#Romantic love is important to Will's arc

[coldninjaruins-blog]

"The end of Will's arc is about getting love and acceptance from his family and friends, not romantic love."

Will and his family love.

Will and romantic love...

[madbard]

Thinking about how the Stan twins were both taught from a young age that life is a matter of transactions. How they were valued only for the money they could bring their family, and how this shaped their lives in such different ways.

Ford was the intelligent one, and this made him valuable. He knew what he had to offer. He knew he was important. (He had to be. Experience had shown him that love was conditional. He had to earn it. He had to be enough.) When Bill Cipher approached him, he confirmed everything Ford wanted so desperately to believe about himself. Imagine that sense of excitement, of accomplishment, of pride and power and relief. Imagine having that final, unshakeable source of external validation - that this being that knew everything and could have chosen anyone, chose you. Imagine knowing exactly what you could do to please this being and, with the understanding that love is conditional, knowing that you could fulfill the requirements for that love. Imagine knowing exactly how to ensure you would be loved, not just by that being but by the family you uplifted and the future you created. All you had to do was satisfy your own curiosity… all you had to do was build a portal. Is it any wonder that Ford fell for Bill’s tricks?

Then we have Stan, the failure. If love was transactional, he could never pay the fee. He knew people only helped you if you had something to offer. And he had nothing to offer, so why would anyone ever help him? Why would anyone care? Of course he didn’t fall for Bill. He couldn’t. When Bill promised gifts and power and happiness, how could Stan believe a word he said? In a world without altruism, such promises could never be trusted. There was always a price to be paid - and Stan had never been able to pay it.

And so the end of the world was triggered and then averted, all because one brother thought he could earn the world’s love, while the other knew he would never earn anything good.

A+ parenting, Filbrick. Truly.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

See, I think Charles’ annoyance and frustration with the Cat King really was just pure protectiveness and not any kind of jealousy - it’s understandable, because Edwin is not telling him what happened even though something clearly did, which is not typical for them. Edwin doesn’t usually hide things like this! Of course he’s worried!

Charles’ reaction to Monty, on the other hand, is difficult to explain in a way that isn’t jealousy. You could say he’s being protective again, but Charles shows no sign of distrust in Monty, and had no idea of who Monty was or that he might betray them - he was actually very chill with him, except in a select few specific scenes. You could say he just doesn’t like him because he got brushed off during their first meeting, but not only does that not seem like Charles at all, it also doesn’t make sense, since, again, in most instances, Charles is genuinely friendly and is happy when Monty compliments him and seems to have come around to liking him (it completely flies over his head that this is a petty jab at Edwin on Monty’s part but oh well hahaha). You could say it changes up their status quo a bit and that bothers Charles. I do think this bothers him a bit, but I think, unlike Edwin, Charles’ fear and frustration here is directed more at situations (the Cat King whisking him away for several hours, as an example) than others. He’s sociable and likes being able to talk to new people. There’s absolutely no way he’d begrudge Edwin doing the same - and he doesn’t… with Niko. Edwin and Niko hit it off and become very close and that never bothers Charles at all. He’s incredibly endeared to her, just like the rest, and for the most part, he’s chill with Monty too, and smiles pretty knowingly when Edwin confesses to him having awakened some feelings. The only exceptions, where he shows definite annoyance, are when Monty first shows up and gets really in Edwin’s personal space to show him the astrology chart he made, and when Edwin is so sucked into the book Monty gave him that he doesn’t hear that Charles is talking to him, to which he annoyedly says that they seem to have been “spending a lot of time together”.

You could say he’s unused to having anyone get in Edwin’s personal space like that, but, again, Niko. She’s very tactile with him and he doesn’t seem to mind all that much; they spend time together watching things. If it was just someone getting close with Edwin in general, not only would that be weirdly possessive for the character, but it would also mean he would show discomfort with anyone getting close, I think. Does Charles see Monty as more of a potential threat than Niko, seeing as he knows her and her personality and doesn’t know Monty? Well, maybe, but again, Charles shows no sign of distrusting Monty at all.

Monty is a boy. Okay. So something about seeing Edwin so close to a boy that is not him, getting lost in thought over something this boy gave him, really rubs Charles the wrong way. Charles appears to catch on just as quickly as anyone else that there is something (or it looks like something) between Edwin and Monty. He is not surprised when Edwin comes out to him in episode 6, and in fact, seems to have just been waiting for him to verbalize it. He smiles and is not bothered at all by Edwin showing (what he thinks is) a romantic interest in Monty - he just doesn’t like it when Monty clearly shows a romantic interest in Edwin. Um. Well. Well.

Charles is jealous. I really don’t know what else to say.

Look, when I first watched this show, I actually didn’t want them to end up together romantically - I love the idea of one having fallen in love with another who does not reciprocate and the two of them still loving each other just as much. That Edwin’s confession made them closer instead of making things awkward is such a beautiful outcome to this build up and I absolutely love it. However. On my two rewatches, I caught a lot more little details, and I think it would be very strange if the show did not follow up on this. That, plus the deliberate quality of these “jealousy” moments where the camera focuses on him, Charles’ Orpheus coding throughout the show, the fact that Edwin’s arc was far more about realizing his feelings for Charles specifically than just coming to terms with his sexuality, and that even the actors admit that Charles’ response to the confession kind of left things open, it really seems to me like the path leads to a romantic endgame for them, or at the very least, that this possibility will be explored in more depth.

**This is just my reading of it. Please do not use this post as a gotcha for anyone who loves them as a platonic duo or people who really love Crystal and Charles together (because let’s face it, they’re super cute too). I’m just doing my rambles. As per usual.

[bittasol]

clarazz are so strong if i was (vaguely in love with and) slightly possessive of my best friend and the whole world was obsessed with him (like i was) id crash out 😭

[heartslobbf]

hater alert! far too many people say that juri’s character arc ‘isn’t about her being sad about being gay, it’s about being sad about unrequited love that happens to be gay’ and. well. that is not true and by saying that you are completely flattening the brilliance of juri’s character arc which literally culminates in her being able to accept her own lesbianism despite her unrequited love, despite all her shame and self-loathing, despite this pursuit by Some Fucking Guy to try and ‘save’ her from these feelings. like if you think juri’s entire character is just ‘sad about shiori’ how do you appreciate even a modicum of the emotion packed into that final juri duel. it is both about shiori and, even broader, her lesbian identity and what that means to her intrinsically as a person, removed from romantic relationships and just purely as like. you know. Who She Is. the idea that even when juri’s locket is cut from her neck she is still a lesbian that’s still who she is and she cant change that and, crucially, she doesn’t want to even as she is agonised by these feelings. that’s why she forfeits the duel!!!! she’s clocking out she’s quitting she’s saying no!!!!!! this is me and ive got to be ok with that this is me and i can accept that this girl might not love me and i can keep living despite that. like. god im so normal arisugawa juri im so sorry that no one understands you and your intrinsically unapologetically lesbian storyline like i do

[grahamcarmen]

And my thing STILL is that as carmen gets a stronger sense of her past and better connections with her friends and allies the need/desire for Gray in her life doesn't decrease and dissapate, it INCREASES and is refined. All while constantly being more sincerely layered in romantic tones as the show goes on.

[dramarants]

i only want love triangles if it's whatever fucked up polygon junmo kicheol and euijeong have going on

[frodo-in-a-fez]

every now and again i think about how bart curlish was a man in the original pitch for dghda and i become filled with an intense and seething rage the likes of which this world has not yet witnessed

[coachbeards]

i hate you psychic storyline i hate you psychic storyline i hate you psychic storyline i hate

[amorcie]

Each time I remember that “Talia is just Noel catfishing Mischa” theory I die a little more inside

[lighthouseas]

hot take or whatever but if ANY character (provided they don't die) should be paired off with some random person who had only a few minutes of screen time at the end of the series, it's STEVE.

picture this: we get brief cameos of where everyone has ended up at the end of 5×08. steve is working a new job, when suddenly, he, like, does the classic "crash into the love of your life" thing and then they bond briefly over something that none of steve's previous crushes had before. it ends with steve getting her number. the whole sequence is probably a minute or two long. and that's it!!! it's implied that steve gets a happy ending with a girlfriend.

this is because his official conclusion to his arc will most likely be him finding love in found family and friendship (ie. dustin, robin, and co) and, hey, if - at the end - it pays off and he ends up with a girlfriend - then that's just a cool bonus. but we don't need to see it like we do for will or mike, because at the end of the day, that's not what his character arc was about.

[non-fantasy]

i dont have solid ideas on quintuple reincarnation. like i'm vaguely gesturing going "five girls get caught in a carriage accident with bread in their mouths and remember their past lives!" at the plot. i look at a sister and go "oh, she's the eccentric villainess who happily accepts her fate, but instead of being loud and brash about it, she's stoic even as she's doing the most absurd things" and gesture at another sister going "she's the villainess who tries to escape her fate by getting on people's good sides but she's loud and weird about it" but.

i do know what i want to do with the heroine.

she becomes a shut-in even long past the time you'd expect it'd take to recover from her injuries.

and you think, oh, her past life must have been a shut-in who is influencing her to do that, right?

no, actually her past life is encouraging her to leave and telling her things will be okay. it's the heroine part of her that's given up.

she didn't seem to have a defined personality in the game and just acted differently depending on what route she was on... because she just acts like whatever will appeal to the person she's talking to. she thinks it's easier to wear a fake smile than to actually genuinely be herself around others. but it's tiring.

so hearing that she has to act like that and pretend she's fallen in love for the rest of her life or fail and die trying... makes her just give up. she doesn't want to deal with this anymore.

but then she's gently coaxed outside and joins her family and they accept her and she slowly learns to accept their love and she's like "oh this is nice actually"

[writing-chats]

ultimate character development template

basics

name: meaning of name: nicknames/titles: age: gender: location: birthday: strengths + example where it's shown: weaknesses + example where it's shown: how it affects others:

emotional depth

attachment style + how it manifests in the story: physical fear: emotional/abstract fear: happy memory: sad memory: object of significance: philosophical outlook/belief: what characters are ignorant about themselves: how confident are they: goal: long-term dreams: what they're embarrassed/ashamed to tell others about: regrets: source of pride: source of misery: what they admire above all else: do they believe in fate:

personality

mbti: enneagram: big five: character archetype: star sign: who they pretend to be on the outside: who they actually are/how they feel towards the mask: mental health conditions: how it manifests for them: iq: eq: humour: reputation:

habits

bad habits: mannerisms when stressed: mannerisms when content: mannerisms when scared: mannerisms normally: verbal mannerisms/distinctive speaking style: how do they move across a room: what do they say and what remains unsaid: how they express love: hobbies:

appearance

defining features: eye shape + colour: hair texture + colour: skin texture + tone: vibe: height: build: clothing: any bodily disfigurement (scars, etc.): overall attractiveness: their opinion on their appearance: appeals to:

relationships

who they trust most: what they wish they could do for them: what's holding them back: who they hate most: what they wish they could do to them: what's holding them back: relationship with the protagonist: relationship with the antagonist: siblings: relationship with them: parents/step-parents: relationship with them: previous broken relationships: why did it break: what others expect of them: who believes in them: their mentor character/who they look up to: political/religious/other affiliations: what makes them different from every other character: non-human relationships + why: romantic "type" + why: relationship dynamics:

backstory/background

primary emotion towards their past: primary feelings while in their past: where did they grow up: defining incidents: earliest childhood memory: saddest memory: happiest memory: major accomplishments: their opinion on it: notable people in their backstory: effect on them today: trauma: what have they already lost: financial circumstance:

progression

why are they important (eg. why're they the only one able to do something?): what do they learn about themselves throughout the story: what do they learn about the world: how do they feel towards their newfound knowledge: character arc (positive, negative, neutral): how relationships change because of their actions: what mistakes do they make: what scene is their character highlighted: do they get what they want: why or why not: what happens to them after the story ends:

[greengoddesssmoothie]

In the recent past, women were told by society that they could have a fulfilling relationship or a career, but not both. There’s been a push to “have it all!” more recently, of course, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about how James T. Kirk occupies the unique position of a male character who had to choose one or the other. There are few male characters other than him who are genuinely and unabashedly hopeless romantics who want to settle down but aren’t allowed to by the narrative. And if you view The Search for Spock as a romantic drama, then Kirk also kind of fulfills the typical female character trope of “learning that romantic love is actually more important than a career.”

As you can see, Captain James T. Kirk’s arc mirrors many female romance protagonists, and he is therefore, textually, wife material. In this essay, I will—

[airbenderedacted]

Nate never said that his intention was to imply that Dominator has a crush on Sylvia. Their relationship in that episode was strictly platonic with "shippy undertones" at best. All he said was that he personally shipped them together because they were the only two women in the show, which is not the same as wanting/forcing them to be a couple in canon, and that him liking the ship and headcanoning Sylvia and Dominator as both being lesbians was his inspiration to write an episode putting them together, in which he could queercode them to his (and other crew members') heart's content. To say that a lone staff writer can just hijack the writing in a show that isn't his own to "make two of the main characters a couple" is just ridiculous, man... or at the very least, it is when Wander Over Yonder is the show we're talking about. Nate was open about all of this to the point that the show's supervising producer even talked about it, so literally nothing in that episode was done without McCracken's (who involves himself in pretty much every level of the creation of the show, if the hiatus video they made is any indicator) approval. If Nate Stevenson singlehandedly made Lord Dominator a lesbian it would've been because the guy in charge of it all said, "please do."

A very major part of Lord Dominator's character is the fact that she isn't interested in ANYONE romantically, and, no, The Night Out does not contradict this! Her interest in Sylvia was platonic. Writing a character as lesbian does not inherently go hand-in-hand with giving said character a female love interest, or even a crush, or anything in the realm of romance. That line of thinking is how we get people judging queer romantic relationships as the end-all-be-all of queer representation. (Tbh, all queer characters needing to be Representation is also a bit of a problem.) You can have a female character who loathes it when men take an interest in her, who likes to be gnc, who only cares about hanging out with women when it comes to keeping anyone in her company, and whose writing was significantly influenced by a lesbian writer, and have that be the sole ingredients used when deciding to let the fact that she's been envisioned as a lesbian guide the creation of the final product. A character can be a lesbian just because she's a lesbian and because different crew members threw nods to it here and there throughout the show.

.......and Sylvia is no more a horse than Wander is a chicken leg 😭

She's just an alien woman whose species is well-suited for carrying travelers around if they'd like to!

Ughhh ok, I'm gonna start this off by saying that I am all for more queer rep, especially in kid's shows. Ok? Ok. Now, Nate wanting to make Lord Dominator lesbian was such a dumb choice. So, basically in one episode "The Night Out" Nate said it was his intention to show Lord Dominator as a lesbian in that episode, by implying she has a crush on Slyvia...d-does he HAVE to add a toxic lesbian romance in whatever show he touches? First we have Catradora, now he's trying to make Dominator and Slyvia a couple, when they both HATE EACH OTHER, and when Dominator attempted to KILL SLYVIA showing no guilt. Dominator just very clearly has no romantic feelings towards Slyvia. Also Slyvia's a literal horse sooo...I don't get what his obsession is with toxic sapphic romances, but he has got to stop.

[tahbhie]

Reasons Why 80% of Romantic Plots Fall Through.

Haven't you wondered why a romantic story you have so much hope for suddenly flops? Whether it's yours or not, let's see what could be the problem.

• Relying Too Much on the Outcome

Unfortunately, no romance is complete without an arc. In other words, it is more than just the intimacy. When writers don't allow the relationship to develop naturally, it feels forced. Rushing to the final romance without building a solid foundation will make the story feel shallow and unconvincing. Take your time, flesh out the idea, and follow the plot gradually.

• Creating Unnecessary Victimization

I often see writers make the mistake of portraying one character as too weak or pitiful only for the sake of it. This unnecessary victimization can undermine the character's depth and make the story less compelling. Your readers won't cry along with a female character whose decisions are pretty sour compared to a five-year-old. It's just simply annoying.

Instead, both characters should have strengths and weaknesses, make realistic decisions, making them more relatable and balanced.

• Cringy Conflict.

Realistic conflict is essential for a compelling romance. Over-the-top or contrived conflicts can make the story feel forced and cringy. Conflict should come naturally and blend perfectly into the plot. It's not advisable to pop a challenge that's definitely not necessary in the name of 'keeping the stakes high.'

Rather, focus on creating believable challenges that the characters must overcome, adding depth and authenticity to the plot.

• Neglecting Other Emotions Outside Romance.

It's not only about love, or roses, or dinner nights, or lucky dates with the billionaire. Show the other emotions fighting for dominance: the hurts, pains, joy, frustration, desperation, anger, sadness, jealousy, anxiety, or even moments when a character falls out of love with the other and can't understand their feelings.

Focusing solely on love can lead to a one-dimensional story. For a well-rounded narrative, explore these emotions to create a richer and more immersive experience for the readers.

• Underdeveloped Characters.

What's a story without a fully-fledged character, especially if they are the main character in a story?

You might have heard people talk about the importance of backstories and others saying too much of it tires them out, but here's the thing—balance. It's what people fail to incorporate. I'll try to cover this in any of my upcoming blog posts. Follow to keep up.

To better understand why we should cry for, laugh with, pity, admire, adore, scold, yell at, advocate for, and smile with your character, we need to know why they are what they are, who they are, and why they make the choices they make.

It's important to create characters with distinct personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. When readers care about the characters, they become more invested in the story and its outcome.

And that's my Christmas gift from me to you 🎁. Merry Christmas 🎄