#i would legit count it as a character flaw

[ssaalexblake]

okay so i never Did bother to watch cm after i could eventually dl it because my urge to see it was entirely stemming from fomo specifically stemming from not being Able to watch it 

turns out the fear of missing out doesn’t count when i have the power to not miss out, i just don’t care. 

i like to have control over not watching things i guess

[absolutebl]

Leaving GMMTV aside, what were youre favorite shows this year so far? I'll have more free time coming up and im way behind and out of the loop, so some recs would be appriacted, wise sage. Especially for those shows that didnt get the attention they deserved in your opinion! Thanks a lot!

Top 10 BLs of 2023 So Far

Our Dating Sim

(Korea) 10/10 Viki

If you haven't watched this, it's a must. I actually handed out a 10/10. I NEVER do that. It's a perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. Just comforting and yummy. I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL. It lives in my rewatch pile and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent. Full review here.

My School President

(Thai) 9/10 YouTube

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues. Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

(you said no GMMTV but I have to include it)

The Eighth Sense

(Korea) 9/10 Viki

One of the longest BLs Korea has given us and (like Blueming) it feels more atmospheric gay coming of age romance than strictly BL. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?) This one deployed BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but front loaded them with painful backstory and tons angst drives the 2nd half. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it does have a glorious ending and that counts for a lot.

The New Employee

(Korea) 9/10 Viki

So good, SO QUEER, so soft, a near pitch perfect office BL with conflict derived from that setting. Also found family and a lesbian bestie. Sweet & innocent (and out) Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams. On his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved (and also v gay) boss. As you do. Frankly? This is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG. Rainbow rice cakes forever! Directed by queer activist Kim Jho Gwang Soo (Just Friends?) partly set in the same neighbourhood as the To My Star house. Gotta love WATCHA (Semantic Error, Light on Me).

Unintentional Love Story

(Korea) 9/10 iQIYI

A boy who just lost his job due to faked corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. Evil manager offers him his job back if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. I found the artist a bit stiff and reserved but Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT - he carried this show (which I do not expect from the idol element). He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, just drown in the emoting abyss. The external conflict, social tension and pressure is complex and beautifully executed, plus Korea gave us legit side dishes (NOT a love triangle, hally-fucking-luya). I’m not sure on rewatchability, and it didn’t whip me into a verbal frenzy the way some KBLs do, but it still gets a solid 9/10 for those damn eyes alone.

Destiny Seeker

(Thai) 8/10 grey

A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likeable tsundere/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes. Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential. Full review here.

Make a Wish

(Thai) 8/10

PNR (from Sammon - Manner of Death & Triage) about a doctor who can see the dead and strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love. Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who cares bc Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but v. satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay af, fag hag bestie and everything. The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are too overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency.

All the Liquors

(Korea) 8/10 Viki & Gaga

A pretty classic foodie set KBL that managed to distinguish itself from others in this category by having a particularly satisfying final episode centered around found family. Sunshine sweetie soju rep gets involved with a shy introvert chef who doesn’t drink. This has a somewhat uneven plot and ridiculous central conceit (much in the way of Tasty Florida or Behind Cut), but if you are looking for a restaurant BL with Korea’s signature softness, then this is a great option. FYI I may identify with our baby party boy hedonist more than any other BL lead ever presented.

Love Mate

(Korea) 8/10 Viki

Features a very much openly gay older uke with commitment issues and a romantic (if arrogant) younger seme with no respect for boundaries (hyung romance). Workplace harassment much? That’s BL for ya. (Also a nonBL Kdrama specialty.) So yeah it’s questionable, but so is my taste. The ultimate premise that someone badly hurt shuts themself off to romance is very similar to Happy Merry Ending or 8th Sense but this version was more about fear than abuse or trauma. For me, this made Love Mate more relatable. However, because the denouement was driven by a late addition faen fatal, the conclusion felt rushed and forced. I can, however, see myself rewatching this one, so it falls into the general rank of 2023′s KBL aka solid high standard and eminently watchable.

Bed Friend

(Thai YouTube, Gaga, iQIYI)

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS). NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, unfortunately the story ultimately failed them. Had the show had the strength of its convictions and kept to a tighter, darker, harsher 8 eps it would have been the first high heat to earn a 10/10 from me, but once they fussed with it, it dropped to a solid 8/10. Could have been great but was overworked. Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down. Full review here. (Triggers include: child abuse, attempted rape, family abuse)

(3x! 3x Tumblr ate this post. They HAVE to de bug their new editor. This never happens with the old one. Biggest bug is with the "undo" function, DO something about it!)

[showtoonzfan]

Would you say HB is portraying gays like they can do wrong and are perfect? Because every happy/good character/relationship is gay and every character that isn’t implied to be lgbt is pure evil and any m/f pairings imply that one or both of the people involved is at least bi.

Viv definitely prides herself in creating characters who are LGBTQ+ and unapologetically problematic, but if you know her work that’s the exact OPPOSITE of what she’s accomplished. She sees any of her gay characters as uwu babies who did nothing wrong, so yeah I would say that HB is portraying gays as innocent. This is why so many people make posts begging creators to craft gay characters who are nasty little shits because we’re so used to queer media portraying them as soft or pure. And I’m 100% on that boat, gimme some LGBTQ+ evil villains or bad eggs!!

Viv TRIES to get this done by making Angel a mobster who kills people, Blitz an assassin, Stolas a problematic weirdo ect, but despite their character flaws it’s pretty obvious that she wants you to think they’re good and gentle people deep down, that’s why she crafts Saturday morning cartoon villains against them so they look worse in comparison and you’ll have no choice but to side with the one who “isn’t that bad”. Val is a r@pist and Stella is an abuser so I guess that means the characters that murder people are better than them. Angel and Blitz are the worst case since they’re both murders and yet Viv portrays them as helpless and lord knows what she’ll do to Alastor. It’s been obvious from the beginning but Viv just wants her audience to see these characters the same way she does, soft and gentle uwu boys who are traumatized and just need love. I’d say that Val is the only exception since I doubt he’s straight but he doesn’t count since he’s boringly flat and his mere existence is just to make Angel look better in comparison. Vox seems to be the legit only gay character that’s evil and unapologetic but that’s not saying much since we don’t know the guy yet.

I’ve said it a million times but for the love of god she needs to stop being afraid of what her audience will think of these characters and just LET them be bad people and make mistakes WITHOUT it being excused or justified. I’d say that part of her is worried people will think she’s portraying gay people badly which……people already think that lol but in a sense that she’s painting them in a negative light. It’s an issue that some writers go through, they don’t want to give their audiences the wrong intention when it comes to their characters, remember when people disliked Angel because they thought he was in hell for being gay? It’s like that. I’d say you can accomplish this well if you play your cards right as a writer, but Viv unfortunately doesn’t have that skill. She’s under the impression that she needs to make all her gay mlm characters uwu babies while also slapping the same “snarky crude” juvenile personality onto them over and OVER again and it’s just…sickening to watch lol.

[kcuf-ad]

Aight bet- I’ll start off with some things I like you may already know XD

Well written female characters given equal amounts of flaws and development in both character and strength depending on the type of media to the male characters, that’s given for almost any show I like really

MONSTROUS CHARACTERs. I’m not taking about like oh cute petite anime girl/boy with like a tail or some horns I’m TALKING MADOKA MAGICA WITCHES THOS GIANT WEIRD THINGS IN EVANGELION. I WANT MONSTERS THAT LOOK LIKE THEIR AN EXSTENTIAL NIGHTMARE!! It’s so gender envy ngl ✨💕 wish that were me

FATHER DAUGHTER DUOS, BONNEY AND KUMA?! DID NOT CARE THAT MUCH EXCEPT TAHT BONNEY WAS RELATABLE IN HER LOBE FOR FOOD AND IMMATURE BEHAVIOR UNTIL I FOUND OUT THEIR FTAHER AND DAUGHTER BACKSTORY IN THE MANGA AND VIOLENTLY SOBBED

Also Father son duos are a treat for me, but I love father daughter duos more on a personal level (Haha daddy issues go brrr xDD)

SNAKE THEMED CHARACTERS! I know that you know I love snakes Fran XD

Symbolism in character design, the backgrounds, abilities names, I’m a sucker for shows and medias that have me over analyzing everything I could in terms of a character as a whole as well as their Morality, Psyche, biology, etc. just any character or moment I can just daydream about breaking down to their rawest moments and just analyze it til there’s nothing left for me to analyze over

The protagonist has flaws, and genuinely doesn’t win everytime (Yes even though I love Yusaku I mean this whole heartedly) XD

Angst bait and whump bait characters ig XD, I want to fall in love with a tragic character and immediately start hunting down angst and whump about them or just make my own ximssjsm

Also characters that I just wanna coddle and adopt XDDD

Bratty or cocky characters, that have utter fear of god instilled into them or absolutely gets knocked down their pedestal and it’s EMBARRASSINGLY AGONIZING FOR THEM, I’m not a sadist I swear :D

Theirs probs more but I can’t think rn and it’s already at ten I think that’s enough XDD

Oh~ This is such an interesting list, and I am actually pretty sure that Bleach has almost all of these.

Yeah, that is pretty much of a given. Orihime wants to protect her friends, but something happens to her powers and she feels horrible about it, she has real flaws that any girl would have.

Espadas, Just the Espadas. More specifically, Ulquiorra Cifer and his Ressureccion looks like a genuine devil in Bleach.

WE HAVE THAT! WE HAVE KENPACHI ZARAKI AND YACHIRU KUSAJISHI! And it is actually so cute, because this menacing beast of a man that loves to fight to death,

has a tiny little girl on his shoulder, 24/7. And when he is angry, he just doesn't even think about harming her at all, he just thinks about the people he is about to fight.

4. If you count Isshin and Ichigo, then yeah, we have that. They are a perfect duo. Legit hilarious and Isshin actually loves his son and will protect him.

5. Yup! Cyan Sung-Sun

6. Yeah it does have that with pretty much every character in this show, even the jokey characters like Asano Keigo. There are hundreds of videos just talking about these characters.

7. Ichigo gets his ass kicked like every arc, at least. Not to mention, the internal battle that he has with his inner demon, both literally and narratively. This guy has more layers than an onion.

8. Pick one. You want angsty antagonist? Coyote Starrk. Angsty protag? Ichigo. Angsty female character? Rukia Kuchiki. Angsty side character? Uryu Ishida. It is filled with angsty characters.

9. Rukia, Yachiru, Yuzu, Karin, Nel, Toshiro, Momo, pretty much, anyone that won't kill you, but knowing you, you will adopt all of them.

10. Renji FUCKING Abarai, this boy is the most hilarious boy on the planet and I love him for that.

Soooo~ Interested?

[searchingforthedreamscape]

Wondering About How Cybertronians React to Disabled Humans

So I watched a Tik Tok by Dapper Manatee about how he copes with life by vocal stimming. And then it became a critique of how society treats disabled folks, and how it only gives the bare minimum. As a disabled person, yes. I wholeheartedly agree with all of it. I can’t count how many times I’ve been forced to drive my chair across an entire school campus because some inconsiderate schmuck decided to put freshman classes all the way on the other side of campus, in barely accessible portables. Not to mention the times where I had to drive up and down steep hills to get to and from P.E. in Elementary school. I swear to you, that I nearly tipped over multiple fucking times. And don’t even get me started on getting shoved into the special ed class for the first two weeks of sixth grade. Just don’t.  Public schools in Alabama, Mobile specifically, suck when it comes to disabled accommodations. It’s blatantly obvious that they don’t give two shits about folks like me. They never have, and they never will.

Obvious trauma-based rant aside, that got me thinking: How do Cybertronians view physical disabilities? Do they even know about them? Are there any equivalents to them in Cybertronian culture? Or is every bot built absurdly perfect and without physical flaw? I know there are instances of mental illness in Transformers canon; more specifically anxiety, depression, and PTSD. But I’ve never seen a bot with a physical disability. And no: I don’t count Transmutate. They could walk, so they’re not gonna count here. Is there a bot that, somehow, isn’t able to walk at all, or walk without assistance? Because holy fuck do I need my boys (Starscream, Knockout, and Breakdown) to understand my frustrations. I need them to understand why I get angry when I can’t access a building without having to go around back. I need them to understand why I get upset when I have to park out in the middle of goddamn nowhere because some able-bodied shithead parked in a handicapped space. More importantly, I need them to understand how to properly handle encounters with other folks like me. Because something tells me they’ve never navigated that kind of situation before. If Knockout, or Ratchet, or any other medic met a disabled bot, they can just fix the problem, and then everything’s fine. But that ain’t how humans work. Disabilities are permanent, and Cybertronians don’t know that, and they’d probably have trouble understanding why.

They’d be even more confused when they find out that people often equate ability to intelligence. I can’t count how many times some stranger came up to me and pulled the baby talk on me. Or, the times they talked to the person I was with instead of me. Or, they thought they knew what was best for me. Or, how they tried to speak for me. I remember back in my freshman year of high school, an aid for a blind kid was legit shocked to find out that I can talk. The worst thing is, she said that to my aid, right in front of me. They didn’t even wait until I was out of earshot.

I wonder how my boys would react. Hell, I wonder how every Transformers character would react to all this. Would they understand just how disrespectful that behavior is? Would they recognize and change their own behavior? Would they go out of their way to correct others if they did those things? All I can do is wonder, and that’s the most painful thing about the Transformers canon to me.

TL;DR: Dapper Manatee made me realize that Cybertronians might not have seen disabled people before. And it made my trauma bubble up to the surface and made me think about their possible lack of understanding.

[beevean]

🔥 for Castlevania

Aside from the obvious "NFCV is a failure both as an adaptation and as its own work and no interpretation of the character can match the original (Dracula comes close but ehh)"...

PoR is the best DS game and probably my second favorite 2D Igavania. It's fun and cute and charming and well designed :D

CoTM is not a fun game, and its famed difficulty is mostly fake and frustrating. OoE did the "hard as balls Igavania" thing better.

Speaking of OoE, the linear levels were IMO not the best idea to shake up the formula. I far preferred Dracula's Castle to the entirety of the main game.

HoD is not nearly as bad as people say, not even in the presentation department. Yes, I like how THE COLORS FEELS SO RIGHT it looks, and I like how the environments make no sense - while SoTN's castle is iconic in how it feels like a real place, HoD's take on the "creature of Chaos" is also fascinating. Also I like most of the OST, precisely for how eerie it feels.

AoS has my least favorite OST, and it's mostly due to how muffled it sounds - no way this comes from a 2003 game, same as this! (also it has some tracks I really find unmemorable, which is shocking coming from Yamane-san)

I never got much into the Sorrow's story and characters. I like Soma well enough, but I feel AoS's plot is very boring and didn't do enough to make me like the characters. DoS is... a bit of a special case lol, you can tell they didn't quite know how to write a sequel to a very conclusive game like AoS. And yes, this means I find Julius lowkey overrated.

I never found SCIV that impressive, perhaps because it was my first or second CV game at all. The one thing I remember from it, aside from the huge graphical flexes lol, is how indecisive the difficulty is. Bloodlines is the superior title IMO.

Belmont's Revenge is legit one of the best Classicvanias and it deserves more love. Absolute slapper of an OST too.

CoD is superior to LoI in almost every way. The latter has absolutely the better art direction and environments, but it has so many odd gameplay choices like the lack of a leveling up system, the quick menu to pick up items, and the non-existent depth perception. A CoD remake that only touches up the graphics and the running speed would be nearly perfect to me, while a LoI remake would need a lot more to be on the same level IMO.

I don't know what counts as unpopular regarding C2 nowadays... it feels like it's getting more recognition now? My opinion is that, while the concept of racing against the clock to save Simon from a curse that is rotting him from the inside out is great and the final section is surprisingly chilling, no amount of ambition can redeem all the flaws that come from a Zelda 2-esque game made in an era where you were expected to buy Nintendo Power.

I think I covered nearly every game I played :P nothing unpopular to say about the others.

[meimi-haneoka]

(the asker from before) Thank you for the notes. that is really weird though, what is so wrong with "wakarazuya", unless its a bad word there shouldnt be any reason it can't be translated close enough in ENG? yeah, before too i meant, there are fan commentaries with small translations and people post them to different groups (+Facebook?). i can't translate good but i've never heard of something like this happening before with CLAMP? I dont agree on every view on Kaito too but, yeah it's weird...

"there are fan commentaries with small translations"

Can you make a clear example of that? Like, what exactly they translate?

Are they in English or other languages?

I avoid by now all fandom spaces, so I've never seen these kind of posts, but I remember that (when I used to stroll around more) I had seen an FB group making their own scanlations in Latin American Spanish (not Spanish from Spain, basically, which is the official translation CLAMP is uploading on their Youtube channel).

It wasn't exactly great, that's not legal and all, but someone explained to me that the two Spanish languages are different, so....I guess it made sense that the group was doing that.

There was just a tiny problem...that group used the English translation as a base, therefore passing all the mistakes into their own scanlation 🙈That was...so frustrating to see. Because fans were doing this to feel more comfortable reading the chapters in their own language, but inherited all the translation mistakes from a version they thought was legit and official, but actually was very flawed. I remember I was so frustrated to see that happening.

Anyway, back to us.

what is so wrong with "wakarazuya", unless its a bad word there shouldnt be any reason it can't be translated close enough in ENG?

Hmmm, "wakarazuya" isn't a bad word, indeed.

If your question is "why did the ENG translation mess that up?", unfortunately I cannot give a definite answer, but I can try to infer it from what I've seen in the past....3 years? Yeah, ever since I started paying attention to the English translation.

First of all, some mistakes are purely for carelessness.

Some of the mistakes they make are so basic level (they misunderstand one word for another, or make typos, etc) that I really believe a simple check would already fix many of those.

Then, this translation seems to have a bias against the new characters.

I don't know why, but they seem to believe that if they make these new characters sound more arrogant (or bearing more negative feelings than necessary), they'll be more interesting.

Kaito in particular, as you well know, is quite an arrogant character in the ENG translation (all that unnecessary use of "kid", "child" in a dismissive tone when he's talking with Syaoran is really unsufferable to see...none of that is present in the JP version and he actually seems to hold lots of respect for Syaoran from the way he talks about him). I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this biased translation might have contributed to make him be hated more than necessary by the international fandom. I don't mean that he's an angel in the original JP, japanese fans are quite irritated with him as well, but there's also a component of benevolence in that irritation, it's more like "why are you acting this way? Instead of trying to reach happiness for yourself too?". It's like they're scolding a mischievous child, literally. Lately they have started to call him 赤ちゃん, "baby", because he's totally immature.

I can't count how many JP fans I've seen along the years getting angry at Kaito, but also wishing him to be happy.

This, instead, very rarely happened with international fans. I see more pure, genuine hate towards him.

But I digress.

Momo, in some scenes, suffers from the same bias too.

She sounds more nasty towards Kaito than necessary. Once (chapter 43) they've put a "You fool!" in her mouth, while she was talking to Kaito, that she absolutely didn't say in the original. It might be a small irrelevant thing, but added to all the rest, it contributed to paint a picture that simply isn't corresponding to the truth. That's why for long, long time, many fans abroad didn't even realize that Momo truly cared about Kaito in her own way.

Now, onto our wakarazuya, this is a word that indicates someone who, no matter how much you try to convince them, won't listen to reason. They're impossibly fixated over their views. Not because of ignorance, but because of stubborness.

Those words they used to translate that term ("blockhead", and even more "dolt" from Lilie) have a connotation of telling someone they're stupid, along with "stubborn", and CLAMP didn't like that. Momo knows Kaito is not stupid and he isn't acting like he's acting because of stupidity.

I admit I didn't even think much of this particular translation when chapter 70 came out (my tears were busy somewhere else...) but apparently CLAMP didn't miss the subtlety and had a bad feeling about it, so they pointed it out. Though they seem to be aware that it's apparently very difficult to translate this word in an exact way in English.

[alicuntisms]

before coming to tumbrl/twitter/social media I was fully convinced everyone sympathized with Alicent on some level. Like I legit thought that, yes dudebros and girslays would salivate over Rhaenyra for the badass effect, most people would find Alicent’s position very tragic and her actions believable - as a young victim of sexual coersion, political pawn of her father, motherless Disney princess, the betrayed best friend, the ever hardworking mom. Like I genuinely thought people would have understood why she did things she did (to protect her children) - as a selfless individual who puts her family’s needs before her own person in sharp contrast to Rhaenyra who is more invested in power. Imagine my shock when I found out fans passionately hate the Greens. Aegon? Totally get it. Aemond? Okay, weird but he might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Helaena? Again, strange but she was never developed as a character so she is easy to hate. But Alicent?? When has she done anything that a desperate and scared mother wouldn’t have done for her children? Literally any flaw they ascribe to her can be explained by period typical behaviour enforced by the oppressive environment. She put a rapist on the throne!! What was she supposed to do? She was deathly afraid Rhaenyra would murder her entire family once she ascended the throne (whether imaged or real threat). Put Aemond there instead? How? Like literally what was she meant to do? She is a victim of her circumstances and I bet 99% of the people who hate her wouldn’t have done any differently. She is genuinly one of the only not one dimensional characters on the show (apart from MAYBE Viserys) - you give her flaws and people hate her because she is not some feminist icon by today’s standards but just a regular woman trying to stay alive and protect her kin. i like her character because finally there is a woman who is not some powerfantasy for the braindead audience that thinks giving a woman a cool bloodstained face scene counts as peak antipatriarchal writing.

There’s a drastic lack of empathy in this fandom when it comes to Alicent. Like. It’s a bit mine boggling to me how little empathy feel for her and her situations for the exact reasons you’ve laid out. Like you can ultimately disagree with her actions and decisions. You can dislike her as a character. But there’s a willful blindness towards her when it comes to why she does the things that she does and it is certainly insanely frustrating. It’s really why I don’t interact with the tag at all. If something makes it to my dash it’s been vetted you know? Lol.

[adelaidedrubman]

2,9,11,19,28,33 for the writer’s asks?

thank you amanda these were super fun ones!! sorry for the amount of times i bring up riverdale.

2. Anything that you’d like to write but feel like you’re unable to?

the concept i have for telling jenna and faith’s getting together story is something i feel unequipped to write, because i have the idea to do it as an epistolary work of sorts, told primarily through like, jenna’s research notes and possibly faith’s stray letters out to tracey or other folks. but it’s just such a different form of writing than i’m used to and the time it would take to orient myself to that method of storytelling is probably not worth it.

9. Thoughts on cliffhangers.

fine, as long as they aren’t used in a cheap, obviously there just to manufacture tension way. i’ve had plenty “find out next time on dragon ball z” moments myself. basically i think as long as you don’t make it like a riverdale episode you’re fine — if the build up feels like a natural progression of the tension and not just like you threw in a “and prom’s tomorrow!” as a cheap trick to make people hungry for more.

11. Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

soulmate aus soulmate aus soulmate aus. i’m sure there are some compelling, beautiful pieces out there but i’ll never find out. sorry i love divorce and i love love as a free, often stupidly made choice. (unless you count my mary may is the reincarnation of biblical cain and is cosmically linked to johnjess as eternal punishment as she wanders the earth through multiple lifetimes always to encounter them thing as a soulmate au.)

also i think like, “fix it fics” are fine in theory and i enjoy some but so often the effect is just completely draining canon of everything that made it compelling and emotionally engaging in the first place. like we don’t have to jettison everything into children’s cartoon story rules to have an overall happy ending if that’s what you want to change. a lot of what those fics are fixing ain’t actually broke imo. nothing wrong with it if that’s the stakes people want, but i like a little tragedy.

also, love triangles, if i don’t trust the author and know they’ll do something meaningful and fresh with it i’m just completely disinterested. too often they’re just an excuse to put down one character or just throw a lot of toxic jealousy and possessiveness out there for The Drama™ without exploring it as an interesting theme or character flaw.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

“No,” she scoffed in repetition. “No way in hell I’m ever coming back here willingly,” she spat. “This is your one get. And I’m not gonna change my clothes either, daddy,” she tacked on with a defiant upward shove of her chin, ensuring, of course, that not one request went without being spitefully disrespected. “I wore this shirt ‘cause I plan on going fishing as soon as I’m done here, in case you didn’t bother gettin’ your mind out of the gutter long enough to read and realize it’s a fishing shirt, and not everything’s about you and your stupid church club.”

“Oh, trust me I read it.”

“Pleasantly surprised to find you’re fucking literate after all. I’ll keep that in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m missin’ the service,” she finally sneered before shoving past him towards the door.

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

if you’re stuck on a project, work on something low stakes or whatever happens to scratch your brain the right way to get remotivated, try something that gives writing a renewed novelty or fills the void of whatever you think is missing in your main work. (the johnjess 100k holding hands only marathon is sustained by frequent au smut oneshots.)

and watch riverdale that’s not a joke it legit helps me i will be like “ooooooh my pacing sucks so bad it’s so slow” and “waaah my characterization is so shitty i am a flop at character nuance” and “booooo showing and not telling is stupid i hate showing and not telling” and i will watch riverdale and remember why these things are important and that i’m not completely flopping at them. i cannot stress how important it is to watch riverdale.

33. Give your writing a compliment.

i think i’m really good at threading humor throughout! like, not just the snappy banter, but the subtle ridiculousness of the characters that seeps into everything they do. like the funniest wildfire moments to me are always tiny things you could blink and miss, like the image of jessie scarfing down a bag of communion wafers like chips as she yells about the fucking gas station.

[crhinge]

Breaking Down The Classic Rom-Com

I feel like I haven’t written a fun post in a hot sec so lets talk about one of my favorite subjects: Rom Coms

According to wikipedia, a Rom Com, also known as Romantic Comedy, is “a subgenre of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles.” In the past, Romantic Comedies have also been called “Chick Flicks” but I think this is devaluing of both women and  the romantic comedy genre. 

The other day, I woke up to find that the most wholesome rom-com couple of all time reunited: Matty & Jenna (Aka Mark Ruffalo & Jennifer Garner). This got me thinking about the beauty of the Rom-Com and how unappreciated they can be. It has been years since we have seen a rom-com with the cultural impact of 13 Going on 30, and I would like to petition for more of them after a sad and painful year. 

I can already hear the millions (in my head this blog is extremely popular) of comments “What about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before?!?” “What about The Kissing Booth?!?” And too that I say, "Good Riddance!” If you’re rating your rom coms on a TATBILB scale, or even WORSE The Kissing booth, I feel sorry for you. Truly I do. So let's dive into the best Rom Coms of all time, but first... 

What makes a Rom-Com good? Well let's start with a relatable as hell main character. I am talking a girl (sometimes guy), who has many flaws, but the audience can see themselves within her/him. Let's use Jenna Rink from 13 Going On 30 as an example. Well, she's literally a 13 year old in a 30 year olds body, but don’t we all still have a preteen hiding inside of all of us? She is 100% willing to be herself at every step, even if that means dancing thriller all alone. She touches on all of our insecurities, while teaching us how to break down our walls. 

Rom-Coms also need characters to make realistic choices. This does not mean that the movie itself is realistic, but rather than you can understand the choices the characters make. Again, 13 going on 30 does a fabulous job of this. Obviously, Jenna traveling in time because of wishing powder is not realistic, but the choices that her and her past self make are. Due to the insecurities of her childhood and a need to feel included, relevant, and powerful Jenna pushes important people out of her life, which happens to so many people in the real world. These decisions force her to miss out on the love of her life, and ultimately, the story ends sadly: the love of her life marries someone else and she is left with tears, wishing powder, and an old doll house. That is until she is able to travel back in time and change the course of her life. 

Lastly, Every classic Rom-Com couple needs to have chemistry. There. I said it. Hollywood loves just casting random famous actors without giving them a proper chemistry read. One great example of this is Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel in Safe Haven. Both fun, famous, Hollywood actors who have zero chemistry. Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner had more chemistry throwing back Razzles than those two did during an intimate sex scene. 

Alright, now that we have broken down the requirements of a Romantic Comedy, let's jump into the best and worst of all time.

Best: When Harry Met Sally. 9/10. A classic. A tale as old as time. Both Sally & Harry are very flawed, yet relatable characters. Sally is too picky and particular, while Harry is a player. They both suck at relationships, but make rational decisions based on their motivations. We all have friends like these two and their chemistry is on point, both on a friendship and romantic level. They bounce off of one another splendidly. 

Worst: Sleepless in Seattle. 1/10 I know, this is a strong take, but this is a terrible movie about a stalker. Meg Ryan (I don’t even remember her character's name) is the stupidest most unrelatable character I have seen in a long time. She is extremely unlovable, cheats on her SO emotionally, and flies across the country to stalk a man that she has never met before. And then you’re telling me that Tom hanks FALLS FOR HER? Nope. No. I refuse to except this. Plus, their chemistry in this is pretty mediocre (You’ve Got Mail is Way Better) and we only get to see them together once. 

Best: 10 Things I Hate About You. 8/10. I was tempted to leave all high School Rom-Coms off this list, but Heath Ledger is my exception. Talk about likability. Kat is a strong, powerful, independent woman who learns how to be more vulnerable while still being a feminist badass. We all wanted to be Kat growing up. Meanwhile Heath Ledger is the classic bad boy with a soft side, and who wasn’’t into that? Both characters grow into new people throughout the movie making them relatable, complex, and realistic. Not to mention the angel that is Joseph Gordon Levitt, who keeps the audience up beat and smiling throughout the course of this Shakespeare tale

Best: My Big fat Greek Wedding. 10/10.  Have you seen this film recently? Because it is an absolute DELIGHT and so relatable. It dives into the difficulty of family expectation and cultures merging. It also has the cutest proposal of all time with a realistic couple that fights for one another on a daily basis. You laugh. You cry. You get a dynamic cast with wonderful chemistry. You feel invested in the family and the relationship. Just a joyful wonderful film.

Worst: Something Borrowed. 0/10. If you’ve never seen this movie, don’t. Ginnifer Goodwin sleeps with her best friends fiancé and we’re supposed to be okay with it because she liked him first. Hard pass. And she ignores John Krazinski who is right in front of her. She is unlikable, unreliable, and makes dumb decisions that no one else would. 

Best: He’s just not that into you. 9/10  I will go to bat for this movie. It follows several realistic storylines in a Love Actually manor, except they actual seem legit. A woman realizing her boyfriend is never going to marry her. A girl facing the fact that maybe some guys just aren’t that into her, and she isn’t an exception to the rule. A man slowly making the decision to cheat on his wife as they are growing apart. A woman realizing that she is worth way more than her bastard husband. A woman realizing that the person she’s sleeping with will never leave his wife for her. It's compelling, has realistic characters that we can relate to, and still warms your heart in the end. 

Best: The Big Sick. 8/10. Okay to be fair, this is based on a true story so it automatically has realistic characters and decisions. Maybe I should leave this off of the list, but I wish this film got the recognition it deserves. Two lovable main characters who make mistakes that are understandable. Wonderful chemistry between Kumail and his girlfriend as well as her family. 

Best: About Time. 11/10 This is hands down the best Rom-Com of all time and Potentially the best film of all time as well. If you don’t cry in this movie you do not have a heart or soul. The characters are SO insanely likable and adorable.It touches on the importance of family and valuing time and how little of it we have. The chemistry within the whole cast is palpable, and we can all relate to at least one character, whether it is the protagonist Tim, his wife Mary, his sister Kit-Kat, or his father. 

Well it is important to point out the obvious here: this list is lacking diversity in a huge way. All but one of these movies follow a cis, straight, white couple, and that is extremely concerning. People have attempted to make more diverse rom-coms over the past few years, but they all seem to be lacking one of the three core components of what makes a rom-com great: Relatable, realistic, and great chemistry. For example. Crazy Rich Asians was a fantastic film, but the high level of wealth that Nick Young comes from, made his character difficult to relate to, and I’m sorry but the chemistry just wasn’t there for me. Always Be My Maybe’s characters fell flat and it’s not a film I would want to watch more than once. Love Simon made some huge waves for LGBTQ representation in the media, but that ending kiss was unrealistic along with his friends reaction to fining out he was lying, which left the movie anti-climactic by the end. 

Now, the most recent film on this list was made in 2017. And before that 2013. So where have all the Rom Coms gone? Why don’t we see more of them. There are a few Rom Coms that could be contenders on the “Best” list from the last couple of years that include a small amount of diversity: 

Yesterday 7/10. The big question here is does this count as a romantic comedy? The love story isn’t the main plot, but is definitely a large sub-plot. This movie features an interracial couple and is highly re-watchable. The main characters are entertaining, relatable, and have pretty good chemistry. We will see if it stands the test of time. 

The Broken Hearts Gallery 7/10. This movie has gotten NO recognition. The main character, Lucy, is an extremely likable 20 something, not unlike our Ginnifer Goodwin in He’s Just not that Into You. The plot is fun and predictable but keeps you watching. I don’t know if this one will stay on my list long, but it’s definitely up there. 

But here is my challenge to Hollywood: create some new, beautiful Rom Coms that celebrate diversity but that don’t throw away the relatable, realistic, and high chemistry characters that we are just waiting to fall in love with. It’s got like 16 ideas up my sleeve, so just give me a call Hollywood. 

[antiloreolympus]

11 Anti LO Asks

1. I feel like when RS was drafting this story she wanted Hades and Persephone to be on a united front with dealing with their issues and conflicts instead of having conflicts with one another to get over to make them look “perfect”. However the flaw with that, is when the outside characters (Minthe, Hera, Hecate, Thanatos, etc) criticize their relationship were not proven they’re wrong. Thanatos said it was nepotism and it was. Not only is hades covering for Persephone who isn’t even working as an intern just sitting cozy in his office while she’s wanted for the police, but staying at his place also. Shady much? Minthe knew something was up with Persephone and she was more than right, not only does she train Persephone the day after Persephone kisses her ex she learns that Persephone commuted a genocide. Hecate and Hera are worries for Persephone for her reputation and being young and naive. Persephone is young and naive and can’t make friends at school because hades took some kids eye out. Over and over RS proves these characters right and not make me root for the main couple because they’re just bad and for each other. And remember when Tori and the yellow girl student (from persephones class) mentioned Persephone is sleeping her way to the top? She’s just smooching her way to the top guys it’s fine. Persephone should receive punishment for killing a bunch of people, turning a nymph into a plant with more than just community service and hades should stay the hell away from Persephone. I hate how RS used “the immortal dating pool is small” excuse but that doesn’t mean a 19 year old should fix a 2000 year old man’s issues 

2. wish persephone would just be evil. shes not a girlboss if she was girlboss whys she always like "im sowwy 🥺" and "i wish i wasnt a bad girl 😭🥺" like no. just be evil. and not in the "hi im a murderer 😁" way in the "i am a fully fleshed out character that has complicated actions and can stand on my own 😐" way.

3. just off how many LO episodes there are now, and if they roughly follow the same 25 episode count for each volume, then you'd have to buy well over SEVEN books just off the current count of 180+ eps. Seeing as it's going past 200 eps, then that's even more. now let's say you get the hardcovers, so thats over 300 dollars for all the current eps you cant easily read for free instead. more so, the art and writing gets worse the longer it goes on, so what incentive is there to buy these anyway?

4. does ... does rachel know the whole point to helios in the hxp myth was that hes the most unbiased source and will always be honest? along with him and apollo they legit cant lie. why would she purposely make him a liar? to be another stupid fake antagonist to hxp? he was one of the few people in myth who supported them?

5. what i find so annoying about lo stans is they act like critique of LO is somehow against some poor underdog and we should stop picking on her (which isnt what critique is). Rachel is NOT some nobody getting unwarranted hate for her indie project. she has millions of readers, she's a published writer, she has merch, even (minor) awards, and much more. stop acting like she's some helpless nobody who needs protection. she's a professional in the industry, not a child in of a white knight.

6. im probably wrong here but i heard someone say hebe in lo is permanently stuck as a child? tell me thats not true :(

From OP: I haven’t seen any confirmation that Hebe will stay as a child.

7. i get why rachel doesnt do it because she herself cantt depict realistic couples well, but s2 hxp is so boring??? like its a romance, the conflict should be in the romance, and while the couple wasn't the source for it in s1, you get why they weren't an item because of other factors. but s2, now that theyre together, theyre just too functional, you know what i mean? they have nothing in conflict, including minthe being turned into a plant! like how did they get stale once they became a couple?

8. i just cant take any plot, relationship, or character "development" in LO seriously (esp if its the characters not being ~perfect~ and actually being realistically written) because i just know it'll be retconned in a week or two, because rachel lacks a backbone to stick to any writing choice and her fans have no sense of reading comprehension, so theyll complain and she'll bend over to appease them. the writing in lo was always weak, but its only gotten worse the more "fan input" she takes in.

9. the wild part to me is literally the majority of the issues in lo are just stuff rachel didnt need to add. she didnt need to make persephone 19. she didnt need to add in sexual assault, she didnt need to make hades a slave owner. she didnt need to add in the aow. she didnt need to add 30+ plots she cant keep track of. she didnt need to make hera a cheater. she didnt need to have apollo, leto, thetis, etc there, and it goes on. like she questions who made her write this? look in the mirror!

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

10. FP mention

It really annoys me that it looks like Persephone's only concern about her SA is "Will Hades still love me even if I'm damaged? 🥺🥺”

I know that we saw her being disstressed about being pregnant because of her SA and that she said that she doesn't feel comfortable being around him but all that is just mentioned when she's around Apollo or he's mentioned somehow, we never see her feeling bad about her body as she says, nor we see her having bad days she's always happy and almost sexually available for Hades and it's never brought up unless it's for ✨the drama✨ or making Hades look like a "perfect man" for respecting her boundaries (that's just the bare minimun jfc) or just to make Hades and Persephone closer

Like jfc she was talking about her trauma and how she feels about Apollo and suddenly there's a joke about Hades wanting to kill him and then Helios appears and there's unfunny jokes about it?? Same vibe as Persephone talking about her nymphs friends death in the same episode where there's a fart joke and that "oops a maybe-underage-Perse is naked!!! So funny" scene

11. fp// no offense but rachel seriously going with leto is the cause of apollo's sexual assaulting ways was legit such a stupid and cruel idea that i thought "no, surely rachel wouldnt stoop that low to try and get out of her bad writing choices" and yet??? someone pray for her editor, they need it.

[seattlesea]

✨My (maybe) Unpopular Heroes of Olympus Opinions✨

(maybe part one??? idk)

-I don’t really ship any of the main canon ships in HoO. None of them had any chemistry and most of them are either pedophilic, forced and rushed, or toxic in some way

-Most of the characters that were shoved into relationships (Leo, Nico, and Hazel especially) really did not need a love interest to complete their character arcs and their relationships ended up boring and flat cause Riordan just wanted everyone to have a love interest and it never went deeper than the skin

-Piper took advantage over Jason’s amnesiac state and manipulated him. She really went ‘But what if he has a girlfriend he can’t remember 👉👈 it would be wrong to start a relationship with him while he still has amnesia 👉👈 and cause it was based off lies and fake memories 👉👈 lmao imma just jump all over him and make him fall for me while he’s still amnesiac 🤪’ as if that’s not taking advantage over someone’s mental state

-And then she blamed her relationship being forced on Aphrodite and Hera saying they ‘forced her into a relationship’ and ‘arranged their relationship’ even though Aphrodite never said anything about or did anything to them and Hera gave Piper fake memories of them being a couple but it was Piper’s conscious choice to act out on those memories she knew were fake and her relationship was in no way influenced by anyone (especially Hera and Aphrodite) other than herself

-Shelper and Solangelo were way too rushed and forced (inside and outside of the books) and were only added for publicity, plus it seems like most of the fandom only like them cause they’re LGBTQ+ ships

-I hate Pipeyna and Pipabeth. My girls (especially Reyna) deserve better than some manipulative little girl who went ‘we were friends? no weren’t ❤️’

-The fandom portrays the characters really inaccurately (tweaking them a bit for humor is fine, but changing their entire personality is a different thing)

-The movies actually aren’t that bad when not compared to the books (I mean, you gotta admit- it’s pretty good effects for 2010)

-And speaking of the movies, they did a better job at portraying Thalia and Annabeth’s relationship in one movie than Riordan did in 5+ books

-Speaking of which, Riordan wrote pretty much every platonic friendship that weren’t Thalia/Nico and Reyna horribly and most of them shouldn’t have been friends and wasted all the potential for the good friendships

-Calypso should’ve joined the Hunters, not Reyna

-Annabeth and Piper are horrible friends lmao (separately and together)

-Silena is a hero and deserves redemption, but Luke doesn’t despite most of the fandom agreeing he does (he was a pedophile y’all)

-The fandom over-exaggerated the Tartarus fall, it wasn’t really that bad tbh

-Reyna is stronger and a better leader than Annabeth

-Annabeth’s intelligence is more tell than show (and quite a few characters including Leo, Reyna, and Octavian have shown more intelligence than her)

-Riordan over-glorifies and overpowers Percy way too much. Just cause he’s the main character doesn’t mean he has to be the best of the best after barely 8 months of training (four years at CHB only in the summers is 8 months total)

-Speaking of which, Jason can beat Percy (8 months versus Jason’s twelve years) and so can Annabeth, Reyna, Thalia, Hylla, Luke, Hazel and maybe Frank and Nico. Percy’s skill is overrated and unrealistic

-And I feel like most of the fandom knows that Jason can beat Percy but just doesn’t want to admit it cause they like Percy more

-Same thing with the Greeks and Romans- the majority know the Romans are stronger and can easily beat the Greeks but they don’t want to believe it cause they favor the Greeks more

-Percy and Annabeth shouldn’t have been part of the Seven, they already had their chance to shine. Riordan should’ve brought minor characters into light instead

-And Piper shouldn’t have been part of the Seven either. Riordan really expects me to believe that she’s stronger, more powerful, and a greater/better hero and deserved to be part of the Seven more than Reyna, Nico, Clarisse, Thalia, etc.?

-Riordan’s women line-up of Reyna, Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper was really cheap and boring (Avengers: Endgame women line-up who?)

-Percy (in HoO) and Piper are easily some of the worst, most underdeveloped characters Riordan has ever written

-Annabeth got really bland and weak in HoO and couldn’t do shit for herself without others (especially newbies) having to help and/or save her. She pretty much became exclusively Percy fangirl

-As much as I like them, Frank and Hazel don’t have what it takes to be Praetors and Reyna and Jason should’ve stayed as them

-Jason’s whole ‘am I more Greek or Roman’ arc was dumb af

-Riordan’s bias towards the Romans is also dumb af (the Romans could beat the Greeks in an instant)

-Jeyna is and always will be 1000x better than Jiper

-Hazel is the most powerful demigod (way more than Percy and even Jason)

-My hot take on who should’ve been the Seven: Reyna, Nico, Thalia, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Clovis (son of the god of sleep puts Gaea back to sleep who?)

-Riordan confirming Piper bi was a cheap move to make her more likable. It didn’t even make any sense. A character is confirmed LGBT only after they become a minor character despite being a main character before and kisses some random unnamed girl only three months after her ex-boyfriend whom she still loved dies??? girl what??? Kinda obvious it was just for publicity. Like- Riordan, honey, the LGBTQ+ community is not a circus you can plop your characters into to make them more entertaining❤️

-The PJ series as a whole isn’t that creative. It’s legit just a copy of exactly what past mythological figures have already done and a bunch of character tropes and clichés shoved into one book

-And in general it’s not even that well-written (like HP, it’s over-exaggerated a lot)

-All of the romantic relationships and platonic friendships are extremely unrealistic. Like they never argue/fight, disagree, etc. (then grow stronger from those fights) at all??? Even if they’re complete opposites???

-Reyna is the best-written character in the whole series and a queen she deserved better and y’all sit on her too much

-Theyna is ✨amazing✨ their dynamic and chemistry was just *mwah Pansexual Muslim blessings to you* and people are allowed to ship them even though they’re Hunters and swore off love

-Rachel doesn’t deserve all the hate she gets. Y’all hate on her cause she crushed on Percy when half of you are doing the same thing and then y’all go and ship Percy with Nico, Jason, Artemis, Athena, etc. 

-If y’all want to hate on Jason for ‘not having a personality’ you’d also have to hate on most of the main HoO characters except Reyna, Nico, and Leo (and maybe Hazel) for the same reason cause they have the exact same problem tbh

-Zoë and Bianca’s deaths weren’t actually that sad. We didn’t get to see them enough nor did they have enough development for their deaths to have a real impact. The only sad thing about them was Zoë’s last words and Nico’s reaction

-Thalia needed more time in the books

-Reyna was the only main female character in HoO that wasn’t a boring, bland Mary Sue that all the other characters automatically loved. She was the only one with real flaws and distinct personality traits she’s my queen

-Piper, Annabeth, and Calypso did have flaws but the fact that they weren’t called out by other characters or even noticed are what makes them Mary Sues. It doesn’t matter how many flaws a character has, if they’re not called out by other characters (more specifically, other protagonists who actually like them) they don’t count as real character flaws

-Riordan can’t write female characters for shit

-Clarisse, Drew, and Octavian deserved better than being completely antagonized for no explained reason other than to make the protagonists seem better and to make the readers root for them. Those three had more potential than most of the Seven combined

-The whole ‘Aphrodite kids don’t train’ thing is bs. It’s specifically stated that all the demigods follow a strict schedule and have to follow it or they’ll be on stable duty or smth and the Aphrodite kids shouldn’t (and can’t) be excused from that

-Therefore, Drew should be way more powerful and skilled than Piper, at least enough to not back down automatically from a duel by a newbie who hasn’t even learned how to fight (Drew can control an entire cabin of people at once and Piper can barely control one person at a time, who’s more powerful again??)

-Also I have no idea why Riordan portrays all the Aphrodite kids as weak and girly in the first place. ‘Femininity’ and ‘weakness’ are not synonymous and ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ don’t equal ‘feminine’

-Speaking of which, love is actually really powerful but Piper doesn’t stand for love or ‘inner beauty’ and all her ‘thoughtful/insightful’ quotes in ToA/TBM about love were complete bs

-Riordan using the LGBTQ+ community for the sole purpose of making Piper seem more likable and ‘special’ was disgusting and proves he thinks that straight is the default- “...Or Hera’s ideas of what a perfect couple looked like. Piper finding her own way, not the one people expected of her” my ass. In other words, he’s saying ‘The expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are a heterosexual relationship, and anyone who 'finds their own way instead of the ones people expect’ are different’. ‘Different’ and ‘default’ are antonyms, so if you think LGBT people are different, then you think that straight is the default. Aphrodite is the goddess of love not heteronormative bullshit. Like Riordan, honey, you’re the one who thinks that the expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are heterosexual couples, not fictional gods from a fictional mythology. Remember kiddos- an author writes their own beliefs

If you don’t agree with some of these that’s fine sis it doesn’t matter if you have different opinions than me❤️

[showtoonzfan]

Encanto Character Reviews: MIRABEL

BEFORE YOU READ: Okay folks, so to start my Encanto posts, I’m going to start with the character reviews first! I’ll still review the movie and all, but to make things easier, I’m going to make posts on how I feel about each character, starting with our main gal, Mirabel! Before we start, at one point I will be showing two screenshots on discord that I wrote when I talked about the character, cuz since I’m lazy I don’t feel like retyping it lol. Anyway, here we go!

PROS: So I really like Maribel! Not only is she the perfect person to choose to be the main character, but she’s SO DAMN RELATABLE and that’s a good thing. She’s a fun character, If you asked me what would happen if you put her in a room, the room would be bursting with lively energy, wether they be positive OR negative emotions. There are SO many things to like about her. She’s kind, caring, daring, optimistic, and she just loves her family so much to the point where she’ll do anything to make them proud. Not only is she optimistic though, she can get angry, upset, she’s also awkward, and even she herself is flawed when you think about it, and all of these are GOOD things. It’s so amazing because I legit see myself in her. Growing up I was just so goofy and lively, I acted zany but I also could be gentle and caring and REALLY REALLY emotional. I know it’s not just me that relates to her, I know there are tons of other people out there who probably feel the same way, like how you want to make your family proud and/or be seen, and it’s a lot. I just have to thank the crew for wanting to make Maribel pop out even though she has no gift, and she DOES. After really thinking about it, she’s so unlike the rest of the cast. I’m not going to go into heavy detail, but let me use a small example with her sisters. Luisa is bigger, stronger, and a hard worker. Despite all of that, she’s soft and caring, as well as downright emotional. Then you have Isabela, (in general, so I’m not counting her change in the end of the movie) who’s the oldest golden child, perfect, sort of stern like Alma, collected, and restrained. They’re all their own characters in their own unique way, but I feel like if all three of them were in a room together, Maribel would stick out, if y’all get what I’m saying. I also really like the tiny details about Maribel, like I freaking LOVE how all of the families symbols are on her skirt. That idea is just so CUTE and so good. I also like how despite she talks about how amazing her family is and her family reflecting on her outfit, she isn’t afraid to show HERSELF, like the cute little details on her purse. She seems to really like animals and environment varies, ESPECIALLY butterflies lol, as most of those are on her shirt and purse when you look at the concept art. I also like the drawings she did in the nursery, and how she obviously loves to sew. Another thing I wanted to bring up is what everyone’s been saying, she’s SO EXPRESSIVE, and I love it. It doesn’t even feel forced, because she’s the only one who’s like that, aside from Pepa, who I would also say is expressive. Can I just say I’m so glad we’re out of the “WOMEN CAN’T BE GOOFY AND EXPRESSIVE” era? Another thing I love is how Maribel knows that she’s worthy deep down, it was what caused her to snap at Alma. Sure, she felt insecure in a few scenes and wanted a miracle and all, but I love how the movie didn’t have her moping the ENTIRE time, it was more making the family proud and showing what she could do. Okay I’ve said a LOT, and we haven’t gotten to the cons yet (don’t worry there’s not a lot) so in conclusion, she’s...honestly amazing. There.

CONS: I’M GOING TO SAY IT NOW, I ONLY HAVE 2 PROBLEMS.

The first problem isn’t huge, but the second one is. (The one with the two images I mentioned above.) The first one is that....I’ve noticed how a lot of people “thank” Disney for not making Maribel the “awkward dorky glasses girl” trope. While I agree they didn’t make her character 100% that, I had to disagree because there WERE some scenes in which they did treat her that way, like how she trips, falls, bumps into things ect, it’s all screamed “HAHA LOOK SHE FELL SHE’S SO DORKY LOL”, and it made me roll my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a BAD THING to do or like, something I hate, I still stand by what I said, I actually LIKED how Maribel was goofy, but yeah, if I’m being honest, those scenes where you were supposed to laugh at them making her look clumsy and dorky made me roll my eyes. I don’t think it’s a bad trope, I just think it’s been done so many times but this is a nitpick, I still love Maribel lol.

The second and final problem are explained in these two images below. I typed this a little back in a discord server when I was sharing my opinions on how I felt about Maribel, so this is how I felt AT THE TIME:

BEFORE YOU HATE ME LET ME ELABORATE: There’s a few things I want to say because my mind did change on a few parts over time, like how I said I think she adds nothing to the table outside of being lively and energetic. I think she legit DOES add something to the table, and opposite to what I said here, I do think they did something more with her character outside of the stereotype I mention. Sadly though, my mind still stands with what I said overall. I’ll say this, I think calling her “boring” was waaay too harsh of me. It’s not really that she’s boring, it’s just that for some reason, I look at the other characters around her and find them more interesting, and want to know more. I finally figured out the REASON to that though, and it was simply because of what I stated in the photo, how the family around her WASN’T developed when she was. I think that’s the reason why I’m more interested, because I want to know more about the family, like how do THEY view things? What do they think of their powers? How do they feel? Ya know what I’m saying? I still love Maribel so much guys, like she’s not a badly written character at all. I just think that maybe if we got to know her just a LITTLE bit better and learned more normal (non plot wise) traits about her, then I would be more jazzed when I think of her. I still think she’s an AMAZING character, I stand by EVERYTHING I said in the “pros” section, I love her, but I just had to share the cons because I needed to be honest with myself.

So with that, that was my Maribel review! A wonderful and relatable character who pops out, someone we could all have fun with and feel for, and want to see her succeed. Someone we can look up to, laugh with, cry with, and understand where we belong. Now the question remains, what do YOU think about Maribel, and what are your thoughts? I’d love to know, so see you next time on the next character! 💕👋

[liria10]

Favorite Benny books?

Ok so. Tumblr crashed as I was typing this on mobile. I am retyping it on desktop cause fuck this site, and I Have Opinions, and my friend I will let you hear them or so help me!

.... This got. Really. Really long. I am adding a read more to spare you guys from that.

Ok so! As a preface, I haven't read many VNAs with Benny in it, and of her solo books, I still have 2 of her Legion books to read.

I'm going to (re)start this with the VNAs!

Love and War: a very classic answer perhaps, but it is a really good introduction for Benny, even if the book has its flaws and can certainly show its age nowadays. Cornell absolutely nails her right off the bat, and from her very first page, Benny is just a character that keeps you interested. Not only does she work great as a counter to both Seven and Ace, but she also brings a breath of life to the whole range the way only a prose character can.

Plus, I think one of the greatest successes of that book lies in how Benny appears as a rounded and flawed person from the beginning. She’s not your ordinary girl dragged to a whirlwind of adventure and an universe of wonders, but an older, adult woman, with a good chunk of life experience and adventures already behind her, and while setting foot inside the TARDIS opens up a new and unexpected chapter in her life, it does also remain just that. A chapter. Benny had a life before the Doctor, and from that moment, while noone could have predicted it then, she would have one after him as well.

The Left-Handed Hummingbird: I just finished that one last week, so it’s obviously both fresh in my mind, and one I'm thinking highly of at the moment. Well I mean, it’s Orman! Or course I love it. She really is great at writing both intricate, large stories, and yet focusing on the personal, on the human side of things. And I find that this book does a great job at putting benny in the role of the grounding presence both for ace and the doctor, as well as exploring how time traveling as they do, and dealing with seven’s schemes can be frustrating for benny. That whole tardis team is a mess, and none of these people really… work well together, but it’s because they’re so dysfunctioning that they’re fascinating, and orman absolutely nails that.

Theater of War: A very different type of book, it is honestly a fun romp, and it has Benny being an actual archeologist, down to dealing with the academia side of things. And it’s the little things, but I love it when Benny books remember that about her tbh? Also, it has some nice theater theming, and well, as an introduction for brax, it certainly works well! It’s one of those VNAs that I think is just fun. A well crafted story with good takes on the characters, that’s always enjoyable to me!

Return of the Living Dad: Orman again?? What a surprise! But frankly, I love how this book is all about Benny and her daddy issues, be it with the Doctor or well, her actual dad. Between that, her budding marriage with Jason, and finding out so many old wounds reopened, I just. Really love how raw Benny can be under Orman’s pen? How underneath it all, she still has that side of the scared orphan that lost both parents to a war she was far, far too young to ever comprehend, and how that just left her rebelling against the world in general, and resenting deep down her parents for that abandon. I mean, it’s neat character stuff, but it can very easily be written as dull & cliche shitte you know? And Orman really… always get down to the heart of it all, and boi does it make for some great reading.

The Dying Days: It’s a very fun book, and well, technically works as the first round for Benny as the lead woman after all! It’s a joy all throughout, triumphant where it needs to be, and managing to both celebrate the Doctor and what he brought to the VNAs, as well as setting up the stage for Benny to go on to her own range. It’s basically one last run of the old team, and well. I do love Benny & Eight, and yes I am blaming Parkin for it. Also, big brained take to have Eight give her Wolsey because I love that cat and Benny deserves a cute kitty in her life. We all do.

Ok!! Now on to the NA, and my personal favorite era!

Dragon’s Wrath: It’s a fun one!! I do really like the story being centered again on archeology first and foremost, and it’s a good romp that has some really good take on Benny. Especially the trial scenes, I love how those one get down to Benny as someone who despite everything, loves history, and cares very very deeply about the artifacts she uncovers. Also, it introduces brax as a mainstay of the dellah era, and does so in a rather nice way. Overall, a very enjoyable book!

Beyond the Sun: Benny & students stranded on a planet with mystery to uncover, that’s already a fun premise, and then throw in all the various queer themes present, especially with Emile, and the whole scene of them all in drag performing on top of a bus, and it’s just a rather good book. Plus, I love how it mirrors the whole VNA Doctor mantra, except with a very Benny twist. Sometimes cruel, sometimes cowardly, but trying her damndest to do good. And well, that’s just Benny isn’t it? I always harp on about the very heart of Benny being her humanity, and if there’s something that book highlights, it’s that.

Deadfall: Jason takes center stage in this one, and well, I do really love Jason. It’s overall a fun book with some nice lore ideas, and I love how it works Cwej in the whole Dellah setting. Also, at least it’s a story with Jason in the lead that doesn’t end in utter tragedy, and that’s always nice!

Tempest: Ok so. That book isn’t great. The story’s cliche, the characters aren’t the best, and the plot itself? Forgettable, it’s another in the list of “sort of base under siege story in the dellah era” which you’d think wouldn’t be super common and yet! So… why am I listing it here? Cause the concept of the planet!! The idea of a world of storms and disaster, run through via a blind train as the only means of transport? The fantastic animal life described in it??? That book left an impression of me, and that’s not something I can say of all of the others.

The Medusa Effect: … Justin Richard writes a good Benny. Like, legit. I love how that one really works with the setting & history of Dellah, and gives further information on the planet’s involvement with the Dalek war. Plus, it also got some really, really nice aesthetics. I am soft for good aesthetics ok? Benny, dancing with a skeleton on the deck of an old spaceship made to look like a cruise liner in an hallucination/dream sequence type of thing? Sign me right up!

Beige Planet Mars: That one is a blast. I remember just, absolutely loving it when I read it tbh. Between the overall description of Mars, the further Lore Implication of the Mars invasion & all that, as well as it basically being one last round of more… Normal dellah books before everything goes to hell? It’s one i’d highly recommend if you want to have a good time.

Tears of the Oracle: Probably my favorite of that whole range? (apart from dead romance, which I am not counting as a benny book) I love just, how much overall… feelings isn’t quite the words i’m looking for, but i can’t think of a better way to put it… there is throughout the book? It was thought to be the end of the NA as it was written and well, that shows. I love how it weaves the whole mystery of “what happened to that legendary archaeologists?” with the whole side of what’s basically some of the only survivors from dellah going on one last round of discovery. The status quo of the range was destroyed quite a few books before that one, but imo, it’s there that they take the time to stop for a bit, and just. Deals with what that means in actuality. And ngl, I love the entire sequence of Benny & Brax walking through the wreckage of what used to be their home, it’s a scene that works really, really well.

And well, it does a great job at setting up the future as well after all! Yes, there’s still 3 books after it, but when you look at where Big Finish picked up… they went for what Tears of the Oracle was setting up. It really makes the transition flows well between those two, unlike my rambling for a full paragraph before going to “here’s the BF books I like”

The Doomsday Manuscript: A very good start for the range! Not only does it set up the whole collection, but it also introduces the Fifth Axis as a major threat, and does so in a wonderfully well paced book that keeps you hooked throughout. I like how it also sets up Jason’s loss as something Benny is still suffering over, as well as how she hasn’t lost hope in finding him again. Plus frankly, it’s also a really good story.

The Glass Prison: You’d think that for a book where Benny spends the majority of it in prison and not very active due to being near the end of her pregnancy, not much would happen, but the way Jacqueline Rayner builds up an atmosphere of unease, mistrust and a genuine disturbing ambiance throughout the book is just, fantastic.

Genius Loci: This book. This book!!! Ben Aaronovitch writes an absolutely powerful story of Benny as a young woman, lost and finding herself faced with far more responsibility than she ever thought possible. The way he writes the whole mystery, while also making Benny as a 20yo not only believable, but quite distinct from Benny as the adult we’ve all come to know and love is just. So good. My main grip with this book is how abruptly it ends, and how we’ll never get the sequel. I want to read Terra Incognita and more of Benny slowly finding herself damn it!

Dead Men Diaries: Just like Doomsday Manuscript, does a great job at establishing the collection as well as the recurring cast. I really enjoy most of the stories in it, and I think BF started out so strong on those books srsly!

A Life in Pieces: I love it so much. It’s pure brax at his most manipulative, and for such petty reasons. I really like how it both deals with the aftermath of the Fifth Axis occupation, as well as the repercussions Brax’s schemes have for the people living on the collection. Also, it’s just 3 very good novellas in a row that build up to something more, and I always like seeing that.

Nobody’s Children: That book has the best Draconian story in the entirety of doctor who and related. Like, yeah just that. It’s also nice to see the fallout of the Mim/Draconian war. It’s one I didn’t expect a lot out of, and frankly, I ended up really loving it.

The Vampire Curse: The middle novella is one I absolutely hated, but the other two are really good, and mixing benny and vampires is just, very fun. Also!! Predating the Predator is in it, and it is a really good take on vampires in a science fiction setting that also has some nice creep factor as well, and manages to be both a good vampire story, and a good sci fi story, which isn’t always an easy balance to find.

Life During Wartime: It’s a surprisingly hard hitting anthology about living under a fascist regime, and the compromises you have to make, the personal sacrifices and small rebellions. Honestly, there’s a lot I love about it, but certainly one of my favorite moment, is when Benny, having to dine with one of the officers, miss jones & jason, sees that the officer is nearly on to her hiding peter away, and that split second moment of “if I have to, I am willing to kill everyone in this room to protect my son” before he just laughs it off, it’s a lot of tiny moments that build up to a really well done ambiance tbh.

Something Changed: While it did the terrible, terrible sin of introducing Doggles to the world, I really love the concept of every chapter after the first being a different split universe, and how they’re all spiraling more & more out of control. It’s got some really good stories in between too, though they can also be rather hit & miss. An aspect I love about it too is how impactful Wolsey’s death ends up being.

Present Danger: That one is fun, I love how it’s basically everyone vs the deindum, a situation slipping more and more out of control, mixed with some neat stuff one the deindum’s whole temporal deal. It’s again a bit hit & miss, but it’s still a blast, and as the last anthology of the collection era, it does send it all off with a bang.

Welp. Far, far too many words later, and here we are!!! I love Benny a lot ngl, and I genuinely think that prose is the medium best suited for her. I have been rather disappointed with the more modern books, I find them far more bland than what I personally expect from Benny but ah well. Can’t always get everything.

And while it’s neither a book, nor even an official story in any mean, the fanfic “Sepelio” that’s an Hannibal au set in the Dellah era is great, and the benny story I have been enjoying the most lately. I would be remiss not to at least mention it!

[benevolent-savage]

this is what happens when u enable me lets go

(spoilers ahoy)

Firstly, here’s some somewhat miscellaneous reasons that don’t contribute to any sort of narrative analysis but are still parts of the character I like.

His boss fight is my favorite in the game thus far. It’s not super hard, but it isn’t super easy either, and I even managed to solo it on my Balance after a few practice rounds. Sufficiently challenging without feeling unfair.

His boss fight music. It is a bop and a half, go give it a listen, my soul ascends from my body a few centimeters every time I hear it start up.

His voice. I’m sure it’s processed at least a little but gotdamn his voice is so deep and spooky it startled me when I first heard it. Very curious who his actor is; I think he and Inyanga Whitestripes share the same one. Either way, very well voiced and acted.

His design is very good. It’s the perfect mix of innocuous but also spooky sorcerer fella who knows some shit. And I was afraid that the designers would try and make him like. Handsome? Under the hood? To try and make him more sympathetic? But they didn’t and I’m glad for it.

With those out of the way, the next thing to establish, I guess: I don’t interpret Old Cob to be the main villain of arc 3, nor do I interpret Raven as such. They’re definitely antagonists, but they’re not the ultimate problem; the ultimate problem is their divorce, and how they keep dragging people into their bs. It’s established the Aethyr is a physical manifestation of their anger towards each other, and as it thins, communication between them becomes possible, as Sparck puts it in this thinly veiled metaphor toward the start of Empyrea part 2.

But Cob’s still an antagonist and I love him so I’m gonna talk about that. Most of this is going to be talking about his motivations for doing what he does, since I don’t see him quite as the ‘likes to watch the world burn for the hell of it’ archetype that others might.

One of the reasons that drew me to his character is how legit his gripe is, when put in perspective. Old Cob- or Grandfather Spider, if you prefer- is not a mortal like the other antagonists of previous arcs, which establishes he has a different thought process right off the bat. This new universe was built on his suffering and he has a grudge against the ex wife who made it, so as a god, it makes some sense he’d try to destroy it and build one he would like better. He’s fully aware that what he is doing will hurt people but decidedly doesn’t care, and I appreciate that so much. He’s chaotic as fuck and he owns it, along with his superiority complex that’s as wide as the day is long.

Yet his reasoning is like. Weirdly understandable? Like, if my ex-whatever put me in jail for a lifetime sentence and stole my kidney to pay for a new house or something, I too would go apeshit and want my fuckin kidney back. That’s mostly how I interpret his situation. He’s not doing this for hell of it, he’s doing it because he wants to get back at his ex because he’s bitter and petty and for the most part he knows this but he feels justified in doing do because she ripped out his goddamn kidney- I mean heart, and he wants that back.

And then, even after all that, he and his magic are treated as if they’re inherently evil. While, sure, Shadow is a ‘dark magic’, its actual properties aren’t anything malicious by itself. It is described as “a magic that changes reality,” and that’s it. Incredibly exploitable and you should practice caution while handling it, but used correctly it is powerful and helpful; this is likely alluding to the backlash mechanic, where likes decrease the percent of damage you take, dislikes increase the percent, and I imagine the person meant to be the literal embodiment of the magic in question to be similar in nature: not inherently harmful and lashes out if he feels he’s been mistreated.

Going off that, I’m not sure he ever wanted the FirstWorld to be destroyed, and therefore believes his incarceration to be entirely unjust; he doesn’t deny that he instigated the fight between the Titans, but when it comes to being accused of its actual destruction, he gets angry.

...Okay the written text doesn’t really display how mad he got here, but he was like. Big Angy. Super offended. Honestly, a big part of why I love and analyze the hell out of his character comes from how his VA delivers his lines and his voice in general. If you haven’t heard it for some reason, I recommend looking it up. Anyway, here he’s basically saying he didn’t destroy the First World, and even if he did, he’s suffered enough punishment because of it, to my interpretation. The only one I remember blaming him for it is Raven; Bartleby was there, and I don’t recall him blaming anything other than the Titans for it. This is of course not accounting for the various changes made to the lore since he was introduced, but they could have easily thrown in a line like ‘And now Spider plans to destroy the Spiral the way he destroyed the FirstWorld!’ or something to make it clear it was done intentionally.

And this may very well be straying into headcanon territory here, but I think he holds positive relationships very closely to him, even if things went sour in the end; he clearly still has some remaining affection for the Titans, calling them ‘the children’ and being incredibly angry at Raven for forcing one of them to destroy his Heart.

When Rat loses in Polaris he shows up to praises his efforts and even comfort him, in his own weird way. He reprimanded Scorpion in Mirage, but it’s because Scorpion wasn’t doing what his dad asked him to and got his ass kicked as a result. As for Bat, every time they’re in the same room together he pays him some sort of compliment.

Bat claims that he and his brothers are meant to be his tools, and to some extent that’s true, but he also genuinely cares about them, and it’s really interesting to see a villain defect from the usual ‘not caring about anyone other than themselves’ and openly show affection for his kids while still managing to be an incredible asshole.

In line with this is his relationship with the Wizard. There is, of course, a foundation of manipulation to their dynamic, at least to some degree. I thoroughly believe that Spider was overshadowing Coleridge, at least partly, so our character could bust him out of prison.

And while this is happening, he regains some of his spent power and removes threats to it as well, namely Morganthe, using the Wizard’s help. In fact, I have very little doubt that he was at least partially responsible for her fall; his timing on that two-liner was too on the nose.

But even with that, I think he genuinely treasures the Wizard’s help and company, which is why he attempts on four different occasions to either sway them to his side, or warn them away from what he’s doing.

Boy, I want that vacation, but it’s your fault I’m here.

And then, of course, his relationship with Raven, something that is basically a summation of his character arc. Laden with baggage and tragic in concept, it is my belief that most of what he’s doing isn’t because he genuinely hates the Spiral or he wants to get back at her, but because he loved her and treasured their relationship; so upon her mistreating him, he lashed out at everything she’d made and detested it as a result. But only because he felt betrayed and hurt so he has to inflict that on other people because he is, as aforementioned, a petty and bitter old fuck.

Moving off that line of thinking, an admirable quality he possesses is how smart he is. This guy has so many wrinkles in his brain it must look like a raisin. Well, perhaps not ‘smart’ exactly, but how good he is at manipulating certain situations to his advantage. Like in Mirage; you just know that he was fully expecting Mellori to be there and fully planned to use her as a back up plan, or you could even argue that the whole debacle in Mirage was a ploy to get his hands on her, while having the added possible benefit of things actually working out.

Actually his scheme in Mirage was really interesting now that I think about it. His aim was to turn back time to when the FirstWorld was whole, further implying that he never wanted its destruction in the first place. It would also, of course, be a time where he had his Heart and would have the ability to avoid having it ripped out again. This would involve not having the Titans fight each other again, or at least not starting it and suffering the consequences. It would be everything he wanted to achieve knocked out in one go with minimal muss or fuss, compared to other methods. It’s probably a part of why he shows up personally to bargain with Eerkala and the Cabal, and why he directly intervenes in our Wizard’s efforts to stop him; it was too important to trust to any of his kids, so knowing Scorpion probably wouldn’t have been able to execute it anyway, he used his kid as a distraction for the most part.

I also like looking into the fact that his element, besides Shadow, is Storm, as opposed to pure Shadow or Death, as most major antagonists are. Storm is a school based on invention, experimentation and improvement. This is something that interests me for two reasons: one, the magic of major antagonists is always a part of their character, Malistaire the most blatantly, and two, because of this line he says in Mirage.

To my interpretation, this would imply that he sees the Spiral as something that could be improved. And as a god, he would of course find it his obligation to try and fix this flaw. When he made the barter with the Cabal, I don’t doubt he was being at least partially honest about restoring the FirstWorld; it would certainly fix the flaw it has in the context of stealing his internal organs, but he would also probably seek to improve it, make it more suited to Shadow or something.

Something else I find intriguing is how weirdly honest he is; I don’t recall him ever lying to us once, unless you count omitting certain facts as lying. But that’s absolutely something I can see him using against people, like “I didn’t lie to you, I just didn’t tell you, your fault for not asking ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .” As said before, he;s really good at manipulating people and he weaponizes whatever he can; @that-wizard-oki​ made a really great post about how he uses conflicts- his fault or not- to his advantage, and does his own thing in the background without interruption, Mirage and Neumia probably being the best example of this, with Scorpion and the Cabal serving as distractions while he either carries out things himself or gives instructions.

To pull all of this together narratively, I think it’s important to consider this line from Mellori during one of their confrontations:

He feels powerless, so he puffs up his god status. He has little power to fight with, compared to before, so he mostly manipulates and creates back-up plans while causing conflicts to serve as distractions. His love hurt him, so he lashes out at others and drags them into his problems.

You may ask, “But Sam, these are all bad qualities, why should we like him because of this?” And I would respond “Because it makes him a complex and interesting antagonist.” The kind of character that executes his shitty actions in such a way that you can’t help but respect- even just for the level of dramatics put in to it- while also having a motive that makes you stop and consider that maybe he has a point but is very much handling the situation the wrong way.

Like, c’mon, he ticks so many villain boxes. Tragic backstory? Check. Blatant thespian who owns it? Check. Gets his hands dirty before the climax of the story? Check. Smart/ manipulative/ has back-up plans? Check. Understandable, strong motives? Check.

He’s got layers. Like onion. I felt like there was always something new to discover about him, and for that I can assert my opinion that he’s one of the best characters in Wizard101.

lmao if you read this far into my simp-for-shithead post congrats. feel free to shoot me more asks on the subject bc i cant write persuasive-essay-esque format anymore my brain is rotting. if you will excuse me, im off to listen to the chronoverge combat track for the 82937487734th time

[sleepless-in-starbucks]

Hi could you talk more about why youd recommend not watching ww84?

Sure!

warnings for under the cut: spoilers for WW84 and a bit of the first wonder woman; i only saw WW84 once a few days ago + it’s been a hot sec since i saw the original so if i get a few details wrong i apologize

tl;dr with no spoilers: WW84 is a poorly executed movie that insults its viewer with its messy and self-proud plot, bad character/relationship portrayals, and offers a personal slap in the face to a majority of its audience in their various discriminations, generalizations, and plot points.

the first point is the racism, made well by the post i reblogged here, (edit: found a second post that goes more in depth here) so i’d just suggest looking at that for that matter

next is just How they portray wonder woman in this one

i really appreciated the way the first movie portrayed diana because they did very well in keeping true to her Amazonian raising and life while still clearly showing she was a woman

when i say this i mean that a lot of media has a tendency to either make women who are very fem and keep to traditional gender roles or women who more or less shun femininity and attempt to largely fulfill only male gender roles

diana in the original is a warrior, strong and fierce, but still a woman, not trying to shun that or anything. she wears styles that suit her while still being woman’s styles (she doesn’t force her way into a suit), she talks of and addresses her womanhood proudly and without issue, etc

i want to note here i have no issue with female characters who act extremely masc and reject femininity- i love them tbh- but it’s important to remember that it’s not inherently against womanhood or anything to be a strong fighter who doesn’t stick to every stereotypical social gender norm

and the first wonder woman movie shows this very well

WW84... oh boy

first of all, wonder woman’s changing outfits every other scene. even between scenes where it makes no sense! i’m not saying she can only wear one set of clothes but Geez this was too much

not to mention an entire scene dedicated to her helping steve pick a fashion look? i understand this was to highlight the ‘80-ness of the movie, and it would’ve been fine if it seemed diana was helping him pick a period appropriate look, but it was clear she was trying to help him pick a ‘fashionable’ look which. wonder woman? from the island without a sense of popular outfits or fashion? what?

and the amount of focus on her wearing high heels.... ugh

i’m not saying you can’t have a badass woman who also likes social gender norm fem things but it felt clear that wasn’t what they were going for

wonder woman in the first movie liked practical fashion and not only were many of her outfits not that, her high heels? one hundred percent not practical

it didn’t fit her character and felt horribly out of place, clearly just the producers / directors / whoever going ‘oh, wonder woman is a woman how can we show this? fashion! high heels!’ and i hated it

(warning: imma be jumping from thought to thought as they bump into each so uh... enjoy the train-of-thought style of flaw informing)

and starting at the beginning like.... wow that scene had no purpose

wonder woman cheats in a competition and is punished for this by losing it in the end. except. this is stupid for two reasons

as the audience is shown she didn’t cheat on purpose. she made a mistake, lost her horse, and made a strategy to get back into the race despite this. honestly? i thought the story was going to be a lesson in ingenuity in the worst looking situations. but it wasn’t, which is bad storytelling, because the lesson is then based on a point that isn’t even that true

it is literally Never important again later. unless you count what was going on with the wishstone as ‘cheating to victory’ which i dont. that’s not even what the villain did. he wanted to take over the world. there’s no victory there you get without cheating. wtf. why did that message even happen

going into the actual story we meet the cheetah pretty quick, when she’s still whatever-her-civilian-name-is

and the cheetah... she’s such a bad villain

she doesn’t have the same backstory as she does in the comics

in this one, she uses the wishstone- which is a whole ‘nother thing in and of itself- to wish to be like diana, because ig being smart as hell but social awkward as hell too is so bad you need to desperately wish to be someone else? i hate that trope, but onwards-

she gets that, but in exchange for not only diana’s likable personality she also gets her wonder woman powers (and she loses her glasses, because pretty and cool means no glasses, right? /s), she loses her kindness bc of the rules of the wishstone- in exchange for your wish, it takes smth u care about a lot from you; for her, it was her kindness

this makes her villain! just because she lost her kindness. yep. honestly not a good look regarding all those people out there who are low/no empathy and can still be wonderful nice people but i digress

at one point she complains about why she needs to keep her power rather than go back to being just Her and i fucking wanted to scream

she has like. half a dozen degrees, clearly a couple of friends even if she’s awkward, and she’s got a life that was perfectly okay before she made the wish. as someone who is also socially awkward as hell, it infuriated me to here her acting like it was the fucking end of the world she couldn’t be more extroverted or whatever. there are ways to work on that!!! the movie trying to convince the audience she had a legit reason to not un-wish her wish (for the good of the entire world) was stupid and insulting

also her transformation between ‘looks human, wearing cheetah-pattern clothing‘ to ‘humanoid with cheetah fur/skin/appearance’ literally just. happened. for no reason. that was stupid

y’know what else is stupid? the wishstone. it was clearly just a plot device, and a poorly executed one at that. it isn’t even consistent in how it works

and they did a whole side thing with like. how it had the language of the gods written on part of it and it appeared in random locations across history around the time of great tragedies and,,, that was it???

they never explored the divine connection??? who planted it or why??? how it location traveled or anything????

like i said. poor plot device

i move on now to steve

oh boy steve

he’s brought back to life by diana’s wish on the wishstone, but... it causes him to come back in someone else’s body, quantum leap style. this is. weird. and is never ever addressed by him or wonder woman except once in a throw away comment. like. diana and steve kiss and are implied to have sex while steve is in someone else’s body and neither of them seem to care. this is not good!!

and then his relationship with diana? HORRIBLE

in the first movie they were barely starting to fall in love, only barely a couple even if that. more importantly they were friends, and that night he died diana didn’t lose a potential lover so much as she lost her first non-Amazonian friend

but WW84 portrays their relationship as if they were not only already a couple, but one close enough that even after forty years since steve’s death diana is still completely and hopelessly in love with him to the point that she’s literally hanging off his arm as soon as he’s back and making love that very night

it plays again once more into the misrepresentation of wonder woman’s character (how stereotypically hollywood female to fall over herself at the sight of her love interest) and it wrecks their relationship, which had been a lovely friends-who-could-be-more

what they should’ve done was focus on that friendship, build it back up after the long gap for wonder woman, and then started to rebuild that possible romance (and tear it down at the perfect moment... right when steve had to go again... ah that would’ve been lovely)

but they wanted to go in full-haul on the romance and it just felt. wrong and weak to me. diana’s refusal to consider giving up her wish (to get her powers back and save the world) is bc she doesn’t want to let steve go again, which makes more sense in the context of a first and true friend rather than a hastily slapped together love interest

steve’s character was generally good tbh but the way he played into the story? bad

moving on... the main villain of the movie? sucks. he’s just. fucking awful

despite a motivation being given that he wants to have money, he launches into wanting to take over the world for no real reason. he takes advantage of people for this and almost destroys the world he wants to rule for it. the main reason he stops this is for his son, who up until now he largely ignored and didn’t seem to care that much for outside of basic obligations. and the movie dares try to make him sympathetic by throwing in the fact he grew up poor and was bullied and not liked which i HATE

lots of people are/have been poor. lots of people are/have been bullied (myself included). that does NOT justify them DESTROYING THE WORLD TRYING TO TAKE IT OVER. can it be used to show the audience why he does what he does? yes. but to use it and clearly try to make it a reason to hand-wave-away what he did? NO. FUCK NO

also fucking. y’know how wonder woman took down this villain? she talked to him and the world. she gave a stirring speech while she laid slumped against a wall, not injured, just too weak to beat a bit of wind. she talked and she looped her lasso around his leg so she could talk to the world to to convince them to give up their wishes

once again... the mischaracterization

in the first movie, wonder woman gives a stirring speech while fighting Areas. it’s done in her battle, beating the god of war up while reminding him of what she stood for, who she was, why she would keep fighting for a broken world

it was BEAUTIFUL. it was MEANINGFUL. it was BADASS but SINCERE

this was weak. and it clearly wanted to be more than it was

the whole movie wants to be more than it is- it wants to have an important meaningful message like the first movie, about wishes for the self and war and the world and whatever. and it wants it so badly it does it horribly

the message is ham-handed yet messy and unclear and not right. it doesn’t make sense, and it feels poorly plotted. the movie thinks it’s more than it is and that makes it very hard to watch

and to finish my rant off... WW84 lied to its audience

did you see any ads for WW84? i did. they were bright, vibrant, funky music, stunning moments, action and intrigue. i was thrilled for a movie like it

the actual movie isn’t that

it’s not nearly as action filled, it’s not as ‘80s-focused as it leads you to believe, some of the most prominently featured moments barely matter

the lightning swing? pointless, as at that point in the movie wonder woman’s learned how to fly and does it for no reason but the trailers

and that cool suit? introduced in a random myth for no reason halfway through the movie, brought in at random with no explanation, only there for show and the trailers

WW84 is not the movie is lead people to believe it was, and the movie it is is poorly executed and insulting to a variety of peopler/minorities

if you’re gonna watch it, pirate it. i can give you a link. just don’t give dc your money or your legit views for it