#I'm not going to blame the writers for that because they're almost certainly on very strict deadlines and don't have Time to fix everything

[mechanical-aristocrat]

Okay this is silly but am I crazy to think that Screwllum didn't talk like this before? In Silver Wolfs event he just talked like a human but now he says things like "Affirmation:" or "Conclusion:" Does this have like. Lore signifigance? Was it explained? Or did hoyoverse just retcon how he talks?

[OOC:]

Actually, he has talked like this the whole time, it's just that in Silver Wolf's companion mission it wasn't used nearly as frequently as in the new story. (To make sure I was remembering correctly, I skimmed the dialogue section of the wiki and found that the amount it was used was around the same for both missions, but since Screwllum had far more dialogue in Punklorde Mentality, its use was significantly more spread out so it wasn't as noticable)

In my opinion, it was better that way. I feel like this sort of speech mannerism is only charming when it's used sparingly, but for every handful of lines? It's a bit awkward and loses its effectiveness pretty quickly. Before, it seemed to me like something he was doing intentionally, turning typically flat and emotionless robotic speech patterns into something more endearing. Now, though, it reads like it only exists because he's a robot and robot characters have to speak a certain way, right? Never mind the fact that Screwllum is far more in touch with emotions (both his own and others') than most robot characters that exist in fiction, and that he tends to speak in a very elegant and poetic way that wouldn't usually blend very well with that blunt, straight-to-the-point style of speaking (unless, of course, a balance is struck between the two...like it was in Punklorde Mentality, maybe?!).

It's not a retcon, per say, because that word usually only applies to major, plot-important elements (as far as I understand it), but it is an inconsistency.

[korkorali]

The Misogyny of It All

So a lot of Della Duck Discourse is rehashed all the time, points are made again and again, but one thing that I almost never see people defend -and conversely, see people attack all the time- is The Line.

You know what I'm talking about. The Line from Glomtales.

"Your plans, your schemes, they only lead to bad things for your family. If you want to be a part of this family, you've gotta stop."

That one.

Now, what exactly Della was trying to get across with that line is a whole other can of worms that deserves its own post (basically she -and also the writers- horribly failed her Speech check).

What we're going over here is how that mimics a certain line from the last season, said by a parental figure to a child, that gets so much less flack. That, in fact, often gets paraded around as 'an interesting twist on a character.'

"You are not family!"

I have never seen people attack this line with the same amount of vitriol as they attack Della's, which is funny when they're the exact same line.

Actually, not even that- Scrooge's is worse.

It's more direct, it's literally yelled at Webby, it doesn't even attempt to address the issue Scrooge had (Webby blaming him for what happened to Della) and instead just straight-up attacks her as a person.

Now, to be fully honest- I like this line! I do genuinely think it's an interesting route for Scrooge to take, and is quite realistic to the grumpy old bastard. It's just funny that nobody ever comes to Webby's defense the same way they do for Louie.

Because the thing is- between Webby and Louie, one of these two has genuine, canonical issues with feeling like they're not a part of the family, like they're an outsider amongst those they love the most, like they don't belong.

And it's not Louie.

It is a consistent part of Webby's characterization that she feels like she doesn't belong. This gets touched on in all three seasons (and honestly, it could be argued that it gets worse after this moment).

Conversely, that just is not a part of Louie's canonical characterization. Even in the first episode of season 2, the one where Louie gets the closest to an 'I don't belong in this family' moment, it's less 'I don't belong here' and more 'fuck me I am terrible at adventuring'. And! It gets resolved in that episode!

(Of course, there is absolutely something to be said for how it's resolved- specifically by Scrooge encouraging him to be a scheming little bastard, which then thusly becomes the thing that threatens his family the most. Which would, logically, be a pretty big blow to his self-esteem. This isn't what I'm here to discuss right now but it is genuinely interesting.)

Louie never really shows an issue with feeling like he doesn't belong in his family. He shows a disconnect with his family at times, but in canon that never really evolves into a full-blown feeling of displacement. It does get close in Glomtales, but never quite reaches it.

So it's 'interesting' (read: not interesting) that Scrooge's fuckup here gets brushed away pretty easily. A lot of the time the line just straight-up isn't addressed, and when it is, often times it's about how "Oh he apologized to Webby offscreen, obviously."

Which.

Not he did not.

I mean, let me be clear: I don't mind it when that's the answer. It works for me to just brush it away if it's not meant to be the focus...

But Scrooge almost certainly didn't apologize for it.

As 'New Gods on the Block!' Showed us, Scrooge is downright awful at realizing when his actions have hurt people.

More likely than not, Scrooge would just assume that everything is fine and would avoid bringing it up at all costs because he'd feel awkward about it. Because he is, very importantly, not good at talking about things he doesn't want to talk about.

So why is it that Louie is always the one feeling like he doesn't belong? Why is it Della who is always a terrible parent for what she's said? Why are Webby's feelings of disconnect never really given the same gravity as Louie's? Why is Scrooge's blunder let off the hook super easily?

It just feels silly to me.

And, well.

Kinda like the fact that, since Scrooge is a guy and Webby's a girl, and Della is a woman and Louie's a boy, has something to do with it.

I'll happily give the benefit of the doubt and assume it's not deliberate, but quite frankly it is a double standard.

I think that people would be less upset with the Della Duck Discourse if Scrooge was held in a similarly critical position over what he's said and done. If it was acknowledged that Della isn't uniquely awful in what she says and does, and that a lot of the others have fucked up in extremely similar ways.

(I mean for fuck's sake, everybody goes on and on about how Della left her kids for ten years -which, for the record, wasn't what she wanted to do- but nobody ever criticizes Donald for taking the kids away from their family and never talking to them about Della- which is something he actively and deliberately chose to do)

TL;DR: The fact that Della gets intensely criticized for what she's said and done, but Donald and Scrooge are conversely celebrated as 'interesting' and 'complex' for what they've said and done, even when it brings harm to the kids, is a blatant double-standard. And if you don't think that this double-standard is bad or wrong for existing (or even that it Doesn't Actually Exist), instead of immediately claiming that it's a non-issue, maybe try to look inward and figure out why you really think that is.

[beanghostprincess]

I really loved your hc about Sanji meeting Yassop and Usopp meeting Zeff and I start to think about like-

What about this with Zosan, Lusan and Lawsan?? This will be SO funny and perfect-

Just hear me: (and yes, this will be with our queen Trans!Fem Sanji)

Mihawk and Zoro going to a dinner with Sanji and Zeff because both want to know their child partner

Shanks going to Baratie 'cause Luffy insisted, and Sanji going too just to say a 'hello!' to her father and properly give the notice she's dating her captain (Luffy forgot to tell this to Shanks and he just discover he was knowing the father of his son's girlfriend when they already are in Baratie)

Law going because Sanji wanted him to know Zeff, and even hating to interact too much, he acepts because he knows how much this mean to her

And like, how you think they will react about the thing of Zeff eating his own FUCKING leg??

Okay, this is really funny- The chaos. Just imagine the chaos. Gonna try to put my thoughts into words (<- Literally a fucking writer. I'm just tired today don't blame me).

Please assume the OP world here is exactly the same but Mihawk and Shanks actually raised Zoro and Luffy. Somehow. Don't ask me how. They see them as their fathers. Zeff and Sanji's story is still the same because they're canonically family lmao. And also Transfem!Sanji as you said btw bc I love my princess.

─┉┈◈Zosan◈┈┉

The thing about Mihawk and Zoro going to a dinner with them is that Zoro and Sanji would try to behave but they would end up arguing in front of them anyway because that's just how they are and Mihawk and Zeff would end up talking alone about them tbh. Zeff offers Mihawk one of his best wines and Mihawk is- Well, you already know how Mihawk is. Their conversation is pretty polite but they keep drinking while the other two are in the background fighting for some meaningless bullshit like: "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET HERE FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO, STUPID MOSSHEAD" / "OKAY SO IT'S MY FAULT THAT THE SEA IS VERY ROUGH TODAY AND THE SHIP ALMOST SINKS" / "LIAR!! I'M SURE YOU JUST GOT LOST".

And it's uhhh chaotic. But there's passion and Sanji is mad because she cares about him meeting Zeff and Zoro is frustrated but actually trying to calm down. Zeff and Mihawk are very fond of tough love and passionate couples so these two fighting just means they have strong feelings for each other. However, they end up making up and sitting down with their fathers while they tell anecdotes and try to get to know each other better. Mihawk and Zeff are intimidating af and I'm like 100% sure that Zoro would be scared of Zeff at some point bc he would look at him with that look of "If you hurt my daughter I'm killing you" and Zoro is, for once in his life, scared of a cook. Then that silly topic of "Oh, yes, I ate my own leg to save this little shit of a daughter from starving to death" comes up.

Zoro almost chokes on his food and Mihawk stares at Zeff for a while, looks down at his leg, squints his eyes at him and says: It certainly is a really admirable doing. And just out of mere curiosity, was it good-

Zeff: A little bit of seasoning and less pain would've helped

Sanji: DAD, WHAT THE FUCK

Zoro: Curly, you didn't tell me your dad was cool

Sanji: OH, YES, EXCUSE ME MOSSHEAD FOR NOT TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT MY DAD EATING HIS OWN FUCKING LEG

Mihawk: I say admirable doing because you just met her, right? I would not have done something like this for this bastard right here

Zoro: Thanks, dad

Mihawk: You're welcome I let you and Princess stay with me, don't push it

Sanji: Who's Princess?

Zoro: My sister

Sanji: YOU HAVE A SISTER?

Mihawk: Zoro, you didn't tell your girlfriend about Perona?

Zoro: I forgot

Sanji: I'm going to murder you

And basically, long story short, the night ends pretty well to Sanji's surprise. Mihawk is very nice and polite to her even if he looks pretty dark and edgy, and Sanji can't believe that man raised an idiot like her boyfriend. Then we have Zeff, who shakes Zoro's hand so hard it hurts and whispers in his ear all the atrocities he would do to him if he hurt his precious princess. Things that won't happen, of course. That's why that 'would' is there. But still, he tells him anyway. Just in case.

─┉┈◈Lusan◈┈┉

When Luffy tells Shanks to go to the Baratie together, he doesn't hesitate to say yes because who would refuse to go there? What kind of pirate would he be? Sanji is already there because she decided to go a bit earlier, so Shanks instantly assumes he's just going to have lunch with his son in a very nice place and see Zeff again after a long time. When they get to the Baratie and see that Sanji is there too, Shanks assumes Sanji just stopped by too. A coincidence. He already knows that's Zeff's daughter, btw.

But then Luffy does that thing he always does, running towards someone he loves and hugging them tightly with his legs wrapped around them. And Shanks is just like "Oh, well, that's his usual behavior and he's just greeting his cook" but then they kiss and it's uh, confusing. So Shanks asks what's going on and Sanji is all like "Please, don't tell me you didn't mention this to Shanks" and Luffy just shrugs, turns around, and says "Dad, I'm dating Sanji!" then looks at his cook again smiling and Sanji sighs: "And you obviously didn't tell him this was supposed to be a thing so our dads could talk-"

Shanks: Fuck, am I meeting your dad now? Like, actually meeting him as your boyfriend's dad? That's not- Hey, Anchor, you did not mention this.

Luffy: I'm sorry! But Zeff is reaaaaally amazing!

Shanks: I am well aware that he's amazing but you need to warn me first about this stuff.

Luffy: What? It's just dad stuff-

Shanks: I AM NOT GOOD AT DAD STUFF

Then Zeff appears and Shanks tries to act like a normal father for once (he can't. He fails. It doesn't work) and they actually end up having a pretty calm and fun dinner once he relaxes, remembering that Zeff has always been cool. Luffy is extremely clingy with Sanji, a thing that Shanks already knew but never guessed it was because of them dating. And now that he sees it from a different perspective, it is clear that they're in love, even if Sanji won't stop trying to push the kid away because he's obsessed with sitting close to her and eating food from her hands and things like that. Little shit has a more stable love life than him. That's depressing.

Their laughter and joyful voices fill the whole empty restaurant and Shanks and Zeff are already a bit drunk while Sanji is dragged by Luffy to sit on his lap. And it would be embarrassing but it's not like their dads are looking at them, too caught up in their own anecdotes and stories.

Then Shanks asks how Zeff met Sanji because he knows that's not his biological daughter. He remembers Zeff telling him about his little princess years ago when Sanji was still at the Baratie and Shanks stopped by to eat with his crew. And of course, Zeff explains what happened. Their shared dream and everything. Luffy isn't really listening because he already knows the story and is too focused on his girlfriend right now. Zeff tells them about the leg thing, and Shanks starts laughing so, so fucking loud and hysterically:

Shanks: I DID THAT TOO

Zeff: You did what, too?

Shanks: Don't you notice something missing? Perhaps on the left side of my torso? There hanging? Well- Nothing hanging, actually

Zeff: You did not-

Shanks: I did not, but I lost this useless thingy saving this bastard right here

Sanji: You said you're not good at dad stuff but that's a pretty dad thing to do, huh?

Shanks: I guess so, yeah. We have more things than I thought in common, Red Leg!

Luffy: Except for cooking. Your cooking is awful.

Shanks: My cooking is amazing, Anchor, thank you very much.

Luffy: THAT'S NOT TRUE! YOU ONLY HEATED UP WHAT MAKINO MADE FOR ME

Shanks: But I did a good job!

Anyway, they surprisingly have a very nice and warm meal together without Shanks or Luffy being as chaotic as Sanji thought they'd be. When they're heading out, Zeff just pats Luffy on the shoulder and tells him to take care of his princess and appreciate her food or else he'll make him clean the dishes again but this time for years, quite literally speaking. Shanks sees the couple holding hands when they get out of the restaurant, the redhead staying behind for a second to speak to Zeff. But Shanks is already at that point of drunkness where he starts having a breakdown and he's like "Why does my kid have a girlfriend and my husband left me?????? This is so unfair. They love each other so much, Red Leg, look at them!!!!!!!" and Zeff is like "They're young and stupid too, but they'll grow up. You still haven't. Please get out of my restaurant before you make my onions cry."

─┉┈◈Lawsan◈┈┉

Law doesn't want to meet Zeff, that much is clear. He is not good at meeting new people and even less meeting father figures because God knows he doesn't have a good memory of how his relationship with his dad ended (Rip Cora-san, we miss you). But he goes anyway because Sanji keeps insisting and saying that it's important to her, and of course, Law can't say no to her. Well, actually Sanji just tells him that if he comes with her to the Baratie, she'll wear the Soba-Mask suit (Stealth Black or whatever, Sanji refuses to say those words so-) again for him some time and Law accepts almost instantly. Fucking simp.

So they go to the Baratie and Law is dressed in a white shirt and actual, proper, and almost elegant clothes because Bepo said he needed to do it in order to give a good impression, and Law, deep down, just wants Sanji to be happy. And if getting along with her dad will do it, having to deal with this torture for a few hours is worth it.

Sanji keeps telling him not to worry about Zeff because, even if it's a big step in their relationship, her dad is just a bit scary but a good guy, after all. He will like Law once he knows how much he cares about her too! But Law isn't worried about that, he just fucking sucks at social interactions. Free the introvert from having to socialize, please, he just wants to stay with his girlfriend alone and cuddle and infodump about silly little things and comics. This is highly bad for his mental health (getting out and talking to people).

But, well, turns out Zeff is actually a great guy. Even though at first he looks at his daughter intensely and says: "Why the ex shichibukai of all people? This guy looks depressed too. Have you eaten, kid? You look like a starving man. He looks like a starving man, sweetheart. You're not dating an emo bastard who does not eat" and ends up having an argument with Sanji... He's fun to be around, once he settles for feeding Law everything he can cook. And Law isn't complaining but decides not to mention how much he hates bread because he feels that sentence will end up with him dead on the floor.

However, Sanji is the one mentioning that after a while of seeing Law forcing himself to eat bread, rolling her eyes and taking it from his hands to eat it herself. And Zeff is just like "You should've said so earlier, son! Just eat whatever you like. I feed people for them to enjoy the food, goddamnit!" and Law can only nod and keep eating.

And they actually end up getting along when they start talking more and more. Law starts actually laughing and smiling a little bit and Zeff pats him in the back from time to time whenever he mentions stuff he has done with his powers. Zeff just finds that hilarious. And Sanji is happy they're getting along, but extremely embarrassed when Zeff starts talking about her childhood (Law is enjoying every second of this). Then the topic of how Zeff met Sanji is brought up, and Sanji doesn't really want Law to hear it because she didn't tell him about the leg thing. And when he finds out, he's just...

Law: You didn't tell me your dad did that for you

Sanji: It's not something I like to explain, y'know? I kind of feel guilty to this day

Zeff: You're such a cry baby, Eggplant. I already told her countless times I chose to do that and it ended up saving us both! What's the problem?

Sanji: Shut up, old man, you don't get it!

Law: I do get it. The- Uh- Feeling guilty about your dad sacrificing himself. Without Cora-san... I wouldn't be here.

Zeff: Well, kid, I don't know what your father did, but be grateful instead of feeling guilty. I'm sure he's a nice man if he raised somebody who loves my girl this much.

Law: He was a good man, yes. The best. And- I- I do love her. A lot.

Sanji has a moment where she almost cries, but she doesn't!! (She does. She goes to the bathroom and cries).

When they have to go back to the ship, Zeff stops Law and says:

Zeff: You might need to eat more, that much is clear, kid. But you take care of her and that's good enough for me.

Law: Thank yo-

Zeff: But you also strike me as someone who would die for her and even though I do appreciate the effort because I would do the same, don't die on her, got it? And eat more. Eat what she makes, actually. And you also should check if you're celiac.

Law: I'm a doctor. I know I'm not-

Zeff: Then stop bitching around and eat bread like a man, for fuck's sake.

And, you know, Zeff might be a bit intimidating but he is, after all, a good man just like Cora was.

[here2bbtstrash]

for the fanfic asks!! 1, 2 (because i swear even though i’m still catching up with your masterlist… galaxy brained fr) but also i apologise in advance because i tried narrowing down the following questions.. i really did lmaoo, but the questions were too good not to pick multiple!? 6, 7, 11, 13, 18, 21, 22, 25

wieuhfekrjfdf thank u for all the questions omg 🥺 i'm gonna stick this under a cut so it's not crazy long haha!!

1. Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

hmmm i'd say probably a healthy mix of the two? i have to plot/outline something (even just a pwp oneshot) before i dive in, i am definitely not the kind of person who can fly by the seat of their pants. however i also really like striking while the iron is hot, bc i feel like the words usually flow the fastest when an idea is fresh. so i'll at least try to ride the wave of dopamine and outline an idea in full as soon as i get it 😂 writing the actual thing usually takes much longer!

2. Where do you get your fic ideas?

honestly i don't even know half the time 💀 sometimes a friend will say something to me and my brain just zooms, sometimes it's partially based off my own life, sometimes it's based off something i read or watched or heard in a song. i just have a very overactive imagination lmao!!

6. What’s the last line you wrote? & 7. Post a snippet from a wip.

i'm combining these two together bc the last two lines i wrote are funny and not really a spoiler for anything so here u go:

The whole night gets fuzzy around the edges when Matthew storms into the kitchen and abruptly changes the music to Bad Bunny before making everyone do a round of tequila shots for seemingly no reason at all. For a while you lose Tiffany to the magnetic power of his body rolls, and you can’t exactly blame her.

13. Do you listen to music while you write?  If yes, what have you been listening to recently?

not while i write, no, but music is a huge part of my inspiration process! i just can't focus while listening to anything with lyrics (even if they're in a language i don't understand lol). but here are some songs on the LDOMLT ch 11 playlist 👀

18. Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research?

i do, though sometimes i can get WAY too carried away with it for something that truly no one will give a fuck about lmao. LDOMLT has definitely had the most research put into it - on the music industry, on the grammys, on los angeles and seoul, on visas 😵‍💫 so much lmao

21. Do you prefer writing chaptered fics or one-shots?

oneshots for sure! i've loved writing my series but it's certainly a labor of love. it's a much deeper commitment required!! and i'm a commitment-phobe 😅

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

i'd say 9/10 times i have a working title while i'm writing the fic, and that usually ends up becoming the title, tho sometimes i change them last minute (it's sweet was almost called that's life, for example 👀) - and i usually steal my titles from songs, tho not necessarily always songs that inspired the work in question (for example it's sweet is a liz phair song but it.... is very off-brand for that fic 😂)

25. What’s your favorite part of the writing process (worldbuilding, brainstorming/outlining, writing, editing, etc)?

i always joke with my friends that i like everything about it except writing, lmfao. i LOVE outlining, plotting, brainstorming, and i LOVE editing and polishing. but i fucking hate drafting so much 👹 WHY CAN'T THE WORDS JUST PUT THEMSELVES ON THE PAGE

35. What’s your favorite fic you’ve posted?

it might be the shape of your body 🥺 i'm really proud of that one!

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet? - already answered this one!

49. What fic of yours would you say is the best introduction to you as a writer?

honestly two in one is a good candidate lmao. like consensual but filthy sex, a reader who asks for what she wants, some queer-adjacent shit, member characterizations that i hope you might find accurate 🙆‍♀️ and a smidge of dumb humor. let's go with that one!

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

i'm gonna cop out and say check out my fic rec friday tag 💜 i read and review stuff once a week! and don't feel like doing it right now 😂

78. What motivates you during the writing process?

honestly, i'm not always motivated 🤷‍♀️ but i try to show up anyway, regardless of how i feel. the hardest part for me is always getting started, so i do my best to push through that initial block and try to get words down anyway. worst case scenario, if i go back and truly hate them, i can delete them. but i don't think that's ever happened!

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

write the porn you wish to see in the world 😂

fanfic writing asks~

[braveclementine]

Chapter 22

Warnings: 18+readers only, angst

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

I didn't leave the building, since I knew my safety was still in question. I wasn't going to be unrational about the conversation I'd had with Bucky. I wasn't going to leave the building and then probably get kidnapped and tortured (again) just because Bucky had spoken his mind about his relationship honestly. 

Besides, rational thought said that it was better to come clean now then in the future, or to find out through another person that having a woman in the relationship was not what Bucky wanted. 

Of course, I knew Bucky hadn't meant his words, both in context or reality. I knew he enjoyed my company, and I'm sure that had I not had certain morals set in place, he would've happily enjoyed my company in another way. 

But I also had to face the music. Bucky had loved Steve since the beginning of time and that sort of love never goes away. For Bucky to love Steve for that long, and also in that time period, I knew that his preference leant more towards men then women. 

Maybe I was over analyzing it, I'm not sure. My thoughts were certainly running rampant as I took the stairs back down to where the Thanksgiving party had dwindled, but had not ended. Sam and Clementine were still spinning around on the floor, laughing. Loki and Ivy were in a corner, talking to each other with smirks on their faces. Tony and Bruce were laughing, sitting on the couch across from Natasha and Wanda, Tonys' head on Bruces' shoulder. 

I sighed, going over to the bar, getting a Shirley Temple, and then headed out to where only ten minutes ago, I had been having one of the best nights of my life. 

I stared into the fire, watching the s'more that Steve had accidentally dropped, continue to melt and crumble. I blamed it on the intense heat of the fire when I realized that tears were rolling down my cheeks. 

"Damnit." I mumbled to myself. The Shirley Temple had frozen my hands, the glass which I put to the side, clumsily wiping the tears away, flinching slightly at how cold my own hands were. 

A thin figure moved from the shadows, sitting down next to me. Loki sighed as he cupped my hands with his, which warmed them up considerably. 

"What'd the idiots do this time?" 

"Nothing." I sighed. "Sharon was waiting in the apartment." 

"That bitch." Loki huffed. 

"Well it wasn't really that. I just. . . you think you could read my mind?" I asked, not wanting to explain. 

Loki was quiet so I assumed that's exactly what he was doing. 

"I know he didn't mean it." I finally said. "Or, you know, he didn't mean it in a way to hurt me. I understand and what he said is rational. I don't know why I feel so sad though." 

Loki rolled his eyes. "Gosh, maybe because you love them?" 

"Which is irrational. I knew going into this that it wasn't going to be a long-term relationship. I shouldn't have caught feelings." 

"Wow." Loki said sarcastically. "It's almost like you have a heart." 

I punched him in the arm. "You know what I mean." 

"Actually, I don't. Perhaps you should enlighten me." Loki leaned back on his hands, looking up at the twinkling stars. 

I sighed. "They're already married. You can't marry more than one person and besides, it's against the Bible." 

"Jesus, tell your father he's made life very difficult for these Midgardians." Loki muttered under his breath. 

"Excuse me?" I asked, cringing as I expected a bolt of lightning to come down from the sky and blast Loki where he was sitting. 

"What?" Loki questioned nonchalantly. "Did you not expect him to exist the same way I do? There are Egyptian Gods and Norse Gods and Greek Gods and Roman Gods and your God which doesn't really fall under any sort've category because he's 'God' but by all technicality, we're all Gods, you Midgardians are the ones who separated us based on mythology. . . and well I suppose we do live in-" 

"Okay, okay." I said quickly, feeling slightly overwhelmed. "You're just enforcing my point. Polyamory is not conducive to my religion." 

"Change religion." Loki suggested as though it was that easy. "You could worship me, I wouldn't mind." He flashed me a smirk. I punched him again. 

"On a serious note, you shouldn't be looking at this relationship with Rogers and James as temporary." Loki said, his tone changing to his serious one. "They're not the temporary kind, not when they find the one they want." 

"Bucky doesn't-" 

"James never said that he didn't want a girl in their relationship." Loki interrupted me. "What he said was there didn't need to be one for him to be happy with Rogers. But as an outside observer, along with being a mind reader, he is head over heels for you. Rogers as well." 

"You. . . you call Bucky 'James', but you call Steve 'Rogers'." I realized slowly. "Why?" 

Loki shrugged, "We had a short fling when Rogers was still in his relationship with Carter. I understood him on a level others couldn't, since I knew what it felt like to be brainwashed and unable to fight what you're made to do. I like to think that perhaps if it hadn't made Rogers so jealous, we might still be together today. But true love wins, and a love like that. . . that's rare, Elizabeth. Plus, it worked out. I have Ivy and Wade now, so it's a win-win. I lo- tolerate those two like crazy." 

I smiled a little, looking away. 

"They love you." Loki said again, softly. "But, I think some space is good. Talk to them in the morning. C'mon, I've got a spare room you can stay in if you don't mind Ivy begging for her Professor and screaming in ecstasy to much." 

I went red, but said a choked, "Sure." 

Back inside, we found Ivy and Wade making out on the couch. Loki rolled his eyes, before picking Ivy up, making her shriek as he tossed her over his shoulder. "How you feeling pet?" 

"Put me the fuck down" she hisses embarrassed gripping onto his back but Loki smirk only grows amusement flashing in his eyes as he grips onto her tighter "don't worry I will" he darkly promise under a playful tone winking at me. I just blushed again, partly for Ivys' embarrassment, partly because Loki was making me extremely flustered. "Come along, kit." 

Feeling that was addressing me, I followed them until we reached another room on the second floor up from this one. Loki dumped Ivy on the bed and I looked away as he started to whisper in her ear. But he tore himself away from her, Wade taking his place, to come over and motion for me to follow him. 

The other room was small, but comfortable looking and Loki gave me a soft look. "Probably don't come out until morning." 

I gave a small laugh, feeling exhaustion wash over my body as I sat down on the bed. "Of course and uh, Loki, thank you." 

"Yeah, of course." He muttered, closing the door behind him. 

I noticed my dress had turned back into my normal clothes now. Loki had probably removed the magic. I climbed under the sheets, and after tossing and turning, putting the pillow over my head to keep Ivy's noises out, I fell asleep. 

: ̗̀➛

Steve stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, thumb on the corner of his mouth, watching while Bucky punished himself, mentally and verbally berating himself for what he'd said. 

"I didn't mean it Steve!" Bucky said desperately for the sixteenth time. "It just came out because of Sharon. I love her, Steve. Elizabeth I mean, I want her to be ours. I just meant that we didn't need a woman in our relationship to be happy, but you thought we did because of Peggy." 

"Bucky-" Steve attempted for the sixteenth time and for seventeenth time, Buck interrupted him to continue verbally berating himself. 

"What if she doesn't come back to us? Or what if she hates me now? Why do I have to fucking ruin everything?" 

"Enough!" Steve finally snapped. He hadn't been able to get a word out ever since he'd asked, 'What happened?'. 

Bucky went quiet, practically cowering under Steve's tone. Steve sighed, pushing away from the counter, approaching his husband. "Bucky. . . everything is going to be okay. Give her some time to herself, that's what she asked for. When she's ready to speak to us again, we explain exactly what you meant. And after that, we see what happens from there." 

"What if she doesn't take me- us- back?" Bucky asked in a whisper. 

Steve sighed, pulling Bucky into his arms. He could feel the brunettes heart pounding under his wrist. "Then we treasure the time we had with her, but we let her move on. We still protect her from Rumlow, but we will do it as professionals instead of lovers, okay?" He kissed the back of Buckys' head. "Now, c'mon. . . you need some sleep." 

Bucky nodded, looking helpless and broken as he kissed Steve's cheek and then headed out of the room. 

"God, please." Steve whispered under his breath. "I know he said something out of anger, I know how it sounded. But God, please don't let his heart to be broken by her." 

He turned the kitchen light off and hurried to the bedroom to climb under the sheets with Bucky. Bucky rolled over, pressing his face into Steve's chest. He said nothing and did nothing, just finding the comfort in each other and Steve had one more thought. 

'God. . . if she isn't right for us, that's okay. Because Bucky is right. I love him. I don't need anyone else.' 

And though he felt unsettled with the thought, unsettled with losing Elizabeth, he knew that whatever happened next was in Gods' hands. And with that, he slowly fell into sleep.

[ladyluscinia]

So @brigdh has some great tags:

#agreed #I also think there's a simplification in this debate by constantly framing the two sides as pro- and anti-Izzy when it's really about Ed #like. I'm an Ed/Stede OTP'er and I still think Ed in eps 9 & 10 was not in a great place. That's not (yet) his happy end #it's easy to blame Izzy fans for being racist because they like the white character too much #but that's a straw man #Izzy crit fans also tend to like a white character (Stede) #it's really about interpretations of Ed and not who you ship him with #excellent meta #our flag means death

This is a VERY good point.

People have been commenting for ages on how weird it is that OFMD fans who hate Izzy spend so much time in the Izzy tag posting about him and writing meta about him and getting all worked up about other people's views on him when they could just not do that. They could go have fun with characters they like! But it's not really about Izzy most of the time, is it? Usually it's about making sure to loudly repeat that Izzy is wrong about Edward.

It's in the litigation of 1x04 to argue Edward was trying to teach and Izzy was just too stupid to listen, or that Edward was right all along and Izzy sabotaged a perfectly good plan by lying to Edward's face about tides and making him doubt it. (Remember that one? I do.) It's in criticizing Izzy in 1x06 where somehow the entire conflict caused by Edward's plan to murder Stede - that he deliberately kept Izzy around for - falls entirely on Izzy to the point he might just be making up the whole thing from one idly floated suggestion.

And yeah, it's all over the place in 1x09 and 1x10 meta. Their preferred version of Ed never would have done anything like this if he'd had a choice and Izzy hadn't threatened his life, so all the bad stuff is really on Izzy for trying to force him into being this "evil" character they don't recognize. And if they're feeling particularly extra then Edward might even have set the whole thing up as a fuckery just to save his new friends from Izzy!

...I'm being excessively bitter, aren't I? Moving back to the topic:

It is about Edward. It's practically always about Edward, and how they think we like the wrong things about him. Izzy is our main (but not only!) window into who Edward was just before the romance started and they don't like what he implies, so Izzy must be malicious, delusional, so incompetent that Stede can run circles around him in a duel, so awful he can personify every bad thing Edward isn't, and, crucially, he must be entirely wrong about everything.

(It's honestly a pretty clever way to invalidate Edward takes - if one that almost certainly developed more organically than intentionally. Someone decides that Izzy holds X belief about Edward that's obviously wrong, works backwards based on disliking vibes to an indisputably wrong reason he would hold this belief - like racism or homophobia - and they get people reading their meta to hate a guy they don't care about anyway for said reason. Then when he's brought up as a meta interpretation character witness by someone else suddenly it's "Are we going to listen to what the racist says about who our POC blorbo is? Of course not. In fact Izzy believing X proves that the reality is Y." They double down and repeat the cycle, convinced they are definitely interpreting what the writers intended, with Izzy getting worse every time.)

Whereas if you do think Edward's backstory and characterization as Blackbeard is interesting for more than just contrasting the tragedy of it against your idyllic retirement endgame, then you probably tend to think Izzy is pretty interesting too. And maybe that understanding where he's coming from could give some insight on Edward that you won't be dismissing immediately. Liking or hating Izzy has become a fairly good barometer for which aspects of Edward's characterization you are interested in exploring along the route to his happy romcom ending.

Basically we all watched OFMD, turned to tumblr, and then I found their version of Edward to be an exceptionally boring read on one of my faves while they decided my takes made their same fave too mean or something. Now months later we've got whatever the hell toxic mess this counts as, all still rooted in the same, entirely unremarkable differences of opinion about 5 hours of a silly pirate show. I don't know if it's something about the blend of genres or the rep attracting a wider audience, or hell - maybe it's just a bunch of toxic fandom trends we've been aware of (ex: anti-"problematic" ship / fan harassment) hitting a new peak simultaneously, but the OFMD fandom has some Problems™ and they aren't people liking Izzy.

Izzy likers are just easy to target, and even easier to frame as deserving it in the same breath.

---

Oh, and just because it bugs me every time I see it mentioned:

We don't actually have a notably unusual percentage of people who like Izzy in the first place?

Like I did this statistics comparison a while back, and it still holds fairly true (ex: now at 17,000 works, 68.8% are tagged BlackBonnet vs 11.7% BlackHands). If Izzy was just some random asshole then his numbers might be a sign of an unusually large group of fans gravitating to him, but he's not. He's the most developed antagonist, 3rd or 4th most developed character easily, and he lives on their boat. No shit he shows up in a reasonable cross section of fan content.

People having fun with antagonists in fandom is not new behavior or a symptom of uncontrolled shitty white guy stanning. It's a character type that is popular, which Izzy happens to fill in OFMD.

Not going to put this directly on the long discussion chain that prompted it because it’s somewhat topic adjacent at best and I have no intention of derailing a discussion of fandom racism, but - while reading some of the “Izzy critical” responses that @bromelads got - I did see mention of one thing that I have both passionate feelings about and a near constant desire to elaborate some oft ignored context for. So.

One of the things mentioned as a source of discomfort in fandom for “Izzy critical” poc was posts rejecting that Edward was growing or healing in 1x09 and 1x10, suggesting that it mostly serves to empathize with Izzy over Ed and to make Izzy’s actions look better at the expense of Ed’s character / softness. The same person who gave this example later agreed that there’s some truth in the idea that Izzy crits’ misinterpretation of Izzy fan meta has something to do with the (very baffling) perception that we all don’t like Ed or think he’s the simplified villain of Izzy’s story or something, which I just want to a) appreciate for a second because I do actually adore Edward so much, and b) mention specifically because I think the whole Ed healing debate is a great example of that.

I’m not going to argue why I am staunchly in the “Ed wasn’t healing” / “Kraken was inevitable” camp because I’ve done it before, but I do want to point out some related thoughts around that argument that I’ve picked up on each time it loops back around.

I feel like a lot of the people who strongly disagree with or get mad about that take frame it as though we are minimizing or rejecting the existence of Edward’s softness entirely. It’s like… Ok, so there is a distinct sequence of moments where Edward is displaying emotional vulnerability or a draw toward fine things that fans noticed, and then they interpreted the pink robe Ed’s “healing” as all that starting to pay off in his character development (before being interrupted by an external obstacle: Izzy). A very straightforward A -> B. Only when I push back against B and say “hold on I don’t see any healing in 1x10,” then I feel like people hear me rejecting that all the moments of A meant anything at all. If I see the shadow of the Kraken as an internally motivated obstacle being built in earlier episodes, then I must think that’s the dark and violent payoff, and the evidence of softness was a diversion or manipulation or just not going anywhere significant in character terms.

Which is very frustrating to me because Edward is a romcom protagonist.

Yes, this is very obvious to everyone. But it matters in this debate because protagonist status comes with very significant guarantees - namely, Edward is going to grow / heal / get his happy ending, etc. We’ve even got Stede’s S1 arc (which remember is still unfinished too) as a good example of structure and focus on internalized character flaws framed by plot hurdles. There is no version of this story arc where Edward ends as the Kraken, and I have never seen anybody suggest he’s not currently on a character arc toward growth and healing and a circle of true companions in Stede’s crew who love him for who he is.

So when I or anyone else says he’s not there yet, it’s almost exclusively because we are arguing about where he is on this character arc in 1x10. Of course the appreciation for fancy clothes and slow mornings with overly sugared tea is going to pay off! Of course he’s going to become friends with the crew (I’m rooting for Frenchie S2 bonding)! Of course he’s going to get to beat back that self loathing he’s carried since his dad! But people get defensive and angry like you are personally targeting them and declaring their blorbo an irredeemable asshole because you suggest character development major enough to drive a character driven show probably takes more than a few weeks of easygoing vacation to reach final form. That’s not what I’m saying at all!

Interpretations upsetting or offending people even when written with a complete lack of malice is nothing new, but it really seems like making up a whole army of guys to get mad at for takes is happening more and more. (And I’ll admit I’m probably getting more and more guilty of this myself as my understanding of what exactly people are arguing in different fandom city states gets more and more fractured. Meta builds off of meta, and if you randomly see one post by one blog you already disagree with, you might be missing a lot of context to clarify what they actually mean vs “of course that’s the awful take you would have”.)

[willel]

This isn't about MikexWill or ElxMike, just about the character Mike Wheeler. What's your take on him? (No pressure tho.)

Hm, I feel conflicted with Mike, but it's mostly because of the writing. I feel like the writers, outside of the show, want us to feel a certain way about him and I get it. But they aren't WRITING it that way. And it's not a "fill in the blanks!" situation either, they just write Mike so weirdly that I'm confused on what they're doing with him.

To me, it feels like they aren't really writing Mike as a character. He's only being written as a love interest and it's been this way since season 3.

Where is his personal conflict outside of his romance?

El - Boy howdy she is always dealing with a lot of personal shit, too much to name actually.

Will - The boy is dealing with his sexuality, loneliness, with a dash of supernatural dust on the side

Lucas - Dealing with racism and bigotry. In trying to do something about it and protect himself, he finds himself abandoned by his friends

Max - Still working through her complex feelings about her step brother and step father, good and bad. Also having to take care of her mom and not so great living conditions. Her best friend moving away and feeling like a burden for her ex-boyfriend

Dustin - Struggling with his grades I guess....?

To be honest, Mike and Dustin kinda had the same issue for me. There didn't feel like there were any personal issues or growth with them for a while. In season 3, Dustin ditched the group because "They didn't believe me about Suzie and ditched me" even though 3 of the 5 friends did believe him for a while and stayed up there with him for hours trying to contact Suzie. But hey, 13 year olds exaggerate so eh. But he didn't really have any "issues", he was just... there. I mean, I guess that isn't BAD but it's not very interesting. At least with season 4, something deeply personal has happened to him so I wonder where they'll go with that.

Then there's Mike, continuously ditching everyone to make out with El and take jabs at Hopper. (that first episode of season 3 almost felt like he was doing all that JUST to get back at Hopper, but I like to think 13 year olds aren't THAT devious) I don't really blame him for being intimidated by a grown man resulting in him lying though. But the constant whining about his relationship while there's a monster on the loose was tiring.

I guess I can't say I'm very invested in Mike's character right now. It's always about El. When it's not about El, it's about Will. There's rarely anything about MIKE.

Before Volume 2 dropped, I started speculating maybe Karen and Holly might kick the bucket. As sad as it would be, that would certainly rock Mike's entire character, right? He lost his sister and his mom, how will that affect their family and him personally? Surely Mike and Nancy would grow EXTREMELY close. (yes, I have thought about this a lot. They would still be financially stable because of Ted, but they aren't close to their dad so they'd grow closer to each other instead and finally understand each other more. Finally, the Nancy and Mike content this series has needed since season 1)

Maybe he would become more empathetic/emotional again? At last, HE would have even more personal investment in taking down the big baddies.

So I guess that's where I'm sitting at right now.

"Please Duffers, can Mike have some non-romantic character arcs again? Give him a dog in this race!"

It's a bit too late for that now imo (the killing Karen and Holly thing I mean, doubt it's gonna happen now) but I hope they do something really early in season 5 that just... gives Mike's character that boost it needs.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi again! Very short, specific and kinda stupid question, but I was just rewatching 11.09 'wild life' and there's an exchange between Greg and Sara at the victims' apartment that stood out to me. Noting that the couple's parrot's still there, Greg asks why it isn't talking, and Sara says that he might be traumatized cause he 'lived in an abusive household and witnessed dad kill mom'... And I'm like hello? Sara says it so casually, with Greg standing right beside her. I don't think he knew about her childhood in that moment, and I'm not sure if that confuses me more or less. Anyways, it's a very short, hardly trascendental exchange, but I thought it was very strange.

Thanks in advance!

hi, @its-a-geeks-world!

greg almost certainly doesn't know about sara's family history at that point, as he and the rest of the team aside from grissom seemingly only learn (vague) details about sara's childhood during the events of episode 13x15 "forget me not."

as for why sara can remain so calm and seemingly unaffected when talking about case details that closely mirror her own trauma, outside of the universe of the show, i blame the lazy writing of the later seasons: the writers didn't recognize what the implications were in putting those particular words into sara's mouth, and while jorja might've known as an actress what the valence was (given how in tune she is with her character), since the scene itself and the direction she was given likely didn't call for any kind of personal reaction on sara's part, she didn't insert one. it was meant to be just a quick exposition line, so that's what it was played as.

it's just part and parcel of the later seasons of the show basically forgetting all of sara's previous character history except for in one or two very special episodes™—same as why she doesn't have a particularly notable reaction to the horrific ipv aspects of the case in episode 14x12 “keep calm & carry on,” even though by all accounts she probably should.

the later seasons writers just in most cases eschewed making reference to any deep history with their characters.

they wrote "for the episode," not for the arc.

that's why the characterization of s10-s15 typically feels so shallow.

of course, if you're interested in an in-universe explanation for her weird level of blasé about the whole thing, you could maybe 

a) attribute it to the fact that perhaps she feels comfortable "going there" because ultimately they're talking about a bird and not a kid (so she doesn’t feel as much personal connection as she might if there were an actual human being involved in the situation for her to empathize with), 

b) assume that at this point in her life, when she's otherwise happy and stable and has a confidante/emotional support system in grissom, she just isn't as easily triggered as she would have been back of the day, so simply mentioning a case that resembles her father's murder isn't enough to set her off*, 

c) suppose that her cool is just a product of her having now had six years of practice in talking to grissom about her trauma, reasoning that now that she’s been able to apply language to the fact of it with someone she feels comfortable with, she has an easier time referring to it across the board,

OR

d) infer that perhaps she feels at liberty to parse the situation in the way that she does for greg because she has a feeling he won't draw connections between her and a parrot, no matter how insightful she is about the bird's trauma.

* that’s a strange thing about triggers: sometimes events/encounters that by all accounts should probably set someone off don’t, whereas events/encounters that shouldn’t occasionally do. the traumatized brain is idiosyncratic.

i mean, honestly, we could probably rationalize her behavior here in a dozen different ways, but i guess the bottom line is that, for whatever reason, she does seem to feel safe to make the comments that she does in this particular situation. 

one way or another, she’s not worried about being “found out” or having an emotional reaction that might clue greg in that what she was talking about was personal to her. 

somehow, she’s able to discuss (in a generic way) the condition of being traumatized from watching one parent murder another without being set off about it herself.    

and since the episode itself doesn’t offer any insight into the issue, really, it’s dealer’s choice on this one, in terms of what in-universe explanation one latches onto. 

sorry i can’t be more definitive!

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time. 

[araeph]

Conversation with prune-balled-blog

{NOTE: This is unedited, so please excuse spelling and grammar errors. With one exception--colons, which automatically bold anything in chat, have been replaced with [colon] where necessary to preserve the original formatting. Also, this is NOT an invitation to harass prune-balled-blog. Please do not @ him about this.}

prune-balled-blog: Sorry for the confusion. Should asked this. Do you know WHO talked with Aaron Ehasz?

Should have*

araeph: There are various tumblr and message board users who claimed to have talked to him. Some on the Kataang side[colon] http[colon]//araeph.tumblr.com/post/152660740000/web-archive

Some on the Zutara side[colon] http[colon]//araeph.tumblr.com/post/159119946362/kataraandzuko-terminaschosenone

But I don't know any of them by name.

prune-balled-blog: Thanks for the reply.

araeph: You're welcome. [smiley]

prune-balled-blog: It's all fake by the way. Aaron confirmed it on an Reddit AMA. The whole "Season 4/I had a different vision" thing was debunked.

Also, this for good measure.

[two screenshots inserted of reddit AMA]

araeph: Yes, I saw that post. However, what he said was the studio asked him to think up ideas for Season 4 and that he discussed them with Mike. So he did come up with ideas for it, even if they never went into production.

I also would call The Legend of Korra daring and beautiful. I just don't think it was any _good_.

prune-balled-blog: But those ideas were never outspoken.

It's all smoke and mirrors.

araeph: You mean, he never spoke to anyone else about Book 4? We don't know anything about who he did or didn't talk do between the period when Nick asked him to think up suggestions and the time when Bryke shut it down.

Of course, neither do we know that he said any of the things he allegedly said in those tumblr posts. [smiley]

prune-balled-blog: It's very easy to infer that he said absolutely nothing to anyone about anything.

He certainly would have gotten into more detail, but he didn't.

araeph: It's certainly possible. But nothing is certain.

prune-balled-blog: I mean, i would say the chances of Unicorns existing are pretty low.

araeph: How do you know he would "certainly" have gone into more detail?

prune-balled-blog: Because he seems to know of "Fake interviews", and i'm sure he would been able to go into further detail explaining that he didn't discuss any details of a possible Season 4 with some random. My point, is that had those claims been true, he would feel the need to address them further to clear further confusion. But his post implies the entire shebang was a ruse.

prune-balled-blog: There's no need to speculate any further. It was all a big hoax made by Zutara shippers putting Aaron on a pedestal to expand on their agenda. And people who didn't like Korra.

araeph: I think the opposite is true. If he'd said, "I never discussed it with anyone but Mike, and all the interviews from fans are fake," that would have been easy. He said there were some fake interviews out there, and that he did discuss it with Mike, and that's all we know.

Since it was suggested at the studio level, no it was not a hoax, and no one ever put Ehasz on a pedestal.

prune-balled-blog: I'm going to have to disagree with you there.

prune-balled-blog: And oh, yes they certainly do.

araeph: That's fine if you disagree.

prune-balled-blog: Look everywhere. People praise Ehasz as the sole reason why Avatar was good only because he was head writer.

prune-balled-blog: This whole thing reeked of angry fans methodically building a boogeyman because they were unhappy with how things went for their favorite show.

araeph: Actually, it's more of a process of elimination.

Before I saw Legend of Korra, I too thought Bryke were the be-all-end-all of Avatar.

Then LOK's writing let me down, and I started realizing there were people with power to influencing the writing of ATLA.

prune-balled-blog: You don't have to go through the motions. I know exactly your point of view.

araeph: Maybe it was Tim Hedrick or Joshua Hamilton? But they went on to make Voltron, and while that show was good for a while, it's headed off the rails now.

prune-balled-blog: Yeah but were we REALLY shocked when things didn't turn out perfect? Any show would have a stark difference in quality had an army of writers left a project.

araeph: Yes, it would.

prune-balled-blog: Assuming Korra would be just as good as Avatar, due to some naive 'understanding' that Bryke is the "end-all-be-all" is just silly.

araeph: Since almost everyone outside the fandom knows Bryke as /the/ creators of the show, and since they were the executive producers, it actually makes sense.

It just happened to be wrong.

prune-balled-blog: All you had to do was look at who was in charge, and marginalize your expectations accordingly.

prune-balled-blog: Actually, not entirely. It's dumb to assume two guys from Rhode Island (?) who had no prior experience running a show or writing a script, that they would churn out gold a second time without the 15 or so extra writers on board.

Not to mention a missing Head Writer.

What this fandom did to Bryke was shameful.

They kicked them in the dirt and spat on them for making something they wanted.

Aaron was a talented guy, and likely a massive contributor to what made Avatar a great piece.

prune-balled-blog: But what people did to demonize these poor guys was a complete and utter disgrace.

araeph: If you think fans (most of whom have no experience in television) should have known better than the studio heads who banked on EXACTLY the churning out gold a second time premise that we did, I don't know what to tell you.

araeph: Bryke aren't poor, and they're not victims.

prune-balled-blog: Would you forgive a thief for committing a crime because he didn't know stealing was wrong? This should be pretty obvious, no?

They certainly aren't villains.

araeph: Hahaha, so people who are ignorant of the details of television production are comparable to thieves?

prune-balled-blog: And if you think so, you're delusional.

araeph: Let me make this simple. Bryke accepted the credit for being the overall creators of the show.

prune-balled-blog: It was a hyperbolic example. Should have been obvious.

araeph: They got the accolades, so they get all the criticism for not living up to expectations.

araeph: Thievery is not an exaggeration of not delving into production details from a medium you're not an expert in.

prune-balled-blog: That's bizarrely unfair.

araeph: It's called "with great power comes great responsibility".

prune-balled-blog: I know. I saw Spider-Man.

And honestly, the people who spread this bull online should have listened to Uncle Ben.

araeph: How much power do a bunch of online fans really have, compared to successful showrunners who can snap their fingers and get a press release into the news?

prune-balled-blog: A lot, actually. For example, when Microsoft announced the Xbox One, they had a slew of controversial shit under their belt. After 2 days of nonstop harassment from fans, they reneged on that deal. And boom. Huuuuge change.

The internet is a powerful tool.

prune-balled-blog: Granted, that was a good change. Considering Microsoft went out of their way to enslave gamers wallets and playful freedom.

araeph: True. But for every example like that, Microsoft as a thousand other unpopular practices that they continue with no matter how many people complain.

araeph: I don't know of Bryke ever admitting to changing something about the way they took care of business, just because people complained.

prune-balled-blog: I would happen to agree with that. But the bottom line is that the internet is a tool.

prune-balled-blog: My main point is this. Pleading ignorance to how a show is made is not a serviceable answer for what fans have said/lied about with Bryke. That's all.

araeph: I disagree. When a show is marketed by creators like Bryke as a true successor to their previous work, and they make NO attempt to tamp down expectations themselves, they can't blame people who are not industry professionals for believing the hype that THEY and the studio they worked with spread far and wide.

araeph: And if your argument is, "Well you should have known better than to believe what they said," then you can't also make the argument of "poor Bryke" if the latter were intentionally misleading and exaggerating.

prune-balled-blog: What they said? No, i said you should have been able to infer you miiiight just be getting something a taaad bit different if you only saw they were returning, and no one else.

araeph: But this is exactly the problem. You're blaming fans for not reading between the lines, and not Bryke, who put out those very lines, despite the latter having vastly more power and experience at their disposal.

araeph: They, as showrunners, had a greater responsibility to inform fans of what LOK would really be like than the fans had to research and acquaint themselves with the intricacies of making television.

prune-balled-blog: Let me ask you something. Is it probably a fair/good idea to create a fake hoax that basically claimed Ehasz had been at odds with Bryke the entire production, claimed a Season 4 was supposed to be made, and that he had different plans for Korra had be been involved?

Bryke said Korra was going to be a sequel in the future, with a new Avatar. They were also the only confirmed writers. You can infer A LOT from that.

araeph: If any (or all of those interviews) are hoaxes, they should be condemned and the people who made them up should be criticized for it. I personally still believe there was some tension, but stating my opinion, even if it's based on speculation, isn't dishonest unless I pass it off as fact.

prune-balled-blog: That's fair enough.

araeph: As for what they said about Korra ...

http[colon]//comicsalliance.com/the-legend-of-korra-michael-dante-dimartino-bryan-konietzko-interview/

:I really love when Korra arrives in Republic City and sees Aang's statue for the first time. There's a moment where she's almost in a trance. She's in awe of Aang and also wants to become as great an Avatar as he was. The Legend of Korra is a little like that for us. We know we have a big legacy to live up to, but hopefully this series will be even better than the original."

[so-long-soldier28]

The lack of world building is always going to bother me. They kind of gave us an idea of Krypton, but almost nothing in regards to every other planet. And I have so many questions! Like I get it's based off comics (I think, or at least the 80s show), so maybe I'm supposed to already know, but there's no way they followed it verbatim. They couldn't give us anything about their home planets?

Like since I mentioned I'm only on season 3, I only know half of what went on in the show, but still. We know enough to keep the plot going about J'onn's and M'gann's planets. We have the bare minimum on Daxam; most about Krypton, but even then, not a lot. Unless it's explored in s4-6, I can't recall ever being told where Brainy came from. And I think she's mostly unimportant to the plot, but all I can remember about Imra is that she was from Saturn, but then she completely disappeared in s3. (Like where did she go, did I just forget?) But my point was that yeah, so many aliens and so much to explore, and they just... didn't. (Same with Lyra / Winn's gf; writers please tell us more. [And where did she go?]).

But back on humans and the crimes the show did to them, both James and Winn deserved so much better than what they got. I feel like the show sometimes would focus so much on one plotline, and then they'd be like, "oh, shit! we have all these side characters we need to update, too!" and then give them little subplots, or have them suddenly have a key piece of information that advances the plot. It's really frustrating.

And also same, about Winn and Kara. I so wanted them to have a little moment or something where they found common ground in their rocky childhoods. Where they were both uprooted from their homes and their lives because of something tragic, and then had to learn to adapt and survive. They both grew stronger because of what they had faced, but that doesn't mean it wasn't hard. But no. Like you said, Winn is just the comic relief. I can't blame Jeremy for leaving, even though I'm heartbroken that he did.

Additionally, with these two, I can't tell you how badly I wished they gave us scenes with them just being friends and talking. We get to see friendly banter often, and sometimes they have those deep conversations, but certainly not enough. Like after Mon-El left, I was hoping they'd take a moment to comfort each other, because they both loved him in their own way; no one can tell me him leaving didn't hurt Winn - they were buddies. Or I wished that Mon and Winn could've had a conversation in s3 about their rough childhoods, because I just know Mon's was difficult, judging by how Rhea treated him and spoke to him in s2. Anything to (1), build even more trust in their friendship, and (2), give them some common ground, would've been lovely, even if they just needed to advance the plot. I also think Winn would've been a person Kara could go to about Lena, whenever she was at a crossroads with her. Lena, as well, had a very difficult childhood, and Winn could've given Kara some perspective on it. OR, even better, Winn and Lena could've been friends. They helped each other out in that one episode in early s2, why didn't they explore it further?! And I understand maybe they're too different, or their jobs are too different / secretive to be super close, but why not a "I got your back, you've got mine" or something?!

But yeah, now I am running on a tangent. I have a lot to say, clearly, about this show, and I'm only just finished with s3. If I watch anymore (Winn and Mon are gone; my heart is broken), I know my complaints list will only grow. 😅

do y'all remember when mon-el mentioned that on daxam marriages are arranged at birth, and do you also remember that when daxam exploded, he was in bed with some woman? do you think that was his arranged wife (doubtful) or do you think his actual arranged wife was ever like, hey, could you like not... sleep around??

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Bedtime” & “Mojo Jojo Builds a Shelf”

Bad time.

Bedtime

Bedtime. Sounds like it’s going to be a really exciting title. Not a pun, just what this short is focused on. The lack of creativity certainly fits this short, let me tell you.

If I were to say one positive about this episode, it's that they managed to get all of their new personalities in the opening scene. Blossom wants to read her book, Buttercup is stealing Octi, and Bubbles is crying about it. It's not too far off from the original, which is always a plus. The Professor comes into the room, and tells the girls to go to sleep so they can take a good family photo.

There’s a running joke about an incident with a werewolf ray ruining the last time he tried this. This leads to the a running joke where the Professor, along with getting annoyed with the Puffs lack of sleeping, is worried that they're going to go werewolf again.

Professor: I'm starting to hear a lot of howling...figuratively...I think...

See, it's funny because...the full moon comes out at night? You really got to stretch for these jokes to make sense. At least this short is giving me something else for the Halloween season. Werewolves, oooh!

Buttercup has a song in her head that just goes "who’s up in the club, youse up in the club." I guess it's supposed to be a joke on how Buttercup is "staying up". Blossom calls it the worst song ever. Eh, it’s pretty close, but I can think of a few others that are worse.

This is certainly coming to mind. Emmy nominated episode. Yeesh.

As for the other two, Blossom bothers the other two with her headlight, as she has to read the latest financial reports. I get it, she's supposed to be a boring nerd who likes boring things, but isn't the target audience supposed to relate to this girl? Bubbles just randomly has a tea party in the middle of the night, and Buttercup just says "seriously". The "fist bump" for random scenes.

This episode takes a lot from I’ll Be Bake, except it is the Professor that is the comic foil, and with sleeping instead of baking. I didn't particularly like that one, but I think I have a newfound slight appreciation of it compared to this. At least I'll Be Bake stuck to the "cooking badly" theme, but they pretty much give up halfway through this three minute short.

They repeatedly just have the Professor catch one of the Powerpuff Girls in the act of doing something that involves them being awake. They repeat the Blossom reading gag, because they couldn't think of something else for her to do. As for the other jokes, I can relate to the Powerpuff Girls trying to sneak some video games at night, but I don't get the construction work joke. Is it funny because working is the opposite of sleeping?

Oh, and they randomly turn into werewolves for a split second, only for the Powerpuff Girls to deny it happened. That is the only payoff for the werewolf "joke".

It all ends with a cut to all three girls partying to the "whose up in the club" song. The one song Blossom was annoyed with a minute ago. Consistency, what's that?

Oh yeah, and Allegro makes a cameo for no reason whatsoever. He is not the villain of the short, he is never mentioned again, he is just floating across the screen as if his appearance adds anything to anything. They must know the critics exist, and they put him in just so they can get a reaction from them. That is the only explanation I can think of...and I guess they succeeded?

After all of that, the Powerpuff Girls get a bad family picture, as the Professor is tired, and the Puffs are sleeping. It's the expected outcome. The only real joke here is that the person behind the camera is that incompetent camerawoman from Bubbles of the Opera. Was the photo doomed anyway? Who knows, and who cares.

Mojo Jojo Builds A Shelf

I made fun of this title before, but this is actually a plot with a lot of potential. This is especially true if we’re thinking about the actual Mojo Jojo. I can imagine him trying to put together this shelf, failing miserably in wacky ways, and saying "curses". Two out of three isn't bad. Seriously, he never says "curses"!

The "great and evil Mojo Jojo", who has to tell people that he's great and/or evil, is about to enact his most diabolical plan...making an evil shelf for his evil snowglobes. Considering the real Mojo Jojo, it's actually not too far off from him making a ship in a bottle.

Specifically, it's a Forgen Klippylla shelf, Forgen being an obvious parody of ready-to-assemble furniture company Ikea. Their logo is even a blue rectangle inside of a yellow circle, the exact opposite of Ikea's. Most of the jokes that involve them involve them talking like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. Get it, because Ikea is from Sweden!

Much like I’ll Be Bake and Bedtime, it’s a one joke premise centered around failure. He tries to put up some books to keep the boards from falling over, and they fall over sideways. He uses the helpline, which he accidently dials the number that ends the call. The most random joke is where he tries his hardest to make the shelf, thinks he succeeded, but accidently made a pair of wooden pants. He phones the Forgen help line again, and apparently the helpline actually has an option for that!

There's actually a few times I cracked a smile at this, mostly because it's pretty relatable. Sure, there's moments like this in Bedtime, the relatable part, not the smile part, but it's far better here.

There's one scene where he accidentally hammers himself in the eye, a joke straight out of The Simpsons Movie. In the rest of the short, he has an eyepatch on, only taking it off in this one scene where he lasers everything in a failure-inspired rage. An attention to detail that is rarely seen in this show.

I actually have no problem with that laser scene for two reasons. It reminds me of the Donald Duck rage scenes, which I can totally see either Mojo or Reboot Jojo doing. The other reason is that, along with the first scene, it shows that the writers are aware they're writing jokes about supervillains failing at making shelves rather than just a person making shelves. A low bar, but a bar they clear nonetheless.

Despite all of that, he eventually makes the shelf. It's literally the next scene after that laser scene. No explanation, which is actually the joke. The very last joke actually got a smile out of me. Sure, it’s expected, but it actually has surprisingly good timing. All in all, it's the best of the four.

All in all, these shorts...exist. At least when you reached the absolute bottom, the only way to go is up. Even Bedtime isn’t as bad as Bubbs and You-Know-Who Get The Mail. Next, we go from slightly related to Halloween to the actual Halloween special.

← I’ll Be Bake & Blissfully Unaware (shorts) ☆ Midnight at the Mayor’s Mansion →

[sometimesrosy]

1) Bob said B would be drawn to Echo...but it doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would anyone be drawn to someone who helped kill their girlfriend, almost killed their beloved sister, and more?? Let alone B, who is so emotional and feels things so personally and deeply? I guess I'm just worried they're gonna force the forgiveness arc, like they did with CL. I didn’t find it believable at all that C could so quickly get over L’s betrayal and fall back into her arms, and it rly felt like they did t

2) did that to cater to the CL fandom. But at least they had a romantic relationship before, so I guess there were some grounds established. So I find something like this even less believable for B, who takes things more personally than C and didn’t have a prior romance with Echo. It seems very strange to me that he’d just be able to get over Echo’s actions and feel “drawn” to her. I do believe it’s important to learn to forgive and B does need to learn this.

3) But that doesn’t mean you have to forgive every single person who has ever hurt you, especially when Echo has done so many things that have hurt B, such as almost killing the person most important to him?? I think part of my uncomfortableness also stems from the writers’ penchant for turning abusive relationships involving great betrayal and pain and casting them as romantic so I’m dreading seeing Becho when she has hurt him so much. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Thoughts?

Okay. The reason why it doesn’t make sense to you is because you are looking at it as romance. And looking at romance as the idea that Love is The Answer. Which… this show does not do. Love is really important on The 100, and it does make the suffering worth while and give people motivation, but not all love here is pure. Not all love is healthy. Love is used a patch to fix things that it can’t fix. It’s not a very romantic show. 

The reason why people are drawn to the people who hurt them is– well, people are drawn to those who hurt them. Abusers. Kidnappers. Bad parents. Sisters who blame them for everything. Rivals. Especially in a world where everyone is doing things that harm people, but everyone has valid reasons for the harm they cause, they are drawn to those people in whom they can see a reflection of themselves. 

Clarke was drawn to Finn, Bellamy, Anya, Lxa, Dante, Roan, Jaha, even Emerson. Some of these relationships turned out better than others. All of them caused harm. Most of them were warlike and/or tyrannical.

Bellamy was drawn to Clarke, Finn, Gustus, Lincoln, Kane, Maya, Echo, Pike, Roan. Interestingly, the people Bellamy was drawn to were more likely to be conciliators and peace makers than the ones that Clarke was drawn to. I think that has to do with how they were looking for an aspect of themselves that they had not mastered yet. 

Why has Bellamy been drawn to Echo? Because she reminds him of himself. A tool for the powers that be. A loyal knight. A person willing to do anything for her people. A person struggling with the difference between doing what is right and doing what is best for her people.

Forgiving Echo offers him a chance to forgive HIMSELF. He feels he killed his own mother. He feels a monster. Still. He’s trying to make up for it. Just like he stopped Riley from starting a massacre, to make up for what happened with Finn, finding a way to forgive Echo and help her in her redemption, opens the door for him to forgive himself and find his OWN redemption. Forgiveness and Redemption are big themes. 

Might it open the door for romance? It might. Is it ABOUT romance? It is not.

As for CL. I don’t consider it fanservice. I consider it a story they wanted to tell because it was a good story and involved all the themes and struggles and obstacles they wanted for Clarke Griffin, and one that was dashing and gorgeous and dramatic and romantic and “edgy” or “progressive” or whatever their intention was with making a relationship that started in kidnapping and betrayal a wlw relationship. I don’t think they thought all the repercussions through.

Clarke’s easy forgiveness of L wasn’t necessarily the right thing to do. The story didn’t actually say she deserved to be forgiven. She didn’t REALLY change. L ended her story the way she started her story with The 100. With a kill order on ALL the Sky Crew. Clarke forgave her while her prisoner. She forgave her while Sky Crew was still on lock down and denied freedom and the ability to survive independently or to defend themselves. This is definitely an interpretation of canon, but so is believing that Lxa reached a legitimate redemption. WAS L redeemed? I don’t think so. Some do. 

Did Clarke’s interaction with L make her a better leader? I don’t know. She seemed a lot better leader in season 1. She was certainly less broken, although more naive. Did Clarke’s interaction with L make her a better person? That’s something to consider. 

I do think we have a tendency to use the word “abusive” too much, and people might think that’s ironic coming from me, but I did NOT use that label casually when I said it about CL. I didn’t even just base it on my own personal feelings and experience. I did a LOT of research and tried to define what an abusive relationship meant before I started putting it out there. Abusive relationships are not just saying mean things or causing physical harm. They are about a pattern of continued behavior with intent to control and over power tied with the emotions and connection of intimate relationships. CL took a political relationship ABOUT power and turned it romantic. The power issues never went away. Season 2 was not a romantic relationship, it was a political one with chemistry and attraction. And one kiss which was rebuffed. That is not a relationship. I’m sorry it’s just not. As much as people want that to be a relationship. You don’t get a girlfriend by kissing someone who then says, “sorry I’m not looking for anything right now.” That is not how relationships work.

Echo and Bellamy did not have an abusive relationship because they were not in a relationship. They were comrades and she betrayed him. Then they were enemies. Quite clearly. That is not an abusive relationship. They saved each other and became comrades again at the end of the world. I think we can give them a pass on that since the real enemy was Praimfaya. 

But YES, I can agree that they are paralleling CL with BE. However, just because they use some of the same elements, does NOT mean it’s going to turn out the same way. Compare Bellamy stopping Riley from starting another massacre to Bellamy failing to stop Finn and starting a near genocide. So for all we know, the parallel between CL and BE will serve to show a BETTER way to deal with that betrayal/forced relationship. Let’s watch and see if we get an actual redemption and positive character growth instead of what happened to Clarke. 

And also, remember, Echo is a name of a character in Greek myth. She was in love with Narcissus, who did not love her back, and she pined away for his love until all that was left was her voice, echoing him. Are you SURE they’re setting BE up for some meaningful love relationship? I’m not saying there won’t be a romantic thing, but…the larger narrative and literary themes are not pushing in that direction. 

All I’m saying here is look more closely at how the CL and BE relationships (whatever they may be) affect Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake. Because THIS is the story being told. Not the romances themselves, but how those romances (if that’s what they end up being) affect our heroes.