t even get mad at all of the characters for throwing common sense out the window around him like I get it. I get it. I get i

An unpopular opinion:

There’s actually a ton to joke about wrt Vincent’s character that isn’t That One Thing and everyone should take advantage of that. Also he’s just really well written character in general so I personally see no shame in ‘liking’ him for that but be normal about it like y’all can accept he’s a villain and a really bad person and appreciate his writing simultaneously

My canon OTP:

No

Non-canon OTP:

No

Most badass character:

LACIE fuck all of you

Pairing I am not a fan of:

I mean p much all of the canon ones are intentionally supposed to be Not That Likable since the vast majority of the canon ones are based on the predatory man/abused and/or manipulated girl/woman dynamic and all of the other ones tend to be otherwise fucked up/uncomfortable 

As far as ones that aren’t like explicitly bad in canon I don’t really like Alice/Oz just on the basis that it’s . Like . I once said something along the lines of “It’s like if Christopher Robin grew up and fucked Winnie the Pooh” or something

OH ALSO ADA/VINCENT is like a really ambiguous case in canon but it’s still bad to ship a high schooler and a 23yo even if the high schooler is an adult esp w how Vincent is In General and how... gross he acts towards her at the beginning of their relationship

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

SHARON she got done so dirty!!! Mochizuki really forgot to give her a character arc outside of Break until the last possible moment huh!!! Anyway she deserved better and I wish she had interacted w Gil more since they had next to nothing and Alice bc their dynamic was really cute!!!!! I loved them !!!!!! PH was kinda : / about its female characters in general tho bc How your coping with womanhood go, Mochizuki Sensei? Pretty good it does not seem

Favourite friendship:

I see Golden Trio and I go ham. They’re so important

[dillydedalus]

october reading

 books. i read ‘em.

the bird king, g. willow wilson ugh i’m disappointed with this - i expected it to be more about the fall of granada, rather than just taking that as a jumping-off point for a very slow story of how fatima (concubine to the last andalusian sultan) and her bff hassan (magical mapmaker) escape from lady inquisitor luz to a magical/legendary island. that’s more of an expectation mismatch, but i also found this just a bit boring and confused, didn’t like the characters or the emotional moments. 2.5/5

lanark: a life in four books, alasdair gray y’all... this is a weirdo pomo mess which gray himself describes as ‘a portrait of the artist as a frustrated young glaswegian’ (instant love), it’s about duncan thaw growing up in post-war glasgow (not a good place) and lanark, sans memories, finding himself in the city of unthank (probably The Bad Place), where the sun hardly ever shines and people grow dragonskin, but really it’s about art & cities & politics & scotland & hell. it’s completely nuts & has a chapter where the protagonist meets the author in the process of writing and there’s a chapter-long sidebar detailing all instances of plagiarism in the book (incl. the lack of influence from robert burns, more sinister than all plagiarism). it’s a bit flabby in places & could stand to be a 100-200 pages shorter, but damn. 4/5

the memory police, yoko ogawa (tr. from japanese by stephen snyder) very atmospheric, quietly disturbing magical realist(ish) book about an island on which sometimes certain things (birds, roses, ribbons, fruit) just disappear, with the inhabitants losing their memories and emotional connection to the thing. the disappearances seem to occur randomly and on their own, but the memory police makes sure that no disappeared items remain and that those who can still remember also... disappear. really liked the quiet slow dread building here, the mysterious workings of the disappearances, and the interplay between the main story and the novel the narrator is writing while worrying whether words too will soon disappear. 4/5

trick mirror: reflections on self-delusion, jia tolentino collection of nine essays about roughly, life & self-image & politics in the social media age (and its predecessor, the reality tv age), gender politics and uh scams and self-delusions. many of these essays felt vaguely like things i’d read before online (& i might have) & didn’t offer anything completely new but i liked the examinations of big wedding culture, and her take on the ‘difficult woman’ archetype of millenial feminism. tolentino in general is an engaging, sharp writer, and even when she’s writing about familiar topics, she often puts an interesting spin on things. 3.5/5

here in berlin, cristina garcía and the anglophone-berlin-books saga continues. a cuban-american woman with a mild personal crisis goes to berlin (as people w/ personal crises so often do) and there collects a variety of snapshot stories from berliners (by birth or choice or accident), mostly about world war 2 and the latin american diaspora in berlin. some of the snapshots are p interesting or bizarrely funny but mostly they retread the same ground (history, trauma, collective & personal responsibility, commemoration etc) without really saying anything new (except the connection garcía makes between the nazis and south american dictatorships). there’s also a pretty annoying attempt to create authenticity by peppering in german words and phrases which sometimes aren’t even appropriate or spelled correctly* (get a german proofreader you cowards i’ll do it for free... like wtf is ‘volkenbrot’). 2/5 *i ordered it used and got an ARC, so maybe some of these issues were fixed for the final version but lmao. volkenbrot. 

wilder girls, rory power this is annihilation as YA, set on an island called raxter where a mysterious illness called the tox has taken over, transforming the wilderness, the animals (deers grow canines y’all), and most of all the girls at raxter boarding school. the narrator’s eye has fused shut & something is growing under it, her friend has grown an extra spine, other girls have gills or claws. less fortunate girls (and most of the teachers) just die. there was a lot i liked about this, especially the tox and the ambivalent relationships the girls have to their changed bodies, but the last third just... eh. also, like, i like tumblr monster-girl poetics as much as the next person, but this is really overdoing it. 2.5/5

nach mitternacht (after midnight), irmgard keun KEUN HYPE TRAIN!!! this one’s super interesting because it’s the first novel keun wrote in exile, published 1937 and set at around the same time. the protagonist, sanne, is a naive and politically uneducated 19-year-old who is repeatedly & very dramatically confronted with the political reality she lives in, first when her aunt denounces her to the gestapo and later when her boyfriend franz is arrested. for most of the (very short) novel, sanne is observing and not quite understanding the increasing legal discrimination against jews, culture of paranoia and denouncement, and glorification of fascist ideology, which makes for a very disturbing reading experience, especially with the reader’s retrospective knowledge, but the climax is truly nightmarish & devastating. 4/5

children of god, mary doria russell the sequel to the sparrow, which i read & loved earlier this year. in this one, emilio sandoz, still in recovery from the trauma of his first trip to the planet rakhat, is forced to return there (bc the pope thinks it’s god’s will lol) and finds the planet changed after decades (space travel makes time weird) of revolution and civil war. i liked this but it’s not as good as the sparrow, the characters (except my man emilio) aren’t as interesting & well-developed and the dual timeline structure isn’t as well-executed but hey. there’s some closure for emilio & that made me hella emosh. 3.5/5

the wilful princess & the piebald prince, robin hobb a novella telling the true (?) story of charger farseer, the piebald prince, a historical figure that has great influence on the six duchies of fitz’s time, especially regarding the treatment of the witted (people who can magically bond with aninmals) and how fitz is framed & reviled as the ‘witted bastard’. this was cool & i enjoyed how it twists the story, but it’s not worth reading if you haven’t read the main series. 3/5

the inheritance, robin hobb/megan lindholm collection of short stories by hobb under her two pseudonyms - i mostly skipped the lindholm ones (sorry), but the three hobb ones were really really good. the first is about the first expeditions into the rain wilds (i love the cursed shores so much & wish there was a full trilogy about the first settlers there), the second is about bingtown & wizardwood, the third is about how sometimes you gotta kill your abusive ex & if you’re lucky, your cat will help you do it. it’s great & the cat is called marmelade. 4/5 for the hobb stories only

unholy land, lavie tidhar alternate history + multiple realities + high-concept pulp - lior tirosh, a pulp author (it’s meta) returns to his homeland, the jewish state palestina, established in east africa in the early 20th century, and there becomes involved in... rival plots to destroy/stabilise the borders between the worlds, not only between this alternate one and our real one, which tirosh seems to occasionally slip into, but all the million others, including one where the moon broke. love the concept, but this is so vague & confusing on so many points and the ending so abrupt that i was left kinda frustrated & unsatisfied (also bc we never find out much more about the world where the moon broke). 3.5/5

tigermilch (tiger milk), stefanie de velasco german ya book about two teen girls growing up in a poor neighbourhood in berlin. nini’s father is absent, her mother depressed, while jameelah’s father died in iraq and her mother is worried that they might be deported, and their bosnian friend amir’s sister is dating a serb. it’s some pretty harrowing stuff & it’s good to see Issues (TM) addressed in german ya in a way that doesn’t feel super didactic & preachy, but ultimately i’m really not the target audience here. 3/5

sea monsters, chloe aridjis

weirdo brainy dreamy novella about a girl in 80s mexico running away from mexico city to the beach because she’s looking for ukrainian circus dwarfs (???). i liked a lot about this (atmosphere, poetic & mythical allusions, a lot of the writing, the depictions of mexico city and the weird beach culture are both really cool) but a lot of the time this was so dreamy that i just kinda zoned out. 3/5

i am currently reading emma by jane austen bc i forgot about my monthly austen project until the last few days of the month lol & one of the hugo long list anthologies. the one with the cool fox on it.

[groundramon]

Homph I finished tri and I wrote down my thoughts as I was watching because I had too many funny shitposts and nobody to share them with bc charlie hasn’t watched tri yet

PS i wont be reblogging tri spoilers (besides MINOR stuff like, digivolutions of already confirmed digivolution lines or non-spoilery shitposts, but I’ll try to tag shitposts as #tri spoilers anyways [digivolutions specific to tri ill tag as well but not ones that were already basically confirmed]) for a while so ur safe here!  I’m just gonna like everything/most things because then I can rb em to hisyaryumon lmao (also u should check out hisyaryumon....its me n charlie’s digimon blog)

EP 1:

- ok. alright. ok. good. they’re dealing with kari’s emotions now instead of just. nothing.  ok. alright. cool.  Still dont like how obscure/”artsy” they’re being with it, this is digimon not kagerou project, but ok.

- Also. I stand by tk and kari being one of the few good straight ships in digimon.  just saying.

- kari: this is my fault... me: god damn it shut up you little brat also me: god relatable ALSO me: ill take whatever display of emotions i can get

- I love how nobody believes tai is dead like.  They’re upset and worried but they’re also like “nah. he cant be. that fucking asshole just left us in our time of need” (actually only matt is the last one)

- Gabumon i would die for you also im crying and I think that’s the first time tri managed to make me fucking CRY

EP 2:

- I had thoughts but then the 02 kids happened and I entered another plane of reality.  I don’t feel real right now

- the only one I can remember is evil!gennai being a dumbass and being like “SUFFER AND SQUIRM YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AS YOU FIGHT OVER THE LAST SEAT” 1. humans are KNOWN for their ability to care for others you dumb obvious fuck and 2. is. is the entire tube going? because that tube can fit too people if they squish.  This isn’t a joke I’m serious it can.

- oh yeah also when i saw whomstever the fuck his name is (adult guy who i love but fuck names) and he was all bloodied i was like “its a cold day in hell when i see blood in digimon” (I think there was blood in an earlier ep but shh idc)

EP 3:

- didn’t nishijima start off as a fucking life coach to these kids.  What the fuck he was supposed to help them find a career not emotionally scar them by bloodily dying in front of one of them

- im realizing that the reason hackmon was always in his cloak, in the shadows, standing still is that they cannot animate him in any normal position for the life of him.  I drew him with better anatomy when i was 14 and didn’t have a tablet.  No seriously, look:

I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, you guys are just underestimating how bad the anatomy on this poor creature is.  Why cant ppl draw dracomon or hackmon correctly imma cry

- ordinemon has the best reaction faces

the best part about these two screenshots is that they literally cut one to the other, first the first one to the second one and then it cuts back to the first one.  They were really proud of these stupid ass expressions.

- I started overcoming my dissociation shock from the second episode and my hypercritical mind was analyzing the shit out of everything that happened (it is Not happy) but then evil!gennai called kari and evil goddess and idk if he’s exaggerating to make her feel bad or if she’s literally a fucking god of chaos and destruction and either way im like

she did kinda like.  Watch wizardmon die, watch tai die, watch gatomon get absorbed.  The dark ocean is just a metaphor for depression and honestly if 02 wasn’t all over the fucking place I think Kari would’ve had some pretty decent development in it.  Actually you know what, I’m using that as an angle to approach Tri at now, wish me luck bc i might actually give it more leeway now

EP 4:

- I’m not dissociating but I forgot to say anything again and I already forgot what happened

- Cant believe mei is fucking dead

EP 5:

- I like to imagine that Tai got there like a few minutes ago, but he was like “well damn guess yall figured it out without me.  alright ill just. see if I need to do anything” and then meicoomon was Still Bad so he waited for when she struck just to make the most badass entrance possible.  Fucking extra ass bitch

- I forgot to write anything again but uhhh I wasn’t satisfied so anyways lets just get into the Juicy Details

Originally I was actually planning to be kinder to Tri than I expected.  Was very invested during it.  ‘Round the end of the last ep I realized hmmm no this isn’t working out.  Where are the 02 kids.  You should’ve brought them in to save the day.  That would’ve been SO cool and SO fun.  Fucking cowards.

god I’m kinda tired so I’m going to address a couple things I still had problems with, note that this isn’t everything it’s just everything I felt comfortable yelling about without rewatching past eps.  Like I forgot nishijima was all bloodied and presumably died in the last part until they brought it up and I was like “????” ALSO DID THE LADY WHO WAS HIS PARTNER OR W/E KILL HERSELF WITH THE GUN SHE FOUND, I JUST REALIZED LITERALLY AS I WAS TYPING THIS THAT SHE FOUND A GUN AND THEN I THINK IT CUT TO BLACK AND I’M

DID SHE FUCKING KILL HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK

anyways my problems:

1. They did joe. really dirty.  I’ll write a more proper rant on this sometime later (mostly bc charlie is MUCH better at talking about joe than I am) but basically I can tell you that his character development in the movies squandered his OG character development.  He’s basically an entirely different person.  Like Tri joe isn’t bad, besides being largely neglected (yes he has a whole half a movie to himself, no that doesn’t make up for it all), its just...not OG joe.  He’s a fine character just not the same character, and its NOT fine when you put the two together.

2. THEY DID THE 02 KIDS EVEN DIRTIER IM SO BITTER sorry you nostalgia-blind, money-hungry fucks at bandai, but the 02 cast is PART OF THE ADVENTURES UNIVERSE.  The only people who hate 02 are ones who like the characters but hate the mess of the storyline at the end, or are completely irrational and elitist about their love of the digimon series and would greatly re-evaluate their opinions if they watched the original series and 02 back to back.  They couldn’t even show them in some kind of group montage at the end??? Standing in the background when they call Mei???  Why couldn’t they call mei from a home phone also, but that’s a less important problem idc that much.  It was a cute scene besides the lack of 02 characters.  Whatever.  AND THE PROBLEM IS LIKE kari and tk?  This entire time???  Were like “oh they disappeared. oops” instead of being frantically searching for their lost friends???  Like i get tk and kari probably have fucking ptsd and can’t express any emotions because they watched important people die in front of their eyes at an incredibly young age but also 1. they didn’t address the ramifications of ptsd, so fuck that theory/excuse and 2. THAT??? WOULD ONLY MAKE THEM LOOK HARDER??? and put on a brave face as they look, but inside they’re so scared and so worried.  Not just “oh sweet, they were found/saved, theyre in the hospital but that’s fine” like WHAT theyre fucking assholes if that’s what they’d canonically do lmao.  God I am SO bitter over the ENTIRE thing with the 02 kids, it would’ve been BETTER if they were deleted from the fucking canon entirely.  Would I have still been bitter?  Yes.  But at least I wouldn’t be madder at TK and Kari too.

3. I stand 100% by the notion that Digimon is not and will never be cut out to be an adults’ franchise.  It wasn’t designed for adults, and it can’t be skewered towards adults.  These particular characters were designed for kids to relate to and find entertaining.  They do not work when placed into an adult setting.  Like, can you imagine a character like Ed from FMA going to the Digimon world?  I guess in a way that’s just Marcus but like.  Just imagine the FMA cast in Digimon Adventure.  It doesn’t work.  Digimon Tri is basically that except real.  Also Data Squad was darker than Adventure so my joke doesn’t even work.

I guess my primary point is that Tri isn’t mature enough of a setup for an adult audience.  It puts a focus on being “complex” and “philosophical” instead of working within Digimon’s constraints and making something good and adult out of that.  Like!  Digimon is a fucking TOY COMMERCIAL.  Don’t give me messages about the futility of human life.  I want bad puns and emotional characters.  That’s what Digimon has ALWAYS been, and ideally always will be.  Tri could’ve made itself more mature by dealing with the ramifications of the Digital World’s events, how it affected the kids psychologically and dealing with healing old scars.  It would’ve been a more mature take on a story we loved and would use things we loved about the story already - the fact that it took so much time exploring characters’ emotions and was surprisingly mature for the time - to make itself better.  You need to take the aspects that drew adults to the show and amplify them, not just slap on a complex story and unfunny dialogue and be like “oh this is fine, right?”

It’s not that Digimon can’t exist as an adult property, its just that if it repeats what Tri did, it’s got no merit and in my eyes the franchise is dead.  If it survives I guess I’ll be happy that people can still enjoy it but I find it unsustainable and unsatisfying to fans of the older series.  Tri is just a fuckfest of highly specific nostalgia that tries too hard to appeal to old fans without capturing what made the original series so magical, and in part thats because the original series WASN’T FOR ADULTS.  I don’t know about the Digimon Story games, bc they’re T-rated so perhaps they’re a better take on an adult Digimon story than Tri?  But you either need to make your own characters and lore specifically for an adult-oriented Digimon season, or perish.  Also, please make it a series and not a group of movies.  Getting four eps every 6-9 months was hell.

I stand by saying Appmon is a more faithful Digimon season than Tri to Digimon’s original spirit.  I believe it holds more potential for success than Tri and better embodies the spirit of the older Digimon seasons.  It’s dumb, its corny, it has horrible puns, but I LOVE it because it also has a deep dark story and emotional moments.  If you dislike Tri and you agree with things I said that make it unlikeable, I highly recommend giving Appmon a chance - if you watch a few episodes and think “oh yeah, I guess this is decent” you’re going to like it.  It’s everything Digimon has always been and hopefully always will be, just with a different concept.  And hopefully the end of the series doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth and I have to redact this statement haha since I’m not done with it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it so I’m hoping not so.

Overall, if you watch Tri, don’t get your hopes up.  It resolves everything okay-ish but it’s a pretty forgettable anime on its own and simply doesn’t work as part of the Digimon franchise.

I am, however, pretty interested in what evil!gennai said at the end about Diaboromon and Daemon.  It raises interesting questions about the timeline too.  We know Daemon is in the dark ocean, so perhaps that’s a hint at a future project?  (They did confirm a future project btw, in conjunction with tri being over)  But what about Diaboromon?  I dont believe that Our War Game (I think thats what its called?) took place after Tri, based on the outfits and ages and stuff, but I also don’t remember the movies that well.  Could Diaboromon still be out there too?  It’s interesting.

However, because of the lackluster performance of Tri, I don’t have my hopes up and I really hope that this “next project” goes in a different direction.  Although I guess if they include the 02 kids, I’ll be somewhat less salty...

Side note, did they ever explain why the gennais went evil?  Like ?  That’s a pretty important thing.  The gennais helped SAVE the human world in 02.  And I get that apparently Tri is ignoring 02′s ending but still.  It’s shitty, because Gennai was still a good guy in the original too (and also they cant just keep is younger look and act like 02 never happened)  MAYBE its something I missed but I dont think so.  God there’s just.  So much wrong with Tri.  I’m very displeased and very bitter and I wanna get back to Appmon asap.

It’s got good moments, its got bad moments, I dont know, I don’t care.  There’s nothing wrong with you if you like it, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you flip flop and are split like me.  I just wish Tri fulfilled its potential instead of becoming a boring mess.

[ask-svt-hearteu]

soulmate! Woozi (pt. 2)

Anon requested: Could you just do part twos on the the soulmate stories you already had? And I really really love all of this ESPECIALLY WOOZI AND VERNON’s PLEASE WRITE MORE 🙆🏼🙏🏻🙏🏻

Genre: fluff

Word Count: 1456

Recap: in which you have a scar symbolizing what your soulmate is most passionate about and it disappears when you touch

part 1

you don't call him 

lol no you text him first actually 

because you were nervous as hell even if he's your soulmate 

but like the nice kind of nervous you guess 

'hey this is y/n~' 

you text him that night 

'i thought I said call me' 

no you didn't squeal and roll around it your bed, definitely not 

without answering his text, you call him 

he takes a while to answer 

"sorry i had to walk out the practice room bc the guys kept screaming" 

"i figured something like that" you laugh 

after a short conversation he has to hang up and get back to practice 

but it was still perfect 

the two of you are really busy after so there's not much of seeing each other right away 

but whenever they're getting their hair touched up or dyed, woozi is first to go so he can come up stairs with you 

in that stuffy little office room afterwards

where you two get to know more about each other, having many conversations filled with happiness 

it happens on one of those days, the two of you find time 

and decide on something 

you would come to pledis tomorrow and work in his studio with him  

alone 

and now you were trying not to stress out about what to where and your music 

if the universe put the two of you together, you were going to trust it 

the lady at the front desk lets you in after looking at your face 

"the studios are down that hall, to the left" she says smiling 

nodding, you thank her and excitedly wander down the hall 

you come face to face with mingyu as he's walking out of a room 

"ooh noona, are you looking for woozi!?" he says bounding up to you 

"yup," you answer, adjusting the straps on your backpack 

"he's in there" he directs you the studio and leaves waving goodbye 

opening the door, you slowly step in 

you stare at him, who hasn't noticed you yet 

he's bobbing his head to the beat with headphones covering his ears 

quietly, you settle yourself in the chair beside him and smile 

turning his head a bit, not surprised, he slides the headphones off his ears 

"how have you been?" he says giving you an eye smile 

"it hasn't even been 24/7 hours yet" you tease 

he laughs, the sound filling your heart 

"i've been great though, how could i not" you say 

he turns his head away from your gaze slightly 

but a second later, when he meets your eyes again, you can see the tips of his ears redder than before 

looking at your shoulder, he sees your backpack 

"did you bring your music?" 

you nod and pull your laptop and notebook out 

as you start the laptop up, you can hear the sound of his breathing, and him scooting closer to you 

"may i?" he gestures to the notebook which you hand him 

it's your turn to lean over him, your shoulder less than a centimeter away, but not touching 

you don't know if it's just you or not, who feels this,,,tension in the air 

"i really love this piece" he says almost breathlessly, pulling you out of your thoughts 

hoping your face isn't as red as it feels, you flip to a certain page, "these are the lyrics to it" 

watching him as he skims the lyrics, a smile rises to his face 

"is it about soulmates?" 

making eye contact you nod shyly 

something is his eyes change 

excitement? mischief? 

"how about you record in here?" 

you stutter out your words in shock, 

"w-what? no, it's fine i can do it on campus tomorrow" 

shaking his head, he smiles, letting you know he was gonna be very stubborn 

this is how you end up in the recording booth nervously messing with your lyrics paper 

like WHAT IF YOUR VOICE CRACKS 

you already listened to svt's music and heard woozi's amazing voice

and tbh you don't think your voice is all that special, but not like it needs to be because producing/composing 

but you sure as hell weren't on lee seokmin level 

"ready when you are" he says giving you an encouraging smile 

taking a deep breathe, you sing, and just focus on your voice coming through the headphones 

you stop at a certain part, unsatisfied

looking up and your eyes meeting as you both say at the same time 

"maybe raise your voice at the end there?" 

"i should sing that last part higher right?" 

you both just kinda stare at each other surprised 

until you giggle, shaking your head then giving him the signal you're ready to start again 

recording doesn't take long, so soon enough you're back next to him, pleased 

"you know this is a really good song, it'd be just perfect for a solo artist" 

you look down and lean forward, trying to hide the smile growing on your face 

"maybe-" 

you stop yourself short because you leaned a little too close to him 

or maybe he was leaning a little too close to you but 

if someone took a ruler and measured the distance, you think it would barely hit 5 centimeters 

suddenly your brain thinks of those awkward moments in the dramas where shit like this happens

the love interest and the main just centimeters apart

silence and anticipation hanging over the two of them

until someone leans back and everyone's heart sinks 

including the characters 

and you're like no that can't happen, not today 

so something came over you, and you leaned forward and 

actually. pressed. your. lips. to. his. 

do you hear screaming because pretty sure you're screaming on the inside

and after a moment 

you're really not sure how because your brain has stopped working 

his lips begin to move 

then less than 5 seconds into this blissful moment  

"hey- OKAY NO BYE" the sound of the studio door opening and slamming shut immediately after

you hear the voice say, making you and jihoon pull apart 

looking at each other like deers in headlights 

you two don't say anything, just stare, with beet red faces 

"who was that?" you say, not able to look away from his eyes 

"definitely soonyoung" 

the both of you focus your ears on the screaming and sounds of feet thundering down the hall

"they're coming for us, right?" you ask already knowing the answer 

"yep" 

you smile, and quickly bring your hand up to cover your giggle 

this action makes him smile 

and any awkwardness that could have been there is now gone 

until the noise comes closer and all twelve of them fit themselves in the room with the two of you, 

staring down at the two of you sitting 

"tsk, other people have to sit in those chairs" minghao says simply after looking at the two of you, then leaving 

"HYUNG'S A MAN NOW" seungkwan blurts out 

and takes one look at jihoons face then bolts 

"well you kids go back to doing whatever, have fun~" jeonghan says way too happily

and forces seungcheol to help pull the rest of them out 

you both catch a glimpse of vernon more clearly, biting into a drumstick

"we were gonna tell you guys there's chicken and pizza but" 

"okay out out" 

joshua's the last one to leave and gives one last look 

the look 

then leaves, closing the door behind him 

"i dont know if I'm mortified or-" 

"ready to kill them?" you finish for him, tilting your head 

"yeah" 

you guys are full of giggles today because you bend over laughing while he leans back into his chair chuckling 

"I'm hungry, you wanna eat?" he asks, standing up 

doing these tiny adorable stretches 

you get up also and nod, "starving" 

"i don't want them to bother you so you want to just go buy and eat something at the park?" he suggests, and you can tell he's nervous about your answer 

"it's a date," you reply, grinning 

you leave your things because you'll be back, and just take your wallet and phone 

he opens the door for you, letting you step through and proceeds to hold his hand out to you bashfully 

you place your hand in his and you two walk down the hall hand-in-hand

"HYUNG LOOK THEY'RE GOING SOMEWHERE" 

you glance at jihoon 

"run run!"

so all the front desk lady saw were two people dashing out, with mixtures of their laughter 

and then proceeds to see seventeen sprinting to the door, some pressing their faces to the glass and some shaking their heads with smiles 

'why do i think this will be a common occurrence?' she thinks 

oh please, cause it will

A/N: the cringe is real i know

The Seventeen Soulmate AU Series:

|| Seungcheol / Pt. 2 || Jeonghan / Pt. 2 || Joshua / Pt.2 || Jun / Pt.2 || Hoshi / Pt.2 || Wonwoo || Woozi / Pt.2 || Seokmin / Pt.2 || Mingyu / Pt.2 || Minghao || Seungkwan || Vernon / Pt.2 || Dino ||

MASTERLIST

[opendoorlorien]

What are your thoughts on Camilla?

Camilla is, without much doubt, the most controversial and infamous character in all of Fates, mostly because of her design lol. It’s clear that the creator’s intention for her was to make her the ultimate FE waifu fetish character. I mean she’s got it all, doesn’t she? Big boobs, long hair, curvaceous figure, goth aesthetic, extreme devotion to the MC (you), a cool battle class with axes and magic,  softcore familial implications for…… those kinds of people. As far as appealing to the consumer’s fetishes is concerned, she is the perfect storm. And because of this she garners quite lot of love and hate from both sides. And maybe it’s because of my natural impulse to want to stick up for something that gets hate on a lot, but…….. I love Camilla LOL.

This isn’t ALWAYS the case but generally when I see a character getting hate on a lot, it makes me want to defend them or like them (that impulse kicks in for Faye as well, who has a few of the characteristics that Camilla does). But of course this isn’t the only reason why I like Camilla. I just… do. And I have since she was first revealed.

And I actually like Camilla a lot more than her spiritual predecessor Tharja for a few reasons. One being Camilla is actually a good mom, and her devotion for MU makes sense considering she sees you as family, while Tharja just came off as a creepy child abusing stalker. lolbye.

Character wise, well, much like the other royal sisters on both sides, Camilla gets hardcore side lined and disregarded generally in favor of development for the male characters. And this is honestly a shame because I see Camilla as a character with a lot of interesting potential that is never really attempted to be reached. Especially in Birthright (since all the royal fam members got their most shocking or interesting development in their opposite route. Like Xander gets his good end in Conquest but his most memorable character stuff is in Birthright. The same is true with Leo, and Ryoma and Takumi in Conquest (while they didnt do much of anything in BR)).

And the same can also be said for Camilla in Birthright, where the worst possible thing that could happen to her, happens to her. She loses Corrin (and the rest of her family (sans Leo)).

I actually would have liked to know more about Camilla’s past, even in just supports you know. (When in reality it’s only very vaguely touched on in a few unsatisfying ways. We just know the incredibly vague and unhelpful “it wasn’t gud lol” yeah but like HOW) I kind of want to know more about why she’s so obsessive and what her life was like before the game started (sure the implications are there but I kind of want it to be actually talked about so when you say stuff about her past it’s more than just REACHING). 

Because we know so little about where she’s coming from, when any sort of character development or arc is attempted with her in BR it falls kinda flat. Now of course this isn’t the only reason why her “character arc” doesn’t work out. The other one being, of course, bad writing. Now I think all of us know by now that the reason why Fates ultimately fell apart in the end was because the creators bit off WAYYYY more than they could chew. I think they thought a three route game sounded much better on paper than it did when they were actually making the thing (at least we got good gameplay). When you play Fates, the corner cutting littered throughout all three routes in varying measures is APPARENT. And character development for our female characters is one of those instances.

Now, this is japan. When the question is posed “hey we dont have enough time to give all eight of these characters decent arcs and development” and you can only give it to either the brothers or the sisters, the sisters unfortunately are going to get the short end of the stick here. Camilla and Elise are only a few steps above Hinoka and Sakura in terms of story involvement or their own personal character arcs. They don’t have a lot, but there’s something at least. (Or at least where you compared it to Hinoka and Sakura who got, like, NOTHING).

Camilla’s arc in Birthright is hardly anything to talk about. It had interesting potential if you think about it a bit, but the second it tries to take a step it just falls flat on its face. Camilla’s initial reaction to Corrin defecting to Hoshido makes sense. Because if you think about it a little bit, the Nohr family’s situation in Birthright is kind of really tragic. The Nohr family have become used to Corrin being a part of their family after all of these years. The Hoshifam lost Corrin YEARS ago, and while the wound of that loss is still there of course, when you see them in game in Conquest you can tell that they’re still holding it together. They’ve spent years feeling that loss, coping with it, and moving on from it. Sure they still want Corrin to be part of their family, but if Corrin is gone again its not going to destroy them (Takumi is kind of an exception, and it was more than just the loss of Corrin which sent him off the deep end). The Nohr family is a bit of a different case here because Corrin has become a kind of linchpin for them. Keeping in mind Nohr is a shitplace with a shitking who abuses his children and such, we know full well Xander and the others have not had much of a good time growing up. I think their one small light in that darkness WAS Corrin for them. And in Birthright when that light disappears it makes their family fall apart. Elise even says so, and we get to see the full effects of it when running in to each Nohr family member in turn.

NOW ABOUT CAMILLA, of course, since she’s so obsessed with Corrin, she’s going to be feeling this loss hard too. So her acting a little crazy, looney and malicious in Birthright is uh… to be expected. Chapter 13 in BR is kind of a good chapter for her actually. I don’t mind her craziness, and having her attempt to slaughter you all makes for an interesting battle set up if anything. The main problem with this chapter I have is how it ends. Because it ends kind of well. After you beat Camilla, Corrin tries to talk to her and explain Garon tried to kill you in Hoshido and has set all this shit up. And uh Camilla seems for a moment like she’s willing to listen to you. And we get the impression she WOULD have maybe listened to you and maybe even become your ally in some way if Leo and Ryoma hadn’t shown up.

Which is why Camilla’s utter refusal to listen to you or Elise in her return in chapter 23 is just eye rolling to me. I know she’s regressed further into her crazy, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to do that when she seemed totally willing to listen and compromise with me at the end of chapter 13. Just reeks of bad writing for a character they didnt have the time or effort to devote any work into. Because of this (and her throwing meteors in my face) chapter 23 just ends up being really eye rolling and annoying to me, and I don’t feel much of anything when Camilla just passes out at the end of the fight to remain subsequently sidelined and uninvolved in what’s going on for the rest of the route. 

Also in the BR ending she seems a bit too okay with everything that happened. She’s like “ohoho congrats on the coronation lolol corrin u are so happi with ur hoshido fambil lol” and everything BUT YO. YOU KNOW SHE IS NOT OK. SHE JUST LOST LIKE HER ENTIRE GD FAMILY. YOU KNOW SHE’S GOING TO GO HOME AND KERMIT. SHE’S NOT OKAY

I’ve also seen a few people bring up the hypothetical of Camilla becoming Queen of Nohr at the end of BR instead of Leo. This is a nice idea in theory, but considering Camilla’s character, it just doesnt hold any water to me. Don’t get me wrong, I get the appeal, but Camilla never wanted to be involved in royal affairs and the like in the first place. In fact I get the impression she only stayed in Nohr with the others bc she loved her family so much. She just doesn’t have the makings of a queen in her. She’s a maternal figure. (Besides Leo is the perfect set up for king of nohr after Xander)

SO while any character arc or development she had was kind of swept aside, I actually do like what character she has. I like her air of maturity, her maternal side, her capable big sister vibes, and YA I even like her sadistic, cold blooded ruthless side (I kind of have a thing for female yanderes somehow LOL). Honestly I hope she kills me. TBH, I welcome it.

She’s really fun to read about in her supports tbh, how she seems professional and in control of almost every situation and never really loses hold of her emotions or composure. I just really like the way she is. Which I guess is why all of her fetish stuff doesnt bother me at all. I hardly even notice it. 

NOW ABOUT THAT CHARACTER DESIGN.k I put off talking about this till the end bc its the thing you ALWAYS hear people saying about Camilla, that she has a stupid, unpractical and fetishy design. AND YOU KNOW WHAT. YA SHE DOES. BUT YOU ALSO KNOW WHAT. IT DOESNT BOTHER ME IN THE SLIGHTEST. 

I know there are some people who have a lot of strong opinions on Camilla’s design, and will use that as a sole reason to completely disregard and knock down everything about her. Personally, I think those people are taking things a bit too seriously. Like, its FAN SERVICE. As far as I’m concerned, not all fan service is bad. Having some titties out every now and then doesnt make the character a trashy 1 dimensional piece of shit. Like I’d be more bothered if almost every girl in this game had the titties out. But they dont so if some titties are out??? I dont mind TBH. Sometimes some titties need to be out.

I think the reason why this doesnt bother me is because it’s kind of what she’s going for? Yes I know she’s a fictional character who doesnt have autonomy and was designed with the ‘male gaze’ in mind and w/e. But she is just another in the “seductress” FE archetype. Much like Aversa in Awakening or Sonia in FE7, she’s designed to look and be a temptress. The only difference here is that Camilla isn’t entirely a villain. But her design doesnt bother me I suppose because it fits her personality and the archetype (while for example Effie’s god awful god forsaken boob plate and Nyx showing an unsettling amount of skin bother me more bc??? what business do they have looking like that? Effie is a heman who only cares about Elise and getting stronger for Elise. What is with the boob plate? Nyx is anti social and hates people? Wouldn’t she want to cover herself in a huge cloak or something???) 

but as far as Camilla is concerned, I DONT MIND THE TITTIES OUT. ID ONT MIND THE BOOB STRAP, I DONT MIND THE THONG AND OPEN THIGHS. I DONT MIND ANY OF IT. IN FACT, I LOVE IT. I THINK HER DESIGN IS GREAT AND I THINK SHE LOOKS GREAT. THAT’S ALL. THAT’S IT.

If anything, the only problems I do have is that weird… leg curtain… thing??? hanging off her hips??? Like it just makes me wonder how she’s supposed to sit on a wyvern with that in the way (some people bring up her wearing no pants is stupid when she’s riding a wyvern, but idk dudes maybe she has a padded saddle you dont know) and her weird knee pad things. They look really weird on her legs I’m not sure wtf is going on there. ALSO. Her armor proportions are kind of weird and it makes it hard to judge her proportions and stature. Her design if anything is kind of a bit cluttered and busy, though at the same time I wouldn’t really call her over designed, just she probably couldnt hurt to lose a few weird accessories.

But on the flip side I really love her hair design and horns are my aesthetic so I think her tiara looks really cool!!

All in all, I do love Camilla. I theoretically like Elise more, but tbh I fucking love the Nohr family in their entirety and I would die for each one of them 100x over so they may hate her all they want but I will ALWAYS LOVE MY BIG SIS.  

[uniformbravo]

fffffFuck

im rly inspired to work on webcomic stuff i wanna make a webcomic!! im ready!!! i want to dive into a story and experiment and learn how to best do things as i go i wanna see that Improvement as i get a feel for what the story should be i wanna be a part of the process so bad im ready aaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

my Big Project, the one i talked about a lot, right; i kind of put it aside for a while but lately i’ve just kind of been in the Mood??? i honestly lost interest for a while kinda, not in the sense that i dropped it entirely, but i was hitting a lot of road blocks and pretty much ended up inadvertently taking a break from it, and in the mean time i watched a lot of shit and i think it was good for me?

because i feel like if i spend too long going hard on one thing i burn out really easily and everything starts to become more forced than passion-driven, and passion is what i want for this shit bc if im not enjoying it then why the hell am i even doing this right

so when i take a break and allow myself to dive into some show/comic/etc that can make me Feel The Good Shit, it inspires me!! it makes me want to create something that i can be equally as passionate about (and hopefully inspire other people too!) and like, it used to be such a frustrating feeling because i was filled with so much Energy and Passion that i had absolutely no idea what to do with, it would just kind of crackle and burn inside like i was going to explode any minute and i had nowhere to direct it and it was super unsatisfying but now!!! 

now i have something to pour all that creative energy into! now whenever i get super inspired by something i start thinking about this project and how i can take the creative influence from the show/comic/whatever and pour it into my own story and it finally feels like i have purpose, in a sense? like, i might not be getting any actual, tangible Ideas to apply to my plot or whatever, but i can take those Feelings and Emotions and think of them within the context of my world, and that can then turn into tangible ideas and idk it’s just really good!!! it’s Good to finally have something to pour this overwhelming inspiration into, and i guess i can only hope that what eventually comes out of all of this can do all of these thoughts and feelings proper justice

right now i feel like i have a lot of vague ideas of what i want the story to be like in general? i don’t mean plot-wise or even in terms of worldbuilding, i just mean like. the technical kind of storytelling elements, if that makes sense? it’s like, i’m writing down all these notes on what i observe to be Good Storytelling and Characterization in the things i like so that maybe i can successfully apply them to my own story down the line, and i guess that’s where some of my current worries stem from? 

bc i want to make this big, great Thing that employs all these devices im compiling but the question is whether i’ll be able to actually Do it or if it’ll come out as this big messy Attempt, u know? and it doesn’t help that this is my first Big Project like this, like i’ve never made a comic before, first of all, like that’s the. the Big One (although i am planning to do smaller comic projects first to experiment and figure things out so that maybe i can become familiar with the process before tackling something so huge that i want to be so good)

basically my plan is to.... plan. like, super plan. Plan Everything. that’s my strategy at this point, like. the taking notes on things i like, the practice comics beforehand, all of it is planning in order to help make this project the best that it can be, and i guess my main worry is that despite all the work im putting into this, it still won’t hit the mark

like, im a big perfectionist when it comes to things i care about, and i really care about this project. i really want to make this a good thing. something i’ll probably/definitely have to accept is that it’s not gonna be perfect; parts of it will be messy, parts of it won’t flow like i imagined, parts of it will be really awkward and that’s fine

idk man i mean it’s kind of bizarre to be considering all of this stuff right now when the whole project is still in such an early, vague, misshapen stage like for real i barely know anything abt these characters except that they will probably exist, maybe, and i have a hundred million shifting ideas that all conflict with each other and just literally overall this story is absolutely nothing yet, i still have so much fucking work to do it’s overwhelming

but man

seeing how far other projects have come since their beginnings is really inspiring 

like

it’s ok

it doesn’t all have to be done right now, these things take time (especially if ur a team of one (1), practically speaking) 

i like to think that years down the line, as i continue to work on this project, i’ll look back at myself now and think, “dang, i really had no idea what i was doing and i felt intimidated and overwhelmed and vastly under-equipped, but i’m glad that i kept going despite all of that to get to where i am today, where i definitely have everything figured out probably i mean hopefully like @ future me i’m really trusting you w/ this please”

i mean, idk. i want to make my future self proud? i want to give myself something to be proud of. 

that’s a good goal, i think