#Criticizing ts is not the same as telling her fans they’re bad people for liking her

[stuckinapril]

I cant imagine the type of asks youre getting rn from swifties but I just gotta say youre so strong and so right and you should keep going

Lol I haven’t gotten any aggressive asks actually. Aside from that anon (whom I think was genuinely hurt???), most ppl were just sending me their think pieces. And while I don’t really like ts as a person/don’t think I’ll ever be into her music like that, I think liking or not liking her doesn’t change much and we can all have opinions on her without taking it too seriously. It’s all chill

(also guys im lowkey over it so we can stop w the ts asks now <3333)

[comradekarin]

That last ask you got here, just reminds me of the fact that while TS fandom claims to be all about feminism and women supporting women, it surely lacks intersectionality and it SHOWS and this is in great part because that’s the kind of advocacy they get from the celeb they worship, that’s why is dangerous to just pander to one kind of feminism as if everyone had an universal experience, when it couldn’t be further from the reality, we need to have those conversations we need to learn from one another and whoever has a privilege, should make good use of it to uplift those who can’t at the moment

Yup!! That’s basically the point I’m trying to hone to be honest. Again, I absolutely believe we should support female artists in the music industry, especially when they will be held to higher standards than other male artists (even in that area we can have a conversation about the dynamic race plays between male artists, too). However, it’s imperative we discuss how Taylor and her fans only use feminism to tell other people they can’t be mean to her, or critique her. Are these group of people the minority in the fan base? Maybe, sure. But should we sweep it under the rug and let it fester just because it’s the minority? No.

Do I believe the average Taylor Swift stan is normal and doesn’t hate black women? Yes. I believe there’s a lot of them who just enjoy her music and don’t feel the need to bash other black female artists in order to prove how much better Taylor is. Nonetheless, there’s still a large group of her fans who claim to support all women but will not hesitate to degrade and shut out the voices of woc making valid criticisms against Taylor. Just look at the Matty Healy situation. A white woman’s partner is exposed for making disgusting racist comments about black women, and the responses are not “this powerful rich white woman is continuing to date this man and is being complicit through her silence, which is enabling his repulsive behavior and she needs to be held accountable” but instead “we need her to stay away from this bad man!”. Yes, because the image and reputation of this white woman is more important than the dangerous rhetoric her partner is spreading about the same women she claims to support! Yes, because this white woman can have a collab with the same woman (ice spice) her boyfriend was making racist remarks about and everything is ok! Yes, because it is the white woman who is the victim here, and if you can’t see that you’re a misogynist!

Taylor’s silence during the wave of transphobia, the criminalization and banning of drag shows, the uptick of hate against black women, and so much more just makes sense when you look at the company she keeps. Didn’t her team try to sue a journalist for stating Taylor constantly toes the line with conservatives and white supremacists a few years back? Just look at the CO2 emissions drama where everyone was like “man I hate privileged white millionaires” and then she dropped an album and everyone forgot? Any critique for Taylor is met with these responses: A) Taylor isn’t the worst apple out of the bunch so why is she getting attacked like this B) Y’all would never do this to male celebrities so just say y’all hate women C) Why is Taylor blamed for the actions of other men or D) [justifying anything Taylor has done].

So, what you’re saying is correct anon. We can not talk about feminism and supporting “all women” while also trying to lump the struggles of all women into a single category. The initial Feminist movement itself excluded other women of color, it was something only meant for white women. White women have a level of privilege over other women of color, and we can’t pretend they don’t because they’re just “women, too”. White women and their fake white tears have done so much harm to marginalized communities, especially my own black community. I want this conversation to actually mean something, for it to be a moment of self reflection, for it to actually be about supporting, advocating for, and uplifting the voices of all women. I don’t want this talk of “support all women” to only be brought up when someone attacks your white fav.

[firelxdykatara]

gods, ok, apparently i’m not done.

atla fandom? we need to have a chat.

(....ok that made me sound pretentious as fuck. and maybe i am, but this needs to be said, cause i’m getting....real, real tired of a Certain Corner of this fandom and as a result, this is gonna be a discourse-heavy post so feel free to scroll past if that’s not your bag. as always, my salt posts all carry the catch-all #salt for ts tag, which you’re free to blacklist/filter at your leisure. i’m Very Annoyed at the moment, which will probably come through in the following post, so just. yknow. be prepared for that. or ignore it, that’s perfectly valid too.)

under a cut bc i do care for my followers and their sanity i swear lmao

there’s a real serious issue in this fandom with not understanding what queer terminology actually means or implies, especially when applied to a fictional narrative.

i’m specifically talking about ‘coding’, here. (if i were in a more meme-y mood, i might have said ‘the atla fandom found out about the term “gay-coding” and haven’t shut up since’.)

to the people who say ‘zuko is gay-coded’, i have this to say: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means. because he isn’t. i’m sorry, but he’s not! and the fact that this is such a prevalent claim in this fandom is distressing, bc it says to me that none of y’all know what gay-coding is or when and how to apply it! please, i’m begging you, go and look up these terms and what they mean and when they should be used before actually trying to plug them into your critical analysis, because when you misuse them and then call other people delusional for disagreeing with you it casts a pall over the entire fandom and is, i think, the root of some of the worst toxicity this fandom has to offer.

and the thing is, there are cases where gay-coding would apply--for instance, a couple series that are famous for queerbaiting their audience by coding their main characters as being attracted to one another (sometimes even despite their openly stated sexualities) come to mind, but those shows bare no similarities at all to atla and how zuko was written and portrayed! (and it would be funny, if it weren’t so obnoxious and infuriatingly wide-spread throughout the fandom, because the only queer couple we actually seen on-screen in either show wasn’t even queer-coded in any respect, and they’re canonically bi! [yes, i’m shading korrasami, or more accurately i’m shading bryke for refusing to give ka the build-up and development they deserved].)

this absolutely isn’t to say that headcanoning zuko as gay is a bad thing or invalid in any respect. (although the tendency for zukka shippers to do this specifically to keep zuko away from katara and/or invalidate his canon relationship/attraction to girls is more than a little eyebrow raising. especially since sokka is usually allowed to be bi, bc fans have no problem letting sukka stay in the background bc it’s no real threat, while jetko shippers are happy to have both boys be bi. [possibly bc katara is less a threat to jetko bc jetkotara is every bit as valid as any single ship between the three, but zukka can’t exactly let katara join in, and if the potential exists for zuko to be attracted to her then canon giving them the far deeper emotional bond becomes a threat to zukka’s existence? idk for sure--you be the judge.]) i prefer to hc zuko as bi (and always have, long before the atla renaissance), bc i don’t think zuko being attracted to boys is outside the realm of possibility, and it isn’t a threat to my ship since zuko&katara had a deep and emotional bond in canon that is very easy to develop further into something that becomes explicitly romantic--but the headcanon itself isn’t really the problem (although what it’s often in service to can be).

it’s the strange insistence that this is the only way to read his character, bc he was coded that way and so anyone who doesn’t see it must be too straight to understand--and i really shouldn’t have to say why and how that is so incredibly fucking insulting. (the ‘hetero lenses’ comment wasn’t cute when it came from bryke six years ago, and the same sentiment being repackaged and delivered by zukka shippers ain’t cute now.)

calling zuko gay-coded not only demonstrates ignorance as to what the term actually means, and how to usefully apply it in critical analysis, but also validates the frankly bullshit insertion of institutionalized homophobia in the world of atla where it was neither needed, nor wanted, nor ever hinted at in canon. as a queer woman i’m still infuriated by one fucking comic panel shoving institutionalized and systemic homophobia into a world where it was entirely unnecessary (and doing this in the first installment of the franchise showcasing a queer relationship??? making korra and asami worried about ‘coming out’ when they could have just gone on to have cute adventures together and tell people ‘hey we’re dating’ and have everyone else be ‘that’s awesome =DDD’ [because it is, in fact, possible to just have a world without homophobia i promise!!!!!] double yikes, i’m still pissed at bryke about it), and i doubly hate that ‘zuko is gay coded’ has become so widespread that ‘ozai hates him bc he’s gay’ has become a staple in that part of the fandom.

not only does making zuko gay and implying (or outright stating) that ozai hated and abused him because of it completely undermine zuko’s character arc by making his abuse about his sexuality rather than ozai’s toxic pride and anger at seeing himself reflected in his ‘weak’ son, but it comes very close to outright stating that abuse and trauma are inherently gay experiences, and they aren’t!!! they really aren’t, i promise!!!

abuse and trauma narratives exist outside of ‘my dad hates me because i’m gay’. and, quite frankly, there are MORE THAN ENOUGH queer trauma narratives out in the world. we do not need to start trying to retroactively make them canon in a series where they didn’t exist! if you’re gay and see yourself in zuko and project your own experiences on him, that’s understandable and valid. that does not make zuko gay-coded. and honestly, the insistence that he is makes very little sense to me, because you’re essentially trying to give the show credit for work you put into interpreting the characters! why would you want to do that? why not own your own headcanons and take credit for them, rather than insisting they are canon and everyone else is wrong for not seeing them??? like, i’ve said before that i’ve always headcanoned zuko (and katara) as bi, and even support it with my interpretations of evidence from the show, but the difference between ‘i think zuko is bi’ and ‘zuko is definitely gay-coded’ is that i know that bi zuko is my interpretation of canon, and that it is work i’m putting into the show that wasn’t actually intended by the creators/writers, no matter how much sexual tension i read into the jetko swordfight.

and like, zuko’s character arc doesn’t actually parallel a queer one all that well to begin with. it’s easy enough to do the work and twist it sideways just enough to make the general points fit, but the fact is, zuko’s arc is not one of self-discovery. it’s not one of coming to understand something fundamental about himself that he can’t change, that he was hated for, and coming out to his father in a dramatic confrontation where he shows that he understands himself and doesn’t need his father’s acceptance to be fulfilled.

zuko’s arc is actually one of trauma and healing. and those can (and often are--like i said, there are more than enough queer trauma narratives in the world, atla really doesn’t need to be one of them) be part of queer narratives, for sure! but they aren’t uniquely queer. and zuko’s confrontation with ozai during the eclipse doesn’t read like a ‘coming out’ at all. (yes, i’ve seen that post. yes, i rolled my eyes and moved on, bc unlike some people, i’m capable of not clowning on correctly tagged posts i disagree with.) zuko is specifically confronting ozai over his abuse, because his arc wasn’t about discovering anything fundamental about himself (and therefore realizing that ozai was hating him for something he couldn’t change)--it was about realizing that he was not at fault for the way his father treated him. it was also about realizing that the fire nation was broken and corrupt at its core, and that his father was an aspect of that he needed to break away from so that he could help the world begin to heal.

he says it himself:

Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.

making this about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.

is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.

(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)

anyway, uh, that was a lot of words, so have a tl;dr: zuko is not gay-coded. there is nothing uniquely gay (or even uniquely queer) about his character arc or characterization, and he was certainly not coded gay in an attempt to sneak a queer character past the censors. if anyone involved with atla was gonna try that, it would’ve been in lok, and as established, they didn’t even manage to queer-code the actual queer relationship before the last few minutes of the final episode. headcanoning zuko as gay is absolutely fine (though if it’s only done to keep him away from female characters he may otherwise be attracted to, that smells more like misogyny than anything else), but insisting that this reading is the only one that makes sense, and anyone who doesn’t agree must be straight (hello, queer woman here making this insanely long thinkpiece) is very much not.

ship what you like, but stop trying to invalidate other ships and other interpretations of characters just to make your ship seem more plausible. it’s really not a good look.

[dreamaboutwhathappens]

the man was FILLED with easter eggs and metaphors. here they are!

1. being in the room where it happens

in the lyric video for the man, we see a woman working so hard to try and get to where all the men are -- on top, both physically and metaphorically. in the music video, we see The Man starting out here, just another normal day at the office. another normal day in charge, and on top.

2. “i’d be a fearless leader”

The Man not so much as walks into the room and makes a few comments before getting applause for his work. at the same time, every desk in this office can be seen with a mountain of papers, files, and books stacked on top of them. for all the hard work that these people are doing in this office, The Man gets all the applause for a fraction of it.

3. the subway

now, obviously what we have here is what you have on any and every subway or other form of local transportation -- that one asshole who feels entitled to take up as much space as he wants at the discomfort of everyone around him. while i could get into how mansplaining is a metaphor for men feeling the right to take up more space in society then women, i won’t. instead, i want to focus on all the little details on this subway that tell men they can. at the very, very top of the frame, we see text at the bottom of an ad that says “because you DESERVE what you want” and the posters on either side of The Man tell us “mother nature doesn’t stand a chance” and “capitalize on the feeling”. this is how society treats men. they should get to do whatever they want, based only on their feelings or wants. this notion will become important in the subway station.

shoutout to the girl in the miss americana hoodie! i think we can safely say she’s listening to lover on her headphones.

4. the newspaper

for this image, i turned the brightness WAYYY up so we could read the newspaper. the leading headline is “what man won the year in celebrity dating?” with the caption “who crushed it this year?” one headline says “years most eligible CEO’s” and another says “men in love in sports”. now, i don’t have to tell you that taylor swift was vilified for her relationships. these headlines show the difference between how men and women are treated when it comes to relationships. what’s it like to brag about getting bitches and models?

on the back cover, we see a contrast between how men and women are viewed in society. the ad dedicated towards men has a very strong and tough vibe to it, and the article beneath it carries the title “it’s men against boys with no ladies around.” in fact, the only mention we get of said “ladies” is in the “style section” where we see two sexy, rail thin women posing at fashion shows. while society views men for their strength, women are supposed to be objects of beauty and desire, and nothing more. 

5. here lies taylor swift’s reputation (and all her previous albums)

now, obviously, the sign says “missing, if found, please return to taylor swift” and grafitied on the walls are the names of the albums whose masters taylor does not own. remember when those ads on the subway told men that you DESERVE what you want? that’s what empowered The Men who stole taylor’s masters to take them. they wanted them, after all! let’s also remember that The Man is can be seen pissing on the wall in this shot. it’s a metaphor for The Men who own taylor’s old albums and are essentially pissing on all her hard work. we can also see “KARMA” written in big letters in the middle of all the albums, which invokes a lyric from look what you made me do: “all i think about is karma, and then the world moves on but one things for sure, maybe i got mine but you’ll all get yours”. pretty sure karma is coming for The Men who own taylor’s masters.

if you look closely, you can also see a sign to the left of The Man that says no scooters! sc*oter bra*n is not welcome at the 13th street station

6. “i’d be just like leo in st. tropez”

for your viewing pleasure, i have included an image of leo in st. tropez. we can see women in bikinis, and every sort of expensive, luxurious form of leisure you could think of. during the verse where we see The Man on the yacht, she sings “they’d say i hustled, put in the work, they wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this i deserve”. this is reminiscent of The Man when he was in the office and how, no matter how much work he did or didn’t do, he is heralded as a genius. the point of saying she’d be just like leo in st. tropez is not to try and call out leonardo dicaprio for going a cruise and having some fun. people should be entitled to celebrate and vacation however they please. the point is that women should be able to do the same thing.

7. The Man’s “walk of shame”

this is a metaphor for how men in society are treated when they take a misstep. while women can be criminalized and thrown the wolves, it appears that men always have people on their team, and in this case, hands lining up to be high-fived. men often are not held to the same standards as women, and even when they do something wrong, they face very little backlash for it, and normally have their own set of groupies or supporters telling them that they were really in the right (and they are allowed to believe it).

at the back of the hallway, there hangs a portrait of The Man pointing at the camera, as if to say “you ARE the man.” it feels like uncle sam, but in a “ i want YOU for us army whatever your heart desires” kind of way.

8. world’s greatest dad

the bar for men is so low that when they do the very minimum (in this case, merely look after their own child), they get commended for it. imagine if this were a woman. would she be applauded? no, she would probably be reprimanded for being on her phone and ignoring her child, like The Man did here.

9. bragging

this one is pretty self-explanatory. what’s it like to brag about raking in dollars and getting bitches and models? what’s it like when it’s all good if you’re bad and it’s okay if you’re mad? in this scene, we see The Man telling all his buddies about the bitches and models and dollars, and then freaking out on somebody. 

10. raking in dollars

who's on the 100 dollar bill? he is! the serial number on this bill also ends in 13. i thought there might be more hidden goodies here, but if there are, the video isn’t in high enough resolution to tell. the only other thing i can make out was that it said “for motion picture use only” which i thought would be an easter egg until i rendered it in photoshop and could read it clearly. oh well!

11. raising money for the women’s charity

a problem we see in society a lot is people of privilege being an ally only by action, not by everyday behavior. here, we see The Man benefitting a women’s charity, but all throughout the video we haven’t seen him go out of his way to respect or give a voice to women. even in this shot, a woman stands on the sidelines while The Man takes all the glory. while he raises money for women, he has no other character traits that show he actually cares about them. 

in a different shot of this scene, a water bottle from taylor’s merch can be seen on the sideline.

12. the unimpressed umpire

this is taylor’s dad! his name is scott. in a video full of mediocre men, scott is our resident Good Man :)

13. the freakout

in 2018, serena williams unleashed on an umpire who accused her of cheating and stuck her with her third penalty of the game -- penalties the whole crowd was certain she did not deserve. she even said at the time “To lose a game for saying that, it’s not fair. How many other men do things? There’s a lot of men out here who have said a lot of things. It’s because I am a woman, and that’s not right.” this is a DIRECT representation of this. it’s as they say, it’s all good if you’re bad, and it’s okay if you’re mad.

14. the hat

the hat our tennis attendant is seen wearing says “TS” in big letters, and in a circle around it, it says “i’d be a fearless leader, i’d be an alpha type.” taylor’s dad can also be seen wearing this hat.

15. the one where lover is NOT the happy couple’s first dance

first of all, this shit makes me SO uncomfortable. this is obviously an allusion to all the men who marry MUCH younger women, which is poignant because, again, taylor suffers mercilessly for her relationship choices, and they’re nowhere near as abhorrent as this. something also worth mentioning: scott borchetta is turning 58 this year. i’ll let you figure the rest out.

16. mr americana

any taylor swift fan will know that in january, taylor released a documentary with an intimate perspective on her life titled “miss americana” which focused a lot on the struggles taylor has overcome in her career. choosing miss americana to be a part of this video is a wise choice, because it highlights those same struggles that taylor is tackling in this music video. we can probably assume that mr americana faces significantly less struggles.

every part of this poster has been revamped to be man-centered, even down to the star role - tyler swift, not taylor.

17. take two

here, our director tells The Man that he needs to be sexier, and more likable. this reflects criticism that taylor and other women in the public eye hear almost daily. as i mentioned before, women in society are valued only as objects of beauty and desire, and here, we see the script flipped to bring that to light. 

in this final scene, we leave the fantasy world of the music video that The Man is starring in, and go to what appears to be a woman-dominated world, insinuating that the universe of the music video is one opposite to our own. this drives home the claim that if taylor were the man, she would be the man.

18. dwayne the rock johnson

i thought that having the rock voice The Man was really poignant. think about the rock’s career -- started out as a wrestler, is now an actor, but he’s known for his kindness and his dedication to social justice. if you asked me if he had ever been a part of any scandal, i would tell you no. and that’s exactly who The Man is. that’s exactly who this song is about, and that’s who taylor is. she has had an insanely successful career spanning over a decade, crossing into multiple different genres and fields, and excelling at all of it. she’s friendly, hard working, a social justice warrior, and a philanthropist. but all of those things are pushed aside in favor of the negative. using the rock as The Man was the perfect way of finishing off the statement,

“if i was a man, i’d be the man.”

[reihikari09]

DTBY Finale

Aight, finally, Destined To Be Yours is over so here I am with my opinion of it.

Lemme just say that this show is a local in PH so prolly only Filipinos will know this, and hopefully understand what I’m feeling. Also, this’ll be a long ass post so buckle up.

Ok. Before anything else, I need to proclaim my love for the LT of Alden & Maine. I’m a fan. I’m M leaning bc I’m queer af, but nevertheless, I support MaiChard. 

Me:

To be perfectly honest, when they announced the TS, I was hella worried. I was worried bc of 2 reasons; 1st, I wasn’t sure if Maine was ready. I have never once doubted her talent, but still, I couldn’t help it. 2nd, I didn’t think GMA is capable of writing a drama series that’s worthy of A&M.

For the first reason, Maine proved that there was really no need to worry. Goddamn, just thinking of how much she’s improved since KS makes me cry. There’s nothing left for her to prove when it comes to comedy. She’s nailed it a log time ago, w/c, to me, is impressive considering that it’s harder to make people laugh than cry. A sob story can bring anyone to tears, but not everyone will laugh to a joke/antic. But she wasn’t that confident in her dramatic skills before, and I didn’t want her to do the TS if she wasn’t ready yet just for the sake of the fans. Pressure does nothing good; I know this for a fact.

Maine always says she’s not good with drama bc she can’t cry. But a few workshops later, and guidance from Alden & their other co-stars, Maine can already do it in spades. And I couldn’t be any prouder of that. She effortlessly acts on par with Alden, w/c we all know is a great dramatic actor. Not to be biased, but I’d rate M’s acting as 11/10. Seriously.

Me to Maine:

Now, reason #2. This is the thing I was worried most, simply bc I have no trust w/ these TS writers. I’ll admit, I don’t watch local drama series bc seriously, it’s always the same old, cliche’ shit. And GMA, teleserye was never their strong suit. I mentioned I don’t watch local series, but my folks do; my mom & my relatives. And I know for a fact that Ch 2 is more capable of writing a good TS. For GMA, it’s either decent/tolerable or it’s bad. There was a time, I guess, when they made good dramas, but that was a long time ago.

With DTBY, it started out good. In fact, the shows started really good it actually made me believe they can’t screw it up haha. I was so wrong.

I’ll start with my opinion of the characters. Please note that I am completely detaching my Maichard self from these opinions. These are all coming from the ‘self-proclaimed critic who’s a book & movie geek and studied writing & literature for 4 years’ me. Also, the Otaku me. As I share these opinions, I’m not thinking the fact that SinJie were played by MaiChard. I don’t wanna be biased.

Sinag. Sinag was a great character during the Pelangi arc. She was honest, sweet and feisty. And had a good character development during this arc. She would’ve been my favorite character if she didn’t lose all those developments when the whole Sinag-Badong thing. I really wished she didn’t say ‘yes’ to Badong. I understand that she must’ve been pressured bc he gave back the Destiny’s Promise, and they had an audience when he confessed, still, I just hope she didn’t drag the relationship that long bc it came to the point she was lying to Badong bc of Benjie. I dunno w/ other people, but to me that was cheating, and I regarded Sinag to be better than that. Then that kiss at the bar happened. Ok, let’s say it was an ‘accident’, but she never showed any guilt over it. Then the yacht incident, when She got left behind w/ Benjie... I know she didn’t love Badong, she’s prolly going out w/ him out of pity, but c’mon, at least show a little bit of concern about his feelings. She was better than this. Waaaaaay better. And when Badong broke up with her, she tried to fixed thing w/ him and I’m like, girl, when are you going to stop lying to yourself and to that poor guy??? I was so disappointed in Sinag mainly bc I love her & she didn’t use to be this indecisive :(

Benjie. I ain’t gonna lie, I hated this guy. I hated how his character was written. He was a stupid chickenshit. He didn’t have balls to tell Sinag the truth back in Pelangi, he couldn’t admit to himself that he still loved Sinag even after those 2 years. The character development he so fuckin’ deserved didn’t come until 2 weeks before the series ended. I know he regretted what he did to the Obispo fam, and he helped Tala’s operation, but seriously, he redeemed himself in the last minute. If Alden wasn’t playing Benjie, nobody would like this character. He was so badly written.

Me to Benjie:

Badong. Now, He’s always had a soft spot for me. Guys who suffer from unrequited love but refuses to give up always have my vote. Blame my obsession w/ shoujo manga, where in the main guy is most of the time a stupid shit, but the naive main girl still digs him, while the other guy just stands there, ready to claw his heart out for the girl who wouldn’t even look his way. Anyways, like I said, I like Badong, but I know that he ain’t getting the girl. I wanted him to confess tho, just for the sake of getting that huge weight off his chest. I wanted him to confess, but I didn’t want him to be w/ Sinag bc I know they’ll just fool themselves and each other, thinking that they could make it work. And I was correct. I really felt sorry for him throughout this entire series. The poor guy did nothing wrong but there he was, suffering. Thankfully, he was the one who decided to end things w/ Sinag. At least he could still keep what’s left of his tattered dignity. He deserved better. He deserved a girl that’ll give him the same amount of love he’s been giving to the wrong people.

Trish. I think she’s just the stereotypical 3rd party villain. I really didn’t care about her. So long as she didn’t try to kill Sinag &/or Benjie, I wouldn’t feel anything more than apathy towards her. She could’ve lived for all I care, she could’ve died for all I care. 

Ninay. Good character. Best friend of the year.

Tatay Teddy. Too fuckin’ stubborn & hot-headed. 

Lolo Vicente. Too fuckin stubborn  & arrogant.

The rest of the character were ok. They didn’t really have much importance to the story. They probably did, but somewhere along the way, when the writing started to go all over the place, they were just left there. But then again, in a Filipino series, they don’t actually give the minor characters their own story. They’re merely decorations.

Aight. My opinion of the story, tho I think y’all know what I’d say, but anyway, I’ll cut it into 3 parts. The Pelangi arc, After time skip /3rd party/other love interest arc, and The Ending. Here we go.

The Pelangi arc was good. This arc made me excited for the next ep. The characters were still being written nicely, w/ the exception of Benjie. I wanted to beat the shit outta him for being a lying piece of shit. Sinag was still that strong, cheeky heroine I usually dig. Team Pelangi was still complete and everything’s still right in the world. They went through this arc pretty smoothly.

Then came the time skip, and they’ve all moved to Manila (aka 3rd party arc). Ya know, I don’t have any problem if they inserted a 3rd party. I understand that TS writers aren’t that capable of writing a story w/o the 3rd party or love rival. I’m totally cool w/ that. I don’t mind. Tho I think Benjie was stupid af for taking back a girl who double-crossed him before, but oh well. It was until everyone started acting abnormally stupid that this arc finally got on my nerves. Sinag & Benjie stopped getting character development. If anything, Benjie was getting worse, and Sinag didn’t seem like the same person like she was in the preview arc. And, really, I wish there was another way they could’ve written SinJie getting closer again. They were cheating on their respective partners. Maybe not, physically, but definitely emotionally. Shippers may have let this slip, but my logical, righteous self just can’t. I expected more from these characters. Then there’s the whole mess between their families. How novel. Wow. Anyway, this entire plotline was just the absurdity of Teddy & Vicente, and the kids, as usual, were just being dragged into it.

Me to this entire arc:

The ending. This is the last 2 weeks (or less) of the show. This is where the writers tried to redeem themselves by giving what the fans want. w/c is more A&M. The whole eloping thing was predictable, yes, but at least we got great MaiChard moments. I couldn’t help but think tho, that the entire thing was a band-aid solution for the bad writing. It was to calm the raging fans, not to amend the story well, there was no amending it at this point lol. Shoving that thought aside, at least the last few eps were great, and the wedding was beautiful. I can’t say the show was saved, but at least it was a lovely exit. 

Me to the wedding:

To perfectly honest, I didn’t believe GMA when they said they spent a long time to make this TS good. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I did believe tho, when A&M said they’ve given their all to make it good but I think even they got disappointed by the writers LOL. If there’s anything great that happened w/ this entire show, it’s that Maine has gotten hella amazing as a dramatic actress, her & Alden were able to spend so much time together, and they were able to make new friends (esp Maine & Sheena). Funny how all the good things were off-cam.

Despite how messed up this whole show got, I’d still say it was decent, mainly bc of the great performance of the cast esp. A&M. Had it not been for them, I’d say this TS was a clusterfuck (lol I said I won’t be biased but in the end I still am). 

Me to the writers/creative team:

Seriously, GMA/DTBY creative team, your only salvation was the fact that the 2 leads were giving such great performance of your messed up story. I don’t know if some people inside the network are really trying to break the LT or bring the 2 down (or maybe just M), but I tell you, you lose AlDub/MaiChard, you’ll forever be behind ABS. The only way you’ll be #1 w/o A&M and their fans, is if ABS’s franchise renewal doesn’t get approved on 2020. Bc the truth you people are prolly trying to ignore is the fact that you couldn’t make your talents popular. Aside from Alden, none of Artist Center’s young talents are popular enough to stand on par w/ Star magic’s biggest young stars. Hell, what you did to Alden’s career for years isn’t much compared to what he got overnight when the AlDub phenomenon broke out. Handle your talent better. This is why they’re leaving GMAAC, you people don’t know how to do your job. All you do is stare at who’s currently popular and try to bring that person down, but guess what dimwits, y’all ain’t bringing Maine down. Y’all prolly won’t treat her like this if she was under your wing, and boy, am I thankful she’s not. In case you haven’t realized, she’s single-handedly fighting against ALL the young female talents from ch 2. She’s too strong for you guys. Her management is too strong for you guys, her & their (A&M) fandoms are too strong for you guys. 

And to all those money grubbing scoundrels aka tabloid columnists, and online gossip sites (aka e-tabloids ex. PEP), listen up you little fuckers, you could write whatever bullcrap lies you want, but you ain’t breaking her nor bringing her down. The only people who’ll believe your shit are those who’re as brainless as you. Whatever shitstorm all you spawns of hell are planning to destroy AlDUb/MaiChard it’ll never work.

Me to all detractors/haters/bashers:

Anyway, back to DTBY, I’m glad it’s over simply bc the 2 can go back to EB, then do their movie w/c is really what I prefer. Unless GMA could get foreign writers, preferably Korean since I think they write good stories (I dunno much. I’ve only seen like, 3 or 4 kdramas in my life), I’d rather see A&M in a travel show.

I’m sure there were things I forgot to mention but I’ll stop here. This is already too fuckin long lol. And I still have reviews on Koe no Katachi and Supergirl S2 finale that I have to finish. I am so late for those, damn.

Aight. I guess that concludes my thought on DTBY. Again, this is my geek self talking. My MaiChard fan self has nothing to do w/ this (except the last part).

I’m back to my anime & gay shit.

Me to MaiChard:

Me to me:

A thought:

P.S. if someone outside of tumblr read this, pls excuse my language. Then again, this is my blog, I talk however the fuck I want. Bye sweety~