#this storyline was really interesting but tbh i think it would've been fine if they ended it with donna leaving akihiro

[absolutelybifurious]

no one follows me from the 911 fandom so i feel mostly safe in whining to the abyss about this, so like i feel bad for not caring as much about buck's bi rep at face value... i can appreciate that buck - as a stereotypically masculine guy, who is for all intents and purposes the main character of a procedural prime time show - coming out as bi is a big deal, and i appreciated the set up with tommy. it was fun/fine. as a bi person, as someone who wants the world to get better - it makes me happy in an intellectual sense.

but for me, as a viewer of 911 the show - i don't really care. emotionally, in the context of the story it didn't do anything for me. tommy is (mostly) a random guy who showed up and buck realizes he's bi and now they're dating, but there's nothing to draw on earlier - and if it's a stepping stone, then i'll love it wholeheartedly in hindsight but if buddie doesn't happen - i just don't quite know how to feel other than like, detachedly glad we got a queer relationship for someone like buck.

and full disclosure, i wholeheartedly admit to being an eddie girlie, but even if eddie had gotten the storyline with tommy - i don't think i would've had a super strong reaction?

like yeah, i appreciate rep and of course it matters, but what would feel revolutionary for me is to take this relationship thats been implicitly on screen - to basically look at all these queer fans and be like, okay, yeah, you were right. all this subtext you've seen in a dozen other mlm ships over the years is valid. you aren't crazy and it's not gross or weird to make it REAL. you aren't rabid. (not counting the people who send weird hate to women actors just trying to do their jobs) and god - more than that, i'm just here for the fuckin STORY of it. tommy is fine. lou is lovely and i'm plenty interested to see where the buck and tommy train goes, but i don't have investment in it, not significant investment anyway, and i don't think i will? i mean, we're 7 seasons in. i can't get all in with tommy and buck at this point, i've been frothing at the mouth for another ship. and you brought me THIS close just to swerve at the last second.

so while i get that canonizing buck as bi is a big deal - it is always going to feel hollow for me personally because the story is what i'm here for. the relationship. the depth of it. and tbh i just want to see something beautiful and unintentional building in the background and have it fuckin happen for onceeee.

just sometimes i feel like i'm missing something, because i see the like... level of reaction some people have just to the bi-ness of it, and for me - if there's not a satisfying story, then, i don't have many emotions about it. i've gotten plenty of bi characters over the years, and very few of them felt fully actualized in the story being told around them.

[alovenotsofragile]

so im sure we've all seen the questions regarding the new movies at d23 expo and i was very much surprised and thrilled about the kristoff centric questions. i think the one about him becoming a king was inevitable and them not including it would've been pretty questionable; but the fact that they are willing to dwel on his past and other aspects of his life makes me really hopeful. i've seen a couple of people hoping for him to have an arc that doesn't have anything to do with anna; while im not against that idea at all, i just don't see it happening tbh. maybe not to the extent of f2 where almost all of his attention was on anna and proposing to her, but i think his storyline is going to eventually tie down to anna and their relationship even if anna herself isn't directly involved in it. kristoff's character was created to be anna's love interest from the very beginning, so him having an arc that's completely free of her would be unlikely in my opinion. but i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

now the first question and what i think will be kristoff's main story arc in the movie: will he be a king? or will he be a prince consort? there are a lot of differing opinions on this matter but either way it means he has to make huge adjustments in his life. i truly hope they don't recycle the "i don't like my life in arendelle and i've been lying to anna this entire time" plot from f2 drafts. i would much rather see him struggling to find his place in arendelle instead of downright disliking it. we all know anna is completely fine with his not wearing formal clothes and would never force him to do anything, but formal clothing is just a tiny fraction of what he's expected to do from now on. while some people deem it unlikely for him to live and have a happy life in arendelle, i think they will eventually be able to work it out. anna is the one handeling the kingdom's affairs and he can be there by her side to help her out using his experience with his business throughout the years. balancing out his passion and his life alongside anna is something he can definitely work on and it's not impossible at all.

moving on the second question and the one that caught me off gaurd the most: do they want kids? this one was truly a surprise to me and many others im sure. i think throughout the years we all just kind of gave up the idea of seeing their children one day and given the fact that they're not even married yet, it certainely was not expected at all. the thing is are we going to actually see their children? maybe we're just going to see them anticipating a child? or maybe it's just as simple as them discussing having children. now don't ask me how this might go cause it can either be a cute and playful exchange with a little sexual innuendo (don't look at me, disney loves to pull that with these two) or a conversation that can lead to anna talking about agduna and kristoff questioning his own parentage (which is the next big question). as for the question itself, i think they both want children and would be the most lovely parents ever. becoming a mother was probably one of anna's dreams growing up and im super excited to see how they're going to bring that up in the story. but we're most likely going to see that in the fourth film, which is for the better.

as i said the next big question is where are kristoff's parents? this is actually a super popular one that's been asked since the first film was released. im going to be honest here and admit the fact that i was never really particularly curious about his parents that much. i mean we see him as an orphan in the beginning of the first movie but that was always a part of the world building to me and i never really felt the need to know what happened to them. but since they've decided to touch on that subject, im pretty interested in the matter. i hope the revelation is at least impactful to the story in some way and i seriously hope it's not some "kristoff is a lost prince and his parents are alive and well blah blah blah" bs because i will truly be infuriated if that's the case lmao. i don't think it'll actually happen but im still keeping my fingers crossed for it to never ever come true because its just. ugh. stupid.

i will be combining the last two together just because i don't have much to say about them: how did kristoff meet sven? and how can sven be so old and still so virile? honestly i can just see the first question being answered by a passing comment, nothing more. they obviously met as children at some point and kristoff decided to keep him, its as simple as that. the next one is a bit tricky tbh; i love sven and it would absolutely crush me to see him pass away. im not even kidding if that happens i will be sobbing. my. eyes. out. but if its necessary to the story, then i guess we'll just have to bear with it. i do hope we get to learn about his passing in a timeskip or something to lessen the pain lmao.

so here are my thoughts revolving kristoff and kristanna for the upcoming movies. i have more hopes and wishes and a list of what i'd like to see in f3/f4 but that's a topic for another day. im sorry for the longass post! if you made it here, thank you a lot and i would love to know you guys' opinions and whether you agree with me or not. have a great day/night everyone (๑>◡<๑)

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

If Leigh hadn't given Zoya Alina's storyline what role do you think she would've played in the next books? Right now she kinda fills in the gap that Alina left as the chosen one 2.0 but if it wasn't that what do you think would've been her story?

I mean that’s really hard to say because then what is the story going to be about? So much of KoS and RoW hinge on that rehashing. Removing it results in a completely different story— which is something I’d be fine with lol but it’s definitely not a case of like what would have happened instead.

Anyway, I personally love Zoya as more of a foil to the Darkling and filling that role of institutional power vs being placed as an Alina type who’s suddenly come into abilities she does not understand. With how much the original trilogy was about the threat of corruption inherent to power, the KoS duology did not engage with it… at all. I think partially because LB wanted to put the conflict to rest as something Alina like… fixed… to uphold the R&R ending. But it’s too neat, and just uninteresting? And Zoya and Nikolai were Team Morally Dubious from the literal beginning! Bizarre to have them refitted to Lawful Good with zero quandaries whatsoever. And it’s just more meaningful imo to see them working to uphold any sort of greater good, that the choices are taxing and dubious and sometimes very morally compromising.

I think Zoya and Nikolai are really interesting and can be super complimentary in how they operate on different sides of a gray morality spectrum. Zoya is ruthless and selfish, she has limits but she’s somewhat just out for herself and the people she cares about. Nikolai is greater good focused but he operates on a means to an end style of morality that’s literally presented as the starting point to where the Darkling ended up. That is bound to result in many ethical clashes! They have very different values!

Anyway I basically just wanted to see Zoya as the new scary power behind the throne. I wanted her as the new Darkling essentially in terms of being the shadowy figure who is doing the dirty work, and willing to get her hands way dirtier because her limits are different from Nikolai’s and she’s willing to go some fucked up places for her convictions. (The Alina to her Darkling lmao)

Like it’s not expanded on in KoS at all, but I see Zoya as something of a zealot tbh? She starts out as the Darkling’s devout follower, then somewhat grudgingly switches her allegiance to Alina. With both of them out of the way, I think Nikolai would fill that role for her. But not necessarily Nikolai the person, vs Nikolai the king and all of the hopes she’s placed on his rule making a difference. Which is to say, I think her devotion would mean she’s perfectly happy to go behind his back or hurt him in some way to protect him or help his rule. Like she is absolutely the person who would order fucked up assassinations that he might have qualms about without telling him because it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Arc-wise I also just wanted to see her struggle way more with the Darkling’s ghost and the values he instilled in her. Navigating the aftermath of that kind of disillusionment, and just trying to figure out what she believes in at all.

Anyway in the version of KoS that exists in my head, there is no new magic or world ending stuff. They’ve fully exited the fairy tale. It’s just politics and the miserable business of piecing a country back together after a civil war, and also recovering from the trauma of everything that happened. But while Nikolai’s come out of it determined to Fix Ravka and Deserve being king and to be nothing like his father, Zoya has come out the other side determined to be efficient. And I’d just love to see them hurt each other a lot on the path to understanding each other and trying to grapple with the above questions of morality, and where to draw the line re: selfishness or destroying oneself for a cause. And most importantly shfhff I do not want an answer!

They’re team Morally Dubious! They live on a precipice! There’s no easy answer beyond just trying to do their best at any given moment and make some ethical trade offs and just hope really hard that overall they’re going in the right direction.

[ac-liveblogs]

It's really funny to me that you're saying Tim should get so entrenched in vigilante lifestyle that he can't keep a normal life bc I recently saw (the post wasn't that recent but I saw it a little while ago) someone complain that when they killed Tim's family they took away what truly made him unique, which was that he had a life completely separate from Robin. Not to drag yours or anything I just found it funny :)

But bold of that anon to complain about dick getting the spotlight given that his fans were outraged a couple years ago about the ric grayson run lol. I personally think that your fave getting badly written is better than not getting written at all, but man, the cost. Plus dick's robin run was over twice as long as the *second longest* robin run (tim) so it's not really a surprise dick has so many fans

Hey, sorry for the late response, I've been sick :>

Oh yeah, I don't think I've seen that post but I do generally agree - not so much that it was Tim's family life specifically, but that he did have a life outside of Robin. Tim was intended as a relatable audience avatar first and foremost, and he got a scaled down teenage version of Batman's cool secret identity shenanigans (high school, home life, romance, friendships with heroes and civilians, the works). That was his main draw, and when he was a teenage superhero that really worked.

It's just that, as everyone keeps complaining, Tim Drake can't stay a teenager forever.

Tbh, I think more than the loss of his life-outside-Robin, it was the New 52 that really fucked Tim over. It's true that after Tim moved into Wayne Manor, he had at that point lost most of that. It wasn't destined to stay that way though, because Bruce died, we hit Batman Reborn, and with it Gotham's status quo got totally upended.

With the loss of almost everything that Tim had as a staple part of his identity, Red Robin (2009) was working towards rebuilding Tim not just as a superhero, but as the type of character he was going to be from then on. I think that Red Robin's end goal was to give Tim a transitory identity/book while he figured out who he was outside of Robin and then let him move on into that new identity.

And I think that would've been fine? Even if Dick did move into the Batman role and Tim would eventually become more… mm, Nightwing-adjacent, we would've had the storylines that explained how he got there and set up his new status quo. I think there was plenty to work with that would've kept Tim interesting. I don't know what he would've looked like, but it certainly wouldn't have been Aggressively Just Kinda There Guy.

Like, Tim was still an engaging character in Young Justice and Teen Titans. There were other roles he could play and character dynamics he could have outside of his Life Outside Of Robin.

It's just that when Batman Reborn got shafted and the New 52 came in, Tim had absolutely nowhere to go. He wasn't the main Robin anymore, he didn't have his family, he was meeting edgy reboots of his friends for the first time, his secret identity plotlines amounted to 'Teen Titans' Batman But Smug', he lost his romantic relationship with Stephanie… man, he didn't even really get to keep his brotherhood with Dick, or his rivalries with Jason and Damian, what did he HAVE? While you could to some level intuit what parts of Dick, Jason and Damian's histories remained, Tim was wiped totally clean and just handed to us like. Yep. Here's Some Guy. Please care about him.

By the time Rebirth rolled around, all forward momentum for Tim totally popped. Without Red Robin's status quo or plotline, it was difficult to redefine Tim's identity as a superhero that actually meant meaningful for his story or the character he was meant to be. DC was aware he needed to change, but had no ideas on where to take him or how. Tim's just Drake, suddenly. And then when the whining about Damian got too loud DC rolled their eyes and went "SEE! WE HAVE NO REASON FOR HIM NOT TO BE ROBIN ANYMORE, JUST TAKE HIM" and here we are. (This is kind of an issue he shares with Kon, Cassie and Bart (etc.) actually. Talk about a lost generation.)

So like, all that to say I don't think losing the family life killed Tim's character, I think he was definitely in a position to recover from it once upon a time, but right now? When they have no ideas for him? No way. And you can tell because there was an attempt to restore Tim's secret identity recently and it just like... didn't work? It wasn't as appealing. Magic's gone, we need something new now.

When I say Tim Drake should get so entrenched in the vigilante lifestyle he can't maintain a normal secret identity… hmm. It's about how his civilian lifestyle was a necessary inconvenience for him in Red Robin, how he has nothing tethering him to his old life because everyone he cares about is a cape, his obsessive tendencies. I think there's a tragic irony in Tim Drake truly being the one that did not have to be here, might NEVER have ended up here, being utterly damned to never be able to leave the role he forced himself into because he lost everything else. I think that this is a plotline I would want to see in either a shorter Elseworld title or exclusively in flash-forwards. You know the type.

I also think about his hilarious tendency of ending up as a supervillain. Dude is so fucking not normal.

Also yeah, Dick is still THE Robin for most normies, and the safest non-Batman Batfamily member to focus on in spin-off media.

I personally think that your fave getting badly written is better than not getting written at all,

Ooooh I agree in spirit but in principle I love Jason Todd and oh boy, he's had some runs.

[calliettes-posts]

okay so contrary to what many fans feel like (even me for the longest time), i'm actually starting to feel quite okay with the door thing being dragged out. solely bc we are watching teenagers in real time. It was anaïs' first ever crime and she was stuck between two of the people she loves most. i wouldn't have known what to do either at that age. I honestly feel like it's really realistic that she walked around with it for that long. okay granted, im still pissed at some of the writing choices, bc they made Bobbie loose all of her well roundedness as a character and im still pissed af they added that SA storyline. and the fact that it's again the black girl that has to take everyone into consideration. like pls how much shit did they throw on her this season? (maybe bv we called ada's season a snoozefest?? idk?) but i'm really feeling okay with everyting. between a&b too. They've reconciled and honestly there's still a lot they have to figure out, but i'm fine with that being something we'll see snippets of in the next season. i'm trying to channel my inner 16 yo. If i would have gone through the same shit they've encountered i wouldn't be where they are. they are actually willing to listen and grow!! we've seen this in bobbie and their friends! i'm actually so done with the narrative that everyone is shitty to anaïs. they're only just starting to navigate their way into adulthood. they've been noticing shit! shit man i was a depressed fuck going out with fake ID's and at one point i fell in love with a girl while still dating another. but still hella insecure and i was pretty bad at making friends irl so i spent most of my time on here. my life was freaking messy too. as a viewer it's easy to want shit resolved or see progression sooner bc it's more entertaining to watch. but i feel like they've done a great job taking in consideration we are watching them in real time. (if we forget how shitty the wtfock team is with their social media, i'm begging again, hire one of us pls). idk i'm just really happy to see this kind of representation in an original season. let's not forget we all loved sobbe, zoenne and like in other countries the other remakes bc it was tried and tested!! Imo wtfock had really redeemed itself after ada's season and they've taken notes from druck and skam france. good notes. end of rant.

That's actually a very interesting take, I haven't thought about it this way tbh. I think my biggest problem was that they added dramatic plots and dragged them out, just to resolve them in 1 minute clips, like why was there so much build up just for it not to matter in the end? And with the door plot, my biggest issue was that we saw the same conversation over and over again, but tbf, like you said, it kind of makes sense for Anais to act this way, i just wish theyd put more emphasis on her dilemma, if that makes sense, and if we had more social media, maybe I would've felt differently Also I felt like they put too much importance on Hanne and Bobbie instead of Anais, the actual main, because we had lots of plot lunes for her established in the first season, just to abandon in the 2nd half, and quickly resolve them last minute, and let's not even talk about the sa plot, that was so unnecessary

Tbh, I also think Anais season is way better than Adas, especially the first half of the season, it was more entertaining to watch, and the plotlines were all connected with eachother

[genderqueer-miharu]

Anyways. Gonna rate all the caligula effect catharsis effect designs ready go

Shogo

[ID: Official art of Shogo's catharsis effect. /End ID]

8/10

Pretty nice overall. Nothing too crazy here though i guess since he's your first party member it makes sense. The cuffs are a nice detail that probably point to how trapped he feels by his past and in Mobius. The fact there's three of them with two on the same hand is also a nice hint to what happened with him in the real world. His sleeve being ripped in this one arm also seems to reference Ichika. The revolver looks badass not sure if it has some other meaning. Good design over all.

Kotono

[ID: Kotono's catharsis effect. /End ID]

6/10

This one confused me sorry. I have no idea how her skirt works or where do those white...belts? come from or connect? It's cool that that's where she keeps her arrows. And i just realized that the white fabric under her skirt are supposed to look like wings, which makes much more sense with her storyline and her original wish of wanting freedom. Still though there's a lot going on here and i don't know how to feel about most of it.

Kotaro

[ID: Kotaro's catharsis effect. /End ID]

7/10

Giant gauntlets!!! Not too many accessories or change in appearance here, which i guess you could say makes for Kotaro as a character. The only thing that i could see is that the armor that covers his arms kiiiiinda looks like a knight's armor? Not sure if that was intentional though. But anyways Kotaro is very much a "hit now talk later" kinda character so the giant gauntlets make sense with his brash personality. It also fits with his wish of wanting to be big and strong in Mobius. It would've been fun if the design had something that hinted at him being 14 in the real world. I like it though.

Kensuke

[ID: Kensuke's catharsis effect. /End ID]

6/10

This design doesn't really have much to talk about tbh. The catharsis effects i like most are the ones that change the appearance if the characters more and subtly hint parts of their characters and storylines through these. Kensuke just doesn't change much for my liking. I like how his claymore has those black stripes in the center that make it look like a keyboard, which points to kensuke's pursuit of music. He also has those petals behind his back that kinda look like wings? Specifically they remind me a lot of fairy wings which made me think of peter pan who you know could fly using fairy dust and had a fairy companion. Which definetely fits with the guy whose song and trauma are listed as Peter Pan Syndrome. The design is fine, wish there was more to it but the wings bumb it up for me.

Mifue

[ID: Mifue's catharsis effect. /End ID]

9/10

NOW we're talking i really like this design. First off, the mask looks cool as hell and second, it's a clever and interesting way of hinting at her backstory and trauma. Since Mifue has an eating disorder the mask covering her mouth serves as a way to showcase how she doesn't let any food in. I know there's mot much but i'm a fan of symbolism through character design and i like how this one accessory hints at one of the most prominent aspects in her story. Not much to say for the hammer though, apparently she was originally supposed to have a whip instead but the og caligula game couldn't work with that so they changed it to a hammer (and they did give Eiji and Stork a whip in overdose). Awesome design i like it

Suzuna

[ID: Suzuna's catharsis effect. /End ID]

7/10

I like a big ass hat so just for that i like this one. I can't really think of what it could represent. I guess maybe it could represent her shyness and how she hides herself. But yeah not sure if it could mean something deeper. It's fun that she has a giant spear, caligula games love to give the sweet soft spoken girl giant weapons like these and make them tanks.

Naruko

[ID: Naruko's catharsis effect. /End ID]

2/10

Girl sorry i love you but this look isn't it you got done dirty. She doesn't change her outfit at all, not even her hands become black like the other characters. All sge has is her backpack and the little drones which yeah makes sense she's obssessed with the internet and to get mire followers and the drones look like cameras which represent her wish for attention and recognition. But this design hust looks too boring i'm sorry

Izuru

[ID: Izuru's catharsis effect. /End ID]

8/10

This is another Mifue situation where he only has one accessory but i like how it hints to a specific aspect of his storyline. Again the mask just looks cool but it being on one half of his face is reference to the scar he gave himself in the real world. Him having a sword could also reference him playing the voilin cause it kinda looks like what you use to play it. I like this one really good

Ayana

[ID: Ayana's catharsis effect. /End ID]

9/10

Girl got a whole get up to handle that shot gun. It looks awesome so i'm glad they gave her this. You can say her having all this caution equipment references her fear of men and how she's cautious and on edge around them, as if she's literally dealing with something that could hurt her if she's not careful. Very crative way of talking about this.

Eiji

[ID: Eiji's catharsis effect. /End ID]

7/10

This fucker, mr perfect himself. Only reason why i'm giving him this much is because his tongue also changes with this effect, you can't see it here but at one point one of his sprite shows how his face looks like here and his tongue looks like a lizard's or something like that and it has piercing as well. Those black spots in the marks next to his mouth also turn out to be his skin literally ripping. Damn. The marks also look like flames which makes sense you know fire powers and also the uhh...whole deal with Kuchinashi.

[charcubed]

You know what, I'm starting to come around on the idea that Marvel's inconsistent writing with Bucky & Steve is on purpose and a fake out.

Because that interview with the Rogers musical writer is so randomly timed and dropped strangely self aware info about Bucky, and it feels like a little wink wink nudge nudge "we are playing into the in-universe revisionist history aspect"

That and Secret Invasion's finale showing Gi'ah has both Bucky AND Steve's DNA... that felt random because not only do Steve & Buck have the exact same powers but Skrulls are already superstrengthed... Unless they consider Bucky's gun shootin' skills to be significant, it feels like it would've just been Steve's powers as a "look a reference" moment, but it went out of its way to mention both of them 👀

I'm fine with being a little delulu, but even if this wasn't planned during phase 3, it's starting to feel like there's some people at Marvel who are aware of how the characters were treated and how absurd it is... I'm fully joining the "it's nonsensical on purpose" train.

It'd actually be really smart if it is, playing with the concept of their identities and history easily being warped and lied about for propaganda purposes, that's been happening since CATFA, I'm a believer. Marvel's people wouldn't be hammering on this aspect of the characters so much so much if they truly wanted it to be the "end" for them.

Oh my God, Anon... Holy shit lmao. I hit up Google because of your ask, wondering what interview you were talking about, and I just found it. Thank you so much for the heads up! Going bonkers over it, naturally.

I'm not sure I'd personally say I feel like it's strangely timed or a wink/nudge to anything... Most likely MCU Direct just saw the absolute carnage in their notifications every time they brought up the musical and decided to get that man on the phone. Which I fucking love tbh! Wish I had that power, personally!

Putting the quotes below:

"There was a much longer version of this show, and there is a much longer version of this show. Hopefully, you know, if anybody would ever let us do it, the longer version of this show had Bucky as a much bigger player in this. That's the other really big person in Cap's life from the get-go. I could absolutely see a Bucky and Cap song in there somewhere. But we just literally didn't have the time." "We know there are tons of fans who are upset because Peggy said a line that Bucky said. Obviously, we all knew that. It wasn't a mistake. We all knew; we all knew. We all made the choice that for this 35-minute show we wanted to get the line in, and the way to get it in was to land on the Peggy storyline." "Absolutely there could be a great Broadway version of this show in which Bucky has a really big part and will say the lines he needs to say. So it's interesting to think how that could work." "We didn't get very far with that because we sort of timed things out and how many songs we had. We knew we wanted the love song, the 'I want' song, the Nick Fury song, and we had the other two songs. And, we're like 'Jeez, we're almost out of time. We're already at 32 minutes.'" "We knew it was basically a Cap and Peggy love story from start to finish. Once we came up with that, we're like 'we can do that show and make it great in 30 minutes'."

"We all knew" is INNNNSANE lmao. Wild shit.

Something very poetic about the musical about the man out of time not having enough "time" to include the main relationship in his life... Much to think about... Anyway. Really fascinating stuff here lmao. Intentional or not (who is to say!), life and art sure do continue to imitate each other here, huh?

As for Secret Invasion, what little I know about that show is that it was lowkey kind of a clusterfuck by the end and considering how bad the finale sounded I'm disinclined to read too far into all the powers listed that they dumped on Gi'ah. But! The fact that the heroes' DNA was collected is interesting insofar that it means Steve (in particular) can be or could have been impersonated by Skrulls at any point 👀 My money (and hopes, kind of?) remain on HYDRA though, if they go for it. Still makes the most sense I think.

But yeah, the last thing you said is exactly why I think it'd be such a smart move! Clearly Marvel is now playing in the realm of trying to retcon old shit (like Rhodey 🙄) if they think they can or should to further future storylines, so in my humble opinion it would be very easy for them to play in the spaces they've deliberately left open in regards to how fucked up Steve's "ending" was. Steve's final scenes were and still are theeee biggest topic and even ~debate~ in pop culture in regards to Endgame, and if they didn't do something with that I think they'd be idiots at this point. IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE.

[lesbianalicent]

i got tagged by @lottieurl to try and get anon hate ig 🫡

rules: share some unpopular opinions about 5 different fandoms of your choosing

gonna do yellowjackets, hotd, succession, and bc i haven't been loud about them in a while: dragon age and mass effect

yellowjackets

literally do not care about jackie outside of her relationship to shauna sorry. like i love her role in the story but like as a character i'm just like. ok forgettable. she served her purpose. any time i see fics where she survives i'm like you are so fucking boring oh my god. also i have been known to enjoy shaunajackie on occasion but i really do think they're super overhyped. like what the show has currently is perfect for me. yes girl haunt the narrative! i also find misty deeply boring and i'm sick to death of jeff and coach ben.

i really enjoyed the 1996 storyline in s2 but the 2021 storyline was soooo dumb on so many levels and the pacing was terrible. too much focus on walter and jeff and the adam shit at the expense of everyone else and it's such a waste of talent tbh. also where tf is simone and sammy.

hotd

had no opinion on daemon until the targ stans started being themselves and now every time i see him i see red, which is especially annoying because he is essential to rhaenyra's entire character and the rhaenicents who claim otherwise are bonkers like guys c'mon now.

team black vs team green is stupid as fuck. moralizing asoiaf in general is just so, so stupid.

l*cemond's popularity is just misogyny plain and simple. you are all nuts. leave that poor actor alone.

alicent is a lesbian.

succession

greg should've been written out in season 3 if not earlier he did not serve a purpose in season 4 and the fact that nic braun got an emmy nom had me doing deep breathing exercises to try and calm down.

dragon age

people whose three canon romances are alistair, anders, and cullen are immediate red flags.

i think dao is genuinely the only good game out of the three. dai has extremely lazy storytelling and i hate here lies the abyss because it tries to play on the player's attachment to these characters instead of the inquisitor because like, why would the inquisitor give a shit about these people they've never met? they tried to pull a virmire without having the narrative weight behind it that would've actually made it juicy. it was just dumb!

speaking of mass effect, narratively the series is much much weaker than that trilogy and i think part of that is because they changed the formula with the second one and tried to make the protag like shepard and it really limited things. warden best protag.

solo queen anora and i will not budge on that. warden alistair endgame is his ideal endgame to me and leaving hawke in the fade is fine because the kirkwall gang will storm the fade to get them out if they don't get themselves out. it's hawke like, be fr.

mass effect

i'm more interested in humans than i am the aliens because i personally find earth politics way too fascinating. like yes please tell me more about the texan megapolis.

love ashley. love kaidan. you can imagine the kind of stress i am under at all times. also the space racist jokes make me want to put my head through a wall, because everyone misinterprets what ashley meant by the dog + bear convo and you too would be alarmed by the sight of an elcor.

garrus is overhyped and shakarians get on my nerves. i don't like bioware forcing liara on me. tali being straight is one of the cruelest things that bioware ever did.

andromeda was dai in space so i don't get why it flopped so hard. it was, like, fine i guess? and it had a natalie dormer asari. i could overlook cora for that.

[mischas]

If you were to rewrite the second half of season 3, what would you change? Personally, I felt like the first half of three was fine, but when I got to the second half, I kept thinking it should've been written better.

I feel like most of s3 is terrible but they truly lost their minds making a Chrismukkah episode about Johnny and making Ryan have a bar mitzvah. Talk about jumping the shark. They could've been more inventive than that drivel. As for ideas, almost every storyline in s3 is atrocious but the actual dialogue is mostly okay. A lot of the characters feel like themselves even if nothing is gripping or good. But I don't know what Kirsten's doing the entire season and for some reason Sandy's a corporate shill? I know the Charlotte storyline ended in 3x07 but it felt like forever. I truly adore the AA meeting scene when Kirsten brings Seth but I can't even tell you what episode it's in (and I'm pretty good at knowing these things).

I'd make it so Kirsten runs into Marissa at an AA meeting sometime after Johnny's death and the two start talking openly about their addiction issues. There was some real potential there that the writing just never came close to touching. I'd change the Seth-pretends-he-got-into-Brown storyline because that was illogical and stupid. And I'd make Seth be the friend Marissa leans on post-Johnny and post-breakup with Ryan. The two had a lot of similar interests in books and music so I'd start there and make them stoners tbh. Marissa could lean into smoking weed as opposed to drinking and Seth could have his college crisis. Like not getting into Brown and not being smart enough to have applied to backups. Something sort of unbelievable but better than truly believing he could talk his way into the Ivy League. Jesus. Bringing Anna in was an interesting take but it's executed with such low energy that it's hard to watch.

I liked the idea of Ryan working at The Newport Group so more in that area would've been nice to see for him. Especially since we know he likes architecture. I feel like the show drops that in every once in a while but never really goes for it.

Sum leaning into the history of fashion could've been something explored more. I'm not sure how they could do it, but I like the scene where she puts Seth in his place when it comes to her Brown interview. It feels more authentic than her lowkey playing the tuba her whole life (wtf).

I'd bring Luke back too. Watch as he tries to become Marissa's friend again, and reflect on the change they've both been through the last two years. It'd be interesting to see him and Seth try to make Ryan and Marissa talk. I've always wanted RM to be trapped in a room together in the 3x17 era and see what comes of it.

I can go on and on lol I'd change everything 😂

[simply-ellas-stuff]

Tbh I think Katherine should've been moved to The Originals sometime after the Mikaelson's settled in.

Her storyline after the Mikaelson's leave TVD honestly gets wonky as shit. Especially because they fuck with her characterization so much and I hate the idea of her being the 'final villain' after she got to say goodbye to her daughter AND I think her going to hell is bullshit. She's a very grey character, if she couldn't have gone to heaven - purgatory would've been fine. Hell was not.

I do genuinely think that Elijah and Katerina had real feelings for each other, so I do think Kat would've been interested in following Elijah to New Orleans even on the risk of Klaus possibly killing her. She ran for 500 years and is Katerina Petrova. She can get around Klaus without getting caught - we've seen her do it before.

I do think her storyline with Silas makes sense, the whole stealing the cure thing, the headstone thing, and the whole compelling a town thing. But I think the part where she tries to kill Elena for 'stealing her life' is where they deviated from Kat's personality.

In a way, it makes sense, but at the same time - Kat's had 500 years of life to live and Klaus had disappeared from the world for a long time, so I do think Kat would've at some point been able to spend a few years with a 'normal' life [I mean… Salvatore Brother Loving years? I mean, c'mon that could NOT have been the only time she did that].

I think after the whole part where Kat is linked to Bonnie, when Bonnie fails to give her Silas-Strength immortality, I think Kat would've cut and run because it got a little too close to Elena killing her and Kat is nothing if not a survivalist. I think that's when she should've gone to The Originals.

Now we know the TVD/TO timeline is fucked because Timeline-wise Rebekah is both in New Orleans helping Hayley and Klaus look for Elijah while also in Mystic Falls looking for the Cure. So, that's fucking stupid but maybe in this storyline - Kat is the one who takes Rebekah's place in the first season sort of? Maybe mini-disappearances from the first season of The Originals would've been the island, hiding the cure, and the whole bound-to-Bonnie moments. Which in grand scheme would've only been a few weeks of time and thus the disappearances might've made sense in the whole 'hiding from Klaus but also trying to find Elijah when he doesn't answer the phone' thing.

I don't know where I'm going with this lmfao - I can't really rewrite the whole series to add Kat in without making a timeline and I'm not that patient tonight.

But I do think it would've been so much fun to see Katherine and Klaus sort of find this shaky middle ground because = They've both lost a child who then returned to them later. I do think the whole Nadia storyline would've been fun for season two of the Originals too, especially since Hayley would've just given Hope to Rebekah, who'd come in towards the end of Season one, and it would've been fascinating to see the whole storyline go down - Klaus just gave his child away, only for Katerina's to show up and cause some bullshit.

Also, Katherine's death in TVD season 5 was fine - emotional and it made me happy that she got to make Nadia happy towards the end BUT - I don't think that should've been the end for Katherine. I think both Nadia and Katherine should've gotten happier endings.

I just think Katherine moving to The Originals would've been a fun storyline, especially due to the whole Hayley/Elijah side of it. AND we would've [hopefully] gotten a sort of reconciliation between Klaus and Katherine [and ya know, if Klaus ends up in Heaven I think he owes one of the biggest apologies to Katherine tbh] and maybe even some form of kinship after sending Hope away and the whole Nadia of it all.

As Kat said, Her and Klaus a lot more alike than they think. I do think it would've been fun to see it. Also because the Tatia of it all, seeing Hayley and Kat have moments where they don't hate each other but don't like each other, bonding over the Mom-situation they find themselves in. And Also, I think it would've been fucking funny watching Kat fake-gag at Klaus and Cami because you KNOW she would've had some form of sarcastic commentary about it.

[sweetpea-sprite]

im not the last anon but- i similarly felt nnk2 was weirdly cliche. having been finished with the game for a few months now, i narrowed my feelings down to this:

nnk2 closely follows the story beats of the first game pretty exactly; which is fine because the nnk's story follows a very linear 'hero's journey' setup. especially for a jrpg (i always think kingdom hearts for comparison)

BUT, the writing is too inconsistent for nnk2 to feel like an original, charming experience, which is what made nnk1 feel so unique. primarily the later half of revenant kingdom; the story's pacing falls apart, the writing lacks the finesse nnk1 had, and the gameplay becomes a bit grating. i don't hate nnk2; it had a lot going for it, but i agree that it doesn't do enough to separate itself from both its predecessor and its competitors in the genre. painfully stuck in the middle 💔

YEAH i agree. nnk2's writing... it really feels like it's only good when you look at specific chapters as separate rather than as a whole. like. chapters 5, 6 and 8 are all pretty good stories and i really like them. but when you look at them with the rest of the game as a whole... leander and bracken's character arcs are condensed into only their chapters, and chapter 8, while being the lesser of these evils, still feels separate from doloran's plot

i honestly think one of nnk2's flaws is that they tried to do two storylines at the same time: evan building the union and doloran stealing kingsbonds. done RIGHT these would've been good together i think. unfortunately the writing just cannot hold up both plots at the same time and it tends to favour building the union over doloran, which means when the union is finished... they just kind of. go straight to doloran with what feels like no build up. and it's weird. wotww also suffers from this problem with cassiopeia tbh but it's slightly different because the main characters don't know she exists until shadar is defeated. with this doloran just kind of hangs out in his evil little lair and no one does anything

the other main flaw is of course. that they tried to make a character centric story without giving the main characters arcs. roland doesn't change at all he's just there to be a father figure i guess. evan has a vague thing in chapter 8 but again. it's condensed to one chapter. i've already said why leander and bracken aren't great. tani and batu are LITERALLY just kind of There and don't do ANYTHING and it SUCKS because i think they could be INTERESTING!!!!

anyway. nnk2 is a game

[mc-critical]

hey, it's been a while, hope you're doing fine!

your unproblematic faves in mc/mc:k and why?

mine from mc would be mihrunissa (she's the queen of s4, and also my 2nd favourite character from the franchise overall), cihangir (the king of s4), mehmet ( a non-existent character imo, was loving to everyone from what i could tell & was pretty so why not), nergissah (ik she didn't have much of a character but she was extremely loving, even towards mihrunissa who wasn't her biological mother, adored her relationship with mahi and she was the only family mahi had left after musti, nissa & mehmet died apart from fidan & yusuf), atmaca, yavuz, taslicali (musti's loyal friends; and i adored taslicali w/ mihrimah, the only guy i shipped her with tbh), and i guess that's it, i may be missing someone considering there were several characters.

from mc:k it would be geverhan (the queen of s2, i love her so much and she's my second most favourite character from the franchise overall, such a kind & sensitive soul, she truly deserved a better ending, i just wanted to see her happy), zulfiqar (one of the most loyal people in the entire franchise, deserved a better ending, dying in the place he spent his blood, sweat & tears was definitely a tragic death but also ties into his character, had a sweet relationship w/ humasah who also deserved a better ending), mustafa (my boy! he's just so adorable in the series, the baby & the adult, the joke he played on halime had me in tears, davut's reaction to him sending the table for a walk; i'm sorry but he was the mvp of s1 and deserved so much better than mu/rat killing him ((fuck mu/rat)) but i guess it's kinda cool that he got to sail a ship before dying considering he always loved ships? idk but he's just fantastic and such a cutie + the english subtitles w him were hilarious), and i guess that's it, most characters were kinda problematic in the series, even humasah who i adored but i definitely don't appreciate for trying to put iskender on the throne which would cause the death of kosem & her children. i would've added ibrahim, who i think is such a cutie and i don't understand any hate towards him; i understand the things he did in s2 ending were problematic but he was just having a severe mental breakdown and what he needed was therapy, not that turhande dethroning him. honestly, fuck mu/rat & turhande.

(also mustafa from mc though i don't think he would be considered unproblematic? )

sorry for the rant lol just, unproblematic faves are so good to talk about because you aren't conflicted with them like you are with characters such as hurrem, mahidevran, nurbanu, kosem, nigar, selim, bayezid, etc.

i hope you're having a great day!

Hey, I'm happy to see you back! 😻

We share a lot of unproblematic faves! I love almost everyone you mentioned!

In MC I love Mihrunnisa, because, as you said she's an absolute queen and the best match for Mustafa for me. She suits his level of maturity and they had a very deep, pure, truly genuine bond you didn't see with anyone else from his women. What's most unique about her character is that they didn't put any opposition around her, her story wasn't overshadowed by a love triangle and that helped the relationship between her and Mustafa shine all the more and we saw her have more agency as a character. Cihangir is such a cinnamon roll and cutie pie and yet he's so smart and perceptive of his surroundings. Neither his love for Mustafa, nor his deformity define him and I love what they did with him in the span of a little more than a half-season. Taşlicali, Atmaca and Yavuz are the best trio ever and I loved watching them in action. How loyal they were to Musti and how they wanted to protect him. 😍😍 I loved Taşlicali's moments with Mihrimah and Mahidevran as well as Mustafa, I loved how Atmaca put Rüstem in his place (we stan!) and Yavuz was so cool and they killed him too soon. We should've seen more of Nergisşah, tbh, but her relationship with Mahi is everything and like all of Mahidevran's relationships with the people she loves, she brought the best in her. And she also seemed like a loving and caring human being to everyone else she interacted with, too, she's just... lovely. Screw SS for marrying her off like that, this piece of trash should be killed with fire.

I would also add Helena to my list of unproblematic favourites, because, writing-wise, she's one of the better handlings of a tomboyish girl in the franchise, a mash-up of both Armin's plot and Aybige's character done much better. Yes, just like all the girls with tomboyish personalities (Aybige, Diana etc.), that trait of theirs was either diminished or gone, but with Helena the blow wasn't as hard as with the rest and you could definetly say that this is more a side of hers allowed to show from her completely new environment and is probably the one most restrained by it. The girl clearly deserved better than what they put her through and I loved how much she cherished her own freedom, rights and family. Her relationship with Rita was great, too.

I really want to say and Mustafa and Gülfem, as well, to be honest, because while they're flawed and far from perfect, they're overally consistently positive characters in the eyes of the narrative and their questionable actions aren't as drastic for me to put them in the "problematic" category.  I mean, compared to everyone else.... Okay, they still technically don't count, but I love both of them too much to refrain from mentioning them at least hehe 😅 Gülfem should've gotten much much more in the way of storylines of her own, but the moments where she shone really scream potential. She's such a loyal, patient and understanding person and her strenght to listen to other people's sorrows, be considerate of them and seemingly being able to forgive people because from whom she suffered (Mahidevran apparently) or made the people she loved suffer in a way and involving her in this, too (Hürrem), is extraordinary for me. And she tried to kill SS, about time someone did it, I stan, she left the show like a queen! And my adoration of Mustafa is pretty much endless, so I won't delve too deep into it. His relationship with his mother, his resilience, his intuition, his still firm hand contrasted to his loyalty to his father that crushed him, but I can't help but respect... yup.

For MCK I have the exact same favourites, as well, only I would add Meleksima, because she was pretty harmless, deserved better and loved Osman and their kids. Gevherhan is my favourite dynastic sultana in the whole franchise (followed by Hatice) and I love her selflessness and humanity. She subverted all the sultana tropes, basically, I don't recall a scene where she was ever elitist to someone below her, she didn't intrigue or scheme and she didn't have an agenda of her own. Her suicide was her breaking the ties she had with her environment and her deciding to finally be the selfish person for once, to do what she wanted, to decide her own destiny. Deserved to be happy with Silahtar more than anything else ever. Zulfikar was so understanding and noble, I'm surprised that the palace didn't devour him, his death was so heartwrenching. Mustafa is a precious bean that also got sucked by his own environment and by the horrible Fatih law and game of survival, his psyche was soo destroyed you can't help but feel sorry for him, at the very least. The same goes with Ibrahim who is also a product of his own environment and even the conflicts of his brothers, I get why he would turn his back on everything and everyone and fixate on the only thing that could bring him a bit of peace and escapism - his harem. He and Mustafa were put in roles they had no capacity to play anymore and I'm sobbing. And yes, Ibo didn't deserve to be so screwed over by Turhande, screw her and Murat. (and also Atike, what she did with her sister because of her selfish, unrequited love and she was told about it by Sil himself! was disgusting, interesting character, but so were Murat and SS and even Turhan in her thematic utility.)