#neither are relevant to the plot but i don't care

[what-am-i-even-doing-tho]

October Drabble Challenge 2023

Day 30- Moist

"Gwaine was the first to speak, 'Oh, it's definitely you, Merlin.'"

[sophiamarieispinkbunny-chan]

Yor's Hometown and Westalis

Yor mentioned that she's from a place in Ostania called Eastern Nielsberg.

Obviously, I thought it was on the Eastern part of Ostania as well. But then we get this statement from her from the recent update, Chapter 92.

She's from the South part of Ostania-A Southern folk.

And how did I dare forgot, the dish that she can make without messing up was even named Southern Stew.

Why is this important? Because Mr. Green said this specific information on Chapter 39 about Southern Folks from Ostania.

Southern Folks have a code for defecting to the West which might indicate that they're the ones who usually do this.

Then I remembered this Twiyor moment from Chapter 35

Yor knows a lullaby from Loid's childhood that was always sung to him by his mother. How could Yor know that same exact lullaby?

I don't think I remember Yor mentioning Westalis neither in speech or thought (correct me if I'm wrong pls). Though that doesn't mean that she wasn't aware of the existence of it. But I don't think she, herself, would try or have tried defecting to Westalis. And she's too young and too focused on taking care of her brother to even consider this.

But how about her family? Her parents? Their relatives? Why did Yuri and her are left alone when their parents died? What happened to their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles? Where were they and why didn't they took them in? Did they perhaps defect to the West and Yor's family remained on Ostania? We can't be sure since we only know a little about Yor's backstory and her entire family background.

But even in Loid's backstory, when he was talking to the croquette lady, she mentioned that she was part Ostanian herself and she has a family in the East even though she's residing in West. Meaning, there could also be people from Ostania that has Westalian relatives. Yor's family could have Westalian background or someone in their family tree is and who knows, her family may have actually some sort of connection with Loid's family in Luwen.

I actually don't know where I was going with this or if this even make sense or plot relevant but I can't help but be intrigued by this.

[spotlightlowlife]

Leave aces the hell alone

if you haven't realised, the title's a pun, there's a little jest but just a little

If this show wants to sex, ships and 'it's complicated' to be it's main focus to the point of drowning out the plot and stripping away the tiny nuisance it once had, OK, can't speak for myself but enough people seem to be enjoying things this way.

But leave the aces out of it.

Let's not pretend they're not vilified for existing, having a life and interests.

The "cockblocking" child whose rare screentime takes away from her daddies mlm proship, simply for daring to want her dad to follow through on their plans

and the 'ugly who nobody wants to fuck' (particularly trashy statement since he's ace and doesn't want to fuck neither) fat guy who runs a business but working for him (or just working) takes away from the other leading mlm ship. He's pretty much a banker too, we all hate them don't we?

Factor in that Stella and Striker 'wouldn't attend' pride parade so were excluded, dispite being highly relevant characters who we have seen a number of times (unlike Stella's bro and the red birdman yet to be introduced).

One comically called out all the sex a few times and the other is a victim of child marriage made to become a teenage mother yet managed a totally unheard of, social life.

Like Octavia and Mammon, both seem to have interests and some major purpose in the plot, dispite being side characters.

Like Mammon and Octavia, both get in the way of a leading mlm ship, dispite being side characters.

Like Octavia and Mammon, they have good reasons fo their interactions.

Yet alas, homophobia is implied for Stella and Striker, then ace is branded on Mammon and Octavia, the 'perfect explanation' for them to be a problem., only aces generally be minding their own business yet catch strays from those who feel judged by that one lack of common interest. Sex is used as a solution, a power and a major part of the personality within the helluverse so yes, it matters that these characters who have other things going on and get in the way of 'romance' have their own orientation, lack of or apparent dislike of put on blast.

I personally find the shipping very shallow and don't believe the LGBTQ rep is any good in this show, the best rep easily being Moxxie who was an ordinary someone dating another ordinary someone who hurt him, who happened to be another guy, no somehow rubbing shoulders with powerful but neutered or retconned immortal royalty and then becoming 'the one', just an ordinary shitty relationship between a well meaning person and a user that was a mistake in hindsight, now this latest relationship is (Millie's character is Moxxie's fangirl) just fine.

Aces should be easy to represent simply by letting them exist! Be their own personality without the need for someone else to fill in the other half slot, but no, bad representation from those who can't fathom the not caring for sex or sexual relationships has to worm it's way into something that should literally be nothing.

Dare a child whose orientation or lack of we don't even need to know, who seems reasonable want to see the stars with her dad, an interest he clearly instilled in her. The greedy entrepreneur acts a greedy entrepreneur, in other news bears shit in the woods. Both these pest third wheels share something in common? Not gonna to get it?

If only these picked on characters hadn't been used to represent already picked on asexuals, there would pretty much just be the bland female sexual representation to critique.

[fictionandescapism]

Reasons why TUA S4 is not canon to me

(spoilers obviously)

You're telling me that Lila held on to her resentment for so long in her marriage without saying a word?? She would have told Diego a long long time ago about the behaviour that was bothering her.

She does make fun of him sure, but never in front of people and she definitely doesn't allow other people to make fun of him ( remember when she called Ben a shitty little squid because he was mean to her boyfriend) so honestly what was up with all those fat jokes???

I've seen other people mention this too but like despite having three children, it really seemed like they only cared about Grace, I never even knew they had twins till it was actually mentioned on screen.

The five and Lila thing was just so weird??? Like I get the whole only people on the planet thing but honestly there was zero romantic chemistry between them ever and now suddenly because they're alone, they're hooking up?? Not to mention, later five acts like he's in love with her??? Like what was that??? He was literally acting like a lovestruck teenager which he never did even when he was stuck in an actual teenage hormonal body.

Again this has been mentioned before by other fans but like five's deal has always been about protecting his family and now he's just chill with leaving them behind and starting a life with Lila?? He's always butted heads with Diego but there was never a doubt that he genuinely cared about him like he cared about all his siblings and now he's ready to fight him over a girl??? You're telling me that makes sense?

Not to mention neither of them looked particularly remorseful about what they had done. Even towards the end, none of this actually got resolved, the insane love triangle still existed, at some point it felt like Lila was never in love with her husband at all, Diego never actually said goodbye to his kids, Claire and Allison were the only ones who got some kind of closure, Klaus was on bizzare side quests the entire time, the whole plot of luther and Diego finding out the CIA boss was involved also kind of didn't really matter in the end?? Like it was some half ass attempt to make them relevant to the plot, even him deciding that he would rather spend time with his kids didn't matter because he lost them like idk three hours later? Don't even get me started on the numerous glaring plot holes in that ending because I wouldn't even know where to begin.

TUA S4 was truly character assassination at it's finest.

[lovemyromance]

Nahhh bc why did I see yet another post doubting N&C's part in Elain's future story???

Those are her FRIENDS. It has been acknowledged by both Elain and Nesta. Rhys paying them doesn't matter? He pays them to take care of his house, not take care of Elain.

If Rhys paying bills is suddenly a reason to doubt a friendship, then Nesta & Gwyn can't be true friends either because Rhys allows Gwyn to live in the library for free. Like I'm sorry, but it's icky and stupid to use either of those as an argument against true friendship.

Then I saw another post saying "Oh N&C don't have buildup to be friends of Elain. They don't have enough main character energy to get their own book so they can't be her friends."

My brother in Christ. Not everyone and their momma is going to get a book. We're not gonna sit here and read about Bryaxis's harrowing backstory or get a detailed POV from Tarquin about Cassian's summer court adventure. Not everyone needs to be a main character because then it would be ridiculous and confusing and nobody would stand out??

Also tf you mean build up? Why do we need build up for characters that are meant to be supporting characters? Especially, outside the book there supposed to be "found family/friends" in??

This is such a ridiculous argument. That's like saying "Oh Gwyn & Emerie can't be Nesta's true found family because they don't have enough buildup". Like ahem, let me remind everyone that Emerie was only brought up in ACOFAS (and people shipped her with Cassian, so she def wasn't gonna be Nesta's bestie). Gwyn didn't even EXIST until halfway through ACOSF.

So don't sit here and tell me N&C don't have enough development to be Elain's found family. They are supporting characters. Their job... is to support Elain's journey. Which they have lowkey been doing in the background since the moment they baked bread together in ACOWAR.

The difference here is that Elriels understand the role of a supporting character. We're not out here screaming that Nuala is so important to the plot of acotar and inventing theories for her to save Dusk court because we see her for what she is - a supporting character.

That is what Gwyn & Emerie are to Nesta. Supporting characters. But nobody is ready to hear that 🙄

Y'all out here trynna turn Gwyn into the savior of Illyria and turning around and saying "well N&C aren't important enough for a story" like hello - they don't have to be?? You're the ones who think Gwyn is gonna save everyone and their dog and you're mad that Elriels don't have that same level of delusion towards N&C? Like sorry we're rational ? Sorry we recognize that Elain will get a book with likely Azriel and her found family will be N&C, but neither N&C will get a book bc they're just side characters?

At least we not out here saying Elain's gonna be besties w a man who made a GR joke about her TO her mate 🙄.

Apparently, the rules of friendship are:

1. You cannot earn a living if it in any way relates to your friend

2. You have to be an important character and save a part of Prythian yourself before you can be deemed relevant enough to be a friend

3. You can make jokes about someone being g*r*ped and still be their friend because "you were just putting on a mask" even tho literally nobody forced you to say that 🤷🏻‍♀️

Y'all are being crazy trying to make excuses for men again, and I'm not standing for it. Go to sit in a corner and think about what you've done 😒

[woodlaflababab]

Thinking about Zuko's influence on the audience's perception of Aang, specifically in Book 1. I kinda touched on it in this post but that post is pure unsorted rambling in which I didn't get to delve as deep as I wanted. Anyway, the relevent part was:

"With this whole episode, it's just the fact that Zuko is the reason we first get to see just how fucking cool Aang is. It's so easy to be like the others in the show and see Aang for his childish antics and sweet nature, but Zuko is the one that consistently reminds us, “No, this is the Avatar. He's powerful, he's brave, he's fiercely protective, and he deserves respect and acknowledgment for that.”"

Like, I mean, the point is redundant, everyone knows they are foils, so I'm not saying anything ground breaking when I say Zuko is often the one who brings out the best in Aang and encourages him to embrace being the avatar and that a lot of Aang's strongest charater moments are because of Zuko, yada yada, okay, we know, zukaang meta 101, nobody wants to hear it

But also, Zuko's opinion of Aang is so interestingly different from everyone else's. We get a view of Aang from the pov of himself, in which we see his doubts and struggles, the pov of the gaang, through which we see his antics and improvement and flaws. We also understand the opinion of the Fire Nation abt Aang (pure threat that's weirdly small), and we get plenty on the different opinions of the rest of the world.

If you took out Zuko's reactions to Aang, you'd feel like you know pretty much all there is to know about Aang. But to Zuko, Aang is an ever present mystery. The gaang doesn't really question anything abt Aang except what he can do and the rest of their enemies don't care to know things about Aang

But Zuko does. To Zuko, Aang is a source of constant questions, and this is sometimes played as a joke (i.e. "He must be a master of evasive maneuvering." to "You have no idea where we're going, do you?") and sometimes it hits the very core of Zuko's being and changes the course of the plot, (i.e. The Blue Spirit)

Zuko is unique because, to everyone else, Aang is one of two things. A Hero, or An Threat. He is neither to Zuko.

Zuko has no desire to defeat Aang. Aang is not a Threat to him. Hell, as Iroh says, Aang actively gives Zuko hope. But Aang is also not a Hero or ally.

He is neither a protagonist or an antagonist in Zuko's story. He's a goal. And that's such a unique perspective that allows us to question who Aang is from a neutral standpoint. Who is this person who effortlessly escapes trouble while having no idea what he's doing? Who is this person who saves someone they defeated? Who is this person who looks at an enemy and says 'you remind me of my best friend'?

Who else makes us ask these questions?

Through Zuko we, or at least I, see Aang as more than a person, and more than a hero, but as this unconventional conundrum that defies expectation at every turn, baffling and beautiful. Aang is so much more than your conventional hero and nobody sees or shows us that more than Zuko.

My favorite way to look at Aang is through Zuko's eyes.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

What To Get A 19 Year Old Boy For His Birthday...

Pairing: Platonic! Peter Parker & Reader; Reader x Bucky (but that's not really plot relevant)

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: none as usual, you yell at Strange lol

Genre: super fluff

Summary: You happen to be the only person who still remembers Peter Parker exists and you are not about to hang him out to dry. So what happens when you take Peter in and basically become his guardian? Well- nothing is simple where super-teens are involved, but you and Peter can certainly handle whatever comes your way. Right?

***

You from to yourself, feeling like you're forgetting something even though you're just watching TV with Bucky. There's nothing to forget that you can-

"Oh shit-" You gasp sitting up suddenly. Bucky grabs the remote and turns the volume down.

"What?" He frowns shifting to look at you.

"I just realized Peter's birthday's next week and I haven't even thought of what to get him or what to do or-"

"Take a breath y/n. You still have a week." Bucky reminds you with a hand on your shoulder.

"What do I get a nineteen year old boy for his birthday?" You turn to him.

"Why are you asking me?" He blinks.

"You're a guy!"

"I'm a hundred and seven?! I haven't been nineteen in like eighty years, do you really think I would have any idea what a modern teen would want? I can guarantee my interests at nineteen were far different." He scoffs.

"Well what did you want at nineteen?" You ask.

"To avoid another world war?" He shrugs and your mouth drops open.

"I can't fucking stand you." You laugh shoving him lightly.

"Oh come on, how could I resist?!"

"You're so irritating! Be serious." You say fighting giggles.

"Alright, alright, what's the kid interested in?"

"I dunno, comic books, video games, nerdy stuff?" You shrug.

"I've never seen him play video games before." Bucky frowns.

"He plays them on his computer."

"He doesn't have a gaming system of some sort?"

"No?"

"Do you own one?"

"No."

"So get him one of those and a couple of games." Bucky shrugs.

"That's a great idea! And you said you wouldn't know what to get him." You smile.

"I'm sure you could've figured that out."

"You'll come shopping with me won't you? I have no idea what games to get for him honestly."

"How about you take care of the system and I'll worry about the games. Split the cost of this birthday thing."

"What do you mean you're going to worry about the games?" You frown.

"Just trust me. How much is the system anyway?"

"Probably three, maybe four hundred dollars. Depends."

"Sheesh. That's- pricier than I expected honestly." He hums.

"Yeah they can get pretty up there." You shrug.

"Alright then if you buy the system I'll take the kid out and get him an equivalent in games."

"You really wanna spend $600 on his birthday?" You blink.

"I mean he's lost his entire family and he never goes anywhere or talks of friends, we're probably the only people he's going to get gifts from. We can take some of the money from the Stark account." Bucky says. When Tony died there were a couple of accounts set up in your name to take over Avengers related expenses. One to be used for the team's avenging related tasks and one to help the team with personal affects- mostly Thor since he'll likely never have a job here but he's not here that much these days anyway.

"I don't want to get into the habit of using that money, in case of an emergency." You say.

"Baby, you're a witch and I'm a super soldier I can't imagine there will be many emergencies where that money is our only solution. Stark died and we ended up with enough money to change our tax bracket. Six hundred dollars would hardly make a dent and if ever we're in a situation where we do have to use that money for an emergency and we find ourselves $600 short I'm sure neither of us will look back and say 'if only we hadn't given that kid we're responsible for a great birthday gift he loved'." Bucky says.

"Very well, we'll use the Stark account and do it big for him." You say.

"There- now you can stop panicking about his birthday." Bucky pulls you back into his side and turns the volume back up on the TV. You don't point out to Bucky how it seems he's bonded with Peter a bit. At least to some degree since he's suddenly advocating for a big birthday gift for him. You know he'll deny it if you bring it up so you simply smile to yourself at the thought and settle back into his chest. You'll head to the store tomorrow to pick up a console and some birthday supplies.

*~*~*

"Bucky can you grab the candles from the bedroom please baby? They should be in the bag on my desk." You shout while carefully removing the plastic covering from Peter's birthday cake.

"On it!" Bucky calls back from the living room. Moments later, he hands you the opened candles.

"Thank you for opening them." You kiss his cheek and carefully stick the 1 and 9 on the cake without disturbing the Happy Birthday Peter written in blue frosting.

"How long do you think it'll take him to come back?" Bucky asks.

"I only asked him to get some salt, he should be opening the door any minute now." You shrug. "Do you think he suspects anything?"

"Nah, I'll bet when you didn't wish him happy birthday this morning or make anything special for breakfast that he assumed we didn't know or weren't going to make a big deal about it."

"Oh- I hope he's not moping through the streets thinking we forgot." You frown.

"I mean I don't-" Bucky stops suddenly. "He's coming down the hall, light the candles." He tells you. You grab the lighter and quickly light the candles, lifting the cake just as the handle turns.

"Hey. Got the salt you asked for-"

"Happy Birthday Peter!!" You shout when he enters the kitchen.

"Happy birthday kid." Bucky nods.

"You remembered my birthday?"

"Of course I did sweetie! Make a wish." You walk the cake over to him and hold it out for him to blow out the candles. He looks between you and Bucky a couple of times before closing his eyes and blowing out the candles quickly.

"Yay!" You say setting the cake on the counter.

"Thanks guys- I- I kinda thought you'd miss it."

"Nonsense! How could I? Oh and before I forget, your gift." You float the prettily wrapped box from behind the island, into the Peter's hands.

"What is it?"

"You know the point of wrapping a gift is for you to unwrap it in order to find out what's in it." Bucky tells him.

"I know- but I thought maybe you'd tell me anyway." Peter shrugs.

"No way! That ruins the surprise! Open it." You clap excitedly.

"Alright alright." Peter says. He quickly tears off the wrapping paper and his mouth drops open when he fully reveals the box. "You got me an Xbox?" His voice is full of disbelief but you can't say for sure if that's good or not.

"Do you like it?" You ask.

"A-are you kidding?! This is like the best gift I've ever gotten!" Peter says throwing his arms around you. You hug him back relieved that the gift was a success.

"I'm glad! Bucky and I had no idea what to get you." You chuckle.

"You did great." He says.

"This is only the first half of the gift technically. A console needs games, so I'm taking you out to buy some." Bucky adds.

"No way- you don't have to this is already plenty I-I mean these things aren't cheap I don't wanna take advantage of-"

"It's not a question kid, we're going. After lunch." Bucky cuts him off.

"Really? Today?" Peter blinks at him.

"You wanna be able to set that thing up or not?"

"We'll go after lunch." Peter nods. "Are you coming with us y/n?"

"I can't hon I've got some errands to run." You say.

"I hoped we'd all be together for my birthday."

"Don't worry, we'll all be back for dinner together."

"Oh, okay, that's fine then."

He's probably nervous about spending extended time alone with Bucky but you think it'll be good for them to find common ground that's not contingent on you. Obviously, they're capable of coordinating if your anniversary is any indicator. You want to give them the chance to build on that.

In the meanwhile, you have something of equal importance to take care of. You push open the heavy doors to Stephen Strange's lair. He doesn't call it that, and he rather hates it when you do, but that's basically what it is.

"Strange!" You shout.

"Y/n! Hello, to what do I owe this visit?" He asks floating down to meet you. You walk up to him and smack your palm against his forehead. "I guess this isn't a friendly visit then." He hisses rubbing his forehead.

"Not quite." You roll your eyes. A quick succession of hand gestures completes the spell that unlocks Stephen's memories of Peter. He takes a sharp breath as his memories return.

"You know- there are less painful ways do that spell." He says after a moment.

"There are also more painful ways to do that spell be glad I just tapped your forehead." You say.

"Tapped is a bit of an understatement, don't you think?"

"I wanted to beat your ass. Count your blessings I didn't come in here and do that."

"I assume this is about Peter, then?" Stephen sighs.

"Help me with the math here, a 17-year-old comes to you and says 'I want to alter reality' and you don't consider- not doing that?"

"Well hang on I definitely warned him it was a bad idea but he was insistent that it was ruining his life."

"Dude he was 17. A 17 year old will think the world is ending because his best friend moves away before senior year of high school. Granted he's dealt with some pretty intense adult troubles but he's still just a kid and you're like pushing 50 he isn't the responsible party in that situation." You say.

"Watch it, pushing 50 is an exaggeration." Stephen points.

"Not. The point. You altered the very fabric of time and space not once, but twice at the behest of a child."

"It wouldn't have been twice if he hadn't totally screwed up the first one."

"You're the sorcerer not him. It was your spell. Your responsibility." You say.

"Hey he kept adding caveats in the middle of my casting and magic is tricky enough as is without that."

"I know how tricky magic is, which is why I wouldn't have an untrained teenager be part of casting a spell of that magnitude in the first place! It was a bad decision on your part and in the end you got to walk away as if it never even happened. And that might be even more egregious, you completely abandoned the kid after all that chaos."

"Well not completely, I knew the probability of you being unaffected by the spell and thus stepping in was almost 100%."

"Almost 100 isn't 100 and that's still abandoning. The moment you decided to do that spell for him you took on a responsibility." You say.

"So what was I supposed to do? Simply take him in?" He scoffs.

"Well when you take away his entire support system with a spell that is the least you can do Strange."

"He knew the consequences, and it all worked out fine. He's got you now." He shrugs.

"I wonder if you just don't hear yourself speak or if you truly struggle with emotional intelligence so severely." You take a moment to really look at him as if the answer will come to you if you stare at him for long enough. "Whatever, I didn't come here just to yell at you."

"Really? I couldn't have guessed that."

"Today is Peter's birthday. I came to fix your memories so you could send him a birthday card." You say.

"Why would I do that?" He frowns.

"Because your botched spell resulted in the death of his only remaining living relative? We're all he's got."

"Hey I fixed that situation to the best of my ability."

"And it didn't bring his aunt back. It also cost him every relationship he's ever developed. Send him a damn card. Today." You spin around and walk back towards the door. "Be glad I won't drop him on your doorstep. He doesn't deserve that punishment." You scoff, waving the doors open and heading back towards your own apartment to get started on dinner. 

"So how did game shopping go?" You ask Bucky and Peter once you're all sat eating dinner.

"Oh we got way more than I would've expected. Mr. Bucky was overly generous I just hope it's clear how greatful I am."

"You've thanked me at least 10 times in the last hour. You've been more than clear kid. It's your birthday so you can stop now."

"I'm glad you had a nice time." You chuckle.

"What did you get up to while we were out baby?" Bucky asks.

"Just some errands nothing interesting." You shrug.

"Nothing interesting?" He raises an eyebrow.

"A little of this a little of that. My to-do list never ends really. Some shopping, I hit the bank, made some visits. You know how it goes."

"I dunno about you but that sounds rather suspicious to me Peter." Bucky turns to him.

"Definitely." Peter nods.

"I clearly made a mistake letting you two spend the afternoon together." You roll your eyes grabbing yours and Peter's now empty plates.

"We will discover your secrets y/n." Bucky warns.

"Good luck with that." You chuckle kissing Bucky's temple before walking the dishes over to the sink.

"Oh no you don't, you cooked, I'll do the dishes." Bucky wraps his hands around your waist and moves you from in front of the sink.

"Fine fine, Petey you want help setting up your Xbox then?" You ask.

"Sure! Is it okay to set it up in my room?"

"Of course it is. It's your thing. Plus if you end up playing all day long I don't want you taking over my living room." You tap his shoulder.

"Cool." He chuckles.

It doesn't take you long to set up the system in his room, it's just a matter of plugging in it and then the rest is for him to do on his own, make an account and such. You're just about to leave his room when a small portal appears in front of him.

"Peter. Happy birthday." Strange says reaching through with a card. You hold back a smile as Peter takes the card with obvious shock on his face.

"T-thanks Mr. Strange." Peter says. Stephen nods and closes the portal without another word.

"I didn't think he remembered me." Peter blinks at you.

"The world works in mysterious was huh." You ruffle Peter's hair. "I'll leave you to get used to your new toy." You add before exiting his room and joining Buckyin the living room.

"Okay, so where did you go today? Really?"

"Honestly I had to go yell at Strange for some magic related things." You say.

"What did he do?"

"It's complicated. Let's just say it'll be a while before I leave our timeline in his hands if ever again." You muse.

"Ah is that why you didn't bring it up at dinner? So the kid doesn't ask about Strange?"

"Yeah basically." You shrug. You're sure Bucky means in terms of Peter not knowing that you're an Avenger or whatever but seeing as you can't explain the real reason you didn't want to talk about it at dinner you see no reason to correct him at the moment. Eventually you'll give him all the details, but today has been good for all of you, you'd like to end on a high.

***

Tagged Users: @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @buchi91

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for writing a story? ✨ (emoji so I can find this easily)

So around a year and a half ago, as part of a drama exam me and a group of four others had to devise a piece to act out for the exam.

Me and two others who were the actors (the other two did the set and music) ended up really liking the story and characters we were creating for the project and all wanted to expand on the story we'd created for the exam.

The three of us me (currently 16 NB) and the other two who I'll call Alex (currently 17 M) and Rowan (currently 16 NB) made a discord server for the three of us to talk about the characters we'd made together and share ideas for how we'd develop them if we turned the performance we were writing into a story/book series.

This was a lot of fun and at first I really enjoyed discussing ideas about the characters we'd created but after a while I started to find myself disliking some of the others' ideas more and more and wanting to write the series on my own.

I never acted on that though because the three of us were all passionate about our ideas and the characters so the idea of writing my own version felt wrong when the others wanted to write the story too as a group.

Now since then, Rowan has stopped talking to both me and Alex. I haven't heard from Rowan since May and honestly I don't really want to hear from them again because since we stopped talking I realized our friendship really wasn't very healthy for either of us. During this time they deleted discord but their account was still in the server.

Alex had disappeared offline since January but recently returned five months ago. We caught up and at first we talked about our ideas, the characters and how we wanted to turn it into a book series again, during this we kicked Rowan's account from the discord because neither of us spoke with them anymore. After a while we stopped talking much about the characters and our ideas and just started talking about random things. But last week Alex left the discord unannounced and I haven't heard from him at all since.

Now, I know Alex might return sometime like he left and returned before and I know this is pretty soon but while he's gone and since I'm no longer in contact with Rowan, I've found myself wanting to try writing the story myself with complete freedom to write the story I want to write and not have to use the others' ideas that I don't like.

It wouldn't feel so wrong anymore since they're not still there discussing their ideas or talking about how we should all write it together as a group but I do feel a little unsure if this would be an assholeish thing to do. I mean, I'd be writing about the characters we all created together, using the base story idea we all created for the project and I don't know if Alex will return or not yet.

So, would I be the asshole if I wrote the story by myself?

Additional info.

Idk if any of this is relevant but it might help with the judgement/I feel like people would ask for info about this stuff if I didn't add it.

The ideas I disliked were mainly to do with the development of a certain character, a ship that really would not make any sense and Alex wanting to add in a talking magical dinosaur to the plot of what was meant to be a story set in the modern day real world.

We never actually tried to write the story as a group before, we just talked about it.

None of us see each other IRL anymore.

I have got ADHD and autism.

There wouldn't be anything nsfw in the story.

None of the characters were based on any of us.

There are a lot of reasons why mine and Rowan's friendship wasn't healthy for either of us but to give a few reasons we didn't really care about each other's interests (like fandoms), would consistently cancel on hangouts with each other or would get into arguments over stupid stuff and not talk for weeks only to go back to being clingy with each other when we started talking again. Looking back, it was definitely an unhealthy friendship for both of us.

What are these acronyms?

[legend-as-old-as-time]

*chin in my hands, kicking my feet* hiiiiii please tell me about your headcanons and plot bunnies for the Turaga Metru having a breakdown on Spherus Magna :3

We are so mean to them. XDD I have two distinct scenes in mind for their breakdown, which my mind insists can be combined, but I currently doubt that. I'll add my other headcanons + plotbunnies in the reblog.

I’ve noticed that the turaga specifically are trapped*/caught regularly in / between at least two different conflicting things.

Trapped in or between places: The Coliseum; Krahka* picking them off one after the other in the Archives; the visorak cocoons; Mata Nui the island; Metru Nui or Mata Nui

In / between concepts: their ideal of toa VS the life of toa in Metru Nui; staying in Metru Nui or leaving for Mata Nui; their ideal of Turaga Dume VS their changing perception of him

Between groups: acting in deference to Dume and his opinions and decisions VS the matoran and their needs

In / between mental states: matoran and toa, matoran and toa and turaga; toa and rahi => hordika; leading like Dume VS leading as they have done on Mata Nui

The other protagonists also face this. But the turaga specifically deal a lot with this concept. It makes them outsiders to any group they’re connected with at any point:

They’re idealized or ignored as Toa Metru in Metru Nui because of their toa status, then ostracized.

Their hordika transformation gets undone, but the effects of that and everything that followed still affect them to this day. Not toa anymore, but also not quite rahi: Hordika. Rejected by the Great Temple and seemingly used by Makuta as false toa. Going into headcanon territory, if some of the effects persisted, so could the feeling that they’re neither turaga (toa / matoran) nor rahi.

Rather than a higher power related to Mata Nui or the Great Beings granting them new skills, a warmonger causes a temporary secondary transformation that actively harms them.

Mata Nui chose them. Vakama points out that it’s unheard of that the Great Spirit ever has personally intervened. They are the first and only toa Mata Nui ever chose on his own.

They’re the only ones on Mata Nui who remember and know of Metru Nui. Aside the ethical issues of hiding the matoran’s own past from them, the turaga denied themselves any support network who could’ve helped them. And they’re caught in harmful patterns / habits of their past.

They’re caught between their supposed leader, whose actions they might excusing but whose relationship might also fracture soon, and the people whose needs they care about and for.

Helryx claimed they have a parental relationship with their matoran. Such a bond is likely unheard of, or at least rare, in the Great Spirit Universe. The turaga in this – plus other effects of the hordika transformation – resemble more Spherus Magnans, while still being different from them. (And different from their own people.)

Feeling like they don't belong anywhere would stress them even more and make their trauma worse, because that is part of their trauma.

Relevant headcanon: Somebody tries to discredit and get the turaga punished for something they didn't do / the people are jealous of.

And relevant plot bunny: Dume impulsively threatening the turaga with the vahki during a heated argument.

The (*) show the main inspirations for this idea. It's a funny coincidence that you are the one who sent this ask, because my idea is that the Turaga Metru, minds muddled, over-stressed from the afore-mentioned trauma and stress, and (feeling like they're) backed into a corner - not helped by their imprisonment in the Coliseum during Makuta's reign - say this:

"We will not be trapped again!"

The resulting Turaga Nui - no (visible) hordika elements but that might change - is very much a parallel to canon Krahka at her most terrified and angry in the Archives.

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Now that I've binged all eights episodes, here is my final assessment of the Avatar: the Last Airbender live-action adaption.

As with any adaption (whether animation to live-action or book to screen), there are going to be things that get condensed, changed, rearranged, and left out. Its not ideal and I really wish it happened less, but that's reality.

Some of these things I greatly disliked. I thought the Southern Air Temple was rushed. I don't like that they took out the fact that Aang ran away. I wish we had seen Iroh redirect lightning, and that Azula's flames were blue, and that Zuko's Agni Kai with Zhao hadn't been left out. I didn't particularly care for Bumi's characterization. I wish Sozin's Comet had appeared as more than a very brief mention at the very end of the final episode. There are a lot of things I don't like here; those are just a few.

That being said, there were a lot of things it ended up doing well. With limited time, they did a good job of taking relevant plot points and weaving them together. They left in some iconic bits that original fans would have rioted without (the cabbage man and Secret Tunnel). They included original content that was impactful (Lu Ten's funeral, the fate of the 41st).

Its an adaption that, in order to enjoy, I have to mostly divorce from the source or I will drive myself mad picking apart the differences. But that doesn't mean it was actually bad.

A concept I've become well-acquainted with in the past so many years is the idea that a "good adaption" isn't one that is always 100% faithful to the source material. Would I prefer more accuracy? Absolutely yes -- always. But sometimes its enough that the people behind it put their whole hearts into it. I could make this post about Alex Rider. I almost did about Lockwood & Co. Neither of them are accurate either. But they are good.

So I am, in fact, eating my skeptical words about ATLA. And I hope it gets the two more seasons it deserves.

[directdogman]

Can we get Karen facts? Since we had the Randy and Oliver ones??? Gotta continue the lgbt train and I don’t see nearly enough Karen Love™

I wasn't gonna do a third one tonight but JUST because it's Karen... okay.

Karen has a secret love of truly absurdist comedy. This is the 1/3 of Oliver's sense of humour that Karen finds amusing.

Karen is naturally gifted when it comes to visualizing detailed scenes and tracking consistently details. She is also able to distort things freely in ways akin to insane mathematical filters/shaders and print the result.

Karen's keen and automatic visualization of things makes Karen exceptionally good at catching people out on lies. If people tell Karen a story, she pictures it so vividly that she will realize if details conflict or if the timeline doesn't work and will point the discrepancies out. So, it's very difficult to become close to Karen if you aren't honest.

Karen's inability to read people, ironically, makes it exceedingly difficult for even the most experienced of liars to fool her, even with a complex strategy that would fool most people. Because Karen can't read subtle emotive queues, she relies on her ability to crosscheck information in her head in order to verify that she's understanding the speaker's intent 100% clearly... This means that Karen puts what's said to her under a level of scrutiny that most don't, which reveals plot-holes inevitably. This makes Karen exceedingly powerful during high stakes situations.

Here's some more cross relationships/comparisons:

Oliver: Something relevant I didn't mention was Oliver + Karen's shared gift to visualize. The only thing is, Oliver's gift is more mechanical (3d, being able to imagine how a lot of small complex pieces exactly connect together) while Karen's is more liquid (in that she can wildly distort images with filters in her head) because her renders use... ink. Ironically, that difference in them means they approach problems differently, and while working on projects simultaneously, can bring both approaches to the table. This is why Karen was so so easily able to smuggle Gingi + Norm into Oliver's scare shack and pass it off as a routine delivery, because the two DO collaborate and have a strong working relationship.

Norm: Karen and Norm's first encounter wasn't the best first impression and while the two care about the other, neither will outright admit it to the other and pretend to have a slightly more casual friendship than they actually do. Karen's severity cut Norm the first time they made contact because he had no idea what to expect, but Norm knows not to slip up when speaking to Karen now. Both Norm and Karen are very protective of their friends, so both realize the value in having another keen eye watching out for Gingi, Oliver, Randy or Bigfoot wandering into traffic.

Interestingly, Karen trusts Norm's sense of responsibility and in an active emergency, he's the first person she'd contact of her friends. Only time will tell if the two will become more outspoken of their mutual respect/care for the other.

Mayor Mingus: The two don't share an active friendship because their core values don't overlap, and because Karen is too good at detecting wrongdoing (a trait that Mingus already struggles with in Norm), but Karen and Mingus share enough similarities in personality that if Mingus continued changing positively, a friendship could theoretically develop, one could argue.

One trait that these two actually share is that they cannot stand eating with other people. Other people's eating noises is a NO-NO for either of them. In both cases, if either of the two can sit comfortably while you eat something nearby, it's an extreme positive indicator.

They both also are peculiar about very small details that most would find unimportant or trivial. Both are also VERY fussy when it comes to what is and isn't added to their food and would scowl at the suggestion to scrape unwanted topics off a burger. You don't understand, the INGREDIENTS TOUCH OTHER INGREDIENTS.

Okay, that's Karen's lil facts post over 'n' done with. alright, enjoy the

[mud-castle]

For your little leaders au, how do the rest of the clans react to the leader kits being returned? We saw that Onekit had a big sad, and I feel like ThunderClan wouldn't care as much, but what about River/Shadow?

I may or may not sketch these out. I had a comic planned before it that took place on the island before the deputies showed up and was plot relevant to the kits' behavior going forward. But, if I don't draw em:

Russetfur is very obviously pissed at Blackkit the whole way back and he's a bit nervous. When they reach the camp entrance she turns suddenly, and hugs him, saying she was so worried and to not scare her like that again. Blackkit apologizes and they enter camp. (I hc Blackstar and Russetfur as ill-tempered besties, so Russet might be angry but she's not gonna yell at the kid. Also the queens will give him enough trouble).

Reedwhisker tries to scold Mistykit on their way back. Emphasis on tries because she is not having it (reason was in the comic I had planned prior). He eventually gives up on the argument and lets someone else deal with her when they get back to camp.

"I feel like ThunderClan wouldn't care as much"

Funny you should say that. Most of TC wouldn't, however, since I despise Brambleclaw and was considering having him lose deputyship by the end of this au for my personal pleasure, I actually had a scene planned where he starts scolding Rusty and quickly transitions into outright snapping at him on their way back. Brambles is stressed and feels like he can't live up to expectations but also Rusty running off makes him look bad which makes increases his insecurity, and it's all coming out. He's also a piece of shit who takes it too far. Rusty is holding it all in until they enter camp, then he rushes to the nursery and starts bawling. The queens do not approve. Neither does the rest of Thunderclan

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

Finding myself bored this evening, I will do a completely useless analysis no one asked for in this longish post. Since this show will never leave me alone and neither will my years long obsession with old ocean liners (especially the ones laying at the bottom of the ocean), here it is:

I don't know how it is today (the new cruise ships are no longer a thing of beauty to me, even though I've seen a similar thing there too), but at the time, every steamship company had its color displayed on the ship's funnels. We had major rivial companies such as Cunard Line, White Star Line, and Norddeutscher Lloyd.

Cunard Line ships had their familiar mostly dark red funnels with a black top.

White Star Line ships' funnels were yellowish with the black top.

And we also have the example of Norddeutscher Lloyd ships having full yellow funnels.

Now, these colors were there so that you could tell the difference, aka which company does a certain ship belong to (among other things such as design, call sign, etc), unless it's painted in dark gray or black war colors or as hospital ships.

Now, I don't know if Bo and Jantje or other people involved in the show went that deep into all of this, but the show doesn't follow these rules. Here, we have Prometheus and Kerberos belonging to the same company, but having different colored funnels. Kerberos red and Prometheus yellow. You can clearly see it in multiple shots, like the archive or the poster itself, and there's also a sketch:

You can see the real examples in history, such as the White Star Line: Titanic and Olympic (yellow with black top)

Cunard Line: Lusitania and Mauretania (this is particularly interesting because it was said by the people involved in the show that Kerberos was based off of Lusitania) red with black top

Or Norddeutscher Lloyd: Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (all yellow)

So, looking at the show following these rules, it would suggest Prometheus and Kerberos did not operate for the same company. But it's obvious those rules do not apply in the show, and I don't think the reason for that was that the showrunners didn't care, know, or find it relevant, I think it's simply because it was important for the audience to see the difference between these two ships. The difference is quite obvious when the Prometheus was found, since it was all dark and only floating, while the Kerberos was fully operating. On the other hand, in the graveyard, aka the archive, without the different funnels, it's impossible to tell the difference. I am convinced that the difference between them is very, very important for the plot. I have already written about that, so I will not repeat myself. Anyway, enough with the useless trivia.

[gojuo]

Is satosugu a queerbaiting ship?

Yes and no. No, it's not queerbaiting in canon because Gege is not writing anything romantic in their relationship; Yes, it's queerbaiting coming from the fandom because the majority of stsg shippers are genuinely convinced there's something romantic between them in canon, and fandom is what a fan engages in way more than just canon therefore people get brainwashed/gaslighted into thinking stsg is meant to be canon.

Theories you read? That's fandom. Art you reblog? Fandom. Memes you consume and regurgitate? Fandom. Sending me asks about JJK? You're engaging in fandom. When you only—and I really mean only—read the manga and do not engage in any other aspect of JJK in online spaces, then you are not engaging in fandom therefore you have no stsg shippers forcing their headcanons down your throat and manipulating you into believing that shit. However... not engaging in fandom really isn't the reality for most JJK fans ... and because the majority of the JJK fandom are stsg shippers ... and because the majority of stsg shippers are truly convinced Gege wrote those two with a romantic dynamic ... people start to think there's actual romance happening and therefore he's queerbaiting bc "Gege will never have the balls to make stsg canon so he just sprinkles in random hints bc he's being censored by homophobic Shueisha!!!!" even though JJK has a lgbt couple and openly trans character like ... Lmfao.

The answer is no, there's no queerbaiting going on because there is no romance between stsg happening. Neither Gege nor his editors have never insinuated anything of the sort, nor have the voice actors, or anyone from the animation team. In canon, Gojo and Geto's relationship has only ever been portrayed as platonic. Any stsg cope that their friendship is secretly romantic is manipulative gaslighting. They keep twisting facts to suit their narrative and it's so annoying. "My one and only" is not romantic, the line before that is literally "My best friend"; "My soul knows otherwise" is not romantic, Gege said in the fanbook it's about the way Kenjaku's CT interacts with Gojo's Six Eyes; "Geto is the only deep bond Gojo has with a person" Literally a lie but this is also because of the age-old issue of Shonen writers' misogyny.

The biggest and greatest example of this issue is what Kishimoto did with Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura. To keep it short, Kishimoto, self-described as "I don't know how to write women", put all his effort into developing both Naruto and Sasuke as independent characters, their dynamic with each other, their relevance to the plot, their narrative arcs, etc. etc. and Sakura? She was just ... there. Not saying she was a nothingburger character but the gap between Naruto & Sasuke vs Sakura was considerably evident. And what happened when Kishimoto gave way more depth to the two guys in the trio over the girl? Mass shipping and delusional nrss is canon takes and egg hunts everywhere, even though it was clearcut that nrss was nothing but platonic. It's the same story with Gojo/Geto/Shoko (she literally disappears during HI like fuck you Gege), and the same story with Yuuji/Megumi/Nobara. Hell, I'd even go as far as to say it's the same with the Special Grades: Gojo/Geto/Yuuta/Tsukumo. There's a big disparity between character work for Gojo, Geto & Yuuta vs Tsukumo.

Gege might not make his female characters do fanservice like panty shots, unreasonably big tits, mad sexualization, KYAAHHH!!!, etc. all the time but that don't mean he's above being misogynistic to his female cast .

Gege did a lot of character work for both Gojo and Geto in HI which led up to the iconic Kenjaku reveal moment in Shibuya arc. Great. None of that shit was romantic in any way though. Had he given Shoko the same care and love he's given to the boys, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Because that would mean that the fujos would have to engage with her character and her dynamic with other characters in a meaningful way. Alas... that didn't happen because Gege said this is a sausage fest.

Now, all this doesn't mean that you can't ship stsg. It just means that stsg is not a canon ship, Gege is not being censored so he can't "confirm their love", it means that in canon there is no romantic love between those two and there never has been. But you can still ship it, though. Hell, I ship TojiGo! Literally negative romance there in canon obviously, but that won't stop me because exploring character dynamics outside of the confines of canon and the what-ifs is what shipping is all about! (Majority) stsg shippers are just annoying as fuck because they genuinely believe their ship is canon, try to force their headcanons and misinterpretations of the material down everyone's throats, and send death threats to anyone who dares to ship Gojo with literally anyone else. And then gaslight the part of the fandom that isn't into shipping culture so bad that people start to think this fujo ship is queerbaiting. Goddamn.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

I just saw Barbie. I'm writing meta about it. This is your spoiler warning. Do not read past this if you don't want to be spoiled. Additionally I'm going to discuss radical feminism and liberal feminism. I am neither I'm a feminist, but as a trans person I find both strains to be inaccessible and I prefer a more intersectional approach, just to state my bias upfront. Additionally I anticipate getting multiple "it's not that deep" comments on this meta. To which I respond that the movie may be deeply unserious at times but it does try to tackle gender which means we should get to talk about it.

I do want to acknowledge that this is the movie of the year, and that it's made by Mattel and Warner Brothers and as such it was literally never going to be based and the best we can hope for is what it was, which is liberal girlboss feminism. The movie was very fun and very good and it did have a surprisingly coherent view of gender and it did some things that I did like when it came to that HOWEVER as a gay transgender man watching the movie it's lack of a queer perspective was very obvious to me and took me out of it occasionally.

So I just want to establish for those who have not seen it but are reading this meta how gender works in this movie. And to recap the movie with a focus on the gender stuff rather than the main Pinocchio plot. The movie starts in Barbie land where Barbies have a good day every day and Kens only have a good day when Barbies smile at them. In Barbie land all the powerful jobs are occupied by Barbies and all the Kens have the nebulous job of "beach" which means that whatever the Barbies decide goes and the Kens are more or less subject to their whims (no word on how the Midges or Skippers or Allen fit into this barbie based higherarchy. One could guess based on a couple of scenes but it's never really lingered on)

Ken(Ryan Gosling)'s world revolves around Barbie(Margot Robbie). Ken(RG) is Barbie's(MR) boyfriend, but Barbie is good friends with Ken(Simu Liu) who she dances with and who is generally less cringefail than Ken(RG). Ken(RG) is frequently jealous of Ken(SL). Ken(RG) is also somewhat taken for granted. Barbie doesn't seem to care that much about him. He tries to kiss barbie, she doesn't reciprocate. Ken tries to hang out with Barbie, she kicks him out because it's girls night, as it is every night. So on and so forth. Barbie is not obligated to care about Ken, but she's clearly not putting in any work into maintaining this creator ordained relationship and it's clearly upsetting to Ken.

Barbie is experiencing some Real Girl tm problems such as flat feet and thoughts of death and weird Barbie who has been played with too much sends her into the real world to fix it. Ken(SL) goads Ken(RG) into going with Barbie into the real world. When Barbie learns Ken is coming her immediate assumption is that he'll slow him down.

When Ken and Barbie enter LA Barbie immediately starts experiencing Misogyny. Ken similarly starts experiencing privileges as a man which he did not have in Barbie land. This is heavy handed. Barbie verbally states that she feels like she's being gawked at in an almost violent way and Ken says he feels admired in a not at all violent way (with the outfit Ken was wearing and how he was still carrying himself with deference to barbie I sincerely doubt he would experience exactly 0 homophobia but it was necessary for him to feel that way in order to make his character arc work so I'll let it slide).

Ken goes for a walk without Barbie while barbie does plot relevant activities. He sees women showing respect to men, he sees a slide show of some kind of male role models. He feels like he can be something in this world. So he goes to a middle school library and picks up some books about patriarchy. He tries to get a job in the real world, it goes poorly, so he decides to go back to Barbie land and establish patriarchy there.

Barbie comes back to Barbie land with a friendly human woman named Gloria who works for Mattel and her MCR listening 12 year old daughter. On the way she tells her new human friend and her daughter that Barbies are in charge in Barbie land and women have all the important jobs. But as they drive into Barbie land they find that Ken has gone full radfem in their absence. He's flipped the Barbie-Ken higherarchy on its head. He's turned the dream house into a man cave. And he's some how convinced the Barbies to behave like sandwich making foot massage providing girlfriends.

And here's where I would like to start doing some meta. What has happened here? Ken is essentially a (less complex than human on account of being a doll) cisgender heterosexual white woman. He is in proximity to the ruling party, Barbie who is like a cishet white man. Ken is not on the margins the way that Allen and Midge are. His occupation is Barbie's boyfriend. Ken got a taste of what it was like when the gendered oppression that he is used to is flipped and he decided that's what he wants. He doesn't much care how the discontinued dolls feel about this, he's not thinking about them, nor is the movie. He doesn't really see a problem with there being a division between Barbies and Kens, he doesn't see a problem with one group being subservient. He just doesn't want to be low on the food chain. Ken is right to want liberation for Kens but he thinks that he can obtain that by taking the jobs away from Barbies and giving them to kens. This is why I said Ken has gone full radfem in Barbie's absence. He hasn't gotten rid of the gender essentialism, he hasn't questioned whether power should be shared between Barbies and Kens. Ken is right to throw Barbies shit out of the dream house and kick her to the curb, she doesn't value him like he deserves from a relationship. He's wrong to try to change the constitution to put Kens in charge and change it to Kenland and force all Barbies into the position that Kens previously occupied. I relate this to radfems because radical feminism relies on bioessentialist assumptions and posits that men are always oppressors by their nature and that women would be better off without them. A lot of what makes terfs angry at trans women is that trans people question whether women and men are so easily separately boxed like this and trans women specifically are seen as male infiltrators. Most of them succumb to becoming transphobes before people but on a base level radical feminism is a reactionary hatred of men that is usually based in genuine hurt. Ken is on some all Barbies are pigs shit here rather than examining society and attempting to make it more equitable. I think he needs to sit down with Magic Earring Ken and talk about gender to gain some perspective.

Both me and the movie agree that Kens knee jerk Ken liberation at the Barbies' expense is wrong. Ken even later acknowledged that he didn't even care about patriarchy he just wanted to feel valued. But where me and the movie start to be at odds is when they do a girl boss style ousting of the Kens. Gloria gives a speech about the female grievance she has from the real world and it somehow works on the Barbies despite the fact that the movie previously established that sexism and all of its intricacies and the feelings it engenders are completely foreign to the Barbies. But the Barbies have always been in charge in Barbie land. They're passingly familiar with real world sexism as an abstract concept that they believe they defeated in the 1960s, but they don't experience it, they live in a everyone is valid girlboss utopia. The only way to become ugly is for someone in the real world to play with you too hard, something they can't control. There's no pressure to be pretty because everyone is already pretty and they compliment each other routinely. Barbie doesn't experience any problems being perfect until Gloria starts drawing her with existential dread, and all of the other Barbies are horrified by it as if they've never heard of such a thing. It's a malady that their dear friend is experiencing not a fact of life like it would have to be for Gloria's message to land.

Then they come up with this plan and they free the Barbies and use romantic jealousy to turn the Kens against each other. My problem with this is that in the established world where Kens are the repressed gender, this is essentially putting a bunch of dolls who's oppression is based in being a romantic object for Barbie into misery business ass situations. We're really weaponizing the Kens' internalized misandry against them and saying girlboss? The Kennish desire for Barbie's validation is being used as a tool to oppress them and the movie just... Doesn't see it despite seeming to having coherent liberal feminist messaging*.

Speaking of Liberal feminist messaging. When the Kens realize they've been turned against each other they link arms and head to where the Barbies are. The Barbies have put their constitution back in place. Ken(RG) realizes he's lost and he runs inside crying and Barbie comes to comfort him. Barbie pays lip service to Ken finding who he is without her and to them being "Barbie" and "Ken" instead of "Barbie and Ken" but then when the Kens band together and ask for a supreme court justice President Barbie gives them a concession of a lower court justice and the Kens have to work their way up, the voice over stating that maybe they'll get to where women are irl in a couple decades, and this is treated as a victory somehow. Like putting the girl boss barbietopia back in place at the expense of the Kens is somehow better than the Kens doing the same but in the opposite direction. This after she apologizes to weird Barbie and offers her a cabinet position, treating the most ostracized barbie as more valuable then any Ken.

The closest the movie ever comes to acknowledgeing a perspective outside of the Barbie/Ken binary is when Allen tries to leave Barbieland during the Ken takeover. Allen seems discontented with both the barbieocracy and the kenocracy and he tries to escape containment when Gloria and her emo daughter are leaving Barbie land. He argues that no one will give a shit about a life-sized Allen in the real world because nobody remembers Allen and then he tries to leave with them. Gloria and her daughter change their minds and go back to help Barbie and Allen's plot line just ends there.

There's all these cameos from background and discontinued Dolls. Skipper who's boobs get bigger, Barbie who's a camera, sugardaddy Ken, and magic earring Ken are all in weird Barbies weird house, Midge has a house near Barbie but is judged by the voiceover for being a pregnant doll and Barbie seems to agree, and Allen is the only one who doesn't have duplicates and is sort of in the background casting doubt, but they never follow through on these dolls place in the higherarchy. Which is fine, this movie is the Barbie movie, it's about stereotypical Barbie becoming a real girl and going to the gynecologist. But I do think that they established some dolls on the margins and then left them there, and as someone on the margins in real life I want to know what's going on with them. Most people going to this movie are gonna be Barbies and Kens so they don't touch on it and I think that's kinda sad, but not every movie has to be for me I guess.

TL;DR: the Barbie movie lacks a queer perspective and has some moments where it's stated gender metaphor falls apart because of its necessarily liberal politics.

All that said. I liked the movie. I'm leveling this criticism because it was better than I expected it to be. I didn't expect to go into the theatre and think about gender like that and I did so it deserves points for that even if I have problems with the execution. I thought it would be a shallow Pinocchio plot but it did something fresh with the doll who wants to be a real girl plot and it was genuinely good cinema in terms of the effects and the music and the visual motifs. It was a fun experience I laughed several times. I would recommend it despite being critical of it.

*coherent in that it is a message that has semi consistent internal logic not in that it's internal logic is correct or sound.

[acourtofthought]

The Trove was a big deal in SF. The possibility of world walking is clearly a major issue the ACOTAR characters will need to deal with after the crossover. The Illyrians? Definitely something for them to address down the line.

But I think because some readers favor those storylines and the characters involved in them, they ignore or downplay storylines that are equally as important but connected to other characters.

Though most of Nesta's story and even the crossover deal with certain plotlines, SJM still addressed other plots she set up in past books (Vassa / Koschei / Beron’s cruelty towards Lucien) in SF meaning these things are still relevant to current events. In a book that mostly revolved around training in the Night Court and the Trove she went out of her way to pepper in mentions of a court that neither Nesta nor Cassian have any connection to:

SJM could have easily had the characters meet with Eris in the Hewn City. Or the Night Court. She chose to write them meeting in Spring for a reason. She chose to repeatedly remind us Tamlin isn't getting better and the people are still neglected. She chose to tell us Eris is worried about Tamlin selling them out for meeting there, that Tamlin did not take Feyre's pregnancy news well. She chose to remind us that they need an ally in the Spring Court and it's forces (something mentioned in both the novella and SF) and then went on to tell us that now Lucien is permanently stationed there and Spring had been made for Elain.

To me it seems clear that SJM wants us to know Spring is still one of their biggest concerns. The problems there haven't been resolved or gotten even a little better. In fact, they've progressively gotten worse since ACOWAR.

Honestly, I don't care what happens to Tamlin. He could end up the redeemed High Lord of Spring, he could step down to be a traveling fiddler, he could become the general of Springs army's, I'm fine with whatever. But logically, does it make sense to drag out the Spring storyline any longer? Tamlin is at rock bottom and has been there for quite a while. Springs people have been without a real leader for quite a while. The Night Court has been stressing over the state of Spring for quite a while. And the author made sure we remembered all of that in Silver Flames while placing one of her main characters directly in Spring on a permanent basis and giving us hints that another will end up there.

Of course her other open ended plots are important too but when Spring borders both Autumn and the human lands, making it's location a politically important one and the possibility of having it fall into enemy hands is a pretty big concern, I don't think it's a plot she'll continue pushing to the side, not when SJM went out of her way in the novella and Nesta's book (Nesta with zero connection to Spring) to remind of us of its importance to the series.