#which absolutely fair and valid and good for them

[moonchild-in-blue]

Sorrows and Despair

(just found out one of my favourite ST fanartists has deactivated 😔 really wanted to get one of their pieces back on my queue for later and. well. gone)

[relicsongmel]

Iris, Miles, and their mutual "secret"

The Ace Attorney fandom is no stranger to discussions of homoerotic subtext in the game's script—pretty much everyone who's spent more than five seconds here will be able to tell you that. Screenshots of lines that imply romantic tension between same-gender characters are all over the place, to the point that many fans are drawn to the series purely by its reputation as "the gay lawyer game." Some scenes are more well-known than others, but one I find brought up fairly regularly is this conversation between Miles and Iris:

This is optional dialogue that can be triggered by presenting incorrect evidence on Iris' Psyche-Lock during the Investigation portion of Bridge to the Turnabout. The argument here is that the "secret" Iris is referring to is the same as her own: that being, a romantic interest in Phoenix Wright. Which is definitely hilarious when you consider that Iris has known Miles for less than a day and she's already reading him for filth (granted, she could have been clued in by the similarly infamous "indispensable friend" line, and she's also exceptionally good at reading people despite Miles thinking otherwise). As a Narumitsu shipper myself I am not immune to enjoying that interpretation; however, I feel like there's a lot of nuance in this scene that isn't often addressed by the fandom at large. Which is unfortunate because watering it down to just Iris calling out Miles for being the gayass he is (to be fair. she's not wrong) does a MASSIVE disservice to both of their characters, and I'll explain why.

My bone to pick with the usual analysis of this scene is mostly centered around the larger conversation to be had regarding the treatment of female characters in fandom spaces. All too often they tend to play second fiddle to the male characters, and a similar principle holds true for ships with their canonical male love interests: mostly ignored in favor of the the more popular M/M ship(s). At best these women are sidelined, at worse they are flattened into wingmen for the boys (as is frequently the case with many AA girls and Narumitsu, Iris included), and at the absolute worst they are demonized for their perceived "competition" with whatever gay ship is most popular and therefore the Only Valid One for the male characters involved (as exemplified by some very "passionate" fans that I generally try to avoid interacting with). Whenever this scene gets brought up, the focus is almost always exclusively on Miles and what the interaction says about his relationship with Phoenix; Iris is only relevant insofar as she's the one initiating Miles' Homosexual Moment™—you could replace her with almost any other character and there'd be a similar level of neglect for their role in the interaction. Only very rarely will you see attention given to what Iris' question about Miles' secret means when she is the one asking it, and what it can tell us about her relationship with Miles/what she thinks of him, and vice versa (absolutely wild how even Miles himself is often flanderized despite being the fandom's golden child). It's all too characteristic of the systemic misogyny that has plagued fandom since its inception, which is deeply frustrating to me as someone who adores Iris as much as I do (if that wasn't obvious by now). So that said, let's dive deeper into what I think the missing link is here: namely, the Iris-Miles dynamic as it pertains to their relation to Phoenix.

Iris and Miles is one of my favorite relationships to explore in the whole series—but as I've described above, unfortunately a lot of people get it wrong in my opinion. Discussion about the two is frequently centered around Narumitsu Love Drama—which is a conversation worth having, don't get me wrong—but the elements at play there aren't always represented the way I envision them, which again, is frustrating. Take the idea of potential jealousy, for instance: it's pretty standard love triangle fare that can be (and often is) quickly turned into demonization when it's used in a shipping context, character assassination be damned (re: Narumitsu fanfic authors that project their personal dislike of Feenris onto Miles via his jealousy of Iris and/or how they tend to portray Iris unfavorably). However, it's not inherently a bad thing to explore: personally, I do believe that there is mutual jealousy between the two of them. Miles might not have the full context of Iris' history when this conversation takes place, but he's emotionally intelligent enough to pick up on what Iris means to Phoenix, and vice versa. And him being a jealous hoe about it isn't out of the question when you consider that he's a bit of a loner by nature and doesn't have many close friends or outlets for socialization outside of his job. The crucial element that's sometimes missed, though, is that Miles not only lacks the self-awareness to realize he's a jealous hoe...he's also a self-sabotaging jealous hoe.

And the same can be said for Iris, who is similarly introverted and doesn't often leave her home at Hazakura Temple.

The whole reason Miles is peering into Iris' heart in the first place can be found in this exchange, after he breaks her Psyche-Lock:

Miles uses the Magatama in order to gain the answers he needs to bring the truth to light and get Iris acquitted, and he does so for the express purpose of reuniting her with Phoenix so they can find closure—in fact, he reiterates this to her multiple times. He obviously recognizes how Phoenix is suffering from what happened between them (I'd argue he sympathizes with Iris' plight as well) and has resolved to do what he can to help him heal, but there's no reason for him to be so insistent that she rectify things with Phoenix when it does nothing but harm his own chances with him. Unless, of course...that's the whole point.

To convince Iris to reveal her secret so he doesn't have to face his own, because he thinks himself undeserving.

And Iris, noticing this because she empathizes with that feeling of unworthiness, calls him out on it in an almost uncharacteristically forward manner when she asks him what he's hiding.

Takes one to know one, indeed.

Iris highly respects Miles for taking on her defense despite the risk to his job as a prosecutor. She's willing to trust him after hearing he's a friend of Phoenix, hearing him out and letting him reason with her. She still keeps her cards close to her chest in some regards, but she's more honest with him than she's been with anyone else in her life apart from her sister. She sees his commitment to the truth and how it starkly contrasts with how she's lived her life to this point, and thinks that this is the type of partner Phoenix deserves—not someone like her, who only knows how to survive using lies and deception. She sees so much strength in him but still recognizes the insecurity lurking beneath his tenacity, which is why when he falters in his logic, she takes a leap of faith and gives him one last chance to examine his reasons for pushing the burden of his unspoken affections onto her, as if to say: "Look in the mirror. Is this really for me? Or is it for you? Do you really seek the truth for its own sake, or do you merely hope to find one truth so you might run from another?"

Her question to Miles is a gamble—a coin flip of self-sacrifice. If she loses and he presses on, she has to face the secret within her heart she's been suppressing for five years. But if she wins and he gives in to the truth in his, she has to live the rest of her life watching it unfold and knowing she threw away her chance to finally stop living in fear of her own love.

Either way, there's no escaping heartache for her anymore.

Miles and Iris both want what's best for Phoenix and prioritize their vision of his feelings over their own. However, they are also both deeply emotionally repressed people who find difficulty in being direct with their feelings, and are predisposed to self-sabotage due to childhood trauma. These tendencies may manifest in different ways for both of them, but the fact remains that such people would likely not compete for a person's affection in the traditional sense, which is exactly what we see with how Iris and Miles deflect their feelings for Phoenix. These selfless, lovestruck idiots toss that man around like a game of hot-potato because their mutual self-hatred for the ways they've harmed him has rendered them terrified of the reality of what he means to them, and desperate to find a way out of admitting to it. It's the most compelling explanation I can think of for why the usually unassuming Iris makes such a bold judgment about what Miles might be keeping locked away, and why Miles goes to such lengths to make sure she talks to Phoenix and tells him the truth—his agreement to defend her was conditional on that exact promise. They go through this whole song-and-dance of playing wingman to ignore their own feelings while still trying to bring Phoenix the happiness they think he deserves—and then they wonder why seeing Phoenix give the other one attention burns them up inside.

Because they’re dumb. And I love them.

TL;DR the Iris Psyche-Lock scene in BttT is so much more than just "haha Miles gay" and I wish people talked about it more. Also Iris and Miles are way more similar than they appear at first glance and if I think about it for too long it makes me physically ill thank you for coming to my TED talk

[aoflameandco]

Netflix DanteLady: in depth analysis

I ship Dante and Lady. And it makes really hard to miss a big controversy, surrounding the Netflix version of characters. There's a lot of negativity out there, and while I see some valid points, my shipper heart absolutely disagrees with the harsh takes on DanLady's development. So let's break it down and highlight some nice things about this particular interpretation of our beloved ship.

Warning:

1) This post treats the Netflix anime as its own thing. I'm not comparing the show's DanLady to the game's DanLady maybe some references aside bc imho it would request another big meta and a couple more Seasons to make a fair judgment.

2) The analysis mainly focuses on the scenes that Dante and Lady share together. The show also likes to draw parallels between them, but once again, I'd need another big meta to cover that. maybe one day

3) I call Lady "Mary", bc that's who she is from her POV right now. I like Lady better too and know the dmc3 nuances, but the show didn't reach the point yet.

Starting from the bottom

She hated demons with a passion. He exterminated them with joy. So much in common and yet — a shared distaste for the demonkind caused an all-time-low first impression.

But things looked fun at first! At least from Dante's POV. Just when the party seemed to be almost over, another pretty guest flew through his window. There's no doubt that Dante was having a blast, dominating the entire battlefield, so he accepted his new challenger eagerly, his wild grins don't lie.

Too bad, Mary was a woman with a mission. Careful calculation behind every move. Strategy instead of brute force. If her theory is correct, it's the only way she can win. And she succeeds, securing the amulet. The soldier's cold mask falls for a second, revealing how much she enjoys being in control after Dante carelessly underestimated her.

Jokes are over, Dante is pissed and Enzo's suggestive remarks the og captain of the ship don't help either. He doesn't care about the pretty thief, all he wants is to keep his sacred promise and return his precious necklace.

And so the battle for dominance begins. The episode emphasizes that Dante and Mary are birds of a feather. Both smirk when they think they have situation under control, about to catch their prey. It's not a sweet kind of smirk, they're serious and even manage to cause minor damage, but Mary wins this round by introducing an anti-demon weapon Dante never saw before.

Time to test the demon theory. Which completely takes Dante by surprise. No wonder, the whole animation looks rather suggestive, if we ignore Mary's gun pointed right at him. But that's not what confuses Dante the most, it's Mary's words. A mere thought of him being a demon is quite insulting, so he immediately laughs at her failure, hiding his own stupor behind cheeky jokes.

But this lady is too smart for her own good. She continues her musings, so deep in thought that she loses her grip, and Dante is quick to use it against her. His ruthlessness gives another hint that she has touched on a sensitive topic, triggering him further.

Mary immediately retreats, most likely blaming herself for relaxing in front of such a cunning foe. Her jumps and blasts are more uncoordinated than usual, she clearly panics and Dante has to save her at the last second from his own counterattack.

And he's still mad and demanding answers. Although the scene clearly references "my type of rain" this Dante is in no mood for flirting. The gentleman dies: he slams Mary's wrists against the wall, ignoring the close proximity he created, yanking her body like a rag doll, when she touches his nerve.

To Mary's honor, she keeps her cool even cornered, this time determined to overpower her opponent mentally. Dante's anger makes it easier, yet her cocky pocker face falls under his touch. That's really not her type of "getting personal", though he walked right into her trap.

The whole scene radiates the hateful tension that is clearly mutual. Both are a bit too petty. For example, Dante takes offense at Mary's implication that he's a brainless demon and he immediately rubs her current helpless situation in her face. Only for Mary to strike back a minute later. A great uno-game, what to say.

Slightly touching on the topic of power scaling: nope, the show doesn't make Mary stronger than Dante. Even though currently she's way down on his favorite people list, Dante has no intention to kill her, because: A) He got his morals and B) He seeks information, which she processes. And Mary thanks to the extra ammo and lack of moral limits takes full advantage of it.

Dante's hot anger subsides the next morning. Maybe because he's had time to calm down, maybe bacause Enzo's presence provides him sort of comfort their bond is truly wholesome. Either way, he decides to stand his ground, calmly denying all the demon allegations.

Meanwhile Mary's cold hatred has grown. After nearly failing the exam she did her homework — this damn hellblood won't ever get the upper hand over her. Mary demonstratively ignores Dante's small talks, turns away whenever he opens his mouth, takes every opportunity to punish him for his silly escape tactics, bluntly dehumanizes him referring to him as a "thing".

While, yeah, Mary is being a bitch in this episode, the reason behind it isn't just a sore victory. Dante is ruining her simple world. Demons are bad. But Dante is acting like a deviant, so human-like, Mary can't help but think that he's up to something. She doesn't believe in his ignorance, she tries to warn Baines that even a half-demon is a demon and doesn't deserve any special treatment. And she surely is annoyed that Dante denies his blood and has a sad backstory, quite similar to her own. Nope, she won't succumb to this demon's manipulations.

Yet, despite her cold facade, Mary isn’t as heartless as she pretends to be. After Rabbit's attack she pauses for a second to make sure her prisoners are in fact fine, before running to her teammates. And for someone who was so enthusiastic about the bomb in Dante's neck, she certainly seems a little too concerned when she realizes he’s crossed the one-mile radius.

Still at this point of story DanLady are bitter strangers. Dante isn't one to hold long grudges (given his dynamic with Enzo), but Mary's hostility doesn't help his insecurity about his origins. Meanwhile her prejudice prevents her from seeing him for who he is. They both value the amulet above all else, so they spare no extra though for each other, before diving into their own separate arcs. Which change their perception of demons forever.

Change of heart

Next reunion highlights the progress both Dante and Mary have made. She has realized that the world isn't black and white, there're different types of demons out there, even those she can't consider her enemies. And he has faced the truth, came to terms with his father's heritage and been forced to see the world through the eyes of a demon himself.

The character's journey greatly affects their dynamic. Mary doesn't hesitate to save Dante from Rudra. And Dante immediately confesses that she was right about him all along. Burying the hatchet of their first disagreement, they slowly learn to compromise.

Mary lowers her gun once Dante confirms that he won't transform again. Given how wary she was of his human form before, the new info about his power-up would naturally raise her alertness, but she trusts his words now. Besides, she isn't afraid of him, she's pretty comfortable with his harsh truths duh, she already figured it out And that means a lot to Dante, who's still struggling with self-acceptance.

Still having his head blown up might be quite a painful experience, and Dante can't help but tease about her change of approach. Mary simply rolls her eyes, but still accepts him as a reluctant ally, untill the amulet tears them apart.

The first sort of teamwork estabilishes who's the braines and who's the brawn. Dante certainly prefers a direct confrontation while Mary engages in a battle of wits with Rabbit. Still, it's impossible not to notice her distressed state, and even though Dante feels awkward witnessing it, he doesn't walk away as soon as he is instructed to work solo. In fact, he pays attention to the smallest shifts of her mood.

His attentiveness and demonic instincts save Mary's life. He cradles her close to his chest, shielding from the blast. Mary certainly has no time to react when he jumps through the window with her in his arms. Looking very mad. No wonder, his strength keeps being tested, but he's determined not to let anyone die on his watch.

Mary wakes up to find herself in a rather compromising position. Dante groans beneath her, for the first time she sees his face so close. And she's mesmerized, his soft surprised gaze doesn't help either. It's a very short lived moment of vulnerability between them, where they're stripped of their confident, smug demeanor. A blush covers her cheeks, and Mary rushes to break the magic, too afraid of the unspoken feeling that has arisen between them.

While this scene surely echoes the classic tsundere trope, Mary's reaction is easy to understand. She's a soldier, a tough one, who can't afford the luxury of weakness. Dante's existence was already confusing enough, and she'd just come to terms with his not-so-bad demon side — but feeling something for him? No, no, no, that's taboo! And so she lashes out at him in frustration.

Dante's reaction is slower. To his credit, he took the brunt of the fall on his own back, which hurts even with his healing, but the grimace of pain magically disappears when he meets her eyes. Unfortunately, he gets no time to enjoy the view, because his face meets her palm too quickly. There she's, the lady he knows, brutal and rather ungrateful, not that he expected a thank you. Well, his pout might tell other story.

Still, his soft spot for Mary is clear as day when he tries to console her about the fallen soldiers. She is also a good listener and Dante confides in her so easily, telling her about his father and the mission he intends to inherit from him. Too bad, she has other plans.

Another disagreement emerges between the pair. Both believe that Rabbit is their personal nemesis, while the other party should stay away from him. The truth is that both are wrong, bc the Rabbit's heart is big enough to hate both Darkcom and Sparda.

Anyway, while Mary's "courtesy" is definitely not for every court, she doesn't knock Dante down, even though it would've been more convenient for her plan. But at this point, she definitely sees him a person. A person she struggles to reason with, heck, the "demonic dumbass".

Dante, who just can't catch a break with his lady, is very unamused by the following development. But instead of anger, his expression is closer to despair. As if it's not just a matter of a stolen fight, but also the fear that someone will die in his place. Again. Eventually, he'll be able to break free from the truck, but who knows, if Mary will be alive by then.

In this end, this small arc points the growing attachment between the two. Mary's presence and honest approach help Dante grapple with his own insecurities, and it's clear how much he needs someone to lean on in his vulnerable moments. Meanwhile, Mary realizes that the guy in front of her is too pure for his own good, far from the cunning demon she imagined. His kindness and relatable family values keep messing with her head, but she shields her heart, knowing full well that his careless actions put the entire world in danger.

Back to back

Mary's change of heart doesn't escape Rabbit's attention. No matter how indifferent she tries to sound, using Dante's life as a bargain, her opponent calls her bluff. Without even realizing it, Mary lets it slip by using Dante's name and considering him a part of both species. The fact that she never planned to detonate the real truck adds to the point. Even though from her POV the human world would have been saved without Dante around he'd have probably survived it though and she was never into Baines' idea of using him as a weapon, she just can't. He's no longer a "thing," not an evil demon to her.

Mary's plan was quite self-destructive from the start, but lucky her, her knight in the red armor is punctual. Once again Dante saves her, giving her a cocky grin, a silent "told ya". Instead of gratutude he gets a groan from the paralyzed Mary. Of course, she's furious because he ignored her warnings again and walked right into a trap.

Mary hates being helpless, but she underestimates how much her mere presence helps Dante. He remembers Eva's words about Sparda just by looking at her. In this moment, Lady embodies the world he wants to protect. Her voice of reason is his wake up call, she drives his doubts away, leaving Rabbit no chance to use Dante's insecurities against him.

Mary does her best to be useful. She warns Dante about the poisoned blades and breaks through her paralysis to join the fight. But she still isn't strong enough, causing Dante to worry sick about her. Since this episode his protectiveness reaches a new level.

After the fight Mary reaches him, noticing, that he's again troubled by Rabbit's words. And she talks about his mother's necklace. It's a small thing, but she doesn't call it an "amulet" — instead, she understands and points out the special meaning this victory has for Dante personally.

Given this, it is no wonder that Dante looks extremely happy when Mary confirms that she will not take his amulet anymore. Too bad, both misunderstood each other. Dante is full of hope, that Lady has accepted him as the best protector. Mary — confident that Dante has understood the danger and will cooperate willingly from now on.

That's where their third conflict blossoms. But unlike the previous ones — about the demon nature or the Rabbit fight — this one lacks the edge and feels like a flirting banter. Especially if you watch their body language and face expressions closely, both are challenging each other, clearly enjoying the tension. The changes Enzo the og captain of the ship immediately notices and points bluntly. Funnily enough, none of the two try to beat allegations.

At this point Dante uses "we" heavily, viewing himself and Mary as an inseparable team, after everything they went through. His childishness is contagious and Mary finds herself engaging in his silly points, arguing about their saving score. Still, she reminds him that's she is a part of Darkcom and that's not just a matter between them two.

Dante's sympathy for Lady doesn't apply to her organization at all, and their opinions on Baines' methods clash. Ironically enough, Baines decides to play a harsh boss right afer Mary defends his honor. But Dante isn't one to watch how his lady get reprimanded in front of him. Besides, he realizes that he's the main cause of her struggles, and quickly covers for them both with a lie. Mary, still visibly torn, agrees and doesn't reveal that the amulet is in fact in his pocket.

However, Baines sets the stage to make the choice between heart and duty even more difficult. Once again the Lieutenant Mary Ann Arkham is acting out of character, questioning orders and hesitating to take the "demon" in custody. For someone who teased Dante about blusting his haircut a minute ago, Mary looks terribly hurt when she actually gets an opportunity to do so.

The inevitable confrontation gets cancelled by the mutated Rabbit, who gives DanLady a chance to show the best of their teamwork. Without hesitation Mary entrusts Dante with her gun, but his unholy strength quickly breaks her gear. They even find time to bicker about it, between the shooting and strategizing. Dante's face doesn't look very remorseful though, it seems he enjoys being scolded by her.

But his confident smirk vanishes immediately when his partner gets hurt. Once again, Dante can't hide his fear of losing Lady. Her life has skyrocketed to the top of his priorities: after the helicopter crash the first thing he does is checking on her, rather than securing his precious necklace.

Mary is hard to kill though. Not only does she always rise up, but also comes to Dante's aid at the most critical moments. She pays her debts, saving him twice. Finding the strength to pilot a helicopter and fire the last anti-demon bullet, when Dante is cornered. His influence on her is hard to deny when she adapts his famous catchphrase for her final shot.

The way they look at each other after the enemy is defeated speaks volumes. They won and saved the world, working together. Quite a solid foundation for a bond.

Sunrise finds them together on the bridge, the shortest distance between them. Mary consoles Dante over Enzo's death, at this point perfectly understanding how much the loss affects him. She sees right through his cheerful facade and when Dante tries to escape with another joke, she opens up to him too. The honesty is mutual and Dante tells her of his latest discovery: his brother may be alive. Finding Vergil becomes his primary goal. But suddenly Dante, the former lone wolf Dante, who didn't want anyone to pry into his family's affairs — invites Lady to come with him.

This is not something Mary ever expected, her expression softening, surprise evident in her eyes. Dante doesn't give her a break, immediately coming up with the name for their future duo. It all makes sense from his perspective, they fight great together, they complement each other, they share similar regrets, they'll make it work. The only snag is the order of their names and Dante laughs heartily, looking genuinely happy for once.

Little did he know about the turmoil his Lady was going through at that moment. Her weak smile dies with their silly argument and shifts into a somber expression. And she does what her duty requires, looking absolutely heartbroken.

The disbelief on Dante's face doesn't make Mary's explanation any easier. Yet, as he falls, we see Lady from his slowly blurring POV — and it's not the face of a traitor, but the small lost figure of someone who regrets this outcome deeply. Her guilt echoes in her apologize, which, sadly, he can no longer hear.

Their last crucial disagreement finally comes to light. Mary has witnessed the danger of a demon invasion first-hand, so she can't let Dante and his amulet go on another risky adventure, especially knowing how unstoppable he'll be with his newfound motivation. And even though Mary the person clearly sympathizes with Dante's passion, Mary the soldier makes the final decision. However, it immediately backfires, because it's Baines who throws the safety of their world into the trashcan.

Well, long story short, it's hard to deny how much the bond between Dante and Mary has changed over the course of the first season. From bitter enemies to reluctant allies to ride-or-die comrades. All with a tension in the air that the show isn't shy about calling romantic. And yet, Netflix DanLady takes a complicated, but realistic route.

Lady doesn't join Dante at the end of the day, and they don't walk into sunrise hand in hand. After all, they've only known each other barely more than a day. That was enough to develop a great sense of understanding and care for each other, but not enough to give up their old lives. Both still in the middle of their character arcs. Mary isn't ready to be Dante's Lady yet, but her trust in Darkcom is clearly crumbling. Dante's straightforward approach would've result in the world's collapse if Mary hadn't cover for him, he still needs to learn to be less reckless. And the next Season looks very promising for both of their arcs, which will clearly collide at some point and take their relationship to the next level.

Thanks for reading till the end! Of course, this analysis is nothing but my personal interpretation. I'd love to hear your thoughts too! What do you love about Netflix DanteLady? Are you looking forward to Lady's "redemption"? What do you expect from Tony Redgrave? Please, let me know 😌

[victoriadallonfan]

It’s very funny to read posts about Taylor (especially on SB) and slowly realize that the person does not actually remember who Taylor is, but rather replaced her with a super sanitized CW version of her.

They’d be like, “Taylor is understanding of people’s life choices and is a tough but fair leader”.

She is absolutely not any of those things.

She’s judgmental as hell and sort of a huge asshole to people who don’t immediately listen to her. Hell, Tattletale straight up repeats Miss Militias speech about how Taylor is manipulative in how she forces people to help her by making it so they don’t have any other choice (but is much nicer about it).

Even when TT tries to reason with her before this, point out that the people opposing them have valid points (which is weird to type), Taylor chooses to leave the scene instead of confronting the situation (much like how she left Danny when he finally confronted her).

When Cuff rightfully yells at her for lying about them (specifically her) being shot at, Taylor brushes her off completely. Cuff then has another moment of disbelief years later when she has to painfully explain to Taylor why mind controlling people into making out with each other is super rapey.

Taylor is not smart in terms of common sense or understanding people’s views. She’s not unbiased or fair.

She’s literally that meme of “one day I’ll wear this boot!” and she succeeds. She succeeds so hard that society is traumatized from it!

That’s what makes Taylor such a great character. That she’s so complex that even when you know she’s doing bad, outright evil things, she is enjoyable to a reader. The fact that she fails at being a hero so badly, fails at being a broadly good person, but still tries in her own fucked up way is peak entertainment and empathetic in the same way that Bojack Horseman can be celebrated as interacting with the audience heart.

Especially because it makes those moments of genuine heroics shine all the more. It’s her running across the city trying to warn everyone! Her trying to save Chubster! Her trying to save Glory Girl!

Dont sanitize who Taylor is!

Let her be that fucked up gremlin who sometimes does good things in a storm of bad!

[langernameohnebedeutung]

there's a lot of valid takes on why Gen Z is becoming radicalised at the rate they are - all that misinformation, tiktok, red pill, the pandemic - all have good points. But I think another factor is that even politically, their sense of normalcy is entirely different to the one of prior generations. The spiral of the last 15 years, the way the Overton window has moved, the change of style and tone in political discourse, the normalisation of anti-democratic ideas, the obsession with people's private lives, the topics that are front and centre during elections these days, the changing concept of the respect and dignity expected in a public office (god I sound like a boomer) - all of that was shocking to us.

the three generations of my family, all born and raised in VERY different time periods from one another, we've all just been equally shocked and horrified again and again these last 15 years - not just by what is happening but how it is happening and by what is possible and how easy it is to make a total mockery of the democracy and the rule of law. For all of us, that was a feeling of realising that something we implicitly trusted in to the point that it didn't need talking about ... just falling away. Or proving to always have been an illusion to begin with. To someone who grows up right now, this safety and security has NEVER existed.

But for these kids - the window of their life where they start becoming politically and culturally aware basically coincides with this downward spiral and I think that makes many of them blind or numb to it. I think for many of them, that's just their understanding of how things naturally progress and politics works. That the way previous generations evaluate the current situation - this framework of intentional manipulation and misinformation and radicalisation - is just fair and acceptable behaviour and that of course politicians manipulate the discourse to get what they want and of course it is normal to tell brazen lies and spread panic if that gets you what you want and if you're loyal to the party, you parrot those lines whether you really believe in them or not. (And let's be honest with ourselves - the seed to that has always been there)

And others, who I imagine intellectually know that things are going downhill, are really stuck in this extremely mind-numbing fatalist mindset (climate change is gonna kill us all anyway, haha) which makes you hopeless and desperate. And being hopeless and desperate also makes you vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation and radicalisation - because the offer you a perspective. Or meaning.

If you think about the trad-wife and redpill stuff or generally christian nationalism but also any movement that instrumentalises history with ideological narratives, you notice that their narratives place periods of stability way back in time in periods that match aspects of their idelogy e.g. their fetishisation of the 1950s. Then they come up with some horrible bad evil enemy that destroyed that paradise and created the 'degenerate' misery we live in now. Authoritarians and ideologues and cults have always done this. It's part of constructing the mutual enemy.

Beause this way, they can create their illusion of this kind of mythical, unreachable utopia (the past) that fascists love and attach all kinds of conditions to reaching that - with no pressure for them to ever actually deliver: women staying at home, racial segregation, christian hegemony, eugenics, absolute exclusion of gay and trans identities etc. This doesn't just have the benefit of pushing their politics on a confused youth (though that's a big benefit) - it also helps them hide from young people that these last 15 years, they literally created the chaos that these kids are living in. They sowed this situation and right now, with the radicalisation of the youth, they are reaping the rewards.

And the thing is, we can blame the Tiktok or whatever but I also think it is important that we let younger people know and feel that what's happening right now - is just not normal and not sustainable.

And yes, we need to let go of the naive illusion that "the kid are going to save the world". We should never have had that. But I also don't think a radical heel-turn vilifying all of Gen Z is going to help anyone or do justice to the situation.

[thebisexualdogdad]

Hello,

Could you write Poly nsfw alphabet A to Z with Nami x Male or GN reader x Nico Robin

Have a nice day

a = aftercare; what does aftercare look like with them?

Don't expect Nami to do any aftercare, she gave you the honor of making her cum she doesn't need to do anything else. Robin will offer to help you but you insist she relaxes while you take care of them.

b = baby; how do they feel about petnames/honourifics? do they change when in the bedroom?

Robin calls you my love and beloved, Nami likes when you call her pretty girl and angel.

c = camera; who likes to send nudes to the others? have they ever made a sex tape - would they ever?

For your birthday Nami and Robin surprised you with a series of sensual photos of them in lingerie, you keep them in a box under your bed for when you are apart.

d = dressing up; how do they feel about lingerie? who likes to wear it for the others?

Nami could fill a walk in closet with just lingerie, before your relationship Robin owned a lot of just simple black pieces but now Nami has her wearing all sorts of different colors.

e = edging; is anyone into orgasm control? who is on the receiving end?

Don't even think about denying Nami an orgasm, say you're eating her out and you want to tease her by pulling away right before she cums? Absolutely not, she will take both her hands and push your head back down into her pussy to finish the job.

f = fair; does anyone like to tease? who doesn’t respond well to it?

Nami is the bigger tease but they both love getting you all worked up from wearing revealing clothing. Robin's devil fruit powers are also perfect for teasing, having extra hands coming out of nowhere to touch you or rub you under the table.

g = good; is praise something that’s used often? who does it have the biggest effect on?

Robin needs the validation so give her so much praise. Tell her how beautiful she is and how much you love fucking her. Kiss down her stomach while giving her compliments and she is putty in your hands.

h = horny; who gets turned on the easiest/most often? how do they show it?

Nami loves sex almost as much as she loves money, if she's horny she makes it abundantly clear by doing things like sitting on your lap and kissing your neck, bending over to show off her ass in incredibly short shorts, walking around in her bra/bikini top etc.

i = instigation; who, more often than not, is the one to instigate sex?

Nami, Robin won't tell you that she wants sex she wants you to pursue her where Nami is just like I'm turned on come fuck me now. Nami also gets way more jealous than Robin, if she sees another girl hitting on you she will drag you away to the closest private space you can find and have you fuck her to remind you that your hers (and Robin's).

j = joker; who stays on the serious side, and who’s more lighthearted?

Robin is more lighthearted, sex with her is about the Intimacy and that includes being vulnerable enough to laugh with each other during the act. Sex with Nami has one objective and that is making her cum.

k = kinky; who’s the kinkiest? what are they into, and how do their partners participate (if at all)?

Nami is much open to kinks than Robin, Nami wants to try everything under the sun as she gets a thrill out of trying new things and she is a huge exhibitionist. Robin has a few things she likes and occasionally will try new things out of your and Nami's request but still likes what she likes which are things like worshipping her breasts and and using her powers to get you off from across the room.

l = lick; who enjoys giving head? who likes receiving it?

They both prefer receiving but Nami more so, Nami is basically a pillow princess and just wants you to pleasure her. She may not do it very often but when Robin goes down on you it's heavenly.

m = middle; who likes to be in the middle of their partners? on the other hand, who prefers to focus on everyone else?

Nami, Nami has to be in the middle if the attention isn't on her than what's the point?

n = no; what’s off the table for each of them?

Don't cum on Nami's face, she hates that. Robin doesn't want to be degraded.

o = overnight; what happens when they’re finished? do they like to turn in for the night, or do they stay up?

If they aren't too tired Robin usually reads and Nami works on her maps.

p = place; where do they like to have sex? what’s a building/area that’s off limits for one reason or another?

There is no where off limits for Nami you could fuck her in the bathroom of a marine bar with your wanted posters all over the walls and she's into it. Robin prefers to keep things to the bedroom but every once in a while you can get her worked up enough to fool around in a more public place.

q = quiet; do they like to have anything on in the background, or do they prefer silence?

The walls on the going merry were quite thin so you would often have to play records just so your crew mates don't hear you going at it, luckily for you when you got the thousand sunny Franky put extra insulation in the walls so your room is a lot more sound proofed with less need for music to drown you out. Brook's singing can be heard throughout the entire ship so if he's singing that gives you a few minutes to be extra loud.

r = restraints; does anyone like bondage? who’s the one to tie them up?

Nami absolutely loves to be tied up but they have to be soft restraints as to not bruise her delicate skin. Robin likes using her powers for extra hands to hold you down while she's on top of you.

s = submission; who likes to submit? what are they like when they do, and what roles do the others assume?

Nami is a dom who power bottoms while Robin is a sub who service tops.

t = toys; are toys used? who uses them on who?

Your toy box is insane, you once stopped at an island and found a merchant who specialized in… unique toys and spent an absurd amount of berries. You were carrying the chest onto the ship and Luffy wanted to know what was inside, Usopp told him he didn't want to know while Franky gave you a proud pat on the back and a, “way to go dude.”

u = uniform; would they ever roleplay? if so, what’s the fantasy and dynamic?

You once stole a marine uniform to infiltrate a base and kept it, sometimes you roleplay arresting them and them exchanging sex to let them go.

v = voyeur; does anyone take pleasure in watching everyone else?

Robin loves watching you fuck Nami, Nami is so loud and makes the most beautiful facial expressions it's truly an experience watching her cum.

w = window; has anyone got an exhibitionist streak? what’s the closest they’ve come to getting caught?

You live on a ship with several other people, getting caught is bound to happen and it has. The only place that is off limits is the kitchen after Sanji caught you fucking Nami on the dining table. The three of you have been scolded many a time for using all the hot water during shower sex.

x = x marks the spot; who knows their partners, and the way to get them in the mood, the best?

You have memorized Robin and Namis bodies and every single way to make their toes curl and their eyes roll back. Nami and Robin know the easiest way to turn you on is showing off their tits, leaning down to give you the perfect view or putting them right in your face.

y = yours; what does dirty talk look like for them?

Nami is more of a dirty talker and she will shamelessly make blatant sexual innuendos in public where if you say something even remotely dirty to Robin she becomes a blushing mess.

z = zealous; who’s most eager to please?

Robin, again she needs validation and finds it when you're moaning her name especially when she's on top of you and you're desperately groping her chest.

[gffa]

*slams The Glass Abyss down on the table* OKAY, I HAVE FINISHED IT AND I HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY.

In a lot of ways, this was a complicated read for me and I think the best way to describe my feelings on the author's take on Mace is that we diverge at the fork in the road that is, "Who is Mace Windu without his internal balance/his connection to the Force?" but that, as we walk along separate paths, I can still see the author clearly from where his path takes him and where my path takes mine. Like walking on separate sides of the street, still in view, just not perfectly aligned.

Further, I think my biggest criticism of the book is one I have to give a caveat of my caveat to, where I very much felt the absence of the Force in this book and as a presence in Mace's life. That, as he's being unbalanced and has trouble reaching the Force, it's not a bigger deal. That there's very little sense of spirituality connected to Mace's connection with the Force.

But the caveat about this is--that's kind of necessary for the story that the author is telling, because I think this is a book about Mace walking alongside the road of another life that he could have had, that he finds a connection with the people and romance (which I think is furthered by how thin the romance felt because it was serving a point about Mace's life more than it was a fully-fledged romance, in my opinion) and family--and that that life is valuable, that that life has love and warmth and connection and righteousness.

And that Mace Windu still chooses the Jedi.

That he would not be anywhere near as complete a person as he is without the path of the Jedi.

I think ultimately the point of the book is to give Mace that other path so that he can realize, yes, he did choose the Jedi, yes, the Jedi were loving and fair with him, yes, the Jedi are his family, yes, being a Jedi is what fulfills him even when there are other options. That those other paths are valid and yet the Jedi is the path for him.

There are things I would quibble with in the writing (primarily that I think there has been more joy in Mace's life than the author writes), but beyond that I think this book is incredibly thoughtful towards what I really needed it to be--that, while it may not mean the same thing in a galaxy far, far away, we're still reading it from our society and Mace Windu is a Black man and that comes with a lot of underlying context, especially when it comes to his anger.

This book felt to me like it was always aware of that, that the author (probably as a Black man himself) didn't shy away from that there was a riot of feelings in this character, that he felt protective anger and was a lethal warrior, while also being stern of face much of the time, things which are often demonized in this character, but here it was always in service of how that gave Mace depth and made him both a worthy central character and a good man. Mace cared deeply and part of that care was his anger that he turned towards Vaapad (which has been recanonized now!) in a way I ultimately found very fitting on a grand scale.

I was nervous going into this book, because Mace is a character that I'm so invested in and feel protective towards because of the shit that gets flung at him, and I feel like this book and I were at the very least in the same chapter and often even on the same page together with regards to him. I always felt that this book loved Mace as a character even if I might disagree on some particulars, and let me tell you that was a joy to read.

There are so many moments in this book that were an absolute joy to read (there are two different scenes between Mace & Anakin that sent me over the moon), so much of Mace's value of the Jedi and his path as a Jedi are at the heart of the book--even when it might not seem like it, ultimately the point is that, yes, Jedi can and do question their path, because they want their people to be certain this is the right one for them. This is a book about separating Mace out from that path, both physically and psychically, and having him rebalance himself and recognize that being a Jedi just is who he is and who he chooses to be, every day.

I can only give my view of this book and I will admit to stumbling a time or two with it, but by the end of it, I felt it was incredibly supportive of Mace as a character, that it was very Jedi-positive (even when it might not seem like it, it's usually going somewhere with the structure, somewhere I was vindicated by), and that the author wrote some absolutely banger lines that I'm going to be screaming about in a liveblog and that the worldbuilding was so good, I wish the author had had more space for building Jedi stuff.

It's an absolutely wild ride of a story (the action was really good and the harshness of the fighting added a necessary edge to the story that I thought worked really well for what the author was building with Mace's character), the story sailed right along smoothly, and I'm satisfied with what we got of it, I would definitely recommend to Mace fans and even Jedi fans. A few caveats about how I would let the story play out if you get wary in the middle, that it's not perfect, but that it's good and it loves Mace Windu as much as we do.

[drksanctuary]

Was Nico really as significant as queer rep as people make him out to be? Or is it just nostalgia causing them to believe he is a lot more significant than he actually is? It's hard for me to gauge so I was wondering if you have an answer 😅

A lot of queer characters in fandom spaces particularly very popular ones were really only side characters or they were more frequently just presumes straight and no one was ever told otherwise. A lot of the big name fiction out there had characters that you had to create gay subtext for if you wanted any at all. (Which to be fair stems from male authors inability to write good enough female characters that a lot of the people wanted to ship male characters with other male characters because they were the only ones with character development) Nico was for the first time a 1. main character in a 2. Large fandom and was 3. Explicitly specified (not subtextually) as queer. He checked a lot of boxes all at once. Not to mention that the way he was outed, the fear, all of the “bad” things a lot of people say were handled with his character were all things that Millennial queers had to deal with. We didn’t have all the safe spaces or acceptance so that was realistic to a lot of our experiences.

But obviously these are generalizations and they’re based on my observations of what I saw and also colored by the country I live in (USA). So perhaps this isnt true or perhaps there are some nuances I am missing.

Personally, Nico and I came out the same year. It was my favorite book series, Nico was my favorite character and it seemed all of our favorite headcanons (Nico is gay and had a crush on Percy) became true. So it was a absolutely significant to me. I remember screaming with joy when I saw the excerpt and I was texting my partner about it and she was equally excited.

It was pretty big news in the fandom. A lot of fans were excited. And it was a kids book so that was significant in that kids could see themselves in Nico, and it would be validating.

Anyway sorry for the ramble, but I think, to answer your question, it was significant but perhaps was accented by nostalgia of the people who experienced it. It was iconic to us but it may not have been that big a deal to the world at large or even the fandom at large tbh.

I dunno who else you asked but imma tag some other people who were in the fandom back then bc maybe they can offer more insights or helpful opinions?

@avaetin @bvckbiter @aroaceleovaldez (?) @thomas-life @thinkingjasico @gutsybitsies

[callizinc]

so how do you interpret the significance of the themes in ena overall. like potential messaging. and how does dream bbq interact with the themes established in the youtube series.

i’ve seen people say they interpret it as anything from commentary on immigration (particularly how immigrants are treated poorly) to like, internet culture, or autism, or whatever really. i noticed a lot of people relate their own experiences to it. it’s cool how many different interpretations people get out of it (even if folks get a little in the weeds about the symbolism sometimes, and personally i’m not as focused on potential symbolism as the worldbuilding in itself)

This is an absolutely diabolical (/positive) ask to send me . This is like opening the floodgates to world's largest and most dangerous dam. Oh my goodness gracious

WELL!! That is of course such a good and cool question!! to be honest, i hope i can answer it sufficiently, since i've spent the most time thinking about Specific things in dbbq so far as opposed to the bigger and greater picture—But here's the thoughts i have about all that at present!

I guess, for one, i think interpreting the series to be commentaries on immigration, internet culture, and/or neurodivergence and the like are all completely fair and valid. I don't have much to say about those interpretations at the moment myself, but still, I think they're all interesting in their own right! I also agree 100% that it's super cool how many interpretations people have; even if i. Don't vibe with all of them LOL, i genuinely really like how much thought it inspires!

Right now, i can't help but interpret the game as a commentary on unhealthy work/life balances and abusive work dynamics. Which feels like the most obvious interpretation possible but... still LOL.

Ena's literal only moods are "smooth talking salesperson obsessed with work" and "pissed at everyone because of her stupid job she doesn't even like". There's her line where she goes "Oh, I am no longer the boss of myself" with extreme nonchalance, Not to mention she goes to The Club one single time and has a breakdown and starts like. turning into branches or something ("I need to get back to my deplorable job... I can't afford another moment of joy.." LIKE GIRL...).

We don't even know what her job... Is? like obviously she's a salesperson but, What is she supposed to be selling? and i know they have the slot machines and everything, but what does her Business even Do? The fact that none of this is clear IS amusing, but i also feel like it represents how her job, ultimately, is Not of importance. Nothing she's doing is of true value to herself, nor to others, but she commits her entire life to her shitty job anyway, leaving no room to even consider breaks or ANY life Outside of work ("any good business should be open all hours" ...).

Not to mention how. you know. Everybody hates her 😭 WHICH IS A WHOLE CAN OF WORMS ON ITS OWN, But i feel it also fits into this interpretation; She, for whatever reason, commits her life to work, the thing you're Supposed to do to be a valuable member of society, so to say, yet it gains her no respect, no benefits, seemingly nothing good at all. Maybe she works so hard to try to gain the respect of others, even though, just like how our capitalistic workplaces will chew you up and spit you back out, and no matter how hard you work, those people will never truly care about you.

However, the references to violence in regards to Ena are also important, i think, with the "I'm not doing ANYTHING!" scene, and the fact that the game trailer shows two accounts of Ena wielding a gun, and also.. A shot of Ena as an armless crumbling green zombie in the same desolate landscape full of raining bullets.

I'm unsure where to go with that as of right now—mostly because I don't think the game would draw parallels between Specific real life events, I'd still want to ensure i'm being respectful if i am to start talking about something like war/soldier theming. Still, i think this has to be significant, there's two separate depictions of Ena wielding a gun in the game's trailer, and I truly don't know how to else you're meant to interpret the scenes of distressed and desolate Enas around giant knives and raining bullets LOL

...I also just remembered you also asked how DBBQ's themes interact with the youtube series's themes, But. i feel embarrassed enough already having written this much. and also I don't know. About that one. I don't knowwwww. So um. I'm gonna stop here 😭

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Why did Felix hide from LB and CN in S5?

My dear anon, I wish I could provide you with an explanation full of such profound wisdom and clarity that you would speak my name with reverence for years to come. Alas, I cannot because, when viewed as a complete whole, Felix's season five actions make absolutely no sense from any perspective other than, "Well, if he acted logically, then the season would be over in about five episode or, at the very least, Adrien would have learned the truth which would lead to an identity reveal and we can't have that!"

To explain, let's quickly go over the various assumptions one might have made as season five went on and why they all fall flat by the end of the season:

At the start of the season, Felix's hiding away made some sense if you assumed that he was hiding from his uncle. This was a logical assumption since Gabriel should have viewed Felix as a massive threat that must be eliminated. After all, Felix was clearly no fan of Gabriel's and Felix also knew everything one would need to know in order to bring about Gabriel's downfall. None of that actually panned out - Gabriel basically ignored the Felix issue for the entire season in favor of being the world's most obnoxious Adrigami shipper and Felix, well, we're about to get into that- but it was initially a valid assumption.

Continuing along the logical path from our ultimately erroneous fear-of-Gabriel assumption, one might think that a person who was terrified of Gabriel would go straight to Gabriel's enemies for protection. However there was an argument to be made that Felix feared Ladybug and Chat Noir's wrath just as much as he feared his uncle. This was also a fair assumption. Felix had just betrayed them plus, in those early episode, most of us assumed that Felix was going to refuse to make sentimonsters of his own, so he'd have no protection if Ladybug and Chat Noir immediately went on the attack. These assumptions all proved false in the end, but they were all reasonable when the season started.

Another initially valid assumption was the assumption that Felix's ego mania and self-serving world view meant that he only trusted himself to take down Gabriel. After all, past seasons had shown Felix to be clever, resourceful, and deeply devoted to his mother, so it made sense that he'd be working on some brilliant plan to bring his uncle's downfall and restore his aunt if only for love of his mother. You could even add an assumption he even wanted to keep everything quiet for sake of the family image or just a simple desire for personal privacy.

These assumptions and all of the others stopped holding water after Emotion. In that episode, Felix was shown to be fine making sentimonster, fine outing his own secret identity to the world, and fine confronting his uncle directly without a real plan for stopping him long term. The closest thing to a grand plan that we get in Emotion is Felix demanding Ladybug give him her miraculous:

Argos: Ladybug! Good. Now we just need to wait for Cat Noir and you'll both give me your Miraculous! Ladybug: (livid) So that's it then?! You're working for Monarch! You're the reason why I lost the other Miraculous in the first place! And why he took them!! You gave them to him without any regard for the consequences it might have with the people of Paris! Argos: True, except I work for no one.  I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish!

But if this was his master plan, then why did he do the Red Moon thing? That took Gabriel by surprise, but it didn't knowingly do the same for Ladybug or Chat Noir. Without knowing their identities, there's no way for Felix to reliably find them during the Red Moon incident since he's snapping everyone he sees out of existence, making it somewhat likely that he'd accidentally snap the very people that he's looking for. You can't even go the snap-everyone-and-look-through-what-remains-to-find-the-miraculous route because he snaps the person and all of their accessories, too. Otherwise he could have snapped Gabriel and gotten all the miraculouses back in one go, then grabbed the Ladybug miraculous as a fun little bonus.

In other words, everything about the Red Moon plan was focused around making a big, flashy entrance for Agros and little else. It's not even focused on stopping Gabriel since Felix doesn't seem to have planned to snap everyone away long term or at least I think that's what's going on here?

Kagami: Happy? When there's no one left?? Adrien: How can I be happy without my friends, without my father, without the girl I love?! Argos: You really think I'm that evil? (goes to open the trash bin where he hid Marinette...) Ta-da! (...only to find it empty; Adrien and Kagami peek inside, too) Huh? That's weird. (snaps his fingers in hopes of bringing back Marinette) Huh?! I don't understand! (backs away from the trash bin) She should come back! (continues to snap his fingers) Something's wrong! I can usually bring back whoever I want, but it's like she's nowhere! Like she's completely gone! (apologetically) I'm sorry, Adrien! Kagami: Sorry? You're sorry?!?! Adrien: You're not even in control of your own power! Don't you realize what you've done? Bring everyone back! NOW!!! Argos: Okay, okay, alright. I never meant to hurt you two...

Well that was anticlimactic....

Note how Felix doesn't take this opportunity to explain the danger his fellow sentimonsters are in before bringing back the people holding their remote controls? And what about his mother? Did he snap away his mother, too? And did he initially plan to perma snap everyone or not? If not, then what was the goal here?

This episode is confusing and could even be argued as a single, giant plot hole because it reads like a mental breakdown episode, but it's also a meticulously planned attack that was hinted at all the way back in Multiplication. So which was it? What was the master plan here? What's going on? Did the writers seriously do all that Felix stuff back in season four without fully thinking through how to make that work in season five?

After the mess that is Emotion, Felix basically gives up on whatever he was supposedly doing in Emotion. There's no master plan to stop Gabriel or make the world-changing wish or anything interesting. Instead, Felix is just there to be Kagami's Adrien replacement. Much like Adrien, Felix has no motive beyond "date the pretty girl and do whatever she asks of me." I guess it's a family trait.

One would think that this would lead to Felix making some interesting new plan to stop Tomoe or even joining forces with Ladybug and Chat Noir since he knows that Tomoe is in on whatever Gabriel is doing (Kagami wouldn't exist otherwise), but that's not what happens. We don't even get Felix going full senti's only because Adrien is left in the dark, a fact that doesn't seem to bother Felix or Kagami. They're too busy being in love to actually do anything to back the nonsense claim that they care about Adrien, but it's hard to blame them when it is so glaringly not their fault.

Letting these two have the sort of active role that would make sense for their characters would ruin the story the writers are trying to tell. We'd probably never get that whole "girl power" Bug Noire thing the show wanted to end the season with because Gabriel would have been stopped way sooner. It would also mean that Adrien knows things and the show can't allow that to happen even if it makes everyone involved look like massive tools. Let this be a reminder to you that you have to let your characters shape the path your story takes. If a character knowing X ruins plot Y, then you can't have both.

In summary, Felix's actions initially made some sense depending on your point of view, but as soon as he became a real part of season five, his character stopped making any sense. The reason for this seems obvious to me: you cannot write Felix logically while also actively including him in the show, keeping Adrien in the dark, keeping Gabriel a threat, and keeping Felix from flat out winning because the peacock is so ridiculously over powered. They wrote themselves into a corner and dumbed Felix down to get around the fact the same way Alya got dumbed down to make the Lila stuff work and Nathalie got dumbed down to make Gabriel's plot work. These writers aren't consistent at writing things like lore or characters, but they are incredibly consistent at the type of bad writing they have to fall back on. Expect to see more of these issues in the future.

[starhvney]

𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐂𝐄

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: mys zane x reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: your best friend is still reluctant to open up to others, but you’re quick to reassure him that his hesitations lack any foundation.

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒: hurt/comfort? fluff, best friends who are (not ) secretly in love with each other

𝐂𝐖: none

𝐀/𝐍: eat up zane lovers i’ve come with another serving. hopefully this eats i'm not completely sure (@justhereforthefiction this one's for you hopefully you like it ^^)

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

quiet had settled in the kitchen for the past thirty minutes, save for the ambiance of cooking and preparing drinks as you and zane calmly bustled around the kitchen. even when you’d brush by each other or needed help with something, only a glance was needed for you to know what the other was saying.

this was how it always was between the two of you. zane always preferred not to talk when he could (at least that’s what he said—yet he could never shut his mouth when it came to talking to you about his interests or insulting everyone else. you wouldn’t tell him that, though, since you knew he’d get defensive about it even though you were absolutely right).

regardless, words didn’t need to be exchanged for you to know how the other felt, which is what brings you to finally speak again after a good thirty minutes of silence.

“what’s wrong?”

he glances up at you from where he is tightly securing the glass dispenser of spiked ale, his lips pursing defensively as he shakes his hair from his eyes. he needed to get a haircut soon.

“what do you mean?” he plays the ignorant card, ignoring your unimpressed stare as he situates the large jar where it wouldn’t fall.

“you have that tense look on your face. i can tell something is bothering you,” you sigh, pausing in your own task and walking over to him, cornering him between the wall and counter with no escape. “so what’s wrong?”

he tenses up, jaw locking for a moment as icy blue glares down at you. as soon as he sees your expression, though, he can’t help how his shoulders sag and face relaxes. truly, he couldn’t keep up his tough act in front of you. not when you looked at him like that.

clearing his throat, his hand reaches up to fiddle with one of his piercings, eyes flicking around as he searches for the words that had been rattling around his brain for the past half-hour. patiently you wait, feet firmly planted in place to show him you weren’t going to back down.

“i… just don’t know if this is going to go as you have it all planned out in your head.” he finally murmurs, biting at the inside of his cheek with a tense sigh exhaling from his nose.

you slowly nod at his words, moving to lean on the counter as you give him further silence to explain. immediately denying his worries would be pointless and rather insensitive anyway. considering his past with everyone here, including you, you already know what he means by that. a lot of your friends were still pretty reluctant about allowing him in the group, even with his brothers vouching for him.

“it’s—” he cuts himself off, blinking rapidly. “you’re very sweet. for being my friend even after everything i’ve put you through. but everyone else has a valid reason for wanting to hate me.”

“none of them hate you, zane.” you’re quick to cut him off this time. “sure, they have their reservations, but hate is a very strong word.”

“and one that i’ve used and felt towards all of them in the past. it’s only fair that the feeling is mutual.”

“you never actually hated any of us. and you know that’s the truth,” you murmur, hand grasping onto his when you notice him itching anxiously at his neck, nails leaving irritated red marks behind their wake. “have you ever hated me?”

he flinches, face contorting into a mix of guilt and nervousness as his eyes settle on your connected hands. “…no. never you.”

leaning forward, you peer up at him through your lashes with a gentle smile, relishing in the way he wasn’t pulling away from your physical affection. red blotches across freckled cheeks, spreading down to his neck. his eyebrows furrow as his eyes dart across your face, and you notice how he lingers a moment too long on your lips for just a close friend. still, you spare him from further embarrassment, knowing the poor man would likely only clam up as he usually did if you were to push his buttons.

“then i promise there’s no hatred or animosity. sure, you aren’t exactly friends with everyone. but once they all realize how much of a sweetheart you are under this tough and edgy exterior—” you send a few pokes against his soft stomach and arms, making him scrunch his nose in protest. “—i promise they’re gonna realize why i defend you so hard.”

his adam's apple bobs as he swallows hard, dark eyebrows knitted together as he squeezes your hands in his. “i don’t understand how someone like you could be so kind to me.”

how long have you been nursing this friendship, and you still haven’t convinced him? shaking your head, you wrap your arms around your waist, pulling the tall man into a tight hug. his breath ruffles your hair as he rests his cheek on the top of your head, and the thudding of his heart in his chest is rather endearing to listen to.

but no, you could never tease him for something like this. sure, you two had your playful banter, but this friendship took a lot of sweat and tears on your end. you’d been nursing this friendship since it was a dead little seed, and even after so long he’s only just begun to bud. even still, you’re sure when he blooms you’ll be blessed with a beautiful flower; and then you can address his lingering stares and soft expressions.

he wasn’t ready yet, but you can be patient; especially when it came to him.

“it’s not too hard for me to do. but i know going out of your comfort zone like this is, so i’m glad you’re doing it. i can’t stand the thought of you being alone on the holidays.” you murmur, allowing the two of you to stay in the hug for as long as he’d allow.

your shoulders stiffen when the white flash of a camera reflects onto the cabinets next to you two, and you nearly stumble back when zane quickly pulls back. pushing down the disappointment at the loss of his arms wrapping around you, you look to the culprit of the crime.

dante stands with one hand over his mouth, the other holding his phone. it shakes in his hand as he begins to laugh silently, eyebrows raised as he glances down at the picture.

“oh, garroth is either gonna freak or love this,” he snickered.

of all the friends it could be, he was the worst one to have witnessed this; especially with how much zane still actively got annoyed by him. you eye zane from the side with a tense look, already knowing what was about to transpire. his teeth grit, jaw clenching as he glared down at the goofy, blue-haired idiot with an icy stare.

“delete that. now,” he says dangerously, and while you usually would stop him, the expression on his face was particularly attractive today.

plus, dante was being a jerk, especially when he responded with a smug, “no, i don’t think i will.”

the smirk on his lips was quickly wiped off when zane suddenly rushed him, a startled yelp leaving his lips as he took off to another part of the house. you stand in surprise—especially considering the fact that you’d never seen zane run that fast for anything, or even run at all. questioning voices of your friends meet your ears as they witness the chase, the group sounding confused and amused as dante is hunted down with murderous intent.

it was your turn to laugh when you heard dante dramatically screech from the other room, likely after one of zane’s longer arms snatched the back of his sweater.

hm… you would’ve actually liked to keep that photo. ah well, you plan to have many more like it in the future.

©starhvney 2024. do not plagiarize, feed to any AI, or repost my works to any sites.

taglist: @wasting-away-on-the-internet @angelhyperfixates @valentique @arienic @dazedbydeath @theaquaticplant @starsbrightly @kalegrinch @izzybella1807 @marst4rz

[linkhundr]

So NFTgate has now hit tumblr - I made a thread about it on my twitter, but I'll talk a bit more about it here as well in slightly more detail. It'll be a long one, sorry! Using my degree for something here. This is not intended to sway you in one way or the other - merely to inform so you can make your own decision and so that you aware of this because it will happen again, with many other artists you know.

Let's start at the basics: NFT stands for 'non fungible token', which you should read as 'passcode you can't replicate'. These codes are stored in blocks in what is essentially a huge ledger of records, all chained together - a blockchain. Blockchain is encoded in such a way that you can't edit one block without editing the whole chain, meaning that when the data is validated it comes back 'negative' if it has been tampered with. This makes it a really, really safe method of storing data, and managing access to said data. For example, verifying that a bank account belongs to the person that says that is their bank account.

For most people, the association with NFT's is bitcoin and Bored Ape, and that's honestly fair. The way that used to work - and why it was such a scam - is that you essentially purchased a receipt that said you owned digital space - not the digital space itself. That receipt was the NFT. So, in reality, you did not own any goods, that receipt had no legal grounds, and its value was completely made up and not based on anything. On top of that, these NFTs were purchased almost exclusively with cryptocurrency which at the time used a verifiation method called proof of work, which is terrible for the environment because it requires insane amounts of electricity and computing power to verify. The carbon footprint for NFTs and coins at this time was absolutely insane.

In short, Bored Apes were just a huge tech fad with the intention to make a huge profit regardless of the cost, which resulted in the large market crash late last year. NFTs in this form are without value.

However, NFTs are just tech by itself more than they are some company that uses them. NFTs do have real-life, useful applications, particularly in data storage and verification. Research is being done to see if we can use blockchain to safely store patient data, or use it for bank wire transfers of extremely large amounts. That's cool stuff!

So what exactly is Käärijä doing? Kä is not selling NFTs in the traditional way you might have become familiar with. In this use-case, the NFT is in essence a software key that gives you access to a digital space. For the raffle, the NFT was basically your ticket number. This is a very secure way of doing so, assuring individuality, but also that no one can replicate that code and win through a false method. You are paying for a legimate product - the NFT is your access to that product.

What about the environmental impact in this case? We've thankfully made leaps and bounds in advancing the tech to reduce the carbon footprint as well as general mitigations to avoid expanding it over time. One big thing is shifting from proof of work verification to proof of space or proof of stake verifications, both of which require much less power in order to work. It seems that Kollekt is partnered with Polygon, a company that offers blockchain technology with the intention to become climate positive as soon as possible. Numbers on their site are very promising, they appear to be using proof of stake verification, and all-around appear more interested in the tech than the profits it could offer.

But most importantly: Kollekt does not allow for purchases made with cryptocurrency, and that is the real pisser from an environmental perspective. Cryptocurrency purchases require the most active verification across systems in order to go through - this is what bitcoin mining is, essentially. The fact that this website does not use it means good things in terms of carbon footprint.

But why not use something like Patreon? I can't tell you. My guess is that Patreon is a monthly recurring service and they wanted something one-time. Kollekt is based in Helsinki, and word is that Mikke (who is running this) is friends with folks on the team. These are all contributing factors, I would assume, but that's entirely an assumption and you can't take for fact.

Is this a good thing/bad thing? That I also can't tell you - you have to decide that for yourself. It's not a scam, it's not crypto, just a service that sits on the blockchain. But it does have higher carbon output than a lot of other services do, and its exact nature is not publicly disclosed. This isn't intended to sway you to say one or the other, but merely to give you the proper understanding of what NFTs are as a whole and what they are in this particular case so you can make that decision for yourself.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

So with some of the takes I've been seeing in the Wandee Goodday tag, I wanted to share my perspective.

Just to note - I firmly believe art is subjective and what we see can vary a great deal based on our own perspectives and lived experiences. I'm not calling anyone wrong, I'm just saying this is my personal take on things. (I feel like this should be obvious, but nuance is so often lost online).

And my main goal with watching QL is fun and escapism. I'm here to have a good time. I tend to go with the flow, I like imperfect characters (I even like the fucked-up ones), and I trust the characterization and plot elements to be doing what they need to do until a problem shows within the narrative itself.

Ok, disclaimers done - here's my take on Dee & Yak's interactions around the fake dating idea.

I think all of their interactions are deeply affected by the degree to which they have already developed genuine feelings for each other, but are not yet in a place to admit it, even to themselves.

Do I think Yak has real concerns about being out as a boxer trying to hit a career high? Absolutely. But I think his quick jump to a "let's end this" reaction was mostly a kneejerk attempt to protect himself for what he felt when Dee, the man he is already emotionally connected to, and desperately wants to be able to kiss, dropped a request for fake dating over a real deepening of their relationship.

We don't yet know the level of societal homophobia this show is aiming for, BL land can go many different ways with this, but considering his brother's openness in the gym that he owns, training boxers, there is a tone being set. Yak literally holds hands with Dee in the middle of the street. He doesn't panic when people recognize him at the hospital. This may change, but I'm going to trust the signposts that his career concerns are valid, yes, but are not the dominant issue between them.

Similarly, is Dee competitive and overly focused on winning? Clearly. It's set up in his earlier conversation with Yak for a reason. But at the same time, his insistence that it has to be Yak is not just about his need to win - again, this is about genuine feeling. He wants Yak. This is a way to get Yak, and to frame it to himself in a way that feels less scary and vulnerable, especially after being hurt by Ter.

I know a lot of people saw Dee as being pushy. I do agree with that, and yes it is going to cause more issues for them in the future. But I wish more people also saw Yak holding firm to his boundaries and refusing to give in to the immature behavior from Dee, showing why he's such a good partner for Dee.

And sure, we haven't seen Dee support Yak as much so far, but the scene with the mother and child wasn't there just for kicks. Dee is empathetic and caring, and that will be important in his relationship with Yak as well. He is there for people when things are at their worst.

Some people see Dee on the bridge as being manipulative.

I saw Dee as finally cutting out the toddler shit and being emotionally real about why he's taking the scholarship too seriously, how sensitive he is to what people think of him, why Yak is someone he trusts implicitly, and how he knows it's not Yak's problem and it isn't fair to expect him to fix it.

Some people see Yak as finally agreeing to fake date as showing he is weak to emotional manipulation.

I see a man who has more agency than that. I see a man who is affected by seeing genuine vulnerability both because of how caring he is as an individual, and because of how much he wants a real emotional connection to Dee. And eyes-open, he makes a choice.

These are two characters who have never just been friends with benefits from the beginning. And the narrative has never been about what they are saying. It's about what they are feeling.

[eruanee]

On Round 7 and the utility of sacrifice

⚠️ ROUND 7 SPOILERS ⚠️

I wanted to use this post to respond to some criticism I've seen circulating about Round 7 — it mostly being about Till's death making Ivan's sacrifice useless.

To be fair, this post doesn't aim to dismiss anyone's feelings or criticisms about R7 or Till's (presumed) death, they're all incredibly valid! I even have my own that I will talk about later. This post's only goal is really just to start a conversation about the general narrative of ALNST and how to write a compelling narrative in general. No matter what I'll say, people resonate with stories differently and expect different things from them, and that's okay!

Personally, I truly didn't expect Till to die. Before R7 came out, I even texted a friend saying this:

– If one of them has to die, I think it'll be Luka. Till's protagonist syndrome is too strong and his death would be narratively flat, I believe. – Yeah.

And well, shot missed, unlike the one that shot through Till's neck.

Though, I really do believe Till might not be dead, not only because of the #copium but this isn't really the point of this post — I will assume he is so I can discuss what his death would actually mean to the narrative and how it would impact it.

I understand that no one (including myself) expected R7 to go that way. A lot of it had us realizing we might have gotten some elements of the story wrong — something I didn't take into consideration is that the round was probably rigged to make sure Luka would win, which makes sense because of course that Alien Stage isn't the fairest competition (and if Ivan's pictures on the billboards aren't part of Till's hallucinations, this is plainly evil).

R7 also had us wondering what the goal of the rebels truly is: did they even intend to save Till? If not, why did they save Mizi, what did they see in her? Unlike what I first thought, like many others, it seemingly wasn't a rescue mission.

When I watched R7 for the first time, I audibly gasped the moment I saw the "Luka wins" sign appears and Till being shot down. And I thought "Ah, so that's the kind of story VIVINOS wanted to make." I was already a huge fan of their work before ALNST began, mostly of their horror stuff. When I watched it, I knew I was about to sit in front of absolutely devastating content that would leave me sick. The tragedy was always cruel, often unrewarding, but I would always ask for more. Good thing ALNST now exists, uh!

I mention this to state I went into ALNST expecting roughly the same thing and it's essentially what I got. I didn't expect Till to die but his death, in a way, didn't surprise me. Did it make me sick though? It sure did!

I do agree R7 feels incomplete. I think it's interesting that I have not a single idea of what's going to happen next, but my biggest regret is indeed that Till's death doesn't seem to do justice to his character or characterization.

Till, the rebellious misfit, always breaking rules to the point he has to be physically restrained, completely beaten by despair and trauma once again, dying on stage after he got a slight glimpse of hope he can never actually reach.

This is peak tragedy, and a beautifully animated one at that, but it doesn't feel like a compelling character development. If Till is truly dead, then he dies with the potential of being so much more. And this is truly sad and disappointing.

And this is why his death would make me sadder than Sua's or Ivan's. They got to choose their deaths and what it would mean for them, Till didn't. He was suffering and overwhelmed. He only accepted his fate because he got to know Mizi was still alive before his final moments. He got to die in her embrace, which is probably the only thing he could've asked for if that were to happen.

Sua's death got to introduce us to the reality of Alien Stage.

Ivan's death was an emotional climax. It conclused his character arc in a devastating way, but gave him a meaningful ending nonetheless.

Their deaths let us understand what kind of world Alien Stage takes place in : a cruel world where humans are pets to aliens, if not simple disposal. A world where feelings are never reciprocated until it's too late, where you long for something impossible until you realize you should've paid attention to what was right in front of your eyes, too.

Alien Stage is a show where the candidates' suffering are seen and consumed as mere entertainment.

In this system, I believe Sua's and Ivan's meaningful deaths are anomalies. Till's death is the standard. An extremely unfair event, result of an extremely unfair competition. This isn't about who deserves to survive, but about who manages to. If anything, I think the aliens are relieved Till is dead, as he was mostly a bother to them. Luka is beloved and accommodating.

A world where death is the easy escape, if not almost a selfish one. Sacrifice is an act of love, but also an act of egocentricity. The sacrifice aims to be remembered as selfless and generous, but in the end, they only "run away without any sense of responsibility". The gift sounds beautiful when actually, it might only be rotten.

In such a world, how can a sacrifice ever be useful? I guess Ivan's wasn't. A sacrifice only happens to create a possibility, a chance, a what if.

Another very frustrating part of Till's death to me is that I thought he had the power to be a protagonist. I still stand by it but he was robbed of this agency. Him being used as a narrative device for Mizi's protagonist plotline (at least that's what I believe) feels a bit cruel, even narratively.

Alien Stage can be a frustrating story because it seems there is no way out, which is ultimately not something people are seeking for very often in a story. I still hope there's a way out somewhere, maybe not for Till, but that would already be something.

As for now, it seems Mizi's role is to manage to make Sua's sacrifice, as well as all of these deaths, worth something. This is the 50th season of Alien Stage. The pile of corpses is leaking red.

I do wonder where the story is going to head.

At the very least, Till wasn't unknown till the end. You could say that being loved, even for a blink, makes one's life worthy to be lived.

[starlight299]

I’m actually really mad at Abigail for this. Shawn expressed that his relationship with his father is rocky at best and that he didn’t want to drag her into it which is a completely fair and valid thing to want. And she immediately went behind his back and showed up at his father’s house to just chill with his dad.

Now, I don’t think she’s a bad person for this because I’ve met tons of other people with healthy parents that just immediately assume the kid has to be exaggerating that family always has to be forgiven because blood or whatever. “Blood is thicker than water” actually, good sir, the whole quote is “the blood of the coven is thicker than the water of the womb” so please, kindly, shut your cakehole.

However she was still definitely in the wrong. She’s dating Shawn to be dating Shawn, not his father. It’s nice to meet other people in your partners life, sure, but you meet them on your partners terms. I’m sure she’d be mad if Shawn went behind her back to talk to a friend she was fighting with. And it’s not different because Henry is “blood” it literally does not matter, found family is ALWAYS better than blood family. So, she had absolutely no right to do that and it was completely uncalled for. I would have been way madder than Shawn was if my future girlfriend pulled a stunt like that.

And about the restaurant scene, even if their relationship is “fixable” Shawn said he didn’t want her fixing it and her attempt at therapy only works if all the parties involved want to reconcile/work on their relationship. Also I could be wrong about this but Henry seems more interested in one up-ing Shawn/showing he’s better/telling the story about how he had Shawn’s life all planned out and everything would have been so much better if Shawn played along like the puppet Henry wanted him to be (I’ll make another post about Henry in this scene) than he does in actually fixing things which also isn’t helping.

Long story short, Abigail needs to butt out. She and Shawn have only been together for roughy two to three months anyway, my first ever relationship lasted longer than that. She should have waited to meet Henry until Shawn was ready, if ever. I know Shawn won’t cut Henry out of his life because this is a TV show but he could and Abigail would have literally no say in that and should respect it if she actually cares about Shawn at all. So the very least she could do is respect his choice to wait on introducing them.

And I know I’ve briefly gone over these quotes already but I was taking about how the thought process and actions were wrong, now I want to discuss the wording itself. So here we go:

“Well yes I said I wouldn’t pressure you, so I set it up myself and it’s been very interesting to say the least.”

Even outside the fact that this is a family problem she’s inserting herself into, that’s just plain rude. Yeah, I said I wouldn’t do this but I’m going it anyway because loopholes and technicalities. And maybe that’s just Shawn’s karma for doing that to Gus all the time, but that’s a problem Shawn needs to work on, not something his girlfriend should be encouraging and participating in. Not to mention he didn’t do that to her, he did it to Gus, so it’s not even a payback thing it’s just the both of them having the same unhealthy trait which will help neither of them in the long run.

“No, no, no, we’re just wrapping up, but we’re making plans for the three of us to have dinner sometime soon.”

Yeah, we, two of the people involved, are making plans for all three of us because I do not respect your boundaries. That’s a pretty big red flag right there. A breakup level red flag. Not only did she go behind Shawn’s back and meet up with his father despite her asking him not to but she then planned a get together for them all which leads right back into “pressuring” Shawn and therefore is exactly against what she said she’d do.

For the sake of not being misunderstood she does not have to not speak to everyone Shawn says he doesn’t want her talking to, she is her own person and Shawn is not in charge of her. However, he does have the right to ask her not to talk to people in his life, that she hasn’t met yet, because he’s having problems with them. And she should respect that because she has no prior arrangements with them.

Although I will give her a thumbs up for the “you’re not bald, you’re just a taller than your hair” comment, it was hilarious.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Don't Ask Me for QL Recommendations Because My Taste is BAD

Bad as in TRASHY.

For your own good, don't ask me for recommendations.

I'm writing this because I've gotten some asks lately for QL recommendations and I wanted to spare you the pain.

If you still don't trust me (because to be fair, why would you? I'm just a random weirdo on the internet), let me tell you how bad my taste is so you'll know why I'm doing you a great favor by sparing you the pain.

(I also watch, and rewatch, series/films for ridiculous reasons, yet another reason not to listen to me. I’ll come back to this in a minute.)

Let's start with a brief rewind to a couple of decades ago (because it matters in this context).

The first queer content of any kind I can remember watching was Xena: The Warrior Princess in the late 90s and early 00s (I was a child/pre-teen at the time). It was such a pivotal point for me, which is why I remember it vividly. Not only was Lucy Lawless (the actress playing Xena) the most beautiful human being I had ever seen at that point, Xena was also queer and I loved her.

The series, though? It’s bad.

It’s over-the-top, contains ridiculous humor, face-palm-worthy fight scenes, etc., etc. (But, it was also the 90s, so it was quality television at the time, no matter what anyone else says.) It was so bad that it was ridiculously entertaining. I would watch it today (if I could find it anywhere…). That’s how bad my taste is (or how attached I am to bad shit).

That’s when the groundwork for my bad taste was laid. I blame THANK Xena: The Warrior Princess for it.

Then there was a huge skip until July last year when I found the Asian QL world, because I had no idea it even existed (I’m from Europe, btw).

(My personal story is that I fell into the queer/gay film world before the QL world, and the queer films I could find were made and released very sporadically. But ever since I found the treasure trove of Asian QL series in July 2023, I’ve watched 291 series/films as of right now.)

The reason I fell into the Asian QL world was thanks to a Short on YouTube with the main characters from Roommates of Poongduck 304 kissing. (Want to know what convinced me to watch it? One of them was wearing blue and the other pink, two of my favorite colors. Yep, that’s the reason. Told you it would be ridiculous.)

Since then, I’ve been exploring this rabbit hole and loving every second of all the bad shit that’s out there (there’s some great shit too, and some great things that aren’t shit at all, but they’re not really my taste because my taste is trashy, remember?).

I quickly noticed what my taste was pulling me towards and, in some cases, the trashier it was, the more I liked it.

(I’m talking about fiction here. I’m mature enough to be able to separate fiction from reality. Just because I enjoy watching a series/film that depicts a problematic topic, and sometimes do it in a problematic way, doesn’t mean I condone it in real life. I’m just putting this here as a disclaimer because people on the internet are easily offended nowadays. And I honestly don’t have time to respond to people who are venting their anger after purposefully misinterpreting what I’ve said, unless there’s a very valid reason, which there usually isn’t.)

So, what are some of my favorites that I absolutely do not recommend you watch?

Unless you want to watch trash, then, have at it. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

(Btw, if you like any of these, I apologize for calling your taste bad and trashy. But, if you like any of these, I think you already know your taste is bad. Also, if you like any of these, hey, bestie!)

Let’s start with the less extreme ones so I don’t scare you away from the start. After that, they’re in no particular order.

(With the issues/TW section for each series/film I include possible trigger warnings, taboo topics, what viewers/commenters have brought up as problematic, my possible issues with the writing, etc. I won’t list everything (because some of them would have looong lists) but I’m including some of the major ones.)

Kiseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, age gap, “adoptive” brothers becoming lovers, etc.

Both couples in this series have their own set of issues. Ai Di and Chen Yi are the “adoptive” brothers who become lovers while Ze Rui and Zong Yi have an age gap (I can’t remember how big of an age gap but I think it was close to 10-ish years).

(Before I move on there’s one thing you should know about me… I was born into a family with a varying degree of age gaps within marriages, from 2 to 23 years. Even though we’ve talked about the bigger age gaps occasionally, it’s never been an issue. I don’t mind age gaps as long as they’re legal. Does that mean I would hook up with someone in their late teens or early twenties? No. I would rather hook up with someone who has a fully developed brain, which science suggests doesn’t happen until somewhere in the mid-to-late-twenties. But it does mean that age gaps (as long as they’re legal) aren’t something I’ll be bothered by or judgemental of.)

Kiseki: Dear to Me is one of my favorite series because:

It’s from Taiwan, and the Taiwanese QLs are generally great at dealing with more difficult and taboo topics.

Ai Di is the feistiest, most colorful, and pettiest bitch and I love him with my entire ice-cold heart.

Chen Yi looks amazing in black.

The neon lights (because I’m a slut for that).

Also, the kissing (from both couples) is great.

You know, I did say that these would be series/films I absolutely do not recommend you watch. But I’ll actually recommend this one. Watch it. It’s great.

Unknown (Taiwan)

Issues/TW: Age gap, “adoptive” brothers becoming lovers, etc.

This is another one I’ll actually recommend you watch because it’s great.

The main couple (Qian and Yuan) are the “adoptive” brothers becoming lovers while the age gap is most prominent between San Pang (Qian’s business partner) and Lili (Qian’s younger sister). There’s also the fact that San Pang is part of their chosen family and has seen Lili grow up and stuff. So, if that bothers you, then don’t watch it.

The biggest reasons I would personally recommend it to those I know aren’t particularly bothered by taboo topics are because:

The yearning is palpable (and I love shit like that).

Qian would move heaven and earth for his family.

The great story.

The even more amazing acting.

Some moments made me bawl (and since I'm an ice queen, I get obsessed with shit that shatters my ice and makes me cry).

I know I said my taste is trashy… but I would actually give myself a gold star for loving this one.

Now, back to the real trash…

Love in the Air (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, SA, rape, MAME, etc.

Everyone and their aunt (or however the saying goes in English) seem to have an issue with MAME (the original creator of LITA and several other trashy BLs) and for good reason. (I would say that she improved a lot with Wedding Plan, which is the least problematic thing I’ve watched from her and it’s the latest series of hers, as of right now.) If she’s grown, remains to be seen. But it doesn’t change the fact that LITA has some issues.

Honestly, I just watch this for the visuals, as in the motorcycles and the neon lights. That’s it. That’s the reason.

I mean, if you look at the whole first sex scene between Sky and Prapai, you get what I mean with the neon lights. It’s divine. (I recently rewatched LITA for this very reason. A waste of time, you say? Not when you’re a slut for neon lights.)

Don’t watch this though! Just enjoy this gif instead…

I just saved you 13-ish hours of your life. You’re welcome.

TharnType and TharnType 2: 7 Years of Love (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, homophobia, domestic violence, MAME, etc.

Don’t watch this. This is bad. As in, really bad. And all the issues are in the main couple’s relationship.

But, since my taste is really bad, I rewatched this recently for horny reasons (it’s Mew, after all, and he’s got me in a chokehold for some reason). It’s still as bad as I remembered it, but I would still rewatch it for Mew’s sake (and because Techno is ridiculous throughout both seasons, which means I love him).

To be fair there are other, a lot spicier, series that I watch more often for horny reasons (yes, some of them are in this post because they’re trashy too), but none of them include Mew. And since I have to get my dose of Mew from time to time, I return to TharnType (especially the second season).

Big Dragon (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, blackmail, etc.

This isn’t that problematic in my opinion, but there is definitely a drug-induced sexcapade that’s taped and used for blackmail for a while. And that's how the series starts.

I recently did a rewatch of this and it was still bad (in a good way) and I loved every second of it.

What I love about this series are:

The visuals. The set designs are beautiful (especially Yai’s home and the bar, before he demolishes it). As a visual artist, this is speaking to my soul.

The chemistry between Yai and Mangkorn.

Pong and Park. Two idiots I love with my whole ice-cold heart.

And the title track because it’s addictive as hell to listen to.

Also, the sex (which my horny ass needs). Let's not forget the sex. Those scenes were also visually stunning, which made me love them even more.

Honestly, I'll kneel and bow down to this shit because it's that great.

Don’t trust my judgment, though, because my taste is trashy.

Only Friends (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Manipulation, stalking, promiscuity, etc.

This series is messy in terms of intrigue (especially from Boston and then Boeing’s part). The ending had some issues. The sex isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, either. I, on the other hand, would drink a whole pot of this.

Overall, I loved this trash. Mainly because of:

How visually stunning it is.

Sand. He’s a hardworking, good person. He’s also a proud bi!

How they depicted and handled Ray’s addiction and recovery. (I know some watchers were upset that the focus of the series landed on Sand and Ray towards the end while neglecting the other characters, which is a valid point. However, setting that aside, the way they portrayed Ray’s addiction and then his road to recovery in the last couple of episodes was realistic, and I loved it.)

The promiscuity, because I loved it and the mess it created.

Boston being a slutty asshole. The more of a slutty asshole he was, the more I loved him. (I know, it’s a me-problem.)

Boeing coming in and kissing (almost) everyone.

It’s trashy, it’s messy, and I love it!

But, I don’t recommend it to anyone.

My Beautiful Man 1, 2, and 3 Eternal (Japan)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, obsession, bullying, lack of (or no real) communication, etc.

I love this series (2 seasons + 1 film), but I honestly don’t see it as particularly problematic. But I know others will disagree with me, so here it is on my list of trashy QLs.

I don’t mind Hira’s obsession because I know Kiyoi is just as whipped for Hira (even though he doesn’t know how to communicate it to Hira at first, especially in a way that Hira understands). Would I be okay with someone’s obsession and stalking in real life? Of course not. But, as I mentioned before, I’m mature enough to separate fiction from reality.

Also, I love miscommunicating characters, especially when the misunderstandings they create bring out all the emotions (angst, hurt, anger, sadness, embarrassment, etc.) and even the flight response. I especially love miscommunicating characters when they learn to communicate throughout the series/film. And this series is especially delicious on the miscommunicating part.

But, it’s also problematic, apparently. So, don’t watch it.

The End of the World With You (Japan)

Issues/TW: Blackmail, biphobia, cheating, etc.

I’ll be honest and say that I’ve only watched this series three times. And that’s because the biphobia is fucking annoying. In this series, the bi character is depicted as a cheater (which is common in QLs, btw). It’s an exasperating stereotype. Cheating has nothing to do with your sexuality and everything to do with who you are as a person.

(I mean, you can be a proud bi like Payu in LITA or Sand in OF. They have eyes only for one person as soon as they’re pursuing or dating someone. Give me more bi characters like this, please.)

We could discuss how cheating can be used as characterization in certain stories. But not in this one. Here, they’re basically using Ritsu’s bisexuality as the reason he’s cheating (since he’s sleeping with Masumi while having a thing going on with a girl, and then sleeping with a girl when he has a thing with Masumi), which is why it’s bothering me in this series.

If I’m going to tell you why I like this series, however, it’s for 2 reasons:

It’s about getting a second chance, a topic I love.

The sex (laser-focused horny Ritsu is my favorite Ritsu).

Check Out (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Biphobia, cheating, lazy writing, etc.

(It should be mentioned that I’ve read some comments about some issues involving the company behind this series. I haven’t dug deeper into this so I don’t really know if there’s any substance to the comments I’ve read (like official statements from the company or the other people involved, etc.). But I’m putting this out there in case this might be a potential issue for you (even though I’ve already told you that I don’t recommend you watch any of these because they’re all trashy).)

When I first checked this out at the beginning of this year, this series seemed to have created a storm of bad comments and reviews on MDL since it first came out. So, obviously, I needed to watch it because my taste is trashy.

And, you know what? I loved it!

Besides having the bi character depicted as a cheater (again, the use of this biphobic stereotype is so fucking annoying) and the sporadic clunky and stale scenes, I loved this series because:

It’s about second chances. As I mentioned before, I love that topic.

Best (the actor playing Daonuea) is the best in this series. There’s just something about him that grabs my attention every time. He has me in a similarly tight chokehold as Mew.

There’s sex (and my horny ass needs it).

But, it’s also trash, so don’t watch it.

Pit Babe (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Domestic violence, non-consensual, SA, age gap, etc.

This became popular. Really popular. I saw people comment about it everywhere. And usually, when stuff becomes popular, it’s more than likely reduced to trash quality by the general public. So, obviously, I had to watch it.

Did I end up loving it? Yes.

Honestly, the biggest issue this series had for me was the whole omegaverse thing (this was a new thing for me because I don’t come from an erotic fiction background, my head was rather stuck in fantasy fiction). And, from my limited understanding of this, they didn’t seem to fully commit to the omegaverse thing in Pit Babe, which was unfortunate.

The racing was also so-so for me, which hurt my soul because I usually love racing (cars, mcs, boats, etc.).

What I did like, however, was:

The chemistry between Pete and Kenta (and I’m so sad I only got crumbs of this).

Pavel (the actor playing Babe). I would watch and listen to him recite product placement scripts for toothpaste all day long.

The sex, especially the scene with Babe and Charlie in ep. 9 (even though it was mixed with clips from the racing) and Jeff and Alan’s scene in ep. 13 (because it was sensual, if we ignore the music).

The neon lights (have I mentioned that I’m a slut for neon lights?). I mean, just look at this:

I can watch that pinkish light all day long, even though Babe and Charlie are trying to distract me. (Especially Pavel!)

Dead Friend Forever (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Grooming, bullying, suicide & suicide attempts, etc.

Besides the issues listed above, this also suffered from lazy writing at the end. BUT, I fucking loved DFF anyway.

I never expected to love this series because it’s just a bunch of teenagers stuck at a house in the woods. How interesting could that be? Turns out, very.

DFF wasn’t perfect (perfection doesn’t exist anyway), but what I loved about it was:

The morally ambiguous characters.

The revenge plot.

The poetic justice.

The questioning of what was real vs hallucination.

The visually stunning shots.

The mask!

And Tan’s mask!

The beheading scene.

I could go on, but you get the point. I just love this piece of trash.

But, please, don’t watch it. You will suffer from brain rot. Trust me.

I, however, am currently rewatching this because I choose the brain rot. And my taste is trashy, remember? Or, perhaps I just love watching chaos unfold…

HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count (Taiwan)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, age gap, tragic ending, etc.

Everyone and their aunt and even their dog have an issue with the ending of this one. And it’s understandable.

I don’t necessarily like or dislike the ending. Obviously, the bury your gays trope is tragic in itself, and, tragically, it’s still being used. That’s why I couldn’t find myself liking the ending, even though I don’t mind tragic endings. (Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite classics, which people tend to forget is a tragedy and not a romance, btw, but I digress…)

At the same time, though, this series made me cry for a whole episode before tragedy struck because I could feel it. And you have no idea how obsessed I get about shit that makes me cry (since I’m an ice queen).

(Another side note: one of my favorite BLs is Once Again, which made me bawl throughout the whole series. It’s not on this list because it’s neither trashy nor bad, but it’s still one of my favorites because it broke me in the best ways. But, anyway…)

The best part of this series from beginning to end was the other couple, at least for me. This couple is the one with the age gap (which, again, doesn’t bother me) and I fucking love them! One, because Wilson Liu (the actor playing Bo Xiang) is such a gem. Second, because their first time was such a spur-of-the-moment thing fueled by a desire that went from 0-100kph in less time than a Ferrari would. And I loved it (just as much as the squeezing of boobs from behind, which, for some reason, appeals to me).

Also, the twins are so pretty it’s annoying.

Do I recommend it, though? No, because I don’t have time to respond to the clap back I’ll get when you come to the end.

HIStory 4: Close to You (Taiwan)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, SA, obsession, age gap, stepbrothers becoming lovers, etc.

This one has some problems (especially the relationship between Yong Jie and Xing Si), but I love both the series and its problems (yes, I’m trash). You could say that I’m as obsessed with this series as Yong Jie is with Xing Si. Would I get this series drunk and fuck the living daylights out of it? No. But I would watch it once every 3 months or so. Oh, wait… I already do that. Because I’m trash.

What do I love so much about this series (other than what I mentioned above):

It’s from Taiwan.

Li Cheng is ridiculous, which is exactly why I love him.

Every time I rewatch it, it gets funnier.

The chemistry between Li Cheng and Teng Teng is amazing.

As well as the chemistry between Yong Jie and Xing Si.

The kissing is just as amazing.

The main fujoshi girl, Mei Fang, is so cute I can’t handle her.

And the bathroom scene! In that lighting! It’s iconic!

I don’t care what anyone else says. This is fucking gold to me. But, then again, my taste is trash. So, don’t listen to me.

KinnPorsche (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Dubious consent, SA, torture, Stockholm syndrome-ish, etc.

This is some next-level trash, and I fucking love it.

Two of the major relationships in this series (Kinn & Porsche and Vegas & Pete) are problematic at some point. Especially Vegas and Pete who have this whole captor/captive, torture, BDSM-ish type relationship. Of course, I love Vegas and Pete because my taste is super trashy (yes, it’s a me-problem, but I don’t force my taste on other people, so, for the love of all that is holy, don’t watch this!).

Other reasons I love this series and rewatch it from time to time:

It’s visually stunning! The cinematography is amazing. As I mentioned before, I’m a visual artist, so this is a very valid reason for me to watch it again and again. And again.

The neon lights.

The whole mafia thing.

The sex (because my horny ass needs it).

Playboyy (Thailand)

Issues/TW: SA, homophobia, suicide, etc.

I was debating whether or not to add this to my list solely based on the ending. However, up until that point, I really liked it.

The fact that every episode starts with a whole ass list of trigger warnings tells me this is my shit. And it was.

At times, it was so bad that it was good (until the ending, which was just so bad it was bad). The things I liked were:

The mystery.

Win (who played Nuth). His acting was great.

The chemistry between Nuth and Phop.

The tattooed daddy that’s Aob and his chemistry with Puen (there’s also an age gap here, btw, but as I’ve mentioned before, it’s fine by me as long as it’s legal).

The weird ass sex scenes (and the underwear).

And the not so weird ass sex scenes (like the ones between Aob and Puen and the ones between Nuth and Phop).

But, this series is trashy. Keep as far away from it as possible. If you still decide to dip in, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Red Wine in the Dark Night (Thailand)

Issues/TW: Obsession, blood, human blood bags, etc.

This is a queer film that’s BL-ish with some dark themes. Mainly, it’s about how far Wine would go to help the person he’s fallen for (or become attached to).

What I loved about this film was:

Fluke (who plays Wine). He’s such a great actor and I love him in everything he does.

Wine who is so desperate to love someone and be loved that he ends up doing some weird shit.

The darker and sadder vibe, which I love.

Irresistible Love 1 and Irresistible Love 2 (China)

(This is also called Uncontrolled Love.) 

Issues/TW: Obsession, homophobia, codependency, adoptive brothers becoming lovers, etc.

This is another queer film (in two parts) that is more BL-ish than the films I’m getting into below.

This depicts a weird relationship dynamic between Xie Yan and Shu Nian where Shu Nian was basically adopted into the family to become Xie Yan’s friend/babysitter/lackey. This is some weird ass shit, and I love weird ass shit so I really enjoyed this rare, uncensored, gem from China.

But, it’s also trashy. So, don’t watch it.

The next couple of films I’ll mention are (obviously) trashy, but also complex and deep (which is why I love them).

One Summer Night (South Korea)

Issues/TW: Obsession, dependency, oppression, etc.

This is a low-budget film from 2016 (so, production-wise, it’s definitely nothing like the usual stuff from South Korea you can watch on Netflix), but I love it.

It’s gritty, it’s raw, it’s explicit (an emphasis on explicit because you’ll see dicks), it deals with being a North Korean defector but ending up in an impoverished situation in South Korea, and it ends with a dubious ending you can interpret in different ways.

This is definitely not for the general QL viewers who watch QLs for the cutesy stuff.

And it's trashy. So, don’t watch it.

Dangerous Drugs of Sex (Japan)

Issues/TW: All the trigger warnings! Seriously. I feel like it’s better to say that so you’ll look up the TWs for yourself (if you choose to watch this, which I'm asking you not to) rather than me mentioning a few and forgetting others.

With this film, what others see are all the trigger warnings (and, yes, I see them too, they’re fucking obvious). However, I can see beyond that and watch it for what it is at the core: Two characters dealing with incredible grief.

Grief is a topic that often affects me and I can relate to it because I’ve had to deal with a lot of grief in my relatively short life. Watching a film like this where grief pushes the characters to their very limits will (often) get a special place in my heart, especially if done well. And it’s done very well in this film.

Do I condone the characters’ behaviors? No (especially not Yoden Ryoji’s). But I do understand that grief can send you over the edge (and in some cases throw you off the edge) because I’ve experienced it. I do understand that grief can cause you to make horrible decisions because I’ve done it (though, not this extreme). I do understand that grief can be self-destructive because I’ve been there. This film shows it all. That’s why I love it so much.

Do I recommend you watch this, tough? No. Don’t do it. This is not for everyone. It’s definitely not for those who watch QLs for the cutesy stuff.

But it is for me because I love trash. Especially good trash. And this is the best trash I’ve ever seen when it comes to gay films.

Anything by Scud Cheng

Lastly, I want to mention any film by Scud Cheng because…

And I’m an artist so art means everything to me.

Cheng is a screenwriter and director from Hong Kong. His films, the ones I’ve seen, are gritty, nude, and real. They are more on the art side than the others I’ve listed above, which is why they have a special place in my heart.

They’re also deep and explore themes like introspection (are we doing things because we believe they’re the right thing to do, or because external forces have “brainwashed” us to believe they’re the normal thing to do?), the porn industry and how it exploits young and queer men, death, politics, and love, to name a few.

These are not for the average QL watcher. They’re not for the faint of heart. They’re not for those who want an entertaining watch.

These films require multiple viewings. I’ve watched some once, some twice, and some more times, and I still find new themes and meanings woven into the stories. So, they’re complex and deep.

But, don’t watch them because I know you’ll come at me later. So, to spare us both the time and energy it would take to argue about this shit, just don’t watch any of it.

Now, if you still want to ask me for recommendations after all that, don't tell me I didn't warn you!