#i have never read the game of thrones books or seen the series because i knew i would get wayyyy too invested

[sylvies-kablooie]

unrelated to my usual loki blogging or history posting but i finished reading dune yesterday and watched the first part of the film trilogy and i'm so torn

because on one hand, i loved the worldbuilding, i thought the plot and themes were interesting if convoluted and often unpleasant, but i cannot stop myself from thinking about the themes and wanting to know where the story goes next even though i'm scared to learn (and i often didn't enjoy certain plot choices, like the 3 year timeskip or what felt like to me was chani being entirely sidelined)

on the other hand, i read the plots of some of the other novels, of which there is over 20, and frankly i think they sound unenjoyable and also there are so many of them- i know that guy turns into a worm- and how on earth could i ever read them all, what if they stop being good, but by that point i'm too invested in canon as has been known to happen- gestures to still keeping up with the mcu for sylvie alone- do i just. trudge along? through the 20 books?

my current course of action: gonna watch part 2 and maybe read dune messiah to understand part 3 when it rolls around but other than that. i shall try and resist any temptation to be called into the void. (can they cover all of dune messiah in one movie? will it be like 4 hours? so many variables)

and also i'm gonna be hard on the jessica and leto ship. peace n love.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why the media CEOs will always learn the wrong lessons

Yesterday a friend and I talked about how the entire (AAA) game industrie looked at BG3 being as popular as it is and going: "Oh, we need to produce 100+ hour games, I guess! Those sell!" Which... obviously is not why it is popular. The game is not popular because it has 100+ hours of gameplay, but because it has engaging characters, that are well-acted and that work as good hooks for the players. Like, let's face it: The reason why I so far have sunken 160 hours into this game is, because I wanna spend time with these characters - and because I wanna give them their happy endings.

But the same has happened too, just a bit earlier this year, right? When Barbie broke the 1 billion and every Hollywood CEO went: "Oh, so the people want movies based on toy franchises! Got it!" To which the internet at large replied: "... How is that the lesson you learned from this?"

Well, let me explain to you, why this is the lesson they learn: It is because the CEOs and the boards of directors at large are not artists or even engaged with the medium they produce. They mostly are economists. And their dry little hearts do not understand stuff more complex than numbers and spread sheets.

That sounds evil, I know, but... It is sadly the truth. When they look at a successful movie/series/game/book/comic, they look at it as a product, not a piece of art or narrative. It is just a product that has very clear metrics.

To them Barbie is not a movie with interesting stylistic choices that stand out from the majority of high budget action blockbusters. It is a toy movie with mildly feminist themes.

Or Oppenheimer is not a movie to them with a strong visual language and good acting direction. No, it is a historical blockbuster.

And this is true for basically every form of media. I mean, books are actually a fairly good example. In my life I do remember the big book fads that happened. When Harry Potter was a success, there was at least a dozen other "magical school" book series being released. When Twilight was a big success there was suddenly an endless number of "teen girl falls in love with bad boy, who is [magical creature]" YA. When the Hunger Games was a success, there were hundreds of "YA dystopia" books. Meanwhile in adult reading, we had the big "next Game of Throne" fad.

Of course, the irony is, that within each of those fads there might have been one or two somewhat successful series - but never even one that came even close to whatever started the fad.

Or with movies, we have seen it, too. When Avengers broke the 1 billion (which up to this point only few movies did) the studios went: "Ooooooh, so we need shared universe film series" - and then all went to try and fail to create their own cinematic universe.

Because the people, who call the shots, are just immensely desinterested in the thing they are selling. They do not really care about the content. All they care about is having a supposedly easy avenue of selling it. Just as they do not care about the consumer. All they care about is that the consumer buys it. Why he buys it... Well, they do not care. They could not care less, in fact.

So, yeah, get ready for a 20 overproduced games with a bloated 100+ hours of empty gameplay, but without the engaging characters. And for like at least 15 more moves based on some toy franchise, that nobody actually cares about.

And then get ready for all the CEOs to do the surprised Pikachu face, when all of that ends up not financially successful.

Really, I read some interviews yesterday from some AAA-studio CEOs and their blatant shock and missing understanding on why BG3 works for so many people.

Because, yeah... capitalism does not appreciate art. Capitalism does not understand art. It only understands spread sheets.

[supercupcakecollector-love]

It really can’t be underestimated what damage Game of Thrones did to fantasy TV and even id argue movies

I’ve seen Reviews for Wheel of Time saying it’s “too colorful” or “too much focus on female characters”

Or The of rings of power being called “Overtly whimsical” and “being Way too slow, having too much set up”

Not saying these shows don’t have there own issues but as someone who has read some but not all of both I think most fans of the source material would say those things are not only in the original books but they are some of the things those books are well known for

Game of thrones was never a fantasy series, it never wanted to be a fantasy series, it’s a political intrigue show that happens to take place in a fantasy world with dragons

(And the only reason people never complained about the exposition being boring in GOT is it was always accompanied by gratuitous sexual fan service sone of which was not even in the books or was off page, not to mention how they treated the actress’s during them- discussion for another post)

D&D openly admitted to thinking fantasy is inherently “campy” and not wanting to make a fantasy show

So many of these reviewers think that because GOT was a great political intrigue drama that means it must be a great fantasy show and all fantasy shows (no matter how much they may differ from the tone or themes of GOT) must strive to be like it

Not to mention that it killed off any chance of there being fantasy TV or Movies that don’t need to be prestige epics that are often very adult oriented and are more lighthearted, adventurous and a bit whimsical ( and lower budget) like the sword and sorcery stuff I grew up on from the 80s and 90s

Between the last season of Merlin (2013) and DnD Honor among thieves there was barely anything like this and whenever any of them did happen they quickly disappeared and were forgotten like the Willow reboot

( if anyone has any suggestions for this niche feel free to leave them)

[reblogandlikes]

Self insert Fandom

I've come to realise that most of the toxicity within the acotar fandom is often rooted in a ridiculous amount of self insert. They see a character as them, therefore their actions are absolved. They see another character in their abuser, or worse, 'as' their abusers and so they can never be impartial towards them, thinking the worst because in real life they've dealt with a lot.

I get it. Art can sometimes mimic reality, but they are indeed forgetting that this is a whole fantasy fiction book about human women turned fae getting dicked down with a hint of war and political intrigue. These characters are not, in fact, you or your abusers. Making the series so personal to themselves can then lead to a lack of introspection of the work as a whole made to be enjoyed and critiqued to the readers' preference, whether shallow or in depth.

But because this fandom in particular seem to make these books so personal than reading it as a piece of fiction, they're inflicting real world scenarios onto fictional characters and if their characters face any backlash or reasonable questioning, they take it as a personal attack which for some reason leads to insults and wild assumptions of very REAL people.

"No, no one is saying you should forgive your abuser mum, boyfriend, sister, because this literally isn't about you. I dont know you or your situation. Im talking about *insert character*."

"No, I don't think reactive abuse is OK, though I also don't believe lying about SA is OK either, let alone condoning SA."

"What do you mean it's abusive to lock someone up and then make an excuse to say it's not abuse to lock someone else up?"

The mental gymnastics is truly outstanding. If they're so called morally grey, let them be just that.

Speaking for myself, it's easy to find some commonality in a characters personality. It's written by a whole human who has a personality too, after all. But I do not attach myself to these characters as if they are my family members or those dear to me. They are, in fact, not real, and I will talk about them in the context of a fantasy text, generally.

Now the moment you take their actions out of a fantasy text, every character, and I mean, every character, needs to be dealt with the same scrutiny. Your faves will be called out and dragged. You cannot call real people names, but then think highly of yourself when your faves have done worse. What does that then make you? A racist? A misogynist? An AS denier? An abuse apologist? Someone who endorses apartheid? Someone who's OK with controlling the female body? A war criminal?

You see how absurd that all is?

Honestly, it's not that deep. But again, it's not bad to see yourself in character. Just realise that when people have some reservations about them, they are not calling YOU out. They are strictly talking about that character and that character alone. But maybe if you find so much offence, perhaps you should think about why that is. Look deep and figure out why it troubles you so much. Perhaps they're holding up a mirror, and you simply can not bear to look into it, seeming that that character represents you so much.

I think this is the only fandom I've been involved in where simply daring to disagree with the main MC and side characters can lead to online prosecution and just so much hostility. I've seen some truly nasty comments, and it's boggling. I can imagine how off-putting it may seem to newer readers.

I long for the days when people can talk about the characters and narrative alone without feeling the need to make disclosures about what they support in real life because it's truly unnecessary. I thought reading fiction was meant to be a form of escapism, not defending my moral standpoint.

If I said I enjoyed Katherine Pierce, Klaus Mikaelson and Kai Parker from TVD, what then? They're despicable, but fucking enjoyable. Don't get me started on Game of Thrones characters.

Alright, I'm done now 😅

[winterxgardener]

Here’s a recap of March 2024 because it was a great month for shourtney shippers:

March 1: Courtney possibly (allegedly) saying she’s getting married

Also March 1: don’t win Mario party which just screamed domestic bliss with the head on shoulders 

March 3: wavelength. they were on the same team, they knew each other, they were laughing together, very subtle though

March 6: Shayne guesses Courtney’s books Immediately and does his usual long explanation

March 7: we got Courtney drawing Shayne throwback to the beginning of the series, and Courtney’s meme having Shayne in it 

March 8: sniper chess, they were super competitive, they knew what each other were thinking, when Courtney said, “you’re lucky” he said, “i am lucky”

March 10: chosen moose master, subtle moments

March 15: Courtney won guessing Shayne’s favourites, the funniest thing was Amanda straight up asking Courtney if Shayne likes this (ex.liking sci-fi) and being shocked when Courtney says he likes a specific piece of media (like watching game of thrones, reading game of thrones books) and the meet and greet was so funny

March 17: TP:TNTL, possibly THE shourtney video of the year, it was so wholesome seeing people who just want the other to laugh and have a good time, they had inside jokes, their faces made each other laugh also Shayne knew something from rupaul which everyone knows Courtney loves and Shayne’s “what if I win” comment is something different like I have never seen Shayne like that ever overall 10/10

March 21: we got them in smosh pit theater, Courtney made a comment about Shayne’s brows and Courtney (and Angela) dying laughing at Shayne’s jump

March 23: reddit stories, Courtney laughing extra hard at the virgin joke

March 26: tntl 141, what do you mean we got 3 different bits were shourtney are a couple? Also new ship unlocked????

Knowing shourtney we’ll probably not get another good month like March for a long while (a drought seems to be starting but let me not be ungrateful and honestly they need a break)

Whoever made this summary, thank you. Kudos for doing this. 😌💚💙

Knowing Shayne and Courtney, you are probably right. April can be a drought month for shippers since March had a lot of Shourtney crumbs. 😅

[a-d-nox]

web of wyrd observation: moments when actors/actresses fit their persona so well

the best thing you can do is to lean into your persona number when acting or playing a part in front of others. people naturally have a predisposition to seeing and assuming you are a certain way and it is all governed by that leading public persona number. the more you lean into it the more you are likely to be seen and even recognized/rewarded for your association to that energy.

EXAMPLE ONE elijah wood as frodo in lord of the rings (lead number / public persona number as 10, the wheel of fortune, which gives grand adventure vibes)

EXAMPLE TWO florence pugh as dani in midsommar (lead number / public persona number as 3, the empress, is 100% may queen energy - pugh even looks like empress in the scene depicted below)

EXAMPLE THREE daniel radcliffe as harry potter in the 8 movie franchise (lead number / public persona number as 5, the hierophant, where could you get better dark academia vibes than at hogwarts? potter even teaches his peers in the 5th book and movie)

EXAMPLE FOUR orlando bloom as will turner, particularly the best movie in that franchise, pirates of the caribbean: at world's end (lead number / public persona number as 13, death, "part of the crew part of the ship, part of the crew part of the ship" vibes for sure)

EXAMPLE FIVE peter dinklage as tyrion lannister in the tv series game of thrones (lead number / public persona number as 11, justice, i have never seen a more politically and morally neutral character thanks george r. r. martin but also THANK YOU casting crew because no could've picked a better tyrion)

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my "suggest a post topic." button if you want to see a specific pac/pile next! if you'd like my input on how i read a specific card or what i like to ask my deck, feel free to use the ask button for that as well.

click here for the masterlist

click here for more web of wyrd related posts

want a personal reading? click here to check out my reading. options and prices!

© a-d-nox 2024 all rights reserved

[magnorious]

The Reveal that Changed Percy Jackson

*Spoiler Alert*

I’m talking about the Nico vs Cupid scene in book 8, House of Hades. I picked this scene, even though there were a great many in the original series that defined Percy Jackson as a story far more meaningful than just “cool tweenage demigods with magic and superpowers who fight evil”.

When this book came out, Nico vs Cupid was almost all anyone talked about. Why? Because Nico came out. Nico, an explicitly gay character in a book published by Disney, in a rather high profile series. Nico, the little angsty brat displaced from the timeline, comes out of nowhere with a world-shattering reveal.

House of Hades is already the darkest book in the series and, I think, the most polished and successful with this tone and how it feels so complete. While Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus, the constant clever and horrific callbacks to quests from prior books quite literally come back to haunt them. The others trying to carry on without them, the ridiculously high personal stakes, the drama, the storytelling, it spares no expense in this book.

The Nico vs Cupid scene was something else, though, and all these years later… I’m not so sure it was done for the better.

—

Independent of the Big Reveal, this scene does a lot of things we’d never seen before in this series, namely this: Cupid is scary, and no one expected him to be.

Percy Jackson, though it does have its serious moments, is the series where the god of wine wears leopard print shirts and the god of the seas has a fishing chair for a throne. These characters quip and joke even when they’re trying to be intimidating and Percy’s personality, snarky and sassy and very rarely shooting straight, undercuts a lot of the attempts at looking competent and threatening (and we love him for it).

They’ve fought gods and monsters and demigods and characters have died really tragic deaths, but for the most part, these serious moments all come when we expect them to.

This scene comes out of nowhere and for anyone who hasn’t read the book in a while, here’s the context: Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus and Nico is kind of the de-facto leader in their absence, knowing the most about Tartarus of the remaining crew. He and Jason are sent on a side quest to go retrieve the Staff of Diocletian from Cupid and Nico is not at all happy about this venture, but we don’t know why beyond that he’s Nico and he’s never happy.

Right out of the gate, Cupid is not at all who we expect him to be and this fight scene, absent of Percy, is suddenly very serious. Cupid doesn’t quip, he doesn’t show himself, and he fights dirty. The god of love, not the god of war or anything we expect to be violent and dangerous.

He’s whispering in characters’ heads, throwing them around like ragdolls, and taunting Nico ceaselessly all in Jason’s POV. Cupid gets some seriously badass lines, too.

“I’ve been to Tartarus and back,” Nico snarled. “You don’t scare me.” I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest.

Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work—a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you—especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say Love always makes you happy.” [Cupid's] voice sounded smaller, much more human. “Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you’ve faced it now. That’s the only way to conquer me.”

In all this, unfortunately in Jason POV, we’re primed only once by a previous god finally acknowledging that gays exist in this universe. This universe, based on Greek Mythology, famous for its not-straightness. Even then, audiences have spent 7 and a half books accepting that there won’t be any gays. No one is expecting this from Nico.

So when it comes, when Nico reveals he has a crush on Percy… the fandom lost our minds.

—

And I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, looking back. On the one hand, obligatory “we need representation,” but on the other, there was this one reviewer who knew what was up long before anyone else did.

She’d said something along the lines of raising damning concerns that Nico’s entire character arc was now defined by his homosexuality, that this scene frames all his anger, all his hate, all his rage and depression, about this one aspect of his character, and diminishes him because of it.

All these years later, I’m disappointed to say I agree with her.

This book series’ only major canonical gay (so far) is forced out of the closet with a proverbial gun to his head

Now, Nico likely never would have come out without that gun, but the way it happened, especially in front of Jason who he’s not friends with, showing Jason his memories because it’s not Nico’s POV and Jason has to see somehow because Nico sure won’t detail those scenes himself is... not good?

Jason handles it well, as well as he can given that this is Nico, and Cupid is an explicit villain so him forcing Nico out is in-character and not my problem. The narrative forcing Nico out is the problem—that this is a big reveal both to Jason and the audience is the problem.

The book isn’t new and with respect to when it was written and who wrote it, it’s not a terrible scene or terrible representation. But it’s not just forcing Nico out of the closet, either.

All of Nico’s character development is retroactively pinned on his sexuality

I get it. Nico’s… 14? 14 and from an era where being who he is was a death sentence, with zero education on the matter. Internalized homophobia is a thing (though Nico doesn’t actually seem to hate himself for being gay, he hates himself for crushing on Percy. Nor does he hate other gays or the concept).

Nico, though, is the one demigod who can summon any ghost he could dream up to teach him to hate himself a little less. He could have summoned the ghost of Freddie Mercury and what a dazzling mentorship that would have been.

The way the scene is framed makes it look like all of Nico’s rage comes from this one relationship, when it comes from so much more. He’s a son of Hades, a god no one trusts or likes and is synonymous with death, evil, and deceit. His sister, his last living relative, died on a quest as just a teenager. He has no friends at camp, powers that scare people, and is almost a century removed from everything and everyone he knew in his old life.

And he went and left camp *only* because of his crush on Percy? Not for any other reason?

When he does get his crush on Will, that only makes it worse. Nico did have friends, even if he didn’t believe it. He did have Percy and he’d earned the respect of his fellow campers after the Battle of Manhattan. He back-slid in HOH for this reveal, as if a romance is the only thing that could make him happy.

Cupid’s message is the narrative’s message: The only way to conquer love is to face it [in combat]

With a gun to his head, in front of a veritable stranger, instead of in, I don’t know, therapy with Apollo? There couldn’t have been any other way to fit this reveal in? He couldn’t have made his own group therapy session with other ghosts? Persephone or Demeter never sat this boy down for The Talk with a literal captive audience?

And that it’s a “reveal” at all, in incredibly dramatic fashion, a plot twist for shock value. The book couldn’t drop hints in Nico POV? Couldn’t casually state it anywhere at any time in the previous 3 books? Couldn’t treat it at all like this is normal and not a life-or-death situation?

I just feel bad for the kid. Nico can’t be the only demigod who has a guilty, unrequited crush. Cupid is forcing this out of him because that crush happens to be on another boy.

It’s in Jason’s POV

This world shattering, deeply personal reveal, and the character who’s having it isn’t even the narrator. Jason is a fine character and I know why it’s him out of everyone who could have gone with Nico, but this should have been solely Nico’s moment, not Jason’s commentary about Nico’s moment, being a non-consenting voyeur into Nico’s very personal memories about Percy.

Even if it’s not Jason’s POV to retain the surprise, it certainly starts to feel like Jason’s POV to retain the surprise. Jason can still be present, but even then—Cupid needed Nico to face Cupid, not Cupid and Jason.

—

It sucks because the scene as a whole, removed from the context, is incredible. The choreography, the pacing, the intensity of the battle, Cupid as a villain and Nico and Jason’s desperation to just stay alive.

Its impact on the series can’t be ignored. Blood of Olympus is no one’s favorite. It’s a terrible last book and not all that great as a book, period, but the ending?

Among other travesties, Nico confronts Percy, tells him he had a crush on him, and then *immediately* starts pining after Will. Percy doesn’t get the chance to talk to him, stunned at this reveal. They never have a heartfelt conversation about it, what this means for their friendship, how Percy never noticed or how this makes him feel, if he’s at all guilty for potentially leading Nico on and being a bad friend.

We get none of that. Nico just finds a pretty blond boy after, what, four years pining after Percy? One awful confrontation with Cupid and a few lines of dialogue traded with Jason and all his angst and moodiness is cured off-screen.

Can’t Nico go five minutes where he figures out who he is before he’s trading one crush for another? Can he not define himself independently of who he likes for just a couple chapters? He tells Jason after the Cupid fight that he’s over it, but… c’mon, he’s absolutely lying there, or he wouldn’t have been so hurt and upset and hesitant to reveal himself.

I love that he’s popular now, I love that he does have a healthy relationship (one that eclipsed the whole fandom for better or for worse), but the way he went about becoming popular still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Nico did walk so the rest of the series' extended universe could run. We did get Solangelo, we got Apollo being Apollo, we got a world based off Greek Mythology that stops straight-washing history. It's just a shame that he had to be forced out the way he did, and that his whole character is now defined by his relationship with Will.

[literaticat]

I read on your bio that epic, high fantasy is not a good match for you. I was just wondering if there was a specific book you read a long time ago that made you realize you weren't the biggest fan of the genre?

To be clear, there are plenty of fantasy books and authors I've loved -- Tamora Pierce, Holly Black, Laini Taylor, etc etc. I don't hate FANTASY. I just prefer my fantasy to be somewhat grounded in the real world and/or have a relatable human main character.

It will probably not surprise you to know that I was a big reader as a kid. My sister is ten years older than me, so I read all MY books - and then I read all HER books. And one of the things she had was this big boxed set Lord of the Rings, which in THEORY I thought I would like - I loved long books, I loved series, I had loved Narnia and liked the Hobbit -- but I tried book 1 and it was an absolute miss for me. Like literally made no sense. Not enjoyable at all. I hated it. (I did watch the movies - they were OK? Very boring to me. SORRY!)

Also I have never seen Game of Thrones, and that's because I KNOW I WILL HATE IT. There's nothing you can say that would make me want to watch it, I find every part of it repellent.

I'm simply not interested in gross dudes in dirty fur assaulting people, or complicated political machinations, or weird old men going on lengthy walks. No thank you. Not for me.

[skye-huntress]

I’m in Love with the Villainess Reaction

Episode 9

Before we get started, I wanted to say something first. I’ve been curious for a while what the reaction to Lene’s secret would be and I’ve made an interesting observation. Most of the comments condemning her and her relationship sounded way too similar to the comments I’d seen condemning homosexuality. As for me, upon some self-reflection, I decided that if I had someone like Lene in my life, it’d be far worse thinking they couldn’t come to me for help because they felt I would judge them.

Can’t forget that even with only a High attribute, Claire has her own OP attack spell.

Yes, Rae has absolute faith in Claire’s capabilities.

Noo, Prince Thane’s hair! You monster! What’s that? He’s bleeding? Poison? Eh, I’m sure he’ll walk it off.

That’s still pretty impressive to use knowledge from a game to counteract a real poison.

Nur Empire crumbs. It’ll probably be a few years more before the manga gets there.

The Commoner Movement might have lost its steam with the reveal of the conspiracy, but that doesn’t mean any of the underlying issues are resolved. What happened with Dede’s sentence is still an excellent example of certain nobles’ sense of privilege and superiority over commoners.

So, here’s the thing a lot of people didn’t understand about the potential motivations and consequences of Lambert and Lene’s actions. They were committing an act of treason against the crown, who generally take extreme measures to punish such things. Right or wrong, the entire family will be judged and punished for their crimes, regardless of their awareness or involvement. That’s why simply threatening a single family member isn’t a strong enough motivation on its own to betray the crown. Family is important, but who would doom the entire family for a single member?

I love it when they’re on their same wavelength, plotting together. We don’t get too much of that this early in the series.

We heard you loud and clear, Claire, you find Rae very attractive in formal wear.

Fun fact, Rae prefers wearing pants over skirts and dresses. Even Claire has a hard time trying to get Rae into a dress.

Look at those knights in full armour. And now I’m thinking about a certain fight scene later in the books. Those who’ve read them know what I’m talking about.

All hail, King Vegeta!

You gotta admit, even though it was obvious what they were going to ask, at least for the audience, it’s still a ballsy move. Like I said, treason is punished so harshly, even those whose only “crime” is being related to the actual criminals are executed.

Ah, Salas, the Prime Minister. Another character who I should avoid talking about.

Wow, look at Thane, the least favoured for the throne, sounding very much like a king right now.

Oh, these two are couple goals.

You know, we never learned what happened to the rest of the Aurousseau’s, just what Lene and Lambert got up to on their own.

Don’t think I didn’t notice what you slipped in in that flashback montage.

Quite the optimistic and hopeful parting. It’s not like Lene can visit, unless something extreme happened in the Bauer Kingdom, like a revolution or some- oh wait…

She’s almost here. And wow, they just revealed it in the promo that she was Claire’s first love (the charming “prince” little Claire mentioned in that flashback). Sure, she thought she was a boy, but Thane also had some pretty feminine features, enough to pull off a maid outfit. And who can forgot how Claire was convinced to go along with that cafe idea. Just saying, there’s a pattern here and it’s saying quite clearly that there ain’t no way this girl is straight.

[golden--doodler]

This post was long overdue! I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner, but here’s part two of the very first post I made on this lovely site, random Bob’s Burgers facts that no one asked for but I’m sharing/reminding everyone of because I can:

—Apparently, when Gene was a toddler, Bob had to watch him, and he somehow managed to eat a fern under Bob’s watch. Where did this fern come from? Who knows?  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯  Bob was very worried and thought Gene would die or get really sick, but he was fine. Gene has an iron stomach for real. This tidbit is as mentioned in Season 3, Episode 15, O.T. The Outside Toilet.

—Gene is the only Belcher with visible ears, and they’re adorable 🥰 I still don’t know how Bob’s hair manages to completely cover his, but it does.

—Real life fact, but 9/3 is not only Bob and Linda’s anniversary, but also Loren Bouchard and his wife’s anniversary! That’s where he got the date from. How adorable.

—Linda’s birthday is June 3, making her a Gemini. Tina’s birthday is March 30, making her an Aries. Gene is a Sagittarius, making his birthday sometime in either late November or December. I like to say his birthday is December 19, because that’s one of my friend’s birthdays :3

—Linda’s high school was called Cardinal Genarro High School, and one time, there was a pumpkin carving contest. Linda didn’t want Gayle to feel bad for losing to Linda’s amazing pumpkin, so she tried smashing her own pumpkin. Gayle followed her, though, and because of a series of events, they ended up destroying the entire table, which they swore to keep secret until well into adulthood (Season 12, Episode 3, The Pumpkinening).

—Linda’s hometown is a made-up town called Hunkawtaway.

—Linda once had Jury Duty on St. Patrick’s Day and wore a green blazer to court.

—Tina’s favorite flowers are Gardenias, as revealed in Season 5, Episode 11, Can’t Buy Me Math.

—Tina owns cat pajamas as seen in Season 4, Episode 9, Slumber Party, and that’s very important to me.

—Gene has brown eyes, which he most likely inherited from Bob. In the comics, Tina’s eye color is revealed to be blue, which she might have inherited from Linda.

—According to Gene in Season 11, Episode 2, Worms of In-Rear-Ment, Louise has always wanted to see Machu Pichu.

—Louise has apparently seen “Game of Thrones”. I wonder what she thought of it. Funnily enough, in the Season 4 Wharf Horse two-part season finale, Bob mourned the fact that he’d never find out how the show ended.

—As seen in Season 11, Episode 14, Mr. Lonely Farts, Gene normally hates being alone and thrives off the energy of other people. My poor boy had a whole panic attack when he was accidentally left home alone. However, he ends up using the opportunity to do a rave in Louise’s room with all of her toys, which she usually tells him not to do. It’s also revealed in that episode that Linda has a secret cracker stash, which he infiltrates.

—According to Season 13, Episode 18, Gift Card or Buy Trying, Gene might not like himself a whole lot. He rants about his former friend, Mitchell, saying that he’s loud, can’t really play music, and has no idea how annoying he is, and then comes to a realization, saying they’re exactly the same, so those things might be how he views himself.

—In Season 13, Episode 21, Mother Author Laser Pointer, it’s shown that Bob and Linda used to read Snail & Newt books to the kids when they were young, which is based off the real life Frog & Toad series. It’s so sweet they did this T_T

—Teddy’s favorite color is yellow! Mine is too :D This was revealed in Season 4, Episode 16, I Get Psy-Chic Out of You.

—Teddy’s full name might be Theodore J. McGillicuddy.

—Jimmy Pesto called Jimmy Jr. “Pepper” as a nickname in Season 1, Episode 10, Burger War, a nickname that’s not been repeated since.

—According to Season 3, Episode 20, The Kids Run the Restaurant, Mr. Fischoeder was married for a week. He had a real Grunkle Stan moment.

—As seen in Season 9, Episode 19, Long Time Listener, First Time Bob, Bob loved listening to a radio station with a DJ named Clem when he and Linda first started getting the restaurant off the ground. I think Bob listening to the radio at night and jamming out is very endearing. The same episode also revealed Bob’s hatred for Sweet Potato Fries.

—In Season 9, Episode 16, Roamin’ Bob-Iday, it’s revealed Bob occasionally succumbs to severe burnout from working at the restaurant, but despite that, cooking will always be his favorite thing to do.

—As revealed in Season 7, Episode 7, The Last Gingerbread House on the Left, Bob used to build gingerbread houses with his late mother, Lily. In the same episode, he made mini gingerbread versions of his family, which is the cutest thing ever. He’s the best dad for real.

[avastrasposts]

Hello!

So I just realised about 300+ people decided to follow me and, I suppose, read my stories? And 300 is such a small number but to me it's surreal that so many of you want to read what I write!

So I thought I'd introduce myself a little, just to be polite you know, and be like those author blurbs they put on the inside flap of books. So read on if you want to know more about me and my writing, or just keep scrolling if you'd rather I remain a redheaded mystery with a thing for Frankie Morales.

Also, chapter 16 of The Pilot and his Girl will be posted tomorrow, it just needs another round of editing.

Also, again, this got long, so if you can't be bothered reading all my ramblings below the cut, I totally understand. I have a habit of getting wordy....

So, I'm in my 40's and I've been writing for most of my life, starting with embarrassing little short stories in adorable misspelled fashion when I was just wee. I aspired to be a journalist and then went on a completely different tangent career wise, ending up with a PhD in an area I no longer work in (fifteen years of higher education never to be touched again but you definitely want me on your team in a pub quiz!). I have vague memories of writing fan fiction in my early 20, I think? (I'm old, give me a break). But I only got back to it late last year as a way to kick start my imagination and discipline around writing again. I needed a creative outlet and writing is something I always enjoyed and found easy to do.

I live in England, in the amazing but fucking expensive city of London. I look pretty much like my profile picture, only more wrinkles and maybe a bit of silver in all that gingerness. I'm a very good cook and baker (Pedro, I'll teach you how to cook any day!) and I'm married to my very own sweet Latino man. He's not called Frankie but he does call me cariño. I have big chunk of family in Sweden and I speak a little bit of Swedish (it's actually where I am right now, we're over here celebrating midsummer).

I started writing fanfics for The Boys fandom and Karl Urban as I was binging the whole show after finishing season 4. Then I stumbled into the Pedro Pascal fandom as I watched The Last of Us.

TLoU has a very special place in my heart. I've been gaming since my early teens and bought a Playstation 3 after saving for months, my first console after playing on PC for years. When TLoU came out in 2013 I bought and played it straight away and I, like so many others, had an experience playing it. It's the only story, in any medium, that's made me cry after just 10-15 minutes of game play. The scene were Sarah dies, still gets me every time. And the rest of the game...I turned up at work the next week in a daze, just needing to tell people about this incredible story and experience I'd had. It was like no other game I'd ever played, before or since. And I've replayed the game about once a year since 2013. Back then, that kind of game was totally unique, there was nothing like it. Some games had explored stronger story telling elements, but not on this level, nothing came even close to creating such a bond between gamer and characters. Now days we're spoiled by powerful storytelling in video games, in 2013, The Last of Us was totally unique (sorry, I'm blabbering, but I could go on at length about TLoU and the impact it had).

So when I heard there was talks about turning into a tv-series, I was scared. Really worried. The gaming community have seen so many horrendous adaptations of video games, my beloved Assassin's Creed was butchered in 2016. But then I heard Pedro Pascal had been cast as Joel and I was carefully hopeful, and then Bella Ramsey as Ellie and I got really excited. I'd seen them both in Game of Thrones, both of their performances sticking in my mind. I even remember reading about Pedro being cast in GoT and looking him up and being disappointed because he looked nothing like I'd pictured the Red Viper when I read the books. But then he just swanned in and crushed it, he was so damn good, he won me over straight away. I can't imagine anyone else playing Oberyn.

And then of course, the first few trailers of TLoU dropped and we got glimpses of the show and I remember texting my equally TLoU obsessed friend and we squealed in delight at how good it looked! And the first time I heard the clicker sound....I shuddered, it was a very real physical reaction. If I'd been on the actual set and heard it, I think I would've run a mile.

And then, as I was still writing The British Connection, a fic set in The Boys fandom, I watched Triple Frontier, and, like so many others, fell hard for sweet Frankie Morales. So jumping the gun a bit, I decided to write something with him, just a drabble, to get used to writing him and to write in the Reader insert format. But it kind a grew in scope and when I had the idea of sticking him and the rest of the Triple Frontier boys into TLoU universe I knew I had to create something bigger.

Looking back I would've made the story tighter, less lengthy, had I known from the start that's where it was going to go. But part of the fun of fan fiction is posting as you go, I think. I get feedback from you guys and it makes me think of other elements to add to the story. There isn't always a set road map for how a fic is going to develop.

If you've made it this far, congratulations and thank you, I'm impressed you read all that rambling from some stranger on Tumblr! The Pilot and his Girl has a set plan now, I have chapters drawn up and although I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to end up with, I know where the story is going. You'll find out what's happened to Pope, Will and Benny. And Joel and Tommy will of course come back to the story later on. There will be more trauma and angst as the story continues but there will be a happy ending, of sorts, in the end.

And again, thank you all for reading, commenting and reblogging! I love you all!

[highfantasy-soul]

Re: Netflix's live-action Avatar the Last Airbender

I was 12 when the animated series started airing.

I caught episodes as they came on Nickelodeon, but I didn’t watch it religiously start-to-finish. I caught episodes when they happened to be on and I happened to be watching TV (I was NOT part of the generation that had unlimited access to shows - tv/computer/video game time was strictly monitored in my household) so there were some episodes I saw over and over again, and others I never did see.

I think it was around middle/high school (honestly can't remember - it was one of the two) that the show got put on Netflix and I started watching it from the beginning with my brother and some friends. Needless to say, I've been a die-hard fan ever since.

I think the animated show is incredibly well done and the storytelling is super on-point for what I love in media. Zuko's redemption arc is still the best arc I've ever seen, and the character growth is amazing.

I had never really fallen into the 'it's not perfect, but…' way of analyzing media, so I never dwelt too much on its flaws - I'd much rather focus on the things it got right as literally every piece of media has flaws and things that could be changed to make it better.

So yeah, hyperbolically, the animated version of ATLA is 'perfect' - but since people insist on anything that's not perfect being drug through the mud and hyperbolically being called 'garbage', I guess I have to dredge up the things I didn't care so much for in the animated version while analyzing how the live-action handled it (or avoided handling it).

I was super excited for the film adaptation - again, announced while I was in high school. I was looking forward to it so much - then, well, we know what happened there.

Things were changed that didn't make sense to change (the pronunciation of character names, the 'test' for figuring out who the Avatar is, the poor bending where movements didn't align to what was happening with the CGI, casting of white people when the characters were always meant to be indigenous and all asian ethnicities, among other issues people have made many essays about)

So, when this was first announced, I was SKEPTICAL.

While the trailer looked good, it seemed very safe - I recognized everything in it and it looked well made, but like, that doesn't mean the whole thing will be good - or justify its existence.

I tried to ignore any 'leaks' or interview quotes because those are always misconstrued so much and people hear one sentence and create a massive narrative in their head about what that sentence means and usually, all their bellyaching assumptions they made from that piece of info is just a non-issue once the show actually comes out.

I didn't give any credence to people screaming about "Sokka isn't going to be sexist anymore?? It's ruined!!" or "They're going for a Game of Thrones tone?? They don't understand Avatar at all!!" or "No side-quests?? They don't understand the point of the show!!"

First off, invoking the demon that is Game of Thrones is just a marketing tactic - that's all it is: MARKETING!! Just like EVERY YA book for years was 'The new Hunger Games' now it's 'The new Game of Thrones' even when the story at hand is NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THOSE THINGS!! It's literally, let me cradle your face gently in my hands, JUST a marketing ploy to get you to see a recent title you DO recognize and have (assumedly) heard good things about (ie popular) so that you then pick up the thing that they slapped that name onto.

Creators rarely have say in what their creation is likened to, they're told by marketing companies to go with it (if they're told anything at all) and they just say "yes, marketing team I have no control over, whatever you say".

Also, a passing comment in an interview is off-the cuff and when someone makes a comment like that, people read WAY too far into it and it's usually not nearly as deep as people make it out to be. That's why I just wait for the actual thing to come out and just watch it and judge it based on what it is, not some narrative someone else has created for it based on half a quote from some random interview.

So going into this: why the live-action adaptation? Why was it necessary?

In my opinion, the answer to this question is the thing many fans hate the most: altering the original story.

A beat-for-beat remake isn't necessary - the original is right there, so in order to 'earn' the right for this adaptation to exist, that necessitates changes to be made that add to the themes, deepen the lore, and delve into different aspects of the world in ways a child's cartoon can't.

So, I'm looking for not a 1-1 remake, but rather an adaptation that enhances the themes, irons out some uneven characterization/pacing, updates the story just enough to really get what they want to across, and delve more directly into some of the harsher aspects of the war.

I have always felt that Iroh's involvement in the Fire Nation military was glossed over a lot in the cartoon - I suspect because he's supposed to be a good guy and we can't have our good guys be overtly war criminals responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

The effects of hard decisions made during war are shown in the animation, but the decision making process itself is rarely talked about until the very end with the gaang's struggle to keep helping people while also knowing where to focus their energy and Aang's struggle finding a way to stop the firelord without killing him.

something this adaptation can do is actually show the people making the decisions - and directly talking about the horrible effects of it. I'll get to it later, but that's one of the major themes in Episode 4 that I'll talk more on then.

Especially in Book 1, like many first books/seasons, the worldbuilding isn't fully fleshed out and the themes that really come to fruition later aren't as tight as they could be at the beginning. If the adaptation can go ahead and seed/tighten the themes that become big deals later on here at the beginning, it will 'justify' it's existence as the story retold after the whole story has already been plotted out.

Just like with the Percy Jackson and Wheel of Time adaptation, those writing for the show have the benefit of knowing how the story ends and all the stuff that's added to the world building as time goes on that wasn't necessarily known by the authors when they wrote and published the first books - the benefit of hindsight allows the show's script to take into consideration these additions and seed them early on to make the story more cohesive and reinforce themes.

So, this analysis is going to be long and filled with minute details, beat by beat for the episodes.

I have seen so many takes that I just sit and scratch my head at and think 'that was so obvious in the show - how did you miss/misinterpret that thing so wildly?' that I guess what I took for granted as obvious in the show, others didn't, so here's me being pedantic and over-explaining everything so maybe others can see that 1) they aren't the only ones who saw this interpretation and 2) maybe others will see the scenes a different way

Still trying to decide how to break up the analysis as the episode recaps are going to be LONG and since people now demand to see all the citations for stuff, the character analysis posts will be long too as I pull direct scenes to show why I feel the way I do.

I don't want to overload the posts and make it so they're just annoying to read, so I'll probably break them up into the sections of the episodes and maybe break up the character posts.

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

[khaleesiofalicante]

To get to know you better I hope you can indulge in my ask! :)

Favourite 5 novels of all time (and why?)

Favourite ships of all time (and why?)

What are your favourite Shadowhunter novels? (and why)?

Favourite Shadowhunter ships (and why)?

Much love :)

Of course! This is lovely! Thank you!

A) I have more favorite 'series' than books/novels tbh.

You'll see that I love books more for the plot than the characters, It's the same for any media I consume. I often don't relate to characters a lot. But I love stories and if the plot is good then I don't care if I like the characters!

In no particular order:

A Song of Ice and Fire (novel version of Game of Thrones) - I've never read a better series with a plot so captivating and the world building is just something else. I also love the characters so much!

The shadowhunter chronicles - I've always been obsessed with the concept of angels and demons (maybe it's my catholic upbringing) but I got sucked into the series very easily. One of the things I love about tsc is that the friendships have just as much emphasis as romantic relationships.

Red White Royal Blue/Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - These are two of my favourite queer novels because these were some of the first queer novels I read so they mean a lot to me. I love the characters in both!

Sherlock Holmes - I've read every single story and I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes growing up. Mystery is my favourite genre and the writing of Conan Doyle really influenced my own in turns of how much I love leaving clues and plot twists. He is just brilliant!

Ponniyan Selvan (This is a novel in my native tongue) - I read this when I was very young and this is, to this day, one of the most brilliant pieces of writing I've ever read. I started writing stories when I was 8 (my mom took me to school competitions etc) and this story was my inspiration to start writing. (because growing up I only write in my native language. I think fan fiction was the first time I started writing in English).

B) Favourite ships:

I don't actually have many hehe. Like I said, I don't connect with characters/ships easily. But some ships I do like include Malec, Firstprince (rwrb) and Ineffable husbands (Good Omens).

There are also this from my own writing that I love a lot hehe. But I'll save them for later.

C) My favorite shadowhunter novels:

My favourite series is TMI. I think it's because I like the gang best (they felt like an actual real friend group to me as opposed to the others who had too many mini friend group inside them). I also like the plot of tmi and the villains much better.

I also love the three novellas - the bane chronicles, TFTSA, and GOTSM. This is some of CC's best work if you ask me (And those who co-wrote them with her!). And of course, I love the red scrolls of magic. The book was perfection. 100% perfection.

D) Favorite TSC ships:

Malec - Just because I understand them the most and I love their dynamic and I love how much growth we've seen from them (individually and together). They're the kind of couple that inspires others (in the tsc world and outside). I love that!

Herongraystairs - Idk there is something about the three of them and how much they love each other that gets to me. I wish we got to see more of them together!

Some honourable mentions I love: Henry/Charlotte, Gideon/Sophie, Gabriel/Cecily (I actually like all the ships in TID actually), Gwyn/Diana, Jace/Clary.

Thank you for the questions! Please feel free to tell me about all of yours too! I'd love to hear it 🧡

[writing-in-verse]

So I Finally Read Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

There will be some level of spoilers so do be aware all who enter here.

I was apprehensive at first when i heard Cassie was writing a book in an entirely new setting, a new adult book no less, after writing YA for as long as I can remember. I've seen authors attempt to pivot to a different age bracket before and it is a challenge if you're not fully prepared for it.

Sword Catcher is entering the space where Game of Thrones and Gentleman Bastards have long ago carved out their right to be there and became titans of their own. It was surprising then to see both authors of the above had read Sword Catcher and had given a review for the back of the book - George R.R. Martin's quote and name was displayed proudly on the front of my edition for added flair.

It was a bold statement of intent, to sit among giants and share the space meant Cassie was putting her best foot forward. I don't want to suggest Lynch or Martin 'allowed' or 'gave permission' for Cassie to be in this space but they did vouch for her, showing a creative respect which carries weight and expectation.

I'm so happy to say Cassie pulled it off.

I'll admit I was cautiously optimistic about Sword Catcher, about Kel and Connor and Lin, a slightly worry that perhaps Cassie's years as a YA author could hold back the potential of this new work. If in being really honest, Shadowhunters is very important to me and I think part of me was unsure about leaving it behind.

Cassie's ability to build a world here is striking in it's ability to never overwhelm the reader with context and exposition without losing any of the depth and complexity you'd expect from a novel concerning kings and kingdoms. You come to learn of Castellane's long and muddled history over time, never giving away more than is needed to make the world feel complete but without throwing nonsense terms around which would simply not be remembered.

The class divides that permeate the work, held up by proto-capitalist greed and the politics of nations happening atop a towering hillside is fed in lockstep with the rest of the plot, holding enough information in front of the reader without giving the whole mystery away. Woven throughout is the Ashkari people, very clearly a Jewish analogue, a nation with no homeland other than the one their communities reside in. Locked inside the Sault after nightfall and looked upon with distrust, othered because of their ability to use even limited magic. I'm certainly not selling the tact and nuance Cassie brings to the world and the people who live in it but it's beautifully presented and should be applauded.

I don't have much to say about the characters, mostly because I can see their journey has just begun and I'm excited to see them all grow and change as the narrative unfolds. What I will say is Lin can do no wrong, Kel is just a fella, and Connor is one of the best written protagonists for how deeply flawed and naive he is and yet I simply cannot wish him ill.

I summary, Sword Catcher is an almost flawless first entry into a series I could see becoming a favourite of mine and I cannot see where it goes next. What a dazzling and captivating read.

[hifumihime]

Not sure anyone will read/care about this but I need a spot to vent about this whole "Idols "recommending" Made in Abyss" thing that's currently trending on twitter because I feel like I'm losing my mind (also I have no one else to talk about this).

So, one tweet from an unverified account posted that several idols were out here promoting and recommending the manga/anime Made in Abyss to their fans... and like... that's not at all what happened? One of them mentioned in a live off hand that he was going to watch it (along with a list of other shows), but stated he probably wouldn't finish them because he was currently touring. He apparently has never brought it up again. Another had a volume on the floor in the corner of a photo he took on his instagram story. He has also never talked about it before or since.

I have not read or watched Made in Abyss, but I follow several anime accounts online and basically every single person was recommending this show when it came out in 2017. It's still highly regarded in the anime community. I have never seen a single person ever speak about the "sexual" moments in it. I was curious and decided to read the first 3 chapters and... yeah, there's one part right in chapter 1 that has a pretty gross illustration of the child protagonist, which I'm not going to go into more detail here because it did make me extremely uncomfortable. I will note that apparently the South Korean version of the manga/anime is heavily censored and also rated mature, but I've not seen what the censoring in question looks like, so I don't know how much they could have read/watched that in, say, the North American/Japanese versions.

My overall opinion, after sleeping on this, is that calling these idols predators or worse is an extreme over-exaggeration. I'm not surprised people are saying this because the tendency for fandoms to overreact and be the morality police are worse than ever before, but if we're really cancelling these people for reading "problematic" fiction/dead dove content, then I'd be right alongside them.

From my physical manga collection alone, I can name three series I own that would get me cancelled:

After the Rain: protagonist, a high school girl, falls in love with an older man (mid-40s?) who serves her at a family diner. She starts working there, and they develop a friendship. Spoiler: nothing happens between them

Cardcaptor Sakura: pretty well known magical girl series so I won't go into the plot, but like.... looking back on it, there were a TON of age-gap romances in here, one of which being a teacher and an elementary school student. I remember being in elementary school and reading it for the first time and being weirded out by it. Spoiler: nothing happens here either (though I have not read the clear card sequel series)

Daytime Shooting Star: Romance with a love triangle between her teacher (wow I'm realizing I read a lot of age gap/teacher/student stuff) and a classmate. Spoiler: she doesn't end up with her teacher!!

I can think of a ton of other non-anime related examples of "problematic"/dark fiction that I love too: Game of Thrones, Last of Us, House of Leaves, My Dark Vanessa.... One of the best books I've read last year was about a cannibal. I guess to twitter, I am also a cannibal?

I think the unfortunate reality of being an anime fan is that basically 80% of the shit out there has "problematic" elements to it, or as I like to call it, "anime bullshit". And I think a lot of kpop fans have not actually watched anime or read manga and aren't aware of this.

You're allowed to feel uncomfortable with fiction. You're allowed to be weirded out that an idol likes a dark manga that has children as the main protagonists, where awful things happen to them. But at the same time, people are allowed to read dark content as well and that does NOT make them pedos, abusers, etc. That is a horrible accusation to make against someone, especially with no proof other than the fact that they may or may not own a volume of an extremely popular manga series. I really feel like the internet as a whole does not realize that words have meaning, and accusing someone of such vile behavior because of the fiction they may or may not read is just... insane. It's insane behavior. Please go outside.

Anyway if you read all of this, congrats. I'm basically word vomiting this all out at 6 am because I'm bad at sleeping. Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on the matter honestly!

[bookishfeylin]

Hello! I popped in a few days ago to say how much I love your blog and I thought I would circle back a little bit with some of my (messy) thoughts on the ACOTAR series from an LGBTQ+ perspective. (Maybe I could make a side blog for this. God knows how I struggle with the horrible writing in the Dragon Age games on main). My credentials: trans man and bisexual, but I’d like to blanket that I don’t speak for the entire community and, of course, I am speaking from my own experiences.

So, the first lgbtq+ character prominent we’re introduced to in SJM’s bibliography is actually Aedion from Throne of Glass, and the only reason I’m starting off with him is because I’m really mad that he was our first prominent bisexual character in the books and there was 0 mention of his relationships with other men; it was a throwaway line before his romance with Lysandra (in which SJM butchered his character in the last book. Not to say that bi men can’t date women! I liked their ship but I was mad at how it was treated as tokenism).

Within ACOTAR, we’re first greeted with Helion, and the issue with his writing is… pretty glaring, I think. The promiscuous bisexual is a harmful trope that’s been toted around for a while; “oh, you’re bi? you must be down for sex all the time with whoever you want” which… ignores the fact that sexuality can be a spectrum and does assign bisexuality a sort of sexual morality that people have used to condemn us for a long time. Not to say that Helion can’t be promiscuous, but there is a focus on it as a huge aspect of his character when there are other ways to do it.

I feel like Morrigan is a little self-explanatory. It’s… not great, imo, that SJM isn’t being a little more clear about her (if she prefers sexual relationships with men but intimate romantic relationships with women, great! But please SAY THAT). The way she strings Azriel along is cruel and unnecessary—she shouldn’t need to feel afraid to come out to people who are supposedly “her best friends” or “are like brothers to her”. Hell, she felt safer coming out to Feyre, who’s she’s known for considerably less time! I’ll also touch briefly on the whole situation with Eris… insofar as to say that I think SJM writing it out with such violence was unnecessary and the optics of “I prefer women because men harmed me” that, while may not be necessarily true, the appearance of it being true reads really poorly because it’s what conservatives and conversion camps like to tout about lgbtq+ people (“you’re only like that bc someone hurt you”).

Thesan is another one, but SJM left his lover unnamed. C’mon. There’s barely any named NPCs in this series as it is, it wouldn’t have killed her to slap a name on his husband/mate.

Speaking of mates, I need to gripe about the mating bond too—in ACOMAF, I believe it is, but just in general, the bond is used to indicate NOT who would be happiest in love, but it is based on which pairing would “make the strongest offspring”. So, if we walk away from the heteronormativity of that explanation, how the HELL do you get gay mates? And if you’re gay, what happens if your “mate” is someone you’re not romantically or even sexually attracted to? Do you just have to deal with this uncomfortable and predestined tension and expectations to suck it up and make babies, anyway? And why should it be based on children and the ideal nuclear family? (We know why. But from a meta perspective, why?)

And as a brief aside, I still haven’t seen a trans character. Not that I’d want to. I think I would end up being terribly offended if she tried to do so. Sorry this ended up being so long! Maybe I should’ve devoted it to my own post 😔

No, you're fine! I'd had my own thoughts about some of these but I'd never considered the full extent of how abysmal her representation truly was. Tysm for this!