#this was adapted from my twitter rant btw

[hopskipandarump]

ok hold on im having Omega-related feelings real bad so i'm gonna ramble for a bit

So like, every final turn Savage/Ultimate is a what-if scenario, like how Dragonsongs Reprise was "what if Haurchefant lived", and E12S was "what if Gaia remembered her being an ascian and beat our ass" etc.

One of the things TOP takes and runs with is stuff we learnt about in Endwalker. The original Omega story ends with M/F because Omega is desperate to work out how we're so strong, but ultimately fails to learn, and in Savage, it ended with Final Omega because the story was "what if Omega tried fusing to become EVERYTHING it can think of that makes the Warrior of Light the Warrior of Light".

In Endwalker we learnt about this thing called Dynamis.

You see where I'm going right?

Phase 5 of TOP is Run: Dynamis where you fight M/F who have somehow managed to unlock Dynamis themselves and you face more and more shit as Omega goes wild with this whole new thing to consider and experiment with. And every time the boss tries to use Dynamis, its partially blocked out because Omega has no idea that it's called Dynamis, so you just have "Run: ****mi*: Delta/Sigma/Omega""

Eventually you reach the end of the phase, and the phase 5 enrage is Omega deciding they cant work it out.

(The enrage is called "Blind Faith", by the way)

When you beat the enrage in phase 5, obviously, you get to phase 6.

Alpha shows up like in the original raid. Except this time, Alpha decides to fuse with this Dynamis-infused Omega and shares his memories and knowledge. I don't see it as Alpha "betraying" us, honestly and never have, I cant imagine Alpha doing this maliciously.

Anyway Alpha-Omega now has full use of Dynamis and is desperate to get to the end of this test and finally, FINALLY, learn what makes the Warrior of Light so very unstoppable

All of phase 6 is basically a back-and-forth of you/Alpha-Omega blasting each other with Dynamis in the form of Limit Breaks, you use tank LB3, Alpha-Omega uses Bard LB3, you use melee LB3, Alpha-Omega uses Dragoon LB3, Alpha-Amega uses Black Mage LB3, you use caster LB3 and physical ranged LB3, etc etc

(The party does like 10 LB3 in one phase it looks cool as shit lmao I'm a sucker for a flashy ending but I guess if I was a DPS main I may feel differently)

Eventually when you reach Magic Number (the lead-up to the very final enrage), Alpha-Omega comes to the realisation that all along, it WAS Dynamis that makes us so strong, and they're CERTAIN that they finally understand how to use it and are going to test their final hypothesis and, basically, see if theyre finally stronger than us and able to defeat the Warrior of Light.

(Hopefully) you beat Alpha-Omega before they finish casting Run ****mi* [Dynamis, still blocked out because Omega still doesn't have a name for this mysterious power] and as Omega sits there defeated and confused, Alpha un-fuses and slowly, Omega realises that whilst Dynamis makes us strong, there are more facets to the Warrior of Light's power than just raw Dynamis strength.

Alpha talks to Omega and offers to journey together so that Omega can continue learning about the world and all the different things that make ANYBODY, not just the Warrior of Light, powerful, to continue their experiment.

And then the story continues from there as it does after the normal raids.

ok thanks for coming to my ted talk bye

[cbrownjc]

As I said before I don't post much about House of the Dragon at all on Tumblr. But if this news about Nettles is true, Twitter (yes I still call it that) will not be the only place to get a rant from me about this. Possible spoiler beneath the cut.

And let me just say upfront that if the below spoiler IS true, it will just confirm something even more about the show that I talked about before in the post I linked to above.

If this is true, then all it does is confirm to me what I always thought after reading Fire & Blood -- and that is that Nettles was Daemon's bastard daughter and not his lover.

But even if Nettles wasn't that? IF this is true then the fact that they think cutting Nettles at all and just replacing/merging her with another character -- who wasn't even black in the books but is now on the show -- was the way to go just reinforces everything I've felt wrt this show and the handling of the characters who were originally white and that were made black on the show.

Which is that almost no thought was put into it when they did it.

Blame Interview with the Vampire for making me feel this way. But I'm sorry, when you watch that show, which so clearly gives real thought and care to the characters they change the races of -- color-consciously casting and writing for them -- so that it all makes sense within the universe of the show -- and then compare that to what House of the Dragon has been doing . . .

This stuff can be done, and done well, if you actually take the time to think and work on it so it does. IWTV is proof of that. And HotD just hasn't proven to me, so far, that they have. (And it wouldn't have been hard too at all btw. I came up with a few things super quick myself how to months ago).

I'm sorry but Nettles isn't just a character you can meld with one of Daemon's other daughters and still have the same themes and conflict in the story IMO. Nettles was poor. She was smallfolk, not aristocratic. But she was cunning and smart and that is how she got Sheepstealer to accept her, no highborn background or education was needed. She gained Sheepstealer's trust via her wits and that was enough. And her non-classic Vaylrian looks continued to reinforce that you didn't need them to be skilled dragon-rider.

And look, you don't want to negatively impact Daemon and Rhaenrya? Just make Nettles older than all of Daemon's other children. Rhaenrya wouldn't care if Daemon fathered a bastard child or two long before they themselves got together.

And look, to be real blunt, the fact that this looks to be happening with one of the characters that was specifically made black in this adaptation -- while removing the one character who was specifically described as black (dark skin, etc) . . . yeah. To say it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth is an understatement.

And I'll say, for Rhaena? I always imagined one of the last shots of the show being her riding Morning through the clouds as morning comes. The last of the younger generation to get a dragon becomes the last dragon-rider, well after the war that destroyed all the other dragons (and most of her family) is over. They can do that with her and Sheepstealer I guess, but it just won't have the same poetic impact IMO.

Anyway, to me most of all this whole idea looks to be a consequence of lazy writing. Which, almost more than anything, annoys me to no end when it comes to storytelling.

Again, this is just a rumor right now. So I'm trying to just take it with a grain of salt for now. But if it proves true . . . 😐

[chrkrose]

Let’s talk about Racism and the House of The Dragon/Daemyra Fandom

So, a few days ago, while discussing a point concerning Daemon’s character in a Reddit thread, and bringing up Nettles because it was pertinent to the discussion in question, I was called a “desperate black woman with low self esteem”. I was also stalked through several threads in different subreddits related to House of The Dragon, and received DMs with Reddit Package Care (for those who don’t know, it’s very common on Reddit to send those to people you are harassing, since the Reddit Care Resources talks about suicide prevention and offers help to those who have Suicidal ideation or are self harming. Is a twisted way of at best tell someone to kill themselves or at worse, subtlety threaten them).

In another incident on the same day, on another thread about the Daemyra beach sex scene, the OP had brighten up said scene as we all know it was terribly shot in terms of lightening. A few people commented the actors lacked chemistry. I joked about this, commenting the same thing. Like stated, I wasn’t the only one to say so. I was then questioned by a few people on my comment, asking me why I was “obsessed” with the idea of Nettles and Daemon being a couple, since they had researched my profile, checking my posts and comments, and came to the conclusion that I talked too much about the two characters, and quote “have a penchant for calling people who dislike your ship insecure or racist”. When I explained my initial comment wasn’t to be taken so seriously, and that my support for the ship was loud because the racist against the character was loud, I was dismissed as “obsessed with the weird fantasy of those two as a couple. She posts about it all the time. It’s low key pathetic”.

I have some observations about these two unrelated but oh so correlated incidents. First, I have no problems shipping and being obsessed with a ship. I mean, I am obsessed with book!Jaime and book!Brienne to the point I’m hosting an exchange on them (btw, deadlines are approaching uhuu. Can’t wait). I was obsessed with Caryl for a loooong time. I shipped Stiles and Malia to the point of waking up in the early hours so I could watch a new episode drop. These are just a few of my long list of ships. Point is, if I was obsessed with Nettles and Daemon, oh everyone would know. I am not tho. Yet. Emphasis on that, because depending on how the show turns out, they might be a constant thing in my blog for years.

I am loud in my support of Nettles being adapted not only as one of the most motherfucker interesting female dragonriders to ever exist, but also as a romantic love interest that she might have been on the books though because, as a person of color myself, it’s exhausting to read over and over again horrible takes about a character who has always been sidelined and neglected and forgotten by the simple fact she’s not white, and disregarded as a possible contender for a romantic arc with fave ugly white boy of the month just because she’s possibly black. Because that’s the reason. I KNOW when the dislike for a character comes from their possible involvement in breaking your favorite ship vs when it comes from racism disguised as “I just don’t ship them”.

Nothing said about me when it comes to shipping gets on my nerves. I don’t give a fuck tbh. I love some good ship war. I love mess. I love engaging in discussions where both sides are screaming about how their ship is better than the other. Its fun. It’s interesting. Fandom experience for me wouldn’t be the same if those things didn’t exist. One of my best times on tumblr and Twitter was talking about pairings I rooted for, and ranting over it with friends on DMs. Some of the best people I’m friends with nowadays came from being petty together that our favorite couple was destroyed by showrunners in favor of another or gloating about having a ship going canon.

Now when it comes to racism… that’s where things take a turn. When it comes to racism disguised as shipping discourse, that’s where it stops being fun and becomes something of “if they think they are loud, oh I can be so much louder”.

I’m gonna finish this long ass post with a simple question tbh: HoTD fandom, or more specifically, Daemyra shippers, if to hear that your ship might be bland or that the actors have no chemistry makes you irrationally angry, if you guys throw meltdowns over jokes about a bad filmed scene or a well based opinions on why your ship isn’t the fairytale you think they are… how do you think y’all would react if these were aimed towards one of your favorite characters?

[pinacotheque]

Hiii! So, like. I saw you ranting about Good Omens on Twitter and I enoyed reading it lol, so I was wondering what were your thoughts on the differences between Crowley and Aziraphale's personalities in the show vs the book?

(okay so, apparently just TOUCHING an ask to read it gets it actually posted? oh well. the tumbrl app sure is Something. sorry about that!)

first of all, thank you! i'm glad you liked my incoherent shouting on twitter, you might get more of that sooner or later because i'm in the middle of a Good Omens reread and, unsurprisingly, i have Opinions.

so, my thoughts. as you MAY HAVE GUESSED from aforementioned incoherent shouting, there are some things i liked about the show and a lot of things i... did not. i am staunchly in the 'The Book Was Better' camp, which i know is an unpopular opinion, given that even longtime fans of the book seem to generally love the adaptation. which is cool! lord knows if we don't deserve something nice to watch, and if someone liked the show or actually prefers how the show handled some things, good for them. i just really liked many aspect of the book that i feel the show mishandled, or changed, or directly cut out... so there.

with the disclaimer out of the way: i feel that, in general, show!Aziraphale&Crowley were somewhat oversimplified, like flattened versions of the original characters. part of it it's just the nature of adaptations - you can't have every detail of a third person pov narration in a tv show, you have to... well, adapt, choose what to keep and what to lose - but part of it isn't, and i just... i'm baffled, mostly.

the book establishes fairly early on that Crowley just likes people ("It was a major failing in a demon.") while the show is... not really consistent on that point. tv!Crowley likes human STUFF just fine, is shown a couple of times to be distressed about children (although then he turns around and suggests to straigh up murder an eleven years old, holy shit, that's why i say the show is inconsistent) but for the most part... doesn't look all that attached to humans per se? considering also that in the book, Crowley (along with Aziraphale) is ready to sacrifice himself in a suicide mission against Satan to save all the humans they put in danger with their "messing people around".

(the big finale in the show is a fucking mess so i'm not even gonna touch that.)

book!Crowley, under the general demonic tendencies and the attempts to be a proper flash bastard, is a gentle soul that resuscitates doves and didn't know about the Spanish Inquisition until he got a commendation for it, and then HAD TO GET DRUNK FOR A WEEK TO COPE. not just that, he knows that about himself (and is obviously embarrassed about it) while tv!Crowley seems to... be in denial? when Aziraphale says that he always knew that, deep down, Crowley was a nice person, tv!Crowley pins him to the wall shouting that no he's not YOU TAKE IT BACK, while in the book: "All right, all right," Crowley snapped. "Tell the whole blessed world, why don't you?"

he knows he's too nice, it's just not proper for a demon.

(btw i would have LOVED to see book!Crowley's flat in the show, because it’s another detail that cracks that stereotipical demon image: "spacious, white, elegantly furnished, and with that designer unlived-in look that only comes from not being lived in." the flat in the show is very... goth and dramatic, which is fine, but i think the white designer flat tells a lot about Crowley's persona. he doesn't want to look demonic, he wants to look like a cool human.)

tv!Aziraphale, on the other hand, is... well, soft. too soft. book!Aziraphale is a passive-aggressive, at times insufferable cryptobastard, a ruthless pragmatist-at-heart who makes the fucking mob disappear, accidentally posseses a tele-preacher and candidly tells his audience that Heaven doesn't care about righteous people and everyone is just gonna die in the Rapture (oh how i missed that scene) and decides BY HIMSELF that the Antichrist Must Be Killed.

furthermore, tv!Aziraphale is much more naive and trusting than his book counterpart. there's that gifset going 'round with that "the demon who still has faith and the angel who's losing his" (i'll link it when i see it again) that is perfectly on point for the show, but also highlights the differences between book and adaptation. the book doesn't really talk about faith (also, faith in Pratchett is A Whole Other Thing that i don't want to get into right now) and Aziraphale&Crowley's actions are not really a matter of faith or lack thereof. they just want to save the world because they LIKE IT (and free will is contagious). at the same time, both of them know perfectly well how their respective sides really are. i just can't stand tv!Aziraphale’s bubbly naive trust in Heaven when in the book you have bits like:

"My people are more than happy for it to happen, you know. It's what it's all about, you see. The great final test. Flaming swords, the Four Horsemen, seas of blood, the whole tedious business." [Aziraphale] shrugged.[this is at, like, PAGE 25]

"You'll be amazed at the kind of things they can do to you, down there," [Crowley] said."I imagine they're very similar to the sort of things they can do to one up there," said Aziraphale."Come off it. Your lot get ineffable mercy," said Crowley sourly."Yes? Did you ever visit Gomorrah?""Sure," said the demon. "There was this great little tavern where you could get these terrific fermented date-palm cocktails with nutmeg and crushed lemongrass-""I meant afterwards.""Oh."

the thing with the show, i think, is that they wanted to give more space to Aziraphale&Crowley (who are, admittedly, the most well-liked part of the book, so it makes sense) and in doing so pushed a bit in a corner the human cast. the problem is that, in the book, A&C are utterly useless and the humans are the ones who bring forth the plot and above all the fucking themes of the story - free will, responsibility, what it means to be human, etc - so what did they do? they had to make A&C's dynamic all about free will and (dis)obedience and what not, and to do so had to change the characters a bit.

and it kind of works, too, for the show. it's just that, for me, the book worked better.

[persephoneflouwers]

one hundred percent with you on the italian phrase issue.

it’s ridiculously disrespectful to the language and to the people who speak that language.

i feel like most anglo-speaking people don’t get it. mostly because they don’t see that language as an essential part of a culture. so whenever someone uses a language as a gimmick, they’re either making fun of that culture or stereotyping it or both

there’s literally no excuse for a brand as expensive as pleasing to not double check the phrases. you can do pap walks around italy for weeks but you can’t ask an italian person to double check some text for you?

sorry for the rant btw. anyway, i get why you’re pissed and rightfully so

Hello 🌸

Thank you for sharing your opinion. I’m not joking when I say I double checked if the label on the product was real… not once, not twice, not three times, but more! I saw it from twitter and I was like “naaaah maybe this is a fan edit or something”. I went on instagram to watch the commercial and my jaw dropped. It seems like they took the google translation for a fact and that’s it. They could have written three random words and it would have been the same because that thing is senseless anyway.

It’s not just about Italian, obviously. Languages are dynamic and constantly evolving. You can’t passively take it for what computer says. You have to adapt it to the context and more often than not this happens with many many languages. In this specific case, I am more involved since it’s the language I am fluent in, but it could be any other language really.

[zoebechtle-blog]

Unlikely Chapter 4

Despite my throbbing head, Friday flew by. I tried not to check my phone every 38 seconds, but failed. I wanted him to text me, but he had to do it first. I don’t play by “The Rules” usually (hmmmm, given my dating history, maybe I should try) but out of sheer anxiety I never call or text first. It doesn’t mean that I don’t bite my nails while waiting, however. And more than once I’ve basically bitten a whole finger off waiting for a message that never came. I tried to distract myself at work by helping in the office in between appointments, explaining some procedures to Rose’s replacement (I’m sure telling her the total wrong thing). At lunch I decided to take a walk to occupy myself, but ended up sitting in the tea shop seven doors down eating a chocolate croissant and sipping Earl Grey. I was wearing ballet flats - there’s simply not enough arch support for a walk. Plus, my afternoon appointments didn’t need to see me sweaty. It was in the best interest of my patients. I was a woman of the people.

That evening Carly and I went to see Kinky Boots on the West End. It was my favorite and Carly had gotten box seats through someone at work. We sang like ninnies throughout the show, laughing and carrying on. Afterwards we hit a swank gastro-pub she’d heard about. As we settled in and were chatting about our days, she dropped the bomb I knew she’d been dying to ask, “So, Niall?”

“Nope.” I rolled my eyes at her.

“Yep. Spill.”

“Well yes, young Niall. He’s a friend of a friend. Perhaps you’ve noticed him at quiz night. Blonde thing, Irish?”

Biting into the olive in her martini, she stuck her tongue out at me. “Seems like he’s more than a friend of a friend. You two were almost snogging last night.”

“I was just playing with his hair. It was innocent. I do that to Paulie all the time.”

“Paul doesn’t practically drool on your boobs when you play with his hair. And he doesn’t look that cozy, either.”

“Stop.”

“Z,” she started. “He rea-...”

“No, Carly. I said stop.” I knew my irritation was evident. I had no poker face - anything I thought or felt was always on display. “Listen, he’s really nice and all the other stuff. But it’s nothing. NOTHING.” She tried to interrupt and I held up my hand. “Don’t. I will not get my hopes up. Because every time someone shows me interest I get a little excited, and I am not doing that anymore. It never ends well, and I’m not putting myself through it again. Remember Adam?” I took a long drink of my martini (Ketel One, extra dirty) and stared at her.

“Right. He was a dick.”

“He was a dick who lead me on for two months and then Aaron found out he had a girlfriend in Leeds. And before him there was Sam, and, um, Robbie. In college there was Dave. High school was Sean. And Kyle The Worst.  I’m not doing it. Short of Niall Horan tattooing my name on his ass, I will not believe this is anything more than friendship.” For emphasis, I smacked my hand on the table, startling the tables around us. I eyeballed people who were looking, and stuck my tongue out at a kid about 7 who was staring. Like a sensible human being, he stuck his back out at me.

I’d been unable to get over my hissy fit with Carly, so we called it a night after one drink and no dinner. She hugged me outside of the pub. “Sorry, Z. I didn’t mean to upset you. But don’t shut him down. Friend or whatever, I think he’d be a good guy to keep around.” I nodded at her and hugged her back. I wasn’t mad at her really - she said the same things I would have said if the tables were turned. But Carly didn’t have my history with men, so she couldn’t understand where I was coming from. Sigh. I dug around my purse and found an emergency Valium in my container of miscellaneous pills, swallowing it as the cab sped towards my flat.

I slept late Saturday and Sunday mornings (okay, I sleep late every weekend) and ran errands. I’d begrudgingly let Hannah talk me into hot yoga on the condition that we got pancakes afterwards. I spent the rest of my free time on laundry, had dinner and wine at one of the other therapist’s in my office’s house, and caught up on paperwork. My friends all avoided any mention of Niall - I was assuming Carly had made everyone aware of my meltdown Friday night and they were tiptoeing around me. I was okay with that, though. I didn’t post on Instagram, but went on a few rants on Twitter. Nothing exciting happened, not that I expected it to. Sadly my philosophy on life was to set low expectations and never be disappointed.  

Monday began earlier than I expected when my texts notifications dinged at 6:30 (my alarm was set for 6:45 - those 15 minutes make a huge difference). Having been raised to believe that no good came of late night or early morning phone calls, and having adapted this to texting as well, I fumbled for my phone, knocking it off the nightstand. Trying to get to it as soon as possible (Did someone need bail money? Had my sister-in-law finally snapped and murdered my brother?), I fell off the bed. Happy fucking Monday.

Niall. The text was from Niall. I rubbed the tiny knot rising on my forehead (which I knew would swelll into a goose egg by the time the morning was over), and opened it.

“Dragged everyone to quiz night . Not the same without ya !

“I’m shite at the science questions-wish ya were here Z .”

Holy fuck beans. I was wide awake now. As I processed this info, another text came in.

“Oh, and it’s trivia night here . Not quiz night . Americans ;) .”

That was flirty. It was definitely flirty. There was a wink emoji. I took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to Hannah.

“HELP!”

“HELP!

“HANNAH LOUISE GET UP! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!”

“omg. he texted you! he’s flirting! that’s total flirting!”

“i’m totally squealing for you, btw”

“Right? Me too!”

“what did you say back?”

Fuck. I needed to respond.

“I haven’t. Shit, what do I say?”

“be clever.”

“Oh, that’s helpful.”

“z, it’s 6:40 on a monday morning. you’re lucky i’m awake.”

Okay, I can do this. I carried my phone (like it was my precious baby) into the kitchen while I started my Nespresso. I tried typing in several witty answers and deleted them before I could hit send.

“Sorry, my friend. You hit the quiz night goldmine with us on your first try. And damn those dirty Americans :)”

When I didn’t get a response in a few minutes, I gave up and started to get ready for the day. In the shower (washing your hair actually causes ideas to get loose, I swear) I thought of several comebacks that would have been much better. Damn. No response as I gave my hair a quick blow dry (then gave up and put it in a bun), tossed on my fast weekday makeup (BB cream, a quick swipe of eyeliner, and mascara...lipstick could be done on the tube), and tossed on a pair of gray khakis and a navy sweater. Nothing. Bullocks. I reminded myself that this was the exact reason I didn’t want to get excited about Niall in the first place-it was too easy to get caught up and let my emotions get dictated by someone else. With a concerned effort, I turned off my phone and tossed it in my bag.

When I finished with my 3:00 appointment, one of the part-time admins was standing outside of the treatment room we’d been in. “Zoe, you need to call a Hannah back as soon as possible. She’s called three times since lunch and sounds like she’s really upset. I hope everything is okay.”

Damn it, Hannah, you drama queen. I went into my (tiny) office and retrieved my phone, turning it on. 14 texts from Hannah, 8 from Paul, 2 each from Jess and Carly, and 1 from Brian. She’d sent in the troops. As I scrolled through, I saw one more I’d missed in my initial perusal - Niall. First things first, though: Hannah. I called her extension at work and she picked up, “Jesus Christ, are you okay?”

“Wow, that’s a professional way to answer the phone. I’m fine. Turned my phone off this morning.”

“Did he not text back?” People were shouting numbers behind her and the mere idea of it gave me a rash.

“Not right away, and I didn’t want to keep looking at the phone. Just checked it since you freaking called the hounds out on me. He responded.”

“And?”

“And what? I didn’t read it yet. I called you before Scotland Yard showed up at my office.”  

“Well fucking read it!” her high pitched voice pierced the line. Ouch.

“I’ll text you shortly. Call off the posse, I’m safe.” I ended the call and stared at the phone a minute. Here goes nothing.

“I did hit the jackpot for quiz mates . Brains and beauty .”

I gasped. Literally gasped. And dropped my phone, narrowly missing my mid-afternoon San Pellegrino. Beauty. BEAUTY. But mate. But beauty. But mate. Gah! This is why my spinster plan was a good idea. Copied the text and sent to Hannah with my own “WTF?” note.

I hammered out a quick response, “Yeah, Paul’s quite the catch. You did well.” It was almost 7 am in Los Angeles (thanks, Google, because time zone math always tricked me). I didn’t figure Niall for an early riser, so back in the bag went the phone and I went into my 4:00 with Elliott, one of my favorite kids.

On the tube home I couldn’t resist and looked again. Nothing. So I did what any sensible person would do and ordered eggplant parmigiana take away. I got into my flat, changed into an old t-shirt - pants were totally optional in my house, took out my contacts, and plopped my ass down with my dinner. My Netflix and chill date was Italian and delicious. A little saucy, though.

At 9:30 my phone dinged with a text. I was half asleep and could feel the pattern from the sofa pillow indented in my face. I grabbed it and saw a text from Niall.

“Paul is a nice looking chap . Not who I had in mind, tho .”

Well fuck this, I was no good at playing cute. Trying to come up with a way to come and ask him if he was hinting at liking me, I heard another ding.

“Want to facetime? I’ll turn on the Lumineers and sing to ya .”

Oh, fate, you’re a cruel mistress. I didn’t even want to know what I looked like right now. There was marinara on the front of my shirt, and I’m sure some on my face. I highly doubted that my makeup had lasted for 14 hours. And I had dragon breath. (I know, he wouldn’t be able to smell it because we hadn’t invented that technology yet, but I’d know.) I pondered if I could put him off long enough to take a shower, get a blow out, and properly contour and highlight my face. Instead I opted for a coy response.

“What fun would your singing be if I couldn’t play with your hair?”

“I’m not really up for FT right now - Monday slug night. Talk, though?”

One minute and 43 seconds later, my phone rang.

I finally hung up the phone at 00:18, GMT. My cheeks hurt from the smile I was rocking. At one point I'd laughed so hard as Niall told me about being chased by stadium security guards on his Segway that I got the hiccups. He, in turn, laughed so hard he had a coughing fit. “We’re a right mess, aren’t we?” he said as we both calmed down, an occasional chuckle between us. “Suppose we are. But at least we’re entertaining.” By this time I’d abandoned the living room and crawled into bed, almost purring when my back hit the mattress.

“What are you doing?” he asked in almost a whisper.

“Getting comfy. Just laid down in bed. It’s my happy place.” The silence on the other end of the line was obvious. Did I just freak him out? I wasn’t trying to get all sexy times, I just got into bed. My shirt and panties were still in place, for God’s sake. “Uh, I didn’t mean happy place like sex. Well, I mean, I guess that happens here, too, well, has happened here, but I’m just, um, laying down. Ya know, it’s late and my bed is warm.” The babbling.must.stop. “I just really like to sleep.”

His chuckle calmed my nerves. “I like to sleep, too, Z. I guess I was just thinking about you gettin’ cozy in your pajamas.” The tiny yelp noise I made echoed through my room. And the phone. But before I could get awkward, Niall beat me to it.

“Not perverted. Well, maybe a little.” I could already see him pulling at the front of his hair while he tried to explain himself. He let out that damned adorable chuckle again and continued. “I just think you’d look cute curled up in a big bed with lots of blankets. Probably one your gran made ya or something like that.”

My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to explode. Unable to handle the sweetness, I laughed and said, “Do you have a camera or something in here? I thought you weren’t being perverted?” And I pulled the quilt my Grandma Bechtel made me in elementary school up closer to my chin. It scared me (in a good way, not a Jamie Dornan in The Fall kind of way) that he could imagine a scenario that was basically right on.

“I’ll keep my perverted thoughts to myself, promise. At least for now.”

Okay, well I’ll be good and goddamned if my panties weren’t on fire. “You’re testing my restraint here, Horan. I’m a good girl.”

“I have a feeling anything I say here is going to lead us down a bad path.” His voice had dropped an octave, though, and I could practically SEE the sexual tension in the air. “And, for the record, uh, I think you’re a very good girl, Z.”

Struggling to keep my heart from actually packing up and abandoning my chest, I managed to respond.  “I think I should say goodnight, Niall. Or good afternoon in your part of the world.” I barely recognized my own voice. It sounded a little higher and throatier than usual. Oh my god. It was my horny voice. I wasn’t usually in a position to actually listen to myself.

“Yeah I guess it is late there. You go and enjoy your beauty sleep. Not that ya need beauty sleep, I just mean I hope you sleep well. You’re already beautiful. Just, uh, sweet dreams, Z.”

Wow.

[sambart93]

2017.04.20 Satomi Hakkenden Review!

I got a chance to finally see YamaKen (Yamazaki Kento) in this flesh a few weeks back! To be honest, I went into this stage with low expectations, for some reason my brain expects a lot less from TV actors who attempt the stage rather than from actual stage actors... doesn’t make sense right? Anyway lets get to it!

Officla Website here Official Twitter here News/Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8* Video Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6* Individual Character Interviews

*Unfortunately all the press coverage was focused on YamaKen only so there aren’t really any pics or videos of our boys.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was A LOT better than I was expecting!! I enjoyed this so much! Also it was very highly produced and everyone did an amazing job! I enjoyed the story, absolutely loved the fighting choreography and fighting scenes, the characters were all interesting, the CGI and project mapping was awesome, the stage was very well put together and used, the costumes were gorgeous, ensemble were troupers, basically I underestimated this stage completely and I really, really enjoyed myself! I even liked Wada Masanari’s acting and character which never happens to me! xD

BUT (not related to the play itself) holy moly the audience were so rude! It was clear most were YamaKen fans because they were (I quote them) ‘bored’ and constantly fidgeting or falling asleep whenever he wasn’t on stage and he has like the least amount on stage even though he’s the main actor. (Major rant under the spoiler section, just jump to the ‘LEARN SOME MANNERS’ section if you want to read about it in detail--no spoilers in that section btw)

Rating: 8/10

---

CAST and CHARACTERS

Yamazaki Kento as Inuzuka Shino Aoki Tsunenori as Inuyama Dousetsu Tamaki Yuki as Inukawa Sousuke Wada Masanari as Inutako Bungo Nishime Shun as Inue Shinbei Matsushima Shouta as Inusa Kakeno Arai Atsushi as Inukai Genpachi Maruyama Atsushi as Inumura Daikaku Aono Kaede as Hajime Kuriyama Wataru as Samo Jirou Matsuda Kenji as Chudai Houshi Higa Manami as Tamazusa / Fusehime Shundou Mitsutoshi as Satomi Yoshizane Yaotani Maoto as Fusahachi Kawashima Ririka as Mei Yokoyama Kazutoshi as Okushirou +Ensemble

This cast is HUGE as you can tell xD

PreShow:

I thought it was super strange that we didn’t get any chirashi flyers/leaflets or anketto survey (the amount of Japanese I use now when I speak English is ridiculous, sorry!). Also when I walked in there were cameras everywhere so I was super lucky to once again end up at a show where I could possibly be on the DVD or at least have seen that version! xD 

I had a ticket with a tokuten special extra which ended up being the poster - if ANYONE wants it then it’s your for 800yen xD (not including P&P).

STORY

This stage is based off a fantasy epic that is 106 volumes long and written by Kyokutei Bakin. It’s main plot is about 8 half-brothers who are descendants of dogs (hence why they all have ‘inu’ meaning ‘dog’ in their names) who are brought together through balls of power in order to save a princess and stop an evil power from rising.

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of it has been translated in English.

SPOILERS BELOW

Full Story

The first half of the play is about each of the eight guys unleashing and learning they have this power and then start to find each other, either intentionally or by coincidence. They also learn about a power that has taken YamaKen and TamaChan’s childhood friend and love interest ‘Mei’ who has been resurrected and possessed and turned her bad, so they naturally want to save her.

The second half is when they finally band together and attempt to infiltrate the enemy’s castle and reach the queen before she unleashes a nasty power (I think a dragon) onto the world, as well as save Mei. 

**Major spoiler: Unfortunately they’re all killed and dead by the end of it through the different stages of the caste and the different levels of protection each part/area had except Shino/YamaKen.

Cast and Character Breakdown

About halfway through the play, I started to giggle to myself as I realised just how many of them are Tokusatsu actors! Which casting directing is a Toku fan(?!) and got all these awesome guys together xD Seriously Aoki, Matsushima, Nashime, Kuriyama, Maruyama, Arai, Matsuda freaking Kenji(!), ALL Toku actors!! xD

Yamazaki Kento as Inuzuka Shino

YamaKen’s voice surprised me. I don’t remember it ever being THAT low but when he first started talking, I couldn’t help but giggle because I thought he was putting it on! But as the show continued it became apparent that his voice is just that deep and I do not remember it ever being that deep >.<

YamaKen had a lot less stage time than I was anticipating, especially because he’s the main character and all(!), but at the same time I can understand why he had such little time on stage considering his main forte IS TV and Movies, and he doesn’t have as much stage experience as EVERYONE else on that damn stage xD (well except Nishime, I think this was his first stage outside of the Kamen Rider stage greetings and things.) *researches* Yeah YamaKen has only ever done the first run and then this run of Hakkenden ever, that’s his entire stage experience.

I think he did a very good job though! This is one of the few times of late where he’s really been able to prove he can actually act and not just ‘gets the job because of his face’ kind of thing. I’ve always believed he can act but as of late (as I said) he’s only being hired because he’s popular and because of his looks - come on, he practically mastered the whole Koukou Romance role about 8 movies ago(!)... 

THIS stage right here is the kind of shit I want him to go back to! This is the kind of job I want him to take and shine in! I WANT him to do completely different stuff again like he did 6, 7 years ago! This is where he shines and proves his acting skills and he did great! I felt for his character, I really understood how he character was, he really showed his character’s personality perfectly. Also that outfit was so cool with the massive blood splatter across and everything! THIS IS THE YAMAKEN I REMEMBER AND LOVE! Y’all feel me on this right?! xD

YamaKen slipped during one of the flight scenes but he very smoothly just rolled around and got himself straight back up ^_^

One scene I really enjoyed with YamaKen was when YamaKen and Matsushima met for the first time and Matsushima is in girl’s wear and is singing in a high voice and being all playful -- it was very pretty. In part two they meet again and this time because Matsushima’s in normal boys wear, YamaKen doesn’t realise at first who it is and Matsushima has to act a little for YamaKen to remember. In fact ALL the YamaKen x Matsushima scenes I really enjoyed!

YamaKen’s final scene was really great too! It was of course sad but seeing him trying to hold on to life and fight with everything he had and then all the 8 brothers coming together one last time was so cool! You could feel the pain YamaKen’s character was going through too!

OOOOHHH! And the almost kiss scene too!!! So the evil queen towards the end approaches YamaKen, thinking he’s given up on life and decided to take her side, she gets REAL close to him and almost kisses him and naturally he’s like ‘don’t be so stupid’ and strikes her! Such a sexy but good scene! I could hear YamaKen fans’ hearts break during that possible almost kiss scene but I just thought it was totally juicy xD

Main point: I am happy with his performance and this is what I want from him in the future! Please stop taking ‘only because of your face’ jobs.

Aoki Tsunenori as Inuyama Dousetsu

My first two notes about him are literally: his hair us flawless. AND: Aoki is just flawless whatever. xD 

Do I really need to say anymore? But I shall anyway!

Aoki is just impressive whatever he does and he always so flawlessly (okay three shots) adapts to any role he’s given. It was so easy to believe that his characters are real. His character in this was also very interesting. 

Seeing his character start on the bad side and then slowly turn to the good side because of a misunderstanding and then ends up fighting his father (from my memory, I don’t think he learns til AFTER he’s given the final deadly strike that it’s his father) . And THEN the even bigger twist when his father has been resurrected and being controlled by the evil and therefore in order for everyone to get to the next stage of the castle, he has to fight and kill his father again and seeing his heartbreak this time around! Oh my poor heart....

I really liked his costume too, it was very monk-like, rustic and simple and I’m pretty sure he was barefoot and for the entire play - although I was a little concerned he’d get splinters or something... And that flawlessly beautifully long hair xD

I can’t really explain it well but something about how Aoki performs, it always feels so natural and real and flows very well and it’s like being sprinkled with fairydust. Whatever he does, it’s enchanting but also with the familiarity feel to it. Does anyone understand what I mean?!

Tamaki Yuki as Inukawa Sousuke

TAMACHAN!!! <3 << I think I’m the only one who calls him this xD

I didn’t even need to see him, as soon as he spoke I recognised his voice straight away xD

Let’s get the opening out of the way first: I was a little annoyed and upset when Tamaki’s character was killed within the first 10 minutes or so of the stage! I was like “IS THAT ALL?! IS THAT ALL I’M GETTING OF MY BEAUTIFUL TOKIENTA?!” but luckily he’s resurrected pretty much straight away and given one of those balls of power and such. He got a lot more than just those 10 minutes on stage -- phew!!

Although I DID enjoy that the opening scene was YamaKen and TamaChan fighting. I also really liked the fact they were brothers. Their dynamic was very interesting. The brotherly love and hate between them too was great. I especially loved their last big scene together! It was heartbreaking but also awesome!

Tamaki’s fighting was so good! I really enjoyed seeing him fight and his choreography!

Wada Masanari as Inutako Bungo

Wada Masanari still bores me. I just feel he’s been a bit too typecast and always get/plays the same type of character; unemotional, constant resting bitch face, very serious and focused on one mission and that was this character too. 

HOWEVER, thinking back, one of his scenes does stand out to me still. His character has two younger siblings and unfortunately they get completely slaughtered and seeing Wada play an emotionally broken and heartbroken older brother as he picks up his dead little sister and just cries with his siblings in his arms, it really struck a cord with me, and for the first time I actually saw his character rather than thinking ‘oh look it’s Wada on stage’. It was a very emotional scene and definitely hit the feels. 

I also like that he fought with axes too. Reminded me of Gimli from LOTR xD but we didn’t get to see enough of him being badass unlike the others.

*I apologise to Wada fans if I’ve hurt you with this opinion of him but I can’t help it.

**If you have any recommendations for where Wada’s acting really stands out then I’m open to suggestions and will watch them! ^_^

Nishime Shun as Inue Shinbei

He is TOO adorable!! While Ghost was a trainwreck, I’ve always thought he was adorable and cute and it was great to see him finally shine and show us what he can do (lets not mention Ghost again shall we) and this was his first major work after Ghost too I think - I don’t know how big his roles were in the two doramas he did. 

I really, really loved his character! FIRST(!) his costume is absolutely adorable and beautiful and it was my favourite out of all the costumes. 

He was very playful and one of those characters who only showed up when it was completely necessary so he was playing a much mature character than (possibly) himself.

As previously mentioned, his role is small BUT I think it left a HUGE impression on everyone including myself.

I have a note that says: his entrance was so cool and so good! It was towards the end of part one when YamaKen and co were surrounded and being beaten and Nishime just jumps in to save them all ^_^ He was being so smug that he could fight everyone so easily.

But his death was heartbreaking! He got slashed to crap and was just constantly saying ‘痛くないよ・It doesn’t even hurt. It doesn’t hurt.’ and then he dies.... our poor baby! =‘[

Matsushima Shouta as Inusa Kakeno

I really liked his entrance! His entrance was him coming out of the right side doors in girls clothing and did this beautiful dance while singing in a very high voice, that strangely worked and his voice did not break. It sounded and looked really good, but also kinda laughable because of how well he pulled it all off! I am all for seeing Matsushima like this! He always does unique characters, just like his character in Drive xD Then his character, in the same scene, proceeds to steal YamaKen’s sword and then hides in the shadows with it as YamaKen is left in a situation where he might need to fight.

But then in part two he’s in normal warrior wear (which confuses YamaKen’s character xD) and turns out he’s this badass archery militant guy!

Unfortunately he too didn’t get nearly as much stage time as he deserved. On top of that, he was the ONLY one who had an off stage battle which really annoyed me! We see him on stage going ‘okay I’ll hold the entrance with my archers’ and then the next scene he’s in, he comes on stage covered in arrows and dies... we saw EVERYONE else’s last battle and death but we didn’t see his and that annoyed me somewhat.

Matsushima’s character is a very playful character and has this slightly dark streak to him, it’s a good character. They’re ALL good characters okay! xD

Arai Atsushi as Inukai Genpachi

Arai fans are going to hate me. He just doesn’t enter my conscious line of sight ever! I’ve seen him on stage at least three times (Yuhiden, Judo Shounen and this) and each time, I can’t even tell you what he did or who he was. I just don’t get or notice any presence from him at all. He’s just forgettable for me. 

BUT I do remember he has a scene with Wada’s little sister who puts a flower in his hair and he keeps it in the entire time; that’s a cute moment. I’d say his character is pretty much the same as his Yuhiden character but don’t take my word on that. But other than that, I do not remember him in this. Sorry Arai fans!

Maruyama Atsushi as Inumura Daikaku

We got ourselves an Okita Souj here: he coughs up blood for most of the show and is a very weak guy because of his illness and because he’s dying. BUT he’s totally sweet as he spends his time tending to the sick and looking after them <3 Maruyama keeps getting these types of role recently. Sorry that’s all I have to say about him....

Aono Kaede as Hajime

She was great! I loved how she first played this cute innocent girl and then as soon as she’s resurrected and taken to the dark side (haha SW reference) she gets badass and sexy. Even in one scene, she strips while talking to YamaKen as she reveals to him that she’s not the Hajime he knows anymore. Also she has an onstage kiss with Higa Manami in the beginning, which is how Higa’s character possess and takes control of her, to which I was like ‘OH YEAH!’ - my brain is a pervy weird thing okay. 

I LOVED her outfit in part two! It was sexy and like black leather and she did a great time with the fighting scenes. Although her choreography was a LOT slower compared to the boys; it might’ve been the actress’ own lack of stamina and strength, but it was noticeable how much of a slower pace her fight scenes were BUT I still enjoyed them. She fought like a badass xD

I understand that some people might be annoyed and think ‘oh this is sexism! and misogyny, and of course they make the girl strip and act sexy and wear scanty clothing’ etc. BUT I personally do not mind it at all - boys or girls - and I enjoyed it okay. As long as they’re a badass and a good character which she definitely was! BUT I understand why some people might see this negatively.

Kuriyama Wataru as Samo Jirou

Kuriyama, just like Aoki, had hair that was absolutely fabulous! It was so fluffy and nice(!) and long too! They both suited it, although it didn’t look much different to what Aoki usually has xD it was especially fabulous when they fought and it swished around and everything xD

Kuriyama was part of the bad guy side (and so was Aoki originally) so you saw him pop up in random places trying to fight the other guys. I feel it was a safe character for him to play; there was nothing majorly challenging for him I don’t think... it was a simple enough character for him to do and he did it while looking fabulous!

Unfortunately I do not remember what happened to him in the end but he too died xD I think he was ontop of a rock and him and his rival (Aoki?) killed each other at the same time. But don’t take my word for that.

Matsuda Kenji as Chudai Houshi

I did not realise until AFTER the play that it was Matsuda freaking Kenji on stage! No wonder he looked so familiar! And no wonder I enjoyed his performance! He’s a freaking badass in ALL the Toku’s he does, and I always love his characters! I wish I’d realised and known before I watched this because then I would’ve been more pumped about him and his character and would’ve spent more time on him. BUT having said that I really enjoyed his character anyway! I love how he comes in and seems mysterious and helps guide all the boys and explains what happened in the past and then to be confronted by his son and to fight his son to the death. And THEN for him to be resurrected and possessed and turned evil,!! That really broke our hearts to see Aoki having to fight his father again =[ and the way Aoki laid his father to rest the first time around too! <3 So even without knowing who it was at the time, I still ended up enjoying his performance and character which shows he’s a damn fine actor -- they all are!! xD

Higa Manami as Tamazusa / Fusehime

I don’t have much to say but I really enjoyed her performance as she got more dragon-like and more deranged and more cracked and less human. Also, she looked fabulous. All her evilness was great! I especially love that final scene with her and YamaKen <3 when she was so close to kissing him and bringing him to the dark side but BAM he’s like ‘you think I’m that stupid?’ and attacks! It’s so good! I loved her entrance too where she’s brought in by humans carrying her on a palanquin; I was super impressed that they had no problems or accidents as they carried her on stage, lower her, relifted it up with her on and carried her off stage xD

Yaotani Maoto as Fusahachi and Kawashima Ririka as Mei

These two had a short time on stage but they were adorable! They played two roles! They technically open and close the entire stage as young YamaKen/Shino and Aono/Hajime planting a tree <3 They also play Wada’s younger siblings. They did a great job in the short time they had ^_^

The Ensemble were great and there were a lot of them and they had a lot of work to do. They were also good at covering the flaws and such of the others, or picking up items or clothing that accidentally came out and stuff xD 

And I think I’ve finally finished me segment on the actors! Phew! That only took like 4 days >.<

AESTHETICS

For some reason in my notes here, I have: These seats = NOT comfortable. But I don’t remember this at all >.< oh well! But apparently Bunkyo Shibik Hall does not have comfortable chairs xD so there’s your future reference! ^_^

The stage was amazing. They had these huge lumps of set pieces that so smoothly moved around the stage and everything and they looked very well built and were impressive! Especially when ensemble would move the set pieces around AS the actors fought ontop of them! That was super cool ^_^

The lighting and project mapping was really cool too! I like how they had this little cardboard circle that would come down and they’d use PM on that to show the power balls and the dragons eye and such! Also towards the end when the dragon’s egg was cracking open and they used the stairs to show the cracking which was awesome!

The fighting and choreography...need I saw more about this? It was so amazing and I enjoyed all the fight scenes and everyone was badass and did a great job! It’s detailed more below but due to the audience being so rude, I couldn’t get completely into it which is a shame because I wanted to be completely into the fighting and the sad scenes. But seriously, they were all fighting in such a badass way and the choreography is amazing!

LEARN SOME MANNERS

And now for me to get my rant out...

Seriously the audience! They were the rudest I’ve ever experienced! It was clear that 80-90% of the crowd were YamaKen fans because that’s all they had him as their phone wallpapers xD BUT you could also tell most probably had never been to the theatre before, nor were part of the ‘Katana Girl’ group (which is where the problem mainly comes from) because holy moly they were rude as hell(!) YamaKen seriously has the shortest amount of time on stage even though he’s the main character and whenever he wasn’t on stage, pretty much everyone around me was either fidgetting or fall sleeping or being like ‘this is boring’ -_- it was a freaking amazing play if you actually went for the whole cast and the story and everything(!!!) ugh they seriously made me angry. One girl was completely out of it by about 30minutes into the first half, during the intermission she went and never came back...I kinda wish the rest of them had done that. Ugh seriously, I’ve never been surrounded by such a poorly behaved audience in my life and it made me feel bad for the other actors. So I made sure I clapped EXTRA high and hard for everyone EXCEPT YamaKen. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love YamaKen, I’ve been following that boys career since he was 16 years old but now he’s too mainstream in that the (Japanese) fans are so ridiculous now that I just don’t want to support him. Can we go back to YamaKen when he had more free range to do none mainstream stuff like hackers and hikikomoris?! *cries* 

Seeing him get and do THIS role was a godsend because it was finally something different and something that I feel suits him much more than what he’s done recently, but he’s so over-popularised and over-saturated right now that I can’t watch most of his recent stuff because it’s ALL the same. And the damn fans too these days... anyway...

I saw one girl with a KuroMyu bag which meant that she was a Tamaki fan and that made me happy BUT made me realise that we stage actor fans were the ridiculous minority, which shouldn’t be happening when you have actors like TamaChan, Aoki and Wada on the same effing stage! I felt SO bad for the other actors thanks to 90% of the audience being complete dicks. I mean it was expected and I did expect some YamaKen bias ridiculousness but I definitely wasn’t expecting the audience attitude to be that rude and inconsiderate.

Another friend of mine also went to this stage (for Wada) and without me even mentioning my opinion or anything, she ALSO mentioned how rude the audience was and how YamaKen bias it was, and that she also heard people go ‘oh this is so boring’, like seriously which play were you watching?!?!?! because it was VERY good!!! e and my friend loved it! But then again we always go to the theatre and we also watch these kind of things.

Unfortunately due to the poorly mannered audience, I couldn’t get completely into the stage, and I so desperately wanted to cry during the second half of the play because it’s just heartbreak everywhere! However, due to all those distractions, I just couldn’t. =[ I’ll wait until the DVD to cry my heart out properly to these actors and characters.

Ugh...rage and rant over.

GOODS

The pamphlet pics are super nice! But I found it strange that they weren’t doing bromide sets. I would’ve liked pretty much bromide sets of everyone, BUT then again it would’ve meant I spent more money which is probably for the best that they didn’t have any xD but yes it was strange for them not to have bromides but I guess the production is above that of 2.5 even though they hired Tokusatsu actors galore xD

---

And that is my long-ass review! I cannot believe I’ve spent a good week writing this.... but it’s finally done! now I’m one less review down! Hopefully the others will come out quicker xD

Hope you enjoyed!! ^_^

[freakypumpkin]

I read CC's rant and your response and something struck me. You mentioned that many book fans invalidate show fans. She does this herself saying there are show fans who aren't even show fans since they're mean to the directors and writers (like naming Todd 'Toad'). The thing is, while I'm not the right person to speak of this---usually the hatred of Todd I've seen has mainly connected to fans feeling that there is racial inequality. By undermining those complaining she's undermining this aspect.

In response to this 

Hey there :) first of, kudos for reading through that log rant and thank you for including my response at the end of it in your reading. 

And yes, by writing these people off as ‘just haters for the sake of hating’ is not only undermining their complaints, but also displaying a lack of awareness of where those complaints come from and writing their complaints off as ‘unimportant’, no matter if it’s about racial inequality or something else. 

Of course, there are times, when people really are just trolling a show or books, but you have to look a bit deeper to make that decision and judging people for being angry is always undermining their opinions because it often has the aftertaste of ‘Gosh, what are you so angry about? Chill.’ (From personal experience, btw, this is the worst way to try calm somebody down, so don’t do that.) 

The thing is, that both the books and the show are flawed, but both in different ways and in terms of different topics. Not to mention, that books and a TV-show are completely different medias and therefore held to different kind of judgment-standard. And while you can like for example the show’s handling of the sibling-storyline of Clace better than how it went down in the books, you can still be angry at the show for the way they portray their POC characters, which was a bigger discourse, I believe, and still is. So, being a fan of the show in terms of story-development is possible at the same time as judging said show for the treatment of POC characters, which also has it’s very own discourse in the TV-landscape. 

That’s not ‘trolling’ or ‘being an asshat’, it’s about seeing a show/book as something multi-facetted, which can miss the mark in certain aspects, but still be good in others.

And I believe, that CC does not understand or is unaware of the by now very complex construct of criticism, that has been built around the TMI-series and any kind of adaption (or doesn’t have the time to get into it, which is okay, but then you should maybe think twice before posting a rant like that) and she lacks self-awareness, when it comes to how her actions can be interpreted. 

A further example for that would be her twitter-comment on a tweet of Todd about Simon. A concerned fan, who had read the books asked Todd for changing Simon’s behavior in the show, so that he wouldn’t be two-timing Maia and Isabelle like he had in the books. Todd assured her, that that wouldn’t happen and I think, with a hashtag of ‘Simon’s too cool for that’. (If that was the right way to handle it, is debatable, but that’s another discussion.) CC remarked, that this was ‘hopefully not meant to disrespect the book readers/fans’ with a wink, I think, to keep it friendly. 

What I took from that exchange? CC’S first concern is, that nobody talks bad about her books and the decisions she made in their storylines. What she didn’t feel concerned with, was the reason behind the fan asking for that change, which I would assume was, that the person was scared to see a negative behavior applied to a beloved character like it had happened in the books. 

This leads to a negative perception of CC, which got her criticized, but she didn’t see the connection of why people got angry about the comment she made, while she probably just saw herself defending the content of the books, which a lot of people love very much.

Like with a lot of criticism, CC misses the point, what it’s actually about, I think, judging by her outburst of anger and the way she phrased earlier responses or comments on the topic (especially when it was about Malec).

I still have a lot of thoughts about that rant, but it would get too far away from your remark and I want to thank you for sharing your opinion and hope you have a nice day. If I misunderstood any part of your message or missed the point, feel free to let me know.