#idk it was weird how his character was treated- the way his actions seemed to have zero impact

[black-rose-writings]

Things I have gathered about Danny Phanton without having ever watched the show (from posts and fanfics):

There's ghosts and they're kind of assholes, but they're also all friends and have christmas parties. Their presence is treated as a mild annoyance by everyone except the ghost hunters.

The main character is a dead 14yo. Sometimes. He's also trans.

There are adult professional ghost hunters around. Literally all of them seem like they are just taking out their serial killer urges on ghosts. "Man is the real monster" trope in action. At least some of the ghost hunters are a Men In Black parody.

The dead 14yo actually the most competent at removing ghosts from the mortal plane.

There is another 14yo who is not dead and also hunting ghosts. She's somehow also more competent at it than the adults.

The MC's parents are ghost hunters and want to torture him into perma-death. That is somehow not the biggest problem with their parenting.

(Like, I get that adults in kids' media need to be kinda dumb and immature for the premise of the show/book/movie/whatever to work, but I'm getting the feeling the adults in this show cross the line of 'plot necessary dumbass' into 'fucked up and abusive' territorry.)

One of the ghosts is tiny, piloting a giant mecha suit and dedicated to skinning the MC and hanging his skin on his wall. He somehow also has a cool rocker girlfriend and thinks this will impress her. Jury's out on whether or not that's a good strategy.

There is a ghost called the Box Ghost, who demands to be taken seriously. Nobody takes him seriously.

The MC's nemesis is another dude who is sometimes dead. He looks like a vampire and swears in food. He also wants to kill the MC's dad (for mostly valid reasons) and bang his mom (for no good reason at all) and adopt the MC as his son(mostly because of his hangups around the parents, not because said parents suck at being parents). In a villainous and fucked up way, because he's the main antagonists. He's also a billionaire, has a cat, and is weirdly obsessed with american football (IDK jack shit about american football, but the level of obsession is treated as not normal by the characters so I will assume it is weird and just how americans be like).

There were 3 seasons, but half of the fandom is convinced the third one may have been a fever dream because it's so bad.

There was a finale that everyone pretends didn't happen because it sucked.

There is at least one time travel fix it episode and the time travel ghost wears way too many watches.

The MC has two living friends - Wade from Kim Possible, but thinner and leaves his house, and a jewish goth vegan.

The MC has a clone and she's a baby and a gremlin.

The ships all have the weirdest fucking names.

Somehow half the named characters being dead is not the angstiest part of the show.

I kinda want to know how someone came up with it and what drugs they were taking. IDK if I want to try some or avoid them, but it would be good to know either way.

[mysterycitrus]

You’ve talked about how fandom treats jtodd & dick, so what are your thoughts on how fandom treats dick & tim?

There’s this post that’s asking about people’s batfamily hot takes, and I was scrolling through the reblogs bc I love drama. One of the “hot takes” was calling dick a bad brother bc of the bruce lost in time comic era. Specifically saying that fandom excuses dick’s shitty behavior towards Tim bc his dad (Bruce) died and because of the stress of taking care of the city by himself. While Tim was hurting because of the deaths of Kon, Bart, Jack, Steph, and Donna (idk why they included Donna as Tim’s grief and not Dick’s??) and therefore Tim’s & Dick’s hurt and stress aren’t the same. According to this person, Tim was going through it and Dick was making it worse.

Now, I’m not going to claim I know how everything went down since I haven’t read those comics yet, but this feels like a gross misunderstanding of the arc.

From what I’ve seen, fandom tends to invalidate and villainize Dick during this time in favor of Tim. Dick is not being excused, in fact he’s being blamed for things that are either not his fault or just made up in order to whump Tim. Idk that “hot take” just rubbed me the wrong way because of how one-sided it was, and I guess it made me wonder about your thoughts about Dick & Tim since I tend to agree with your opinions lmao

fundamentally the issue is this — dick grayson existing and being a good person is an obstacle for fanon angst. dick grayson being a good brother means that jtodd can’t just slot into his pre-existing relationships with tim and cass and damian. dick grayson being a good friends means that he’s close with the titans and the league because he’s competent and trusted. dick grayson being kind means that he didn’t abandon tim, he was literally trying to keep everything together after bruce’s death.

not to try and make it a grief olympics but as much as people talk about everyone tim has lost (and i think they must have been talking about dana winters in that post?) people seem to forget that dick’s city just got nuked + the fallout of nightwing 93 + donna dying + jade dying + the titans falling apart + he was just locked in arkham himself. like… his dad has just died, he’s had to fight off his brother who’d just tried to kill both tim and damian and been given custody over a kid who doesn’t trust him

red robin 2009 has done irreversible harm to tim drakes character. people using that as the starting point for reading about him is bad. it’s a comic about a grief spiral, and it isn’t an amazing depiction of him either. but even then, people just seem to love straight up fabricating what’s in it.

dick tells tim that therapy might be a good idea. tim tells dick that he’s leaving because he trusts dick to let him do what he needs to do. even at his lowest point, dick is who he trusts most. those takes that’re like “tim drake was at his lowest point and then jtodd sees him and realises that he’s cool actually and they bond #jasontoddisagoodbrother #dickgraysonisabadbrother etc” because they like to posit that dick threatened to throw tim in arkham are so silly

that’s even ignoring how people just straight up lie about damian’s actions and how weird everyone is about ra’s al ghul. no, tim isn’t the only one he refers to as detective aside from bruce. no, tim isn’t one step away from being a mass murderer. no, damian didn’t try to kill tim— he was reacting to tim being suspicious of him. tim was beefing with a ten year old. why are u being so mean to the ten year old? (We Know Why)

ur right — it is extremely one-sided. im not one to pretend that canon is flawless by any means, but acting as though fanon is better just because someone online came up with it is also stupid. there are many many racist undertones with how jtodd and tim are interpreted, both separately and with each other. a lot of it is yaoi baiting dynamics, that a lot of fans don’t seem to want to admit. i won’t comment on how white people writing jtodd as latino and tim as asian can be Bad but like…. it’s all tied up together. people want these two characters to have suffered the most, because that justifies everything fans want them to do. they want them to be wronged. they want their idea of justice in their name

[wr1t3w1tm3]

More unsolicited thoughts on The Outsiders a New Musical.

Tw: mention of suicide in some of the last paragraphs. If you've read the book/watched the movie, ya know.

Contains spoilers for all forms of The Outsiders (book, movie, and musical). All spoilers are below the cut.

I figured out why some of the songs in the new Outsiders musical didn't make as much sense.

They changed several plot points!!!

Most aren't egregious and I'm cool with them, but there are a couple they got me some kinda way.

(This is based if the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. It could be wrong but it's all I've got cause im a broke pleb).

In Chronological Order:

Obviously there is no Steve. Personally don't care either way. Like him and Soda's platonic relationship, particilarly what we see in the movie, but otherwise I understand why it was easier to cut his role.

Johnny only got jumped a week before the musical (but then Justice for Tulsa sounds weird because Cherry suggests Johhny killed because of how Bob treated him and she implies that he was hurt a while ago...? IDK man. Not to big a gripe but it's just weird).

Grease got a Hold is essentially a ritual initiation because Ponyboy survived getting jumped (they skip his getting saved by the gang by having Pony get knocked out) so him surviving makes him a Greaser? I don't understand and frankly I would've preferred slightly less deviation from the source material here but again, I don't mind this change, it's all down to preference.

I almost don't like how much of a main character Darry has become? Like I like him in the adaptation, but I feel like his upgrade came at the cost of the downgrade of Soda and Two-Bit. I love both those characters and from what I've read/heard they both had there roles reduced, Soda it seems almost severely. But typical middle child shit I guess. Again, he could have a lot of speaking bits because I'm going off a couple synonpses and the cast album, but man I miss him. And Two Bit. I hope that they at least had him and Pony together going to visit Johnny. That's one of my favorite parts of the book and movie.

They add a scene between Johnny and Dally where Dally sees Johnny outside his house. I'm out of order here bit it's the night before the Drive In. Johnny says he's afraid to leave because his dad could kill his mom? Interesting take on that relationship but okay. I do love this scene personally.

I don't know if we get the Two Bit and Marcia fling. It didn't get mentioned in the plot synopsis so I won't comment further.

The addition of Ponyboy going unconcscious during the first fight means I get a two nickles meme about Ponyboy blacking out during fights in this musical.

There's no Randy?!?!? @annacatbeth13 said he got cut for the Broadway run and I'm sorry. He is a hella good character and even though his movie role is reduced, he's so good. I kinda feel like the musical suffers by having only Cherry as the oposition to Soc POV when you've got minimum of Pony and Johnny verbally against the Greaser POV and Darry is very much contrary in action during the book/movie and verbally here.

B/c there's no Randy a lot of Bob and Randy scenes are just Bob and Soc scenes.

I'm sorry, the fact that the guy who plays Bob plays the cop that investigates Bob's murder is sending me. MF rolls up like "yeah, I didn't just die here. This is fine" and everyone rolls with it. It's show business, I understand, but I feel like if I saw this show in person I'd notice and I'd lose it.

Also, I'm gonna note here that Brent Comer played Paul in La Jolla and now plays Darry. Ironic. Speaking of Paul and Darry as much as I don't like them removing Randy using Paul to fill his role as Bob's friend works quiet well. However, isn't Paul 20? And wasn't Bob like 17 or 18? I have questions that I'm not sure I can answer so I'm just gonna assume they were friends in high school and Paul stayed local for college.

I also don't know if they end up going to the Dairy Queen? Like the synopsis says that Dally comes up to see them and that it's Pony's discarded cigarette that starts the fire... but then the kids show up out of nowhere so where the hell did they come from? This entire incident is assumedly spoken so all I've got's the synopsis.

I was told again by @annacatbeth13 that Randy sang Hopeless War with Cherry and Pony and dammit, they took out that entire thing and that is such a catalyst for Ponyboy seeing the world in shades of gray like Cherry mentions in Hopeless War and I'm... I'm sorry. It just feels kinda wrong. I understand why they had to cut him but dammit it doesn't mean I'm not sad.

Everything in the hospital feels rushed. It does seem like they cut the Two-Bit taking Pony to the hospital bit (which makes sense, still sort of makes me mad). It also sounds like they upped Johnny's charge to first degree murder!! Like that doesn't make sense to me. He didn't premeditate shit. I honestly don't even think you could get second degree murder to stick. They then just mention and drop the charges in like the same song? Or in pretty rapid succession because it seems like the cut the juvenile court and Darry having to be checked on by the state storylines. Again, I understand having to strip a musical down to be a bit more barebones because of time contsraints but, like, if Fiddler can have four different plot lines within the same family, you can have the main issue, the sibling fight, and the Pony/Cherry/Randy bit. It's only three plotlines. I don't know why this makes me so mad but it does and IDK why?

I love Trouble. I love Darry in that song. And Dally. But also... Pony in the book and movie has been in multiple rumbles. It is mentioned in greater detail in the book and I don't know how I feel about them making Ponyboy so innocent. Like. He was never innocent, in the book and the movie. Everyone just thought he was? Again, simplifying for time constraints but I do miss it.

I like what they did with Paul. He's always felt very flat, more of a mirror to reflect Darry against same as Steve reflected Soda and Cherry/Randy/Johnny reflected Pony. But I do like the sort of righteous indignation they gave this version of Paul. It gives him that little bit of motivation to convince me that he should be at the rumble, despite being 20. Because in the book we get told that Darry is there specifically as the leader of Pony's "gang" but we don't get told why Paul is there so it feels odd. The musical does rectify that, which I kind of like.

However, I have to say I love Dally and Johnny's relationship in this musical. Just based on what I've seen they made it the most clear and concise interpretation of all versions of this story. Both songs where Dally talks to Johnny he refers to him as little brother, which cements that relationship and helps us understand why he eventually snaps. Which I will be talking about but I cannot give enough praise for their relationship.

I also cannot give enough praise for Cherry. I don't know exactly what they did, and they really ramped up Cherry's invovlement because she had to take some of Randy's place but they did such a good job with her. I like how they put her in the middle of all the conflicts (mostly with the Justice for Tulsa number) and I think seeing how she reacts really cemented this version as my favorite. I think they manage to get across that she actually does care about Johnny and Pony as people. All the other versions she comes off as pitying them which I don't like because it feels fake. And I understand why Pony doesn't like her. I kind of like that her relationship with him extends to her giving him Johnny's clothes because she starts volunteering at the hospital. I think that also helps humanize her too.

Alright, this is the most egrious change, in my humble opinion. They change how Dally dies. I think that him commiting suicide is necessary to the story, but in the musical he JUMPS IN FRONT OF A TRAIN!! You could argue that this is because a train killed the Curtis Parents (as seen in the complete novel edition of the movie) and you could argue that it's a symbol of death or of constancy for the Curtis' as they lose people to trains (technically Pony and Johnny are taken away to Windrixville via train). However... I think it still would've made more sense to stick to Dally dying via suicide by cop. It seems like they cut the Dairy Queen scene and if they did they probably cut Dally carrying a heater, which then makes the suicide by cop not work so they have him jump in front of a train... but that still feels out of character to me. I could be wrong, but when Pony talks about how Dally would go, he says Dally would die young and violent and angry. Him jumping in front of a train doesn't tell me he was angry. It tells me he was depressed. While you still get desperation, it's sad desperation. Not the angry desperation that you get with him doing the suicide by cop.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if they choose not to use Dally's original death because of the police discourse in the media. I want to say now that I have several cops/ex-cops in my family and from what they have told me, if someone pulled a stunt like what Dally did in the movie/book, they would be forced to shoot. It becomes a kill or be killed situation because they don't know if the gun is loaded. Now, the offending officer would be tried later on for manslaughter or related crimes but probably acquitted because they couldn't have known (in the movie it's debatable because the gang yells that the gun isn't loaded, but the police still probably wouldn't have listened). I think that the writers probably wanted to avoid having that controversy drum up. I can't blame them, still pisses me off.

All that being said, I do like this adaptation. But of the three versions of this piece of media, it's my least favorite. Love all the songs, love what characters we do have, and this is by far my favorite Cherry and my favorite portrayal of Johnny and Dally's relationship, but I don't like what they did to Dally in the end. No hard feelings against anyone who likes this or the creatives behind it, but it's just not my favorite and I don't know how faithful I would consider this adaptation.

[districtscare]

ok re: weird race stuff in thg i literally was just thinking about your post and how every single black boy is described as a threat. anyways. i am dropping in to ask about any thoughts you have on chaff and seeder and how they're treated in the narrative - i've been thinking about seeder's connection with katniss and chaff's with haymitch and how it made wayy more sense for them to be allied with katniss and peeta. idk. felt like another way for them to be more Tragic Deaths. but i also don't know if i'm making a mountain out of a mole hill

hey, hi! you're totally not making a mountain out of a molehill and i do actually have some thoughts.

i feel very strongly about chaff and his part of the narrative (if that wasn't already apparent) and how i absolutely loathe his introduction. kissing katniss as a joke looked very predatory at first to me, and it was weird that suzanne collins would pose one of her black characters in such an unfavorable light as SOON as he's introduced. then you've got the comments about “he could never stay out of a fight,” and then that poses him as predatory AND aggressive. those negative traits will overide the positive in a read where he's been mentioned.

his redeeming qualities is looking over katniss and peeta, (and bonding with him specifically,) alongside playing a huge role in haymitch's life, as a best friend/drinking partner, which even reads as queer-coding, considering that the first person that we see is important to haymitch, is a man. and yes, men have best friends! not denying that! but it's the nature of descriptions in their relationships, and even peeta's adamance to mention chaff every so often. chaff ALSO lasted a long time in the arena, being smart enough to likely figure out the tree + water trick without a spile.

with seeder, she seems almost forgettable. a seam-resembling woman who reassures katniss about rue and thresh's family, and holds a sense of comfort and wisdom as an older woman. and yet, first chance, she's one of the first people to go. we don't get her story, or any important details otherwise, and it really stunts getting to know the (introduced) victors of 11. it simply seems as if they weren't important enough in comparison to other victors, when they were in on the rebel plan in the exact same way.

and on the subject of reaper, chaff and thresh, it is so repetitive to have all 3 of your main black characters be brutal, fighty, aggressive. reaper killed a peacekeeper. thresh killed clove brutally. chaff, we don't know. but if he's a fighter, then i assume his actions aren't any better. it's okay to make your black characters good people. you don't have to weave in microagressive stereotypes to display racism, especially when it isn't your place. each of these characters do so much good, yes! but by collins constantly giving them that fatal flaw of violence and aggression, which is ALREADY a trait that condemns black people in the modern day, true or not true of any character, she undoes that. she harms the community she's attempting to represent in her work.

i could also mention how the torture system in district 11 eludes to lynching, and how strange it is to beat people for eating crops, or kill them for harmless mistakes. it is not racism representation, it is harm, because we don't have to be tied to slavery every time! a lot of our history is, but in the same vein? it's not the only thing that happened to black people, and you don't have to hint or reference it to create a successful black character/population.

very true that suzanne uses each character as a tragic death. it's literally like how every black character dies first in a horror movie. overused, and absolutely uneducated. because we have reaper & the poisoned water (and in the movie the snakes,) seeder in the bloodbath, rue and the spear and her mural/tribute grave, chaff dying right as they were leaving the arena, boggs getting his legs blasted off and dying violently. all of this is repetitive, and she gives life to these characters, just to have that discontinued. and it's unfair, it isn't representation to the full extent.

[aangarchy]

Netflix atla live action review ep 7-8

Home stretch baby. I figured since i love the source material i should just be able to enjoy it, or at least be entertained by it somewhat. But even that was just not possible. I pirated it after the first three episodes just bc i didn't want to give netflix the satisfaction of a view.

It's not so much the acting, the costumes or even the bad/mediocre cgi, it's the writing. It's an absolute shitshow, a mess of the highest caliber. For someone who claims to love the source material, it really seems like Albert Kim didn't understand why a lot of the things in the original worked the way they did. Things that are important for character growth got removed, and lore that we normally don't see til later on in the show (or even in a completely different story within this universe!!) got crammed in. For no good reason too bc it doesn't really add anything, just gives us another obstacle or useless exposition that's supposed to explain another useless thing they added.

Both of the last episodes take place in the north pole. This makes sense somewhat because in the original all three of the last episodes took place there. The reason they did this in the original is to have room for all of the stories that still need to take place (pakku, zuko, spirit world, koh, waterbending training, sokka and yue etc.) However in this version, even though minutes wise we have more time, we have less story. Like way less. Also episode 7 proportionally is much shorter than 8 and it really gives issues with pacing.

Let's start with what annoyed me most. Where is the waterbending training? Where is it? The season's title is Water and Aang bent ZERO water this entire season unless he was in the avatar state. Katara "trains" yes, but it's mostly practicing moves she found on the scroll (which gran gran just gave to her? Why didn't this woman give it to her sooner???). She gets NO guidance from anyone, and the way she gets better at bending each time is because a BOY told her encouraging things. A BOY. In the OG we get Pakku saying "raw talent alone is not enough", which makes sense because bending in this universe is an extension of martial arts, and you have to train to become good at martial arts. This LA show however treated bending like a magic power, basically giving some mumbo jumbo about balance and a clear head and think of the people you love to become a better bender. And while yes, your mental headspace also is important (as highlighted in the original where zuko couldn't bend anymore bc he had no aggression left) it wasn't the only factor, it wasn't even the main factor.

When we arrive at the North Pole, Pakku and the chief of the North both expect Aang to help with battle strategy in order to stop the attack bc they're already aware it's coming. Aang tells them he doesn't really know how (wtf were they even expecting it mean that is a whole 12yr old) and they turn away going "guess we can't count on the avatar" like? Dude?? If they have such good intel that they already know the fire nation is preparing an attack, and that the Avatar is alive, how tf did you not hear that the Avatar is also 12 years old and far from a master of the four elements? Idk this weirded me out.

They removed the deserter episode, which means Aang doesn't renounce firebending, which means we get no storyline of Aang dealing with his conflicted feelings surrounding firebending because fire gives life, not just destruction. Katara also doesn't find out she can heal naturally. We just get told that healing is just a thing all waterbenders can do if they train for it. Katara's necklace has no significance at all in the story currently. Yugoda doesn't recognize that Katara is Kanna's granddaughter. Katara's gran gran being from the north originally doesn't play part in the story at all. Katara doesn't even once utter the words "this necklace used to be my mother's". Idk why that bothers me so much but it does. They also removed her rage at not being allowed to fight. Sure this show's Katara also goes to fight Pakku, but literally everytime she speaks she just sounds reasonable. She fights him not because she's So Enraged at not being allowed to become the master she's meant to be, but because the script demands it. She says it so matter of factly too. She's like a mellowed out shell of who Katara is supposed to be. I feel like this overall for her character in this show btw. I don't blame Kiawentiio bc i saw clips of her performance in other works (anne with an e notably) and she's good. This genuinely just seems like poor writing and directing. They removed all of Katara's passion. She's not warm, she's not feisty, she's not angry, she's not nurturing, she's also not flawed at all. I hate to say it but in this version she's giving Mary Sue, especially bc she just learns waterbending on her own, and then gets called a master out of nowhere. That's not how that's supposed to work. You're supposed to earn the term master.

Let's talk about Yue. Amber Midthunder is a great actress, but damn, that wig. Their budget was over 100 million dollars and yet they couldn't give my girl a lace front? Her wig was so structured and stiff, and if it were any other context like cosplay or a drag show this would have been perfect. Now it just looked really unnatural and instead of the hair being platinum it was gray. Yue's character got given more to do here. They changed the story to have her break her own engagement, but it's implied that the reason she did this is bc she met Sokka in the spirit world and... fell in love? Idk it was a bit weird. Both Suki and Yue were inexplicably entranced with Sokka. In the OG it's implied that Yue likes Sokka bc he's so different from the boys in the north, kind of like a city girl falling in love with a country boy. But here it feels different, he doesn't stand out at all compared to the other boys, and Hahn isn't a dickhead like the OG. I will say i like that Yue is a stronger character here. She takes charge of her own destiny and she is the one to realize that she can save the moon spirit, and wasn't told by someone else that she could do it. I am confused by them making her a waterbender, but i'm not mad at that change per se. I liked her sacrifice scene, her own acting was great. Sokka however... i genuinely burst out laughing, like so loud. The zoom in on his face, the expression, it was too much and too little at once. Overall, Yue's story was okay. Was it better than the original? Debatable. But it wasn't bad and that's a win.

We get Avatar Kuruk way earlier than we originally got him. I'm still kind of confused about the whole "you can talk to past Avatars but only in their shrine with their statue" thing, because if that's the case how in the hell is Aang ever gonna ask advice from Roku (or Kyoshi, since the writers clearly have a bias towards her and want to make her the main Avatar guide ig) without having to travel all the way to the shrine? Can they only talk in the one specific shrine or can we take a miniature set of Avatar action figures with us just in case we ever need advice? Also this lore abt the shrines and statues is flawed at best bc later on Kuruk shows up for Aang during the fight, while they're not present at the shrine. Either way, Kuruk was far from the go with the flow Avatar he was characterized as in the original. I know that we got some insight into Kuruk's story in the Kyoshi novels, and turns out it's a lot darker than expected, but Kuruk never let that change his character. He always remained chill, or at least kept up the facade, and i don't think OG Kuruk would be the type of man that is angry about how his life turned out. In this version, Kuruk is this scared, mean, bitter man who is really unsatisfied with his destiny, which he lashed out at Aang for. He seemed really angry at Aang to for no good reason. We're also not supposed to know this part about Kuruk's life yet. It's too much information and de waste time learning about his life story, the only reason we learn it in the first place is to explain the Special Spirit Killing Knife. Also the actor for Kuruk.... yikes bro. Idk which hallmark movie they pulled him from but he and his stupid polar bear hat looked like ass the whole time.

So there's this weird part about Kuruk having a Special Knife that is able to kill spirits. Idk if this is a thing from the Kyoshi novels that also made it into this show bc truth be told i haven't made it far into those novels yet at all, but it was strange to me. Somehow Zhao has this knife. We don't know how he ended up getting it (did the fire sage give it to him? I didn't see it but i might have missed it) and we pretend that this is the Only Thing that can kill spirits even when the spirits are mortal. Doesn't that negate the fact that the spirits are mortal, if they can only be killed by a Special Knife? Also there's this weird convoluted part about how the spirits actually live in the spirit world and only cross to the physical world once every ice moon to know what it feels like to be "mortal" and choose a different "mortal" form each time and this time they happened to be fish. But still, they can Only Be Killed By The Special Knife. Huh? What's the purpose of this added extra lore? I saw someone say the underlying point is that it shouldn't be this easy to kill spirits but.... that's the whole idea behind the Ocean and Moon spirits having permanent mortal forms? Them being mortal and choosing a form as insignificant as a fish, constantly circling each other to represent the precarious balance between Ocean and Moon, a balance that can be thrown off very easily. The whole point was that they're fragile so why add all this extra exposition for no reason? Why make the spirits harder to kill if in the end you're still just gonna have a guy stabbing a wet bag and not some rough spirit killing battle?

Zhao also just gets told by the fire sage that killing the moon is a thing he can do. I don't like what this changes about Zhao's character. Zhao is supposed to be this cunning man. He's scary, determined, strategically inclined, but alas overconfident and willing to go too far which ends up being his downfall. His ambition is what led him to do his own research by visiting a spirit library to find any weakness he could potentially exploit, and that's precisely what he found. In the original, Zhao always fought for his own career. His own accomplishments got him the tools to try and beat Zuko in the Avatar race. But in this version, Zhao just keeps getting handed things. He's a slippery snake that plays friends with Zuko and then tries to steal the glory from under his nose. He gets handed the archers, he gets handed the information on the moon spirit, he gets handed a war balloon (which completely ruins the surprise of the fire nation suddenly having air power at the invasion), and he gets helped by Azula of all people. It makes him look a bit chumpy in this story, and it really worsens his villain qualities.

On a completely other note, this LA seems to have a thing for making adults yell at a 12yr old Avatar for leaving the world behind, and it doesn't make any sense, because in this story Aang left on Appa for a joyride to clear his head. Aang didn't purposely leave. He had every intention of returning after an hour. Yet every adult in this show, even the past Avatars that know damn well Aang didn't flee from his responsibilities, yells at him bc he accidentally got encased in ice. And somehow this Aang gets made to feel worse about it than OG Aang even though he deserves it way less bc this Aang didn't actually run away! I don't like what this changes about Aang's character. In the OG, Aang has one fatal character flaw and that's avoiding responsibility. He runs away, and has problems with taking accountability for what his actions cost the world. He goofs around, plays games and likes to have fun to avoid having to face his destiny, all while carrying the guilt and blame for the century war. It's a huge part of Aang's character journey. The guilt he feels isn't misplaced bc Aang knows he ran off, and he knows that the world is in its current state because of his decision. In the end he takes responsibility by showing up to the fight with Ozai alone. In this LA, even though by all means Aang shouldn't feel responsible, he ends up taking responsibility right away. He goes to Kyoshi Island, not to goof around and ride giant koi, but because he knows he can talk to Kyoshi there. Kyoshi yells at him for leaving (again, why? She knows he didn't run away) and gives him a vision about the watertribe getting destroyed. Instead of panicking about it (like OG Aang did after finding out abt the comet) he just accepts that he needs to go and help. And while this Aang does get to have fun moments (i especially loved how in the first episode he sees playing watertribe children and immediately joins them, that was quintessential Aang), he just seems very down and serious a lot of the time. He's scared of people getting hurt and is very worried abt the safety of his friends to the point where he agrees with Pakku and tells Katara she shouldn't fight. It's not Aang at all bc OG Aang was rooting for Katara when she fought Pakku. To sum it up: i think the casting for Aang was perfect. A cute southeast asian skater kid that loves to have fun and genuinely just looked the part? Brilliant! I am genuinely not upset at Gordon's performance at all (although sometimes i wish he'd enunciate a bit better). But the writing messed up the character so much that i couldn't even feel the joy for having the perfect looking Aang. I will say Koifish Godzilla (Koizilla if you will) looked dope. What did confuse me abt the Koizilla scenes is that sometimes there was no music (which is a choice i often like bc it gives the scene extra gravitas) and then sometimes there was a majestic score playing in the back, like they couldn't choose how they were gonna execute it and just picked both. I know that's nitpicky but it bothered me nonetheless.

Speaking of Koizilla. Wtf was that thing they added about Aang "succumbing" to the ocean spirit and being "lost"? They didn't even explain it at all, but both Yue and Iroh talked about how Aang would be lost forever now. We don't get a why, we don't get a how. And "lost" is such a vague word for it too. Like would his spirit be lost and only his body remain? Would he be completely swallowed up by the ocean? Would he remain Koizilla, forever rampaging at the ice wall? They added this for extra tension i guess, but it doesn't really work when only minutes later Aang is able to return no problem bc Katara talked him out of it, so we don't even get to find out what "he'll be lost forever" means. Also: the scene with Katara talking Aang out of it was cute, but the execution was weird. Originally Katara gives this speech when Aang goes Avatar state at the southern airtemple. I like that they still kept Katara's speech to Aang bc it highlights their bond which is especially important for later on in the show, but I don't like how now Katara had to give this really heartfelt emotional speech to Aang in front of everyone else at the northern watertribe. It's supposed to be quite an intimate moment between her, Sokka and Aang as a new family, they're supposed to promise they won't let anyone harm him, which eventually calms him down. Here though Katara's just yelling these words at him in front of everyone and all the intimacy is gone. It also doesn't work as well bc we barely got any time of the gaang bonding. They spend episode 3-6 apart most of the time, so really they shouldn't feel this bond towards each other just yet. Because this LA removed a lot of the side adventures, we don't get the feeling that these kids have known each other for months.

Another thing they removed is Appa and Momo as characters. In the original they each get their own moments, we even got one whole episode with Appa as the main character (which won an award btw). Here though, Appa is solely used as a transportation animal and Momo... honestly i don't even remember what he does but i think it's mostly a small comedic bit? Also he hands the acorn to one of the characters. This is a bad change bc in these episodes Momo gets hurt so bad he nearly dies, and it has no emotional impact at all bc he's just an accessory in this story. I felt no emotional attachment to Momo and he just has no personality. I wonder how this choice is gonna play out when we get the kidnapped Appa story bc so far it's not looking good.

Anyway, for positives. I warmed up on Dallas's performance a lot, i wasn't that mad at Ian Ousley's performance and there were moments where he genuinely made me laugh. The cgi for the creatures was decent, but for the backgrounds it looked horrible. I liked that they showed how devastating the Seige of the North ended up being, with the unnamed kid and Hahn both dying. I liked the effect showing those two had on our main characters. I liked when Aang, Sokka and Katara all worked together taking out that one firenation ship. I liked the way they showed Sokka and Yue bonding. I really warmed up to the costumes as well, i still wish they dirtied it up a little to make them look less new.

There's probably some more positives but they're really minor compared to the negatives and also my brain is just done atp. I'm never gonna rewatch it for more analysis either bc i don't think i'll survive it lol. I might make another post abt my opinion on the show as a whole? Like an overall summary? Bc this shit is VERY long and i do apologize. If you made it this far, uhm. Thanks for caring abt my opinion so much that you sat down for like 10 minutes to read my angry yapping? I appreciate it.

Anyway bye

[sister-lucifer]

Genuinely curious why someone who seems to sexualize (fictional) serial killers and (fictional) murderers draws the line at "proship" stuff, which is also very much fictional? Aren't most horror characters actively problematic? Or is it virtue signaling with little knowledge of what "proship" actually is, you're just trying to show that you're not like "other" freaks, even if you're cut from the same cloth. Lumping people who ship weird stuff in Fandom spaces in with literal nazis is such a silly take. It just trivializes the sentiment when you say that you believe real life nazis are on par with people who engage with dark topics in fiction. You're a "proshipper" by the very nature of the fandoms you're in, as horror is the most "problematic" a medium there is.

[tws for discussion of sex abuse, gore and incest under the cut]

pro shipping is the attempt to normalize things like incest and pedophilia within shipping and fandoms. while yes these characters are fictional, and i completely support the existence of dark content as a medium to explore these topics, my issue is with the fact that proshippers want to treat incestuous and pedophilic relationships as normal. there’s no trigger warnings on proship content, no indication or attempt to keep these things away from those it could harm (pro shipping is also super common in fandoms of kids shows, like steven universe and MLP, which is super worrying for obvious reasons). There’s a difference between writing something dark to explore its existence vs writing about a father raping his young daughter as though it’s a completely normal and healthy relationship. that sort of content pushes the idea that children can consent and want sex, and often pushes blame onto victims of assault. with no tws or any sort of attempts to guard this content, and the fact that the way it’s written actively seeks to normalize these actions, it’s incredibly dangerous.

i expanded more on this sort of idea in this post (and there’s a follow up here if that matters idk), which i highly recommend anyone who’s questioning this sort of thing reads and takes a look at the other things linked in said post, because i do think it’s important to have these discussions. there’s a difference between normalizing and exploration. everything i write has a content/warnings section. i don’t want gore porn to be normalized, which should be inherently clear by the fact that all of my dark fiction has a wide array of trigger warnings on it to make sure no one thinks it’s normal or will accidentally stumble upon it. i’m happy to have my niche little community, but i would never want something so shocking to be easily stumbled upon by someone who didn’t want to see it.

there’s a difference between writing something dark or disturbing while actively advertising the fact that it’s not for everyone, vs posting “ship” art of a child being abused and acting like it’s so cute and perfect. someone who didn’t know better could take that to heart.

sex abuse is real and rampant in our society, and it affects and hurts people every day. that’s different than fake serial killers.

also…i fail to see how having both nazis and proship on my dni is equating them? youre allowed to put whatever you want on your dni. i’ve seen people with “creepypasta fans” right next to “proshippers” on their dni, and i don’t say anything, i just move on. it’s not my business why they don’t want those people interacting with them; maybe it’s because they had a bad experience in that fandom, maybe it’s because they don’t want to see gore, maybe it’s because the stories just unsettle them, why do i care? it’s not a personal attack against me, it’s just their prerogative. it’s not my place to argue with them, they can put whatever they want on their dni and it’s not my place to try and change their mind. they’re not equating or lumping in anything, they just don’t want those people interacting with them. and that’s fair enough.

it’s also a bit of a stretch to call horror a “problematic” medium when the very nature of it is meant to be disgusting and scary. if its disgusts and scares you…..good?

you’ll never find me in someone’s inbox trying to change their mind about what they are or are not comfortable with, i just block and move on, like everyone should really. i’ve seen some seriously dogshit takes on this site, and despite how absolutely abhorrent they are, i just block and move on. it’s easier, safer and happier that way.

if you really care this much, you can make your own post about it, or come out of your anonymous box and talk to me for real. i sure as hell don’t care that much, so i won’t guarantee you’ll get a response.

seriously though, if you hate me that much, just block me and move on. in fact, i actively support people blocking me. it reduces conflict, and i know that my content isn’t for everyone, and that’s totally okay.

i don’t want this response to come off as angry or indignant because really these sort of discussions are important, i just can’t say with my whole heart that you sent this ask because you wanted to talk; you sent it because you’re angry at me for what you perceive to be a slight against you or something you believe in. i get it. but believe me, you get a lot more out of life when you remove the things that make you upset instead of trying to argue with them. start caring less and blocking liberally 👍

[fixfoxnox]

Regarding the ask game, most COD Ghosts fanfics are Keegan x Logan and I know you ship them too based on the hint in camboy au, I’m interested what your reasons are lol

I adore Keegan and Logan together and I can absolutely explain why I ship them. (Just a quick note I've only played through Ghosts once so forgive me if I get some info wrong)

Most of the reason that I ship them comes from two specific missions: Federation Day and Into the Deep

These two missions both feature Logan and Keegan working as a team with primarily just the two of them the entire time. I think an important thing to note is that Logan was my favorite character after playing through the game, so a lot of my focus while playing was on him and his story/character.

One of my favorite things about the dynamic between Keegan and Logan, specifically during Federation day, is how impressed Keegan is with Logan. As their going through the mission he's complimenting him and just seems incredibly impressed with him throughout the game. But prior to that mission which is, I believe, the first time they work together just the two of them, their dynamic is also one that I like.

Keegan and Merrick both really seemed to doubt the Walker boys prior to seeing them in action. The lines they drop are very much like "try to keep up 🙄" type of dynamics. So for Keegan to go from that so being genuinely impressed with Logan during Federation day already made me love their dynamic.

Then you get to Into the Deep which is another mission that is primarily just the two of them. I think this mission is the one that really solidified them as a ship for me because of the way that they work together. They just work together so smoothly after having not known each other like only a week prior.

Not only that but this mission featured a lot of danger for the two so I felt like you really got to see some care that Keegan had for Logan come out at different points.

I think that because they seemed to get paired off together so much in the game, it kinda impacted how I saw them. And when I play the silent protagonists, a lot of my opinions on their character comes from how other characters interact with them. That being said, I got very like stars in his eyes energy that Logan would have toward Keegan. During Federation Day, I was like "we're trying to impress Keegan aren't we?" Sjdjdjjdjd

I think another part of the reason why I love this ship is because I like the dynamic sjjdhdjd. Like Keegan who is a bit older than Logan and worked with his dad for years before ever meeting him. So there's almost a bit of a taboo there, but at the same time Keegan is young enough that it isn't a weird age gap/predatory thing (esp. Cause he didn't meet Logan till Logan was well into being an adult)

Combine that with like overprotective father/brother combo of Elias and Hesh who know that Logan can take care of himself but also can and will threaten Keegan for looking at their sweet son/little brother makes me laugh.

Like my dynamic for the Walker family is Logan who is murdery/very much not innocent vs Hesh and Elias who know this but also treat him like he's the sweetest little guy in the universe. So adding Keegan to that dynamic where is would probably be like:

"You're corrupting Logan!!! Pervert!!!"

Keegan, who not even an hour ago was dragged into a side room so that Logan could suck the life out of him and demand to be bent over a table: 🧍‍♂️

Idk man I just think they're neat ajdjdjhd

[findafight]

I love your opinions on r0nance so much. If you ever bring Steve up to the shippers they always start talking about how you can't insert a man into a wlw ship/relationship. As if he isn't integral to both their stories in the show. He's Nancy's ex and they dated for a year and he's Robin's best friend. If he was only one of those things it wouldn't matter, but he is both. And you can't separate them. If it wasn't for Steve, Nancy would have never acknowledged Robin. She didn't know who Robin was in S3 and it's heavily implied that she didn't care and wasn't interested in anything about Robin until she was useful. If Robin wasn't friends with Steve she wouldn't have become involved with the Upside Down, and Nancy never would have noticed her.

thank you! yeah I was writing that answer and thinking "literally so many of my issues with this ship and how it's approached have nothing to do with Steve. woah" though obviously i really hate how poorly robin and her relationship with steve is treated/written within the ship. why make her mean, or purposefully deceitful in a way she knows will be hurtful to her best friend? :( if you have to butcher a character/their relationship with another character for a ship...is that worth it? seems kinda vindictive too like what did power QPR duo stobin do to make ppl want to break them up? they hate to see bad bitches winning XD

I think taking criticism of how the robin and steve dynamic is treated in r0nance fic and saying that people saying those things are just making a wlw relationship about a man is sort of...idk. not insulting but. insincere? about how they care about characters, because like. this is a man whose relationships with these women is deeply influential to who they are and how they met. Robin is Steve's best friend. She wants to combine into an ultimate being with him. She made a crush she had about Steve, she's just going to insert him into her romo relationships and her partners are gonna have to deal with her weird obsession with her bestie! Nancy is his ex! Who cheated on him!! Both of them have history with steve, and that history influences dynamics! If we use rebel robin, she longs to find her people, real friends she can trust and talk to and click with without worrying about being too much. Steve is Robin's person. She puts a great deal of weight on her platonic relationships, and we see that with steve! Her thinking about how her actions would affect him is not centring a wlw relationship on a man it's being a good and loving friend!!

totally agree, Robin and Nancy's relationship with each other is pivoted on steve, because he's their point of commonality! He's the reason they know each other, (and also are alive), and has/had intense and deeply meaningful relationships with both of them, that have helped to informed who all three of them are!

Nancy's relationship with steve is tied to her grief and guilt surrounding Barb, and their involvement with the upside down. Treating it like it didn't mean anything to either of them is a disservice to that year they spent dating. yeah, maybe it wasn't a relationship meant to last, maybe it wasn't good for them or was cliche adolescent first love but it was important to steve, and important enough to Nancy that she stayed in it. tbh disregarding the s4ncy history and how steve loved her happens in a lot of fics, so it's not only a rnce problem, but it's a particularly annoying thorn when combined with steve's bff not caring about it or how he feels about it? doesn't feel like robin to me.

[huasahyo]

I finished reading Yuwu! (Spoilers ahead!)

OKAY, YUWU WAS PAINFULLY AMAZING. I still don't get the lack of content for this fandom??? In comparison to 2ha, Yuwu fandom seems way smaller and THAT'S UNFAIR. This story is so well written, the plot meticulously tied together and the characters are complex and very interesting. In a personal analysis, I liked the plot in Yuwu better than 2ha, cause I feel like in Yuwu, the main characters are closer to and are more affected by the plot? But 2ha stills pulls at my heartstrings more, in fact, every time I read the word Haitang in Yuwu, I GOT TRIGGERED, the trauma is real. AND THE FACT THAT MURONG CHUYI IS AN ACTUAL CHARACTER IN THIS??? At first, I thought that was simply kinda weird to have a character so similar to Chu Wanning in this (given that this is a prequel to 2ha, so couldn't be a reincarnation thing) but I changed my mind throughout the book and really enjoyed the reason for their similarities (the one stated at the end).

The whole Yue Family plot was really painful. In fact, one of the points I disliked is that my boy Yue Chenqing gets the Xue Meng part in the ending: he ends all "alone"! Like, can't Mo Xi send him a letter in secret or something... at least so he can know that everyone he cares about didn't die?

Also, why does everyone despises Jiang Yexue so much? Alright, him being sort of a villain caught me off guard but taking a look at the whole story, Yexue was a really good person until he infected by demonic qi. And remember, he got infected while saving Yue Chenqing (that at this point had unknowingly stolen everything from him). As Yexue fought the demonic qi, he was all alone, so he just stopped fighting... all of his actions after were probably inducted by the qi.

If there is someone really despicable in the story, that is Yue Juntian. A literal rapist who treated his children like mud. Terrible.

And also, the emperor Murong Chen was a great manipulator, props to him. In order to achieve the control of the whole world he was willing to fool everyone. I just thought his motivations were kinda weird, his ambition came sort of out of anger of being in the position of a ruler, seen as nothing more than that. I genuinely believed he wanted a better world in that scene where he plays the Xiao for the 70 thousand souls.

AND DAMN GIRL MURONG MENGZE... I wasn't expecting the last turn of events about her. At first I suspected her, then I thought she was a nice person and felt bad for suspecting her and at the end... lmao. But I enjoyed her character, she is a evolved version of her older brother. To be a knowledgeable ruler, she was willing to manipulate and kill, but also willing herself to go through some shit. Of course I was mad at her for putting our main characters through suffering but when she abolished slavery and shown herself to be an actually great ruler who cares about the country, I was sold. My girl (should I still use she/her pronouns on her? Idk!) is a baddie. (And poor Zhou He lmao I thought he was kinda hot, it's a pity he died)

And was not expecting another shizun fucker in this. Hua Po'an being the shizun fucker then... that was surprising. When he was first mentioned I was 100% on his side: A slave going against the country that enslaved them? Totally reasonable. The part that sucks it's that he used a lot of our poor Butterfly Boned Beauty Feasts to achieve his goals and that he was clearly a madman. But that 9 eyed qin was badass, when he uses it to conjure past general Gu... CHILLS, LITERAL CHILLS.

And poor Jiang Fuli... this was another surprising character, I thought he would be just a side character and a reference to Jiang Xi. I couldn't predict how involved he was in the plot, wow.

AH LET ME TALK ABOUT MURONG LIAN. In this blog we do not tolerate any hate towards our Wangshu-jun. He is definitely my favorite character out of everyone. At first I thought he would just be our regular annoying villain, and I was pretty angry at how he treated Gu Mang. But as the story progressed his presence made everything funnier (that one scene where he saves Gu Mang from having wine thrown at him LMAO) and when he tries to save Gu Mang from being taken by Zhou He LIKE HIS LIFE DEPENDED ON IT... I was like: okay that's suspicious.

I originally didn't like the plot of Gu Mang being actually a noble. But as we read we understand that this doesn't change the fact he lived most of his life as a slave.

The whole Ximang relationship was cute and painful. Seeing our (debatable) cold Mo Xi fall in love with someone he thinks doesn't love him back and then this person backstabs him. This person comes back and doesn't remember anything from the past. And then he discovers there's more to the backstabbing story! He has to endure watching said person struggle A LOT omg... I cried with him in a lot of moments.

Oh, and I really liked the spiritual weapons in this! Really cool! Tuntian was a very interesting twist and I liked how that explained Mo Xi being so strong.

THE PLOT TWIST ABOUT THE LITTLE SACHET (I have no idea what that thing is called in English, but you know what I am talking about) ???? THAT WAS... I was speechless.

About the ending, I actually thought it would be a reincarnation open ending and was kinda meh about it. But then, our savior (mysterious dude that kinda looks like Xie Lian??? Idk about yall but I was picturing him inside my head) appeared and gave us a miracle! Very cute ending <3

BY THE WAY, I finished Yuwu mid January and just finished writing this now, at the end of February lol

Hopefully I will draw some content to this fandom in the future, while trying to convince people to read it.

Also, as of now I have just finished the second volume of Qiang Jin Jiu and booooooy I have a lot to say about this masterpiece, just wait for my review. (Or no? No one reads these anyways lol).

[deathgatesideblog]

Okay I have talked before about how it's really fucking WEIRD how Bane just dies and we're kinda supposed to just be like "yeah, he was just straight up evil and Iridal did the right thing by finally seeing past her idealistic wishes and taking definitive action" when even Samah and Xar both get somewhat sympathetic deaths.

And I still think all of that is true.

But there's ANOTHER weird aspect to that whole thing which is that. Taking Bane to Xar was probably. The most evil thing Haplo actually did in the series? Like pushing Arianus to war is up there (an argument could be made that there really was some sort of civil unrest/rebellion that had to happen there to free the Gegs but obviously that was not at all Haplo's reasoning.) Uhhhhh abandoning the mensch to die at the end of Elven Star? General manipulation? Like most of his character development is him realizing that doing a Totalitarianism on the mensch and a War on the Sartan is a bad idea, but he doesn't actually DO a lot of that stuff, ultimately. Just thinks about it and then sees the reality and is like hey wait a minute.

But Bane is like. Yes I will be kidnapping him from his mom so that he can help me achieve my own ends. Yes I know that Xar will treat this child the way he treats me and likely worse. Yes I will eventually come to realize that the way Xar treats people is Bad. Yes I will still have an inner monologue in which I accuse Iridal of only being upset with me because it's easier than hating herself for not being able to protect Bane from--

FROM WHAT, HAPLO???

From his fate is I think the answer Hand of Chaos wants us to reach but. Idk about that, man.

And ESPECIALLY given that Alfred's entire mission statement in Dragon Wing AND the beginning of Fire Sea IS protecting Bane... and he ALSO apparently forgets about Bane the second the Sartan show up in Fire Sea... idk idk this just seems like a really important thread, both narratively and for the arcs of BOTH of our protagonists, was dropped here?

[cubedmango]

Yeah I saw that too which is definitely an explanation that makes sense but also makes me so sad because a lot of the blame fell onto machida and akaso for that and at least from what i’ve seen and know about them it looks a lot more likely to be their/one of their agencies… I always want to pull my hair out too because seriously men getting married yeah chief that’s about as gay as it gets but a little peck on the lips is where the line gets drawn):£: and then I wonder how it works too cause even with that scene in the drama with kurosawa’s imagination in ep 9 when they were literally in bed like man that was a big fuckin step up in terms of any physicality between them which made me wonder like okay that was fine but again actually having a visible kiss wasn’t? I just don’t understand and when the director was asked about the whole no on-screen kiss thing he said it was to put more emphasis on their ‘emotional bond’ like what😭 idk nothing really adds up but some homophobic entity pulling the strings behind them unfortunately seems to have all arrows pointing at them it really is kinda :// tho cause I loooove the movie and the beach scene but also wish so much wasn’t taken away from it cause seriously imagining that part from the manga in live action form especially knowing how much of amazing actors they are is so crazy I would have killed a man for that💔

(putting second ask below for length!)

Ah naina there’s some unconfirmed tea which you can choose to post if you want to or not idm!! Some ppl have been digging into it and think that it’s tri-stone akaso’s company and it honestly makes sense from the promotion of the movie and how the release was treated on their side for example their official account was basically silent the whole time which is super weird because for his other roles they post about them regularly and retweet the promos but for a movie where their client like that’s your actor!! was literally the main character they were radio silent?? and in fact this was during the time hiru was airing and they posted about that almost every day but barely a word about cherry magic… and even weirder on his paid for fansite thing eawd at the end of every production they post a picture with akaso and his costars but there wasn’t one with him and machida… there’s so much more I’m gonna have to go back and look for it if you want but it’s just so ????? To me

the thing abt akasos agency is actually the exact thing i saw, i didnt have any way of checking it for myself so i couldnt confirm it but if its true that explains . basically everything ?? and its so dumb too bc if theyre so intent on being homophobic why did they even let him not only act in the drama but also come back for the movie ???? like were they expecting the levels of gay to go down or what 😐 and not doing promotion for ur own actors work just bc its a queer role is ??? extremely fucked up first of all but also theyre just losing out on money themselves so ??? who knows whats going on in their brains lol

either way to me it feels like neither the actors nor crew did this stuff on their own bc the way they handled the drama+movie doesnt match at all, they wrote and acted krdcs story v carefully and respectfully without that typical baiting and pandering, and also making fujisaki aroace when she wasnt in the manga and giving her so much depth too shows they did care abt the queer rep so i doubt theyd have any problems with the kissing and all themselves ? sensei even supervised the whole thing and donated movie proceeds to marriage for all so it rlly doesnt add up that any of the crew involved would be the one opposing stuff like this .. wouldnt be surprised if it was actually those agencies or even the network higher-ups doing all this, and the actors getting blamed for it is such bs too but alas its easier to pin it on them than admit theres a more systemic homophobia at play, and fans will usually fall for any random rumor and take is as truth so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[viola-ophelia]

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#aesthetic - 129 posts

#writing - 89 posts

#fashion - 81 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#idk why some people can't get it into their heads that writing a redemption arc for a character doesn't mean that the author condones murder

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

i feel extremely seen in pepa madrigal from encanto...... like. i too am a temperamental girl with anxiety who’s not as sweet and gentle as most disney women bc i have this reputation within my family for being difficult and dramatic which i lowkey resent but don’t know if i can ever really change bc it is kinda true lol but hey at least i’m genuine and i’m doing my best... idk, i know she’s a random side character in a kid’s movie but damn 

78 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

#4

in defense of cutler beckett

it’s kind of a tradition of mine to periodically write “in defense of” essays for unpopular characters (see “in defense of celegorm” and “in defense of bunny corcoran” lol), and idk what it says about me that i frequently feel the urge to advocate in favor of characters that are deemed unlikable/ unredeemable/ unworthy of attention by their respective fandoms, but i’m rolling with it lol. anyway, today, i want to focus on lord cutler beckett from pirates of the caribbean, because the general consensus about him on tumblr these days is… pretty abysmal lol, but i think he deserves a closer look. beckett seems to be the vast majority of people’s least favorite character, and not in an ironic way like some of the characters in POTC are treated online, like oh haha yeah barbossa was kinda annoying for going all ghost zombie mode on everyone but also we love him, weird eclectic uncle vibes, woo!.... no, everyone just straight-up hates beckett. and look: i get it, i really do. beckett is a much “realer” villain than davy jones or barbossa or salazar or any of the other POTC baddies, and that makes him much easier to hate. he’s not a giant octopus or a cursed skeleton or a slimy ghost guy with mystical powers, he’s literally just some guy– and he’s an asshole of a guy, because he’s basically just a random capitalist who wants all our favorite characters swinging from the gallows because they’re getting in the way of his trading schemes. and, if you count the price of freedom as canon, he’s also a slave trader, which is pretty unambiguously terrible. but despite all that, i actually like beckett. in fact, he’s one of my favorite characters in POTC: although it’s important to note that when i say that, i’m in no way saying that i condone his actions or that i think he’s morally good. as i see it, it’s totally valid to enjoy villainous characters while also acknowledging that they’re evil/problematic/whatever and that their actions are not morally acceptable in the real world. but the realm of POTC– where people (including the “good guys,” might i add!) are murdering and backstabbing each other left and right, any and all historical accuracy has to be taken with several grains of salt, and occult magic and sea goddesses and evil fish-men casually exist– is pretty far from “the real world” if you ask me lol. but anyway, let’s get into it then, shall we! (adding a read-more bc this is LONG oop)

beckett gets a really bad rap in the POTC fandom not just because he’s a ‘problematic’ character, but because on the surface, he comes across as a very one-dimensional, and therefore boring, villain. there are certainly other not-so-morally-pure characters in POTC that don’t seem to get the same treatment beckett does… no one really seems to talk about how pintel and ragetti threatened to r*pe elizabeth in the curse of the black pearl, for example. but pintel and ragetti are goofy comedic relief fan faves, and they’re also on the “good side” (aka the side of the pirates), so they have some redeeming qualities. in contrast, beckett is unique in POTC– a franchise famous for morally complex characters– for his seeming complete lack of redemptive nuance. he’s easy to understand as a villain because he’s just one of those villains who’s bad just ‘cause he can be. and he sucks! he’s ruthless, he’s power-hungry and materialistic, he plots against the pirates simply because they’re an inconvenience to him, and he represents the unjust authority which jack sparrow and the “good guys” stand against. the law permits beckett to freely exploit people in the name of the east india company, but does not allow jack and his companions even a chance of survival if they’re caught: and he knows how unfair this is, and doesn’t care. but here’s the thing: at its core, POTC is a pirate story told by pirates. of course we’re going to root for jack, will, elizabeth, and the gang over characters like beckett and norrington… because the pirates are the ones in control of the narrative. if we want, we can choose to believe them when they show us how much beckett sucks (and to be fair, they’re largely right lol), but it’s sort of boring, i feel, to just readily absorb the story that’s made most prominently visible to us and not bother to examine other perspectives. 

so let’s talk about beckett’s motives. maybe he really is power-hungry and exploitative because he just is, and that’s all there is to him… but again, that’s what the pirates think, but it’s worth considering other possibilities too. what is beckett’s backstory, then– what, if anything, prompted him to go on his pirate-killing spree? well, in the movies, he doesn’t have one. he kinda just shows up one day and crashes will and elizabeth’s wedding as an obnoxious power flex, and from that point on, he’s just, like, there and he hates the pirates REALLY bad and wants to kill them all through any means possible, seemingly just because he can. the price of freedom, though, does give beckett a backstory. i’m not going to summarize the entire thing here, but in it, he and jack once worked together for the east india co. before eventually having a big mutual betrayal where jack wasn’t a fan of the fact that beckett was transporting some slaves, so he freed them all, which fucked beckett’s career over so beckett branded him as a pirate and then went on to become the asshole we see in the movies. but to be honest, this doesn’t really compel me all that much. it’s certainly an important moment for jack, but it explains away beckett’s motives the same vague way the movies do, aka by going “well, he’s just evil because he is/always was.”  

what was really going on with beckett to force him through such a transformation had to have been much more than jack fucking up his job one time. the price of freedom tells us that he was a sickly kid not expected to live past childhood and that he was lowkey abused by his family, so i think a desire to prove his own worth was definitely part of it. but i don’t think beckett became evil (or doomed, for that matter) when he branded jack as a pirate. there’s a point in the book (if i’m remembering correctly) where young beckett gets captured by pirates and his dad refuses to pay the bail to have him released. it doesn’t explain how he eventually managed to escape, but i can only imagine that the experience left him with some internal damage… a fear of losing control, most likely, and of being out of his element. that’s kind of a lot for a teenager to take in… not only that his family doesn’t want him and he’s gonna have to fend for himself for the rest of his life, but that the world is cruel and unforgiving to vulnerable people, and the only way for him to survive is to seize all of the power and control he can and never let it go… because, if he doesn’t become the biggest fish, then a bigger fish is going to come along and that’ll be the end of him. beckett never manages to get rid of this fear of instability and vulnerability, which– especially after jack’s betrayal– manifests itself in a hatred of and desire to dominate (perhaps an attempt to conquer or mask a secret, intense fear of?) pirates and the occult. and of course, this eventually becomes his downfall, as he freezes the second he makes a mistake in at world’s end and is so unable to move beyond the loss of the upper hand that he literally just dies. beckett’s death is exactly what he deserves, but it’s also a remarkably devastating moment granted to a character who, up until this point, we’ve been guided to unreservedly hate and root against. in the grand scheme, it represents the fall of the old order, but for beckett himself, it’s his worst nightmare coming true– it’s the loss of control he’s been fighting this whole time and not realized was sneaking up on him till it was literally staring him in the face… and that’s tragic, and we’re meant to think so! we see his fatal flaw laid bare in a way that we would normally only expect the narrative to do so for its heroes, and it’s an incredible and shocking moment, being forced to briefly see things from the other side. 

it’s hard for me to hate beckett as i watch him dying, and honestly it’s hard for me to hate him in general, because tbh i do resonate with him in some ways. obviously, his actions as a character are awful (and in particular, there’s no avoiding or diminishing the unequivocal evilness of the slave trading thing), and that’s what makes him a villain. but at the root of it all, i kinda just see a guy who’s sought to prove himself for so long that now he’s at the helm of this incredibly powerful and dangerous position that he cannot lose because he’s nothing without what he’s worked for, but even as he’s surrounded himself with people he can use as tools he has no one he can truly trust, so he projects this cold and calculating persona at all times because he has to, because it’s how he maintains control and he has to maintain control because without control he knows he’s already lost, but as tightly wound as he must be, he somehow manages not to break his composure even at the very end and goes down with his fucking ship in a moment that’s weirdly heroic… like. you don’t have to like beckett, but i do think he deserves respect. in a fandom full of wacky, fun, exciting characters, i know it’s not exactly intuitive to focus on the one decidedly un-supernatural, un-thrilling character… but in a story told by, about (and arguably for) pirates, beckett maybe rebels the most of all, by refusing, right down to his last moments, to succumb to a narrative that was never for him in the first place. and i think there’s something to be said about a character who-- villainous or not-- sticks by his principles till the end even as the very world around him bends to different rules, who doesn’t run from the law when it no longer benefits him but who acknowledges that he’s lost and owns it. 

83 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

#3

i made a quiz that’ll tell you which of jane austen’s seven heroines you are - enjoy! 

255 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

#2

things i wish i could tell every young person on the internet (alternate title: an open letter to myself at 18)

- identity labels are an option, not a requirement, and they aren’t the only thing that define you.

- you’re also always allowed to change your mind about them, and you should never feel anything but proud of yourself for doing so.

- it’ll only do you harm to view your trauma(s) and mental illness(es) like immutable personality traits. you deserve to accept that things will get better. 

- if you’re cishet, that’s okay! you don’t “have” to be queer to prove you’re not a bad or boring person.

- fiction does not equal reality, and fandom is a hobby, not a venue for activism.  “problematic” fanfiction has literally no effect on society, so don’t ever feel bad about enjoying what makes you happy! 

- try, above all else, to be kind to yourself. you deserve it. 

319 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

i’m not just a “villain apologist.” oh no no... when i say i like a villainous character, i not only mean that i fully support all of their evil actions and believe them to be totally justified and tremendously sexy, but also that i partake in the same evil actions irl and thoroughly enjoy it. “but you can’t like that character, they murdered someone!” yes, and? i murder at least one person a week for fun, what’s your point

369 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dykeyote]

for the chnt 'choose violence' ask game :-)

7,8,9,10,21

YIPPEE i love games like this

7: character i hate not bc of canon but bc of how the fandom treats them ..... UP AND ADAM . i actually really liked adam i thought his aesthetic was really fun and i was excited for him but the way he overshadows other characters who are way more promiinent despite having no speaking lines and no personality yet and not having had literally anything to go off annoyed me . give me salem content!!!!!!!! no more of him!!!!!!!!!! ive seen enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (no hate to my adam loving mutuals i dont shut up abt jedidiah and he takes up a lot of space too its just a certain kind of adam fans that grate on me)

8: common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about . taptap . usually how people kind of take away elijahs agency in his own actions? people tend to favor a portrayal of elijah that suggests that while his Actions were bad, his Intent was not bad . that he didnt know what he was doing somehow and was trying to do the right thing . which i think is pretty blatantly disproven by the fact that he was still weird towards sydney before the ritual ever happened and by how malicious his manipulation of sydneys disabilities is but eh . i also find people dont tend to understand what jedidiahs arc as a privileged individual .... Means? (this isnt gonna be femidiah discourse i swear pls pls) which is on two sides of the spectrum theres the spectrum that just decides hes a completely bad person without any rigorous analysis of his character that treat privilege as an unnuanced thing . OR people who refuse to analyze that many Many interactions jedidiah and sydney have automatically have an underlying of ableism to them and that most plot poitns in their arc you can look at and say this is about disability bc they like jedidiah and again, cant see privilege as nuanced, and feel like they hvae to avoid the everpresent fact of his ableism and privilege to be able to like him . both of which come from a lack of understanding of how privilege like . works . ppl struggle to be nuanced about jedidiah i find . and as a whole like to take the characters and decide if theyre good or bad based on how much they like them

9: "worst part of canon ..... oh thats hard i really like chnt its hard to pick out a Worst Part . most of the things i dont like are characters i want to see more of or things that are really well written but that *I* dont like cough cough elijah . hmmmmmm . this is hard . uhhhh . what do i DISLIKE in chnt thats not fanon . like id say i dislike that so far the main antags appear to be both young attractive sexymanny types and i hope they vary that later on? but thats like HEAVILY influenced by how annoyed i am with the treatment of adam and elijah in the fandom so idk how fair of a critique that is and we've also seem so little of adam and the show as a whole that it seems in poor faith to judge him absed on what is about 80% fanon . so my only gripe that i can think of immediately isnt really good media criticism .... maybe ill have more complaints as the show goes on" answer from another post (:(:

10: "worst part of fanon . may be predictable based on the above response but oh my god i hate fanon elijah so much . i HAATEEEE him more than i hate canon elijah and i HATE canon elijah . i hate him!!!!!! i hate him when hes sexyified i hate him when hes goofy and silly i hate him when hes just a little guy i hate him i hate him i hate him!!!!!!!!!!! it takes an incredibly interesting villain who is absolutely vile and it makes him boring as hell!!!!!!!!!!! add that to the fact that fanon elijah overwhelms literally any content for just abt any character you might actually care about especially the women and i am frothing at the mouth" also from another post >:)

21: part i think is overhyped . LET ME CLARIFY THAT I DONT MEAN THAT ITS BAD . i can think something is overrated and still like it . but VERY easily rowaniper..... i love rowaniper i think theyre very cute and all but people seem to forget that they interact in like ..... one episode ......... and its a cute episode!! but people act like theyr The Main Romance or something and its like can we calm down . and i wouldnt even mind so much but people tend to ignore like ...... everything interesting about their relationship? bc to ME . the sweetest thing about rowaniper is how juniper Tries for rowan how he acknowledges his own flaws and how he harms rowan and tries his best to improve tings . but people like to pretend that junipers done nothing wrong ever so you dont even get that most interesting part of their relationsihp </3

[wolfie-winchester]

Netflix's ATLA Thoughts (Spoilers Ahead)

I'd give it a 6/10. I wasn't in love with it like the original, however it was much better than I was expecting (especially considering the only other live action we can compare it to is so bad fans pretend it doesn't exist).

For the things I liked about it:

I think the costumes, special effects, creature designs, and fight scenes/bending were all pretty good. As far as adapting certain story lines (Jet, the mechanist, etc) I was surprised at how they executed them but not necessarily disappointed. Obviously they had to condense it down to fit in 8 episodes and I found that while it was different than I was expecting, their placement in the story didn't really feel out of place (to me) and at the end of the day, while the way they got to certain plot points was different, the overall end result was still the same. For example, having Zuko and Iroh go to Omashu was different but at the end we still get the part where Iroh is captured by earthbenders and Zuko rescues him. The fact that it isn't a one for one, verbatim adaptation is fine for me. I wasn't really expecting them to do that anyway and if I wanted that I would just rewatch the original. Though I am wondering now if they will still go to the library in season 2 and see Wan Shi Tong since they already met him in the spirit world, so I'm interested to see how that plays out.

Now as for the things I didn't like:

I did not like how they changed Bumi to be this bitter old man who only challenges Aang basically to be mean and "teach him a lesson" in a much harsher way than original Bumi did. I don't see why they couldn't leave his character as he was. I was half-expecting at the end for Bumi to say, "just kidding" and go back to being his goofy self. The parts where he was making jokes and acting crazy felt forced, like the writers wanted to throw it in just because it happens in the show, but because of how they changed Bumi's personality, it just felt out of place and weird.

On the flip side, I thought Zhao was a little too goofy and dramatic. Not that original Zhao was necessarily undramatic, but Netflix Zhao felt a bit overexaggerated with the way he talked. IDK if it was the actor portraying him like that or if it's how the writers wrote him, but either way, I didn't really care for it.

Aang can only talk to his past lives at their shrines? I don't really get the point of them essentially nerfing one of the Avatar's powers for no reason.

And lastly, things I am unsure about but want to see how they play out:

Zuko and Azula. I know they changed things for Zuko in having more moments where they show him "being good" and I'll be honest, some of those moments where he talks about "Father would never do this" or about "the honor of the fire nation" were a little cringy, and while Zuko is all about HONOR, it's mostly his honor he's concerned with at the beginning. I don't expect them to come close to getting the same impact with Zuko's redemption arc as the original (because the original is a masterpiece) but by making him "more good" at the start, it kind of lessens the impact of when he changes sides and of the character development he goes through. However, I'll stick it out and see what they do with it for now.

As for Azula, I'm not sure yet how to feel about how her and Ozai's relationship is going so far. She's supposed to be the prodigy child, "born lucky" and Ozai's favorite, so to see him "playing games" with her and treating her like original Ozai treats Zuko is very strange. It seems they're trying to go with the whole, "he's making her stronger by forcing her to win his approval/compete with Zuko" but the thing with Azula's character is that she's already supposed to be one of the strongest firebenders out there. I guess maybe they could be trying to already plant roots for her eventual mental breakdown with the pressure of trying to impress him adding to whatever else will happen in the future. Once again, I'm not sure if I like what they're doing but I'll at least wait and see where they go with it.

In the most literal of senses, the show is mid. Not wonderful but not awful either. (And way better than M Night Shyamalan's mess of a movie)

[nelll101]

A Silent Voice

Idk if it's just me but this movie just isn't a masterpiece like a lot of people say it is and it wasn't overly sad to me but I do appreciate the themes in the movie as I think we could all relate to at least one character and it brings attention to very serious topics that need to be talked about more. This is my second time watching this, and this watch was pretty hard to go through since I already don't like this movie that much 😭. It's not a horrible movie but in my opinion, overrated.

The movie starts off extremely strong by showing Shoya's suicide attempt and then cuts back to the past showing the constant bullying Shouko received throughout her childhood. Shoya's bullying is given a bit more attention than the others but overall the kids and even the teachers ended up treating her wrong. She lost like 8-10 hearing aids and nobody did anything about it which literally makes no sense as all I was thinking watching that is how much money is going down the drain. Also, the teacher was a bit weird as he wasn't outwardly bullying her like the kids, but his actions just seemed like he literally did not even want to be there or do his job. I also liked that when they showed Shouko's different bullying scenes cut back to back, they paralleled it with Shoya's bullying scenes after he was blamed showing him being bullied the same way. In the future, they all grow up and show truly how the effects of trauma and bullying can affect the development of a child into adulthood. I feel like people don't take bullying that seriously because it can really change you which is noticed with Shouko and even Shoya. Both of them attempted suicide and both of them hated themselves. Shoya show's character development as he regretted his actions when he was a kid but I personally feel he could've gone about it better as I barely noticed a time he actually apologized to Shouko. Also, the big X's on people's faces was a pretty interesting thing they added in the movie to expand on Shouya's self isolation and social anxiety due to what he went through. When he comes to terms with himself after Shouko's suicide attempt, he realizes that he cannot keep living like this and when the X's fall off their faces, he starts crying which shows he's accomplished his goal. In the end, it is Shouko and the school to blame for this because Shouko should've never bullied a deaf girl but kids will constantly be immature, but it sucks to see him taking all the blame when other kids did the same thing yet they got no blame because the school did not take it seriously enough and ended up living regular lives.

Also, another criticism of the movie is that it kind of seems unrealistic when it shows these topics but maybe that is done to exaggerate things. Naoko's character is an example because she is a bully but the movie literally made her character's bad traits to the extreme and I didn't notice any character development which is just frustrating to watch her disgusting actions. She literally fights Shouko's mother like wdf....

Also, Miki is a pretty crazy character as she shows those types of people who literally are just fake. They lie and deny when they've done something wrong and gaslight you into thinking it never happened. Anytime someone calls her out on her bs she starts crying and denies it and one time someone called her out (I think Shoya) and she redirects the blame back to Shoya. This movie honestly does a great job of showcasing the horrible character traits that people can possess and then shows the effects of those traits on other people.

To add, Tomohiro was a good addition for Shoya as he made him realize that it's ok to have friends and open up to people. I think he was the stepping stone to Shoya being more comfortable with himself and Shouko was what sealed it.

Overall this movie did well for showing the effects of bullying on development and also bringing attention to serious topics.

[timeisacephalopod]

Found this and its a great sum of how I feel about Steve. With a narrative that overindulged him, a narrative that never let him be wrong even when he demonstrably was, it felt like his character had no impact on the world. His actions never had consequences and without that ripple out it left him in a completely stagnant state, or worse, a negative state that was ignored or passed as heroism. Its worse when you consider how genuinely interesting Steve Rogers is, how his trauma affected his actions, how Bucky and being dropped into an unfamiliar future led to the devolution of his character in an understandable and rather heartbreaking way, only for this characterization to be tossed aside for ‘yes, clearly he is a hero he’s Captain America.’ 

It got tiring and frustrating to watch, totally ruined Steve for me as an on screen character. Which is a shame, given that he would have been one of the most interesting characters in the MCU had he been allowed to realize his potential instead of being completely stagnant and lacking almost any impact as a character.