#I get that it's not the exact same thing

[shackleton2]

it's true and I say this as an avid binge-watcher who in the stone age had to look up transcripts of episodes because I couldn't wait THREE ENTIRE DAYS OF MY LIFE FOR NETFLIX TO MAIL ME THE NEXT DVD

Seasons of TV released as one fat drop of 8-12 1-1.5hr episodes, literally being told THIS IS FOR YOU TO BINGE IN ONE INSANE SITTING is the exact definition of my dreams and desires.

......why are they no good??

I can definitely think of exceptions, but "both of them have too much time and not enough time for the characters to struggle and grow and change," as it's well-put above, does seem to be the rule more and more. But what does that phrase really mean??

I saw something recently weighing in on this and saying series in particular seem to think every single thing depicted on screen has to move the story forward, possibly because everything is angled to encourage "binging". It's funny because that sounds like it should do the opposite of making the story feel ponderous and pointless!! So what's going on?

Maybe it's because Real Life™ isn't constantly moving towards one plot resolution, so the more you write a story where that's true, the more impossible true immersion for the viewer becomes?

But also I think actively designing a series to be compulsively watched in one or two massive sittings is hurting them as stories. Maybe it's because bingeing, especially as it's understood in other contexts, is not about enjoying something massively good, at least not after the initial part.

We all know this, right? You don't binge on something because it's just sooooo good. Are there people out there who have never done any kind of binge? Maybe so, so I'll tell you because I surely have: it's inertia. A really scary kind, to be honest, that feels, after a while of getting acclimated to nonstop-consuming the thing, like an absolute involuntary need. Because the second I stop eating the family sized bag of chips, stop taking another drink, stop lighting another smoke, reality will come rushing back in place of the comfort-stimulus. And in reality I am not experiencing joy or even pleasure, I am experiencing the kind of existential horror you get when you try to convince yourself you don't actually have to deal with your own mind. This 100% applies to letting the next episode autoplay after 5 hours of watching one story unfold.

Sorry I got kinda dark there, but the point I'm trying to illustrate is that I don't think you NEED a GOOD PRODUCT in order to get people to binge. And, well, that shows more and more with this "content" streaming services are releasing.

True Blood was a hot mess in so many ways and my mental health sure as shit was too but holy shit watching that obsessively years back was so FUN. That show and other story-loves of mine feel different from stuff getting released in full-season streaming dumps right now, and I don't think it's quality of writing or acting or effects or anything else making the difference as much as whether a show seems to genuinely LIKE itself, or whether it's counting on you finding it preferable enough to reality to let the next episode play and thus get good stats.

we need 15-20 episode seasons again these limited series have the worst pacing in the world and none of the character decisions hold any weight

[egophiliac]

Since book 7 part 5 (the part where we meet Meleanor/Maleanor 👀) is coming to EN this month, i would love to see your take on lilia’s proposal to meleanor! i mean they were like little kids right? it couldn’t have been that serious…i think the only reason she even brought it up again is because she could tell lilia still genuinely loved her…(even if he didn’t realize it himself?) but, oh well! Let’s think about silly childhood shenanigans to numb the pain! ^_^ (orz)

oh shit?! get ready for a doozy guys, it's comiiiiiing ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

I chickened out of posting the whole thing (look, I get VERY carried away when it comes to these wacky kids and their Tragedy), but I do believe that it probably ended with Lilia getting embarrassed and just shoving the first thing he sees into his mouth to try and cover for it.

(we're just lucky it wasn't a frog this time)

[krittec]

there’s something extremely extremely creepy about taking an actor that you have known since they were 13 years old, only JUST a teenager, and making them kiss a fully grown woman the second that they turned a legal adult.

Steve Blackman already has a ton of shit out against him which came out recently so it unfortunately doesn’t surprise me that he would write something like this but it makes me genuinely concerned for everything behind the scenes.

There has been a HUGE problem in the Umbrella Academy fandom since season ONE when Aidan was a 13-14 year old of people writing insanely disgusting stuff and defending it because his character was mentally an adult but oh my god did they make it worse. You’d think they’d protect actor & character by avoiding any romantic interaction but instead you have him kiss an actress 15 years older than him. The age gap being the age that he was when they filmed season two. Quite honestly I feel that if he could’ve done this seasons previously and gotten away with it then he definitely would’ve done it, given the jokes that are actively made.

Quite honestly may Steve Blackman never work again if this is how he treats his actors because this is awful. I’m not even done with the season but that gave me very little desire to continue and this show has been important to me in ways I can’t explain. Maybe I am blowing this out of proportion but it feels so insanely creepy and horrific to me and I needed to rant.

[critterbitter]

How did Elesa get a Blitzle as a starter if she's from Sinnoh? (hang on this is ironic she could've learned about warden ingo in school back there)

Blitzle Elesa backstory under cut!

Blitzle was gifted to Elesa so she has an “easier time” integrating into Nimbasa by her well meaning dad. This is not the greatest move, since the two feel they are more obligated to stick together then, you know, actually choose each other. Blitzle’s meant to be a utility mon— he helps charge elesa’s hearing aid batteries and basically serves as an emotional support when things get rough. He’s… not the biggest fan. (I like to imagine Blitzle was originally part of a battle track, but his IVs aren’t the greatest so they shuffled him out. He’s a bit bitter about that.)

Inciting incident where they actually start taking the proper steps to becoming partners is when Elesa takes a tumble down a hill and Blitzle twists his foreleg going after her. (Local child eats shit! More at 11.)

They’re just kids, and they’re still learning.

(When Elesa decides to challenge the gyms, Blitzle’s so excited he accidentally trips their house’s circuits.)

((As for Elesa hearing about Warden Ingo, well… that’ll be a future issue.))

((DIRECTLY INSPIRED BY THIS ASK!! TY @scarftale-bryan ))

Yes. YES.

MASTERLIST FOR POKEMON CONTENT:

[art-story-by-deroko]

When you’re trying to relax at home, let your demonic nature free, completely forgetting shame, and your crush comes by.

[bixels]

Jesus man, relax.

[manchesterau]

[vikdec4i]

hey, have you noticed this?

pearls are a luxury, are incredibly rare, and have significant value. if i had a pearl necklace and my ambiguous ex broke it in a midst of an argument, i too would scramble on the dirty floor to pick them up. but that’s not the point.

“i can put it together” this is not about the necklace.

the point is, after she had sold everything, this was the last grasp mitzi had of atlas. and she was not ready to lose him again. but also, it’s important to note that this encompasses a recurring motif in mitzi’s characterisation. that this was a desperate act to regain normalcy. she feels heavy responsibility to keep lackadaisy running, and also atlas’ legacy alive.

but let’s rewind first. this happened because mitzi and zib’s understanding of the future didn’t align. she wants to revive the business, but he wants them to relive their nomadic past. to travel. to play music again. you think mitzi’s desperate? take a look at this guy.

he had one of her pearls pocketed. and it was never because he wanted to sell it for extra cash, despite him being clear of the member’s struggles. it could just be him keeping it safe, like he did plan to eventually give it back. but the way i see it, zib felt an uneasy sense of right to hold mitzi back from grief.

and THEN, he hands it back to her.

i felt that this was when EVERYTHING started to collapse. he hands her the last pearl, a symbolic surrender. he’s giving up on the fantasy that she would snap out of it and stop living so painfully in the past. but also, he caught onto his own hypocrisy that he himself had been fantasising of a different past.

and as mitzi heads home, he stays in sleazy town before spending the rest of the day in a cold cell.

THAT, my friend, is lackadaisy’s top tier characterisation and storytelling!!

[navree]

Incorrect, the fact that Biden has dropped out and a candidate with history of supporting medicare for all and being more receptive to a ceasefire in the I/P conflict has made me go from "I cannot morally support the Democratic nominee" to "I am voting for the Democratic nominee despite the fact she isn't perfect in every respect." I'm really happy this played out. The Dems for the most part abandoned the old Obama platform and it feels like its possible an actual progressive agenda could come to pass in my lifetime.

Kamala 2024!

If you weren't going to vote Democratic in this election before Biden dropped out you're a dorkass loser who does not care about any of the issues you're yammering about here and also a fundamentally bad person, and I hope you get run over by a bus.

But you got one thing right in all of this gibberish, Kamala 2024.

[mysticruinedme]

EVERY TIME THEIR SIMILARITIES ARE POINTED OUT I START LOSING IT. AAAAHHHHHHHH

[szfiction]

This parallel makes me insane actually (and there is something incredibly Lawlu about it to me)

[imashittalkingmushroom]

A part of the reason I love the idea of twobats so much is because I love the idea of the tragedy happening in the first year or two of Robin. Like. Little Dick Grayson, warming up to not only bruce, but Harvey too, who always comes over and reads to him, teases Bruce, and shows dick all of the fun little ways and places Bruce and he used to sneak off to for mischief around the manor.

Like, Dick looking back on it and remembering him fondly while also remembering Harvey's downfall-- How scary, as a child, to have trusted someone so much and watch them become a shadow of themselves so sharply, and to even have to fight them at their worst. To ask Bruce every time he came back from an arkham visit how Harvey's doing and knowing he's not old enough to be able to visit his uncle Harvey himself because the man is dangerous.

And I even imagine, sometimes, Dick standing outside of Bruce's office during the time Harvey spent in the hospital and overhearing Bruce talk to alfred about how scared he is for his friend. Bruce whispering, "He means everything to me, Alfred. What am I supposed to do without him?" And dick, outside the door, clutching a stuffed Zitka and feeling just as lost.

Like, I love the idea of dad!harv, but in my head it's always been for Dick.

[lunabug2004]

Ya'll probably know this by now given how much I post about it but one of my favorite pastimes is watching people react to Stranger Things. I bring this up this time because I've noticed a pattern.

People root for Mileven in seasons 1 and 2 with no problem (with the exception of a couple of reactors who took forever to pick up on it in s1 or just didn't like the idea of rooting for such young kids to be kissing). Esp s2 because everyone wants them to reunite and then said reunion is absolutely adorable.

However, by about halfway through ep1 of s3, everyone just seems to be so bored of them. Like nobody I've watched has ever really expressed the want for them to get back together when they break up. I realize this is probably partially because of the annoying nature of their relationship and the way their whole breakup is played off like a big joke, but that's actually precisely what I'm getting at. Why would the writers choose to make it so easy to stop rooting for the "main couple" of the show??? Just so they could have a comeback arc or seven? If Mileven is endgame, this will probably be one of my biggest hangups, esp given the way Mike was the brunt of the "joke".

One of the main reasons I always go back to Byler endgame despite all of my doubt is because of how the writers treat Mileven's relationship. It's pretty toxic and so it's easy to stop rooting for them or just the repetitive-ness of their story as a couple makes them boring. They wouldn't make the "main couple" the most annoying couple in the show if they were actually going to be endgame.

[brown-little-robin]

PARALLEL!! In S1E8 of mp100, Reigen reveals the delightfully baffling ethic he works by. When a woman tells him that a fortuneteller told her that there was a spirit on her shoulders, Reigen instantly disapproves of someone telling her that and doing nothing about it. And of course he considers himself so much better than this fortuneteller for... also lying to the woman, but giving her a massage. So he's allowed to lie to people, but he draws the line at not helping them. That... that's perfect. That's what he does with Mob, after all. He lies to Mob constantly about being a psychic, but he considers it fine because he's helping Mob by doing so. The woman had real pain in her shoulders; Mob has real pain in his heart. Reigen helps with both by allowing them to think he's a psychic.

Shortly after that, in S1E10, Dimple makes this remark while possessing a security guard:

IT'S THE EXACT SAME ETHICS. (okay, it's slightly worse because it's just harm reduction rather than actively helping, but Dimple is on the right track, okay?) Dimple's allowed to possess people, to steal their bodies (temporarily), but he's not allowed to let them get hurt. Letting the body he possesses be damaged is a step too far. Reigen's allowed to lie, but heaven help people who lie to others without helping them.

Just. Yeah. Dimple and Reigen both use people. Reigen lies to them, Dimple possesses them. Reigen twists the mind, Dimple twists the body. And yet they're both disgusted and offended by people who would use people without care for their welfare. They're better than that. They're not irresponsible.

edit: alt text for images 1 and 2 provided by @princess-of-purple-prose! thanks!

[raiiny-bay]

alien emoji

[deimcs]

Mystra has dictated the terms of my potential for long enough. The Crown would grant me control of my own destiny at last.