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takaraphoenix · 2 years

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Shadow and Bone: Season 2 Review

Now that I’ve sat with my s2 feelings for a day, I want to put something a bit more coherent together.

Second seasons are always tricky. They tend to fall victim to a major quality drop; very often, a first season manages to be mindblowing and the second season falls completely flat. With how much I loved season 1, I spent the past year very afraid of what kind of quality season 2 might have.

The short of it: I was pleasantly surprised, I don’t think there was a quality drop, I think that quality-wise it was pretty much en-par with season 1.

Sadly, that does include the major flaw - cramming too much plot into too few episodes. Eight episodes are just not enough for just how much they make happen, watching it all is so overwhelming in how quickly everything happens and how nothing is allowed to breath because we have to rush to the next thing because we just don’t have the time to sit with anything. And that’s a shame.

At the very least they could have given this 10 episodes to allow it all to be loosened a little bit more, though I still think that this would have been the perfect jumping off point for a Six of Crows spin off and splitting the two major plotlines this season - the Shadow and Bone season 2 focusing on Alina’s story and giving the Crows their own spin-off. Simultaneous release and make them crossover, when Zoya and Tolya go visit the Crows and when the Crows come join SaB for the season finale, those interactions could have still happened, but I think there would have been less whiplash and more focus if the rest had been allowed to happen in two separate shows.

My favorite thing about this show has been and still is that it has great characters. The plot’s... questionable - I’m not gonna lie, I’m very happy they mixed the book series (despite what I literally just sad; I think it served s1 very well to mix them) - but the characters are so amazing? I’m the type of person who usually really latches onto one characters, that’s mine, and the others become secondary characters to my fave. I don’t think I’ve ever latched onto as many characters before.

I love and adore Aleksander so much, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this feral about and attached to a villain before in my life. Alina is the most compelling female lead I’ve met since Buffy Summers, honestly - she is strong, capable, soft, beautiful, amazing. I fell for Inej so very hard so quickly, she is so amazing. Jesper is absolutely brilliant, that balance of snark and soft coupled with canon bisexual. And I even latched onto Kaz in my own way, because his trauma-response in regards to touch made me project my asexuality onto him and there aren’t many characters that I headcanon as ace so I have a very, very soft spot for those characters in particular too.

That’s already more characters than usual and I genuinely that that would be it. I knew that season 2 would bring new characters and I had hoped they’d be nice additions but I actually grew unreasonably fond of them too.

Tolya and Tamar are absolutely amazing. I wish we could have had more focus on Tamar and particularly her romance - I didn’t like that the Tamar/Nadia basically only happened in the background, like I get that we are pressed for time, I do, but you are wasting so much time on so much straight relationship drama because this show is playing Noah’s Arc to degrees that are very rare to see outside of CW shows honestly, so it would have been nice if I had gotten at least a little focus on the one wlw ship on this show, especially since they did have great chemistry on their scenes together. And Tolya is adorable, the big, strong guy and then he loves poetry and I’m gone.

Nikolai actually makes me feel like someone tailor made that guy for me. The snark! The jokes! The insistence on not remembering Mal’s name! The high levels of chemistry with Alina and the fake marriage trope with Alina! He’s a pirate! He’s a prince! He’s handsome! He’s amazing! What can’t he do! Gotta love him.

Genuinely my favorite part really was on Nikolai’s pirate ship. I would have absolutely watched an entire season of Alina and Mal as parts of Nikolai’s crew. Just. Pirate stuff with Nikolai, Tolya, Tamar and Miradi.

I really thought I would be... disappointed this season. Maybe that’s why I’m not. Because I set my expectations incredibly low so they were hard to beat, but honestly? I genuinely enjoyed the season.

The costumes were absolutely stunning this season, the costume department went all out!

The new characters were great. The plot is still whatever to me, I have thoughts on that that may be worth a separate post at some point but the thoughts aren’t changes from season 1 so it’s not really impacted by season 2. Nothing in season 2 really did anything drastic that disappointed me plot-wise. Well, that’s maybe untrue, but... nothing disappointing in an unexpected manner, perhaps, would be a better way to put that?

Aside from maybe the book spoilers I knew, like that firebird thing. I read about that. I was expecting some epic shot, with an actual firebird, some cool reveal. Not an info-dump from Baghra, of all people. That was... anticlimactic. And it also honestly made no sense? In the books, Alina and Mal went and found the actual firebird, because they were looking for the firebird. Because Alina wanted to use the firebird as her amplifier. And then realized that Mal was the amplifier that would work for her. The show kind of... muddled that together and decided that Mal couldn’t find the firebird because he was the firebird. But he... he wasn’t? He wasn’t a bird, he may have been the amplifier, but he wasn’t the actual firebird. That was... weird, boring and also kind of illogical.

I do think the show’s biggest issue is its pacing. It’s like we’re running a sprint, but it’s actually the length of a marathon. I feel out of breath. Please slow down.

I liked the ending. The ending surprised me in a positive way. I did not see a corruption arc for Alina coming at all. I really didn’t. Been advocating for this since like episode 3, nobody told me there would be actual Alina corruption in canon so that’s a nice surprise. I like how this could be a final ending that would leave things open for interpretation while still wrapping up all major plotpoints, but it definitely invites season 3. A very sensible way to end a season when you write for a Netflix show and never know if you will be allowed to live or die.

#Shadow and Bone #Shadow and Bone Spoilers #Shadow and Bone Season 2 #Phoe's Random Show Rants

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rose-bookblood · 7 months

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⭐

@italiangothicwriteblr

Send me an ask for a director's commentary on one of my WIPs.

Hi, Joy! Since you seemed interested in TWATB, you get a commentary on the first scene I came up with for it.

Quite embarassingly, I sketched out the general plot for book 2 before that for book 1. Yeah, I know, booo, it's a retelling, you already had the skeleton there and couldn't develop the damn novel? Anyway, that means the first actual scene my mind conjured for TWATB is from book 2.

I had a general idea for the end of book 1, which I'm not going to spoil, but it entails Ro and Adam leaving the castle in a dire situation. Through some shenanigans, they're brought to Bianca (aka Snow White)'s presence, and the scene is the moment they meet.

Quick refresher: Bianca is the princess of Germany, who has been turned into a vampire against her will by her stepmother and is now leading an underground rebellion. Ro and Adam are both vaguely aware of Bianca's existence — especially Adam, considering he's a royal as well —, but have no idea what she looks like, nor do they know what happened to her.

So, when they're brought to her, Ro and Adam only know that this is some kind of human rebel group hiding in the Alps. These guys introduce them to their leader and, as soon as she sees Bianca, Ro is absolutely mesmerised, because she's a disaster bisexual and Bianca is gorgeous. Then Ro goes like "wait a minute. This bitch a vampire" and instantly gets hostile.

In this world, most non-vampires dislike vampires, but Ro feels a particularly visceral repugnance towards them, thanks to having been harassed by François for years. So, throughout this scene, while Bianca and Adam are trying to broker a deal because they need each other's help, Ro is rowing in the opposite direction.

It's a peculiar scene, because although Ro is impulsive and tends to act from emotion rather than logic, she has a strong sense of self-preservation. In the past, she's never confronted François or even Adam, not before she was certain he wasn't dangerous to her. Right at this moment, Bianca is offering them their best chance, and Ro won't take it because of her aversion towards vampires.

Adam is the first to be stunned by it, and that leads to him realising just how afraid Ro is, or at least used to be, of vampires. At this point, Ro has fought vampires and won, but Adam hasn't seen her for most of her life, when she was defenseless against them and could only count on her wits and luck. Now Ro is being a little stubborn and deriving satisfaction from being equally matched with vampires — she's since learned witchcraft —, but a big part of it comes from her unease around them.

It's also a compelling situation because this is, let's call it that, the first test of Ro and Adam's relationship. Before, they lived in an enclosed space with people (Adam's siblings) who were actively pushing them together. In book 2 they have to navigate how they work as a couple in the real world, where there's no curse freezing them into a stasis, and where they have to face and build themselves a future.

And I also just love Bianca as a character, if I dare say so myself. I mean, she's a lesbian vampire princess/rebel leader!

This turned out very long, so I hope it was at least interesting to read. Thanks for the ask, Joy!

@italiangothicwriteblr

#director's cut ask game #ask game #ask meme #wip: twatb #oc: rosebelle fortier #oc: adam d'alsace #oc: bianca chen hildebrandt

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gabsxena · 5 years

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if anybody’s writing/knows of any ladyharlot fanfics that completely ignore season 3 or at least fix the fuck up that it is please hmu

#harlots #ladyharlot #fitzwells #harlotsonhulu #im still so mad and upset #like i was telling every single person i knew after watching s2 to watch it because it was so good #and a bisexual lead character that had such a compelling relationship like....#she just meant so much to me #anyway maybe i can read so much fanfic that i'll forget it all x

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musclesandhammering · 3 years

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Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.

#antisylki #loki meta #kinda #loki series critical #loki series negativity #anti loki x sylvie #anti loki series #anti sylvie #frosty bby #loki deserved better #I don’t even like TVA!Loki tho so I guess it doesn’t matter with him lmao #tva loki #loki laufeyson

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abeautifulblog · 2 years

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really broad trope game question: so many of your fics revolve around longing/pining/yearning. how do you feel about stories where the two characters are already solidly together? or, more generally, where there is a romantic plot but no tension around the characters getting or staying together?

Also known as established-relationship fics. :P

Established relationships are something that a LOT of writers struggle with; I daresay most romantic stories, fanfic or otherwise, prefer to focus on the longing/pining/yearning. The will-they-or-won't-they? tension of a developing relationship is often enough to carry readers through even a mediocre story—a much trickier proposition is keeping that relationship compelling once the sexual tension has been dispersed. (I have written about this before.)

And I know that writers are expected to be all modest and self-effacing, but... I actually think I'm pretty damn good at established relationships? o_O

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is one such example, because Gene and Robert are committedly together at roughly the 15% mark in that fic—and while they still have plenty of other issues to work through, the relationship itself is no longer a source of stress and tension, but rather a source of strength for both of them. The latter 85% of the fic is about them, as a team, dealing with life.

And despite the storm that readers know is coming in Song of Selfish Hearts, from Geralt's POV that's an established relationship too, particularly in chapters five and six. There's no pining—he and Jaskier are together, they have a rapport that's relaxed and comfortable and affectionate, and it's easy for them to enjoy each other's company.

And that, I think, is the most critical component to writing an established relationship: that they like each other.

Scorching sexual chemistry is all well and good, but at some point, that's no longer enough. Once they actually start getting to know each other as people, they'd better be finding out that they like the person they're discovering. Because past a certain point, you're not just writing a romance anymore -- you're also writing a friendship.

And for all that friendship tends to get devalued in pop culture vis-a-vis romantic relationships, audiences really, really like characters being friends.

Friends who are ride-or-die for each other. Who understand each other more deeply, more profoundly than anyone else does. Who have shared in-jokes and know exactly how to crack each other up, how to sass each other. Just look at how beloved the 'found family' trope is.

It's the reason for the enduring popularity of buddy-cop movies, which are often carried entirely by the friend-chemistry between the leads. It's why both fandom and comics canon love writing the Avengers team all living together in Stark Tower. It's part of what made season two of Umbrella Academy so charming, because it got to develop the friendships between the siblings. It's why the gays love Dragon Age 2, because the cast is literally just one big ride-or-die friends group of disaster bisexuals.

So many writers—particularly TV writers—don't seem to realize that solid, healthy relationships are not antithetical to drama, and that they don't have to set characters endlessly at each other's throats in order to keep up audience interest. Yes, relationships can occasionally be put under strain by the circumstances, but in order for that to be effective, it needs to be a deviation from the norm, not the norm itself.

The MCU's Civil War plotline failed, on an emotional level, because they had never bothered to establish a meaningful friendship between Steve and Tony. It's not much of a breakup if they were never friends to start with. =/

Moreover, so many people seem to approach writing romance and writing friendship as completely unrelated, non-overlapping categories. Friends are the people you like hanging out with; lovers are the people you want to bump uglies with. They think the key to a compelling romance just involves ramping up how scorchingly horny the blorbos are for each other.

(And I'm gonna come out and say it: this notion of not expecting to be friends with your romantic partner is so widespread in straight culture that it's all but the norm, and that is fucked. up. How much boomer humor is predicated on the assumption that husbands and wives are fundamentally antagonistic? How much blithe disrespect of each other's friends and interests have we heard straight couples express about their significant others?)

One of the best questions a beta reader ever asked me was, “Why do they like each other?” As in, these two people, why do THEY like EACH OTHER? What is it about this person that makes them unique and irreplaceable, not just interchangeable with any other hottie? What's their connection built on?

Because readers may show up for the UST, but they stay for the friendship.

And it's become clear to me over the years that I'm incapable of writing a romance if the people involved don't just straight up enjoy each other's company. They have to like hanging out together—it's why they keep doing it, why they continue to seek each other out.

Even the trashy hookup AU of Beautiful Day—which I was expecting to be pure angsty porn when I started it—turned out to be surprisingly fun. Their relationship is a lot more combative than it is in canon, because Gene wants a romance while Robert just wants to fuck, and it is a battle of wills that Robert is steadily losing, but there's a reason why neither of them has pulled the plug—because on the balance, they're having fun together.

I find that I can't write romances where the characters want to fuck each other's brains out, but do nothing but make each other miserable the rest of the time. And that's no shade on anyone who likes to write or read unhealthy relationship dynamics—they can indeed be extremely compelling!—but for me personally, I need some reason for why they're still there, why they haven't just given up on this as a bad deal already. If hanging out with this person only ever leaves you feeling upset/angry/depressed, why keep going back?

And on the flip side: if the characters do enjoy hanging out together, for reasons unrelated to sex -- if they have fun outside of bed as well as in it -- then you're more than halfway there.

Ultimately, I think perhaps the only secret to writing compelling established relationships is asking, “What would it look like if they were friends?”

#trope game #drunk gremble answers asks

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chasingfictions · 2 years

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So I'm re-watching season five and feel like.

1.) Riley genuinely had a lot of potential as a character and if he had been allowed to have more room to breathe outside of being Buffy's love interest, he may have Gone Places.

2.) If instead of re-enlisting at the initiative, he had gotten turned as a result of playing with vampires, but his history left him Kinda Odd as a vampire (too stuck in the Rules and Anti-Demon mindset to vampire normally) and Buffy found herself with /another/ vampire she can't bring herself to stake, but this one without a soul or a chip for her to fall back on, and she had to contend with that? That would have been Neat.

You did not ask for any of this, but as the only Buffy person I know of who does not hate Riley's guts, I felt compelled to share my thoughts with you. Maybe someday I will actually write something, but for now, I continue to ramble pointlessly

Ooh this is interesting! i like where your head’s at with it — in that actually Riley is An Interesting Guy if you take a look at him for long enough!!! (by long enough I mean I actively disliked / didn’t care about Riley for like 10 years until this past rewatch I was suddenly like oh???? Oh the way the narrative is Using Riley???)

i feel like I’m on a slightly different wavelength though in that I kind of really love Riley as Just Buffy’s Boyfriend. like I think the places where he is most interesting is where the narrative is using him to talk about Buffy’s desire— Riley is the incredibly straight man Buffy loves so that we have a template to talk about Buffy’s queer longing , and a landscape for that to play out on. like, I think episodes like buffy vs dracula or fool for love wouldn’t quite hit the same without the knowledge that there is a Normal Human Man At Home Who Buffy Couldn’t Be Thinking Less About Right Now if She Tried.

of course that’s like!! The thing with Riley!! Is that he’s not just a Normal Human Man — truly I do think he is a little freak, he’s just so normal-seeming based on the people whose company he keeps. but there IS something so compelling to me about like, Straight Laced Military Guy who falls in love with this bisexual anarchist arsonist and her band of queers and it blows up his whole life . hdjdjfj buffy summers as that one text post that’s like, idk what my gender is but if ur romantically interested in me you’re at least a little bit gay. or something like that.

i guess this is to say I really do like Riley’s arc the way it is — i think he’s this really fascinating narrative pawn who is both interesting in his own right if you look at him long enough, and ALSO is really interesting in that, in a show that is so much about queerness and abnormality — themes that s4-s5 are rolling around in SO much especially — how people react to Riley and interplay with him in the narrative tells us so much about them. like, Riley and Spike spend 1.5 seasons narratively circling and mirroring each other (literally scene transitions from 4x07 are just like, these guys!!! Are narrative foils!!! These guys!!!!!) until spike eventually swallows the role of romantic lead whole out of Riley’s clenched fist. Xander’s obsession with Riley is both about his queer longing for Riley, and also about his heteronormative desire to be like Riley. Dawn’s irreverent disregard / passive disinterest in Riley signals how little he actually matters in the growing n developing landscape of Buffy’s priorities. he’s just such a guy!!!

that SAID I do think ur idea for having Riley be a vampire fucks and is also unceasingly fun sndjdjfj buffy summers is like. i DID IT U GUYS. I’m NOT psychosexually obsessed with vampires anymore!!! and Riley is like. lmao just wait one second. jdjdjd Riley becoming a vampire is kind of at xander-cordy levels of like, cordy’s demonification on ats making it retroactively that literally only demon women have been with Xander . angel is like hey buffy here’s some trauma about our relationship now go find a normal guy so buffy finds the Normalest guy in the world and it’s like. fucking AGAIN??? jsjdjd and then the spike love interest arc starts and Buffy’s like you know what I’m not even refusing the call anymore I am clearly just destined to be a vampirefucker. bring it on blondie bear. shjdjdt somehow in the timeline where Riley becomes a vampire it leads to spike and Buffy full on fucking in the alleyway in fool for love. prove me wrong,

#ask #btvs meta

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blorbosondeck · 4 years

Text

fic rec masterlist

canon divergent/finale fix its

Anamnesis

THIS! FIC! this fic lives in my head rent FREE it is so good and it makes so much sense in the narrative that the shitty finale concocted, as to why they wouldn't mention cas or anyone else and its just. so good and they write chuck in the most villainous way that i love!!!

"Chuck is depowered, Jack is the new god, and the world is free. Dean and Sam get into the Impala and chase down the miles on an endless highway, and their story is finally, finally their own to follow. At least, that's what Dean tells himself. But the diners and motels and painted interstate lines are blurring together and the smallest details keep catching at his brain like tiny fishhooks and he can't quite shake the feeling that not everything is exactly as it should be. Fix-it/alternate series finale. Canon-compliant through the end of 15.19."

Sunset Sound: Stairway to Heaven by @adhdeancas

GOD FUCKING CHRIST this is so good and sweet and im such a sucker for team ups and reunions!!! its 3:30 am rn and i just finished it and i love it SO much it made me laugh a lot and the last few chapters i had the stupidest grin just plastered to my face

The Closer the Star, the Greater the Parallax by @rocksalts

repressed bastard dean submits to the mortifying ordeal of being known and receives the rewards of being loved but only after some miscommunication i LOVE this i read it last night and it’s a fast favorite. my interests have overlapped and i am INTO it

“When Dean sits down to watch some bullcrap Discovery Channel episode with Cas, he doesn’t expect to actually learn anything. Except, with Cas explaining, he makes an effort to connect the dots.”

Don't We All Deserve To Be Happy?

VERY sweet and a VERY good pick me up. all around feel good fic!!!

"Post-canon fix-it, divergent from 15x19 where Jack stays and Dean doesn't die and Cas comes back and everyone is happy. Take a shot every time I'm salty about the finale."

Keep Your Love Alive

okay. okay okay okay this may be my favorite finale fix it just because of how well reasoned it is. like this feels what should have happened i love it SO much

"Dean gets to spend eternity sharing beers with Bobby on the Roadhouse porch and riding around in his Baby with Sam. He’s at peace… or he feels like he should be. But a few things nag at him: Where is Cas, and everybody else Dean had been hoping to see in Heaven? Why does he feel like he’s stuck in a loop, reliving the same memories over and over again? And who are the strangers wearing Sam’s and Bobby’s faces?"

The GoldenRod Revisions by @aethylas

this is one of the most well written things ive ever read. the script format DID make it feel more real and honestly? this is better writing than this show deserves. the finale that could have been ♥️

“A rewrite of Supernatural’s final two episodes, expanded into a five episode arc - in which Chuck needs to be defeated, Castiel deserves to be saved, and the characters in this story get a very different ending.“

Ascend by @wanderingcas

THEE finale fix it fic!!! written by the AMAZINGLY skilled and talented @wanderingcas !!! it’s 50k of angst and hurt/comfort and pure bliss

“Something in the world is wrong.

Demon activity is rising where mysterious black substance oozes and unusual ecological events are shaking the world. Dean, grief hanging on his shoulders, restlessly searches for answers that might lead him to the Empty… and to Cas.

But what Chuck wrote can’t be undone. The narrative thread pulls Dean along, forcing him to comply. Because once a story already has an ending, it can’t be rewritten.

Or can it?”

Things Happen (They Do, And They Do, And They Do) by THEE @sobsicles

i KNOW everyone has already recommended this and likely you’ve all already read it. but it has to go here bc REPRESSIOOOOOOOOON i LOVE this so much it is one of the most perfect things i’ve read. are you bisexual? did you have a kind of weird relationship with your best friend and not realize that how you felt about them wasn’t necessarily how other people felt about them and you were maybe a little bit in love with them but were too repressed to realize it? you’ll feel seen. maybe a little too seen

Closer (isn't close enough)

are you a sweet and sappy yet horny bastard? do you like cas exploding light bulbs? you will like this.

“the one where they finally talk about what cas said before the empty took him”

You and Your Husband

it is exTRMELY sweet!!! repression dean strikes again <3

"Five times Dean corrects someone about his relationship with Cas, and one time he realizes he doesn't need to."

Tall Grass

miscommunication and a slowburn! despite being written in 2017 and finished in 2018, it feels like a fix it. ft. plant obsessed cas <3

Invictus

a LOVELY and short (relatively) finale fix it

“They saved the world. They're free. It's done.

Except it's not, and carrying on is the last thing any of them are thinking about.

They still have someone they need to save.”

Unchained Link

post finale- it’s a great case fic and i am compelled i want more!!!

"It's after the end of things. Life continues on while Dean is "livin it up" in heaven. But it's never that simple, is it? A freak occurrence sends Dean into another time stranded back on Earth. And he thought his hunting days were over. But, no worries. His knight in shining armor comes to the rescue. Hijinks, therefore, ensue."

fun and time unspecified

Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Love Potion No. 5

very funny and sweet! miscommunication at its finest ♥️

"Cas gets drenched with a mystery potion from the ‘love spell’ shelf and... Dean has a sneaking suspicion, angel or no— the spell may have taken effect. And Cas might be in love with Sam."

The Way We Were

Y'all. It is so good its a great mix of funny and serious- extremely fun to see dean as like a base bisexual

"Dean and Castiel pose as a couple to gain access to a gated community known as 'The Glen', a pleasant if secretive location that the boys believe might be linked to several dead bodies showing up over the years bearing signs of ritualistic sacrifice. All seems well until Dean's memory is affected from an incident during a solo exploration, leaving Dean convinced that their cover story is true. Castiel is left trying to resolve their case without taking advantage of an increasingly enthusiastic Dean"

While You Were Sleeping

this is basically just the movie but replacing sandra bullock with cas. this is my comfort movie and imo, one of the most perfect rom coms. the fic isn’t finished but i still have the tab open on my phone and i will straight up go back and re read it when i need a pick me up.

aus/rewrites

The Harvelle Gospels: Offscript

i know everyone ever ( @jewishcharliebradbury ) has recommended this fic. and for good reason go fucking read it

“The Apocalypse is averted, the angels are in Heaven, and Jo is free from the threat of possession. Somehow it couldn't be farther from a happy ending.“

absolute riots

An Ineffably Profound Bond

i honestly would have put this in the finale fix it section! look. i know. i know you've been burned by crossover fics before. but this is Thee good omens/spn fic you want. its funny as hell and immensely satisfying. im weak for everyone working together tropes and that is this

"After Chuck sets 'The End' in motion, the remaining members of TFW make a miraculous escape. Not willing to waste any time, Castiel comes up with a plan to travel to one of the other worlds to try and get help from the angels there, but after a fight with Dean, it's the hunter who gets sent into an alternate universe,with seemingly no hope of return.

When a mysterious human with a heavenly weapon shows up in Aziraphale's shop, he and Crowley learn that their world is not the only one. Now it is up to them to decide whether or not they want to join forces with the human and help him save his world or simply find a way to send him home."

Somebody Up There Likes Me by @lafilleredige

cas is hit with a spell that turns his vessel into a woman, hijinks and sexuality crises ensue etc etc sam is a supportive and bitchy little brother and its all SO fucking funny and also. horny as hell i love it i love it i LOVE it

“’Dean doesn’t want to talk about your breasts, it’s making him uncomfortable because he hasn’t acknowledged the complex fluidity of human sexuality.’“

Stray Cat Strut

a long crack fic that IS one of the funniest things i’ve ever read and i can’t explain why. it’s so ooc but its so funny that i don’t care. if you need a laugh you gotta read this

"Sam and Cas are immediately in love with the adorable kitty they find outside the bunker door, and occupy their time planning how to convince Dean--who they believe is off sulking after a botched hunt--to let them keep their cat. Along the way, Dean learns to use a litter box and hears some confessions he maybe wasn’t supposed to hear, all while realizing just how much he loves Castiel.

Now all Dean has to do is convince Cas and Sam their new pet cat is actually him before they do something crazy--like neuter him!"

canon compliant or slight canon divergence

Give

by @doublestuffedimpala post season 7 episode 7, kind of ambiguous ending but truly a cas is happy to bleed for the winchesters fic

Punch Like Bones

short, post 5x04 homoerotic moment that i wish we’d gotten

#lmao please interact with this i spent so much time on it #i had to go onto desktop for this #ill keep adding on to it #my fic recs #fic rec #spn fic rec #deancas fic recs #charlie.txt

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baoshan-sanren · 4 years

Text

Best dramas I’ve watched in 2020 so far (and some not so good ones) Part II

part 1 here

Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain - based on Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain by 国王陛下 (translation dropped at chapter 50 out of 884 back in 2017). A combination of satire/comedy with complex themes. The emotional investment sneaks up on you out of nowhere and hits you like a sack of bricks. An interesting twist on the master/disciple relationship. Meh on the special effects. Excellent female characters. Solid plot, endless fanfic potential, all the found family your heart desires. Much more gay than you’d think. Needs Season 2, but Season 1 can be watched over and over again. 9/10

Handsome Siblings - based on Twin Heroes by Gu Long. Feel good ending. A decent amount of angst. The most heartwarming drama I’ve watched all year. Funny and insightful and a joy to experience. Meh on the special effects. They don’t know they’re brothers. Plot drags only in a few places, and not for very long. A variety of female characters, but mediocre on their portrayals. A sect comprised of only female disciples - I would like to see it. Contains one of the three het couples whose happiness mattered to me in the entirety of 2020. An endless well of hilarity and angst. Can be watched over and over again. 8/10

Love and Redemption - based on The Glass Maiden by Shi Si Lang (translation ongoing). A wild ride from beginning to end. Intentionally and unintentionally funny. Gay subtext. Contains one of the three het couples whose happiness mattered to me in the entirety of 2020. A plethora of excellent and complex side characters. A feral bottom snake god. A merman who gets kidnapped once a week. Buckets of angst and frustration and misunderstandings. Gorgeous aesthetics. The male lead is tortured more often than all the other characters combined, but he looks hot while going through it. A+ for the sheer wildness of the plot, C- for all the misunderstandings; there has to be a limit somewhere. 7.5/10

The Rise of Phoenixes - based on The Rise of Phoenixes by 天下归元 (translation ongoing). Contains one of the three het couples whose happiness mattered to me in the entirety of 2020. If you judge the seriousness of the drama by the relative hotness of the Emperor, casting Ni DaHong should tell you everything you need to know. An abundance of court intrigue, suspense, and humor. Complex themes, steady plot progression, no scene time wasted. Costumes and set design out of this world. Smart and witty. The most thought provoking drama I’ve watched all year. Ni Ni is a goddamn goddess and should be worshipped daily. 10/10

Legend of Two Sisters In the Chaos - based on a novel I can’t seem to track down anywhere. Meng ZiYi must have some serious back pain from carrying all forty episodes on her shoulders. Interesting premise, shaky execution at best. Main het relationship did not excite, nor were the acting skills comparable; Meng ZiYi deserved better. Wang ZhuoCheng gives a decent performance. The drama does pack an emotional punch if you stick around long enough to get invested. Forty episodes long, but sometimes seemed twice that. Definitely entertaining, but not engaging. 6/10

The Wolf - also based on a novel I can’t track down. Too much romance, then angst, then romance. The dreaded love triangle. Dropped the drama three times, then went back because Xiao Zhan. Darren Wang gives decent performance, but does not have much to work with. Li Qin’s skills utterly wasted on this role. If you’re not invested in the love story, you’ll get bored. If you’re invested, you’ll be emotionally numb half-way through. Good fight scenes. Not so good special effects. 5/10 for the actors doing their best with what they had.

Dance of the Phoenix - based on Dragons Flies Phoenix Dances by 明月听风 (translation dropped at chapter 27 out fo 85 in May of 2020). Yu Mingye deserved better. Female main character + mostly female side characters. Excellent + complex villains, also female. Judging by the costumes + special effects, not much of a budget to work with. Cop-out in the last few episodes to neatly tie up the plot that was... not very intricate to begin with. Vastly entertaining but not that deep. Buckets of angst, but plenty of humor to ease the pain. Lan JingYi fights with a fan. Good fanfic potential. Godawful ending. 7/10 for the best villain I’ve encountered all year.

Legend of Fei - based on Bandits by Priest (translation ongoing). Zhao Liying slays. A variety of compelling female characters. Excellent fight choreography. Interesting premise, steadily progressing plot. Potential for many disaster bisexuals. May contain the fourth het romance I’m invested in this year, but it's still too early to tell. Wang Yibo in his element as Xie Yun, may even produce a better performance than his role in The Untamed. The drama is still only 7 episodes in, will give ranking when finished. ?/10

Looking forward to:

Immortality - based on danmei novel The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by 肉包不吃肉 starring Chen Feiyu and Luo Yunxi

Winner Is King - based on the danmei novel Sha Po Lang by Priest starring Tan Jianci and Chen Zheyuan

A Tale of The Wanderers - based on danmei novel Faraway Wanderers by Priest starring Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun

Douluo Continent - based on xuanhuan novel Soul Land by 唐家三少 starring Xiao Zhan and Wu Xuanyi

Step By Step Lotus - based on historical novel Return to Ming Dynasty as Prince by 月关 starring Zhang Binbin and Luo Yunxi

Feng Qi Long Xi - based on historical novel of the same name by Ma Bo Yong starring Zhu Yilong and Deng Lun

Sword Snow Stride - based on the xuanhuan novel The Snowy Path of the Heroic Blade by 烽火戏诸侯 starring Zhang Ruoyun and Hu Jun

Heaven Official's Blessing - based on danmei novel of the same name by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - cast unknown

Thousand Autumns - based on danmei novel of the same name by Meng Xi Shi - cast unknown

Joy Of Life Season 2 - based on wuxia novel of the same name by 猫腻 starring Zhang Ruoyun and Li Qin

A League of Nobleman - based on danmei novel The Society of Four Leaves by Da Feng Gua Guo starring Song Weilong and Jing Boran

Flying Phoenix - based on danmei novel of the same name by 風弄 starring Dai Jingyao and Shu Yaxin

#cdrama #cdrama recs #long post #m

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spockandawe · 3 years

Text

I doubt this is something I’ll ever even try to write, because I rarely have the energy these days to devote my energy to a ‘lol but what if’ ship. But never say never, and I legit wrote the emilonni and tlj/sqq fics, after all, so I’m going to write this down and maybe, possibly, someday come back to it.

Now, hear me out

Wei Wuxian/Jin Zixun

Yes, yes, I know, but give me a second. It’s the sort of ship where I kind of want to do it just to see if it can be done, and where the idea of ‘textual support’ is kind of laughable, and it’s not like I’m smashing together two super-popular characters who just never happened to speak, and it’s the kind of ship where I think I could only shake one fic out of it before I was repeating myself, BUT.

First, a quote:

The person at the head of the group was Jin Zixun. He said, “Zixuan, is that Wei making trouble for you again?!”

Jin Zixuan said, “None of your business, don’t worry about it for now!” Seeing that Wei Wuxian grabbed Jiang Yanli and was about to take her away, he added, “Stop!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Oh, you want to fight? That’s fine with me!”

Jin Zixun said, “You Wei, just what do you mean by going against Zixuan so many times?”

Wei Wuxian looked at him. “Who are you?”

Jin Zixun paused in shock, and fumed, “You don’t know who I am?!”

“Why should I know who you are?”

When the Sunshot Campaign had first broken out, Jin Zixun had insisted on defending the back lines, due to an injury. He hadn’t had the chance to see what Wei Wuxian was like on the front lines, and most of his knowledge had come from rumors. He hadn’t care much for him, thinking that the rumors were simply exaggerations. However, a while ago, Wei Wuxian had summoned all of the dark creatures in the forest with a whistle, calling away the fierce corpses Jin Zixun’s group had been about to capture, causing their efforts to be wasted. He was already displeased.

Now, in front of his face, Wei Wuxian was asking who he was, stirring up a strange sense of indignation within him— He knew Wei Wuxian, yet Wei Wuxian didn’t know him, and even dared ask who he was in front of everyone. It was as if this had caused him to lose too much face. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.

Now, there’s a thoughtful meta I hopefully reblogged to my sideblog, which I would have to dig up or recreate on my own, about the most sympathetic possible reading of Jin Zixun. If memory serves, it has a lot to do about the precarious nature of his social position, where he’s part of the Jin clan, and kind of the closest thing Jin Zixuan has to a brother, but also, everyone knows that Jin Zixuan has half-siblings coming out of the woodwork, and many of them would be stoked to get Jin Guangshan to accept them into the family. At this stage in the story, Jin Guangyao is already a major player and a hero of the war and part of the venerated triad, where Jin Zixun spent a lot of time... not in the thick of things, like most other peers of his generation.

Is he an asshole? Yes! Is... Wei Wuxian an asshole? Also yes! One of them may be a more likeable asshole than the other, but that’s part of the excitement of a story like this, trying to coax people into holding a fannish position that they’d never considered before, and aren’t particularly eager to be convinced of. I don’t think I’m bad at that uphill climb, it just takes a lot of energy that I don’t often have to begin that journey in the first place. Also, one of these assholes is a certified grade-A torturer, and it’s probably not the one you dislike. Jin Zixun isn’t starting from an insurmountable disadvantage here.

And see, the thing that got my attention is this: Earlier in this chapter, Wei Wuxian is a little melancholy, thinking about how since the Sunshot Campaign, lots of people are scared of him, hardly anyone is willing to be alone with him, and almost nobody would ever be willing to approach him alone. And here, we get the information that because Jin Zixun was injured early and wasn’t on the front lines of the Sunshot Campaign, he doesn’t know to be afraid. He tried to provoke Wei Wuxian before the hunt, he’s about to keep provoking Wei Wuxian, he’s Jin Zixun and he doesn’t afraid of anything. Yes, he’s about to say some very hurtful things, but I look at that, and I think ‘okay, now how do we recover from this?’ Giving Wei Wuxian someone who just... plain isn’t afraid of him (but is also derailed by me, your author, from taking that to unrecoverable places) would be good for him. Jiang Cheng will antagonize him and isn’t afraid of him, but they also share years of history and are dealing with a lot of other stresses in this situation, and Jiang Cheng is asking things from Wei Wuxian that Wei Wuxian is struggling to provide, and the golden core thing is still hanging between them. Lan Wangji isn’t afraid of Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian parses his concern and worries as antagonism and criticism, and those stress him out in a whole different way. This dynamic, as much as I would have to work to make it happen, would bring something new to the table.

One of my favorite activities is crackshipping with sincerity, and when I poke at this, it genuinely feels like richer territory than it looks at first glance. A lot of the antagonists share some fascinating character notes with our lead, and what’s most interesting to me here is an elevated-but-precarious social position and the various stresses that puts upon our characters. Jin Guangyao is the most obvious example, and Su She echoes it more quietly, with how he struggled within the Lan Sect and eventually left (honestly, kudos to him for him and mianmian to be two of the only characters to realize that their home was hurting them and to leave). Jin Zixun is in a family position that’s close to being brothers with his sect’s heir, but isn’t quite brothers, and is close to the seat of power, but also in a precarious social position if someone acts against him. Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin create a dysfunctional family dynamic to grow up in, where Jin Guangshan’s heart attention strays from his wife, and his wife has beat at least one kid who wasn’t biologically hers in the household.

There’s some common ground, is all I’m saying

I don’t even know what would happen, necessarily, I’m talking this all out here right now, and the interesting part of ships like this is digging in extra deep, and seeing what unexpected thing shakes out. It isn’t quite in the style of the other notable rarepair fics I have managed to write, which tend to follow a paradigm of ‘[person] is floating unmoored from the world, and [love interest] gets them engaged with life again’, but it’s not totally out of line with my interests. Svsss won’t give us more detail about Tianlang-jun? Okay, what happens if I make him hopelessly fond, what happens then? What happens if I properly re-engage his sense of humor? I hardly had anything of substance to go on with Horuss, and that fic is old, but I managed to pull interesting things out of him with Roxy. And I mean... what does happen when Jin Zixun stops self-destructively antagonizing the people around him and starts acting in more neutral ways? Not even positive, I think this relationship is going to have a strong antagonistic component, but what happens if he stops basing his interactions purely on who gets the higher rung on the social ladder?

Now, I do have a problem, which is that plot is something that happens to other people. See also: the reason there has not been a tianlang-jun sequel. I think that it would almost definitely have to do with repairing the situation between Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli and both of them managing to dial it back a LITTLE so as not to completely sabotage their family member’s happiness, and that leading things forward. And in a ridiculous pipe dream that will never be realized, because either possible pov will be completely oblivious, I would also want to include Jin Zixuan’s confused bisexual awakening and his resentful (also confused) attraction towards Wei Wuxian, even if he still ends up with Jiang Yanli, but... wei wuxian isn’t going to notice, and neither is jin zixun, SO. That’s probably right out. And the plot implications would have to be... significant. Setting it post-Sunshot campaign means that the Wen situation is simmering, and any plot that involves me untangling that mess... terrifying! I wouldn’t know where to begin! But like, also. What if I could write this ship in a compelling way. I bet I could do it. Nothing feels as good as the sensation of ‘I have scored points on my own darling readers by convincing them to like something they didn’t want to like’, and usually, I only get that from the second person pov. It would be so hard to write this ship. But also, what if I did it.

#the untamed #wei wuxian #jin zixun #don't judge meeeee #joke's on me #if i do write this i will have to be entirely self-motivating #because i am 99% sure my usual sounding boards will be 1000% uninterested XDDDDD #if i do another bingo document tho....#which i have been considering......#we'll see!#for now we see what my underutilized tag for this is #fic ideas #there we go #long post/

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nomoregoldfish · 3 years

Text

I Promised You The Moon rant

Just binged it and this was from the episode by episode reaction/discussion with my partner in crime @glossyboy.

First of all, Oab stole the show, singlehandedly, which he's not supposed to. I don't think anyone expected it including himself. In the very top post when I searched his name on tumblr, he said this lol

But the truth is he played one hell of "villain" that required a very nuanced performance and he delivered it in a believable and graceful manner. Jai became the catalyst of the entire season and his rather complicated relationship with Teh was the highlight of part 2.

EP 1

From the very beginning it's clear that part 2 is very much a Teh's story rather than a balanced story about two young people's journey as a couple in the next chapter of their lives. It makes me uncomfortable they made Oh-aew clingy and pessimistic without giving him any character development.

The best part is probably the opening scene where they went paper-rock-scissors to decide who's gonna buy condoms. It felt authentic, the expectation, the hesitation, the mischievous act, all fits their characters well. Other times ep 1 was more like two adult kids playing house, literally in an empty giant ass upper middle class apartment.

EP 2

It's great that they poked the femininity vs. masculinity issue through Oh-aew, but stopped right there at the surface. Missed a perfect opportunity to go head-to-head with the controversial topic, start a debate, crush the stigma of femininity, bring something new, be a real game changer of the BL genre, and most importantly give Oh-aew some concrete character development. Part 1 showed us a gay character that's very comfortable with his sexuality and femininity, that's almost revolutionary in Asia, not as a comic relief but a leading role. Oh-aew questioned his own sexual identity once in that bra wearing scene, it's straight out of comfort zone, BOLD, and transgressive. So I expected more from part 2.

That's it? And they're already sophomores? Can't believe Oh-aew's character has been marginalized like this. It's pathetic.

But I love the brutally honest conversation at the end where Teh vented his rage and despair regarding his frustration of acting. He was acting like a dick because he's disappointed, and scared. Teh again was not afraid of showing vulnerability, making the reconciliation very realistic and touching.

EP 3

Dare I say I freaking love ep 3! The unresolved (partially sexual, but not entirely) tension between Teh and Jai was over the roof! And the built-up to their kiss was very authentic, which paled Teh and Oh-aew's much sidelined storyline, including the long anticipated sex scene (still can't believe it happened right after Jai explicitly instructed Teh to do it after the two spent a whole night bonding, like wow! Totally TRANSGRESSIVE and to some extent, kinky.) Teh looked up to the senior, idolized him, wanted to be good for him and make him proud, thirsted for the validation from him, which was mixed with affections. The workshop diary was a brilliant idea to let them open up to each other and eventually bring them close. This was what a meaningful arc of a story looked like. By contrast, there isn't a single moment between Oh-aew and Teh in part 2 that made me go "Damn it's soooooo hot!"

I know Jai/Teh wasn't the endgame but I appreciate the storyline so much. It's a very bold move considering it broke the over-glorified "one true love in one's life" fantasy of its target audience, mostly young cis women. The popular narrative of "you can only love one person through your life/one true love" in romance fictions/chick flicks was totally smashed. And it wasn't written just to stir up things between Teh and Oh-aew, it wasn't a silly fling. Instead, it's meaningful, complicated, natural, and realistic, delivered by nuanced and excellent acting from two young actors. It's hilarious that fans hate Jai with a passion and call him names.

And big news, Jai is bi?! Bravo! He's radiating bi vibes since his first appearance.

I kind of gave up at this point, the season wouldn't do Oh-aew any justice. Like my partner in crime pointed out, the costume design literally threw some "incongruous female fashion pieces" on Oh-aew, made him dye his hair red, without...making any actual point of his personality or his character development. Wardrobe was supposed to make a point in storytelling. Yes, PP wearing pink is cute, and? There's nothing else for Oh-aew. Unfortunately he's reduced to this sulky, crying, and wronged partner in a failing relationship.

EP 4

Oab again was killing it. The tension between Jai and Teh...from the rehearsal in front of Oh-aew to the dressing room pep talk, was incredibly intense and hot AF.

Was it a manipulative relationship after all? Oab was so good at conveying a character with many faces. Jai's a mentor to Teh, also a good friend, their relationship was genuine. He's also ambitious with his own goals, he used, challenged, provoked Teh in a way that benefited them both. It made sense the title of part 2, I Promised You The Moon, was from Jai's script. He promised Teh what the junior wanted the most, a bright future in acting. Teh's unconventional and unspoken feelings for Jai was the best part of the entire season in terms of creative writing, it's complicated, fragile, delicate and completely heartbreaking.

The after talk in the hallway was so well-written. It's funny (Teh joking about playwrights always write about their EXs is gold), intimate yet meticulously controlled, no one lashed out or wept. Both knew what they signed up for and Jai particularly made it clear about his motive and the purpose of the "special workshop" beforehand (or right away.) Yet it's no one's fault that Teh got carried away. He's younger, he's immature, he's more into it, it's totally natural. It's so romantic when Teh's singing karaoke in the bar with Oh-aew, yet he couldn't help but desperately staring at Jai on the floor, knowing he and the man who just turned him down were never gonna happen, they were done, but he's still madly attracted to him and his talent. He fancied Jai, at least the idea of Jai, a playwright, a director, someone knew him better than himself. That hurt beautifully.

EP 5

Teh/Oh-aew endgame at this point was pretty meaningless. Oh-aew as a leading character never got any solid character development over a span of four years. What happened between Jai and Teh wasn't just "cheating", though they surely made it look that way, like Teh's empty promise of "I won't see him again after the show ends". No matter how Oh-aew and Teh eventually reconciled, there's no emotional connection, no sparkle anymore between the couple.

But I knew for a fact they had to. Otherwise it's too much of a risk financially for the series. The creators had to take the easy way out like most traditional romances—one of the most contrived and formulaic trope where the male leading character made a mistake (usually cheating) and realized he's wrong, he deeply hurt the female leading character (Oh-aew was merely a girl substitute in part 2), then he completely changed for hell knew what reasons, started doing every nicest thing in the world to try to "win" the female character back. It has been feeding the emotionally-deprived cis female readers/audience who are frustrated with heterosexual relationship irl for decades. The formula that made romance outsell other genres of fictions combined in the 60s and 70s still sells today, under the name of boys' love. It's pathetic to see Oh-aew confess to Bas that he always "lost" to Teh. Love shouldn't be some kind of game or competition, there isn't winner or loser in love. Love is spontaneous. Oh-aew didn't lose because Teh developed feelings for someone else, and he didn't win when Teh begged him for reconciliation. People change, people move on.

And as predicted, they went for it. The ending was so absurd and tedious.

Overall, Jai's probably the hardest villain to play, he needed to be REALLY GOOD to be "the bad guy", to make his role conceivable. Oab absolutely nailed it with his talent and experience. He's not even my type or extremely good looking yet I'm 100% SOLD. I immediately re-watched the scene of him kissing Teh back hungrily at the end of ep 3 like I used to re-watch Teh/Oh-aew's steamy make out session at the end of episode 3 part 1. Coincidence?

I like some parts of both seasons for the same reason, each challenged and tried to break some outdated/contrived narratives in the BL genre. Part 1 took on the sexuality taboo by showing two same sex characters sexually attracted to each other, no more "I'm not into boys, I just happened to fall for someone of the same gender" or "pure love" bullshit. By staying true to the characters' sexuality and actually showing it with explicit, intense (and beautifully shot) scenes, the gay characters were normalized. They weren't just pure and innocent, no one was. And it created two of most unconventional gay characters in Asian pop culture, Oh-aew, a beautiful boy who's very comfortable with his own sexuality and femininity, not passive at all, taking initiative to pursue what he wanted; and Teh, a sensitive, caring and vulnerable boy who cried a lot, he's confused but also sweet and brave.

Part 2 tackled the "You can only love one person through your life" trope with a very nuanced story of "cheating". Yet neither carried out what they started. Part 1 fell short of a revolutionary piece that stayed true to "adolescent sexual turmoil", dismissing bisexuality and becoming a typical unrealistic BL fantasy in the end. And Part 2, ugh, forced a "happy ending" that almost no one digs. I understand it's extremely difficult and risky to disrupt the established norms of a genre. But sometimes being transgressive and progressive could be the same thing. A story, an artwork, has to challenge something in order to create something new and compelling.

#i promise you the moon #i told sunset about you #ipytm #oab oabnithi #billkin #pp krit #rant post #asian lgbtq dramas #lgbtq #i promised you the moon

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queerenteen · 3 years

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It’s difficult, learning not to hate yourself. To forgive yourself. I find it very healing as part of the story, compelling from both a character and a thematic/metaphorical standpoint.

And I’ve heard a lot of people saying it’s not queer enough, which hurts- they’re both genderfluid and bisexual. That’s queer by default.

Hey anon, I'm going to assume this is regarding the loki meme I put up?

Firstly I wanted to say thank you for bringing up the second point about what is 'queer enough' because I have been itching to write about it for months and this gave me the perfect opportunity.

Secondly, I do not ship Sylvie and Loki romantically.

I think their dynamic is the most important one in the show and your point of it being the most meaningful in the show is absolutely correct. It is actually healing for me personally as well because I have a lot of self-doubts and they sometimes manifest as hatred.

I do not ship them romantically because they are technically, the same person. If the sacred timeline is to be believed, there is only one true Loki (in terms of genetic material).

That means they have the exact same DNA.

For reference, even siblings do not have that--there will be variation. The only people who have the exact genetic material are identical twins.

So yes, having Loki and Sylvie in a romantic ship together does not appeal to me personally.

About your second point that if they were to be in an m/f relationship they would be considered queer?

Absolutely.

While their relationship might be straight passing, both of them are bisexual and genderfluid.

There is no such thing as not queer enough.

If someone doesn't agree with me, unfollow me right now.

Even if there is an m/f ship where one of the involved parties is cishet, as long as one of them is queer--it means that the relationship is considered queer.

There is so much debate even within the lgbtq+ community about this and it makes me so sad.

Hell, even I probably had a similar mindset a while back because of my own internalised biphobia.

I have been wanting to recommend these books with queer m/f relationships forever so here:

Wild Beauty by Anne-Marie McLemore

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens. The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

In Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off. Darcy Phillips: • Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee. • Uses her power for good. Most of the time. • Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham. • Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else. • Does not appreciate being blackmailed. However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back. Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she's not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again. Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?

I'll be the One by Lyla Lee

The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this. Debut author Lyla Lee delivers a deliciously fun, thoughtful rom-com celebrating confidence and body positivity—perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Julie Murphy. Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else. When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho. But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.

I highly recommend that everyone checks these books out--they are very well done, and great reads--some of them are my favourite books of all time.

#the summaries are from goodreads #loki #loki laufeyson #slyvie laufeydottir #queer #lgbtq+#meta #book recs #wild beauty #perfect on paper #i'll be the one #queer m/f romances #straight passing #internalised biphobia

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tigerdrop · 3 years

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4 and 32 : )

4. Link your three favorite fics right now.

the many deaths of lieutenant harry du bois is honest to god one of my favorite fics of all time. its a disco elysium fic about kim kitsuragi being stuck in a time loop and having to watch all of harrys canonical “bad ends”, and i cannot overstate how much i like time loop fics. i adore the way this person portrays kim - hes very difficult to write, b/c part of his appeal is that he has many, many facets that dont reveal themselves immediately, but they all layer together organically like a film of nacre to form one of the most compelling characters ive seen in a long time. its “caretaker burnout: the fic”, which is a delightful (and realistic) take on harry and kims relationship that you rarely see

short street to kicklebury is a discworld fic about a genderbent sam vimes getting married to lady sybil. it matches the tone of the books very, very well, and i love seeing vimes as a tough butch lesbian who is Utterly Infatuated with her wife. im also a big fan of how it actually touches upon the subject of homosexuality in the discworld universe - i think that the tendency is, in modern fic, for people to write gay characters being gay without it having any meaningful negative impact on their lives, which is, you know, fine. i get it. i do it too. but terry pratchett loved writing this constantly evolving world in which prejudices have to be actively tackled, and i think this fic does a great job of hitting that same note

mac and dennis plan a wedding is the best always sunny fic of all time. its incredibly funny to me. its ideal. by now we have established that i am obsessed with fanworks that emulate the vibes of the original series well, and this is no exception. it genuinely reads like an always sunny episode to me, right down to the batshit interplay of homosexuality and homophobia, and it actually has a sweet ending. which these guys really dont deserve. but, yknow, i liked it!

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?

Pain Threshold curls up nice and tight in his belly, crooning in his ear that this is good. He deserves this. An ever-present reminder of his failure… and of Kim’s steady hands at his thigh, stitching and lancing him, Electrochemistry whispers. They’ll be there forever, in a way. There’s no better declaration of love than that.

- from hysteresis

Benrey laughs, incredulous. “what’s wrong with you, man?”

“I don’t know,” he groans helplessly, “I think maybe my mom didn’t get enough folic acid when she had me, or something, maybe there was a chemical spill in the backyard, might’ve eaten too many lead chips as a kid or something—”

- from string theory

“I think I might be bisexual,” Gordon blurts out, while he’s in the middle of enthusiastically hotdogging his very male best friend.

- from rough trade

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harketspetter · 4 years

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Ever since I was a teenager. I have often idolized musicians, and considered them as perfect human beings.

Perfect life. Perfect marriage. Perfect relationships. Perfect children. Perfect house. Perfect everything.

And then as I grew up, reality struck me as usual. It's not as good as I thought.

The artists I have followed - had a significant impact in my life and I have looked up to them quite often. They did not have a perfect life. But strangely enough, that did not diminish my admiration for them.

And that happened between me and Morten Harket.

As I joined the fandom in 2017 , I was exposed to numerous stereotypes and assumptions about the band members. It became more about their personal lives rather than their contribution to music.

What really startled me was general assumptions about Morten. While some of them were accurate, some of them were quite questionable.

Morten was sometimes compared with the other band members with almost every other aspects we aren't supposed to nose around - His social life.

While Magne and Pal were idolized for having a perfect marriage. (Which I'm genuinely happy for ) -- Morten was left behind as he had a divorce and a few break ups. There were also a lot of comments from YouTube and other social media platforms which were filled with comments that were painful for me to read.

He was labled with words such as "womanizer" , "difficult person" and even "unfaithful" which is absolutely not true. In reality -- Guess what? Morten is just as imperfect as we are.

And what really stuns me is the way some people look at him as a less of a human being for just experiencing struggles and unusual hurdles.

I've even noticed how some people drifted away from Morten, the more they began to know him. However, it was the opposite for me. And strangely I don't know why it went that way.

Like Morten said in several interviews pertaining to the attention recieved from his fans - he felt he was being capitalized because of his stunning looks and it has got nothing to do with him personally. He was pressurized to have a perfect image which would support his career. One mistake and it would become a huge scandal back in the 80s.

When he had to end a relationship with Patrice Burke due to undisclosed reasons, things went downhill for him as she revealed uncredited, potentially sensitive information about their relationship. Basically, she committed a breach of privacy and fabricated his narrative on Tabloid media.

Can one possibility imagine the amount of mental pressure a person has to face.. every single fucking day? To be perfect on screen.

He may have enjoyed a certain amount of attention but what really mattered was his mental health . It wasn't given an appropriate amount of attention.

Morten was compelled to bear with it.

The way people perceived his marriage and his future relationships was strangely diverse. Some were sad that the relationships did not last, others began to generalize his character based on that factor - which lead them to say things like " he may be handsome, but he should keep his **** in his place and not wander around" , he's strongly religious and he got divorced? What a hypocrite. He may be a good person to hang out with but he sucks relationships unlike Mags and Pal. "

Comments on the music video of "I'm The One" (featuring a transgender woman dressing up for her day) were also spiralled with comments some of which were frowning on the possibility of him being "bisexual" .

Well, I can only consider that if he comes out as bisexual. Because, his sexual preferences are none of our businesses except for him.

while some appreciated the concept of the video.

According to Morten in one of his interviews "The song is about finding out who you are and that it’s OK to make mistakes in life. A human is a complex being and has to make compromises when interacting with other people. But only if you are honest with yourself and take conscious decisions”

The moment he said that. I began to love him more.

He made me realise how important it is to accept our flaws. We all had imperfect lives, but that shouldn't put us down when me are walking. And if we do have difficulties in doing so - seek help.

There is no shame in acceptance and learning. It is what WE NORMALLY DO. It's the process of becoming a better, wiser person everyday. -- Morten did exactly that.

He had relationship difficulties in the past. He may have divorced. But interestingly, people are in good touch with him , including his former partners and his children. All of them (Morten included) are happy with their respective lives.

In the end, Morten understands himself better than the rest of us.

I think we need to stop assuming things about him, unless we hear it from his mouth. He has been through enough scrutiny from the media in the past and that kinda explains why he's inactive in social media.

Just because he had kids from three women or had failed relationships in comparison to Mags and Pal -- doesn't make him less of a human being. (First of all, let us not compare him with others)

Morten has entered into my life , making me realise the imperfections of life and gave me the confidence to look up to little, beautiful things. He saved my life several times during the pandemic.

I mean, when he sings this line from "Heaven Cast" :-

I'm thankful for the still of night

I'm thankful for the morning light

Thankful you are here, thankful I was there

Thankful that was you and I

These are the words I would want to hear, whenever I feel depressed, anxious and sometimes suicidal.

Thank you, and I love you forever Morten ❤️

We all are flawed human beings anyway and we might as well admit it - understand yourself , accept your flaws , apologize and try to be a better person everyday

#aha #1980s #mortenharket #synthpop #newwave #magnefuruholmen #1980smusic #norway #mortenmonday #norwegians

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captaintroi · 5 years

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CW Supergirl....you should have the courage and conviction to deliver what you’ve set up.

Many of us saw from the first scene between Melissa Benoist and Katie McGrath noticed something immediately…. the amazing chemistry you cannot create. The CW writers saw it too, a fact that influenced their decision to keep the character of Lena longer than originally intended. The incredible portrayal by the very talented actress not only cemented interest in Lena, but also piqued the audience curiosity on where this relationship would go. The similarity in background with both having experienced loss being orphans, built an understanding that was the perfect added touch for a friendship to blossom. They delivered in Lena a complex and compelling character, who had overcome adversity from a young age. Lena is fundamentally good, in-spite of not having known love growing up, and suffering nothing but betrayals. She’s an intelligent and capable businesswoman, a dedicated scientist, and a genius who strives to better mankind having cured cancer, saved Supergirl and the world more than once. (My god! They would have married them by now if she was a man!!). Inevitably with such strong compelling portrayals by both Benoist and McGrath, the writers began playing up to the chemistry. The romantic parallels where blatant, and there was often downright baiting of the fans, with certain dialogue and scenes that were far beyond platonic. It was obvious to anyone truly looking. It was a case of doing one thing by pairing them with others, and then hinting at something underlying in practically every scene they had together. Even station episode promos and television advertisements in other countries started playing up the romantic angle. It was ‘lightning in a bottle’ and it seems it was too much to resist when gifted with such strong chemistry, knowing it was delivering ratings and fans.

They continued crafting this relationship that grew in-front of our eyes, that developed and strengthened season after season through trials and adversity. Their bond just kept getting stronger and their love for each other was clearly demonstrated by how a secret unrevealed caused so much devastation to both, once Kara’s identity was finally out. The emotional reveal by Melissa Benoist was riveting and powerful, and no one can forget Lena’s breakdown in the fortress of solitude, Katie McGrath delivered a level of emotional trauma not easily portrayed. Both are excellent and very talented actresses. As if it wasn’t obvious by now that Kara and Lena’s relationship is integral to the show…. the 100th episode made it abundantly clear beyond a shadow of a doubt! In addition the episode displayed just how much these characters are willing to sacrifice for each other!! If anyone still thinks that isn’t love…. I don’t know how to help you. Which brings us to the crux of the issue with audience disillusion and discontent…. (and we’re not just talking Supercop fans). Many industry reviews and non-shippers alike have seen what is blatantly obvious regarding this denial of the relationship, the CW says one thing but does another. Over the seasons it’s cost them viewers and this season may be the final nail in the coffin. For a show that supposedly says they champion LGBT characters they appear to be in a state of complete homophobic terror at having to deliver on what they have teased for season after season….and in 2020 that is no longer acceptable. What is so wrong in stating your lead character is bisexual? Why is that considered wrong for Supergirl CW, since one of the DC book writers said on twitter, they considered the character to be indeed bisexual.

The fact remains CW have backed themselves into a corner…. they have the impossible task of delivering a character to rival Lena as a fan favourite, and logical love interest. Particularly because into the 5th season it is too late to make anyone believable in comparison. Not to mention the daunting task of finding anyone with that level of chemistry is not simple….in-fact it is difficult because it is rare. You only need to look at other ground-breaking shows remembered for the chemistry of the characters, to see what can make or break your show. Xena was one show were the writers realized the chemistry between their leads and by the end of the show rather than deny it they made it obvious and stated in cannon they were soulmates, even if the romance was only subtext throughout the seasons. However, that show ended 20 years ago and CW have no excuse in 2020. Hence the reason why their actions today could mistakenly appear as though Supergirl CW are just carelessly not caring if they are insulting the collective intelligence of their fandom, by throwing William at Kara. Out of nowhere this forced pairing with no chemistry and completely lacking in any way to make it remotely special, is supposed to be realistic and satisfying?! No……it is not even remotely satisfying or even adequate. Why? Well for starters the character by no fault of the actor, is simply introduced in a very bland fashion, and is just too dull. He also lacks charisma and an interesting backstory. Also frankly the lack of chemistry with Benoist is just awkward. Maybe it’s because he’s another man and she’s newly married…. don’t know but it’s just painful, chemistry cannot be faked it’s there or it’s not. 100th ep also showed what real chemistry looks like, it was there in spades with both Lena and Mon-El. Even in just a few scenes with Mon-El. So yes, that is a huge issue whether they want to admit it or not and reviews are rife pointing this out. Kara cannot be saddled with William this late in the game as the love interest, it’s just completely and utterly anticlimactic. The female Superhero leading a cast of empowered women cannot just settle for the random guy at work!

#Supercorp #Supergirl #CWSupergirl #Superforced

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