#😭😭 he’s the most inconsistent out of every character

[youngyoo-apologist]

Henituses!

[ennawrite]

What gets me about Feyre’s character is the inconsistencies.

Like in ACOMAF, we see her get upset over the Tithe thing in the Spring Court. And she chooses to help the wraith, even knowing that they’re not notoriously ‘good’ people. While I don’t think the Tithe makes Tamlin a monster, I can see why Feyre would get upset. It felt very much like something she would do up until that point.

However, when she goes to the Hewn City, it never dawns on her that there could be other innocent women there like Mor. I know she’s not in control at first, but even when goes back as their High Lady, she never questions it. When Keir ignores her, she even thinks “As I’m sure he ignored most women in his life”. And then he excuses himself from the meeting to ‘deal’ with somebody’s daughter (the man who mutilated his OWN daughter, btw) and she’s just cool with it???? It’s so clearly stated how women have little to no rights in the Court of Nightmares and everyone’s just cool with abusive, sexist men staying in control? And Rhysand’s whole “umm actually I rule this city 😠” every 9 months when he needs their army is so fucking stupid like bro you are allowing these men to hurt these women and you DON’T CARE. But that’s our feminist king😻

And don’t even get me started on her taking out her own personal vendetta on a whole court instead of just Tamlin. Ya know, the people she was just fighting for against the Tithe? Yeah she was like “fuck it you’re all dead to me now”. Okay Mrs. High Lady making terrible fucking choices already😭

I guess SJM is saving the dismantlement of the Court of Nightmares for Mor’s book (if we even get that) but for Feyre to not even question it more just because Rhysand said so genuinely aggravates me so much. She had no problem questioning Tamlin’s ruling decisions but somehow Rhys is absolved from all of that? Really? Is the dick that good, girl? Did she lose her morals in becoming his mate and High Lady? I need answers

[olenvasynyt]

Top 3 most controversial acotar takes/opinions, now☄️

Uh nooooo only my top three? Alrighty. These are going to be very harsh:

1. I have read the ACOTAR series at least 3 times since 2021 and I very often skim chapters every week for posts and videos. And I will be fully honest, I never want to reread the series ever again because of Feyre. I dislike her biases, her hypocrisy, her habit of ignoring other people’s POVs and the mistakes she’s made. I hate her excuses and her blindness and selfishness and how she treats everyone who is not in the IC. I hate how she treats Tamlin and Lucien. I physically cannot reread ACOWAR without flinching at all of the stuff she does, ESPECIALLY her taking down Spring out of revenge. I do not like her as an FMC and I’m glad we have moved past her story and onto other characters.

2. I think the fanbase’s hatred for Tamlin is so extreme and it is heavily influenced by Feyre’s own biases, as well as stupid memes on tiktok. If you take a second to look at the story from Tamlin’s perspective, you can easily understand his actions. With Hybern, EVERYONE FORGETS THAT 1. He was not part of the Archeron Sister’s kidnapping, that was Ianthe. It’s literally explained by Hybern in the book. And 2. He was playing as a double agent, which is hinted at many many times and it is something we later discover. I would go into it more but I feel like that’s its own post that many people have made before.

3. I don’t think SJM is the best writer. I know writers can retcon, especially in huge series like this, but she uses retconning as a crutch, and it’s very frustrating. She has so many inconsistencies and plot holes and inconveniences that personally bother me. I think her world building in ACOTAR is so flat and not thought out at all, and her magic system is even worse. Most of her villains, not just in ACOTAR but in her other series, are not that good idk. She also has a habit of the typical villain monologue that I am getting so sick of and I literally skip the part of the human queen during the Blood Rite because I think it’s so badly written 😭😂

And here’s some random ones just for fun with no to little explanation (I couldn’t do just 3 LMAO sorry)

4. ACOTAR would be better in 3rd POV limited and we can still get the mystery of the world, Feyre’s biases, etc. A lot of problems I have would be solved if we got the POVs of other characters

5. I would like Rhys so much more if he was revealed to be a villain

6. Lucien is one of the only characters I genuinely enjoy, and I’m holding out for him. If he did not exist, I would not be reading ACOTAR at all

7. The IC are awful for how they treat Nesta and I DESPISE THE “intervention” they put her through. It was not a real intervention and readers should not try to defend it in that way

8. This fanbase is filled with too many straight normies who have never experienced a fanbase before and refuse to broaden their minds and think beyond canon. Tamsand would be the most popular ship in any other fanbase. There would be more sexuality and gender headcanons. Trans headcanons, trans fanfics, m-preg fanfics, etc etc. But I guess this is a very popular fantasy romance so I get why those aren’t popular but I should not have to explain why it’s okay to ship ships that aren’t canon, and why people often insert their heteronormative fantasies in queer ships (looking at you Azris)

[loveislandthegame]

my overall thoughts on season 7, writing edition: what in the world ? 😭 i cannot believe i thought this season was gonna be good. i’ll be joining rohan & S2 MC in the circus, since FB made me look like a damn clown. i don't even know where to begin

being a casa girl had so much potential, and it was something that a lot of players actually wanted, even before FB started doing these themed seasons. they really fumbled the bag here

i enjoyed casa amor. the guys were all unique, had their own dialogue, and it was cool to see their pre-established relationships (alex being the villa dad, bryson and rafa being partners in chaos, the beef between bryson & joyo) then we arrived in the villa, and it all went downhill from there:

everybody became an empty husk, so they could be forced into interchangeable roles: uma’s partner, bonnie’s partner, OG LI’s ex, loved up couple (summer/joyo or #rafne) to name a few. FB’s lazy asses ruined their own characters . why is alex, the supposed level-headed & mature one, being petty & childish af in my playthrough? 😭

MC literally had no thoughts, head empty. we barely participated in any of the challenges and games. it felt like we didn't do anything besides "get pulled for a chat" by your LI or the girls

the LI personality merge in this season was the worst it has ever been. all they do is agree with whatever you say, or tell you how great you are (gone are the days of LIs having their own interests, & getting extra dialogue because of that, like levi with artist MCs)

same problem as the most recent seasons, where MC doesn’t have friendships. she has a forced bestie, then potential LIs that sit around waiting for you to pick them, choose them, love them (they immediately disappear if you don’t pick them)

the plot made no sense at all. being a casa girl means we miss out on the first half of the season, but there were many different ways they could've shown what happened before we arrived (it couldve been something as simple as MC watching the show at home or during the jeep ride to the villa. lol) the timeline was inconsistent, so much important information was paywalled, and i’m pretty sure FB was just making shit up as they went along, since the drama with stephen and OG LI's ex genuinely came out of nowhere . he wasn’t previously mentioned in the beach hut, casa amor, nothing . his only purpose was to make the OG girl look bad.

speaking of the OG girls, what a disappointment . before we got to the villa, i honestly thought they were hinting at estelle and/or willow being LIs . even if they were forced to be our rival, they still could’ve had an interesting character arc . it would've been a lot more fun if she was like allegra, rather than OG LI's equivalent of suresh

i was gonna write, "why tf did she even make it to the finale?" but the answer is obvious : for the gem scenes. every damn volume, it's pay diamonds to upstage her, pay diamonds to clapback, pay diamonds so “your man” doesn't turn his head 🙄 it's already stupid enough, but it makes even less sense if you're not pursuing your OG LI

which leads me to the biggest problem of this season, the lack of branching. you're given the illusion of choice, everything leads to the same outcome . i didn't think it could get any worse, until i saw what happens when you choose the money . does your LI storm off? nope. they make you do the treasure hunt anyways...to win you back ??😭 MC should've called security on their ass

s7 had a promising start but ended up being a flop. it was better than s5, but that's really not saying much . i wish FB would just take their time—s1 and 2 had a whole year long gap between them. but it's clear that rushed seasons are gonna be the norm, season 8 is dropping in february . capitalism ruins everything luv x

[cromakas]

tails is so cute Mmmmy sweet sweet dear darling daughter. ,,,,i am sick. no one will ever understand tails the way i do. the world may see past her neglected-by-adults-former-homeless-orphan-bullied-and-beaten-for-deformity-forced-to-grow-up-too-fast-only-sees-herself-as-a-burden bpd autistic charm but i Do not. i see it. I was her once .😢 aBut forreal eeeeu tails is so well written and makes me so sad i love him more than anything she’s so important to me . augh………. i’m always 4ever thinking about every single line from tails in sonic frontiers. about feeling useless and a burden who only drags down sonics good name. how he is so scared all the time of everything and can’t handle it well. how he feels so useless when he shuts down whenever bad things happen and can’t help. and how he hates needing help from sonic all the time. and when sonic reassures him that he’s done and helped with so much her response is that she’s “wildly inconsistent!” baby you are 8 Years old!! ☹️☹️ sonic fans always shit on tails for being scared and not doing anything in more recent games especially in forces….. And how frontiers quote on quote fixed his character…. but i think Uuuuu people forget that tails is a CHILD!! who is gonna have child like aspects. SHE DESERVES to have Child like aspects. he knows literally everything there is to know about the world EXCEPT being a child. and forces Was SCARY, there was a war going on. sonic was universally presumed dead. tails was all alone and defenseless again. sonic was the one who showed him that he Can be strong, but sonic being gone is going to be insanely traumatic Man idk what to tell you…. that’s his big brother and literal care taker and like his reason for being alive ! i’m glad that they wrote tails like that in forces even if it Was ‘inconsistent’ to his character,,, tails is inconsistent! he is messy! because he is a KID! the fact he willingly wants to go off on his own in frontiers is so so big for his character and it makes me so emotional. he’s CHOOSSSSINNGGGG to branch out from sonic, hes doing it for himself. which is something she never/rarely does. she puts everyone first, tails does not care about himself in the slightest. every time he says something worrying n Almost opens up in frontiers he IMMEDIATELY shuts himself down. because Sonic is in danger and needs help. he’s being a burden. stop It. and sonic is So worried about his baby brother. and even says so and Again and again tails says it doesn’t matter right now😢 that they’ll talk later 😢 andhow can he be useful right now!! but she’s hurting So bad and more than anything just wants to be someone reliable enough to not be abandoned by sonic, The first person who has ever been kind to him 😭him wanting to leave n work on himself , BY himself Is so. important. to me. bc for the first time he sees himself as SOMEONE. instead of just sonics partner… and sonics Response. oh Im getting nauseous typing this out thinking about it. GODDDD. “you’re free to go your own way. i guess you just grew up on me a little faster than i expected.” AANYONE else hear that ominous bell tolling???😂😂😂 boats & birds by gregory and the hawk js sonic and tails’ song God i am seriously going to HUR.TMYSELF Bad auaueueggGGEGRBRBRB AND . and you are my baby by kimya dawson. heh iWas😅 really into both of those songs when frontiers came out and the damage it did to my psyche has Never left me! hwoooo boy let Me tell you… i am Also always thinking about the fact tails was literally homeless all by herself living outside before sonic found her☹️that’s the reason she is so afraid of thunder and lightning,,, bcuz she was always outside 😢 and now she is extra jumpy and sensitive 😢😢😢 tails is my absolute favorite (and most personal) character of All Time. i don’t think there’ll ever come a time when that changes. i don’t even see him as a Character he is really like family to me…. or a little extension of my soul that i’ve grown up alongside with

STORY TIME this is kind of funny to think about in retrospect Something was wrong with me. but before i got my tails plushie as a kid at Likeee… i couldnt have been older than or 3 or 4? i was already very obsessed with tails! i wasn’t old enough to play or Understand how to play sonic games(i watched my dad for hours while he’d play the games for me & i also was really into the 90s cartoons) but i was IMMEDIATELY so So incredibly attached to tails. he was my little buddy! i was him for halloween once , i had this pair of white shoes that i Never took off because they made me feel like tails and i remember when my mother had to throw them out bc they were Raggedy and falling apartBC I NEVER TOOK THEM OFF ohhh. Man i cried. mom was really controlling about my clothes and outfits and would pick out everything i wore and forced me to wear make up and do my hair all crazy it was An overstimulating nightmare for a toddler anyway she coordinated all my clothes and would get reallllly mad CUZ ALL I WANTED TO WEAR WAS THOSE GROSS SHOES 😭 then when i was at the age when kids had “imaginary friends” my undiagnosed UNCREATIVE little autistic ass was like Hmmm.. I think i’m going to make myself hallucinate tails to fit in with other Children of society! and so she was my… imaginary friend for a little while 😊 AND THEN! One fateful day i got my little tails plushie.. and she’s never been more than a room away from me ever since. i carry him absolutely everywhere he is probably Soaked in almost my whole life’s worth of tears and drool,,, i’ve had him through All of it. everything that happened 2 me he went through it all by my side. he took care of me when my parents wouldn’t and i know how Silly and delusional that may sound.. but i’ve truly personified him my whole entire life and he is my family and my best friend!!!! i was a very lonely Only child and i wanted a sibling or just Normal parents ssoooo bad😢 he’s always been that role to me. ive also always related to tails’ character so much too and he was the exact role model + just. the Representation of how i was feeling that i needed so So bad as a kid. little basil watching the episode from taosth that was about tails never having parents and Wanting them so bad, n sonic kept searching and searching to find him a home (even tho it made him So sad.) to no avail til Eventually tails gets tricked by eggman into finally thinking he had found his REAL home with his BIOLOGICAL PARENTS who Loved him and Wanted him. but they were evil frrrreeaakinf ants AND JESUS CHRIST THAT TRAUMATIZED ME AS A KID the Ants Did. and after sonic saves him the Cutest interaction i think tails and sonic have EVER had in the Entire franchise. was from the 1993 cartoon. sonic apologizing saying hes sorry for all the trouble he caused , that he just wanted to find tails a ‘real’ family N tails just goes “i’ve already GOT a real family! i’ve got the best! a family is just people who care about each other more than anyone else, right? you’re it!! you’re my mom, you’re my dad, and you’re my picket fence” 😊😊 and sonic goes “woah, You’re not gonna use the L word are ya? then i will!! cuz it’s a great word! i love you little bro!” then he noogies him and the episode ends with tails sayinf its Great to be home. guys. guys. Can anyone hear me i’m SEIZING IM SSIITNG HERE BAWLINF MY EYES OUT CYZ I JUST HAD TO REWATCH THAT CLIP TO QUOTE IT Oh my gooddddddddddddd

sorry vince if U read all of this.sitting here on a nice friday night cry typing about sonic the hedgehog autism is Truly a super power 🌈♾️

[crush-like-that]

Now that you mootified me, there will be so many asks from me😈 but I will send a few condensed ones to start off with

to begin:

TOP FIVE RIORDANVERSE BOOKS GO!!

TOP FIVE APOLLO CAMPERS EXCLUDING WILL GO!!

TOP FIVE NAOMI SOLACE AND WILL HEADCANONS GO!!

DID YOU LIKE TSATS, NOT READ, OR DISLIKED AND WHY??

and last- but CERTAINLY not least-

Naomi Solace headcanons for my brain rot🫶🏻

Thanks in advance for the brain rot, and I apologize if this got sent in twice; my tumblr crashed as I was submitting the first one😡

Yippie!!!

top five is ROUGH uhmmmmm

Titan's Curse and the Last Olympian are so up there. I also really love the Son of Neptune. I'm rereading all the books again for the millionth time but this time I'm annotating so I can actually pic favorites, but I'm still on SoN so I can't make up my mind on the rest yet 😭😭

top five EXCLUDING WILL?!?!???!?!?!? HE'S LITERALLY MY FAVORITE HE'S MY BBG I LOVE HIM WHAT. (can't) call me basic but I LOVE kayla and austin. Also Lee and Michael hold a verryyyyy special place in my heart. Can I say myself? KIDDING. uhm uhm uhm. I don't remember any others woops

UGH I love Naomi and Will!!!! 1. Will is the textbook definition of a Mama's Boy. and his mama KNOWS IT. She's so proud of him 2. Naomi isn't really the best at telling people what she's thinking or how she feels about them (i e "I'm proud of you" "you did really good!" "you have such talent for (said thing)") but she always ALWAYS makes a conscious effort to tell Will she loves him 3. Will may be a sixteen year old, 6'4'' grown child, but he will still curl up in his mama's arms. 4. Will didn't meet his grandparents til he was 12. He had been a year round camper since he was 10. When he turned 11, Naomi moved back in with her parents. After a bit, Will went to 'summers only' for a year 5. When Will can't sleep, he'll listen to some of Naomi's older songs, the ones she'd sing for him when she was still writing them.

Plus one... two. 6. Like alot of young kids, Will liked to hold strands of Naomi's hair when he was pretty young. She kept it long and curly, and Will loved the texture. (and this is why Will likes to play with Nico's hair) 7. Will was born with brown hair, the same light brown that Naomi has. When he was claimed by Apollo, most of his hair went blonde. (happens to every child of apollo)

I personally LOVE tsats. I really don't think it was that good of a book and, as always with Rick's books, there are many time inconsistencies, but I still love it with my whole heart. Nico was my favorite character as soon as he was introduced, blah blah blah saw myself in him, blah blah blah other traumatic stuff that made me love him more, now he's queer and i'm crying because he's like me blah blah blah, and BOOM! TSATS! It's very dear to me because I get to see these characters over come their problems and... it's jsut very emotional

NAOMI FOR THE WIN!!!!! @mediumgayitalian has some really good Naomi writings

She met Apollo at one of her first gigs at a local bar. She thought he was some fancy fella from a band. They 'dated' for a bit before he had to go. Naomi understood, a good musicians life was never stationary. She was nineteen. When she was found out she was pregnant, she ran away from home, absolutely terrified of what her good Christian parents would think if they found out she had gotten knocked up by some no good rocker.

It was just them for a while, Naomi and her little baby. She never acted like she was always alone. Always said "us" and "we". She was never alone, she had her baby. She had to bounce around from place to place, looking for working, looking for a place to stay. A month before Will was born, she finally found a stable job and apartment. Naomi loved Will more than she thought she ever could, seeing as she already loved him so much before she had even met him. They were never separated- hell, until he started kindergarten, Will went to work with Naomi. All her coworkers loved him, his gap-toothed smile and face that lit up like the sun. That's all Naomi ever needed. Her son. Her sun. And, of course, he became her muse. Every song she wrote was about him in some way. Something about the sunshine, or a baby's laugh, her strongest love, her will to live. Her music started to get popular. Naomi would pinch Will's cheeks, "all because of you," she'd face. Will would giggle in return. Sure, he didn't entirely understand what it all meant, but if Naomi could keep him happy, she would do anything. Will was about eight when Naomi started opening up to the possibility of touring. It was nerve-wracking. Her stability, which she had worked so hard for, would be gone. She'd be bouncing around again, but this time she'd have Will with her. She was more of a "we" than she thought before. After some convincing from her friends (friends? coworkers? other women her age with children she was able to speak to occasionally? it was all the same) Naomi decided that the tour would be good for Will. The money she could get off of it... She could give Will a good life, better than what she would be able to do on her own.

She hadn't expected Will to hate the tour life as much as he did. He had to spend more time alone or with a babysitter, away from his mama. She wasn't there to tuck him in every night. He was sleeping in hotels or on a bus, not in his bed that had always been right by hers. Then, right around Will's tenth birthday, Naomi started to notice some odd things. Odd things that put Will in danger. So they went to New York.... And Will went to camp. Naomi, now she won't admit it, but she cried for weeks after she dropped him off. She couldn't sleep without him there, now completely alone. Alone for the first time in her life. She missed her baby boy, his sunshine smiles, his laughter, his stubborn curls- Hell, she missed the fact that they couldn't be in separate rooms for more than five minutes before Will started to get nervous. She missed the way he'd brush through her hair whenever he was sitting next to her, how he always curled up to her side and tucked himself under her arms. So for the first time in ten years, she called her mama. Naomi was 30 when she moved back in with her parents. She couldn't write songs any more, every one came out sounding wrong, half complete. Things didn't make sense. So she worked on their farm, helped them keep up the chores and maintain the fields Most of her cousins worked for the family business too, so she saw them almost daily either out on the fields or while dropping off shipments. She could feel the way they judged her. She left with that baby years ago. Now she's here and her baby ain't. How must she look as mother? If only they knew, how hard it was for her. So, with Chiron's permission and direct instructions of care (how stupid is that, Naomi having to learn how to take care of HER baby from someone else) Naomi brought Will home for the school year. Her parents LOVED him. They adopted the roles of Gammie and Pawpaw quickly. "Oh look at that smile," they'd coo and pinch at Will cheeks. But Will didn't laugh the same. He was hesitant, shakier. Wore an ace bandage around his wrist. His arms and legs were littered with light scars. Hell, his hair was blonde now! Will, always her baby, didn't look like her baby. Naomi was scared for him. But Will was still a kid, he'd run and laugh with her cousins' kids, he made friends at school, he shared stories of what life was like during the rest of the year (even though Naomi had heard it all in letters), he Pawpaw out with the animals on the farm. Her baby was back. She wouldn't be able to keep him for long, and god knew how much different he was gonna be next time she saw him, but for now she had her baby.

woops sorry that was a long one

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Tell me about the process of writing trr 👀

Thank u so much for indulging me 😭

Um. This got very long. So most of it's going under a readmore.

One of the first things I did when I started TRR was come up with three principles for writing autistic!Halt, which I stick to every time I write him:

Halt is an autistic character, not a character who happens to have autism. Essentially meaning: Halt's autism must affect the narrative. TRR (as well as many recent one-shots) would not be the same stories if Halt was neurotypical, and I figure if I did write something where Halt's autism didn't affect the story, then I've written it poorly

Halt's autism can't be discarded for the sake of the story. Pretty self explanatory. In a lot of media with autistic-coded characters, they're portrayed as weird and having some social difficulties or weird interests in a way that can be summed up as being "lolz so QUIRKY 🤪", but those traits can be highly inconsistent depending on what the plot needs. I was determined to not do that in TRR.

Halt's autism is value-neutral. There's two broad camps that a lot of autistic rep or autistic-coded characters fall into, mainly depending on the genre they appear in. If they're in a more serious story, the focus tends to be on how much of a problem they are for their caretaker, and if they're in something comedic, the focus will be on how much of a jackass and/or how clueless they are and the basis of the humour will be other people responding to this. In either case, we're supposed to sympathise with the non-autistic characters and relate to how difficult dealing with an autistic person is. The other alternative is that we get an inspiration-porny depiction of autism where the autistic character is so saintly and good and wonderful and inspiring, which is also pretty damn dehumanising. So for TRR, I tried to avoid both those extremes. If characters had problems with Halt's autistic traits, that was their fault - any problems they have with him are part of a failure to accommodate him, or because they pushed Halt out of his comfort zone. Of course, Halt would have to meet them half-way here: if he's rude, he does have to realise that and apologise for that rudeness. At the same time, Halt isn't better than anyone else by virtue of being autistic. He's not an inspiration to them, nor is he there to teach them how to be better people: he's just another character, just like any of them. Maybe I haven't always pulled this last principle off correctly, but I try.

The rest is going under a cut sorry :"D

Another thing I did really early on was settle on what Halt's autistic traits would be. In canon, Halt dislikes loud noises, doesn't seem to look at people very much, he can talk for a long time on things he knows but doesn't otherwise speak very much, and he loves archery - he's one of the Corps' best rangers. Using this as a basis, I decided Halt has noise sensitivities, generally avoids eye contact unless he knows people well, and that archery is one of his special interests. I wanted to make Halt slightly touch adverse, so I gave him my trouble with being touched around the shoulders. Finally, based on how many times Halt gets quiet and avoids people in loud situations, I decided to have him shut down instead of melt down when he starts to get overwhelmed.

And then I had to decide how to actually write that autism - as in, like, the mechanics of writing. There's a subtle difference between how Halt's POV scenes are written versus everyone else's. When I write from Halt's POV, I don't typically include any emotion from other characters unless it's very obvious, or I describe body language without much detail. If Halt meets someone for the first time, the other character will be described with a hair colour and maybe their general build and that's it - Halt doesn't like looking at faces much, so you won't get details like their eye colour or distinct facial features. This means a lot of perspective-hopping, because if the other characters' emotions are important to the scene, then I either can't tell it from Halt's POV or I need a scene afterwards that backtracks slightly to explain what we missed. I also try to focus more on the information coming through Halt's senses - what he's hearing or feeling, for instance. It was the only way I could think of to actually get across social difficulties and what having sensory processing disorder feels like, lol

More recently, I reread RA's two prequels (which cover the same timespan as TRR) and made extensive notes on the plot/characters...fully knowing I would need to discard 85% of it for TRR. I can at least make shout-outs to it, or use it as a basis for what I write. I turned those notes into a 41 page document that describes characters, locations, and events, complete with sub-headings!

WHEW okay thank you for enabling me :D I mainly focussed on character creation i know but i had the most to say about it 😭

[applesandbannas747]

does pacat rlly not care about fence anymore 😭 i feel like it’s much better than dark rise and could be better than captive prince too…it’s been a year since i last consumed anything fence-related and i really don’t understand what’s going on with the series?? but anyways i like ur fics a lot & agree with ur reviews of srb’s novels, which also could have had so much potential but ended up kind of sucking in a lot of ways.

Pacat is a mystery to me. Personally, I believe Dark Rise is his best work--it shows much better pacing than Captive Prince and gets the same impact and feel without going to such extreme and explicit horrors, which shows a lot of skill (I know CP is his most beloved series but he's improved a lot since writing it haha). What gets me is that Fence STARTED really strong and I counted it as his best work for sure. There were fun tropes and dynamics, interesting characters with a central relationship promising contention, fighting, and tension, and some fun elements in the mystery of Jesse and potential in the reveal of Nick's lineage. And you could tell there was passion in the project...but even by the later issues of the original 12-issue run, Pacat's social media reflected a large disinterest in Fence, and that disinterest has shown in the story as Fence continues to progress.

I try to logic and rationalize and analyze everything Fence related and literally every time I do I get met with 'it's not that deep' from the actual canon lmfao but I'm going to offer my rationalization anyway lmao the only reason I can think to justify Pacat's lack of interaction with Fence on Twitter besides not caring about it much is that it doesn't fit his brand. Which is only defined by two other series, but it's very much a high fantasy/historical fantasy dark romance with stomach-churning undertones and much darker themes than Fence. So I gave him that excuse for a long time. Fence doesn't fit within that brand at all, so from a marketing standpoint, it makes some amount of sense to focus more on the other franchises. However, I think this strategic thinking is giving too much credit--Fence has always had really shit marketing so either Pacat has no mind for marketing or he doesn't care to market Fence, which both get us back to the only real reason being he just doesn't care about it as much as his other things.

Do I expect Pacat to be hanging out in the Twitter FENCEtag? No. But I do think it's strange that he'll post tweets saying happy birthday to other people's books the day they come out, but literally didn't ever make a Fence Redemption announcement or say anything on the release day. The most he's done is retweet a couple things from BOOM! and 2 other outside sources. And this is regular behavior--he didn't do announcements for RIVALS or RISE either and didn't promote them at all. Yet Dark Rise gets announcements all the way along--title announcement, release date announcement, cover reveal, etc etc etc. He also posts and retweets fanart for his other 2 books really regularly, yet he didn't even retweet all of Jo's (the co-creator and illustrator of Fence) pieces for the Fence event Jo hosted in April, let alone bother with much fanart of it. There's just no reason for the vast gap in involvement and enthusiasm other than him very strongly preferring his other projects and not bothering with the effort of interacting with Fence. He'll occasionally ask culture questions (like if Americans say 'coz' for cousin or how to say something in French) but that's legitimately the best argument there is for his interest or care in the project.

And lastly, his lack of interest shows in the story. He handed his story off to someone else to write novels for and simply let her go wild without regard for how it impacted the comics or the fans. Further, Pacat lost track of his own story and characters between Volume 3 & 4 in a way that I cannot excuse as anything other than inconsistent characterization. And I know I'm biased there, but I make so many people in real life read Fence that I don't jabber at about it/pull into the fandom (so they have no knowledge of my takes), and all of them have commented on the 180 the characters made between the volumes. And, listen, if I wouldn't accept that kind of inconsistency in characterization when grading my 12-year-olds' narrative writing projects, why am I still sitting here trying to excuse the lazy/poor writing in a published and successful author? The pacing is also telling--a lot of conflict was skipped over 'off screen' between the volumes (which, say it with me folks, is lazy writing). Nick's resentment toward Seiji turned into full admiration sans any ill feelings or acknowledgment that even if he IS hot shit, he was still a major asshole in his initial conception, and Seiji apparently agreed to drop his thing about Jesse (you know, the thing that had them in a fist fight approximately 40 pages of comic before). There was no build-up to their relationship or resolution of the conflict that made it unhealthy (expect to have Nick 'admit' Seiji was right to treat him like shit...) These things push the story along a lot faster; rivals to lovers moves really fast if you skip all the tedious development of the characters getting to know, respect, tolerate, and then like each other. Pacat loves rivals/enemies to lovers and (to be blunt) mean/cold bottoms, so it is so fucking bizarre to me that he'd speedrun the relationship and change the characterization so much when it's directly moving away from his preferences (see: Captive Prince, Dark Rise). I don’t know how it happened from anything other than sheer laziness or from not caring about Fence so deeply that he let SRB overwrite the characters and romance he'd originally created.

Last, there are just SO many inconsistencies and copyedit-level mistakes. And I get it that typos happen, but it happens so much that it's like,,, are you even rereading the scripts before you throw them at your publisher? And the continuity errors are massive at this point. Seiji's year in France, which was apparently the result of his loss to Jesse, is only possible if time travel exists and also timelines exist simultaneously. How do you fuck up so big when constructing a story you care about? At least by the time it gets published, you should be sure it's READY to be published. It's like he's writing issue-by-issue as he goes with no plan and can't be bothered to skim through the previous issues to check for things.

I just can't come up with a reality where Pacat actually loves Fence when this is all the care he gives it. We are so so so lucky to have Jo--she is literally the most amazing and gives so much love and care to Fence, and it shows...I just wish Pacat's writing didn't affect her contribution to the comic too. But she at least loves Fence even if Pacat doesn't seem to tell her all that much more than he tells the rest of us LMFAO

This turned into a WHOLE messy essay, I just have a lot of thoughts and they've been brewing for years so sorry to go off on my mad ravings and thanks for tuning in XD and also!!! I'm so happy you like my fics TT.TT <33 and also that you see my point about the novels uwu

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

I keep feeling like I’m taking the mandalorian s3 way too seriously when I get mad about what’s happening… but I just can’t help how upset it’s making me 😭 I stopped watching after episode 2 but have kept up for the most part. Going through the mando tag here on tumblr is so surreal because there are people actually thinking the direction makes sense and that DinxBo is a natural next step?? Anyway, I really appreciate reading your thoughts on how it’s all going. Makes me feel like I’m not alone in this!

(I hope you don't mind me lumping my response/thoughts re: your ask in here too, @just-prime, since uh there are a lot of spoilers in it and I'm not sure it's a good idea to make it public)

You have every right to be upset. This is a show you invested in, a show that sold you a story of a lonely Mandalorian bounty hunter and his Force-sensitive child in a post-war galaxy. It gave you story beats and the promises of adventure, trials and tribulations, and self-discovery in the micro and the macro. There was a road map in all the ways Din discovered and challenged himself as he gave up basically everything he ever knew about himself, his covert, and the galaxy to keep the child safe and get him to his kind. There was a story to be told here in Din taking his helmet off in front of other living beings to save Grogu and in Din winning the Darksaber from Gideon despite Bo-Katan's best efforts to get it back.

I wonder how much of this was corporate meddling to keep raking in the money (KKKennedy, is that you and your white girlbossing ways again?), how much of it was success getting into Filoni and Favreau's heads that they think they can turn bullshit to fucking gold, and how much of it was the game plan to MCUfy Disney Wars. This is fascinating the way that the Sequel Trilogy was fascinating, in that somehow, both times, Disney fucked the fuck up.

People will take what they want from whatever they're consuming. It is what it is. I quit after the season premiere because i hated the short runtime, the cramming of three different potential subplots into thirty fucking minutes, the ridiculousness of all three subplots, and, most of all, the desecration of IG-11. I read elsewhere that the season premiere was a hit! People liked it! They were excited by it! Good for them! I'm glad they got something out of it. People got paid and put hours, blood, sweat, and tears into producing this show and I would want for them to know that their efforts were worth something.

But it is so hard to ignore how increasingly inconsistent, aimless, illogical, and bewildering the the entire season has been. We have now seen 7 of 8 episodes and even the 7th episode, supposedly the "best of the series", got a ton of complaints on a storytelling level. I read elsewhere, both on tumblr and twitter, that this season is now very plot-driven rather than character-driven when previously the show was extremely character-driven. Season 1 happened because Din couldn't leave Grogu behind in Imperial hands and thus uprooted himself and his covert with his decision to go back for the child. Season 2 happened because Din was now searching for Grogu's kind while we the viewers knew that Gideon was alive and well and likely still hunting for the child. Season 3 - and I'm saying this as someone who'd been reading reaction posts, summaries, meta, discourse, etc, instead of watching it because I love myself enough to Not Do That - doesn't seem to have that. It really felt like the story beats, wherever the fuck they were, felt more like "now move from Point A to Point B in order to get closer to Point C". They needed to check things off on a list in order to prepare for the MCUfication of the Disneyficaiton of the OG Thrawn Trilogy, something that I know a lot of people want... but at what cost?

I really hate how likely it is that the show is going to push DinxBo on us and I really hate how much people are expecting it and dreading it. I hate the compulsive heternormativity and the expectations and dread that come with it. I hate how it ruins characters and stories. If you like this ship, good for you. Don't talk to me, I don't care.

This really feels like watching The Last Jedi all over again. I was sold on Finn and Rey as co-leads only to be told to my fucking face that white neo-fashy Kylo was now co-leading because for some reason Rey got it into her head to save him? Meanwhile Finn got tazed and shoved to the side in a tone-deaf subplot with Rose, and Poe turned into a bizarre caricature who needed to be taught lessons by older white women. Like, sorry but I can't unsee this shit. I can't undo the betrayal I felt at the bait and switch of the ST.

And now it happened all over again with The Mandalorian. I'll give it one thing: When Din and Greef first encountered the pirates on Space Renn Faire Nevarro, I got those space western vibes again. And for those few seconds, I felt hope that the previous however many minutes were just a rough start and we're back to space westerning our way to Mandalore. That hope died real fast, didn't it? Fuck me, I guess.

I've started using Tumblr's tag tracking feature to keep tabs on the more critical Mandalorian tags. I'll add them to this post so that you can use them yourself. There are also a lot of interesting coversations happening elsewhere by various blogs. You might have to get creative with your tag searching. Just know that just as many people are out there happy with this show, there are just as many who are dissatisfied with it. That's usually how it goes, but man I can't remember the last time I saw a bunch of the fandom community turn on a show/movie/book series the way we've done with The Mandalorian. It's a damn shame because deep down, a part of me is desperate for it to find its feet and get good again. But honestly, with all the announcements that came out of SWC 2023, I think that ship has sailed and the best thing to do is take all the good you can find from it and mold it into your own sand castles.

[veilder]

Ugh. Well, there I go. Just finished up season 6 of VLD and lemme tell ya. Still absolutely devastating, even six years on. 😭😭😭 Like, damn son, not just the worst, most OOC turn a character could take, but then they also just make his newly-cackling-villain self die in the most ignoble way? The whole... sequence of events leading up to the ending just kills me, man. Rant incoming, oof. (I guess spoilers here if anyone still cares about that?)

It really irks me how the show treated Lotor. Like yes, on a rewatch, he absolutely starts off just trying his best to manipulate his unfortunate situation to his advantage. He calculates his best move at the end of season 4 and he saves Keith not for altruistic reasons, but to ingratiate himself to the Voltron Coalition. Like, it's obvious what he's doing. We've already seen him scheming, we know what he's capable of. We know he's not necessarily nice or even a particularly good person. And that carries on through seasons 5 and 6, too! You can see how he uses not just Voltron but everyone around him to consolidate his power. And let's make no mistake here: he needs power. In order to claim the title of Emperor, he must make a show of force, it is the only thing the Galra would respect. He needs his plans to work if he ever wants to quell their warlike culture and stop their ever-present drive for expansion and domination. Access to the quintessence field is a good plan! Because it wouldn't have only aided the Galra, but it would've saved the remaining Alteans, too! (I'll get into that more in a sec.) And he would've achieved it on his own if it were at all possible, without dragging Allura into things! But he tries and he fails and he reevaluates things on the fly, and thus comes to be under Voltron's mercy. (A mercy which, might I add, was conditional enough that they were willing to surrender him to his own father who would've murdered him just because they thought he might not be trustworthy? Like... c'mon man, these are supposed to be the heroes. Take him out of the equation for a sec, pretend he's just some other Galra commander they've captured, and tell me it isn't kind of abhorrent that they were willing to just send him to his death like that? Geez.) Okay, but as established, he was trying to manipulate them all! And he succeeded! So were they justified?

No, I still think not.

This is where I feel his characterization becomes... inconsistent. Because yes, it's time to talk about the Altean colony. It is canon that, after Altea was destroyed, those remaining few who were off-world at the time were hunted. It is canon that Lotor used what he knew to track them down and relocate them to a place where his father couldn't find them. It is canon that the only reason any of them survived was because of him! Throughout the entirety of his screentime, Lotor is shown to revere his Altean ancestry and the culture his father wiped out. He makes great sacrifices to ensure their survival, at great peril to himself. He has an almost worshipful view of the Alchemists of old, especially King Alfor, Allura's father. And, though I definitely think he invokes Alfor's name to try and secure Allura's help, it does seem... rather genuine all the same? How could it not be, with the environment he was raised in? Despite how he strives to distance himself from the Galra at large (and his father most of all), I can't imagine you could survive 10,000 years without developing a healthy respect for power. And who deserves such respect more than the man who created the greatest weapon ever known, Voltron? In that way, I feel as if we can't only discount his actions as pure manipulation. There is a grain of truth in every lie, in every omission, and the truth of him is painfully bare: he genuinely, genuinely wants peace in the universe. And end to the harsh and imperialistic Galra war machine that has chugged on for millennia. He genuinely wants a restoration of his mother's people, the Alteans he so cherishes. And, as time passes and he works more closely together with Allura especially, it seems to me that he genuinely begins to hold her in high esteem. With genuine affection. For all his scheming and manipulation, his pleas for her to hear him out struck me as legitimate, especially on the cusp of that final battle. This is how he was written to be and, if we want to stay consistent with his character then... the reason for his duplicity, the way he sacrificed his own people to harvest their energy, his motivations for it all... There must be a legitimate reason, beyond just his own personal power. The Alteans... they mean more to him than the Galra throne. I cannot believe he ever would've made the decision to sacrifice hundreds of them on a whim? So, why was such thing necessary then? Was this why he was searching so hard for a way to access the quintessence field? Did he truly care about the race of people he saved? Sadly, we'll never know. Because the writers decided that, in lieu of allowing him and sort of coherent motivation, they instead decided that he'd gone made for power millennia ago and was doing everything all in the name of his own ego. Instead of an interesting, nuanced anit-hero, they turned him into a mustache-twirling villain. And even as they continued to expand his background and all the abuse he lived through post mortem, there's never any thought given to his actual characterization, at least from what I can recall. I plan to watch the last two seasons when I get the chance but, as my memory stands now, all I remember are more flashbacks of his terrible childhood and alternate timeline shenanigans. Never an attempt to clear anything up or allow him any sort of redemption. And it is just... a real shame. For a character who had so, so much potential, he was more-or-less thrown out with the garbage. And it's very difficult for me to get past that, even years later. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on the coming seasons after I make my way through them. But I'll end this rant here today, lol. Thanks for joining me in the "Lotor deserved better" club.

[sochilll]

OKAY here we go my official A Good Girl's Guide to Murder the series review. It is very long.

Short spoiler free version: they flattened down most of the characters, made Andie much more palatable, and removed a lot of Pip's detective work. Overall it's not a very good murder mystery or adaptation, but I think it's a fun show on its own.

Okay now let's get into it.

(Extreme spoilers for both the show and the books below)

Pippa

They character assassinated my girl!!! They removed like all her defining traits!!! Where were the spreadsheets!!! Where were the backups and the secret backups and the third email back ups!!!!

Overall I think Emma Myers was a fantastic Pip. Her line deliveries were great and she definitely fit the way I'd imagined Pip in the books. The gripes I have are with the script. For example: the first interaction with Ravi. Yes that scene is supposed to be awkward and tense but she didn't even tell him she thought Sal was innocent! That's the reason he agrees to help her! Also I think the following him part was much weirder than just going to his house

Will get into this more below but Pip is barely doing any detective work....

Okay the decision to stop the project.... WHY. In the book she stops because her dog gets killed and she's terrified that the blackmailer will hurt her family. Or that they'll go after Ravi. Because THAT'S the essence of Pippa Fitz-Amobi! She is loyal! She cares about her friends and family more than anything. She ONLY stops because she's worried about them. When it's only HER life getting threatened she keeps it a secret so no one tries to stop her. And then also, Ravi forgives her because he figures out what happened to Barney and realizes the position she was in. In the show she just.... thinks Sal did it now? And Becca said she was selfish??? It makes Pip a lot more self centered that THOSE are the things that make her give up. And then also makes no sense why Ravi would immediately forgive her OR why she would continue after Barney gets killed later on??? Have a slight doubt and give up but your dog gets murdered and you don't bat an eye? Truly don't understand the thought process between changing the order of those two beats.

Why would Pip cut open the rabbits???? If it was Andie's drug stash she'd obviously have a way to get in without cutting it open and sewing it shut every time. Come on Pip is not that dumb 😭

Overall Pip is a lot less careful in the show. (Where are the gloves when they break into the Bell's??) They're constantly almost getting caught and giggling which gives the whole thing a much lighter tone. Maybe that's what they're going for but in the books you feel like Pip is actually in danger and it doesn't translate here. On that note: after the first note, Pip barely reacts to the threats at all. I LOVED the scene of her coming home from camping and seeing the note on the table but they just never brought that tension back.

Why did they give Pip a weird memory of Andie??? It (again) makes the whole thing more about Pip than Sal. Now it's about Pip's guilt because she told Sal where Andie was. It's supposed to be about Sal! The whole motive for her to research this is that Sal was kind to her. That she couldn't believe he'd do it. And that there were inconsistencies in the case. The show turns her motives into "he couldn't have done it because then I'm at fault too." Her obsession is supposed to come from knowing the truth, not making herself feel better.

Pip "I'd do anything for you" moment with Cara I WEEP!!!!! They are best friends!!!!!

Ravi

Ravi was simply not goofy enough ! He had a few really good moments but I missed so many of his little jokes

I know it's much harder without Pip's internal narration, but I feel like the show loses so much of Ravi's (and his parents') isolation. There's the brief scene of the graffiti at the beginning and the part where he won't go to the calamity with her (and even then Pip has to spell it out). But in the book the Singh's loneliness and isolation is so apparent. Ravi says they aren't even allowed to grieve because of what everyone thinks of Sal. It's fucking devastating and it just did not come through in the show

And the previous point manifests in Ravi taking a bit to trust her. He doesn't just hand over Sal's phone on day ONE!! And he never shows her his bedroom! There's a really good scene in the book where Pip steps into Andie's room and it's been perfectly preserved and she realizes the Singh's must have a room just like it. But that doesn't work when Ravi already showed her Sal's room.

Also Ravi would simply never sign off on "I'm gonna publicly challenge the blackmailer that murdered my dog to see if he tries to kill me" hello???? #notmyravi

Ravi just going "lol peace out" at the end HUH??? Also sorry but him finding the marshmallow and getting all sentimental was so dumb bro. Why did you add in this conflict just to solve it like THAT?

They also downplayed a lot of the racial elements. They give Ravi the one line about a brown guy breaking into a rich white guy's house (which is taken much more seriously in the book) but they remove Stanley Forbes and with him, the way Sal was treated by the media. Race is one of the main factors in the way the case was handled (also my theory that it's based on an actual case handled similarly comes from those very discussions). But they don't really acknowledge the fact that Sal's race was a factor in how the case was handled and the vitriol his family faced after in the show at all. (And then they added in the white savior line which was so....). Stanley openly states he thinks Sal is guilty because he's Indian and the show really doesn't touch on that aspect outside of Ravi's throwaway line.

Pip and Ravi

Oooooh the Pip and Ravi of it all.... I do care them

As much as I didn't like the initial interaction I did very much enjoy Pip showing up drunk in her cunty little star outfit that was so cute (also Ravi's mom being like "from a galaxy far far away?" Was so fucking funny)

SARGE!!!!!!! 💕💓💘❤️💞💝💗

He made her a nonalcoholic cocktail!!! And named it after her!!!!!

The romantic tension was very good. The bunny fluff in her hair... waaaaaahhhhg

Sobbing that Pip is so clearly standing on something when they kiss lmao

I like that we got to see the first kiss, very cute. But I am sad they removed the project presentation and the forehead thing ;_;

Andie and Sal

OKAY let's talk about Andie

I really didn't like starting on her. It gives away WAY too much - even though they never actually went through the alleged timeline and murder that Sal was assumed guilty for but still the head wound is such a huge clue to give as the opening scene.

Overall, I don't like how much presence Andie has. The whole thing is that the town is haunted by her absence, that it turns out people didn't really know her at all. And all that is kind of negated when she's showing up in flashbacks every five seconds. It doesn't feel like she's gone or mysterious.

Same with Sal, he's sort of supposed to be contained to the memories Pip has of him being nice to her and Ravi's grief for his brother. But he's also a mystery. The whole thing is that they don't really KNOW that Sal didn't kill Andie. There are times where he does look guilty. But again the flashbacks (especially the weirdly manipulated versions) kinda of ruin that. It's just so heavy handed on the "he's guilty or maybe not" front.

On that note I also don't like the ending they gave Sal and Andie. Sal never knew about her plan. They were fighting when they died and that sucks but it's true. They weren't having this epic love story. And either way, they're both dead, we shouldn't know what happened in that room. We shouldn't get to see it esp since it's Pip's POV and there's no way she'd ever know

Also curious why they decided to make Sal attack the cops??? The ONE thing Pip knows about him is that he's nice. The one thing every single person says is that he's exceptionally kind. In the book his interview is suspicious but he never gets violent. He's kind and they took that away from him and I don't fuck with it!!!

The Andie and Becca interaction..... whyyyyy did they do that? Andie blows her off. That's why Becca gets mad. Becca never knew she was planning to leave or about the head injury. All she knew was that she told her big sister she was assaulted and her sister didn't care. Andie said she should be grateful. That's why Becca got mad and shoved her. Becca was not overreacting or acting with intent to kill. If Andie hadn't already had a head injury she wouldn't have died from her sister shoving her. They changed it to make Andie nicer? I guess? Which brings me to...

Andie doesn't need to be a saint for her death to be tragic. They made all these changes to made her nicer (breaking it off w Elliot once she started dating Sal, the fake added scene of her and Sal planning to run away, her telling Becca the truth, no mention from her friends of how cruel she was to them) they softened her and contradicted the point the book was making. In the book Andie is put on a pedestal and Pip has to uncover that she was mean to her friends and horrible to her sister and cheated on Sal and blackmailed people and sold date rape drugs. But she was also abused and scared and wanted to protect her sister. Pip realizes Andie was real and complicated and nasty sometimes but her death was STILL a tragedy. It still matters who killed her. The movie sanitized that message right out and made her a way flatter character in the process ("You have cast her as your beautiful victim and willfully overlook the layers of her character, because they don't comfortably fit your narrative"!!!!!!)

The Pacing and Detective Work

On one hand I understand they have to cut things down for the show. But also did they??? The book isn't that long and they had like 5 hours. But most of my gripes aren't from stuff that got cut but stuff that was changed for no discernible reason

Everything happens so quickly (when Naomi dropped the alibi thing in episode ONE I was taken aback). Things are revealed so fast and yet Pip is like... so slow to put things together. Dan isn't even a suspect until the second to last episode. She never really suspects Max at all. Howie isn't even mentioned after their one conversation. She never considers any of the Wards. She's not really doing any detective work or making connections she's just waiting to find out a new piece of information. Which leads into the worst part:

Pip doesn't actually solve anything???? People just keep telling her stuff! She doesn't break into Naomi's FB and find out about Sal's alibi being real by studying the pictures, Naomi just gives her Max's secret insta and tells her the truth. She doesn't break into a guy's phone to get Howie's number, some guy just walks her over to him. She doesn't follow and blackmail Howie she just gives him $60 and he tells her shit??? She doesn't put in a request to view the transcript of Sal's interview, Dan just fucking shows it to her (also why is it on his phone????) All of her agency is gone. The only thing she does do is break into the Bell's house and even that was way less thorough than in the book

Elliot Ward and the Ending

I HATE how Elliot wasn't even a suspect. It pissed me off cause it was just for a shock value twist. I think it's a fuck you to the audience when the murder mystery ends with "it was this guy you had no idea was involved at all!" And they went out of their way to remove all the connections to him (the photo of Andie was found in his room, he lied about knowing her, she was openly at him) so they could pull a gotcha on the audience. It's cheap!!!

They also made Elliot a lot more sinister in the show. Not that he was a great guy in the book obv. But in the book he genuinely deluded himself into thinking he had Andie in the attic. Making her a conscious woman who knows she's been kidnapped + Elliot knowing before he even spoke to her that she wasn't Andie + him locking Pip in the attic too just makes him way less sympathetic. In the book he is a man who, yes, took advantage of his position as a teacher with a minor, but also who hurt her accidentally and tortured himself over that for years. He was driven so insane by guilt that he convinced himself he'd found her and she was still alive. Removing that flattens him completely to bad evil guy.

He also is relieved in the book when Pip confronts him because he wants it to be over. In the show he was much more whiny and tries to stop her

Also I don't like that him talking about Sal's death is relayed through a flashback from Isla. It's so distanced. He should be telling Pip.

They also way downplayed Elliot's relationship with Pip. She describes him as a tertiary father figure. He's always around and very involved with his daughters + Pip. But in the show he's in like 2 scenes which again makes the reveal less gut-wrenching for Pip.

Also the reveal with Becca was so.... Idk. In the book she comes off much more sad and like she's genuinely sorry she has to ("has to") kill Pip. More guilt ridden as well. She thought she caused the head injury. She thought everyone, including her parents, would think she killed Andie on purpose and she was scared. And she was scared that Pip would tell everyone that. And also BECCA DOESNT ACTUALLY DO IT. In the book she lets up. She can't kill Pip. That moment didn't happen in the show and it's such an important Becca moment esp considering book 2. In the show she came off much more criminal mastermind

Also small note but Pip thinking "she knows where to put you where they'll never find you" as Becca chokes her hits way harder than Becca going "that's where I put Andie. And where I have to put you" (paraphrasing I don't remember the exact line)

Random Details

Why did they hire a 9 year old to play like freshman year Pip 😭 she's supposed to be in high school with Andie in the flashback right? Why does she look SO small? Just style Emma Myers differently! (Also the way she interacts with Sal reads super young but if she's supposed to be that young why is she at the high school!)

Stop showing the Andie crying flashback stop it oh my god. They show it like 3 times just in one episode. STOP IT! Even if it was a good or important flashback you are overusing that fucking clip please

Why did they make Ant a popular dude instead of their friend?? My only guess is just simply so they'd have to hire less actors for the main group but I would've said to combine Zack and Connor. Ant's turning on Pip in book 2 (if they're even gonna renew it) hurts because he's her friend. And obv Connor has a whole thing going on in the second one but Zack is kinda the extra. I'm just confused on that choice

Why is the calamity party 1. A rave and 2. In a series of underground caves and tunnels?????? Hello??? Also how do they have electricity and overhead lights down there what's going on

Jesse? Cool as hell babey!!!! Lets go lesbians!!!! I actually love that they made her more of a character and she rescues Pip twice that's so fun I adore her

They replaced Chloe Burch with Nat da Silva. Not sure about that in general bc Nat's arc is sort of antithetical to being friends with Andie but I do get that Chloe and Emma aren't different enough to warrant devoting time to them separately when Nat is already there. But again, in the book they were never friends. Andie hated her (also Nat is supposed to have chopped all her hair off and have dark grungy makeup and an ankle monitor how dare you take this from me)

WHAT was up with the drama with Pip's dad??? Leave Victor out of this what was the point!! All u did was further erase her closeness with her family which is her wHOLE THING!!!

Second dad comment: they talk about her dead dad WAY more in the show than the book what was the reason for that? You cut the blackmailing of a drug dealer for that???

Actually laughing out loud at Pip slamming the breaks from 90 kph and literally not moving at all what the hell who filmed this

Pip *filming the most "I'm being held at gunpoint" ass video ever*: I was just joking yesterday. Do not ask me about this again.

They didn't act out the murder to see if it could've happened in the time frame :/

Also they just changed Jason Bell's job?? Why?

AND WHY WAS HE NEVER EVEN TALKED ABOUT??? HE WAS A MAIN SUSPECT AND THE SHOW BARELY EVER ACKNOWLEDGES HIM WHAT HELLO!!!!!

Overall the list of suspects is abysmal. One of the things I love about the book is how many suspects and trails there are so you can be finding stuff out along with Pip. It's not immediately obvious but it's also not out of left field. Pip has like 7 suspects in the book and she follows up on all of them. I get how that would take up a lot of time but in the show she seemingly had 0 suspects??? She never really thought it was anyone and didn't follow up any interviews with investigations. It didn't feel like you could've even made any predictions from the show because there were no leads.

Okay that's all go read A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and all subsequent books! <33333

[nostalgia-tblr]

*smacks a wasp nest* Thor and loki are the most important ppl in each others lives, and thats the EXACT problem with them. And the fact marvel doesnt want to admit they're done with the characters is why their separate journeys now are so messy and inconsistent

FUCK NO NOT WASPS AGAIN!!!

Were Marvel trying to replace the incest intense sibling bond by giving them both other love interests, do we think? But then Jane SPOILER'D in that last Thor film, didn't she? So maybe not. (I haven't seen that one yet because it sounds like a tonal mess but I'll probably get round to it eventually. Some day. I expect. Hey, did you know that IRL thunder is named after IRL(...ish) Thor so that film's called "Thor: Love & Thor"? Did everyone already know that? I am quite cheap for puns though, so it cracks me up a bit.)

I saw someone somewhere speculate that Thor is gonna get killed off not too long from now and the bros will be reunited in a tearful Valhalla scene at the end of whichever film it happens in, and it does sound plausible but I generally try not to speculate about ongoing canons because that way lies inevitable disappointment. But maybe?

Their entire family is dead now and they didn't really have friends as such so they are all alone and said and possibly shagging other versions of themselves to keep the loneliness at bay 😭 Tragic. Doesn't Thor have friends, though? At least in theory? He can go to Earth and hang out with Spidersman and Arrows Hawkeye and whoever else isn't currently dead, but yeah those relationships aren't much to write home about, they lack the inTENsity of the Thor-Loki dynamic. But then would the MCU have managed to cope with the bros being on good terms again and fighting side-by-side?

This got long. What I meant to say was that yeah, these two characters are largely defined (at least in the MCU Proper) by that one relationship and without it they need to reboot a bit to keep going. Which I think the Loki show managed, but the downside of Thor-and-Loki was that Thor could get pushed into a Pure And Perfect Hero role to contrast him with that sneaky little shit (❤) who kept following him around, and it took 6 episodes to turn Loki back into someone who might actually be trusted not to stab you in the back in the big fight scene, but Thor kind of lacks a dark side because to some extent Loki was his dark side, and yeah not every hero needs to be a tiny bit bad inside but...

I dunno. I suppose they could stick Thor in an endless cycle of "Can he pick up the hammer? Will he be able to pick up the hammer by the end of this film? Oh look, it's that fucking hammer again. Are you still into the hammer, oh Cinema Audience?"

[softpine]

i agree :( each of them have their own reasons for not wanting to go, but the important thing to me is that elaine made it known that it’s important to her, and still no one is going with her. we know jada was thinking about going to the dance, but she ultimately chickened out of asking alisa and now she’s way too pissed off to go. asa just wants to be depressed in peace 😭 so i understand them, but that doesn’t mean they’re being particularly good friends right now

 @morrigan-sims​ when i said the thing about this post not being a hit, it looked like it was flopping fjksjds but then a bunch of people replied to it and reblogged it so now i look silly 🤡 (i'm just kidding, i obviously appreciate the love so much)

that’s a really good question and it’s one you’ll probablyyy get the answer to at some point :P

hehe :) i’m still trying to find the line between dropping hints vs. being too annoying with the constant references to something, but i’m hoping that every mention of homecoming feels a little bit like hearing the jaws soundtrack in the distance lmao

omg i’m too scared to reread it myself, i feel like i would find a million inconsistencies and drive myself crazy fjskdjs it’s just the nature of posting something as i go rather than waiting until it’s finished. but if you do reread it, i hope you enjoy it!! thank you so much for sticking with it and sharing your thoughts, it means sooo much to me 🥺💖 and those pictures of asa are my favorite ahhh he was such a cute lil baby ;-;

i love when girls treat having a crush like going to war ♥ if anyone watched the last of us HBO show and the behind the scenes footage at the end, i really loved how craig described the conversation between maria and ellie as a choreographed fight scene. that was my inspiration for the dialogue in this scene! i wanted each sentence to feel like a punch or a dodge. they really are beating each other up with their minds fjskjds

be careful what you wish for......... but also i would need a damn good reason to cut my best friends out of my life after so many years; it wouldn’t be over something like this. they can still work through this for sure

ooh okay here’s a vague spoiler!!

aww cute!! but wolfgang and sofia feels like it’d be a lavender marriage to me fjskdjs

@bitchyybabyy400​ ahhhh thank you so much!! 🥺 that makes me so happy; inspiring other people creatively is my favorite thing. nothing stunts creativity quite like school does, but i hope you’re doing well and have time to work on the things that make you happy too!! i appreciate the kind words so much 💖💖

i honestly still edit motion the same way (i actually made a tutorial for it here) but i’m a lot more sparing with it, because most of the time it’s unnecessary to show motion when you can show movement instead. even if the scene is just two characters sitting down and talking, i try to find a way to force them to move, stand up, do something with their hands, etc. in those cases, i don’t need motion blur, i just need to be careful with my camera angles! and omg my editing has changed soooo much, i wouldn’t even know where to start listing the changes. when i first started on simblr, i would literally take a yellow brush and dab it on the corners of each picture and gaussian blur it to create “light leaks” fjskdjs they looked like shit 😭 i’ve hit all the phases: way too yellow and overexposed, way too dark and desaturated. i used to have sooo much clipping and i had no idea how to fix it the way i do now. but it’s all a learning curve! i can make fun of my old editing decisions, but i don’t regret anything because those decisions are the only reason i know the things i know now :’)

[mamawasatesttube]

📥 🌝🍰💋(who is the hardest character to write)

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

ohhh probably sotm!! it's the one i put the most thought and effort into lately. i always love my longfics most.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

BART!!!!! impulse solo did such a number on me i'm honestly surprised i haven't written anything bart-centric yet. i'm sure you recall me in your dms wailing about mercury falling arc. the bart-helen-max family dynamic is just so... 😭💕😩🥺💖💞💛😭

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

blush by @misspickman.... ITS SO SWEET..... kon deserves more problems of the "he's so loved he doesn't even know how to process it" variety its SO sweet. i reread it every now and then when im just thinking about how i want him to be loved ♥

💋 [Freeform - what is something you want to know about one of poster’s fics?] Who is the hardest character to write?

HMMMM... at this point i'd say bruce, tbh. i definitely wrote around him in sotm even in scenes where he was present because i just think that bitch is so inconsistently characterized across canon that figuring out the particulars of my own preferred interpretation of him specifically enough to actually write him in extended exchanges, let alone his pov? that'll take a good bit of effort and boy howdy i just have not felt like putting that effort in yet. sorry bruce

Fanfic Ask Game

[watatsumiis]

helloo!! I'm entering for your 200 followers event. Congrats on that, by the way!

Could you do a Zhongli x reader with the number 43?

I hope I did this right 😭

Thank you !!

I can do that, certainly! And you did do it right :>

I've got a feeling this is going to be some angsty stuff, so sorry in advance -

Content: gender neutral reader x Zhongli (in a timeline where canon events haven't happen and he still retains his gnosis and archon status) (romantic), mentions of death (not of either main character), some unhealthy obsessive/messed up behaviour from Zhongli that stems from his grief. A little bit dark maybe, if you're unsure feel free to DM me and I'll give you a proper rundown (I just don't want to spoil it all right here)

Word count: ~690

They say that dragons hoard what is most precious to them, building up piles upon piles of treasures that they then protect with their lives. 

Though not a full-blooded dragon, Zhongli still retains some of the instincts of his ancestry, no matter how long he spends compressed into his 'human' form. 

The treasures he decides to collect, however, are anything but traditional. 

Despite his status as the God of Mora, there is something that Rex Lapis himself values more than gold, more than all the shining gemstones hiding beneath the planet's outer crust. 

History. 

Zhongli has never been one to forget a face, nor to let a good story go to waste. He always takes special care to make sure rumours and tales reach the right people so that they can live onwards and travel to the far reaches of Teyvat, even if their protagonists couldn't. 

As the years wear on, everything and everyone has its allotted time to go, Zhongli came to accept this many centuries ago now. Stories are forgotten, once-important traditions drift off into obsolescence, people pass on. 

But in recent years, he's grown restless. So many of his loved ones are slipping from his grasp, like fine sand cascading out into the endless dark of the abyss, where he is unable to follow. 

Even stone wears down eventually, and Zhongli is finding that as his hard outer shell thins, thinking of every loss pains him more, like touching an exposed nerve. 

As always, he surrounds himself with those he cares for, those who make him happy, but lately, he can't seem to shake the looming truth that they'll all one day disappear like dust in the wind. Life is unpredictable, inconsistent, he begins to dread every day, knowing that it could be someone's last.

"Hah, if only all of us could be immortal and all-knowing." You'd said it as a joke, a throw away line directed towards Zhongli after he'd corrected you on something unimportant. 

At the time, Zhongli had seemingly taken it in stride, reacting with a tight-lipped smile and a gentle chuckle. Little did you know, that was the beginning of something darker, much more… sinister than you'd ever know. 

Zhongli considered himself happy with the way things were right now - modern day Liyue was gorgeous, its citizens in good spirit and health, and free from strife, though rumours of trouble brewing in their neighbouring country of Inazuma were often circulated. Something about their Archon clinging to the ideal of eternity.

Eternity. Zhongli tucked this knowledge away too, adding it to his quickly growing hoard of thoughts to muse on when he had a spare moment. 

Why couldn't everything be the same? Not for an eternity, of course, but just… just for a little while. He's been working so hard for so long, Zhongli firmly believes he deserves a break. 

He spends a lot of time thinking about you specifically. Of course, his other friends and companions occupy his thoughts too, but there's something particular about you and the nature of your relationship that he especially cherishes, despite the fact that when it's all in perspective, you're barely a blip on his millenia-spanning timeline.

Zhongli doesn't mean to hide himself away, he's simply… thinking. Thinking of ways to share his power, his burden, just for a little while, to ease the waters flow on the paths of sorrow that have worn their way deep into his heart. Surely that isn't selfish, right? 

Given the opportunity, he'd share his backhanded gift of immortality with all of his loved ones, but you're at the top of his list, the crown jewel of his collection. 

One day, he thinks to himself as he pores over a heavy old tome. 

I know that you will be there. 

He knows it in his heart, you'll be accompanying him to the ends of the earth if it's the last thing he does. 

One day, I'll focus on the future, maybe. 

Once he's sure you're safe and secure, he'll turn to the horizon and think about what comes next. 

One day, 

If you say no? 

Oh baby, isn't life so fucking inconsistent?

He'll find a way. 

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagarise my writing! This includes posting translations to other sites (without credit + permission).

[dollopole]

It’s my time to shine, because I think about this, constantly (I apologise if the reblog is going to be long or if it’s going to be bothering. I just cared to point something out :))

The thing that most angers me about BBC Merlin is that it’s so inconsistent?! Arthur Pendragon, the same man who was ready to risk everything and more for just one man, and we’re talking about knights, laws, even his own life, (FOUGHT ABOUT MERLIN WITH HIS FATHER MORE THAN ONCE, TOO) but it’s the same man who doesn’t rush to Merlin (the same way he did WHEN MERLIN WAS POISONED AND DRANK THE POISON INSTEAD OF ARTHUR TO SAVE HIS LIFE?!) the moment he faints?

So my answer is always: plot sake.

The directors did this for plot sake.

The episode where Lancelot rushes to Merlin is also the one where he dies, so they had to bring forward the deep relationship he has with Merlin (given that he’s also the only one who knows about his magic).

They had to push forward the tv show with a plot and didn’t know how to start it without changing Arthur’s character. It happens various times (and it’s also something the actor himself pointed out in an interview, if I’m not wrong. He was angry that Arthur’s choices regressed from one season to the other. He seemed he had finally changed and yet again, only for plot sake, he went back to square one. We’re talking about a finally changed Arthur in season two, only to go back to the start in season three.)

It also happened in the episode with Cornelius Sigan.

Arthur asks Merlin to kneel in order for him to sit on his saddle?! It doesn’t make any bloody sense?! Arthur is more than capable do that on his own, and since season one we’re shown that Arthur, even if spoiled, (and after that too, he changed exactly because of Merlin) treats every servant like an equal as much as he can without Uther telling him to do the opposite.

But what is the main plot of that episode?

Exactly.

Cedric has to take Merlin’s place as a servant to steal from the castle, and he couldn’t have done that without getting rid of Merlin. So my thoughts are that the directors had no idea how to get rid of Merlin, who we know is literally glued to Arthur’s backside, and they realised too late what they had done.

They had made their relationship too important and deep😭.

I imagine it going something like this:

“Oh, fuck, we made these two too close to each other, now how can we show that Lancelot cares for Merlin if it’s Arthur who rushes to help him??? AND HOW WILL CEDRIC REPLACE MERLIN IF ARTHUR DOESN’T TREAT MERLIN BADLY?! OHOHOH, NOOOO.”

So yeah. Plot sake.

Remember when Merlin collapsed in front of everyone and all that Arthur did was roll his eyes and his close friend Gwaine just stared at him and the only one who rushed to check on him was Lancelot? What the hell was that about huh