#its not on purpose is just my favorites always die for some reason :

[bubba-draws]

What fandoms are you in? And what ships from them?

Oh! Glad u ask! I'm into many of them (mostly animanga/videogames), so the list is kinda big, but the ones I keep rotating in my brain are Jojo's Bizarre adventure, Demon slayer, Chainsaw man, Touhou, Pokemon, Hollow Knight and Stardew Valley! It's mostly boiled down to "if you give me enough world building material to make ocs then *I will*" (On this note, I used to be a big BNHA fan at the beginning of the series, no longer one though, but I have over 100 ocs from that time lmao)

As for ships! The rarepair/less popular ones I made art for are Gionara (jjba) rengiyuu (demon slayer) and nowadays grollow (hollow knight), shout out to ItaJun from jujutsu kaisen

If u want an entire detailed list of ships I like.... That's gonna be a long ass post HAKFHSKFHSJFJ

Edit: can't fucking believe I forgot Undertale/Deltarune oh my god

[co-mixed]

Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that? 

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again. 

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here 

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well. 

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why. 

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it. 

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy. 

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time. 

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down. 

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale. 

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire. 

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days? 

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil. 

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas? 

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions: 

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer? 

What if Buffy was older? 

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall. 

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back. 

These characters deserve better than that. 

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works. 

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable. 

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.  

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it. 

[a-5-m-0-d-3-u-5]

Hesitant Affection (Bowser x TransMasc/Male Reader)

Some feel good fluff with everyone’s favorite Koopa <3 This is kinda just ramblings since I couldn’t nail down a solid plot so forgive me if it’s a little chaotic. It’s a bit short and scattered so if you’d like something more specific just send me a request! The more specific the better.

Note: For things like this, I imagine Bowser a little more humanoid than his in-game model so this may come across in my writing but I do my best to kinda leave it up to interpretation. He’s still very tall and large, but more proportionate to human standards and lizardy in my mind. Also, unrelated because it doesn’t come up here but chubby Bowser > ripped Bowser, I will take no arguments.

CW: The level of transition for this reader character is unspecified. He/him pronouns are used here and there, but it's mostly a second person POV. A small part mentions the reader’s aversion to dresses and wearing them as a child, but is never forced to wear one in the present.

Requested by: anonymous

Word count: 615

Bowser. Praised by some, feared by many, and loved by a select few that he allows. Up until recently that list included only the Koopalings and on a good day, Kamek. But then this human, how curious he’s not afraid of the cruel King of the Koopas, wanders into his life and soon, he can't imagine his castle without him.

There’s a touch more life to the place, his subjects are happier with him around. He often helps in the kitchen or tidying up a mess. He hates to admit it, but this strange human may be changing Bowser too. He feels less of an inclination to cause random havoc knowing it would upset you, both to see him hurt but also others too (curse that large, kind heart you have).

He’s quite the textbook gentleman, holding doors and pulling out your chair. But get him to engage in romance outside of what he was taught to provide and he becomes a mess. A small kiss on the nose seemed to make his fiery hair steam while his face burned with uncharacteristic sheepishness. Insist on holding his hand and he won’t even turn your way, to hide his embarrassed face of course, all while extending his grasp to your much, much smaller hand because how could he say no to his beloved? Not when he asked so sweetly, too. You’d be the death of him, he always thought to himself, but he’d die happy at least.

On one occasion, an unexpected invite to the Mushroom Kingdom for a banquet found its way to your hands, Bowser insisting it must be a mistake because why would they invite him to such a thing?

The invitation was vague. Peach’s large cursive writing, in pink pen of course, simply invited ‘The King of the Koopas and one guest to attend a banquet at my castle in the Mushroom Kingdom.’ The date and dress code were detailed at the bottom. You hadn’t been to a party like this since you were very young, forced into an itchy dress that you didn’t particularly like for many reasons, more being added on as you discovered yourself further. While you had faith Bowser wouldn’t urge any sort of similar clothing on you, he still insisted on letting you know that wasn’t happening if you wished to go and you were grateful.

That night, all eyes were on the Koopa King and the human hanging off his arm. The princess greeted you cheerfully, inviting you both in and explaining the banquet’s purpose as a celebration of peace. She was grateful to Bowser for his change in behavior, and later to you when in conversation over drinks you explained you may have been the reason for it. You were introduced to the ever famous Mario Brothers, delightful duo they were, and found amusement when you caught your date for the evening glaring daggers at the mustachioed plumber in red.

I see you helping him with the Koopalings, Bowser Jr. namely, and him swooning. Watching you hold his hand in a crowd so you don’t separate from him makes his heart flutter, letting them help you in the kitchen to make his birthday breakfast and smiling (and almost crying but he’d never admit it) when he passes the cracked kitchen door.

He sleeps on his front due to his shell and sometimes, you like to stick cotton balls on his spikes while he dozes for no real reason other than the human fascination of having the ability to do so. It entertains you and when Bowser discovers it, he finds it cute. He also can’t get them off himself so be a dear and help him, won’t you?

[tadpolesonalgae]

aight, we back and we're goin in tabbatha, brace urself.

(i reread the latest chapters because a full absorption was required)

as someone who adores psychology and analyzing literature as well as having dealt with depression, you really hit the nail on the head with chapters 15 and 16.

it was super healing to read readers experience through the beginning of the chapter, with the sisters comforting each other in a very vulnerable way and then taking that comfort away. i ADORE you as an writer for making that choice, even if it sucks in the moment. i think it really shows how much youve grown as an author and i would so sososososo happily read a published novel by you. your humility regarding angst drives me a lil insane with how visceral of emotions you put your readers through tho 😂

you show SO much expertise imo with how you eased us into chapter 16 and the overall tone by beginning with feyre and rhys. by showing us how devastated she was over this and rhys' reaction being just to care for his mate, not truly caring about readers own wellbeing.

moving into readers pov and showing us just HOW bad her depression has gotten since the accident with azriel. cassian sitting outside of her door, and idk about anyone else but he came off as a little abrasive when he addressed reader? but i digress, it took literal days for her sisters to be able to get through to her and to get reader to open up to them about 💫why💫. and then the sisters curling up in bed how they used to and just holding tight, because like one of the other anons mentioned, that the born fae will NEVER truly understand the archeron sisters. and then you nail that point in AGAIN by having rhys interact alone with reader. her terror and her spiralling thoughts, and his disregard for how SHE truly is? his hasty departure where you can feel him disregard her as a loose cannon that he now has to handle the fallout of and Nesta's rescue. because she of all people know how he is with anyone but those he deems important in the moment :(

(the paragraph detailing what reader would have said to each sister respectively made me BAWL, like end of kingdom of ash kinda bawl, so massive respect for that alone.)

the ending with mor has got to be my favorite representation of her post ACOSF, just because ive always believed sjm wanted the focus of this series to be how massively flawed her characters are (and purposely so). you showed the courtier, the commander, AND the ruler of the hewn city very well in her reaction to readers actions and her newly uncovered involvements with eris. because ultimately mor has every reason to be upset with reader regarding eris, but she took her words too far because of her love for the IC. which is a massive flaw all of them possess, that you show BEAUTIFULLY throughout the series.

i also really love the decisions youve made with creating reader's character in general. it makes sense that she would be pushed to the side for so long, its been years that weve been waiting for nesta and elain to heal and so imagining a world where there are four sisters? Perfection, truly. the angst is 🥰🥰🥰

as a chronic lurker on tumblr, ao3, and wattpad respectively for the past decade. You are one of the few writers ive found that makes me want to reread ACOTAR after finding it a lil disappointing at times compared to sjm's other series (no hate, im just a tog and cc ride or die 😂) so when i felt as emotional and inspired as i did, it only makes sense that you hear just how amazing of a writer you are💖 I hope that this brings you some joy while plotting how to torture your readers next.

Respectfully foaming at the mouth waiting for the next chapter.

-🤠

‘as someone who adores psychology and analyzing literature as well as having dealt with depression, you really hit the nail on the head with chapters 15 and 16.’

Okay, I don’t want to get super personal and kind of blabber and waffle all over the place since we’re literally just starting, but hearing people say that they can relate to reader—whether through her anxiety, how introverted she is, or through the moments when she spirals—it kind of bittersweet? As a writer, I feel rewarded that you’re experiencing a connection of some sort with reader, but at the same time it’s hard knowing that those experiences are real emotions for so many people?

‘it was super healing to read readers experience through the beginning of the chapter, with the sisters comforting each other in a very vulnerable way and then taking that comfort away. i ADORE you as an writer for making that choice, even if it sucks in the moment.’

This is so interesting because I know I was quite stressed about uploading chapter 16 since I was worried the calm at the beginning would be too much of a 180° after the intensity of chapter 15? I thought it might be too slow-paced and that perhaps I should have tried to keep that tension going, but at the same time chapter 15 was written intended to be either the first or second highest tension point?

I’m flattered though that you think it was a good choice to have those sweet moments at the beginning and then to end on the angst? Personally I think that’s just a habit now to keep people engaged? 😅

‘i think it really shows how much youve grown as an author and i would so sososososo happily read a published novel by you.’

Is this payback for the angst of cbmthy? Are you trying to make me cry in return? I think it would be fun to write a book but at the same time very draining? I suppose I don’t have to write it now 😅 maybe if I make it to fifty I can sit down and give writing a go, but I’m not sure how realistic it is for me to consider writing a book at the moment :/

Still, thank you so much for such a high compliment—it kind of blows my mind that you’d be interested in an actual physical book 🧡💛

‘your humility regarding angst drives me a lil insane with how visceral of emotions you put your readers through tho 😂’

I genuinely think it might be a case of some of the stuff that pops up in cbmthy/other fics happens to hit specific emotional soft spots? I still don’t think of cbmthy as being particularly sad—it has angsty parts definitely—but to be fair I know the full story whereas you’re still coming out of one of the lowest parts? I’m sure that makes a difference :)

‘you show SO much expertise imo with how you eased us into chapter 16 and the overall tone by beginning with feyre and rhys. by showing us how devastated she was over this and rhys' reaction being just to care for his mate, not truly caring about readers own wellbeing.’

Oh my gosh please I feel like you’re assigning me way too much credit 😭

Honestly it just felt like it made sense to start with Rhys and Feyre since we haven’t really seen them at all it would be a good way to possibly catch some people off guard!! I also just couldn’t figure out how to start it from reader’s perspective since it felt too ‘noisy’(?)—a lot of the choices are heavily influenced by whether or not I feel I can make a scene work, so if I can’t I have to switch it to a different one!! I wouldn’t say it’s anything near expertise 😭 (but I appreciate it nonetheless)

‘cassian sitting outside of her door, and idk about anyone else but he came off as a little abrasive when he addressed reader?’

I think that’s a mix between me genuinely being a little unsure how to write his character and the circumstances? Cassian knows that reader tried to kill herself, that Nesta has had thoughts like those, and that Nesta cares for reader—that plus it being around the middle of the night I guess it was kind of a shift between him being unsure how to approach her since she might still be spiralling, and not wanting to overwhelm her which is why the talking was so minimal? He’s torn between worrying for Azriel who’s his brother and also reader who’s his mate’s younger sister—I think he might have it the most difficult besides reader if I’m honest in terms of conflicting feelings? It was supposed to be a little weird though, since reader doesn’t know what going on, and isn’t particularly familiar with Cassian? Comparatively with her sisters or Bas, I mean :)

‘and then the sisters curling up in bed how they used to and just holding tight’

This was such an enjoyable scene to write and probably one of my favourites so far 🧡💛 I hope it was as pleasant to read as it was to write

‘by having rhys interact alone with reader. her terror and her spiralling thoughts, and his disregard for how SHE truly is?’

I’m glad that this kind of showed? I don’t want Rhys to appear totally insensitive to reader because I think that would be too ooc for him, but he cares for her because she’s his mate’s sister, not because of her. And he still has to think as High Lord, and even putting Mor’s history with Eris aside, Eris’s a dangerous opponent because of how manipulative he can be, and that paired with reader’s more naive side that’s searching for affection from someone isn’t a promising combination?

Even then though, he’s still lost his own sister, so I feel that impedes his ability to be entirely impartial to reader’s situation, hence the mention at the end of the conversation where he tells reader to rest and that she gave them all a scare.

But yeah, he’s a little cold I suppose to her

‘(the paragraph detailing what reader would have said to each sister respectively made me BAWL, like end of kingdom of ash kinda bawl, so massive respect for that alone.)’

I’m incredibly sorry 😔 KoA level of tears shed? 🫢 I feel awful, I’m so sorry 😭🧡💛 (I did enjoy writing that paragraph and the one after it, so I guess it kind of succeeded in its assigned task 😬😭)

‘because ultimately mor has every reason to be upset with reader regarding eris, but she took her words too far because of her love for the IC.’

This is such a nice take that I hadn’t thought of in these specific terms?

I think the born-fae ones of the IC will naturally have a different kind of bond than the sisters do just due to history and experience, but I hadn’t really considered Mor’s reaction to be one that might be fuelled by love for her family because the scene was written from reader’s perspective?

On a slight side note, I find it so enjoyable to see this different take on Mor’s actions since so far I think most people have been somewhat agitated with Mor’s behaviour (and I kind of agree it wasn’t the best way to go about it) so it’s interesting that you’re speculating over her reasons and actually considering her position? 🧡💛

‘the angst is 🥰🥰🥰’

Thank you very much 🧡💛

A year ago I probably would have been concerned to hear something like this, but I guess with the majority of cbmthy supposing to be angsty, it’s good to know it’s having the desired effect? 🫣🧡💛

‘(no hate, im just a tog and cc ride or die 😂)’

We could have an entire conversation about this because I adore Throne of Glass but have struggled so much with Crescent City (I think the modern setting really throws me off?)

‘so when i felt as emotional and inspired as i did, it only makes sense that you hear just how amazing of a writer you are💖 I hope that this brings you some joy while plotting how to torture your readers next.’

Being completely transparent with you I read through your ask multiple times and took a pause in between each one because I kept getting so overwhelmed (in a good way)

I’m so flattered that you wanted to write in this level of detail about the events of ch. 16 of your own accord??? It blows my mind and I want to say just how much I sincerely appreciate you coming into my asks to chat about this story that was by no means planned or supposed to happen but I’m so glad it did 🫂🧡💛

[thegreatcaptainusopp]

Another thing that upsets me about usopp haters! (im sorry, is just those people drive me nuts and for my mental health ill never interact with them because its not worth it, so I prefer to interact with you and other fans so we can all be "yeah those people are crazy, Usopp is great 🥂 we have good taste" together. Ehem I'm missing the point)

What upsets me is when they act like Usopp didn't have any moments in pre-ts, and they act like his only badass moments are shooting the world goverment flag (not even then, because they're always like "actually that was Sogeking" 😤 jokes over man, you are being obtuse on purpose) and that moment in Dressrosa, now I can't speak for post-ts because 😶 I'm still not caught up (stuck in post war, I'll keep going eventually), but my boy has many moments in pre ts. My favorite one being his fight against Perona, and one of the reasons its my favorite is because it comes very soon after Usopp has been feeling useless and weak (ok soon after for us, in universe it seems that Oda likes to leave certain characterizations in the arc that they appear and never mention them again...)

The anime quite literally spells it out for you that Usopp is incredibly important, and actually the reason why they didnt just all die in Thriller Bark, and there's STILL people out there saying Usopp is the most useless member *eating the drywall in my home*

Sorry I needed to get that off my chest.

If nobody got me, I know you Usopp fans got me 😔

Always fun to speak with Usopp fans on here! There’s a great community and a lot of great conversations to be had.

I really think a large part of this kind of fan reaction to Usopp is twofold. I also think a lot of these points are also applicable to Nami tbh. Firstly, I think that Usopp’s particular skills are undervalued by a lot of fans. He’s a long range fighter, not a close range one, and a lot of fans simply aren’t interested in that kind of battle because it’s not super flashy in the same way. His strengths also usually aren’t catered to in universe. For one reason or another he doesn’t get the chance to park himself somewhere and really get to do his job as sniper, and maybe if he did it would be a different story? I’m not sure though. His other skills (engineering, art, etc) also aren’t the coolest or flashiest but are necessary for the crew to function and don’t get a lot of hype in the same way either. In the same vein, I think a lot of people forget he’s forced up against literal monsters most of the time and in battles that aren’t his forte fighting wise, so in comparison he doesn’t get to shine. However he’s canonically extremely talented at basically everything he does.

Secondly, I think a lot of what he adds to the story and the crew is emotionally and character driven, and people who come to One Piece for the fights aren’t necessarily going to be drawn to that kind of contribution to the plot. If you’re interested in more low key character drama/development you may be compelled to pay attention to him in the story. But I think a good amount of people aren’t as interested in that element of the story and so don’t really pay attention.

There’s also the matter of the way some of his accomplishments are framed in universe tbh. Usopp is considered by a lot of fans to be kind of a meme character and so is treated like that accordingly. This includes all the Sogeking jokes and other things that mean that he isn’t really taken seriously by a lot of people unfortunately. But I think if anyone takes a closer look beyond the surface they’ll be able to see a really interesting character underneath! Especially pre time skip like you mentioned

I hope you enjoy your journey as you go further into the story! There’s a lot but it’s a great time and a lot of fun moments upcoming.

[defodisturbed]

tolerate it - Zdinarsk x reader

(A/N: hey y'all, tolerate it is one of, if not my favorite evermore song. also one of my top taylor swift songs in general. i felt inspired listening to it recently, so i decided to work some of my magik :3 hope y'all enjoy!! mwah)

I know my love should be celebrated

But you tolerate it

Zdinarsk was never an... affectionate person. Especially after joining the army. But with you, she showed love. Kindess, even. But something's changed recently. She's not talking to you as enthusiastically as much, not engaging in PDA like you are, and its become too much. You feel like she doesn't love you anymore. Maybe she caught feelings for someone else. No, that can't be true. She's always told you that she would never love anyone else but you. Or maybe that was just a lie.

The code to your room was punched in, you could hear it. The door opened and in walked your lover. Your wife. The RDA didn't allow marriages, especially between soldiers. But, Quaritch did some convincing (by that I mean he made a powerpoint presentation and showed it to Ardmore) and had some strings pulled. Ardmore then talked to Parker and (forcefully) had him make an exception.

(reader's pov)

"Hey, baby! How was work? Did you get assigned to any cool missions?" I said enthusiastically. Zdinarsk ignored me. "Babe?" I asked, seeing if she could hear me. She rubbed her eyes. "Huh? Oh, no, nothing really happened today." Nonchalant words flowed from her mouth, uninterested in my curiosity.

"What happened? You sound very tired." I pressed, frustrating her. "Y/N, just.. leave it be. Nothing happened to me, I promise. Just leave me alone, I have to wind down."

[Time skips a few days later, Z has gotten home from work and Y/N is complaining about her treatment of her lately.]

"Y/N, what the fuck is your problem? I don't know what I did!" Z yelled at me. "You've been so dry lately! You don't express any emotion when it comes to me or our relationship! You don't even like talking about your day after I so happily welcome you home! I'm always taking up too much space or time now, when a few months ago you'd hug me like it was the last time you'd ever hug anyone! I would die for you without a second thought! I made you my entire purpose. I've written about you in my journal over a million times. You have taken up all of my thoughts, thinking of how much I love you. Thinking of how much you make me happy. But it seems I'm an afterthought in your head, taking up no more than a grain of sand!" I started shouting.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not leaping with joy whenever you're around! I have a very tough job where I have no clue if I'm going to see the morning, and you expect me to be so happy all the time?" Z thundered. I groaned in anger and annoyance, before responding. "I just want to feel loved! I want to feel like you appreciate me, even when you're upset! Is that so much to ask for?"

"You know I love you, it goes without saying!" She hissed back. "No, it doesn't. You have to say it, Z. You have to say it." I tried to reason with her, lowering my voice and trying to softly speak. Anger and sadness was coursing through my veins, but if I shouted any more I would lose my voice.

"I don't care, you're overreacting. It shouldn't matter if I say it or not, you should know it." Z replied, almost carefree. "If you gave me a history test without telling me anything about the subject, how would I know what answers to pick? Your argument doesn't add up. Please, let's sit and talk about this."

Z sighed and huffed before sitting on our shared bed. I sat next to her and began to explain how I felt about it. "I feel like this situation is unfair because I don't understand the sudden switch. Before, you were so happy to see me, and all of a sudden you were so annoyed with my presence no matter if I said a word or not. If I did something, I want to know so that we can resolve it."

She paused to think. "You didn't do anything, hon. I don't know why I'm acting like this, I've just been really stressed lately. I know that's no excuse, and I'm really sorry I've made you feel this way. I really didn't mean to, and I love you more than you could ever imagine. I hope you can forgive me for how I've treated you." She looked down, twiddling with her fingers anticipating my response.

I brought her in for a hug and assured her it was okay. We forgave each other, and we had Mansk make us some nice food to eat together.

MWAH hope y'all loved it teehee :33

@dyingofcookies

[shaolinrouge]

Okay, so I rewatched PR:U for the first time since its release, and I definitely had some thoughts.

To begin with, what is with the really bizarre product placement in the beginning. Jake did not need to hold up those Oreos so blatantly lmao.

PR:U jumps straight into the action in a really identifiably different way than Pacific Rim does. In PR, Raleigh narrates the Kaiju War and then we see him and Yancy get into the Knifehead fight, and it flows really well overall. On the other hand, PR:U starts with a quick relay of the Kaiju War, and then we're introduced to Jake in the regions still affected by past Kaiju attacks (i.e. half-destroyed mansion, which I also have some thoughts on). So it quickly becomes clear he's got some black market dealings going on, and the first action sequence of the movie is Jake running from these random Jaeger scrappers (??). It's just really throwing compared to the first one, since we at least have a general idea of what's going on with Raleigh.

Side note: I'm assuming they're in the Bay Area that was largely evacuated considering they head toward a Jaeger scrapyard, so how does that mansion have like...any utilities.

So then we're introduced to Amara, who can build a sickass Jaeger but has no security system? I don't know, she seems really careful about being discovered for obvious reasons, so I feel her hideout would at least have an alarm or some kind of traps, But Jake essentially just strolls in.

Of course, then we have November Ajax vs. Scrapper, which I actually do like. Its nice to see what the new Jaegers look like, and see what Scrapper, the first single-pilot Jaeger, is capable of. This scene also really seals the tone of PR:U as kind of lighthearted and jokey while also having action and death, which isn't really the case in Pacific Rim.

Another thing I like: Amara and Jake's relationship. A lot of things about this movie feel funky, but I think the actors did a very good job of forming a very genuine-feeling bond between these two characters.

Mako's introduction just feels. very bizarre. I understand that she obviously can't be there in person, thus the hologram, but the whole situation just has a weird vibe that I can't place. I'm not sure if it's because Jake and Mako act so familiar with each other even though Jake was never mentioned in the movie, or because I'm just not a fan of the hologram bit.

Contrary to popular opinion (at least what I've seen), I really like the Jaegers in PR:U. I hate that they removed the realism from their movements that was always present in the first, but there were some very interesting weapons and new designs introduced at the same time, so I can let it slide. Except the giant rotating ball of blades on Bracer Phoenix, it can go die.

Mako's death is genuinely my least favorite scene in the movie for obvious reasons. She was essentially killed off for no reason, since we don't see much of Jake's grief, meaning they wrote her off for pointless plot purposes, which I hate.

I do enjoy the villain bait with Liwen, although it's a shame Newton ended up being the villain. They were definitely setting her up as an antagonist since she was on a side somewhat opposite to Mako's, and because it becomes clear that Shao Industries is somehow evil before having her turn around and attempt to stop Newton no matter the force necessary.

While on women in the movie, not a huge fan of how Jules was treated, but she's also not present that much so I won't go on and on about female characters being used a tool to create tension being male characters blah blah.

The fight against the Mega-Kaiju was...something. Suresh dying was completely out of the blue, and I hated it. I think the cadets all being so young is an odd decision to make, especially because in the first movie most of the Jaeger pilots come into the program in their very late teenage years at the least (besides Chuck and Raleigh, iirc). They try to justify the whole. child soldier-esque training by saying the Bond is stronger at a young age, but they didn't even have that young of recruits in the first PR and that was during a war so idk.

Raleigh not being mentioned at all is also a crime btw. Or Herc, for that matter, but he could at least make a little more justifiable sense than Raleigh.

Anyway, this was a really scattered collection of musings on the movie, but there we go.

[alexanderlightweight]

@faejilly

thank you!!! i have been dying to flail about a fic! and fic and @saeths is asleep and needs rest cause they're sick.

okay so it's a bit funny but this fic is one of my longest wips and still doesn't have a name but basically magnus accidentally woos kelpie!alec (half seelie/half shadowhunter sad backstory blahblahblah) who is very just. he's very impressed by Magnus' everything okay.

also saeth finds it really funny that in some of my darkest fics i focus the most on how good of a friendship magnus and cat and ragnor have. and so i just... half of the fic is now ragnor and cat and magnus and then figuring out the addition of alec to their party because while magnus will hangout with them without alec, he wants alec to be apart of it since its so important to him.

uhm there is quite a bit of murder in this fic. like magnus goes and kills a bunch of people he's slept with to get them out of the way because of a misunderstanding and cat and ragnor have absolutely no fucks to give with it. cat is literally just like, 'i need at least eight hours of sleep and a massage after this' because she loves her boys to pieces. and alec eats people in a none hannibal way its much messier.

... maybe i should have thought about what fic i wanted to share before begging for interaction. you dont have to read further if its not your cuppa tea, i can totally rant about a less dark fic

and saeth is part of alxndrlghtwoods and writes amazing stuff like dominion magic and they have a fic called 'take me for a ride' and so that fic has pretty heavily influenced the vibe of this magnus. except we see a lot of behind the scenes where he's with his friends, not just alec.

and magnus is very much a terrifying traumatizing person, but he's still the same immensely powerful person that ragnor had to douse with tea when he was learning to be hungover. and who ragnor chased around for 'bringing that disgusting tar into my house' when he tried to get ragnor to try coffee.

and he's still the person that ragnor held as he and cat pieced together magnus' heart so that not another single soul could ever hurt him like camille tried to. magnus lost any softness he did after camille and there is a very specific reason he opens himself up to alec in this fic and it's quite literally because of an accident.

like magnus wasn't hurt by camille in the same way as canon. what hurt him the most was that 'to him at the time' he was weak enough to almost be hurt by her. and that was worse. magnus doesn't do friends outside of cat and ragnor. and he doesnt do relationships.

alec very much has his own goals for the entire fic, as does magnus and their goals reach the same endgame? so even they go about different ways of getting there, it's fine? and magnus puts a magical pond on the roof so alec can still enjoy water and the first time magnus dips his toes in, he almost loses a couple because alec has an automatic reaction.

magnus: ... you could have said if you were that hungry

alec: magnus. you put body parts in water. it's a conditioned reflex at this point. i didn't realize they were attached to you.

magnus: my toes alexander! i just painted them

its a very morally grey fic because you have two very-nonhuman sets of instincts and quiet misunderstandings (no angst in the misunderstandings though) and a lot of brunch with the trio.

brunch is any meal that is with the three of them. if someone else tries to argue about it, they either die, or magnus mockingly takes them to where it is still brunch. Magnus has lost several dates this way.

He lost them on purpose. they were never found.

brunch is a vibe, not a time. yes, they frequently plot out mass casualties and murder over scones and lemon curd and cat's favorite of strawberry crepes and papaya with lime juice. ragnor still prefers kippers and toast. even if he has finally upgraded to the 'fancy' version. and magnus cycles through favorites but always has a very specific tea that he imports from where he was born.

magnus and alec have a very intense predator/prey but also with greater predator/smaller predator in that Alec is very willingly submitting to magnus and they both know that. because he is also incredibly dangerous and powerful. magnus very much does not want to deal with an upset alexander, he's seen how powerful his teeth are okay.

oh something that i love in this fic is alec gets most of his power from the small lake pocket dimension that he lives in. because it's created a self-sustaining cycle that balanced on alec being a big enough predator to protect the lake until natural magical defenses could shore up. it's pretty much a magical leyline and alec got anchored to/by it in the way of natural dominion magic. so he's not a king like magnus, he doesn't have a magical sovereign, he's just the sole guardian and sentinel for a, think of it kind of like those self-sustaining eco-systems but magical.

because i love magical realism and i love exploring into all the nooks and crannies that the showrunners never bothered to explore. like there is an entire different world of bugs and insects and flora and fauna and reptiles and animals and even canon!alec is more likely to know about magical creatures than mundane.

and magnus is super thrilled when they finally go back to alec's lake because hidden under a very clever array, is the fact that the entire lake is brimming with magical plants and magnus can very carefully and protectively cultivate some without harming the ecosystem, damaging the plants, hurting the environment. like magnus is mostly going to take a few cuttings from where alec needs to weed anyway.

alec is like: these are all trash, you can have them

magnus: darling, these are the magical equivalent of saffron

alec: yeah i don't know what that is either, do you want them? or ill feed them to the lily pod fairies.

alec knows they're important to the lake but he also can tell when the plants are getting too greedy and so he kind of tends to the lake very carefully. sometimes he uses a plant or another for its use, but he's very happy to just take care of the plants and only take them when necessary for himself or the lake health.

saeth likes calling my fics 'cute' and 'soft' even when they have like, mass murder and cannibalism and it's kind of funny because i do get it. i really love writing darkly and horrifically soft malec. it's the jam and butter to my bread. its good with only one, but better with both.

uh and if you managed to make it through that long winded smash of keys, here is a snippet from one such murderous brunch

—

Cat accepts a cup of tea with a small smile as Magnus laughs and Ragnor’s scolding gets increasingly louder.

“They were a perfectly lovely invention!” Ragnor is saying. “They should never have gone out of fashion!”

He’s said the same thing three times. Increasingly louder, as if it will eventually shut Magnus up. 

Cat sips her —perfect as always— tea and summons a box of biscuits.

Normally Ragnor offers them himself, but Cat will allow the discrepancy. They did find him quite indisposed.

Magnus is still laughing, holding his belly as though it might burst as he slumps into one of Ragnor’s large armchairs.

Ragnor seems to have given up and is grumpily sipping his own tea as he gives Magnus a snotty look.

When Magnus has finally, finally stopped laughing, Cat gives a silent sigh of relief.

And then Ragnor opens his mouth, dooming them all.

“If you must know.” He says with an aggrieved sniff, “it helps keep my horns from rubbing against the headboard. It’s quite annoying to have to polish them so often. Valois mentioned they were looking a little worn at the last gathering.”

And Magnus loses it again.

Ragnor had been napping on an armchair when they’d portaled in. Small round glasses perched on his snoring nose, a long flowing nightgown and a nightcap that hasn’t been used in several hundred years. 

It was only several lifetimes spent practicing self control that ensured Cat didn’t burst into laughter herself. 

She makes a note to order and send several bonnets to Ragnor, they’re much nicer than the undoubtedly musty nightcap Ragnor probably dug out of a moth-infested dresser in some half-abandoned cottage he forgot about.

Ragnor huffs and gulps half of his cup before Cat has pity and offers him a digestive. 

“The cheek on this lad.” Ragnor grumbles, “and what kind of present is this! At least it was well taken care of in that witch Selene’s library. If not tragically undervalued, so why is there blood on my bloody book?”

Magnus is going to give himself a hernia at this rate and Cat is both off duty and not inclined to be nice so she sends him a little zap and gives Ragnor the most mischievous smile she can.

Ragnor immediately catches on and good humor replaces his glower.

“Oh? What’s this? Cat, love! Don’t hold out on me. What’s ducky done now?”

“Guess who has to do a little spring cleaning, because he accidentally courted an un-declared kelpie.” Cat says in a rush, fingers snapping her biscuit in her eagerness to share.

Magnus gives a mock groan, “yes yes, laugh at my hubris. But trust me, a little bit of cleanup is well worth my Alexander.”

Magnus has one of his arms flung over his eyes and doesn’t see the quick, tight look Ragnor shares with Cat. Nor the brief joy when Cat simply smiles and nods, giving her assurance that Ragnor won’t need to make too many contingencies.

“And what does this time of new life and purging entail?” Ragnor asks and this time it’s Cat who laughs as Magnus gives them both a sheepish smirk.

“Ah, Alexander may be under the impression that I have been courting him… exclusively.” Magnus winces, “For the last four decades.”

Ragnor fights desperately not to gawp, and to not ruin his tea with incredulous laughter. 

And then he realizes the problem and his laughter fades.

“But you didn’t know.”

Magnus shakes his head, something bitter and angry in his eyes that Ragnor will worry over later. 

With sherry and Cat as backup. 

“That’s quite a bit of cleanup.” Ragnor murmurs quietly. Because Magnus takes fidelity seriously when it’s offered, “better take it to the last five decades, just to be safe. Don’t forget that orgy you told me about, the one in Dubai that you talked about for weeks in the 70’s. Don’t just do memory wipes, make it clean.” 

Magnus nods and Cat sighs despairingly as he summons a notebook and jots it down. 

“My, dear overachieving boys. Magnus should just use a ritual. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly. So we need to be thorough. We’ll have to add some element of a geas to the secret, Magnus can use one of his loose ends to power it. We can’t just murder all of them outright, it’s too conspicuous. Are there any spells that the Council needs done that require past lovers?” Cat looks at both of them sternly, “see how much we can brush under the Council’s cauldron and go from there.” 

“There, there ducky.” Ragnor tuts and sends over a cup and saucer to a groaning Magnus. “There’s not as many as you think. It’s a much smaller mess than if this happened when you were younger and off sowing your oats.”

‘Sowing my oats?’ Magnus mouths incredulously across his cup at Cat and she bites her lip to hide a chuckle. 

“Ah and Camille will need to finally be dealt with.” Ragnor says, so very obvious in how hard he’s trying to be nonchalant. Ragnor is always looking for a reason Magnus can accept and Cat is always hoping it works.

And for once, Magnus doesn’t even notice. 

“You know what, you’re right.” And Ragnor’s gaze snaps to Magnus with a relieved but disbelieving look as Magnus continues.

“She would definitely use any opportunity to get between us.” Magnus looks angry now, instead of the bitter pain that Camille normally brings out. “Putting a geas on her and sealing her won’t be enough.” And then Magnus pauses and there’s a dangerous, confident gleam to his eyes that Cat has mourned the lack of.

“Alexander does look divine in jewelry, and after everything he’s made for me, I should return the gesture. So I’ll need to commission him some.” And Magnus gives a soft, pleased smile. Like some deep wound has finally been healed, “and I have always wondered what the color of Camille’s soul is.”

Ragnor gives a content, pleased smile and nods sharply. “If need be we’ll say you’re cleaning up your court. Camille is a perfect and public example of a traitor being dealt with. There’s always an enemy if you look hard enough.”

[toxiccluvvv]

Special to me;

Pairing; Kagaya x Reader

Content warning: death

Word count: 1k words

Readers sex: Female

Summary: Kagaya falls for the mute stylist!

This is one out of two of my anonymous request!

(If this is shit, I’ll gladly remake it.)

Masterlist 

You come from a bloodline of excellent crafters, but you were among the best. When your clan was massacred they made it a point to keep you alive for that reason, if they were to all die, something from their legacy needed to live on. That something just happened to be you; before they died they taught you everything that they knew.

You were currently in one of those lessons, your grandmother was helping you craft a very important Kimono, it was all white with purple at the very bottom that faded into pink flames. It was such an elegant Kimono, apparently the owner ripped his old one, so they brought it to your family.

“This stitch is your mothers favorite, she loved making patterns when she was stressed, and this was her go to.” Your grandmother spoke with a smile as she showed you how to stitch. This was one of a billion that you’ve learned in your lifetime, but this one is by far your favorite.

“I’ll be back dear, I’m going to get us some tea.” She spoke as she stood up walking out the room, “okay! Love you obaasan!” You beamed as you continued to stitch up the kimono so that the owner could get it.

You were finishing the last stitch, when you could feel the energy in the atmosphere switch like a switch; it felt deadly…

You were excellent with crafts, but you never came around to learn how to fight. Your family can fight, but your family always focused on your crafting.

Thankfully the stone hashira was nearby, on his way to retrieve his masters Kimono. He was near your village when he could feel the same deadly feeling in the air.

Though he couldn’t see it, he was we treading around your slaughtered clan, they laid dead at his feet, and he moved toward the danger.

When he got to the main house, the demon was about to walk into your room. This wasn’t any ordinary demon though… it was Muzan Kibutsuji..

When Gyomei found you, you were sat in the corner of the room clutching onto the kimono, with tears in your eyes. “W..Who are you..?” You whispered from across the room. “I’m here for my masters Kimono, but it seems I’ll be leaving with more than that. My name Is Gyomei Himejima, I’m a hashira in the demon slayer corps.. what happened here..” he spoke with tears running down his face.

Though the large man has been hesitant to trust, he immediately felt a connection to you, so he brought you home with him. You packed a bag with all of the things you would need; being sure to bring all of the important things from your family.

You were devastated by the loss of your clan, but you always felt like they knew it was going to happen. They have always told you that its possible, and that you should be prepared for it. It didn’t make it any easier to live without them, seeing their bodies lay lifeless did things to you.. You decided against talking from that point on, it was a trauma response..

Kagaya took an interest in you the moment he laid eyes on you, you were obviously hurt, but you maintained a straight face. “Hello (y/n), it’s nice to finally meet you.” Kagaya spoke calmly with a grin on his face, you looked up and looked at the man in his eyes, you simply nodded not wanting to respond.

Kagaya appointed you to be the personal stylist of the demon corps members, your talent was undeniable, and he wanted you to find purpose. He assigned you to live in the same house as him, so nobody would disturb you.

The two of you lived in peace for years, Kagaya took time to learn what nobody wanted to know. He would cook what you liked, he would talk to you while you worked, and he overall made your stay amazing.

You have obviously developed feelings for the man, but you’ve always been to scared to admit them. Kagaya makes you nervous, so you choke up. While you don’t speak to others because you don’t want to, Kagaya is different. You’ve wanted to speak to him since the moment your eyes locked, you have always been to scared.

“What are you thinking about dear?” Kagaya asked as he watched you patch up the Fire Hashira’s Kimono with a scrunched up face. You always scrunched your face when you were in deep thought, it’s something Kagaya caught onto fast.

You looked up at him shocked that he could tell before shaking your head, dismissing it. “You know that I care about how you feel dear, if you want to speak we can.” He spoke with a smile as he took in the scene.

You built up some courage to grab the painting beside you and hand it to the man, you looked away from him as you held the rolled up painting in your hand infront of him. He smiled as he grabbed the paper out of your hand, unraveling it to see what it was.

It was two paintings, one was a painting of wisteria flowers with ravens in the trees, and the other was him smiling at you. The ravens in the wisteria is something you think of when think of the demon slayer corps while the other was your favorite point of view.

He smiled at the paintings in his hands, admiring them. “Theses are beautiful, dear.” He spoke with a smile. “Why make them for me?” He asked.

“Y..Your special to me…” you whispered as you looked down at your hands that laid in your lap. “You’re very special to me dear, that’s why I keep you close.” You looked up to look in his eyes; they were captivating.

“I… I don’t mean it like that… I… I’m quite attracted to you Kagaya… I’m sorry if this makes it weird..” you whispered getting more nervous by each word, The man smiled before he placed a kiss on your lips.

“I have always loved you dear.” He whispered once he pulled away, you blushed as you looked away “I have too… I’ve just been scared..” you whispered. He chuckled before turning your head to face him.

“Don’t ever be scared of me dear, you’re the one thing I care about more than anything..”

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Review Blurbs: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

General Thoughts:

-From what I've seen the animation had like "how are the animators not in a psych ward" insane levels of attention to detail so go look into that cause there's always some new amazing tidbit of info circulating about the movie-making process

-Music score was fantastic, it always did well setting the atmosphere of the scenes and bringing you into the moment (my favorite sequences was Gwen's intro and the Mumbattan segments)

-I'm obsessed with how they choreographed the fight styles, especially for Gwen and Pavitr who had very stylized movements (Gwen's is based off ballet and Pavitr fights using Kalaripayattu)

-I liked how Miles' theme song (What's Up Danger) felt a bit more fitting. In ITSV, Miles was very new to everything and questioning if the hero lifestyle was what he wanted. Now, not only was he so committed to doing things his way that he derailed the entire Spider Society with success, but we also meet Earth-42 Miles who is seemingly very fearsome. To the Spider Society, potentially to the entire multiverse even, they face a danger in the form of Miles Morales.

-This movie was Gwen's movie, full stop. Her and Miles shared the spotlight, she wasn't just a side character this time. I haven't seen people talk about this as much and they should cause Gwen's story was so beautifully crafted and that intro/final scene were some of the best parallel sequences I've ever seen in a movie. Her story and even the storytelling in the music and her "starting a band" were so well done, people have been doing analyses on the music change in the intro vs the final scene and how the music correlates to Gwen's personal growth and just ugh. More Gwen appreciation please (this isn't even getting into the trans allegory literally there was so much to her story so pay tf attention please and thank you)

-Adding on, part of the reason I loved the above point was also cause not only is ITSV's main female character given a big spotlight to shine in, but it served an important narrative purpose of giving the movie a hopeful and satisfying ending, because right now Miles' story is in its sort of Rising/Climax stage. The final act of Miles Morales' story has only just begun, and the movie set it up so damn well cause I know me and everyone alive are dying to know what's gonna happen next with him and Earth-42 Miles. Gwen's arc wrapped up and gave us hope as Miles' story was taking a dark turn, and that hope is what's gonna lead us forward until its his turn to shine in the light once again.

-Loved the new characters, I enjoyed Miguel having layers to his methodology and morals (some people pointed out possible reasons for him acting as aggressive as he did and it makes a lot of sense, but at the time it was just like "why tf is Miguel slamming Miles into a train and screaming at him for not wanting his dad to die papi chill💀")

-Jessica is underrated and I love how they did her character. She's very responsible and definitely has a tough love approach, but she's very human. I laughed out loud when she said she wasn't bothered by being pregnant in this line of work cause the guy she screwed was hot like she is so fucking real omg. Jessica also had a similar attitude to Miguel, but she has a personal connection with Gwen that I think grounds her more. I wish we had more of her mentorship towards Gwen and I hope to see it in the next movie (maybe even a baby reveal👀)

-I don't think anyone mentioned it but Spider-Byte always looked a bit different/off in all her frames and I'm like 99% sure that's cause they used a different animation style to give her that glitched/cyber punk effect which is just so damn cool

-Honestly all the female characters deserve more recognition, fandom still has a huge male bias and it shows cause Gwen, Jessica, Spider-Byte and Lila deserve way more love

-Hobie was without a doubt my favorite character this movie. He's a real punk and I cannot be grateful enough cause I am fucking done with people who ain't actually punk using it as an aesthetic, he's here to show how its done (others have made plenty of observations on him so go check those out cause they're very good)

-Not much to say about Pavitr personally but I adore his character design, definitely my favorite next to Gwen's (he also taught me that chai tea does not exist and is in fact just "tea tea" I'M SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW I'M SOUTH AMERICAN NOT SOUTH ASIAN😭)

-I'm surprised by how engaging Spider-Verse continues to make their villains. Doc Ock was fantastic, and this time around The Spot was a great subversion of expectations. He's silly and from the trailer release to the beginning of the movie, you think he's a joke character to set the mood. Then he starts to become actually sinister and you're sitting there thinking "the movie literally called me out for this and I still managed to fall into expectations". Very good job making a villain character not only feel like a threat, but by doing so in an unexpected way that really rips the rug out from under you. I want to study the story writers' minds like I'm being tested on it

-The return of the OGs was so nice, I wasn't as invested in Into the Spider-Verse admittedly but I felt it when Peni made a reappearance to tell Miles his dad had to die. Shit hit me in the soul (I'm also obsessed with Noir so very happy to see them both back)

-I saw people saying that Spider-Verse was copaganda and I'd like to withhold any definitive stances until Beyond comes out, but it definitely felt like they were holding back when it came to criticisms of Gwen's dad. Remember, it could very well be that the writer's behind Hobie "hate the AM and PM"/wears blue fucking laces Brown were told by higher-ups to cool it or the movie wouldn't get released so don't immediately go after them, learn from the writer's strike to use critical thinking and wait for more info. Hopefully they can address that more after audience reviews come in so we'll see.

-All the scenes where Miles would almost reveal he's Spider-Man to his parents/did reveal it had me stressed lmao, they did a great job making the audience feel the weight and tension of the moment

-The ending was the hypest shit like it was so good I couldn't even be mad about the cliffhanger I was just in awe

-I actually thought towards the end that they might do a two-parter but then I was like "nahhhhh they wouldn't" and then they did that. We very much entered a "final stage" towards the end so I'm wondering how the creators will space it out and what they'll do for the next movie. Either way I am "beyond" hyped

Criticisms:

I only have like two criticisms cause this movie was pretty fucking good, but its never bad to look at what even a masterpiece like Spider-Verse could do better so future projects can take note. Having said that:

-I understand it was for authenticity's sake, but the live-action segments were a bit jarring after being in animation for so long. I would've animated those segments as well or done some form of 3D so it blended in. Every other character was animated so it felt weird when suddenly Andrew Garfield and Donald Glover were on screen (even Tom Holland's spidey was animated). A minor nitpick, but I can respect the boldness in really committing to the meta-mindfuckery of the multiverse

-Gwiles as a ship was never really my thing, so you can understand my surprise when I felt like they actually kinda improved on it since the first movie ("boy has crush on girl because she's pretty and a girl and we're supposed to root for it" is my least favorite trope [*cough cough* cause its what straight dudes like *cough cough*] so its no surprise when Gwiles in ITSV did absolutely nothing for me). Having said that, the movie pushed a tad too hard for it imo. Pavitr was the classic "shipper" character made to push the ship forward and make it super obvious to the audience that its what the movie wants you to root for, and I and many people are not about that. If you need to tell your audience to support a romance then you're not doing it right.

-As sort of an add-on to the above, I think Hobie and Gwen were hinted as having dated during Gwen's time working under Miguel? Which like... why? Literally why. It made no sense and did nothing for the characters or their relationship, they could easily just be friends and nothing would change. This plot point was also never mentioned again after its initial reveal (from Pavitr to cause "drama" for Miles I think) and quite literally nothing came of it. No drama (thank fuck cause that was not what I or anyone went to this movie for), no development, nothing. It was just thrown in and never used. So uh... yeah, don't do that. Thanks.

Final Thoughts:

Across the Spider-Verse was definitely a step-up from the first movie, I was far more engaged and I found very little to criticize from it. Animation, music score, characters, all 10/10, and above all, its action sequences kicked ass and restored the good name of the superhero genre. Watch this movie, and I highly recommend doing so in theaters because it is a perfect example of how movies are not just entertainment, but an experience to remember.

[abbinurmel]

I spent the past couple hours tailoring this aimless rant on YT, in response to a person merely saying how much they'd love for a reboot of 'Cow & Chicken' on adult swim, cos they could say whatever they like on there. I posted it here, cos YT doesn't wanna allow me to post anything right now, which is probably for the best.

This is gonna be a dumb rant. I got sucked down a rabbit hole, cos this is a favorite topic of mine to talk about and I'm procrastinating horribly on purpose on a lot of dull paperwork. So strap in before reading my garbage. You're warned now, don't hafta TLDR or whatever, thanks, I already know. …Anyways. For those who care about irrelevant, shitty opinions:…I love Cow & Chicken. A lot. On paper I know exactly why it seems like a great idea to reboot on 'adultswim', purely on the merit they do things more outrageously. I'm certain many would watch this. It's actually kinda weird there hasn't been one yet, when you think about it, given this age of rehashes. It already has the raunchy humor and gross art down, seems like a match made in heaven, right?- It'd be easy too, "Cow & Chicken" wasn't exactly lavishly drawn or had a big cast. Well… Much as I think there could be a slim possibility of it happening, for it to be good, and IF they do good, to be wildly entertaining…I don't think "Cow & Chicken" is going to ever get actually rebooted. And I don't think it benefits from being rebooted, either, which is really the only reason you should try to reboot things ever in the first place. The lore of an IP needs to benefit in being revisited, somehow, and ESPECIALLY, SPECIFICALLY, if brought back for adults. It is very unlikely gonna be executed right, ironically BECAUSE of this show's already semi-adult nature. And the reasons why, is endemic to why a whole lot of current modern shows, and movie/live action series remakes, are suffering too. -And no, it is NOT due to the reasons some of you're likely thinking of. It is NOT cos of any tired old: "things are just too safe and WOKE /PC culture now!" theories. (That sort of affair is highly subjective/means basically nothing or very different things to different people. Pretty impossible to gauge due to how all over the place/ludicrously out of touch with general fans censors and networks can be, no matter what their political leanings or personality is. Which can and do range all over the place. So I won't go into that topic as it's an entirely different problem to what I am talking about. Plus I was there for the 80s and 90s, its pretty silly to say we can not get away with any wild things these days, cos let me assure you, by comparison, there is a LOT technically more we CAN do and say now, in both kid's and adult shows, that would never get by in a million years 30 years ago. You couldn't even just say the word 'kill', 'poop' or 'die' then, most the time. Let that sink in.)

…See to me, if it ironically hadn't ever been restrained by censors/made for kids, C&C might've been NOWHERE as good. Like. At all. It might've actually been one of the worst CN shows aired. Just 100% annoying gross-out show laziness, like a lot of shows of its era. The main reason it didn't flop was cuz 1) duh, Charles Adler, the main voice, and 2) it did its 'thing' the way original 'Ren & Stimpy' did. It didn't beat for beat copy them. Their writing/visuals just simply knew how to cross the line JUST enough, keeping the raunchy humor tucked in JUST as far as they could push it, but knew also on the whole how to always stay utterly light hearted, simple and goofy. That's where its core identity is. It's the dumb blithe enthusiastic Innocence of pretty much the entire cast, and the goofy simplicity of the plots/gags, while they get to say out the side of the mouth much more 'mature' sinister things….It works purely b/c of that contrast; sometimes with innuendo being camoflauged extremely subtly, sometimes NOT subtly at all. -But it would always go ping-ponging gracefully between the two. Never too much Idiotically Innocent, or too Smugly Adult and Crass. It would do this, with actual wit. It didn't JUST have gross visuals or say dirty jokes. It did all this with a theatrical, self-known flair. Shows like C&C and its fellow Golden Age shows basically are very good at doing what franchises like Monty Python were known for, and what Regular Show and Gravity Falls and similar would do later on, just with more visual ugliness.

…Meanwhile, a lot of other 1990's/current shows DO NOT have this memo. They do not have that balance, they lack the awareness of what is the difference between 'sneaking in occasional very dirty jokes with wit' and "throwing every and any kinda joke at a wall and not even bothering to look at what sticks." A LOT of 'gritty comedy parody reboot' things are doing this, and also doing this same idea just with the "dramatic tropes" instead of comedic tropes too. ….Including Ren & Stimpy itself. -Once 'The Ren & Stimpy Show' moved to SpikeTV, they went fully 'adult', and by direct result went 1000% downhill. I don't ascribe that to just poor writing(the original has flat stupid writing too), or ugly looking animation (so is the original). Not even John K.'s…ahem, history. If you fixed his behavior, and abusive attitude; made all his notoriously horrible bad jokes tamer, I still think 'Adult Party' would've tanked, because doing this concept in of itself is a fool's errand. It's not just rebooting nostalgic childhood IPs that's the problem, but specifically attempting to repackage something that was already a mild bit 'tawdry', so now that it is INTENTIONALLY for adults only. Whenever the entertainment industry does that 'gritty effect', be it games or movies or Netflix or comic books, it's 8/10 doomed, because you essentially neutered the core joke or appeal. You've taken away the cool 'taboo' point of saying hidden naughty/clever things, in a story you're not SUPPOSED to. You're able to state and do whatever you want, and so there's not only no leash to hold down any of the weaker ideas, there's almost no "rebellious challenge" to its bite whatsoever, even when those jokes/story ideas succeed. Noone is gonna be shocked or laugh nearly as much when a Red Guy says "KISS MY ASS!" unironically in an adultswim show, as they would if he says "KISS MY ASS!!!!!!….-Her name is GERTRUDE! :D" -and then happily pulls onstage a donkey wearing a big bowtie in on a rope, because this renders it now a pun and technically 'child safe' to flaunt now. (This isn't a real joke from the show btw, I'm only making this up for convenience. But you get the idea. It's the precise sort of silly thing you know he'll do. :P )

Neither the audience nor execs are 'prey' anymore for the writers to be creatively poking the boundaries with, when you remove that expectation. It's different if your IP started with an already adult geared story to begin with, but, when it's a full on polar opposite shift in tone and/or age demographics like that, it's almost always pulled off in a confused messy way, because even the original work's creators themselves, (IF they're even kept around, or are familiar with the source material if they are new), are trapped now in completely unfamiliar territory. Without a deeply wild reinventing of the show's lore or main tenets(a thing which nobody has ever been upset by on the internet!), it usually doesn't have anything else to stand on, especially with a purely episodic comedy show, like Cow and Chicken is. Once you take out this 'vulnerability' in our dynamic, between child/censor guardians, and writers, this main core joke of not knowing what the writers are and are NOT actually going to get away with is gone, and so much of the stakes now is irreversibly lost. Sometimes being hidden from the details is what makes a gag all the more funnier, or a scary scene all the scarier, or a cringe scene all the cringier. If we take away this, things lack a lot more of the colorful shock & ridiculousness. The main DNA in these classic "deranged shows", like Ed, Edd n Eddy, Ren&Stimpy, Rocko and C&C, that a lot of nostalgic fans, and current show-runners often alike forget; is the simple fact that such shows had to weigh the balance of: 'being a sincere kid show' and 'trying to get away with something they're not supposed to'. …With very deep emphasis on the words: "GET AWAY WITH". To me, a show is not getting "away" with something good, be it a message, a joke, a deeper sense of drama, if you constantly always spell it out for us, and we know you lose nothing and have to take no creative risk by displaying it for the audience. You're not really earning a prize, if someone just right at the start, hands you a medal. In other words….Every good memorable/subversive classic cartoon show, is not beloved just because they got to have crazy visuals, or say and do unhinged jokes. …You needed to be MEMORABLY STRANGER for having those qualities, in the first place. If you do something unhinged and bizarre, but coming in I expect to see it, is it really an unhinged show?

See, there's a reason why most of the frequent reboots of Scooby Doo like 'Velma' atrociously fail. And it's not because they changed someone that was formerly white, or made someone like Shaggy have a different name, or backstory. Or even because they overhauled an old wholesome character into a rude, toxically mean, judgemental unpleasant character. Yes this does affect some tastes, but on the whole, that wasn't the core problem for most watchers. LOADS of shows have a morally awful, pompous, or an incompetent, chaotic mess for a central protagonist, or reinvent them in some way if they come from an old property. Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast did more or less exactly what "Velma" does, where they took an old IP and completely transformed their roles/upgraded their style of humor for a more adult audience. Rick & Morty has a toxic main protagonist. South Park has four of them. Family Guy and American Dad has them, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, the list goes on. Even kid shows do this, and sometimes get away with it well too: Dan Versus did it well so did Ren and Stimpy, again, back when it understood how it worked. Having a mean protag or changed fundamentals, isn't why so many reboots don't work. …What happens with bad modern remakes of Scooby Doo, (and not just in shows like Velma), is often that they forget how to make things have that beautiful sense of contrast, that Cow and Chicken does, in its writing. They do not know how to both show this is a show rooted in something sincere, WHILE ALSO saying outrageously dirty/surreal/mean/pompous or dark things inside that vessel. The appreciation for the context of its background, is what makes shows like 'Mystery Inc.' and 'Zombie Island' work, while Velma and other SBs, do not. If we took Cow & Chicken, stripped it of it's irony, what else do we have except yet another dime a dozen weaker show, constantly going 'haha, me say the rude words!/do the gross bad thing again!' adult oriented show, with no fangs? Another exhausting reboot, which takes yet another unoriginal idea, robs its reputation, and wastes our time? …There's a way to do this kind of thing right. I just do not think most people, not even some of the most talented in the business, have the freedom or ability to do so. Not even Samurai Jack, a legend of an animated program, escaped this 'update it for adults!' treatment unscathed. If you're gonna update something for adults, you really have to think about WHY it was good in the first place. Not take just what you had, and stamp lots of expletetives or flashes of red to indicate actual blood on there. You need either to actually SAY something, completely useful and different, or, just stick to your guns with the old formula, and do it so well it exceeds the hype for the original. Which is also near being impossible to do. Hence, it begs the question, why do it at all?

…Sorry for this TEDTalk, I just love being an absurd mess at 2AM when I have better more boring adult things to do.

[your--isgayrights]

Holy shit are you the one that wrote that really good orv soulmates au? You're killing it! Also do you ever think about Kim Namwoon? I do. I think it's cool how he's introduced as a chuuni with no moral code, but as the story progresses he somehow develops into this odd character that represents the lack of a divide between good and evil. At first, his actions in the train are shown as cruel and evil, but then you realize that in some ways, he's actually kind of right? Ima write an essay (1/??)

Ok so im back- so I can't put images in an ask, but Kim namwoon's monologue about killing that woman is actually really interesting. He talks about how they HAVE to kill her- If they don't, they're all going to die. And that's wrong (but only because of the grasshoppers- is Gilyoung wasn't there, He'd actually be in the right here) So, in the context of the first scenario, Kim Namwoon is 'evil'. but as you read more, you realize a lot of stuff which retroactively redeems him (2/??) For example, Everyone outside of car 3807 who survives is a murder, just like Kim Namwoon. And they aren't evil for it- there's a distinction made between murderers and monsters. There's a lot of this- The scene in the theatre dungeon on the boats (live no matter what), etc etc. and we see that Kim Dokja isn't opposed to them either. The main reason he let Kim namwoon die is because he hates him. which is cool! especially because it leads the way for future character development (3/??) Regarding their relationship- Kim Dokja has to come to terms with the fact that Namwoon wasn't actually all that bad, both by working with him in the underworld and meeting the ''him' from alternate regressions. This arc works for two purposes- 1) It relates to the theme of evil versus good- Kim Namwoon is neither, so it's unfair to treat him as one or the other. But the second is my favorite- Kim Dokja's opinion of Namwoon serves as a kind of metaphor for his opinion on himself. (4/5) We know from the text that He sees Kim namwoon as similar to him, and so it's interesting to see him stop hating him as he comes to terms with stuff.

Always cool to hear from someone who's read wall fic :). You reminded me that there's a few Kim Namwoon scenes in the next chapter I'm excited to write... but my writing anxiety has been acting up again on the end of chapter four and I have to finish sewing a l/eech be/anie b/aby from scratch this week, so it'll probably be a bit til we get there.

I think that your analysis is really interesting, mostly because going at it from the angle of "morality" of omniscient reader is a perspective i kind of lack on my own. Like good vs evil is one of The themes of ORV that they hand out to you in their list of themes they have written on some literal walls, but honestly its not something i really think about on my own. For me, like you mention, the big emphasis of KNW's character is what he represents to Kim Dokja, bc i think one of my favorite themes is the relationship of him as a reader to the WoS characters and the "impossible communication" theme.

I think that one of my favorite aspects of Kim Dokja is the way that he was able to empathize and see himself in the different characters in WoS and give them the specific comforts they needed at different times in the story (reaching out to LJY, SYS, YJH, etc) and fundamentally giving them someone who is on their side and their for them when everything is lost and they are alone, because that's something that he didn't have. All throughout reading ways of survival, the only thing by his side was this story. He sort of knows what the solutions to their problems are just cause he knows what he needed back then... so this really positive trait is coming out of his projection of his own thoughts and feelings from the past to these characters he loves. It's great that we have Kim Namwoon as an inversion of that, a character onto whom he's projected not the struggles he faced, but rather the traits that embarrass him.

This is mostly my interpretation but I really feel that there are similarities in the ways KDJ talks about himself as a child idolizing Yoo Joonghyuk and going through a chuuni phase and the way that he talks about KNW, and I think him being unkind to KNW is an extension of him being unkind to himself. Like at the beginning of ORV KDJ is in this place where his hero worship of YJH is at this crossroads with his view of his own self that he expects YJH to just treat him like a bug he has to exterminate unless he proves some other value. This perspective is interesting when you take into account that KDJ of the past would imagine being friends with the WoS characters and even used to pretend he was YJH, and that in fact the entirety of ORV was something he had continuously planned out since childhood when he wrote stats in his school notebook because it paints this picture of his daydreaming just being brutally beat down as he grows up and starts thinking about what would be really "realistic" with the kind of person that he believes himself to be... And then as that process is happening, Kim Dokja reads over and over again YJH just, at the start of every regression, picking up this annoying younger guy who's so desperate to impress him and somehow manages to get his attention while being embarrassingly chuuni and seeming to revel in the chance to kill someone... I think what you say is interesting about whether or not KNW was "right" to murder someone on the train, but honestly I don't think it matters as much whether or not he was right or wrong, just that Kim Dokja thought he was being an asshole about it, lmao. The whole thing of him killing Kim Namwoon is really interesting to me becaus it's a mix of a lot of great things. On one hand it's a big asset for the theme of a reader in the world of his favorite story because the premise of "My favorite book is real so I finally get to kill that character I've always hated," which is hilarious in its own right, gets turned into "wow I killed a 19 year old" when he's slowly starting to realize WoS characters are Real People, but it's also honestly a big piece of forshadowing for the end of orv before the epilogues and Kim Dokja's true character. Kim Namwoon's type of character is the kind that in most apocalypse stories is setting the tone of the edgey new reality, introducing the fact that people will die. He also represents the very idea of being forced into a situation where you must become a murderer or die; the jumping off point of WoS that Kim Dokja as a character fundamentally connects to. As a kid, he was forced to defend himself from his abusive father, and ultimately killed him. This is a central, scarring event of his childhood, and even though he represses and warps this memory into his mother's version of events, the concept is still something real to him and something that shapes his way of thinking. Obviously sometimes killing is necessary, but to enjoy it too much or brag about it on some level is associated with KDJ's past with his mother who wrote a book about murder and himself who once had to kill someone... It's obvious why Kim Dokja would hate a character representing this kind of narrative, that someone must be killed and because of that those involved are blameless, because Kim Dokja always pushes the blame of others' deaths onto himself... because in the world where everything is as Kim Dokja imagines and dreams it to be, KNW comes back as a spirit of vengeance to temporarily stall him on the bridge, there's an idea that KDJ deserves some retribution that he avoids to pursue his goals, which is consistent with what happens at the end right before the epilogues -

(quick digression: I've said this before and I'll say it again; I think that KDJ killing KNW is the reason that YJH tried to kill him in the beginning of ORV. KDJ dismisses it as YJH being an asshole for no reason, but I really believe that on some level YJH saw that KDJ just killed his chuuni little mentee and was like okay i want this guy to die. also getting into orv ending spoilers here ok)

-where KDJ tries to kill the kid version of himself by using disconnected film theory and stabbing himself. Like I genuinely think that KDJ avoids thinking about morality with the efficacy of "I know that I'm in the wrong, but I'm always wrong and terrible and regardless of what ever I am I have to get to the end of the story" and then after that whether or not he feels that he deserves salvation or damnation because to him the story that he loves is both...

gah, that was a tangent. I just mean that I think that part of killing KNW is Kim Dokja trying to kill a part of himself, the part of himself that dared to have the dreams that he had about the WoS characters being his family, just like he tries to kill the OD who still has those dreams... and is utterly baffled that those dreams could actually be realized in any universe. Additionally, the turn around KDJ has with KNW reminds of this in that he sees KNW in this constructive environment where he kind of just gets to be a kid and build gundams and realizes that these things that he hated about himself and KNW were just like... things that kids do. Like being chuuni about murder and the dark truth of the world is just a phase that teenagers go through sometimes just like building gundams... /hj... and like being cringey and having unrealistic ideas and desires isn't inherently malicious, like how we see KNW in the alternate dimension is just sort of a little brother character who has a crush on LJY and fools around with his mentor's stuff... It's similar to the kind of realization you want KDJ to have at the end towards himself when he sees the OD going with SP and crew to be a family lmao.

i wrote a bit lmk if i misphrased something or lost a train of thought somewhere

[waitformethistime]

The Star Beast review

I remember RTD getting announced to return and the fandom acting like he "saved" the show. Now mind you, I didn't love Chibnall's era (and had my complaints about Moffat too) but to act as if RTD was the sacred cow was just irritating.

That being said, lets get into his second debut.

We start with Ten- sorry I mean Fourteen running into Donna. Now Donna was always a favorite of mine so I'm relieved to see shes in top form here. She immediately roasts Fourteen upon seeing him (with a wink and a nod to Tennant no longer being 35 years old) and that's very On Brand for her.

Then we get [sigh] Rose. No, not Billie Piper. Rose Noble. Donna's 15 year old daughter. For starters, her age makes no sense. How can she be 15 if Donna only lost her memory 15 years ago? Did she get hitched and pregnant the very next day? You could hand wave this by saying shes a stepdaughter, but no. RTD wants to make it clear she is Donna's daughter. Her trans daughter to be exact. So let's get into that.

I love that shes trans and that shes played by an actual trans actress. The representation has been long overdue. I love that Donna is such a good and accepting mum and that even Sylvia (a character I previously didnt care for) redeems herself by being a good grandma to Rose, even if she slips up sometimes. Shes trying, which is more than she ever did for Donna.

That being said, Rose is little more than a plot device. Her only real purpose is to introduce our alien, the Meep, and then save the Doctor and Donna with her magical transgenderism (I'll get to that in a second), which is a shame because Yasmin Finney is lovely.

Now let's get into the metacrisis. I always thought this plotline was stupid and the way its resolved is even stupider. Turns out Donna won't actually die if she remembers The Doctor (duh!) because she transferred some of her "Doctor-ness" to Rose...somehow. Now I couldn't tell if RTD was saying that Rose was trans because of the metacrisis energy or if the reason the metacrisis didnt affect her is because shes trans, but either way, it didnt make much sense. How is she able to "remember" things that happened before she was even born? It was convoluted and reminded me a lot of River Songs origins in a bad way. Convoluted is Moffats thing. I don't need it from RTD too.

But wait it gets better. We still have to figure out what to do with the metacrisis energy right? So how do they get rid of it? They simply just "let it go" with their womanly superiority (no really). We get this corny exchange about how 14 is "Male-presenting" and therefore doesn't know how to let things go because of it. Excuse me what? Did RTD watch any of 13's era at all? She was an emotional trainwreck. Callous, dishonest, passive-aggressive and quite vengeful too. And she was a woman. You wanna know who was the Doctor that had to let things go? Literally his last line is "I let you go"? The one who had to let go of his companion because he was hurting both of them? The one who learned to forgive, not just the Master, but also Davros, of all people? It was 12, the old white guy. Swing and a miss, RTD. That was a corniness I would expect from his first era, with Jesus!Ten. I expected some kind of growth since then. I also just felt like I was being lectured and I got quite enough of that from the last era, thank you very much.

This sounds negative so far, so let's look at the positives!

Tennant + Tate are incredible together as usual. I like that 14 is more emotionally honest than any of his previous predecessors (and 13 was getting there at the end so it's a natural progression imo). Love the alien designs. The Meep is so cute. I saw the twist of it being evil a mile away, but it's cute so I'll let it slide. The Wrarth are also cool. Just dudes in suits as Doctor Who aliens should be lol.

Didn't appreciate the Donna death fakeout because I knew RTD wouldnt actually go through with it and it felt cheap, but the acting in the scene was top-notch.

The new opening is cool and I love the new Tardis. You can tell that's where all the budget went lol. It's like a beautiful mix of 11, 12, and the Classics and it looks huge. You can tell Tennant was having a blast with it.

The Doctor actually took the initiative to not regenerate in the tardis this time and it still gets blown up. Poor tardis...

Some other thoughts:

since when can the Sonic create forcefields? I don't care for that. And 14's non-reaction was weird. Shouldn't he be surprised his tool got an upgrade? Also the fact that his clothes regenerated too with no explanation is dumb. Were they too afraid to put Tennant in Whittaker's clothes? It's not like she was wearing a handmaiden dress.

Also they kept asking "why this face?" Which is valid but my theory for why the regeneration went all wonky in the first place is because the Master fucked it up somehow when he tried to steal them in Power of the Doctor. I'd like for RTD to bring that up but I'm not holding my breath. That would require actually acknowledging other eras besides his own exist.

Overall, this was kind of a mid-tier RTD episode and very underwhelming for an anniversary special. Heres hoping it gets better in the next 2.

[tailsrevane]

[comic review] avatar: the high ground (2022)

writer: sherri l. smith artists: various

it’s weird that i keep having to talk about star wars in my avatar reviews, but there are a lot of truly bizarre connections between the two considering i don’t think there’s any real cross-pollination between them aside from disney having a stake in both of them? but, yeah.

a lot of star wars fans are probably familiar with the story of splinter of the mind’s eye. this was a novel by alan dean foster (the ghostwriter of the first film’s novelization) that george lucas commissioned as a book that could be easily adapted into a low-budget sequel for star wars if the first movie didn’t make enough money to finance a sequel. of course, that was before the first movie totally redefined expectations for a summer blockbuster, so foster’s novel ended up not being needed for its original purpose, and it just sort of existed as a kind of awkward entry in the canon of the eu until disney nuked it. dark horse did a comic adaptation of the novel in the 90s with some of that gorgeous coverart that the dark horse star wars comics always had, which is the way i found out about it.

avatar: the high ground, on the other hand, was james cameron’s first pass at an avatar sequel script. it doesn’t appear that cameron altered the trajectory of the sequel for budgetary reasons, but rather due to a combination of just deciding to break the story differently and possibly technological breakthroughs in convincing underwater cgi? regardless, rather than wasting his first script idea, a decision was made to adapt it into a series of three hardcover graphic novels.

the resulting comis are… honestly not great, immo? i’d actually say this is my least favorite avatar comic i’ve read so far. like, even adapt or die which wasn’t great at least felt like it was something different? this felt like “avatar 2, but worse.” and repurposing it as a prequel is also kind of fraught because they obviously had a lot of the same storytelling goals in this version of the sequel so you end up with weird stuff like jake & meytiri’s kids running through what should’ve been their parents’ entire budget of “telling them to stay & wait in a place, them not listening & getting kidnapped” patience before the first movie? like, when the kids first get captured by blue!quatritch in the sequel, it’s this big shocking moment, but imagine if they had just been kidnapped & daringly rescued, like, last week? it would totally change how that would feel, right? there’s a very real feeling in the movie that this is the first time their innocence has been challenged like this.

… come to think of it, that’s actually another parallel with splinter of the mind’s eye? because towards the end of that book, luke has a lightsaber fight with darth vader, and when splinter of the mind’s eye was still considered canon that just made it really awkward that their confrontation in the empire strikes back was clearly supposed to be the first of its kind? i think this comic is just avatar’s splinter of the mind’s eye. i think it’s best to just pretend it doesn’t exist, because it’s definitely not going to impact the movies–i mean, no one’s really thinking “this is awkward becasue splinter of the mind’s eye got there first” when they watch empire, right? but it just makes the high ground pretty unsatisfying at the end of the day.

even ignoring those sorts of issues, it’s also just super obvious that this story wasn’t intended for a comic book format? it’s just a series of honestly pretty flat action scenes that don’t really translate all that well on the page. and it isn’t helped by the fact that the art, while pretty enough to look at, doesn’t actually do a great job of conveying the action in a way that’s painless to follow? it’s sometimes hard to tell characters apart except for in extreme closeup. so yeah, on the whole, really not a huge fan of this one, unfortunately.

c-rank

[professorspork]

For the writing game, 5, 17, 19, 94?

5. have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

PLAYLISTS ARE NOT PROCRASTINATING I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL. I cannot link any I have made because I, uh… don't believe in streaming music services, standing by my trusty analog media is another hill I will die on… but for most projects I always end up making some sort of playlist, even if it's only ever in my head instead of iTunes.

the unique aspects of music-- the way lyrics and melody and composition come together to be greater than the sum of their parts-- is massively inspirational to me. it conveys tone and vibe and purpose; it can help me see characters in new ways or remind me of certain aspects I really want to hit in any given chapter.

it's very easy to see the playlist I made for my massive Kristanna story because the chapter titles are all from the songs in the right order. writing Newsbees has actually been a bit of an amusing mental challenge in this regard, because while the Newsies soundtrack has PLENTY for me to work with I also have lots of other songs I would normally have put in the running for chapter title status, were I not trying to stay on-theme. I did end up making a little baby playlist just for my own edification, there.

Actually, this is a fun anecdote I might as well say now: when I first started writing Newsbees, I thought that every chapter would have an epigraph of lyrics of songs from other musicals, in addition to their titles which are all taken from Newsies itself. and then I realized that this was a) excessive even for me and b) distracting, so I took them out.

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

Can't pick; my style isn't really designed for me to be able to pick.

My sentences are meandering monsters or staccato fragments, and they don't really lend themselves to picking out soundbites. that's not how my brain works. my focus is always on how a sentence works within a paragraph, how a line of dialogue furthers the scene its in, rather than making any one of them stand out. I'd like to think that means I polish all of them to equal shine, but your mileage may vary on that.

Like, if I had to pick one, it would probably be the "Emerald brings the rain" bit from send 'em howling, but the line doesn't stand on its own. The whole reason it works is because of the meticulous set-up I put in front of it, and several paragaphs of set-up followed by the punch probably doesn't meet the definition of a "line."

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

Oh, goodness. You know, I'm not sure? I don't think my writing sounds at all like Douglas Adams but I can't think of an author I turn to more often for inspiration when I'm trying to find a novel way to convey an emotion or come up with a simile; the man just had an absolutely marvelous brain for connecting two seemingly-unrelated thoughts and turning them into the perfect metaphor. I haven't touched my H2G2 anthology or Salmon of Doubt in years, but that's the drawer I'm drawing from. Which means I'm probably actually drawing from Wodehouse, whom Adams was aping in the first place. (I have never read Wodehouse myself).

Jacob Clifton, who used to write recaps for Television Without Pity, is not a book or an author but was also massively inspirational in terms of the way I think of themes and turn phrases.

Honestly, though, I think the biggest influence on my writing lately has been other fanfic authors. I don't mean this in the terms of how certain kinds of fanfiction (like the kind i write, with all-caps titles that are song lyrics) tend to have a poetic sameyness to them and we all mutually decided that carding hands through hair and toeing off shoes are a thing-- though I'm as guilty of that as anyone-- but there are definitely specific writers I can think of whose thoughtfulness and accuracy when it comes to word choice, lyricism and cadence has affected me greatly. And I shan't name them here because then you'll all see my writing style for what it is, a clockwork automaton I've built using stripped-out parts stolen (borrowed!) from these other writers I admire and the illusion of my individuality and lone genius will be shattered.

94. do you prefer dialogue or description?

I will always be a dialogue-forward writer and consider dialogue to be the engine that actually makes the story go, and it will always be the thing I find easiest and go to first. See again-again my answer about characters affecting my style-- the way I learned to not hate description was to turn description into yet another way to write dialogue, by doing it in a character's voice.

[its-the-val-pal]

This is long and entirely OOC, so I don't expect anyone to read! It's fairly personal, but I need to get thoughts out and all that. So feel free to bail <3 thanks for clicking either way and ily, whoever you are.

I am a very private person, normally. I keep to myself, my one or two contacts, and just sort of go about my business. But lately I've been told that, due to my overactive mind, it would probably help to toss my thoughts out somewhere and get things on paper. A confession, if you will. And I was also told that I don't have to send it; that people often write letters and burn them up and.. whatever.

But that doesn't suit me, because I don't like wasting time and I don't like doing things that--at least to me--don't have a purpose. And I can argue with myself that writing things down and out certainly has a purpose, but it doesn't feel like it unless it's actually thrown out somewhere.

That being said, I don't expect to do these often. Or maybe I'll post the rest privately or something. I'm not sure. I'll probably figure that out as I go. But this is, for now, a confession of something I've realized about myself.

I really, really started to think a lot of things I enjoyed were dumb. I hid myself away in work in the desire for progress and betterment and.. that's fine. All things in moderation. But I don't do moderation so well. And in that, in being surrounded by people that often thought my favorite hobbies were ignorant, I started to feel the same way about them. And so I did a lot of it less and less. And that, in turn, hurt a lot of people I really care about. People that I've alienated for one reason or another and lost sight of that close bond and friendship.

And.. lately, I think I've come to realize how much I miss those things. It's a big part of why I've returned. I had only unsubbed for about three months, but the truth is I've really been gone much longer than that. And that was disrespectful to a lot of people, chief of those being my RP partner at the time who for some reason stuck around far longer than they should have. And I'll never be able to apologize to them enough for it. Or probably get that back.

I've really enjoyed exploring my characters and writing again. And how much the use of mods, which I once abhorred, really helped breathe life back into characters in a game that the aesthetic just never seemed to match. Val never had cool jackets and pants like he should have. Melfice barely got dark clothing to wear. The rest were.. okay, but those two were always my main characters and not having something to fit them felt very limiting.

So yeah. All things in moderation, and I keep telling myself that, and I'm not entirely sure where Val's current story will take him or where he'll end up, but I am definitely looking forward to it. There are certainly places I'd like for it to go, but whether he ends up there or not is out of my hands. And if I'm being honest? I hate that, too. Lack of control is something I've always struggled with. I don't do well when I can't manage things myself. And while this arc has been great, I've found myself missing Miqo'te Val and all the RP and fun I used to have on him.

Will he ever get that back? Sure. I'll bring him back to a Miqo'te once this plot has ran its course, assuming he lives through it. I've always had a big "if my character dies, they die" thing and.. I'm not going to shy away from it. I don't mind. It's part of the fun for me, really. Will he ever find another? Or get over his lost love? Or even be able to move on? Or, gods willing, reunite with his one true love?

I suppose time will tell.