#Proactive rambling thoughts

[copingintheghetto]

Google voice typing trial run

I haven't written anything for a while. I am trying to form good habits and be consistent in just about everything in my life because that's a big problem for me. And I don't think my therapist can help me with this as my psychiatrist NP suggested.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is this the name I have and coping in the ghetto is- I don't know what these words mean as of February 28th 2024.

I need to change the word ghetto because I do not live in the ghetto anymore. I know where that is in this medium sized city, which is the capital of the state.

It's a place that is depressing to me because it reminds me of where I was and I worry that things will go badly and I'll lose my little home that I love and be walking the streets looking for anything and everything. I worry about losing my sources of income because I'm not good enough at my job according to my coaches. Even so, I think I'm a good employee that works my ass off. My homework assignment is to ask a coach for a minute of their time and read from a piece of paper that I will have written ahead of time addressing all of the things that I need to communicate. Then we'll be on the same page and a weight will be lifted off my shoulders. I will try to do this today. I have already talked to HR and she was really nice. She said she would be a mediator between me and the coaches and the leads nothing has ever come of that. Sometimes I wonder if they are treating me differently because of what she told them. Because I'm not expected to do as much as the other people. I mean new people are doing what I don't do. I've told them that I can do things if they're written down and I can see. But they don't seem to have time to let me write things down. So the solution will be to find a lesson on their learning platform while I'm clocked in before I start working and take notes. Then go up to them and say, "hey I got this written down here and I can do it now if you want me to."

What angers me is that I have carpal tunnel syndrome now because of my hard work there and my knee is messed up now as well. I'll see you doctor next week.

Then there's the anxiety about having to pay social security back around $5,000 since I went over the SGA amount beginning in November. I thought things that were incorrect, and now I know that I should have called them and asked about working full-time before I did so. It was awful for my mental and physical health by the way. The good thing is I gave them my wage information and now I'm just waiting for a caseworker to call me back.

If I do owe all of my savings, then that is just what will happen. The next step would be to save money again. And that's all there is to that.

The other thing is my psychiatrist NP who is now telling me to taper off of pregabalin and just take gabapentin, which is what I'm taking for my nerve pain in my wrist. I told her Gabapentin does not work for anxiety- that I've tried it. She ignored me and continued with her expert thoughts. I think the pregabalin shows promise. I just haven't figured out the right dose. But I am scared of talking to her about that.

The hand surgeon told me that he doesn't put people on Gabapentin long term. That if the pain gets bad, then surgery is an option. By the way, he gave me a steroid injection and I think it's helped but I'm not sure. He said it could help for months .

Back to NP. ... then the solution- if she's not willing to respect my wishes (my bodily autonomy?)- will be to find a different psychiatrist.

Unfortunately, they're pretty much all the same though. Perhaps 1 in 30 might prove helpful. But there's no law that says you have to stay with your provider. You can always seek another one.

Besides being consistent with things and writing things down before I tap on someone's shoulder to communicate, I have to figure out how to stop this compulsive talking I do all day at home.

A lot of it is just because I'm lonely and have no one to talk to. I crave human connection. Not with just anyone, of course. My own company is better than Bad Company. I wonder what the band Bad Company were thinking when they came up with that name.

I am not making an effort in this department though, so I can change that when I'm ready.

But how do I stop the talking? It wastes hours of my day every day. I apologize to my cat for not playing with her. I feel horrible. So, in order to decrease the chances of my ending up in a scary place with scary people trying to take advantage of me and succeeding, I have got to use my powerful amazing brain to make use of my precious time when I'm not at work.

Okay this should be the end of this Google Voice typing test. I think it works rather well so I'll continue to use it. This would be the beginning of another one.

Taking action. Cognitive behavioral therapy for me and you. No, the following is not something I came up with. Do I have to mention the source? I'll throw caution to the wind. This is from stuff I bought way over 10 years ago. It was expensive for me by the way, lol.

Lesson 1.

Anxiety: Symptoms, Causes, and Common Fears.

1. Notice personality traits that encourage anxiety.

2. Begin to appreciate the positive side of your personality.

3. You can change the way you think.

4. Begin making behavior changes.

5. Begin journaling.

6. Slow down in all ways.

7. Begin an exercise routine and reduce caffeine.

8. Recovery is a gradual process.

9. Use relaxation audio session three times daily.

10. Listen to your inner dialogue. Respectful? Kind?

"Your history does not have to be your future."

To be continued.

[rhaenyra-first-of-her-name]

Is HotD allergic to making all of the women in the show anything but a 'perfect' victim or what?

[manasurge]

bleh

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

I'm literally counting down the days til I bring my puppy home. I know it'll be a lot of work, and part of me is stressed about it, but I'm really looking forward to having something like a full time job. As a disabled person who's unable to work and isn't going to school, I struggle with depression and my self-worth. Also being autistic and ADHD, I really really struggle with setting my own routines. I NEED routine to function because of my autism but due to my ADHD, I can't stick with it without external accountability. So, I have a lot of free time on my hands in comparison to my peers, and it's hard when I'm asked "What's new with you?" or "What have you been up to?" because I don't have anything the average person finds value in to say. My mom (who's also AuDHD) and I always say we need "have to's" in our lives (meaning responsibilities and obligations) to maintain a routine. A puppy is a big "have to" and I really need that in my life. I need a big "have to" to organize my life around so I can get my shit together

[goldennika]

manifesting finally getting all my tax-related tasks done by next week 😌

[thedenofravenpuff]

Intelligence in DCA on TSAMS - A thought

Thoughts that been stuck with me for a bit

Through dimensions and story arcs of TSAMS-verse, Moons are typically depicted as the brainy but rash ones, Suns the emotional and empathetic ones. To a degree where Suns often gets put down as dumb and whatnot.

Eclipses are intelligent, taking after Moons, but having bits extra to prove themselves a challenge for Moons to face off. Since they are a bit of a fusion of the two to create a whole, and their intelligence depending on the directions they choose (OG Eclipse obsessed with replacing Moon, chosing cold logic. Solar taking after Sun, showing care yet having handy knowhow in most things he dabbles in).

Then we got Ruin, a "true Eclipse" so to speak. A perfect fusion of the two, not creating an unwanted code but putting their own existing codes together into something new and balanced. Moon's intelligence with Sun's theatrics and social intelligence. Creating a perfect actor for any situation, a sociopath with perfect logic and willingness to lower himself to act a lunatic or a coward for whatever gains he aims for. His intelligence surpassing Moon's, creating a machine able to ERASE the existence of cornerstones to dimensions for a single-minded cause.

Then there's Dark Sun. A Sun who snapped. Tired of being pushed around and belittled, he didn't fuse with his Moon but STOLE his intelligence, cannibalising on it to ad to his own intelligence. But staying a Sun. A Sun choosing cold logic, for the want to be left alone or in control. Seeing patterns differently from how a Moon would with his social intelligence, to pull strings and create a scheme even larger than Ruin ever could imagine. His true goal still unknown.

I find Dark Sun specially interesting for this. The way they keep pushing that Suns are dumb or useless, yet here's one who was proactive for his own cause and wants. Beyond what any Moon or Eclipse could foresee.

There's a huge difference in knowledge and intelligence. In knowing facts and being able to read people. To be able to create solutions and to solving issues yourself.

Those lines often cross, but is also often forgotten, especially on TSAMS.

Just some thoughts, based on how often cold intelligence is used to solve things, or empathetic social intelligence is used to build up things. Suns get a bad rep among those who consider themselves geniuses. Lord Eclipse even bashing on Dark Sun for "leaving it to others to do things for him", as if he ain't manipulating everything behind the scenes without needing a star or to be a fusion of codes.

Thanks for reading my ramble

[marengogo]

Rambling in INFJese - Part 10: Queerful In South Korea

SGMB and RPWP focused playlist

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

🐺 — 🐺 — 🐺—

Gurls, Bois and Enbies … Hellooooooooooo 📢 Yes, I’m finally, officially, back from my travels.

Am I feeling relaxed and refreshed?

NO.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m more tired than when I left 😬. You see, there was more excitement than I thought, or even budgeted for, but, lowkey highkey I knew it was going to turn out like that, so, it was what it was and it was unforgettable 😊💜. 

Now, on to the topic of today!

As the title kinda spoils, I would like to bring forth the topic of queerness in present day Korea, touching upon specific sub-subjects within this main-theme, which you will discover as you keep reading.

In order to provide more context and understanding, I’ll have to bring up a bit of Geography, a tad of Politics and a lot of History, and let me make this clear, even though I have been out of politics for quite some time I used to be very invested in world politics … I am presently indeed somewhat annoyed, because there seems to be a lot of misinformation that has been going around with regards to what it might mean to be gay/queer person in South Korea, in the big year of 2024, which is why I’d also like to encourage us to be proactive and do some research, on our own, with the available resources that are out there. I know it sounds heavy, but I promise I’ll try and make it as least cumbersome, and as much relatable to what might concern all Queer people, and JK and JM of course, as possible ✌🏾.

Let’s start with some Geography.

Asia … is a big ass continent. Because it is so big, amongst the people who make these kind of decisions, it was decided that this continent would have to be divided into 5 regions: Central, East, South, Southeast and West. The regions we are going to be concerned with are East and Southeast also known as ASEAN. The East has a total of 8 countries, out of which we are going to focus on 4 being; China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, while the Southeast has a total of 11, out of which we are only going to concentrate on 1, being Thailand … aaand that was all for Geography; painless right?

Great. So now it is time for some of History. We are now going to be talking about the history of the BL genre and the Queer art genre within two particular cultures; Eastern and Western.

BL, otherwise known as Boy’s Love, is a genre that was born in Japan in the 1970s. To properly discuss the world of BL it would take way too many blogs, so I’m afraid I won’t delve too deep into it, but in order to proceed with our discourse I need for everyone to at least understand the substantial difference between, for example, a series like The Eight Sense and Heartstopper. The first is a BL and the other is a Queer Coming-of-Age Drama. These two series are the I most point out very positive outcome of a lot of struggle and progress within both the BL and Queer art genre through the years.

The East and BLs - BL was created by women to be consumed by other women in Japan. It had nothing to do with creating content for gay/queer people, and this is very fundamental for everyone to understand. The thing is that it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, if you are or were a girl/woman you know the struggles are real. Different parts of the world deal with this frustration in different ways, and Japan and eventually the other 4 Asian countries I listed above found this to be one of them. The BL genre is basically having two men in a forbidden relationship, driven by mad passion, and who would always choose each other over the rest of the world. Star crossed-lovers where one of them would always be the Seme/Top or male-male and the other the Uke/Bottom or female-male. At the core of it all, BL was intended to be escapism, which eventually turned into fetishism and now can be all the above and something else entirely; evolution aye?

Mainly Asian women perhaps used BL to feel like their opinions and emotions could matter, in an environment where like also many other countries in Africa men are the ones that have the last say, or just any say at all. So they fulfilled their fantasy of being heard, and having power, while at the same time having the “strongest/most ideal” of men fall desperately in love with this male version of themselves. It is obviously much more complex than my two line sentence explanation, but for now, kindly keep this image in your mind.

Moving on!

The West and Queer Art - The queer genre in the West for the longest time was almost always a guaranteed tragedy. Interestingly enough, even though the first movie that mentioned homosexuality was in the 1960, the beginning of Queer culture in movies was, also for the West, in the 1970s. I can’t tell you the amount of books and films I have read and seen in my day says the woman in her thirties LOL and, despite the heart-wrenching looming tragedy, I would still enjoy finding comfort during those few chapters/scenes when the couple/pairing was happy, even though I knew for a fact that either one of them or both would die, or be eternally separated, or some other kind of tragedy.

The funny thing is that I would just accept it, because why not? Is not like my reality showed any different. It wasn’t like I was aware of happy and successful queer people around me, so why would I expect to read or watch anything else? Also I am a nasty ass angsty person so really I have no excuse. 

… are y’all following me thus far?

Now, let’s take a bit of a leap into the 2000s where money-makers finally clocked in on the fact that there is mad-money that can be made with BL in the East and Queerness in the West. In the East we start adopting fanservice within boybands and Asian-Dramas, we start printing thousands of BL mangas, and producing as many animes to match. In the West we keep having the token queer comedian appear on every show as well as making movies of historic queer figures who have impacted the world somehow, so that the queers can feel represented, even though all the actors are for the most part straight, because at this point in time, even though we acknowledge that Queer people exist, coming out is still very meh.

As the 2000s progress and we enter the 2010s thanks to actual progress within some western countries, the interweb and social media it becomes increasingly easier for an Eastern Fujoshi/Fudanshi/Fujin (Bl lover girl/boy/enby) to find themselves in say the UK, which has areas that breathe queerness and queer history and for a Western Queer to find themselves in say Japan where they can easily buy a manga about “queers” in happy relationship or, somewhere in South Korea, can easily see two very attractive boys/girls from a random kpop band openly kiss.

And then, in the midst of this “cultural” exchange, and awakening, something happens.

The Eastern Fujoshi/Fudanshi/Fujin realise that there are actual real queer people in the world sounds stupid, but believe me, it is not. That queer people are not just characters in a book, or anime, and that in fact there really are people in the world who are for example of the same sex and truly wanna be together and, if gay, for example, can also be both very masculine and still want to be together. At the same time the Western Queer realise that they actually can be happy, and that they deserves a happy ending, because some of this BLs aren’t half as bad and they sometimes make valid points and then you find out that actual queer people are now also writing BLs so things start to make some sense. 

As I mentioned, society was also changing, Queer people in the West started gaining a few rights, such as being able to get married in America and some European countries, and as a consequence, in the following decade, we now have series and movies that have Queer protagonist, with happy endings to boot! In the East, things are either not moving at all or moving a bit differently, or kinda slowly, but still it is movement. Within the countries that are moving differently, talking about Queerness is still heavy but has finally become something that they “don’t mind” just talking about and the gay neighbour is actually seen as the gay neighbour, whether they will talk to them is debatable, but at least they are recognised as such and not absurdly explained away or their existence ignored.

Now back to geography. The reason why I mentioned those 5 countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) is because at some point in the 2010s they were the main producers, and consumers, of BL within the Asian continent, and yes, while still being hella homophobic and, but let’s be real for a second, queer people have been around since the beginning of time, so even though BL was made and intended for women, our Queer Eastern Siblings would find a way to secretly also consume BL, being the closest thing to reading about a queer relationship, so added to the westerner consumption as well, it is no surprise that these 5 countries suddenly had a boom, despite having been being homophobic. 

Hence, it can be said that these 5 countries were on the same wavelength in the early 2010s, but what about now? With the considerable change in behaviour and thought with regards to Queer people in these countries in the early 2020s where do these 5 countries stand with regards to their Queer people and politics? Well, China has now banned BLs entirely, and I will not delve into their further lack of queer rights. Taiwan and Thailand have legalised Queer marriage. Then there is Japan which is making progress towards trying to legalise Queer marriage with to my greatest joy a successful ruling that happened this year in March related to same-sex unions … so, what about South Korea?

Well … SK is so close 🥹 … Yet so far 😫

It’s like they are taking 4 steps forward and 3 steps backwards, constantly. They are well far from China-levels which is a fucking relief I tell you! but they are dragging their feet to be at Japan-levels (and Japan is very close to Thailand and Taiwan Queer status currently). Yet, it is not as negative as it seems, or as some people try to portray it. You look around social media and they depict SK as if it were China. SK is currently facing a situation where it notices that things are changing and change is scary y’all. Resistance is the usual reaction to change, and the older generations, mainly those led by the Christian groups are not really where is at. SK’s youth and older liberal generations hold the answer to the Queer Korea questions.

So what exactly makes SK look hopeful? Well, time to get back to some History again 😘

The first Queer organisation in SK was formed in 1993 by 3 gay men and 3 lesbian women. The following year the 6 separated into 2 groups and formed the first gay organisation and the first lesbian one respectively. In 1997 we have the first demonstration for gay and lesbian rights, which then lead into 2000, the year of the first Pride Parade, which is one of the events of the very first Seol Queer Culture Festival Daegu Queer Culture Festival will be created in 2009, do keep this in mind … but another major event happened in the year 2000.

Y’all know that saying X walked so that Y could run? Well Hong Seok Cheon was basically forced to walk so that Queer Korean could learn how to properly train to run.

Though Seok-cheon is presently back to being somewhat popular again, his coming out was pretty traumatic. His career as comedian/actor started in 1994 and he was quite popular which landed him a good number of acting roles, and a lot of placements in comedy shows, as well as a kids show. In 2000 he was asked about his sexuality and he had no qualms in replying that he was gay. The show editors decided to cut out that part but a journalist gotta love them 🙃 got a hold of the footage and forced him to “elaborate”. Upon confirming, Seok-cheon lost all his jobs and was shunned verbally abused, discrimination and the lot, oh yes … by his own country. 

Not surprisingly, given that nobody in his own country wanted to interact with him, he at first thought of moving to the US to start afresh, but then decided against it. Seok-cheon decided to stay and prove to everyone in his country that he could make it and be successful again. And that he did. In 2002 he opened the first of what now is a high end chain of 9 restaurants in Itaewon. 2004 he joined the Democratic Labor Party and was selected by Time magazine as the Asian Hero of that year and in the following years Seok-cheon will keep racking up achievements  🎶🎵Did you see my bag? Did you see my bag? 🎶🎵 Namean?! (I’m not gonna list them all but you should definitely look him up and learn a bit about him, if you are interested).

But how does that connect to today? In 2008 he started his own talk show Coming Out and though there was a bit of resistance at the beginning as expected, the youth came in force and he started gaining audiences and boom! He was back on TV and slowly he’d get also a few cameos on prominent media, such as the Netflix drama Itaewon Class. Now let’s leave the lime-light for a second and let's look at the military 😬. It is vitally important that people understand that being gay is not illegal in any of the 5 countries we’ve been talking about yes, even China, but the public opinion and beliefs of each country greatly influence how their queer communities are thought of and treated.

Now, SK Military has become pretty infamous within the queer community for conducting witch-hunts in order to find out and humiliate gay soldiers, so much so that organisations such as Amnesty eventually had to step in. That being said, let's be real real real for a second. Though it is appalling what they have done to the queer soldiers, the SK military was also very famous for hazing, assaulting, causing cadets regardless of sexuality to want to unalive themselves and what more. All of the aforementioned, which put SK’s military on the map in a not so positive light globally, added to the increase in suicides, made the government address the situation, and they eventually came up with solutions such as the buddy system, which was first implemented in 2003. But, back to the gays. The most popular witch-hunt happened in 2017 where two soldiers amongst others were outed, but these particular two were found guilty of having sex off-base, during off hours.

In 2022 this conviction was overturned, the soldiers were no longer guilty and it is now no longer illegal, for queer soldiers, to have sex off-base during off-hours. You know what else happened in 2022? SK aired their first Queer reality shows, one being To Me(a)rry Queer and and the other being His Man. In 2023, His Man 2 will give us our first successful real-life queer couple, who are our beloved couple Junseong and Seongho (together known as Junseongho). They are the first queer couple to ever appear on Dazed magazine and we are all familiar with Dazed, it is not the front page like our boys get, but we all know how big of a deal this is, right?

You know what else happened in 2023? Remember that Daegu Queer Culture Festival I was talking about? The Mayor of Daegu (big Christian sympathiser) tried to stop this festival which includes the Parade and many other events, even though the Court ruled it was okay for the Festival to be carried out. The Mayor gathered other supporters and pulled up to the group, but the Daegu Police protected the Festival and removed the mayor and his “friends” from the premises. This was big and made news worldwide. 

In fact, Daegu’s Queer Culture Festival is the second largest one in the country, after Seoul’s. This is mainly possible because the Local Authorities (such as the police) are quite independent in belief from their present Mayor and the Christian factions. In contrast, for example, Busan’s Queer Culture Festival had a two year run but was then cancelled in 2019. Unfortunately, in Busan, The Mayor, the Local Authorities and the Christian factions are buddy-buddies making it much harder to get protection and permissions, aaaaaand things like that, kids, is why it is super important to vote for your local administration as well.

Even though these are all very important stepping stones, SK is nowhere close to being the UK, obviously. The LGBTQ community still has to get all their core rights being legalised, and queer people can still be subject to random ass attacks, such as the singer Holland had in 2022, which, by the way, also still occasionally does happen in the UK and everywhere else in the Queer World. Which is a general minority reality I’m afraid.

Furthermore, it is still illegal to have sex on base, which the country maintains that they are upholding because they are trying to prevent possible sexual assaults not too mad about this tbh, which is a valid concern, but most importantly they now know that the world is watching and why is that important? Because, for example, even though they are now separated, one of the boys from the Me(a)rry Queer couples enlisted around the same time with JK & JM and from his posts and photo-booth pictures that other soldiers posted of him, he seems to be making friends and to be comfy as comfy as you can get while serving, kinda like Joonie and most likely JM & JK

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Not quite the attitude of someone fearing a witch-hunt, right? But then again, there isn’t much to hunt when you are already out, it is afterall illegal to hunt people and the world is now aware; is there? …

Now back to the general people of SK. According to a survey conducted in 2023 last year, 56% of South Koreans still oppose same-sex marriage (in comparison with only 26% of Japanese). 56% is not bad but then 72% don’t want queer people in their neighbourhoods and  workplace, though 81% think that it is not right to terminate people because of their sexual orientation 4 steps ➡️3 steps ⬅️… … … Basically it’s okay to be queer here as in SK, but not here-here, perhaps over there like a queer only neighbourhood or something which at the moment is the Itaewon district. 

So yes, 2024 Queer SK is still struggling though they are not going to be overtly nasty about it, because the world is watching. I mean, don’t get me wrong, progress is progress and we love to see that, it is actually amazing, but there still needs to be a general environment where LGBTQ rights in SK need to be recognised and for queer Koreans to not be discriminated against in their social/work/family life. It is also great that Queer media is trying to transition more and more from only BL to actual Queer Drama, for example I am really looking forward to watching Love In The Big City which btw also stars Kim Go Eun.

There is still work to be done, but I think Jung Cueri, a lesbian woman who helps with the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, says it best (here is the full article https://www.dw.com/en/why-are-south-koreans-less-welcoming-of-lgbtq-neighbors/a-68698268 ):

“I think the attitudes of younger generations of Koreans are getting better," she said, pointing out that young LGBTQ+ individuals "tend to come out sooner to their families, in their workplaces and schools than my generation because they are more aware of their sexuality through social media and exposure to various discussions that are more tolerant of LGBTQ+ people." And the cultural festival can help to be a catalyst to change further, she believes. "It will get better," she said. "And that is why the organizers and everyone else involved in the festival are working so hard; they know that Korean society will get better, and they want to contribute to that.

From where I stand it seems Hopeful, Queerful, if you may.

So, Fighting!, Queer South Korea!

Always respectfully yours,

Marengo. 

[gremoria411]

*This post will contain spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Also, I’ll probably ramble more than usual here, since a lot of my points are interconnected*

Alright then. I was planning on doing a big post breakdown on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury after rewatching it, since I find that my general thoughts on a series typically coalesce around the second viewing. However that probably won’t be for a good while yet, so I figured I’d do a big post now, and I’ll add a few notes if anything jumps out on me on my (eventual) second viewing.

In a nutshell, I found The Witch from Mercury to be really, really good, with an excellent cast and gorgeous action. However, I feel it’s let down by its comparatively low episode count.

And I’d like to stress that that low episode count is basically my only major criticism - I have several smaller ones, but they’re ultimately all extensions of that low episode count.

The Cast.

As above, really good. You’ve got a good selection of characters coming from various strata’s within society - Spacians, Earthians, Mercurians. It’s a good variety of characters and seeing how they interact with each other. They all feel pretty well-rounded as characters honestly.

Like, Suletta’s great, obviously. I feel like you don’t need me to tell you that which is great, because I’m not sure how to put it. I guess I like how emotive she is, how she portrays how she’s feeling so well, but then that might be because we, the audience are close to her as a protagonist (I’d argue that Miorine and Guel could also be counted as protagonists, if you wanted, but Suletta’s the one we spend the most time with). Suletta’s also good because she’s a newcomer to the Asticassia, so not only do we learn things with her but she’s also absolutely primed to upend the status quo there, which she does fantastically. I like the contrast between her doubts and capabilities - she’s not the most social of characters and doubts herself multiple times, but put her in a mobile suit and she is confidence incarnate.

Miorine feels like an extension of Gundam’s “Princess” archetype: your Sayla, your Relena, your Lacus. I really like how proactive she is - we first meet her in the process of attempting to run away from her school, and her arc feels more about her recognising the power she weirds and how to best use it for what she wants, rather than rejecting it outright. She’s in the process of actively cultivating “soft power” (negotiations, word-of-mouth, etc) rather than just having it inherently and -crucially- because the hard power isn’t actually that valuable. Compared to, say, SEED. Lacus has a whole lot of soft power, but it’s Kira and the Freedom that’s the driving force of the plot. Suletta has Hard Power - Aerial, but it’s borrowed power fundamentally, and it’s Miorine’s soft power that ultimately does more good. Actual Diplomacy versus Gunboat Diplomacy, if you will. I also like how Suletta and Miorine’s relationship progresses - they balance out each other - it starts out with Suletta having the power Miorine needs, but as Miorine grows they start relying more on each other. Also their interactions together are really great. They’re compelling because of both who they are in universe - a pilot and a princess, and because of their personalities with each other and how they spur each others development.

I do want to call out Lady Prospera as being amazing. She feels exactly how Char would be as a mother - manipulative and ruthless, but still caring in her own way. I’m given to understand she’s the first female Char Clone in the series, which is neat. Her relationship with Suletta (and Miorine) is just really good. She’s not unpleasant and she’s certainly charming, but she won’t sugarcoat how things are. Miorine knows she’s being manipulated in her interactions with her, but it’s genuinely good advice so she goes along with it, even as she has her own reservations. It’s also rather telling that once Prospera doesn’t need Suletta anymore, she leaves her. While callous and heart-breaking, we know now that Prospera fully believed she was going to die. While this doesn’t exactly forgive her abandoning Suletta, it does cast her interest in Suletta making friends and having relationships outside her in a new light. Prospera wants vengeance for Nadim and the rest of the Vanadis Institute, but she recognises that that is her and Eri’s vengeance, not Suletta’s. And doesn’t that sound similar to Mr Char “I have never once betrayed any one, in my life, ever” Aznable, who just wants his sister to grow up in peace while he avenges their family? It’s a fun relationship dynamic and it’s done well, is what I’m getting at. I also like how unapologetically villainous she is in some of her actions - both the audience and Miorine kinda clock her as a threat immediately, but we can also see why Suletta trusts her so much, even if it’s not the healthiest relationship. I just really like the juxtaposition of her being sweet with Suletta, uncompromising with Miorine, and absolutely brutal with everyone else.

Setting

I find the school setting genuinely fascinating, I don’t have a clever segue so I’m just going to get into it.

Asticassia School of Technology is a school to pilot giant robots. Great, Instantly appealing. However, then you get into all the ways it’s indicative of the wider society. It’s maintained and run by the Benerit Group - a Mega-Corporation that dominates the field of military-use mobile suits, which requires actual military force to be brought to heel and is basically a sovereign nation all its own - it’s rather telling that we never really see any national representatives throughout G-Witch, it’s all about the companies. So it takes this normally aspirational thing “wow, a school to pilot giant robots!” And extrapolates it out to what kind of setting would create that. Giant Robots are used in military applications, so you end up with a facility basically dedicated to the production of child soldiers to serve this military-industrial complex actively profiting from the glaring class inequality present in the setting, as set out in the prologue. And because the characters exist within that system there is no “easy fix”, the story ends with the characters making small progress against those inequalities rather than solving them in one fell swoop because the inequalities are systemic, and you can’t just take out the superweapon and expect everything to work out on its own. The existence of child soldiers is baked into the setting- not as a desperate gamble or as an illustration of the necessities of survival, as in other series. But as an accepted and -crucially- normalised thing. Notably, no-one expresses surprise or horror at Sophie and Norea being pilots - just that they’re a threat and have GUND Format units. We also see several child soldiers in Fold of Dawn in addition to Asticassia itself, so there’s also the angle of generational differences - the children exist in an unfair world built and maintained by the adults, fighting for the causes they are taught to. Many of the Benerit Heirs have unhealthy relationships with their parental figures, typically conflicting over them wanting different things (Guel vs Vim’s expectations, Shaddiq going out from under Sarius and basically everything about the Elan’s). So there’s the angle of the children fighting against the unfair world of adults, tying into the familial relationships in the cast. Which is a theme Gundam’s got a lot out of historically. So the school setting shows to illustrate how Ad Stella is civilised a first glance, but far more beneath the surface, and demonstrates several of the issues inherent in the setting.

I also really love how GUND format is actively debilitating to its pilots and how Suletta, while still a very good pilot, is essentially unbeatable because she has a way around the downsides for most of the series. Because it feels like an examination of “the Gundam is the strongest mobile suit”. G-Witch essentially states that having a stronger or better weapon does not solve these problems, in fact, the various elements of the company all fighting over Aerial gets several people killed, so if anything it feels like a takedown of “Gundam” as a concept (ie This great strong weapon that will win us the war”). It also puts emphasis on themes of dehumanisation - both the Elan’s and Sophie&Norea show that child experimentation, while not exactly common, isn’t unfamiliar ground in Ad Stella, particularly with Elan being replaceable, which again ties into the child soldier angle. I also find it delightfully hypocritical that Benerit, the weapon merchants, have issues with it because of the PR backlash of it killing its pilots, not because of any “moral” reason. It’s a bad look to have a weapon that can harm its user - who’s going to want to pay for that? The militant liquidation of Ochs Earth was essentially a PR stunt to show that Benerit will not make these weapons (not that that stopped Peil). Which is really horrifying to think about, really.

The Space Assembly League, Quiet Zero and the Interplanetary Laser Transmission System (or ITLS, that big gun in the finale) all function as illustrations of the excess of corporate power - a near full-scale war/ large scale destruction is only prevented because of Suletta and Ericht’s intervention. The SAL functions as a regulatory body for the corporations, but while it isn’t exactly lacking in force, it acts far too late to prevent the damage - Benerit has been allowed to run independently for too long, so it’s difficult to pull back even with evidence and force because it’s just so big. Meanwhile, the ITLS was constructed under the guide of a power transmission system, but it’s intended to be fired as a weapon. Furthermore, the destruction it will cause is written off as “Oh, Peil will get the reconstruction contract”, killing hundreds for corporate gain. The fact that it’s Peil specifically is also notable, since they are probably the most ethically bankrupt of the three corporations and were actively involved in the GUND-format technology themselves. But because the corrupt elements of the governing body favour them (and can presumably cut a deal for reconstruction costs), much of their misdeeds would have essentially been swept under the rug. Notably, other than their stock plummeting, we don’t actually see much in the way of consequences for the Peil CEO’s.

Mechanics

A fairly short one here - I’ll admit I’m not crazy about a lot of the mobile suits in Ad Stellar, but I like how each company has a different designer and are different thematically. Jeturk has big, bulky beetle-esque machines - heavily armoured and analogous to Zaku’s and other grunt suits from the series. Peil focuses on mobility - spindly MS with lots of thrusters, and typically deployed with aerial combat in mind. Finally, Grassley tends to lean towards units with exotic systems, such as the Michaelis’ beam bracer and Anti-GUND format and often have monoeyes. It’s a good illustration of the competing philosophies within the group and each one is distinct and easily recognisable (Burion’s utilitarian, I don’t have much more to say on it). It also emphasises what a big shakeup the Gundam’s are, since they look so different, and can put down any of these units with little trouble. I rather wish we saw more of the smaller developers - those units Suletta swatted aside en masse with the Aerial Rebuild, since they seemed to have a greater variety of designs (I particularly liked the little Acguy-looking one - the Hosler II?). Also, really liked the Prodoros used by Dawn of Fold (though that’s likely due to how it moves).

Criticisms

Or rather Criticism. Your typical Gundam series is usually around 40-50 episodes, whereas Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is a comparatively paltry 25. Now, one series having a lower episode count than another isn’t inherently a point against it - better a short story well told rather than a long story poorly told, and it’s a new show, and (despite my persistent comparisons with other Gundam shows) should be allowed to stand and be judged on its own merits. But it kinda feels like it was meant to be a 40-50 episode series that was cut-down mid-production and fundamentally, it feels like we could’ve gotten more.

The pacing of the second season ratchets up considerably compared to the first, and I would like to stress that Witch From Mercury is a very-well-paced show - every episode has some sort of plot development, but it feels like that’s because it had to be. And every criticism I have of the show feels like it flows from that cut-down episode count.

It kinda feels like Peil Industries was supposed to be a much bigger player in this, and the Pharact doesn’t really do anything after its opening fight.

Peil’s never brought to justice, and Elan 5 just decides to join Earth House’s move on Quiet Zero. Meanwhile, the real Elan Ceres just resigns from Peil, even though he was presumably in on the Enhanced Person stuff too.

Lauda’s whole subplot about him piloting the Schwarzette had very little foreshadowing - I assume they put just enough of it in that they couldn’t cut it entirely (i.e. the Schwarzette), and it was necessary for Guel’s character arc.

Guel taking over Jeturk Heavy Industries didn’t really go anywhere.

Sophie Pulone and Norea Du Noc are really only there to tick gundam’s “Doomed Child Soldiers” box. Also Dawn of Fold just…… still exists after the events of the series?

The fact that Ochs Earth was still a thing kinda didn’t amount to much did it? Prospera just destroys them and their Gundam Lfrith’s. The ones used by Dawn of Fold might have well been older models, scavenged or bought by them.

Chuatury (Chuchu) Panlunch - great character, great design, excellent illustration of the tensions of the setting, but it feels like she was supposed to have a subplot focused on the people supporting her on Earth.

It just feels like they made the first 12 episodes of a 40-50 episode series, with a bunch of setup that’d pay off later, and then they got cut down to 24 episodes and had to cut a lot of stuff to fit. I’d like to stress I think they made a good compromise - most of my criticisms are minor and the Suletta and Miorine are the heart of the series, and they come out very well. But all the same, I’d rather the compromise didn’t need to be made in the first place, so we could’ve seen the “full thing” as it were.

Even my….. restraint on the mobile suits designs can be pinned on this. My favourite designs are typically Monster of the Week and late-season Weirdo’s - the stuff that’s the purview of your charismatic villain or a specialised grunt. But if you’ve got to cut stuff for space and time, then by their very nature, those designs won’t stick around.

I should however mention that I’ve been unable to find any reputable source as to wether The Witch From Mercury did have its episode count cut, before or during production. My criticism is mostly about the series feeling like it should have had more, not that it was actually cut down. It is possible that Bandai wanted to see if the show could make a comparative return on a smaller budget than usual, especially considering most of their recent Gundam output has been adaptations (IE. Shows that already have a proven audience and prior success, and are consequently a lot less financially risky), like Unicorn or Thunderbolt.

All that said, I do think that the emotional core of the show - Suletta and Miorine was excellently done, and I found the action and themes to be similarly well-done. I’m mostly only complaining we didn’t get to see more of the world, since it has so many interesting concepts that feel like they would’ve been interesting to see.

[bibellebibuck]

Finale Thoughts

This is a long ramble that I’ve attempted to categorise and form into something coherent - but bear with me if there’s any mistakes, I’m working rn and didn’t have time to proofread🙏🏻

HENREN & MADNEY

I adore Madney and how inherently GOOD they are all the damn time. My favourite straights ever.

I know there’s differing opinions on this plot line but honestly I am glad that Madney are fostering Mara, for Maras sake. It’s a safe space her for where she’ll be loved and can keep in contact with Henren.

I do agree, though, that the constant struggles they put Henren through as they try to build their family is getting old and tired now, let them off the struggle bus, it’s time for a breather.

It’s a testament to how rushed this episode was that we didn’t even SEE the councilwoman at all. She just drops this bomb on the Henren family last episode and then disappears? No follow up? Okay.

My thoughts/hopes on these guys for S8 are; Madney will be left as they are once the Mara storyline is resolved (which I think won’t take long after the whole Gerrard situation is sorted) as they’ve had a lot going on with their wedding etc. I think they’ll be put aside for a while while other characters stories are expanded this season. I think it’s a possibility we’ll get another Buckley-Han baby after they see the sibling dynamic between Mara and Jee. Afterall, it was Maddie who commented on Denny and Mara “getting along so well” “like siblings”.

Henren specifically id like to see more of, I want Karen and DENNY! to have more screentime. Karen’s job is fucking interesting, SHOW US MORE SOMEHOW!! And Denny, what’s going on with his relationship with his dad now? This kids a great actor, give him a little more screen time.

BATHENA & AMIR

Now, Athena was bad ASS this episode. I love BAMF Athena with all my heart, that’s literally my mother. Her talk with Amir was emotional and I think well written (one of the few well written moments in this episode..) but it all went downhill from there. Amir’s rescue was rushed as fuck, I wasn’t tense at all, Athena basically showed up, burnt the place down and sauntered out with Amir like it was nothing. Ofc my girl is capable of this no problem… but it wouldn’t have hurt to have had more of a fight scene, maybe Amir being a little more proactive, then show them struggling to get out of the fire? Idk. Just SOMETHING to expand on the scene a little. I did like “I’m Mrs Bobby Nash” though, hell yeah you are <3

Oh also Yay! May sighted!! Love my girl, wanna see more of her in S8 I miss her sooo much :(

For S8, I think Bathenas marriage issues should be gently explored a little more, i feel this plot line wasn’t properly resolved during the cruise eps? Idk maybe I’m just a nervous child of divorce but I’d like to see some of their trust issues put to rest. I mean, just an episode ago Athena was terrified Bobby was going to off himself, and Bobby literally retired without telling her. It’s not healthy, I wanna see them work it out and get stronger together. I don’t want more conflict between them to cause this though, maybe they just start up a conversation when things have calmed down and agree to talk it out or go to couples therapy or something. Leaving them where they are right now will feel like a dropped plot line.

I want to see more of Amir but I sincerely doubt we will, I have a feeling he won’t even be seen in S8 at all to be honest. It’s a shame, he’s an interesting character that I’d totally love the see explored more. Someone suggested he could be a connection opportunity for the hospital? I like that. Tim, take notes !!

I also want them to stop murdering Angela Bassets hair. Let her slay, please.

BUDDIE

I wish I had more to say here, but sadly… I don’t. My heart is telling me we’ve been gently queer baited once again, but I think that’s just old scars hurting (Destiel and johnlock survivor ✊🏻), my head is telling me a lot of the hype was stirred up by us as fans giving journalists and actors comments a little too much credit.

This isn’t to say I don’t think Buddie is happening, i still have my naive little belief that if WILL be canon eventually. They’re just going to drag it out as long as possible for the drama and possibly to appease Those fans, and the older viewer base who won’t be pleased by buddie canon.

I was very disappointed by the scene after Chris left, where Buck just put his hand on Eddies shoulder. We can say all we like that the shoulder touch is Their Thing™️ but in that situation a hug was absolutely goddamn necessary. Idc about shipping, that man needed a hug from his best friend in that moment. I think Buck needed it too. They just said goodbye to their son for an indefinite amount of time ffs why are we standing here like absolute mugs.

S8 - I want gay Eddie this season. I want it.

I want gay Eddie and then I want them both to be single for a while and Then I want buddie. If they can fit this into season 8 while keeping a nice steady pace (I have little faith after this insanely rushed finale, but let’s give them the benefit of the short season doubt) then I want Buddie feelings realisation towards the end of S8.. possibly setting up canon for S9 or even ending S8 with canon and a cliffhanger.. maybe a good one this time though!

As much as I’d like to see Buck supporting Eddie as he navigates life without Christopher, I don’t think we’ll get many scenes between them at first. I think this is where Ryan is talking about Eddies isolation. He’s going to go to work, be with his family, then go home and be without his family, and it’s at this time that he’s going to be working on himself. To get better for Chris, and for his own mental health. This journey is his alone, and I think it (although a little painful) makes sense that Buck isn’t involved in this too much.

EDDIE & CHRIS

To sum it up.. OUCH!

Eddie is an amazing father, and if you think otherwise just block me. He made a mistake with Kim, that does not make him a bad father. Him respecting Christopher’s space and choices in this ep was soooo healing and lovely to see, he called Buck because he knows Chris trusts and loves him and needed somebody to talk to, and knew he wasn’t the person for that right now.

I’ve seen some people bothered about how it’s unrealistic for the Diaz parents to have gotten to eddies so fast after the incident. To this I say, how are you not used to 911s complete disregard for timelines/timeline realism at this point? Just let it happen and move on, like it’s a fantasy land where time isn’t real. Now, I’m not American so maybe I don’t get the extent of the distance between LA/Texas - but still, I enjoy the show more I think, because I don’t overanalyse the timeline 😅

What I DO find unrealistic is that Chris would call his grandparents and not Buck. I’m not looking at this through shipping lenses either, I’m saying that when Eddie had his breakdown, Chris’s first instinct was to call Buck. When Chris was upset and scared at the Ana situation, he went straight to Buck. And now this, he doesn’t talk to Buck at all before calling his grandparents?

It makes sense that he wanted to go to Texas as if he stayed with Buck he wouldn’t really be getting much space from his dad, and maybe he’d be thinking that Buck/Eddie would be on his case trying to force forgiveness on him while he’s there. But I think he first instinct would still have been to Call Buck to discuss the situation first, to confide in him, ask for help. Then he’d call his grandparents.

For S8 - I hate to be a downer but I don’t think we’ll see Chris this season. At LEAST the entirely of 8a, anyways.

As I mentioned earlier, I think this season will show Eddie growing and healing from this situation and becoming the person he wants to be, for himself and for Chris.

I think there is a lot of potential for us to finally get some Eddie & Maddie scenes, she could open a conversation with Eddie about her own struggles with feeling like an unfit parent for Jee - maybe Buck initiates this conversation, asking Maddie to speak to him?

I hope he will finally be able to put his insecurities about his parenting aside and stop trying to find Chris a mother figure, and accept that they’re a fine (wonderful, even) family unit as they are.

BUMMY / BT

Ooooohhh lord let’s get into it then.

It’s no secret that I hate this relationship. I do NOT hate it because I am a Buddie shipper, or because I’m homophobic (the fact that I have to clarify this is stupid, but the anon hate in my inbox means it’s necessary). When BiBuck became canon, I was OVERJOYED! I was excited to see Buck exploring his identity and enjoying a relationship with a new partner (I did want him to be single for a while originally, but it wasn’t a big deal, the Natalia relationship was barely a relationship anyways).

I initially had a bit of an ick from the way Tk kissed Buck to ~shut him up~ but I’m a bit of a hypocrite here because I don’t entirely hate this trope usually, but only when it’s between two well established characters who know each other well. At this point, Tk is still new to Buck so it did bother me a little. But, we move.

Then… the first date. I fucking hated this date, Tk almost outed Buck and then left him on the pavement like an a class ASS. I lost all interest in this relationship at this exact moment.

In this episode, on this date, we see Buck opening up about his relationship with Bobby as a father figure (WIN!! Let’s appreciate our small victories!!). Tk then gives us “but your fathers alive” which ?? What’s your point?? Why aren’t you comforting your partner right now?

And shared his own experience with having a shitty dad. We then get the daddy issues joke.

To detour for a moment; we all remember when Buck went to therapy and opened up about his sex addiction, right? How he was being vulnerable about his trauma/mental health, to the point that he was in actual tears… and then his therapist came onto him and slept with him. The show brushes this under the rug and even later makes a joke about it. We’ve all expressed our distaste for this in the past and rightly so. Aside from how morally wrong it was, it was also incredibly distasteful in a very real way.

We’re given a very close repeat of this situation in the finale. Tommy sexualising Bucks trauma is not only unfair on bucks character, but also a shitty slap in the face to real people in the real world too. How many times have we been sexualised for having “daddy issues”? The answer is a lot. This scene was Downright Offensive.

It’s so disappointing because in some ways this show is so progressive, and has handled some sensitive topics in such a great way in the past. But it’s really fumbled the bag with this one.

A large and hopeful part of me thinks all these tense/awkward/unhappy/unsatisfying BT scenes are a setup for BT bones in S8. If they wanted us to like Tk and be invested in this relationship, SURELY they’d make him more likeable & more supportive of Buck?

The awfulness of his character and the stilted scenes between him and Buck do feel intentional. And I reaaallly hope this is the case.

S8 - preferably, BT Bones off screen before the season even begins, Natalia style.

More likely, BT bones within 8a, due to Gerard’s return and the tension this will cause between him and Tk.

Most likely, BT bones by the end of 8b. I truly truly truly, with all my heart and head and hands, do not believe BT is surviving to season 9.

BUCK

just wanted to put in a little paragraph here about Buck specially, piggybacking off of what I’ve said about his trauma being sexualised etc.

They have consistently missed opportunities to flesh out Bucks trauma, and he has MANY to choose from. If they continue to ignore this aspect of Buck, it will be a great disservice to his character. I know we all joke about wanting Buck to go through more shit situations for the angst, and how we want him to have a big breakdown at some point but honestly - it really is overdue. I don’t just want him to suffer for funsies, I want his character to make sense, I want him to continue to be massively relatable, I want him to address his trauma and work through it and move on etc. etc. etc.

Here’s hoping we get the single Eddie and Buck arcs in S8/maybe 9 and both of them get therapy, properly.

RAVI

My boooyyy!!! The framing of that last shot, I do reckon Ravi will main soon. They didn’t drop his insane childhood lore, and built on him as a character (while Chim was at the academy with him) for no reason.

I am personally really looking forward to seeing him get a lot more screentime in S8. It’s what the people want!!!!!!

GERRARD

Why did they act like this was such a major twist?? Like why else would they have shown him last episode..

I don’t really understand how he can have been made captain of the same firehouse he was removed from for bullying a crew that is literally still there.. but for the plot I guess we’ll go with it!

I look forward to him finally getting his comeuppance in season 8, but the asshole he’s going to be to everyone sounds less fun.

Let’s look at what we might have in store, hm?

-Racist to Chim, Hen and now probably Ravi too.

-Homophobic to Buck.

-If Bobby is around, no doubt he’ll be demeaning to him.

-And, i fear, if he somehow knows about Eddies current situation, will he make snide remarks about him as a father? Idk, I wouldn’t put anything past the bastard.

I’d really like to see the team take a stand against him though, I know he’s their captain for now and they will, to an extent, respect him (or at least do as he says). But it would be nice to see some firefam crew solidarity the face of his bigotry and bullying. It won’t be realistic if any of them just stand by and listen/watch while he makes shitty racism/homophobic jokes to their family.

Going to be a fun (🫠) few episodes!

FINAL THOUGHTS

As an episode, this wasn’t horrendous, but certainly not great. As a finale, it was terrible. Underwhelming sums it up, disappointing emphasises it nicely.

I look forward to getting back to a full length season that has hopefully will be written a little more in advance than this one was. Let’s be optimistic, or this hiatus won’t be too enjoyable.

Can’t wait to spend the next few months binging Buddie fics and reading all your theories!! And don’t forget we get S8 BTS pics in just a few weeks 😭🫶🏻

Feel free to send me any asks if there’s something I’ve forgotten to mention that you’d like my thoughts on - or if you have any theories etc. I love to get asks from your guys 💛

[sketchbook-gal-xe]

Here's pair of messy drawings of some mewtwos I saw in a dream the other day!

Not sure what all to say about them, but this dream was really cool! had a storyline and everything! the only thing it didn't have was their names. I thought their designs were super cool so I tried to recreate them to the best of my ability (Near identical from what I can recall :3)

more character rambles below!

Chroma is very determined and proactive, focusing on what needs to done even if it hurts him (leaving them quite emotionally withdrawn) they might seem a bit selfish at times, but they will not hesitate to help someone (Xe jumped Infront of Parfait to save them from a near deadly attack!)

Parfait is more optimistic, cheerful and quite resourceful. Chroma makes the big plans, Fae focuses on smaller things like making sure everyone is happy and taken care of, usually in charge of food and bandages (when Chroma was injured Fae dropped everything to make sure they recovered)

I'll probably use them as background characters for my main story and I might try to make a comic of their story from the dream :)

[cafeleningrad]

So me rambling about fairy tale themes in Utena again… Princes aren't the protagonists of fairy tale stories*. Correct me if you know a prince protagonist (from the Grimm collection) but… Princes are often secondary characters, objects of desire, if not a slapped-on after thought to signify a prosperous marriage.

All male protagonists from Grimm tales I know, are lower class men. There often are female protagonists, often commoners, and if they're nobility, they're princesses.

Not only is the opening narration falsifying Utena's memories - by stressing the importance of the Prince, Akio tries to impose a protagonist onto a fairy tale story (which RGU certainly is, I'm deeply convinced by that). He tries to convince everyone, and the story logic itself so hard that actually the Prince is the proactive important one whereas fairy tales are the stories of lower classes, and haunted children.

*By fairy tales I mean Grimm fairy tales. Utena seems to operate on a Grimm canon (albeit be it in it's cultural Japanese translation). By the way, if some of you notice Charles Perrault tales referenced as well, Perrault stories got incorporated in the Grimm canon as well. Messy story, I will leave it at that.

[theink-stainedfolk]

OC Questionnaire tag

Thank you for the tag @the-golden-comet

I'll take my OCs from The Tale of The King & His Knight

Famien Hywell Lorcus:

- Introvert or Extrovert?

Ambivert. Famien prefers solitude or the company of a trusted few. He values deep, meaningful connections over surface-level interactions, often keeping his thoughts and emotions guarded. His introspective nature allows him to reflect deeply on his duties and the world around him. But at the same time, he sometimes enjoys the company of his friends

- Are you a planner?

Yes. Famien is meticulous and methodical, sometimes, especially when it comes to his responsibilities as a knight. He believes that careful planning is essential for survival, both in battle and in navigating the treacherous world of court politics.

- Least Favourite Memory?

"The day my father died defending the king." Famien vividly recalls the moment his father, a loyal knight, was struck down in battle while protecting the former king. The loss left a deep scar on his heart, fueling his determination to honor his father’s legacy by serving and protecting the current king, Mirique.

Mirique Nenjassik Fiera Khemed:

- Introvert or Extrovert?

Introvert. Mirique is reserved and introspective, often retreating into his thoughts as a means of coping with his powerlessness. His introversion stems from years of being overshadowed by his minister, Farnak, and the burden of the crown that leaves him isolated from those he wishes to trust.

- Are you a planner?

No. Mirique tends to be more reactive than proactive. His lack of power and autonomy has made him more accustomed to enduring and responding to the actions of others rather than making strategic plans of his own. However, his experiences and the body swap with Famien begin to awaken a newfound desire to take control of his destiny.

- Least Favourite Memory?

"Assassinationof all my family members.... Except me" The moment Mirique fully understood that he was the only one surviving, was a crushing realization. It marked the beginning of his despair and feelings of helplessness, leading him down the dark path towards contemplating suicide.

I'll tag @finickyfelix @willtheweaver @leahnardo-da-veggie @illarian-rambling @winglesswriter @paeliae-occasionally @thecomfywriter @roarintheheavens @drchenquill @wyked-ao3

[kanansdume]

I have some rambly thoughts about the different approaches we're seeing to Andor (a serialized show), Obi-Wan Kenobi (a serialized show), and The Mandalorian (an episodic show) and how they work or don't work.

Serialized shows are, by nature, more plot-driven than character-driven. Which doesn't mean the characters aren't IMPORTANT to the story by any means, it just means that the show moves forward based on things like worldbuilding and the characters are often forced to sort-of react to things happening around them that the audience themselves may or may not be in on. In Andor, Cassian is far more REACTIVE than he is PROACTIVE, and that's mainly the point in season 1. Cassian is trying really hard not to get involved in the fight and wants to just hide and run away and pretend it doesn't exist, but the world and his own fate keep catching up to him and forcing him into situations he has to react to (the guards forcing him to defend himself leading to being forced to leave Ferrix and join the rebel attack on Aldhani, Skeen's betrayal forcing Cassian's own, the Imperial reaction to Aldhani meaning he can't come home, being arrested on Niamos for just being in the wrong place, Maarva's death). Cassian finally making the choice to get AHEAD of everyone else by saving his friends on Ferrix and getting them off the planet and then beating Luthen to his own ship to offer to join the Rebellion is a big deal because it's Cassian finally accepting that fate.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is also reactive, but it's character-driven because the first big choice he makes is to go save Leia in episode 1 and he gets progressively more proactive from that point on. The plot itself has logistical issues because the plot of saving Leia and Reva chasing them and going to Tatooine is SECONDARY to Obi-Wan reclaiming his identity as a Jedi. Obi-Wan's choices move everything forward. This is why the show was still so satisfying to me even if the plot occasionally was a little slapdash. It wasn't ABOUT the plot, really. In Andor, Cassian is the vehicle through which we are told the story of the galaxy and the Rebellion. The Obi-Wan Kenobi plot is a vehicle to tell the story of how Obi-Wan Kenobi healed from Order 66 and became the Jedi Master we know from the Original Trilogy.

The Mandalorian was an episodic show, which by its nature NEEDS to be character-driven because it really can't be plot-driven. Any overarching plot is generally REALLY vague and spider-web thin. In the case of The Mandalorian, the overarching plot of season 1 was "protect the child from the Empire" and the overarching plot of season 2 was "get the child to the Jedi." And this can be really great if done well! When the story really focuses in on the characters and how they grow through each successive small story, how the relationships build up over time, it can really make for a wonderful show. It isn't just Din's relationship to Grogu, either, it's watching Din create relationships with a NUMBER of different people like Kuill and Greef Karga and Cara Dune and even IG-11 that all come together at the end to help him protect the child when they're in need. Season 2 does something similar with Bo-Katan, and Boba and Fennec so he can create a new group of friends to help him protect the child in the finale this time.

But The Mandalorian has steadily moved away from being more episodic and is now trying to be more serialized, which has stopped working because this show and its characters were never built for it. Din is a character who actively avoids "being the main character" and it's become something of a defining character trait. Din isn't a leader, so giving him the Darksaber goes nowhere. He isn't someone who chafes at the status quo, so having him take off his helmet and need to figure out how to find redemption for that or if he even wants it goes nowhere. He has no connection to the New Republic or its problems, no real connection to Mandalore the place, no interest in cloning or Palpatine or the Jedi beyond how it directly impacted him or Grogu in the moment. And even the Imperial interest in Grogu seems to have completely disappeared.

The Mandalorian became the franchise's breadwinner and as such, they want it to get BIGGER, they want to make it RELEVANT to the Skywalker Saga when it was intentionally irrelevant by design and that was what made it good. The Mandalorian no longer knows what it is and what story it wants to tell in order to know how to tell it. It throws in a few random episodic things that now feel bloated and frustrating instead of fun and character-driven because they're taking time away from the more serialized story it's trying to tell with Bo-Katan and the other Mandalorians.

And of course part of this is due to the MCU-ification of Star Wars via Filoni and Favreau's stories. Andor and Obi-Wan are separate from that and so are allowed to exist on their own and shine on their own with their own styles. But they're trying to connect The Mandalorian, an intentionally irrelevant episodic show, to more serialized shows like Rebels and Ahsoka and maybe even something like The Bad Batch, and MAKE them all relevant by connecting them to the Sequel Trilogy somehow. The Mandalorian was a stand-alone in season 1, but it isn't anymore. It is intentionally being REBUILT into something that cannot survive without everything else it's connected to, and the same will be true of any of its spin-offs. They're so bound and determined to make their characters relevant to the Skywalker Saga that they're willing to ruin them in order to do so rather than accepting that their irrelevance is what makes them special.

[natasha-in-space]

I got a yoosung angst prompt cuz its fun to put the most sunshine guy through the worst traumas

How do you think his relationship will mc be post Bad Ending 3. Yeah its the ending where Unknown kidnaps and tortures him. Lets assume that he eventually got rescued and nearly died in the process (cuz Unknown badly hurt him in a fit of rage) but he survives....he lives

But whats gonna be after that how the whole ordeal is gonna affect his relationship with his S/O because it is going to be tough for both the parties. Ofc yoosung who was directly affected by the ordeal will need alot of therapy, and love and support. But it was quite tough for mc too.... if anything yoosung route does, it shows us the fact that losing a loved one is traumatic, nearly losing one too as well and MC also was traumatised and is guilt ridden (maybe i should have tried harder to stop him had i knew this would happen is a constant thought in her head) she also becomes somewhat protective of him because he has been through enough and deserves to get the best of the world.....but while mc is well intentioned in her actions....it somehow stings Yoosung, he is the one who should be protecting her, he should be the proactive one in the relationship....thats what he thinks. It makes him feel small....besides he can also see her running herself thin for him....and he just wants to not be a burden to her...

I rambled alot im sorry but i wanna see your take. As always i just wanna let you know I love your writing

Well, the unfortunate thing that I just can't help but bring up is that... Bad Ending 3 happens due to the player's (MC's) actions. That's not how it works in real life, of course, but with the structure of MM's storyline, that's how it plays out, and that's how it's meant to be interpreted by the player. In that ending, MC prioritizes themselves first, and encourages Yoosung self-sacrificial tendencies for their own benefit (or, well, safety, to be more exact). MC's actions are what led Yoosung to sacrifice himself in that ending in the first place. And that's also the reason behind his seeming resolve with what Unknown is putting him through in the aftermath.

'It's okay. I'm protecting them. They wanted me to keep them safe. So they wouldn't be scared. I need to stay strong for them. I'm doing this for them. Because I love them. Because I don't want to be in the dark and not do anything like it happened with Rika.'

So both sides of the argument are dealing with a messy tangle of emotions to deal with. And if you do want to imagine a better resolution to all of this, it'll probably involve a lot of conversations between the two.

Your dynamic between each other is unbalanced in that particular ending. And that's something that needs to be fixed. MC should take more care of Yoosung's well-being first before their own and believe in him, while Yoosung needs to work on his anxious attachment style.

It is difficult, though, because Yoosung's worst traits got the best of him as a direct result of MC's actions. The situation is pretty similar to those who want to imagine a better solution to Jumin's 2 Bad Ending. While it's possible, it needs to be acknowledged that MC is the one who needs to put most of the work in.

In my opinion, what would their relationship be like? Well, if we assume that MC does feel guilty for everything that happened, that's a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. Yoosung got hurt. Bad. Both physically and mentally. And he'll probably dismiss it too. It's important to remember that in this particular ending, he's devoted to you to an unhealthy extent. Not the same as in his 1 Bad Ending, but in a very self-sacrificial way. He'll probably just smile at you and say that he's happy you're safe. That that was the only thing he ever wanted. And that he held out for so long because he remembered what you told him, and how scared you were.

So... it's a pretty heavy situation for MC to be in. It's one thing to have your loved one disregard their well-being for you, but it's completely different when it's the direct consequence of your own actions.

Many apologies need to be made. Even if Yoosung doesn't understand why you're apologizing to him. Lots of talks to be had. And lots of very slow and steady progress to be made.

It's possible to come up with a better resolution to this mess. But it'll require a lot of work and patience from both MC and Yoosung. It does make a very interesting story to think about, though!

[strqyr]

Yknow, I've been doing some thinking about Salem and what she's been doing prior to like. The shows events. And honestly I think it's fun to toss around?

Some people think Salem has been attacking the kingdoms for years, and I've even seen someone say Salem hasn't been doing anything to Oz for millennia (something I really disagree with, Oz doesn't have Ironwood levels of paranoia lol). I'm honestly of the opinion that Salem has been,, probably reactive(? Probably not the right term) for the most part? Until now that is

I think prior to the show she's been essentially playing keep away with the Relics, thinking that Oz is still dedicated to the crusade assigned to him, and obviously she doesn't want the Gods to come back and make their home on Remnant or to, alternatively, destroy everything (I really don't think total destruction is her goal, I think it's to overthrow the Gods). I think something changed her several years ago (maybe Summer??) That made Salem stop wanting to play hot potato with the Relics.

Oz is pretty clearly unused to Salem being so proactive. He's used to her taking action against him but not in such a huge way. I personally think that maybe Salem either a) started the great war (not caused it, started it) or b) just used the war as a cover to try and snatch the Relics. Obviously wasn't successful, but I think this might be why Oz created the vaults to lock the Relics away in. Maybe Salem almost succeeded and that scared him? Who knows, we don't know enough about that time to know lol

Like. Gestures. I don't like the idea that I've been seeing that Salem has been doing absolutely nothing to stop Oz's supposed religious crusade. Either she Has been working to stop Oz's 'crusade', or she's been doing things that actively make Oz's (supposed) paranoia worse (which doesn't help anyone at all), or she's been doing Absolutely Nothing, something the text doesn't support and is out of character for her. I think to claim that Oz is a paranoid zealot who caused their war is putting him in the same room Ironwood is in. And, well, Oz and Ironwood constantly butted heads over Ironwoods paranoia.

Speaking of, I'm kinda sad we never got to see what Oz thought of Ironwoods growing paranoia, the Dust embargo, and Atlas's isolation, plus the sheer amount of control seen in Mantle. I'm sure he would've hated it (I have a headcanon that when the King of Vale reincarnated in Ozpin, he threw a fucking fit over what Atlas turned into lol).

Alright I'm gonna quit rambling fjguvubj

i find it very difficult to gauge exactly how active salem has been—let alone what she has been up to—, simply because we don't have much information from that time frame. like, did oz always have all the relics in his possession? or were they spread around remnant, hence why the king of vale only had the crown—which currently would be in his own kingdom—and the sword—belonging to vacuo, his only ally in the great war—with the staff and the lamp unaccounted for due to being in enemy territory?

if the relics haven't always been available to oz at all times, it makes sense salem wouldn't have been as proactive in the past as she is now, as there would be no need. at best, all she would have to do was to keep the situation the same as it was—which might have not even required any action to be taken to achieve.

i think 'reactive', or perhaps 'opportunistic', are probably the closest descriptions that fit salem based on what we do know; she clearly hasn't been doing nothing—all the hunted down silver-eyed warriors can attest to that—but beyond that, it's guess work. based on present day, however, taking advantage of situations that have risen without her influence fits the bill. this is essentially what happened in atlas; ironwood's actions were due to his fear of salem and preparing for attack, but they also caused the rising tensions that watts and tyrian, send to atlas by salem, could take advantage of -> not too far-fetched to assume something similar might have happened in the lead up to the great war; the tensions were already there due to mistral's attempts to settle territory that valeans were settling themselves while oz, as the king of vale, attempted to make peace and share the land (much to his citizens' dismay), so it wouldn't take much in that situation to, say, sent someone in to light the match when all the gasoline has already been poured, ready to be lit up.

with that in mind, it also makes sense that oz would be a little cautious when it comes to attempting to prevent salem's plans; he could never be absolutely certain that it wasn't salem due to how she works from the shadows through other people—who probably don't advertise their alliances, either.

so if the likes of summer and taiyang end up going on missions that turn out to be run-of-the-mill patrols more often than not then that's just how it goes, because the alternative is risking missing what salem's agents might be up to.

there's also the question whether salem knew about how the relics were being safeguarded. like... did she know where the relics were? did she know they were being kept in vaults (whether or not that was the case before the great war)? did she know, once the vaults came about, that the maidens were the keys to them immediately? if not, how did she learn? from summer? lionheart?

so many questions, not enough answers lmao

[floosies]

Where The Boys Are

Fic warnings: violence, mentions of weapons, mentions of substance/verbal abuse, smut, cursing, angst, strangers to lovers (18+)

pairing: mob!steve harrington x oc!fem

(a/n: sorry its taken a minute but i love this series deeply so don't think i'm not going to finish it)

series masterlist here

Part 5: Pretend You Don't Love Her

Steve kept to his word, though he wondered if he would eventually get grilled by his boss. Still he couldn't deny the way he was always thinking of her. In his mind she was already his, his thoughts reeling back to the way she clung to him the day before, he knew her mind was made up on him like his was for her.

When she stepped out of the house, she looked like herself again, in her pinks and blues, nothing like that outfit she wore at the party. This was his Mia, the baby doll he'd fallen for back in the summer. He was leaned against his car, waiting by the passenger door for her.

She couldn't help the smile on her face as she saw him open the door for her. Once both inside the car she handed him the lunch bag she had in her hand. He took it cautiously, "what's this?" She happily answered, "breakfast sandwich, some cookies, and an orange juice. My way of saying thank you. I know it's really early-" He cut her off, his gaze looking at her softly, wishing he could kiss her then and there, "it's okay bambi we talked about this, it's no problem at all, thank you for the breakfast though."

Her heart was beating out of her chest, the way they were looking at each other, she just knew he felt it too, but she wasn't that kind of girl to use anyone for a rebound. Instead she deflected the moment to getting there on time. Her gaze dropping onto her book bag, but as always he had to have his way and started up another conversation. As he drove they talked over the radio playing in the background. The conversation mostly revolving around her studies and plans for after graduation which weren't many, maybe community college at most.

She shouldn't have mentioned it but her parents only want for her was to marry a good man. However, she got so caught up in her rambling she ended up admitting that a 'good man' just meant good for the family. He listened as she mentioned how they'd probably planned who she would have marry if she hadn't been dating Kevin.

-

Once they got to the school, she instantly regretted agreeing to go back to school, she'd only missed a day, surely it wouldn't matter if she missed one more. She turned to look at Steve, to make up an excuse, he could see it coming any way and put a stop to it. His hand placed on top of hers, "Mia you're a smart girl you don't need to be missing school. Someone tries to give you any shit you call your father's office and i'll come handle it." She huffed, "easy for you to say no one cared what you did everyone was scared of you." He laughed, "believe me everyone is probably scared of you too bambi, your last name is well known around Hawkins too." With an eyeroll she hopped out of the car. He called out for her though, "hey! Like I said. A call away is all." She looked back at him and nodded.

-

As he drove away his mind began to wander back to what she had said about marrying her off to any wise guy they deemed worthy enough. He knew she was being shy, but he would have to start getting more proactive about things if he intended to have her by his side. However he wouldn't have to do too much as Mia unconsciously was playing into his game.

What he didn't take into account is how quickly she would turn to rely on him. How she would stay up some nights just to talk on the phone with him while her parents were asleep, she claimed she just wanted a different point of view on things. Mia knew she what risks she was taking but in her mind it was always a situation that was dealt with as 'friendship'. He worked for her dad, of course he didn't see her in that light, she was just part of the job description. If he wanted to he could have cut it off from the start.

-

That's how she ended up hanging out with him on a lonely Friday night. Both Jenny and Suzie had dates, something she was mentioning to him on one of their infamous catch up calls during the week. It was still early enough in the night that her mother wouldn't question her daughter having last minute plans with her friends.

Steve hearing that his best girl was feeling lonesome wasn't going to let it slide. Of course he pulled some lie to get out of what he was doing at his father's office to go and see her. When he pulled up to her house she was already outside waiting for him, her face filled with excitement and jitters as she hoped her mom wouldn't catch her with him.

They weren't worried about her father because he was out with Steve's dad on business on the other side of town. So the two sped off in his car, the plan was to get food and go hang out at lover's lake for a bit. He felt like his old self with her besides him, like he was back in senior year himself. It'd been so long since he'd let himself feel this sort of way for a girl, not since the first time his heart had been truly broken. Maybe Mia knew about it, but she was a freshman when he was on his way out, so she probably wouldn't have cared much anyways.

-

Lover's lake was relatively empty for a friday night, but that just meant they could be at ease a bit more. Their conversation carried from one thing to another as they ate their burgers and drank their floats and shakes. Mia tried to convince him that her strawberry shake was better than his cola float, but he wasn't having it. The mood was so light, she hadn't realized how close they were in his car.

It wasn't til they finished their food and the conversation moved onto the topic of some notes she'd gotten in her locker that the mood deepened. Steve took a pause after she showed them to him. His mind wandered as she explained they'd come from boys on the team. He nodded along listening to her, but when she saw him place them on the console of the car, she took it as a sign to wait for what he was going to say.

His eyes followed hers, and she trusted his judgement, she knew he probably knew best anyways. Steve ran his hands through his hair, "do you even trust these guys? Because you shouldn't bambi, they knew about what your ex had done and none of them told you? But suddenly they wanna ask you out? Sounds like snakes to me. You don't need those kind of guys around you." She thought to herself, how Steve had known how Kevin wanted to break up with her so was it any different.

What she hadn't realized is she said it outloud though, Steve sighed, "I know and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but in my defense I didn't know you the way I know you now. If I had been his friend I would have ratted him out to you the moment it happened. A girl like you deserves the world, and he wasn't ready to give you that." Mia's heart raced out of her chest as she heard the tone in his voice change, lower and breathy.

Gosh she wanted it, to pull him in and kiss him, he was close enough to her, but she shook her head and scooted back from him. This was her moment to put her foot down, "Steve you've been nothing but sweet to me but I can't do this. Whatever you want from me, I can't give you-" "Bambi I don't-" "Please don't start with the nicknames right now. I'm serious, I can't have you be a rebound or be the girl on the side in your life. You're older than me and you work for my dad, it's practically a death sentence." He tried to explain himself to her again, "Mia I don't know where you're getting this-" She scoffed, "I know enough about your history with girls around town Steve, listen just take me home. I don't wanna keep talking about this." True to her word she kept quiet the whole way back to her house.

As she stepped out of his car, he tried one last time to get her to see reason, "Mia I promise you it isn't the way you're thinking things-" she knew better, she always knew better, "I wanted a friend Steve, I can't do more than that. It wouldn't be right to either of us, plus I don't think I could give you what you're used to getting, at least not the way you go about it. Let's just leave this as it is, you work for my dad and I go to school, done deal. Goodnight." With that she shut his car door and ran off inside her house. His girl slipped right out of his hands.

-

There wasn't much time for him to let his feelings linger and dwell, with work being a distraction and his priority, Steve woke up the next morning and got ready to take out his pain on whatever fucker he got send to deal with. The drive to the office felt like hell, every other song on the radio was one that she had sung along to. He wasn't a quitter but he would have to back away for the moment, still he'd prove to her sooner or later that they're meant to be.

It was like a switch had flipped when he got in. Normally all the guys hung around the front, but today it was empty, unless he was there earlier than everyone else. His father's secretary telling him that he's waiting for Steve in his office. Something seemed off, and as he entered the office, he saw Mia's father talking to his dad. But as soon as Mr. Romano caught sight of Steve, he had pressed against a wall, his fist about to collide with the younger man's face when his father stepped in, "ask him first before you kill him." To which he spat out, "the fuck were you doing with my little girl at lover's lake last night." Steve was fucked, regardless of his answer, he was fucked.