#im not even going to try to guess anything plotwise

[moonsnqil]

so far on my tgr potential bingo board i have jeremy trying to make jean happy by showing off his totally amazing yoyo tricks and he's so bad at it that it actually kinda succeeds in making jean crack a smile, and jean buying jeremy a little golden retriever stuffed animal (or maybe it's a keychain that jer hooks to his backpack)

[yousaidyes]

how are you? have been drinking water? anything happen thats semi interesting? i suck at convos lmao, but yeah!! also any progress on HOT (i cant with that name-)- 🌈 anon

um, at this point i barely even am, anon. 😭 thank god the weekend is here because lmao i was on my last fucking legs. i hate my job. i hate formal suits. i hate board rooms. i hate black coffee. i hate pretending im a normal human being! my antisocial-depressed-anxietyridden ass is missing student life like hell. i wanna go back to colleegggeeee 😭 and nope, haven't been drinking any water. istg there's black coffee running in my veins. anywho. enough whining. it's a weekend and i'll damn well make sure to live the fuck out it. i'll drink lots of water and roam around naked in my room and read byler meta and stalk people on instagram. yes, this was my life before. 

anything interesting? oh god yes! i made out with my best friend of nine years *screams* 😂😂😂 the only highlight of not only this week but the whole year. 💀 well, save for the fact that i wrote a fic this year *screams even louder* which reminds me… 

ughhh i can't with that name either it makes me blush 😂 sadly there's not much progress plotwise. i was packed with work. didn't get the time. and when i did… instead of writing more i made another outline for the third chapter like an idiot. :) but it did help me realize some things:

first, it's going to be one long ass chapter. like i've only just written the starting scene and it's already more than 3k which was… the avg length of previous chapters??? and if we add that to the middle portion and the ending scene i'm already done writing… it's 6k???? so like???? it's because these shitheads have stopped listening to me and are doing their own thing and using me to make it happen. blame them! i swear it's like trying to herd a pair of chaotic kittens. cute and soft and fluffy little kittens but also evil as fuck! so i have no choice but to give up and let them guide me. can't help thinking of the time it was only supposed to be a oneshot with a 4k smut scene lolol

second, it's going to be full of action. no more of mike sitting idle, no more of zoning out, no more of flowery thoughts. i wanted to make it fluffy like the rest of the fic but when i tried to do that, none of it sat right with me. and then i realized… the graph is changing with each chapter. while mike was totally lost in his head in chapter one and both absorbed in his thoughts and aware of his surroundings in chapter two, he's gonna have to be in full control now; not only of his actions but also his thoughts. bc there are some things – some facts he isn't allowing himself to acknowledge until it's the right time. which is a challenge for me to achieve bc those facts are practically impossible to avoid while writing. 😭 he's such an idiot. 😩 but i suppose it's unfair to put that on him since it was my idea. 💀 i guess i just never expected him to take me so seriously but then he did and now im in deep shit.

third, i have to get over my shyness with the word “dick” otherwise this whole fic is going to shit and we're all screwed. :) i thought of using a substitute for the word like chicken nugget or something (a writing tip i saw on a writeblr) but that just made it worse. and yes i know smut can be written without mentioning dicks just fine but no! i love it sm when it's mentioned in the fics i read. i wanna give back what i like receiving, damn it! fuck it if im a pussy about it. dicks dicks dicks! there.

[disaster-fruit]

Going more on an epilogue territory now i guess

I agree we can pretty much end their journey here when they reach the coast and are in love. I've grown too attached to the picture of lulu carrying him to a cabin in the middle of a storm and them spending the night there to accept your proposed ending with my whole heart, but since we both arrive at the same place - them alone and safe and recovering and in love, resting in each other's arms at a beach somewhere - i say we both get to keep the version we like best and move on. Or, rather, stop moving (?) i do still have some epiloge-y thoughts to share and discuss, but plotwise i think we did reach an ending

One thing i like about them arriving in some sort of abandoned village is that it makes it easier for them to survive and gives us some useful tools - maybe the cabin needs fixing but they have one, maybe there's some old fishnets and fishing rods that could use repairs but that will allow them to fish with more ease. They find a rusty pushcart that that with some toying can fit martin inside with some water and allow him some movement on land without need luciano to carry him around everywhere - though that is always the preferred option if you ask martin (also on the gravity thing, maybe at first he doesnt appreciate lulu's strength but living on land will soon teach him the concept that things weight to lift so he'll eventually have his gay panic moment im sure)

On martin learning how to swim again, they start slow. Once he's fully healed, luciano takes him back to the sea, first very at the very shallow part where they can seat and only have part of their bodies covered in water, mostly because martin misses being in water - he's a merman, he's not made to live in dry land or in a little aquarium, so they spend a great part of their day in those shallow parts. Luci also takes martin in his arms a little deeper, that being where luciano's feet can still touch the ground, since he needs to hold martin though it. It's a great improvement, at least for martin's mood. He's frustrated that he cant just swim wherever he wants, but its better than nothing and he wont complain about being held, right? Here he can start his attempts to actually swim, knowing luciano can easily rescue him (which does happen a few times until he gets the hang of it).

I'm not sure with a shredded tail he can go swim alone, although he'd be stubborn enough to try. When he's confident enough in the shallow, the last step is to get the longest rope they could find, and tie one end on his wrist or torso and the other at the rowboat. Like this, luciano rows them deeper in the ocean, enough for martin to have space to do his thing, and so he lets martin swim around as he wishes. The rope is there was a safeguard, if anything happens, martin can pull himself up the rope back to the boat, or use it to signal to lulu that he might need help. It's not the freedom and agility he had before, but he gets to swim everyday and feel less trapped.

Luciano uses this time martin is away swimming to fish their dinner or nap under the sun, it's not like they have much more to do, right? And he also slowly realizes something he would never expect - he's happy. He's cast away from his family, away from any community, living in a desert island and may never see his mother or the pirates he grew up with ever again, he should be miserable, but he's not. He's in peace, he enjoys his time, he has a person he loves and no duties or expectations. He didn't even know this was a life he could choose, and how he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Sooooo, Kai totally beat me to it on twitter but heeeeey we haven’t had a Brarg Sunday in a while. Who feels like discussing a Merman AU? ♥

[tripod-fish]

voltron

does it even have plot. im like 9 1/2 episodes in (started sunday night lol) and there’s like nothing plotwise?? the characters are really 2d (except pidge and allura) and especially the villain??? like why he want all thos planets?? what does he need em for?? whys he a jerk?? he’s so boring like fuck even ozai is more interesting and the only thing he does is burn his son, try to take over the world, and try to burn more children??? and then compare him to like yellow diamond who takes over planets anyway but she at least has personality and is affected by the loss of a loved one??? then jasper too who hates herself for where she was made, thinks she’s weak and then gets so fusion crazed that she turns into a dog... just why does alien guy do what he does??? he has no motives other than “hey i want power”

and dont even get me started on shiro, like... dude hes trying to be 3d but its just done really badly imo?? like he stays strong thru all of it but has flashbacks and doesnt even seem that affected by his time as a prisoner??? hes kinda a gary stu imo tbh,., like some 13 year olds 2nd oc after they learned about psychology or something i dont even know,, compare him to like zuko for an example who also has flashbacks?? he’s a strong leader type but he is actually affected by his flashbacks and actually has a decent backstory (his mom left, he got burned by his dad, and got banished so he got obsessed w/ honor and the avatar, etc) but shiro is like “oops i guess my crew got abducted and i dont know where they are better not do anything about it and only get information when its relevant lmAO” ??? like fuck pidge is better she is actually affected by her family going missing. not shiro tho he doesnt give a shit!!! (:

keith has 0 personality, hunks annoying but kinda relatable and i dislike him, kuran (?) is the bumi and hes good, lance is literally just sokka but without the smart part, pidge is Good, shiro’s executed wrong, and allura is actually believable when she’s a leader type?? she misses her dad and her planet but she knows what she’s gotta do.,, then like shay was only there for like 2 episodes but i can like her?? she has a nice design and cares for her family and planet and is curious so she’s a good one, but..., the paladins? nah.

the episodes are usually just “oh no! the golura (what are they called? the purple alien dudes) are trying to do something bad! lets form voltron and beat them up! then maybe theres a curveball (ex: allura getting captured, paladins not being able to take care of the balmerans right away, those two guys stealing a lion, etc) but theres not much variaton,,, like there’s no overarching plot like su or atla has... 

i’ll stick with it for a while longer, but man, is it boring other than the pretty visuals and good designs..,,

[the-no-good-moonite]

cortana, find “how to remove STD”

So yeah here’s my thoughts on Star Trek Discovery as of the ninth episode:

its ugly, sounds like trash, is terribly badly written and probably smells weird if in a physical format

but allow me to elaborate a bit a lot

the sound and visuals are the smaller problem admittedly; I like plenty of things that looked arse when they were first made and look like double arse now, so if the writing wasn’t so bad I would be willing to accept this as a flaw of the series and concentrate on the rest of it. as it stands...

the music just kind of being “there” is nothing new (see: large chunks of the other series), but it’s still disappointing. the sound design being terrible on top of that? that’s trash. nearly every time a ship opens fire we get minor variations on generic and ill-fitting turbolaser sounds... I mean come the fuck on. you don’t want to be restricted by tradition, go nuts, but if that’s the best you’ve got to offer you shouldn’t have 

(I realise that choice is likely a result of a directive from on high and not entirely the sound team’s doing, but it’s still executed poorly)

as for art direction... well, John Eaves is a very poor choice for how much they’re giving to him (most of starfleet it looks like? not sure who’s doing the klingons but what little I can see of them isn’t impressing me either). I don’t hate his stuff outright like some people do, but he’s very “safe” and has exactly one aesthetic that has worn out for me and compares badly to what they’re making it contemporary to here

the art direction in general is quite bad though - there’s so much nebulous shit that glows blue in the same kind of way that it legitimately confuses as to whether or not it is the same thing - and the way it’s all shot is boring and unremarkable at best. 

(and oh look, it’s another trek villain who has a colour scheme of mostly metals and neon green. get the fuck out of here)

the... space fight choreography (not sure what else to call it?) is absolutely the worst part though, it’s almost claustrophobic, everything’s jammed together like it happening in a bloody fish tank. the camera has no great desire to give us a clear view of what’s happening, or of any object other than the discovery and the ship of the dead. they almost appear to be going out of their way to avoid giving a clear look at anything else, which makes me think they’re not being given the time or budget to make models that will withstand close examination... which would be expected, but still laughable as ever

the spore drive and all the effects associated with it are ugly as sin and conceptually terrible also; I will accept no dissent on this point

sets and props are kinda “eh”, but i’ve not seen anything overtly wobble, and that’s apparently the only metric that matters so uh, good job there

so! the writing. the horrible, horrible writing.

I’m going to mostly ignore the actual dialog here, because while it is deserving of flak, it’s mostly stock phrases and interactions you’ve seen significantly better or worse versions of. so not a lot to actually say about it. I don’t like much of it and the attempts at humour are pretty lame.

what I take issue with is the overall construction of it... like they’re doing a “maybe the federation isn’t right about how it does things?” kind of thing and im onboard with that, asking questions on if the federation is really what it presents itself as has potential. but they’re not actually asking any specific questions.

and this kind of attitude pervades the whole show; there’s vague noises about stuff - maybe both sides are wrong - or whatever and the odd “aren’t we explorers?” but ultimately the show has little to no opinion on any of it (or doesn’t yet anyway), just making enough of an effort to try and get you to think it does, and then let you fill in the answer you agree with most... 

if it sounds like im leading in to a “intellectually hollow centrist liberal” kind of comparison, you fucking bet I am, because that’s pretty much what it feels like to me

I mean I expect someone’s going to try and claim they’re just going for moral ambiguity, but I struggle to think of many actual examples of that in anything, and it DEFINITELY looses any claim to such when you have characters being told that actually no, Their War Crimes Were Entirely Justified and then nobody says any different

(star trek has no substantive claim on moral consistency, but that’s just fucking indefensible, and it shouldn’t be left even slightly ambiguous if Lorca was in the right for saying that. which is kind of a recurring problem with that character, contradictory as that may appear for me to say that right after my previous comment...)

then you’ve got the portrayal of the klingons as man-eating space orks... who are doing a holy war... even if that didn’t conflict horribly with the (for star trek) more complex portrayals of klingons in the past, on it’s own it feels like it’s undermining the claims to progressiveness  just a little bit 

(well it’s part holy war and part MQGA [Make Qo'noS Great Again] but you know what I mean)

and plotwise now we’re doing... voyager? maybe in the mirror universe? I don’t know. I guess they won’t stick with it for long enough to redo voyager’s worst mistakes but why am I having SG:U flashbacks all of a sudden

funnily enough I actually like SG:U more than discovery, though that may be partly not having watched it since it aired

lost my train of thought here, uh, characters bad?

or some characters bad anyway. I like maybe half of them to some degree actually, despite the dialog and how inconsistent the portrayal of nearly everyone is in between - or within - any episode (another old problem for trek, but it’s really grating with the format here)

there’s plenty to criticise though; i’m really unsure the writers have any clear idea of what Tilly’s “deal” is (only socially awkward? on a spectrum? just “weird”? who can say!) or if Stamets is an asshole or a just good-hearted grump... there’s other things like that. maybe they’ve detailed stuff in interviews, but the show itself is terrible at communicating any clear intent

but Michael and Voq’s fake personality Ash are definitely the worst characters, so i’ll focus on them

I will maintain that Michael’s backstory is rubbish, making her Spock’s secret sister is amazingly unnecessary rubbish. on top of that, we’re told she’s a top of the line member of starfleet which is then immediately undercut by her doing something stupid and reckless that almost gets her killed (after which she then presumably irradiates everything between sickbay and the bridge...) followed by doing something stupid and reckless that gets a lot of people killed and starts a war! this is arguably the most prominent trait of the character

she kind of comes off as a suicidal maniac, is my point.  Captain Georgiou is quick to jump to a suicidal option too (and im just gonna say... most prominent asian person in the series to date... suggests a suicide attack...) 

does this version of starfleet just not do psych tests until you hit admiral? of the two that have actually done things we’ve had two walk into obvious traps, but one of them seems comparatively well adjusted

anyway, so we’ve got Michael, a pet character of some writer who changes personality every other scene and totally not Voq, we swear and Ash. who is about the most blandly likeable love interest possible, and definitely Voq infiltrating starfleet, how long are they gonna drag this secret cylon constructed memories bullshit out just bloody kill me already and also a survivor of sexual abuse (and torture) with PTSD. 

they heavily implied this was the case when they introduced the character, and then in episode 9 it was confirmed explicitly by the character in question... that’s all fine, feels like a bit of a cheap grab so they can be a “mature“ story but let’s see how it plays out... and oh.

they went and showed (what was framed as but aren’t necessarily) the events in question. this is, at best, tasteless and inappropriate

now, i’m not going to say they’re going to handle this in the worst way possible, but what they’ve done so far is making me really fucking uncomfortable! I do not have faith that this will resolve even remotely well

and then there’s the whole thing where his memories are likely 100% manufactured as cover, which has a good chance of giving this whole situation an unpleasant taste all on it’s own

I also really had no need to see these new klingons naked anyway, or any naked klingon really, and in context cable drama nudity is absolutely the worst thing they could’ve copied from game of thrones without thinking about it

anyway, that’s [however many, I don’t want to check] badly formatted and often grammatically incorrect words to say: 

The show is bad. You disagree? Ok. I disagree with you. Now nobody is happy. I would prefer to be happy. I am not.

Goodnight.

[galimatios]

sci fi ya au musings from twitter thread mostly nts

maybe i do want to write YA science fiction ya with gay and all my favorite self indulgent tropes and also plugsuits

I HATE MYSELF I IMMEDIATELY HAVE SCENES IN MY HEAD . ITS BEEN TWO GODDAMN SECONDS. I DONT EVEN KNOW WHO THESE CHARACTERS ARE YET tjinking about those rooms in that one ep of black mirror where youcan program jt tk show whatever you want on the walls. maybe projection of virtual reality vs reality as a major motif. simulations and distance... long distance relationships during a war in space action too... have to think about an enemy but maybe we rag on capitalism a littlle maybe some conglomerate is fighting a proxy war using aliens vs the govt the protags are in the military for theme.. war sucks bye but also theres dynamics i want

UM I CAN PUT BIG MECHA INNNNNNNN YEAHHHH anyway i want 2 loyal dog dynamics to juxtapose w eachother + platonic soulmate type protag duo, best friends , one girl one boy, theyre both equally important, some SHIT happens and theyre forced on different sides at some point one loyal dog is treated well, like an equal, will follow x to the end of the world the other is Not treated well. i want to explicitly make that relationship abusive so i can point at it in the text itself and have other loyal dog be like , that's not love. abandoned loyal dog gets adopted by main duo, ends up in a relationship w one of them (whichever one makes it gay), im ship girl with side character who inspires tf out of her, sort of like. theyre competitive and the side character is light years more skilled but girl wants the challenge, wants the chase, is fueled by the prospect of catching up so "wait for me" LAYS DOWN NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS HAVE NAMES OR DESIGNS OR ANYTHING BUT IM ALREADY ATTACHED TO THESE CONNECTIONS mc pair: one techy soft boy nerd who just wants to protect his family so thats why he agreed to help develop/operate tech bc he thinks this is how he can help headstrong pilot ace girl who has no one but wants to prove herself and make a name for herself so she'll be remembered she wants to win glory for herself and comes off as super confident but actually she's just. asuka evangelion except she doesnt crash and burn so bad bc she has the boy who sees thru it, you dont have to try so hard probably happens after a fight where she's reckless hes not one to get mad but this time he's pissed bc she was exceptionally close to dying, yells at her, why do you keep trying so hard to die kinda snaps her back to reality he wants her to rely on him more bc that's what hes here for anyway loyal dog defects from enemy + meets this pair after other loyal dog suggests he joins the crew, tech boy is kind to Everyone but loyal dog FORMERLY AN ASSASSIN ???????? TYPE?? SNIPER?? develops baby crush girl sips her drink :3c

I HAVE TO THINK MORE ABOUT THEM BC OH NO THEYRE CUTE but girl is chasing after some nb femme prodigy who she's rivals with and admires for more than just her skill theyre both emotionally constipated idiots tho so its like. (hand touch) thats enough for 100 years there is. so much tension. and prodigy seems so perfect on the outside but is actually in some kind of super strict fucked up program bc of her skill, and she hated it and is suffering ace pilot is the one to barge in headstrong and fuck everything up and get her out of there girl believes prodigy is amazing. really. incredible. a part of her feels like she'll never catch up . but even so watching prodigy walk into the unknown unflinchingly resolute ... it's both sad in a way bc she's being left behind but also she wouldnt have it any other way bc she thinks forward is the only way prodigy should be facing. its what inspires her. that strength ... h they definitely settle down together in the future tho bc i need ththattt

"when this is all over" said the prodigy, "come find me" this is so self indulgent anyway plotwise once both the govt and the enemy r revealed to be equally bad the main cast defect to a revolutionary group. they will Not win within the span of the novel but theyll have a small victory, very les mis one day more flavored, and even if they did not win they stood for something they believed in, did something to try and tell the truth... also i need more of a cast so i can kill characters off nice now all i have to do is fill all this in with world building and action and stuff and ill have a novel so many sci fi things have done the 2 pilot mind sync emotional thing right so if i do the same thing no one knows if i took it from one franchise or another i need to twist it around a little but i may have ideas haha i can. totally make this a part of my fucking huge sci-fi au really wanna call main girl lane and main boy khemrin . .. i cant unsee the girl as rey flavored so shes ending up w red hair and irish, but boy is SEAsian with a huge family, loyal dog who defects is african, prodigy is asian, other loyal dog feels south american prodigy... astrid is her real name but she may have a codename fsr? idk why i feel it. icarus? assassin defector... something that starts with an o or a d other loyal dog... i need to think but i also need to figure out the personalities of their respective pairs inserts minh as evil one. done. maybe mephis adjacent character for the... no mephis doesnt care abt anyone BUT hed be a great side character OH god what if au jonah and ambrose oh boy. FUCK jonahs probably there for some special task bc hes. attuned to some shit idk

I GUESS IM GONNA DEVELOP AMBROSE MORE ive only written him as a young adult but as a teen hes angry and rebellious and got drafted, ended up being a simple foot soldier but he meets jonah and a lot changes jonah's there on top secret bullshit, same program as astrid definitely has some shit to do With Experiments. astrid has enhanced eyesight/coordination on top of being an ace combat pilot, i think jonah might be able to open up warp gates or limited pocket space mephis is evil scientist who doesnt care abt casualties

I'm thinking about unnamed pilot lesbians and i am. enamored immediately holy shit god they're both so goal oriented and focused but once the fighting is finally over they finally allow themselves to embrace the intensity of their emotions for eachother and i am fucking perishing they were essentially raised as child soldiers so it's this clumsy process of trying to figure things out for the first time, this kind of innocent but intense and blooming love between two hardened soldiers, the years of war coming away when they're together for the first time actually fuck i did name them but i'm still not sure about ace pilot girl? i want to name her lane or something monosyllable, maybe i'll revamp raine and make her this oc instead... either way i'm just. ugh. UGH. FUCK. holy shit they love eachother so much

I"M GETTING REALLY FUCKED UP ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THE PRODIGY (ASTRID) DYING IN THE LINE OF DUTY or well at least goes missing, presumed dead but raine just... doesn't believe it. astrid can't die. she's too amazing. there's no way fucking. huge disbelief. she refuses? raine going on a near suicidal self-appointed mission against commander's orders to rescue her, khemrin tries to hold her back but he can't, she' fucking gone speeding off on one of the fastest scouting ships she can hijack raine finding her alive but barely conscious in a damaged cockpit floating in space for who knows how long, raine unable to open the hatch and get to her but anchors her ship to hers, NOT EFFECTIVE BUT HER ONLY REAL CHOICE w/o compromising the air seal. makes the journey back astrid barely makes it to the space equivalent of a truck stop (unaffiliated) and raine calls for backup in panic and tries her best to tend to astrid's wounds an feed her and she's fucking PANICKING but trying so hard to keep it together astrid wakes up and raine's crying i don't have anything specific its just really soft and raine never Does this god when they meet again after the war, raine running her fingers over the scar left from astrid's helmet shattering h raine in a tux and astrid dressed like a princess and raine kissing her shoe sorry im gay bye

[brandoncarlo]

im screaminggg. say what you will about check please the comic, fandom issues aside, but you cannot call its plot empty and vacuous and im finding it interesting that this is your critique for a comic written by a black woman. like its portrayal of 1) mental illness 2) poc is delicate and nuanced i cannot believe that is your major gripe with the comic but yes, feel free to ignore this message i guess

I’m sorry if that’s the way it came across. Maybe I should have worded it better because I wasn’t really clear as I wanted. I stopped reading the comic solely for fandom issues. But I don’t see how me jsut not liking the way it’s written is a problem necessarily but if you want to talk to me about this off anon that’d be great.

The mental illness portrayal is good, but then fandom completely bullies and alienates a character for the reaction the character had because of mental illness. Like it portrayed what i was going through and some of the reactions i had and seeing everyone villify jack for certain things really fucked me up. and That i totally give her props for. and I never thought the POC angle was handedly anything but amazingly???? like I love the fact that it does handle those issues but then again going back to the fandom problems. They use the POC characters to degrade real black hockey players like darnell nurse.

My issue with check please has never been that and I should have been more clear and that’s totally on me and i’m sorry for that anon and i’ll try to be better about it in the future. But what i was getting at was 1. i do NOT like the way it handled mlm relationships and i don’t like when women handle mlm relationships in general it’s also why i kind of completely dropped eyewitness and stuff?? and why i’m so hesitant to pick up something else like skam just because i don’t trust that shit. 2. the plot IS thin and there aren’t many conflicts that interest me. I don’t see how me not being interested in something is inherently problematic. But I can see how the context here is different because of the way i wrote off the POC angle. 

but like the truth is man. I don’t find the story interesting. I like the characters, mostly. But the plot of the mlm relationship is cringey at worse and boring at best. I feel like I have at least the authority to have taht opinion.

And if i’m still missing the point i would really want to talk about it, mostly off anon because I don’t even really know who you are?? 

I also want to add that i completely stopped reading after the comic where jack and bitty come out. so if something happened plotwise after that. i can’t speak on it.