#horror of love doesn't work because the narrative never decides if he did all this for Felix or for Saltburn

[wilsonpussyindulgence]

just read an interview where emerald fennell says saltburn is "gothic" and like..........no, it's not. it simply Is Not That.

you can't have a man fuck a grave and be like "ooh just like wuthering heights! this is gothic" because guillermo del toro and i are both going to fight you

[flanaganfilm]

Hey Mike, can you talk about your work on Revival? What was it like reading the book, writing the script, making it all work? I know people thought it was going to be like Midnight Mass, but King is tackling religion far differently & I would have loved to see your adaptation of that. Furthermore, why did you decide to leave the project? I read somewhere it had to do with the film rights, but I’m sure there’s more to that story & id love to hear your side of it.

Also, Life of Chuck…. 1.85:1 or Scope? C’mon, Mike! Spill the beans!

Thanks!

I was very excited about Revival. King had given me the rights after I finished the script for Doctor Sleep, and we took it around town as a pitch. Warner Bros. picked up the project and commissioned the script.

I wrote a script I love, and turned it in to Warner Bros. It couldn't be more different than Midnight Mass; that was always a very weird and unfair comparison. The only thing they have in common is that each story features a priest; any comparisons wouldn't have survived opening weekend, that was never really a thing.

Revival is one of King's scariest and most effective books, and I was madly in love with the movie. I stayed very true to the book, and the story spanned over decades. It was a character-forward epic about mortality, and the futility of hope, dealing with themes of lost love, addiction, and hubris. In fact, it has way more in common with Frankenstein than Midnight Mass, and I was stoked to make it. It wasn't cheap, though - the set pieces were big, the VFX budget was intimidating, and it fit into a type of budget that isn't typically made these days.

For those reasons, ultimately, after Doctor Sleep's disappointing performance at the box office, Warner Bros. didn't want to pursue the movie. They had really liked the Frankenstein comparisons, but that only comes into play at the very end of the story. Their pitch was to start the story there, and jettison most of the actual novel in favor of a new, heavily Frankenstein inspired narrative. It was a bridge too far, and changed the source material too radically.

Warner Bros. faith in the project had been seriously damaged by the box office performance of Doctor Sleep, and the character-forward epic I was pitching was just too risky given the hefty price tag. Ultimately, I wasn't willing to change the story as drastically as they wanted to, and it just didn't make sense to make it for that budget - so they opted not to make the film, and that was that. I didn't leave the project at all - the studio just didn't want to move forward with it. Revival is not the most obvious project. It is more expensive than a lot of comparable horror titles, and we didn't want to do it as a streaming movie - we bet the farm on a theatrical feature, and the cards didn't fall in our favor this time. My window of availability as a director rapidly closed. I was heading fast into Midnight Club and Fall of the House of Usher for Netflix, so without a viable attachment from me for at least a few years, the project couldn't move forward at all, and the rights reverted back to Stephen King. We discussed whether we wanted to try to keep it alive, but we were already deep into talks about The Dark Tower, whose rights were about to become available after years of being tied up. Steve doesn't like to give the same person multiple rights as a general rule, because he doesn't want his projects to stall out in development, which makes good sense. Given the choice, we absolutely wanted to focus on The Dark Tower. We let Revival go, and last I heard, some other people were developing it as a TV project. I absolutely love the script I wrote, and I'm disappointed that Warner Bros. didn't want to make it, but it's their studio and their prerogative. I can't say I blame their reasoning. In fact, I completely see their point. I could have dug in and fought harder to keep it, but that might mean I wouldn't have gotten the rights to The Dark Tower.

And I hate to say it, but Revival would have taken a similar narrative approach to Doctor Sleep, and - well - audiences just didn't show up for that movie. It's entirely likely that the same would have happened here - this was another long, character-centric story that wasn't entirely a mainstream horror tale, and it was expensive. And this didn't have The Shining connection to lean on. I am so sorry to say this, but I don't have a lot of faith that audiences would have supported us if we'd bet the farm on a theatrical release of Revival as I wanted to make it. So honestly, I think it all worked out for the best. You win some and you lose some in this business. Who knows, maybe it'll come back some day - I also lost the rights to Gerald's Game back in 2014 when we couldn't find a partner who wanted to make the movie. They eventually came around again, and the timing worked out. The same could happen here - maybe we get another chance, or may we revisit it down the line as a limited series. Stranger things have happened. Ka is a wheel. Or, maybe this new television production of Revival will get off the ground, and if it does I wish them nothing but the best with it. It's a phenomenal story, and I'll be first in line to see it.

[familyagrestefanblog]

The existence of the Ox miraculous is such an unnecessary ugly detail when you think about Ladynoir and how Chat Noir served as the punching bag and scapegoat for Ladybug, Alya as Marinette's actual partner in season 4, and the whole team in every single way pre-s5

The Ox gives the power of immunity even against any other Miraculous power. One would think with Adrichat's self-harming tendencies that canon had Marinette make entirely about herself because "they're haunting her so much", and her still narratively entirely unchallenged tendency of leaving Chat Noir behind on the battle field as sacrifice or bait to possibly have whatever the hell done to him so she can be save and sound while she and everyone else can look and be cool on his expense

With all that, one would have thought that if Canon Marinette truly loved Chat Noir "sooooooo much" and is oh so haunted by his self-harming behavior and him always getting hurt so she sidelined him "for his own good"

Then how come at no point did Marinette do the actually caring thing by giving Chat Noir the Ox miraculous since he's ALWAYS left behind BY HER so she can leave the battle field and execute her plans with the others save and soundly? If her Chaton's well-being was oh so important to her and it always "pained her so much" to see him getting hurt then why was the Ox only used 2 insignificant times by Ivan at the end of season 4 when it could have saved Chat Noir ALOT of suffering all the way through?

Or the turtle. Or ANY OTHER Miraculous for that matter?

Why was Alya getting two miraculous in Hack-San perfectly fine with Marinette but heaven forbid Marinette is actually expected to ACT like she gives a damn about Chat Noir's well-being as his leader, guardian, partner, and friend and not just the show having her claim superficial words that hardly have anything to back them up once they actually have to mean something?

Its almost as if Canon inherently doubled down on having Marinette be the kind of leader who will only do things in a way that primarily benefit HER while everything else gets swept under the rug because she isn't maliciously intentioned and then never brought up again. And unfortunately it was her who was written to prioritize making an unnecessary team of 18 miraculous holders no one ever asked of her to form (Su-Han even told her NOT to give out the miraculous like candy),

so Marinette was just made to not consider Chat Noir either at all or simply not as worthy enough of any kind of consideration in her entire leadership/ guardianship or actual safety, support, or ANY KIND of resource since that wouldn't be narratively about her, now would it?

She can't have Chat have the Ox because she might need Ivan as Ox in 4 months and she doesn't want to have to ask Chat to get it back or end up NOT getting to use this ONE other Miraculous out of a whole ass box, because that would involve a basic ass conversation Marinette can't have apparently or her not getting to use all of the miraculous however she pleases at any given point

The horror. Now she would have only 14 miraculous to work with!

As per usual, count me fucking unimpressed by Marinette's writing. The negligence towards Chat Noir on even the most basic level is insane and she was declared the epitome of leadership and kindness for this.

Cool that Marinette already decided in her head that Ivan is suitable for the Ox miraculous and he should get it in future, but Chat Noir needing help and protection wasn't some theoretical case, it constantly happened right in front of her eyes and even by her own freaking orders too because she never thinks of him in ANYTHING and the show glorified the hell out of her as leader for doing all that

Why is looking into ANY detail only making Marinette's side of Ladynoir so much worse ever since season 4? There is no escaping this! Just don't add the Ox with this power or actually have Marinette be a good leader towards Chat Noir. But noooooooooo.

[hamliet]

How does "AFO gave Tenko Decay" theory being confirmed takes away from Tomura's agency? I'm just trying to understand your point of view. Of course, AFO is saying that none of the decisions Tomura made were his own, but that's simply an exaggeration of what we already knew. We already knew that AFO groomed him and that he was the reason Tenko saw the world in a certain way and why killing was a normal thing to him. And we knew that AFO expected Tomura to wish for more power. So what changed? AFO didn't make people on the streets ignore Tenko, didn't manipulate heroes into not seeing villains as people, and he didn't manipulate Tomura into wanting to destroy everything instead of becoming the new king of the underworld. Tomura made the decision to kill all heroes and destroy Japan. AFO being the one who created Tomura, which we already knew for years, doesn't really take away from the fact that it was Tomura who hurt and killed all those people. And if it does somehow take away from his villainy and the fact that he was the one who decided that he wanted to lash out at the world, shouldn't have people complained about this years prior to this? Because AFO being the main reason for Tomura being a villain was made obvious a very long time ago.

Same person as in the ask about Tomura's villainy not being taken away from. Forgot to add, but we have characters that did bad things and did mean them but are still should be treated as people - Dabi and Toga. None of their agency was taken away. Dabi chose to kill people fully aware, no agency being taken away here. Same with Toga. AFO never was their behind their villainy, he's only the reason why Touya survived. AFO is being sympathised with - through Yoichi. Who is the only one who was genuinelly upset seeing his brother die, and who is the only person AFO ever actually loved in his own way. The only person all of this OFA hunt and vessel-raising was done for, from AFO's perspective. Redemption, atonement and salvation are something one has to want, it's a choice someone has to make. He is treated as this Evil because AFO had all the opportunities to change and never took them. He can't trust people because it would mean giving away something from himself. He is someone who got stuck with emotional maturity of a toddler and could never make the right choice - and it's not his fault. The narration from his backstory is very much sympathetic too.

You're welcome to disagree with me, Anon. But the irony is that you're stating exactly my problem with it: that it's

simply an exaggeration of what we already knew.

Although I'd argue it's more like shooting a spider in terms of exaggeration. Like, there's escalation, and then there's "are you okay" levels of exaggeration. And when you have an exaggeration to this level, you better have a good reason for it. That spider had better be hoping to end the world. But here... that's not the case.

My main point is that: if it doesn't add anything to a story, it shouldn't be there. Yeah, that's harsh, and enjoyment is something added, etc. But, at its most stringent, a plot twist must add something to the story--to its meaning, to illuminate the past chapters, etc. This doesn't do that, which you're kind of even pointing out yourself. And it's such a big reveal, given a horror factor, that it doesn't work to just ignore it either.

I think AFO literally orchestrating Tenko's BIRTH is like... so out of the realm of "grooming." It's into the realm of "defies reasonability and is almost laughable." It's not a parallel or commentary on real life society with subtext, which BNHA has tried to maintain for a long time. Instead it's like... it's such an escalation that it shatters immersion.

What does this add to the narrative? Honestly, it adds nothing that we didn't already know and makes what we already knew "oh wait not actually the most important part," and hence it's not a good reveal.

Like, it wasn't foreshadowed. Was anyone thinking that AFO had orchestrated Shigaraki's birth? It wasn't really implied at all. The quirk thing was implied, but this is just... a dramatic escalation.

It adds nothing in a subtext sense either. Predators irl seek out children who are vulnerable. They don't orchestrate literally everything from creating their very existence by urging their parents to have kids.

The funny thing is that I'm not actually opposed in theory. But in execution, it's bad. See, as much as I'm saying "this is ridiculous," it's because the story as set up didn't set this up.

It could work much better as commentary on social realities like the Todoroki quirk marriage. However, as is, it's nonsensical given that we know AFO was looking at other kids as possibilities. So it also has a whiff of retcon. Again, it could have worked if the story had played more into the god complex or hinted that Kotaro was being manipulated or whatnot. But BNHA hasn't done either of those things. So again I ask, why?

Thematically, one of my favorite aspects of BNHA is society's nuanced flaws. Yes, the flaws that hurt Shig all still happened. Tenko was still ignored. So if society is a problem, then why does Horikoshi need to portray one geriatric dude with a weird interest in strangers' sex lives as the entire reason Shigaraki even exists? Does this add to that theme? It does not.

It adds nothing beyond making it a moral necessity to save Shigaraki.

We also don't have any hint that we're not to take it at face value or to think it's a distortion; Deku isn't challenging him on this. It'd be easy to throw something like that in there, but it's not there.

Anyways, this is my opinion. You're welcome to disagree, and like I said, I'm still cheering for Shigaraki.

[bibiana112]

would LOVE to hear u talk abt ur ideas for the ib au! always loved that art but i dont know anythiiiing abt ib besides the very basics but id so incredibly love to listen what it, and in turn the au is abt!!! always open for all thoughts

Okay so Mary- the one with the yellow rose Akane is holding- is this like super lonely and isolated weird little girl that literally has a book called "how to make friends" and well spoilers that's because she's actually a painting of a girl that never existed that was the gallery artist's like idea of a perfect daughter kind of? Since the name of the gallery, the "World of ___" thing, is Kurashiki then you could really have the artist be A) Aoi which uhhh I guess and it could be that she did exist and died or B) Akane herself and have it be a thing where she painted the idealized version of her younger self that never was which I like a lot more because the artist is in fact dead and their spirit is what makes things in the game come to life and the fact he did that kind of intentionally by pouring his soul into his work and thus creates a labyrinth with death at every corner just feels very close to her envisioning and haunting them death games. Okay so, the game has the protagonist as this semi verbal too young to read properly kid named Ib that gets lost from her parents during a visit to this art exhibit so that's Quark, lost baby child that gets nightmares from the horrors™ and is in constant danger of shutting off and staying in their ideal imagining of reality instead of facing it and leaving to the real world again and ending up all alone despite that being the scariest possible fate in this game. And Junpei as Gary as in queer guy who's barely put together and a bit of a clumsy wuss that grows to support this kid that he's come across and also Mary for the duration of time where she isn't. well. Okay so there's the thing that this haunted gallery place meets with reality in a very specific way, you can enter or leave through the Figment of the World painting however.. only the same amount of people who have entered from reality can also return to it so the whole thing is that Mary wants to be real and have a friend and thus latches onto the kid her own age and decides to try and get rid of the adult that is said to remind her of the gallery's artist aka the guy who painted her aka absent father figure aka Akane in this version but then sooo... Mini Akane sees grown up Junpei and thinks of grown up Akane but would she. Would that be a negative? Would she be mad? Would she want to escape with Junpei or Quark? Which one would she try to kill? Which one would forget to take the knife away from her while she's passed out– that part is just salt I don't really know how to tackle this lol I can't imagine this Akane doing the pallet knife shtick either even if I don't have a good reason for her not to? I can very well imagine her doing the whole cute bunny sculptures being actually creepy dolls thing like instead of attacking she only does the thing of not intervening there so one of them is so scarred that they can't leave but it's mostly the gallery's will there and not her own which omg this whole line of thinking along with the Painting's Demise ending would just fit so well with a narrative of how indifferent and cruel future Akane is even to younger versions of herself... Also something I think you'd find particularly interesting is that you find Gary like an inch away from death and save him before he joins you so that could be like an inverse of their situation in canon because it'd be Quark saving him first and then depending on the ending it could either be Tenmyouji returning the favor just by being a supportive figure to lead them away from the gallery or by trading away his life for them and being sure to tell the kid he's only going to take a nap which doesn't hurt at all and you could also easily fix the weird undertones of the best possible ending by having Quark on his own in the gallery to begin with and them both making the actual decision to stick by each other once they get their memories somehow AND OMG MARY FUCKING BURNS ALIVE IN THE ENDINGS WHERE THE OTHER TWO ESCAPE TOGETHER?? SO LIKE MY GOD I don't Know if there's anything to explain there but there sure is a lot of implications.....

[phrootsnacks]

jjba thursday part 4: ep 19-21

I stayed up til 5am doing homework wheeeee

its time for a bizarre adventure, I think

episode 19 - Shigechi's Harvest, Part 2

so like. is the bank teller a stand user. or is it just a regular bank

this episode is like if death note was stupid. I love it

wowwwwww

"clearly we can't be friends, so trust us with all the money for the next couple of days, k?"

whoa whoa whoa

NOT THE JOSUYASU DUO WHATTTT

wait. okuyasu. do you remember what your stands ability is. what do you mean you have to work to close the distance

oh wow

he;s gonna kill you. by squirting... alcohol... into your veins?? ok

unironically. I love the stupid name calling. its so silly

remember in a previous episode how we learned there was a serial killer in this town

um. stop bullying my lil guy.

character development! except not really

c'est la vie

episode 20 - Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella

a normal plot maybe? hey. who's. who's that guy

"I speak like I have low blood pressure I hope you don't mind" ???

so it's just like. a regular beauty salon

so she is a stand user, what's the twist

did. the makeover also change her personality

convenient stomach ache timing

*sigh*

um. hey. what

if cinderella isn't going to harm her, why is her theme in a minor key?? hmmmmm???

(is it because she's just draining her of her money. literal capital harm)

convenient rohan timing

convenient entire cast timing

um. hey. what

no need to cry bro... I got you........... :)

you haven't seen her or heard from her since then? did she.... perhaps........ leave.. a shoe?

wha

what was in that lipstick

wait what do you mean you fell in love with that strong personality?? didn't she kidnap you?????

I feel like... they coulda pushed the visual horror of yukako literally not having her own face anymore, right?

at first the whites of her eyes were black, then part of her face was green, but now its like. ok there's a layer of skin removed around her eyes, but underneath is just regular skin. and also she doesn't have eyelashes and her eyebrows are thin

I get you still want to convey the character's expression, but visually? her not having a face? it should be more upsetting

are you sure you want koichi to decide your face,,,, we're talking about koichi here

remember that previous episode where the ghost was like "whatever you do don't look back" and then koichi looked back and they temporarily blinded him and he freaked out about it

these kids are wild

tho wait. wouldn't shining diamond be able to restore his vision anyway??

episode 21 - Yoshikage Kira Just Wants to Live Quietly, Part 1

this guy again

he;s just a regular guy! he just also has a severed hand in his coat, which he breaks out at the bakery to masturbate the plastic wrapped sandwiches. dull as dishwater!

dont. please dont. hes gonna. yep. ok.

the bros! and shigechi! wait what do you mean youre strapped for cash

they're literally bullying him for lunch money but they're also besties

oh god. shigechi, thats not a sandwich!!!

okuyasu is prepared to take a blood oath for 1000 yen

he's never left a single clue?? in 15 years??? and he walks around town with a severed hand on his person????? the police in this town are. well

why do we have to do this whole rigmarole. just say "hey that's my sandwich." kira doesn't know shigechi doesn't take no shit

the hand has more than just your fingerprints on the ring, if I recall.....

this is. the disastrous life of saiki k, im pretty sure

I love how antagonistic their friendship is :]

shigechi! listen to the bros! it must be the work on an enemy stand......

the exposition dump isn't helping the "closet weirdo" accusation

I choose to grind and hustle. thats how I cope with living under capitalism. ?????

KILLER QUEEN (deadly queen) WOWWWW wait why couldn't he have used his stand to get the hand back sooner. was it for the narrative tension

oh shigechi. youre really in it now huh

this show is so silly. even the normal episodes have extreme levels of silly :3

[caerozades]

Hawks knew that there would be a time where everything he worked for will tumble in a such a rate that can never be repaired. Being a person who was exposed to the horrors of the society they lived in, Hawks never believed that will be a moment wherein he could claim something as his. There is always something to lose in every joys he experienced and as much as he hated it, he knew for a fact that the world works only to favor those who are chosen by the people.

Don't get him wrong, he is also aware of the people who adore him so much but for him, they are just actors who play in this twisted illusion he called life. Those people may love him now but they can be also be the ones who are easy to believe in anything laid out to them.

Was he being a pessimist? Maybe. But as he stared down at the busy streets of Kyoto, he couldn't stop thinking of the possible consequences of the job he accepted. It was for the better good but Hawks can already see what people would do once they knew that the hero they adore is someone who's currently working with the enemy.

The commission had been wary about the league of villains and although they never told him directly, Hawks had an eerie feeling that the president was cooking something up.

And boy he was right.

He just got home from an away mission when his handler, Mr. Takashi, appeared at his doorstep with a grim face.

"What's with the long face, Takashi? Do I look too ugly to be an eyesore?" He greeted as he let the man walked in his apartment.

Takashi handed him thick folder as he walked past the hero. "The league are being bolder with their attacks," he started, eyeing Hawks as the latter followed him in the living room. The winged hero watched as his handler plopped on the sofa and closed his eyes. This is not going to end good, was all he thought as he waited for the man continued.

After a minute, Takashi looked at the folder that Hawks was holding. "They are getting more and more dangerous. Although we have AFO in our custody, the president doesn't want to risk getting lax especially with a deranged leader like Shigaraki," Takashi's gaze hardened as he looked at Hawks. "And since you weren't in Kamino when they heroes were called-"

Hawks held up his index finger, "correction, YOU told me not to go," he cut off, annoyed with how his handler glared at him. Takashi is a type of man who doesn't want to get interrupted and Hawks was aware of that (and had been very careful not to piss off his boss) but he could never let the man change the narrative. He wanted to go and was about to when Takashi ordered him to stay back and let the others take charge. "I ain't gonna allow you to make up a story and you know that," he explained.

"Fine," Takashi gruffed. It took a minute before he continued, "We thought it was best for you not to go because of this task that we want you to do."

Hawks sighed. "Are you asking me to be a spy?" He knew it was a stupid question but he wanted to hear it directly from his handler.

"This is a no-brainer, Keigo," Hawks flinched. "Playing dumb is cute but in situations like this, I don't think it is a smart thing to do." It's really not, Hawks mused.

Takashi took his phone out and began typing. From where the hero was sitting Takashi looks like he was composing an email.

Working in the HSPC means having the ability to be efficient and quick. Even though Hawks didn't take the assignment, Takashi made it look like he already did because he was typing like a madman and Hawks' phone was vibrating non-stop. His agency had already closed for the day which could only mean that the mails were coming from the man sitting in front of him.

He rolled his eyes. He never get to decide for himself. The commission was doing everything for him and it's starting to suffocate him. Being a pawn for the majority of your life suck but as much as he wanted to leave, his love for keeping the society safe weighs more than anything else.

It was after a few minutes when he stood up and walked towards his kitchen. The tapping sounds were starting to drive him mad and losing his patience in front of his handler would be that last thing he wanted to do. Not tonight, he thought as he grabbed a bottle of liquor in his fridge.

Once he poured himself a glass, he went back to the living room and leaned against Takashi's seat. "Are there any limits to this mission?" he inquired, taking note of how his handler tensed with the mention of limitations. It has been known among the commission that when it comes missions like this, there is no such thing as "restrictions". You have to do what you have to do in order to accomplish the task.

Hawks was hoping that his handler would tell him some but that hope dissipitated when Takashi shook his head. "Of course," since when did they even care for you? Nobody knows but those who work for the commission that everyone, including those who have a huge reputation, who vowed to the commission tend to get their hands dirty on a daily basis.

He could still remember the first time he had to kill a person. He was barely a teen when the commission sent him in a foreign mission to catch the villain that was known in the underworld to work with the AFO. As a kid who knew nothing but to impress the people who took him in, Hawks was vibrating with excitement when his handler told him that he'll be going overseas for a mission.

A child would always seek for the adults' approval. It is something the even if one tries to defy, they would always look for something that could catch the adults' attention. Hawks wanted to make his handler and his teachers proud so as he jumped out of the military aircraft, he couldn't think of anything but to tell the people who raised him how he was able to catch the villain himself.

Hawks was in a dark alley, chasing the villain's partner when he sensed it. Be vigilant, was the mantra he kept playing in his mind as he walked blindly with a sharpened feather held tightly in his hand. His teammates were talking but he didn't bother to repond nor update them where he was because they were using a different language. Hawks had just started learning how to speak English and with the stress of the mission, he wasn't able to communicate with other people. Takashi was the only one who could help him but the man was in the aircraft, helping the team track down the location of the villain.

One thing he learned in the private lessons he had was to look for the enemy's weakness. It was the easiest yet the most challenging thing to do since it requires a lot of analyzation of the villain. Their behaviors and the little bit of information were enough to assess if they have something that the heros could use to get to them. And Hawks was confident that the person h was following was the key to make the enemy reveal himself. Even then, he never had any restrictions since the higher ups were confident that Hawks would be able to do everything with finesse.

A young hero with incredible speed for his own liking.

It happened so fast that Hawks couldn't even remember how his body reacted and immediately went into full fighter mode when the person he was following tackled him. In his defense, he was a child. A young hero who still had a lot to learn yet was in no position to decline anything that was given to him. He let his instincts control the situation and after a few minutes, he just found himself panting heavily and staring at the lifeless body of a man drowing in his own blood.

Hawks took a huge gulp of his beer, silently hoping that the liquor was strong enough to take the image out of his head. They say that a person's first kill will be the one that would be remembered the most. It was rather unbelievable but as Hawks tried to fight off the shiver running through his spine, he could't fathom how that day took away the remaining innocence of his past self.

"Everything you might need, backgrounds, possible locations and weakest links, should be in the mails I've sent you. Although I know you'll do your own research," Hawks deapanned, "Don't give me that look, Hawks. I know you have a lot of connections and there is a high possiblity that you already knew more than we do but please, take a look on the files I sent you and also on that folder. It is important that you know everything you need before proceeding with this mission." Takashi stood up and turned to face the hero. "We expect good results, Hawks."

"Yeah, yeah. Since when did I even fail you guys?"

"Don't let this be your first," was all Takashi has said before leaving Hawks alone.

His mind is getting haywire. It always does whenever Takashi asks him to do something for the commission.

There is nothing more heinous than someone digging a grave of their own.

He doesn't want to do it.

Oh how he wishes he has an option to opt out. Spying on the league sounds like a death wish yet there's a small voice in his mind that urges him to do it. To work his ass off in order to satisfy the people who ensured the position he has right now.

Hawks hates it but what can he do? He had been a pawn his entire life, what's another mission to add to his suffering, right?

Oh... let me get out of this hellhole.

I'm pretty sure this was the first draft I had for beneath the burning pyre. Lately, it's been a little difficult to get in the right headspace when writing an update - it took me a long time before I could post the last chapter because I got so busy with school and like I said above, it's getting hard to get in the right mood every time I plan to write an entry for the next chapter. I still plan to finish this story because I love dabihawks and I just like to dive more into their relationship in the story (considering that they're still a little vague) but it'll take longer before I can post again *sighs*

[faelicy]

Miss Faelicy I would love to get your opinion on Bingqiu.

I see people posting things like how they are "problematic" and how they don't really love each other and SQQ only feels sympathy etc. Obviously there were struggles between them as there should be (considering all that happened) and just because sqq wasn't very open and super obvious about his feelings doesn't mean they are not there..this is how I interpreted it. I would love to know your opinion

Hello! This also covers part 2 of the previous ask.

First, massive spoilers for the end of the novel. Second, a disclaimer: I despise shipwars, which I think are behind most of those comments. I hate them because it's usually all in bad faith: everyone's already committed to their interpretation of the ships, and any discussion is just a guise for justifying their preferences.

So to any readers: I don't want anything here to be used as shipwar fuel. This post is about Bingqiu's canon arc and themes. Basically, I don't know or care if Bingqiu is a good ship, but I do think it's a well-written one.

I'll start by saying directly: for most of the novel, Bingqiu is neither healthy nor romantic. And that this is not bad writing, but on purpose.

A relationship that drives one party to mental breakdown isn't healthy. A relationship where that party says it's okay to hurt or kill them can't possibly be healthy. That happened because there was something deeply wrong with their relationship, something that can't be reduced to Xin Mo, miscommunication, or LBH throwing a tropey yandere fit.

And out of all three MXTX novels, only SV lacks a love confession from the MC to the ML. Again, I don't think it's an oversight, or just because SQQ's face is too thin. There are plenty of ways MXTX could have worked a subtle one in if she really wanted to.

In my opinion, Bingqiu's narrative can be split up into four arcs: Qing Jing Peak (ch 1-27), Jin Lan City (28-43), Post-revival (29-55), and Reconciliation (56-81). Other than the first arc, where their relationship is pretty straightforward, Bingqiu spend most of the rest in direct conflict.

I'll give an overview of the arcs here, but what I truly want to say about Bingqiu starts in arc 4, so if you're impatient you can scroll down. But the overview might help add context.

Jin Lan City arc is about LBH's anger at being brutally betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust. Here he tries to force answers out of SQQ, who he believes both hates him and is a hypocrite. He's driven by a desire to return to the past, but his rage and love makes his actions contradictory: on one hand he tries to win SQQ's approval constructively, by climbing to the top of Huan Hua Palace and performing good deeds, on the other hand his belief that SQQ doesn't care about him so it's all futile anyway (reinforced by SQQ's own actions) causes him to lash out destructively, going as far as to hurt and imprison SQQ.

LBH's bitterness is portrayed very negatively, because all it does is instill despair into SQQ, until SQQ ends up believing that he's only been a blight on LBH's life, and that he must make up for it by killing himself. Whereupon LBH breaks down, regressing into a childlike state. Some might ask, why does LBH never bring up the Abyss again afterwards? It's because he gives up here. This entire arc is about getting LBH to let go of past wrongs and to stop seeking answers, whether the reader believes it's fair to him or not. Because SQQ's life is more important.

Post-revival arc then is about SQQ trying to come to terms with a blackened LBH who also loves him. Interestingly, despite SQQ's horror at realizing LBH was romantically interested in him all along, SQQ actually has a very subtle but telling secondary reaction. To explain, let's back up to the first arc.

Starting around ch 9, probably as a sign of his growing affection, SQQ begins addressing LBH as 这孩子, or "this child," in his internal monologue, instead of LBH's name. He does it once each in ch 9, 12, 17, 21, 25. However, once Jin Lan City arc starts, SQQ drops the address entirely. LBH and "child" are never brought up together except for one snarky comment on LBH's tantrum being disgracefully childish in ch 38.

At first glance this doesn't look noteworthy because LBH by this point is no longer a kid. But when LBH kisses him in ch 49, SQQ changes again: right away he returns to using "child" on LBH, and the "this child" address starts popping up at a much higher frequency. By the end of SV SQQ has referred to LBH as a child in some manner at least 35 times (yes I went and counted), with the vast majority after ch 49, and he continues to do so right into the last extra.

Why was SQQ unwilling to use this address of affection for over 20 chapters? Perhaps because he too thought LBH hated him, and couldn't bear to think about him so intimately knowing that. So SQQ immediately falling back into it the moment he learns LBH loves him is a sign of his relief. He's still dismayed at the romantic part, but though SQQ likes to deflect from his real emotions (this is the guy who focused on bad naming sense after being fatally poisoned, who cavalierly commented only after it was all over that he'd expected to die), the fact that LBH loves and doesn't hate him, means a lot.

Here SQQ's feelings towards LBH are at their most complicated. He still assumes the worst of him like in Jin Lan City, but now because of the above, also sees a lonely child whenever LBH is unhappy and lost. It's like he has two filters actively interfering with each other, "crazed criminal" and "pitiful child," and so he flip-flops between pushing LBH away and comforting him. But when LBH drags CQMS into it, and even seemingly takes advantage of SQQ's love for him, SQQ's negative image and frustration with him only grows, until he finally snaps and tells LBH to never come near him again.

At this point SQQ still believes that LBH is the same black-hearted, invincible, devil incarnate that og!LBH was portrayed to be. The Reconciliation arc starts by chipping away at this filter that's been plaguing SQQ for so long. First the revelation that TLJ/ZZL was behind the sowers, thus clearing LBH's name at Jin Lan City. Then we see how unloved he is by his own father; we see him injured and helpless and unconscious. Meng Mo yells at SQQ, reinforcing that image of a vulnerable, terrified child. So by ch 62 SQQ has thrown away the "crazed criminal" filter completely, and in that same chapter they cling to each other and finally make up. Because while it's true that the current LBH is misanthropic, antisocial, and mercurial, SQQ has also finally accepted that he's still the same LBH he'd raised and doted on, back on Qing Jing Peak.

Now I'm going to talk about what I see as the most important part of Bingqiu. Yes, despite the wall of text already.

A common sentiment of Bingqiu shippers about their issues seems to be, "SQQ is dumb and oblivious; he can't figure out what LBH needs even though he loves him because he sees LBH as a novel character," but I think the problem is far more complicated and insidious than that. If that was everything, why give SQQ the epiphany that he misunderstood LBH so early? Why have him think in ch 66 that "truthfully, he'd never really trusted Luo Binghe, and that's why he kept accidentally hurting him?" If he's already realized that he shouldn't treat LBH like og!LBH (he even meets og!LBH in ch 71 to rub it in further), why do we go another 13 chapters believing their relationship is good and well, even giving us a sweet, happy moment in ch 75, only to show LBH having the worst breakdown of the novel just 4 chapters later? Was it all just padding to demonstrate the danger of Xin Mo?

Or is there something else beneath the surface?

In ch 66, the same chapter where SQQ implies he doesn't want to accidentally hurt LBH anymore, he says something telling. When LQG is skeptical that LBH can be trusted, SQQ thinks, 家里孩子不懂事，大人不容易做, or "when your child doesn't know any better, as the adult you don't have it easy." The child here of course refers to LBH, and the adult is SQQ, who's complaining about smoothing over LBH's messes. But what is SQQ implying here?

Doesn't know any better? That's what you say about a toddler who can't think for themselves, not a grown man. LBH is 25 and SQQ thinks he doesn't know better. Doesn't know better about what? LBH's wants, his needs? His feelings? Or even what's good for him?

And then you realize that's exactly how SQQ's always treated him, like a helpless child who can't make his own choices.

It's SQQ who chooses to throw LBH down into the Abyss without trying to talk to him. It's SQQ who decides that keeping silent is the best choice. It's SQQ who believes self-destructing in front of LBH will help, who thinks that breaking off their relationship is for the better. And it's SQQ who scolds LBH into tolerating CQMS, even though they hate each other and CQMS is hostile towards him. Who forces him to leave first at Zhao Hua Temple despite LBH's pleas otherwise, who shoos him out the window when CQMS walks in on them.

Every single one of these decisions, SQQ made believing it was for the best (repair LBH's relationship with his family, help him avoid arrest, not wanting to make excuses, wanting LBH to be free of his hatred), and every single one of them only damaged LBH further. Because SQQ's never listened to him, even once. Never consulted him or considered his feelings.

(And LBH did try to bring up his feelings on one of the matters in ch 75. He insinuates to SQQ that he doesn't like LQG calling him "little beast" or "ingrate." And SQQ's response is to dismiss them entirely, saying that LQG's "not wrong.")

SQQ has always loved LBH, but he's never once respected LBH's agency or personhood. Because LBH doesn't know better and SQQ does, so SQQ must make all his decisions for him.

And this, amplified by Xin Mo, is what finally drives LBH mad in ch 79.

To LBH, the important part isn't whether SQQ loves him, which I think he knew after ch 43 (it's why he can be so daring and pushy with SQQ's boundaries). What's important is that the moment SQQ believes abandoning LBH is justified for whatever reason again, SQQ absolutely will.

Ch 80's two-way noncon (since LBH was basically unconscious and couldn't consent) tends to draw most of the attention, but I actually think that what happens afterwards is one of the most important scenes for Bingqiu. There SQQ tries to sacrifice himself a second time for LBH, drawing Xin Mo's demonic qi into his body. Yet the novel claims that SQQ's actions here are completely different than in ch 43. SQQ himself says that this time he's doing it for LBH, while last time he was doing it for himself. But can the reader see a functional difference?

There is one, in fact: it's SQQ's response to LBH's choice afterwards. LBH decides to follow SQQ in death, even though this would void the point of SQQ's sacrifice. But instead of insisting otherwise, SQQ just accepts it. Because he finally understands that whether LBH's life is worth living, whether LBH will be better off, is for LBH and only LBH to decide.

It's the first time he respects LBH's agency. And this is the only reason why he and LBH can finally begin building a healthy relationship on the mess they've had up to now.

So that's what I see as the true beauty behind Bingqiu. It's about communication and mistaken assumptions, yes, but it's also about the nature of love between parent and child. The romantic developments were left to the extras, I believe, because this was the main story MXTX wanted to tell with them. Their relationship as lovers only starts afterwards, hence why SV ends with, "the story between you and I, has only just begun." It was never meant to be a whirlwind romance where they fall in love cleanly. It might not to be to everyone's tastes, but an incredible amount of thought was put into the narrative, and that's what amazed me when I first finished this novel.

(This post went on way too long and I ended up cutting off a huge chunk of tangential stuff and how SQQ came to his realization in ch 79: he didn't do it alone. It took him seeing the LBH in TLJ and the himself in YQY for him to understand. In fact, YQY and og!SQQ's relationship has a similar parent-and-child dynamic. I've touched on it before on twitter; if there's interest I might try writing that up here too.)

[aotopmha]

Attack on Titan in 2020

I've sort of dropped doing detailed chapter posts on the series because that type of writing wasn't very fun for me anymore and I have taken a liking to a bullet point kind of approach where I list the elements that stood out for me in the chapter or make a separate post for some specific topic I'd like to talk about in it.

I've started like 10 different posts to attempt to talk about AoT this year and I always end up with incoherent rambling because of all of the elements I'd love to to talk about.

This year's chapters were 125-135 and this year's episodes episodes 1-4 of season 4.

The anime episodes in particular have given me a lot of food for thought, so I'm just saying fuck it.

I think the biggest misstep of the story for me will forever be the fact that it decided to use fairly specific historical imagery.

The Eldians are clearly supposed to have allegorical equivalency with Jewish people, but the Jewish people were never the oppressors. There weren't any Jewish empires. That's conspiracy theory bullshit.

But on the other hand, the series clearly takes great effort to not stereotype any of the groups it's portraying and gives complex reasons for what both sides do. It's one of the few Japanese series that I've seen not stereotype Middle Eastern-coded people (Ramzi and Halil) or black people (Onyakapon). Everyone are people, it says. It even champions diversity:

(Chapter 118)

It is also very much true that a bunch of fascist states use long-term history as an excuse for their actions:

(Chapter 127)

Nation did X 2000 years ago therefore our conquest of them is justified.

This makes discussion about the series' themes like a minefield.

The people who are very critical about its imagery are right, but the people defending the series aren't wrong, either because it condemns all of those nasty ideas of conquest and hurting innocent people.

You can't have a more clear-cut condemnation of genocide:

(Chapter 127)

If you combine all of these details instead of zoning in on them one by one, to me what the story is saying is that *even if* all of that conspiracy bullshit is true, innocent people don't deserve to be slaughtered no matter the reason because they are still people who have their own feelings, thoughts and wishes.

The story clearly gets the baseline, but fumbles the details. I decided to look up some more discussion surrounding this these past few days and I just wish there was more good faith discussion about it. A lot of it feels like a moral superiority contest.

I think it's these kind of flawed stories that actually deserve detailed scruitiny over stories that are rotten to the core because they are *almost there*. Talking about them is a good topic starter in what to do and not to do in a story like this.

Speaking of rotten to the core, I think the absolute highlight of the chapters this year is Eren and some of the chapters this year finally gave me a pretty clear picture of what is going on with him.

Context from 123 certainly helps, though:

(Chapter 131)

This is about Eren's perspective. He can't accept the destruction of Paradis.

It's not that this solution was inevitable looking in from the outside (which is one of the interpretations I see around for Eren's actions), it's that *Eren* can't see any other way out of this except the most extreme because of all of the horrible things he has seen from the outside world. It is very similar to the way suicidal people can only focus on the negative.

You can tell them everything is going to be okay, but those words won't reach them because their mind won't let them and loops them back to those negative thoughts.

Eren can't see the ice cream or silly clowns. But he can see how the other Eldians in the league of Eldians are willing to push Paradis under the bus. He can see how Grisha's sister was killed. He can see how racist and cruel Marley is towards the Eldians in Liberio (and how the people have racist leanings towards other nations, too).

He can only see those bad things. But he also understands how everyone outside of the walls are human just as the people inside of the walls are.

So he is torn to pieces by guilt.

He doesn't want to do this, but he can't see any other solution.

This is why I also think he can't rob his friends of their agency. He is fighting for them to have a good future:

(Chapter 133)

(Chapter 131)

What really stood out to me on a revisit is that Eren considers himself much worse than Reiner.

I've seen criticism on how the story pushes the narrative of both sides being the same and this detail is really important to me because this is the story acknowledging that what Eren is doing is worse and gives all of the following exchanges about this the context of it being a similarity in principle.

Both sides have killed for what they think is right and have to deal with how they have killed people. This is such an important detail in the Uprising arc, too, where Erwin firmly acknowledged that overthrowing the government might not actually be the right choice by him. It was simply what he saw as right. On a narrative level this avoids absolute truths and preference of one character perspective over the other and once again makes it about individual perspectives.

The theme of individual perspectives is so ingrained in this story at this point in my eyes that it's another cornerstone in understanding what is going on with Eren to me.

I think it's great.

I also really appreciate Annie and what was done with her in this chunk of chapters.

(Chapter 127)

There has been this narrative going around that proposes that the story is in Eren's corner too much. But these chapters are nothing but questioning Eren and Annie is one of the main voices in this. It's the Marleyan girls, really and I think this is a very necessary part of making the narrative work. Once again, it separates the narrative and character perspective.

It says that the Paradis side caring is about character perspective, not what the narrative sides with and Annie is even sympathetic to Mikasa in that instance.

She gets it. Unexpectedly, I think Annie might play a bigger role in taking down Eren than expected. Her character arc about deciding to no longer go with the flow because she doesn't want any more tragedy to happen is basically calling for it.

(Chapter 128)

Another element I've seen brought up is the fact that nobody seems to address the Bert-sized elephant in the room, but some of our characters are certainly thinking about him.

This is such a thematically strong element and really interesting because Connie joined the military to make his mom proud and be a good soldier. This is the motivation behind his claim when he says they are going to save the world. But what does becoming a good soldier mean, exactly?

Well, apparently possibly gunning down people you care about.

This moment is so good because it's another moment where the idea of glory in war is taken down a peg.

The moment with Connie declaring they're going to save the world is so often criticised, but it is actually turned on its head in 128. There is no heroics in this. This is actually Connie's big "killing a person" moment because it strips away the final bit of comfort in killing in war, the excuse of killing for good moral reasons.

It is also a wonderful complex evolution of the series' themes. Trost was about fighting monsters. In the Female Titan and Clash of Titan arcs some of those monsters turned out to be human. In the Uprising, Return to Shiganshina and Marley arcs all of those monsters turned out to be human and here in the War of Paradis arc, everyone is human and the only separating system is what everyone views as right.

I really hope the anime will let this chapter breathe a little bit more.

Moving on, I guess it is time to address the rumbling.

I love it as a horror spectacle.

(Chapter 130)

And I really I think it needs to be non-CG when animated. CG is fine in spectacle battles, but not in horror settings because it is too clean.

The rumbling needs to be disgusting and dirty.

Chapter 132 gave me one of the few moments in which I truly cared about Levi. I think him telling Hange to dedicate her heart was a very good moment to cap off their relationship. He sent another SL commander to fulfill their duty.

The speech about hatred in chapter 134 also stood out to me. I think it definitely should be fitted in there somewhere in this, but I also see a bunch of criticism for it.

I want to point out that this is the side of present Marley talking here. It's the military dictatorship.

It's the Nazis. I think the Nazis should feel regret for exploiting innocent people and admit they're wrong.

I also like how the horrors here are undoing the brainwashing and showing the truth to the citizens.

I guess you could read it as heavy-handed, but it is also something that needs to be addressed and in principle, it's not wrong.

I'm also going to put a mention of Historia here. I've talked about how this is my biggest and most glaring problem with the series because of how thematically unfitting it feels, but I've also talked about it in many posts. I wanted to focus more on other stuff in this post.

So now, we make it back to chapter 135.

I think having stewed on it for a month now, I like the element of mindscrewing our cast with the Titans of the people they love is the strongest element of it. It's making them face their personal traumas and we also get some great character moments and payoffs from it.

Mikasa ended off the year in a very good note in my eyes.

Even this deep in the story, this chapter left me in a situation where I have no idea how things might turn out.

I might have rough ideas, but not anything specific and that's fun.

Well, this is it on my retrospective.

2021 is confirmed to be AoT's final year of publication as volume 34 is set to be the story's final volume.

Those who hate the story can finally be free of it and those who care for it, can look back on it with fondness and sadness and many other emotions and evaluate.

It's been 7 years for me. What a wild ride.

So, I'm asking everyone, what are some of your observations on AoT in 2020?

Is there anything you'd like to add or do you have any observations or counterarguments for anything I've said?

I'd be curious to see what everyone else thought of AoT in 2020!

[dansenfans]

From Dansen fans admin.

This is a collaborative reaction to some (not all as we would be here forever and a day trying to write it down) of our problems with the current storylines on Supergirl. Before we get into that, a word on who helps run the account. We are a varied set of users, but all recognize the importance of Dansen, but also Brainia as representation that not only helps other LGBTQ people - it undoubtedly has saved a life somewhere simply because someone sees themselves represented onscreen. Do not think for a second this is an exaggeration or untrue. The representation is that important and needed. LGBTQ representation is far more than just having a character on TV. It gives those who are marginalized a voice. It gives that child growing up in a hostile environment simply for being LGBTQ hope that their life can be okay. That they aren't a freak. Or they have sinned.

We are from within the LGBTQ community, white, POC and from the heterosexual community (as an ally). So these comments are from a diverse set of people. We all love different characters and even multi-ship in some cases. What we all have in common is a love of Dansen.

What we all also have in common is our absolute horror in not only how the current LGBTQ characters are being used, but how relationships are suffering for it. 

Even away from Dansen we are finding the current overall arc of the story extremely difficult, because there is now such a disconnect from characters and friendships.

Let's tackle the LGBTQ and Dansen problem first. 

William has as much presence as a tree stump. There is something called the potted plant test, and that basically means, if a character can be replaced by a potted plant in scenes and not be missed, they don't need to be there. William is that plotted plant. So many of his scenes could easily have been done by Nia (who is a journalist after all) or Kelly (who we still don't know if she knows Kara is Supergirl, which under the circumstances is utterly laughable).

There is also something in the screenwriting industry that is writing 101, and by all accounts (according to a screenwriter a couple of us know, and no they aren't in the Supergirl fandom, SM or watch Supergirl), “Show us, don’t tell us why this relationship or friendship should work," is what you should have at the forefront of anything you write.

In other words, if fans are being told, or characters get continually told by those around them why they should be in a relationship, it isn't working.

The premise is pretty simple. You outline you want your character to have a love interest. You indicate who that LI might be. You get casting sorted, have chemistry reads. Consider the way in how they get together to fit the bigger narrative. What you don't do is tie it down that this is the way you have to go, regardless of what the story calls for. If after a few episodes, the chemistry onscreen between a character and someone completely different to the LI you had in mind is so obvious, so powerful, you adjust. You don't try to force the original LI into that scenario. If you then have to justify that LI (in Supergirl's case by having those around continually tell her she should go for a date with William, when she looks nothing but awkward and the chemistry is flat), then you fail on this basic writing point. If you ignore what a lot of fans, media and casual observers see elsewhere, you fail at the job of being a good storyteller. 

Supergirl has done both.

Ah but now we head into that territory of Supercorp. Look, we don't ask that people like Supercorp. This truly isn't about that. We aren't a Supercorp account. What it is about is the groundswell of fans who have increasingly seen a crackling connection between Kara and Lena, who had either of these characters been male, would've had them together by now. There are so many direct parallels to other couples, not just on Supergirl but elsewhere (particularly Clois, which fans have plenty of examples about if you look).

But this season, Supergirl took it a step further. The romantic coding that went on in 5a, that had direct parallels to the canon couple (Dansen) on the show to bait fans into watching (and yes it was queerbaiting if they didn't intend to make it romantic because that is exactly what queerbaiting is, and Supergirl has queerbaited now in the worst ways possible) is inexcusable. When you have media outlets, blogs, even non Supergirl fans see this and talk about it (each of us here has someone who isn't a Supergirl fan, but knowing there is a lesbian couple on the show assume Kara and Lena are that couple if they've caught sight of clips) then you have a problem, even if you don't acknowledge it. 

The latest hypocrisy of all this is how some fans have tripped over themselves to say how lovely, how romantic it was of William to remember Kara's coffee order, yet scream down other fans who said the same thing as Kara not only got Lena her favourite coffee and food - she flew across the world to achieve that, at a time Kara fully believed the friendship was fixed. To have fans called delusional for it is preposterous. You cannot do that. You simply can't, and this is a prime reason so many fans get angry and upset. 

Aside from that, the overtones of why William did the coffee run, it was actually more on the creepy side than friendship side. He even acknowledged his behaviour, with the coffee, the texts and the compliments was overstepping and not respecting Kara by his actions. Some say that's self awareness and bravo. We all argue it is borderline abusive.  If your self awareness is such you know your behavior is wrong, and you do nothing to stop or correct that behavior and carry on, then those are nothing more than platitudes. There are examples of people who have been triggered by 5.14 and Williams' actions, and citing why that has occurred as IPV survivors. Melissa is a IPV survivor and if others have been affected by this, we truly worry Melissa has been too, although we sincerely hope that isn't the case. Is that what you want as a fan, even if it is only a possibility with Melissa? Because we definitely don't. No fan should have been triggered from a character like that.

The 100th episode basically turned around and told Kara that she and Lena's destiny was so entwined, that they couldn't live without each other, or they would die for the other. Platonic or not, that is soulmate status. As for best friends? Those of us who are married are all married to our best friend. So many people, whether gay, straight, everywhere in between, say a spouse is their best friend. For anyone saying a best friend doesn't mean they're in love with that person is the worst take, as most of the time the best friend is the partner or spouse. William has barely been in the friend zone, let alone best friend zone. 

As for how William is impacting on the LGBTQ and current cast, there is no doubt he is in an extremely negative way. To the degree that Dansen has suffered significantly. Sure we had an emotional scene in 5.07, but we are now at 5.14, so a further 7 episodes in, and we barely have minutes worth of Dansen onscreen time. Last episode was less than a full minute total Dansen time and that's the best it's been in weeks.

Less than a minute! It was approximately 45 seconds for the first scene. 7 seconds (yes you read that correctly 7 seconds) on the second scene.

So this means that while we got nice character development beginning in S4, and to some degree early in 5a, we have had nothing on any note in regards Dansen all season, or Kelly throughout the entire season so far.

This means that we got invested in these characters, we were promised it would develop as S5 went on, to have this thrown at us as the best they can do? Any intimacy has been pretty much nonexistent, (we had more from Sanvers), and we get told that what they have given us we should be grateful for. No-one deserves that sort of disdain as fans. Yet we get told by others that Kara deserves a relationship with William? Save us the hypocrisy. 

No-one here is saying Kara doesn't deserve a relationship, but at the expense of others? Lead of the show or not, that is an awful take. Particularly when we have a fundamental relationship with her and Lena, even if it isn't romantic. 

If you cannot find balance as a writer to incorporate all of these things, then you aren't doing a good job of it at all. Azie in particular has been given the shittest end of the stick possible. Chyler hasn't faired much better. It is making Dansen now appear forced and lacking depth, and that's even allowing for the build up they gave us in S4. Kelly is a Black Lesbian, is highly educated, has (by all accounts) a loving solid relationship with another woman. All aspects we should be highlighting and applauding. Instead, here we are having to write at length some of what is so wrong for us.

Moving on to another area that was problematic. To have Alex discuss technical details as Kelly arrived in regard her work at Obsidian North, but to hear Kara say to Kelly, "She has never said words like that." 

Now this line could have been in jest, but it didn't feel like that, and considering Alex has a PhD in bioengineering, Alex is also an expert in alien physiology, and has used this knowledge in multiple D.E.O. operations. Alex was able to successfully create Blue Kryptonite to incapacitate Bizarro and working with Maxwell Lord, synthesized a cure for Red Kryptonite. She is also an accomplished neuroscientist and xenobiologist. Alex herself stated she could've had a promising medical career as a researcher had she not decided to work at the D.E.O. instead - and now you are saying Alex would never use that kind of language? Come on! That's so unrealistic it would be laughable if it wasn't so awful.

If you are a show who claims to be at the forefront of LGBTQ representation, who claim to be about female empowerment, you are giving us neither of those things. Someone else wrote this (taken with permission from Buddha in disguise on Tumblr).

"It seems we shouldn't ask for justification as to why William is on the show, but when we say the LGBTQ characters are being sidelined, that it doesn't matter one jot how diverse a cast can be; if said cast are not being given credible storylines or screentime, and if we say as much, we have to continually justify why that is the case. We get told to take what we are given. To insist on better, is oppressing the straight characters on the show, often said by CIS men (in some cases CIS women have argued the same). This isn't oppressing anyone, but asking that if we get given relationships, given characters we want to invest in, they get the storylines to accomplish that. Supergirl is failing the LGBTQ audience so badly at the moment. So many have the same complaints it is ludicrous to suggest this is just one section of a fandom or trolls."

The show is floundering. Winn got a more complete arc and closure in two episodes than anyone else so far on the show this season. We might have had 3 or 4 great episodes out of 14 of the 20 so far this season. The rest have been mediocre at best, with no obvious cohesive plot or storytelling. 

It is crazy that a Superhero show, that effectively has the freedom to pull in ideas from multiple sources with unique interesting takes that allows, has made it so boring, so full of drudgery that people are starting to turn off in droves. A fandom boycott isn't enough for such poor ratings on some episodes. Having moments in an episode that are good, possibly great, when the rest around it is so poor is destined to fail. 5.14 was another example of that. The moments that were good were enjoyable but the rest was so bad, it is harder to enjoy those good points. To even remember them.

Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow have both done this far better of late (even if Legends have been a bit problematic with Zari), and the POC and the LGBTQ side of the stories have primarily been handled well. Batwoman in particular has just done an amazing storyline with Sophie Moore. The interesting thing is, a lot of people found Sophie hard to like to begin with. Many thought Kate Kane was better off without her. What changed all that was they gave Sophie an in depth, credible backstory and the chemistry between them grew organically. Fans could see the connection and increasingly yearned for it. They have also just tackled homophobia in families, particularly for POC. All without taking away from other essential elements of the storytelling. Supergirl take note; this is how you write a show that is integrated without hurting either the POC & LGBTQ characters or CIS straight characters. 

Now let's just broach the disconnect with characters and friendships. 

Because of the fracturing of friendships and relationships has been so extreme (virtually every one has lost all or most of what we had in previous seasons), we have lost core elements of the show. Of course the most obvious is Kara and Lena, but it extends far beyond that.

Alex and Brainy. Brainy and Lena. Brainy and Nia (Brainia is groundbreaking representation for transgender people to show they too can have relationships, but no, we can't even have that). Kelly and Kara (early S5 suggested Kara and Kelly were close enough friends now to talk about presents for Alex). Alex and Lena. 

Alex, Lena and Kara, which in the last two seasons have been the powerhouse behind them defeating whatever was going on around them as a team, but still allowing Kara to shine as the Superhero.

All these intricate relationships have gone. Instead we are faced with pairings that feel uncomfortable and awkward as a viewer, so the crux of what made Supergirl work has been lost. We are suddenly expected to be able to feel emphatic and understand completely unheard of pairings when we know nothing about them under those circumstances. Strangely enough, the one new pairing they have achieved this with is Andrea and Lena, because we got a fully fleshed out background, that also helped explain some of Lena's behavior today. The rest feels chaotic, and so far into the season that feeling of chaos should be going the other way. Instead it's increasing.

As we wrote this, the latest media outlet to highlight some of the problems the last episode faced came out.

It might not be a big article or have any real depth, but when The Radio Times wades in, you are beginning to lose serious credibility in media circles. The Radio Times is not some 2 bit media blog that you can laugh off or blame a fandom for.

5.15 promises to have better LGBTQ content, and is tackling a subject that Nicole herself became involved in with the writers. This gives us higher hope it is a better episode overall. We also know Kelly and Alex work together with J'onn, and while it would be great to see them partner up onscreen, we would actually really like just softer Dansen at home moments. We hope it incorporates both, but honestly the way this season has gone we aren't holding out much hope on that.

Last of all. We have seen several people tout that the plot twist is William in fact becomes a villain. None of us like the idea that another POC becomes a villain, but if by seasons end it occurred and so explained his presence (as a tool or high up member for Leviathan for example,) then at least that would give us something solid. But again, to do all this at the expense of all other characters is not what you want to see. Nor do any of us wish to see another POC get killed off if this happens as is being suggested. We would all rather William just disappears back to London to The Times. 

The last thing any of us wanted was to be writing this, but collectively our patience has run out. Our disappointment is acute. 

While we try to avoid mistakes and edit this, none of us are writers so please forgive any glaring errors you find.

[nadziejastar]

Challenge: It's easy to complain about bad decisions. but it doesn't actually solve anything. Let's say that SE decide that Lea and Isa's story was mishandled and decide that you're the person to get it back in order. You're not allowed to throw KH3 out, but you can tweak and retcon things to support future narratives. How do you fix the story going forward?

Well, maybe this will sound like a cop-out answer, but…if I was in charge, I’d just go back to the original idea for Lea and Isa’s relationship. I complain so much because it really was too good of a story to waste. If I was in charge, I really wouldn’t try very hard to stay consistent with KH3’s mess of a plot. I mean, it’s not like KH3 tried very hard to stay consistent with the previous games’ plot points, anyways. Not just with Lea and Isa, but in general. KH3 assumed its audience was a bunch of total idiots who wouldn’t notice obvious discrepancies and plot holes. It had flagrant disregard and disrespect for the series’ story and lore. It was honestly one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen in that regard. It truly is beyond my understanding me how anyone can defend it.

I mean, Saïx was totally evil and sociopathic for the whole series. He was not humanized in any way, shape, or form. Last we saw of him, he was trying to kill Axel in a psychotic rage. Now, he’s on the clock tower asking for ice cream. There is NOTHING in-between to justify this change.Then he’s happily celebrating with all the good guys in the ending. That Twilight Town scene’s purpose was obviously just to introduce the sequel-bait girl. KH3 didn’t give a single fuck about having Saïx’s character make a lick of sense.So, I’d do the same. I’d ignore his personality in KH3, just like KH3 ignored ALL of his previous story and characterization. And I’d emphasize that he was possessed by Xehanort the whole time in future games.

It was hinted over and over and over again that Isa had his heart captured by Xehanort. He was there against his will and was being controlled. They weren’t even that subtle about it. He was the only one who couldn’t “see” Xion. They devoted an entire secret ending to showing us that he was taken by Young Xehanort before he woke up. He had orange eyes, pointy ears and a scar shaped like a Recusant’s Sigil.His personality changed drastically since they snuck into the castle while mind control experiments just happened to be taking place. Yet in KH3, we are told that he joined Xehanort of his own free will to “atone”. This happens off-screen and is never even directly stated. It’s only hinted at through the Secret Reports. If he has to atone, then he is morally responsible for Saïx’s actions—therefore the implication is that Isa was NOT possessed. Just shameless retconning. Well, what’s the harm in a bit more then?

I’d retcon some new info in to make Isa Subject X and the little girl they were trying to rescue Kairi. Ansem’s Reports were not really written by Ansem, but his apprentice calling himself Ansem. The reports about Subject X can be the same. They were written by Isa, Xehanort and Ansem the Wise, but somebody doctored them as part of a cover-up, or something. I don’t know exactly where KH4 is going with Subject X and the memory experiments, so I can’t say exactly what I would change yet. But at least in KH3, you don’t even have to change the Reports that much to make them fit Isa perfectly. So yeah. She’s not Subject X. He is. Skuld can have her subplot with the memory experiments or whatever. I guess. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about her. But whatever. She’s separate from Subject X. I’d bring back all of the dropped plot threads from BBSV2 if I was in charge.

Seekers of Darkness were directly stated to become another Xehanort when they had his heart implanted within them. We saw Master Xehanort transfer his consciousness to Isa and control him at the end of KH3D. Yet, in KH3, they are all there on a volunteer basis! Demyx just thought it’d be fun to bring about the end of the world, I guess! Musta been a Monday. Plus, we know how much he loved working for the Organization! 

Now all of a sudden, you can just directly implant hearts inside of replicas, and poof! They’re magically human! Before, the concept was that replicas were implanted with memories, akin to installing data on a hard drive. This caused them to develop a sense of self; an unwanted consequence for Xehanort. The heart and memory are intrinsically linked. That’s what Ansem’s research was all about. He interfered in the depths of Terranort’s heart and restored his lost memories, unleashing Ansem Seeker of Darkness upon the worlds.

People can share hearts in this series. All the Seekers of Darkness shared a heart with Xehanort. The fact is that Xion was created from memories of Kairi. She shared Kairi’s heart to experience her emotions. Roxas had fully developed empathy and the ability to wield a Keyblade from the very beginning of Days, because he had Ventus’ heart inside of him the whole time. Unlike Axel, Roxas and Xion didn’t NEED to grow hearts of their own. That’s why Roxas and Xion were called “special” about 10,000 times. They were different from the other members. And it wasn’t because they grew hearts. They already HAD hearts due to their unique circumstances.

Yet, in KH3 the only value Ansem’s data provided was telling Sora that Roxas and Xion’s “hearts” were inside of him. No, the only other heart he had inside of him was Ventus’ heart.The whole point of Re:Coded was that Sora had memories connected to other characters’ hearts inside of him. He was supposed to actually do something about it. But all this was just retconned away, like it never even existed. There was NO point to Re:Coded. But Roxas and Xion are back, so who cares! Besides, it was assumed that we’d be too stupid to realize that it makes no sense!

The Recusant’s Sigil symbolizing death and endings? Never heard of it! It was just retconned away, like it never existed. Well, I’d do the same. Isa and Lea were not apprentices. They were kidnapped and used as test subjects after they snuck into the castle. Why did they say they were apprentices? Who cares, just ignore it. I’m sure they were forced to do some awful things as part of the experiments. Maybe it can be revealed that they said they “became apprentices” as a euphemism for the true horrors they experienced, that are hard to talk about directly. Yeah, it’s total bullshit. But it’s no more bullshit than what KH3 did. Its story required me to ignore ALL of KH3D and ALL of Saïx’s character arc until that point.