#But also that just feels like me being even more of an unnecessary hater and that's no fun

[bambisnc]

kill the romeo - how zb1 would break generic cliches!

pairing : ot9 x reader! genre : crack + fluffff cw/tw : based off of the reverse tropes list in title link + littol bit rushed n uneditted D: wc : 0.8k approx

˖ ౨ kim jiwoong ৎ ⋆

[too many beds] - this guy will nawt be caught slipping. any time you get mysteriously stranded and have to spend the night at a hotel all alone with him, he will make sure to book 2 separate rooms by hook or by crook (he behaves really nicely and politely with the hotel staff and they just melt and give in to his demands >.<). it's a whole other topic that by the end of the night either you or him take the initiative to softly knock at the other's door because you "jus' can't seem to fall asleep.."

(others utc 𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔)

˖ ౨ zhang hao ৎ ⋆

[really nice guy who hates only you] - an absolute model of the sweetest guy ever ™ for some reason acting like an absolute hater *only* towards you. but plot twist (because if he actually hated us i couldn't deal w that.) his prickly, irritated, downright bitchy behavior towards you is due to him not knowing how to be normal around you without putting on some kind of a facade. due to yk. him being head over heels in love w you (yes i'm delusional.) the confession would finally be yelled out in the middle of an argument over some random, irrelevant issue neither of you actually care about, thanks for asking

˖ ౨ sung hanbin ৎ ⋆

[too much communication] - i take no arguments. bro will Talk out everything and anything and we love that for him. there will be no unnecessary miscommunication drama in his household. it's like he has his green flag video game stats maxed out completely

˖ ౨ seok matthew ৎ ⋆

[fake amnesia] - going out on such a limb here but okay hear me out what if someone confessed to him. and he didn't know how to reply. so he. faked being an amnesiac. and obviously the person who confessed was worried so they like idk called you, his friend, up for help. cut to you reaching there like ???? wtf and him being like i'm sorry :) please help :). and obviously delicious shenanigans ensue afterward yum yum

˖ ౨ kim taerae ৎ ⋆

[too hot to cuddle] - super specific winter based scenario but imagine you want to initiate more physical contact w your bf but don't exactly know how to say it so you mess around with the heater, to have a convenient excuse, but instead of lowering the intensity of the heat just a tad you accidentally. max the heat settings. and also break the heat adjustor. oops. it may be literally snowing outside but it's basically an entire sauna in there. you do Not know how to fix it.

(when you eventually end up asleep though, taerae simply takes out the plug of the heater right before wrapping you up in a huge comfy embrace :P)

˖ ౨ shen quanrui ৎ ⋆

[true hate's kiss] - dipping into fantasy territory for the most royalty coded guy ever. you're cursed by some petty witch for whatever reason with the condition that only a kiss from your enemy would break it but for some reason didn't know about the condition. and in universe, you and ricky would already be rivals but when he found out about your curse as well as how it could broken (he's super smart/has connections okay just roll with it) he'd go out of his way to hide his own feelings piss you off more and more till your hatred is at an all time high. when you finally burst and strike a heated argument with ricky he ends up kissing you. (the audience cheers)

wait also imagine if after he kisses you nothing happens. the curse doesn't lift. wasn't the condition for your enemy to kiss you? so even if you were the only one who hated him it should've worked, no? ..

alternatively. the curse is lifted when he kisses you. but!! you don't know that. and him kissing you out of the blue would only lead to you being even madder at him. ong the angst potential is SOARING. do you guys get what i mean

god do i need to write a fic for this.

˖ ౨ kim gyuvin ৎ ⋆

[everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating] - when you end up confessing to best friend!gyuvin and learning that he, in fact, likes you back, you start dating and couldn't be happier. except that ... literally no one believes it. you could be literally making out in front of all your friends and they'd be like haha! classic gyuvy/n like ...... gyuvin obviously would never let go of the opportunity to suggest actually getting married "only to show them that you're together frfr"

˖ ౨ park gunwook ৎ ⋆

[accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss] - unrealistic coded but let me set the scene. your roommate asks you to fake-kidnap one of their friends for a surprise birthday party and you comply. but!! you didn't what the person looked like. meaning the vague description you were texted was all you had to go off of. and well. obviously that doesn't go well. you end up coaxing gunwook over to your place only for your roommate to be absolutely flabbergasted and in a terrified tone, tell you that you have the wrong person. who just so happens to be rather notoriously well known. all while he sits there like :]

˖ ౨ han yujin ৎ ⋆

[love triangle where the two love interests get together instead] - school au where both of you have a crush on the class president-! constant competition and trying to one-up the other for their attention wraps up yujin and you in such a whirlwind that neither of you can actually tell when it stopped being about wooing the pres but instead became all about subtly trying to make the other jealous so they would finally take the first step

notes : eeeeeeeeee + [m.list] song rec : all of cinema paradise actually

𐙚 . regulars : none yet! ⋆

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Don't mistake my dislike of B/llford as being for any moral reason; I don't care what people ship and even have a few friends who enjoy it! I just think their dynamic is so much more interesting without any romantic interpretation attached, and I always get a little sad when I'm looking at something involving that and it veers into 'haha they're divorced/exes/whatever'. Like aww, aro-blocked :(

[monstersinthecosmos]

can i ask what you mean re: disliking how the amc show deals with SA? (zero judgement ftr i just love hearing opinions about this show from other simple italian perv enjoyers. btw you're one of my favorite fic authors ever ever & i think abt gallows bird daily 🙈)

Obviously since you mentioned Gallows Bird in this very ask (thank you btw dskjglads I’m blushing) I’m not going to sit here and say people should never write about rape!!!!!!!!!!!  And I’ve been soul searching and talking this out with a friend today to make sure I’m not just being a hater and that I’m not having cognitive dissonance over the difference between writing porn (intentionally, intended as porn, labeled as porn) vs lazily throwing sexual assault at female characters for “character development”.

(putting this under a cut bc I'm not trying to hate on youse guys's show!!)

It's not that we should never talk about it, or never write about it, but I think it’s like any other storytelling where like, the framework and intention inside the text matters, and criticizing if it landed the way the creator intended is worth discussing. So like, I’m a fan of noncon smut fic, I won’t deny that. I also approach it in a context where I know I’m consuming smut, and it was intended as smut, and it belongs in its own lane. And I think, personally, I enjoy fics (which by nature are anarchistic and transformative) because they tend to be a commentary either on our culture or on the canon source material. Even when fanfics are PWPs that don’t go out of their way to talk about character arcs or make profound commentary on the canon, fanfic EXISTS as a commentary on canon in the first place, so it’s there by default.

So with AMC there’s a few things that really bother me about how they wrote Claudia in S1, and full disclosure I haven’t watched S2 yet, so take this with a grain of salt.

I don’t think it’s cool when a production team of mostly cishet men think that the only way to develop a female character is to have her raped. It’s lazy and it’s hurtful to the audience, and in this particular show it was not handled with sensitivity to make the story worth it. Like, what was the weight of the scene vs what it told us, and what was the payoff? Did the show earn this? (I personally don’t think it did.)

RJ himself said it was to “toughen her up” and that’s just, absolutely fucking nauseating to me, especially when it’s stamped with so many hallmarks of How Not to Write Rape. For example, the fact that they use it to tell us about LOUIS. It’s about LOUIS. It’s not about Claudia at all; we see her assault and the net result is seeing how it affects the MEN in her life. And even using her diary as a framing device for these moments, to tell it from her own words the best they can, it’s still about Louis. The pages being ripped out (in S1, idk how this lands in S2) are about protecting Louis. Claudia didn't remove the pages to protect herself, as far as we know--the men in her life removed them to protect Louis. Fridging a female character for the sake of developing the mens feelings is lazy and obnoxious, and in this story in particular it felt extremely unnecessary to the plot, and adding it at all just came across as gratuitous to me.

(Also, I can tell that this show is like, an exercise in slow burning, but, I just think the bar is really fucking high if they make this all mean something smarter but made everyone sit through this and wait 1.5+ years to get around to tucking it in lol. And like, idk what the pages could possibly say/how they will present it that will change my opinion, but RJ's comments can't be unheard so I'm not sure it matters and the trust simply isn't here, for me. Personally I don't have the patience to wait years for a show to close a loop like this but maybe you're more patient than me.)

I don’t want to get into a whole side essay about how gross I find the Claudia writing in general, but like, as a TLDR the way they aged her up only to reduce her to sex is just so fucking gross to me, and not like in a IT’S HORROR, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE GROSS way, but in a This Is Kinda Fucking Sexist way. Especially with the sexist comments RJ has made about Anne Rice herself, while piggybacking her IP to make his show. But like, there were OTHER things about Claudia already. They already told us she came from an abusive background. She did not need to be raped for her to come home and recognize the abuse between her parents. Any number of horrific things could’ve happened to her out in the world, but the only way this team knows how to traumatize a girl is to have her raped.

And again I didn’t watch S2 yet so like, I’m not entirely sure how it shakes out, correct me if I’m wrong, but we find out now that it was prolonged and worse than what S1 showed us?

Like, why.

Who does the torture porn serve. We already got it, it was already horrific. We already got it. You’re overselling lol.

Claudia is already tough. She survived her dismal mortal life, she survived Lestat. She was brave enough to wander into the world, not just as a teen, but as a Black girl! She was already independent! In the book, she was the driving force behind helping Louis escape Lestat, and she was pulling the strings in getting them to Europe. The show has that material to pull from. We can see that she’s strong already. We don’t need more rape to communicate it. It’s lazy and gross. Especially when, in the same episode, they are able to traumatize Louis with horrific violence. The show knew how to use violence, mind gift manipulation, race and age and power dynamics in ways that did not involve rape, but still chose to have Claudia raped.

I don’t have an issue with stories talking about sexual assault but I think like, especially after Game of Thrones, we’ve had like, 10 years of media criticism mapping out how to write sexual assault successfully or respectfully, we’ve had endless commentary about how we can find other ways to traumatize women that do not rely on sexual assault, we’ve had endless commentary about how stories about sexual assault would be more effective if they were about the victim and not ultimately about the men in the story.  Like, enough of this already.

So, I’ll be curious to see how the show handles Armand’s sexual assault history, and if we see the writing handled differently because he’s a man, or because we have him directly on screen to tell us about it. This might reveal if this is a like, “only tool in the toolbox is rape” situation or a “women exist in fiction to be raped” situation. But if Lestat suffered at the hands of Magnus without being raped and Louis suffered at the hands of Lestat without being raped*, I have to ask why it was okay to have Claudia raped, why that was the thing they came up with, and while they can’t backpedal and fix the way RJ spoke about it during S1, they have an opportunity to be more intentional with the way they write it for Armand.

(*I do want to add that S1E5 being bookended by blood drinking was a hint that Lestat drinking from Louis during their fight was also rape, contrasted by the way Louis drinks from Armand in the beginning as ~ lovemaking ~; imo that could've been a more tasteful way to handle it in this universe specifically, when that’s the sex analog in the books. So like, yes in some ways Louis was raped by Lestat in this episode, but that also shows we respect Louis enough to have it symbolic vs Claudia’s being literal.)

But I just have a real bad feeling, the way they made Lestat WAY WORSE I just imagine they’ll do the same to Marius. And it’s sort of ironic that the show in a lot of ways exists in conversation with the book canon, like, the racial commentary feels at times like a commentary on the books’ racism, and I wonder what the decision making process was when they were picking which themes to correct, or comment on. Because a LOT of people criticize themes of rape and abuse in VC, and in some ways the show making it more overt feels like they’re putting a huge spotlight on it to acknowledge it properly, and in other ways, having Claudia raped feels like it’s going down the same path of insensitive, shallow writing.

And also, idk where I’m supposed to tuck this thought lol, but as an addendum I can’t not mention that I think it’s really fucked up that they’ve talked nonstop about how much they respect AR and the canon and yet had the analog character of her daughter raped. Like, in S1 they burn the tapes, in S2 they mock the plotlines as being a soap opera, and they have her daughter raped. Like, Claudia was the REASON for VC in the first place. IWTV is about Anne Rice grieving her daughter, and it sucks that the best way they could come up with existential cosmic horror for a teen girl vampire was to give her a perma-hymen and have her raped. It’s just gross, I don’t like it lol.

The first quote I saw from RJ when the show got announced, he said something like "IWTV was written by a grieving mother" -- not Anne Rice, best selling author who reinvented the vampire genre, but "a grieving mother." And it's just, idk. Rubs me the wrong way that he can reduce her that way and be this disrespectful for the character based on her daughter. =/

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here bestie, ready with the gin to endure whatever nonsense Eddie's plot is devolving into this week. God I hope the focus on Henren or Bathena so I can walk away with some sense of satisfaction. I'm not even going to attempt to say something good might come out if it, since history isn't on our side this season wrt Eddie. Tim needs to lay off his Hitchcock obsession, he did Psycho on LS last season, is doing Vertigo now, and both plots were utter nonsense. At least I got a good laugh today looking at the stills from the Oliver and Lou interview. Somebody should have told Oliver to blink 3 times if he's there against his will, though the fact that he looks like he's actively leaning towards the nearest exit probably says it just as well.

Yeah, the sooner bucktommy ends the happier I'll be. The relationship itself is fine, on par with every other BS relationship Buck was in really, but the fandom around it is exhausting and the active attempts to erase any semblance of Eddie in Buck's life is just so, so dumb (and pointless, like Buck wouldn't be the same without Eddie in his life just as Eddie isn't the same without Buck). Anyway cheers friend, we're on the precipice of something that looks both exciting and annoying, let's hope the scales tip in our favor 🍷🍸🥃.

Well, as I'm sure you guessed by my late answer, I saw this and waved at you from post limit jail, due to the d20 finale last night. I wish Tumblr would have a pop up like, "hey, you have 5 posts left before you hit post limit today!" or something so I could prepare!

So, good news, the Bobby and Henren stuff was *chefs kiss* angsty and dramatic and pulled at my heartstrings! The Bobby montage as he's giving his Captain Dad advice and having Buck cook, and calling Hen "Mother Hen" (while looking at Buck and Eddie 👀👀👀), giving the prayer book to Eddie, giving tips to Ravi, calling out orders on scene, it was all so much! And GOD, them taking that poor little girl away, and Denny stepping between that man and his sister, I was in TEARS! The Bobby and Athena talk got me too, and then him seeing his dead dad?! Bobby is going THROUGH IT and I ate it up!

As for Eddie I- legitimately do not know what to say. The whole thing was a mess, Kim giving herself bangs?? to roleplay with a stranger?? was just SO WEIRD and off-putting. Sorry I guess I'm just a hater but I think Eddie getting stuck with actresses like GW and EG means that him having scenes with anyone else feels good? but I'm not falling all over myself about any magical chemistry 🤷🏻‍♀️I hate this storyline and I'm tired of the narrative that this was some great love Eddie is missing out on when season 2-3 gave us actual canon evidence that it isn't true, and it feels more like Tim wanted Devin back and thought he could get away with it now that the audience had some space and KR spent all last season pretending Shannon was some saint (when he killed Shannon off so quickly originally because he said the audience wasn't going to forgive her and he didn't want to waste screentime on that when grief tied in with anger and abandonment was a more interesting storyline for Eddie and Chris). I'm also VERY curious about where the "Eddie realizing he's been looking at the relationship with rose colored glasses and living in delusion about it" is because GIRL that wasn't it. Eddie crying about her being the great love of his life and how they could have had it all is NOT him taking off the rose colored glasses, no matter how pretty Ryan looks when he's crying.

ANYWAY. I was already not on board with this but the writers dragging Chris into it too just gives me the ick. And it might resolve fine, but GOD!! THE JOURNEY MATTERS!! It matters how the characters get places! And this is just...not just a mess but a completely unnecessary one. They could address Eddie's grief and delusions about his relationship with Shannon (and her relationship with Chris because don't think I didn't clock him bringing up her (shit ass guilt trip) letter but not that she abandoned her son and cut off all contact for years) without resorting to trashy soapy doppelganger nonsense and cheating drama. And it's WILD because Bobby's arc this season and his relationship with Athena, and Henren's storyline have been SO GOOD, and even though there were some pacing and tone issues, even the Madney stuff has been good (and Kenny always slays the dramatic arcs!). Buck has taken a mostly supportive backseat this season which, while I ADORE him, was needed after the mess KR made of his character and her apparent lack of interest in the majority of the other main characters and his personal storyline (the bi realization, being Eddie's partner for all the big emotional talks) is also fine, it just got hijacked by some absolutely bizarre shipping strangeness over a couple minutes of screentime. But GOD Eddie's shit has been such a weird mess! It wasn't enough to be stuck with the transphobe all season, we also had to add in this nonsense?! Thanks, I hate it. At least we might finally be allowed to let Shannon go?? I am literally begging at this point.

As for th b/t of it all, I have literally blocked it from my mind and out of my existence (the ONE perk of my tumblr app still not working and having to do most of my stuff in my phone browser means I haven't really seen my dash lately and I've been smart about staying out of the tag for once) because it's just not worth the headache the bad takes give me. I'm just...so tired. I was willing to watch it play out (felt very much like Ali as the first step post-Abby, something background setting up for more later *cries in s4 Buddie canon*) but go at this point I just need it to be over for EVERYONE'S sanity. Especially Oliver's because like, girl. Why do you look like you're trapped in that loft with MW again?! Why so haunted? Girl, are you okay?? Oliver?? And how he continues to just post Buddie/Ryan stuff?? Loud.

I'm just...tired. So tired. And I need a drink. Imma go find some absolutely filthy/funny/fun Buddie fic and drown myself in that because I have the unfortunate feeling it's gonna be a LONG fucking hiatus.

Cheers friend. I know I always say if we can survive RNM (with it's own doppelganger storyline) then we can survive anything but GOD it would be nice to not have it be so hard.

[priceforrottenjudgement]

I didnt want to be negative about natla, i didnt want to hate it, i was really really rooting for it at first, even when the original creators exited the project i was still being positive about it.

On its own this is a good show. Ive seen ppl criticise acting or cgi, but i thought both of those were good. The casting (with one exception) is amazing.

And thats what makes me so mad, the show really had all the requirements to be great, but in their idiotic attempt to appeal to "Fans of got" they committed the exact same mistake the got writers did, namely thinking they can or need to improve the original.

Natla is chock full of unnecessary little changes, but these changes add the fuck up. Taking away so many of kataras lines or actions and giving them to someone else? Removing her anger about sexism, but not the sexism itself? Aang can fly? Aang didnt run away from his Avatar duties, taking away a big part of his character development? Cutting out ALL the slapstick humour? The weird ass first 5 minutes? Fucking making us watch the airnation genocide? And thats just ep 1.

Also why why whyyyyyyyyyyyy the fuck did it need to be dark and gritty?? WHY. they said they wanted to appeal to the original audience and got Fans, like, i dont even have words for this, why??? Why even try to adapt atla when you plan on fundamentally changing the vibe and style of the original Show, why not just pick literally any other grimdark fantasy instead??

I feel so bad for this cast, they truly deserved better, but the producers of natla clearly only had profits on their minds and tried to 'widen' the intended audience by adding dark and edgy shit (as if the og atla Fans werent enough) while also removing amything deemed too controversial (the sexism discussions, character flaws, putting sokka in make up,...). Also "show dont tell" is dead i guess.

This sucks man, i wish the cast all the best and a successful career, but i skimmed through reviews of the show and needless to say i wont watch more than the first ep. This is genuinely disappointing.

Again, on its own this would be a great show, but as an adaptation of atla it falls completely flat bc it misunderstands whst made atla so good to begin with. Youre ofc free to enjoy it, but dont accuse ppl who didnt like it of being haters or purists or overly critical, bc i really really wanted to enjoy this, i wasnt gunning to hatewatch the show :/

Man, fuck grimdark adaptations, all my homies hate grimdark adaptations.

[stanleyl]

Not trying to undermine Francesca at all because She deserves the praise and more but I actually hate the fact that now the narrative is that Tom is giving a terrible performance and ruining the play because that's not true. I'm all for defending Francesca from the attacks and report as many posts as I can, but if you feel the need to trash Tom's in the same breath (most of the people who are saying that didn't even see the play themselves !!), it's not genuine.

Also what's being misconceived is the contrast between their portrayal. I've seen many people who hated Tom's take on the character say that Her Juliet is fierce and confident and glorious (as she should and how she was written) and his Romeo is a pathetic and lovesick and desperate, so he doesn't shine, while she's shining. Romeo is supposed to be the least interesting out of the two, he's playing it as it was meant and how Jamie wanted it. That's the entire point of the duo but they messed it

Critizing him for playing the character exactly as it's supposed to be played is the kind of thing a Tom hater would do 💀. Also, remember that screenshot I shared of someone calling him a hunk? They thought the performances were good but didn't like how Juliet was portrayed. I didn't share that part because I don't feel like posting negative reviews on her portrayal, even if they're not meant to be mean. It just doesn't seem fair, you know?

If you're only giving props to someone to tear the other person down (and this goes to her friend who was clearly throwing unnecessary shade at him), then those compliments aren't that genuine. Tom could've just stuck to blockbusters and Peter Parker roles forever, but he's choosing challenging stuff to grow as an actor. And he's clearly leveling up. The only diff between him and his peers is that everything he does (or doesn't do) gets torn apart by certain people. It reminds me of when Britney Spears got heavily critized by the press about her public image, and then she questioned them why she was the only one catching heat when other pop girls were doing the same thing. I can totally picture Tom feeling the same way about the criticism he gets vs when it's the other 'favorite white boys'.

[chenfordspiral]

Invading your ask box!

I suck at coming up with questions and also I'm curious of everyone's answers, so in light of manifesting season 7, what are your hopes for when we hopefully get a full season 7?

Go as wild and unrealistic as you want!

Oh boy, this is tough 😂 but thank you so much for asking! I’ve missed being on tumblr and this was so nice to see in my inbox last night 🥰

Well, we might not know what the rest of season 6 will bring but if it doesn’t come up in any of the other six episodes, I’d love to have Lucy and Tim talk about officially moving in together and then actually doing so. I know they’re practically living together already, but I’d love for them to maybe get their own new place together? Get a whole new apartment/house that’s theirs. Honestly, just gimme all the cutesy domestic moments they can fit in because I’m a sucker for that - what else is new? But also, please let them keep working on properly communicating with one another even if it’s hard because no relationship can survive without good communication. 

And, you know, if they're feeling like it, I would also not say no to a proposal.

I WANNA KNOW BABY GIRL EVERS’ NAME FFS. Obviously I’m most invested in Chenford, but it’s driving me insane that we’re 4 eps in, and still don’t know her name. Speaking of kids, I’d love to see more of all the kids Lopez and Harper have. Get rid of some of the unnecessary Bailan domesticity crap and gimme any of the other couples instead. 

Speaking of Bailey.. I’m not a hater, also not exactly a fan, but can we get her in a storyline that doesn’t involve Nolan in some way? I think if she were to interact more with the other characters, we as the audience could potentially get more involved with her character. She’s basically tied to Nolan, and sometimes it feels like a disservice to everyone (including Jenna as an actress) to limit her interactions to basically just him and quick two-sentence exchanges thrown in every 20 eps like with Lucy in 6x04. 

I know it’ll never happen, but I would love to see Chenford babysitting either Jack and his baby sister or baby Leah because we know they’d just.. well, maybe not suck at it but they’d likely struggle and lose a kid or two lol and it’d just be so much fun to watch. 

I also gotta broach the sensitive topic.. I’ve been hoping for Lucy to do a long-term UC op practically since I started watching the show and even more so since Chenford became canon simply because I want to see how she would handle not being able to contact anyone she cares about. Give her a handler that’s not Tim, not Harper, not anyone she’s familiar with so she can experience what it would be like to be completely cut off from her life and the people she loves. Maybe I’m understanding her desire to be a deep cover UC officer and she’d flourish under those circumstances, but I think if she experienced an op without any of her friends (or her boyfriend) as her handler/back up, she’d have a better idea of what her life would really look like if she chose that path. She’s a people person, and I personally don’t think she’d like it as much as I think she wants to like it. (6x02 hinted at her not being as fine about it as she claims to be, and I hope we get to see more of the topic.) If not that, I’d also just like to see an op gone wrong. They’ve all been fairly straight forward without any kind of consequences even after her cover had been blown, and I’d be very interested in seeing something just not go as smoothly. Also, Lucy could do ANY job within the LAPD and absolutely kick ass. Where are all the departments wanting her on their team that the cop offering her that spot at UC school talked about?? Where?! WHERE?!?

I’m rambling now, great. Okay, I’m gonna stop here. I may have missed some obvious wishes here but for now these are some I could think of right off the bat.

Oh oh oh! Lucy’s called Tim babe before, can we get Tim calling Lucy by a pet name? Pretty pleaseeeee 🥺 and last but not least, give us Kojo back. And bring Genny.

Now I’m done. Thank you so much for thinking of me, Suz! ❤︎ This was so much fun!

[chefkids]

You’re not even criticizing the writing, you’re hating the character. You’re never talking about how her character could be improved or what she could represent in the story. No constructive criticism is given, you literally just throw all the hate to this fictional character. You continue to try to cover up your tracks by saying you’re discussing the writing instead of holding yourself responsible. You know you do not care about Claire that much. You don’t. So acting as if you care about the writing behind the character when you just care about Claire getting in between Syd and Carmy is just disingenuous. You’re focusing too much on Claire and not enough on Carmy’s flaws and wrongdoings. Wanting Claire to have more depth is fair, but you definitely don’t want her to exist in the first place. Having this much hate for a character that isn’t doing anything but being Carmy’s love interest is weird. She has other elements to her as well and that’s most likely going to be built on in the following season, but you don’t care about that. Sydcarmy if they’re going to happen, they’re going to happen and I want them to, but hating Claire’s existence isn’t doing anything, but making this discourse more unbearable. It stops us from having any meaningful discussion when we have to deal with unnecessary misogyny. I don’t know why you refuse to be open in this discussion when people are asking you to stop being misogynistic. I’ve seen people criticize the writing behind her without hating her character’s existence. You can surely learn how to do that.

That's crazy cause I literally do have several posts on here dissecting exactly how her character was written, why they did it, and why it actually works for the show's plotline. Which is a lot more thought put in to her than all the people just saying she's annoying for whispering or saying she's actually perfect and flawless and everyone should automatically worship her. Feel free to read them :)

I talk about Carmy's wrong doings literally all the fucking time. People even tell me I am just a Carmy hater for pointing out all his fuck ups. lmao

"Having this much hate for a character that isn’t doing anything but being Carmy’s love interest is weird." That's the entire point. She was not doing anything besides that. And that is boring. To me. If you love her go make a million posts about loving her. I don't care. Is it Claire's fault she was written non dimensional? No, but it's the way her character is and I'm not gonna not point that out because it offends you.

Where are your meaningful discussions about Claire's character? Where is the thought and insight you have put into understand the purpose of her scenes, her costuming, her connection to Carmy, etc???

Are you also having this of a visceral reaction to the other 2642 videos calling characters thot daughters??? Including Sydney??

[wispforever]

1, 7, 10, 13 and 16 for the ask game pls!

1. Most Overrated Character?

I'll answer this question more than once, cuz I'm a hater and I have a few. First one first, I'm just gonna say it. I've never understood what everyone sees in Obito. Do I understand his narrative role? Yes. Am I sympathetic to him as a character? Very much. Do I like him? No. I've seen piles and piles of fanart, of meta, of aesthetics, and playlists. NO HATE, everyone likes who they like, they see something in him I don't. Just do not understand it.

I find Obito annoying and frustrating as a character. He doesn't fascinate me, which is odd because I usually am drawn to characters with a heavy backstory. I think it might be that he decided to kill Kakashi about it. Idk. Just seems like if he really believes all the things he believes, if he really has risen above Madara and the Shinobi system's influence like he says he has, he wouldn't fucking do the same thing Madara wants to do and also try to kill Kakashi who endured the same trauma. Just don't really get him. Glad he came around though. I wish he didn't have to die, I find it unnecessary. The Leaf needs more Uchiha jesus christ

Also I think the obsession the fandom has with Rin THROUGH Obito is more than a little uncomfortable. Rin should have been explored via an avenue that wasn't him. In addition to him, maybe, but not Strictly Obito. Just another female character becoming a plot device.

7. Should Naruto have become Hokage?

I think a better ending for Naruto would have been a personal decision on his part that he doesn't HAVE to be Hokage. In my opinion, it would've been more thematically satisfying. Why do I think this? Because Naruto wouldn't even like doing the actual Hokage job, seeing as it's mostly paper-pushing, strategy, and talking politics with the other Kage. This is what I said to myself before the end of the series. *watches Boruto* I was fucking right.

Being Hokage doesn't suit Naruto. He wanted to become Hokage originally so the citizens of the Leaf would praise and admire him. It was a child's dream born out of unrelenting hate and ostracization. As he got older, Naruto never put two and two together that what he'd set out to accomplish was not actually being Hokage, it was finding people he could belong with and feel loved by. He'd done that by the end of the first arc, and he only went up from there.

After Sasuke leaves, Naruto abandons this dream. Whether he says so or not, Sasuke is more important to him than being Hokage. This could be because Sasuke is the one who makes Naruto feel the most at home in the Leaf. I think of it like this: if Naruto wishing to be Hokage is really a wish for belonging, Naruto pursuing Sasuke instead of pursuing becoming Hokage implies that Sasuke has filled this emotional role for Naruto (or Naruto wants him to, at least). In the end, he is made Hokage because he saves the world and is the most exceptional Shinobi in the Leaf; it's what makes sense. Naruto never really wanted to be Hokage. He wanted to not be despised by literally everyone. And in the end he wanted to be with Sasuke.

No, I don't think Naruto should have become Hokage. I don't think Naruto likes being Hokage.

10. Is Sakura a shitty character or shitty-ly written?

I don't like this question. I see it thrown around a lot. I don't really understand it, honestly. What is a character? It's a fake person written by a real person. It's called a character bc its characteristics and shape are decided by the writer. So what then is the difference between a shitty character and a character that's shittily written? Maybe I'm not conceptualizing it properly. Anway

I think all of Kishimoto's female characters are written like shit. There are zero female characters in Naruto that are given the focus or development they deserve. None of them are treated as if they have the same agency, drive, intelligence, or autonomy that the male characters do. Sexism is alive and well in this writing; there isn't anything else to say.

Do I think if these characters were written by someone who wasn't sexist/a shitty writer/unable to understand women, they would be better? Absolutely.

13. Was Kakashi trying his best? Was he a "good" sensei?

answered here :)

16. Is Tobirama racist against Uchihas?

Racism is defined by google as "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized." 

The Uchiha is a group in the Leaf that is a minority and also marginalized, as the governing body at this point is made up of Senju, a richer clan and one that has always been at the top of the ladder socially, politically, so on and so forth.

Tobirama, before he becomes Hokage, is unwilling to trust the Uchiha becoming a part of the Leaf. Seeing as the clans have been at war for some time, the concern that he and his clan won't be safe trying to make peace with the Uchiha is not an unreasonable one. However, after Tobirama becomes Hokage, he imposes special laws specific to the Uchiha. He confines them to their own compound, so they will be contained and separated from everyone else. He puts up extensive surveillance, so that they are monitored 24/7. He creates a police force of only Uchiha under the guise of granting them "governing power", what it's really doing is alienating the Uchiha even further from the rest of the populace. He spreads rumors and creates "scientific" evidence that the Uchiha will turn evil with the evolution of their sharingan- something that would be considered a trait distinct to the Uchiha as an ethnic group. Mind you this is presumably years after they have cultivated peace, as Tobirama can only become Hokage after Hashirama is dead. At this point, his fear of the Uchiha has no basis in reality, as they have given him no reason since the war has ended to believe they are a danger (much less inherently evil). He is perpetuating the stereotypes that existed during the war- stereotypes that were born out of fear of the enemy, dehumanization of the other that you must kill or else be killed yourself.

So in short, not only was he racist against the Uchihas, he practically invented racism against the Uchihas.

Thanks for the ask :)

[nelyos-right-hand]

I saw your post about how people should be kind when talking to/about people with different opinions and I do hope more people do take that into consideration because 1 being called stupid or worse because of my opinion is at times really hurtful. 2 it isnt going to make me change my mind.

I dont like elwing but reading pro elwing posts made me think of her as a more nuanced character than i did when I first read about her. But now almost all pro elwing posts i see also come with a if you dont wholly agree with this you are bad. Which putts me off wanting to read their takes at all and if anything makes me dislike elwing more. And im sure if I think like this at least some people in the pro elwing camp think similarly about the opposite kind of posts.

Hey Anon, thanks for the ask!

I can absolutely relate to your frustration, I made that post after I had been scrolling on tumblr, only to find another post insulting other fans, which finally made my patience snap.

People who have been following me for some time have probably noticed that I love this feeling of unity that we have in this (in comparison to others) usually really peaceful fandom. No matter our opinions, in the end we're all just nerds obsessing over (let's face it) a rather boring book of fake-history.

That's why this frustrates me some much: What does it bring anyone to insult fans? It hurts others, it doesn't convince anyone of your opinion, and it poisons the entire fandom by creating a feeling of hostility between the fans that is totally unnecessary because fans aren't enemies! It even makes the haters themselves unhappy because getting along with other fans makes a person happy!

But maybe I can also give you some hope: I was kind of afraid that the post you mentioned would backlash and only end in more arguments, but instead people have been very kind, and both kidnap fam and Elwing fans have been sharing their own experiences and frustration with the problem. And maybe that is the common ground we need that unites us.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts, I'm glad to hear that other people see the same issue.

[ms-all-sunday]

Hi!! <3 I'm @beanghostprincess (this is just my main acc) and I think you're one of the few people I've seen who don't like OPLA and honestly? Props to you for saying it out loud because I think people are just so protective over the live-action I never feel like I can talk freely and honestly about my real opinion on the show. So, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna drop here the biggest fucking text ever about it. You don't need to reply if you don't feel like it, but I'm so glad to have found people who probably feel the same way as me about OPLA.

I liked the live-action as in a "the cast is amazing and it was enjoyable to watch" way, but aside from that? The whole thing is just weird to me. I hate the direction, first and foremost. Most of the scenes lack emotion and proper stage indications and the shots are just... Not it. They use too many close-ups (for some reason I do not understand yet when the backgrounds they use are stunning and they could've used that to their advantage a lot) and insisted on referencing the "comic/manga style" the anime does when putting different shots of people on the screen when it doesn't look that good in a live-action if you don't do it properly (it could've been nice if the shots weren't always fucking close-ups. I'm a hater. I'm sorry). Besides, what's with the fisheye lens shots with blurry edges? It bothers me so much. And if I keep complaining about the direction and producing I might probably never finish, but I think a lot of scenes needed way more emotion and it's not only about the actors. They're great and they did a good job, but you can't expect them to carry everything on their backs and I think OPLA needed more indications in some scenes.

Leaving that behind, a lot of people keep saying that the changes they made in the plot are good because an adaptation doesn't have to be exactly like in the anime, because then it would be the same and the cool thing about adaptations is choosing the best parts to make people interested in the story and make them watch the original. And even though I sort of agree with this statement, the changes they made were utterly stupid even for a stand-alone show. I have different complaints about the characters (not Buggy, though, OPLA Buggy my beloved. And also Sanji, because I think they did it great with Taz and Zeff. Nothing to say there) but to summarize:

They ruined Nami's story and character. And it's not even because of the differences between OPLA and the manga, it's because it doesn't make any sense within the show itself. She grows too attached to the crew way too fast despite her personality and resilience to make friends. For some reason, she has a ton of scenes with Zoro that could've been used for a lot of character development and friendship within the crew as a whole or just between Nami and Luffy (which are the main focus in Arlong Park). Her decisions are rushed and don't make any sense with her character most of the time. The fact that she was the one to approach Arlong first but then she's seen as a prisoner instead of an ally is just stupid as a whole. The fact that Nojiko hates her only to make more drama happen seems irrational and unnecessary to me, honestly. And the fact that Luffy hears her story? When the whole point is that he doesn't want to hear it? It drives me insane in the worst way.

That being said, now that I mention Luffy: He's wayyyy too vocal here, I think. Like, I'm glad we can see more of his POV but I think the fun about Luffy's character is that you can read between the lines of his character and just get what he wants to say with actions instead of just words. I get that he's very direct and blunt most of the time in canon too, but when it comes to Nami? They don't need words. So the whole "Nami getting mad at him for letting Zoro be hurt and saying verbally that not everyone gets to achieve their dreams" (which, again, doesn't make sense for her character and it's unnecessary) and "Luffy telling her explicitly to rely on them" (when, for Luffy's empathetic personality that adapts to what other people need, doesn't make sense because he'd choose a subtler and active approach instead of a verbal one). And in general, I think Luffy (even though I love Iñaki. Iñaki my beloved- This is a script thing and has nothing to do with him) needed more action and less talking. More physical communication. Less close-up shots for God's sake-

Usopp is only used as a comedy relief character and literally does nothing in his own fucking arc. So. Yeah. Whatever. I keep saying I'm not mad but as an Usopp fan I am indeed very mad.

Sanji is perfect. Mwah, mwah. My only complaint is that they could have used better takes when he talks about the All Blue to Luffy and do it in a place where he can look at the sea instead of being in the kitchen. But well, perhaps you can use it as a metaphor about him feeling trapped or whatever. I honestly think it would've looked better with more beautiful shots but meh, it's just a lil thing and I don't mind.

Then Zoro. A lot of people have complained about Mackenyu not giving the same silly energy Zoro has pre-time skip. And even though I agree wholeheartedly, I think he has the capacity to be like that and the main issue here is the lack of indications. I think that, if they had worked on his scenes a bit more, it would have been more in character. I have a lot of issues about the staging in the scene where he promises Luffy to never lose again, but perhaps that's just me and my silly little complaints.

I know they used the marines to make the show more interesting and have a main villain but it literally led them NOWHERE in the end. Not complaining about Kobymeppo because I enjoyed their scenes an insane amount and they're definitely a highlight of the live-action, however, most of the scenes they use for the marines could've been used to make the crew grow closer and make their personalities more accurate.

And etc, etc, etc. I have more things to say but damn this is long af and I don't want you to spend an hour reading my opinion on OPLA. I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't like the show much. It's good for the vibes and the actors but the show itself has a weird pacing and the characters are portrayed in a very rushed and artificial way, if you know what I mean. Idk.

Sorry for the long text </3

No I want this I want to spend an hour reading your opla opinions. I MADE this blog specifically for people to infodump back and forth with me. this is my intent.

you articulated almost exactly why i dont like opla too, i pride myself in being a pleasant person to interact with even if youre an opla fan but you know as an opla hater you're seen as That Guy and want to avoid being That Guy? Despite my smoke and mirrors, I am that guy.

if you mention to me that you enjoy any aspect of namis writing in opla i... try to be understanding? its really hard for me because namis writing in opla sends me into a rage filled fugue state. i also never ever just personally would ever want to interact with someone who thought that legitimately, it sounds like a nightmare.

i also have similar feelings on usopp (i think the way they treated him was weirdly racially charged? im white so i cant speak on this fully but the way he was adapted was certainly imo to the same level of bad as nami)

nami is just also a character who i hold really fucking close to my heart for a lot of reasons because i share a lot of experiences with her i feel i can articulate fully why her treatment in OPLA is so bad.

i say this all with the sentiment that i love all of the actors because i feel like they were playing deliberately to make up for the bad writing

(minus emily rudd who i will not sugarcoat this has the worst performance out of all of them which i dont think is her fault- inaki doesnt do as well at luffy as id like him to but when the luffy writing is in character in episode 6 only he does actually do very well. i just think the script is never ever on her side ever.)

So zoro and nami scenes. a friend of mine had a similar question to yours and i responded with "they didnt have the suicide-attempt flirting scene in this version and they felt they had to make up for it" but ill elaborate a little more here. in arlong park, that scene (and also scenes in previous arcs with zoro and nami bickering) and also sanjis scenes with nami in the baratie set up both zoro and sanji as people who like and respect nami.

ideologically, within the context of op itself the way they treat nami post her lashing out is affected by this, zoro respects her enough to see her as a threat (its more complicated than that but to simplify) and sanji views her as a complicated human being because of his own experiences and assumes the best of her. we all know this why am i repeating it? well OPLA fucks it up. it sets up zoro and namis relationship fine, which ultimately doesnt pay off in the end with this conflict because its essentially nonexistent within opla and is seen as "nami was OUR friend first" which is ... the fact matt owens thinks this is how this should go tells you a lot.

deep breathe in

speaking of which.

so i didnt notice this first time around to the degree i notice it now so i dont blame you but the sanji writing in opla is . quite bad (it just looks very pretty coming out of taz' mouth and also next to the absolute dogshit way the other characters were treated in comparison). the worst of it i think is his relationship with other characters specifically nami oh god christ they butchered that relationship so much.

i dont need to tell you why OPLAs sexual harassment joke played for feminism is bad. you know why its bad. but i think the way i previously thought of it as "namis writing being bad" is somewhat incorrect.

if you write sanji as unambiguously part of a sexual harassment joke thats bad sanji writing. (if you think the original jokes in op proper were sexual harassment jokes you can at least admit to them mostly being ambiguous and if they were it was never directed at nami, who fully was in control of sanji)

but it was confirmed in an interview that one of the showrunners of opla itself did an interview pre release to say that quote "sanji is going to be less of a simp" (simp has an entire history of sexist usage i do not think he was just using it because its popular slang now) which means at least one of the directors thought the issue with sanji is that he was being emasculated by nami.

and because he didn't want sanji to be emasculated, within the context of opla sanji does not treat nami preferably due to his views on women but because he explicitly has romantic feelings for her, which then does two things: 1. ruins his entire conflict with zoro and why its interesting in the first place. 2. makes him more of a creep.

it also spoils sanjis character, sanji is not a masculine person who is trying to fit into masculinity, and because of how the show views him as inherently all of these things he claims to be, the struggle with him and gender is not articulated on enough because the again. at least one of the directors thought that was emasculating and appearently that's all he gleaned from sanji and namis interactions.

i will say taz skylar is an amazing actor and can fucking act the living shit out of sanji to the degree where i do not blame literally anybody for thinking the sanji writing is good. its not good. its just comparably a bit less evil all of the time than everybody else is. (which makes him the best written OPLA character. but that's not a feat.)

before i get into my big point which ties into basically all of my criticisms with opla. inaki godoy is good at luffy when hes given a script that actually is in character for luffy and writes him fully as autistic. OPLA luffy is allistic but still adhd to me. also i will literally never forgive them for the comment zoro makes towards the beginning of the baratie it really felt like they were avoiding saying the r slur. okay. that out of the way

...

so i bring a "OPLA was politically censored" vibe to the party that nobody likes, like to me its just obvious and i cant believe more people dont talk about the fact a lot of changes made within the story that were bad were to accommodate political censorship?

like nobodys mentioned directly any political censorship from netflix publicly, but i dont know how to else to describe the changes within OPLA

luffy literally says "be a good cop" in this version of the story and koby is no longer treated like a guy who is annoying and ultimately wrong but well intentioned and is instead The Neoliberal Mouthpiece who luffy (despite in canon literally forgetting he exists) loves for some reason? also buggy is done well i agree but i cannot not factor in the fact they made him way worse in this version.

it wouldnt be a bad decision on its own but that compounded with like... garp getting all the credit for restructuring the marine base and the everything with him in syrup village (i literally have not finished opla syrup village because of the beginning. my fucking god) like it just reads to me open as a book that netflix did NOT like that cops were getting punched. its the little things, too?

like bellamere actually scolding nami in front of genzo for stealing the book and making her pay it back instead of letting her keep it? nobody would change that if they weren't going at it from a "i need to change this because politics"

this brings me back to sanji again and also what i feel ultimately factors into a lack of acknowledgement of the queer themes in op. i feel that even at its best points, the baratie (OPLA), refuses to fully engage with the material its given in a well intentioned manner? (this is a sidenote but the fact fullbody in OPLA is made to fight with a pirate instead of just. be fullbody)

I do not think sanjis struggle with masculinity was conveyed enough. its less that his shit is actively bad like the rest of them (except in scenes with nami) and more just. passively bad? which is frustrating. which then brings me into um so every single acknowledgement of any kind of bigotry that one piece does is not mentioned within OPLA at all or is really toned down. like khaladore. DO not get me started.

summarization on the thoughts on khaladore (because this post is already too long): they made him "not bigoted" and also not an abusive paternal figure towards kaya and yet somehow at the same time refused to handle any of the sensitive subject matter he tackles with any kind of tact whatsoever? speaking as a khaladore fan who enjoys his protrayal of abuse within op itself and its one of the reasons i was first endeared towards one piece...

maybe OPLAs showrunners shouldnt be adapting a story with a lot of sensitive subjects if going by how theyve historically handled them theyre dogshit at it. just a thought. acting cannot save everything.

EDIT: source for oplas showrunner calling sanji a simp

[o-wild-west-wind]

A Biracial Reading of OFMD, ft. Iggy’s Revenge Izcourse

a.k.a. I typed out a sentence that turned into an accidental essay of meta, whoops!

Y’all…I love this fandom to pieces, but I don’t think some of you realize why not all of us love Izzy/may be critiquing him. And major disclaimer—I am in NO WAY telling anyone to stop enjoying him as a character. This is NOT an anti-Izzy post (I will go into more detail on why I in fact encourage you to keep doing so later, and to the people who are sending unsolicited hate mail to Izzy fans & haters alike: please don’t!)—I’m just tired of seeing vitriolic hate against the people writing about him as an antagonist, or critiquing his actions based on canon, or post after post of “why don’t people love Izzy like I do!!” and then aggression when people explain their honest opinions. Look: we all have our skrungly little bad guys. I get it!! I’ve got my own collection!! I too have become a consumer and enjoyer of the Izzy fanon!!! PLEASE don’t take this as an attack—I just want to provide some personal, potentially fresh context from at least one (obviously non-exhaustive) perspective for those who want to know why Izzy isn’t universally adored, and also to make a plea for a safer fandom space where we can talk about our perspectives on these fictional characters without escalating to unnecessary vitriol, especially as s2 be upon ye (bc holy shit fandom is supposed to be fun, we’re having fun and that’s an order 😤)

(Oh, and I know I’m potentially stirring the pot with this post, but this should go without saying: don’t send each other death threats. What the fuck. Nobody do this?!)

So now that the legalize is out of the way: I want to share that the reason I initially imprinted on this show—and on Ed specifically—was because I’d never seen an explicitly biracial character treated with such complexity, nuance, and grace. While our ethnic makeups are vastly different, I too am half-white & half-brown—which means we’re absolutely nothing culturally alike, but our worlds view and treat us as pretty much the same regardless. And like Ed, my dad resents my mom and my racial makeup, and is prone to what I like to call “white violence.” Not going to overshare on the internet, but let’s just say that all this compounded makes Ed feel highly relatable to me (although for legal purposes I promise I have not krakened my dad 🙃).

When I first watched the show (and honestly also until my 3rd or 4th rewatch), Izzy IMMEDIATELY made me think of my dad. He also immediately made me think of Ed’s dad. Their mannerisms, word choices, and tones of voice; the obsessive need for control; the default of violence; the gradual dehumanization until an ultimate kraken-ifying breaking point—it all read to me like an intentional parallel. A shadow of white violence following Ed around that he hasn’t been able to shake, and mirroring to him the things he fears the most, including the things he fears within himself and feels forced to become (he is half-white after all, and this is a whole other post, but tl;dr there can be a lot of baggage that comes with being half-white/half-poc in regards to grappling with your toxic relationship to that white side of yourself, and especially if your white parent was racist and/or violent). And you can claim a different reading of all of this if you want (I genuinely mean that, like I’m in favor of meta & I think it’s great to analyze these things) BUT. that does not change the fact that I felt what I felt as a result of what was portrayed on screen and combined with my lived experience. Because fictional characters are just that—fictional—and are vessels by which you can process the world; we will always bring our personal lived experiences to anything we consume, and that’s okay—that can be the point, even. Art imitates life imitates art. Interpretation is the name of the game!

(more under the cut)

So when I watch this show, it’s a helpful tool for me to process my own feelings of being victimized by the white violence that’s followed me around my whole life, as well as the ways in which I’ve rebelled against it/tried to make peace with a non-toxic version of whiteness (in parallel to the more overt theme of masculinity, which is—ding ding—inexplicably tied to whiteness and western colonialism) via chaos, love, hurt, and sometimes giving up and giving in—and in this process, Izzy is a safe target. And you know why that is? Because he’s FICTIONAL. I can feel rage towards him because he’s NOT REAL. I can better understand and process the pain I’ve felt and rarely seen societally acknowledged by watching it paralleled on screen via actors and writers who have likely also grappled with similar feelings (I mean, I genuinely have made more progress with my personal biracial trauma via this show vs. years of therapy), and if I want to assume the worst of Izzy based on my interpretation of canon to help me through this? That’s fine! Because I can’t hurt his feelings and he can’t hurt mine!! Because he’s not real!!!

And here’s why I still support the Izzy-enjoyment: I am sure that many of the people who love Izzy and defend him to the ends of the earth probably feel a similar way that I do about Ed. It’s why we get all riled up and protective of these characters, why we might take attacks on them as attacks on ourselves; recognition of the self in the form of the other, and all that. Izzy is a vessel by which to safely work through the dark feelings and the pain you’ve bottled up—and he’s a safe way to do that because he’s FICTIONAL. And that’s a beautiful thing imo!! That’s truly the beauty of art—it is what we make of it, and what we make of it helps make ourselves better. It’s good to be open to interpretation.

HOWEVER: that does not give you permission to discount my relationship to this show (as I will not discount yours), and more importantly: that does NOT give you permission to reject the notion that canonically in s1, Izzy is literally and thematically (emphasis on thematically) an antagonist who is purposefully written to cause harm that can be interpreted as a hate crime, especially to those with lived experience of homophobia/racism/ableism/bullying/etc.—and you cannot harass people about this when conversing about theories of canon. If someone sees Izzy’s dialogue as cutting, degrading, and even triggering, that’s extremely fair of them to do so—clearly Ed was written to feel it that way! Con himself has paralleled Izzy with Judas! And can interpret it all differently? Sure! But you CANNOT assume that everyone else will, and then get upset when people don’t. I can’t believe I need to spell this out about an angry white guy in a show about toxic masculinity, but if someone does not like Izzy, it is likely due to a personal history of harassment (or worse) that he is reminiscent of; by making a point to defend him to someone—even if you are well-intentioned—you are very much putting salt in a wound.

I want to take this opportunity to further emphasize some tenets of fandom in general:

you can like characters who do horrible things without needing to jump hoops to argue their morals as pure 👏

conversely, you can critique their actions and still like them (encouraged, even) 👏

you can like characters who do horrible things simply because they’re cool and hot and interesting—don’t worry, we know it’s not the same as liking people like them irl 👏

your liking a villain archetype says nothing about your own moral virtue 👏

you can like horrible characters and see reasons for why they are the way they are/view them as tragic/note sympathetic dimensions of their personality/root for them to have redemption arcs while acknowledging that said redemption arc may not have happened in canon yet and that these are implicit, not explicit, readings of canon 👏

and you can also reimagine canon and change their contexts in fan works so that they ARE morally virtuous 👏 but PLEASE just be mindful and accountable when you do this in a context where not everyone will see a character the same way as you, and where multiple of people of marginalized identities have spoken out about the harm not doing so can cause. Just be honest, sincere, and kind, listen and learn, and don’t harass people for understandably needing space from a character that symbolizes something different to them than it does to you.

Also: blocking tags or people just because they have character opinions different than yours is totally okay and does not mean anything other than “I am curating my online space to have a better time,” it’s NOT personal

And most importantly: FANDOM IS FOR FUN! This isn’t our day job! We come to fandom to decompress. Don’t ruin people’s safe spaces!!!

Like I said, I’ve grown to enjoy Izzy over time thanks to fandom and fanon, and I think it’s fantastic that fandom can have such diversity in the way it interprets canon. I can’t wait for his probable redemption arc (it will likely be a healing thing to witness for many of us) and I’m truly glad that we can all have different relationships to the same characters. But please—when some of us need Izzy to be a punching bag, just let him be a punching bag. No, it’s not homophobic and DEFINTELY not misogynistic to view him as an obstacle in Ed and Stede’s relationship (baffled by the amount of times I’ve seen this take—it’s a funny joke but if you actually think Izzy is treated the way female characters related to other mlm ships have been treated, the point is very much going whoosh). You don’t have to engage; it’s not personal. It’s not about YOUR relationship with him—it’s about MINE. Please let me feel and even discuss rage towards him when I think about episode 10. Please let me throw as many sandwiches at his head as I need to. Because I PROMISE, it won’t hurt him—because he, and none of these characters, are real; and yet we, the fans, very much are.

[repurposedmeatlocker]

6, 12, 26, 33, 42 and 47 for the movie ask? <3

6. Favorite movie from the 90's I technically already answered this one with a whole list of films....BUT WHATEVER. I realized I didn't add Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999). I love them both, and they honestly hold up super well for cgi animated films from that decade. The first one is especially kind of wonky, but I never really noticed that as a kid. I think because the story and acting is so well done, and choosing the focus to be toys was so clever for the technological constraints of the time.

12. Are you against book-to-movie adaptions? I wouldn't say I'm "against" it. Some of my favorite films are book-to-movie adaptions. A lot of films transition to the medium really well. Some are even more engaging to me than the book. That being said, I think it is RARE for instances like that to happen. Kind of a shot-in-the-dark. More often then not, when I read a book before and even after watching the film adaption, my first thought is "oh this is a lot better". As a result, I try to account for them as their own thing with individual merits rather than a direct comparison. I DO think that some choices for film adaption are unnecessary, because I cannot fathom how someone could take the book and make it into a film that is actually good and/or better than its original form. I don't think someone should necessarily be stopped from trying. Maybe they will surprise me. It has happened. Not often enough for me to be enthusiastic though.

26. Best experience going to the movies? I've definitely talked about it before, but it would have to be seeing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with my friends in 2019. We were all unashamed haters, and were lucky enough to be in a packed theatre also full of haters. The engagement from the audience was so visceral and fun, we didn't feel any shame laughing/clapping at inappropriate times. When Ray came onscreen for the first time someone yelled "hot!" Apologies for anyone in that theatre actually trying to enjoy the movie, but also it was Rise of Skywalker, that shit was just laughably bad.

33. An overrated movie Barbie (2023). I wasn't exactly over-the-hill excited about it when it was announced. I chalked it up to me just not being that into Barbie dolls as a kid. Then everyone started shouting really obtuse praises and I was a bit curious. When I actually saw it I was just like "that is it? This is what people were calling "sublime feminist cinema"? This is what conservatives all through the United States were getting scared of?" I don't know. No shame to anyone who the film did speak to. I sincerely love that for you. I'm just a bit tired of people using that as an excuse to call ANYTHING they like "nuanced" or "high cinema" without irony. I don't think I would be as bitter as I am towards the movie if people appreciated it as it was: a campy, fun summer flick. Sometimes a film is just that, and that is ok! We don't have to call everything "high cinema" in order for it to be valid and treated seriously.

42. Films you wanted to watch, but never got around to watching? SOOO MANY. My watchlist is so huge. Generally, ANY David Lynch film, ANY Cronenberg film, and ANY John Waters film. I sincerely don't know why I've been putting these off for so long despite being aware of them for so many years and actively WANTING to see them. At this point there isn't a good excuse anymore.

47. Favorite road trip film Thelma & Louise (1991) is so good. I cannot sing it enough praise. Closely followed by A Goofy Movie (1995), genuinely.

[chickensoup1025]

Onto Bubbler...

Before it starts I wanted to say I have beef with Nino in this episode cause he makes his best friend's birthday about his hurt feelings and it's annoying and he didn't even get him a present

It was actually pretty nice of Plagg to try to give him that present

We love Sabine on this blog

Did Nathalie not even try to get him something herself??? She practically raised him!

Y'all should throw a small party at school if a house one isn't gonna work

Marinette is beyond thoughtful for MAKING him a gift.

EVEN CHLOE DIDNT REMEMBER IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY???

Are you seriously telling me Paris's Teen Sweetheart didn't have a fan club that is celebrating his birthday at all? He's not getting letters in the mail? Or fans coming up to him at school? Or MORE people telling his dad to throw a party/throwing one for him??? This episode is just. Idk man.

Marinette has been a called a push over in the last two episodes (and this is the SECOND EPISODE) so it's amazing to see how far she's come!!!!

ADRIEN HAD A PHOTOSHOOT SCHEDULED ON HIS BIRTHDAY? THATS SO UGHHHHHHHHHH AND DURING HIS LUNCH BREAK TOO

Bro. Nino says he's gonna go to Adrien's house and Marinette and Alya are in the background. Cut to only Marinette and Alya at Adrien's house. Did Nino get lost????

Alya can you please tell Adrien later that it was from Marinette?

NATHALIE YOU SNAKE

Wild how Gabriel really did come out to talk to Nino. Ohhhh he wanted to make Nino an akuma. Gotcha.

DONT SIT ALONE AND BE UPSET NINO. THIS ISNT ABOUT YOU. BE WITH ADRIEN. HE WAS JUST TOLD ON HIS BIRTHDAY THAT HIS BEST FRIEND COULDNT EVER COME AROUND HIS HOUSE AND YOURE JUST GONNA WALK AWAY??? GO BACK TO SCHOOL TOGETHER AT LEAST????? Speaking of, that photoshoot was super quick? And why was he dropped off at his house? No way lunch break is that fast???? Go to school??????

Ugly ass akuma

Gabriel seriously made an akuma who specifically hates and is mad at him 🤦🏽‍♀️

What even counts as an "adult" here? 18+ or like out of university or like old enough to have kids or-

I'm a Nathalie hater I dunno yall I can't believe her this episode.

Just a weird ass akuma

This being his first party makes me wanna cry.

NINO IF YOU TURN ON A SLOW DANCE BECAUSE CHLOE ASKED YOU TO THEN YOU DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT ADRIEN. HE WAS VISIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE EARLIER THAT DAY WHEN SHE WAS UP ON HIM OH MY GOD.

NO ITS THE ADRIENETTE SLOW DANCE SONG NO NO NO

I think Ladybug should be allowed to use her power selfishly like this more often.

Did no one hear when Ladybug said "yours truly"??? It was pretty loud

No one knows how old ladybug and chat noir even are so people might be imagining they're also just stuck in bubbles lol. Oh god, if Adrien and Marinette were adults then they wouldn't be able to transform like that out in the open and THIS COULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A GOOD PLAN TO TRAP THEM OR FIND OUT THEIR IDENTITIES HAWKMOTH JESUS. What you have to do is: Bubbler brings all the bubbles together so you can see them all in one spot. Have Bubbler WATCH, not just throw a party. If someone inside transforms then great! You know who they are. But if LB and or CN show up anyway then you know they're not an adult and that whittles down your search BY A LOT.

Girl is pretty brave for writing "Love, Marinette"

Nathaniel has some Shuichi energy hm

Cool moves...

"But adults keep children, safe, and protected. They care for their kids, they love them!" "Most adults do, anyhow." JESUS CHRIST WAY TO GO STRAIGHT FOR THR HEART

Him throwing his staff for her to swing her yo-yo around was completely unnecessary-

You can really see how the stakes change between the beginning and end of the show. "Oh I'm stuck in a bubble for awhile and just have to wait an hour at most to go back to my normal day" to "oh the world is ending"

Adrien is such a good boy...

One day- NO ONE HOUR of no adults and suddenly every thing everyone is trying to mail will be late for another week. Huh

Marinette didn't take the credit 🥺

"You're amazing Marinette, someone Adrien will see that too." Cut to not even a full season later Adrien leaning back in Marinette's desk chair, "You're amazing, Marinette."

SOMEONE GET THIS BOY A LEGIT BIRTHDAY OR SO HELP ME

[luciferstit]

Can I be real for a sec? I hate the MP100 S3 dub. I think Shigeo’s new voice actor is so goofy-sounding. Every time he talks, it sounds phoned-in, even in some of his episode 11 screaming parts where it’s supposed to be extremely intense. And it’s twice as bad bc Shigeo’s previous voice actor was fired for advocating for fair wages. It ruined the whole dub for me. Like I used to think the MP100 dub was actually really really good, as far as dubbing goes, but I refuse to watch it dubbed now.

Also, they’ve made some strange and unnecessary changes in the dub this season. Like in episode 10, they made Teru sound weirdly judgmental and irritated during some of his scenes with ???Mob? Which is not how I interpreted it at all, nor how the sub felt. This was most jarring because he said the line “I didn’t expect you of all people to lose control like this” like he was accusing or scolding Mob, instead of like the sub where it seemed like he was just musing out loud about what could’ve caused it. And they changed Ritsu’s “I was cowering this whole time/I hate it” lines with “I was wondering when it would show up/It scared me” which felt like a pointless change that ended up being less impactful than Ritsu’s simple “嫌いだ./I hate it.” We already knew he was scared, but admitting that he hates it felt more like a meaningful confession that made sense in the moment. I dunno. It feels so goofy and cardboard now that Kyle McCarley’s been canned.

Like respectfully, what the hell was the voice acting in this scene? Ritsu’s VA is very good, and then Shigeo comes in sounding like this.

He kinda gets your hopes up with the “Ritsu, stop it!” because the little growl he adds to it is actually decent, but then the “DOnT Come Annnyy cloOOoSeR” hits you like a freight train.

Maybe I’m just being a hater about this.

[namorslutfanfiction]

As bad as it sounds a lot of fellow Tenoch haters may just come forward and lie and take her side just to further tarnish and dogpile him. I just get the vibe that may be what’s going on. You’d think somebody would have solid and complete evidence of SOMETHING! Her going on social media with accusations and not a lick of solid evidence and being deflective is a huge red flag for me. I will say though I hope Tenoch learns from this. He does need to respect women more. Hell maybe he already does regret his ways and tries to make up for it. He also needs to respect himself and his own body and space. Not everyone deserves to be in your space even if they’re offering pleasure for the moment. He is a father and a public figure. To carry on that way was reckless and his playboy ways from that time have caught up to him. I pity his girls at this time and hope EVERYONE in this situation finds peace. And whoever is guilty is punished accordingly. But fuck man Elena just gives me gaslighting vibes. What a mess. I’m kind of glad he isn’t getting involved in the social media banter and making it more of a circus, he just needs to sit back and let his lawyers handle this and gather his own evidence. Elena acting a fool on social media will only backfire on her eventually.

To be completely honest, play boys play people who let themselves get played. There are always signs in how we talk and interact that show our intentions. Like i can attest to this as being both a player and having been played. What tenoch does in his private life in terms of sex and hook ups is whatever he wants and more power to him. It is not his fault if someone develops feelings for him when he has always been upfront that he doesn't believe in romance. Anyone who says that is in it for pleasure and fun.

Considering how many attacks he's already had to deal with I don't doubt that he has a good set of attorneys and publicists that keep him from posting anything unnecessary. We know he likes his Twitter fights but he's too big of a name now that he has a marvel movie in his rep.