#I don't think Netflix have any impact of anything

[edwin--charles]

[curvykittyyssmutfics]

pervyroomate!Satoru who can't believe his luck when you answer his online ad for a roomate: "What made you seek out a male roommate, honey? Ain't cha scared the big bad wolf is gonna get ya in your sleep?" You scoff with a heavy eye roll. "Fuck no." He can't stop the smile slowly forming on his pretty face. 'Ya should be.' He thinks, already imagining how'd look naked and squirming beneath him as he made you cry on his cock.

pervyroomate!Satoru that despite his amazing mouth-watering muscles, he mostly watched as you move your belongings into his spacious 2 bd apt: "What the fuck, Gojo? You specifically demanded I not hire movers as you're 'stronger than any of those limp dick fuckers.'" You can't see how he leans against the wall amused, arms crossed and intently staring at the way your small cotton shorts gets lost between your plump brown ass cheeks as you struggle takin boxes to your new bedroom. "Sorry, the views just so damn spectacular. Lookin so fuckin good, baby." Your cheeks warm in embarrasment as you abandon the heavy box, rush into the room and slam the door. Satoru only chuckles, fixin his raging boner as he heads downstairs to get the rest of your stuff.

pervyroomate!Satoru does anything he can in the upcoming weeks to rile you up by any means: "Gojo, put on some goddamn clothes for christ sake. My girls are gone be here soon and none of em wanna see that fuckin shit." You grumble as you sit on the couch and turn on the Netflix app. He laughs heartily, dramatically ploppin down next to you. Its impossible not to notice how his naked chest ripples, how low his black briefs sit on his hips. His hypnotic ocean blue eyes linger on your thick cocoa thighs before meeting your gaze. "Fabrications. Your BFF cornered me in our kitchen just the other day.. Damn near begged me to dick her down. Wanted so bad to tell her I'm savin that for you." He leans in close to your stunned face to whisper his last sentence and gets up, heading to his bedroom. Your left starin at his spot on the couch with wide eyes and wet panties.

pervyroomate!Satoru purposely switched out the dark shower curtain a few months into you moving in with a clear one, finding any reason to disturb your alone time: "Hey y/n, need to brush my teeth real fast." Doesn't bother knocking, quickly stepping in before you have time to cover your wet body. His eyes seem a shade darker as he scans up and down your soapy, naked frame. A small 'fuck' escaping his pretty lips as he stares unashamed. "Gojo, what the hell?!" You screech, arms quickly covering your glistening breasts as you cup your other hand over your pussy. You could literally melt on the spot at the way she clenches at his intense gaze. "Get the fuck out!" The damn pervert looks on for a moment longer, actually having the audacity to palm his cock a few times. "Okay okay, baby, damn. Why you gotta be like that? You showed me yours, don't you want me to show you mine?" He asks with pouty lips as he finally backs out the bathroom, arms raised in surrender. You stop shielding your tits to throw a bar of dove soap at his stark white locks. He only chuckles, quickly shutting the door to avoid impact. "Fuckin creep, Gojo!!"

pervyroomate!Satoru flirts with you relentlessly, crossing every boundary and every line over the next few months: "You gettin the snacks, babe?" Satoru calls from the front room. You roll your eyes at the pet name before you feel a stinging SMACK! to your plump behind. "Ow, Gojo! You fuckin asshole. Quit it!" You swat at the childish nuisance but he dodges your attack easily, leaning against the kitchen counter a few feet away. Fuckin guy has spent the better part of the day smackin your ass while yelling 'Smack Ass Friday!' like a damn teenager. "Awe, come on pretty! Love watchin how your ass bounces when I do it." He coos at you before swerving a bag of doritos you quickly chuck his way. "Boy, I don't give a fuck. You touch it again and you're goin down." It's insulting how lightly he takes your threat; walking right up, grabbin a handful of each ass cheek and smashing your hips together. His half hard dick feels chubby as fuck against you, girth of him makin you gasp and clutch as his shoulders. Your insides clench at the feelin of him pressed against you. "Fuck, I been waitin to go down on you. Name the time and place sweetheart." He tells you sweetly, swiping his thumb across your bottom lip, kissing you on the cheek and retreating to the living room. Damn this man must love leaving you speechless, heart and pussy fluttering to his dirty words.

pervyroomate!Satoru notices how much you love how he smells: whether it's his natural scent or cologne. You take his shirts without his permission too often, only wantin the ones he'd previously worn. Loves how he comes home late one night and catches you in one of his stolen white t-shirts. Neckline pulled up to your nose, tittes jiggling wildly underneath as you play with yourself. He stares between the crack of your bedroom door, hand swiftly squeezin at his dick as he watches you mindlessly rub yourself over your underwear. y/e/c eyes shut tight, quietly moaning his name like a fuckin prayer. "Toruuuuu! Fuh-uuuck Satoru, love how you smell. Mmmm, soooo good. Want you so m-much, need you to fuck me Toru!" His mouth hangs wide open as he humps his hand faster atop his light blue jeans, absolutely entranced how you frantically rub at your throbbing lil pearl. "Ahhhh! Oh my god, Toru please!" He's so greatful for a front row seat to witness you cum like a fuckin virgin. Fuck are you one?Can't help his deranged whisper as he commits the scene to memory. "That's it, baby. Cum for me. Fuck.. I know that lil pussy's so gushy for me right now. Can't wait to see it up close, gonna make her cream all over me pretty girl." Head pushed back into your fluffy pink pillow, pretty y/h/c hair splayed out makin you look like a goddess in the throes of passion to him. "Wanna cum on your cock, Satoruuuu!" His shirt rides up on you, showing him how your tummy pudge jiggles as your body convulses into an arch. You bite your lip to muffle the rest of your pleasure. It's okay. The sight is enough for Satoru. He paints the inside of his new jeans immediately, free hand cupped over his mouth as his eyes roll back, his hips repeatedly jerking his clothed spasming cock into the palm of his hand.

pervyroomate!Satoru who asks you the nastiest shit just to see you sexually flustered: You're in bed reading, back against the headboard with Satoru's head in your lap. Your hand carelessly cards through his soft hair, nails lightly scratchin at his scalp. So cute the way he whines at you to continue everytime you accidentally pause as you get to a good part in your book. "Hey baby?" His voice so innocent that you know for a fact the next words outta his mouth are gonna be filthy as fuck. "Yeah?" "How come you only call me Satoru when you're on your back, fingers in that pretty lil pussy?" His tone is laced with the genuine wonder of a child asking a simple question. Your jaw might as well be on the floor. "G-Gojo!" Shocked exclamation half accusatory, half scolding. "What? I really wanna know, y/n. Sound as pretty as you looked in my shirt when you moan it like you did the other night; made me cum so hard listenin." He's lookin up at you upside down but you're absolutely mortified, using your book to hide your face. What do you even say to him right now? "Aww, baby don't be shy. I do it when I think about you too. Cept I usually have a pair of your panties up to my nose." He shares with you happily and unapologetic, pulling the book from your fingers to toss it to the floor. "I wanna hear you say it like that again." Turning on his belly to leer at your clothed pussy through your tiny bottoms. Your breath picks up in anticipation, starin as his fine ass leans foward and gives a slow lick from slit to clit. The urgent, intense sensations has you squealing out his name as you slide both hands into his hair. "Satoruuu!" Slidin your shorts to the side, admiring your moist plump pussy lips. "Fuck baby, say it again. Just like that." He commands you, latching onto your sensitive lil button. All you can do is comply, buckin into his mouth as you wail 'Satoru' over and over to the damn heavens.

[call-me-liquid]

We're back to this.

Okay, so, Lily's not actually EXACTLY right about this, but unfortunately, I'm worried anything she says will immediately be doubted because she's Lily. I care about people's perception of this, so I'm not going to kinda half-heartedly back her up by filling in the gaps of some of what she's said here. But, this isn't an unreasonable explanation of the issue, let me be clear. Just somewhat incomplete and not articulated the best.

The US is at a trade deficit with Canada. They buy more from us than we do from them.

Most of that is vital resources the US doesn't have enough of. Like water, power and gas.

But the deficit isn't actually as big as Trump has made it sound. Though the US imports a lot of material goods from Canada, they export a lot of services aswell. Most of what Canada gets from the US is stuff like network companies, telecommunications, shit like Uber and Netflix, etc. As someone who works in entertainment, I can tell you, a lot of shit is filmed here. Hollywood productions. The world got to see the campus of the college I went to featured on The Last of Us. Almost every time you see NYC on screen, what you're actually seeing is Vancouver. That's just what the American market has prioritized services. Canada has nothing to do with that (other than do things like provide tax cuts for studios to film here, etc.)

That's not an endorsement of how our respective economies operate and interact, I have my own criticisms of it. That's just a description.

Trump, in this one instance, I wouldn't characterize as an idiot. He knows exactly what he's doing. . . What that is though, benefits no one* (I'll get to it). Not even the American people.

It would benefit the American industry if they had more direct control over the resources Canada has. "But Liquid don't you go on and on with your pro labor stance? Wouldn't that be a good thing? More jobs?"

Benefit American industry by benefitting cooperations, increasing America's economic dominance, which we should all understand by now the laborers would not see a fucking dime of.

It wouldn't create more jobs. Especially as automation continues to march forwards. The American government (both the Republicans and the Democrats, even though one is way more guilty of this than the other) would take the opportunity to squeeze the citizens under its control. For its many faults, the Canadian government has done a lot more in terms of protecting its laborers and the environmental impact of its industry. Not ENOUGH in my opinion, but MORE. Way more. Part of why America needs to buy so many resources from Canada is because of how badly it's absolutely decimated it's own. These aren't resources the US is capable of handling responsibly. That's part of the reason why we don't have any of the megacorps the US does. The job market in Canada isn't what it should be, but it IS more stable because of that. Believe it or not, there are way more economic and social advantages to not endlessly expanding until the world is (literally) on fire than not.

The US doesn't subsidize Canada. If anything, it's the other way around.

That's why he's talking about Annexing us. He wants to rape the world even more than the US already does.

And, fair is fair, Canada is somewhat responsible for this. The country has become complicit in allowing the US to become the global monster it is by not diversifying in our economic partnerships sooner. The US was seen for so many years abd a reliable and safe partner for trade-- so we sent our troops to aid in their wars, we covered their asses regardless of the skullduggery they partook in. I think the only thing Canada ever really did to defy the American government truly in a way that mattered was accepting draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. And even then, part of me is half remembering we did deport some of them. I can't quite remember why, but Canada has no official laws in terms of accepting political refugees-- something apparently some Jan 6th insurrectionist are finding out in real time right now.

Because Lily doesn't give a shit, probably doesn't know, let it not go unsaid that here in Alberta the government has fucked over our own people in order to support American industry in the past. Especially First Nations people. That's a whole other can of worms I can't get into in detail, but trust me, it's fucking happened.

That willingness to suck American dick is EXACTLY why Danelle Smith is currently lying on Fox News that Canadian citizens, even Albertans (Canada's most Ameriboo province) want to be a part of America.

If any of you want a deeper dive into what's actually going on with Canada's response to America's threats, how Trudeau, Poilievre, and Alberta's oil industry factors into that-- let me know. I feel like I'm ready to rip my hair out right now with how little Americans (and frankly a lot of Canadians-- like Lily) give a shit about our politics, so just give me the excuse. I'm begging you.

[hibiscuslegacy]

I'm a Bit Confused

I need someone smarter than me to tell me if I read the SCREEN Act wrong 😭 I saw some people mentioning it could impact Ao3 but it seems like it's only going to apply to visual depictions (which differs from KOSA that would have applied to every online platform) of what it believes to be content "harmful to minors". I definitely agree that the bill can and will be used to target LGBTQ+ media, especially as "obscene" and "lacks value to minors" was used and I think it sets an alarming precedent that won't stop with this and it also has a section mandating a report outlining the effectiveness of the measures, which can open the door to the bill being revised and more things being covered. The Senator that reintroduced it (Mike Lee) also promoted Project 2025. The bill is sponsored by the National Decency Coalition, which is a right-wing Christian non-profit and they sponsored other age-verification bills, and by the creators of LA Wallet (a platform that allows people to carry a digital ID).

It also seems like movies/shows with characters that engage in "sexual contact" (defined as "the term “sexual contact” means the intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person") would be impacted by this bill. So could streaming services like Netflix and Hulu require an ID to watch Supernatural or the Vampire Diaries (I don't watch a whole lot of TV and these were what came to mind 😭)?

The bill concerns me because I think it sets an alarming precedent and involves the FTC but the coverage I've been seeing so far has been focused on Ao3 and I wanna know if I'm just not well-versed in reading bills or if they're talking about future bills that could be passed or revisions that could be made to this bill once it goes to the floor or if it's to spread awareness? I think my main concern is that if people email their representatives and use non-visual media as an example when it 'seems' like it won't be impacted by the current bill, the concerns won't be taken seriously because it just signals they did not read the bill/didn't care enough to read it and won't be remembered come election time. If I'm wrong here, please correct me.

Here are links to what I read: SCREEN Act

18 US Code 2246 (cited a few times throughout the bill)

Sen. Lee One Pager

Sen. Lee's Support for Project 2025

If you have more sources, please share them.

Please don't take anything I say here as fact. I am genuinely asking if I interpreted this right because I am unfamiliar with reading bills and may lack the necessary context to understand how this bill will be applied. I'll also edit this post with the correct information and clearly label what I got wrong.

[hamliet]

Hi Hamliet, I am a very amateur writer trying to get back into writing. Do you have any advice on how to avoid "forced romance" if you will? I see it in many medias and I feel like it takes away from the plot rather than enrich, especially in story platforms where romance is not the center piece in genres. How could I make romantic elements feel natural? Or would it better to tease subtle intimacy? Your analysis on a variety of media is helpful so I was curious for your input. Have a great day!

Hello! Best of luck with your writing!!

I would honestly look at your characters and story and think about their arcs and the themes.

For the characters, what is their main struggle? What is preventing them from getting it? How would a romance help or distract them from pursuing their main goal? How would the other character challenge them?

I also think it helps in particular to examine the internal drive for the goal--for example, someone may have a goal of, oh, winning a competition, but why is that their goal? For the joy of winning, or because winning is an integral part of their identity? See, you can't "win" in a relationship. It's either both of you compromise and learn how to win life together, as a team that sacrifices for each other because you enjoy each other, or you lose your relationship by focusing on winning against the other person. You need to know how to lose willingly to be in a relationship.

If the romance is meant to be a major plot point, then you have to develop all characters involved in a romance beyond just "love interest." But they don't have to be a super complex character to work for the story, depending on the specifics of plot and genre and themes.

Two examples of well-done romances that are only subplots are the main romances of the 2023 Netflix film Do Revenge. Drea's romance with Russ, as a character, shows us that as much as she's cold and driven by her ambitions, she also really craves personal connection in multiple areas of her life. It also shows us that she can heal, considering her whole revenge arc is set off by her ex, Max, betraying her. Through Russ, we see the possibility of Drea becoming a better person--and there's added conflict because Russ is friends with Eleanor's enemy whom Drea gets revenge on, Carissa.

For Eleanor, her romance with Gabby works because Gabby is Max's sister. The main villain of the movie is siblings with her love interest. Yet Eleanor maintaining a flirty facade with Max is integral to the revenge, so her ability to work both siblings clues the viewer into the fact that Eleanor is smarter and savvier than we initially think (leading up to a big twist). It also comments on her backstory about being outed and trying to hide parts of who she is. There's also another, smaller twist, where we're meant to see potential conflict in Eleanor getting revenge on Max and thereby hurting Gabby... but as it turns out, Gabby is the one who has more morals than Eleanor and sees her brother for whom he truly is--so instead of hindering Eleanor, Gabby actually challenges Eleanor to get on her level.

These romances are minor subplots in a fairly trivial movie, but they work because they tie into the character's arcs in intriguing ways, and also comment on the story's themes. Can you go too far in revenge? What is possible to forgive? How do we determine who we are and who we want to be?

So, for themes, what is the main message of your story, and how does love impact that? For example, if the story is one of self-discovery, of self-acceptance even, learning how you are in a romance is actually an important part of that for many people. A romance can even fail and still matter.

Romances that don't work, for me, are ones that are tacked on and not really relevant to anything other than "hero/heroine needs romantic interest, insert here."

[heartsforvalentinexx]

val's roleplay rules ♡

please be +18, and tell me your age/age range when you are contacting me. i don't interact with minors.

my timezone is eastern standard time! (EST)

i roleplay on discord only, and i like using private servers to stay organized.

i’m typically almost always available given that i don't attend school or work, and usually, i respond to roleplays within the same day, but that doesn’t guarantee an immediate response every time. please understand that i have a life outside of roleplay, and i have other things that i need to do and enjoy doing. if i do not respond within 5 days, you are more than free to send me a message to check on me.

i mainly do 1x1 roleplays because social settings give me a lot of anxiety. i may be interested in a small roleplay group, and am not usually very interested in things like public roleplay servers. you can ask me, but please do not hold any expectations.

i’m semi-literate to literate, writing from a couple of sentences to 3 paragraphs in third-person. we don't have to completely match in writing style, but i would like for us to have similar writing lengths and the same pov. while i enjoy writing shorter to advance plot, i will try to write longer if necessary. let me know what you look for in responses, and i'll do my best to uphold to that.

i will not be interested in anything without romance. i’m more than happy to write familial or platonic relationships, but if there isn’t romance somewhere alongside them, i will grow bored and likely become disinterested pretty quickly. i have never written a queerplatonic relationship before, but i will give it a try if you're interested. other genres i enjoy are fantasy, adventure, drama, slice of life, modern, aus etc. i do enjoy angst, but i can't handle it in heavy amounts, so please talk to me before writing any into the plot. the only genres i won’t do is horror, erp and furries/ferals.

i would like to think i’m pretty creative when it comes to plots, so i come up with things relatively easy, but i can’t guarantee i’m always going to be able to think something up and i will not be doing all of the work. i would like it if you were invested and trying to help me out, if possible. it’s okay if you don’t have anything in mind beforehand, we can come up with something together and talk it out!

i am comfortable with doing both fandom and fandom-less roleplays. i enjoy pairings of all sorts, cc x cc, oc x oc, polyamorous ships, etc. i love oc x cc, though i will want to double-up and rarely show interest in a cc x oc roleplay otherwise. gender doesn't usually matter, so just talk to me about what you wanna do and i'll tell you if i'm up for it. my fandom list is below, so you can scroll to read that, and i have a few non-fandom ocs to work with, so once we get to talking, i'll send them and we can discuss.

please communicate your boundaries, feelings and thoughts with me, about our roleplays and outside of them. tell me the topics that you do not want to involve in the roleplay, any changes that you want to make while we are writing, or if you become disinterested in the roleplay as a whole and want to separate. if you have an idea for the roleplay, talk about it with me so that we can see on making it work. i like to befriend my rp partners, so we can talk ooc anytime! if that's not something you're interested in, that is okay, just please let me know beforehand.

val's fandom list!

snow white with the red hair

fruits basket

ouran high school host club

fena: pirate princess

skate the infinity

genshin impact

honkai: star rail

arcane: league of legends

marvel cinematic universe

netflix's castlevania & castlevania: nocturne

the arcana

cherry crush

overwatch 2

epic: the musical

+ more!! just ask!

[peoplesrazor]

Okay, I have to ask why here, twice.

Let's do the last part first. Why is it a tragedy if we don't keep getting the same kind of episodes with the same hook/gimmick/twist/set-up? We had that episode. That episode is great. A marvel. Star Trek had a lot of great episodes over all the series, they did lots of cool and innovative things. Know what they didn't do, despite being episodic?

Make another episode like Frame of Mind, because they already did that.

This is the same mindset of people who "want another avatar," or want to make a live action version of a popular cartoon show, or remake an old IP.

We already have those things. That episode still exists. You can watch it any time. I have a feeling you just did.

Secondly, and more importantly, why would serialization make episodes like this not possible?

Without spoiling too much of the plot, the episode has to do with Riker struggling to sort out what's real and what's not. He's in a play, he's in an insane asylum, he's on the enterprise and he becomes increasingly unnerved as he tries to sort things out. In the end, it was...

I guess a small spoiler is unavoidable, but the episode is from like 1993, so look below for the twist...

***

It was a trick. He was captured during a covert mission and his captors are trying to get information about the federation from him.

How could that not be part of a larger serialized story?

Like say the season was about an alien race covertly infiltrating the federation and the enterprise is on the alert looking for them. Sometimes the plot would revolve around this, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes things would be blamed on this infiltrating force that really didn't have anything to do with it, but then slowly more and more of the alien plot would become clear over the season.

How, how, would this episode not fit into something like that? It's just another instance of those aliens giving it a go. If you are worried it wouldn't be as impactful, simply set it early on in the season.

Every time you complain about things like serialization Lily, what I hear in my head is...movies are inferior to theatre, TV is going to hurt the ticket sales of movies, blockbusters killed small low budget films.

While, certainly, changes in how we consume media effect the media landscape, it's rarely the media apocalypse such warnings portend. And the good ideas always, always, come back around.

Radio was direly effected by the, to use your term, omnipresence of TVs, but you know what's similar to both talk shows and pulp classics from that medium?

Podcasts.

Serialization is not going to kill episodes like Frame of Mind. People are simply more creative then that. That's why there is a oner (a single long continuous shot) in Netflix serialized version of Haunting of Hill House that last almost the whole episode. There was no other reason to do that, besides thinking it would be a neat thing to do.

Think that has nothing to do with Frame of Mind? That episode was inspired partially by the Tom Stoppard play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Why that play?

Members of the cast had just been in a performance of that play and they thought pairing that with the concept: Riker wakes up in an insane asylum was just a neat idea.

And it was.

Addendum: If Lily is going to start spewing her crap all over Star Trek now, I guess I need to find my companion books and dust off the tech manuals.

Think she knows about the whales aboard the ships?

[taevith]

Show analysis

I've constantly thought of ways I could go about talking bout shows or movies I'm watching and just talk about how they make me feel. I feel like I can't get that in my daily life and don't have people I feel comfortable going on and on about how some random show made me cry because I saw myself in the main character. So I figure why not make a blog about? I don't really plan to make it some well typed essay or anything, just letting my thoughts spill out. So I'm gonna start this with...

Carol and the end of the World

This will all be written with the assumption you, the reader, have seen the show/movie

Episode 1: Carol is depressed. And I feel a lot of that. It's like everyone else is "normal" and I'm just here trying to cope and I just want things to go back to how they used to be. Wether or not how things used to be is better or worse for me is irrelevant. I want things to go back to how they were so I can feel... Sane. Why can't I just be happy, like them?

On a separate note, holy shit do I know those kinda guys. Hell I was that kinda guy once. Desperate, lonely, afraid... I guess I'm still lonely. Just lost the desperation. It's hard being alone, feeling lonely. You meet someone you feel like you match with and they do something that makes you rethink. Often something small, though sometimes something as big as saying Im in love with you on the second date. And I just... Run. I'm scared.

Did this episode make me cry? Yes.

Episode 2: it's a distraction. All of it. Just something to feel normal, to not think about it. Busy work to keep your mind busy so it doesn't have to think about... Everything. The gun was a bit of a wild turn but hey, it's an animated show for adults by Netflix, you gotta expect some odd curve balls.

The frantic searching felt a lot like the lead up to a panic attack. You're mind just racing and not shutting up because it thinks this is the most important thing in the world. If I don't do this I will literally die. But you won't, Carol wouldn't. It's just a job/it's just a distraction. At any time she could stand up and leave. It's uncontrolled anxiety. Anxiety is important, it keeps us alive, but people with anxiety problems, like myself, their anxiety finds everything to be a threat. A slight hick up and our worlds spiral. In the moment it feels so final.

To speak on the object in the sky, I honestly see its an inevitably. Death comes for us all, it's inevitable. Instead of spending our time on art or hobbies everything just feels pointless. That's why we use distractions. Anything to shut our brain up. Make it work just enough it that it doesn't have time to think, but not too much to wear us out. Anything to keep from obsessing over the inevitable.

Episode 3: let me start by talking about Daddy- no sorry, Daddy- no sorry, the captain. Lol. Don't know why, like dat man.

Anyways, pretty chill episode, till the end anyways. With how things are right now in America... I can't help but feel for Donna. It may not be about this but it certainly compares.

I forget his name, but the male coworker said something really deep that hit me in the core. Friends and experiences come and go and you just kinda feel... Numb after a while. This episode made me cry.

Episode 4: I love episode about siblings. It's always reminds me of just how special my relationship with my brother is. I love him to the end of the earth and farther. He really means the world to me. I wouldn't be here without him. I look up to him. He's always been there when I needed him and I always wish there was some way to pay him back for it all. I know that silly.

Episode 5: I didn't think this episode was gonna be so impactful at first. It starts out very quirky and kinda run of the mill, till David dies, that is. It's kinda difficult to put into words what exactly this made me feel. It was nice seeing them all regain their humanity in the face of such tragedy. Half a year and everyone dies. And David not even being able to make it to the end... Kinda makes me think of suicide. It's not how he died in story, but we distract ourselves from the inevitable and sometimes we just can't make it. Wether that be through personal or natural causes. It's sad to think he could have had more life ahead of him, even if it WAS only 6 months.

That's all for this post. I'm really enjoying the series and can't wait to see if they are actually going to go through with the world ending or not.

[gilearstimboards]

Request Guidelines

PT: Request Guidelines

This guide covers:

What I will and won't make stimboards of

How to send me a request + request etiquette

How to claim an anon/what is claiming an anon

Warning: this is quite long, however each lemon divider breaks up the three sections so it is easy to scroll to what you need.

This guide also includes scripts that I am happy for you to use for requests to me.

I will make Stimboards that are of:

PT: I will make Stimboards that are of:

Any fandom that will be listed below

OCs

Colours

Animals

Songs

Items

Age Regression

Ships (as long as they are legal and non-problematic)

Any fandom, as long as it is not an NSFW-centric one

My Fandoms:

PT: My Fandoms:

Bolded = Special Interest | Italics = Hyperfixations

bbno$

Fantasy High (and in general Dimension 20)

Stranger Things

Marble Hornets (Recurring Special Interest)

The Quarry

Red Dead Redemption 2

Five Nights at Freddy's (Recurring Special Interest)

Honkai Star Rail

Genshin Impact (while I am no longer active in the fandom and recognise the problems with the game, it still holds a special place in my heart)

Pokémon

Devil May Cry

Nimona

Octonauts

Overwatch

LEGO Batman

Spiritfarer

The Last of Us

Animal Crossing

I will not make Stimboards that are of:

PT: I will not make Stimboards that are of:

Harry Potter (this includes Marauders)

DSMP

Dottore from Genshin Impact (and any variation of him) [Apologies, this one is personal.]

NSFW-centered things and fandoms

Illegal or questionable ships

Real people not in the public eye, or who seem uncomfortable with edits/content made of them. More info about my stance here (question 4).

AI Images

Flashing Images (if I tag any stimboards as flashing, it's because I am overtagging in case. The ones I tag from now on do not personally trigger me.)

I reserve the right to reject any request that makes me personally uncomfortable or that I do not feel like doing.

How can I request? / Requesting Etiquette

PT: How can I request? / Requesting Etiquette

When requesting, you can choose to be as general or as specific as you like. To request me, click on the button that says 'ask gilear' on my blog. This will let you ask anything you want. Anons are on which means you can request something anonymously.

Generally I prefer requests that:

Contain a please or a thank you (politeness costs nothing)

Are specific, or are general if the person wants me to have creative freedom

Are on my list of fandoms (these often have priority over other boards)

Here's an example of a good request:

"Hi, Gilear! May I please have a stimboard that's of the character Steve Harrington from the series Stranger Things on Netflix? I would love if you could include stims with baseball bats, the cinema, and VHS."

Note: I read "I would love" here as that if I include them then the requester will be very happy but if the board is missing one or possibly all of them (often due to lack of gifs), then the requester will be okay with that

Here's an example of a bad request:

"I want a stimboard of [insert something from blacklist here]."

Even if you can't find a good way to insert please into a sentence or a thank you, the phrases "could you", "I would like" or "may you" work way better than "I want". I do however understand social interactions can be hard, so if you're finding it challenging here's a template to plug your request into:

Hi Gilear, please may I have a [insert character/thing] stimboard with [insert colours/items/etc] themes? Please could you not include [anything you don't want included here]. It would be great if you could also include [include any aspect here that you think is very specific or could be difficult to find]. Thank you!

Policy on Multiple Requests:

PT: Policy on Multiple Requests:

You are more than welcome to send me multiple requests. I don't mind if they're sent as one message or multiple, however please do note that I may space them out between other requests if I think someone has requested a lot at once.

If I think someone is abusing this policy, this may change or I will let that person know.

What is anon claiming and how can I do it?

PT: What is anon claiming and how can I do it?

Anon claiming is a practice on tumblr where you can sign off on an anon in a special way that indicates that you are a particular person. This means that I still know who you are, but I don't have an account to attach it to you. For example the anon "- 🌟". If an anon post ends with this little tag, then I know that the person who uses that tag sent it. However, they can still use anon.

Obviously, do not use an anon sign that is not your own.

If you want to claim an anon all you need to do is send me an ask with the anon tag you'd like to use. A script for this is:

"Hi Gilear, could I please claim the anon: [insert anon sign off here]?"

Provided it is not taken, I will add it to my list. You can view my anon list in my pinned post.

[astramachina]

For those of you who've been following me for a while now, there's a good chance you got to experience my journey reading the Remembrance of Earth's Past series last year. I loved Three-Body Problem, but The Dark Forest and Death's End were like pulling teeth. Both books had their very very good moments, but getting through them was a tedious experience I considered giving up on on multiple occasions. I will give it to Cixin Liu tho, I needed to know how the series ended and that alone was the sole reason I pushed towards the finish line. Any author that can make me tough out bad writing for the sake of seeing the end deserves some kind of award (and he won a ton anyway, so).

I approached the Netflix series with zero expectations given their propensity for shitty adaptations (One Piece notwithstanding), but after watching the first episode I was left cautiously optimistic.

Having watched all 8 episode I'm still unsure how to feel about it. I spent most of the series hitting pause to rant at my roommate about it, both positively and negatively.

I had many issues with the books, but some of the more obvious ones came from a writing standpoint. I love hard sci-fi. I could not excuse the sheer length of those final two books. The atrocious treatment of women as objects to romance and use as bartering for the main character. The abysmal MCs (specifically Luo Ji) that made me want to yell to the high heavens due to annoying they were. The lack of human connection between characters.

For books so steeped in sociopolitical and ethical commentaries, the flagrant misogyny and homophobia was eye-rolling. And not even in a "This is Bad" sort of way, just in a "This is So Fucking Boring" kind of way. I cannot speak for the author's biases, because the contents of a book in no way reflects the views of an author or their character.

Where the books shone the brightest were during the battle scenes, the looming dread, genuinely horrific thought experiments.

And, surprisingly? It feels like the people at Netflix thought the same.

I've never watched Game of Thrones but I understood why people were against it from the get-go. That, along with the whole "whitewashing" thing which I consider to be interesting. For starters, you're using whitewashed wrong. Yes, they moved the central story from China to England which was... a fascinating choice, but of the core five (that quickly became the core four), only two of them are white. I'm not saying it was okay for a western adaptation to take a cast and further diversify it, I'm just saying that that's not whitewashing.

That aside, I did like some of the choices that were made from a narrative standpoint. Reshuffling and streamlining events, for one. Removing the whole plot line about Luo Ji hunting down a woman who he invented in his head in order to marry her? I'm not entirely sold on the idea of taking core events and divvying them up between four different people, but I do understand what they're trying to do.

The book series failed at crafting believable and impactful relationships between its human characters, which made the narrative feel hollow and one-dimensional. This adaptation aimed to change this by slapping a band-aid over the issue. Like I said, I'm still unsure of how I feel about this.

A lot of unnecessary stuffing was removed to make a suitable run time, and I say unnecessary because there's really no scenes that are making me go "oh, I wish this had been included". Was some stuff rushed? Yes. The passage of time could have been outlined a little better, but that's a small nitpick on my end.

The scale of things was toned down, and I don't think Netflix has the capability (or budget) to tackle space battles.

Honestly? I don't really see this getting a second season for a variety of reasons, and I'd be okay with that.

It was an "okay" watch, in the end.

Tho, I'm still flabbergasted by the random "gory scary jumpscare" scenes????? Where did those come from??? I don't remember anything like that being in the books but, you know. I've read a lot more books since finishing these, so.

[aquitainequeen]

Aside from news on how things possibly stand for a Shadow and Bone/Six Of Crows renewal (basically no news is good news, keep going with the campaign!) there's also a short interview with Eric Heisserer, which sheds some interesting light indeed on the writing and making of Season Two, and it explains a lot of things:

Here are the questions posed for Eric's interview: 

"I'd like to know if there's a way to liberate the pre-written scripts if Netflix doesn't plan on using them" - Christian Thalmann (creator of the Fjerdan language)

"In my view, 'The Crows' have the potential to revitalize the Grishaverse. Unlike "Shadow and Bone", this new show could rely less on elaborate visual effects and offer a fresh narrative angle. Heist-themed shows are currently in high demand, adding to its appeal. Am I mistaken in thinking that our focus should primarily be on 'The Crows'? The likelihood of 'Shadow and Bone' returning seems slim, but I've always believed that 'The Crows' had a greater change of success." - Joleen

"If/when the spinoff is back (finger crossed) was there anything he had planned that would completely surprised, for good reasons obviously, the audience? And we should hold our breath for that twist/turn??" - Rti

"What are the difficulties you mentioned about filming S2 in that Reddit comment? Don't want to sound negative, but what went wrong?!" - Mitra

"How long was the sizzle reel ready to go but he had to keep it secret?" - Discord Team

"I would love to know his perspective on the impact of streaming on storytelling. Would we have had to launch a campaign like this 10-15 years ago for a show like this? What are the main points when it comes to streaming models and telling unique, diverse stories?" - Acorn_Bri

Eric's Responses: 

1) "There is a way to liberate the Crows scripts from Netflix, yes, and in fact that would be part of the buyout for another streamer when acquiring the rights to Leigh's novels. It would be a package deal." 

2) "The focus on the Crows is helpful in two ways -- first, those scripts were written, which lets us get a running start at production, and second, just from casual analysis of book sales, it's far more popular worldwide than other Grishaverse titles. So it will be a bigger draw for viewers. The trap though is the cost. It's more grounded than S&B, sure, but the Ice Court is a unique location that either requires a really costly set build, or set extensions and VFX work to make it look authentic, which means nearly every shot of the heist once our crew gets there could be a VFX shot. My guess is the budget would be on par with S2 of S&B.

3) "Yes, there is a surprise or two in the Crows spinoff season, but overall it's as close to the novel as we could make it. And Leigh's novel is such an amazing story with natural cliffhangers that work as episode "out" moments, etc. I think the biggest move we made was to feature every single Crow's backstory to go with their episode. So that was fun/sad/exciting." 

4) S2 kept throwing challenges at us, and it started long before we got to production. Like months earlier, when we learned the location we needed for the Little Palace in S1 was closed to us due to the pandemic. So right there we lost out on a ton of S&S scenes, because it wouldn't be a match. But we also had written a compelling side arc for Ivan and Fedyor in S2, these two Grisha trapped on either side of the civil war. Each of them played a big role in the story, but Simon (Ivan) had a feature film that overlapped with our schedule and couldn't move, which meant we lost him. So Daegan worked to revise the season keeping Fedyor and leaving Ivan like dead from the end of S1. He was Kirigan's right-hand man for the season. But poor Julian caught COVID just when we were to shoot out most of his scenes, and after tyring to ake the schedule work, we had to come to the brutal truth that there wasn't a way to keep Fedyor in the story. Our only option was to bring him in at like episode 8, which would've been too little, too late. 

COVID continued to be a monster all through production, requiring us to juggle schedules and miss out on days, and it was madness for the cast, who had to pivot with almost no notice whenever someone was ill and quarantined. This isn't unique to our show of course---it happened with everyone. It's just the challenge. 

Beyond that, we had been given the go to write a special standalone story: The Demon in the Wood. This would have been released on its own around Christmas, like a BBC special but for Netflix, and would help bridge seasons 1 and 2 by showing a little of what Kirigan was doing before we seem him in S2, and also provide more character context, etc. Christina Strain wrote that and did great work adapting Leigh's short story. But it never went the distance. 

There was a lot more to S2 as well, scenes and side stories and little interactions that were lost due to budget or time restrictions. Again, not unique to our show, but agonizing all the same, since what you get is not what we had written, or in some cases even shot. I'm incredibly proud of the cast and the team, and Daegan did the heaviest lifting while I was off finishing the Crows writing room. But we had a lot more thrown at us." 

5) That sizzle reel was put together four months before the second season dropped. 

6) Streaming is a challenge to serialized storytelling in that it looks at 'content' often with a different agenda and uses metrics that can take a creative issue and exacerbate it. Like in broadcast, if viewership and thus ad revenue has slightly declined, the show will ned to find a way to make their 22 or 13 episodes on a proportionally smaller budget. What is not done is reduce episode order. But if a streaming series underperforms or doesn't meet expectations, an the streamer doesn't cancel it outright, the go-to budget reduction idea is to reduce episode order for the next season. When you just have 8 episodes and continue to deal with notes to compress, pace up, or omit for what you'd scripted for a longer season, reducing further to six or four episodes is exhausting. 

This happens due to a slide in autonomy from what the showrunner position has been. What the chatter on the picket lines revealed to us is that most showrunners today don't get to see their own show's budget, and thus don't get the freedom to make budgetary decisions that could better protect the story they're telling. More and more, showrunners not at a legacy network aren't the final say or at times even involved in hiring key roles. I don't have any ideas that aren't already in contract language, I just see how the job on this side has gotten harder and there isn't much of a way for us to make it easier for each other like we could with having writers on set or in post production, because the streaming model has made that impossible." 

[urdeadbestfriend]

kind of a ball of hate at the moment because most of the time i go to bed at 12 and my roommate will be up until 3-5am with all the lights on and giggling and being loud as fuck on discord AND I DON'T SAY ANYTHING because i can still fall asleep it just takes longer and i don't want to be a wet blanket etc. but he's started going to bed at 8:30pm and expects me to keep every light off. so i'm stuck either curling up in bed which i don't want to do or sitting on the couch alone in the dark for like 4 hours. what if i want to invite friends over. and then he gets up at 5am and accidentally wakes me up every time because he puts on netflix and always slams doors! like you can't have it both ways dude. i know i can't ask him to stay up later than he wants but he also shouldn't be asking me to sit in the dark by myself. i feel like he sees me as a child that never does or wants anything. ALSO WHY DOES HE ALWAYS GET PRIORITY OVER THE TV! but he already sees me as stubborn and overbearing so i can't say any of this even though i'm pretty sure it's reasonable. like dude can't you just think of the impacts of your actions.

[bereft-of-frogs]

disorganized best (and worst) books/films/shows of 2024

I finished 68 books, watched 105 films and 35 TV shows, and finished 3 games.

Honestly, the math might be off because it turns out this was a terrible idea. At the start of the year I was like 'oh it will be fun to do one big list!' It was not fun to do one big list. It was really hard to keep count. I already have a plan for next year, it's going to be much more organized. If you can decipher these lists feel free to ask me for a review about any entry on the list.

This isn't really going to be a top 5 or 10 or anything because I felt like it would be more fun just to kind of highlight my favorites (and least favorites) rather than forcing myself to pick a specific number. Fits the theme of disorganization like the lists above.

Onwards!

I had a really good TV year, book and film were a little more meh, not a lot is sticking out in the same way the best TV shows are:

SILO!!! (AppleTV). I'll be real honest, I started watching this because post-Dune Part II, I had a crush on Rebecca Ferguson. It had NO BUSINESS being this good for a show I was exclusively watching disrespectfully for Rebecca Ferguson wearing tank tops. That doesn't usually work out this well for me. But it is so good. There are flaws but also no there aren't, because it's made so earnestly that some of the shakier acting performances and awkward dialogue moments just don't matter to me. It's almost like the shows I used to watch on SyFy Fridays except with AppleTV money and production values. Which makes it so fun.

Severance (AppleTV). This is where I really knew I was in trouble with AppleTV. I was not going to be cancelling that free trial. This show is SO good and I cannot wait for the new season in a couple weeks.

AppleTV honestly kind of killed it this year, I also really enjoyed Dark Matter and Constellation, which both meet my criteria for multiverse shows, aka 'could these be branches of The OA's multiverse tree'. I've also been really enjoying Shrinking, even though it's not my usual genre. I'm so mad I signed up for a free trial and then got so completely hooked on the quality of their shows that I've continued to subscribe long after the trial ended. Outrageous. How dare they be making such excellent, high quality television. I'm appalled.

Giri/Haji (Netflix). It turns out that the show that keeps appearing on 'hidden gems of streaming' is good actually. WHO KNEW? The excellent characters and performances really elevated this gang war crime drama.

Scavenger's Reign (Originally HBO, but I watched it on Netflix). This show was gorgeous and so creative. I'm so sad they're not getting a second season. I cried twice. It was short but it made an impact.

Special Film Category: Films that Actually Scared Me.

Since I mainly watch horror, I significant marker of quality for me is if I actually get scared watching a movie and two movies genuinely freaked me out this year: Oddity (2024) and Pyewacket (2017). For both, there were moments where I was like 'oh no I don't want to go to bed alone tonight'. Normally I love living alone. Regretted it only after these movies. The concept of the murder in Oddity was enough to freak me out but even outside of the inciting incident, it kept delivering with the deeply unsettling scenes. Pyewacket wasn't perfect, I think Adam MacDonald is the kind of filmmaker who builds a whole film based off one scene he has in his mind and the rest of film isn't quite as strong as that one scene. But that scene is so disturbing and I haven't stopped thinking about it. (Same with his Backcountry (2017), it was fairly weak except for this ONE scene that I'll never get out of my head.)

Also Dune Part II was pretty great, super glad I saw it on IMAX and I'm pretty sure it's like half the reason Hans Zimmer ended up on my Spotify top 5 this year. (Interstellar was the other half, SO glad I finally after a decade got to see it on IMAX!)

For books, I really enjoyed The Fishermen by John Langan. It's a great meditation on death, AND had a dark ocean, which you know I love.

Silver In the Wood by Emily Tesh's only crime was how short it was! I do still have to pick up the sequel, but I was definitely down for a full length novel of this.

This was the year I also discovered I CAN listen to audiobooks, which is part of why my count is higher than ever. I'm not done with this but I've been listening to Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey and really liking it. I'm hoping to read the whole of that series in 2025.

Also, of course, while the quality of the individual books varied, my marathon of the Star Wars High Republic series was probably the most fun I've had with a series in years. Looking forward to the last couple books in 2025, though I'm sad to see it end.

worst of the year + notable DNFs under the cut so you don't have to scroll past my griping if you want to stay positive on this New Year's Dat. I'll reveal the list here in case I am saying mean things about your fave and you don't want to click the readmore: The Acolyte, Ronin by Emma Mieko Canton, City of Brass by SA Chakraborty, Aurora by David Koepp, Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

The Acolyte (Disney+). Ok first off, I don't want to downplay that the experience of watching The Acolyte was one of my top of the year. Watching and theorizing week-to-week, live reaction posting, my High Republic book marathon leading up to it, those parts were SO fun. However. The longer I think about this show, the more I just cannot ignore how bad the structural issues are. This is even setting aside my personal issues with the show -- mainly the second-half pivot toward the enemies-to-lovers romance that really didn't land for me, and the treatment of Vernestra's character, and some of the things Headland said in interviews. The two full flashback episodes with no framing devices or any content in the present is just...bad television structure. I mean the first one just dumped on us was bad enough, but the second one where the episode before looked like it was setting up a framing for the flashback, only for the finale to be like 'never mind, that's not what was happening at all', was absurd. I dream of living in the branch of the multiverse where this is properly edited. Imagine how good it could have been, if the flashbacks were properly cut into the primary story, and we had more development of all the characters? Every time I watched something this year with extensive flashbacks (The Head, Dune: Prophecy, Black Doves, Giri/Haji) I thought 'alas, what if??' I think what happened though is Headland came up with the Rashomon comparison early and didn't change when the story would have been better served by not doing the conflicting perspective Rashomon thing, and using a more normal flashback structure.

There were good things! The fight choreography was truly excellent, episode 5 was a standout, and it didn't deserve the hate it got from toxic fans, but ultimately it had more downsides for me than up and I can't say I was particularly disappointed when it wasn't renewed. Though even that wasn't really deserved because it's FAR from the only Disney+ show to have really deep structural issues. Most of their series actually just aren't very good television. This isn't even the first time I had a great experience watching something and was engaged enough to write fic for it, only to in hindsight realize how flawed it was. (Loki came first, then Obi-Wan Kenobi, though the fic inspired by The Acolyte is shaping up to be the longest -- the others really only got short oneshots, I'm looking at a beast with this fic, 40k and counting!) And unless Disney+ makes some major changes in the TV production wing...I doubt it will be the last.

Ronin by Emma Mieko Canton (DNF). Technically, I would say this book isn't bad and why I labeled this section 'notable DNFs' as well. I think it's a good example of the way that concepts work really well in some formats, and don't translate well to others. I LOVE Visions, and I love "The Duel", specifically because the studios aren't bound by Star Wars canon. The open creativity of that series is a feature, not a bug. But I didn't find it translated well to the longer format of the book. I would follow the plot for a while and then get absolutely thrown by worldbuilding or backstory I couldn't follow. I think it needed more exposition. It was kind of odd that it was written like any other licensed book that didn't need exposition, but it was so different from standard canon it was hard to follow and I ended up giving up.

City of Brass by SA Chakraborty. I tried, babes, I tried. Everything said to make it to 50% and it would get better but I just could not do it. Nahri was so deeply annoying and I wasn't engaged enough in the rest of the plot to keep going. If she 'realized' one more thing I was going to lose my entire mind. I'm sorry.

Aurora by David Koepp. This is another where, like Ronin, it's not technically bad. I just ended up getting kind of pissed off by the end. It felt like it was trying to be Station Eleven but was too cynical. And maybe just now because my parents live in an area that gets a lot of power outages, I was kind of pissed that he reduced the accomplishment of getting the power grid working again to one line towards the end. I would have been way more interested to hear about that collective effort over the 'the suburbs make a utopian commune while all those scary urban people immediately descended into chaos' thing.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie. I feel so bad for saying this, but Craig DiLouie just wasn't intellectual enough to achieve what he was aiming for in this. Or at least he didn't put enough time or effort in to developing th? It couldn't counteract the truly stupid moments like the time when a character says he's going to shoot a ghost. But hey, it did lead to a reread of House of Leaves and further appreciation for one of my favorite underrated found footage films, As Above So Below. Because that was the crux of my problem with this book, that it wasn't well thought out enough to be House of Leaves and it didn't have enough heart to be As Above So Below.

I don't know why almost all of my least favorites this year were books, I guess I just have a lot of opinions on books. I also tend to DNF books less, so I end up having more negative thoughts about books, whereas with TV or film if I don't like it I just don't finish it or don't pay attention.

Congratulations for getting to the end. Again, feel free to ask thoughts about anything else on the list if you want (and can read it). I promise it will be more organized next year. Happy New Year! What were your favorite/least favorite things this year?

[javaelemental]

(Netflix) Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ep. 1

I just watched the first episode of Netflix's live action Avatar. Spoilers, folks.

Well, it was certainly pretty, I'll give it that. The FX/CGI are great. The bending looks good.

The cast looks good, too. I mean, one episode, mostly young actors, so I don't have much to say one way or the other about them yet.

I do have one thing to say and that is that I was not super impressed with any of the adult actors. It was kind of like they all got together and decided "Look, this is for kids, we're gonna need to dumb this down a lot. We better act out loud and in primary colors or the kiddies ain't gonna get it."

But also, didn't love Iroh. He was just kind of flat. I'm not very familiar with the actor, but I know he's been in a bunch of things and I know he's supposed to be good. For now I'm gonna go ahead and side eye the writing and the directing here on his behalf, because I think they're not giving him much to work with or very good direction.

I get why they decided to start with showing the Air Temple being attacked. I can totally see the writer's room being like, "Oh, neat, we can show all that, it'll be dramatic and scary and show the stakes and show off the firebenders and blahblahblah." I get it. I just don't think it works. We were a handful of episodes in before we saw that in the cartoon, and by then, we knew the characters, liked them, and were invested in them. We knew what had happened because Katara and Sokka had talked about it, but Aang didn't know yet, not really, so we knew he was gonna be upset. Like, there was a little dread and anticipation built up there. And when we finally got to it, man, it hit like a freight train, because we cared about everyone. Putting all that right up front before we give a crap about anybody involved really robbed it of it's impact.

Frankly, so did actually showing it. In the cartoon we only saw the aftermath and had to fill in the horror for ourselves. Protip for baby writers: Sometimes rubbing the audience's face in the tragedy is not the best way to tell them what happened. Sometimes you can just show them the emptiness that's left behind, and if you've done your character work right, that's going to hit harder than damn about anything else you can do.

I dunno, guys. I don't have a good feeling about the rest of this season. I'm hoping this thing just has a real bad case of pilot-itis, if that's still a thing in the streaming age.

I didn't go into this expecting a shot-for-shot remake of the cartoon. I expected them to change a lot of things, and put their own spin on everything, and that's fine. It's a remake, you're allowed to make it your own thing. But... when you're remaking a beloved story, you can change a lot, but you have to at least bring the original's heart and soul along for the ride. And uh, I didn't see a lot of that happening in this first episode. Fingers crossed that it gets better, folks.

[wawamouse]

Fanfic ask game but I answer all the questions on my own because I can and I want to lol (and you can too 😌)

What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today? My first fanfic was a Harry Potter fanfic I wrote in 3rd grade from the POV of James Potter going to Hogwarts (I had read books 1-6 in 2nd grade). I thought I was a genius for this because I had no idea fanfic was already a real thing.

What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come? My most recent fic was "Riptide", answered for a kiss prompt. I've come very far! I wrote a bit of fanfic throughout high school years ago but didn't get heavy back into it until 4 years ago, during the height of the pandemic.

In your opinion, what’s your best fic? Honestly can't judge this. I have my most kudosed fic, but it definitely isn't my best. I think I would have pick one of my shorter Miguel/Chico fics, or else one of my longer rongzhi fics.

In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? It would have to be one of my HxH fics. I wrote a series for it in high school or college (idr). The show had seen a resurgence in popularity at the time, I think, because it was around when the remake anime was released on Netflix. I think it must be "We Who Have the Souls" that is my most kudosed fic.

Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that? Off the top of my head: "For Nothing Tender About it" (MiguelChico), "At Rise" (M/C), "Exit Wound" (Sui Zhou/Wan Tong), and "A Dying Eye" (Ding Rong/Wang Zhi)... I've been re-reading a lot of my shorter fics lately. I really like "Alibi" lately...

Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that? Probably if I reread one of the ones I orphaned or one of the ones I wrote in my early days which only exists on a thumb drive now lol.

What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? "The Nineteenth Year of Chenghua". Zombie apocalypse fic. Someday….

What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? Out of Nowhere, I guess. But I don't remember anything to finish it. Next oldest is The Nineteenth Year of Chenghua.

Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material? No.

Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it? Yeah, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (I started the tag), Hamlet (wrote fanfic for a class), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. I also think I wrote Need For Speed (movie) fanfic before there were any other fics to read, but I might be wrong about that.

Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting? I don't think so? Not if 'concept' means 'same plot premise'. Yeah, no, I don't think so. There are some stories where something necessarily has to be written to cross canon point A to B to get to where you want to be in the fanfic, but… no? Maybe "Collision Course"? I wrote the in the car talking concept originally as what was going to be a remix of @/merelyafigment's tumblr snippet.

Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why? I write really trashy smut and wattpad level indulgence in my notes app as a fun activity before bed sometimes. But those are never really meant to be published, though they're there for me to steal bits and pieces from for actual fics. Actually, a good chunk of "For Nothing Tender About It" and "Countdown" and probably smaller portions of some other fics I'm forgetting came from that notes app. Sometimes I'll read back stuff and be like "hey, that's actually not that bad" and polish it up, chop off the trashier bits, and then turn it into a oneshot.

What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today? I'm a better writer? Lol. Idk, punctuation, probably. I used to write X-men fic exclusively (the comics) so I had a horrible habit of writing out accents (think Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, etc). I've shaken off a lot of that style, though I still like capturing some of a character's voice.

What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today? I don't think I had much taste in the past… There was a point where I was very undiscerning about what I read.

Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular? No, I don't think like that. For the longest time, I didn't engage in fandom or actually make friends in the fandom. I just posted stuff and if someone read it, nice. I was more free 😂

Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention? I have a fanfic for a ship I am the sole writer of that has exactly 2 kudos.

In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic? One of my most kudosed fic (496 wtf, just checked) is a Glenn/Daryl fic for the Walking Dead. It's not particularly good. But the fandom is big, I guess, so even rarepairs thrive there.

What’s your most underrated fic? I would point to any number of my Miguel/Chico fics, except that all eyes looking for that pair at a given time have likely already read the fic, so it wouldn't really be correct to call any of them underrated. Underrated, maybe, in the sense of wOULD You LiKE tO TaLk AboUt IT PerHAPS?! MaY I wOrd VoMIT AbouT It?? HeLLo?

If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick? What a funny question…

Well. He could feel quite senseless sometimes. Idle-minded, it had been said of him; and if not idle-minded, then fixating on idle pleasures. That was all it was.

—Surpassing Corridors

Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down? No way. That's too much work. I just make changes directly into the fic lol.

If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs? I'll often go to their profile and see what other fics they're into or what fandoms they've written for, if they have. If they write a fic later for the pairing, I'll make sure to read their fic and comment.

Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed? I have a mutual who me and a friend always refer to as "AO3 User [Full URL]" because her fanfic was amazing. Even to this day, I don't like to bother her too much 😂

What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten? There's a couple of people who've read my fics or have gotten friends to read my fics despite not being in the fandom, and I really treasure that. Of course the long comments are always the best :D <3 But I also really like short comments, and this one was really touching (commented on a (sort of) vampire AU I wrote): "What a great premise - totally unexpected (which after 25 years of fic, hard to find) and beautifully written."

What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it? Someone flamed me on an Xmen fic I wrote years ago on ff.net, criticising the plot and my grammar. I didn't really care, though; my response upon reading it was like "Dude I am literally 12 years old" LOL.

What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review? Never gotten any reviews like this, except maybe the one I mentioned above. I don't think I get enough comments to have seen the breadth of the type of negative reviews people leave.

What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised? Uhhh… When there was a nice thing in the plot or the dialogue and people say Wow or when they say they could imagine the character saying it or something… (< imagine I said that in a weird low voice like Eeyore)

If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick? Single fandom fics. I'm really picky about crossovers and don't read them often.

if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick? I'm gonna say Oz because that's my current interest right now LOL.

Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy? I don't know what this means. No? I've written nearly 60 fics for both TSOMD and Oz for pairings that don't have that many fics to read if you subtract my contribution lol. There's some fandoms I've read an enormous amount of fic for (especially in the past) that I've never written for, too.

Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one? I'll still write for the past fandom when inspiration strikes, but I have a small brain so I forget plot stuff and can't capture the tone as well, I feel like.

Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right? Can't say. A character I've never written, probably. I'm delusional in a way so I feel like all my characterisations are valid, even if on the surface, I wring my hands and go "sorry for the OOCness!" Also, once I get into the groove of writing a certain character, it comes easier. But I guess there are still moments where I freak out and think I've not been writing them properly. I still think I write Miguel as too nice or something.

Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying? Omar White…?

Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up? Hmm. Hm… Sister Peter Marie, maybe? Got her in some unpublished wips as well as "In the Blink of an Eye". She's useful as a therapist character lol.

Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way? Nope. I don't have stats like that.

Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to? No? I've added ships into wips as they've gone along and things developed. Is that the question? Then yes, I guess.

Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic? I wrote a fanfic for a ship that I don't really like for a fic donation drive event, if that counts. Oh wait, yeah, I've written two other ships I don't like into fics before. For the angst.

Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic? Only if it's in character for a character to shit on another one. I don't insert my meta author opinion like that, though. Kind of tasteless as well as pointless.

Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why? I don't think so? I don't assume anything about potential readers like that.

Do you consider yourself to have a readership? Yeah, in a sense. It's easier to identify the repeat readers when there's only like 5 of them, plus guests. I don't really consider all of you guys readership tho because I feel like that implies some kind of interaction between author and audience.

Do you feel like you put out enough content? 🤣🤣🤣 I probably put out TOO much content. "Readership", as they say, has dwindled. But by god, I'm still going.

If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site? I sometimes post to Tumblr (ask memes) or Dreamwidth (community prompts) but I prefer AO3, especially because for the rare comment that I do get, I can find it again easily. I don't really like posting fic directly to Tumblr because if someone comments on it the fic or post or whatever, I can't find it easily. And I have a really really bad memory 😭 I like things in one place.

How many views has your most popular fic gotten? Highest hit count is 12,026 hits on "We Who Have the Souls," which is my top kudosed fic (751).

Your least popular? My fic with the least kudos, "Prey Animal" (2), has 47 hits, but my fic with the lowest hits is tied between "Movie Time" and "Sore Spot" with 10 hits.

Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received? Yeah, I've been trying to leave kudos/comments on every story I've read since like two years ago? Sometimes if I really have no energy, I don't comment, but then I feel guilty. I'm only subscribed to one fic, though, and I'm not super into bookmarking.

If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself? I wanna say Action/Adventure, but the more accurate would be that broader genre, Drama.

Do you consider yourself a diverse author? Idk what this means. I'm a gay chinese dude, is that what this is asking? lol

If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? I would give them my Hamlet or RAGAD fics bc they are the most respectable ones by virtue of proximity to Shakespeare lol.

Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too? My IRL friends from high school (now internet friends :') ) and my sister. No to HS friends (not anymore, anyway). And my sister isn't in fandom.

Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it? :D Yes <3

Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive? Yes and yes. I think fanfic has made me a better writer. I've made friends through fanfiction, and it's pretty much the only think in my life, besides other fandom creating, that keeps me creative and not wanting to slam my head into a wall <3

[thebreakfastgenie]

https://www.tumblr.com/gaphic/760528757258862592

Think it also doesn't help that a lot of these chucklefucks are just lazy assholes who keep on expecting things to instantly change or not interfere with their normal lives while they protest.

A lot of the truly meaningful protests I've read about were frequently made by people who were willing to make difficult decisions and make the necessary sacrifices for the sake of what they believed in, even if it meant the risk of them dying, being imprisoned, or heavily inconvenienced on a personal level, because the thing they fought for was THAT important to them. And they made sure that what they did counted and was aimed specifically at what was actually the source of their problems and used their tools as effectively as they could.

By contrast, the people I've seen doing these "protests" now are just not serious people. Way too many of them are honestly just egotistical privileged dipshits who think they can just be loud and annoying or only copied the movements without understanding the nuances of WHY they were originally done. They often also refuse to ever go after meaningful targets and instead punch down on random people or locations that have NOTHING to do with their cause, and then expect to just head back home for supper and Netflix afterwards and whine and cry either when it turns out they fucked up badly.

I think you make solid points, if a tad undiplomatically, so I'm going to post this.

There's definitely a failure to understand that a core part of civil disobedience is accepting the consequences. And it's scary! Taking that kind of risk is really scary and hard, which is why the people who do it are so impressive, but a lot of people probably aren't willing to admit they're personally afraid to take that risk or make that sacrifice. I think there's also a bit of being raised on powerful images, photographs of historic marches and so forth, and being inspired by the imagery without really understanding the work behind it. You're absolutely right that there is a contingent that thinks they can clock into a protest and then go home and watch Netflix and I think "these are not serious people" is the most apt description.

The issue of targeting is very real, too. You need a protest to be impactful, but you need it to be impactful in a way that matters. Blocking a random highway isn't necessarily effective and can easily backfire. A missing part of the calculus is that a lot of Americans (I'm speaking from an American perspective because I'm American but this applies in other countries too) are going to respond by protestors for X cause interfering with their lives not by saying "someone should do something about X cause" but by saying "someone should do something about these protestors." You don't want to accidentally build public support for the government rounding up demonstrators. Filling up all the seats at a lunch counter when you're specifically protesting the lunch counter policy disrupts normal function in a way that is very clearly connected to your cause.

I think there's an idea that we have a moral duty to protest, but this idea is popular with a lot of people who aren't prepared to make the significant sacrifices involved in protesting seriously, and that's where you get the people who go through the motions but want to go home afterwards. This is a whole other thorny question, but all I'll say for the moment is I'm not convinced framing protest as a moral duty is productive, and I find that a more relevant question than whether it's correct.

There is such a thing as civil disobedience training. There are people that teach you how to protest effectively. I'm not in the loop enough to know of any particular resources, but if anyone knows anything please feel free to share!