#I feel compelled to just make my own damn plot and my own ending to it all because wHAT THE FUCK?

[rfks-brain-worms]

Hey so I'm seeing some concerning things on your insta regarding Confinement, a lot of nudity, and even a shadow of connor's penis, I am really hoping this show wouldn't go down a NSFW route as this had some genuinely interesting concepts for an SCP series, will all of this NSFW be in this episode or will these themes continue along with the series because I really do not feel comfortable watching that kind of stuff

I’m gonna be honest if you had problems with sexuality I don’t know how you got through this series already considering the IKEA episode. This is an adult show with adult content and if spicy slapstick “ruins” it for you you’re probably not the right audience for our show. This has always been an adult show considering the amount of gore and the subject matters we cover, so yes, these themes will be explored. Connor is an adult person who is going to explore sexuality the way that many adults do as well as humorously through silly montages and hijinks.

On a personal note from me, You don’t have to like it, but the attitude that you display about it comes off as entitled and strange. If you don’t like that content you don’t have to watch the show. There’s no shame in admitting something isn’t for you. But don’t try to unload your personal baggage and hang ups on sexuality on us please.

-Mod Orion

[nexility-sims]

𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲.

i, frankly, haven't had the energy or positive mindset to sit down and write anything extensive out for this gratitude day, which is is a shame. however, i wanted to post something, with promises to outpour more love next year !

at this moment, i believe it's fair to say i'm most grateful for the folks in my simblr writing group. i've told you all multiple times how happy being in a group together makes me but, damn it, everyone else needs to know, too !!!! it's only been two months, but it feels like so much longer because everyone has been so enthusiastic and earnest—in general, but also with embracing each other's stories, getting to know one another, providing support and assistance. that was all i wanted. this little community's establishment has coincided with a terrible loss and truly awful time in my life, and i just can't adequately express how appreciative i am for everyone. i want to shoutout @300yearschallenge, @bridgeportbritt, @crownsofesha, @daniigh0ul, @greensleeves101066, @lynzishell, @madebysimblr, @rebouks, @simming-in-the-rain, @simstrashkingdom, @sirianasims, @saerelia, and @hannahssimblr in particular for so many insightful, instructive, funny conversations. it's so wild to me that i just met most of you and yet am excited every day to see what you've got to say. that's to say nothing of the storytelling itself !!!!! i'm grateful as well for @digital-deluxe @earthmoonz @funkyllama @housekonig @igglemouse @moonfromearth @simabloom @simeaz @simmysunset @stillgotme @the-lancasters @theroyalthornoliachronicles @trentonsimblr @warwickroyals @saerelia @xldkx i still have lots of catching up to do, but i'm happy to say i've started and am enjoying several, finally. i'm taking notes, whether it's on family dynamics or compelling prose or friendship or the importance of backgrounds and settings or whatever else. lastly, perhaps predictably: i haven’t kept up with too many stories this year for various reasons, but i have been @armoricaroyalty's biggest fan for the last two years. i’m grateful that gabe and i had such a truly epic, ridiculously fun collaborative project this year (almost entirely gabe’s doing, which makes me even more determined to repay the favor). i’m also so proud and happy that gabe’s story has really hit its stride and garnered a lot of well-deserved praise this year.

the big reason why i love gabe’s story is because there are so many interesting characters, all doing something, all woven together in ways that feel realistic and suspenseful and dramatic and hilarious and romantic … it takes a little bit of talent, a lot of skill, and a boatload of discipline to pull that off. gabe has all of it, and i’m so grateful to have been allowed to join in—whether as an enthusiastic sounding board, a partner in plotting, or just someone to agree heartily that, yes, that freddy poll had one (1) correct answer. i'm so excited to see the story continue now that this phenomenal chapter is ending, i have and will continue to learn a lot about the craft from gabe, and my own storytelling has improved immensely just by association (you know, plus the fact that my current project wouldn’t exist without him). oh, and: simblr is also about making friends, and our friendship is hands-down the best thing i've gotten out of this whole endeavor.

all of this makes me believe, in conclusion, that 2024 is going to be full of more delightful conversation, more delightful stories to read, and more friendship ♥️

[penny-the-pissed-poltergeist]

Hey! Figured I'd send in an ask since you had indicated you wanted some. With the company now defunct, it seems like a good time to reflect on RWBY and examine it more closely. As such, I wanted to ask what are your top three most favourite and least favourite parts of the show? It can be a character, a specific scene, a particular detail, anything you want. More importantly, why do you like/dislike those parts respectively?

things I liked

The Yang and Weiss reunion in VOL.5

"Your MOM kidnapped me! YOU KIDNAPPED HER" is still one of the (intentionally) funnest things in the show. The hug is just really cute and beautiful, I love how the home leitmotif is playing and it's main reason both me and many other people like freezerburn. (even if there is a platonic explanation if you're not a coward)

Ruby's character post VOL. 8

You can tell she's a good character because even when the writing is really bad she's still at least KINDA compelling, I genuinely enjoy her arc in VOL.9 despite how bad it makes her team look, before they stumble at the end at least (I don't blame that on it being rushed, ascension is just that fundamentally bad of a plot point)

even in shit like the JL movies she's still one of the characters I like having on my screen the most, I'm really glad she has officially left her era of barely doing anything important in her own show. she's one of my blorbos now because I relate to the whole not liking yourself thing

The vibes and world

the world of RWBY is such a unique setting, not quite fantasy, not quite sci fi, even a tiny bit superhero. No one else in fiction who looks and fights exactly like Ruby Rose or Weiss Schee or Pyrrha Nikos. The world felt so unique especially in the OG trailers

bonus round: Penny

OH MY GOD I LOVER HER SO MUCH AUTISTIC QUEEN HXHXAJHSA (that's it that's the whole entry)

Things I really didn't like

Jaune Arc

You know all that stuff I said about how unique the setting and character's are, yeah like ignore all of that. here's a generic white guy swordsman with a regular sword and shield who's is incompetent and has no powers in first 3 volumes and only exists to make unfunny jokes and get explained at by a character who's 5x more interesting than him, he's only here because they couldn't find a way to naturally drop exposition even though they literally in a school. He might as well have dropped in here from the real world after getting hit by a truck.

Then his (almost) GF dies and he's the only one allowed to morn her except Ruby like once, and then Jaune is given so much important screen time that he feels more like the main character then Ruby ever did and becomes a bully because angst. he finally becomes a character I can enjoy in VOL.7 and most of 8, before he kills Penny and my faith in his character along with it, he immediately gets like 5 other things to get traumatized by in the ever after and gets explained OFF SCREEN so you don't even get conflict from it. god that wasn't even everything, I'll stop now.

The white fang (or Fannus in general)

You can point out literally anything to do with this subplot and it would be offensive in some way. From animal people being race allegory by itself being sketchy at best to even Blake's mom's name being a slur in some contexts. People still try do defend it even though the WRITERS THEMSELVES admitting it was bad.

I think we should just stop trying to make truly divergent species direct race allegories, it's never worked

that one "Maybe you lost some brain cells along with that arm" scene

started with a good Yang scene, ending on a bad one. Oobleck is here (YIPPY) and Port too (god damn it) and they are joking about how funny that one time they put Qrow in a dress was because man in dress funny (ugh). So Yang gets some mediocre advice and gets insulted by the "maybe you lost some brain cells along with that arm" line and finds it funny. yes disabled people are allowed to make jokes about their own disability but there's a big difference between that and able bodied writers having an able bodied character make a joke at a disabled character's expense and saying the disabled person is fine with it. maybe I should be happy that they cut down on Yang's recovery arc if we were gonna get more of this, no matter how stupid that was.

Bonus: Coco

They really based one of their few gay characters on an IRL nazi and then made her predatory and sadistic in the not fun way...

[gaywatch]

oh my, you ship jack and elizabeth?

i’m definitely prepared for a highly intense and opinionated lecture if you have the time and energy for it! been shipping them for years but have never known someone else who does as well!

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy so

Some people had the Vision to see potential in Jack/Elizabeth from Pirates of Caribbean right from the start. Those people were blessed with the gift of Sight. I was not. I took the first movie's canon as is, like a heathen. This is particularly funny given ::gestures to the entire desert island sequence::

Will/Elizabeth was good enough, though it probably should have been a sign that me, the Most Hopeless Romantic Bitch You Know, wasn't drawn to the canon romance in a particular way. I was an overall fan, I liked everything about it.

I had to have the sequel dropped on my head in order to Understand.

First of all, you know how Jack's compass won't work? The one that points directly to what he wants most in the world? And then it points at Elizabeth but oh whoopsie she had the papers or the map or whatever that would get him closer to immortality so it must have been that then never mind? MIND. The writers themselves confirmed what was implied throughout the whole movie--Jack was in love with Elizabeth to the point of a genuine dilemma between her and immortality. His feelings are canon. Oh, he makes little 'it would never work' jokes but that motherfucker wants her as much as wants to live forever.

And Elizabeth??? Excuse me??? With her own arc descending into a pirate's morality by way of extreme flirtation with the lifelong pirate? Packing chemistry that Will could never muster for a single second of his entire life? Will and Elizabeth have perfectly good devotion and care for one another, but excuse me ma'am you come to LIFE when you're around Jack, thank you.

And then the third movie just made it Worse.

She's the Pirate King. THE. Pirate King. KING OF THE PIRATES. And she's a damn good one. An inspiring leader. A clever woman. She fits into piracy and piracy molds itself to her in ways that make for a banger character arc, so why in the FUCK are we waiting on a beach for however many years while Will serves his time? The guy who doesn't want piracy but is forced to serve? Meanwhile the lifelong pirate who embraces the world you fit into is a no???? And not to harp on chemistry, but you expect me to watch Elizabeth fall into that kind of fire with one person and then NOT end up with him?

I do not understand. The arc and evolution of Elizabeth starting out with her childhood sweetheart and then over time growing up and rising into what she really wants in both a life (piracy) and Jack (not the boy-next-door good girls are supposed to dream about) would have been so compelling to watch alongside the main plot. Plus, for the time the original trilogy was made, it would have been mind blowing to see a love triangle where she doesn't wind up with the guy she was originally interested in or the Safe One. Hell it'd be a nice twist now.

Why is it ALWAYS the Safe One? These days there's a whole """bad boy""" subgenre to compensate, but it's mostly in books and they're mostly just assholes or abusive. I've been gnawing my enclosure for twenty years over this, and it's a huge reason why I never win love triangles whenever I wind up caring about them. Jack, Phantom, Gale, my track record for canon sucks but the straight ladies writing """bad boys""" don't get it either. Bad boys do not work unless they're also good men. He either grows into it or it's hidden for as long as you want but at some point it has to be Bad Boy, Good Man. That's where the money is.

POTC could have had it all but played it safe in the end. Sigh.

[sabertoothjello]

I finished All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows. So good. I loved it.

You know that vibe from A Taste of Gold and Iron that’s just “you two are such fucking idiots about each other”? THEY ARE JUST SUCH FUCKING IDIOTS ABOUT EACH OTHER and I love it.

Spoilers under the cut.

(Although the spoilers are more vibes than specific plot points honestly.)

So. The end of my copy of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance had a snippet of this and it was enough for me to know that the plot line was going to include attempts at seducing one or both of the boys into an affair. (This is barely even a spoiler - that’s the prologue.)

I was NERVOUS. I hate “are they cheating oh no what do i do” plots. I hate when there’s chapters and chapters of angst and drama that could be solved by a simple fucking conversation. I spend the whole time frustrated and annoyed and yelling at the book “JUST FUCKING TALK” and that’s not a pleasant reading experience for me.

Foz did not do this, and I could not be more grateful. From Moment 1, these two idiots trust each other and care about each other more than anything else in the world (okay yes except for Markel, WE KNOW VEL). At no point do either of them actually think the other did anything. They both worry that the other will think they did, but there is never any doubt or suspicion or mistrust.

And I loved it. It makes the story so much more compelling. These two ADORE each other (btw Vel is HILARIOUSLY oblivious to his own feelings like I mean SAME babes, but COME ON) and they trust each other and if you take that away, then WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE STORY.

I cannot even begin to express how glad I am that my yelling about this book (to my dog) was “SEE? Do you see how PERFECT THEY ARE TOGETHER???” and not begging fictional characters to talk to each other. That’s a stupid conflict to have in a story. It’s cheap, you can do better.

Do they have trouble communicating? Yes, absolutely. Does it make perfect sense for their personalities, their histories, their traumas? YES. Was I so fucking glad that Markel looked at Cae and said “you shouldn’t have left him” because Cae is a damn idiot? YES.

This is a LOVE STORY, not because they had to contend with accusations of infidelity, but because, in every single fucking moment, both of them knew with 100% certainty that this man who they love would not do that to them.

The trust, the loyalty, the honor, the respect, the pure honest CARE is important and meaningful. Even Vel, who has only known shitty, toxic relationships, is a good man and a good husband and that is important. He tries, he wants to be, he works hard at it.

Like, that poor man gets bitchy with his husband and realizes UM SHIT I can’t just walk out and see what happens WHAT DO I DO and then he does his best. That’s what you do, Vel. Your best.

(Markel’s “bold of you to assume that Velasin has ever been wrong” was PRICELESS)

The love confession was glorious. GLORIOUS.

(Side note, CAE LIKES SMART MEN and I love him for it.)

As someone who doesn’t do the politics and people shit either, I love EVERY second of Vel figuring shit out and asking questions and staying calm until it’s worth losing his shit, and I adore Cae just sitting there, watching him and being like “I have never wanted anything more in my life than I want you right now”. GOOD FOR YOU CAE GET YOUR MAN.

I’ll need a reread because plot points blur together for me until I get a second time through, but I’m basically ready to flip back to the front and start right now 😂

Also, apparently I love a good “oh no, this stranger I’m stuck with every minute of every day is really hot and I want to jump his bones” (both of these stories and AToGaI, THANKS FOZ AND ALEX) so that was also fun.

They’re adorable and stupid and I love them.

[irisbleufic]

I’m feral for your 1973 fic. You’re deviling that minion like nobody else. I’m getting uneasy tho, like nothing can go this well for these loser4losers for this long…

Thanks, anon! I’m always happy to hear when a story is compelling to readers. I was explaining this in a comment response this morning—next chapter, #7, has the first uh-oh rollercoaster drop in it. Starts out sweet, but the first actual fuck-up on somebody’s part happens and it’s trouble in paradise time. And, to be fair, their behavior has been so staggeringly escapist and closed-off in their own bizarre bubble (as only they can do, let’s face it) that I’m amazed the surface tension has held for fully half the overall planned plot without popping sooner.

The thing that keeps making me laugh (affectionate, delighted, love you guys for this) is every other comment being like “Louis is haunting the narrative, yikes.” Louis can fuck with anybody he wants in my stories right now and have fun doing it. I may love Armand and Daniel, but I hope I’ve shown I don’t shy from letting them suffer. I’ll give just about anybody hell; my fictional faves can absolutely sit in the corner while somebody reads them for filth and/or exposes their damning backstories, it builds character.

(I have this weird combination of being allergic to unhappy endings, but also allowing for emotionally rock-bottom shit to happen in the third quarter of stories. Not narratively atypical by any means, but I feel like I get mean about it when that bad shit finally happens. Granted, nothing about this one will get as bad as the previous stand-alone set in Dubai. Midterms week stress broke me.)

[formerheroeswhoquittoolate]

fall of x is over and I have FINALLY figured out how to articulate what pissed me off so much about the whole talon/synch thing. because obviously it pissed me off a lot. and that's because it was Fucking Boring Romance when the other option was not boring.

now, granted, I am extremely aromantic and asexual, so this may in fact be a side effect of me not being able to relate to most romantic plots. so take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt. anyway on to the post.

okay so. laura and synch and darwin spent a couple centuries in the vault. synch gets out and the others don't. laura and darwin get resurrected. we are all on the same page.

synch and laura fell in love in the vault. I don't think I like it character-wise but they bonded romantically and it happened so. sure. four hundred years is a long-ass time. and it's kind of interesting? laura hasn't really had a romantic relationship since teen!warren went back to his own time, and synch has been dead for fucking ever. *benoit blanc voice* it makes no damn sense. compels me though.

synch remembers it, laura doesn't, and they're on the x-men together. this would probably have been an interesting time for them to have some tension? synch probably knows way more about laura than anyone ever, and laura has literally no idea what or how much he knows. something about her has changed but it's impossible to tell what it is because she doesn't know what happened in the vault. duggan touched on this once and then just sort of ignored it. they could have had to reconcile this? synch, a lost love he will literally never experience anything like ever again. laura, a complete stranger who somehow knows everything about her. synch probably barely remembers this laura, anyway. laura can literally smell when people are attracted to her. this is, quite possibly, the most interesting ending to a rather bland "they were the only two people in the world" love story I could conceive of.

and instead. the problem is removed from the story. synch is no longer in love with a version of laura that doesn't exist, because she does exist now, actually, and talon takes laura's place on the team. off laura goes to x-force to be slotted into the role of daughter rather than unwilling object of romantic interest.

the problem doesn't get solved, it gets erased. and that's what pissed me off so much about it. it was a fascinating problem! it was reducing one of my favorite characters to a very unremarkable role but it was still an interesting problem. it had potential. (it even had potential to fix that reduction and actually address laura from a character perspective, but that's another ramble.) the route duggan took was, almost completely, the most boring possible route. at least laura had a conversation with talon. the problem is not solved. the problem is not solved! nothing is resolved! the answer to "what will laura and synch end up being to each other?" is "fucking nothing, actually, because talon is here now and everything is okay" and it's STUPID.

okay that's mean. it's not stupid but it is boring. bad answer. does nothing for laura or synch (or talon, either, but she's so aggressively apathetic about laura that it's really hard to say anything about her without accidentally starting a whole unrelated ramble.) the romance took priority over the relationship. and That's why I'm pissed about it. (well aside from my love of laura.) there was a more interesting, character-development-inducing, potentially emotionally fraught option and they chose a fairly bland romantic relationship. and again, maybe this is my aroace ass and general inability to find romantic relationships compelling. but this feels like the worse of the two options.

[deltaengineering]

LISTICLE SEASON 2024

Haven't been feeling like writing season wrapups lately (at least in part because it more and more seems like almost nobody is reading these), but I feel compelled to at least do the ol' AOTY.

WORST ANIMU THAT I WATCHED IN ITS ENTIRETY

It's easily Metallic Rouge. Absolutely shambolic display and the only ways it could have been worse would either be ways that would make me not watch it or ways that would have made it more entertaining. And even shows I hate more (like Violet Evergarden) are admittedly at least good at what they want to be. Metallic Rouge isn't good at any of the two dozen things it wants to be, so unless it was aiming to be a confusing, unfocused disaster, it is going to have to take that L.

TOP 5 ANIME THAT I WATCHED AND EVERYTHING I DIDN'T WATCH IS DEFINITELY BAD

5. Hibike! Euphonium S3

Euphonium remains a pretty questionable affair a lot of the time, but S3 managed to rein it in just enough to make it clear that beneath the heightened seishun schmaltz there is plenty of good character writing. S3 feels like a back to basics move that pays off rather well, and at least seems to have moderate ambitions. Actually this spot should go to Frieren because Frieren owns, but I already said my piece on that a couple of times. Or maybe Dead Dead Demons etc, but I really can't forgive that one for purposely and artistically shooting itself in the foot with an ending that makes the viewer ask "what's the fucking point", and even with effort I still wasn't able to come up with any explanation that isn't in itself lame.

4. Love Live! Superstar!! S3

Nobody likes Superstar and even people that do seem to not like S3. I think they're wrong and that S3 is in fact the best season of the best Love Live anime. Sure, it doesn't go as hard as it should and the character focus is random and weird and so on, but I would like to remind everyone that they're still watching Love Live and it was never good at any of that. For my money, S3 has the least lame plot and some of the best character moments, and if you expect anything more, I don't know what to tell you.

3. Dandadan

I don't think Dandadan is quite the bee's knees as public consensus seems to make it out to be - it's still hamstrung by Shounen Explainer Writing™ and some very repetitve immature humor. Also, the best part (the Acro Silky episode) is indeed great but really does not feel like it should be in this show. But it has to be said: Dandadan just excels at delivering on whatever it is it tries, so you're always in for a good time. And on the source material side I really have to congratulate that one of these finally manages to remain irreverent and not bog itself down with allegedly serious bullshit (for 12 year olds) too much. It's just extremely well executed to a degree where I feel like the occasionally lackluster content can't hurt it too much.

2. Girls Band Cry

Girls Band Cry is very simply a slightly less good version of MyGO, and MyGO is a great show (if you haven't heard, shiptastic dramaqueen girl bands are the new meta). I think GBC looks a little more interesting but the character writing isn't quite there, but overall they're pretty damn close. This would probably get the top spot if its ending wasn't such a nothingburger, but there you go.

1. Yubisaki to Renren

Yeah so the best show of the year is the one where I was already confused how it could be best show of the season. But the same reasoning applies: There simply isn't anything wrong with Yubisaki to Renren, and what there is is at the very least very good, so combined with a lack of a superlative barnburner all year long it's the one. Moderate ambitions and generally low stakes keep it from being a classic itself, but it's an excellent romance show for people who want at least a little bit of maturity from their characters. And I can't stop being impressed at how genius the setup is (I said before that this show gets all the depth it needs basically for free). Check it out!

[utopians]

I mean s1 was deffo better than s2 but why do you say that it wasn't good? /gen

mannn honestly it would take ages to enumerate all my problems with it but these are the main ones

just a massive, massive tone problem. this show just has no clue what it wants to be and it's bad as hell as a result. the wilderness scenes in this season had some of the darkest stuff of anything in the show (eating jackie + shauna miscarriage + shauna beating lottie) and having all that next to like... misty's quirky reddit boyfriend just absolutely defanged it. the show doesn't want to commit to being either a quirky mystery/comedy or a gritty survival horror and because of that it fails to effectively be anything at all

misty's reddit boyfriend in general just sucked so bad. like what was that

the escalation from 'we're hungry' to 'let's draw cards and murder whoever gets the wrong one' occurred over the span of ONE EPISODE. one SINGLE episode without ANY NEGOTIATION. literally not one single scene of the characters even TALKING about it before it happened. what a joke. what an absolute joke. they had an entire season to build to it how'd they fuck it up this bad

this is a problem I had with the first season as well but the survival threat feels so told and not shown. like we're told all these characters are Soooo Hungry but none of them are ever actually like. fatigued. or ill. or Dying. like how the fuck is coach ben still alive man. it just makes the escalation to killing people that much more abrupt and the whole situation seem so contrived when it doesn't actually feel like they're in danger

just in general the show like. refuses to let any of its characters feel anything at all. shauna straight up killed an innocent man that she was having an affair with last season and the extent of the emotional fallout of that act is her making quirky Oh Whoopsie comments about it. like that would be an insane traumatic thing to go through and you'd think it would be the kind of thing the show would want to explore. but no. not on amc's yellowjackets

on that same topic. shauna beating lottie had weirdly little emotional fallout. like ik they didn't like each other but shauna almost beat lottie to death with her hands and seemed just like. kind of sad and apologetic afterwards. like you'd think that such an act would have some sort of extreme ramifications for her relationship with the group and her own emotional state but nah

in the same vein: this season did adult taissa SO dirty. all the little plot threads that made her story difficult and compelling last season have completely been dropped -- her wife and son were literally written out like 4 episodes in and we don't see any of the emotional complexity of her leaving behind those relationships. additionally the last season ended with her being elected senator (sth that could cause a lot of conflict and drama bc of the increased responsibility on her shoulders + surveillance and scrutiny of her life) and it literally just. never comes up again? like her wife is in a coma and her son is just left fully parentless and she walks away from her job as a US STATE SENATOR and not only are there no consequences she also just literally does not seem to care. I feel like the writers just had no clue what they wanted to do with her and so they just gave her... nothing. no conflict no emotions just nothinggggg

okay they did give her one thing. they gave her an evil alter ego. which is mad corny imo. last season it was weird and ambiguous enough that I enjoyed it but this season it was just so literal and on the nose and I did not enjoy it One Bit

similar to the cards thing lottie deciding that they needed to kill one of them at the end was so damn abrupt and stupid. like literally so pointless and out of nowhere

natalie's death was so silly and contrived that it actually made me laugh

adult van is not butch enough ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[btsbs]

Okayyy I saw some of your tags and now I am very curious (and if you're not comfortable sharing that's fine) about what your fav bts fanfic genres are and if you have any recommendations.

I remember those tags, I was referencing a Jungkook that felt very high school au to me. I struggle with high school au, mostly because it's been such a long time since I was in high school that most of what writers are incorporating in those fics is not at all relatable to my experiences. As much as I can suspend reality and put these guys in all kinds of crazy universes, it's really hard for my brain to read a high school or college au without setting it in my own high school or college in my mind, if that makes any sense? If it's well written and it finds it's way in front of me I will read it, but it's not one I really seek out.

For me it's less about the setting and more about a compelling plot, which can be hard to find. I like angst, pining, miscommunication, make it hurt good. I don't even mind major character death, but I feel like virtually no one writes that and most of what's out there is pretty fluffy. I'm ok with some fluff but if everything is just too perfect minus like, one fight you can feel coming a mile away, I start losing interest. I also *try* to not read tags on ao3 because I like being surprised, not knowing who's going to end up together from the start or what is going to happen. I understand why they are there, but they're not for me. The bts extended universe that gets presented to us is already pretty sanitized and fluffy, I don't need to read it in fic form. Throw in some secret relationships or unrequited love and I'm all over it.

In terms of recommendations, I am incredibly unorganized on ao3 and I wish there was a better way on there for me to sort/review/rank what I've read without it being visible to the author. I have I think only 4 fics actually bookmarked, and I went through my history and there are 1,486 fics in there, that includes several I never fully read or finished but yeah. I can also read most pairings so the options are limitless.

If you like namgi and pining, Verified Amateurs and Practice Makes Perfect by beebalm are great. Yoonjin- Worldwide Lonesome by loindexter. There's a jikook orphaned fic called Circuit that is one I liked so much I actually bookmarked, same with an orphaned sope fic called Same Damn Hunger. When I first got into the fandom I started with a lot of yoonmin fics, and U k i y o by sharleena (it's reallly long) and (feat. Jimin) by dawnstruck still live in my head. I could keep going through my history as my actual rec list is definitely longer than this...if you have more specifics let me know and I'll dig deeper! I'm also always open to recommendations if anyone has any!

[miss0atae]

Random Thoughts about Dream episode 9:

This series is so frustrating! I can't even tell you how much disappointment I had with this episode. I get it they wanted to adapt a book… So make a real adaptation! Take the name of the characters, few plot devices and make something better and new because this is not a good story at all. We are at episode 9 out of 12 and the main characters haven't had a proper conversation about their feelings! The teaser made me think it was a fantasy romance, but it's more like a drama soap opera.

All the misunderstandings and all the problems would have been solved in one episode if these damn characters were really talking… all of them! They need a group therapy with multiple sessions to learn how to do it. This is so frustrating because you can see how this story could be great! The ideas are really interesting and the actors know how to play… unfortunately everything is mixed with stupidity. The characters are stupid! Even the best actors can't save this.

It's crazy to think it's the same studio that produced GAP and The Sign which weren't perfect, but the story and the relationship between the leads were compelling. Here we have the same problems that happens again and again with no solutions. Everyone is begging Kim to tell Wan about her feelings. Same for Wan… but no… they can kiss, they can share intimate moments (we'll talk about that again) but having a proper conversation?! No, it's not possible.

So the first part was about Kim being really angry at her dad and she can't really forgive him because she still hasn't work on the hurt she got when he ran away with Kim's dad. The moms told the fathers they are forgiving them, but they can't forget what happened. It could have been a step for Kim and Wan's characters growth, but I felt like something was missing.

Then Kim and Wan went to the club with their friends. Everyone is telling them to finally be together but no… It never really happens. They are stuck on the same pattern again and again. It's not like they don't have a healthy lesbian relationship around them they can use as an example of what they could have together… but no. They are still holding their feelings for themselves and they always need to be drunk to act upon them.

I'm tired of them needing the help of something to free themselves. I thought since Wan's got therapy she would be more eager to accept her love for Kim and she would try to charm her. However, it's not just Wan who has a problem with her sexual identity, but it's also Kim. She may have admitted she loves Wan, but she struggles to really do anything with this. I don't get her reasoning.

Of course, the thumbnail of the part 3 promised us a torrid moment between Kim and Wan… and we got fooled. Nothing happened! That's one of my problem too. We are always teased, but it's either a dream or the characters don't do anything and it's pretty tame. We had the dream last week and today we got the pretty tame moment. I'm not asking for NC scenes, but don't tease me with them and give me nothing at the end.

Finally, Mawin… I can't with him. He must know that Kim doesn't like him. She can't even hide it properly. So why is he stuck on marrying her?! I really wanted him to be a nice person, but either he is an idiot or he is a manipulative person. Frankly, after this episode I believe it's the latter. Also, why is Wan's mom forcing her daughter to marry someone just because she is afraid of dying?! I get it, she has cancer and she wants her daughter to be happy… but who said being married would bring happiness? I mean look at her own marriage. She wasn't happy in the end.

It feels like both Wan and Kim can't do anything to be together because Wan don't want Kim to go against her mom's wishes and Kim will do anything her mom ask her to do to see her happy. In the end, both women are still prisoners of their parents' wishes who never seems to consider what would be the real happiness of their daughters.

Anyway, I'm sad I didn't like this episode at all. I was really a fan of the series at the beginning, but it's getting harder and harder to enjoy it. I will still watch it until the end because I want happiness for Wan and Kim!

[ayosdesignz-blog]

Spoilers for across the Spiderverse I guess.

Finally watched Across the Spiderverse and despite the spoilers and observations I'd read beforehand, I'm offended by both Spot and Miguel.

Like...to the point I don't understand why the content I came across generally really liked them? Miguel especially. FUCK Miguel. Good guy my ass. Dude has practically built a cult. And he's the unquestioned head who's word is law and doesn't have to listen to anyone just because.

I don't understand the vehement and persistent hate these 2 GROWN ASS MEN have towards a damn 14-now 15 year old boy. A goddamn child.

Both keep victim blaming and pushing and projecting their mistakes, the wrong doings of others, the plot of fucking KINGPIN onto him and I just DON'T understand. Miles literally did NOTHING wrong to get this kind of vitriol from a pair of strangers who Actually know what's up. Or that claim to anyways.

Spot over here claiming to be the scientist that made/had the spider that made Miles Spiderman. He also basically admitted to being one of the evil scientists that was under goddamn Kingpin's employ. The same Kingpin who cooked up and pressed and demanded his selfish world destroying demands be met. Yet he wants to blame the scared child who was literally only defending himself and trying to do good by helping to stop more ppl (including that family he claims he lost but had actually rejected him for reasons) don't die. Why is he not mad at his boss? Former boss? Why is he not taking responsibility for losing the spider experiment? Yet he wants credit in making the newest spiderman? Why does he want to make a literal child the root of his problem instead of literally any of the adults it could've been...like other Peter?

Only thing I can think of is that he's such a sad pathetic piece of incompetent shit that a damn (mostly)clueless child was the only target he could shift blame too and feel like he could properly threaten and win against. Only to be proven wrong and have the audacity to be offended that the child he's failing to harm doesn't take him seriously nor accept the false responsibility of his own problems he's trying to place on Miles.

And then there's Miguel's bitch ass.

Acting all knowing and despite being aware of the facts that Miles is OBJECTIVELY not at fault or aware of any problems (aside from Spot) is unnecessarily rude and hostile towards him from the very start.

And when he calms down enough to actually talk and explain some things like a rational person, it's essentially to give his own crazy (and mildly horrifying from implications cuz STALKER USURPER ALERT) sob story so he can tell a kid to let his dad be killed "because the worlds will end otherwise" and basically imply that since Miles saved Captain Singh they'll have to murder that cop to make things "right".

And then later, when he catches Miles outside after that ridiculous and hilarious chase was somehow compelled to tell this child, with words filled with (unnecessary) aggressive hate, that he's a "mistake" that shouldn't exist and should have never been spiderman.

Smells like self projecting to me.

And also, it's bullshit!

Based on what I recall from this movie I just watched, one or both of these men I can't stand is lying. Spot is claiming to be of Miles' dimension with the radio active spider but Miguel is claiming that spider is from a different dimension.

And the fact that Miguel rudely brings up more trauma, victim blames MORE, and tries to put the responsibility of a death caused by a murderous adult villain onto that same (child) victim only to later try to lament to the other spider ppl that Miles "won't listen" and "talking won't work" since he just tried it honestly put him on my character shit list.

Like I knew from spoilers that he was deemed attractive and interesting and that he didn't like this version of Miles but I didn't have like...any indepth details or whatever. I wasn't actively looking for spoilers.

I went into this movie expecting to like him, even just somewhat. But honestly? Fuck that guy. And not in a sexy way.

I mean...He immediately attempts to intimidate a child into submission upon 1st meeting for no reason after being rude as fuck while said child was trying to make a good impression and was honestly just happy to be there. And then he later tries to emotionally (and mentally?) break Miles verbally as if him loving his family, wanting his dad alive if possible is a bad thing. I had assumed, before going in that Miguel had at least started off civil and professionally polite with Miles. Figured Miles had purposely done something to his face that made Miguel go from cautious to distant. He hadn't. At all.

It's giving racist lowkey for the way he literally hates this mixed, primarily black presenting, child for existing and the way he said he wanted to just ignore/pretend that Hobie (another black male) was even there also made me raise an eyebrow. Maybe it's cuz of my own experience dealing with prejudice from ppl I least expected it from as a kid myself but Miguel is giving it and that's what I'm seeing and he's an asshat for it. He has no right and no reason to act as he did let alone say what he said. Fuck his ✨️trauma✨️ caused by his own mistakes as an adult who damn well knew better.

Mans literally stalked his own doppelganger and inserted himself into the other him's life once that one died only for it all to go to shit from glitches likely because he shouldn't have been there and what Kingpin was doing. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he'd killed his other self to live that dream life he wanted so bad.

Yet he wants everyone to believe a child in the wrong place at the wrong time and being saved by a superhero before taking up the mantel of a hero himself in honor of his savior since shit just happened to him...in his OWN WORLD MIND YOU, is completely wrong and unacceptable.

He can miss me with that bullshit. He's wrong period in my book.

Also if Miles is considered the: "oRIgInaL anOmALy" and has been living life just fine with powers caused by a alternate dimension spider then there's probably a good chance he can change his world's "canon events" without things going to shit since according to bitchMiguel, Mile's has technically been doing that from the start by even existing.

Think about it: Miles became a spiderman with active spider ppl there to train him. He wasn't alone or even the 1st spider person there. He knew what was happening as he changed since it had happened before and was publicized. His love interest Gwen is not only from a different dimension but also spiderwoman. A civilian unrelated to him knew of him and the others and provided additional support without becoming a liability, his uncle may have died but was a criminal unlike all the (known?) others, he's had no glitch or issues with his powers, he has more powers than the basic spiderman w/o the need of a suit, he's got both parents and both love him and also think rather positively of Spiderman w/o knowing it's him. His cop dad willingly works with spiderman too.

Also am I the only one concerned that the so called sophisticated technology they have to send ppl back to their dimensions has semi regularly sent their captures back to the wrong place? Because the only thing they tried to do was stop the machine from sending him, so unless that affected the way it operates to determine where a person is from that means they probably have been sending ppl to the wrong places, unknowingly fucking shit up just as much if not more in the multiverse than b4 they tried to correct it.

I bet they're actually wrong about all kinds of things and their causes and just don't realize it.

But I am estatic Hobie is just as awesome as I was lead to believe. Watching him, listening to what he says, I firmly believe he was an op to the spider society from the start to learn what he could, try to get other spiders to THINK more, and prepare for when he decides to leave them so he doesn't need them to utilize the tools they had a monopoly on.

I mean bro made the tactical decision to quit when Miguel and others were fully distracted by Miles on some sketchy shit and I feel like that kept him from having to deal with a cult leader bitchMiguel trying to make an example out of him for doing so or something.

[slowdripsunrise]

jfc okay so i have forgotten/been too lazy to write up reveiws here i apparently havent updated since. lone women which is well. so ive read a shit ton since then so i'm going try my best to write up as much as i can in this post bc i don't want to just. stop and skip over stuff. so well. here we go. spoilers for various books under the cut, i'll tag them all !

first book i finished after i last updated was silver nitrate by silvia moreno-garcia. been a while but damn do i remember the fucking vibes. absolutely killer vibes and atmosphere, and the plot was fun and interesting; i do remember being a bit confused in one of the final scenes fighting the guy but it wasnt enough to take me out of the story. the characters felt real and i could feel their love of movies and maybe each other off the page, definitely recommend if you're looking for an atmospheric, creepy little book.

next (and i'll just group these together) i read the poppy war trilogy by r. f. kuang ! absolutely wonderful storytelling and the characters were interesting and loveable. i think that this story succeeds in being one of the few good "war stories" as in it doesn't glorify or make light of any aspects of the war. there are good moments and bright spots throughout, but in the end pretty much every single character we know and love ends up dead, and before they're dead, they've been shaped so thoroughly by the war around them that there is no way anyone could have come out of this series thinking that it in any way romanticized the events. i loved everything about it and more. but while i did love the series. tbh i don't agree with everyone saying that its the most serious and intellectual and groundbreaking book in the entire world. yes it is groundbreaking and yes it is based on a lot of real life horrific events, but it's also. extremely entertaining. it's written beautifully and has some very poignant scenes that i love, and i am gonna be honest i lost where i was going with this point. i think what i'm trying to say is like before i read it, i saw a lot of people on the internet saying that it is like. the highest peak of literature and such and like. for me, it's mostly just a damn good time. i go into most books looking for entertainment (meaning like. i would like to feel emotions, not necessarily happy ones, just emotions in general) and what i think a lot of people made it seem like, was ONLY an epic tome about the brutality of war, the military, and colonization. and it absolutely is about that ! i am not docking points for it being about those things, in fact if it hadn't had all these hard hitting topics i wouldn't have liked it as much. but it's ALSO about rin, kitay, and nezha, and how they love and hate each other. and sometimes i think people lean too much into one aspect of the book, one way or the other (i have absolutely seen the inverse of this, people forgetting about the colonialism and militarization aspects in an impressive show of hypocrisy. which... is worse imo.) but idk. i have no idea what i am trying to say i just like this book yall.

next oml. okay again grouping them together for my own sake but i read the southern reach trilogy by jeff vandermeer ! this series was such a creepy and weird and offputting good time i ate that shit right up. the first book and the biologists pov are my favorites, and all of the insight we get from her and the first book into area x was just. so compelling i could not put that shit down. i'm pretty sure the second i finished in the hospital lol i was INVESTED. and honestly. i did really like the second book. not as much as the first, but i don't think it was bad or underwhelming compared to the first. once i got past the pov shift, i really liked controls pov partly because he is just some guy. like he is just so average and banal, and seeing this set against the absurdity of the rest of the book was really interesting. i liked how even though we weren't IN area x, the southern reach still had that otherworldly and offputting suspenseful energy, even in a familiar setting (office building type i mean. as opposed to weird as fuck forest). that and also i am deep into my f1 phase so like i kept picturing control as checo perez. like hes just so guy to me like hes just a normal guy that has no fucking clue whats going on and thats really funny and awesome to me. like man. anyway the third wasnt my favorite, but i still really like the series as a whole and will probably read the 4th one coming out whenever it does.

NEXT. sharks in the time of saviors by kawai strong washburn. did i cry. maybe. did i really like the story. yes. it was definitely a change of pace for me after reading the above books but the story was lovely and magical and engaging and very sad and i enjoyed every bit of it.

after that i read scattered all over the earth by yōko tawada, which is a story that i kinda have mixed feelings about? i listened to the audio book and the narrator did such a wonderful job, i loved listening to the two man characters talk about language in the mc's made up language, panska. and if the book was just about that, i probably would have liked it more, exploring language and the loss of it; however one of the side characters constantly get's misgenders when the story is outside of her pov. and it's like. really fucking distracting. so like i guess i don't have very mixed feelings about it lol. i liked one bit, definitely did not like another bit, and the rest of the book wasn't really strong enough to sway me back into the "i like this book and think it's interesting" camp. although if you can get past the blatant transphobia, the audio book really is nice to listen to, especially coming off a post surgery high.

next i read the ghost bride by yangsze choo ! this was another really atmospheric, palpable book. i could feel the setting, the humidity, the smells, all of it and it was so good! an engaging story, i'm pretty sure i read this one in a day or two. the characters were fun, the plot moved quickly in a way that made sense, and exploring the realms of the dead and the living with the characters was so fun, definitely recommend !

im gonna wrap this post up here mostly bc im hungry but i still have a lot more to update on ! if u made it this far thank you and also im sorry. happy reading!

[gamingstar26]

Yes, you are exactly right about totk!! A lot of my own complaints come from the story (or lack thereof). To be honest, it's a rare LOZ game that has a particularly complex or nuanced story, but in my opinion, the best ones more than make up for it with their characters.

My favorite game that I've played is Skyward Sword, and I desparately want to play Wind Waker, because the both of them have such fun and compelling characters that I don't really mind the simplicity of the narratives (and Wind Waker even hints at nuance the other games won't dive into!)

Tears of the Kingdom tries to use plot driven storytelling, but... expects us to be far more invested than most of us ever really are. There's hints of character driven story in there, but it all just falls flat in the end and feels really superficial, ESPECIALLY when you look at how they treat the women in this game. Zelda is JUST the sacrificial maiden (again) whose only autonomy comes from choosing to give up her autonomy. Mineru is JUST the smart character who magically technobabbles the solutions. Purah is JUST the scientist that tells you where to go. Most indicative of Nintendo's attitude in this, to me, is with Riju. The way they treat her, it's clear they want her to fill the role of the sexy one, but they know that won't go well if they go all out because she was canonically a young child in the last game. Still really gross, Nintendo you're not subtle.

All this to say that TOTK thinks it's more clever than if is, and fails to pull its own weight in any meaninful way.

All of this!!

I’ll add a bit more that I forgot to add:

Yea usually zelda games have simple plots overall (with some expectations of course) but they do make up for it with memorable characters, etc, etc…

My favorite zelda game is Ocarina of Time cause of the lore (also gameplay of course) and the how interesting it is to me and the overall themes it goes into being tragic and relatable, even tho the surface story is simple overall.(the hero of time games being my favs cause of the story driven nature yet also have fun gameplay) Also other games like skyward sword having a good engaging story with good characters (Groose is the best), wind waker being a simple coming of age story, but also having the king and ganondorf both cling on to the past, etc.

Like you said totk thinks it’s clever and fails to deliver on making us invested in a meaningful and exciting narrative, in a way it’s using tropes from previous zelda games like oot, botw, SS and link to the past without even knowing why they worked in the first place. While failing to reuse tho tropes in a more unique way like previous games have done. It’s true there are hints of character driven story it’s just ignored or mentioned in a half assed way.

Also like I said in the post the lack of consequences with the main story at the end, like Link’s arm just being restored even tho furry rauru had said it was beyond saving, and zelda being recalled back to normal, so her “sacrifice” was not worth it at all (master sword is also worse somehow like wtf zelda)

I’ve also noticed the way totk treats the main women it’s very not good, like you said with zelda she’s just sacrificial maiden turned into a dragon, mineru being exposition dump lady cause that’s all she does tbh, also has the worst Sage ability in the whole game, etc.

zelda being the worst one. (Tbh botw/totk zelda is mixed overall she’s overrated) cause she’s dumb as hell didn’t even recognize that Ganondorf and Calamity Ganon could be related, she does nothing until furry rauru and sonia are dead. Also being a terrible princess, she didn’t even do any meaningful things to hyrule’s rebuilding efforts other than build a school and some small memorials and fuck around doing whatever the hell she was doing pre totk. Also she stole links house damn it.

there’s also the way the gerudo are treated in the zelda series as a whole, but that’s a whole other topic others have done better at that. Like with totk and botw (mostly totk) being helpless yet also warriors needing help from hylians to even survive in their own home?! Like how ingame they explain that zelda of all people was the one to help them get to know the desert and how to survive better wtf? And the secret heroine side quest end, how it’s just some random hylian guy to be the hidden 8th. (There goes the 7 sages and the 8th being the hero of time theory)

Also the way the botw events are treated. they just pretend that none of the ancient tech never existed at all and refuse to mention anything about botw, only in small passes. And the side quest with the Hateno school mentioning the original calamity.

The depths having potential to be better but we’re just empty and massive instead, I like the bargainer statues those are cool as an concept. And the sky islands being boring and copy paste the same few islands throughout.

Holy shit this game makes me write entire essays of complaints. I’m sorry if I repeat myself I’m terrible at explaining stuff at times.

Now I’m going to play the zelda games I’ve never finished to cleanse myself of totk.

[antiquitea]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬!

thank you @john-cleven for the tag! ✨

tagging in @swifty-fox, @trashbag-baby666, @wildbornsiren, @hederasgarden, @blue-aconite, and anyone else who wants to play!

questions and responses under the read more to save your dashboards 😉

how many works do you have on ao3?

thirty-three

what's your total ao3 word count?

167,068

what fandoms do you write for?

i currently write for masters of the air and top gun (86 and maverick).

top five fics by kudos

christmas in brooklyn - bucky barnes / steve rogers (marvel) 430 kudos

these ties that bind - t.j. hammond & douglas hammond (political animals) 317 kudos

you'll find me - bucky barnes / steve rogers (marvel) 246 kudos

let's get tipsy and start a rumour - sidney crosby / evengi malkin (hockey rpf) 217 kudos

under the pretense of yearning - sebastian stan / chris evans (actor rpf) 209 kudos

do you respond to comments?

yes! or at least i do my best to. i always want to respond with something cute and witty, but often can't manage something beyond OMG THANK YOU!!!

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

gosh, it's definitely a band of brothers fic, either somewhere, a clock is ticking or you should see me in the rain (both dick winters / lewis nixon).

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

a lot of my smut fics have happy endings ifyouknowwhatimean. actual happiest ending may have been leave a light on (simon le bon / john taylor, musician rpf).

do you get hate on fics?

i can't recall ever getting any outright hate (although maybe i did in my younger writing days back on livejournal). the only thing that i can recall was someone arguing with me about the fact that karl urban would say petrol and not gasoline, and i told them something like "yes, he would. but he didn't. it wasn't dialogue. it was a description, and i wouldn't say petrol, i would say gasoline." i still think about that because wtf.

do you write smut?

pretty much exclusively 😂 i try to wriggle some plot in there from time to time.

craziest crossover?

don't do crossovers! at least i haven't in the past. certainly not opposed to it! i did start to write a winter soldier / the man from uncle fic once ... but then armie hammer stuff happened and i didn't feel so compelled to write that anymore!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of.

have you ever had a fic translated?

also not that i'm aware of!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

not "officially," but @wildbornsiren write together every goddamn day and have some ideas.

all time favorite ship?

god, i'll always be a sucker for bucky barnes / steve rogers. right now john egan / gale cleven own my ass and probably will for a very long time.

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i am delusional enough to believe that i will finish every single wip i have in the works (i absolutely will not).

what are your writing strengths?

i've been told that i write with a certain cadence that progresses stories forward, so i'm choosing to go with that. i also think i write smut pretty damn well.

what are your writing weaknesses?

sometimes i feel that my writing can be very ... technical and clunky. not enough feeling in the words that i put to page.

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

if it's not a language that you personally speak, keep it minimal. google translate only works so well.

first fandom you wrote in?

pretty soldier sailor moon back in like 1995. i didn't know it was fan fiction, i was just ten years old and wanted to make usagi and mamoru kiss.

favorite fic you've written?

i'm not sure if i have a favourite, but i'm always exceedingly proud of leave a light on - a duran duran rpf fic i wrote that has multiple chapters that i actually finished. anything with multiple parts i often struggle to complete.

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S3 E18-22 More binge watching while I did my best to just survive the day. E18 - Distant Voices It’s hard to buy how young some of these characters are supposed to be sometimes, but that’s beside the point. I can’t relate to Bashir turning 30, I didn’t care one way or the other about it and now that I’m a few years away from 40, I’m not sure I’m going to care that much about that one either. What I did like about this episode was that Bashir realized pretty early on that he was in a coma and didn’t fight it.

Overall it was a compelling plot and interesting to see how he fought off various issues but not the most engaging story. I do love how he was with Garak, though, and how Garak was basically the first person he talked to in a coma (Quark only mumbled in fear, doesn’t really count to me). Also how Garak was super proud of Bashir for not trusting him in his coma dream. 6.5/10 E 19 - Through the Looking Glass Another Mirror Universe episode, and it was a fun one. Sisko got super into his AUs personality fast. The way he was grabbing at Dax and Kira without hesitation shocked me, but it was interesting to watch. Also can I note how gay Kira was in this one? She was kinda there in the first one but she was only really flirting with herself so it was more narcissistic than gay (bisexual, whatever), but in this one she was flat out flirting with a nameless woman when we first see her and then kinda with Jennifer.

Because they clearly have the ability to jump to and from now I’m intrigued to see where this goes for them. Will we be getting more from the MU? Probably lol 7/10

E20 & 21 - Improbable Cause/The Die Has Cast

I normally wouldn’t combine these more but because I binged the lines are a little blurry on what happened in which. Garak episodes are my favorite.

It was interesting to watch his scheming brain get him to the end of all of this. Garak/Bashir is going strong with how worried Bashir was at the explosion in the shop and seeing Garak injured. Finding out that he did it himself was a bit of a shock, I had assumed it was the alien that Odo questioned, which was a fun interrogation IMO because of the way Odo started to mix the various components. I didn’t even suspect that Garak would have done it himself.

Seeing Garak with the maid was sweet and makes me love him more. He might have a dark past and might have done some dark things in the second episode but there is more to him than just that dark past and Mila was a piece of that. Hell he even went back for Tain when shit went down but Tain was too far gone to notice. I love Odo knocking him over the head to get him out of them. Judging by Bashirs reaction I’m going to assume the gayest reading of it and say he appreciated the knock of his head too. On the other side of this coin, I love it when Captains/Commanders ignore all orders from Starfleet and do the thing that they know is the *right* choice. Sisko completely disregarding things and going after Odo was perfect. I don’t necessarily agree with how he handled the sabotage from the one officer but even then it was done with such grace I couldn’t argue with it too much.

8/10 for both of them E22 - Explorers I hate his facial hair. Lol I have always loved the idea of solar sails so it was interesting to hear about Bajorian tech and how they might have done the original trek with them.

The bonding moments between Jake and Sisko were sweet as always and I love how easily they communicate even when its clear it *isn’t* easy. I’m also super proud of Jake for getting into the writing school cause damn that is an achievement. I am a little upset that he’s putting it off for a year cause I’m worried (from an aspiring writing) that he’ll talk himself out of it but that’s just my own brain screaming at me.

It feels silly but when Dukat showed up with the Welcome call at the end and the “sudden discovery” of a crash site plus some fireworks, it made me a bit teary eyed. It was a sweet thing, even if Dukat wasn’t trying to be. On the flip side, Bashirs whole story line was awkward and weird. He’s always been so smooth with literally every other woman, even if he doesn’t manage to get anywhere, he’s never hesitated but suddenly he has second thoughts? It was strange. That said, his moments with Miles where fun. I don’t want them to be drunk all the time but their time together was silly and a much needed break for the two of them.

I will admit to being bored for some of the episode but it was a fun one so it was hard to rate it.I kept going back and forth, wondering if I should give it something higher but I’m settling on a middling one cause I did check out a few times. 6.5/10