#probably the only time those two tags will show up on the same post 🤣

[gillianthecat]

Bees in my head, there are so many bees in my head today 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Anyway, I watched the first two episodes of Unintentional Love Story. Which I quite liked! And I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. It's humorous and tropey but still with depth. I love the sunshine boy (I can't remember anyone's name yet) and how he is both genuinely sunshiny, and simultaneously using that charm out of desperation. The actor is bring wonderful nuance to the role. I'm less sure about the ceramicist, there's an awkwardness to him that I can't tell if it's the character or the actor, but I'm willing to wait and see. And I quite like the character, so even if his actor isn't up to the level of the other one, i don't think it will ruin the show for me.

I also like that he's a ceramicist! I'm getting a little tired of so many of the creative/artist characters being chefs. (Although there have been some writers too.) Part of it is a me thing about my own issues, but also variety is nice! I loved the scene at the kiln—it gave us a glimpse of the ceramicist being more relaxed and himself, plus sunshine's heart pot! 😻

I literally knew nothing about this going in besides @heretherebedork's screenshots of that loom (which was indeed an amazing loom, even better than I expected), which always makes for an interesting time at the beginning as I figure out what the tone and direction of the story are going to be. The beginning felt quite rapid fire, getting the characters into place to set the story in motion, realism be damned, but I don't mind the contrivance of the premise. I love an ethical dilemma derailed by falling for someone.

This series somehow feels more leisurely and expansive than most Korean BL that I've seen? More like a Thai BL, or a bigger budget mainstream (het) Kdrama. I think a big part of that feeling is that we're getting TWO! whole couples (I'm assuming). And I love all four characters already. Two variations on enemies to lovers! And all four of them seem like compelling people. Even the older ceramicist seems interesting enough. I only hate the smarmy senior colleague.

I haven't even checked how many episodes there are, so maybe it is a short series after all, but so far it doesn't feel cramped and truncated. Thirty minutes seems to be about the dividing line between a full episode and a condensed one, and these fall just on the long enough side.

Anyways I may write more about what I love about these characters later, after I look up their names. This was actually supposed to be a really short post just to note that I watched it, but then I got carried away.

Because I meant to talk about the bees in my head and how I'm mentally jumping all over the place right now, and how my wildly fluctuating attention span led me to read a post about Death Note, and then decide I needed to go watch it. Which I did. And, shh, confession time: this is the very first anime I've ever intentionally watched. I've seen bits and pieces of stuff, and been in the room with my nephews as the watched Pokémon and Naruto, but I've never deliberately sought it out. Am I getting kicked off of Tumblr for this?

The post that got me looking was poking fun at people who talk about the age gap between the two shipped characters being problematic when it's least troubling thing about them, and I was like, hmm... I'm kinda intrigued. One Netflix renewal later (I needed it anyway to watch The Glory season two) and here I am.

I'm intrigued so far? I may or may not share my thoughts on it later, but I will probably watch more episodes.

[faejilly]

so average-mako-enjoyer made this post about Shepard being forced to have a social media account for morale and only posting hamster pictures and like

I read that and immediately had four different Shepards yelling at me in my head (I blame @shadoedseptmbr's Aedan tags) 🤣🤣🤣

*

Weaver would in fact include hamster pictures, but they'd be macro pictures of like, whiskers and toes only.

The whole account would all only be macro photos. No tags, no comments, no explanations, no definitions. No time stamps or metadata, all expertly wiped, no location cues beyond maybe the quality of the light... which isn't that hard to manipulate after all, if you've got an omnitool and some good flashlight/spotlight blueprints.

It's all just exquisite close-ups of pieces of gravel and seeds and leaves and pollen or fractions of circuit boards and weird screws or clamps or the odd pattern of wear on a [redacted but clearly the Mako for those in the know] tire.

She and Aeden would clearly get along great.

*

Ngaio would flat out refuse. (She would've done it if she'd met Traynor sooner, because she can refuse Traynor nothing, but that was too late, on several levels.)

*

Ella would be asked to make an account after she gets her N7 status and starts showing up in the news periodically; she's told to try and soften the public image of the infamous Butcher of Torfan.

She does set something up, posts some generic pretty Alliance Training Stock Photos, the kind you get in a recruiters office, but that's it for ages.

And then she posts five separate in-depth tutorials in a row, three on astronomy and two on France of all things, one specifically about the language, one about cooking.

Then nothing again.

And then a three-part series on astral navigation, and how different species figured out the math for measuring where the fuck they were in space.

Then a thing on baking with chocolate, including how to convert levo recipes to dextro (and vice versa) and which things were more likely to translate into something that might still taste good.

She never shows herself however, so it does fuck all to counter all the pics and videos of her stalking around heavily armed and armored in full gear, occasionally with a bit of a blue halo from biotics usage, generally glaring or scowling as she avoids reporters trying to get a comment.

Most people don't connect her socials to the Butcher of Torfan at all, and those that do assume someone else is running the account in her name in a failed Alliance PR stunt.

After the Battle of the Citadel, there are enough recordings of her helping with clean-up efforts and being polite at formal ceremonies to make it clear that the Butcher and the Shepard-who-goes-on-weird-tangents-on-social-media are actually the same person, who is also POSSIBLY a galactic hero, so the whispers about Torfan finally start to fade out a little...

And then she dies.

*

Ward would be some terrifying (but delightful once you got past the scowl) combination of Adam Savage and Mercury Stardust because he would legit show people how to take things apart and upgrade and fix them (and which bits are 'legal-ish' depending on whether they technically own them or not) but also things probably explode sometimes (or at the very least spark A Lot™️) and Tali guests wearing glorious (flame-retardant) Turian fashions and ALSO sometimes PROPRIETARY TECH THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE and no one ever bleeps ANY of Jack's swearing and sometimes the three of them are gleefully trying to make something that probably shouldn't exist and some poor Alliance PR officer cries in their office sometimes because they are actually spectacular PR and GREAT for morale and also they break so many TOS's but it's Commander Fucking Shepard so who's gonna tell him to stop?

[suekre]

Writing things.

***

I was tagged by my amazing friend Teo aka @teodoraioana221 and I've been meaning to do this for AGES (probably just a few weeks but it definitely feels longer lol) but life kept getting in the way... still keeps getting in the way, actually, but today I'm saying: fuck it, I'mma do this now. 😂

1. How many works do you have?

Oof, I have no idea, honestly. Everything I ever wrote is unfinished anyway, so if I count in my shortest drabbles, too... probably about a hundred or so? 😅 I genuinely have no idea, though, please don't make me count. 😂

2. What fandoms do you write for?

I'm not in any fandom so I don't write for any fandoms either.

3. What are your top 5 stories by kudos?

I wouldn't know. I barely get any feedback, but that's because I'm so shy about sharing my writing in first place. My Little Blurbs tumblr is somewhere in the shadows, almost entirely unseen. 😂

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I absolutely do, as often as I can! ❤️ If someone takes precious time out of their day to leave me a nice comment, it's mindboggling and it always makes my day, so I am happy to show my gratitude for that; I really love replying to comments!

5. What’s the story you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My stories hardly ever have actual endings. 😂 I'd say that the Ballad of Hallie and Lancie is pretty angsty, though, as a whole.

6. What’s the story you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, my stories hardly ever have actual endings. 🤣 Thing is... I don't write my little blurbs for endings anyway, I just love exploring human interaction! Most things I write are very everyday-convo-esque and don't really serve a purpose other than me wanting to write dialogue. 😂

7. Do you get hate on stories?

Nope, but as I said above already, I'm shy about sharing my writing, only a few people see it.

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No actual smut, no, but I do include subjects like sex and intimacy, because I love that kinda stuff.

9. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I didn't actually write any crossovers, but I sure do share ideas with friends sometimes, about how fun it would be if our characters were in the same world... and I'd totally love to draw some of those scenes one day. 🤣

10. Have you ever had a story stolen?

I don't know but I doubt it.

11. Have you ever had a story translated?

I dunno?? I switch between German and English when I write, depending on my mood and energy level (high energy level: English, low energy level: German), so sometimes I translate my own stuff when I want to post it to my blurb tumblr. 😂

12. Have you ever co-written a story before?

Also, nope!

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

You mean, among my own OCs? I don't even know, I love all my ships, whether they're endgame or not but I think I can say that Charlie and Kieran will always hold a special place in my heart (although I wouldn't want to write the same kind of relationship again these days!) and also Orla and Mick are pretty darn important and amazing! :D

14. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

All of them. Honestly, I wish I was better at finishing my one shots but unfortunately, I'm not. 😂 I'd really love to write the last few bits of my Ballad of Hallie and Lancie, though, because these two became so important to me over the course of the last six months, and I just love them and would love to wrap their teenage story up one day!

15. What are your writing strengths?

I don't think I have any, but if I had to say something, I think it would be 'dialogue'. It's what I love most and I had people telling me that they love it, which is really cool!

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything. 😂 Writing in English is hard for me (not a native speaker) so I really do struggle with everything. It's all for fun, though, so that's cool and I try not to overthink it too much and just do what I feel like doing, without any pressure. I prefer writing badly over not writing at all!

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a story?

I do that all the time, as I'm not a native English speaker. 😂 I'm kinda hoping that I can switch it around one day, though. I'd love to throw in a dash of dialogue in my own language one day but I'm not actively writing any German characters at this point so I guess it won't happen any time soon.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

My own. 😂

19. Favourite story you’ve ever written?

Quite a few, actually! I love my most recent WIP of Sofia and Hallie having a chat after Craig's passing. Also the Sofia&Craig convo about their oldest son... and once I can think of other stuff I have written so far, I might mention some more. 😂

—

That was a lot of rambling lol. GO ME! Tagging everything who wants to do this... it's been super fun! :D

[ladyluscinia]

speaking as someone who reads a lot of ed/stede fic i think you're exactly right re: woobification of ed. if the fic in question touches on e10 his actions are usually given far less weight than stede's, and imo i think it's because a lot of fans don't know how to deal with the gravity of what he did. something i've seen often is that ed will get some grief from the crew and they may be somewhat cautious around him, but mostly it's stede who has to work to win back ed's trust and affection. which, yes, obviously he should have to do that, he fucked up, but ed not having to do the same with the crew & izzy if the author even bothers to write him in has always seemed idk unfair to me? obviously, people can write what they want, but i do feel like this attitude is prevalent in fandom meta as well. it goes on a wavelength of something like: all of ed's actions towards izzy, the crew, and stede are largely excused, stede's behavior towards izzy receives the same treatment, and izzy is simply not around for any variety of reasons and no one cares that he got his toe cut off. the reason i have accidentally read so much fic like this is because every time i open something that piques my interest thinking maybe it will be different and almost always it is not. i wouldn't be so bothered by this if it didn't contribute to the pipeline of me seeing with my own eyes posts made by people on this very website attempting to justify bodily mutilation as some fucked up form of punitive justice.

Hi, yes, all of this.

Like, I will confess that I'm already very lukewarm on BlackBonnet as a ship (just not my preferred dynamic), but I have been avoiding the tag on tumblr and AO3 like it's radioactive because I know I will risk losing all positive feelings for it in a matter of hours (which... probably not a great idea seeing as it's endgame 🤣). I'm sticking to SteddyHands where nitpicks about characterization are easier to spot in advance and often actual nitpicks, not slam the back button levels of drastic.

Anyway, the part of this ask that really grabbed my attention was...

...it's because a lot of fans don't know how to deal with the gravity of what he did.

...because that is a major part of the problem and also kinda interesting to talk about. And I have thoughts on it, both on how the show is potentially equipped to handle it and why so many fans struggle.

So preface: here's a link to my followup woobification thoughts post, which links the original woobification thoughts response right at the top.

Now... Why is reckoning with and forgiving Edward's actions (that are obviously going to be forgiven) proving so difficult that it makes sidestepping the problem entirely such a common fandom response instead?

---

There's two main factors that I think are the most important at the moment. (Well, three, but the third is anti culture declaring that faves must not be "problematic" or "bad people" or you aren't allowed to like them, and that's way bigger than this specific OFMD problem. Those antis just need to be ignored. So two actually interesting to discuss main factors.)

The genre of the show is hitting a very nice spot in handwaviness around violence that is crucial to getting past this in canon.

Edward's character arc spent pretty much all of S1 in the setup phase, while Stede actually progressed through his.

Genre, I'm almost positive, is going to be the show's saving grace in this matter, because they have played some really clever games with it. I talked a lot in this post about how handwaving narrative consequences at a certain point can be a really good thing, but it's also deceptively hard to set up because if you fail to be consistent then it only highlights your issues.

Edward's actions in a more serious show would be pretty hard to come back from, and even in this show, they aren't currently being treated as funny or no big deal. That's why just handwaving them from here doesn't work. Stede fixing the Kraken with a swashbuckler entrance and a kiss is a funny joke and a great fanart, but not a satisfying story for Edward. At the same time, OFMD's humor is actually really dark for a show that is best described as a romcom. Meaning even as Edward does awful things you can keep a running thread of humor to kind of lighten the gravity - like Jim's "What did you do to your face?" comment.

I still maintain that the big three four events of the Kraken turn - Izzy lashing out at Edward, Edward "killing" Lucius, Edward maiming Izzy, and Stede's abandonment overshadowing it all - have to be dealt with roughly equivalently and at the same time. Leave a hurt out (like Izzy's toe) and you mess up the whole balance, so there's one problem for people who don't like Izzy very much. But so long as all the characters get to acknowledge how they fucked up and how they won't do it again (requiring some character growth and communication from them all), then the genre tone will let them collectively move on without unpleasant hurdles (like Lucius feeling unsafe on a ship with Edward for the rest of his life).

This helps the show, but it doesn't necessarily help fans and fanfic, because a lot of fanfic writers are not working in this genre.

Angst people are writing angst, fluff writers are in slice of life romance, plot heavy fics might be adventures... all very fun, but possibly lacking the required tools to satisfactorily resolve these problems the way the show is likely going to. They have to adapt it or discard the need for a solution entirely, and adapting it might be trickier both because it's more work and there's a lot more open questions around Edward than around Stede.

We're back to character arcs.

It's so easy for fans to focus on how Stede needs to fix what he's done because, yeah, it wasn't that terrible in comparison, but also the show has already built and explored the whole framework for him to do so. We know exactly what was going through his head, we know what he wants now, we know the direction his character is going in... He's most of the way there already. For Izzy enjoyers, too, a lot of his character arc was covered this season. We have lots of evidence for his motivations and wants and plausible ways he could grow as a character, even if it's a bit more open to interpretation than Stede.

Edward, meanwhile, has just started. We can try and interpret his behavior this season for hints as to what's driving him, but there have been no recent backstory flashbacks or goals he was openly chasing beyond the general idea of Stede, and clearly the Kraken is not about getting Stede back. His flaws haven't been starkly established, much less the intended solutions. Like, I think that greed for both lives he's been sampling is a major part of it, and the resolution will involve compromising to a life he's satisfied with, but that's just informed speculation at this point.

Edward is so hard to figure out in a fic because first you have to decide what you think the problem and solution is, and then how to adapt it to whatever genre you are working in so that it actually fixes the whole attempted murder of 7 people + maiming and abduction. Not very easy if said genre is, say, the ever popular fluffy romance. Good fucking luck conveying even the idea of a whole arc in a oneshot. It can be done, but not easily. Meta, too, can have a sort of "genre" that causes a similar struggle. I feel like my meta probably isn't overly concerned with how characters are mentally affected by violence committed against them, for example, simply because it rarely interests me long term and I watch so many shows where violence is omnipresent, which probably helps me here.

Anyway, for a lot of fans it's much easier to just focus on what has been clearly established - that Edward has childhood trauma and was hurting - and a solution that conveniently can play out in almost every genre - make Edward feel better. Even if, as I will continue to complain, that's not really an arc and therefore boring. Also pretty woobifying to suggest a guy who committed 7 attempted murders had no underlying issues that are on him to address. Just really hurt feelings and the need to believe in love again.

So yeah. Interesting factors. I think considering both makes impressive strides to explain where the problem is coming from, even if it doesn't really prevent it. Just back to waiting for season 2, I guess.

...also I just realized that this is finally my version of the "only BlackHands shippers get Edward as a character" post 🤣🤣🤣 Because they are actually pretty good at navigating the Edward/Izzy part of this. Sometimes. I have way more faith in them out of the gate, at least.

(EDIT: Follow up response where I make a Helen of Troy joke)

[panharmonium]

omg—so have you finished your teen wolf watch-through yet or is it still in progress alongside the naruto watching?

no spoilers at all in what i’m about to say, but i literally just watched teen wolf for the first time a couple months ago and i love your merlin meta, so the serendipity of you watching teen wolf right now is like ✨yes✨

anyway, i would love to hear your thoughts on s5&s6 bc basically everyone i know (who has seen the show) told me to just stop watching after s3 but i ended up finishing the whole thing anyway bc i grew too attached to many of the characters 😂 if you’re comfortable chatting in dms, i would be totally down to talk more detail there—but also i would be excited to see any teen wolf posts from you, if you feel inclined to make any, bc like i said, you always have such a wonderful way of talking through things and sharing your perspective on stuff and i always love reading your metas but also most of the people i’ve been talking to about teen wolf watched it so long ago (and only the first few seasons of the show besides) that it’s just not the same 😂

—forever-rewatching-merlin

(i always sign these things as my merlin sideblog bc that’s where most people know me from, sorry if that’s weird) 🤣

*waves a big hello to you* HI!

Teen Wolf is still in progress alongside Naruto, but I'm getting closer to the end - we've got four episodes left in Season 5 (part 2), and then we're moving on to Season 6!

Everyone who told you to stop watching after Season 3 was probably right, or at least that's the impression I'm getting so far - I obviously haven't seen S6 yet, and I'm happy to be going into it not knowing anything about it, but I haven't enjoyed S4 and S5 the way I wish I could have, and that makes me doubtful about whether S6 can course-correct in a way that satisfies me. But hope springs eternal - I always go into new seasons optimistically; I was really enjoying the first couple episodes of S5 before it started to lose me, so I'll start S6 with the same open-mindedness.

My Teen Wolf watch actually started a looong time ago - I started watching back in 2015 (never as it was airing, though; I always just watched it on DVD) and got hooked partway through S1. I watched the first three seasons all in a row and was totally in love with it, but the very end of 3B (*cough*allison*cough*) made me so angry that I stopped watching for like two and a half years. Then I came back and watched S4...and it was so terrible that I stopped watching again for another three years. And now...I am finally finishing. XD

There is a LOT of Teen Wolf on my blog; it was my main fannish interest for years even when I wasn't actively watching new episodes, and it's still what I consider one of my "big" fandoms, despite the fact that I've been running around in Merlin and Naruto-land lately. My general Teen Wolf tag is (predictably) "teen wolf", and then I also use "pan watches teen wolf" for thoughts about episodes I'm in the process of watching (currently working on one of those posts right now).

There will likely be many more Teen Wolf posts here as I work my way through the end of S5 and all of S6, and I'd be totally happy to talk about it anytime! I do find it a lot easier to reply to asks or reblog conversation threads back and forth than use the tumblr messaging function - I don't have a problem with dms or anything like that, it's just that the messaging window is SO tiny and I have a much easier time with longer-form/asynchronous communication (things like Discord servers give me hives, and I have similar trouble with texting, so. I guess I am just Old. XD )