#i don't watch this show to be preached at. I watch it for a fun/tragic scifi romp and also to see interesting ideas explored

[redeemed-wren]

Classic Who explores ideas, New Who explores morals

classic who is like 'i see this trend, lets explore what might happen if that trend continues and let the audience figure out what it's talking about and come to their own conclusions.'

new who is like 'this trend is BAD and i'm going to PREACH A SPEECH about why it's going to RUIN EVERYTHING' and it's so much more exhausting

[usha-is-transgender]

@batmanisagatewaydrug 's book bingo update for February!

Coming to you late (again). This month, I added 5 squares onto the bingo board, and am now only one square away from my first bingo. Not bad!

--

Literary Fiction: No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

I went into this book completely blind, and I'm so glad I did. I had seen it floating around as a book people really enjoyed, and sometime months ago I put the e-book on hold at my library, swiftly forgetting about it as the long, winding wait list inched forward. The day I finally got the notification that I could borrow it was a lucky one. I had just finished a couple of longer sci-fi books, and was in the mood for a change of genre and a quick finish. Starting this book off, I thought it had an interesting structure and fun narrative voice, but to be honest I didn't think it would be any more than just a fun read to tide me over until I started something I was really excited about. That is, UNTIL! The protagonist has a major event happen in her life, and we are immediately swept into it. What I thought was solely a commentary on the role of social media in the modern day becomes a meditation on grief, and if there is one thing about me you should know it's that I will always eat up a meditation on grief. I highlighted a lot of lines while reading this, and going through all of them shows an arc in and of itself. The early marks are quippy, tongue-in-cheek comments concerning life in the age of the internet. The later ones are punches to the gut in their simple severity. This book surprised me in the way I always hope to be surprised when I pick up something new.

As an aside, it seems from reading through the acknowledgements that this story has autobiographical elements, which immediately made sense to me. I sometimes feel like a sentiment like this is overused, but I genuinely think this a case where it is clear that the author has personal experience with the kind of grief it is portraying. As someone who has myself unfortunately experienced an especially tragic death of a loved one, I am not exaggerating when I say that some of the things written in this book have brought me to tears not only when first reading them, but after every subsequent revisit as well. This book made me feel understood, and for an aspect of my life I so seldom feel understood about. It is an incredibly special feeling when something comes out of the blue and touches you so deeply. An absolute standout.

Sequel: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

This is the fourth and final entry in the Wayfarers series, and while reading it I was finally able to put into words what it is I love so much about these books. There is an optimism within them about the future and the capabilities of humanity to work towards a more just world that I have only ever felt before while watching early Star Trek. This is not at all to say that there isn't horrifying and compelling conflict present in this world. Neither Star Trek nor Wayfarers is a perfect sparkling utopia. There are actually some pretty heavy topics covered in all four books. The optimism doesn't come from nothing bad happening, but from the conviction that we have the capacity to solve these issues if we only commit ourselves to the difficult path of collaboration and equitable construction.

Now, I am someone who felt that my life was changed by reading I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as a middle-schooler. I tend to gravitate towards stories of the dystopian and depressing variety. I like to read about misery. That being said, there is something very compelling to me about a narrative in which you can feel in your bones how much its creator believes that things can get better. That is what I feel when I read Becky Chambers, and I can't deny how invigorating it is when done right. These books don't feel to me like I am being preached to. They feel like I have happened to overhear a very personal conversation. Chambers' portrayal of a society in which many different aliens all live among each other, a society that has adapted continuously to make this possible, and a world that has moved past so many of the issues of our day while also inevitably running into structural problems of its own is immersive and fascinating. I'm sad that there's no more to come of this series, but incredibly excited to dive into this author's other work.

Fantasy: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Something I love to do every once in a while is to make one of my weekends into a game. The game consists of searching my library for any novellas I'm interested in and then trying to finish as many of them as I can in those two days. The way you win is by finding a really good book and/or feeling accomplished with how you made the most of your weekend. This book was part of that game, and yes I did win that time. My favorite thing about this novel was the fun structure it had in which we are learning about events that happened years ago from a somewhat unreliable narrator telling stories of her life to another character. It gives the story this really cool feeling of being simultaneously so large in its scope while extremely confined in its actual space. The majority of the events happen in a single cabin, but the effects ripple through everyone living in the empire its a part of. I know that this is the first book in a series, and I can definitely see opportunities for expanding on the story in interesting ways. I have to say, I wasn't quite enraptured enough to run immediately to book 2, but who knows? Maybe this world will find its way into my weekend game again.

Indie Publisher: Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar

This prompt was a really interesting one to try to fill for me. In the process I learned that so many publishing companies that I thought had nothing to do with the big names out there are in fact easily found to be subsidiaries of the Macmillan Industrial Complex. It was extremely sobering to try three separate times to slot in a book I was reading into this square, only to come back after a google search once again foiled. I was actually surprised when I looked up the publisher for this book (Chronicle Books) and found no connection to the Big 5. I picked this one up not because I thought it would fulfill the prompt, but to indulge my guilty pleasure of learning about survival disasters.

Okay, I can't lie, this was a bit of a weird one. I was very pulled into the chapters set during the Dyatlov group's fatal hiking trip and the ensuing search for their bodies. What wasn't so engrossing to me was the equal number of chapters dedicated to the author's trip to Russia in the 2010s to visit the mountain they died on. Those parts frankly just felt stretched out to pad the page count. There were a couple interesting moments, but they would have been more impactful if that entire section of the narrative was edited way down. In case you're wondering, the book does make an argument for how exactly the hikers came to die in such mysterious circumstances, and it comes straight out of left field. Have you ever heard of infrasound waves? Me either. In his defense, it seems like the author was equally baffled by the concept when he first came across it, and he chronicles his conversations with a really big deal scientist about how it's totally possible. I am not at all qualified to judge whether his theory is scientifically sound, but it's certainly interesting if for nothing more than how bizarre it is.

Social Justice and Activism: Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

I bought this book years ago with the determination to read more non-fiction, only for a receipt I was using as a bookmark to stay stuck on page 15 long enough so that increases in inflation that have likely rendered every price recorded there a historical artifact. I honestly cannot be sure if I would have ever gotten around to it without this bingo, which is exactly the kind of books I hoped I'd be reading when I started this.

There's not that much I have to say about this book other than it is a concise, wide-reaching, and persuasive case for the abolition of the prison. Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. I found it very useful for myself in that I was certainly familiar with prison abolition and some of the most well-known talking points surrounding it, but lacked a lot of the historical context and specifics of its perspective. There's also a great wealth of information to be found in the references section for potential places to continue my reading of this topic, another plus. It feels to me like an excellent broad starting place with suggestions for more in-depth works on specific aspects of what it tackles. Happy I read it and would gladly read more on the topic.

--

Overall, a whole lot of wins this month, and I'm extremely pleased with how the board is filling out. Here's to more great reads this year, and hopefully a bingo soon!

[justali-anne]

Thought Week: Toriel

Here it is! The last character in Thought Week! It's been a wild ride, huh? Anyway, onto Toriel!

(I don't think I need to say it at this point, but just in case, if you have any thoughts about Toriel, please leave it in the notes.)

First Impressions

Just like Flowey, I first found Toriel while I was in my MLP phase, back when I was about 10 or 11. It was a Fluttershy Plays video, specifically the Undertale one. To this day, I don't know if she ever did more than one episode, but I think you can still find it on YouTube somewhere. Anyway...

At first, I didn't really think much of her, since I was just a silly kid who wanted to watch Fluttershy play video games, but I did think, "Oh, she's nice. She saved her." And when I got into the Undertale fandom, I saw her a lot in Undertale fan comics. I guess I was under the impression that she was Sans' love interest... somehow. But I quickly realised it was just a ship. (I had no idea that Sans' promise in question was to her - I knew Sans made a promise, but other than that, I didn't know that she and Sans ever interacted.) Honestly, I just sort of dismissed her as the motherly character and left it at that. Nothing about her really interested me back then, she was just the nice, huggable mother character. But then I learned more about her and... Ooh, boy...

My Impressions Now

Toriel's not perfect, neither as a mother nor as a person. But she tries her best, and honestly, I don't really blame her for too much. She was a queen in a complicated and tragic situation. Imagine having your husband, the one person you thought you could trust more than anyone else, suddenly go, "All humans that fall down here will die!" And then you're just like, "Um, excuse me?! Bitch?! That's it, I'm leaving you!" And bada bing bada boom, she inflicted SELF-ISOLATION on herself! Fun for the whole family! (Oh, wait, she's all the family she's got left. Um... Looks like Asgore wasn't the only one who lost all their family, huh?)

Now, I still think she's overall a pretty good person. She's caring, she's sweet, she worries a lot about her loved ones, she saves you... twice... three times??? I think???

Does this count???? Probably not. Frisk could easily take this guy.

But here's the twist. She... is a massive hypocrite. Throughout her time as the tu-Toriel (low hanging fruit of a pun, I know), she preaches to you one thing - to show MERCY to your fellow monsters, to talk it out instead of fighting, just being a good kid overall, don't get in trouble, don't kill anyone, yadda yaddity yadda... and then when we try to ESCAPE, she turns around and does THIS.

Yeah, great! Way to practice what you preach, Toriel! You're DEFINITELY teaching your child how to show MERCY now, aren'tcha?! Did you forget that kids learn by EXAMPLE?!

Come to think of it, that would justify a neutral run from a story standpoint...

I'm sure that in her mind, it was fair. Maybe when she was teaching MERCY, she was only talking about the monsters in the Ruins, and NOT the monsters outside. After all, she could handle the Ruins monsters for Frisk, at least, that's what she thought, anyway. We already know Frisk is more than capable of handling them on their own. Besides, she was under the impression that we would be staying with her, or at least hoping we would. The monsters outside were dangerous in her eyes, after all. Unfortunately for her, things didn't turn out that way. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, just because of that. Who knows? Maybe she's not as hypocritical as I said above.

Although what really confuses me is this.

That sounds like a solid plan and everything, but you do realise that still involves taking human souls, right? He would still need to at least kill one human. I thought you wanted to protect humans??? Like for the others, sure, you could rob their graves for their souls (still a crime, but I digress), but apparently taking one human life is fine? I don't get it.

But that's actually what I like about her the most. She has a kind heart, but she's not perfect. She can be slightly hypocritical sometimes. Stubborn, unforgiving, holds grudges... And she's not exactly the best mother in the world, either. She's overbearing, overprotective, but with an understandable reason. But that's okay! I like her better like that than if she was a picture perfect beacon of morality and a perfect mother. It gives her more depth, more character. Speaking of being a mother...

More Than A Mother

A lot of fan works I've seen seem to have delegated Toriel to just being a mother figure that's really worried and overprotective of everybody and treats everyone like her children. Apart from Asgore, of course. Either that or Soriel. Like, okay, you guys have your ships, I get it. I won't judge you for ship art. I'm just gonna talk about the motherly characterisation she's been given.

In the game, Toriel is overbearing and overprotective of you/Frisk, because Frisk... is a child. A human child, who is in DANGER, because they fell into a place where literally ANYONE could just go up to them, kill them, and snag their soul! Toriel's trying to prevent a war by protecting you, it's not just about preserving your life (even though that IS a big part of it). And for most of the game, you can only see this overprotective motherly side of her because her only interactions are with you, the other monsters in the Ruins (that she protects you from), Flowey (who she protects you from), and, offscreen, Sans (who she asked to make a promise to protect you). So I can understand where this flanderisation comes from. I don't fault anyone for portraying her this way, heck, even I fell into the same trap. I just think it's nice to go back to the roots of the game and figure out why she is this way.

So, how does she treat characters outside of Frisk? Well, we know what she's like with Asgore, both in the past and the present. In the past, they were a lovey dovey couple to an embarrassing degree, according to Gerson. Heck, they were the Nose Nuzzle Champs of (insert year here because I can't be bothered to try and find the actual dialogue that confirms the date)! And in the present... She calls him a pathetic whelp. So, she has a bit of a grudge...

She tends to be stern and queenly with the other monsters. Not in a motherly way, a QUEENLY way. She's a little bit strict. Seriously! She fired Alphys on the spot after she admitted an experiment went wrong. Granted, it worked out for the best, but still! Calm down, woman, it was an ACCIDENT! SHEESH!

And then there's her relationship with Sans. I've seen comics and fanfics where she treats him like a kid, just like everyone else, but in the game...

SHE TEASES HIM RELENTLESSLY. AND SANS MESSES WITH HER TOO.

THEY MESS WITH EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THEIR FRIENDSHIP WAS BASED ON JOKES AND MESSING AROUND, AND THEY DO THAT ALL THE TIME!

They're the friends that get away with saying mean things to each other because they know it's just a joke between them. And you can interpret them romantically if you so wish, I don't mind either way. Regardless, it still involves them pranking each other, joking around, pouring hot water on the other, putting their freezing cold hands on the other's face, throwing mini pizzas at the other, drawing on the other's head... They're goofballs. Toriel can be really wild sometimes. And a lot of that wildness could be attributed to/with Sans. She doesn't treat him like a child. She treats him like an equal.

So, yeah, I don't think Toriel should be relegated to "everyone's mother". Sure, her motherliness is a part of her, but it doesn't account for all of her relationships, or even her entire personality.

The Narrative

Toriel is both important from a gameplay standpoint and a story standpoint.

From a gameplay standpoint... Well, she's the first boss. She's also the tutorial character, or, well, a blatant parody of such. She's the one who introduces you to the puzzles and the battle system and how to spare monsters just in case you're confused... And since she's the first boss, she also introduces you to how bosses work and how they're different from regular encounters. Namely, the fact that they can't just be talked to and subdued as fast. You're either gonna have to wear them down (which is sort of what you do to Toriel) or run away (Undyne - also "Fight me or run away!") So, yeah, thanks, Toriel, for teaching us how to play!

From a story standpoint, she was the Queen of Monsters. I'm sure every Undertale fan knows this, though, so I don't have to explain it at all. Although I'm wondering... If she didn't leave, how would the underground change? How would the entire story change if Toriel didn't retreat to the Ruins? She's the reason Sans looked out for you too, so what would have happened if she didn't get Sans to make that promise? I think there's an AU about this, actually. Surely it must be around on Tumblr somewhere.

Conclusion

Toriel has a lot more going for her than I initially realised. A wonderfully complex character who isn't perfect, but still tries her best because she truly cares. Oh, and a goofball. I love kindhearted goofballs.

And that wraps up Thought Week! Remember, if you have thoughts about any of these characters (your own interpretations, your opinions, even headcanons or ships or anything like that), please leave it in the notes! Don't be shy! I would genuinely love to hear about them and even discuss it if you're up for it! No pressure, though. Also, there's a possibility I might do this again, because it's been really fun! I still have thoughts on Frisk, Chara, Mettaton and a couple of others that I missed out on this week, so if you want that, let me know! Anyway, that's all for now! Hopefully I get to hear from you soon! :)

[katsukis-bakugo]

I've been replaying final fantasy xv and, other than the poor storytelling, the games worst aspect for me is by far the apparent "romance" between noctis and lunafreya.

I cannot for the life of me invest myself in their relationship. firstly, it feels very forced. the game gives them no substance outside of the words of third parties voicing how much the two supposedly love each other. for instance, a random child runs up to noctis just to tell him the player about how lunafreya felt. there's no escape from this happening either, which further forces their romance into the player's face and down their throat

(image: "she really loved you, prince noctis").

(image: "she was really excited to marry you! she looked so happy the day her dress arrived!")

who are you? how do you, random child, know how luna was feeling and how she reacted to seeing her dress? what purpose do you serve other than to, yet again, remind the player that noctis and lunafreya "love" each other?

any well-written romance would have absolutely no need to include ridiculous scenes like this as well-written romances show the audience the love between the characters rather than telling them through random npcs. the fact that the game doesn't go beyond anything other than this to build anything concrete or convincing for their relationship shows not only bad writing, but also lazy writing. quite frankly, it's insulting.

now, noctis and lunafreya met once as children; noctis eight years old and lunafreya twelve. they had no interaction over the following twelve years other than being pen pals. the idea behind their shared notebook is like texting someone from primary school until after secondary, then deciding to meet up and get married. it makes very little sense, if any at all.

yes, you can still learn about someone by writing to them, but you won't truly know them as you would with in-person interactions. flaws tend to be absent due to the writer being in control of the knowledge they give of themselves, which could - and in this case did - lead to the opposite party being placed on a pedestal. without any physical interactions, neither could genuinely know the other. they don't have the chance to see and learn their quirks, what makes them tick, how they treat other people and situations. their love for each other appears to be nothing more than the idealisations they've created of one another.

they don't truly know each other; they just think they do.

I'm just going to say it: noctis and lunafreya should've shared a platonic relationship. the fact that they're both nostalgic for the time they spent together as children coupled with luna giving advice and approval like a mother/older sibling gives the relationship a more comfortable fit to be platonic. a big indicator of this is luna's death scene in which the two appear as children.

despite it being a tragic event, it was still an opportunity for the supposed romance between the two to shine through. but instead, the main focus of their dialogue is duty. during the scene, luna does her usual of preaching about his destiny before it shifts onto her dying. noctis begins to cry and tells her "it's not right. all I wanted was to save you." luna then turns into her older, current self, and offers noctis - who is still presented as a child - words of hope and wisdom and tells him that she will always watch over him.

only at the very last second of the scene does noctis become his older, current self when the realisation of the situation sets in and he tries to reach out to her. instead of telling noctis that she loves him, luna simply says "farewell, dear noctis."

this scene was not romantically coded at all.

personally, I don't see their personalities being a good match romantically, either. it's a little unfair to say since luna barely has a personality, but from what we're shown throughout the game, I can't imagine noctis having fun or joking around with luna like he does with a lot of other people, even those outside his group. noctis loves to fish, to play games, to adventure and live his life. whilst you could argue that his attitude changed when he seemingly matured after his decade-long nap, he's still human with a personality. to me, luna seems like she would simply spend all day every day devoting all her time and energy to nothing but her role and to her lover, rather than having her own interests and life as well. sure, opposites attract, but sometimes two people are simply too different and are romantically incompatible.

a big weakness of the romance between notcis and luna is that luna is a very bad character. she's given nothing outside of her duty and noctis, which is pretty much the same thing. she's a classic "too pure, too good for this world" character who is presented as perfect and serves as nothing more than a mere plot device for the main protagonist/love interest. she's cast away when the story has no use for her anymore and her purpose is fulfilled. this makes it very difficult to care about her and her fate because she feels like less of a person and character and more of a catalyst for the story. the writers merely use her as a push for the protagonist. from my perspective, luna convinced herself she romantically loves noctis - she has a duty to uphold and it revolves around him and seeing his destiny through.

as for noctis, he clearly cared about luna and they did love each other - but I'm not convinced of it being in a romantic sense. they seemed more reliant on each other for comfort and hope rather than anything in relation to romance.

without the supposed wedding scene between the two, I think I could've swallowed their relationship a little easier (and lived pretending that their love for each other was platonic/familial). but it comes out of nowhere and is shoved in the player's face as if to say "see! they're in love! even though they didn't have to get married anymore, they still did because they really did love each other!" okay, but it doesn't make up for the poor writing, the lack of chemistry and romantic connection and the fact they still don't really know each other. let's not forget the fact that luna is sitting on the floor at noctis' feet like a dog. at her own "wedding"?

the same occurs in artwork in the dawn of the future book where, not only luna, but also their daughter is sitting on the floor whilst noctis and his son sit nice and comfortably on the throne. and the two of them gaze up at them as though their only purpose in life is to love them

why? who thought this was a cute idea? to me, it simply reinforces the idea that luna served nothing more than a role to noctis, whether it was as oracle, his love interest or just a plot device to push him forward.

also the fact that their children resemble noctis and luna exactly as they were as children themselves, down to the daughter being older as well, is just strange...also?? noctis has his hand?? on his wifes head?? she really is a fucking dog huh. I'm not a fan

in conclusion, I think square enix were complete cowards to not have the bond between noctis and lunafreya that of a platonic and/or familial one which, in my opinion, would have been far more suitable. I can't and never will get behind their romance, no matter how many updates, dlcs or books are released in order to fix it. some things are just broken beyond repair, and noctis and luna's romance is one of them.

[surflove808]

A Supernatural edit that pays homage to the villains. Using proper music, even.  Be still my blackened heart.

Probably very unpopular opinion, but ehhh...

Watched the brilliant Hillywood parody part 2 and started thinking about why I got into this show in the first place, and it's because I'm a fan of horror, urban legends and ghost stories.  This show was recommended to me a few years ago, and I got reeled in hook, line and sinker. I came for the scares and got sucked in by the acting and the deeply explored familial relationships between the characters.  Not to mention the soundtrack, that beautiful, beautiful car, the cast, the complex mythology and world building and the ability to break through the 4th wall and poke fun at itself.  

How a CW show can be so fucking off-the-wall funny and bizarre, yet tragic and thought provoking, usually all within a singular episode - is something I don't see a lot of on any network.  I could go on for a million years about how cool this show and cast are, but I'd be preaching to the choir.

What I don't like is the constant woobification of this show and it's characters that I see on the regular.  I find myself wondering if we're watching the same show.  Or maybe, I just don't automatically think of rom-coms or Taylor Swift when I watch it, and it's tough for me to bridge that gap, mentally. 

I mean, even 13-year old me would absolutely get into the hardcore aspect of it all and not associate these characters or this show with fucking Katy Perry or romance, or whatever... but, times have changed I suppose. Maybe it’s the sharp contrast between the show and the song that makes those vids so appealing?  I'm glad this little-show-that-could has fans from all walks of life, and that's cool, don’t get me wrong.

For me personally?  There aren't enough fan vids out there that incorporate music that the show/actors/characters would co-sign, so when I find one.... I get kinda excited because it reminds me that the empire Supernatural was built on is about these characters and how well portrayed they are, but the sub-basement? Badass music and horror.  This isn't "Friends".

And a proper Metallica song?  Sign me the fuck up!  It's just a shame that these don't get much representation because they're actually much more in-line with the show.  The one I'm watching anyway...

Bad Ass Edit.  Much love to the creator.  If you dig Metallica and/or the creatures, enjoy!