#and the plotline was dropped once they were killed off

[thequeenofsastiel]

Unpopular opinion apparently but Prince Lestat and The Realms of Atlantis was a lot of fun

[cobra-diamond]

My Problems With Azula In the Spirit Temple

Spirit Temple feels like a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways, but it also contains a number of lingering foul odors. Here are some of the problems I have with Spirit Temple:

This Version of Casual Bitch Face Azula

Not be confused with Resting Bitch Face Azula. I'm talking her eyebrows raised casually, her aloof expression, flippant demeanor, and very sharp, even jaundice features. I know we’ve seen variants of this Azula before, but this comic's version in the beginning and at the end feels like an amalgam of her characterizations from Book 2, Book 3, and The Search, maybe even Smoke & Shadow a bit. Something feels off about this characterization of Azula. It feels a bit forced and exaggerated.

The Fire Warriors Not Wanting Revenge on Society

Huge missed opportunity. This was an area where Azula and her acolytes could have related to each other and bonded on a personal level; being discarded by their society and their families. The potential was there for the Fire Warriors to be inspired by Azula because the princess of their nation went through the same ordeal as them. They even wore facsimiles of Azula’s clothes. Instead, they want to be Robin Hoods? The fuck? I know why the story did this. It wants to end the Kemurikage plotline and tie Azula to a new, likely comic-erased, plot for Avatar Studios. It’s still a monumental missed opportunity made even worse by the ending.

The Ending

Trash ending. I’ve changed my mind. It’s terrible. It almost sinks the whole comic. Almost, but not quite. One of two outcomes could have occurred for this story: Azula reconciles with the Fire Warriors, or Azula leaves them be, which is what happened. But we needed a more definitive statement from Azula, not Casual Bitch Face Azula flippantly walking off into the sunset. Once again, Azula is walking off alone into a forest, with no clear indication of what will come next for her or what she actually wants.

But the worst part of the ending is her line, “I’ll find new followers, a new place to rule." What complete nonsense. What, is she going to Neverland to rule over the Lost Boys? Skull Island and marry King Kong? This is 100% a result of Avatar Studios' and the franchise’s overall lack of plan surrounding Azula and the Royal Family. Don’t give me this amateur fanfic garbage of her venturing around the world with no money and no allies. The more I look at this ending, the worse it gets.

The Fire Warriors Getting Dropped

This ties into the ending. The franchise has a massive problem of not having people for Azula to talk to, not having anyone in her corner like Iroh was for Zuko. She’s alone in the finale. She’s alone in The Search. Smoke & Shadow is a joke so ignore that crap. And this comic continues the trend.

Being alone is not naturally part of her arc at this point. It's artificial. There should be no shortage of people in the Fire Nation who are willing to befriend the princess, help the princess, woo the princess. The Fire Warriors were clear examples of girls who would admire her, but the franchise chose to turn them into “good” people who just want to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Perhaps the problem is that Azula's allies would be political in nature and the Fire Nation currently lacks the necessary worldbuilding to have political allies for Azula when that would create huge downstream affects for Zuko.

The War Is Not Mentioned

Azula can’t separate her identity with her political role in the Fire Nation, and that's fine, but the franchise needs to be honest about why the Royal Family is so fucked up, why Zuko and Azula fought an Agni Kai, and why Azula is still adversarial to her older brother, because of the war.

The war.

The war. The war. The war.

The war that wiped out the Air Nomads and Southern Water Tribe waterbenders. The war that led Azulon to be an evil sack of shit to his grandson by commanding Ozai to kill him. That war that led Iroh to either be a proud warlord and favorite of said sack of shit Azulon or feckless burnout in the face of his sack-of-shit-to-be brother. The war that led Ozai to have a reason to be brutal and self-serving. The war that led Iroh to convince Zuko to battle his sister and prevent her from being Fire Lord. The war that pinned Zuko and Azula against each other in the first place.

The war, Sozin, and Azulon need to start getting blamed as root causes for a lot of these problems. Ozai is already getting his portion and is starting to get more from Azula. And Iroh doesn’t get off the hook. He failed to challenge his brother to an Agni Kai when clearly any member of the Royal Family can do so according to Zuko's and Azula’s Agni Kai. I need the war to be blamed for destroying the royal family. This comic barely does that.

Azula Was Too Complacent Around the Spirit

We all know Azula is an incredibly brave girl, but she’s also intelligent enough to sniff out danger. Why wasn’t she more forceful in demanding answers from the scary monk? Why did she play the spirit’s game instead of fight it immediately? This isn’t a big problem, but it made the exchange feel a bit forced and Azula experiencing Plot-Induced Stupidity.

The Spirit’s Intentions Were Too Vague

Was it trying to eat her? Why did the monk kick her out? Why couldn’t it “control what happens next”? Why did it think it new how to "redeem" Azula when it demonstrated tat it didn't know her well enough? There were major Coraline vibes in this story, from the Other Mother-esque tactics of giving Azula what she wants, to Azula circling back to the temple when trying to leave. Again, not a big problem, but it made the spirit frustratingly vague.

Azula’s Blank Reaction to the Zuko Monster

Too many blank stares while the Zuko Monster was lambasting her. I think I know what this scene was doing, but, please, if Azula is confused, use some dialogue to express that. If Azula is scared, or overwhelmed, use some dialogue to convey that. The prior scenes already used dialogue very effectively to convey Azula’s perspective.

Too Short

I don’t care about the comic format. I need more of this. The ATLA franchise does not have a character remaining who can hold a candle to Azula’s complexity, psychological damage, inner and moral conflicts, and potential for transformation. The Bounty Hunter and the Tea Brewer? Mystery of Penquan Island? ‘Fuck outta here with that shit. Give me more Crime and Punishment, Azula-edition.

[trinitywc]

big fan of the great light!!! do you have any advice for story structure/finding the balance between slow and fast pacing?

so long answer, as usual

I start off by thinking of the Main Points I want to write about, and then fill out from there with Secondary Points. For example, TGL: Main Points (this isn't 100% accurate to the book just a rough example) - WoodClan and CreekClan go to war; a nuclear bomb is dropped - The cats are split up, but find each other by a badger sett - Radiation sickness sets in while trying to find their friends - The cats decide to leave to find their Clan Is the basic plotline, and then i fill it out with moments I want, I'm calling these 'Secondary Points', these are what needs to happen to allow the 4 Main Points above ie for the First point to happen, the Clan needs to be introduced and the setting developed so; - introduce Pinepaw and those closest to her, her mentor, her sister, - introduce the war between the Clans - give Pinefrost a motive to hate WoodClan (her mother's death) and reject her pacifist wishes - hint at the human war with various planes, barbed wire, and soldier mentions So I made a timeline of Apprenticeship > Warrior > Bomb, adding scenes that served a purpose (Secondary Points) and those I deem necessary; introducing a character like Blackwillow as mysterious but distant from his Clan by having him appear on the riverbank, showing Chestnutspike and Ouzelheart's relationship, showing CreekClan's buildup to war and training, showing Pinefrost as a rash, impulsive, but curious, young cat by introducing her as runnign away from her duties to explore the forest (with her friend who wants to impress her). "Necessary" scenes in WaCa fic are stuff like 'this is the medicine cat' 'this is her warrior ceremony' 'this is Clan life and hunting and patrolling', so mileage will vary on your story. When it comes to "fast vs slow" pacing, I'm not sure. I think by starting with the Big Points and whittling down, you can keep the story going- and Story also includes character moments - the "break" in TEW where the cats are in the House also explores the ruined city and affects of the bomb, gives Cuckoopaw and Rutherford some character moments (ie training sessions), not everything is nuclear war 100% of the time. Even if characters are doing something "slow" like walking, or routine hunting, something can happen- character motive reveals, backstory, or just some joking to build relationships, a nice 'break' from the fast 'something happening all the time'. I like to think back to first arc warriors were something happened every chapter (Dangerous Path - Tigerstar is revealed as ShadowClan leader, then Whitestorm reports smelling dogs, then Fireheart bumps into Greystripe in RiverClan, then Cinderheart gets 'pack pack kill kill', then Fireheart observes Snowkit acting weird, then Bluestar refuses to make new warriors, all in the first five chapters; all these are tied up by the end; vs the newer books were to me, it feels like a whole lot of nothing happens in between each chapter)

Later, I'll end up going back and adding things once I know how the rough outline goes- ie once Flaxstripe ran away from the Clan, I went and added some scenes of him being selfish and self-serving- I think it's best to get the skeleton and then paper mache on the meat of the story. 'Slow' pacing is where nothing happens (ala Stevie King where he drones on and on about advertising or some 'scary' childhood story with no relevance to the plot), as long as you are providing some information- be it plot, character beats, 'a nice break', or some fun. Eg, if a character is walking home, that's not very interesting just describing the path home, think of why you're describing it- are you setting up their home route or have we been here before and could skip it with a brief 'and she went home' mention? Is she daydreaming about the awkward goodbye she just had, or her plans for tomorrow, or marveling over the simple beauty of her walk home?

It depends on what you are going for, but if you start small and go big, it works itself out

[hibiscussoupbowl]

Yk what ive already made all my statements abt the teen wolf movie on instagram but imma say it here

As much as i love and breath teen wolf, its not the perfect show which is fine bc recognizing that is what makes its good. The thing is the movie? Godawful. The one thing i can appreciate is that the movie had an opening and the graohic design was cool

My problems with it?

-the plotline being abt allison. I think alisson (is it allison or alisson?) Is a fine character especially in s3, however, you killed her off. That whole s3 ending was abt her dying and isaac leaves BECAUSE of allison dying. Now ur gonna reopen that plotline that was TIED OFF? Ur not even gonna get stiles or isaac back into play even tho theyre arguably the most important for that season. And ur not gonna tell us how s6 ended??? Even with a flashforward of 2 years??

-the fbombs. Im sorry, what? U make a show that doesnt use f bombs at all and u make it creepy and horror but when u make the movie thats r rated meaning u can go even harder... u use it on fbombs? Might i add in the worst way possible. "Darkness motherfucker" wow. It just sounds so cringey. Either use it once meaningfully or dont drop one at all. U managed to make s3 be creepy without it do it again

-why the absolute fuck was liam in japan. By the hour and a half mark that question wasnt explained and it never was. Him and this girl hikari (whos gr8 actually) are just in japan and i guess own a bar??? I dont even know what they are to eachother let alone how they ended up there. I only knew that they love eachother bc they say that in jpn but like still??? Is it a sibling ily or a were dating and ily?

-the actors. Im sorry but if ur gonna get all these actors like masons and parrish and malia and whoever but u give them like what one line? Mason had legit like 2 lines in that movie. And u dont even know how he beacme a police officer! He just is! And they dont even say anything abt corey??? U could easily get his actor i know he aint doin anything rn. Liam and hikari? Also have like 3 lines in the movie

-personal thing lol but not everyone looks good with a beard and a shaved head

-lydia and stiles. Just bc u coudnt get dylan obrien cuz hes like the most succesful does NOT mean u just break up the couple that u built for six. seasons. You couldve said literally anything you couldve said stiles was dealing with some fbi shit or another supernatural disaster. Lydia having the dream? Tragic but stiles wouldnt have cared bc he loves her and wouldve just wanted to be with her forever.

-how can u not tell us who elis mother is. We ALLLL wanna know who derek banged im sorry but he slept with the enemy like three times and with his history and family history everyone just wants to know who it was.

-dereks death. WHAT THE FUCK this man survived a *pipe* going thru his back for like 10 minutes and survived, got brutally slashed and survived and ur telling me he died by magical fire. Sure teen wolf sure.

-if ur gonna introduce a character like alec in the season finale, bring him into play somehow recast him idc but do smt. Even nolan! Someone !

-what was with the whole nogitsune temple thing?? It was so... not scary at all and it looked bad. Like idk it was just so kiddy. Like oh noooo we re trapped bc we re tied to a pole with rope -_-

-sorry but again why continue a plotline that has been tied off? And not continue with the one that was open ended when u cant even get the significant actors for the s3 plotline? Bring daniel sharman into play, medicis over he has the freetime.

-malia and scott breaking up is also stupid bc again they were "endgame" and they had no reason to break up other than the fact that allison was alive again and for plot reasons.

-harrison coming back was so stupid i was so glad they killed him off even tho i guess they never found his body. I was hoping

-are argent and melissa not dating anymore? Its been like 3 months since ive seen the movie so i dont rememeber that but if they arent, why are the writers/producers, whoever, so desperate to break up everything great they had goin at the end of the show.

The interesting parts of the movie were

-the intro

-elis backstory with his dad, except why would u hate derek its literally tyler hoechlin

-and scott having an animal clinic bc i think thats funny

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

From the Ashes story plotline pt 2/2

since i don't know if or when i'll get back to this story, someone did ask if i could give the basic plot of it so here's the second part

pt1

what a surprise to get back from the sky to find rhaegar targaryen standing in the manor's courtyard. you don't quite believe it when you land. you think it's even a mirage or the permanent fog creating an odd affect. but it's your silver prince. your husband. your rhaegar. you can't imagine the how different you look to him. no longer that fearful little girl. he's not the same either. a huge ugly scar running vertically across his otherwise beautiful face. the two of you just stand there staring at the other. you're uncertain. will he be disappointed? he makes the first move and walks up to you. further rendering you speechless when he drops to his knees and you see the tears in his eyes.

cue me taking a line from httyd2 "You're as beautiful as the day i lost you" you don't have time to remember how he'd felt about lyanna or the pain he caused you. you allow your heart to do the thinking and collapse into him. i had a sweet smutty idea for reunion sex 😅

barristan and ashara dayne find prince visarys and baby dany. along with ser willem darry all travel to sunspear

reader's group and rhaegar's leave asshai. latilth is still fairly young and can't fly for long periods like kushul can so they have to stop. . . you guessed it, yi ti. when cersei's prince hears of azor ahai reborn in the city with not one dragon now, but two, hieu is eager to invite prince rhaegar targaryen and azor ahai reborn to his palace. cersei's practically salivating. this was it, she'd be able to get to reader and finish her off. her and dritan plan to lure you away and kill you during the party. while at the party, a majority of the darkin and rhaegar's men remain to keep guard over the dragons. reader, rhaegar, rhiannon, inniros, griff and loviisa go to the party. she immediately spots cersei when reader is introduced to prince hieu and his imperial harem. at some point reader does pull away from the party when she tries to follow cersei. she's trapped in a room by cersei and dritan whom she is equally shocked to see there. he has a jagged scar "courtesy of your brother". reader and dritan sword fight. he's strong but he can't fend off the flames that melt his skin. when he's caught off guard that's when lightbringer skewers right through dritan. this is the first time reader has killed anyone with her own weapon. she's distracted by this and doesn't notice cersei come up behind her with a stiletto dagger thoroughly coated with poison. she gets one slice in before inniros' shadow stops her. rhaegar and the others barge into the room. cersei is taken prisoner. she has one more trick up her sleeve and it's for rhaegar. honestly i didn't work out the detail of how cersei would get close enough to poison rhaegar, but she manages to do it and kills him 🙃

once back in volantis and everyone reunited, a funeral pyre is built for rhaegar. a trial is held against cersei in the temple. tywin refused to save cersei from the fate of reader's execution blade. reader turns out to be pregnant. discovers this before setting sail for westeros. utterly devastated the entire voyage but rhiannon, jaime, inniros and tyrion are there to support reader through such troubled waters. also a new plan of attack is developed when they get to storm's end and call upon rhaegar's banner. robert baratheon encourages reader to take the iron throne since she carries rhaegar's heir. bunch of arguments that reader shouldn't join the rest of the men in battle since she was pregnant. she refuses to stand by. reader has two dragons after all. ashara and barristan show up at storm's end before they were scheduled to set out to king's landing via black water bay. little viserys and dany with them. lyanna watches over them (she's due to give birth to who will be jon baratheon). kushul easily takes out aerys' fleet and archers with his flames. Latilth, with reader atop, smashes through the great hall of the red keep. jaime, ned and robert lead an army on foot that had fiery hands, darkin, dornish, northerners, etc to take the city. reader slays aerys and becomes queen of the seven kingdoms.

several months later, reader gives birth to triplets: Vaegon, Rhaenyra and Maelor.

now what happens with the long night? that was supposed to be in the third book of the series i was planning (paradise of light and shadow) but honestly can't imagine that i'll get to it now 😅😂

anyway yeah, that's what i had planned for 'from the ashes'. i got burned out from even writing out the bare bones. this fic could have gone up to 100 chapters easily.

one day i may return to it. but for now this is the best i can give you 🙃

if you have any other qustions about it or want me to elaborate on certain parts, let me know 😊

[bloodymarymorstan]

Ok so I just watched the latest episode of What If where Captain Carter (Peggy if she was Captain America) fights the Hydra Stomper (Steve if he was the Winter Soldier) because I KNEW they were once again gonna do the thing where they give all of Steve and Bucky's interactions to Peggy and Steve and say that this time they are romantic even though they definitely weren't when it was 2 very straight bros (lol) so. Let's get into it (spoilers for s2e5 of What If, obviously):

When Peggy finds out Steve is alive she goes to Nick Fury and he tells her there have been rumors of this for decades; Peggy's angry he and Natasha didn't tell her - this is interesting because in TWS Peggy was part of the organization that was hiding rumors about Bucky from Steve. Peggy is objecting to something she was part of in the actual MCU

Natasha says "the Steve Rogers that you loved died in 1953" - a similar sentiment to what people were saying to Steve about Bucky but more overtly romantic. They throw the word "love" around in the episode quite a few times, like they need to make it extra clear

Bucky (who's old and working for SHIELD) finds out Steve is alive and his reaction is pretty tame, like he's surprised and I guess happy but he doesn't really seem to care that much which is just ridiculous (especially bc in this timeline Steve and Bucky kept working together for several years after the war) - Bucky is also stated to have had a wife and kids and has clearly moved on from Steve in the way Peggy did in the original movies

The Hydra Stomper (Steve) is going to kill Bucky, Bucky stands in front of him to talk him down. He doesn't want to kill Steve which is obviously good and in character. The thing he says to try to get Steve to snap out of it is "let's get a drink" which cracked me up because is that the no homo version of "end of the line" for these writers?? Anyway, Steve does lower his gun but then he raises it again (we don't see if he would have actually killed Bucky because Peggy intervenes at this point)

There's a romantic scene where Peggy and Steve bond over their shared traumas which... shared life experience, anyone? (What If I threw myself off a cliff?) - it does turn out that Steve is secretly still brainwashed at this point and is trying to lure Peggy in so idk how seriously I should take this scene

In terms of dialogue, the final fight scene between Peggy and Steve is very similar to the one with Steve and Bucky in TWS. Eventually, Peggy drops her shield and tells Steve that she doesn't want to fight him, and is going to let him kill her. The line she says that gets him to stop is "I want to be with you. Even if this is the end. I want you." She also says "I can't lose you again." This is basically EXACTLY what "I'm with you til the end of the line means", but a bit less ambiguous (and also less poetic, the original line is obviously much better)

Steve doesn't kill Peggy, he flies off (but he also doesn't save her life like Bucky does for Steve in TWS so. Inferior)

At the end, Peggy is planning to go find Steve, even though nobody thinks she'll be able to save him (again, basically the exact same as TWS)

My concluding thoughts:

It's hard to say what Marvel's exact goal is with the phenomenon of giving so many of Steve and Bucky's interactions to Steve and Peggy in EU content, but it's definitely gotten pretty ridiculous and out of hand. There is an instinct to accuse them of homophobia and wanting to rewrite Steve and Bucky's story to make it straight/less significant, but I also wonder if the bigger factor is that the writers know that Steve and Peggy's canon ending makes no sense considering how underdeveloped their relationship was, and they want to trick viewers into thinking they had a better written romance by giving them more meaningful moments in What If (and also Rogers The Musical but that's for another post). That being said, if the best way to write a better romance you can think of is to use the exact same plotline the supposedly straight protagonist had with his male best friend (but that people have been interpreting as a romance for years and years) then maybe you should be reflecting on why that is. Ultimately though it's just lazy writing (have some originality!) and will never erase the fact that the real movies were gay as hell. I'll definitely be taking this as further proof that TWS was a romance all along.

[lifblogs]

It is so weird seeing other parts of the internet say the finale was perfect. It was rushed, dropped a million plotlines, the music sucked, there were some teasing shots about CX-2 and Hemlock and we got no fulfillment on what any of that meant, we got zero reaction from Crosshair about his hand and it was cut off for shock value and was ableist. I mean, there are just so many things wrong with it. The Zillo Beast was a weak plot device. Emerie's story was rushed and cut short and we never got an explanation about her past. The CX clones hinted at being copies of the Bad Batch was rushed and went nowhere since they were all killed. By the time they got their happy ending I didn't even feel it because of the rushed and weird story of how they got there. (But seriously, the music. I can't stand it. So different from what the Kiners tend to give us.) I will say it's weird being on the side of some reddit and screenrant dudebros who also didn't like the finale. Like, wow, we're united for once? With the dudebros? Did not have that on my bingo card.

[notnosimp]

I love how charborgs wires/markings paralell hetch's! Would crik/char recognize/be familiar with anyone else either of their actual cc counterparts interact with (like jerma and vinny for example, especially vinny for hetch since criken and vinny are friends irl and theres potential for why would hetch here let an anvil be dropped on him over that)

Thank you sm!! And oh, definitely!

Before I get to the others I wanna say that the reason Char also has quite a bit of wires is due to him not behaving and basically just trying to escape/mess with the cast and crews wiring. They keep him hired/not killed off 'cause he's making the shows look better and because by having him there and not fully mind-controlled, Hetch is a bit happier. They dug around, and now the Founder knows about them being friends before the hiring. (The Founder/Showfall WILL use this as blackmail, of course.)

I unfortunately don't watch much of Vinny, but the friendship between GL him and GL!Criken/Hetch would definitely be similar to GL!Chars and GL!Cris- the only difference being that Vinny was probably there for a lot, LOT longer. Same with Criken- he mentioned being given his job a while ago, and Charborg probably waited a year, maybe two before finally building up the courage to go to Showfall himself and find out why Criken was acting so weird.

(I'm just gonna call Hetch Criken from now on, unless I'm referring to him 'in mask' or on the job)

Criken absolutely, and probably immediately (since the cast members don't actually have masks) recognized Vinny and Jerma (and maybe Ranboo, too- hard to say since they don't play much together IRL from what I've seen but they did make Genloss together lmao. I'll come back to that)- same with Char when he got his mask off. Criken tried to communicate with them- tried to actually figure out why they were there (as, unlike him- they were actually super nice, sane people) but it didn't really work. There were little split moments where he thought he saw a flicker of recognition in their eyes, and sometimes they said something that wouldn't make sense if they didn't know who he really was, but those moments were over and done with in seconds.

Eventually, he gave up on them. Saw them as just another part of the show and didn't care about killing them off time and time again. Charborg still tries to communicate with them like Criken once did, even though Criken did tell him that he'd already tried and come up empty handed- and even though he's done trying- Criken does hope, deep in the back of his head, that they eventually escape. He hopes Charborg escapes, too. He doesn't think Showfall is a good place for them.

For a bit of an explanation on why he cares about them but less so the others- the short answer is that he knew them in the before. Before he got all his power. They're special to him; he has actual connections to them and knows that there are actually people behind those blank eyes. He's spent time with them: shared meals, binged shows, played games- all with them. They stay latched onto his heart, but with how much he knows the mind-altering tech does to their brains, that special place they once held is fading.

He finds solace in Char, at times- talking with him about memories before he got hired. They're far and few between- as mentioned before, mind-altering tech tends to erase a lot of stuff- but it helps him remember why he originally tried to help them and brings a bit of happiness into his life that doesn't come from his job.

It's in the past, though. He's confident there's no saving them, despite his hopes. That's the definitive answer of why he doesn't mind killing them anymore- especially since they can be revived. It's all for the story, all for the plotline- in his mind.

[superman86to99]

Superman #90 (June 1994)

"THE BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS," Part 3! Things are BOOMING in Metropolis! Last issue ended with Lex Luthor (we can probably drop the "Jr." by now) remotely detonating a bomb right next to Superman and the badly injured Guardian. In this one we quickly find out that there have actually been several Lex-triggered explosions (Lexplosions, if you will) all across the city. Lex watches the mayhem from his yacht, maniacally shouting that if he has to die, he's taking the whole city with him.

Meanwhile, from the safety of his comfy office in Project Cadmus, wily ol' Director Westfield decides to take advantage of the chaos to get rid of those pesky Underworld clones once and for all. He secretly launches a series of missiles that spread deadly gas throughout the city's sewers, killing several peaceful Underworlders who were just chilling there (when he could have waited a few days for the Clone Plague to get them). Renegade geneticist Dabney Donovan, who has hidden cameras all over Cadmus, notices what Westfield is doing and doesn't like it, not because he's the Underworlders' "father" but because he wants to keep experimenting on them.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Superman takes the unconscious Guardian to Cadmus and bumps into Westfield, who rudely invites him to leave. Superman, who has never liked Westfield, lets him know as much and warns him that as soon as the current mess is over, he's letting everyone know exactly how much he sucks.

Westfield brushes him off and is like "No one will ever bring me down! I WILL LIVE FOREVER!" Then, while Superman is distracted dealing with one of those missiles, Dubbilex's telepathic powers suddenly pick up "a presence in Cadmus" he "hasn't felt in a very long time..."

That's right, you guessed it: it's freakin' Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught!

Wait, no, that was Dabney Donovan. And yes, he just murdered Paul "King of the World" Westfield with some poison gas. Official cause of death: irony. CONTINUED NEXT WEEK (or whenever we write that post) IN ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #513!

Character-Watch:

And that's the end of Director Westfield, who has been a pain in the ass since 1991's Superman #58. It says a lot that, unlike everyone else who dies at Cadmus, they've never brought this jerk back via cloning... or have they?! (Geoff Johns: "No, they haven't.") I'm not sorry to see him go, but I do think that his death makes certain future revelations regarding the character kinda anticlimactic.

Don Sparrow says: "Quite a fall for Westfield. In the Bloodhounds storyline he seemed like a tough, if flawed leader. But in this book he’s exactly as bad as Luthor." Yeah, he seemed like a somewhat reasonable authority figure until "Funeral for a Friend," when he started his slow descent into supervillain status. Maybe a more satisfying ending for him would have been turning him into an actual supervillain, perhaps via Dabney's ironic experiments... It's not too late to tell that tale, DC!

Plotline-Watch:

The best part of the issue is Superman saying he "almost hates" throwing one of those poison gas missiles into the stratosphere because "half the time I throw stuff into space it comes back even more dangerous!" We've been documenting that tradition for years, so that was satisfying to read. To my knowledge, that missile never became sentient and came back as "Missile-O" or something, but I could be wrong.

Superman tells Westfield that "cloning ruined my home planet." We saw that story (with sweet, sweet Mike Mignola art) in the World of Krypton miniseries.

Dabney Donovan says he wants to continue studying the Underworlders to "create new life that will survive the coming apocalypse." I'm not sure if by "apocalypse" he means this storyline or a... future one. Also, keyboard, multiple monitors, a big and probably expensive microphone -- is Dabney a Twitch streamer?

Westfield teases Superman because he can't be in multiple places at once, musing that maybe he'll create a being who can do that as his next experiment. So if he hadn't died, the next Cadmus creation would have been Madrox the Multiple Man.

Some impressively dumb Lex-Men chase Lois and shoot at her for "ripping off corporate secrets" (actually that tape of Lex killing his trainer from last issue). When she says they're making a big mistake, they laugh at her and one says "You ain't got a prayer, lady! Not unless you got yourself a guardian angel!" Are they... not from Metropolis? That would explain why one bothers trying to blast Superman "to smithereens" once he inevitably shows up.

After Superman takes care of those goons, Lois notices there's a camera in one of the helmets and uses the opportunity to tell Lex that he's screwed. He shouts: "NO! Who's her informant? Packard? Happersen? Or somebody else?" Lex, you've got exactly three recurring employees in this era. Come on, it's not that hard.

Patreon-Watch:

This post was brought to you by Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Gaetano Barreca, the Superman '86 to '99 Patreon Gang!

And also by everyone's pal Don Sparrow, who wrote the section after the jump...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We begin with a great cover, of an anguished Superman in the rubble of Metropolis.  I’m gonna assume that this is moments before Superman leapt into action, and helped all those people behind him with the recovery effort, but you gotta take a minute or two to grieve.  Joe Rubinstein is a legendary inker, to be sure, but his inks never fully jibed with Dan Jurgens pencils, it seems to me, and this cover shows a little bit of that.  The rim lighting on the arms going so far from the edge makes Superman look almost excessively lean/defined, but that’s only noticeable when you stare at it as long as I have.

Inside the book we have guest pencils from Brent Anderson, whose art can be hit or miss for me, over the years.  His Astro City stuff, for example, was terrific, like a modern Curt Swan, but at times, but in other instances—like this issue—there can be an unpleasantly rushed feel to his art.  The surface detail is always terrific, and Neal Adams-like, but sometimes his forms can go a bit wonky.  The very opening splash page is a good example of this. 

At first glance, this seems like a terrific page, a great montage of different things happening over Metropolis.  But then when you zoom in on both Guardian and Superman’s faces (particularly Guardian), things seem a little asymmetrical.  This is not to say that there aren’t some excellent moments—there are!  Page 5 has a great tall panel of Superman soaring into action.  Dabney Donovan is looking quite Dr. Robotnik-like as he surveys Westfield’s final solution for the Underworlders.  Page 12 unfortunately boasts another wonky Superman face, almost saved by the surface detailing.  The absolute weirdest Superman face appears a little later, during the guardian angel exchange, where Kal-El is looking like he sproinged off the pages of Mad Magazine.

There’s another good flying shot comes on page 17, where Superman darts out of a sewer pipe.   On the whole, a pretty inconsistent looking book, with backgrounds being a particularly weak point (apart from the extreme perspective shot of Metropolis early on). Story-wise, not a ton happens, apart from Superman zig-zagging to and from disasters, though we do get a little movement on the clone illness (that Guardian is apparently immune) and a recap of last week, revealing that Lois has damning evidence against Luthor.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Lex’s soldiers are pretty sexist, in addition to being willing murderers.  How does a guy list when hiring for that position?

Funny note as Superman launches the poison gas missile into space, as he muses “half the time I throw stuff into space, it comes back even more dangerous.”  Certainly true of the Eradicator, but I’m trying to think of other examples.  [Max: Off the top of my head, there's the time he threw that living cemetery into space and it turned into a murder cloud, the time he left a lab suspended in orbit and it eventually spawned the Cyborg Superman (who did his own space-tossing with Doomsday), and, hmmm, does the time he threw himself into space and came back with a deadly artifact count?]

Very Obi-Wan-like reaction from Dubbilex, as he senses Dabney Donovan’s presence.  I always thought that Donovan was somewhere nearby as it was, so it’s odd that Dubbilex would only now sense his brainwaves.

How does the gas hurt Westfield to the point that he’s choking blood, but not at all affect the maskless Donovan? [Max: Maybe he was a poison gas-immune Dabney clone who only thought he was the "one and only"?]

[will80sbyers]

Are you ever afraid we're putting too much faith into the writers? It's been a few months since vol2 dropped so I feel like people are already forgetting the parts of the story that weren't particularly good. The almost cheesy bullying? Robin and vickie being very similar to each other? Eddie dying in kind of a stupid way just because he was always meant to die? The st*ncy revival (though I hope that's just a red herring ofc)? The timeskip everyone hated? The neverending russia plotline? I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't expect perfectly satisfying storylines in s5. Do you think some of these weren't actually that bad, or were they bad but s5 will still deliver?

I don't think the Duffers are perfect writers but I like what they have done so far with the show so I'm not worried ♥️

imo the bullying wasn't cheesy it was exactly how bullies acted at that time and many people online talked about having similar experiences and relating to Eleven to the point of being retraumatized by that, bullying has simply changed a bit with technology I believe

we have not seen enough of Vickie to say that she's too similar to Robin, they made her talk fast like Robin because they wanted to make it clear that Robin was not the only one with a crush + Vickie was introduced mainly for the byler parallel

Eddie's death was not stupid in my opinion, he didn't know what was happening with Steve and the others and wanted to give them more time and be brave for once, the problem with Eddie's death is that it was predictable but it had sense in the narrative + his character was written in also to forward Dustin's character arc for next season so I believe it will play a huge part on the general narrative

I don't think Stancy was really revived, I think it was all about making Nancy understand that Steve had truly changed (because they probably will kill him off next season... to make it more dramatic and sad when he dies for love)

Once you rewatch the time skip doesn't feel weird anymore, I think it was the first impression because we have big action scene right before and it seemed sudden because the brain is overwhelmed... I also believe they could explore it back with flashbacks but we will see!

The Russia plotline was literally necessary to save Hopper and start jopper officially and I personally liked it, I don't think it was badly written and I think that what they learned about the Russian studying the demogorgons could help them next season because they showed the tanks and all

so yeah, I'm not expecting the most mindblowing never seen before thing ever from the show but I'm expecting something that is true to the characters, a good theme of True love winning against evil that I personally love with all my heart and the importance of friendship and found families... I'm expecting the right ending for stranger things... maybe a bit sad because at least one character I love will probably die but still a good ending!

I have faith that they know what they are doing because for now everything that I didn't like at first watch I understood later what was the purpose of that :)

adding byler proof just because I feel like it lol

[mazm-imagines]

Your Eyes Look Down At Mine

1941 word thy creature fic yeahhhh yeahhhh yeahhhh. This is following the EA plotline! So no EL sadge. tw/cw for Child Death

How could it have gone so wrong?

“No way…” As soon as the memory entered Justine’s head, her relieved smile dropped to a frightened grimace.

“How…” She couldn’t help her trembling shoulders. Her entire body was convulsing and she just couldn’t stop.

“Justine, are you alright?” Noah didn’t know. He didn’t know anything. For once the cocky Noah showed a semblance of concern. 

“Let’s get out of here.” Her breaths were quickening in tandem with her heartbeat, as if she was about to suffocate. 

As if that monster would kill them any second now.

How she would have loved to leave; but she couldn’t have before delivering a warning.

“Noah! Get away from him!” Before he could even ask why, Justine shrieked.

“Murderer!” The truth burned her throat like acid. To turn on her friend…

It was never her friend. If she had known from the beginning, she would have torn it apart from the seams. She would have never said such sweet words to it. She would have never shown it any semblance of kindness. Even now it wasn’t saying anything, merely stewing in silence. 

How dare you… After all you put me through. How dare you.

“You knew everything… And deceived me!” 

How dare you!

With that, her rage washed back into fear; her final words before bolting away as far as her legs could take her.

“Justine!” She could hear her name being called from behind by Noah, but still she paid it no mind. The hallway's narrow path felt as if it would crush her any moment. Her vision was spinning and she finally felt her legs give out from underneath. In one swift motion she planted face first onto the floor with a cry. At one point or another, she started weeping in the empty corridor. Everything felt too hot, sweat beaded down her face and mingled with her tears dripping into the dirty carpet below. No one would be there to deliver her from her pain. Only God knew of her pitiful tears, of her innocence. 

That monster made sure of it.

“Justine! Justine are you alright?” Noah sat beside her on the floor, repeating his question from earlier.

“...” The lack of a response was enough for him to assess the situation. With a bandaged hand he gripped Justine’s shaky forearm, indicating for her to get up.

“Let me go-! Leave me alone…” She yanked her arm back down. What point was there to be aided now? She was finally going to die in the damn tower. Either that monster or another Nepe would take her out of her misery in the end. She was sure of it.

It was too much. Too much had happened in the span of an hour or two. She didn’t need Noah bothering her now.

“Look… Justine… He won’t follow us right now alright? I’ll make sure nothing happens… Please just listen to me. I won’t force you to do anything.”

“...” Justine looked up at him from where she was on the floor. Wet brown eyes met Noah’s concerned blue ones. For once they were a source of comfort rather than unease. She nodded her head as an indication she was listening. 

“The maze flower room is nearby, sit there for a bit. Let me get something for you, it won’t be long alright?” Another nod indicated Justine's compliance. Noah held her hand this time, letting her stand up herself instead of using force. She attempted to peel herself off the floor, but her legs were still trembling in anxiety. Noah had to pull her up once more, this time letting her lean on him until she could sit down again. 

After a few unlocked doors, Noah motioned to Justine to get inside the final room. The room was completely shrouded in darkness, but the maze flowers dotted it in blue light. That was all she needed to make her way around. 

“Sit here. I’ll get a wet rag from the bathroom.” Justine sat by the doorway and gave another nod, confirmation that she would be alright. Although Noah… what if he…

Before she could call out for him, Noah closed the door behind him; footsteps trailed away till nothing could be heard.

Watching the Nepi sit near the flowers as well relaxed Justine ever so slightly. It was silent with not much to overwhelm her. The knots in her chest loosened enough for her to let out deep breaths. A constant rhythm keeping her focused.

Said focus snapped once the door cracked ajar.

“Eep!” The monster had come for her! Just before she could shriek Noah’s name, she whipped her head around to find him looking down on her, wet towel in hand.

“It’s me, calm down. Here, put this on your face.” He shut the door before sitting by her. He handed her the wet towel which she used to wipe her face from tears. The cold cloth placed against her hot cheek felt almost therapeutic. She attempted to start her concentrated breathing again, but the anxiety of being punished for her comments earlier was eating away at her. Where was that murderer now?

As if he could read her mind, Noah responded to the imaginary question.

“He’s still there. I don’t know why though…” A bold-faced lie. He couldn’t find any indication of where it had gone at all, but if it set her at ease for now he would tell her all the lies in the world.

“I- I see…”

“Alex’s shotgun is on the first floor. We could use it if you want.”

“No need…” Guns scared her. Violence scared her. But it was nice knowing Noah was there. Despite all his teasing, he was willing to take care of her. Normally she was the one to take care of others- of William… Only Victor and Elizabeth had taken care of her in her times of need. 

“Alright. Keep breathing. In and out, in and out… You’re doing good.”

“Thank you… so much…” She let out between huffs.

“Of course.” 

They sat in quietude for a while, merely observing the Nepi eat the flowers. Eventually the nausea waded over, her trembling body steadied as she regained her control.

“I think… I’m okay now.”

“Good good…” That was all he could say on the matter. His calm smile felt infectious. Of course he had to ruin the mood by opening that mouth of his.

“What did you mean by murderer?” Nosy bastard.

“You-! You don’t get to know that!”

“Fine. You have your secrets, I have mine.” He really had a way of getting under her skin. But after all he had done for her, perhaps she owed him this.

“I-”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No. I have to tell you the truth.”

“Oh? I’m all ears.”

“The reason I’m here… I’ve been accused of murdering a child.”

“Oh dear…” Justine could have sworn as soon as Noah heard ‘child’, his smile faltered into a frown. 

“That wasn’t me… That wasn’t me at all… Those marks around his neck… Only a giant could have done that… and yet-! And yet…” Justine broke out into a sob again, smothering her face within the damp towel. The memories racing through her head made her feel nauseous again. She remembered the first time she saw that monster. Its single yellow eye shone in the dark, and pale patchwork skin gripped around the young boy’s lithe throat. The horror could have been enough to make her faint if not for the urgency in the situation.

“They convicted you? Life isn’t fair…” He rubbed circles on her small back with his hand. He pitifully hushed her cries until she could recompose.

“It was him. It was him. He ruined my life… He ruined everything.” Just a few hours ago, she swore to herself she wouldn’t have judged it for its visage at all. Now she had broken that promise, cursing to herself about how hideous it was.

“I would beat the hell out of him if I were you.”

“I would… I would if I could…” Another awkward silence draped on them.

“I don’t mean to say anything to… invalidate you-”

“Noah…” A slight growl came out from Justine.

“Hear me out. I have a feeling he didn’t remember-”

“You don’t know anything. Don’t you dare make excuses for him.”

“It’s not an excuse. It’s an explanation. I stayed a bit before going after you, he looked just as surprised as you were…”

“People don’t change Noah! They just don’t…”

“That’s not true. You’re too young to know that. I’ve changed… But besides that. He doesn’t seem to know anything, like a child. It’s so very easy to deceive him…”

“Wonder why you know that…. Noah you don’t get it. He killed a damn child! You didn’t see the look on his face, you didn’t see the hands that wrapped around William’s neck. You didn’t see any of that! So just… shut up… please…” Justine groaned into her towel. She wanted to drop the subject.

“I have children too.”

“Y-you’re a father?!” On a normal day, that would’ve been the most surprising thing she heard.

“No- nothing of that sort… I worded that a bit strangely.” Noah pushed his glasses back up with a pointer. Perhaps he would wish to be one eventually, but he already had enough on his plate.

“I visit the children at my orphanage sometimes. They’re the reason I keep going. If anything happened to them… I don’t know what I’d do.”

“William was that to me as well… and now… I don’t know what I’m doing… I can never go back to my Sir and Lady… what’s even the point? I’m just a servant. A lowly servant…”

“Keep going. No matter what. No matter how much you lose. Keep going. Live for yourself and yourself alone. God has given us one life. We must live it to the fullest. So what if you're a servant? I was an orphan. Look at me now.”

“I’m trying! I’m trying…”

“That’s all you need.”

“I’m serious though. What do we do now? We need to get out or we’ll die! But he’s the only way we can get out…”

“Then we’ll just have to use him, it can be a truce.”

“No! No. He’s a-”

“A monster. I am aware. I choose you over him alright? I won’t afford him any more kindness. But we have to do this… We can’t get out otherwise, and I don’t know about you but I don’t want to die here.”

“What if he hurts us?!”

“I have a feeling he won’t, even if he did, well…”

“How? How do you really know?”

“He didn’t look particularly aggressive. He needs us as much as we need him. A parasitic symbiosis.” 

“I don’t want to need him… Please… I can’t look at him in the face… I’ll- die…” Her voice cracked with despair. How she despised that monster. And yet she was forced to rely on it.

“You won’t die. I’ll make sure of it. We have the shotgun downstairs so we can go get it. If he tries anything, you know what to do. I’ll take care of negotiations, just listen to me when the time comes.”

“Alright… Just make sure I never have to see him again. I won’t speak to him even if you made me.”

“I won’t. You should probably rest now. I’ll keep lookout.”

“Okay. Thank you…”

“Mhm. Tell me if you feel ill again. I’ll brew some maze flower tea. It’s been a while since our last meal, hm.”

“Eugh, I’m hungry.”

[saptaincwan]

re: plotlines posts...its because r squared were not allowed to be the endgame villians and everyone elses storylines got fucked over in s6. hook killing david's dad is like snowing kidnapping lily..it was a way to put them on the same level of r*g*na (she was the writers fav). Everyone wouldn't have regressed.

OHH i agree So much with rumple and regina being better off as endgame villains 😭 it felt like the s6 storyline (whtever that was) and the show as a whole was building up rumple as being The final obstacle to beat. i think it would've been a super interesting bookend for both of them to be the first and last villains faced!

whilst a redemption arc might've worked for them the way the show was written i did Not like the way it happened. esp in rumple's case. with what canon established i would've muchhh preferred them being the final villains

rest of answer under cut btw srry it got long. tldr; this show is so close but its also so stupid

everyone's storylines def got fucked in s6 LMAOOO i don't know about it being done to put them on rgina's level? at least i hadn't thought about it that way. in general i think it's super interesting exploring how these characters stand morally and how even the heroes can make wrong choices. did i like HOW they went about it though?? no 😭

everything about s6 felt like it was put together on duct tape and a dream. did some of the messages they intended to send effective? did i think these storylines had potential?? yea

but they ended dropping the ball a Lot and thus i just ended up disappointed with 'em... im particularly mad about the david/hook one because i LOVED what they were doing with it.

david growing to truly see killian as a family member, hook being reassured in his place in their family even outside of emma, the overarching theme of letting go of the past and moving forward because there's so much love in your present and future if you're willing to see it.... and then you get smack cammed and for WHAT

i cannot lie i am Not the greatest regina fan. i personally thought her storyline was mid at around 3b and just aeguh once the author plot got introduced so im not totally unbiased in saying the eq split and how much screentime it got pissed me awfff

BUTTT i think im most mad here bc i loved regina as a chara early on, and she had so much potential. the themes of love plunging her into her vengeance quest. how she was out of control of her own destiny with everyone else pulling the strings of Her life.

whether love could've potentially pulled her out of it too, or whether her storyline would've been a foil to emma's/snow's in that she chose NOT to due to the kind of person she'd become.

but no she made out w rumple and that made me want to cry god i hate the eq2 plot so much 😭

sorry for the wall of text i was holdin this in for reall

[kitsunebishake]

I'm so amazed at how honkai star rail for once got me hooked into a gacha game story

this rarely ever happens to me in gacha games, I usually go on for like a week and then lose interest (since it tends to get boring)

like, for example, with genshin I only started to catch interest in sumeru, yet I never got there because the gameplay being overwhelming + how much text I had to skip on inazuma lol (no hate if others liked it, I just didn't find it that interesting so I'd skim through it waiting for it to pick up,,, at some point I was only reading whatever ayaka and thoma said and ignoring everyone else, never even reached ayato)

MY POINT IS THAT THIS GAME HAS GOT ME ACTUALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE AND THINKING ABOUT THE STORY EVEN 2 WEEKS AFTER I FINISHED WHAT WAS AVAILABLE OF MAIN STORY

this game? hooked from the start

here's a screenshot of my best friend realising I was actually reading the story and not just skipping dialogues (something I am very famous for doing in my friend circle, it's a meme that I only have 2 modes: "I read this 3 times and didn't understand anyways" and "I read the entirety of this in 3 hours let me make an entire dissertation about it for you", and me going into the second one is a COMPLIMENT to the writer)

it's amazing

on that topic though, I think so much of that stupid coffin of luocha's... like genuinely, I'm like 99% sure I know what is inside of that shit and I am so fucking looking forward to seeing it happen

but also I've been also thinking of the relation between the xianzhou's history and fu hua's "no mercy for the corrupted" era

she's clearly the marshal, there's no way they're teasing a "marshal hua" (it's in one of the assignments), saying BARELY ANYTHING about the marshal on the xianzhou story video, and NOT making it the hua that is famous for destroying that of which she believes is corrupted without exception

the hunt's relationship with the abundance is exactly what was happening back in that plotline

plus we have jing yuan here who had to kill his own master, who imo looks like fu hua, and since he looks like jingliu there's that relation there for me, no one can convince me I'm wrong ok

his job as the general in the luofu feels as if fu hua and zhongli were mashed into a single character

(which worries me seeing the little twerp that is his disciple but I'll give the little shit the benefit of the doubt, I'm gonna enjoy avenging my goddess in the boss battle anyways)

WHICH

TAKES ME TO THE COFFIN

THAT'S TOTALLY JINGLIU

whether jing yuan requested it or if it's some sort of twisted "gift" from the abundance themselves I still can't tell from the clues we've got

these clues being:

luocha having a much stronger connection to his path, to even heal cyborgs with magic, carrying that shit everywhere, saying it's "a favor" from someone, saying he only met the person in the coffin once, his "it's a secret. (smiles)" as a response to being asked what his thoughts were on jing yuan in a JAPANESE MAGAZINE THEY REALLY DROPPED LORE IN A PART ONLY JP WOMEN AND POSSIBLY QUEERS WOULD READ

there's still nothing about whether this is also part of jing yuan's calculations or if this will throw him off guard,,,

AAAA I NEED ANSWERS HOYOVERSE WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME

[cto10121]

review for shadow and bone, season 2, the good, the bad, and the ugly. spoilers, of course

well. i really should have seen this coming. i guess i did, but my poor darklina heart clouded me to my better judgment. yes, they did it. the series committed the exact same errors as the book series. alina kills the darkling and (sort of but not really) kills mal and then brings him back with nina’s help. alina keeps her powers and mal becomes a privateer under the sturmhond name.

i will say, however, that the execution was much better than bardugo’s, and there were some thematic echoes and parallels that weren’t too shabby. it was entertaining (though the pacing was god-awful at parts). and as infuriating as them going the book route is, they did leave some things open. i’ll just hugo montenegro-it

the good:

a lot of the forced teen drama in the book series is mercifully gone. mal being jealous of nikolai, and just…book mal being book mal is completely gone. totally expected, but still good

alina not losing her powers. all par de course, since these writers are clearly not that stupid

kaz absolutely destroying pekka rollins. genuinely badass and well acted. freddy carter was nothing less than magnificent when he finally gets to show off. i wasn’t at all sure of his casting at first, but he did pull through here

wylan/jesper was good? yeah, it was, very hot together (height differences!). i was not particularly fond of jesper tsundere-ing wylan at first for no good reason and then suddenly hooking up with him again once he remembers their first hook-up, also for no good reason, but whatever. they’re both hot and am a simple girl alas

the series did a great job in establishing kaz’s aversion to touch and backstory, even if it did belabor the point at times. good that they took it seriously

as much as i hate what they did with the darkling, i am glad they deleted his more cartoonishly voldemort shit in the book. genya’s scarring is more justified (still doesn’t sit right, though) in this context

alina and mal not getting together. small comfort, i know. since they’ve beaten their grand love to dead over our heads, they’re almost definitely endgame. but considering the darkling comes back in the books and the bee at the end…idk, i feel even these anti writers will realize just how much indispensable he is. they’re probably going for a dark!alina arc, so alina and the darkling may probably finally be equals, just in a roundabout way

they also deleted some of the more egregious moments from the book, like the random slaughter of the volcra and alina taking over the little palace by force and installing herself as commander. well, for the latter they pretty much just…elided that entirely, didn’t they? meanwhile they had to create a whole new rationale for mal becoming commander (nah, he just wears the uniform, tolya and tamar are just in charge). bah, i’m just grateful the “good guys”’s fuckery was toned down

er, that’s it

the bad:

the pacing was atrocious, both too rushed and too slow at parts. some of the crows fans are already complaining about the most important moments taken from the duology and placed out of context, but honestly they still have the ice court and jurda parem, so there is still plenty of material and re-jiggering. the alina storyline, though, not good

the dropped storylines. what about the war with shu han? wouldn’t they think to attack just as ravka is at its most vulnerable? also, why would a shu saint ever give the sword that her husband stole for her to a ravka-born sun summoner? like, no

also re: dropped storylines: mal getting arrested by the first army and kidnapped, and then just…getting away without an explanation how? this season really was crammed full of way too much plot

the sankta neyra plotline did some good and bad things. good in that they draw up a thematic parallel to the rest of the action (immortal/mortal pairings, closed/open to love). bad in that it also served to demonize the darkling once more. the darkling’s problem isn’t that he isn’t open to love!!!! if anything bitch was too open!!!! and he is clearly still in love with alina at the end. being closed to love due to trauma is kaz’s issue to overcome. the show’s IQ points fluctuate so much, i can’t. and they tend to lose it the most when it comes to the darkling

they really leaned into tsundere!kaz, which dampened a lot of my enthusiasm for the inej/kaz romance. it came to feel very one-sided for different reasons. also, inej’s own skin trauma isn’t as well established as kaz’s, so all of it feels as if the trauma is kaz’s problem to overcome in order for them to get together. which really sucks re: the mutual pining in the books. and now there’s the new inej/toyia hint out of nowhere. the fangirls are pleased, but from a writing standpoint, why? for yet another love triangle?

nikolai. the character is likeable, but with little of that roguish charm that at least made him interesting. the actor they cast had more golden retriever jock vibes than anything else. having nikolai say that he couldn’t have gotten the crown without alina’s reputation as a saint was just laughable

they retconned baghra’s character so hard, didn’t they? i loved the actress, her delivery was so crisp and clear, but of course the writing doesn’t in the least acknowledge the darkling’s trauma at her hands at all

alina’s character took such a painful nosedive into girlboss. as much as i am constantly frustrated with book alina, she at least had empathetic moments (she felt for the slaughtered volcra). if nothing else, she was attracted to the darkling and mourned for him. not show alina, though. show alina is emotionally shallow, strong with none of the vulnerabilities, and at the end, just downright unpleasant

same complaint as last season, but the crows are just not as charismatic as in their book series. it’s just hard to take them seriously amid literal fantasy epic magic. the casting is very good, though, better than the alina side save ben barnes

speak of the devil: ben barnes was absolutely wasted. arguably the best actor playing a character with lots of potential, but the show just. did not let him round his character. the script did him absolutely no favors and cut a lot of his screen time. he got two good actor-y moments with him being devastated over baghra and not being able to control the nichhevo’ya but that’s basically it?

not the worst, but the tie-in of the crows to the main storyline via the shadow-cutting sword. for one very convenient sword, they journey to shu han. really? alina’s sun powers should have been enough, or at the very least she should have handled the sword and combined it with her light powers, but as the show simply refused to have a proper showdown between her and the darkling…ugh, it’s a mess

the ugly:

alina killing the darkling in cold blood when he wasn’t even attacking her. as in, right when he was imagining their very first kiss in season 1. fuck you, show. the minute the darkling died, the show died. end of story. it is shadow and bone, after all, and what do those refer to? that’s right. my darling darkling done dirty, indeed.

the show recontextualizing alina and the darkling’s magical zoom calls. alina sees him not because she loves him, lol, that’s ridiculous, but because she still has ptsd from his ~violation!!! and of course baghra somehow managed to cut their connection with yet another baghra-block. shut up, shut up, shut up

again, the darkling becoming worse. yes, he used merzost, but he already used it and the fold came about, and he was still fine. he uses it again and he gets…a really bad cough.

don’t think i didn’t notice all the pale faces on the darkling’s side versus the POC in alina’s and nikolai’s side, show. never mind that the grisha are the de-facto POC of this show and actual skin color never is a true problem and/or relevant. very cheap and manipulative of you, show

the darkling strangling alina. no. the darkling was objectively worse in the books and yet he didn’t lift a finger against alina in physical violence. after she had tried to kill him, his reaction was basically a shrug and a yeah, well, same. once again, fuck you, show. (and even then they still had the best chemistry with each other)

alina deciding to trick the darkling in the first place in order to sever the connection. doesn’t even make sense with the show’s canon, since alina’s ptsd would have had her trying to avoid the darkling at all costs. but alina has to girlboss, so in she goes!

“i knew there must have been a reason why i liked you.” there are now 300 darkling/mal fics based on this one line alone, and for that, once again, fuck you, show. also, the darkling also appearing to mal in a dream/magical zoom call was awful.

goodbye, grisha-are-the-persecuted-POC-of-this-world plot theme, we hardly knew ye. losing this aspect, the relentless and varied grisha hate in all the world except in novyi zem, made the whole story and the world’s politics utterly incoherent

again, joining the monarchy was not good optics. i don’t care how woke nikolai was (his change of heart after learning genya was raped was somehow less convincing in the show than in the book) would have preferred it had alina forged her own path and have nikolai deflect to her side. would have been consistent with the underdogs vs. powerful adults theme

to conclude, it’s all a wash. the problems of the original book series were obviously way too hard for these writers to solve, so they fixed all the surface issues instead re: the good guys being unlikeable/jerks in the books. but that only ended up flattening much of the drama and characters. show!alina turns so much against the darkling it’s actually creepy. like she has been possessed by the soul of an anti writer.

once again, the crows are the ones most respected and no doubt loved, but their storylines really don’t cross well and in this context…they’re just not as compelling. the crows’ world is a very different, more down-to-earth, morally gray world than the black-and-white fantasy tripe of shadow and bone. in the end, both stories and characters are diluted. i’m not sure how they are going to recover from killing off the darkling—given that they are going for a dark!alina route and the king of scars duology, then they will almost certainly resurrect him. on the other hand, i don’t want to wait years just to get ben barnes!darkling tagged on at the very end. what a mess.

[muffin-man-marq-lynch]

It's been almost 24 hours since the pre-show and I feel I'm just finally processing what we just saw? Like were my expectations just set too low for my first live PPV or was that really good for Forbidden Door?

Just off the top of my head and skipping the pre-show:

- MJF gets thrown as a warm up pleaser act for the Long Island crowd in another pleather robe and bright blue and orange gear and tries to crowd-surf.

- MJF then mugs hard with as many of his specials as possible in 10 minutes including one of Adam's finishers and an Ole Ole Kick bit outside the ring straight out of Punk vs Joe 1 & 2.

- The Robe game is so on point for Forbidden Door that Tanahashi came out in something covered in Boas that would make Cruella De Ville jelly (This isn't even touching The Day Glow Eye Robe) and we didn't even notice once Platinum Max dropped the line "I'mma kill you like you killed Okada's Career"

- Elite Hardy Brothers Kissies barely made the top three Kissies this PPV insane

- I loved Mina before this match and I knew she wouldn't win and there was no way they could make it okay is there a loophole where Mariah can just pin the victor and win because we're not allowed to actually have the secret lesbian polyamory endin- oh we are?! And we have!!

- Nigel McGuiness's level of commentary Pettiness for Bryan's match was unmatched and I am so so so glad I caught up on watching This Documentary like a day before the PPV.

- The growing disconnect between commentary and textual on-screen queerness happenings growing wider and wider until it feels deliberate and hilariously played into halfway through like a dubbed Sailor Moon joke. Watching video of Mina and Mariah make out while talking about how they're best friends and Toni is a mother to her. Nigel calling Wheeler Yuta 'Danielson's Young Boy'.

- Gonna be honest I'm not following the Zack Sabre Jr & Orange Cassidy yaoi plotline yet but 'freshly squashed' Orange Cassidy did look very sad when he got fucked hard in front of all those people, forced to safeword, then got handed his sunglasses, and told to call an Uber with no aftercare.

- Absolute tonal whiplash then (or not if you're into that, we do not kinkshame here at AEW) when Samoa Joe's twink of the season forgot his compression shorts and Hook wanders out with a prominent boner?! With some staying power, and I am reminded like three minutes in that his father is one of the commentators and not Mr 'we do not kinkshame here at AEW' so I'm sorry it's all I can think about while they're getting CAMERA angles for the big screen and his dad is talking about how his son is the least experienced of all the guys on the mat

- LADDER MATCH GOOD. Everyone in it so sexy holy shit. Mark Briscoe you feral little demon what was that jump from the chair in the ring? Titty twister. We need to keep Takeshita more often too goddamn, sign something. He should have won. Shocker at who did but eh. No surprise wins this PPV.

- Speaking of, Stephanie Vacquer? Holy shit? Uhhh can we get her vs Mina? Please? Forever?

- Jon Moxley is a puppy and he was so lost they dropped him off at the wrong door and he was wandering around trying to find the ring and say hello everyone for so long.

- When you've been intimately engaged with someone's body 63 times before it says a lot to pull out the toys (Steel Chair) less than 2 minutes into the fight.

- The kind of muted and very split approaches to Swerve vs Will made me really nervous tbh, like were these very casual fans? More New Japan people? I was very worried with Ospreay being a fan fave for so many people that even with him being set up as the heel in this fight, and given the kind of Meh response to the reigning champ who is cool as fuck (but West Coast and black and more of a brawler in his best fights) they were going to do some disrespectful shit and yank it off him like they did to Kofi Kingston to try and help ratings.

- Holy shit can I say that that fear was misplaced? That was a Hell of a fight. Great story. Swerve is SO much better at story than Ospreay and he sold that shit as well as showed off the technical chops that got him the championship but I have Never Liked Will more than after watching him get the shit beaten out of him by Swerve. His selling has always been meh to non-existent, but it was way better here, and some of that is the camera focus on Swerve yeah but the ending? And the Post-PPV clips in the ring and behind the scenes? I am EXCITED for Wednesday. BANGER fight. THAT'S MY CHAMP.

[akuma-tenshi]

vent below

the important part you need to know is that i'm probably going to take a break from tumblr (and social media in general) for a while

i'm literally so fucking tired. i've hardly been sleeping and when i have it's been restless. i sleep with the lights on because i can literally feel eyes on me when they're off, and i hide under the covers because if i have any part of my body exposed i have this overwhelming fear that something is watching me, stalking me, waiting to grab me. the fucking mouse makes so much noise in my room, dicking around in anything on the ground, and it keeps me awake. when i do drift off it's only a matter of time until i wake up again due to a nightmare or more noise. my blinds fell off my window and there's just a gaping void beyond, and every time i look out i feel like there's going to be something staring back.

i haven't had contact with my best friend since yesterday. they've completely cut me off after saying we don't have to be friends anymore and i'm fucking terrified for them. all of my messages have gone through, so they haven't blocked me, but they haven't been online and haven't responded to anything. they haven't been active on twitter either. i'm so fucking scared that i might've lost one of the most important people in my life and i couldn't do anything to help. we live in different states and i don't know their address and i can't drive so it's not like i can just go to their house and check on them. i'm living in this constant limbo, not knowing if they're alive or not, not knowing if they need space or need me to reach out, not knowing if i did something wrong or if it's just their mental illness fucking with them again.

and i'm expected to just be fine?? the world's on fire people are being killed for the mere crime of existing in the wrong place my life is falling to pieces and i'm just expected to live my life like nothing is happening?? i have a ged test on the fourteenth and honestly if things don't get better i might have to cancel. i'm so fucking tired but i can't sleep, i'm hungry but eating makes me feel sick. i want to just vanish off the face of the earth.

there were so many things i had planned. we had planned. i wanted to publish my books. they had a whole list of art ideas they wanted to do. we had so many stories to write, and every time i go to work on one of them it feels wrong, because they're not here to work on it with me. so many stories just dropped, so many plotlines abandoned because it doesn't feel right to do something with them. we were going to read each other's favourite books. i can't even look at or write anything about like half my major oc's because they've been so heavily tied to my friend. caden's the worst one because of how closely i associate him with them. their last post on twitter included a sketch of him.

they said they had to live to february 7th so that they could get luca's once skin. and now i don't even know if they'll ever do that. i can only hope and pray that they're just taking a break for their mental health. i'm hanging on by a fucking thread here and honestly depending on the news i get i might not see 2025. the lack of sleep is feeding my anxiety and my anxiety is feeding the lack of sleep. i'm so fucking paranoid and filled with dread. i feel so disgusting and useless and pathetic and i can only hope this too will pass, but at this point i don't know if it will.