#and a lot of it is just obnoxious tropes and stereotypes

[fl0w3rf3mm3-main]

okay the way the fandom draws hobie brown is such an interesting indication into the way subconscious racial stereotypes play into characterization and it's,,,it's just interesting.

now, i spend A Lot of time in this fandom. and something i've noticed a lot of is hobie brown being drawn HUGE. like, they're making mans into a TANK. and he's just,,,not that??

like yeah, he has broad shoulders, and he's tall, but that's literally just most any black teen boy let's be honest. if you look at his actual canonical character design, he is LANKY. and yet everyone is drawing him super buff. now at first i didn't think much of it--people like buff men, and fanartists are always gonna take some liberties (honestly, i love when they put their special little twists on the characters). but as i saw it more and more, it bothered me more and more and felt a lot more indicative of some underlying biases within the fandom.

hobie being mischaracterized and stereotyped isn't shocking or new, but that mischaracterization leaking into physical depictions of him is! not to get too deep into it, but throughout american history*, black men have not been able to protect their loved ones in any way other than physical thanks to slavery and horrid mistreatment within an inherently racist system. thus gave birth to the trope of the big, aggressive black man who solves his problems with his twists. and after that, the big aggressive black man who is actually a sweetheart on the inside, but just has raging anger issues (and probably an abusive father as well).

*im aware that movie!hobie is not american and that not the entire fandom is either, but seeing as a large chunk of it is, and are going to be viewing hobie through an american lense, i think this is an appropriate connection to make. also, african slavery was very much a thing outside of america as well. also ALSO, the rest of the worlds perception of black men is affected by american (and english) views just because of how huge the two countries are within the global landscape.

now, the reason this was even bothering me at all in the first place is because when i first watched the movie, the fact that hobie wasn't overly muscular was super novel to me. i was glad that we got to see a black male character who was strong without taking strength from others, loud without obnoxiously talking over others, violent without being aggressive, assertive without being framed as forgetting this place or naive about the world. in terms of personal experience, it pisses me just that bit more than the last time whenever i hear my father insist to my (very sensitive and emotional) brother that the proper way to deal with any and every problem was by fighting. i was glad my brother (severely lacking in good black male role models) got to see this cool guy, someone you're meant to look up to, who is strong without being ripped and punching all of his problems. that black masculinity is more than how well you can fight.

so, the way a lot of the fandom forces hobie into this box, this preconceived idea of what a black man (or boy, more like, but the erasure of childhood from black kids is a topic all its own) should be, just. sits wrong.

[bushkit]

Soooooo for this MiD rewrite, I might have replaced Ava-

Now I have my reasons for doing so, which I will explain now. First off, I don't like Ava, I find her really obnoxious and frustrating. I know we will only have one season so she can’t develop, and that upsets me a bit. I also find her “anxiety” issues stereotypical, coming from someone who has been diagnosed. Some of her behaviors are relatable, but there's only a few times that I feel like I can relate to her. It feels cheap and forced to me. This is a smaller complaint, but I also don't like her design. She’s just Aphmau but with magenta eyes and a bitchy personality.

The second reason I changed the Mc is because of a massive issue I have with MiD in general. Harems. I fucking despise harems in any shape or form. I think they are one of the absolute worst tropes in media. In most harems the main character is boring, usually they have no personality whatsoever. Luckily MiD doesn't really have this problem, Ava’s personality makes it at least watchable. However, the other much more glaring issue I have with harems are the other characters. They are almost always one dimensional and cliche, and unfortunately MiD does have this problem, especially with the daemos and some other side characters as well (ex: Jake, Lorelai’s friends, Avas parents). I find Harems unhealthy and boring, as it almost always ends with the Mc choosing all potential lovers, or none of them. Its just extremely frustrating to watch. For this rewrite, I need to change the harem into something else, and the best way I can find doing it is to replace Ava. Now I am a huge, huge fan of the “found family” trope, it is far more meaningful and interesting to me. Of course as with all things it can be done badly but I find myself enjoying most shows that use it.

So lets talk about Jaiden! :D

Name: Jaiden Woods Species: Human Pronouns: She/her

Theme song: I made an entire playlist cause I couldn't pick, but I'd say World’s Smallest Violin (Ajr) and Could’ve Been Me (The Struts) are perfect for Season One.

Background: Jaiden is a thirteen year old human girl from a wealthy family in Portland, Oregon. She was originally born in San Francisco, California, but when she was very young her family moved to Portland. Because her parents are wealthy/of nobility, she's used to having a lot of things, knowing a lot of people, and sadly, knowing what its like to be lonely. Her parents run a business, so they don't make much time for her and are often out of the house. So at a young age, Jaiden had to learn how to take care of herself. In what would be season one of this rewrite, her parents have left on a business trip that will last a couple months. So Jaiden needs to find ways to entertain herself and keep her spirits high. But with no siblings and hardly any true friends, its getting more and more difficult.

Jaiden doesn't understand why its so hard for her to make connections with people. She likes to think she's the nicest person ever, she's optimistic, energetic, willing to try new things, and always willing to help others. But the people she's surrounded with aren't normal people who have emotions like she does. They're all grown adults that are all wealthy and stupidly snobby and boring. The school she attends isn't much better. Nobody wants to talk about Anime, animals, videogames, pop culture, or anything Jaiden finds fun. So she finds herself a weird outcast, and outcasts are targets for bullies.

She’s constantly being picked on by bratty rich girls at school and in her neighborhood for her interests and behavior. They are making sure Jaiden understands that bubbly, excitable, and loud people are not welcome in their town. Jaiden tries her best to ignore them and not take it seriously, but over time those words begin to take a toll on her emotionally. Jaiden no longer enjoys learning at school, she's always anxious awaiting for someone to call her a freak again. For most classes, she's picked on even by teachers. Except for her P.E class, more specifically, Track. Jaiden can run very fast, and is even titled with being the fastest kid in her school.

Her excellence in her Track lessons are one of the few things her family and others praise her on. But it isn't all she wants to be. Jaiden truly doesn't want to have a career in Track, or inherit her family’s wealth and business. She just wants to be her own person, and help as many people as she can. This is even why with the money her parents give her, she uses a bit of it to donate to charities. She loves the feeling of being helpful and making people happy, so that is what she devotes her life to doing. Now, if only she had people to help. Jaiden is very lonely, all she wishes is to have people who are not boring “npc” snobs to hang out with. She manages to make some online friends, but they aren't quite enough to fill the hole in her sociable soul.

Until a couple days after her parents left for their business trip, she spotted five cosplayers in her backyard.

Fun fact: Jaiden was originally going to be a Mystreet oc, but I decided to make her a MiD oc because I fell out of the Mystreet fandom. I also think she fits a little better in MiD, especially with the story I've given her.

Y'all will be seeing a lot more about her and her relationship with the Daemos in the future! Bye pookiesss! :D

[n3v3r-trust-th3-living]

And finally....the moment of truth...

So ive been working at a movie theater over a year now and used one of my movie passes to see Beetlejuice beetlejuice and my short review of it?

SPOILERS BELOW

3-3.5 out of 5 or 6-7 out of 10 so good/pretty good like slightly above mid.

But I still liked and enjoyed it a lot, it was fun and I liked the nostalgia fuel being a fan since childhood in the late 90's and 00's and I plan to see it 2 more times, once in 4DX (thank you employee discount). I also have merch put aside for me at work lol

The good

It was fun, well acted, practical effects were great, music was well implemented into their scenes and great choices of music, Catherine O hara stole the show as Delia, sets looked amazing, especially the netherworld iim glad we get to explore more of it.

I liked the jeremy twist (although the hints were kinda obvious to me At least to me). Their parallels to Beetlejuice and Lydia were good and i also felt a parallel between Jeremy and Beetlejuice's teen death rocker alter ego he used to trick lydia from the original unused script, Maybe iits just mee tho.

It is sad to see Lydia become a shell of herr self over the years not tto mention addicted to pills but i think its an interesting way to go especially with her ptsd from beetlejuice, I can see it. (I just wish they used this more as an explanation on her current state and the rift in her relationship with Richard and Astrid as well as as lydia's powers)

I enjoyed the parallels too the musical seeing lydia sort of adopt Charlie's role and astrid be in the shoes that musical Lydia was interesting. Not sure how intentional it was with that or if it was intentional at all tho.

the not so good

The begining slogs a bit, and once we pick the pace up it feels rushed especially during the wedding after the musical number (which Was good), other parts seem rushed too, it feels like a lot going on at once like they pushed multiple ideas for sequels all together which also gave a lot of new characters barley anything to do and made me feel liike they're kinda useless.

I love Delores, im absolutely self shipping with her but it feels like shes just there for eye candy and to be the ficy "other woman" trope.

Willam Defoe's character is fun in theory especially a cocky actor/stuntman playing a cop who died from a scene and is a wannabe cop in the afterlife but in execution he feels pointless.

I wanted to like Astrid more, im glad she wasn't like horribly written, I LOATHE when activist characters especially young ones are written by people who make them unlikable and obnoxious but she felt kinda .... boring sorta like a bit of a rehash of movie and musical lydia (with a dash of cartoon) in one but we only get glimpses into her interests and a lot of it is similar to Lydia even the activist part. And yeah obviously she can share interests with her parents I get she probably got it from them but i wanna know other stuff about her. Although a thing i do like is she is a sceptic while Lydia knows the paranormal exist.

Sorta related to that above there's a bunch oof cool ideas i wish weren't rushed through or they'd explore more.

we also get more netherworld lore which is cool and good but some of it leaves more questions then i had for years with the original.

lastly because this is my biggest Tim Burton beef is that there was still racial stereotypes in the film, he has learned bit over the years with Wednesday but it's still obvious he has some way to go with the Asian dry cleaner and the Soul Train scenes where we see most of the black characters in the film mind you probably the most black people we've seen in any Tim Burton film LOL (speaking as a black fan)

WOW uh I wrote way more than expected lol i have more thoughts but that's it for now, hopefully I will be posting here more in the near future.

[nezumiva]

I assume this will somewhat be addressed in the podcast for Watanagashi, but I've been reading it with a friend(reread in my case), and the first 2 chapters have just been... really bad and pervy? I love the rest of this series, but god this has been a lot, and I know this is not the end of it. How do you deal with it, and address it to new readers?

Yeah...

It is a bit of an ever-present dilemma in Higurashi, unfortunately (and while it improves over time in When They Cry as a whole, it's unfortunately a bit of an issue in a lot of Ryukishi's work). I do think the chapters in and of themselves are very good, to be clear, but those types of jokes do tend to drag it down massively whenever they (however briefly) rear their ugly head. As it pertains to generally recommending the work, I'll get to that in a moment, but first and foremost I think it's just good to know the limits of your friends, if that's the sort of reading situation you're in. For me, and the people I know - we all definitely hate the unnecessary sexual humor, but we all also grew up on a lot of anime and manga, back in the late 90's and early 2000's, which had far less restraint about these things than it should have. Obviously it wasn't good, but while we dislike it, we tend to roll our eyes and muscle past if at all possible. Thankfully, in Higurashi's case, while it is often extremely obnoxious, it is easily ignored in the context of the story at large. That's us, though, and everybody's comfort level for ignoring that sort of thing is different. When it comes to general recommendations, there's just no escaping the huge asterisks you're going to have to attach to the work at large. Like many things I love with less than stellar aspects (problematic stereotypes in One Piece, similarly gross humor in Danganronpa, etc.) there's not often a way to soften the blow of these things for people who wouldn't have been able to power through regardless, and that's completely understandable. (And even if it's less problematic, obviously, Higurashi still has a lot of elements that are difficult to casually stomach regardless, so it does sort of inherently narrow the pool of people you can get into it, lol.) This doesn't really make up for it, obviously, but this is almost doubtlessly a product of the game's release timeline and where it was released, as well. This was a self-published game in the very, very early aughts being marketed to primarily otaku at Comiket. Galge was still very prominent, and while it has thankfully managed to grow beyond the need of being strictly pornographic (and thank god Higurashi never went that far), the kind of sketchy, ecchi variety of shit did unfortunately sell and draw more eyes to a game back then. Given how small 07th Expansion was (they only sold 2 copies of Onikakushi at the time, I believe), I wouldn't doubt they felt the need to shove things like this in to push units. (In a sense, I do think some of the tropes are there to be intentionally subverted. While most people know Higurashi has horror now, they didn't then, so in some respects Ryukishi was ripping the rug out from under people who just thought they were here for a dating sim, but attributing that to every instance of weird shit in Higurashi would obviously be oversimplifying the issue.) TL;DR: Higurashi is definitely a product of its time in many respects, and while I think it is a fantastic story that surpasses its occasional failings with gross sexual humor, that is an unfortunate mark of the time and circles it was made in. It may have been a play to help it sell, or to throw off galge genre readers, or both, but either way it still kinda sucks a lot. That is always unavoidably going to be a huge asterisk when recommending it to anyone in the current day.

[nictelsm]

In addition to my MSPA ideas

Prison Part 2, also known as Jailbreak: Extended Play, is basically a different version of the Jailbreak adventure, including dialogue, animation, narrative shiftings from 1st person to 2nd person between characters, and even interactive pages... IF I CAN CODE THEM. Each stick figure character will be named, and some will look distinct.

This is the "Beyond Canon Mockery" adventure I mentioned on my previous post, also known as "Homestuck: Beyond Fucked Up" or "Beyond Awful." It's a changearound of Beyond Canon's story, with worsened content, but mocked in a self-aware way, has a lot of pop culture stuff, also mocks the controversy and culture around Homestuck, and introduces a character named " The Story Wizard," an obnoxious, plot fiddling, story changing, retconning, King of Town alien who's always here to make the story worse. In this adventure, John actually hates everything around him, probably just me making fun of his descent into depression, wheras in the original comic he's an emo James Rolfe, while here, he's nihilistic.

Freeplay is an adventure with no plot, no story, no gods, no masters, no author, just fun, but a few set of rules. You can do anything you want here. It's the infinite canvas of MS Paint Adventures, with loads of creativity for one simple panel.

There are a trinity of commands, however. NULLIFY will reset everything, REGRESS will revert a command that someone has submitted, and DISORDER will scramble the story you create into random, inconvenient places.

Nepal Silo was an adventure I was thinking about earlier this year. It's about a group of young researchers who live on a cold, snowy landscape, sometimes peppered with aliens and oddities. It's gonna have the same style as Homestuck, but it's not gonna have that "There's a teenager in his room and he shall be named, plus a world ending supergame" bullshit.

I was also planning to give this adventure a Kelly Bailey inspired soundtrack, obviously because of the planned influence from Half Life.

And here is one I dare to create. Adventure Boy! Planned to be an adventure about some kid (oddly looking similar to Zoosmell Pooplord) in a fantasy world that doesn't know him at all. The main, titular character is extremely joyful, almost stereotype joyful, and yet the world he's in ranges from dark to careless. Yeah, it's obviously one big trope made into an MS Paint Adventure, but I don't care.

Another one I'm thinking about is this oddball. It's a story about your favorite spider bitch doing really stupid stuff towards every other troll in the style of a Homestar Runner storybook (See: Sbemail 100 or Homestar Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest). Later in the book, the protagonist redeems herself off of being too mean.

But least could we forget, another project in the making. It's been done before, but we'll do it again. Comedy gold, adequate. Irony, stunning.

SWEET BOR AND HELLA JYEFF VIDYA GAEM DUDES INNERACTIVE COMIC made by ya boy Dave s. with iorny

Yes, I'm doing a Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff adventure. This one is more gaming based than slice of life or adventure. Think of it as early SBaHJ.

There's also gonna be a few new "bros" introduced into this comic. One's with a green shirt whom I call "THAT DUDE," and a pink shirt named "STAN-SO-CASH." Does Geromy count as a bro? WHO KNOWS!

At last, we have this.

An MS Paint Adventures adaptation of Homestar Runner's "Thy Dungeonman." This is basically gonna be a warm-up to everything else I'll do on MSPFA, sort of a practice to see if I can actually work on what I can correctly. I ended up doing Jailbreak: Extended Play first. The command system of Thy Dungeonman would be really hard to replicate in the MS Paint Adventures format, so suggestions will be sent one by one. Or I could just do the Bard Quest treatment.

So uh, BYE!

[yuripira4e]

ur points are fine but do you really have to put an obnoxious anon in the mgs tag talking shit abt one of the few games with gay male rep "made up yaoi" and claiming bb/eva is like a Real Canon pairing and not they fucked one bc eva was trying to get something from him and if you want to talk about women her feelings towards him were clearly a lot more complicated than it just being a ship. virtue signaling is also acting like you have to publicly blog about female characters to show that you care and respect them. also strangeboss WAS very popular, more so when the game came out for what its worth. if you really want to get into the nitty gritty im always pretty disappointed that ppl interpret their relationship as cute mutual attraction and ignore that strangelove has an obsession with the boss that likely makes her an unreliable narrator, which imo isnt a bad thing!! i legit think thats really interesting, zero and bb talk a lot about the boss and her will from the pov of soldiers but strangelove equally puts her on a pedestal imo. yeah thats not a good trope for a lesbian character but again! if you want to get nitty gritty. theres a really clear pattern in the mgs series where only villains are CANONICALLY bi/gay, but theres a lot of heavy handed queer coding among the "good guys"

I agree with you too. I’m sorry for putting discourse in the tag. 1. strange boss is a complex dynamic and as much as I love it it is ultimately from Strangelove’s pov. I think that’s just a reoccurring theme with the boss in general. I mean the entire game is centered around the misinterpretation of her will and everyone taking what they thought she meant from it and warping it to for their own perception. I do think strangeboss was mutual but Strangelove was definitely not healthily crushing on the boss either. I haven’t been in the fandom that long so I actually didn’t know the ship was that popular at one point but you have to admit it does get overshadowed as do a lot of female pairings (straight or queer) in the fanbase

2. I already said I don’t ship bb ships. I love Eva and I think her complex relationship with bb and other characters should absolutely be talked about and I enjoy their dynamic so that’s why I said I liked their relationship but not endgame

3. I do think the made up yaoi thing was kind of rude bc I don’t think it was made up at all (I should have said that on that but I don’t really feel like starting arguments or defending shit). I think the mlm representation in the game is honestly really groundbreaking even if it does adhere to a lot of stereotypes and unfortunately villainize it a lot. But it has multiple relationships and single characters in queer or queer coded mlm relationships that differ in age, ethnicity, dynamic, and backstory which is just insanely cool. From like canonically queer characters like volgin and vamp and I’m gonna say ocelot bc I think pw put him past queer coded and into fully implied queer territory to deep, healthy, interesting queer coded relationships like otasune and even liquidmantis I think it’s amazing and should not be minimized even if it could be improved or there are faults in the way other characters are treated because of it at times which is something every fanbase has. Even other ships that I don’t like have a lot of really interesting dynamics and feelings that are undeniably queer coded and I think we should just look at all of it and enjoy the queer media we’ve been given while being able to critique it and not turn on each other

[alexturne]

8, 12 and 49 for the ask game!! and 50 :3

Thank yoooouuu 😘 I'm stealing your very brilliant idea of screenshotting the questions!

Oh, great question! I actually used to be very inspired by AM songs and lyrics when I first started writing. Having a lyric pop out to me and spark a whole story in my head or a simple line becoming the title of a fic I simply had to write. Hence why all my fics have lyrics as their titles 😎

To answer the question! Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend! I've got a very tiny wip called "keep your charm where i can't see it (and your hands where i can)" because I just LOOOOOVE that line. And it sparks so much tension and temptation and I had the idea of a spin the bottle/get drunk at a house party/accidentally make out with your friend and BOOM find out you feel very differently than you thought about said friend. The whole trying to resist the temptation because it just feels so good but you don't want to ruin the friendship... That kinda thing. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day 😘

Hmm, I don't know if there are any tropes really to speak of that I didn't like.. But I've gotten a lot better at reading scary/horror themed stories. We have so many incredibly talented writers in this fandom who write the most amazing scary stories and I simply had to learn 😂 Even if they still scare me sometimes! I don't really think I'll ever be able to write any myself tho. The closest I've managed is a very brief wip inspired by What We Do In The Shadows, and let's be real, that's really not scary at all 😂

Ooohh. My current wip is... Well, it's really my white whale. The one that keeps me up at night. It's the first milex fic I ever came up with, the thing that really started it all. And it's just. My baby. I love it so much and I've literally been trying to write it for TWO YEARS and it's just the most difficult thing I've ever tried to write. I'm at about 70k at this point and every word is a struggle but I want it done. I don't know if the two years of effort will be evident in the final work so don't have too high expectations please, but it's just so very important and special to me.

It will be called "you've got control of everyone's eyes (including mine)". And here is a small snippet:

Miles just looked at him, as if expecting Alex to say something. But if Miles thought his mere presence alone was enough to rattle Alex, to throw him off his game, he thought wrong! If he thought he could come here and ruffle Alex's feathers and get him all worked up he was sorely mistaken. Alex didn't care! Not one bit. He was cool. Miles had no effect on him whatsoever. Not tonight, that was for sure, if that's what he thought. Alex was calm and collected and all that.

Aaahhhh you made me choose one too 😂🥰

I'll take this cheeky opportunity to talk about question 17, an au I would like to read/write even if no one else will appreciate it..

Because that's the second long wip I've got going at the moment.

I'm writing a high school rivals fic, complete with americanized stereotypes, the hot jock, the mysterious punk badboy, the obnoxious gossipy cheerleaders.. and of course it's just chuckful of cheesy 90/00s romcom teen moments. Something along the lines of movies like 10 things I hate about you, bring it on, good old stuff. I adore it so far and I really hope I'll one day be able to finish it as well! 💅✨

Thank you so much for the lovely questions!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[sapphire-weapon]

I think in general people expect too much from the movies. They aren't supposed to be box office sell outs that make it to the Oscars. In short, "hey, of you're a fan, here's some extra story to play around with" is the goal in my eyes and mostly always has been. I enjoyed DI because I went in expecting a trash fire. The fact thought went into the villain and each main character got their small moment was enough to make it really good. That's it, that's my review, it's fun to watch and that makes it my favourite CGI work.

Even the Rotten Tomatoes reviews for CGI works are a total mess (not that I treat RT as a quality bible, but my point still stands). I mean ffs, Degeneration rates higher than both Vendetta and ID. That's absurd. Even Damnation cane out at 100%. I mean... Damnation's fine but it isn't that good, lmao! If I wasn't a fan of the games, it would've been turned off in five minutes.

In short, RE has never been a meticulously written masterpiece. It's a horror game (... mostly) that often depends on cheesy outdated tropes to move the story along, that's just how the franchise is for the most part. Yes, it can be argued that they're now slowly trying to redo that aspect, but the OG timeline... isn't good. It's enjoyable and fun to analyse and make fun of, but it isn't GOOD. I think recognising that and not expecting a genre changing, award winning writing is a necessary part of allowing oneself to enjoy it.

I like Claire and Jill, I also have to accept that they don't have as much effort put into them as their male co-characters (?). I like Ashley and Ada, I have to accept that they depend on a LOT of really sexist stereotypes. I like Chris and Leon, I have to accept that both (OG at least) are a 90's male-power-fantasy cringefest. Leons clothing choices in Vendetta and Damnation are massive icks by themselves (lol).

DUDE LEON'S DAMNATION OUTFIT LMAO

damnation was the first time i looked at leon and was like "dude you really need a girlfriend, i can't even trust you to dress yourself anymore"

like

every part of it is bad

EVERY SINGLE PART OF IT

THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PART THAT'S EVEN SLIGHTLY OK

his DI look is pretty bad, too. he literally looks like he just rolled out of bed and didn't bother to change his shirt and threw on a pair of jeans

like can we PLEASE get this man a girlfriend he clearly can't take care of himself

sorry i know that wasn't the point of the ask but

LMAO

i think that people expect too much from the OG timeline in general. if you come into the series from remake, i have no idea how the fuck you start digging through OG and don't immediately go "wow fuck this canon i'll just wait for the next new one"

especially if you're a leon fan, like

OG leon and Remake leon are so different

like at their core they're not, but their outward personalities super are

and OG leon is kind of an obnoxious fuckboy

[kandoros]

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

BOTH! Or at least the book and the 1974 movie.

I had a couple problems with this book:

The first is that I like murder mysteries that the reader can solve, to see if you can find the answer quicker than the detective. That's not really possible here; one of the clues was that there's a shop in London called Debenham & Freebody. So when Hercule hears someone come up with the name Freebody, he knows they're covering up for Ms. Debenham. I wonder how many people even when the book was written would have known that tidbit.

But that problem is probably just a personal one of not understanding the genre; I haven't read many straight mystery novels.

The second is that the Train Director's constant racial stereotyping (Italians are all stabbers!) got a little old. I couldn't tell if Hercule was agreeing with him or if he wasn't saying anything in the hopes that he would eventually just shut up.

Thankfully the number of times he did that was reduced in the movie, and it was clearly played off as a joke; a bit of satire that didn't really come through to me on text.

The movie had some truly great casting. Mrs. Hubbard was excellent as playing a woman that was not really obnoxious or rude or that loud, but who you just really, really, hoped would stop talking. Nothing offensive, but just non-stop.

And Anthony Perkins as the guy who wanted revenge for the death of the woman who had become his de facto adoptive mother? I don't know that they could have picked a better actor.

I also watched Dominic Noble's review of the more recent film version and he was right: they made Poirot's mustaches too big and recursive, and where the hell did the Hungarian Count learn kung fu?

My other problem with reading it was caused by the fact that the book had become so famous and generated so many tropes that I constantly felt like I had already read it, even though this was my first Christie book.

I did some digging, and I have read a Timothy Zahn science fiction version which as best I can remember fit the entire story inside Zahn's greater series. And there was at least one CSI Las Vegas show that had a similar premise, where a passenger on an airplane had some medical event, tried to get out of the plane in flight, and the other passengers all killed him.

I also want to say that I've seen at least one other police procedural show, probably another CSI or a Law & Order that even more closely followed the story, where the dead guy had been known to all his murderers beforehand and they were killing him in revenge.

But again, "This book is so good and famous that it's been copied multiple times, by more books, movies, and TV shows than I can remember" is praising with faint damnation.

Finally, what I think is the best film adaptation. Although it might not be a direct adaptation but just that Murder on the Orient Express created so many standard story beats and ideas for the genre than any film was bound to include a few:

Lots of suspects, who all had motive to kill the dead guy

Everyone is trapped in the same location as the body

A limited time to solve the murder before the fuzz arrives

Multiple possible solutions to the murder(s)

There's really only one contender for best film version:

[romilly-jay]

Never Work With Animals (Or - Do? If You Want To? /// Still Trying To Let People Like What They Like... Why So Difficult?)

*** spoilers ***

Sorry, but this one needs to be a spoiler blog because it's a trying-to-figure-out-why blog. I know there's something I'm reaching towards but not quite sure whether I'll be able to express it - yet.

I've just seen 2023's Puppy Love on Amazon and - I really liked it. Not all of it. But tone - YES. Trying to figure out WHY. Like, specifically, what choices did they make that just fell DEAD RIGHT for me?

NB for the title image, I've chosen the cheaty Seattle skyline shot - chosen because I think Seattle is my favourite US city and cheaty bcz a glance at IMDB told me that of course they filmed in Canada. Obvs.

Here's a lil montage of stills from the trailer. Thank you trailer because once again you have more or less all the best bits. Not all. But many.

In no particular order, I liked:

Gender reversing of the main character traits - he's super nervous, she's commitment-shy, he's obsessively house-proud, she's a slob.

They are flawed but not obnoxious. They are both kind to animals. He complains because she stuck him with the vet's bill, but no, next time they meet, she pays him for half of it. She goes out hurt because she thinks he's rejected him and yes, she has too much to drink but she absolutely doesn't make out with the (terrible) rich guy to lose herself or to get back at him. And when she brings Terrible Guy home, it's NOT because she's planning to heedlessly or vengefully make out with him but because she wanted to keep her promise about taking the dogs for a walk. I really dislike the // let's lie / let's be terrible people // "romance" tropes and appreciate that these people were sweet but just a bit broken in sort of opposite ways.

The stakes are not huge but not ridiculous. He's in a spiral after Covid and struggling to make himself go back to the office. He needs to get past social phobia to cope with his ordinary job-life. She is doing the archetypical romcom job (she stages luxury homes) but that job almost never appears on screen - it's given about the right amount of relevance - and what matters more is the path she didn't take (art school) and the reason she didn't take it (bereavement).

After the showdown. They. Talked. To. Each. Other. OMG. Thank you.

[There was a little bit of slightly weirdo editing in the after-they-reconciled section which suggested to me that maybe the order of how things played out was switched around and they didn't have QUITE enough of the right footage in the can to make it 100% smooth. I might be making that up - just a little hint of failing to remember that they'd done the bust-up/move-out/reconcile/back cycle a mere matter of moments earlier (for viewers, that is). ]

I appreciate the carefully chosen in-unison use of the F-word at the climactic moment. They're nice people but they're not pushovers. This felt earned and it showed them being connected and aligned. Worked for me. Lots about this movie worked for me.

Things that didn't work (for me). The male MC's Black BF/boss was IMO written to be trite and unfunny, stereotypical and presumably thankless to play. Gives terrible dating advice but later, this paradoxically seems to work for him. Is constantly warning the male MC that he's about to be fired - but that never pays off. Supposedly he's the guy's manager but the status tells never ring true.

The female MC also has a POC best friend (two, but the second one is really only allowed to be there to fill out the table in the bar scenes). She's under-used but at least better written than her story counterpart and I think there's at least one scene where she's not simply there to talk about men (but, counterpoint, she absolutely never gets to talk about her own life - only her friend's issues...).

Bridgerton - which I stalk from the side-lines as opposed to actually watching - does 1000% better at giving Real Roles to non-white cast (even if the cast world of Bridgerton is still far from fully blended).

Back on the topic of things that work or don't work according to one's own framing / tastes / preferences - personally, I felt an instant, unforced, heart-lift of happiness at the reveal that they've gender-swapped Michael Stirling for Michaela in Francesca's story.

It makes sense to me, it sits well with me, it's a way forward into the story that I actually feel *more* happy with than the original. I'm in no doubt that not everyone feels that way and okay, some people think it's a bad solution. Possibly it's a purist thing rather than a bigotry thing (??) and of course I've never really been able to connect with the pitchforks brigade - like, not just on this specifically, but in general - the Not My [conception of the source character] gang.

Okay, you have a different vision for the story or you'd made up in your head that it would be told in a particular way or - sigh. I'm tired. That's great that you like it to be that way. Let the rest of us enjoy exploring this way of telling the story and if you don't like it - that's really okay. I don't need to insist that you like it. Go, read the book?

Finally, little shoutout to The Guardian for their coverage of B3 pt2. No, they didn't wade into the debate / mudslinging around the hottie topic of Can We Accept The Francesca Storyline Being Queered.

They went for a different hottie topic - length of ahem intimacy scenes. Again haven't watched it, but understand that everyone who follows Bridgerton is aware by now that there's a LONG scene in episode 5-of-8 (i.e. the first of Part Two). Apparently Billie Piper has a longer - of this type - scene in the excellent Everybody Hates Suzie (which I've also - not seen) - although it's, as the cancelled Woody Allen once put it, "sex with someone I love", and the scene lasts as long as it does because it's the framing for a series of flashbacks.

I enjoyed the journo making jokes about their internet search history being trashed forever and the gossipy lil anecdotes about commuters finding out the up close and personal way that this viewing is NSFT (not suitable for travel). More to the point - on the topic I've been *trying* to explore, above - the article defends the Polin sex as being appropriate and necessary to the story. Moves the relationship along. Builds the storyline. Shows C and P learning something relevant about what they mean to each other, who they can be together.

Hmmm, okay, so, retrofitting that idea - I think I have round-about-ed my way into understanding what frustrates me about these sweet lil stories when they DON'T work for me...

The whole point of romcom is two lonely hearts finding solace and satisfaction in each other - I find that for me (personal thing) I sort of need to want those hearts to be happy. I thought I was anti the "chaos girl" trope. I'm not. I'm anti the "this is a terrible person but I'm supposed to hope that they end up happy even if they are obnoxious and psychopathic for 80% of the story" trope.

Unfortunately for my ability to suspend disbelief for 98% of Hallmark-type romances - I can't take the "problem" seriously. Yes, I understand that you are highly motivated to get a promotion. No, I can't really get on board with the idea that throwing a great party is going to be the decider. I think it's more likely to be, you know, meeting your targets consistently. Hitting those project KPIs. Booking the client business (no, not this one book launch - the entire runway). The stakes are too trivial/small but treated as large. Rightsizing the reactions to the amount of action the plot and budget has room for - totally different matter. We want to throw a great party because we're leaving town and it would be nice to leave on a good note. I want to get into college but other options are out there if I don't make it. Am I doing this wrong? I thought Puppy Love got the stakes pretty much bang on. I extra loved that her big work success was almost irrelevant in the overall story arc.

And now we're at the biggest pet peeve - the makes-no-sense misunderstanding that keeps the couple apart for one extra act. Nobody could possible misunderstand the other person in that egregious way (at least, not if they are in fact supposed to be perfect for each other). He's talking to his ex. Perhaps it's innocent or there's a reasonable explanation? She looks sad, so she can't be into me. OMG. Talk. To. Each. Other. Or. Die. Single. My God.

And breathe. Cool, okay. Thanks. Good chat. I learned something.

[colorfulatlas]

I am just now starting to understand how obnoxious and corny chicano mexican rep actually is, mostly with all the faux bilingual shit which is starting to bother me a lot. I still like most rep even the overdly stereotypical or outdated ones like Speedy Gonzales, I do not think they're "harmful" in the way some people think, but the "familia" bullshit is SO corny (I think this is why we HATED Primos... because that trope got old super quick)

[carterkeller1234]

2/14/24: Sailor Moon, Beautiful Fighting Girl, and Girl Power

Sailor Moon: I'm so glad that we get to cover yet another classic piece of Japanese media that has had profound impact on the medium as a whole with Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon. The series follows the misadventures of Usagi, a compassionate teenage girl who discovers she's the reincarnation of a powerful warrior named Sailor Moon. This leads to her having many misadventures and battles with these newly discovered abilities, a stereotypical set up for a manga of this era, but with many more aspects that make it stand alone in its field. What I mean by this can best be identified with how the series handles female empowerment and identity, with it focusing on a teenage schoolgirl that transforms into a superheroine, with that very concept effectively challenging stereotypes and trend that femininity and traits like courage and strength are not mutually exclusive. This emphasis on the ideal of female pride and strength is an extremely significant theme that can be bogged down at times in this medium as it usually follows male characters to appeal to the majority population of male manga readers. Aside from that theme of gender identity and empowerment, the series also explores the standard "shonen" ideals like the themes of friendship and teamwork, the ever-present battle of good and evil, and of course in Usagi's case her story of coming-of-age.

Beautiful Fighting Girl and Girl Power: These were both great reads on the analysis and development of the "fighting girls" genre that is still a strongly followed subset of manga even today. With works like Kill La KIll, Madoka Magica, and many others still providing female role models of strength and courage, alongside female villains, showcasing diversity and a breaking down of walls that females can be more than just love interests or side characters. It's interesting to note the amount of empowerment that is present in Sailor Moon but at the same is still muddied by the sexualization of the female characters, with it being in poor taste as a lot of the main cast is in middle school. So while it is important to note that this manga has been a force of positive change in the roles of females in manga, it still has the same issues that are perpetuated by the obnoxious tropes of the medium.

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

THANK YOU @devondespresso !!

(sorry it took me a while lol but this looks really fun !! also extra perfect bc I just started reading fics again ✌️)

age gap: -1

I don't care much either way. like, it's fine, as long as no kids/teenagers are involved. the negative point is for the one time I opened a sterek fic to see what the fuss was about. derek stalking the hs while stiles dreamt about his beard and chiseled jaw during class caused emotional damage I don't think I will ever recover from.

Codependency: 11

I love me a good unhealthy relationship 👍 (<- obsessed with wuthering heights)

Obsession/Possession/Jealousy: -6

I find it mostly obnoxious tbh. often a cheap way to create unnecessary drama in the relationship. This is a fanfic, you do not need to shoehorn a third act conflict in the end there. Not rated lower bc it can be funny if done right. But still mostly annoying.

Opposites (Grumpy/Sunshine, etc): 7

I must admit. I am a bit of a sucker for that one. extra points if the characters are desperately trying to force themselves back into who they think they were before sth ✨traumatic✨ happened even though they changed too much fundamentally as a person (<- slut for character studies). though it sucks when the author does it (forcing a stereotype onto the Character and erasing any depth just to fit the trope. ew.)

Enemies to Lovers: 8

enemies to lovers >> friends to lovers. I said what I said. the more messed up shit they do to each other before the friendification begins the better. (though I don't like it when the only reason they get together is bc they find each other hot. like damn, your morals so flimsy that one (1) hot ass does it?? like I'm not here to read the five same paragraphs about how the bod is so hot but you can't have it. I'm here for the personality <3)

Sex to Feelings: -7

often accompanied by a bunch of tropes I'm not a fan of. plus not really into NSFW anyway.

Fake Dating: -9

nope. same reason as above: comes with lots of tropes I really don't like. I don't get what is cute about worrying 24/7 whether you are breaking each other's boundaries and whether your relationship looks convincing to the outside (implying a very strict line between friendship and dating and kinda dictating how couples should act? idk this is a completely different can of worms but sth about that just bothers me)

Friends to Lovers: 3

It's fine. Won't actively search it out but also won't stop me from reading. Used to not be the biggest fan but have learnt to appreciate it more.

Found Family: 10000000000+

the media that first got me into fandom was literally fairy tail. the ultimate friendship anime. enough said.

tho none of the nuclear family bs please and thank youuuu<3

Hurt/Comfort: 10

what can I say? absolute sucker

Love Triangle: -9

"guy A and guy A but wearing a leather jacket both want me. not because we have chemistry (or even personality), but because. also they both mistreat me in unique ways and it doesn't count as cheating if they both like me". I don't get it. please stop.

like, oc it's different when the triangle actually has a narrative purpose. but this one's been so overdone even those get a bit of an eyeroll from me at first

Open/Poly: 2

Won't necessarily search it out, but cool when it is in there 👍 The answer to most love triangles if the author wasn't a coward

Mistaken/Hidden Identity: 4

extra points if it is used for comedy purposes (as it should)

Monsterfucking: 7

Look. I am 1000% sure that writing smut is hard and huge respect to ppl who manage to pull it off. however. oftentimes it is kind of boring to me? Like, with monsters there's at least some weird anatomy going on yk? you never know what will be coming (ha!) next. while vanilla is just like. idk. the only thing that comes to mind at the moment are the certified SJM phrases tbh akdjfj

so this is mainly so high bc monster romance supremacy>> (especially if a bit eldritch and a bit weird. which is so fucking hard to find. and oftentimes the monsterfucking is just part of it. can be a bit annoying when I want the monster to be *romanced* but there's only fucking. so like, the true 7p are actually for the monster romance, I still don't care much for nsfw

that being said

TMA I WILL FOREVER LOVE YOU FOR HAVING THE MOST HEARTWRENCHING MONSTER/CREATURE ROMANCES. LOTS OF THOSE EVEN WITHOUT THE FUCKING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AMEN)

pregnancy: -9

not really a fan. idk how to properly articulate this but like. especially when the pregnancy is only used as a plot device. and the child isn't really seen as a person yk? like. if you decide to keep it. that is a whole-ass human being u putting out there into the world. what the heck.

second chance: -9

I'm way too anxious for this trope lol

slow burn: 2

cool 👍 can sometimes be a bit annoying when you want to see them established all you get are slowburns that *end* when they get together. idk will not dissuade me but will not make me click on it either

soulmate AU: -4

not a huge fan of the ideas of soulmates in general. can't rate it lower bc I *have* read some absolutely banger soulmate fics. however I think the reason it worked is because I am already familiar with the characters and their dynamic from canon/other fan works/etc (and also because they were all oneshots) I can't see myself picking up like a book with this trope (or similar stuff like "fated mates" or sth. not my jam. kinda boring.)

@ty-bayonet-betteridge @rinn-e @ashpkat @flipflapyoutwat and anyone who wants to ig?

Trope rating game

I'm so late but I love these! tagged by @zerokrox-blog ❤️❤️❤️

rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic? -10 -> very dissuaded 

0 - don’t care either way 

+10 -> very enticed 

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.  Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Age gap: 0

Definity depends. I don't seek it out but anything like 10 years or less doesn't freak me out too bad.

Codependency: 10

I love it so much it's ~embarrassing~ But I think thats the funny thing with what I write and what I like in fic in general, it's almost all stuff I'd hate in real life?? What does that say about me?

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: 10

See above!

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): 2

I don't seek it out persay but its almost always cute as hell.

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: -2

I'm such a true love/fluff addict, I usually dont got the patience. But I have seen sooo many good fics with that trope though, I respect the writers.

Friends with benefits: -2

Just say you love each other already jesus christ 😭😭 (Did I mention I have no patience??)

Sex to feelings: -1

See above

Fake dating/relationship: -1

Same ish with friends and benefits! I'm such a baby gee wiz.

Friends to lovers: +2

It's cute!

Found Family: 10

Love it soooo much. Adore, adore, adore, adore!

Hurt/Comfort: +5

The guarantee of comfort, always gets me going.

Love Triangle: -10

Make em all fuck or get out of my face honestly.

Poly, open relationships: 0

Eh, I like reading the occasional like closed poly relationships or threeway but open ones just dont get me. Maybe because of bad experiences?

Mistaken/hidden identity: 3

I like them....the stupidier it is the better and no i do not know why!

Monsterfucking: +10

Yeahhhhhhhhh, I'm a fan. Definite fan. Mega fan.

Pregnancy: 5

Omegaverse or not, I like it. Which again. actual pregnancy is one of my top 5 fears. Whats up with that?

Second Chance: 0

Eh, don't look for it don't mind it. Im such a little bitch with angst it's not even funny.

Slowburn: 0

Can take or leave.

Soulmates: +5

It's cute!

Tagging with no pressure! @spectrum-spectre @letscrank @devondespresso @jjoesjonas @pearynice @heavenlycrashes @henderdads @hammity-hammer @homosexual-having-tea

[llycaons]

okay I’m going to watch the shadow and bone show at some point. not because I care very much about any of the books anymore I just love to study creative adaptations

[funkymbtifiction]

In a recent ask you said "Being artistic and sensitive is not 4". Can you please similarly say what's something people constantly get mixed up about each dominant function? Like I constantly see Fi doms described as artistic and sensitive, but is it really an IxFP thing or just a general human trait? Also: I wish you the best on your new ventures and thank you for all the work you've done for the typology community, you'll be missed 💐

Hmm.

Fe-dom: [stereotype] "unselfish." While EFJs usually care about their larger impact and reputation, they are not nicer to people or less selfish than any other type -- they can be selfish and want their way. It varies between EFJs. You will meet a lovely one who is so sweet and words things so carefully to avoid hurting your feelings and lets you "be," and then meet an EFJ who pushes their values off on you, and thinks that they can say whatever they want and it's all "okay" even if it's hurtful to you.

Fi-dom: [stereotype] "selfish." Yes, Fi-dom is self-centered, as in, their sense of everything is centered in their inner lens, but this does not make all of them exhibit what society calls "selfish behavior." The stereotypes about IFPs not being considerate of others are erroneous and cause many IFPs to mistype; IFPs can spend a lot of time and effort being a "safe space" for other people, and trying not to hurt their feelings (because they wouldn't want their own feelings hurt). As with the above, you may meet an IFP who is highly considerate of you and your feelings, or you may meet one who says what they think, without concern for whether it will offend you or not.

Te-dom: [stereotype] "workaholic." Yes, ETJs love to get things done, they are highly organized and motivated individuals, but the workaholic trope comes from very specific Enneagram combinations rather than is standard for all ETJs. Many of them know when to go out with friends, go home, etc. Another stereotype is not caring about people -- they care a lot, it's just that their brand of helping their loved ones tends to center around how to find solutions, as opposed to just crying with someone. As with the above examples, you will find an ETJ who cares a lot about their employees and does not want to fire anyone, and finds workarounds to keep them on staff even though it is costing their bottom line, or you will find one who only cares about the bottom line.

Ti-dom: [stereotype] "obnoxious, argumentative, hair-splitting." Not every Ti-dom is "Sherlock." Many of them just want to do their own thing, and for things to make sense. And not all of them are inventors or mechanics, either. Some of them are artists, actors, or writers. They can and do understand how things 'work' and want to make sense of them in their own mind, but not all of them are gifted in innovation or technology or in building an airplane from scratch. Some of them will be obnoxious and hammer people for their bad logic, but others don't see the point in trying to change your mind.

Se-dom: [stereotype] "party animal, shopaholic, unfaithful." Yes, they are energetic and outgoing and can do a lot in a day, but not all of them enjoy excess socializing, care about their wardrobe, or can't keep a relationship going due to a roving eye. Se is about hands-on learning and opportunism, seeing a good thing and going after it, rather than a certain set of expected behaviors. Some ESPs will work at things (including relationships) and others will "skip out."

Si-dom: [stereotype] "remembers everything." No, they only recall what is of specific interest to them, such as their favorite author's books or hairstyles from the 1950s. They don't have better memories than anyone else for generic facts and daily remembrances. Another stereotype is having no interest in trying new things -- wrong, some of them hate new things and some of them want as many experiences as possible to build their collection of memories or internal experiences.

Ne-dom: [stereotype] "can theorize about anything on the spot." Yes, if it interests them, but if it doesn't, they won't generate any ideas related to it. They are not automatic idea-machines, they need something to bounce off of and inspire their creativity. If they deprive themselves of those things (books, movies, music, etc), then their creativity can get stifled. They also don't have a thousand ideas in their mind all the time; rather, once they start working on and thinking about something, ideas "occur to them" along the way. Some ENPs have way more of a busy mind than others (7s).

Ni-dom: [stereotype] "mastermind." Not all Ni-doms have a life plan or know what they want ten years down the road, but all of them have a future focus, tend to get strong impressions and/or instincts about where life (theirs or yours) is headed, and they trust their insights. But they are not all evil masterminds who plan things down to the smallest detail; their mind is more impressionistic than that. And yet, there will be occasional "genius" INJs who do just that.

[bookshelfdreams]

BOOKSHELF. Please give me your thoughts on Mary's glow up!!! I was particularly struck by how her liberation was expressed in her costume, personally

I mean, you basically said it already XD No but I love how Mary is given so much characterization and character development with so little screentime. Like she could have just been the nagging wife stereotype but they gave her so much depth and treated her with so much kindness, she's one of my faves (this show LIVES on deconstructing bad character tropes I love it so much)

Anyway.

Like you said, her costumes express her liberation, but more specifically, imho, express how she felt just as trapped and held back by societal norms as Stede. I swear, if they could have had just 1 honest conversation, they would have been the best of friends XD

Throughout all the flashbacks and bits of backstory, she looks - well. Pretty much what you would expect a woman in a vaguely 18th cent costume movie/show to look like (pls don't expect me to say anything abt historical accuracy XD).

(love that expression<3)

It's really trivial, but costume design is part of character design. A character's costume should be a part of their story; it should tell us something about them, or at the very least make them recognizable. This though? What is going on here. This is just a random assortment of costumes. There's no cut, no colour family, no type of fabric that's a constant here. It looks like they just went into the studio's prop room and picked out whatever seemed vaguely period-appropriate. The only recognizable thing is her hair, and I'm half convinced this is just so we (the audience) have any chance of remembering who she is at all.

That's not a criticism of the costume department at all. I actually think it's quite impressive they made the wardrobe for a single character seem that disjointed, without it veering into obnoxious territory. Like it's not that obvious, but once you see it, it really stands out.

It's not fun. She's dressed in what is deemed appropriate and what is expected but none of it is an expression of herself. She's trapped and stifled by her wardrobe, not because corsets are bad or whatever, but because this aristocratic frippery isn't what she feels good in. They took great care to make her wardrobe as bland and characterless as possible and it's great.

And it's why the change in ep10 hit me over the head as much as it did.

There's a lot that could be said about it here - the hair, the shirt-and-skirt look, how "glowup" in her case means "let go of the need to make yourself pretty" - but all that really needs to be said (and why I chose these screenshots specifically): Look at her. Look at her in a crowd.

She sticks out now. She's recognizable. She has her thing. She looks comfortable in a way she never did before.

She finally feels like she can be herself, and let others see herself.