#it didnt need to bring back/focus on so much of the main cast again and basically neglect the new ones we did have.

[playtwewy]

Literally the main thing that rubs me the wrong way about neo twewy is it tries to have it both ways. It tries to be a sequel to a game who's main characters left nothing to work off of but also wanted to focus on a new set of characters with their own arcs, and the writing went through too many drafts for it not to show in the final product.

[gizkasparadise]

cdrama rec/review: go ahead

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: go ahead Episodes: 40 Genres: family, healing/melodrama, slice of life, romance Spoilers in the Rec: for the first 20% ish/set-up If You Like, You’ll Like: reply 1988, le coup de foudre, find yourself (same production company/main male actor), rain or shine/just between lovers, found family stories, meet again stories

Rank: 10/10** (see Drawbacks section)

PREMISE

widower hai chao and his 6 year old daughter jian jian live happily above his noodle restaurant despite the recent, tragic death of his wife. one day, dysfunction junction a married couple (he ping, a police officer, and chen ting, a real piece of work) move into the same building with their 7 year old son, ling xiao. immediately, jian jian attaches herself to ling xiao, who is unexpectedly grim for a small child. 

because ling xiao’s family is less-than-healthily grieving the loss of their youngest child, ling xiao’s sister who died in a terrible accident. The Apartment of Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms eventually implodes, ending with chen ting abandoning her husband and son. he ping, suddenly a single father, and hai chao come to a friendly partnership that is clearly alluding to gay marriage where they co-raise both of their kids--hai chao as the primary caregiver, and he ping supporting them financially through his job as a policeman.

meanwhile, the neighborhood busybody is dead-set on getting hia chao remarried. eventually she introduces him to a divorced single mother, he mei, and her son zi qiu, who is ling xiao’s age. they sort of start to date, but it culminates in he mei skipping town and leaving zi qiu behind. hai chao, man with a heart of gold, informally adopts him and zi qiu becomes jianjian’s foster brother.

from there, the trio grow up happily and become inseparable. but once zi qiu and ling xiao graduate high school, the bullshit parade their respective childhood skeletons reappear in their lives. circumstances lead to the boys moving overseas, leaving jianjian and their fathers behind. 

they reunite after 9 years, when the boys return to a home where they hope to pick things back up from where they left off. things are more complicated than that, as jianjian finds herself in a new life and surrounded by new people. 

MAIN CHARACTERS

li jian jian

hai chao’s daughter and the only girl in the family. she attended the required short-hair-low-grades training program required of all cdrama youth female leads. super positive and outgoing, as well as the youngest of the three pseudo-siblings, jian jian grows up spoiled and over protected by her father and brothers, and as a result is completely devastated once her family falls apart. it’s so sad.

after the time skip, she’s an on-the-verge successful artist who makes woodcarvings, and exudes big art bro energy. inhales sugar like it’s nobody’s business. she inherited her father’s disease called caring too much, and it’s incurable!! 

ling xiao

the eldest brother and resident fun police. ling xiao comes from a seriously toxic home that finally seems to improve once his mother leaves. but then she comes back. fucking great. introverted to the point of being withdrawn to anyone but his chosen family, ling xiao’s had to carry a lot of emotional weight that takes a larger and larger toll on him as the series progresses. please get this boy some therapy. 

becomes a dentist because jian jian needs one. wears a lot of monochromatic outfits with low necklines because heavy angst but make it fashion. has been in love with jian jian since high school and is still carrying that torch 9 years later.

he zi qiu  

the middle child who grows up in hai chao and jian jian’s home, and is her foster brother in all but paperwork. hotheaded, zi qiu and jian jian basically share two brain cells that ling xiao routinely takes from them for safekeeping. he spoils jian jian, sneaking her snacks and junk food and wants to become a pastry chef so he can open a sweet shop for her!!

my favorite character. just wants to be wanted 8( him and hai chao’s relationship is my favorite dynamic in the series. will sob while driving a pink moped. is too proud to beg

li hai chao (left) and ling he ping (right)

the greatest (hai chao) and okayest (he ping) dads in the world! noodle dad/hai chao has never done anything wrong in his life, ever, and we know this and we love him. he ping isn’t a bad person, but demonstrates pretty classic absentee parenting/isn’t as emotionally present in his son’s life as hai chao. hai chao is the heart of the family, and would do anything for his kids 8( 

SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS 

tang can (left) and qiu ming yue (right)

jian jian’s #GirlGang and roommates. they, like literally everyone in this drama, have some severe mom issue hang-ups. tang can (left) is a former child actress who is struggling with her lack of success as an adult and gives well-meaning but absolutely terrible advice on the regular. 

ming yue (right) is jian jian’s best friend since childhood and as an adult is trying to break free from her mother’s controlling nature--she’s also had a thing for ling xiao for the last 9 years. raises fish for symbolism purposes.

chen ting

ling xiao’s mom and certified garbage human. unable to cope with the death of her daughter that was her fault lbr, she abandons her family and disappears for ten years. she forces her way back into ling xiao’s life when he turns 18, where it’s revealed that she’s remarried and ling xiao has a younger half-sister chengzi (”little orange”). shit goes down, and soon ling xiao is forced to move back to singapore to serve as primary caregiver to both his mother who abandoned him and the half sister he barely knows. 

emotionally abusive and basically hits every single square on the toxic parent bingo card. i just. i just hate her. even typing this out is making me mad.

he mei

zi qiu’s mother. after a few dates with hai chao, she ends up ditching her kid and disappearing for unknown reasons. is a slightly better parent than chen ting but that’s like saying some poison kills you slower. the show tries to bring us around on her but it didnt work for me. 

SOME OTHERS

zhuang bei, zi qiu’s best friend growing up who i would like a lot less if he wasn’t played by the same actor who played my beloved dachuan

zheng shuran, jian jian’s first boyfriend and fellow artist who’s got a weird thing for women’s waists and pretentious artists’ statements

du juan, jian jian’s friend who co-owns their woodworking studio. has absolute trash taste in men

chengzi, ling xiao’s half-sister who can be a brat but dear god does she need to be protected/saved 

**DRAWBACKS

so this is a weird one for me. what i didn’t like i really didn’t like, but what i loved i really loved. ultimately, the factors/uniqueness of this show and the loveability of the main characters outweighed the negatives and it’s one of my favorite dramas.

THAT SAID. i got some #thoughts on this one. 

first, there are literally no positive mother figures in this show. not a damn one. they are all negligent or controlling at best or down right abusive at worst. no woman over 30 is portrayed positively and that’s a big No from me. 

the last 10 eps have some pacing issues and focus on the wrong people. spending the remaining episodes focused on one of the most universally hated characters vs. the main family was a bad move 

the show tried to redeem or make us sympathize with characters that were, to me, completely irredeemable. one case is worse than the other, but both of them were terrible people that deserved to be cut out of the main family’s lives.  

REASONS TO WATCH

the main family. the characters are so wonderful and nuanced, and their dynamics with one another were amazing. you’ll fall in love with hai chao aka noodle dad and the trio. they go through so many trials but they still stick together and it’s ultimately a healing drama and i loved it very much.

the central romance was less in focus, but the pining is enough to make jane austen emerge from the grave. i loved the leads together, and while LOL ling xiao’s attachment to jian jian was not always healthy, they supported each other and it made me smile. i love me a tortured pining dude.

#Acting. everyone played their parts to perfection. the child actors in particular were so well-cast (esp baby zi qiu)

the soundtrack lmao. you watch the opening credits and know you’ll need to buckle up

idk it’s a very unique show, and i haven’t seen one like it. reply 1988 comes close, but it doesn’t tackle the same issues and it was all just very real and earnest. 

Final Thoughts.

GOODNIGHT, GOOODBYYYYYE MY CHILDREEEEEEEN

[felassanis]

Characters that I think will make a return in Dragon Age 4

Okay, So lets get the first two out of the way and the reasons why I think they are bound to return.

Dorian Pavus: Pretty much a given, he’s already in Tevinter. He’s got big plans for the city and he’s a fan favourite. it would be a crime if he didnt come back.

Fenris: Will the Blue Wraith release I can’t help but wonder if that’s setting up Fenris’s arc and how it’ll pertain to DA4. How this wonderful character will tie into the shitstorm that’s about to occur in the next installment. When you hear Tevinter, chances are a couple of things will come to mind. Mages, blood-magic, Dorian, Slavery and Fenris. His whole character is linked to this setting. Hes a character who's got the biggest reasons to be there so he better be there. either as the leader of a slave rebellion or possibly an agent of Fen’harel. Also, given how vocal the fandom has been about him coming back, I think Bioware will deliver. I just hope he’s intertwined witht the plot like Varric was, and not given a crappy cameo like Zevran was in dragon age 2. And even if you did (You fucking monster) Give him back to Danarius, then he’ll be in Tevinter too. Or if you killed him like a fucking moron, well Bioware have brought back characters from the dead before. Leliana I'm looking at you

And ngl, I really want a FenHawke moment

Now, these next ones are the “Realistic” few who I think will make a return based on theories and evidence but I’m also making a section of characters who I want to see come back even if it’s not likely:

Sten: I find it very likely we will see this guy again. There conflict between Tevinter and Seheron should be one of the focuses in dragon age 4 and given that our actions in dragon age 2 he becomes the Arishok and if memory serves; he’s in Seheron. More Sten? More likely than you think if I’m right.

Talis: Another one who should make an appearance given her allegiance to the Qunari. Talis was a really good character and criminally underused in Mark of the Assasins and dragon age 2 as a whole. I think she’ll make a cameo, doing her thing as a skilled assassin for the Qunari.

Krem: It would be interesting for this character to make a return, perhaps he could not stand to see what is happening in his home country and makes a return. Given how important Krem is for representation, him being from Tevinter and how popular he was, I think he will also be making a return.

Verania: A small cameo. But I think if you stopped Fenris from killing her, then his sister Verania will be making a return. Which could offer an interesting scene if Fenris also makes a return. She does return to Tevinter, and given that her master was killed (Hopefully) it would be a curious thing to see how she ended up.

Varric: The reason why I think Varric will come back is because of the Red Idol. Varric has history with that thing, it was him and his brother who made the expedition to recover it from the Deep Roads and given how obvious it is that the Red Idol will play a major role in DA4 I think Varric will feel compelled to try and get it back or destroy it. He hates red lyrium and he hates that idol and he knows exactly what it is capable of, so the thought of it ending up in the wrong hands must unsettle him. He felt at fault for the red lyrium and Corypheus, hence why he stayed with the Inquisition to try and sort it all out. I think it will be the same for the red idol, he feels a responsibility to stop it because he thinks it’s his fault it’s out there in the first place.

Scout Harding: A potential LI maybe??? I think she’ll play a vital role whether or not the inquisition was kept or discarded in Tresspasser. I hope she gets a more important role than a simple quest giver.

Isabela: With the recent concept art I am seeing A LOT of Pirates and I couldn’t help but think of Isabela. And that one concept art seems to confirm Isabela is coming back and I'm so excited.

Leliana & Cassandra: It sounds to me like Leliana and Cassandra will come back as advisors of sorts, I’m not sure what role they’ll play exactly in the grand scheme of things in the next game but I do think they will both come back in some capacity, because of their words and cameo in the ending to Tresspasser.

Abelas: maybe only a cameo if you killed him, but Solas essentially recruits Abelas and if hes alive I think Abelas could make a return. 

Unrealistically, but why I think they should:

Zevran: He’s has somehow been mentioned or appeared in every game since origins and I don’t want that streak to be ruined. I think there’s definitely a role for him given how much he adventures and explores, his wit and his tendencies to get into trouble, and how he is a fan favourite.

Oghren: Honestly? Just because we haven’t heard from him a long time.

Cullen: I highly doubt he will come back. Why? Because I feel like the option to romance him in Inquisition on top of his sort of redemption arc in that game is his...end. Like, he got closure, he got the focus he needed regarding all the shit he went through in the past two games and I honestly do believe that is where Cullen’s story ends. But...I could be wrong, they might want to keep the pattern of him appearing in every game and maybe they have something else planned for him since they strangely liked this character because he went from this minor dude in Origins to Meredith’s lackey in dragon age 2 to a fully fledged main cast member in dragon age 3.

Meredith: Speaking of Meredith, I think it would be so neat for her to make a return as a boss fight. Because fighting her in dragon age 2 was so much fun and I think with the return of the Red Lyrium Idol, having her come back somehow would be appropriate. Maybe the statue she turns into merely keeps her in hibernation? So under whatever the hell material the red lyrium used to ‘kill’ her, it actually didn’t snuff out her life but rather preserved it. She’s still alive and fiddling with the Idol brings her back. Edit: turns out shes super dead but I'm leaving it here in case I can somehow rationalise how this scary lady could come back

Orsino: I can totally imagine the theory that Varric lied about Orsino’s death in order to protect him so Cassandra and the Templars wouldn’t go after him. Even the devs said his death was a mistake, so this could be a great way to rectify how shitty a card he was dealt in DA2 and give him a better storyline and role in the next game. Orsino is just a really good character who would do well with more time and focus spent on him. 

Bodahn & Sandal: because I need answers about what the fuck Sandal is and I miss Bodahn. And given Sandal's massive fucking foreshadowing to Solas and the magic of the elves I think HE HAS TO COME BACK but also...idk what they would really do with him, if hed really play a role other than what he did in the first and second game. An enigmatic dwarf for comedic effect and also creepiness.

Anders: if hes alive, and if you didnt romance him. I want a cameo, since he was originally supposed to appear in Inquisition as a hermit in a cave. I'd like that concept to return in the area near Tevinter/Antiva. Because I think it would be tragic, if hes borderline insane and a wandering nomad hiding his identity. Maybe Justice has taken over, maybe we have to free him of Justice to recruit Anders. Maybe we need him to enter the Fade somehow? Maybe when the veil is broken Justice takes over completely that way? I just want an Anders cameo, see a tragic ending to a tragic character with the potential of redemption? Potential chance at happiness through helping the player fight Solas? And maybe, if Isabela or Varric come back...theyd have something to say? They might beg the player to help him? Mourn their friend or fret over him? Varric and Anders hug?

Spirit of Wynne: my girl Wynee gets no fucking love or mention from what I've seen and I will not stand for it. I'm sure she died, even by DAII's timeline. But if the veil is torn? Maybe her spirit will pay us a visit, give us words of encourage or wise lessons??? I miss Wynne so much.

Morrigan: I do think something is being set up with her character and Kieran. And with her being so woven with the whole Mythal thing, I wouldn't be shocked if Morrigan wanted to get involved, since Mythal wanted to live on through Morrigan. Maybe Morrigan has a bone to pick, maybe shes mad that Solas killed her mother.

[daisugababy]

Finally watched this weeks episode, and like I really liked it. What a great ending for jackson and his story. However it left me feeling so salty about his arc since s8 and especially since s14... imagine if we had gotten to explore all these feelings/emotions in a season long arc instead of just introducing and resolving it all in one ep (pretty much). The fact is outside of japril and the weird maggie/jackson arc I cant think of one story they have given him over the last few seasons. It would have been so much fun to see him adopt a mentor role, or even grow as a parent. But instead the only things jackson has done is be rich, own the hospital and do surgery. Plus jesse is probably one of the top 5 actors on that show (as seen in this ep) and they give him NOTHING to work with lol. The fact is greys introduced too many characters that didnt need to be there and it ruined the show as meaningless plots took away from what should be the main cast. Like to that point, what have bailey and richard done over the last few seasons? The only thing coming to mind is worry about ben, have a heart attack, be chief, mom died (which they didnt really do anything with) and make surgery pen, get cobalt poisoning, have a weird season long fight with catherine lol. Meanwhile teddy had a baby with owen, had an affair with tom, had a 3 season long love triangle with owen and tom, and had a whole plot introduced where she is bi and the love of her life died in 9/11?? (not to mention the whole alison thing is lowkey a huge plothole with henry and how he died and how his death weighed on her...). Anyways sorry for the rant just jackson was one of my favs back in the day and ive always been bothered with how they have written him since mark died and also since japril broke up !

The episode was really nice! I enjoyed it a lot.

I liked Jackson a lot when he still got good material. Him and Mark were such an iconic duo. Man, I miss them. I would’ve loved to see Jackson as a mentor and I thought that’s what they were going for with him and Dahlia.

What’s really missing with Grey’s is writing out characters in a manner that doesn’t just kill them. Let them leave town for whatever reason and don’t keep them all around when you can’t give them all good storylines anymore. You can bring them back whenever you feel it’s time. They could’ve written out Jackson and April together. Could’ve still shipped off Arizona to New York. Jo could’ve gone with Alex to take care of the kids. T*wen could’ve stayed/gone to Germany (although I don’t want them here LOL). Bailey barely has a story on Grey’s and appears on Station 19 more bc of Ben. Have her show up there more. And Webber idk tbh. Have him more interact with the interns/residents since he loves teaching them?

Also as much as I like Amelink, they could’ve just given them a break til they come back for real. I just don’t understand why both of them would go into a hospital during a pandemic with a baby at home. Nico and Tom stil exist to do the job. Give them the time. Or write Tom out too, because I really don’t know what they’re trying to do with him except for still crying after Teddy and having Covid.  

I miss the good old Grey’s with more focus on the cases and patients. Maybe then I could appreciate Meredith more again. I loved her for so long but what did she even do the last 2 seasons except being dumb as hell?

I’m not necessarily saying, yeet them all, but what good does it do when you have a lot of really great actors that you don’t have material for anymore? Especially when you have newer characters you barely explored yet?

Don’t worry, I loved your rant, gave me a chance to throw my rant out here too hahaha. Because I liked Jackson A LOT, but after Mark died and April left there was just.... nothing going on with him. (I try to repress that j*ggie mess.)

[zanguntsu]

what are ur thoughts on each bleach arc o: like quality wise!

oh boy this got longer than expected. Whoops.

substitute arc: i rlly like this arc! its short but i love how it sets up the characters and i adore the integration between ichigos human life vs shinigami life And i like the monster of the week set up its a fun and its a lot more character focused in the beginning. the fights were very character driven, like with grand fisher, sora, the hollow that went to hell. all the fights felt like they had a meaning that had a strong impact on a character, like ichigo having closure after defeating (he should have killed him tbh) grand fisher.

soul society: one of the best if not the best arcs imo. theres a good amount of development, the fights are good and have emotional weight (ichigo v byakuya, uryu v mayuri, chad v shunsui, yoruichi v soi fon) and the newly introduced characters are interesting! very iconic and cool! there was a lot of character arc conclusions? Closure? like with uryu and yoruichi as well as rukia. the characters are a strong point here too and the introduction of soul society brought in world building and it was something we really needed to see. soul society as the villains was pretty good and it did show them as a threat. its a good arc and had a good cliffhanger ending to the next arc

arrancar arc: its a pretty good arc but this is where i feel like bleach was starting to fall off in quality since kubo didnt plan for the series to go past ss. like the plot was a little repetitive with the rescue arc the placing was pretty bad and its where the kubos problem of having too many characters started forming. there are some pretty good moments though, i really love the ichigo vs grimmjow and ichigo vs ulquiorra fights along with rukia vs aaroniero (rukia development time,,). the arc just felt pretty slow at times ig? But there are some very good moments

fake karakura arc/deicide: i like this arc even though i know half of it was bullshit. there are some good fights, soi fon vs barragan is one of my faves bc her bankai and it was just interesting to see the captains more involved even though i wish they didnt just stand there. like cmon the fate of the world is at stake gang up on ppl u have numbers. i do think its bullshit to have aizen be That powerful (i will excuse the hogyoku use bc thats his trump card and was set up) but having him take down everyone like that was eh. like i know it was meant to show how powerful aizen was but honestly i wish there was a better way. maybe make them all fight amongst each other like with momo but its all mind games and shit i feel like that was a better way of showing how strong aizen was. also speaking of aizen i wish there was more character to him like take away his manipulative badass thing and its just nothing. what drives him to kill the soul king and why? was it loneliness (which is a poor motive tbh), injustice? what brought him on this path? i feel like tousens goals had more to it then aizen tbh

the deicide arc was pretty okay i love mugetsu but im sorry there was absolutely no lead up to him. i love that form but its pretty bullshit that it didnt get as much as a mention in the past and i wish it did bc that would have made mugetsu have a lot more impact. i remember how ppl theorized that it was how isshin lost his powers even though it was proven otherwise but i wish they went with that. but i did like seeing zangetsu again and that touching moment with him and ichigo was good also the rukia and ichigo goodbye was very emotional. was it a good arc? maybe not plot wise but its pretty beloved

fullbringer: oh this is where the quality definitely dropped which sucks because i feel like this arc had a very interesting premise and plot set up. i know that i havent watched/read all of the fb arc but i do know enough of it just not much in between the beginning and end. i wish that the fullbringers had more focus bc they were all forgettable except maybe riruka and they should have had more screentime and the concept of fullbringers is genuinely interesting?? humans with hollow powers is a good concept and its a shame kubo didnt expand upon this more

oh and i have some beef with the villains bc its a fucking tragedy of wasted potential. ginjo is like. almost there to be considered a good villain. hes the previous substitute shinigami and u only bring it up at the end?? thats such a huge chunk of information and it sets up a connection between ichigo and ginjo. idc about tsukishima he can be whatever but i do think ginjo could have been a pretty good villain if he wasnt as blatantly evil. like i know the betrayal schtick is getting old but i would have preferred him as a villain with good intentions, like having him against soul society is a good motive bc ss commits war crimes but it was never clear in this arc (aside from ss monitering the substitutes) but it just didnt feel as strong as a motive to make him do what he did.

one good thing i do have to say about this arc was i do like ichigo in this arc and how much conflict he experiences and we get to see him commit murder although i do wish this had repercussions on him. i feel like soul society’s intervention was unnecessary but thats just me. the fullbringer arc being centered around humans was a good idea, bringing the series back to its roots and i just wish we spent more developmemt with the humans before jumping back to soul society, like more time on the aftermath of the last arc. also this arc should have been the chad arc im dying on this hill.

tybw: wow! this was a trainwreck of an arc! i have. So Many issues with tybw and its where kubos writing weaknesses truly shine. the biggest issues are its pacing which is absolutely abhorrent and it takes up at least a third of the entire series (literally. tybw had 206 chapters out of 686 since tybw officially starts on 480). we had periods where the main cast dont show up for like. 50 chapters. the other biggest problem were the characters. why did kubo think it was a good idea to introduce 26+ characters. why. there is absolutely no time to develop them and while some may receive screentime the majority have no impact to the plot beyond their fights with the characters we actually care about. there is no reason for people to give a shit about them. i can barely remember their names, much less their backstories

and one of the bigger problems was the antagonists themselves. they have a motive and while i understand hatred towards soul society. yhwach’s motives were the worst out of all the villains. i cannot fathom what motivates him because it went fucking everywhere. did he have beef with ss? was he waging war out of self preservation? did he want to end death? like the narrative hints at all of these but it just feels like a mess of a character! i never liked yhwach to begin with since his very concept is awful (seriously? giving a previously thought group of people who experienced genocide a nazi motif? what the fuck kubo). hes a villain but theres no substance. his powers could have been cool but it was on the point of needing a deus ex machina to take him down.

and the fights are forgettable with the occasional good ones (shunsui v that one fuck, rukia v that other fuck) but there are some bad fights (askin v yoruichi, the quincy thor guy). there are some good moments, like all the bankai reveals, it adds more to the characters but it also causes so much jumping around in the plot and this is what happens when u have this many characters and some will be forgotten (so sorry chad). it sucks. some of the fights dragged on longer than necessary and it was just. so much. all of these issues really downgraded the arc and thats what made it the mess it was.

and a lot of the ideas brought in to tybw are criminally underused. ichigo being a quincy may have been wack but i did like the idea but it really only had some sparse moments like masaki and zangetsu development, creating a connection between ichigo and yhwach but that was really it. it was not like his hollow powers which coexisted with the plot and had huge moments and was just a constant presence. you could forget that ichigo was a quincy tbh and we needed more quincy moments. and the soul king was horribly underused because it did have set up from the arrancar arc, it was aizens entire goal! but kubo never really explores the ideas of the soul king and only in cfyow do we really get more info about it and thats no good because the soul king is a vital piece of bleach lore and worldbuilding.

anyways thats my two cents sorry this was rlly long

[cogentranting]

I still think Once Upon a Time could have done something really interesting if Rumple died instead of Neal in season 3. 

Rumple has arcs I like after season 3, but overall when I look back at his full story over the seven seasons, it doesn’t work very well because there are too many back and forths between he’s redeemed, no he’s not, he’ll do anything for Belle, he’s gonna be really abusive for a season etc. It’s too inconsistent. But if you end the story with his death in 3, it’s a pretty clear clean arc. 

Meanwhile Neal is the Dark One’s son, a huge part of Emma’s origins, Henry’s father, the whole reason the curse was cast... and his impact in the present is pretty minimal. Even his sacrificial death doesn’t actually do that much. It just tells them who the witch is (which they could have found out if they just thought to themselves for a second ‘hmm there’re exactly two new people in town after this second curse. Zelena and Robin. I wonder which one is the evil witch lady?’). Even his role within the love triangle feels underutilized because Emma never makes any sort of choice. She never even really confronts her complicated feelings for Neal. 

So what if, instead, Rumple dies stopping Pan same as always, but then when Neal brings him back using the vault, the way that they save Neal is not by doing the weird combining Neal and Rumple thing- it’s by giving Neal the dagger and having him stab Rumple, becoming the Dark One. 

Then you have Rumple die his big hero death in 3A and cement it in 3B by not letting Neal trade his life for his. And you have Neal suffer the consequences of turning to Dark magic regardless of the price, by being corrupted. From that point forward, Neal can take the place of most of Rumple’s story lines. 

For the rest of 3B Neal is the Dark One and is controlled by Zelena. Through this there’s little hints of him going dark but mostly he remains the same. During this Emma follows the same progression in her relationship with Hook, but at the same time gets to actually make the choice to close the door on her relationship with Neal instead of having it closed for her. She can even make that choice at around the same point that Neal dies in the real show (3x15). Then at the end of the season, Neal is free, seems to be stable, but kills Zelena, just like Rumple did. This is his tipping point into becoming really the Dark One. 

Season 4A his motivations are essentially the same as what Rumples were; he wants to separate himself from the dagger but keep his power (because he’s been powerless his whole life, trapped by his father, by Pan, in hiding in the real world, controlled by Zelena etc. and he’s never gonna be controlled again blah blah blah). He still takes Hook’s heart but this time the connection dives more into the whole twisted family history and their Neverland connection. You maybe bring in some of the “you took Emma from me” idea but keep it pretty clearly as a side thing.  The whole situation now has this added note of tragedy because instead of a straightforward rivalry there was once real familial affection between them. At the end of 4A he’s driven out of town just like Rumple. I think you maintain the connection/friendship that he had with Belle in 3x15 throughout 3B and 4A and still have her be the one to use the dagger for this (though now maybe also have Hook and Emma there as his other two main connections) and it still reflects similar growth in how she views the Dark Ones just with the romantic element removed. 

4B plays out basically the same except that instead of Rumple rewriting his story to make Belle love him, Neal is trying to force Henry to love him (you use 4A to do more with their relationship of them trying to build something but it being off because of how Neal is being corrupted, and then you use Hook and Henry bonding as a foil for that, a positive alternative. This influences the animosity Neal feels while he’s controlling Hook. And at the end of the arc Henry also cuts ties with Neal. In fact if you wanted you could have him fully take the role of Belle in this arc and not develop a relationship with Belle and Neal. However, I don’t want to cut Belle from the story, so you’d have to find her a completely new arc. Maybe you find her a new love interest  (not Will. Ana’s his true love) or maybe you just develop her as a friend for Mary Margaret or Emma. ) The story mostly plays out the same way but with Henry a little more center which fits well with his role in the finale becoming the author. However, there are two difficulties. 1. you have to remove the arc about the darkness killing Rumple, since Neal wouldn’t have accumulated near enough darkness to be killing him. You do have to work in some actually truly evil things for him to do instead of just evil things he almost does, so I think some characters have to really get murdered. I’m thinking Archie or some fairies since they don’t do much anyone and everyone would be horrified. The attempt to remove the darkness to save him would need slightly different justification but it’s all magical mumbo-jumbo anyway so who cares. Potentially he could do something to try to hurt Henry and that could be framed as “an act so dark and against his nature that it’s destroying all the light in his heart” or something like. or it could just be a misguided attempt to stop him from being the Dark One that backfires.  The other difficulty is the alternate storybook. The finale story line really only works if Henry isn’t initially in the book. But I think you can work around that just by saying that A. Isaac is pulling the strings and B. putting in something about how because Henry is the author, their attempts to rewrite him into the book didnt’ work. Other than that it’s the same. You can even still have “heroic Rumple” in the story. 

Season 5A plays out the same except Belle needs a new plot. Play up the Merida connection, let her flirt with Merlin, have her trying to save Neal for the sake of Rumple. I don’t know, her 5A story isn’t great to begin with. Emma and Hook’s Dark One guide is still Rumple not Neal (for that matter if you want to keep Rumple around let Neal see Imp Rumple as his guide for a season or so). Letting Hook die to get his power back is seen as a big step toward Neal being irredeemable. His underworld arc involves a lot of back and forth of different influences-- he’s being forced to try to save Hook who he’s burned a bunch of bridges with, he’s reunited with his mother who gets to move on but her influence isn’t enough to save him, Pan plays more of a role of trying to forge a connection with him, and ultimately he keeps making worse and worse choices until he’s more and more like Rumple at his worst. Eventually he sides with Hades in the conflict and he ends up killing someone (Robin if you want to keep the rest of the story mostly the same, Zelena if you want to make further changes. Belle if you want to go really dark and tragic.) Then Henry trying to destroy magic in the finale is a direct parallel of Baelfire trying to go to a land without magic, because this time Henry is trying to save Neal from the influence of the Dark One. But the season still ends with Neal being the most evil he’s been yet. 

Season 6 has more of a shift. The Black Fairy is still a major influence but instead of using Gideon (who no longer exists in our story), she’s interacting with Neal directly. You keep the savior Rumple backstory because it still plays into the themes of the family history and the two sides of Henry’s lineage. But here Fiona takes more of a backseat and Neal becomes the main villain of the season, and in a lot of ways the culminating villain of the main seasons 1-6 arc. It ends with Emma defeating him, but after he’s defeated there’s a moment of him turning on Fiona inspired by Henry’s love for him (very Luke and Vader- esque). This isn’t presented as redeeming Neal, just offering a glimmer of hope for his redemption. He ends up banished back to the enchanted forest (or another realm). 

Neal then takes Rumple’s role in season 7. He’s looking for the Guardian but now the motivation is sort of a short cut to redeeming himself-- he’s trying to remove the darkness at the expense of someone else in hopes of it magically making him back into who he once was. The Alice relationship is essentially the same. Now the Weaver/Tilly relationship also provides a sort of parallel to the his relationship with Emma when they first met (though of course not romantic) except this time he’s redeeming himself by becoming a more positive influence rather than shaping her into a thief. The Weaver/Rogers relationship plays basically the same role, with adjustments made to accommodate the ways in which the Hook/Neal relationship is different from Hook/Rumple one. But now, Weaver’s connection to Henry is a big deal, and the relationship ties the plot lines together more tightly. Neal’s redemption plays out through this season in equal parts through Alice, Rogers and Henry. It culminates in the finale, with Wish Rumple still being in the finale as a sort of final temptation, and with the glimpse of evil Wish Henry being an inspiration toward his final act of redemption, saving Rogers in order to heal the separated father and child in a way that his own family was never able to heal. This is also plays a part in Wish Henry and real Henry’s final confrontation. 

The way I’ve described it here make it sounded a little like focus is shifted off of Emma, but that’s not the case, her story remains virtually the same  and she is just as dominant. But this gives us three clear avenues- the hero lineage with Snow and Charming and Emma, the redeemed villains with Regina and Hook, and the villain lineage with Pan, the Black Fairy, Rumple and Neal. It gives us a clear through-line on the side of the villains where each subsequent villain gets us closer to our ultimate villain as we watch Neal go from the kind and noble son of the Dark One who he lost, to the skeevy love interest, to the Dark One and the main nemesis. His negative character development becomes the antiparallel to Emma’s heroic growth. 

It also keeps the story lines more closely linked, since often Rumple’s motives in the real show are tangential to what the main heroes are doing. Neal’s corrupt “love” of Henry that put him in clear opposition to Emma’s true love. The romantic history of Emma and Neal informs and complicates their dynamic and presents extra challenges in confronting him, without being a main point, except to positively highlight the strengths of the Captain Swan romance. It let’s Emma be a clear nemesis to the main villain, rather than an incidental obstacle. Defeating him also thematically represents defeating the tragedies of her past-- rising above the broken relationship that made her stop trusting, led to her giving up her son, and putting up her walls etc. in order to be someone who is a wonderful mother, is very happily married, and a hero who protects everyone. 

It also streamlines Henry’s arc. There’s some concept in the existing story of Henry’s mixed lineage, but it’s only explored intermittently. This allows him to have clear representation from all three avenues: from his mother’s side of the family you have the clear heroes. From his father’s side you have the worst villains. And in his chosen family (his adoptive mother and his stepfather) you have the redeemed villains. He’s the product of every type of great hero and villain. By having an evil Neal continually vying for his affections, and having Henry continually and consistently choosing the side of good and hope and redemption, you have a clear representation in him of the show’s main themes.  The finale involving adult Henry, Wish Henry, Wish Rumple, Dark Neal, Regina, a version of Hook (even if it’s not actually the one that’s Henry’s step father) and (in this version) more of a presence for Emma (discussing her more even if you still couldn’t have her in it, but if we’re spinning entire alternate shows here, I’m putting her in the finale) Henry and Wish Henry become a focal point for the themes of the show and Henry’s triumph and the resulting redemption for Neal become a representation of the show’s values. The heroes of seasons 1-6 who aren’t in season 7 also get a piece of this final triumph because their influence on Henry (making him someone who ultimately kind, and generous, and brave and faithful) is what has won out in the end. 

[taki118]

How I would have adapted Cats for a movie

So first off the hybrid live action and animation is the WORST choice for this movie. Cats is a spectacle play at its core. The audience can basically forgive everything that’s odd about it cause they’re watching people doing some insane dancing and stunts. The options are 

1- live action with makeup and costumes like the play only with a better budget. This works for spectacle in the “Hey that’s cool looking dance” or “wow look at that makeup.” kind of way   2- full animation on a sliding scale of realistic to anthro I’d go somewhere in the middle. The spectacle here being the animation on display go real hardcore, do some really cool stuff with the medium.

Going with the cgi on live action takes away from BOTH no one is really impressed by what people are doing cause well cgi can enhance it making it feel less impressive and anything done animation wise is limited due the constraints of a human body (it’s why rotoscoping isn’t really done) 

Now while I think the better choice is animation I’d sadly have to go with live action using makeup and costumes as for whatever reason animation is still “kids stuff” and not an art form over here (not bitter at all)

So I think the idea of making Victoria the white cat an audience surrogate was a good choice. How they implemented it by making her a focus character was the wrong one. Cats is an ensemble play their is no main character, there’s characters of varying importance but no main. When you get down to it the plot is a bunch of cats hang together one night for a special event there’s no real arc it’s a slice of life piece at most. So yes to a character new to all this to explain to them rather than directly to the audience like the play. No to making her have a journey.

I would also cut/shorten and re order a LOT of the songs for pacing reasons. Most of the songs do not need to be as long as they are the length is primarily to show off the dancers in the play. Release the full songs with the celebrities in cd after or whatever. This change would allow the cast to breath and talk to give context between songs

In MY version I’d start with Victoria but not by having her thrown out. Have her in a house that’s clearly just been moved into and her looking out to see many cats all going in one direction and being confused/curious she leaves the house and meets up with a group. I’d have the group be Munkustrap, Demeter (I could rant about her being a non entity in the movie but won’t), Alonzo, Jellylorum and one other cat maybe Bill Bailey or Cassandra , for reasons I’ll explain later. (And I realize these names mean nothing haha) They tell her it’s the ball asking if she’s a Jellicle cat and her asking what that is. Thus the song starts as the cats make their way to the junkyard excitedly all saying what it means to be a Jellicle.

Then I’d have Munkustrap take center stage singing about what’s to come and trying to help the others as they prepare the junkyard and have Victoria introduced to the shy Quaxo. As things begin to settle and Munkustrap tries to get the cats settled Rum Tum Tugger appears disrupting everything with his song. His fun is stopped when old Deuteronomy appears causing all the cats to go quite in respect and that song begins with Munkustrap then goes duet with Rum Tum Tugger.

Deuteronomy notices the new cat and approaches her welcoming her to the tribe (cause they’re cats its that easy). Then reprise of the Jellicle song as the ball begins big dance number lots of energy and fun dancing and little character moments. Then it stops we’d pan to Victoria who’s confused hearing all the hissing and is pulled back by Quaxo, Grizabella makes her first appearance.

The song about her is sung and Victoria noticeably wants to reach out to her but is stopped. Grizabella leaves and Munkustrap refocuses everyone reminding them why they are here to make the choice the group I mentioned before all stand beside him. Victoria asks about the choice and Quaxo explains saying each of the heads makes a nomination but Deuteronomy chooses he also expresses his desire to show his talents in magic and be noticed. Rum Tum Tugger interrupts by saying something like you’ll never be noticed sitting in the shadows or something. 

 Now this is a bit of a departure as Munkustrap is typically the one to narrate all the songs but I think this serves to help round the cast out and add some character as each showcase what they feel is impressive. So Munkustrap starts by nominating Jennyanydots and her song begins

Another change would be a scene change for each nomination showing them in their setting, the implication being the narrators singing is bringing the tale to life. 

 Next would be Bustopher Jones by Alonzo or Bill Bailey. Then Demeter would stop the fun going tense and shouting Macvity! They all run and hide but Victoria in her curiosity leaves her hiding place early and looks finding Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer rifling the ball. The song would be much shorter than normal the older cats cutting them off and chastising them. While old Deuteronomy sings reminding them all of the importance of the night and choice. As Grizabella looks on from a distance. 

Next comes Alonzo or Cassandra’s choice Skimbleshanks. Then Jellylorum’s choice Gus the theater cat his song is different from the others however in that they do his old play and as it goes on the more real it becomes, the play starting with the cats in make shift costumes and props from garbage but as it goes on they’re really in costumes and such.

All the cats applaud his performance and begin to dance once more when Grizabella appears again this time however Victoria follows her as she walks away watching as she tries to dance and sings “Memory”. Victoria is stopped from helping by a saddened Deuteronomy who brings her back, unknown to her and the rest Macavity takes Deuteronomy and replaces him. The ball continues as they all discuss who it will be. When Demeter once more shouts Macavity! Munkustrap tries to calm her and Victoria asks who he is. She begins the Macavity song.

Now if Taylor NEEEDS to be a femme fatale we have Demeter singing her part as a warning but Bombalurina is singing like it’s not a big deal and telling everyone not to worry her side winning out and boom trap. 

BUT I wouldn’t do that keep Bombalurina as big sis material. Her part would be placating though as Deuteronomy, Macavity in disguise, follows doing the same.

Either way  Demeter’s senses are right and when he’s placating them all she lunges revealing his disguise then he tries to take her too and fight breaks out. 

When Macavity escapes he shouts “you’d have an easier time conjuring the cat back than finding him” They are left licking their wounds in despair.  

Then Victoria pushes Quaxo saying “can’t you do magic?” He shyly shakes his head when Rum Tum Tugger jumps in and says “Him no! Now the magical Mr. Mistoffelees he could.” and winks to him, the pair scurry off as Rum Tum Tugger begins the song to the unimpressed crowd and they reappear dressed as magician and assistant starting slow as Quaxo gains confidence and we have Victoria showcase her dancing, once they all start cheering him on and the music picks up Deuteronomy appears confused but happy as everyone rejoices. Rum Tum Tugger gives Quaxo a pat on the back and Victoria hugs him.

Deuteronomy and Munkustrap calm them all again singing of the choice when Victoria notices Grizabella. I got two ideas here 

1 Victoria herself nominates Grizabella risking her new place by singing memory with her  2 Victoria convinces Demeter to do so as she hadn’t made a nomination (in the play Demeter is often sympathetic to Grizabella) she sings while Victoria dances with her

Either way Deuteronomy lets Victoria know it’s ok to touch her welcoming her back and the cats embrace her knowing the choice was made. They sing her off, as she approaches the light she asks Deuteronomy what’s on the other side? The response is “happiness” she smiles a bright light takes the screen and they all rejoice in tears. Victoria sits with Deuteronomy who recounts the nights events saying she will make a great Jellicle cat, then pans to the sun rising and the cats retuning home.

And thats how i’d do it.

We get all the main songs, chances for everyone to show off a bit, a fairly straightforward plot but with a satisfying end, lots of chances for fun cinematography and would make an easier viewing experience. I think the biggest problem with the movie is they tried to make something nonsensical make sense and to give a traditional structure to a play that didnt have one and it just doesnt work.

(Oh also in my version Munkustrap and Demeter are blatantly a couple and are always doing cute shit in the background cause fuck you they’re adorable!)

[zeravmeta]

Ok so, my thoughts on the VR ending and VR overall as the 6th entry.

Also because most of my thoughts aren't...complimentary im editing the names so they dont appear in the general tag. This also got LONG so readmore.

The Good:

- A//i's character still managed to be the one thing that saves VR as a show for me. Even with all the weird...contradictory plot issues, A//i still manages to be a compelling character who brings up the question of the right to live. I actually do like how he made it so itd be an ultimatum that he loses in either way, even if the ending kinda ruins the weight behind the action (which I will get to in a bit).

The meh:

-the ending was left somewhat open to interpretation which for a show as...empty as this was works out but honestly it was so vague as to A//is fate is that it may as well not exist.

The Bad:

-The main conflict behind the entire show is...simulations. No joke. Every conflict in the show can be traced back to someone doing a simulation and deciding to lose it. Even if they gave the (rather stupid) explanation that AI experience simulations like actual life (which btw the first villain wasnt an AI so this reason doesnt work), the fact that Yu//sa//ku took a bullet for one of A//is robot bodies that he literally has millions of is...just stupid and there solely for the "uwu drama".

-They actually killed A//i off but wait hes actually alive, so like the final duel literally had no purpose aside from...drama??? The episode is called Compromise and yet A//i had to lose just to keep Yu//sa///kus win streak and theres no compromise whatsoever. Yu//sa//ku litetally destroys the CompromA.I.se card so its just, no comrpomise in any way.

-This....wasn't a happy ending??? I have no idea why both the show and the fanbase frame this as a happy ending bc think about it in context: A//i pretty much loses everything, so does Yu//sa//ku who just isolated himself from everyone else for 3 months in order to comb the network for whatever remnants of A//i exist.

- So many of the supporting characters are just...there. Like, there is no side/supporting character who actually has a character arc in this show. Lets go through the list: Ao//i is pretty much the same character as when she started and goes through 2 unnecessary costume changes for a character growth that isnt there because she has literally ONE victory against an opponent that was stated multiple times to be weak and faulty and have her lose and tortured multiple times for no reason whatsoever, G//o had this weird deterioration that may have lead to something but ultimately didn't, Ak//ira is pretty much the same, J//in has ALL HIS TRAUMA ERASED SO THERES THAT, literally the only side characters who have some sembalnce of an arc are Sho//ichi (the best one anyways) from his "betrayal" in S2, and E//ma with her reconciliation with her brother. Outside of that, nothing. Yu//sa//ku, Re//volv//er and Ho//mu//ra are pretty much the only characters with an arc and even then they're not too solid? Which brings me to-

- Yu//sa//ku has been so wildly ooc since the end of S1. Ive seen so many say that his enphasis on bonds and friendship are character growth but actually looking at the sequence of events he suddenly just like. changes completely around his first duel with Ea//rth. Plus, the message of "revenge is good" was always so weird? Like, he got his revenge so all his trauma is ok now and never brought up or explored again aside from within the first 20 episodes. Theres nothing about it after that and its never built upon. The whole point of a revenge arc is to show that its BAD and yet he starts preaching that revenge is wrong AFTER he successfully gets revenge??? And even then its not exactly a revenge as it is more lashing out since it was Ko//ga//mi who was behind it all. Yu//sa/ku was definitely at his strongest characterization in S1 where we see how badly the Lo//st Incid//ent hurt him but S1 had its own share of problems that led into S2 and so many random plot threads that never went anywhere (such as the Anot//her Incid//ents, the Cy//berse deck being irl despite that A//i didnt have a physical body before then, The Bl//ue Mai//den meetup that was repeated by Nao//ki like 10 times in S2 which seemed to be leading up to something but never did, and the fact that theres 4 recap episodes in S1 already spelled some early problems). So much of the supporting cast function to just say "he turned this whole situation around...with ONE card..." i kid you not watch back every Yu//sa//ku duel I GUARANTEE you'll see someone saying hes a great duelist and serve only that purpose. ALSO THE END OF THE SHOW IS JUST MORE DRAMA?? They make him suffer for no reason other than that they can??? What purpose does his suffering at the end serve aside from just "uwu...poor baby..."???

-Re//volv//er is not a good rival. At all. He's so incredibly bland because much like Yu//sa//ku he was at his strongest characterization in S1 where he actually had some solid motivation in continuing his fathers work and being unable to accept that his dad was evil, yet most of that just flies out the window with all the collateral he's willing to inflict with the K//O//H?? All his character amounts too post S1 is "yeah i told you robots are evil and YOU didnt believe me". The most we got of him growing out of this mindset was calling A//i by his name exactly one time and nothing ever again. Also the fact that in the end we see him and his crew working for S//O//L despite the fact that they were gonna turn themselves in for their crimes just. leaves a rotten taste in my mouth. hes not a good rival at all. All he proves to me is that a good design can get anyone to like a character.

- Ho//mu//ra is...there. I literally cant say anything about him because he absolutely has the strongest motivations of the three but then the show jumps through hoops to push him to the back of the other two. He also has a bunch of early victories I do feel are undeserved (ESPECIALLY the A//oi duel that one pissed me off so much). Also the fact that the show just made him Yu//sa//kus friend immediately whereas it took Sho//ichi several months to get Yu//sa//ku to warm up to him just had me :/.

-The speed duels were a cool concept but they just became these huge cheat fests? Seriously Play//Maker uses StAccess literally every speed duel to pull out a new monster from whatever plot holes the writers need to patch up. I am not kidding. You can go back to every single speed duel Yu//sa//ku was in and youll see this. Skills just werent a good mechanic because when a protag pulls a new card its supposed to be representative of some growth/characterization but he stays the same pretty much throughout the entire show up until S2 where he wildly just switches personality. Plus the fact that Que//en could literally use a skill whenever just shows that it was cheating???

- The villains were overall lackluster. Boh//man was the best because Re//volv//er is just flat whereas A//i struck me more as an anti hero. And again: simulations are the enemy. Light//ning ran one and decided to go ham. Kog//ami ran one and decided to go ham. A//i ran one and decided to go ham. The conflicts are all the same and it just makes things happen rather than following a consistent plot thread? I will say that Boh//mans characterization of a hive mind to become perfect does strike my tastes but thats more my personal preference in villains rather than any merit he has.

- This is a bit of a personal pet peeve but I've seen some of the praise to this show about being the "darkest Y//G//O to date so therefore its good" and im just...no? Edge does not make a good show and just because they lightly focused on the tragedy in Yu//sa//kus life (and it IS lightly because its barely touched upon after mid S1) most of the stuff that happens in this show is pretty tame in comparison? The most that happened here was an attempted global hack of everyones minds from S2 and destroying the internet in S1, with a few references to the torture that happened during the Lo//st incid//ent. To compare: the previous series had this huge interdimensional war that, even if they could reverse the carding of people (which makes Den//nis' attempted suicide even more tragic), ended with an entire dimensions full of brainwashed soldier children, a dimension with huge class inequality that was still being heavily worked upon since there were canonically slaves, and a dimension that was savaged by a genocide and total global destruction. Hell, the series before that had a huge war where the arc actually did focus on the tragedys the characters faced and held consequence (even if they pulled a dbz revive everyone at the end). And as far back into the very first series there were even more graphic depictions of war and death? Idk i feel like people are overplaying the edge here just to find a way to complement this show.

Overall:

I'm...genuinely dissappointed. VR really had so many strong starting points but it all just fell apart at execution. Really the only reason I even bothered to watch it as kong as I did was because Im a longtime fan of the series and wanted to give it a chance rather than jump on whatever love/hate train the show has. Its been rated poorly on the JP side and most of the approval is a vocal minority. Just to be clear: this isnt me bashing the show, my opinions are mine and you can agree or disagree to any capacity, and even if a show isnt well written you can still find a reason to enjoy it despite the flaws.

But if Im being perfectly honest? I do not like this show. It's rushed, choppy, has no consistent or clear plot threads, most of the genuinely interesting characters are wasted for the protagonist to look better and he never really does because he ALSO has an interesting idea behind him but it never goes anywhere. It started strong but ended so poorly. Id be angry but im more dissappointed because Ive watched this show from day 1 and wanted to see the good things it has rather than focus on the negatibes but. yeah. This show really had potential and yet it just fell flat.

[popsicleofdeath]

I finally watched Caligula the anime and honestly I really wanna play the game in hopes that it does the potential for the story better. There are so many nice concepts, but the emotions don't fit well it's like you got these bland empty slates that have an occasional focus. Which is something that you can get away with in a game where you only really look at one character at a time.

It does have a lot of similar themes and feel as the Persona series has, especially 1 & 2 (not surprising because the same scenario writer did those two plus Caligula Effect) and I definitely like the Persona games more than any of the anime adaptations.

But I worry it'll go harder into some of the very poor conclusions some of these characters come to with dealing with their trauma.

[spoilers under the cut]

I can appreciate the fact that it doesn't like rank peoples traumas and when a character tries to do that sort of thing they shut it down, but boy do they not manage to come to a lot of mediocre to bad conclusions. (If anyone happens to read this not knowing anything about the anime or game please know there are A LOT of main characters and a lot parts that I did like. These are just some of the things I didn't like and fear the game would double down on. Which if it's anything like Persona's social links...it could go either way.)

Like one characters conclusion for her her Trauma (which is that she's ashamed and been made fun of for having a fat mother and subsequently afraid of becoming fat to the point that one of the first things we actually see her do is go off on how much she hates fat people) is that she needs to apologizing for wishing away her mother. No level of y'know accepting different body types or exploring the fact that being fatphobic is shitty and not only hurt her and her mother who she supposedly loved and y'know anyone who is fat. Or even addressing the external issue either: all the people made fun of her for having a fat mother (im gonna assume that one is distinctly more of a cultural issue that doesn't translate well to the American view)

Or another one who cut himself essentially for control over his own life. They don't seem to acknowledge that that's a very bad solution and mentality and in fact frame it somehow as positive. Or even that the biggest reason he wants to return to his life is to have those scars back? And somehow focuses on self inflicted scars as being the milestone for him to start taking back control of his life from his mother (which I found odd to because his way it doing that is to...... ask her. Like when he talks it's framed as a very abusive power imbalance that he feels his only option is to slash open his cheek..and then he goes solving the problem by saying "hey so, can you maybe be a bit less controlling?" There is no follow through with how they set it up.) The framing of self inflicted wounds themselves being for the better is not something I'm for. Like even if it had been some sort of. "I like the scars because they've healed like I'm doing" but it doesn't.

And then you have my personally least favorite of them all who's trauma is that his closest friend killed herself. But that itself isn't want the issue he has is. No his "crime" as he calls it is that she asked him to kill himself with her and he was too much of a "coward" Which as a starting mentality I get it. Especially with already being depressed. But the thing is that again. It isn't something where his mentality changes. It's not any sort of desire to have saved her or done something to help her. He still just believes he should have killed himself with her so she didnt have to die alone and he has to carry the weight of that crime his entire life. He's just decided to live with it instead of lock himself up in his room. But the way it stands is that he only even wanted to go back to real life because one of the villains was made him realize that the life he had wasn't real life and subsequently turned the supposed perfect world into his personal hell so he's kinda like. Guess I might as well deal with reality because this is worse.

Which brings me to the villian who made his life hell. She was the other friend of the girl who killed herself. And the reason she hated the dude was becauses she wanted to kill herself with their, but she wasn't asked. It's the weirdest form of glorifying double suicide. Like it feels like they were pulling straight from Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human but ignored how the book moved forward from it and instead decided to get stuck on the double suicide and glorified it from there very seriously. To the point that these two characters were symbolically falling to their deaths before (because of other plot) they were finally sent back to reality.

And then in general a lot of the villains had very bad undertones (beyond the fact that they were villains.)

Like the first one you meet. She's a cute little girl who likes cute things and sweets. And then her big trauma is that she is in real life a male really gross food blogger. It adds more to the fatphobia that is all over the show, but it also plays into the "trap" troupe and adds to a lot of general transphobic mentalities which of course is even worse because she's one of the villains.

And finally. This is the last one that really got to me. Is the surprise twist villian character (who following all the logic set up in the anime. Is pretty obvious in my opinion).... her trauma is brought up in like one bit and brushed aside. She's missing her legs below the knees and because of that she says that everyone hates her. There's a lot there which I'm not kidding gets only like 30 seconds focus. And like. That's super fucked up. Like. They're gonna make the one character they have that is physically disabled a villian. And not only a villian, but a villian with absolutely no depth of character and no resolution. Like she's literally there for cheap shock value.... that's it. That's absolutely it. Her character is outsider best friend (brushed to the side) and then villian ready to murder all the protagonists for the fun of it.

Honestly all the villains have pretty much no actual substance beyond cheap shocks at the expense of anyone who might be facing similar issues. The story spells it as hurting people trapped in escapist fantasies, but maybe half the villains even get the luxury of that being addressed for them personally.

There's so much in that could be so good but honestly the amount of either bad or just boring bits outweighs the actual good content the show is trying to work towards... like honestly. I think it would be 1000x better if the cut the cast and some of these half baked attempts storylines that the can't or won't follow through with.

[genngraymane]

America: Really THAT Bad? (spoilers btw)

BEFORE:

It’s been a while since I read anything Marvel in the last few years. I think I stopped reading around the time of Marvel Now! because I was too focused on DC’s New 52 at the time (plus I took a break from comics around that time shortly after). So aside from the few issues of Young Avengers I’ve read years ago, I know nothing about this character. Obviously, I’ve heard some polarizing things about this book, but I’m still pretty excited to see what the hubub’s all about. One thing I remember loving about Marvel was their teen heroes. Hopefully America rekindles the things I missed from Marvel.

AFTER:

Okay so I just finished the first 7 issues. Overall it wasn’t the horribly unbearable experience my buddies kept warning me about. No where near as offensively bad as they made it out to be. If anything my only gripe with the book is that it’s rather forgettable. With the exception of Kate, America’s supporting cast feel like they’re just background pieces with speech bubbles. Her girlfriend didn’t do anything aside from filling in a damsel in distress role. Her parents and Grandmother really only serve as plot-devices, and the rest the students of Sotomayor don’t really do anything except gush over America’s self-imposed greatness.

And it really is a shame, because Rivera introduces some really cool concepts like the interdimensional schooling of Sotomayor and the cosmic origins of Planeta Fuertona. There’s some really cool wacky Sci-Fi stuff in this book, and I’m pretty sure if that was the focus of the book then I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But unfortunately that’s not the case because the main focus of this book is also one of the things I can’t stand about it.

THE ROMANCE.

Oh my God is America an asshole to her girlfriend. If there is anything I can’t stand about romance, it’s needless drama. And holy shit, Rivera did not hold back from it. This is the first appearance of Lisa, one of America’s love interests.

I’m sorry, WHAT??? You’re not going to tell me jack about our MC’s love-interest and then break them off in just TWO PAGES? I’m generally used to teen drama bullshit like this from other teen hero books (I have Johns’ Teen Titans to thank for that), but this sequence here is just too much for me to ignore. We don’t know anything about Lisa aside from being America’s girlfriend, so that’s all she ends up being, and America just breaks things off and leaves before they even have a legitimate conversation? And America’s acting as if she’s in the right? This sets up every interaction we see between these two as needless melodrama. And that’s exactly what it becomes in later issues. There’s all but one scene of America showing remorse for dumping this chick, but then America acts like the victim again in a later issue with Storm.

Like, what is your damage, America? You’re the one who broke up with her and left in a fit but then you say shit like “SHE SENT ME AWAY” as if we’re supposed to sympathize with you throwing that necklace at her. And when Lisa finally shows up again, they act as if they spoke and came to terms, but this is the first and last time we ever see these two actually speaking to each other anyway, so what was the point?

America’s other love interest is an actual character this time around in the sense that she’s actually involved in the story, but when Magdalena is introduced, it’s almost as if Rivera forgot about the first love interest.

Either America has amnesia, or Lisa never gave America flowers, which probably puts America in the right for breaking up with her. I’d be pretty upset if my girlfriend never gave me flowers. What was the point of all this? Why didn’t Rivera just start with Magdalena as the badass action-girl love interest instead of having us deal with the damsel in distress bullshit from the non-character that was Lisa during the Chavez Guerrillas arc?

I think all of my gripes with the romance in here comes from a combination of two different things regarding this book. One is that nearly every character in this book has NOTHING going on with them. The other is that America is painfully unlikable in this.

I think the introduction of Sotomayor was pretty awesome. Rivera introduced us to a setting with a lot of potential for crazy, dimension hopping adventures while providing the framework of introducing new characters within a self contained story similar to that of Hero Academia or Avengers Academy. If America’s badly written relationships were at the background of the series while introducing a diverse, well-written cast that interacts almost exclusively with America through the school setting, then yes, I think this book would have won me over. But that’s not the case because nearly every student in Sotomayer doesn’t do anything meaningful to the story or help America progress as a character. How the hell do you have a character like freaking Prodigy on the sidelines with nothing insightful to say? They were on the same team before this! Even America’s parents, the main reason she became a hero, are constantly glossed over in this book until the reveal of her Grandmother. 

Speaking of this page here, why did Madrimar even wait to reveal herself to America until now? It’s not like anything was stopping her during all the time she spent at Sotomayor.

A lot of people I’ve talked to about this book says Rivera was trying too hard. In my opinion, she didn’t try hard enough. I know a bunch of people gave this writer shit for coming off as too preachy, but expressing positivity through diversity is a core part if America’s character and the reality we live in. The only problem I see with her writing regarding this is that it the way she portrays America makes it difficult. Rivera’s America just shouts out slogans and gets confrontational with anyone that challenges her way of thinking. America needs to be put in a situation where expressing her cultural and sexual identity isn’t accentuated through punching things while preaching about how awesome she is and getting constant validation from background characters (the prep-school cyborg fight is a jarring example). 

One of the only characters I actually liked in this book was Kate. She actually acts like she’s in the story. She talks to America about her problems, consoles her in times of need, and is generally a blast to have in this book.

With the exception of Magdalena, Kate is the only person in this book that America actually approaches like a civil human being. America doesn’t get all up in her face and throw snarky insults at her like she does with nearly everyone else. Kate is one of the only characters here that can actually get America to feel like a person instead of some impregnable brick wall. And Kate is actually involved in America’s story! She has presence! But the more I read about these two in here the more I notice Rivera was just queer-baiting them for no reason.

Like, we get Kate’s into her. But if Rivera had real control over this, why didn’t she just start things off with Kate as the friends with benefits into girlfriends angle? Why have us go through all the damsels in distress and generic femme fatale action girls in America’s life instead of a popular established character like Kate Bishop? They have a history together, so it wouldn’t be unbelievable at all. This book focuses so much on romance but never has its priorities straight on who these people are to America. It only seems to care who America is to them. And tbh I think that’s the core issue of Rivera’s America.

This is the first page of the book, and it got me super excited. I thought the approach Rivera was going to go was make America relevant not only as a hero but as a symbol. I thought this book would highlight the importance of expressing pride in diversity while expressing how America represents that pride and what that means to the people around her. I thought it would have been akin to All-Star Superman’s approach of finding the balance between the symbol and the person while struggling to understand what that might mean to the people of the world. But instead any concept of that constantly gets sidelined by the badly written melodrama bullshit all across this book. It just always stops me from getting into this.

Now if I’m not mistaken, this book is canceled at issue 12, so at some point I’ll go back and finish the last couple issues, but honestly I could see why this book got canceled. Rivera has some really cool concepts in this book, but falls short on the execution on multiple levels. Hopefully they bring America back with a new creative team because there is some cool stuff here and I don’t want it all to just disappear. Maybe even keep Rivera and give her a co-writer to help?

[vishwaspur]

Replying Anons.

My inbox is not working for some reason so I’ll be answering the asks here for now.

1) "Also..what did Omkara mean by “Maine bohat try kar li!” in regards of his relationship with Gauri?"RIGHT!!!! I was like wtf. He tried to stop her once and THAT IS ALL. I can't believe he's getting frustated so easily. I was looking out for major manaoifying sessions but he's like "I tried to so hard, I got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter". Thumbs down Omkara. You let me and may qween down today!         

BRUH THE LINKIN PARK LYRICS THOUGH!!!

I believe they wanted to rush and set up Shivika as OmRu’s cupids so they just made Omkara talk about his attempts instead of showing them. It’s alllll for Shivika’s convenience :)) Urgh..I don’t want to be salty about it ALL over again..thakk gayi hoon itne namak se main -_- I read an IB viewer say “take the show on epi to epi basis. Don’t expect continuation in any form” and I agree. Otherwise mera brain damage hojana hai.

2) Two episodes of this merger, and already wishing for DBO to be back (esp. since it improved in the last two weeks). I completely agree with your thoughts on today's episode. Why are Rikara being treated as a track for bhaiya-bhaabhi? Worse, Om said "I know I was rude", it was an understatement of epic proportions! And I still can't figure out Gauri's reasons for staying back? What do you think?             

You and me both behen, you and me both. DBO Dabba tha..per APNA Dabba tha. Omkara toh never got focus there but at least Gauri was in character and in charge. One episode in IB and she’s demoted to being bossed around by Annika in every matter. IB mein everything is a track for Bhaiya-Bhabhi. Why do you think DBO was created? Because they couldn’t give the other characters tracks that focused solely on them. I’m just...WOW at the possibility that IB might turn into a 40 minutes Bhaiya-Bhabhi fest.

I have done a LONGASS meta on the DBO finale about the reasons why Omakra asked Gauri to stay/Why Gauri stayed back here. And after today’s episode I think I’m pretty much on the mark with Omkara not wanting to let go of Gauri without giving her/their relationship a chance. Except Omkara is a duffer who isn’t TRYING his best (or if he is..we ain’t seeing it!) I’d say Gauri has gotten so used to being with Omkara that she doesn’t mind staying back temporarily if that’s what Omkara asked her to do. But that’s not reason enough for her to act like all is well between them. That’s in Omkara’s hand. And she’s waiting for him to take charge and finally give their relationship a name. Jahan itna sab seh liya hai..wahan thoda waqt aur sahi. Gauri is basically living like how Chulbul was SUPPOSED to live before Svetlana planned for him to be with Omkara 24x7. Gauri sees to all of Omkara’s needs but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be emotionally there for him all the time. Right now Gauri has no need to be around Omkara all the time..she did it before because she had a reason. If Omkara needs her, he has to seek her out and he HAS to try and bring her walls up. The reason those walls are up are all cuz of him anyway.

Tragedy ye hai ke all of this COULD’VE been done/shown without the interference of Bhaiya-Bhabhi. But alaaasss....Dabba khatam hogaya so ab jo hai so yehi hai..

3) Saw today's show and somehow didnt feel it. I know they are trying but it still feels like the 2 other bros are still playing second fiddle to the main couple. I dont even know whether the initial concept was supposed to have shivika as the main couple with the other 2 as just supporting cast. I mean if that was supposed to be the set up, they should have kept it that way so that expectations are not raised. Shrenu is doing a great job as both a romantic half and a supportive sis in law. Wish they would portray something similar with omkara as well. He just seems to be more of a reactionary figure in the romantic figure. Love his role as a bro but his romantic part does not not have enough meat in it. I am not even considering the Ruvya romance in it. I am just not feeling it unfortunately so i am ok with rudra just being the awesome bhai and devar that he is.        

i agree with every word here so much I don’t know what to add to it. Basically, Ishqbaaaz is essentially Shivika’s show. Be it 20 minutes or 40 minutes, that won’t change. No matter what anyone says, that’s a fact. So they have to take the center stage in basically every track. Exempting Prinku’s irrelevant track, right now all the tracks do involve Shivika. Yes, it’s been done as a way of “getting back to the ObBros roots” but really was there no other way of giving ObBros scenes? I dont understand the need of the couples interfering in each other’s love lives when their own personal lives aren’t sorted at all! And I’m looking at ALL the characters here (except Gauri-Bhavya..those two toh have nothing to do)

Allah jaane wo din kab ayega when Omkara will be his own person. When he will get agency in his own story. When he will stop REACTING and start ACTING on his own! Whenever he starts doing it..writers change tracks or end shows. Omkara’s romantic part gets meat when the feelings are solely his own. Just LOOK at the pretty much epic couch + rain sequence episode. There it was Omkara, in all his own glory. His feelings weren’t a result of a drug or someone’s interference. Did DBO even offer anything more beautiful than that scene? It didn’t! Unfortunately I don’t see it happening again any time soon.

What the show needs isn’t random ObBros/ObBahus moments full of hilarity. They are fun, they are great! But only as a temporary setup to ease the viewers into the new one hour format. What the show needs is meaty tracks for ALL the three ObBros! THAT’S what fans mean when they say they want to see ObBros story. I really hope we get it. I won’t be able to take my Queen being a plot convenience for someone else’s story for much longer. Can’t Svetty come back and be a proper foe for RiKara again? So at LEAST they’d get a track of their own?               

[saintkimora]

ok so i have lots of things to say so im just gonna put it all in one post. its how school has been going, how my relationship w caleb is going, my rpdr pre season rankings, my thoughts on bbcan5 even though i havent watched a single episode, and my progress in botw

so first its school. so i literally failed my orgo test yesterday. i gave up on the last 2 synthesis questions bc i just didnt know what to do so thats like 30 points off right there. i most likely got this other synthesis and a mechanism question wrong so honestly i prob got like a 50. he drops the lowest test grade so i just need to step it up after this but like...rip. i studied but i got all the reactions and reagents and stuff mixed up in my head bc theres so many different things yet theyre all super similar so i just couldnt keep the information straight. so rip to my gpa this semester i guess

today sociology was cancelled so i just had psych and anatomy. i fell asleep in psych and anatomy was boring 

so today i had a date w caleb and it was v nice. BUT he asked if we could bring leeann along again!!! like wtf its been not even a week since that disaster of a date and you already want to bring her again??? like he really just does not get it smh but i said yes bc i didnt want him to think i was being difficult. luckily she was busy so she couldnt come anyways

we had lots of fun in the park! he like undid my jeans and started playing w my dick while we were sitting on some concrete block and it felt like i was in one of those porn videos that take place in the woods or something. there was like no one else there obv

he did say one thing that really got me pissed though. and i didnt think too much of it at the time like i was kinda :/ but then when i got home and thought about it some more i got a little upset about it. he called me on the phone to talk as usual and i told him about it and he felt really bad about it. he didnt think much of it in the moment but after i told him it bothered me i could tell he felt really bad and honestly? good! i hope he did feel bad about it bc he was being a dick for absolutely no reason

also i found out the stuff with alex! and like its so weird bc caleb has previous interactions with like 4/6 of the other guys ive been with. so ya apparently they both worked at mpowerment together and caleb just didnt like him lol. so today alex sent me a friend request on fb and followed me on insta bc he found both bc hes friends with/follows caleb on both things. and caleb posted a pic of me on insta w a bf goal type quote but once again it was NOT a good picture of me!!! i looked sooooooo pale bc of the lighting and my facial expression idek 

so i saw alex liked the pic and THEN tonight during our phone call caleb told me that alex messaged him on fb asking if him and i were together and caleb was like yeah and alex didnt respond so caleb asked why he was asking and alex just replied with “...” like he really is cracked! idk if hes like offended or something but like idk why he would think he has any chance with me after ive literally ignored like at least 10 total texts/messages/etc from him! like smh every time i think hes finally given up he tries to come back into my life like it was a one night thing stay away! *naomi campbell/naomi smalls voice* check your asshole before you come and talk to me

so yeah. that all w that. caleb wants to take me to the movies on saturday for our next date. but also another issue im starting to have is that caleb is starting to talk a LOT about eating my ass and fucking which is getting on my nerves bc i told him that it will be a while before we get to fucking and he keeps bringing it up its like being w freddy all over again

anyways. heres my final rpdr s9 pre season rankings

KIMORA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> aja > shea >>>>> valentina > eureka > peppermint > alexis > nina > jaymes > trinity > sasha = farrah > charlie

literally the only 3 i actually like and am interested in are the first 3. valentina i dont like that much but i feel like im gonna end up ironically liking her. the middle ones idc and sasha farrah and charlie get on my nerves. alexis was in my top 3 when the cast was first revealed but after seeing some other stuff on her idk i dont think i like her. aja moved up to second bc shes funny on twitter. kimora is my fave obv. shea i like but im kinda worried shes gonna get a boring edit

and now for bbcan5! the only bbcan season ive seen is 3 but i am officially team ika and gary! idk which one i like more but those are my top 2. sindy is 3rd karen is 4th and i guess cass is 5th. i didnt like her on s4 but from what ive seen this season i think i like her. idc about the rest. tbh i dont plan to watch a single episode i just want ika gary or sindy to win 

now for zelda botw. i just finished the vah medoh quest. so i have 2/4 divine beasts done and im going for the gerudo one next. im just hoping to finally find some cute armor in the gerudo town bc i am sick of only finding ugly clothes! for the map i think i just need 1 more tower to finish it. i also killed my first guardian today which was satisfying but not really bc i didnt even know what i was doing bc it all happened to fast lol. ive also been kinda reckless w my horses bc i wanna see what happens in one dies but they are resilient! my horse accidentally got hit w the blast from a bomb arrow when i was trying to hunt and it caught on fire and still survived! i dont wanna straight up kill it bc thats weird but i want one of these horses to die already! i feel like it would add some drama. so ya my main focus rn is just exploring while slowly doing the divine beast quests

[apsbicepstraining]

What 8 successful ADHDers crave you to know about how they get stuff done.

Whenever I’m working with my family, acquaintances, or peers, they ever ask me how I’m able to get so much better done.

My answer: “I have ADHD.”

That might resonate confusing, but realistically, parties with ADHD don’t always have problems with attention at least , not when we’re is currently working on something that excites us. In reality, ADHD often means that we can hyperfocus on awesome things for hours on end, although sometimes that comes at the expense of all the less-thrilling acts were supposed to be doing.( Why soak the recipes when you can build a rocket ship out of a cardboard casket and a disassembled vacuum cleaner ?)

Most beings with ADHD have to work 10 epoches harder to achieve seemingly basic organizational and era administration abilities skills that other people develop naturally over occasion. While drug can certainly help, it doesn’t do all the work by itself. As a result, we offer more self-conscious attention to life hacks, remembrance maneuvers, productivity shortcuts and other mental managerial arrangements … because we have to .

GIF via Checkoofilm/ YouTube.

Some say that people with ADHD are much more likely to start their own professions, perhaps because were built to tackle imaginative and entrepreneurial challenges.

While other people dont necessary to discover the same ploys that we do, they can benefit from them. In information, Id “re saying that” ADHDers have some of best available advisory opinions and rehearses for get stuff done even if we dont ever listen to that admonition ourselves .

GIF from “Bruce Almighty.”

Here are 21 productivity gratuities from beings with ADHD that even non-ADHDers can learn from TAGEND

1. Habits are concepts you get free of charge. So get into ’em .

Even though Im not a natural creature of habit, I ever start my period with meds, then a shower, then breathes, then breakfast otherwise I know that Im going to forget one of those steps. Habits are virtually self-automation, which represents less brainpower spent on the interesting thing.

2. Always have a backup( or two, or three) and know where to find it .

I deter additional cables, chargers, adapters, medicine, and other things in my luggage at all periods. That way, whether Im going to the grocery store or on vacation, I dont have to worry about maintaining my phone charged.

3. Remember and alertings: love them and use them .

I even have a repetition 2 p.m. notification on my phone that says EAT SOME LUNCH, YOU IDIOT because, erm, I involve the reminder more than Id like to admit.( Also: IFTTT initiations to automate activities and sync between apps and accounts draw life behavior easier .)

GIF from “Despicable Me 2. “

4. Keep a calendar, and planned in the time it takes for “youve got to” do events .

If it takes you additional time to keep a calendar or get into the headspace for a meeting? Factor that in when youre projecting your daytime too.

5. Pay attention to the your day’s ups and downs, and use them to your advantage .

Do you get sleepy claim after lunch? Then perhaps dont dive into that intense assignment at 1 p.m. Are you better when you answer emails in the morning and get active tasks done subsequently? Then do that. Anatomy out what works for you, and follow that planned .

6. Find your tempo and stick with it .

Even if youre not the slow and steady category, a regular blueprint of sprint and remain can still help you reach the finish line. “Sometimes I’ll start counting trounces in my manager to create a lilt, ” says Tv columnist/ director Hadley Klein. “It sounds crazy but for whatever rationale, it helps me think through occasions in a different way.”

GIF via HIKAKIN/ YouTube.

7. Stir a schedule. Check it twice. Then make another list. And another .

Graphic novelist Tyler Page says, I keep one main to-do index on my computer in a Sticky or TextEdit file. Bigger activities get their own rolls where they get broken down into smaller and smaller factors. The rolls also help with prioritizing something that needs to be done right away goes on the daily to-do list.”

GIF from “Monsters University.”

8. Prioritize action over attainment. Doing the thing.

This one comes from Patty Carnevale, head of revenue at Man Repeller. Weighing your progress in a tangible road can assist you seem more successful, which will then give you the drive to keep going.

9. Reward yourself for your accomplishments no matter how small-time .

If you’re someone who needs frequent feedback to get the necessary dopamine lift, then they are able to fake it by lodging a carrot in front of yourself to keep you going. Alysa Auriemma, an English teach, provides an example: I can speak that breathtaking online fanfic IF I get three articles graded!

GIF from “Parks and Recreation.”

10. Turn the boring characters into a game .

I use a fitness watch which checks how many steps I take in a daylight and how many flights of stairs I clamber. Its fun to prepare the numbers go up , says Nalo Hopkinson, an award-winning scribe. She also reports her daily term count on Twitter, so that people are able to cheerlead her along.

11. Don’t dread the boring material. Just get it done. It’s faster that room .

Focus on the satisfaction that youre going to feel once youve finished the assignment, instead of on the time itll go for get onto done which, tells be honest, is perhaps less era than you think.( Of direction, although there are I know this works for me, it’s still easier said than done .)

12. The more you give occasions pile up, the easier it gets to ignore them . Find a route to keep it fresh . Im a addictive inbox zeroer because the longer that little red-faced notification bubble sits there on my phone, the more inclined I am to ignore it. So I differentiate all my emails as “read, ” then use an IFTTT trigger to prompt me later of things that is really require a follow-up or my attention.

GIF from “Community.”

13. If occasions decline your knowledge, visual clues can help .

You are well aware that mantra, “Out of view, out of mind? ” For parties with ADHD, that’s reasonably literal to a fault. So it makes it possible to stick events right in our own faces so that we can’t miss them . When I was in college, I videotapeed a postcard to my accommodation door with the times I needed to leave by to make it to morning castes on time, says Rebecca Eisenberg, Upworthys senior editor.

14. Work with your brain , not against it . Do you tend to lose your keys in the shower? Then make a new residence for them in the bathroom, where youre already inclined to leave them. That way, theyre always there. Don’t fight your impulses. Use their impetu to your advantage . And on that note

15. Embrace your peculiarities and find a way to draw them work for you.

Everyones brain is different. A mint of ADHDers need to figure out on our own what works for us, rather than having person tell us whats the right way to do stuffs. For illustration: If someone else leaves me a directory of instructions or things to do that’s organized by their thought, it exclusively reaches me disappointed and confused. I have to create my own to-do inventories in my own method even if it does take more time.

GIF from “Adventure Time.”

16. Take a end. Move around. Do a bit dance . Movement helps your intelligence get better. As alluring as it is to made the emphasis on discernible actions, its just as important to not do occasions and give yourself a chance to breathe. Sometimes a little interval can give you a lot of new view .

I use a portable movable stand table and a duet of bluetooth headphones so that I can mostly dance in place and write at the same duration. My partner reputes I’m weird, but it works.

17. Know when to call it a era . Its important to abide when youve reached the object of diminishing returns. Don’t be afraid to give your brain a respite, and come back to it fresh the next day . This’ll save you time in the long run too because the more you ability through your exhaustion, the longer it’ll take to recover.

GIF via ilvbunnies/ YouTube.

18. Identity your flaws and strengths, and be transmitted to others .

“My peers are well aware that in exchange for abiding all the things I do that reach me little dependable, they get a guy who are in a position think outside the box, that can create on the operate, that can wear numerous hats at once, ” says Upworthy’s fearless editor-at-large, Adam Mordecai.

“They also know that if they want something from me, I’m far likelier to get it done if they ping me immediately following chat rather than on email. Give your peeps know how to get the most out of you.”

19. Retain your seeing on the reward, but f orgive yourself and others . Everyones fighting their own uphill battles, and you’re not going to get anything done if you’re too busy hitting yourself up .( Youre not going to help anybody else be more productive if you externalize it and pick on them either .)

GIF from the SAG Awards.

20. Set your goals, but remain flexible.

Maybe you didnt get as much done today as you had hoped, but thats OK. Regroup, “re coming” with a new programme, and try to figure out what went wrong so you can do it better next time. Which fetches me to the last, and perhaps most important, lesson TAGEND

21. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

This is actually a quote from Samuel Beckett, but it also makes for the purposes of an good productivity mantra. The bad parts and failures are inescapable, and youll never overcome them all. But thats OK. Accept it, learn from it, and keep going anyway.

But you do have a mentality. So use it. GIF from “The Wizard of Oz.”

ADHDers understand one thing better than most people: Success is not a stationary target.

There’s no “one weird trick” that will actually bring you any closer to success.

Instead, the best we can hope for is to embrace ourselves for all our strengths and weaknesses, and continue feeling things to work toward. Perhaps that’s a new business seek, 15 simultaneous hobbies, or plainly recollecting to put your underwear on before your pants.

If that last part is a measurable clue, then for me, today was an extraordinary success.

The post What 8 successful ADHDers crave you to know about how they get stuff done. appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[isaacsicebox-blog]

Hearts and Minds || Staissac

Stassi: Throwing away her dinner, Stassi let out a sigh. She hadn't seen Isaac since that day in the hospital and she truly felt like the worst person ever but despite those feelings, she couldn't bring herself to go visit him or call him. Though she knew it was the lamest excuse ever, whenever she was asked by her mother about the lack of visits, she simply told her mother she needed to sort it all out and it was the truth. Hearing her mother in the main hallway of the house she frowned, not expecting her to be home. She walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway to look up from her phone and see her mother with Isaac. A wide smile appeared on her face as she dropped her phone and ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry." She whispered, not wanting to let him go. She was in her own little world at that moment and it was the happiest she had been in days. Isaac: When Stassi's mother showed up in isaacs hospital room he thought it was just part of the hospital protocol to escort the patients out in a wheel chair, but once they were out of the hospital, she insisted that Isaac come to their house for a while so he could get "proper aftercare" and as much as he had tried to decline, it was pretty impossible to say no to the woman. Isaac hasn't talked to Stassi since she had dropped the love bomb on him, but it had been all he could think about. Isaac hadnt ever been in love before, and while it could be possible that he was in love with her, he wasn't quite sure he was ready to say it back. All the people he had loved in the past, his mother, father, and brother, had a way of leaving his life, and he didn't want to loose stassi. With his shiny new crutches, Isaac entered her house hoping that she would be happy he arrived, and when she smiled and ran up to him it was clear that she was. He took in a sharp breath, wincing as she hugged him, but he didn't say anything. "I missed you too" he said through a clenched jaw. Stassi: Letting him go, she let out a content sigh and smiled. "I'm going to take you upstairs to my room and I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet, so don't mind the mess." She nodded her head, helping him up the stairs. Walking into her bedroom, she helped Isaac to her bed and got him comfortable, placing his crutches against the wall. "Do you need or want anything?" She asked, sitting down on the bed next to him. She looked around her room for a minute before finally looking at Isaac. She couldn't stop smiling. It was impossible for her not to be happy when he was around. She let out a deep breath. She made a pouty face before laying down on the bed next to him and laying her head on his chest. She didnt care about the quiet, as long as he was safe and with her. Isaac: "That sounds great" he replied, following her to the stairs and using her help getting up. He wasn't used to needing people's help, but the cast on his leg and the crushes made his life a lot more difficult and he was glad he had her there. He made himself comfortable on her bed, and shook his head no when she asked if he needed anything. As she made herself comfortable next to him, Isacc let out a contented sigh. He was still wondering about what she said in the hospital, and he didn't know if he should say something or not. He wanted to explain to her his thinking, but he didn't want to mess things up or make them more weird. Especially since he was gonna be staying there for a while. "You know, I could get used to this" he said about being able to just lay there with her. For the first time in over 2 weeks, Isaac felt safe and relaxed. Stassi: "You know, if you're ever hungry or anything, whatever is in my mini fridge is yours or if there's anything you want me to make you. I don't want you feeling uncomfortable here or anything." She said, shrugging her shoulders. Looking up at him, Stassi squinted her eyes, then looked at him normally. She wanted to know what was on his mind, but she knew better than to ask, part of her unsure if she actually wanted to know, but she decided to ask anyway. "Whats on your mind?" She asked. "You know you can tell me anything." She told him with a smile. She laughed, nodding her head. "I could too. I could lay here with you for hours." Stassi reached across him, and took his hand, lacing their fingers together then got comfortable again. Just laying here with Isaac was her favorite thing, and she was able to forget about everything else around them and just focus on them. Isaac: He smiled at her offer for food, "Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll let you know if I want you to make anything which knowing me I probably will" he joked with her. Isaac nodded his head, and sighed before speaking "I -- well I don't want to make things weird but I was just thinking about when you visited me in the hospital ..." He trailed off hoping she would remember. Isaac let out a contented sigh as she laced her fingers with his, letting his eyes close as he relaxed there with him. Stassi: "I wouldn't mind." She said softly, shrugging her shoulders. When he mentioned what happened at the hospital she smiled biting her lower lip. "When I said I love you?" She let out a deep breath then nodded her head. "I meant it. I do, I love you so much, and I fell for you, and I ran from that because I'm scared to get my heart broken but I want you, I want to be with you." She looked down for a moment then looked back up at him, frowning as she thought about his mom, brother and father. "I promise, I swear on my life that I will never leave you. I will always be here for you, no matter what." She kissed his cheek then laid back down. Truth be told, Isaac meant the world to her and she would do anything for him. Isaac: He nodded his head, and smiled when she said she loved him. He didn't know how to reply though. He wanted to say it back, but he was scared, and he didn't want to say it until he was 100% sure he wasn't saying it just because she did. He didn't want it to be said just because she said it, or just because he had nearly died, he wanted it to be more special than that. She was more special to him than that. So instead, Isaac took the easy way out, he breathed out a sigh, and looked her in the eye, "I don't think you know how much you mean to me or how much you saying that means to me. Because if I ever lost you I would be devastated. You're the one who kept me going." He closed his eyes remembering the night he got taken. "When my dad took me--" he paused, it was still hard for him to talk about, " when he took me, all I could think about was how I might never see your beautiful face again, or how I would never get to say goodbye. I knew I had to keep taking everything he threw at me, because if I got to see you again, then it would be worth it." He shook his head looking down at his broken leg, hoping that would be enough, that she would understand his feelings and not be mad that he simply couldn't say the words back to her. Stassi: As he spoke, Stassi sat up, and bit her lip listening to him. "You'll never lose me, okay? You mean so much to me, and nothing is ever going to make me leave you," She gave him a quick, sincere smile. As he continued, she tilted her head to the side, then smiled. As he looked down, she placed her hands on his cheeks so he would be looking at her and kissed him deeply. Though he didnt say he loved her, his words were more than enough for her. She didnt expect him to say that he loved her too, as long as he knew how she felt that was all that mattered to her. Pulling away, she placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "I would be devastated if I lost you too," She spoke softly, laying her head back down on his chest. Isaac: Words couldn't express the things he was feeling, so he kissed Stassi back, and wrapped an arm around her as she layed on his chest. He wished that he wasn't so handicapped in that moment, so he could hold her closer and never let go. "Will you sleep here tonight?" He asked her. He knew it might have sounded a little girly, but he hoped that maybe sleeping next to her would help him dream peaceful dreams, rather than reliving his experience. He also didn't want to let her go, as if he did it would all disappear.