#WHO THE FUCK DOES YANA THINK SHE IS

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Alright, I'll say it: Jack Harkness and the Doctor's relationship is possibly the most fleshed out/complicated dynamic in Doctor Who and that is INCLUDING the master/doctor relationship. Seriously, think about it:

the fact that when they meet jack is presented as sleazy con man and the doctor makes him brave- makes him good

but that they are both willing to die for rose as long as she is safe

and then she comes back and dooms them both to live (even though jack has already died for her and the doctor WILL die for her)

(ninerosejack is canon and you cannot convince me otherwise)

but then the doctor sees jack as immortal as someone he COULD spend the rest of his life with

and instead of embracing it like you'd think he would because he is so wrecked by people leaving him/being left by him the doctor RUNS bc the Doctor is so scared of jack of what he means of what he is

jack ends up abandoned in dalek dust goes back in time to find the doctor suffers a hundred years alone/being tortured but STILL WAITS

(screw amy being the girl who waited or rory being the boy who waited- Jack Harkness is the boy who waited and he did it FIRST)

Jack finds out that he was abandoned. that the man that he loves HATES the sight of him. that the doctor would rather have a genocidal murderer than have him

and so Jack gets the hell out of dodge to go to a man who DOES love him

and don't get me wrong Jack loves Ianto and Jack DOES remember Ianto until he dies as the Face of Boe don't forget that (protecting Novice Hame from the virus as he couldn't Ianto

BUT AFTER EVERYTHING THE DOCTOR HAS DONE TO JACK JACK STILL LOVES THEM

Jack still considers five billion years cursed to never die to be BETTER than the alternative: dying a young time-agent-turned-con-man

Jack has more reason than any other companion save maybe Amy to hate the Doctor & yet spends 20 years in jail to rescue Thirteen still LOVES HER

AND AFTER FIVE BILLION YEARS HE ORGANIZES THAT FIRST MEETING ON SATELLITE FIVE HE ORGANIZES 9/ROSE'S FIRST DATE

jack harkness is a living ghost a reminder of the doctor's failures a physical fixed point and yet he still loves the girl who cursed him and the time lord that turned him into the kind of person that would give his dying breaths to protect the last of humanity in a dying city and tell the doctor that he is not alone

because fuck it, YANA was a warning but also a reminder a final gift

jack had been there all along, a ghost an echo a PROMISE

there is no more human character than jack harkness

[roxannepolice]

Figured I might try rambling about how wonderful the DW s3 finale trilogy is, all with some screencaps that get it best

All screencaps from QuiteUnlikely.net

I've rambled about this before, but this shot is some ancient philosopher with his twink boytoy arrangement (think Socrates with Alchibiades or Aristotle with Alexander). Just. Obsessed with the Doctor being in supplicant/trainee position here.

Much binary code has been spilled about how Martha and Jack should be absolutely pissed about the Doctor wanting to "care for" the Master, and rightly so, but the moment Martha realises professor Yana might be a Time Lord is freaking everything. Just look at her. She's forcefully keeping herself from exploding with joy at the idea the Doctor might not be alone anymore, keeping in mind how she actually sat there and listened to him waxing about Gallifrey. It's the same energy she gives when she finds out the Doctor found Rose. I understand the pleasures of vindicativeness but my girl Martha Jones has the emotional capacity of the Pacific. Same goes for Jack. That guy went through everything the Master put him through over the YTNW and still decided his dying words should be letting the Doctor know his husband is out there. Struggling through radiation poisoning to get him a date was the least the Doctor could do in return.

Just sir Derek Jacobi acting porn.

There is a repeating choice in camerawork where the Master is shot from below and the camera turns around him, especially when he's surrounded by the Toclafane. Gives the viewer an excellent sense of vertigo that makes you feel you're inside his crazy pretty head.

I am absolutely obsessed with visual choices in the TenSimm phonesex scene. Just, the sudden sense of intimacy between them, underlined by the Master taking out his private phone? The Doctor stepping away from Martha and Jack for the talk? The way he conspiratorialy lowers his head for asking the Master out for a date talking about how they might just be together in whatever way, fighting across the galaxies if that's what he wants? Amazing.

This moment is amazing and not discussed enough probably because the fandom is too busy finding hidden meanings of winning and losing in thoschei context to appreciate what's explicitly laid out before them. Like, you can just tell the Master knows the Doctor's there but still waiting for the proper order of moves in this fucked up game of chess they are playing (and also actually focused on his plan in which the Doctor is just one element and not the focus). Meanwhile, the Doctor's all oozing determination right before he states his claim in the game: I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him. That's it. He knows how difficult it will be, but he will win the game by "saving" the Master. Both from others and himself. In this very simple, very explicitly laid out context, the Master dying rather than getting "saved" by the Doctor is... well, let's call it a draw.

Just an apprecitation of David Tennant's acting here. You can see this does not come easy to the Doctor. You can see he feels the weight of forgiving the Master. You can tell he really did suffer for himself and others like the Christ figure he is over the year. At the same time, the arrangement of his hands on the Master's body is so overwhelmingly protective. He knows what he's about to say is horrible.

Ok, this scene was backward engineered. RTD just really wanted thoschei to hold hands under his run. There's a reason this moment keeps being giffed as them actually reconciling and that's the author wanting it to feel like this. At the same time, the little alone moment the Doctor and the Master get on the ground is wonderfully crafted. The Master going into grandiose Paul Atreides' He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it mindset while the Doctor just calmly calls his bluff and talks him down because he really does know him. A contrast to the chaos going on oboard the Valiant. Followed by what would be mistaken for aggressive sex in the wild if you got just a teensy bit drunk.

Just appreciation of Jack holding the Master by his collar like a naughty cat that won't let his nails get trimmed :3

Look at him. Look at the impossible warmth in the Doctor's eyes. This bitch is so freaking hopeful. His mind in already in the space of cuddling with freaking enormous Flemish giant rabbits on Teletubby planet he and the Master are going to engage in.

OK, this moment. This moment. Lucy seriously doesn't get due appreciation as a character. Judging from the comments on my "Lucy adopted the Master because he reminded her of her cat" staute more eternal than bronze post, a lot of people don't like the idea she was just hypnotised into working with the Master and quite right too. No, this is a woman who enjoys power, who gets all ears when she's called "the power behind the throne". This is also someone who has witnessed the last remnants of humanity cannibalising themselves into murderballs, abandoning all hope for better future. End of the day, it's all going to end and the end will not be pretty. It's also someone who suffered a year of abuse from someone she actually loved and does not have the 900 years of witnessing all sorts of horrors the Doctor has. But just look at the calmness with which she gives the gun to Jack. She just did what needed to be done. When the Doctor says the Master "corrupted" Lucy, it's... well it's not exactly that he's wrong, but it's not the case of "oh, just an innocent dainty girl who met a bad man", it's more the case of "If you take a life do you know what you'll give? Odds are you won't like what it is". Contrary to what some writers would have it, DW's stance on violence isn't "guns are baaad, m'kay", but it is "once you've ended a life, it changes you as a person", hence aside from "nooo that's mah husband :(" the Doctor stopping Francine killing the Master, while the latter goads her to it, come on, you have it in you, just as I did the first time around way. The Master gave Lucy an opportunity to kill. Now she's just going along with it. Killed by the monster of your own making, if that ain't the story of the Master's life.

Ok, ok, ok, the pieta. Because this is the freaking pieta, with the Christ figure holding up the Satan figure. How much more blasphemous can you get? How much deeper into the essence of mercy can you get?

There can never be enough said about the Doctor's reaction to the Master saying he'd rather die than be imprisoned by him. Yes, there's the level at which he has a backup plan AND THAT CANNOT BE EMPHASISED ENOUGH, but from the Doctor's perspective? That's the Master denying everything he is, rather than just granting him the experience of another Time Lord - especially this Time Lord - by his side. That here, thank you mr Tennnat, is pure devastation. It's the one possibility the Doctor never took into account. The one rule of the game he never considered valid.

But on the other hand, this here? This here is the Master genuinely surprised and almost sympathetic of the Doctor, on the account of focusing on all the good times they had together, all the times they together achieved things they never could seperately I mean leaving aside the Axon incident being one of the meanest things the Doctor ever did to the Master, tee hee. He seriously never expected the Doctor to hold these memories fondly, to actually think of him fondly. That's the juxtaposition to him enumerating all the times the Doctor's beaten him earlier in the episode. For him, it's always only about the objective winning. For the Doctor, it's been at least partially about the relation. The way his eyes venture of the Doctor's face? That's surprise and sympathy. But of course, not strong enough to change your mind when you do have a plan B.

The Master's so playful. So playful when he says the "I win!" line. He knows the Doctor. He knows his stake in the game was to "save him". Dying is the only way left for him to at least not loose. But for the Doctor it became so much more, and he didn't even realise when.

This is the face of the man who wants it to still be a game and still denying just how much real the things are getting. Look at him, he's ready to mirror the Master's playfulness the moment he gets a chance.

Bless you, mr Simm, for just how bloody peaceful you look here. For looking like you've just had the first peaceful sleep in centuries. You look like a freaking doll.

Oh yes, we will appreciate the burying your face in the other's hair here. To quote the brilliant line from a tensimm fic by @theprodigalpragmatist y'all need to read, A mourning wail. A mammal unburdened with consciousness prodding the limp form of its mate and finding no response, crying out to gods it couldn’t conceive of. A defeat.

And of course, the downturned lips of mr Tennant mourning and dutifully accepting the Doctor's deepest defeat to date. This man's still thinking of the fun he'd have pressing Flemish gaints' fur to mr Simm's round face.

The choice to include the wink to the audience that the Master is in fact just fine right at the moment when Martha leaves and the Doctor is alone in the TARDIS is briiliant. Oh yes, just gimme that God descends to the bottom of hell's frozen lake and finds Satan to pick them up feel.

[cainightfics]

hello.

Hope u r doing well! I love ur fics!

In one of ur asks u mentioned that you read Manga for fun. So any mangas u like or recommend ( besides berserk, already read it)?

thank u! hope ur doing well too

i haven't been reading "good" manga much recently. i read random yaoi for a laugh or easy entertainment, same with fic, but it's been a while since ive really dug into something. a lot of this has to do with grad school killing my creativity, tbh....

but to answer ur question, i really like naoki urasawa, i think hes written the most "literary" manga out there. everybody knows about monster, but 20th/21st century boys and pluto are also worth checking out. urasawa has the most consistently good body of work ive encountered from a mangaka. like, i would say fullmetal alchemist probably has my vote for manga that remains strong throughout and is just undeniably a classic, but urasawa has so much breadth across his body of work. there's shit in monster and 20th century boys i still think about, and i read them like 13 years ago.

i am keeping up with the summer hikaru died, though the plot is at a bit of a lull and i get the sense the author isn't completely sure what to do with their own success. i absolutely love the concept nonetheless though, and think the first few chapters are great on their own.

a lesser known, cult favourite of mine is homunculus. really really different than most manga you've probably read already. can't say much more than that without spoiling.

i think vagabond is worth checking out, even though the story is probably akin to many things youve already read, and it remains unfinished. same with the climber. not super unique stories or themes, but generally well executed.

my guilty pleasure manga is kuroshitsuji lol. its my opinion that yana toboso is kind of a genius but.isnt even really aware of it bc shes cursed with gooner mentality. the story really really sucks right now and has for the past 2 arcs lol but i could write an entire thesis on my various marxist readings of kuroshitsuji. and im not even joking. it's sooooo stupid but it's fascinating to me bc yana is making this like insane pastiche of victorian literary conventions AND contemporary victorian anachronisms that is honestly really camp and interesting but it's just like. FULL of her weird fetishes. not even the obvious pedo stuff but like once you get into it you start seeing her vomit fetish and foot fetish and dollification fetish and it's just really interesting to analyze 😭 like i wanna put her in a lab and study her idk. a little known fact to u all about me is im like obsessed with ppl who are weirdly horny and i conduct what i call "goonvestigations" on them and to me yana toboso is like a top tier gooner to investigate. omg notice how this is already the longest paragraph in this reply... i wouldn't say i recommend reading it lmfao i just think it may be hilariously shocking to you all that i follow that slop. not even just follow. i read the LEAKS 😭

anyways. i would also say oyasumi punpun and blood on the tracks (moreso the beginning bits, it does kinda fall off) are things u might like if you were into the "darker" aspects of berserk (and im not talking the shitty rape scenes, moreso the emotional toxic entanglement of fucked up characters). obviously ya gotta read junji ito too.

i also read saiki k, one punch man, and mob psycho 100 for fun. i think when you read enough of the same thing, eventually you get to the point where all you wanna read is parodies of the genre lol. i read sooooo much manga when i was younger that now its all the same to me, and i just wanna see people make fun of it. that's kinda where im at with manga lately... none of the new stuff interests me unless it's self reflective satire of its own principles. this is why i like mr robot too btw. it functions as satire of both online political movements and their material impotence, and how they are shaped by 90s american capitalism-critical media like american psycho, the sopranos, fight club etc that are about protagonists essentially so caught up in themselves their worldviews totally occlude reality. but don't get me going about mr robot or ill go on forever...

[threadsun]

Flanon Asks: "Omg okay, biting.

TDV, DOL, your OCs, anything. I want to see biting/marking headcanons or writing!!!

I had a friend (I don’t wanna say Situationship or fwb but we have a vibe ig) who bit me on the arm the other day and hoooooly shit oh my god 😫

Maybe the bitten/biter experiences some sorta euphoria or like, ‘click’ after experiencing it for the first time?

- 🍮"

Ooooh I love biting!! I'll give a selection of who I think would be most into it >:3c

Content: biting, sadism, marking

To Do Valley:

Abigail bites people both as a stim and because she thinks it's funny to see how they react! She'll bite anyone she likes, especially her friends and partners.

Harvey tends to bite out of a mixture of sadism and curiosity. He loves how startled people are by it since he doesn't seem the type, and he loves to watch the way bite marks develop and heal.

Sebastian and Maru both make the cutest sounds when you bite them~ They'll squeak and whimper and squirm and it's absolutely adorable, especially when they get flustered after!

Sam gets flustered if you bite him and definitely enjoys it, and he'll bite you right back! He's got kinda sharp teeth too, so he always leaves some deep marks that he admires later.

Degrees of Lewdity:

Robin and Sydney blush and make cute sounds when you bite them too! If you rile them up enough, they might bite back, though they'll be apologetic about it afterwards.

Kylar will leave you covered in bite marks to claim you and will demand that you do the same for him. Everyone needs to know that the two of you belong to each other.

Whitney bites you for fun, he likes watching you yelp and squirm! He also thinks it's hot if you get overwhelmed during sex and bite him to let out some of that pent up energy~

Black Wolf is obviously a biter. She's gentle because she knows you can't handle the full strength of her jaws, but she uses it to hold you in place and show her ownership.

Avery will bite you as a warning when you upset her. For her it's not a sexy thing, it's an anger thing, but if it turns you on then she'll definitely mentally file that away to use against you.

Izzy enjoys biting and being bitten, she gets real giggly over it. You can tell she's going to bite you because she starts giggling first. And if you bite her, you'd better be ready to fuck~

Weird Earth:

Zander is a biter, especially in golem mode but just in general. His teeth are sharp and jagged~ He'll also moan if you bite him and ask you to do it again, harder.

Glitch bites out of anger, annoyance, being overwhelmed... really any strong emotion is enough to make him sink his fangs into you. Especially if you ignore his hissing.

Lin bites for fun and curiosity. He gets bored easily, and biting always gets a fun reaction from people. He also loves to see who does and doesn't get turned on by it~

Yana enjoys startling you by biting you suddenly and for no reason. She wants to keep you on your toes. She'll definitely mock you if you get turned on when she bites you.

Gin and Aisling both have very sharp teeth and like to bite for fun. Gin's teeth are slightly jagged and she loves marking you. Aisling enjoys riling you up whenever she can~

Callum loves to bite and be bitten. It's pretty much inevitable if you're getting frisky with him. Expect to be covered in drool and bite marks whenever you start kissing him.

[sgnjimmy]

𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐵𝑜𝑦𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑

vinny hong x f!reader

a/n: inspired by this ask. @skboba-stars here u go, sweetie.

warning (s): just some mentions of violence.

“So I'm trying this new one now, is not as good as- Hey, are you fucking listening to me?”

Honestly? No. Vinny couldn't care less for some dumb, expensive shoe, so no, he wasn't listening. He just kept walking, thinking about whatever shit that he could be doing instead of going shopping with Dom.

“Yeah, yeah, some shoe talk.” He replies.

“Is not just any shoe, Vinny.” The redhead couldn't help rolling his eyes at his friend.

“Whatever.”

And just as they were reaching the end of the block he bumps into someone. So hard he's pushed a bit back.

“Oh, fuck.” She says. Raising his head he sees a girl, a fucking tall girl, at that.

When she looks back at him, she seems surprised for a moment, tilting her head slightly but as soon as she does it she stops herself, blinking at the floor for half a second.

“My bad.” She says looking down at him, and already making herself move way out of their way.

When she's out of his sight, Vinny turns to look at Dom on his left, and he meets the boy doing a weird face: mouth full open and eyes wide.

“What?” He asks.

“What do you mean ‘what’?! Don't you know who she is? That's Creation Genius!” The long haired teen seemed pretty amazed, moving his hands around and never resting his eyebrows. “Fucking MMA legend!”

“Okay...?”

“Can't believe you don't know her, she's got this special move, that like-”As Dom goes on and on telling Vinny every thing that he ‘needs’ to know about this ‘legend’ the boy shuts his ears off from his companion annoying voice.

Maybe he should have stayed home with Jack, after all.

He really should have stayed home, the rest of the day was literally some kind of torture. Dom stopped on every damn shop, looking at all the dumb things possible, and to make it even worse he made Vinny look with him for a gift to Yana - their birthday was comin' of somethin' like that, he didn't pay attention.

To try to make the day not entirely suck Vinny when to a convince store on his way home, getting something to eat would make him feel better, to a certain point at least.

When he hits the door open to get out of the store he sees four suspicious guys on the corner of the street - definitely not something he's unfamiliar with -, and given the fame of this neighborhood it couldn't mean no good. On his way passing through them one of the guys grabs his shoulder, he already knows what's going to happen. Today is really not his day, what a pain.

“Hey, man, why don't you lend me, and my friends some money? We kinda short on it.” ... Really? Is this how he's going to play it?

“...”

“... Not gonna answer me? Alright.”

Before he actually trys to hit Vinny he's pulled back, the redhead steps back too from the surprise. Thanks to the poor lighting he don't get to have a good look of his ‘saviour’ kicking the guy to the ground. He manages just to see that they have short hair, and are wearing some hoodie.

The rest of the group fastly runs to back their friend up only to end up on the floor seconds later.

Damn, do they know how to fight, Vinny thinks. But he didn't need no one to save him so he approaches this person to say exactly that.

“I don't need someone to protect me in a fight. And I don't remember anyone asking you to step in.”

The person turns back to look at Vinny and as they step closer to where's a lamppost emitting light, he recognizes them. Or, well, her - from the bump in the afternoon.

“I couldn't help it... Nobody bullies my friend.”

Wait.

You shitting me.

There's no way...

The surprise is visible on Vinny's face as he tries to put his brain back on track. You just stand there, smiling to yourself, his confusion seems pretty amusing to you.

“Y/n?”

“Yeah, Vinny... It's me, i'm here.”

[quietwingsinthesky]

(@transgenderdoctorwhomst )

looks at you with my big eyes and holds out my hand. would you like to be normal with me about master!rory?

yes yes yes yes so badly hold on hold on.

okay. see. what’s got to activate my brainworms about master!rory is the moment we all know and love, this little speech here:

You know what's dangerous about you? It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around.

which, already one of the best rory moments on its own. with regular rory, its an immediate tell of just how insightful he is about the doctor—the guy whose whole thing is being a mystery man in a mystery box. he reads him for dead there, and he’s right. but god. think about that with the context of master!rory. maybe even a master!rory who is still currently fobwatched or whatever, who doesn’t know just how well he knows the doctor. because doesn’t that just cut to the core of their relationship. as much as the master is perfectly capable of doing evil shit all on his lonesome, there’s a part of him that wants the doctor to see. to be impressed by just how far the master can go, has gone.

i mean s3 and end of time are practically him shouting LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! until he’s gone far enough to put his own face everywhere on the planet.

and then, of course, the way that this line could also reflect on missy’s future(?) arc (assuming that at some point rory is gonna regenerate into her. which. extremely funny if you hold to the EU fact that missy is also one of amy’s childhood therapists. missy, that’s your wife what are you doing-) What’s more undoing than wanting to be better because the Doctor knows you can be, promises you can be, and you reach and reach and never quite get a hold on what he’s saying you must. you don’t want to let him down. and you will. inevitably.

you know?

and we gotta get into amy/rory we gotta. okay. again presuming fobwatched!rory -> him getting his memories back. i mean, what’s that like, right? because rory’s world revolves around amy, it really does, but the master has centuries behind him. how do you fit a universe inside you and still love one girl so much. i don’t think he could stop, i don’t think he could help himself. above all, i don’t think amy would let him. that sounds uhhhhh but what i mean is: i don’t think amy would watch rory become someone else and think that she, she who believed the doctor back into existence, couldn’t force a little of him to stay rory, just by holding onto him. very tam lin of her, if she held onto the master as he snarled and spit and lashed out until he ran out of energy to fight it and let himself be rory again just to be in her arms a little while longer.

i think you’re right. i think she really could just go ‘you’re being an idiot’ and he’d completely bluescreen processing that he, the master, is being spoken to like that. that he’s listening to her. he can’t help it, he’s whipped. oh the insane things that would do to him and the doctor both if the doctor couldn’t talk him down from Evil Plan Of The Week but amy could. a compelling parallel too, assuming that somehow fobwatched rory grew up from being a kid (the way yana did?) alongside amy, remembers that still alongside memories of growing up with the doctor. two very different childhood friends, and the real one, the older one, is someone with whom the relationship is so banged up it can never be good or simple ever again. and his childhood with amy wasn’t even real but the love is. the love is.

i think that would be a wonderful way to fuck him up forever. the doctor spends all this time picking up humans and ghosting when they grow older because he’s terrified of facing that and the master mocks that, and then all of a sudden. here’s his human. she’s going to grow old. and he never will. a new kind of fear for him to experience, the horrible understanding of exactly what the doctor does and why. he’d probably bring it up more in response, lash out at the doctor with names of people he hasn’t visited in centuries because he’s so scared, and then turn around and see amy and get cold and shaky because it’s happening to him and he can’t stop it.

ohhhhh river. what do we think the odds are that master!rory would let his daughter be taken away from them? zero, right? and like hell would amy, no matter what the show seemed to believe. so let’s steamroll the doctor’s opinions on the matter, commandeer his ship, because its his future he wants to preserve but its the master’s/rory’s/amy’s present they both want to save. amy’s got a vicious streak that could burn through the galaxy if given enough reason to, and that’s her daughter they took. but alone, the doctor could stop her, because at the end of the day, it’s his ship and he’s got more power over everyone’s lives then is reasonable. with rory, she couldn’t do it. but with the master? the stars are gonna learn to shake when they hear she’s coming.

so yeah. i have. a few thoughts on master!rory. hopefully good ones lmao.

[aviculor]

Oddity is another new release from this year. IFC Films immediately looks familiar, didn't I just see them on Stopmotion too? Well shit, do I recognize anything else in their Wikipedia article? Birth/Rebirth, In A Violent Nature, When Evil Lurks, Late Night With the Devil, Skinamarink, Pontypool, Relic, Hatching, Antichrist, The House That Jack Built, all three Human Centipede movies...dude, are you kidding me right now? Even if these credits are for distribution and not production, they have their fingers in an impressive selection of pies.

Uhh, anyway, Oddity. An Irish film where a medium is trying to uncover the truth of her sister's murder by holding a seance in the house where it happened. Just came out on Shudder today, but I did spy it online last month at the same time as Longlegs.

You can tell this was directed by a man because there's no way in hell any woman would have actually opened the door for a crazed man in the middle of the night.

Not even a solid year since his wife's death, huh? I have to admit, that does make him look a little suspicious. The man who was arrested and sentenced for the murder was his former patient. His new lover has to tell him it would be weird to not want to hang onto mementos. He forgot the anniversary. He was going in for handshake with his sister-in-law.

Darcy might be imposing herself on Ted and Yana, but I really think I'm on her side here.

Oh, I guess I have to rescind that first thought after the read more. She did not, in fact, open that door. I mean, it was obvious Olin was framed or else this wouldn't be much of a movie. But the scenario that allegedly happend is ludicrous. Almost like the type of narrative a guy who thinks he's smarter than he actually is would fabricate in order to have his wife murdered so he could get with a young blonde pharmaceutical rep.

What, uhh, what exactly was Darcy's plan, though? And why did she not expect Ted would do something after she confronted him? The only reason he didn't kill her right then and there was because he's a dirty coward who never gets his own hands dirty.

Ted was such a complete fucking bastard. He deserved far worse than an implied death after the credits started rolling. Brick joke was funny, but the makeup effect on the ghost bellboy was unimpressive and the scene building up to it definitely went on for too long.

I called the twist as soon as Ted mentioned his new girlfriend, so I can't help but feel like the plot could have gone a few more places. I will say it was an interesting role reversal that the villain was a staunch nonbeliever while the hero was an occultist who practiced black magic. I feel like they could have gotten a lot more mileage out of the fact that Dani was haunting the house. Presumably, Darcy was too by the ending. Unless maybe she was haunting her antique store and that's how she mailed the bell to Ted. But again, Dani's ghost was just there to scare Yana away which was criminally underutilizing her. The payoff at the end could have been a lot more satisfying.

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Okay so I am now caught up with the new Black Butler chapters

NOW ONTO THE THOUGHTS WITH SPOILERS UNDERCUT!

BABY GOT A GUN!

Hmmm...kay Artie maybe you're a bit-

GOD DAMNIT-

...Okay so me and @cartyrs recently have a talk of the vibe of the manga rn (see here and here for the actual talk) in which we both kind of agree the whole Undertaker setting up a orphanage that sacrifices children for blood donations for Doll (in which I ask WHY KILL THE CHILDREN AND NOT DO WHAT ANA DID AND GET THE DONATIONS VIA MEDICAL SHIT-) while building the kids up to be like OCiel, Sebastian, the other servants, and maybe Doll is a bit weird and doesn't fully make sense, but seeing the final face shown panel of Artie is straight Sebastian!

. . . Artie-

He's uhhhhhh....he's kind of freaking me out-

I red this again to figure out what it could be cause it's not just a Sebastian vibe anymore, it's something else, and with a next page that struck me with a thought-

Why does he look kind of like Peter to me?? I know I can't base it purely cause he's a youthful blonde Victorian child, but even his dialog is weirdly Petercore just while Peter was "kids are brats" Artie's more "adults are mean", now obviously I'll be nuts to try and dare theorize he's actually a BD of Peter cause 1) he would have a scar where he was shot unless like Wendy the bullet was to the side and not back to front as I assume based off his corpse-

and 2) Doll would've recognize him for certain or at least be weird around him supposed deja-vu

... No-

Yana you can't-

YOU CAN NOT-

WELP HERE ARE THE TEARS HOLY SHIT-

Now I won't be first to mention how Finny thinking of when OCiel matched with how he's feeling right now, but the fact that Theo, this orphanage's literal Ciel, telling him to run has to be SO conflicting for our baby...

Well, I mean it'll be sad but at least 208 wouldn't be worst-

. . . OKAY

FIRST OFF, I was spoiled of some scenes already, thank my friend for that!

Second, when this picture showed up, my brain decided to ruin me more by playing this-

WHICH DOESN'T FUCKING HELP-

Anyway, back to the review of 208, a weird feeling in my chest of tears, happiness, anxiety, and theorizing-

The parrels Snake even points out of Doll and OCiel when it shows the parrels of Doll and Finny crying over the idea of losing Snake-

The hand reaching out to him by people who saved him-

MY HEART!

. . . I'm sorry wha-

Ooooooh, okay, I was about to whip out my knowledge of animal DNA vs Human DNA and how at sad as it sounds we can't have werewolf babies and question everything-

I mean Dagger's not wrong, I mean he literally named Sebastian based off what he wears and OCiel just off how adorable his smile is, unless someone else named him and he took credit

Also on that thought how he named Doll makes it so much cuter/sadder since he described aka in his eyes she's really is as precious

Also I can't tell is Dagger is saving other abused kids from this circus/freak show, is packing up the ones who tagged along, or if Snake unknowingly witnessed one of their kidnappings-

YOU CAN'T SPRING THAT SHIT UP ON ME YANA-

Kind of interesting they don't have beef, which according to some weird test is the most favorable meat out of the ones out there. Like I get they don't have cattle since they roam and I assumed beef is expensive back in the day, but a part of me kind of hopes it's like a Soma situation back in Weston where they don't have beef due to someone's religion, though then there's pork-

JUMBO!

My boy didn't speak much at all throughout the arc so this is excited as shit!

AAAAWWWWWWWWEEEEE~!

S-So... Jumbo...named the Snakes...?

Hey, Jumbo simpers, come back so I can bless you with him naming your kid-

Okay this is by far my new favorite picture of all of them together! Doll chilling in her dress- A honestly super cute wholesome pic of Beats- Peter giving off that trustworthy older bro vibes- Wendy giving off that one cool Aunt who lets you eat ice cream before breakfast and lets you sip her wine if you behave enough and takes you to Disneyland a weekend just to see you excited and scared on roads vibes-

Though now I have a few questions of this scene seems to show everyone knew Doll and her habit of dressing up to chill with others in comfy clothes (which in same bitch) and which i wonder: Did no one fucking care she was in the bath and trying to strip OCiel back then?? Dagger and Jumbo were in there, I get why they would be chill with their baby sister in there but why didn't they step in-

Unless my joke was true-

My final thoughts. . .

I AM NOT OKAY!

I am taking a lil nap, watch some Black Butler Season 2 cause for some reason unless it's Alois' abuse and death I don't cry, so there-

I have a lemon mint tea brewing-

Hopefully Doll does not die cause I might not return from that, not as a shipper but as it'll be silly bringing her back then killing her off AGAIN!

LET HER HELP FINNY ESCAPE, LET HER HAVE A BIT OF A CRISIS BEFORE EITHER HER OR SNAKE OR SNAKE'S SNAKES STOP HER FROM DOING ANYTHING EXTREME, LET HER RUN INTO OCIEL AGAIN, LET ME HAVE A SCENE OF OCIEL SHOCKED SEEING HER, LET ME SEE HIM WATCH HER WALK UP, LET HER PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE, LET ME HAVE THAT!

[hey-haven]

Ranking TWST Books from worst to best part 2!

Number 5: Book 5

While I do think the writing in Book 5 is leagues better than Book 2, it still very much had a lot of issues.

Once again the main character of the Book, Vil, is given very little focus. I’ve said this before, but it very much felt like Epel’s and Deuce’s story with those two having their own arcs reaching a beginning, middle, and an admittedly satisfying conclusion within the book. However, it leaves Vil’s whole story completely entirely unexplored with only getting small snippets into his psyche.

Here’s my hot take: Vil was not actually an asshole or some diva throughout the book. Yes he was strict, but as someone who did marching band with fellow annoying teenagers, it was a necessary strictness ahdsgs. Especially with so much money on the line. The exercise, the reasonable diets, it’s all a necessary and very common practice for a physical competition. To me, there was no actual buildup to his attempt at literally poisoning someone.

Mix that with the execution of his backstory being very shallow leaving a lot to have to be interpreted and you have a character who either is hard to sympathize with and/or one that can be easily villainized. I’ve met a lot of TWST fans who just outright strongly dislike him, and a part of it comes from the fact that Yana simply did not put in the effort at fleshing out his character in a way that can be sympathized, that should be sympathized as is the whole point of all the ‘villains’ of TWST. It’s not until the release of Book 6 does Vil become a more 3 dimensional character that he should have already been by the end of Book 5.

But because we spent too much time with a bunch of other characters, we don’t get that. Speaking of, another important part of the books is having the antagonists from the previous book come in and serve as protagonists in the next, which helps further develop their characters and be able to write them under a more heroic light.

Kalim and Jamil don’t really get that. There are hints of something bigger coming for not only the conclusion of their arcs but their “friendship” (and I use that term very lightly) as a whole. But we never actually reach the climax, just the conclusion. The supposed climax was during Vil’s overblot where they kinda work together along with the other SDC team members to stop Vil, but there is no actual connection to the previous buildup. Just a scene post boss battle where Jamil says Kalim basically doesn’t suck all that much and Kalim being overjoyed to hear that annnd that’s it.

Literally right after the book that touches their complex relationship, we don’t actually see the natural build up to them reaching mutual friendship status (which I’d argue shouldn’t happen until Jamil’s contract as a servant is terminated entirely. They literally can’t be equals unless that happens). In other words, Yana greatly fumbled the back of gold that she had from Book 4.

All of these problems would not have happened if they just stopped focusing on Epel as much as they did cause really Book 5 was Epel’s story. We focus a lot more on his struggle with his views on masculinity and the question of what it takes to be a man than we do with Vil’s struggle of idk playing the villain in movies all the time. Again there is something more interesting there with Vil’s whole thing, but the fact that you need to heavily read between the lines is just not good storytelling.

And then add Deuce’s struggles being thrown literally in the fucking middle and it’s ahhhh!

THE POINT IS! Book 5 suffers from a bloated cast and unfocused writing that leaves so much to be desired!

Part 1

[paperclvps]

hi chauncey. *cocks a fucking gun* it's your turn. you should tell me about twisted wonderland. NOW

(please keep in mind all i know is what vanny told me please)

Hello, Mul! Well you've walked right on into the autists grotto. Welcome, welcome. Sit tight!* *and forgive me for any incorrect info; most of this is off of the top of my head.

To begin, I should probably give you the basics.

Twisted wonderland was developed by Walt Disney Japan; and published by Aniplex. Twisted wonderland is a mix between a rythm game, a battle game, and a visual novel with a gacha system to get cards of the characters. Said characters were designed by Yana Toboso, who created Black Bulter/Kuroshitsuji, if you're familiar with that title. They also are/were in charge of the original plan, and the main script as far as I am aware. Though the game has been available in Japan since early 2020, it took until January of 2022 to be released in America and to be given an english translation. I don't think it's been released all over the world though, as I've had to download the game via quoapp and I live in the uk.

Since this is a disney game, our roster of characters is inspired by Disney Villains from various franchises- much like the dorms. These dorms, Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde and Diasomnia. They are each inspired by the 'spirit' of one of the great seven.

But who are the great seven, you may ask? To explain, there are seven influental figures in the world, called The Great Seven whose deeds are told through many legends. This group of characters are the following- The Queen of Hearts, The King of Beasts, The Sea Witch, The Sorcerer of the Sands, The Fairest Queen, The King of the Underworld, and The Thorn Fairy. I'm sure you're able to figure out which villains each of these is based off of via their names, so I won't go into that.

The great seven, in the world of twisted wonderland- aren't considered to be villains. The statues of them at night raven college- the setting of the game, speak only of their good qualities. Such as the following; 'A compassionate sea witch who dwelled in a grotto deep beneath the waves. To repent for past misdeeds, she devoted herself to helping troubled souls, guiding even seemingly hopeless romances to a true happy ending.' To put that into perspective, these 'villains' are highly respected.

I would like to say from here, that despite their similarities, the characters you interact with at night raven college are NOT related to the great seven, or their henchmen and the likes. They're inspired by them, though, and 'twisted' from the characters. But, Azul, the Ursula inspired character does not equal the sea witch.

In the game, you as the player take the role of 'Yuu'- or whatever you choose to call yourself. The protagonist. Despite having no powers of your own, being a completely ordinary human- you are taken to the world of twisted wonderland via a magic mirror. You find yourself at night raven college; a magic training school for boys. You need to find your way back home, but the headmaster- a man called Dire Crowley- offers you protection until a way to do so is discovered. You, or, Yuu, is placed in an unnamed, run down dormitory outside of the main campus, and throughout the game you will be partnered up with Grim, A hot headed fire monster cat who originally made attempts to steal your spot at the college. Chaos ensued, but after the events of the start of the prolouge, you and Grim end up enrolling as one student- since you are unable to use magic.

Generally I just find it to be a fun and (mostly) light hearted game, although some of the overblot storylines hit me in the feels and resonate with me a lot. ('Overblot is a form taken by those who overuse their magic and let their negative emotions "blot" their magic wands.')

You can play twistunes, which is the rythm game part, decorate a 'guest room', partake in battles, and read vignettes or the main story to get to know the characters better.

You mentioned to vanny that you wanted a more simple explanation, so I wont go any further unless you have questions, but please feel free to send a follow-up ask if anything is confusing!

Tldr, normal human gets sent to magic world and magic school, needs to find a way to get home, interacts with the other students who are inspired by disney villains along the way and you get the treat of watching one of them traumadump after you beat their overblot boss battle. It's also silly.

Just a note if you want to play the game, it can be quite grind-heavy, so if you dislike repetitive tasks it may not be the game for you.

If you read this far here's me and my boyfriend vvvv

[ciels-gay-cousin]

TLDR; Are there any other recovering Sebaciel shippers getting back into the show with a fresh perspective?

I started watching the show when I was 13, & made it an annoyingly big part of my personality how much I shipped Sebaciel. Printing out manga panels & pasting it on every journal I had level obsessed.

Getting back into the fandom, I'm just looking at all these new tumblr blogs with the same flaming texts I used to send as a kid & honestly its funny. I used to lie about my age & defend the hell out of it too!! I see ya!!

No, I know there are plenty of Sebaciel shippers & for completely justified reasons. For me, it's just sort of grown into a bittersweet acknowledgement instead of actually wanting them to be together?

I'm 21, getting back into the show & manga, & every time they interact with each other in the suggestive ways they do, all i can think about is how Ciel's literally a child. I can't stop thinking about how I was at his age & if I put myself in his shoes, there's a towering million year old demon over me in the most pull & tug power dynamic ever.

Kuroshitsuji throughout it's entirety has always sexualized Ciel in some way or another. Literally consistently & we all know it's because of Yana's background w shota porn. Besides the blatant fact that she just likes to draw him ... suggestively at times, the sexualization of Ciel & Sebastian's relationship does what the show's intended to do. Portraying Ciel as a hopeless child who will be devoured by the demon.

This is how the show will end, no matter what. The tension on screen is showing the audience the complexity of their relationship, & how it does go deeper than master & butler in a myriad of ways. Going the sexualization route, just puts the point across faster than the storytelling alone.

It just kind of a weird dynamic now. Being completely conscious of what Ciel has been put through, what he will go through, etc., of course I don't want this kid to get fucked over by the demon! But it's gonna happen! It's the same for the sexualization of their relationship. Yana's completely aware of what she's doing & will never have their relationship become more than what it is. The tease of the tension is what she counts on, for multiple reasons.

I view their relationship more as a spectacle for something much bigger than them, ei. the evil in humanity etc. etc. if not anything else to make me feel better lol. I could dissect it into a million little words which I'm sure I'll do eventually but anyway

So, although I don't ship them anymore I am... quite literally neutral. No one can deny what's on screen, it's there, we just take what it is in different ways. From a symbolic point of view, it's the deepest.

[omegawizardposting]

The corset scene in Black Butler was fanservice. Yana Toboso has made BL/yaoi (some of it shota iirc) manga under other pen names. She puts Sebastian and Ciel in a lot of suggestive positions, because she is also a BL fan and creator.

I don't think SebaCiel will ever be canon, as Black Butler is meant to reach a wider audience, but Yana Toboso knows that bitches love fanservice as much as she does.

Not personally a SebaCiel shipper, haven't kept up with the manga since the twin reveal, but as a thirty-year-old who's seen enough gay subtext and fanservice in anime to know better, buddy, it's fucking fanservice. No matter how uncomfortable that makes you feel, the corset scene and others like it were made with shippers in mind.

If that bothers you, you probably shouldn't be reading the series or interacting with the fandom. I want to know how you've survived this long, actually. You are an enigma.

[azuresins]

*Builds a blanket fort, crawls inside, puts up a sign that says "Grelle Haters/transphobes do not interact with this post I am TALKING TO MYSELF PLEASE BE NORMAL THANK YOU*

This was pointed out a long, long time ago but it's never left my mind.

One thing I do miss about the anime adaptation S1, are a few of the filler-moments and Grelle interactions, specifically during the time when Grelle and Ciel were 'teaming up'... Ciel promised Grelle that if she helped him, Grelle could do anything they wanted with Sebastian.

And Grelle's immediate response was "...Even a kiss/kissing?" ... people, and even people who have worked on kuro content like the musicals, Season 2 (GODDDD), and other random material that's technically official... have been kind of quick to paint Grelle as this huge scary pervert, simply because what... They're outside of gender norms and that's what makes them predatory? Not that I dunno, they befriended a serial killer, and killed people who weren't supposed to die?

Ciel seemed pretty happy to allow Grelle full permission and access to do whatever they wanted with Sebastian and it doesn't really matter if he intended to make good on the promise or not, the point is all Grelle asked for was a kiss. They didn't ask to fuck him, some hot and steamy night or whatever (and we all know Sebastian fucks) they only asked for a simple kiss.

That's pretty innocent, all things considered. I think... she talks a big talk and walks a big walk, but she's probably a virgin, and after the laughs deep down she's actually extremely careful with her body, and who she takes to bed. IF she takes anyone to bed- I'm not actually sure she does, or not. I haven't seen a TON of fanwork, reflecting that very often and I can't say I blame fans for reacting that way because there's so much Grelle content out there but not much of it is connected to Manga canon at all... I just feel like that was a nice choice, on the part of the writers of S1.

It also warmed my stupid cold heart when Grelle stumbled upon a baby crying during the fire in london, and knelt to acknowledge it and tell it that she's not allowed to take it's life, just yet. People I think misunderstood that interaction and assumed they were being cruel or something-- I interpreted it as them acknowledging the infant and gently telling them, it wasn't their time, therefore it's possible someone else off camera rescued the baby and it got to live it's life. Some people are just really quick to assume the worst of them and I'm pretty sure 'degenerate' has been used to describe them before and I don't think that's fair, and I also don't see it.

When people pointed out in the past "but but but but Grelle tries to touch people without permission!" I take it with such a fat fucking huge grain of transphobic salt, because Madame Red full on rubs Sebastian's entire ass, RACHEL thought nothing of squeezing her own sisters tits, Sieglinde gropes Our!Ciel, I have NO idea whats going on with "Freckles/ Freckle Face" and their gender but they takes Our!Ciel's hand and make him grab their tit, and then there's all the filthy things Sebastian does. Not to mention the actual cultists/rapists, and kelvin who is an actual disgrace and sick fuck and Lao????????? I'm?????

Grelle all things considered is like THE LAST person in this manga I'd call a pervert. I know S1 isn't canon, and the plot kind of went off the rails... but I actually really liked those choices. PUT THEM BACK. 😠

In the manga and in official art drawn by Yana, I've noticed over the years Grelle has been drawn significantly more feminine, people who have never seen Grelle before can look at these pictures and not distinguish them from a cis woman... and I think that's a very nice choice, I just hope that we get more canon interactions with Grelle on a bit more of a personal level the way we did in S1, seeing as they're one of Kuro's more popular characters.

I find it an interesting choice that Othello has been just about the only character shown so far, that appears to be the most gentlemanly/respectful of her (and also hasn't tried to fight her/beat her lol) and for that reason... I think they're kind of cute, together and I hope they continue to be teamed up even if Grelle doesn't appear impressed or interested, I simply... can not unsee it. I am looking, I am NOTICING... very hard, and very respectfully in that ships direction even if it's kind of a rarepair and one-sided on Othellos part.

If William can stop beating her up for comic relief, that'd be great... but maybe I hope for too much. I think it'd be super, super, super funny if Grelle was gone for a few months, completed their transition and suddenly William fell all over his own ass and turned into a stuttering moron (because shes too beautiful) she was just, "Hiiii Will~ Gonna hit me again for filing my paperwork late? God forbid women do ANYTHING." And he was just. "Uh. --I'm.. -- No. That's enough. ////" I can see it very vividly in my head.

Anyway every time I talk about Grelle I get some weirdo in my askbox but I've been holding these thoughts in for quite some time...//////////

[empressawesomecoolness]

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Speedrun Marathon - Series 3 (2007)

The semester’s keeping me busy but trust me I’m still trying to keep this speedrun going and get caught up on everything before May, so I’m glad to say I finally finished Series 3 yaaaaayyy! It was a lot of fun, especially in how it carried over from Series 2 into 10’s adventures with a new companion after Rose. Aight let’s get into it…

General Thoughts

Right off the bat, I loved Martha as a companion. Similar to Sylvester McCoy, I was familiar with Freema Agyeman from her stellar work on Sense8, so I was already a fan of her’s as soon as she popped up on screen. She’s got her own brand of intelligence and spunk that bounces off of 10 really well. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Rose was carried over from Eccleston’s tenure into Tennant’s, but I believe that Martha meeting 10 as he is for the first time in this series was beneficial to them building a better chemistry. Also, it’s great and refreshing to see the Doctor get his first black female companion in the show’s history. Overall, probably one of my fav companions so far, if not my favorite.

Not much to add in regards to David Tennant’s performance as the 10th Doctor, but I’ll heap praise anyways. He’s just as charismatic as he was last season, never phoning it in for even a second. All of 10’s big emotional and personality quirks can really be chalked up to Tennant’s clear love of the material, which was also apparent in the previous two Doctor actors I’ve covered thus far.

Besides the Doctor and Martha, Series 3 also had a really big moment that I was pleasantly surprised to see be built up so well: the return of The Master. Last time I saw that character in this speedrun watch-through, he was ‘90s Eric Roberts doing his best impression of an effeminate man. I was wondering how he’d inevitably return after his fate in the TV movie, so I genuinely felt the rug pulled out from under me when he was revealed to have been hiding right under my nose as Professor Yana in Utopia. Derek Jacobi played both the unassuming professor and the menacing Master really well, so props to him. As for his almost immediate successor, John Simm as the 7th Master, I must admit…. not really my thing. I will admit he had some great moments that made me truly hate him (which in turn made me like him more cuz well y’know he’s the villain duhh), but the over the top flamboyance just gave me major BBC Sherlock Moriarty vibes. idk, again I still haven’t seen the classic series in its entirety yet, so maybe that’s just how the Master is, but I’m inclined to believe Stephen Moffat is the common denominator in this specific characterization. Despite my criticisms tho, Simm’s chemistry with Tennant was really fun. Much more dynamic than the complete diva Paul McGann had to act off of.

Favorite Episodes

• Blink

• The Shakespeare Code

• The Lazarus Experiment

• Human Nature

• The Family of Blood

• Daleks in Manhattan

• Evolution of the Daleks

• Utopia

Favorite Moments

• The entirety of Blink was a really clever well done treat for me. It felt a lot like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it just played with Doctor Who’s version of time travel so well and to such great effect. The Weeping Angels are now some of the Doctor’s most iconic foes, which is well deserved because they are super memorable and scary as fuck. Also it was funny to see baby Carey Mulligan here lol

• The moment Professor Yana reveals himself to be The Master was so crazy cool. Like just a few seconds earlier when he started acting weird and jaded I was thinking “holy shit is he the Master he’s gotta be the Master” and I was right 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

• I appreciate that Martha mentions how William Shakespeare doesn’t look exactly like he does in the famous portraits we have of him. It’s still kind of a topic of speculation as to what exactly he looked like in his youth, so I liked that she’d pick up on that.

• “Come on. We can all have a good flirt later!” “Is that a promise, Doctor?” “Oh, 57 academics just punched the air.” I love this show

• They should induct Blink into the National Film Registry for preservation just for the introduction of the phrase “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff” alone

• Captain Jack Harkness (great to see him back btw) is THE FACE OF BOE????????????????? not sure how to feel about that. points for creativity tho

• tryna just chill and watch The Lazarus Experiment then BOOM!!!!! MARK GATIS JUMPSCARE AHHHHHHHHH

• The sound of a militaristic drumbeat constantly playing in the Master’s head is a great motif. One of the things I did like about Simm’s portrayal was how well he got across the maddening effect of the drumbeat’s sound in his head.

• The series finale was soooo crazy. I loved how the consequences of the Master’s plan were shown to have been so hard to crack that it took a whole year for them to even get close to him. It really built up the Master as a new kind of villain for this revamped version of the show. Also, fucking good on Martha for busting her ass to travel the globe and gather the support of millions. She’s such a badass

• “Good old J.K.!” *thousand yard stare*

Alright, that about wraps it up for Series 3! I had a great time with this series, even if it took me a bit to get through. Time to crack on, though. Gotta keep this speedrun train going. Onto Series 4, which (for the most part) marks David Tennant’s final tenure as the 10th Doctor.

[sebastianshaw]

Since there wasn’t IC content, have a lil thing I worked on earlier this week summarizing Shaw and Maddie’s relationship in the 90s and my thoughts about it! Ok so if you don’t know who M.adelyne P.ryor is (shame on you!) she’s probably been done more dirty than like…anyone else at Marvel. I cannot fucking BEGIN to get into what happened to her before this, but basically she died horribly in the 80s as an insane villain (not her fault, every writer EVER since seems to forget she was acting under demonic influence she’d been infected with, she didn’t just turn evil DESPITE EVERYTHING I always need to note this) Ok so. N.ate G.rey, the test tube (literally) baby of Jean and Cyclops from Ag.e of Apocalypse, arrives in 616, the Marvel mainstream comics universe. He’s alone in a new world and needs a friend. His psyche subconsciously seeks out the mother he never knew, and instead finds Maddie’s ghost on the astral plane, yanks her out, and jams her in a new telekinetically-constructed body he created ALL WITHOUT HIS REALIZING HE’S DOING IT. And Maddie doesn’t realize he did it either. In fact, she comes back with complete amnesia. All she knows is her name is M.adelyne P.ryor, and she’s drawn to Nate. So she finds him immediately and they become traveling companions.

 But! Alas! Madelyne is once more led astray by dark forces who wish to use her for their own wicked purposes! This time, however, it’s Selene, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. She lures Maddie away from Nate, and Maddie lives with her for awhile (and her cute French maid Ella). Then, Maddie discovers that Selene is actually a soul-sucking mutant vampire sorceress with an absolute PILE of bodies in the attic. .  .and she takes it pretty well, which is Selene’s cue that she’s made the right choice in taking Ms. Pryor on as a protege. The next step is introducing her to the Hellfire Club as a potential Inner Circle recruit. This is where she meets Shaw for the first time, and here’s what’s interesting— He immediately knows she’s NOT Jean, without Selene or Maddie or anyone needing to say so. Now, Shaw KNOWS damn well what Jean Grey looks like, his first story is all about him leading the HFC in brainwashing her. Yet when he sees Maddie, he calls her an “unknown being” and does not remark on her resemblance to Jean at all. And when he kisses her hand in the image shown, he makes reference to Inferno, which MADDIE caused (well, her and Yana). He immediately not only knows shes NOT Jean, he also judges her on her own deeds immediately too. Now, that makes sense, given Shaw’s very individualist nature, of course he looks at her deeds as an individual, but how does he KNOW SHE’S NOT JEAN? Thematically, it’s probably, again, to emphasize he sees her as her own person (he NEVER compares her to Jean even ONCE in their relationship, not even in thought, it literally never crosses his mind that we’re ever shown) but in-universe, what gave it away? Well, maybe writer oversight, but I like to think maybe he’s just got a weird talent for picking out clones, shapeshifters, etc. 

Now, Maddie still is amnesiac at this point, but she’s already attracted to Shaw, and I think that’s probably BECAUSE of how immediately he clearly sees her as HER. She might not consciously REMEMBER being constantly compared to Jean by everyone, including her husband, but I bet it’s there subconsciously. Anyway, she has a trial to become the Black Rook by doing battle with the Red Rook from the London Branch, she not only wins but pulls Mountjoy (a mutant possessing the Red Rook) out of the other woman’s body, which was nice of her. So anyway, maybe it’s because she senses she’s being used by Selene and doesn’t appreciate it, maybe she thinks Shaw’s big old hairy body is just that hot, but she starts cozying up to him on his yacht. Very, very closely cozying. Shaw seems fine with this—WHY WOULD HE NOT BE—nicknaming her “Spitfire” (he calls her this a few more times in their time together iirc and I think that’s really cute actually) and putting a blanket over her shoulders, which, considering her outfit, is really considerate. Shaw has done one (1) nice thing in his life. But Maddie, as you can see, has other things on her mind—namely, her past!

Suspicious of the woman who caused Inferno suddenly cuddling up to her master, Shaw’s personal assistant Tessa (who is actually a deep cover double agent for Xavier but that wouldn’t be revealed til the 2000s) went on a little telepathic rummage through Maddie’s mind during the night, and ended up accidentally unlocking Maddie’s memories. So, Maddie’s got a LOT to think about now, and despite her attraction to Shaw, she decides to go back to Nate. But she runs into Threnody first, who is the new lady Nate picked up in her absence, and an agent of Sinister, and, uh, they end up not getting along too well, and Maddie kills her. Then Maddie does find Nate, but unfortunately, he’s with J.ean G.rey, and Maddie doesn’t take kindly to that either. Despite his deep friendship with Maddy and having just met Jean, Nate chooses Jean over her in the fight, and Maddy is knocked unconscious. And that’s when Nate tries to kill her. See, Nate realized he was the one to bring her back to life, and he also realized WHY he did it—his subconscious was reaching out in search of a mother in this universe, so it was looking for the Jean Grey of his universe, and it latched on to Madelyne’s ghost on the astral plane and brought her back. He brought Maddy back to life…because he actually wanted Jean. So yet again, a man that Madelyne has grown to love and care about…actually wanted Jean all along. And when Nate realized this, he tried to KILL the unconscious Madelyne. And it was actually Jean who stopped him! Maddy was unconscious for this iirc, but yeah, Madelyne is REPEATEDLY rejected not just by Scott, but by Cable and Nate too. And while with Cable I get it to a degree, as Jean was the one who raised him (partly) while Maddy tried to murder him (but while she was under demonic influence, she was a devoted mother before that, though he probably can’t remember it) with Nate it’s just not only does he reject her AFTER they’ve been friends-maybe-lovers-ick, after he’s known her as a person in her own right, once he realizes “oh I meant to reach Jean, not her” he then tries to UNMAKE HER BODY AND SEND HER BACK TO TO THE AFTERLIFE. WTF DUDE?! In total fairness, it’s done in a way that isn’t hateful or hostile, but out of a sense of pity and responsibility for her, feeling that since he brought her back to this life of pain then he should put her back. But it’s still taking her agency and treating her life as a choice he can make. So now Madelyne’s not only been treated like an object without agency by Sinister and the story itself, but by a good guy too. And it’s JEAN who steps up and says NO, SHE’S A PERSON. Which, YEAH, SHE IS. You might have brought her to life by accident, but that doesn’t mean you should kill her now! Maddy, of course, is not awake to hear this. And if she had been, I’m sure it would just make her hate Jean more. I think she loathes being shown kindness by Jean, I think it makes her sick when Jean is the saintly one because it just plays up all the more how Maddy is the monster, the bad one, the evil whore side of the Madonna/whore dichotomy (she even compares Jean to the Virgin Mary in the eyes of others) Sorry, I have FEELINGS about this. Anyway, when Maddie wakes up, all she knows is that YET AGAIN a man has chosen Jean over her. So understandably, she runs back to the man who WANTS HER FOR HER.

And what’s interesting about this is Shaw doesn’t just sleep with her, he gets into an actual committed relationship with her. As in, he actually does seem to be EXCLUSIVELY with her, to the point that not only does he throw a very public party AT HER REQUEST to announce them as a couple, he also allows her a telepathic link to him, which is a REALLY big deal to a guy like him.

On Maddie’s end, I absolutely understand why she NEEDS commitment, she NEEDS to be the ONLY one and to very publicly MARK her man, given her past. What’s surprising is Shaw goes with it, and he’s not under her control or anything like that. Without derailing this too much, Shaw already canonically had a ton of trust issues at this point as it was, like this is literally textual in The Legacy Quest Trilogy, but he nonetheless lets Maddie “in” even though, as it’s also textually stated, he doesn’t love her. But he does seem to care about her, and want a relationship with her, to the point of being willing to do all this at her request and, as far as is ever shown, honor her desire for commitment. This is the first time he’s been shown attempting a relationship since the death of his fiancee Lourdes (I do NOT recognize Duggan’s “oh actually Shaw abused Lourdes and she was alive all along!” retcons of the 2020s) and, sadly, ends up being the last, since he does get burned. But more on that in a bit—here’s Maddie healing a scar that was over his eye, which he got when his son Shinobi very justifiably tried to kill him.

As a note on this, while I think the implication is her telekinesis is just so advanced she can knit cells back together or something, I prefer to think she retained some of her healing abilities from when she was Anodyne. Everyone remembers her as the G.oblyn Q.ueen, no one remembers her as Anodyne, and I really hate that since Anodyne was what she became when she WASN’T under demonic influence and instead was given powers that canonically reflected who she REALLY WAS—a healer, a hero. Just saying. So, anyway, Selene sees that these two have hit it off in a way she NEVER intended, and she panics. She thinks that they’re plotting some BIG and EVIL and that the entire rest of the Hellfire Club must BE AFRAID and be ready to stand against them, she convinces Tessa and Fitzroy of the same, and. . . . . .no, turns out they’re just a super ordinary couple. They don’t do anything evil together, Shaw doesn’t use her in any schemes, they’re literally just dating like normal people, albeit with one having a lot of money. Like Selene is all OMG WE HAVE TO BREAK THEM UP THEY’RE TOO DANGEROUS AS A PAIR and they’re literally. . .doing nothing. . ..nothing happens….love that, honestly, it’s so funny.

Really though the Hellfire Club is truly just high school with colonial clothes. Seriously, Selene gets mad that her would-be girlfriend is now seeing her sworn enemy so she tries to get the others to break them up, it’s hilarious. THESE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL ELITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ROFLMAO actually that explains a lot Honestly, they were really cute while they were together? And Shaw also was sure to keep her safe while Operation Zero Tolerance was going on, he got her out of America and put her up in a nice place in Hong Kong and I’m sure she wanted for nothing. . . . . .which is why, when she left him all of a sudden, Shaw’s assumption was that he’d been used for his money and he was really bitter about it. What’s interesting is he doesn’t seem angry at Maddie for using him (which she wasn’t, but the implication is he THINKS she was), instead berating HIMSELF for letting someone get close, saying “I took a succubus to my chest and paid the price.” So, why did Maddie actually leave him? Shaw wanted to dig up one of Apocalypse’s tombs to take the technology within for his own profit, and this included waking up the Harbinger. The Harbinger is a being created by Apocalypse from what was once a normal human, and is now an eforcer of Apocalypse’s “survival of the fittest” mentality. Madelyne found this to be too evil for her, believing it would result in genocide, which is why she came to tell Cable about it, leading to Cable’s conflict with Shaw and Pierce in this story. After that, she’s never seen with the Hellfire Club or Shaw again, so presumably that’s when and why she quit the Inner Circle and him. She also doesn’t seem to have ever actually told him this. And I just find this SO AMAZING of her. Not the “not telling him why” bit, but the fact she left him over something that had nothing to do with her. Like she had someone who, if he didn’t love her, at least did commit to her sincerely, cared for her, was taking care of her, and didn’t want her to be Jean. She could have led a comfortable, valued existence with him, but she chose to care about people she’d never even met and never would and throw it all away to do the right thing. I think this shows that even though she was much darker now (see: killing Threnody) there was still good in her, the same heroic Maddy she was before the whole “demonic possession” thing (people tend to forget that’s what made her evil, she didn’t just turn into the G.oblyn Q.ueen on her own) She hated the X-Men, understandably, but she wouldn’t allow innocent people to be hurt for Shaw’s greed either, even if that greed benefitted her. So, I think her being with him was good, I think she absolutely deserved to be cared for and valued for herself by someone to get some sugar for awhile and be taken care of and have a rich guy to boss around, but I think her leaving him was good too, because of how well it speaks of her. And I also really liked how this showed Shaw , for all his flaws, is actually a good boyfriend! Like that’s interesting and unexpected and adds a layer of complexity to him (and is another reason I don’t accept Certain Retcons) and also pushes him into NEVER TRYING A RELATIONSHIP EVER AGAIN SINCE because the thing about Shaw is his character development GOES BACKWARDS, like he becomes a WORSE person as time goes on, he gets MORE distrusting of others, loses MORE friends and connections, et. and contributes that much more to his belief everyone will betray him in the end (which is, again, not MY reading but TEXTUAL canon) And like…despite his claim that he doesn’t love her, he definitely seems hurt she left without an apparent explanation. TL;DR everyone forgets the Maddie/Shaw era but I think it was super interesting in what it said about them both

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With the weird and confusing update of the game, I think it's time to bring up all of Yana's writing flaws. I can't comment on Black Butler. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, so commenting on that would be unfair. But for twst? I've also noticed that…

She has that same tendency to throw shit at the wall without thinking about how it affects the story she has set up.

It genuinely seems like she has no end goal in mind for TWST. (As a side note, I was talking with another friend who knows a lot more about Black Butler about this topic before. She said that it's the same for Black Butler as well. That's a big reason why she dropped the manga ages ago. With that manga going on forever and needing to end a long time ago, I believe her.)

The worldbuilding is sloppy and sticks far too close to real life. It also doesn't make any sense when you stop and think about it. (Which is a big reason why I came up with my own).

She frequently sets things up and forgets about them, dropping them completely. (Vil and Jack's friendship, Jamil bringing up that he has items to cure poison in Pomefiore, the fact that Vil has martial arts knowledge, etc.)

She sticks way too closely to the plot of the corresponding Disney movie, even when it doesn't fit HER own plot or characters. The most obvious example is during Book 2 Leona plans to take out Malleus with the stampede in order to possibly win the tournament. This plot point is ripped straight out of The Lion King where Scar does the same thing to Mufasa. But, that makes no sense when applied to TWST. Scar was able to do that in The Lion King, because they are just both normal lions. Whereas in TWST, Malleus is one of the most powerful mages in the world, who can just teleport away. The fact that Leona, who is really smart in the rest of the game, never ONCE considered this is mind-boggling. But yet she forced it in to be just like the movie. There are many other examples of this as well. (Jamil being after the dorm leader position, the beginning of Ignihyde where Idia kidnaps everyone, etc.)

She also loves turning her characters into idiots to force her plots to work. Like in Ignihyde, Idia kidnaps everyone in broad daylight. One, that's an awful bold and stupid move for one of the smartest characters in the game. He should know better. If he didn't have plot armour and his family's influence, he would've gotten arrested. Two, Vil is a trained martial artist and Jamil took out assassins. Why didn't they just kick their asses or kill them, even with their magic deflecting armour? The only reason I can think of is "the plot needed to happen, and this was the only way how". Again, there are other examples of this. (Leona and Ruggie during Book 2, Vil not undoing the aging spell himself when he's a potions master, etc.)

All of the characters are completely static. They don't change or grow like well rounded characters should. The overblot gang never face zero repercussions for their actions, thus making them never grow or learn anything. (You would think they'd want revenge, since they are twisted from Disney villains, especially in Ruggie's case, since Leona almost MURDERED his ass.) Unless you are writing a flat arc, characters MUST grow or change by the end. It can be for the better. It can be for the worst. But there MUST be some sort of change within the major character. Otherwise what the fuck is the point?

Malleus acts like a Deus-Ex Machina where he swoops in and saves the day, even at the expense of the other character's intelligence. (Endings of Books 5 and 6).

She's horrible at foreshadowing. Huge plot beats like what the deal is with Grim and Crowley are hardly alluded to and brought up far too late for them to be affective.

She picks favourites. She loves showering them with screen time while neglecting others.

The pacing issues. Just the pacing issues.

Over all, one of my friends told me her writing feels like a first draft. I a 1000% agree. Her works have a lot of good ideas. However, Yana REALLY must go back and finetune her works in order to make them up to snuff.

However, with all this said, these are all issues that I want to correct in my works. While I'm an amateur and not an amazing writer myself, I still want to try and do better.