#tbh the writing generally is mediocre at best

[micahdotgov]

can i be completely honest guys. i don’t think crowley and aziraphale’s romance was very well written. im on the second last episode so i could take this back but it kind of sucks it feels so last minute and forced

[didyousaykfc]

mm

[zvezdacito]

// TWST Book 7 spoilers, thoughts of Malleus's writing as a character

So I was reading some other people's opinions on why some people consider Malleus overrated/annoying, and tbh this makes me really sad. The general consensus is that a lot of people fixate on certain sides and can only see him as one extreme or the other and it results in many ppl thinking a watered down version of his character is how he is in canon.

I feel that its such a shame because he's the most interesting, compelling and well-rounded take on his character archetype I've seen.

From my observation, usually they kinda make this archetype (the broody misunderstood 'everyone fears him like a monster except for one special person') someone you can't take that seriously, because of how his struggle usually kind of written in a way where everyone involved feel less like actual fully fledged original characters and really just one note tropes interacting with other one note tropes.

To elaborate: What i mean when i say this is usually ppl who hate him kind of just do because of plot requires them to and to show how all their haters are "normies" who can't get him because 'he's not like everyone else'. The misunderstood guy still usually has toxic personality issues but the story really tends to make it feel like they don't fear him for that but because they're shallow and have prejudice to ppl like him, so his personality issues are not framed as wrong or character flaws.

I don't think there's anything inherenrly wrong or mediocre with the "one special person who gives him a chance before anyone else" trope like I'm literally a Malleyuu enjoyer lol but like i said its all in the execution cause otherwise it fails to be compelling and believable. Usually in the poorly written version of this trope the guy doesn't undergo any character development other than showing more emotion and kindess to his partner because they melted his ice I guess so it really makes his whole character feel like its revolves around the sake of romance and fanservice.

Malleus doesn't fall into this trap in my opinion because his situation despite how fantastical it is, the way he was written makes it believable as to why everything is the way it is with him, and it also challenges the viewer if they would be able to say they wouldn't fear him too in that situation.

"We're gonna give you this character who everyone sees as a monster and show you deep down he just wants the same love as everyone else, making you contemplate changing judgement on him. He wants to prove this, but his way of going about it always inadvertently harms others."

"You know where hes coming from and if he had that social connection to give him a better understanding of others this wouldn't be happening, but its also equally understandable that the people hes trying to connect with don't deserve this and fear him even more after this, trapping him in a cycle of isolation."

"Given his track record, do you go about giving him a chance or just considering the repeatedly proven danger he brings. With the valid reasons of both parties, can you really say he isn't a monster and demand that 'if only people be near him'?"

There's just such a tragic and thought-provoking dilemma to his character that adds so many layers that makes him so good.

As omniscient viewers we have the benefit of seeing what he's going through form his POV so we can sympathize with him and understand that he thinks what he's doing is the best course of action and he's just trying to create a "win for everyone" situation.

But also everything he does ironically reaffirms everyone's fear and distrust of someone like him. No one can deny he has a tendency to cause further destruction when he tries to do something "good", examples including: past Briar Valley lantern lighting fire, the Halloween 2 ghost world party, and now his Sleeping Curse stunt in Book 7 Part 2 (they really emphasize this by making the spoken name of his UM basically mean "Malicious Fairy" but have its written name used to convey what its meant to mean be "Blessing").

↑ Given this, it honestly makes sense others, especially those who don't know him all that well, would just expect the worst when he's around already, and you wouldn't be able to blame them for that given the track record. It doesn't help that this impression is worsened since he tends to cause misunderstandings due to his lack of familiarity with human social cues.

Alongside the bias and preconceived notions from his status and reputation, they also make a point on how his personality flaws are still also a huge factor in pushing people away, such as not being able to see things through the perspective of others.

He also holds a subconcious belief due to what has been ingrained in him since childhood as a Draconia and the next in line that because he's superior to others at certain things, he has the right and responsibility to decide on what will protect and help them, disregarding the individual values/priorities of human beings and leading him to take reckless and destructive action with good intentions.

His upbringing, character strengths and character flaws are all realistically connected to each other and the way they are subtly shown to be ever-present in defining his decisions, goals and thoughts throughout the whole story. So we don't really need to have a character go out of their way to exposition this to us this word for word just so we can understand and believe it.

Moving onto something slightly more lighthearted, I really also like how dorky Malleus surprisingly was. Other similar characters in the archetype I usually see don't really have any hobbies, interests, or quirks outside of being a broody authority figure, which might've been appealing to some at first but it really just gets stale and boring after a while.

This should be the bare minimum in making a fleshed out and interesting character so maybe i sound like im giving them too much credit for pointing it out😭 But yeah compared to the other examples it's good that Malleus has his Tamagotchi and Gargoyle interests it makes him feel like a believable person who has his own life going on too (with the bonus that these interests are also metaphors for aspects of his character). The gap moe adds an endearing side to him, and makes the gap between his intent and impact of his actions even more tragic. It wouldn't hit the same without this side.

(^ Forgot how the exact quote goes, but it basically said dark stories are more effective when there are moments of genuine happiness and good in them, compared to if it was always just grim and edgy. The former increases the stakes and tragedy because you have something you to care about losing, while for the latter there is nothing for you to care about so nothing the story does really matters. Same logic applies to Malleus)

Overall, it's just like an unfortunate incompatibility of goals and circumstances, which is what TWST is all about. Another thing I want to say is out of all the characters, I feel like Malleus is the one who is the ultimate embodiment of TWST's main themes:

-> How it's not about "hero" vs "villain" just differing circumstances crossing paths and clashing because of how people on either side have their own complex perspective and dreams they want to realize

-> And how connection and finding community is important to find people who will help you make up for what you lack in reaching your goals and to better understand all the factors that caused the situation in the first place.

As if seeing yourself reflected in a mirror, the more you get to know the people around you, you realize in many ways you are actually quite alike, and through understanding others you could also possibly better understand certain aspects of yourself. It's sort of encouraging you to do the opposite of dehumanizing others and yourself, which is something Malleus has most evidently internalized.

So yeah this was so long😭 I had a lot I wanted to say since Malleus is my favorite TWST character. Idk if I missed anything or if i managed to express my thoughts in a cohesive way but yeah. I kinda go into a rage whenever I see the worst takes ever be put out about his character but tbh sometimes I can't completely blame others since fandom trends and the convenience of simplifying things into tropes can warp your perception of a character and what you associate with them.

Also sometimes twst doesn't do a good job with utilizing his character like Book 5 where he got turned into a deus ex machina and Halloween 2 where they killed any hype and intrigue for the plot we had at the beginning through the ending reveal and gave the worst justification ever for Malleus and Lilia's actions ever.

Regardless, I hope more people manage to move past this and appreciate his character for what it really is soon though. He's an amazingly tragic character; a lot of thought was put into how his experiences, strengths and weaknesses would convincingly connect, and he represents something relevant in the story's plot and themes.

The fact that I've seen some people unironically believe that Malleus may just be faking his cluelessness of social cues to hide his "true evil" is evidence to how convincing his character's situation is, that even some in the audience who know more about him than the characters would still end up in the same place of doubt and distrust of Malleus because of what he's capable of.

Aight thank you for reading👍

[bluehwale]

notice!

i’ve made the decision to unfortunately close my account and be off tumblr indefinitely! truth be told, i haven’t been interested in both my works and future works for a loooong while now, so i was just prolonging the inevitable tbh :-( i also haven’t been up to date with ateez or kpop in general because i’ve been super distracted with my life (all good things! mostly bcs i’m so in 😨 l*ve 😨 with someone rn hehe) but ofc, i’ll still be rooting for ateez with all my love, i just won’t be keeping up with them anymore🤍

during my very short time here, i’ve met and made friends with some of the most amazing people i’ll ever know and i’m very very grateful for that. i want to thank them and everyone who has shown love for my writings even though i think it’s mediocre at best 💀 thank you so so much for making my super short writer journey here fun!! i’ll remember everyone here that’s for sure :-D (even if you’ve only liked my posts, i’ll still remember u!! especially if u have one of those creative usernames, ex. hongjoongsbiglefttoe69, i love u)

that being said, goodbye all!!! ily and i hope everyone’s doing well <33 take care!!

[celestie0]

i’m kind of obsessed with kickoff reader. i wanna know more about her. aside from films, what are her hobbies? does she bake? does she like to cook? what inspired her to pursue film? did she used to make silly little films when she was younger? (and if yes, is it uploaded to an obscure corner of youtube where only Gojo can find one fateful night and never stopped making fun of her for it?)

- maybe i am kickoff Gojo

omg 👁️ kickoff gojo what r u doin here…u r not alowed out of ur cage go back to google docs

thanks for being interested in readerrr :””) oof aside from films n the photog i think she is DEF a HUGE baker n tbh i can see her having a side hustle of being like a food content creator or something where she makes aesthetic baking vids bc she’s got that film background 😭 maybe she has a secret instagram accnt that’s actually very popular 👀…..but she’s too shy to share 🤣

i think she knows how to cook 🤔 she’s not like pro level chef or anything, but she isn’t surviving off instant ramen either haha. most days of the week she just pulls stuff together w whatever her n mina have in the fridge but then every other friday she’ll go all out n make pasta from scratch or sear some lobster or sumn hahah. she is perfectly mediocre at cooking. and although she is known to be a bit more tomboyish w her style, she loves to wear a cute apron every now n then (｡･ω･｡)

omg inspiration for film is a greaaatttt question!!! i kinda want to explore that in main storyline now!!! i think when she was younger, she was a bit more of a quiet kid and was always the english teachers’ fave student bc she was really emotionally intelligent n had great vocabulary and in general a great eye for art n literature, so that academic praise kinda got her into writing stories n watching films, she studied a lot of old hollywood classics n from there she became really interested in film as a whole. i think it became a form of expression for her, since she had kind of a whacky childhood (will uncover more of this in later chaps) i like to think before she applied to college, she wanted to be an english major n become an english teacher but she knew deep down that film was what she really wanted to do and even though her family was reluctant, she went ahead n applied as a film major anyway (btw utokyo is hard to get into for film bc they only have a few spots for their program which is one of the best in the nation so i think she did well for herself :) it’s also why she wants to get into utokyo’s film masters specifically!!)

PLS THE OLD SILLY FILMS IS 100% ACCURATE i mean she has her short films on youtube now n they’ve done decent w views but yea i can see her having older videos that are parodies or i imagine she made a horror film when she was in middle school n looking back on it now it’s so corny n not scary at all 💀🤣 gojo would 100% tease tf outta her for that HAHAHAHA

DAMN I WROTE AN ESSAY IM SORRY i just don’t get many questions ab reader so i indulged a little bit haha tysm bb for the ask!!! (🤨 unless u rly are kickoff gojo, then in that case GET BACK TO CH10 I NEEDTO FINISH EDITING YOU)

[kvaradonaa]

Ask game: Kvara! Appreciating that he is not a character

Not a character, but a true footballing personality!

1. Favourite thing about them:

God, everything. He dribbles like no one dribbles in modern football anymore. He's more than a winger, he is a true playmaker. I really do love myself a versatile attacking player with great, beautiful technique.

Apart from that? His fluffy messy hair, his shy little raspy voice, his baby cow eyes... I am not okay 😭

2. Least favourite thing:

Do I have one? I don't know, I am a type of person to find it really funny even when he dives or lashes out on other players. I support his wrongs 😂.

3. Favourite line:

Today I saw a video from before the Supercup. They asked him some quick, short questions. When asked to "describe himself in one word", he said "Georgian" 😂😂😂. Legendary.

Also "bro, in English, no capito 🤌"

4. brOTP:

Mamardashvili. The photo when he picks him up like Kvara weights nothing sold me. Apparently they've known each other since childhood.

And also everyone mentioned below, because I don't really limit myself in how I look at certain dynamics. If I have an idea to make them friends, I'll do it, lovers, I'll do it, anything between, probably the best combo 😂.

5. OTP:

With Victor Osimhen! 100%! I don't limit myself as a shipper tbh, I ship him with di Lorenzo and with Calabria also, but kvaramhen have a special place in my... heart

6. nOTP:

I don't really have one. If anyone decides to write about Kvara, I'll take whatever ship there is.

7. Random headcanon:

Moving to Serie A made him much more comfortable with sexuality in general. From enjoying physical touch with his male friends to slowly thirst trapping us by showing more and more of his body (the rolled up shorts 🥵).

He knows how to cook and bake. After I saw a video of him baking khachapuri in some TV programme, I imagine him bringing some food he made to trainings in Napoli, and sharing with the team (to the horror of his teammates' personal agents who planned out their diets 😂).

That's two headcanons.

8. Unpopular opinion:

I'm afraid he's not going to have a great career in football beyond what he already has. I know a lot of Kvara fans would be angry with me for that, but it's just... His opponents in Serie A learnt how to read him and his signature moves. If he doesn't get more creative, he'll turn mediocre. Maybe Napoli in general in this season is also to blame for Kvara not shining as bright as he used to.

9. Song I associate with them:

Do I have one? I don't think so 😭

10. Favourite photo:

[grntaire]

do you have a favorite michael sheen movie or just one or two that you'd recommend? i really want to delve more into his other stuff !!

my very real response is i have barely scratched the surface of his filmography bc my i have to microdose it as my body would cave in on itself from unadulterated lust. also i’m generally not a huge movie person and tend to go for shows over movies

i will say far from the madding crowd is a transcendent experience for michael sheen enjoyers everywhere. its his best look imo plus he sings and his whole bit is being a hot wealthy middle aged man like what’s not to love. and his performance is even objectively the stand out in the film tbh ! i did also see the midas box and that movie sucks so much but yet again he delivers. also unironically he is so fucking cunty in twilight and i could rant ad nauseum about how his choices as aro are what make the twilight films genuinely excellent if viewed through the lens of a satire

as for shows his and bellamy young’s performances save the otherwise mediocre copaganda vibes in prodigal son and martin whitley will make you feel feral.

i’m midway through the third season of masters of sex and front to back i think it’s excellent. the writing and the acting from the entire cast BODIES and i can’t recommend it enough but i would definitely recommend keeping a defibrillator nearby as your heart may give out.

[triviareads]

Hello! I’m the anon who asked for recommendations based on Austen couples! I started with Olivia and the Masked Duke because Emma is my fave and I loved it! I loved it so much that I followed up the rest of the series and I have mixed feelings. Olivia and Fiona’s books were spectacular. I disliked Pippa’s and Glory’s I thought it fit somewhere in between. Are all Grace’s series so uneven? I’m really disappointed I didn’t like Glory’s book more because trope-wise, it is my fave. I’m now going to go back to the list, but if you can share more Emma inspired reads 👀👀

Hi! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Olivia and Fiona's books; they're some of my favorites. I actually think Grace's Lady Charlotte series is her strongest series just based on the initial premise that gets all the heroines together and how they build their sisterhood and ultimately show up for their fearless mentor Charlie once she gets her own book. So I wouldn't say they're uneven.

That being said, I think the series that had multiple books I found mediocre was her Game of Dukes series (my friends and I joke all the time about how Grace keeps trying to make Harry Kent happen by writing some variation of "he's a nerd AND a jock!!" multiple times in multiple books and tbh it does not work; she was far more successful setting up big brother Ambrose and keeping him as a stern but loving presence in the following books— I'm convinced that man is her favorite hero she's written). Grace has a lot of characters that are interconnected or related to prior mcs who end up getting books, and a lot of the characters in the Game of Duke series are ones I just didn't care for (see: Harry Kent, Carlisle's brother Wickham, a random tinker's daughter who only shows up one book prior, etc.), and plot-wise I feel like they were forgettable.

All that being said, I feel like there's a base level of excellence she has as far as her writing goes; you can see in her very first book that while some language was almost too OTT for me, she was already willing to go where a lot of HR authors won't in terms of a) I wouldn't say *darker* plots because there's still a certain levity she brings but it goes beyond your typical ballroom setting and she loves a good murder/mystery b) heroines being unafraid to express themselves sexually in a genre where at the time, a lot of authors were still writing clueless virgins (and most of her heroines are virgins but they're VERY eager to learn, very down and ready) and c) just a general variety in sex stuff, like, her very first hero Nicholas was into butt stuff which is something I still barely see in HR. She has a clear point of view and I appreciate that she has not compromised since she began writing HR, and has only built on what her early books promised.

ANYWAY, some more Emma-inspired recs:

The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham: I love this one- Constance is a popular lady of the ton who accidentally outs her brother's best friend Lord Althorp as kinky to the papers, and now to make amends she suggests that they pretend to be engaged. Julian has always been in love with Constance so that's kinda rough for him but in a GREAT way. Spoiler: he is kinky, and there is some light D/s stuff in the book.

I didn't recommend these two in the previous ask because they weren't my favorite but if you want romances directly inspired by Emma:

Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard: Inspired by Clueless; the heroine Lady Vesper is pretty, popular informal matchmaker. The hero Aspen is her childhood friend (so they're the same age) and they basically had a falling-out when they were younger and she's held it against him since. He asks her to help him find his ward (the Harriet of the story basically) a husband, and they end up falling for each other.

Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde: Basically modern desi Emma; Jia is a rich Mumbaikar who works for a women's magazine and also loves to matchmake; the Harriet of the story is a new village-transplant coworker who she's trying to match with the office lothario, and the Knightley is her childhood friend (so again, same age) Jaiman. The most interesting part of this story is that he did confess his feelings a year prior but when he kissed her she started CRYING and ran lolol. So she's aware of his feelings but still trying to reconcile her own.

[sbrn10]

Post-weekend thoughts: 24/01/02 edition

1. I am back at work. This is the worst.

2. However, it's pretty slow today so at least it's not the worst. I am thus on tumblr on the company dime.

3. Bought myself a Legion Go as a self Christmas present: I can now play AAA PC games away from my desktop (for about 1.5 hours at a time if not near a power outlet, admittedly, but still!) which really means mostly on the bus to and from work, but given that this is roughly a 1.5 hour trip each way it works out fantastically. Also, since I have a trip to NY coming up next month I will take this instead of my laptop and it will be the best of all worlds! Yay capitalism.

General thoughts: It is pretty heavy - playing it in bed or on the go is a significantly less comfortable experience than something like the Switch. However, the screen is gorgeous and it plays the games I want to play on PC, so. Worth it.

The controllers are a little weirdly sized and shaped for my hands, but not terrible. Would say I prefer them over the Switch joycons but obviously normal Xbox controllers or DualSenses are superior if you have the choice.

The vertical mouse mode I do not think I would use for FPS games, tbh, but for general desktop use or less performance sensitive games that don't have good controller support it's actually pretty good.

So far enjoying it; ask me again in like 6 months.

4. Signed up for a month of gamepass (which I should have done AFTER I bought the Legion Go because it comes with a complimentary 3 month pass, but alas, planning was never my strong suit. The pass is claimable until some point in 2025 though so I can use it later.) and am going through a bunch of games I wanted to try but did not get around to:

5. Starfield: Finished with about 50-60ish hours.

The beginning is rough -- just the worst hook into one of these that I've seen in a while, mostly in the sense that the main plot surrounding the Artifacts is dogshit boring and the missions for the main plot are ALSO dogshit boring (the temples are fucking terrible and a waste of time).

The rest of the game also feels... mediocre in basically all respects. Like, not bad. Just mid. Nothing feels very new and everything that exists feels so... paint by the numbers. Like, here's a planet whose surface looks procedurally generated (I don't know whether it is or not, but it looks that way) -- it doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look all that good either. Here's some RPG skill progression, except there's no way to respec your character (it's fucking 2023, Bethesda, what the fuck?) and every suboptimal choice you made early on (because you didn't know what the fuck you were doing) makes you feel incredibly annoyed at the game. In particular, character is nonexistent -- all your companions feel incredibly boring, and I fucking married Sarah just to see what the romance was like. Like, coming off of BG3 this year (which, tbh, is also not the strongest cast of characters, compared to, e.g., the heights of golden age Bioware, but still very obviously has had a lot of love and care poured into the character writing) into Starfield is just... tragic. I think I spent the first like 5-10 hours mostly thinking "wow, I am so glad I did not pay for this game."

Sidenote: I did not touch the outpost or crafting stuff because guess what I didn't pick those skills in the skill tree :) But also remembering Fallout 4's base building part, none of that seemed particularly engaging. I built one outpost that was a couple buildings just to see what it was like and the building UI was so fiddly that I immediately quit that and never touched it again.

However, the UC Vanguard quest was actually really interesting (highly recommend beelining for this tbh) and once I got a little invested in that the rest of the major faction quests (Freestar Collective, Ryujin, and Crimson Fleet) were all interesting enough that I did not quit after 10 hours and did in fact finish the game.

tldr: 6.5/10, would not recommend unless you also have gamepass and are bored. That said, I did play like 50 hours of it, so. Make of that what you will.

6. Hi-Fi Rush:

I'm actually very bad at these type of combo brawlers (mostly because getting the muscle memory down for the combo variety just takes forever and I always default to using only a handful of moves, which makes me feel bad :( ) but enjoying the presentation and music a lot. It is the most anime, in the best sense.

Also, voice cast. Robbie keeps throwing me for a loop like, hey, I know that guy. Damn you, Critical Role, you have ruined games for me! (Shoutout: Aabria as a background NPC in Starfield - you were a highlight of the entire game, baby.)

Kind of bummed that I started this on gamepass honestly - I should've just paid for it on Steam so I could keep my stats and achievements and stuff. I mean, I COULD buy it on Xbox Windows but that app is garbage 🙃

Yet to finish - but 9/10 would definitely recommend.

7. (Not gamepass but from my winter steam sale haul -- yes, I spend too much money on games) Griftlands:

Klei does not miss. Very solid 10-ish hour game with really good character writing (hi, Bethesda, please take notes). I have beaten all three characters, with only two failed runs on normal difficulty so it's, you know, a decent challenge but nothing too difficult. Still going through and trying out other builds and choices. That said, I'm not usually a deckbuilder player so I couldn't tell you how it stacks up against other deckbuilders.

8.5/10, would definitely recommend on sale.

8. My general next to-play list:

On Gamepass so higher priority during my one month:

Pentiment

The Lamplighter's League

Against the Storm

Slay the Spire

Jusant

Cocoon

Like a Dragon Gaiden

Steam backlog (including things I bought like three years ago and still haven't played/finished...):

Life is Strange 2

Marvel's Midnight Suns

Tales of Berseria

Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

9. As you can tell, I did not do much of anything that was not gaming in the liminal period that is the last week of December. I had a brief thought that maybe I would write something about Laudna and Ashton and what the fuck is up with them during the 3 week BH break, but no, creative brain is out, mindless consumption brain is in! My god, there are so many games these days. I haven't even played Diablo 4, FF16, Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Bros Wonder or Spiderman 2 yet -- admittedly, I am unlikely to ever play Diablo 4 or Alan Wake 2 (I did not finish Alan Wake 1 -- at one point they turned off the lights and I put down my controller and said nope!) but I do theoretically want to get around to the others! Even FF16 which people have also said is mid, I still want to see its midness for myself! Yes, these are very first world problems.

10. Do I plan to do anything that is not gaming through any part of January? Debatable. Such is my life these days.

11. Anyway, happy new year to everyone. Hopefully 2024 is less miserable for the world in general.

P.S. Tumblr rich text editor's treatment of unordered lists and ordered lists is so fucking stupid.

[yellowocaballero]

how do you come up with your ideas?

Augury, mostly!

Haha, but no. Everybody has their own story ideas in their own ways. Mine would be no good to anybody else. I can only recommend the same thing that would generate any stronger story - consume a lot of highly diverse books, shows, movies, news, etc. Watch Hellraiser and the Seventh Seal back to back and have the weirdest dreams of all time. A lot of my stuff is built off a place of "this is a retro Kid's WB cartoon!" or "this is a Disney Channel Original movie!" or "this is a satirical war novel!" or "this is an issue of a vintage comic book run!". I have a PBS kid's programming Zoboomafoo-type idea in my head that would only work in a webcomic form that I can't write and it makes me SO ANGRY that I can never realize this vision.

In terms of me, personally, and how things end up working for me. Jokes with friends, overwhelmingly. Very often one idea will spring another - for example, I think I got the idea for New Wave when I was writing the prophetic spring and I ended up constructing a Steph & Bruce relationship that was a) really interesting and fun to write, and b) made me think about how Steph would have been fucking perfect as the first Robin for a million reasons. Covid puppy story was really as simple as a "What if...?" about a Batman arc in the 90s, plus a lot of jokes. Mostly jokes. TBH, most of the time, reading/watching something and going "this is funny, but it would be much funnier if...". Most of my fic is from consuming something I find vaguely mediocre yet enjoyable and riffing on it relentlessly until an actual full concept emerges. So often my brain is just "I want to write Spider-Man 2099 fic but I don't know WHAT to write" and I just have to. Wait til I find a good idea. Shit just happens.

But also I can't explain much. I read a volume of the origin story of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner and then my younger sibling woke up to 80 Discord messages about my perfect complete redo of Kyle Rayner and how I would write the best Green Lantern four season TV show of all time.

It would fuck. By the way. It would fuck hard.

[queenlua]

let's see about 5, 11, 12, 13 for the ask meme?

5. What game would you recommend to someone new to the series?

ugh this is so HARD because i don't think there's any game that's perfect for this...

if they're new to the series but have enjoyed at least a couple older video games at some point (and thus have some tolerance for a bit of gameplay cruft and GBA-era rough edges), i'd be really tempted to throw Sacred Stones at them. absolutely gorgeous sprites, good music, probably the most solid/focused/best-executed story in the series, fun support conversations, and very good gameplay whose only flaw is "it's kinda too easy." but it's satisfying and if someone likes everything about it but "too easy," then that's an easy problem to fix with subsequent games lol

i suspect Awakening is probably the objectively-better answer, though. first "modern"-feeling FE in terms of how streamlined and nice the mechanics feel, the depth/multiplicity of strategies, the storyline is weaker but still has definite highlights (especially when the kids show up), etc

Three Houses is a solid contender but the game is kind of bloated with extras that i think can make playing it feel like a bit of a drag; i know a lot of people who just kinda flaked out or gave up b/c of all the monastery stuff, and i wouldn't want someone's first FE to end that way

i do love the Tellius games but i wouldn't recommend them as starter games. the 3d sprites are kinda ugly and it definitely shows its age a bit in terms of gameplay cruft

11. A character that deserved better?

Edelgard, tbh. she's fantastic when the game isn't trying to make her all woobie/waifu/etc. wouldn't even take many changes to fix this one!

also Renning. i love what's on the page but he gets so little and shows up so late. give the dude some damn base conversations plz

also Meg. the game is so mean to her, goddamn.

12. A game that deserved better?

oh boy. the problem here is, if i finished playing an FE game, that means i liked it well enough over all, even if there's stuff i didn't like. like, i wish Awakening's storyline was stronger, but it definitely feels like it executed on exactly what it wanted to do, so i wouldn't say the game deserves better per se

so i guess i'll say the two FE games i tried and failed to play:

fe6: i ragequit on the map with the fucking reinforcements that move the same turn that they spawn. motherfuckers. why

fe14: i was already pretty "eh" on the story and then that one fucking "defend [x] turns" map (unhappy reunion iirc) took SO much finicky effort to survive that by the time i finished it i was like. ugh. i'm so tired. and then i put it down for a while and never picked it back up oops

13. What do you like most about Fire Emblem?

...god this is going to make me sound SO uncultured but, the support conversations, especially in the older games, are just so delightful. delightful in-and-of-themselves (especially when they would happen DIRECTLY ON THE BATTLEFIELD lmao), and also, were probably weirdly influential in how i thought about game writing / writing generally. conveyed a huge amount of personality & implied huge things about the world & in a relatively small space; and also refused to let anyone be just a rando soldier in your army; you can look back at short fiction i wrote in middle school and see how much i was striving to get that huge-cast-small-space-feel in that format. simple but effective approach

also it's nice to have a big-name game series that executes so well on story and gameplay, on average. i've played a lot of Final Fantasy and i love those games but. often the gameplay is just kinda mediocre/grind-y, right, and i'm forcing my way through for the story? could NOT be fire emblem lol

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Okay, I just finished rewatching the first season of Miraculous and I have some thoughts, but before that I need to complain

Why the fuck is the episode order Lika That? I initially set out to watch the episodes in production order rather than release order because I knew there was some funky stuff going on with the release order, only to find that the production order was also all fucked up ??? So I had to rely on someone on reddit who was kind enough to write down a chronological episode order for the first three seasons (and despite that, Origins ended up as the last two episodes of season 1 for some reason, although I am retroactively glad about that tbh, more on that later). Fortunately it looks like seasons 2 and 3 do just follow the production order so watching those will hopefully be easier

One of my main reasons I wanted to rewatch Miraculous and finish it is that I wanted to see if it was even a good kids show. Because while a lot of MLB fans and critics bring up good points about the missed potential of the show, it feels like a lot of them go about it from the perspective of adults or older teens who want to enjoy it as a piece of media that caters to them, rather than as the show for children it actually is (which isnt exclusive to this fandom, its just kinda a general tumblr thing but still). Its something that really bothers me about critiques of childrens media because yes, making something for a young audience isnt an excuse to make something bad, but you still need to apply different standards for kids media than you would for teen and adult media. What I mean by that is, just because a piece of media for children doesnt appeal to you, an adult, doesnt mean its bad, its just not for you.

So, Miraculous isnt well-written by the standards of media in general, but is it a good kids show? The first season, yes. Since Ive already watched seasons 2 and 3 and seen a lot of the spoilers for seasons 4 and 5, I know theres gonna be some problems and Im gonna run into some issues with my future critiques because it genuinely gets hard to tell what theyre even trying to do narratively and if theyre trying to appeal to the under 10 crowd like the first season or trying to become more mature and for tweens (10-12 year olds) as the series goes on, which are important things to consider when critiquing the show like this but Im gonna worry about that later

For now, yes, the first season is a good kids show.

The characters are pretty archetypical and Adrien is honestly pretty bland when hes not Cat Noir but theyre all ultimately pretty likable (or hatable in Chloe, Lila and to a lesser extend Kim's cases) and I like the diversity in Marinettes class, both in terms of ethnicity and in terms of bodytype. That being said, the designs of both the civilian characters and their akumatized versions are mediocre and personalityless at best and straightup awful at worst. For the akumatized villains I find it kinda weird that theres not really a consistent style to them. Some of them, like Stormy Weather, Lady Wi-Fi and Evillustrator, practically have the same color scheme, some of them, like Stormy Weather, Puppeteer and Reflecta, have the vibes of magical girl anime villains, some of them, like Timebreaker, Simon Says and Rogercop, seem like villains you'd find in a western comic book series etc. And it really doesnt feel like its because of the personality of the akumatized or because of their feelings when they got akumatized, it feels like its just kinda random every time and Im not a big fan of that. Marinettes Ladybug suit is really bland and I dont like how much emphasis it puts on her underage body especially since this a show claims to be empowering to young girls while Adriens Cat Noir suit looks fine i guess, just kinda generic for a black cat superhero. I dont think it'll ruin the experience for any kid watching the show but to me stuff like this is a pretty big display of carelessness, especially considering fashion is so important with Marinette wanting to be a designer and the main villain being a world renowed fashion designer.

The animation is pretty good for TV cgi though and I actually found the fight scenes very engaging and fun, I think kids who like action would really enjoy them

After watching seasons 2 and 3, I was honestly very surpised to see that Marinettes crush on Adrien and her awkwardsness around him was actually pretty cute and endearing initially. Like yeah, shes a bit of a weirdo about it but shes not like, a stalker and her awkwardness feel like an appropriate level of over the top-ness for an animated kids show and its definitely a far cry from the cringy, unecessarily slap-sticky shit I remembered, so that was nice. The writing in general was far less juvenile and trying-too-hard-to-be-funny, except for Hawk Moth. Now, theyre not trying too hard to make him funny, theyre actually trying to do the opposite, but hes just impossible to take seriously with his cringy lines every time he goes to akumatize someone. I think it would be better if the sequence of him sending the akuma out was silent, like we the potential victim get angry, cut to Hawk Moth smirking and doing his thing with the akuma in silence, then we see the victim get akumatized and talk to Hawk Moth except we dont hear him so its one-sided. But like with the character-design stuff, i dont think this will ruin the show for the kids but I do think making the main villain more mysterious and scary would be an improvement.

One of the big ways that the show fumbles imo are the lessons. Like, lets take Stormy Weather; the girl (I forgot her name sry) gets akumatized because she lost the vote to become weather girl and went on this huge rampage taking her anger out on everyone. From that description alone I would assume that the lesson of the episode would be about being a sore loser and how you cant always win in life so you shouldnt get so angry when you lose and that lesson would be taught by our Paragon of Goodness Ladybug, but its not. Ladybug doesnt talk to her about being a sore loser and has one of those 'say the moral outloud' kids media-moments, she just gets de-evilized and seems too exhausted to be angry anymore and thats how that ends. The actual lesson, the one that Marinette needs to learn, is how to say no to things and that its okay to accept help and not burden yourself with responsibility so much. And thats a good lesson but its so disconnected from the bulk of the episode in a way that it really shouldnt be

Im also suprised that a show with this premise doesnt have more conclusion-scenes where, after Ladybug saved the day, Marinette goes up to the akumatized person and tries to cheer them up. Like, a lot of the people who get akumatized are pretty much strangers to her so I get why she doesnt go up to those (although I still think she could spare some encouraging words for them in her Ladybug suit considering the experience they just went through), but a lot of them are her classmates and it would demonstrate why Marinette is a good Ladybug, whether shes transformed or not. As it stands, there are episodes where she is that Paragon Of Goodness that teaches other people lessons and episodes where shes just clumsy impulsive Marinette who needs to learn how to be more confident and responsible. That might be intentional, but because the villains and Marinette in civillian form are so disconnected, I dont think the dichotomy here works very well.

And the thing is, she actually does reach out the akuma victim as Marinette in Origins. Honestly, most of the issues I named arent present in Origins, with the exception of Hawk Moth being hard to take seriously; Adrien actually has an endearing personality when not Cat Noir and you understand why Marinette likes him so much, Marinette and her civillian persona feel less disconnected from the Ladybug stuff because she actually talks to Ivan and her learning to be more confident as a heroine helping her become more confident and assertive in her daily life is really good, even if the lessons of "talk honestly about your feelings" and "be more confident and have faith in yourself" arent directly connected either (although still arguably more than the two lessons in Stormy Weather)

Origins as a whole is a far better episode than any other season 1 episode and really feels likethe set-up for a far better and more interesting show. I really think the main thing holding this entire season back is the fact that its episodic and we didnt get to see Marinette and Adrien develop as heroes or anything else, we just kinda smashcut to their 'default' dynamics and while we can ultimately guess how those dynamics ended up developing from Origins onwards, we really shouldnt have to guess, we shouldve seen it because it wouldve been fun and interesting and the show would be much better.

Considering the fact that they jump straight into serialization with season 2 and european cartoons having continuity is pretty common, I have no idea why they would start out episodic like this when all it does is drag the series down. My best guess is that they were trying to imitate popular american cartoons at the time, which usually started with the first season being entirely episodic and then having a big season finale that changes the status quo in some major way before it continues in a more serialized format. But why they did it doesnt really matter, all that matters is that the show is worse for it, although definitely not bad or unsalvagable. This is a very solid start for what couldve been a great show, but just kinda ended up being pretty bad instead

Thats it, thanks for reading

[m1ckeyb3rry]

FHE JUSTIN BIEBER GIF CRYINNGGGGGG LAMAOAOAOAOAO im assuming its the sae oaeu cooking rn

LMAOSOA YOUR POST trust I take all of your ramblings as rewards your brain is fr so big all of these fire ideas >>>>> ok but the pokemon au is so good…extraordinary….exquisite….remarkable (if you’ve watched as much pokemon as i have you’ll probably get this but if not just take it at face value) the Barou sibling angst is actually my fav

LMAOO YOUR MOM AND HER BROTHER THATS SO ACCURATE

ISAGIS HAIR I feel bad for his hair and his hair alone they always weirdly slick it back or comb it up and he looks like a middle aged man

IM CRYING “I cry but because I have to deal with his shit” LMFAOOO yuki fr tweaking atp or repeatedly saying his mantra in his head trying to keep his sanity like “god never gives us more than we can handle god never gives up more than we can handle god never-“

LMAAOA NO IT MAKES SENSE my brain just grouped up the letters that way that I had to double take ok so we’ve had kaneshiro possesses Mira moment and we get canon characterization of kiyora it’s time to freaky Friday reverse you should take over kaneshiro and write bllk i fr wish Karasu actually scored more literally my exact thoughts like “ARE YOU A STRIKER???” Channeling my inner ego…..but agreed glad he still at least has SOME presence and is consistently shown active in game

Bro kurona was so random…like with epinagi and s2 you can see them sneakily trying to add him in the bg cameoing to make him feel relevant but he fr was dropped out of nowhere like wdym the one who ranked fourth in second selection who we’ve never even seen a glimpse of and didn’t do anything in u20 is suddenly good friends with Isagi and others and gets field time HUH his first appearance is quite literally in BM when he’s holding the iPad showing Isagi Kunigami new stats (yk it’s bad when I rmr this info off the top of my head) something about the wording “using religion and blindness” has me laughing so hard LMAOOOO it’s giving that one meme “I’ve got the power of god and anime on my side” except it’s god and optic neuropathy UAHSHSHA ok but on a serious note that fr would go so hard like let’s expand on his character please….id honestly love to see more of him as he was shown in the LN because nel yuki is SO diff than what he actually seems to be based off the LN but anyways…

Kunigami being the main rival makes sm sense tbh when I first read I thought he WAS going to be the main rival but no it’s Kaiser ig….wait the morally greyness of wildcard being discussed would fr be so interesting…..guys….also ness is one of my least fav characters tbh so slander him all you want LMAOO gotta agree w some dudebros he’s fr a Kaiser glazer you’re fr cooking though….we gotta get you in touch with kaneshiro asap

LMAO REAL I also (clearly) enjoy bllk quite a bit but yes many things to be improved…sometimes I think to myself if only I was an Isagi Rin or Kaiser stan I’d be having the time of my life but alas we cannot be MEDIOCRE

Wait the terminally ill route fits his character fr….where he’d be unwilling to tell his family about it because he wants to strive to be the best despite it and won’t settle for a comfy life…I can also see him getting murdered though LOL either way I’m sure it’ll be good (even though he’s dying oops)

Yeah I lowk forgot people who have such audacity exist the Tullia hate kinda insane and just generally when people comment “he’s mine [chafacter] better get away from my man” ICK imagine in the tags you just put every reader pairing possible as a jic disclaimer like “reader and Tullia talk to men so beware!”

I always found the rival characters so funny like why are you jumping me when I’m trying to get to the next city no I don’t wanna battle you rn LMAOO it’s funny in how like every version you end up teaming up and double battling the villain team somehow but the way they come and go was always so funny to me

When you first said may I thought you meant May from pokemon but now I realize…anyways love Tullia sooo glad to have her alive!!

LMAOOOO Lowk I had a subconscious thought like galvanthla interesting choice (i personally collected joltiks bc they looked cute LMFAO) Isagi the most basic of basics so an all basic team is perfect for him LOL I mean hey you gotta have an op basic pokemon somewhere right I already consider infernape relatively more niche amongst most popular pokemon too LOL

Otoya using his pokemon as chick magnets is so real LMAOO I wanna analyze the breloom yuki vibe like why does it work so well

Nagi fr got the short end of the stick omg LMAOO ofc it had to be a fire type too for once thank you reo for spoiling him HSHSH

SHSHSBD THATS TOO CUTE I bet chigiri would take sm time grooming and caring for his rapidash too (in line with what we talked about for his hair and skin LOL) sometimes I forget you make money from battling LMAOOO like yeah I just beat your pokemon up now hand me my check

REAL BUT LMAOOO the light blue team never fails for him honestly when in doubt just match the hair color I can definitely see him genuinely having an aurorus and ice types though maybe he’s like (I like them calm and cold unlike my parents) hiori running a fossil pokemon conservation wait id never thought of that that’s also so real….atp this should just be an expanded universe that exists time to world build (on that note imagine Aryu grooms and styles pokemon for coordinators and especially furfrou, I forgot exact which gen you were into pkmn until oops I’ll elaborate if you didn’t get to kalos/xyz)

LMAOOOOO i was already linking up aiku and Brock the moment you brought him in lowk that interaction set up you have is so pkmn verse coded its great

I SECOND THAT if no other inspo comes out lowk pokemon au….guys…..also Noel noa being the actual champion while reos dad just holds the title is actually such an interesting dynamic and would work so well

SHSHS sounds like you’ve got it all down still praying for your safety though all those experiences in one lifetime is crazy

HAHAHA I LOVE THE CHATTER reading the convo responses brings me just as much joy as reading ur actual fics im always down for yap sessions

- Karasu anon

LMAOOO that’s just me irl tbh like i hope that’s what you picture when you think of me 🤩 surprisingly it wasn’t in reference to the oaeu!! someone had just posted that they wished there were more otoya fics because they’ve read all of them already and i was like “just working…working hard to please you” because i am an occasional otoya writer for sure

OMG MR REMARKABLE (i forget if he had an actual name KFNSJSN my brother and i always just called him mr remarkable he’s like that elderly man who has a tv show or smth right??) and HAHA tyyyy 🥹

maybe they do it like that to distinguish him from rin or smth?? idk but it’s specifically only isagi who gets the horrendous hairdos they don’t give ANYONE else that treatment 😭 i fr feel bad for the guy even though idgaf abt him…

bllk karasu’s like “can we switch places” because a universe where otoya’s not as much of a dumbass AND he has the chance to rizz up reader is the universe for him (he def is so pressed that hollyhock karasu never made any moves LMAOOO “wdym you lost her to OTOYA” and hollyhock karasu is like “i never wanted her in the first place 🤔” so bllk karasu is like “WHAT”)

HAHAHA possessed by kaneshiro fr i felt his energy flowing through me in that moment 😭 someone needs to get me on the phone with him like idk much about soccer BUT i can definitely cook in terms of characters and plot!!

I REMEMBER WHEN KURONA FIRST SHOWED UP I HAD TO REREAD THE CHAPTER BECAUSE I THOUGHT I JUST MISSED HIS INTRODUCTION 😭 agreed there’s such a discrepancy between ln/third selection/u20 yukimiya and nel yukimiya!! especially with that rlly cool panel of him in the u20 game where they’re like “his style of soccer is street soccer 😰⁉️” and he looks gorgeous af i was looking forward to more elaboration on that!! like really showing how he plays differently compared to the other players (maybe giving him some special weapon because of that kinda like metavision) it also could’ve been a really cool point of connection between him and kaiser given that both of them kind of learned how to play soccer in unconventional ways…but alas…here we are

NO BECAUSE KUNIGAMI VS ISAGI RIVALRY COULD’VE BEEN SO GOOD it would’ve built up the hype for kuni sm more and him feel much more relevant imo!! honestly along with wanting to know what wc is all about i’ve always wanted to know noel noa’s reaction to it…like his biggest rival from the past has destroyed this child’s body and life and future in order to make a copy of him THAT’S LEGIT INSANE??? kaneshiro could’ve given us such a scrumptious kuni and noa dynamic and then he just didn’t 😭

honestly i think one of the main problems w bllk is that kaneshiro is spreading the cast too thin and making people care about too many characters but it’s impossible to effectively manage such a huge cast given the premise of the story and still have emotional impact when stuff happens to them and that also means that characters aside from the protagonist aren’t given a ton of fleshing out (this is relatively common in shounen sadly…jjk had a similar issue but almost to the next level) where by focusing on lesser characters and just giving them insane depth the story would’ve felt much stronger ☝🏻 like realistically there’s 0 reason for kurona to exist in nel when reo (as per our earlier convos) or yukimiya could’ve easily taken that role and had their characters developed much more!! kiyora could also have been replaced with yukimiya (as much as i love him) and tbh?? get sendou out of ubers and focus more on aryu (how’d he go from number 2 in scoring goals to a defensive player?? flesh him out more instead of sendou literally nobody cares abt him…hot take but only memorable u20 players were aiku sae and shidou the rest did not need to be there), get rid of tokimitsu entirely (show how his nervous personality doesn’t jive with egoism) and give zantetsu + karasu more opportunities to shine in pxg (honestly if they wanted to keep the cutthroat feel of second selection then get rid of nanase too and show how kindness doesn’t cut it in bllk where you need to be insane; that way the cast is still large but these characters aren’t fighting for a main spot they’re more naruhaya-esque) 😰 and another hot take but they should’ve saved all of the other ng11s besides sae until the world cup arc (so no kaiser and lorenzo in nel) to really build the hype and stakes of the wc because rn it’s like…ok the bllkers have already managed to beat lorenzo and the whole kaisagi rivalry is going on so the ng11s don’t feel as threatening?? whereas they could’ve been a really cool obstacle in the wc and would’ve provided a baddie of the week feel and higher stakes without it being boring or random since they’ve been so foreshadowed already with sae

i agree i rlly like the terminally ill aspect it also explains why his pokémon are willing to go along with his possessed body (they’re not able to accept that he’s gone) as well as why isagi knows so much without him being a villain…it’s also just sad to think about like he didn’t want his family to worry about him but he wanted to accomplish his goals so he just pushed forward until he literally couldn’t anymore 😭 also now i’m realizing lowkey kunigami would fit better in barou’s role (given the whole canonical wildcard thing being similar to the possession) however idc because i like barou more

yeahhh unfortunately fandom people can be a little weird to say the least and especially now that i have a decent amt of followers i know there are going to be interesting individuals in my comments so it’s not even worth it to not tag…okay but hear me out i wasn’t even thinking about this when i assigned teams (nagi got his team based on cuddly fluffy vibes and barou got his team as all dark types because of his “villain king” thing and reader was forced to have one of the same pokémon as him for the sibling theme…of barou’s team i liked houndoom the most so that’s what reader got) BUT the parallels between nagi’s starter being arcanine and reader’s being houndoom kinda go crazy?? like they both have huge fiery dogs but as per the pokédex arcanine symbolizes loyalty justice protection etc and houndoom is like death hell horror and whatnot 😭 however as we know nagi’s aura is death and reader’s character’s main theme is love (for barou, for her pokémon, etc) so narratively nagi x reader would be so good…especially if they’re each other’s “rivals” but they’re not really rivals and half of the time are helping each other out…there’s a vision here and it’s cooking imo 🤩 ALSO i’m thinking…hear me out…karasu reminds reader of barou so he becomes like her surrogate older brother while they’re searching for barou and reader is the annoying little sibling karasu never had which makes him respect yayoi more and teaches him responsibility and maturity which in turn makes yayoi finally respect him too 🤔

honestly galvantula is such a random pokémon but realistically in terms of type matchups it’s absolutely CARRYING reader against barou’s team considering dark is weak to bug 😭 honestly it’s such a cool little pokémon i think it’s so fun for her to have it on her team!! and the gyarados plot line is going to be so entertaining (basically she gets scammed into trading a freshly caught pokémon for a magikarp and shenanigans ensue) that i think the basicness is excusable

otoya constantly getting girls via his fairy type pokémon vs reader and tullia being like “ladies STAY AWAY” who wins 😭⁉️ and agreed breloom + yuki goes so hard…tbh i rlly like steelix and yuki too it works surprisingly well

no literally justice for nagi 😭 the way the government did NOT gaf abt him is crazy like they could’ve at least given him a water type (although tbf he’s meant to show how the pokémon training system takes advantage of people so it makes sense) honestly though i love his character in this au he goes through sm development and his slowburn w the reader will be legendary fr

YOU KNOWWWW chigiri’s rapidash is SPARKLING he def takes such meticulous care of all of his pokémon (same w reo) whereas nagi’s just like eh as long as they’re healthy 😄 KFNJSSB so like manshine trio will be chilling and in their downtime reo will be brushing his cinccino and chigiri will be polishing his rapidash’s hooves meanwhile nagi’s arcanine is rolling in a pile of mud somewhere having the time of its life

hiori and ice types just go so well together (even though he only has one on his team I think 😭) and agreed i can see him retiring from battling after his arc w reader and co and following his actual passion of helping endangered pokémon instead of listening to his parents (maybe karasu inspires him because he also stood up to his family [yayoi] and that gives hiori the courage to do the same)

gen six is where i left off!! i played gen seven (namely moon and a bit of ultra moon) but i didn’t like them that much so as far as i and this au are concerned the pokémon verse ended with xy/oras 🤩 omg wait aryu as a pokémon groomer slays…maybe he’s the one yuki takes his pokémon to before contests?? and perhaps the itoshi bros are mentioned in passing as gym leaders in another region…kaiser as noel noa’s apprentice who’s going to be a new e4 member like isagi (but a bitchier one who never knew barou and never directly interacts with reader) and same with bachira + kunigami (kaiser to replace noel noa, bachira to replace lavinho, kunigami to replace chris prince, and isagi to replace snuffy) there’s just so many different roles that characters can play!! the world building would be so fun

LMAOO honestly aiku trying to be the rizzler but getting cock blocked by big bros otoya and karasu is so funny to me 😭 also speaking of brock link ups since we know karasu and reader are like a sibling duo i’m imagining otoya and tullia to have that brock and croagunk dynamic where she just punches him whenever he flirts with girls because he’s so cringe it’s embarrassing 😰 speaking of tullia atm i’m think she’ll likely end up with either chigiri (since he’ll probably pull up quite frequently as a nagi companion so there’s ample time for development), isagi (since he’s a classic tullia pairing and all), or maybe even hiori?? like her and hiori really hit it off and after the main story is over instead of becoming a show/competition breeder like she planned she decides to go back to his nature preserve and help in breeding for species conservation or something 🤔 many many options fr

NO BECAUSE LISTEN THE TIK TOK AUDIOS ARE BURSTING WITH POTENTIAL FOR THE POKÉMON AU i’m getting soooo many ideas for the story now!! like the entire gyarados arc, the aegislash arc (this one goes crazy because it’s basically “reader and nagi somehow end up in a period drama for an entire arc” yet it makes perfect sense given the pokémon verse and the backstory), EVERYTHING with barou especially the final fight between the cousins (i’ve decided they’ll be cousins but as close as siblings!! so y/n’s mother is barou’s father’s sister and her houndoom is barou’s houndoom’s sister so it’s like three generations of brother/sister-esque bonds making up the story), the random evil team encounters…i’m sure you saw but i put requests on hold for a few reasons: so i can finish the ones i have, work on the oaeu, AND also start this story hopefully!! also i want to deny people from requesting for a bit so the hype is built for my 1k event whenever we reach that milestone FJDJSJSJ

LMAOOO the craziest thing is that’s not even scratching the surface unfortunately i have had many insane experiences with men i’m sure you’ll hear about more whenever they’re relevant to the convo 😭 and YESSS i love chatting w you hehe always a little rush of dopamine when i see the little “anonymous asked you a question” notification on my phone (when tumblr isn’t an OPP and actually gives the me the notifs) 🥹

[bloodmaarked]

leave the world behind // rumaan alam

first published: 2020 read: 07 august 2024 - 10 august 2024 pages: 256 format: e-book

genres: fiction; thriller/mystery; dystopian; horror (i guess?) favourite character(s): ruth, maybe least favourite character(s): i did not care about the rest of them tbh

rating: 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑 thoughts: 3* and maybe i'm being a bit generous here. i stopped looking forward to reading leave the world behind after watching the netflix film adaptation (which i also gave 3* over on letterboxd and which, unfortunately, was a pretty faithful adaptation), and then even more so when i spotted the mediocre 3.16* rating over on goodreads. however, the randomiser (how i make my most important decisions) gave me this book to read from my tbr, and i spotted that it was thankfully under 300 pages, and so read it i did. and to summarise, it was not disappointing but only because my expectations had already been brought down to a reasonable level.

there were a lot of things i did not like about LTWB. one angered me from the first chapter (if not the first page) and that was the writing style. rumaan alam's writing style and i clearly do not get along. i hated it. i hated how pretentious and faux-intellectual it was. i hated how i had to consult a dictionary every other page because he decided to use an obscure word that did not enhance the sentence it was in beyond what a more common word would (for example, the repeated use of the word "plash" where "splash" would've sufficed). i hated the useless descriptions (like the 1.5-page long list of what went in amanda's shopping basket) and the non sequiturs of characters' speech and thoughts. i hated the repeated sexual references, many weird (i'm sure you've seen the quote of clay's penis performing a "yoga salutation"), uncomfortable (why so many genital references to the kids?), or out of place (why did amanda just have her coochie out through her dressing gown while talking to people she'd known just over 24 hours?), nearly all entirely unnecessary. most of all i hated that he used so many words to say absolutely nothing at all. this is exactly the type of overwritten, fake-deep nonsense i actively try to avoid, and i was shocked that this writing (and indeed the story itself) had received so much attention and praise.

the plot again was a case of so much nothingness. if i hadn't already seen the film and had the cinematic play-by-play to visualise and refer back to, i'm sure i would have been bored to death. the entire things was: deer running; loud noise; flamingoes; excitement? the ending was as anticlimactic as the film. it ends feeling like something of a waste of time because we know so little and, though it works some of the time, i don't think this was the type of book where an open ending could leave the reader feeling anything less than unsatisfied. we are left as much in the dark as we are at the beginning of the story. what causes the weird noise? planes, apparently. doing what? we don't know. why are people getting ill? we don't know. why is the power out? we don't know. why are there weird happenings with the animals? put it down to some sort of animal instinct to run away from the big, bad *something* because we're not getting any other explanation. there was a sense of unease and tension the closer we got to the end, which i guess was the best thing about the story (even though it ends up going nowhere), but aside from that i was left largely unmoved.

the characters? bland bland bland. as far as i recall they weren't much better in the film. all sat around doing a whole load of nothing for the majority of the book. as an aside, i don't know where else i can go to point this out but there's even an inconsistency with one character's age, where archie is mentioned on page 2 to be fifteen years old as they're driving to the holiday home, and then two days later towards the end of the book he is mentioned on two separate occasions, by the narrator and by his dad, to be sixteen years old. no mention of a birthday anywhere in the text. so there you go.

also i'm just gonna come out and say it. i didn't get why there was an element to the marketing that made this seem like a discussion on race, and what little of that there was, i felt put off knowing that it was written by a non-black person. i don't know where i've seen it, because it's not explicitly written in the blurb, but this was definitely marketed as "ooh a white family is forced into close proximity with an unfamiliar black couple and let's see what ensues". (even roxane gay calls the story in her goodreads review "an exceptional examination of race," so it's not in my head.) i think this aspect is heightened a bit more in the movie, but it's virtually nonexistent in the book and i'm wondering why they chose to take that angle? perhaps because it was the only interesting thing going for the book (and i'm sure that was a big factor as to why i added it to my tbr back in 2020)? amanda and clay have a few passing, out-of-pocket comments and thoughts about the black couple G.H. and ruth, but it goes no deeper than that. G.H. has some fleeting thoughts about his experience as a black man, not wanting to frighting the white family when he shows up with his wife, etc. that's it. but even with the little that was there, i kept thinking: why are you, an author of bangladeshi heritage, writing about how this black character has had to learn how to placate white people? why are you writing this offhand remark about how black people's pain is overlooked in medical settings? i'm not saying you can't, but why did you choose to write this, and why did you (and your publishing team) choose to position this as a key part of your story? again, i don't think that authors can only write about what they have firsthand experience with, all i can talk about is how it feels to read it, and for me it felt weird and tokenistic - especially given that this came out in late 2020.

and do you know what? after having written out my review, i'm dropping my rating of leave the world behind down to 2.5*. there's someone out there who would enjoy this; that person is not me, and i would not make the effort to read any more of rumaan alam's work.

[lunarheslwt]

Hello 💃. Oh i would totally choose teleportation as well. Same reasons as you 💀 reading minds would stress me tf out. Imagine walking down the street and randomly listening to everyone's thoughts, no thank you. And I'm pretty sure that would give me a headache. I would rather teleport to all the places I've always wanted to visit or you know save myself the energy of walking upstairs because I'm lazy 🥸

I find dolphins so fascinating like they're mammals but they can swim and live in water. How cool. And they're also apparently super smart ??? Fkfkg sorry this is random.

This fandom has some of the best writers. Like all the fics are so well written and well structured.

Since I went on a rant about dolphins it's only fair you tell me something random as well. So tell me a random fact 😌 or anything tbh.

Enjoy your day off !

Your secret holiday pal 😏😏😏

Hey bby 🥰

Yeah no I don't want more stress than I have already. I would totally teleport upstairs too lmao my God it would make life so easier though I wonder if the downside will be zero physical activity which would be baaad.

No don't worry, I welcome any and all rambles. Dolphins are really really cool and they're also cute as fuck.

Oh I agree. Granted, I haven't read outside of the fandom but still. I think so many of our fics are better than actual books that get published, there's such talent.

Random fact hmmm....I just woke up so my brain isn't being particularly smart lmao. I can tell you a random thing about me instead? I write poetry (that's my being very generous about myself) and I have always written poems. My first poem was at the age of 7 or 8 I think. It was... About a crow. Who stole my biscuit. Not a true story btw but still. Not really poem material but I think I made it rhyme and everything. So humble and rather mediocre roots I guess jdjdj and now here we are!

Thank you darling, I hope you have a good Tuesday 💓💓

[flowertot-s]

*surprise shawty!!*

How would Cove help take care of a sick MC? Or just an MC who’s feeling down in one way or another? Please and thank you ♥️♥️♥️

its been a minute whoopsie daisies, gonna try and get back into the swing of writing for like the fifth time in six months lmao

cove comfort headcanons inbound for my fave

cove is awkward and clunky just. in general, we know this

its a little hard for him to immediately know how to comfort you cause he doesn’t have great instincts or intuition when it comes to that kind of thing

and so he may accidentally cause more harm than good in times like these (case in point; the talks moment from step 3 if you ask him to leave you alone for a while)

his style of comfort depends entirely on the situation but can be split into three main situations: you’re sick, you’re depressed, and you’re having an argument

sick comfort:

personal nurse cove incoming

lets be real here he has no idea what the hell he’s doing

will absolutely freak out and be dramatic over it when its not even a big deal

tbh he’s probably more worried than you are right now

if you’re cold/flu sick he’ll bring you blankets, soup, hot/cold compresses, anything your little heart desires, he also will absolutely kiss and cuddle you despite your warnings that he’ll catch whatever you have

he insists he’s just built different

spoiler alert he’s not and now HE’S the one who needs comfort

if you’re sick in the stomach, throwing up, nauseous, hungover, or you have some kind food poisoning he won’t even hesitate to hold your hair back while you puke into the toilet

he’s surprisingly not an empathetic vomiter so he won’t even flinch while cleaning up puke, what a man

he’ll brush your hair to make you feel less gross and will be at your beck and call for absolutely anything and everything

will INSIST that you eat like he’s a nursemaid or some shit, no matter how hard you try to argue (and hey, if you chuck it all back up you get to say “i told you so”)

overall, mediocre nurse but a very good teddy bear 9.5/10

depressed comfort:

cove doesn’t really. Get how to comfort someone who’s depressed

i don’t see him as the kind of person to struggle with this kind of thing and so he doesn’t necessarily really know how to comfort you right off the bat

may or may not do something absolutely stupid and upset you even more but please forgive him, he’s trying his best and has nothing but good intentions

if you want your space he’ll give it to you but he’ll always send you messages just to check up on you, may even just sit outside your door or in another room till you want to see him

if you want him to comfort you he absolutely will, but if you don’t want him to talk please say so or else he’ll jabber your ear off (very good for if you want to distract yourself though)

you won’t even have to lift a finger, he’s doing whatever you need him to do before you can even ask

he’s more of an Acts Of Service love language kind of guy in my head, he’s more about showing that he loves you through his actions rather than his words (cove suffers chronic Foot-in-Mouth disorder) and so he’s usually showing that he cares about you through his actions while you’re in a funk

overall, he’s not great at dealing with this at first but once he gets the hang of it he’s a natural

argument comfort:

this one is. a little complicated

cove tends to kind of shut down during arguments and so it can kind of come across like he’s being dismissive of you or trying to ignore what you have to say

he’s not trying to come across that way, but unfortunately he never knows how to deal with these kinds of situations and so instead of fighting or fleeing, he just straight up freezes

he might accidentally lash out but it’s not because he’s mad, he’s just stressed out and anxious at this whole sitch

he doesn’t deal with arguments very well because of his parent’s track record but is determined to do better by you

after the yelling stops it can go one of two ways;

1. you try to make up with him and talk it through, which cove definitely prefers over option 2. he’ll be as physically affectionate as you’re comfortable with and is constantly reassuring you that he hears you and that your feelings are valid

2. you can’t reach a resolution and don’t want to sleep in the same bed as him. this absolutely breaks his heart but he does understand why. if you lock yourself in the bedroom he’ll sleep outside like a dog until you decide you want to start talking again. overall, he’s not happy about it but he’s respectful of your boundaries and receptive to what you need in the moment

damn i could defs write some more headcanons abt cove and arguments if u want em lmao