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beevean · 8 months ago

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It's really annoying when discourse blows up, and it's about something you agree it's stupid, but the people involved are even dumber than the discourse itself

The other day a tweet exploded, and it was someone praising the scene in NFCV S4 when Trevor explained that crosses make all vampires freak out regardless of their faith because geometrical shapes "confuse the shit out of their brains". Tons of people have reunited to complain about how idiotic this scene is, which of course attracted defensors too. No one is right :')

"muh religion, muh wokeness, the games were always pro-christianity" no, no, shut up, this is not Netflix being woke, this is Ellis being an edgy atheist at most. Christianity won't collapse because of one small badly written scene. The games treat the Church (which is different from the religion) in a more neutral way, and even then it's mostly about the aesthetic. The Church has taken Sypha in in the same way they have forbidden Leon from pursuing Sara because he had to fight the Crusades. It's complicated, and I like that it's not black and white, but it's outside of this discussion. And you know what, "Dracula's Curse opens up with Trevor praying in front of a cross" is a shallow argument, because by S4 it's clear that the show couldn't give a single shit about the games.

"well maybe Trevor was wrong! Even vampires themselves don't know what kills them" oh yes sure let's make Trevor even less important than he already is! His role in the gang is pretty much being the loremaster, because dude was trained to be a vampire hunter and if there's anyone who should know how vampire weaknesses work, it's him!

Also this usually comes in junction with praising the scene in S2 where Carmilla and Godbrand argue on whether running water kills vampires. As much of a waste of time that scene is, because the pacing of this show sucks ass, at least there is a small payoff! When Carmilla decides it's time to take the castle, she chooses to sanctify the river to make sure to kill the guards - maybe running water doesn't hurt vampires, but holy water surely does.

Which. It's another unfathomably stupid scene, because there is no fucking way the reanimated corpse of a bishop controlled by a guy who used to serve a genocidial monster and who is now aiding another monster who plans to enslave humanity would receive God's approval. But there you go! Holy water is a thing in this setting! And it was established, way back in S1, that it's due to God aiding the goodhearted! Because Trevor asks a good priest to sanctify water to fight monsters! There is also that whole scene of Blue Fangs getting in the Bishop's face and teling him "God exists and you make Him puke", unless now that scene isn't valid because a demon says it.

Trevor uses a consecrated whip! He used holy water! He recommended salt against night creatures! It's common knowledge that sun burns vampires! But crosses is where he pulls out a scientific explanation to answer the question "what about non-Christian vampires"? Fucking Nocturne had a better answer for it, when the non-Christian Annette used Vaublanc's faith to trap him in a cage of crosses! Nocturne!

And if it was meant to be wrong, or just funny... why even bother? That scene then doesn't add anything to the worldbuilding and plot. I don't care about muh realism when the pacing is already out of wack.

(others have also pointed out that if that were true, Alucard should freak out everytime he swings his own sword lol. So it really is completely wrong and a waste of the VA's voice)

"wah wah it doesn't ruin the games it ain't that deep" you know what? true. This is a very small exchange that really didn't deserve the attention it got (I personally got much angrier at the blessing zombie lol). It only got attention because dudebro grifters latched onto it for their agenda that muh wokeness is destroying society - and I know it's them because look hard enough in their responses, and you'll see the usual complaints about Isaac being black.

The show is always criticized for stupid shit like muh religion and muh swearing and "they ignored Grant, literally unwatchable" (all my respect to Grant, but look at me and tell me you want him to become a caricature of himself like Trevor), which aids its fans in thinking all the people who hate the show are nitpicky and whiny at best and bigots at worst. No one ever points out the much more serious issues like sloppy worldbuilding, idiot plots, character favoritism, cynical edginess bordering on meanspiritedness, classism and xenophobia, rape apologism, etc.

I guess genuine discussion wouldn't trend on Twitter :\

#anti netflixvania #i'm tired chief #i swear my mutuals are the only braincelled people in this joint

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butchyena · 4 years ago

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real big fan of castlevania and all the shipping art but i feel like a lot of it misses the specific dynamic between trevor and alucard basically being “you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid ”

#alucard would say it first as a genuine taunt and afterwards trevor would say it to make alucard mad send tweet

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elfcow · 4 years ago

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Samuel Deats liking every Castlevania polycule tweet like its his full-time job but he didn't/couldn't make it *explicit* in the show... what is the truth??

Like it really feels like that's what they were going for textually (Alucard nearly crying when they show up and save him? Alucard saying he's finally happy while holding Trevor's hand in dappled sunlight?) but just couldn't seal the deal with execs or something. But they got away with so much other stuff in the show its hard to believe they would get hard blocked on this... I just don't know.

I'm happy with the ending and it leaves room for them to all be happy together it's just weird that they couldn't take that one little extra step.

#Castlevania spoilers #Castlevania s4 spoilers #Castlevania

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glitchlight · 4 years ago

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castlevania s4 thoughts

this is basically a live tweet thread but I didn’t live tweet it because a) spoilers for something fairly fresh and b) [ASSHOLE]’s name is all over this, as he was apparently fired after his role had wrapped up anyways.

the tl;dr for s4 and the whole of the series imo is “Incompetent Writing Well Executed” because there are frankly juvenile editing and pacing mistakes everywhere but the animation, voicework, and design are often exceptional.

i also think it’s constructive for creators to develop a strong editorial eye and to be able to see what the flaws in other works are, and what works well, a lot of my thoughts are specifically tied into that, and also criticism since I basically watched it because I have friends modestly interested in finishing it but not wanting to touch it because of [ASSHOLE]. this contains modest spoilers but a lot of the later plot details i refer to only obliquely.

-boy it doesn't feel great seeing [ASSHOLE]'s name as the first name on the title card. I get giving people their due in writing but you could've had a slighly longer title card to elevate the people who worked on it aside from [ASSHOLE] so we can celebrate them. -you could teach the first half of the first ep as what not to do in setting up plot threads it's that blatantly obvious -lenore and hector are basically different characters from s3 because [ASSHOLE] needed to introduce more intrigue to Carmilla's court. -Women need trauma to be villains hack shit. -must we introduce a morally grey androgynous woman of color badass who doesn't care about the deaths of her allies -fly demon becomes a character just cause people liked his scene lol hack shit -isaac remains easily the best and most interesting character in the series (aside from the problematic elements of his character) -fantasy "i'm blocking your number" scene is funny -Vampire Lady Hot -THEY GENDER FLIPPED GRANT??? -boy the animation budget for episode 4 got slashed for no reason?? it looks way worse than the preceding material. -cool st. germain's back and the girl he's into is literally a voiceless random badass-- the fourth such one this season? [ASSHOLE] is a hack but come the fuck on. - I personally liked the implications St. Germain was from a different physical reality than ours or at least a different timeline (such as with the triangular notebook, which I know was a real thing but serves a different purpose as shorthand in a series when it passes without mention like that) but him being from europe still is boring. - the library dimension is fun but would be less jarring if it weren't so visibly 3D in a series that ostensibly aims to be 2D - Yet Another Nameless WoC Morally Grey Badass Facilitating White Male Plot huh. - I get that we're doing a "St. Germain is of the same as Dracula" plot here and that "in service of love people do terrible things" but it's undercut by how much I hate St. Germain as a character and don't give a shit about him. - also, furthermore, i just straight up hate narratives that have to tell you a villain's motivations in detail by giving them perspective. it's hack shit. - the infinite corridor is a weird plot element that doesn't really add anything to this story beyond a fabled otherworld and some cool aesthetics. -god lenore you interupted hector last season saying "the real people are talking" and now you care about him?? [ASSHOLE] is an idiot. - this entire series of fights is rendered toothless by remembering alucard can literally control his sword with his mind and is just holding it for plot convienence. - this scene of sypha and trevor both, separately, doing what they do best is a good scene. i've been critical of a lot but this is a good scene. - we're triggering the endgame now? like right now? Carmilla's been in one scene. Like I know the prior seasons have been criticized for being too much set up but this is literally set up into climax already?? - well here's where the money from episode 4 went. - You spent all that time in season 3 setting up the sisterhood and then didn't make them the villains of season 4 huh. Fuck off. That's so fucking stupid. - AND HECTOR AND ISAAC?? YOU HAVE FOUR MORE EPISODES YOU ABSOLUTE CLOWN - I am Russian I am Soldier - Soldier boy having the same rant as carmilla we get it vampires are bad -stock-child-laughing-soundeffect.mp3 - "Of course I'm insane!" "The fuck what now?" is actually a kind of fun line. - [ASSHOLE]'s writing style isn't so much a puzzle box plot, one of many moving parts intricately sliding together, so much as heaps of mud being flung at the page from a half dozen different hands. It all sticks together but it does so messily and only with great violence. - this is just a kaiju -Where did this second vampire army even come from, who the fuck is Dorgon or whatever? Was this written for Carmilla's army then got changed because that would make way more sense than this rando -Boy I'm not comfortable with this slur being thrown around even if it's usage is complicated. -the inversion of the invasion in dracula's castle hall is a nice touch. - they did the op as fight music thing. - ah damn this guy has the same fight gimmick as a character i was gonna do dope though - Sypha continues to have the best fight scenes which makes up for her not having a character arc this season in [ASSHOLE]'s eyes. - That plot twist is okay I guess but it's very funny that he talks like that. And says Fucked Up. - I can't believe that after one of the biggest critiques of season 2 was that there were a bunch of vampire fights with nameless voiceless vampires who don't matter and you don't care about, it ends the exact same way. at least the fights are weirder and better than the kind of lifeless scene in S2. - This trope is so common but still works. - This ending is, par for the course in this adaptation of Castlevania, rather anti-climactic - You had to make the shoutout, and i bet you felt so clever [ASSHOLE] - Is that finale worth it in the end. like hell yeah good animation but fuckin didn’t make a lick of sense. - that bit of cleaning up got me to cry but only because i'm a tender-hearted idiot. - this ending is far too tidy (Hack shit) and the sequel hook is bullshit dumbfuckery. - FEET

#spoilers //#long posts /

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kingdomoftyto · 5 years ago

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I gotta say, a saw a few tweets about the last few episodes of castlevania s3 being really graphic and upsetting for some people and it made me reconsider if I wanted to watch it at all. The tone of your posts really praises the writing though... I trust your opinion, so would you say the writing is good enough that it makes it worth it?

So… There is definitely some very graphic and potentially triggering stuff that happens in the last few episodes. Aside from the usual violence, sacrilege, necromantic mind control, and general bleak outlook on humanity from most of the characters, there are also some significant scenes of sexual content, which is both pretty explicit and also, uh, let’s say “dubious consent at best”? If that sort of thing is an automatic deal breaker for you, then definitely stay safe and maybe read a synopsis instead.

If you don’t mind some major spoilers, I can explain more about what exactly happens, with the context behind the two scenes in question, under the cut.

TL;DR - The scenes are dark, but I think they’re handled well (and, I would argue, fairly respectfully) and weren’t added to the plot without good reason. It’s worth watching as long as it’s not going to be personally traumatic to do so. Again, please stay safe, everyone.

The first scene involves Hector, who the whole season was being held captive and manipulated by one of Carmilla’s “vampire sisters”. What ends up happening is basically telegraphed from the first time she speaks to him, but over the course of the season she slowly wins his trust and convinces him to sleep with her. It’s, ah, as “consensual” as a prisoner and their captor can be, which obviously isn’t saying much, but there’s no physical force involved if that matters. But, while in the act, she slips a magic ring on his finger that literally enslaves him and forces him to be loyal to her, so… yeah. Very much not fully informed with what he was getting into. She later goes on to belittle him and flaunt her complete control over him to her sisters, making the situation even more hopeless and upsetting to see.

The second scene involves Alucard, who is established in the first episode of the season as being so lonely that he feels like he’s going crazy with the isolation. Without going into all of what happens, he meets a pair of young monster hunters who he agrees to train and educate, hoping to pass along his mother’s and the Belmonts’ knowledge to future generations. He befriends these people, cooks for them, laughs with them. And then in a scene that most people do NOT see coming (it is telegraphed, but with very subtle and intentionally misleading clues), the pair come to his room at night and seduce him, ostensibly to “thank” him for what he’s done for them (it’s worth noting he appears amenable enough to the act, kissing them back etc., but that he is at an extremely emotionally vulnerable place and even sheds tears, so not exactly ideal, especially for what may even be his first time). In the middle of this happening, the pair suddenly put him in magical restraints and attempt to kill him. It’s very sudden and quite visceral and scary, and in the end he must resort to killing them both–these people that he thought loved him moments before.

It’s VERY dark, and there is definitely intentional rape imagery surrounding the scene even if the sex itself was more gray-area than explicitly nonconsensual. Alucard’s last strings of hope and optimism seem to be severed by this event, and the season ends with him apparently turning to a dark and violent path to protect himself from further betrayals.

I totally understand this being too much for some people. From multiple angles, even.

I personally think the buildup to it, and the narrative fallout of it, makes it make sense, even if it is very hard to watch. It is definitely portrayed as appropriately dark, given how broken-down he is afterward, and both scenes are literally paralleled with some of the most intense, climactic, bloody battle scenes of the series, with the episodes cutting rapidly back and forth between the sex and the battles. Honestly, between the battles happening alongside them, and with Hector’s scene being very very very obviously about him falling into a trap that the audience knows will snap shut at any second, the scene with Alucard is, by extension, framed in an incredibly ominous and foreboding light. Even before the hunters restrain him, it FEELS (at least to me) less like titillation and more like waiting for the shoe to drop. It’s unnerving, and you KNOW something wrong is happening.

(Compare the tone of these sex scenes to those in, say, Game of Thrones or The Witcher, where there is more focus on the nudity [particularly of the women] and it is often played for equal parts shock value and fanservice. There are some definite lingering shots of, like, Alucard’s abs, I won’t lie, but overall it felt more tasteful and… maybe “artsy” is the word I’m looking for… than most other big M-rated shows treat such scenes.)

I don’t know if it being portrayed as appropriately scary and dark is better or worse in terms of it being triggering for people, but I think it at least goes a long way toward being respectful.

Conclusion:

This is all just my opinion, but I feel like there is enough to justify these events happening within the plot, and that it is both fitting and appropriate for the characters involved, much as it hurt to see. Season 3 ends with every single character at what appears to be their lowest, rock-bottom points. Presumably the next season will begin with that feeling of hopelessness, explore some dark facets of it, and eventually have them get resolved. I strongly suspect Alucard is going to have some major healing involved in his arc and will come out scarred but generally okay in the end, which I think will be a beautiful message IF they can continue to handle it with sensitivity, given the aforementioned rape survivor imagery/parallels.

Others, feel free to add your thoughts, of course. I can only speak from my own experience with watching it.

#Castlevania #Castlevania spoilers #ask #nevernill

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shackledsculs-remade · 5 years ago

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10 Underused Character Questions

Name: Veronica ‘ Ronnie ‘ Caldwell Age: 1,262 Your favorite picture of your muse’s fc:

Questions -

What would be their twitter name? What sorts of tweets would they tweet? Veronica doesn’t have a twitter, she’s never seen the point in having one. That being said, Nico has one and is still trying to convince her to make one. She’d probably make her handle Vcaldwell01. She’s not too creative.

What’s their favorite genre of movies? Of music? Veronica loves high fantasy movies. Tales of knights and such. It’s a reminder of her old life and her time as a knight. Though from modern material, she loves watching mystery movies. Though anything with vampires makes her uncomfortable, not because she is one, but her turning was rather traumatic.

When it comes to music, Veronica is surprisingly eclectic. Though she has a surprising fondness for chiptune music. Heavy metal as well as Symphonic metal are something she enjoys as well.

What’s on their top queue on Netflix? Veronica has a lot of cooking shows in her queue. Though she also has Longmire in her queue as well as something like Train to Busan. She’s a sucker for tragedy movies.

What’s their favorite scent? Do they smell like that? Veronica has no personal scent, since vampires don’t give off one. In turn, she likes the smell of cinnamon and apples, and often washes herself with body wash that carries that scent. She also likes the smell of roses and later she comes to enjoy the way her charge Bjorn smells. Once they start dating, she often smells like him.

Apple or Android? She’s got an android. She likes how durable they are and while she’s tried apple phones, she’s ended up unintentionally crushing them in her hand or they get broken while she’s out on missions.

Favorite Season? Least favorite season? Veronica is a lover of the winter season. It gets darker faster, which lets her spend more time active once the sun goes down. She also enjoys the feeling of a cold wind blowing through her hair. In contrast, she loathes summertime. She feels like she doesn’t have enough time to do the things she wants.

Are they a bottom or top or versatile? Veronica has her own trauma wish sex, given that due to her vampirism and being turned while she was a virgin, it’s slightly painful for her to have sex. With her sire, she was forced into a bottom role, and as such, abstained from sex in general once she killed him.

With Bjorn, she gradually becomes a bit more comfortable with taking a more forward role, but they’re both rather shy whenever it comes to sex and their own discomfort with it. She can be considered versatile however.

Describe their morning routine. Do they wake up early or sleep in? Do they press the snooze button a bunch of times or do they immediately get up? Veronica sleeps during the day for obvious reasons, but when she wakes up, she likes to prepare herself by taking a shower. She takes at least an hour or so to enjoy the warmth of hot water. Once her shower’s over, she gets dressed, if she doesn’t plan on going out, she’ll just lounge around in a tank-top, shorts and sandals.

Since she’s a vampire, she generally pulls a blood pack from the fridge and drinks that. From there she winds up working out, due to her stamina, the workout lasts for at minimum two hours. From there, she lounges around and watches TV until the sun begin to rise, in which case she immediately returns to bed.

Once Bjorn starts living with her after Bleu puts him in her care, this changes a bit, she shortens her showers and at the very least tries to make Bjorn something to eat. They then sit around and talk, and gradually become more comfortable. Once they begin dating, she likes to spend a lot of time cuddling up to him because of how warm he is.

If they were to be compared to a canon character, who would that be? If I could compare her to a canon character...I’d probably compare her to Alucard from Castlevania. Both of them are the stoic types who are not only good at combat, but very much determined to see things through to the end. Though if one knows them well enough, they can tell that they have a lot of pain beneath the surface.

They’re the type who will finally finish a task, and then they break down in solitude before putting a strong face back up. They can’t afford to be weak, not when they have work to do.

Finish this sentence, muse : “What would ____ do ____ ” “What would you do if I pledge my loyalty to you?”

tagged by: @maljefe tagging: @despairforme, @empiia, @insoucicnce, @lex-cursus, @magicaldreaming, @magusdetective, @ofsights and you! (The person reading this)

#Why do We Play These Games in Vain? (Musings; Veronica)#the only person allowed to call Veronica ronnie #is Nico #The Chains That Bind (Headcanons)

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the-ronan-cycle · 6 years ago

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Diverse Book Recs

I recently typed up a list of books for a friend who said she’d stopped reading because she couldn’t find diverse/queer books. This list is predominately focused on queer diversity but there’s also lot’s of super awesome ladies and poc here too. The list is also in two parts, the first are all books that I’ve read myself and include me trying to give a summary, content warnings (If I can remember, I can’t guarantee they’re all exhaustive.) and a rating. The second part has books on my to read list that, to my knowledge, have queer characters. All of the titles are linked to their goodreads page.

I Was Born For This - Alice Oseman

A Hijabi ace fangirl goes to London on a week long trip to meet her internet friend and go to the concert of her favourite band. Jimmy, the trans, gay, mixed race, mentally ill singer for said band is figuring out how growing up famous has changed himself and his friends. They cross paths and stuff happens. A really interesting look into fan culture, both the good and the bad. Really fun characters and relationships. Written by the same person who does the Heartbreaker webcomic. CW: alcoholic behavior, brief mention of unintentional trans outing 4.5/5

The Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Welsh mythology meets small town Virginia. Gorgeous, poetic writing by Stiefvater tells the surreal story of a group of teenagers on the search for a lost welsh king and wish foretold if one wakes him. Along the way they discover the power of ley lines, dreams, and ~friendship~. One of the main characters (my favourite character) is canon queer (he’s into a girl and guy but like, the word bi isn’t explicitly said) and one of the other main characters is canon gay. It’s a difficult story to describe but it’s such a fascinating read. CW: child abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, there’s a scene in the second book that I think the author confirmed was sexual assault 5/5

Shades of Magic Series - V.E. Schwab

Avatar the last airbender meets pirates and royalty and multiverses. In this world there are 4 earths that intersect at London. Kell is one of the only two people who can travel between Londons. Grey London is our world, Red London is Kell’s, full of magic. White London is a wasteland barren of magic and ruled by bloodthirsty twins. Black London is dead. The main cast of Kell, Lila Bard, a pirate thief who gets caught up in the adventure, Rhy, the (gay? Bi? I forget lol) prince of Red London, and Alucard, (also gay? Or bi?) actual pirate have to save the multiverse! Lots of great subplots, written by a queer woman and impossible to put down. If you saw me with my kindle in class after winter last year, it was because I literally couldn’t stop reading. CW: frankly it’s been too long since I read it im sorry 5/5

Leah on the Offbeat/Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli

Simon Vs is the book Love Simon is based on. Simon (gay) has a mystery pen pal, Blue. All he knows is that Blue also goes to Creekwood High and is gay. But Simon leaves the emails open on a school computer because he’s a dumbass and then also an ass but the bad kind, Martin finds them and blackmails Simon. It’s similar to the movie but I prefer the book! There are some scenes and plot points that didn’t make it in. Also his friends don’t suck as much when he’s outed. Leah on the OffBeat is the sequel about Simon’s friend, Leah. She’s bi! Simon thought all his friends were straight but jkjkjk gays flock together. Cute wlw high school story. CW: character is outed against their will, underage drinking SVTHA 5/5 LOTO 4/5

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee

Main character is a total slut and we support him. Bi and ready to party. But wait it’s the 1800s and that’s not super chill. In a final hurrah before he has to become master of his family estate, Henry Montague takes his best friend (gay and also ready to party) and, reluctantly, his little sister (ace and ready to be a doctor) on a tour of the continent. Along the way they discover a plot and their trip turns upside down. There’s pirates! Period accurate medicine! Characters unlearning their prejudices! CW: Child abuse, period typical homophobia, sexism and racism 4/5

Captive Prince Trilogy - C.S. Pacat

hEAR ME OUT. This is probably my favourite series I’ve ever read. You’ve heard of enemies to lovers? Get ready for enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to allies to lovers! Crown Prince Damianos of Akielos is caught up in a coup lead by his half brother and sent to the enemy nation of Vere to be a pleasure slave for their crown prince, Laurent. Now here you think it’s gonna be some kinky sex romp but it actually becomes the best political intrigue with a thoughtful, loving, very vanilla romance. “If you gave me your heart, I would treat it tenderly”. Dw they only have sex after the whole slave thing is over. Also, they abolish slavery so there’s that. If you don’t like the first book, I get it but just try the second book, the tone changes with the change of setting. The author does some really interesting stuff with her setting. Typically writers will just make society reflect our by default but Pacat threw that out, homophobia? Never heard of her. In Vere it’s actually taboo for men and women to have sex before marriage because of the threat of bastards. So everyone just is gay instead. You want a matriarchal warrior women country? Pacat has got your back. The series does lack in well written women. There are a few women but not enough, Pacat has talked about this and is basically like, u right, I’ll do better in my next series. Written by a queer WOC (kinda? Woc is the wrong word but just read these tweets where she describe it better than i ever could) and I love it, the end. CW: child abuse, child sexual abuse, incest, rape, sex slavery, prostitution, graphic violence, non consensual drug consumption, child death, suicide, torture, animal death (also it should be obvious but none of these things are glorified, the abuser is the worst and he sucks and everyone hates him) 6/5

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Based on the Harry Potter parody series from Rowell’s book Fangirl. Simon Snow (doesn’t ever figure out his sexuality but had a girlfriend and boyfriend) is the chosen one, orphaned and brought to a magical boarding school, must save magical britain from evil. His best friend, book smart Penelope and his (possibly evil and a vampire? Also gay) roommate Baz must work together to defeat the humbug. This book has a really fantastic closed magic system and gives the character very clear limits. CW: rat death? 5/5

Queer There and Everywhere - Sarah Prager

A nonfiction book about 23 people throughout history that were both queer and very cool. From Frida Kahlo and Abraham Lincoln to the actual Danish Girl and Kristina Vasa, Prager dives into the lives of many historical figures who were also queer. A really wide gamut of women, men and nb, cis and trans, white and poc. Could have had more historical figures from the east. A fun, easy read. Made me cry, i want lesbian moms. 4/5

Huntress - Malinda Lo

It’s been a few years since I read this so bear with me. Cool magic girl main character and less magic but also cool other girl as well as a misfit group including the prince and a badass lady named shae (hell yeah) have to go into the fae world to right the magical imbalance of their world. Wlw, written by a queer woc CW: I don’t remember sorry 4/5

Outrun the Wind - Elizabeth Tammi

(I’m actually only half way through this) (Also it’s written by a mutual of mine on tumblr so that’s tight) A queer retelling of the greek myth of Atalanta. Atalanta (bi) is taken by the hunters of Artemis and has to help them defeat Apollo who’s being shitty. Wlw, written by a bi lady CW: animal death

Iron Breakers trilogy - Zaya Feli

Bastard Prince (queer), Ren, is happy to be out of the line of succession and just party it up but suddenly is framed for the murder of his brother and on the run along with a prisoner who escaped with him. Ren is faced with realities of y’know, not being a prince and decides to help save his country. Political intrigue with some twists I didn’t guess. MLM CW: slavery, graphic violence 4.5/5

All for the Game trilogy - Nora Sakavic

Think dark, queer, sports anime but with a co-ed team. Neil Josten (demi sexual- “which way do you swing? “I don’t?”) is on the run from his mob boss, murderer father and finds himself on the collegiate exy team of the palmetto foxes. Exy, a violent cross between lacrosse and soccer is Neil’s favourite thing but the team is made up of misfits. Neil has to survive both his father and the Raven’s (another exy team) owner, another mob boss, coming for him and his team. Super fast paced, very intense, after the first book I couldn’t put it down. The characters are all super interesting as are the relationships. Multiple mlm relationships, one briefly mentioned wlw couple CW: (o boy here we go) suicide, graphic violence, graphic torture, non consensual drug consumption, alcohol and drug abuse, prescription drug abuse, non consensual kissing, rape, child sexual abuse, sex work, mention of gay conversion therapy, discussion of self harm and self harm scars, child abuse 4.5/5

The Posterchildren - Kitty Burroughs

It’s been years since I read this so I really don’t remember much. It’s about a school for superheroes. Definitely wlw I don’t remember any else 4/5

Six of Crows Duology - Leigh Bardugo

A misfit group of criminals is hired to travel north to break into an impregnable prison. The cast of characters is lovable and the plot is fast paced. It’s set in the same universe as Bardugo’s first series but you don’t need to read them. (I did and they were ok but six of crows is better). Two of the main characters are mlm. CW: gore, graphic violence, child abuse 4.5/5

The Percy Jackson Series and Magnus Chase Series

I don’t need to describe these lol. PJO has two canon gay characters, the most recent series has lesbian and ace huntresses of artemis, and a bi main character. Magnus Chase has a non binary main character starting in the second book.

On My To-Read List:

Orlando - Virginia Woolf

I love her writing, it’s poetic without hurting my brain to read. This is a classic queer novel. It’s been said that Woolf wrote it as a “love letter” to Vita, her lover. The main character changes gender throughout the novel.

Stars in Her Eyes - Clare C. Marshall

I bought a copy of the first book in this series from the author at a convention last summer. It’s about a school for people with powers. I asked and apparently there’s a queer character but you don’t find out til the second book.

Ash - Malinda Lo

A wlw retelling of cinderella by the same author as Huntress.

The Academy Journals - Garrett Robinson

Apparently there’s trans, lesbian, gay, poly, ace, bi, pan! It’s about a magical school. It has really good reviews on goodreads so that’s promising

The Abyss Surrounds Us - Emily Skrutskie

There’s gay lady space pirates. Actually maybe not space? Idk i got space vibes

Vicious/Vengeful - V.E. Schwab

A story about moral greyness and supervillains. Kinda reminds me of Nimona tbh. I heard the main character is ace?

Our Bloody Pearl - D.N. Brynn

There’s mermaids, and pirates, and it’s gay apparently. The main character uses they them pronouns I think.

Breaking Legacies - Zoe Reed

Fantasy wlw by a trans dude (i think? They went through some sort of gender transition but i can’t find their pronouns)

The Dark Wife - S.E. Diemer

A wlw retelling of Hades and Persephone

The High Court Series - Megan Derr

Fantasy political intrigue mlm and I was told the main character is trans

Btw my rating system was basically:

4/5=i enjoyed reading it and would recommend it but probably wouldn’t read it again

4.5/5=I really liked it and would probably reread it

5/5= i love it, i either have or plan to reread it

#booklr #book rec #captive prince #the raven cycle #percy jackson #all for the game #I was born for this #shades of magic #carry on #iron breakers #huntress #outrun the wind #the posterchildren #six of crows #most are YA or adult #feel free to ask me about any of these!! i love talking about books #theres a lot of schools and pirates on here

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corruptedsilence · 2 years ago

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@diffxrentwxrlds asked: 🐤 ~Alucard

Send me a 🐤 for a Tweet my muse would make about yours.

#DiffxrentWxrlds #Delicious Knowledge // IC

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daleisgreat · 6 years ago

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2018-19 TV Season Recap

Previous TV Season Recaps - (2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18) 9-13-2019 Update: 2019 Summer TV Season Recap now online! Click here for recaps of latest seasons of GLOW, Veronica Mars & Jessica Jones! Greetings and welcome to my belated annual TV season recap! Got to this several weeks later than I wanted to, but glad to finally knock this out of the park! I will…attempt…to make this a little more concise than previous years so fingers crossed that I do not drone on forever! If you do have the time and want to check out my past year in TV breakdowns going back to 2013 please check out the links above! With that out of the way let us jump to the seasons of new TV I devoured from late summer/fall 2018 through spring 2019.

South Park – Like the past few seasons of South Park it features a season spanning arc, though it is not as prevalent as past seasons as the build up is for the town’s annual bike parade the kids are all stoked for. It was an interesting build up throughout to the payoff in the finale. A secondary, smaller season-spanning arc focusing on legalization of weed in South Park was a hokey plot thread to see touched on from time to time and had a payoff at the end I cracked up at. Other episodes were kind of a little lower fare than past seasons with the usual riffing on current events that South Park is known for with notable takes this season on the Roseanne Barr controversy conveyed through the return of Mr. Hankey and additionally ManBearPig making his deadly return and rampaging through South Park. Grade: B- The Conners – Previously known as Roseanne, but because of some ill-worded tweets from her last year lead to her removal of the show and being rebranded as The Conners. I am fine with how they wrote Roseanne out of the show by touching on her pill-addiction issues that were a focus in the first season. That said, I dug it more than its return season, primarily because the cast is gelling together far better now. Sarah Gilbert and Lecy Goransen both stepped up to fill the void with Barr's exit from the show. Darlene is the front and center star now, and she is nailing it holding the chaos at home down. It is good see DJ finally receive a marginal, but noticeable bump up in screen time this season after being an afterthought in a handful of episodes in the return season. I was glad to see an episode emphasize Dan dealing with Roseanne's storyline passing of the show. Also was fun to see cameos from recurring characters from the first run of the show throughout this season. Darlene finally gets a new gig at a newspaper and her boss there has tremendous chemistry with her character. A part of me still seems like that show is just not right with Roseanne not on there, but I understand why that is how it is and the cast is making the best out of a bad situation and are all bringing it with a pretty damn good second return season. Grade:B+

Orville – So I mentioned in last year’s TV recap I dropped off this show towards the end of the season because McFarlane’s humor felt a little too forced in an otherwise fine and occasionally pretty good modern take on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Eventually I revisited it and finished off last few episodes of the first season and I was glad I did because Orville stepped it up and dialed back McFarlane’s jokes and while still noticeable are better paced and not as nonstop as most of the first season was. The second season does a little cast swapping and position shifting around the Orville vessel much like the second season of TNG did. It leads to a better flowing second season with LaMarr now heading up engineering. I will miss Halston Sage’s kickass security character from the show, but Jessica Szohr proves to be a suitable replacement. Seeing the true nature of Isaac’s home planet was a two-part episode arc I will never forget that ranked near the top as my favorite TV all year and was highlighted by a huge CG-quality space dogfight of theatrical quality. As much as I loved this season there were still a couple head-scratcher episodes with one Bortus-themed episode that did not go over well with me, and another where Claire attempts to date Isaac in an intriguing arc, but eventually had a lackluster conclusion. Major props again to Seth McFarlane for restraining his humor which leads to the times when Seth does work in his jokes playing out far better and more memorable including a Twinkie joke ranking right up there with Twinkie references in UHF and Die Hard. Props also to Seth for portraying a pretty damn good captain too. Grade: A-

Castlevania - I cranked out both seasons of Netflix’s exclusive anime based on the hit videogame series at the beginning of this year. Both are really quick watches with the first season being four episodes and the second only eight episodes. I am not even going to attempt to elucidate the intricacies of the plot. Both seasons involve signature characters from the series such as Belmonts, Dracula and Alucard. Both seasons also have exquisite animation and all kinds of lusciously crafted gory medieval violence. I was not super huge into both seasons as the lore sometimes went right over my head, but both served as entertaining background noise to indulge. Grade: B Arrested Development - The second half of season five hit Netflix earlier this year. I consider it more-or-less season six since it launched about roughly a year after season five first started. It puts a nice bow on most of the Netflix-era arcs such as George Michael’s FakeBlock business, whether Joeb’s controversial magic trick really spelled the end of Tony Wonder, Michael’s repeated failed attempts at trying to save the family and yes it all wraps up with the breaking-ground ceremony for the Mexico/America border wall. For the most part I was a fan of this season although it is a victim of past Netflix-era seasons where they could not film with the entire ensemble cast present which leads to many odd camera angles and noticeable stand-ins present. I do not know if a future season is announced, but I am guessing not as this season had a nice sense of closure to it, and by that I mean in only the most pure, awkward nature possible that proved to be a worthy sendoff to Arrested Development. Grade: B+

Gotham - This was the fifth and final season of Gotham. FOX announced a year ahead of time they would be running a shortened final season of the show to give an opportunity to the creators and cast to wrap up all the story threads. Only problem was Gotham had a ton of threads and a huge cast. Season four’s theme was all about the ‘rise of the villain’ with Batman’s trademark wide range of antagonists coming into their own by season four. With the shortened season, several of those villains like Mr. Freeze and the…flamethrower girl do not appear whatsoever in the final seasons and some of my favorites like Poison Ivy and Zsasz are limited to only one or two episodes. Rest assured fan favorites Penguin and Riddler are featured throughout and both are awesome to follow along with in their constant love/hate relationship. This season-spanning arc features Gotham declared a DMZ and is ruled by gang warfare and Gordon is in charge of a resource-depleted Gotham PD constantly under siege throughout. Since the show presumably wrapped up three-to-five years early I understand the direction FOX went with having the final episode jump several years in the future so we can finally see Bruce Wayne’s destiny come to fruition and I loved the build to the memorable closing shot of the series. The final episode also has many other caps sealed to see how the rest of the fantastic cast evolved. While I could not help but get the feeling that this season was rushed, I felt the cast and crew did as best as they possibly could with the condensed season they were allotted to wrap it up. Grade: A- DC/CW ARROW-VERSE

Arrow - The seventh season of Arrow gets the distinction of being the only one of the four CW shows I started at their season premiere that I made it to the season finale of. Ollie’s compromise to serve time in jail at the end of season six had real consequences where he spends the first half of the season in prison and his journey to get out of there was an enticing ride that sees him making unlikely enemies and allies and having to go through the prison’s twisted underground fight club to stay in the warden’s good graces while Team Arrow looks through every nook and cranny to get his sentence repealed. I loved the flash forwards this season that focuses on the cast’s offspring coming together as future vigilantes to save Star City. The Arrow-verse crossover special this season, Elseworlds was another solid crossover and served as introducing the Batwoman character while CW primes up that show later this year. Seeing Barry and Oliver react to their introduction to Superman was priceless. The annual cameo of Tommy was the best yet this season, and I absolutely loved his final interaction with Oliver. The conclusion paved the way for what is announce to be Arrow’s final season debuting this fall. I was very saddened to hear one long-standing character will not be part of it, but loved the heartfelt way they were taken care of on the season finale.

Pen15 - This Hulu-exclusive show is a nostalgia trip for me. It focuses on two 13-year old girls in 1999 starting seventh grade. There is a lot of late-90s ‘extreme’ pop culture window dressing that I could not help but sink my teeth into since it is what I grew up with in high school. The episode dedicated to AOL Instant Messenger is spot-on and brought back so many memories. Pen15 focuses on all the craziness of middle school one could anticipate, including a few awkward pubescent encounters that got borderline uncomfortable to watch. For the most part though I am on board with following along with the adventures of Anna and Maya in future seasons. Grade: B+ Riverdale, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow - I dropped almost all of the CW shows I follow except for Arrow. Riverdale jumped the shark too many times this season and it seems like they are placing the Archie characters in some odd beast of a show that is a Warriors-Hunger Games-DnD hybrid that got progressively nuts-o by the week. I was initially on board with the new direction and twists on the Archie characters I grew up with, but as this seasons warred on it has gone off the deep end with a horrible intro thread that saw Archie in juvie and eventually on the run for the first half of the season and Veronica heading up a speakeasy underground at Pop’s. Without diving into too many spoilers I was not a fan of how Riverdale glorified certain things that rubbed me the wrong way and a few other characters overstayed their welcome who did not gel with the rest of the cast. The whole speakeasy scenes in the show never gelled, even with the new hard-edge drama this series has and finally when Cheryl ups and forms her Hunger Games tribute gang of archers was the line I finally went and threw my hands up and dropped Riverdale a few episodes after the winter break.

Flash was on a slow downward spiral of mediocrity past couple seasons and I could not take it anymore with new characters I could not get into and Flash looking like a buffoon every week. Chris Klein portrayed the season-long villain and I could not help but feel the producers had no idea how to implement him as he seemed like more of an afterthought. Legends of Tomorrow was my surprise favorite CW show last season, but this season gradually introduced a new character named Mona Wu that was a minor background annoyance at first, but grew into the major character to circle the season around and the character did not get any more affable and was still grating to endure and it also got to the point where I said no more! Like with Riverdale, I dropped both Flash and Legends of Tomorrow within a few episodes past their midseason break. Sorry CW, it is me, not you. Grade: Dropped MARVEL NETFLIX SERIES Punisher - People who know me, and if you have been following this blog long enough you know I am a huge Punisher fan, so obviously I am biased, but I still got to say I loved both seasons, and I will give the nudge slightly to season one. I loved the first setting the first few episodes of the second season takes place in to mix things up a bit from the other Marvel Netflix shows. The new love/hate sidekick, Amy took me awhile to warm up to, but I warmed up to her about halfway through and watching their relationship develop with Frank was a lot of fun and to see how some of their foreshadowing paid off later on in the season was pretty special. Curt's and Midani's interplay with Frank is still on the mark and they did not miss a beat in season two. The interplay with the therapist and Billy Russo could have been dialed back a little bit as I felt she was in one scene too many nearly every episode.

As with the first season, loved the action, loved the dialogue for nearly the entire cast and I thought they expertly handled the Punisher as a man of few words, but obviously they had to give him some dialogue to span an entire season, and Netflix got a ton out of his body language and cadence of the dialogue he does deliver throughout the season. I agree with many that John Berenthal is far and away the best actor to portray the Punisher, and I will forever remember all the little things he did to make him pop out and stand out among the rest as the way to play the Punisher. His final line of dialogue to close out the series is perfect! While I was saddened to see this get the inevitable cancellation announcement from Netflix along with the rest of its Marvel shows, I hope this one day gets picked up by Hulu or Disney+. Grade: A Iron Fist – I had no intentions of watching the second season of Iron Fist, but then I heard it got canned and after being a little optimistic for how he was portrayed in the episode of season two of Luke Cage he guest appeared in I decided to give it a shot. It is better than season one, but it still has a far way to go from being must-see. Finn Jones is far more entertaining this season as Danny Rand and is nowhere near as insufferable this season, although he does he have his moments on occasion. His Kun-Lun background is explored much more this season with some intriguing flashbacks. There is a new split personality character introduced this season who I became a big fan of by the end of the season. Ward and Joy are both more tolerable this season and by the end I was kind of won over by Ward with his whole NA/recovery arc. Davos returns as the main villain and with his background with Danny he winds up a more viable villain than Bakuto and the Hand. Also, no Hand this season!!!

The season loses points with me this season because Joy's arc was initially promising, but kind of falls apart by the end. Same with Colleen who was another character I was not big on, but won over this season...until the last couple of episodes anyway. Finally, Luke Cage’s Misty Knight is on several episodes of this season and I was never a fan of her before and she is equally unpleasing to endure here. If you got the time to kill and want to keep up with everything in the Marvel Netflix universe than I would say it is kind of barely worth it and is enough of a step up from the disastrous first season to check out. Grade: D+ (But a good D+ if there ever was a thing considering how big of an improvement this is from the first season) Daredevil - What a big step up from the disappointing previous season! Glad to see Kingpin as the forefront again as the antagonist this season and to see him go from prison to taking control of the reins of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ again was a delight! Also a delight was the evolution of newcomer Dex to the show into a certain favorite Marvel character of mine. The way Daredevil handled Dex could not have been done any better. Coming out of the Defenders team up season, I loved the opening episodes focusing on Matt going into isolation as he recovered and gradually worked his way back into the fray. As with Punisher, all the action and fights here are masterfully choreographed and I was glued to the screen once a fight kicked off. I cannot think of a single person that is mis-casted since everyone delivers sublime performances. Karen and Foggy are awesome supporting characters and I loved their angles this season with more background into Foggy’s family struggles while trying to save the Nelson & Murdoch firm and Karen taking insane risks in her journalistic endeavors.

My highest praise is I think this is probably the sole Marvel Netflix season that could have went an extra episode or two because it felt like they kind of had to rush through a few scenes that felt a little condensed in the final episode. Another similarity Daredevil shared with Punisher is that it also unfortunately was cancelled by Netflix and I am super-bummed to see it go after this redemption season. Here is hoping it too gets picked up on another streaming service or maybe even by some stroke of luck both Daredevil and Punisher get incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. FINISH!!! That wraps up this past year’s worth of TV coverage. I tip my hat to you if you somehow managed to stick with me all this way through! I do not know if I will do my annual bonus summer TV viewing follow-up or not. I know Netflix still has to unload the last season of Jessica Jones, but I thought it would have dropped within the last few months so who knows when it will hit. I know season three of GLOW will hit Netflix this summer and that will jump instant viewing right away because of how much I enjoyed the last two seasons. I keep telling myself I need to do a one week trial of HBO Now to binge watch the final season of Game of Thrones and get caught up on Ballers so I might go down that well later this summer too. I am also tempted to do a trial of ESPN+ to watch that highly rated Love & Basketball docu-series and get caught on the last several 30 for 30s I am behind on. Got other suggestions for what I should watch this summer? Feel free to tweet them away to me @Gruel Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

#conners #roseanne #south park #tv/web series #orville #pen15 #Arrested Development #castlevania #Gotham #arrow #Flash #legends of tomorrow #riverdale #Iron Fist #punisher #Daredevil

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