#its an interesting dynamic theyve written

[eyestrain-addict]

Iwtv s2 ep2 spoilers

My thing I'm wondering is that in the promos/trailers claudia screams that Louis "picked another one over me" but in this episode she's encouraging louis to live outside of her and pursue a romance with Armand. I wonder what's going to change in the next few episodes.

[lollytea]

The Blight family are so interesting IN THEORY. In execution they are....😬

[determinate-negation]

i know new york being the ancestral homeland of jews is a joke but as a jew from europe it literally feels that way. like i cannot imagine like a whole street written in hebrew. like i want to go there just to see that. i dont think jews inthe united states are aware of how good they have it

i do want to note that america is also a settler colonial state and its only because of specific american aims of the settler project and material realities of the economy and the physical land they were trying to settler that theyve had this “melting pot” ideology where jews were incorporated similarly to italian and irish immigrants, instead of continuing to have deeply ingrained religious and cultural antisemitism like europe. there were in some periods of us history more restrictions on jewish immigration and some institutional barriers for jews, especially before and during ww2, but never to the same degree as europe. although american jews were rarely (if ever, i dont know any examples but there could be some) violent genocidal settlers like the anglos and generally migrated later, we were still settlers searching for economic interests provided by american expansion on native land. that being said were here now and have the status of any other american settler (meaning people who arent indigenous or descended from enslaved people brought here against their will) most indigenous theorists and activists maintain that they want sovereignty, reparations, companies to stop destroying native land, etc, not every american settler to leave. i really believe that the united states also must fall, but i dont think this makes us like not belonging, at least any more than the other settlers.

i just want to say this to explain that my love for new york and the east coast us is complex. objectively the multicultural and cosmopolitan aspects of nyc that make it unique are products of american imperialism– for example nyc is the most linguistically diverse city in the world! over 600 languages are spoken here, including languages that arent spoken anywhere else anymore, but think about why that is. and the flourishing of jewish communities and culture in parts of the us was a product of specific historic processes and policies, and we like any other descendants of settler-immigrants have to grapple with that. i think its possible to oppose and fight against american imperialism and settler colonialism and still deeply appreciate the contradictory aspects of culture in america. (which lbr all the dynamic and interesting and worth preserving things about american culture were not created by anglos, but by outsiders and oppressed people) anyways this is all just to say im really not coming at it from a nationalist perspective but a diaspora perspective but yeah, new york is such a jewish city its genuinely incredible. this is why i especially despise tri state area zionists... youre ignoring that you live in the greatest place in the world for jews. literally the most jewish city in the world. like theres a moving company called schleppers here, yiddish words are part of everyones dialect, you can get the best jewish food everywhere from delis that are like 100 years old, we literally have a truck called the mitzvah tank that chabad drives around and asks people on the street if theyre jewish. the only romaniote synagogue in the western hemisphere is here and they have a greek jewish festival every year (which unfortunately is always covered in israeli flags -_-) the whole foods by one of my work sites had a sign up for yom kippur catering because the neighborhood is so jewish.

jewish culture and history and jews in general are just part of the fabric of life in new york. also whatever street youre talking about was probably written in yiddish since thats what most of the hassidic jews speak here! nyc has the largest concentration of yiddish speakers, which isnt surprising, and its the 8th most spoken language in nyc. theres also a big and still growing bukharian community here too. if you ever can, i really recommend visiting new york. theres so much jewish culture and history here. a lot of american jews live much more isolated, so i cant speak for them, but for many parts of the north east i feel that were lucky. antisemitism exists here but idk ive grown up in pretty jewish areas and never really experienced it. europe sounds legitimately shitty. also... fun fact, netanyahu went to high school in the suburbs outside of philly

^my photos in the lower east side, and heres some photography of hassidic williamsburg too

also williamsburg

[camcorderrevival]

to you, what's the difference between eleven/amy and twelve/clara? which one do you ship more and why? (i'm guessing the answer to the second is pretty obvious but i'm curious about your answer)

i think the biggest difference, beyond like narrative and theme, is that twelveclara gets more breathing room in the series. obviously youve got the relationship between clara and danny, and missy and twelve (and missy and clara to some extent), but twelveclara is very much given the centre stage. the viewer's attention is meant to be on them, the show is about them (for good reason). the other relationships function as ways to explore twelve and clara as separate characters, of course, but they also very much work emphasise the relationship between the two as well.

and like. elevenamy isnt some super niche relationship with no screentime or development. theyre the core of s5,6,7a just like twelveclara is the core s8&9. (and just like ninerose is the core s1, and tenmartha is the core of s3. whether you read them as romantic or platonic or whatever, the doctor & companion dynamics foster a kind of intimacy that keeps the show interesting and moving forward).

but you definitely more get the sense that, especially in s6, the dynamic is fighting for space with amyrory/elevenriver. the show gets stuck in a weird place where it is trying to convince the viewer that the satisfying conclusion for all of these characters is amyrory and elevenriver, but the story ends if amy really chooses rory in any meaningful way (and thats no good if youre trying to get two and bit series out of it). so youve got elevenamy which is the driving point of the narrative and somewhat more interesting/dynamic than amyrory, and amyrory which feels (to me) like a much more stuck, static point but the show really wants you to believe that its satisfying and interesting (without ever putting much effort into it, because that would detract too much from the core relationship). both relationships suffer from that weird balance that gets struck.

twelveclara does not face that same weirdness so the relationship gets more room to develop (or in their case devolve into a spiral of self-destruction and timeline altering) (yay).

beyond that difference in narrative space. i think both relationships deal with some similar themes (because they are the themes that haunt most of moffat's time as showrunner, and some of the episodes that he wrote for rtd). memory, stories, identity in the other.

but there are also quite different points. elevenamy takes on a more religious tone (especially in tgc + tgww). amy isnt doctorified to the same extent as clara, so the narrative surrounding identity in the other differs.

elevenamy basically imprint on each other as children and tie themselves around that point of connection, they cant help but deify each other (they r cathyheathcliff). doctorclara (because eleven's relevant in this for a little bit) are tied together by missy (fate. prophecy. your sometimes-ex who thinks you'd get on really well with this brunette woman whos got problems. insult/compliment??) and then progressively become more and more like each other till they have to be cosmically separated. and they want to be like each other because theyre obsessed with each other, of course, but also because they think that it'll give them more control over everything.

amy leaves the doctor because shes convinced he'll always leave her so she needs to stay with her safety blanket backup husband so she never ever has to be alone again (and she'll never ever be lonely little amelia pond again). clara leaves (not really) twelve because of the aforementioned cosmic separation.

amy puts the doctor in her childrens book. twelve puts clara in a song.

lastly, i will always bat for twelveclara whenever wherever. but theyre good. theyre well-written and they crash and burn so beautifully. there's not much to say. elevenamy is so interesting firstly because theyve lived in my brain forever im normal like that, secondly because the writing gets so awkward at points that there's hundreds and millions of things to say. so i love them very much sorry to twelveclara.

[forlorn-crows]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

im not usually good with these, but i can share some of the ones ive really enjoyed writing:

Learning to Swim

my first in depth gill fic; just something about rain being obsessed with himself and mountain being so loving, attentive, and zoned in on rain's pleasure . . . it was after a period of writing where nothing felt "right," and i think this fic helped me tap back in to my writing voice. i wanted to showcase the emotions of teaching moments; i dont think we get to see that too often, let alone the 'clumsiness' and hesitation of them.

2. this ficlet featuring transmasc cirrus & aether

i dont think very many people read this one. but i love the idea of a magick strap where the user can feel everything while in a hot, gender affirming scene. i dont see very often that we 'trans' any of the ghoulettes, and i love the dynamic cirrus and aether have, so i thought they'd fit well here. something about he/him cirrus feels right to me, and nice to explore.

3. tough love

void's [@divine-misfortune's] fault (affectionate). we have so many discussions about quintosis and hypno kink that i love, and this was borne from one of them. omega's backwards way of showing his love, while also getting to Fuck with zephyr. going against their will to do something for their benefit, even though you know they'll wake up later and curse out omega for doing it.

4. mushy may 2024 day 5: animals

hank the raccoon and juniper the cat, two of my beloved animal OCs. theyre just fun to write about, and have a simple, yet fun love for each other. mountain, of course, is always caught in the middle.

5. Yours In The End

a fic meant really to channel negative feelings into. im still feeling a lot of the emotions that went into writing this. but also the dynamic of dew and mountain and aether's relationship after Everything Happened is meaningful in so many ways to me. the way they have to navigate a scary new world, and all they have is each other.

6. this big boy quintosis sandwich ficlet

to be honest its one of my own fics i go back and re-read all the time. i just like mountain zonked and helpless between two beefy, daddy quint ghouls, okay?

7. mushy may 2023 day 8: first time

another one of my own fics i go back to. the pause they have before falling into one another; you just know theyve danced around each other for a hot minute. but they're both new, freshly summoned. they have to figure out their own bodies, let alone who and how they want to share them with. but its just . . . easy for them to make that jump. and i do enjoy little dick mountain from time to time.

8. this terzomega ficlet

the one and only time ive written these two, though i dont know why that is. but this one i had fun with the scene setting and action descriptions, i felt like i had a clear image in my mind's eye and really put it down on paper. i really love omega and terzo's dynamic too, so that made it an enjoyable writing session. this was shortly after JHKM came out, so i snuck a reference to the line "get on your knees and start prayin'" in there.

you'll notice Lady of the Lake is not on this list, because all i did was cry about it for months, and then beat myself up to finish it for the first day of kinktober '23. it was not necessarily fun to write, but the concept itself i enjoyed, lmao

xx

@iamthecomet, @waywardsamaritan, @askingforthesun, @wrathofrats, and @ghoul-slime id be interested to know some of the fics you'd put on your own lists!

[affinitystoryblog]

Hi!!! I've been wondering abt this, but have the ships been around for long (Sinie/Agitha, Csilla/Everett, Elise/Heather), what made you decide on them? Have you planned them since the beginning? How do you plan to explore their dynamics in the story?

hi!! thank you so much for asking!

so Affinity is an old story. i first thought of it in 2015 when i was 17. so besides sinie and csilla, every other character mentioned was added later.

Elise/Heather is the oldest ship, but honestly also probably the weakest because i have a dynamic for them, but theres hardly any writing of that dynamic being challenged or improving as of yet. i created them to be apart of sinie's friend group, and somehow i got this idea that theyd look cute together so...girlfriends! theyre super lovey dovey and pda and obvious. but so far thats rly it. ngl, theyre a bit on the back burner for me couple wise LOL

Sinie/Agitha was a thing when i rebooted the story in 2020, completely rewriting it. Agitha was created for this new rewrite and Chloe from Miraculous was actually my inspiration because i saw chloe and how badly she was written, wanted better for her, and decided that i can indeed do better lmao so i did! Agitha is similar to chloe but also very different because she is My idea of what chloe could've been.

Agitha and Sinie start off as enemies, but tbh theyve kind of always had chemistry. they met in freshman year of high school and agitha is that one post thats like "i liked this girl but i didnt know how to deal with it so i threatened her to leave the school" kinda vibe. but sinie is also stubborn as hell and a fighter, so agitha's little bouts of bullying does nothing because sinie can match that energy. despite being so guarded, agitha does let herself be vulnerable with sinie tho she doesnt admit it. they actually had their first kiss with each other their sophomore year when agitha found pootie abandoned as a puppy on the street. its gonna be a whole chapter lol anyway theres too much to say in one answered ask about agitha and sinie so ill leave it here lol

Csilla/Everett were also not a thing until this rewrite, everett actually a lot newer than agitha. everett was created as a way to give csilla a love interest because she deserves one too, but she's into girls and boys so i gave her a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend. everett is deliberately created for csilla by agitha as a physical manifestation of csilla's dream partner. he's everything she likes and is attracted to. its initially meant to be a trap to gain information on how to better defeat them, but somewhere along the way csilla and everett actually end up falling for each other. once its apparent everett is no longer just a dream, but a physical person with a heart, is when csilla finds out his true purpose. but in my heart, csilla would know everett by now and be angry and hurt that he of course lied to her, but she could forgive him because of all the context. everett was only acting out as programed by agitha, but somewhere along the way when he found a heart of his own, he became his own person. thats what csilla fell in love with. everett's intentions with csilla in the beginning arent true, but as he grows his own soul, he falls for her as well. i literally love them...

[mapsofnonexistentplacesremade]

Olzha and freda are like my favorites tell me more about their dynamic. i need to go through your toyhouse and read more of the profiles for trainstory... Hi

OK YES THEY ARE ALSO MY FAVORITES

i dont think ive written it down anywhere but the way they meet is like. roughly a month after freya arrives to the train and has befriended isel she keeps hearing the name of this one guy show up and is like alright im gonna figure out who olzhas is. she spends like an entire day just scaling the entire perimeter of the train until she locates em in the midst of renovating eir restaurant and just like stands outside waiting saying nothing. and olzhas seemingly doesnt notice so she just keeps coming by and standing outside for like a week till e's like hey you can come in you know.

and from then on the two start to talk and freya's like. trying to figure out what this guy's deal is because e keeps being mentioned in the context of isel but isel himself just does not want ANYTHING to do with em and olzhas detects this thought with eir clairvoyance and just like. resignedly explains the entire matter of the two's divorce and then is like wow that felt great to talk about. freya's kind of just amused by everything and is like alright. kind of want to put this man under a microscope

freya just starts to visit eir place more and more frequently to the point where it becomes a daily thing.... theyve taken up the habit of having dinner together notably and just generally discussing whatever the fuck. like the major thing between them is just idle chat and forming inside jokes and its all just very leisurely and relaxed between the two of them

eventually after a few conversations about olzhas' telepathic powers (which freya finds very very cool.) e's like hey do you want to try out connecting our thoughts its basically like a secret way to talk. freya (fan of talking and fan of secrets) is immediately willing to try it out and thats basically the basis for the two always being psychically connected. uhh they just get like a full repertoire of one anothers thoughts and emotions and evidently it lead to their understanding of one another getting rounded out VERY quickly, theyre both very familiar with one anothers state of mind and can be super sensitive to any discomfort which has both lead to some interesting stories the two've talked out and also them quickly figuring out precise ways to help one another calm down and whatnot

and honestly its very important for freya shes very shy very anxious about talking to new people in general even if she conducts herself in a kinda grandiose whimsical manner. and shes gotten better about it since then but like her befriending olzhas was a fucking anomaly and it was a very lucky one. over time shes become more outspoken and confident just because those traits of eirs rubbed off on her and conversely olzhas started to gain both a better sense of responsbility and a better sense of joviality because of her.

more broadly speaking i just like their dynamic because its like.... sooooo fucking funny to me conceptually freya's strongest friendships being ones with two divorced men who hate each other so bad but theyd both drop dead for her because shes so endearing. and with these two in particular they're just complete gadflies but olzhas is very blunt and morose and freya has this cheery friendly air about her. but also olzhas is arguably the more levelheaded the one more willing to help others the one who acts objectively, freya contrarily can be extremely self-oriented and willing to disregard consequence or others feelings for the sake of her own wants and needs.... HOWEVER they care about one anothers wellbeing so bad and they know one another inside out and kind of just know how to approach one anothers shortcomings. they balance one another out and its like easy for them to confront one another.... theres this weird mutual elegance and understanding that actually makes it so that they each find it fun to 'argue' because they know it comes from a good place and no matter what theyll hear one another out. at the same time theyre so in tune with one another that it can become insular and they can appear very strange or mean to any onlookers. idk their discrepancies and double standards in the context of how they act as a duo is so charming to me its my favorite thing to write about

[tuxedokit]

norma/dion

OOOOOOH THE FOILS this is an interesting dynamic

when i started shipping it, if i did:

idk if i ship it !!!

my thoughts:

i can definitely see the appeal, what with them both having venom to spit and immediate regret to follow. they both try and try so hard to be good, but they keep finding themselves hurting the ones around them and regretting it, but regret doesn't undo what they've done. i think they would either bond heavily over that or hate each other for it because all they can see in one another is what they hate about themselves. the more i write this, the more im interested in the ship

what makes me happy about them:

the idea of them seeing each other and finally having someone who gets it. someone who understands, cause frazie and lizzie mught say they get it but theyve never spat acid at those they loved, at people who were innocent. they might have snarked and teased, but never said things as hurtful as dion and norma had. and they look at each other, and they finally feel seen. finally, someone understands. im not alone.

what makes me sad about them:

exactly what makes me happy about them. turn it around, now theres someone there who keeps acting like you, and reflecting to you how shitty youve been. you look at this girl and did she really just say that? to a ten year old? jesus christ. you maybe find yourself scolding her, yelling at her, because who says something like that to someonenthey claim to love?! but... so did you. you dont really hate her, do you? no, that's not quite right... no. you understand her. you understand her, and you hate yourself for it.

things done in fanfic that annoy me:

when theyre written as terrible people, who meant all the harm they caused. no idea if its been done but like i feel it in my heart that its been done (ik its been done ab dion)

things i look for in fanfic:

i have never once read a dion/norma fanfic

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other:

i... dont... know? the more i think about this ship, the more it makes sense to me.

my happily ever after for them:

THERAPY. and apologies. them being right there next to one another, supporting each other through the shame of acknowledging they were in the wrong and the sting of owning up to it and saying sorry. because no one else they know quite understands it like they do. no one else was that cruel. no one else felt that ice in their veins right after saying something so hurtful. so who else would be better suited to help them heal than each other, who understand?

big spoon/little spoon:

dion

favourite activity:

playfully shit talking the other junior agents, people watching and commenting on peoples outfits.... and crying together. they get into screaming matches sometimes, but they always come back together because they know they'll understand and they both feel so bad and they know she does too

[dykeyote]

characters for the ask game you say 👀- soren, gerry, kevin and marisol if you wish?

YESSSSSS

SOREN BALTIMORE

how i feel about him: I LOVE HIM SOOOO MUCH HES LIKE . hes my second fav chara but hes THIS close to being tied with jedidiah and if u cant tell from like . everything about my acc thats HIGH praise

all the people i ship w him: sydney and marie-ann altho i usually see the latter as being sort of unlabeled and fluctuating between platonic and romantic (: i can be enticed into romantic sonnel from time to time but i usually prefer them to be queerplatonic which leads us to .....

fav platonic dynamic: QUEERPLATONIC SONNEL SOLOS UR FAV

my unpopular opinion: idk if i haaave one . this isnt like DISCOURSEY but its that i think sydsoren is good and cute and more people should like it

one thing i wish had happened: MAKE HIM INTERACT MORE WITH MARIE-ANN NOW. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also rowan too bc i think that would be an interesting parallel

GERRY KEAY

how i feel about him: surprisingly for a transmasc in the tma fandom ..... ive never been a huge gerry girlie . hes cool and all but he confused me at the start bc i kept mixing Gerard up with Jared bc my audio processing issues and americanness combined to destroy me so i think that made it tricky for me to get into him . hes cool tho

all the people i ship w him: nobody strongly . if i see cute ship fanart im like aw! thats nice and then i move on

fav platonic dynamic: queerplatonic jongerry solos ur fav

unpopular opinion: honestly just that i dont care about him that much ..... sorry gerry fans . hes cool and i like his design but im just like . hes there

one thing i wish had happened: YO I JUST HAD A REALIZATION . GERRY KEAY AND OLIVER BANKS WOULD BE A COOL DYNAMIC . idk if theyve ever interacted in the show but if they havent they should

KEVIN DESERT BLUFFS

how i feel about him: OH YOU ALREADY FUCKING KNOW IM INSANE CRAZY ABOUT HIM OH MY GOD . hes one of my favorite characters of all time honestly ive been obsessed with him since 2019 wtnvs been my special interest for years and hes a HUGE focal point of it . i love him so much <3333 evil little skrunkly

all the people i ship him with: carlos mainly but charlevin is cute too . im a kevlos girlie at heart but if charlevin is written well i can get into it too especially if its radioscientology . i made this silly little oc that dated him in 2019 and im sure he was very badly written but i have a soft spot for them so ill include them . maybe ill rewrite them with the gf someday

fav platonic dynamic; i LOOOOOOVE his dynamic with vanessa and i love his dynamic with lauren too . gay/lesbian solidarity vs gay/lesbian antagonism

unpopular opinion: OH I HAVE SO MANY . a: kevlos is good actually and i like it more than charlevin i dont Dislike charlevin but im just more interested in kevlos as a dynamic. b: i have literally no interest in arcs that make kevin all sweet and non-bloody and shy its so boring let him be fucked up AND heal from his trauma. c: he didnt abuse or gaslight carlos in taking off he was a shitty friend but theres far FAR more evidence to suggest that it was simply the fault of him not being very good at social interaction and having severely unhealthy behaviors due to his trauma that he needs to work on before him and carlos can be in a healthy relationship than there is for him actually trying to manipulate carlos in some way

one thing i wish happened: i wish we saw more of kevin and carlos's relationship before they left . the shit in uhhhhh the buying of lot 37 drove me INSANE . in the goddamn MEMBRANE . and i wouldve loved to see some in the show ): ..... but i doubt it

MARISOL YUCHENGCO

how i feel about her: I LOVE HER SO MUCH .... shes so cute <3 underrated honestly make more marisol content now!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!! she gives me nice fuzzy feelings

all the people i ship with her: OMG IVE GOTTA CHECK MY FUCKING . i made a ship chart for chnt which is embarrassing but useful bc i have so many goddamn ships in htat fucking camp. i like her with salem OBVI but im also fond of her with yvonne and rowan and fennel on occasion (: 

fav platonic dynamic: again probably sydney (: i also think her and joshua would be an interesting dynamic oddly ?? idk what that interaction would Be but i think itd be interesting to play out

unpopular opinion: she would be liked way better by the fanbase at large if her and salem were both guys and nobody really seems to want to admit that

one thing that i wish happened: just more of her honestly (: and more of her relationship with salem . theyre CUTE i want more of my girlies .....

[gayspock]

ALSO jool jool jool

im still very torn on jool. i think ultimately... i dont know. i dont entirely GET why she's here, still. like i mean i get it- she doesn't have anywhere to go, or whatever- but narratively speaking.

like i could understand some arguments. maybe, i figure, her purpose was to balance out the different groups (i.e, talyn crew vs moya crew). and i suppose that makes some sort of sense, both in terms of numbers and dynamics- but it still just isnt... enough for me?

because like. my PROBLEM isnt her being an "annoyance". i mean- ok, the screaming was too much to begin with, but theyve dialled it back so im fine with that, now. but like, i havent gone through too many forum threads/discussions on her, but i can easily see people writing her off as the woooorst bc she's "annoying" in general which. LOOK...

like, sure, i get it could be too much for some ppl still. but me? usually i dont mind if there's a character, who just causes issues for the others, and i dont mind if there's a character whos whiny, and i dont mind if there's a character whos kind of written to be "unlikable". im usually v fine with that, do you know what i mean? like- if it makes sense for the character to be that way then im okay with it. and i think its more reasonable for characters to sometimes be in that role, and sometimes even necessary.

and i mean that ESPECIALLY when like.. frankly i think the character *is* kinda justified in their upset/distress and is lashing out bc of it. like i dont think it makes any amount of sense for everyone, all of the time to take things happily and in their stride and its odd when ppl expect that of characters. like yeah shes fucking bitchy. i would be TOO in her situation.

my problem starts is when like... it kind of feels like thats the only purpose they have? or they lack depth in other regards. and with jool, ehhhh uhm.... ehhhh. uhm. ehrm.

bc like thus far... she really hasnt DONE anything except be a plot device at times, to cause further conflict for the others. we dont really have the time to explore her properly. and it IS kinda odd for her to still be there with them. we dont really see a decent exploration of her with the others... she just acts out, gets yelled at, end of... and i feel like, when she does cause problems, its never... interesting?

like- forgive me, i have issues a bit with rygel too. BUT when he caused conflict, at least early on, it was with more purpose. he had good scenes with zhaan. he sold them out, a few times, but it was a calculated decision that made sense for who he was and in turn who the rest of them arent. he's there, sort of, as this constant reminder of how they started out with respect to one another. and he himself does have good scenes - like in the last 2 parter, where he just killed that charrid, or that scene all the way back in s1 where he was imprisoned with that other leader, etc... theyre interesting beats, and good insights into that type of character

but thus far we really.. havent gotten that with jool. and when she DOES cause problems, a lot of it is just... "oh jool fucked it up again! booo!" LIKE... i dont know it just feels lazy and like she is there for no reason other than to cause problems. and its a shame bc she does... have an interesting enough setup that they havent touched on, like, at all. which i dont BLAME them for- theyve had a lot to do, thus far- but like... also?

if they dont have time for her... then why introduce her at that point in the show? its how i felt with, like, the first time they reintroduced stark. you could so easily have taken him out of those 2 episodes he was in, before he died, instead of swinging back and forth with it. i mean it. instead it just felt wishy washy, with the way he was brought into the show, too.

and with jool its like... even when she first appeared she really didnt do anything, in my opinion, except scream and write them out of corners. and like i said- she hasnt done anything interesting since. and to me, it therefore just feels... like why is she here? i feel bad, bc she is starting to warm up to me-

bc like im saying all this, bc we just got her first episode where i liked her (that is, revenging angel). she fucks up terribly. BUT it isnt just for the conceit of the episode- i mean, well it is, but we also explore HER more properly, and see her honest thoughts, and we get that nice bit of her with d'argo. like she isnt JUST existing to cause a problem - she's actually a character in her own right, which ike... you know... i think thats a far enough thing to ask of a character. and its like they didnt even have to give her sympathetic reasons behind stuff, which they did here- they just had to, like.. give her some dimension, other than what they did

anyways. i hope they build on her more from now on but im also unsure of when the hell they could. im certain we're going to be building back up to something mad in the upcoming episodes so god knows.

[paralianprince]

Any advice for someone who wants to write a micro?

*LOOKS AT U WITH SUCH GLEEFUL, MANIC INTENSITY THAT U DISINTEGRATE INTO SAND*

*builds u into a cute little sandcastle*   YES ABSOLUTELY

okay so the best advice i can give is to lean way into the ways in which they differ from conventional nations / representatives.  take the time to really think about the ways their experiences and perspectives are different, just because of what they are, and how they exist.  imo that’s one of the biggest appeals to playing one, getting to explore those changes in perspective.

for example:  bc you sent me this, i’m assuming that you havent written a micronation before, but that you ARE in the hws rpc, so i’m inferring that you probably play a real nation character or some other, still valid, type of representative, like a state or a city.  so probably a few centuries old at least, Survived Some Really Awful Shit, those kinds of characters?  by which i mean, basically every character you’re going to interact with ever?

they are all KAIJUS to you now.

the average micronation is considered "pretty old" if they’re, like, 60.  and most of them haven’t been through a lot by comparison - by the standards of “immortal-ish” people, they really don’t have a lot of life experience.*  and that’s a cool thing!  that’s interesting!  small setbacks can be huge to them, and sometimes you’ll get to write them experiencing something for the first time ever, which for immortal characters is hard to come by.

and thats important, because even though theyre completely different from nations - theyre still immortal kids.  theyre completely different from humans, too.  they’re stranded somewhere in between, and cant fully relate to either.

as a side effect of this, your character probably wont know anything about the adult nations in terms of what theyve been through, or who has a centuries-long grudge against who.  its a really bizarre situation to observe as an outsider!  and asking adult nations any questions about the past can feel like trying to step out onto a frozen lake.

(*this is true for basically all of them except seb, who is old as shit and only gets categorised as a micronation because apparently its too much a pain in the ass to just clarify what the fuck a terra nullius is.  some of the points to follow can still apply to him tho!)

something else which makes micronations feel so different to write is how ephemeral they all are, how unreliable their existence is.  the extent to which they’re aware of this, and whether or not they’ll actually acknowledge it.

imagine a representative who could be dissolved over the weekend, with no warning, just because their boss lost too much money or got bored.  every micro rper i’ve ever seen has given their character some unique take on the weird existential dread this inevitably causes - sometimes, they can only truly relate to each other.  these kids are lost as hell.

they’ll probably have a really close bond (not necessarily always positive, but always hugely significant) with their founders and/or their rulers, because in all likelyhood that’s probably the only boss they’ve ever had yet.  it’s rare for this not to be the case!  like, MAYBE they’re one generation away by now if your micro is one of the older ones. think for a moment of a normal nation character - if ONE SINGLE human was solely responsible for the creation of this living representative, how important do you imagine that human would be to them?  how much of a formative influence over their personality would that human have?

speaking of formative influences - no matter which micronation you pick, there WILL be a weird dynamic of some kind between your chara and whoever their macro is.  because it is just basically impossible for you to be as important to them as they are to you.

let’s say you pick up kugel for example.  austr/as are going to be CENTRAL and CRUCIAL to your character’s experiences, but just think of ALL the other characters that are so so important to austr/a, and its history and relations??  over CENTURIES?  and then some guy builds a silly house and gets put in jail about it and now youre being accosted by this weird immortal child suddenly and i guess hes related to you??

i’m not saying anything about ooc here btw - im not saying anything at all about muns.   im saying that the ic micro-macro dynamic is, inevitably, HUGELY unbalanced in SOME way, and that’s SO SUPER FUCKING INTERESTING.  ITS GREAT. 

finally and MOST importantly, micros also have a HUGE potential to be goofy as fuck.  some of them, like sea for example, are actually mostly normal By Comparison - and then you get the ones who tie their currency to the current price of cookie dough, or make up some elaborate lore about how they invented time.  i really encourage looking into your micro and incorporating some of the weird traits you’ll find !!

(on that note, they won’t have a lot of history to learn [unless youre seb lmfao], so you can probably realistically learn all of it, and since theres not that much of it, everything you learn can be, at least a little, important to your character in some way!)

but even the more normal micros are still super weird!  like, the reasons behind why they were founded, WHERE they are, etc they really just are inherently strange in a delightful way!  theyre all so vibrant!  and building a character out of what little a micronation has is a really fun experience and gives you a lot of creative freedom.

and as primarily a micro rper, i promise u, the experience of finding someone *else* who *also* plays micronations is so exciting and rare that it borders on being a meta sort of parallel to the bonds that the micros have with each other.

im honestly of the opinion that hws rpers should Try writing a micronation at least Once.  even if its just for like a week. ive written both kinds of characters, and, with my hand to god, it REALLY affects the way you interact w other characters, and the way they interact with yours in return.  and it is FASCINATING to watch people write micros for the first time, and talking with them about it is extremely fun!  im biased obviously - i think its hard not to be when youre invested in your character and the groups they’re a part of.  but still !!

ANYWAY THANK U SM FOR ASKING ME THIS, I LOVE YOU AND I HOPE I HELPED!!!!!!!!  IF YOU DO END UP MAKING ONE I AM *BEGGING* U TO LET ME KNOW ASAP

[lesbiradshaw]

Genuinely interested in what you think about Bucky being perceived as female-coded in some parts of the fandom. I read that thread years ago and agreed with because it sounded logical, but now I'm not so sure. Recently found out about the existence of this Tony Stark meta essay called "Tony Stark as the most female-coded superhero" and they use the same arguments: loss of agency, playing the damsel in distress role more often than their counterpart, etc. I can't take "fm-coded" seriously anymore

oh boy ...

idk how long this will end up but to preface whatever we do end up with: 1) im a nonbinary lesbian so my perception on what it means to be a woman and femininity in general is not going to be what a lot of other peoples is and 2) im a few months out from getting a degree in gender studies. take that for what you will. no i will not be arguing about this in my inbox.

to be frank, in my opinion, bucky being female coded is bullshit. not only is it bullshit, i have seen it used as a weapon by so many white women and terfs that even if it were true, i wouldnt care! whoever came up with the term “woobify” (which i have most often seen used in reference to how tony stark is treated) needs to tell bucky stans that they aren’t exempt. a lot of them see bucky being a victim as something that needs a continuation into every other part of his life, hence why he’s so often put into these weird dynamics with his ships and given traits he’s never displayed on screen.

i keep thinking of disclaimers to make in anticipation of people coming to my inbox crying so here’s another: if you are a woman or someone who feels a close connection to certain parts of womanhood, me saying bucky isnt woman coded in no way takes away from you identifying with him or parts of his story. that is personal. a woman’s personal relation to him is not reliant on “woman coding” as i’ve seen a lot of white women and terfs suggest, not does it strengthen the existence of such coding. coding is created within the original media, not within the fandom.

i also just realized ive been using the term woman coded rather than female coded, but i think subconsciously there is a reason for that that ties into one of my main points pretty well: the mcu stan’s definition of “female” coding relies on stereotypes, not about female roles, but about what it means in their opinion to be a woman. the issue with this is they take traits they think only exist in (cishet) women and use them to deem these (cishet) male characters as woman coded when in fact these traits are not exclusive to women and enforce weird standards upon people who are women that might not be cis or het or share these traits!

tony stark being short and bucky having long hair is not what would make them woman coded. bucky being rescued by a man while woozy is not what would make him woman coded. bucky being submissive to pierce when LITERALLY BEING BRAINWASHED is not what would make him woman coded. and perhaps a harsh wake up call: bucky’s story hinging around loss of agency issues and trauma in no way shape or form is what would make him woman coded. does it perhaps make him easier for many women to relate to? yes. but is this something exclusive to women? no. a vast majority of trauma victims are going to relate to him, and chalking up trauma to being something female makes me feel really funny.

i know exactly what thread youre talking about lmfao and its right up there on my shit list next to the childlike bucky post. theyre actually very similar now that i think about it ... but anyways. now that ive listed my woes about what doesnt make a character woman coded, what actually would! AND HERE IS WHERE WE GET INTO AN ACTUAL CASE OF WOMAN CODING! mr prequel series anakin skywalker aka my shakespearean downfall dilf. why is he seen as a valid example of woman coding? i will tell you.

the thing about woman coding is that its meant to subvert heteronormative tropes while remaining self aware of that to exploit and emphasize the change. DO YOU HEAR ME? SELF AWARE! anakin is given many of these stupid stereotypical traits i mentioned before, but they arent reliant on physical appearance at all. they are reliant on roles. padme is the levelheaded senate leader, the one with power and stability, while anakin is hotheaded and frankly a bit whimsical while he struggles for his own type of power and control. another classic example of woman coding (which i actually wrote a paper on last semester in my men and masculinities class) is heathcliff from wuthering heights, whose counterpart to his coding is cathy. both men have that whimsicality in common that contrasts heavily with how we would expect them to act. bucky does not act like them at all.

the reason that this is different from bucky and steve’s ‘damsel in distress’ argument is the self awareness i mentioned before. not to mention the weird heteronormative standards being applied as requirements for their gay relationship to be seen as valid because it “fits the narrative” but .. anyways.

anakin and heathcliff both have their subverted traits played up in a way that shows off how ridiculous the women usually written in their roles are forced to act. its tongue in cheek, because woman coding is not only about individual traits, but about how the character interacts with the story because of this as a whole. bucky is often seen as woman coded because he is put into these situations where he is “rescued” by someone that half his stans see as his love interest (steve my baby im sorry) when hes really only rescued maybe twice? at azzano and from the water when the helicopter crashed. only one of those is a real damsel in distress situation. all of the others are cases where hes fighting his own way out ????? bucky doesnt just sit around waiting for a “real man” to get off his ass as that post suggested but i digress.

anyways. mcu stans lack any self awareness that would be required even if bucky and tony were woman coded. calling them woman coded does not count as self awareness! the real self awareness comes with recognizing that woman coding doesnt actually make these characters women and it doesnt mean they forever belong in these “female” roles. mcu stans take the stereotypes they pick out at face value and use them to say “look! bucky is a bottom!” or to continue taking away his agency by ignoring all of his other actions and traits that dont fit in to this mold theyve made around the idea that he needs a man to save him or boss him around. his story as a whole is the only thing that would make him woman coded and seeing as there is no self awareness of this shown, no attempts to subvert, he displays little to no traditionally feminine traits, and loss of agency on its own is not something that only applies to women ...

in short: in my opinion, bucky is not woman coded. mcu stans just like rolling with stereotypes that rely around cis bodies and straight relationships. the end.

[leafy-wings]

how do you cope with starflight's crush on sunny... do you hc he gets over it, hc it never happened at all, or just ignore starflight entirely? asking since i love starflight but idk what to do about this

to be fair i actually think that the conflict between two characters raised together through the midst of extreme trauma having wildly different perceptions of their dynamic is interesting. i think that its believable starflight would pine for sunny when hes so lonely and timid, and its believably that sunny wouldnt be anywhere near reciprocating- i think its just fine. yeah, its uncomfortable- its SUPPOSED to be, and its settled. its not like starflight still has a crush on her when not only are they dealing with so much shit from dark secret-brightest night that they have no time to consider it but its never brought up, starflight just kinda stop hanging out with sunny and instead starts hanging out with fatespeaker (not that i ship starspeaker or fateflight or whatever fun alliterative ship name theyve got, but clearly tui wants us to think that

its one of the only things in canon that i think is uncomfortable but a result of trauma and written well. i like analysis of unhealthy coping mechanisms ie latching yourself to someone and fantasizing about an unachievable dynamic. i like starflight and i prefer to think that he is gay because i like it, and i think he deserves a boyfriend he can bond with without pressure- i dont think any relationship formed by trauma/force is going to end up healthy or at the very least should be analyzed with tact and acknowledge potential issues (this is why i dont ship cleril aside from the age and also that i prefer that they are gay, because i am gay)

[wickedpact]

Hey feel free to ignore this,, but I was just wondering if I could ask your opinion (and your followers opinions) on JoeNicky fics where the others aren’t really a part of it?

They have such a good dynamic that not writing them all together feels wrong but I just can’t figure out how to incorporate them with the idea that I have. I mean let’s be real I’ll probably never finish writing it or even post it but I was curious how people feel about not having the other characters involved.

Thank you in advance :)

i have mixed thoughts

on one hand i think that all the tog characters are interesting and fun and unique and i think they all deserve to be written about and explored! on the other hand i do get the appeal of joenicky (honestly i have like.. <5 non-joenicky gifsets. i am in no position to judge here lmao)

(and honestly the Appeal of joenicky isnt something thats limited to tumblr shipping communities! almost all tog reviews/analyses discuss joenicky a lot considering how little screentime they have-- most reviews have a little section dedicated to them and to the van scene! and i have seen many reviews of tog that amounted to 'i didnt like any of it, except the van scene was excellent'. theyre just a really well done couple! & thats fine)

people like joenicky! and im cool with that. but for me the kind of :/ thing is when people seem to, like... forget(?) about the others bc theyre so focused on joenicky? a thing that comes to mind is that when we were learning abt ttt, we found out that one of the stories would be abt ship of theseus, and people just... jumped to the conclusion that the joenicky story would be abt ship of theseus, when the 'andy's relationship with her axe over the years' story was right there. (imo at least, ship of theseus doesnt fit joe and nicky that much, especially in comparison to andy)

also theres this specific subset of joenicky fics that take place post-movie, and have this thing that always gets me, where the squad will split up. joe and nicky go to one place, and nile and andy go to another (to train usually). which?? makes no sense to me, they just went through the most traumatic and life-changing events theyve gone through as a team since quynh was lost (honestly this might be worse) and they... immediately split up? esp after they just reunited at the beginning of the movie? like andy's mortal now and joenicky r just like 'good luck with that! now we're off to our 5038278th sex vacation!'. ik people do this for the sake of joenicky fucking in privacy, which again: fine, but its so weird from a team standpoint and it always kind of makes me :/

so. for me its stuff like that, when people seem to forget about the other team members. however when its just, you know, a story that centers joe and nicky, and isnt actually like.. actively pushing the others out of the narrative, i dont mind it at all.

(and also, this is just my personal tastes! im not the Fandom Police™ or anything)

[justalitlecreacher]

I’m here to prove that Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-man/peter parker in The Amazing Spider-Man is objectively the best love action adaptation of the character. In this essay I will....(yes this is really happening)

Edit: 10/20/20- i want to indulge myself in spiderman content but finding non mcu spiderman content is exhausting so imma update this instead

TL;DR

Andrew Garfield is my favorite of the 3 Spider-Man actors. TAS’s Peter is more fun and dynamic than the cookie cutter “shy introverted nerd that has a crush on a girl who’s way out of his league” Peter in Tobey Maguire’s movies. I enjoy Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character, but hate the way Disney has written the movies.  I enjoy the characters, plot, and humor of The Amazing Spider-Man far more than the other 2, and i deeply wish we had gotten the third movie with the canon BIder-Man of Andrew’s (and my) dreams.

[DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT SEEN THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2 OR ANY MCU SPIDERMAN MOVIES OUTSIDE OF CLIPS AND REVIEWS ITS ALSO BEEN A VERY HOT MINUTE SINCE IVE SEEN A TOBEY MAGUIRE MOVIE]

Characterization

  Most arguments against Andrew Garfield’s Spidey( AG’s from now on) begin and ends with “he was a good Spider-Man but a bad Peter Parker”. This references an outdated post comparing all three Spidey actors.(Id attach the image here but i dont want the post to be too long(thats a lie this is so long what am i doing with my life)) The post also claims that Tobey played a good Peter and a poor Spidey; and that Tom is good at both “roles”.(Honestly I think it seems silly that this seems obey the “third time’s the charm” rule but thats just me).  Most people using this seem to be Tobey stans who have forgotten or ignored the rest of the post funnily enough, but the ones that go further into the WHY AG is a poor Peter are also incorrect. This argument also ignores the idea that there can be more than one version of Peter Parker which is blatantly incorrect.  Just look at Into the Spiderverse or the PS4 game; these provide 4(5 if you count the pig) versions of Peter themselves, and that doesnt even include the comics. 

 Arguments that go further in depth claim that the AS Peter is too cool or well liked by his peer to be a “true” Peter Parker. The evidence for this seems to be that Peter has a skateboard.(which what? didnt realize that having a skateboard would instantly make you cool brb guys). Adding to that i dont really see where people get the idea that Peter is popular or well liked. While looking for complaints i found this qutoe from reddit(theyve since deleted it looks like but i’ll add a link in the notes) “He's angsty, pretty socially awkward, has an aptitude for science, and is kind of an outsider. He gets bullied by Flash and he gets his ass kicked after trying to stand up to Flash. He isn't a "cool" person in any way (until the ending, in which he's best buds with Flash, so I'll give you that). While Maguire is more accurate to the 60s comics where Peter in high school is just a fucking loser with basically no friends, in the ultimate comics, Peter is more of the kid who has a small amount of friends, but isn't popular.”. Honesty i fully agree with this because once again, other versions of a character are allowed to exist. You can dislike one version, but its silly to dislike something for not being exactly like another thing.

Ive also heard that Peter isnt “nerdy enough” in this movie which really doesnt make any sense considering the entire plot happens because Peter was looking into some of his parents’ research. If he wasn't interested in looking further into his father’s work what reason would he have to go to Oscorp where he’s bitten by the spider? Why would he have become Dr. Conner’s assistant? If he wasn’t intelligent how did he develop the web shooters?(something that Tobey!Peter doesn't have to do out of plot convenience might i add).  

 Another complaint i see is that the quips he uses in the movie(the first one specifically it seems) makes him seem like an asshole. Honestly thats a fair complaint, but i think its a good bit of characterization; espcially if he does get better about it in the second movie like the internet suggests.The Peter in this movie is a rightfully angsty teen; of course he acts a bit of an ass to criminals(also i feel like its important to mention that he’s like that to criminals? its not like hes being a dick for no reason).

  Compare this with the Tobey Maguire(TM) movies. Like i said i haven’t seen these in awhile but as far as i’m aware TM’s Peter doesn't really do anything particularly nerdy in the film? I may have forgotten something( ok in the scene before he gets bitten he knows a cool spider fact) but he doesn’t have to invent the web-shooters because they came with his powers and he’s only at Oscorp in the first place because it’s a school field trip that he appears to be taking photos for. This Peter does fit the definition of outcast(friendless and bullied for it), but honestly i just dont like him. He’s weird and something about the character makes me feel like i should be a little grossed out every time he looks at MJ at the beginning of the movie.  

   I honestly don’t have any complaints for Tom Holland’s(TH’s)Spidey. Tom is a great actor and from what ive seen i enjoy his portrayal of the character.( He made me cry when i character i actively dislike died).  

Story

  I cant really say much for TAS story. It’s interesting but nothing special really. However, there is one scene that i don’t think i’ve seen anything like since( the closest would probably be the train scene in the original trilogy). 

 The crane scene. Early in the film Peter saves a boy from a car that has fallen off of a bridge, and at the end of the movie this becomes relevant again when it is uncertain that Peter will be able to get to the lizard to stop him in time.(as Peter is already injured and pretty far from the lizard’s location). The boy’s father is then revealed to be a construction worker who recognizes that Spider-man is going to need help to get to the lizard; he remembers how Spider-Man saved his son and organizes the rest of the construction workers to build a path out of crane arms for SM to swing from. All of them are putting themselves in danger by not evacuating, but SM’s actions in the first act of the film motivate them to do what’s right. 

  I love this scene primarily because it highlights something that i think is a really important part of Spider-Man’s character; his connection to the people he saves. SM is often shown interacting with and chatting with the people he has saved after the fact. One comic shows Peter accidentally scaring some bullies and then taking the time to ride the bus to school with them to continue their conversation and educate the students on bullying.( There’s definitely more but this is off the top of my head).

  Another scene in TAS that i love is shortly before the crane scene when Peter is originally attempting to make his way across the city to stop the lizard, and he is shot down by the police. They manage to unmask him before Peter comes to his senses( he had just been shot and fallen pretty far out of the sky in his defense). From there Peter is able to deal with the police while keeping any of them from getting a good look at his face. The one cop he cant take out happens to be Gwen Stacey’s father who had previously had an argument with Peter about Spider-Man(Peter obviously on SM’s side and Mr. Stacey against SM). Peter turns and allows Captain(?) Stacey to see his face. I believe that this is an example of an unwilling identity reveal done right. i really enjoyed this moment because Peter had just shown that he likely could have gotten out of this encounter with his identity in tact as he had just taken down however many men. This implies that it was an active choice on Peter’s end to trust that Captain Stacey would ultimately do the right thing and allow Peter to go fight the Lizard, rather than a final desperate attempt to get away unscathed. Whether or not this interpretation of the scene is correct or not it still gives the character a bit more agency than some versions have done with their identity reveals.

  In Spider-Man 2 Peter starts to lose his powers because he’s having internal conflict about wether or not he should be Spider-Man. Honestly thats kinda neat and i might want to give that a rewatch. As for the one i have seen i don’t have any complaints. I do however prefer the way that Peter was bitten in TAS because it was a result of him poking around where he shouldn’t’ve been rather than him just happening to be standing in the right place for a spider to land on him. 

  Onto TH’s movies; the way Disney has treated Spidey in the MCU is why TH’s is my least favorite version of the character. I feel like too much of the story revolves around Iron Man; Iron Man made Peter’s suit and equipment, Iron Man introduces Peter to the MCU(via blackmail but thats another rant for another annoyingly long post), its Iron Man that “makes” Spidey in this universe rather than Spidey being self-made. In Homecoming(which remember i havent seen outside of clips so bear with me) most of the conflict is cause directly or indirectly by Tony’s refusal or inabilty to communicate with the teenager he’s meant to be mentoring

 For one the entire incident with the ferry could have very easily been avoided had Tony bothered to communicate with Peter enough to tell him that the situation was being taken care of. On top of that at the moive’s climax Peter is shown trying to get in contact with Happy(from what ive picked up isnt he a chauffeur? like idk his deal i just know he’s someone Peter got pawned off onto after Civil War). Peter even goes as far as to somehow hack into Happy’s phone(i think thats what happened it was a weird tech thing that shouldve been a red flag that the call was important though) but instead of listening; Peter is ignored. If this was a different kind of movie Peter literally could have died and itd be the fault of Happy and Tony like..... A large portion of conflict comes from characters being incompetent and not communicating and thats just poor storytelling.

Before this turns too much into an anti mcu rant id also like to say that the way they did Civil War was really dumb considering that Peter defects to Cap’s side in the comics, but whatever.

 Also i loathe the way they handled the identity reveal at the end of Far From Home. With MCU movies most people know to expect an end credits scene by now, but typically that scene is not important to understand what’s happening in the films; they just aren’t important. Putting an identity reveal here makes it seem significantly less important than it is. On top of that i dislike their use of J Jonah Jameson for this scene.

  JJJ is a character who has been repeatedly shown to have a genuinely good heart. All of his anger comes from a place of love for his city(he even says this hemself in the ps4 game when May writes in to tell him that he needs help). He hates Spider-Man because SM reminds him of the masked man who killed his wife; JJJ has never been able to get past that( and Peter’s antagonism of him definitely doesnt help) However, JJJ has been shown to care for people; he has a son who he often brags about, and one comic shows that JJJ is paying Peter for “amateur” quality photos because he knows that Peter is having a hard time and “just need some help”. JJJ has even learned Peter’s identity before and kept his secret for him(seriously though i cant remember the name of the comic but its defiantly worth the read), and in the original trilogy when Goblin threatens JJJ he claims that he doesn’t know who sends in the photos of Spidey because he does it via email( this is a lie). The MCU will have a very difficult time convincing me that JJJ would ever out a teenager’s identity and put him in danger like that. It goes too far against his character.(this could be hypocritical of me to say considering how i just insisted that multiple versions of a character can exist but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 

This is accidentally turning into an MCU rant but id also like to say that i hate the lack of a TH!Spidey origin movie because it gives you no motivaion for Peter becoming SM or explanation of his powers; most people will know these things but if youre unfamiliar with the character its bound to be confusing(and im a sucker for origin movies)

[heizerux]

About Stormy Weather 2

Let’s cut to the chase. This was a filler/recap episode.

Is it disappointing? Yes 😞

They did my girl Aurore wrong with the episode title and not even giving her the attention she deserves. And about nothing new happened. Chloe still hasn’t learned to actually be better. There’s more. But those are about a few things that REALLY got to me (to be brief).

Is it bad that they even have this episode? Not exactly. It just wasn’t done well.

Now that I’ve briefly got out of my system on why I was disappointed, now let’s look at the details and minor brightsides of it (I guess?) and more on why I’m disappointed.

.

This was an episode to establish the questions we’ve had. (Honestly did we even need these? Actually, not really. But it’s nice they even bothered.) Some of these questions are:

How’s Aurore?

Is Chloe really fully changed?

How does Nathalie REALLY feel? Like with her own words? How LONG has she been with the Agrestes? And will Gabriel keep this shit up?

How’s the dynamic between Ladybug and Chat Noir now since they’ve been fighting for a while?

How’s everyone else (Alya and Nino specifically) doing?

Will Marinette ever tell Adrien that she’s interested in him?

Will Adrien pick up on that???

Pretty much here’s how they answered these, as well as what I took from these answers:

How’s Aurore? Naturally I’m gonna open up with Aurore here since this was supposed to be HER episode again. We see her being bullied by Chloe and then she get it’s gets to her. THAT’S how Aurore is doing. The only few things I liked about her here is learning she and Marinette are friends. But that’s IT. This could have been HER moment. HER episode again. We could of known more about HER. Instead what do we get? Just like 3 minutes tops of her and boom. Defeated, and not even checked up on. I know she’s a side misc character but damnit *slaps table*. . . We really were cheated with her comeback. This wasn’t her episode and it shouldn’t have been titled “Stormy Weather 2”. I’m sad about this.

Is Chloe really fully changed? Nope. So I knew her development wasn’t even started yet (as we’ve seen), but like damn. We see how being hero twice has gotten to her head. It’s disappointing, it really is. The only “bright side” is that at least they’re establishing here that she clearly still has changing to do instead of saying she’s fully changed, which she isn’t. Probably even alluding to what we’re gonna see next with her. Obviously by that last glare, Marinette (as Ladybug) isn’t giving into her shit anymore. (That or she’s disappointed in how Chloe doubled back too.)

How does Nathalie REALLY feel? And so we see. She, as expected, hates her fucking job because it’s too demanding, but LOVES the Agreste family. We now, with her own words, which are rare, learn just how long she’s been with them, her feelings for the family, and that she canonically cared for Emilie and has now fallen for Gabriel. She’s also still sick from Heroes Day (so they didn’t forget that’s a thing, thankfully). Which now only implies that from this point forward, she’ll be Mayura more often, and get even sicker (a life for a life, anyone?)

How’s everyone else doing? That Ninalya (Djwifi) content. . . My heart! 💕💖💕💖😭💖💕💖💕 So they show us Nino is pretty much now a Césaire (lol), and that they both do talk about their hero duties when they’re alone. The good in seeing this? They can actually keep it a secret from the public and this shows their hero potential (unlike Chloe). The bad about it? It’s their disadvantage (as we already know.) Now what we didn’t need is all that recap footage. (That time slot could have been used for my bby Aurore 💜💙💜)

How’s the dynamic between Ladybug and Chat Noir now since they’ve been fighting for a while? Well :) (Filler aside) We see that Ladybug is A LOT more fonder of Chat Noir than before. This time she’s loosening up her humor during battle when she used to be all “stop joking! This is serious!” Then they go on to recap on shit that we already know like that they trust each other and *yawn*. But one thing I did notice, and like about this, is that look she gives him as he runs off.

It’s almost a look of that says “I’m starting to view you as more than a partner. . .” (Will they show it in the following episodes. Boy do I hope.)

Will Marinette ever tell Adrien that she’s interested in him? Okay so not only does she drop off Adrien’s homework, but you notice something? Not only did she volunteer, but she didn’t fluster while doing so. When she delivers it, she’s not panicked about it, instead she’s just nervous about talking to Nathalie and disappointed she couldn’t give it to him in person. Then what happens next? She FINALLY takes Kagami’s advice and does something. Once she’s done, she’s not regretful and doubtful about it anymore when she used to be. Sure, we went over shit that marks she “changed”, but it’s really around this part in the episode that she ACTUALLY changes. From here she’s a new confident Marinette, pretty much. The recap was still unecessary.

Will Adrien pick up on that??? *sigh* no lol.

Okay, real quick, BIG APPRECIATION for Plagg’s “Oh shit” face when he sees Adrien notices the handwriting.

So into Adrien and his love life, we see that his head is too in the clouds to fully notice the amazing girl that is MARINETTE. I will say I love that Plagg keeps trying to steer him in the direction to LOOK AT MARINETTE. (Mentioning how Gabriel wasn’t mad Adrien was with her when he snuck out and hinting that she’s VERY available more than once.) When he finally notices the handwriting, he’s SO close to putting it together. Plagg for a sec is shook about it (since it hints he’s closer to piecing she’s LB), but then he re-tracts because he’s a clueless child and now is left on the conclusion that it’s not her. Okay -_-

So now that that’s done, let me just add on why I think that last part where he retracts marks something.

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Anyone find it odd that the episode ended specifically with Adrien noting that “Marinette couldn’t have written the letter (can’t be in love with me) because she’s just a friend that’s into fashion. Besides there’s Luka.”

Luka. . .

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You guys hear that?

Right as soon as he says that, sad music plays. Like he “lost” something.

Then Adrien as if slightly disappointed, insists it was probably “someone else”. . . Because there’s Luka. . .

And then the episode ends.

(My own thought: I think this is here to mark off that not only Luka is coming more into play, but maybe that it’ll affect Adrien more than he thinks? It may be that his change to come is that he stops looking “up in the clouds” and starts looking in front of him.)

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haaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!

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And that’s about one of the few things that got me in this episode (among Nino and Alya and Mari getting confident for once). Because it means shits gonna get interesting among the ships👀. . . *sips tea*

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I’d touch the development issue but after carefully going over the fact that both season 2 and 3 were written around the same time, I do have a hunch stuff is kind of out of order there. But that’s a topic for another day. (Probably one I’ll rethink and retouch fully after this season is done.) So let’s get back to the real question:

So wtf was this episode?

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Well, this is just my take, but judging by the brief glances at Stormy Weather 2’s LEVEL of power, it’s there to set what we’re gonna be seeing from the episodes forward. If this looks intense, then we haven’t seen intense, yet (ya feel?)

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For certain ppl (I’m one of these ppl) Stormy Weather from S1 was THE pilot episode to the whole show and the first episode seen. It set up what we were going to be seeing of the show. So if there had to be an explanation, my take is that’s why they picked her again to mark off a recap and brand new starting point for what’s to come.

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TLDR: This episode probably wasn’t just meant to show what’s changed, but to mark of what WILL change moving forward.

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It’s not perfect, I’m still not happy with how it was delivered, but that’s probably what they were going for.

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They probably should of just called it “The Story So Far” or something, honestly. Not Stormy Weather 2. Aurore did amazing. Her screentime didn’t :( But in the end, it’s probably there to mark the start of real change.

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Since that’s maybe the deal, then changes we may see here moving forward and so on are:

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It’s probably gonna mark Marinette as being comfortable around Adrien and no longer hesitating as much as she did, but of course Luka will be more in her life (and Adrien may or may not realize he isn’t as okay with it?? That’s just what I wanna see honestly lol). Chloe will probably realize that she can’t keep expecting to be handed a miraculous just because she says so, which then could mark her to ACTUALLY start changing. And so on.

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Anyway we’ll see what the next episodes bring. I noticed they’ve only been showing us the uneventful episode first and leaving the more “juicy” ones for later dates. . .

As long as this is, I actually kind of rushed through it so my apologies if it’s all over the place :(