#interesting how she’s kinda the antithesis of the themes of the novel

[not-a-mawmouth]

Hm. Something about how Avrana Kern partially despises humanity for its history of genocide, hates them for being so prone to ideological stupidity, and yet not only is she actively advocating for the genocide of humanity (despite those humans being victims of the same awful event that caused her to believe humanity wasn’t worth saving) pretty much the only reason the humans are willing to resort to genocide is because her “humans are bastards” ideology meant she kept trying to kill them. And refused to grant them asylum when they asked for it. And told the spiders time and time again that the humans were an ancient enemy that would inevitably destroy them.

So, naturally, the humans stopped trusting anything to do with her. Including the entire sapient species they had no idea existed as a result of her experiment.

[innovatorbunny]

elphelt 1, koyanskaya 4

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

A lot of reasons, first and foremost i really like her design, all versions of it tho her Sign look has a special place in my heart. Second, both of her theme songs are really good. Third, her role as essentially Ramlethal's antithesis is really interesting. Whereas Ramlethal, in the beginning, completely shuns emotion as a concept, Elphelt completely embraces emotion and it serves to provide a good balance between them, especially with how they eventually break free form Ariels' control but in different ways. Fourth the fact that she just kinda randomly enters the story is kinda funny. Not that she comes out of nowhere but from the protagonists' perspective she just showed up at their doorstep and started annoying the hell out of them.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

If I could, I'd put Koyankaya in a light novel where she is one of the main antagonists, or perhaps in an Extra game. Anything where Nasu isnt basically smoking crack while writing it.

[tobeornottotc]

The Problems with HIStory4; Close To You Ep 1-4 (Observation and Comments)

The verdict is out!  I actually enjoy History4, as much as there's problematic elements to it, and it does feel a bit like a regression; the acting is great, the chemistry is perfect, and it's not as bad as the trailer made it seem. Like yes, we have a very invasive annoying fujoshi trope, but the characters are written in a way that it makes sense that they fall into this.

The Fujoshi Harassing Invasive Fake Dating Trope:

Cheng is so childish and so up in the clouds, and from a typical sexist, ignorant flawed man perspective, it's like he's always never taken anything seriously because he doesn't see any need to. Also, because he doesn't take anything seriously, he's ignorant and very self-focused and takes things too far; it's his character flaw. The only person who keeps in line is Moren. Who is someone who takes a lot of things seriously but also kind of ignores or avoids feelings and what that entails.

Moren is very gentle and sweet with his friends whilst on the surface, he seems cold and distant, but he tends to be very comfortable and have fun, like the childish part of him is brought out by Cheng. They compliment each other so well. There's something about the way they like each other so unconditionally despite being so opposite to each other, they do care a lot, and they have a very ignorant homophobic mindset because of how they've been raised in society, so they don't know a lot about queerness and what it means, so that's interesting to see them learn their feelings and grow from that.

I like their domestic vibes and how they are when they're just together alone; it's not entirely romantic or in your face that there are feelings; it's very soft, and very based and focused on the depth of friendship that they've developed, and I think that's so cute and adorable to see. The only thing I don't like about their storyline is the fujoshi trope; she's not always there; she's hidden but her presence always reminds me of why this trope is so problematic because she should be called out for her invasiveness. She should be taught about why what she's doing is not okay; maybe she does, later on, do so but I can't tell how serious this writer wants to be with this show. She may have genuinely just wanted a typical old BL style novel like show in the past that we used to read that doesn't address problematic stuff.

The show is very light and funny with these twos story so she may not want it to be so serious, which is why I'm trying to be careful when analysing the show. My thing is the fujoshi thing needs to be addressed because her actions aren't okay more than Cheng and Moren. The trailer for the show is wildly exaggerated and made me dread watching the show. Still, although Cheng is sometimes quite touchy and can fall into that line of harassment, it's been called out by Moren in episode 1, and everything in the trailer that seemed problematic with harassment for them isn't like it is.  It's just them joking around and being Moren and Cheng. Moren may feel weirded out by some situations, but it's not against his consent, is what I'm trying to say. Cheng is not meant to be a perfect character; his flaw is his childishness, and how he doesn't take things seriously, so he comes across as rude, invasive, loud etc. But for them, there's nothing so far that is as bad as what the trailer suggested it would be. Maybe, later on, I'd change my mind.

The Stalker Obsessesive Step Brother Trope:

For Jie and Xingsi. It's different. It's the same issues with stories about obsession, possession and trauma tropes. People will not like Jie because the reason why he does what he does, is because his character outline is based on a mental disorder (that isn't even diagnosed, but it's clear he's on a  sociopathic spectrum), he's emotionally shut off, so he doesn't have any feelings, doesn't know when he's gone too far or when he is doing something to others that are seen as problematic. All he focuses on is his feelings for XingSi because he's the only person who makes him care.

Not goanna lie, their storyline has toxic elements, and it is weird that the show wants to humanise his actions and make him seem pitiful. For me, he is pitiful, and I do understand why he acts the way he does, but I think others would have an issue with him. I think it's hard to accept the storyline because it is romanticising toxicity and dependency, but I kinda after being freaked out by him; I've come to kind of understand why they write his character the way they did for him and Xingsi. The theme of these two's story is conforming to societal pressures vs being free and accepting your self. So they kind of help each other with the other's problem/issue.

You can decide if you want to see that as romantic or if you are so turned off by Jie's insensitive actions. For me, this is a typical toxic storyline that makes sense to me why they'll be together. For example, when looking at Jie; Obviously, he's been nurtured into developing parts of being sociopathic to deal with the pain of his childhood. It's not an excuse to let him get away with his actions; I'm just saying I understand his character outline. He doesn't trust people; he doesn't let anyone in. So he's automatically someone with sociopathic tendencies, very possessive, can be aggressive if he isn't sure he trusts what's happening, alienates himself and doesn't care for how others view him. But he's someone who kind of helps Xingsi deal with his own secrets; Xingsi is someone determined to be responsible/right in society; hence he hides himself and his actual wants and needs to please people.

So Jie, with his own twisted ways, is always a catalyst to helping Xingsi find out what he wants and for Xingsi to come to terms with being brave and showing who he really is to people. In a way, Jie, because he's so emotionally uncaring about what others think of him, is the antithesis to Xingsi; he is freer because he's not hiding who he is or conforming to what others think is right/wrong he only cares about his own freedom/happiness. So he provides that way and escape for Xingsi to be himself and stop pretending or acting to please people and society. That's what the writers are trying to achieve with them. Jie is then also taught about feelings and emotions because of having Si as someone he does care for automatically and does want to change for and be gentle to whilst Si learns to accept himself /stop conforming to societal pressures.

They follow typical old BL novels in the past; they have problematic issues and toxic stuff around them to discuss, and they're very flawed; they are written to help each other deal with their flaws/issue by falling for each other. Is it right to romanticize that storyline? Maybe or maybe not, we need to do better stories for BL; that's something we know, it's not okay to always have toxic or problematic storylines, but if you know me, I also enjoy the past BL tropes as well. I like toxic storylines because they have so much interesting character dynamics that are wild to explore and analyse. They usually are very angsty and dramatic, and they have a good plot. That's something I never try to hide away from, I don't agree with when people say you shouldn't write toxic storylines or add problematic characters, but that's an argument for another day etc., I just want it to be called out when its a toxic thing/problematic trope like give consequences and show them learning why its wrong, or have them go through a character development.  

It's not going to make me judge the show so badly or stop watching it when I actually enjoy the friendship, characters and lighthearted, funny vibes the show brings every Sunday. Like it makes me smile and laugh when I'm watching Cheng and Moren, and it makes me think when I watch Xingsi and Jie. So yeh I enjoy the show and I'm not ashamed to say it.

[qqueenofhades]

Hiii! How are you, what's up, how's the life treating ya? Have you seen the Lucifer trailer from sdcc? Any thoughts? I'm kinda stuck on the Dan/Chloe kiss, but it looks great! Hope you're having a great week! ~DSEP

Heh, I haven’t watched any trailers/anything from SDCC, for any of my fandoms. I just reblog some pictures and look at stuff and go “hmm, cool,” so yes.

As for a Dan/Chloe kiss, I imagine that’s from the four standalone eps we were supposed to get at the end of s2, before they moved them to s3, because I know there were flashbacks to Chloe first joining the force among those. I have seen gifs of Linda and Chloe going to Lucifer’s penthouse and whooping it up, however, among others, and I definitely 100% approve.

The biggest news that I took away from SDCC, however, is the introduction of New Love Interest Guy, and hooooo, do I have theories. Some of which I already inflicted on @devilishyhandsomefriend, but yes.

Anyway, in short, here’s my spec: “Marcus Pierce” is either Michael, as in the archangel Michael, or some kind of agent/associate of his.

Why? Glad you asked!

First of all, the name set off my radar immediately. “Marcus” is from “Mars,” as in the Roman god of war, and “Pierce” is a violent-sounding action – you pierce someone with something, such as, say, a sword. So this dude’s name basically means “War Sword” right off the bat. Hmmm.

Next, the archangel Michael was, traditionally, the guy who led Heaven’s armies against Lucifer in the war: he was Lucifer’s main antagonist/major foil among his siblings, the most powerful, the one in charge of throwing Lucifer out of heaven and keeping him out. Marcus also seems to turn up right after Lucifer gets his wings back. Given as the entire theme of the season is about Lucifer’s identity as either angel/devil, I’m not buying that this guy who is specifically presented as Lucifer’s antithesis, everything he’s not – i.e. mature, reliable, serious, stable – is just some handsome square-jawed human that happened to wander into the place. So again: his name has warlike connotations, and he’s Lucifer’s opposite, and he’s turned up right after Lucifer’s angelic identity/connection to heaven has been restored. Yes, some of the role of most powerful/oldest archangel seems to have been filled by Amenadiel, but there’s still a space to bring on Michael. It could also explain why Chloe is attracted to him – he’s like Lucifer fundamentally, i.e. angelically, but he actually has, you know, his shit together.

Next, they have been pretty coy about the possibility of seeing more angel siblings, or who exactly the antagonist for the season is. We know that Charlotte Richards will be around as her human self now that Mom’s gone, but… she doesn’t really fit the bill for a Big Bad any more. The guy NAMED FOR THE GOD OF WAR seems a litttttttle suspicious to me, especially since we’ve been told right off the bat that Lucifer isn’t going to be happy with the situation and will feel insecure and challenged. To which I say: good.

Obviously, nobody really likes love triangles, but a) the writers have smartly subverted and played around with tropes and avoided being predictable in a ton of ways before, and b) honestly, Lucifer really, really needs a kick in the pants, and HARD. He’s changed a lot, but he still hasn’t changed in quite the way Chloe needs him to. He’s basically figured that he can fuck it up repeatedly and then waltz back into her life and retake his place (see 2x14) and he just has not gotten it through his damn dense head that this pattern cannot continue. Tom himself said that Lucifer never regarded Dan as a real rival for Chloe; he was “Detective Douche,” beta male, not somebody who could actually challenge him. Marcus/Michael/Pseudo-Michael, on the other hand… that’s a different story. If this is the guy who defeated Lucifer and threw him out of heaven before, or has some connection to him, then yeah, Lucifer is going to be hot under the collar and he’s going to have to take (finally…) a serious look at what he’s been doing and the ways in which, with good intentions, he’s been taking Chloe for granted the way he did Maze (and which we just saw Maze free herself from). But if Marcus IS Michael, and not telling Chloe who he is, Lucifer is going to have to think hard about doing the same himself, and whatever secrets he’s still keeping/inclined to keep.

I don’t want Marcus to be evil, just because a) the writers so rarely make any character completely dislikable, love to develop, have everyone’s best interests at heart, and want to tell a compelling story, and b) obviously, I don’t want Chloe to be forced to return to Lucifer just because the other guy turned out to be fake. Just as they’ve done such a good job exploring so far, she needs to (and Lucifer will not be satisfied with) anything less than her returning to him because she 100% WANTS TO BE WITH HIM, has made a realistic survey of possible options, and has chosen Lucifer over them all.

In the meantime, however, let’s be real: Chloe has put up with a ton of Lucifer’s shit, and as much as she cares about him, everyone hits their breaking point eventually, especially when Lucifer has been so confoundedly slow to learn as he has. Chloe isn’t going to drop him hot potato, but honestly, I think a lot of squirming is good for him, because we all know Lucifer only ever learns things the hard way. If he sees Chloe be attracted to someone who is seemingly actually capable of giving her a real adult relationship, he will probably try to copy/make those changes, fail disastrously (see The Dansformation) and then struggle his way into figuring it out somehow. But he has to do that, just as Chloe has to learn the truth. So you could either have Marcus as just completely human who represents the ordinary/mundane/usual world, and Lucifer the wacky angel on the other hand, and Chloe having to choose between that… but I feel like both Marcus and Lucifer are going to have to meet halfway, and both be revealed as not quite what they seem (for both us as the audience, and for Chloe). After all, this show loves it some twists.

Anyway, yes. The interest in season 3 is that Lucifer cannot go on as he has been doing, and Chloe cannot really go any further with him until she knows what the hell (literally) has been going on for the last two seasons, plus Lucifer has his wings back, plus he’s encountering a real challenge/somebody who he has to take seriously as a rival. Maybe Marcus is totally human, sure, but if he’s Michael, that adds a whole interesting dimension to what’s going on, and I do hope it plays out in a supernatural twist. That, after all, is the fun of the show.

(Sorry for the novel, heh. But yes. I have Thoughts. Hope you’re well. xD)