#an excellent character analysis as well i'm so happy to have people like you who think on the same wavelength

[nights-at-crystarium]

HI. so. im going to dump a load of thoughts about this illustration on tumblr instead of bluesky because i have so many thoughts about this so please bear with me (feel free to post this if u want!)

like. one of my favourite soulcrushing parts of shadowbringers grahas characterisation is ironically: how hes portrayed in post shadowbringers - a free spirit with a thirst for adventure

its so clear therefore, from how he composes himself after hes been freed from his duties at the first that he wants to see the world. reclaim the joy that he abandoned to save a world. finally live after spending thousands of years as a dead man walking. a ghost in the shell

but in shadowbringers, that graha, the adventure-loving graha, is killed. stuck at the top of the crystal tower, forever unmoving. he didnt necessarily get cut and paste into his new body, he creates a second entity with all his memories and identity.

so THIS graha, the one with the crystal arm stays dead. his story has no happy end. and i LOVE how uve specifically placed focus on his crystal arm and intentionally saturated the blue. hes transparent. fragile. ephemeral. hes a dead man walking, half tower-half man. his state is unstable, like glass, the tower slowly creeping through every part of him until hes subsumed into it. theres such a specific sense of beautiful body horror that i think your illustration plays into and highlights. the red - his signature colour is slowly being washed away with the tide of blue, like his whole self is slowly being washed away as his duties literally eat away at his life

and god. that expression. its a little unreadable - partly because hes trying to cover it up, but yet you can still SEE that quiet anguish and terror show through. hes simply too earnest. any hard face he tries to put up will fall away with time simply because not him, nor anyone, can bear the burden of a whole world.

and i know hes portrayed as happily self destructive throughout the msq, him literally concoting a brazen suicide plan to save the first and the warrior, yet we know that he is someone who appreciates life, living. he was literally able to convince an unfeeling robot that life has joy in it in endwalker, so i dont think its too much of a stretch to say that theres a part of him in shadowbringers that is intimately terrifed of his duty. the horrific trolley problem of your life against the star, where you pull the lever. and this terror is so nakedly presented in your illustration, the way he tries to hide away from it, but simply cant, the way that his stare seems both anxious, afraid, yet resigned, a grim awareness that this version of him, the one stuck in the first only has one destination: the end.

but he still fights! still tries to hide away from it, appreciate life every step along the way. gaze at the night sky that returns after eons. make his loved one some sandwiches. try to hide that gnawing inevitability of his fated death. the one that he physically cannot avoid. the one that he knows will shatter him, like a pane of glass hit by a hammer.

youve nailed almost every part of shadowbringers graha that made his story so fucking compelling!!!!! god!!!!!

i think everyone present here will enjoy reading this

[stanfordsweater]

hello i'm new to the supernatural fandom and you have been in my recommendeds for a while, reasons to ship wincest???

i thought for a long time about how to respond to this so imma link catherine tosenberger's excellent analysis of the first few seasons where "the most resistive aspect of Wincest fan fiction is that it gives the main characters a lasting happiness that the series eternally defers."

to begin with, there are a lot of people who will argue for the toxic codependency and i love them and also love it but the reason i've been here for well over a decade is because of the way that wincest offers you two paths: you can follow the path of those who write endless meta about how one or the other brother is abusive and how toxic it is and eventually brainwash yourself into being unable to ship it, or you can follow the path of love and light and perspective and recognize 1. these are fictional characters and b. there are no two characters in genre tv who are as devoted to each other as sam and dean. there is no plotline that follows through fifteen seasons of being obsessed with each other.

by choosing the incest pill, you grant yourself access to fifteen seasons of generally good tv ABOUT YOUR SHIP EXCLUSIVELY. sam and dean are the main characters and you will always know, opening up an episode, that they will be there, doing their weird-ass jealous obsessiveness, and you will never despair about not having them present, together, even if they're fighting or struggling or depressed. that is a very special thing!

now, beyond that, assuming you've watched the show, there's many reasons to cross the incest line. FIRSTLY, everyone involved was well aware of what they were doing. we have a few choice quotes i've collected below about their relationship that ramps up the intensity:

--

"Ultimately, they are pathologically dishonest with each other because John Winchester was pathologically elusive to them," consulting producer Ben Edlund says. "They learned that the truth is this dangerous thing, and that you shouldn't speak it. He even taught them to keep secrets from each other for strategic purposes." With all of the supernatural, apocalyptic, tragic drama woven into the show, Sam and Dean's relationship is rooted in human emotion. "When you look at the dysfunction that they show to each other, it comes directly from how they were brought up, and that's a kind of dysfunction that people in this world continue to face. 'Why didn't my dad tell me that he loved me yesterday?' We're just people sharing the same kind of thing," Edlund says.

--

"Why do you think Dean has had such a hard time forgiving Cas when he did forgive Sam for a similar betrayal?"

I think the easy answer is blood, I think the easy answer is family, even though if there was a family in this show it would include Bobby, it would include Cas, it would include these-- these-- kind of, broken war-torn heroes we've come to know, and you know, Bobby has that famous line, "family don't end with blood," but it is his brother, at the end of the day, that's the closest he has to a companion, and has had for a companion for many years, so I think with Cas there was always, "he's unnatural, he's an angel," and I think that for Dean, relating to someone like that, it's tricky, relating to monsters, relating to anything supernatural, his brother is flesh and blood, it's tangible, he can touch that.

--

Obviously the relationship between Sam and Dean is central to our show but we’ve been building this rift between Sam and Dean all season, so that led to the idea of having this young male character that sort of idolizes Dean and does all the cool stuff that Sam won’t do, and that’s Dean’s perfect mate.

(the thing sam won't do is literally swapping spit with him. tell me i'm lying)

--

in the hunt, page 37

--

Not all fans are content simply to attend conventions. Some of them want to take a hand in the story, and their fan fiction can explore areas mostly untouched on the show, like the latent homoerotic suggestiveness of the Winchesters’ intense relationship.

-THE NEW YORK TIMES

--

"eyefuck" became a well-known script shorthand because of how intense j2 looked at each other as sam and dean

--

it's a terrible life draft script:

Note B) They are supposed to be together

Note C) each been all alone in separate life finally found kindred spirit

--

in the hunt, page 158

--

i haven't included any eric kripke quotes because he has so much wrong with him that i don't want to enable it. this is a compliment. it is one of the highest i can give.

SO-- what these quotes tell us:

sam and dean are relatable because their relationship is intensely human

sam and dean have shared secrets they cannot voice to one another but that nonetheless make them inseparable

people have been writing motherfucking essays about sam and dean's homoeroticism since the show aired

within the mythology of the show, sam and dean are meant to be together above all other relationships

...oh, you need more? i didn't think i'd get this far. um... okay... look at them???

if you choose to walk this path you will find yourself crying and taking screenshots every time they look at each other or touch each other or hold each other and you will thank the lord in heaven that we were granted this intensely wild and beautiful homoerotic relationship back in 2005 and praise jesus that you can always return to their raw sexual chemistry-- "In fact, much like the early X-Files, the show is fueled past its failings almost entirely by the chemistry between the two principals, the boys who, like Mulder and Scully, generate enough sexual tension to power a small city" as quoted by whitney cox in 2006 in an article that otherwise fails to bring anything to the table, sorry if you love it for your meta but also literally just go read the catherine tosenberger essay

you still need more????? jesus, what have you shipped prior to this? well, go watch the pilot and enjoy the fact that the first scene these two have together they are wrestling on the floor (sexually) and getting all romantically silhouetted against this beautiful lighting

and then go watch a few fanvids like this or this and then watch the pilot and watch this and then read this post about how supernatural happily wields incest as a tool of horror and as comedy and then scroll through my entire family horror show tag to understand more and then watch this immaculate video that deals with the whole thing and think about how all these things were happening in 2005 and remember the fact that sam and dean are the main characters of the universe... and then maybe just watch the show and please do not become an annoying shit poster who just talks about how they hate it🙏

[the-one-who-lambs]

uhh hello!! sorry if this is a tall order LOL but I wanna ask, do you have any narilamb fanfic recs? :D I already read yours and I really like bamsara’s and I’m waiting for epicaandk’s to update (that one is my fav ever <3) but idk what to read now lol

Tall order?? Naaaaah, I'm always happy to give recs. Oh boy, I'm gonna go in reverse chronological order.

If you've read all of my narilamb fics (have you seriously? I'm impressed, that's probably well over half the 150k+ I've written for this damn fandom. Also, to anyone seeing this from a reblog, my stuff is over at onethirdofimpossible!) then here we go!

You already mentioned it, but The Rehabilitation of Death is excellent so far! This one is by @bamsara who is new to the CotL fandom but apparently not new to fanfic writing; they have a really popular FNAF fic and I assume the well-deserved attention this fic's been getting is a byproduct of the popularity they've already gotten in other fandoms. :D Welcome, bamsara! Many of the fic writers in this fandom are friends with each other already, but we don't bite if you wanna say hi.

Feel No Evil and Language Barrier, both by @payasita. I always love how payasita portrays this duo (in both digital art and writing), with so much sass and repressed loneliness, knowing they're stuck together for eternity and making the best of it. (And maybe falling in love, depending on how dense Narinder keeps being.) What makes these come alive for me is how well thought out the setting is outside the Lamb and Narinder. The descriptions and weight of emotions really pop here.

LITERALLY ANYTHING written by pavi / @i-eat-deodorant. Depending on how spicy you want your fics to be he has even more here. Character analysis, diction, pacing, etc. are consistently 10/10. Top-quality banter between a sassy Lamb and tired old man Narinder. We constantly bounce ideas off each other and inspire each other a lot but I promise I'm not hyping him up just because he's my friend oh my god please just go bless your eyes.

It Was For You, O Death by blueberry-muffin-massacre (if they have a tumblr, let me know so I can tag!). An intriguing alternative ending to the final battle wherein the Lamb chooses a secret third option by refusing to give up the Red Crown and still observing Narinder as the God of Death. So many details are so well thought out and duality their relationship is nicely characterized-- both genuine care for each other and also quite unhealthy. A fine line treaded well!

Confessional by jusmove (again, lmk if they have a tumblr). Been a while since I've read it, but I love how the Lamb chips at Narinder's very carefully built emotional walls. Their personalities are very well fleshed out here, especially Narinder's cognitive dissonance at being able to process love.

Confession by @thewitchoftheweed. I didn't expect a part two to this one, but my god I was so thrilled when it did update. Narinder and Lamb with their unique and parallel loneliness and their fucked-up sense of everything. Their relationship is very rocky here, and I love how they navigate it: with tension and eventual, pained acceptance. Mind the rating.

Of Character Development and Being Dense by @calliecature. A short and sweet narilamb classic. They're both mutually pining and one of them is too emotionally repressed to realize it. Guess who.

Not An Offering, But a Gift by @checkplzjuliet. Small confession fic. I especially love how Narinder's descriptions twist the knife of his situation here, and how Lambert is a total foil for him! There are a lot of good things happening in such a short span, which is impressive.

Also, if you think you've read all my narilamb fics... I do have a secret one out there too. Just so you know.

Happy reading!

I'm already friends with many of the people here, but if any of the writers I've tagged have been kinda wanting to reach out for a while but feel a little anxious... Don't be. I've made my best friends in this fandom by literally just waiting for some of my readers to get over whatever assumption they have that I'm cool and say hi. Or being the more confident one first.

[rootspiral]

Thank you so much for your detailed episode analysis! I especially appreciate this most recent post (ep. 4 part 7) with the in-depth REGRET section. As someone who was dating an Agatha-type, it's very vindicating to see people calling Rio the responsible one here... Sadly, it just not a salvageable situation without a lot more growing than Agatha has time or inclination for!

Anon - thank you for sharing, I've been sitting with this ask for two days now and thinking about it a lot. First of all, I'm sorry you went through a relationship of that kind.

This show is excellent in the way it portrays Agatha as a deeply sympathetic character while not letting her get away with any of her bullshit. Rio has been trying and trying and trying to fix Agatha but it's clear that she won't ever be able to do it, that Agatha has to put the work in herself. Their relationship was a very happy parenthesis that was never going to last because Agatha is simply too much of a mess. If it weren't for Nicky, something else would have eventually pushed her to the edge. I really believe that if Billy hadn't showed up and Rio had managed to win Agatha back, their relationship would have crumbled in some other way.

"Coven two" is a lovely concept but it's just not sustainable. It didn't work for Rio and Agatha - why else would Agatha have sought to add a child to their family? It's not like they had unprotected sex that one time. And then it didn't work for Agatha and Nicky. It won't work for Agatha and Billy either, unless she makes a real effort to change her behavioral patterns. Rio and Agatha had a deep and romantic codependent relationship, they were literally the only person in each other's world, and how could that ever be enough? Agatha's unhappiness stems from her loneliness, from being a covenless witch, Rio will never be enough to fulfill that void no matter how hard she tries.

It's heartbreaking really because Rio loves her SO much. She understands better than anyone why Agatha is the way she is, she is going above and beyond trying to help, and by doing so she's making herself smaller and diminishing her own pain, because Agatha's pain must be bigger and more important. I'm so glad she snapped in the end and they had a good fight over it, it was high time. Agatha's well being cannot rest on Rio's shoulders only, the ball has to go to Agatha's court now and she will have to change and make amends if she wants things with Rio to work out, there's no other way. She has been cruel and unfair to Rio for too long, she has been punishing her for what was never Rio's fault in the first place.

In order for Agatha to change she has to make a concrete effort toward it and she has to have a support system in place, both of these aspects are crucial, one cannot work without the other. Only then she may have a real chance to - well, not to win Rio back because that fool is too much in love and will be hers forever. But it might be enough for their relationship to work out in the end.

Mind you, I want them to work out because they're fictional and wish fulfillment. If I had a real life friend in Rio's situation I'd tell them to get the hell out and prioritize their own well being.

[wordsandrobots]

I just finished Iron Blooded Orphans just a few days ago and I don't know how to feel about it. I know not everything is supposed to be a happy ending and tragedy is abundant in war stories, but characters are the most important thing for me in stories.

Athough I really liked the characters of Iron Blooded Orphans, a lot of the them didn't seem to have character development based on few opinions I hear about Iron Blooded Orphans. Could you summarize the character arcs and character development of Orga, Mika, McGillis, and maybe even Kudelia (I like her in season one but she didn't do a lot in season two) as to me they are main characters of the show. Although some of my favorites were Akhiro, Gaelio, Lafter and Atra.

I haven't read your writeups but some of my mutuals on MyAnimeList reccomend your blog.

Okidokie. I'm going to say three things before answering this, and then I'm going to be quite verbose for a bit, as I tend to be. I hope you'll stick with me, Anon, I promise I'll get to the point eventually.

First, people on a completely different site are recommending my blog? That's extremely flattering and slightly disconcerting, since my fandom experience with this show extends to here and Ao3!

Second, I want to stress that I'm an amateur when it comes to analysis. Past secondary school, I never studied literature/media in a formal setting; my academic training is in philosophy (which taught me how to make an argument) and history (which taught me how to handle sources), and also in physics but that's not relevant. So when I make statements about a piece of media, it doesn't make me an authority; it just means I have things to say. This isn't me trying to be humble, by the way. If I didn't have confidence in my opinions, I wouldn't state them publicly. I simply want to make it clear my essays are based on of years of taking an interest, not formal expertise. Your question touches on how we engage with things, and Tumblr being a rather combative place regarding reading comprehension, I think it's important to say upfront, I mainly muddle along on two decades of experience stringing words together on the page.

Third, while I love Iron-Blooded Orphans to a ridiculous degree, I'll do my best not to tell you what your opinion should be. If what I say makes you approach it from an angle you'd not considered, great! But it might simply be that it's not the show for you and that's equally fine. There are plenty of well-made stories I cannot get along with, despite knowing exactly how they work and seeing that they are constructed with great skill. Such is life!

Right then.

Let's start with a question: what do you mean by 'character development'?

Because I think there's a natural tendency, especially when talking about the protagonists in a story, to treat it as synonymous with character growth, that is, with characters learning and maturing over the course of the events being depicted. This is why we watch heroes struggle, right, so they become better people through the experience? And that is an absolutely valid thing to do in a piece of fiction: it feels good, it's rewarding, and it can make for some excellent triumphant moments. Quite apart from anything else, I think most of us would like to be able to take what we experience and learn from it, to do better next time.

However, this isn't always how it goes. Like, obviously, there are people in the world who commit whole-heartedly to never learning anything, ever, but more importantly, there are stories where the point is not that the characters becoming better and triumph; rather it's the opposite. They get worse. They fail. Their world falls apart. Indeed, character collapse is often a vital part of the same stories that feature character growth; it's what happens to the villains the heroes confront.

And there's a third way of looking at character development, which is as purely an increase in complexity. A character who starts off with simply defined motives and responses may be gradually built up into something far more nuanced, often (but not always) by revealing their past in greater detail. Their actions and personality do not necessarily change as part of this process, but their context does. We, the audience, come to see them in a new light, which helps us understand more thoroughly why they are Like That, even when they haven't meaningfully changed in and of themselves.

Now, I know you said you care primarily about characters, but I do need to talk about something else here. When I recommend Iron-Blooded Orphans to people, the very first thing I say is 'it's a tragedy'. And I don't mean it's going to make them sad -- although, yes, it probably will -- I mean that it has a tragic structure.

You might already be aware it wasn't originally planned to be a two-season show. It was always meant to end badly for Tekkadan, though, and you can see the ghost of the initial plan in Season 1, with the high point being the episodes from Kudelia ending the massacre on the Dort Colonies to the gang landing on Earth, and everything thereafter increasingly going off the rails. Getting a second season allowed the writers to turn this into a fake-out. The first season instead ends on a victory at Edmonton -- and then the next twenty-five episodes ramp the stakes and costs up and up and up until the catastrophe is inescapable. The whole has this beautiful rise/tall trajectory, with the very qualities that created success in Season 1 transforming into the reasons for the Season 2 failure.

You have to keep in mind that the characters serve this structure. They are characters within a tragedy. Therefore, you can't necessarily expect them to show growth and to learn from their mistakes. Tragedies explore negative emotions and their consequences and tend to be driven by characters making the absolutely worse decisions they possibly could in the circumstances, because of who they are and what they (don't) know. Oedipus hasn't a clue Jocasta is his mother when he marries her, Macbeth is too weak to stand up to his wife, Romeo and Juliet are dumb horny teenagers, etc, etc. Part of what makes this work is often characters' refusal to grow or change or adapt as the situation develops. They keep acting in the same fashion that worked for them previously, irrespective of whether it's still a good idea (spoiler: it 100% is not).

That is what makes the story of Iron-Blooded Orphans work. Tekkadan keep throwing themselves into fights because it's the only way they know how to survive. Orga keeps reaching for bigger prizes because he's got it into his head that he has to secure everyone's safety and prosperity as fast as possible (the poor boy does not know how casinos work, no). Mikazuki will not take back his promise to do whatever Orga needs him to, no matter how disabled he becomes as a result (or how many other people would really like it if he didn't die). McGillis cannot countenance the idea he can't change the world on his own (I mean, it's literally unthinkable or his entire self-image goes kaput). Gaelio is just flat out ignorant of the reasons behind McGillis' actions until it's far too late to stop (Gaelio's role, as I've said a few times, is to be Always Wrong (TM)). Etc, etc.

This is a story about a society run on exploitation and the damage that does, not only outright, but also by shaping people's responses such that they cannot see alternatives beyond violence. It's 'Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms: The Anime'. Everyone is screwing up, big time, and the only thing that could have stopped the resulting disaster is if they weren't the people they demonstrably are.

Mikazuki and Orga's character arc is one of a mutual collapse, Mika physically, Orga mentally, as their shared love for one another drives them to greater and greater acts of desperation. They both think the other is incredible and they cannot do anything less as a result. Their relationship sits at the heart of why Tekkadan goes wrong, the motive force behind the fatal end to which everything hurtles.

McGillis' character arc, we discover, happened years before the story started. What he is now is fixed, a man determined to be a singular force for change, unwilling to let finer feelings sway him. He knows the world is sick and corrupt and believes the only way to respond is to be stronger than it is, more powerful, in the fashion of a child imagining themselves a king, setting everything to rights. He fixated on an old story as the escape route from a life of abuse and won't give it up for anybody.

Kudelia, of all the characters in the show, has the most traditional 'growth' arc, shedding her naivete across the course of Season 1 and becoming better fitted to the challenge of building a fairer society. She learns to fight in her own way, to accept the cost of pushing forward, and most importantly, to see the people at the bottom of the existing social structure as equally real and human. She comes to understand exactly what she's fighting for, and grows into a force to be reckoned with as a result.

And then she runs straight into the problem anyone who wants to make a difference faces: she has to decide how best to compromise to get what she's after. That leads her into deals with Teiwaz and Nobliss Gordon, even with factions in Gjallarhorn, which in turn ties her hands. Structurally, she can't be in a position to save Tekkadan, come the final run of episodes. The writers turn that into a commentary on long-term versus short-term gain, whereby Kudelia committing herself to building up the Admoss Company means relying on Tekkadan's violent protection (contra her wish to save them from getting more blood on their hands) and restrictions around what she is able to do right now. That's the point of her conversation with Makanai after the Arbrau/SAU war arc: if she's serious about improving Mars' situation, she can't act recklessly. Which traps her into watching helplessly while Tekkadan do.

There you have it, really. The ways IBO develops its characters extend from its structure and I think you have to take that into account when considering how they act. Their arcs are all towards an immediate failure, with even the snatched, last-minute saves and the more hopeful future being bought at a terrible price. You're meant to like them and then watch them go through an absolute meat-grinder of a time. As I said, that might not be what you want from a story, but it's what this particular one is, fundamentally.

----

I don't know if this was all what you were after, but I do hope it's at least given you some help in sorting out how you feel about Iron-Blooded Orphans. I've written in more detail about all these points elsewhere: here's me talking about Mika and Orga's relationship; here's a long discussion of McGillis through the lens of what little we know about Agnika Kaieru (and also capitalism); and here's me turning getting huffy about people dismissing Kudelia into an exploration of her pragmatism.

If you're up for it, please feel free to browse my full index of essays. You'll find bits on Gaelio, Lafter's death, and the Turbines in general, along with a ton of other stuff. I also recently answered an ask about Atra, Mika and Kudelia's relationship (you are of course entirely correct that Atra is The Best). Sadly I've not done much focused on Akihiro; it's not that I have nothing to say about him, more that I haven't quite find the right angle to do so yet. Well, not outside fanfic.

Oh, yeah, I have also written an unconscionable amount of IBO fanfic, primarily a 20-part post-canon story called Wishing on Space Hardware. It takes a narrative approach to unpacking my many, many feelings about the show and I'm quite proud of it, so if that's your sort of thing, well, please give it a go!

Thank you for your ask, and feel free to drop me another if there's anything you'd like to hear my thoughts on that I haven't already written about (rapid responses not guaranteed).

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Several small BatFam notes

@moss-covered-thoughts (I'm answering questions and providing information for DPxDC fans.)

lol don't worry about it! Nothing about you talking about your fic will make me feel left out! I'm just happy to help you out with your work! If anything will make me feel left out, it's the lack of rogues content and people within this fanspace underutilizing Vlad and not having much of that juicy, juicy polycule content (specifically Vlad/Jack/Maddie) that I keep coming back to Danny Phantom for. :p Speaking of, I want to be as transparent as I can with the information I'm giving out, because just like all comics fans, I'm not an expert on everything and I am very much in my own specific niche and haven't read everything out there! I'm actually not much of a Batfam fan and am much MUCH more of a rogues fan! (Specifically my hyperfixation is focused around Harvey Dent and Two-Face.) So while I do have some information about the members of the batfamily, my knowledge isn't nearly as comprehensive as someone who's deep dived into that part of the DC universe! I'll give you the information I can, and hopefully someone with more cohesive Batfam knowledge can reblog this post with extra notes to fill in the holes I have in my knowledge. >.<

Adoption Order

So I can't tell you the specific specifics of adoption specifically, but I believe that the order of each member joining the Bat Family would probably be along the lines of: Dick Grayson -> Barbara Gordon -> Jason Todd -> Tim Drake -> Cassandra Cain -> Stephanie Brown -> Damian Wayne -> Duke Thomas.

Batgirl and Duke recs

Again, I haven't read much Bat Family stuff because my primary focus is on the rogues. But I do have a handful of recs! If you're willing to watch a long-ass video instead of reading, I would actually highly recommend Linkara's retrospective on Cassandra Cain and here's the link to said video! It's very good and goes into just about every major comic appearance she was in at the time of the video first coming out (in 2019)! You will get a very good image of her character from that, I like Linkara's analysis, and by watching that video, you will definitely be able to come away from it with a number of recommendations for both Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown! (He does talk about Steph some in this video, but it's limited.)

Speaking of Stephnie I'm sorry to say that I don't really have any recommendations for Steph as I sadly have just not really happened to come across any works that have her in them in my poking around in different comics and related media. But honestly, while I can't give you any recs for Steph, maybe you should toss Linkara (@atopfourthwall) a message! He's actually a decently active Tumblr user and given that he wants to do a different retrospective on Stephanie Brown, certainly he would have things to recommend!

As for other Cass reccomendations... The only thing I have in my back pocket is Spirit World. It's not about her, it's a solo series about the brand spanking new character, Xanthe Zhou, but Cass IS a main character in it, and people seem genuinely happy with what they did with her in that story!

If you're looking for good Barbra Gordon content... Well... Personally I would recommend giving her episodes in Batman: the Animated series or the issues that include her in The Batman Adventures a look-see...? It's always a solid time with her around in B:TAS, or in the Batman Adventures! They characterize her very well in those serieses!

If you want both a Cass and a Barbra suggestion... Maybe check out No Man's Land...? Asking you to read all of the comics that were part of that saga might be a little much, but there is a novel adaptation of the No Man's Land storyline out there, and personally I listened to the reading of that novel as done by Graphic Audio and it is genuinely excellent! Like, the marketing may be tacky, but it is on the level of quality as something like an audio drama podcast or a Big Finish Audio. It just happens to be a book reading. :p But No Man's Land IS where Cass was first introduced, (also where Harley Quinn joined the comics universe fun fact!) and it has plenty of good moments from Barbara in it too!

As for Duke... Honestly, if you aren't already reading the Wayne Family Adventures, then you really ought to. >.< That series is available for free on webtoon and the first several strips have him as the main character before it becomes more of an ensemble cast thing. (And in case you were wondering it IS official DC media!) >.< I also haven't read much of Duke's stuff, and so in terms of his backlog, I really don't know what to recommend. The one story that I did happen to read that heavily featured Duke... Was "My Own Worst Enemy" (it's like volume 1 of All-Star Batman) which was... Fine...??? Like, as a Two-Face and Harvey Dent story, it was pretty bad and ablest in how it portrayed Harvey's DID. (But this isn't necessarily unusual for books that include him... SIIIIIGH!) But it was also incredibly stupid and fun, and had a lot of good forwards momentum and offered a number of interesting ideas that I don't entirely hate! So overall I find it... Fine... But as a Duke story... Honestly it's not bad as far as a Duke story can go! And the back-up story for that little arc (the Cursed Wheel) was pretty alright too! I do feel like after I read My Own Worst Enemy that I did understand Duke just a little better as a character! So while it's not good... You might find it to be decent in what you're looking for...? Because I really cannot speak on any other stories he's been in. >.<

So uh... Sorry about my whole limited perspective thing... But I do hope that you find some of this useful at least! I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors!

[yaqamole]

An Analysis of Cumano - Canondivergent

So if you're here, you already know that Cumano is my jam. But I thought I would give a little analysis to why these characters feel so right for each other in my headcanons and why I love the ship so much.

The Historical Aspect

The first thing that a lot of people think about is the historical aspect and whether there is anything there. I am pleased to tell you that there is!

As far as my headcanons go, I see them living together shortly before Romano went to work for Alfred. The aftermath of Risorgimento left him in desperate need of money and stability and to help his people, he decided that he needed to look outward. He bounced around Latin America for short bursts (only months or maybe a couple of years in a place at a time). However, he spent the longest time in Cuba. This was mainly due their bond being so strong that he wanted to stay.

Italian influence in Cuban culture can be seen through their participation in wars of independence, architecture, art, and engineering. This created communities in Cuba where they interacted with each other and built their own cultures, but also gave to Cuba as a country. They worked a lot in Havana in churches.

So Romano was definitely looking at churches to build his community there and show his skills as I imagine him to be a skilled architect.

So we have a relationship built on an exchange of skills and labor. Romano has always excelled there. He may not like work, but he does it diligently. And in this case, he was more than happy to do it because it was for someone he is fond of.

Elian (Cuba) didn't have a good image of Italians given that he had to deal with the colonial era and the Italians who were brought then were oppressive. His overall view of Europe is not in a good light because of the systems of oppression that were put in place as a result of European presence in the Americas.

Romano is his first interaction with

A) A European who isn't white

B) A European with no real power over him

So this is pivotal for their relationship and really establishes the respect that it's built on. Romano might still be seen as better due to him being European at the end of the day, but he does not come with the goal to subjugate Elian nor does he have the real ability to. We have them at an equal standing with each other. This then leads into our next item to discuss.

The Reconstruction of Values

Romano, while equal to Elian, still does carry some European values because that is how he has been socialized. This means that there is definitely a clash of values when they meet. Because there is an important thing to note about Romano despite his struggles.

He has had positions of wealth and influence before.

In specific, I am looking at the Kingdom of Naples. This period really defined a lot of things for him but especially instilled this idea that he deserves more than he gets. Which. He does. However, there is a limit to that and there is an air of privilege to it which Elian is unfamiliar with.

So unlike other nations who either gave in to Romano's attitude or reacted in a way that caused them to butt heads, Elian does not take his shit and makes sure to clock him on it.

Elian has put up and dealt with entitled Europeans and he refuses to deal with that again. So the moment that Lorenzo pulls his European nonsense, Elian calls him out and makes sure that he knows that whatever fits he threw before are NOT tolerated there.

And for Lorenzo, that's big because well, he's never had someone actually meet him eye to eye and humble him when needed. And especially not in a way that isn't humiliating manner. Antonio, as much as he loves him, embarrasses him greatly. And the other nations don't take him seriously.

Elian is the first nation to sit him down and go "Hey, you're being a dick and an entitled European and I'm not about to deal with that today"

Which really forces him to look at the values he has learned and deconstruct them. This is pivotal to their relationship because it establishes the standards they have for each other and also takes away the imbalance placed between them initially.

For Elian this also means that Lorenzo looks at him and forces him to question the standards he upholds for himself which are primarily located in how he defines his masculinity.

Masculinity

Elian has a complicated relationship with masculinity. He is an Afro Indigenous man in a Latin American country. The standards imposed by machismo as a result of colonialism have a strong grip on him. And historically, he would have suffered from unfair standards on a much more personal level to. Seeing his people subjected to these standards of masculinity would have a horrid effect on him.

As a result, Elian has a strict idea of what it means to be a man for himself. He rarely allows himself to be in touch with his femininity. It's this nagging voice in the back of his head that tells him he isn't allowed to have that. He needs to prove he is a man because as an Afri Indigenous man, he has often been denied manhood.

Despite this, there are positive aspects to his masculinity. He is a dedicated and hardworking man. He cares for the people around him and builds community. And he leads in the best ways that he can.

Lorenzo on the other hand, has a different approach to masculinity. He has been denied manhood on the basis of his race and his transness. He has worked to keep up and catch up with this idea of what masculinity is. He learned it from Rome and he learned it from the other European nations around him. Masculinity was something he could not obtain.

Each nation he has built a relationship with has reduced his masculinity to something they can take away because he does not meet their standards. Even when they do not mean to, they do. It's ingrained in a lot of the standards they have. He isn't as strong, he isn't as quick to bounce back, and so he is not a man the same way they are.

So he often rejects masculinity and just lets himself be in touch with his femininity because what other options does he have? So he feels emotion, he cries, he isn't a provider, he likes pretty things, and he works crappy jobs. He wishes he had manhood the same way his fellow Europeans do, but he knows he doesn't and so he just moves forward.

It is their different standards of masculinity that they are drawn into in each other.

Elian looks at Lorenzo and he sees a strong and resilient man who has carved out what being a man means for himself. He sees someone who isn't afraid to question the standards expected of him. He is God making himself from his own rib. He's amazed by it and he envies him and sees him as more of a man than any other European that came his way.

Elian thinks that Lorenzo is brave and the definition of what a man should be. And he doesn't realize that Lorenzo sees the same in him.

Lorenzo is a man who looks at Elian and sees courage and bravery. He sees immeasurable strength and masculinity in him. He has survived more than Lorenzo has ever known and he knows that. He knows that Elian has seen insane cruelty and has been subjected to awful standards.

And despite it all, he remains kind. He remains faithful to his people and community. He works hard, he dreams big, and he still spares kindness and respect to Lorenzo even when he did not deserve it. He thinks that Elian is what manhood was meant to be. He sees freedom in him.

To Be Seen

This is an important aspect of their relationship and ultimately what tears their walls down and allows them to see beauty in each other worth chasing after.

They both come from being rejected and minimized in their roles. They both know what it's like to be tossed aside despite their resources and land being used by others around them. And though there are definitely things Lorenzo will never know about the other's life, he sees Elian for who he is.

He sees a man who is humorous, who fights for what's right, who doesn't allow himself to be walked over, who has remained standing despite every blow he has received. And he sees his humility. He does not want power, he does not want wealth. He turns away from everything he has ever been told is tempting and defines what is valuable for himself. Lorenzo has never seen that done before. It's revolutionary to him and he is so drawn to it. He sees that Elian just wants to live and make change where he can and he sees that he is struggling too. He sees his steps to changing his ways when he knows he is wrong and he sees his want to be more than what he has been left to be. And so he reaches out and takes his hands to walk by his side as he discovers what it means to be himself.

Meanwhile, Elian sees why Lorenzo is the man he is. He sees that he's playful, that he loves to build things, that he is a hardworker once you get past his complaints. He is ambitious and dreams of being someone who matters to others. He understands his hardships. And he sees his complicated relationships. He sees through his defenses and he sees the scared man that Lorenzo is. He sees the boy in him begging to be released as the man he is meant to be. And he does what nobody else is willing to do, he reaches forward and he lifts Lorenzo up. He has no power, no influence, no wealth to offer. He is a man who is raw and more vulnerable than he lets on. And he extends that bit of himself that he can offer to lift him up. He says "even if they don't see you, I do" and in that act, offers Lorenzo more than he has ever been given before in his life.

Summary

These two consume me for many reasons but overall I think that they have such a fascinating relationship to look at through their historical interactions and their personalities.

They have such distinct personalities that oddly work together. Elian is very much the type of person that Lorenzo needs in his life to call him out when he is acting a fool. And Lorenzo is exactly what Elian needs in his life to work through the layers of him he is afraid of letting others see.

They bring out the best in each other, through their deconstruction of their values to the ways that they define manhood. They understand each other well

These two just have a way of touching each other and breaking the cycles that have been forced upon them. And it is for these reasons that they make such a fascinating dynamic.

God bless Cumano. Amen 🙏🏽

[pianoandcookiedoughlover]

marauders as songs without words (mendelssohn) pieces: regulus black

okay, i've been thinking about this for the past few days so i finally had to type it out. i've been doing some practice sightreading out of this book featuring all of mendelssohn's songs without words and after playing through one that really reminded me of regulus i wanted to do all of the marauders!! but for now, i will stick with regulus, who inspired this all.

i honestly have two options for him. first, op. 30 no. 6 in f sharp minor. i linked here a barenboim recording (barenboim is just such an excellent pianist i love his interpretations)

this is the one that really caught my attention. from that e sharp in the third measure, i felt regulus's blunt nature. we have this repeating figure in measures five and six that appear throughout the piece, which makes me think of his family's constant presence in his life. i see the trills as him sort of floundering under the pressure from his family while also wanting to be his own individual, but he eventually succumbs to his family's wishes with the following falling line.

towards the end of the piece, there is this pattern of playing a broken f sharp octave in the left hand followed by a block chord in the right hand that to me is reminiscent of his struggles with where he was in the later part of his life, constantly fighting between who he is and who he wishes he could've been, if he could go back and rewind these past years. the last two trills feel like a vulnerable representation of him before he fades away into the last few measures.

overall, it has that drama that a black brother needs and this sort of haunting sound that i think regulus might appreciate.

the other option was op. 67 no. 5 in b minor which i found after when i was fully fleshing out this idea but arguably prefer (again, the barenboim recording).

again, this piece has that slightly bitter sound that i think works well for regulus. also that chord on the second beat of measure 9 (about 0:26 in that recording linked above) is just so devastating, i love it. then by measure 14 (0:44 ish) the piece takes a distinct turn to a major sound. it feels innocent and nostalgic, like thinking of a happy memory with a rosy background. this could be representative of regulus's happy moments at hogwarts, with his friends and perhaps romantic interests (regardless of who you ship him with).

but soon enough, it takes a tragic minor turn, so suddenly and smoothly. he has returned home, reminded of his life as his family's heir and what they expect of him. we then return to the main theme with slight adjustments to the harmony. after his time at hogwarts, he has a new perspective of his family and their involvement with voldemort. he is disillusioned with it all, angry for what they have made him become, yet hopeful that there is some way he can fix it.

measure 28 (1:28) marks a choice. i think it perhaps up to interpretation how you see the ending...

anyway, so that was me totally geeking out over these pieces and my newfound interesting in the marauders. i apologize, i'm still quite new to this fandom so i don't know if i've captured regulus's character perfectly. i would absolutely love to hear any music recs for him or other marauders characters or your opinions on these two!

i also apologize for my musical analysis, i have been a bit out of the game for the past couple of years (college has been a lot lol) so i also love to hear other interpretations as well! i might type up some other characters' pieces out of my own interest (particularly i have one for lily i adore) but hopefully it brings enjoyment to other people too :)

thank you so much for reading to my silly rant! <3

[ilovedthestars]

I don’t know how to do this but for your ask game, Mensah?

Hi Bardic!! don't worry, you did a great job!!

(Send me a character ask game)

First impression

The thing with Murderbot fandom is that I saw a lot of fandom stuff before I actually read the books, so my first impressions were largely formed by other people's analysis. So...probably the general fandom consensus that she's competent, caring, and a Favorite Human not only of Murderbot but many readers as well.

Impression now

I love her!! I like all the PresAux humans for different reasons, but if I have to pick a favorite, it's probably Mensah. She's admirable in so many ways, but still has faults--like the assumptions she makes about what Murderbot wants at the end of ASR, which she learns from after it leaves. She feels so human, which is both a sign of excellent character writing and a perfect counterpoint to Murderbot and its blend of humanness and inhumanity.

Favorite moment

Oh, there are so many to choose from. If I have to pick...something from Exit Strategy, which pre-System Collapse was probably my favorite book in the series (and could still give SC a run for its money). I can't decide between that moment of reunion--the ping, the tell me your name, the hug--and that moment in the shuttle when she grabs it by the collar and tells it No. It probably has to be that one--I will never be over the moment when Murderbot realizes she isn't afraid of it, and it doesn't want her to be.

Idea for a story

Besides that animatic I had in the works a while back (i have no idea when I'll get back to it, but I hope to someday)...

I had a fic idea a while back, inspired by other fic authors' takes on a similar idea, where Mensah talks to an old associate who works with augments, and arranges a way for Murderbot to have its company logos removed. I second-guessed how to handle various aspects of that a lot, but I did enjoy the Emotions it included. It's on the big pile of Things I May Or May Not Ever Finish Writing, alas (but I'd be willing to dig it up and share some snips if anyone's interested)

Unpopular opinion

I don't think Mensah is that controversial lol? I guess maybe...as much as I like ART, I do wish we got to spend more time with Mensah and Murderbot, on Preservation (or elsewhere). They mean a lot to each other, and I would love to linger with their relationship more. I can hope for her to return in future books, although it seems unlikely she'll appear in the next one. Speaking of which, I wanted a little more closure with her and Murderbot at the end of System Collapse (which is why I ended up writing it myself when given the chance for the gift exchange)

Favorite relationship

Murderbot & Mensah, no question. They are peak platonic love and deep, deep care for each other that mostly goes unspoken but is always, always felt. She was one of the first people to really see it, to know it as a person. It ran away from her and then turned back to save her life yet again. She trusts it with her life. It trusts her with its safety. She's its favorite human. They gave us the phrase "I really like you, not in a weird way" as a way for all us fans to say we love each other like they love each other. They make my little aro heart so happy <3

Favorite headcanon

....I'm drawing a blank on this one, honestly? I have trouble drawing the line between a personal interpretation of canon and a headcanon sometimes. But I can't think of anything specific that I headcanon about Mensah.

Thank you for the ask! <3

[veliseraptor]

Hii! How are you? Hope the new year is treating you well

Love your Jiang Cheng/Meng Yao/Xue Yang everything, they are all excellent characters (especially JC my beloved)

Wanted to ask why you don't like Nie Mingjue? (Totally genuine btw, I'm mostly indifferent towards him but I like hiw tou do character analysis and am curious?)

Happy new year and take care :D

oh boy, okay. I waffled for a while about responding to this only because I tend to...avoid wading into things that might get me in trouble, and this feels like something that could get me in trouble, because I'm talking about my (negative) feelings on a relatively popular character and that can provoke some pretty intense responses.

but I don't really want to foster that impulse, at least not all the time, and I try to be fair when I talk about these things, so, hey, might as well. under a cut for anyone who doesn't want to read the following (counts) nine paragraphs of rambling about this subject

first off I feel like I should say that it probably seems like I dislike Nie Mingjue because he comes into conflict with Jin Guangyao, and while that isn't not true, characters being in conflict with each other does not preclude me liking both of them. I mean, I would hope that was obvious.

I think the biggest reason me and Nie Mingjue do not vibe is actually - and this occurred to me as I was writing this response - the same reason that I used to dislike Stannis Baratheon back when I was active in the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom. (Not so much anymore, mostly because now I just find him kind of funny. Sorry, Stannis.) Namely: he's inflexible and utterly convinced of his own rightness/righteousness.

One of my least favorite qualities in a person is self-righteousness, and while that can work for me in a character it very much doesn't here, I think because it comes with that inflexibility. Nie Mingjue's sense of morality and order is rigid with very little room for his judgment being affected by circumstance or external context. To him, those considerations are irrelevant at best and viewed as excuses at worst.

I'm someone who is, meanwhile, allergic to universal statements, particularly universal statements of good/bad, evil/righteous, etc. I don't like them, I'm incredibly wary of them, and while, again, me disliking these things irl doesn't necessarily preclude enjoying them in a character, it is going to be at least somewhat of a barrier. I feel like it would be less of one here, honestly, if I didn't feel like fandom often endorses Nie Mingjue's perspective on this, as opposed to acknowledging it for what I think it is actually in the text; I have more I could say on this but I'm already writing an essay so I'll just note that I think the fact that Nie Mingjue's corpse can't distinguish between Jin Ling and Jin Guangyao is thematically important.

I don't need a character's morality to align with mine to like them, obviously. The greater crime is finding a character frustrating or irritating, and that's what this particular quality of Nie Mingjue's does to me.

"But what about Xiao Xingchen," I can hear somebody saying. "Doesn't he have the same rigid perspective?" Yes, arguably; his also breaks horribly over the duration of the story, and that's the part of his arc that I find compelling! I find Xiao Xingchen most interesting when his initial understanding of the world has been irrevocably changed and he has to reckon with the fact that justice is not as simple as he thought it would be.

I also - and I know how this is going to sound, I feel like - do not vibe with characters who really strongly believe in state-supported violence. I don't care if characters kill people - the more the better! murder all you like, my darlings! - but I do care if they're advocating the death penalty from a position of political power/authority. Which is actually not a distinction I'd necessarily realized was important to me, but apparently it is. As far as my fictional taste goes: personal violence is fine. State violence is not. I'm sure there are exceptions here (there usually are) but it is generally true that the more violence comes from a position of authority/power in the sense of "this is structurally supported by some form of government/systematic structure", the more I'm going to feel badly about it and the less kindly I am going to feel toward the character in question.

Nie Mingjue is very, very invested in state-supported violence and very eager to dole it out on a personal basis. We see it with his almost killing Xue Yang while Xue Yang is on trial; we see it with Jin Guangyao, multiple times. "Well, they were guilty!" Yeah, I know, that's not the point. The line Nie Mingjue draws between legitimate/illegitimate violence doesn't work for me.

There's also some other stuff that's more fandom-related around the fanon characterization Nie Mingjue often gets that frustrates me because of the way I feel like it increasingly departs from the text, which has (as usual) more of an impact on my feelings about the original character than it perhaps should. Probably because I feel like it's such a misreading of the point of his character. Everyone in fandom is extrapolating from the character on the page/screen - lord knows I do it. But I do feel like I have a limit that I hit where that extrapolation feels like it's reading against the text and what the text is saying, and/or making them a "type" built on a generalized mold, and that's where my patience really runs out.

anyway this has all been very wordy and probably unnecessarily harsh but...I think some of it was useful for me in terms of thinking out just why, even beyond fandom-related frustrations, Nie Mingjue was never a character I could care about or like.

[syncopein3d]

Shun the Light: A Friendly Review

Introduction and Format Explanation:

I've just finished reading Shun the Light by @thoughtsonhurtandcomfort. In the communities where I spend most of my time here on Tumblr, I see occasional recommendations but nothing I would call a review, so I thought I'd go into a little more detail about why I enjoyed this story. I'm still a relative newcomer here in 2024, so if I'm wrong about that, send links in the notes and I will include them here!

The reason I think a positive review might be useful to my audience is that, when people praise a story, they seldom give enough detail for me to know as a reader if I will also want to read it. These are stories I liked personally, and this means that reviews will mostly be of hurt/comfort stories with happy or at least ambiguous endings.

Ambiguous here means characters may part, or may have dangling plot threads for later, but they have survived and are in some way better or recovering. Please always read authors’ trope/warning lists before taking off into their other work. I review hurt/comfort without NSFW usually, but lots of whump writers have both h/c content and NSFW, torture, pet, slave, or other subgenres of whump. I support everyone in this community, and I don’t want anyone to be mad at them or me because you dove directly from a reviewed story into something you didn’t like or were triggered by.

This doesn't mean I disliked everything I didn't review; I read a lot of stories and can't review them all. This is just for stories that are completed according to the author (something of a rare category already) and that I thought deserved special mention.

I'll attempt some light analysis, but I won't ask authors if I'm right about their intent first, so you only get my reader impressions on it. As such, I might be wrong about some or all of how I describe a story and its lore. I don't insist on death of the author once a review is up, so authors are welcome and encouraged to comment!

Summary:

A werewolf and a vampire meet under difficult circumstances and forge an unlikely bond through various injuries and incidents.

Vibes:

I will try to refrain from gushing, since the author is no doubt tired of seeing me type rows of capital A’s on the story posts themselves. This is a very sweet and pleasant hurt/comfort story. It feels warm and comfy even in the slightly gory parts. If it’s possible to write a cozy Universal Studios Horror Gothic, it’s this right here. A lot of it takes place in the same old house and its environs, increasing both the intimacy of the story and the sense of warm familiarity. This is just a delightful palate cleanser if you’ve been reading darker material lately and want to just sit back and feel better.

Characters and Setting:

The story centers on Dante and Matteo, a vampire and a werewolf who wander into each other’s lives by accident. Both are well-intentioned, both are grieving what they lost, whether recently (for Matteo) or long ago (for Dante). When misunderstandings happen, it flows reasonably out of the difference in their ages, their circumstances, and their mutual exasperating tendency to assume the other person’s emotions incorrectly. There’s some delicious angst as a result of that.

Dante is an old soul both literally and figuratively, low-energy and depressed, without rapacity of any kind. The only times he uses a vampire mind control ability are when he is helping to care for Matteo – motivating him to get up the stairs to bed, soothing him to sleep, helping him feel better. It’s almost never for his own benefit. Matteo is not a roaring monster so much as a whipped stray, used to disappointment, expecting the worst. He has a giving heart, but he can’t believe Dante would care about him in return. This doesn’t feel like he’s being stupid in a writing sense; it feels like he has been taught by bad experiences that he has no value. I thought that was handled really well. The dynamic is excellent.

As I mentioned, a lot of the story happens in and around Dante’s house, a slightly decayed mansion where the graves of his loved ones are and which, we receive the impression, he has been haunting like a ghost for some years now. Gradually, we come to see it as more of a safe haven as the story advances, the characters and their exchanges transforming the atmosphere even though the old house remains nearly unchanged. There are brief moments in the woods, in a small nearby town, but they’re not important; they hover vaguely around the place where the characters seem to belong.

Themes (Mild Spoilers):

A lot of stories with vampires in them try to work with themes of renewal. A lot of stories with werewolves in them try to work with themes of found family. Tropes aren’t inherently bad, it’s all in the execution, and it was very interesting to see those two things collide and mingle in this.

Dante needs someone to drag him out of his grave. Matteo needs someone to care and give him value. We morph from the two of them trapped in a slowly rotting antique, wounded and exhausted, to the two of them taking care of each other with more purpose and determination inside what is becoming their home. I would hope that, if the author writes a future story still set here, they would work on renovating parts of the house, as a metaphor for their ongoing dynamic; or burning the place down as a symbol of moving on from their traumas into a new life. But that’s just me writing fanfiction. The story is complete in itself, and I love it.

Final Comments and Recommendation:

This is a lovely, cozy story about two sad people treating each other’s wounds. That’s one of my favorite flavors of story, and if it is for you, too, this is absolutely for you. When I say I like whump, this right here is what leaps to my mind. For fellow loss-of-consciousness fans, Dante has a numbing venom that’s used for that purpose several times, so there’s lots of that here, too. I can hardly recommend this one wholeheartedly enough. If you like hurt and comfort at all, you really, really should give it a look.

My writing masterpost is here, including more Friendly Reviews!

[fivedayshakespeare]

1/1/2024-1/5/2024: Much Ado About Nothing

First of all, I think it's weird that Hero instantly forgives Claudio and marries him in spite of the way he treated her. His evidence of her "infidelity" was that he saw her talking to someone? And his response was to make the biggest scene possible right in the middle of the wedding? Come on, kid.

I realize things were different back then, but Beatrice specifically calls out both of those things, so I don't think things were THAT different. Claudio definitely wildly overreacted, but Hero still seems perfectly happy to marry him, as long as everyone in town clearly understands that she's a virgin.

Really, it's not the marriage that seems odd to me. The odd part is a few lines later, when both Hero and Claudio gleefully reveal Beatrice and Benedick's secret sonnets. You two have serious relationship issues you should be working on, but once the marriage happens they immediately retreat into being supporting characters for the actual stars of the play.

I've seen some analysis (now largely discredited, I think) that tries to make Claudio/Hero the stars and Benedick/Beatrice mere comic relief, but that flies in the face of the structure of the play. I think the couple that meets first and gets married last has to be the main objects of the plot, right? Or maybe not, because I guess by that rubric the main characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream would be Theseus and Hippolyta, who I regularly forget are even in the play.

When the Prince goes to Hero with the intention of wooing her for Claudio, he must have done an excellent job. Although I guess from Leonato's point of view, Hero has to marry the guy who spurned her if at all possible, to repair her (and thus Leonato's) reputation.

I watched the Kenneth Branagh and Joss Whedon versions while I was reading the play. They're both very good, I think. In Branagh, Emma Thompson and Michael Keaton are really excellent as Beatrice and Dogberry. In Whedon, I think Clark Gregg's Leonato impressed me the most. He felt the most fluent with Shakespeare. And there's a moment early on when Benedick is going on and on about Beatrice, and he says something to the effect of "Let's talk no more about her." Leonato just looks at the other character on screen until Benedick, of course, continues to talk about Beatrice. It's well acted and establishes that not only is Benedick clearly in love with Beatrice, but everyone knows it.

I was going to watch the David Tennant/Catherine Tate version, because I'm getting to the plays with multiple adaptations and I'm always fascinated by what changes are made (e.g. how many cuckold jokes get taken out) and the decisions by the actors. But I don't have time tonight, because RuPauls Drag Race is back. Aside: I think there is something interesting about Shakespeare and drag queens. Beatrice, after all, was played by a youth in a wig and a dress, and she definitely knew how to throw shade:

Benedick: God keep your ladyship still in that mind, so some gentleman or other shall scape a predestinate scratched face Beatrice: Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were

That is a read if I ever saw one.

Finally, I would like to reiterate my dislike of the current state of things where the only Shakespeare criticism you can easily find online is people summarizing the plots and providing essays for students to steal. I'm having to order books from like 1955, when it appears that people were writing actual criticism. On the plus side, I'm assembling an okay research library.

[yuly]

Hii the comment section has a character limit and there weren't enough characters for me to describe how much I love Child's Play. Firstly, wow. You're an incredible writer. I lovd the simple yet overarching theme of "hurt people hurt other people". The story is coming full circle. As i said before Hayley is hurt and she hurts reader. Aaron thinks reader hurt Jack, and so he hurts reader. And reader hurts themself and Aaron by rejecting his apology. Reader doesn't owe Aaron forgiveness, but clearly still loves him. I'm not usually a big fan of angst, but you did it so well here!! And it especially hits well knowing with the complexity of the situation, the one who is getting hurt most is Jack. 😭

I've read fics that have been like, 50 chapters or more that haven't established its stories and themes as well as you have in only two chapters alone. Intentionally or not, you captured the writing style of the show very well. It definitely feels like a B plot in an episode.

I've been reading fanfiction nine years and its been a very long time since I've adored a fic this dearly. I've been thinking about it all day. I'm excited for what's to come in this fic, and any other works you may write in the future. With how well you write now, you're only going to excell even further, and I couldn't possibly be more proud.

Sorry for the rant!! I really hope you're having a spectacular day!! Thank you for taking the time to write and share your works with us!!

Noctus!! darling!!! 😭🥺🥺🥺🥺

i made the mistake of opening your ask at work and nearly started bawling right there like a baby 😭😭😭😭😭😭🥹

where do i even begin?? thank you for reading and taking the time to express your thoughts about my work, it means more than i can put into words, honestly 🫶🏾

ahhhh i am absolutely obsessed that you picked up on the theme🫢🤩!!! one thing about me i love a good theme and i always try to incorporate one, but to be very honest this time it was not intentional 😭 so that fact that you picked up on it (and described it so well) has me on cloud 9 😭😭🫶🏾🫶🏾❤️ & your analysis is absolutely out of this world😩😩 i think i've read it at least 7 times, i am truly honoured🥹🫶🏾

WOAH 🤯 writing style of the show??? a B plot 😭😭😭 ahhhhh i'm screaming!!!!!!! i am absolutely flattered that you think so highly of my work 😭😭🫢🫢🥹🥹💕💕💕💕💕💕

yes, you are correct, Jack is the one who is hurting the most as a result of all this...

you thinking about my story all day is absolutely the sweetest thing ever !! please don't apologize, this is simple the sweetest most heart felt message ever have ever received on here❤️ thank you kindly ❤️❤️

😧🫢.. wait ...you're proud of me???😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭ok now i am actually crying, you're an angel and i'm blowing kisses your direction and sending you the tightest coziest of virtual hugs 😘🥰😍🫶🏾❤️🥹🥹

I sincerely want to THANK YOU!!

every word you've typed out has been a joy for me to read and now i'm turning into a pile of happy dust🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹💕ily🫶🏾

[food4dogs]

WEEKEND CHAT :: 9 JANUARY 2023 :: TV DRAMA - Part 2

This is a new listing on Netflix - a movie adaptation of Louis Bayard's novel The Pale Blue Eye (2006). I came very close to buying the book a while ago, but didn't in the end. PoodlePa and I have both read, and enjoyed, Roosevelt's Beast (2014 - a reimagining of Teddy and Kermit Roosevelt's ill-fated 1914 Amazon expedition - the European edition is titled The Beast in the Jungle). So we were naturally keen to catch up with this story!

And: it did not disappoint. The cinematography is beautiful. The pacing of the story does not falter, the script is convincing and at times harrowing. And the cast is simply excellent.

The conclusion of a murder mystery is of course always the sticking point, and seldom is everybody completely satisfied. Here we have what looks like an ending/explanation that feels strangely melodramatic and lurid ... only for us to find out that there is a true, final, complete ending - fittingly right at the end!

Bayard likes to incorporate real-life characters and events into his fiction, and this one features Edgar Allan Poe, who did briefly attend West Point Military Academy. The two main characters are played superbly by Christian Bale and Harry Melling (forever remembered as the pudgy Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter).

I was struck how closely the casting department managed to match the looks of the real EA Poe by choosing Melling! It's almost unreal.

There is even an article about Harry Melling, his evolution as an actor, and his role as the famous poet, including his resemblance with Poe: "Melling has the eyes—and the sense of dread and sadness welled within them."

I hope you get a chance to watch it - we enjoyed it very much!

Finally, let's have a look at White Noise. As I have mentioned/posted before, I have the original 1985 novel edition, and watching the Netflix adaptation made me quickly re-read the book.

DeLillo is an odd writer of fiction. I sometimes think he's more of an incisive commentator on our world than he is a story-teller. He's good at creating characters and scenes, please don't get the wrong impression. But something always nags at me, insisting that - however wonderful and metaphorical his language - he's more intent on telling us what a crazy world we live in than what really happens to the people in these stories.

Noah Baumbach has made a valiant attempt to bring "the unfilmable novel" to the screen and it's good and watchable. The 'trick' he used to make the story digestible, make us care about the characters and events, is that he focused very closely on the people. He makes it into quite a traditional movie story (as long as you don't mind some weird and even disturbing happenings) really. Whereas the book is stuffed to the gills with description, analysis, dissection, weird and wonderful connections. That is impossible to portray in a movie. I noticed that most of the movie critics appear not to have read the book itself.

The other reason why White Noise didn't make a really big impact on me is probably the cast. I'm not the biggest fan (just my personal taste) of Adam Driver (he's a perfectly good actor, of course) or Greta Gerwig. The one actor I did enjoy seeing was Lars Eidinger - he really is very good, especially in these creepy roles!

Considering the difficulties of adapting this 'material' from the novel, I could forgive White Noise many things; and also need to acknowledge that the children were tremendously well acted (very natural) - my pick is Raffey Cassidy, one to watch.

But what I can't forgive is the ending. It's far too bubble gum colourful happy (?) and actually doesn't make much sense. The book's ending is also set in the supermarket. But it's a savage view, nothing is spared in terms of focusing a laser eye on modern consumerism and slavish acceptance of the terms of engagement with American society.

That last page of the novel says Everything. If you get a chance, please do read it!

For balance, you might like to read a very positive assessment of the movie:

If you made it this far - Thank You for reading. 🙏🏻

[questforgalas]

Hi happy to jump on here since I was tagged too and I love Crosshair discussion! @thecoffeelorian

@jealous-sloth77 that was a wicked good analysis and great break down of Crosshair and the batch. I agree with 100% of what you said, and many of the points I was going to make as well. I'm going to add my interpretation to the dynamic

First off, I've always viewed the Batch since they were introduced to us as someone who is the youngest of five children - a big family that has had its problems but overall a healthy dynamic. When I saw the S7 TCW arc, I literally saw my siblings and I up there through the Batch's antics, and I've continued to identify those interactions throughout TBB season, even with Crosshair separated. So for me as a storyteller, one of the major points I hang onto as to why Crosshair will join back with the batch at some point is because it narratively makes no sense for him not to. It might not be this season, in fact it most likely won't unless there's some major dialogue that happens in the next 3 episodes, but it narratively makes no sense to introduce the Batch as they did to then have them separated for their entire series.

Secondly, we as the viewer need to remember that what we're seeing isn't what the characters are seeing. Your point of "consistently seeing footage of them happy and free without you" is not correct for Crosshair because he quite literally has no idea what the Batch is doing, in the same way that the Batch has no idea what is going on with Crosshair. To jealous-sloth's points, other than the moment leaving Kamino in S1E1, we've watched the Batch only respect Crosshair's decision after S1 when he refused to take up their offer to join them multiple times (jealous-sloth broke this down great so I won't go further into it).

I'd like to point out that this olive branch reach out happens after the mentioned "blasters on Crosshair" moment, and again to jealous-sloth's point, Crosshair is unpredictable to them at that point. He even pointedly paused before shooting the suction hook, making a show as if he was going to shot her or one of them. So yeah, I wouldn't take any chances either. It's caution not hate that has them drawing their blasters, which is further proven by them minutes later asking him to come back with them. Many people hold onto Omega's line "You're still their brother too." because it's so powerful in that moment, but don't forget that Wrecker and Hunter are both first to ask him to come with them again.

Wrecker: "You coming with us?"

Hunter: "You offered us a chance Crosshair. This is yours"

Cut to S2 and the cave scene with Omega and Tech. I pointed this out in a post, but Omega didn't even bring up Crosshair when she was sitting with Tech struggling with Echo's departure. Omega asks "We're a family, aren't we?" and Tech takes a beat to answer, and when he does, he includes Crosshair in his answer, which you can see even surprises Omega because she wasn't expecting him to be included in the conversation. Again, as a sibling, this isn't surprising to me that even though as far as they know Crosshair is still being evil-imperial-Crosshair, he's on their minds and he's missed. I've been through that, I've mourned a sibling who's still alive with hope that they'll come back to me soon. And that moment was pivotal for us as the viewers to really see that from the Batch. It's not lost on me that they had Tech deliver it for the most impact.

I could go on, but like I said, jealout-sloth gave an excellent breakdown already, and this is one of the reasons I really love Crosshair's character because he inspires so much discussion that's on par with Anakin in the prequel era. Hopefully this discussion gives you the clarity you were asking for and you can look at the dynamic between Crosshair and the Batch with a different lens.

Waiting for Crosshair's reaction when he rejoins the Batch and gets the "Tech's dating a pirate" news

[gentil-minou]

Why the sentiadrien theory scares us...and why it might actually be a wonderful narrative for therapeutic healing

So when I'm not shit posting on tumblr or flailing about ml, I'm a therapist working with kids Mari and Adrien's age. One of the reasons I was drawn to this show was how amazing it works as a metaphor for mental health and therapeutic healing.

Originally when I heard the sentiadrien theory, I was terrified because with it were all these painful complications I hadn't considered...

But when I really sat down and thought about it, I figured out how if done well sentiadrien has the potential to make Adrien's story more compelling than anything we might have thought... I also find it fascinating how the fandom is reacting to it and how it might be related to the way a fan handles grief, mental health, and the loss of hope.

I wanted to take the time to explore why the sentiadrien hurts some fans so much, to the point where they can't accept it. I also wanted to offer reassurance to those who do, because I truly think the sentiadrien theory is the best theory we have that will allow Adrien to heal and finally be free.

I'm not here to convert anyone into believing this theory, I only want to provide reassurance to those who feel pain because of it.

Disclaimer: I'm a therapist but I am not your therapist. If any of what I say offends you I'm sorry, this does not apply to every fan and is more a hypothesis than anything else. In addition, if you are in need of support please reach out to those around you and get the help you need. I strongly believe that everyone has the opportunity to get better and live their best lives.

But before we can talk about sentiadrien, we have to look at the character Adrien and his impact on his fans.

From the get go, to the fandom Adrien represents sunshine and hope. We literally see Adrien breaking free from his chains and striving for freedom. Whether or not you consider what he's been through as abuse, it's clear he has been craving a better world. Throughout the show, we watch him healing slowly. He makes friends, falls in love, develops new interests, makes jokes and values his time as Chat Noir. I've always thought this show is an excellent metaphor for mental health and the therapeutic journey, and like we can compare Marinette with anxiety and self-esteem issues (i could go into a whole separate analysis on that girl), we can say Adrien is a metaphor for the the struggles people with depression and trauma go through. He represents what happens when someone's mental health is getting better, when someone is starting their therapeutic journey towards healing.

Personally I think season 4 is tackling that last big shackle that traps Adrien. It's painful right now but the end will include Adrien finally being able to share those demons he doesn't know how to share just yet.

Now what does this mean for his fans?

Although not everyone is like this, people often turn to fandom as a way of coping with their own mental health. Seeing a character struggling with their figurative or literal demons and being able to make it out and get their happy ending is very therapeutic. And while most of us don't have a literal supervillain for a dad or dress in a leather catsuit, we can relate to Adrien's worries regarding freedom, being chained, trapped, and that desire to get out, especially those of us who have struggled with depression, emotional abuse, neglect, isolation, etc. 

Fans can look to Adrien and identify with him and maybe even rely on him as their emotional support. They find they can relate to him and that he gives them hope it will get better. It happens a lot with a lot of shows but Adrien is sunshine boy who has hard times but can still smile and laugh even though there is still pain, it makes sense to have him as an emotional support character. He represents healing.

"If a character like him can get better, can be free and happy, then I can too."

He represents our hope.

This is where the sentiadrien discourse happens and why i think it provides valuable info for fandom psychology, particularly for fans who are anti-sentiadrien.

Let's consider the way sentimonsters were introduced in the show, created as a tool, an object to be used and discarded. They're different than an akuma which is purified, sentis are taken away and never seen again. We can compare it to those of us striving for freedom, and that fear of never getting it. For example senti-Ladybug, the only senti we have seen be freed from their chains...was destroyed regardless.

The implications of that episode were that even if we can win back control, are we really free? Did we really win? Can we really not be destroyed or can we lose again? This is something I see a lot with those healing from trauma, the fear that their freedom is fleeting.

There's also the whole senti"monster" bit. People don't like hearing they are considered a monster, there are some other implications there as well. But it implies outcast or segregation, discrimination. Plenty of real-world painful concepts in the word itself. To apply it to the character we identify the most with might make us believe that we too are monsters, and that hurts.

A lot of the discomfort also stems from the idea that this would be emotionally crushing for Adrien, and we who can relate to him can empathize almost too much with him.

To have thought you were getting better, improving everyday, having the ability to make your own choices and the chance to be free, then losing it because were you ever really free? All that healing, just to lose again? But the sentiadrien theory implies there is none, that at the end Adrien is going to be controlled and the freedom he worked hard to get is going to go away and he will be back in the dark place he was at the beginning of the show. That is a very real fear a lot of people have. So the theory kinda takes that hope and throws it in the trash

So now we've established that the implication behind sentiadrien can be traumatic and painful, how on earth could it be possible for Adrien to grow from it?

Well first, we need to talk about what it means to heal from trauma.

The way I handle trauma is by helping people reclaim their safety and empowering them, showing them that despite it all they made it through and are tougher than they think.

What that doesn't mean is telling them that their trauma wasn't real, that their feelings aren't valid, that they should forgive their abusers, that their pain and experiences didn't matter. THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS MEANS.

That's also not what the sentiadrien theory means. It doesn't mean that Adrien's experiences were somehow not real. It doesn't mean his abuse wasn't real. It doesn't mean that his feelings are invalid. It doesn't. The way he came into the world might have been different, but at the end of the day, his experiences were REAL.

Even if Adrien is a senti-being, he is STILL Adrien, he will always be sunshine cat boy. He's real.

So now we get to the point of this: Why the sentiadrien theory has some amazing storytelling potential.

I always thought this show was an excellent way to describe mental health and the therapeutic journey in general. (I've used it to describe the CBT triangle with some clients with great success! Let me know if people want to hear about it because seriously it's some amazing comparisons) And sentiadrien is a perfect, real and raw metaphor for healing from trauma.

People think that sentiadrien will erase Adrien's trauma and make him less than a real person, essentially confirming a fan's inner fears that their pain is not real or invalid.

In reality, it would actually do the opposite and empower Adrien.

When working with trauma using TF-CBT, a major component is the use of a trauma narrative where people with PTSD tell the story of their trauma, from their point of view, free of criticism and invalidation. A chance for them to take their story and tell it, their way.

For years, Adrien never had a chance to tell his story, his way. Even if he wasn't a senti-being, he has always been controlled by his dad and probably his mom too. Becoming Chat Noir was Adrien's way of breaking free, but he hasn't dealt with or addressed any of his trauma. It's been pushed to the side, to be dealt with never.

But if he's a senti, he will have to address what happened to him and face the fundamental question he has in season 4: Does he belong, is he needed?

@coccinelle-et-chaton once said it very well: "abuse victims that relate to Adrien already have difficulties legitimizing their own emotions and are constantly double-guessing themselves. The fact that the character you relate to bc of your trauma turns out to be "magic" even though that does not negate his emotions, can elicit a powerful reaction bc deep down you just want to be acknowledged."

And to those who share those sentiments, I want to ask them this: Is your trauma real? And if Adrien is a senti, does that make him any less real?

And the answer is yes, they are.

If the writers can do it (and I actually sincerely think they can), being a senti could mean Adrien learning to take control of himself while dealing with his "trauma", and even eventually reclaiming his life and freedom through getting control of his amok.

Thus showing that despite the trauma and pain and depression and anxiety, he can still live a normal life. He is still real.

That's essentially what treating PTSD is, we cant make the trauma go away but we can take back control, while allowing those who struggle with it to realize their experiences and feelings are real and valid. To show that despite it all, we can live and keep going. And that actually avoiding the trauma or not thinking about it makes the whole situation worse. If Adrien is a senti, he will face that and he will come out stronger for it.

Despite everything, sentiAdrien is inarguably, indelibly real. (Something even Thomas Astruc has discussed in his twitter responses.)

Adrien is real, just like a viewer's trauma and mental health is real.

And that despite it all, even during the hardest and bleakest time, you are real and you can keep living. Your struggles and past are part of you, but they don't define you.

Like how sentiAdrien isn't just a senti, he's a kid, a friend, a hero, and so, so much more. Just like how he is so much more than being a senti, you are so much more than your trauma.

Your trauma doesn't control you, only you can.

Like Adrien if he gets control of his amok.

Picture this, we discover Adrien was a senti,

Created by his parents to be "the perfect son" and it hurts....hurts worse than anything else ever has and ever could.

Every worst fear, that is is replaceable, unimportant, invalid, unneeded, unwanted, come to the forefront of his mind.

But wait...he isn't just a senti...he's a human. He is, he was created to be yes, but he's still a person.

But not just any person, he's a hero. He's Chat Noir, wearer of the black cat miraculous...

Destruction itself.

And, just like how Mari can use Creation to create anything, Adrien can use destruction to break anything....

Including the magic that binds him to his amok, to his creater, that keeps him from his freedom.

Picture this: Adrien's power-up is what helps him take back control and lets him take control of himself, and his life.

He takes back his own freedom. And proves, most importantly to himself, that he DOES belong. He doesn't need some creator or someone else to tell him that. He can tell himself that, and that's the ONLY voice who matters.

In Summary,

The sentiadrien theory has scary implications and it is painful to think about, but it also has the potential for tremendous growth and healing. In fact, i think sentiadrien would cover multiple mental health avenues and ml has always done a wonderful job with mental health analysis and therapeutic healing.

And our boy is in deep denial mode with his emotions, finding out he's a senti would be super helpful in helping him open the door and start processing them.

It also shows that we don't always get a successful upward curve of progress. Sometimes we have dips and low lows and sometimes we hit rock bottom again. But we get back up, and we keep going and we keep living. We have control of our own destinies and our own lives, and Adrien will too. (Remember: ML is a kids show, we aren't going to have a tragic ending)

But despite it all:

Being a senti-being doesn't make Adrien any less of a character. It doesn't make him less of a person, it doesn't make him someone whose experiences matter any less than Mari or Nino or Gabe or anyone. He is real, just like them. His feelings, his thoughts, his experiences, his pain, his hope, and his dreams matter.

Just like yours do.

Note: please feel free to ask any questions, I love this topic and could talk about ml and mental health for ages. Just remember I'm not your therapist and for true support and care I always recommend going to a pro.

Edit: Someone asked if being a senti invalidates Adrien's existence, here is my response