#I guess I like.. more character focussed stuff

[babygirlwwx]

Heya I'm looking for (officially translated) danmei recs!! I've read mdzs, tgcf and qq, but I'm not looking for anything too confusing/plot heavy like qq (I was literally just there for the romance and there wasn't a lot). I'm gonna read svsss as soon as I find a good deal on the first book and I'm curious about 2ha but my friend read the first volume and told me it was v complicated😬.

[sunshine304]

New Fanbinding! Two fics by KouriArashi

Now that the gift copies for @gingersnapwolves have arrived (and how quick the post was this time, I'm in awe!), I can post about my latest fanbinding project.

I had decided on binding both fics about, uhm, two years ago? XD I love all of Kouri's CQL fics; she's actually the reason I started watching the show in the first place, so it was a no-brainer to bind some of her fics!

I think I did the typset for "The Way It Wasn't" in 2021 but I had a specific design idea for the case in mind and didn't feel confident to tackle that just yet, so the printed version sat around for... a while. Sometime after that, I did the typeset for "Picking Up the Pieces", which took longer because of the photo edits.

I finally got around to actually making the books in May and I'm very pleased with the results, though there were a lot of stumbling blocks in both projects and I'm actually surprised that the finished books look good. XD I was sure I'd case in the block upside down after all the other mishaps, but at least I didn't do that. XD (I might have checked each book like five times, though... just in case. XD)

More pictures and info about the process behind the cut.

The books are supposed to be the first in a series of 5, each focussing on one of the great sects, and so I decided to use the same basic design ideas: colour-coded for the sect, the cut-out on the front, the little graphic on the back, same brand of Parisian marbled paper, frontispiece depicting the location, sect logo as title page, same design for titling on the spine.

For some reason, my camera refuses to really catch the foil colour from "Picking Up the Pieces" on the titling - it's a light pink/ rosé coloured foil.

The planned design for that book really caused me quite some grief, because it turned out that the foil I'd wanted to use (a light lilac one) did not work on this kind of book cloth. It's only for using a laminator / hot iron and so also doesn't work on paper with a foil pen.

I changed the colours for that books so often, going to a coated lilac cloth (where the foil works because it's coated...) but that didn't look good with the light coloured paper I used with the logo (no contrast), so I went back to this cloth and went looking for another foil. I tried rosegold which was okay, but then I lucked out and got the light pink one at a local shop.

For "The Way It Wasn't", I used a lot of official art:

For "Picking Up th Pieces", I used a mix of (edited) official art and photo edits I made myself. The "problem" of this fic is that Lan Wangji starts living at Lotus Pier, wearing Jiang colours most of the time and no forehead ribbon.

Also, Jiang Yanli is now sect leader and needed some fancy clothes. Luckily, Xuan Lu has acted in a lot of dramas recently where she wore some more dramatic robes that would fit a sect leader. I had to do colour edits of the robes at times and at one point had to photoshop Lan Wangji into a picture with her. My old Photoshop did not like all of this but I managed in the end. XD

I'm pleased with the results and might make a post with the photo edits at one point.

I also asked Kouri about her fancast for the OC Yu Zhiyi; that was a while ago. I wanted to include a picture of the character but didn't want to choose someone at random if Kouri already had someone in mind. Of course, I never mentioned that this was for the book; it was supposed to be a surprise after all! ;D

I'm really pleased with how the books turned out, especially considering all the stuff that went wrong in making the cases... XD I guess I can say I learned some things? XD

It's always fun if you mess up something on one case and think, "Ah well, this will be my copy then, I guess!" and then you mess up even worse on the other case! XD So Kouri got the book with more air bubbles in the logo because on the other case, the title was crooked. Argh!

I added some ornaments to distract a bit from that. It's also important to know that I'm a bit OCD about titles and stuff being crooked, I just hate it. This was a very sad moment for me.

But that's always the danger when fumbling around with that flimsy foil and the print-out. I'll live! :D

Materials used:

Printed on Clairefontaine Papago 80g (TWIW) and Clairefontaine DCP 100g (PUTP)

Case + endpapers "The Way It Wasn't":

- booklinen Brillianta - French marbled paper 120g - craft paper - hot foil (on brand)

Case + endpapers "Picking Up the Pieces":

- booklinen Imperial - French marbled paper 120g - Rössler letter paper 100g - hot foil (cheap stuff)

[ordinaryschmuck]

Gonna be honest, the season two finale of Invincible doesn't have the same PUNCH as the season one finale.

STILL a really fucking good episode, though! Like, holy shit, I was left BREATHLESS in so many points, engaged in every second. The problem is that Season One felt more...focused. The main thing was Mark's fight with Omni-Man being the center of attention throughout most of the episode. Even when we were doing the "clean up" portion of the finale, wrapping up what we could, it's done in a way where there's not much to "clean up" and what IS left is minor stuff that can take no time at all.

Here, there's more stuff to clean up. More stuff to wrap a nice little bow on to make things nice and tidy. And the main thread of the episode is Mark's fight with Angstrom, a battle that ends halfway through the episode so we can dedicate more times to these other little plot threads, like Allen and Nolan being in prison, Rudy and Monster Girl's relationship, or what The Immortal is going through. And this...VERY out of nowhere "That's sexist" joke that can easily be written out of the whole thing.

Now, when the second half of the episode is focused on MARK and everything he just went through, trying to process what happened and how to move on from it, THAT'S when it's good. I didn't mind a half-hour of runtime left when we focused on Mark. But when the episode goes back to these other characters, showing us that their stories aren't done, it reminds me that there's no real...closure this season.

Like, Season One ended in a way where there's still room for more, but it felt like a proper ending to ONE story. Or rather, ONE chapter in Mark's life as Invincible. When he talks with Allen about everything that's happened and we're given these little glimpses of the dangers to come. And when it cuts back to Mark shrugging off the inevitable and saying "I guess I'll finish high school," I was left satisfied. I was excited for MORE, don't get me wrong, but I was left fine with how the story ended THERE. It had one main narrative, had it come to a close, and ended with a "See you next time" segment that made it feel like a proper ending.

Here...there's no proper ending because there's really no proper story this season. Season One was primarily focussed on Omni-Man and they mystery of WHY he killed the Guardians of the Globe. When we got to the big fight at the end of Season One, it felt like a natural conclusion to everything the season built up. This season never really focused much on anything. It's pretty much characters going through the motions after the events of Season One and certain things that happen in Season Two. Angstrom is the biggest offender of this as his entire story was hyping him up for a big fight...yet we never saw him. We never really saw him prepare for fighting Invincible or figuring himself out. The MOST we got from Angstrom is in this episode and, yeah, he was a great and tragic character, but he wasn't THAT satisfying of a final villain. Nowhere near how Omni-Man was this opposing threat that left audiences dreading the final confrontation. If we got to see him built up more or had an entire subplot based on him dealing with being this new supervillain now, it would have made the final battle have more of that punch. Instead, while what we DO get is still good--REALLY good, I cannot stress that enough--it's not as strong as Season One.

And maybe that's just a problem with me. I shouldn't go in expecting a story to...out do itself. Especially with its second season when the showrunners have EIGHT planned. But...I don't know. While I do love most of that happened in the finale and A LOT in Season Two...it definitely felt less--

--from criticism.

[jaydenix]

W.I.T.C.H Fucking Sucked, change my mind

Oh look, another Winx Club fan who hates W.I.T.C.H, as if the world hasn't seen enough of those

But seriously, I saw absolutely nothing in this show that was really worthwhile. It's very boring and I enjoyed almost none of it. Honestly surprised I was able to finish all 52 episodes but I was very glad to be done in any case.

So like, let's talk about the main cast, the W.I.T.C.H in W.I.T.C.H if you will, and so if you will, let's talk about Will and co. (I am such poetry): Honestly the main five don't feel compelling at all, I take almost no interest in any of them as individuals. All it seems this show is focussed on is showing what they do as Guardians for the most part. Like, we never really see any emotional development with them, how being a Guardian affects their life or the pressure of trying to keep their identities hidden or prevent the bad guys from winning. We don't see of any of that and this just makes them such uninteresting characters. To be honest, they barely even have different personalities. I don't think I can point to a single thing that makes Irma much different from Hay Lin for instance, like they just all feel the same with only minor differences. Cornelia is the one exception as the blonde brat type similar to Stella (Winx) and Sasha (Amphibia), and she's probably my favourite just because of that, but that's not good grounds for a favourite character, it's just winning by default because of low competition.

The episodes also feel very intentionally separated and on their own. I get it's an episodical show but sometimes the characters can be so sporadic it feels like every episode was written by a different person with no synchronisation, characters feel so weirdly different from episode to episode sometimes, and the show regularly has arguments will happen for the dumbest reasons and I just argghh I hate it. This show sucks.

A few other characters that exist: -Blunk is like moderately funny at times -Caleb is... okay I guess he exists -Phobos is an alright villain but he just kinda sits around and waits and doesn't do anything, doesn't really come off as very threatening but there's not too much to hate about him per se -Nerissa is definitely a pretty threatening villain and learning about her backstory and plans and stuff was one of the more fun parts of the show for sure -Most of the characters in the rebellion don't feel very interesting tbh

Also the amount of times this show does stuff like very obviously in public view despite the fact it's still a secret just feels really weird, they've done so much that so many would've spotted them by now it made no sense.

Oh also the opening song is pretty banger I'll give the show that. "WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE W.I.T.C.H" it goes so hard

OKAY SPOILER TERRITORY NOW SKIP TO THE END IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILT:

Now it's time to talk about probably my biggest issue with this show, and that is Elyon, I hate everything about her. In the first half of season 1 we barely see her at all, which is insane because what happens next with her is easily the most important thing to happen at that point in the show. She goes onto join Phobos and it's discovered that she is actually his sister, which I think was pretty obvious throughout most of the first half of season 1. In any case, HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS NEEDED MORE TIME LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. Elyon's departure felt so one-sided and rushed on two major fronts. The first was her grievances over being left out by W.I.T.C.H. This one is annoying because we only see a few instances of this happening, when Elyon was clearly way more important than that in the grand scheme of things, she should've been obviously left out way more and become more frustrated without answers. We see a little bit of this but not enough, like there should've been a lot more moments of W.I.T.C.H (and especially Cornelia) having to cover up why they didn't show up for things or had to leave and she knows they're lying but doesn't know the full story, it's a common trope but it would work. Additionally, being distrustful of her parents, when they appear IN THE SAME EPISODE SHE FUCKS OFF TO MERIDIAN, like we're just expected to accept that? Not like see what they've done to raise her slowly but surely and eventually decide to take matters into her own hands especially when her friends are unreliable but no she instead runs away with the creepy librarian who has gaslit her into distrusting anyone else??? Fuck off, this whole plot of Elyon in the first half of S1 is just so poorly planned, it needed WAY more attention that the show could have afforded if it chose to focus on what was actually important but of course not. And it only gets worse from here.

Elyon after this becomes so obnoxious in the way she speaks and acts. She talks like she's in some fucking play of sorts with this grandiose way of speech and it's so frustrating, and also she acts so annoyingly loyal to the sleazy guy who apparently is her brother with basically no hesitation. I probably wouldn't mind this as much if her departure felt actually justified and fleshed out but of course that's not the world we live in. God I hate Elyon so much.

Otherwise I will say I did not see Caleb being Nerissa's son at all. Nerissa being a former Guardian and trying to recruit her old friends is pretty cool. Also when she kidnaps Matt and transforms him into that guy was a bold move, I like when villains get personal like this it makes them feel very threatening, Nerissa is definitely makes season 2 better for sure, though that doesn't mean it's that good.

The ending of the show was kinda strange with them bringing back Phobos thinking that would go swimmingly and then he gets eaten by his green monster friend and then everything happens it was a very odd ending that I felt extremely neutral on. Like it's just kinda there, what you see is what you get. But I was glad about one thing that this show was over, I didn't want to watch it anymore lol, I didn't really feel excited that the characters overcame something because it just didn't feel like there was anything to care about, I wish this show didn't suck so bad.

END OF SPOILERS

So yeah, this show is not that good, it has some okay moments but most of the show is boring, uneventful, and poorly written. I do know about the comics and I haven't actually read them I've only watched the show, maybe those are better and I know only a small amount of them got adapted for TV. But from what the show gives me, it's not great

I give season 1 like a 4/10 and season 2 like a 5/10 so 4.5/10 is my personal rating for W.I.T.C.H.

I've been very negative about this show but to be totally honest I didn't want to be, I was genuinely excited going in knowing it was similar to Winx Club, hoping to remind me of what made me like that show so much in the first place, but I was quickly hit with the reality this show was just not great, though since then I rewatched Winx Club S1 and I can say I definitely don't like it as much as I did before, Winx S1 had always been my favourite season but pending my rewatch of the others I think there's a good chance that could change. It seems since I last was into Winx I've learnt how media analysis works, I can take that. Anyway, that's my opinion of W.I.T.C.H.

P.S: Pls don't hate me this is just my opinion if you like this show and I know plenty of people do it's totally okay we can all like what we like and dislike what we dislike and I just happen to not like W.I.T.C.H very much OKAY? Have a good day.

[lauriejamesgrace]

okay so watching season three of heartstopper and seeing peoples reactions to it on like tiktok and shit have really got me thinking about my own experiences and habits of invalidating my own experiences

like the general responses ive been seeing are focussing on either 1. the emphasis of the importance of platonic relationships (which i really appreciate and value but thats not what im on about here), 2. charlies struggles with his mental health, and 3. nicks struggles with charlies mental health and all that jazz

and my first instinct when i see people talking about nicks struggles with it all is like?? shut the fuck up?????? its not about him??????? but the more i think about it the more im like wait no he is in a shit position!? it is hard as FUCK when someone you love is going through stuff like that and you just don't know what you can do to help?! and obviously this is all fictional lmao like the support of the viewers makes no difference to the actual characters but im still like he does deserve the recognition and support for what hes going through, because all he wants to do is try his best and help however he can, but theres not always anything you CAN do and that feeling of helplessness is almost unmatched

and then me having that whole thought process and realisation has made me reevaluate my attitude toward the whole 'dating someone struggling with mental illness' thing and THEn i was like well its not fair that i was diminishing those struggles to begin with!1!! and thEN i was like why did i have that mindset at all??? because im someone who has always made an active effort to have empathy and understanding for every viewpoint of anything i can possibly do so

but yeah then i just had to accept that it was because ive always been too hard on myself, because it definitely started with my first girlfriend who i wont go into detail but she was,, not well and i was dealing with things and putting the responsibility on myself, as her girlfriend, to keep her okay and alive even, at FAr too young an age to have any kind of responsibility for that. and i guess i just wish that id had been exposed to this attitude earlier? because seeing the amount of understanding from strangers on the internet for someone going through similar things to myself would have been endlessly helpful for my own mental health

i dont really know where i was going with this and thank you if youve bothered to read all my mindless rambling that would usually be in one of my many journals i just cba to write when typing is so much quicker and easier when my mind is moving this quickly, but yeah i guess my point with all this is just like

take care of yourself <3 like i know its an overused sentiment but like, being there for others that 'have it worse than you' doesnt mean that you dont also deserve a support system

i definitely have more to say on this but need to get my head straight before i can word anything more lmao but yeah be kind spread love employ empathy love u lots xoxoxo

[vilevexedvixen]

Rewriting DC's Anarchy

Anybody else find it hard to take DC's Anarchy seriously? I was playing Arkham Origins and I swear DC's writers do not know the differences between socialism, communism and anarchism. Anarchy (the character) usually focusses on philosophical rather than political anarchy (the latter of which I have been educating myself on after realising I also misunderstood it until recently). That is, DC's Anarchy just wants to cause chaos or disruption, instead of actually wanting to facilitate community or individual based autonomy. I guess at least he accurately reflects the mainstream misunderstanding of anarchy and anarchist political activism, seeing them as nothing more than a troublesome neusance.

If I wrote a version of DC's Anarchy, I would have him start out like that and then be humbled by actual anarchists to stop hurting the people around him (and thus make anarchism look exactly like the negative image most people have in their heads already) and actually focus on helping his community. Anarchy would probably have grown up white middleclass and think that what he's doing is helpful or making a difference, when it's really not. Definitely the kind of person to talk over the people he claims to be standing up for.

Almost all of the people who humble him and which he learns most from would be those doing community action in working class communities (community kitchens / fridges, urban allotments, protecting each other from the police, stuff like that).

I also think seeing Joker wreak havoc would help him realise how destructive pure philosophical chaos is, and how stunts like that often lead to uninvolved innocent parties being blamed and targetted both in the media and by the police. Even with Joker being whiter than white I bet you some Gotham politician would blame it on poor, homeless and / or mentally ill citizens instead.

At some point I can see a more mature Anarchy teaming up with Poison Ivy, doing things like seed bombing in an attempt to grant an emergency food supply after something causes food prices to skyrocket. Still not entirely grown out of his tendency to want to draw attention / make statement pieces, but he's channeled that into something constructive rather than destructive. Though they might turn against each other if this version of Ivy is more of an ecofascist and plans to make all the new food poisonous so as to kill off people she sees as contributing to environmental destruction (rather than as part of nature and able to be codependant rather than exploitative or destructive).

Not sure if I'd want my version of Ivy to be an ecofascist though. Again, DC's writers often either misunderstand or just flatout assume all movements that aren't centre-right are destructive and evil. So even when Ivy is supposed to be an environmentalist, she's written to be an ecofascist instead. Or when written to be a feminist, she's often a toxic radfem. I get the Rogues are villains, but at what point are the writers' own political biases just misrepresenting actual legitimate concerns and movements?

Anywho, bit of a ramble, but I just feel Anarchy is too often very poorly written. Especially Beware the Bat's Anarchy, he's just fanon Joker whittled down to Batman Simping and little personality beyond that.

[flashbic]

Hey you! It's your turn... How's Brad Dourif? Do you still rewatch LOTR? Any fanfic in progress?

I've noticed that you have been blogging about Cartouche. What drew you to that story?

I hope you are doing well!!

Heyyyy!! Not all that active in the Dourif fandom these days myself, but i mean, you follow me, you've probably seen me still reblog the occasional gifset :p A whole lot of trivia about the guy and the movies he's in still occupies space in my brain rent-free after all these years, ain't getting rid of that at this point. Actually did a whole LOTR rewatch around last fall and got to see a projection of Return of the King with a live orchestra playing the soundtrack! It was so, so good <3 (did i cry when they brought on a lady to sing Into the West? Yes.)

The Big Cartouche Fanfic is currently on hold because i'm stuck on it, so i've been focussing on small oneshots! Still, if you remember anything about the fics i wrote back then, you know i never did much beyond very short-form stuff; it's still wild to me that i managed to stay focussed enough to get to almost 50k on the same project.

I've always enjoyed capes-et-épées stories (i guess the closest english term for that genre would be "swashbuckler"? I dunno that sounds more "pirates" to me"), but a lot of period pieces tend to focus more on court intrigues and rich people backstabbing each other, which tends to be less my jam*? The old Cartouche cartoon took this kind of setting i liked, and mixed it with more of a Robin Hood vibe! And they have a whole cute ensemble cast! It's also one of those rare-ish kids shows where the main characters are actual adults, and that probably drew me to it back then too. Falconi, the one character i draw a whole lot, has always kinda remained a bit of a comfort character to me; look back far enough on my blog and you'll find little drawings of him every couple of of years! He's a angry guy with a sad backstory, what can I say, im a simple man writing him a big stupid redemption arc has been very entertaining, i have feelings about it

* i say that, but i HAVE been reading a whole lot of History books for about a year now and the ones that include all the petty, ridiculous details about these people are My Favorites. PLEASE, Jean-Christian Petitfils, tell me more about the time Philippe d'Orléans whacked himself in the face with a tennis racket, this is the content i crave

Anyways, what lead to this current bout of absolute brainrot is i was reading up on the show, and then opened a few wikipedia pages for the couple of characters who are named after real people. Then on my birthday i went to the bookstore and they just. happened to have a very neat biography of Philippe d'Orléans?? (it's the Thierry Sarmant one, it has pictures) And now i have far too many books and know a whole lot of trivia about a very niche time period. It's been a good time! For me, anyways, because everyone else who knows me probably thinks i've been insufferable. It's the hyperfixation, babey!~

Hope you're doing well too, my friend! Namarie!!

[yumegf]

2, 9 annd 14 for whoever you want? :3c

ill do this with evan >_< sorry im just focussed on him rn...i hope u don't mind eeeeek sorry i have been dying to talk about him for awhile :p thank u 4 asking :D

2. What's their go-to order at a cafe? What's yours?

ummm hmm >_<.....im not a big cafe person and he isn't rflly either.....sometimes rarely he would just get a really plain normal coffee...especially if its during finals!!!!!! he would get one with some creamer and like whip cream or whatever and like chocolate if hes feeling fancy ;D..maybe a sweet treat 2 :3!!!!! i don't go to cafes often but i don't want coffee..unless its like hot chocolate :D!! i would get a sweet treat too...yumy donut :D

9. Do you have any AUs for your selfship? Tell me about them!!

ummm currently not really! since hes new O_O BUT i do have 2 IN MIND RIGHT NOW!!!! i have a small dnd one which is just an excuse to dress him up as a cute knight and me a pretty princess its based off of their dnd characters n stuff and just a fun little story :3!! sir knight evan and princess wolf luna kylie of da stars :B!!!!!! and another one that i wanna do is a more silly tropey anime one.....like ohhh what if she can turn into kitty :3 what if she was puppy.....ahhh so silly my girlfriend can turn into a kitty picks her up swings her around!!!

14. Do you and your f/o share any hobbies?

YES!!!! most of the them r the same like um video games obviously and just nerdy stuff like movies n ya :D the biggest being Minecraft and overwatchhh and comics and i guess anime stuff even though im not super into it.....we have a lot of differences though!!!! one day i will get him into mlp..he kind of knows of it..so does that count? :'D and i super like art while he doesn't rlly draw..he tries..for me :p!!!!!!!! he likes legend of zelda and coding and just general building stuff while i don't know much of that (*3*)=

[threewaysdivided]

I just wanted to say: I love your art and especially your banner rn by talos! also your fic as well thank you for creating everything that you do for people, it’s awesome!

Second: what’s something that you’ve been chewing on lately, story wise? What character conflict, or plot point can you tell me about (that doesn’t spoil too much of course)? I wanna hear your thoughts about the characters you write and your head-cannons on them too! Just spit some word vomit at me!

Thank you! 

My current banner art is actually a crop of the first paired piece I ever did to go with my Deathly Weapons fic.  (Specifically Chapter 11, which I still have a soft spot for since it’s one of earliest chapters that really let me lean into scratching the thing-I-haven’t-seen-too-often-in-fanfic itch.) 

I recently got my hands on a discounted Wacom (my digital art process got tanked a few years ago when my poor art-compatible hybrid tablet-laptop was tragically taken from us by a cracked motherboard) so I’m looking forward to getting into a faster art workflow again and maybe putting some new pieces out more easily.  I’d like to do more comic art pieces for the Chapter 18 mission, and there’s a silly little concept drawing for the planned Mission 5 that might be new-blog-banner material if it turns out nicely.  We’ll have to see how that goes.

As for what I’ve been chewing on story-wise lately… I’ve sort of been all over the place.  I’m still on burnout recovery so I’ve been letting myself move non-sequentially, working on the bits my brain feels like focussing on rather than trying to force creativity where the juice isn’t flowing.   (One of the things about being my type of writing-nerd is that “self-indulgent” for me means a story with plenty of material to analyse, which is very fun as a reader but has created a lot of work for myself as the writer.  As mentioned in another post, I have a full-blown TV-show-style story-bible for this one.)

Recently, my authorial ping-pong-ing has been going into a fair bit of spoiler territory.  There are some chunks of the Act III endgame plan which are underdeveloped in the specifics of what the big-boss bad-guys’ plan is, whether I want to involve the Anti-Ecto Acts more, and the logistics of both the counter-strategy our heroes are planning to use and how to make its more action-heavy parts look cool in writing.  When I’m not doing that I’ve been focussing a lot on the upcoming Wally-centric chapters, which are a set I’ve been wanting to keep schtum about since there’s a small potential spoiler mixed in and I don’t want to risk giving the game up or pre-setting people’s expectations before they have a chance to blind read (even if a few people have already made some close guesses in the comments).  It puts me in a bit of an odd-spot right now because the chapters I’m drafting are an immediate spoiler, the later sections I’m working on are a major spoiler and there’s a good chance that a lot of the character stuff going on in the middle won’t make a whole lot of coherent sense without prior context because of how I like to layer foreshadowing/development.

That said, Wally-centric chapters mean Wally thoughts, and of those I have plenty to share:

First of all, I want to establish that I really do like Wally as a character.  The DW chapter set comprising Flashpoints through to Equilibrium is going to explore and develop some of his flaws and insecurities, which means he isn’t going to be looking his best, but it’s not meant to be a Ron The Death Eater situation.  He’s just a complex person, and taking him warts and all means sometimes you have to get up close and personal on the warts.

Something that I’m maybe a bit over-conscious of when reviewing my DW story notes is worrying about letting Wally slide into just being punching-bag joke-fodder.  Wally is quippy, irreverent, a little tactless and prone to being a bit of an impulsive goober who sometimes gets possessed by teenage boner-brain, which makes him easy to fall back on as a default source of incidental levity (whether cracking the joke or being the punchline).  Because I’m now writing an 8-character ensemble where most non-focal characters only get a few lines per conversation, it’s easy for characters to slide into being defined by their strongest surface level trait(s)��� and something I worry about with Wally is that his availability as a source of jokes runs the risk of Flanderisation into a disposable Scrappy/ Flirty Comic Relief, which isn’t his character.  Wally is actually really important – not just for his scientific book-smarts but for his perceptiveness, earnestness and ability to function as one of the emotional barometers for the squad – so I always have it in the back of my mind to make sure I include enough moments that actually demonstrate those qualities and the other characters’ appreciation of them/ their friendship, so that it counterbalances the more light-hearted goofery.

I think he’s walking the same tightrope as Sokka from Avatar: the Last Airbender – yes, he tends to take the L more often than the others for comedy purposes and sometimes he gets stuck with supremely dumb side-plots for the sake of tonal balance, but to claim that it’s the entirety of his characterisation really misses the point by a wide mile.

On that note, I actually really like the decision YJ!Animated decided to go with in its first and only season (ahem) in giving Wally a normal and functional family background.  I know that’s not the typical background for his comics counterparts (and no shade on other fan-writers who want to write AUs exploring the abuse dynamic, those are really interesting stories) but I think it was a smart deviation for the purposes of a large ensemble, and offered a fair bit of potential for cast-balance.  It lets him serve an important role as the normal one – not only as an easy window into what the current lives of ordinary middle-class civilians look like (which is good because ordinary people are who our heroes are donning the masks to protect) but also as a touch-stone for the others, most of whom either come from different cultures or from very atypical backgrounds.  Even if we discount the Impure Atlantean with military training, the ostracised White Martian and the Half-Alien clone-weapon, the other members of this line-up are an orphaned circus acrobat adopted by a billionaire, a girl from a dangerously dysfunctional criminal household where she was forced to fight her sibling, and a fledgling sorceress raised by an overprotective single Dad.  The others might intellectually understand what a “normal” childhood and family look like but they don’t necessarily know it as intuitively and intimately as Wally does.  That normality gives Wally the potential to be a more stable foundation for the others, a source of emotional contrast and of a necessary wholesome mundanity.  That is a good thing for the Team to have.  I think it also speaks volumes to the heart of his character.  For this Wally, the Flash and heroism weren’t an escape from a bad personal situation.  His life was actually pretty comfy and privileged - he didn’t experience a brutal wakeup to the injustices of the world or some other personal call to action.  This is a Wally who opted into the game because he loves the players and sincerely believes in their values and mission.  And while that might mean he has a more romanticised idea of what heroism entails – and will probably face some rough shocks down the line as that rosy vision runs into those more brutal realities – it also means he brings a sincere hopefulness to the job that is less hardened than a lot of his roughed-up, pre-jaded peers.  Underneath the teen sarcasm and surface-level lancer/smart-guy traits, this Wally has as much power to be a stealth-Heart as any of his Flash!counterparts.

Something else I find interesting when using Wally is how a lot of his strengths and flaws feed into each other – and I think this alternate backstory is part of it.  For all of his good heart Wally can come off as insensitive, and I think some of that could be read as a product of living a more charmed life.  I think he’s susceptible to a thing that a lot of real people do – universalising their own personal experience as the default – and that while he is canonically a geek and somewhat genre-savvy about hero cliches, he’s a geek about in-universe media so he probably doesn’t think to apply those tropes to “real people” like himself or his colleagues.  While this Wally is a skeptic, he’s not a cynic, and I think he might forget how much of an outlier he is in a world where things like living parents and loving parents are often mutually exclusive.  He’s smart enough to connect dots but there’s a little blind-spot where he simply might not think to until one of the others jabs an elbow into his ribs, because his default view on humanity is in some ways a little kinder than typical due to that small but still significant amount of privilege.

At the same time, Wally is also someone who has probably run into (or watched his mentor run into) a lamp-post at high-speed at least once in his career.  He contains multitudes and among those multitudes is an endless capacity for some absolute Looney-Tunes nonsense, which the world is 100% better off for having.

I love him, your honour.

[hannahssimblr]

Any advice on taking screenshots and making them look pretty? Yours are the BEST on this app

omg T-T this is so lovely and I WISH this were the case hehe - every day I log on and I'm blown away & intimidated in equal parts by the screenshots & edits I see here. I actually sometimes wanna cry over it lmao. I don't really do much to mine tbh, I use reshade to get that yellow tint & soft blur. It's a preset, I think it's Tofu by Ellcrze but I could be wrong, and I've just tweaked a few things to suit me.

Aside from that I just try to be aware of keeping the backgrounds interesting & composing the shot nicely. Rule of thirds etc. Lately I've been playing with the position of characters in the screen a bit more than I used to, like, zooming in further, focussing on things like hands, looking at the scene through the leaves of a plant, all that kinda stuff. I'm still learning what works best for me and my content but it's really fun!

Practice makes perfect i guess <3

[emmym1]

My thoughts on... Ghost-Spider 2019 Annual (#1)

So i wasn't innitially planning to make a separate post for the Ghost-Spider Annnual, however it really surprised me with how much depth and character exploration it had for Gwen. So here we are! The annual seems to take place during Gwen's early days at ESU before all the crazy stuff with the jackal started happening. We see some of her classmates invite her over to grab some food after class, however she refuses stating that she has some stuff to take care of. Although she was actually lying about this because she doesn't want to put them in danger, she states that she has a responsibility to keep people safe and that it sometimes means that she isn't supposed to be around. It's very clear that after the events of Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider (2018) Gwen is scared to put even more people she cares about in danger, especially after her band and friend Harry almost got killed because Man-Wolf's gang was hunting her down. It makes sense as to why she thinks that way. Although we later on see her take on a more carefree attitude in issue #3 of Ghost-Spider (2019), so my guess is that this annual takes place between issue #2 & #3. Which would make the most sense given the character development she goes through during this annual. As she heads home she gets trapped in arcade's murderworld. However, it's made for Spider-Man causing it to have a whole different effect on Gwen. In order to escape she has to win a game, which consists of saving someone. As she tries to get through the building where she has to save said person she comes eye to eye with some of Spider-Man's greatest foe's. The first one is the lizard which startles her because her mind immediatly thinks of her earth's Peter Parker. She gets up fast and decides to fight. However she does some thinking on whether or not this lizard thinks, if he feels, if he wish things were different. Which probably comes out of a place of wondering if her Peter would've wished things were different. After some fighting it's revealed the lizard is just a robot, and so would all the other foe's she takes upon be. When she finally defeated the lizard she tells him that he deserved better than be used for someones sick game. Honestly this line also kind of had a double meaning for me, on earth-65 Peter's death after he became the lizard was used as some kind of game by the media and police to get the people to hate Spider-Woman and hunt her down. It's really interesting that even though this game was meant for Spider-Man, it still ends up affecting Gwen and makes her reflect on her past and what happened with her friends and foes. After taking down some more villains of Spider-Man's rogue gallery arcade decides to test "Spider-Man" by having him fight his greatest allies. Ironically enough for Gwen these allies turn out to be some of her greatest foes; being Matt Murdock & Frank Castle. She has a lot of joy in taking down their 616 robot counterparts and at one point even copies Black Widow's signature move that she learned from "viewtube" (Sidenote: i love how robot Frank Castle has part of his robot face exposed like he's the terminator, cool stuff!). During this fight she does some self reflection and talks about how she's been so tired latetely, as if there is a rock around her neck. As if the more she focussed to do the right thing the more she's crushed under that weight (this ties back nicely to her once again experiencing the expectations and responsibilities that she didn't want at the beginning of her carreer as Spider-Woman, so will she make the same mistakes or has she truly grown as a person now?). However her fight with Murdock and Castle rejuvenates her in a way, she kinda enjoys it.

Her final fight is against a robot version of Spider-Man! Who is holding a robot version of 616 Gwen Stacy captive by dangling her from a ceiling. The scenario is supposed to simulate Gwen's death. However due to 65 Gwen being here instead of Spider-Man the entire scenario has a wholely different effect on her. She's pissed that this is what this world thinks of Gwen Stacy, nothing more than a victim and nothing more than an inciting incident for a man in a mask. She's more than that, they are more than that. She's has a really beautiful quote following that moment:

"We matter, and not just because of what we represent. We are people, with our own wants and desires. Our own hopes and dreams. we deserve to be happy, to live in the moment."

I really love this moment and it's consistent characterization because Gwen always hated how 616 viewed Gwen Stacy and always thought that she was more than just her death. I really love how she keeps reminding people of that. This moment in particular was a really good and heartfelt one.

After that speech she realizes that she too deserves to be happy and that for a second she forgot that she needs to want those things for herself too. She realizes once again that she can't just do this alone and that if she wants to become the person she wants to be, she can't do it alone. Ultimately she saves robot Gwen and escapes murderworld. With her newfound realization that she too deserves to be happy she decides to go and take up her classmates on their offer to grab food that she initially declined. The annual ends with the following quote:

"I think I had a hard time being kind to myself -- realizing that i deserve the chance to just... live too."

I really love this quote and it's a super relatable one for me, it's one of those moments that just further reestablises why she is my favorite character.

I really really loved this annual, the dialogue reminded me a lot of her 2015 run and i love the character development she went through. The art was also amazing. All by all it was an amazing read that really managed to surprise me.

[which-hospital]

Aftermath (26/08/23)

I’m really late on this one, I literally watched it live I don’t know how this has taken me so long, I won’t take so long to post about today’s episodes I swear.

THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD EPISODE!! I love when they manage to properly weave whatever situation is happening in the wider world of Holby (and the wider world of the real world) into the characters and their storylines and this episode did it very well. They dealt with the issues of the episode so well, so well I can’t really put it into words?? I think what I wanna commend most of all is the way it focussed on that message of it having to be for all of us or else it’s for none of us and the way the episode portrayed different types of women with different experiences all standing together. It feels like it should be obvious but it hasn’t been and it needs to be.

My memory isn’t great on the details, I remember the episode but a bit mushed in my brain, I guess, so I’m just gonna go over what sticks out:

So we’ve got the Donna and Max stuff now, poor Dylan. And also, that’s definitely three love triangles now, right? Pattern detection brain wants to point out that on the night that Jodie went out with Ryan, Cam wanted to make her pasta - Casualty patterns mean very little and are usually probably unintentional but I love noticing them. Poor Dylan, though!!! I love all three of them, I didn’t always love Max but he’s really grown on me through all the stuff with Jodie.

On that note, I really enjoyed the hug between Max and Jodie.

RASH AND RIDA FAKE DATING!!! That’s so sweet!

When I get really interested in a character, I inevitably start overthinking their relationship with their family and that’s kind of why I wish they drew out Teddy being the main person caring for Gethin a bit longer - just for like one more episode. I think it could’ve been interesting in the wider context of the Jenning-West-Morgan-Gowan (order of appearance of characters with those last names) family and like his place in that? Sometimes on my main blog I say that “I know what I mean by this post so you don’t need to have a clue what I’m saying” and this is one of those things. Did enjoy getting to seen Jan being way more Teddy’s aunt than his boss for a whole episode, though.

[coco-case-study]

The tragedy of jotaro Cujo

Welcome the introduction of my unplanned, unscripted and rather messy series where i discuss my opinions on jojo characters, themes and a little bit of psychology

I will be discussing Jotaro throughout parts 3 to 6 so that i can hopefully start a discussion that dives a bit more into his character.

_____________________________

Part 3: Stardust crusaders

From the very beginning of stardust crusaders jotaro has been confronted with the act of having to make choices.

But what does it actually mean to choose?

The psychology of choice explores why we subconsciously make the decisions we do, what motivates those decisions, and what needs these decisions are meant to satisfy.

As the story of stardust crusaders begins we quickly discover the existence of stands. What they are and how they work. All explained by Joseph. A former protagonist who now plays a supporting role.

With this explanation Araki creates a new power system that later devolopes further as we continue the series.

My guess is that the former power system was already rather broad, had limited creativity when compared to some of the complex stand abilities in later parts but most importantly and overlooked: to obtain Hamon you have to go through immense training. Stand abilities are either inherited (joestar bloodline) or given (the arrow, or disc)

Jotaro's first reaction to his stand ability is confusion and fear. Before Joseph came to explain to him what it actually was, Jotaro was locked away in juvie.

he states: "i'm being possessed by a ghost, i will not leave this cell until it goes away" This translates his fear and a bit of his imagination since in the manga it is implied that he does believe in occult stuff.

He doesn't know that a stand is a solidification of your fighting spirit. Which is literally jour subconscious trying to project you but then solidified.

Absence

I feel like jotaro uses isolation as a way to protect those around him when he's unsure of a situation.

This action reoccurred in later parts.

His motivation

Because Jotaro IS a hero his motivation mainly comes from protecting others. This is why Araki uses his mother becoming ill as a driving plot point to excuse jotaro's character. Personally i think that Araki doesn't explain his motivations enough in the story.

Focussing on Jotaro's progression. Rather on the how he defeats Dio than why he has te defeat Dio. Causing It to go over a lot of people's head.

Explaining why someone is doing something isn't enough. They have to be convincing in their actions and their thoughts. A few moments where jotaro thinks about his mother during his fights and what he is fighting for would have brought some more emotions than betting her soul during a poker game.

What should Joraro have done?

Every choice jotaro had made throughout his battles with stand users on his way to and in egypt has been made with precise calculations, and sometimes a bit of luck resulting in his victory in every episode. Because of jotaro's continued winning streak. He became more like a caricature than a person. This is the exact reason why a lot of the fans label him as unemotional.

He definitely has more expression in the manga.

The anime still fails to convey the fact that jotaro is in fact a 17 year old high schooler trying to save his mom from an illness he knows nothing about.

part 6: Absence.

Meaning: The state of being away from a place or person.

In the beginning of part 3 he locks himself away from his peers and his mother because of his stand ability. He continue's to run away from potential damage to his family in later parts by leaving Jolyne in the dark about everything that has to do with stands and stand abilities in attempt to protect her. We all live our lives and make choices based on that what is best for ourselves and our family.

In Jotaro's case all he's ever lived for is making choices to solve problems he did not create.

Why did Araki make him like this?

If you compare Jotaro with others like Giorno or Jolyne you can see that they are characters that don't just react on their environment but they make choices to prolong the story.

What makes Jotaro so tragic is that at the the story begins and ends with him. He chose his daughter over the universe. He contradicted his usual logical strategic way of thinking because he had a weakness. And that was his love for Jolyne.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Dark Shadows (2012)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Dark Shadows shows promise at first, with tried-and-true but effective “fish out of water” humour. From there, the plot gets progressively unsure of where it wants to go, until it starts throwing stuff at the screen haphazardly. I don’t know if anyone could’ve salvaged a workable film from the woeful screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith but director Tim Burton doesn’t seem to be trying very hard.

In 1760, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) breaks the heart of his servant, Angelique (Eva Green). After she uses dark magic to kill Barnabas' fiancée (Bella Heathcote) she transform him into a vampire - so that he will outlive anyone he ever loves. Soon after, he is captured by villagers and buried "alive" in a coffin. Escaping from his prison in 1972, Barnabas finds his descendants in financial ruin, his beloved reincarnated as their new nanny (Bella Heathcote as Victoria), and Angelique still alive and still obsessed with him.

After the fact, it’s obvious Barnabas is the film’s main character. While watching, it isn’t so clear. You think Victoria will be a major player but she’s an afterthought with no personality. Most of the character feel like director Tim Burton self-indulging a little by tossing a bone to his favourite performers (Christopher Lee has a minor role which can’t have taken more than a day to shoot) or like inclusions put there just because they had an equivalent in the original 1966 television series. The film lasts nearly two hours. If you cut out Helena Bonham Carter as the Collins family doctor who does very little doctoring, the kinda-sorta misfit son David (Gully McGrath), his ne’er-do-well father (Johnny Lee Miller), the rebellious teenage daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz), the elderly maid (Ray Shirley) and the drunken groundskeeper (Jackie Earle Haley), you probably wouldn’t have more than 40-minutes’ worth of a movie. That’s not much but it’d be tighter, focussed and more enjoyable. None of these people have anything to do, and the less said about Alice Cooper’s cameo as himself, the better.

It feels like a bad soap opera that’s being made-up on the spot. Stuff just happens and sure, sometimes it’s funny but nothing’s building up to anything bigger. Now Dr. Hoffman is seducing Barnabas. Ok? Why? So we can cement that everyone finds Johnny Depp in vampire makeup irresistible? I guess that’s a thing but I don’t really get it.

Then, finally, a facsimile of a plot rears its ugly head. Ah! So the film is about Angelique and Barnabas’ rivalry. Wait. She waited 200 years for him to escape from the box she buried him in and in the meantime, she’s been using her fishing business to drive the Collins out of house and home? What a lame way to use your magic powers. It all builds to a lacklustre conclusion in which people are thrown around by magic. I think we’re supposed to feel upset about doomed romances and people caught between two irreconcilable worlds but so little time has been spent fleshing out the mushy stuff you just don’t care.

As an 18th-century vampire struggling to keep up with “modern” technology and sensibilities, Johnny Depp does well. He delivers all of the film’s best moments and yeah, some of it you’ve seen before but it’s still effective. The costumes, sets and art direction are also quite good so visually, Dark Shadows is pleasant to look at - especially when Eva Green is seducing Barnabas. Just about everything else is cringe-inducing and tone-deaf. Sexy as she may look, Green is terrible in this role and I can’t even blame her. No one shines thanks to the weak screenplay and scatterbrained direction torn between drama, horror and comedy. I nearly completely forgot about Michelle Pfeiffer, which is too bad because her character actually contributes something of value to the story.

The first time I saw Dark Shadows, I didn’t love it but found things to enjoy and gave it a mildly positive review. Re-examining it now, 3 stars seems way too generous. Although never awful, Dark Shadows doesn't give you many reasons to watch it. (April 5, 2019)

[kohakhearts]

questions for fic writers: #12 + #13

thanks, anon!

12: are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

hmm maybe raising a kid? i probably wouldn't write one unless it was for characters with a canon child or child figure, but i like reading these a lot more than i used to. and i enjoy gen and platonic relationship focusses a lot more as well. so, family stuff i guess! and i used to not like writing within the confines of the canon 'verse, but now i kind of prefer it. i find it more fun!

13: are there any tropes you used to like but don't anymore?

there are a lot for this one i can't lie haha. i used to really like modern aus and i still do, but not as much as i did then. meet-cute stuff is boring to me, bookstore/coffee shop/flower shop/etc. just...meh. they don't excite me to write anymore, but i still do sometimes, and i don't mind reading them. soulmate aus, same thing. and i used to like major character death quite a bit, but now i find that it takes a very particular kind of story to make me like it, and i don't write it nearly as often as i used to.

questions for fic writers!

[jesselemonbubbles]

i posted an intro a little while ago but i don't know if it showed up for anyone because my blog was still new so i guess i'm going at it again!

hi you can call me squishy, i'm gay and i like men. for the purposes of this blog, i like a few men in specific, and they're gonna be the targets of my posting (assuming i remember this thing exists):

poison mitsuo - side character from yakuza kiwami 2 (featured in one substory)

momiyama - gag character from yakuza 4 (has basically no canonical substance and yet i'm in love with him)

toru higashi - judgment/lost judgment, probably more rarely detailed here because i'm really focussed on the main series as of right now, but idk i might still reblog cute stuff of him

i have... i guess 2 self inserts

jesse ackerman - paired up with poison mitsuo and/or momiyama, i'm still figuring out how i wanna deal with this situation (they both live in different places)

shoichiro himura - paired up with toru higashi, sometime in the handwave-y future. again, expect less detail on him, but he lives here too

so yeah hiiiii