#also not that tv writers should write to the opinions of the audience but this is only going to make people hate her more lol

[aerithisms]

okay re: hotd leaks/spoilers i am willing to walk with them on alicent and criston having sex but removing alicent from the room for blood and cheese is A Choice and i don't like it

[hunter470]

My 9-1-1 RANT

Ok, I don’t normally do these types of posts, but I can’t move on until I get some things out. These are just my thoughts about the latest episodes of 9-1-1 as well as overall comments on the Buck/Tommy relationship. These opinions are mine and are based on the countless hours of TV I’ve watched in my 54 years on this planet, as well as my knowledge of writing and how Hollywood operates. I’m not confirming that any of this is true or are the real intentions of anyone involved with the show. Just my opinions. So, you can agree with me or not. I’m not trying to persuade anyone in any way. Also, I’m not going to get into endless arguments about my opinions but feel free to comment if you want, I just don’t promise I’ll reply. 

Ok, here we go. Sorry it’s so long. Like I said earlier, I just needed to get it out. So many wasted opportunities.

If you think TM cares what the fans want, you’re seriously kidding yourself. If he did, Buddie would have been canon a long time ago. The only thing he cares about is ratings and his vision for the show, which can change at a moment’s notice with no rhyme or reason as we’ve seen. 

Although I loved Buck and Tommy together, I knew the show wouldn’t do their story justice. So, no matter what TM or OS have said, the bi story was only to garner publicity, draw in new viewers, and increase ratings especially with the show moving to a new network. There was no altruistic reason behind it so don’t kid yourself. They knew there was an audience for the story because of all the Buddie shippers. Just remember, it’s called show business, not show friends for a reason.

Do you think OS really cares about bi representation? Based on his latest comments and non-apology it’s obvious he only cares about getting the stories that garner him the most screen time and press. Seriously, read his latest interviews. He’s excited to get to have fun now. So, congrats OS, Buck gets to F around. Just shows how most, if not all, actors are ego driven no matter what they say. Sorry not sorry.

TM has commented that he doesn’t owe anyone anything. In fact, I recall him saying to Buddie fans if they don’t like it, read fanfiction. If that didn’t clue you in, then you weren’t reading the room. Kinda reminds me of another show runner…for those who watched H50 you know who I’m talking about. That’s why I don’t get heavily invested in these shows. I’ll watch but I never expect anything I like to last…especially if it has to do with gay relationships.

It says a lot that the show remained completely silent about the bullying and death threats Lou received just for playing a role he was happy to play. Again, they really didn’t care because they knew he wasn’t going to be there after episode six. What a great message for all the bullies…just keep bullying and you’ll get what you want. 

Again, reread OS’s interviews. He was doing the Hollywood double speak. Says just enough to keep you hooked with hope to get you to watch even when he knew all along it wasn’t lasting. It really was as clear as day if you go back and read what he said. 

Also, if you thought Buck was going to get into a meaningful long-term relationship, then you didn’t watch the video from the You Tuber “Call Me Chato” that TM posted on his Facebook. The video was all about characters and how they should always stay fundamentally the same with minimal development - I’m paraphrasing. However, Buck is the golden retriever, heart so big it gets broken, character who will remain on a hamster wheel and unlucky in love because that’s who he is. If he changes too much it shifts the dynamic, which only happens if the show was ending. 

If you thought the writers would do justice to a bisexual story, then you haven’t been watching the show closely. There’s been minimal Buck/Tommy relationship development on screen. Taylor got more. Viewers were lucky to get crumbs in the limited screen time Buck and Tommy got. Then, a breakup out of left field? One minute Buck is saying Tommy is it for him and he wants him to move in, and then it’s over? If he truly felt deeply for Tommy, why not fight to keep him? Why give up so easily and let him walk away? What’s the point? Also, to end it on a terrible stereotype is yet another clue. Horrible writing and another sign that TM and OS had zero investment in the relationship. The whole break up was rushed and made no sense. Essentially, it was just used to draw people in and to get Buck single and sleeping around again because that’s who he is. I for one won’t care for any of Buck’s future relationships. I mean, why would I when they never last. 

Also, writers that give you a 66-year-old police sergeant and a 10 y/o boy landing a heavily damaged plane on an active freeway in LA with no prior training, and sorry playing video game flight simulators is not training, is some Sharknado level writing, which is not a compliment. Oh, and that whole story was truly the shows “jumping the shark” moment. If you don’t know what the term “jumping the shark” means, look it up and try to tell me I’m wrong. 

Not having Tommy involved in the three part premier episodes, other than a few minutes at a birthday party, was so obvious as to the show’s intent. I mean, the fake captain from Hotshots got more screen time. 

They claim they wanted someone for Buck that was connected to him and the 118 and then you don’t use the character at all. You wanted Buck off the hamster wheel? What a crock! Such a wasted opportunity.

Since it’s been confirmed episode 6 was filmed before 5, Tim’s just playing god with peoples’ feelings and crushing their hearts at this point. I mean, how do you have such a great episode (5) and a wonderful speech by Josh (6) just to break them up? Plus, having Tommy break up after six months? That man was all in, which was obvious in episode 5.

Guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that’s how TM would handle things after that horrible Tarlos breakup. At least on Lone Star we knew Rafa (Carlos) was a main cast member so there was hope. Lou was a guest star so it seems kinda final based on his interviews. Again, what was the point? They could have had Buck's bi revelation be with a random character. So, building up the Buck/Tommy relationship just to take it away was to inflict the most pain. Good job. 

Do I think the show will make Buddie canon? Who knows…one thing I do know is I wouldn’t trust them if they did. Also, even if Tommy somehow returns, I don’t trust TM with anything related to this story. Sure, hope he’s happy with ruining the show for so many people. Again, like another show runner I mentioned in item 4 above. Honestly, I can’t believe the Buddie fans have stayed for so long. That’s commitment, I guess. 

Do I think Lou should go back to 9-1-1? Hell no! He was screwed over by both TM and OS. Prove it to me otherwise. However, it’s up to him and of course, he loves acting so I wouldn’t blame him.

Finally, even though I’ve watched the show since the beginning, it no longer brings me joy. There are too many other TV shows to stick with one I no longer enjoy. So yes, I’m announcing my departure, and I don’t give an F what OS, you, or anyone else thinks about it. Not that any of this matters any way…

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hello this is a question that came about from watching the new Fallout TV show and a character named Maximus. He’s a relatively neutral character and his arc is very wonderful coming from a writer and big book reader but I noticed that the average viewer doesn’t understand his character and actually hates him… my question is as an author is it okay to make your story more digestible to people who lack perception since it’s the general audience for mainstream media and how do you do that without losing your story? Idk this was probably too complex and a stupid question 💔

Not a stupid question! There are no stupid questions.

Going to unpack this a bit though. (I haven't seen the show.) First some general points, but then some advice on balancing complexity in a story.

So. Some things to get out of the way:

You don't know what the average viewer is thinking. Just because their opinion on a character is different to yours, doesn't mean they lack perception. Do we sometimes have an issue with critical thinking in the modern age? Yes. But we also live in an age where people bring a vast array of different insights and experiences into the stories they read/watch. 99% of the time a story doesn't have just one right interpretation, especially if it is a more complex narrative.

You CAN try to write a story that is more digestible to a general audience, but if you do have concerns about the media literacy of the general population, focusing on providing unchallenging stories is not the fix to that. People learn through engaging with interesting work and having discussions about them - e.g. when they are given the opportunity to. Perception, like anything, is a skill trained with practice. No one's born with it. There's no inherent us/them that can't be changed.

Will you be happy and fulfilled as a writer writing stories that you feel are dumbed or watered down? I know I wouldn't end up writing the versions of stories that I want. Similarly, you probably won't then attract the readers/audience that most resonate with your ideas, because you don't give them the chance.

Generally speaking, people hate being talked down to. As a reader/lover of stories, if I thought a writer was talking down to me and thought I was an idiot who couldn't understand the themes/plot, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with their stuff. It's a horrible feeling, isn't it? It's like being written off before you even leave the gate.

Okay, now some advice: Amazing children's books are a great example of stories that are simplified to appeal and meet the audience where they are at, without losing the richness that makes them resonate and engage readers/audience. However, there are adult examples too. They share some qualities.

These often have:

Clear structure (there are a myriad story structures that you can use to make a story hit beats the reader expects and create a sense of satisfaction, while still giving you room to play.)

High concept story idea/plot (so, stories that can be explained/pitched in a line. E.g. children are forced to fight in televised death matches (Hunger Games), a famous author is imprisoned by a dangerous fan who doesn't approve of his new work (Misery), 'it's jaws in outer space!'). These stories have simple premises that often have wide-appeal, but the stories themselves can be complex.

Engaging main character(s) with a clear goal/agenda. They don't have to all be morally pure, but for an easy win, your character should be likeable/easy to root for. In a children's book, e.g. at the simplest level, these are often also high concept. (E.g. a mouse wants to be heard so is convinced it needs a lion's roar to be loved - The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright)

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Game of Thrones was phenomenally popular, for example, but I don't think it's an easy to sink into world/simple set of characters.

Watering down an existing story to fit a different target audience is often not going to lead you to write the best story. This is because it's like trying to fit a triangle into a circle, or make a banana bread into a savoury scone. However, there are plenty of stories with mass-appeal that offer readers a variety of different levels to engage with them, so it is very possible to write a brilliant story with mass appeal. But you work from the foundations up, not from the finished product down.

I hope this helps!

[psychic-refugee]

Not only do I think the novel ISN’T canon Wenclair, I don’t think it’s canon Wednesday, to be honest.

It’s not enough that the book was approved and published. It should actually be accurate to the source material, the TV show.

If the Powers that Be approved the novel, then they approved errors and emphatically different narrative concepts that are in direct conflict with the TV show.

What exactly does that say about how much they cared about the content of the novel?

Overall, the TV show and the writers, Gough & Millar, are the controlling narrative. IMO. If the book is in conflict with the TV show and what the writers themselves have stated, then I can dismiss the novel.

Tehlor Kay Meija was hired to write the book, and it was approved for publishing. I cannot infer more than that on anyone’s motivations. Certainly not if they approve of ship.

I disagree with Meija’s interpretation of certain scenes, and I can point to obvious and glaring mistakes.

“In the baby-blue-wallpapered room, I open my bag.” p. 32

Here, we clearly see that not only is the bathroom not blue, she does not open her bag. Full scene:

It stays on her back. She taps the bag and orders Thing to give her a nail file. The bag flips open on its own and he gives her the file.

The book has a lot of these unnecessary and should have been easy to fix mistakes. I’ve seen some rude replies where they ask “Did you watch the show?” Interpreting certain thoughts and actions as sapphic or not is a matter of opinion. This is just flat out wrong.  

There are provable errors not only in description but dialogue.

The tone and characterization of Enid and Wednesday’s interaction is different with the incorrect dialogue and descriptions.

The entire book is like this. It has wrong or dropped dialogue and deviates from the original narrative concepts of the TV show.

Every character has been done a disservice by this book.

It seems the people you should ask if they watched the show are Meija and whomever approved publishing the book, errors and all.  

The book with its lack of details I think misses a lot of nuances that we see from facial expressions and body language on the show. Details on the possibility of what others are thinking via facial expressions and body language are inconsistent throughout the book.

There is an annoying plethora of exclamation marks that makes it seem people are yelling or excited when I think they’re actually trying to portray emphasis. That’s just a pet peeve of mine and I fully admit it’s petty, but it does make some, like Kinbott, seem more manic than the show intended.

“Well Wednesday, I hope you don’t think of me as your adversary,” [Kinbott] says. “I hope we can forge a relationship built on trust! And mutual respect!” p 30

Kinbott does not have this kind of excited inflection when speaking to Wednesday, ever. She always remains calm and uses a soothing voice, like she’s trying to talk to an unwilling cat. lol

I think it was a mistake to hire Meija, who specializes in children’s books. The TV show is aimed at teens, but also has a strong nostalgia factor for those who grew up in the 90’s and the movies. I think Netflix is aiming for a wide audience of older teens and adults. With the violence and “edgy” aesthetic and leanings, I think a writer for an older audience would have been more appropriate.

This book was clearly made JUST for children. The bigger print, low word count, and very simplistic narration make it for an elementary grade reading level. It feels very dumbed down.

Wednesday the TV show is not meant to be for that young of an audience.

I think if Gough and Millar had written the novelization, it would be much different not only in style but accuracy.

At bottom, Meija is an outsider to this fandom and did not do a good job.

[imreallyloveleee]

Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?

honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?

the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut

I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.

but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.

boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!

so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.

in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.

and then...you know what happens.

(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)

it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!

so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?

[jilegogreengiantstories]

WHY ILLUMINATION SHOULD Turn The Sing movies into a series (episodes) or a graphic novel series

(Sorry if it's to long I just need to write what I think)

I love the sing movies as much as the next person, its probably one of illuminations best franchises. As much as I lobe the movies and the main characters, I wish they would explain their backstories before meeting buster, And with the third one in development, I'm hoping they do just that. But what if they don't. Well that's what I keep asking myself, how they could show the audience the characters stories or their lives, after and before. Well I've come up with an idea on that. I have 2 possibilities a series (episodes) or a graphic novel series.

Here let me explain what they could do and why.

A series (episodes):

If the writers don't have time to make movies for sing, they can(could) make a series to show what the characters are doing and their development or introduce new characters in the story. And also talk about their life and things that have happened during the movies. It could also have side stories or parts 1 or 2 episodes to see what each character and storyline is doing, and also help character traits be developed in a character, see what their relationship with each other is like, and even help bring in new songs to the show and have each character show their skills. And most importantly answer questions each movie leaves about, and explain things that happened before.

Graphic novels:

We can learn about the characters and their backstories and new characters that might not be mentioned in the movies (or series) And they can address serious topics like death of a loved one more seriously and it can mainly focus on one character and their past and how it happened. And most importantly it would save illumination a lot of time and keep people from asking or waiting for something to happen. And if the characters have a dark backstory, and the people at home don't have to complain that anything risky is put it on theaters or TV and get complaints about it on what their viewers are watching. And ok it's not like animation studios haven't done anything like that. I mean look at Disney & pixar, they've done things parents might not agree with, or things that might scare kids, or done things that people should discuss or things that shouldn't be hard to tell kids and DreamWorks has been doing those things for years it wouldn't surprise me if Illumination did that to. Not that I have a problem with it, I'm glad that animation movie studios are having characters be or talk about things that make them feel real, like family drama, discrimination, Sexuality, mental health, depression, trauma, etc. And like most animation Companies who have not recently but not too long ago have Done these things to give "life" and personality to the characters, but because of the backlash and criticism that that many entertainment studios have gotten, (like Disney and pixar) studios have taken less risks and been struggling with either doing what critic's want and certain audiences want, or doing risks and doing what another certain audience wants or the other way, and if Illumination is worried about taking a risk of any of those things I mentioned, and are afraid that a franchise will be be ruined or canceled because of it, they should make a graphic novel series to explain things or to continue it. There are so many things I would like to say about entertainment studios and criticism and backlash they could get, or the unfair criticism their movies can get, but I'll save that for another post.

Anyway That's my opinion, but what's yours? Answer in the poll and if you have your reasons or opinions comment on what you think, If you don't let my opinion that's okay.

And when the votes have been done, I'll explain more about it.

[bibibbon]

Hello, can I ask why do you think there are so many BL ships from BNHA and JJK? Do you also have fav ships from those two series?

I don't mean any negative things to any fan fics writers or fan art artist (thanks so much every one for sharing your hard works in the fandom).

But like, I'm a fan of both series for years now, and I saw them mostly as just platonic (bakudeku, tododeku, kiribaku, satosugu, itafushi, etc). Now, I'm not anti mlm or wlw because I love BL and GL media (manga, manhwa, books, tv series, etc), but I'm kinda hard to enter into shipping. Do you think I'm weird? Or maybe I'm slow in understanding the romantic subtext in those scenes from both series?

My take on it I guess is that people just love shipping characters together. Fandoms low-key thrive on shipping most of the time and especially when it comes to rareships. In my opinion any legal ship can work depending on how someone writes the story so there's that.

Iam not a huge shipper myself and if I do ship stuff I tend to be a multishipper prefering to enjoy multiple amount of contents that people make. MHA has horribly written ships point blank. Sure togaocha could of worked but it doesn't the same with BKDK. Any ships in MHA that were introduced as possibilities also lack any sort of development. This obviously doesn't stop people from shipping and developing their own ships (as they rightfully should) but canon wise there isn't much going for MHA

When it comes to Jujutsu kaisen akutami already acknowledged that he isn't that good at writing romance so he chooses not to excpet of already established ships like hakari x kirarka or tragic ships like mechamiwa. Even when it comes to that people do view stgs and itafushi as heavily romantically coded and I can see where theyre coming from as there is some heavy romantic subtexts.

Overall, Iam not much of a romantic shipper myself I just love platonic bonds and ships. For some reason I find that platonic ships and bonds are just better written and can connect with the audience a whole lot more easily and better compared to romance. Iam not much of a romance fan so I don't consume much of that side of media. Iam not sure if it's only me but stories centering around one ship get really boring for me whereas other stories that go out to critique stuff or explore ideas are more enjoyable.

Also no I really don't think you're weird I do somewhat relate to you tho.

I don't think MHA has any romantic subtexts however I definitely do see the Jujutsu kaisen romantic subtexts.

Writers usually give readers freedom to decide how they view things. Iam not much of a romance type of reader so I just like viewing a lot of things as platonic just because I think platonic relationships are overall stronger and better then romance ones

[bleue-flora]

I don't get why so many hate the finale lore stream like the first 3 people were fine with but so many hated the last one I've even see c!Dream apologists dislike it. Like why?

I’ve talked about this before [here] which I feel might be one of my better essays covering my thoughts on the matter, but I’ll talk some more about it. I think there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, finales will always have a divided audience approval. Some will love it, some will hate it. This is true across the board, it may be more skewed in certain directions, but still there is always diversity even on some of the more infamous finales. And this is partly I think due to us mourning the loss of our beloved show, book, series…etc. and sometimes misconstruing our dislike of the finale as disliking the story it tells not the fact that it’s ending period. I will always kinda hate finales in this way because I’m sad to see it go, which also means I will, in a sense, set a high expectation for the finale, which may or may not be reasonable. Though, since I have watched so so many tv shows, I have definitely lowered my expectations, especially because as a writer, endings are hard. It’s easy to make a mess of all the toys and get to the climax, but it’s not as fun to clean up after and resolve it (in my opinion). So not only are endings hard to write they are also hard to do, as to do a satisfying ending there may be additions that aren’t possible. And on top of that, endings bring an end to the audience’s hope of seeing perhaps certain scenes they long for, so if things you wanted to see didn’t happen then the finale is already going to be disappointing because now it won’t ever happen.

Anyways, in the case of the dsmp finale, one of the things I think happened was people set an expectation that was unreasonable logistically and characteristically. Now that doesn’t mean a finale can’t be judged because of its limitations, I certainly could write an essay on why the Supernatural finale was the worst finale I’ve ever seen, Game of Thrones and Sherlock included. But it isn’t fair to judge something with an expectation that it could never live up to.

To be honest though, I’m not entirely sure what they even expected to happen, since not a single thing in the finale surprised me because I more or less saw it coming (but I do tend to predict endings so no shade to people who did not of course). It was what it needed to be, what it should be, what it was going to be based on the irl events. If you were paying attention to the narrative and the characters this was the direction we were headed to. Now are there things missing I wish were included? Of course. Are there characters who didn’t get the resolution they deserves or things I thought could be better? Of course. Are there plot holes and questions I still have? Of course. It is far from perfect (and not just because Tommy couldn’t throw the discs properly lol XD). But just because I’m sad it’s ending, and sad I didn’t get to see certain interactions or scenes I wanted to, doesn’t make the ending bad.

But anyways, the main reason I think people disliked it is because they weren’t paying attention. Or at least they didn’t quite have a good understanding of the characters or the story at large and because of this the finale came out of nowhere and didn’t make sense. I think people especially don’t quite get the last conversation between Tommy and Dream, I mean I think we’ve all seen the outrage over Tommy “apologizing to his abuser,” when Tommy was only apologizing for killing them all, killing their chance at a happy ending. But just to be clear, neither Tommy nor Dream apologized nor expressed guilt or remorse over their actions in the finale, that wouldn’t really be character consistent. No, all that happened was for the first time Tommy saw that Dream was more than a 1 dimensional villain. For the first time, Tommy actually heard Dream.

And not only did that fit nicely into Tommy’s character arc and Dream’s, but also the story at large. A story about characters who all have povs we as the audience get to watch, where everyone is the hero in their own story, everyone is right from their point of view. In the finale, we see one of, if not the only moment where a character actually understood someone else’s pov and realized they weren’t the hero in everyone’s story after all, that they weren’t the only ones with hopes and dreams and motivations and pain. They weren’t the only protagonist.

In addition, I think one of the misunderstanding of the characters comes from taking too much of what Punz and Dream say as truth. I myself am guilty of this, and it is only when I look at streams like the one with Punz and Dream talking before prison, that I realize, just like the disc monologue where Dream theatrically goes on about control, there seems to be some serious showmanship going on. Of course, like all of Dream’s productions there is truth weaved in his words and his emotions do break through the facade, but I think we would be remiss to take everything they say at face value. These are two known liars who put on a whole staged finale after all. And the contrast between some of the things they say there versus the stream where they are alone is telling to me. By themselves they have no reason to lie or be facetious, but in front of their enemies it makes lot of sense to put on a production. So, what they say in that stream by themselves, what they say when they meet up after prison, what they say in the stream where Tommy comes to distract them, those are more truthful to me than the whole power hungry nonsense.

Regardless, Tommy and Dream finally airing their grievances was so satisfying to me. I can’t think of any other ending that would have been as pleasing. Again, I’m not sure what they wanted, did they really want them to kill eachother again. Because like that seems boring to me, we’ve been there, done that. Dream says it himself of how the cycle of Tommy and Tubbo vs Dream is just the same thing over and over again. (This is actually one of my issues with the Supernatural finale as well.) I am of the opinion that if a finale could happen at any other point in the story, then it is not a good finale. If the finale could happen in stream one, why would I watch the rest? Where is the pay off? The finale should be the difference, the highlight of the circumstances that got them there and how they’ve changed over this whole story. In many ways it should be the unexpected of the character (not to the point of like doing something that doesn’t make sense, like still gotta be character consistent - this is why neither apologized in the finale for example), finally growing and overcoming the flaw they’ve battled all along. That is what makes it satisfying - wow look how far they’ve come, look at how the circumstances of the story have made this happen. That is what makes a good ending.

As far as Dream apologists go, there are quite a few different viewpoints in the community. Not all of us have the same understanding. (I actually recently had to stop reading a fic because the take on Dream frustrated me so much.) Some see Dream as evil but love him anyways or even for that. Some see Dream as the problem but prison was his path to a redemption of sorts. Some see Dream as attachment-less and cruel. Some see Dream as insane. Some see Dream as innocent. I think there are some that even think he deserved prison… etc lots of different understandings of the character and so if the finale didn’t align with the viewpoint of Dream then I can see people not liking it or just not liking it because Dream didn’t get redemption, or forgiveness, or sympathy, or a happy ending.

Hope that shares some light on it and answers your question I guess. <3 <3 Sorry for the length… it’s inevitable at this point I think lol. And here I thought my first essay on the matter did a good job. ;D

[peppertaemint]

Hello pptm! Would you talk a bit more about the current state of tv series? You mentioned briefly about an oversaturated market and how The Golden Age is now gone, but what were some of they key problems that lead to it in your opinion?

Would you consider Succession as part of the series that knew the importance of character development? Could we consider it like the final good show in this dire landscape of tv and streaming?

Lastly, what do you think will come next? There's a shift in the movie business in Hollywood if we look at the past year, but I don't know if we should be overly optimistic. Will we take a step back from prestige tv for a while until a new wave will bring something new?

Hello Madam M! Thanks for sending such a thoughtful Ask.

I think that over-saturation was part of the problem. What I mean by that is everyone and anyone trying to cash in on the money to be made through so-called prestige TV, and how the late stages of prestige dovetailed with the rise of streaming platforms.

Not every network went after prestige, but they've all gone after streaming, which has led to these conglomerates of streaming. Platform-wise, this is a huge turn off for "discerning" audiences. People watch HBO because they know what they're going to get. Now, if you sign into Max, you're confronted with the dregs of TV and can't make heads or tails of any of it.

This has been the case for Netflix for years now. They've dumped huge money into developing series but half the time when they cancel a show, that's the first a lot of people have even heard of it.

The other side of this is that platforms have dumped money into these series no one can find (lol), but say you do find it -- it looks and feels prestige but it ends there because the writing isn't solid. My understanding is that the writers' room tradition, which has a big practical training side to it, has been decimated by new ways of working these streaming platforms have brought. Usually, you start as an assistant in the room to learn the ropes. As the series goes on, assistants move up to writing scripts.

If these rooms aren't being put together anymore (which I read is the case more often than before), new writers aren't going through the learning stages.

The other factor is how quickly funding is pulled on these shows. If rooms are put together, there's no time for the craft to be taught or for the head writer to master it.

Do I think Succession got the writing right? Absolutely. When Ii wrote that BTS/Succession crossover for you (remember our bet... actually I can't remember what we were betting on 💀), trying to nail the dialogue and characters was incredibly difficult. It's like when you're spec script writing, you have to show you can follow the format but also write the characters so they are in-character but also not caricatures of their most obvious traits. The last part is what happened with the writing on Friends, for example. Most of the characters became the lowest common denominator of their most notable traits. Obviously, sitcom is a different format, but the point still stands because this is what happened to Greg in the last season of Succession. His character became a stock gimmick and stopped progressing.

I think things come in ebbs and flows, so the industry will self-correct. People keep joking that by amalgamating, platforms are reinventing cable TV. Lol. What needs to happen is for there to be less projects and more time, effort and oversight (The Idol FFS... where the fuck were HBO on that?) on the projects that are greenlit.

Well, there's my two cents. My flight was delayed so this turned into an entire essay.

[jimidumplings]

My thoughts on the taekook writer publishing their fic into a book:

I had to sit and think of my words clearly so that I can write without my mind being jumbled up. I still think this is a mess so bear with me please.

Starters off I will not tolerate disrespect towards Jungkook, Jimin, or Taehyung. If you’re a solo or anti of any of three then I need you to leave. This is an ot7 house, Armys are only allowed. This space is also not suitable for teenagers, if you are under 20 do not interact with my page. ♡

This is also something I’m not willing to go back and forth with or “debate”. These are just my thoughts, you can either like it or keep scrolling.

I will always love and support queerness in media whether that be in movies, tv shows, books etc, and if it’s written by someone queer that’s a million times better. I also love seeing small writers be able to publish a book because I understand how difficult it is to do. So it disgusts me seeing a writer that had no business writing fanfic publish something like this.

What frustrates me the most about the entire situation is just the sheer disrespect towards the three.

There will always be a moral dilemma when it comes to writing real people in fiction, let alone depicting real people in a negative light and I think all opinions within reason are valid but I won’t discuss that today.

If you as a reader can’t differentiate fanfiction from reality then I don’t think you should be reading fanfic in the first place. That being said it’s also your responsibility as a writer to curate your comments to make sure your audience remains respectful, which the author did not do.

People also have a right to criticize you for vilifying Jimin seeing as he already gets treated like that in real life, and when the only time you’ve shown an ounce of remorse for Jimin (because of your negligence towards your comment section.) was after people called you out, which, also warrants criticism.

And on top of all of this you claiming that your book is no longer about taekook/bts while simultaneously promoting your book using their names is despicable. You know that people know your book originally as a taekook fic and you’re profiting off of that. In my eyes you don’t hold respect for those three as a whole, and that in itself is disappointing.

It may be “rich of me” to be talking about this seeing as I’m a fic writer but I’m also a person with opinions and I wanted to say something.

~

If you say something I don’t like or find disrespectful, I will block. My patience is thin and you will not break it, so watch your words and have a good day.

[jadejedi]

The problem with streaming

Okay first of all, I’m not an expert on this subject. Secondly, I am not the first person to say this. I’m just writing it down because these thoughts just keep bouncing around in my head. Thirdly, there are many, many problems with streaming, many of which are being discussed right now, but this one just seems like the Big One to me, especially as someone who is not a writer or an actor, but a mere consumer of content. 

So one of the main reasons for the current writers and actors strike is streaming, and the fact that these workers do not make residuals on streaming because the studios don’t have to license out the different shows and movies like they did before streaming. This is because each major studio has their own streaming service, and their content is exclusively streamed through their own platform. 

From a glance, this can seem like a competitive market, right? Peacock is competing wit Hulu which is competing with Netflix and so on. All of them are in competition, which means that this is a healthy market, not run by monopolies. Right? 

Wrong. 

In the current system, each studio has a monopoly over their own catalogue. Netflix has a monopoly on Stranger Things, Disney has a monopoly on The Mandalorian, etc. This means that none of these studios are actually competing, because they know if you want to watch any particular show, you have to watch it on the platform that made it. That gives the studios the incentive to make as much new content as possible to try and make a show that attracts new viewers. As has been pointed out many times, this means that shows get cancelled after just a couple of seasons, because people don’t usually sign up for a streaming subscription for the third season of something. They sign up when the first season comes out and there’s a big buzz. 

The other effect this has, the effect that is felt more on the consumer side of things, is that there is also little to no incentive to improve the quality of the streaming platform itself. If you want to watch Stranger Things, you have to go to Netflix (or stream illegally), no matter how poor Netflix’s actual streaming platform is. As long as it actually streams the content, that’s good enough for the studio. That’s why you rarely see streaming platforms make any big updates to their platforms other than fixing bugs. 

So what is the solution to this? Well, in my opinion, it’s obvious, and also very unlikely to happen. Streaming services should not be allowed to have a monopoly on the properties they own the rights to. Now, they should still hold the licensing rights, but they shouldn’t be able to be the exclusive streaming rights of a property. Not sure if I’m using the correct terminology, but basically, I think that if Netflix makes a show, they have to allow other other streaming services to purchase it. The other streaming services would have to pay Netflix to stream it, but those other studios would do that because more content on their platforms can only benefit them. Say you really want to watch Ted Lasso, but you don’t want to subscribe to Apple TV+ (and you don’t want to pirate it) for just one show. What if they bought streaming rights to a show that they assume has a similar audience, in order to convince people to sign up, say Parks and Rec. That may be more of a draw for a larger audience. Not sure what this would look like, if there would have to be some objective way of valuing properties and then enforcing that starting price, so the owners of the licensing rights can’t just charge more than anyone is willing to pay. 

This would force studios to sell the streaming rights to other streaming services, thus giving people who worked on those shows or movies residuals. Now, it still wouldn’t be the same as pre-streaming television, where you would get paid for every airing, but I think it would at least be an improvement on the current situation. Also, each season of a show should be licensed separately, so every streaming platforms have to pay for the streaming rights for each individual season. These changes would incentivize: 

-Creating longer running shows. I imagine it would be easier to sell the licensing rights to an established show, than a brand new show with no established audience. 

-Improving the streaming platforms themselves. Have you ever been annoyed about the fast forward and rewind functions on desktop and mobile? I sure have, but under the current system, there is no incentive to make them any better. 

-It would also likely make the different streaming platforms fall under a specific genre or niche the way that TV channels do. If you want to get people to subscribe to your streaming service, you purchase the streaming rights to content that you think will attract a similar audience to the properties you already own. 

-Making fewer, better shows. Everyone knows that the tv market is bloated right now with so many streaming platforms coming out with a ridiculous number of new shows to attract new subscribers. If you can’t hold the exclusive streaming rights to a property, then there is less incentive to create a massive number of new shows, but rather higher quality, long running shows that can be sold for more money. This might also re-incentivize making shows with longer seasons, as you could also charge more for more episodes. 

tl;dr: Streaming services currently have a monopoly on the properties they own. Monopolies are bad, and in this case they hurt both the viewers and everyone involved in the production of the shows and movies other than the studios themselves. Studios should not be allowed to own a monopoly on a given property. 

[trkstrnd]

in my humble opinion there is no reason to continue to complain about a plot that has been resolved poorly. it takes so much energy to sit there and be negative and talk about why it bothers you about the thing you’re supposed to enjoy. that’s the thing with this show. as a fandom, we collectively understand that the writers aren’t always going to write what we like, and we can give or take anything to or from the show that we like or dislike, so why are we spending so much time on the dislike? it’s fiction, at the end of the day, no matter how much the actors or writers are adamant that it’s real to them. they’re taking what they get and playing it in stride, and we are watching it. we have the power, as a human being, to take what we need and leave the rest, and yet every time i log in i see people continuing to complain about things that we should simply move past, because no matter how much we hate it, it will not change. canon is canon.

i recently did a project for my film and television analysis class about audience reception, and we talked a bit about how, many times, fandoms can see or create things that aren’t there, or latch onto things that they think they can do better (which, let’s be honest, we can, but we don’t have a job in the writers room and even if we did we would be getting abused by higher ups (im so proud of the writers guild okay)). We talked about how it can almost become an obsession within and obsession. we watched a documentary in fandom and how some people incorporate it into their lives in a healthy way, and some people, not so much, and i think, especially in this fandom (which i am keeping vague so other fandoms can use this post to convey their feelings if they like), the line is incredibly blurred.

in this class, we also watched Paris Is Burning, which is representative of queer movements in the twentieth century, and we talked about backlash the film got, because the representation wasn’t quite positive with everyone exhibited in the doc. We had a lengthy discussion about how oftentimes, queer theory in media isn’t necessarily pretty, and when queer filmmakers came out of the gate, they showed these ugly, messy, real stories so they could exhibit the humanity and progress that these stories made.

Sometimes people make mistakes; a lot of times, things and conversations happen offscreen, and if you’re going to latch on to one storyline and let it ruin your overall view of the season or piece of media as a whole (when you previously lived it), im not going to tell you what to do, but i will say to try looking at it through a less critical eye.

throughout the season, progress was made. it’s exhibited later in the season, which means there is still a lot we don’t see, to have such a shift like that.

that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. it means there’s a set amount of time in each episode and there are other storylines going on. we are privileged enough to get the ones we do get (even if they’re not great), so use your imagination! bridge the gap! understand that not everything is sunshine and roses all the time and when it is, it doesn’t necessarily make good prime time tv.

tl; dr: please stop using canon as ur only source of material because there is so much more that we didn’t see!!! tv embraces fandom creativity! and shitting on it all the time isn’t healthy! plus, it makes those of us who moved on and feel okay about it feel really fucking shitty <3

[zorilleerrant]

Hi!! I was wondering if I could get some recommendations on where to start with Constantine comics? Or other Constantine media you recommend. It’s clear you really love the character so I trust your judgment 💞

I really recommend just starting with the first Hellblazer comics all the way back at the beginning and going in order, tbh. The first writer is phenomenal! The next couple are also good but after that the character changes a lot and the quality of story goes down in favor of shock value. If you want more recent comics (which will more likely have an art style you like) you could read the Sandman Universe ones that are Black Label; I feel like those carry a lot of the vibes of his earliest incarnations and they're well written.

In general I feel like he's a different character in crossovers and as a side character in other people's stories, so you may want to just avoid those unless you get so into the character you want to track down all of his appearances. (I don't know where to find a list for that, sorry.) But! You should definitely check out his appearance in Sandman when you get a chance, and you should read Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic before you read the Sandman Universe comics, if you want to try them (but after the original Hellblazer is fine).

(I mean you can read all of the Books of Magic incarnations if you want because a lot of that is really good but most of them aren't very relevant to Constantine.)

The Webtoon Zatanna and the Ripper features Constantine, and, in my opinion, he's a very cute version. Although I will warn that it is Zatanna/Constantine endgame and there's a very marked age gap if that bothers you. There are lots of trigger warnings for basically all of his content, but since this one is written to younger audiences and in a cuter style I thought it important to warn for possible narrative whiplash. If that's your central canon people will probably notice that you like to draw/write/talk about him that way, but I don't think it's a problem as long as it doesn't bother you! I like that story a lot but you'd have to ask Zatanna readers if you want recs for other versions of their relationship. He may be more consistent in her stories.

Also, I don't mean to push Spirit World (yes I do) but I absolutely love him as a side character in that one; he feels very true to the early character to me, even though he's supporting cast. I think that's because Spirit World has a more similar tone and attitude towards magic than a lot of other characters' stories. (And many people like the crossover/team version of Constantine better anyway, so you may find that's your preference instead.)

Now, if you want to watch the movie Constantine it's actually a pretty interesting American AU if you read it that way. It holds up decently as a movie generally - one of those schlocky but in a good way action flicks - but it doesn't have much to do with Constantine. If you end up liking the comics it may be fun to do a compare and contrast tho! They change everything. (But there's a fun cat.)

If you want to watch the TV show Legends of Tomorrow then be aware a lot of people have objections to how his character is portrayed. To me, personally, I felt like they kept the important parts and changed the details, but for other people they think different details are important. His couple of appearance on Arrow are technically the same character but don't feel quite the same. (I haven't gotten around to watching his solo show, shame on me, because I missed it at the time. No advertising???) And I wouldn't say they quite made him edgy/gritty (especially given the mood of his original canon) but they did modernize him in a way that has the same texture as the rest of the Arrowverse. I mean I love him on there but that one's a much more mixed bag for people.

You should also see if you can find anyone who likes all the cartoon shows because he appears sometimes and they can tell you what they like or dislike about him there. It's the more toned down/upbeat version of him that happens in lots of crossovers - you can check out the Urban Legends story if you want a view into that vibe - but it is many people's definitive version! I wouldn't recommend starting into the fanfic until you've figured out which version you like or you'll be endlessly confused by all of them. But there's a lot of good fic and art out there for him!

[miraculous-pyxie]

spoilers for the newest episode but i think i finally figured out my issue with the Adrien being a senti thing and maybe why other people dislike it as well. (this is not slander i promise i love adrien and i want the best for him.) (ps this is also unedited so read at your own risk)

Adrien presents himself in public as someone who is incapable of flaw and that’s the point of his civilization appearance and duality of his hero identity. I take no issue with Chat Noir being a senti yet i take issue with Adrien. But why? they are the same person! i’m going to explain why this is and i think many others feel this way too.

1. Adrien’s civilian identity of perfection makes it harder to see him as a person and not just a character. He feels flat this late into the series. (THIS IS NOT SLANDER LET ME EXPLAIN)

This may be intentional for the future for the other characters perception of Adrien in later seasons but for the audience it should not be this hard. He is technically a main character and i think we don’t hear enough from him internally. We never hear his thoughts. We hear Chat noir having his own dialogue about himself but never Adrien (i’ll get to that next). We had that heartbreaking scene in wishmaker where Adrien only wanted what his parents wanted for him but i feel that we didn’t get elaborate enough point of view from him. i wanted him to explain more of what that meant for him!! was he sad about that? happy? angry? we never hear his opinions of himself and just because he’s a senti doesn’t mean he can’t think critically of himself. (if the writers say otherwise that just feels like bad writing)

2. the gap between Adrien and Chat Noir feels too wide.

As the show progressed i hoped that we would begin to see how Adrien and Chat Noir and Marinette and Ladybug’s personas would blend together. My favorite scene was in risk was Adrien FINALLY speaking his mind (in front of someone he cares about!!) that’s huge!! i loved that!! i wish they kept this up in season 5 more and we had more scenes where adrien tries to wrestle for control. i feel that would have greatly benefitted his character. I wish we had more personality overlap. and example of this is as him and marinette started getting closer in season 5 he’d start letting his guard down around her and letting more of the chat noir side of his personality through. i’ve talked about Adrien being the embodiment of perfection and that is intentional from a writing perspective. his counterbalance is being chat noir and chat noir feels very human, real and tangible. He feels like a teenage boy who is in love, and that’s why the chat noir persona is a fan favorite. he feels very real and that’s why I’m ok with Chat being a senti.  if I had learned, Adrien was senti in season one i would have been a lot more on board.

moving away from the story and on to some technical gripes starting with my biggest and most polarizing opinion… 

3. I think that Adrien being a senti was added retroactively and it was intended to be a plot twist.

now this is just a theory but listen to where I’m coming from. this isn’t a bad thing necessarily I just feel like when they executed this idea, season one was already being aired on tv. if you take a look at Adrien’s character in s1 vs s4, you can see that Adrien‘s general demeanor is looser and more fluid between both of his identities compared to when we get in the later seasons. Adrien with other people, Chat Noir, and Adrien alone, fit pretty cohesively in my opinion in s1. in s5, Adrien very much feels like a husk of the person we knew before. The fear of fighting back has now fully taken over him, but where did it come from? You can push all you want that it was Gabriel taking more control over Adrien in later seasons and sure, but why didn’t we see that as an audience sooner?

Now let’s play devils advocate and suggest that Adrien being a senti was not a retroactive decision: if it was, I wish we saw Adrien pushing Gabriel more. somewhere in the season 3-4 timeframe, Adrien begin to get scared of fighting back. and in season five you can see this fully as he is now completely scared to fight back when, in the very first episode, the idea of fighting back against his father seemed more of an annoyance than a full-blown fear. I wish we saw what made Adrien so scared because it feels like it appeared out of nowhere.  we don’t get much room to work with him as a character and see his perspective.

And now the plot twist point. we’ve definitely been getting clues because this theory is not a new one by far however, in the fandom a couple years ago, it was definitely a far-fetched theory at the time. for a characterization point for the main character, such a crucial piece of information about his very existence, should not have been held for that long.  That should’ve been something maybe revealed to the audience in season three. and revealed to the characters at the end of season five or something like that. 

Adrien losing that fluid dynamic essence from season one really made it feel like we lost him as a character  somewhere along the way and that is what I don’t like about it. I don’t like that Adrien‘s whole personality has been reduced to him being senti. all of his character arcs and progression is only expressed through chat noir, and none of it through Adrien himself.  

One last thing I wanted to add was Mayra didn’t sense that Chat Noir was a senti when she was active. That’s been a little thing that’s been bugging me because Felix clearly picked up on the fact that Kagami’s a senti. and you could counter that by saying oh, it’s because the miraculous was broken! and sure we could say that but from a writing standpoint, I don’t like it. it doesn’t fit cleanly with everything else we have.

I say all this out of love for the show I’ve been a fan for 7 years. I also say this out of love for Adrien because I want the best for all these kids, even Lila and Chloe.  these are mostly things I just wanted to get out there and please do correct me if I’m wrong, I love hearing other peoples opinions! i’m due for a rewatch of the show anyway so I wrote this all from memory .

[miladythewinter]

Review of Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston:

The first 80 pages of this almost made me quit. It got better as it went on but close to the end it went back to just being straight up bad. Only my love for, and familiarity with, this universe kept me going. E.K. Johnston is a technically proficient writer in the sense that they can clearly write on a superficial level. However, as a storyteller, their writing leaves a lot to be desired. It’s simply bad. There is no depth, no connection with the characters and plot. It’s all superficial, cold and detached. The fact that this book is YA, and as such meant for younger audiences, is no excuse. Standards for writing quality don’t change depending on the demographic of the book. Quality is quality. Many children’s books have rich, complex and beautiful writing. Sometimes it seemed like the sentences in this book were ordered by a computer, such is the incredible confusion that goes on in it. Johnston omits so much information that a reader is constantly faced with sentences that follow each other with no connecting links, where characters pull out weapons that they definitely didn’t have before, and where eventually contradictions start to show up. In just one example, a character almost drops something and, following a short dialogue, another character picks up the object from the floor even though it was never dropped. This shockingly careless writing comes through on the forced plot contrivances as well. Johnston seems averse to using connecting words and phrases like “however”, “meanwhile”, “later that day”, etc., which deeply confuses the reader as to when and where something is happening, and seems unsure when to insert a paragraph break. All this put together, you frequently encounter three short sentences immediately followed by another one about a completely different thing with no connector and without a paragraph break. As a result, characters are cardboard thin and the plot equally so (I doubt it would even be considered for an episode of the Clone Wars TV show). I also get the feeling that Johnston is either not very familiar with Star Wars (namely the books and their particularities that every writer should maintain for continuity) or that they didn’t particularly care about Ahsoka and this plot. It’s irrevelant to me whether a hired writer loves the material they’re working with. The most important thing is writing a good book to the point that I wouldn’t be able to tell that the writer was clearly uninsterested. All in all, not a book I'd recommend, not even if you're a fan of Star Wars or of Ahsoka. I'll have to think twice about reading Johnston's Padmé trilogy as the short preview at the end of this book did not change my opinion about their writing abilities in that other work.      

[strangesoulmates]

Hi, I was wondering where would you recommend beginning for someone who wants get into the Alex Rider fandom? It sounds like something I would enjoy and I really want to read your upcoming works based on it, but I am not sure if I should start with the books or tv show?

First of all, I am super excited that you are thinking about joining us! And hella flattered that my upcoming writing is at least part of the reason.

That's a good question, and after sleeping on it my answer is going to be the really helpful "it depends." And I think it does. Because while I love them both, the vibes are different, for lack of a better way to put it.

For the books, they're very much action-adventure based middle-grade fiction. And the first few def reflect that? I'm in the middle of a reread myself, and I will say that the emphasis is very much on the action and the peril and Horowitz writes that very well in the first few. The emotional exploration comes later. Think Bond but written for ten year olds (while making fun of the genre a tiny bit at least at first).

The TV show has Alex a little older (16ish instead of 14) and it clearly intended for an older audience. Someone involved in the show (either the director or one of the writers, I don't remember which) said it was "more bourne than bond" which I agree with. Very like, atmospheric and an emphasis on the "real world" consequences of it all. More character driven, rather than action driven is probably the best way to put it.

From a "I want to understand what the fuck you're talking about" perspective, most of my fics are going to be TV-Verse based, at least at first since I don't want to write book verse until I finish that reread. And I'm also kind of petrified that they're going to cancel the show even though I adore it so much so more viewers would be good.

But let's get some other opinions! Alex Rider friends, what do you all think?