#think about. shows that might be popular rn. think about my interests. think about what tiktok might think i’d wanna see. and you’ve got it

[livvyofthelake]

the huge thing about something you’ve read getting adapted to a show or movie is that all those songs you used to blorboify in your head while you were on the bus to middle school will eventually be turned into tiktok edits or amvs for those characters. and that’s beautiful. regardless of any other factors at play that’s lovely

[erinwantstowrite]

hi!! first off i just want to say i love LOF and i think it really stands out in this niche genre of “spiderman in gotham”, its my absolute favourite fic rn and im loving the long chapters and dynamics between characters :)

for my question, i wanted to know if you ever considered writing any portions of peters past. specifically when he was “Parker”, an informant for the avengers. it sounds like a really interesting story and i’d love to know more about it, no pressure tho ^^

thank you so much!! I do plan on writing more about it. I honestly want to do a prequel,,,

I have some of it written actually. It was called It's called "Technically Not a Lie (Just Omitting Information)" and what is hilarious about that is it's only 27,000 words right now. I haven't touched that fic in forever because I just... had all of the information written down and the planning, and I got into Batfam and was like "Let's just write a little about this" and we can all blame @alighterwood for where we are now LMFAOOO

Thing is, I never expected LoF to get so popular, which is why it was posted first. I was like "I'll just make sure as much as I can that LoF is clear about his past so anyone who isn't me can read it and be fine." And now that we're here, I'm like "...that might be important."

I think it would be fun to have a prequel so more people can see the dynamics of Peter's world from before LoF in a much clearer light.

I kind of wanna shed a little light on how this prequel would go:

He ran from his last foster house at 12 years old, and he's year years old in this fic. In that time, he has been determined to make a life for himself all on his own, as well as help people as Spider-Man. He has no idea that his personality made people trust him so much. He's only on the street for about a year by the time the story starts, but "Parker" is very much intertwined with people. People just know him, he's the kid that the other kids go to for help. Even without Spider-Man (who, at this point, has only just gotten a proper suit and people actually realize he's not a cryptid), Parker manages to help people.

That's why the Avengers end up talking to him. Kids are going missing in Queens and show up dead- but most of them are the homeless population. They think it has something to do with people trying to make a knock-off super solider serum, and during their investigation, everything comes back to "That Parker Guy." Not in a bad way- everything has nice things to say. One kid even says they'll only talk to them if Parker vouches for them.

Turns out, Parker is a 13 year old and a fucking genius. I mentioned in LoF chapter 1 about it a little bit, and here and there it was mentioned. Peter gives the Avengers a real run for their money the way he does for the Batfam. Except it's ten times worse because he hasn't gone to therapy and is on his own, yknow?

So Bucky and Steve run across Peter (who is doing his own investigation into the missing kids as both Parker and Spider-Man) and that conversation ends with Peter going "Look behind you!" and sprinting in the opposite direction.

Sam and Banner are the ones that really track Parker down and have the first contact with him, and from there, he becomes their informant. Of course, he's also lying to their faces. Swears that he has a mother waiting for him and that he's just really good friends with these people. And people have lied several times to their faces for Peter, going with the lie, which muddies the waters about what is and isn't the truth.

From there, the rest is history. Tony thought he was just viewing Peter like he was a puzzle to figure out, and is truly shaken to his core when he realizes how much he cares about the little shit. When Peter gets kidnapped by the people making the knock off serum, they go looking for him. And Peter ends up having a home :)

[grace-williams-xo]

There is much discussion on the internet about how many seasons of Bridgerton we’ll get, and how it will be approached. I have a wild theory, if you wanna TLDR and skip the ramblings then scroll down to the bold.

While 8 seems far fetched, a lot of people are thinking 6 but I increasingly don’t even think that will happen (or if it does, it won’t happen well).

Jonny has said he’s committed to Bridgerton, and making whatever he projects he gets work around it, and that he/kanthony will be at all the siblings weddings. His commitment to the show and increasing career is well displayed in s3. He’s only in the first of the four eps (tbd for the second half, let’s hope more!) but he filmed Fellow Travellers at the same time (watch it if you haven’t) and Wicked also at a similar time. I think we can count on him/kanthony making at minimum 1–2 appearances per season, regardless of how long it lasts.

Arguably the other biggest star of the show rn is Nicola, so will be interesting to see what she does in Bridgerton s4. There’s a trend of the lead actor/s taking a back seat in the season following their spotlight, so wouldn’t be surprising if it happened also with Polin/Nicola and Luke Newton.

Now, the core of the issue is the remaining stories. (Preface, I haven’t read any of the books but I know most of the general plots). Consensus is that Benedict will be s4; and (or maybe but) all the s3 Benedict press is talking about him going through changes, evolution and inching toward the marriage mart. One could say this is set up for s4, but that doesn’t feel entirely right to me. The only plot that needs the set up is Polin because of the friends to lovers arc, and we got that in s2. (If there’s more benophie set up that makes sense that I’m not aware of, let me know!)

While I know Francesca is popular with book readers, and her character steps up in s3, we can agree that the next most popular sibling is Eloise. Eloise’s story is also the most hotly debated about how authentic the show should be to the books. I know many book readers want Eloise’s story to stay mostly as it is, and while the more I read about it the more I come around to it, I think that a problem is posed by the fact that Marina’s character is much more significant and invested in the series than the books (so I hear).

On the note of Gregory and Hyacinth, I also think that the viewers are too attached and invested to them as children to want to see them as serious romantic partners with anyone. This isn’t even touching on the fact s8 would be released in (crikey I just did the maths) probably 2030 or 2031 😭

In my head there are three possible options for the future of the show. (Four, three good options).

1. Six seasons: with Benedict, Eloise and Francesca all getting a season. (Approx 2025, 2027 and 2028 release) (I think this would be the best option if the got their act together and made/released the seasons faster, but as the actors get busier I don’t see that happening)

2. Five seasons: with Benedict and Eloise getting a season. (The best (realistic) option imo).

3. Four seasons: Benedict season four, no Eloise. (The worst option imo).

4. Four seasons: Benedict season three AND four, Eloise season four. This is kinda why I made this post. Stay with me, hear me out.

All the indications that Benedict is evolving and stepping into the marriage mart this season make me think that they could be doing a lot more set up/start of the story than necessary for a brother who isn’t the lead yet. Beneloise are such an iconic duo that I think them falling in love together would be so fun. If they followed the book, then Eloise’s love is kinda long distance anyway. If they did do something different with Eloise (contentious, ik, I’m in two minds) and made her queer and/or not get married then it could also work well.

I don’t think this is the best outcome, I just think it might be the best outcome if we only get four seasons. The actors are all increasingly busy, and many (Claudia and Nicola especially) are already playing characters far younger than their characters.

Please let me know your thoughts on this rambling, especially if you’ve read the books. Tell me what will or won’t work!

–GW xo

[james-stark-the-writer]

terrible news, i tried to watch the Friendly Space Ninja Riverdale finale video again and i think i've pinpointed my problem with his videos, specifically the Riverdale ones but also just his general approach to media criticism, it's just the terrible wave of "objective criticism" we had on youtube with shitheads like Mauler but framed as just a more subjective opinion and it tries to pretend like that makes it any better, which it doesn't, like it really doesn't, because the underlying assumption that there is only one way to tell any type of story is just such a terrible thing for art but also he just fundamentally doesn't understand what type of art Riverdale is and there's just such a sheer lack of even attempting to treat it as a serious piece of art because the assumption is already that because popular consensus is that it sucks (the critical consensus has actually been consistently fucking great, you could just go look at the Rotten Tomatoes scores or even check out the legacy section on Riverdale's Wikipedia page), that means it automatically is trash, it never gets the opportunity to fight for itself because it's never given the chance to be thought of as a piece of art. it's an insistence that writing is the only way to analyze an audio-visual medium and like sure, writing doesn't "age" the same way other elements might, but audiences do age and change and evolve, media criticism does too, there's a reason people appreciate the Star Wars prequels more now than they ever did at release because we understand different ways of appreciating art now beyond the base insistence that conventionally "good" writing is the only thing to aim for (the prequels are actually well written but let's not get into THAT rn), that doesn't make the prequels "bad," it just means the prequels are different. i find the whole good/bad paradigm pretty suffocating in the first place but this is just so exhausting and i cannot believe that I've just managed to articulate it bc it seems shockingly obvious in retrospect.

also the video in question is just like factually wrong multiple times, he flat out admits he skips a lot of the season but then complains that the season doesn't make sense when he's jumping in at a random point, he complains that the previous seasons are meaningless but it's like has he forgotten that the audience doesn't forget stuff even if the characters have (and they even get their memories back in a thematically important and resonant moment the defines who the characters want to be so it's not really even entirely sound criticism) and that the show is intentionally trying to do interesting parallels and reversals of the stuff we've seen before, it's like commenting on itself because season 7 is a nostalgic look back at what the comics have been and what the show started from, and about the nostalgic feelings of that time and their appeal contrasted with the brutal truths of the reality of the situation, like this is just basic art criticism, i'm not even like trying to defend the season, like i don't even like season 7 that much, i think it's one of the more boring seasons and it ranks towards the middle for me, but like this is not like deep criticism where you're thinking and analyzing a lot, this is just seeing what the plot of the episodes is and what they're trying to communicate, it's just maddening how fucking exhausting the objective criticism shit is but it's actually even more grating when you don't pretend to be superior about it because it makes it seem like you're not even bold enough to stand by your opinions and actually embrace the implication present in the shit you are saying, like it's just cowardice, honestly. but anyway, glad i figured it out, because it was honestly irritating me that i couldn't articulate why i didn't like those videos beyond just them being wrong about Riverdale on like a factual level and him just not understanding what it's trying to say as a piece of art.

the point of this isn't to say that i think he's making these arguments in bad faith or anything, i do think these are genuinely opinions he holds, and they are valid opinions for him to hold, i'm not saying they're invalid, you can prefer one aspect of a piece of media over other aspects because it's more important to you, that's okay, i'm just saying they're misinformed takes and generally display a shocking lack of imagination and respect for art and no desire to broaden his horizons.

anyway, if you actually want to understand the appeal of Riverdale, the Super Eyepatchwolf video is pretty good, i still disagree with it a lot but at least the man tries to understand why people like the show and he even gets some part of the appeal, and we are going to get 4 5-hour videos from Lily Simpson over the next few months so i'm looking forward to those, bc Lily generally tends to at least understand the appeal of the stuff she talks about, and the title of the first video ("the captivating madness of Riverdale" [though i don't love the use of "madness"]) is already enough to make me feel like somebody kinda gets it and hopefully it'll be more coherent actual art analysis.

[halevren]

FHJY Spoilers || my live thoughts as I watch episode 7

this may take me longer than usual because I have hurt my hand so it's wrapped up rn and it makes it hard to type 🫡

TTTTAKING OVER TEENAGE REBELLION

I miss ayda aguefort i hope she shows up in this episode.

pitch perfect 2 mention! I used to be so into music related movies

So much happened last episode, this recap is so long

I am not a fan of Grix.

AGENT CLARK...

Two Kristen's again

OH NO

ADAINE COMING IN WITH THE SAVE

"Pretty fun to commit fraud"

"That was sophomore year, I'm cool now"

Body rolling I love body rolling it's so fun to just vibe

Mandatory drug test????

Bard class cool as hell

GRIX NETTED DURDEN?

Rip Gorgug he fell on the stairs

"Did she cast a spell on you " "I mean, in a sense..."

Littledoggy Girlcollar

they should investigate definitely

"If we all do drugs, they can't expell all of us."

Riz trying so hard to keep Fig from being expelles

shrimp burrito

Gorgug not being a fan of Mary Ann is very interesting to me and very reasonable.

"I think it's a really good thing you're thinking."

kipperlitty is subliminally messaging people with the food?!?!?!?!?

I can't wait to see the fan art that comes out of this episode

"Hey.... Girlie"

THE SILENCE

"Did you hear? She passed." KRISTEN EHEHEJWKEHBEE

OHHH KIPPERLILLY. THAT WAS SHADY. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY IT SO LOUD. I ABSOLUTELY KNOW YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE

KRISTEN KRISTEN KIRSTEN KRISTEN KRISTEN

"Hey do we need to lock it in" yeah probably

Max Durden is probably my second favorite npc

"Everyone has to have a least favorite friend, it's fine" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fabian running a study hall is so cool

This downtime sounds fun

SPECIAL THING IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF GORGUG GETS NAT 20????????

Riz "The Ball" Gukgak

SERVER AT BASRAR'S!!!!!!

Aewlyn mention 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

SHE GOT THE JOB

"Nice new shirt, did you buy it underground?"

The stress tokens are actually making me real life stressed

GORGUG NAT 20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SECOND GORGUG NAT 20!!!!!!!!

"It might be more stable than mine"

i miss Cassandra I hope she's okay

The shrimp jump. WAS a miracle

let's go Cassandra!

Fig paladin of Cassandra??????????????

Oh my god is Fig Multiclassing

oh my god wait craig he's still around

"it's like animal piss but in a good way"

"Kristen, your adult man is being weird"

"You'd be a nasty as paladin?"

"I don't want to harsh your vibe"

"Everyone has to lick me"

oh no he's a noodler

DETECTIVE BABY

gorgug has tunnel vision

Gorgug is literally so stressed

"I SUCK, YOU RULE"

the rage!

Fabian is such a loser when it comes to talking with girls

This is so painful, Fabian needs something. I don't know what but God he need something

THIRTY TWO????

Fabian stress token

Walking store Adaine

ya hoo

av class 🔥🔥🔥

i need art of fishing club Riz just goin' fishing

NAT ONE THAT BECOMES A 10

Gorgug & Riz joint birthday party!!!!

17 having a ice cream party sounds absolutely lit

SELF INSERT PC CLARK

Gorbag and Roz!!!

goodbye lucilla she's gone to the skies

"I think you're being weird here"

oh my god fig

Fig is having a strange day

"Why can't I tell him he's weird"

A YOGURT YEAR

"Haha! Counterspell! ♪"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

oh my god Brennan said teenage rebellion.... just like... just like the song teenage rebellion... T-T-T-TAKING OVER TEENAGE REBELLION IT'S OUT TIME IT'S OUR YEAR—

"Can I take a stress for Kristen"

Riz is the only character allowed to take a stress for another person

popular kid Kristen!!!!

"Anyone who think he's cool" me too I fall in love with everyone who thinks I'm cool

alter emo hauntings a kid's dreams

"Not All Who Wanda Are Lost" single released on all listening platforms. 1 mil listens in a week

oh no...... this is going to be awful and awkward.

ohhhhhh....... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... Fabian.......... This is painful........

Ivy is catching these hands, leave my girl Mazey alone

"You missed your shot, playboy" no he has a call with his bank

Riz is at his conspiracy board

Something does feel off about grix

Everyone has a stress token

"Go roll me a corrupted bardic"

Even I'm grieving Lucy, she sounds lovely...

oh there's something deep going on with lucy

"It's the boss, baby"

Murph has figured it OUT

The epic music

This stress system is making me STRESSED

I relate to the stress causing antisocial things

LYDIA!!!!!!!!!

ohhhhhh goodness.....

[ca-suffit]

I hate that you are right (affectionately ) but there something really ''funny'' happening since they officially presented Nicolas and the actor playing him.I can already see the excitement for Lestat first (on screen) white male interest.

It's not really about Lestat this season but all they do is center everything around him, since the photos of the next episode came out people have already forgotten everything else. It gives me a glimpse of what's going to happen in season 3 and I can already say that I will probably drop the series.The fact that the showrunner says he accepted the series just so he could adapt The Vampire Lestat book is a red flag.Also the more I learn about Anne Rice the more I regret even starting the show.

I should still point out that I don't hate Lestat or Sam I know he's popular,it's just his fans.

I also don't hate Lestat or Sam, but this is the lie that white fandom has to keep pushing to victimize themselves. Ur noticing how often white characters take over the tags, it happens every time. The first Loumand kiss we got (when it was still a bts video) barely existed but a single still of Lestat got posted by everyone for *weeks*. A lot of ppl's engagement with stuff they promise isn't racially motivated and is "the books" rly is about how much whiteness is present. It's prbly gonna be insufferable here after the next episode. There's already constant shitting on Armand with the "it's not racism, it's the books" excuse. Nicki is also a huge asshole, do u think we're gonna hear about that tho lol? It's so easy to discuss all these characters and plots without having to victimize urself. U can tell who is part of white fandom by who can't write anything without paragraphs of a disclosure about how this isn't about race. Everything is about race lol. Maybe if u got comfortable talking about it u'd learn it's easy to do without being racist about it gd?? "Noticing race is the real racism" mfers, Anne Rice made everyone stupid as hell.

I don't think wanting to adapt TVL is a red flag itself without seeing what's done with it. Obviously, watch to ur comfort level but I'm just saying for my opinion. What they've created so far is not something that paints Lestat in the best light and I'm v doubtful they'd undo all that when they already went there in the first place. I'm waiting to see where they're going with this before I decide what I'm doing. AMC is known for telling stories about fucked up white guys, I don't see them suddenly making Lestat a whole different man once it's his version of himself. The point of all of them is that everyone is flawed and we all think the best of ourselves. How we're seeing Louis, Daniel, and Armand rn is how I also think we'll be seeing Lestat. The show so far isn't picking a side on these things happening, it's showing different angles of ppl and saying it's up to u how to feel about it. White fandom is waiting for him to get a whole character retcon because they're used to Anne Rice telling stories like that but it's doubtful that's what AMC is gonna do. He might grow as a person over time but I don't think they're gonna show up on day 1 and say "so S1 and S2 were a lie" in any serious way. That would be rly offensive to the audience and pointless to the plot as well. "It was alllll a dream" kind of shit.

[liquidstar]

Honestly the funniest version of that "yaoi boys given more attention than any girl in fandom" thing I've seen was in this book series, where a main character was introduced as a (very attractive) boy but turned out to be a girl in disguise for Reasons;

and a lemon fic I read that was posted right after the reveal basically went 'yeah I know she's a girl but :/ I'm just going to assume she's a man with man parts for this one thing :/' but the way they said it was funnier.

Like my God. This person was not even pretending was she?

That's so lame honestly it might have been interesting if they just make the character trans 😭 but making them a cis guy because you Needed it to be slash in order to care about it kind of shows you don't actually care about the actual dynamic I think. Boring basically like most genderbends of that sort.

Like actually on the flip side I see so many straight dudes in the rz fandom make Natsumi (Subaru's drag persona) a cis girl in their stuff ESPECIALLY if it's to ship w a guy, and it's just lame. Either commit to making it gay or make Subaru transfem (both things there's a genuine actual basis for lol), gender flipping it to make it No Homo takes away all the character. To me. (Especially since they're usually just doing it because characters like Reinhard or Julius more closely fit the power fantasy archetype).

And in both these examples yuri is ignored </3

But I just think it's boring when people have to genderbend in order to care about a dynamic, because it usually strips away the character's entire personality to make them either Girl or Boy, and it's just... it's lame it's boring it's unfun it's uninteresting it's lazy it's dumb. Just do a trans headcanon because that actually adds something rather than detracts, imo.

My biggest fear for the adventure time fandom rn is that gumlee will overtake bubbline in popularity even though the latter has SO much more development, literally a decade of it, but they are women so.... but I don't think that will happen. I hope that will not happen. And I actually think that the way f&c is handling the genderbend stuff rn is cool because they're just treating it like a modern au version of the couple rather than a Boy one. But I don't know if that's what the fandom will think 😔

[readreactrant]

Hello, just want to say, thanks for your recs and reviews. I started Yatagarasu because of you, and I love it so much.....The story and characters are all amazing... I did not see the plot twist at all until the end....

Also, Yukiya and Wakamiya's dynamics are just so great....Found a new fav ship from the series....Thanks again, @readreactrant ....🤩😆

Oh, have you watched "Delico's Nursery" (maybe you'll like it, too)....?

Tf is a Delico's Nursery?!

Is what I would ask if I was uncultured 😏

More on that soon.

Dnana my precious you are very welcome, and I'm so happy you like Yatagarasu, helping people find some underrated shows they'll enjoy is definitely something I can’t help but be a lil stupid passionate about. Especially in a season that just seems to be choked with generic isekai and het incest/pseudo incest romance anime.

The queers, when will our generic gay isekai incest fantasy start 🥲😭 (More on Wistoria wand and sword in another post.)

Glad you like the ship too, let us all manifest them becoming popular so we might have some fics, fanart and doujins 🙏

I'd do it all myself but I'm in a writing slump and my art could give Satan nightmares.

Moving on lmao...Delico's Nursery is...all I would ever want from a vampire centred baby sitting anime.

I genuinely wanted to talk about this when I had draft and screenchots sorted out but fuck it we ball!

Imagine Buddy Daddies but Vampires with four dumbass homosexual fathers instead of two!!! What more can you ask for?!

"But Ren, they have/had wives 🤓☝"

Have a cup of whimsy once in a while is all I say to that.

If I had to pick 2 things I gripe with it very rarely those would be the names and the way the animation does my boys' faces so dirty at times.

They literally look like they're in agony in some still frames so be prepared for the plot, the ✨DRAMAAA✨ and character interactions to do some heavy lifting at times. Settings though are drop dead gorgeous with the most immersive atmospheric feel to them, everywhere is so washed and somber like I'd expect a vampire world to be, no shade to Case study of Vanitas, execution is key and both shows are nailing their moods for me.

Now for the names...tf name's their child Dali Delico??? Sounds like some Italian deserted I'd eat without hesitation.

Know who else I'd eat (out) without hesitation???

Gayhard Fra. (I know that's not how his name is spelt but it might as well be correct).

He is blond, he's a tsundere and his outfit is literally too sexy for me to think straight. Full coverage ain't hiding that snatched waist and the fact he would degrade me only makes it hotter. Not mention his son is absolutely the most adorable thing ever oh my God 🥰😍

Other members in our team of hopeless dads are *checks notes* Dino Classico and Henrique Lorca.....

All I have to say is, Behind the name probs wasn't used in the writer's room cuz these might have a sort of relation to the characters but they sound dumb, I'm sorry 😶

Now I'm done dissing names and simping for Gayhartron, go and watch Delico's Nursery I BEG OF YOU, ITS ACTUALLY GOOD RN. I really don't think it'll be disappointing but what will be is if we don't get a season two cuz it didn't turn a profit so move move move!!!

I don't have much to say rn without spoiling cuz this show is definitely something you should watch for yourself, unlike buddy Daddies though, I know it won't be for everyone, especially the animation. It seems like it's an anime original, or adapted from a stage play (I might be thinking of another show don't sue me) cuz I couldn't find a manga on my sites, so yeah if things don't end this season, our chances of getting more hang in the balance.

The opening is a bop though so stay every episode for that and the cute kids if nothing else interests you.

Thanks for reading my word vomit as always, and Dnana it's a pleasure anytime 💕

[thoughtfullysillylady]

Oh God i have so much to say.

So this is the first bl after Bad Buddy that i am following from the start just coz the trailer got me interested. And boy oh boy am I not surprised.

So far it has been adorable. Kawi is super cute and a little cringey but not at all uncomfortable to watch. You see him and think that it suits him. I am even liking the weird ass music that they put in certain situations (like gawin blinking in tune with the sounds).

Pisaeng is a closed book and you can only look at it's cover rn. We don't know what this book holds and it'll be so entertaining to see him unfold. I think that's why they've still not revealed his song yet. Coz thay might give too much away.

Also yes i am on the team that Pisaeng might have already noticed/liked/was curious about Kawi before, i think the secret buddy just gave him an opportunity to approach him first coz he's said so himself that he does not hide when he cares for someone.

The conversations that they have are also so interesting just coz i am like Kawi. I am the person who'll self isolate and then think that everyone is judging me and then i come out of my bubble and realise how untrue that is.

Also i keep seeing how Gawin and Krist don't have chemistry and like what show are you watching? Have you all not seen the way Pisaeng looks at Kawi right from ep 1? He is so fucking endeared by Kawi!

(i'll gif all that later)

I am surprised by the lack of popularity of this drama honestly at this point but it also might blow up so who knows.

Anyway I'll be following this closely, i hope this drama reaches new heights ❤️

[karouvas]

🔥 + anything tvdu!

this turned more originals centered since Ik I talk about it the least so less of my opinions are recorded/known so that tracks.

I generally enjoy (the girls) no humanity arcs despite their messiness

my ranking of Klaus popular ships that are some level of canon at this point is probably Klayley>Klaurora>Klaroline>>Klamille, I ship the former 3 to different degrees although none is necessarily otp levels.

I’m really neutral on Camille overall I think she’s unfairly hated but I also couldn’t get properly interested in her, she and Davina are probably the two major female TVDu chars that interest me the least even though I don’t have anything against them but I connected to Rebekah Hayley Freya and Aurora all a lot more (even if I find some of the changes to characterization re: the former two from TVD to TO less compelling esp Rebekah I think we agree on this).

I do think Aurora x Camille served a little

Freya and Klaus had at least top 2 most interesting Mikaelson’s relationships to me (Klaus and Rebekah’s best hits are more insane but I probably liked the arc for him and Freya better).

I sort of bounced around on how I felt about MG x Lizzie while legacies aired I liked them most in late s2 when they had some scenes I thought served but everything before and after was meh and the get together in s4 was embarrassing.

Josie x Rafael was underrated and could’ve been good… they’re like Margo x Quentin for me in that it’s not a ship I’m mad about but it was good and compelling esp compared to canon ships and I think it could have saved us from worse things had it been considered seriously. Anyway that siphon kiss moment goes hard 

This is barely about TVDu but reading the locked tomb has given me ideas for how insanely good the merge storyline could have been if the writers knew what they were doing and (I love the Saltzman twins dynamic this is well documented) how great the Saltzman twins dynamic could be if it was more like Ianthe and Coronabeth…. Like society one of the twins had siphoned the other twins love interest or someone they cared about deeply and ended the merge that way and then the other twin was jealous of not being siphoned from/killed. The s2 not merge is like even more boring to me now that I have this comparison point

I enjoy Elena and Caroline about equally when I’m watching the show or who I gravitate towards more depends on the storyline or part of the show but I tend to find Elena more interesting to dissect when I’m just thinking about the show and also Caroline’s fandom can be… yeah so I think that leads me to gravitate towards Elena more recently/currently.

maybe less unpopular now based on that poll but s2 is the best TVD season. I love a lot of things in s3 and s6 but both also have more issues s2 is when there was a good balance.

TO s3 was definitely the most engaging TO season for me it’s no secret that I actually struggle to be engaged by TO the most out of the shows, at different points I’ve definitely mused in the tags about why that is but ultimately I think it might just be a me thing without deeper reasoning lolz. But s3 was where I was most entertained. (less sure how popular or unpopular this is since I don’t see a lot of ‘season’ discussions like I do for TVD)

thank you for the ask! might come back and add to this when I’m in a more *yapping about tvdu* mood than I’m in rn.

[aashiyancha]

20 Questions for Fic Writers:

(Tagged by @thebeckster : Thanks for the tag Becky!)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I only just started using AO3 so there's just the one rune factory 5 fancomic there at the moment.

I have quite a few fanworks and original stuff dispersed around tumblr though! I believe the total number of works is up to 7 now. They are as follows from oldest to most currently worked on:

1.) Pokemon Black and White fancomic ( this is a dead one. I don't think I'm ever coming back to it)

2.) Digimon cyberspoof / just another side skit ( I was getting so close to finishing this one! Might give the games one more whirl just so I can finish this one off)

3.) Rain on a Summer Day (an original romance story that I started on webtoon but wimped out of continuing so it's in wip hell rn)

4.) The Flower Boys (an original mystery story that currently remains a mystery haha)

5.) Sweet Hero Puffbun (original supernatural sort of hero adventure)

6.) Rune Factory 5 Special (the fancomic that's been eating up most of my free time for the past while now haha)

7.) Our Life Derek Route Fancomics

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

20,724 but the site can't register words that are on the comic pages since they're on the image so deffo more than that.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Basically anything that catches my interest but I can't find enough of the content I'm looking for is what I write/draw!

In the past that's been Pokemon, Digimon, Hamefura, Rune factory, Fire Emblem, Our Life

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'll answer this based on popularity across platforms I've used since I haven't posted many fics on AO3 yet.

Our Life: Derek Fancomics >Rain on a Summer Day> Rune Factory 5 Special> Digimon CyberSpoof > Sweet Hero Puffbun

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

I love responding to comments! It's especially fun for fanworks because I get to gush about the game or show with other people and we all know that's tons of fun! Bonus points to people who comment about stuff I've added to the story because then I get to delve further into the concept if people bring it up :]

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Never ended anything yet....

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Never ended anything yet....hahaha :,D

8. Do you get hate on fics?

On some of my stuff that's broken containment it's happened...some people are just a biiiit homophobic and really seem to want to let me know of that. Other than that though, people have been super nice, engaged and supportive!

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

No. Don't really plan to do so either I think. Just not really my cup of tea.

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

Haven't done so yet but I do like the idea. Might do a crossover in the future

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet. Could be cool to have my stuff available in more than just english though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet. Sounds like it would require a lot of coordination. Could be super fun though!

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Uh......Hm. Honestly, I'm just happy so long as I see the happiness and supportiveness from the relationships so I can't really pick a favourite. All ships I like I like equally.

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

....All of them

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am fast! I am so so fast hahaha!!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I go too fast and don't notice mistakes before I post. Then I get too fed up to fix them...

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've considered trying! Just it's been a while since I've done out of country travelling so all my language skills have gone stale. It might be a disaster if I tried to write.... hmmm but it would be good practice too....

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think wee little me wrote a few fancomics for hetalia back in the day.

Should go searching through my old notebooks to see if I can find them someday.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I've barely posted any of it so far but honestly I am so hopeful with Sweet Hero Puffbun! It's probably my favourite story that I've got. One day it will all be ready to share and hopefully others will enjoy it too~

Tagging some people! Ofc no pressure though! @silicon-katydid @darkacey @thornowl and anyone who wants to play, feel free to say I tagged you!

[transxfiles]

gonna go on a little mini tangent about nimona movie adaptation. it's gonna include lots of spoilers for the graphic novel so if you haven't read it yet (and you should!!) you can just scroll past spoiler free <3 anyways,

first off i am SO fucking pumped up about the nimona movie this is doing things to my middle school heart you have no idea <3 <3 <3 they're definitely branding it in the area of that kind of edgy but family friendly movie vibe that's been popular with certain projects lately (low key some parts of the trailer were giving me mitchells versus the machines while others were giving me the same energy as the bad guys, which is an interesting mix imo they're both good animated movies from the recent past but at the same time they're both tonally different in many ways not to mention very different tonally from the original nimona comic imo) and basically where i'm going with this is i hope they keep the original tone of the comic. the graphic novel does a really great job of shifting between lighthearted comedy and the complex emotions of the characters really well, especially with the twist at the end where we find out that nimona has been lying about her past the entire time (OGH that ending is SO GOOD it gives me chills just remembering the panel where we find out the story about the dragonslayer going after the shapeshifter and the rumors that the shapeshifter TOOK THE DRAGONSLAYERS PLACE??? AUGH those panels are burned into my mind forever). basically i am a little worried because of the marketing that they might soften the darkness associated with nimona's past/backstory or even change it entirely, but of course that's all speculation bc they could literally just be doing what the comic did which was market itself as really upbeat and silly modern fairytale twist and then turn around and make everything really fucking dark as the novel approaches the end of the second act and the beginning of the first act.

also when it comes to the character designs i am OBSESSED with blackheart and goldenloin the designs are SO!!!! not to mention the setting itself, they're definitely leaning into the futuristic aspect but i hope they keep a lot of the down to earth fantasy elements from the comic as well, i feel like nate did a really great job creating a world that is such a unique blend of ren fair fantasy tropes (for lack of a better term) and magical high tech inventions and it's something that i really hope doesn't get lost in the translation to the screen. obviously i can imagine that the show-y-ness of a cyberpunk-esque world is very visually appealing and also probably pretty fun to animate but i'm hoping they're teasing a lot of those dystopian sci fi visuals for the trailer because they get ppls attention and then they bring in a similar mix of the ren fair fantasy elements from the comic.

i hope they maintain nimona's whole gender vibe as the same sort of fluid energy that i got from her in the book, idk if it was just me but nimona reads as not only gnc but as a very nonbinary/genderfluid character and i always thought it was really cool how ready she was to shapeshift to different gender presentations in the comic.

this is more just on the curious musings side but i also wonder if they'll do the little bit where she dyes her hair purple?? its such a weird little moment in the comic i could see them deciding not to put it on screen but i think it'd be a cute nod to the book. or maybe they do a little bit of dialogue where she mentions to blackheart that she's thinking about changing her hair color and mentions purple, it'd just be cute i think <3

uhhh yeah i guess my biggest wonder about the movie rn is just how dark they're willing to take it, tonally? because the book gets DARK and ofc it's also aimed kinda at middle grade, just like the movie is, but what's allowed in middle grade books is very different from what's marketable in a middle grade family friend film. i really do hope they do the whole dark underbelly of the kingdom reveal, though, and the second act arc where nimona's true violent and chaotic nature starts to spiral out of ballister's control, and of course the unethical experimentation and the legend of the shapeshifter and nimona's entire story to ballister being a lie.....

AUGH i am going to get so emotional about this movie but yeah <3

basically. NIMONA MOVIE AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!

[sesame-sim]

Books I'm considering next

I mentioned before I add a new book every 5 sim years in my bookish save.. I'm torn about what book to add in next for Year 55. I know It seems too soon to be thinking about it bc I'm posting Year 50 right now, but in actuality I'm halfway through playing Year 53 so I need to give myself some time to finish reading and do prep like take notes, make a timeline.

Below are the ones I'm currently considering. They each have things about them that I really want to play and things about them that would be difficult to show with sims. Opinions welcome! I would love if somebody just tells me they have a clear favorite and then I don't have to decide lol.

In alphabetical order (info on each after the cut)

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys (memoir)

Dust Child (historical fic)

Magic Lessons and the Practical Magic trilogy (fantasy)

Refugee High (nonfic)

Salvage the Bones ; Sing, Unburied Sing (fic)

She's Not There (memoir)

The Glass Castle ; Half Broke Horses (memoir)

To Kill A Kingdom (fantasy)

War and Speech (YA)

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys (memoir of Viv Albertine, member of British female punk rock group The Slits. I'm interested in the aesthetics of this. She's also dated Mick from The Clash, has been friends with various ppl like Sid Vicous. But should I hold out for the possibility of a bands EP or GP in the future? And there's another memoir of hers I could also read before playing. It's more focused on her family rather than her music career)

Dust Child (historical fiction about a half Vietnamese half black man who is trying to find out who his father is in the present time intertwined with the story of two sisters who leave their small town to become bar girls in Saigon in past time. I actually haven't read this yet but I became interested in playing something with a Vietnamese storyline because of the tumblr @biplusco . Their Indochine cc collection made me want to play something set in Southeast Asia.

Magic Lessons; The Book of Magic; The Rules of Magic; Practical Magic (trilogy and a prequel following the Owens family of witches since the 1600s. You may know the movie Practical Magic. Of these books I've read Practical Magic and half of Magic Lessons but haven't read The Book of Magic or The Rules of Magic yet. The main issue here is 4 books is a lot to take notes about and make timelines for before playing through. Plus, starting from the late 1600s all the way to more current times at the speed I play will mean I never finish! But maybe I could JUST play the prequel.)

Refugee High (nonfiction about the high school in the U.S. with the highest percentage of refugees. The author chose some students, each from a different country, to delve into the lives of. Could be interesting depicting each one's past in sims before they end up together in Copperdale High School. But I've only just started reading this one.)

Salvage the Bones; Sing, Unburied, Sing (fictions both by Jesmyn Ward and they take place in the same town. The characters even cross paths at one point. I love her writing so much but a key part of one book is a hurricane and the other book mostly takes place in a car so I don't know if I can do this well in Sims 4 as the game is rn)

She's Not There (memoir, gender transition. I might want to read her other book called Good Boy about every dog she's had in her life first so I can play both together and have each of the pets join the family at the right times)

The Glass Castle; Half Broke Horses (both by Jeannette Walls. The Glass Castle is a really popular memoir about the author's nomadic upbringing with parents who eventually choose to be homeless. Half Broke Horses is her biography of her maternal grandmother. That one mostly takes place on ranches. What happens in The Glass Castle basically picks up right after what happens in Half Broke Horses.)

To Kill A Kingdom (fiction, fantasy, mermaids and princes. This one I'm worried about my lack of cc for. I want to play out a fantasy book at some point but I haven't done any collecting of fantasy cc whatsoever yet so it might take a while to accumulate it )

War and Speech (a humorous YA book about a high school girl, new to a school, who joins the super snobby speech team just to try to bring them down from the inside.)

[stormyoceans]

Huh, I watched episode 1 with great difficulty in several visits and, most likely, I will not return to this show. Starting from the first minutes of their "operation" and on I caught myself thinking about blooper, but I did not enjoy the show, and this is a bad sign. Usually, when I like the show, I don't notice the plot irregularities. This popular show is not mine, and that's okay tho. Apparently the same thing is happening to you, Monica. Just drop this show and move on. Fortunately, there are a lot of shows now (but the quality of most is lousy unfortunately)

OH THAT'S INTERESTING

my entire dash has been all-over the sign since the very first episode, so i think you're the first person that i know of who's not into it. im actually so very grateful for your message, anon, because when it comes to popular shows in the fandom i always feel some kind of pressure to like it no matter what, so it's pretty comforting to be reminded that it's okay even if i don't, that there are people out there who might feel the same as me

i personally didn't mind the not-so-polished look of the first 3 episodes, but i feel like the boot camp part was cut way too short, and maybe that's why i keep getting stuck right after it. i was enjoying both the camaraderie and the animosity forming between the characters due to the close quarters and the harsh training, so it was a bit frustrating to move on from it so soon, especially since i felt like there was still a lot to explore there

idk i don't want to give up on the show quite yet because i do believe it has something to give me, but rn i won't push myself. maybe i will go back to it in the future with a different mindset and i will like it, who knows. im always gonna stay open to possibilities!!!!!!

[cq-studios]

(For This)

Okay, I figured someone would ask about this one lol

So before I get into it, for context, this year I was working on the local production of the Mean Girls musical, and I was the director’s/choreographer’s assistant and the lights and sound director. All this to say I was there like every practice, and I’d seen the show about 100 times over, and sometimes I’d get bored and be like ‘huh but what if I were to swap out the actual characters with the KHUX characters? How would that change things (dynamics, storybeats, and whatnot)?”.

So, uh, this one is definitely very self indulgent, kind of a joke, and probably doesn’t make much sense for the characters. I did it because I was bored then continued to play with the idea after the show was over because it was fun. Even when I write something for it (it’s just a long list of notes rn), it’ll probably end up staying in my doc forever (and it’ll probably also just be a edit of the musical script) lol

(Also disclaimer: I’ve only seen the musical and not the movie so it’s based off the former)

So this AU follows the larger Mean Girls plot, that being ‘previously homeschooled character infiltrates group of popular girls to ruin their leader from the inside’. The roles each character (loosely) plays in the story are as follows

Regina George - Lauriam

Gretchen Weiners - Elrena

Karen Smith - Ven (very very loosely)

Janis Sarkisian and Damian (I forget his last name lol) - Ephemer and Skuld (interchangeably)

Candy Heron - Player

Aaron Samuels - Strelitzia (also very very very loosely, her plot changes the most from the show)

Kevin G - Brain

Mrs Norebury - Ava

So in this Lauriam and Elrena are much more similar to Marluxia and Larxene in the sense of their meanness. Ven the Karen of the group because he’s only being mean because of the others and doesn’t really see what’s wrong about it. Ven and Lauriam used to be friends with Ephemer and Skuld, but they started getting meaner after hanging out with Elrena and eventually ditched them. That would be why Ephemer and Skuld want their revenge.

So, when Player shows up and Lauriam shows interest in recruiting them, the duo takes the opportunity. Player is a bit reluctant at first be eventually goes along with it after seeing how mean they can be.

In the background Strelitzia is doing her whole crush thing on Player, which is why Lauriam shows any interest in them in the first place. But once he realizes that Player might be trying to take him down and using his sister to do it he tries to shut her down by telling lies about Player to her.

Bla bla bla plot of Mean Girls. Player changes who they are to fit in, ousts Lauriam, throws a party that Strelitzia goes to, they have a moment where they talk but at the end Strelitzia’s like ‘Lauriam was right about you actaully’, does some pretty trashy things to Ephemer and Skuld so they have a falling out, Lauriam does the whole “World Burn” thing, Player gets blamed for it, they have the whole thing in the gym, Lauriam gets hit by a some big explosion spell (did I mention there’s still Keyblades and stuff in this? I don’t think I did), and Player gets in all sorts of trouble.

Aaaaand because of that trouble they get in they have to do a math competition with Brain, a much more bored version of Kevin G lol. Strelitzia’s there handing out water and her and Player kind of make up since Player’s gone back to being themself. Then, after the competition, they apologize to Ephemer and Skuld and they make up too.

School dance thing happens and whoop story over.

But yeah that’s kind of the gist of it.

Again, very self indulgent. Just a random thing I did while sitting in the sound booth and I’ll finish once I get my hands back on a script (we photocopied them like the criminals we are lol)

[yamayuandadu]

Hello! I've read your post about the ten kings of hell dating from a couple years ago, and i was wondering if there were any sources you'd recommend on the topic? To tell the truth, I've been watching the Hozuki no Reitetsu anime lately, and having studied art history, it made me interested in the iconography of the kings of hell in Japan, ancient and modern, and especially if said iconography ended very codified, ie each king with features that made them recognizable (following on next ask)

(second part of previous ask) To give a specific example, There is a joke in Hozuki no Reitetsu about king Jotai having red clothes and a beard making him look like santa claus, and i'm really wondering whether 1) it is a complete invention from the author 2) popular modern iconography tend to represent him that way 3) one or more ancient sources paint him that way, but it's obscure-ish knowledge and it is not part of the common cultural references most modern japanese people have (end of previous asks) Anyway, thank you for your post that was very interesting! I also hope i managed to convey my points clearly enough to be comprehensible (also I meant king Sotei, the third king of the underworld, and not king Jotei as I think i mistakenly said)

Oh hey, I did watch the same anime at some point, I think there might even be some remnants of a liveblog... somewhere. I think the manga's style was more charming from what little I've seen of it tbh. Enma and Miki were the best characters from what I remember. Anyway, onto the actual question. I do not think there is anything like distinct iconography of any of the kings other than Enma, Taizan and Godo - doesn't help their origins are pretty nebulous, too. All three of these who do have pretty distinct appearance were already worshiped before the notion of ten kings even arose - Yama/Yanluo/Enma is self-explanatory, Taishan/Taizan is obviously the divine representation of mount Tai, and Wudao/Godo was initially a figure in "apocryphal" Chinese accounts of the historical Buddha's life whose precise origin is uncertain. Taizan is unique in that he is the source of the original variant of the judge uniform all ten are usually depicted wearing, Enma in Japan developed the unique red or otherwise outlandish appearance but I have no clue how since Chinese Yanluo doesn't seem to be portrayed differently from other kings. I am actually not sure if the unique iconography of Godo ever reached Japan, though - all the depictions where he looks distinct I've seen. like this one, are of Chinese Wudao... He's dressed like a military commander rather than a judge, which does reflect his role in these texts about the Buddha. I am not sure if we can really talk about codification, either, but this is a topic I am still researching rn, I will get back to this soon-ish since I have something related to this matter planned. As for Sotei's portrayal in the aforementioned anime: I do not think it's a pun on the name. Sotei(-o) goes back to earlier Chinese Songdi (Wang), a pretty straightforward name, "Emperor of Song"; I do not see much of a connection between Santa and this. I do not think 宋帝(王) looks anything like サンタ(クロース) so I doubt it's some sort of visual joke of this sort, though do not quote on this. The most famous painting of Sotei is without a doubt this one, where he actually is depicted in a red robe. Not sure about the beard. I would say that given the painting's modern esteem it's fair to say it's as close to a "canonical" iconography as you can get...? The only other modern media portrayal of him I am aware of isn't really similar though (it's from the weird 2007 Gegege no Kitaro adaptation). And note that there are other depictions of Sotei (or his Chinese forerunner) in all sorts of robes. I think one of the papers I linked in my original post shows him in white robes, actually. I am really not sure what the joke here might be, I think the gimmicks assigned to some of the kings in Hoozuki no Reitetsu were entirely the idea of the author tbh, especially since most of them were one note joke characters. I am going to look into whether there's anything newer on the Ten Kings than what the bibliography of the old post has to offer, I will update the post if something unexpected shows up.