#i never had any problem with like. reading subtext and such. i love subtext

[conanssummerchild]

a lot of the time it kinda feels like jess's storyline is too dark for gilmore girls, so it's always There but it's never reaaally adressed or gone in depth into, which is fine because that's what fanfiction is for but it frustrates me that people take what they see on the show at face value and don't read into the subtext (i've been told i dive too deep into the subtext, but i'd rather that than to not dive at all. to stay on the shore. lame)

additionally, jess is portrayed a certain way on the show (angry, rebellious) which i love about him because i crave that specific flavour of traumatised characters in media (so i can project) but some people don't seem to link his backstory to his current way of being. i'm not saying that his actions should be excused because of his past, but i wish he could get a little more understanding, from the other characters (mostly luke, who treats him better than anyone else but fails to actually understand his trauma-- by no fault of luke's own, he's just a little out of his depth) and from the viewers. i see people talking about it as if jess's character was just like:

"oh this kid's loser dad walked out on him as soon as he was born, which obviously had no effect on him, he had no father figure unless you want to count the men who continuously entered and just as quickly dissapeared from his and his mother's life, his mum also drank copiously-- again, none of this must've had any effect on this kid's life. his mum then very resonably gave up on him because he fucking sucks for no reason, and sent him away. leather jacket wearing bad boy"

when it's more like jess was raised by a single mother (who had him very young), she was an addict and jess was raised in a life of instability and neglect due to this, financial problems and his mother's boyfriends, he begins to act out becuase of it and gets sent to an unfamilliar town to live with his uncle who is essentially a stranger. all of these experiences from such a young age obviously affected jess's mental state and ability to form relationships with other people deeply. this, again, doesn't excuse a lot of his actions but i think it does explain at least some of them

it also doesn't help that the show revolves so much around rory (obviously, it's called gilmore girls, not the jess mariano show) which causes jess's actions to be linked to rory in a way that gets ridiculous at some point. like jess coming back because luke stole his car and luke telling him to stay away from rory. you mean this teenager (who luke, his first relatively stable parental figure, not too long ago kicked out) flunked out of high school, met his deadbeat dad for the first time in 18 years and was promptly rejected by him and is about to spend a freezing cold night sleeping in his car, but of course he's here for rory. be for real

i love jess and i'm happy with how most of his storylines panned out but i always yearn for a little more. an acknowledgement of why he may be reluctant to let liz back into his life, him and lorelai having an actual conversation where she tries to actually understand his experiences not assume she does because of her own, luke being a little gentler with jess sometimes, an explanation of what happened while jess was away that suddenly made him so emotionally mature and well adjusted. idk, just something that's been on my mind

[224bbaker]

So, hypothetically speaking, if someone had never been interested in Sherlock Holmes before but wanted to get into it because of Fawx & Stallion... Where should they start?

Oh my GOD, anon, so upset we didn't see this until now because what a great question and also, our show inspiring someone to go check out Sherlock Holmes?? Deeply upsetting for our characters but SO exciting for us!

Hopefully since you sent this you've just dived in to the stories--because, honestly, that's how both of our writers got into them as kids, and also because despite what roughly 40 contradicting scholars will try to tell you, the timeline is nonsense and Watson's continuity doesn't make sense (we have made our own peace with this and addressed it in-universe because we didn't want to go on deep-dives to decide what puns we were allowed to use for the place we're at in the timeline it's fine, we're fine).

However, just a quick sidebar before we jump into The Stories--if you would rather start with an adaptation than the original ACD stories themselves, there are two options we'd recommend as starting points that are pretty true to canon while remaining engaging in and of themselves:

The Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke: It rules, and most of it's on YouTube! Highly recommend their Solitary Cyclist, Speckled Band, Scandal in Bohemia, and Blue Carbuncle (we may be biased towards the early, David-Burke-Watson entries). These actors and sets are what we picture when we read Holmes.

For an audio adaptation, the 1989 Bert Coules radio adaptation, which you can get for a single credit on Audible in full and has basically the whole canon! Incredible dramatization work that preserves the stories and really deepens the character work in a way that we're obsessed with. Big fans!

If you're liking the vibe of these, you'll probably like the stories themselves! In which case, there are also awesome online book clubs like Letters from Watson that have great communities here on Tumblr (just peruse the tag, it's super fun!), and also over on Discord.

SO. If you're still here and looking for our direction on the stories:

If you just want to start with what is/will be relevant to Fawx & Stallion, we recommend:

Our goal is that our audience doesn't NEED to have read any Sherlock Holmes to understand anything in F&S. We'll hopefully lay things out or give context clues. However, we do have little jokes for the fans, and in season 2, some subtext may be a bit clearer, or have a bit more weight, if you've read some of the stories.

A Study In Scarlet: I know, I know I know I know, Holmes fans, the Utah Mormon stuff, I get it, BUT. Holmes and Watson meet in this one, and it's incredible. The first few chapters of them meeting, starting to live together, going from roommates with a mutual fascination to, through Watson's unintentional insult of Holmes's writing and a fateful invitation to a crime scene, actual friends, are electric. It's a crime (pun intended) that we have so few dramatizations of this in the canon era (we're trying to fix that), we love it so so much. Sacrilege, but, wikipedia the stuff in the middle, enjoy the fantastic meet cute that bookends the thing.

Hound of the Baskervilles: Happening during the events of Fawx & Stallion season 1. I don't need to tell you this one is a banger, we all know this. Less Holmes content than you expect, but a GREAT setting, mood, and roster of suspects, and a thrilling, well-paced mystery with some great Watson.

The Final Problem: Occurs right before the events of season 2, and though you again don't need to have read it, some stuff might hit better if you have, particularly in the back half of the season. High recommend. On the same note, The Beryl Coronet is also mentioned a few times, which is the case right before this one.

Ok, with that out of the way, we highly recommend:

The "Jump Around To Whatever Short Story or Novel Sounds Cool" Approach

This is the move, in my opinion. As I've said before, the timelines are nonsense, you CAN try to get into the weeds of continuity as we have and there is delightful madness to that, but would I recommend it as an intro? No. They're short stories! They're serialized! Treat it like a TBS rerun series at 1 AM and just pick one that is on/sounds cool!

Now, if you want our PREFERENCE? There are different genres of Holmes mysteries, different types of mysteries for different preferences, but we're going to recommend one particular sub-genre of Holmes mysteries that we find particularly fun/unique: The "It's Not Necessarily A Crime Yet But the Vibes Are There" Mystery.

We love these. They're the best. Not depressing or gruesome off the bat, usually starting with some whimsy at Baker Street, these stories usually begin with a client coming to Holmes and the following interaction happens

CLIENT: Um, hi. Honestly it's pretty silly that i'm even here. It's probably just a Weird Thing, you probably don't-- HOLMES: No no no please tell me I love Weird Things. CLIENT: Ok. Well. My boss/guardian/brother/[insert-person-who-has-power-over-them] has been doing this Thing where he [insert extremely weird thing that again, is not a Crime, but the vibes are there]. It's kinda weird. HOLMES: Yeah, super fucking weird. CLIENT: I know! But it's not a crime, so I don't know, you're probably not interested, I'm just a [not rich not male not high class not privileged identity] so there's really no point in checking that out-- HOLMES: No girl (gn), we are DEFINITELY checking that shit out there's a crime in there somewhere and we're gonna find it!

And we're off! If this sounds interesting to you (and it SHOULD), check out: The Solitary Cyclist, The Red Headed League, The Copper Beeches, The Greek Interpreter, The Speckled Band, The Stockbroker's Clerk, The Musgrave Ritual, The Resident Patient, and honestly probably some others we're missing because it's REALLY common.

Other fun Holmes bangers:

Holmes overworks himself and Watson takes him to the country to rest, only to solve ANOTHER FUCKING MYSTERY: The Reigate Squires

The Christmas One!: The Blue Carbuncle

The Dancing Men: I don't have a fun little thing for this one it's just a banger and the Granada Adaptation rules!

The One Where Sherlock Holmes does NOT fall in love with Irene Adler but does get completely owned because 1) he thinks women don't get up early, and 2) he wanted to have a sleepover with Watson: A Scandal in Bohemia

There are a ton, and hopefully you'll find one that you like and just jump in!

[madlori]

Ship dysphoria

Ok so a bit of time has gone by, and the 9-1-1 fandom is settling into a bit of an...existential crisis?

Because 90% of this fandom is built on Buddie. Buddie has always been the strongest driving force. We love our other blorbos, but it's Buddie that usually drives us feral.

Except...Buck/Tommy. OMG. It is WORKING for a lot of fans. (and JFC we cannot settle on a ship name. Tevan? Kinley? I'm gonna stick with Buck/Tommy)

A LOT of fans are having a "I'm a devoted Buddie shipper, why do I like this so much??" moment and it can almost feel like a betrayal, or that you're deserting the ship (the ship that, remember, Oliver told us to stay aboard).

And I think I can probably speak for everybody when I say that the last thing we want or need is a ship war in this fandom, something we haven't ever really had but which has torn other fandoms apart.

So I'm gonna put on my veteran-of-many-fandoms hat for a second and tell you a thing:

It's okay to ship Buck and Tommy. It's ok to do that and still ship Buddie. It's also okay to leave Buddie behind if it's not working for you anymore. It's okay to just tolerate Buck and Tommy and not really care about it, and stay focused on Buddie. You are allowed to ship however it works for you, and you are not limited to one and only one ship. If you decide you don't think Buddie will happen and you're going to cut your losses, that's okay, too. It is not a reflection on your character or something. You don't swear an oath of fealty to a ship.

We don't know how long Tommy will stick around, but Buck will still be bisexual. He may date another man. He may date a woman again. You can ship those things too.

But why is this ship hitting me so hard? I never thought I'd like Buck with another man! I'm so confused!

I get that. There are some reasons why that might be.

There is something very appealing about a ship that's canon. Some of you might never have had a canon queer ship, but the pull is strong. There's no guessing, no interpreting, no subtext-examining. It's there, it's real, you don't have to wonder if you're just overinterpreting things. Yes. Buck and Tommy kissed and are going on a date. Even if that's all it ever is, you'll never be accused of "seeing things that aren't there." Don't discount that.

Tommy, even in just 1.5 episodes, is a LOT more integrated into the firefam than any of Buck's previous girlfriends. Tim talked about not wanting him to be "siloed off" away from the main cast and that was exactly the problem with his prior girlfriends. Tommy is friends with Eddie. He knows Christopher and has hung out with him. He spent most of that loft conversation reassuring Buck that his place in Eddie's life was secure. He feels more like part of the gang than any other ones. That makes it easier to see him in Buck's life.

The mere fact of Buck's queer awakening is so monumental for so many of us that the character who helped him get there is going to naturally earn our affection immediately, and it's going to make you want that relationship to succeed, even if it's ulitmately not endgame for Buck. You want to see Buck have a good experience the first time out with a man. Of course you do.

And we just want to see Buck make out with a hot beefy firefighter. That is so valid of us.

Anyway. There is no need for a crisis. You can love Buddie with your whole heart and still be excited about this pairing, and want to see how it goes, and read fic about it. I may be writing a lil something myself.

You're good, fam.

[kiyomitakada]

kiyomi for the character asks? :D

MY GIRL!!!!! THANK YOU

favorite thing about them: i love that she simultaneously believes in kira's ideals more genuinely than anyone else in team kira (mikami is projecting his own beliefs, light is ocd spiraling, misa is misa) and Also is the most reluctant to actually kill. i keep saying the latter thing and i keep not giving evidence so here is my evidence

kiyomi: i love when people die! kiyomi when she has to kill people: well this sucks. what the fuck

it's not just momentary shock either! she's dead silent for the rest of the conversation until light prompts her directly for the sake of the task force listening in!

and then this

shouldn't you :) be happy :) hey this is the final step towards your beautiful new world you know :)

anyway this is my favorite thing about her less because i believe she has more of a moral backbone and more because i think it's so darkly funny. leopard who joined the leopards eating people's faces off party: i never thought i would have to eat people's faces off!! in some ways i think this is the most realistic reaction anyone in death note has to the death note like yeah of course nobody actually wants their hands stained with blood in the end of course you want your pure refined kindhearted world and don't want to look at the victims of its violence except that you yourself are the face of the violence and there are bodyguards gunning people down in the streets in your name. kiyomi takada, saint. they'll canonize you and they'll spit on your gravestone.

i think in some ways misa clocks this about her immediately. we meme on that panel where misa's like The Death Penalty :D but in context misa (who knows the task force is investigating kiyomi) is saying that since kiyomi is kira's voice, she's just as bad as kira is and will get executed just as kira will once they're caught. and this is what gets kiyomi (who is already acting as kira at this point) to leave the conversation because she cannot be confronted with her own guilt.

anyway do you see why i think she is exactly like first arc light yagami hahahahahahhaaaa

least favorite thing about them: please for the love of god ditch the pixie cut and get a mullet or something please

favorite line: this is actually so hard. so much of kiyomi is informed through other people like mikami complimenting her raging fascism. hmmm i will go for

you don't have to read this as violence but personally i do because it's more fun that way coming from someone who, see above, is generally very bad at initiating violence! and also one of the only ideas this sexist fucking manga lets her have on her own even though light shoots it down immediately. ahem. totally unrelated but you should read the problem of misa amane

brOTP: kiyomi and mikami are SO fun together i like them so much. i like to think kiyomi asked him out on a date and he just did not catch onto the subtext there at all and they spent the whole time talking about politics and kiyomi was like wow i enjoyed that so much more than any actual date i've had with a man, surely this means nothing. i also think mikami wrote her name without a shred of remorse :D

OTP: ive been trapped in kiyomisa hell for almost a year now. i may never get out. they've got mindgames they've got hatemance they've got two people trying to perform gender and failing miserably in vastly different ways they've got identity issues of the "i am your more successful copy and yet i am starting to suspect he hates us both" variety. they deserve to kill each other homoerotically.

i also enjoy that light almost clocks it but due to his sexism he concludes that All Women Are Like This when in fact he just has a track record of dating lesbians. i wonder what this says about your gender light yagami

nOTP: this one is also kiyomi and mikami i have actually read several fics about them but i just can't see it romantically alas… they're more interesting when they're friends to me

random headcanon: she's an only child and her parents are traditionalists who wish she'd been a boy and yet objected very strongly to her tomboy phase. naturally this did not affect her personality at all

unpopular opinion: i don't think there are enough opinions about kiyomi to determine what counts as an Unpopular one. damn. i will keep writing meta instead. it is my opinion that she has zero friends and this is why light is able to manipulate her so effectively. near talks about looking through "takada's friends and associates" to find x-kira and then notices mikami and says "never mind i know who it is" which suggests to me that she has like a hundred acquaintances but doesn't actually spend time with any of them. she looks so surprised when light suggests booking a hotel room so they can get some privacy because presumably she has not had cause to actually talk to anybody one-on-one since she got famous. she's like the literal perfect target for emotional manipulation it's kind of impressive and extremely sad

song i associate with them: TYRANT BY BEYONCE

Cowboy Carter Time to strike a match And light up this juke joint

One-one-one by one, you hang them high Your hands are steady and you sleep at night How did you turn your heart to stone? I don't want him back, but I can't let go

look. does it fit perfectly? no. but theres arson in it and adultery and being jealous of another woman not even because of the adultery but because she can kill better than you. if that isnt kiyomicore then what is.

favorite picture of them:

she looks SO cool here and for WHAT. also i think it is extremely impressive she managed to recognize mello when she’s going off linda’s sketch of how he looked as a fourteen-year-old child, when he notably had a different hairstyle and a lack of severe facial burns. either kiyomi is incredible under stress or linda is just like the best artist alive

[alexanderwales]

Book Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Someone on my discord recommended this one, and I thought "why not" about it. I had watched The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, and thought that it was very interesting, and vaguely knew that this book was about a man and a woman making games together.

Spoilers follow.

I thought the opening was great, and to some extent, thought that everything after that was less great. Two people, finding each other after much time apart, a clear love between them that neither will acknowledge, I thought I was in for a treat.

And ... I don't know. The book is, in many ways, experimental. There's a chapter where we switch between perspectives, A-side and B-side. There's a chapter that takes place entirely within an MMO. There's a chapter where a man is dying the whole while. A lot of it borders on gimmick.

I enjoyed Sam and Sadie, but the novel worked less well when they were apart. When you have two people who just suck shit at communicating with each other, you at least need them in the same room so they can be communicating through subtext. When the novel works, it's to the extent that they're together, having fun with each other, bouncing ideas between the two of them, flirting and fun.

So my discontent with the book starts when they finish their first game and separate from each other as Sam goes off to do a publicity tour. It's somewhat unclear to me why he does this, and why he's good at it, and who he's playing it up for: this is a side of him that he's never shown before, and his attention-seeking, which becomes a continuous thread. I can certainly construct my own reasons for why Sam would be this way, but it remains somewhat opaque, and I really wish that we had a scene or two from his perspective as he was in the middle of an interview or something, to show what it was like when he got up on stage and came alive.

The bigger problem with the book is that we have a series of misunderstandings and distance between Sam and Sadie, and even that would probably be fine, I can read about two people failing to communicate with each other ... but it never felt like there was any real catharsis.

Instead it felt like two people who were madly in love with each other who had too many issues to make it work, and who threw away their lives on creatively unfulfilling projects, who spent a decade or so hating each other, who suck shit at communication and maybe get a little better at that, but with so much scar tissue between them that I'm skeptical anything good can come of a future between the two.

Very possibly this is a case of me being too hard on a book because it wasn't what I wanted it to be, but I do actually blame the book in this case, because expectations setting is one of the things that a book does, and when you have a first chapter like this book does ... I don't know. My expectations were set poorly. Might just be a skill issue.

There's a lot in the book about making games, and I generally liked this element of it, though it felt a bit like it fell off as the novel went on, to its detriment. Sadie has an artistic streak to her, and I wanted to see that evolve. I wanted more discussion of the limitations of the medium, of ludonarrative, and it felt to me like it fell off. I wanted to see the author get clever with it, I guess, in the way that Sadie's first game Solution felt clever. But the cleverness seemed, to me, like it fell off over time, at least where the games were concerned.

This is a bad review, in that it's about my personal experience with reading the book and the gripes I had with it. I don't think that I liked the book, and most of this is probably down to my personal preferences.

It's very possible that as a creative the idea of these people wasting their lives not making things when they want to make things is just too tragic for me.

[nerd4music]

I think overall there’s one of two „big“ problems happening for people who have a problem with TOWL (racists and the likes aside… 🙄).

1- The misunderstanding that this was truly much more a Rick and Michonne story than a TWD one. This was not TWD S12. It was about telling the story of these 2 characters and being able to put a dot at the end (or a dot dot dot). And you’ve laid all of that out perfectly. Like yes, in TWD, Beale (& the CRM) would have been draaaaagged out. But this was much more of a Terminus approach than a Saviors one if we will…

2- TWD was never the most ..subtle show. They tended to hit the audience over the head with stuff. And I’m not sure I would go as far as calling TOWL subtle outright either (idk, didn’t think about this until right this moment lol -obviously elements of it are, sure -just as elements on TWD could be on the subtler side) but compared to TWD, it certainly is lol. And there has been a very big „media literacy“ and „basic comprehension skills“ problem happening for a minute now. And I really don’t say this to be mean or make fun of people or anything but these are just facts. Some people really struggle with getting the information when they are not being hit over the head with it, over and over and over again. After the finale I saw several posts on my tl of people wondering why this, that or the other was not addressed or how/why this, that or the other did happen… and I was utterly confused because those things they claimed were missing were very much shown? I was like, there was literally a scene dealing with all of this? And it didn’t require any reading between the lines to be honest, no subtext, it was very much the text of the scene?! So it seems like some people just didn’t get a lot of things that were happening 🫤

(BTW I don’t mean that even if someone didn’t have these specific problems with the show, they MUST love it then. Likes and dislikes etc etc. As much as I really loved the show as a whole, if I decided to put down the Richonne-colored glasses I wanted to and did watch to the show with.. I’d definitely have a few complaints lol, though still very much enjoyed the show even then)

That's definitely what happened. And to some extent, I get why, considering Rick and Michonne are 2/3 of the main show's Big Three. But when the press and promos started, and people were still talking about some Marvel-style meet-up, I was like...oh they're definitely not listening to what's being said, because it's six damn episodes, and also The Richonne story, not the Team Family jamboree. And then acting as if it's somehow 'insulting' to the rest of the characters if Rick and Michonne didn't talk about them. The man had PTSD so bad, he couldn't remember his own son's face. Why would you think it would be good time for him to pause in the middle of his wife telling him about a traumatic moment during her pregnancy to ask about anyone else? Please be fr.

I feel you on the comprehension thing, which is nothing new for this fandom. The fact that so many people legit thought Rick didn't know how to drive stick and questioned the 'realism' of it but never stopped to think that it was because he only has one damn hand. Y'all were fine with every silly ass moment that happened in the main show, that was either sheer dumb luck or handwaved away, but now we need a complete breakdown from experts on how Rick managed to fight off walkers one-handed. Now y'all want the realism, when you've been so giddy for weeks because you need one of them to die for the show to be 'interesting'.

I'm really not listening to people who need the narrative to hold their hand through everything, or need to see every piece of the plot onscreen for it to be considered 'legitimate'. (I'm officially banning the phrase 'plot armor' for the foreseeable future).

People didn't get things, because they don't take a minute to sit with the damn material anymore. From live reactions videos to live tweeting/blogging, people are just watching TV to make content and have an online moment, not for what's actually being shown. And yeah, TOWL isn't perfect, but the minor criticisms I have for it doesn't take away from the fact that it is very enjoyable and easily the best material from the TWD landscape in a long time.

(sidenote: I will say one of my favorite things from these past six weeks is everyone struggling to figure out the overall TWD timeline, lmao.)

[horizon-verizon]

Hiii!! Do you happen to see The Wheel of Time? Because I read a THR interview about queer themes and how they've chosen to portray them, and at first I loved it, and then I thought, damn, THIS is what HotD DOESN'T understand.

Of course, there's a fundamental difference in that tWoT decided as a primary focus that homophobia simply wasn't going to exist in their world. Period. While aSoIa, and therefore HotD, has a homophobic base. But the thing is, HotD missed the opportunity to do that and when it does, they're trying too hard to be subversive and to achieve "cool" moments regardless of how they impact the character, the plot or if it even makes sense.

I have a lot of thoughts and I don't know how to organize them. Because it's about how both books had implicit homosexuality for some of their characters, and how the plots both deal with feminist themes and how they decided to adapt both to a modern audience and one ruined their show and the other is succeeding even with some mistakes and changes.

HotD destroyed every female relationship it had to the point where it doesn't exist, yet they still want to talk about girl power. tWoT Even when it has women constantly facing each other, there are moments of sympathy and compassion between them.HotD shifted the focus of its female protagonist and her family through which it could explore the supposed feminist themes that interested the family misogyny and they didn't even allow the matriarch to carry the narrative force. TWoT decided to switch from their male lead to a female lead that allowed them to better explore the themes they wanted to. HotD decided to make their main gay character bitter and closeted. tWoT has their protagonist in a long-term relationship even when they face problems or they do not agree. HotD erased the poly queer relationship that was a subtext in the books and refused to explore the complications of Rhaenyra's first marriage. tWoT spent a lot of time (some say too much) on the poly relationship and to write it they looked for writers who had been in polyamorous relationships and talked about its complexities and how to deal with it.

And I'm sure I can think of half a dozen more comparisons, and EVERY TIME HotD shows they did a HORRIBLE job in those areas. I'm not saying tWoT is perfect, but the effort and love is noticeable. While, despite what interviews say, I find it hard to see it in HotD. And if that's them trying, I'm scared to see what it's like when they don't make an effort to hide homophobia and misogyny.

(sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language)

Never read nor watched TWoT, so I can't corroborate nor confirm your observations about the show. And I'd rather read the books before watching the show, so Idk when I am ever going to get into this franchise.

But I also like to believe there's just GOT to be better writing for queer fantasy characters, so if true, it looks like I'd enjoy watching it.

[help-is-on-the-way]

Ive finally reread the Lemonade Mouth book and i have feelings. This may be long.

Ive watched the movie countless times since i was like 12, it has always been one of my favorite disney movies. I had their songs in my mp3 and at school i liked carrying my house keys around so i could pretend i was Wen in Turn Up The Music. Anyway. Ive always known it was a story adapted from a book. I remember buying it when i was like 16 after watching the movie for the bajillionth time. I never finished it. I remember the different POVs threw me off a bit and the language didnt make it any easier (english isnt my first language and the book has never been translated). My bookmarker said i made it to page 152. But i honestly did Not remember at all like 90% of the changes. So im like pretty sure i read it without Actually reading.

Anyway. Now im 24 and i rewatched the movie 3 nights in a row this week. And im way more well versed in english nowadays. So i decided to give the book another shot. Now, like i said, i have feelings. I read the whole thing in 2 nights. Im not sure what im doing right now and im sure im overexplaining things, as i usually do. But well. I think i wanna say some stuff.

First of all, after reading the book i can confidently say the movie is a pretty amazing adaptation. Ive always known that, but like, now i have undisputable proof. The way they made the story flow in just under 2 hours always baffled me. They got like 7 character stories going on and it never feels too much. And the changes from the book are mostly all understandable, and some of them i even like way better in the movie in my opinion. I mean. Except their appearances changes. I love Bridget Mendler as much as the next guy, but .. Fat Olivia wouldve been so cool to see. Especially considering the movie/book themes.

I remember whenever i rewatched the movie as a 18 year old and onwards, i always thought something along the lines of. Wow. For a movie all about revolution, and being a freak, and not conforming to the social mold, and being a minority in an elitist society - the lack of queer related stuff is so Loud. I guess it always disappointed me. Not that we are necessarily freaks, but well. Im sure we all felt like it at some point. I remember being angry about it, then. But i get it. Of course i always did, in a way. It was 2011 and it was disney. And im not stupid either. Stella is a glaringly obvious lgbt subtext allegory - maybe its the Hayley Kyoko in her, but they all knew what they were doing, i think. I can see that. Its subtext. I just cant help it but feel a bit disappointed that it isnt text too. I kinda always secretly hoped the book had something more in this subject. Dont get me wrong. Stella's character in the book manages to be even more marvellous than in the movie (an impressive feat). I was in shock that she was written explicitly and diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Being a different but similar kind of neurodivergent myself, that was really cool and genuinely surprised me, as ive always related to the feeling dumb sentiments she has. But, you know. Still kinda made me sad. You could make the argument that she didnt need a romantic arc or whatever, cause she was going through a lot, blablabla. And, yeah. I agree with you. She was going through a lot. Thats kinda the point though. All five of them were. Its the whole point of their characters. Theyre all going through their own personal stuff and they got school problems on top of it - the band and their music is an answer to all of it. Im not saying she needed a girlfriend or anything. She didnt, and her character is one of the most fleshed out ones. I just cant help but wish.

Which then brings me to my next point. Honestly. I feel like the book had a lot more romance going on than the movie. In parts it was really sweet, and in others kind of annoying. The movie always made it very clear that Mo and Charlie wouldnt be a thing, and i come from that reality and mentality. So imagine my surprise when they are actually a thing by the end of the book. Idk. Ive always disliked Scott, and hated that he got in the band and played with them at the Madison Square Garden by the end. He never felt like one of the band, he never felt like a lemonade mouth. I dont think he ever really understood their struggles as freaks. At least not in my eyes. So he always felt a bit undeserving of his spot. He's there because of Mo, for Mo and Mo only. He's even more of an asshole in the book, so im glad hes not really brought up again after he tries to apologize and Mo says she isnt interested. I really like that this is what happens in the book. I might be too much of a Scott hater, but, yeah. I do like it. I dont think Mo shouldve gotten with Scott in the movie either. But i also dont think she shouldve gotten with Charlie, is the point. Sure, Charlie's character in the book actually puts in the effort to get to know Mo, he is sweet, he makes her feel listened to, and he tries to learn about her heritage and culture. He does not feel like hes in love with the idea of Mo (aside the first few POVs of him) (he quickly grows from that when they become proper friends). He loves her for her. And thats something i dont feel like it happens with movie-Charlie.

In fact, im gonna go in a bit of tangent here, i feel like movie-Charlie is the most not-book character of them all. Hes got the most background change, and most of the time he isnt seem doing much (most of his scenes were passed on to Wen - going with Stella to ask about the lemonade machine, being the one that's approached by Lyle when he sells the Lemonade Mouth Live at the Bash CDs, etc). When theyre deciding if they should become a band or not at the pizzaria, his coin flip in the book matters because thats heavily tied to his way of seeing the world and the universe. Tied to his belief that hes the wrong brother to have survived, so Aaron (heads) also deserves a chance to choose his actions for him, just as much as Charlie himself (tails) does. And thats explored time and time again over the pages. Its incredibly interesting and original. When they get rid of his dead twin brother, and build up a living-in-the-shadow-of-a-perfect-older-brother backstory for him, the coin flip just seems like hes an undecisive guy, who doesnt have a good reason to say No, but also not to say Yes either. And while thats fine, i guess... it just doesnt hold the same value narratively speaking. It just feels more shallow, like hes simply a more laid back guy - and although that is consistent, it just couldve been so much more. I do like movie-Charlie, but book-Charlie is way more interesting. His book appearance is more fitting too. Hes described as a regular chubby guy with unruly hair. I like that.

Anyway, back to the romance thing. Its fine i guess. Im mostly against Mo x Charlie in the book because it just kinda feels weird after watching the movie for 12 years. I liked the "friendzone" arc. Its nice when a boy and a girl can just be friends in media, no ulterior motives behind it (though that doesnt really happen between them either) (we see that more with Stella and the boys). Also because idk im not a huge fan of how Mo eventually came around and confessed to Charlie in the book. I know that theyre 14 but Charlie was still hurt by what she had said, and though she did apologize and admited that she screwed up, i feel like i wouldve liked it more if she explained to him what was going on through her head better. Like if she had explained to him what she had explained to the reader, that she was too preoccupied desesperately chasing after a future that doesnt belong to her, it kinda wouldve made it a lot better for me. Cause Charlie said multiple times that he was confused by the whole thing, and still hurt, but they kinda ignored that and kissed twice. And that was it, they were dating now. But then again, if they were able to express themselves that well, they wouldnt be 14 year olds.

And then on the other side of the romantic things going on theres Wen and Olivia. Ive always liked them as a couple since i was a kid. And their moments in the book were pretty fucking good. I love the subtle ways in which Wen slowly begins to pay more attention to her, and notice how his feelings toward her change, even though he doesnt really understand what they are. I lost my mind when in the beginning he described her eyes as a simple brown, but the next time it happens he sees that it has hints of yellow as well. And their fight scene ?!?!??!! Bro !!! The peak-ism of it all..... the way Wen crosses the street without Olivia, and theyre shouting while on different opposing sidewalks, with cars going between them, a clear and visual indication of this rift they suddenly found themselves in, and how sometimes they can think in opposite ways. Its so good. Hurts so well. And it gives more of a reason for Olivia to lose her voice as well, cause she had to yell over the noise and stuff. While in the movie she lost her voice over yelling two sentences while they were 2 meters away from each other, which always striked me as odd.

Speaking of which i feel like i have so much to say about Olivia, and at the same time so little. I honestly dont know which i prefer better, movie-Olivia or book-Olivia. From a poetic and creative standpoint, i really like that Olivia's POV throughout the book is told solely through her letters to her dad (+ Naomi at the end). Its very charming. But at the same time it also kinda feels like it hurts her characterization a bit in places. She tells stuff through a letter format to her dad, so at times it feels like she is withholding stuff while at the same time saying Much More than a 14 year old would say to their dad. And, granted, that does say a lot about her as a character, but you know. The point of different POVs is to explore the characters more. But because shes stuck telling the events to her dad, i dont feel like shes explored enough, it almost feels like shes only allowed to be his daughter - and it also feels forced at times when she tells stuff to him that i know just needs to be said for plot reasons. Which is a bit sad. I have the feeling that it is intentional, but idk. I feel like after 336 pages i still barely know her. We mostly get to know about her through other people - we basically only see Olivia [daughter] and Olivia [quiet friend]. I wanna see Olivia, dammit!!! It kinda sucks cause i love her and the book did not answer the questions i had about her. Shes the main singer, for goodness' sake !!!! And in the book nobody else sings besides her too.

This paragraph from one of Mo's POV kinda sums it all. Im stuck in a fence trying to understand if thats a good thing or not, when shes still a mystery even to the reader, only a 100 pages away from the end of the book. I want to know whats going on in her head so badly.

The exerpt kinda brings me to another point, slightly connected to the romance thing. The girls barely interact with each other. Of course we know they all become friends, and by the time the Halloween Bash is over and Nancy dies, Wen is already describing them all as a family in his POV. So we know they are all closer than they were before. From this point on they always describe themselves as friends, when before there was always an uncertainty over their relationship. But like, getting to my original point. The girls' interaction is scarce. Mo and Stella have the fight scene in the beginning, when the band first tried to make things work and they butted heads during practice. And then they get a descriptive paragraph soon after of the two of them having fun while reading a magazine and coloring the pictures with a pen after practice. After that, all of Mo's scenes are with Charlie, Naomi, or the other 4 as a band (or her dad). At the end Wen mentions that Mo gives him the "shovel talk" so he doesnt hurt Olivia by dating her. But we never get to see Mo and Olivia properly interacting one on one. The shovel talk isnt effective if i dont know the lengths that Mo would go for Olivia. I guess its fine narratively speaking, but like. I wanna see, you know. Olivia's scenes are even worse, theyre all either with Wen or the whole band. Olivia has more scenes with Sydney than with the other girls in her band. And its not just the girls, Wen and Charlie also never interact with each other. I feel like the focus in romance is greatly to blame for this. The movie lacks on this too, dont get me wrong. But its easier to convey their closeness to each other when there's a visual representation of them happening in front of my eyes and i can See them all interacting in between themselves without dialogue. Like Wen and Charlie singing the jingle of Rising Star together when they were in detention, or later on the two of them walking around school together. Or Mo hugging Olivia and standing close to her after Nancy died and More Than a Band happens. The whole More Than a Band scene actually, cause it kinda becomes a "silent" montage of them having fun together. Or having Wen with Stella when she realizes the actions of her consequences and suddenly the whole school knows shes the one responsible for cutting Mudslide Crush's set for the Bash in half. You know what i mean ?? As a big fan of found family i just kinda wish there was more of the rest of the relationships between the 5 of them. And in the book thats especially jarring. Which kinda goes back into the thing i said about Olivia's POV.

She wont write about these details to her dad. The only time she wrote in detail about a conversation was when she fought with Wen, cause she was venting about it to her dad. So we're kinda missing out on a POV that Could help bridge the band together in a way for the reader to see more clearly. Cause its obvious they love each other and theyre family, but we dont get to see much How exactly that happens. The cloud watching scene is like the main bonding moment in between the group and practically the only one we get to participate in. And it's not from Olivia's POV, it never is. Her cat died and we're told what happens through Wen's eyes. She has a "nervous attack" before the Halloween Bash to the point of puking and we're told what happens through Random Girl #6 That Just So Happens to Be Hiding and Eavesdropping in The Next Stall Over. She takes the band to see her dad in prison (a pretty big deal to everyone envolved) and, again, we're told through Wen's eyes. I wanna know what she was thinking !!!!! Cause its obvious it was hard for her to do that, and she had to prepare herself before even telling them where exactly they were going. What was going on through her head, then ?? Was she scared ?? Was she nervous ?? Was she thinking that maybe they wouldnt be her friends anymore because of it ????? We will never know, i can only assume stuff !!!!!!! And its really kinda frustrating. I wanna know for sure.

In the movie, Olivia's mom died when she was really young (young enough to not remember her face), and her dad "made bad decisions because of it". The way she talks about it makes it seem that immediately after her mom died, her father got into trouble with the law. So like her dad has been gone idk 12 years or something. She doesn't know him, doesn't know her mom. We're never told what exactly he did, and i kinda always got the impression that it was something bad, something that Olivia kinda resented him by, at least a little bit. I know she simply stated that she never wrote him back cause she didnt know what to say to him, cause he was basically a stranger to her. But you know. I feel thats enough to resent somebody, cause maybe she doesnt even know what he did either. If something like this happened in my family, i probably wouldnt know either. Not until i was like 22 and my aunt spilled the story while drunk during Christmas. The point is: its not the type of thing you tell a child - it's the type of thing the child quietly accepts as just a part of their normal life. So, at the end, she decides to give him a chance by writing a letter to him. I quite like that cause she was kinda doing the same thing that she fought Wen about. He never gave Sydney a chance, and she had never given her father a chance either. I like hypocrisy in characters cause it makes them complex. It makes the fight more interesting as well, cause otherwise its just suffering Olympics. And it hurts Olivia's character in my eyes cause thats really annoying and pointless. But interpreting it this way i can make more sense of it.

Book-Olivia, on the other hand. Her mother didn't die, she simply left. Olivia also does not remember her face. Her mom and dad had a teen pregnancy, the mom had drug problems and the dad already had minor criminal records. Mom left when she was 1. And her dad was a good father to her until she was 8. And she remembers that he was a good father. He had dreams of being an english teacher. And then he got fired from his taxi driving job, couldnt get another because of his past felonies, fell into old habits, and accidentally caused an old man to have a heart attack while attempting robbery with a toy gun. So he's in jail. And Olivia knows this stuff because she remembers. She was old enough to ask questions, to demand answers when her loving father suddenly wasn't coming home anymore. So she writes letters to him all the time, she keeps him updated on her life cause she knows he would like to be present, but can't. She also knows he made mistakes, and isnt looking for excuses for him. But he's a good father too. And she trusts him a lot. He's the person she trusts most in the world. So when she invites the band to visit him, she's trusting them as well.

Theyre similar backstories but also so different. Theres things i like about both. The Sydney-dad parallels in the movie are pretty good. Its what really sells it to me. The book's scene of the band visiting dad in prison is fantastic. I feel like the movie did a good job translating the book and adaptating Olivia's backstory. I quite like that the whole movie is Olivia's letter to her dad, telling him about her band. It's a pretty good way to tie her to her POVs from the book. ..I dont remember where i was going with this, honestly. I like Olivia. I may like movie-Olivia more just because, like i said, the hypocrisy makes her more complex. And book-Olivia is unfortunately a mystery i cant solve.

Mo's story is also pretty good in both. I feel like the only significant difference between book-Mo and movie-Mo is that Naomi's whole character is gone. So is her family owned store and the obvious religious references and practices, and Mo is seen doing less extracurriculars. So the illness she contracts before Rising Star in the movie feels less like a burn out and more like a really unfortunate coincidence - which lowkey sucks cause the burn out she feels is essential to Mo finally understanding that she cant keep overworking herself like this, which ultimately results into her coming to terms with the fact that she cant plan her whole future and expect it to not go wrong at some point. Cause that burned out Mo isnt the real Mo. Which then leads her to her confronting her dad. I understand why they cut Naomi out, but the fact that Mo had a pretty good friend before the band makes so much sense. She doesnt really struggle socially, its more that she has a family influenced plan for her future, and doesnt have time for other stuff (doesnt let herself have time for other stuff, especially after Scott). Mo in the book and in the movie do not feel like two different characters, it's more that the book has bonus content of the same girl. Its nice. Same thing with Stella and lowkey Wen, i think. And because of it i dont have much to say about Mo. Shes like Stella in the way that shes a very fleshed out character. Everything she does make sense. I highly recommend the book only for her POVs cause it touches her religion, faith and heritage in ways disney could never do cause theyre cowards. It really enriches her character. I love that even though she doesnt see eye to eye with her father, she still went and prayed with him. She doesn't hate her culture nor her religion. She values her family a lot and its especially telling in the book. I feel like thats a bit harder to see with movie-Mo.

Wen also feels like pretty much the same guy. In the movie they cut his pointless popular social hierarchy chase and replaced it with self absorbed jokes, which is important characterization nonetheless cause it tells the viewer that Wen isnt really insecure. In fact, id say he is very confident in himself. If he could, he wouldve named the band Wen. I dont think he is as confident in the book, but he also isnt trying to be someone he isnt, and you gotta be confident enough for that. He never tried to change who he is; he knows he is a weird guy but he thinks he still can be popular and That could work in his favor if he plays his cards right. But, through no fault of his own, he couldnt play them and thats why he fell so hard down the social hierarchy ladder. And he isnt happy about that. The Sydney situation in the book is a bit different from the movie, and way more awkward. Wen is described as being in love with her and the photographs he accidentally brought to school with him were Sydney's self portrait nude drawings. Its a very uncomfortable situation to everyone involved, including me that had to read and imagine it. I personally prefer the movie version of this cause it minimally touches Wen's problems with his mom leaving them behind and the impact it had on him. Sydney bothers movie-Wen so much because her presence is sudden, everywhere, and to him she's trying to replace something she could never be - his real mom. So he's angry and he lashes out. Thats way more interesting to me than having a teenage boy crush on your dad's 26 year old girlfriend. But i do like that he eventually realizes he grew out of it when Sydney starts treating him more "motherly" - fussing over his injury and offering him leftovers. It slightly-but-not-really touches the 'replacing his mom' role Sydney could have. Idk. Again, i like my characters when theyre more complex. Sure, the crushing on your dad's girlfriend brought him quite a lot of guilt, and that was a positive to me for his complexity's sake, but i feel like we already know so little about Wen's biological mom and how that affects him as is. Both in the movies and in the book, we're only told that she left them. Literally only that. I guess one could interpret it as she leaving them cause of a potential death, but i personally always saw it as abandonment. And something like that is ALWAYS gonna affect a child. At least movie-Wen touches a bit on how that affects Wen, and i like that.

Also wouldve it killed disney to give Wen his fucking glasses ?! Thats literally all thats different from his movie and book appearances and that kinda hurts a lil bit. Well, despite that Adam Hicks is kinda ginger and Wen is described as blond. But i dont think that matters much.

I guess to sum all this "character study" stuff up.

• Same character as in the movie but with bonus content: Mo and Stella.

• Movie has a different interpretation of the same character: Olivia.

• Movie and book got completely different characters they might as well have different names: Charlie. (and they do have different last names)

• Wen: Wen.

I do love the movie's songs cause theyre all a BANGER and i grew up listening to them. I just wish the book somehow had a CD built-in with their songs. Just so i could know what they sound like cause its REALLY hard to imagine. Especially cause the book gives us some song lyrics as well.

Anyway. Now to talk about the band itself. The book is interesting cause they all use unusual instruments: Stella plays an ukelele (she does know how to play electric guitar, but she ditches it for the sake of the band); Charlie's got a bunch of bongos and im-assuming-at-least-some-drum-plate-thingies; Wen plays the trumpet; Mo plays the big bass instrument that i forgot the name of; and Olivia sometimes plays an accordion + her voice. Olivia is also the only singer. I really like this cause its yet another reminder that those kids are weird. And thats CHARMING as hell !!! It kinda makes me sad that the movie didnt embrace these instruments cause im really fucking curious to how theyd sound together. Like, really, thats a big complaint of mine. Its such a weird mix of instruments that i really wish i could listen to them - its frustrating, even. I feel like that could change me as a person. Cause thats what so magical about them as a band. By all accounts they should not work well together, but they do somehow. Their instruments are a visual and soundful (?) (thats definitely not a word) representation of their weird friendship, its a reflection of it. Theyre all really different people but they somehow work well together. Theyre a family. And you cant separate them cause together theyre an unstoppable revolution.

One thing i really did Not like about the movie after having Book Hindsight, is the way the band reacts to Stella and the lemonade machine situation. In the movie it really feels sometimes that Stella is the only one that cares about that. Especially during the jail scene. I do love the Turn Up The Music callback but i HATE that they all blame Stella so blatantly and they never properly apologize. While in the book theyre ALL in this together, theyre fighting for what they believe in, and they never fault her for calling them and making them come to the school. Cause they all know its not just about the lemonade machine. Charlie does say in the book that "its just a stupid lemonade machine, Stella" but we know he doesnt really believe in that because of his thiughts. Its a half-hearted statement cause he might know its a lost cause but we Know he's worried as well, we know he doesnt mean it. But, at least to me, in the movie when they say stuff like that it really does feel like they dont care, sometimes. Especially when theyre in jail. And it kinda really fucking sucks. Its the main fucking theme of the book/movie !!!!!!! The lemonade machine matters cause it symbolyzes THEM !!!!! Its in their band name !!!!! And when they lose the machine they dont even feel like fighting for the band anymore !!!!!! Thats how much it bothers them that the machine is gone !!!!!

I think im gonna reread that part and rewatch the movie and come back to this actually. So i can judge and hate on this particular movie choice with more arguments.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What is your advice on how to write a character you want the audience to simp for but you don’t want him to come off designed that way?

Well, frankly, my main advice is to not care about audience opinions. Not in the sense of like “Only write for yourself! No one else matters!” because well. there is telling to storytelling. Communication is inherent, and I think the insistence to never take audience into account isn’t very helpful if you’re trying to become a better writer

But that being said, I think over investment in what an audience thinks is a huge trap. You have to be okay with people hating your blorbo or shipping something you did not intend! I honestly think that’s the only way you can write a story that’s rich enough to have multiple points of interest, where hopefully you will have people liking the characters you wanted them to like, but if not, there are still other reasons to keep reading. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket, where the entire point of the story is simping over a single character, and then if that doesn’t land, there’s no other point to reading the book— a problem that’s very prominent in romantasy and adjacent genres rn

But if you are writing a character or love interest and you want them to be charismatic and interesting, all of that needs to be grounded in the actual character psychology lol. Books like the Powerless series, for example, will just pile on beats that are meant to be romantic or endearing and they will have no build up, context, or believability. They're just multiple vignettes thar are designed to be appealing, with nothing else in mind, and it just feels cheap

Plausible connective tissue is paramount to maintaining immersion but also in mitigating the impression that you’re forcing a particular perception of a character down reader’s throats. If a character makes sense sometimes they’re not going to be likeable or sexy! And that’s fine lmao not everything needs to be a turn on. This is a general soap box for me but like let your characters suck! Genuine stakes and a sense of danger is def going to make the trendy dagger to the throat type beats feel more vivid and memorable, but it’s also going to make positive moments feel that much more important

Like I was saying about Rhysand in that other ask, SJM was so unwilling to allow him any acknowledged flaws, which resulted in making him not only boring but also fucking infuriating. He was at his most interesting when he was helping Feyre and we had no idea why. Where he had his own goals and motives and they are not only internally consistent but something that can be perceived negatively

Speaking as a reader, I hate being told what to think. I personally most prefer to be presented with characters and their actions neutrally and to be allowed to form my own thoughts about them. A joke stops being funny when you have to stop to explain it. And similarly, a character simply isn’t going to be attractive if you’re bringing the entire story to a screeching halt to say how attractive the reader is supposed to be finding them. Let their actions speak for themselves, and for the love of god, let those actions have other purposes beyond just being sexy!!

Also, as a broader rule of thumb, relying on subtext is often more effective than getting too overt with sexual tension. Firstly, you want something to build towards, but also it just gets desensitizing very quickly if you’re laying it on too thick, too early

[pippin-katz]

FirstPrince Author AU

I mulled it over and decided that I could post at least a little bit of what I have from the first draft I did last semester. Let me know what your thoughts are, and if you're interested in reading more!

Untitled WIP

Alex lets out another frustrated sigh as he reads through yet another fan analysis that completely missed the point. With an eyeroll, he stretches his hands and starts typing rapidly. It's moments like these that he despises his favorite author.

H. Fox is the author of several successful fiction novels, and most recently, a fantasy series, the third installment of which was just released earlier that week. Alex is a picky reader, but there's something about Fox's work that draws him in like a moth to a flame. The passages are skillfully and elegantly strung together to create stories that make it nearly impossible for him to put the book down once he starts reading. He has multiple copies of each book, one that he keeps in pristine condition, and the other that he's filled with scribbles, highlights, post-it notes, and other markings denoting moments that stand out to him, sentences that spark a strong feeling in his chest, and subtext of underlying themes and analogies Fox carefully crafts in. Alex would be thrilled to meet the author, for the chance to ask them questions about parallels he's found, and what their inspiration was for their stories and characters.

The problem is that no one knows who they are.

H. Fox is an anonymous writer. They are faceless, an unseen genius that provides nothing but a few facts about themselves in their bio at the end of each book. All Alex and the rest of their readers know is that they love dogs and have a passion for the poetry of Lord Byron. Fox never does press. They never offer pictures or even descriptions of what they look like. It's a point of constant debate and speculation within the community of readers.

What gender do they identify as? Where are they from? How old are they?

All very simple questions with no answers. Some are positive Fox is a man, while most others are adamantly opposed to the idea. The majority of the readers who had been following the author are almost positive they are from a country where English is the primary spoken language, but certain word choices and phrases generate doubt around which. The age range they are believed to fall into is twenties to thirties, but there is no way to know any of these things for certain, since they are essentially a phantom.

And that is part of Alex's problem at the moment.

[woundedheartwithin]

Did you see that post in the fc5 tag about we're all mischaracterizing john due to our horniness and him talking about holes was about his abuse etc etc. You dont have to post this im just saying. What?? Like bitch I know that. Its still wild he had to say it like that

Edited to add that it has been brought to my attention that the person who posted what I read as a call out post did not intend for their post to be read as such, so I want to clarify something. First of all, I was a bitch here and I apologize for that. I don't usually apologize for being a bitch, y'all know that, but criticizing someone's choice in blorbo for any reason is a dick move and the antithesis of what I stand for. I have often said that this is a safe place for villain enjoyers of all walks, and what I said here flies in the face of that, and I can't begin to express how truly sorry I am. I don't begrudge anyone their blorbo. I overreacted here because I have many times been the target of judgment and passive aggressive call outs for the characters I enjoy, and I wrongfully perceived the post in question as doing exactly that. However, this does not excuse my ad hominem attack and I regret reacting this way.

Second, I think it's important to remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even ones we don't agree with. That said, I stand by what I said here. While the person who posted what likely sparked all of this has said that they didn't intend to push the internet purity culture agenda, and I believe them, it is still a huge problem on this website and I will rebuff it whenever I see it, which is why I'm leaving this up as I originally posted it

I also wanna say, anon, do not feel guilty for any of this. I very much enjoy pissing people off who deserve it and I always wanna know when it happens! My inability to rein in my own emotions and react appropriately is on me and me alone

-

I didn't, I don't really follow the tag anymore but AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IS THIS ABOUT ME 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Oh my god this made my day lmfao thank you. Oh these people. Oh I love pissing these people off lmfao

Like first of all, dude, I know what he fucking meant lmfao it's a joke. I was making a joke. That's basically all I do on this blog is make jokes. Also he's not real, I am allowed to make a crack post about a fictional character and his fictional trauma

But ASIDE FROM ALL THAT the line is SUPPOSED TO SOUND WEIRDLY HOMOEROTIC. THATS WHO JOHN IS AS A CHARACTER. THATS WHO ALL THE SEEDS ARE. THE HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT IS A FEATURE. All the Seeds are horny as fucking shit for the junior deputy regardless of gender and that's the entire point of John wording his weird ass fucking sermons the way he does. It's supposed to sound gay

Maaaaan back when I was in this fandom we were all horny as hell for this sick twisted little family and we all roasted the shit out of them and nobody judged anybody for it. Don't bring fucking internet purity culture into far cry, bruh, it just shows how little you understood the plot of literally any of these games

As for "comfort characters" what the fuck, if you passed over Staci Pratt as a comfort character and went straight to JOHN FUCKING SEED then... holy fucking shit. Like not only have you hilariously mischaracterized the character you are accusing other folks of mischaracterizing, you completely ignored his analogue that you're actually supposed to empathize with and have let your own delusions create a completely parasocial relationship with a version of a fictional character that never even existed in canon. Literally go touch grass lmfao. Read a psychology book or something. Seek help. Cuz like goddamn what the fuck. I'm not judging but I am def concerned. Like real talk, this is how real life people end up in real life cults.

[amewinterswriting]

So, I've been playing the remaster of Baten Kaitos lately and for a JRPG of it's time (2003, originally) I'm actually quite amazed by how the narrative subtext frames disability. Major spoilers after the read more, and I will explain everything so you should understand even if you know nothing about the game.

In the world of Baten Kaitos, islands are kept aloft in the sky and the people live on them because of a disaster that poisoned the earth. Most of these people have wings on their back that they can make appear and disappear at will. They are referred to as 'Wings of the Heart' and their appearance is unique to each person, symbolizing their hopes and dreams and personalities. The people of the Empire do not have wings (? or perhaps choose not to use them, according to the prequel) but compensate with mechanical 'winglets'. It's also worth mentioning that the Empire is a major antagonistic force for about half the game, so even though there are friendly characters who come from the Empire, the association of no natural wings is predominantly 'evil'.

The protagonist only has one natural wing, and a prosthetic wing to compensate. It is shown that he has faced prejudice because of this - people treating him with suspicion and hatred because if his wings are deformed, it follows that his 'heart'/soul must be deformed as well.

In fact, this is a major motivation for him deceiving the rest of the party and the player themselves, aligning himself with the evil god we were trying to prevent from being resurrected the whole game. His 'payment' is a second, natural wing to match his existing one.

The plot then follows a secondary protagonist who eventually manages to confront him with a magical artifact that disrupts the evil god's power for long enough that he can choose a different path. And he does so, physically ripping off the wing he was 'gifted' and returning to the good guys and using his prosthetic (which the second protagonist had kept safe for him in the hope that he would one day rejoin them and he might need it).

While I have a lot of criticism for some elements of that plot (the one-winged protagonist should definitely have had more of a 'redemption' arc after deceiving the whole party and the player in a way that nearly destroys the entire world, but five minutes after he's rejoined the party it is almost as if it never happened), it is interesting that a game of this age does address the fantasy of 'what if I could just be magically fixed' and reject it. It actively frames the use of the prosthetic (something crafted for him with love and care from his family, later protected and cared for by the party in the hope that he'd come back to them) as something positive and better than a magical cure for him.

It's definitely not a perfect story (I would have loved to see some kind of connection between the party members - even at the end of the game, it does feel a lot like a group of strangers just happened to be going the same way and tagged along with each other), and I can't bring myself to decide whether the 'prosthetic' plotline is helped or hindered by the idea the the prosthetic is not a physical inconvenience in any way (never seems to need maintenance and works just as well as a natural wing, even adjusting as the protagonist grows) and only a social one (characters comment on it, some in negative ways and he admits he's faced that kind of prejudice his whole life). On the one hand, it's nice that he only actually faces any problems because of other people - it's a fantasy story, why shouldn't his inventor grandfather be able to make the perfect prosthetic for him? On the other hand, not having any physical ramifications (that the player is aware of) really does make his flip flop to the darkside and back for an hour seem a little cheap. Like, you've been bullied a bit, that sucks, it's still not worth screwing everyone else over, including all the people who have actively fought beside you to prevent the very thing you're doing?

But overall, the handling of his disability and the fact that the game doesn't just hand him a magical 'cure' as his happy ending? That feels pretty good to me.

[dreamtydraw]

Hello from the Fishbowl!

Oh I’m so glad you and plant anon agree with me on my vn red flags/icks! Like I said a lot of the red flags and icks I tend to have are really subjective so I get that some people will love what I kinda hate but it’s nice to see I’m not alone on stuff :)

Also, is it bad that I kinda wanna hear more about Heir to Love and Lie? I’ve never played any Fictif games but this sounds like some hot gossip I want in on, tell me more about how bad of a game it is lol. From an outsider perspective I think it’s kinda funny how it’s like “Yes the Fictif app has a bunch of great and fun stories with a ton of good content- NO DONT LOOK AT THAT STORY ITS HIDEOUS-” I know the stories are probably made by different teams so it makes sense that there’s differences in quality but still

Last Legacy and now Roadkill have peaked my interest since I’ve seen you talk about it here (I had never heard of Fictif at all before) but I’ve been a little hesitant to give the games a try because they’re mobile games and frankly I’m not the biggest fan of playing vn style games on mobile, I used to all the time but the grinding for stuff like story keys just to get content that may or may not be good kinda grated on me so I stopped and haven’t looked back. But idk maybe I’ll decide to give Fictif a chance when I have the time, your love for the games are definitely convincing me to give it a shot :)

Also I hope you get better soon and you’re not sick with anything too serious! Take care of yourself!

-🐟

( ok i’ll do proganda about the good game of fictif ask me about htlal on another ask )

Ok so i’ll start by saying that you should def play roadkil, last legacy and monster manor on the fictif app, WITH A CRACKED VERSION! If you have an Android play with a mod app and you won’t have to pay for the special choice ( you still have to wait for keys tho but it’s manageable) I personally use Modyolo. With the mod there is no grind, you just wait for your keys to regenerate to play the chapters.

Why you should play last legacy ? Last legacy is a really well written fantasy romance made by queers, for queers with good queers characters. The narrative is limited but realize that fans of this game haven’t had update in 2 years and we all still love this, that how good the game is for us. What I really appreciate is the approach of the romance, the well-written worldbuilding, and the interesting plot and evolution of the li throughout the story + bonus points the art is really pretty + the music is awesome

This is an otome where you feel the passion of the dev because of all the details and care they put into the characters. It sad that we’ll never get an ending but just because it’s my second favorite otome after Our life i really recomand.

Now another wonderful story on the app is Monster manor. It’s a reviseted tale of beauty and the beast where mc is a reparator that come helps the resident of the manor to fix the place and also fix their issue. Again it’s very well written and although you can get subtile subtext on romance this one is very axed on exploring the character's mental health and their story of self-improvement. ALSO IT HAS A CANON TRANS DRAGON CREATURE WHO’S THE SWEETEST I LOVE HIM HE’S SO WHOLESOME-

Bonus the music is so good i even added it on my spotify- and good art

Monster Manor is one of those stories that leave a very specific feeling in you. I don't know how to describe it but it just has a lot of wholesomeness and character going troughs sad but relatable problems that you see get better and makes you happy that they're healing.

now.... my guilty pleasure.... Roadkil !

THE BROMANCE OF THIS GAME IS SO GOOD I swear

Objectively: This game feels like a wild mess of fan fiction with random scenario after scenario and cliché horror moments, but oh man the ambiance. The best trio of Li, they are close friends, and in the 3 routes the group is just such an amazing friend group. The characters are lovely and it's like reading a bad yet good wattpad fanfic : well written ? no ? But the ideas ? good !

Like i said, this game is based on cliché of horror movies but also on american culture ( which I learned trought this game lol ). It has longer chapters than the other two games (except Tess but Tess got hit by the sexism of a greedy company that wants shirtless men in dating sim to attract gurls ) BUT they all shine.

Poe's route had me ugly crying in the end, Howie's ending is AWFULL but I had a great time, Tess is actually a superbe F Li even whith the dev having to cut her short and ruin her ending, she shine very britgh in the other routes and her own ( for ex she's the one with a shotgun and the one that won you and howie a teddy bear )

I really need more people to play roadkill because it's an underated banger in my opinion and it has many great scenes in the mess of scenarios ( the intro is really good for ecxemple )

Like, when I say not all game needs to be well written? That's what I'm talking about, this one is a hot delightful mess

ANYWAY! My rambling was long but I hope it was interessing !

[brw]

isn’t the grim reaper an openly racist white supremacist

I'm not going to sit here and lie by saying no, but I'm also not going to sit here and lie by saying yes, either. Eric Williams / Grim Reaper is a F-tier Marvel Comic villain whose only justification for staying around past V&SW/WCA is his relationship with Simon, who is already a C-tier hero. This means he does not have a consistent characterisation within these issues, and because Eric is kind of a lame villain all things considered, nobody particularly cares about having a consistent characterisation the way they do with big name villains like Ultron.

Anyway, yes, in the V&SW and WCA plot that sought to put the question of Vision and Simon's relationship to rest once and for all, Eric was racist. Not mutant racist or robot racist, capital R Racist. This was mostly a character detail specific to this arc; it never came up before, and I can't remember any extensive times it really came up after. Of course, it is powerful subtext to his relationship with Nekra, and if you're analysing that relationship it's a major component of their dynamic. Outside of that, writers have always focused on the fantasy racism against mutants and synthezoids rather than real world Actual racism, probably because it's easier and more comfortable for writers to do. Does it make sense for his character that he would be racist? I think so, yes. With a man as abrasive and ass-backwards as he usually is portrayed, it's not much of a stretch (although his racism, while not benign, has never really been put at white supremacy levels, so I'm not sure where that's coming from? His rhetoric has never really went down those avenues, or at least I've never read them as such) but equally it does take away from the most interesting parts of Eric's characterisation, and while I do love this arc it's definitely the beginning of the end of interesting Eric characterisation and shows the move from being a F-tier, but narratively interesting and complex character to being Guy With A Scythe Hand and a death motif.

You see, one of the more interesting parts of Eric's characterisation was that despite being incredibly unstable and abrasive, he was very genuine in his love for Simon and his desire to right the wrong of his death. Villains motivated by love above all else weren't particularly common in Avengers comics at the time, and throughout the initial run of his appearances there's this sense that if things had been a little different, he could have been a force for good. He protects Vision repeatedly when they meet each other, and for those early appearances seems largely hesitant to actually hurt Simon. Simon even says this at the end of the V&SW/WCA arc.

There's this idea that in another life Eric could have been a force for good instead of one for evil, that his motivation is true and genuine and it is just the warped ways he's attempted to reach his goals that are the problem, that I personally found really interesting with Eric. Martha even says if you'd asked her when they were children, she would have said Eric would be the hero, implying again that he wasn't just demented and murderous from birth, the way writers after have retconned him to be.

Simon also suggests that in another life, Eric could have been a Nazi hunter.

Ultimately Eric is not a character consistently written, because of his obscurity. If Englehart wants him to be racist, that works. If Roy Thomas wants him to be a shambling corpse of a man who has lost his soul after one too many dealings with death, why not. If Frank Tieri wants him to be a master manipulator who in turn gets his strings pulled by those more experienced than him, that's what's going to happen. If Remender wants just a generic psychopathic demented murderer, that's what he's going to be, and nobody is going to complain or say otherwise. And if I want Eric to be a Greek tragedy, well I can do that too.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph. I have some... Mary thoughts, specifically in regards to her shooting Sherlock. This is, taking TST at face value (although one weird moment to me was Mary asking Sherlock if she ever told him she liked him and he said yes, when she only said it in front of John, which could support the s4 is in John's head theory).

Her reaction to Ajay being shot, the way she screamed, changed the way I thought about her shooting Sherlock. I always thought she meant to kill him, but I never considered Mary could genuinely like and even love Sherlock and still be willing to shoot to kill.

She said AGRA was family, she was excited to see Ajay and yet she did threaten to kill him. And I believe she meant it. I think in her mind, killing to keep John around, or to save John (in regards to Ajay) is... justified?

I don't know how to feel about her yet, I can like her on the surface level if I don't think about her too much? But some things (one that always stood out to me was in the TAB plane scene where she is weirdly smirking and almost reveling in others' pain?) I know others picked up on it to, liking Mary at first and then beginning to find her suspicious upon rewatches and with new context was a very common fandom experience.

I guess I am sharing thoughts and kind of asking for your opinion? I chose to go off anon, and I am fine with it being public. Just saying that, because sometimes when I sent asks off anon people would assume it is like a private message. Still new to Tumblr etiquette, sorry -AA

Hey Lovely!

OOOOOOF I have SO many thoughts about Mary.... my blog was pretty well-known back in the hey-day for all the ridiculous amount of meta I wrote about her and coining 'the mary problem'...

I actually personally found her character interesting and fascinating up until S4, within which I feel they did a complete 180 on her character and instead went with a SHITTY "redemption arc" that was anything but.

As for her killing Sherlock, I have to disagree, she ABSOLUTELY meant to kill him. John was a trophy to Mary, and Sherlock threatened that prize being taken away from her. Ajay threatened to also upend her life, so he had to die. Mary cares about no one but herself. That much was clear even on the surface level of S4. She literally ran off without as much as a goodbye and abandoned her NEWBORN CHILD AND depressed husband. Like, she's a HORRIBLE person even if you're not reading any of the subtext, so I'm BOGGLED how Mofftiss thought that Mary doing an impossible jump in front of a bullet was supposed to redeem her character when... *waves all over* ALL THAT happened before the final moments of T6T.

ANYWAY, I wrote a LOT about Mary... you can check out the majority of my writing on these posts here:

Mary is a Femme Fatale

The Problem with John x Mary

Mary’s Brand of Abuse

Mary Meant to Kill Sherlock

Mary’s Gaslighting

The True Sociopath: People Fail to See It Unless It Happens to Them

And of course there's a TONNE to read in my 'the mary problem' tag too :)

Thanks for this ask!!! I like griping about how they ruined an amazing villain that could-have-been!

[aihoshiino]

quick heads up for canon typical discussions of sex & underage sex specifically in this post

not necessarily a meta so much as a general ramble (<- shout out to the me of 1 Hour Ago who started typing an Ai post sincerely believing this would be true), but an aspect of Ai's character I'm always really sort of fascinated and saddened by that the text (understandably) doesn't as much go into is her fucked up relationship with her own sexuality. the consistency with which she refers to herself as 'dirty' specifically sticks out to me a huge amount and it reads so strongly to me as Ai perceiving herself as being dirty/impure or somehow Bad for being like... an person with healthy sexual desires and a sex drive.

there's a lot of subtext-adjacent stuff to suggest the twins' dad wasn't her first sexual partner and i do think that's the interpretation that both interests me the most and makes the most sense to me - I don't imagine a girl who wasn't taught what a door chain was for was given the best sex education - to imagine Ai, lonely and unsure of how to connect with people, stumbling into intimacy too quick as a stopgap or a shortcut to the thing she really wanted; warmth, affection, love.

is this necessarily Good Or Healthy? no, but it's also not the shameful, dirty thing that the idol culture's obsession with purity has led her to believe. it's just another way the environment she's in has forced this impression on her that her normal, achingly human problems are things she has to cover up and hide like dark secrets.

i also don't think the ways she was subjected to constant objectification and misogyny as she grew up can be discounted as influences here, either. B-Komachi is specifically identified in Viewpoint B as "[...]a group focused on romance above all else", "[...]promoting that sort of intense romantic fixation...". Specifically, the word gachikoi is used in Japanese, which is used to describe fans with intense and explicitly romantic fixations with the object of their fandom.

Ai was twelve years old when B-Komachi debuted and was being sold to and evaluated as an object of romantic (and implicitly, sexual) desire by adult men old enough to be her fucking father. At the same time, it was drilled into her that she was expected to be eternally pure, eternally available, eternally loving, eternally virginial and to never betray those fans. Is it any wonder that she ended up with such a completely fucked up relationship to her own body and sexual desires that she was apologizing for them with her dying breaths to a man who had just murdered her for having them?

i don't really have a closing argument for this post honestly lol just. whoof! ai really is so endlessly sad and fascinating to me. every time i rotate her a bit i find some new facet to her character that i can spend hours turning over in my head.