#(they would not like Certain Aspects of the show)

[bengiyo]

BL 2024 Review

It’s been another year of BL. I wrote a review of 2023 and 2022, and I find myself struggling to write about this year. I feel like I had some incredible projects that I connected with this year, but I also found myself far more bored and frustrated with certain things than I was expecting. The most disheartening thing this year for me was the drop off in the number of quality Korean productions, and the end of my patience with Thai BL squandering viewer time and attention. Let’s get into some of the big ideas.

Japan is Still Here

Last year I commented that a third of all Japanese BL I had ever watched came out in 2023. We got even more this year, and we had longer runtimes! This is good for the kind of viewer I am. I find that I enjoy Japanese shows more often than any other BL-producing country, and they held down the bulk of my watching for the year.

This year I was blessed with two shows tackling a similar premise (actors falling for each other as they film a BL) and they were both good! I loved I Became The Main Role of a BL Drama so much, and we’re getting a sequel in 2025! I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy a moodier take on this premise when At 25:00 in Akasaka showed up, but I ended up enjoying that, too!

I properly watched Ossan’s Love and The Novelist at the start of this year, and I’m so glad I did, because goddamn did I enjoy Ossan’s Love Returns.

I also remain thankful for Tadaima Okaeri and Twilight Out of Focus for giving us worthwhile BL anime.

I'm thankful for Perfect Propose for giving me a man in his mid-20s leaving his horrible job after getting fed and jerked off by an old friend.

I'm thankful for Takara no Vidro for unpacking obsession in a relationship and solving it with healthy communication.

Finally, I'm thankful for Love is Like a Poison for blending a legal drama with a BL so effortlessly, and making it such a fun ride. I love that Shiba Ryoma can't fight for shit and was so down bad for his man.

The Cross-Cultural Adaptations Brought Out Great Discussion

I was glad we got Cherry Magic Thailand and My Love Mix Up Thailand this year in the order in which we got them. It was useful because they both came from GMMTV, and I had opposite reactions to both. I loved what they did with Cherry Magic, and stand by what I said on the podcast that I think it’s the best version of Cherry Magic (even if the anime is my favorite). This was useful, because I was really put off by the attempt at My Love Mix Up, and think they got a lot wrong. I’m glad the good show came first so I didn’t feel like I was being a Japanese version stan.

Adapting from danmei, I really wanted to like My Stand In, but bounced off the show not taking the horror of Joe’s situation seriously. Moreover, I think the commerce of the BL pair required them to soften and redeem Up’s character in a way that felt disingenuous for me. I wanted that man to be unhinged and far more toxic than they portrayed him. If this is the trend, I’d rather Thai teams invested in BL pair commerce avoid toxic danmei in the future.

In Taiwan, I was so impressed with Unknown. Despite the missteps on the sexual turn, that was one of the most engaging dramas we had within the genre this year. I was impressed at how seriously they took their family dynamics. That being said, Meet Me at the Blossom didn’t land for me. I would very much like to see a wuxia BL that hits for me without the dubious and non-consensual bits.

Over in Japan, I don’t think I’m enjoying Our Youth that much, and I wonder about whether certain aspects of the source material didn’t translate properly with some of the changes I’ve seen mentioned by viewers. It’s been a difficult experience, because I loved the scene of Minase fleeing Hirukawa’s room, but the show has really lost its emotional core for me.

However, I actually really enjoyed the Japanese version of Love in the Air, and think MeMindY timed this well with The Boy Next World starting right as the last episode of Love in the Air Japan finishes. It was clear to me that the Thai team was involved in the adaptation, and that the makers of the Japanese version loved LITA. I think both versions bring out something noteworthy in the characters, and I hope that the show is successful so we get more work from MeMindY as a result of the connections made here, because it’s clear that the money situation in Thailand might not be so hot right now.

Thai and Korean Money Must Be Drying Up

We’ve been wondering when the BL peak would hit and the decline would begin, and I think we’re starting to see some of those changes. I worry about how little we got from Korea this year, despite three incredible showings from Love for Love’s Sake, Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, and Love in the Big City. Beyond those three, I don’t really feel like anyone missed out that much on the other offerings (maybe Time of Fever, but I have qualms with that show).

Beyond that, I remain worried about how much talent has consolidated at GMMTV. It’s a worrisome sign that they continue to gobble up all of the talent. Regardless of personal tastes for a particular brand of BGP (business gay performance), it’s pretty bad for all of us when one corporation is the only one making money on boys kissing each other (@respectthepetty).

Despite how much Thai BL I dropped, I did genuinely enjoy the relationship and friendship dynamics of Cooking Crush, Knock Knock Boys, Love Sea, and The Trainee.

The Gay Things I Loved

Enough musing. Let’s just talk about other things that I loved. This is the section where I beg you to watch the gay things that matter to me, and not just the boys whose IG reels get reposted here.

I absolutely loved the entire experience of the Love in the Big City book club. When @lurkingshan pitched the idea, I had no idea how many people would earnestly participate, that Anton Hur would share his time with us, or that the show would actually be so good. LITBC was so good that conservative Koreans protested its airing. I loved everything we did this year around that book and show, and wanna say thanks again to everyone who engaged with us.

I also adored Marahuyo Project. I love that ANIMA Studios didn’t end after Like in the Movies. JP Habac came back with a banger. That show said it was LGBTQIA+ and it meant it with its whole heart. I really loved this show as a true examination of the evolving landscape of youth queerness in the modern era more than anything else I watched this year. Go watch it.

I did not expect a show about a reformed misogynist to be my favorite show of the year, but here I am still begging all of you to watch Don’t Care For An Old Man’s Underwear! (@isaksbestpillow)This show made me cry every single week because of how good every moment hit. I have rarely experienced such an immense feeling of compassion as I received from this show.

In 2022, we watched She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, and we wondered if NHK would come back and finish what they started, and goddamn did they deliver. I think about Nomoto and Kasuga about as much as I think about Shiro and Kenji (What Did You Eat Yesterday?) now, and if Japan doesn’t figure out a way for both of those couples to meet, I will be forever disappointed. Go watch it. (@furritsubs)

Finally, I will be forever thinking about the confession through the wall in Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, how they intercut the youth and adult sex, and the way Dohoe apologized to Hyeonho. Hwang Da Seul finally got all of the pieces right here. She loves to see a couple get back together after a big separation, and she succeeded here. This show earned its youth romance, and earned its reunion. She understands how important it is for gay people to stop trapping each other. We threw that cross in the trash, and cried because of Yahoo answers. We all won.

My Tastes are Changing

Last year I engaged with about 99 productions. This year it’s under 75 with 26 that I didn’t finish. I hesitate to say that the genre is getting worse, when I feel like things are where they’ve been for a long time. However, it’s clear that I’m changing and am less interested in seeing what I deem to be weak attempts at familiar storytelling tropes.

I think what I’ve noticed the most about my tastes changing is that it’s making me write less. The fandom has contracted dramatically on Tumblr, and I find myself growing distant from the predominant reactions. With there being less people to vibe with, I’ve been reacting less in real time. Despite that, I hope to continue posting round ups with my BL blurbs and @the-conversation-pod.

All in all, 2024 is a difficult year for me. I think I enjoyed BL less overall, but the things I did enjoy I enjoyed more than previous years. It’s a difficult space for me to navigate, because I think this is actually what I wanted. I will continue to appreciate that the BL genre enables the funding for the big gay projects that I love. So, even if I think GMMTV going literally all-in on BL is going to lead to a ton of garbage, I still remain hopeful that the homos with something interesting to say can make the projects they want.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Regarding the Canonicity of the Harry Potter Games

Like, I love Hogwarts Legacy. I played it through to completion 4 times (I played a few sections more than that). But even though I really liked the game, and many of its characters, and I enjoyed playing it, I can't help but not consider it truly canon in the same universe of the books. I consider it, like, an alternate timeline than the books; where some of the worldbuilding elements and characters are canon to the books, but otherwise the story and many aspects of it (such as some of the worldbuilding and characters in the game) are not canon for me since they outright contradict the books.

(I would love to talk about Hogwarts Mystery and why I don't take its story and various game elements as canon either, unfortunately, I got too frustrated with the energy mechanic and didn't even finish 3rd year in the game so I don't feel like I know it enough to make a comprehensive post).

The main reason is that there are things that outright contradict what's written in the books. Such as the placement of certain locations in the castle (the castle in HL is gorgeous though):

1. The potions classroom isn't located in the dungeons near the Slytherin common room.

2. The greenhouses are referenced as being outside the school and not connected to the castle the way they are in the game:

Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept.

(CoS, Ch6)

4. The Owlery is inside the school, in the West Tower, specifically, and not a walk-off from the school (that's also a movies issue):

Harry He then climbed out of the portrait hole, up through the silent castle (held up only briefly by Peeves, who tried to overturn a large vase on him halfway along the fourth-floor corridor), finally arriving at the Owlery, which was situated at the top of West Tower.

(GoF, Ch15)

5. Many classrooms and offices aren't located correctly. For example, the DADA and the Transfiguration office windows should face the Quidditch Pitch:

dreadful though his final detention with Umbridge was sure to be, he had a distant view of the Quidditch pitch from her window and might, with luck, be able to see something of Ron’s tryout

(OotP, Ch13)

“Hmm ...” Professor McGonagall stood up and stared out of the window at the Quidditch field, just visible through the rain. 

(PoA, Ch9)

6. The above is also a problem with the location of the Quidditch pitch which should be near the lake:

Harry walked slowly along the deserted corridor, peering out of windows as he went. He could see people messing around in the air over the Quidditch pitch and a couple of students swimming in the lake, accompanied by the giant squid.

(OotP, Ch38)

7. The library in the game is on the ground floor (or below, since there are staircases going down to the library) and the restricted section is even lower in a basement level below the library. In the books, the library is on the 3rd and 4th floors, and the restricted section, specifically, is located on the 4th floor.

8. Again, this issue is also in the movies, but the doors to the Great Hall should be located to the right of the Entrance Hall. The Entrance Hall is described in quite detail in the books actually:

The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys’ house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. [...] Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall [Enterence Hall], and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

(PS, Ch7)

9. In general what's on each floor is incorrect. The one-eyed witch statue isn't on the third floor. The astronomy tower isn't the tallest tower (the headmaster's tower is taller). Myrtel's toilet should be near the DADA office on the second floor, not in the dungeons, etc.

10. You'd also notice in the game all the castle's windows are painted glass and you can't see outside through any of them. They are gorgeous, and it's definitely helpful for the sake of game performance, so I get why they did that, but in the books, it isn't so. Harry mentions looking out windows and seeing the grounds a lot.

(I would like to share the closest to canon map of Hogwarts I could make (which I made). It's an amalgamation of design elements from the movies, Hogwarts Legacy, and every quote I could find in the books regarding placements of various locations. Tumblr is just really bad with large high-resolution images 😭)

Then there are inaccurate world-building elements. (I'm not gonna count Basic-Cast and Levioso which are not real spells since they are clearly gameplay mechanics and aren't trying to be world-building accurate):

1. Horklumps are used in the Wiggenweld Potion in-game, even though Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them clearly states that Horklumps are useless as potion ingredients:

The Horklump is a favourite delicacy of gnomes but otherwise has no discernible use.

(Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

2. Matilda Weasley's existence makes no sense. By her red hair, Gareth Weasley's dialogue, and in-game letters, Matilda is stated to have been born a Weasley and didn't marry into the family. Hogwarts Legacy's art book confirms this. The reason this doesn't make sense is that Ginny Weasley is referred to as the first female born weasley in several generations.

Matilda is a professor who doesn't look very old in 1890, so she would've been born around 1,850s, let's say. Gareth is her brother's son, born in 1975-ish. In the game, a letter states Gareth has a sister, so that's zero generations with no female Weasleys. Septimus Weasley was born in the 1910s (his wife, Cederella, was born between 1915-1919). This makes him and his 6 older brothers, the next generation after Gareth, and the first generation no female Weasleys. Septimus is Arthur's father, making Arthur, his brothers, and his cousins the second generation without female Weasleys. And Arthur is Ginny's father. Two generations without female Weasleys wouldn't make Ginny the first female-born Weasley in several generations.

So, in the books' canon, Matilda and Gareth's younger sister, can't exist.

3. The entire Goblin Rebellion. Such a big, historical event would be remembered and referenced in the books the way other goblin rebellions and Grindelwald's war are mentioned. Not only that, but the ministry during the game has no reason to hide a goblin rebellion. It's a plot element in-game that makes no sense. It's not at all the same situation politically as in Harry's fifth year and the Ministry has no reason to cover it up (unless Rookwood is bribing someone, maybe?), so I don't get it at all.

Also, remember, Dumbledore starts Hogwarts in 1891, a year after the game. If this rebellion happened and the MC existed, Dumbledore would've likely known about it. A story like the MC's isn't just forgotten about over the course of less than the average wizard's lifetime. Not to mention the MC not being anywhere in canon or being referenced at all.

(what I'm saying is that the game should've chosen to take place further in the past and it would've solved a lot of continuity issues).

4. Ancient Magic. I know this is a game mechanic, but it's also a big part of the game's story — and it makes no sense with how we see magic in the HP books. When characters in the books refer to Ancient Magic, the kind of magic we see in the game is not what they are referring to. At all.

“ ‘Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate ...’ But Sirius said a simple one would do it. ...”

(GoF, Ch20)

Ancient Magic can refer to the natural magic of magical beings. The kind of magic that exists as part of nature and isn't wieldable. It's "ancient" since it's old and part of the natural world.

“But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has been better protected than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy’s future. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy’s protection as long as he is in his relations’ care. Not even I can touch him there. ... Then, of course, there was the Quidditch World Cup. ...

(GoF, Ch33)

“But I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated — to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother’s blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.”

(OotP, Ch37)

It can also refer to magic any powerful enough witch or wizard could do that was mostly forgotten. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore refer to the blood wards Dumbledore set up after Lily's sacrifice as "Ancient Magic" and I'm certain Dumbledore doesn't have the same abilities the MC in HL has — because no one does. These abilities don't exist in the books.

The ward is referred to as ancient magic becouse that's what it is — a mostly forgotten spell from very long ago — not a different kind of magic. Just old.

“Secondly, the castle is a stronghold of ancient magic. Undoubtedly Voldemort had penetrated many more of its secrets than most of the students who pass through the place, but he may have felt that there were still mysteries to unravel, stores of magic to tap.

(HBP, Ch20)

This again, uses the term "ancient magic" to refer to old forgotten magic (such as the Room of Requirement or the moving stairs at Hogwarts). Hogwarts is referred to as a stronghold of ancient magic not because the founders were like the MC in HL, but because they were very powerful wizards using magic that has been mostly forgotten since then. Any magic using runes (like a pensive) would be considered "ancient magic" in the book's universe because it's old. That's literally all ancient magic in the books means. Either "old and mysterious magic" or "natural magic of the world". It is not something a select few wizards can see and wield or a different type of magic.

5. The little hamlets around Hogwarts. I get why they are there (so the game could promote itself as an open-world) but they don't make sense. In canon, we are repeatedly told there aren't many wizard-only settlements and Hogsmead is one of the only ones. These little wizard hamlets make zero sense. Like, the very small ones which are basically two farms are fine, I can see wizard family farms like these existing. What I can't see is a larger hamlet, like Upper Hogsfeild existing so close to Hogsmead. It would not exist.

Before the Statute of Secrecy, most wizards lived in muggle towns, and after it, they still mostly stayed in muggle towns and the few wizard-only ones. The amount of wizard-only hamlets around Hogwarts in the game is honestly ridiculous for the books' world-building.

Again, I love the game, I'm writing this because I decided to boot HL up again to run around Hogwarts, but the game is not really canon. So, for the sake of analysis, I often discount the various games for this reason. They contradict book canon, and book canon comes first. Anyone can obviously do whatever they want, I'm just explaining why I occasionally discard game evidence, which is when it contradicts the books.

(There are world-building elements in the HL I do like, though. Such as the Hufflepuff Dark wizard who married a disowned Black daughter, I consider them canon since they're fun and don't contradict canon either, so they're fine).

[sokkastyles]

"they also don't like any narrative that involves characters having to change in any way, because that acknowledges that they weren't perfect and unproblematic to begin with."

Man, that's so true.

Also, it annoys me when people say Enemies to Lovers is about a woman fixing a man. I mean, nobody said Darth Vader's redemption was about how children need to fix their parents, you know what I mean?

(also the trope is not always about a male villain and a heroine but you know)

I do like narratives that subvert the idea that a woman needs to fix a man (which is one of the appeals of zutara, btw) because that is very much an expectation that exists. But at the same time, there's also a certain kind of misogyny in assuming that a woman is always a victim in that kind of relationship or she's always this innocent little flower who believes so earnestly that she can fix a terrible man, and we need to save her from this wrong thinking, the poor dear.

People don't say that about Darth Vader despite Luke so earnestly believing that his father had a shred of goodness left that he nearly died for the sake of that goodness, and would have died if Anakin's goodness hadn't prevailed, because we see Luke, and male characters in general, as heroes, as actors in the narrative rather than victims.

If Luke were a girl, then him giving himself up to the Emperor on the off chance that he could save his father might have been criticized as sexist, and that wouldn't necessarily be wrong. People are wary of those kinds of narratives with good reason, because women so often are the victims of this kind of abuse. So I get where the wariness about this kind of narrative is coming from, I really do.

But at the same time, I also wish we would stop treating female characters with kid gloves all the time.

One of the things I love about Katara is that she doesn't always make the right decision. I do think it's true that Zuko fixed himself, and that would not be diminished even if he and Katara got together. But at the same time, Katara did take a chance on him, and she did get hurt because of it. But the decision was always her own, and I think that's an important aspect of her narrative. She tries to tell herself afterward that Zuko tricked her into trusting him, because it's a means of protecting herself from those hurt feelings, but that isn't what happened, and by the end of The Southern Raiders, she learns both to accept that Zuko is a person who made mistakes and to live with her own mistakes. The fact that her confrontation with Yon Rah ends with her stating that she's not sure whether choosing not to kill him makes her strong or weak signifies that she's become much more comfortable with that ambiguity. She doesn't need anybody to protect her from her own choices, whether those choices are right or wrong. She forgives Zuko not just because he's proved himself worthy of her forgiveness, but because she's learned to forgive herself for trusting him in the first place. But she never would have been able to do that if she hadn't gone at all, if she hadn't put herself out there to try and help Zuko. And she wouldn't have grown into the confident, strong hero she is at the end of the show.

[zeskyzed]

Rafayel with an S/O who has PMDD

Hi guys this is the first work I'm posting here! It's self indulgent and I'm hoping this brings comfort to others as well <3

Warnings: afab reader, tw for depression/suicidal thoughts

- Since he's a lemurian, I feel like he wouldn't have any prior knowledge about a condition like this. He already had limited knowledge about periods since they're a human thing so I think if you have PMDD he'd be pretty confused at first. You'd definitely have to explain it to him, but he'd understand quickly.

- His face drops when you start listing all the symptoms.

"Back-aches, fatigue, nausea, chest pain, cramps, dizziness-"

You were nowhere near done listing them but the words on your tongue died when you saw the color drain from his face.

"You deal with this every month....?" He finally says, tone laced with concern.

"Yeah, for 1-2 weeks." You say casually, and he looks even more concerned.

"Human bodies are so stupid..."

"Tell me about it."

- After understanding the types of symptoms you experience (since everyone experiences different combinations of symptoms), he works with you to figure out what's the best way to take care of you during that time of month.

- Rafayel is known to be the type of person to play into banter, or even make some playfully rude remarks sometimes. However, he rids himself of that persona to show you his unfiltered caring side.

- If you have work and your fatigue is too much to the point where you can't wake up, or need to spend most of the day sleeping, he'll make sure to call out sick for you. He'd even pay you for the amount of hours of work you missed, just because he feels bad that you have to skip work for something uncontrollable.

When you wake up and see the money transferred to your account, you ask, "Rafayel, why'd you send me money while I was sleeping?"

"Um obviously because it's a shame that my cutie can't work because her body hates her! Your hard work for today was fighting sleep instead of wanderers so you deserve it." He smiles at you, caressing your cheek lovingly.

- If you have back-aches or any kind of body-aches he's got you covered. His hands aren't only good for painting after all, they're good for massaging too it seems. He'd use his evol to warm up his hands, before massaging your tense muscles, hoping to alleviate some of your pain.

- If you get boob pain/chest pain, he'd want to offer to help you, but get embarrassed about it. Only when he sees you stumbling around and holding your chest because they hurt everytime you move does he stop being embarrassed. He doesn't even see it as something suggestive anymore, because of the pain you're in.

- If you have nausea and/or dizziness he would remind you to sit down and to stay hydrated. Depending on how bad it was, he would even make you lie down, but not for too long in case lying down made it worse.

- When cramps get bad, he's doing the same thing he did for your body-aches, warming up his hands and rubbing your lower abdomen.

- When the insane mood swings hit, you guys might clash at first because he tends to be moody as well. However, along with seeing how much pain you're in, he prioritizes your feelings over his own.

- If you're ever feeling insecure for any reason he will be a living confirmation of how beautiful and loved you are. You're his muse and he'll remind you of that time and time again. Whether it's a quick sketch of your face or a full on painting of all the features he's loved for so long. Whether it's poetic words, or the simple feeling of his hands caressing your hair. He loves you regardless of what you think you look like, because he's there to remind you of the beauty he sees.

-If you're ever dealing with the depression and suicidal aspect of PMDD, just know he's there to support you all the way. He'll call in sick for you at work if you can't get out of bed, and helps you to do certain tasks to get through the day. He prepares your favorite meals in an attempt to make you smile, and tries his best to make you smile with his jokes instead. He doesn't want to leave you alone with your thoughts and if you let him, he makes sure to stay with you for as long as you need him to.

A/N: This is not that well written but I hope you still enjoyed <3 Requests are open!

[artanogon]

thinking more about being trans

[knxfesck]

I'm going to make a confession I never got the whole "we shouldn't argue in front of my family" "its rude to argue when other people are visiting" blanket rule*. Maybe I just grew up in a household where everyone yelled at eachother all the time but I feel its a little strange to suddenly act like conflict is illegal like we're medieval courtiers

*saying blanket rule because there are many situations where it makes sense to do this

[bonefall]

Briarlights death makes sense to me. As much as I love her character, the movement technology you’ve come up with wouldn’t be enough to keep her alive in a society where her nether regions are constantly exposed to the outdoors. She would get UTIs and kidney infections very quickly, which would be fatal when you can’t feel pain. My partner has to use catheters to avoid them (he is paralyzed in the same spot Briarlight would be.)

I think it’s disingenuous to have a character that’s paralyzed but have no other health problems or concerns regarding it, even if it’s uncomfortable to think about for some readers. It’s just as ableist to minimize the additional struggles she’d face as it is to kill her off unnecessarily.

Not accusing you of ableism, but expressing my concern. They’d need to find a way for her to poop and pee in a way that’s sanitary and a way to combat infections long term - even if the thought is “gross” to some people it’s the reality she’d have to live with. She should, at the very least, remain immunocompromised.

That is a valid concern. I will keep this in mind-- I'll make sure to note her immediately being cleared out of camp at the first sign of sniffles to avoid it. My cats can do some very minor building and there are now several cats on Jayfeather's Garden Patrol, it wouldn't be too much of a problem to make that area into a comfortable "satellite camp".

I do want to add though that my most important guiding principle is a stronger narrative which includes better portrayals of disabled characters, not perfect rugged woodsman realism. The medicine I add and the guides I write are in the hopes of better representing the lives of the real-life people who see themselves in the fantasy battle cats.

Realism does factor into that of course! But it goes out the door the minute it would smash up against a disabled character's inclusion. This is a series for human beings like your partner; as close to it as I can get by bending the setting when needed.

For example, Epilepsy

Epilepsy was deadly before modern medicine. Full stop. The herbs I created for that guide would not save someone like Shadowsight, whose convulsions are at extreme risk of turning into Status Epilepticus. It would help manage, but Shadowsight's life would have been very brief.

All the chamomile in the world wouldn't replace phenobarbital... or even the older medications, barbituates. Barbituates have been replaced and good riddance, but it's important to understand that even this drug known for causing EXTREME lethargy and horrible side effects was revolutionary. It saved countless lives.

But I'm not here to write a story for the real-life horror that is epilepsy in a pre-modern society. I'm here for the parent who personally thanked me for making their daughter feel less alone.

Evil spirits attacking the living! God knocking over trees! Attacking a bulldozer! That all happens; there's no reason they can't help Briarlight too!!

But I'll make sure to include her being immunocompromised. And I'll include ways they handle that. Just like I included a cat engineer who made a blanket sled.

So... suggestion accepted! I will keep this in mind.

Briarlight's Canon Death

...I will maintain though that the canonical death of Briarlight was one of the worst, most short-sighted, cruelest decisions that has ever been made in this series.

Because ultimately Briarlight is not a real person. She is a writing choice. She is a character based on Vicky's paralyzed cousin, "Dan," and Briarlight was directly modeled on Dan's personality and recovery.

What did the new writing team do, the minute they were writing a series without Vicky? Killed Briarlight to fucking greencough. For shock points. Narrative moves right on back to the MAIN conflict-- Alderheart having feelings for Velvet and Jayfeather enforcing the vow of chastity. ShadowClan officially falls apart in the background lol

It was never about realism, or realistic portrayal of disability.

This series doesn't care about realism when cats have bloody Freddy Kruger deaths in their sleep, or when shadow goo starts eating cat hell, or when lightning strikes Shadowsight. But they suddenly care about how realistic it is that the only paralyzed character survives greencough?? No! Of course not!

In the middle of the CONSTANT "Ohh she's finally in heaven where she can run and jump and not have a disabled life"? And the infamous Squirrelflight's Hope line, "You don't want to be alive again, Squirrelflight! You might become disabled like BRIARLIGHT"

(WHICH BTW THEY STILL HAVE NOT REMOVED DESPITE PROMISING IT YEARS AGO)

I absolutely do not believe for a second that they had a realistic portrayal of an immunocompromised cat in mind when they did it! Hell, screw it. I'll just say it outright;

I firmly believe that the new writing team killed Briarlight because they did not want to deal with her.

I flatly refuse to give them charity towards this choice. At NO POINT did they earn a speck of good faith. They continued every negative trend that was set up by the previous writers (including Vicky herself tbf), and went a step further by killing her to "we need to get rid of some randos" disease.

Not only that; but the Clan dynamics were NEVER the same after her death, because there was no character who could replace her personality. In this cast of cardboard cats, they plucked out one of the few optimists with a clear, unique perspective, not shared by ANYONE else.

My ire wouldn't JUST be because they happened to kill a disabled character in the way they did (though that is frustrating on its own imo). It's because it was Briarlight.

I hope every writer involved with the decision to kill Briarlight in the "Nothing is Happening! Quick! Kill Someone!" book of AVoS chokes on it. I will DIE on this hill and my blood will never wash out of the grass.

[astro-b-o-y-d]

I know the topic's been talked about to death by this point, I know that and I understand this is nothing new. But how the Gravity Falls fandom treats Gideon as a character has always rubbed me the wrong way and I'm positive that a good portion of the fandom's vitriolic behavior towards him is because he was a little fat boy.

[zafiro-anyejo]

Very glad I didn’t watch Mr. Robot in school because I would have probably gone crazy and been way more anti-society than I am right now. Like I would’ve probably joined a hacker group or lived off grid lol. 

[laniidae-passerine]

sex and the city is the most fascinating show for bisexual women who have girl friends that live their lives incredibly heterosexual

[a-gay-little-cat]

walking in to rephrase my thoughts from discord but i was just thinking about tiger getting checked up by his ripper n yknow one could consider tiger a 'borg in cyberpunks terms sure hes not super insane looking like smasher, he likes looking human and theres almost an art to having all these enhacements and reinforcements all neatly tucked away for no one to see yes you have the obvious visible cyberware on his face, his body, the tail but its nowhere near as extreme as you see elsewhere at times, hell, look at someone from maelstrom

all in all he looks.. tame, very stylized sure but you might not exactly expect this all going on in there

[glimblshanks]

I understand wanting to ship the lower decks characters (I enjoy shipping the lower decks characters) but also McMahan is very clearly trying to write romantic friendships with the WC4 and I wish more fans could recognize that and just enjoy it for what it is

[anastoundingmango]

seeker who tried to prove she could warp fast enough through a sandstorm that she would “beat the sand” and her cringefail disillusioned trinemate

[the-implications]

thoroughly convinced i NEED to buy tgwdlm on dvd. not only for the bonus features (and the digital ticket version that i've been DYING to see) but also it would literally actually be USEFUL to me because i don't have consistent internet connection and typically use my phone's hotspot for pretty much everything. so it would literally save room on my hotspot to do work.

yes these are the ways i am going to justify buying a dvd of a video that's already free on youtube to my parents...

[fvckyouimaprophet]

i watched seasons 3 and 4 of stranger things, and i gotta say, i was expecting steve and eddie to interact more than they did given the fan reaction.