#good visuals good plot i dont really care

[tired-twili]

You know what after hearing everything about the live action loz movie why even hate on it fr. Until we have a trailer I'm going to believe it's going to be the best film nintendo will every produce bcs why not.

[ovenstavern]

oh. my. goodness. its like 3am in my area and i just finished a nightlong binge on the manhwa, Secret Alliance by Creator Lero. if i had to put it into a genre, i’d say its a psychological thriller, and…

ho. ly. shit.

i was never a visual novel or “comics” person, but holy fuck. this blew me away. i discovered a tik tok about it, with the nutshell plot of “stalker crossdresses as a girl to stalk his object of attraction, who is afraid of men” and quickly gained an interest. but as i read further into the manhwa, it was so much more than that.

before i get into the details, i warn that the manhwa has dark topics such as stalking, obsession, attempted suicide, assault, sexual harassment, and trauma. the ramble (and spoilers) is gonna be below the cut. stay safe and healthy yall

okay. ho. ly. shit.

so, i don’t even know where to begin. the first few chapters introduce our main characters, eun sian and chae “yuri”. right off the bat, you quickly realize eun sian’s intense fear of men. you can already tell that she has some trauma with men, and as you continue to read, you find that her paranoid mother perpetuates and reinforces that fear; a helicopter parent to the extreme.

not only that, you can immediately detect that something isnt quite right with chae yuri (even before it was revealed he was a guy).

i dont really wanna explain the whole story in its entirety, as i believe its a story best experienced. but what i will go into is the amount of love that was poured into this story. it still astounds me

the characters are complex, and their personalities and actions are deeply rooted in the trauma that they went through. eun sian and chae yuri’s relationship is so toxic and wrought with manipulation and co-dependent, and it was written so well. it beautifully illustrates how two people that come from two different, but toxic households often can find themselves in a toxic relationship for the both of them, as they have no other reference for love.

and speaking of relationships, yujin’s and eun sian’s relationship makes me want to squeal and giggle and they’re just so cute!! i loveee at the beginning, yujin subverts our expectations and ends up being a playboy who loves the feeling of being wanted. it gives him sm room for development, and makes his relationship with eun sian so much sweeter.

yujin and eun sian make a deal that he helps her get over her fear of men, while eun sian helps yunjin get together with chae yuri. in the earliest stages of their relationship, you can tell that yujin was able to ground eun sian and reassure her when needed. even beneath his playboy exterior, his caring nature shone through, especially for her. meanwhile, eun sian makes yujin want to be better for her (and if you seen a very old post, you know how i feel about that). i loved their friendship at the beginning, and i loved their romance at the end. they’re so healthy for each other and im glad they got together in the end

and speaking of the ending?????? sjdkdndkddjjdksjdsknsnz. i loved it so. much. it was just so fulfilling. i won’t spoil it, but it touched my soul to its very core, and i couldnt think of a more satisfying note to leave it off of.

the depiction of trauma felt very realistic and well written too. eun sian’s breakdowns felt so well done, and not once did it feel like the story was calling her “crazy” or “hysterical” even if other characters told her that she was. and actually, all the relationships felt so realistic, its astounding.

and the character development was so… empowering. it was amazing to watch the moments eun sian take back the parts of herself that her abusers took, it was amazing to watch yujin transform from a playboy to a golden retriever boyfriend. i just… love love love!!

i do wish they delved into yujin’s backstory a lil more, gave hyunee (the best friend) a more influential role, and did some more with yunjin’s blackmail when he found out about chae yuri, but all in all, i loved it. i started reading at 11, and kept reading til 3. its an absolute page turner, and extreme kudos to the artist(s) and writer(s)! you have my respect

to those who want to read it, the sites i read the manhwa either has a subscription service, or an insane amount of porn ads and porn pop up browser tabs. just for viewer discretion. if it sounds like yall can deal, please read! you won’t regret it. ill definitely be revisiting this manhwa again and again. its that good

have a wonderful day yall! im finally gonna get some sleep

[entomolog-t]

G/tWAC Day 4: Favorite Scenes

Mild spoiler warnings for The Stranding, Blanket, and Clumsy

(Nothing that's a huge plot reveal- just quite literally spoiling some amazing scenes)

I want to have a diverse spread of author's but theres NO WAY I can talk about favorite scenes without bringing up @belethlegwen again.

One of my favorite scenes is Mel's first time meeting Edmund, Bravest-soldier-in-the-ranks, Miller. The scene hits so well- A giant woman washing up on shore, the general sentiment of unease, if not outright fear from The Watch...

Then theres Miller.

Even without ineracting with him yet, Mel notices he's a bit different than the other men- with just this overall lack of hesitation when getting nearer to her. Brother is straight grinning like the lil big goon he is.

Belle does such a phenomenal job setting the scene. The expectations set, and swiftly subverted, the way she describes his actions and voice just beautifully showing he just is not scared. The goofy chemistry between the two just so wonderfully cuts the tension of the previous chapters, but without fully severing it. Things still feel uneasy, but Miller (as well as the wonderful Lionus) feel like a reprise.

“They’ve even got a name for soldiers like me in the company!”

“Oh?” she asked, placing the empty barrel down on the other side of him, and then moving her hand toward the freshly opened one. The other two men had gone back for the last two barrels from the cart and were rolling them towards her at speed.

“Idiots,” - Chapter 5 of The Stranding.

JAFGSFLKH- here we witness the birth of The Idiot Brigade😭 Every interaction with that man just has me cackling.

---

Next up is the the short that is the Literal embodiment of AJFHLkfhkfh by @bittykimmy13 / @kendsleyauthor

Never has a scene made me want to bark so much as the blanket scene???? If you haven't read it PLEASE don't let me spoil it for you because this is the juicest fearplay spice- I physically cannot restrain myself from keyboard mashing when talking about this.

What makes the blanket scene so incredibly good is just this fun yet high tension game of cat and mouse between Micah and Everly. Its this playfully predatory flirting that just gets the heart pumping and the mind flustered, and it just all cumulates with Everly trying to avoid Micah catching her while she dodges his hand under the cover of a blanket- with Micah just giving in and crawling under the covers to get her??

I DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT THAT VISUAL??? ASFDKJASJF

----

Lastly is an incredibly recent fic/short(?) (please let it be ongoing I love them your honor) by @clumsiestgiantess (Everyday I am thankful that my brainrot is apparently wildly contageous to @clumsiestgiantess) that just??? The perfect timing of the slightly angsty fluff?? *screams into a pillow*

Fen is a borrower who has been through some nasty events in the passed 24 hours (and frankly just in general) and is just trying his best. Alice is a human who's clear concern and care for others (along with her grades) is palpable. Together the pair have one of the most tender interactions I have ever read. Just FFHKFH- Its literal catnip and I want to roll in it.

“Are you ok?  You look sick.  If this makes you uncomfortable, I can put you back down.  You didn’t have to get on.”  It’s just like in the car — her blue-eyed gaze looking me over with genuine concern.  “I- I’m alright.”  She gently shakes her head.  “You aren’t, though.  You’re shaking.”  The gentlest pressure alights on my chest as a soft finger brushes up against it.  “And your heart’s beating really fast.”  Her touch is so soft — incredibly cautious like she’s holding something precious and delicate.  Maybe I am, to her.  It’s nothing like what I had imagined a human would feel like, nothing at all.

In a brief moment of weakness, my eyes tear up and I squeeze her finger closer, pressing my forehead against it.  It is absolutely terrifying thinking about where I am.  I’ve spent all my life believing it’s a place of certain death.  Why is it so comfortable? - Part 2 of this work of literal art

Just the word choice and pacing of this whole interaction? The dialogue is just so compassionate. And then there the action. GOODNESS. Alice taking her figure to his chest? FEN THEN TAKING THAT FINGER AND PRESSING HIS FORHEAD TO IT???

The line "Why is it so comfortable?"

I promise you- this scene made me audibly gasp.

The mix of such sweet and tender dialogue with that visual?? Gosh it had my heart racing like a lovestruck teen.

I highly recommend you all check these works (and these authors) out!

[davekat-sucks]

agreed completely with last anon. i think the problem is, or at least what could have caused all of these misunderstandings and miscommunications, is that the truth is that Hussie has never been really good at writing character arcs, what he IS good at is at writing memorable characters with unique voices and visually appealing simple designs. and that's because, technically, he somewhat stole them from other media or started from referencing character tropes from old movies, homestuck has always been a mix of many different 80-90s media. so for example, the humans are stereotypical movie/comic characters (john= dorky nerd protag, dave = cool best friend, rose = snarky goth, jade = girl next door), and that's what makes the audience instantly like them, because they are familiar, but, at the time, modernized in a way that was actually entertaining with in-depth interests, different viewpoints, and funny chemistry. it's all that has worked for years concentrated in an easy to digest mold that gave it the potential to be something more than usual. and yet, john, jade and rose had ZERO character growth, dave had negative and became a fucking douchebag, and these four don't even act like friends anymore by the end of the story. what the fuck.

it also happened with the trolls, because as i said before, how did the "chosen one" character that was said to be caring and the second coming of christ ended up as admiring the tyrannical ruler that genocided his race and did nothing afterwards except be dave's sidepiece and never talking to his friends again. who the fuck would like that for a conclusion to his story? there is nothing satisfying about it, why should i now be invested in Karkat in hs2, if he is a bad friend with bad morals that ends up amounting to nothing? Hussie wrote that i shouldn't, that's what i get for assuming real people have character arcs, karkat was never meant to be a leader, but sea hitler jr, meenah, sure was.

that's what makes it unlikable and what causes disconnect between fans. he subverted not only the trope, but also the little character building he himself wrote, and ended up with confusing themes. he didn't do the hard job of keeping a consistent structured plot until the end, he just applied twists as convenient to act smugly cynical about it afterwards, like he's allergic to sincerity. you also see this with how he treated johnrose/davejade or karezi, or how he says davekat and now june were always meant to happen all along.

and so, what some fans like about karkat or dave, for example, is not what they actually achieved or did in the source story, because they ended up with nothing and also their wiki page was too long to read, but the fandom idealization of them. and that's how you get the wildly ooc dialogue you see in hs2, the writers see nothing wrong with this, dont understand how to separate their personal bias from these characters or what was actually appealing about them in the first place, and what we end up with are projections of who THEY would like to see in a story: characters that act like the writers themselves. hollow self-centered assholes with no sense of humour disconnected from reality that communicate via twitter memes, therapy speak, and the trendy political issue of the day, all so they can pat each other on the back and feel better about amounting to very little in life too, now with semi-canonical homestuck facepaint on.

sorry for the armchair psychology, but my conclusion is, what closure i try to give myself from this shitpile of a franchise, is to view it as a cautionary tale of caving to social pressure and treating people that find value in your work like shit. homestuck ended in a very unsatisfying way for many, and it continues to get worse because it's easier to call someone a bigot and double down on your beliefs than concede you made a mistake, wasted so much time and have no idea how to fix it.

Yes to everything said here! Say it loud for everyone to hear! I dislike when Hussie or people use the excuse that he was just SUBVERTING expectations. Not questioning on why even built it up in the first place if it meant NOTHING at all. It's a complete waste of time. And not in an ironic sense. A waste of time and emotion audiences felt before being slapped in the face and kicked in the balls for even caring. Like, I know Hussie is known for trolling. He made himself as this asshole-but-likeable persona for some time even prior to Homestuck. Sadly, this is probably one of the few times it wouldn't have worked if it means damaging your reputation in the long run. And I don't mean the edge humor he throws into the comic. I mean the treatment towards his fans where there's not much genuine sincerity and it's all asshole mode that it's hard to tell if it's joking or truly being hostile. He could have said he would like to be left alone, but perhaps pride and fame got in the way for him to say that. Even when it was the large amount of fans that made him feel pressured in the first place. I don't know how James or anyone in the team can really fix this mess without addressing problems people had with the series overtime. And not just stuff from Epilogues or Homestuck^2, but address things that were never answered or felt anticlimactic from the base webcomic.

[calkale]

As someone who relatively enjoyed MI7 (bc I go no thoughts mode and just watch Tom run around), im sooo curious about your thoughts

im putting this under the cut cause I need to rant about it again and its gonna be LONG, thank you for asking tho

a lot of this is gonna be a repeat of what I said when I watched the movie (I have not seen it since it was in theatres), idk where those posts are but they should be under #mi7 spoilers if you wanna find them.

okay first off im not gonna talk about the overall plot, I couldn't care less about it and I knew that going into the movie. its the stunts and the overall feel of that movie that piss me off. I watch mi movies because I wanna have a good time and watch tom cruise do cool stuff and thats not what I got out of this movie.

im starting with the cliff jump stunt cause I was just thinking about it. the buildup was Ass with a capital A. they cut away from ethan riding up the mountain too many times and for too long at a time. I was comparing it to the scene when ethans chasing walker in fallout because to me that was cut perfectly. Cutting from ethan to benji and sometimes walker for a few seconds so I knew where ethan was and where he was trying to get to but I still felt the build up, I knew he was gonna catch walker but I was still thinking "omg is he gonna make it?". and the cuts to benji and luthor worked well because they were still a part of what was going on and the map on benjis ipad helped visualize what was going on. in mi7 when Ethans riding up the mountain the cuts between him and benji where really good but I hate that they kept cutting back to the train. They could've easily had more obstacles for ethan on the way up the mountain if they needed! its a long ride but showing the mountain and a few shots of Ethan at different parts would've been good enough, we could've had Benji asking him "are you there yet?" like every minute so we get that a lot of time is passing but not enough that the tension stops building and a funny little joke between the two of them. I understand why it cuts back to grace/alanna on the train during that time but those are two very different things going on that are building tension in very different ways. call me crazy but ethan jumping off a cliff is different than grace dressed as someone she's not sitting down to talk to someone. it was just really hard to get invested in either of the two things going on. then the actual jumping off the cliff was such a letdown, I did not feel a fucking thing when he jumps off then it cuts away immediately after like that wasn't The Stunt of the movie?? you dont put a stunt like that on posters and post a 20 minute behind the scenes video about it for it to feel like that and show basically none of it!! show ethan flying through the sky!! show him landing on the train!!! I thought he was gonna land on the train but no that gets taken away in favour of a fucking joke when he crashes through the window. yes mi movies are supposed to be funny im fine with that I love that but come on!! let tom cruise land on the train!!! he can still slip and fall on top of the train but let that old man get his enrichment time!!

now for the train. Im sorry but it looked horrendous, the cgi was Not Good and I can't get past it. with other movies I try my best to not care but this is Mission Impossible. I know they did crash a train I love that but all the cgi added in around it and when Ethan and Grace are climbing through the train looks So Bad. it takes away from everything going on because you know its not real. I get it yeah yeah they can't dangle actors from wires while a train is slipping off a cliff but theres gotta be some way to make it look better. like I said about the bike stunt there was no tension there to me and I felt so disconnected from the movie and the characters, I like putting myself in situations and its hard when im like hm thats not real.

the fiat car chase. this was when I was like "fuck, I hate this movie", im sure we all know by now I am not a hayley atwell fan, so what sue me im allowed to not like people. I didn't like this car chase because it was mostly her driving. BABE THIS IS MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IM HERE TO SEE TOM CRUISE DRIVE NOT HER!!! if she was good then whatever but shes not for the bit. I feel like a lot of things that could've been really cool were pushed aside in favour of humour in this movie and I hate it. you can have both!! they literally did it in rogue nation and you're allowed to have callbacks in this movie so you can have a car chase like the one in rogue nation again!!! just let tom drive so it looks cool or even let hayley drive I dont care I just want it to look cool and have the humour stay inside the car. doing bits like this made the movie feel more generic and like they were trying to appeal to, dare I say, mcu fans. i like mission impossible because they get the ratio of humour to action perfect every time, and they're always so good at timing it too but in this movie especially during this chase it did not work for me and I didn't even find it funny if im being honest.

obviously I also have to talk about ilsa and im gonna shit on mcqs writing so apologies. there are two ways to look at this, one shes dead and two shes not dead, both are bad writing IN MY OPINION. if she is dead that was an awful way to send off such a loved character, she was hardly in the movie. im all for more women in movies but she definitely could've replaced grace and I think it would've given her and ethan a much better dynamic. ilsa barely has any lines??? I wouldn't even call her a side character in this movie like my friend didn't even know her name thats how insignificant she was. the sword fight was cool as fuck, rebecca slayed, but she really should've won that fight? maybe if she was outnumbered id be like okay thats a little more likely but it just feels really out of character for me. now if she DIDNT die then im also pissed because fake killing a character twice in the same movie is a little much for me, if it happened at the start of the movie and the end of the movie then okay I can deal with it but she died twice in like the first part of the movie? im sorry to say it but im sure most casual viewers forgot about her by the end of the movie and if they go back for part two and she comes back it's not gonna mean a whole lot to them. and ethans reaction to her death didn't sit right with me, this guy was a theatre kid he can at least somewhat act sad when the girl he loves fake dies and he should be allowed to, for like 5 minutes at least, I know theres a lot of stuff going on but he loved her!! let him cry a little!! and if we're supposed to believe shes dead then ethan not reacting is not helping.

one last thing I wanna add and I know im probably the only one who feels this because I know most people liked the movie, but when you make a part one and part two that release at different times you want people to like part one. it needs to be able to stand well on its own so people want to watch part two and are excited for it. am I gonna watch part two? probably yeah I wanna see that plane stunt but im not excited for it and I really feel like im just gonna be let down in the same ways again. I dont want to go see a movie for the stunts when I know I hated the stunts in the first part and I didn't come out of it caring about the plot or the characters (other than benji <3) so what am I going for? i have no reason to see that movie or be excited for it

I would also like to add I know this is not the movie tom and mcq wanted to put out since the original cut was like what 4 hours? and the movie was extremely over budget because of covid but I can still be mad about the finished product

[sanctus-ingenium]

I wanna make my own "zoids"/complex mecha likd animal automata but i dont want to step on your toes while doing it. I know i want to visually explore away from what you do so yeah but i just wanna ask what you think would be uncomfortable similarities or riffs when it comes to lore and visuals.

eh i mean. basic aesthetics or design elements are not really something u or i can (or should) copyright. the stuff i care more about is the story, human characters, plot beats, etc. but just the visual of a mechanical creature with a medieval bestiary type design? go nuts. if you wanted to have yours be visually distinct, i guess you could give yours eyes, moving jaws, different weapons, actual tails, different coloured painted designs, that kind of thing. there's so many ways you could take the concept, just do whatever is most fun or interesting for you and ur good

[peaterookie]

❌?

I haven't really watched that much lupin movies, especially the ones that are bad, so i'm not really sure if i can answer this one? and the ones i dislike are definitely ones that people do like, so i don't really know.

but here are the ones i disliked

The First: i dont care that it has really good visuals, the story was fucking plain bread and it was honestly really boring to watch, i also didn't really like the 3d designs anyway

First Contact: im sorry but it's so fucking boring man it was such a drag i wanted to stop watching it so bad and the plot was so stupid too, the only funny part was how much they said Brad and when my gf sped up the movie

Green vs. Red: obligatory green vs red placement. it gave me a crisis, a tokyo crisis even

[newvegascowboy]

I was wondering what you thought of the fallout show. Is it multiple game plots in one? I haven't played the games myself so I'm not sure. But I've seen an episode of the show

Non spoilery general thoughts:

The show definitely draws elements from all the games. It definitely feels like it was made by people who really cared about how the world felt. Idk if you watched Westworld, but the director of that did this one, and s1 of WW was really good, so I wasn't too worried about the initial productive value of the show.

Sets, costumes, props - all stunning. I really appreciated the sparing use of CGI. Really loved how the vault suits looked, and the BOS flight suit looked awesome. Overall, visually, it was fucking excellent. At the very last it was a treat to watch.

If you havent played the games, then i think its a pretty friendly introduction. There are a few things which felt like tongue in cheek jokes to those that were familiar with the franchise, but nothing that was overly hostile to anyone who wouldn't get it.

Spoilery thoughts:

Plot wise.... idk if I really liked it. I really didnt like the worldbuilding they did for the west coast or for ghouls (and maybe im just a lore purist or whatever, but i just dont think what they did makes a lot of sense). Some of the characterization felt a little ??? Especially in the last 2 episodes. I did like all the characters and they were really fun. I think it could have benefitted from some more dialogue between characters, for lucy/the viewer's benefit, but also for characterization/motivation.

There are plotpoints that feel like callbacks (such as the water chip in vault 33 breaking, which... do they ever actually bring that up again?) The cryo freezing ties into fo4, and the lore established by fnv is... present, but ultimately of no consequence. The plot itself is most reminiscent of fo3, but it had a unique twist which i thought was interesting.

Like it was good. Maybe im iust a curmudgeon.

Ultimately i think the show is worth a watch, for the visuals if nothing else.

[saintarmand]

IWTV Ask Game

2. How did you find out about or discover it?

i'd seen the movie before and when the trailer came out i thought it looked really good so it was on my radar before it came out. but the reason i actually started watching was that i was disappointed in house of the dragon bc daemon and rhaenyra weren't a toxic enough couple when they actually got together and i wanted to watch some toxic romance. lol

ok long version of the story! (sorry if you don't care about hotd lol)

i was really excited about hotd after the trailers started coming out and like the freak i am, i was especially excited to see the insane uncle/niece incest grooming go from gross to fun when they eventually marry and fight a war and everything goes wrong and they're both crazy and toxic and evil. that's my idea of a good time. this shot from the trailer in particular had me excited for this dynamic:

and the beginning was so promising, their scenes when she's still a teenager played by the younger actress milly alcock are very intriguing! creepy but intriguing.

but then episode 7 happens. i knew ahead of time that the plot of the episode was that daemon's wife has just died and at her funeral he fucks his niece, as you do, and then suddenly rhaenyra's husband also dies and they get married for succession war reasons without permission from her father the king who would fucking hate this. insane sequence of events! and i'd heard that the marriage ceremony was going to be valyrian rites with blood and stuff. for the uninitiated, valyrian refers to the (mostly) lost civilization of blond people who ride dragons and do incest and they're rumored to have done blood magic and stuff. so i had high hopes for this whole valyrian marriage rites scene. a blood sacrifice? some animal or...? an altar with LOTS of blood! their dragons take to the air! they should fuck on the bloody altar while their dragons fuck in the air! either way the visuals will be insane and amazing!

yeah, so the episode airs. and i'm BORED. they made this shit boring somehow. the dialogue is bad and so is the directing. they have a bland conversation about their respective marriages and then have some tepid sex. it just doesn't look like they're that into it even. was that intentional? i cant tell. other more interesting stuff happens and then close to the end of the ep shes like uncle i need you so i can win the eventual war that everyone knows is going to be break out so we should get married. hes like hmm ok. but shes already married so they fake her husband's death so he can sail into the sunset with his boyfriend. toxicity and evilness toned down as much as possible. then they marry and the valyrian ritual is just like. fine. no dragons. they cut their palms so there is blood. if i saw it without prior expectations i'd probably think it was kinda cool but i had built it up in my head to be way cooler so.

in the next episode they kinda just act like a normal couple. despite the whole incest age gap uncle niece grooming shit. i wanted them to be screaming. i am sad about it.

im on tumblr and i see a post with a jacob anderson quote saying iwtv is basically a show about a married couple slamming doors on each other. i'd seen some gifs and ofc i'd seen the trailer months ago but this makes me go !!!!! THIS could be the toxic marriage i was looking for! i go watch it immediately. two episodes have aired so far but it only took me one to fall in love! new obsession unlocked! louis de pointe du lac is my truest love!

at that point im barely able to give half a shit about hotd anymore, i dont even watch the last two eps until days or weeks later. (in the last episode daemon and rhaenyra do get more interesting as they have some tension over him acting like he's in charge even though she's the queen and he's just her consort. he also strangles her a bit when he gets upset, which is very unsurprising from a misogynistic violent man who murdered his first wife (of 3) but some people were shocked. insert iwtv comparison here.) (i've also rewatched hotd with new eyes recently and enjoyed those episodes a lot more when i didnt have my own expectations clouding everything. i WOULD recommend the show for anyone who thinks family drama leading to a literal war feat. dragons sounds like a fun time. it is good and hopefully will be continue to be! also that quote from the showrunner saying daemon wanted to marry his brother and his niece was the closest he could get to was fucking life changing. ryan condal said gay targcest rights. also rhaenicent<3)

anyway iwtv becomes my #1 obsession from episode one and has stayed that way ever since!

iwtv ask game (sorry for mostly talking about a whole different show here lmao)

[kamari333]

I’m curios to ask (If it’s alright, feel free not if you don’t want to) what makes Underlust your fave Au?

Oh this is a great question! There are a lot of reasons!! Longpost under the cut. Forgive me, i typed this on my phone and i just woke up.

One is the designs. I fucking adore everyones designs! Sans is damn cute! Papyrus is cute! Napstablook is cute! MTT is cute! Grillby is cute! The color palettes and slight deviations that make them unique are all just Artistically Good and they hit me somewhere nice in the visual appeal part of my brain.

Another reason is that I just love the canon story! I mean, yeah, its really dark and tragic what happened to Mettaton. But the point of the story is that he overcomes it. He is able to heal. The story tells us that you can heal even after you get hurt that badly and it doesnt have to define you and thats wonderful and beautiful and something too many people legitimately need to hear.

And the RELATIONSHIPS!! MTT and Papyrus talk it out and have a relationship that isnt based in physicality they just genuinely love each other. And Papyrus is so clearly Ride or Die. It's just GREAT okay? And the Sansby is ALSO GREAT because Sans and Grillby are awkward and never talk until Sans does his drunken confesssion and Grillbz is just like oh god i love this dumb idiot drunk this is my life now.

And MTT and Alphys also have a great relationship! They are close enough to make Girl Talk even after what happened! Alphys knows cuz she patched MTT up but they're still making sass at each other! GREAT!!

Papyrus and Undyne have a great relationship!!! She doesn't infantilize him and admits he is good at the sex part of the job, she just thinks he is too clingy and romance driven to keep himself detached enough for work. And thats a legitimate concern! For his well being and the clients both!

Sans and Papyrus's relationship is great!! There is clearly a standard set of platonic affection being shared between them. They talk and joke and sass and tease each other. Theyre brothers and its great.

(did the creator draw a lot of underlust fontcest too? yes. yes she did. and that was also great. but these are two separate things and even without the obvious -gestures- "theyre fictional skeleton monsters, dont be weird", its also addressed that the fontcest part is not something to model irl.)

And i like to headcanon blooky and sans are friends even though they never interacted in the canon material we got. i like to think they would have eventually if it wasn't discontinued.

I love how the humans are adults and frisk is aroace. i'm afraid of children so having an AU where the humans are all canonically adult is great to me.

I love Toriel and Asgore's relationship. It is tragic what happened to them, but I think it's important that stories not always shy away from that kind of hurt. Some people need stories like that too.

I love Rosie the Rose's design and concept in general.

I also love the LUST mechanic. I love that there is an AU where sex is a prominent, plot relevant, societally prevalent and important thing. I love that as an Asexual, myself. It allows me to explore that topic safely, while having fun. I love how its treated as a both natural (meaning its normal and not gross or weird) and unnatural (not meant for monsters, specifically, under normal circumstances) thing. I love how it is defined as a Very Human thing, and what that can mean to me when analyzed and juxtaposed against the narrative foil to the idea that we are given in Frisk the Asexual.

I kinda love that the whole thing is 80% shitposts and pieces the creator made while just having fun living their best life. Yes the papyton comic, which is the meat of the canon, was done seriously, but so much was made of just the characters having fun being themselves and thats pretty cool too.

I know there is a lot of bad publicity around underlust. I know people have spread terrible rumors about it. I frankly dont care. I know it is a beautiful story made from beautiful art. wherever its creator is now i wish her the best in the world. It is my favorite AU (aside from my own lol) and nobody can change my mind.

[zoeysdamn]

NOW BLOODIED PETALS CHAPTER 5 WAS THE ANGSTIEST CHAPTER SO FAR! i cant believe you said youll sprinkle a little fluff in there 😔 you fooled me 😟 tbh as someone who doesnt really read angst that much because im a sensitive bitch THIS HURTS SO GOOD like its TOO GOOD after i read every chapter its all i could think about 🤧 ALSO! i just noticed that this fic is very intergrated with the show and how it lines up with the episode dont know why it took me this long to catch it but thats such an amazing detail because now your fics makes it so much more visually imaginative especially the latest chapter like i can really clearly visualize the scene in my head as if it was actually a part of the show 🤞 I LOVE THIS FIC and i cant wait to see how it ends whether its going to most the angsty way possible or a possible plot twist I AM SEATED 🤭

Me trying to convince you that yes yes I swear my plot has some fluff and it's all planed:

Nah but, tbh I really did planned some fluff happening in this chapter 😔 but the thing is, I got carried away with unplanned scenes (like, the whole scene at the beginning with Enid and the shopping session was so much unscripted lmaooo). At some point I thought that the chapter was long enough, so I cut it before I could reach the kinda fluff part, sorry 😭 but I won't be able to escape it on the next uhuh 👀

And I'm SO GLAD to read that you appreciate the insertion into the show episodes bc it's something that matters a lot to me, I always try to match the show's ambiance the best I can! Even for episodes I kind of rush like the Outreach day one, I try to write to really match the already amazingly drafted atmosphere!

Anyway, thank you for reading (and listening to my lame author's rambling krkrkrkr), and stay tuned!! More angst, fluff and unexpected plot twists are incoming 👀

Thank you dear Anon, take care of yourself ❤️

[terrible-romance-reviews]

I would also like to go off about how terrible the book Touch Of Darkness was like holy shit (spoilers ahead if you care dont read further)

So like we got, our hades x persephone romance right? Now make it modern day. Now make Hades a night club owner?? But also he is still doing, underworld duties the gods are still all gods. Now add, consistent reoccuring flower themes, BUT, nothing is done with them.

Ok we on the same page now? No we arent it gets worse. Persephone? A cunt for no reason. Also licherally being? Gaslit by Demeter? The entire time thats the fucking twist. All the characters are completely 2 dimensional, you are not getting past they like sex and secondary characteristic that is brought up.

Random human best friend, does fucking nothing, enables Persephone being a massive cunt for no reason.

The entire book is held up by how banger the sex scenes are, I am talking IMMACULATE the shit is so steamy like hot DAMN.

Plot sucks Persephone hates Hades for no reason meanwhile Hades is actively out here being Just A Guy and not even?? Being that fucking terrible? He isnt bad honestly, like, at all really. Not only is he not really that bad he ACTIVELY FUCKING LISTENS TO THIS BITCH AND?? BECOMES A BETTER PERSON?? he deserves so much better. I hate persephone in this book and she is the main character and i just found her so unbelievably annoying. Like. Half the 2 dimensional, not at all fleshed out remotely characters were more enjoyable for me to read. I loved Hermes but he also read as flat and likes sex and games and thats it really. I visualized him as a silly little twink though and that probably helped.

This book was just so attrocious it sets up plot that just doesnt even need to be a plot line and conflates it so out of proportion and then NOTHING AND NOTHING THEY DONT DO ANYTHING WITH IT!

10/10 if you are looking for a trashy novel i think it took my slow ass 3 days to finish reading and then i did nothing but complain to everyone that would listen and THEN i bought the rest in whAT IS A FUCKING TRILOGY?? AND THERE ARE BOOKS IN HADES PERSPECTIVE????

Oh oh oh would also like to establish, it didnt occur to me that this was an aggressively smutty romance book when I first bought it, I didnt notice the lack of publication house, I just thought it would be a cute Hades x Persephone book with some tragic conflict. I felt no romantic build up or sexual tension while reading and the first sex scene hit me like a fucking truck I was astonished.

Also the Hades book reads better but I also just?? Liked Hades as a character significantly more and I havent finished it yet but already it felt, like it had better plot construction, and real conflict, instead of this fake ass shit that Persephone was making a huge massive deal out of.

It also deals with some rape-y shit so if that triggers you definitely don't read, that is one of the conflict points but I hated it and felt it was addressed as a way to move plot rather than bring actual light to the issue of it. It let Hades swoop in after his girl got drugged and had like no other repercussions or trauma tied to the experience or anything really.

I have to go back and read it again to get all of my major bullet point issues, I would also like to highlight every time they bring up flowers and then never use it for forshadowing or meaningful symbolism because it happens a lot throughout the book to the point of me, a notoriously dense individual, actually noticing and getting annoyed by it.

All of the annoyance of the book just adds to the charm, but really, only read it if you don't know what an actual good romance book looks like and couldn't get a better suggestion, OR, if you are just a bad book aficionado like myself.

[creation-help]

[trigger warning for passing mentions of murder... does that count as heavy content?]

could you review the design of my ace attorney ocs?

valerie n. toine used to be a rather successful defense attorney (look on the left with the sweater vest), but after losing a case while trying to defend her fiance who goes on to die in prison, she grows cold and bitter. she becomes a prosecutor (look on the right) and plots her revenge against the man who she deems responsible, which of course in the ace attorney universe means trying to murder someone and falsifying evidence while prosecuting the case. i really wanted her to look sort of romantic and lovecore-y overall, as love is a pretty big part of her story, but obviously she has to look well-put-together and somewhat imposing as well. and i wanted her younger self to look, well, younger and more sweet/care-free.

the second one is a bit of a self insert (and doesnt have a proper reference yet), his name is jack tryles, hes a law student who acts as phoenix wrights co-counsel for a while and who val ends up stabbing in an alleyway lol. he survives though, dont worry. being a self insert his design is kind of whatever i think looks cool than anything too based on his character/story, so id appreciate critique on more of a purely visual standpoint for him.

[Again mentioning that I'm not able to comment on anything regarding the Canon text here, as I'm not familiar with the ace attorney games beyond a pretty surface level]

Valerie N. Toine:

Lemme just say I'm very much enjoying the outfit design here, having her be lovecore aesthetically while her main conflict focuses on, ykno, love, is very cool! The fact that she has an engagement(?)/wedding ring in the Before version, while in the After version it's some other nondescript ring? Mwah. Also I just wanna say, the heart shaped buttons on the jacket, in the After version, wonderful detail. Though this all did make me wonder, what if the After version was more themed around like, heartbreak and grim lovecore instead of the positive kind? Not a criticism by any means, just my suggestion for if you wanted to make the change more dramatic (maybe like adding more black, deep red and wine colors, stuff like that). Depends on if you want a more artistic or realistic impression I think! However the After outfit (hair included!) is very good as is :] also I love how, in the small headshot, her hair is in a heart shaped bun.. Mwah. Again.

In my opinion the design has a good balance with not being too simple and not too complex, and despite what I said about the color scheme earlier I think you did great with darkening the colors on the After outfit, while still keeping energy from the first one. The lessening of white is a nice subtle touch, also, great color planning on your part for making the boots (2nd vers) the same color as her bell bottoms (1st vers)! Just a very cohesive well coordinated color scheme across both iterations. The glasses and the bow staying despite everything keeps a good bit of consistency.

I think you succeeded in having her look like someone to not be taken lightly (2nd vers. Obviously), she definitely looks very formal compared to the first version. More.. Angular, ykno? Mostly thanks to the clothes. I feel like maybe I'd also add something to her Person as well, to signify the change? Due to the art style ofc I can't know if you intended her younger self to look physically younger and springier (this is a reference drawing so I'm not judging that at all), but if not I highly encourage that!

Well put together - absolutely!

Imposing - hmm? I'm not saying she doesn't necessarily look imposing - she very well could depending on how she'd be portrayed visually but mostly, from comparing the two versions I moreso get a sense of "Professionalism vs. Chill and casual", and Mature vs. Carefree, ykno? The sharp shapes in her hair do well to further the more serious and imposing image but I feel like there could be a slight bit more, if you want her to look more intimidating. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I can quite put my finger on it. My overall opinion is that the design is Good, it works, it's cohesive, and I really can't reasonably come up with anything I'd seriously think should be changed. For a very subjective personal take, in my taste, I'd probably make it even more - dramatic, cartoony? Exaggerated?? But, that is all up to how you want to portray her. I personally like to get super into designing something unless I'm intending them to look plain or "normal" (human terms), however take this from someone who primarily does surreal or fantasy (and nonhuman) designs, haha. Really, I think this is great, skilled visual design and honestly I wouldn't say I'm extremely good at outfit design myself so, while adjustments or flavor details could be added - she totally doesn't need them! I honestly could've gone on more about the small details that change between the two versions but I'll just cap this off with saying Great work!

Jack Tryles (Can I just say that last name is so tasty in my mouth. Also is it a.. Pun? Like "trials"??)

Definitely a bit more visually busy, and although it could give off a more messy or chaotic impression I kinda like it. If we compare him to Valerie, she really does come off as very put together and composed. Not that he doesn't, though! Just by comparison.

The fullbody outfit has a fun combination of shapes that give it a good amount of visual variance. There is slight asymmetry with the positioning of the pins and other accessories but he still keeps a fairly professional image - just one that's lots more personalised and customised than Valerie.

I would say, maybe the jacket could also have pinstripes like the pants? I find it a small bit inconsistent with only one of them being pure black. It's not a huge deal to me though, and I'm moreso tilting my head at it than finding it a downside. Just makes it seem that the pants and jacket aren't a part of the same set, if you get me? Though that could also work to establish personality more, like many of the other personalized touches. I think for this design, he has just the right amount of accessories! Not too many not too little. I also love that the soles of the shoes are green! The color scheme is minimal, definitely more reserved, but imo it works for what it's trying to be - which is, I assume, a work outfit.

For me personally I think I might wanna break up the large areas of black, it's just on the cusp of being a bit too much of the same color next to each other but you can again take this as a personal comment. It's just what I think would make it more visually appealing, though I do like black! Maybe you could add a lighter tone of green somewhere?

Still, it works, it's interesting enough to look at, can't find much I'd complain about. Although I think the color planning on Valerie is a bit more engaging since there's more variety of different looking things (like with patterns for example) that still fit together. Still, no complaints as I said. I'm also not sure how much I'd feel appropriate commenting on him considering - self insert, which is meant to moreso reflect on you. I will say, they do look like they fit well into the same story so, good work all around in designing them both together :]

[sailorsunspot]

barbie spoilers ahead, these are my general thoughts on the movie

DO NOT READ IF YOU CARE ABOUT SPOILERS FOR BARBIE

The GOOD:

Sasha

Biggest note is I don't know why the movie wasn't about her???

I thought she felt really true and honest and a great representation of the unique position Gen Z have been put in.

Her preteen disaffected angst and disillusion felt SO correct, both because at that age you just feel jaded and angst but also? Because she's right to be jaded and angsty in a lot of ways. All the stuff she's been told and promised? DONT work out the way it should

I think they kind of missed the mark on really digging into her and her relationship with Gloria and her relationship with Barbie (which is a proxy for womanhood). Think you could have had an incredible movie talking about all the ways the concept of Barbie serves/hurts women through different generational lenses. Because Barbie was useful to Gloria but was also a cudgel (as it was a major plot point, her making these "wrong" Barbie's as a coping mechanism). And we know how Sasha felt with her iconic Sasha rant, but also, she wound up missing the whimsy and the joy and the inspiration Barbie offers

ANYWAY I love Sasha so much, I wish the movie featured her more, and I thought her journey when it came to getting closer to her mother by protecting her mother's ideals and wants and intentionally trying to make space for other women (she did that with both her mom AND ALSO with Barbie at the end, where she was literally the only character like: "Okay, but what about what Barbie wants???") was extremely well written and touching.

The Humor & Style

Not all the bits landed for me, but I generally loved the pro-camp and playful tone of the movie, and genuinely laughed at several points

Genuinely loved the style and the visuals - 10/10

The Content Editting

Tbh, I thought it was smart that they were like: yep, nope, we're not touching racism/ablism in this movie, we're just cool with it. Because…there's just so much to discuss, and no one story can service all things.

The BAD

Barbie's roll as a protaganist

I think this was intentional, but she was the most passive protaganist I've ever seen? Thoughts on this was she was just kind of like…an object to be projected onto so this kind of tracks with the theming of the movie right - like she was forced to go on her heroes journey against her will, when she returns home, she doesn't "save" Barbie-land, she gives up and it's actually Sasha and Gloria and Weird Barbie that does the saving (both because they want to try and also they come up with the plan). I think the most agency she shows in the movie is going to console Ken (which…will talk on that point more later), until the VERY end, when she chooses to become a real "woman". Really her role is more of the witness in the movie?

The Mattel thing

Originally I hated this and would have cut the entire Will Farrel thing, but my friend brought up some interesting points about how that might've been an intentional dig on the uselessness of corporate structure, etc. I still woulda cut it, but that at least makes it an interesting thought experiment tbh.

The Focus on Barbieland

Yeah I know it's like impossible to solve like…Patriarchy in the real world so in that sense it's smart to limit the scope of the danger to a play world where change can actually happen in a satisfying way overnight but like…

In the end, I feel like i dont know anything about Gloria and Sasha other than what I, a reasonably learned media consumer, can infer from the context? Idk, felt like a missed opportunity to dig more into their actual real life experience with womanhood instead of saving the fake construct idea of womanhood, because then we lack context on why the way Barbieland has "changed" is for the better. Since Barbieland and Barbie as a whole is a proxy for the idea of "woman", it felt like we needed more

The plot is supposed to be a reflection of the internal struggle, also known as the "story". How does saving Barbieland reflect onto the main characters of the story, (Barbie, I guess?) Is it just that she realized she no longer wanted to serve the ideal and

the UGLY:

Very VERY narrow definition of Womanhood

This is partially intentional cause of the dolls, but, lol, you cannot have a feminist movie and not cover things like queerness, GNC, etc. Or I guess you can, but it just comes off as the most superficial white liberal version of feminism imaginable. Disappointing, considering the movie did a good job of saying "we're not touching racism and ableism, not because it doesnt exist but because there's only so much we can fit in a movie" but it at least acknowledged those things with their active presence in the movie.

ESPECIALLY since Barbie = the proxy for womanhood, I guess fuck me i'm not a woman then haha

I KNOW that the cast included a trans actor, but that that means nothing within the context of the story other than, congrats show-runners for correctly identifying women, lmao.

Similarly, you absolute CAN have a million and one queer "interpretations" of Barbie, of the Kens, of Allen in particular. Still, it's all on the person who interprets it, not actually in the subtext of the story. Yeah sorry in the year of 2023 I dont give properties props for making me do the work for them, that's some tumblr ass bullshit i cannot abide by. Support my reading with the text or it doesn't count.

Literally all you needed was a single barbie who expanded the view of a woman was, a single Barbie who was like "actually maybe i want to wear Ken's clothes" or "maybe I dont want to hang out with Ken maybe I want to hang out with this other Barbie winkyface".

Ken

Why

No seriously, why

Why does even the Barbie movie, made for Barbie, made for girls, have to cater to the opinions and emotions of fucking MEN?

I have a lot to say about this, but instead of railing on this ad nauseam the big things are:

Ken literally never even apologized for intentionally using the patriarchy to intentionally hurt barbie.

Barbie had to apologize to ken??? For accidentally hurting his feeling by not giving him the attention he wanted?

How did they turn this "feminist" movie into such fucking incel bait holy shit

They were clearly doing the "patriarchy hurts everyone" bullshit but like, they literally covered that with Allan???

so it just makes it feel more BS when they, literally in the fucking text of the movie, have to remind Barbie with Gloria saying "hi, stop infantalizing/mothering your babymanchild he stole your home, fucked up your life, ruined your town" and Barbie was like Yeah you right girl and then not 20- minutes later GAVE IN ANYWAY.

I know im a man hating dyke but fuck. when they make THE LITERAL BARBIE MOVIE about making men comfortable then i think i am 100% in the right to be fucking pissy about this

[bixxelated]

20 questions for fic writers

was tagged by @marypsue, thanks for the prompt!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

8 as of right now ;)

2. What’s your total word count?

132,629 on ao3

3. What fandoms do you write for?

uhh including WIPs right now im mostly writing for stranger things, which got the most fics in progress, but also legend of zelda (botw/totk specifically), jak and daxter, dangan ronpa (mainly dr1 and nvdr3)

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

all these acts of violence> little red carp> these shadows you left behind> im supposed to take care of you> wavelength

5. Do you respond to comments?

i am Physically Incapable of Shutting Up About My Creations

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hm well for completed ones id have to say 'i'm supposed to take care of you', but including planned wips i dont know whether 'all these shadows' or 'wavelength' has more angst. theres also an ndrv3 fic in the works thats pretty downer

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i think Moonlight is pretty hopeful!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nah, usually me and my writing keep to ourselves

9. Do you write smut?

yeah, once or twice

10. Do you write crossovers?

y'know i havent really dabbled much in crossovers!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nnooooot as far as im aware

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope! ive been meaning to translate some of them into spanish tho

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i tried a couple of times but it fell apart pretty quickly. dont think ill be trying again

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

iiiii do not have one because i really dont care that much about ships tbh. at least theres nothing that immediately comes to mind

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

hmmm well. little red carp was a fun fic to write but i dont see myself getting interested in it again

16. What are your writing strengths?

people tell me im very good at character voices and personality! which i appreciate! im also good at visualizing my stories and writing action scenes!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

planning! im always getting tripped up by how to get from point a to point b and i always get stuck with the details! its the worst!

but i cant exactly pants a story either bc im always thinking "oh what if i take the story THIS direction" and then i end up having to go back and rewrite a lot of sections

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

writing in spanish is veeery weird compared to writing in english. i cant get the grammar to cooperate with me as much, and it always makes me feel like a kindergartner trying to use words they just learned to cobble together their first story

i usually try not to bother translating for languages i don't know. or do some research first. mostly i rely on either not giving context or just writing what theyre really saying "in italics like this"

19. First fandom you wrote for?

uhhh. balto i think. as in the 1995 animated film balto. i was obsessed with that film

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

i think wavelength! just because of how much fun i am having thinking of the dynamics and Plot Things that are going to happen. a lot of it is a mishmash of what-ifs? and things i thought were going to happen in stranger things itself but didnt

i tag @mysterygreentea @sakurablossomcreamlatte @alzheimersparrotroute and anyone else interested in doing this

[maliceofminds]

4, 17, 51, 73 🫡🫡

sending a warm drink of choice (or cold idk whatever you want) and good vibes!!

hi hi, thank you for the drink, and the vibes, answering was very distracting<3

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

okay, so I’ve been back thinking about this again since it‘s fall. dead poets society is one of my favorite movies ever and I would love to write like a long fic in that style, change a lot, because otherwise it‘s boring and just go batshit insane. it would have all the things, literature and poetry and theater and academia and clubs and set it into the sixties, make it period accurate. Wolfstar focus, but dual pov with mcgonagall (and have some poppy/Minerva) I would love to. But if I do this I wanna do it right, and take time that I dont have at the moment (I also need to finish my two (three psst) wips before) soo yeah..

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

from my first lesbian wolfstar (I don’t know what possessed me):

And she is the lord that couldn't care less. The blind messiah. She gazes upon the creation and the only thing she sees is the beast.

A black mass of nondescript bodies. Arms and legs put together by a moving torso. A chest that beats but bears no heart. And a crowd that feels but owns no soul.

51. share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

I‘ve had this one wip for a year now and I’m not really actively working on it, but I add something here and there. It‘s a character study centered around the marauders (and co) and they all get their respective deadly sin. So there is seven chapters with seven different povs. It‘s a little bit fucked up, they aren’t really saints in this one, a little dark, I thought it was fun.

73. how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

very much words, like whole sentences or paragraphs that i then get the writing frenzies about because an hour later i won’t remember. it’s a problem.

this ask game