#also was anyone else a LOTR nerd

[violet-shadows]

… if I do a Modern Girl in Middle Earth style ACOTAR fic, are y’all going to make fun of me?

[secondratefiction]

So happy you write for LOTR fandom as well! Could you please write some h/cs for Eomer? What's he like when in love? What does he find attractive in his s/o? What kind of qualities does he appreciate? Anything, really. Thank you so much!

Happy to oblige my love! I am nothing if not a multi-faceted nerd lol

Eomer is not someone I've written for before, so I do ask for a little leeway as I feel out how I write for his character.

Also, on a semi-related side bar - why are there so many good men in this series? I'm calling it: Tolkien is the reason I have unrealistic expectations in men... ugh...

--

Eomer strikes me as someone who can be a bit of a flirt. And who enjoys it /immensely/. So he would definitely appreciate someone who can match his energy and play long with the flirting and teasing

But only with him. He's not outwardly possessive, but can definitely be a jealous bitch.

You want to play games, you play with him. Anybody else, and this isn't fun any more all of a sudden, and he's glaring daggers at anyone showing any interest in you.

He's lost pretty much his entire family, so he's pretty cautious about opening his heart up again... but once he does... oof- he's got it /BAD/.

Like you have this man's entire being, heart, soul, and everything, directly in the palm of your hand, and he is fully trusting you to be gentle and take care with it.

[iamnotshazam]

i saw the LotR films before ever reading the books and i love both. i turn now more to the books than the movies for enjoyment.

but i also feel like the three movies just. fucken. cracked it out of the park with some important things and i had NO idea how good i had it as a little nerd delving into the extended edition dvd extras. if i were a fan in the gritty-obsessed 90's hearing rumors of these movies, i would have expected at best stuff like: B-list acting that occasionally broke through with honest emotions. some skilled costuming and weaponry popping up in important scenes but mostly just knock-off viking opera aesthetic. homebrew DND imagery that made it painfully obvious by contrast which scenes they actually spent money on the set design and dressing.

and WETA and New Line and everyone on this!!! they did NOT accept lower standards cause it was fantasy! everyone else would have. This was genre filmmaking, this would have been perceived at the time as more like How the Grinch Stole Christmas than a Cecil B Demille-level epic movie. And the costuming department, composer, propsmaster and set designer all said "NO" and put their whole pussies behind it!

Jesus Christ the quality in those movies! Ian McKellan has undershirts like Gandalf the White might have! Bernard Hill has realistic quilted padding underlayers all made in the style a Rohirrim tailor and armorer would have made! Minas Tirith has a rat catcher because someone took a doodle and decided that would make sense in the lived reality of a massive city! Movie makers do not usually do this. It is NEVER about what isnt seen or necessary for the shot. You are judged professionally not by if you can cut corners in order to help production and still seem good, but by HOW MUCH.

I cannot blame anyone who worked on the Amazon series in the hands-on creative roles because the results are what they have been trained to do. Blame executives. Blame executives! Of course chainmail is going to be, i dunno, plastic or sewn into the edges of costumes if you dont have the money or time for real chain mail! And because it cannot be overstated how unusual the LotR trilogy filmmaking process must have been. It's like being given an average lower middle class family grocery budget and told to make a fancy Christmas dinner for 20 all by yourself with no help versus having a trained staff, a blank check, and Martha Stewart on retainer. That's not an exaggeration. That's the rhetorical gulf that someone (Valar BLESS them) in the bureaucracy had to wade across to convince execs to buy into the details. The Lord of the Rings movies are WEIRD.

And it shows. Bookfans bitch about the story changes, the balrog wings, the characterization differences. (Denethor was a reasonable person and even outsider Pippin could see he was very admirable to the people of Gondor, which made it sooooo much creepier when he suddenly snapped but i digress) but NEVER about the music. the filming locations. the set designs. the costumes. the props. the things that i really think count the most to help invest people in a different world!

No one ever complains about taking out the scene where Rohan is summoned to Gondor's aid with the Red Arrow, because yeah they could have made it work, they made the importance of other props like Andúril and, oh yeah, the One Ring very clear, but they had a better idea.

The beacons.

The beacons were not in the book.

Not in the same way, really, because while incredible to think about the narrative style was close third person, and you cannot follow beacons to rhapsodize about them when you're a tired hobbit getting saddle sore crossing national borders with a grumpy old wizard. Pippin sees the Beacons of Gondor at a distance when he's falling asleep and Gandalf tells him they're a mustering signal within Gondor. Which makes sense, really, they require some upkeep and would be awkward for two nations to negotiate how to handle - nevermind. That's it. That's all the beacons are in the text.

Someone adapting the script saw a moment that was ho-hum in the book but realized ! 💡⚡️That would look really great on camera! And it is now routinely listed as one of the most important cinematic moments of anything, ever.

There are so many things I still want to ask Peter Jackson, "Why???" but the original trilogy movies overall? Work. They work and they do more than work, they helped elevate an entire artform that I don't honestly know that much about and oh god i usually dont ramble about them like this im embarassed is this already acknowledged in tumblr tolkien circles? or are we just split into different little fandoms in order to keep the peace?

[treesandwords]

For anyone who's into LOTR I am rereading (again) and took notes on the weirdest/most interesting bits this time:

There are/were other magic rings beside the main ones, which is part of what makes it so hard for other characters to believe that Bilbo's ring is actually The ring

At one point Tolkien jumps into the POV of a random fox walking by our protagonists' camp and then never brings it up again, no big deal

The ever-controversial Tom Bombadil has several other names we just never talk about? And the elves (at least in Rivendell) know about him and have known about him for many years now

They also consider giving him the ring but ultimately decide it would be a bad idea because "he'd probably just lose it"

A lot of what happens to Frodo after he's been stabbed by the Nazgul is less symptomatic of dark magic and more of just...having a severe shoulder injury?? Like "oh no my hand is numb and I'm weak and can't move it, must be the evils of Mordor" bro you probably just have nerve damage and blood loss

Bilbo straight up writes and sings a song about Elrond's dad in front of him and a bunch of other elves in Rivendell like. The audacity.

There's a river called "Wetwang" (yes it's called Nindalf in Elvish, but that's not important here)

Aragorn never tells anyone else that Boromir admitted to trying to take the ring, it's implied he even keeps it secret from Gandalf once he reappears

The "Two Towers" actually refers to Orthanc and Minas Morgal, not Orthanc and Barad-Dur as the films suggest

Eomer has met and possibly was friendly with Boromir

Also Aragorn, who doesn't look that old, straight up tells Eomer he'd met both his father and Theoden when they were younger and he just...has zero reaction?? Like if a guy who looked not much older than me wisely said "ah yes, I met your father and uncle long ago" in a way that implied they'd worked together as somewhat equals I'd be. A little uncertain to say the least.

Oh and he also hung out with Denethor back in the day

Eomer and Gimli have a running disagreement on whether or not Galadriel is real, and if so, how hot she is

This is common ish knowledge but there are elements of actual Old English embedded into Rohan's worldbuilding (esp. the names/ "Rohrric" language) and the whole location is genuinely just Tolkien's fantasy version of Anglo-Saxon Britain. He is very not subtle about it.

Saruman was FULLY RUNNING DRUGS BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE SHIRE AND ISENGARD

And this actually ends up contributing to a main plot in the third book

Instead of the Palantir falling out of Saruman's pocket when he dies like in the movie, Gandalf shoots a spell at Saruman and makes him run back inside Orthanc and Wormtongue chucks the Palantir down at him from the window in retaliation

I know the potato scene is *iconic* but let's be real the fact that Sam risks a fire and takes the time to make a full rabbit stew plus seasoning while they're on a dangerous secret mission to sneak into the Darkest Of Dark Lords' fortress is kind of hilarious

Minas Morgul is some serious eldritch horror cryptid shit

Denethor is honestly such drama queen. Like I know he's supposed to be a threatening and tragic character but holy shit.

Also the entire houses of healing segment is unintentionally comedic

Like between the old lady who runs the house giving absolutely zero fucks, and the herb master and Aragorn having a mini nerd off about what Athelas/Kingsfoil is called in different languages, and also Aragorn and Pippin roasting Merry - who has JUST woken up from an Evil Coma by the way - about not being able to find his weed

"This weed is better than I thought" -- actual quote by Ioreth re: kingsfoil

This is something I noticed that a lot of people don't mention - the "Evenstar" that Arwen gives Aragorn in the movies that's tied to her lifeforce/immortality isn't really a thing in the books. The closest to it is this green brooch that she gives him via Galadriel in FOTR - but the only necklace she gives to anyone is actually to Frodo, as a token that basically means if he ever wants to go to the Grey Havens (as he ultimately does) he'd essentially be taking her place because she isn't going

Ok the scouring of the Shire is pretty common knowledge but are we going to talk about Lotho Sackville-Baggins became Saruman's dealer and helped smuggle drugs pipeweed into Isengard (see I told you it would come back)

Also!! Lotho was possibly EATEN by Grima Wormtongue, or at the very least Saruman believes he was, yes this is an actual canon thing

Legit quote from ROTK: "Worm killed your Chief, poor little fellow, your nice little Boss. Didn't you, Worm? Stabbed him in his sleep, I believe. Buried him, I hope; though Worm has been very hungry lately[]"

Seriously what the fuck

Saruman is killed by Wormtongue (who is then shot by a bunch of Hobbit archers) and promptly....disintegrates?

Anyway if you're a casual fan who's only seen the movies, or if you haven't read the books in a while, I'd highly recommend.

[sajirah]

20 questions for writers

Thank you for the tag @whatishowedyouinthedark !!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

9 that are available to the public. Technically I have 13 but 4 of them are currently in cold storage because they're very old and I'm planning to rewrite them at some point in the future.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

78,706.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, ACOTAR. But I've also written for The Lord of the Rings and Naruto and certainly plan to continue writing for them in the future.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

What We Do in the Dark (Naruto)

From Lands Beyond (LotR, currently hidden)

Come Away O Human Child (ACOTAR)

The Prison (ACOTAR)

Take Care of Business for Me (ACOTAR)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I love hearing from people and I'm a chatter box so you usually can't get me to shut up in the comments.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Come Away O Human Child. It was also the most fun to write. >:)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Either Stuffed or A Moment of Peace. Everybody is just having a good time in those.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Shockingly, no. Though that's probably because I've managed to fly mostly under the radar.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh yes. All kinds, though mainly the very sweet but a little kinky kind and the dark, non-con kind.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't written any crossovers but I have some planned and in the pipeline!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that would be really cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I'd love to!

14. What is your all-time favorite ship?

Ooooooo that's a hard one. Probably Hannibal or Reylo, though if we're going by a ship I've actually written for then definitely Feysand.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What We Do in the Dark.

I mostly wrote that fic to excise some of my own personal trauma and feelings and it got a lot of support (which I'm immensely grateful for) but afterwards I lost a lot of momentum for it and it's pretty much been on hiatus ever since. So if you're hoping I'll finish it one day...maybe! But also don't be surprised if I don't.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty good at atmosphere. Setting a scene or stage with as few words as possible. I love my metaphors.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My strength is also kind of my weakness. I tend to be very concise and thus don't spend a lot of time explaining or describing things. You won’t see me spending a couple paragraphs describing a room or clothing. I will call a dress a dress and then immediately move onto the next thing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've done it. I'm for it, though mostly as long as you have translations either within the fic or at the end notes just because obviously people are going to want to know what the hell your characters were saying.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically the first fandom I wrote for was His Dark Materials and Warriors when I was a young teenager (11-14), but my first fic I ever wrote and then actually posted online was for Lord of the Rings when I was in my 20s.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I love all my children equally...that said, probably Come Away O Human Child or Stuffed. I think both of them are a good representation of my style of writing and they both have the spooky/sexy vibes I love.

tagging @i-mushi @rosanna-writer @berd-nerd and anyone else who would like to tag in!

[widthofmytongue]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

I have answered this several times before I think, but in order to keep up and spread the positivity, let's gooo.

1) Reconfiguring my outward aesthetic appearance to better reflect my true self. What I will say about having pink hair and wearing a keffiyeh and a jacket covered in queer and Jewish and leftist badges and carrying a trade union bag is that young people of colour with non-British accents smile at me and are comfortable approaching me to ask directions and stuff. Having spent the 2010s presenting as a white male hipster nerd, no one really approached me, and I did receive occasional comments that I looked like a middle class twat (usually from people who were more middle class and definitely more twat-ish than me). Returning to my roots as a visibly queer, Jewish, commie punk puts the right people at ease.

2) Working from bed. This is obviously not about working, especially as I don't think the work I'm actually paid to do is super meaningful, but the freedom to WFH (work from home!) three days a week is amazing. Awhile ago I watched the LOTR trilogy while running reports and updating spreadsheets.

3) Making delicious food for myself and eating it in massive quantities. During lockdown I got into the habit of living almost exclusively on ready meals, and aside from some (amazing restaurant-quality) omelettes, I only recently got back to cooking for myself. Also turns out that a lot of the food I think of as staples are very Jewish? I guess I kinda knew that, but like goyische potato salad sounds boring af y'all are missing out.

4) Deviant sex. I'm not sure I want to elaborate on this too much, but I am very glad of my engagement in d/s and how strongly I lean into T4T stuff.

5) Gotta say my animal buddies again. A couple of my avian neighbours were recently moulting, and when they grew their feathers back, they looked like dinosaurs armoured with spines. So cool. Also my feline housemates train me to do things in the dumbest but sweetest forms of symbiosis.

I'm gonna keep going.

6) Stimulating conversation on deep and complex topics. I've had lots of interesting and invigorating interactions lately with people on tumblr and in person about Palestine, Jewish values and identity, community organisation, gender, King Crimson, John Carpenter, Star Trek, London, the intersection of poststructuralism and historiography, and of course postcolonialism.

7) Union work. As mentioned above, I do not think the work I get paid for is especially meaningful. What I do think is meaningful is being a hard leftist (and yes, also queer, Jewish, immigrant, neurodiverse, erstwhile lumpenproletarian) voice in my professional environment. I think it's both important for me to represent union members, uniting their concerns with systemic initiatives, and also to provide a more outright Marxist approach on my union branch's Executive Committee.

@derdra @gucci-shinigami @comm1e-dyke @thottacelli @jewishdumbass @verticalceiling @deanorino161 @thewindstealsyourvoice @lizardbytheriver @xocomilxolo @oh-youprettythings @anyone else reading this who fancies taking part.

[evelhak]

For the name ask: Maddie

M: your favourite writer/s

I always struggle to answer this question, because a lot of writers have some works that I love and some that I dislike, but let's go with Salla Simukka, Anu Holopainen, Liliana Lento, Ilkka Auer, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bill Konigsberg, Alan Hollinghurst, Shannon Hale, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Banana Yoshimoto and Francesca Lia Block.

A: fandom you blog about the most

KnB, quite obviously.

D: top 5 fandoms?

Based on how often I look for content about them:

KnB, H2O, LoTR, Kaleido Star, SPOP

D: top 5 fandoms?

BBC Sherlock, YOI, Doctor Who, Gilmore Girls, BTVS

I: a book you can read over and over

There are so many that I do read over and over again, but it seems The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is just as exciting each time.

E: a character you think you’re the most like?

Well, it's Kuroko, even when I want to come up with another answer, there just isn't anyone else on that level. I got Belle with 88% similarity from that one extensive character quiz with hundreds of fictional characters in it, that I came by here on Tumblr, but. Even though I agree that I am quite like Belle, (introverted, optimistic, book nerd, the odd one out, too persistent for her own good, believes in people's growth etc.) the sense of familiarity just doesn't compare. I suppose there's some difference in Belle's core desires that doesn't quite match with me, even though on the surface she probably seems really alike with me. I don't want an "adventure in the great wide somewhere", I tend to want my adventures right here, right now, and with the things I'm familiar with. I've never dreamed of going away, I've always dreamed of realizing my visions where I am. It has always seemed to me like one backyard is already too full to comprehend in a lifetime, so why would I want to go anywhere? There's the safety of routine where you are, but there's also always something new and unexpected if you just notice it, because you can always go deeper into things, everything is essentially endless. Doesn't mean I can't go away, because I can as easily feel this way about one place as another once the new becomes old, but I don't have a need to go away, which seems like the defining aspect of Belle's starting point. She also doesn't seem to have much of a desire to connect with the people who think of her as too different, she'd rather just leave and look for something better. She doesn't seem very attached to anyone in her village but her father. I can't quite relate to that, I've always cared about connecting with essentially everyone, probably even a little too much, (as in, it took some time and growing for me to let assholes be assholes) even if I don't have the ability to show it in a neurotypical way, and leaving has always been my last resort even if it's sometimes necessary.

Thanks for letting me ramble, again. <3

[dawnfelagund]

Tagged as @silmarillionwritersguild but replying as me ... hi, anon! I'm mentioning this because, if you don't know us and want to hang out with a bunch of Tolkien nerds, you're very welcome on the SWG. (We also have a Discord. Registered members on the site can access it through the site; anyone else feel free to DM or email me or any of the other mods for an invite.)

My first recommendation, once you've read LotR and The Hobbit, is The Silmarillion. This is the history that lies behind LotR and The Hobbit; it is also Tolkien's life's work, begun when he was a twenty-something in the trenches in WWI and still underway when he died.

Three important things to realize about The Silmarillion that I wish I had been told when, stoked at having just finished LotR and wanting MORE, I pulled it off a bookstore shelf:

It is nothing like The Hobbit and LotR. Tolkien was steeped in medieval history and literature, and it much more follows that tone and style, which can be ... jarring ... when you're expecting something more novelistic. I speak from experience.

It's a difficult book. Most people read it several times before they feel like they're really getting comfortable with it.

Tolkien didn't write the published Silmarillion as we know it; that was done by his son Christopher, who took all those decades of drafts and notes and did his best to honor what he felt was his father's final word on the story. I mention this only because, the deeper you go into Tolkien fandom, the more often you're going to encounter some of us having conversations about the works that make up The Silmarillion. And this is why.

The Silmarillion will show how we arrive at the point of the story in LotR and many details of that book (Why are Aragorn and Arwen so special as a couple? Why do Dwarves and Elves not get along? What's the story behind the notable objects and weapons?) will make better sense with The Silmarillion.

Now if you've read The Silmarillion, where to next? Where in that pile of dozens of books to begin?

Unfinished Tales. As it says on the tin, this book contains unfinished texts that expand on LotR and The Silmarillion. They're generally more readable than some of the History of Middle-earth (HoMe) material can be. Which brings me to ...

The History of Middle-earth. This is a twelve-volume series that I often describe as Christopher showing his work for how he put together The Silmarillion. It is many (though not all) of the texts and drafts that make up that book. Now it's twelve volumes, so where to begin in the HoMe?

The Book of Lost Tales (Volumes 1 and 2) are the very oldest stories that would eventually become The Silmarillion. Composed in the late 1910s, Tolkien was very young when he wrote them, and they are quite different in style from The Silmarillion. While the first texts are completed stories, eventually they trail off into notes and outlines in the second volume that can be trickier.

The Lays of Beleriand (Volume 3) are poetic tellings of some of the "Silmarillion" stories. Like the Lost Tales, these are very early texts, from the late 1910s through early 1930s.

The "Silmarillion" materials before LotR (Volumes 4 and 5) is where we really see Tolkien beginning to develop the "Silmarillion," written mostly in the 1930s. He wrote recursively, developing many drafts of the same content that evolved over decades. For those of us interested in The Silmarillion, this is an amazing resource. For those reading for a new story, you should be aware that you're going to encounter a lot of repetition.

The history of LotR (Volumes 6-9) shows how Tolkien developed LotR, back when Aragorn was a Hobbit. Like Volumes 4 and 5, this is going to be mostly of interest for those who want to see how the published text developed; you're not necessarily going to get a lot of new story here.

The "Silmarillion" materials after LotR (Volumes 10-12) show Tolkien continuing to develop the story that would become The Silmarillion with several essays that develop his thinking on topics related to his world. At this point, he knew his work was not only publishable but of deep interest to some; I always get the sense in these volumes that he is more aware of his audience and his legacy than in the pre-LotR volumes.

The Nature of Middle-earth, though not technically part of the HoMe, includes various previously unpublished writings on ... well, what the title says! As with the HoMe, it is not necessarily a book you can just sit down with to read a good story; it will be of more interest for those looking to dive deeper into the canon or understand the particulars of how Tolkien constructed his world.

HoMe pro tip: It's okay to cherrypick! In fact, I recommend cherrypicking. Begin with the volumes that contain material that interest you; for example, I started with 10 for Laws and Customs among the Eldar and 12 for The Shibboleth of Feanor. The HoMe generally isn't something you read cover to cover; it can be dense and complex, and you're going to get more out of it if you begin where your interest lies and expand out (or not!) from there.

Now if you finish The Silmarillion and are interested in what Tolkien called "the three Great Tales":

The Children of Hurin is a lengthier version of Turin's story, told in an edited volume by Christopher Tolkien with the story compiled similarly to how he compiled The Silmarillion.

Beren and Luthien and The Fall of Gondolin take a different approach, compiling older texts but without the extensive commentary found in the HoMe, making them more readable to a general audience.

The Fall of Numenor similarly compiles all material about the Second Age in one place.

Tolkien is best known for his Middle-earth writings, but he was also a leading philologist in his day and wrote not only short stories not set in Middle-earth but worked with and wrote based on medieval texts that he worked with professionally.

A Tolkien Reader compiles Tolkien's short works, both fiction and nonfiction.

Sigurd and Gudrun are Tolkien's poems based on Norse mythology.

The Fall of Arthur is an unfinished poem about King Arthur.

Beowulf is his translation of the poem plus his short story based on the poem, "Sellic Spell."

Bottom line: Where you go really depends on where your interest lies! Do you want another book to sit down and devour, cover to cover? Or are you interested in the minutia of Tolkien's world and how he built it? Do you like Elves? Mortals? What are you curious about? Here, it can be good to lean on the fandom: Let fellow fans know what you want to know more about, and you'll generally find many people willing to help you find it.

Hi there!

I'm a newbie in the tolkien works, I've finished off the hobbit and the lotr books but have no idea where to go next. I've looked at different websites about it but I haven't gotten any clear answers. There's like a million of these books and I feel so lost!

I figured that as a long time fan that you'd know the answers to this question if it's not too much of a bother.

Thanks in advance no pressure!

Augh, anon! This is one of the best things to ask of someone with a lifelong interest in this universe.

I WILL get back to you on this, but.

Was thinking (midnight brain) could we make it a group effort? It feels as though seeing different perspectives from other people in the fandom would be of help here, and since I do want this covered I'm calling on mutuals and followers in the Tolkien fandom.

Please if you deem, I do encourage people to add to this.

Let me try tagging (there are legit so many of us): @arofili @actual-bill-potts @eveningalchemist @goschatewabn @cuarthol @melestasflight @thelordofgifs @outofangband @thegreatstrongbow @potatoobsessed999 @hennethgalad @jamcake-muses @i-did-not-mean-to @glorf1ndel @z-h-i-e @verecunda @naryaflame @mirkwood-hr-department @saurons-pr-department @welcomingdisaster @hirazuki @nuredhel @effervescentdragon @searchingforserendipity25 @cilil @hhimring @chrissystriped @yuzukimist @edensrose @awesome-bluehair-universe @swanmaids @herinke @celebbun @auntieaugury @auroramama @puelhathnofury @kiatheinsomniac @eilinelsghost @asianbutnotjapanese @i-gwarth @batsyforyou @aprilertuileviresse @fishing4stars @elamarth-calmagol @zeladanial @silmarillionwritersguild @silmarillionno @solmarillion @samarqqand @sallysavestheday+ anyone else and ALL the Tolkien visual artists who see this and I forgot to mention (love you all, so many) if you have the inclination to add your journey/experience/recommendations? Anything, we have a good topic here.

[nctjpeg]

my first and only boyfriend (he was the reason i realized i was a lesbian) hated when i tried to recommend him kpop songs and got super upset about it but was mad that i didn’t want to watch the entire lord of the rings franchise with him

it just didn’t seem interesting to me and i was respectful about it, he actively shit on me for trying to send him a single song

BROOOO WHAAAAAT!? i’m glad it’s not just me who’s been on the receiving end of shit like this. it’s really odd to me how when you like k-pop, people get defensive! (if that’s the right word to use?)

besides this one friend, I’ve had a few other friends, many acquaintances, my dad, and an ex-boyfriend all try to convince me in some way that kpop is bad and i need to stop liking it right now. ESPECIALLY people who are into “regular nerd things” like lotr, star wars (never star trek tho. trekkies are cool), marvel, dc, anime fans, what have you. and these people LOOOOOOVE to talk about how they’ve been made fun of for the things they like but then their kpop fan friend wants to show them a song or watch a new mv that came out and they act like you’ve just shit in their bed and spilled soda all over their most valued electronics. over a 3 minute pop song???

and also, why does everyone else get to share what they like, but not us? why did my ex-friends who were really into star wars and the mcu make me sit through every shitty nerd franchise movie that came out, but never watched new nct music videos with me? why did your ex expect you to sit though 19 HOURS OF MOVIES you didn’t seem interested in, but can’t listen to ONE SONG? part of a relationship (platonic, romantic, or otherwise) is sharing in what you both like, and yet the sharing of interests is so one-sided? I get it’s just music and it’s not the end of the world, and i’m not asking anyone to abandon all prior music taste and join the K-Pop Cult™️, but the fact that time and again this side of me gets rejected by so many people i’ve been close to makes me so angry! K-Pop has gotten me through a lot, it’s been a big part of my life for a very long time, and i want to talk about what i like too, dammit!

[doberbutts]

My parents are in their mid to late 40s who are big media geeks, took me to every LotR film premiere when I was a little tot etc. Not "puritan nerds", but somewhat concerned with faithful adaptions of books and comics (LOVED the Sandman despite having a few questions about how certain stories were changed). They're watching the rings of power as it comes out, and while they don't think it's AMAZING, they also don't think it's bad at all either and are curious to see how the story plays out before they pass any judgment on it. tl;dr show is fine to anyone other than raging gatekeepers and racists lol

I'm seeing a lot of Tolkien scholars that happen to also be people of color saying they're "cautiously optimistic" as it's really too early to tell, and that's about my view on it too. Nothing so terrible. Too early to tell really anything else. It's alright so far. There's some valid problems with it (stunt actors shouldn't be getting hurt, yes some of the lore is changed) and some things that I think would be difficult to improve (outside of telling the folks putting on offensive accents to just speak normally or to use a different accent- this would work seamlessly in the US because Americans largely can't tell the difference between the various UK accents anyway lmao) but I don't think any one work is without its flaws and tbf the PJ movies had their fair share as well.

I'm not seeing "bad costuming" - it looks somewhat lower budget than the LOTR films maybe which is a shame considering the higher production costs but it doesn't look objectively bad. The cast isn't going to look anything like the movies sorry Amazon does not own the rights to anything New Line Cinema put out so Elrond and Galadriel were never going to look like Weaving or Blanchett. I wish the male elves had longer hair but, again, it is technically "long" (except Finrod what did they do to you) (like it looks fine I just wish it was longer) (and our black elf Arondir has a buzz cut which I'm sad about bc there is so much POTENTIAL) and some do have longer hair like what we've come to expect. The CGI seems better than the Hobbit but it still doesn't come anywhere close to the practical effects of LOTR but I'm also a huge practical fanboy so there's that bias to consider. The stage seemed to be nicely set in the first episode and unfortunately due to the storm and my basement flooding and now a dog show in the morning I don't have time to watch the second but...

Yeah. I think "cautiously optimistic" is a good way of putting it.

[rotting-gxrl]

I am sorry to do this, & you don't have to take my advice or anything, but if u do cool, but also for anyone else who might see this & get something from it

My stepdad, as much as he is... Intolerable, he introduced me to Transformers through G1.

For context, there are no words to describe the level this man LOVES transformers. Also star wars, Harry potter, lotr, etc. (baseball tho). Truth be told, he'd probably fare well on this site bc he's either undiagnosed autistic or he's just one of thoes mega nerds, (either way) but he's a bigot and such, which would likely ruin it.

But! As much as I clearly despise the man, I respect him in the sense that he did a lot to build my identity, despite being a major prick. So, when it comes to those interests he sparked, I respect his opinion highly. Otherwise, not so much though.

But like I said, he showed me G1 first, and, for a little more context, this guy has everything listed above ON DVD. All of it. AND more! I only really watched G1, beast wars, and the movies, and briefly some others, but this is all to say this guy K N O W S. He's seen everything, every last thing. He even collects (and sells!) the figures. So, although yeah, G1 being low on the list is probably appropriate for a younger /newer fan, my honest opinion is that even if you watched TFOne first or anything, you should still consider watching G1 before anything else. Just my opinion tho, ultimately it's ur choice

Hey Transformers Fans I'm new the series and TFOne got me interested to get more into the series. What's a good show or movie to start?

[calciferstims]

ooo interesting you mentioned lotr, i have it on my to watch list, all of the films because i have never seen them entirely, only some bits here and there, but they look really good. im just awfulllll with films because i have like...the shittiest attention span there is lmaoo...but im gonna try and watch the first one very soon! its going to be a pain in the ass with the, watch, pause, watch a little more, then pause again lool...god i always end up rambling idk why hahahah fml.

thanks for mentioning the pinned btw, i didnt know you had yours written down, i usually just go to ask immediately lol.

oo otto octavious, i liked him in spiderman when i saw that film agessss ago, woah what a literl throwback seeing him again. yea i hd to google because im shit with remembering names lol. thought it ws some cartoon octopus at first haha.

and dont worry!! i dont think you are cringe at all for liking anything. you like what you like and you cant help it! besides it aint hurting nobody! 😌

im a bit weird about hyperfixations/special interests, for i dont feel like i really have anything? like i collect plushies, i have my entire life, i dont think that'll ever go away. i nerd out a lot of animes, too. like i just love that stuff, idk if that could be potentionally a special interest or hyperfixation. lmk if you know if it is haha.

Oooohh my GOD I know everyone says this all the time but you need to watch lotr. You need to. I know they’re super long and it’s a bit much but!! They’re so good!!!! The things about it I like, are like, high fantasy without excessive CGI, massive scale world, non-toxic masculinity, friendship, a message of hope enduring and I just!!! Love it!! Ok ok I’m done

Listen I cannot blame you he’s literally just an octopus. He’s. He’s a cyborg octopus man and I love him.

Of course!! I was cringing at myself a bit when my recent hyperfix started but some mutuals of mine got hyperfixated too and now I’m just having a good time 😅

And! Special interests/hyperfixations don’t have to be like, media or anything! I can definitely see plushies being a long-term special interest, or just a cool interest and that’s ok too! (Gosh I want to start collecting more plushies, I think it would make me happy 🥰)

And, if you’re wondering about it, as far as identifying hyperfixations goes: I just feel like my interests in the past were always more intense than everyone else’s?? Like, I’d meet someone else who was into the same thing, but they just weren’t into it like I was. I thought everybody was into things that much, and it kind of confused me when people didn’t return that same energy 🤷

Also!! Huge indicator for me was the uncontrollable aspect of hyperfixations. Like… I don’t know if neurodivergent people are actually different, I assume they are lmao 😂 But a big thing I’ve noticed is feeling like I have no control over what my brain fixates on, like I could obsess over something I’m actually kinda done with for a full 7 months, or I could suddenly stop being interested in something I genuinely loved with no control over how much dopamine a certain thing gives my brain. And I uh, I’m assuming that’s not Normal.

Idk, food for thought if anyone needs it!

[felassan]

Highlights and insights from the N7 Day cast & crew reunion panel

[Rewatch link]

In case a text format is better for anyone. There are some NSFW references. Cut for length.

(Some paraphrasing.)

“Some of us are inebriated”

“Patrick Weekes, the killer of man and beasts, the breaker of hearts”

JHale put the whole thing together, it’s the biggest ME cast reunion to date

The cast had no idea that the remaster was a thing

Lots of ace discussion about what the magic of the MET is (“it captured lightning in a bottle”)

Lots of warm fuzzies between the cast, crew and community, and lots of fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes

Lots of great discussion on the diversity and inclusion in ME: on gender, sexuality, representation, empowerment, the core message in the MET that “we’re all in this together or we’re screwed”, the progress made in the portrayal of female characters in gaming, etc. “Everything behind what went into these characters was authentic, we [the VAs] could tell that so much research, texture, authenticity etc had gone into them. It really made a difference”. JHale: “I’ve spent my career kicking down ceilings [barriers and so on women actors experience] with my steel-toed boot. To get to be a part of this game that has now created the expectation that there now be a female PC, ‘duh’, is once of the great things of my life. BioWare listened and put her on the box. The first time someone dropped the box in front of me I held it over my head and screamed over the crowd, ‘Casey Hudson, thank youuu!!’ It was a divine moment. This game was the moment the boot finally crashed through the glass, pushed by millions of women.”

The panel received many messages from the question submission from fans expressing that MET really helped them through very dark places and periods in their lives. The cast have had a lot of interactions with fans over the years where the fans expressed similar sentiments to them

ME was one of the first games Keythe Farley (Thane) acted for that had branching dialogue/dialogue choices, and when he saw the script with that when he went in, he was like “wow”. ME was the second big game D. C. Douglas (Legion) ever did. In his first audition he didn’t know it was for a robot-type character as it was disguised as something else with a military-feel. The second time it was to do a speech/lament at someone’s funeral and he knew it was for a robot. He said playing Legion for him was a case of “wake up, drink some coffee and go to work”

Jack was really special to her VA Courtenay Taylor because she relates to her so much and had a lot of similar emotional problems and personal troubles in her past. Jack helped her become who she has became. The host added that in his interactions with Courtenay over the years, he realized very quickly that she is very much like Jack

AWR has two moms, something which she hasn’t talked about/expressly said publicly before. Talking about recording lines between Sam and Femshep made her tear up. She said that being raised by two moms in the 80s was tough due to societal attitudes at the time, and so to see a loving relationship between two women depicted in a game was a big deal for her. When recording the white picket fence conversation, she was actually crying (“and then I’m crying because of the lesbians”). It was a huge moment for her to represent her moms’ journey. When she went home she told them all about how her character is gay and wants a white picket fence and everything “just like we had”.

When PW was working on Sam’s arc, one of the things they did was show it to one of their colleagues, who is a lesbian, asking what things she’d like to see in an arc like that and what things she felt were missing from it. The white picket fence conversation came from the colleague’s feedback (“we wanna see the nice, healthy, happy domestic stuff”, as it’s often missing in portrayals of wlw relationships)

As the VAs got more into their characters, they sometimes had feedback and input to the process to offer, like “I don’t think she’d say [this] like [that]”. Sometimes they knew their characters even better than the crew did sometimes. JHale waxed lyrical about Caroline Livingstone’s awesome direction, with the host adding that he has interviewed a lot of the VAs over the years and they all talk about Caroline like she’s Gandalf the White coming to the rescue in LotR. AWR expressed that Caroline is really funny (“don’t worry it’s not you, PW was sick when they wrote this line that’s why”) and emotionally in-tune with them and this makes long hard sessions with her a joy

When Mark went into record for the Citadel DLC one day he asked Caroline “wouldn’t be great if Shepard’s clone had been made to be the opposite gender? Then the two Shepards could fight each other!”

William Salyers (Mordin) likes the way Mordin’s story ended and felt that it was wonderful to be able to play that. He feels like the luckiest person because as he wasn’t the original VA of Mordin, he got to come in late to something that was amazing. “Caroline helped me get to where I needed to be emotionally to play that final scene. It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever gotten to do personally for a piece of interactive art”. PW related that with Mordin’s writing, they didn’t realize how much they were asking for. They thought William was amazing doing all the science-speak/technobabble, as they themselves didn’t know what it meant, and then suddenly having to deliver emotional heartbreaking lines. William’s always been a secret science nerd and so he loved that fact about Mordin. “It was a real treat to say your words”

Karin: “I always claim credit for the Scientist Salarian song even though I had nothing to do with it. I opened that door for PW”

Steve Blum (Grunt) found it a real treat playing Grunt as Grunt is a tough soldier on the outside but a [babey] on the inside, while he is more the other way around (softer on the outside, fight-y inside). He isn’t a gamer and so didn’t know what to expect or what he was getting into. There was the big pile of words, they showed him the picture of Grunt, and he just ran with it. “Grunt was kind of a perfect character for me in that respect”. Side note: his wry comments throughout the panel were hilarious

“Casey Hudson, our glorious loving overlord”

Courtenay jokes about “interspecies snorkeling”

The women Courtenay met working on this game are her friends for life. Ali Hillis (Liara) gave her her number the night of the ME3 drop and was like “let’s hang out!!” “JHale is the shit. I go to England and there’s AWR and I have this friend for life”.

“We’re a family”. The host comments that you don’t see this kind of closeness between the people on a lot of projects

Kimberley Brooks (Ashley) thinks things have and are changing for the better in terms of roles for women, and roles for brown and black women. This year she has noticed increasing awareness of inclusion and of where it’s lacking. “The copies I’m being sent for auditions, it’s drastically changing, I’m seeing it change before my eyes. It’s really exciting, there’s more and more roles for me.” “Ash is such a strong character and I felt very badass playing her, it was life-changing”. She’s excited that the remaster is going to be a new way to see these characters that they’ve been so lucky to voice. Kimberley/Ash was the first female character Karin saw in the studio, when she saw her she was like “Wow, she’s so kickass and inspiring”. At this point Karin hadn’t been working at BioWare for all that long, and she wanted to thank Kimberley, because she saw her and heard her voice and had a personal ‘this changes everything’ moment

Raphael Sbarge (Kaidan) finds it very moving how many women were encouraged into gaming due to ME

Raphael: “Everyone here has awesome varied careers, but because ME was so collaborative [and so on], [it was something really rare and special]. Nothing else I’ve done has been so important or impassioned, it has almost a religious experience to it, which you can see from tears in fans’ eyes and tattoos and people talking about it 10 years later”. “I’m so grateful for it.” “Clearly we’re going to do this again next year! :D” D. C. added that it’s going to follow him for the rest of his career. Courtenay says it has catapulted her career

PW talked about how it’s great that the female chars in ME were allowed to have real, realistic flaws and dark periods (as opposed to nonsense stuff like ‘her flaw is that she’s clumsy’)

Having the male and female PC be voiced was a big, expensive commitment for the studio. Karin commented that at the time, it was a risk that the pretty-much almost entirely-male leadership of BioWare at the time decided was important to take, and so she was happy that these were the values her colleagues had

PW was “the junior baby writer on ME1. I’d just gotten to the studio and Mac Walters fell down a flight of stairs and hurt his back, and they pulled me in while he was healing”. Karin: “Mac was very understanding when PW fell on the ice and hurt themselves during ME2.” PW: “My job in ME1 was to come up with conversations between followers to pass the time in the elevator loading times. I was throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick”

Steve turning his volume down before he shouts classic Grunt quotes down the mic

Caroline: “Do you know how many tears were shed in the booth? How many times have we all cried in the booth...” JHale: “We were recording the end of ME3, which I never call the end, because I’m always like I’M HERE! [wink] The goodbye Garrus lines” - these lines got right under her skin and when she went to say her lines she couldn’t speak because she’d burst into tears. “It was all I could do to say those words... and then there was silence... [and Caroline had gotten choked up too].” This was one of the last sessions they did. PW: “John Dombrow wrote Garrus in ME3 and I’m gonna tell him that he got you both to break.”

Caroline was also really teary during Keith David’s (Anderson)’s performance where he tells Shepard she’s like his daughter. This moment was one of JHale’s favorites to act

BioWare came up with a proprietary VA recording system which JHale describes as a secret sauce as-yet not widely-used in the industry

Lots of fun in the line-reading portion at the end. The lines/scenes were sent in by fans. This starts around timestamp 1 hour 50 mins. There’s a break where they discuss more anecdotes after a bit then some line-reading resumes at 1 hour 59 mins 18 secs

"Salarian Vorcha Conrad Verner simmering sexual tension scene”

One of PW’s fondest memories is of ME3 when JHale and Mark got to play off each other (which they naturally didn’t get to do very much), when PW had shoved the entire script of the Blasto movie into random ambience throughout the Citadel. They knew Mark was going to be Blasto as he voiced most of the hanar. PW: “We had to have Blasto’s elcor partner’s hot sister... And I was like could it be JHale?? Because they hardly ever get to talk to each other. It was one of my proudest moments”. Mark: “Not only that, we had a romance.” JHale: “Yeah, it was hot”.

“Think of the poor cold freezing Edmontonian hanar”

PW’s story about Sam’s toothbrush: They wrote it as a throwaway line but AWR did it so well that PW wanted to bring it back in the Citadel DLC, as that DLC was the action-comedy one. So they decided the toothbrush was going to save the Normandy. The art director at the time was in an early playthrough of the scene and in that version of the scene Sam held up her empty hand. The director was like “We gotta make the toothbrush? Really? It’s gonna be thousands of dollars to render the toothbrush.” It then got to the next few lines and the director deadpanned at PW “Okay that’s pretty good, we’ll make the toothbrush.” PW: “Good, I got my toothbrush.”

It was John’s idea that we find out that Mordin had been working on a crime noir novel. There was a period in the development of the Citadel DLC where PW was feeling like “Mordin’s gone, he had his big moment, I want to respect and honor that” and the entire team were like “I think Mordin needs a couple more songs dude”. “Well alright!” By that point William had shown them he could deliver literally any line

“Oh I need a shower that was so steamy hot”

PW got in trouble with Localization over Jack’s “Save some of your energy, we’re gonna do it on the pool table” exchange. Localization were like “Um could you explain what Jack means by this??” These lines were PW’s, Karin as an editor got the question about it and passed it on to PW like “nope this is your fault”. “The best part is it was France that needed PW to explain the joke while apparently Germany were like ‘Yes please confirm that this is regarding the possibility of oral sex-’”

Keythe on voicing Thane: “Thane was a real lesson in opening up to the character, allowing this beautifully conflicted character to exist. Each character in the MET has conflicts within themselves and a tragic flaw that is revealed through the course of conflict.” He also waxed lyrical about how the MET was akin to Star Wars and Citizen Kane, and about the interconnectedness and representation in it

D. C.: “I have a question for you guys. Was it a conscious decision to not have Legion as a romance? Because there are a lot of upset people out there!!” “Voltage problems.” “A lot of creative reuses of ‘There was a hole.’” PW: “It was a process of us figuring out what we wanted to do. If we had known... The number of people who were like ‘I don’t know, are people gonna wanna romance Garrus? Liara? She’s blue and has no hair. Are people gonna be okay with that?” Karin: “We were young and naïve, now we know BioWare fans are thirsty.”

Derek brought in the first picture of Thane to show Caroline and she was like “He’s really hot, that’s gonna be a killer character. People are gonna want to romance that gentleman”

Raphael asked the BioWare team if there’s ever been a point where they thought about doing more DLC content or some kind of revival. “Has that ever come up?” “We’re legally obligated not to say, sorry, we’re going through a tunnel right now, bad reception!!”

D. C.: “Does this country have a soul?” “It does.”

“An N7 Day to remember! Go forth and heal.”

[toobruhlforschool]

Thank you for tagging me @thesunflowersutra 🥲🥲🥲

get to know your mutuals!! when you get this, it means i want to know more about you, so list 5 things about yourself you want your followers to know. they can be as simple as your age or as complex as your deepest fear, as long as it’s something you’re comfortable with sharing.

1) I turned 24 yesterday! (Aug. 9th)

2) I’m an aspiring actor (and singer) so I currently have an acting coach and am preparing to go back to school for drama

3) my favorite animal is ✨cat✨ and I have 5 of them (and 2 rabbits and 2 Guinea pigs and a fish tank) but I love all animals and am always learning more about them, including exotics like lizards, snakes, and spiders.

4) I’m a huge nerd for the things I like (There are a few other trekkies in bruhlblr u know who u r) Star Trek, Lotr, all that jazz. Im also a history/folklore nerd, nerd for all things spooky (ghosts, aliens, fae, conspiracy theories, etc.) and a music nerd (classical, theory, the music I like which is mostly 60s-70s music)

5. This man (see below)

has consumed every aspect of my life down to me seriously considering taking German in college when I go back (there’s no bad reason to learn a new language tho!) but also in a serious way is actually a huge inspiration and role model to me!

Ps. I had to edit this to include my husband who is also a huge inspiration to me and I mean this man is so strong and so smart and so inspiring it makes me CRY

I am tagging @scuttle-buttle @lieutenantn @lorna-d-m @unleashed111 and tbh anyone else who wants to do this no pressure tho

[ponyguru]

Tonight I watched all of He-Man: Revelations and most of Centaurworld (I watched the first three episodes like, a week ago?) and I have ... opinions. (And it’s 4:37am, might as well share them while they’re fresh!)

(Warning, this got very long and ranty, sorry for stretching out your dashboards if that’s even still a thing anymore?)

He-Man was entertaining, but it did feel like (as someone with like, less than a passing knowledge of the characters) someone’s super-angsty fanfiction more than like ... a continuing series. They killed off multiple well-known, beloved characters, to drive home the point of how SERIOUS and how HARDCORE this series is, and instead it felt like being a little kid in the 80s watching Optimus Prime get murdered to sell more toys. Like, WHY DID THEY DIE? Oh right, to show the viewer how SERIOUS the bad guys are! And to give the other characters things to angst over, to show you they’re no longer just shallow 80s muscle man stereotypes to sell toys! But then you gotta wonder, where will they go from here? Who’s even left to continue the storyline? Is it still He-Man if half the supporting cast is dead?

Like I said, I’m not a He-Man fan by trade, but aside from the pointless murder, it did seem like it delved into the backstories that a lot of people have probably wanted since the 80s, and it made some very interesting points. So, hey, maybe it’ll be beloved by its fans! And it was very entertaining, especially as someone who wasn’t a childhood fan so I didn’t have a lot of nostalgia that I had to watch die. It doesn’t end on a happy note, there’s definitely the ‘what if the villains WON’ theme going, so maybe my opinion will be less dour when the next part comes out. (I did like that it focused more on the female characters, which was a very unexpected change, and in that aspect I felt it was very well written; that could explain why I’ve heard other screechingly negative feedback elsewhere online, heh. He-Man fans probably don’t appreciate the heavy preference paid to Teela.)

Centaurworld was ... well, I watched the first episode with my mother, which was a Huge Fucking Mistake. I heard that it was a thrilling combination of something akin to Adventure Time and a more serious cartoon like Avatar, and instead I got 10 minutes of that, and then 16 minutes of continuous ass, fart, and poop jokes, combined with a couple of great tunes and a lot of tuneless recitative style “songs”.

If you follow this blog, you probably know toys; you know the Poopsie Surprise toys? The ones which were so obsessed with uncomfortably sexualized poop/fart/barf references that entire scholarly articles were written about the sexualization of children with scatology-themed toys? Yeah, that’s what Centaurworld felt like, almost the whole time. Like just ... an uncomfortable amount of poop/butt/fart “jokes”, to the point where it felt like it had to be one of the writer’s fetishes. Like, it was clearly not funny, and the main character is clearly uncomfortable with it ... and it just keeps going.

I say jokes in scare quotes because jokes are supposed to be funny, and a lot of Centaurworld just wasn’t funny. You could tell it was meant to have jokes, but it was very much dated early-2000s type humor, I want to guess? The kind where it’s not so much ‘setup-punchline’ but the more ‘awkward reference awkward reference awkward reference drawn out wooooord’ type of “jokes”. And most of those “jokes” were just - you guessed it - drawn out references to butts, or farts, or some combination of the two. I felt like an aged boomer watching it. I like to think I’m hip and with the times, but it felt like it should be aimed at a middle schooler - but like, an oversexualized middle schooler? It was uncomfortable to say the least. (One character talks to his farts, claims they talk back to him, and he addresses them as ‘Daddy,’ while another character expresses how uncomfortable that is, and implies he has “issues” to unpack. Because that’s hilarious, I guess?)

Centaurworld did, beneath the heavy layer of scatology, have an intriguing storyline. A warhorse from a LOTR-style world is thrown into a wacky Adventure Time-type land made up of silly centaurs, and has to try and find her way back home. It was thrilling at times, if you could slog through everything else that beleaguered it. There were some really good jokes! But I couldn’t quite muster up a laugh, because I was still wondering when the next butt reference would sneak in. After ten terrible jokes, the one good joke couldn’t manage to lift me from the depth of despair I’d sunken into. It really only felt like the show got ‘tolerable’ around episode 7 (out of ten!!!!), which was an episode heavily focused on cats. (Which, again; wasn’t the internet very much about LOLCats in the early 2000s?)

If six episodes of a ten-episode series is nigh-intolerable, is it a successful show? Should you bother watching something that is 60%+ garbage? (And DON’T FUCKING WORRY, the poop/butt/fart jokes continued UNTIL THE FUCKING FINAL EPISODE.)

I suspect that, if there was a “goal” for all of the fetish stuff (beyond fetish stuff for fetish sake), it would be to illustrate to the viewer how uncomfortable the main character feels in this strange new land, and for us to share in her discomfort. Which, fine, sure! Secondhand embarrassment is definitely a trope. But the sheer uncomfortable volume of the poop/butt/fart jokes clearly went way beyond mere discomfort, and veered into ‘why is this coming up so much, is someone getting off on this?’ territory, at least for me. A couple butt jokes an episode, fine, okay. Entire five minute bits devoted to farts and butts? Entire songs about butts? I start questioning why it’s such a beloved subject for you to write about.

Plus, and I may be reading into this too much, but several of the only Black-coded characters felt racist. I’m talking neck-snapping, tribal body paint type racism, although only one got the exaggerated “soul” type music to sing, which I guess is a relative win? (Waterbaby and Judge Jacket, if you’re wondering who I’m referencing. One of them is a literal hippo centaur, giving us shades of Madagascar.) It wasn’t obvious, but combined with everything else, it felt ... bad. (There are multiple other nonwhite voice actors who aren’t stereotypes, so maybe it was just a bad case of ‘trying to represent different culture while being clueless white people’, who knows?) There was also some classic fatphobia, with one of the villains being shown as a fat neckbeard collector/nerd. Wasn’t that relevant in - wait for it - the early 2000s? They redeem themselves very slightly by having maybe two other characters who are visibly fat, but one of them is also viewed as an antagonist.

Anyway, I was disappointed enough with the show to feel like I should say something, so - there it is. Centaurworld did have some good moments, some lovely songs, and there was some really heartwarming and tender character development that I liked, sandwiched between huge swaths of discomfort. There might be a season 2 (there shouldn’t be, LOL) and hell, I will probably suffer through it because I want to see what happens to them. But I can’t recommend that anyone else do the same, in all good conscience. It’s not good. It’s just not. But if you have 5 hours to kill, there’s worse stuff out there?

If you want to watch one episode to see the best of the series, I recommend episode seven, “Johnny Teatime's Be Best Competition: A Quest for the Sash.” It’s themed after the CATS musical, and the extended number at the end gave me shades of MLP or Fashion Star Fillies. (I found an official clip of the song posted here.) There’s also other lovely songs in the series, but you’d have to suffer through entire bad episodes to see them. The lovely “You’re Okay” shows up in the very first episode, so if you’re curious give that a watch... just be aware it never gets better, only worse.

This series genuinely upset me, because I wanted it to be something much better, and there were glimpses of it; you just had to try and close your eyes to the obsession with butts and farting to see pieces of what it might have been.

One notable fact that I thought was kind of like ‘wow, oof’ was that Meghan McCarthy, of MLP:FiM fame, was a story editor for Centaurworld. And considering how MLP went downhill in later seasons, I gotta say I’m wondering if there’s a commonality there. Maybe her fetish is bad writing? There’s worse fetishes to have, AS CENTAURWORLD CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES.

[morwensteelsheen]

farawyn and borodred for the ship ask game thing?

thank you so much!! :)

okay i’ll start with borodred because for some unfathomable reason i actually got there first —

1. What made you ship it?

One of my favourite Types of ships is the Elder Statesmen Of War-type set-ups, where it’s less about people brought together through theatrical romantic gestures and more about the steadiness of people who are going through similar (immensely difficult) circumstances, who know that in their hearts they’re always going to put their duty to that cause first, but still seek out human comfort in other people who will understand what their priorities are and why.

I think there’s also a lot of similarities about the kind of helplessness they both face despite having this tremendous innate strength. Both of them still have to deal with family dynamics that are complex (made more complex by the war) and that can’t be fixed just by their own sheer will power; both of them die these utterly unnecessary deaths (not that death makes a ship but I think in this instance it actually points to the constant tragedy these guys face); and both of them are meant to be the principal figures of their families and people and are ultimately sidelined by the cruel mechanisations of war and the forward march of history or whatever wanky term there is for it — my apologies to ep thompson's ghost, dont haunt me bro.

Plus there’s obviously the interesting thread raised when Faramir starts bitching about Gondor and likens Gondor (and by very explicit extension, Boromir) to Rohan. That always made me go ‘Hmmmmmm, wonder what else Boromir liked about Rohan,’ lmao.

Anyways for me the ship is the equivalent of Star Wars’ Kanan and Hera or (my OTP to end all others) Luke and Wedge, just people getting by on love and duty and without big ol fancy romance.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

The fanon, I think, really makes it, as with so many other LOTR ships. battlefield manners, by themightypen is essentially the definitive take for me on them — these two guys who are just so fucking exhausted, man, but still overcome by defensive love for their families, even if their (foster-)siblings are naïve fools. That I just love, love, love. Plus I think they’re unique for their ability to pretty comfortable explore the relationship between Gondor & Rohan in advance of the Ring War without having to stray too far into AU, which I always appreciate.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really, tbh, except in that I don’t think Boromir is necessarily as laddy as people like to portray him. I’m happy to play into it in, say, my modern AUs because I think that’s a fun and sweet niche for him, but I am a bit 🤪 about Boromir as this kind of reckless, drunken playboy (not least because I think that’s a much funnier niche for Faramir to fill, at least when he’s younger). Chapter Four of Swaddledog’s Hearts and Minds gets my preferred Boromir characterisation absolutely spot on, I think.

And now, sigh, the ultimate OTP, Farawyn —

1. What made you ship it?

For starters, I think I am obsessed with Éowyn in a way I’ve never quite been obsessed with any other fictional character. I came to reading LOTR at this moment in my life where I was intensely frustrated about everything — trapped inside permanently (helplessly!) because of the pandemic, just starting a new political organisation that I truly believed in but that was still making me feel like shit, facing down an untenable about of work, and, fundamentally, really, really hating being a woman and what that means. And along comes Éowyn, who is bitter, who is cold, who is ANGRY, and who doesn’t perform joy or softness or gentleness just because people expect her to. She’s this seminal Woman Of War in so many ways, I think the kind of person a lot of us wish we could be. She’s got her emotional taps cut off at the source, she holds her head high and faces down unimaginable personal and political terrors, and at the end of it all still has this abiding love for her family that, I would argue, is almost unparalleled by anyone else in the book.

After all that, she gets this incredible moment of emotional catharsis (or what we expect to be emotional catharsis): “no living man am I!” She undertakes THE greatest martial act of the Ring War, and in that moment there’s this unbelievably sophisticated dialogue happening about gender (“Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also”), and leadership (Merry finding his courage not because of the immediate scenario of the Witch-king, but because he’s spurred into it by Éowyn’s presence), and love and care.

And then we learn that no, actually, this glorious act of violence wasn’t the emotional catharsis we thought it would be. She gets to ride to war, she gets to throw herself headlong at death, and in the end that hopeless act of individualism isn’t really what does it for her. She’s still left desolate and despairing, and actually all of her problems haven’t gone away.

And then we need to rewind a bit, because along comes Faramir, who is gentle, and is kind, and does seem to believe in joy, but not because people expect it — actually it's made abundantly clear nobody expects it — but because it’s something quite innate to how he figures the world. And he’s a huge fucking nerd too. I have a lot of thoughts on Faramir’s flaws and why I find them endearing, which I won’t put here, but almost immediately you get this sense of a guy who’s quite melodramatic, good humoured, and very much not made to live in a time of war.

But he’s also clear-headed about war and what it requires (tactically, if not strategically, though that’s a post for another day), but who is kind of cynical and weary of it in his own unique way. And it’s a unique cynicism given his personal circumstances because he’s the second son of The great family of Gondor, he’s apparently — though with some big ol’ question marks hanging about the extent — very able to command some of the elite units in the realm, and what’s more than that, he’s got all these fantastical powers (the light mind reading to start, to say nothing of this apparently magical ability to command animals too. bruh.). By all accounts he should be this brazen hot mess, but he’s not. He’s desperate to claw his way out of this war-torn cage of expectation his people have for how a man should comport himself in time of war. Is it a little naïve? Sure. A little fussy? Absolutely. But does it point to that same desperation that Éowyn has? Yes! But also the practicality, like, neither of them are really enjoying the circumstances they live under, but good fucking god are they both able to Make It Work.

So finally we get to the Houses of Healing and what is the finest and most aggressively romantic writing of LOTR. Seriously, it’s so fucking much. It’s breathtaking. It reminds me quite viscerally of this fabulous quote from Les Mis:

The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.

At some point I will devote more time to talking about the two reasons line, and the blissful Queen of Gondor speech, but I think to me that big, important line is: “And then her heart changed, or at least she understood it; and the winter passed, and the sun shone upon her.”

It’s not about Éowyn changing herself entirely (though, I think, it really does bear mentioning that she does change, and that’s every bit as important to understanding that scene as it is romantic), it’s about Éowyn coming to terms with how to live with herself as herself, and how to live in communion with someone else. She can’t just cut people out anymore, and she can’t just treat them as objects of infatuation as she did with Aragorn, she has to reckon with people as they are. And that’s sort of the moment where I knew I was about to plunge fully off the deep end with these two and never know a moments’ peace again, lmao.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Someone on here once called Farawyn a love letter to women and, by god, yes, exactly that. I love the capacity for emotional intimacy, that is beautiful in ways I can’t express. To me, though, my favourite thing is the promise of life they speak of. Not as in oh they shag loads and have babies (though not opposed to that, obviously), but in the sense that unlike Aragorn and Arwen, who are always going to be buried under/burdened with the crushing weight of history and tradition, Éowyn and Faramir are going out yonder those hills and they’re going to do some real cottagecore farming shit. Obviously with all the trappings of rank and nobility and whatnot, but they, unique to anybody else in the books, get to sow this new idea of what life should be. They are, outside of Aragorn, the single most powerful people in Gondor. Éowyn’s got the ear of a king, a steward (which is essentially a prime-ministerial deal here), and functionally her own prince (if the hobbits are to be believed when they refer to it as essentially hers). I suspect that, in life, there were remarkably few arguments she wasn’t winning, and that Ithilien probably trended towards the jumped up noble hippie camp Tolkien so desperately wanted Oxford to be (or, in other words — Cambridge, lol).

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Yeah, man, everybody stop treating Faramir like he’s a big fucking crybaby and Éowyn like she’s some kind of shrieking 2010-era tumblr girl.

One of the single most important lines defining Faramir’s character is when Denethor roasts his ass for always trying to appear noble and lordly, if you ignore every other piece of textual evidence we have about him, what part of that line makes you think Faramir’s some simpering daisy? And why would you want to link tremendous emotional intelligence and care with being too limp-wristed to function, lol??? Like I struggle loads with writing Faramir, because I have never once in my life tried to be noble or self-restrained, so find it hard to get into that mindset, but better, I think, to imagine him too closed off than to do this wilting flower song and dance lmao.

And stop making Éowyn out to be this over-emotional angst machine. She’s got problems, yes, and she’s sure as shit got a lot of angst, but at almost every point in the book where we’re overtly dealing with her emotions, she’s sublimating them into something else. One of the most serious times we see her cry is when she’s fighting with Aragorn about riding out, and after that moment she literally tries to kill herself. Those tears aren’t standard, man, that’s a real watershed (lol) moment for her. You have to read around what the text is saying to get a better feel why everybody’s constantly calling her cold and distant.