#(tbf the series does most of the work)

[godofstupidsentences]

I think fic authors should make Theo a little feral… as a treat

[wolvertooth]

wolverine pisces♓ sun + libra♎ rising

sabretooth aries♈ sun + virgo♍ rising

presenting -> an essay by somebody who doesnt really know shit about zodiac signs(other than my own), but tried researching em anyway. tbf, a lotta articles got conflicting views on how shit works too, so i just made my own sense for some of it(example being, some sites say the descendant should be the others sun, while some say it should be their rising. im going with the sun one, since that works best for the symbolism thing here, and it made most sense for their characters). most of this is just a bunch of notes.

for some context, ones sun sign is their core self. their rising is their outer character, kinda like a mask, what other people see first before getting to know them.

as i mentioned in another post, i hc their bdays as 2/21(logan) and 3/23(vic), logans coming from a lot of his bday fights being in winter and the numbers having significance(that i’ll explain later), vics coming from the random numbers on his mondo xmen the animated series figure box(no other figures boxes had numbers on them, just his)

gonna talk about sun signs first—

wolverine, the old soul dreamy romantic who spends all his time in his head, lost in himself.

sabretooth, the action taker, who gets shit done, actually is the best at what he does, climbing to the top. and, when given the chance(as shown in weapon x 2017 and exiles), a kickass leader.

2 sides of the same circle.

as an aries, vic lives in reality(if anything, hes forced to). while as a pisces, logan tries to escape it, focusing on his own reality rather than the one around him.

its a pisces instinct to escape and run away, to never be tied down to anything. aries can help ground a pisces when that urge kicks in. still, itd be an important part in their relationship for both vic learning to give logan his space, and logan learning to let vic there for him.

gonne go off the rails for a sec, but the dates of their bdays apply to their dynamic too.

2/21, 2 3(2+1). 23 is a reoccurring number in logans life, almost being like his symbol.

(Wolverine 1988, issue #66, being shown the number 23 by a guiding spirit) + (Wolverine 1988, issue #167, wearing the 23 bulls shirt) + (Wolverine 1988, issue #176, after being dead and talking to another guiding spirit for 23 minutes) + (Hulk vs Wolverine, X-23)

23 being a part of vics bday can be taken as vic being another key component in logans life, as well as parts of logan basically being a part of vics self. 323 is kinda like being the reverse of 23, while also including it, playing into the theme of them blurring into eachother.

23 being on its own for logan is reflective of his loner isolating tendecies(despite holding a lotta love, pisces can tend to drift off from others). logan can and does socialize, but he isolates his heart from getting too attached.

pisces, being the last sign, holds a bit of all the signs inside them. this can influence logans struggles with losing sight of who he is an individual, wanting to go against everything he seems to be in order to stay who he thinks he is. a constant search for self discovery thats disfigured by many layers of other influences, and pisces natural duality for everything(wanting to play both sides, contradicting himself, when really he doesnt know where he fits). what little logan does know about himself, he doesnt trust to know how to get others to understand. meanwhile, vic follows the mold of what others expect of him, and doesnt get a chance to really exist as himself, making up for that by being the best version of the negative traits forced upon him that he cant escape.

(Sabretooth: The Adversary)

logan tries to be what he thinks others want, while vic tries to be what others say. logan thinks hes escaping from his expectations, but really hes trapping himself in a cage of other peoples needs. vic thinks hes being better than other people in his situation by not escaping, taking choice in it, when really hes still keeping himself in a similar cage.

pisces escape themselves, aries push to be themselves. but in their own ways, theyre also doing the same as eachother.

even tho pisces can be loners, their relatablility to other signs draws a crowd to them. everyone knows wolverine(insert that classic post of ‘wolverine is there’, yall know the one). sabretooth can be good with people when he needs to be, but he doesnt have many friends…being the first of the signs, aries are kinda on their own.

unless, ofc, one was on a cusp.

vics 23 in his birthdate doesnt just tie him to logan, being on the cusp of pisces is important too.

it allows vic to truly know who logan is, underneath it all. his true self. since a part of him works the same way, inside.

talking a bit about the risings now—

libra rising doesnt seem to fit logan at first glance, as his quick anger tends to mess up a lot of his encounters with others, but i see him as someone who likes solving others problems. hes the guy others go to for help, despite his reputation. he fights for justice, or what he percieves as such, since his pisces nature kinda detatches him from reality. he can seem like a threatening guy at times, but people tend to somehow feel comfortable around him, even strangers. he claims he doesnt talk much, but hes the kinda guy to indulge in conversation if someone started it with him, and his libra rising energy draws people to do so.

and i could honestly write a whole thing about how the duality of pisces fucks with his life, like the duality of wanting to do good but continuing to fall back into doing what he wants, while also constantly seeking to know if either of those things are truly what he wants. he knows but doesnt know, acts but doesnt act, hides but shows himself loudly, playing the Bad Boy while hes secretly nice and caring. hes a mix of everything and nothing, wanting to be like the people around him, but also wanting to know who he is as an individual.

some sources for virgo rising were like 'they prefer fashionable clean wardrobe, and strive to rise to the top of their work, falling into perfectionism in both their presentation and reputation' like...as a rising, thats def his mask, to make up for who he is.

vics way of proving his worth to others is very much based on how helpful he is to them, doing things for them rather than himself(the chance of them being satisfied being enough to fuel his motivation). his whole career is based around doing shit for others in order to make a name for himself, his mask, what he thinks hes good at. but, he also primarily does acts of service for those he cares about, things he wants to do for them rather than being expected to do so, being unaware that hes good at THAT as well.

logans mask is what vic secretly excels at, and vics mask is what logan thinks he isnt good enough at.

while logan spends a lot of time striving to be the best in what he does, vic strives to be the best in who he is. which, according to their risings, they’d have more luck if they switched those goals.

(X-Men Forever 2009, issue #6) + (Wolverine 1988, issue #123)

i know a lot of this probably comes across as being a challanging relationship, but i think thats the kinda thing they both want. they both crave a good challange, something to fight for. and for once, they wouldnt just be fighting for themselves, theyd be fighting for someone else. for the same cause.

vic holds the answer to all logans questions about himself and the ability to know exactly how to take care of him, and logan holds the love and equality that vic craves. but vic wont be able to do so unless he realizes he can take care of others, and logan wont be able to do so unless he realizes how to care for himself, which includes also allowing others to take of him(and learning to hate himself less, which is blinding him from being able to accept vic)(typical twinflame shadow stuff)

vics signs make him a natural helper, and logan tends to be stubborn in letting others do that for him. a lotta their relationship is based around stubborness on both ends, in ways where they secretly want something but refuse to let themselves accept it. both signs like control, in their own ways. pisces like control in a more mental way, and aries like control in action. and thats just something they would have to work together on to get proper communication for.

aries could take pisces by the hand as they continue on, if pisces let him. and in turn, pisces could show aries the truest form of love and connection that aries lacks.

[formulatrash]

(genuine question) what do you think of fe's women test? is it a good opportunity for them?

I don't know, would be the honest answer. in the past the tests have been good opportunities - well, I say "tests," it in fact was just the one in Riyadh.

but being forced to find a woman if you wanted to run a second car, in the first in-season Gen2 test, meant teams actually had an incentive to do it. I honestly don't think any FE teams are ill-intentioned or that they had planned not to have female drivers but well, even from being heavily encouraged at the start, none of them did by Season 3.

so the fact they got forced to go and find a woman and give her sim time to prep and work with her and sign her onto their books suddenly made them think: oh. maybe this is easier than we thought. several of the women at that original Diriyah test came back and a few got formalised roles with teams. Tatiana Caldéron, in particular, was really quite in-demand between teams for a bit. but then a global pandemic happened and teams could barely make contact with their regular drivers and everything turned so survivalist this sort of stuff all disappeared, too hard to work out the tangles of for most contracts.

so I think it's good that those are being re-upped, that teams are being forced to make contact with women and to work with them. every session with the Gen3 EVO counts so, so much so they will have needed to brief the hell out of the drivers to make sure they can get stuff out of it - this isn't a show run, the teams need this data.

given the power of the machinery it does worry me a lot that so many of the drivers are stepping in from F4 (F1A & other equivalent series) but tbf, there have been men who've done that in past tests. it also feels a bit that there's a distancing in that - obviously you would not expect to see a lot of these testers progress to an FE seat any time soon because they are too junior.

(not everyone, obviously. Simona de Silvestro literally used to be a full-time Formula E driver)

I'd like to think there will be follow-up opportunities. Extreme E, FE's weird sister, has shown that not only does equal seat time level the board but that elite women can outmatch elite men when given the same opportunity: in a stacked field of champions, Laia Sanz came out on top as the best driver in the Odyssey-21.

one test session, during which the drivers are mostly under pressure not to bin the car, won't level the field. but if even a handful of the drivers prove they can give useful feedback and run productive test sessions, then that puts them in consideration for more running and that is, unfortunately, more than they would have got otherwise.

so: do I think it is world changing? no. but I think there are opportunities, if teams use this as a chance to assess the drivers for them.

[zoyo14]

dont kill me pls

uh, controversial opinion, i didnt like the MD finale

[spoilers/ranting]

now dont get me wrong, i feel like the ending was fine, but the trip to get to said ending? ehhhhhhhhhhhh..

the animation is like, the greatest, prob the greatest in the entire series. however, the writing for that episode feels under cooked. like, theres too many plot holes, too many lose ends, the pacing is absolute dog water.

but the biggest issue? N and Uzi's personalities changed. Uzi reverted back to pilot emo gremlin, and N turns into strictly Uzi support with PTSD.

like, idk, i feel like N really didnt do anything, like, you could prob remove him from the episode and it would be more or less the same. and if you look at the merch?

feral N? decapitating J??? i dont think N earned this, that didnt happen. im 99% sure N doesnt even lay a finger on J that whole episode, the most he even interacts with J is writing the "I O U one spaceship" note. like, the N that was teased and shown in the merch vs the N in the actual episode is not the same person. [no i dont mean that literally]

Vs stand? she 'died' fighting the sentinels, Uzi's? she sacrificed herself fighting the solver/cyn, N's? he didnt do that, eldritch J doesnt even show up in the finale, N doesnt really even fight outside of supporting Uzi and V, none of the DDs even get X visors for that matter.

alot of the characters feel useless i think. like, khan doesnt really do anything, nori doesnt really do anything, thad and lizzy, N, hell, even J. this episode just kinda boils down to Uzi vs Cyn with strong support from V. wouldnt be so much of an issue if Uzi hadnt had her time to shine in episode 7 aswell, like, everything before this was building up for N to take a grand stand or something. he should be PISSED at Cyn, everything and everyone hes ever loved got stripped from him because of Cyn, he literally DIED for Cyn back at the manor, only to watch as himself and V are mutilated and transformed into the DDs, and he gets dumped on a planet where hes abused by J for god knows how long, and when he finally starts to stand up for himself, make a friend/lover in Uzi, reconnect with V, they end up 'dying' right in front of him, FOR him aswell.

all of that stress, all of that fear, all of that anger, and what does N do when he gets back to the surface? sees J working with Cyn? sees Cyn literally destroying the planet? hell, even comes face to face with Cyn?? he just stands there in fear. weve seen N push past his fear before, weve seen N confront Cyn before, so why now is he just standing there? or the one point in the fight where he stops because Cyn flashes a picture of a dog on her visor, like, that shouldnt of have stopped him. thats the person he should hate the most in the universe right now, giving him second thoughts over a png of a random dog. like, huh???????

N also never gets a resolution to his literal years of CONSTANT abuse from J. the only time N lays hands on J is episode 2 with eldritch J. who fights J the whole finale? V. whos pissed at J for betraying them? V. but whos decapitating J in the mural? N. huh? what? why??? also this is a minor nitpick, but in the ending where N yells "THATS MY GIRLFRIEND!!! :D" that doesnt seem like an N thing to do, like, N is a very humble character, he doesnt come off as the type to brag about having a gf.

not to mention Uzi, omg. i think in the finale Uzi is just being a dickhead. for example, when N recovers her he openly says and expresses that hes angry at her for what she did, and what does she do? she headbutts him and calls him a bitch. now lets consider V. what does she do upon finding out N is alive? she apologizes profusely, UNPROVOKED.

what does Uzi do upon seeing V is fine? she makes a deadpan comment about how shes happy V is alive. now tbf, she does look back and give a genuine smile, just to say like "hey, im being serious tho", but like, still, damn Uzi.

another thing i dont like is how serious moments keep getting ruined by jokes. every time something devastating happens, you either dont get time to process it before gets resolved, or the tension is destroyed by a joke.

N getting his core ripped out for example, the second i started to panic, like "OH GOD CYN HAS N'S CORE-" his core is back in his body and hes fine after like 10 seconds. every 'fake out' death in that episode doesnt work, because it gets resolved in literally 20 seconds or less. but i feel thats more a result of the serious pacing issues in the episode.

the episode is 20 minutes, whatever, but keep in mind, MD: Intermission, THE FAN EPISODE, is about 21 minutes long. thats right, A FAN EPISODE MADE BY A COLLEGE STUDENT WAS LONGER THAN THE FINALE. WHAT????????

overall i just think the finale comes off as incredibly rushed, hell, even the merch seems rushed. now im not gonna point any fingers, but certain items seem kindaaaa, ehhhhhhh [cough cough, cat V plush, Cyn plush, and random sticker sheet that just uses the animatez box art]

but yea, thats my 2 cent about the MD finale, overall im prob gonna forget about that episode and go read fic rewrites or something

[zeronetxt]

examples from this post below

Aro/Aces

Jason Todd. I'm fr heavy on this one because i'm gatekeeping him cough cough but to me (idc that its canon that he is not, if i ignore canon its not real) he seems like the type not to really gaf. and honestly, NOT EVERY SUPERHERO NEEDS TO HAVE A ROMANTIC ARC 🙄🙄 take notes from me, dc. i have an demi-aspec oc who is feral af and would totally smother jason with affection and he is thriving (he really isn't, hes a traumatised demon)

Chuuya Nakahara because NOWHERE IS IT MENTIONED (that i could find, at least) THAT HE HAS AN INTEREST IN WOMEN OR MEN. The only one i can think of that he would be interested in is dazai and i see that as a "pikachu! i choose you!" moment instead of a "i hate you, i want to be yours" type of thing. i'm not sure how to explain it, but like a forced crush since they have after all known each other for 7 years and literally dazai can anticipate his movements. (im talking about that one scene in the guild arc i think it was. "WHY YOU!")

Percy Jackson. I'm putting him as demi (still somewhat on the aspec tho yk?) because of his relationship with annabeth. idc, THEY ARE EACH OTHERS ENDGAMES. id say pretty much the same for annabeth, i mean, they knew each other for a while before they fell in love and started dating, but tbf, i have NOT even read the pjo series in a ehile sad face

Jouno Saigiku because i feel like his only interest is justice. i dunno how to expand on him, but yeah. i love jouno so much and if he really do be dead before i get a suegiku reunion, im firing everyone

Tetchou Suehiro. he's an (adorable) oddity in itself, but still serious. I don't think he'd be looking for a relationship, especially in his line of work. he is quite literally an overworker. MY BOY IS TRAINING EVEN DURING MEETINGS. however my one exception to 'bro has no feelings' is jouno. why? learn in the bi section of this (its quite obvious tho)

Ranpo Edogawa. Mostly because have you seen him? i'd say his only interests are solving crimes and his snacks (and obviously the ada). obviously he has more, but those are the main ones that come to mind. other than the (probably) one sided rivalry of ranpoe where i swear poe is the only one that says theyre rivals, i dont think that he's the type to make relationships with others outside of the ada. maybe the hunting dogs/pm if he really had to, but i kin him, and i say he is

Trans people (mostly just trans men, im sorry to my girlies 🥺)

just a not i want to put, i think i only put trans guy hcs bc i myself am transmasc lewl

Junichirou Tanizaki. Sorry, i feel stereotypical for saying this, but his body, my dude. also his style, in the manga, he wears a black top underneath his white vneck(?) whichh to me feels like its a binder. also i love that ranga and naomis relationship w him kinda makes me sad, but ill post my theory on that another time. and also his hair (beautiful and gorgeous btw) just makes me so happy w the little clips and stuff. baggy shirt my guy, great style.

Jason Todd SOMETIMES. i think i just want to relate to him a lil, because im a lil silly like that.

chuuya nakahara on occasion but i think its just because were the same height 🧍

ryuunosuke akutagawa because honestly a trans aku would be interesting but not that relevant. idk, i like the idea of it

Bisexuals/Pansexuals

ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA!!! I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT. lucy??? akutagawa??? BROS HAD HEAVY MOMENTS WITH BOTH OF THEM. i can not see him as anything but a disaster bisexual honestly.

Jason Todd (again HA). Seeing as people can be pan/bi as well as aro/ace, i see him fitting into that, maybe demi-bi or something. he doesnt really strike me as the type to fall in love quickly, but he doesnt really care what he falls for, he cares for whom he does. i am a jason todd hc kinnie

Michizou Tachihara. my goody, i dont ship it but tachigin is just right there. and the scene during the corruption arc w tanizaki (i am not romanticising this but i feel like i am, DEAD). i love the content w him, and also i noticed he and juni pretty much have the same shirt 💀 but also, bro has piercings and dyes his hair, does he just know he is gorgeous???

percy jackson, i'm not even gonna expand

Tetchou Suehiro because BRO AND JOUNO FR. not even gonna lie, if a man (tecchou) says that he would put me above justice for FIVE MINUTES, I WOULD FOLD. thats the main one for me. the other would be the pushups during a meeting. their moments are just cute, sue me

lol im too lazy to come up with i cant think of any more

[princess-of-the-corner]

tbf, Sokka's sexism isn't that major in the original series so toning it down is like removing it

On one hand it isn't, on the other hand it is.

Sokka in particular being sexist didn't last long. It was only one of his many character traits, and it did get knocked out of him after only four episodes. So yes it's only on screen for a short while. Hell, most of it is in Episode 4 itself.

But on the other hand:

The Water Tribes being a society with such strict gender roles and sexism and all of that is a bigger part of the season's arc. And I'd argue a big part in the larger arc of humanizing villains as the themes and lessons we see here apply to the Fire Nation in Season 3.

Which is to say that people are taught, from a young age, how society works. And they learn that and take it at face value because they're young and it's adults telling them. And sometimes when first faced with the idea that their society might be flawed they kick up a fuss but hopefully unlearn the toxic ideas that were given to them.

Sokka's sexism isn't some unique trait only to him. It's part of the Water Tribe Society. Something he has to confront and unlearn. And he does!! But part of that is confronting the /society/ that made him that way!

And to take that away..... there are two ways for this to go with the Water Tribe:

1.) They take away the Water Tribe's sexism entirely. This culture is now presented as Perfect™, nothing at all bad! Because they're the Good Guys™.

or

2.) While the Water Tribe is still sexist, Sokka himself has somehow sidestepped 15 years of upbringing because he's a Hero™ and is just Inherently Good Like That™ so despite being told the strict gender roles, he saw right through it.

Both of these are bad.

[godihatethiswebsite]

Books Tag Game!

Tagged by @dragonnarrative-writes.

Point of order: I'm a picky bitch. The amount of books I've read vs the books I'd actually put on a bookshelf are like.... maybe 20, taking into account most of them are part of a series. Tho tbf most of the 'good books' I want aren't on KU and I'm kinda fucking broke. Also yes, the early days of booktok got me back into reading after a 10+ year slump in case that wasn't about to become insanely obvious.

1) The last book I read:

Fake It Till You Make It by Flora Quincy. Been on the hunt for more omegaverse books, but this one was terrible >< DNF'd.

2) A book I recommend:

I don't know how not to sound like a basic bitch broken record, but for the love of god go read A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. Just stop after book three in the series.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout. Binged the first three books (that were out) in two days. Wish I could afford the rest.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

Hi. Basic bitch again :) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas. You have no idea what this book meant to me the first time I read it and the strength it gave me to open my eyes and see that I was worth so much more.

5) A book on my TBR:

Currently there are about 28 of varying excitement to read (most of it is what I refer to as 'junk food'), but I've got an upcoming release in September for the fourth book in the Beasts of the Briar series by Elizabeth Helen called Broken By Daylight I'm looking forward to.

6) A book I’ve put down:

Exodus by Kate Stewart. I was prepared to put this series as one of my all time favorites with the way I felt falling in love with Sean and Dom, but after that... refused to read more. Genuinely devastated, still not over it. Haven't looked at rainy days the same ever since.

Also just because it still bothers me - House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas. What the fuck girl?! The first one was so good and I praise so much of your work! But it's like ever since ACOTAR book 4 came out you've just dropped the ball...

7) A book on my wish list:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Hopefully it's better than some of the other dragon books I've tried recently.

8) A favorite book from childhood:

The Sight by David Clement-Davies. It's a fantasy book that follows a pack of wolves and their daughter who has visions. Have tissues on hand.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Depends on the friend >>; We talking a cute hockey romance like Weak Side by SJ Sylvis... or is the freak flag flying with Shantel Tessier's The Sinner?

10) A fiction book you own:

Death: A Life by George Pendle. Not my usual fare, but it's a fun 'autobiography' about the grim reaper.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Does a high school yearbook count?

12) What are you currently reading:

Just cracked open Baby + the Late Night Howlers by Kathryn Moon, but I'm expecting to probably close it within the first few pages (seriously, my kingdom for a good omegaverse that I haven't already read 😭).

13) What are you planning on reading next?

God, idk. Most of the books on my list either cost money, aren't out yet, or are titles I know are most likely gonna be mid at best.

No pressure tags: @cosmicpro, @void-my-warranty, @all-purpose-dish-soap, @stuffireadandenjoy, and @rememberwren

[atopvisenyashill]

what did you mean by "we're at viserys ii actions here" on your hoster and lysa post? i don't remember anything about viserys ii's parenting being shitty specifically from twoiaf other than he had naerys marry aegon

oh now tbf a lot of that is just me being a hater towards patriarchs in this series haha. i think him forcing the naerys/aegon marriage shouldn't be understated here though - he forces the marriage in 153, after Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena had already been born. He could have waited for one of them to get older and had Aegon marry Daena, he could have let Naerys be a septa, he chooses to force this marriage where Naerys is literally weeping at the altar. Not long after, Daeron starts the dornish conquest, wherein Aegon spends the entire time raping Casella Vaith the hostage and no one like,,,stops him? Viserys can see the writing on the wall here that Aegon is a nasty piece of work and the most he does is send Aegon to Essos to be a menace to someone else so Naerys doesn't literally die of marital rape. Like, HIS SON, his RESPONSIBILITY, the HEIR TO THE THRONE, is raping Viserys' own daughter into her grave and he's just like "eh get some fresh air aegon." useless. oberyn is right about him - he spent all those years trying to be the power behind the throne, then the moment he got the throne, he does jack shit with it, and gets offed by his own son. he strikes me very much as a tywin type, more concerned with What's Best For The Family then what's actually best for his family. maybe he's not malicious but he utterly fails Naerys and raised Aegon and he deserves at least a few tomatoes for that.

[gayleviticus]

something I find really interesting about fma 03 is the homunculi's names, because when I first watched it I was like 'hmm this is kindve awkward. they're just random names dante gave them i guess?' and chalked it up to having to awkwardly work around the source material. and I hindsight I feel like that stems from a specific approach to the text that's like... out to look for plot holes and patch up inconsistencies? The fact Homunculi names seemingly match up suspiciously well in some ways but are also on some level arbitrarily assigned by Dante is approached primarily as either an awkwardness to be solved (if you like the work) or a plot hole to be criticised (if you dislike it).

But looking at it now (and with the help of a lot of really good analyses and meta on here) my lens is very much 'why does this disconnect exist?' it's not trying to look for problems; it's taking the assumption the narrative DOES fit together and then thinking about what it means.

and so it seems obvious to me that the simple answer to this disconnect is that they are names dante imposed to dehumanise and isolate the homunculi. some of them are more accurate, some of them less, but ultimately they are Dante seeing a living being and reducing their entire life to a single Sin. Wrath's anger is not a response to complicated trauma and wanting a family, it is something he Is ontologically; Lust really shows no sexual desire in the series, but she is made into an object of fantasy, dressed up and sexualised like Dantes little doll.

And we see this at an extreme with Gluttony, who is reduced to nothing more than mindless, insatiable hunger by Dante when his human feelings for Lust get in the way of making the Stone. (in fact presumably the ways in which the Homunculi's powers seem to align with their assigned sin is Dante's work)

so I think this is emblematic of a lot of things in 03, where looking at it with a plot logic lens makes you miss the forest for the trees (and tbf this is a lens that is not great for most media in general because cinemasins tier obsession w plot holes is rarely helpful)

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Semifinals

Propaganda why Oscar is insufferable:

"“I want to be famous!” Ok, what for? “Whatever means I don’t have to work.”"

"Selfish, shallow, vain, materialistic, reckless, irresponsible, etc. Doesn't even have an aesthetically pleasing design, he's horrible to look at (like every other character in the movie tbf) so bro has literally 0 redeeming qualities. That one shrimp with the ridiculous sob story should have been the protag instead"

"His entire personality revolves around being shallow and selfish, to the point he sees no issue with lying for his own material gain, in the process shamelessly screwing over his best friend/future girlfriend -- she gave him her grandmother's valuable precious pearl to pay off his debts and get out of trouble, because she cares about him, and instead he fucking gambled it all on a horse race on impulse because he overheard some rando saying the race was rigged and guaranteed to win (surprise, it wasn't). Never really faces appropriate consequences for any of his actions. Gets an undeserved happy ending to top it all off, when really he deserves to suffer a little and learn a lesson.

Also has one of the ugliest anthro-animal designs I've ever seen so he's insufferable to even LOOK at, jesus christ."

Propaganda why Richard Rahl is insufferable:

"The character always, always has to be Right and Moral and Good. He always knows more than: his wife, organized religion, any and all government orders that he didn't set up personally. While he starts out reasonable enough in the first few books, he slowly devolves into the author's Ayn Rand-fantasy stand-in. In every book there's always a huge monologue that's secretly about how bad (fantasy) communism is.

Richard is also hypocritical. He will flip flop on issues and change with the whims of the author, but the narrative always portrays him as in the right no matter the context."

"Protagonist of the most idiotic book series ever, literally wins by sheer dumb luck and being too stupid to plan as the world bends around him. His girlfriend keeps getting kidnapped so he can rescue her, despite allegedly being powerful. He’s a fantasy Ayn Rand follower. He inherited a sword and the Most Powerful Magic Combination Ever which he can’t be trained in because he needs to learn by instinct. Every woman ever falls in love with him or is determined to help him by prophecy. He gets captured and tortured by several bdsm women (author fetish, blatantly) and doesn’t even appreciate it. He gradually seizes more and more control over he world than even his evil tyrant dad, then throughs a fit and runs off into the woods to sulk, leaving them to a violent conquest, when people object to this via voting. He’s inexplicably good at death football. I can keep going."

"Literally the oc in the author’s shitty Ayn Rand fantasy novel. All the women want him, he does magic by instinct. He cannot be trained because he has super rare magic that nobody else has had for millenia. His birth has been prophecied for centuries. Every new book features a new problem only he can solve by being too instinctly good at magic and untrained. He comes up with the Wizard’s Rules of Magic by dumb luck.

In one book he defeats communism and hopelessness by crafting the perfect statue of his girlfriend Kahlan, who is a way cooler character but still a Mary Sue & an idiot. The statue is so cool & beautiful & well made for the joy of making (unlike work under communism), that he sparks a riot and toppled the evil empire. By building a statue."

[mittenlady]

why klavquill

originally i thought of the pairing as a joke because simon would totally hate klavier, but like… i thought further upon it and now i fr am invested. i could say sooooo many things. so:

here’s a post i made a while ago explaining

here's another post focusing on the aspects of other dynamics that would be affected; less important but fun to mention

and let me provde an updated (attempt at being more concise but simultaneously more elaborative) version:

• thematic similarities in that they both helped usher in the dark age of the law BS. klavier got phoenix disbarred (which ig because he’s the golden boy is the end of the world but TBF the crazy ass corruption he exposed in his first three (?) years as an attorney does make him incredibly significant and a sort of figurehead) and simon went to prison for “murder” a year after that

• adding onto that, klavier and simon worked at the prosecutor’s office for one year of overlap (2019-2020) prior to simon’s sentence. even if they didn’t know each other directly, they would have known of each other (guy who got phoenix wright disbarred during his first trial and guy handling an international spy case with criminal affairs) (also i really love the estranged friends to lovers narrative)

• and even at that, they likely WOULD have had to interact during turnabout academy. simon was literally prosecuting the case. yes, klavier didn’t have an official investigation, but you’re telling me that they’re working on the same case without a single interaction???? frankly it’s just poor writing and they didn’t want to put in the effort to connect AJ’s narrative properly; which was an actual writing direction they had so why am i surprised.

• juxtaposition of older sibling situations; both in prison but for different reasons. i want to analyze this bit more but there’s something there

• sharing a narrative of healing from the ghosts of their pasts after DD :)

• both are incredibly melodramatic and theatrical in court. they’re on the same wavelength; and speaking just from a writer’s perspective, writing their interactions is some of the most fun i’ve had lol. if you’re curious, here’s my ao3 series containing all the fics i’ve written for them so far :)

• they also do have similar aesthetics in the sense that they both wear darker colors. klavier has a more grunge (?) / generally alternative (and like 70s-80s generic rockstar) style and simon… dresses like he’s from the victorian era yes (not counting the jinbaori) but he has more of a goth / emo vibe? i’m articulating this very poorly they both just look very well together. also men with long hair :)

sparknotes version: i think they have a lot of similarities and parallels and narratively, i believe it would make more sense for them to be together. part of it may also be wanting to connect the narratives of AJ and DD properly but idk. it just makes more sense, at least to me, in comparison to other pairings

[corseque]

Here because I love your writing (and might be a lil insane for Lucy/Ghoul) and I'm a fallout nerd, I would say the wiki is great for info on the lore BUT if you want to play the games and specifically want info on the conflicts/factions/locations of Fallout the series I would avoid at first Fallout 3 and 4. They are good games in their own respect but both happen in the east coast aka with the exception of the Brotherhood of Steel (and that is very dependant on who's Elder/ what chapter of the BoS you get) that is pretty much across the whole country and the Enclave there's nothing similar to what's going on in the west coast, there's no NCR for example. Fallout 4 is a good introduction because it's the newest one and so the gameplay is more modern but it happens in the Commonwealth and although timeline wise is the closest game to the date where Fallout the series starts, it shares like, no background elements with it. Fallout 3 has perhaps the most similar beginning story to Lucy's in the series, but it's worth noting that unlike 4 or New Vegas where you can "side" With a faction and see the inner workings of them, 3 kind of pushes you along a very straightforward story.

Fallout New Vegas would be the best starting point location and gameplay wise, as season 2 is gonna happen in the Mojave, it starts 15 years prior to the show and pretty much gets you up to speed in the factions that are in the area. It can be a little buggy (tbf there are no non-buggy Fallout games) and unlike F3 and F4 it doesn't handhold you as much about the main quest and rather lets you go wherever you like whenever. It also has that "western" vibe that is absent in both 3 and 4, and from the 3D Fallout games I would say it's the one that allows you the most freedom roleplay wise with your own character. Would be my go to for a first Fallout in this scenario.

Now if you wanted the most accurate vision of the events that happened in the past on the show timeline wise that would be the original Fallout 1 and 2. They are old (as games as well as in the timeline both happen respectively 135 and 55 years prior to the show) and gameplay wise it's like eating broken pieces of glass without a drop of water to help it get through but Shady Sands or Vault 12? That's where you get to actually be in there and see how they were and what happened. I have a soft spot for them and unlike the 3D Fallout 1 and 2 are connected through the protagonist sharing a familial bond, so it's kind of a continuation (but 2 can be played on its own too having read a summary of 1). Some of its themes have aged like spoiled milk left in the sun for an entire summer and Fallout 1 has a time limit (so does 2 but it's so forgiving it barely merits mentioning), so I really can't recommend them in good faith unless you've played the rest and truly feel like you want to experience that lore first hand or you love that kind of old school 2D isometric rpg from the 90's. Just beware that, specially Fallout 2 can get pretty dark (in a distasteful way let's just say) pretty fast, and playing as a woman is... Yup.

Sorry for the infodump and you can just ignore it, but I saw you on Twitter talking about where to get the details for fanfic writing porpuses and got excited lmao 💀

Thank you so much for the information, this is actually exactly what I was about to ask. The fact that 3 and 4 are on the East coast would have been weirdly disappointing for me to play first then

I actually can’t afford to start playing at the moment, but hopefully soon I’ll scrape something together. I think I’m leaning toward NV or 1 for the first one

[meredoubt]

Thrilled to say that despite my history of being extraordinarily picky and prone to being a miserable wretch, I do still really enjoy the opening episode of Interview with the Vampire season 2.

Spoilers under the cut, tho I think it's mostly just cast/atmosphere impressions.

Jacob is always acting at 1000%. That man is electric. It is astonishing how well he is emoting around some of the clunkier dialogue (I adore the writing, but it does feel slightly different this season). He is still the perfect Louis, and his interpretation (with the time period and racechange of the character) remains one of the three main selling points for me (the other two being Lestat, and then, Vampires Generally, We Are So Back).

And I appreciate that they are upfront about the Claudia recast. I do miss her-Bailey has a certain theatricality that i think really lends itself to the character and the whole series' tone, and it held up well against the fucking powerhouse that is Lestat-but I'm certainly willing to give the new girl her shot. I'm suspecting that her acting being more subdued will work very well given Claudia's state of mind in the second half of the book. And tbf, it's the first episode.

Armand is good. I'm excited to see more of him this season so i can form a stronger opinion. He and Louis presenting a united front is pretty heartwarming, though unless they've changed the story significantly, I'll be curious to see how his support reads later. And of course, the situation with Daniel.

Lestat manages to steal the scene every second he's there without saying a word. Sam's a fucking menace of an actor. When he talks? I remember the character's history with music. I desperately hope they get through the next two books just so I can be mesmerized by whatever they do with him and Akasha.

This is the most excited I've been for a tv show in a hot minute.

[not-rude-ginger]

Listening to Jurassic Park on Audiobook. Here are thoughts as I go through the story:

Spoilers galore on a 33 year old book with one of the biggest films ever, I guess. Also some gore mentions.

Jesus wept Crichton, that's certainly one way to open a story. They ate the baby's face!!

When I tell you the fear that settled in my soul when Tina picked up the tiny dino - I know this series!!! I was expecting so much worse, but it was still bad. Merci for the gore discretion scene POV change there Crichton.

What's the craic with the dino spit? What have you done Wu??

I kinda like that the secrecy of 'dinos be back baby!' is more by human apathy and shrugging off things than Hammond's magical will which is the only explanation we get in the film.

Yes Crichton, we can see you like science stuff and explaining how things work, we see it.

The film did the moment they see the dinos better. I almost missed it while making lunch in the book. Spielberg Win there - but tbf that's hard to beat on paper compared to a film with scale and swelling music.

I swear the narrator is picking up the film actors inflections when he does dialogue. Especially Nedry, I can hear Wayne Knight in his voice even though he isn't really doing distinct voices. Same with Sam Neil in Alan.

I am so glad they made Lex the older kid in the film - she's a classic annoying little sibling in the worst way in the book. She is bored of dinosaurs after a couple of hours! I can't decide if that's the most unrealistic or the most accurate thing in the book -- kids get used to wild things very quick.

I gotta be honest, I'd probably work in a Dino Nursery too.

I adore Richard Attenborough's Hammond, but the book version helps explain far better why things go so wrong. He's just a Bezos or Musk.

The debate with Wu about Version 4.4 is very interesting. Hammond thinks having the original wolf is what people want but Wu is probably right that what people really want is closer to a dog, even if they say they want the wolf. Anyone who actually wants the wolf is looking for a Darwin award.

When Crichton made sure to include an explanation of what a CD player was I cracked up laughing, because it may have been new enough in 1990 to need a quick explanation, but it will most definitely need it for the future given how CDs are being made obsolete. 😕

Interesting how Arnold (Sam Jackson) describes the dinos as 'precious and delicate'. It makes sense, but it wasn't carried over to the film where it's more ... wonder and awe and 'how could something so magical go wrong?' But the book does talk about how many dinos have died in the project from all sorts of things, so they must seem so fragile when you're buried into it.

Also interesting that even though they made sure all the dinos were girls (great work there Wu, no notes!) they admit they still call the 2 T-Rex (yes there are 2!! A juvenile and an adult!) 'him'.

To be continued when I listen to more - we're about to reach Rexy's Enclosure for the first time.

[toastspirit]

I spend an unfortunate amount of time wallowing in self hatred but y’know I’ve got a pretty interesting set of character traits once I get past that!!

-scared of people and being perceived + has poor social skills, does acting whenever possible

-specifically does improv comedy despite not really being funny and again, being very anxious

-constructed a whole plan/persona pretransition to make myself incredibly unnoticeable to avoid being remembered as a girl, planning to become more outgoing after coming out. It kind of worked! (Also still did theater despite The Plan)

-was almost given a Christmas themed name (my birthday is Christmas in some cultures, including my parents’)

-chose the second name I liked for my first name. Which was just the first name I liked but more normal. Routinely lies to people when asked of the origin (which is rare anyways!!! Let me lie more it’s funny)

-chose middle name as an attempt to pacify my mom, who was unhappy with my name change. Unsure if it was successful (?)

-sang in chorus by choice for ~eight years straight, suddenly stopped post HS and never did it again (tbf it hasn’t been that long)

-occasionally forgets how to spell simple words/what previously known words mean. Is an English major

-despite playing Minecraft for a significant portion of my childhood, I’ve only beaten it once without cheating and that was as a tag-along player (I was not helpful!)

-has forgotten both my chosen name and deadname before

-refuses to tell anyone my pre-ToastSpirit online name since it’s attached to my wattpad account

-on that tangent, wrote a Percy Jackson fic in middle school (sometimes on my school chromebook) which has 90k+ reads. It was never finished rip

-my parents have cardboard cutouts of me and my brother in the kitchen. I am afraid of them

-I have spent almost all of my money on plushies and at one point the majority of my floor space was Squishmallows. (I no longer collect Squishmallows)

-was briefly an (unsuccessful) animal jam YouTuber but showed up in some more popular people’s videos

-has thrown up blood repeatedly and never mentioned this to a doctor

-was a Girl Scout from kindergarten to sophomore year (?) of HS. No longer a girl, did not identify as one for all those years. (Stayed until the dysphoria was unbearable to use as college application filler. Came out to troop leader via email and disappeared without telling anyone else, and hid from other members whenever possible)

-also never tried all the GS cookies due to refusing to eat peanuts. Not allergic, just picky.

-potentially allergic to the cold, lives in a pretty cold US state, was born in winter, was my favorite season for most of my life

-can drive, shockingly

-family begged me not to tell anyone what my first job is as it’s embarrassing or something (they also begged me to quit for the brief time I worked there. I lasted a couple shifts?)

-scratched and hissed at people as a child. Did perhaps not fully grow out of this (this started before reading Warriors, surprisingly)

-was introduced to Pokemon as a small child, every other aspect of who I am changed, became more obsessed with Pokemon somehow

-started reading a manga series at eight years old, owns all the books now, has not finished it

-can barely remember anything but knows every single Pokemon + lots of other Pokemon stuff

-forgot the vast majority of my childhood, dad is convinced I am purposefully repressing it for gender reasons. Legitimately just forgot it

-submitted Pokemon drawings in art class, art teacher randomly put it in the yearbook once or twice

-had two nosebleeds total throughout my life (trampoline accidents at the same friend’s house), until my nose would randomly start bleeding in my first semester of college (after being sick)

-constantly needs to be doing a bit/chronically unserious due to being terrified of vulnerability

-was at one point only staying alive to finish my part for a Warriors MAP on scratch. It was NOT good

-has made it to almost-20 despite not developing emotional regulation much better than the “im going to kms but need to finish this shitty animation” period of my life mentioned above. A true miracle.

-primary social media was quizup for several years

-took Latin due to being too into mythology… Still suffering the consequences of this middle school choice

-name was mispronounced by Latin teacher for multiple years. Never corrected him

-just remembered this one. Everyone had to submit drawings for a Latin assignment, which were displayed in class for months. Drew some furry shit. Did not get bullied for this (but was bullied previously!)

-straight up said “I’d rather die than live as a woman” in college essay, was shown to two HS teachers, somehow ended up in the final draft anyways????

-ended up going to a college I was certain I would not get into, after applying to it a couple hours before the deadline. Only applied because my dad asked me to. Typing this while lying in my dorm! :P

-probably not a binary trans man but hasn’t told anyone this

-and other stuff~!

[eliotquillon]

Regarding your fic 'twenty and some change', will it ever be finished/released? I just need closure.

wow i didn’t even know people were even still reading it!! this is such a blast from the past haha. anyway, short answer is: YES, it will be finished eventually.

longer answer is: i didn’t lie when i said in the notes of that fic that it had been entirely pre-written—i have to rewrite the epilogue and edit the chapters before that, but it’s mostly ready to go. the fic has mostly been on hold because, as i kind of alluded in my last note on it, i had a prolonged mental health crisis between late 2022-mid 2023 (aka just after i wrote the first draft of twenty) where i basically stopped writing fic completely and when i eventually came out of it the last thing i wanted to do was go right back to what i’d been doing just before it started lol. i am doing much better now luckily! but editing twenty does put me in a bit of a weird headspace because of that. it doesn’t really help that i have, uh, some very particular interpretations of the TMI cast (particularly isabelle) and that twenty is, above all else, an isabelle/simon fic in a fandom that usually relegates the ship to the background—i was not exactly getting tons of feedback on it as it was uploading, and while i am of course very grateful for the comments/kudos i DID get, it was kind of demotivating to be putting my absolute heart and soul into a longer fic and getting barely any reception for it. i don’t say this to imply that the fic was abandoned out of spite or anything, but truth be told i figured nobody was reading it anymore so it didn’t really matter when it got finished lolol.

i could probably get the whole thing done in a few days if i were to take a few days off and dedicate myself entirely to getting it finished. the big draft doc with all the chapters on it (relic of when the fic was intended as a fucking ONE SHOT) is sitting at like 30,000 words at the moment and literally will not load on my phone anymore haha so editing it is a bit of a job. for various reasons this is not exactly feasible at the moment — i know i complain endlessly about my uni workload on here but it is seriously difficult trying to balance 2000 word essays every week with dissertation work, translation seminars, the occasional ‘bonus’ essay, all of my extracurriculars (including the fucking theatre company i run lmaoo), my original creative writing AND fanfic stuff!! but it will get done eventually—probably over the winter break. i can’t give exact timelines because tbf i will inevitably miss any deadline i set for myself (and also i don’t want writing fic to become a source of stress for myself), but it will get done in the next few months most likely. twenty is really my love letter to isabelle lightwood + simon/isabelle specifically—it will probably be my last shadowhunters fic since TLH confirmed that i’m not really on board with the way the series is going anymore after 11 long years of being on this train lol, so it really is very special to me. i always say that isabelle lightwood is my favourite fictional character of all time, and that’s still true. pls have patience!! and thanks for checking in—again, i didn’t think anyone was reading this fic anymore lol, so it’s nice to be proven wrong!!