#also the romance subplot was mid

[citizen-saint]

watched hellboy 2day (barely, it was mostly in the background while i made cupcakes (i overfilled them but the batter was amazing, thanks for asking)) and the best part was watching the normal guy get beat up when they were captured

[thefudge]

haven’t watched s4 of the umbrella academy but i know five and lila kissing there omg if only every tv show and book have listened to our weird ships…

okay so i spent the last few hours speed-running through this season and OH MY GOD not only did they pay attention to our weird ship, but it's like INCREDIBLE levels of fanfic!!! like, the YEARNING alone??? like, okay, the writers did the "stuck in a time bubble together" bonding/romance storyline, but what i loved about it is they planted the seeds early in the season with lila not only feeling stuck in her marriage but sneaking out and running into five and having fun with him sleuthing just like in past seasons!!! like, it's not just "we're only now seeing each other's potential because we're stuck in the subway" it's more like "we've always been kindred spirits and now we have some down time to really let that sink in". it feels like the culmination of their evolution from enemies to frenemies to friends to lovers??? like all that friction from past seasons finally coming to fruition. hell, at one point five even straight up tells her diego can't give her what she needs??? like, they're admitting they're happier together and fit better together, in and outside of the time loop!!! and i love love LOVE the writers for not doing the super tired switcheroo where, once lila returns to diego and her family she suddenly realizes the whole thing with five was a fever dream. NO!!! no no no, all the feelings are still there like AAAAH it's such good angst, because she keeps exchanging loaded and uncomfortable glances with five while diego is trying to hold her/kiss her??? and five looks SO upset??? it's ao3 levels of delicious drama!!!! diego even asks her if she loves five and she CANNOT deny it, and her whole family and kids are right there but!!!! they still have these feelings and i love how shameless the show is about it!!! one of the big subplots of the final episode is lila having to give up her family to sacrifice herself, but it's also framed as her choosing five and just sort of collapsing in his arms telling him she hates him for this??? and he says "i know"??? HELLO??? also just the yearning and pining even mid-apocalypse!!!! five can't focus on anything else except her, literally they're all about to die but their lil drama is still going on!!!! (complete with diego and five punching each other and rolling on the floor fighting over lila!!!!) it's SO good. also props to the five actor for truly LOCKING IN and just leaning so much into the yearning. every second he looks at lila it's like she hung the moon and he is dying to be with her. i JUSTTTTTTT and the fact that lila hates bracelets and she didn't wear the one diego got her for valentine's, but she wears five's???? and loves it??? and he made it out of all the scrap metal for her???? soooo many little moments like that!!! when he says "i aim to please" kneeling in front of her????? when he says "you know why" when she asks him why he kept the notebook with the escape plan from her!!!!! he just wanted to be with her forever in the greenhouse timeline GAAAAAH. like, this is now gonna be my standard for "non-canonical ships that didn't seem like they could ever have a chance but became canon anyway"!!! cuz usually we clock the chemistry and the banter and the connection but we have to make do with our lil AUs because we know the writers wouldn't dare. but they did!!! they did it this time!!! GOD BLESS i feel so validated in this chili's tonight!!!

[renshengs]

so,,, i'm on episode 3 of fangs and fortune and while i'm loving zhu yan interactions with both wen xiao and yi chen i'm feeling uncomfortable with him knowing them when they were teens :( do you know if that time with wean xiao she was over 18? when he killed yi chen's father and brother, was yi chen there?

anon, i'm going to be honest and say none of us have any clue how many years older wen xiao is compared to 23/24 year old zhuo yichen; the only thing i can say is that she seems to be significantly older (3-10 years) given that the show explains that she's older enough for zhuo yichen to call her "小姑姑/auntie". zhuo yichen would've been 15 when he lost his family to zhao yuanzhou's massacre, but episode 1 where zhuo yichen is 23 is their very first meeting. zhao yuanzhou is 30,000+ years old, so the age difference between him and basically every other main character in the show is unavoidable. if it's just the "knowing wx when she was potentially a teen" part that makes you uncomfortable, their romance subplot very clearly only starts in the present where we can assume she's probably anywhere from mid 20's to early 30's. (also frankly their romantic tension never really goes anywhere either, it's just kinda there. it's not the focus of the show).

to address your concern with wen xiao's ambiguous age in the flashbacks, to my knowledge it has never been explicitly stated, so it's left open to audience interpretation. since the actress is the same in the flashbacks and in the present, i think you could easily assume she was a young adult 8 years ago if that eases you, though i maintain their romance doesn't begin until she's at least mid 20's, nor do i think zhao yuanzhou was interested in her 8 years ago. if it's the general age differences in ships that make you uncomfortable, then i'd advise you to probably not watch the show for the sake of your own comfort (or just ship him with his ex boyfriend, who is also a 30,000+ year old demon).

simultaneously i feel it is necessary to point out that 30,000+ is a completely fantasy and unimaginable age for any humanlike being, and that he would have been absolutely ancient by the time any of the main squad were born anyway, but also that he has no romantic or sexual tension with any of them until the beginning of the story.

ultimately it's up to you whether you want to continue or not! i think it's very important you don't feel pressured to choose to continue, but also to remember that some stories aren't meant to depict things realistically, especially not in the xianxia genre, where age gap romances are almost a given.

that being said, if you do choose to continue, fangs of fortune has been worth every minute of my time with its characters, their relationships, and its top-tier cinematography. hope i was able to provide clear answers to your concerns :)

[lazytitans-world]

My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

[lily-avenue]

Musings on Gold Digger (2019)

** Warning contains major spoilers **

** Also warning: massively long-winded ramble **

Julia Ormond, Ben Barnes and an exploration of a may-december romance in the midst of complicated famillial dynamics and an underlying unease.

Both leads are very good. We see Julia Day (Julia Ormond) reclaim herself as she moves out of the roles to which she has been assigned, or perhaps more accurately, has assigned herself; while Benjamin Greene (Ben Barnes) treads the fine line of someone who is not entirely what he seems to be, and who in pursuing the path he has chosen, is moving both closer to, and further away, from what he needs. We all, or many of us at least, want to be known and loved for who we actually are.

The supporting cast are uniformly excellent, with each episode putting the spotlight on one of Julia's now-adult kids (Patrick, Della and Leo), her ex-husband (Ted), her ex-best-friend (Marsha), and her new lover.

The series poses a range of complex, thorny questions, such as what it means to take a much younger (or much older) lover; the immediate and long-term aftermath of domestic violence; the loss of confidence and trust following betrayal; the ripple effect of those pivotal moments that each of us have in our lives; and the small (and large) lies that we tell ourselves and each other.

Nearly everyone in Julia's life is openly and vocally "concerned" when she introduces the much younger Benjamin into her life, and the series also explores the cost of pursuing your own happiness in the face of others' disapproval.

For the most part, the two sons (Patrick and Leo) are Not Very Nice. While they are not necessarily unjustified in their concerns about Benjamin, and are each grappling with the fallout of their parents' shared history, how they act upon those concerns is rather unpleasant. (And slighly nonsensical. Patrick is a well-heeled lawyer, surely he would have hired a private investigater to do some digging?) Della, her daughter, is the most open of the three to their mother's new relationship. And while for the most part that isn't saying much, Della's growing acceptance and support of Julia's right to be her own person and the strength she demonstrates in doing so, make for a lovely subplot - particularly as it starts to positively impact her own life.

While the series asks a lot of questions, it doesn't necessarily answer them in a way that fully satisfies. We see Benjamin and Julia's attraction in numerous sex scenes, and it is fabulous to move from the early scenes, in which she turns off the light, to later scenes in which she has pushed aside some of her insecurities. But we don't see enough of their intellectual attraction, of the non-physical side of things, and of how they navigate the fact that in terms of cultural milieu, he has far more in common with her children than with her (sort of, that too is complicated). There are some lovely glimpses - the book of walks he gives her as a gift, for example, rather than ubiquitous and offensively-generic flowers. But their growing closeness is mostly given in montages of them walking around holding hands in various locales - we are rarely privvy to the intimate discussions that would show a deepening relationship.

Much goes unquestioned by Julia, which given her intelligence and life experience seems somewhat implausible, although perhaps newly discovered and unexpected love can make fools of us all? Her lack of curiosity about Benjamin's past, which clearly continues to affect him, or his financial situation (mid 30s, professional job, but about to be hounded by bailiffs?) is hand-waved away at one point. This is one of those instances where I cannot tell if it suboptimal writing (maintaining suspense at the cost of characterisation) or very clever writing (Julia tends to avoid conflict; her reluctance to ask questions to which she doesn't necessarily want to know the answer has precedence). Herein lies the dilemma of suspense-based drama: in keeping Benjamin an relatively unknown quality we lose the opportunity to get to know him and Julia as a couple, and that becomes problematic later on.

We experience Julia's growth as she takes responsibility for her own destiny, eventually starting to question what it is that Benjamin isn't telling her, and taking the necessary steps to find out more. And when she finds out more, and it is rather confronting, she still chooses to listen before coming to her own conclusions. But we don't see the same for Benjamin. His journey is more opaque, and because we only get very few snippits of his life before Julia, is largely for the viewer to infer, or only becomes evident after the fact. He wants to run away when things start to close in on him, but he doesn't. Ultimately his hand is forced and he breaks a long-held agreement with his brother to put his own needs first. (There is a small subplot about an engagement that didn't happen; a former girlfriend broke up with him the day he proposed, and one wonders if it was because he also told her the truth about his past.)

There are interesting contrasts between Benjamin and Ted. Both are outwardly well put together, but neither are what they seem. Ted is successful, wealthy and enmeshed in entitled middleclass-ness, while Benjamin is not, despite his facade of the urbane younger man.

But the outward trappings hide the fact that Ted is controlling and violent, while Benjamin - despite what the criminal justice system would say - is neither. And that contrast is backed up by the scene with Ted in the forest on the morning of the wedding, compared with that with Benjamin on the beach (in which Julia asks him to not touch her, and he listens and respects her wishes instantly). Even throughout the argument with his newly re-emerged brother Kieran, which escalates into low-level violence, Benjamin only ever reacts, never instigates.

And it would be entirely remiss of me not to mention Marsha, who has made her own bed, unfortunately with Ted in it. We meet Marsha just as she is beginning to realise the extent of the poor bargain she's made, and it really only gets worse.

I am still not sure whether the series simply had very high expectations of the viewer, or whether the script spread itself too thin and undercut itself. The distrust and deception that flows throughout the series was almost catching, and in the face of it I wanted stronger closure, a deeper resolution of the issues that came to light late in the piece. In the absence of that, Kieran's words after the fight with Benjamin resonate just a little too strongly for me. Are they actually in love with one another, or are they in love with what the other represents to them?

Is Benjamin a gold digger? Not, I think, in the traditional sense of the term. He sees in Julia an embodiment of the life he wants to have, but had always been excluded from. My take is that the attraction and burgeoning love is real, but that it is also inseparable from her aura of wealth, education and intellect, which are an integral part of who she is and how she moves through the world.

He was certainly not honest with her, and that also poses an interesting question about how much of our ourselves, and our actions, we can mask, ignore or conceal before sliding into deception or disaster. Alongside Benjamin editing his past to hide a terrible act (in which he played a supporting role but shouldered much of the consequences), we have a younger Julia peddling the fiction that all was well with her (first) marriage, Ted hiding his violent streak, Patrick having an affair, Leo knowing about Ted and Marsha but not telling his mother. The list goes on.

The lingering disquiet of how much of Benjamin is a performance, and how much is real, never quite leaves. We do see sharper edges to him at times, which are in keeping with what is revealed about his past (you couldn't come out of young offenders unscathed, and you certainly wouldn't get through it without developing some pretty decent survival mechanisms), although Julia herself is not privvy to them. It is in the rawness and desperation of a couple of his reactions that a measure of confirmation is provided that his feelings towards Julia are genuine. There is a two-fold element of unreliable narration with Benjamin, yet it feels not entirely unreasonable to conclude that Benjamin the construct is underpinned by a longstanding and deep-seated need, and has largely become Benjamin the actual. But how recent was this process, and was it a legitimate one? We don't ever really find out, and that matters when it comes to our central conundrum.

But as may have become evident throughout this long-winded ramble, one of my own personal failings is that I like my fictional endings to be happy, and unambiguously so. I want Julia to enjoy her 'after', just as much as I want Benjamin to revel in the safety and belonging she provides. So holding onto a suitable measure of optimism (or perhaps of wishful thinking - our characters may not be alone in their penchant for self-deception), let us now return to their wedding reception and one of my favourite scenes. Watching a truly beguiling Julia invite Benjamin to dance, and an utterly charming Benjamin follow her onto the dance floor, made me smile. A lot. And with that in mind I am going to find myself a glass of champagne, ensure my best smile is firmly in place, and head out onto the dance floor to wish the two of them my very best.

[motherfricker]

honestly if that's the case thank god 😭 bcs honeskty the fae in TCP felt super vanilla and catered to a very boring audience (the tail haters 💀) and the side characters felt super wasted, like nicasias the daughter of such a powerful undersea queen and yet she's reduced to a petty girl ? 😭 it kinda killed me. How do you miss shooting with a crossbow when ur mom wiped out undersea courts to assert her power. and taryn was so wasted it kinda killed me, like that's her twinnnn omg?? and the telling not showing 😭 oh man it was rough. the books are so tiny too !! so much was left unsaid when it would've enhanced the books 💔💔 it hurt me it really did

Guess who read a book in 1 day!!! (Hasn't happened in a yr)

U should read darkest parts of the forest by holly black if u like fairies

i dontf like holly black but like ill try to read a pdf for u 😔

[monstroso]

Home on the range!! Im surprised to see it in a poll, i often feel im the only one i know who is aware of the evil yodeling hypnosis villain. Do you have any thoughts you wish to share about that movie? I find it quite fun!!

This will maybe be the most controversial opinion to come out of the mid-sney poll, but (aside from the film which I personally voted for. Great Mouse Detective Sweep, etc.) I think Home On The Range is the best of the films listed.

I love that it has three female leads with no romance subplot. I love the character designs on all three leads and the immediate interplay between the personalities. I love that it comes from an era where Disney could still make *comedy* animation, even if it missed the mark in a lot of ways.

Disney in the mid-2000s wasn't the "feel-good nostalgia" company yet, they hadn't hit their stride and so were still willing to experiment with different kinds of stories in the new millennium.

And it's not even a true departure. I think the yodeling cow-rustling sequence hearkens back to the "Pink Elephants On Parade" days in a deliberate way! Stuff like that just doesn't happen in Disney movies anymore except in very controlled story moments, because it's weird. But we like it *because* it's weird!

(My senior animation film also was a silly story with an action sequence set in a fantastical wild-west, so I might be somewhat impartial here.)

Disney likes to remind us that animation can be beautiful and breathtaking. It can enhance the things about reality that are wonderful and make the real feel hyper-real. But it can also completely bend reality to be fun and silly and *un*-real, and those kinds of movies can and should exist too! Home On The Range might be ridiculous and over-the-top, but I like it because it reminds me of the days when that was still something Disney might do. They leave this kind of thing to Illumination and DreamWorks now.

My feelings aside though, I'd love to see Home On The Range get a retroactive fandom on tumblr where people ship the cows together. Maggie could be a butch lesbian icon! I'm just saying.

Thanks for the ask!

[sun-spice]

I came across a post claiming that cishet a-specs were calling gay and trans people dirty? I can't say about ace spaces, but personally I was active in the aro community every day for years and I saw stuff that maybe one time. Said person was prompted to unlearn their bigotry, and when they didn't they were kicked.

The a-spec community is large enough that you could possibly find an AVEN thread or something along these lines from the 00s. But when I became active in the mid 10s, it wasn't a problem in the spaces I was in. I've personally met far more cis straight aros who were affirming than those who weren't. If you have genuine examples from the aro community around the period I was active in (2010s), especially that weren't properly addressed, I would be interested to see it.

Unless you're misunderstanding repulsed a-specs by taking them out of context. Which this person went on to do in the next paragraph.

I'll talk about romance-repulsion here since that's what's this post was mostly concerning, what I'm familiar with, and because that's what people like this seem to find most baffling.

To this person, basically, being romance-repulsed is an expression of homophobia. Despite it being all romance anywhere... and usually the problem people have by straight people by virtue of exposure...

Things I've usually seen romance-repulsed people complain about seriously (myself included) is stuff like: excessive PDA in public spaces (particularly where it is impossible to ignore), friends disrespecting their boundaries, and annoying (straight) romance subplots in movies. Sound homophobic to you?

They speak specifically about aros saying they would like PDA-free queer spaces, painting that in homophobic light. When in context, ultimately, aro people completely understand that asking other queer especially not to display PDA at all queer spaces would be queerphobic, and thus these discussions usually turn to how would we make spaces ourselves where repulsed people specifically can be accommodated. Which is completely reasonable. Also yes, we use queer spaces when talking about spaces for aro people whether you like it or not.

On the ace side, I've seen people being frustrated that the only places they have nearby to meet to people, especially other queer people, are places like nightclubs and kink spaces. Which is a sentiment I've seen expressed by people even outside of the ace community. As an alternative, there's been some talk about queer cafés. I know of an a-spec person who was even involved in setting one up, even if it unfortunately had to close to various circumstances (bigots and capitalism for two). Sound homophobic to you?

Anyway, to summarise. I'm tired of people always taking our discussions in bad faith and not reading into it.

[killiru]

GMMTV 2024 BINGO CARD YAAAY

Thank you for the brilliant bingocard . It is so so so great and I had so much fun @icouldhyperfixatehim I had a bit too much fun with the bingo and took the orange squares for my relatively fixed predictions, the purple ones for things I wish would happen but are unrealistic and the greenish ones for things I could imagine happening in some sort but not 100% like that even tho I WANT to. AND I KNOW it's partly not possible to read it. But HERE WE GO!!

detailed explanations below (but it's way too long and way too much, nobody wants to read that).

Predictions

GemFourth in a BL with a highschool Plot

They revealed already that they will have another show. And I just can’t see that GMMTV would put them in University or somewhere else already.

WinnySatang Show with Inn Sarin as support in a highschool comedy-

I think they will test the waters with that. For Winny and Satang as Mains and for Inn as a new actor under GMMTV aswell.

2nd MilkLove GL, maybe sportthemed.

I think they will not gamble. They will give us more GLs finally but want them to be safe, so they will cast Milk and Love for another one. Which is TOTALLY fine for me but I think they will give them another one to play it safe yes.

A political Drama from P’Nuchy – Bonus for Gun and Papang in it

Okay I admit it I just want another political story. Leave me alone. Also Gun and Papang are always doing great in system critique shows and I am still not over Not Me and I will never be.

JoongDunk in a something darker Show, maybe Mafia or Fantasy, Bonus if Vampires

No words to be added. The Dum Dum Performance lives in my mind rent free and I think I am not the only one with this.

11 QLs in total with 8 Bls, and 3 GLs with 1 of them as an ensembleshow

In total maybe 22 shows. Half of it QL. I think this would be great. More QL always welcomed tho.

Luke and Win as the Tokenstraights characters in a HetRomance

Because sadly they won’t put Luke and (Win) in (another) Bl right?

Homeschool and Enigma Season 2

Since those shows were very very popular… I….think…at least?... I think there will be a second season.

Mix and Match

General mixing and matching of all couples.

I want everyone to kiss each other on the mouth. Be messy. Thanks.

EarthMix Show from P’Jojo, Bonus if Sexworker or/and Crime themed.

I want EarthMix to work with Jojo and I want them to change their dynamics. I think Sexwork would fit in typical Jojo Plots. And I think it would suit them. I would welcome a crime themed show with open arms too tho and I think Earth an Mix talked about that sometimes ago…

Ensemble Show with “old” couples/ “first generation" BL Actors but mixed and matched.

As in OffGun, TayNew, Krist, Ohm, First, I DUNNO SMTH LIKE THAT AND LET IT BE MESSY. I don’t know I am not a big Krist-girl but I think he has a comeback with all his concerts and stuff? Also I just want to see OffGun and TayNew in a show together.

Musicthemed ViewJune GL and Janhae and Aye as a Sidecouple

Listen… Ive DREAMED about Janhae and Aye as a couple. They would kill me and if the four of them had a britrock band together at university, that would just make me straight up cry of happiness. Let them be sweet together and irlekawö.

Strangers from Hell Thai Remake or something similar because I want it okay?

I don’t know, I have no reason for wanting that besides, that I think they would do great on that. I don’t know who would be fitting for which role tho. But it would be awesome right?

Mark/Neo as leads in a fluffy romance with Ford in a support role

I think Mark and Neo surprised all of us. And Ford and Mark as well. I want them in a fluffy romance to see how that would turn out for Mark and Neo but I want it to turn a little bit darker towards the end and let Ford have a bigger role on it.

Family Drama with a queer subplot where the mid 20s playing over 40s and other mid 20s actors playing under 20s even though they are all the same age.

We haven’t seen weird age-casting enough, I guess. But beside that I want to see family dynamics more. I was a sucker for Moonlight Chicken. Gimme something like that again.

NaniDew BL or at least them both together as Mains in a Show which is kind of queer baity.

Since they are selling Nani Dew Puppets at the GMMTV shop I am sus. They had weirdly mad chemistry at Homeschool if you ask me and I cant totally imagine them to try this out. But in the case that GMMTV don’t want to put them in a queer story I think they will at least queer bait us with them in a Midnight Museum kind of way.

FirstKhao in a BBS Styled Show with P’Aof

First and Khao wanted funny and lovely. They should get it. P’Aof could make them work in that. I can see that. So much.

Gem Fourth Plot is the political Nuchy Drama maybe.

I love it when they are playing kind of more serious scenes. And I think youngsters fighting the system, maybe throwing some molotowcocktails would fit them.

Femalelead Show from the PS I Hate you Team but in a PS I hate you way not in a the Jungle way

I loved Ps I hate you. I loved it so much. Sadly The Jungle didn’t do it for me so much. So maybe another try with the same girlies just with them as leads? Also make it sapphic pls.

Historical Drama with Phuwin or Pond or both in it

Not gonna lie they did GREAT in the Our Sky EP. If BL or not, Id love to see them in a historical setting.

Wishlist:

Midnight Museum 2 in actually queer with TayGun Canon

So I loved MM. I loved it so much and the ending was wilde. I need a second season and I want Katha and Dome be a thing and Tay and Gun make out, is this so hard to understand. A sapphic plotline would be nice to. Thank you.

EarthMix/JimmySea/FirstKhao in a mature Show.

Look. I’m a simple girl. I love Earth and Mix. So much. And that’s why they are on my card twice. I love First and Khao too. Which is also a reason for their double appearance. And I just want them to be matched with Jimmy and Sea because it would be awesome. And just  imagine them in a mature show, MAYBE even in a combination with the EarthMix Sexworker/Crime themed show I want them to be in. I want that. So much. And Jojo would make this so great.

Found Family, queer friends finding eachother, Golf Tanwarin directing

I love found family plots and after Eclipse I am so sure that P’Golf would create such a heartwarming and beautiful story on that topic. I trust her with that and it would be queer and lovely and maybe there would be some queer parenting plot but it wouldn’t be necessary but actually sweet and… aitekjrgf pls gimme this.

Papang in a main role in a polyship with Guy and Victor

No words. I want Papang in a main role. He SHOWED SO MANY TIMES that he would be great in one and why not putting him with those two together in a story about a polyromantic relationship that fights heteronormativity?

[miragethecat]

OK, I finished trigger. 6/10. i’m gonna go more in depth. So spoilers ahead. this is a long post fyi. sorry for spelling mistakes.

so I hate the love triangle subplot of this. It does not work and it just is not it. I wish kengo had some sort of fighting training or something. Because how can he lose glitter eternity to a regular kaiju in a sword fight.

it’s like I know there’s studio meddling, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I finished. Because why does it go from romance subplot to end of the world back to romance and then I don’t wanna talk around the ending. The ending was mid as hell. trigger truth should’ve had more of trigger dark elements into him. I will admit he looked fucking sick.

everything that triggered dark did after ignis basically took him over. Those were the best parts of the show. ignis himself best character, hands-down. his fight with the blue guy, I forgot his name. When he was going after the eternity core was great and that’s where all the fighting choreography and money went because why is that more impressive than the other fight that trigger had?

ALSO they hyped up glitter eternity so much by like spending episodes, making it seem like it was hard to control and then once he could control it, it just got treated like another base form, which doesn’t make sense because that thing is powered by the eternity core, why are you treating it like a base form. why is that form losing to regular kaiju?

The supporting cast, if they got more screen time, they would’ve been perfect. They’re all so interesting on their own, but we don’t get to see that because we follow Mr. stand for the audience McGee kengo and like yeah he’s cool because he’s a botanist instead of like wanting to be a fighter but even as a botanist, we don’t see that. We know he cares for that one alien plant but that’s about it. like at least have him mention the other stuff he saving care of and like have him go off on tangents about plants that he finds while they’re doing their work or whatever.

overall, this had potential. But with studio meddling, it just did not hit the marks that it really wanted to do. After episode nine you can really see that it wants to be kind of darker and. it tries. and I’ll say it again. That ending was mid as hell. Why did he have to go back into the eternity core? I know it’s because he touched it and like he’s light and whatever. it probably doesn’t help that I watched Decker before this. But even then, kengo doesn’t have much of a personality. I would’ve LOVED to follow around ignis or ANYONE ELSE.

BYE!!!!

[ithel-lovik]

lazy writeblr intro

about myself

ithel (pseudonym)

they/them, neutral terms only

mid-20s

autistic, ADHD, cPTSD

somewhat crippled/ill

fantasy/horror writer

artist (@sardonicdoll)

white, TME, gentile

not new to tumblr or writing whatsoever, just new to writeblr. i'm a BFA student studying digital arts, but having writing as a career would be amazing because most forms of employment are pretty inaccessible to me as a disabled trauma survivor. that's why i have a patreon. unfortunately, my disability situation also causes me to struggle with being committed and consistent, but there's only so much i can do about that.

other than writing i also like photography and video-games.

about my work

what i like to write: fantasy and horror, dysfunctional romance subplots, death and resurrection/transformation of the self, monsters, themes about trauma and recovery, usually long-form stories but i have some short story ideas as well, dunno if my stuff counts as YA or NA

goals: to actually finish/publish something, whether it's one of my book/short story ideas or my webfiction project

current project

title: Red Sodom

genre: webfiction, post-apocalyptic horror w/ cosmic and biological horror elements, zombie-adjacent (but not really)

warnings: gore, body horror, violence, themes of trauma and its effects, centers around disease/a world-ending pandemic (i feel like i should say this story is not at all inspired by or connected to COVID-19)

stuff people might like: they/them nb+disabled+anti-hero lead, other queer characters, goes against typical post-apocalyptic tropes (e.g. everyone being selfish and trying to stab each other in the back instead of humanity coming together), "came back wrong," trauma is a central theme to the story (particularly childhood/developmental), also heavy themes involving redemption

summary:

Sira wakes up to the ruins of civilization with no memory or knowledge of what happened, other than the name they’re called by a disembodied voice just before they regain consciousness. A red mist blankets much of the earth, carrying with it an unstoppable pathogen that transforms those that inhale it into grotesque, reality-defying monstrosities dubbed “phantoms.” Strangely, Sira demonstrates a never-before-seen immunity to this pathogen, and they are taken in by the CPC – one of the paramilitary organizations working to combat the mist and its monsters – for protection and for the purposes of researching a vaccine or cure. Haunted by nightmares of a crimson-colored world, it becomes clear that Sira’s immunity to the disease is no mere coincidence, and their awakening sets in motion a downward spiral of events that proves the apocalypse is far from over.

where to find it:

currently what i had done previously is being re-written and i'm going to finish drafting the 1st arc in its entirety before posting publicly again, but you can still read the old writing at these places+it's where the new writing will be uploaded eventually

redsodom.wordpress.com

RoyalRoad: IthelLovik

Wattpad: IthelLovik

other projects

Exalted - fantasy/adventure with original worldbuilding about a mage who is driven from his homeland, discovers he has the same capacity for power as a god does, and gets pulled into a plot by a member of the nobility to destroy the planet

Safe Harbor - short supernatural romance story about a nineteen year-old who wants to escape the world and a thing that comes from the sea

all of my ideas other than Red Sodom have been put on hold to try and get it off the ground, but i'm hoping to continue work on them eventually

what i'll post

updates to my work, writing references, and any stuff that i make pertaining to it that i share with the public (like what i share to IG)

other places to find me

patreon.com/ithellovik

IG - ithel.lovik

twt: ithel_lovik

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - McCoy 10th Review

Bernice Summerfield: Oh No It Isn't! - Spin-off

Part of what makes Bernice Summerfield such a long running success is that her series can function as a standalone thing rather than just a spin-off.

When Virgin Publishing lost the rights to Doctor Who back in 1996, they dug Benny (a character they had created for the New Adventures novels) out of the closet and designed a new series around her with no ties to Doctor Who what so ever.

That's not to say that they erased the character's past, she's still a companion and technically the series still takes place in the world of Who, but no mentions of the Doctor nor any other BBC owned character appear or are even named dropped.

So basically you can pick up this first novel, like I did, without ever having touched any of the NAs, or even without having seen an episode of Who in your life.

Because, besides Benny herself, the only other thing that can be associated with Who is Menlove Stokes from that Fourth Doctor book we covered, The Romance of Crime. And there's no references to that story here either.

But what about the actual book? Is it any good?

Ehhhh....

I want to like it. I really do.

I love the premise. Getting caught in a augmented reality based off fairy tales!? Yes please!

Also most the characters are likable enough, even with such a large cast.

But there's one thing that really drags the whole book down.

It's the subplot between Benny and one of her students.

Through out the story Benny keeps debating about whether or not she should pursue a romance with one of the college kids that she teaches... and it's just gross.

Granted, she never goes through with it, and the narrative repeatedly points out why it's toxic, but like... why the fuck would introduce your main hero with a such a subplot anyways?

I mean if you're going to tell such a story then actually tell it. Make it the focus and draw some real drama from it. Don't shove it into the background of a completely different narrative after introducing it.

The end result is just uncomfortable and distracting. The darker subject matter clashes horribly with the surreal comedy romp that the rest if the story wants to be, and so it never feels fully resolved.

In addition it winds up undoing any hard work the book made to present it's hero as relatable and likable.

I mean, my gosh, plenty of women get a divorce without turning into pedos... seriously what the fuck?

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know the character is in college and would technically be considered 'legal', but he's still described as a teenager several times through out the book and she's in her mid to late 30s.

Also.. She's His Damn Teacher!

However, whenever this unpleasantness is shoved aside for the actual story, it's pretty dang good.

It's charming, funny, and fun!

Even if you're not familiar with British Panto you can still follow along with the tropes easily enough as they're mostly still rooted in fairy tales and musical theater.

It's certainly more digestible then most Virgin fare, I'll give it that, but it's still not enough to make me a Benny fan, sorry.

[thealmightyemprex]

Sci Fi Month Review 7 : Roger Cormans Fantastic Four

For this review…..We're looking at something special,the unreleased Fantastic Four movie

In this 1994 film Scientist Reed Richards(Alex Hyde-White ) and his companions Sue Storm (Rebecca Staab ),Johnny Storm (Jay Underwood ). and Ben Grimm(Michael Bailey Smith) take a space flight to study a comet,but things go wrong and the four find themselves changed with extraordinary powers and in the clutches of the mysterious figure named Doctor Doom (Joseph Culp )

So Marvel is huge now in mainstream American pop culture ……But that wasnt always the case.I'll just be honest people ,I am hesitant looking at pre Blade/X Men/Spider-Man live action Marvel adaptations cause they can be …Rough .I mean theres some gems ,I will always love The Incredible Hulk TV show starring Bill Bixby and even have a soft spot for the subsequent TV movies based on that show …..But then you have the 1990 Captain America movie ,Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD starring David Hasselhoff and of course,Howard the Duck .One that has always fascinated me is this film because in fandom circles for many years it was infamous for being the Marvel movie so bad ,they never released it (Which isnt the case truth is more complicated and capitalistic ,basically the film was a way to maintain rights ),a film you could only find as bootlegs at conventions,seen as a geeky oddity along the same lines as the Star Wars Holiday Special .Now you can find it on youtube (Which is how I watched it ) ,and having watched it……I think this film is kind of underrated and I am sad it did not get a proper release

So I gotta explain myself :As a kid some of my earliest comic memorie were reading the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run of Fantastic Four ,and my dad had the complete series of the 90's Fantastic Four cartoon ….So the Fantastic Four have a special place for me .From the pathos of the Things plight ( a man trapped in the body of a monster ),to the sci fi adventure,to the romance of Reed and Susan ,to the grand villainy of Doctor Doom(Heck a slew of great villains),to the feeling of family ,the Fantastic Four appealed to me .....And I am kind of grumpy that Fantastic Four lacks a great adaptation that captures the spirit .Now there is no shortage of Fantastic Four adaptations out there.....But most of them,at least for me,are kind of mid ,specifically the film adaptations have left a lot to be desired .The Tim Story duology has the humor and the four leads relatively right ,but drops the ball in that they dont DO much and completely misrepresent the villains ,and 2015's Fant4stic might be the worst comic book movie I have ever seen .However this film ,while not the definitive film version I crave and not really a great movie .....IS the BEST movie version of the Fantastic Four and a fairly decent super hero film I feel

Now there is a lot I could make fun of ,its very flawed,like keep in mind ....This was produced by Roger Corman ,they didnt have much of a budget ,so the visual effects are a bit cheesy and bad(The CG Human Torch looks like he is straight out of Reboot ) but I dunno I find them charming .The only lack of budget thing that bothered me is the dialogue of Doctor Doom.....In that they didnt either have the money to loop him or think to loop him(HAve him record his lines later ) which is a problem cause Doom is clanking about and is wearing a mask that muffles his speech......So I dont know what the main villain is SAYING sometimes (Credit to Joseph Culp who does project very well so I know 75% of his dialogue but that 25 % is annoying ).My main flaws are the romance elements ,from the creepy Reed falling for Susan who he knew as a child to Ben and ALicia being in love despite meeting ONCE(And even that scene is a bit creepy ).We also have a subplot that frustrates me as the film has two villains ,Doctor Doom of course.....But then you have the Jeweler.Now the Jeweler was supposed to be the Mole Man ,a guy who due to his physical appearence has cast aside society to live underground and was actually the fours first villain.....Till Marvel said "NO you have the rights to this select group of character,not the Mole Man " ,so he was reworked into the Jeweler ....And I think they should have cut him out.Now I like the idea of his subplot ,him falling for Alicia and trying to make her his queen ,inviting Ben who has now become the monstrus thing to joing his group and Ian Trigger actually gives a great performance ,being creepy but also having a sense of sadness (He reminds me of what Tim Burton tried to do with the Penguin in Batman Returns ) ,and while the name is changed,its a good adaptation of the Mole Man .........Pity he adds nothing to the film other then causing the accident that makes the four the four and kidnapping Alicia,things that Doctor Doom couldve easilly done .I mean it folks in the grand scheme of things,the Jewler is pointless,he never fights the Fantastic Four and he just kind of runs off before the third act .I like the performance and the plot idea,but it shouldve been reworked or cut

Thaaaatttt said.....I still like the movie.....BEcause of the Fantastic Four movies.....Its the bonly one to get that Fantastic Four feel to me:A fun lighthearted sci fi adventure and thats what I want from Fantastic Four .The Four feel in character,its accurrate to the source material andits the only one to get Doctor Doom right at ALL(Actually keeping that he is the King of Latveria and hinting at doombots ).Yes the film is low budget but it makes that budget work ,heck the comic accurate sewn spandex costumes for the Four are charming to me because in universe the costumes are made by Susan and they legit look like something she could make herself (An issue I have with a lot of superhero movie costumes ment to be handmade ).Doctor Doom looks like he stepped right out of the comics with the green cloak and tunic combo and metal mask /armor ,I love this look for Doom .The Thing looks pretty good too with an animatronic face that brings to mind the old Jack Kirby design and stunt man Carl Ciafalio gives a good physical performance (THoughI do find it amusing that the Thing is SMALLER then his human persona Ben Grimm,played by Michael Bailey Smith ) .No one in the main cast is bad ,alll these actors are giving it their alll .I have already discussed my soft spot for Ian Trigger as the Jewler, Rebecca Staab is a good Susan ,and Jay Underwood is a suitable Johnny .Michael Bailey Smith is a good Ben Grimm and he also does a decent job voicing the Thing and bringing the appropriate pathos (Though I do wish he had the Things signature Brooklyn accent ).Alex Hyde White might be my favorite Reed Ritchards really selling both the scientist and the leader aspect .Biggest props have to go Joseph Culp,who delivers a great performance despite being in a vfery uncomfortable costume with a mask that muffles his speech,and is able to project well ,make grand gestures (Inspired by real tyrants like Mussolini ) but also make him a fun eloquent villain who still has a sense of humor with a good hero villain dynamic with Reed .Also he is CONSTANTLY evil laughing ,and I dig it

I like this movie ,there is clearly a lot of heart in this movie .....Which makes me sad that the film was mistreated by those at the top.Its not a lost masterpiece ,but it is an highly entertaining B movie that pays tribute to its source material

@ariel-seagull-wings @filmcityworld1 @the-blue-fairie @amalthea9 @goodanswerfoxmonster @themousefromfantasyland @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

[ima-ghost-art]

Romance in dnd is really funny to me

because somehow against all odds my current game is like 99% certainly going to end with mine and my friends characters dating eachother

MY werewolf cleric (who did more damage punching this guy than he got falling from a building) and HIS monster hunter fighter (who bc his backstory, refuses to call people their names, so has instead come up with so many stupid names for my cleric) have the petty relationship of an old married couple, even tho they have only know eachother for a couple weeks

They continue to have the funniest romance comedy moments that are not even planned, just because they always end up next to eachother when shit goes wrong

They have a pact, that if she becomes an uncontrollable monster when turned, to kill her if she starts hurting innocent people

They share a horse

He gifted her jewelry and gemstones to make into (essentially) friendship necklaces for the party, so she can feel better about a spell fail, now meaning she can find her friends if she ever finds herself a bit too far from them

They have formed some really good combo attacks (one based souly on one of the romance comedy bits)

Fighter (his character) and Cordelia (my cleric) ended up sharing their tragic™️ backstories together about how he watched vampires kill his entire town and only he and one other survived (plus a camio of the song 'you make my dream (come true)' that accidentally started playing mid backstory) and for Cordelia, how she was turned and forced to kill her best friend, then ran away being labelled a heretic and murderer by her temple

They have a continuous squabble about how Cordelia will just walk into potential danger without fighter being a shield for them

They also have matching white truama hair lol

Honestly this unofficial romance subplot is hyped up by the rest of our party, it's so dumb it's funny XD (plus great angst and role playing potential) and it's so so silly I love it

[transxfiles]

For the book ask, number 3, 13, and 24 ?

3. What were your top five books of the year?

it was a difficult time narrowing these down, but probably:

1) It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese 2) Sir Gawain & The Green Knight translated by Burton Raffel 3) An Unauthorized Fan Treatise by Lauren James 4) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle 5) Pinky & Pepper Forever by Eddy Atoms

margaret atwood's oryx and crake, tom stoppard's rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead, and sarah ruhl's the clean house are all runners-up. and there are lots more tbh,,, this was a good reading year for me!! (in terms of enjoyment at the very least)

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

this one's also kind of hard to narrow down, because i disliked various books for various different reasons. the luminous dead by caitlin starling was a pretty low point because i spent YEARS tracking down a copy of this book, paid for it FULL PRICE, had heard so many good things about it - and then it was a massive let down. mid plot mid romance awful worldbuilding (in my opinion) and very poor storytelling/writing. like, from a craft standpoint, just not very good. it was a massive letdown and it's a situation where i can't believe i spent my own money on it, yknow?

a more recent let-down was crazy food truck by rokurou ogaki, i had some free time before exams one day so i just sat down in a corner of my local bookstore and started reading this one. i heard about it either at the very end of 2022 or the very beginning of this year and put in for an ARC on netgalley but didn't get it (probably for the better tbh?) and the one-sentence description sounds really fun - grizzled man runs a food truck in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. but the way the author portrayed his only female character was so awful i just couldn't do it.

there are definitely others, but these are the first two that come to mind.

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

YES i used to be a completionist but 2023 was the year i started embracing the power of a good DNF. had to stop reading the troop by nick cutter bc even though it was really interesting horror from a conceptual standpoint, the graphic violence against animals and children was really starting to fuck me up, and i got to a certain point in the book where it was clear it would only get worse and i just had to put it down. thought i'd be able to get over it in a day or two (normally horror books just don't bother me?) but i didn't and i ended up selling the book to a local secondhand bookstore two days after that.

i also DNF'd something to talk about by meryl wilsner after trying to read it for like a year and a half. i picked it up a while ago at a thrift store and i was SO excited bc i never see lesbian romances at thrift stores and something to talk about specifically was a big deal bc it was the first lesbian romance novel published by a mainstream romance publisher iirc. but it's SO. SOOOOO. SOOOOOOOO fucking boring. it's not even a slow burn that shit is glacial and listen i don't mind a lesbian romance that moves at a snail's pace but the book WAS the romance. or at least was supposed to be. and the non-romance subplots simply were not strong enough to support the rest of the story. AND the two leads had negative chemistry, just like, nothing going on there in my opinion. and most of the characters had the same voice </3 so frustrating bc i wanted to enjoy this book so bad which is why i stuck with it for so long, but after a while i just said "nope i can't do this anymore" and donated it.

[semi-imaginary-place]

finishing ffxvi

endgame lore dump time! ultima+fallen discovered magic and created an advanced civilization. the use of magic caused blight so they abandoned their physical bodies and went to a new land (a new world??? why else bother with becoming beings of spirit) and that was Valisthea. but they also brought the blight with them to valisthea, so part 3 of their plan is to make a 3rd land/new world free of blight. the mothercrystals were collecting aether to power the creation spell. ultima created humans to farm out a vessel capable of holding the power.

if they wanted to go the whole pilisophical debate on how free will is a burden, they should have developed that more through out the game. the weight of choice and the weight of consequence by. because clive doesn't make all that many weighty choices in the game, save the ship of sinking orphans or save the tower of burning orphans but you can only choose 1. that type of stuff. like maybe have clive go interact with the mothercrystal cities and see how their destruction has directly ruined these people's lives. Like i think half of valisthea is dead since the start of the game, could have framed that through the lens of choice. or they should have made a Dragon Age branching paths game although that makes it incredibly hard to make sequels as games like Three Houses or Origins can attest.

well everyone in twinside is dead.

oooooh after clive sucks a dominant. if they try to prime they go berserk. ooooh yeah that explains why he didn't have shiva and what happened with titan because that was never explained well. im surprised dion is willing to risk going berserk given that that exact thing happened just a short time ago and led to the destruction of his beloved empire.

i've given up on jill as a character, im fine with her being a side character, this game is the joshua clive show, but if they were going to sideline her they should have done so from the start instead of building her up as a main character only to drop her story line off a cliff. and get rid of the romance, the romance adds nothing to the game and actively makes it worse, its just a distraction from the rest of the story. having Jill be a side character is fine, reducing her role in the story to that of Clive's girlfriend isn't ok.

sidequest time: sabine might be sheltered but i do agree with her. why is a rosarian secret organization headquartered in dhalmek?

the reason i didn't understand why jill couldn't prime after clive absorbed shiva's aether was that at the very beginning of the game its established that the phoenix shares its blessing with its shields. Its established as normal that eikons can share their powers and that clive can use the phoenix's power. its only later that the game brings up the plot point that if clive drains someone, priming will kill them or berserk them which isn't explained at all with titan.

the tomes and dion quest may be my favorite. the flower lore continues. the national flower of sanbreque is the same one used for the poisonous tattoo ink used on bearers. our roots do not define us. where the emperor gifted the domesticated flower to dion to shackle him and make him obedient, tomes his other father figure gives him a wild flower to set dion free. for all the things each tell clive, tomes his guilt for not better mentoring dion and dion his crushing guilt of failing not only sanbreque but also tomes, they say very little of that to each other.

they're even going to Origin without Jill, she got sidelined SO HARD, dropped off the edge of the world. Joshua and Dion are both going and they're going to die if they prime. AND THEY DON'T EVEN GO ON AN AIRSHIP there was that whole subplot about Mid designing an airship. a great way to foil Ultima's plan is to keep Joshua at the hiddeway since Ultima needs both brothers.

really boss fight immediately??? where's my final dungeon so long i want to cry and give up.

huh. ultima's kindred/the fallen turned their bodies into the crystal/the mothercrystals (from which all crystal originates). what what happened to that whole dragon corpse thing. unless you're saying they're a hivemind dragon? those made into crystal were meant to be abandoned in valisthea but by destroying the mothercrystals clive has freed them. ok you lost me. presumably 8? 9? eikon statues each with an ultima in front of it and there was also an ultima sealed in joshua. each mothercrystal was actually an ultima, but there were only 5 mothercrystals. im confused.

Ifrit doesn't get a new design new design now that phoenix and ifrit have fully combined? robbed. ROBBED. After seeing the mural the entire game I was hoping to be able to play as the true eikon of fire. they never did explain what was special about the element of fire, i mean why wasn't leviathan or garuda the vessel?

oh clive absorbed ultima. why'd you'd that

clive, didn't we have this whole arc about not sacrificing yourself and going it alone.

so joshua his body falling apart gives the past of his power to clive before dying. clive beats up ultima and absorbs him. clive then restores the damage on joshua's body/tries to pour phoenix back into him before deciding to kamikaze black the entirety of origin. He's then implied to have died of the curse from using too much power on the shore and jill's reaction later. joshua is implied to have survived and written the story in the epilogue. hey clive maybe if you just sliced the crystal like you did the others you might not have died.

or apparently the lyrics hint that clive wrote the story in joshua's name and clive was looking at the moon. who knows i dont care anymore.

the joshua and clive scenes in this last part were good and the rest of it was bad

this story is wack. one of the least coherent stories I have seen in some time, the further on it goes the worse it gets. and it started so strongly too or perhaphs because of the prologue format. it brings up plot threads only to drop them character arcs go no where, it thematically backtracks and double crosses itself. it tries to do 17 themes without tying them together.

FFXVI feels like some mix of got, dragon age, final fantasy, but worse than all of them.

ambiguous and concrete endings are equal, it is about what purpose each serves. what does an ambiguous ending add to the themes, to the atmosphere, to the storytelling? what does a concrete ending add to the themes, to the atmosphere, to the storytelling? on a personal level i enjoy the mastery needed to craft a subtle and good ambiguous ending. however the ambiguous ending here doesn't help any part of ffxiv