#this is so target audience of 1 I'm sorry but like i read that and this came into my mind fully formed

[juicywizards]

what if you watched a show and it was so bad and you never got over it

[shuttershocky]

Do you have a dislike for media universes that "rewards" people for watching/reading all of it in general?

Or do you think there is one that executes that idea well?

I'm answering this 5 months late, but I'm pretty sure I still remember this ask being prompted by a post making fun of the MCU.

Do I dislike story universes that reward people for reading all of it? Not at all. I mean, I'm a fan of both Middle Earth and Star Wars, I fucking love big, big universes with plenty of stories in them. When they intersect in some small way it's a delight to me, I love those little personal winks from the author for having read their other works or recognizing the most obscure names only a nerd would know.

However, there's a difference between a little reference in a story meant for people who can connect the dots, and making something almost required reading for your enjoyment. It's the difference between an acknowledgement from the creators that you liked the setting enough to come back for a new yet familiar ride, and a company realizing they've found their cash cow and can't wait to milk it for all its got until it's dead.

And dead the cash cow will be, eventually. It's been said before that the reason why the Big Two of western comics have ceded more and more ground to manga over the years is that Spider-Man has 10 different starting points while Naruto starts with Volume#1. That's not just a funny joke. Onboarding new readers has genuinely been Marvel and DC's problem for decades, which is why it was both incredibly predictable yet shocking all the same that this is what the MCU turned itself into.

Sure, early on you could ask the audience to watch a couple movies before the big Avengers crossover, but now they've got all these TV shows on top of the movies that you have to watch in order to "catch up", and it's not even about the cool characters anymore. More and more of their fanbase is going to stop caring once the barrier of entry gets too high, and it's ridiculous to me that Marvel went this road with their movies when they know this is what happened to their comics first.

I mean, are you serious, their next big bad is Kang? I am not watching several TV shows and an Ant-Man movie that's somehow worse than the second one all to see how the currently left Avengers meet goddamn Kang the Conqueror. He's in both the TV shows and the movies, which means they're somehow giving Kang more buildup screentime than Thanos. Why? Either I've been extremely out of touch with Marvel comics or the MCU picked a wild choice to headline their next billion dollar franchise when Doctor Doom is actually available to them now and barely needs an introduction.

Sorry, got lost for a bit. Back on topic, yeah I know I know, all art right now exists under capitalism which means every setting that becomes a wider story universe is an author trying to milk their existing fanbase. Whenever a creator makes a thing that I like, and then announces they have a new thing set in the same setting as their first thing but isn't a direct sequel so they can keep gaining a new audience while keeping their existing one, I know I'm being suckered in.

Just, don't make it so blatant. And don't make it so hard. I am the exact target audience for these shenanigans and even I'm starting to feel like it's homework because it's all fucking required now.

If I, a lifelong Star Wars fan, want to watch the newest Star Wars thing, I have to see a hundred hours of other Star Wars media first. If I want to watch The Mandalorian Season 3, I can't just have seen Season 1 and 2, oh no, I have to also see The Book of Boba Fett too, because halfway through that show became The Mandalorian Season 2.5. Well I did see Boba Fett, and the combination of my dislike for turning it into required homework AND the show itself just being kinda dogshit meant I never touched season 3 of the Mandalorian. That show used to be so great because it wasn't tied down to any existing story arcs or characters, so it stood on its own and made for an amazing watch no matter how much Star Wars you've actually seen. And then it succeeded and so had to become the new spine for the entirety of Disney Star Wars afterward. Fuck. Now if I want to watch their latest show Ahsoka, I have to have seen the Clone Wars animated series AND Rebels, because the Rebels cast are in it too! I mean I did see Clone Wars and Rebels, but that still sucks!

That makes me worried now! Andor was also really fucking good and it stood on its own so hard you didn't even need to see Rogue One, the movie that introduced Cassian Andor in the first place. But now that season 1 was a success and everyone sang its praises, it certainly means season 2 is suddenly going to get real cramped with Ahsoka and Luke Skywalker and whatever guys are currently alive in its timeframe. Shit, they're probably gonna add Cal Kestis in season 2 of Andor. The Respawn Star Wars games are still doing their own thing which means it's time to connect to something else.

I hate what all this has become. It was fun to read the Silmarillion and see what kind of fuckery one family of elves got up to that eventually turned Sauron from minion to big evil eye parked next to evil mountain, but you didn't need to read all that before The Lord of the Rings. LOTR didn't assume you knew anything at all (and oh boy did Tolkien never miss an opportunity to explain shit).

Let me repeat. I am the target audience. I live for the ridiculously nerdy habit of reading things set in the same universe as other things and connecting all the dots. If /I/ feel like it's become homework, I can't imagine what the average person thinks of all this. Make it stop. Stop running everything I once loved into the ground in the name of endless profit. Star Wars was already doing this to itself before the Disney acquisition and yet it didn't feel this bad.

[luna-rainbow]

I'm sorry if this is an odd question. I'm new to the Steve/Bucky fandom and only recently started reading fics relating to them. How come most fics tend to favor Peggy and write her to be a sympathetic character? Most of the fandom that I've interacted with agree that Peggy isn't a good person (SHIELD and Hydra as well as her behavior with Steve in CFA) and wouldn't be a good match for Steve. I've loved all the fics for the love b/w Steve/Bucky but the sympathetic writing of Peggy has irked me

Thanks for the ask!

I came into fandom pretty late so I missed a lot of that, but I’m told Peggy has always been pretty popular in the Stucky fandom.

I think her popularity comes from a number of reasons — 1) lack of other female characters at the time, 2) easy to project onto, 3) a reluctance to tackle her negative traits.

At the time when Stucky’s popularity exploded, there weren’t a lot of female characters in the MCU. There were Pepper and Jane, both of whom were passive watchers and “civilian counterparts” to the main character's heroic enterprise. Peggy was a rare Phase 1 love interest that seemed to be present and at least somewhat handy with a gun. People were more forgiving of unfavourable character moments — and just coming from the movies alone, you could bend the narrative to ignore most of those unfavourable moments.

Which leads me to the second point, which I think is the most important one. The vagueness with which Peggy is written makes her an incredibly useful “blank” character to project onto. Firstly, her mannerisms are forceful and assertive, and the superhero genre target audience is one who likes to watch things being resolved by fights. As I said above, at the time there really isn't any other female character (apart from Nat) for the female audience who likes action heroes. Secondly, Peggy and Nat form the madonna-whore dichotomy (especially with Whedon’s characterisation), and a lot of people would prefer to project onto the fandom madonna than the whore. Thirdly, she has very little character traits within the movies apart from “strong-willed” and maybe “ambitious”, which gives a lot of flexibility to how writers can play with her character. Fourth, the fact that her appearances in the movies only ever occur in Steve’s company (except the later cameos) gives a misattribution of narrative proximity, with a lot of fans believing (especially if they haven’t revisited the source in years) that she was a more important narrative force than she actually was. But that same narrative proximity is appealing if you want to project onto a female character who can participate in Steve’s adventures and you don’t like Nat or Sharon or an OC.

And the third point I think is the trickiest part. Does fandom misogyny exist? Of course it does, especially in the MCU. But misogyny is also flung around as an accusation against fans who make genuine critiques of a character or want to write a nuanced female character that acknowledges her negative traits. Someone once dumped a 1500 word rant in my comments because I omitted Peggy from a Stucky meta, so you can imagine how much her rabid fans would arc up if you are actually critical.

Besides, writing a nuanced character takes effort and planning and a lot of hard work. I know for myself unless I plan to tackle Peggy as a fully-fledged character, I'd either omit her from the story or give her a very minor role that is not overtly critical, because it's just not worth the effort of the argument in the notes.

[rogueddie]

Movie AU Steddie Fics

Important: READ THE TAGS! Also, leave a comment and kudos! These fics are amazing and I love them and I hope y'all do too 📼

Free Hawkins

CassieWater354, Dandyfello

It started as a simple passion project. A discovery of what was possible with simple code. Eddie had been the one to bring it up to Steve. "The AI could be like, ALIVE dude!" He explained excitedly. Steve looked on in confusion, "Like they simulate emotions and personalities and are like real people but they're code!!"

A few more hours of erratic explaining later and Steve agreed. Well, he agreed to begin with but it was nice to see Eddie so excited. Steve loved his computer science class and it didn't fail him as Eddie rang off ideas, Steve created them and Eddie made it all look good. A well-oiled machine. It was hardly near completion but with the complexity and beauty of it they realized it to test and build interest, and funds wouldn't be so bad either. It was a hit, a huge hit. They did interviews, got a lot of hype and attention and it was mostly positive feedback. Mostly.

Words : 12,015 Chapters : 10/10 Rating : Teen And Up Audiences

AO3 : x

Who's Sorry Now

BatCatMooney63

Hawkins is like any place in small town America, quaint, quiet, and full of secrets. Murders, disappearances, unsolved cases swept under the rug of normalcy for the sake of security.

But it all gets ripped away one night when Chrissy Cunningham answers the phone to find herself talking to a mysterious voice. Which sets off a chain of events that truly reveals the line between good and evil.

Words : 51,160 Chapters : 8/8 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

Asking You to Love Me

chattrekisses

Steve is a famous actor. Eddie runs a game store. After an incident involving orange juice, an unlucky romance blossoms between them. Notting Hill AU.

Words : 22,397 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : Explicit

AO3 : x

Fate's Fool

callcalliope

Sometimes true love is interrupting your own concert to chase the hot vampire watching in the audience.

Words : 1,285 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

Episode I - Something happens and I'm head over heels

vaderstheme

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Words : 6,773 Chapters : 1/1 Rating : General Audiences

AO3 : x

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts.

Imnotcreativesotakethisname

After winning tickets for the R.M.S. Titanic in a very "lucky" game of poker, Edward "Eddie" Munson and his friend because third class passengers on Titanic.

Words : 18,449 Chapters : 10/10 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

beetlesandstars, witchjeons

“It’s a feeling, a heartbeat,” Eddie murmurs one night, pressing a hand over his own heart. “Like this. Gu-gung, gu-gung.”

Steve snorts, before copying Eddie.

Tapping away, Eddie steps closer. “Don’t try so hard,” he says softly, taking Steve’s hand, moving it to rest over his own chest.

Words : 27,880 Chapters : 6/7 Rating : Explicit

AO3 : x

A Shadow Is Cast Wherever They Stand

BritChick91

“You should think more about whether you’d survive a horror movie. You never know when you might find yourself… in one.”

When the phone rings for Chrissy Cunningham in October 1996, it starts a wave of murders in the sleepy town of Hawkins. Who is Ghostface? And who is their next target?

Words : 23,713 Chapters : 9/9 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

Sincerely Yours

WickedVixen

When a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal are forced to spend a whole Saturday in detention together, there's no telling how horribly wrong the day will go. Tensions are high, especially with the added stressor of power-hungry Principal Higgins breathing down their necks. Will the teens manage to make it through the full nine hours unscathed? Will they come to resent one another, even more so than some of them already do? Or will they become unlikely acquaintances? Will new friendships be forged? Perhaps a few...more-than-friendships?

Who's to say? After all, stranger things have happened.

Words : 41,252 Chapters : 10/10 Rating : Mature

AO3 : x

[yuesya]

I'm eager to hear your complaints about Fontaine's last story segment.

Haha Fontaine complaints! (Cracks knuckles)

Also: Spoilers ahoy! If you’re someone who plays Genshin Impact and has not finished the Fontaine archon quests, then I do not recommend reading any of this.

I’d also like to add: Fontaine’s main story definitely had some bright spots for me, and there were various scenes and tidbits that I enjoyed. That said, I also had several complaints by the end of it all. This entire thing also... got pretty lengthy, whoops.

… Anways! Without further ado:

1) Furina’s Trial

Personally, I am not a fan of the way that Furina’s trial was handled.

Firstly, the setup involved in luring Furina into their initial trap: The boat/house that was transported to the opera house courtroom. This was accomplished through psychological torment and manipulation, in which people were purposefully incited into targeting her.

When the walls eventually fall down around Furina and reveal her standing inside the stage of the courtroom, the Traveler has a line somewhere around there when she tells Furina that she had her last chance to come clean with her secrets to them, right before these walls came down. Here, I just wanted to ask –clearly there was already a full house in the audience seating, and they literally brought Furina onstage. Even if Furina did decide to come clean in those last few moments, what were they expecting to do? “… Hey everyone, sorry there’s no trial happening after all! You can all go home now, the show’s over!”

Moreover, the trial itself. Furina was driven into a corner and put on the spot, and she was publicly grilled and humiliated in front of an audience. The Primordial Seawater test was also… just, why would you do that? Bringing in a harmful substance and forcing someone to test it on themselves in front of an audience? Sure, it might’ve been diluted to a ‘safe’ level. But instead of just saying that and informing Furina that a Fontaine person would show corresponding symptoms anyways, Traveler & Navia chose to present it to Furina as a lethal substance. Aside from causing mental anguish, I fail to see the point of it.

“But this trial is necessary! Furina won’t tell us what’s going on otherwise.”

Alright, then let’s just commit to that. It’s necessary for everyone to take on an antagonistic role in order to drag Furina to court and make the truth come to light.

But can’t we still… address things, in the aftermath? You can argue that Traveler & co. were trying to act for the ‘greater good.’ The fate of Fontaine was at stake. Still, even if the tactics used in bringing Furina to court and trialing her were necessary, lying and manipulating and gaslighting someone is not the right thing to do.

Except does anyone properly acknowledge that in the aftermath? Is there anyone who admits that this is a terrible thing they’ve done, and makes that clear? Did anyone apologize to Furina for forcing her through such a traumatizing experience? (Side-eyes Paimon in Furina’s character quest.)

Nah, instead we just save a country and give ourselves a pat on the back for doing a great job.

Happy Ending!

2) Focalors’ Death

I want to preface this by saying that I understand Focalors is the Hydro Archon, so in order to get rid of the Hydro Throne her death was probably inevitable, from a godly perspective.

From a human perspective, however, Focalors is innocent. She was not the one who committed the original ‘sin’ of using the power of the Primordial Sea to turn Oceanids into pseudo-humans. And yet she is the one who must pay for it. The only resolution we have to this is that Furina now gets to live her life freely as a human. Now, it might just be me, but for all that Furina was split off and created from Focalors’ humanity, the two of them are essentially seem to be two separate, different beings.

3) Humans vs. Gods

Thematically, Fontaine’s story seems a little mismatched when compared with the other regions.

In Mondstadt, its people play an active role, as seen in how the Knights of Favonius (and Diluc) join Venti in helping Dvalin and restoring peace.

In Liyue, we see the people stepping out from the gods’ purview. With the ‘death’ of Rex Lapis, the Qixing declare that the age of humanity has come, and it’s the people of Liyue working together towards a new future.

Inazuma has people literally fighting a war and rebelling against their archon; in the end, Raiden hears the cries of her people and she is the one who changes, in response to her people’s hopes.

In Sumeru, Nahida is locked up by her people (the Sages) but also saved by her people (Alhaitham, Cyno, Nilou, etc.) And in the fight against false god!Scaramouche, Nahida connects the Traveler to her Akasha terminal (?) and literally uses the collective wisdom of all of Sumeru’s people to assist in the fight.

For all four of these regions, it’s the people who step up and play important roles in resolving their respective nations’ crises.

In Fontaine, we do see its people also tackling various problems –Navia with her Spina di Rosula, Wriothesley and his flying ship– but in regards to the most important issue that’s the ominous prophecy hanging over their heads?

Neuvillette, a Dragon Sovereign, is the one who saves Fontaine’s people from Primordial Seawater by turning them fully into regular humans. Focalors, the Hydro Archon, executes herself in order to give Neuvillette the power to do so –and that’s not even mentioning her meticulous plan to fool Celestia, and the 500 years of silent suffering that Furina endured.

Focalors’ sacrifice is essentially what saves Fontaine, in the end. Divine intervention.

4) Meropide Detective Arc

This is a lot more minor, but it feels like we spend a lot of time running in Meropide looking for clues and learning about useless things that didn’t play any significant role towards the main plot of the archon quest.

You spend days and days running around the prison, and in the end you find out it’s only important because Wriothesley wants to test your observational skills. My dude, that is really not the most important thing here!

Personally, I think Sigewinne’s thing with cooking suspicious-looking food would’ve made a better character quest than a side tangent in the main story. I don’t even remember what the betting ring was about anymore.

I think I would’ve liked a stronger focus on what we originally came there to look for –investigating Childe’s disappearance– which might’ve wrapped up the jail arc a lot quicker, true. But maybe we could’ve gone back and spent more time with Furina instead? Maybe discover for ourselves that Furina is hiding things, and talk to her more, get to know her better? … It would provide more context and an extra ‘oomph’ for the upcoming Furina Trial, at the very least.

5) Powerscaling?

Okay this is definitely a LOT more minor, but. Powerscaling. It feels like things just escalated very, very quickly in Fontaine.

Childe. We know he’s strong, we fought him back in Liyue. Except Neuvillette crushes him in his Abyss form in, what. Less than a second?

Eventually, we encounter Skirk at the end. We find out that the space whale responsibly for nearly destroying Fontaine is just her master’s “pet,” which implies a whole other level of terrifying power that exists out there, along with whatever faction Skirk happens to be a part of.

It would be cool if we get to learn about Skirk more in the future, but overall there seems to be a lot of higher power appearing after higher power in Fontaine. Maybe that's just me, though.

[i-write-things]

What your favorite form of fanfic says about you:

(This is a joke and probably not 100% accurate, but I'm going to phsycho-analyze every aspect anyway. I am NOT a liscensed therapist, just the therapist friend of the group, and also pretty good at reading people and figuring them out. But if this is all true about y'all, please, talk to someone!)

Hurt/comfort-

Who hurt you? (your parents) Because someone did, and you're seeking the comfort/apology you should have gotten, but never received. As someone whose favorite genre is hurt/comfort, I might be projecting just a teensy weeny bit. but still, that doesn't take away from the fact that I know the majority of y'all have been hurt, phsycially and/or emotionally, by someone who was supposed to protect you. So you probably have daddy and/or mommy issues. Probably some relationship issues, too. Sorry if this is a triggering realization, just what I think. Anyways, my message to you would be STOP. 👏 LETTING. 👏 PEOPLE. 👏 WALK. 👏 ALL. 👏 OVER. 👏 YOU! 👏 I know you're either a people pleaser deep down, or it's very obvious and surface level, and I know this is hypocritical but whatever. Know your worth! Please!

Fluff-

This could either mean 1 of 3 things:

You sweet summer child, you. You've never met a day of violence and was trapped in a safety bubble all your life, and you can't even look at something awful happening in real life. Those ASPCA commercials have a target audience, and that is YOU. And does it work? Absolutely.

You've been neglected in your childhood or past relationships, so you're clinging to every bit of a sweet moment that you never got. This probably also bleeds into your relationships, so you're either super clingy, or push everyone away because you don't want to be hurt if you get neglected first. (If that is you, STOP DOING THAT! You are beautiful, loved, worth people's time, and not everyone is going to neglect you! And if they do find someone who won't. And not someone who isn't real. I know I write fanfics, but still.)

You just read the most heart wrenching, gut kicking angst of your life and you need some tooth rotting fluff to heal you because that hurted. (Why do you do this to yourself? I think it's unhealthy at this point...)

Angst/Hurt no comfort

No. Nuh uh. I don't fuck with y'all. there is some serious shit going on in that brain I'm not sure I wanna unload, but all I know is you need to seek a deeper therapy than me. I'll try to figure out what's going on, but this is gonna sound made up, and that's because I'm winging it at this point with little evidence other than a loose theory.

Ahem. You, and don't get mad at me, crave drama. And not because your a bitch who likes to see others suffer, (which you might be, but I'll just give you benefit of the doubt) and say that, once again, it leads back to your upbringing and past relationships trauma. Basically, I think that during your childhood/past relationships, there was so much drama(and trauma) going on that you can't move on, so now this hurt is normal to you, and your clinging to what is familiar. My message to you? No. NUH UH. Stop that. If your going to cling to what is familiar, try all the positive things, and not the shit that kills you inside.

Either that, or you're a masochist. JK! don't kill me!

(Bug me for part II)

-Pen, out!

[ethicstownpod]

I've just updated the general 'tag to use if you don't want your post shared' post, but since that won't be seen in the main tag I'm making this separate update too.

People (well, currently one person) are starting to write/share fanfic and that's so cool! I can only imagine a slight uptick in this once S2 airs, as you actually get to hear Adults Interacting and if I know AD folks you like to get shippy!

So here's our unofficial-official statement on fanfic:

I won't be reading any fanfic. I am so, so appreciative that it's being written but 1. I am not the target audience and 2. Whilst I can't see things getting legally dicey it's better safe than sorry.

However, this is a very small but tenacious fandom and I want to help you get your art out there! I'm more than happy to share fanfic from this blog.

The caveat: I will not share anything more NSWF than the show gets. So mild gore, existentialism, character death, corruption etc. as well as things like moderate profanity, and fade-to-black intimacy are all perfectly share-able. I will never, ever (god forbid) try to stop you writing anything more explicit, nor do I mean to imply it's a lesser form of art. But I want people to be able to expect the same from our socials as they do from the show.

If you do not want your fic shared you can always ask us to remove reblogs, or use the keepyoursecrets tag (in conjunction with regular show tags), which we have blocked. It's our last reblog prior to this post if you'd like to check it out in full.

If one day our audience grows to the size where you're getting plenty interaction simply from the tag I'll likely stop sharing fics. But until then I just want you guys to feel appreciated for your hard work - it really helps the show get noticed!

[hero-israel]

I'm really trying not to panic.....but it's starting to feel more and more difficult to be openly Jewish and have a career in the arts. (I say this as an American Jew in the arts.) It feels like in ten years, if I don't basically commit to being a performatively self-hating Jew as hard as I can, I will have a fuck of a time finding an agent, collaborators, editors, etc -- all those things that make an actual career possible. Especially if I make literally any art about being Jewish. And what gets me is, I'm mixed race. Everyone is fucking desperate for me to perform the "less Jewish" (as they see it) part of me. It's complicated, people are still racist, but in many ways, they want this part. But if I discuss the other....it's not just that they're not interested/no one will pick it up. It's that now, it feels like it's putting a target on my back. Maybe no one will say "wow you filthy fucking Jew" out loud rn if I just make something about Jewish identity that totally sidesteps Israel, but 1. enough of them will think it, and 2. it means everyone will be hungry for ways to be like "oh? Jewish? okay so what are your thoughts on Israel? Are you okay with what's happening in Israel? Or are you a decent person???" Again, rn, maybe they won't say it....but I know people will think it. And enough will say it. And if I ever dare to discuss modern antisemitism in the most anodyne way, I will be completely suspect. The terrible irony is, I work in the comics industry. You know. That one that American Jews fucking built from the ground up.

I am so sorry you are going through that. It is prejudiced, tormenting, and unfair. And it's hard to think of anything I could say that would help. Are there Jewish peers in the industry you could reach out to - someone who could mentor you or at least who has a receptive agent already?

As you said, it is especially maddening to see shit like this happen in an industry that was invented by Jews. Though I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, since the increasingly antisemitic political Left borrows its entire worldview and moral vocabulary from Jewish history and persecution.

Even major comic companies have had recent scandals concerning antisemitic tropes, and as far as the "indie" comic scene, forget it, it's all Joe Sacco or Eli Valley or just acres and acres of snarky snot and clueless tourists finding Judaism alienating and weird or bashing it to rebel against their parents. Jewish people aren't allowed to just exist, we always owe the audience a moral reading at the end, and our deaths aren't necessarily bad if they send the right message.

It is terrible that this rising prejudice is combining with the latent snotty attitudes that had already existed in the industry to add stumbling blocks to your career, and your sense of safety. I earnestly hope you can find trustworthy mentors and agents and that you are able to work around this.

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Remove Problematic CCs

Section 1 part 2

Charlie's Problematic past

Charlie did in fact apologizes as stated before, I'll give them the tiniest bit of credit, sometime they get it right, but as for using it in his apology, I'm sorry that's stupid, he censored the word firstly and did so to make it Clear what word he said.

But hey it's kinda ironic isn't it, how the non English side was getting drag for the N word and Now Charlie for the B word.

Full fuckin circle.

Also I hate when people say only blank is allowed to forgive, I disagree, you can accept someone's apology if you're not the targeted audience JUST DON'T GO TWITTER AND RANTING ABOUT HOW YOU FORGIVE THEM you can forgive just don't talk about it.

It's weird behavior to say, oh it's not your place to forgive them, public statements are made for a reason, don't make people feel guilty for forgiving someone.

Quaickty has a lot of things on him from his early YouTube days, let me say me and big Q are the same age and I was watching him as a teen laughing along, if I wasn't mature enough to see the error on his behavior I can't except him to.

He did however apologizes

Okay lighting round

Veggeta allegedly made fun of Non binary people he has yet to apology. (I say allegedly because the account posting proof was deleted and now all we have is hearsay)

Take with a tablespoon of salt.

Carré made fun of an Asian who raid him I have yet to see an apology

Fitmc interacted with the dubed "racism mobs" and got called racist as a result, He has not apologize.

OK I need y'all to stay with me on this don't jump to anything let me explain, Which is one of the reason I decided to do this draft.

(SEE REBLOG FOR UPDATE)

Cellbit keeps catching strays for being an "Abuser", now here's the thing. He WAS a toxic boyfriend, that was over Seven years ago, since then he's seen a psychiatrist and moved on to a relationship with Lore and the victim doesn't want it brought up anymore.

Tô call Him am Abuser seems a little misleading because it make it sound like he hit her, it was emotional abuse yes that's still abuse and just as important but like they're is a moral difference right?

I chopped these up together because he says a lot and image limit, but I hope I get the point across

I'll leave a link for you can read it yourself.

[smallfrenchstudyblr]

ahh i should have clarified that i myself don't have a degree (yet). i'm not from an academically inclined background so when i didn't do well in my first two semesters of university (i failed some classes and only barely passed others), i got very discouraged and saw it as a sign that university is just not for someone like me. i then learned a trade and have been working in the field; but i'm interested in going to university as a mature student and i'm going to apply this year for a BA :)

still, precisely because i don't have a degree it really upsets me that someone who used the chatGPT shortcut is a teacher now. teaching high school students is an academic profession, and it doesn't sit right with me how common it is for teachers to say things like "i learned so much useless stuff in university; none of which i need as a teacher"; it's actually really frustrating. then why do you go to university/become a teacher? ??? ????? (i mean i know why, because it pays well here.)

in our country, MA/MSc degrees are required for a lot of positions, so grad school isn't quite as "you're here because you choose to be" but still.. his sentiment is basically, since he teaches high school students it should just be sufficient to be able to teach them, what’s the point of a thesis? like ok with that sort of logic i could have been a teacher with just a high school certifcate. i think tbh there is a wider discussion here about how people just don’t value knowledge too.

he also later said that he sometimes regrets not just paying someone to write it for him and save himself a lot of time and trouble 💀to me that is just the epitome of being so full of yourself. he has just decided that he has what it takes to be a teacher and making him write a thesis is a waste of time because of that. lmao??

also I would like to point out that this guy is not my friend, just someone i met through a mutual friend (and they’re not exactly friends either, they work together💀) i talked about this with my friend and she said that he isn't even the first person she knows who has casually admitted to using chatGPT like this. i guess they feel emboldened to casually admit to cheating because they know that their peers won't report them because that would then make them look like snitches

i'm sorry about venting like this to you; i just remembered that you spoke about the chatGPT problem before

Well first of all: fingers crossed for your BA applications !! Everyone got at their own pace, sometimes you need a few years to figure out how to best approach University!!

That is indeed upsetting that someone who does not value critical thinking and does not understand the point of research/research writing is teaching now. "I don't need it anyway/I did so much useless stuff at school/Uni" is such a dumb. dumb. Argument.

Like, I had to study German and Spanish and Latin and theology. I took the equivalent of AP biology and physics in school and learned how to use a soldering iron and identify rocks. I learned Roman Law, and company insolvency rules, and the procedure to contest a refusal to grant you a construction permit. During my PhD, I had to become proficient in advanced data-driven research methods and 2 different code languages. NONE OF THAT has anything to do with me job, whatsoever. I teach students about the International Court of Justice and some of them are Literature and History majors. I KNOW that their dazzling knowledge in embeddedness theories of international adjudication is NOT what will get them a job.

But it's not about the raw knowledge, it's about

1. Transferable skills: targeted reading, critical thinking, information gathering, writing for different audiences, time management, group work, self-reflection, project management, conflict resolution...

2. Learning how to learn: adapting to new situations, new rules and new logics; switching from one type of reasoning to another; picking up on new practices, new skills, as fast as possible, knowing how YOU best do that: on your own, with friends, listening, writing, visuals, with cues, independently, by teaching...

3. Putting your future work (and honestly, yourself as a person) in a broader context: knowing what the ICJ is to spot dumb and wrong info when you see it. Knowing that it MATTERS that we know different types of rocks, and therefore we should fund research on geology. Knowing quantitative research methods to know when they are used well and when it's bullshit. Knowing that Latin shaped some languages and not others, to understand the limits of translation itself. Knowing how 'generative' AIs work to understand that there is very little about them that is actually 'generative'.

I would evening argue that just being confronted with the sheer vastness of Things and Knowledge and Fields that are not yours has value in and of itself. It keeps you humble, aware that no matter how much you are knowledgeable on your one (1) thing, in the back of your mind, there is the knowledge that there is much, much knowledge you actually do not have and cannot claim to have. OR, in the wise words of Dan Olson on CryptoBros, to avoid being the kind of person that:

"assume that because they understand one complicated thing [...] all other complicated things must be lesser in complexity and naturally lower in the hierarchy of reality"

[yousei-no-mori]

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san - Rant

I am currently watching season 2 and I have some thoughts (about both seasons).

First of all why did I start watching this anime? Erm... So I know what the target audience is, it's people who self insert as Naoto and want to date Nagatoro. As for me? Oh, it's the other way around. I think Naoto is cute and I want to bully him. I thought maybe my female friends were similar but the only friend I have who read the manga wants to make out with Nagatoro. Sorry, I forgot lesbians exist.

Uh, anyway yeah Naoto is cute and I want to be Nagatoro. Not sure if girls like me watching this was intended since these anime are usually made for lonely dudes, lol. Anyone else feel like me though?

The scrunkly.

Okay, so, my thoughts on season 1... Lemme check the episodes to bring back my memory a little bit, as I watched that to calm down from the stress that is social work during last Winter.

The first two episodes made me really scared to watch this series, for real. Nagatoro just straight up mentally tortured Naoto, and not in the hot way. I felt really bad for him because I know what it's like to be the shy nerd kid. Anyways at around episode 3, I think, Nagatoro starts showing her softer side more. And she hardcore crushes on Naoto.

The dynamic between Nagatoro and Naoto is really cute in my opinion, even if it is very simple. Nagatoro has her first crush because she finally found a guy that doesn't bore her to death but she doesn't know how to handle it so she bullies the fuck out of him. Naoto is pretty much the opposite? He doesn't really realize how much he likes Nagatoro sometimes and thinks he would rather not be around her. He tries to manage that by fighting her off in which classic anime romcom things happen. You know the "Holy crap you did something on accident, PERVERT!" thing, except it sometimes works really well. Maybe it's just because I think both of them are really cute, but I like when they have their little "Oh god, we both fucked up" moments.

Then there's the more obvious romance aspects and they're by far my favorite. The momens of honesty and the cute glances... Yep, they're adorable. I don't want to give away too much, sorry. Just know it's, in my opinion, the best thing in the series.

I don't care for the side characters by the way, but they can be enertaining when they point out how obviously both of our main characters are trying to "prove" that they don't like each other. They're the audience, the "just kiss already!" guys.

Also funny face cute. I like when she snaps. I like her. The cutesy. Okay no, for real, I love when Naoto and Nagatoro support or protect each other when they really need it. They can be a bitshitty towards each other sometimes but in the end they're actually kinda... healthy? Like Nagatoro is creepy but I love when the girl is a creep instad of the guy, since Naoto is actively watching out not to disturb Nagatoro. And how she will constantly accuse him of being a creep makes sense later when you realize that she's actually much worse than him, lol.

Okay let's get to season 2, since I keep using too many screencaps of that season anyway.

Oh boy, another anime studio took over with season 2 (now OLM, before it was Telecom) and it's very noticeable. The animation is stiff and sometimes just straight up doesn't move right, the art is a lot more bland, in season 1 there were a lot of beautiful warm colors and lineart, and the voice direction is very strange... That and also our main characters seem to regress a bit? Now being overly flustered over small things that they would've been fine with in season 1? I get it, they're supposed to be cute and awkward but it's the classic romcom regression...

I'm in the middle of watching season 2 and sadly the things I loved in season 1 just aren't that apparent anymore. It's still cute and I love Naoto and Nagatoro together, but I can hardly pay attention to that when Naoto is animated like Chargeman Ken.

^ little appreciation for the beautiful lighting in season 1!?

Anyway, Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san will forever be my biggest guilty-pleasure comfort anime and I'm only a little ashamed.

Love ya

[i-bring-crack]

This is very random, but on a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate the Solo Leveling characters in terms of hotness

Hi sorry for the long wait and long analysis post this is going to be!

Also you don't need to read all of it! It's fine! I put the pics there for a reason!

Well after this whole thing I can say that even I disagree with myself as to how I put them up on the scale, but its the best i could do. So there definetly might be disagreements bc I have to come clear about this:

I am in fact not attracted to fictional characters.

:0

Okay it's kind of sketchy, I'm attracted to their personalities more than the whole characteristic itself because *waves hands* well I'm just not into superficial physiques. I say they are hot, sexy and stuff like it's a normal thing for me to say, and because genuinely thats what they were drawn to do but honestly it's hard for me to be attracted to some that way, much less fictional characters. And if someone else says they are hot I be like "yup yes absolutely look at them hips! Face! Princess type!" While like, not caring at all. It's why my change of hotness is also never clear. I can say I like himbos just as I can say I like petite little girls to monster fukery. And it will all be true in the end because 1)fiction and 2)the more I write about them and inmerse myself in their story the more I feel like I have a certain connection to those characters which makes me ACTUALLY like them.

So biased opinion wise: they all a 10 fr (And Antares is a hella 11 he can fuck Ashborn ra—)

Anyways !

SL Scale by Sexyness!

First though, some general rules:

I don't think I might be able to put anyone 6/10 or lower, that kinda has to do with the fact that they were all meant to look good by the artists bc, well, they wanted everyone to be engaged in the characters.

I will try to base the Sexyness meter as a heriarchy of one another: like just because I put a character on 8 doesn't mean it's an 8/10 or but rather he is less sexy than the one at 9.

10s are at the very top of character design for me while 9s are somewhat less than 10s and 8s are less than 9s, like so.

Also I can only do like 10 people sadly bc photos don't let me get past 10, so I will do like 2 people on the tens, 2 on the 9s, 2 on 8s... and so forth until the 6.

Si like:

10— Perfect gender envy

9— God they are hot

8—sexy smexy

7— more cool than sexy

6— the vanilla kind of sexy

Really sexyness is pretty hard to describe for me bc everyone fits in their own way to something as long as they are like, clean. But at the same time sexyness does vary a lot by perspective alone and attractiveness in it of itself. I'm going crazy and I probably sound too off putting with this sorry! So imma start—

First off: The Tens

They may sound like honest default but honestly they also had the best jobs done characterization-wise because of how basic yet elegant they can be. In part, something that isn't too over the top but at the same time isn't too toned down which is what makes for that personal goal of being able to look like them or project on to them. The gender envy on them is real, especially because Solo Leveling took a lot of the elements of Isekai and with it came the "bland protagonist" trope. But when it transitioned to manwha the bland protagonist suddenly turned into someone you wanted to be: someone muscular and flexible, someone that shares the same looks as normal people but makes them attractive...

Also he looks like a K pop idol, and it's already wide known just how much they love those kinds of men.

So 10 out of 10.

And then there is Cha Hae In which is more towards the attractive "waifu" love part rather than a projection to one's self— like it can be, but it does take a lot of tastes with what the target audience for SL wants, i.e blonde and somewhat curvy but still skinny. Looks tall but still not too tall, long legs, at the last chapter she has a long hair which is also pretty sought out.

Also they can both pull off a masc and fem energy which is a bonus too bc they can reach more diversed looks! Androginy for real is really awesome in characters due to all the kinds of vibes than give off without being put of by their physique or thinking that it doesn't work well. Now I do think many aren't necessarily unattractive due to not wearing clothing asking by fashion standards. I mean, anyone thirsts over characters in a maid outfit, even the butchiest of muscular men, yet the change in fashion between men and women is still quite spaced out outside of Fandom circles or just cosplay circles as a whole, which is why an androgony kind of look that can go for both kinds of gender envy is quite seen as more sexy, at least in this chart.

Nines

Forgive me for adding a minor character but honestly I think Kanae Tawata's character seems to be one of the best for me! She tends to cover a lot of differences that CHI has the opposite off [black hair-Blonde, muscular- Thin, vibrant eyes- dull calm eyes, long hair- short] and at the same time it happens to look great on her, but what brings it down a point is probably the fact that she gives off more elegance than pure sexyness. I think the most elegance that is brought over is for the hime haircut that she has, but still she could pull of a 9.5 in other kinds of hairstyles too, like her and CHI really are close in terms of sexyness. (Also she excludes more dom vibes, where as Hae In is more sub and dom vibes what a versatile bitch i swear—)

I think the same could be said for Woo Jin Chul, the same terms for sexyness do apply despite also having various differences with Jin Woo in terms of appearance, but still manages to pull off his own kind of hotness in the same way, but once again his character also falls a lot more with the elegant type, this time I think it was more intentional since for the most part the clothes he wears are suits, longer sleeved shirts, and other more covered up clothes (what a slut) than like the rest of the characters.(what are you covering up for huh? So other men can take that off you? Hoe)

The Eights

Okay so why did I put resident sexiest characters of the seires at an eight? Am I blind? (yes, sexually) am I dumb?

But in all seriousness, I put down Zhigang up a notch not because I think he's unsexy, but rather, it's because of his hair *gets shot* wait hold on! I don't mean the length of his hair at all, that actually would put him on a firm 10 if I were to pick at random, but rather because of the whole messyness of it. In different aspects it does work, like the picture above, it's not much, it works well to describe his character and it genuinely does make him look like a diva, but it's also really hard to pull it off completely good, even for the artist. There are some panels where his hair is too long that it starts to look wrong on him or makes him look like a wild anime character (which I'm sorry it's a hard no 💀) so I'm fine with him having his beautiful long hair, I'm not fine with the way it tends to just poof out a lot that it tends to give it a worse look than before. He is still sexy, but there needs to be like a defined volume withing those strands please D": It can probably work even more if he let's his hair down too, that way the strands aren't too much to bare but the effect of it is still shown. The same goes for his built, that genuinely I don't know how it changes per season from stacked to thin. It does definelty have so.ething to do with black suits as said in this post, but when paired to Jin woo in other panels they also seem to have almost the same structure, which — I thought he would be around Thomas physique rather than Jin woo's, lmao he looks like a mix of both. Still men with long hair and those kinds of eyebrows are a big bonus which is why he isn't lowered. Although irl I don't know if that kind of look would attract normal people that aren't fans of cosplays or elves so :v.

As for Esil, I don't think she could pass for a lot of the sexyness tests, she might look the type of oh sexy demon vampire! But for me she had more characteristics that make her ought to be a more cute/naive type of character than a sexy one like in the rest of media. At first I think she does have a more kind of "sexy" considering all the sharp likes in her design, like the armor and the eye marks, but legit as she changes sides and puts on the black suit, suddenly the shape gets more rounder as she wears less padding that's sharp and also the huge offers a contrast that makes her look smaller and thus more innocent in the eyes of the viewer. I think that's funny but a great key design honestly considering her personality, because her appearance WAS the major factor of why she lived, the reason that Jin woo decided to spare her life despite being very tricky and a backstabber to both him and her race. Good on her fr. But yeah she was a good design overall as someone who is "cute" because if it was made sexy it will likely look more like a female-fatale as thus probably not pass as a good figure that keeps it word to Jin Woo. Sexyness after all is often times used in media as a way to stray others rather than repent since you don't see a lot of sexy characters who tend to be insecure or ashamed of themselves and instead use that beauty to its advantage. Esil wasn't that kind of character, she never tried to seduce him, she wanted to apologize for her actions, she fought him head on, she dragged him back to her home despite being unaware of his army in his shadows. All those things were why I focused on her being more cute than sexy. Also her big round eyes are more leaning towards cute and small than the cat like eyes of say Hae In and Kanae. The purple hair is a good factor on her though, and so are the fang teeth, red marks and eyes, and the long ears often associated with vamps. Still I think I prefer Esil more than the typical sexy vampire because– well the trope reversal! She gets to be someone that doesn't use her looks to lure but to show that she is a different species likewise.

Genuine attractiveness to these two because they are quite rare designs that i like the pop of it! Lou Zhigang does give me more danmei vibes but I love Esils kind of cuteness that takes away the sexy vamp trope.

The Sevenths

Let's start with Laura and her ability to just be cool right of the bat! And I think it catches that essence more than it does for Hae In. She does still have the same characteristics as her and can pull it off, but as the rest go downwards it's hard to describe if she's that much of a sexy idol. I think they just pull off more of a cool vibe than anything. Can she wear different kinds of outfits and pull it off? Yeah, but it would also take away her whole character of who she is which is more of a professional rather than a character that one could be interested in. Her appearance is also quite common within the US so it's not quite rare or unique as it is in the case of, well say, Hae In, so withing her location it's not quite as much of a stand out as it is in other places.

I do think the sense of elegance and normalcity also applies to Goto Ryuji. For different enjoyers it's definelty a 10 but in terms of sexyness by itself it's kind hard to pintpoint for me if it will be good top 10. Like the qualities are fine, he is sexy in his own right but when it goes to pull off a casual sexy (say a pair of short sleeves, normal wear) it doesn't fit his looks well. It's just... eh? Like my favorites parts of him was when he was with the armor and the suit on rather than the loose baggy t shirt and jacket he had when he fought jin woo.

Like for these two I don't immediently think "Oh god they are sexy" but more of a "Oh they are quite good looking, yet it seems they mostly are here to act professional." It works for Laura because that her whole main characteristic, it's not being attracted to anyone (Out of the few girls that appear in Solo Leveling too she also isn't one to thrist after Jin Woo, which thank you queen, I needed that. For that you and Kanae have my respect.) And mainly looking a things through a business perspective (while also having a sentimental side with Thomas, which is nice, it's not the "assistant having a crush on boss" trope it's rather the whole female-male platonic friendship that despite being business partners still feels somewhat real when the The "get along or worry about each other, again not for any kind of unspoken feelings but because they have been together for a long time as friends and coworkers")

It also works for Ryuji because their traits where to make people be fooled by their appearance. He seemed like someone who would be level headed and professional, but in fact was really resistant to thinking of others as better than himself and was very egotistical.

The Sixths

They both feel more like they would be the kind of love interests in Doramas especially in the way the get to dress themselves. I can see that some aspects would be sexy for Lennart if his hair was more of a wavy kind of look rather than a pure straight cut. The same I would probably say about Ju Hee, her aspects make her look more like cute-special kind of girl, especially with such bright colors like the orange hair and the blue eyes. There really isn't much for me to say about them as sexy but I think a lot of their characteristics could fit the the shy cute or pastel-sweetheart esthetic fro. Romcoms. For Juhee it's a given, she is bearly in her 20s, she is somewhat of a first friend trope, naturally scared and also a healer with soft features to represent her kind nature. For Lennart it's a small comparison of a cat like eyes due to his sharp sense of sight, but blonde look to represent its European, and since he is made out to be a small force compared to Thomas Andre (when facing against the Beast Monarch) the height and blue faint one-color palettes can make a good contrast to how colorful and big Thomas can be.

Um anyways than you for reading all of that, if you did... I really did like a lot of these character designs so it got me to be like this... :"v

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Oh my god the Mandalorian s3 decisions being a push to make Bo Katan more marketable for women makes so much sense.

I’ve been watching the flames of season 3 for afar wondering what possibly possessed them to sideline the wildly popular duo of Din and Grogu in favor of this Bo Katan stuff, aside from the obvious future content advertisement… it’s because it’s popular with women…

Like it’s a known pattern that corporations hate when something they’ve created aimed at men is disproportionately popular with women because they strive to keep a very distinct line between Boy things and Girl things. Anything Star Wars is for men, except the acceptable Girl Things like Leia and Padme and Asoka. But then the Mandalorian became wildly popular with women and they can’t just cancel a cash cow like the Mandalorian without milking everything they can from it so they’re like “well let’s bring in Bo Katan she’s for the Women now start making the toys”

I am so late to this but that meant time to simmer and seethe over Disney's decisions before and lately, and things I've read over the years about how corporations market to their target audiences, and how little things have changed.

I saw rumors and theories that KKKennedy (y'all sorry I keep calling her that but iykyk) meddled a LOT with The Mandalorian and Jon even threatened to quit, but at the end of the day the Mouse House has the final say and we're stuck with their decisions. I really don't know how the final numbers will look, how it'll affect their merch sales, and what it means for the future seasons of The Mandalorian. Maybe the hard pivot to redeem Bo-Katan for the bajillionth time will be the new cash cow or the canary in the coal mine (for The Mandalorian; I'm sure Ahsoka will be a hit no matter what). Maybe they gambled right or they've lost too many viewers who wanted Din and Grogu to be the heart and soul and center of this particular show. It's called The Mandalorian after all. If they want to claim that it could be any Mandalorian who's The Mandalorian of these season, then maybe Season 2 should've followed a different Mandalorian and established this before scamming us with Season 3. They were already trying that with TBOBF before having Din and Grogu steal the show.

But now that I've seen those rumors and theories, I could not fucking stop thinking about what happened when the ST was rolling out and when Rogue 1 and Solo came out. I could not stop thinking about the casting choices for Rey, Jyn, and Qi'ra, could not stop thinking about how white and brunette they were. I could not stop thinking about KKKennedy and others talking about how they wanted to bring more female fans to Star Wars, acting like Star Wars was exclusively a male space, which, what a fucking insult. I could not forget pictures of her wearing "The Force is Female" shirts and pushing this message so fucking hard that it would keep showing up in critical reviews of TLJ/TROS/ST as proof that Disney didn't know what it was doing.

Rey, Jyn, and Qi'ra were lucky to not have the kind of long history that Bo-Katan already had in the gffa by the time she made her live-action debut. It didn't take much to google her involvement in TCW and Rebels, and see what she'd done. I've seen commenters say she redeemed herself in Rebels by rallying the Mandalorians but are you sure about that? Are we still having trouble with writing redemption arcs after the fucking horrible one Disney put Kylo Ren through to the detriment of every other character not named Rey?

I wouldn't have minded Bo-Katan having greater involvement in Season 3 if she didn't basically take charge of not just the COTW but also the entire show. Watch out for the new merch of her with the Darksaber now. Probably the most we'll get out of Din is whatever happens to him in the season finale because Disney gotta make more money, amirite? Grogu got a new accessory so that Disney can sell new versions of him, so why not Din?

I truly envy the poeple who are having a good time or don't need to have these thoughts constantly in their heads while watching. I didn't have a good time and I can never turn those thoughts off. I don't have the luxury so I'm never shutting up about this.

ftr I unfollowed Okiro after the billionth time he called Din, Grogu, and Bo-Katan "Clan of Three". what the fuck had she done to earn equal footing?

[ritzcrackee]

fuck it every dimension 20 season ranked

1. a starstruck odyssey

... we all saw this coming. i don't even have anything to say that i haven't already sleep deprivedly rambled about to my friends. glittery space bitches go brrrrrr

2. the ravening war

AUOERGHHHHH the drama the violence the edge the politics the tragedy THE SHIPS!!!! truly just my favorite people (and matthew mercer i guess) playing my favorite character tropes. it's like they scanned my brain and generated a season based solely on what i would be the most autistic about.

3. misfits and magic

yippeeeee best friends and they like each other and are friends yayyyy

4. the seven

women <333 (but fr tho i just like watching teenage girls be messy and multifaceted)

5. a court of fey and flowers

look i just really like fae shit. fairy rainbow magic boys RISE UP 💪💪💪💪

6. a crown of candy

the little candy people are sad??? what the hell.... (no but this season started off SO STRONG!! would easily be my #1, but i feel like the latter half of the season dragged on and also felt rushed? idk still one of the top tier seasons)

7. fantasy high

i mean what can i say. a solid classic, bad kids live in my head RENT free, fig is my irl girlfriend, uhhhhh kissing them all forever.

8. mice and murder

love a good murder mystery <33. lars vandenchomp my BELOVED!!!

9. fantasy high sophomore year

sophomore year!!!! i feel like this season had some of the highest highs, but also a lot of the lowest lows. which is why it's in the middle of the list lol. the live format made it hard to follow a lot of the time, however, consider, i'm the crab king.

10. the unsleeping city: season 2

CODYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! between him, iga, and the spooky capitalism moment, i really liked this season. i just,,, haven't really thought about it much. did not stay in my head.

11. neverafter

love the characters, love the vibe, less spooky than i had hoped? but still, as always, a slay

12. the unsleeping city

you may be saying "why is s1 lower than s2" CODY! it's literally just him i just really like cody.

14. coffin run

VAMPIRES!!! AND IZZY AT THE TABLE!!! v good season, a little bit loud for me? but otherwise good job guys 11111/10

13. mentopolis

not much to say abt this season tbh

15. escape from the bloodkeep

i have never read [insert fantasy book here] so i didn't really get a lot of the inside jokes? idk i think i was not the target audience.

16. pirates of levithan

look the zoom format just absolutely kills this season :( i love literally everything else about it but all of the players are so BIG in a way that the format struggles to capture. honestly it was a hard watch for me but i'd love to see it revisited in the dome.

17. shriek week

look i'm all for a vibes only no plot session but a vibes only no plot season? i truly could not tell you a single thing that happened in this show. also not enough hot monsters and too many hot people who are vaguely monster adjacent. absolutely HILARIOUS tho, watch it for sure but just turn your brain off. ally fermentation jokes my beloved.

18. dungeons and drag queens

i'm homophobic ❤ (this is a joke i'm gay i just didn't find it very compelling bdjfk. i don't think i was the target audience)

19. tiny heist

i'm sorry the mcelroy brothers just don't do it for me. certainly one of the dimension 20 seasons 👍

[meadowlarkx]

Explore my bookshelf!

Tagged by @searchingforserendipity25 @jouissants and @swanmaids! Thank you so much 💕💕

An estimate of how many physical books I own: I really have no idea especially because they're not all in one place right now. Maybe 200-300? Hmm. A lot (to me)

Favorite author: Tolkien right now? Ursula Le Guin? I really like Sarah Waters and as a wee lass I really adored Patrick Rothfuss. Umm. I realize I usually tend to pick stuff to read from individual authors based on their premise instead of going through an author's repertoire. Sorry, authors. But it's genuinely hard for me to pick a favorite since they all strike different notes! Fandom writers I've known past and present also loom large here for me.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: Hmm maybe The Locked Tomb? The vibes just seem too ironic for me. But I might still read it sometime, it just hasn't grabbed me yet. Probably also Discworld. Sorry to everyone.

A popular book I thought was just meh: The Song of Achilles... Whoops. Anyway, I found some aspects of the writing style lovely, but as a story and a retelling it majorly fell flat for me.

Longest book I own: Les Misérables probably, or one of the big compiled editions of Shakespeare or Austen

Longest series I own all the books to: Hmm, I think A Song of Ice and Fire from my fan days in high school—but kinda by accident (I'd already read the last books on ebook when I was gifted them). Still surprises me to think I do actually own all of those tomes in hard copy

Prettiest book I own: Mariana and the Merchild... yes it's a children's picture book. And you've almost certainly heard me bring it up sometime. Lesbian-coded child-rearing of my heart. Look at the pictures!

A book or series I wish more people knew about: As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann—imagine a fictional microhistory that's also a darkly painted yet tender and gripping gay romance that's also about utopian experiments and the English Civil War. When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai—this book is a dream, a messy and confusing dream, but I recommend it to everyone ever! Chinese folklore and mythology, queer and sapphic-ness, through time and space from ancient China to modern-day immigrant communities in Canada—so touching and really beautiful. Many moments from this one still stick in my brain.

Series: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud—OK, it's been a while since I read this in full, and I just said I don't always like irony and these books are crammed full of silly little jokes and targeted towards a younger audience, BUT just thinking about them makes me tear up with emotion. Ages-old wry shapeshifting djinni, snotty-kid-becomes-politician, and hardened girl from the underclass navigate an alternate magical-spirits-powered British imperialism. It's queer and incisive TO ME.

Nonfiction: A Biography of No Place by Kate Brown, about borderland villages in Soviet Ukraine and the drastic changes in structures/social organization and identities that occurred from 1920-1950. Poorly said but I just think the perspective this book takes is unique and insightful and empathic and everyone should read it.

Book I'm reading now: The Bandit Queens and Lays of Beleriand. In theory I'm reading them hell yeahhh

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I checked both of these out to read over the summer and renewed them like 3 times and did I read them... no I did not. Also a bunch more are on the TBR but you know how it is

Do you have any books in a language other than English: La Reine Margot in French is the one I tried seriously to read in recent times, but I have some others in French and Spanish, mostly from high school. 1 in Czech (a copy of With Fire and Sword I have from @sparklingdali for the pictures ❤️). Polish With Fire and Sword & The Deluge pdfs & a couple of physical books ambitiously in Polish, emphasis on the ambition part.

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook? Ideally I check out whatever version the library has. I prefer physical copies and I guess paperbacks, but I'll do ebooks if I have to! At this point I try to only actually buy (hopefully secondhand) books I think I'm really going to want to keep, because I already have too many to move with

Tagging @themelodyofsilence @nibi-nix @tuulikki @sparklingdali @bachaboska if you'd like to do this, and anyone else who hasn't done it yet!

[fratricideknight]

i'm sorry to rant about the angels in spn again (see original thread here - i'm tired of me, too, for the record) but i feel i made some concessions in that thread which i shouldn’t have, because people made some really good points and i kind of got side-tracked from my original point. once again, feel free to give me your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree. i finally learned how to add cuts, so click to read more :D

one of the reasons i love season 1 so much is because, in my opinion, it is the closest approximation to what spn was supposed to be. scrambled urban legends which our heroes have to untangle (e.g. Bloody Mary and the many myths around her) and uncertain folklore. take the episodes 'Phantom Traveler' and 'Skin', for example. in the former, demons are said to come in many different forms and this particular one to function like the initiator of a natural disaster which has adapted to the times. you're "wide open to demonic possession" if you're emotionally distressed, rather than just anyone being possessed. so cool!! the latter is a spin on the well-known idea of shapeshifters. the audience knows generally what to expect, but spn establishes its own unique, awesome lore. shapeshifters literally SHED THEIR SKIN, they don't just look like their target they become them, they need to keep their target alive for a psychic connection so they can download their thoughts and memories. so damn cool fr. even 'Bugs', a "bad" episode (spoiler alert: it's really not), had the super cool concept of curses tied to the land which the boys can't break, almost like the natural disasters of the supernatural world, which the two random guys we call our protagonists are not equipped to deal with. even by season 2, some of this has been lost. rather than establishing unique lore, the monster of the week episodes become more about using the same old lore in different and fun ways. e.g. sam and dean hunt a ghost while in prison, they investigate ghosts which are being controlled on a movie set. even when they introduce new monsters (djinn, zombies, the trickster, people infected with the croatoan virus, werewolves), they're used more for story purposes and we don't really learn all that much about them. the exception i guess would be the crossroads deals, which warranted explaining since john sold his soul for dean and dean would later do the same for sam. using lore in creative ways is very much a good thing, but these episodes rarely build much on the lore itself, just put the characters in unique situations; again, that's a good thing, but you can do both! more of season 2 goes towards plot episodes - and i'm not complaining, the plot is awesome! but i wish they kept the season 1 lore stuff up. it makes me think of that post which says "what is lore in supernatural if not just any book sam reads" and yeah. just yeah. bring back tulpas and friends!

now for how this ties into the angels: as per the original thread, they could have been super creepy! they were certainly not used to their full potential in the horror department. however, i will reiterate my opinion: they do not work with the original idea of spn. adding them turned it into a different show. even if they're made to be creepy and straight-up evil, there is baggage which will inevitably be dragged into the show with their inclusion. who in the world doesn't know at least a little about and have preconceived notions of angels? not many people, and most of those people would not be watching spn. the same could be said of ghosts and demons, but there is a religious baggage inherent to angels which cannot be avoided. even demons can be somewhat separated from their religious roots, especially if they turn out to not be demons at all (theory here). and, like i said, the show and its characters were not supposed to deal with religion beyond the spectre of it, sam having faith and dean not. their (lack of) faith informed their decisions, but neither of them were wrong or right in their beliefs, just at odds. the world should have felt claustrophobic while also being too intricate to fully understand and retaining a sense of mystery, and season 1 achieved this the best with some of the most complex and interesting lore in the show and the small stakes and small scale. get the cosmic beings out of my face, eric; no you cannot have angels if they just turn out to be dicks! i know better than you and i am gnawing on your bones.