#I'm aware he's still not popular I just think it's cool there's so many fans of him here

[billiuspendragon]

It's so funny because when I had just watched Saiki K I had the impression that Akechi was a really unpopular character. I never really saw him mentioned anywhere, and when I did see something about him it was people saying how annoying they found him. I thought I was in the tiny minority.

Then I logged into Tumblr.

[halliescomut]

My Beautiful Man and the Plight of Celebrity....

I've been watching My Beautiful Man, and while it's kind of not for me as far as the romance aspect, at least in the first 2 seasons. The movie I actually enjoyed quite a bit, likely because my issue with the series was the CONSTANT misunderstanding between Kiyoi and Hira. I've very much enjoyed the films commentary on celebrity and fan culture. Once we get into season two and the film, Kiyoi is now like a full-fledged celebrity, and we are also given insight into Anna, his colleague and coworker.

We see sort of the struggle between following artistic passions versus what will raise an actor's status with Kiyoi auditioning for stage roles, while his manager encourages him to pursue TV dramas. I think it's easy to forget sometimes that actors come into these careers for love of the art and not in the pursuit of fame or fortune. Which I think is a conversation that doesn't often happen. Even if you are well-versed or aware in audtioning politics and all of that, it's not always as simple as it seems to get the roles that you want, especially as a newer actor like Kiyoi, talent aside. And many management agencies focus more on public perception and popularity rather than an actors skill or talent.

The 'fandom' problem that we've seen so often in real life is shown here as well, with fans being on set, showing up on location and being disruptive. It's nothing as extreme as we may have seen in real life, but it very actively reminds me of fans showing up at airports and being invasive and disruptive in those spaces. We've sadly seen an unfortunate level of these situations happening and moving beyond being simply overwhelming and intrusive to 'fans' putting hands on people, which is not okay. And while there are occasions where fans are invited, some companies announce their departure and even set up an area for fans to say goodbye, we've seen things happen when actors are travelling for personal vacations, and just essentially are off the clock and should not be disturbed. (Also, I'm clearly not talking about those that just happen to run into these people, I'm talking about those that are purposely turning up places they know they will be.) It's a conversation that's been addressed by many in fandom, but I've not seen much in the way of real change, likely because those who are doing these things don't feel they're doing anything wrong (What? I can't be in a public place?) or simply don't care (I'm allowed to because I know them and love them).

And the unfortunate thing that is actively touched on in the show is the lack of agency that celebrities really have when it comes to fandoms. When there's fan backlash over dating rumors, it's generally not allowable for a celebrity to respond "It's not your business, fuck off." When fans cross boundaries it's difficult for celebrities to respond without risking alienating fans. In some cases you will have people who are at a level where they don't have as much concern for reprise, from either fans or management, like Jung Kook's response to people sending food to his residence. He has a level of influence that brings him more autonomy than newer idols or celebrities would have. On that same note, when 'fans' met Mile and Apo at the airport (while they were traveling for personal and not professional reasons) and put their hands on them, he could not respond as many people would ("What the fuck is wrong with you??"), but instead had to simply smile and play along. And there's a difference in some ways, since in one case you are face to face versus over a livestream, but it's still addressing boundary crossing.

But moving to the more extreme, what I would call sasaeng or stalker level of everything shown through the movie. We first encounter the fans of Kiyoi and Anna and they're presented as mostly cool if a little extreme. The Kiyoi-fans shunning of Hira is more in relation to him behaving so different from how they do, and it's honestly not unreasonable for Hira to gain the nickname 'suspicious man'. But in general it's an amiable atmosphere. The introduction of Anna's fan is where things really do become suspicious and more than a little creepy. I posted a little throw away here about how I specifically found it disturbing that he kept describing Anna as 'pure'. And the reason I found it so off-putting is because that type of language speaks to an unhealthy level of obsession and is an indicator that his 'affection' for her has requirements. But these are things that she has no awareness of. He has placed her on a pedestal in his own mind, and should she fall it sets up a situation where she could be in real danger. Because of the dating rumors that begin to go around her 'purity' comes into question and he instead turns his wrath to Kiyoi as the one who 'defiled' her in his mind. And hilarity aside of him tying him up with red ribbon tied in bows instead of knots, he presents a very real physical threat, and because of his obsession would not see himself as the villain at all because he is simply defending Anna.

Now, in the story we know that the villain will be vanquished and that our intrepid Hira will get his happily ever after with Kiyoi, because this is a love story and that's part of the agreement. But real life situations have existed for as long as specifically visual media have existed of fans going too far and causing harm to the 'objects of their affection'. The point that always comes to mind for me because of my age is Selena, who died at the hands of not just a fan, but someone she truly thought was a friend and that she trusted. It's these stories that lead me to be extremely nervous to see fans approaching celebrities when they shouldn't be. The video of the recent encounter involving Jackson Wang when he was out with his parents for dinner literally makes my blood run cold because that is a person that got close enough to cause real physical harm if that was their goal. It seemingly wasn't, but we can't ever know people's intentions. And it becomes incredibly unfortunate for any type of fan because as the few begin to violate these boundaries set by both society and these celebrities, they will have to institute more and more safeguards for their own privacy and wellbeing. It's pretty well known that Jackson is an incredibly friendly guy and often happy to chat with fans that he encounters in public when he has the time, but these types of intrusions when he's clearly on private time are probably going to put an end to that.

But I was particularly impressed with how these different aspects of celebrity were handled in the film. It's made clear that the fans are a consideration, but not always a priority (which is as it should be) and that can be possible to have a happy medium. While we don't truly get to see fan reaction for the reveal of Anna and Hiriya, we do have the privilege of both of them coming to the realization that they don't have to make their 'celebrity' the center of their world, and also that they don't have to sacrifice their careers in order to be with the one they love. Now it's of course very much different for them as a straight couple than it would potentially be for Kiyoi and Hira, but that's not quite as much a of a concern for them. To me it looks like all they might want is to be able to be known or out to the select few around them, not to the whole world. Hira doesn't want to announce to the world that he loves Kiyoi, he simply wants to stand next to him when he can. Personally I would predict that their future holds something more akin to Hira accompanying Kiyoi to private industry get-togethers and not to public appearances. People would know of their professional relationship, but not have interest in their private one. Also realistically, because of his age here, it would be quite a while before we would see fans or media speculate or comment on Kiyoi's single status, meaning that if they did ever choose to make their relationship known they would be very comfortable and stable in that relationship.

IDK, this was quite the ramble, I don't know how interesting anyone will find it, but if you read this far I appreciate it.

I wish I had enjoyed the show more, but sometimes it's just not your bag, but I will say that overall it's a very well made and well acted drama, and I very much appreciate the time and effort that went into it. Please enjoy this picture of Riku and Kusei being cutie patooties

[aqua-dan]

World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 Review

Now that the first issue of the series has been out for a while and I'm less concerned about spoilers, I felt like now would be the time to say a few things about the start of the series and get some of my opinions out there. There's a lot to say, so I suppose I'll split it up into pros, cons, and general commentary.

Pros

On the positive side, it's genuinely nice to see the Fab 5 + Karen together in a group again! No matter how much time goes on and no matter how many interpersonal issues the group has, they're still my favorite team.

It's nice to see all the different little references to the original series -- from one of their fights being against the Separated Man to the picture of the Flips up on the wall of their base, it does feel pretty nostalgic to someone who is a big fan of Teen Titans vol. 1!

The art is overarchingly pretty nice (although I wish I could hit the colorist over the head and scream at them that Garth's eyes are purple! NOT BLUE!)

Despite my nostalgia for the original series, I am finding myself being more ok with the changed lineup than I originally thought I'd be. Now, this obviously messes with some Titans history that I'm reluctant to give up, but it is nice to see Karen highlighted especially! I also think the inclusion of Golden Eagle was nice! He's probably one of the lesser known Teen Titans, so even seeing him show up was surprisingly pleasant.

Despite the fact that I do also have a slight complaint about it, I do think it's nice that they are leaning into popular slang and what is "cool and hip with the teens." To be honest, I think it could even be dialed up a notch! Bring out your inner Bob Haney!!

The ending to the first issue was also interesting! I like that they are setting up the major conflict but keeping it vague for right now. I'm genuinely excited to see how that progresses!

Cons

On the more negative side, there is also a lot to say. Some of it might be nitpicking, but I feel it's worth putting out there anyways. My biggest issue with the series thus far is that it feels too self aware. I know it's only the first issue, and I know that I just praised the references to the original series in the "pros" section, but in many ways I can't help but feel that the series is superimposing later versions of these characters onto their younger selves despite the story-beats that would cause them to act that way not having happened yet.

Just for example's sake, I think the way Batman is acting is a decent showcase for this. Not to say that he entirely wasn't strict before a certain time, but the extremely controlling and closed off way he's acting is far more in-line with post Death in the Family characterization, and not the time period in which Teen Titans vol. 1 would take place.

Not all of the characterization in that regards is bad -- after all, those traits need a base to develop from -- but in some cases it really feels too aware of how these characters would later become. Because of that, a lot of the dialogue and interactions feel sort of hollow and don't allow for much natural or nuanced progression.

Besides that, this series has really made me confused on the DC comics timeline. With the constant mentions of social media, livestreaming, and modern slang, it reads like it should be something set in present time aka 2023. But considering how this is a flashback, shouldn't this be set in the time of, like... Myspace? Shouldn't the slang be ever so slightly dated, and social media NOT be such a ubiquitous thing? Maybe I'm wrong and the current DC timeline is actually taking place in the future, but still, the over-modern nature of the writing feels a little bit jarring to me.

Speaking of jarring, there are a few details that felt super weird throughout the issue. Roy's comment about Ollie "taking him in from the streets" is jarring since I guess that means they're sticking with the N52 backstory for Roy, which.... ugh. The other things I find jarring are honestly just nitpicks. Without going into it too much, there were just a lot of small details that make my brain go, "hey! That's not how that happened! That's not correct!" Regardless, I need to remember that this isn't a part of the old continuity, so changes can be made whether I like it or not.

General Commentary

All in all I don't think it's a bad start to the series. As it continues, I really hope that things start to feel more authentic so that the series is actually able to develop both its own identity and develop these characters further than they have been before without feeling redactive. I sort of miss the small, homegrown feel of the original series, and how going from smaller missions to world ending events was genuinely a big change for many of the Teen Titans. I'm hoping that there are some more small moments going forward that keep it from getting too big too fast.

I think it's too early to judge the series more heavily, so for now I'm just eagerly awaiting the next issue so we can see how it's going to hold up in the long run.

[thechangeling]

1, 2, 20, 22 for the tsc ask game

(Although I’m already pretty sure 20 is Ty for you)

1. Fave tsc series: Definitely tda. I love kitty and kierarktina. I like Emma a lot in LM (less so in the others,) I like Julian in places. I think the plot of the first two books is cool. I've found a new appreciation for Livvy. I like Dru. I really love the Blackthirn family dynamic. Honestly I could go on.

2. Least favorite series: tmi definitely. There's just so much yikes about those books and I really am not the biggest fan of Jace. Granted the plot was actually pretty solid, but tmi just annoys me.

20: Character you relate to the most: Honestly a year ago I would have said Ty without a doubt. But now idk. I definitely still relate to him, but I also find myself really relating to Matthew, even though I dislike a lot of the way CC chose to write his character. As an alcoholic and as someone who struggles so deeply with emotional and personal relationships, I see a lot of myself in him. I also know a lot of ppl who have bpd in the fandom have brought up him potentially having it, and to me that makes sense. I'm also someone who has a lot of those traits even though I've never been formally diagnosed.

I also heavily relate to Kieran, my fellow enneagram four.

22. Popular character you dislike: *gets up on my dyke soapbox* I don't like Jace Herondale. Yes I am aware he is traumatizedTM and probably has cptsd. As someone who is also vv traumatized and has terrible coping mechanisms, I get it. I can sympathize. But I still don't like him. I really don't love the way so many people obsess over a character who, if he was a woman, would be getting so much hate and vitriol. And this shit is gendered, I'm sorry. The way society responds to disability and mental illness is very gendered and you can't ignore that.

Anyways, I have compassion and sympathy for men like Jace. But my compassion can only go so far when I need to be worrying about myself and other people of marginalized genders first. Not to mention how men like Jace (white, straight, cis) rarely seem have compassion and sympathy for me.

Also not to mention a lot of my problems with Jace aren't even disability related. Sometimes he's just a dick. And yeah I get it, growth and evolution, character development blah blah blah. I don't care, I still find him annoying. Not to mention how I have IssuesTM with the way that's handled as well as the trauma of other characters but thats a whole other thing.

[bornonthebreakofdawn]

Now that it's been over two weeks since the Narutop99 poll results were announced, what do you think about the rankings?

Personally I'm okay with the fact that Minato won, he's such a cool guy haha. And Sakura being placed so high made me happy too. And of course, Hinata getting into the top 10 😇. That was nice.

But I can't help but think that many characters in the 11-20 rankings should have been in the top 10 over Shisui and Sakumo. I mean, really, they're ranked over Gaara? Seriously? I'm sure that many of the votes for them (and Minato) were driven by wanting to see a manga for them. If that incentive wasn't there, I don't think they would have placed so high.

(Also it is kind of strange how many fans collectively just decided to vote for those three specific characters...like was there some social media influencer telling people to do that? Why a manga for those three characters over...I don't know, the Sannin, or Anko, or whoever?)

While I'm glad that Minato won, I still don't consider the Narutop99 poll results to properly determine the popularity of the characters. And I agree that if the manga incentive wasn't there, we'd certainly be getting different results. The poll was more like, "Which character do you want to be featured in a new manga" rather than measuring the popularity.

And about the top 3... I'm not sure if you were aware of the issues related to the poll but I'd rather not discuss those further.

Anyway, I'm still looking forward to what we'll get for Minato's manga; hopefully we'll see something related to Kushina, Jiraiya, and/or his old team.

[beevean]

Top 5 most overlooked Castlevania characters

I don't know if I can answer this properly - I'm still a new fan and not quite into the Deepest Lore, nor am I super aware of who's popular and who's not 😂

Honorary mention to Juste Belmont: while he is one of the Greatest Five, I feel he's the most neglected of the bunch. Granted, it's because he only defeated the Dracula Wraith, and also because the fandom has no taste and doesn't appreciate HoD :P but yeah, Juste is super OP, he has a funny personality, and he also is tied to the theme of fate and the burden of his legacy.

5) Brauner: I think? Brauner is quite the tragic antagonist and I didn't see many people talk about him. He went insane after the loss of his daughters and got convinced that two random girls were their reincarnation? And vampirized them so that they wouldn't die again?? And also he has art powers??? He's cool and compelling! Probably my third favorite non-Dracula villain after Barlowe and Isaac.

4) Rosaly: ROSALY IS THE CUTEST THING AND SHE DESERVED THE WORLD. HECTALY OTP. THERE.

But seriously, I am so glad that she was fleshed out by the two prequel mangas. I hate how in CoD she simply gets namedropped and we never see her, much like Elizabetha before her (who is also overlooked but... there is... very little to say about her in canon). But Sasakura-san and Kojima-san, bless them, took this plot device and turned her into this adorable, optmistic young woman who is brave enough to pick a stranger from the streets and take care of him without asking for anything in return, accepting his very obvious oddities. I love her. Isaac you're my babygirl but also fuck you so much for what you did to her.

3) Julia: well at least Rosaly got to star in two well written mangas! Can't say the same for poor Julia, who is stuck in CoD. I said my piece about her already. She needs a hug and a shoulder to cry on. In my heart, Rosaly lived and she and Julia became BFFs <3

2) Christopher Belmont: the first Belmont who defeated Dracula alone, defeated him twice, and he even rescued his son while at it - with all my respect for Juste, he should also be remembered. I understand that his main game is a waste of a cartridge, but his feats are nothing to sneeze at... and then there's the implied tragedy of Soleil, which speaking of...

Soleil Belmont: man, what's with all these underappreciated Belmonts? :P well, in his case, he has the dubious honor of being the first "possessed rival" in the series - and not a good friend like Hugh, Maxim, Isaac and Albus, but the protagonist's son, his legacy. Imagine how much it would hurt if BR was remade with proper cutscenes. Interestingly, Soleil being possessed by Dracula didn't affect the Belmonts' relationship with the VK, unlike Richter's own possession... maybe because the possession wasn't based on his hidden weakness? It's worth trying to think about how this would fit into the actual lore.

[lemonhemlock]

So it seems that the executive producers/writers couldn't agree on certain things (evident in Alicent's characterization being all over the place). Perhaps Helaemond falls here. One side wanted to make them a thing and the other didn't. They included some hints but still ambiguous. Up in the air for s2. Just like Daeron's inclusion (it's obvious they initially hadn't decided if they were going to keep him or cut him). If I had to guess, Helaemond was probably an idea from Miguel's faction (apparently his wife came up with the Alicent and Rhaenyra same age/best friends storyline). So I don't think it's gonna be a thing in the end.

so this question made me go fishing for this old ask i didn't get a change to reply to about an helaegond love triangle (see below). in the meantime i already went more in-depth into the helaegon portayal on my blog and i do agree with the anon below on that & the fact that our aegon is not a clone of aegon iv

i do think it's possible that the aegon/helaena/aemond dynamic took its inspiration from the infamous aegoniv/naerys/aemon situation, not in the sense that it's meant to be a 1:1 recreation, but bc it would be a pretty rich playground for a lot of angst and pathos. it's not as likely we're going to get a whole show about aegon iv - it would be a "problematic" adaptation, so to speak, because a lot of his story is rooted in pretty lewd misogyny and i'm not really sure if modern audiences would necessarily enjoy a revolving door of mistresses while aegon iv terrorizes naerys in the background. the market is quite saturated with henry viii content as is (the same story at its core) - as we know, The Tudors was already a very popular show that went on for many seasons and there's also the more recent The Spanish Princess.

so i can see them thinking that they might as well extract the love triangle aspect of it and use it for HotD

disclaimer: i have no way of fact-checking which faction decided to include helaemond, but to relate this back to the ask above, i don't think ryan should be sidelined as a contender for introducing helaemond either. i say this bc he says he's been a fan for 20 years, so, as opposed to miguel, he would be more aware of the aegon iv / naerys / aemon dynamic than miguel would have been. unless this decision was just a huge coincidence & no one bothered to open TWOIAF at all. though i remember ryan saying he made everyone read FB + the 5 ASOIAF books, i don't know if he included TWOIAF on the reading list

Anonymous asked: Obviously a ton of speculation for there being a love triangle between the green siblings stems from a claim that the writers wanted to apply the Aegon4/Naerys/Aemon triangle. And there's definitely the fear that because of that they'll just end up making Egg2 just as bad as Aegon4 and continue to heap abuse onto Helaena when she's already the victim of so much violence. buuuuut the more hopeful interpretation would be that the writers are only planning to apply the love triangle in its bare bones. Since in the books it's never implied that a love triangle was present, the fact that a set up of "older brother and sister married unhappily plus younger brother being close to sister" exists at all for Egg2/Helaena/Aemond is already clearly taking a page from that pairing without needing to stick to the details. Basically the green siblings don't need to be a 1:1 parallels to the other love triangle for the similarities to still exist, nor do they need to end up exactly like them. In fact, their show characterization is significantly different than that of Aegon4/Naerys/Aemon, so if the writers want to smart and original I think they should resolve the helaegond drama through dysfunctional polyamory. I don't think that's been done yet in Targaryen history (except for maybe the conquerors themselves, but then that would give the green siblings even more parallels to them which is cool and sexy!) Also Helaena doesn't seem terrified by Aegon at all, just pretty indifferent. And considering how Alicent reacted to the Dyanna situation, if Aegon was as bad to Helaena as Aegon4 was to Naerys I don't think she would just slap him, she would've beaten him within an inch of his life. So like, besides the sex aspect (which neither of them seems to be into so it's like... Mutual non-con?) there's nothing in their relationship that implies severe abuse or even an escalation to that, because they both seem very disinterested in each other.

love the suggestion of dysfunctional polyamory though!!!

[yellowbluemoonshine]

What do you think about Bakugou's redemtion arc, if I'm honest I dislike it not because I don't want Bakugou changes but because Horikoshi didn't do a good job. I don't say Horikoshi is a bad writer but when it comes to Bakugou, he just another fan and leaves this ruins the plot. During all the manga we see that actions have consequences if a character makes a mistake later that mistake comes to bit his or her ass. For example, we have Shoto and Inasa, Shoto gave him a bad impression and later that costs him his license, Izuku called Shoto a kind person but Natsuo heard that, the plot is always punished the characters for their mistakes but with Bakugou this never happend, Bakugou is everything that a heroe shouldn't be but people still praise him, he is violent and mistreat his classmates but he is still popular. So, I can't see how his arc is well written when his actions are ignore or dismiss. Besides, at this point I wonder what is Bakugou's role in the manga, what is his rol? Like a character he doesn't have nothing for himself, he doesn't have a villian and his motives for being a heroe are generic.

I know Horikoshi says that Bakugou's going to have a big moment but at this point I don't care for his character because he doesn't add nothing to the plot.

Hi, anon. I made analysis about Bakugou's redemption before (in here, here and here or other posts.) and since then, my thoughts about him still didnt change.

Its obvious that Bakugou gain more self awareness and act more sensitive compared to beginning but thats it.

I dislike the way author handled his character arc. 'Bakugou do mean things but he is not actually bad guy, yknow. He is amazing!'. This is not well written redemption arc, this is not good character development. This is not 'his wrong actions are adressed' sitution. This is what we call 'justifying someone's wrong actions'. And thats what happens during the whole story.

And someone actually facing their wrong actions doesnt mean 'sometimes being calm and self aware', thats what every abuser/bully do. They dont always jerk to you. They will have good days, calm days, they will be in good mood and be even nice to you and you are supposed to feel gratefull about it? Sounds like Bakudeku relationship.

Someone actually facing their wrong actions means never repeat the same awfull behavour. Actually spendin a lot of time to think about it, about how he treat other people, all those moments. Of course, change is hard and there will be times where you can easiely repeat same mistakes, ok but where is the guilty? Because i dont think he has much.

And one of the most important with redemption arcs. Actually facing consequences of your actions. This is not someone necessarely dying or getting hurted. This is just 'ah i did this, thats why this happenned' moment and again, this never happens with Bakugou. Him getting hurt in war or being kidnapped has nothing to do with bullying. Those things are still consequences of his actions but it has nothing to do with bullying.

What could've happenned? It would be so cool to see Bakugou was defeated by villain who used to be one os the people whom bakugou hurted and eventually, Bakugou realized that he should save that person cause he is also responsible for him becoming villain. But again, it doesnt happen.

Almost all Bakugou-Deku's 'lets face moments' are all about Bakugou, his feelings, his thoughts. Deku just listens, endure and try to help him. Even when Deku talks, Bakugou doesnt properly listen to him at all. And Deku's constantly reacing out to him, victimizing Bakugou, justify his actions, trying to 'fix' him, it sounds like a typical toxic relationship. Not some kind of redemption arc.

I mentioned before in my many analysis (for example; in here, here and here.) that i am completely okay with empathy, change or/and forgiveness. As long as person actually make effort for it, actually desire to change, they definitely deserve it. Its okay their victims forgive them and of course they can move on life. I definitely dont desire to anyone suffer forever, people deserve to move on but i am also tired of waiting Bakugou's getting that point.

Bakugou's whole character arc isnt really about changing and being better, its mostly about justifying his abusive/wrong actions since day one. And i am sick of pretending its not. This is what narrative/author do and i really dont know how many people think its not. Look if things ever change, i am ready to change my opinion but i heard that story will end soon so again, i dont have much hope about it. All author did seems like he is trying to make us like/accept Bakugou and forcing his redemption arc on us while there is not a sign of good redemption arc at all. And this is so tiring and i am sick of it.

Thats what i think about it.

[pedropascalunofficial]

Pedro Pascal and Lena Headey

Head to head interview

Hunger Magazine, Issue 6. Released December 28, 2014. Photoshoot October 15, 2013.

Thirteen million. That's the number of people, on average, who tuned into each episode of the third season of Game of Thrones. Among them was Chilean actor Pedro Pascal, who was as enthralled by the sex and slaughter as the rest of us. But little did he know that within a few months he'd be pitching up on the shores of Belfast to join the cast as Oberyn Martell, affectionately known as the Red Viper. Sound ominous? It is. The Red Viper is GoTs newest anti-hero, “sexy and charming but driven by hate”. Sounds like he'll be right at home.

Pedro, on the other hand, though he looks good on paper, wasn't the obvious choice for the role. Expecting a big name to ride into King’s Landing, the show's fans took to forums to express their concerns as soon as the news broke. So is he worried? Like hell he is. “The fans had the part cast in their minds already. They knew who they wanted and it certainly was not me. But I'm not stupid, | presumed that people were going to say ‘who the fuck is this guy’. Since I anticipated the reaction it didn't throw me off.”

“There are so many different ways to go into battle with yourself when you're trying to get a job. I felt a certain amount of pressure because I wanted to make everyone happy. The fan base is so specific and, as a fan myself, I understand the relationship that they have with the show. The Red Viper is the best part I've ever played, and in season four shocks come at the most unexpected times. You might think you know, but you have no idea,” he explains.

Looks like the Red Viper could be in line to fill a Walter-White-sized-hole in television, but to test the theory we pit Pascal against Lena Headey, aka the Queen. Because if you can come away from Cersei unscathed, you can handle anything.

LH: So, Pedro, you come into Game of Thrones in season four, playing a pretty major character. Does that fill you with joy or dread?

PP: I'd say it fills me with joy because it’s a really fucking fun part. He’s a badass. He comes up against a lot of the main characters in the show. I'm very aware of the show. I watch it like a fan.

LH: Were you a fan before you arrived in Belfast?

PP: Yeah, I was a proper fan. I was caught up in the drama of it before I even auditioned for the part. I was already up to speed.

LH: I remember meeting you and thinking, “he fucking loves the show’.

PP: I kissed your ass.

LH: Well, it worked. We're friends now.

PP: I was like a tourist visiting the set, and yet I had to act with you and be in a scene with the characters that I had such a specific association with already.

LH: So you’re saying it’s boring?

PP: No, it wasn’t boring at all. It was extremely, relentlessly surreal.

LH: And who were your favourite characters up until that point?

PP: Not you.

LH: I realise that!

PP: There are too many characters to have a favourite, but I was fascinated by the Lannisters because they're so frightening. They scared me and then you would come in and pull sympathy from your audience somehow, and I found that rather fascinating. The Northerners were so easy to like or get behind, but it was quite something to see people sympathise with a Lannister, after you made people see things from their perspective.

LH: Speaking of being slightly ambiguous as a character, you come in as a major player and a very well-loved character in the eyes of people who read the books, and he’s somewhat of an anti-hero. Did you base him on anyone?

PP: What does an anti-hero mean exactly?

LH: It means he doesn't wear deodorant, doesn't it? [Laughs]. Someone you shouldn't champion, but you do, like Walter White in Breaking Bad.

PP: No, | didn’t really base him on anyone.

LH: Did you take anything from classic movies that you thought you could use and spin to your advantage playing the Red Viper?

PP: God, that’s a good question. I probably did subconsciously. Now I feel under the spotlight because I need to think of somebody, and I have so many in my mind! I think that’s something that is happening a lot in TV today: the anti-heroes are central to these television shows, and people are really getting behind them, even though they're not necessarily the most moral characters. So I'd say that ‘ve become more familiar with the character who's obviously very flawed but gets you on their side — you have complicated feelings about them. But I think I saw the story too much from this character's perspective to perceive any flaws.

LH: He has some.

PP: I know, from the outside. But I don't see any of them. What are his flaws?

LH: His flaws? He's a dirty bastard!

PP: Why is he a dirty bastard? He likes to fucking fight, for sure.

LH: Back to you as an actor. You've done it for a long time and, as we all know, the path is not always golden, and sometimes you think, “fuck it” and you want to leave it and do something else. Have there been moments where you wanted to give up?

PP: Yes, there have been moments where I came very close to giving up. But I never had anything to fall back on. I think you can understand that.

LH: Because were stupid?

PP: We're stupid.

LH: I can't even make pizza!

PP: We don’t have any other skills.

LH: None at all!

PP: And that’s the odd conundrum. You get to a point where you think, “This isn’t going to happen. This isn’t sustainable. I'm too exhausted, and it can't be good for me.” There were moments where I truly did try to formulate an idea of what I'd do. I thought I'd go back to school, start pre-med again and go to medical school or something like that.

LH: But that didn't happen, you just thought about it?

PP: Yes, I'd have thoughts, but it was still fantasy really. But at the time it felt like a practical life plan. Do you know what I mean?

LH: Yeah of course, you need to pay the fucking rent.

PP: Exactly. You just try to escape from the chaos of what you're feeling by trying to create order in your life. Order seems like a solution to save you from the pain of acting!

LH: It's a mental pain. Who was the first person you called when you got the role?

PP: My sister.

LH: Does she watch the show?

PP: Yes, she does.

LH: Pedro Pascal... or Pablo as I called you when I had too much wine, which was deeply insulting.

PP: Even family members have done that to me! Do I look more like a Pablo? Because it happens with about ninety-five percent of the people I meet.

LH: No, I think I’m just an ignorant drunk person.

PP: No, you were an ignorant drunk person that night is what you're saying.

LH: And now I’m educated.

PP: [Whispers] But | want you to call me Pablo.

LH: Ok, Pablo! When you first arrived on set in Northern Ireland, what was your feeling showing up to a bunch of British actors? Did it feel different to doing an American project?

PP: Yes, but I loved it. It wasn’t intimidating. I found it surreal because I’d watched and loved the show. I hadn't had the opportunity to work on something that I was really familiar with before, so it was overwhelming. But it was far more delightful than intimidating. Also you guys were really cool. Everyone was friendly.

LH: Oh, that’s just fake.

PP: Well, you guys were good at it!

LH: We know Game of Thrones is very popular obviously. Do you have any thoughts, or fears, about what this is going to bring you in terms of exposure?

PP: I have hope.

LH: Oh, God. I don’t mean to shatter that, but give it up.

PP: I don’t know really. It’s all been filmed, and now I'm back to my normal routine, so I haven't really thought about it. I remember when we finished filming and we were on our way to the airport, you asked me, “How does it feel you're all done?” and I couldn't really answer.

LH: You were quite emotional that day.

PP: I was very emotional because I’d had such an amazing time doing the part. Also just being there immersed in the experience... You described it to me best. You told me how I'd be feeling.

LH: We don't know your character's backstory when you enter the show, and you have some rather brutal scenes. Anyone who has read the books will know what I’m talking about.

PP: My character comes in, he stirs a bunch of shit up, and then he makes this fucking enormous exit. Now can | ask you a question?

LH: What is it? I’m not going to sleep with you. Give it up.

PP: Oh, come on! This has gone to shit and it’s your fault, so good luck to whoever has to edit it! But anyway, sometimes I'd hang out with the cast members and we'd go to dinner and they would get stopped constantly. There was no denying who they played because they were so recognisable, but you got away with it because you have this beautiful blonde wig on in the show, and in real life you are...

LH: Grey?

PP: {Laughs] No! You have beautiful chestnut hair! Is it liberating to not be recognised the way some of the other cast members are?

LH: Yes, it is liberating.

PP: Liberating being able to walk down an alley in Dubrovnik without being stopped?

LH: Yes, except sometimes | get recognised in the weirdest places. A woman was emptying my bag at Heathrow Airport's security gates and just went, “Are you the Queen?” while rummaging through my underwear. It was so fucking weird.

PP: It seems they're more respectful to you?

LH: Because they're frightened. Wait until they meet the Viper.

PP: Well, that covers it.

LH: I think we're going to get our own show out of this, you know

Interested in learning more about Pedro? Check out Pedro Pascal Unofficial on Pinterest!

[meggannn]

i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on garrus being shoe-horned into the best friend role if you want to talk about it!

I may not be able to talk about it as much as some people who are super Garrus-critical, but yes I can try!

this really becomes a problem in ME3 more than the other games. basically my understanding of Garrus’s writing in ME3 is that they were well aware that of the fact that he was a fan-favorite, and didn’t want to threaten that, so they made it his crux. they took most of the fandom’s feelings for Garrus and decided to reflect that in Shepard’s relationship with Garrus, but by doing this, they basically ended up pretending a relationship had been there throughout ME1-2 that existed in some player’s heads. of course, Mass Effect is an RPG (well, sort of) so in theory... your best friend could be whoever you want to be, so with that in mind, it’s a little strange for a dev team to go “your best friend is this one character and we will write all of his scenes around that assumption.” unless they really want to play up the fanservice, I guess.

when he’s introduced in ME1, people joke about how they would never not recruit him, but it is a possibility—you could run through the entire game having only met Garrus in the Citadel Tower and never spoken to him again—in which case by meeting him again in ME2, it is a little strange to see that guy you barely remember from the Citadel in the last game show up, but not entirely unwelcome, because at least you, like, recognize him. it’s a little odd how you banter like old friends by making fun of his scars, but what is straight-up bizarre is how in the next game, ME3, Garrus talks about how he was there with you fighting Reapers from the beginning. of course, not a lot of people would specifically go out of their way to avoid recruiting Garrus in ME1, and very few people probably naturally avoided him standing by the elevator in ME1 (which is the only way to not recruit him if you don’t find him in Dr. Michele’s clinic), so the odds of someone not recruiting him in ME1 are low unless they intended to, but it’s still possible.

come ME2, I think they chose to forget that. a few lines have changed in 2 if you don’t recruit him in 1, but not many. remember in ME1, Garrus was an optional squaddie, who had an optional side quest, and his relationship with Shepard there was very much superior/subordinate, or as some people interpret it, more mentor-like. the most personal they get is when they talk about their jobs, the difficulties they face making moral choices, a bit about their families, and Spectrehood. it’s a nice introduction to Garrus’s character but the lines are drawn pretty clear between their roles; by the end of ME1, given the canon dialogue, the closest I’m personally willing to believe of their relationship from helping him deal with Saleon is “subordinate I am fond of,” or post-Saren after Garrus leaves the Normandy, “ally I can call on later.”

and then Shepard dies and is gone for two years. by ME2, when you meet up with him again, I actually find this jump from “subordinate” to “ally/friend” works for my Shepard, but it might not for people who never really engaged with Garrus or even liked him on the SR-1, or those who weren’t thrilled with the idea of him... basically running off to kill as many people as he could on Omega after Shepard got themselves spaced. if you don’t romance him in ME2, he has so little content in ME2: his recruitment mission, post-recruitment convo, loyalty convo trigger, loyalty quest, and post-loyalty convo. if you romance him, you get several more scenes, but compared to other romanceable companions like Miranda or Jack—whose attitudes toward you change the more you talk to them—or even Samara, who you can just chat with while looking out at the stars, Garrus’s platonic relationship with Shepard seems to stall after the Sidonis quest: you gain his loyalty for the suicide mission and then you’re assumed to be all cool. realistically, they could’ve given us a lot of reasons why Garrus might not want to talk—he’s probably still reeling from getting his face blown off and confronting his betrayer again, or if you don’t let him kill Sidonis, maybe he could’ve gotten pissed at Shepard and confronted them—but that’s me trying to justify a lack of content. truthfully there’s very little non-romanceable Garrus content in ME2 to build up that “best friends” angle they want to sell in ME3.

in ME3, you DO get more content that shows how naturally “at ease” he feels working with Shepard: his recruitment mission, longer conversation trees when he joins, more banter from squaddies—including Garrus—on missions, him inviting you to go bottle-shooting, a scene with him after every main mission where he asks you how you’re doing, if you miss Ash/Kaidan, mutual struggles over the burden of leadership, worrying over his family, etc. by this point though, if you didn’t romance him, he’s treating you like his best friend even though he basically ignored you all of ME2. again, you could rationalize that time as his social awkwardness on a Cerberus ship, or him dealing with trauma, but in my friend’s words, it’s really more of bioware telling-but-not-showing that they really wanted you to like this guy but waiting until the last game to give him consistent scenes with the player that reflected that closeness.

on paper, Garrus makes a lot of sense to be close to Shepard, because assuming you recruit him in ME1, he’s been fighting Reapers with Shepard in every game, but also... so has Joker or Chakwas or Tali, for the same reason; so does Ash or Kaidan, for being the only Alliance teammate who was there at the beginning and end (assuming they didn’t both die); so does Liara, for being there every game and only abstaining in ME2 because she was still dealing with the fallout of saving your life (there’s lots of criticism of her being “forced” on the player too and while I agree with some of it, that’s a topic for another time lol). Bioware does introduce Garrus early in each game—I don’t know if this was intentional, because they knew he was so popular so they wanted to give him to the player early—but then he has so little to say in ME2, the game about building relationships, that introducing him early just means he stands around for half game talking about calibrations. a lot of fandom, especially shakarian fans, end up filling the gaps of ME2 with their own headcanons, myself included, to make the relationship development feel a little smoother, but the trouble there is when we start treating it like it was always canon for everybody.

I know it seems weird to complain that such a popular character should’ve had even more content—there are lots of other characters just as or more deserving who got really screwed over (coughs Ashley)—but in my ideal world, they all would’ve had more content lmfao.

[dani-halfa]

Danny phantom season 3 rant

So i have been thinking about writing and explaining why season 3 felt so weirdly paced and why i think it's writing is mixed bag.

I'm aware this has been covered hundred of times. Despite this i would like to share some of my thoughts.

Firstly, i thought about what people like when they talk about this series. The conclusion i came up with it's:

Characters and character development

The worldbuilding

Episodes about mature and dark themes (Think about The ultimate enemy)

Good and funny antagonists

Ghosts and ghost dimension

Then i thought what made season 3 fail and the reason why it didn't work.

So for starters:

Characters

One of the main highlights of Danny phantom is strong characterization and character arcs. They may be not perfect.. Nevertheless,the characters are well defined and each one feels unique.

What went wrong in season 3?

The answer to this, I believe, it's the lack of internal conflict. In all of the 13 episodes which this season has maybe only 2 of them the characters really change.

I'm talking about D-stabilized (Valerie and Dani) and Forever phantom (About popularity and how gaining too much attention can be dangerous)

The rest of them is main conflict it's beating the bad guy of the week. Not too much else.

This is when i talk about Danny and Sam.

I have nothing against this pairing. They have decent chemistry together. My issue is that in season 3 is the only relationship that seems to develop and many episodes which focus on Danny are about this.

It would be fine if it was a subplot or there were other things happening in the same episode.. but when it's your only arc.. it felts empty.

Antagonists

Other thing that i like about danny phatom is the villans. Every villain has their own personality, design, motives, likes and dislikes. No one it's like the other.

Some of them have backstories and actual explanations of why the choose to attack Danny. Like Ember, Vlad, Valerie...

Then season 3 came and the main antagonists became forgettable.

Their designs are really cool. The problem was that they lack motivation beyond destroying the world. The were more like big monsters which existed for Danny to show his powers for rule of cool.

I don't remember too much about them except for design and powers.

The only new antagonist i liked was Amorfo. He was someone who didn't have his own identity so he copied others to gain attention.

Mature themes

Now what lessons did season 3 have?

Because if you leave D-stabilized and Forever phantom.. you have nothing worth of analyzing here. Maybe.. Eye for an Eye, about how we can get carried out with pranks.

Still the lessons and themes weren't as interesting as season 1 and season 2.

Think about Danny learning to overcome his insecurities. Think about Valerie falling for Danny. Tucker and his phobia of hospitals.. Season 3 didn't have these things.

Worldbuilding and ghosts

The worldbuilding in this season it's actually not that bad. There are few new cool interesting concepts that were introduced. First, the ghost core and second, the infinity map.

In "Boxed up fury" we get to know about the pandora box. It's a shame it only was for one episode.. i found it's lore very mysterious. They could have written an arc with this.

I wasn't very fond of Danny being "the chosen one". He is great because he fights without having a destiny. He knows he can use his powers to stop evil ghosts from hurting innocent lives.

I forgot to mention the detail that some ghosts consider Danny as a hero for freeing them from the Ghost King. That's nice continuity.

Vlad's characterization

One of the main reasons i really like Vlad is for his motivations. He isn't your generic villain that wants to conquer the world or power.. he has already all those things and more.

His wants Maddie and Danny to be his family. He wants to get revenge on Jack. Even if revenge it's a little cliche.. i prefer this over "generic bad guy".

For him, it's very personal. He thinks Jack ruined his life with the ghost portal accident. He was his friend and Jack "betrayed" him in his mind.

And in season 3... he's nothing of these things.

Like, his motivations are changed. Suddenly he's a different character who only cares about power and money.He becomes a dull typical saturday cartoon villan

Some fans believe he snapped after "Kindred Spirits". I think it's a good explanation for this change. The problem is that is never justified in the series.

First he makes pranks on Danny, then he wants the infinity map, after that gaining popularity and then he wants to create more Danny clones...

Not saying it's bad he has more than one goal.. but make up your mind,please!

Conclusion

So there you have it, i explained my points of why this season is a bit weak in comparision to Season 1 and 2. I didn't hate Season 3. It's decent at least. It just is not as well written as the previous seasons.

[doppelnatur]

the ragnarok anon: oh yikes, I didn't notice it in the umbrella academy, one would think that people would talk about it more since it's that popular, but I haven't seen anything 😬 also I think that I'm just. more blind to this stuff because I never really thought about stereotypes, so thank you for pointing it out!

I still don't think that in ragnarok it was done with a malicious intent or anything and that it's supposed to be antisemitic, probably just a very unfortunate coincidence, most likely someone else who just doesn't know. which is not great, but I don't think they deserve to be cancelled. and I do agree that it's the whole system that is rotten and needs to be brought down but I also think that on television it's probably easier to portray with a concrete bunch of people.

and I absolutely agree with the fact that it'd be much more interesting if loki was the main character/the gods explicitly bad. but with the way it is rn, I do think it makes sense that thor is the main character and I think they Are going to make him go against the gods, or odin at the very least, I don't think they're going to make ragnarok play out the way it's written. I have a lot of thoughts about this djdjdj

thank you for talking to me, I think I understand things more now :)

Yeah you would think right??? Idk there's a few tumblr posts about it and an article. But it's not much. I'm super invested in finding critiques of shit i currently consume or writing them if i can't find any, so i have read those, and people are appearently saying that UA is worse in the second season???? Which makes me go insane, I've not seen it but s1 does not need to be topped on this? Like they could have amended it but i guess they didn't.

I don't think anything needs to be done with bad intentions to be bad ever. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Idk people are hardly ever aware that what they're doing is discriminatory to a specific group, which is why it's important to point out, to be aware of potential issues going in and to hire sensitivity editors. This is my super broad thing about like basically whenever fans or content creators get defensive about a piece of media or a tweet or whatever being discriminatory. No one is saying the intentions are bad or the ppl doing the thing are doing so in a way that's malicious, just please hire sensitivity editors lol. Cancel culture is not real and me criticizing a show mildly to my audience of like 5ppl who have not seen it is not gonna get it cancelled lol. Personally i think it's really revealing about what people think cancel culture is when it's always brought up when anything or anyone ever is even mildly critical of smth for sjw™ reasons aaaa. Idk this is not meant to be criticizing u u just got me going about this topic I'm invested in i guess.

I think I'm just annoyed about another thing centering Thor? Like not to be rude but he's not that central. Like he's kinda cool but Loki and Odin are both much more interesting and their conflict is super neat. I need the odin/loki blood brothers romance content 😩😩😩 Idk might as well focus on Freya which would be cool too? And she's a Vane which is the nature gods ppl so it would thematically make sense? And Frigga as a central character also makes a lot of sense as like a fertility godess... Idk so many choices, why's it the marvel approach again :( Thor makes sense as a super hero with the powers but less as a protagonist in a show trying clearly to be critical of power. Also it feels like he doesn't even care about the environmental issues he's just using those to harm the jutuls which is shit. Idk. Maybe I'm just not a fan of magne as a character.

[casually-inlove]

Hello. In one of your responses, you wrote: "I also have things that I don't necessarily agree with." Can you tell us about it? I am very interested in your representation of this manhua. What do you think is written well in the story, and what is not? What would you add or remove? What is missing and what is too much in history? I would very much like to know your TianShan headcanon. I have too many "wants". I'm sorry if I was rude.

Dear anon, this was not rude at all. Indeed, you have many questions, so much as I try to be concise in my posts, this one is going to be very lengthy. Let me start with a little disclaimer. Everything below is entirely subjective. It is in no way meant to undermine anyone's enjoyment of the series, nor is it supposed to be an attack against the author. I value the comic's episodic nature and light-heartedness myself, otherwise, I would not have stuck around. It is also true that for the past half a year my interest in it waxes and wanes. Besides, I am well aware that certain groups of fans grow dissatisfied with the manhua direction. That said, I must state once again, OX has every right to write the story as they please, while the fans, no matter how displeased they may be, do not have the room to make demands of the author. So then, without further ado, some of my quibblings follow below. Beware of the wall-of-text.

1) The plot and characters get stagnant at times — these two go hand in hand. I suppose it is a prevalent gripe with 19 Days, and I am sure everyone has experienced it at least once. Some of it stems from the very way the story is told: the manhua timeline moves slowly in comparison with the readers' timeline. It works for depicting slow-burn relationships and subtle changes in the characters' outlooks. The problem is, more often than not, the latest chapters are inconsequential to either plot or character growth. They do not have the substance or the conflict to them. When OX had introduced the characters, while undoubtedly charming and loveable, they were practically walking tropes. Jian Yi, the bubbly airhead. ZZX, the stoic childhood friend. HT, Mr Popular. As time passed, OX did the clever (and the right) thing — they have subverted these stereotypes, by showing us that the characters are not who they appear to be. Thus, we learned that Jian Yi is a lonesome, affection deprived kid who on occasion dreads going back home because it's empty; his bright grin is there to hide his sadness.  We also learned that HT had a dysfunctional family and had been exposed to violence since a tender age; we also learned that he used to lead an empty life devoid of close interpersonal connections and passions, etc. I am not going to write about Mo because it is obvious and self-explanatory.

That sudden change in the perspective is what made those characters fascinating. A few of these developments co-occur with the addition of the “darker” mafia/gangster subplot. Indeed, the introduction of the criminal legacy theme (which is true for Jian Yi, He Tian, and Mo to an extent) allowed to show the wounds and troubles these characters had to face. It also dangled the prospect of an intriguing plot direction — a mafia-related story that is disguised as a school-themed slice-of-life. It was the underlying gangster plot-line that hooked me up; I kept asking myself: Are they connected (the Jian family, the He family)? Were they responsible for what happened with the Mo family restaurant? Will their backgrounds converge at some point? How does Jia Yi's kidnapping fit into all this? That sort of stuff. Alas, right now that subplot seems to be put on a backburner, which is a shame because this is the plot-line that leads to future events, such as Jian Yi's disappearance. The kidnapping is still going to happen and the threat looming over Jian Yi is still real, yet OX does very little to explain anything about it. Naturally, revealing everything at once is out of the question, but if it were me, I would have opted for unveiling bits and pieces now and then. To start with, it would have propelled the plot forward. Apart from that, it would have given the readers some food for thought and kept the intrigue fresh — they would have been cracking their heads to piece the puzzle. Finally, the characters' darker backgrounds provide the opportunity to give them development. For instance, how would Mo's view of He Tian change, if he learned that the latter had to face his warped father to save Mo (ch. 245 and further on)? Or how would Mo react, if he learned that He Tian lost his mother (presumably) due to his family shady dealings? Would it make him understand the other boy, relate to him on some level? Etc. 

The comedy and fun, light moments are precious, but I miss those moments when the manhua challenged my impression of the characters. Right now, the plot stagnates in the sense that we know that someone is threatening Jian Yi, but we aren't being given any clues or updates on the matter, as if the whole thing wasn't important. So, in response to your question “what would I have removed”, I would say that I would probably drop quite a few school-centric chapters in favour of “criminal” subplot. Just a bit: maybe show Mr Jian's messages, or Jian Yi's mother discussing the situation with him, or He Cheng receiving some reports on the situation.  

The character recent portrayal also disappoints me on occasion. They started as stereotypical manga characters, then they were given some depth, and now they are close to becoming yet another set of stereotypes. Yeah, I get that Mo is a tsundere and enamoured He Tian is an idiot in love — OX has been depicting them as such for the past year. It would be cool to take a look at other facets of their personalities now and then too. While it’s understandable that only a few weeks have passed since the beginning of the story, OX should remember that years have passed for the readers; keeping the audience engaged should be among their priorities.

I suppose I do have a bias here because as an adult I have little interest in all things school-related, and in general, I am not too fond of slice-of-life (I typically avoid reading it).19 Days attracted me because it had some universal themes, like dealing with past and legacy, finding your path, healing from the old scars, learning to handle difficult relationships within a family, and of course its low-key “mafia” subplot. It could be that OX truly doesn't have a meticulously chapter-to-chapter thought-out plot, hence why the manhua meanders at times, or it could have something to do with Mosspaca's internal agenda. Perhaps, it is the latter and the company somehow insists its artists stick with simplistic plots for the sake of keeping their target audience. Even so, there's a catch here, which was brought to the attention by @agapaic: the original reader audience has aged up already so to keep them hooked it would be wise of OX to “mature up” the comic as well. Not in the sense of 18+ content, but in the sense of introducing more mature subjects alongside the comedy and slice of life. Perhaps, they are not looking to keep the fans but to attract the new, younger ones. Who knows.

2) Drama and comedy imbalance. It is a pet peeve of mine which I consider to be one of the prominent manhua flaws: there is lots of slapstick comedy which ends up being out of place on occasion. I do realize the comic is humorous, however, there is no denying that OX introduced themes and topics that are no laughing matters. Jian Yi's and He Tian's loneliness, bullying and ostracizing, extortion racket, absentee parents, youth gangs and violence — just to name a few. There is a lot more, but you get the picture.

It is also obvious that three out of four main characters carry the remnants of childhood trauma with them, which directly affects their present selves. All the same, these topics practically fizzle out as soon as they get introduced, or get swept under the rug with comedy. Considering the humorous nature of the comic, it is given that dispersing some grimmer topics with playfulness will be used now and then. To my mind, however, OX relies on that abrupt drama-to-comedy switch too heavily, which makes the transition steep and often out of place. At times, it creates an impression that the author does not take these issues seriously. There have been numerous episodes when emotional moments were subverted and then dropped, without gaining climax and closure. For instance, the moment that sticks out to me the most is when He Tian attempted to tell Mo why he liked him. The visuals made it clear that it wasn't easy for He Tian to say out loud, yet OX never gave the intense moment the needed closure.

Mo brushed He Tian off and the latter just rolled with it, as if it never took him any courage to say those words, and then everything was swiftly engulfed by slapstick humour (the ball-slapping scene). A panel showing a glimpse of He Tian's face sinking to indicate he was somewhat let down by Mo's nonchalant response would have been appropriate — in fact, it would be natural for someone to get hurt when their confession is taken lightly. Likewise, I half-expected OX to show a bit more of He Tian's reaction towards Mo's story about his meeting with She Li. We got to see his expression darkening when he learned that She Li gave Mo the ear piercings, yet this time — mind you, when Mo suggested that She Li might have murdered someone — we never see He Tian react much. For the record, it was He Tian who asked She Li a rhetorical question about being able to take responsibility for taking a life.

Furthermore, I believe that someone romantically invested in another human being would have naturally shown more inquisitiveness upon hearing a story like that. Sure enough, some would say that Mo would not have liked talking about a traumatizing event, and that is fine as well — just show it. A single panel of He Tian being concerned and trying to inquire further and Mo refusing to talk would have been a very neat detail that could have potentially smoothed the transition into humour, while keeping our heroes in character.

3) Sometimes there is too much focus on the couples. The manhua has introduced several reoccurring supporting characters which are directly linked to our main quartet. For example, Mo had bonds before meeting our boys: his henchmen, the Buzzcut. Likewise, He Cheng was the one to raise He Tian; he shaped the boy's outlook on life.  These characters all played important roles in making our boys the people they are today, and yet we know so little of their bonds. Maybe the Buzzcut is unimportant in the larger scheme of things, He Cheng, however, is not only linked to He Tian, but he also plays a part in the underlying mafia/gangster subplot. It would have made sense if he was the one to shed some light on the situation with Jian Yi and He Tian's traumatic past. I would have loved to see our boys interact with other people as well — it would have served to show the variety of relationships out there: friendships, familial bonds, mutual respect between the leader and underlings, etc.

Anyway, I am going to stop now. I could name a few more, but this text is already more than 2000 words long. I have made some posts with my nitpicking before, so if you wish you can read them here.  

link & link 

Once again, this is all entirely subjective and it is not meant to be perceived as me saying that the manhua is poorly written and no one should enjoy it. Writing and creating compelling plots is a tough job, especially when it comes to long pieces. It also goes without saying that the author should keep their target audience and marketing goals in mind. 19 Days appeals to a great number of people of all ages and that means that OX succeeded in creating something compelling. Their writing is indeed flawed at times, but there is no way around it. It is impossible to excel both at being a great artist and a good writer. While there may be things that each of us would want to change (when comes to characters or the plot), it is still important to remember that it is not our creation. We can only decide whether to keep reading and enjoy what we get or move along. There is no point in attacking the author or generating constant pessimism.

[angels-heap]

Even though I'm not personally too fond of it, I'd argue that some degree of hero worship was inevitable for Alyx considering how much Gordon's mythical status was allowed to grow in his absence. But even a good deal of that "hero worship" seems to service the player and motivate them via praise. (1/2)

(2/2) Would I like Alyx to maybe not praise Gordon so lavishly when I, an inept player, fumble my way through the game? Probably. But it seems to become less of an element as time goes on, as Alyx accepts that Gordon's just gonna take names and kick ass. I'd like to think that the hero worship gradually shifts into a partnership of equals.

No matter how many times I replay HL2, Alyx’s insistence on effusively praising me while I’m stumbling around with 5 HP, blowing myself up with my own grenades, and missing all my shots will never stop being hilarious. 

You raise some good points here! Some of Alyx’s motivational lines are pretty over-the-top, but I agree that the praise feels more natural (to both the player and in the context of this developing fictional partnership) as time goes on. It’s also not really clear how much of that should be interpreted as video game sidekick dialogue vs. slightly over the top in-universe flirting vs. intentional characterization, which adds some additional complexity to the whole situation. For what it’s worth, some of Barney’s lines go a bit heavy on the whole “Gordon is a superhero” thing as well, so this isn’t a problem that’s exclusive to Alyx, which lends support to the idea that some of this is just normal sidekick NPC dialogue and not problematic fawning.

Personally, I’ve always gotten the impression that Alyx doesn’t totally get the Gordon Freeman hype, especially after she starts to get to know the guy, and some of her lines in HLA seem to support that interpretation. Her lack of knowledge of and obvious skepticism about Gordon Freeman Lore™ suggest that he’s still just “some guy” to her at that point. Or perhaps the whole Freeman mythology hasn’t really kicked off at that point in the timeline, since the vortigaunts and humans haven’t quite joined forces yet. Maybe a bit of both.

In HL2, she plays it fairly cool when they first meet, though I do get a vibe that she’s a little... not quite starstruck, but definitely aware that this guy is a Big Deal. That said, though, I’ve always appreciated how quickly she goes from calling him “Dr. Freeman” to addressing him by his first name and how she starts to interact with him a bit more normally in Black Mesa East (complaining about Judith, etc.). Excessive (and often undeserved) automated praise aside, most of Alyx’s later dialogue suggests a certain amount of respect and admiration without making her sound like a lovesick superfan, and I love that. 

By the way, it should be noted that during the conversation I mentioned earlier, one person did acknowledge that most freemance shippers tend to make a point of having Alyx treat Gordon like a normal guy and that that’s arguably part of the appeal of the ship. So I appreciate that, and yeah, I don’t think I’ve seen much freemance content (that wasn’t created by gross cishet white dudes, anyway) where Alyx is depicted as fawning over Gordon in a potentially unhealthy way. 

I’ll concede that there’s technically potential for some pretty yikes dynamics here, but the same could be said of any other HL ship involving Gordon. All things considered, both canon and popular fanon handle this pretty well and the potential for weird hero worship is not enough to make something unshippable, especially when the fan community overwhelmingly rejects that characterization. 

[gallickingun]

I hope you don't mind me asking... How did you get followers? I want to start my own blog but I want to make sure I can reach audiences I want to reach. I don't have any friends who know I write, and honestly I'm not sure I'd want them to read my works anyway. I get embarrassed easily. It's much easier for me to talk to someone that I don't have a face for. Does that make sense? Probably not. But how did you start your adventure here?

I want to preface this with follower count can make sense, or it can’t. I’ve made friends with some of the most amazing, most talented writers who have less than a thousand followers. I’ve made friends with amazing, talented writers who have thousands of followers. I genuinely don’t know how to trick the algorithm into listening to you, haha, but just know that numbers don’t equal talent; popularity does not always equal skill. So please, even if you don’t have the high follower count of someone else, don’t let it discourage you from writing! Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone grows differently. 

But, I’ve found that it all depends on who you write for, what you write, and how often you write. 

Who you write for: Bakugou is one of the most popular characters. I truly didn’t know this when I entered the fandom, but it was really what got me started on the upward climb. I’m by no means a big blogger, lol, but I know that writing for Bakugou was what helped me out initially. He was originally the only character who I could write for because he was my favorite and I hadn’t really gotten too far into the show. I think the same goes for other fandoms - if you write for the more popular characters, who have more content in demand because they have more fans, you’re more likely to gain more followers. 

DISCLAIMER: Do not let this keep you from writing for other characters who are less popular, if you prefer to write for them. Content is needed for all characters! I am desperate for some Sugawara content, but he’s not one of the more popular characters that people write for (see: Kuroo, Ushiwaka, Bokuto, Oikawa, Iwa, and Akaashi). If we only focus on the popular characters, the ones that get us the most growth, but those aren’t the characters we love, the content can seem disingenuous, if that makes sense. I got lucky by Bakugou being my favorite. But like, when I try to push out Kaminari content, I find that it’s a real struggle for me because I don’t necessarily vibe with Kaminari as a character. The same goes in reverse. If the minor characters have your heart, but you try to force out content for the popular characters, it can be tough to write and come across like you don’t really want to write it. Write who you want to write! 

What you write: This is a really big deal right now, but I’m just gonna say it lol. NSFW gets more notes. I don’t say that to force you into writing NSFW content - I actually had never read/written NSFW content until this past March, and I’m 22, going on 23. Originally, when I decided to start writing, I wanted to be NSFW-free, but some stuff changed in life and in writing and I chose to make the change.

Also, I’ve found for each fandom, different things are more prevalent. For instance, the BNHA fandom seems to do a lot of AU’s and full length fics, but the Haikyuu!! fandom seems to do more traditional works that follow canon and then the content itself is mostly headcanons and short scenarios. I think you have to find what works for you and write it to the best of your ability. I suck at headcanons, I’ve never really been able to do them and they stress me out. So I stick to full length fics. I know this means I’ll do better in one fandom versus the other, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to start only doing headcanons just because it’s what’s popular. 

DISCLAIMER: This does NOT mean that just because someone wrote 10k words of smut, that it’s better or more involved than your 10k words of fluff/angst/domestic/etc. writing. Unfortunately, there are horn dogs out there who are especially touch starved during quarantine. It doesn’t make anyone better or worse because they choose to write about being naked versus being clothed. Please don’t let this discourage you from writing SFW-only writing, as there are tons of people out there who are just as desperate for some comfort fics about cuddling completely clothed. 

How often you write: When I first started, I had a lot more time on my hands and was able to pump out content much quicker. I grew pretty rapidly in a short period of time because I was able to consistently put out content. Since I’ve gotten more busy and my mental illness has reared it’s ugly head, I’ve not been able to write as much and I can tell my follower count growth had tapered off. But the pace in which you post content generally helps increase your follower count, because people know that you will continuously feed them with the goods! Sometimes it might be good to set a schedule so others know when you’ll be posting - say a new fic every Friday? Or sometimes it can be good to keep your followers engaged with thirst posts (SFW or NSFW), or specific nights where you do events that focus on a certain character or genre. 

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO PUSH OUT CONTENT. Please be aware within your own self what your limits are. Just because one writer can sit at home and push out tons of short scenarios and drabbles during the day, but you can’t, doesn’t mean either of you are doing anything wrong. It just means that one person has a different availability than you. I don’t really do thirst posts a ton in the same respect that others do them, because I know that I’ll want to write a whole fic out of the couple of sentences that my followers might send in. However, there are many others within the fandom that can respond with a few paragraphs that take a few minutes to type out. It doesn’t mean that they’re better than me and I’m a horrible writer, it just means that in this area, they’re more skilled or have more time. 

Also, don’t be afraid to tag people and send out DMs! I promise your writer idols are not nearly as scary as you think they are. And they’re probably just as excited to get a DM from you as you are to talk to them! I was really hesitant to reach out to anyone before, because I never really did much chatting in other fandoms, but the anime fandoms I’ve been apart of have been very kind and welcoming, and helpful! I made some of my closest friends because I tagged them in my works or I joined a server with them in it, or I read their stuff and reached out to them to fangirl over it. Don’t be afraid to reach out, even if you just keep the conversation focused on your writing, it’ll still be worth it in the end! The worst thing that could happen is they don’t reply or the conversation fizzles out. Either way, you will have made a connection, and blasted one another with some serotonin.

Remember to take breaks. Take a hiatus every once and a while! Take some time for yourself to recharge. If this begins to feel like a job, like an obligation, and you feel yourself dragging your feet just to put out content, please step back and reevaluate. This is a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. Once it stops being fun, take a breather and reassess what you’re doing. Sometimes this means closing requests, sometimes this means opening requests, sometimes this means participating in collab fics, sometimes this means disconnecting entirely. This is just tumblr, in the end, and you should be able to take care of yourself first rather than pinning yourself into a corner to try and post content for the sake of your followers. In the end, everyone wants you to be happy and healthy, so you can put your best foot forward in life and in your hobbies. So please, for the love of everything, take a break every now and then. Disconnect, recharge, and regroup. 

I also had a blog before this one, my main, so I’ve been on tumblr for eight year prior to this. I’m not going to even claim that I begin to understand how this hellsite works, but I will say that I’ve been writing on here for a while now, since way back to my band blog days. Eventually you just write what you want to write, and chat with your followers and your friends, and you’ll grow organically. When you start to pressure yourself over it, it can become like a cloud looming over you, and then when you don’t perform up to your preset standards, it might be a little disappointing. Follower milestones are cool to want to achieve and celebrate, but don’t pour all your focus into them. For the most part, I use milestones for celebration events to give back to my followers, or to set goals for myself like opening commissions! But they don’t determine my worth as a writer, because sometimes the tumblr algorithm is more giving to some rather than others.

Whew, this was a doozy. But I hope it helped! Some of these answers might come off a little crass, but I’m just trying to be honest. Don’t let anything deter you from doing whatever the hell you wanna do.

You wanna write that rarepair? DO IT. You wanna write character x character? DO IT. You wanna write about your Original Characters? DO IT. 

Whatever it is you want to do, do it! And have a helluva time doing it 💕

[morbid-n-macabre]

Fayetteville, Georgia-

40 year old Chris Benoit was a famous WWE wrestler and family annihilator. The "Canadian Crippler", as he was known in the wrestling world, murdered his wife, Nancy, their 7 year old son, Daniel, then committed suicide during the 3 day weekend of June 22nd through the 25th of 2007.

On Friday Nancy lost her life. She was killed in a second story room; her limbs had been bound, a cord wrapped around her throat, and she was strangled. There were bruises on her stomach and back where Chris had presumably pressed his knee into her, and at some point she suffered a blow to the head. When she was deceased, Nancy was covered with a towel and a Bible was place near her body. Toxicology later proved that Vicodin and Xanax were in her system, but sources claim that these were her everyday medications.

It's believed that someone during Saturday night little Daniel was murdered in his bed. It's thought that Chris drugged his son with Xanax ahead of time, then suffocated him; many believe that Chris used his famous signature wrestling move, the Crippler Crossface, to end his child's life. As with his mother, a Bible was discovered in very close proximity to Daniel's corpse.

Throughout this weekend Chris had been in contact with his close friend and fellow wrestler, Chavo Guerrero. Chris had missed a show, which was very much out of character for him; Chris explained that both Nancy and Daniel both had a nasty case of food poisoning and he may need to take them to the hospital.

On Sunday, Chavo and a a few other wrestlers received text messages from Chris's phone. These messages named the Benoit family's full street address, stated that the garage door was open, and the dogs were chained up in the back yard.

Since I try to be as factually correct as humanly possible, I'm not real sure as to who initially discovered the bodies. Most sources state that the police were called to conduct a wellness check, but others say that the Benoit's neighbor, Holly Schrepfer, was sent to the home to check on the dogs thereby stumbling upon the crime scene. Chris had passed away from apparent suicide just after he sent those texts to his buddies. He'd gone into his workout room, stacked on 240 pounds, and rigged the weight machine to hang himself; the wrestler's neck had been broken. The home computer's search history showed that someone had recently researched "the quickest and easiest way to break a neck".

As for Chris's motive, some think that Chris murdered Daniel because he suffered from "Fragile X Syndrome", but doctors say that the boy did not have this condition. It's said that Daniel had needle track marks on his arms at the time of his death, that Chris had deemed Daniel small for his age so he was treating the 7 year old with growth hormone injections. It's also said that Daniel had been having a hard time in school, and was being held back a grade; it must be mentioned that the boy's teachers say this is absolutely not true. As for Nancy, it's rumored that there had been some recent problems in the Benoit marriage. The relationship had been a passionate one; at one time the couple had separated and Nancy had filed for divorce, but according to friends those troubled times had seemed to be behind them. Furthermore, the shape of Chris's brain definitely needs mentioning. The man had been a superb wrestler, willing to perform stunts in which few others would dare attempt. Due to this, Chris's brain had been severely damaged; he'd suffered multiple untreated concussions, a broken neck in '01, and the steroid abuse certainly hadn't helped his condition. During autopsy the athlete had ten times the level of testosterone in his system, and his brain was comparable to that of an 85 year old Alzheimer's patient. Matter of fact, had this tragedy not occurred, doctors say that Chris would've had maybe 10 months left to live.

Those close to the wrestler say that Chris had been acting increasingly strange before that tragic weekend. He'd been quoting scripture and seen with a rosary around his neck. The wrestler had not been a religious man, yet Bibles were found next to all 3 corpse; a note which read, "I'm preparing to leave this Earth" was discovered inside one Bible. He'd been having strange nightmares, and kept a diary in which he wrote to his recently deceased best friend, Eddie Guerrero. Chris had become paranoid, thought people were following him, he wouldn't even take his trash out to the curb for fear that someone would rifle through it. Chris wouldn't allow his son to play in the yard, he had began taking detours on his way home, and was adamant that Nancy not stay out late after dark. The man had been terrified that someone was watching him, planning something sinister against him.

For many, these are little signs that all was not well in Chris's mind; for others, it's proof that he truly had been in trouble. Maybe someone really had been following him, meant to do him harm. Some believe that Chris and his family were murdered, and yes it does sound preposterous, but there is some evidence which points towards it.

The most popular theory is that fellow wrestler Kevin Sullivan murdered the family, and he did have some pretty serious motive! Back in the day Kevin and Chris were very close friends who played adversaries in the ring; during this time, Kevin and Nancy had been married. You know how the wrestlers have their storylines? Well, the Chris/Kevin story eventually lead to Nancy, who played a character known simply as "Woman" in the wrestling industry, had been having an affair with Chris. Kevin, Nancy's then husband, was not only cool with this fantasy, but he helped to write the story! In order to make it more realistic, Nancy and Chris were seen hanging out alone, they were often purposely discovered out in public on romantic dates, etc. Well, eventually this pretend affair turned into the real deal; the pair fell in love. Nancy divorced Kevin and married Chris, understandably creating a rift between the three. Kevin always blamed his former friend for the disillusion of his marriage. So, knowing this, there are some things which do not sit right.

First, and this is chalked up to coincidence, but at 12:01 am on Sunday morning, before anyone was aware of the murders, Nancy's death was announced on a wiki page. This has been explained away as a silly fan prank, but it's still odd. More worrisome are the statements from Chavo, which have made many people question the whole thing. We've already discussed that he had been in contact with Chris throughout the weekend. He's stated that during an early weekend call with Chris, someone came to the door; Chavo listened to what he would later describe as a scuffle, then the call disconnected. A few hours later Chris contacted his good buddy to say that all was well, and he ended the conversation with "I love you Chavo". This unnerved Chavo; he said that Chris sounded tired, and he was concerned for his friend. Again, Chavo and Chris had been very close, they hung out all the time. One of Chris's final texts to Chavo read, "My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville Georgia. 30215". Why would Chris send his best buddy his address when Chavo knew exactly where he lived? Though I can not confirm this, it is reported that some of these texts were sent after Chris was already dead. Another bothersome fact, there were empty beer cans found near Chris's corpse, but autopsy concluded that the wrestler had not been drinking. So, who drank all of that beer? And do you remember the neighbor lady, Holly Schrepfer? She claims to have seen another wrestler near the Benoit home during this weekend, a wrestler who had absolutely no reason to be there. If all of this weren't enough, these murders took place on the 10th anniversary of Kevin and Nancy's divorce!

Now I'm not giving my opinion on this case, just telling you what I found during my research. That said, one thing is for sure: it doesn't appear that police conducted a thorough investigation of the case. It was automatically deemed a family annihilator situation, and that was that; Nancy's family claims that the police had left behind suitcases of steroids; these definitely should've been seized during the a search of the home. If they missed illegal substances, what else didn't they pick up on?

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/24-reasons-that-will-prove-that-chris-benoit-is-innocent.453787849/

Out of this entire case, one fact chilled me to the bone when researching this case. You'll find very little mention of it, but young Daniel had a large kitchen knife tucked under his pillow at the time of his death. Why would a 7 year old boy be sleeping with a knife? Was he afraid, and if he was, of who? What did that child know, what had he witnessed during this weekend of hell? Had he been aware of his mama's murder, was he aware that he was next?

*There's much, much more to this, I could be here writing for a few more days but I wanna go ahead and post this. If you'd like to jump down this vast rabbit hole with me, here's a link to get you started. You gotta check the facts with links like these, but this one will get you started. Let me know what you think!