#and she got this hate just because of Kirsten

[cjcdeeezy]

Me when a Cirie hater pulls up and say she’s woman hater…

[bloodyshadow1]

Adaine's Furious Fists part 1

Or

Porter takes Adaine under his wing au Day 1

Just a quick story/summary of how things would go if Porter took Adaine under his wing throughout the series. I made a post about how she is the perfect candidate for him with her anger throughout the series and this happened on a whim. Adaine and Porter actually could have had a really interesting story given how their lives actually intertwine a lot if you think about it. So Regardless, read this if you want, I just thought it might be a fun idea.

First day of freshman year porter is scoping out potential prospects in the courtyard not coming up with much.

Puts a maybe down for fabian, he seems more like a grandstander, but he did punch a kid bigger than him without provocation. Still more ropey than strong, but there are dexy barbarians. Gorgug is a likely candidate, he seems soft, but was able to go into a rage and pummel his attacker, Porter could work with that if he had to. But the metal flower and the singing ticks Porter off. Riz is a low maybe to a no, kids being bullied on the first day are usually a good source of rage, but the goblin kid just seems to take it. Fig he doesn't have a chance to see since she sneaks into the teacher's lounge so early. Kirsten is a hard no, religious trauma can bring out a lot of sweet rage, but with Daybreak breathing down her neck it would be hard to get close to her without alerting suspicion. Adaine is a hard no. A tiny trembling high elf wizard with a huge orb she could barely carry, wearing the uniform of the prissy magic school? No way, no how, Porter doesn't even bother to learn her name.

Later that day he sees Adaine have a panic attack over being given detention and he writes her off even harder because it's pathetic. But seeing Fig stand up for her, she's not the ideal barbarian, but she is a young tiefling girl full of rage and Porter see's his opportunity.

Even later he's called to the cafeteria and sees Doreen, Arthur, and Mr. Gibbons dead with corn everywhere. Goldenhorde explains vaguely what happened and tells them to watch. It would be a horrific scene for a bunch of freshman, but Porter has seen and done worse. Still, he doesn't want to talk to Jace right now. The guy is powerful, but too much of a talker for Porter's liking. He knows some of the kids died and were brought back, that's why Arthur and Mr. Gibbons are dead, but little else. He does notice that Doreen's skull is caved in. He thinks of what little he knows about the kids, of the maybes, only fig has a weapon that deals bludgeoning damage so he assumes it was her and now intends to take her under his wing now that she got her first kill.

Once the cops come, he and Jace leave, Porter goes to observe the kids. They all seems broken and beaten, and about to be sick, not surprising. Porter doesn't have any sympathy for them, but he does understand so it's not enough to write any of them off. They're clean enough but the blood on your hands doesn't wash out as easily.

Porter is intent on Fig, because he thinks she's the one who killed Doreen. When Sandra Lynn comes to pick her up he notices that she's an elf, and Fig was dropped off at school by a different elf, yet their daughter's a tiefling. That might explain why she's so angry the first day since she seems like a newly presenting tiefling. Trouble at home can be juicy, especially when fell blood is involved.

Last to leave is the pathetic little high elf girl, you could use her spine like a meter stick with how straight the girl is standing. Porter can understand being sick or scared after your first battle, but he feels like he's within his rights to mock this little elf girl when no one else is around. He has enough of stuck up high elves to deal with as it is, it's good to see them scared.

But speak of the devil, Arianwen fucking Abernant shows up to pick her daughter up and clearly doesn't want to be seen at Aguefort of all places. Porter knows Arianwen and hates her, she's another teacher and their town only has two so they're bound to run into each other from time to time. They're also technically allies through the Shadowcat, who Arianwen is the main liaison. They don't work together exactly, but there's no reason they all can't exchange favors when working on their own evil plans. Arianwen is a cold, stuck up bitch, but she's a powerful stuck up bitch.

The fact that she's hear means the little elf girl is her daughter, now Porter actually feels a bit sorry for the child. It's one thing to be scared after your first battle when you watched people, including your..., 'friends,' might be to early for that since it's the first day, but people your own age die. It's another to be forced to deal with Arianwen afterwards. Porter still finds it pathetic, but is more lenient since he knows what Arianwen is like, especially if the girl is here instead of at the magic school her mother teaches at. that explains the uniform at least.

Then something happens he's too far away to hear, but Arianwen says something to her, likely to berate her. Porter expects the little elf girl to flinch and cower, but to his surprise, she snaps back at her mother despite her fear. It's not much, but despite how afraid she looked only moments ago Porter can see the fury in her eyes when she snaps back at her mother and it's something that Porter wants to see more of.

Later on Goldenhorde/Kalvaxus is given the faculty the full rundown of what happened. Porter knows more than most of his fellow teachers, but when Kalvaxus mentions Doreen being killed he talks about how she was bludgeoned to death by her own ladle. Not Fig's bass like Porter assumed. One of the other members of the faculty, one of the casters that Porter didn't bother to learn the name of, asks which of the kids did it.

Goldenhorde says it was Adaine, for a moment Porter almost asks 'who the fuck is that' out loud. Since he didn't really learn the names of most of them yet. But Tiberia Runestaff, another frigid wizard bitch, chimes in as always 'Adaine Abernant beat Doreen to death with her own ladle? The girl is ten pounds soaking wet and a wizard, why did she use a ladle" clearly angry that one of her wizards would pop their kill cherry with a martial weapon instead of her arcane abilities, but Porter doesn't care.

Learning that Arianwen's daughter was the one who murdered Doreen, and with a ladle is interesting. And moves Adaine from a hard no to a solid maybe in his rage book.

Part 2

[peppermintquartz]

Love your writing! Thank you for all you provide for the bucktommy fandom! For the prompts: spiderman kisses

You're welcome! My preferred method to engage with fandom is to write fics and I'm glad people are appreciating them ❤️

Ooh that is a hard one. I'm gonna try.

*

"How long ago was this movie?" Evan asks, settling in next to Tommy.

"It's from 2002," says Tommy.

"Wow, that's, like, vintage."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

Tommy figures the first Spider-Man movie (the best of the live-action adaptations, in his biased opinion) is a good blend of action and drama and romance to entertain Evan and himself. He found James Franco hot, back in the day, and this movie brought back his teen crush feelings.

Evan sniffles when Uncle Ben dies, and Tommy cuddles him close. But the rest of the movie makes up for it, particularly when Peter Parker saves Mary Jane in the pouring rain.

"Oh wow, Kirsten Dunst is so hot," Evan muses. They've shifted positions so that Tommy is leaning against the arm of his couch and Evan is lying on him, like a spoiled cat.

Tommy stifles a laugh by kissing the top of his boyfriend's head. "Almost all my friends thought so. Some of them were especially focused on the fact she wasn't wearing a bra in this scene. Then again, we were all horny teenagers, so I guess that's to be expected."

"Yeah, it is hard to miss that," Evan comments. Then he sighs. "It's such a romantic kiss though."

"It's an original idea too, not copied from the comics," Tommy says, because sometimes he knows things. "Got parodied to hell and back after that, but that's how you know it's iconic."

Pausing the movie, Evan shifts and turns around, nearly elbowing Tommy in the ribs. "You know, I wanna try that."

Tommy raises an eyebrow. "An upside-down kiss? You do know neither of us are Spider-Man, right?"

Evan gets to his feet and drags Tommy out of the couch. "I have an idea. Come on come on come on come on, I wanna try something."

Putting up a token display of resistance, Tommy lets Evan lead him into the garage. Evan stares at the pull-up bar, his eyes narrowing, and then he grabs it, swings one long leg up and then the other, and hangs on to it with hands and knees.

Tommy is not amused but worried. "Baby, please get down," he says as he hurries in place to keep his arms under his boyfriend, ready to break his fall.

"Kiss me first," Evan demands. His face is already turning red from being upside down.

Tommy quickly pecks him on the mouth. "There are safer ways to have upside-down kisses, babe. I don't want you breaking your neck.

"That's not how the kiss went."

"Evan Buckley, I'm not playing. Get off the bar carefully." Tommy resorts to using his Serious Tone, which he hates to use on his boyfriend, but sometimes Evan does rush into things a little too impulsively and Tommy has to rein him in.

Pouting, Evan gets off the contraption, and Tommy pulls him into a hug and kisses the pout away. Evan keeps his eyes downcast. "Hey. That was just too unsafe. We can do the kiss lying down, okay?"

Evan peers through his lashes. "I want a proper Spider-Man kiss."

Tommy huffs through his nose and pulls Evan to the Muay Thai mat. They lie down, head to head but their feet angled in opposite directions. Tommy cups Evan's cheek. It's a different feeling, the way his hands are angled, and he leans in to kiss Evan.

It is very different. The top of his tongue slides over the top of Evan's tongue; his nose is bumping against Evan's stubbled chin. He changes the angle of his mouth and tries again.

After a moment, they both pull away. Evan is giggling. "I don't think that was as hot as the movie's version," he admits. Rubbing the tip of his nose, he adds, "I love your cleft, but I think I prefer if my nose isn't rubbed raw on it."

Tommy laughs and gets up, before he reaches for Evan. "Yeah, I think I'll stick to the regular way. Besides, I like seeing your eyes after we kiss."

"Really? Why?"

Tommy shrugs. He's not that good with words. "I just like it, that's all." He kisses his boyfriend again, right way round this time, and when he pulls away, he watches Evan blink, his wide blue eyes a little dazed and his lips curving into a smile. "Yeah, exactly like that. I like seeing that."

Evan tucks an arm around Tommy's waist. "You're so sweet." Biting his lower lip, he asks, "So, shall we finish the movie and make out on the couch like horny teenagers afterwards?"

"Sounds like a plan."

[i-didnt-hate-it]

I didn't hate Civil War, but I wouldn't say I absolutely loved it, either. It is an amazing movie, but it was very hard to watch.

I would say it is best to watch Civil War knowing as little as possible, so please be warned for any potential spoilers below.

It is incredibly well written, directed, shot, and acted. I really appreciate the story, it gripped me from the beginning, with the unique sound design during the A24 title card.

But I also nearly got a panic attack in the first 5 minutes. This movie is definitely not for those with PTSD, especially combat and/or gun-related trauma. If any of those apply to you and you still want to see it, I wouldn't recommend IMAX. You will feel every shot fired. Otherwise, the biggest screen with the loudest speakers is the best way to watch Civil War.

The cast was fantastic. Kirsten Dunst and Wagner Moura felt so real, and Stephen McKinley Henderson just seems like an expansion of his Dune character, in the best way. I'll be honest, and again this is kind of a spoiler, but I was expecting more Jesse Plemons. He was great, the scene was fantasticly blood-pumping, but I just thought he might have a larger role. My real standout performance, though, is from Cailee Spaeny as Jessie. Last seeing her in Pacific Rim: Uprising helped to reinforce the idea that she's still "just a kid", but her performance as the story progresses really exemplifies the horror of war that turns bright-eyed kids into weary adults in an instant.

As much as people will try to figure out the politics of Civil War or just make up their own, this movie isn't about politics. There is a scene that really drives the message home, if you're paying attention (LAST SPOILER WARNING).

The scene at the winter wonderland is just a microcosm of the movie and the war. You have two sides shooting at each other, and all that matters to the other is that they shoot first. It doesn't matter who started or who is from where or who believes in what. That might've mattered at the beginning, but now all that matters is being the last one standing.

It doesn't matter who started the war or why, all that matters to either side is victory.

I am a pacifist, but I appreciate war films, because most of them are anti-war. Civil War was hard to watch, but I'm very glad I did.

[noahsartt]

My reservations with the 2022 Interview with the Vampire tv series:

My thoughts on amc’s Interview with the Vampire (2022) tv series compared to the 1976 source material and what I liked about the 1994 movie.

Some reflections before the second season airs. I watched the series as it was coming out in 2022, so these thoughts have been sitting for over a year.

This is a subjective critique of the show, not me hating on it. I liked the show a lot & watched it twice. Many of the key changes were extremely creative ways of exploring those characters from new perspectives, instead of just pointlessly remaking something that's been done before. Distinct creative change should be the basis of every remake, no point is making something 'new' if there's nothing new about it. This show knew that, and the changes for the most part were written beautifully. ...But the movie is still my favourite despite its many flaws. Camp classic right there.

Issues with the show:

Making it take place 100 years later, it ruins the specific aesthetic of the book for me. (But I understand they had to in order to re-write Louis & Claudia as black).

Aging up Claudia. The way Bailey Bass played Claudia was amazing, no notes at all for her. I just wish they kept her younger because that was a very symbolic part of what made Claudia’s original character so tragic. She suffers in an entirely different way to Louis because of her age. New Claudia is supposed to be in the body of a 14 year old, but the actress was 18/19 so she looks much older already,  and no matter how well she played it, the age factor can’t be helped. Being stuck eternally in the body of a 5 year old (book) is so different to a 14 year old, who looks much older (tv show). Kirsten Dunst who was 10 in the movie, was able to play the little child - adult vampire progression a lot better. People say Claudia's original age is too 'disturbing' to see on screen... but that's the character...

Daniel being old… WHY?? Just so they could tie together the storyline or him meeting Armand multiple decades before ???? I only read IWTV and some of the TVL so I don't know everything that happens down the line for him, or what amc plans for the character in the show... but I don't understand the aging up except for 'diversity' reasons. Which, ok, but just to check a box? Louis and Claudia's race change make sense as a creative decision. But the Daniel in the book and film is a 20-something year old which is why he's so fascinated by Louis' 'gift', and doesn't understand the message Louis is sending, instead wanting to become a vampire too. Why would old Daniel want those same things? Changing Daniel's age is such an inherent thing... it's like if they didn't make Lestat blond. Eric Bogosian plays him funny though, I will say that. Christian Slater kind of just sat there.

Louis having no money and needing Lestat's financial support for his business ventures????? When it’s supposed to be Lestat leeching off Louis' estate … WHY. Why did they change something so fundamental about their dynamic. Lestat moves in because he needs wealth and Louis has it. And then he starts acting like it's both of theirs and Louis just lets him. Funniest thing ever. But in the show Louis moves in with him instead. That's just wrong.

Louis asking (basically begging) Lestat to make Claudia when Lestat is supposed to be the one to do it in order to ensure Louis doesn't leave him. Another fundamental part of their relationship that just got flipped around completely... and for what? Why did it change the things it didn't need to?

Antoinette... girl why are you there... we don't need more characters. Go away.

The guy that Louis gets with to make Lestat jealous …. why is he there either? In the book they don't need to bring other people in to irritate each other.

One of the most perfect scenes from the film was when Lestat was tormenting that girl and trying to get Louis to kill her. The show’s version with the opera singer wasn’t the same. The original scene is such a good depiction of their dynamic with each other: Lestat's eccentric killing methods and Louis’ shame and guilt. The show’s version didn’t live up to it. That scene was so excellent in what it set out to do. It captured their back and forth in such a simple way. That dynamic follows them forever, even as Louis begins to accept his nature, that spark of annoyance towards Lestat is ready to become a full fire at any moment. That scene is enough to be a full character study. The show has little bits here and there which capture something similar. But they should have recreated that scene at least.

Claudia and Lestat's relationship evolving from enjoying each others company and similarities, to detesting each other and competing for Louis’ affection. They didn’t spend enough time on Lestat and Claudia’s relationship in the show to fully demonstrate that, only a few scenes of them driving together and hunting together at the beginning. Even the two hour movie found a way to intergrade that better. Their relationship and the way Claudia is so starkly similar to Lestat when they move to Paris, is one of the my favourite parts of the book to analyse. Louis leaving Lestat and moving all the way across the ocean, only to be reminded of him in everything Claudia did. The show did have some purposeful parallels between Lestat and Claudia in the dialogue which I appreciate, I hope that continues in season 2.

Louis being in on Claudia's plan to kill Lestat and even being the one to finish off Lestat when it’s supposed to be Claudia’s idea on her own...?? Lestat's death is supposed to be an "ok, I guess that was necessary, time to move on with our lives now," moment for Louis. But he wasn't supposed to have the courage or the want to be the one to do it himself. He was hesitant and regretful in the show, but he still slit his throat... it was supposed to be Claudia alone. Credit where credit is due, the scene was beautifully filmed, the red blood on white cloth looked incredible and the entire scene captured the tone of devastation that the movie didn't. It was all very quick and emotionless in the movie.

Even though I hate Br*d Pitt's acting, his Louis was way more accurate to the book Louis. He basically was the embodiment of book Louis. Just sad and whiny the entire time. New Louis had more to him, I think Jacob Anderson even said in an interview that it was a purposeful decision to give Louis more grit. It's not a change I appreciated because it alters the original character too much. You can't change something that fundamental. Just ugh. In the show, Louis is more angry than pathetically sad, it’s very different to how the character was originally written. 

Sam Reid’s Lestat is pretty on the nose but still more serious than the original Lestat & Tom Cruise’s portrayal which was the perfect level of camp and eccentric. Tom cruise was playing Lestat from just IWTV but Sam Reid is playing him with the baggage of his entire life as written in the other books, maybe that's why he is different. Maybe his performance is even better because of it. I haven't read the other books so I can't really say.

I won't say anything about Armand (yet) because he hasn’t had his time to shine. We’ll see after season 2. I loved Antonio Banderas as Armand, and even though he was very different from how book Armand was, it was a change I liked. New Armand is going to be more accurate to the books I believe, but i didn’t like how Armand was there the entire time Louis was being interviewed… why...

Maybe I am one of the few that doesn't overtly appreciate the 'fresh' take of this story. Many of the things that draw me to the book and the movie have been taken away in this adaptation.

---

I recommend this fan fiction that explores the idea of Louis being a person of colour in the context of the original book's 1700s timeline. It explores the intersectionality of Louis' struggle with vampirism, queerness & race while still being authentic to the book. Go read it.

In the Author's words: This is NOT a rewrite of the AMC TV show, nor does it intend to be. This is us making one (subtextually plausible) change to canon in order to 1) explore underlying issues with the source material and 2) see how it affects the way the events of IWTV played out.

Ok that's it. Will maybe add to this when the second season airs. For months, this was just for me in my notes app but what is tumblr for if not to air out my locked away ideas.

[dlartistanon]

at first i didnt think they were too bad, but the moment i got to her max trust line i insta-cringed. ngl im fine with playersexual stuff *sometimes* if its done tastefully (which is extremely rare) but reducing a complex character like her into that is just :/ she only has like two lines that mention anyone else, and only kirsten is explicitly mentioned.

What makes it especially frustrating is that Muelsyse was an intriguing and complex character long before being made playable. Reducing her down to that is the only correct way to describe what happened to her.

Take Gravel for example as the complete opposite: she was introduced as typical pandering and it wasn't until Near Light/her op rec/module that we actually got any more depth to her character. Meanwhile Muelsyse went from complex and layered to "uwu sad water wife". The damage has been done. She's no longer a character, just a "waifu".

It's so insulting. If you want an in-depth look of what her actual character is like, read this post. She was foundational to Rhine Lab's creation some 20-odd years ago, Magallan and Ifrit are the only characters who call her by her nickname, and despite sharing notable screentime with Saria in the Rhine Lab manhua, MUELSYSE DOES NOT MENTION HER OR IFRIT AT ALL.

Just imagine if Nearl's characterization took a freakin' nosedive and she started waxing about how much Doctor changed her life and now is the Most Important Person to her. Who cares about her family, Shining, and Nightingale? They don't affect her as much as Doctor. Doctor is the only one who can understand her, who can give her what she wants. Imagine this happening to Talulah, who doesn't care about Alina and/or Reunion as much anymore because she has Doctor now. Do you get it? How utterly deplorable that is? Throwing away all previous connections and because the player has to feel relevant?

I normally roll my eyes at player pandering, but it genuinely makes me so angry because I grew to love Muelsyse so much as a character before all this nonsense. I both look forward and dread Lone Trail because while there are great Mumu scenes, there's unfortunately just as many that are just plain awful. And they all have to do with Doctor pandering. It could've been 12/10 if Doctor didn't exist in it. I hate it. I hate it so much.

[cerastes]

Since you like talking about relationships, I've got one I've been rotating in my head but can't really figure out: Kal'tsit and Muelsyse. They're both extremely long lived and, judging from Mumu's song, it's a major source of pain for her. But their personalities, at least on the face, are so totally different. I imagine they'd take quite a while to figure each other's shit out, since neither seems inclined to speak clearly or trust anyone more than necessary, leading to a dynamic that evolves quite a bit, and for a long time, perhaps to the confusion of less observant peers.

With both being practically the urban fantasy equivalent of long lived archmages with aching hearts, as well as experts on their particular fields, there's quite a few parallels one could make between them and their interactions would be very fascinating indeed!

However, I think you touched upon something that I think is both important and a bit different from how you put it: A main difference between Kal'tsit and Muelsyse is, in fact, that Kal'tsit does allow herself to trust in others, while Muelsyse keeps her cards close to her chest, even among those who she supposedly trusts.

Kal'tsit isn't naive, but she does in fact allow herself to trust others... A whole lot, in fact. She believed and trusted Theresa, and still tries to carry out her goals, she trusts in Amiya, not just because Theresa chose her, but because she really believes she's got what it takes. She trusts Rhodes Island Operators so much that, even though she's a powerhouse herself, she doesn't handle everything that Rhodes Island has going on and even has some Operators she implicitly trusts enough to let them handle some seriously dangerous stuff either under her or by being her extension in other endeavors she can't be there for personally, such as Margaret Nearl and Elysium. Reluctantly, she trusts in Doctor's abilities and temperament, in part out of necessity, in part because love it or hate it, Theresa did trust Doctor quite a lot, and so she'll trust in Theresa's trust.

Muelsyse, on the other hand? Her 'trust' is hugely utilitarian. Her choice of joining up with Rhine Lab was born out of necessity, as she judged that Kirsten and company would be her very best bet to achieve her own goals, but that backstabbing environment doesn't particularly allow one to make good friends or trust anyone too easily. In fact, during Mansfield Break, Muelsyse quite literally couldn't compute why Silence would be helping Anthony (Mountain) without ulterior motives: The fact that Silence would do it first and foremost out of the goodness of her heart was unbelievable to Muelsyse, because it goes against everything she's learned, especially in Rhine Lab. In a way, one could argue this is where she started changing a little, and it brought to mind how Saria was legitimately trying to be there for Ifrit because Saria legitimately holds affection for her, which Muelsyse thought was a load of barnacles before, at least without any sort of further objective or ulterior motive. Hell, Muelsyse's character song is a perfect fit for her: Chipper and energetic, yet, the lyrics are very sad and lonely.

I think a dynamic between Kal'tsit and Muelsyse would fundamentally be very... Curt, initially. All business from Kal'tsit's end, because Muelsyse has yet to earn her trust, all plastic smiles and idle hands from Muelsyse, because unless Kal'tsit can verifiably be of use to her beyond being a bigwig at RI, she doesn't need to know her.

But Kal'tsit grows on you, you know? Doctor's not the only one with those people skills... Perhaps they are at another level altogether, given they can handle even the freakiest freaks and weirdos and wrangle friendship out of them, but to say Kal'tsit isn't formidable in the arena of trust is but a lie. She'd get in, I'm sure. Muelsyse would see someone akin to her in ways other Terrans simply could never achieve, and while they are very different in terms of demeanor... Well, so are Kal'tsit and Closure, and Kal'tsit and Warfarin, two good friends of hers. Kal'tsit can definitely deal with Muelsyse's antics, and I think Muelsyse would enjoy seeing someone so similar to her in so many ways that can also allow herself to trust others. Maybe Kal'tsit could be important in just that: Muelsyse allowing herself to trust more.

[murdockmeta]

hi, im new here (not to dd just to the tumblr sphere— why does everyone seem to hate zdarsky/checchetto? i really enjoyed the first part of zdarkys run and i adore checchetto’s art + design, so idk what i missed that makes everyone who comicsposts dislike it so much??

hm. this isn't the easiest question to answer. there's a LOT of different reasons as to why people disliked that run.

tbh I'll admit the first 20 or so issues of v6 are kind of okay. not impossible to read. it goes downhill fast after that, tho. very very downhill.

here's this post by @/xycuro-illuminati that does a good job of explaining why so many people disliked the run. here's my post on the ableism in zdarsky's writing. trust me you aren't the first person who's asked this question before

i'll give you a more general answer of my own opinion, tho

zdarsky's writing misses what most consider to be crucial points of Matt and Elektra's characters. with this, he entirely obliterates their characterization and that really pissed a lot of comics fans off.

i would consider volume 6 to be the beginning of the MCU-ification of dd. it is clear that at that point, some higher-ups were pushing for daredevil comics to become more like the show. the show was a MASSIVE hit and they wanted to cash in on that. so, they had the writers start shifting the comics and the characterization around to fit the show better.

this is where the problem lies. it is insulting, honestly, to ignore the past 50 plus years of writing for matt's character to shift it into something that will be more palatable to live actions fans just so marvel can get a good payday.

the most glaringly noticeable part of this is - the catholicism. the live action show makes a big deal out of matt being catholic when this was never really the case in the comics. while matt being religious and catholic are present in matt's background in the comics, it's not even close to being a big part of the character.

one of the main things that makes matt so compelling as a character is his morality, his integrity. he upholds his moral code relentlessly because he believes it is the right thing to do. he believes everyone deserves a second chance no matter what. in zdarsky's run and in the show, matt's reason for upholding his moral code is tied to his religious beliefs.

here's a good post on the origins of catholicism being related to matt's character and how it differs from the show and why it is such an injustice to tie matt's morality to his religion.

it's really really hard to articulate every single thing that's wrong with zdarsky's run while also giving you a thorough explanation.

i could tell you about how zdarsky's original plot was focused around matt's guilt when he accidentally kills someone but... matt's killed people before. he killed someone in his very first issue. ever. he was chasing after the man who was responsible for his father's murder and scared him so badly the man had a heart attack and died.

all of zdarsky's plots and subplots are all things that have been done over and over, he just writes it worse.

i could tell you about how shitty checchetto's art is. he can't draw women. or fat people (foggy fans deserve reparations). toward the end of the run he gets ESPECIALLY sloppy. he whitewashed kirsten and sam.

i could tell you about how zdarsky wrecked elektra's character. he completely ignored her origins and the character development she's had over the course of decades of writing just to slap some random retconned backstory onto her.

theres so. many. things.

i got into the comics through the show. when I started reading the comics I honestly perceived comics matt and show matt as two entirely different characters because they just felt so incredibly separate from one another. it is not that there are zero similarities, but their reasons for WHY they are the way that they are diverge wildly from each other

i dont know how else to put it except to say this. when I read zdarsky's run, I do not feel like I'm reading about Matt Murdock. it doesn't feel like matt, it doesn't feel like daredevil. it feels like an entirely new character that I do not know.

to fully explain to you why i feel that way would take a damn book. i realize that my answer isn't at all comprehensive and some parts are probably confusing but it is impossible to pick a start and end point. that's just not matt. that's it.

[nono-uwu]

New chapter, you know what that means...

Ch 139 first impressions! Spoilers obviously

- I was hoping we'd see Krul, Crowley and co. interact a little more :<

- ok, everyone's getting bullshit powerups now lmao (at least it puts Shinoa squad at an equal footing)

- Shinoa, Mitsu, Kimi and Yoi caring for eachother and goofing off ueueueueueu they're so cutee

- sigh... more boob jokes... siiiiiiiigh...

- they all got wings! Cool :D

- Ferid's new outfit still looks kina mid imo. It's just so... boring

- hehehoohoo I'm predicitng Guren/Mahiru/Ferid vs Shinoa squad soon... I'm scared for the end result of that!

- Shinoa is so cool omg and she has control over the 'darkness' that's even more cool

- And Ferid and Guremahi for once don't have a bullshit way of bypassing a powerful abilty! (Still salty about Krul)

- ofc Ferid has to know Shinoa is there but she covered the tracks real quick. Good on you Shinoa!

- ...why would Ferid think Shinoa squad would have sinful keys??

- "We need to keep control of our fates." That's one hard line. Shinoa dropping bars in her last few appearances fr

- Vampires sure did a shit job at maintaining the status quo lmao

- Mika bad news, Shinoa has other motivations besides her crush now

- hhhhhhh back to the "everyone gets resurrected with no sacrifices whatsoever" plan. Good that Mika is aware of the likley consequences

- Roger, Ulrich, Kirsten and Lest are hereeeee (they didn't beat up Yuu. Sadge)

- "Where did the first go?" "My (ex?) friend eated him"

- Rigr looks... surprisingly alright. Maybe I just got used to the art style shift with him specifically but he gives me a lot less 'yaoi hands' vibes yk?

- Ky... you were this close to whooping Yuu's ass...

- the last page... all of those reactions are meme worthy lmaooo

- "SO ALL YOU VAMPIRES HELP ME!" "FOR THE SAKE OF WORLD PEACE! GOT IT?!" "AND BRING ME FOOD TOO!" Now I may hate Yuu but even I have to admit he has that dumbass charm (he gotta team up with Vash the stampede first that love and peace)

Overall, chapter was aight. Hope Yuu realizes that Shinoa and co. aren't necessarily against him just really worried and confused because he fucked off without telling anyone anything and Guren wasn't helping too (at least that's how I see it)

As for my insanely unrealistic hopium prediction: Shinoa squad beats Ferids and Guremahis asses and gets the still conscious vampires put of Ferid because they could be useful (<- words of a person slowly losing it)

[cellsshapedlikestars]

"Ryan finally had a girlfriend that actually thought about him!!“ yes absolutely! I didn’t *hate* Marissa but I really disliked the Marissa/Ryan ship, they weren’t right together. Never even thought about it but it makes so much sense that you come from a The OC background.

The way you write modern Jon reminds me so much of Ryan (LOVE IT). So interesting that you tried to rework one of your existing fics into a Jonsa fic. I would honestly love a fic with some OC vibes. The only The OC Jonsa fic I’ve read was one where Sansa was put into Marissa‘s role and it did NOT fit. Thinking about it, Sandy and Kirsten Cohen definitely give off Ned and Cat vibes!

Also Happy Birthday!

I used to hate Marissa a lot, but I was younger then (it didn't help that the other people in my fandom vitriolically hated her lol). I can look back now and realize that Marissa was, unfortunately, the writer's favorite toy to create new drama, at the expense of her character.

And unlike almost every other character, she just wasn't fun for me (I will say, Seth sometimes bordered on too much for me, but usually he was fine). Like did Julie do terrible things? Sure, but oh boy when she showed up in a scene, I knew it would be a good time. I would rather watch her than Marissa any day of the week. Marissa would just suck the energy out of everything for me. But maybe that's a product of my old fandom, and I'd feel differently watching it now. I haven't rewatched in ages, tbh.

And I will say, I liked Marissa at the end of season 3! Because they were just wrapping up her character so she wasn't starting shit and she was actually just fun like she should've been the entire time. And they acknowledge that she & Ryan were toxic together, and better off as long distance friends. So when the time comes for her death, I'm actually sad!

I tried not to be too mean to Marissa in my fics... towards the end. Though I did write a one shot about her murdering Ryan lmaoooo. That's strictly on my livejournal... I think it's still there?

As for a Jonsa OC fic.... I've had one half written basically since I started writing fic again.

Ryan - Jon Trey - Aegon Sandy - Ned Kirsten - Cat Seth - Arya?

But there's where it sort of fails, because who is Sansa? Is SHE Seth? Where does she come in, unless I make her not related to the Cohen/Stark family. Or do I get rid of Kirsten/Cat, make her married to Jimmy/some other dude, and have Sansa as her daughter with Arya as Ned's?

Omg this got so long, but I'll include what I have written below the cut, which is literally just the opening scene, so don't get too excited lol.

The OC AU

They approach the car like it's prey, ducked down, creeping.

“I'm your big brother. If I don't teach you this, who will?" With that, Egg smashes out the window, the sound loud and echoing in the quiet alley. He opens the door and gets in, but Jon hesitates, looks over his shoulder towards the main road.

"Quit being a little bitch. Get in!"

And so Jon does, because he always does what Egg says. Just as he's about to get in the passenger side, it happens – a cop car rolls by on the main street, and Jon's heart lurches in his chest, but it passes.

And then it backs up.

“Come on!” Egg shouts, laughing and reckless. “Let's go, Jon!”

Jon slides into the passenger side and slams the door shut behind him, heart racing a mile a minute as Egg hotwires the car and gets it started, as the police cruiser turns down the alley.

And then they're off.

Down the street and out into the open, Egg pushing the throttle as hard as it can go, even on the small streets of Wintertown. Jon sits with one hand gripping the door handle, the other braced out in front of him on the dash.

“You should see your face, man,” Egg laughs, mouth wide, teeth glinting in the streetlights – sharp and dangerous. That same, reckless laughter Jon remembers from their father.

Sirens wail behind them and Jon knows this is it. This is where he finally dies, this is where everything catches up with him. At an intersection, Egg runs a red light, has to swerve to avoid an oncoming car.

“No, no, no, no,” Jon chants, shutting his eyes and bracing for impact. He doesn't know what they hit, just that he's thrown forward, the airbag slamming into his chest, the sound of crunching metal and squealing tires and sirens.

He feels groggy and weak as his eyes open, bright lights flashing and making him wince.

"Hands up! Get them up!" someone shouts. The police. "Hands on the dash where I can see them!"

For just a moment, Jon thinks about running. Pushing open the door, leaving Egg, and going as fast as his legs will take him. But his chest aches and his lungs burn and his head is spinning and so instead, he puts his hands up.

[teecupangel]

Just a random idea that came from the AC Unity posts but what about Desmond as Marie Antoinette, France's most hated dauphin? Like Desmond in Cantarella, he is surrounded by Templars but this time it is in the middle of a court that seeks to remove him from the throne by any means, at any cost. And Desmond, as in Cantarella, can choose to run away from all this (toward Connor in the colonies) or play the game in which he is inside to avoid a massacre.

(Now, I don't remember much about AC Unity but I do know that Marie birth was in 1755 and came to court at eighteen, which would make her canonically four years older than Arno but only one year older than Connor, which is a long time, for whatever plan Desmond has after the shock of being born again.)

So the Templar and Assassin presence in Austria and the Holy Roman Empire are a bit vague, especially during Marie Antoinette's time growing up so we can play around with that aspect.

Although...

Desmond probably only heard of Marie Antoinette in passing. She mostly knows her as the ‘let them eat cake’ bitch and holy shit, there was no way she was going to be her, especially since she did watch Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette (he was bored, okay?) so yeah, definitely didn’t want to part of all of that.

Desmond tries to appear not that interesting, making people whisper that she’s lazy but brilliant as she knows Latin, Italian and French (thanks, Ezio).

Her beauty is also marred by the fact that she doesn’t like to wear those restrictive women's clothes. She’s fine wearing dresses, she’s not fine wearing stuff that impedes her movements.

This, unfortunately, meant that they’re forced to make clothes that would be beautiful but not restrictive just so Desmond would wear them to balls and important events that needed her presence.

She doesn’t even understand why they needed her to do any of these. She’s the youngest, shouldn’t she be more or less worthless in the eyes of the royal family?

What she doesn’t realize is that her beauty and brains made her interesting. And having the Bleeds of Haytham Kenway and Ezio Auditore meant she could be graceful if she wanted to, meaning that, if one was simply to turn a blind eye on her ‘laziness’ and her ‘strange musings’, she is certainly one of the most promising young noble ladies of her generation.

Because of this, she gets the attention of Louis XV who wants her to become the future wife of his grandson, Louis XVI.

History finally gets royally fucked up when the announcement of Desmond’s marriage to Louis XVI becomes public when she is just freaking 14.

So, out of desperation because there is no way in freaking hell she was going to marry some dude at 14...

Also… childbirth? Nopenopenopenope. She just got used to the whole monthly bleeding thing. The idea of giving birth frightens her more than burning from the inside again...

She runs away.

Now…

At this point, she didn’t have any allies nor any actual plan like Giovanni!Desmond did in Cantarella.

What she did have was the skills of three Master Assassins and one Grand Templar so Desmond ran away in the middle of the night, more reminiscent of his running away from the Farm to be completely honest.

She pretends to be a boy which wasn’t that hard at the moment because she was still growing and gets into a ship bound for the colonies where, she hopes, she’d be able to find Ratonhnhaké:ton.

… Not knowing the huge scandal she would be making by disappearing in the middle of the night.

And how this entire thing could spell a disaster in France and Austria’s future since her marriage had been one of the conditions for an alliance between the two.

Unorganized Ideas:

She pretends to be a dude but she’s really pretty. Becomes harder once her growth spurt truly starts

She meets up with Ratonhnhaké:ton in Davenport Homestead after Ratonhnhaké:ton’s whole ‘arrested because white people, man’ shit in Boston. They grow up to be more or less partners.

Achilles thinks she’s a runaway daughter of an Assassin (which is technically true) and a part of him wonders if she may not be related to John de la Tour (maybe even his granddaughter?) because she makes offhanded comments about France.

The missing Marie Antoinette becomes the French/British version of ‘Anatasia Romanov lives’ rumors. No one thinks it’s Desmond though.

Except for one person who had seen a portrait of the young Marie Antoinette once… Marquis de La Fayette.

Haytham believes Desmond is his son’s beau (and, later on, wife). He is not the first to believe that and Ratonhnhaké:ton and Desmond had stopped trying to correct people and just let them think whatever they want.

Desmond does milk it a bit, calling Ratonhnhaké:ton ‘my dearest’. Ratonhnhaké:ton simply goes along with it because Desmond had always been strange even by white men standards.

Ratonhnhaké:ton knew Desmond was a girl from the beginning, he just didn’t make a big deal about it. This made Desmond believe that Ratonhnhaké:ton never realized she was a girl until she started ‘filling out’.

[foxqueen-katarian]

Finished S1 of Interview With A Vampire, and as someone who loves the 1990's movie, and made the Vampire Chronicals a key part of my personality for longer than I care to admit, it's so good!

It is a much truer adaptation than the movie was, and I think that going forward into S2 that's going to make the tragedy of what happens all the more horrific. And I'm here for it. No shade at all to Kirsten Dunst but there wasn't a lot of nuance or depth to her Claudia (for very obvious age related reasons) that made her less than ideal relationship with Lestat boring for lack of better wording. Bailey Bass' Claudia doesn't suffer from the same shortcomings, she is a child in the beginning and she grows (at least mentally) in a way that is satisfying, she is her own character and not just a prop for Louis and Lestat to argue around (although they do still do that, it's just a character flaw of theirs and not her entire purpose). The show remembers that just because she looks 14 (arguable) doesn't mean she still is, and her intellect and callous disregard for others makes her terrifying. Sam Reid's Lestat is the perfect mix of overbearing bastard, and slut. I love him. I hate him. I feel sorry for him. I want him to die. I need him to live. Can't wait to see what fuckery he causes in S2.

There's a post floating around talking about Jacob Anderson's acting ability, praising his work in GoT as one of the best when it came to speaking Valyrian and his amazing accent work in Interview, which was the push I needed to start watching it. Honestly, I don't think that post does him justice. It's hard to pick a standout with a cast this good, but as the titular Vampire I cannot imagine anyone else playing Louis De Pointe Du Lac. He is Louis from the first moment to the last, with all his flaws and shortcomings laid bare for us the audience to see, and there are very few moments where the illusion breaks and I remember that this is in fact a show, and Louis a character. Anderson is just that good. If you haven't watched Interview I highly recommend you do, it's one of the only shows I've watched in recent years that has lived up to the hype.

[blackbird-brewster]

Thoughts About Tara Lewis (CM Evolution Spoilers)

Tara Lewis is Queer.

I woke up this morning and the SECOND I was conscious, I turned to my partner and said 'Tara Lewis is Queer'. I woke them up two times last night to tell them the same thing. I have echoed this thought back and forth to friends for hours.

It almost feels like if I don't constantly remind myself that Tara is now canonically queer, then maybe it isn't real. Maybe it was a dream. OR maybe it will be taken from us.

The thing about being in this fandom since 2005 is that I've lived a WHOLE lot of life in that time. I have been through relationships and divorces and insurmountable loss. I can't even count how many times I've moved in that time. I have struggled, I have flourished. All the while, Criminal Minds was a constant for me.

If you're newer to this fandom (Welcome!) then you might not FULLY grasp how wildly improbable it is to be able to say: Tara Lewis, a main character on Criminal Minds, is canonically queer.

When the show first aired I was in college, I had graduated HS an entire year early because the homophobia I faced was suffocating and genuinely dangerous. I was threatened all the time in my school. I came out when I was 15, in a small rural religious town. It was horrific.

I graduated HS and started college by age 17. Criminal Minds started around then and I loved it, because I was already a huge fan of crime dramas (SVU, TXF, Bones). It became a comfort show to me.

It continued to be a comfort show to be for nearly the past two decades. I remember waiting week to week to find out what happened next. Or waiting all summer to find out what happened after a cliffhanger. Or waiting each year for news on whether it was getting renewed or not, especially through the 2007 writer's strike when the fate of many TV shows felt so volatile and unsure. I remember watching the Valhalla arc and Emily's 'death' live. As each season came out on DVD box set, I would buy them and re-watch them (This was when Netflix was only dvd rentals and not streaming. Streaming wasn't even a concept then. We all just bough 8-disc DVD box sets and had to change the DVD every 3 episodes to binge a show)

I remember when the interview came out about how Emily was originally supposed to wake up in bed with a woman. I remember how devastating that was to me. Emily was my fave character back then (now she ties with Tara) and she had always felt gay to me and to find out she COULD have been canonically confirmed as gay but they killed that idea, was really hard. We didn't have a lot of wlw rep in media back then. The L Word was a trailblazing show but it's representations of wlw ultimately did WAY more harm than good (imo. I could write an entire thesis about how tLw really fucked up my entire understanding of what it means to be gay, but I digress)

I remember watching the way CBS treated AJ, Paget and Kirsten. I remember following articles talking about why the women were forced to leave the show while the men were celebrated and doted upon. (Reasons why I hate certain characters that are popular here iykyk)

The very first scene with Tara Lewis in S11 made my heart skip a beat. My soul was screaming 'SHES QUEER!!!! SHE HAS GOT TO BE QUEER!' even though I never once held my breath that would ever become CANON.

Here I am, still in this fandom, seventeen years later, and I get to say 'Tara Lewis is canonically queer' on a show that has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life. On a show I turned to for comfort when everything felt like Too Much.

Because there is something so incredibly magical about seeing my favourite character and saying: Tara Lewis is Queer...and So Am I.

I know people are already like 'Emily was right there!?' or  'Why not make Emily queer!?' to those people I have one thing to say:

Please stop. Please stop and understand HOW important it is for TARA to be queer.

We have A CANONICALLY QUEER BLACK WOMAN IN HER 50s played by a sapphic actor. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW IMMINESLY RARE AND SPECIAL THAT IS?!?!? Do you have ANY idea of how IMPORTANT that is for representation?????

Emily Prentiss will never be confirmed queer in canon for many reasons. I have a LOT of thoughts about this, but that's not what this post is about.

This post is about celebrating one, extremely special fact.

And I couldn't be happier.

[radiant-reid]

I need to rant about this so here I am. It really grinds my gears how fans root for jeid and ignore that AJ was extremely uncomfortable with the plot in an interview from around 2018/19. She even said she was “scared” to do it. These fans are unfortunately part of the reason that the storyline happened, and see no issue with pushing the couple being canon despite the fact that not only was Jj married but AJ was extremely uncomfortable with it. How can these people honestly push for a ship that made one or more actors involved uncomfortable as hell. While they were cool with it, that was back in season 2. AJ even said years later she had a “brotherly love” for him, so obviously years later in season 14 the two probably had a sibling bond, and imagine how uncomfortable it probably was to do that with someone you have a sibling relationship with. Not to mention chances are she was scared to do it, probably because the vast majority of fans hate jeid, and most jeid fans didn’t even want them to happen after jj got married anyway. Obviously she knew how it would make her character look and she hated that. These fans ignore how uncomfortable it made her to fuel their own ship. It’s one thing if it’s just fanfiction, but stop saying it should’ve happened and she should’ve left will when she herself so obviously hated it. **if you’re wondering what interview it was from, I und it on the criminal minds tumble page. There was a short video of it. It also occurred in the one that Kirsten talking about first meeting the other actors on the show.

wow i never even knew about this (i don't really follow the actors, idk it makes it less real for me somehow)

yeah no fr it made JJ look bad and i think it's why some people hate her character (never me, i love that girl) and it's actually so sad AJ didn't want it to happen but it did

[xxgothchatonxx]

One scene in season 2 I am really looking forward to seeing is Claudia telling Louis to turn Madeleine.

Because, let’s be real - there is absolutely no way in hell that Claudia isn’t still pissed off at Louis for “saving her life”. In the finale, Daniel mentioned something about how “it seemed like she hated you for a while” (that’s also probably to do with Louis not letting her kill Lestat). We got a taste of it in episode five before she left but I’m hoping we get to see her just go off at him. Because I love Louis but Claudia has every right to be pissed off at him.

And you just know that Bailey would nail it. It’s such a powerful moment in the book, Kirsten Dunst did a fantastic job in the film, so I can’t wait to see how Bailey does this.

[mydollsaregay]

Is it cool if I ask a bunch of specific questions about your dollhouse? Like what did you make it out of? How big is it? How many rooms are there? And how many dolls live in it?

I want to make one of my own... potentially. I'm torn between making one from scratch or getting that one WalMart made through a resale shop, painting over all the details, and re-detailing it myself. ANYWAY, I need ideas and inspiration.

Thank you, sorry for coming in out of nowhere like this! 👉👈

- creepydollroom

i love talking about my dollhouse, so ask away!

The dollhouse is the way I display all my dolls, as I like displaying them in little scenes. If they are part of my collection, they live in the dollhouse! that means it’s pretty crowded, with 22 different 18 in dolls (two aren’t in the pic bc they’re getting fixed) and one wellie. there are also 3 dolls im actively planning to get (claudie, Courtney, and Cecile), and there are 4 more on my “if I found them for an excellent price I’d totally snag them” list (Kirsten, ruthie, Emily, and luciana). So it might get even more crowded 😅

here’s an overview pic of the current state of it:

it’s not fully set up yet (as you can tell by the random room full of naked dolls in the top right lol), and most rooms don’t have a proper scene set up atm, but I thought an honest look at what it usually looks like might be helpful lol.

I made it out of storage shelves I bought secondhand. I saw a lot of people making dollhouses online out of bookshelves, but the dimensions just didn’t work for what I was planning. For my plan, the shelves needed to be at least two feet deep (to accommodate beds facing outward), have adjustable shelves (to accommodate the taller furniture), and be either 3 or 4 feet wide to make the rooms large enough for fun scenes.

I found shelves that worked online from hardware stores, but they’d be super expensive, so I set up an alert on Facebook marketplace instead, and got lucky! They weren’t like. Super duper cheap, but they were much more affordable. Because they’re secondhand, most of the floors have a slight dip in the middle, but its not too bad.

The drawback to using shelves with open sides is that you have to make walls, which is really time-consuming (and the cost of materials can really add up!), but it was worth it for me to get the dimensions I wanted. My only real regret is not painting the shelves white before putting them in place. I hate how the ceilings in all my pictures are grey, but at this point it would be really hard to change, as I don’t want to spray paint in my poorly-ventilated basement 😭 The floors are just made from contact paper I got on Amazon and stuck on the shelves, and I’m really pleased with them.

There are nine rooms. Each room is 2 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and about 2 feet high (the heights vary a bit). Overall, the setup is 2 feet deep, 9 feet long, and about 6 feet high. It’s a big boy! Thankfully, there was a nice clear space in the basement for my doll zone, otherwise I never would have been able to have such a big setup 😅 it was really important to me for it to be big, as it’s not just a dollhouse, but also my doll display.

Having a bunch of rooms was really important to me, because I wanted to make themed rooms for a lot of the historical characters. Going across from left to right, top to bottom the rooms are: the modern bedroom (shared by kanani, Jess, Nicki, Mia, and Jessica who is a jly), the 60s/70s/80s bedroom (shared by Julie, ivy, melody, and eventually Courtney - I’m asking for Courtney for christmas so she’s not here yet), a room I haven’t decided about (it was gonna be Kaya’s but her tipi is too big 😭), the 1900s/1910s bedroom( shared by Sam, Nellie, and Rebecca), the 20s/30s bedroom (currently it’s just kit’s, but claudie will share with her when I get her), the 40s/50s bedroom (it’s entirely based on Molly’s bedroom from her scenes and settings, but she also shares with Maryellen and Nanea), the bathroom/laundry room, and the living room/kitchen (which takes up two room slots).

There are some girls who don’t really have a room that fits. Those are Caroline, Elizabeth, felicity, Marie-grace, addy, and josefina. Cecile and Kirsten would also be missing a spot if they were in my collection. Some of them will likely end up sharing the remaining unassigned room, but I don’t think all of them will work in one room. It will probably just end up being like. a very vague fancy historical girls room lol. I mostly want a reason to own Caroline’s bed haha

As far as ideas for your own dollhouse goes - it all depends on how much time you want to spend on your dollhouse build, and the size and shape you want it to be. I wanted mine to be really big with specific dimensions, so I had to go super custom with it. Re-detailing the one from Walmart is an EXCELLENT option if you like the size and shape of it, and/or don’t want to spend forever making pieces of it (I might die before I finish those walls 😭). If you want to do it custom, but don’t care as much about the rooms being deep as I did, I recommend going with a shelf with walls.

I do want to mention that just because you DIY something, that doesn’t mean it will be cheaper (sorry, every diy YouTube channel). The price of a diy project depends on a lot of things, both which you know going in (like your skill level, which limits what techniques you can use for building, and the cost for the basic materials) and things you don’t (like unexpected issues that may pop up, further customizations you want to make later on). That does not mean you can’t make a custom dollhouse on a budget - it just means you will need to plan carefully, find great deals, and spend a lot of time working on it (which can be fun!). Just because it’s not cheaper doesn’t mean it’s not worth it, but price can be an important consideration.