#but ALSO thinking about plot contrivances as acts of god:

[acesammy]

Idk I’m just thinking about how chuck started as a stand-in for kripke, and de facto the writers on whole. Meaning that every plot contrivance from the writers really was an act of god in the canon of the show itself..

as much as I really don’t feel that strongly on the finale one way or the other, they reaaally should’ve ended the show with 15x19 because if chuck is no longer writing their story for his own amusement we as an audience should also not have access to the story for ours. Like they should’ve been able to completely break free of the narrative both in and out of canon. I think that’d’ve been cool

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

i think you're onto something with the romance novels world and plot points needing to mirror the kind of outlandishness of the love story. bc the main characters are already inherently acting absurd just by falling madly in love in a month or whatever and then if you add in the contrivances of romance tropes, it starts to feel like whiplash trying to pretend the characters live in any sort of grounded "normal" world. Like when the author adds in a family conflict subplot where the MC is like in absolute shambles because her mom said something slightly passive aggressive at lunch. that reads as more jarring to me than like conflict being something ridiculous that her mom doesn't want her being a marine biologist bc they come from a long line of fishmongers. Give me absurd drama to match the over the top dialogue and character emotions, I knew it would be unrealistic it's a romance novel! I guess this applies more to romcoms, but the same would apply I think to an analogous serious scenario. Or at least that's my take on it

okay so having just finished genuinely the most boring romance novel I have ever read in my LIFE I'm going to expand on this a little so thank you for sending an ask that gives me such a great platform to do that

I personally generally prefer a romance that just gets fucking silly with it, like really outlandish. A Lady for the Duke (Alexis Hall) is obviously the dream, being a whole swoony historical trans-affirming fantasy, but contemporary fake relationship stories can also be fun in their sheer ridiculousness, like Love, Hate, and Clickbait (Liz Bowery), which I actually liked, and Unfortunately Yours (Tessa Bailey), which I did not like but was very funny. and let's not forget queen Helen Hoang's Bride Test, which has a premise that dances perilously close to human trafficking but all works out in the end!!!

BUT HAVING SAID THAT. I don't think that something needs to be totally implausible to be a good romance. two of my very favorites romance novels anywhere ever are Helen Hoang's Heart Principle (no one should be surprised Hoang is on her twice I adore her) and Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. both of these books are very grounded in reality but with very uncommon situations to heighten emotions and add urgency; in Hoang's case it's a character's adult autism diagnosis + death of a parent and in Emezi's case it's a very sudden and #problematic attraction coming out of absolutely nowhere. the stakes are very real, mostly centering around being true to yourself v disappointing your family, but the circumstances are still wild enough to make you say "god DAMN" and keep turning pages. hell, I'll even be extremely generous and include Mistakes Were Made (Meryl Wilsner) which is kind of a flop but does have the intriguing premise of "what if you were fucking a milf but her kid was YOUR BEST FRIEND and it was a secret?"

those are like the two sweet spots TO ME, and this book I just read (which was Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz, I feel so bad putting it on blast but I know people are going to ask) really solidified it for me because TYFS didn't fall into either of those categories. I'm going to say something absolutely insane, which is that multiple times while I was reading it I found myself wishing that the book was fanfic, because on its own it just... didn't bring a lot to the table? it falls into the grounded category but doesn't really bring any of those heightened stakes to the story, it's just 330 pages of people in their late twenties complaining about dating and their office jobs. if I wanted that I could just ask my group chat! there's nothing particularly particularly gripping about watching made up strangers do it!

but then I was like oh hang on... if this was two fictional characters who are usually fighting with swords or throwing cars at each other or something this would be so gripping. it's literally the coffee shop AU principle, right? like seeing people in a very mundane setting having an office job and going to a bar is very shrimpteresting when they're normally defusing space bombs. I was explaining this to my housemates and I couldn't think of a straight couple to apply it to (the book is m/f) so I said Naruto and Sasuke, which is crazy because I've never seen a single episode of Naruto, but like. idk Naruto being a museum curator who has to work with Sasuke, a marketing specialist who he had beef with a summer camp 14 years ago, sounds kind of compelling, right? definitely more than just two people I don't know.

there's a post on here that I think about a lot that talks about why advertising a story with tropes doesn't work for original fiction as well as it does for fan fic because knowing the tropes is more helpful when you already have a sense of investment in the characters and their personalities, and I think this is related to that! I think sometimes you NEED to have a wider sense of scope for the characters for them to be interesting in a very mundane setting!

ANYWAY. much to consider, etc.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

"it's just one coincidence too many"

You don't say Aaron. Haha.

Sigh...they're writing Plotdale for me again.

So I went back and watched all of the surrounding Aaron scenes from yesterday with Mack and Vic and then watched today's stuff.

I really quite like seeing Aaron have friends for the sake of this plot. So like...that's a positive. I've always thought Danny and Lawerence worked well together and had good friend chemistry. If they could actually stick with the friendship outside of plot specific needs, that would still be really good for both of their characters long term.

Because Mack teasing him about the whole John thing is exactly what the Ben nonsense needed back in 2020/2021. I mean it would not have saved that utterly abysmal attempt at a story but it would have made it slightly more palatable.

And I do like seeing Aaron and Vic having scenes together again.

I also very much liked seeing the garage be a functional set again. I feel like maybe it has been more lately from what I've seen in the spoilers but for so long it really wasn't and so that was also nice.

As for John...I mean...I do feel like he was sort of okay when interacting with everyone else. But he and Aaron just have no chemistry. And I don't really understand what they're trying to do with them. Like I guess...it's supposed to be an enemies to lovers thing maybe??? But there really was just zero reason for him to drive off with Aaron's keys and wallet yesterday. So their hostility towards each other over it just feels empty now.

I mean..what even was that whole little punch/shove thing they had at the end? And I feel like they had them linger close to each other in a threatening manner like it was supposed to be turning them on in the same way the Robron wall slam worked but like...it did not. It was not the same at all. It was just dumb.

And John just feels like another one of those characters that's got a tragic backstory that will come out in one, two months time and be a big deal for two episodes and then somehow that will solve all his problems and then he and Aaron will just magically get together after that and he'll move into the village and none of it will feel earned in any way. That's just the vibe I get. Probably because that's the only kind of story they tell these days and they're all bad.

Because right now he's just unnecessarily hostile to everyone but they can't have him open up and say why yet cause we have to wait for some kind of stupid pointless reveal.

Sigh.

The only time I felt anything in terms of romantic tension was when Aaron learned John was Robert's half brother and she mentioned that Aaron used to be married to Robert. I swear any time Danny gets to be Aaron talking about or thinking about Robert, all of a sudden his acting performance improves. Ryan doesn't even have to be there to elevate his performance. Actually, Danny probably doesn't even have to act. He's probably just like "Wow man I miss Ryan too".

So...yeah...love Aaron having friends. Love seeing the garage be functional. Aaron has way more chemistry with Mack than he does with John, even if it is more friend chemistry than romantic.

Day two...not much improvement on John/Aaron scenes together.

Oh also...just the fact that it took that many coincidences and contrivances to even get Vic to that funeral and place her in John's path...like dear god. Why is this their only way to tell a story???

[sciderman]

Reading New Mutants #98 is such a wild experience because Wade still acts as the snarky and kinda sadistic shit talking queen of mercs, but he's also like...super menacing and competent too? Especialy next to today where people fuck him up like a noob, seeing him taking out a group of mutants with gadgets and tricks, body Nathan and having to be taken out by a suprise element was a true shock...and i kinda love it? Like, Wade shows up and he's actually a threat, but a threat that doesn't even take you seriously, he insults you but is also oddly polite to his main target. What is your take on the original version of Wade?

interesting question! really really reaaaally interesting question! new mutants #98 is an issue i've read like, a million times because newer comics always always always recontextualise it - so you find out, wait - domino was vanessa in disguise, so actually, she probably had an insight on how to take down wade better than anyone else - wait, nathan knew wade as someone who saves his life so was probably pulling his punches actually - wait - the guy who sent wade to kill nate was actually nathan's SON?? like there's five million plot twists that come after new mutants #98 that get me rereading it over and over.

i do love that wade's introduced as someone who is equipped and prepared – he definitely was more competent in the earlier comics, he was perpetually a threat, and always had just the contrived weapon in his arsenal needed to take out certain mutants with certain powers.

they kind of gradually started stripping him of all that - i think when he started making the transition from minor villain to empathetic anti-hero, they started stripping him of his teleporter belt, his image inducer, his swiss-army-knife arsenal that made every fight too convenient for him. and now - now he's just a guy with two swords and maximum effort.

i'm not saying it's bad – buuuut... i love the mission impossible movies. i love impossible gadgets. it's so much more fun to see than just, you know, guys hitting and slashing at each other. give me stupid weird gadget that wade has tucked away in some pouch belt of plot convenience specifically to take down this specific guy with weird specific powers. give me a competent wade who did all the research before going into the fight. not a wade wilson who kind of coasts by with dumb luck and gumption.

but - you know, on the topic of wade being hyper-competent in new mutants #98 it's - kind of not something i believe, either. sure, he's a menace to those kids but - remember, he does still get his ass handed to him in a humiliating kind of a way. what a start to his career. and these guys aren't shaken at all. no "oh my god. this guy is someone we should worry about. we should worry about letting him free." no. wade is shipped back to his employer in a box. there's no worry that he might come back angrier. deadpool's kind of a joke.

nathan summers does often maintain a level-head in general - buuut, i just don't think there was any moment in that fight that nathan really thought he was going to lose against wade. there was no "oh no, all hope is lost" moment. wade was just quick with his punches, sure, but i don't think the cards were actually in his favour. nathan wasn't incapacitated, and would have easily taken wade down.

he kind of just didn't want to, i don't think.

i think maybe he wanted to see what wade could do. and i think if nate really thought wade was a threat to the kids, nathan would have protected them more fiercely. there's no reason at all why nathan couldn't have so, so easily just - yeeted wade out of the building. wade really, really wouldn't have stood a chance if nathan really saw him as a threat to him or (especially) to the kids. nate's training up these kids. he probably saw wade as just - adequate practice for them, but no real threat. wade is completely manageable for him.

i think later on wade gets savvy to the fact that nathan usually pulls the punches with him.

nathan could so, so easily just...

if he didn't want to deal with deadpool.

i think vanessa probably knew that too. and i think that's why she stepped in when she did - because she probably thought if wade pushed too far and trod on one of nathan's nerves, it would be the end for wade. so she neutralised him.

i write a bit about it in i love you, wade wilson - my beloved fic about deadpool's early days.

[worrywrite]

In the month I've been offline, I've read a fair bit more Discworld. Namely Going Postal and Equal Rites (currently working my way very slowly through Small God's).

These are my thoughts on Going Postal.

Going Postal, like much of Pratchett's work, is a lot of things. Most succinctly, and most prominently, it's a good story.

Less succinctly, and less prominently, it's a story about stories that need to be told by people who don't have the words to tell them. It is also about one man with only words and no story.

I find Moist to be an incredible character. Not because he is a good character--though he is very well written and I can only imagine the precision it takes to write the actions of Moist in one line and any other character in the next. Moist, is by all accounts, a man who is good at lying; and throughout all of the book, that is about as much as we know or need to know about him. And it is spectacular that the story balances on the wings of his hat when he is so nondescript beneath it. He has a history, sure, and it shows it's face in a few moments. But his charm and his skill is in being a nobody. In this way, he is the perfect everyman who is both nobody and everybody--whoever he needs to be and whoever he can be. It is an excellent way to write a conman and it is surprisingly difficult to do.

What is more beautiful, however, than characterization is the work of words. Letters are stories that must be told. The mail must be delivered. But it is not the letters themselves that matter and this is not some self congratulatory remark about the work of an author acting as the conduit for their contrived narrative. There are several groups of persons whose stories must be told. There are the postmen themselves, a tradition of people left behind by the developing world after they themselves were carried away in what they did. There are the golems, which I have many thoughts about and a great deal of love for, many of which literally have no voice but an immense amount of history to convey. And there are the dead men in the overhead, who are kept alive in name only.

And that last part, I think, is the most important. It is where the story begins, it is where the heart of Going Postal's narrative lies, and it is where the plot hinges. It is, also, perhaps what few people really think about when they inevitably type GNU into the tags or in their header or at the bottom of any post or web page.

The dead men in the overhead are, by all accounts, *there*. We don't see Death come for John Dearheart. I don't think Pratchett would have included that scene at the start of the book, but I think it's worth seeing it that way; it's worth thinking about it in that way, that Death didn't show up. John is murdered, in the prologue, and in such a way that we understand exactly what happens by the end of the book. But we only see Death come for Anghammarad in the novel. And while Death does not, necessarily, come for every dead character in a book (not even all the "important" ones), he appears only once in Going Postal. I'm getting carried away.

The story begins with two people. Anghammarad first, many years before, and then John Dearheart. Both are dead before the end of the novel, and Death comes only to one of them. Because John is still in the overhead. How literal that is is up to you, but I think it's actually pretty literal.

And while John and the rest are in there, constantly traveling along the clacks with their names and becoming one with the cryptics that make up the function of a telecommunications network, no one is telling their stories. Their lives and, perhaps more importantly, their deaths must be told. Their names are a message in the system, but the message is never truly delivered. It just goes on, just as much in storage as the letters in the post office. A letter must be delivered, it contains a story that must be told.

And so, Moist must tell the story. He is the storyteller, by trade and function in the novel. He plays his winning gambit in the standoff with Gilt by telling the story of the dead men in the overhead and signs it with their name. And while he sees this as a horrible betrayal of their memories, it really isn't. It's not a lie. The only lie in Moist's message is who signed it, and it works because no one could bear it if it was a lie. And in a way, it isn't.

I would like to carry on, but everything else I want to talk about for this book is about the golems or how cool I think Adora Belle is, and I don't think I've seen enough of them to really articulate what it is about them that is so beautiful. So more on them later probably.

[thethrobbingmembers]

THE THROBBING MEMBERS REVIEW: The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

Why does the pro-LGBT regency piss me off so bad? -Sarah

They could've lived a lie, and it would have been great. -Catherine

Where have all the good sapphic books gone and where are all the toxic queers? -Smurf

I was too busy getting straight married to finish this book. Love Loses. -Margo

Was unable to finish this book due to morning sickness from being PREGNANT!!!! Congratulations!!! -Cindy

Dream Cast

Philippa

Tommy

The Wild Wynchesters

Summary:

Philippa is a rich Regency lady. Her parents want her to get married, but she just wants to read books. In an effort to help one of her book club friends, she recruits the Wynchester family, including Tommy Wynchester, who has secretly been in love with Philippa for years. Cue disgustingly cutesy shenanigans. 🤮

Review:

I mean this ending sucked right? Just gotta get that out of the way. Most of it was fine, but god that ending. Every twist and turn was so contrived.

"I’m a wallflower. I receive marriage proposals everyday, but somehow I’m still an underappreciated wallflower who everyone hates." God, stop whining.

In theory, I should have enjoyed this book. It had all my favorite things: absurd shenanigans, costumes for plot reasons, and poorly defined historical periods. This is also to say that it had my least favorite things: absurd shenanigans, costumes for plot reasons, and poorly defined historical periods. Depending on the author, these are all either fun beach reads, or infuriating. Unfortunately, and mostly due to the Wynchester family (spelled that way surely to avoid admitting taking any inspiration from supernatural, which yeah, fair), this book falls into the latter category.

Every third or so book I read for this club I go this was fine, whatever, I probably won’t remember anything from it. And then we screech about it, and get pedantic over a bottle of wine and I suddenly remember everything that annoyed me while I was reading. Something, I think, must be fundamentally broken within the historical romance publishing world, because it seems like it modern ones are worse than ones that came out just a few years ago? This wanted to be a fun beach read, but the author just couldn't help herself, and had to keep making sure that chronically online queer people on twitter (you can't make me call it X, Elon, fuck you) wouldn't pick a dumb discourse based fight with her. This has all been litigated over and over again and shouldn't have been included in this book.

I know I ask this every single review I write, but seriously, why are these people allowed to publish these books unedited. Not to give myself away as a millennial, but is this is the recession’s fault? Like people were fired and then the roles were never filled again? I know its deeply hypocritical of me to complain about editing or lack thereof considering my writing style is to drink too much wine and/or smoke a little weed, but I’m not claiming to be a professional am I? As Catherine wisely said, this "mystery" was dumb, for a wide variety of reasons, one of which being the actual history of manuscripts.

This book was fun, assuming I read it in one sitting, and never thought about it ever again. And also, skipped entire sections of the book, especially when the truly insufferable found family was on the page. Who fucking asked for this. Why were there so many, and why were they all so annoying?

This entire book should have been just the two people, whose names I immediately forgot because tbh, this book wasn't very good, masquerading as straight people in public. That's when the book was the most fun. AND YET!! That obvious solution wasn't good enough or morally righteous enough for the rich woman. THIS IS HISTORICAL!! Please at least pretend to act like it.

3/10 stars

Theme Song: Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Additional Ratings

Historical Accuracy: 2/10

They do say stays instead of corset, and that's all I can give this book.

Sexy Sex: ?/10

The sex scenes certainly happened, but no one remembers them.

Trauma Score: 2/10

Tommy had some trauma about people leaving her. YAWN.

Mystery: 1/10

The entire mystery hinged on Erica Ridley fundamentally misunderstanding fore-edge painting.

Notes: Free Tommy's brother's hedgehog from the Wynchester's loudass house!

[biblioflyer]

Alien Romulus thoughts (minimal spoilers)

What I liked:

The characters are reasonably intelligent and make decent choices given what their knowledge and the situation. They weren't outrageously dumb given their backgrounds and situational awareness: I'm looking at you Prometheus.

The first 2/3rds has great ambience. It genuinely felt like an Alien movie.

The character of Andy.

The "gore" felt appropriately dialed in. There was really only one scene that I felt was over the top and unnecessary. It felt appropriate for an Alien movie. Its R rated, but the sort of R rated where I wouldn't feel that weird about seeing fourteen year olds in the audience.

The presentation of the Xenomorphs is about right. They're neither omnipotent nor have they suffered much in the way of villain decay.

I saw a lot of complaints about the CGI used for [redacted] comparing it to other deep fakes and the airbrushing of Henry Cavill's mustache. I didn't find it jarring personally.

What I didn't like:

The final act suddenly starts shotgunning callbacks like it was a Marvel movie. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Marvel movies, but Marvel movies are Marvel movies.

The world building feels a bit half baked. The number of plot contrivances just seems a little much. The scheme of the heroes seems a bit of a Hail Mary and unlikely to work or be within their competencies once you start thinking about it. As my partner pointed out, Ripley was a seasoned spacer. Very little of her competencies were out of step with what she was doing, albeit under a lot more stress than the norm. Andy's "magic finger" being the keys to the kingdom for a top secret space lab doing all kinds of dangerous and nefarious stuff is probably not the silliest instance of an evil corporation having lousy OpSec but its up there.

I'm not inherently opposed to a through line of [redacted] being a MacGuffin with no clear rules because its inscrutable Clarketech and we are trampling in the garden of an angry god, but I feel like each attempt to utilize it in this fashion buries this subtext.

I don't necessarily approve of movies force feeding us their theme, so I'm prepared to take the word of characters providing exposition with massive does of salt. Yet the final act feels less like a story of hubris and more of an attempt to provide a crude logical substrate to lore that has gone a bit off the rails while, as mentioned, doing lots of callbacks in the process. Some of those callbacks are likely to be a bit controversial depending on where one stands on some of the entries into the franchise that are fashionable to hate on.

There's no particular reason for this film to act as an explicit retcon by virtue of being a direct sequel to Alien in the style of some of the other popular thriller - killer franchises out there that have rebooted themselves by returning to the beginning and starting over from there. However, it does introduce some potential plot holes with Aliens that need some hand waving.

Also the audio mix at the theater I attended was really bad. I do feel like I missed a lot of dialogue that might have tidied up things a bit more. I legitimately am still very confused by at least one major plot development.

[sharkiegorath]

ok I read the whole Forgotten Realms Avatar series and at the start it's not what i'd call good but it’s entertaining. the third book is decent and fun. then the last two books are suddenly very good and i am scurrying like a rat

from the start I was struck by how similar the mortal Midnight was to Gale: Mystra’s Chosen with a volatile magical item grafted onto her chest, indignant about the gods but determined to finish her duty even if it's certain to kill her, arrogant and reckless but so good-natured it doesn’t really show until the stakes escalate, probably falls in love too easily, purple seems to have been her favorite color... also love the irony of how widely hated Mystra is by BG3 fandom, because at the start of Midnight’s tenure as Mystra she is THE god breaking rules and making divine enemies to try to help mortals and minimize damage. In Prince of Lies she even has an arc about struggling to convince other gods and concluding that godhood is a type of single-minded insanity but thankfully she won’t lose her sense of humanity hahaha ha ha. I need to read the later Elminster books to see exactly how the personality merge worked, but the way it’s described on the FR wiki and cross-referencing BG3 and this series, I assume Midnight is still a strong element of current Mystra. (ok confirmed by Ed Greenwood but i need to talk about this more in another post bc it's giving me extreme brainworms)

Shadowdale is meh but not the weakest book. Adon and Cyric had interesting enough arcs. I think Midnight and Kelemvor do have chemistry based on their banter and basic dynamic, it’s just rushed and bogged down with standard straightmalewriteritis. Kelemvor is a blatant misogynist to drum up initial conflict with Midnight, a trait completely discarded and forgotten in the subsequent books; they somehow missed the obvious hook that maybe Kelemvor is wary of female mages because of his family curse. I did like how by the end of Shadowdale he was about to go to battle and he was staring at puddles thinking “if my situationship was here she could do magic and turn them into steam :(" And I was pleasantly surprised by the ultimately inconsequential character arc of Bane relearning mortality and bonding with a follower, only to accidentally kill him, because magic is unstable because of what Bane did. 

Tantras is largely irritating besides Midnight and Adon's friendship and Cyric's series of successful deception rolls. The underlying plot actually isn’t bad but there are way too many characters holding the idiot ball and not communicating for contrived reasons. In Shadowdale, almost every newly introduced sympathetic character ends up dying shortly afterwards, like they’re just lining up to speedrun emotional investment; it's even more obvious in Tantras. Worst of all, there's very little buildup to Cyric’s villainy after his heroism at the end of Shadowdale. It's frustrating because his corruption could make perfect sense but it was so flat and clumsily executed. Then Kelemvor's curse is resolved anticlimactically. I vaguely recall the story getting better towards the end, when Torm appears, but nothing gripping. There was one cool perspective trick where the story rewinds to show the same mundane scene from Midnight, Kelemvor, and Adon's eyes before they go off on mini solo adventures.

I like Waterdeep, but my opinion is probably improved by comparing it to the previous books and knowing it was written by a different author. There’s still an overuse of epithets, but there’s a noticeable improvement in characterization and narrative logic. Cyric acts more like ‘himself’ in his first scene compared to any point in Tantras. Midnight, Kelemvor, and Adon actually act like friends. I appreciated how they grapple with the ethical consequences of removing Kelemvor's curse, though their Cyric debate feels drawn-out. Waterdeep is also much better at introducing secondary characters, giving plenty of space between their introductions and deaths, and surprisingly making the deaths meaningful later on. The ending manages to make Midnight's ascension feel more tragic than triumphant.

Prince of Lies is great. There's a sharp improvement in how it utilizes POV and weaves a complex story. It might even work as a standalone, but I appreciated it more because I already knew the backstory and characters. There are multiple storylines satisfyingly coming together; all of the new POV characters hold up to the originals; the prose is good; the dialogue is engaging; everything about Cyric is appropriately unsettling and he largely manages to not feel like a cartoon villain. I've already mentioned how I enjoyed Mystra's ominous idealistic arc in this book and I was surprised by how invested I was in the other gods, especially Torm, Oghma, and Mask. The only things I actively dislike are the casual fatphobia throughout and the conclusion of Mask’s role. Now that I think about it, Cyric's arc throughout the whole series and Mask's involvement would've been better if we ever, ever acknowledged that in PoL Mask was basically Cyric's lover (non-physical) (fake cursed sword) for ten years. like what was up with that. hello

I spoiled myself for over half of Crucible because I was getting fatigue from this series fsdoufsdifas. I was hesitant about the start, because it seemed so different from Prince of Lies, but it quickly won me over with the unreliable narrator and scope. At its best, it’s the exact kind of artsy metaphysical fuckery I love from The Elder Scrolls. Cyric genuinely believed in the propaganda version of himself, subtly recontextualizing everything he does until the end! He does a freaky heart swap with his tragicomedic best follower ever! He drinks his not-exes' breakup tears transubstantiated into their last pieces of humanity!

The trial plot is clever, but it stumbles with Mask's involvement - disappointing, because he was a fun character for most of PoL, but he keeps tripping over his own plans and doesn't have meaningful enough connections to the main characters. Overall, though, I love it. It explores why a good person would be a bad god, demonstrating exactly how it disrupts 'balance' instead of leaving it as a vague abstract concept. The ending is brutal, without violence or death or straightforward fates worse than death. It's theological horror, something similar but distinct from eldritch or psychological. It upends the earlier high fantasy and B-plot romance to tell a bonkers story where the biggest betrayals come from within. For all of Cyric's gore and insanity, it's also horrifying to watch Kelemvor systematically closing himself off (even if it's for the greater good), and to see Mystra trying her hardest to be a 'good' god but having her compassion warped through her power and responsibilities.

The thing is, Crucible wouldn't hit as hard without the previous books, including the first two. Midnight and Kelemvor frequently clashed over morality as vulnerable, desperate humans. They developed and matured as people, but it comes full circle as gods. Their friendships with Adon demonstrate how far they come and what they've lost by the end. More controversially, I think I had so much fun partially because the first two books were janky and the third was only kinda good. It was fun seeing the quality go from mediocre generic sword and sorcery pulp to occasionally poetic and absolutely bonkers. On an unintentional metatexual level, it reflects how the characters and their world changed for the better - so the emotional bus crash at the end of Crucible felt more tragic and earned. If the series had been obviously good from the start, it would have to maintain that quality, and the last book would have to work harder to land.

tl;dr i love divorce and that "truly great TV is 200 episodes and 40 of them are the worst you've ever seen" post is onto something

[cer-rata]

I think the only major comicbook death that gave more than it took was Superman's. Partially because it was always obviously a temporary shakeup, but mostly because we got Kon-El and John Henry Irons out of the deal (and that sweet mullet). It didn't derail big blue long term, but it let some interesting stories play out, and honestly reinforced why Clark specifically was important in the first place. 9/10 a great time.

The death of Gwen Stacy was actually pretty interesting from a story perspective. Peter's lives bleeding together and leading to the death of someone he loved is like, his biggest fear and seeing him deal with that was interesting. It really mattered and the ramifications were wide-spread. But it also kind of cemented the trauma porn incline that he's hurtled down since. I'm fine with traumatizing Peter, but for the love of god after a while it becomes a slog. Plus, the way they did it was...strange. It was jarring to see realistic physics suddenly become important in a Spider-Man comic of all places. Like it worked for shock value in the moment but upon further reflection...eh. 6/10

The death of Jason Todd was a mean spirited affair. I'm not even just talking about watching a teenager get the crowbar and blown up. Jim Starlin actively hated Jason, so it wasn't a respectful well measured sendoff. The story was contrived, wildly racist nonsense. And it was a vote! They left the life of a main character and the narrative fallout of that up to a fan vote! Why?!

Unlike the death of Superman, we didn't get a bunch of fun new characters out of the deal, it actively changed the tone of Batman stories for the worse, (in my opinion) along with the killing joke. But I'm going to say it, I think the Killing Joke was better written, gave better future plot hooks, gave us the path to Oracle and actually had ideas, despite the fact that Moore is cursed to have people completely miss his point every time. It treated Babs poorly, and Moore has admitted that was a mistake. But I'd argue the Babs we got because of that completely elevated and ascended the character.

Anyway, Jason came back and has been a mess ever since. No one knows what they want to do with him but he's too popular to shelve. His personality has worse continuity problems than...than...hmm. Let me get back to you. His very presence is often used to call the concept of Batman into question in the most cynical and uncharitable ways. And any growth he has is often gone by his next appearance. They had him do wildly dissonant acts of violence early on, and then pivoted him away from being a villain but then didn't consistently support that. It's maddening! He's like a player at a D&D table who actively exists to poke holes in the tone and logic of the world. Ahhh! 2/10 fix it in the next continuity reboot.

[arundolyn]

Why do you think Blazblue made Celica both the Sister who raised the siblings, AND some weird time travel love interest for Ragna? Did they just shoehorn Ragna into phase shift and that dynamic just got so popular they shoved it into Chronophantasma? Did they think Ragna’s development needed to be with his family but they have their own plots so they make Celica into the Sister, but NEVER have the characters piece it together ON SCREEN in a way that changes their dynamic?

i kept meaning to answer this and forgetting bc my brain has been soup for the past like WEEK but oh my god its so weird. its very blatantly both trying to give him relevance in a side material and also tie the side material into the main story better and make it plot relevant in chronophantasma all at the same time and it just falls flat horribly and comes off severely contrived. that entire scene in cp would be so extremely improved if rather than sending ragna back in time via the cauldron he just like. idk the boundary can do a lot of shit we dont even know about. it'd be a hell of a lot better if bloodedge was a completely separate guy so that negates the weirdness of celica's attraction to him then vs now and solves the like... what. 5 separate goddamn paradoxes the existence of bloodedge as a character separate from ragna causes? the LEAST of which is where his jacket and sword come from. blazblue loves its recursive paradoxical time loops so much.

making celica the sister is such a weird can of worms that honestly would be fine IF they didnt make her also have a crush on him in her chronophantasma body. thats the fuckin odd part. sure she doesnt have the memories of the now-dead nun that raised ragna and his siblings BUT it still feels weird because don't he AND jin during the whole takemikazuchi disaster at the climax of chronophantasma look at her and recognize that it's the sister and then just like.. its left at that. ragna never acted particularly romantically toward her in the first place thank god but her lack of awareness of the situation is the weirdest part. hes his usual trying-to-be-aloof-on-purpose self about it and when kokonoe blackmails him into celica tagging along with him its literally just. "you cant fight dumbass stay behind me" thats it. yeah she doesnt know and all and remembers him-as-bloodedge from her time that she had a crush on but like. she doesnt.. have to be unaware. its a really weird plot contrivance that doesnt sit right to just have another love interest that comes off really weirdly not only for the story but for the fuckin guy writing it

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

I don’t think anyone would call 2006’s Silent Hill the greatest horror film ever, but it’s hard to deny that it is one of the better early attempts at a video game adaptation. The film has some really baffling changes to the plot, sure, but it’s honestly pretty faithful in regards to the visuals and the atmosphere. Sure, some of the symbolism is thrown in to look cool—what the fuck is Pyramid Head doing here, for one—but it’s readily apparent that this film was made by someone who gets the games, who understands the appeal. The result is a film that, again, isn’t beloved like some video game adaptations but most definitely commands a lot of respect and has a respectable fanbase in and of itself.

The same cannot be said for the 2012 sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation.

This movie killed the career of director MJ Bassett, relegating her to television work since then with her only upcoming project the eternally-stuck-in-development-hell reboot of Red Sonja. It also killed any momentum the franchise had, with it taking 11 years for another film to begin development, and who knows if Return to Silent Hill will even come out (I’d love for it to, especially if it really is adapting the second game).

On top of all that, fans weren’t exactly receptive to it. In fact, they were so unperceptive that this film barely registers in discussions of bad movies at all; if I wasn’t a big Silent Hill fan I probably wouldn’t remember it even exists. But maybe people were too harsh on this film; maybe it’s yet another hidden gem among video game movies. Something you may not know about me is I am a huge video game movie apologist; aside from enjoying the obvious stuff like the recent Sonic and Mario movies, I also enjoy the 90s Mario movie, Street Fighter, both takes on Mortal Kombat… Sure, I’ve seen some garbage like Max Payne and Doom, but the reputation of video game movies as unwatchable garbage is greatly exaggerated in my opinion.

So with all that said, I promised to take you to that town I see in my restless dreams and figure out if Revelation is really that bad, or if the hole of negative reception for this movie is gone now.

THE GOOD

Well, the practical effects are all still pretty good, with some really creative monsters. And there are a few scenes here and there with cool and creative imagery. 

What else... oh! Adelaide Clemens is actually genuinely good as Heather. I mean, the writing for her is as bad as the writing for everyone else, but by god is Clemens really giving it her all. She manages to outshine veteran actors like Malcolm McDowell, Sean Bean, and Carrie-Anne Moss. So props to her!

The soundtrack is pretty decent… No complaints there. Fuck guys, I’m really trying... Hm... Oh yeah! Pyramid Head is here for some fucking reason! It makes no goddamn sense, but I’m ultimately a simple man. I see Pyramid Head, I am happy.

Yeah okay I’m done trying to be nice.

THE BAD

This film is just ass from start to finish.

Here’s something a lot of people don’t understand when it comes to adaptations: Sometimes it’s best not to be completely accurate to what you’re adapting. The first film has the respect it does because it’s a loose adaptation that tells a familiar story with unique elements to it while keeping the core elements that make the series so beloved—the emotional moments, the horror, the atmosphere, the visuals. This film, on the other hand, swings into being way too faithful and trying to shoehorn the plot of Silent Hill 3 into the continuity of the films, which does nothing but rip a dozen plot holes open and comes off as desperate course correction that wasn’t needed at all. I’ll give it this—the movie is putting in a lot of effort to keeping this movement towards accuracy to the games from feeling too contrived.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to appreciate the efforts the film is going to due to how legitimately bad everything is. The acting is undeniably worse all across the board, even from legendary actors like Malcolm McDowell; the script is amateurish and ludicrous, with stupid twists and unbearably bland or bad dialogue in nearly every scene; and the CGI is just not up to the standard the first film set. In a way, this film is the original The Rise of Skywalker in how it dumped everything from the contentious film before it and tried way too hard to course correct to disastrous results, all while the previous film began to get a second look due to the catastrophic failure of the newer one.

The director said she wanted to deliver a continuation of the first film first, and an adaptation of the third game second, but with all the clunky retcons in a desperate attempt to emulate the game we’re left with a poorly-paced mess of a movie that is cramming way too much into a 90 minute runtime. The film is just a fifty car pileup of bad ideas, and genuinely there’s not much else to say. Revelation is so bereft of anything resembling good ideas that there is so little I could say that was positive and everything bad about it is so broad that it’s just not enjoyable to talk about, since what’s the point of singling out a bad element when all the other elements around it suck ass too?

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

This is genuinely, truly a bad movie, but honestly? It wasn’t a painful experience.

Like this movie pretty obviously sucks. It’s an abject failure at portraying the story of the game it is ostensibly adapting to the silver screen, it has terrible dialogue, it wastes its actors, and it seems more focused on gory visuals and cheap jumpscares than actually trying to be atmospheric or engaging. I don’t know if you noticed, but there wasn’t a lot for me to talk about here, and that’s because this film is so dull and unoriginal that there’s really not much to say. I hate that I couldn’t really dive deeper into how much it sucks, but it just sucks in the most tepid, uninspired ways, ways that don’t invoke much besides an annoyed eyeroll from me. It is genuinely like if Michael Bay tried to make a horror film.

Ultimately, though, that’s the very thing that “saves” this; it is just so dumb that I can easily see how someone could mine entertainment from this in a “so bad it’s good” way. Sure, I didn’t like this film and was bored watching it, but I didn’t feel vitriolic hate for it or anything. I just thought it was a subpar horror film that can’t live up to the games or the previous movie, which is a tall order to begin with. And really, is being a subpar horror film that much of a crime? I’d say it’s better than being as dogshit as Slender Man, Smiley, The Bye Bye Man, or any of the other genuinely abysmal horror films I’ve had to sit through. Horror is a genre of extremes, where typically you’ll either see one of the best and scariest films of your life or the most tedious waste of time imaginable that will have you calling for the director’s head. To find a horror film that’s just perfectly and stupidly mediocre is genuinely impressive. I’m gonna say that 4.9 score is entirely completely fair; the movie is just below average, and while it’s certainly shitty there’s no denying that it has some value as mindless entertainment.

Again, this is a bad film. I am not in any way recommending watching this, especially when you could watch the first film (or better yet just play the games). But when you consider some of the crap I’ve had to sit through for this show, I’ll take a bad movie that only gets me mildly annoyed over a bad movie that makes me legitimately angry or offended like Land of the Lost. And as piss-poor as this film is, it’s still a better adaptation than Ratchet & Clank was!

[kaaragen]

All righty, my thoughts on Ahsoka!

I think it's okay. I enjoyed watching it, and I like being around the characters again. There are a lot of things that have 'cause for concern' but I'm going to withhold final judgement until I see how it plays out. Filoni is definitely Lucas' Padawan - in that he can't direct actors for shit, pace a scene or write dialogue that feels like something people would actually say.

Things I liked:

Chopper was great, as was his little banter with Hera. And, contrarily to seemingly everyone, I actually like Hera. Yes, she looks like the porn parody version (the flat lighting is not helping), but she does feel like the character, and also a natural evolution of that character as someone who has been both a general and a single parent.

The visuals are actually quite good - couldn't spot any ropey CGI or Volume work so that's a plus.

The story is set up nicely, Morgan works as an effective villain. Baylan and Shin are a bit one-dimensional, but we're two episodes in and I like their vibe.

I liked The Phantom Menace homages. Less enamoured with the homage to it's wooden acting and flat place.

The other galaxy - a neat way of expanding the Universe. Though now my mind is filled with the idea of it being the 40K galaxy, and thus images of Commissar Thrawn and Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Ezra XD

(...I'm going to have to write this fic now aren't I? -_-)

My minor annoyances:

Just do a proper opening crawl for God's sake!

The narrative contrivances were...a bit much. I don't mind one or two, it's Star Wars they're all over the place, but them piling up to get the plot to work was annoying. From the captain 'calling their bluff' by...doing exactly what Baylan wanted instead of, you know, keeping their highly important prisoner safe by not letting them aboard; to a third HK droid just hanging about at Sabine's house, instead of, I don't know, self-destructing and killing everyone in Lothal?

The Imperial infiltrators stuff is starting to grate. Because it could be done well - there's something to be explored in the idea that leading rebellions are different from leading governments, there are different challenges and various ways cynics can take advantage of that and corrupt ideals etc. But the way it's done just makes the New Republic look stupid.

The episode one cliffhanger was daft. We know Sabine's not going to die; and if she's going to get stabbed it should have an actual impact on the plot but bacta means that didn't happen. I can see why they decided on a two-episode premiere as that would have been a really weak ending.

Things with question marks:

Sabine. I don't mind her being a Jedi - feels a bit out of nowhere, but the idea of a non-Force sensitive (or weak Force-sensitive) training to be one, and compensating through other means, sounds fine. But I'm not sure it's something that works for her character. Wanting to learn to better defend Lothal etc. I get, but actually being a Padawan? Seems odd. Especially as we already got this story with the Darksabre arc.

The petulant teenager stuff bothered me when I watched it, but I've mellowed after a friend pointed out that Sabine has had trouble with family. She got denounced by her biological family, then her found family broke up at the end of Rebels. Makes sense that she'd be a bit lonely, cling to Ahsoka looking to recreate that and then react badly when it went wrong. So regressing feels natural, though I'm hoping that's over with now.

I'm not keen on her relationship with Ahsoka. Having them be a failed Master and Apprentice duo feels a bit like trying to force a relationship that didn't exist into being because I don't they exchanged a single word in Rebels. I would have preferred it if they didn't have much of one and their journey together explored their characters.

Ahsoka. She's about what I've come to expect from the recent series. But the Paragon Jedi stuff really doesn't suit her. I don't mind her 'I walked away from Anakin' line - I can see how survivor's guilt would lead to look back on things that way and think 'I could have saved him'. But a pin in it - it'll depend on how this is explored in the show as to whether I come to like or dislike this.

So overall, cautious but not turned off yet.

[borntolurk]

I didn't like S2: a meta about metas

I didn't like S2, and I think there are a bunch of reasons why, which come down to three main bullet points of

pacing (oh god, the pacing)

plot decisions (including the decision not to really have much of a plot)

minisodes (except the Job one which I thought was mostly amazing)

But that's not really the point of this, though I might get into those at another time.

The point is that since I finished the show yesterday, I've been reading metas that make a bunch of the choices that I disliked make more sense retroactively, and there's a part of my brain that keeps making me think "oh okay so you obviously judged the season too harshly, and these other people Got It."

And, like, that's totally possible? But the fact that I didn't Get It, I think, is relevant too. Call me a philistine, and I'm sure some will, but I do think that some stuff DOES need to work as read. Like, I can, and will, analyze like the worst of them, but if you need someone else to explain to you why a particular thing works by going back and collecting random details, when it's something that felt like it came out of nowhere when you were watching the actual thing itself... it's not your fault.

(Or rather, it's not my fault lol.)

Like, for example, I did NOT particularly enjoy the ending. I thought it came out of nowhere, I thought it seemed unnatural and contrived while it was happening, and I thought that the entire rest of the season spectacularly failed to set it up.

But then, I started reading metas about out, very good ones, and I was like, hmmm, these make quite a lot of sense! And there was one meta that actually really kind of punched me in the gut on a personal level, because it really touched on some personal issues I'm working on when it comes to the religious environment in which I was raised. By the end of reading some of these metas I was like ok well what Aziraphale did TOTALLY make sense because it's what I'd have done if I had been in his situation and it's totally psychologically consistent based on these details.

I do agree, seeding in some kinds of clues, and psychological plausibility, are both very important. But they're only a part of the story. You also have to be able to make the story work rhythmically. You plant the third act in the first, if you can manage it (and while I see the arguments people make about how the first episode includes a bunch of clues, they're more retroactive ones, the kinds that make for good metas where you're like "ahhh that's what that [might have] meant). You have to progress the story and the characters such that the ending is something that flows naturally from the rest of the story. You can have a shock ending, but it has to be a shock ending that takes what you already know and have been mentally logging from the rest of what you've seen and follows consistently from there.

It's very probable that a lot of people think that GO2 managed to do all of these things. I didn't. To me, the ending was all kind of jammed in, I found the Gabriel ending completely underwhelming, the bookshop standoff was resolved through two very nearly literal deus ex machinas, I had no idea what to expect... and suddenly all that happened and I didn't feel like anything previously in the season had prepared me for it.

A bunch of metas have explained to me that I was wrong, but I guess my point here is- storytelling is about more than the bunch of data points that get turned into metas. It's about the pacing, the writing, the directing, the editing, the acting... and I think that there were multiple points of failure this season that made any logic of the ending really hard to see without going into the weeds and writing metas, or reading other people's.

If you need someone to explain to you why you should like something, it may just mean that you don't like the thing, or how the thing was done, and that's okay! Not only are all opinions subjective, but metas are layered on top of the narrative- they aren't a part of it, and just because you find a compelling one that makes you feel like you don't trust your first impressions, that doesn't necessarily mean you were wrong to have them. The story itself and its storytelling have to convince you too.

(In the meantime, I'll probably go on reading, and eventually writing, metas lol)

[crossdressingdeath]

(Mind flayer Durge anon again) Oh wow so. I did not know ANY of that mind flayer lore. I just did some more reading on some wikis too and what the fuck. My only experience with mind flayers had been Bg3 itself and god the game really brushes past all that huh. I very much get WHY they chose to make it vague in the context of the story they wrote, but I very much do NOT get why they wrote the story that way in the first place if they knew enough about it to know they had to leave it vague. Anyway never mind my previous ask lol, I really did think it was just your new Squid Forme and a resistible urge to eat brains until a few minutes ago.

Also you are so right about Omeluum. Lbr the fact that Larian wanted the contrived conflict over the pc having to turn themself or someone else into a mind flayer, is exactly the reason why Omeluum thee mind flayer ally only gives you a bag of potions when even characters like Mol (literal child) and Valeria (famously lazy) and Mizora (evil!!!!) will show up to help your ass in the final battle. It’s kind of an insane plot hole actually but whatever I guess 😭

Yeah, Larian kind of leaves it at "You're MONSTROUS now, you've got TENTACLES and you EAT BRAINS" and like... no. You're dead. You die. The tadpole devours your brain. The "you" that exists post-transformation is an echo made from your memories, and there's honestly no real reason to believe that that echo is going to last; mind flayers generally don't retain much of their host's personality, and the fact that you seem to be the same person now doesn't mean you're going to stay that way. It seriously undercuts the whole "sacrifice" angle of the transformation that the writing treats it like it's basically fine. One of the things making Omeluum Best Squid is that unlike the Emperor it does not claim to be the same person it was; the Emperor's like "No no I'm still Balduran, really, I'm definitely the same person, trust me!" but Omeluum just... is a person. Not the same person it was, but a person all the same. But I suspect Larian not going into why turning into a mind flayer is a really really really really really bad thing is why we get things like people acting like the LIs not breaking up with the player if they go full illithid is The Only Correct And Loving Choice (despite the fact that both "you eat brains now and can barely control yourself" and "you're not actually the person I fell in love with, you're a tadpole-based echo that likely won't last" are extremely valid reasons to break up with someone; let's be real, most people would break up with their significant other under those circumstances) and people insisting that letting Karlach go full mind flayer so she doesn't have to go to the Hells is her best ending: despite "if we don't do something we'll turn into mind flayers" being the inciting motivation of every act one companion, Larian did a really bad job of properly establishing why that's such a bad thing beyond the basic "tentacles and brain-eating" thing.

And I didn't even think of it, but you're probably right that Omeluum doesn't show up for the final battle because otherwise it would be really obvious that there was a solution to this issue that didn't require anyone turning into a mind flayer. Although honestly even if Omeluum didn't exist I think it would feel incredibly contrived; Larian, please explain to me why we need a mind flayer to control the Netherbrain when non-transformed and imprisoned Orpheus working alone and without the Netherstones already has the power to keep it at bay. Please! RPG writers! You do not need to cram Horrible Dilemmas With No Right Answer into the endgame! Sometimes it's okay to end the game by just fighting an evil guy! Or an evil brain in this case!

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

You know, I still think about how like... Katsuki has never actually had a proper 1v1 vs a villain character ever. Like, it's always been with another person. All of his fights where he could shine... are against other heroes. And most of the fights where villains are involved, he loses pretty badly. But it's more than just that. Izuku's original design was going to basically be Japanese Anime Batman, being quirkless and using equipment and an adult. Katsuki's original design was going to be a nice person who just had no tact and was brutally honest. Apparently, that original design for Izuku was believed that it would cause him to fade into the background according to Horikoshi's editors, and Katsuki's original design was considered too freaking boring according to Horikoshi himself. And yet fast forward to the current events of the manga where... I genuinely don't even know what Izuku's personality is any more because all his idea of strategy is basically gone, it's just basically 'unleash overwhelming power', and he really has no character outside of being a vessel for the Protag Powers. And then you have Katsuki, who jobs constantly, the entire story basically feels like he was intended to be the original protagonist with how often he's shoved into everything and is just sucked off despite his jobbing as if he's more important to the plot than anyone else. Like fuck, Katsuki is literally listed as being an abusive egotist in the guidebook, and Kirishima has an entire thing in his backstory about being the victim of bullying yet he's completely okay with Katsuki, a character who is actively hostile to everyone and is abrasive AT BEST. Like I get they're high schoolers (which I genuinely don't understand with how they act considering high schoolers were more intelligent than this for me growing up) but fuck Horikoshi's writing makes fucking everyone so god damn stupid the moment Katsuki is involved. Anyway, I needed to vent after I was catching up on World Trigger and realising 'yeah I actually enjoy this arc because we have character personality conflicts and the individuals have to work them out because they're stuck together for a week. Oh and they actually talk to each other and you know, HAVE FUCKING BRAINS, and actively try and work on these flaws that are coming up', and getting incredibly mad that the entire character writing into MHA at this point is basically SMASH THIS NO STRATEGY and personally I blame the story constantly sucking off Bakugou who's supposed intelligence just feels informed and contrived because of his behaviour. Intelligent strategist but incredibly socially dumb my god. And he's so socially dumb he subtracts from everyone else's intelligence to get him to suck him off. I genuinely do not understand why the Bakusquad exists considering the personality conflicts there, especially with Kaminari outright stating his personality was raw sewage at one point early on and yet we're supposed to believe that Bakugou has grown and atoned as a person whilst still being a rabid dumbass who gets his ass kicked.

That’s an interesting point. A majority of Katsuki’s fights, the ones where he wins, are against fellow heroes in training. In terms of villains, he’s only ever fought Tomura, Nine, the canon fodder in the USJ, and the minions in the movies (with help).

I agree with what you said about Proto Katsuki in that he would’ve been far more interesting, or at least far more tolerable. I’d rather have a boring character than an outright terrible one. Like you mentioned before, everyone who interacts with Katsuki is made 100% dumber and is forced to neglect key components of their character just so that Hori can wank off his fave and push this “he has potential and is strong” narrative. I also agree that unfortunately it does feel like Izuku’s been reduced to “punch everything with a lot of force” rather than the creative fighter he was before. There was a really great analysis I just read that explains this. I blame it on Hori trying to wrap up his story as quickly as he can.

This is the analysis in question btw:

[masschase]

for the ask meme (for matt and casey): general - 8, love - 9, domestic - 9

Ship ask meme

General - 8- Who gets jealous easier?

So this is one of the things where we see some serious character development in Casey with regards to the two different points in time I write her in my fic. In 2016 she seems a little jealous of Matt and Viola (she has no clue Viola is a lesbian) and extremely jealous of her future self, with regards to the way Matt talks about her/has to go back to her but also everything else she believes is right in her future self's life. 2022 Casey is internally even more jealous as her feelings towards Matt are a lot stronger than the past self that's been fooling around with him for a few days. But she's much better at controlling it so she doesn't seem as bad.

There's also a slightly different dynamic when we look at when Matt was involved with Asha. It's a running plot point that Casey gets uncomfortable around things she can't have, hence the frequency of teasing, making vomit noises etc. despite the assurance she hopes it all works out for them. When you look at how enthusiastically she cheers on other couples, it's clear something is different.

Matt, too, acts casual about it but confirms that he does get quite jealous when he sees the way she dances with Pierce and so on. But he has this firm "she's not mine" mentality so he's a little more chill about it.

I think once they're in a relationship, he'd have far more instances of slight jealousy due to the way people interact with her, but she'd feel far more jealous if she had cause to, so overall I'd say that makes her the jealous one.

Love - 9- What kind of nicknames do they call each other?

God they're terrible for this 🤣

Casey consistently calls Matt "Matty" from that moment I've discussed before onwards where he assures her about how it kind of heals his trauma around Killbane. Before they're in a relationship that's only really when they're alone. Once they're together she uses it more freely in front of the others as well as the standard sweetie and baby. She uses all three of these a lot because she has that tendency to use people's names a lot when she's talking to them.

She will sometimes call him Miller when trying to keep things professional or when they have a work dispute and he will call her Boss/Emperor for the same reasons. Sometimes she straight up calls him Matt Miller usually in a vaguely alluring tone. Nyte Blayde is even more effective.

He's one of few people allowed to call her Cassandra (she just likes how it sounds in a British accent) and if he's using it teasingly she will often call him Matthew in return.

His main nickname for her is Cass and he doesn't use pet names as frequently as she does  but he uses a wider array of terms of endearment than she does. Babe/baby, sweetie, my darling, love/my love, cutest little mass murderer ever, blondie. Oh and princess but only in the bedroom...

In deliberately cheesy moments, the words "cyber god" and "gang boss goddess" may have been used 🤦🏼

Basically, anything *but* thier usual names will suffice 🤣

Domestic - 9- Who’s the better cook?

Matt by a fucking mile, and he's not even like *amazing*, he's just standard level can make half-decent pasta, burgers, quesadillas, shepherd's pie etc. but Casey is laughably bad in the kitchen so to her he's amazing. Even before they were together she called his pasta "That Italian restaurant shit.'. He definitely teaches her some stuff once they're together but for the most part he cooks and she cleans up afterwards.

I do still think it's super cute (some would say contrived but these "some" sound like haters to me) that pecan pie, the one thing Casey can cook thanks to her sister's very simple recipe and the fact it doesn't matter too much if it's burnt, just so happens to be Matt's favourite pie though. He's not really one for baking but I'm sure in time he'll learn to whip up a good lemon meringue in return. :)