#I have absolutely no sense of internal motivation

[doctorweebmd]

Honestly I am very good at being at home

[asha-mage]

A SVSSS fic I want to write one day is Airplane and Shen Yuan being ejected from the System and sent back to the mundane world, but with the difference that Shen Yuan's 'edits' to the story have been retroactively applied to PiDW and as a result it's gone from 'top story in a hyper specific web culture niche' to 'international sensation with a Netflix adaption in the works'.

Keyly, PiDW is still told largely from the PoV of Luo Binghe- so neither he nor the audience is at all aware that it's now Isekai story. Instead it's billed as this heady romantic drama about prejudice, the passage of time, and redemption- where a big part of the appeal is trying to piece together the otherwise enigmatic Shen Qingqiu's motives.

Was he harsh on Binghe initially because of he sensed/knew about Binghe's demon heritage (as it's now possible to find hints that he may have in fact known all along)? Or because he saw Binghe's potential and wanted to do the tough-love training thing? Or was it because he was trying to chase Binghe away from Cultivation because he knew it would lead Binghe to misery one day? Did he throw Binghe into the Abyss because he was genuinely shocked and disgusted by the Demon reveal? Or because he knew Binghe would be killed if he stayed and he was trying to 'protect' him? Or was it because he genuinely wanted Binghe to fulfill his demon Emperor destiny and thought a clean break would do it? The fandom has no idea but lovvvvvves arguing about it.

This all leads to things coming full circle, as Cucumber, sounding like an absolute insane person, is left to rant online about how the obvious answer is that Shen Qingqiu was Isekai'd earlier in the story and replaced by a completely different person- a theory which is mocked to the point of memery, and leads to Cucumber being dunked on endlessly, no matter how much evidence he brings up or how many essays he writes.

[krummholz-go]

The Final 15 - Aziraphale’s Perspective

I see a lot of empathy for Crowley’s experience during the final 15 minutes of season 2 and it makes sense that we feel deeply for him. What he is experiencing is very human - acknowledging the depth of his own feelings, plucking up the courage to say something, having it come out all wrong, feeling utterly rejected, and then walking away in a mix of pain and anger. Who among us hasn’t been there?

But Aziraphale is experiencing something more complicated, something fewer of us have analogs for. Aziraphale has internally acknowledged his feelings for Crowley for some period of time, probably at least since 1941. Michael Sheen confirms this mental state in a NYCC 2018 interview:

“I decided early on that Aziraphale just loves Crowley. And that’s difficult for him because they are on opposite sides and he doesn’t agree with him on stuff. But it does really help as an actor to go, ‘My objective in this scene is to not show you how much I love you and just gaze longingly at you.’”

Unlike Crowley, Aziraphale’s struggle isn’t acknowledging his feelings. His struggle appears to be two-fold: 1) believing that Crowley could ever love him back and 2) even if Crowley did love him, believing a future for the two of them together could exist within the restrictions of his larger world view.

Can Crowley love?

Angels are, traditionally, beings of love. We see Aziraphale embody this time and again, showing kindness and support to almost everyone he meets, including the amnesiac Gabriel who has treated him abominably in the past. He is attuned to love, remarking on how the area around Tadfield “feels loved” twice in Season 1. As for how Aziraphale personally understands and expresses love, he shows his love to others through verbal affirmation and, to a lesser extent, physical touch. There are many examples of Aziraphale expressing his love for Crowley through positive verbal affirmation, typically by praising him for instances where he has been kind, nice, or good. And on the rare occasions when Aziraphale receives verbal praise, he absolutely interprets it as an expression of love, blossoming with happiness.

But from Aziraphale’s perspective, it may be unclear if Crowley can feel love in the same way. Can demons love? Did he lose that capability when he fell? Crowley can’t feel the aura of love in Tadfield that Aziraphale remarks on, and his reactions to Aziraphale’s praise are always to shrug it off, tell Aziraphale to “shut up,” or in the most extreme case to physically slam him against a wall and get in his face about it. In this last instance he tells Aziraphale, “I’m a demon, I’m not nice. I'm never nice. Nice is a four-letter word.” A four-letter word, like love, that is not in Crowley’s self-defined vocabulary.

If Crowley can feel love, does he love Aziraphale?

Even if Aziraphale believes Crowley is capable of feeling love, he does not always recognize how Crowley expresses it in the moment. Crowley shows his love for Aziraphale through actions, but Aziraphale often misconstrues Crowley’s motivations. In 1793 when Crowley rescues him from the Bastille, Aziraphale initially assumes Crowley is only there because he is responsible for the Reign of Terror. Similarly, in 1941, Aziraphale’s reaction to Crowley’s appearance is to assume he’s just part of the Nazi gang, saying,“I should have known. Of course. These people are working for you!”

Crowley doesn’t help matters in this regard because he is constantly muting and undercutting his signals to Aziraphale. Every time Crowley expresses his love for Aziraphale through actions - rescuing him, saving his books, even taking him to lunch - he does so in a nonchalant, dismissive manner, indicating he ascribes little value or importance to the actions he has performed. “I just didn’t want to see you embarrassed,” he says when he appears in 1941. And when Aziraphale positively glows with happiness about his books being saved, Crowley tells him to “shut up."On top of these confusing signals, Crowley is almost pathologically incapable of expressing his feelings in the verbal love language that Aziraphale can understand. This is heartbreakingly demonstrated in this scene after the bookshop fire:

Crowley can’t even say “I lost you.” Instead he speaks of Aziraphale in the third person while sitting in front of him, saying, “I lost my best friend.” The little hitch on Aziraphale’s face when he hears this is just devastating. Who is Crowley talking about? The last conversation they had before this scene was when Aziraphale called while Hastur was in Crowley’s apartment and Crowley said, “Not a good time - got an old friend here.” Aziraphale is left to wonder - is that who Crowley means when he says "best friend?" Crowley is everything to Aziraphale, but what is he to Crowley?

How Would It Even Work?

Even when Aziraphale does get flashes of the possibility that Crowley may care for him he immediately runs up against his second mental block - there is no world he can imagine where they could be together. When Crowley first suggests running off together in the bandstand scene in S1E3, Aziraphale collapses under the thought: “Friends? We aren’t friends. We are an angel and a demon. We have nothing whatsoever in common. I don’t even like you.”

While he is obviously in denial, Aziraphale is also under tremendous stress in this moment and is desperately trying to hold onto some stability by falling back onto his world view and ideology. In this state he backpedals all the way to “I don’t even like you.” In his understanding of the way the universe is supposed to work, he and Crowley are hereditary enemies and should not even be friends, much less in love. Aziraphale expresses this core belief throughout the series. What kind of existence could they ever have together in reality?

The Final 15

With this as a background, we can better understand what Aziraphale experiences in the final 15 minutes. Even before the Metatron enters the scene, Aziraphale begins to have his fundamental beliefs challenged which puts him off his footing. The revelation that Gabriel and Beelzebub are in love is deeply impactful. When Beelzebub says “I just found something that mattered more to me than choosing sides” and takes Gabriel’s hand, Aziraphale immediately reaches out to make contact with Crowley, a look of incredulity on his face. Here is proof that demons can feel love and that an angel and a demon can carve out a space together. The road may be difficult, but it is not impossible.

Before Aziraphale can digest this revelation the stakes are ratcheted up: Michael threatens to erase Aziraphale from the Book of Life due to his part in hiding Gabriel. The future that Aziraphale has just barely glimpsed is already under siege. It is at this point that The Metatron enters, offering Aziraphale not just survival and protection, but a version of everything he has ever wanted.

If Crowley is reinstated as an angel, Aziraphale will no longer have to wonder whether Crowley is capable of feeling love. And if they are both angels, there will be no conflict inherent in having a life together. In one fell swoop, the Metatron entices Aziraphale with a future where there are no remaining blockers to an eternal, loving existence with Crowley. It will be “like the old times, only even nicer” because they now have millennia of their shared history to build on together. Of course this logic is horribly flawed and does not take into account at all what Crowley wants, but in the moment it must feel like an enormous gift to Aziraphale.

Unfortunately, not only is Crowley’s reaction to this “incredibly good news” not what Aziraphale expects, the conversation quickly takes a baffling turn for him. Crowley shuts down the talk about returning to heaven and attempts to say what he wants to say. Sadly he once again utterly fails to speak in a way that Aziraphale can understand.

The audience knows what Crowley is trying to say because we have the context of his earlier conversation with Maggie and Nina. But Aziraphale lacks that and thus can’t understand where this is coming from or what it means. Rather than expressing his feelings as Beelzebub and Gabriel did, Crowley recites facts: we’ve known each other a long time, we’ve been on this planet a long time, I could always rely on you, you could always rely on me. He can’t even say the word “couple” when he describes them, referring to them more as colleagues with words like “team” and “group.” And the one time he does try to express his feelings and desires he is physically unable to get out the words: “And I would like to spend—.” He then retreats into his old plea to turn away from heaven and hell and run off together. Nowhere in Crowley’s confession does Aziraphale hear “I love you” or even “I want to be with you.” What he hears instead is what he’s heard multiple times before - Crowley wants to abandon both heaven and hell and default to just the two of them. From Aziraphale’s perspective this will not solve anything for them. They will still be an angel and a demon, at some level fundamentally separated by their very natures.

Having failed in his speech, Crowley then does two things in rapid succession that must be excruciatingly painful for Aziraphale. First, he does the opposite of verbal affirmation by calling Aziraphale an idiot. We have seen Aziraphale become physically radiant in the rare instances where Crowley has praised him, so a direct insult like this must feel poisonous. Then Crowley makes a last desperate attempt to communicate through Aziraphale’s other love language - physical touch - by initiating the kiss. But without context or understanding of what is behind it, Aziraphale can initially only experience it as forceful, angry, and shocking. With more time to parse it I think Aziraphale will come to understand Crowley’s meaning, but in the moment it must feel manipulative and borderline cruel.

The Results

In a very compressed time frame, Aziraphale has to move quickly and radically through multiple mental and emotional states. For 6000 years he has believed he and Crowley cannot be together. Suddenly, with the revelation of Gabriel and Beezlebub, that foundational belief is challenged. Before he can work through what that could mean for him and Crowley, the Metatron offers an even cleaner solution - they can be protected from retribution and be on the same side again. When Crowley rejects reinstatement wholesale, it makes Aziraphale feel that he and his loving offer of a life together have been personally rejected. Then that rejection is further confused through the shocking experience of the kiss which Aziraphale does not have adequate context for or time to understand and integrate. In his emotional turmoil, Aziraphale falls back on his default crutch for dealing with sadness and anger - forgiveness - which further cuts him off from Crowley. Taken all together, this is a tumultuous rollercoaster of whiplash emotions that pull at every part of Aziraphale's self- and world-views.

Compared to what Crowley is going through, I think Aziraphale is going to have the tougher road in Season 3. Crowley may still need to better reconcile and integrate his feelings for Aziraphale, but Aziraphale has 6000 years of foundational ideology to challenge and evolve to reach a place where he and Crowley can be together as their authentic selves.

[stilljuststardust]

It's ok to feel like shit.

You don't need toxic positivity to manifest or to shift

The language in this mostly addresses manifestation but it is applicable to both LOA and shifting.

I have been getting a lot of questions that generally boil down to "it really hurts right now, what do I do"

I think in some ways a lot of people have internalized this belief that they have to feel good and happy and motivated 100% of the time if they want it to work.

Couldn't be more wrong.

So many people respond to genuine questions with "well just don't 🤪". I know that's not how they mean it and I don't blame them one bit but as someone who has been mentally ill I know how it makes you think and I know that's how most people feel when they hear it.

It's ok to feel like shit. No you don't need to feel happy to manifest. You don't have to feel like you just won the lottery every five seconds of your day to manifest winning it.

You are not cursed to never manifest just because you have strong emotional reactions to things.

It's ok to hurt. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that while your feelings are absolutely valid and deserve the space to be felt they are not the authority on your reality.

Our brains naturally want to make sense of what we're feeling but it often leads us to thinking the way we're feeling is evidence of what will happen next.

"I feel awful and I don't like how often I'm feeling it" often leads us into thinking "nothing is ever going to work for me", but it's important to ground ourselves and realize that feeling like shit is not divine undeniable proof that it isn't going to work.

Feeling like shit just means you feel like shit, nothing more.

Sometimes we feel awful so we self sabotage and then say "see I was right", when really we're just a self fulfilling prophecy.

You don't want to be right, you want the comfort of having your emotions validated and seen.

Holding space for yourself to feel things and feel them deeply is important to our spiritual physical and mental health. However, saying that assigning meaning to it isn't good for you.

Keep fucking going. It's ok to affirm even though you feel like shit. Feeling like shit is not "evidence" that it's "not going to work".

Self discipline is knowing to regulate yourself and validate your emotions without affirming the opposite of what you want.

Self discipline is not beating yourself up and restricting yourself heavily. It is checking yourself when needed.

[writingquestionsanswered]

how do i make my writing more ‘mature’? i always feel like no matter how sophisticated i write and no matter every which way i change it up it always has a sense of being childish or juvenile.

Making Writing Sound More Mature

1 - Better Plot and Story Structure - One of the telltale signs of juvenile writing is a story that meanders, has no obvious plot or structure, has no conflict or has a protagonist with no goal. So, make sure you have a well fleshed out plot, with a conflict, protagonist goal, and which hits the beats specific to your story's genre.

2 - Three-Dimensional Characters - If you're writing plot-driven fiction, make sure your main characters have a fleshed out personality, stakes, motivation, goal, and compelling relationships with other characters. If you're writing fully or partially character-driven fiction, do all of the above, but also make sure your main characters have a relevant internal conflict and a thoughtful character arc.

3 - Well-Developed Setting and World - One common hallmark of juvenile writing is a lack of "sense of place" and under-developed world building. So, make sure you put a lot of thought into where your story takes place... not just the immediate setting of each scene, but the overall world of the story, or at least the parts of it that are relevant.

4 - Incorporate Literary Devices - Juvenile writing tends to be lacking in the use of metaphor, simile, symbolism, irony, themes, and motifs. So, make sure to include those, but also take the time to make them relevant to your story.

5 - Include a Broad Range of Vocabulary - One common element of juvenile writing is a reliance on limited, simple vocabulary. Don't be afraid to use a thesaurus to find more interesting word choices--just be absolutely certain to crosscheck your choices with a dictionary to make sure they are the right choice. Online thesauruses in particular are bad about offering up bad suggestions. Also, make sure to learn and use special vocabulary that is relevant to your story, genre, or setting. For example, if your character is a retired police detective trying to solve a murder on his stalled cruise to Alaska, you need to make sure you know the proper investigative terminology, because he will definitely use it. And, by that same token, you'd want to make sure you know cruise ship lingo as well. And, part of this, too, is getting better at description and the inclusion of emotional and sensory detail.

6 - Use Varied Sentence Structure - This is a big one... juvenile writing tends to use repetitive sentence structure, such as simple sentences (she stood up, she went to the window, she waved at the man), lack of subordinate clauses (Tad Smith, who was a seasoned and retired investigator, had looked forward to this cruise his whole life...), repetitive starts (every sentence begins with a pronoun, for example), uniform length (all short sentences, for example.) So, make sure your sentences are varied. If you read them out loud, you don't want it to sound rhythmic, but more like a complex melody.

7 - Show, Don't Tell... Most of the Time - Telling definitely has its place, but most of the time you want to show rather than tell, meaning that instead of stating things simply and directly (the sun was shining) you want to paint a clear but indirect image (dappled sunlight shone through the trees.)

8 - Avoid Cliche Phrases - Human language is littered with everyday phrases like "to each their own" or "better late than never." Generally-speaking, you want to avoid these phrases in your story, especially in exposition. If you include them anywhere, they're best spoken as dialogue by a character who it makes sense would say something like that. Likewise, be careful of cliche genre or character-type phrases. For example, villains who say things like "we're not so different, you and I..." or "I finally have you right where I want you!" These overused phrases tend to make stories sound juvenile and unpolished.

9 - Avoid Cliche Tropes - Another type of cliche to avoid if you want more mature-sounding writing is cliches of various tropes. Tropes on their own are a good thing, but when tropes are used the same way over and over again in a genre or type of story, they become predictable. For example, the super gorgeous protagonist who everyone is in love with, but they view themselves as plain and not special. Or the broken/hopeless/addict mentor character. It's not that you can't use any cliche tropes at all, just make sure your story isn't riddled with them, and do what you can to put your own spin on the ones you do use.

10 - Read, Read, Read - And I can't stress this enough... the absolute best way to improve your writing style and take your writing from juvenile to polished is to make sure you're reading a lot of fiction, in a lot of genres, by a lot of authors. Audio books, short stories, and poetry count, too. The more you read, the more you begin to: understand plot and story structure, recognize well-developed characters, easily envision complex settings and worlds, learn vocabulary and literary devices, become attuned to varied sentence structure, and learn to recognize cliche phrases and tropes.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[daisywords]

I personally know there are multiple types of editing but I've never seen anyone explain it in a way that actually made me understand what the types of editing actually were (yeah cool that you say {}editing is different from []editing but *how*). So if you wanna explain, feel free to.

Your handy-dandy guide to different types of editing

disclaimer: writers, you can literally edit however works for you. these distinction can be useful to your process, or just if you're looking to hire an editor. Not all editors make distinctions in this way; there are various ways of dividing. But no matter what vocabulary you use, it's best practice to start with broad, big-picture stuff and move towards narrower issues. Some editors do all levels of editing, while some specialize.

Developmental Editing (Is it a good story?)

Developmental editing has to do with the content. For a novel, that means working on the bones of the story. The plot. The pacing. The characters. Do their motivations make sense? Can the reader understand why things are happening? Does the story drag in places, or seem to brush past important elements? Do all of the subplots get resolved? etc. etc. (At this stage an editor is mostly going to be offering suggestions, pointing out issues, and throwing out potential solutions. Beta readers can also be very helpful at this stage to get a reader's perspective on the story beats and characters.)

Line Editing (is it well written?)

Sometimes called substantive editing, line editing is zooming in a little bit more to focus on scenes, paragraphs and sentences. Once we've decided that a scene is going to stay, lets look at the mechanics of how it plays out. Does the scene start to early or too late? Does the writing style communicate the emotions we want the reader to feel? Does the dialogue match the characters' voices? do any of the sentences sound awkward or ugly? Is the movement being bogged down by too much purple prose anywhere, or is there not enough detail? (This can get pretty subjective, so it's important that the writer and the editor are on the same page with taste, style goals, etc.)

Copy Editing (is is correct?)

Copy editing is all about the details. Think grammar and punctuation. Do the sentences make sense? are they grammatically correct? Is the dialogue punctuated correctly? Any misspellings? Should this be hyphenated? Should this be capitalized? Should we use a numeral, or write out the number? etc etc. A significant part of copy editing is matching everything to a style manual (like Chicago or AP) a house style guide (individualized preferences from a publisher, for example), and a project's own internal style sheet (are the character's names spelled the same every time? if we used "leaped" in chapter 4, we shouldn't use "leapt" in chapter 7) Copy editing is still subjective, but less so than the earlier levels, so a copyeditor will be more likely to just go in and make a bunch of (tracked!) changes without consulting the author for everything.

Bonus: Proofreading (did the copyeditor catch everything? are there typos? formatting issues? have any errors been introduced?)

Lots of people say editing when they really mean proofreading. Proofreading is the absolute last thing to get done. It's the one last pass just before something is published. It's important, but as you can see, there's a whole lot more to editing than just checking for typos.

[decepti-thots]

What I can't get my head around is, why didn't Dominus Ambus tell Rewind that he was secretly a turbofox? Like, that's your conjunx, presumably the person you trust most in the whole universe, and you won't even share your secret with him? IDK if you've already done an analysis post on this but if you haven't I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Okay, so. Putting aside any non-diagetic explanations entirely for a moment (that is, my suspicion that the concept was conceived of some way into the comic's run and just proved a really good way to explain Rewind not recognising the Pet once it was settled on)… in-universe explanations, let's go.

Something I do wanna point out here is a thing I rarely see mentioned: in my opinion, Minimus does not act as though Rewind doesn't know. I think he expects that Rewind does, which is honestly sort of wild? In DotL, Minimus isn't like 'oh shit, now you know I guess' when he's making remarks about Dominus being even more insecure about his height than Minimus is (irreducible style), or whatever. I… guess you could argue he thinks Rewind has inferred it logically (Minimus has revealed he was wearing an armour > Minimus and Dominus are spark twins > therefore…) but tbh, he's just. SO casual about it. I absolutely feel like Minimus assumed Dominus had told Rewind! Which. THEY WERE MARRIED LMAO. IT'S A REASONABLE… ASSUMPTION……..

Which definitely suggests there's no reason externally that is all that compelling for Dominus to not have done so. If there was, presumably Minimus would have anticipated it! Realistically, if Dominus couldn't trust Rewind to keep it secret for the sake of public access and ease, why the hell were they married. (Anyway, Rewind is in a far more precarious situation than Dominus is, when they meet; Rewind isn't able to hide and is formally subject to being classified as 'disposable'. I mean!) That's definitely not compelling.

Personally I think the easiest way to reconcile it is to think that Dominus had a personal hangup around his alt, and genuinely wanted people not to know this about him- because he himself was personally ashamed of it, no matter how much effort he put into public work that seems to contradict that. This actually reconciles something else, I think. Why would the sentience test Dominus seemingly designed in part or full be so biased against beastformers? He is one! What! But if that's something he was unable to get over the way he e.g. was able to overcome prejudice of the kind Rewind was facing, it perhaps makes sense to think of it as a kind of 'harder when it's personal' thing. Right? Internal feelings of self-loathing are sometimes paradoxically the more difficult kind to unlearn, compared to changing how you think about other people. Hell, maybe Dominus convinced himself wearing an armour 24/7 meant he wasn't one any more. Maybe he didn't tell Rewind because as far as he was concerned, that was no longer true.

I think this would potentially be interesting in terms of adding actual characterization to Dominus against which you can a) effectively compare and contrast Minimus (since a looot of what we know about Dominus is more or less 'he was made in a lab to induce an inferority complex in Minimus', lmao) and b) open up avenues to question the very idealized view Rewind has of their marriage that don't necessarily require leaning into the trope of 'he was an Evil Liar All Along on purpose!!!', which adds a lot of interesting stuff to that element of Rewind's arc that I'm sad canon never really managed to deliver completely, IMO.

I have actually thought about Dominus in relation to both Minimus and Rewind a LOOOOOT haha. He's such a cipher in the comic; a huge motivating character for two otherwise-unconnected leads AND a cornerstone of our introduction to the Functionist Universe… and yet a character we know very little about the thought processes or feelings of. He's like a void of a character you can reconstruct by looking at what surrounds him. It's very fun to me.

[atthebell]

i think my other thing with all this that has been endlessly frustrating is that people do not realize how long this shit takes and are completely impatient about it. has the communication with admins been atrocious, absolutely, and that is a serious issue. but we as the public are not actually owed any information and considering how much of it is legal and internal, it makes sense for it to be kept confidential. and in terms of even the internal communications issues, while again, i think those need improvement and suck shit right now, considering how much shit has been leaked over and over again, i would also be hesitant about telling people too much. like again i think quackity has been pretty negligent in all of this but also he's fucking 23 and thought he was trusting people to run the studios without fucking him over, and that is evidently what has happened. i want this project to succeed, i want the admins to be treated fairly, i want the players to be able to tell the stories they want to tell, and i want the qsmp to show that a project like this, a multilingual & multicultural project with so much ambition, can succeed and can inspire other projects like it along with building new global relationships. which is why i don't love the doomposting and the insistence that everyone involved has bad motives-- that is just not fucking true, and it ignores how easy it is for these kinds of issues to perpetuate in workplaces. you are doing everyone involved and yourself a disservice to insist this is a specific issue to this server and this company, and you are insisting that everything that falls apart in some way must have been rotten to the core, including it's intentions, when that is just not the case.

anyway. my original point, that this takes time and probably will take months to fully iron out and that you personally are not owed information, is what i think is important here. there are issues, there are a lot of issues, but you are not an employee of this company or a government entity involved in investigating or a higher up in charge of restructuring. you are a tumblr user who can't handle not getting all the dirt on something within a couple of days. chill the fuck out. you don't have to keep engaging with qsmp stuff if you don't want to, but don't act like believing in the goals of this project was always going mean being let down. fuck off with that mentality.

[virtues-end]

Absolutely stellar writing conveying intense and distinct dynamics between intriguing characters... I am hooked. Spoilers obviously, but the latest update was perfect from start to finish, and the uncovered "betrayal" following what I figured to be one of the most profound internal struggle filled kiss ever written in an IF had me absolutely delighted I went for the "friendly" option with Shea, I very much hesitated with hostile but it made sense to me, after so long on the road... ( p1 )

I don't quite know what to say to such a kind message! Thank you, of course, first of all. :-) It's truly such a delight to read your thoughts!

Second, to answer your question, it will have a lasting effect on the MC, and their relationship with Shea, regardless of what you've chosen prior. Hostile and friendly and indifferent helvlings alike, they've all had to place their trust in Shea at some point (or were forced to, in order to survive), which is why this particular kind of betrayal cuts so deep, I think.

And it also shows that Shea is a flawed being, with their own secrets and motivations, that friendly helvlings in particular, I think, might've been too trusting, or too blind to see.

[anemoiashifts]

the first time i shifted & motivation in the shifting community.

“this demotivated me”

“am i going to shift tonight?”

motivation should come from with within. if your belief is dependent on other people’s words then you are setting yourself up to get let down. if you can’t trust yourself on what you believe in, who are you going to trust ? when i see questions like “is shifting real?” then that tells me everything i need to know & you don’t actually believe in shifting or at the very least you don’t have a strong belief in yourself or the practice. it’s okay to question things but at the end of the day, you decide what resonates with you & what you believe in. you are looking for exterior validation & no about it “yes shifting is real”(’s?) will determine your beliefs. “is this a sign?” if you have to ask for & said sign does not resonate inward where you have an internal sense of knowing that it’s for you, then it’s not a sign. don’t go looking for things constantly because you will forget to appreciate when you do see something that you know is meant for you. the same goes for angel numbers. if someone says to you “you won’t shift” or “shifting is fake” why are you putting others words above your own ? at the end of the day, you decide who gets power over you & when you do you tend to lose sight your own power.

i hate to say this but it’s so easy to lie on the internet & you never know who is being truthful vs those who are doing it for attention or profit. which is why it’s so important to take everything people say with a grain if salt & it’s even more important to be your own advocate.

“but people have shifted without believing it”

okay? that’s them. but has that worked for you? stop using other people’s success’ as a crutch to not put in the work. i think that’s where people get stuck. seeing other people achieve their manifestations & desired with seemingly such ease frustrates us; “the grass is always greener on the other side”. what we don’t see is that persons own struggle within their shifting journey. we don’t know what they’ve endured or what conclusions they’ve come to to be “successful”. people don’t like hearing about struggles & the hurt that takes place when you’ve been trying to do something for a while that you so desperately want & i think that’s needed sometimes to balance the scales. it removes shifting from this higher then thou status people place on it. your resilience & powering through doubts should be celebrated.

for me personally, ive shifted once & ive never been able to to it again (excluding what people refer to as mini shifting). though, only recently have i started calling it my first time shifting because it pushed me away from shifting as a whole for a while. in my eyes, it wasn’t successful because i didn’t enjoy my time when i shifted that first time & i wasn’t sure what happened to me even if I did technically shift by definition. that definitely plays a factor in why ive gone years without achieving that kind of shift again & it can sometimes feel absolutely like a lost cause & like i wasted my one chance at it. i didn’t have a pleasant experience & that plays a part because I probably subconsciously became uncomfortable over the thought of it.

the reason i don’t speak about it in detail is because i didn’t want to turn anyone away from the desire to shift & inject fear into people. just because my experience wasn’t great doesn’t take away from the dozens of positive shifts. the human mind tends to cling to negative experiences even if it’s only one negative vs hundreds of positives. it’s important to observe past experiences because we can analyze what works & what didn’t. im happy that i shifted & im happy that im able to have my own unique experience with the practice. that bad experience made me dig into shadow work to uncover my lingering fears about going to a new place & the fear of the unknown — not just in shifting but discovering what i struggle with in general. then once im aware of them i can properly cope & address them. it doesn’t benefit only my shifting journey but my confidence & how i chose to live life. this is something i still struggle with daily & am learning to become better because of my negative experience. for lack of better wording, it made me face things are are unpleasant head on & the longer you stay in a bubble the more scary it’ll be once it pops.

sadly, some people have to put in more work then others to get things done to achieve the same results. ultimately, yes, it does come down to your core beliefs & your own confidence but practicing things like meditation & leaning / focusing skills to focus are things that may benefit you. this is why the concept of self is so important & to not become dependent on others experiences.

to clarify, i don’t hold an issue with motivational shifting content. i think it’s great way to help others & reinforce your own beliefs. the issue i have is that people forget that they can be their own source of motivation by looking to your own personal goals you’ve set for yourself. this had been said before but there is no one method that will make you shift, there is no one position to lay in that will make you shift, there is no routine or sole piece of information that will make you shift. you make yourself shift. sure, others can point you in the right direction but at the end of the day it was you. everything you need to shift already lives within you.

[whythehailnot]

Daily Vlogs/grwm thoughts (and being fat within them)

So I absolutely love watching daily vlogs or grwm videos (ranging from makeup/get dressed to just little shots of peoples’ homes and them cleaning or something). There’s something so calm and lovely about it - like watching people cooking or cleaning in a Studio Ghibli movie. It romanticizes the basic tasks, and in a lot of ways, it brings a sense of contentment and appreciation towards life’s little moments amidst the backdrop of stress in our lives (both internal and external, local and global). 

Part of it I think is a sort of psychological fulfillment - the ability to exercise control over at least some parts of our lives - but I think it’s also a love language to ourselves, whether it be the satisfaction of cleaning a dresser top, folding some clothes, or washing a sink full of dishes. There’s a tangible gratification that happens and it’s satisfying to complete these tasks for the future you. A type of self-care, in a way!

All this said - I absolutely love watching videos like this. And it’s something that I would like to maybe try doing some footage of sometime. Because another component I’d love to see in these videos is a fat person doing them, and also someone who is in a bit of a lower income bracket? I feel like it’s hard to find videos where you can see a person who fits both of those descriptors (and if anyone has any recommendations, I’d love to hear them)! But I don’t know - maybe it would speak to others to see little videos like that, and from a person like me (fat and lower income) who enjoys little bits of decorating and putting together cute outfits. 

I hardly know what kind of videos I want to make still, besides a general fat fashion/life sort of blog/vlog situation - but something I’m finding is that I like sharing music, taking pretty little shots of the plants in my room and being motivated to get dressed. It’s chronicling my life in a way that I’ve never been able to do before, and being able to share me and the body I have enjoying little things like sharing clothes (and skincare maybe??), cleaning my room or looking at plants - it’s just really nice!

I guess I’m just curious if other people have this sort of experience or similar feelings with watching grwm or life vlogs - do you also wish you could see more fat and/or low income people living their lives and romanticizing the little facets of it? I’d love to hear your thoughts! :3c 

[kiwiana-writes]

WIP Wednesday

Hey, y'all. I am struggling. With motivation, with ideas, with passion. Writing has always been my outlet and when the outlet isn't outletting... it's pretty fucking killer, I'm not gonna lie to you. I haven't read anything in literal weeks, either. Brains! Who'd have em?

Thanks to everyone who has continued to tag me over the last few weeks, and to @thighzp for the tag tonight. I really appreciate everyone who isn't just letting me disappear into the Void of Writers Past, which is basically my biggest fear lmfao.

Anyway. I have no idea what this is yet, apart from an attempt at a birthday present for a friend that stalled out and watched her birthday sail past, but!

Henry Fox is—allegedly—a pillow princess. It’s not like Alex has first-hand knowledge. He knows what a pillow princess is, because Nora once got very drunk and waxed poetic about how they’re underappreciated and unfairly maligned by the sapphic community. He also knows who Henry Fox is, because they shared a [something] class in freshman year in which Henry was tall and blond and British and annoying, and Alex didn’t miss a single opportunity to tell him that. But that was a year ago now, and Alex has never had any reason to think about those two completely unrelated pieces of knowledge in conjunction, except that his absolute least favourite lacrosse teammate is functionally incapable of having some fucking decorum, apparently.  “I mean, I guess it makes sense.” It’s not the first time Alex has internally described Darren’s face as punchable while Darren is running his mouth in the locker room, and it almost definitely won’t be the last. “When you’ve got a face like that, you probably don’t need to learn how to be good at it, you know? Guys will be lining up around the block to give it to him even if he just lays there.” “Including you,” Alex points out, because he has chronic can’t-shut-the-fuck-up disease and no real sense of self-preservation.

Tagging @agame-writes @affectionatelyrs @anincompletelist @blueeyedgrlwrites @cactusdragon517

@celeritas2997 @cha-melodius @clottedcreamfudge @cricketnationrise @dumbpeachjuice

@everwitch-magiks @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic @happiness-of-the-pursuit @hgejfmw-hgejhsf

@indestructibleheart @inexplicablymine @junebugclaremontdiaz @larkral @leaves-of-laurelin

@lilythesilly @littlemisskittentoes @lizzie-bennetdarcy @myheartalivewrites @ninzied

@nocoastposts @nontoxic-writes @notspecialbabe @orchidscript @piratefalls

@porcelainmortal @read-and-write- @rmd-writes @sherryvalli @ships-to-sail

@sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @thesleepyskipper @thinkof-england

@tintagel-or-cockleshells @welcometololaland @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! (If you take the open tag please tag me so I can see!!)

[elysiansparadise]

heyyy i love ur posts and i wanna ask what u think about 11h moon<3

btw i love the way u set up ur whole aesthetic and how u lay everything out on ur account its amazing and was sooo helpful when i was trying to learn the basics of astrology

Hello, thanks for loving my posts. I appreciate your comment, delighted to know that this helped you somehow. 😊

Moon in the 11th house

Altruistic, gentle and very empathetic with other people. People, even if they just meet them, tend to quickly feel confident with these natives, even going so far as to tell them private things shortly after meeting them. With this placement of the Moon, the native has the ability to be popular, to win the affection of people and to attract friends who give him unconditional support. Now that I mention the word friendship, these natives are great people to have by your side, because the loyalty, affection and reassurance they are able to give are unique. They are genuinely happy for the achievements and happiness of their friends and it is very important to them that they feel comfortable emotionally and to show themselves as they are. People with a sublime and understandable soul, who, regardless of the differences they may have with others, are attentive and kind. These natives may feel somewhat different from their family or people their age, it is possible that they deal with the feeling of not having fit in with a group at some point in their life, the sense of belonging is something very important for them, even if it is difficult for them to verbalize it. 

The Moon being in an air house, makes them very rational people as far as their emotions are concerned, but that does not mean they are insensitive, quite the opposite, by removing the idea that they have the absolute truth, they are able to understand the motives and people's emotional worlds, which gives them great emotional intelligence. In some cases they may deal with the idea of ​​wanting to take care of their friends or the group they feel they belong with out of an internal need to be cared for in the same way. They very much apply the idea of ​​being the support they felt they didn't have when they were younger. They do not tolerate injustice, and can feel a lot of emotional pain when faced with it, so they will always be willing to support the causes they consider. They are typical people who help strangers and give them an encouraging and genuine smile. They can easily improve people's moods and make them feel that everything will be better. It is very likely that they feel some distance from some members of their family, more than they would like, but throughout their lives they can make friends that feel like family.

As I mentioned before, popularity is something quite common with this placement, these people can be very appreciated and recognized especially on the internet, it is quite common to see celebrities with this placement. They have the desire to contribute something to society, whether it be changes, help, knowledge, etc. They may want to do something significant or big. In financial terms, they may have some ups and downs in their income, but they have the ability to handle it. They are likely to make money as teachers, chefs, content creators, entrepreneurs or psychologists. Even if they seem to be very people-oriented people, these natives need to feel autonomous and enjoy their time alone. In fact, it is likely that when faced with a difficult event, they prefer to isolate themselves to process everything at the beginning, since feeling their support back is something crucial for them. The relationship with the mother can be somewhat complex, and the native is likely to feel that they are very different in terms of ideals. In the best of cases, the native feels motivated by their mother to follow their dreams, in the most tense case there may be a lot of emotional distance with her.

-> Go back to the masterlist

[dustykneed]

can you share some of your mirror verse hcs?

(gladly! ... as you can see this really got away from me in terms of length and i am SO sorry in advance for springing a whole short essay on you skdjsdh)

to open with a bit of a shocker, perhaps, well, the way i interpret the mirrorverse, i just... cannot see mirror mcspirk happening. now don't get me wrong! i think mirror spirk is absolutely possible, and in fact highly probable, and not even as just a sleeping together thing. i think their dynamic could absolutely yield a form of co-dependent emotional attachment on a highly personal level. everyone defines love differently, but i think that in the mirrorverse, if not love, it is certainly as close as you could get. but mirror mcspirk i actually can't see, believe it or not, and this is for a couple of reasons:

the thing about the mirrorverse is that it is all about the death of humanity (not humans, but for what we know as the human capacity for empathy, kindness and hope. i've seen the mirrorverse described as "the universe where no hope can survive". i think that is a very apt summary of what i explore here.) one key assumption of my interpretation of the mirrorverse is that the characters themselves, initially, are no different from how they are in any other universe at the core, and it is the varied external factors of the universe in which they exist that produces the people they become.

to examine the effects of the mirrorverse on the triumvirate, we might begin by looking at the original triumvirate's relationships with the concept of "goodness", with reference to the principles of ethos, logos and pathos.

one of the fundaments of kirk, as a character, is his relationship with goodness as a choice. he represents ethos, morality, in that his goodness is the result of a conscious decision to be good, to do good, as far as possible, to pick the least of any evils if he absolutely must and even if it is difficult, to keep going for the greater good. in the end, it all boils down to his core motivation to be a net force of goodness on the world, or in other words, to train his eyes on the bigger picture when interacting with the situation at hand and to believe that goodness can always prevail in the sense that he will have a net positive impact on the world around him.

spock, on the other hand, is arguably characterized by his relationship with defining goodness. his struggle to reconcile logic and emotion goes hand in hand with his desire to know if, and why, what he is doing is right-- logos. other vulcans rationalize displays of emotion by interpreting them through the lens of logic. spock, i think, is unable to do this because while he has been taught that emotions are illogical and undesirable, and internalizes this to perhaps a far stricter extent than most vulcans due to being held to unfairly high standards to prove himself "vulcan enough", he recognizes on a subconscious level that there is no inherent contradiction between logic and emotions, and that goodness is a mixture of value judgements and rational, ethical methodology.

but mccoy, i think, is a little different, in that goodness in itself is what defines him as a character. instead of ethos (making the right decision) or logos (understanding what makes something right), mccoy's pathos (an unrefined, innate compulsion for goodness; something similar to mencius' theory of good human nature) is not a conscious decision or a principle of action, but a visceral, impulsive, desperate, sometimes irrational and neurotic need to do good no matter the cost, simply because he instinctively knows that it is the kind thing and therefore the right thing to do-- which, sometimes, makes him disregard the bigger picture, and, ironically, do the wrong thing out of irrationality.

(to digress-- i actually think that kirk is actually far more logical than we sometimes give him credit for, especially in the context of spirk. the dynamic of a logical, stoic character and an emotional, affectionate character whose very souls find solace in one another is a hugely compelling and moving one, and i cannot fault people for applying that dynamic to their relationship-- but, well, by virtue of being relatively less direct associations of their character dynamics in the context of slash, i think what happens sometimes with spones, mckirk and mcspirk is that in the process of fumbling around for ways to fit them together believably, people often end up doing a greater degree of exploration of their character dynamics and nuances that is like catnip to me xD)

for kirk and spock, as men whose worldviews are rooted in tangible logic, where the goodness they have seen is the driving force for their pursuit of morality, i do not doubt that without external proof of goodness as a feasible, worthy path, the same traits that grant them their steadfast belief in humanity and hence their great devotion to goodness will be the traits that drive them to turn away from that goodness in the mirror universe. in a world where hope cannot survive, where cruelty and ambition are the only constants, kirk's resourcefulness prompts him to adapt to his environment and seek what he sees as the bigger picture-- ambition and power. spock, a being of logic, observes that cruelty is simply how the world functions, and as a result applies this science to his interactions with it, seeking power not because of a specific ambition, but, again, because it is a logical course of action according to his observations.

i see spirk as highly probable in the mirrorverse precisely because of how alike they are in this regard. they are capable of great compartmentalization of personal sentiments in order to do what they consider "the right thing", or take the "logical course of action", and this is what makes them effective in command roles, where dwelling on the implications of a wrong decision could either kill you from the sheer crushing guilt, or kill more of your men because of your indecision. they are comfortable in their pursuit of power by use of force because they have internalized the rules of the mirrorverse, and are able find solace in each other because they are evenly matched as opponents and a force to be reckoned with when in alliance, which gives them the space to develop that personal attachment and tension in the first place.

but mccoy? mccoy's goodness isn't rooted in logic, and as a result, this facet of his character largely remains untouched even in the face of the greatest cruelties and atrocities his world can offer. his great stubbornness (or illogic, or perhaps even self-delusion) lends him the ability to, against all odds, still believe that people are inherently worthy of kindness and compassion. he believes in good without ever having experienced it, because his belief in good is illogical by nature.

i have no doubt that mccoy would possibly love kirk, and spock, in part simply because he resonates subconsciously with the capacity of kirk and spock to show great kindness. it is possible that he sees the apparitions of what they could have become, had the world not been so unkind to them, and his love for them is tinged with an undercurrent of mixed grief and disgust, and pity. but fundamentally he doesn't trust spirk-- and because of that i think he could never bring himself to truly fall in love even though he has the capacity for it, because that would require betraying his love for humanity.

i think, based on the way mirror kirk and spock likely treat mccoy, as technically their subordinate (and especially in mirror mirror, when mirror spock mind melds with mccoy to figure out why he saved his life without so much as a moment's hesitation, because he doesn't see mirror mccoy as a threat, so why would a mccoy from a softer, kinder universe ever be anything more?) i wouldn't be surprised if they saw mccoy as... lesser. you know? they know that mccoy isn't capable of seeking power the way they do. that makes him weak. i think they trust him far more than anyone else other than each other, perhaps less out of respect for his profession or character, but more because they are able to clear him as a possible threat, as something too pathetic to seize power even when given the chance. they definitely have some interest in his motivations-- like you would a pet, or a plaything, because kindness makes you a target, a weakness, and a liability. a fascinating study, but ultimately, inadvertently disposable.

and it makes sense, in a way, that they are unable to bring themselves to ally themselves with mccoy the way they have each other, because in the mirrorverse, to believe in kindness is a death sentence. they might pity mccoy or regard him with contempt borne out of inexplicable regret, the same way mccoy pities them, for his wasted potential as an asset (and maybe even as a partner). by insulating themselves against their inevitable loss of mccoy, conciously or otherwise, they save themselves another hurt in their world where hope is a lost cause.

(i definitely have more bouncing around in my head about mirror bones especially, but i think 1.5k words is enough for one sitting LMAO so sorry i think i'm halfway in finals mode still. but this is why i could never take literature lol i can never help myself and it takes a lot out of me xDD)

(oh and @callofdooty i think the mirrorverse as a place where no hope can survive quote was from you during our conversations about mirror bones! but either way i think you might enjoy this hahah)

[shaineybainey]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 initial thoughts

[ NOT spoiler-free ]

For me, this is one of the few franchises that got better and better as it went along. This third movie was just absolutely phenomenal. As someone had said, it is a great send-off to the movie and the Guardians we've known.

They did a great job exploring Rocket's origin. It really explains why he's never wanted to talk about his past. It was violent and heartbreaking. Nebula's line of "They did worse things to him than Thanos did to me" (or something along that line) summarized it best. You also understand why Rocket can be so violent: it wasn't much because he learned it from the people who engineered him, but because the last time he tried to get away safely, quietly, his friends - essentially his family - all got killed. And the person who caused it was so cold about it. So while he could be extreme, he does it so that no one can hurt him or any of his friends ever again.

Which leads to this other point: Rocket is a grump and a cynic, but deep down he actually really loved the other Guardians.

Adam Warlock! I didn't know what to expect from him, but after seeing the movie, I want to see more of him.

Also: it's great that the movie managed to give Adam his own origin story, his own motivation for why he eventually ended up being a guardian.

Drax was hilarious in this movie, as he always is, but Mantis kinda came for the crown a bit! The fact that she made him fall in love with a sock for fun and made one of the guards they had to get through fall in love with him were some of the funniest moments in the movie.

On a more serious Drax note: "Drax. You weren't meant to be a destroyer. You were meant to be a dad." One of the best lines in the movie. I never would have thought that this is how Drax would "grow up" as a character, but it all made sense. It does.

Kraglin had a fantastic growth too. He'd been trying to train with the arrow Yondu gave him over and over and over, trying to concentrate and plan and think. And he kept failing over and over and over. But when Knowhere was in danger, he finally remembered what Yondu told him: "Fly it with your heart." When he realized that he needed to get out of his head, man did he do some damage. It was amazing.

The bad dog/good dog argument 😂

Gamora. I like how they approached that. They didn't make her fall in love with Peter, even after all the fighting that they did as a team. They were barely even good friends in the end. Also, it's nice that she has a different family to belong to now (the Ravagers) but who still loved her just the same. It's good that they didn't try to change her. They made her realistic.

Lol "You guys are just making up what he's saying" when Groot would talk

Nebula. Oh, man, where do I begin. I've started really liking her as a character since GotG 2, and even more so during Endgame, but wow. She's really grown. She looks after the people of Knowhere, the Guardians look to her for big decisions and even resolution for internal problems of the team. The team respects her, even more than Peter most times. She still has rage inside, and she has trouble expressing other feelings without it, but I think she's made tremendous progress. And it's so obvious that she cares deeply about the team and even the lives of others, even if she doesn't outright say it.

Okay. There's a lot to unearth with the not-so-subtle hints at Peter/Nebula. First off, it's obvious in this movie and even in the Christmas special that Nebula's been looking after Peter. But the fact that she would take him home whenever he was totally wasted and put him to bed, making sure he was comfortable? And when Gamora was going to hurt Peter out of frustration and Nebula jumped in to stop her, practically telling her to back off? And that when Gamora suggested that the woman Peter's describing, the one that he's fallen in love with because she's grown from being ruthless to being caring, is Nebula, and Peter started looking at her differently? Bruh. I don't know what they're playing at here, but alright. I'm onboard.

Speaking of Peter, I like that he decided to come back home to Earth to reach out to his grandfather. I'd like to think he got a little help from the Avengers to get to that doorstep (info, means of transpo, things like that). It was great to see him in a normal life setting in the post-credit, too, where he's just eating cereal, talking smack about someone behind their back lol

Okay, that's it for now. Will come back when I remember the other things I liked (spoiler alert: there's a TON)

[mymanyfandomramblings]

For TOH:

Which is your fav character?

What do you think of Belos as a villain?

How does TOH compare to Amphibia and Gravity Falls in how it handles it themes and character arcs?

What are some things TOH could have done better?

Which is your fav character?

Gus! Closely followed by Willow and then Hunter. Honestly, there's very few characters I don't like in this show.

What do you think of Belos as a villain?

He was a great villain, A+ villain design--he was powerful enough to prove a threat, intimidating in design, he had a sense-making motive, but not one that absolves his actions in any way. His defeat could have been done better (couldn't Hunter have been there, instead of Raine--as lovable as Raine is, they had zero thematic reason to be one of the very few characters at the final defeat scene), but Belos is a great villain for the themes.

How does TOH compare to Amphibia and Gravity Falls in how it handles it themes and character arcs?

TOH is a good show, but it is nowhere near as good as the other two shows with handling its characters. It's written as though Dana Terrace was afraid of ambiguity or giving good characters flaws/bad characters strengths. This isn't to say that all the good characters have no flaws, but the show seems scared of actually acknowledging those flaws.

Luz does have an external arc of going from 'naive girl who wants to learn magic' to 'less starry-eyed girl who is very good at magic', but her internal arc doesn't make as much sense--the show seems like it's deconstructing escapist fantasy at the beginning and Luz needing to have an arc about seperating reality for fantasy, but that kind of gets lost along the way, in favour of a 'you're perfect just the way you are and people just need to understand you' arc, and giving her quirks, instead of flaws. Similarly, Odalia is made into a cartoonishly evil character, so that Amity is absolved of all blame for the way she treated Willow, which I think does all three characters--Amity, Willow and Odalia--a disservice. Compare this to Amphibia, which pulls absolutely no punches when it comes to the main characters being horribly flawed and accountable for their actions, or Gravity Falls where the characters flaws very much drive the action, in a way that they don't in TOH.

The other way I think that GF and Amphibia write their characters and themes better than TOH is by making key character moments tie in with their themes. The best example to talk about this through is by comparing Anne's fake death to Luz's. Anne's entire arc has been about one main thing--learning to do the right thing instead of what is easiest--and her main character flaw from the beginning is that she prioritises her own comfort over doing the right thing for herself and for others. Anne sacrifices herself for Amphibia--doing something incredibly hard, but for other people, which is the perfect culmination of everything she's been learning. Luz's fake death results in her becoming the Titan's Chosen One, which contradicts the arc shaping up in S1 where Luz had to learn that there are no Chosen Ones and that the Boiling Isles aren't a fantasy world. To be totally clear, this does make sense as part of her arc--harnessing the power of the Titan is the final piece in Luz truly becoming a witch, but her entire arc is external. Her internal character doesn't significantly change over the course of the show, because it can't because her flaws are all written off as 'quirks' and the show's big thesis is that weird people should be able to be weird. (This is coming across as really complainy, I'm sorry. I promise that I genuinely really enjoyed the show.)

What are some things TOH could have done better?

Write the Blights better. Escaping Expulsion was the best episode for the Blight family dynamic, with Odalia being awful, but not cartoonishly evil; Alador having a conscience but also being a pretty checked-out and neglectful parent, and Amity seeming actually influenced by her mother's influence

On that note--let Amity take at least some accountability for the way she treated Willow

Put finding Phillip Wittebane's diary, Amity's hair-dyeing, and the first Lumity kiss in any episode other than one of the only Gus-centric episodes in the whole show

Allow characters to be more morally grey and let redemption arcs take some time

Reduce King's-ego-trip subplots by AT LEAST 50%. I didn't actually enjoy him all that much until Echoes From The Past because I found his whole trying-to-take-over-the-world shtick a little annoying

I think that's all

Once more, I actually really, really enjoyed the show and had a great time watching it, I just have lots of feedback