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doryness · 3 years

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So apparently the final shooting of NHIE s3 was in Malibu. To be more specifical, it seems that the last scene of season 3 was filmed in Malibu, which is a very special place to Devi since she spread her dad's ashes and then she kissed Ben at the end of season 1.

I've already read a lot of posts about the fact that this could possibly mean a scene where Ben and Devi could be finally endgame.

I just want to say something, as a huge fan of NHIE and as a Benvi shipper:

Of course, as a hopeless romantic I really wish this means something related to Ben and Devi and the possibility of them being finally endgame.

But after watching season 2 ...

I feel the need of getting my feet back on the ground, because Mindy Kaling and her writers' team are unpredictable.

So I think that it's better for our shipper's hearts not getting too excited at the possibility of Benvi being endgame simply because Mindy and her team likes a LOT turning tables.

At least this is what I'll do.

My relationship with this fandom changed a lot in the past months.

And mostly because my perception of the fandom itself and the series changed too.

I still love this show because it had such a strong impact to me: I loved the portraying of all these characters and the various relationships between them, they felt deeply real to me.

Obviously I'm not immune at the Ship Topic because I have my favourite one. But even though I am a Benvi Shipper I don't hate Daxton and the reasons are very simple.

I accept Paxton as Devi's teenage crush, especially because of the hotness topic: after all Devi's still a teenager so it's quite normal for a girl like her wanting to live the classic high school "Teenage Dream" with a hot and sweet boyfriend like Paxton.

I've always preferred Devi's relationship with Ben because to me it was more deep and meaningful. But I have to say... in the past months even my perception of them as a couple changed a lot.

They are a perfect match on paper but this isn't enough to make them the right person for each other, it doesn't mean they're made to be endgame.

Personally I think that they still need time to grow up individually, first of all things.

There are traits of Ben that I don't like for sure, and this made me think that maybe after all he's not the Right Guy for Devi at this very moment of her life.

Same thing for Ben, because there are traits of Devi which cannot make her the right person for him right now.

Devi needs to understand her value as an individual and especially she must figure out that she doesn't need to be involved in a romantic relationship in order to be okay with herself. But she needs a lot of time.

Even Ben needs to find his own dimension to grow individually and he also needs a lot of time.

But the thing is... if Ben really had deep romantic feelings for Devi, I hope these make him realize that he needs to come out from his dark corner and put his pride aside. During the final scene when he's watching Devi and Paxton dancing at the prom, his expression his deeply shocked and devastated. I hope he would finally get some courage from that moment to stand up for Devi. Only if she's really what he want, of course.

I also don't think that the final route for them is to be endgame at the end of the show.

Honestly, after all this time rewatching the episodes (and after seeing the poor treatment that Devi had from the fandom) what I really hope for the very final moment of the series is for Devi graduating and going to college ready to build her future.

We must simply accept the fact that maybe romantic endgame is not in the plan of Mindy Kaling or the other writers.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't be happy if Ben and Devi were endgame at the end of season 3: I would be very happy. But I wouldn't be upset if they weren't because they are not so right for each other.

❗DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion, I don't want to upset anybody. I just needed to say what I think.

#never have i ever #devi vishwakumar #ben gross #never have i ever season 2 #never have i ever series #never have i ever netflix #never have i ever season 3 #nhie season 3 #benvi #devi x ben #ben x devi #mindy kaling #neverhaveieveredit #bevi #nhie meta

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austennerdita2533 · 2 years

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please don’t be sorry for taking time to reply!! i hope everything’s/you’re okay!

oooh what was your theory after season 3? because i was so late i already knew how it played out, which is kinda sad cause i would’ve loved to experience that finale with no idea what came next. I agree about being more drawn to what’s happening with the adults lol, and yes I love the dynamics too. The will/Jonathan scenes in season 4 were great. (Although my ultimate favourite scene this season I think is either the jopper reunions or the one with Dustin & Eddie). The dynamics are I think my absolute favourite thing about stranger things.

Thanks for understanding, lovely! I'm hanging in there, just been fighting off a lingering sickness that's been giving me trouble this summer. 🙃

I have a tendency to get bad upper respiratory infections. I'm asthmatic (and am in the middle of a flare bc the pollen is terrible and my body hates me apparently haha) so it takes me longer to get over things. So between fevers, sinusitis, headaches, a URI I can't shake, and a cough that I'm trying to prevent from turning into bronchitis, I've been running on capital "E" empty. Regrettably, it's also made me tortoise slow about getting back to my friends but I'm doing my best to answer when I have the energy!

In short, my immune system is the actual worst. ☠️

Anyway, about Stranger Things!

After s3, I remember having no idea if Hopper was actually dead or not. Since Joyce took the kids and moved, it was obvious they all believed he was gone for good. That scene where it looked like he got blown up was eviscerating--I was so emotional at the idea that he sacrificed himself to save them all. We didn't get confirmation that he was still alive until they released a teaser trailer some time in the middle of the pandemic. (It's hard to remember when precisely when because that whole period is/was a blur. 2020-2022 felt like a century worth of time had lapsed.) I did think that it was possible he had survived the blast and was captured by the Russians. But since we had lost so many other characters we loved earlier in the series, I couldn't rule out the possibility that he wasn't coming back.

The dynamics and relationships between the characters are what make the show for me. The Jopper reunion in s4 was one of my favorites. I also really loved Hopper and El's reunion scene. (I cried like a baby, ngl.) Dustin and Eddie's brother-like brotp continues to be one of things I love most about ST. Not only is it sweet but their scenes/interactions often lighten the mood a lot of the time. Provides great comic relief. It's like HIMBO big brother meets nerdy D&D-playing little brother. I love it so much. 😄

#anonymous #replies #the loveliest of lovely people #ashlee bree talks stranger things

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butwhatifidothis · 3 years

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7, 11, 24, 31, 50! send me some friendly fire!

I'll send you some in a bit!

7. Character(s) you thought had wasted potential, and why?

Rhea for sure, but for someone else probably Seteth. He's so caring for everyone and tries to give as best advice to them as he can, and his protectiveness of Flayn is so heart-wrenching when you realize just why he's so protective. Absolute shame he can't support with the lords, that could've been so interesting to see

11. Favourite paralogue and why?

Believe it or not, Marianne's is definitely up there. Everything from "OH SHIT MARIANNE'S ALONE" and "MAURICE IS IMMUNE TO MAGIC" and the mad dash to her on top of trying to keep her safe from Maurice and the billion Demonic Beasts surrounding her and it's dark as shit - trying to figure everything out gives a really nice challenge! Especially since I found out that at least on AM, you can actually 1 turn the map - figuring out how to do that with my sis' file was super fun

24. Popular ship/support you don't like, and why?

For ships, while it's definitely a good ship and developed extremely well, caaaan't say I'm the biggest Dimi///Iix fan around. Mostly because I just don't really like Felix in most ships lmao, this included - just doesn't vibe with me, nothing particularly against it.

For supports... I mean I know bliss said this for her answer lmao but I also really, really don't like Ferdinand and Hubert's supports, specifically because of the latter half of them. The first half is almost completely dropped in favor of Hubert suddenly liking Ferdinand and the two of them being Totally Not Gay in their A+ support out of nowhere. The actual interesting parts of their dynamic is washed away, which sucks ass.

31. Character(s) you think is/are the most like you? (Do not to be self-depricating about this question!!!)

Now this is a tricky one lmao. I certainly relate to a lot of characters - Claude's experiences with race are ones similar to what I've been through (minus the assassins lol), to give an example - but actually thinking about who is the most like me is a head-scratcher. I guuuuuessss the closest would be Claude? Maybe? Both make jokes a lot, both can be unintentionally insensitive, both like learning new shit - I can see how that can be something? Claude's waaaay more outgoing and ambitious than I am tho, and he overthinks shit infinitely more than I do, as well as a knack for manipulation that I don't think I have lmao. In that regard I'm kind of like Marianne or Bernadetta, where I'm super uncomfortable around people I don't know or if I'm alone outside of my house. But I wouldn't say I'm as, uh, affected by it than they are lmao. I guess if you put them all in a blender you'd get something close to me, but I couldn't point to any one character and say "dat me" if that makes sense

50. Least favourite Black Eagles support chain, and why?

I'll say I'm not the biggest fan of Edelgard's supports with Linhardt. I see it touted as such a good support for Edelgard but all I see if her trying to make use out of Linhardt through cronyism. Especially since apparently she can't be bothered to make Dorothea a general in her army, but she can make an entirely new position in Adrestia made for one specific person. Cool lol

#ask #ask meme #picking a least favorite BE support is hard because I'm kinda mostly indifferent to the house overall compared to the other two #so mostly just used that one to get my feelings out for those supports specifically lmao

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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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X-Men Abridged: 1976

The X-Men, those fiery mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 97 - 102) - by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

If I ever participate in Drag Race, this will be my entrance look. (“Hear me, bitches! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am fierce! I am fashion incarnate! Now and forever, the winner of season 27!” *mugs at camera* ) (X-Men 101)

It really amazes me how quickly Claremont shifts things into high gear. One year in and he absolutely does not calm down, giving us both the Shi’ar, more Sentinels and the (motherfucking) Phoenix. SO LET'S GOOOO

You’d think that, as a telepath, Charles would be used to dreaming absolutely twisted shit, surfing everybody else´s freaky dream waves, but apparently, vividly dreaming of space is so exhausting that he needs a vacation.

To be fair, I’d be exhausted too if I dreamt of schizo space bugs on detailed splash pages. Get into it, Mr. Cockrum. (X-Men 97)

Meanwhile, Alex and Lorna have absconded to the sizzling Rio Diablo to work on their doctorates. It’s unclear what they’re studying (archaeology?) and where this Rio Diablo is (Panama, Chili, Ecuador?), but considering that Rio means River, I’m unsure whether drawing a dry dry desert is the appropriate setting. But hey, this was the pre-Google era and you’re not here for topographical nitpicking, so.

Lorna is shot by an unknown assailant and continues the long, long history of Polaris being mentally overtaken by other entities. Together with the equally not-himself Havoc, they travel back to NYC and attack the plane Xavier is boarding. The X-Men battle them, until it is revealed that these former not-quite-X-Men are in league with… Eric the Red?

Scott is all: But I was Eric the Red! Also, Eric the Red does not exist!

Xavier escapes, apparently not giving a fuck that all kinds of X-Men are demolishing the JFK airport, but the still-evil Havok and Polaris also get away. The X-Men are shook!

Some time later, The X-Men celebrate X-Mas at Rockefeller Square, where Claremont skips some steps in favour of narrative expediency. Moira and Sean are apparently in a relationship, Jean and Storm are the best of friends. It’s some pretty rough telling, not showing, but we’ll allow it, but only because the Storm/Jean-friendship is one of my favourite things.

What, you think only the movies indulged in Lee/Kirby-cameos? (X-Men 98)

Anyway, Jean and Scott are attacked by the Sentinels, who continue their trend of being way too sneaky for supersized racist robots! Xavier is kidnapped on his boat trip with super-duper scientist Peter Corbeau (seriously, he has two Nobel Prizes), while they steal away Jean, Sean and Logan in NYC. When they come to, there’s some gloating from Stephen Lang.

Jean Grey being a literal pin-up while delivering nazi-burns is such a big middle finger to everything she was in the sixties and I am here for it. (X-Men 98)

When the three kidnapped X-Men make a break for it and escape the Sentinel’s clutches, they burst through a wall, only to be greeted by the cold vacuum of space! They’re not on Earth at all: they’re on a formerly SHIELD space station! GASP! (literally)

In secret, Peter Corbeau, inventor of sliced bread, helps the X-Men back on Earth board a space shuttle, where Colossus remembers his brother Mikhail (objectively the worst Rasputin), a kosmonaut who died at the launch of another spacecraft. It’s another Future Plotline Seed©.

The X-Men dodge solar storms which sounds like a made-up contrivance but aren’t, while the Sentinels try to destroy the shuttle. In what the kids these days call a pro-gamer move, the X-Men instead ram the space station and go through to these apparently sub-par Sentinels like Magma through butter. Kurt’s showmanship and Colossus’ loyalty are highlighted, while Cyclops becomes more robotic and repressed the more Jean is in danger.

Colossus’ secondary mutation is apparently BEING THE BIGGEST DORK. (X-Men 99)

Scott almost kills Stephen Lang, but then Stephen throws his ace in the hole at them: THE OLD X-MEN? This reveal throws us right in the hallmark one hundredth issue!

And, look. Stephen, this is just a terrible plan. Instead of using most of your budget on making more impressive Sentinels, you blow half of it on making janky X-Men clones to… what? Confuse the real X-Men?

It works for a hot minute, but Kurt and Ororo quickly figure out something is wrong. This Beast, for example, isn’t hairy and this Jean doesn’t remember being in Storm’s confidence. Wolverine is the first to snap: acting on instinct, he kills ‘Jean’, proving she’s an android.

Stephen Lang, foiled by the X-Men’s logical thinking skills (which, to be fair, are notoriously unreliable), spews some hatred and accidentally blows himself up. Nothing of value is lost.

Too bad the X-Men can’t return to Earth: their space shuttle is too damaged. I actually love this: going to space is kind of a big deal for most people and the fact that the X-Men have trouble because they’re stranded in space lends them a kind of vulnerability that has been lost over the recent years. Jean steps up to the plate, herds the other X-Men into the protected life cell and assumes the pilot seat of the shuttle. This is after zapping Cyclops into unconsciousness and telling the other X-Men to kindly fuck off when they try to stop her.

As the X-Men descend onto the Earth, Jean’s telekinesis isn’t enough to protect her as she’s engulfed by solar flares. OR IS SHE?

Nothing funny. All of these panels are just beautiful. Forget those robot copy X-Men, this is why this issue is worthy of being the hundredth one. (X-Men 100)

The space shuttle crashes, rolls over JFK airport before dunking in the water. The X-Men emerge, safe, sound and very lucky and then, defying all odds, Jean emerges as the Phoenix. Fire, life incarnate, etc.

After a brief but melodramatic burst of energy, Jean collapses into unconsciousness and is hospitalized. Wolverine intends to bring her flowers (aw!), before throwing them out when he realizes the gal’s taken, establishing the X-Men’s most famous love triangle. (You can fuck right off with your Scott/Jean/Warren-bullshit.)

I’m not sure what my favorite thing is here: the absolutely bonkers everybody’s-elated-panel (special mention to Kurt’s boots and his bounce) or the subtle character beat where Kurt goes all heart-of-the-team and checks on Scott, who turns out to be not so stoic. (X-Men 101)

Charles orders all the X-Men (except Scott) to go on vacation, so he can take care of Jean. Like, Charles, you’d think they could just go hang out at the X-Mansion. Instead, they go to Ireland because Sean has conveniently inherited the ancestral Cassidy Keep.

All the X-Men dress up fancy for a welcoming feast, and it seems Kurt and Ororo are flirting? But sometimes, it also seems like Ororo and Piotr are flirting? Listen, I’m not judging: I love these polycule vibes from the early X-Men. Especially because neither Kurt nor Ororo have had particularly satisfying romantic plotlines for the past 20 years.

I’m not here to insinuate nothing, but last time I said “I enjoy being with both of you”, it ended up in a spitroast. (X-Men 101)

The soiree is interrupted by… THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH, and Black Tom, Sean Cassidy’s evil cousin. They are hired by an unknown someone to kill the X-Men! Since nobody subtle is involved, they quickly wreck the castle and everybody tumbles into the dungeons. (Local news paper reports: gay power couple harasses ill-dressed American tourists.)

This story is mostly a vehicle to tells Ororo’s backstory: Storm, one of the few who could conceivably put up a fight to Cain Marko, feels caged by the cold rocks of Cassidy Keep and is incapacitated by her claustrophobia.

Back in the USA, Charles, who’s heard Storm’s mental anguish, is furious with Scott because he doesn’t hop in a plane to save the other X-Men, even though Scott correctly points out that he’ll never get there in time if he leaves now. Meanwhile, Jean awakens, convinced she somehow brought herself back to life. Yeah, you go girl.

While the rest of the X-Men fight the evil duo in Ireland, Claremont tells Storm’s backstory in a few gorgeous spreads.

“I could write a novel about Storm’s backstory.” “You get two pages.” “Deal.” (X-Men 102)

Another classic comics trope appears here, where family members are immune to one another’s powers. I have no idea how Black Tom is immune to Banshee’s sonic scream - he has ears.

Does Black Tom just have a voice in his ears going NEENER NEENER NEENER when Sean screams? (X-Men 102)

When Storm finally pulls herself back together, it’s too late: the Juggernaut has pummeled the other X-Men into a paste and she also falls to his onslaught. IS THIS THE END OF THE X-MEN?!

Other things introduced this year:

Kurt’s image inducer, which he abuses to look like Errol Flynn. (I would abuse it to look like an amalgam of Milo Ventimiglia (ca. Gilmore Girls) and Timothée Chardonnay. OR like Emmy Raver-Lampman.)

The fastball special!

All kinds of name confusion: Lorna is Polaris, Havok is sometimes Havoc and Piotr becomes Peter.

Best new character: Phoenix. Hit me with that iconic shit.

What to read: The Stephen Lang arc is not fully necessary, just read issue 100 and 101. Don’t skip issue 102 if you want to know all about Storm’s past.

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i-am-just-a-kiddo · 4 years

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favourite male fictional characters

Thank you @vishcount for tagging me, this was a lot of fun! 💞 I originally planned to follow your example and put ten characters here but suddenly it became a lot more oops. also i hope you forgive me for following your format, it’s neat

I am tagging @isabellaofparma , @the-cloud-whisperer and @sassyassassy!

I chose the characters that impacted me deeply on a personal level throughout my life (often shown by how long my love lasts over the years and if i was inspired to write for them).

In no specific order under the cut:

Legolas

The Lord of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.

I think it’s only fitting I start off with this magnificent guy. Maybe I gotta admit, i’ve just had a crush on him ever since I was like, nine years old? He’s the character I will fight tooth and claw for (though I guess he doesn’t need me to do that). I love Orlando Bloom’s portrayal of him, eventhough he is vastly different from the books. Book Legolas is such a delight as well, he feels so whimsical and playful and his banter with Gimli is just gold. I was sad when The Hobbit trilogy came out and I was so disappointed by how they butchered his character, it just did not feel authentic anymore (maybe I am also just bitter about the forced hetero storyline for him. makes no cents, this elf is GayTM your honour. and he will meet his soulmate Gimli in a few decades). Either way, Legolas is the love of my life, thanks for coming to my tedtalk,

Peter Pan

Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie

Another childhood crush of mine. The gif I chose if from the 2005 movie because we always used to watch it and it is to this day one of my favourite movies. It’s so dreamy, so magical, yet also incredibly sad and sweet. I have this very strange fascination with Peter Pan. There is something incredibly unsettling about him, especially in the book. He represents something every child wants - who doesn’t want to escape their bedroom and fly away to experience magical adventured far from the adult world? And yet he also represents the impossibility of it, the curse he carries around with himself because he will forever stay alone, no matter how many lost boys he gathers around himself. And Wendy - it’s a love that was never meant to grow and mature, it’s a fleeting dream for the both of them. I have seen many different adaptations of Peter Pan and I have my favourites, though I want to give a special mention to the book Peter Darling by Austin Chant. It’s a retelling of the story how we know it, in which Peter returns to Neverland after having finally grown up BUT the main points I want to highlight is trans Peter? Heck yes. Gripping and compelling gay love story with our favourite original lost boy Captain Hook? YES.

Snufkin

Moomins, Tove Jansson.

I have discovered Snufkin for myself only last year, and yet I know he will stay with me forever. In short - I vibe with him, he vibes with me. His anxieties about being with people and longing for solitude? His fear of being loved and being important to someone to a point he doesn’t know what to do with himself? This man just wants to roam freely with his own mind and yet he always returns for something that captures him. Mum, I love him because I have rarely felt this seen before. Also, Snufkin said ACAB.

Prince Jing - Xiao Jingyan

Nirvana in Fire (2015)

This too is a darling I have only discovered recently. I watched Nirvana in Fire this year and let me tell you, it’s the best show I have seen in a long while. It’s absolutely amazing and it also ripped my heart out. All the characters are absolutely amazing and I am still not over it.

To be honest, I contemplated between Xiao JIngyan and Mei Changsu, because character-wise I think the latter is a lot more interesting and compelling. He makes for a fantastic heartbreaking and flawed protagonist.

However I have to admit - it was love at first sight with Prince Jing for me and I’m still lowkey mad abt it rip. Seems like I am not immune to Pretty Prince Propaganda. But apart from that, I adore him for his genuine

goodness,

his almost naive drive to be better and seek justice. He lost everything, and for the longest time did not have anything to fight for. So alone and lost and bitter, it makes me sad how much it hardened him. He is heartbreak and clumsy kindness hidden under a skin of scars that was inflicted by his father and many others. I see his sad cat-eyes and I cry, that’s just how it is.

Edmund Pevensie

The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis

I grew up with these books and movies - they have always been part of my life and it will probably always stay that way (only last night I rewatched the first movie and sobbed). Imagine my surprised when I finally watched the last movie about five years ago and was incredibly impressed by how they adapted the book; also imagine my brain suddenly going CASMUND in bold letters at Skandar Keynes’ and Ben Barnes’ performance in that movie. From there, I rediscovered this story completely anew for myself. My favourite Pevensie sibling has always been Lucy (and still is, because I identify with her so much and she feels like home to me); however this new discovery of Edmund’s character was overwhelming. It’s interesting to see characters you’ve grown up with from a more grown up point of view. I don’t want to lay out all my thoughts here, just know I am so heartbroken for him, and so so proud as well. His character arc is amazing and maybe that’s how the last movie makes me even more emotional. Seeing Edmund and Lucy still holding on to Narnia but knowing that that door was closing for them? Not to mention what happens in the later books (we don’t talk about that). Also did I mention Casmund. Here, have my incredibly emo and depressing take on Edmund’s character that I started writing four years ago and which will forever stay a WIP.

Nie Huaisang

The Untamed (2019)

My son. My soul. My bane of existence. The tragic thing about him is, that he does not really exist in canon as I have created him for myself. He’s a secondary character in the show, always so relatable yet still brings the ultimate twist of the story, yet he still remains this incomplete shadow. The movie

Fatal Journey

gave him a lot more and I cried tears of joy and devastation. I don’t know why I latched on to him so much, but apparently he is the one that I project on, the one that feels like he sits somewhere inside my chest. I don’t know what else to say - this year he has been everything to me. I spend a lot of time in his head while writing, and maybe that’s how he’s there forever now. Nie Huaisang saw my brain and went it’s free real estate. All my love for you, you dramatic art hoe.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Ah, another lifelong companion. There are many adapations that I adore - starting from the origin of it all, the books and stories which I have all devoured; the 80s adaptation with Jeremy Brett which was incredibly wonderful; to BBC Sherlock which shaped and traumatised me (I still like the first three seaons but I am too hurt to think about it); to the numerous movies - but by far my most favourite performance is Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Somehow he manages to capture the Holmes I see in my head when I read the books, the sharp yet polite eccentric detective, who loves his companion so much and who has desire to help others. Sherlock Holmes will always stay special to me, in so many different ways. He shaped my youth and I know he will stay with me. (also what would you say when I told you he helped me discover that I can, in fact, be queer AND ace at the same time? thanks pal). What else is there to say? Sherlock Holmes is a universe that you can dive into and find many amazing treasures.

Isak Valtersen

SKAM (2015)

There he is, the boy that changed my life. SKAM changed my life. All of the characters did. However, Isak is special for many, as I imagine. I remember winter 2016, when tumblr was flooded by these norwegian white boys kissing in a pool and cuddling and I was like ‘nah’, this doesn’t look convincing. I don’t know what changed my mind but I remember sitting down at last and watching all that was released of season three and it was only downhill from there. I remember starting to follow the real life updates religiously while watching the other previous seasons in between. The one clip that completely wrecked me was when Isak went to the school nurse about his struggles with sleep - it felt like for the first time I saw someone on screen that could understand me on so many different levels. The entierty of seaons three is so personal, I would tell you to go watch it if you don’t know what I mean. The entire show in fact. It’s a masterpiece and it feels so real. This show impacted my life in a way that no show has managed to do before. I miss it so much. I miss Isak too sigh.

Shang Xirui

Winter Begonia (2020)

Technically, for me personally, Shang Xirui is the nonbinary, gay and ace representation I need in my life (or at least that’s my own personal take on him), but since that is not official, he’s still here on this list. Of course he is because wow, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen such a compelling character on screen. I went from disliking him to being absolutely heartbroken over him. I don’t think any other character in this show captured me as much as he did. There are so many layers to him and discovering all of his sides is a wonderful, heartbreaking, painful and also beautiful journey. I’m not sure I understand all of him yet, but I am willing to try and dig and just ponder his existence. This too, is a perfect example for a flawed yet authentic protagonist. Also he is the most beautiful thing on this planet, or at least that’s how I have been feeling ever since I watched this. I wish to write more of him in the future.

Aang

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

I grew up watching ATLA and my favourite characters have always been Toph, Zuko and Uncle Iroh. In recent years however, I completely fell in love with Aang all anew.

I think especially in the past, I had these prejudices against main characters and found them all the most boring personalities ever. In recent years this changed a lot and especially Aang is a prime example for that. Watching him from the perspective of older me, I find so much wisdom in this young boy. Somehow he represents all I wish to be in my life but at the same time he shows his flaws, he carries this sadness with him that will accompany him all his life. This inner battle and chaos that he has to face day to day and in the end - he is just a young boy. So much has been taken from him and yet he learns how to not let it overtake him, that anger and hurt. He tries his hardest to be better than the day before, even if sometimes the world crashes down on him and he gets overwhelmed. He is a child recruited by adults to manage their mistakes and play into the hands of predestined fate and in this essay I will -

Harry Potter

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

I am surprised myself. I thought I would put Fred and George here, or Remus and Sirius, however I realised that none of them quite capture this feeling of lifelong change, of personal, deep impact that Harry had on me.

As with Aang above, I used to think Harry was the most boring protagonist, yet my opinion took a 180° turn in the past years. Many of the things I wrote for Aang apply to him too - the fact that he was a child, that lost so much, and was always faced with challenges that a child should never have needed to face. Something I want to address is how my favourite book, The Order of the Phoenix, lays all of this out. Harry is just as flawed, just as vulnerable and angry as anyone else. I know some people did not like his ‘emo behaviour’ in the fifth book but for me it just showed how human he is, how he was just a teen like myself at that time. As for many, this boy shaped my entire life, shaped a generation, and I will forever be grateful. I’m sad and angry at how J*R behaves, and how she puts us in the position of doubting our love for these stories. I know I will always love them, but I will not turn a blind eye on all the problematic shit is carries with itself and what the author piles upon us.

Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian

The Untamed (2019)

I will try and keep this short, because if you want to read my thoughts about Wangxian just go to my ao3 and find the over 70k i wrote for them. I decided to put them here together because I can’t seperate them and I can’t choose between them. Each of them carries something I recognise in myself, and each of them is the opposite of me. They each own my heart and soul and I know there will never be a fictional couple like this for me ever again. They’ve snuck their way into my heart and have never left. They deserve to be here, together, because my love for them is indescribable. Bless them. + Bonus:

The Doctor

Doctor Who (1963/2005)

Technically, the Doctor doesn’t count as a “male” character, but since he has been presenting as male up until recently, I needed to include him. I chose the Tenth Doctor because he is the one that broke my heart the most. I adored Nine but he was there too short, and I do love Eleven and Twelve a lot, and Thirteen absolutely owns my heart, Ten has just always been the one that made me cry the most. I loved this era of Doctor Who, I loved how sad and hopeful he was, how heartbroken and yet determined to help wherever it was needed. Doctor Who is always that show, when I return to it, I am reminded that maybe, humanity and the universe isn’t all that bad.

phew, this took ages damn. but i had so much fun! i decided to leave out honorable mentiones because we would be sitting here until tomorrow lol.

#gosh this was nice #a lot of incoherent rambling here #thanks dear #tag game #personal

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blancheludis · 4 years

Link

Fandom: Marvel, Avengers Characters: Bucky Barnes / Tony Stark Tags: Love, Friendship, Pure Fluff, Engagement Words: 3.065

Summary: When Tony picked up Bucky from the streets for a quick tryst, he did not think he would find the love of his life. Thankfully, Bucky is more than ready to deal with any doubts Tony has from time to time. (They are not quite as good at telling Steve that Tony is not paying him for sex. Not anymore, at least.)

---

“And then Hammer had the gall to act like we were going to work on that together. Like, can you imagine?” Tony twists his torso around to look at Bucky, who has his arms crossed behind his head as he lies in bed, watching Tony with a private smile and not enough outrage. “As if I’d ever ruin my good reputation by even looking at the same project as Justin bloody Hammer.”

“You done yet?” Bucky asks, his voice a low rumble the way it sometimes gets at night.

He looks gorgeous, he always does. The blanket pools around his waist, leaving his upper body bare for Tony to drink in. The hard muscles lining his abdomen, the strands of hair sticking to his glistening neck, still sweaty from their former activities. Even the thick line of scars around Bucky’s shoulders that it took months for Tony to be allowed to touch.

Sometimes, Tony fights with feeling inadequate compared to Bucky, but by now he knows to voice these thoughts when they get too loud so that Bucky can show him how very much he thinks that is not true. They have a working system, at the very least, silencing both their demons.

It might be a crime to talk about Justin Hammer while he is in bed with Bucky, but Tony has needed to bitch about his supposed business rival all day and now is finally the time. Bucky knows how to shut him up when it becomes too much.

“I’m paying for your time so I can choose how to spend it,” Tony scoffs with a half-wink, and turns around to fully face Bucky again.

The hotel room has less than adequate lighting, leaving them mostly in shadows, but he sees the amused glint in Bucky’s eyes.

Mostly, he is just glad Bucky is here at all. They said their handsy goodbyes four days earlier when Tony left for the tech convention, but today Bucky was waiting for him in bed when he stumbled back into his room, exhausted from making nice with business rivals all day long.

“I just thought we could do something more satisfying than talking about than scumbag.” Bucky’s lips curl into something that is mostly a smile but tinged with disgust. There is a reason Tony did not smuggle Bucky into the convention. It would have certainly been more entertaining, but Tony could do without the bill for extended damages.

Tony tugs at the blanket, looking at Bucky through his eyelashes. “I’m not sure I should take life advice from a prostitute who chose to call himself Bucky.”

He laughs when Bucky presses his lips together and sits up. “Still my name. Still not a prostitute, doll.”

Tony watches Bucky’s muscles, transfixed enough that he falls into the banter without thinking about his words. The sight is heavenly, so no one can blame him. “And yet you keep taking my money.”

If he had his wallet nearby, he would be tempted to shower Bucky in dollar bills right now. He does not wear enough to stick them somewhere, of course. Perhaps it is time for some new jewellery. Or gold lining for the prosthetic arm. Not that Bucky really needs any enhancement.

“What did that terrible reporter call me?” Bucky asks, amused more than irritated at the press showing up at the most inopportune times. “Your kept man?”

Tony winces but hides it by running a hand through his hair. One of these days, Bucky will grow tired of all the complications coming with Tony. “It was boy toy,” he says, keeping his tone light and adding a suggestive grin. “And that’s easier to write than fiancé.”

It is still a miracle from Tony’s point of view, that he not only stumbled over Bucky and managed to take him home but that they are still together a year later, taking giant leaps towards promising each other forever. Pepper did not believe him and Happy ran a dozen background checks and Tony still expects to wake up one morning and find Bucky gone. This must be a dream. Or one of these truly good things that always, without fail, end too soon.

Bucky hums as he takes his time to look Tony up and down, smiling at what he finds even if it makes Tony rather self-conscious. “You know, my rates go up when I’m with a married man.”

“What?” Tony shakes his head in mock-outrage to hide the way he shivers at hearing Bucky say married. “The penthouse in the middle of Manhattan is not enough?”

They spend most of their time there already, but then it will finally be theirs.

Tapping his hand on the blanket, Bucky looks like he is thinking hard. “I want your weekends,” he then says, sounding snotty like one of the wanna-be business men Tony left downstairs. “Completely. No work, just us.”

And is that not the dream? Waking up next to Bucky, perhaps never even getting out of bed. Eating their meals together, working quietly, just content to be in each other’s company. Tony spent so much time alone, he never figured he would like a simple life like that instead of new conquests every other night. Perhaps he is getting old. Or he was a fool for thinking that he was immune to love when it finally came around.

“You’ll have to clear that with Pepper,” Tony offers instead of saying yes, please.

And Bucky, the smug bastard, simply smiles. “Pepper and I already have a deal. JARVIS and I too. Only you need to get with the program.”

Tony sniffs in mock-annoyance. “Why is it that everybody in my life loves conspiring against me?”

“Because we love you,” Bucky replies without missing a beat, making Tony’s heart swell. “And because you don’t know how to take care of yourself. And now come back to bed.”

Such a little, enormous thing. Love. Tony is done hiding from it.

Yet, he crosses his arms in front of him, trying to emphasize the muscles in his arms. He might not be built like Bucky, but he is not to be dismissed either.

“I am in bed,” he says and does not move.

The bed is too small for that game, really, a far cry from Tony’s king-sized one in the tower. They would only have to reach out their hands to touch, without putting a strain on themselves.

Bucky clicks his tongue. “You’re not in my arms because you needed to yell about Hammer.”

Because Hammer is a dick who insists on following Tony around as if they are actually friends. No matter how direct Tony is getting, Hammer just does not understand a no. Still, Bucky has a point. Hammer has no right to come between them.

“When you say it like that, it does sound like a crime,” Tony says and pushes himself on his knees to lean forward. He does not yet cross the distance completely but Bucky’s hand is there all the same, carding through Tony’s hair in the sweetest of caresses.

“Capital,” he murmurs, voice dripping low again, which makes need stir in Tony’s stomach.

“I’ll reimburse you,” Tony says, leaning into Bucky’s touch. With a small grin, he adds, “I was thinking four hundred bucks?”

A laugh bursts over Bucky’s lips, making him look more delectable than ever. “Stevie will have a heart attack. I’m in.”

Tony can just imagine how Bucky, who is proficient in being a little shit, has been putting crisp hundred-dollar bills into his and Steve’s shared and very battered household cash box. It was nothing but a joke in the beginning because Tony, drunk and lonely, had thought Bucky to be a prostitute one night outside of a club. He had offered a horrendous amount of money if Bucky would come with him, and Bucky, who had been fairly into his cups, too, and tired of Steve pushing him into “having some fun again” agreed. After that, they just kept meeting and sex turned into talking and becoming friends and then something more. One of the luckier mistakes Tony has made while drunk.

“As long as he doesn’t kill me when he finds out the truth.” Tony shrugs. He knows all of Bucky’s friends by now and, surprisingly, gets along with all of them. Some of them might at least be upset if Steve made a move to get rid of him.

Bucky runs his thumb over Tony’s lips. His intense gaze does not match his light tone. “He changes between being horrified and amused that you would dish out your money so easily.”

Steve does know. Or at least he strongly suspects. He gave them both the shovel talk, even if no one called it that, and he would not bother with that if he thought Tony to be nothing more than Bucky’s sugar daddy, or whatever the kids call staged relationships between rich people and their arm candies these days. They have just never explicitly talked about it.

Tony suspects that Steve does not like him very much. That he disapproves of Tony’s fast-paced life and his tendency to spend money without a care. Bucky has repeatedly told him that’s nonsense. Apparently, Steve is glad someone managed to make him enjoy life again – after the military and the whole thing about losing an arm.

In the end, it is easier to send Bucky home with some cash every time, which Bucky can then, sneakily, use to pay Rogers’ bills. Tony is getting some pretty fine artwork out of it, and never-ending reasons to laugh with Bucky, so it is a win-win situation, really.

“You’re worth every penny,” Tony says, as if he has ever cared about money. He also regularly finds neatly folded stacks of dollar bills in his pockets and, one time, his shoes, that he has definitely not put there himself.

“I know.” Bucky grins and then holds out his hand to beckon Tony closer. “Now, come back here. Your hour’s not yet over.”

---

Later, thoroughly exhausted and aching in all the right places, they lie in the darkness of the hotel room, Tony cradled in Bucky’s strong arms. It is his favourite place in the world, hidden away from searching eyes and utterly safe.

Tony sometimes wishes Jarvis were alive to see him like this, happy and in a committed relationship. Howard, too, after he spent Tony’s entire childhood reciting his flaws and how he would never amount to anything. Perhaps this is his greatest achievement. Not Stark Industries’ miraculous turn away from producing weaponry. Not the countless patents under his name. Not even his continued friendship with Pepper and Rhodey. But this. Being in love. Being loved in return.

He is running careful circles over Bucky’s skin, wandering from his arm to his back and up his chest. When Bucky sighs, he feels the slight tremor more than he hears an actual sound.

“Do we have to tell the rest of the world?” Bucky asks into the darkness. “Can’t things just stay like this?”

Tony stills, forgets to breathe for a long second. He has a good poker face, but that does not help him while he is naked in another person’s arms.

“They can,” he says belatedly, even when Bucky’s arms have already stiffened around him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a coward,” Bucky hurries to say.

The mood is already ruined, though. The sweet post-coital glow replaced by the harsh coldness of reality crashing back in.

“You’re everything but a coward,” Tony says, but the vehemence in his tone falls a bit flat since he pushes himself into a sitting position even while he speaks. Bucky tries to keep holding him close but does not force it when Tony wriggles free. “It’s just, people will find out, and it’s better to just get ahead of them. It will still be a shitstorm when I announce you as my husband, and I wish I could spare you all that bullshit, but –”

He shrugs, imagining all the shitty things people will say about him and the “poor guy” he is dragging down with him.

“But it’ll be worse if they find us sneaking around. I know,” Bucky finishes his sentence. He props himself up on his elbow, looking apologetic.

“You don’t –” In his head, Tony had this conversation a thousand times; him nobly offering Bucky an out. It will never be easy, being connected to him, and since Bucky has demons he prefers to remain buried, Tony knows it is unfair to pull him into this mess, especially knowing how it will end. “I mean, you should really think about this. Talk to your friends.”

Bucky rolls his lips together, then pulls them up in an estimate of a smile. Neither of them comments on how strained it ends up. “You mean Steve, who still pretends to believe you’re paying me for sex and nothing more?”

The joke falls flat and still Tony wishes he could pick it up, could pretend he does not have to take Bucky’s worries seriously because everything will turn out fine in the end.

“You know what I mean,” he replies a little impatiently. He does not want this to culminate in a I told you so situation before they part forever. “Don’t do this because you feel obligated or anything. I won’t hold it against you if you want to back out.”

Tony cannot look at Bucky, afraid of what he will see. Even the slightest bit of hesitation will be his undoing. He never knew how to do anything half measure. If he falls for someone, he does so with his entire being. He never much cared for saving himself, and he does so even less now.

Bucky reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing until Tony gives up and finds Bucky’s eyes.

“I want you, Tony,” he says, with his voice and his gaze, and means it.

Still, Tony tries to harden himself against that. “You’d get a nice sum so you won’t have to worry about the flat or the maintenance for the arm and –”

A finger on his lips cuts him off and he complies happily, even if does not allow himself to feel relief yet.

“You should shut up know and kiss me,” Bucky says, orders really and tugs at Tony’s hand, trying to pull him back down.

“I mean it, Bucky.” Tony raises both their hands to his lips and presses a small, desperate kiss against Bucky’s skin. “What we have is nice but I come with a lot of baggage.”

He does not mean to sound dismissive and yet he catches the hurt flickering over Bucky’s face. What they have is not just nice.

“Don’t tell me about baggage,” Bucky snaps, but his face immediately softens. He sits up too, then, and scoots close enough that his knee rests against Tony’s thigh. “You know all of my bullshit too.”

True enough, Tony’s story is a lot less bloody than Bucky’s, a lot less traumatic too, although Sam likes to preach that they cannot compare trauma, that everybody reacts differently and objectivity has nothing to do with it.

“But yours doesn’t come with stupid reporters following your every step,” Tony argues and that, at least, is true. Nobody can dispute that.

Bucky’s eyes crinkle when he looks at Tony. “I love you, Tony,” he says and the words, as always, break free a storm in Tony’s chest. “Don’t worry about me. I love you and that’s all that matters.”

That should be enough, but Tony is a worrier. “You say that now,” he says, very quietly, almost hoping that Bucky will not catch it. But Bucky is practiced at gauging his moods and reading between the lines.

Bucky shrugs, carefree enough that some of the weight drops off Tony’s chest. “If they become too much we’ll simply fly to your private island and hide until they grow bored.”

Against his will, a smile tugs at Tony’s lips. “It won’t be that easy.” But he imagines that it could be. They could take his plane and vanish before anyone knows what is happening. Pepper would murder him, of course, but she wants him happy, too. They could work it out.

“I know but I don’t care.”

They should leave it at that. Tony leans forward, rest his head against Bucky’s shoulder. Sometimes it is still unreal, the way Bucky is always willing to hold him.

“What if you’ll regret it?” Tony asks against Bucky’s skin, barely more than a whisper. “What if you’ll regret me?”

That is how his greatest fear shifted. From not wanting to die alone, from never finding what Jarvis and Ana had, to losing this.

“I won’t,” Bucky promises, soft and determined enough that Tony cannot help but believe him. “And before you protest, I could ask you the same thing.”

Tony snaps up his head to squint up at Bucky. “You’re brilliant,” he intones, full of the conviction he always lacks when it comes to himself. “The best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Bucky smiles as he did something clever. “There you have your answer.”

A grimace pulls on Tony’s face. He does not like being played, not even for his own benefit. “But I’m me and you’re – you,” he tries, one last time. He gets tired of doubt, does not want it to ruin the good moments they have.

“And don’t you ever change.” With that, Bucky pulls him closer again. “Now, let’s talk about nicer things. Or better yet, stop talking.”

That is the best idea Tony has heard all night. All week, really, with all those bumbling idiots here for the convention.

“You’re insatiable,” Tony says as he shifts to better fit against Bucky, skin against skin, lust blooming again inside his gut.

Chuckling, Bucky presses his lips against Tony’s neck, slowly working his way upwards. “I just want you to get your money’s worth.”

That stupid joke will never grow old. “Then better get working. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a billionaire.”

Instead of wasting any more air on words, Bucky pulls Tony closer, sealing their lips together in what feels like a promise. Tony still does not know how he managed to get so lucky to have Bucky in his life, but he knows he would not change a thing.

#fanfiction #marvel #winteriron #fluff #love #engagement #nothing bad happens #at all #strange i know #my writing #ao3

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frickfracksnatchisback · 5 years

Note

Are you accepting headcanon requests? Well, I'm sick and i need my favourite characters to suffer with me so give me some sick headcanons! (aka how they're most likely to get sick, how they handle getting sick, etc.)

I am so sorry! I should have gotten to this sooner, but I’m still happy to oblige!

Hat Kid: She’d probably get sick doing regular kid stuff, like forgetting to wash her hands or going outside and playing in the rain. She’s most likely going to catch just a common cold. But that doesn’t mean she’s not going to be a miserable blanket burrito the entire time, while CC nurses her back to health.

Bow Kid: If she is to get sick, that is a very rare occurrence. She’s a bit of a germaphobe, and carries around stuff like hand-sanitizer everywhere she goes! So if she ever catches sometimes, it usually isn’t pretty. CC help her get through it, and makes tea to soothe Bow’s throat if she’s feeling sore! It helps her bunches, since she likes tea.

Mustache Girl: Can get sick very often, until CC forces her to become more hygienic. Living in a cave for such a long time doesn’t exactly boost a person’s immune system. So she’s about the same as Hat Kid, except she doesn’t want to stay in bed to “rest”. She needs to fight crime! (Don’t worry, CC gets here to stay in bed eventually)

Mafia Boss: If he ever gets sick, it’s probably from eating so much seafood. So yeah, the man isn’t smart and he gets food poisoning or just a stomach bug. He’ll disappear for awhile, trying to still rule his Mafia Town but not showing his face anywhere. If he were to be sick, and his Mafia men found out? Preposterous! He needs to be a strong leader! But that also means the sickness takes forever to go away, since he’s stubborn and eating fish doesn’t help-

Cooking Cat: Rare that she ever gets sick, since she’s quite healthy and stays at home more often. So if she is to catch something, it’s probably the same bug that one of the girls had when she was taking care of them. And the trio try their very best to help her! Bringing her ice packs, making soup for her, and tucking her into bed while being on their absolute best behavior.

Conductor: Sick? Ha! There’s no such thing in Conductor’s case! Well...there is, but he’s better at walking it off than other people. The only problem is whenever he’s throwing up, then it’s obvious that he’s not doing so well. But since he doesn’t want that to get in the way of movie-making, he forces himself to go to work. Grooves is usually the one to bring him back home to rest, even though Conductor is very adamant about not wanting to lose another award.

DJ Grooves: If he’s sick, he’ll most certainly stay home and take care of himself. Even if it means losing a bit of filming time. The last thing he would ever want is to get his own actors or any of the staff sick, even his rival! And even when the sickness goes away, he’s still paranoid about getting sick again. So he prepares, getting any kind of supplies and medicine if he starts feeling any symptoms.

Snatcher: How does a ghost get sick? Nobody knows. But for some reason, Snatcher can get sick. (Apparently at the same time as Moonjumper.) The sickness can be normal, like headaches, coughing, sneezing, that sort of thing. Or on a bad note they can be almost otherworldly. Perhaps it’s another negative reaction to eating souls? Well, one thing’s for sure, you don’t want to be around when he sneezes. Unless you want to get struck with magic lighting, that is.

Moonjumper: If he does ever get sick, it only happens once in a blue moon. (Haha, get it???) But even then he’s absolutely miserable during the whole thing, wrapping himself up in blankets and refusing to go anywhere else. Hat Kid will try to take care of him along with Snatcher, but Moon insists that he doesn’t want to get his starlight sick. (Even though mortals are unaffected by ghost sicknesses) But eventually HK helps them both recover. And for some reason, Moon asks for glasses of water even though he is a ghost. He says it helps.

(By the way, I hope you get better soon!)

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polygon-streams · 5 years

Text

22/04/19 - Jenna & Pat streaming Days Gone

Pat and Jenna are streaming Days Gone for one hour because that’s how much they’re allowed to show us. The game is about fighting zombies (”freakers”), other humans, and keeping the main character’s brother alive, but mostly actually about riding a hog around. They also discuss the horror genre, Alien vs Aliens and if you can pet dogs in this game.

Link to the VOD.

The stream starts with a “Stay Tuned” screen, but Jenna is welcoming people in the chat.

“I’m just oiling my bike up, polishing my decals.”

“Yes I am steaming up my hawg”

Pat enters the chat to say “Yeehog”

Video starts at just after 6:00, Pat begins by saying “Yeehog” out loud, Jenna echoes back, Pat then immediately goes to fix sound levels

Jenna’s bike is named “The Tenderloin” and we’ll see why when she starts running down some zombies

Jenna’s played about 10 hours of this game, but we’re back to a specific save

Pat: “It seems like a video game” Jenna: “It certainly is that”

Subs get turned on, game audio gets turned down, Jenna says writing of the game is surprisingly good

Jenna: “about to make some friends”, Jenna then attacks and kills a man with a bat

Stealth is important in this game, freakers (zombies) can take a lot of damage, but stealth attacks allow one hit kills

Explanation of the game: it is like Last of Us, but with “sick hogs”

“There were no hogs in Last of Us, which I think is one of the biggest shortcomings.” - Pat

This is one hour into the game play and they’re only allowed to show us one hour of the game from this point, if they go over time Sony will send a biker gang and Jenna will be in trouble for being “too cool a biker”

An important mechanic of the game is marking “boyos” with binoculars, because enemies wander and it tracks their health

Pat thinks zombies sound like they are eating spaghetti. He also makes spaghetti eating noises. Don’t like that.

Jenna hasn’t had an issue with ammo management, Pat is excited for some “hog action”

Chat asks if the game is running at 60 fsp. Pat: “My gamer eyes tell me big no”

Chat really likes Pat’s gamer eyes

Embargo on this game is apparently pretty strict and maybe the lower fps is a preview setting

“Should we go deal with Crazy Willie’s infestation?” - Pat

Pat: “Oh, cool, you got a fleshlight” Jenna: “Uh, yeah, I guess you could call it that”

Pat, at the chat: “I said flashlight, why is everyone being weird?” (No, you didn’t)

The controller starts speaking and neither of them like it

They’re talking about hogs now, Jenna: “Hog ride real good”, “Hell yes you can drift this hog”, her previous hog got “metroided” (Pat’s word)

Jenna just ran over a zombie for chat. She did that for us.

Someone from chat says “Jenna is too good at games to know what happens when you fuck up”, Jenna is one with the hog, in tune with it

Jenna doesn’t like zombies surprise attacking her since she’s talking on stream

She goes to deal with a zombie infestation and keeps saying she’ll “release the Molly” (Molotov cocktails), she is nervous because there weren’t many zombies inside the nest

Apparently the freakers eat each other ??? like when one of them is dead, the other will eat it

Jenna kills a zombie, Pat: “Knife to meet you”

She said that if you kill a zombie, you keep their EAR!!

There are children zombies, which are called newts, and adult zombies will sometimes attack and kill them, which is “something”

There are human enemies in this game as well, Jenna: “as we all know, humanity is the true monster”

Pat says the zombs seem really dumb

He thinks they’re too easy to kill, but I think Jenna is just too good at gaming

They’re talking about horror! (timestamp 27:30, if you want a discussion about the origin of zombies in this game and whether they are infected or not)

Jenna says that she keeps thinking we’re over zombies, but we’re not, she predicts environmental horror as next big thing

“We’re seeing an emergence of horror movies where people without disabilities are forced to live the life of people with disabilities. Which isn’t great.” Go off Jenna.

Pat talks about Godzilla and climate change, also he thinks the new Godzilla looks good because it looks like a bunch of big monsters fighting

Pat asks Jenna what her favourite horror archetypes are

Jenna likes witches, but doesn’t like how a lot of the stuff is like “what if we were right for burning witches”, she also likes undead and cult stories

Jenna doesn’t like and understand the grading - she got 44% and doesn’t understand why

Pat says he thinks it looked boring, Jenna says she’s already done this story, so she knew what to expect

Continuing with horror (timestamp 31:00): Alien or Aliens? Pat likes the first one more, the second one is “a bunch of James Cameron bullshit”, they then discuss why they like the first film more

They are wondering how much of a good guy the main character is, as he kills nearly all other humans he meets, Pat: “and then a book about their murder plans falls from their body”

Oh we’re meeting Jenna’s in-game brother. A cult burned his arm because they didn’t like his tattoos. Pat doesn’t like his tattoos either. Jenna appreciates the aesthetic of a full head tattoo.

Jenna likes that every time the main character is asked where his brother is, he tells a different lie about his location.

Pat asks about “bike juice”, they then discuss game mechanics regarding the bike

Jenna’s having some hog trouble, she ran into a fence.

Jenna’s riding to go “fuck up some humans who have done nothing to us, but someone’s paying us to do it”

Oh shoot Jenna drove too far into the human’s camp and everyone is swarming to the bike, she stealth kills some from a bush, then runs away while shooting from an AK, Pat provides extra sound effects

Someone from chat asks what happens when you die, Pat says that that’s a difficult philosophical question, another ask is if the main character is going to hell, Jenna says definitely, there was some drug delivering she had to do

Jenna killed another guy with a wooden plank, Pat: “You just introduced him to the newest millennial trend: planking.”

Chat is mad at Pat for that

They discuss Rockstar-type open world games and having to do stuff for characters you don’t like

Jenna: “You know he’s [main character] a good guy, because he let that one woman go, despite killing ten people just before.”

Everyone in chat is saying that Deacon, main character, is a true feminist (probably because he saved that one woman???)

Pat points out that the location of the game is Bend, Oregon, the location of the last Blockbuster. Jenna will keep her eyes peeled for it.

“I feel like zombie fiction just gave up on scary and just goes for stressful.” - Pat

My cat just showed up to cuddle with me and I just think that’s worth noting.

Someone from chat notes that they got a blueprint for a spike bat, because you can’t just hammer nails into a bat, need a plan for that

The in-game brother says to the main character that “That code of yours is gonna get you killed”, Jenna repeats that to Pat, is this a running joke/thing for them? (Pat nods in response)

Pat has started yawning

Jenna starts riding and says “Hogs up, boys” (timestamp 51:47, I recommend listening to it), Pat asks, while laughing, if that’s what bikers say when they start riding, Jenna says that that’s what this biker says and repeats it, Pat laughs more

Pat: “Hills are sort of nature’s bike ramps”

They’ve decided to close out the stream “just ridin’”

Oh Jenna’s STUNTIN, she drives into a tree, Pat: “you are immune to trees”

Except she just ran into some people and has to kill them

She’s just freed Charlie Day from a hostage situation

Apparently the studio that made this also made Bubsy 3D? I don’t know what that is. Pat verified that with a quick google.

Pat asked if she can drive the bike into water, it killed both the bike and the main character

Pat yawns again

Jenna took out some more humans and then stunted too hard

“Ooh my bike’s really smokin’ isn’t it?” - Jenna

“It’s vapin’. You got a vape bike now.” - Pat

Jenna says that biking is the best part of the game.

Jenna’s hog has run out of juice and they’ve just decided to end the stream there

The game will be out on the 26th, that is it.

Jenna, rotating the camera: “Here’s Deacon. He’s doing his best, but that involves a lot of murder.”

Lighting round: haven’t seen other outfits for Deacon, can do hog upgrades, can do new weapons, the bike has a decal and a bandana (it’s part of Jenna’s gang)

Final note: Jenna hasn’t seen any dogs in the game, but there are wolves. You cannot pet the wolves, more “die by their hands”.

They might stream this game again once it’s out of embargo, they’ll stream also when they have other games they want to show us.

Pat has got the lunch time sleepies and that’s why he’s yawning, he says that Deacon is a bastard and “hog up, boys”, and that’s the end of the stream.

#polygon #days gone #jenna stoeber #patrick gill #pat gill #twitch #sidenote: there's two of us admins who worked on this post and sadly only one of us has a cat #winky #sofia

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lurafita · 6 years

Text

Rant time

Very short introduction. I’m an adult woman and I have loved Spiderman/Peter Parker pretty much since I was a kid borrowing (stealing) my older cousins comics.

While I’m not exactly new to Tumblr, I have just recently decided to actively use and possibly post on this platform, and it’s probably gonna take some time getting the hang of it.

I am highly, and sometimes even incorrigibly, biased when it comes to my favourite characters. While I like other characters of the Marvel Universe well enough (some more, some less) in the end I don’t really care about the others as long as Peter is happy. (Though he wouldn’t be happy if everyone else is miserable or dead, so, yeah.)

I can ship Peter with pretty much anyone in a romantic/sexual relationship, (yes, even Tony), but I’m not a fan of big age gaps. It’s not even because pairings where one could be the parent of the other kinda wigs me out (though they do a little), it’s more about the fact that I’m a bit of a romantic. I want my pairings to be happily together for as long as possible. If two people are lucky enough to live out the natural span of their lifetime, then that means that the younger person (in this case Peter), will have to live the number of years that seperate them in age, without his partner. Take the popular pairing Starker for example. Lets say Tony manages to not get killed until he dies of old age at like, lets say 95. Peter would only be around 60 years old then. Which means he will have to live out the rest of his live, which may very well still be 30 to 40 years, without the love of his life. And if that number is 5, or 10, or even 15 years, that’s seems to me more bearable than if it is 20, or 30 or more years.

Which is why, if I do post a Starker fic here, their ages will be closer together than they are portrayed in the MCU. (In some comic universes, the age difference between the two wasn’t that significant)

I like Irondad and Spiderson as well as Superfamily in fanfiction. I like when the Avengers are shown as loving and protective of Peter. However I don’t like how much Peter/Spiderman is ‘noobed’ down in many fanfics though. I get it. Peter is the youngest with the least experience. Yes, he needs training, yes, he needs guidance, but sometimes I get the feeling that people forget or ignore how very formidable of a hero Spiderman can be.

Please keep in mind that I’m including comic facts in the following:

For example, Peter is physically stronger than most of the Avengers, with the exception of Thor and Bruce. He is also incredibly durable. His senses are the highest of all the Avengers. He is inhumanly flexible, meaning he can move and bend and react in ways the others are simply not capable of. He can stick to any surface, unless that surface is wet. He has a sixth sense (spidey-sense) that makes it possible for him to dodge a bullet at gun point. (in the comics even the fire of a machinegun) His healing factor is acutally better than Steve’s, as it also grants resistance (and in some cases immunity) to some illnesses and even poisonous substances. His webbing is as strong as steel cable, and people that aren’t at least at his level of strenghts, shouldn’t be able to just rip it apart. He is smart and knows how to think outside the box. In fact this level of thinking has saved the day more than once, when people like Tony Stark or Reed Richards were stumped.

I have read so many fics where Peter is trained by Natasha or Clint or Steve and they regularly wipe the floor with him, and I just can’t wrap my head around this. Again, I get it, experience is a great thing and it certainly can turn an otherwise hopeless battle in your favour, but it is not an almighty tool. And how exactly is Peter even supposed to learn anything, when he has to hold back so much against his much weaker, very breakable Teammates? (like seriously, if he were to throw a real punch, he would break their bones) Of course Peter needs to learn to control his strenght and defend and attack without causing too much harm to his opponent, but that should come AFTER he had the chance to really use and get a feeling for his powers and their limits. In my opinion, considering Peter’s very impressive skill set, Thor would actually be the best training partner for him. He is a few thousand years old and has more than enough experience when it comes to fighting. He is sturdy enough to withstand Peter letting loose on him, without the Spiderling having to fret about causing permanent damage. Then, after Peter has had the chance to really familiarize himself with his fighting prowess and knows how much he needs to pull his punches without loosing his ground by holding back too much, THEN the others can actually teach him some techniques and strategies that he will actually be able to implement into his fighting style. And then there are the instances I have read, (again, way too many instances in my opinion) where the others tell Peter to not depend on his spider-sense so much in a fight. I mean I understand where this kind of thinking is coming from, but how exactly is this even supposed to work? It’s not like he can turn it off. If in a fight, or sparring match, Peter is not supposed to depend on his spidey-sense, which is omni-present, and his spidey-sense is telling him to dodge, but he is not supposed to depend on it, that only leaves the option of ignoring it. So he needs to ignore/supress the urge to dodge, while being expected to dodge by his sparring partner/trainer. How is that even possible? In fact, every time in the comics that Peter ignored his spidey-sense, was when he got (sometimes badly) hurt. That is just not the way to teach someone how to fight. And it always, ALWAYS gets me so irrationally upset when I read this.

Sorry, that was a lot of frustration I needed to vent, it seems.

Another thing I have come across quite a lot in fics, and that I absolutely hate, is when Peter is punished for something by taking away Spiderman.

Spiderman isn’t a hobby, and shouldn’t be treated like one.

Look, if Peter gets hurt, is injured, sick, exhausted, etc. Definitely bench him. Definitely make sure he gets the rest he needs and is at 100%, before letting him get out and fight again. But disallowing him to actively help people in need, making him sit back and stay away, because maybe he broke curfew, or his latest test came back with a not so great grade, that (to me) seems to trivialize everything that Peter does as Spiderman. Its not like he goes out there to just swing around high buildings and have fun, he saves people’s lives. He jumps into burning buildings to pull out kids stuck on a high floor. He webs up armed muggers who might otherwise have badly hurt their victims. He has saved people from being raped late at night, just as he has helped lost children find their parents. To Peter, and to the people he has helped, the work he does is important. Witholding Spiderman as a punishment seems nothing less than cruel to me. Can’t you just imagine Peter sitting in a corner of his room, hyperventilating and fighting off an anxiety attack, because his mind is making him imagine all the people currently in danger because he is not allowed out as Spiderman?

Like I said, if Peter is in need of a break due to injury,or sickness, or exhaustion, absolutely make him take a night (or more) off. If it becomes apparent that his social life or his grades are suffering due to Spiderman, make him shorten his patrols, make Tony or any of the other Avengers offer to cover some parts of the city for him. But just don’t treat his activities and responsibilities as Spiderman like it doesn’t matter. Like some hobby that can be taken away as punishment for bad behaviour.

Okay, that was quite a bit for a first post. I feel like I should apologize for ranting so much, but I just felt the need to. I hope some people read and comment on this, cause I would really like some other opinions (agree, disagree and so on).

Thank everyone who took the time to read this for having done so, and I hope I will soon post other Spiderman related things here. And learn how to better use tumblr in time.

#peter parker #spiderman #iron dad #spider son #superfamily #starker #op lurafita

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jaaryl · 5 years

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jaaryl (or if someone beat me to it, daaron)

Some answers are going to be based on the rewrite of my Daaron fic which is going to be set during 9.16 (that one day I will get around to finishing I swear lmao).

So, spoilers for that I guess lol.

1. Who makes the first move and how?

It would have to be Daryl.

Even though Aaron has the most experience dating another man/ person in general, I have no doubt in my mind that he would find it incredibly daunting to even try and proceed a relationship with Daryl. His friendship with Daryl is one of the few bright spots of the apocalypse and it would absolutely break his heart if he scared him off or was rejected.

Since my fic is set during the 9.16 blizzard, the two of them are going on ahead to collect supplies at the next way station and, of course, it has to have the cliche trope of Aaron being all heroic and pushing Daryl out of the way of cracking ice so he’ll fall through instead… all while they are escaping ice zombies. Cue the trope of them cuddling naked for warmth and waking up with an awkward situation yada yada.

Aaron: [incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out] This doesn’t have to change anything.

Daryl: [also incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out, and just fresh off thinking Aaron could of so easily died one (1) day ago and not wanting to waste what time they have together] Ahhhh I kinda want it too????

2. Who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?

Being seen as outcasts still bothers them a lot, even if they try their best not to show it. No matter how far into the apocalypse, or how important they have become to the success of the communities, there will always be those douches who look down on people for being different. And the best thing about Daaron is how leaning on each other for support and having each other’s backs when they are feeling this way is literally the foundation of their relationship.

3. Who is the most romantic?

Aaron’s the obvious choice with his tendency to be extremely tactile and handing out affection left and right while also giving away huge gifts, like the bike. However, Daryl is incredibly sentimental, and loves and cherishes that bike like it’s one of his most precious possessions, and he also shows his love by making sure the people that he cares about are well provided for. So, it’s for you to decide.

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Daryl is extremely touch-starved but he is also pretty awkward when it comes to asking for affection. Aaron is a mix of very tactile, begging to give hugs and super lonely.

So, once Aaron figures out that Daryl wants to be touched more than the occasional hug, handhold or brush of arms all bets are off. I can only imagine how bad it will be when they get into an actual relationship.

5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

I feel like Aaron has said those words long before they started dating, “Daryl, I love you, but no,” and completely mean them (both platonically and romantically). So, the moment Daryl says the words back for the first time…he is kinda worried Aaron’s smile is going to split his face in half.

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Season 5: Eric, for obvious reasons.

Season 9: Paul, most definitely, hot, gay, single and already someone they both trust completely.

Post 9.08 though? Ah, no one? Aaron is literally the only male character that Daryl is close to lmao.

7. What do they get up to on a night out?

I doubt there is much to do datewise beyond the wall, even for two bamfs like Aaron and Daryl. Maybe fortnightly overnight camping trips when it gets too stuffy in Alexandria and they need to escape for a bit.

On the nights that they have the house all to themselves, it is pretty quiet. Just the two of them hanging out, kicking back beer, pressed up against each other, talking about mindless topics, and having sex etc.

8. What do they like in bed?

Daryl: when you said “magical in bed” this isn’t exactly what I was exp-

Aaron: *holds up 8 of hearts* is this your card

Daryl: *softly* holy shit

Aaron knows that Daryl doesn’t have a lot of experience in the bedroom department, and is happy to help guide him. I see Aaron as someone who is super into foreplay and body worship, especially on someone like Daryl who needs all the touch he can get and is v receptive to praise kink. As Daryl becomes more confident I do see him taking charge a little more, maybe some manhandling etc and he doeeesss have an oral fixation, always putting things in/exploring things with his mouth so take that as you will lmao.

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Honestly, Aaron is pretty hard to embarrass. Like, sure, he does embarrassing things but he’s always the first one to laugh at himself. Things like his over-the-top dorky dances to make Daryl laugh, his celebrity impression of people Gracie has never even seen, or heard of, and she is super embarrassed about when he pulls it out as his party trick, his off-key singing to Disney songs with Gracie and trying to get Daryl to join in (AK can take Disney nerd Aaron from my cold dead hands these people have solar panels and the kids have definitely seen movies).

10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

Damn, I can’t cheat and answer with ‘a book on how to build a raft’ or ‘survival guide for dummies’ because they are both very survival competent lmao.

For luxury items: Daryl’s crossbow and Aaron’s knife.

Ahhh I am worst at music questions! I can see Daryl being a sentimental loser and bringing Rick’s terrible music with him even if he hates it.

Ross apparently headcanons Aaron’s favourite song as “Hand in Glove” by The Smiths, so why not?

11. What do they hide from one another?

Their unspoken feelings uwu (lame).

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Their relationship status.

13. When do they realise they should get together?

There has always been something simmering under the surface of their friendship. From the very beginning, Aaron has been incredibly fascinated by everything Daryl Dixon and Daryl in return has found comfort, acceptance and an overwhelming amount of fondness towards Aaron.

It has just never been the right time to explore the unspoken thing between them. But after the six-year time jump, Daryl is finally in the right emotional place to settle down and Aaron has been ready for a long while. Daryl is confronted once more that the world is a dangerous place when Aaron almost dies again (in the fic) and the prospect of leaving their relationship open-ended weighs on him heavily.

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Aaron has been run ragged by the worrying he has done about sick Gracie all week (even just a cold in the apocalypse is a scary thing for Aaron with all that he’s lost). He probably got one good day in before his own immune system came crashing down hard. Daryl feels a little useless that he can’t really help him get better so he goes out and hunts whatever bird he can find so he can cook him something at least resembling chicken soup, and distracts Gracie for the next couple of days so he can get some rest.

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

In this house, we appreciate animated films and since Lydia and Daryl are not really accustomed to the broad range of them they get the final vote. It would probably be Jungle Book (after years of rejecting civilization they finally rejoin it) or even something like Spirit (refusing to let anyone tame their wild).

16. When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

Do I need to answer this one lmao?

17. When they find a time machine, where do they go?

Try and change the events of 8.02? Saving Eric and having the three of them adopt baby Gracie? Changing the events of 9.08, so Paul lives and Jaaryl can happen? 7.01, so Glenn lives? 9.05, Rick never blows up the bridge? 9.15, so there are no pike deaths?

Ahhh there are just so many options, these two have such a sad life!

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

19. Where do they go on their first date?

Out on a hike in the woods, a picnic is involved.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

You and @boltsandashes have given me major daaron beach day feels, it’s an absolutely adorable visual. Aaron making sure Daryl has the best day possible visiting the beach for the best time? I dieeee.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

They are still both not the biggest fan of parties unless it is a family event with people they like.

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

Waystation cabin.

Aaron makes sure to ask him if it’s okay if they kiss for the first time after they are already in a heated grinding session, the goober.

23. Where is their favourite place to be together?

Beyond the walls and out in the woods hunting, hiking, exploring ect just like old times.

24. Where do they first have sex?

Waystation cabin.

25. Why do they fight?

Pissed at each other for being so damn self-sacrificing (“Whether we make it or not, we do it together,” remember that, asshole?!)

26. Why do they need to have a serious chat?

Aaron’s first priority is his daughter’s happiness so it is pretty crucial to find out where their relationship stands before it gets way too deep (which good luck on that one), it would be different if Gracie wasn’t in the picture but she is so he needs to know if Daryl is 100% on board with being a parent to her or not.

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

The shifty way they try and keep their relationship under wraps.

There’s nothing strange about Daryl moving in with Aaron, they are both close friends, right? But what is strange is Aaron turning up to every council meeting absolutely glowing and grinning ear to ear, and Daryl being a super nice to everyone in Alexandria.

Are they sick???

It goes on and on until Gracie accidentally spills the beans when she excitedly tells Judith that her daddy and Judith’s uncle are dating(not that Gracie knows all the details of their relationship or anything it’s just what she suspects lol).

They probably going to get married one day, and it will make her and Judith related!

So, Judith goes home and asks her Michonne if Aaron and Daryl are dating, causing Michonne to finally connects the dots on why the hell they have been acting so weird.

28. Why do they get jealous?

Aaron is super jealous over how cool Daryl looks on a motorbike, while Daryl is pretty jealous over how well Aaron can articulate his words to describe how he is feeling.

29. Why do they fall a little bit more in love?

When Daryl is being absolutely precious with Gracie, Lydia and Dog. It makes Aaron’s chest tighten and his heartbeat frighteningly fast. Those are the moments that Aaron wants nothing more than to raise a family and have a future with him.

Aaron is probably being dorky af just to make Daryl laugh, for real not just an under the breath chuckle. Every time he pulls one from Daryl, Daryl can feel his heart expand tenfolds.

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

Oh man, I could write an entire essay on why these two are perfect for each other but to really simplify it: they already have a super strong bond, they are comfortable with each other and trust each other, both relate to feeling like an outsider, both like kids, they have history, their personalities balance each other out etc

It’s one of Daryl’s healthiest relationships on the show I don’t think there are any reasons why not?

#daaron #aaron twd #daryl dixon #twd

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firstpuffin · 6 years

Text

Childhood reading: Redwall

When I was growing up I read a lot, like that’s all I did for long periods of time levels of a lot. Heck, I had a different book in each room of the house so I could put one down and pick up another. I don’t know why; I was a weird kid. But while I didn’t read books like Harry Potter or Skullduggery Pleasant (the latter of which seems quite popular but was published a bit too late for me), the books that I did read were pretty much my entire life and most definitely shaped me into who I am and there was one particular series that I thank for that.

I adored the Redwall series, written by Brian Jacques up until his death in 2011; he consistently wrote this series on an almost yearly basis from 1986 until he sadly passed away. I must have stopped reading around 2005-6, and was recently very pleased to discover four more books that I never read, nor knew existed, assuming at the time that the series had been long completed. I say recently because upon realising that I want to write children’s fiction, I decided to revisit the stories from my youth. Earlier youth? I’m still pretty young.

The series follows the history of Redwall abbey, a place of peace and prosperity. Every character in the series is an anthropomorphic animal along the lines of mice, otters, hedgehogs and squirrels, amongst more; these are usually the good guys and are often referred to as “woodland creatures”. This is important as there are also animals such as foxes, stoats, weasels and more that are called “vermin” and play the role of the antagonists. Despite being based around an abbey there is little to no religion within the world, except maybe for a high level of reverence towards the mouse patriarch Martin the Warrior and his sword, which could be similar to that of King Arthur. There is a lot of interesting terminology within the Redwall world, with characters saying “beast” (such as everybeast, somebeast, etc), the young abbeybabes are referred to as Dibbuns; Bloodwrath is a reoccurring term, usually in relation to a badger and is a sort of affliction that sends a beast into a rage where they are immune to pain and unaware of damage as they focus solely on their target. These words are always made clear and so there is little room for confusion.

The ghost of Martin is a constant in the series where he appears in dreams to guide the characters through hard times. He often provides ambiguous clues to assist in whatever puzzle the story needs solving, puzzles and riddles and such being a common and engaging part of the stories. As this would suggest, there is a certain amount of supernatural within the stories, with seers foretelling the future and prophesies to be fulfilled; there is even a legend of a particularly skilled warrior who is said to be born every now and again, marked by a pink flower birthmark and who is called the “Taggerung”.

I read all of the books that I could get my grubby little paws on, which is probably all of them that were released up until high-school where I got a bit distracted from reading novels. They were such an integral part of my life that I was shocked to discover that my classmates in the university creative writing course hadn’t even heard of the series outside of the, apparently quite bad, short-lived cartoon. The only other person who I found had read any was one of my lecturers. I was aghast, so in the hope of spreading the word about this series I am writing this.

Now, one of my lecturers taught us about the, to put it politely, the faeces sandwich method of critiquing someone’s work. You say something nice, say the bad stuff and follow that up with some more positive; I like to add that if you can then try and suggest how to improve on the criticisms, even if it’s just how you would do so, then go ahead. If you can’t take criticism then don’t create. I figure that I’ve praised the series already so I’m going to bring up my criticisms here and go into the rest of the article positively.

One issue that I remember being aware of even in my youth is the timeline of each individual story as well as them put together. Presumably due to animals shorter lifespans, Mr Jacques doesn’t work with years but with seasons which is in and of itself fine. The problem is that in any one story, the time isn’t always realistic; it can be less than a season and yet a character will learn years worth of skills, mature physically or emotionally by at least half a year or events may simply not match up with other events. One character learns to fix a stutter within a day or two or practicing (Broggle, The Taggerung, 2001); within less than a season another character goes from useless and untrained in weapons, to throwing a dirk with greater skill than those who have been throwing and such long before he was born (Tammo, The Long Patrol, 1997).

Add to that, badgers live an unspecified amount of time longer than the other creatures; I don’t know much about animal lifespans but one badger can live for multiple generations of, say, mice. But because of this longevity, events that involve generations of badgers will sometimes throw a spanner into the clockwork of the world (See the badgers: Brocktree, Boar, Bella and Sunflash).

Another complaint is one that may not be noticed by children: characters are very much recycled. The events of much of the series could in all honesty be done with the characters of the first book; many characters are inanely cheerful, they are all gluttons and all love poetry and rhymes. The villains are always impulsive and ruthless to their own subordinates, not a one of them thinking of controlling them via a less violent yet just as evil means. Every! Single! Hare is the same, except for one; male or female, they are greedy, reckless and brave and all, except the aforementioned one, talk like a stereotypical 1900’s Brit on drugs (wot wot old chap and all that tosh).

Yet, and despite the length with which I have gone on about them, these complaints are minor. The stories themselves are generally solid, and although the growth may happen at an absurd rate, the characters do develop; there is always a puzzle to be solved and an enemy to defeat. I was concerned for a while that the world was a little too black and white with vermin always being straight-up evil and the other characters noble and brave, which could easily be seen as a form of biological racism (as in “this race is biologically evil”), yet there have been books where this has been turned on its head: The Bellmaker (1994) has a searat (basically a pirate and rats are always bad) who is taken in by the abbey and cared for by the reluctant creatures who are uncomfortable having “vermin” around yet are compelled by their sense of duty to help. After this rat’s captain kills one of the residents, the rat is furious at his actions towards the kind folk and kills his own captain and returns that which he stole to the abbey. It is a clear tale of how the right circumstances can allow a bad person to redeem himself.

Another positive is the frequent presence of capable female characters. It is popular these days to talk of “strong” females, yet I personally believe that this gives people the wrong impression of what it takes to be a decent character, male or female, and so I choose to say “capable” in place of “strong”. While this is a personal preference, I also believe that it is more accurate about the characters within this series. Yes, there are females who break down in fear but there are many examples, such as the disabled Martha Braebuck who is also that unique hare that I mentioned, who will take command when others are fretting (Loamhedge, 2003). Another character who has been a personal favourite from childhood is Mariel Gullwhacker (Mariel of Redwall, 1991) who survives being washed up on a beach with no memory and who finds her way to safety and eventually seeks out revenge on the searat Gabool. For two books she actively follows her own path and fights with nothing but a knotted piece of rope. These are just two examples of different capable female characters, one who fights and one who leads, out of many possible examples.

This next point could be either good or bad, depending on your preferences in fiction, yet I personally feel it is good for children’s books to cover, and that is death. It doesn’t happen in every book but it is not too unusual for Mr Jacques to build up a likable character or two, only to have them die in some noble fashion, or in one case to die “off-screen” or whatever the written equivalent is. Despite my own childhood reaction to this, being avoiding certain books that broke my heart (no spoilers), I currently believe that this is a positive thing to have in children’s fiction. It’s too easy to avoid anything like death when dealing with children, but that is an unhealthy attitude to have. The Redwall series is especially good in this regard as not only do likable main characters die, but it is not too unusual for a character to deal with shock and guilt after killing, reinforcing the value of lives, even those of “vermin”.

I would like to round things up with some of my personal favourites from the series. The already mentioned “The Long Patrol” was a favourite up until the time when I stopped reading so much: young Tammo (full name Tamello De Fformelo Tussock, pretty typical for hares) is unable to stay at home as tensions between himself and his father rise and his mother recruits her old friend to take Tammo to join the Long Patrol, a legendary army of hares. What should have been a peaceful enough trip was interrupted when the vermin horde, lead by Damug Warfang, start moving across the land and Tammo happens to meet up with a small scout group of Long Patrol hares. They join the peaceful Redwall abbey in their attempts to stop the horde before they reach the abbey, temporarily vulnerable after a collapsed wall leaves them open to attack.

I’m not entirely sure why I enjoyed this story so much; maybe it was Damug’s unique sword as well as Tammo’s dirk, my first introduction to that weapon. Maybe it was the badger warrior Lady Cregga Rose-Eyes who spends most of her time lost to the Bloodwrath and runs around as a near-unstoppable juggernaut. I can’t say as I wasn’t quite so keen upon revisiting it, yet I will likely always hold fond memories of it.

My next entry is another already mentioned story, Mariel of Redwall. Sure, the amnesia trope might be a bit overused yet I’ll forgive that for anything published before 1990. Mariel is captured by searat king Gabool the Wild and forced to be a slave until she is cast into the sea. She wakes up parched, forgetful and with only a knotted rope to her name. She struggles onwards, hearing of Redwall and making her way there, usually alone but occasionally meeting friendly travellers and facing threats with only her rope. She eventually reaches Redwall abbey, regains her memory and sets out to get her revenge and to rescue her father.

This entry to the series is an engaging story and I really like the character of Mariel, as well as her name. She is a determined and active character who goes through a lot of adversity and comes out the other side better for it. Gabool the Wild is also a typical example of a Redwall villain: while not all antagonists follow this pattern it’s not at all unusual for them to slowly go insane, losing sleep, not eating and failing to keep the loyalty of their subordinates. This is particularly good because in a one-on-one fight, Mariel isn’t an experienced enough fighter to beat a warlord, yet due to his strained mind, mutinous crew and tactics, the reader believes that she can succeed.

My final entry is a tough one to choose, yet I’m going with Mossflower (1988) for it tells of the conflict that brought about the titular Redwall abbey. There are other books that tell the origin of Martin the Warrior, though Mossflower details his arrival in Mossflower country and how he joins the rebellion of the woodland creatures against the tyranny of wildcat royalty. Martin and a couple of friends are sent to find the badger lord Boar, who could lead them to victory. Instead, Boar forges Martin a new sword from a meteorite and has them return. Martin’s new sword is a constant throughout the series: unbreakable, forever sharp and able to cut through most things with relative ease, it develops a legend of its own and is eventually thought of to be magic. After Martin inevitably prevails, they all start building their new home: Redwall abbey.

I chose this one for the final for it tells of the story behind many reoccurring elements within the story: Martin, his sword, Loamhedge and of course Redwall abbey itself amongst more. It is also a good story.

#redwall #children's literature #opinion #books #first puffin

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kevinbaxter · 3 years

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The face of evil

In pro-Wrestling the Heel (Bad Guy) is the one who insults the fans, uses illegal choke holds behind the Referee’s back uses a steel chair, removes the padding from the turnbuckle, removes the safety mat to expose the hard concrete and has their cronies’ gang up on the babyface (Good Guy) everything that makes you boo them. You ultimately want to see the heel get their comeuppance.

Evil is a point of view; one person’s Terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. One person’s conspiracy theorist is another person’s free thinker just having somebody do bad sh*t for no apparent reason makes no dam sense. Good vs Bad isn’t as simple as black and white; it’s that big grey void in the centre where lines are blurred and it’s there that the scales can get tipped one way or another. Theoretically speaking good people can do bad things for the “Greater Good” and it is this “Greater Good” that is ultimately the deal breaker.

If someone was running in your direction seriously injured crying and bleeding and they said, “Please help me.” then they ducked behind a parked car. Shortly afterwards an angry mob approach you and said, “We’re looking for someone” and they proceeded to give you a description of that person; nobody would blame you for misdirecting the mob with a small fib, so you lied which is bad but potentially saved a life which is good. It’s all about motivation.

IMAGE SOURCE: Fantastic Four #5, (July 1962), Marvel Comics

My favourite Supervillain of all time is Marvel’s Doctor Doom. That may surprise a few people who would assume that it would be Darth Vader from Star Wars, but no it’s Doctor Doom all day long. When the Antagonist is involved in a fuel with the Protagonist you really want to feel that you can understand where the villain is coming from. You may not agree with their methods, but you at least can relate to why they do the things that they do.

Doctor Doom wants to rule the World but unlike some greedy evil entity he doesn’t want to steal resources and make himself rich at the expense of making others poor, in fact quite the contrary. He is a sovereign monarch; he has diplomatic immunity his ambition is to bring order to the World and level up the playing field. His subjects revere him; he protects them and ensures they live the best lives possible under his reign. He wants the world to be one kingdom under Doom and you see how that would be a problem. Ultimately, it’s his sense of honour that I admire the most about the guy.

IMAGE Source: Fantastic Four #361, (Feb 1992), Marvel Comics

In Fantastic Four issue 361 “Miracle on Yancy Street” Ben Grimm “The Thing” is approached by an old friend requesting help to find his missing son. Drug addicts were going missing from Ben’s old neighbourhood. Fast forward to the reveal that it was Doctor Doom behind the abductions a battle kicks off between the two. Ben had broken his arm in an earlier adventure when Doctor Doom realised that Ben’s arm was broken he refused to continue fighting as attacking an injured foe was beneath him and he would rather battle the Thing when he was at full strength. It was also revealed that the reason that Doctor Doom was arranging for Drug addicts to be taken from the streets was because he did not want to rule a World of Drug addicted citizens and was using his scientific knowledge to find a cure.

IMAGE Source: Fantastic Four #361, (Feb 1992), Marvel Comics

I believe villains still need boundaries, now imagine it’s a quiet mid-week afternoon then suddenly a Bank is stormed by a team of armed robbers. What are the robbers’ objectives? To get in, get the money then get out. If they can achieve this with minimum fuss, then it’s a win. Imagine not that the Robbers have secured the premises and the Police are on the scene it’s now a stand off in my version of events if one of the Robbers started to take Wallets and jewellery from the members of the Public I would have the leader of the gang question that robber then insist that “We are here to taken money from the Bank, they are insured we do not rob personal possessions from hostages” he would then make his associate return the goods and apologies.

Suddenly he notices that one of his men is missing and then he sees a very upset and distressed female coming in crying with rips on her clothes and bruising on her arms. He then sees the missing man. He calls one of the other female hostages to attend to the woman he then takes his man into another room for “questioning” and if it is confirmed that the scene is as bad as it looked, he beats him within an inch of his life then drags this injured man to the entrance of the Bank throwing him to the Police. He then makes a leadership decision to release women, children and families keeping back some hostages to keep negotiations viable. I am not sure how the rest of the story would play out at this stage, but I really wanted to make the point that even bad guys should have boundaries.

IMAGE SOURCE: X-Men, (1963) Artist Jack Kirby, Marvel Comics

Motivation is an important factor for both antagonists and protagonists. Marvel’s Magneto, master of magnetism and arch-nemesis of the X-Men was the leader of the brotherhood of evil mutants. It was only years later when they peeled back the layers of complexities behind Magneto’s character that you realise, he isn’t evil at all. He was a Jewish holocaust survivor and witnessed and experience horrific atrocities and these affected him deeply. He saw that those with power abused and victimised those who had none, and he vowed never to be a victim again. He saw humanity as brutal and oppressive and so when his innate powers manifested themselves, he decided to strike at the very core of this humanity that he found was so oppressive.

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obsessive-child · 7 years

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Star Wars An Analysis: Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi

AKA How Luke was actually in character and not just a grouchy old man

Okay, so here’s the thing. Luke was my favourite character from the original series and a large part of the reason why I like Star Wars as much as I do. I’m not really into opera, I’m not really into sci-fi, but I love good triumphing over evil. By this, I don’t mean the good guy killing the bad guy. I mean the good guy choosing love and forgiveness and the bad guy realizing he doesn’t have to be bad. Luke Skywalker was the exemplar of this ideal. So, you can imagine my dismay when I saw the trailer and saw a Luke that denounced the Jedi ways, and heard early reviews of the movie which expressed that Disney had completely destroyed Luke’s character. But then I actually watched the movie, and to my pleasant surprise, Luke acted exactly as he should if the Luke Skywalker of The Return of the Jedi had experienced those circumstances.

So here is my analysis, for your enjoyment, and in hopes that all you fellow Luke fans reading this will see that his character wasn’t butchered as badly as you feared, and you can like The Last Jedi without any qualms. I apologize in advance for not having any pictures. Right now it is 11pm and I am way too tired for any extra work, and also The Last Jedi won’t come out digitally for a while yet. Perhaps if I put this up as a blog post somewhere I will enhance it, but for now you’ll just have to do with text.

Looking at the Past - Why did Luke turn out the way that he did?

Well, here’s what we’re told. Luke was training little Jedi when Ben Solo presented to be force sensitive, so Luke took him on despite the misgivings of his best friend, but with the full trust of his twin sister. Luke sensed that the dark side was extremely strong in Ben, but decided to keep training him. One day, Luke saw Ben’s future and in a moment of panic, activated his light sabre. Ben saw this moment and tried to kill Luke, did kill most of Luke’s students, apparently turned the rest of the students, and then disappeared. Luke fled immediately afterwards, leading Ben to believe he was dead, and everyone else to believe Snoke was the reason for Ben’s betrayal.

What I think a lot of people’s gripes with this backstory is this 1. that Luke wouldn’t be so hasty to kill a kid, and 2. that Luke wouldn’t run away. But those two things... didn’t exactly happen. Or at least, not the way it’s thought to have.

1. Luke was going to kill Ben!

Alright, so here’s the thing. Luke wasn’t actually going to kill Ben. He says to Rey that in a moment of weakness, after seeing that Ben had already been turned to the Dark Side by Snoke, he activated his light sabre in order to protect his other students. These points are key. Luke believed that Ben was already ‘bad’, so to speak, and he acted not in order to protect himself, but to protect others. I do firmly believe that Luke would not have activated his light sabre if it were just him and Ben on that planet and there were no other students in the equation. Similarly, the final confrontation with Darth Vader would probably have gone differently if Leia were there and Vader threatened her. That being said, Vader was obviously a threat and Ben was just a kid, right? Well... sort of. Luke says that he felt continually threatened by Ben’s strength in the force and worried about Ben’s dedication to the light side, but has been ignoring it in hopes that he can sway Ben. In other words, this has been a long inner battle for Luke and he continually feels the Dark side surrounding Ben. That’s not exactly reassuring. Lastly, before Luke drew his light sabre, he said that he felt as if Ben fully turned to the Dark Side, and that coupled with Ben’s power, definitely made him a huge threat.

But, if Luke could trust Vader, why couldn’t he trust Ben? Well, the thing is, he did trust Ben. Luke says that moments after he activated his light sabre, he realized he couldn’t go through with it and that it was a mistake, and he was going to deactivate his light sabre again. In other words, despite the fact that Luke was convinced Ben had already turned Dark, he was going to keep trying to help Ben. Now does that sound like the Luke we know and love? Granted, this cheapens the conflict between Luke and Ben a bit since it then becomes born of misunderstanding, but that’s not the focus of today’s analysis so let’s move right along.

So if Luke would have chosen to continue helping Ben, why did he draw the sabre in the first place? Wasn’t he supposed to be a wise and powerful Jedi master? How could he have been tempted like that?!

But, Luke isn’t a wise and patient saint. We’re shown again and again in the original series that Luke is actually quite an impatient brat. Him choosing love over death or revenge or whatever doesn’t erase all his flaws. In fact, in Return of the Jedi, there’s one tense moment where Palpatine tempts Luke to kill Vader and Luke actually thinks about it. Luke isn’t immune from temptation. It’s not special to feel no temptation to do wrong and thus by default do right. What’s special about Luke is that despite being seriously tempted to do wrong, he still ultimately chooses to do right.

So Luke pulling out that light sabre? A moment of temptation. And as we’ve seen before, he’s not immune to temptation. But right away, Luke realizes that isn’t who he wants to be, and decides to continue helping Ben. What he couldn’t help were the circumstances, which led to...

2. Luke is such a coward! He ran away!

Well, no. And yes. It’s complicated.

I think most of us agree that Luke hid himself away because he felt guilty, but it wasn’t until I watched the film that I saw how many levels of guilt he must have felt.

First, there is the guilt towards his best friend and sister. Luke was entrusted to take care of the only child of the most important people in his life, and he failed. Not only that, but he failed miserably. First, he had a moment where he tried to kill their son, and then he actually drove their son to the Dark Side. Yeah, try facing Leia Organa and Han Solo after that.

Second, there is the guilt towards his students. Luke brought together a bunch of kids who looked up to him and whom he probably developed deep relationships with. Then, because of a mistake he made, they all died. Not only that, but he failed his student and nephew Ben in a great way by making Ben think Luke was going to kill him. This is shown by Luke’s line about how he only saw a scared kid at that moment.

Lastly, and most importantly, is the guilt towards himself. Luke feels as if he’s betrayed his own ideals. His moment of temptation? Not only disturbing to us, the viewers, but also greatly disturbing to Luke himself. Additionally, he wanted to bring back a Jedi Order, but failed spectacularly.

What all of this, taken together, would mean is that Luke left believing everything was his fault. And honestly? He had no reason not to. In a moment of weakness he caused Ben to turn and all his students to die or turn, and destroyed any hope for the return of a Jedi Order. If he had somebody to talk to, he probably would have realized that there were other ways to look at it. I mean it didn’t exactly take Rey a lot of effort to change Luke’s mind. But he didn’t. Nobody knew where Luke hid himself so nobody was able to talk him out of his wallowing. Luke doesn’t help out the resistance not because he’s afraid or even because of shame, but because he honestly believed he would make things worse. I mean, he tries to make so do-gooder Jedi and ends up turning his nephew into the greatest enemy of the resistance. Luke didn’t believe he could make a difference, or that if he did, it wouldn’t be a good one. So thus, Luke Skywalker became Luke the Hermit, living out in hiding until he could finally die.

So Luke? Still acting in a way to help everyone else. It’s just that he’s not right about how to help. Rey rightly points this out, and Luke rightly adjusts his thinking. But since this is getting so long (and also it’s getting reaaally late), I’ll have to continue in Part 2: The Present - How Luke Still Had Hope in The Last Jedi. There I’ll be exploring how Luke actually never gave up on Ben, his coming back to his old self, and his torch passing to Rey.

So, like, subscribe or bookmark this or something, I guess, if you’re interested? I don’t really know how updates work on tumblr. I’ll link Part 2 to this page when I’m finished.

#the last jedi #luke skywalker #character study #analysis #star wars #ben solo #kylo ren

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elvesofnoldor · 4 years

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anyways, ive seen enough gameplay footage to make sense of the story as a whole and i have to say, despite many merits and potentials, the story of tlou 2 certainly is NOT a masterpiece. IGN sort of kind of still lied to me lmao. my initial judgement on the game still stands, it’s just my attitude towards the game has softened a lot. i dont think im angry about it, or even wistful about the way the story went, and i like it so much better now that ive seen more of it. in fact when i get a ps4 (or ps5 i guess smh, would they even remaster this game for ps5? lmao), i will definitely try out this game. but i still have to say that it still makes a lot of sense as to why people hate it so much and even though i don’t absolutely hate it like some of the fans, i certainly am not the biggest fan of it either. Maybe it’s because im writing a story about fruitlessness of revenge (well, technically it’s fanfic dont @ me) and therefore ive thought a lot about such story, but the way i understand it, the true face of vengeance has always been grief, and any good revenge story is ultimately a story about loss. Everybody keeps talking about how this is about “neither side is right” or “cycle of violence is toxic” but i think these interpretations are only scratching the surface. To me, tlou 2 is about obsession, specifically obsession with revenge; It’s about hate, born from grief, driving someone down a path of violence that will never end. in truth, the obsession with vengeance is actually obsession with acquiring symbolic justice for a loss irreplaceable, and from what i seen, it seems that neil demonstrated that he understood this much. All the heartbreaking flashbacks? they aren’t just to build up ellie’s fall out with joel and her ensuing straining relationship with joel prior to the start of the story, they are to show us what ellie has lost. At the end, when she faced Abby, joel’s killer, and decided to let her go, i understand it as Ellie letting go of her hate born from grief of losing her only family, so she can finally be free from the shackle of murder and violence vengeance put on her. it SHOULD be about her letting go so that she may move on with her life before everything is lost, but when ellie comes back to the farm, dina is gone, and she has truly lost everything anyways. joel has saved ellie so that she could be happy, except that she is not, and it’s likely she will never be happy again. And what was all the heartaches about again? it felt like it was all for nothing! the story ends in utter despair, which is very uncharacteristic for a tlou game. in tlou part I and the dlc, the story is full of perils and heartaches. Tlou ends in a way that let us know there will be no cure for the pandemic that ended the world, but the little girl that joel and the players spent entire time getting to know and growing to love survived and she may have a life in happiness and peace. tlou dlc ended in a way that hinted at ellie’s best friend riley’s eventual demise, and it sucks, and it HURTS, but she did not die on screen. the dlc ends in a way to let us know that even when all is dark, you find something to fight for and you live another day, which echoes with what joel said to ellie at the end of tlou part I. Imagine if tlou 2 also echoes with that message of hope. Imagine if ellie simply snuck out without having that conversation with dina, and when she finally let go and come back to the farm, dina is still there. ellie has lost a finger, she has lost joel, she has lost so much and all the murders and violence weighted heavily on her conscience and she is scarred from the experience. So maybe she still played that guitar, and she still despaired, but then she remembers what joel said to her 13 year old self: i struggle a long time with surviving. no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. And then ellie looked at dina, and the baby, ellie knew that she may have lost her old family and it hurt and it hurts still and the scar of the loss will always be with her, but she has a new one to fight for and to take care of now and there is still something worth staying alive for. To me, that would have been a better and stronger ending, a ending that speak of hope even in the midst of despair, it would have been a satisifying conclusion to both joel and ellie’s relationship as well as ellie and dina’s relationship. now, Abby’s story ultimately contribute to this overarching story about grief and loss, and yeah, i have complicated feeling about her and her part taking up so much time in the game. i sure did NOT like the idea of being forced to play as her and hurt ellie in a boss fight! who wants to fight and potentially kill their favourite character as a brand new character we have very little emotional connection to? what purpose does that serve beside letting us know that ellie did not win this fight in the story? we could have easily played as ellie instead, as her point of view is supposed to be the point of view we identified with? This is the sequel to the last of us, which is advertised as being ellie’s story after all! this is not an independent story! i dont know what was neil thinking. it was apparent to me that abby was probably afflicted with fireflies somehow even before i read any spoilers. she was looking for joel! why else would she look for him and try to kill him? i honestly didn’t think that we needed to play as her to know she was with the fireflies and she was taking revenge on joel cause joel killed her dad and most of the fireflies and took that one chance of finding the cure away from everybody. we didnt need to play as merlene to see from her point of view, just saying. she was simply reacting to what ellie and joel did for the most part, and she never really have to reflect on killing joel the way she killed him. why does she need to take up so much space in the story? this should have been a story that focuses on ellie? i still wish she was ellie’s mom and her story tied into ellie’s immunity and the larger story of finding cure for the infection and she may or may not have been connected to or involved with joel’s death and her vague connection to joel’s murder is her reason to be in the story, but frankly, i dont know how to fix abby’s part of the story, she could have been a good character but it seems to me that she shouldn’t have been such prominent character in this story in particular. again i think from what ive seen the game’s story has potential, and it has merits, but ultimately the ending and abby’s part hurt the story and lowered its quality. people are still handling the shock of seeing joel’s brutal death, people are still UNDERSTANDABLY having difficulty sympathizing with abby, people are still angry about having to fight ellie, people are still angry about having to witness so much content of brutal violence against characters of colour (yet again) in this game, there is also apparently tranphobic backlash against the game because the garbage cis dudes from the gamer community HAVE to let us know what a disgusting cesspool of shit part of the community is every once a while. but i think it’s fair to say that this is not the star wars sequel situation again. tlou 2 is not an absolute let down the way sw sequel (tlj and ros) is, but it is still a flawed story and should be seen and understood as such.

#tlou 2 spoilers inside dont look!!#mae overshares

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