#even worse than badly written fanfics

[000marie198]

I find it interesting how the short movies such as GotNF, Book of Dragon, Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon and Dawn of the Dragon Racers all perfectly adjust in with the cartoon series and keep the characterizations accordingly intact as if they are part of this ongoing continuity but the main movies later on don't do the same. I mean, the 2nd one does but not THW. It doesn't line up with anything that happened in the series, not the events, not the themes or characters or character developments or characters' experience etc. With the second movie, not including those side characters didn't make much of a difference because whatever was going on and the plot and action and storyline didn't go towards that, it wasn't necessary and the movie was great either way. It didn't even ruin the characterizations of side characters that much even with what they were doing.

But THW just... (What was the word? Can't remember) removed everything that happened in rob/dob and RTTE and it didn't make sense with the storyline. Like, what happened to the rest of the vast archipelago? The edge? The VARIOUS habitats of VARIOUS species, so many allies, so many islands, so many characters, so many gained experiences after dealing with villains far more dangerous and smarter than whoever that guy was I don't even remember the name of, what happened to that all of a sudden? It just makes zero sense and the plot was all over the place. No offense to THW fans but, there were just a few good things in the movie but a lot more nonsensical events and solutions which were absolutely ridiculous what with already established canon throughout the rest of the franchise

[xeneric-shrooms]

.

[flightfoot]

Hi, since you're the ML fanfic authority around these parts, can you rec any fics based on the paris special? Even if its not finished or is abandoned it doesn't matter, i'm in desperate need of more paris special content. thank you!

Oooh, yes I can! Of course there aren't a ton of them as of yet, but there's still enough to scratch your itch, I hope! Luckily most of these I already have recs written out for, for the large rec lists I'm gonna publish at the end of the year (or well, the beginning of next year, actually). I'll tag everyone whose tumblr handles I know, but feel free to tag anyone I didn't get!

First, I'll start off with the complete fics.

If We Run, We Run Together by @heartfulselkie

The mockery of his laugh had always made her want to punch Griffe in the face, but now the thought wasn't even crossing her mind. The teasing tone in his voice and smugness of his grin had faded, his cocky attitude dissolving into something more genuine. Was that what his real laugh sounded like? Was that what his real smile looked like?

I loved seeing Toxinelle and Griffe Noir awkwardly start relearning how to be around each other, without hiding behind uncaring facades. They've got a long way to go, but they're getting there!

---

Back to Life (Back to Reality) by @2manyfandoms2count

Toxinelle and Griffe Noire return to their world after their night in the canon timeline.

I loved seeing these two talking a bit more amiably, especially with Toxinelle commenting on how silent Adrien is as a civilian. That doesn’t appear to be something he really wants to dwell on.

---

Here’s Hopes For Moving Forward... by allthingsasian

Gabriel finds out his son is Claw Noir.

Set just after the Paris Special...

I loved seeing Gabriel’s perspective here, finding Claw Noir broken down, crying on his son’s bedroom floor, and realizing what that means. How badly Adrien must have been hurting, how he’d been lashing out and hurting everyone he could reach, including himself, with the self-cataclysm. 

But now, Adrien and Gabriel are ready to talk, with Adrien getting the hug he’s sorely needed for a long time.

---

The Supreme Movers by PearlO_O

Continuation of Tales of Shadybug and Claw Noir.

Adrien and Marinette battle with the emotional aftermath of meeting their alternate selves.

This was an excellent follow-up to the Paris Special! To be clear, the Adrien and Marinette here are Claw Noir and Shady Bug, not the ones from the show we’ve been following all this time. I really liked Adrien and Marinette reflecting and recontextualizing how their parents have been acting in more positive ways, and getting more positive responses in turn, along with them reassessing how they’ve been acting and reaching out to Alya and Nino. There’s this theme of “it doesn’t matter who we were or what mistakes we made, but who we want to be and that we keep moving forward”.

---

Keep Me Safe Inside by RoFair

Adrien Agreste, formally known as Claw Noir attempts to get to know the girl he admires behind the mask of the reformed Shadybug. He has a plan, but it is derailed by a blonde bully.

I love how smitten Adrien is with Marinette! He might have a lot of bravado as Claw Noir, but he’s kinda shy as a civilian. Of course, that all goes out the window when Marinette needs help - like when she’s being bullied and is nearing a breakdown.

---

Eat, Pray, Duck by @trishacollins

Gabriel Agreste split his twin sons apart when his wife died, keeping one with him and sending one to London with his sister. Unfortunately, the Supreme was not willing to let this be.

He wanted a matched set.

Felix is a weapon, a servant of the Supreme. On a mission to retrieve the stolen Miraculous.

In a world that has outlawed kindness, sometimes the most dangerous person is the one who chooses it anyway.

I love this glimpse at what might have been going on with Felix back in Shadybug and Claw Noir’s world, I did wonder what might have been going on with him. Poor kid, he managed to have it even worse than he did in canon. I really loved seeing his interactions with Luka, the Couffaines rebel through kindness it seems!

---

Friends who kiss by @kuromori4

It’s been about a week since Shadybug and Claw Noir’s goody-two shoes alternate universe counterparts convinced them to betray the Supreme and join the Resistance. And while they are determined to be better… It hasn’t been easy. While both Shadybug and Claw Noir have a lifetime of problems to untangle if they want to be good people, they realize a new look doesn’t magically make you a nice person. As if that weren’t hard enough to deal with, the two ex-Villains struggle with defining what their new relationship might be.

I love the two of them talking things out, and struggling. Shadybug in particular is still very prickly and prone to making snide comments about Adrien, even though she doesn’t really know him, and she still hasn’t totally come to terms with her own true feelings about Claw Noir. Though by the end they um. Figure that out, I guess you could say XD.

---

These next two are WIPS, I've really been enjoying them so far!

Cracked White Porcelain by between

The basement is a wreck by the time they return and it takes her a moment to remember where their last fight in their world had really led them. "Remind me, please," Noir says, voice still but a fragile tingle against her ear. "To think about it, later." "You'll have to," she agrees with a nod. His hand is shaking in hers. "I know." They both pretend they aren't holding onto each other as they blindly, foolishly, follow their enemy, their ally, through the shadows of their city. (An act of treason against the Supreme doesn't leave you with a lot of places to go. Giving up on your goals is a lot easier when the consequences of your actions haven't caught up to you yet.)

This fic mostly covers what happens immediately after they return to Hesperia's HQ, with Marinette and Adrien freeing their kwamis of their gags, for starters. Marinette and Adrien apparently figured out that Hesperia is Gabriel before the events of the Paris Special here (since well, his HQ is beneath the Agreste Mansion, so that makes it pretty obvious) while Gabriel still has no clue, which leads to an interesting dynamic, especially since Gabriel's worried about his son while having no clue that he's right in front of him.

---

One step forward, no steps back by @theerurishipper

Wanting to move on, wanting to choose to be part of the world, meant looking at it. And it also meant he had to look at all the fear, the heartache, the terror and rage and anger that he had caused. And he’s not sure how to come back from it all. It all feels so hopeless, like there’s nothing he can do anymore. But he can’t go back either. Not to that life. Not after everything, not knowing that something better is possible. For better or worse, that optimistic, hopeful part of him that he’d thought long lost has awakened once more, and holding onto it feels much better than the consuming despair that had plagued him for months. But it all feels like it could fall apart any second. And he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to bear losing himself a second time.

This fic's from Adrien's perspective, dealing with the new changes in his life. You get a good look into the mindset that led him to becoming Claw Noir to begin with, how he was breaking down and lashing out at everyone around him, and had little concern for even his own survival.

Things are getting better though, slowly. Nino's willing to hear him out, and he and Marinette are really talking, in ways they didn't before, when they were villains. Even his relationship with Plagg's on the mend, and Hesperia's acting like a father to him (which well, considering what we readers know of their relationship... XD).

But the Supreme isn't willing to just let Adrien skip off to a happier future...

[the-modern-typewriter]

Just wanted to say thank you so, so much for writing Fate's Favourite. I actually found and loved your blog before I ever found that fanfic, and it was a delight to know it was written by you, and it's so clear how you've improved. But Fate's Favourite will always have a part of my heart, because it's the first story I've read that just has a platonic friendship that feels as equal as a romantic one without being romantic? And as a lonely aroace that means everything. EVERYTHING. (1/2)

(2/2) I had a conversation today that reminded me that I'm never going to have the queerplatonic relationship I want that I've always wanted since I was a child, and how it makes me want to write one so much more, but then I've never managed to write the story I've wanted to write my entire life because I'd always be afraid of being accused of queerbaiting or people just going, 'but it's actually just a gay romance this isn't what friendship looks like' and just. Thank you for Fate's Favourite.

--

Wow. FF is a blast from the past!

You are very welcome.

Apologies for the long, self-indulgent reply.

That story was one of the first things I ever properly wrote and my first (maybe second?) truly long-form story ever. I thus have a soft spot for it, even though in terms of craft and technique I can't so much as look at it without seeing all my numerous beginner flaws and cringing and can't bring myself to actually point people to it. Much improvement since then, as you say!

(An excellent reminder that writing is a learned skill.)

Anyway. The other interesting thing about that story is that I wrote it before I'd ever heard of asexuality or realised that was what I was. I was a very confused teenager being bombarded with this pressure to have crushes and date people and all that general societal messaging we have about romance being the most important thing ever. Especially in YA.

So I'd go home after school and write that story.

Obviously it's more unhealthy than what I'd want for myself in my real life, but the sheer intensity of feeling and importance of the platonic main relationship was something I had also never seen before but craved. And still crave, honestly. So I feel ya.

As for queerbaiting...

A lot of readers at the time told me they viewed the story as 'pre-romance'. AKA, it's a romantic relationship and they haven't realised it yet for whatever reason. They mostly didn't mean that badly, I don't think.

(Although I sometimes think though that if the term 'queerbaiting' was as broadly known and misused then as it is now that I would have been mercilessly lambasted out of ever writing again! And I wouldn't have known how to articulate the fact that wasn't, actually, what I was doing. I think we need to be kind to new writers. I think 'content creator' is gutting something vital in the ecosystem. But that's another rabbit hole.)

So I've been there. It happens. But other people's bad takes didn't change the story and what it meant to me as a lonely ace teenager or what it meant to you.

I have had readers before make a similar comment to you about how it was the first time they got to see something so important to their heart portrayed.

That matters so much more than whatever people say about your writing who don't need it.

Which is why we have to keep writing the stories.

Even if it's clumsy and raw. Even if it's the first thing you've ever tried. Even if it's (especially if) it's a messed up fantasy straight from the most primal part of your brain.

If we don't write it, it won't exist.

And that's so much worse.

The nay-sayers can come to the party, but it wasn't thrown in their honour.

[jubileeena]

BEHOLD: MALWARE AU

So. We all know Turbo. He's kind of the flavour of the month right now. He's a horrible little piece of shit and we love him for that!

As a result of a couple posts that I'll link when I'm on desktop (or you can look through my blog its some of my most recent reblogs) and That One Video Essay I got to thinking about how much of Turbo's actions came from his nature, what cropped up out of desperation and jealousy, and what came from the nightmare virus that ate him. Then I got to writing. A lot. And now I have a monster fanfic that might or might not ever get written but I might actually explode if I don't share some of it.

This snippet revolves around Vanellope, mostly, and my continuous ongoing realization that modding/slightly retexturing video games is actually a lot easier than I thought it was. Enjoy!

Prologue

Vanellope hasn't been a part of her own game for 15 years. It's long since figured out how to function around her, but now King Candy's been dealt with via hot cola insecticide and she adamantly refuses to ride in his little vanilla-white kart. Not with her own baby waiting right there for her.

Except the game really really wants her to.

The kart bakery is supposed to be a fun side minigame. The kart lasts until the player stops feeding the game quarters, then it will restore itself to the default kart for the racer.

She's been carefully ignoring the crackling parts of code that bubble up around her when she revvs the engine too hard for days now, telling herself it was just remnants of her own glitch messing with her driving. But right after she crossed the finish line at the end of the final race of that day, it glitched so badly she was left lying on the track as it rammed itself into the boundary.

She'd spent most of that evening moping around and complaining under her breath about the mess her predecessor had left her - - until she thought huh. If Turbo could program his whole throne-stealing butt into the game, why couldn't she just... Slip in and fix her kart?

Sour Bill didn't seem happy at all when she slipped behind the curtain of her throne room (bleh. Needed to redecorate that soon. Way too princess-y for her taste), but he dutifully agreed to stand guard as she followed the instructions on the handy little piece of paper that lay discarded on the floor.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, START

Yes! She jumped into the darkness without thinking, entranced by the nebula of nodes and string of information that made the glitch constantly buzzing under her skin sing.

This is what she was meant for. This was why the game kept her around. It loved her.

Her node was easy to find, set in the center as it was with streams of code coming from it. She blipped up to it, and kicked her feet excitedly as she floated in place, and tapped it to enlarge it.

Wow, it really was easy. All she had to do was find her primary kart file, and swap it with the one in the Bakery's subfolder that held the information for her baby, and that was that. No wonder King Boogerface managed to mess things around so much, if what was all it took.

Task complete, she turned around to try and reorient herself to find the exit again, but a flickering node caught her eye.

It was strobing worse than any of the others, and there was no visible text on it to give any clue as to what it could be. She blipped over to it and tapped on it-

Only to be thrown backwards as it quadrupled in size, mangled streams of code now visible through it's translucent surface.

She glitched again to lose her momentum and stop somersaulting through the void, then back towards the code box. She reached a hand inside and flicked her wrist in a movement she instinctively remembered, and pressed confirm when the prompt came up to clear the cache memory.

It spluttered for a moment, then as if expelling a sickness the darkness bled from the body of the node and dissolved into the void, leaving behind a little red code box, smaller and less defined than the rest, connected to everything with only a thin strand but with it's pixelated text quite clear for her to read, and her breath hitched.

Turbo

[stillness138]

dear hotd fandom,

can we finally stop calling official/studio/big budget adaptations we don't like "fanfiction"? this show is not fanfiction because it is made by a studio with the blessing of the original author and it most certainly isn't fanfiction because it's turning out to be badly written. even if adaptations stray far from their source material, they are closer to the term adaptation than they are to the definition of fanfic.

i know y'all just love to simplify in easy terms but in the year 2024 can we finally stop insinuating that fanfic is somehow a lesser form of writing always worse than its source. can we please do that.

[pythagoras180]

Canon is Better than Scarlet Lady

I while ago I read a post where someone said that they don't like fanfiction because "Why would you take someone else's story and butcher it?" When I read that, I thought "Isn't that harsh? Most fanfics are made out of people's love for the source material." Well, I think the Scarlet Lady AU by Zoe-Oneesama is exactly the kind of fic this person was imagining when they said that. "Scarlet Lady" is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic/saltfic/fixfic that fundamentally misses the point of pretty much every character and major plot point in it. And since it recently ended, it's time for my comprehensive review of it.

Just a few things before we begin. I'm going to assume that everyone reading this has read "Scarlet Lady", so I'm not going to recap the story. I was originally planning to write this on the day of the last page, but the final page was honestly such a nothing burger that I thought it wasn't the final page initially.

Some people may have a problem with the very concept of this review, saying its not fair for me to criticize a non-professional fanfic with this much scrutiny. I think that's an opinion Zoe herself holds. First, I think nothing is above criticism, especially not something that is claiming to be better than the professional product. People didn't hold back against "Spiderman: Lotus", did they? Even within this fanbase, people had some pretty harsh words for "Karma of Lies". Second, I think any discussion of non-professionalism went out the window the moment Zoe stated her intention to sell hardcopies of "Scarlet Lady". This arguably is professional. Third, I wouldn't be making this review if I this was a fanfic made out of genuine love and passion, and simply missed the mark. No, "Scarlet Lady" is in fact created out of nothing but spite and contempt, and I feel that makes it pretty fair game for criticism. So, without further ado, let's begin.

Why is Canon Better than Scarlet Lady?

In "Scarlet Lady", Emilie Agreste was woken up with no consequences, no buildup, no emotion, and no meaningful consequences. In canon, Emilie's loss was accepted by the characters and she died. I'm pretty sure that automatically makes canon better than "Scarlet Lady", so you don't even need to read the rest of this review! In all seriousness, this is genuinely some of the worst writing I have ever seen, and it is what made me decide that "Scarlet Lady" was a bad story, so I decided to just mention it on its own.

To be clear, I think Miraculous Ladybug is a poorly written show. "Scarlet Lady" is just worse. And since I used to enjoy Miraculous Ladybug, I'm in a good position to compare the two. When I read the ending of Scarlet Lady, what I though about canon was

I think that writing the middle part of a story is relatively easy. The audience is already hooked from the beginning, and they are intrigued for what might happen, so they'll keep reading even if not everything is great. I think the beginning and ending is the hard part. "Scarlet Lady" didn't have to worry about the beginning and getting people interested because it's piggybacking off of an already successful show. And since the ending of "Scarlet Lady" was so awful, it's clear to me that it was always badly written.

I'll now be analyzing "Scarlet Lady" in terms of its tone, its various characters, and more.

Tone

Every single potentially powerful moment in "Scarlet Lady" is played off as a joke. This may be in part because of the format, with it being released 8 panels at a time, so the audience has to be given something to be entertained by in every page. The thing is, I don't think that's true. I have seen plenty of webcomics where a situation is spread across multiple pages, and the audience doesn't instantly lose interest when one page is for setup purposes.

The consequence of this unserious tone is that the entire story is an emotional flatline. There's no moments that make you sad, no moments that make you happy, nothing that makes you scared or invested. Nothing feels like anything, because everything is a joke.

The season 2 finale of canon is actually really good, it feels like a real challenge with both sides giving it their all. In SL however, the same battle feels about as challenging as a stroll through the park.

I've seen a lot of comedies, and most of them still have a strong emotional core that isn't made into a joke at every turn. So arguing that SL is a comedy doesn't really help.

The problems with this unserious tone run deep, and you will see that as I explore the various characters.

Characters

I don't even like most of the characters in ML, but I could see the absolute downgrade they are in SL.

In general, I just wanted to say this: almost every character in this story is a sarcastic smartass. This makes them rather monotonous and uninteresting. Also very generic considering how common this archetype is these days.

Wait a second. Every serious moment is undermined by a joke, and all the characters are sarcastic smartasses. Was Zoe secretly an MCU writer this entire time?!

Chloé

I figure we should start with the titular Scarlet Lady. I actually think that the idea of a superhero duo where one of them is extremely lazy and unhelpful, but still necessary, is an extremely interesting idea for a dynamic. The problem is, there is no dynamic. Scarlet Lady and Chat Noir have no relationship, they just talk at each other constantly. And the result of this is that basically every interaction is the same: Scar does something selfish, Chat gets mad, rinse and repeat. It could have been interesting to explore different scenarios and ideas with these two, but no they just do the same thing over and over.

There is a pretty big plot hole here once Marigold is introduced. Why don't the heroes just take the Ladybug Miraculous back? It would be rather easy. Well, the explanation is that since Scar is still popular with the public, its best to keep her around for public cooperation and morale. Okay, I can accept that. Except, only a few episodes after this explanation we get "Zombizou", an episode where Scar straight up attacks Marinette in the middle of a battle, which causes Chat to get infected and them to very nearly lose. After that, there is no excuse anymore. Scar is clearly too dangerous to keep around, take her Miraculous now. But no, they actually don't even talk about what happened at all.

One particular episode where I have a problem with how Chloé is treated by the writer is "Silencer". In this episode, Chloé helps Bob Roth and XY with their plagiarism scheme. In canon, she had nothing to do with that. Now, yes, this is a different story and the writer can do whatever she wants. And this also gets Chloé more involved in the story. However, doing this just gives me a feeling that Zoe is blaming Chloé for something she didn't do. I don't know, it's just a vibe.

Anyway, throughout the story Chloé gets worse and worse until it culminates in her working with Hawk Moth and betraying everyone. And what are her consequences for this?

I mean, except for her father making her apologize (offscreen). So ultimately this plot feels like such a letdown. Chloé is the titular character that this fic's whole concept was started by, and yet it ends with her character just fading away with a whimper. What a letdown.

Marinette

This one will be quick. Zoe says that Marinette is her favorite character in ML, but I don't think she understands her at all. Remember what I said about every character being a sarcastic smartass? Well that is most prevalent with Marinette, and that is just fundamentally not who she is as a character. Marinette is someone whose is unabashed in her kindness and compassion. That's why plenty of people like her. If Marinette was in canon like she was in SL, she would be an extremely generic protagonist with almost no fans at all. The only reason anyone likes her in SL is because they relate her to the canon version.

I will say, I do like the idea of her being such a hero at heart that she'll run into danger even without powers. But this is completely diminished by her basically being invincible and having plot armor in her civilian form.

Adrien

Adrien in canon is one of my least favorite characters of all time. And yet, Adrien in SL is even worse. I'd go as far to say he's an anti-character. He has no growth, no arc, and no real personality.

The reason people like Adrien in canon is because they perceive him as someone who is treated very badly by his father and by others, but is still a kind person regardless. Well, in SL it's hard to perceive any poor treatment considering how he's only ever seen disobeying his father. And he's really never done anything kind throughout the entire comic.

Do you know the only reason people like Adrien in SL? Because they see him as who they wanted canon Adrien to become. Someone who can stand up to his father, who is useful in battle, and who doesn't put up with Chloé. But since SL Adrien was that way the entire time, there is no growth at all. Again he piggybacks off of his canon counterpart. If canon Adrien didn't exist, nobody would give a single crap about SL Adrien. None of the traits people liked about him in canon are present, and there is nothing new added to replace it. He is nothing.

Speaking of Adrien and Chloé, isn't it kind of weird that Adrien ended his friendship with her twice? In "Despair Bear" he ends his friendship with her and this is played as a big moment, even though he already basically ended their friendship all the way back in the pilot. There is not a single moment in the entire comic where Adrien treats Chloé like a friend.

As I mentioned earlier, Adrien has no emotional reaction to his mother coming back. In fact, I think it's fair to say that Adrien never loved his parents. And the reason for this is because Zoe hates his parents and she just imposed her feelings onto him, just like most bad fanfic writers do.

In terms of Adrien having no arc, there is one moment I wanted to talk about. During the final battle, he gets a power upgrade when he's talking about how he doesn't understand Hawk Moth's perspective, and he doesn't want to because Hawk Moth is so awful. This moment is played as if it's character growth for Adrien, but I want to ask, in what way? Well, I guess it does make sense because Adrien always gave his father the benefit of the doubt, stuck by Chloé even though she's cruel, and defended Lila. All those things could be considered him trying to understand a bad person. Too bad that none of that happened in SL. Adrien always hated his father, he ended his friendship with Chloé day 1, and he never defended Lila. Zoe was so focused on removing all of Adrien's flaws that she left him with no starting point for this supposed arc. In general, flawed characters are more interesting than perfect ones. Again, the only reason people liked this scene was because they subconsciously associated SL Adrien with canon.

Also, Zoé adds in her headcanon that Emilie was a bad parent. This headcanon only exists because people are incapable of imagining Adrien being anything other than a victim. I call it my "Perpetual Victim Theory". Anyway Zoé just makes up a bunch of random crap that has no basis in canon just to make Adrien more of a victim.

Gabriel

At first, "Scarlet Lady" looks like a Chloé saltfic. Well, that's only partially true. It's actually mainly a Gabriel saltfic. It honestly seems like Zoe hates Gabriel so much that she can barely think when he's involved. Gabriel is always portrayed as a complete moron with absolutely no humanity at all. He honestly seems more like a caricature in a political cartoon rather than an actual character. I actually find it hard to believe that his motivation is to bring back his wife considering how devoid of human emotion he is. Because the main villain of the series is a buffoon who can't be taken seriously, there is never any actual threat or tension. People criticize canon Gabriel for all his bad decisions, which is absolutely fair, but there are at least a few moments where he is genuinely menacing, and some moments where he is human. But writing him that way would require Zoe to let go of her hatred for a few minutes, so that's clearly not an option.

Nathalie

To put it simply Nathalie is a Mary Sue. She's a "girlboss" that does a bunch of horrible things she's not punished for. She can create a sentimonster to solve all the show's problems, she can decode an ancient book without a reference (Some people have defended this by claiming that the book was decoded IRL. IRL it was written in Engish in a different alphabet. That's not true in-universe). She's so much smarter and cooler than everyone else. Mary Sue, plain and simple. Oh, and she hates Gabriel because of course she does. She's a character written by Zoe after all.

In canon, Nathalie has some complexities. She's not great, but she's certainly better than this.

The Male Classmates

I'm just going to say it. Almost every male classmate was character assassinated in "Party Crasher". In canon, Nino lists his female friends to Gorilla and tells him to not let them in the mansion. This is because he assumes that if they find out that they ditched tree planting, they'll stop the boys from hanging out with Adrien. Is it a jerk move to ditch their plans in order to spend time with Adrien and not tell the girls? Yes, but it's understandable and they have limited time with Adrien. In SL, Nino tells Gorilla to keep all girls out of the house, which instantly imposes a sense of underlying misogyny to the situation. Oh, and they let Marc in even though Marc is nonbinary in this story, which implies that the boys went full Royce Du Pont, which is unintentionally hilarious.

I have no idea what motivated Zoe to change the boys from regular flakers to misogynists, maybe she just misunderstood the original episode, but it's still bad. Also, the SL episode goes out of its way to say that Adrien isn't at fault. No, he was completely complicit in the blatant sexism as well. So yeah, pretty much all the boys are instantly made worse by this one episode.

Zoé

In these previous cases, I have been making comparisons to and defending canon characters that I don't even like anymore. But Zoé Lee is my absolute favorite character in Miraculous Ladybug, and I was not happy with how SL handled her.

So a pretty important question right off the bat, how does SL Zoé exist? Zoe said that since canon didn't explain Zoé's existence, neither will she. But the thing is, what is there to explain? Chloé's parents have been married 20 years. Chloé's mother lives in New York, away from her family in Paris. Chloé's mother also has a daughter in New York with another man, much younger than 20-years-old. I don't think it takes a genius to figure out what happened there. But I'll spell it out anyway: extramarital affair. In fact, I think the whole reason the writers of canon made Zoé Chloé's half-sister was to hint why she hadn't been mentioned before: because Audrey was ashamed of her, and Chloé didn't know abut her.

On the other hand, "Scarlet Lady" never mentions Zoé's father, has her refer to Andre as her parent, says Zoé lived in New York, and never implies that Audrey is ashamed of her in any way. How does this make sense? Well, maybe Zoé is the older sibling in SL, and Audrey and Andre met and got married after Audrey was already pregnant, and Zoé's biological father isn't involved in her life. It still seems weird that Zoé was living in New York instead of Paris (why not live with her stepdad that she's close enough to call a parent, and how did they form such a strong relationship long distance?), but this does make most of the situation make sense. Except for one little detail: Why on Earth are Chloé and Zoé only now meeting for the first time? It makes absolutely no sense that their parents would not even tell these two about each other. How was Zoé so close to Andre to call him her parent, but didn't meet her sister until she was a teenager? None of this adds up. And honestly, it seems like after a certain period of time Zoe just straight up forgot that Zoé only arrived recently. In the therapy scenes, she acts like they were always one family. When canon gave Chloé a sister, they gave a reason why nobody knew about her until now. When SL gave Chloé a sister, she just suddenly has one who isn't explained and they act like she was always around. In fact, the only part where they acknowledge her showing up suddenly is when Adrien hasn't heard of her, but SL actually just implies that this is because he was never actually close with Chloé.

Putting all that aside, SL also sucks out everything interesting about Zoé. Gone is her cleverness or willingness to lie for the right reason. In fact, the defining characteristic that SL gives Zoé is that she has no personality. I've seen some people claim that SL had Chloé and Zoé having more of a sisterly bond, but I actually don't believe that Zoé actually loves Chloé. During the final battle, Hawk Moth has basically poisoned Chloé, and for all Zoé knows, it could be fatal. If I were in Zoé's shoes in this situation, I would be furious with Gabriel. But is she? No, she just has the same jokey, ironic disgust towards him that all the characters do. Yeah, this is one of the moments when the comic's insistence to turn everything into a joke hit critical mass. Doing that ends up damaging the characters.

One last thing. In canon, Zoé was pretty cool as Vesperia. She helped out a bunch of times, and she was one of the only heroes to demonstrate unique skills in how she taunted Queen Banana into anger. Not in SL though. Vesperia achieves nothing, she could have been cut out entirely and nothing would change. That actually transitions nicely into my next point.

Because Canon Did It Too

Zoe has said that she wants to keep the lore consistent with the show. Even though she didn't like the name "Venom" for that power, she kept it for consistency purposes. I can respect this idea, but there are multiple parts of this story that would have just been better if it diverged.

For one thing, having 19 Miraculouses and as many superpowered characters. I can understand why canon did this: because they clearly want the show to go on forever and they want as many characters as possible to fill that time. SL on the other hand was only planned to last a certain number of episodes, and yet Zoe crammed in as many heroes as the original did. This leads to a lot of time setting up these characters that leads to nothing, because they're all barely in the finale and contribute basically nothing. It would have been so much better to simply limit it to the 7 main Miraculouses, that's so much more manageable.

Another thing is the Rabbit Miraculous and time travel. Zoe acknowledged how OP it is and how it can instantly solve the conflict. She might not want to change its power because of her lore rule, but if she had just ignored its existence entirely, that would have been totally acceptable. But no, the final battle has Master Fu using the Rabbit Miraculous, which instantly makes the stakes even lower than they already were. It wasn't even necessary, Master Fu is shown to be faster than he looks, he could have just delivered the Miraculouses the normal way. Oh, and there's also the fact that Zoe looked at the insanely OP Rabbit Miraculous and said "That's not OP enough." She also gave it the power to teleport to other universes. To be clear, this completely contradicts canon. ML is not the MCU, alternate universes are not alternate timelines. Changes to the timeline just overwrite the old one, and you can use the Rooster Miraculous, not the Rabbit, to visit other universes. So yeah, despite Zoe saying she wants lore consistency, SL actually doesn't fit into the Miraculous multiverse that canon established.

Also, let's talk about the romance. Like canon, there's a love square that doesn't get together until way later. But it seems like Zoe forgot about an important rule of romance: if the characters aren't together yet, why not? In SL Marinette and Chat clearly like each other, and unlike canon's Ladrien, they talk quite a bit. So why don't they get together? Canon actually has a really great episode "Elation" where Adrien decides that he can't date a civilain as a superhero if she doesn't know his identity. But nothing even like this is remotely acknowledged in SL (Sidenote: The writing of "Elation" is better than the entirety of SL). Also, Adrien doesn't confess for most of SL, I assume because Marinette didn't confess in canon, but this is just so out of character for Adrien. He's not the kind of person to hold his feelings back. In canon, he confessed to Marinette only a few episodes after he started liking her. He claims that he doesn't want to date until Hawk Moth is defeated, but then he starts dating her before he's defeated, so this is a BS excuse.

When Chloé snaps away her sentimonster, Zoe copies the line "How could you?!" from "Ladybug" in canon. This is a completely soulless copy though, because that episode made it clear that Sentibug was sentient, and Chat Noir was genuinely angry in this moment. None of that same substance applies to SL, it's just a meaningless copy of a better scene.

In canon "Reflekdoll", Adrien and Marinette are modeling her designs, and they take their Miraculouses off in order to wear the earrings and ring she made. When Reflekdoll attacks, they try to get their Miraculouses back but end up switching them. In SL "Reflekdoll", Marinette and Adrien are wearing each other's Miraculouses during the photoshoot for no discernable reason. Both versions have a Miraculous swap, but the original earned it and SL absolutely did not.

Zoe and Thomas Astruc are on the Same Wavelength

Zoe has made it clear that she's not a fan of ML's creator, Thomas Astruc. And yet many of her ideas ended up being the same as his.

In both Canon and SL, Chloé publicly commits a bunch of serious crimes, but faces no legal consequences. Instead, she is taken to another country where she can resume her life as a rich brat because she's learned absolutely nothing. Yeah, Chloé's ending in both is basically the same.

In the season 5 finale of canon, there's this huge fight between the side characters and an evil army. This fight has absolutely nothing to do with the actual important fight between Bug Noire and Monarch, so the side characters are completely wasted. In the final battle of SL, the other superheroes contribute nothing and are completely wasted. Chat Noir basically took care of Hawk Moth all by himself. So both finales involve wasted side characters that should have just stayed home. Less time would have been wasted.

Zoe actually says that she added Marinette calling out Gabriel in response to the canon finale. This is absolutely hilarious considering it's still Marinette calling out Gabriel, which basically did happen in the canon finale. Adrien still just stood there and didn't say a word!

Conclusion

"Scarlet Lady" is absolutely worse than canon Miraculous Ladybug. And I think there are a lot of lessons to learn here.

First, don't be so angry and hateful. Zoe basically ruined any possibility of a decent ending simply because her hatred of Gabriel made it impossible to write him like an actual person or a good villain.

Second, any story written in bitterness or spite will be bad. That might not be totally true, I haven't read every story. But I feel that every fanfic I read where the author clearly hates a character has everyone behaving OOC and the story being meanspirited and bad.

Third, don't be arrogant. Just because you can recognize flaws in a story doesn't mean you can do better. Maybe just make some posts calling out those flaws.

Fourth, the way to fix a bad character is not to simply remove all their flaws. Acknowledge those flaws and do something with them.

Fifth, while fanfics do often build off of the original, they can't depend on elements from the original when they contradict those elements. Again, the only reason people like SL Marinette and Adrien is because they associate them with the originals, even though their personalities do no match up.

All in all, I think the world and characters of "Scarlet Lady" will be forgotten only a week after its over. There is no actual substance to them. The only purpose of this fic was to bash somebody else's story, and yet it ended up being so much worse than canon in almost every way.

[pseudowho]

So... I realised something...

you really like Nanami-san and Higuruma-san fanfics. With that in mind, have you ever tried character.ai? I ask out of the purest bit of curiosity...

I'm really not into character ai's honestly. I tried them a couple of times at least six months ago, and found them badly written, bug-ridden, etc. Just didn't particularly get any joy out of them!

I also tried a Higuruma one a couple of days ago to see if there was any improvement, and it was even worse than before. Truly dreadful.

I must also stress, I spend a lot more time writing than reading currently.

Sorry to disappoint!

Love,

-- Haitch xxx

[perfluorononanoic-acid]

Hii can I request ex bf rin from bllk fanfic where he regrets breaking up with his gf?

When he sees her with someone else it finally hits him how much he miss her?

Thank you and have a nice day 💕

Synopsis: Rin was one to never show regret no matter the situation. Even if he did regret something he would never say or show it out loud. That was before he met you. He was able to open up more and actually feel like he had a life outside of football. However, one thing led to another and he’s an absolute wreck for prioritizing his career over you.

Content Warnings: angst, rin can’t get over u, generally gender neutral but some indications of fem!reader

Word Count: 644

Author’s Note: I haven’t written in a while so this might be bad! Tysm for requesting, requests are still open!

________________________________

________________________________

One measly practice apparently could not have been missed even though it was your birthday. In the heat of the moment Rin lashed out on you far worse than in any of your petty arguments before in your relationship.

“I mean it’s just a birthday, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to you,” He scoffed.

That was your breaking point and you slammed your door shut and told Rin to leave. He was in shock and furious. Twenty minutes later though he decided to send a text to you reading,

“I can’t handle you always nagging me about me choosing my dream over you; we’re ending it here.”

He heavily sighed before having an intense wave of regret and sadness wash over him, but he decided to ignore it, becoming the world’s best striker was his number one priority. After some time his mind began to wander though, first he had his brother walk out of his life and now he was forcing you out. He didn’t know what to do and who to reconcile to because he knew he was entirely in the wrong yet he thought it would best for the both of you (deep down he’s incredibly depressed and regrets even sending that text). After a few days of thinking, Rin wanted to send you an apology, he wanted to tell you how sorry he was and how badly he needed you, and he wanted to tell you that no matter what he still loved you. In the end, he figured that it would be best to leave you be, not realizing that the messages he wanted to send were just what you needed.

A few months later no messages nor words were exchanged between you two. In public only simple nods or waves were shown. Rin completely missed your affection and kindness and couldn’t believe he decided to separate himself from the girl of his dreams who was there for him at his weakest and who always showed support for him. On the playing field his mind still wandered to you too. Rin decided he finally had enough and wanted to make up with you. He was visiting the little shop you both would always go to knowing you would be there, as he walked through the doors he saw you and softly smiled, but he got a better look and saw you were laughing and smiling with some other guy. Rin was shocked. He decided to not say anything, but glanced over and saw him kiss you passionately while you were still giggling and smiling. Rin didn’t know what to do. He was on the verge of actually losing his composure, so he bought something small and immediately walked out of the shop before he made eye contact with you for a split second. Rin immediately looked away in too much grief to think straight about what he originally came for. In the end he decided to take his career even more seriously, allowing absolutely no breaks in his life and shunning out anyone and everyone who wasn’t you. He had become lost without your support and advice, and it was all because he decided to not spend your birthday with you because of a simple, little practice drill.

________________________________

Honorary mention to my friend for this intro:

**synopsis**: rin sees you with another guy and is very sad about his horrible relationship choices

**content warnings**: holding hands, feelings, angst, one-sided pining, sad masturbation

**word count**: 420 lol

**author’s note**: i copy and pasted this whole intro from discord shout out to q.trashbag who wrote it 💕💕💕

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

rises from the depths of semester papers and reports

HEADCANONS?? BY AI????

(Slams fist down on the table like an angry viking)

IT'S PURE FUCKING MADNESS

Like I genuinely do not know where the state of fandom is even going at this point... it's like people think that fandom is a route to clout and popularity, but they literally don't care about the actual fandom content?

And as someone who has had a 'popular' fandom blog (more than once) - it is the fucking worst. Especially when you do genuinely care about the content that you are making and how it relates back to the enjoyment of the source material, being a 'popular' blog and having people chase you down for content, especially specific content, is a fucking nightmare.

The only way to enjoy fandom is to produce and consume content slowly within a small circle of people who actually appreciate it, and people who use AI are genuinely fucking stupid. Like I cannot fathom the process behind going "I like this character, let me post a fanfiction I did not write about them so that people will follow me for more fics I will not write" - like what are you getting out of it. Even if fellow fans follow you, you will probably be too lazy to participate in actual conversations about the characters you like.

And like to a small extent, I get the whole 'dopamine' of likes and clicks and bullshit, but they aren't clicking like for you or your blog, they are doing it for an AI fanfic that you did not even make. It makes my fucking brain hurt, trying to find some reasoning behind this.

And like I said in that other post, headcanons are even worse, because headcanons don't have to be a full long 1k fic, they can literally just be a one single sentence post. They are literally just thoughts. And now people are not even having original thoughts about their favourite characters.

This post took me less than ten minutes to write, even when I was feeling very unwell. And it's one of my favourite headcanon posts that I have ever written.

But headcanon posts can be something as simple as 'I think x character would like listening to Fall Out Boy' or 'I think x character would hate eating their pizza crusts' or 'I think x character would always give y character their pickle' LIKE HELLO. SIMPLE LITTLE THINGS

And people can't even be bothered. And it literally feels like by posting it, they are saying 'I no longer bother to enjoy my favourite character' like THESE ARE THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE THE ROBOT FUCK THEIR WIFE AND WATCH THE SUNSET FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SOULLESS

It confuses me and pisses me off so badly at the same time

[super-hero-confessions]

The Boys fandom is really out here tossing their self awareness to the wind and I'm so tired of these clowns.

What the fuck.

1000 complaints about Hughie getting SA'd. 100000000 complaints about utter nonsense if not about satire itself and completely missing the mark. 10000000000000000 about the writing from people who seem to lack a fundamental understanding of creative freedom and respecting other artists ability to practice this or even what a HUMAN is by their apparent hatred of the characters not being fucking sock puppets that do everything perfectly exactly as they want or expect them to—because I'm sure the real life people in their day to day life work exactly like this and they have everything and everyone under control, no one ever makes an irrational or emotional decision.

Good job. Pat yourselves on the back. Clearly, you know everything and understand everything with enlightened clarity. Every argument and criticism of canon you make is not bad faith or completely biased because what you say is gospel and cannot be wrong because canon is wrong for not confirming those biases. Nevermind the blatantly displayed ignorance of what legitimate criticism is or lack of basic respect for other artists and points of view with the constant obvious oblivious white Karen gossip and baseless accusations! You care when SA happens to men—oh wait. Only specific men. That's right. The same people complaining about it happening to Hughie love to write shitty torture porn fanfic that does EXACTLY the same shit if not WORSE, by far, than anything the show's writers have come up with or done. The only difference is which CHARACTER they get off on torturing and that these fucking clowns actually do it to get off, the very thing they are... Accusing the writers of doing. Huh. Funny how that works out.

Homelander torture porn?

"A-OKAY! No tagging necessary even CAUSE WE ALL WANT IT AND HE TOTALLY DESERVES IT OR EVEN WANTS IT, who the fuck cares if it triggers someone! Also! Make it worse! Make an AU version of Homelander that is NOT a rapist—but torture him with rape anyway because somehow, he still deserves it! Lololololololololol he's such a bottom babygirl loooooooool!!1!1!"

Hughie torture porn?

"NO! BAD WRONG! HOW DARE THEY! HE DOESN'T DESERVE THAT AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT SO THE WRITERS SUCK!"

The old, "rules for thee, not for me" or " it's okay when I do it" bits, right?

FUCKING. HYPOCRITES. MAKE. IT. MAKE. SENSE.

Or AT LEAST tag your shit properly! I even think the episodes could have included additional warnings but we've known this kind of stuff is present since day one. But to write half the shit that these people put out in the fandom, fucking refuse to properly tag it—so it will inevitably trigger someone, and then have the audacity to complain about what the show does when they know damn well what the show does barely scratches the surface of some of the garbage these fanfic writers have written?

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

And yes, I'm calling it GARBAGE, not because it might be poorly written or OOC although there's certainly no shortage of that. People still refuse to acknowledge and tag their kinks properly.

These are the people who trigger others for fun but then complain when they get triggered. These are the people who give fanfic a bad rep. These are the people making BDSM stigmas worse. These are the people that routinely make DEAD DOVE the fucking SAFE SPACE, by comparison. Rape kinks are super fucking common—but they need to be tagged.

These are the people that write shit as badly romanticized and ignorantly trigger happy as Twilight or 50 Shades Of Grey and unironically think it's good.

Egos from fanfic writers more inflated than Homelander's should not be this common, especially when it's people who seem to get off on fucking triggering other people.

And look, I'm sorry for ranting but to put it bluntly, I shouldn't have to rant about this! Tagging is basic fanfiction etiquette, it is literally one of the rules on AO3. Refusing to tag or improperly tagging is a "failure to warn" and can get you suspended if it's a repeated pattern. They even have a catch-all warning in case you aren't sure! It's not difficult and it saves everyone time and pain.

Please be self aware, please tag your work accordingly. If you're someone who gets triggered by a work like this, please politely ask the author to tag it or just report it.

Considering the source materials and what it actually covers and criticizes, this behavior in the fandom is downright disgraceful.

[asherlockstudy]

Same anon as before, venting.

So, I'm not the only one with suspicions. I don't think this is reactionary to GME. I haven't been watching GMM as much lately, also I didn't get a chance to see the More after the GME, so I don't know if there was something Link said that Rhett could've reacted that badly to. Maybe Link almost said something, but there in lies the difference: he didn't. Nothing really happened. And people have written fanfics far worse than whatever people can read between RandL's lines on screen.

I do think however, and this has been a thing for a while, that Rhett has had enough with GMM as a platform and it has been a while since he's lost the appetite to keep doing it. It's been

If anything, if this isn't them feuding behind the scenes, I think he's slowly stepping out of GMM. I don't know what Link's position will be on this, maybe he's agreed to it, maybe he's reluctantly letting him go, we don't know. It's been little over a year since he's released his own music, he hasn't gone on tour yet, and he said he would, eventually.

I was expecting Monday's Ear Biscuits for them to say something. Maybe it was too soon after the Streamies, and they are letting us stew with Rhett's silence a little bit more til the next Monday.

It isn't like them to fight and stay mad at each other. And it's a bit much to be gone from the spotlight over it, this is their livelihood after all.

Hello again. No I don't think we should freak out just yet. They have a free week to get their shit together and I think they eventually will.

I disagree with the "Rhett wants to leave" theory. IMO the root of their tensions is definitely their disagreement over the coming out. I'd also argue that Link did say something. The only reason it seems like he didn't is because, let's be real, a great number of MBs are the type that need things spoonfed to them. Some are very young, some stick to the very innocent American "he's married so he can't be attracted to anyone else, shame on you for suspecting this", many are there for the very important "Sriracha vs Worcestershire sauce" debate. There's just so many people who essentially don't pay attention to what they say, especially if it's serious and even more especially if it is somewhat inconvenient. But Link definitely said something.

And funnily enough I think Link is more done with GMM than Rhett is. Link also seems more willing to sacrifice their career for the sake of their personal freedom.

The Monday Ear Biscuits was likely filmed before the Streamys and before the GME as well.

I really don't think they are parting based on different career aspirations. And they are also not parting. So far. But if they keep on pulling harder each to his own side, about the come out, then this will indeed put everything in jeopardy.

[adamantineheart]

my final three hopes thoughts

AG >>>>>> SB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GW

anyway

The Good

AG is basically just dimilix fanfic. like we are either psychics or INTSYS/KT owes us royalties.

The character work in AG was phenomenal. They way they adjusted the characters for their situation but still made them feel like who they are? Fucking ace. SB went a little differently, where certain characters feel much different but I can forgive it because the eagle kiddos were always weird for characterization due to the route split. Which version of these characters you consider canon is up to you.

Whoever wrote the Duscur and Sreng paralogues… I love you. The Duscur paralogue is just so so so emotionally moving and really lets Dedue grieve as he usually isn't allowed and gave Ingrid a lot of closure she desperately needed. Meanwhile Felix gets to just really show what kind of person he is and drive home that what he needs is the present aka Dimitri to feel satisfied (instead of clinging to the past). Sreng was wonderful for the lore, political situation, and all that character work, especially between Sylvain and Matthias.

Monica is the character I didn't know I wanted. I love her…. I've already added background Monigard to two dmlx fics. She's just the perfect amount of unhinged. <3

Playable Rodrigue is one of the best parts of this game. THANK YOU!!!! It also means his optional death is the most impactful of the game, aided by it being centered around dimilix and not Shez.

Voiced Shez is an improvement, as is voiced Byleth. I also appreciate that Shez isn't anyone important and is a student instead of a teacher. Also thank you for only making some characters make romantic overtures toward Shez instead of almost all of them.

There are a lot of excellent paralogues in the game and most of them had a lot of thought put into their setup (which characters were chosen, the premise, the writing, etc).

Making my blorbos uber powerful is a lot of fun 💙Also Felix is such a fun unit (I loved the sword units the most tbf).

Supports are generally amazing. A lot of improvements to some original chains or new versions that add something to the relationship. All new chains altogether that fleshed out relationships we were denied before. Also a lot of ships I hate had reduced supports or had them removed altogether :) No one won as hard as me in the shipping department tbh. 🫡

A great OST again even if nothing hit quite as hard as some of the original final boss themes.

I actually love the setup of the story even if I take issue with individual routes or moments. But it was nice getting out of the academy setting and exploring Fódlan instead. 

Did I mention Dimitri and Felix? His Majesty and Duke Fraldarius? They are perfect and I love them.

The Bad

No fucking snow maps in Faerghus.

Edelgard's reunification scheme is 10x worse here than Three Houses because Rhea is willing to ally with her against TWSITD. As usual, Edelgard is stuck in her assumptions on what she thinks is true and refuses have an open dialogue with the Church and Dimitri, choosing violence because she believes she knows what's best for everyone. I've accepted this about her but it's still a hard pill to swallow that dangled her talking to Rhea and Dimitri above our heads and then took it away.

​​Zahras is badly written independent of route, just like Gronder Field. The desire to make the lords interact even when it’s nonsensical just needs to stop. It sucked every time.

IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE STUFF (like weapons). LIKE REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Every route had issues, especially toward the end but the worst for me was GW. There was a lot of bad character shit, not just for Claude, though he was the plot instigator of everyone else being out for blood.

Almyra is a joke now I guess. Actually, it flip flops being a joke and completely awful. It’s true they were never great in FE3H but Cyril existed as a contrast. Him not being playable sucked. 🙁

Scarlet Blaze’s convient ending…….. Edelgard’s main enemies just kill each other……….. it just felt like “Why were we even there?” We accomplished nothing.

How dare I not be able to making Dimitri and Felix marry :( WHERE IS THE DIMILIX WEDDING DLC!

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Seems like there's a bit of controversy regarding the first omake Linuj put out (Based on what I saw on A-student-out-of-time's blog). I personally don't know what to feel about it. -Lost Judgment Anon

//Ok, this is gonna require me to go on for a bit.

//Most of what was discussed on that blog is stuff that I agree with, and the Mod perfectly summed up my opinion on the Danganrona Another series. LINUJ is a fantastic creator, but he’s not a good storyteller, and to be honest, I was really unimpressed with SDRA2′s story.

//And I feel like I should clarify that the omake isn’t going to have any effect on this blog. LINUJ’s writing may be the canon, but it doesn’t stop me from taking his characters and doing my own thing with them. It’s not like I’m plagiarising or taking credit for his work; I’m just writing my own rendition of the story.

//And besides, the continuity is hardly disrupted because Survivor’s events are already different thanks to the implementation of the canon characters. What happens in the omake could easily fit into the story, because we could make the argument that by the point Syobai and Iroha are at, they haven’t met Kokichi and joined his staff yet. In this timeline, because of Kokichi’s presence, they were both able to develop and become more secure people (which is...very ironic now that I reread that.)

//Iroha even more so due to the presence of Ryota, Kuripa and Hifumi. The fact that Iroha was able to fall in love with someone that actually likes her back is a testament to how much she’s grown as a result of overcoming her past.

//I know that sounds like I’m saying that I write Iroha and Syobai better than LINUJ does, but the truth is...yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. Because I just DO.

//But the same can be said of CANON Danganronpa. Blogs and fanfics like ASooT and others do tend to write Danganronpa characters better than they are in canon, so I’m not saying my writing is superior to everyone else’s, just that it’s superior to at least SOME of the characters in canon.

//And I know this because we’ve had multiple discussions about it before. Characters like Hajime and Kaede are questionable, because they’re already fairly strong and well-written characters, so while my writing for them is indeed different, it’s up for debate whether I do a better job that Kodaka with them, but I can GUARANTEE you that I write characters like Teruteru, Hifumi, Mahiru and a few others better than Kodaka, simply because those characters are originally very one-dimensional, or are painted in a negative light that doesn’t explore their positive aspects until you dig deeper.

//But the way I do it, I put positive traits FIRST. It’s simple logic that for the hero’s of the story should be painted in a way that prioritizes their postive aspects over maybe some of their weaker one’s, and by doing that I paint even the less likeable characters in a way that allows the audience to connect with them. On the other end of the spectrum, Organization Zetsubou and other characters like Emilia Feng and Zen Katagiri are painted in a negative way. Which is also obvious; they’re the villains. You’re supposed to hate them, and given the excess abuse the anons have given the Zetsubou members over the years, clearly it WORKED.

//This is my point about LINUJ’s portrayal of Iroha and Syobai in the omake, and in SDRA2 originally. Syobai is only expressed through his negative traits right from the start, and while she starts off decently ok, Iroha gradually starts to become a more negative character over the course of the game’s run, and her bad aspects become more prominent than her good ones.

//And the omake doesn’t fix this, nor does it make it worse. They just straight up don’t change, and miss out on any sort of development that could redeem their characters. Nothing changes, and if nothing changes, what was even the point of writing the omake in the first place?

//The sad part is that I don’t think LINUJ writes characters badly, and he has the potential to make great things. I mentioned in a previous post that Sora was my favourite protagonist in all of DR canon and fanon, and I stand by that. Part of the reason WHY I love Sora is because she is a prime example of a balance between her negative and positive traits. She’s predominantly made a positive force, but then has some really negative moments like her cutting Shinji’s neck in Chapter 4 (I know this was a result of her programming kicking in, but the point stands that she did that as a consciences decision. Chiaki was programmed to be a mediator for conflict in DR2, and everyone accepts that as her personality, so why not do the same for Sora?) 

//But LINUJ successfully capitalizes on the conflict Sora caused in the following chapter. Which is why it’s so disappointing what the Omake does.

//I’m going to sum everything up like this. It doesn’t make any sense in terms of continuity, but what I’ve done here with Syobai, Iroha, Yoruko and the rest of the SDRA2 characters will always be MY canon. Even if it will never be accepted as the true continuity, as long as it feels that way to me, I have nothing left to say.

//I’m doing nothing more than being the change I want to see in the world, and I encourage everyone who reads it to do the same.

[ariminiria]

I'm curious, but may I ask what the major issues of the Hobbit trilogy were, please?

ohhh boy I could go on for ages... in fact, I think I previously made a whole post about it, let me see if I can find it

okay I couldn't find the exact post, but the two I rbed below me are a couple reasons. but, I'm going to be visiting the discord for this one bc I know I've definitely ranted about it there

but first, I want to start out by addressing an attitude I've seen since Amazon's fanfiction came out. a lot of people have started to point to the Hobbit trilogy and say, "see! it wasn't so bad! aren't you grateful for them now! we trested it so badly but we didn't know!"

to which I say: absolutely not.

more below the cut because this is gonna be loooong

that's like trying to excuse a turd in comparison to a post-taco bell night mess. one is more disgusting than the other, but at the end of the day, they're both terrible pieces of shit.

the Hobbit films didn't magically get better just because the Fanfic came out. it being worse didn't suddenly erase that trilogies flaws.

so with that clarified, let's get into what actually makes the Hobbit films so bad.

I actually think the first one is pretty good. It had potential and is easily fixable.

but movie two... it was all downhill from there.

where to begin... ah, the writing.

so, it's clear that the writing was attempting for the same tone as the original LotR trilogy. and while that may seem like a good idea on the surface, The Hobbit was written for children. the tone of the book is overall more light-hearted and adventurous. therefore, trying to force the more despairing-yet-hopeful, dark tone of the original trilogy already starts the story on the wrong foot. you get conflicting messages from the subtext because the film writers' vision is so different from the basic intent of what Tolkien wrote.

I like to say it this way: they were more interested in making a "LotR prequel" than they were in making a "Hobbit film adaptation". the Hobbit should've been one film, maybe two. but they clearly only painfully stretched it across three films like butter scraped across too much bread for the sole purpose of having just as many movies as LotR - but that one actually makes sense because the book is divided into three volumes providing natural breaking points and content enough for for three movies

now I own the extended editions of the Hobbit, literally just for the sake of owning them, and.... the first one? hardly "extended" at all. I'm pretty sure the extended Unexpected Journey is literally still shorter than the shortest THEATRICAL cut LotR film. it felt like the only material they cut was cut for the sole purpose of being able to sell an extended version.

also pardon my French but it genuinely makes me so angry-- there's this one fucking joke. this stupid. Fucking. Joke.

why would you hire a COMEDIAN to be in an epic fantasy like Tolkien?? Tolkien has funny moments but not Modern Comedian Funny.

this stupid. motherfucker. I am SO angry about this, he looked at a candelabra and fucking said MADE IN RIVENDELL??? I literally yelled over the movie for two solid minutes about that one, three word, throwaway line. it pisses me off more than the entirety of love triangle plot (we'll get to that later, don't you worry)

anways, I am taking deep breaths, I am calming down, we are forgetting about The Joke...

*ahem* now, let's talk about how the films look. first off, they filmed in 30 FPS. for context, the standard Frames Per Second is 24. 30 is typically only used for special effects such as slow mo, and even then youre better off using 60, so its essentially pointless in the end. this results in a weird, subconscious "off" feeling as you watch the movement on screen. everything just looks... not-quite-right, even if you can't put a finger on what it is.

the main visual issue is overuse of CGI. one of those posts I rbed below this has visual examples, comparing between the trilogies. namely, comparing between Lurtz and Azog the Defiler (who wasn't even in the books, btw. he was named dropped once, to say "oh yeah and Bolg, the orc leading the Orc army was the son of Azog the Defiler" and that was it).

the atrocious CGI sabotages any goodwill you mightve had for the production value.

the LotR trilogy was believable because of the well managed practical effects, with minimal and careful use of CGI. Peter Jackson said it was made like "a Kiwi indie film", and that simplistic yet passionate charm shines through The Hobbit, on the other hand, shot like any major hollywood production with approximately Zero indie charm, said "computers can do anything and everything, right?" and they just. Did That.

all the backgrounds are NOTICEABLY green screen. they're fuzzy and just. weird. im talking noticable green screen. there's even a behind the scenes set photo of Ian McKellen with his head in his hands, weeping, because he's surrounded by nothing but green fabric, without even another human actor across from him.

remember how I mentioned Azog? the orcs look like these weird, clay models that somebody ran through a computer program, and it's very distracting. not to mention, most of the orcs' acting is lost in the motion capture translation because CGI tech is constantly changing, whereas practical effects are what they are. theg stay the same and hold up consistently, making them far superior and able to last far longer, because CGI will inevitably evolve and be left in the dust (isn't that right, original Jumangi?) I once found a side-by-side gif of the original Azog actor in the motion capture suit vs the end product and I was absolutely gutted at how much of the intensity was lost. that same man, in a prosthetic effects costume? I have full confidence it would've been beautiful. but alas...

and i promised earlier that we'd talk about it, so its time to address that love triangle.

holy bad idea, Batman. you don't add OCs to someone else's work outside of fanfic period, but especially not to works like Tolkien. you just don't. heck, I even have issues with Legolas being in the Hobbit movies since he wasn't in the books! however, that could have been excused because he legitimately is Thranduil's son, and it would have been a neat fan service cameo, but with what they did to his character, it would have been better off not to have him at all. he had no business being so involved in the Plot, a simple popup in Mirkwood would've been enough

and then

then...... they had to do That. with Tauriel. Tauriel..... look, I get it, they wanted Female Representation™️, but. No. a multi billion dollar trilogy made to get money from nerds is not the place to crowd test your Dwarf/Elf/Elf love triangle fanfiction. that whole arc was also clearly time padding to have more material to justify 3 movies lol.

but, in addition, because of the love triangle/unnecessary Azog subplot combo, they ruined the depth of certain character deaths. Fili and Kili were meant to fall defending Thorin, and Thorin died three days later of his wounds, which is a huge part of his change of heart in forgiving Bilbo.

one thing that makes me laugh more than makes me angry is Kili's death. they try to make it all dramatic, like "oh no, Bolg has thrown the Strong and Dexterous Female Elf Warrior to the ground, and now he is going to kill Kili in slow motion" but like. she could have gotten up. she wasn't gravely injured, and she's like. an elf.

and it would have been so easy to fix this too, ignoring the fact that she shouldn't even exist. watch this, I'll fix it right now: she has almost fallen off the cliff, hanging on by her fingertips just the same way Gandalf did in Moria. she struggles to regain her grip to get to Kili, but before she can even get back up onto the ledge, Kili has been killed.

instead what we got: she's just like slowly writhing on the ground as Bolg deadass pauses for dramatic effect before slow mo shanking Kili with this giant spear that should have killed him instantly, but like he has enough slow mo time to gasp and groan and then finally mouth "i LoVe YoU!1!1" before mercifully perishing and escaping this trash movie. it's hilarious.

and don't even get me started on the weird sexual undertones they put between Gandalf and Galadriel, like??? that's a married woman my dude, why are she and the wizard making eyes at each other

anyways I'm sure there's more I could talk about but this is long enough as is. maybe someday I'll take all the footage of all 3 movies and edit it down into one single-film extended cut of What Could Have Been but until then I'm just going to keep rightfully trashing on this movie

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

Let's Talk About Inflation (the unsexy kind)

Okay so, before I go into this, I wanna first preface this by saying that no one is under any obligation to listen to me or implement a single goddamn thing I say here. If you don't like what I'm saying, you're not required to do any of this. I'm not your editor. I'm just some weirdo on tumblr who thinks too hard about a show that is arguably super badly written and pays no mind to any sort of logic. It barely keeps a coherent timeline. This is just one of my pet peeves.

And that pet peeve is I think people should stop putting actual dollar amounts in their Stranger Things fanfiction because so many people just put wildly high numbers for things and it just immediately is jarring to me. And below the read more, I'll explain why in way too many words and way too much detail.

So the bulk of the canon of Stranger Things takes place between 1983-1986 currently. There are earlier dates in books and plays, and there are also flashbacks in the show, but the bulk takes place in the 1980s because the Duffer brothers can't jerk off to completion unless they're thinking about the 80s and explosions.

And of course because the show is so badly written that you can drive a tank through the plot holes, it attracted fanfic writers. Including me. And so you get people writing about these characters going about their lives, except then they say shit like a character spends 50 dollars at a convenience store, and I'm left going, "No, he fucking didn't."

Because the thing is that economics are extremely complicated and there is a difference between inflation and relative buying power. So you can't actually take the price of a thing today and then plug it into an inflation calculator and then go 'tada, here's the price for 1986'. There are items that have, in fact, in terms of pricing, progressed below the inflation rate, and then others that went way way way above the inflation rate.

And that's also not taking into account the ever shifting prices of things depending on time you're buying it and also location you're buying it. Also the store matters. For example, a gallon of milk from walmart is more expensive than getting a gallon of milk from my local chain. Shockingly, buying from Aldi in my area is the most expensive for buying a gallon of milk. But also walmart in a completely different state has milk for cheaper than the walmart in my area.

So already for the same item on the same date in 4 different stores, I've got 4 different prices. And the price would still be different if I compared it to how it was 6 months ago. And go back further and that's even more true. Especially with Aldi since Aldi used to be the affordable store to go to. And now it's absolutely not. So you can see how trying to figure out the relative buying power of a small fictional town in Indiana in 1986 could be extremely complicated.

One of the reasons beyond just relative buying power being complicated is that Ronald Reagan fucked the economy so hard it literally never recovered. And during Stranger Things, they aren't yet feeling that. The economy actually won't fully show signs of this kind of fuckery for another decade. And then 9/11 made things even worse. That's not to say that no one writing fanfiction of Stranger Things was alive pre-9/11, but most of us weren't keeping track of prices of things outside of like, gum and candy. Or at least I wasn't. RIP to cheap Baby Bottle Pops. You are missed.

But that's just words and opinion, right? So where's my fucking proof?

What up, it's moneynotmoney.com and specifically their extremely detailed analysis on how the price of coca-cola has evolved over the years. And I'm really excited that it's coca-cola because the show loves to jerk that beverage off.

Here's their graph for the absolute price of coca-cola per year going from 1970 to 2022.

And here's their graph for the prices of coca-cola for those same years adjusted for inflation.

So can you accurately put a dollar amount on things for a fic set in the 80s? Sure. Is it easy? Absolutely not. Do I recommend it? No. And I'm gonna be real with y'all, this isn't to call out any individual person, and I'm not blaming anyone for doing this, but literally every single time I've seen someone list a dollar amount for something in your steddie fic, y'all do come across as:

Like even the show avoided putting actual prices on things for most of their run. The only times I remember actual prices being listed being in season 1 when Joyce is buying all the string lights in town multiple times. And a new phone. Like this is a thing I've put way too much thought and research into and I just straight up do not put prices in my story because it's not necessary and also it's way too complicated for my taste. No one's ever asked me to put a number on what 'barely scraping by' means, nor have they asked what having 'enough money to comfortably live the rest of his life without working' means. Even though those are two things that are never stagnant. That's not to say you have to go my route. Once again, I'm not your teacher and I'm not your editor. I'm not your fucking keeper. Do what you want.