#Also there are more characters bc I am redeeming everyone I can

[hermitw]

I started this fluff and crack taken seriously fic (like what if Geto was not involved in JJK0 so Kenjaku could never use him as a vessel, and what if Hanami gets the redemption arc they deserved) six months ago and I am still intimidated by the exchange event, why do so many vital moments to the plot happen then

So I researched hypothermia and made a chart of the symptoms when it sets in and is recovered from and I wrote a satosugu/reader hypothermia chapter that is. Months in the future from the exchange event ndjakxkajxkdlaldkcksk

[fllagellant]

Sometimes I cannot tell if you guys want villains who do not want to be redeemed or not bc we get gortash and everyone trips over themselves to make this version of him that is absolved from his actions and he’ s changed … Anyways another day another time Wyll gets put to the back burner with crumbs of content yet everyone huddles around like “ OMG THANK YOU LARIAN … oh yeah sorry about Wyll : ((( “

You guys get you are a part of the problem right . You are letting Larian know they can get away with being racist as long as they feed fandom and whatever . Instead of actual quality of life updates and patching in content that would Actually help the game run better and feel finished , they just bloat the game and let companions go untouched with minimal content while playing into whatever the loudest voices in fandom demand the most .

The studio account should not be interacting with fandom so often . This blur between creators and fans is bad ! This leads to fans blindly defending and protecting a Game Studio that they have no connection to because haha larian mad a funny reply . And this also causes a feeling of ownership that should not be there ! You do not own a piece of bg3 and you should not be dictating it ! This is different from criticism btw . Just so we are Clear . Larian deserves and needs criticism .

It is super telling that they voices they are choosing to listen to are not voices that actually care about the game at its story . If they were , we would not have Zero Story for the Son of the Duke of Baldur’ s Gate and yet we have so much for a character that isn’ t actually tied into any major story beat ! We have no more for the character directly tied to Gortash with a prototype of the Steel Watch in her chest , but we can take a side character a few people wanted to bang and speed to have him included ad a full companion ! Instead of Dark Urge getting more content with Orin , Savrok and anyone else that had a tie to Bhaal , they get their relationship with a guy unrelated to all that be made to be read more and more explicitly romantic when that is just ruining the character !

Wyll should have a proper sex scene . He should have a romanced greeting that changes after the proposal . He should have more personal story content . He should have scenes of him in Baldur’ s Gate . The Emperor reveal as Balduran should not have been the main focus of HIS FINAL STORY QUEST . He should have hug and kiss options in the epilogue . People should comment on the engagement ! He should have all of this !! AND MORE FRANKLY .

But because everyone is so quick to forgive Larian , they’ ll never feel pressured to add any of this . They’ ll never feel like they’ ll loose players if they don’ t . Because you guys don’ t actually care . No , I am not saying thank you to larian for not giving me anything I have been asking for and sending feedback on for months . I am not thanking larian for choosing to bend over backwards to random big name fandom people who are racist and just want to fuck the pale guys again and again .

Larian Studio is not your fucking friend, stop acting like they are .

[slimeysodaa]

i had to remind everyone that i am a firm believer in Ezekiel’s potential as an actual character and person, he is my blorbo and i love him

imagine with me; Lindsay and Beth taking this loner homeschool kid under their wing and teaching him about the outside world. Beth would help him with social cues and expressions in language and then Lindsay would teach him makeup bc she can. a little training course for what ahead. it’s like when popular kids adopt random kids who sit alone at lunch.

 And just imagine Zeke going through the challenges, he wouldn’t understand a good majority of them bc he isn’t allowed to watch movies (thats a real fact!), can you imagine how confused he would be, that’s comedy gold right there. 

i feel like his main reason to compete would be the money, but he honestly just wants to redeem himself and make more friends, he’s just a lonely pairie kid who doesn’t really understand the real world around him. This was fully an excuse to dress up zeke and give him a happier existence as a character bc i think he’s neat and deserves more then what FreshTV gave.

also he’s trans, forgot to write it, but its important to me that you know this

[starryeyedstray]

my thoughts on dbh as someone entering the fandom in 2024

so just got into the dbh fandom like in aug 2024. i have watched too much gameplay, read the wiki extensively, read an obscene amount of fanfics on ao3, and am in the process of writing my own. here are some of my thoughts (that no one has asked for):

every fanfic writer who started in 2018 and is still updating their works in 2024 are literal saints and some of the best damn writers i ever did saw and the dedication is fucking unreal. one fic had almost 2 million words??????? like BRUH. some are still ongoing and updated this year?? the dbh fandom in ao3 is not thriving as much as it was in 2018 (i say this purely as someone who's looking at the hits/kudos/comment ratios on older v. new works) but they are still alive!!!!

i am puzzled with the obsession with gavin reed. there are like a million fics that feature him and rk900. i am confused bc he did not seem like a redeeming character at all in my opinion and idk, i think he's just an asshole. i like the redemption arcs some ppl write for him but i just can't with him. i mean you ship who you wanna ship but i am not a reed fan and i am confused how he became so popular when all he did was bully our poor boi connor.

i personally don't ship hank x connor bc they give strong father-son vibes in the canon. however, i am obsessed with how jolli_bean writes the pairing on ao3 since its usually a canon divergence or an AU so the pair meet later in life. there are some fics that follow the canon and do a pretty good job with the pairing, but i just tend to keep it familial between them in my head. (but like i said, ship who you want to ship)

i am glad there's a vague consensus that we all wished alice stayed a human bc i feel like that lends itself to a more interesting narrative post-game. tho i guess her being an android is fine bc now kara, luthor, and alice can live as one happy family in canada forvever lol

i am literally obsessed with bryan dechart's acting as connor. like if you haven't seen him play connor in real life for the interactive #detroit2038 premiere event, then you gotta watch some of the live stream. like he doesn't break character the whole time and his physicality just screams connor and i just really appreciate how much effort he put in as an actor to really embody the character. just so impressive and i wish there was more bts of him acting as connor bc its just so nuanced and ugh *chef's kiss* if they ever made a live action dbh it would be impossible for anyone else to play connor

i love the 28 stab wounds meme. when i watched that scene for the first time it was so jarring lmao

i also love how everyone is like yes, we all know connor likes dogs but he also likes fish bc of that one fish you can save in the very first minute of gameplay hahahah. (his name is dewey and it is vitally important you save him). i also appreciate how the "i like dogs" line will undoubtedly find it's way into every fic possible lol

i think the love for simon is very good and well and amazing but i think josh deserves more love in fics too

it bothers me that when north tells markus "i love you" at the church, MARKUS DOESN'T SAY IT BACK??? LIKE BITCH SAY YOU LOVE HER BACK DAMMIT DON'T JUST WALK AWAY

i love how the fandom just latched onto rk900 and rk800-60 and fleshed out their personalities and i love reading ppl's interpretation of these characters and how they incorporate them into their stories. it's funny they only show up like one time and ppl just ran with it and it's so fun and creative and i love it.

i love the hc that chloe deviated when connor chose not to shoot her. that's the best hc. like it's canon in my heart idc

bless all the fic writers who have mastered the art of explaining how androids mind and bodies work bc there are so many gaps and possibilities left open in the lore and it's incredible to see what ppl come up with or interpret based off the canon. (i still feel 50/50 about when they make deviants feel pain cause like androids not feeling pain is such a big part of the canon and yeah i'll give it a pass if the fic does it for the whumps and the angst but i prefer when a fic finds a canon-compliant reason for deviants to feel pain, even if its just like they got a chip or software installed that makes them feel pain or something)

every pairing that i find in this fandom, i tend to be like... "yeah i can see that." (with the exception of hank x connor for reasons i stated in #3). i'm still like ehhh on reed900 or even gavin x connor bc i just don't think it makes sense in the canon but if it's written well i just shrug and say yeah i guess i could see that. some rarepairs i ended up absolutely adoring were chloe x north and rk900 x north (i realize they're both north but she has such good potential for character dynamics)

idk if it's just me bc i specifically look for fics centered around connor, but i feel like there's not a lot of love for kara at least fic-wise. ig it's cause she kinda just leaves so it's easy to not include her. tbh, i am quite well-versed in markus' and connor's stories but i haven't really explored a lot of kara's. i plan on playing dbh with my partner when i see them again in a couple months and i wanted us to take turn playing different characters and i wanted to play kara's storyline so i've been avoiding it for the most part so i can be surprised with my options. plus, in my wip fic, kara is in canada so she's not really relevant to my story which is why i have in depth knowledge about markus and connor and less on kara.

the music in this game fucking SLAPS. 10/10 kara's theme makes me wanna cry.

okay, there is a common trope in the dbh fanfics where connor loses his memory and that shit gets me everytime. i'm always bawling and anxiously waiting for him to fucking REMEMBER and i hate and love it and eat it up every. single. time. usually, the memory loss happens early in the fic and it's pretty expected but sometimes i get blindsided and i'm like FUCK not this shit again but i can't stop reading it and the angst is so palpable.

i think it's so interesting how ra9 is just like this mystery in the lore that never gets entirely explained in the game. it's like something you can totally kinda ignore but it does have interesting lore implications if you decide to really think about it.

i adore all the characters in dbh equally except for connor who is the certified best boi and my absolute favorite (no one is shocked by this declaration). and the characters on my shit list are zlatko, todd, and sometimes reed.

this is an obnoxiously long post and i apologies. i haven't been on tumblr in years and i just had so many thoughts about dbh and i have no friends to talk to so i decided to dump it all here. i still have more thoughts but those are the ones that come to the forefront of my mind.

tldr: i love dbh and its fandom and i have many specific thoughts about it and you should just really read my post if you care about any of it

[lilacspider]

TUA should’ve ended after season 2

i am just so kriffing disappointed in this final season. i am disgusted. steve blackman has absolutely zero regard for these characters, their development, and the story. he has no respect for the ACTORS. he threw the entirety of these past three seasons in the trash in just one season. they had so much opportunity and yet he chose to make it a fetish-filled, scandalous, and completely lazy season.

all the vomitting???????? klaus being force fed marigold (which dare i say might’ve made a good storyline for him IF HE WASNT PIMPED OUT AND THEJN NESRLY BURIED ALIVE????) which in turn made him into an alcoholic???

five and lila????? they scrapped fives motivation of saving his family and keeping them together because of his LOVE FOR THEM, all SO HE COULD HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH LILA????? that is probably the biggest mischaracterization altogether. lila would never cheat on diego. they are married. THEY HAVE CHILDREN TOGETHER. it’s NORMAL to have arguments and trouble in a relationship but by no means does it mean there’s room for affairs as a result. it just makes me mad. ritu has known aidan since he was 15, like this is so nasty.

diego being the stereotypical “bad father” for lack of better words because he apparently has no consideration for his family which is NOT TRUE AND IS A HUGE MISCHARACTERIZATION!!????

luther going back to being the guy that no one really listens to because they feel he has nothing of value to offer (it wasn’t super evident but i noticed it which made me sad bc we made so much progress with his character!)???

allison becoming a single mom whose husband, RAYMOND, walked out on her??? that literally makes no sense for raymond or her, yes allison is a strong and independent character but it feels like it’s just stereotype after stereotype.

viktor becoming a womanizer and LEAVING HIS FAMILY BEHIND! all viktor has ever wanted since childhood is to be apart of his family, and they take that away this season??? makes no sense.

dont even get me started on sparrow ben. i have never liked his character he is wayyyy too much of an asshole, but your saying he can’t have common sense??? they turn him into a criminal who is contaminated by this essence that is meant to end the world and ends up making him insanely attracted to the one consistent mystery in this entire show (jennifer/the jennifer incident) and then throw away the entire plot line to just have them end the world. **and then making him and jennifer overly sexually attracted to each other was just straight up weird, where did that even come from?? i had to skip those scenes because it was so kriffing cringe.

because out of no where, abigail had a change of heart. and reginald is somehow one of the only mentally stable characters this season which is new!??? jean and gene were completely and utterly useless. they had no point, the only five i liked in this season is brisket, newspaper, drunk, and season one five. CIA five can leave.

one of the only redeemable moments of this season is the flashback of our brellies. that was good. there were other parts that i liked but that is first that comes to mind. **and the birthday party scene where they reunite. very cute and family vibes. sucks they couldn’t all be together because viktor was straight up kidnapped by some crazy.

and then the subway to different timelines. that could’ve been such a freaking awesome idea and would’ve made a great plot device IF THERE WASN’T ONLY SIX EPISODES AND SOMEONE ELSE WAS PUT IN CHARGE OF WRITING. like why are five and lila the only ones who are aware of this?? this couldn’t have been utilized earlier?? also can we talk more about how ben is an asshole, people focus too much on the attractive aspect of his character (which no offense, i see no appeal to bc the personality is just awful—NO HATE TO JUSTIN H M, he’s fantastic it’s just we did not lose brelly ben for this), like he force fed/tricked EVERYONE into consuming the janky marigold. except klaus because he’s the only smart one there. also good on him for trying maintain sobriety. but still. that is so messed up???? if he had never given anyone the marigold, everything could’ve been fine. they could’ve lived long happy lives in this timeline reggie made.

and then they had david cross, pitch perfect 2 ref, iconic man, play an irrelevant character. i’m so mad. wasted potential right there.

AND! it’s a crime that there is no family dance montage/scene like past seasons. it hurts. **oh and also there being like zero MCR songs is such a slap in the face because if the producers and directors actually listened to the fans opinions and ideas every once in a while, they would know that we’ve been hoping for an MCR song to be included as an homage/reference to Gerard Way.

and then that ending. where they just accept death???? choosing that the world is better off without them??? that is such a lazy end. if they had ten episodes and let gerard way have some sort of say in the writing/directing process, we could’ve had something so good. something so creative and fun and fulfilling. but no. they die and come back as marigolds. **which i personally really liked, out of everything this season i’m not sure why so many people hate the fact they kind of turned into flowers 😭😭 the ending sucked cause it’s so obvious it wasn’t given much thought but it was still sad and seeing the eight marigolds was sweet and gave closure in a sense. as much as it could i guess. **also, the farthest marigold is ben regardless bc brelly ben is dead and sparrow ben doesn’t really consider the brellies as his family. it is not five or klaus or whoever, it is ben. it has to be imo. the two flowers closest together are lila and diego. fight me.**

another thing, all the bad guys having a happy ending? irks me. like they were iconic, but why them and not the brellies? **(while i still agree with the idea of why couldn’t the brellies be happy too, i actually liked the fact that the main villains or side characters had completely different lives had the umbrella academy never existed. like that’s actually crazy sad and really interesting. also two things: is detective patch in that last scene? i’m not sure if she is. and second: why is grace like alive? like she would still be alive, but she was alive in the sixties, so wouldn’t she be like super old by that point in time?? why is she still young? and having kids? the inconsistency is realll)** also i liked the version of i think we’re alone now they used but i think it could’ve been better if they used the tiffany version again 😞

anyway—thank you for reading my rant because i am just so baffled by how horrible this season was. i feel so bad for the cast because even they knew that this season would not be it. that not one true fan of TUA would like it. and it’s sad because this has been such a huge part of their lives and careers as actors. so they did great with what they were given and for that they have my respect.

** signify edits i made — mostly grammatical and clairty edits, and a few of my opinions updated or added on to now that i have had time to really think about what occurred this season.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

It has been brought to my attention that I have not been annoying enough:

Why is rumple one of my favorite characters, you ask, @imhereonthekitchenfloor? Well...

I'm gonna be so real with you I am struggling to know where/how to start this because it is beyond my comprehension that people could not love him. Do you not love him? ,,,,,,,,,,,, ok

I'll start with what I don't like bc that's a much shorter list :) but it's not really stuff that I don't like about him it's mostly complaints I have with the writers. I don't mind a little evilness for good & in character content but he relapsed one too many times. It wasn't in character for him to become the dark one again in season 5. The Bear and the Bow should've been his final redemption. It would've been much more interesting to watch him grapple with recovery and improvement than watching him be a villain again just bc he's a good villain. He IS a good villain !! bc he's understandable. But it is what it is and he did become the dark one again and the mess that is the first half of season 6 did happen. Unfortunately. I HATE the romance plot with him and the evil queen and there is quite literally no justification for it so I just pretend that never happened :) but I can appreciate that his actual final redemption was really solid. We had to suffer to get there but it was a good ending 😫🙏

His Thing was that he could always justify every single bas thing he ever did as actually being for the greater good (his family). Everything he did was to get Bae back. Because he's a good dad. And to keep Belle safe. Because he loves her. In season 6 he hit rock bottom by trying to do something that couldn't be spun to be for the best interest of his family. He wanted to cut Gideon's fate so he wouldn't grow up to hate him instead of just... idk.... being a good dad????? And earning his love????? Ok king. Actually my biggest complaint about the entire series is the entire stupid series of events that led to that (Belle's dad was straight up evil for not waking her up bc he didn't want to "help rumple"??? And there was no explanation for Gideon in the dream. It doesn't really make sense that he showed up anyway but how do we know that was who he was fated to be why did he and Belle hang their whole belief system on a weird dream version of their kid) but whatever.

All of that was dumb but his redemption was real!!! He had the choice to gain "unlimited power" and break the rules of magic and make Belle love him and bring Bae back to life but HE DIDN'T!!!! because he finally understood the price of magic and was strong enough to do it on his own and not use magic for his own good BECAUSE he knew it would be bad for everyone else. He was never really evil. He was treated like crap his whole life and had some unhealthy reactions to it. He never had anything so he thought he needed everything. He never had any control so he wanted control over everything. And when he got his control and power he got addicted to it. He never loved it more than his family he was addicted to it. He had literal relapses (when he lied to Belle about the dagger when they got married. Yeah lying is bad but that was the most understandable thing be ever did lowkey. He redeemed himself and killed Pan and made peace with dying himself and then got brought back to life against his will and was kept in a literal cage as a literal slave for over a year being forced to do the exact kind of things he had finally overcome AND he had 2 minds in his head so on top of the physiological torture he also just quite literally went insane. Yeah it makes sense that he was a little Screwed Up after that. And wanted to release himself from the dagger without losing his power). He was strong enough at the end to truly put it behind him. And I know everyone hates season 7 but AT LEAST it gave rumbelle an entire lifetime of happiness and we know that he never relapsed again.

So :) yeah :) aside from that. He's hilarious. He's a good villain. He's the center of the entire story. He's smarter than everyone else. He's a good person but he doesn't even have to be bc I love when he's evil too. Lowkey highkey he was right fairly often. He's just a silly little guy! He's babygirl and he's my poor little meow meow and he's blorbo and he's beloved 🫶 the end.

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Predictions for Soukoku’s fate (BSD CH 109 spoilers!!)

How I be looking after dedicating two posts on the possibility of Chuuya not being a vampire due to the fact he was faceless for absolutley no reason during some chapters, thinking it was important: 

alright people, i wish i could express my embarassment further but instead of kicking my feet, screaming and crying over my miscalculations, i will proceed to (hopefully) redeem myself with my following predictions.  

Guys, first of all I need to tell you something that I think is absolutely obvious: Dazai is not going to die. 

thematically, it makes absolutley no sense for Dazai to die considering how many characters still depend on him, EVEN HIMSELF.

We still haven’t learned his backstory, we still haven’t had a cathartic moment between Akutagwa and Dazai, Atsushi is yet to learn more from his mentor, and he’s overall a very key character to foil others and develop them while he’s at it.

Even Dazai himself dying right now feels extremely weightless, we haven’t even learned anything about Dazai’s past and he’s already killed? without growing as a person? without fullfilling Oda’s promise?  I don’t know, personally to me, direction wise, development wise and plot wise killing him off is absolutley nonsensical.

Asagiri does tend to take a very unique and unpredictable route with his writing and characters, but for plots sake, I highly doubt Dazai is gone forever.

Also, Fydoor and Dazai continue throwing uno reverse cards at each other, always catching one another unexpectedly. I am still going strong on the idea that Double Black will catch Fyodor off-guard.

Fyodor during these whole prision sections has been constantly belittling and teasing Dazai over how shallow his bond with Chuuya is.

When that’s beyond the truth. Dazai and Chuuya’s trust is literally undying. Stormbringer, the double black chapter and dead apple show us this in the most obvious way possible.

Asagiri himself has quoted that Soukoku knows each others motives, which has also been proven plenty of times when they are working together. 

Dazai himself admited there really was moments where their hearts reached out to one another.

and I think that’s enough to understand, Fyodor is wrong. THEY ARE DOUBLE BLACK FOR A REASON!!!

So far in this chapter, I got various things confirmed. Let’s walk through them together. 

1. Dazai’s nullifcation ability works on vampires, confirmed by Fyodor himself.

So what does this tell us? That Dazai had been planning all along to get in contact with Chuuya. He knew his partner’s abilities will break him out of the water trap, he’s not dumb.

So Dazaj totally meant to get in physical contact with Chuuya in order to nullify his vamparism. And no, it’s not only because Dazai cares for Chuuya (which is a true statement, but not the main reason.) It’s because out of everyone in this room, Chuuya is the only one able to physically overpower Fyodor. 

And even if Chuuya somehow can’t overpower Fyodor, atleast Chuuya can be Dazai’s bodyguard considering well...Dazai’s countless of injuries. Chuuya is Dazai’s ticket to get out of the prision.

Dazai needs Chuuya in his corner. He needs double black in action. He needs Chuuya. 

2. Dazai is genuienly frustrated that his plan to bring back Chuuya didn’t work.

I can’t be the only one who ADORED seeing Dazai panicking. (I sound so masochistic but seriously, it’s rare to see Dazai unmask this way).

Anyways, Dazai’s panic and frustrating during these pannels are unfortunately proof that things did not go at all how he planned.

3. Aya is attempting to take out the sword that stops Bram from having full atonomy on his vampire abilty. 

If by any luck, Aya is able to detach the swoard from Bram, Chuuya and literally every other vamp will return to normal. (which honestly, let’s do hope Aya removes the sword bc this is getting too agonizingly dragged out.)

4. Chuuya and Dazai are destined to....

 kiss?? marry?? make out under the moonlight??

Nono my friends, Chuuya and Dazai are destined to die together.

Chuuya and Dazai dying together has been hinted since Fifthteen, but my theory of these two dying together strenghtened during Stormbringer when Mori teased Dazai about a double suicide with Chuuya.

I’m not saying they will die right now but in order to solidify the need for Shin Soukoku in Yokahama.....

This old married couple gotta go and make room for the highschool sweethearts/hj

5. Dazai took the L

Honestly, I won’t lie to you and say that Dazai’s way out of this situation is going to be hard. But Dazai has attempted to kill himself plenty of times, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has shot a bullet through his head in his early 20s. (Im not joking when I say this i swear).

Anyways, Dazai seems somewhat imune to death and honestly, his character is too important to die, especially in such a meh, anticlimatic way. 

Dazai said it himself best, him and Chuuya are destined to die together.

6. Vampire Chuuya’s expression

I mean,,,, what is the need for the random three little pensive speach bubble ?? we have been proven by Akutagawa that vampires are capable of some sort of sentinence, especially when it’s tied to their deepest desieres/mental strenghts.

I don’t have anywhere grand to go with this but, I just wanted to point it out lol.

ALL IN ALL

I can’t say for sure what is going to happen, but with Aya’s attempts of removing the swoard the possibility for Chuuya to become concious and do something to get out of there and save Dazai still remain pausible in my books.

I am not too confident on where this section of the story will go exactly but I am certain that Soukoku won’t die yet. MARK MY WORDS!!!

[callmearcturus]

thoughts on OMITB

yeah my family mainlined the entirety of Only Murders in the Building (3 ten-episode seasons) and I have thoughts and its my blog

This show had SO MUCH AGAINST IT from the onset. I'm too old to have seen Selena Gomez's run as a teenage actor. Worse, I have never in my life found Martin Short or Steve Martin funny. I truly mean that, I have never understood the appeal and eventually just assumed they were part of the early SNL school of comedy, i.e. only every fifth joke lands.

AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT this is gonna sound ridiculous but I didn't know the premise of the show was literally and actually "three people bond over their love of True Crime Podcasts and then decide to start their own podcast about a murder in their apartment building"

I had no idea that was the pitch

I fucking hate True Crime as a genre. I am one of those people who think its a deeply dehumanizing and unethical from top to bottom. so an ENTIRE SHOW about three huge enthusiasts who then make their own?

The deck could not have been more stacked against this fucking show.

AND I DO HAVE SOME COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE SHOW. Let me get those out of the way:

god the cameos make me roll my eyes out of my head. i do not get a thrill out of people playing themselves. I find it super false and annoying. (exception: okay Sting was funny bc he hates dogs and was a legitimate suspect for the murder for like five minutes, lmao)

some of the jokes in the show have a "please clap" vibe to them, and no i will not clap. be funny or gimme more fun character drama.

is that it???

oh yeah a big one: Oliver not being bisexual is so fucking baffling and I just do not buy it.

OKAY BACK TO WHY I LOVE THIS FUCKING SHOW

this show cares so much about its characters and you can say that about a lot of shows but OMITB has two specific skills it deserves kudos for:

ONE: even tho Mabel, Oliver, and Charles are the focus of the show, all the secondary and tertiary characters are important and consistent and are brought back over and over. Like Howard, who in S1 is the Gay Cat Guy and in S2 gets multiple moments of focus for him asking a neighbor out and in S3 is in almost every episode and is Oliver's assistant. The fact the show cares enough to give non-focal characters whole arcs to go through really sells the idea of the Arconia as community of people.

TWO: THE FUCKING ABILITY OF THIS SHOW TO MAKE YOU LOVE DEEPLY FLAWED, OFTEN ASSHOLISH PEOPLE.

the fucking FLEX that is "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" holy shit. for an entire season, Bunny was this constant nuisance no one liked, then she died, and over the course of one episode that doesn't try to REDEEM her, it just shows MORE of her, I was so fucking invested. And they did the same shit with Ben Gilderoy, it's amazing.

OMITB cares so much about having COMPASSION for everyone and treating all of them like people. There is no one who is purely contemptible

another thing I love is the trio and the various dynamics

all three of them together are adorable and the way they grow to deeply love each other is great. but also the way oliver and charles drive each other nuts and needle each other <3 and how mabel and charles really CARE about trusting each other and how fast they get invested <3 but MABEL AND OLIVER i love them they are hilarious and wonderful and just heighten each other's bullshit

oh my god and the way the show lets each of them have complex backstories and working thru shit. Charles' struggle with his neuroses and years of rejection, Oliver's connection with his son and how he almost throws a case bc he's in love with Meryl Streep (fair), and Mabel being mean and distant and aloof and it all having a REASON

okay fuck this is so long, some quick hits

Theo Dimas is genuinely the best character in the show, the moment he turns to the camera and signs "People in this city talk way too much" was like the moment i was IN on the show for good. thank GOD they keep bringing him back, he's the fucking best.

NATHAN FUCKING LANE AS TEDDY DIMAS, WHAT A FUCKING PERFORMANCE, HOLY SHIT.

wow so many fucking queer people. Mabel, Howard, Jan, Jonathan, Cliff, Jerry, Sazz, Detective Williams and her wife, Alice, and i think Zoe and Uma might be but I'm not sure.

ranking of Mabel's love interests: Oscar (who is great) > Alice (who sucks) > Tobert (boringggg)

the fucking wardrooooobes

the SETS!!!!!!!!!!

selena gomez' rack in the penultimate episode of season 3 holy shit WOW those tits

CHARLES' CAREER-LONG STUNT DOUBLE IS SAZZ, A HOT LESBIAN PLAYED BY JANE LYNCH WHO DOUBLED FOR HIM EVEN IN SEX SCENES AND IS SO MAGNETIC SHE KEEPS ACCIDENTALLY STEALING HIS GIRLFRIENDS

okay i'm done, omitb is good

[zhouxiangs]

i saw that you're currently reading my stand-in novel but you're not really spoiling anything. how are you finding it so far if i may ask? is it as angsty as people say it is?

(i waited until the end of the day to answer this because as i thought i've already finished the novel, so much for self-restraint lol also sorry this got a bit long... oops?)

i enjoyed it a lot! and it made me get over my reading slump, so i will even excuse it getting into some tropes i'm not particularly fond of at the end. it got cheesy…er, and not even in a way i like. amazingly, that didn't make me like it any less.

from the synopsis of the series and the tags in novel updates (and i only skimmed those because i didn't want to get spoiled) i had a pretty good idea of what the novel was going to be like, which is why i decided not to really liveblog since, transmigration aside, i'd say it's a pretty straightforward story. i could be persuaded to make a recap if there's interest though, since there's still over three weeks left until the series starts airing and i'm probably going to go over everything again and take notes anyway...

and oh, is it angsty! the whole thing hinges on zhou xiang (joe) being a sweet angel baby and yan mingxiu (ming) being a fucking idiot, and it's pretty much what you can expect from any dogblood/makjang with the scum ml, misunderstandings, heartbreak, regrets, etc. i have to say i'm not usually a fan of the misunderstanding trope bc i tend to find it annoying, but as with most tropes i don't particularly enjoy it's because of the way i often see it done. here it was painful for everyone involved, so i really liked it. also, please keep in mind that i'm a huge fan of big character development and characters redeeming themselves, so. there's that. wink wonk. (i've been reading some reviews and think for some people it may be best to know what kind of story this is before going in, other than because of triggers–which, very important if you need them, at least in the novel–because of the whole. scum ml more than anything lol even though yan mingxiu is not that scummy really!)

i love my stories character-driven, so having them being this well fleshed out and compelling was a joy, and being able to see so clearly what both zhou xiang and yan mingxiu were thinking and feeling, sometimes a lot earlier than they themselves could (please bl gods keep at least some of the internal monologue in the series, i am begging), was soooooo ugh. you're supposed to hate yan mingxiu allegedly but i just couldn't, not even in his scum era, because he was so obvious and so oblivious and so set in his own ideas he kept gaslighting himself into not noticing things. this could have gotten frustrating pretty easily, but again, everything feed into the delicious, delicious suffering. that being said, and because it doesn't seem to be a popular opinion... i think it's important to empathise with both of them, or at least sympathise, for maximum enjoyment of all that angst. you cannot cry over yan mingxiu's pain if you want him to get hit by a bus.

oh and the relationships (not only the cp's, though their progression is really good) are very important in this story, which is something i hope we get to see more of in the series because i ended up missing certain side characters in the later chapters. not tan yin though, i hope that fuck ass didn't make it into the series. how is a character so annoying while being in maybe six scenes total.

i can't say if it's good or not but it was extremely enjoyable, zhou xiang is my sweet darling angel baby, yan mingxiu is okay too (if you see me in the trenches defending him in about a month…), and i can't believe i am now, somehow, even more excited for my stand-in.

[batboys-cumdumpster]

Actually I'm not done ranting yet bc now I'm gunna beef with SJM for fumbling Nesta's arc.

The whole book was hollow and empty for a character who had so much potential to actually be a strong badass. SJM reduced her entire book to shitty sex scenes and three different random plot points that were poorly address and poorly wrapped up (with some very unrealistic events, too, ranging from Feyre's 'she can't have a c-section' to the merry band of ribbon cutters 'winning' the blood rite).

In ACOWAR, I wanted to see Nesta step into her womanhood with power and she didn't. I was rooting for her and I was rooting for Nessian. There was SO much potential there. But it all fell apart. Horribly.

The cheap way Nesta "redeemed" herself by "saving" Feyre and Nyx without actually having a conversation with Feyre and apologizing makes me upset. I wanted two sisters to talk, I wanted them to face their past together and address it and have something real there. And any time Nesta and Feyre could have had a conversation, SJM ruined it by having it interrupted.

Nesta's friendships also feel empty and hollow to me. The friendships felt forced in the beginning to get to the closeness it ended at. And SJM writing Emerie and Gwyn telling Nesta she has nothing to apologize for (especially not knowing what she's even done) makes Nesta stans' behavior of excusing Nesta's behavior and blaming others for her behavior even worse.

It's okay to admit your fave has been abusive. It's okay to admit they have been shitty, and are still exhibiting that shitty behavior (ie Nesta making that shot at Azriel's mom in CC3). It's okay for a character to own that and apologize for it but it should only be accepted if that character actually changes. It is just like real life. I know these are fictional characters but if SJM wants to use these characters to reflect real life then she needs to be more responsible when writing them.

Give us real, changed behavior. Please, I am begging you. Give Nesta some fucking dignity and stop making her lash out at people like some child with a temper tantrum when she's angry. Let her actually fucking grow and show people that someone with such horrible tendencies can become a better person while owning up to what they've done and apologizing. It is hard work not to revert back to our trauma headspace and act the way we do when dealing with mental health so yeah, Nesta is gunna fuck up. But give her room to fuck up, she can't get there when she has no changed behavior.

I am so very much hoping that Nesta has changed in Elain's book because I want to like her. Even if her stans piss me off and dismiss her behavior, I genuinely do want to like Nesta. I was starting to like her and then, again, SJM completely fucked her character and her stans excuse it left and right and blame everyone except Nesta.

Nesta is responsible for her own actions, reactions, emotions, and health. No one owes her anything just because she is suffering because everyone has trauma they are dealing with. She cannot continue to make her trauma everyone else's problem. It doesn't make sense for being upset that IC/Rhysand tell her to mind herself when she gets abusive or when they give her back the energy she gives them.

No matter who you are, actions have consequences and most of the time no one cares about what you're going through in your personal life, they only care how you're treating others while you're going through it.

[mikeellee]

Hi, on my phone @bibibbon we are talking about Shig's backstory and his cunt scenes and while I love it...the backstory adds nothing- also I have to say MVA doesnt feel it belongs to MHA you know?- it's eerie if you think how AM never mentions Nana.

Sure he said he has a master, he said her name to Izu. "She is pretty" (no hate to AM here but like yes she is pretty but Nana was just that?) And never again. He never ever mentions her again or in any way. "NANA SHIMURA THE HERO WHO DID X AND Y"

Its odd...its like she never matter, except she does. Its a paradox.

AM never tells to IZU HIS HEIR more about Nana or her quirk...hell sometimes I think he is ignorant about OFA.

Back to Shig's backstory. Nothing was hinted. Nothing. Nana's son is dead...AM doesnt even go visit his grave or smth...he is non existent in the story.

Shig killing his family by accident........look that was cartoonished stupid (there a expression in my language here but cant translate well) everyone died bc they dont know what to do?

(Does MHA has no safety for kids awakening quirks?)

Not blame the Shimuras or Shig here...I just think the death could have been different? I dont know...him killing the entire family seem pushing.

And Shig never reacts to that. Sure, maybe he blocked it. Ok, I can get behind that...but once he remember afo giving that awful name and the doctor gleefuly sharing HIS FAMILY'S HANDS....Shig doesnt even need to be redeem or be a hero to hate afo.

On that note...please lets talk about the hands(hori has a fetish) why afo did that? @doodlegirl1998 said once it was to traumarize Shig again, which yes he is evil and stupid ......but I think there a limit here. You want your minion to be traumatized and still be able to function...what afo did should have make Shig catatonic.

But Shig is fine...as much a crazy villain can. He even shows restraint on his quirk...and likes quirkless stuffs (only character in canon to react to Izu being quirkless) and has acess to information.

(Yes. Afo has cameras on the bar....but so what? He stares at Shig and does nothing. We have no evidence of him tampering the news for Shig to believe in his lies...it seems afo forget about Shig most of the times)

Shig's hate towards AM makes no sense either. At first I thought he hated him out of loyalty to afo...but even early on Shig knew afo doesnt care for him....

So ....

?????

Shig gain stuffs but he is punished too...severly. he gain an army out of nowhere (yes he fought Redestro but Redestro shouldnt give a fuck about him) and then is put on a tube to gain afo as if....this was the plan all along.

????

And afo takes his body bc....

?????

He wants to be sexy? I jk (not really) but really I dont get why afo did that. Doubt Hori does either.

And now there no afo to control his body...and Shig havent change a bit. Like wow. He is the same shig from day 1. He is more sexier now. Thats it.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

favourite act 3 dialogues so far, a collection

(i love this mainly bc im like. ah. the 'looking back after killing cazador as a spawn and realising you were acting not dissimilarly to the man you hate so much and that you could have become just like him all over again if you'd gone through with it' is just delicious)

Lae'zel is just so tired, she's really going 'for fuck sake we have withers, a selunite demigod and her wife, scratch and the owl bear. must we take in *more?*'

CASSANDRA! YOU'VE KNOWN YOU WERE A CHILD OF BHAAL FOR A FUCKING DAY! STOP TRYING TO TELL EVERYONE! ALSO??? Babes im trying to redeem you so hard why are you making it so difficult for me to *not* pick 'recently unemployed, i quite like murders?' bc your intelligence stats make that so in-character

--

(honorary bloodweave 'and they were bunkmates' setup)

--

(back to quotes)

(i love Orin. I love the relationship she has with Durge. She'll kill them, want them dead and to take over their life from their position in life to their room to *everything* that could be them because she needs to know what made her the lesser choice; why did Bhaal have to *make* another bhaalspawn when she was right there?

But it's the inflection when she says he's been whispering in their ears; it's the anger, the indignity. I like to take it not as a 'you are shameful for falling for it' even though she obviously references that he could twist them when they had their memories, i take it as aimed *at* Gortash. He's taken her sibling, her rival, and twisted them against what Father wanted to the point she found she had to and then was able to usurp them! And then, then he dares to take advantage of their amnesia and try and turn them against Bhaal once again. Anyway. Love this gal, she's a hoot.)

(also i forgot to screenshot but what do you MEAN Orin thought that the best way to impersonate Gale (who i had be the companion who got taken from camp - which i immediately reloaded to avoid bc im trying to do stuff for his character quest rn damnnit and it isn't time to go straight to the temple!) was to imply he ran away and that she castrated him??? that's so funny)

(Orin being described as a sulky child has got the brainworms (ha!) wriggling ngl)

(also it's always lae'zel. she's at max approval each time as well!! like couldn't it be Yenna or smthing? like have a whole 'look at the murder-kin thinking it can *protect* life? Trying to make up for all those you've cut shorter than this one?? Also i kind of need Lae'zel for heavy hitter stuff as well but we can push through for now!)

(Us in general is my fave part of this game. What do you mean that technically to the outside world my durge looks like she's wandering around with a dog, a cute kitten/cat and a raven (from the He Who Was reward gloves) trailing after her!? AHHH.)

DENIAL IS A RIVER IN EGYPT-

Durge why are you like this.

Is there truly anything bouncing between their tadpoles that isn't some form of sarcastic comment?

WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING.

Like. Durge. this is so funny, you've known you were a bhaalspawn for like a *week* what do you MEAN you've already figured out appropriate blasphemes?"

THIS LINE RIGHT HERE IS WHAT INSPIRED MY ENTIRE FUCKING TAKE ON DURGE IN SCION ON SCION VIOLENCE. THIS IS THE FOUNDATION FOR MY INTERPRETATION OF 'THE URGES'

Literally i am not kidding when I say this is one of my fave lines. The context, of Karlach seeing her friend (maybe even her best friend, her fucking *sibling* in all but blood) getting to fix themselves, getting to choose to live knowing she can't, she's fucked it isn't going to work. And yet, she can only be proud. Makes everything hurt so bad-

*stares in that one playthrough where i didn't realise letting her kill the nightsong was her bad route and was like 'yeah lets let her become a justiciar* Yeah babes. It'd be a real shame wouldn't it. (also love her just as much as Karlach, like parallels)

look. I'm an astarion simp through and through and I DO NOT CARE THIS LINE GETS ME EACH TIME!! He's like. This is great and all but since we're not questioning what the fuck withers is im going to focus on the sickening sweetness and BLEH too much. Too much emotional trauma yet to be resolved this is a little nauseating ' i love him. so much.

[rjshepherd]

I tried SO hard to like SIGNALIS. It has everything I love, the puzzles, the easy to enjoy gameplay loop. But I just couldn't get into it. I had no idea what was happening the entire time, I didn't even know elsters name until the end. I understand it's cosmic horror and it's meant to drive you mad but I dont find that fun!

The main reason I checked it out was because it was meant to be like silent hill and it certainly is but something is missing. By the end of sh2 for example I always understood what James had done and why. The endings were just him redeeming himself in various ways. Sort of got the endings here but not how we got there.

No one asked but since I have a foundation degree in games design here's how I'd fix the parts of SIGNALIS that drove me nuts.

Elster never speaks outside of cutscenes and there's not much dialogue in them. Give us a diary of her thoughts, explaining how she's feeling about what's going on. I found it hard to care about elster and Ariane because I couldn't understand what was happening in game and how it related to them. Elster is almost a blank slate and I personally have no investment in this story. Letting me know elsters thought process would get me more invested.

The 6 slot inventory system is atrocious. Yes yes rule of 6 and all that but it's still terrible. You're telling me I'm trapped in dream of a mining planet with not a single bag I could use to hold more shit??? Could Ariane not have Dreamt me up a holdall? Or make it like re4 where things have sizes. A rifle shouldn't take up as much space as a tarot card.

A glossary of the enemies, characters and locations would be REALLY interesting. I don't know if it's BC I'm stupid but I found it hard to keep track of everyone because most of the characters are numbered rather than named.

I am begging y'all to just explain a few things blatantly. What is the connection between Ariane and aline aside from looks. Why would the government send a useful bioresinance human like Ariane on a suicide mission? If ISA was dead the whole time how and why is she there in arianes dream loop??? How can falke be both Ariane and elster ??? What's going on with Adler? How are the other replikas you talk to not going mad?

Again maybe I'm just fuckin stupid but I had to watch a 2 hour video explaining the most basic concept of the game to me. You can say the story is ment to be obtuse and up for interpretation but I couldn't Intuit shit. I was SO confused the entire time which is a shame BC I was having fun playing.

Edit

ALSO EPILEPSY MODE WOULD BE NICE. IM TRYING TO LEARN ABOUT THE SAD SPACE LESBIANS NOT HAVE A SEIZURE OR MIGRAINE.

[atlasofthestaars]

i dont know if you still do these but can you do the character bingo for meleena, kitana and sindel? both from mk11 and 1

MK11 MILEENA

She was my main!! I started to like her after a while (despite not initially caring for mk9-11 version) I think she's cool! I wish her and Kitana got along in her ending but oh well. I would affectionately (somewhat) salad spin her and squeeze her. I almost marked her as a bastard but I held off bc I am still under the belief that she was a product of her environment and could have been redeemed imo. I am not a big fan of her design in this game for the base one, but the Kitana lookalike skin SLAPS.

MK11 KITANA

BINGO!

I love Kitana!! She became a favorite of mine after a while. I was really really sad that her playstyle and Jade's didn't match mine HAHA. I really actually relate to the whole wanting to fit your blood culture but not really being able to be like them because you weren't raised in that culture. I think over time I also ended up liking her soft, kind personality in this game. I do wish she was a little sassy like X but I am fine with it. I would affectionately salad spin her, but I couldn't bring myself to affectionately squeeze. The whole canon thing is how she didn't get along with Mileena in her ending and how she just didn't get to be with Liu Kang I guess. I really, really don't care for her base design and imo it is her worst design. I do like her skins though!

MK11 SINDEL

I uh. Don't like MK11 Sindel. I think it was a stupid retcon. I think she was much more interesting as a good guy who got corrupted then redeemed herself in the original title and I HATE how she got treated here. Ugh. I would squeeze her unaffectionately. I can see ig how people like the whole "dommy mommy" chara but imo should have been a different character all together if they wanted that. At least her design is kinda pretty? Idk. Not a fan!! Sorry!

MK1 MILEENA

I like her! I like how the story treated her and how she didn't get turned evil! Solid character right there. I actually think this is my favorite Mileena design! I would affectionately salad spin her. I like her more than it shows here, but I felt like the squares didn't fit well to my opinion. Idk! Cool character!! I'm a fan! Also I love her ending and imo one of the better ones!

MK1 KITANA

MY MAIN!! I love her playstyle a lot!! I'm also glad she got her style back, though I think MKX's designs are still my favorite for her HAHA. I do love her a lot but I feel like she got shafted in favor for Mileena, which makes sense because homegirl got SO much spotlight before. I do wish she got more exploration still since she was kinda made into Mileena's sidekick type of character and we rarely get to see more of it. I think Kitana and Johnny are funny as best friends, wouldn't want them together. Not sure how to feel about Raiden x Kitana. I do project and have a lot of hcs for Titan Kitana! But I based this off of the Liu Kang timeline Kitana. Otherwise, this would also be a bingo.

MK1 SINDEL

Thank god she's not evil! I do like what they did with her, but I wish we got to see more of her. Also, I am a little :| at her treatment of tarkatans and vaeternians (and EVERYONES treatment of that race, but that's another discussion). I like her design kinda, but eh! I wish I liked her more but I just kinda like her/am positive neutral. I marked that bottom left square because, you know. Also imo she didn't need to die so I marked canon isn't real. She could have been mortally wounded and handed the crown over to Mileena. Idk! I feel like killing her off was a weak move. Otherwise she's cool

[yuridovewing]

anon here yeah no dw i do believe maple is a bad person who doesnt want to improve herself, my point more so is that people will say that stuff about maple while also saying the opposite about equally bad male characters. like clear sky did not improve and did not want to but he redeemable because. he was sad about his sister dying so he can murder all he wants. its not that i dont think maple is a bad person its moreso that im annoyed by the double standards built around her (just like how basically every woman in the series is treated with absurd double standards by both the fandom and authors)

ahhh okay, sorry if my response was kinda odd, i'm very sleepy and it's hard for me to tell tone when i am slkdfjsdlf. i see what you mean now! yeah the double standards around mapleshade are batshit insane. even back in the day before TBC the writers thought ASHFUR was better than her. the guy who didn't even have the sympathetic exile backstory, he just did all that atttempted murder on his own, but its ok bc hes sad...... like to act like there's no double standard here is to be deliberately obtuse.

(i also pointed out in my MSV liveread that even within her book theres a huge double standard with appledusk. he gets exposed and his wife immediately forgives him after two seconds and everyone coddles him and gives him the tiniest slap on the wrist and then tell his side chick to go kill herself basically. and this disparity isn't really pointed out, like yeah it's a point that mapleshade was treated so harshly but... lbr it's a pattern where the mollies are treated much more harshly than the toms. and we even see it in the fandom where ppl just make up shit like "she emotionally abused him")

i'm still holding out on my evil prediction that we're gonna get a scene with dead dad jayclaw and frostpaw abt how he hates his bitch wife and he's the good parent frostpaw had all along and the fandom will eat it up and make "uwu sweet dad" art of him and make up ideas like "his wife abused him for the funsies"

[lemonhemlock]

What do you think about some of Asoiaf antagonists like Euron , Littlefinger , Varys , bloodraven Tywin , Roose?

some controversial opinions!

i like a lot of these antagonists actually! euron is one of my faves, absolutely unhinged and genuinely scary? one of the few undeniably evil characters george included in the books, like, i don't think euron has one redeeming quality to his name. but he's sort of mesmerizing? his actions make me sick but also leave me wanting more?? also he can be really funny and full of shit, which makes characters more enjoyable for me. love euron!!! hope lord leyton whoops his arse!!!! (fervently praying to the seven) euron is The One villain i couldn't possibly woobify even if i tried, so props to him he truly is *the one by shakira starts playing*

littlefinger & varys i can't really stand. i appreciate them for comic relief (always down for a good joke) but their meddling in westerosi affairs i find very exhausting & pugnacious. like, i realise everyone is out here for themselves, so, in that sense, them being self-serving shouldn't bother me the way it does, but i can't with these two. littlefinger is a naked opportunist and, while i can admire that trait in other characters, his sleaziness and lack of charisma put me off, so into the trash bin he goes.

varys i have an even bigger problem with. generally-speaking sanctimoniousness and moral righteousness are triggers for me and i can't really stand characters that are Like That. i legit fight with people who exhibit those traits in real life, like, i am an aries so i do not back down lol you'll die with me around your neck. there has to be something else in that character to balance out these things that annoy me, i guess, but varys didn't manage to make the cut, bc that is the entirety of his personality, i'm afraid. this may ruffle some feathers but i think that his scheme with young griff, real or not, is essentially morally bankrupt, in that he's out there role-playing the head of a research institute sending out his agents into the world to carry out this political experiment that may or may not work, but will have a huge body count regardless. it's very callously cynical to me, but he expects to be congratulated on how ideologically pure and morally unsullied he is - i think that's what drives me up the wall.

i know that people really want young griff to be real but varys' grand master plan is to destabilize a country, intentionally plunge it into a civil war that'll get a lot of people killed, in order to facilitate what would be another war of conquest undertaken under aegon vi's banners. instead of trying to actively improve the lives of the common people, since he's on the small council. he's still focusing on power plays and on plots with this brainwashed belief that he's doing it for the good of the people. but is he? he doesn't even know young griff. what if he turns out to be some bad apple; how is varys to know? idk i just cannot get behind it. and i don't think the author will eventually condone this message or plot as righteous either bc i don't see how aegon's reign will last. i think varys is the type of person dead-set in their belief that their actions are for The Greater Good in a the-ends-justify-the-means kind of way, but, ultimately what he truly cares more about is being Right TM - i.e. having his hypothesis proven to be true. clinical, cold researcher/mad scientist vibes.

for roose bolton i couldn't possibly mount a defense even if i were so inclined, but i do enjoy him as a character. i think he's very funny? lmao this sounds very obnoxious after i just tore varys a new arsehole but roose is unquestionably a villain, so there's no need to pretend like he's contributing to the good of society or anything. whereas with varys there is that element to him, perhaps why i find him annoying and roose i do not. roose has some great one-liners - he was funny in the show and he's funny on the page. absolutely awful but enjoyable for what he is.

for tywin i will not be writing any significant meta until i wrap up my last phd chapter and do a proper re-read bc i do not have energy to get into that disk horse right now. i know people hate him but yes he is one of my faves. with tywin i find that he generates three types of commentaries - either people hate his guts and see everything he does in a villainous lens or he attracts the sort of dudebro fan who idolizes the ground he walks on in a v silly way. the third way is the few people who might want to attempt to see him as more three-dimensional, but, because they don't want to get attacked, they preface their commentaries with disclaimers and apologies and messages that they absolutely do not condone his actions, so much so that the observations kind of get lost along the way. i'm neither. i want enlightened centrist meta on tywin lannister. i'm a chill tywin enjoyer, an aficionado of Machiavelli deconstructions. i'd lighten up the mood a little with my quirky takes. but anyway i don't really have time for that kind of fight and tywin himself would tell me to stop procrastinating and get my work done so i'll have to listen to Daddy i guess!!!

EDIT: oohhh i forgot about bloodraven. i'm gonna be contrarian about this one bc i really don't like it when george shoves his fave characters down my throat. i can FEEL that he really wants me to like bloodraven and the blackwoods, just like he wants me to like daemon the rogue prince. and it's annoying sorry old man. i don't think bloodraven is supposed to be written as 100% evil (george wouldn't do that to one of his faves) so his human life is supposed to be guided by some moral principles - i believe that he believed he was servicing the realm with his anti-blackfyre stance and surveillance regime and i believe that even the author intends that to be true to some extent. however, i can't say the same thing about his time as a magical tree. that's just some creepy AF shit. his luring of bran, i see that as magical corruption. bran is mostly a victim in all of this, but he is kind of tainted for me as a character now, bc i don't see how anyone could be 'redeemed' after dabbling in dark magicks like that, willingly or unwillingly. it would feel like a betrayal to how magic has been approached in the books so far - like a force you have to pay a high price for if you want to access it & not necessarily a bringer of peace and harmony either. that being said!!! if we ever got a blackfyre timeline show & bloodraven was played by this dark, sylphidine, mysterious, brooding albino twink......................i am not immune!