#okay got that off my chest

[akajustmerry]

actually I'm going to continue shit talking iwtv despite the weirdos idc I have shit to say. so. AND ANOTHER THING: I DON'T like the "reveal" in season 2 that louis ✨promised✨ lestat he wouldn't leave him if lestat turned claudia, and that promise being framed during the trial as this Covenant explaining why louis ACTUALLY didn't leave. I hated that because it's fucked for a show that's already portrayed multiple instances of DV to imply the DV itself is not the reason someone is frightened to leave. The unironic implication throughout the trial that louis didn't leave lestat because of a promise, and not because he had experienced the violence lestat would inflict if he left when lestat beat the living shit out of him for even thinking of leaving?? Fucked. It's validating the idea that asking DV victims "why did you stay?" is a legitimate question to ask when it isn't! Like it's insane to me that the show truly doesn't take lestat's racialised violence against louis seriously to the point that it's not even treated as a legitimate fear of louis'. It actually has me crawling up the walls that iwtv would almost be a GREAT show about abusive relationships except at the last minute it decided that abuse was just tropes!!!

[lady-of-the-lotus]

wait you don't like novel xy? why not? 🤔

I should probably say I don't like the parts of him I've actually read or seen excerpts of.

I simply don't jibe with him.Much as I love me my villains, I don't wholeheartedly embrace all shapes and forms and draw the line at certain crimes and threats for personal reasons. Also, I actually usually get really into villains who are more along the lines of Loki, Magneto (#Magnetowasright), Erik (Phantom), Count Fosco (The Woman in White--one of my all-time favorite characters)--and from what I've seen of novel!XY, he's even further from my usual type than the cql version.

In short, there was some "that's too much for me" and there was no emotional clicking to compensate. I might like him better if I read the I-assume-better-translated version of him in the official novels. I very much rely on writing style and realistic dialogue when it comes to books, which is why I find it hard to connect to anyone in poor translations, no matter how good the original work. I recently gave up on The Man in the Iron Mask halfway through to wait for a different translation to come into the library as the one I was reading (from a major classics publisher!) was so poor as to be distracting. (Still bitter about how that one got published.)

I'm sure people have great reasons for liking novel!XY and am glad he made enough of an impression on readers for him to get the screen time he did in cql!

[gideonisms]

Look wake is not winning any mother of the year awards but you also have to consider, Gideon was her unwanted pregnancy she went through with to keep john from continuing to colonize her people. it's clear that wake had family she DID love and chose to prioritize their future. But years later, after watching gideon sacrifice everything for the empire wake spent her whole life fighting, with no indication Gideon will ever switch sides, wake chooses not to destroy her. Apparently for no other reason than that she's her child. meanwhile john sticks his traumatized recently dead 19 year old on the front lines of a war! now WHO do y'all think should win this custody battle

[myenterpriseisparked]

Okay, okay. I've seen several very anti-Threshold-Day takes floating around in the last year and I'm kinda getting sick of it.

Regardless of how you feel about Threshold as an episode - be that the quality of the ep, the storyline, the themes, whatever - Threshold Day isn't really about Threshold itself. I mean, yes, it is a day celebrating that episode, but the actual point of Threshold Day is community. It's a day where people band together to make memes and tell jokes and overall have fun. It's a day where you send random salamanders to your friends and go "omg tommy p???" It's a day where you appreciate the cool art and fics people make and leave encouraging comments. It's a day for Fun. Everyone gets to be in on a giant inside joke and enjoy that feeling. Everyone gets to commit to the bit. Not to sound all "here's the real meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown," but, in a very serious and literal sense, that's what Threshold Day is really about. Community.

And it's okay not to enjoy the episode! It's okay not to want to participate in the fun! Seriously, it's OKAY. You don't have to join in! But when you sit there and go "I cannot fathom how all these people like this episode and they're all wrong to be making memes and celebrating" you're missing the point and you start to ruin the very harmless fun everyone else is having. You are not on a moral high-ground for not enjoying a meme or a dumb internet holiday. You are *especially* not on a moral high-ground when you try to make other people feel bad for enjoying something that, again, is so incredibly harmless and ultimately about having fun as a community.

Again: it is fine to not enjoy Threshold. But I see so many posts throughout the year where people seem to be flaunting the fact that they are not like everyone else and hate the episode, the holiday, whatever. I see people talking about how much they wish Threshold Day would go away and it's really, really not cool. Your horse is not higher than mine for not being down to clown with your mutuals, your friends, about a silly Star Trek episode.

[sttoru]

hey. (sorry for my broken english by the way. i didn't intend to be rude in any of this, so read it all gently, just the way i wrote it.)

please don't take this as hate, because i'd never hate you or your blog. but i'd like to say that things have changed a lot from how they were before and, right now, i don't feel like this blog feels like you anymore...

it's probably just me seeing things, but i feel like your blog used to be filled with only the best and most original, brilliant ideas, a lot of personality and meaningful asks between you and your anons.

and now i feel like you've been putting those original and brilliant ideas aside to make way for requests that seem kinda basic and trendy (i dunno how to put this...), receiving shallow asks and all of this makes me feel like I'm seeing the blog of any generic jjk writer, not yours.

your blog used to feel unique and like a happy place, you know? now it looks like people only come here to either thirst or request something...

i miss how it used to be much more than that. i've been here since the barbie movie era and i miss those days.

this is just my personal opinion and being a trendy blog isn't bad, it's just not my cup of tea because preferred to chat with you when there weren't so many eyes reading my asks as well. when there weren't this many people around.

i'm very happy for you and i'll always support you.

i know this is all exaggerated and it probably doesn't even make sense, but i'm not in the right mindset these days and wanted to send this one last vent message to you, in case something happens to me.

sincerely,

one of your followers (again, i'm sorry)

[abyssalhuntersnerd]

It's that time of the year again where I put the fish and Amiya in the washing machine...

[luck-of-the-drawings]

THAT WOUND. THAT VILE WOUND. it throbs in time with your speeding heart, and the ache it carries through your veins is oppressive, its hot, it tangles around your jaw and through your spine and behind your eyes. there are needles, sprouting from the lacerations like the most heinous ivy, and it strangles your lungs, rips tears from your eyes, lures bile to your throat. it hurts. oh god it hurts. you cant think, you cant breathe, you cant swallow, you cant see. you cant see. you cant see. you cannot see but you know when your eyes are closed, because there are colors stained upon the backs of your eyelids. they form images of loved ones, of viscera, of bile and blood and blackened mud. its jarring, they make anxiety spike outwards, frantic ferro fluid, frightened from faces too scared, too pained, too dead, too piercing with eyes staring straight at you, straight at you. actually, you cant tell when your eyes are open.

SAUCE FREE VERSION UNDER THE CUT.

[undead-moth]

Okay I thought I could let this go and just leave it at this post I wrote a bit ago but I can't.

Everything about how the Faks were written this season, including how much screentime they got, can be attributed to fatphobia.

The Faks exemplify a really common fatphobic stereotype that gets heavily relied on in comedy shows. I call it The Lovably Childish Fat Man trope, though there's much more to it than that. Some examples are Scully and Hitchcock from Brooklyn 99, Teddy from Bob's Burgers, Andy from Parks and Rec, and Kevin from The Office.

These characters are dopey, incompetent, clumsy, dumb, sloppy, childish and self-unaware. All of these attributes are used for comedic affect within the story. While these characters are lovable, they are lovable in a, "Isn't it just so endearing how dumb and clumsy and gross they are?" way. It is in the most condescending way possible. These are characters who aren't allowed to be serious and are required to play into the comedy of their fatness, often wearing ill-fitting clothes, overeating, or having their weight become an obstacle in a setting. This is how fat characters can still be made into a joke, and not just a joke, but THE joke, without a single comment ever being made about their weight from any of the thin characters in the story.

Now, when it comes to The Bear, Neil Fak was always an example of this trope - but in the first two seasons it wasn't as egregious. Neil was incompetent in general, but when it came to his job as a maintenance man, he was very competent. He was childish in general, but he was allowed to participate in conversations like any other adult without the sole purpose of his presence being that he was going to say something childish or dumb.

On top of that, all of his incompetence and childishness was balanced out by Richie, who was also immature, incompetent, and self-unaware.

But in the third season, a lot changes.

The biggest change is that the restaurant opens, and so now there is no need for a regular maintenance man who is going to take mold seriously, insist on moving the lockers before painting, and figure out that Michael fucked with the fire alert system to prevent it from going off when he tried to burn The Beef down.

Now, instead, Neil becomes a server in the restaurant, which is something he's woefully incapable of doing, and his incompetency in serving is highlighted for comedic affect.

At the same time, Richie has gone through real character development, and he's no longer unprofessionally dressed. He doesn't lack self-awareness. He's not as outspoken or willfully rude. When he is angry or immature, it is not comparable to a teenager's anger, much less a child. He no longer balances Neil out as a thin character with a lot of the same flaws.

What's worse, is that another Fak was introduced as a character, and he's also fat. Ted Fak becomes a regular rather than someone who's made an appearance or two, and his personality is virtually indistinguishable from Neil's. The only real difference that I can tell between them is that Ted's maturity is closer to on par with a thirteen or fourteen-year-old, while this season especially, Neil's maturity was more on par with a nine or ten-year-old.

When I say they're childish, I mean they are literally portrayed like children. They engage in the same conversations you could expect from children. Neil routinely refers to Carmy as his best friend unnecessarily, which is something a child would do, but on top of that the joke is, "Ha ha - can you believe Neil thinks he's Carmy's best friend?" even though Carmy outright admitted that Neil was probably his best friend in season one (which was also intended to be a ha ha funny joke). Ted and Neil also talk about Neil's wall of food critics, and Neil asserts that he would have already been able to tell whether or not one of the food critics had come in, and insists that he's memorized all their faces in a very child-like way. Any time the two of them are engaging in conversation, it's made apparent that the two of them both think they're geniuses exchanging profound wisdom, when in reality everything they say is stupid and uses the logic of children who don't yet understand how complicated everything is.

I really hit my limit when they went to see Claire to tell her Carmy says he's sorry - an act that no two grown ass men would ever decide to do, nor think was appropriate to do, nor helpful to do, nor would they fucking think it's their business, or if they did decide to talk to Claire, they wouldn't bombard the E.R without permission and wander into an operating room in the process. On top of this, they speak too loudly for the indoors, and Neil stammers through saying Carmy is sorry in very simple words, no different than a child saying sorry on the playground, and Claire even responds to them like children, trying to quiet them down, lecturing them about going places they shouldn't, talking them down from apologizing for Carmy because she recognizes it's not as simple as these children think it is, and she even explains it in simple terms to them, while routinely saying, "My love," and, "I love you," and trying to manage their excitement and expectations again - the exact same way you would with a hyper, overly enthusiastic child. With Ted she implies that he gave one of her friends an STD, and gives him a very maternal look and a, "You know what I'm talking about," comment while Ted continues to act obliviously (Ha ha the gross fat man has an std funny joke.)

Literally, you could easily replace these characters with a ten-year-old and a teenager and you wouldn't have to change anything. In fact, it would work better. It would make more sense.

It is possibly the most egregious example of this trope that I have ever seen. It turned a show that was previously actually better than the average TV show when it comes to fatphobia into a show that's actually more fatphobic than most shows I've watched.

And as for why the Faks were so heavily relied on, why they got so much screentime despite there being so many other characters they could have chosen to develop or focus on instead - I think the writers chose to do that because they knew this season was going to be heavier than past seasons.

They knew that the A Plots (Primarily Carmy's worsening behavior in the restaurant, but also Natalie giving birth, and Tina's search for a job after being let go) were all going to be really heavy, serious storylines. But they knew that even if this season was going to be more serious, this show was still a comedy. Not only do they need to keep it in line with its category, but they also had to try to keep the tone consistent with past seasons even though the plots in the past two seasons were not as serious. And particularly with the main storyline, with Carmy's character arc, I don't think Storer wanted to make that comedic at all. Previously, even really heavy moments could be humorous. The humor was dark, sure, but it was there, and so the comedy was threaded seamlessly throughout episodes, and no one character was more responsible for comedy than any other, even in heavy moments. But with this season, it was crucial that Carmy's state of mind feel as serious as it was. It was crucial that the alienation the other characters felt was palpable to us. In order for that to be the case, they couldn't be the ones providing comedic relief. Those moments had to remain incredibly tense, and awkward, and uncomfortable.

So - enter The Faks as Shakespearian-esque Fools.

In order to keep the A Plots properly serious, The Faks provided comic relief in between A Plot scenes. They're fools in intermissions. That's all. This works because Ted and Neil aren't supposed to be real characters. They don't have character arcs. They aren't ever going to be developed in any meaningful way, and so Storer can afford to include numerous empty scenes with them that do nothing to complicate them or reveal anything about them - and this isn't true of most other reoccurring characters in the show.

It's also worth noting that relying on this trope, using this trope as a crutch really, provides endless low-hanging fruit. Most people who had problems with The Faks this season had a problem with them in part because even though they were given so much screentime, and even though they were always being used comically - they were never funny.

This is where Storer fucked up - you know, beyond being a huge fatphobe. Storer was relying on the fact that most people find fatphobia hilarious. It is an easy way to get some laughs. It requires almost no thought. And okay - I understand that there are scenes in which something more is clearly meant to be getting through, particularly with the discussions of "the haunt" - but the Faks are so annoying that whatever was meant to get through doesn't anyway, or if it does, we don't fucking care anymore.

I'm not going to argue that The Bear fandom isn't fatphobic, because they very much are - However - That is not the kind of humor that first drew them to The Bear. The humor in this show previously was dry, dark, clever, absurd - many things, but all very sophisticated and often subtle. That is not only the humor we expected to return this season, it's obviously the humor we like! Since we're returning for season three!

But Storer didn't understand this about his own audience, and so he didn't think it would matter if he relied on a fatphobic stereotype for comedic effect. Honestly, I think it was probably a blind-spot for him, because he doesn't even know that's what he was doing - he just genuinely thinks this fatphobic trope is hilarious, and so do the other writers. It didn't occur to them that the audience wouldn't too. As a result, it is possibly the weakest part, and most universally hated parts of this season.

[bananasbyler]

Thinking abt how they’re all looking at a different person LMAO

Will -> El

El -> Mike

Mike -> Will

————————————————————————

Will’s uncomfortable, feels left out, and notices El acting different around Mike.

El’s laughing and trying to be like a couple again to Mike, but also lying to him a lot of the day.

Mike is joking around and wants to include Will, but won’t do it directly. He’s also making sure Will is having fun, but trying to please El by acting coupley at the rink.

————————————————————————

How else would Will know that El is faking her emotions and lying to Mike constantly if he wasn’t focusing on El?

Why else would El try to convince Mike that she was happy and had friends in California if she wasn’t trying to put up a front for him?

How else would Mike know if Will was being sulky or grumpy if he wasn’t watching Will’s reaction all the time?

————————————————————————

All of these result in different outcomes:

Will sternly tells El that she shouldn’t be faking things and hiding the fact that she’s getting bullied all the time.

El can’t hide her emotions anymore and she bonks her bully in front of Mike— even before that, she demands her bully to just go and tell Mike that it was a joke amongst friends.

Mike lashes out on Will because he’s mad that Will didn’t reach out to him either and calls Will out for being visibly upset the whole day at the rink.

————————————————————————

In conclusion:

Will wants El to be honest to Mike.

El wants to seem happy for Mike.

Mike wants Will to actually be happy.

=

Will is saying it’s okay to be upset in front of Mike.

El is hiding being upset for the sake of Mike.

Mike is trying to make Will not upset anymore.

[willkimurashat]

Rant? (potential spoilers?)

Alright, don't hate me for this, but I actually feel bad for Amelia. Firstly, no one's interested in her romantically (story of my life, and let me tell you, that really does your head in sometimes). Secondly, she's been put in the middle of drama multiple times now, for the sake of drama and/or for shaking her already somewhat shady/unsteady relationship with her twin. Thirdly, the guy that is supposedly head over heels with mc (in my game it was Roberto) goes on to kiss Amelia and then she has to act like nothing happened because she doesn't want to cause more drama for her sister, plus, he still acts all pouty around mc and looks disappointed when she doesn't pick him at the recoupling. Who's to say that Zeph didn't actually pine for Amelia the whole time he's been in a relationship with mc, and Amelia just had to watch that with pain all these years?? And now she has to see everyone in the villa swoon over mc, while she is, again, left in the shadow. I meannn, if I were Amelia, I'd probably cry all day or walk, ngl. So no, I don't want to be her enemy, we're siblings and I want us to be on the same team - I don't want any discourse between us, I just want to forget the past and for her to be happy in a couple with someone who genuinely cares for her.

[grapecaseschoices]

things i'd like from bg4 or any similar future games

I think BG3 is very detailed; but I would really like it if the backgrounds had mattered more. Or at least for every one. I heard if you're a drow/half-drow noble you get special dialogue with Minthara. But why didn't my Folk Hero!Tav with Wyll [or just in general?] Or my Outlander!Tav with Karlach? I love that your character gets special interaction with all and sundry, at times, re: class and race. But backgrounds make a charcacter. I don't need details. Just a bit of a nod. At least within the camp.

This brings me to point two. I wish there was a way to get friendship points. It is so strange the characters can be 'meh' about you, dislike you [and strongly], but high to exceptional bonds trigger romance. What about close friendships or growing into a family?

Speaking of, I definitely would have love some down time chatter. It is so strange to me that you get a 'this could be our last time in camp' but don't do anything with it. I appreciate the tiefling [or goblin] party. I love the idle banter on the road. But why not a couple of casual fireside chats. As a group?

I love Halsin but the fact that he is the only one we can have a polyamorous dynamic with, is bull. I'm fine with not every character being into polyam -- but maybe research more before diving into it. I am 90% sure Wyll would've been okay with Polyam - a triad too! - if it was Halsin or Astarion [maybe with Lae'zel but I have to play further to be sure]. I could see Astarion and Shadowheart swinging a 'v' dynamic, and being the best [or worst for Tav's sanity] of metamours! Maybe it would have been a hassle for coding to fit every configuration, but we deserved at least a COUPLE of Tav x Origin x Origin loving.

Also, I think we should have been able to encourage - or maybe it could have happened sans MC involvement - the npcs getting together.

[shalpilot]

see it’s hard to title this because it’s about forgiveness but that has A Different Meaning in ShB lmao. but anyways…. them..!!!!

[viatrixtravels-a]

// Woke up today and immediately started brainrotting about xlmi again...Gonna put this one under read more so those who aren't interested can easily skip it.

Basically thinking about how I feel like Xiao would be the little spoon about 90% of the time after they start dating / sharing a bed.

I imagine he's usually out hunting/killing demons until pretty late at night so more often than not, Lumine is already in bed by the time he returns to their shared room at the Inn (or the teapot whichever floats your boat). He wouldn't want her to stay awake for him but we all know she does anyway lol.

These moments would be the hardest on Xiao because it's when he's practically drowning in self-hatred and just feels disgusted by himself. He'd probably insist on always showering/taking a bath first because he doesn't want to join her while reeking of demon blood.

Then when he finally does crawl under the covers, his favorite thing to do is curl up into her arms and bury his face in Lumine's chest as she pampers him with forehead kisses while gently stroking his back. This just makes any negative emotions from before melt away and it's one of the rare moments when he truly does feel at ease.

Another one of my personal xlmi HCs is that his nightmares became significantly less frequent ever since he started sharing the bed with her. I don't think they would entirely go away (at least not right away) but he even starts having some good dreams every now and then which would be completely new to him. uwu

Also Xiao is the CLINGIEST bf ever in the morning fr. Lumine would be like 'I have to get up. I have commissions to do' but he keeps on clinging onto her and begs to stay in bed to cuddle for five more minutes (which actually turns out to be nearly two hours in the end lol).

[sunnylaurels]

Finally managed to sort out some of my thoughts on how marvel fumbled the marketing for iron fist 2022 and ugh I am SO mad about it now

Like first of all why the hell would you try to keep the identity of the new iron fist a secret

Not only is it obvious to anyone familiar with Lin Lie and/or read DODS: White Fox but the bigger problem is that. Well.

Lin Lie is an obscure character. There's no denying that. And you put the set up for him becoming the next iron fist in a tie-in featuring another, slightly less obscure character.

Ami's never really been pushed so most people aren't going to read her tie-in (which does a great job of introducing both Lie and Ami whilst endearing them to the reader as well). The result is too much exposition needing to be crammed into Lie's story.

What marvel really needed to do was give both Lie and Ami more publicity. Like, maybe give Ami an actual book instead of a four-issue infinity comic (that could tease Lie's return as the new iron fist)? I'm 99% sure that Alyssa Wong wants to write one. Or at least admit that DODS: White Fox is borderline required reading to make sure that the readers know what happened?

You know, since iron fist 2022 isn't a continuation of the previous iron fist storyline? It's a continuation of Lin Lie's story (and Ami's, to a lesser extent) so marvel should have been upfront with that.

But just focusing on the fact that marvel is finally making an asian iron fist simply feels lazy and gives the impression that they're only doing this for free diversity points.

At least they could still fix it with a White Fox & Iron Fist team-up series. You know, just like Power Man & Iron Fist. Except with Ami Han and Lin Lie instead of Danny Rand and Luke Cage. And a bigger focus on the mystical side instead of the street-level one.

Edit: AND the fact that Ami is an actual demon should get more attention. Just imagine Lin Feng trying to turn her into a demon with his magic and she just. slaps him

[honor-cxde]

// unrelated to anything going on on my dash right now just something I happened to see

Guys.

Countrymen.

My bruddas and sistas in CHRIST.

Curate your own experience and space on the internet.

Is it not MILES easier to see something you don't like, block/unfollow, move on with your day?

STOP TELLING OTHER PEOPLE WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT WRITE.

STOP EXPECTING THE COMMUNITY TO CURATE YOUR EXPERIENCE FOR YOU. THAT IS NOT OUR JOB. IT'S YOURS.

Ahem.

Sorry about that. Carry on.

[brawlsbigbadonkers]

I’m so normal about earthspark brawl.