#and i did enjoy it!!! plenty of the characters were awesome

[heatmiiiiser]

Ggrrr I wish disenchantment was better. I binged it all because I'm sick somebody talk to me about this.

[iamadequate1717]

Stede's Strange Day

I want to talk about Stede Bonnet's very strange day. Let's look at the progression of just what Stede sees.

He spends the night with his boyfriend for the first time, and his boyfriend brings him breakfast in bed like Doug did for Mary. They talk about their reunion. Stede is very happy right now!

His boyfriend tells him that he envisioned him as a beautiful merperson and that he thinks he saved his life.

They get dressed, and they go out on a breakfast date on the town. Stede tells Ed about the letters he wrote, and Ed loved that!

Stede then discovers he has a fanclub! Ed laughs and is happy for him! They're going to go down to Jackie's so Stede can enjoy this some more!

Ed throws in some light banter/teasing about this turn of events, and Stede literally squeals before they run off giggling together.

They get to Jackie's, and Ed continues to encourage Stede!

Ed leaves him to it! "Enjoy the night" are his parting words.

So Stede enjoys the night!

He's being accepted! And he still talks about his boyfriend while being fawned over!

Everyone tells him he's awesome! He offs an assassin while saying something cool! No one is making fun of him!

After a bit, he goes to find Ed to share in his fun! He's had a great day.

Only, he's immediately met with this with no context: Ed regrets being with him! Ed is leaving immediately!

Remember: Ed's last words to him were "Enjoy the night!" This is complete emotional whiplash. Stede knows right away what the problem is, but Ed shuts it down.

Ed wants to be a fisherman! A proclamation completely out of the blue! Stede tries to talk him down. That fish wasn't so awesome that it should completely change Ed's life trajectory, casting Stede out of the way.

Ed disagrees and abandons Stede with no real explanation or listening to what Stede was trying to say, which isn't a great move for a healthy relationship.

Basically, Stede spent a few hours (only a few hours!) enjoying himself (in a manner that Ed encouraged him to!). He did nothing awful (because murder is cool in this show), and was a lot tamer than what Ed and company were doing in 1x8 (turtle vs crab is mean!).

I'm going to go more into Stede defense in another post. "Last night was a mistake" is an egregious phrasing to use with the man you love who has self esteem and trauma issues (we know what he means but it can be interpreted much worse), but Stede took it in stride. But for some reason people act like Stede committed war crimes with the fish comment? Ed sharing his day and Ed excising himself from Stede's life are different contexts and the fish is viewed differently in each lens. It was an OK fish, and Stede did nothing wrong. Stede is right that Ed is a coward, and I don't think Stede saying a few slightly harsh things in the heat of the moment when being blindsided like this is a character flaw.

Ed behaved appallingly in shutting down the conversation and refusing to even give context to what was going on. With 1x9&10 and Stede deciding Ed was better off without him, I saw plenty of comments about how Stede couldn't make a major life decision for Ed like that. With this, Ed has made a major life decision for Stede (I'm going to dump him and remove myself before he can choose piracy over me!), but I have yet to see the same comments, and I know exactly why that is.

...

More Stede defense!:

[physics-of-one-piece]

Okay, I wanna get sth off my chest.

It's about Discord, and why I can't join any OP fandom Discord (yet). I will one day. For now, I think I'd be a bit overwhelmed if I do join.

First thing I want all my mutuals, followers and everyone to know is that everyone here is amazing. Genuinely. You all are awesome.

I can't join Discord for OP fandom yet because of the bad experiences in another Discord in another fandom. They weren't FULL BLOWN bad experiences, but damn, did they make me annoyed.

In short, my friends from that fandom watch One Piece. And they were great and supportive, and we have a thread for One Piece in that Discord server for ourselves. Those friends did not spoil anything for me.

And then I got to Dressrosa, and I typed a lot about Doflamingo cus I loved him more and more.

But my friends... They hate him. Okay, that's fine, I can ignore that. Surely if I respect that they hate him, they can respect that I like him?

(the answer to them for that was no)

They were like "just wait till you see Law's backstory with him, you'll hate him then" etc etc. And that was fine, okay.

Saw Dressrosa Takeover, saw Law's backstory. I mean, yeah, that shit is dark, but what do you expect? It's Doflamingo.

They wanted me to hate him. And after that, after I didn't hate him, but liked him even more, with every damn time I wrote something I consider awesome from Doflamingo, they switched to insulting the character I like.

I never go insulting characters they like, but god they kept doing it for Doflamingo. I got tired of it and just stopped talking about One Piece overall with them. Even with fics I wrote in the "writing thread" they nitpicked them, said "that wouldn't work like that, etc etc" and just... Killing the fun of it? Like... What the fuck.

I want to make clear, these were individuals. Other people were cool with it and ENCOURAGED it.

And of course every time I go "I love Doffy" these individuals come up with an insult for him. So yeah, I dipped. They couldn't respect my like for a character and not be at least considerate enough not to talk shit about him. At first, fine, but it started getting overbearing and fckn annoying. Like, a lot.

I hate plenty OP characters but I would never, EVER think of if I see someone enjoy that character of bashing that character, little less on their thread/Discord/tumblr blog. It would NEVER even cross my mind. Why the hell would I want to do that to someone? Hell, I'd ENCOURAGE them to continue enjoying what they enjoy. Bcs if a character makes you happy, and makes it fun, then why tf would I ever try to ruin that for someone?

It just makes me sick how these individuals (who I still consider friends, I don't think they genuinely meant it to come off as them trying to police me or anything, they said it was getting annoying but like he's one of my fav characters of course I'll talk about him a lot that's what you do with favourite characters they don't go on a rant if I rave about Luffy or Law or Cora) were actively commenting how I shouldn't like this character like it would make me like him less?

Sorry I like interesting, evil, demonic character with an iconic laugh and who is one of the top five antagonists in the most popular manga and was in Top 20 characters in the popularity poll? Like... Wtf.

Anyway, yeah... That's the reason I made this blog (there were 100% other reasons like being a nerd and calculating One Piece things 🤣). I needed a safe space to simp over Doflamingo, the Donquixote Family, Dressrosa and everything. And I'm genuinely so happy to have met fellow Doffy fans on here.

You all are great. Thank you for making this a safe space for me and for enjoying and encouraging my Doffy insanity, and for writing and drawing such amazing fics and art of Doffy and everyone else from Dressrosa.

I feel weightless on this blog, free to enjoy the Heavenly Demon and simp for him and discuss him as much as I want with everyone giving their thoughts and encouraging it.

I'm FREE.

I'll join those Discords one day. Thank you all for keeping the invites open.

[beemochi-art]

Thoughts on the transformers one movie?

Me? you wanna here my thoughts about the TF one?

SURE!!

First off the movie looks amazing, the ost is incredible, the voice acting is pretty good and the writing is Awesome! The pacing a little fast, the story movie kinda quickly which is fine, I’d rather have a fast movie then a slow one.

You can tell the actors really cared about this movie, I have never seen actors get this much into the marketing for anything! Brian Tyree Henry did an amazing job for Megatron, by far he was the best.

There was plenty of action! The fighting and weight of the character was great, you can tell they were really hitting each other hard. This movie had a lot of love put into it. Incredible watching experience.

D16 was the star of the show! In my opinion at least! They were able to capture the innocence and the loss of that innocence really well. The slight character tics also didn’t get past me and did a lot to add to the emotions the character were showing.

I loved this movie, and I will be watching more as soon as I can! I accidentally missed that end credits scene. We were just too excited and wanted to talk about it!

!!SPOILER REVIEW!! ⬇️

Alright! This movie fulfill something the fans have been asking for year for. The Orgin of Optimus prime and Megatron on the big screen. We all knew it was going to be a tragedy! Whether you ship Megop or not, we can all appreciate the loss of someone close, when we think we know someone but then seemingly out of nowhere, they flip. But I assure you, the flip was not out of no where.

But before I get to the main two I want to talk about everyone else first.

ELITA AND BEE

Sorry Oplita fans, Elita is on a path to get that promotion and get that bag! Elita is in fact a mean boss babe, but that not all she is. She is a strong and determined worker. Even tho she is one of the lower classes bots she does everything with a sense of pride, no matter what she’s doing. She cares a lot, her gruff and aggressive attitude may try to hide it but I see past that. Although she really didn’t have an arc to her character you know? Idk I might have to watch it again.

Bee is the goofster to the group. Very cute and very funny. He really didn’t have an arc either and I wish he did. Bee was mostly there to serve as the comedic relief. And honestly I think we all needed. He wasn’t ever too annoying or obnoxiously stupid. I very much enjoyed him!

Sentinel Prime

God what a fantastic villain he was! Kinda sad he died. I always knew Dee would kill him. He was just as pompous and trashy diplomat as I hoped. Such good lines from him. He died like a dog and couldn’t be happier. We didn’t get to see his alt mode which made me kind of sad. He’s like a mega church pastor! They are usually secretly evil. Him turning the tides of the battle with the primes is something else dude.

ORION

Oh god here we go. His character was just fantastic! I’m really happy we are getting an origin story. His personality being the adventurists, rowdy, troublesome questioner is so cool! And such a big contrast to the usual iterations of Orion pax. He’s stray kitten coded. His young age makes him optimistic, selfish and naive. It also causes him to mistreat Dee; having the best intentions of course, even tho he completely disregards what Dee feels. It started off as him just wanting to be seen and help his people to everything quickly getting out of hand and him losing his best friend. I’m sure he regrets making Dee participate in that race. His issue just being childlike innocence and being self centered.

DEE (aka Dean. Aka Megatron.)

Oh god y’all aren’t ready for this one!

Dee starts off as the goodest boy. Will of whimsy! But like most villains all it takes is one bad day. Oh Dee you poor thing. If robots could cry he would have like four times in this movie.

Good Christian boy. Followed the rules, didn’t ask questions and had unwavering love for the Primes. Megatronus and Sentinel being the big two.

It’s cool to think of Dee eyes being a dead giveaway to how he’s feeling. Betraying him even in the final scene.

“NO, I WANT TO KILL HIM!”

This part! This is my favorite part of the whole movie. Dee had the audience full attention. The desperation, sadness and anger in his voice. Fantastic! As D16’s friend, this needed to be addressed immediately. But I can understand Orion not knowing what to say or how to comfort him, cause as a kid yourself what do you even say to that?? Orion always knew something was wrong, he was the questioner, but to Dee this was his life. To Orion, Sentinel Prime’s betrayal wasn’t that deep. But this was Dee’s life, he followed them without question, just to see his hero struck down in cold blood. His anger is something Orion can’t comprehend, he never knew he had that in him. I think Orion could probably right this off the first time but it wouldn’t be that last time D16 would start scaring Orion.

I’ve always heard people describe Dee has flipping his personality. There is no flip. Dee is deceptively passive. His whole life has been flipped and need Orions support. But sadly that moment would never show up. I don’t even think Orion would know how to go about it since he was so focused on his goal. My mom said Orion was a bit irritating because  he couldn’t properly read his friend.

At first I thought he had carved this into himself. Which is bad, really bad. But I think Sentinel doing it to him actually makes it worse. He hasn’t just mutilated Dee once, But twice. He took something he liked, something that was special, something that was a symbol of him and Orions friendship and made it cause him pain. It’s like the last of his innocence being taken away from him.

So when he was trying to kill Sentinels and Orion was holding him back he said “He needs to die.” And that last part sounding so emotional hits so hard. He loved Sentinel. You can hear the hurt and sadness in his voice for megatronus prime, sentinel the other miners, but mostly for himself. And almost all that hurt Orion had to say “you’ll be like sentinel.”

Oh brother that was no the move. Immediately upon it being compared to sentinel by his best friend, the rage returned. Blinded by his rage he accidentally shot Orion.

Finally we have Megatron. Bro is on his Kratos arc. Sentinel was driven by greed. Megatron is driven by his hate and anger.

This by far the best transformers movie. I think ever.

[cozage]

Hi Coza.  How are you?  I’m so happy to see request open again!  Also wanted to let you know I LOVE The Daughter’s Return and the headcanon where some of the boys teach their partner how to fight!!!  Can I please have a Zoro x female reader, where the reader is saved by Zoro and joins the crew (idk what job or dream she has but it could be anything).  Zoro decides to teach her swordsmanship so she is able to defend herself.  I don’t know if any of that remotely makes sense.  But thank you and can’t wait to see it!! 💙🤍

A/N: HI FRIEND MISS YOU HOPE ALL IS WELL AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS LOVELY DISH OF ZORO Characters: Zoro x fem reader CW: Illusion to some spicy activities but nothing crazy Total word count: 1.1k

Sword Skills

You would’ve died if that green haired swordsman hadn’t stopped those men in the alleyway. They had cornered you, and suddenly he appeared out of nowhere to save you. 

And then he was gone again, racing back the way he came.

“Hey! Let me repay you!” you shouted. ���Please! You just saved my life!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the man said, still walking briskly away from you. “I just took out some trash.”

“Please!” you begged. “Let me repay you! I have a sushi restaurant, let me make you a meal!”

That made him stop. He looked back at you curiously. “Got any booze there?”

You nodded. “Please, let me try and repay my debt.”

He sighed dramatically, but he turned and walked to you. “Lead the way.”

Ten hours later, he was still sitting in your shop. You had closed down early and the two of you had exchanged stories and laughed the entire night away. 

“It sounds like you have amazing adventures,” you said wistfully. “I wish I could do something that exciting.”

“Join our crew,” Zoro offered casually, taking another swig of alcohol.

You gave a dry laugh. “I couldn’t do that!”

“What’s keeping you here?”

You didn’t have an answer. You had no family, the job you worked was menial, and even the place you lived in was far too small for how much money you paid the owner. You had a few surface-level friends, but Zoro now knew more about you than any of your friends did. 

“I can’t fight,” you admitted. “I wouldn’t have anything to offer the crew.”

“Yeah right,” Zoro scoffed. “You can make sushi. You can prepare drinks. You can do plenty of things.”

“But I’d be a liability in fights. Which happens a lot in the pirate world.”

Zoro’s eye twitched in irritation. “You don’t have to be strong to be on our crew you know.”

“But I don’t know anything! Did you forget earlier today?”

Zoro clicked his tongue in disapproval, but he had to admit you were right. “Fine. I’ll teach you.”

You scowled at him in confusion. “Teach me what?”

“How to fight. Let’s go pick some swords out tomorrow before we get on the ship.”

“I’m not carrying around three swords.”

Zoro chuckled. “You couldn’t handle three swords yet. I’ve trained my whole life for three swords. With you, we’ll start with one.”

You nodded in satisfaction, a smile on your lips. “My flat is just upstairs, if you want to stay the night.”

Zoro shrugged. “Probably better for me to stay. Don’t know how to find my way back to the ship otherwise.” 

You were going to offer him the bed, but by the time you made it and went back out to the living room, he was already asleep on the couch. 

The next afternoon, you were staring at a giant ship with a lion-sun figurehead. 

“Ready?” Zoro asked. “You’ll just have to ask the captain, but Luffy is pretty accepting.”

You nodded, and the two of you walked onto the ship. 

You instantly found Luffy, the man Zoro had said was the captain. 

“Hi Luffy, I was wondering-”

“Who the hell are you?” the captain asked, looking at you with big, black eyes.. “Are you here to steal our stuff?”

You were taken aback by his question, and it took you a few moments to respond.

“Er..no. I was hoping-”

He cut you off again. “Awesome! That’s good. So, do you wanna join my crew? I’m going to be the King of the Pirates!”

He was direct, you had to give him that. 

“I would, actually. If that’s alright with you.”

Luffy broke into a wide grin. “Awesome! Nami and Robin will be excited to have another girl on the ship! Welcome aboard!”

And then he wandered off, as if nothing had happened. 

“Told you it’d be easy.” Zoro had a knowing smirk on his face. “Ready for your first lesson?”

“I suppose.”

“Alright then,” he said. “Raise your sword.”

You tried. You had to grip it with two hands, and it was surprisingly more heavy than you anticipated when you swung it. 

“The weight distribution always surprises people,” Zoro explained. He walked over to you, slightly adjusting your grip and your stance. 

“There, try that.” He took a step away from you. “Give it a few swings.”

You swung a few times. You had to admit, this stance was easier, but it was still extremely draining. 

“We’ll work up to a real sword. The next time you touch this, it’ll be a thousand times easier. But remember that feeling. Remember that struggle.”

And then he swapped your real sword for a fake, wooden sword that was much easier to swing. 

He trained you hard, but he also made sure you understood why you were doing certain exercises. He explained what muscles you were working, showed you what moves you would be able to do, and always gave the reasoning as to why a workout was important. 

He was good at this, explaining how things worked and why muscles need to be built. He worked you hard; only stopping when you collapsed with bruises littered across your body. 

But he carried you back to bed every night. And eventually, he started carrying you back to his bed every night. The two of you would sleep intertwined, bruises and cuts intermingling with one another. 

Some nights, he gave you another kind of workout, the two of you training all night long and sleeping all day. It was a trade off you were happy to do, though you often ended the night with far more bruises than you started with. 

Other night, he whispered sweet nothings into your ear, caressing your body as if it was the most delicate thing he had ever seen. This was the duality of Roronoa Zoro, and you loved that you were able to see both sides of him like this. 

After a month of various training exercises, he handed you back your sword. 

You were hesitant to take it. You didn’t feel ready. You were still the same girl who would get beaten in an alleyway, weren’t you? Surely you couldn’t have progressed that much. But you could see the confidence in Zoro’s eyes, urging you on. 

You grabbed the hilt and swiftly pulled out the sword, ready to start your next phase of training. 

[naughtygirl286]

So yeah this week we went to see the new Planet of the Apes movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Now there might be some spoilers below to you have been warned.

First off I was kind of surprised that there wasn't any cups or buckets or anything for this I thought there would be but I was wrong.

anyway as for the movie itself I was excited to go see this being I have seen all the "Apes" movies and we recently gotten the original 1974 TV series and animated series so I'm looking forward to watching them being I never seen them before, but like I said I enjoy the movies especially the recent Prequel Trilogy that started with Rise of the Planet of the Apes I thought those movies were excellent but anyway about this one like I said I was excited to go see it although it wasn't what I thought it was going to be about.

This one starts with some opening text that kinda quickly describes the previous movies and sets this one up and it opens pretty much where War for the Planet of the Apes ended and you witness the funeral for Cesar but after that scene you get a time jump where it says something like "Many generations later" and I did have to look up kinda the time frame of this movie and on many sites it ways close to Three hundred years have past from the death of Cesar! I original thought this movie was going to be about Cesar's Son but its not it is actually about a young ape name Noa and his group who are falconers and they call themselves the "Eagle Clan" and the journey that he goes on to rescue his people from an megalomaniac Ape named Proximus Caesar and how finds out the world and its history is much bigger and more then he would every imagine

Now there is nothing wrong with that new characters means all new stories and we are introduced to plenty of new characters like Raka (played by Peter Macon) who is like this disciple of Caesar who is spreading the gospel/word of Caesar. Thats right Caesar has become like this almost mythic religious figure that right he is "Monkey Jesus!" lol but seriously though he one who knows alot about the "time of Caesar" and the one who first starts teaching Noa of the world beyond his village and I really liked the character of Raka I thought he was a little weird, interesting and funny and I was kinda sad when he dies because he felt like an important character and important to the story but I also feel that his death wasn't in vain because it motivates Noa.

Another interesting new character is Nova aka Mae (played by Freya Allan) who is the main Human character and she is special being she is highly intelligent and can talk!! unlike the other humans in the series I was surprised just as much as Noa and Raka where in the movie but I believe this is because she is completely immune to the Simian Flu which is interesting on its own and she has a very important mission throughout the movie in which Noa helps her with and in turn she helps free his people. I did find her an interesting character also while watching this I was watching her and I was thinking maybe she could play the new Live Action Lara Croft? That is what was running through my mind maybe it was partly because of how the character was dressed? What she wears in the movie makes her look very similar to the 2013 Lara and I was thinking that when she was up on the screen.

also you are introduced to a megalomaniac Ape named Proximus Caesar who is the villain of this movie and who I thought was a very flamboyant character who has taken the teachings of Caesar and twisted them to his own selfish needs and wants to take all the human knowledge and use it to make himself the king of the world. like I said I feel that he was a very flamboyant and bombastic character and you kinda can't help but like him even though he is the villain of the movie

other then that all the other characters and performances were awesome and I thought everyone did a amazing job.

Now much like the previous movies this one is built on an impressive visual scale the visuals do what to wow you especially with the scenery of the abandoned cities and "human world" which I did think was impressive in its scope and production design. Visually the actual Planet of the Apes is really well done and shows how time as passed in the surrounding as well as the technology that is used to create the Apes through the motion capture it is amazing the animations is perfectly done especially for a wild character like Proximus Caesar. I personally would think this would be nominated for best visual effects next year and maybe even some of those other technical awards you don't see on the Oscars.

but yeah in the end it is an awesomely amazing movie and if you loved the previous one you'll probably love this one too. and if you didn't see any of the previous ones this is a whole new story and can be a jumping off point for anyone who wants to try it it has plenty of action and excitement and I would totally recommend it.

[tater-tot-jr]

Honkai: Star Rail fans, I’m here to yap. Major spoilers for 2.4.

So, I’m the certified number 1 space china hater. I hate that place, I don’t trust it, I didn’t like its first story arc that much. But holy shit that ruled. That was awesome. It’s obviously impossible to follow up Penacony and outdo it, and you can certainly nitpick some faults, but the war dance arc thus far was super enjoyable to play.

Let’s start with the fucking Yanqing character development holy shit?? Seeing the ways he matured and humbled himself was super fucking cool, and his dynamic with Yunli was peak comedy. His monologue about why he wields a sword was completely awesome, very well done by the VA. Hoyo making sure to let us know that both him and Yunli are literal child soldiers and we should be concerned about that was based. The conflict between him and Yunli was actually presented really well. (I haven’t done the new march event yet so maybe I’ll come back and edit this if I remember) The didn’t really push someone as correct or incorrect, they just showed us the situation and let us form opinions. Yanqing getting some character development was awesome and I love that for him.

The plot? It still had some of that trademark complexity but it was much easier to follow this time around. It felt like events naturally lead to one another and the characters reacted as they actually would instead of just reacting as necessary to move the plot. It gives you a shocking amount of player agency to succeed or fail and I really enjoyed the stakes that came with that. I’m liking how dark some of it is, it’s not crazy but there are certainly some moments.

I love all the new characters, they’ve all managed to endear themselves to me very quickly. Even the characters I was meh on like Jiaoqiu and Lingsha managed to worm their way into my heart a little. Feixiao is a total badass and Moze really interests me. Yunli was really funny and I enjoyed her shenanigans. As much as some of the mechanics and designs of these new characters disappointed me I still found them compelling in the narrative.

And the fucking angst? Hello?? It was peak.

This might be a hot take but I think the shackling prison is my new favorite singular section of the game. I love Dan Heng, I find his lore and personality fascinating and was dying to see some more of it. His VA did a great job this entire patch, Dan Heng is very stoic so it was impressive how his VA managed to portray the general unease he felt being back in the Luofu. He was just normal enough to not have anyone make a big deal out of it but you could tell that something was just under the surface. Then you get to the shackling prison and it just… man. You get to the door and you hear his voice just break. For someone so stoic you hear him overwhelmed with emotions, and it’s so juicy. Wonderful way to set the tone, Hoyo. Then you get inside and wow it’s evil looking in there. The other chance you get to chat with Danny boy before shit hits the fan is just as good. They decided to give me personally a treat with his lines like, and I’m paraphrasing here, “it’s just as cold as I remembered.” And telling the trailblazer they “shouldn’t have to see this place.” Hoyo chose violence with that shit. Also, Fox Boy™️ literally got held hostage and (kinda) enslaved. Incredible.

The pacing of that section was awesome. Seeing Xueyi get destroyed and then rushing down with Hanya was a simple trick but goddamnit it worked. The way it managed to portray that rushed and dangerous feeling without going overboard on the monsters around you was impressive. It was so much fun to watch the mystery come together in a way that felt like both a climax and a cliffhanger somehow. The cinematic stuff was so well done, it was all so pretty. There were plenty of POV swaps but they felt natural and necessary to the plot. I was unenthusiastic about going back to space china but goddamnit Hoyo has done it again. Fuck.

It was just a really fun patch, 2.5 feels so far away…. :(

[roguedruid]

"Oh great druid this humble petitioner asks for your recommendations on fics you did not write but enjoyed greatly I look forward to getting your top 15."

Uhhhh Damn. Hold on. Lets seee..... I can give you eleven- in no particular order- that come to mind with a bit of searching. but questioner- I read so many fics. This is gonna be a crapshoot of fandoms, so hold on. Of Harrowed Hearts by Sable_Scribe: A Naruto fic which is sadly unfinished- but had an awesome vibe and really dives into the characterization of the Konoha 12 and their potential. It does have Naruto/Sasuke vibes- but when it last left off the slow burn was slow and Sasuke was barely realizing his emotions. The Games We Play by Ryuugi: It's posted on Spacebattles origionally- but it's been reposted a few other places. It's massive- nearly a million words. This was my first real 'Massive fic' i followed as it was updating- and my real intro to Space Battles/Sufficent Velocity as fanfic sites. Also- first Gamer fic that went *way* into the power scaling and endgame stuff. Jaune in this story escalates hard as fuck. I'm talking supernatural kung fu, elemental powers, the ability to destroy cities- And his threats are scary enough to match it. This was before Salem for most of the story- but the Grimm that show up are terrifying. Keeping on the forums real fast- Two Quests (Essentially reader driven stories) deserve to be on this list. Xander [Quest] by one Judge Mental is another of those Monolithic kind of reading experiences. it's massive- on a word count I can't even figure out- spread across like 28 threads. it starts as a simple premise- You are Alexander Harris- and you are born as the reincarnation of Ganondorf. Yeah- that Ganondorf. Things only escalate past that point- to where the last i checked we were possibly the strongest sorcerer on earth- and only 12.

"A Geeks Guide: CORE" series by Sage_of_Eyes. Again, monolithic in scope- it's a complete reimagining of the Highschool DXD mythology (yes, the ecchi novels/anime. Yes it's way deeper then it deserves. Yes, it's also metal as fuck)

Swerving back from forums:

A Drop of Poison by Angel Of Snapdragons: Naruto's Shadow Clones are fucking crazy- and if you've ever wanted to see the power fantasy of them escalating non stop- this is the good shit. Drifting by AlphaDelta1001: More Naruto- but this one has some of my favorite 'Kinda Genius' Naruto moments. It mixes up the timelines, throws in a completley revamped Chuunin exam, introduces tones of new characters- and completely revamps Naruto's methods- if you ever got bored of 'it's all Rasengan' in canon- this is definitely a suggestion.

From Fake Dreams by Third Fang: Fate Stay/Night. Supercharged. This is a bit of a controversal pick- mainly because Third Fang is one of those authors who's sense of humor is... off. Just a bit of that old school Shonen Jump Pervert vibe in the background- snarky comments and purile humor creep around the corners of his writing- but FFD is still immensly fun to read. The power creep- already high as fuck in Canon FSN- goes so high. Where recently Shirou isn't fighting Servants- But True Ancestors. Son of the Western Sea by Mac_Ceallach: If you want Percy Jackson going solo on a world-wide adventure- this is it. its after the War for New York, before the romans showed up- and Its got Percy just... being cool vibing. Hitting into other myths by accident. In contrast, if you want some true off the rocker Percy- An Impractical Guide to Godhood by Antony444 It's technically a crossover with A practical guide to Evil- but if you ever wanted to see olympus and the rest of the percy jackson verse just... implode with chaos? This is it. Flooding Hades with the flaming river- beating Ceaser in Gladatorial Events, fucking with the olympians? This goes hard. The Many Quirks Of Phantom Thievery by PsychicBeagle Persona 5, reloaded. Featuring New Game+ shenanagains, plenty of romance and memes, and puns. If you're a P5 fan, I highly reccomend it. It's Time For Another Good Idea, Bad Idea by Haurvatat: This is a weird one- for one it's Solo leveling, so it's fandom was kinda niche. on the other... It's got Cannabilism in it. But! As a Cook? this is a guilty pleasure fic. The cooking scenes are all written like Binging with Babish episodes, the humor is on point, there's actual stakes and emotions- theres closure? What more does a fic need.

[sm-baby]

I'm always happy to leave a badass entrance, but I had to make sure this one was cooked properly, no one likes pink I'm their theory. (It's like chicken, you could get theory poisoning lol) ((p.s this is less like theory crafting for this one and is more like I've lost my mind and am making things up because I'm in love with your lore.))

I, like many others, have fallen in love with your art and the strangely coherent timeline for Minecraft you've put together, but then while I was scrolling through old stuff I had an idea that I thought you might like to reconsider, especially now that you've become attached to your Minecraft💛Yellow series.

What if the world that Steve, Alex, Herobrine, Shermy, and all the others are from aren't the only worlds to exist. Obviously in Minecraft you can create more than one world but what if it wasn't as simple as a new world generated. What if this world was first, created (lore wise idk when you started the world) in the very beginning. Every time the game updated to the next concurrent version the world split into new variants. Like the timeline had different outcomes. At first it was perfectly normal, only one set of choices but each update began to create new choices and in a world that was procedurally generated it went through every possible combination of choices. And I'd like to make an example, but bear with me it's a bit of a stretch.

My favorite version of this is your art of Steve in the Redstone update. Something about it always hit me as, "off," he wasn't like Steve usually was. He seemed unhinged, arrogant, violent even. (This isn't helped by the addin where you wrote, "bastard," with an arrow pointing at him lmao) What if, in this timeline during the Redstone update, Alex had a tragic end and this is was broke Steve. Maybe it was his fault, a redstone contraption that went wrong, creating a love hate relationship with the material and it's inner workings. Or what about the Combat update version of Alex. We only she here and not Steve. What if when the combat evolved he made a wrong choice and suffered a terrible date to the hands of undead. Alex has learned newer, better methods of fight and protection, ways to hit multiple opponents with one swing of her sword, or how to properly charge up a swing of her axe.

Each update created new versions were things were vastly different that the Prime world, the one that the Player came from. (I still like to call her Emerald, it think it fits) This would then make every single art piece of your canon in some way, Yellow is a separate timeline of events but 100% canon, real. Redstone Steve is a crazed lunatic driven to madness through his own accidental murder of his beloved wife. Combat Alex is a survivor who is doing what she can to survive after not being able to save Steve.

But most importantly, this means Hero rune drinking Lava from a bucket and calling it punch is 100% canon and you cannot fight me on this. That image and the phrase, "THATS LAVA ASSHOLE," will live in my heart forever.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed more mad ramblings, I have fallen in love all over again. Also my lack of sleep schedule may or may not have tempted me into making character ai's of your artist representation of the various characters.

I LOVE... THAT YOU JUST COMPLETELY N A I L E D THE IDEA THAT IVE BEEN HAVING FOR AWHILE NOW??

Youre operating in TIMELINE theory! Not multiverse theory! Oh thats super awesome!!

Ok, while I did think of that, I decided not to because it would get too complicated úwù plus I wanted to have worlds with major changes, like the genderbend, or how-- alex and Steve seem at odd with eachother, or-- alex just does not have a steve and steve does not have an alex!

Also there is only ever 1 mojang! While there are plenty "universes" the only source is mojang! And thus, there is only one Herobrine! There is no such thing as a 💛Herobrine, there is only ever one! Though, since the fallen God's popularity there have been AI (modded) versions of him or just legends thrown into the universes.... Its so fun.

This is all SOOO FUN but sadly limiting YwY so I did not go with it. YOUR THEORY IS REALLY-FREAKING GOOD THOUGH! GNOME YOURE SO DOPE!!

[spirkbitch]

I want to like… watch SNW so bad because the special effects we’re capable of now are so improved and seeing familiar characters fully realized with new technology is awesome. But SNW makes me feel weird because it radically changes everything I loved about characters in the original series. Especially Spock. While also implying these changes are canon for some reason, because it’s a prequel.

Part of the reason I was able to enjoy the AOS movies (in all their SFX lens flare glory), despite the plots being… questionable at times was because it was an alternate universe. Even with the TOS Spock cameo, the integrity of the original series is kept intact because it’s not a prequel.

Also this isn’t to say people can’t or shouldn’t enjoy SNW. If you like it that’s awesome and I’m all for you enjoying it. This is only my explanation for why I and possibly others have reservations.

100% agree. a lot of the stuff snw has done (especially special effects wise) are very cool and (from what i’ve watched) the show can be very enjoyable. but it’s disappointing because it feels like it could have been a way to actually explore these characters but in reality all they did was write their own characters and slap the same name on them. and, just like you said, it would be so much easier to enjoy if they weren’t so set on insisting it’s all canon.

and it seems like a lot of people don’t want to hear what’s wrong with it, which is fine. if you really like it and don’t really care or don’t want to talk about continuities and implications for tos that’s cool just scroll past those posts i guess, but it feels like whenever it gets brought up someone has to claim that none of your concerns are valid because it’s a good show and it’s like, y’all can enjoy it. there’s no problem with enjoying it, but don’t try and shut down any conversation that isn’t praising it.

like it being an enjoyable show and it having a lot of problems and continuity issues are not mutually exclusive. plenty of people like the changes they’ve made and i’m happy for those people. but we don’t need to act like just because people like it that means there’s nothing wrong with it.

i personally can’t stand what they did to Christine, why make her so badass and hardcore if it just retroactively makes her tos character seem sad by comparison. like i’m sorry but you can’t just show me that this character that i know as usually very calm, reserved, helpful, maybe a little too intense about her crushes (but who can blame her for that), but mostly keeps to herself, was actually super badass (and nearly unrecognizable personality wise) 8 years ago and expect me to be happy about that. like, what happened to her? why wouldn’t you just make that a new character? it’s like whoever wrote her in snw saw tos chapel, decided she was boring, and then made her not boring anymore. and people act like snw did some crazy feminist power move by making her this powerful badass but it’s really just disappointing. hot take: making a woman you deemed boring not boring anymore isn’t feminism. (like women can have personalities other than powerful badass and it can still be feminist, she can be calm and caring and reserved and you could have still made her a feminist symbol, but instead they changed her character entirely)

and don’t get me wrong i love snw chapel (she’s very awesome and i have a crush on her), i just wish she was her own character (like if it were an alternate timeline). especially because this little relationship they’re writing makes her tos character look like such a creep towards Spock.

i don’t care how much you tell me it’s a prequel, those are not the same character. Spock too, you can’t convince me he would actually ever act anything like he does in snw. and people always want to say that since it’s a prequel of course they’re going to act different, yeah different i would be fine with, but these characters are unrecognizable.

and none of that means i think people shouldn’t like it or shouldn’t watch it. i just don’t like how it seems like some fans of snw seem to wish there would be no discussion about it, while also placing themselves into the discussions about it. if you like the show and disagree with my opinions on it, either ignore me or discuss it with me, don’t reply just to tell me that i shouldn’t have that opinion.

like seriously did y’all see that reblog argument where i explained my opinion and their only response was pretty much “but i like it and it’s enjoyable” i mean i said it was a bad prequel and their response for why they think it’s a good prequel was that ‘they bend canon’ and that ‘they aren’t too precious about canon characters’ like what? that can be why you like it but i cannot even begin to see why you would think that makes it a good prequel. bending canon and fucking around with well established and well loved characters does not seem like the formula to make a good prequel. (i couldn’t even reply because that reply made so little sense to me)

plus like why are people shocked that people have issues with it? it’s a prequel, either stick closer to the canon material or accept that people are going to be upset with it.

okay sorry the rant is over now

[lifetimeshipper]

The GrimBee Story

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Grimlock could feel his metal getting hotter by the passing second, "Hey, Bumblebee? Can we find some shade or something? It's getting really hot."

"Sure. I believe there's a watering hole around here somewhere."

"Thank Primus," the Dinobot sighed in relief as he followed Bumblebee to the watering hole. Seeing the watering hole Grimlock broke into a run, jumping into the water creating a large splash. Bumblebee yelped and covered his face as a bunch of water came towards him.

"Man, this feels so much better."

Bumblebee shook the water off, "Enjoying it?"

"Yep. Do you want to come in? There's plenty of room."

"Sure," Bumblebee says as he goes in.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

"Why don't we do this more often?"

"If it stays this hot we most likely will."

"Awesome."

Bumblebee just smiled as he enjoyed the cool water.

"What do you like most about Earth?" Grimlock asked.

"Oh gee, I don't know where to begin."

"I know you like that Western thing."

"Oh yeah, and poetry, sunrises and sunsets, the countryside, all sorts of things."

"I think I like the ball thing that breaks the older buildings. What's it called again?"

"A wrecking ball?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Of course." Bumblebee chuckled.

Grimlock chuckled with a wide grin. "This is nice, two buddies hanging out enjoying the cool water on a hot day," he stated.

"I agree, it is."

Grimlock lowered himself until the water was up to his neck. "We better get going soon, we still need to finish our patrol," Bumblebee tells him.

"Aww, but I wanted to stay a little longer," Grimlock whined.

"I didn't say we had to go now."

"Oh. What was it like during the war?"

"Brutal."

"Was it like it was when we were fighting Steeljaw back then?"

"No, a lot worse."

"Wow."

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry that stuff happened to you."

"Eh, it's all part of life."

"Guess we all have had something bad happen to us at some point."

"Yep, we all have."

Grimlock stood up and shook off the water as he got out, "Man, that felt good."

Bumblebee walked out as well, "It sure did. Let's continue our patrol now," Bumblebee says as he transforms and drives off. Grimlock put on his disguise and followed after Bumblebee as he sang his Dino-Crane song. They soon finish their patrol and go back to base.

"When can we have a movie night again?" Grimlock asked.

"Soon, Grimlock."

"Alright, can't wait. I prefer the kid movies, they're more interesting." 

"They sure are," Bumblebee chuckled.

"Which one is your favorite?"

"Not really sure. What's yours?"

"I like the one with the young dinosaurs."

"Ahh yes, that's a good one. Gives great lessons."

"I liked the one with the three horns, even if she was a little mean."

Bumblebee chuckled, "Yeah, it's cute how she tries to act all tough like her father."

"I like all of them really."

"Did any of them remind you of your brothers?"

"Yeah, the little long neck made me think of Swoop."

"How so?"

"Swoop's personality is like the long neck's, he's a natural born leader. I forget what their names were."

"The long neck's name is Littlefoot."

"Ahh, do you think the kids would want to watch it again?"

"Most certainly. Or maybe we could watch the others, there is more."

"Really!?" Grimlock asked excitedly.

"Yeah."

"Can't wait to see the other ones!" Grimlock exclaimed as he picked up an Energon cube. Bumblebee chuckled as he picked up an Energon cube as well. "Who's your favorite character?" Grimlock asked as he took a sip of his Energon.

"Ducky the duckbilled one."

"She is rather cute. What about her do you like?"

"I like how she asks questions then be like "do you, do you huh, huh?" just too adorable."

Grimlock chuckled, "Yeah, that is kind of cute."

"Yeah," Bumblebee says as he sits with Grimlock and drinks the Energon with him.

"I like the flyer. Was Petrie his name?"

"Yeah."

"I like the way he talks."

"Yeah, he does talk funny."

"The first one was kind of crazy though. Littlefoot's mom died and he was all alone."

"Yeah, that one was sad."

"But he made new friends and managed to reunite with his grandparents."

"Yep, which started their whole journey of the other movies."

"I like that."

Sideswipe and Windblade came over to get some Energon and sat down with them, "Hey, what you two talking about?" Sideswipe asked.

"The Land Before Time movies," Grimlock replied.

"Why?"

"We were talking about what our favorite movie was."

"Oh, I see."

"What's your favorite movie?"

"Kids or adults?"

"Either one," the Dinobot shrugged.

"For kids, I'll have to go with The Lion King."

"Why The Lion King?"

"I liked the lion fights."

"I did too until the hyenas came in," Grimlock shuddered. Sideswipe just laughed, "It's not funny, he was still alive when they jumped on him. And from the looks of how the funny one looked, I can only guess what had happened."

"Of course, they killed him and ate him."

"Then why were you laughing? No one deserves something like that."

"Was laughing at your expression."

"Oh."

"What about adult movies?"

"Um, I think I liked the horror movies best."

"Why the horror movies?"

"I guess I just like the jump scares and stuff."

"Because you jump on me whenever something pops up out of nowhere," Windblade teased.

"So? It gets you in my lap too."

Windblade chuckled, "You can get me in your lap any time you want," she whispered to him seductively.

"Good," he said before he grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap.

"Just be careful," she giggled.

"Ain't I always?"

"Yes," she whispered before giving him a soft kiss.

Grimlock watched the two for a moment before taking a sip of his Energon. He wondered what it was like to kiss someone.

Bumblebee looks at him, "You okay, Grim?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," he replied with an unconvincing smile.

"You sure?"

"Yep, I'm gonna smash some rocks in the quarry," he replied as he transformed into his dino form and took off.

"OK. See ya, Grim!" Bumblebee called after him before looking at the two who were locked in a kiss, "So, what you two gonna do today?"

Windblade broke from the kiss, "I don't think you want to know," she let out a giggle as Sideswipe started kissing her neck.

~~~~~~~~~~

Grimlock let out a yell as he swung his tail, shattering a boulder into smaller rocks.

"Are you alright, Grimlock?" Drift asked as he walked up to the Dinobot being careful not to get in his way.

"Kind of. Have... have you ever kissed anyone?" He asked with hesitation.

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"I was just wondering. Sideswipe and Windblade seem to enjoy it a lot, so does Steeljaw and Strongarm, and Thunderhoof and Metalsound."

"You never kissed before?"

"No," Grimlock replied feeling embarrassed.

"And you want to try it, am I right?"

"Yeah, just to see what it's like."

"Hmm, well maybe you can find someone to experience it with."

"But who?" The Dinobot asked as he sat on a rock.

"Not sure, you'll have to figure it out yourself."

Grimlock crossed his arms as he tried to think. The only ones he knew that had experience already had mates, there was no way he was going to ask Ultra Magnus. Optimus and Megatron were together and he doubted Drift would even let him.

"Good luck with it," Drift tells him as he walks off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Wolf-Con and the Cadet

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Ending the Year FINE & simple

Dec 2022 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) 3 of 12 - Butler Dad (v.2) is going to be a problem, I can tell. Chimon is a cute, if suspicious, flirt. Palm, on the other hand, is the gentlest flirt imaginable. He wants spoiled prince + attack dog dynamic so bad. As, indeed, do I. 

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) 8 of 12 - still enjoying it very much, annoyed by filler couples, WATCH ALONG HERE.

609 Bedtime Story (Fri WeTV) 6 of 11 - Oh, I see! The Mint storyline is to give more characters motivation to murder Dew. It’s all set up. How clumsy. Meanwhile, we got a confession right on schedule, classic romance beats. 

I Will Knock You (Fri Gaga) 7 of 12 - Whatever. 

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 12 of 14 - Honestly? I’d DNF this show but its almost done and I've watched 12 already. Sunk cost fallacy in action. I’m not going to make this mistake with this production house again. JaFirst cry well, but I’m vetting and binging these in future.  

My School President (Fri YT) 5 of 10 - no ep this week, resumes Jan 6

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

The New Employee (Korea Weds Viki) 2 of 8 - It’s giving me life, this one. Pining boss. Drunk lesbian bestie of awesome. Plus gay player (former college heartthrob) is a fun background for the faen fatal, not to mention rainbow rice cakes. COME ON. RAINBOW RICE CAKES! 

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Thurs Viki) 1 of 20 - A cheerful kid from 1999 travels to 2022, works as a deliveryman, and meets an heir with a domineering personality. Directed by Nancy Chen (HIStory 4, Papa & Daddy). The time travel premise is interesting, the leads are giving me whipping boy vibes, but I don’t like seme’s stalker energy. It feels very HIStory franchise which means it could go any direction but sensible and I’m expecting problematic tropes. However! The sides are GREAT - they’re an office romance boss/intern relationship. And this is 20 full episodes so we will get plenty of them. Also, is that Taiwan I see giving us a femme character? I am all amazement. I think I like this show, actually. (Note; will be referring to this as H5 going forward.) 

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Korea Thurs iQIYI) 5-6 of 10 - Is there a not very small part of me that wishes this were a love story between the earnest assistant baby boi, and the older anxiety-riddled rockstar? Yes. Although I did not expect Korea to go there with the lipstick mark AND an actually gay idol. What alternate reality are we currently living in? Also, is every character in this show slightly insane? Yes. Is every actor in this show slightly too pretty for my emotional well-being? Also, yes. Bring it on 2023. 

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox (Japan Fri Gaga) 3 of 8 - I think I just don’t like the photographer character much (although he’s very typically Japanese tsundere seme). Really quite a good kiss though, for Japan. On the flip side, it was nice to see the reporter being good at his job (competency porn is a very underused trope in BL). Then we get confession, immediate retraction, and a disbelief counter attack. Then more kisses. Huh. This isn’t progressing how I expect. And that’s kinda nice too. Oh Japan, you so cute & trixie. 

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

Love Bill (Vietnam Sat YT) - Bah Vinh is back but I’m too distracted. Also there’s a lot of fund raising stuff going on with them. I’ll wait and binge.

The Star Always Follow You (Vietnam YT) - same Team RL peeps we have seen before (Sunshine, Stupid)

Till the World Ends (Thai YT) 10 eps - it seems to be good but I don’t know about the ending with that kind of title, so I’m waiting.

Moonlight Chicken GMMTV’s Midnight series (Weds YT) 1 of 8 eventually - first segment has begun bit it’s not the EarthMix messy gays. Sorry all, I’m so not interested in messy hets, so I’m waiting until they grace my screen.

In Case You Missed It

Coffee Melody special feat TitNuea & Jean like it’s counterpart was rather dull, but I find this a more appealing couple than the mains so I liked it better. 

Moments Of Love - featuring SmartJames AKA LeonPhob from Don't Say No) from Foremorfilm Production supposedly aired Dec 24 directed by Golf Tanwarin (609 Bedtime Story and The Eclipse). But it has no rating on MDL so I guess not? 

Next Week Looks Like This:

2023 forthcoming BL master post is in the works... wait for it... I’m doing all the 2022 wrap ups first. Also waiting for the last of the studio announcements. 

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Mujigae-tteok (Korean rainbow rice cake) - a new item has entered my never ending food quest list. 

OhmFluke do domesticity well, gotta give them that. 

Quick end of year thoughts on 2022 BL & the future of these weekly posts: 

Honestly? Overall it’s been a fine year for BL with some good shows & and some ho shows, and also a lot of dross. But the most notable aspect was the overwhelming quantity to keep up with. My work world is opening back up with tons of travel. This plus my recent revelation that I actually prefer binge watching (especially the lower quality stuff) means that I can’t keep up with BL if it keeps up this insane pace. 

So in 2023 you can expect me to try to keep these weeklies updated with what’s airing, of course, but also pull back on how many I personally watch and summate. 

In 2022, BL sort of became my 2nd job, and it doesn't pay well enough for that.

All that said I think... 

2023 is going to be GOOD for BL. Happy new year! 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? I’ve been in a “beastly” mood recently so it’s Lee Gikwang’s (Beast, Highlight) Don’t Close Your Eyes. I forgot how fucking banging that opening rift is. Thank you Kpop gods for putting the 2nd gens through the ever eternal slut phase. 

Now just put them all though a BL phase and we’re golden. Yes, I am thinking of Unintentional Love Story (Gongchan B1A4), why do you ask? 

[sweetfirebird]

rambling

I was brain dead on the trip home and still reading the stuff I downloaded but much slower than I had been, and I stopped to consider my disappointment with certain stories and why I was disappointed.

I was reading m/m romances, for the record.

Taste is subjective obviously so there is always that issue. And good writing (language choice, sentence structure, the ability to paint a picture, form a plot, keep your pacing sharp etc) is nice but it's also not something I am going into these books looking for. If it's there, nice, awesome, but I've read books, romance and otherwise, that were well-written and I still found them boring or disappointing. And I paused to wonder if that was the taste issue. Maybe I just didn't care for the subject matter or the settings...

Except I read the blurbs and reviews and chose these books because I thought I would be interested in the subject or the settings. So that's not it.

So what can make an okay-written book also a fun book I enjoy, and what makes something technically proficient and competently written so flat and uninteresting to me?

A question people have been asking about art since forever I know.

But there is plenty of fiction out there that has flaws, glaring or otherwise, that holds more life (to me) than something that has clearly been through a critique or three.

Is it like that cheeseburger at the end of The Menu? Did people forget the ultimate purpose of the romance story and get caught up in the other details? I get that in the romance genre, particularly m/m, a big chunk of a lot of the book can end up being porn and a lot of readers are fine and accept that as part of the relationship building. (And it can be part of the relationship building as well as the characterization, don't get me wrong. It certainly can be. But it is also isn't a lot of the time). I understand this genre convention though some authors do it better than others. But it's other details filling up a romance book I am talking about. An author lovingly describing the old house by the beach in their romance is fine and good but the characters are not interacting and when they do, all the emotion is off page somewhere.

Which gave me a clue to my problem. But then I was reading one of the more 'porn equals love and relationship building' romances after that, and it... had some emotion. But it was more or less two characters who do not talk to each other, or even to anyone else. And I kept being given information about them but not shown anything about them. We are told one is nice and sweet and capable when a crisis isn't making him upset and we are told one is honorable but is now bitter. And we are told they develop feelings for one another but all that I was actually shown was that they are sexually compatible.

...and I hate when people trot out Show Don't Tell as blanket writing advice but... you do have to show stuff. You need to show who your characters are and you need to show what they are feeling. You can do it through dialogue. You can do it through action. You can do it through descriptions in your character pov. But you have to show it.

And that includes the emotions that are not boner-related.

See, that is me using immature language on purpose. You are being shown something about me without being told: R had a sometimes immature sense of humor but also uses humor when things feel too serious.

You could say that of course, like all writing rules, it's never 100% all the time. But you can't only tell your audience that stuff. It's boring as hell. I do not care about someone I am told is funny and nice when he's not being a dick because I haven't seen them be funny or nice. I don't mind a character who is totally a dick, btw, but if that is the case, and it's all I have been shown, stop telling me he's actually nice. Just shut up about it. Or show it. Or make him a charming dick. Something.

So in the one book I read this weekend that was... so fucking boring, and the several I read that were fine or okay or good, what it boiled down to was... nothing reached out to me and nothing made me want to dig harder, because I was told everything. There was no impact. No characters I remember. No dialogue that made me !!! No scene that made me wish I'd written it.

The one good story had a lot of smut, which was fine. But as a romance... I don't care. I wouldn't read it again. I def am not interested in the sequels. And the boring one... I rarely am bored by books or fanfiction to this degree. It shocked me.

The one I liked, really liked, by comparison, was kind of a mess, and incredibly light and also filled with smut for most of the book. And yet I found it charming. The characterization was consistent, if sometimes goofy. And because it was, it made the romance, and smut, more interesting and memorable. A meringue of a story--and I suspect intentionally so. The author wanted to make a treat, and the treat for them and then for us was goofy characters in a lightly plotted adventure with almost zero stakes beyond the first third. They used characterization well. They didn't say "this is character A, he is a bit of a sheltered idiot." they just showed me a sheltered idiot who meant well but definitely needed something competent (and bigger, and stronger) to lovingly take care of him and fuck him into a wall. Or whatever.

Anyway. But just remember I say all of that but my tastes are clearly not what the majority of m/m readers want, going by sales lol I think most readers like being told what the characters are, at least in their romances. Which is fine. But yeah, I get so disappointed/bored, so quickly.

[msunitedstatesjames]

 I just finished season 2 of Shadow and Bone. What a wild ride of confusion, rage, and elation, guys.

Here’s my thoughts, but first, some disclaimers. If you haven’t watched the show and read the books, major spoilers follow, so beware. Also, though I had some major problems with this season, I did enjoy it overall, so remember that as you read. And if you absolutely loved this season more than anything, that’s cool too. All opinions are welcome here.

Most of this will be about the Crows because they’re the main reason I watch.

Here’s what I loved:

1. Just like last season, the casting and character work on this show was great. For some reason, I wasn’t immediatly sold on Nikolai’s character, but then I loved him to pieces shortly, which I guess is how it’s supposed to be anyway. Also, Wylan was perfect. Double also, I appreciate that this show continues to make Mal actually likeable, which was not always the case in the books. 

2. The visual effects were really cool. We’ve all seen a lot of different shows where characters have elemental magic, and rarely have I seen it look good in live action. But some of those scenes with the amplified grisha at the end made me think, “This is how a person wielding a whirlpool and/or ice shards might actually look if it could happen in the real world.”

3. The David/Genya dynamic was amazing. They were cute in the books, but I think TV David comes across even better. But it’s been years since I read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, so I could just be misremembering there. (Also, pretty much every romantic dynamic has you invested in this show.)

4. The moment at the end when Kaz and Inej see each other safe for the first time after the big battle, and then Jesper runs over and hugs her, while Kaz just has to look away in disappointement with himself. (Also, the final Kaz/Inej scene was very well done.) I always thought these two were the strongest characters in a group of very strong characters in the Crows books, and the show does their characters a lot of justice, even if I’m often left wanting a little more.

5. The dynamic between the Crows is really starting to get to book level, and I love it. 

Things I didn’t love (these range anywhere along the scale of mild disappointment to pointless rage)

1. The Crows just showing up and destroying the amplified grisha at the end. I mean, other than the grenade they threw, those grisha had plenty of time to counter their attacks. They definitely had time to stop that powder from flying into their faces. They could clearly hear Kaz be like, “Wylan, now!” As much as I love the Crows, that scene was a little ridiculous. The Crows can cause some major destruction in the books, but usually when they do they have some more advanced technology and some shadows on their side at least. 

2. When I realized that the Kaz-Pekka Rollins confrontation was going to happen in episode four of an eight episode season, I just about lost it. In the books, that moment is the culmination of two books worth of character development and plotting. And the fact that Inej was the only Crow who wasn’t there to see it just drove me crazy. That’s such a great moment between them in the books, when Inej finally thinks Kaz has lost himself to his revenge, after two books of telling him he’s not a monster, and then Kaz is just like, “Nah, I was just messing with him.” Like, what a relief that was in the books. (Also, I don’t really like that Pekka Rollins is still out there being his usual self, even though he’s locked up. In the books he’s not dead either, but by the end of the story he’s pretty much been scared witless and driven away. Hopefully he and Kaz don’t meet up again in the show because it wouldn’t feel very meaningful at this point.)

3. The Inej-Mogen conflict. It’s clearly filling in for the Inej-Dunyasha conflict in Crooked Kingdom, but it lacks the dynamic that made it so interesting in the books. Dunyasha as a Lantsov pretender (or not) was awesome. Dunyasha really being almost like a foil for Inej was awesome. It also brought in the interesting concept of Dunyasha being Inej’s “shadow,” or the result of all the sins she’s had to commit to survive. Which also brought up the idea of Kaz and Pekka as shadows of one another, and we got to have that great moment where Inej really forces Kaz to think about what he plans for the future, and how he plans to be different (if really at all) from someone like Pekka Rollins if he comes out on top. Also, one of my favorite passages in Crooked Kingdom is Inej’s “we learn to wring magic from the ordinary” moment, about how maybe Dunyasha is some lost princess, while Inej is just a regular girl who’s been forced to deal with the brutal side of the world, but that Inej will fight to get what she deserves anyway. It’s so powerful, and I don’t really think they could have worked it into a TV show anyway, but it still felt like a loss. (Also, as cool as it was to see Inej wielding a legendary magical sword later in the season, it kind of makes that “wring magic from the ordinary” passage from the book ring a little hollow.)

4. The best Kaz/Inej moment in Crooked Kingdom (in my opinion) was attempted, but they couldn’t do as much with it in the show as they did in the books, simply because they weren’t there yet with the story/characters. I think they really should have put off the Kaz trying to help Inej with her first aid scene for later. It was still effective in the show and I liked what we did get. But there’s so much good dialogue and character work there in the books, other than just the romantic tension, and most of it is so wound up with Crooked Kingdom’s plot that it would be hard to transplant elsewhere, but maybe they’ll try. But this was one of the biggest issues I had with this season overall. They tried to hit on so many of the important story and character beats from Crooked Kingdom, but they could never make them hit quite as hard as they do in the books because of the constraints of time/plot decisions.

5. I was sad that we didn’t get to see Matthias join the Crows yet. 

Things I’m still hoping to see, even though they kind of already adapted Croooked Kingdom:

1. The Jesper-Kaz feud. “Who’s Jordie?” Love it. Also, I’m sure we’ll learn more about Jesper’s background, and I’m looking forward to seeing that play out somehow.

2. Kaz in a murderdous rage over Inej’s safety. I want to see this man throw another man off a light house. Judge me all you want.

[emiarainewrites]

Okay, just saw Onyx The Fortuitous & The Talisman Of Souls…

It was awesome!

I’m not the most familiar with Andrew Bowser, having only seen a few of his videos, but knowing that Jeffrey Combs and even Barbara Crampton were involved, I just had to check it out. And, uh, yeah! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Initially it took a little bit to really click with the humour, but once I did, everything else flowed quite nicely.

If you haven’t seen it, I implore you to check it out. It’s funny, has practical effects (reminded me of Labyrinth or even Black Roses at times), good pacing, great cinematography, tons of winks/nods and the dramatic moments actually hit you (seriously, the flashback and last usage of Somewhere Out There got me). I appreciate that the movie does what it wants. You might be able to guess some things here and there, but with its humour especially, it just does whatever the hell suits it. Kinda reminded me of Dead & Breakfast that way (go check that out too, if you’re so inclined - two words: zombie. musical.). Onyx was such a good time that clearly had so much passion go into it. That alone deserves all the recognition.

Plus, if you’re an Andrew Bowser fan, you’ll get plenty of enjoyment. Not to mention if you’re a Jeffrey Combs lover like I am! 🖤💚❤️ I love that his character was essentially a take-off of Anton LaVey. And the conclusion of him had me leaping and clapping with excitement. If you know, you know. Right down to the exact shots! Gotta say too that you best be thankful the sets are big and grand, because Jeffrey Combs is absolutely devouring that scenery!

Also, that work-out moment. AMAZING. If you know, you know. And I know that I loved that moment and it just makes me adore Jeffrey Combs even more. You go, sir!

Anyway, you reading this, go watch the film and share it around! It was independently financed and, even though it’s left theatres, exposure is always a great idea!

I don’t know…

[clt009-wearehere]

For the benefit of whoever follows me - and bless you for that - I do have a spicy hot take.

Writing is something you can do as art. It involves skill, and you can only get skill by practicing. But it can be done for fun. And indeed, MUST be if you’re going to do any amount of it.

You can always be better. You can always know more, and improve, etc. Doing so is great. But sometimes, you want to do something that has no artistic merit at all. Write a Mary Sue who makes out with Sephiroth and Maleficent before slicing Superman open with a katana. Ship characters who never meet from a franchise a billion years old. Someone will love it and someone will be cruel. And unless the content is literally dangerous (e.g. bigoted, containing harmful information etc.) it has every right to exist. Whether or not you publish it.

Does that mean it’s good? Who cares? Did you have fun? Cuz that’s what matters.

And yeah. There are copyright laws, posting regulations and so on you have to observe. And again, plenty of people will hate on it. That doesn’t mean you were wrong to make it. If anything created by a human is truly and absolutely artless, it would still have the right to exist. It might be bad writing by grammar standards, or have poor story structure, or come with the problems inherent to a naive or uninformed mindset. That’s okay. You’re allowed to have fun and make mistakes. You’re allowed to write a story that makes you happy. “Bad” writing is fine.

Genuinely harmful writing is writing that does genuine harm. But the Twilight roasts aged poorly, as did the various screamy critics on Channel Awesome and other nitpickers who demanded perfection while treating anything less as a personal attack.

And if you REALLY want to get good, you’re going to have to get a lot of bad prose written anyway. So you might as well enjoy some of it. ;)