#i know elizabeth's a serious character and person and all but it's good to be a little silly and goof around with your friends.

[elizabethvaughns]

i feel like we're totally glossing over the fact that since lucas and elizabeth have been friends and known each other for twenty years or so when the show starts (assuming they met freshman year of college when they were 18), best friends, in fact, that they're bound to have some dumb inside jokes. silly nicknames, even. their relationship seems very serious most of the time, but they deserve to be a little goofy and wacky from time to time!

[nicromancytarot]

WHICH ONE OF MY FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS YOU WOULD BE?

This is a general channeling based on a collective of people. Take what resonates and leave what doesn’t. If you don’t feel the pile resonates with you, don’t be scared to try another, if it still doesn’t feel right, that’s ok! Maybe our energies aren’t as connected and my readings are not for you.

I do these strictly for fun and educational purposes. I do not charge for these readings, and I do not fake content.

PICK A PILE READING

I asked my spirit guides what favourite fictional character of mine you would identify as, pick a picture and find out what they had to say!

PILE 1

Tom Riddle. (Harry Potter)

Being born into a life of disadvantages cannot be easy, his parents have been a fluke of love rather than a serious one, a small one-sided magically influenced fling turned into the birth of their only son, but one could not have and one did not want, so he was given away. Unwanted, alone, ignored, mistreated. So he assumes power in the only way that he knows how to, having not been given love or care his entire life, all he knew was darkness, and so he worked further with it.

Tom Riddle soon enough became the most overpowered and feared wizard in the entire world, his name itself was one people worried to beckon incase it summoned the dark lord himself, this was the only way for Tom to get his revenge on the world.

But Tom was scared, no matter how old he grew, he was always so concerned for the thought of death that clouded his mind daily, so much of his life was taken from him at the start, and at the end he just wanted more.

Everything he had built, whether with good heart or not, was stolen from his grasp and ripped from under his hands, the little time that he was granted was shortened by his fear, a deep deep terror that he would never have enough of it, that there could not be enough seconds on the clock to count how long he wanted to be alive.

So soon enough, the nightmares that haunted him while he was awake, were the ones that defeated him and dragged him back to sleep.

PILE 2

Mira Troy. (Enola Holmes 2)

Miss Mira Troy, the unexpected villain of the story, the one too overlooked to have the evil intent noticed by those who were near her, the woman with twice the mind of anyone she had to work for, but ignored because of her identity.

Mira Troy took the invisibility that she was granted within her job, her place in society and ran with it, hiding her true self from everyone in order to be the person that no one knew she could become. All her opinions and words were disregarded and seen past, so she created a false persona, she expressed her intentions clearly, but so discreetly that no one who had the opportunity to talk to her would realise that she was indeed capable of the things normally seen fit for a man.

She schemed in darkness but she worked in daylight, achieving more than she would’ve been given, creating all that she was not allowed to have, and all without any wandering eyes, all unnoticed, unseen.

She managed to complete one of the most heinous, risky crimes all in order to make the money that she deserved regardless, and she did it without anybody poking their nose in, purely to play a game with Sherlock, and even then if he was not acquired to help Mira Troy most definitely would’ve gotten away with it.

PILE 3

Elizabeth Boland. (Good Girls)

Beth was just a casual mother when she got herself into some trouble, she would carpool her kids to their soccer games, she would bake cookies for the school bake sales, it was the least expected to know that she and her friends, average mothers like herself were engaging in moving, cleaning and laundering fake cash for a dangerous gang leader.

And even when she managed to find a way out of her predicament, she put herself back in for more, she needed to experience something other than the bore of being a stay at home mother; she discovered how much she enjoyed doing risky things, and even when a gun was held to her head, she didn’t care much for what was going to happen.

She outsmarted those who thought little of her, got the gang leader wrapped around her finger and continued to make the money that she could from doing what no one expected she would. Her plans were always fool proof, they were designed intricately to keep herself out of trouble, and she did it purely just to have a more exciting life. She liked the thrill of it.

Even when she did get caught, her excellence in lying helped her out a ton, making her seem like a sweet innocent mother once again, no one would know what she was really planning on doing.

But maybe she was too easy going, forgiving her husband for cheating multiple times, for faking cancer, for trying to kill her gang leader friend, who may have been more than a friend.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Mansfield Park - Henry Crawford and Fanny Price

I want to lay out how I see these characters and their relationship, because to me they seem to be set up as a deliberate contrast to Pride and Prejudice. At the tine of Henry’s first proposal, they are in a similar place to Elizabeth and Darcy at the time of Darcy’s first proposal, albeit with extremely different personalities than those characters: Fanny refuses him despite his wealth and her economic precarity because she cannot like or even respect him. However, Fanny, who is far shyer than Elizabeth, cannot lay out in direct and specific terms the foundation of her disapprobation of him.

From there, Henry sets out to win her regard in ways that very closely recall some of the events between Elizabeth and Darcy.

1) He does a great favour for a relative of hers. In his case, it is getting his uncle the admiral to have Fanny’s brother William promoted to lieutenant; in Darcy’s, it is saving the Bennets from disgrace by getting Wickham to marry Lydia. Darcy’s favour is far greater, and much more personally unpleasant for him, and he keeps it intentionally secret; he does it out of love of Elizabeth, but not to make her feel obligated. Henry’s takes only a few days of his time, its goal is get to Fanny to like him better, and he leverages it both at first and later to make her feel obliged to him.

2) He changes his manners to suit her. In Darcy’s case this means being polite rather than rude and haughty; in the case of Henry, who has always been charming and gregarious, it involves softening his manners to suit Fanny’s shy and quiet personality and engaging in more serious talk. In Darcy’s case this is a fundamental change in response to Elizabeth’s reproof; in Henry’s, it’s a simple adaptation to one person’s taste rather than another. He’s intelligent and able to engage in serious conversation when he wants to, but that’s not indicative of any fundamental change in his thinking.

3) He is polite to her family (the Prices, in Portsmouth) even when they are embarrassing.

4) He speaks with Fanny about reforms he is making on his estates to make sure his tenants are being treated fairly. These feels like a parallel to Elizabeth’s improved opinion of Darcy upon visiting Pemberley and hearing how well his servants speak of him. The difference is that Darcy has always been like that, whereas we are told early in Mansfield Park that Henry has been little on his estates during his adulthood: “To any thing like a permanence of abode, Henry Crawford had…a great dislike”. Darcy is acting in line with deep-seated principles; Henry is doing it as part of his courtship of Fanny, so he can bring it up to her and look good. He also tries to get her to counsel him to continue in this current vein, to engage her in a desire to fix/improve him, which Fanny shuts down laudably: “I advise! - you know very well what is right,” and when he reples that he always knows what is right when she tells him: “We all have a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person could be.” The weakness of Henry’s motivation is seen in the ending, where he puts off a visit to his estates to set matters right there in order to flirt with the now-married Maria Rushworth.

In short, Darcy is already good in many concrete ways, and sincerely improves in the ways where he is faulty, not in order to get Elizabeth to love him but because he thinks about her criticisms, agrees with them, and wants to be better for its own sake; and he helps her family solely out of love for her and deliberately hides it. Henry changes his manner and talk as part of his courtship, but his deeper values and attitudes do not change, and everything is directed at getting Fanny to fall for him.

The second area of contrast is in what the heroines object to. Elizabeth’s aspersions on Darcy’s character, regarding his interactions with Wickham, are found to be mistaken; her legitimate objections are to his attitude and arrogance, and he amends this. Henry’s manners are impeccable and his company charming; Fanny’s objections are to his character. She sees him deliberately flirt with both her cousins at once to a degree that implies an intent to propose, and play them off against one another; she sees him make some very deliberate and mutually-understood innuendo towards Maria, signifying that she should break off her engagement and be with him instead, all with zero intention of actually proposing if she did do so; she sees him use the theatricals to continue this pursuit of Maria. And this is very usual behaviour for Henry; his sister says he has broken many hearts, and when he starts courting Fanny his goal is to make her fall in love with him and then leave her “feeling she will never be happy again”.

This is what makes me judge Henry much more harshly than his sister Mary. Mary can be selfish, but she is not malicious or cruel, and she can be kind when it doesn’t inconvenience her (and one of her better traits is that even when she is unhappy or disappointed she never takes it out on other people). In contrast, Henry’s principal diversion and entertainment for years has been deliberately making young women miserable, leading them on, getting them to reject other suitors in hopes of him, and then departing without a care, to please his own vanity. He is, in truth, doing not once but habitually, what Willoughby did to Marianne: always implying enough to seem on the edge of an engagement but never following through, and then pretending it was all nothing. It’s a casual cruelty he finds amusing as a proof of his skills. In short, he’s a deceptive playboy. Even after Maria is married, he can’t resist flirting with her, which is what leads to her disgrace and social destruction.

Even though Austen lays out an alternative scenario where Henry might have married Fanny if not for that final flirtation with Maria Rushworth, all of the above does not lead me to believe she find that scenario desirable. She’s painstakingly laid out all the contrasts with her previous novel that make this scenario a very different one from Pride and Prejudice.

In addition to Henry’s serial seductions, one of the biggest red flags is his attempt to make Fanny responsible for his character, with an attitude of ‘you’re such an angel, you can make me do whatever you want’. This gives me Tenant of Wildfell Hall vibes, where Helen’s aunt tries to warn her off thinking that an older man of the world will let himself be guided and led by a younger woman who is in his power. Fanny rejects this idea: Henry knows what is right, can make his own choice to do it, and she will not let herself be appropriated as his conscience. Henry isn’t debauched like Huntington, but if Fanny married him the chances of him feeling bored after some years - when he no longer has the thrill of the pursuit to keep him interested - and pursuing other flirtations and affairs to Fanny’s misery, seems pretty high based on his character; and he’s skilled enough at skirting the line that he could easily brush away any objections from her as “oh, it’s nothing, just being sociable.”

On top of all the faults of character - even if Henry did reform, I have trouble seeing Fanny and Henry being happy together. At the core of his personality is a need for change, for stimulus, for challenge (the latter, rather than sexual desire, is the main thing driving his string of conquests), and for company. Fanny, in contrast, very much prefers quiet and the company of a few people she is close to, and I think this is her genuine personality, not something that needs to be overcome by “bringing her out of her shell”. Henry would be bored to misery living the kind of lifestyle that Fanny is comfortable with, and Fanny would be deeply unhappy living in the social whirl and flurry of activity that Henry prefers. In contrast, Fanny and Edmund are both “me after a quiet day in: time for a quiet night in” people.

So, with all this, why is Henry/Fanny a popular AU? Apart from fannish dislike of Edmund (which I don’t share), I think part of it is that we don’t get an open confrontation between Fanny and Henry, the way we do between Elizabeth and Darcy, where she lays out her objections to him: I saw you flirting with both my cousins at once, I saw you making them both unhappy for your own amusement, I saw you repeatedly tempting Maria to break her engagement with no intention of following through if she did, just because you liked the challenge of winning an engaged woman. And the lack of this naturally raises the question of: how would Henry react if this confrontation happened? Which provides fertile soil for AUs.

[jasminedragonart]

For those of you wondering I will not nor will i ever be watching the live action atla. This is part of the reason why I'm stopping drawing it. I know that this will take over the fandom, the live action art. And there's nothing wrong with that, but for a while a lot of the live action stuff will drown out the cartoon one and I liked what the cartoon one brought to the table.

In my opinion, as someone who's only seen glimpses of the live action so far, it doesn't look amazing. this is simply my opinion. Some of it looks cool. But I feel like they're taking a lot away from what made the cartoon one special.

Like, momo's design is terrifying. Zuko's scar is too small. In my opinion they should have leaned into the injury instead of away from it. Make him half blind. It would have been interesting. Maybe we could have had some interesting scenes where he can sense the bending as it brushes his face like Toph can.

Azula shouldn't have been in the trailer. I know a lot of fans know about her from the offset now, but as someone who watched this as it was coming out Azula should not be a character until the 2nd season. It was a decision that the writers made and it was a good decision.

The first season is focused on Zuko. It needs to focus on Zuko. We need Zuko as an antagonist so we can see him in comparison to true antagonists. Zuko is tame compared to Azula, Zhao and Ozai. But we still need to see Zuko as a character, as a villain and the sole true villain of the first season to really appreciate how much of a wet noodle he is and why he's being shown so much alongside the main cast.

Suki should have red hair.

There, I said it.

She could dye it. Maybe with berries or some kind of natural dye, (It was definitely possible because they used to dye their hair in the Elizabethan era to look like Queen Elizabeth- a redhead). But I like Suki's red hair. It makes her stand out as a character and it suits her. It's fiery like her passion and her makes her stand out like the dangerous person she is.

Katara looks fine. Aang looks fine. They all look a little older than I would have liked but I understand they want kids who can still look kids for a few seasons so upping the ages will probably be a good idea for that. But, again, cartoons are timeless where live action has a time limit.

Ozai shouldn't exist yet. He's a shadow in the first season for a reason. We need the fear factor.

Overall this looks too serious than what I like about the ATLA series and I know people are going to love it but I won't be one of them.

That's okay though.

If you like it, I'm glad. But I will be turning my art to other endeavours so, if you're looking for atla it will have to be one of my older arts.

[fubureaders]

so perhaps i'm just still mentally catching up to everything but... the parallels are paralleling right now you guys (with spiderman and percy jackson)

okay so, main character energy, sarcastic, witty, love to annoy/piss off their enemies with witty banter and random teenage-ish actions...

peter benjamin parker and perseus "percy" (don't know if he has a middle name) jackson are the same person, different font

aunt may = sally jackson

mj = annabeth chase

ned leeds (from mcu) = grover underwood

gwen stacy, felicia hardy = rachel elizabeth dare, calypso, others (nico could even kinda fit here?)

eddie brock = luke castellan

venom symbiote = kronos

harry osborn (VERY loosely) = chris rodriguez

i only just caught onto this after reading a very good spidey fic by @indecisivemuch (timre wasn't on our side??? kronos you will pay for the tears i cried reading that fic i'm so serious). and specifically this one spidey!luke fic by @kestisvrse and... y'all i'm cooking here wait a minute!!!!!

the daddy issues for like... everybody, the powers coming on around the time of puberty, "great power and great responsibility" ok have you considered that i am a child and have a history essay due by 11:59, trying to do the right thing but being led astray by forces more powerful than you could imagine, fighting those powerful forces with all your might, nature versus nurture argument, the... does uncle rick know about this??? did y'all know about this???

P.S. -- I call dibs on writing the fanfic (perhaps a social media au??) on this. this might be the fic idea to finally end my hiatus

[nonbinaryeye]

One thing I really love about Disco Elysium is how it subverts your expectations based on stereotypes and clichés you've learnt to expect from media.

There are the Hardie boys. Obvious first suspects and vigilanties given questionable authority by the Union and what more do they appear at the first glance than some mean boys gang. Except they *are* trying to make Martinaise better and safer place and they are willing to help their neighbours and people who seek refugee there - that's what the arranged lynching was about in the end. And yes their remarks are still sexist, they do not hesitate to use brutal force (I was testing what if I chose the worst option and they killed me and Kim on like three separate occasions). But also they could quite easily be abusing the power they have.

There is Evrat Claire fitting into evil fat ceo stereotype and you expect to learn that he does not really care about his workers and that the whole Union strike and getting benefits for the workers is some evil scheme but no! Turns out he really wants the Union to work out and he fights for his workers. He is using his influence to prevent organized crime and build up infrastructure and he cares about people of Martinaise - enough to create superficial job for René, enough to fund education for Elizabeth. And he is still not a best person. He is trying to bribe Harry. He does not hesitate to get rid of threats to his goals. His plans for Fishing village are not good either. And his refusal to acknowledge the danger mercenaries poses is questionable at best.

There is Cuno, delinquent kid screaming slurs at you and you expect him to be more of one gimmick character that is there just to make place feel more alive but you can actually bond with him and learn not only about his life and domestic abuse but also about his hobbies and you would not expect him to be your companion but there he can be if you fail to save Kim and you can recruit him to RCM.

There is Insulindian Phasmid. Mythical creature that is obviously fake and how ridiculous would it be to really believe in its existence? You expect all the mission surrounding it to be just a treasure hunt in vain that is really not about the Phasmid and more about relantionship of Lena and Morrell but no. The Phasmid is very much real and you can encounter it and it is much bigger and smarter than you would expect even if you did believe in its existence.

And then there is of course Kim Kitsuragi, your partner from precinct 57 and where can one even begin to describe all the contradictions Kim is? He just fits into that boring and very serious cop who is there to serve as your foil and hold you back and guide you and who will always be polite and kind. But no, he is genuinely funny and mean. He will not coddle you he just wants to do his job. He will not hesitate to call you on your bullshit but also he can play along with whatever scheme you are attempting. And he is actually very competitive and he can be silly and he is willing to agree even to some of your straight out crazy ideas. But he does care about you and he is quite amused by some of your stereo investigations. And when you learn about his past you understand why he always tris to keep up his perfect composure. And I will rather stop here because there is just so much to say about Kim.

I could go on and on I do not even know where to begin with our player character Harry and the journey of discovering who he is, who he was and who he could be. I could just keep listing characters and what are you supposed to notice about them at first and who you are supposed to assume they are in contrast what you can actually learn about them as you progress. And, yes, sometimes things are as they appear and the Racist Lorry Driver is just a racist and a lorry driver.

The point is you should never judge others based on the first impression even if they are just video game characters who appear to be cardboard cutout of overused cliché.

[constellationlans]

SPOILERS FOR SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF. WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE AT LEAST BEFORE PROCEEDING

Scott Pilgrim getting an anime was certainly a surprise in a year full of surprises but hey here we are. Recently released on Netflix and having a lot of time on my hands due to being sick in bed, I watched the whole thing in one sitting and goddamn this might be my favourite entry in the series. Watching this alongside reading the graphic novels and/or watching the movie makes for such a sweet experience. The presentation is top notch, even on my poop 720p quality stream. Science Saru ("The Night is Short, Walk On Girl") did the animation based on the credits, and every frame is so good and crisp it is sublime. With Anamanaguchi making the music, you just know it fits (shout out for using some themes from the video game). Special mention should be given to the many nods between the original graphic novels, movie, and even the video game. The actors reprising their roles is another delicious frosting on this wonderful cake and they do a good job voicing their characters too. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona is especially great carrying the emotional weight of the story, making parts that are insane even for the story's standards sound solemn and serious, making you invested into her story. And that is important since Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is essentially A Ramona Flowers Story.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is such an odd title for an adaptation of an established graphic novel series (nothing is named as such in the series) until you finish that first episode. Admittedly, it has been a while since I've watched the movie or read the comics, but even still watching the first episodes something in the back of my head is just telling me something's... Off. Like I know the thing happened but that is not exactly what happened right? Like...

We start with the first Subspace Highway scene? (Ramona's first?? appearance in the story is important, but the first thing we hear in the comics and movie is "Scott Pilgrim dating a high schooler" as a major story beat and if a supposedly straight adaptation doesn't start with that then huh? Btw they do still bring up and address Scott dating a high schooler in the story)

Young Neil has a Game Gear now? (I remember it being a Game Boy in the movie to play Zelda sounds as sound cues, which is Edgar Wright's style)

In Ramona and Scott's first meeting at Julie Powers' party, he starts talking to her about... Sonic the Hedgehog? (No awkward Pac Man talk? Could be chalked up to updating it for the times? At this point something was really bugging me)

Scott orders from Netflix, which is where Ramona works now. (not much of a surprise, this is a Netflix show, but I do miss the "whats the website for amazon dot ca" joke and this is still a slight change)

At the Rockit, while Scott is looking at the crowd from the stage, sharp viewers can see a robot in the crowd? (Players of the game will know this as Robot 01, made by the Katayanagi Twins and fought in their stage. Still, an early appearance, what the hell?)

And then the biggest change of all: Crash and the Boys not playing before Sex Bob-omb. Now this was the biggest change up to this point of the show, and one where I was going to start asking questions.

One change was fine, 2 could be okay, but all this? Something was very wrong.

Then the first Evil Ex fight happens.

Scott Pilgrim loses. He dies. And leaves behind coins. Call it poetic justice for all he killed for coins in the game.

Thus begins Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, where he just... takes off. Ramona takes center stage as the person dedicated to solving the mystery of Scott's death and getting some well deserved character development. Whereas the graphic novels and movie focus on Scott as a character, this show is all about Ramona. This makes her a much more interesting and well rounded character and one who I can definitively see Scott is willing to fight for. While the original story didn't lack development for her, it was nothing compared to what she gets here. And what she gets is enormous. Delving into implications from having seven exes left behind, all of them willing to literally kill the one you currently date, the show goes to great lengths to show Ramona's own flaws that weren't explicit in the original. Not having Scott to fight them for her, she has to face them herself and learn about the wake when she leaves people behind without proper closure. Ramona is shown as a person lacking in communication with people and just leaving with important things unsaid, which all piled up and lead to the creation of the League. By having said closure with her exes, she comes to terms with her own failings and grow as a person, much like Scott was at the end of his journey. If anything, this series solidifies that Ramona does really love Scott even after just one date, enough to face her past to save him. And her facing the past leads to her reconciling with her exes. We get to see the exes having to live with the aftermath of Ramona leaving them for another or playing with their feelings (except Todd, Todd's a dick). Having her deal with the consequences of her actions is great, as this causes an outcome where most of the time the two parties do not have to fight to resolve their problems. Most of the time, they actually talk. About their past, and how it meant to them, how it felt... It feels liberating seeing these people talking with each other about what they meant and apologizing for making mistakes. It also serves as A Day in the Limelight for each of the exes, as we get more of a look into their lives though some greater then others (Matthew Patel and Lucas Lee) and some not so much (Katayanagi twins and Roxie). Gideon also has his story shown, and serves as a secondary villain this time around. All in all, it shows that these Evil Exes aren't evil but as people dealing with pain from a breakup. Though not to be outdone, Scott also gets some development of his own through Old Scott. Coming from a possible future (maybe even the original story eh?), Old Scott is separated from Old Ramona due to issues and is attempting to dissuade his younger self from interacting with Ramona in the first place preventing these painful events from happening. Horrified, Regular Scott rejects this him. The fact he tries to carry on with Ramona despite being shown a bad future in their relationship shows that he really is ready to try with her no matter how painful it gets. Regular Scott seing his Ramona work out his disappearance in the past just steels his resolve. Writing this now, it is clear how and why Scott and Ramona really do love each other.

After all these years, Scott Pilgrim still stands as a great story, with plenty of romance and action to keep you satisfied. Nearly 20 years on, it is still compelling. Bryan Lee O'Malley and BenDavid Grabinski could've just wrote a direct adaptation of the story. That would've been good for me. But instead they took the opportunity of fleshing out all the other characters in the storyand make a more emotionally resonant story about dealing with relationships and reconciling with others while still being an incredibly entertaining series. As an extension of a story that defined a generation, it is a pretty darn good.

Also it has the funniest funeral scene ever and is a joke nearly 20 years in the making ever since Bryan Lee O'Malley showed what happens when people die in this universe, I swear to god I laughed for 30 seconds. Thanks.

[hihopelessromantics]

The Learner Learns Nothing

In which the writing of Seven Deadly Sins expects us to believe that Merlin, the glutton for knowledge, is incapable of learning what really matters over the course of her 3,000 year journey. 

I wrote this inspired by @zeldriszezinho‘s comment on how Merlin was able to reactivate Elizabeth’s curse. The implication that Merlin at some point during the 3000 years gained the ability to break the curse and could have done it AT ANY TIME from that point forward absolutely blew my mind. 

If so canon Merlin is DEAD to me I swear that is so WRONG.

I've never seen a master manipulator character written like this before and I'm not even sure if this is a good way to write a trick villain or whatever the hell she was supposed to be. It sure is baffling so nakaba got that right. I was just as shocked and disbelieving as the sins were. Still am. Regardless of how well it fits her “canon” character and personality it is NOT consistent with the found family themes 😭 Plus it would make her RIDICULOUSLY overpowered... how would she have as much power as a god without serious consequences? And literately no one noticed, ever? Britannia started literately falling apart when Meliodas had that much magical power.

You know what I think I will jump on the hating canon Merlin bandwagon with you zeldriszezinho. I am stitching the Merlins from fanfictions together to make a better, healthier one as a present to the sins for all they've gone through together.

Merlin is just - ugh - it’s too sad. Everyone else gets to be, as the people who remember English class would say, a round character, including many of the antagonists! Tons of minor characters get memorable moments of growth, but Merlin, one of the major characters? She stays static for the most part. Trapped as a plot device until the very end. The narrative leaves her alone, torn away from her found family by an insane twist that I don’t quite understand.

 It’s like Merlin never gave a second thought to how the sins are acting. Ten years out of 3,000 isn’t a lot but someone as smart and observant as Merlin should have seen the way the other sins treat her. They knew close to nothing about her, and she constantly isolated herself emotionally and physically from them, but they never made a move to exclude her from the group, or pry too much, or question her origins. They just loved her unconditionally even though she wouldn’t let them in. There was so much raw potential for her character to have a unique and complicated bond with the sins as a group. Maybe it should have been the wakeup call she needed that the unhealed child inside of her could still learn to receive love. That it wasn’t too late to have a life outside her chaos obsession. Canon left us with a pretty unsatisfying answer as to why she acted the way she has. Like hmmm. Really?

Canon Merlin, you had 3,000 years to decide whether to seek help for your childhood trauma and learn how to love in a somewhat healthy manner and you want me to believe you didn't even try that route??? And that on top of that you effectively prolonged the torment of the only two people shown to love you unconditionally? Whom you supposedly loved in return?? Uhhh heyo! I don't believe you. And also I am holding a sword to your throat getting your shit together is no longer optional.

Sure Merlin can be seen as a character study of how obsession can cause someone to forsake all other aspects of life. We saw it in Frankenstein - saw what became of that whole spectacle and how quickly the perpetrator learned that they didn't actually want [insert here], they were just looking for that basic hierarchy of human needs and weren't ready for the responsibility that comes when using the pursuit of scientific advancement as a substitute for, idk, I think in Merlin's case it would be coming to terms with essentially being treated as a weapon due to her abilities. (meliodas and Elizabeth parallel anyone?? We were robbed of three child soldiers learning to love together and be a family smh thanks a lot gods ) anyway back on topic. What Merlin and Frankenstein have in common throughout their story there are a lot of opportunities that they didn't take, and friends that they kept brushing off, never confiding in them until it was crisis time. Frankenstein's story is a tragedy - he keeps abandoning the rational thought and commitment to ethics that make a good scientist. Any second during his story, while he was neglecting correspondence from friends, neglecting to sleep and eat and pay attention to his needs as a person that the obsession had tossed in the trash bin, he was free to say “hey actually I CAN spare a second from my neverending workload to breathe and think about what's important to me. Why I'm doing this? And how I could do it better. Have I learned anything in this latest deep dive into knowledge?” Instead he is ruled by his emotions, which in the end, keep him from properly emphasizing with other people and actually achieving what he wanted to do. I don't even remember if Frankenstein KNEW what he wanted to get out of his experiments. Probably not considering this the way he immediately freaked out when it actually WORKED. And then it was crisis time, so he goes to his friends, but does he confide in them what really happened? What part he had in it and how he feels about the whole thing? Don't think so. So they just think he's depressed as fuck and going a little crazy. They're completely unable to help him in any substantial way. 

We see this with Merlin. She has to have complete control of the situation at all times so she tells no one. If she can get this ONE THING right finally everything will fall into place. That must be what she thought. But what the hell? Knowledge is and has always been collaborative. We know she was never learning just to learn or for the love of it - it was a poor substitute for the love and attention a child needs to grow up with a good understanding of how to pursue fulfillment. So she was always aiming to accomplish something with her knowledge and all around her were people working together to accomplish something. Hell, she worked together with the sins to accomplish her goal. 3,000 years. She stopped her own time. Physically, right? Or was it mental too? The science there doesn't seem to work with the brain literately rewiring itself as it gets new experiences so. We're just meant to assume she spent 3,000 years trapped in the same mindset while traveling all over Britannia and interacting with God knows how many people. Just out of pure necessity to survive and obtain the information and tools she needs she would have to interact with a LOT of people. That's not even mentioning the people she did research on. And we're expected to believe she didn't learn anything that would make Merlin- smart, curious, motivated little Merlin who tricked two GODS on the OFF CHANCE that what they give her will satisfy the hole in her heart - didn't learn enough about human behavior to give abandoning love and true connection a second thought? Or even TRY to engage meaningfully with anyone? It's not like she had never made that connection with anyone before. What about Meliodas? What about 106 Elizabeths? 

This twist that Merlin might have been manipulating the Sins all along, rather than blowing the reader’s mind with the clues and clever foreshadowing that were there all along, blows a hole in the overarching themes in the story. Merlin’s betrayal is a catastrophe of the highest proportions because it calls into question EVERYTHING they learned up until that point. What she did would cause extensive trauma to everyone involved - all this time they believed that hey, maybe fate brought us together, wasn’t it so good that we finally found people that could understand us? And now they are questioning all of it. So yeah, emotionally, the twist does what it is supposed to. It hurts. But... it doesn’t make sense.  Being in the Seven Deadly Sins causes every other member to learn how to reconcile with themselves, their pasts, their feelings, and their relationships. Why is Merlin the exception? This feels like disappointing writing and a huge waste of character potential. 

It's not like abandoning all emotion and other desires was remotely necessary for Merlin to achieve her goal. She's had fun along the way and that's shown to us. Why are we given ‘i used to have a crush on Meliodas’ as a reason why she would give up on connection or whatever? Merlin that was literally 3,000 years ago when you were 12(?). You didn't talk to anyone about THEIR childhood crushes in all that time? And it's not like Meliodas ever stopped loving or caring about her. Even after getting his emotions stolen bit by bit he only abandons her and the rest of the sins out of necessity. Here she's got a good friend to confide in. And he's EXACTLY the kind of friend she needs if she wants to resurrect an old god! Meliodas is trusting, supportive, willing to Go the Distance for anything he believes in, AND desperate enough to consider extreme courses of action in order to break his and Elizabeth's curses.

All Merlin has to do to potentially get Mel on board is say, "Hey, some of my personal research has turned up something I think you might be interested in. The existence of an old god that the Supreme Deity and Demon King locked away because they feared her power and didn't want her to interfere with their goals.  I've been curious about rumors like these since I was a child, and now I have finally found enough solid evidence to confirm that this god exists. It stands to reason that such a god would be able and even willing to help with the curse on you and Sis-sis. Not a timely solution, but a good plan B or C. I'll be looking into it, and I'll let you know if I find anything that could help you."

What's Meliodas going to say to that? Probably, "Thanks, Merlin!"

He was not afraid of potentially starting an "age of Chaos" when his father told him that is what killing him would mean. Chaos is a mysterious entity of both darkness and light, good and evil, creation and destruction. Previously worshipped by goddesses and feared by the demons. Its agenda, if it even has one, is even more mysterious than Merlin's was before the big reveal. As far as I can infer, Chaos (without the influence of fantasy racism) seems just as likely to bring balance as it could bring upheaval. Something that Britannia desperately needs. And since Chaos is the mother of life in this universe, why would it destroy everything it has created?

It makes sense that if he had known, Meliodas would have been wary of this god, and warned Merlin to be careful, but in the end... wouldn't he have as much reason to help his friend as he would to stop her? Why continue on to release Chaos after the curse is already broken? Fair question. But why not?

Meliodas just wants to live in peace with his loved ones. If releasing Chaos means an "age of Chaos" will occur, well, that just means going back to the beginning, before the eternal game between the Supreme Deity and Demon King. So. The same unknowns that he's faced in his life thus far, except the two dictators manipulating everyone into an eternal war are replaced with the creator of life itself? That would actually sound pretty good to Meliodas, right?

Chaos is disappointed with the weakness of humanity but acknowledged it as, hehehe religious parallels my beloved, "the race most like itself, that embodies its values." Now, this could be 4+ years of religion classes talking but Chaos's previous goal before the Holy War seems to have been to create a race "in its own image." And it did. The question is, now what? I doubt this god is capable of being truly evil because why would evil create creatures with moral compasses? Evil cannot create good and vice versa. We the audience know what happened in Four Knights of the Apocolypse thus far regarding Chaos's preference to humans, but Meliodas and the other Sins have no reason to suspect the entity of chaos would ever go full genocide mode on its own creations. A god that creates all life according to a set of intricate rules (physics, etc.) tends to have patterns of behavior that make sense. Creating everything just to kill it all off doesn't really make sense.

Merlin could damn well have told the Sins, or even just Meliodas, that her goal is to resurrect the original god of their universe that was locked away by the Demon King and the Supreme Deity, who play with people's lives for fun and obviously freaking suck - without making herself look like she has a) gone off the deep end or b) working toward an evil goal that they should immediately put a stop to by any means necessary.

Instead, she just tricks Meliodas and the Sins outright in the most painful way possible. Wtf?

She doesn’t have a solid reason to hurt the people who love her like no one ever has. Who, in their own messy way, have treasured her like her own parents and her people never did.

The twist that her true goal all along was to release Chaos would still work, both as a plot mechanic and for shock value. What’s not shocking about your friend actually being serious about releasing an ancient god, and doing it so soon after Britannia was nearly destroyed by a Holy War? The Sins would have been shocked and hurt all the same with how she orchestrated them coming together, trained Arthur for this exact purpose, and prompted Meliodas to confront and kill his father - all things which were ultimately for the best for all of the races, but with Merlin’s questionable choices, involved a lot more trauma for everyone. Hell, if Merlin got a character arc like the others, the Chaos reveal would actually hurt the Sins MORE. Instead of realizing they didn’t really know her, they would be realizing that the sense of warmth and belonging and the bonds they had forged with each other hadn’t reached Merlin’s heart. That whatever effort they had put into bonding with her wasn’t enough, it didn’t help her the way she had - the way they thought she had helped them. That they had been oblivous to their friend’s suffering and emptiness, that she didn’t trust them the way they trusted her, etc, etc. A deeper and more cutting reveal if you asked me. 

As it is, the reveal makes it so that they didn’t lose a friend and member of their found family. They lost a person who was just... there. Forgotten until it was strictly neccessary for her to be there. Who never truly cared (?). While that’s sad, it’s... not what it could be if she had gotten the chance to genuinely be a part of the sins, physically and emotionally. 

It seems to me that in the moment, Meliodas doesn't seem overly concerned about Chaos. He's angry that Merlin would be willing to blindside and manipulate him, making light of a friendship that's spanned over 3,000 years, for the sake of something that might not even exist. He's angry she seems to value that over everything she already has. Is this the only thing she truly cared about? Was he and his loved ones nothing but pawns to her, just as he was a pawn to his father? Same with the other Sins - they don't know what's going on, but they are angry and hurt at the prospect that their friendship with Merlin was a lie.

THIS, Merlin could have avoided entirely! She is an intelligent, powerful woman - a genius according to some of the most powerful demons alive - and she has BETTER OPTIONS! Choices. By all means, she could have had wonderful, meaningful times with the Sins for all of their journey together, and kept them as friends afterward, maybe finding true fulfillment in the process. All without giving up her pursuit of releasing Chaos. 

She could have learned. Why didn’t she? 

[joyflameball]

No but Blueycapsules volume one is such a good tone setter for the rest of the comic. Like the very first few parts are absurd and strange, but establishes SO MUCH before it really gets into the meat of the story. Spoilers for volume one if you haven't read it (which you SHOULD go read it what are you doing).

Part One (Meet The Family Guys) establishes the Afton family, establishes that William Afton is an absolutely HORRIBLE father (making his kids scoop out bread, the standing hour thing, the way he's treating them), that he killed Charlie, and that Liz has a strange shadow form that can kinda know the future.

Part Two (Charlie's Epic Wacky Funeral) establishes Vincent and Scott and their dynamics with William. It elaborates a bit on Liz's shadow form, briefly introduces Henry and Sammy, and establishes that Charlie's soul is in the Puppet. On top of all that, it gives William that line about strangulation being one of the worst ways to die, which hits way harder when you read it after Volume Three. Then Part Two Point Five (Welfare Visit King) establishes Henry further, as well as showing us his INCREDIBLY toxic relationship with William.

Up to this point, the comic has been pretty much the opposite of serious. It's been wacky absurd comedy. But Part Three (Now This Is Charlie 2.0) is where you start to realize that there's way more to this comic than first meets the eye. It establishes that Henry builds robots, it further reinforces William and Henry's dynamic, it's where CC, Michael, and Elizabeth's dynamics are really established, and most importantly, it establishes a LOT of stuff with Michael - Michael bullying CC, CC trying to tell Michael that William killed Charlie, Michael blowing up at him and being honestly pretty cruel.

Then Vincent calling William establishes more of Vincent's character (and kinda Scott's too if you squint), further establishes the twins' dynamic, establishes them having a kind of ahoge twin telepathy (blueycapsules is buckwild please read it), and establishes WHY William killed Charlie - because he saw her as dead weight. Purely selfish reasons.

The leadup to the party shows the events of FNAF 4 (minus the gameplay) really shows us more of CC and Michael's INCREDIBLY toxic dynamic. It shows us the extent of Michael's bullying and just how BAD he was, it shows us that the Fredbear plushie can talk to CC, it shows us just how scared CC is of the animatronics and William, and it establishes that the animatronics have consciousnesses before the missing children's incident happens. And it establishes all that in five pages, might I add.

A great thing about the leadup is that if you don't know all the lore (or at least stuff about FNAF 4), you're intrigued by this party that it's leading up to. But if you know about FNAF stuff, you just feel dread. You know what's coming.

Then comes part four. The party. This is really where Blueycapsules shows its true colors.

It starts off fairly silly, with Fredbear smoking weed and William Afton being William Afton, and it's honestly really funny. But then it shifts to CC, and the dread sets in again. Now Michael's got his friends, and they're helping to bully CC, being really fucking cruel. By this point, you know all you need to know, and yet the comic keeps establishing stuff. Specifically, Michael is desperate for his father's attention. After shoving CC into Fredbear's mouth, he takes off his mask and yells "FATHER! COME LOOK!" Like this comic just doesn't slow down oh my god

(One of my personal favorite panels from before the bite is CC crying on the ground, surrounded by the bullies, as the music blares in the background. It feels so... horrific.)

This is another example of it being great whether or not you know anything about FNAF. If you don't know anything about FNAF, you're somewhat on edge, and the tension is increasing with stuff like Elizabeth saying "You're gonna do something you regret" and CC being shoved in Fredbear's mouth.

But if you DO know the lore of FNAF, you just feel this dread. You've seen this cutscene before. You know what's about to happen.

And then it does.

The Bite Of 83 is where the reality of what this comic is fully hits you. It's bloody, it's horrific, it's heartbreaking, it's just incredible. That page where everyone rushing to help CC and the panels are going on and Michael is just standing there, not moving... It's just amazing.

And then CC officially dies, William tells Michael he's proud of him for committing child murder, it's dark and heartbreaking and it just fucking hurts.

And then it gets a bit more lighthearted with Elizabeth and Susie becoming friends, and it's sweet! It's adorable! But still, there's a dark undertone. You know Susie won't survive. You know this can't last. And that's a theme through a lot of the comic - it's a tragedy. You know how it all ends.

We get back to the Aftons, and it returns to angst. The guilt has hit Michael over everything, and he hates himself. And William thinks it doesn't matter. He thinks Michael's just being dramatic. It's fucking rage inducing, and does an incredible job at showing you what a fucking horrible person he is.

After that, it somewhat returns to comedy. Somewhat. The tone is still different - the angst is still there. Sure, there's hilarious moments like the incredible MacDonaldses panel, but that doesn't make it a super comedy comic like before. There's little details that would have been funny without the angst, but because we got the angst it just hurts. Hell, even gags from volume one hurt way way more with this recontextualization.

And from there, that's the tone of the comic. It's funny, there's still a lot of absurd comedy, there's sweet moments, there's heartwarming moments, there's hilarious moments. But compared to the beginning of Volume One, it's less funny and more sad. If you read Blueycapsules, you know what the rest of the comic is gonna be like - juggling absurd comedy, sweet moments, and an absolutely heartbreaking story. And it juggles it incredibly well.

And I just wanna say - all of that stuff established before the Bite? None of it was told to us. It was all just shown - the characters, the details, the dynamics, all of us was shown. And a lot of it was shown through jokes. And yet it still works so well.

Just. How is this comic so good man

[angelhummel]

🧡 💚 🖤 🤍

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

I mean idk how popular or serious any of the theories in glee are alksjflds but ummm one of my go to's is always that Kurt's mom is named Katherine and not Elizabeth lol

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Okay not so much "everyone" as much as "Blaine haters" buuut I've seen people say that s1 was Kurt's most authentic self and that after he met Blaine he completely changed for the worse when that is so literally the opposite of what really happened that it makes me wonder if they like or understand Kurt as a person/character AT ALL

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

BRITTANY. You can peruse my anti Brittany tag for my never ending thoughts, but to keep it short. It blows my mind that there are people irl who think that Brittany releasing the sex tape of her and her (possibly underage) girlfriend without said girlfriend's knowledge is not only okay, but completely justified and a good way to "teach Santana a lesson". It makes me ill lol

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

Rachel. I know she's never going to willingly give up the spotlight, and especially not without a long drawn out fight, but she does so much good and tries to help so many people but it's always overlooked in favor of a one note no nuance "selfish" label

send me some asks!

[withinthebrain]

Thou Shalt Not...

After delving into The Crucible by Arthur Miller for at least the twelvth read, one character stands out in my mind: John Proctor. I can't help but ponder the important themes of truth and love that take center stage in the play.

In the midst of Salem's paranoia, a place filled with fear and suspicion, John Proctor's character shows us how complicated human feelings can be. His love for his wife, Elizabeth, is a shining example of a love that goes beyond the ordinary. It's a love so strong that it seems unbreakable.

What really caught my attention is the idea that Proctor's mistake of committing adultery, though hurtful to Elizabeth, isn't the worst thing he did. Cheating on his wife was a regrettable action, but his lies and deceit had even more serious consequences.

We all know the commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Proctor, who could not recite the commandment when asked, clearly broke that one, and it caused pain and problems in his marriage. But today there is a lesser known commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." In short, this means you should not lie. Proctor's lies ended up causing more damage to his relationship in the end. His lies caused more hurt for the whole community than his infidelity ever would have.

What's really thought-provoking is the depth of love Proctor had for Elizabeth. It's a love that forgives and sticks with you through tough times. It's an admirable love, if only he knew how to communicate. As John Proctor himself reflected, "I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name." His affair with Abigail Williams, was no secret to Elizabeth, yet his lies built enormous tension and brought ruin to his name in a public light.

But what I've learned from this story is that in a world where people aren't truthful or attempt to hide the truth, it can lead to even more harm than any personal mistake. To own the action, to mend the emotions, and communicate is key. Proctor's lies hurt not just him and Elizabeth but also the whole town of Salem. It caused a lot of problems and suffering for no reason.

So, lying can sometimes be worse than cheating or doing something wrong because it hurts not just you but the people around you. Being honest, even when it's hard, is really important. It can help keep relationships and communities from falling apart.

As shown in The Crucible through the characters love is powerful, but so communication. Both are really important in our lives. Love can heal, and truth can build trust, but they are nothing without the other.

Remember to be honest, even when it's tough, and let love be a guide. In a world full of lies and temptations, our commitment to truth, love, and communication can lead to safety and happiness.

As Elizabeth Proctor said, "The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you." Her words remind us that the true judgment of our actions lies within ourselves. We must grapple with the guilt and consequences of our actions even after foregivness from others.

[unhingedhearties]

When External, Real Life Reasons Affect A TV Show’s Writing

I’m going to be serious for a moment.

I’m not going to post screenshots as examples because I see a ton of Hearties on both sides bringing this up and I don’t want to pin it on just a few, specific people. 

A lot of Hearties are complaining about how TPTB said there were real life reasons for why they wrote Season 10 the way that they did. They didn’t specify what those reasons were and people are naturally speculating. Some people are getting really vicious with their speculations so I want to take a moment to talk about another TV show that had it’s story drastically re-written because of (at the time) vague real life reasons.

Babylon 5 was a TV show that aired from 1994 to 1998. It was created by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS). Unlike most TV series, JMS plotted out the entire show’s story and planned for it to be told over 5 seasons. After the first season, the lead actor Michael O’Hare left and was replaced. No reason was given besides some vague “it was mutual and we’re all on good terms” and O’Hare still did some convention appearances for a few years. 

Some fans were understanding, some were furious. Some people who worked on the show had nice things to say about O’Hare, some had stories about how terrible his behavior was. Some fans who saw him at conventions had positive things to say, some fans who saw him at conventions said that he seemed drunk and rude to fans.

Michael O’Hare died in 2012 and almost a year later, in 2013, fifteen years after the show ended, JMS finally spoke about what happened and why the lead character of his show had to be replaced. While filming the first season Michael O’Hare began to show severe mental illness and had paranoid delusions and hallucinations. JMS offered to put the show on hiatus so he could get treatment, but O’Hare didn’t want to risk the show being canceled before it even aired and risking everyone’s jobs, so he held on as best as he could and finished the first season and JMS wrote him out. JMS kept his illness a secret from everyone so that it wouldn’t affect O’Hare’s career and said he’d take it to his grave, but O’Hare said he didn’t need to do that and after he died JMS could tell the fans. You can watch JMS finally tell this story here and see how chocked up he gets:

Do I think the reason they broke up Elizabeth and Lucas is as serious as this? No. Maybe it was something boring and mundane like a contract or pay dispute. Maybe one of the actors requested less screen time. Maybe Lindsay really was a secret Team Nathan fan that wanted to destroy the greatest love story ever told or Erin just wanted to kiss other men like what a certain ragepig idiot I’ve featured on here insists.

Or maybe someone involved on When Calls The Heart is going through a personal tragedy that they can’t or won’t talk about publicly and they don’t want to cost people their jobs. Maybe that’s something to keep in mind when you’re hurling insults at people on their social media pages. Maybe that’s something to keep in the back of your head before you tell the cast and crew that you hope they lose their jobs.

I don’t know. None of us do. We weren’t told. And maybe there’s a reason we weren’t told. When Calls The Heart is a show about Faith. Maybe it's time to start having some.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

I think you've made jokes about the family trying to marry Philip off, were you being serious or was it just a joke? ^^'

Half serious, and half exaggeration. It wasn't actually that consistent of a thing, but it is reappearing in family letters. With all the eggs being put into Philip's basket, you can really imagine Hamilton wasn't the only one who planned out Philip's life and had expectations for him. Once again, these cases aren't that serious, and Philip was rather young when he died so I don't think marriage was the family's highest priority—but I'm certain there was some pressure to find a good woman, especially since how traditions were back then was that the eldest's partner would help run the house and family when parents grew a bit old (Not exactly arranged marriages but something similar).

Anyway, the earliest mention of it is sometime in the March of 1782, when Philip was three/two months old. Hamilton writes to his close friend and fellow aide-de-camp, Richard Kidder Meade, that Eliza was so close with Meade's second wife, Mary Fitzhugh Grymes Randolph, that they should have their kids marry so they could become in-laws;

Imagine my Dear Friend what pleasure it must give Eliza & myself to know that Mrs. Meade interests herself in us, without a personal acquaintance we have been long attached to her. My visit at Mr. Fitzhughs confirmed my partiality. Betsy is so fond of your family that she proposes to form a match between her Boy & your girl provided you will engage to make the latter as amiable as her mother.

Source — Alexander Hamilton to Richard Kidder Meade, [March 1782]

A more common occurrence was Angelica Church and her eagerness to have her daughters married off. She writes to Eliza and tells her to remind Philip - who was twelve during this time - of his “pretty cousin”, Elizabeth Matilda Church—she was only a year younger than Philip;

Adieu my dear Eliza. Embrace all the children and tell Philip that he is not to forget his cousin Eliza, she is very pretty and very good.

Source — Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton, [January 25, 1794]

Again, just nearly a year later, she mentions a son of Eliza's should have Eliza M. or Angelica Church Jr as a wife. It isn't specified which son she is referring to, but it is likely Philip who seems to have regularly corresponded with his cousins on the Church's side of the family, and was relatively close with some members like Philip Church. Additionally, she describes the son as being a “chip off the old block”, meaning someone who is very similar in character to their father or mother, a coined characteristic Angelica had previously given Philip several times before;

My children are acting a play, they have a small theater in the drawing room and there performance is not very bad. Your son they tell me for wit and abilities is a child of the old Block. He shall have Eliza Angelica, for a wife.

Source — Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton, [February 4, 1795]

But there was that time she wanted to have Alexander Jr and Eliza M. suited just five years prior, so this last one is a bit more of a dubious case. [x]

[callmearcturus]

IT'S NEW YEARS DAY, HURRAH. /claps. Yukari wakes you up like "yo Mitsuru got us all kimonos, lets ROLL baby." I'm a little curious why Mitsuru just knows everyone's measurements but perhaps the nature of kimonos is a little more forgiving to fitting.

meanwhile, there's a meeting of the dumbasses in the living room

Does Akihiko have a type? Is he grey-ace? I'm dead serious, this is like the third or fourth time he's probed on what he likes in a person and his answers are always "I don't know???" and then "I guess you." He seems very grey-ace.

Anyway, Ken wants to know if everyone is going to the shrine for New Years.

at some point i would like to know WHAT is the thing with kimonos, why are they considered the height of sexiness. they are admittedly very elegant and beautiful, but the way the conversation between Team Idiots turns on a dime once everyone knows about the kimonos is telling.

I have said it before but I really love Junpei and Akihiko a lot. They have very amusing chemistry. Junpei really brings out the competitive side of Akihiko, and the way they goad each other is very fun. Also the slyness of the "I'm bored" line read in this scene is just cute. /SMUSHES MY DUMB BOYS TOGETHER.

Junpei and Akihiko really be ADHD Friend/Autistic Friend goals.

EVERYONE LOOKS PRETTY IN THEIR FANCY CLOTHES! 8)

I like Mitsuru's the most, the spray of flowers is very elegant.

OF COURSE JUNPEI RUINS ALL.

Given how Ken is the very model of a precocious anime child, I am at least 60% sure he is ratting Junpei out on purpose. Ken-kun is a good kid, murderous tendencies aside.

ALSO WORTH NOTING: I just left the game on for a while at this location. The BGM for the New Years Naganaki Shrine area was beautiful enough I let it loop a few times. Truly lovely.

Back at the dorms.

Ken, please stop talking to Junpei. Go play with Aigis or Fuuka, okay?

Oh you're THAT kind of operator, I see, the "I'm going to have a completely different conversation and then sneak in a compliment to mess with you" type, huh?

I wish I did not love every character in this game quite so much. Very annoying.

ALSO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? AM I IN TROUBLE FOR MAKING OUT WITH ELIZABETH? HER SISTER SUDDENLY WANTS TO "TEST" ME? AM I GONNA DIE? I think I might be maybe gonna die.

Also: I STILL don't have Aigis' S-link and at this point I'm wondering if I fucked up somewhere?

[gordspost]

okay, I shouldn't even write this, but I feel forced since last night my phone EXPLODED with notifications. and it wasn't nice.

you should know that I am a person who brings a LOT of patience.

You won't find a more calm and patient person than me anywhere, but one user in particular made me explode with anger.

I haven't been using Tumblr much lately, I struggle to draw and invent new things, studying takes up a lot of my time and I'm not relaxed at all. I've lost two people very dear to me in the space of a year, I'm about to move, and my mind is elsewhere right now.

It's a fucking hard time, that's it. and we just missed being teased by a girl much older than me. this person started following me a few months ago, I know that she has some problems and therefore I let many things slide, however I understand why a loved one of mine has the same problem and oh well, okay.

I was patient when she made my askbox explode with inappropriate or senseless questions, I let it go when she commented on my posts in the same way, I let it go when she used my characters (Elizabeth and Margaret) without asking.

but when I kindly asked her not to use my characters in a certain way, because it completely changed their personality and made them depressed and desperate (and this saddened me, because one of my characters, if I don't decide it, can't be like that ), she told me that I can't distinguish reality from fantasy.

and there too I let it go, let's be patient, let's get over it, after all she didn't say anything special.

when she wrote under the last post of her story that I complained about this thing, that I was the bad one who forbade her from writing stories WITH MY CHARACTERS (whose permission she never asked me to use) I asked at least, at the very least, to apologize.

she made fun of me, after a very long, serious and personal message from me, replying "good luck and good luck to me too who am a little sick"

...

as I have already said and repeated, I have been very patient, I study Social Health, I know what it means to have certain problems, but as I have already said, she is older than me, and is capable of understanding and wanting because she makes sensible and intelligent speeches whenever she wants, otherwise she wouldn't be here. I'm sorry about that, I told her, but it's not the way to behave.

I blocked her for the good of both of us and she contacted me again this night, around two in the morning, with another user, reblogging and liking ALL my posts starting from 2020 (and there are many), she made me wake up moreover, just to get my attention.

I reblocked her, and I won't hesitate to block her again, because hers had become an obsession with my posts (which are nothing much after all), and I wish her all the best possible, but please, don't do these things. this blog is just my outlet, where I draw (when I can) what comes to mind, what seems decent, what I like. I'll entertain you for a few seconds and I'm pleased, I do it willingly. but I'm not stupid, having said that I hope you have a nice weekend, I wish everyone joy and happiness.

[ahb-writes]

Book Review: ‘Slayers’ Collector’s Edition #3

Slayers Volumes 7-9 Collector's Edition (Slayers, 3) by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Elizabeth Ellis

adventure

fantasy

magecraft

magic

swords and sorcery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The fascinating. The powerful. The corrupt.

Each shadowy entity wreaking havoc on this mortal plane has manufactured an array of ignoble philosophies to justify its dark deeds. Some of these philosophies are brutish and rudimentary (e.g., demons are creatures of ill omen, who feed off the ill intentions of others), and some philosophies are dangerously, monstrously complex (e.g., demons vying to reduce all existence to nothingness, for only in nothingness is there true calm). And yet, through it all, a tiny sorceress with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, might be the only person capable of keeping everyone in check.

SLAYERS Omnibus v3 includes the bookend chapters to the novel series' first major arc. This collection delivers all of the good stuff: strange and incredible spellcasting; clever but not over-the-top magecraft lore; villains who get their comeuppance; and new characters with plenty of issues all their own.

In book seven, Gaav's Challenge, readers are treated to a plethora of entertaining narrative elements, some of which regrettably snare very little time on the page. Lina and the gang trudge toward Dragon's Peak, at the edge of the Kaltaart Mountains, to access a remnant of the Claire Bible. The mythos surrounding the Claire Bible is immense, but filters into readers' purview with somewhat less flair than in the anime, but the reasoning is valid (e.g., there are other access points).

Conceptually, the Claire Bible is remarkable. In execution, however, it's wildly underused. The notion of a body of knowledge stored on a blithely accessible plane of reality, hoarded by those who have no use for it? The Claire Bible is a great example of how fantasy storytelling is both parallel to, and a paradox of, the real world's social, cultural, and political machinations. Lina, of course, is a genius, and she's keen to use it to figure out the universe's darkest magic ("I'm afraid I'm not an enlightened enough being to just roll over and die for something I don't yet understand," page 76).

This book is stuffed with a lot of action and a lot of lore. The fight at Dragon's Peak includes several full-demons, a revelation or two concerning Xellos's true nature, and a deliberate broadening of the novel series' narrative scope. Of the last of these, stepping onto the stage are Hellmaster (Fibrizo) and Chaos Dragon (Gaav), two of Ruby-Eye's five high-ranking demon servants. These are two seriously bad dudes with massive power at their disposal. For readers, the orientation and allegiance of each high-ranking demon is muddled (but assiduous note-taking might resolve this in due time). The good news at this point is that Kanzaka, the author, is dead serious about narrative continuity. Of less good news, this book has plenty of character dynamics that are easy for readers to lose track of (e.g., Amelia almost dies; Gaav isn't an egotistical villain on the lam, he's a sympathetic anti-hero).

In book eight, King of the Phantom City, it's back to Sairaag. Fibrizo artificially resurrects the City of Magic and craters Flagoon (ancient tree) in the process. His baiting of Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia, and also Sylphiel to tread into his so-called Hellpalace, of the City of the Dead, is typical villain stuff. And Fibrizo's snatching up of Gourry, as a hostage, makes the story's climax intuitively time-contingent. But as fans of the franchise likely already know, Fibrizo's ambitions are much, much darker.

The balance between books seven and eight is okay in the moment, but upon reflection, feels slightly off. Book seven is packed with information and intrigue; book eight, essentially, is the open-ended struggle to apply that knowledge. One imagines these volumes were slightly more difficult to consume, on their own, during their original printing.

In any case, book eight is a treat, insofar as spellcasting goes. Lina intuits the limitations of the powers of the higher-ranking demons, she discerns the network of power-sharing that enables her to cast certain dark magic, and lastly and most importantly, she learns the truth about the Lord of Nightmares. Lina does, in fact, "cast the perfected giga slave" (page 204). Controlling it, of course, is another matter entirely. Fibrizo's end is not to be missed.

Altogether, the book's conclusion is excellent, and lacks the fun but romanticized version the anime pulled together. Lina is a pragmatic character, but she's not so stubborn as to ignore what she learned from the matron of chaos firsthand.

Book nine, The Mystic Sword of Bezeld, begins a new story arc. Notably, the novel series pivots in a direction one might have wondered about for years considering the apparent fate of Gorun Nova, the Sword of Light. In the previous book, Fibrizo zapped the magical blade back to the astral plane.

The challenge this time around? Lina is blunt: "Gourry and I were presently on a quest to find him a new magical monster-carver," because, as she notes to the man himself, "I'm not getting a half-decent night's sleep until I find you a half-decent magical sword" (pages 218, 220).

Here, the story shifts onto a lighter beat and reduces the core cast down to Lina and Gourry. The slower pace feels good. And the stripped-down emphasis on characters fighting for one another, rather than fighting to save the whole planet, roots the novel in familiar territory. Sure, there are assassins clad in black. Sure, there are mysterious swords-for-hire hunting for the same treasure as Lina and Gourry. But the scope and scale are manageable.

And when the story is manageable, the worldbuilding can finally breathe again. Losing the Sword of Light gives Lina, as narrator, permission to chat about all of the other fantasy blades that populate the world (and possible swipe for Gourry): the Blast Sword, the Bless Blade, the Red Dragon Sword, the Elemekia Blade, the Dark Lord's Hungry Bone Staff, Ceifeed's Flare Dragon Sword (pages 209, 217). The idea that readers could spend the next few volumes sword-hunting with these two idiots, getting into trouble and feuding all of the way, sounds like an absolute blessing.

But as fate would have it, Lina gets in the way of someone else's carefully laid plans (again). For the umpteenth time, Lina barges in on a high-level demon's plan-in-action, decides she can't quite let things be, and resolves to fight her way through. Granted, the young woman has zero interest in fighting off a "hyperdemon" smothered with the curse of Raugnut Rushavna, but what's a woman to do? When an assassin is transformed by a demonic curse, and is then simultaneously possessed by a demon, the end result is a constantly regenerating creature of death and destruction.

SLAYERS Omnibus v3 is solidly entertaining. The author's increased focus on continuity gives the story a genuine sense of fated consequences (e.g., when a high-ranking demon dies, spellcasters can no longer call upon their power). Further, the book's higher emphasis on character mythology really shows, and portends greater revelations down the line (e.g., if Xellos is a creation of Greater Beast (Zellas Metallium), then who are the priests and generals to the other five servants of Ruby-Eye?). And some facets of the story are just too fun to ignore. Like how Lina's super-powerful big sister is known as "Knight of Ceifeed," but is stuck waiting tables back home. Or how Gourry, apparently, has a sixth sense for sniffing out demons. (Except, he's just too simple-minded to actually do anything about it. Twice in this collection, the guy just goes with the flow.)

The balance between what the narrative reaps and sows isn't perfect, but in reading these three books all at once, one finds the disparity is minimal. Reading about the wicked intensity Lina feels when weighing the ragna blade in her hands never fails to send a chill down one's spine, and the absolute shock of a double-Dragon-Slave still makes one giddy, but alas, there's always more story to tell.

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