#right in the opening and it's the audience actually getting invested in the story so THAT audience responding the same way actually WORKS

[james-stark-the-writer]

started watching A Murder At The End of the World and i'm only like 4 minutes in rn but oh my fucking god, they already did the impossible, they made synthesizing a literal audience not only not annoying but actually intriguing and effective. holy shit.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

good things about ep. 7:

this episode was by far the best at working with film as a medium. there were still issues, to be mentioned soon, but this ep did a lot of things that impressed me on a level of cinematic structure and format:

some actual tension!! simply showing the trio running from cerberus created investment and stakes for me in a way no monster fight or other obstacle had before (a matter definitely enhanced by the music)

the use of flashbacks!! now, i have some issues with the content of those flashbacks, but since im basically getting two degrees in assessing media i know how to give credit where credit is due lmao. these flashbacks were doing interesting things cinematically, creating parallels with percy's experiences in the present, especially that last flashback where they continued poseidon's voiceover into the present moment. fuck yes!! use the medium of cinema to your ADVANTAGE!!

related to the use of flashbacks, the match cuts!! they were so good, as they helped make visual those narrative and characterological parallels being constructed through the flashbacks. film is an inherently visual and auditory medium, and it was so refreshing to see the show experimenting and making effective choices with those tools

some issues with ep. 7 and the series as a whole:

i'll admit it. im tired of the trio already knowing everything about every obstacle they face (having to improvise in the fight with cerberus was so refreshing and retained more of the spirit of the book as opposed to uh. every other obstacle). and i think this connects with show's overall struggle with writing, adaptation, and the medium of film. these writers have committed the cardinal sin of assuming their audience always needs explanation. in any writing class (fiction and screenwriting are my personal expertise), you are told to assume your audience is smarter than you think, bc a writer's instinct is to assume they need to be clear about action and themes out of a fear of confusing their audience and the end result of that situation is a boring, overly explanatory piece of work. (an re the young viewers, kids are freaking smart!! i literally teach kids of the age range these books are directed for and they are so quick-witted. kids don't need stuff handed to them on a platter, they know how to put puzzle pieces together.)

example of the aforementioned "too much knowledge" issue: the pearls. (people have already explained the issues with medusa, the casino, procrustes, etc., so im going for a new one that's been bugging me a bit.) after percy received four pearls, the general conclusion people came to was that one pearl would break, forcing them to have to choose three people to go/one to stay and thus making the choice more "meaningful" (i.e. bc the opportunity to save everyone had been stripped). it's a fair choice, a fair reason, a fair analysis, and this is a change that bothers me but much more minimally than other changes to the show. here's the deal: the reason they had to give four pearls in the show was bc the trio already knew exactly what the pearls would do. there was no reason to give only three pearls bc that would force a character (probably percy) to raise the question of like "hey, that's not enough to save four people!" so where am i going with this?

in the books and the musical, we get the alluring line of what belongs to the sea can always return to the sea. percy gets three pearls in the book and a seashell in the musical, where he doesn't know right away the specifics of what this gift does (the seashell is an excellent example of adapting a story to a new medium, as a low-budget theatrical production can't afford the effects of smashing three pearls and causing people to vanish from the stage, so blowing the seashell to open a portal was a great move that worked for the new medium and retained the spirit of the source material - percy having an epiphany well after receiving the gift about what, exactly, the gift did and how it would help him). in the show, they issue is that they already know, thus creating the dilemma of there being no reason not to give four pearls. again, not the worst choice the show has made, but it's another example of how the show's most pervasive issue is over-explaining and giving too much information to its characters.

in short: the pjo show doesn't understand "show don't tell." they love telling even though "showing" is Most Important in film as a medium, like it's even more important to show what's going on in film than it is in prose because cinema is an inherently collaborative medium that generates a visually-dominated product. the show clearly lacks a fundamental understanding of the medium it is working with!! and that is bad!!

another issue: the lighting. this show suffers from the current trend in film to make dark scenes impossible to see in.

more characterological problems: the gods are not imposing. just to speak of ep. 7 alone, why was hades so... banter-y? in the book he literally makes percy's hand "move... against [his] will" to show him the pearls. there was none of that power and domineering energy in the show!! the pjo show keeps hammering us over the head with what should be a series-long revelation about the gods' flaws and pettiness and spite and misuse of their incredible power, and yet all of the gods seem almost like... caricatures. where is their ability to be charismatic and threatening. to be lax and powerful. to remind us that they can, have, and will kill demigods.

core thematic issue: the show lacks the humor and fun and adolescent spirit of the books. i've seen a lot of people insist the show is directed for young readers of the book, which i don't disagree with, but the lack of humor and energy and vitality is undoubtedly turning off a lot of younger viewers. in a lot of instances, everything feels so gritty and angsty, lowkey like the winx adaptation (but on a less severe scale). we have moments of sass/sarcasm, moments of levity, but it doesn't feel like a core trait of the show (much less of percy) like it does in the book. and honestly, i think that's a loss! if rick wanted a grim pjo adaptation, fine, but i wish the show hadn't been advertised as something perfectly attuned to the spirit of the book bc it's just not. if it was, i'd be laughing a lot more.

now, let's talk about sally...

i don't love how they've characterized sally in this show. i respect that they wanted to "modernize" her character and more accurately demonstrate the struggles of a single parent raising a child with learning (and in percy's case, also magical) difficulties. i genuinely do respect that choice, and i can follow the thorough-lines created in the show that illustrate this revamping of her character. similarly, i can respect that they didn't want sally to seem like a stereotypical "passive" victim of abuse re gabe, hence her explicitly pushing back at him. that said...

i still don't think these are effective or necessary changes, because i don't think sally was portrayed as overly passive or as a perfectly equipped parent in the book. i understand the argument that gabe is still presented as abusive, i.e. that he checks her phone without permission and controls access to the car, but those moments feel so technical. when i rewatch those scenes and examine the acting (both line delivery and bodily cues), sally is outwardly derisive toward gabe ("who's yancy?" / sally sighs and shakes her head, exasperated, has the long blink to give an extra beat before responding: "the school."), yet at the same time there's a banter between them, where sally insists that she's going to go to montauk no matter what, and if gabe disagrees then she won't bring back both their sandwiches for the knicks game that they apparently watch together often (implied by "you know i hate watching the knicks alone!" "so do i!"). sally holds herself confidently in this scene (hands on her hips). gabe is forced to actually ask politely for his sandwich order (and notably holds his shoulders slightly inward, visually closing himself off in a physical representation of surrender). two of my friends, diehard pjo fans who are not literature or film scholars, were both confused as to why sally and gabe seemed to be bantering within a seemingly standard relationship dynamic - not necessarily the happiest of couples, but a standard married couple (as opposed to clear imbalance of power between them in the book).

to be clear, it's not that sally needs to be a "passive victim of abuse," and it's certainly not that the show needs to explicitly depict gabe hitting sally or percy for us to understand that he is abusive. my issue is that the show seems to have not understood what made sally a strong character initially: her willingness to endure anything for her son, including marrying an abusive man who smelled so rankly human in order to prevent monsters from finding them. like, sally resisted gabe's abuse in the book! the reason blue food is a major motif in the first place is because sally and gabe had a fight where gabe insisted blue food wasn't a thing, and thus percy observes that "ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue."

in other words, verbally standing up to one's abuser is not the only way to demonstrate that a character is not a stereotypically weak, helpless, passive victim. it's definitely an easy choice with regard to cinematic staging (and the show has a pattern of taking the easy way out of conflicts and nuance), but i think the real issue is that sally's vocal protests come in tandem with the defanging of gabe. why does his body language and tone falter in arguments with sally? does he not have the upper hand? where is the evidence of an imbalanced power dynamic? there is no one way to write abuse bc the tragic reality is that abuse happens in an infinite number of ways, but nonetheless i am frustrated with the route the show went down in the first ep bc it feels reductive to the core of sally's character and her strengths: her endurance, her implicit but present rebelliousness, and her love for her son.

im also not a fan of some of the flashbacks we're getting with sally. it's not that sally shouldn't be "allowed" to get frustrated ever, but a major element of her characterization in the books is that she didn't take that frustration out on percy. i just don't see sally jackson getting upset that percy doesn't want to swim (beside that, i can't imagine percy not wanting to swim lmao). i just don't see sally jackson almost aggressively telling percy that he is the one making their goodbye ugly (because he's being a kid?? who doesn't want to leave his mom?? you're telling me sally wouldn't recognize the root of his anxiety immediately??). i just don't see sally speaking vaguely to percy about there being things she has to do that he doesn't understand instead of doing her best to meet percy where he's at with her explanation. if someone is coming to this show without having read the books, i genuinely think they might be starting to question sally's parenting, i.e. if she was really as wonderful a mom as percy insists or if he simply sees her through rose-tinted glasses. bc here's the thing: percy does see sally and his mom's struggles through rose-tinted glasses, and it's because sally bottles up and hides her struggles and frustrations from him. she doesn't let percy witness those frustrations. as such, there's an incongruity between book!sally and show!sally that doesn't mesh for me.

in short, show!sally feels like a new character to me. that's fine if that's the route they wanted to take, but again: why advertise it as a faithful adaptation if you're not going to be faithful to the core elements of central characters?

im also disappointed by how much the show has stripped annabeth of her character besides her intelligence. i have some thoughts about the adultification of young Black girls and the fact that annabeth is Black in the pjo show, mostly that i can't tell yet whether the show has the self-awareness to offer commentary on this reality for many Black girls through annabeth's character being seemingly defined by her intelligence and maturity or if they're simply unwittingly replicating this circumstance. i need more material before i can make a concrete assessment here, but all the same, i wish they were allowing these kids and especially annabeth to be kids - to make mistakes, to fall into traps, to have little crushes and get flustered, and to not know everything about every monster/obstacle before they come to face it.

people have talked to death the issue of the pacing so i won't belabor it but in general this show has terrible pacing. the first two eps are rushed (we got so little luke that im concerned his betrayal won't have much heart/meaning/oomph in the final ep), the constant unnecessary exposition creates periods of narrative drudgery, most of the fights lack tension bc the choreography is effectively nonexistent, them missing the solstice deadline has so far sucked the wind of the energy of their quest (of which there wasn't much in the first place bc the show did a poor job establishing the looming threat of a globally destructive war being on the horizon), and in general there's no sense of stakes. sigh.

i probably have more thoughts, but i'll stop for now bc i've got a shit ton of assignments to work on. in sum: the show lacks an understanding of how film operates as a medium, and while the merit of the show as an adaptation can be debated, it's simply a poorly constructed and lackluster piece of tv.

(but on the bright side? the trio is killing it even with the weak material they've been given, and their acting talent is the only reason i and many of my friends have kept watching)

[findafight]

I haven’t finished the series yet (I keep having to tap out because the writers keep referring back to episodes that they think they’ve written rather episodes that I actually watched), but I think the big disconnect between their writers and the audience have with regard to Steve is that the show *insists* on treating Steve’s character development as if it’s a “Redemption Arc”, when it is in fact a fairly standard coming-of-age story.

He starts season one coasting through an almost cookie-cutter existence, moulded by the people that he hangs out with. By season four, he’s the lone jock in a group of nerds and geeks of all stripes (Lucas is getting in there though) and has found his soulmate in a weird theatre kid (whose love life he’s arguably more invested in than his own). He has his own tastes and interests, but he’s open to those of his friends as well. He’s the unofficial “adult” of the group and has a leadership position, not because an adult has left him in charge, but because again and again he chooses to take responsibility for The Party’s safety.

[Side note - the way Steve chooses over and over to take responsibility, above and beyond what was asked of him, leading to him being more comfortable in his own skin and sure of who he is VS Jonathan having responsibility thrust upon him at such a formative age that he starts to experience an identity crisis in season four as they’re stripped away from him.

Just. Why didn’t these two have more of a relationship onscreen? Why does this show do so *little* to explore how Jonathan feels about his parentification? Or the ways in which this has hurt him over the years? W H Y ?]

As you’ve pointed out elsewhere(?), the worst of Steve’s actions in season one are the result of him lashing out in anger. But he’s shown to regret these actions, and takes ownership and responsibility of them in a way that feels genuine. Jon and Nancy aren’t there to see him help clean up the graffiti; he didn’t know that Nancy was there when he went to apologise to Jonathan; as far as we know Jonathan still doesn’t know that Steve is the one who replaced his camera.

They didn’t write a stock Stephen King bully - they wrote a male, messier version of Cher Horowitz.

yes! all of this!!

Steve's just a guy who was sort of a shitty teenager but then made the conscious choice to Do Better. He just wanted to apologize! Make things right! and that seemed to lead into making sure his town isn't infested by monsters and that a group of annoying thirteen year olds don't die also doing that. And yet they try to tell us he was a giant mean bully.

honestly I'm going to put the lack of character interaction and development (especially with a cast of the size Stranger things has) on Netflix. If they could have a regular season or even a 12-15 episode season a lot of the inconsistencies and dropped character elements and explore dynamics way more.

Jonathan being thrust into responsibility when Steve actively chose it!!! makes me scream!!! Jonathan needing to figure out who he is, but at the same time not wanting to and avoiding it, while Steve had to figure that out before. Steve might be a bit directionless, but he knows who he is. Jonathan at least thinks he knows what he wants at first but he doesn't know who he is outside of his family. Especially now that Will is growing up and not needing him the same way as before. I think him and steve interacting would be so interesting and i WISH they let us see something other than animosity or ignoring each other. They've got similarities but are soooo different. Just. AHHHhh many thoughtssss

[xerith-42]

What is, in your opinion, the best and the worst moments of the entire series and why? If you haven't already made a post about that

[cracks knuckles]

It's hard to put a finger on what I would say are best moments because through my rewatch I've actually discovered a lot of good moments early on that I think are overlooked because they don't play into the larger story later on. I talked about one of them in the context of a rewrite on my side blog, but I want to talk about a smaller moment that I actually don't think needs to be rewritten. (this isn't me saying this is the best moment in mcd, just that I think it deserves appreciation)

It's the entire opening sequence of episode 11. Like the whole thing is just really good. It opens with Aph finding out that Donna has gained sentience building that idea into the world, and she gets the story started right away by telling Aph about how Brendan got injured at the end of last episode. Aph instantly rushes in to help, finds out what she has to do from Garroth, and then takes off to do it. Earlier episodes have a problem of being kind of nothing a lot of the time, or Jess will get distracted and take way too long to get to the story, but that just isn't a problem here.

At this point Brendan has been established as a character with gripes, ambitions, wants, love for hamsters, and has an emotional connection to another character in the cast. So both the audience and Aph are invested in his safety, and it's great to see how seriously she can take these situations when circumstances demand it. Furthermore once she gets the medicine Garroth needs, it's Garroth who actually treats Brendan's wounds as this is before Zoey entered the series and became the resident healer.

I really like this aspect of Garroth's character and think it has a ton of potential! Garroth learning battle medicine during the year Phoenix Drop didn't have their lord because he failed to protect his lord before? Maybe he learned it even earlier, like in the guard academy shortly after the death of his brother to ensure that he doesn't lose someone again. As far as I'm aware this is never expanded on outside of this episode but I think it was a really solid piece of character work with Garroth.

And Zenix in this scene?? On point. He is playing up the whole scared guard who's a rookie and new to everything aspect so well, and the way he talks about the whole ordeal is just fantastic. He's so good at playing on Aph's trusting nature and when you learn that he knew the arrow was meant for him and put Brendan in the way? It makes the entire scene all the more heartbreaking. Overall a really great showing from one of the earlier episodes of the series.

And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have one of the much later episodes in the series run that if you ask me, is one of the worst scenes in anything I have ever witnessed. Season 2 Episode 95 of Minecraft Diaries is perhaps the best example of character assassination happening in real time I have ever seen. The rot upon Laurance's character has been creeping in for some time during season 2, but this is when it hits it's crescendo.

I can and will do an entire post breaking down this entire episode minute by minute one of these days because it's failures are something I take personally. For those of you who aren't actually going insane over the block show, Season 2 Episode 95 is titled "Shadows of the Past", and this is the episode where everything with Laurance hits it's breaking point. In this episode while Aph is just having a fun day playing with Dante, Leona, and the other child who is there, she sees an imp in the forest disguised as Aaron. (Keep in mind Aaron died in episode 81 so the wound is still sort of fresh)

Aph is shaken by this and halfway through the episode she sits on the beaches of the Phoenix Alliance island holding Aaron's bandana and having a quiet moment. Laurance comes up behind her, before he sits next to her, and the two start talking. In theory, I like this conversation. Laurance has largely not been able to express his feelings on Aaron and what he did because he ran away right after it happened, and showed up only 5 episodes ago trying to kill Aph while she was in disguise. He hasn't had a moment to really process Aaron's sacrifice and what it means for him. The strange contradictory feelings he has over his jealousy, his desire to protect, the calling, and dare I say it, his respect for Aaron.

In theory, I really like this conversation. In practice this conversation manages to drag not one, not two, but all three of Minecraft Diaries main characters to their lowest points. In this scene Laurance proceeds to berate Aph for her feelings, invalidate previous lines he said about Aaron, completely betrays his own character and motivation, and forever ruins his character arc. And that's not including how much of a fucking asshole Garroth is in this scene, like Laurance was being bad, but Garroth saying "You were lucky to come back alive" after Laurance was forcibly raised into undeath??? Not cool dude.

The entire scene also reduced Aph into just a grieving widow. She's so grief stricken she can't even stand up to Laurance, which could be good in theory, but I just don't like it. It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like the character I've been following. Aph has always been a proactive and reactive character, bad stuff happens and her response is to do something about it. This scene makes her far more passive and while I don't object to her grieving, this just isn't it. I can't explain it better than that, it just isn't it.

As stated before, Garroth may have had some good points but completely lost all merit he had in this argument when he hit Laurance with that line. That was just uncalled for.

And poor poor Laurance. Let's just give a quick rundown on things in Laurance's life that greatly impact the way he views death: His parents dying when he was a kid, his lord dying while under his watch, seeing someone he knew was dead walking around alive, literally actually dying and being forcibly raised into partial undeath with a great curse to bear and no control over any of this happening, his best friend sacrificing their life to save him, AND losing his OTHER parent after being thrown 15 years into the future. Laurance has been a victim of death and it's many ways of truly ruining someone's brain in ways we mortals aren't even able to comprehend.

He would never yell at someone for grieving. He would never get mad at someone for being sad that someone they care about is gone, no matter how jealous he can be. He would never see Aph with tears in her eyes and keep yelling. The only circumstances I could see him doing this under is if the calling is influencing him, but that isn't explicitly shown to the viewer or ever even implied to be the reason for this outburst. We are just expected to take this at face value. That his is who Laurance is, who he has become.

And it's not Laurance. I don't know who it is, but it's just not him. It's someone else who's using Laurance's likeness to prop up the story of two people falling in love and losing each other that takes longer than Romeo and Juliet and manages to somehow be worse than that. In a sick and twisted sense, Jess is how we've all been headcanoning the Shadow King, turning Laurance into her little puppet that she can control to do whatever she wants when the plot demands it, previously established character be damned. She didn't write this scene because she wanted to explore Laurance's character, she wrote this scene so fans would get off her back.

Laurance deserved better than this.

cutting myself off here because if I keep going I will just rewrite this entire episode in real time for the third time

[tcfactory]

thinking about a dumb thing where mobei overhears sqh telling a story to the disciples and gets rlly invested but doesnt want to admit he's been following him around his peak so he listens from the shadows. It's a beautiful tale of a powerful cultivator king who seeks demonic cultivation in order to save his family and people. There's a grand battle where he is the sole solider against an army of thousands, everyone is on the edge of their seats as SQH describes that during the battle, (1)

(2) spies have infiltrated the castle to take his son! the wife fights valiantly, but shes mortal, and by the time the king hears her call she is already slipping from the tallest tower. She falls before her beloved husband arrives, and he flies after her. It's a drawn out moment, where SQH describes the wind pressing past them both, the weight of her body dragging her down. what mbj does not anticipate is "the agonising silence that followed the tragic thud of her body, too fast to catch" (3) cue mbj leaping out of the shadows without thinking because WHAT!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE D I E D, WHAT! the disciples are screaming. the hall masters are rushing in the room in a panic. sqh has no fucking idea what to say other than "ITS A TRAGEDY FOR A REASON!!"

Anon, I love this idea so much.

SQQ would be crowing about how he absolutely told zhangmen-shixiong that SQH was a spy! (This applies to both versions of SQQ. SJ because he's upset that nobody believed him, SY because that's what you get when you let your demon sneak onto the peak Airplane!!)

SQH has to pull out all stops in his bullshitting to explain why he shouldn't be executed or kicked off the mountain and actually zhangmen-shixiong, having the future Northern Demon King as our mascot ally could have a lot of benefits for us...

In the end MBJ is allowed to visit for SQH Story Hours if he behaves, mostly because they can't exactly keep him out (they try. MBJ is too OP, nothing they do even so much as hinders him) and SQH is too important to be easily replaced.

So MBJ gets to sit among the disciples and listen to SQH tell his funky little stories. Then one day the disciples complain about how SQH always messes up the endings (why all the tragedies, Airplane? Clearly your audience is clamoring for a happy end!), so SQH suggests that if they don't like the stories then they should write their own.

Next morning there's a perfectly filled out request form on YQY's desk for an open attendance fiction writing workshop. YQY is very sure he has locked the door last evening, but also that handwriting is very familiar, wtf Shang-shidi. He always assumed SQH's head disciple was finishing up SQH's paperwork whenever he fell asleep at his desk and turns out he was half right. He has no idea what interest a bored demon could possibly have in requisition forms, but there are so many worse things he could be doing that YQY will just pretend that it's not happening, for the sake of his sanity. He will have Words with SQH about why his demon has free access to all of CQMS's paperwork, but in the meantime he gives his blessing for an interpeak writing workshop ft. one MBJ, because that feels like the path of least resistance. Also maybe because SQQ expressed interest in the idea when he heard about it and what SQQ wants, YQY will give him.

[inksandpensblog]

Please take as much time and breaks as you need! It's ok if you don't participate as much when participation is made to bring enjoyment! Please focus on what you want or need to do!

I hope things get better :]!!

Thank you.

To be honest, I think I’ve been in this state for a few months at least; the only thing that’s changed recently is the one big catastrophe that has forced me to reprioritize everything I do.

Also I’m still learning to be okay with the fact that I just don’t have the time or energy to deeply invest attention in my interests the way that I used to.

I want to read comics and fics and analysis, and respond to them, and write my own, and catch up on the series (I’m legitimately behind for the first time I can ever think of), and catch up with the friends of mine who’ve created art of all types for this fandom, but…so often now, it seems that even when I do have the time, I can’t drum up the energy it would take to really responsively involve myself in the stories, either as a creator or as an audience.

(That is something I’m hoping better time management can fix, so I can reserve energy for a venture that I deliberately set aside time for instead of leaving it to the chance of “when I have time” and then not having the energy to spare once “time” actually opens up.)

And they are all things that I do want to do, I love this series and the people I’ve met through it. I’ve made friends that I want to keep for life, here, and there are so many people with intriguing ideas and fascinating things to say. But…

…the thing I enjoy has been overwhelming to me for quite some time now, and I’m only now admitting that to myself because losing my car and my proofreading job has forced me to shift my attention away from it.

I look at this series and its fandom that I love and just see a mountain of stories and ideas and observations and art that I know I’m gonna have All The Thoughts about, which I’m gonna feel compelled to share, either in my own way or in response to someone else’s, because otherwise I won’t be able to think about anything else.

A mountain which I feel I need to catch up on, in order to keep up with everyone else.

And right now…I just can’t afford to do that.

I need to relearn that it’s okay to miss things. That not being first in line or even on-time for everything doesn’t mean I love this series any less, or make me any less of a member within the communities that surround it.

I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon. I still have projects that I intend to finish, no matter how long it takes to actually develop them to a point where they’re shareable outside my group of brainstorming buddies. I still have friends that I’ll maintain regular contact with, even if we don’t talk about AvA as much for the time being.

But I haven’t been able to absorb anything new for a while now, and I think that means it’s time for me to take a step back for a bit. I shouldn’t feel dread every time a new video airs or a new comic or fic chapter is posted because I can’t handle the thought that there’s more work I need to do to keep up with it all. It shouldn’t be work.

Again, I’m not leaving. I’ll still be around, and I’m open to interacting with anyone who has questions for me or wants my thoughts on something regarding the series or my fanworks. I just won’t be the one prompting those interactions, for now; because for the foreseeable future, I won’t be investing my attention in this series or its fandom. I can’t be the one to start those conversations anymore, and I can’t respond to things that aren’t put directly in front of me with the intent that I, specifically, should see them. I don’t have the time or the energy, and having the will is just making it harder.

Sorry for the wall of text, ehe. Thank you for understanding.

[nakanotamu]

Alright so hopefully last post about this I guess, this is my personal thoughts on the whole current Stardom ~situation~ as an overly invested fan and someone who watched it develop in real time and can actually read what's out there in Japanese. If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about you can find my summary of the past year of Stardom management issues here and my summary of the more recent events leading to Rossy being fired here.

I guess the shortest way to put it is I'm not really upset about it? Maybe it's naive or "cope" or whatever but I'm even kind of cautiously optimistic? Mostly I'm just glad this isn't some huge WWE Japan coup or whatever. Between the year I had last year independent of pro wrestling and watching Stardom go to shit in real time, I kind of already decoupled my personal identity from being A Stardom Fan, something that probably sounds ridiculous given my entire online identity but I promise I was somehow even more personally invested in a much worse way this time last year.

Obviously the big thing to be seen now is how exactly the rosters shake out, who's going where. Of course it's distressing when on screen relationships just suddenly come to an end but I kind of already went through this when Unagi left. As far as a wrestler leaving a company barring like retirement or tragedy that was basically as bad as it could get for me, so like, that's just not an element of it I'm particularly worried about. For every relationship we stop seeing, at least the way we have been, we'll get to see some new ones too, right? I guess personally I'm more interested in what's coming next than dreading anything that might be coming to an end.

I think it's also worth noting that nobody is making permanent decisions right now. Everyone is just as capable of going freelance or changing their mind and going to a different company as they were before. I also assume both companies will have to be at least somewhat open to bringing in freelancers and sharing talent so like. Maybe some people will end up working both! We just don't know at all.

As for whatever Rossy's new company is, barring some announcement I completely hate, obviously if it's watchable on the internet I'm going to at least check it out. I'm not a fan of Rossy's but I'm also just like, so unbelievably sick of Rossy discourse online. He's not the god booker that so many men went to paint him as or whatever with his unforeseen insight into The Business and definitely not mostly just luck allowing him the success he's had. But he does let the wrestlers tell their own stories how they want to, and while I wish that was considered the absolute bare minimum it's instead all too rare, and I'm glad it seems like so many people who have worked with him do enjoy working with and want to continue doing so, something else that's all too rare in wrestling.

I also think it's somewhere between ridiculous and offensive to paint him as some freak pervert booking with his dick based on who he, personally, wants to fuck. Look not to get too into my personal readings of a guy I do not know but I have never seen a man who works as close with women and is as clearly personally disinterested in them as Rossy in my life. As an actual freak pervert who has seen a lot of product that he has produced, I'm fucking telling you and I've been saying it for years that that is not my guy. Especially if your reasoning for hating on him is that you think the wrestler's stories and presentations or anything are too horny when, like I mentioned, we know that comes from them. You don't have to like that but you do have to deal with it. However I do also think it's worth actually considering that when even the women who are most attached to Stardom as fans are pretty universally like "this guy doesn't actually know how to expand his audience, he is never gonna get women or bring things back to how they were" that's probably worth paying attention to.

It's just all so fucking tired and disingenuous and I've been exhausted with it for like 6 years. He's not the saviour messiah of joshi wrestling or the pervert demon who killed it. He's just a fucking photographer turned businessman and I think it's much more likely he got where he did thanks to flexibility and luck more than anything, and it's not like he hasn't had plenty of failure and piss poor management before Bushiroad was ever a factor too. I know I'm already off twitter so this doesn't even matter any more but stop putting everything on Rossy, please, he does not deserve the credit that should go to these wrestlers just for the matches he books. He's just some guy. (Hit him with your car.)

Anyway the big minus for me is that if Rossy's new promotion does have a service that makes it convenient and easy to watch it'll almost definitely be complete shit run by Sonny again since he's not Bushiroad staff he's a freelancer and I want nothing more than to be free of that hack. I so badly wish what we were getting were a promotion of this style that I like that was actually run by women but I guess this isn't the worst case scenario either.

And that's sort of it, for me. Like, as a fan, having Bushiroad-produced Stardom and Rossy-produced Stardom Classic (if that's the vibe they end up with) AND NOT EVEN TO MENTION Act Wres Girl'z which you can already watch RIGHT NOW as a Fuka-produced alternate Stardom Classic, you know. I don't think that's the worst place to be in as a joshi and Stardom fan, so I'm just gonna keep watching everything and see what happens. And if you have any other questions my ask box is always open.

[agentnico]

Top 10 BEST Movies of 2023

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all partied hard and are now surviving a dreadful hangover by sitting with your family or friends and enjoying a well deserved marathon of Lord of the Rings. 2023 - what a year! In the movie biz alone there were those little minor events known as the strikes of the actors and writers. Just when we thought COVID was over and stopped affecting releases, these strikes were like “errr no, actually..!”. To be fair, the way the streaming services were underpaying their actors and the studios enforcing AI so much into the media, it was good that these artists stood up for themselves and showed it to the man so to speak! Anyway, we’re not here to talk Hollywood politics, but to celebrate all the quality filmmaking that was exhibited this past year. I’d say in all honesty this year felt weaker compared to 2022. To be fair last year gave us Everything Everywhere All at Once, Top Gun: Maverick and of course the legendary RRR, so the bar was high for 2023. That being said, I still enjoyed some solid films, so let’s rank my Top 10 favourite movies of 2023, but first some honourable mentions…

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Evil Dead Rise - one heck of a gore fest, and the best opening title card of the year hands down!

Past Lives - a simple yet brutally honest love story.

The Boy and the Heron - Wanna hear Robert Pattinson sound like not Robert Pattinson?!

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl are a match made in heaven.

Barbie - I’m Just Ken…need I say more??

Wonka - Timmy makes for a good Willy.

Right, with that, let’s get into the actual fun stuff - The Top 10 Best Movies of 2023!…

10) GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT - The least Guy Ritchie film Guy Ritchie has ever directed and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Away with the rough East End and grizzly jokes, and instead what we have is a very reserved and straight-faced war thriller. Honestly I was so surprised with how much I was engaged and invested in The Covenant - it is a thrilling pulse-racing story of survival that adds to the dread that elements of it are true to many people’s reality. Truly, this is a well-made movie!

9) TETRIS - You hear of a movie titled Tetris and one has to wonder if we have another Emoji Movie on our hands, where we get little tetra shaped characters goofing about in some animated mathematics world trying to force an unfunny joke upon our poor heads. Luckily that’s not the case, as instead this is a behind-the-scenes look at the legal drama behind the ownership of the game rights, and though that may not sound that fun, the movie is surprisingly very entertaining with some visual pixel tricks, a great soundtrack, delightful nostalgia, a fast-paced ante-upping narrative set in the backdrop of the Soviet Union and an adorable Taron Egerton in the middle of it all. Honestly, I’m shocked at how much I digged the Tetris movie!

8) GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 - Marvel is evidently in a rut, but a rare bright spark in recent memory was the final instalment of James Gunn’s take on the fun dysfunctional space family. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a wonderful ride, bringing lots of great humour, character dynamics and emotion, and gets you hooked on a feeling…one last time. Oh, and Gunn finally managed to properly show Nathan Fillion’s face in a Marvel movie, and that in itself is a win!

7) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE - Tom Cruise - what a guy! I mean yes he’s a Scientologist, has a constant death wish by breaking his ankles on film sets and also guilty of jumping on Oprah’s sofa like a monkey, but my my is he a charmer! You guys know the drill with these Mission Impossible movies - Tom Cruise throws his body around like a potato fearing not for his life nor broken limbs, but you have to respect the man for wanting to give the audience their tickets’ worth of entertainment, and Dead Reckoning not disappoint! There’s never a dull moment, the action is constantly inventive and exciting, and honestly with how consistent the quality of these films are, I say keep ‘em coming, Cruise-man!

6) DREAM SCENARIO - Anyone who knows me knows how much I love me some Nicolas Cage! The guy’s an acting legend, and he’s had it rough a decade ago when he got stuck paying off hi tax money and starring in crappy B-movies, but recently he’s been on a hot streak of great original content, and Dream Scenario adds to that. I love this idea of a random dude suddenly appearing in people’s dreams for absolutely no reason. It’s so rare to have a new original conception in a film in our day and age, and the execution here is great. As a bonus, the movie features possibly the best fart joke in the history of the cinema.

5) OPPENHEIMER - On one had this is probably the most “well-made” movie of 2023 cinematically speaking. Christopher Nolan does not hold back in using his typical non-linear way of storytelling, with the film weaving narratives and different time periods seamlessly as it explores the profound depths of a man who’s actions altered the world’s trajectory forever, for better or worse. It’s an incredible historical piece of cinema, and the movie gets extra points for the whole ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon, but the reason this film is not higher on the list is due to the fact that I believe it is overrated. Cause every single person raved about how bloody amazing this thing was, I became tired of the positivity. Yeah, I know, I’m being a Scrooge but what you gonna do about it?? Oppenheimer is stuck at No. 5!

4) KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON - When a movie forces you to stay in the cinema for over 3 hours, it better be one epic film, as your man here was straining his bladder to health threatening levels. However this is a Martin Scorsese picture, as such this is event cinema! And this one may be up there with one of his best. Killers of the Flower Moon is a major saga of greed, murder, corruption and despair, told through the eyes of a filmmaker who somehow is still managing to mature more as a director even though he’s already over 80 years of age.

3) THE HOLDOVERS - The Holdovers is very much a vibes movie. It has that old-timey retro feel to it from how it is shot to make it look like it’s from the 70s (reminiscent of John Hughes films and Dead Poets Society). You also have the constant snow falling and the Christmas music just really delivers that cozy winter feel. It’s a wholesome Christmas movie through and through. Paul Giamatti gives a career-best performance and the writing is absolutely stellar, as such The Holdovers is destined to become a holiday classic.

2) BEAU IS AFRAID - A. 3-hour long anxiety attack that A24 spent $30 million to produce. For a movie studio to spill out such a massive amount of cash on a completely original IP that is divisively out-there and wild is such a unique thing to happen in Hollywood in this day and age, that like the film or not this act needs to be applauded. It just so happens that Beau Is Afraid is batshit bonkers and truly an act of madness, yet one that I will forever cherish. I bet David Lynch had the biggest hard-on when he watched this movie - you betcha!

1) SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is, put simply, brilliant! It’s everything that made Into the Spider-Verse great dialled up to 1000%, and the result is honestly fantastic. Look, I watch a lot of movies. And yeah, movies are great and I love them deeply. But in watching so many films I have in a way lost that magic of being in awe every time I go to the cinema. Cliches and repetitiveness in films stick out like sore thumbs. However with Across the Spider-Verse I felt like a kid again, purely stunned in amazement at every single frame, engaged with the characters and story-line, not knowing where it will go next. Like I cannot reiterate how much fun I had watching this movie! The animation is phenomenal, the narrative so rich, a pulse-throbbing music score (I even have Pemberton’s score on vinyl now just cause I love it so much!) superb character development and so many fun and unexpected twists and turns. Across the Spider-Verse is THE movie of 2023 for me and I believe this is the first time ever an animation took a top spot on my list. Here’s hoping Part 3 of the Spider-Verse saga will play out like The Return of the King!

There you have it - my favourite films of 2023. Naturally I don’t expect my list to be the same as yours, so don’t go throwing a tantrum if I missed out a movie you loved. Or do throw a tantrum, see if I care. But also don’t, cause like we’re all friends here, right? Right??!

[davidfarland]

David Farland’s Writing Tips—Why You want Your Books Turned into Film

Many authors dream of seeing their books turned into films, but for some it’s a nightmare.

After all, filmmakers tend to take liberties with an author’s story, often making changes that seem detrimental to the tale just to “make it their own.”

For example, P.L. Tavers, author of the Mary Poppins series, burst into tears when she saw what Disney had done to her books. Now, the film “Mary Poppins” won the Academy Award for “Best Picture of the Year and became a huge hit, but Tavers didn’t like it. In the same way, Tolkien didn’t want to sell his rights to Lord of the Rings, but filmmakers got them anyway. When the rights to Harry Potter went up for sale, Rowling went so far as to put an ad in the New York Times decrying the sale.

Heck, just a few weeks ago I pulled my Runelords books from consideration with a large television studio because I had an artistic disagreement. They wanted to add more sex and violence, I didn’t.

You might not always like what a studio does with your books, but usually the film sale will work out very well for a writer. Why? Because one of the biggest costs for making a film comes from promoting the film.

Promoting a major movie typically costs $35 million spent on ads in-theater, on television, in print media and on the internet and radio. All of that advertising doesn’t just sell the movie, it also spills over and increases sales on your book.

Once a book gets turned into film, the book gets a new lease on life. The book will get wrapped with a new cover—one taken from stills for the movie—and will be distributed widely in better supermarkets and gas stations everywhere. The book will also be put in special displays in bookstores, and the publisher may engage in a bit of print advertising.

All of this will sell a lot of copies. A few years ago, a terrible movie was made from a popular book that I won’t name here. The movie was a real dog, a classic disaster. But the publisher told me that they sold an extra two million copies of the book anyway.

Think about it. The royalties paid to the author would have equaled about $1.6 million dollars. You could crumple those 1.6 million-dollar bills all up and make a very cozy mattress out of them!

This example comes from a movie that was a disaster, but what if a genuinely good film were made from your books? The Lord of the Rings movies helped sell about 100 million books globally, from what I can tell. The Harry Potter movies helped make the book the bestseller of all time.  And Tavers with Mary Poppins—I’m sure she cried all the way to the bank.

The same can happen in television. The Game of Thrones series helped make the books into a phenomenon.

You can of course turn a book into a huge hit without having a movie tie-in.  The problem is that it requires a lot of investment from the publisher in cooperation with the bookstores. The stores have to agree to give the book special face-out advertising in prime locations in the stores. They may have to agree to put up special displays. If the books are selling at a high-enough velocity, this makes sense for everyone. But coordinating these efforts with bookstore owners who might be harried, lazy, or stupid is emotionally draining for the publisher, and often doesn’t work.

That’s why, if an author like JK Rowling or Stephen King or Dan Brown breaks out into the “phenomenon realm,” where they are actually selling more books than the genre’s audience would seem to allow, it is almost always done because a good film tie in was made.

This is why, with my Apex writing group, I want to stress that writers be open to filmmaking. You should begin nurturing contacts with film producers and agents early. You might find it helpful to attend large film festivals, or even begin mastering the fine art of writing a screenplay.

For more on David Farland's Writing tips, visit https://mystorydoctor.com/writing-blog/

And you can also click here to get your David Farland Daily Meditations.

[liyazaki]

MOR! My beloved. I can always expect the truth from you. Overall thoughts on Between Us? I know the final ep was not your fave but how about the series? What would you want to keep? What would you want to change?

Eboni, my darling- hoo, boy. you're about to get way more than you bargained for, but I got some Thoughts™️ & some Things™️ to say.

disclaimer: Between Us was a sweet, serviceable, inoffensive show. I mostly enjoyed watching it & I loved being back in the UWMA universe, however tangentially.

speaking to the collective “you” here: if you loved the show from start to finish, I'm sincerely happy for you! if it'll lessen your BU fandom experience to read critiques- which is valid & completely understandable- click away. I swear I'm not trying to rain on your parade (or argue with anyone, which I won't be- period).

also, let's check ourselves: this is a show. it's not that serious- it couldn't be less serious, actually. sometimes I just like to go off the analytical deep end...it's a good time for a nerd like me. this is my house (my blog) & I'm just having fun, throwing digital paint around.

with all that out of the way, let's jump into it.

UWMA set an extremely high narrative standard. we knew from scene one the writers weren't messing around. that opening is burned into my memory forever.

from compelling flashbacks, to multiple couples that had something for everyone, to little plot details weaved in from the beginning that only made sense later- they knew exactly what story they were trying to tell & they told it in a big way. it was tightly constructed, cleanly delivered and hit all the right notes for me personally.

UWMA is a tough act to follow. in the end, it felt like Between Us barely tried. to quote an MDL reviewer (before the finale even aired): in with a bang, out with a whimper.

step one of any good story is solid character development. it's what draws us in, making & keeping us emotionally invested. we have to like these characters- and know enough about them- in order to care. that- and a good, solid plot- is what sustains our attention.

in a pretty atypical way, Between Us had serious emotional fan investment long before it had basically any character development (thanks to BounPrem's chemistry, IMO).

Win and Team had roughly 31 minutes of total screentime in UWMA, but you'd have never known it from the fever-pitch fandom support years before its release. we didn't have much real character knowledge or depth to go off of, but many of us came into this show ravenous for more of their story (raises hand).

the show's over now and, disappointingly, I don't feel like I learned much about either Win or Team that I didn't already know. we did see them struggle- Team with his guilt and insecurities; Win with his vague intimacy aversion and self worth issues.

Team and Win had plenty of things between (heh) the two of them to overcome- so what went wrong?

for me, Between Us suffered from a tragic case of barely-scratching-the-surface character development (there was so much there to play with narratively & yet- sigh), paired with serious flaws in the rising action.

every single story in existence uses rising action. to quote Henry of The Closer Look, a media analyst I like: "rising action is basically narrative tension. it's the way the conflict builds as the story goes along."

when a story utilizes rising action effectively, the audience ends up feeling almost elated by the end. it's almost like we actually went on the same journey as the characters, and we now get to bask alongside them in just how far they've come. we want to see characters we care for improve, persevere. overcome, conquer.

when rising action is handled correctly, the plot progression looks something like this.

via Henry's excellent analysis on why TLOU2 divided its fandom so thoroughly

Between Us had tension, it had conflict- but it looked something like this (I'd add way more hills, personally).

"what you're seeing here is an abomination of story structure." hey- Henry said it; not me.

the conflicts went up and down throughout the story. Team internally spirals; Win does something sweet and pulls him out of it. everything seems fine; Win pulls back.

rinse, wash, repeat in an endless cycle, made worse by the fact that they struggled with- and apparently overcame- the same. exact. issues, over and over, the entire time.

conflicts that seemed to be resolved came back exactly as they were, sometimes multiple times in a single episode. by episode 7 or so, it was getting tedious. by the end, I was just bummed.

for me, watching Between Us was going around in circles, hoping we were working towards some actually-important climax that never came. and I wanted to believe we were going somewhere, right up until the bitter beige-on-beige end.

there were no scenes that actually made me hold my breath, ala Bad Buddy’s confession-of-legends on the rooftop. no repeating themes, masterfully culminating in the finale (running up the cape in ITSAY). Between Us left me with an itch for depth and impact that only fan fics can scratch at this point (bless you writers).

yeah, Win and Team ended up together- of course they did. I don't think anyone had any doubts they would eventually. but standing at the finish line, do I care that they ended up together?

I hate to say it, but- not really. they didn't give me enough to make it feel meaningful- like it actually meant something. it just- is. yay? I guess?

this post was brutal enough, but to answer your question about what I'd keep & what I'd change? it's hard to pick when the whole thing just felt like special episodes (filled with lots of cute, sweet moments, to be fair) with an enormous dash of missed opportunity.

all in all, I don't regret watching but it's a universe I'll only be returning to via fan fic fixes- and UWMA, my forever top 3 BL beloved.

[white-weasel]

Saw VII and Jigsaw thoughts this fine Saw Saturday! (We actually watched the movies on Thursday but shhh it was Saw Saturday for us in spirit)

I am so sad that Saw VII was…. Not Very Good to put it mildly. Very rushed and all over the place and just did not give me the same feeling as the other Saw movies which was upsetting as this was kinda supposed to be the end cap of the main series :(

Dr. Lawrence Gordon, the character you are. I was so excited when I saw that he came back for this movie but was so disappointed when he was barely in it. I was really hoping for him to be more involved in the story or at the very least to be given a little more explanation for why he joined up as an apprentice. Like give me this man’s psyche and emotional state!!! What made *him* decide to help John do unto others what was done to him? Did he buy into the philosophy? Did he develop some sort of weird Stockholm Syndrome when John nursed him back to health after he survived his trap?

Idk if this is just me but they treated Jill kinda weirdly in this movie? Quite literally just kept her locked in rooms and not allowed to do anything and like. Obviously I would also run to police protection if I had just tried to kill an incredibly dangerous serial killer and failed like Jill did at the end of Saw VI, but I just wish they gave her something more interesting to do than have a weird dream about Hoffman killing her with a train car and cower in fear

The blood and violence was so bad this movie and I genuinely don’t know why. My guess is it’s something to do with the movie being shot/intended for 3D? But even then I don’t think that should make the blood, like, pink right? I’m not watching Saw for the gore necessarily but it was a bit disappointing when you’d see Hoffman’s face ripped open from the end of 6, and then the next shot it looked totally different

(Speaking of the 3D, the scene at the end with Gordon tossing the saw was so unintentionally funny because of it. Like, yes king throw your hacksaw at the audience)

On the plus side I thought the character of Bobby was an interesting angle to explore. A man who basically used Jigsaw for clout and profited off of faking trauma then has to go on and live through that same trauma x10

(It is kinda weird that his wife was punished for his mistakes though considering she literally didn’t know he was lying……… like we saw in 6 with the mother and son that John doesn’t want to hurt those he thinks haven’t done anything wrong (though of course his logic on what that is is skewed) but now he’s suddenly cool using this woman as motivation for a man to do these traps? Seems off)

Mostly solid trap designs this time around!

Jigsaw survivor support group is also interesting! I couldn’t tell if everyone in that scene was actually survivors we had previously seen, but it was cool to be able to pick out a few of them and be like “oh my god I remember you!”

Wish we had gotten to see more Hoffman this movie as well, though seeing him go complete cold blooded killer in the police station was kinda fun, even if it was extremely goofy and unrealistic

If they wanted to, I could definitely see a world where Hoffman is still alive. Yeah he doesn’t have the saw to cut off his own leg, but we know you can skip the chain by breaking your own foot (Eric Matthews) and we also know Hoffman has no qualms about doing that sort of thing to survive (Reverse Bear Trap escape) so he definitely did that. The only question is if he could actually get out of the bathroom afterwards

There’s probably a lot I’m missing about my Saw VII thoughts but unfortunately it’s probably my least favorite of the bunch rn. I think it had some good ideas, some ideas that I was actually super invested in, but the execution was rushed and a lot of our existing characters were seemingly flattened to make them work

So maybe it’s just because I was coming off the disappointment in VII, but Jigsaw was an enjoyable movie to me! The pacing could be a little bit weird, but I also recognize that it was made like… 7 years after the last movie and they were probably trying to find a way to “modernize” the franchise and bring in new fans

The main thing I didn’t appreciate about this movie is how I felt it basically had to trick me for its twist to work. I absolutely LOVE the idea of “the game you’re seeing play out actually happened 10 years ago. We just didn’t say it was a flashback.” It’s such a classic saw thing to do and a lot of it a was foreshadowed. However stuff like the technology level and some of the fashion choices of the victims (I’m thinking specifically of the style of jeans Mitch wore) don’t always work with what would have been around in like 2001 or earlier. Maybe that’s me showing my age and I’m underestimating what was around in the late 90s/early 00s but it just made me a little mad because I felt I couldn’t just sit in the twist and instead had to justify why it didn’t make sense

I do however like the idea of Logan being someone who was saved from his trap by John. He was put in for making a careless mistake, only for John himself to make a mistake in his sedative dosage, not giving him an actual fair chance to fight for his life. It does help bridge the gap between the very obviously personal revenge John took in his first trap with Cecil towards the philosophy he spouts about the games being about appreciating your life later in the timeline

Genuinely though the whole movie I thought the killer was gonna be Detective Hunt, Halloran’s partner. I totally thought it was gonna be something similar to Logan where he wanted revenge on Halloran due to all the shit he had gotten away with. Also, the movie made such a point that “omg the body showed up at Eleanor’s studio/warehouse but only Logan and Eleanor knew about that place” but like….. Hunt followed them to that location. He could have gone in and placed the body there later to frame everyone and then told the cops about the workshop just to make sure the evidence was found. I was so convinced it was him because I felt like Logan was a bit too obvious for most of the movie lol

I liked the shotgun barn game. Very good early Saw trap/game. Short, sweet, and gets the lesson across

Logan’s reveal was hard as fuck, I don’t care what anyone says. I already made a post about how that scene is full of banger lines but it bears repeating: “I am him” “You have a choice: scream or don’t” “I speak for the dead” like okay sir go off

Logan certainly isn’t the most interesting apprentice or character, but I truly think that’s only because we don’t get to see him as an apprentice very much. From everything I’ve seen, he does not come back for either of the next two movies which I think is such a shame because there’s something to explore here with him being the first apprentice! With him being moreso an equal to John, teaching him part of his philosophy that’s so iconic about him, that’s a different apprentice dynamic from what we’d seen before and ahhhh I just wanna know the direction they would have taken this guy

Also makes me curious how much the other apprentices knew about each other. Amanda and Hoffman obviously interacted, but did anyone know about Logan? Was he just like “none of my business” when shit was going off the rails after John died? I want answers on how the Jigsaw apprentice relationships operate lmao

Overall, not the best Saw Saturday showing but yknow what, they can’t all be bangers. At the very least these movies have given me something to chew on and I also still enjoyed myself a lot. Saw, they could never make me hate you even if they’re doing the most with it!!!

I’m hopeful that my friend and I will be able to watch both Spiral and Saw X next week and then we’ll officially be through all of them and I won’t have to worry about any more spoilers! Hooray!

[bugsbenefit]

thoughts on the time skip and how it could tie in perfectly with Mike getting targeted early on

with Mike being such a central character to Will’s And El’s character it really seems like he has one of the biggest targets on his back narrative wise during the next season. especially since Mike was the only character to directly and verbally confirm that he will help Will kill Vecna he now isn’t just one of many threats Vecna could possibly face but also directly standing between him and Will, who’s Vecna’s most reoccurring target (this turn of Mike siding himself with Will isn’t even just told to us in the cabin scene but also later reinforced with the ending shot of Mike being the only one to stand directly by Will’s side)

i do really like the possibility of Mike getting targeted or temporarily taken out at the beginning of the season, but then ended up wondering how that would actually play out in the greater narrative. could they really skip forward a year while leaving this open ended for the characters? and well, there are definitely some interesting ways this could tie in with the story currently being set up:

the impending time jump is one of the things that’s been bothering me the most ever since s4 aired. (in one interview the Duffers estimated it after e2, this may have changed in the writing process but seems to be the best guess we can go off of right now) it’s always hard to incorporate time skips During a season without it feeling rushed. you essentially have to re-meet the characters halfway through. because it doesn’t matter if you tell the audience “none of them changed”, relationships will progress, especially if you jump 1+ year(s) forward. and i’ve really been racking my brain about how season 5 could actually pull off a time jump without essentially having to “start over” since that usually kills the drive and action for a bit which is a bad pace for a final season.

and so, usually, the only really good excuse to abandon your characters for an extended period of time while avoiding having two “beginnings” is to ensure that the characters have no chance to drastically evolve off screen. and in my experience there’s only really one way to show that the characters start back up where we left them. and it’s by breaking up the group.

friendships and relationships are halted that way, the audience knows they’re not missing any critical development. often character arcs are also halted this way in ensemble heavy stories since moving characters away from the group often removes the driving factor of character conflict and development.

IT is a very good example of this. (disclaimer: talking about the book, i haven’t seen any of the movies) the book jumps back and forth between the adults and their kid selves (shown in flashbacks) interestingly, the adult and kid characters are still very familiar despite the characters having lived almost 30 years off page. this is because their character arcs only start majorly moving again when their group reunites since they’re all tied to each other. the book is imo one of the best examples of “they all go their separate ways and find back together” since you really never feel like you missed out on something during the time skip

but while splitting up is usually the best approach to time skips, splitting up the ST cast seems very extreme, because how would this feasibly happen? they’re all back in Hawkins at the end of s4. so while having the characters not interact much for a year or two would probably keep the audience the most invested in the characters... how would this happen without feeling like it came out of nowhere?

and. well. it Did surprise me a bit how easy it would be to explain with story beats we were already shown.

watching the show it’s actually interesting how far the group drifts from each other. it’s also a frequent complaint i’ve seen from viewers: we start with a close knit friend group in s1. but s2 already breaks from that idea a bit by having the hospital and non hospital group. Will and Mike are doing their own thing, and even before Will gets possessed Mike actively pushes their friends away who are trying to help. and as the seasons progress and more characters become important they start splitting off. Dustin is usually with the older teens or Erika and rarely with all of the party. El and Mike were established to neglect their friends for a whole summer. and then in s4 this reaches a peak and is finally starting to get addressed. Max ghosts them. Will and Mike barely talk. and the argument that is highlighted between Lucas and Mike IS about the party splitting up and going their own ways. and it doesn't get resolved by the end of the season.

so we’re actually already left with a set up where the integrity of the group dynamic got repeatedly challenged and then finally verbally called out during s4. the idea that this could be built on during s5 isn’t that far off, especially given that the argument between Lucas and Mike is still open ended

interestingly enough. if we’re actually getting a scenario of Vecna targeting Mike pre time jump, Will’s love confession about Mike being the heart of the party could actually be some really cruel foreshadowing.

because what Would happen if Mike was out of the picture for the time skip?  well thankfully Will actually went out of his way to tell us this last season. the group would fall apart.

the line did always feel significant to me. it seems very deliberate narrative wise to have Will not only point out Mike’s importance to their friend group, literally calling him the heart twice, but also mentioning what would happen if Mike wasn’t there.

just throwing ideas out there but this could play out as them genuinely growing further apart without having Mike act as their heart /glue in this case. or them growing more focused on their individual goals without Mike acting as a unifying factor since he’s always been the unofficial leader of the group, their DM. this could have El and Lucas stuck trying to find Max, possibly with different approaches too thanks to their different abilities (we’ve seen Lucas read to her, El was trying to find her in the Void etc). we were already shown that Dustin would stick to the town and school, the Duffers confirming he would be dealing with grief over Eddie also fits that picture. and all this would leave Will on his own, most definitely clinging onto the hope that Mike is still alive which would give us the perfect parallel to s1 like we were told we would get. however, this time it wouldn’t be Will who’s missing

[misty-caligula]

I think one of the things that yj does really well that so many other bits of current media could really learn from is twists.

We’ve gotten so used to this idea that a) twists are important in all stories and all situations, b) twists with high shock value are inherently good story telling, c) a twist that you saw coming is a failure of story telling. And yj really shows how untrue that is.

Yj is a show where there are certainly some large curves in the story, some pretty stunning moments. But genuinely how many of them are actual shocks? I mean think about it... A twist that you might see in a random show might be like... Person thinks they’re going to win a fight, they do everything right, and then PLOT TWIST randomly they fail or are killed by something off screen or something. Think... Wash stabbed in Serenity. The Mountain getting a sudden burst of energy at the end of his fight with the Viper and killing him out of nowhere in GoT. These kinds of twists ARE shocking and startling but... are they good story telling? Do they genuinely progress the plot or are they just random acts of god to shove the cast to the next scene? Like, think about it... WHY did Wash die? Other than to provide some amount of tears in the audience? What did it ACHIEVE? What part of the rest of that film was different without him, what changed, other than the survivors feeling sad?

And more than that, these kinds of sudden sharp twists punish the audience for getting invested. When the Viper fights the Mountain it’s a whole season of buildup. He’s such a force of nature, so single-minded and determined, a natural hero. A shining light in the gloominess so common in GoT and the thing is that he WON that fight, in every way possible, until the last tiny moment. Because it was more ~dramatic~ if he lost. But like... what did it serve? To reinforce that nothing good ever works out? It was EXHAUSTING to have someone to hold onto, to put faith in, to hope to see succeed and then have just... torn away by the whim of the creators. Like being spat at for daring to care. It said “You’re stupid for thinking anything good can happen, you’re stupid for being invested.” I had been wobbling, and at that point I stopped watching, I don’t know what happens next and do not care to.

But in yj how many twists actually come out of the blue? How many are actual TWISTS? Like... I’m genuinely struggling to think of any. I mean, the first thing we see is that the culmination of the wild times is the counsel. We see pit girl’s necklace, which tremendously foreshadows that Jackie will die, and being unable to tell who pit girl is you follow the necklace, and she’s wearing it and burning bridges all s1. The WAY she dies is sudden, and not the way you might expect, but Jackie was marked as doomed from act 1 scene 1.

When Misty smashes the transmitter, it has been mentioned in passing already, the whole episode’s been dedicated to her desperate need to be needed, juxtapositions with the crash and her modern interactions with Nat, she messes with Nat’s car which is totally expected by Nat, Nat calls her a “Crazy bitch” the second they re-connect and like... the moment she sees the transmitter I started going “....Oh ... OH NO! MISTY!” because I had the same thought the moment she had it. Same thing when she decided to tell Crystal what she’d done, how many of us were screaming at the tv to STOP before she’d even opened her mouth?

Laura Lee’s explosion, Lottie’s increasingly accurate visions, the doomcoming nightmare, snackie, Shauna’s conception, every twist and turn isn’t a shock in and of itself, it’s not like being swiped by a random car, it’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You can see it coming a mile away and can do absolutely nothing about it but watch in horror and hope you’re wrong, even though you know you’re not. Every shift propels the characters forwards and is propelled BY them in turn. Every twist is based on a character’s flaws or traits getting the better of them (Misty’s desperate need to belong directly causes Crystal’s death, Laura Lee’s unearned irrational self confidence and saviour complex makes her believe she can do what everyone else can see is practically suicidal, Jackie’s selfishness and need to be important causes her to burn every bridge she sees and her stubbornness refuses to allow her to come inside even as she freezes to death, etc). This is respectful twisting, where honestly you can see just about everything coming, because the show respects your investment and rewards you paying attention.

But the payoff is rewarding without the shock value because it’s a GOOD story and you can care about the characters and really hope and root for them, even if you know that it’s probably hopeless. Because every now and then... every now and then you get a Van returning from the wolf attack. Lottie says there’s no such thing as false hope, even in the face of bad odds, and that’s honestly so true. I didn’t much care for Laura Lee, but she won me over so sincerely in her last couple minutes, and I genuinely wanted so bad for her to make it. I was 99% certain she wouldn’t but.... what if? What if? And then the predictable happened and it was tragic and awful but... I was prepared, and everyone mourned and learned the lesson and marveled that she got THAT far in a junked out piece of shit plane like that. And at the end of the day, the twists are meant to be startling and intense for the CHARACTERS involved because they do not have the same clarity and information and foreknowledge and objective eye that we do. It’s not for US to be shocked, it’s for us to understand WHY and HOW they got there, and to ruminate on how things could’ve been different if they’d just make better choices.

It’s going to get darker and darker as the show progresses, and as it does so holding onto hope is what will keep it from being exhausting. That hope that one of them will make a better choice, have a better outcome, it could happen at any moment, and THAT’S a twist. When Lisa asks Nat if she wants to die and Nat pushes away her drink and says “Not today” THAT’S a twist. Each one of these disaster humans has the potential at any moment to decide to do the right thing, to fight to be better, to try to grow even a little bit. And that’s such a good hook to keep you invested. That maybe they’re NOT doomed.

And in the meantime we get enough information to draw our own conclusions, to be our own sleuths, we’re provided with the tools to calculate the outcomes and are rewarded for our hard work. I so hope other writers are paying attention to this method, and recognising that empty-headed shock twists can provide a little thrill when they’re RARE and EARNED, but cannot be the backbone to a story without making the audience just zone out and lose focus.

Why bother paying attention when you won’t see it coming either way?

[acatinafancyhat]

Watched Chess Netherlands today because... well, I can 🙃 It was surprisingly not all horrible. Definitely flawed and problematic but it had some parts I really liked! Of course I had lots of thoughts again so here is me venting them. 99% sure no one else cares about Dutch Chess but what the hell, tumblr is for screaming into the void right? ✨️

Act I

- You can instantly tell this is a Dutch production because the championships take place in what looks like a school gym. I mean we do our rubiks cube tournaments there. Is fine for chess, no?

- Explaining chess to the audience bc that's what the show is really missing

- Many Svenska Vibes

- Anatoly with an i is the most Dutch Soviet Russian i've ever met. Just, no nonsense. 'go take care of my children woman.' Calling each other names is how we show affection <3

- I will say the boys (Anatoli's kids) playing chess during the opening is a nice touch

- Story of Chess also has very to the point lyrics. "chess requires reticence so u don't kill each other" see now this actually sets up the show real well :)

- Awkward humor no one laughs at ✅️

- Anatoli's kind of a downer

- Freddie's sort of charming but his relationship with Florence is gonna be garbage i can tell

- strike 1: ableism

- (honestly he just reminds me of every Dutch white guy on tv)

- strike 2: assault

- Florence is already so done with his shit good for her

- also "with me there, he is brilliant" tru tru

- Singing Nobody's Side while random people have a lil party behind her?

- oh it's an excuse for karaoke ONIB

-Are they really gonna do the whole song though do we really need that

-lol Freddie pushes karaoke guy off stage so he can finish the song. honey this is a little early in the show to be getting this drunk what are you doing she hasn't even left you yet

- Arbiter leads morning exercise... ok well why not

- No dancing during the chess game. It's cool we can just watch two guys play chess from a distance for a couple minutes. Fun times.

- Freddie sticks his gum under the table real subtle like he hasn't got multiple cameras pointed at him right now

- Actually on second thought i think the chess game might be better without the dancing. Characters are doing interesting things. The contrast between Anatoli sitting stiffly at the table while Freddie is prancing around fistfighting the cameras is Most Amusing :)

- Did he just try to make Anatoli's move for him omg 🤣

- Freddie @ arbiter "uh it might be time u keep things under control around here" and off he runs HE'S SUCH A LITTLE SHIT ngl i kinda love him here

- However Florence's defense of him just seems completely unreasonable considering toli literally just. sat there. the whole time.

- Anatolyi gets the 'i'm ridiculous' monologue like in Svenska

- 'Hey my people killed your people oops now let me sing a song in the language you probably don't remember and it's somehow romantic and not creepy or overstepping any boundaries at all :)'

- Running away from Molokov in a shittier version of Svenska. Meh. But again they are aware of the lack of embassies in and around Merano which I do appreciate bc i'm pedantic like that

- Freddie: hey what's she doing with that Russian

Freddie: hmmm idk

Freddie: they're definitely talking abt me tho 🤨

- Flo & toli have a healthy conversation about the fact that he just left his kids behind i support that!!

- However this timing/setting for Anthem sucks. He's just singing it to Florence. And it's literally about how he misses his family? Weak. This needs to be an epic declaration of love for his homeland to all the world not whining to your girlfriend. Ugh can't believe they fucking ruined Anthem!

- So far all of this strikes me as discount Svenska but without the investment in Flonatoly and the only thing it's really got going for it is a handful of good lines BUT we'll see about act 2...

Act II

- Why the fuck would you start your second act with Merchandisers?

- Nice audience interaction though, it doesn't completely not work

- But following it up with Heaven Help My Heart is hmmmmmm really not ideal pacing-wise.

- Freddie's woman verse is even more cringe in Dutch i can't accurately translate it but it's so..... yikes..... The word he uses instead of "woman" ("popje") literally means "little doll/puppet" (but with slightly different connotations). It's sometimes used as a term of endearment but in this scene it is very much derogatory and ew.

- "here I stand wondering / if I ever knew you / have I ever really known who you are?" I like this translation!

- Pity the Child pulls no punches (does it ever?) He's so pathetic, he's such an asshole, and as a teacher I weirdly feel this one (at one point he talks about how no one ever noticed him at school either and just... oof don't get me started). Also the desperate rapid-fire chess game he plays against himself in the musical break and during the final verse--that needs to be in more versions holy fuck go watch this bit it's GOOD!!

- The Deal but without a political angle. Fascinating.

- No

- no. no no no i hate this i hate this Freddie wouldn't sacrifice his game not even for Florence NO. CANCELED.

- Interestingly instead of honey/parner, Freddie uses the same word as in the woman verse when he's talking to Florence during The Deal but this time it's the endearment variant. That's a little bit problematic.

- Molokov's plan is still to bring Flo and Sveta together even though Anatoli is now supposed to win 🤷‍♂️

- Anatoli casually downs several shots of liquor (vodka?) during Soviet Machine. not sure this will help him win the game but at least he sleeps through Russian Guy screaming that final whoooooooo high note in his ear

- Florence tests Freddie's chair... demands they bring a different one... is she still working for him? idk. I'm guessing it's meant to be sweet but it just looks silly to me idk

- Fuck reverse I Know Him So Well honestly. "he wants me / no he wants me" boo fucking hoo. You two deserve each other.

- Oh! Oh! Talking Chess, yay! 😁

- Gosh this is actually really cute?!? Freddie literally just came to discuss this random chess gambit he came across and thought was interesting? Nothing even to do with their current game just 'hey found this thing i thought you might like and i like and can we be friends now i really like chess 😶'

- Unlike in Svenska and RAH, I actually don't know for sure who is going to win this game. They do a good job of making this really about chess in the end. I like it.

- Freddie reminding toli it's about chess even during their match now that is the freddie i came to see!

- He calmly sips his water as Sveta and Florence are physically removed from the premises

- It is Quite Unfortunate that this production hates women...

- Really they seem to only be here to get in the men's way. Ugh.

- I don't support any of the relationships except Freddie and Toli being pen pals and playing long distance chess for the rest of their lives.

- Ending feels a little OOC but still nice to see some healthy Freddie & Flo interaction for once 😌

tldr; not the worst production out there, worth watching if you've already seen Svenska and don't mind Freddie being the most likeable character. (okay likeable is not the right word he sucks but, you know. He reminds me of RAH Freddie but slightly more yike.) PTC and Talking Chess are highlights!

[you-usuratonkachi]

how could things potentially go for Byler in S5

Okay so, I keep thinking of ways S5 can fix the whole Will-Mike-El triangle and make it satisfactory for everyone. 

My issue with Byler becoming explicitly endgame is always the same: Mike hasn’t had time to process his feelings yet, and tbh as long as he’s with El, I doubt he will face them at all, because... well, because he doesn’t want to. And, I mean, he’s supposed to be 15 (which I always forget because they do not look 15 but well) so it’s not very surprising either. 

It took 4 seasons for Will to be shown as explicitly interested in Mike romanically. it was always heavilly implied, but never specifically highlighted. In the past seasons, if they put some kind of emphasis on the issue, it was more about Will being generally queer than Will being in love with Mike. They built that specific side of the issue NOW, so that it could have a resolution in S5. 

They have done the same for El’s character arc. It’s begun since S3 and it’s probably going to pull through by S5. 

What about Mike? Unfortunately for him, he always gets the short end of the character development stick. For being someone so closely connected to the two people who have a central role in the story, they do not dedicate much time to his psyche, and I wonder why they wrote him like that when they have made it a point to make his relationship with both El and Will be so important to both character developments. Why is it that he’s so important to them but he doesn’t get to care properly for either or have them influence his character development? 

Between his first fight with El in S4 and his last monologue to her he literally hasn’t learned anything. What he got was Will reassuring him that he was already loving her the right way, he just needed to be more confident, so he basically only repeats himself by the end (plus the ily). 

So if I’m right and El decides that she is better off breaking up with him, that will be the moment where he will finally starts to think. If he wants to go anywhere with his character development, the breakup needs to happen both for El and for him. 

In my ideal world, it would be a good breakup. El would suffer, because out of the two I’d say she’s the one whose feelings are most invested, but she would know it’s for her own good. Mike would be confused (as he was in S3 after all) and hurt because he feels like he did his best. But they would also feel better very fast. Relieved, even. And it would be nice if they got to have a couple moments where they get to actually be FRIENDS first and they realize that, holy shit, they work better this way. In fact they can finally TALK to each other work as a team without being defensive or projecting. Which would ultimately make them feel that it was for the better. 

Now in between this situation, I think it would make sense for Mike to feel like Will lied to him. He said El would always need him, that he was the heart... I think it would be the perfect chance to bring up Will’s painting and possibly make Will and Mike’s relationship strain because of it as Will is unable to explain what he truly meant with it. 

Eventually Mike would calm down and realize that Will was just being a good friend and it’s not his fault. 

This would be a good moment to introduce how conflicted he is towards Will, to show that there’s tension between them that doesn’t only come from Will’s part. Since Mike doesn’t have El to fall back onto anymore, some emotion coming from him is overly due. 

Something supernatural ensues or happens in between who knows. 

Timeskip. 

I think the timeskip having M*leven being broken up is the best possible use of the timeskip, because this gives both Mike and El reasonable time to get over each other and the audience can also feel like it’s done and it’s not too soon for Mike to move on. It’s important that before the timeskip they establish some kind of open tension between Byler coming from him. They already kinda did with Mike’s behavior in S4, but they didn’t highlight it enough for the unattentive watcher to pick up on it. So they definitely need to make it more explicit. To leave it in the minds of the watchers and Mike’s mind for the whole duration of the time skip, and eventually pick it back up after the timeskip. 

More supernatural stuff ensues. 

Mike feels dejected because Will’s painting depicted him as a Paladin and the heart of the party but in reality he doesn’t feel that way at all. Sometimes he looks at it longingly but he feels like it’s all a lie. He’s not that special at all and El didn’t really think about him that way either. So he feels like he’s stupid for fixating on it, but he still loves that painting so much. 

Eventually Will falls into a supernatural situation where Mike has to do something and take charge and either Will tells him that he was the one who painted and thought all that of Mike, or El tells Mike that she knows nothing about the painting and Mike finally realizes. 

Basically, they absolutely should pull a Beverly/Bill/Ben situation with the painting. It’s too similar not to. They set it up way too well. 

The aftermath could go both ways... either Mike was shown to struggle with his feelings for Will throughout the season and at this point he finally says fuck it and acts on them OR he still saves the day in a way that is not 100% romantic but by the end, when the supernatural is defeated and everything, he has a heart-to-heart with Will where Will gets to actually confess to him and Mike gets to be honest to him about the fact that he’s confused and scared and has been this whole time, but if Will is willing to have him anyway, he’s willing to work on it, because it’s not as scary if Will believes in him. And Will admits that this is so so scary for him too, but they promised that if they were going crazy they would be crazy together so of course he’s willing to work on it with Mike and they tentatively hold hands. 

The season ends with Mike and Will leaving Hawkins for the same college and Mike asking Will if he wants to create a new party with him, ending the whole thing with Byler basically havily hinted but not yet official and them actually ending up playing D&D and accepting that that’s who they are for the rest of their life. 

It wouldn’t give us Byler as a couple, but I think it would make such a good finale which would match all characters without making anything out of the blue? I think I’d rather have Mike come to terms with himself in a realistic, fleshed-out way, you know? Hints were given but it still feels to me that they won’t have enough time to make him go through so much self-discovery for Byler to be a full fledged couple. 

I think I would love such an ending? They would be 17 or 18 by then and it just... fits. That he would learn to be himself by then, leaving his smalltown behind, but having Will with him. Because Will makes him feel like he’s not a mistake, like he’s better for being different. 

[dracononite]

Are you considering doing any stories within any of the worlds that you have created, perhaps a book series or a pilot pitch?

oh gosh IDK if I'll ever do something as big as pitch an idea for a show!! but yes one day I'd like to fully write out a few of the stories that I'm slowly developing in my worlds - especially Sparrowmage (my main headworld) and BANG! (a collab story with my gf)

It's likely Sparrowmage will one day be a book or graphic novel or - well, I wanna do something with this world and characters that I've put a lot of heart into and are near and dear to me. Even if it's one-off mini comics focused on the slice of life portion of it, or maybe something like a zine/collection of speculative biology notes on the mythical creatures in the world. I still have a lot of work to put into fleshing out the world and school, and have yet to determine if there's any sort of overarching plot or antagonist. Though I guess I'm not too pressed to come up with one, as the main focus of Sparrowmage is the personal struggles and growth of the characters and their relationships to one another.

And for BANG!, we have much more of an overarching plot planned out and it's been a bit on hiatus as my partner and I are working more on other projects, but I think it'll turn out to be a comic, perhaps with some writing sections! I have no clue when we'll get around to finishing the planning and starting to produce it but I look forward to when we do.

I'm actually planning on practicing comics with a mini-project of mine that I just started (a Pokemon nuzlocke, actually - it's familiar territory for me, drawing Pokemon, and I feel that battles especially will give me opportunity to learn/practice movement, framing, perspective etc). And for writing, I've been slowly writing/posting about a Flight Rising challenge that is also similar to a 'nuzlocke' over on FR with some single-player TTRPG mechanics like random encounters and roll-based decision making which I'm working into the story.... sheesh I sound like a nerd. But I hope putting these mini-stories out there in my free time will give me some experience to carry into telling the stories I truly care about - and that I hope others care about too, perhaps even enough to support my creating them?

I definitely have a fear of any of my stories, specifically Sparrowmage, getting big. I want to share it with people and have a small audience be actually invested in my stuff... but I don't want it to get to the point where there's a fandom, you know? I worry about my characters being misconstrued or my writing choices being scrutinized by so many people. So, nothing as big as a novel to sell or a show to pitch. I never want to sell any rights to my stories, they mean too much to me. BUT! If I do produce any of my stories in full, I will probably love to sell physical copies of it myself, maybe even some extra merch of "fan faves" or smth haha. That sounds fun!

Thank you for asking!! I didn't mean to talk so much but my stories are something I've thought about extensively so you accidentally opened a can of worms lol