#.it made me recontextualise everything about the character and i realised i actually really liked him.

[dreamerdrop]

honestly, i think one of the reasons i can tolerate julian’s early seasons' behaviour towards jadzia is the way he approaches miles in an almost identical way, being annoyingly persistent, desperate for any chance to spend time alone with them, incredibly uncomfortable moments of trying to get miles to use his first name, etc. etc.

and whether I read that as julian having a similar puppy crush on miles as he does on jadzia or interpret it as a platonic desperation to make friends, either way, it at least tells me that for all julians faults (and boy are there plenty to go around—) he at least… isn’t Like That towards jadzia because she’s a woman, y’know? he’s just Like That with everyone because he’s overenthusiastic and lacking in social graces.

like, his behaviour towards jadzia is super uncomfortable and all, but the fact that he then turns around and acts the exact same way to his middle aged male coworker just… it adds something in context that shifts it from “wow julian is really creepy with women” to “wow julian is an idiot with people” for me.

i mean he is still pretty creepy with women a lot of the time and has obvious issues with toxic masculinity but at least his horrendous ‘wear them down until they say yes’ approach is apparently just the only way he seems to have of getting to know people and making friends.

[glitchedfoxx]

Sorry if this is a personal question and you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, but how did you discover you all are a system? I am not really familiar with DID and how it works

Well, we've been familiar with DID for years with a vague understanding of what it is and signs of it. For the longest time we never considered that we might have it however, because our symptoms never manifested that clearly, though in reality we were just really good at masking it, even from ourselves.

The biggest indicators for us that some sort of dissociation was happening was that we're missing huge chunks of our childhood from our memory. Art is like a journal for us and looking at a drawing will make memories resurface of the time when we drew it, so the only memories we really had were the ones we had physical reminders for. We also never liked our appearance or the body we were in, every time we'd create a persona it wouldn't feel like "me", we wouldn't latch on to it, we would actually have visceral reactions to reminders of our physical appearance because it felt wrong. We always attributed this, as well as constantly changing our name, to transness and dysphoria and not a complete disconnection from our body.

Now, within the past couple of years we developed this habit of saying "such and such character has the wheel today", referring to manifesting that character in terms of personality and behaviour patterns. We always chalked it up to being autistic and having a unique way of expressing ourselves, looking back now it's odd that we never took that as a red flag that something else was going on.

There's a friend of ours who we've grown really close to in the past few years who is a system themselves, and we're also part of a Four Swords community server that happens to have quite a few systems in it, and talking with the systems in that server led us to start reflecting a little bit more privately and asking our friend questions about their own experiences with being a system.

We realised that our excuse of not having gaps in our memory was a lie, we did have big memory gaps, we'd just been very good at looking back at logs and old conversations to make it seem like we had an incredibly good memory, and then we recontextualised the habit of "manifesting" a character as having fictives, and a bunch of other little quirks of ours could be explained as a symptom of a dissociative disorder as well, like how it seemed we'd behave completely differently one day than another, or contradicting ourselves constantly because we were "in a mood" at the time.

After this we decided to give it a shot, start treating ourselves as if we were a system in a safe space with friends to see if it felt right, gave names to these different personalities that we could identify, and opened our mind to the possibility that this could be the right call. It ended up sticking, things made so much more sense, so we decided that yeah, we're a system.

It was a really tough decision to make, it felt like we lost an identity that we never really had, like everything we knew about ourselves was wrong. In all our years of being an artist online, this is the only thing that has ever taken such a big toll on us mentally that we had to go on hiatus and completely take a break, and that's mostly due to the fact that we'd always coped through dissociation, but how does one cope when the problem is the dissociation? We were also really scared to come forward about it to anyone other than our closest friends in fear that we'd get accusations of faking it, and sometimes it still kind of feels like we are, but we're getting there slowly. Just taking it day by day.

Sorry this is a long post, and I don't really know how to end it. I don't mind sharing our story at all, and thank you if you read this far. Hope this answers your questions :) -Ollie 💚

[siaanme]

So this year I made the questionable decision to try and play (and beat) 52 different video games that I hadn't beaten before.

I managed.

And so I thought I would do a quick little summary of the games I played and what I thought about them.

Knight of the Old Republic - I really enjoyed this game, as I suspected I would since it's one of Sarah's favourites. Despite some early learning difficulties (hey turns out picking the Overload Terminal options when you're at the terminal is Bad actually), I had a great time. At some point I might play it again with a different build. Or maybe I'll find a way to play the sequel with the restored content mod. Point is, I'm a fan.

Li'l Gator Game - This game is just very wholesome and fun. Great characters, great story, fun to run around the world in.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - I'm a huge fan of the Ratchet and Clank games, and this one was my favourite since Tools of Destruction. I don't think it quite reaches the peaks that my favourite entries do, but it's very solid, and at the end of the day, it has fun guns. What more could I want? Oh, other than Rivet getting her own full spinoff. That'd be nice

AI: The Somnium Files: nirvanA Initiative - Uchikoshi you crazy bastard, you did it again. This is one of two games this year I played where I basically had to take a lap after reaching a key twist revelation. Just recontextualising everything. Oh, it's so good.

Tinykin - Very good, Pikmin like vibes, though without any time pressure. Although if I remember, it does have the issue that collectathons often have when you're missing just a few small collectables and no way to easily locate them in game. That always sucks.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - As this was a pretty short game, I don't have a super strong memory of it. I enjoyed it I think, and Turnip Boy destroying everything that had anything to do with money or bills was pretty good, but I don't think it's one I'll go back to

Stray - Game where you get to play as a very well realised kitty, what's not to love? Other than when the kitty gets hurt of course. Also I think I felt it was a bit more of a slog than I expected? Still fun, but another one I probably won't go back to

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - This is probably one of my most played games this year. I've loved the Theatrhythm games since the first one on the 3DS, and they just keep making more, and having more Final Fantasy (and other Squenix games) music in them! I honestly would keep buying DLC packs if they kept making them. I am part of a problem.

Octopath Traveler 2 - I love me a good RPG, and Octopath 2 is a damn fine RPG. It improves on the formula of the first one a great deal, with plenty of character and class options to play around with. The main issue is that towards the end, some bosses tend to be a bit easier than others, simply because you've probably become overleveled at some point. It makes me wish all RPGs had a level slider, where you could voluntarily undo some of your levels temporarily. This is not the last time I'll have this problem.

Metroid Prime Remaster - Okay, yes, I've played the original before. Many times. One of my favourites games. So why is it on the list? Because it's my list, I get to make the rules, so shut up. Then go play Metroid Prime. It's a classic for a reason.

Superliminal - Very inventive puzzle game, lot of fun twists. I did get a headache from it though, which is something that I find can happen with first person games. Can recommend.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - I had previously played the demo for Klonoa 2, but never had a chance to play either of the first two games properly. I'm glad I got the chance to, fun little 2.5D platformers. Though screw going for completion on this. If they didn't have the x2 gem sections, maybe I do it, but with them? Nah.

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil - Basically take what I said above and repeat it. Though also, I've listened to the soundtrack for Klonoa 2 a lot, so it was fun to finally see the levels the music came from.

Bugsnax - This was an incredibly fun time. I love me a good collecting game, I love inventive creature design, I love body horror... no wait, I don't love that last one. But it's done so well in this it barely registers as body horror. Candy coated body horror. 100% completed this, though I wish I hadn't done some of the letter challenges. Some of those were a bit tedious.

Pyre - Despite being a huge fan of Supergiant games, Pyre was a notable gap in my experience. And while I think it's still the weakest of their games, it's still a really good game. An interesting take on a sort of sports game (basically fantasy basketball), and I do like that you don't strictly have to win all your games (though I definitely did, except I think the very last one). Can recommend.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Mile Morales - I enjoyed Insomniac's take on Spider-Man the first time, still really enjoyed it this time. This coming year I hope to get around to Spider-Man 2, since people seem to have really enjoyed that. Definitely some annoying challenges though. I'm glad I allowed myself to kick my completionist habit early this year.

Rhythm Sprout - Okay, it's fine? It's fun? But I don't think it's quite for me. I don't even fully remember what about it I wasn't fond of, but it definitely wore out its welcome by the end for me.

Deathloop - Arkane is another game studio who I generally quite like the output of (Dishonored series my beloved), and Deathloop was a fun take. Early game is definitely a bit weak, but once you start getting more fun powers, it's a treat to play around in this world as you try to figure out how to break the loop. It's just a shame about the multiplayer though. Asymetric invasion multiplayer just isn't for me, which is fine, it was optional-ish, but because of it's inclusion they definitely had to reduce the number of toys you could have at once, which was more frustrating.

Wario Land 4 - I really like Wario Land 2 and 3. I like the first one as well. But something about this one doesn't work for me. I think it's getting rated at the end of each level? Another one I don't think I'll replay.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure - So you're saying I can have the charming aesthetics of LittleBigPlanet, and in a 3d platformer? And not in a game super focused on user made content? Sign me up! Shame about the 2 player only levels, I never got to try them due to a tragic lack of a second controller. Otherwise, great. The musical levels remain a standout highlight.

Knight Witch - Oh I wanted to like this one more. A bullet-hellish metroidvania, but sadly the difficulty was tuned a little too high for me to really enjoy it towards the end. I had to turn on invincibility to beat it.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - Yes I'm including a DLC campaign here. Get used to it. Anyway, as a big fan of Xenoblade games, this one definitely delivered for me. I'll basically take any chance to spend some more time with Xenoblade games.

Lunistice - Another quite fun 3D platformer. Movement felt fun, and I appreciate that there's some more variety for me if I go back to it in the form of other playable characters. Maybe I'll do that someday.

Souldiers - Another one I wish I liked more. It starts quite strong, and the idea of having three playable classes is nice. But the second major area, the pyramid temple... I don't know what it is, but it was a SLOG. Probably because it's a very vertical level, which is way more annoying to navigate. Also another one where I feel the difficulty was tuned a little too high for me to enjoy (and yet I love Hollow Knight).

Tears of the Kingdom - Okay, look. You've probably played this game. You've probably seen other people play this game. You don't need me to tell you this game is fantastic. There are still problems to be sure, but it's a really good sequel to an already great game. At some point in the new year I will be a madman and collect all the Korok seeds, but not yet. Not yet.

Pokémon Scarlet - Yes I played Violet when it came out. Yes I'm counting this anyway. My list, my rules. Anyway, As much as pokémon occupies my waking thoughts, there are lots of things I don't like about this one. I'm setting aside the graphics for now to focus on gameplay things. So. Most of my issues with the game stem from it being open world. I'm not opposed to this being the direction pokémon goes, but there are things I am opposed to. For one, I think there are too many pokémon spawns. The spawners should have been fewer and further apart, as well as more unique. Maybe not all the time, but more often. If I climb to the highest peak in Paldea, I should find a pokémon there that I can't find anywhere else. I shouldn't find the same five pokémon I encountered while climbing it. And navigating is terrible too. I'm of the opinion the game shouldn't have had climbing or gliding. It actually makes trying to find a path through everywhere less enjoyable. Look, I could go on, but this is the halfway point of the list so I'll hold myself back for now.

God of War: Ragnarok - Mechanically, this game is really really good. It takes what was good about the previous God of War game and polishes it further. Storywise, this definitely feels like it was two games smushed into one. What's there is great, the characters are fantastic, but some things felt like they needed room to breathe. Also I'm still really impressed by the trickery used to keep this game as a oner, shot wise. Also also I don't think I've ever cried after hearing the solution to a riddle before, so props for that.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Everyone go play Ghost Trick. Now. I'm serious. This game is one of my favourites of all time, so of course I was going to get the remaster. Yes I'm counting it, much like the Metroid Prime remaster. Go play Ghost Trick.

Picross 3D Round 2 - I got this game before the 3DS eShop closed, and it was a solid little puzzle game. I think I actually prefer it to regular Picross, though overall I still prefer the kind offered by Hungry Cat Nonagram. Not sure the technical name for that kind. Anyway point is, good game.

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code - I like Danganronpa, so I was pretty interested to check out Kodaka's latest offering. It plays very similarly to Danganronpa, for better and for worse. In fact, maybe the default gameplay is a bit less good than Danganronpa's? Anyway, this is the second game on the list where I had to take a lap after a certain late/end game twist (in a good way). Kodaka you crazy bastard. I still can't believe it.

Pikmin - Despite having played Pikmin 3, I'd never tried the series' roots before. I was surprised at how well it held up, even without some of the quality of life changes from 3. I could see myself replaying it again, though it does still take 3rd place in my ranking of main Pikmin games.

Pikmin 2 - This on the other hand. Look, the core gameplay is still there, it's still fun getting your army of little guys and taking on the world. But there are two things that put this on the bottom for me. One, no overarching time limit. I honestly thought I'd hate the time-limit in the Pikmin series, but honestly I think it's a great thing to have. Two, the randomised dungeons. Oh I don't like these. I feel like it removes or downplays the strategy aspect of the games that I enjoy. It gets last on my ranking of Pikmin games.

Pikmin 4 - Sidenote, I did replay Pikmin 3 after 2 and before 4, but I've done that before so it doesn't get a write up. Anyway, Pikmin 4! This is a strictly better version of Pikmin 2. The caves are now always the same, which means they could actually design interesting challenges/puzzles into them. My main complaint about this game is actually that Oatchi is perhaps too powerful. My other complaint is the Dandori battles. I like the Dandori trials, but something about having an opponent to play against made me not enjoy the battles. Second favourite mainline Pikmin game.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - I already said I like Arkane studios and the Dishonored series. This game might be shorted and more limited (and thus a bit more frustrating for the way I like to play these games) but it's still solid.

Fire Emblem: Engage - I was expecting to not like this one as much as I did. And to be fair, I think I still like Three Houses (the only other FE game I've played) better, but the gameplay of this one is pretty solid. A few weird complaints about it, but overall quite solid.

Marble it Up! Ultra - There is a lot of joy to be found in marble platforming it turns out. The best way to sell you on this game is to just get you to watch it, so here you go, go watch Dan Floyd of New Frame Plus and PlayFrame play it.

Vampire Survivors - How do you judge when Vampire Survivors is beaten you ask? Well, firstly when you get credits. Easy. Also if you complete every challenge in the game and first 2 DLCs plus free update I think. This game is A Lot, but for me it's a good A Lot. Now to continue waiting for the Vampire Survivors x Among Us DLC on Switch.

Doom (2016) - This game has convinced me I'm not a huge fan of FPSs. Okay look, it's fantastic. It's high energy, fast paced, aggressive, it's great! But it's also headache inducing for me. I probably need to mess with camera settings some more in future FPS games.

Kirby: Return to Dreamland Deluxe - I don't have to keep justifying putting remasters on this list. I love Kirby, it's just always a good time. That's really all that needs to be said.

Sea of Stars - This is one of my games of the year. I backed the Kickstarter for this on the strength of their previous game, The Messenger (also a fave), and I was not disappointed. The gameplay is a fantastic blend of Chrono Trigger's battles and Mario & Luigi RPG's active hit system. The soundtrack slaps, the art is so pretty (who allowed them to make the cooking feature in this game look SO GOOD). It also receives the prestigious honour of being the only game that I wanted to immediately start another playthrough of right after beating it.

Frogun - This was a pretty cute little throwback platformer. I did give up on getting everything in it toward the end, but maybe one day I'll go back and finish it. Also look, it had Frog in the title, how could I say no to it?

Time on Frog Island - Okay look, it has Frog in the title, how could I say no to it? That aside, it's mostly pretty good, though there's definitely some mysteries I didn't have the patience for, so undoubtedly there's more I could do. Probably not for everyone, but an enjoyable little distraction.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Is this game perfect? No. Are all the complaints I have about it pretty much nitpicks? Yes. Again, this is a game you don't need me to tell you it's good. Plus it gave me an excuse to play as Fargrim Stonecleave, my 5e dwarf ranger again. And I got to have a pet owlbear cub! And I got to pet him! I have named him Owliver Cupcake Stonecleave, and he is my son.

Into the Breach - To clarify again, I considered this game beaten because I reached credits. There's still more I can do in this, but it's a great little tactics game that I will definitely be spending more time with in future.

Super Mario Wonder - Another game that I probably don't need to tell you is good. But I will anyway. This game is wonderful. Except for the Final Badge Trial. Anyway, I thought I wouldn't find the online option interesting, but actually having Dark Souls style ghosts online, playing beside you was really fun. I think this might be the best 2D Mario game. All this game is missing is the ability to play as Rosalina, but it is nice that Daisy finally gets a turn in the spotlight.

Suika Game - I consider this game beaten because I made a watermelon. But yeah, this is a simple but fun and tricky puzzle game that is nice to play while I'm watching other things.

Unsighted - This is a really good top down Zelda-like. Challenging in places, sure, but really good. The main thing I didn't like was each character having a ticking clock, so I did disable that with assist features first thing. I would be interested in replaying this and sequence breaking it.

The Forgotten City - I don't really want to spoil this one too much, but it's a game that scratches the same itch that Outer Wilds does. That should be all you need to know if you've played Outer Wilds. It's not as long as Outer Wilds, but still good. This is the best Skyrim related thing* I've ever played, and that includes actual Skyrim.

*the game started life as a Skyrim mod before getting turned into a standalone game

Persona 5 Tactica - I like Persona 5, I like tactics games, so this was a natural fit. And I really enjoyed it. It wasn't overly challenging, sure, but I found a lot of fun in trying to complete missions efficeintly. The DLC was more challenging, and yeah it's frustrating that it's pre-third semester of P5R, but it was a nice addition. A shame I couldn't get Kasumi and Akechi in the main game until New Game+ though.

Neversong - Oh yeah. This. Okay, it's not terrible, but I guess it's just not my thing storywise. It was at least short though.

Fe - I wish I liked this more. It's got a similar, no-words vibe as Journey, a game I love, but it doesn't quite nail it I think. Plus it does that thing that some games do where it has stealth sections in a game that's not really made for it. Again, it's at least short.

Pokémon Violet: The Secret Treasure of Area Zero -SURPRISE IT'S MORE POKÉMON! YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE FREE BUT NO! Okay, anyway. The Teal Mask was okay, basically just more of the same from ScarVio. Also my reaction to Ogerpon is very much that Rosa Diaz with a puppy gif. But more importantly, the Indigo Disk is fantastic. There's still a lot of problems that come from it being attached to these games, but it does one thing very right - constant double battles. I am not super involved with the VGC scene (complaints for another time) but I do think that if it's going to be the official competitive scene, the games need to ease players into that more. I thought Raihan's gym in SnS was a good start, but I wanted more of that. So a whole expansion where every battle is a doubles battle? Allowing certain moves and abilities to actually get use in game more than just the two double battles in the main campaign? Actual competitive strategies getting used by the NPCs? Music to my ears, and such a refreshing change. I want the next mainline pokémon game to lean into this even more. The only thing I want more is A BATTLE TOWER IN THIS GAME WHY DON'T WE HAVE ONE!?

Anyway, that's my 52 games I played this year. This was an interesting exercise, one I will not be repeating, or at least not to the same extent. Also, shout out to the following games which I also replayed: Shovel Knight (Plague of Shadows, Spectre of Torment, and King of Cards), Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, Pikmin 3, Kirby Planet Robobot, and The Messenger.

Next year, my gaming goal is to play through a minimum of 12 different RPGs, ideally ones I haven't beaten before, but I'm not going to be as picky because I want to replay Xenoblade 1-3

[cigaretteparfum]

Wooo congrats on finishing LOTR, esp doing the extended cuts as your first time watching! It's one of my favorite movies series (books were great but not a reread for me). I actually just rewatched the movies for New Years. The ending always gets me a little emotional lol

Do you have any favorite moments or characters after finishing?

Deviousdo 🖤🖤 hope you've been well and happy new year!

@thedeviousdo

thank you, thank you~ initially i wanted to just do the theatrical cut and if i like the movies enough do a rewatch with the extended cut, but all the top results were the extended version and i couldn't be arsed to look further so 💀💀

i like faramir a lot!! i was constantly screaming anytime he's on screen after the ... isilgadhir? battle, especially once they started to move on with the burial. i get his dad though, even if man's pissed me off a hell lot by that point he was just so far gone with grief and i think that made the whole burial procession waaaaayyyy more tense because -- you can't reason with him. and it's not even like a "he's so evil and doing evil things on purpose and so set on his evil goal" type of you-can't-reason-with; it was a whole different level of beast. sad he died without ever making up with his kid, though. :/ oh well, there's always another unhinged king!!!

as for favourite moments ... i think i like boromir's death a lot. the whole thing felt like a "character who did Bad redeemed through death" with a twist. of course, considering how old the movie is, this probably wasn't even as solid and overused of a trope back then -- though i also don't really know much about these things, lol. but beyond his actual realisation and regret shortly after trying to take over the ring, the flashback with faramir and the impact he left behind for those who knew him since before the movie started also helped to strenghten that 'redemption through death' thing because -- he's just a guy!! a good guy!!! and with the way his father is also helped to recontextualise his first appearance and insistence on getting the ring for gondor. idk overall i think his death was so memorable to me not only because of what happened at that moment alone, but also everything else that was revealed to led up to that, as well as everything else that was added after the death.

but as a whole i can't get over just ... the simplicity of the premise. it makes me go feral that in spite of all the grand adventure and glorious battles and all that -- the story itself is just about two regular guys being put to a task that ties into something much larger than them. like i've heard people talk a lot about how Mr Tolkien's own experience in the world war coloured the way he tells this story; it's just one of those things where you're like, "oh yeah sure i get it" but you only really get it once you've actually seen the Thing yourself. like i get why this story is so beloved and touched so many people in a way other fantasy adventures couldn't: it's the mundane aspect of Just Some Guy not even being the Chosen One but willingly took the task anyway, then perservered to the end.

honestly i wish i can also say a bit more about the storytelling as a whole but am not much of a Cinema Guy nor have i read the books so i can't even really comment on what's what: like if a certain decision/execution was a Movie Thing following decades of well-established storytelling convention that was also inspired and influenced by the original story; or if that was *that* influence from the legendary fantasy epic adapted wholesale from the book. it's a very solid trilogy of a movie, though. definitely far better than the Hobbit trilogy that i actually watched in theatres because my mum loved them a lot akdjfskj

[onewomancitadel]

🤡

Because this is the only ask responding to the meme my very first reaction was... is this ask meant to be making fun of me... what does this arcane clown symbol mean... and then I remembered lol

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Sadly I think I am the funniest person in the world so there are a few. It also helps that both Jaune and Cinder are two (at times) rather sarcastic and observational characters. There is a lot of intentional humour in The Distance Which Fools the Skimming Eye - sometimes from the absurdity of the emotional scenarios. I'm a bit shy to show lots of direct lines though lol.

One I was thinking about recently was when Cinder finally cracks in Chapter 2 and despite the seriousness of their previous interactions there's a degree of perhaps - banality to her refrain which is sort of funny, which is sort of like two normal people having a normal conversation, which makes it funny to me:

That's the type of thing I find funny, is when you've got serious stakes and a sort of mildly absurd brooding dramatic character (Byronic heroine!) and then a level sweet to the sour. I also get a lot of humour out of the idea of, say, Salem grilling Cinder about her supposed secret boyfriend. Anything that can be described or recontextualised in a mundane fashion is amusing to me when it's a fantastical scenario (I also think it's a great way of figuring out if you know what you're doing).

But on a more serious level, what I really enjoy is that idea that it's the environment/circumstance that is keeping these two people apart who probably would seriously get on really well. So the humour is often a way to realise that, or at least the dryness, or something chafing there that is playful and desperate to get out - so in many ways I think humour serves a very, very functional purpose in a story like this written exactly to my tastes. When you can share a laugh with someone or have a bit of awareness that transcends whatever is pressing on you or have this very, very clear realisation that - oh we actually get on quite well, I wonder what that life would've looked like - it's sort of saddening and bright and fun. It might seem like it's only there to set-up their respective character awareness of other people/other peoples' romantic feelings, but when Jaune and Cinder are gossiping about Emerald and Mercury in Chapter 5, it's also like - fuck you two would so fucking cute in any other circumstance, wouldn't you. What about this life. What about this one.

So the funny asides - she smells like wet dog - are certainly there to amuse ME and only ME because everything is about ME (sarcasm but sort of true for fanfic), it's also working on a humanistic level, particularly relevant for an enemies-to-lovers pairing, and particularly relevant for relieving tension or stress, and I think also particularly relevant because Jaune's much more than comic relief - and I think you can demonstrate that when you've got them being funny together in a non-slapstick way.

Now, for a non-Skimming Eye example - all the aforementioned is still true - I think my favourite would have to be this, and I have to provide the entire passage for context:

which, not to toot mine own horn, is still some of my favourite dialogue I've written altogether. It's from The One Known by Many Names aka Somehow Even More Self-Indulgent Than That Other Fucking Novel-length Fic. (Also if anybody clicks through please keep in mind it's rated Explicit).

It's funny. It makes me laugh. Cinder is allowed to be little a condescending to the heroes but not too cruel, as a treat. Again, you've got that humanistic element here too, and breaking the tension a bit - and also an absurd situation, which makes it funny - and also that element that Cinder can still be Cinder even if she's going through a redemption arc (this motivates a lot of my characterisation for her chiefly in Skimming Eye) and Jaune can still be Jaune (or you can bring out even more of his character in relief) and they can both be interesting and themselves in a romance between them and in new situations.

So I really like humour for a lot of different reasons - I mean, I love my fair share of puns and wordplay and things turning out exactly how you wanted, just not the way you expected, and there is ironic humour there! That's the type of stuff I love forever and ever and ever. The humanistic element is one of the most underestimated points, though. Humour isn't just there for the Whedonesque quips and to spoil emotional moments - it is emotion, it is human, but you don't need to be self-conscious/self-aware, feeling the need to undercut your story with it - it IS character, it IS story, it IS theme, and most of all, if you can't describe a chapter like, 'She steals her stepmother's carkeys to impress her sort of boyfriend with an expensive car and go hooning' then is it even fun? Lololol. That's just me because I'm silly, not everyone needs to do that of course.

Thank you for playing along, I actually ended up really enjoying responding to this. <3 <3 <3 I'd still love to play the ask game if anyone feels like it... 🥺

[johannesviii]

So I guess I have thoughts on The Timeless Children

If you’re expecting some well-organised meta this isn’t a good post for that, you should probably leave now

I probably forgot half the things I wanted to say because I waited 2 days to write this

Ok so first I have to say I’m disappointed that the horrible bullshit from the WW2 sequence of Spyfall part 2 wasn’t addressed at all. It means it was not part of some big plan and that Thirteen doing some horrible shit wasn’t foreshadowing, but just insensitive writing. Fine. Ok. I don’t like it at all but it, unfortunately, happens. Every single New Who showrunner so far has made a big mistake at some point or another so that doesn’t mean Chibnall is worse than Moffat or RTD, who also had their own qualities and flaws and some occasional horrible writing. It sucks, and it’s gonna taint Thirteen’s character for me. But I’ll live.

HOWEVER

THIS FINALE

Oh my god ok so uh first, Cybermen? again? But like? It was still interesting?? The designs were varied, and the Lone Cyberman had this whole Hellraiser-lite aesthetic going on, and that abandoned warship was straight out of Sword of Orion and I really enjoyed all of that. It’s a shame the Lone Cyberman was defeated so quickly, because he was a much more interesting “final boss” than the one from the previous season in my opinion.

The regenerating Cybermen were 100% ridiculous but it was the good kind of ridiculous and I loved it

I have to say something about the fam now but I don’t have a lot of thoughts about them specifically. I liked it when Ryan threw that explosive thingie and actually managed to hit the cybermen and was super hyped about that, though

OK SO

Look. I loved Missy. I adored her semi-redemption arc, and her self-doubt, and her ultimate decision to be good, just to be killed by her past self as a result, even though the Doctor wasn’t there to witness it. That was brilliant.

But.

This new Master. I already thought he was pretty great, but the way he’s been recontextualised in this finale? I?? Holy s h i t

I’ve said it already but the actor is doing a fantastic job

I wasn’t even planning to put pictures in this post but this shot is so incredibly good

So in my Spyfall post I pointed out that he was very aggressive and very performative in his evil actions, to the point where he looked like he wasn’t enjoying himself. He was, like, doing it to prove a point.

Turns out it was because the best way to make a new evil version of the Master after Missy’s semi-redemption arc was to base this new Master on INTENSE, DEVASTATING, SUICIDAL SELF-LOATHING

AND IT WORKS SO WELL??

AND I LOVE IT??

IT’S ALSO VERY UNCOMFORTABLE BUT LIKE? IN A GOOD, INTERESTING WAY??

The part where he gives Thirteen the key to stop him. And he doesn’t dare her to press that button. He’s begging her to press that button. He knows she will do it because she did it once before and he’s like go on. Kill me now. God

If you’ve ever been suicidal or even just self-destructive yourself, even if you’re, like, a nice person and not... well.... an intergalactic criminal like the Master is, seeing him being like “go on. Press that button. End me. Do it. NOW” is... extremely relatable not gonna lie

Thinking “oh mood” about the Master during one of his scenes is... not something I was expecting but here we are

Also I absolutely adore how all of his world-destroying rage against the Time Lords was basically fueled by “they hurt my best friend and only I have the right to hurt my best friend” that’s so in-character

SPEAKING OF WHICH

You already know I’m very in favor of fluidity in the DW canon. One of my absolute favorite DW stories I’ve read so far was Unnatural History, which basically said “the Doctor is an idea that exists across the entire multiverse and every origin story is true and every version is true and nothing is canon because everything is canon”

But I wasn’t very fond of one specific version of the Doctor’s origin story which is super popular in the Extended Universe crowd of fans, and that’s the Cartmel Masterplan. I won’t bore you with my full thoughts on it but I’m not fond of the idea of the Doctor being some sort of rebirthed god now on the other hand the idea that all Time Lords are eldritch beings and that the Doctor or the Master is Nyarlathotep-

But this isn’t what this finale is doing

So far the Doctor’s origin story in the tv series was basically saying “look. This character that grew up in a privileged and pretentious part of their planet’s society just had enough of that one day (for a reason or another or even several reasons) and decided to leave, and by traveling and making friends, they realised being kind was important, and they decided to help people instead of watching bad stuff from afar without doing anything.” And now this finale basically added: “That society of pretentious assholes? Yeah they actually adopted that character as a kid and exploited them like a convenient source of power, and at the root of their power there’s literal child abuse, and they had to erase that child’s memories so that the kid could be assimilated in the society built on their own pain“.

It didn’t change that many things about the Doctor as a character ; it DEFINITELY changed stuff about the Time Lords, but they have always been this kind of background menace, with evil founders and shady shit, so I think it’s very appropriate.

So yeah. If you ask me to pick one between “plot twist the Doctor is a god” and “plot twist the Doctor is a lost child with the ability to regenerate”, I pick the second one, definitely

The best part is, it doesn’t contradict anything really important. The Doctor didn’t remember any of this. At all. Their desire to run away, their eventual hatred of Time Lord society, their choice to be kind and to try to help where they can? This didn’t come from that completely forgotten past. They still grew up in a life of privilege after their memories were erased, and they still decided to run away. It’s still their choice.

It doesn’t even diminish later things, like Ten being afraid of dying, or River giving away her regenerations to Eleven. Because, again, the Doctor didn’t know any of that origin story. Just like Gallifrey being hidden in a pocket universe doesn’t erase or diminish Nine being completely destroyed by what he thought he had done. It’s still as good as before.

It does put that scene from Time of the Doctor in a different light, though! This wasn’t a new regenerative cycle being given to Eleven in the end, just unlocking a dormant potential.

I saw someone saying this episode was bad because it was saying nature was more important than nurture? But... the episode literally states the opposite very explicitly, with Ruth saying ”have you ever been limited by who you were before?”.

I also saw someone on twitter saying that the diversity in the past incarnations we briefly saw “felt forced” and. like. It’s 2020. Can we not do this again please

I have such a thing for identity crisis tropes and stories and adding a bunch of lives in the Doctor’s past is certainly that and it’s like opening a giant sandbox. Imagine all the things that are actually possible now. The stories you can tell in that nebulous past! And I’m so glad the Morbius Doctors were briefly seen too!

Hell, there’s even an open door right there if you didn’t like this origin story, built in the scenario, and I’m certain it’s on purpose: the Matrix projection didn’t tell us the child was the Doctor. The Master told us the child was the Doctor. You’re free to believe him or not. It’s not set in stone. And that’s even better in my opinion.

So yeah it was all very very Unnatural History and the only thing I disliked was how it was a bit too much “telling” instead of “showing”, but that’s a minor complaint.

If you disliked this story, you aren’t a “fake fan”

If you liked this story, you aren’t a “fake fan” either

If you like some parts of the show you’re a fan, and you’re free to dislike some other parts ; god knows I don’t like some other things in Doctor Who

The only fake fans are the people bullying other fans about what they should like or dislike

I can’t wait to see what the fandom is going to make with this new sandbox and I’m so glad to be enthusiastic about the tv series again

Have a nice day

[nonbinarysasquatch]

The Last Jedi thoughts

Man… it’s been awhile since I’ve gone to the movies and seen a movie so dense and complex that I knew it was going to take multiple rewatches to absorb everything.

And make no mistake: in terms of characterization this is arguably the most complex Star Wars film. It’s certainly the most dense. That doesn’t necessarily = to THE BEST Star Wars film but it’s certainly not a simple one. Things aren’t cut and dry here. Every single character is portrayed as complicated and flawed. Well, maybe aside from Hux who is still the same douchey pathetic Nazi he was in TFA…

There’s really far too much that happened in this film to get all of my thoughts into a single review. It was a long fucking movie that was very eventful. Like when you compare with TFA… it’s just ridiculous how jam packed with character beats and development. And that’s not gonna be everyone’s cup of tea.

What else isn’t gonna be everyone’s cup of tea? Well, if you’re the sort who thinks everyone is either perfect cinnamon rolls or PROBLEMATIC then you are probably gonna hate this film. Much like ESB allowed Luke to make a supreme failure in facing Vader too early and not completing his training with Yoda, the characters fuck up a lot in this movie even though they have their hearts in the right places (I do have some minor quibbles with Finn but I’ll get to that.)

If you don’t like complex, flawed characters you’re probably gonna fucking hate this movie. Poe fucks up. He’s not totally wrong though in the choices he makes. It’s COMPLICATED. And I love that shit. But hey, a lot of you are gonna hate that shit. You don’t like characters fucking up and you don’t like them being assholes sometime. But me? I love it. It’s great. Give me complicated characters over big, flawless heroes any day.

Finn is a slight exception. I love pretty much every character’s role in this movie but Finn. I don’t HATE what they did with Finn in this movie but I do feel like his decision to cut and run doesn’t make a ton of sense with his TFA characterization. And he did kind of just end up once again getting dragged along the ride and being Rose’s sidekick. But he did get to kill Phasma so that was something. But I do hope he gets be more of a hero in Episode 9 than he was here. And OH GOD I just realised that Finn wanting to take off may be a subtle parallel with Han in ESB. Granted, motivations are different but this film handles all the ESB parallels with much greater subtlety than TFA (and my god there are SO MANY ESB parallels in this goddamn movie and I’m sure I’ll notice more on rewatches.)

A big part of why I’m slightly OK with Finn’s story in this is that I LOVED Rose’s story and just Rose in general was one of the best things about this movie. And even though I hate “hey, I just met you we’re in love now plots” I actually thought the romance was subtle and not done terribly. It ain’t Stormpilot but I was never naive enough to think they’d make that canon.

Poe was amazing in this movie. FLAWED but amazing. And we got so much more of him than TFA (where he was actually MIA for most of the movie.) I’m looking forward to seeing him as the probable leader of the Resistance in Episode 9.

I loved Admiral Holdo (who is definitely Leia’s ex-girlfriend.) I loved that she didn’t end up just a villain and that there was this thing where like… both the young and old characters had wisdom and things they were right and wrong about. It was complex and that’s just… far more what life is like. I’m a bit iffy on whether her sacrifice makes much sense mechanically but I’ll allow it.

LEIA. Carrie Fisher was so fucking good in this movie. I’m so bummed we’ll never get to see what role she would’ve got to do in Episode 9. The effect of her using the force to save herself wasn’t 100% convincing but it was still a powerful moment. I’m so glad she and Luke got to have a reunion.

I… never thought I’d say this but I think this film succeeded in making Kylo Ren more interesting and complex. And I love that they did that BUT doubled down on him being THE WORST. Oh, I still don’t care about this shithead and want him to get what’s coming to him. A lot of how I feel about him in this film will be affected by what they do with him in Episode 9. I know that with Carrie dead his arc is gonna be left feeling a bit broken. I know that he’ll still probably get a redemption but as long as he dies for that redemption I’m probably cool. Granted, that will mean no more Skywalkers but at this point I’m accepting that this story has become about more than the Skywalker family.

Rey. Rey was awesome in this movie. Parallels to Luke in ESB are the most obvious of the parallels here but in this case the dynamic is a bit different. For one thing Rey is just… not as much of a wet mop as Luke in ESB. She’s fierce and isn’t taking no for an answer. She doesn’t whine about how hard things are. I mean to be fair, that’s just because she’s a bigger badass than Luke in ESB. I was anticipating Rey to be a random so that wasn’t much of a surprise though I DO think there’s still wiggle room. While, I don’t think Kylo was lying to her (though it’s also believable that he might’ve been) even if he wasn’t there’s always the possibility that she may have been adopted and Kylo didn’t see that far back into her past. But I’m more than OK if she is just a random.

Luke. I sort of want to be an asshole and go I told you so re: Rey needing to restore Luke’s faith in the Jedi. But I won’t. But I love Luke in this film. Yeah, they could’ve given us badass noble Luke but instead we get flawed, complicated Luke. I love the multiple POVs of him confronting Ben in his sleep and having that momentary urge to strike him down. I thought the writing for Luke’s monologue over that final version was fantastic. Just A+ on managing to preserve what is great about Luke and allowing him to be a flawed character.

YODA. I didn’t expect to see Yoda. That looked like a puppet? Or else clever CGI meant to look like a puppet. But that was neat. And another obvious ESB parallel (with Obi-Wan.) And uh… apparently force ghosts can become pretty powerful. Which finally makes Obi-Wan’s boast to Vader in ANH make sense. Actually it also helps make the big deal ROTS made about Yoda learning from Qui-Gon about maintaining your identity after death even better.

I’m sure my thoughts on this film will evolve on rewatches but I feel like just talking about it makes me like it more and more. It speaks to how dense and jam packed this film was that there’s tons of other things I keep forgetting to mention. 

And I know there will be lots of fandom meta that will recontextualise and examine things. But I feel pretty damn great about this film. I don’t have the same feeling I had coming out of TFA but that was a one time thing. I definitely enjoyed it more than Rogue One (which I enjoyed but felt had a weak first half.) Aside from being too long and some issues with Finn’s role in the film… I think everything else the film did was pretty amazing and somehow managed to parallel the fuck out of ESB without copying it directly.

[aotopmha]

It's difficult finding a open-minded Gohan fan. A lot of the time the fandom focus on his Saiya-jin half and ignore or belittle his Earthling half. A lot focus too much on SSJ2 Cell Games Gohan (to the point of sainthood, ignoring his flaws). And even if you find some who are okay about the Buu Arc, many just DESPISE everything he does in SUPER (or put too much emphasis on a 10% covered fight in the Manga), adoring his GT self based on one trait (he kept training) based on a obscure data book.

Yeah, Gohan is one of the Dragon Ball characters I tend to disagree about the most when it comes to interpretations I see around.

He literally says that unlike his father, he doesn't like fighting.

I feel like it's a moment that doesn't have any kind of specific framing or nothing to look differently at contextually, either. It's as straight-forward as you can possibly get.

Goku's character arc in the Cell arc is to literally realise that he's pushing Gohan to do something he doesn't like and not really considering his feelings.

Chichi didn't force him to do anything. He just literally likes studying more than fighting.

The point of his character is that he has to constantly do something he doesn't like to do and has to learn to act and step up when needed despite not liking to do so because he does want to protect everyone he loves.

The SSJ2 transformation wasn't some grand character development moment, it was Gohan snapping and losing control (which ultimately lead to bad things and in a way was actually the potential beginning of a new arc) and to see people say that is what Gohan should be instead of learning from it feels like stagnation to me.

I think Super did great by making his arc about finding balance between all of his roles: fighter, father, scholar, hero.

You could argue Super repeats Gohan's arc, but I disagree and think that with the Saiyaman two-parter, the story firmly at least recontextualises his failures as struggling to balance the various responsibilities on himself.

You could argue he got strong too quickly again, but I think that's pretty often misinterpreted, too. It was at least months between the Saiyaman two-parter where he decided to take fighting a little more seriously again, so he doesn't actually get it back in a day.

You could argue that's still a little bit too quick, but I feel like it's pretty fine.

Him getting the Ultimate form back had a logic behind it and he constantly kept his cool during the ToP, too.

I think he's ultimately written much better in the Super anime (I think the Super manga is much worse with Gohan than the anime just for bringing back his arrogance instead of letting him grow from it and because of pretty much everything else it does before the Moro arc) than people give it credit for. The story never actually frames him as a loser for pursuing what he loves and Goku is consistently supportive of him.

I think the Saiyaman arc stuff is 100% earned from a narrative standpoint - after all the struggles he went through, it makes sense there to be a little bit of lighthearted down time for Gohan.

Now, I do agree with some criticisms, though.

In the Buu Saga his constant losses and him falling back to growing arrogant because of power actually was poor character writing to me. It was just essentially repeating his arc from the Cell saga without anything interesting about it being there and his story literally lead nowhere.

I think a lot of people phrase criticism they find with Gohan (or really anything) in a specific way, but actually mean and want something else entirely.

"Gohan is so lame now" could have many different connotations from what I've seen around.

The connotation that he's a bad character now because he is happy and has a family and that he was so much cooler when he snapped and embodied all those qualities that are "cool" like being ruthless (read: actually horrifying and bad qualities).

It could have the connotation that people just want to see Gohan do more and people and that's it.

It could have the connotation that they want Gohan to do more, but they associate that with a moment they remember (which is the SSJ2 transformation), but I feel like don't actually look at or think about much.

I feel like a lot of people don't actually think about why that moment was so impactful. They just seem think Gohan snapping is what made it good, so they want that to happen again.

So yeah, there is a lot of interpretation stuff I don't agree with when it comes to Gohan like you seem to anon, as said main one for me being that Gohan should just be a fighter again, which is a criticism that I think often misses the point of the character.

Thank you for the ask!