#and i feel pretty shitty sometimes for essentially giving up

[seagulley]

a very polite animal very politely waits her turn at rally class.

[solarmorrigan]

Actually infertile omega!Steve for the WIP ask thing

Y'know what, you're the only person who's asked about this and this has been sitting in my drafts for months and I don't think I'm ever going to develop it past this point, so! I'm just gonna give you the whole thing

Fair warning, I did write this in the midst of an anxiety attack sometime after one in the morning. It's been edited! But that's pretty much the vibe

[CW: ableism, internalized ableism, uh... sexism? is that a thing I need to warn for in omegaverse? I dunno, it pretty closely mirrors real-world misogynistic views, so heads up]

-

Give me omega Steve who genuinely will never be able to have children. Who is tentatively excited after the Upside Down and Vecna and everything to get out from under his parents' influence and stop taking the harsh, heavy-duty suppressants that he was too young to have ever really been on in the first place and to get to actually be who he is. To get to freely express his designation

And instead he finds out that his body is fucked up and he'll never have a normal fertility cycle and he'll never be able to have kids

Give me Steve being told by a shitty, prejudiced doctor that it's basically all his fault for all the damage he's done to his own body over the years - the head injuries, the broken bones, the mysterious flesh wounds. Clearly these things upset the balance of his Delicate Omega Body and that's why his reproductive system is all fucked up (couldn't possibly have been the extended use of those suppressant drugs during his developmental years, oh no)

And Steve isn't exactly devastated at first, but he does feel ashamed. He only admits what's happened to Robin and no one else, and no matter how indignant she gets on his behalf, no matter how hard she tries to push him to get a second opinion, he refuses. He doesn't want to hear how bad he's fucked up from anyone else, thank you very much

The devastation dawns on him later, in stages. It occurs to him slowly what he'll never be able to do, the ways in which he'll always be othered by a society that often still values omegas for their fertility, the way his dream of a big family has been completely shattered

And it occurs to him that he'll never be considered a good mate, damaged in so many ways, unable to even offer children in exchange for whatever other shortcomings he has - which means that as soon as Eddie starts showing interest in him, he has to shut it down as quickly as possible

Because of course Eddie's going to want a family one day, and Steve thinks he'll be a great alpha and a great dad, and he deserves that - he deserves someone who can give him that, who can give him all the things A Good Omega should. So no matter how much Steve wants to be with Eddie, no matter how safe and at ease he feels around him, he can't let Eddie think he's a viable option, and pulls away

And Eddie - well, look, if Steve really doesn't want him, then he'll respect that. He can take no for an answer. But Steve has never really given him a clear no so much as he just started distancing himself. Making himself unavailable, no longer sitting next to Eddie when the whole group hangs out, no longer unconsciously curling into his side on movie nights, just - ghosting, essentially. And that, Eddie will not take

So he confronts Steve; he's not aggressive about it, of course, but he makes it clear that he's not leaving until he gets a straight answer. Tells Steve he's been getting some real mixed signals, and does he want Eddie or not?

Steve says Eddie doesn't want him. Eddie calls bullshit. Of course he wants Steve, he's never wanted anything, anyone, in his life like he wants Steve

But if Steve can look Eddie in the eye and tell him that he doesn't want to be with Eddie, then Eddie will go

And Steve - he's never been a good liar. Not when it comes to feelings. He's never been able to lie about that, so he breaks down and admits the truth, instead: he's a fucked up excuse for an omega, he can't have kids, he doesn't really even know how to do the social shit omegas are supposed to know how to do, so. There. So Eddie shouldn't want him

And Eddie is horrified. Not because Steve is "broken," but because of all the hurt he's taken on over the years, because of the way he seems to think it's all his fault, because he thinks his only worth as a mate is in bearing kids or caring for others. As if anything like that would put Eddie off - as if Steve has nothing else to offer

It's a slow process, after that, getting Steve to accept that he's desirable for who he is and not what he can do

It starts with Robin and Eddie teaming up on Steve and eventually getting him to go to another doctor, a better doctor, who promises Steve that what happened to his system is in no way his fault. It goes on with constant reassurance, which Eddie never minds providing (dramatic little shit honestly loves the opportunity to wax rhapsodic about whatever he loves, which very much includes Steve), with an unconditional acceptance from the rest of the group, with the realization that Steve already has a big family (and multiple children; like, seriously. how did he miss that. Eddie loves to tease him about it)

And eventually, when they're ready, it goes on still with the promise that they can adopt, or consider surrogacy, or just kidnap their friends' pups (Steve laughs at the last one, but Eddie notices that he doesn't say no). There is no right way to do it, no perfect way; as long as Steve just keeps being himself, Eddie will never be disappointed

[freakinator]

funny thing about how i view the conflict in todays stream is that i view flame and wemmbu in very separate ways despite them doing essentially the same thing

in flames case:

i view his betrayal as ultimately a tragedy, their history all thrown aside due to a combination of wounded pride and genuine upset

if yall didnt see his chat for this stream it was actually really, really bad, like his chat is genuinely so fucking annoying oh my god and is a really good demonstration of why i think streamers should be mean to their chatters sometimes to so i actually wasnt at all surprised that he was so upset but i thought hed log off instead of acting out like this

he wanted respect but literally ruined the months long work of one of the few ppl that were willing to trust him over something that couldve been resolved if he just waited until september, but at the same time i can kinda understand why he was being so impulsive considering again his chat is Really bad, but at the end of the day that really shouldnt have been something you took out on one of your few allies like???? bruh even mocked zams storytelling as if he didnt do thee same shit as well 😭

honestly one of the reasons i was sad about his betrayal is cause it kinda sounded to me like he was genuinely about to cry at first??? maybe im just making shit up tho and he def stopped sounding like he was gonna cry after blowing up the spacewaffles tower lol

in wemmbus case:

i feel no pity for this man, he wanted conflict wherever he can get it and he got it! i think hes a lot like zam in that he just wants some attention and most importantly something to do but whatever happens to him next is his own fault lmao, i respect his honesty tho like hey he sucks but he knows what hes about at least lol

the fact that he still kept trying to get a commission from zam (or at least guilttripping him about it for lack of a better word) like bro i know you wanted to do a capitalism morality dilemma arc with zam but read the room my guy 😭

maybe hes at least a little mad that zam kept turning him away despite the fact he accepted a commission from mapicc of all ppl but like. bro. theres a reason zam called him a nightmare customer lmao

that being said you can tell hes not used to going this overboard considering he offered to help repair the tree when zam got upset lmao

idk i just thought his evilness was kinda funny, still hope he gets his shit kicked in spectacularly tho!

its funny, despite being acting like the shitty no reading comprehension version of abyss he gives me the exact same feeling of schadenfreude i did for minute back in s5 and i believe part of it is his mockery of lore and weird complicated dismissal of moral conflict particularly regarding zam

by weird complicated dismissal of moral conflict i mean both he and minute both tried to convince zam to see ''their side'' and ''reason'' but coming at it from an angle that completely misunderstands zam and when zam points it out they dismiss it and act like it means nothing because of their ''objective'' view of reality, spoiler alert! its not objective at all and they refuse to understand things from zams perspective cause they think hes just being unreasonable or something

idk overall i think their motivations for doing things are just kinda... shit lol

like ik theres some pretty obvious parallels that can be made with s5 here but the difference between the og players and flamebu aside from the lack of style and drama is that the og players waited several months before they started acting out the way they did and when they did start acting out tgey always made sure evryone who wanted to get involved Actually got involved rather than doing it while everyone was away plus their opps werent their own allies (except maybe pangi depending on how you look at it)

[before-it-felt-like-a-sin]

Dating Natalie Scatorccio Headcanons <3

She's literally my wife!! I eat these up btw.

I feel like she's like very protective but never possessive. Like she isn't clingy most of the time but if you're like "hey babe that guy's being weird" she's got her arm around you and doesn't let you out of her sight

She tries her damn best not to sexualize you because of the way she'd been treated in the past

But she does love a good low-cut top (who doesn't tbh)

She's totally into you like stealing her necklaces and earrings. She pretends to be pissed but secretly she thinks you look so cool

She also bought a sweatshirt that was wayyy too big for her specifically for you to steal. She acts like she didn't buy it for you but you know she did and you appreciate the sentiment

Natalie definitely steals your t-shirts and sweatshirts. Like you lend one to her to sleep in ONE TIME and soon enough you have to go out and essentially buy a new wardrobe

I wouldn't say she's shy about your relationship, but she isn't like screaming from the rooftops about it

Like the entire team didn't know you were together for months

Speaking of, she's a PDA hater. Like the most she'll do is lean on your shoulder in front of anyone she knows (she has a reputation!!)

Not to say she isn't WHIPPED though because you know she's down bad

Like all over you whenever you're alone. She's just a very private person.

Omg omg omg

Smoking with her

Totally imagining that you've never smoked before and she like teaches you how to roll one and you're like "she's so hot"

AND THEN

SHE LIKE CUPS YOUR FACE AS SHE LIGHTS IT and your brain short-circuits

"You good, pretty girl" and you're just silent and she's like "babe" "I'm fine." "You sure" "yup"

She's worried she broke you for a second

She also def does your makeup in her little emo bitch way but you kinda live for it

Sometimes you do hers too

Once you gave her like pink sparkly eyeshadow and she wore it to a party and everyone thought she was dying

She pulled it off though

Nicknames are a must. Like not only does she find a way to give you like 10 nicknames based on your real name, she also calls you shit like "pretty girl" and "princess"

Half the time though they're only used to make fun of you

Which she does all the time

Like she loves to tease you

Cannot be serious to save her life

But if you're sad she's like "what's wrong how do I help what do you want me to do"

And immediately you're like "🥰🤭" because how can you be upset when your girlfriend is right there being that sweet

Although sometimes when it's particularly shitty, you just like bury your head in her neck and she's like "😶😳" but she pretends to be so chill about it even though you literally feel her pulse speed up

Constantly complementing you. Like one time you said something like "idk I don't feel pretty :(" and then every time she sees you look in the mirror for too long or like trace your stretch marks she's like "you're so pretty baby" or "pretty girl" or "gorgeous"

Speaking of the stretch marks

She loves them. Like you wear a cropped shirt and she jus stares

For a while you were like "oh she hates them" until one day she just started absentmindedly tracing them and you realized she thought they were gorgeous

She also def kisses them any chance she gets. Like yall are just watching TV and she's lying on your stomach and she just gives one a little kiss

Using your thighs as a pillow >>>>>

Like she just lies on them and you play with her hair

Which she loves

Like you French braid it one time for a game and she now asks you to do it every day

And who are you to say no

MIXTAPES or if it's more modern she makes playlists

Like one for every major event with a mix of her fave songs and yours

I also think she's clumsy asf

Like constantly covered in random bruises and scrapes

And since she's pale as hell the bruises are so prominent

She can't drive. Like she's such a passenger princess

And if she could drive you wouldn't want her to

You help her paint her nails

Once you have her sparkles on the middle finger and she thought it was funny as hell

I think she's surprisingly a good cook

Like yall never go out for dates because she likes cooking for you and you like watching her

Like that's the only time she's not clumsy

She attempts to learn Italian but only remembers curse words and like pet names

And you don't really know which is which because she didn't tell you

She never yells when she's upset. She doesn't want to be her dad

Like any disagreement is a decently civil conversation

I mean there's a lot of cursing and angry tones but it's not a fight. It's a disagreement

She was very worried to meet your friends but they all love her

And she was also worried for you to meet her friends. Not because she thought you wouldn't like them or they wouldn't like you but because she was worried you'd be uncomfortable

But you like the whole team and they've never made you feel weird

Van constantly teases her about you though

I feel like Nat isn't much of a reader but she loves listening to you talk about books. And if you read to her? Oh it's over

She loves listening to you in general tbh. I think she's not a huge talker but you just yap on and on and she's just listening so intently

But when she does want to talk about something... you hang from her lips like nothing else matters

Her voice is like such a weakness to you and she knows it

When she needs reassurance she's horrible at saying so but she gets kind of quiet

After a while you just started pulling her in for hugs or kisses or whatever because she's such a physical touch girlie

And she melts every time

I also feel like she never initiates kisses but she loooves taking charge of them

Can you tell I'm insane for her yes or no

[evansbby]

Some of my inspirations behind Wicked Games 4🩷🩷 *SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT*

The foreboding winds on the night of the gala

Okay so those who know me know that my favourite book series is flowers in the attic. If you read just an excerpt of this series and observed how Virginia Andrews writes, you’d be able to recognise just how much my writing is inspired by hers. It’s bc sometimes her writing makes me emotional, and I can picture things so vividly. ANYWAYS, one of the big themes in flowers in the attic is how the heroine Cathy kept hearing the loud, wild winds. She was imprisoned in an attic in a mansion up in the mountains, and mountain winds are insanely loud, like roaring level of loud. And she’d always talk about how the winds were trying to warn her about something. So…yeah. That part was very very inspired from flowers in the attic 😅 Like how she described the winds, it just stuck with me.

And it really just builds up the tension of the gala night perfectly and encapsulates the sense of foreboding perfectly too AND WORDS CANNOT EXPLAIN how happy I was when so many of you noticed the wind descriptions in your feedback!!! Some of you even called it your favourite part!!! I love that 🥹🥹 Thank you! Also it really goes to show that READING is the best way to get good at writing. I would be nowhere if I hadn’t read all the books that I did in my childhood! I cannot stress it enough: reading really impacts the way you write your own stuff. Anyways, I added a quote from FITA below. I couldn’t find any wind ones (despite the fact that she mentions in ALL FOUR BOOKS the foreboding whistling winds) but yeah, can y’all see how her writing has inspired my writing?? I really think it has.

Steve’s personal problems

A lot of it was inspired by… well… me. BUT JUST HEAR ME OUT. The parts where Steve talks about having too many responsibilities, how all of it just piles up inside his head and it feels like his thoughts are screaming. I get that! Not to such an extreme extent as Steve, but I am someone who panics easily when I have too much on my plate. And it’s like I can physically feel my thoughts racing (it just sounds like me screaming lol) so that’s where I got inspiration for that! Obviously it was exaggerated to fit Steve’s much bigger problems (I’ve never had absentee parents or a younger sibling who I solely worry about all the time nor have I been kicked off the basketball team nor am I an alcoholic). But yeah! That’s how I knew how to write that overwhelmed feeling that he was feeling.

The chapter title “comfortably numb”

Okay so MAJOR SPOILERS for the tv show the sopranos ahead. Basically the song “comfortably numb” plays during a scene where something not so great happens to the character of Christopher. iykyk. And I found the character of Christopher very interesting. He was by all accounts a shitty person. But he was so sensitive, and he was dealing with a lot, and he’d try to escape it by doing drugs, essentially “numbing” himself to the pain. So the title does refer to Steve, who’s problems are piling up so high on his head and he KNOWS he’s fucked everything up for himself, so he just gives up and numbs himself with drugs and alcohol. I’m sure this was pretty self explanatory and didn’t need an explanation but yeah!

Wanda’s drunken tirade 😂

Okay so the part where Wanda only selectively hears what Curtis is saying and latches on to “reader slept with Curtis” and ignoring everything else?? I SAW THIS HAPPEN IN REAL TIME WITH TWO OF MY FRIENDS!!! Basically we were at a party, and we were young af like 16-17. And both my friends were drunk (I’m not friends with either of them anymore but this was in like 2016 bahah) anyways one friend thought the other friend had kissed the guy she liked, the other friend said she didn’t but the first friend was only selectively listening. AND I SWEAR I HAVE SEEN THIS HAPPEN A LOT. Like when someone is so drunk they just selectively listen or just believe what they want to believe. So yeah that’s how I got the inspiration for that. And for a lot of these, I don’t even think what’s inspired me. I write it down and then read it over and I’m like “wait this actually happened to me IRL that must be where I’m getting these ideas from” 😭😂😂😂

Reader’s emerald dress and the gala

Okay this one I didn’t even realise was sooo flowers in the attic inspired until I read it over. So basically Cathy’s mother Corrine wears this gorgeous emerald gown to her family’s Christmas ball. And many years later when Cathy plans revenge on her mother, she remembers this emerald gown from memory and has it remade so she can wear it and confront her mother at the Christmas ball. I remember reading long descriptions of that gown. But tbh I didn’t really remember what that gown looked like or any of the details, just the colour was significant to me. Bc the gala was going to be a night of many confirmations too. The description of reader’s emerald dress all came from my head haha. Like the ruching and the slit etc. I tried to find a dress on Pinterest that matched my vision but none of them lived up to the image I have in my head that’s my own creation LMFAOOO

Andddd my mind is blanking now but if I remember any more inspirations I’ll add them here!!!

[turtlemagnum]

this sounds extremely petty but one of the main reasons i barely use twitter anymore is because i have No followers. and like, i post a lot of the same stuff on there as on here. i semi regularly "port" posts from here to there. i know i'm not exactly a Big tumblr blog but i've got nearly a hundred followers and have fairly regular interactions from those followers and even randoms sometimes. meanwhile on twitter i have 8 followers that rarely interact with what i post. and 2 of them are alt accounts of other people who follow me. like yeah if you ever go to my twitter and see more than one like it's probably the vent account of my one mutual who actually sometimes likes my posts. it's wretched. and the thing is there's also bots there too, so it has Nothing on here. god, i should've joined here years ago. or maybe i shouldn't've, i was a pretty shitty person in the time before i came here. i think i first moved here in a pretty migratory part of my life, essentially trying to find something to fill the loss of my friend group with, it was around the time i got my first job, the end of the year i graduated high school from, the first time in my life i felt like an actual adult. and now i don't, really. maybe once i get that truck driving job, i dunno. im rambling, but god do i feel like shit.

i wish i could say it was hopeless. i wish i could say that so i could just lay down, give up and let the world devour me whole. but i can't. i fucking can't. there is a fire of hope inside me burning so intensely as to never go out, even when i'm at my lowest. i have to keep it burning, i can't let this world ruin me like that. i have to believe that things can get better, that's the only way they can get better. so i can't just kill myself, that's admitting defeat. i have to live, good god do i have to live, even if it's gonna suck for the forseeable future, even if things are gonna get worse before they get better, even if i don't live to see the better future i'm hoping for. part of me wants to say that hope is all i have left. but that's not true, i know that it isnt true. it's the small things, really. i have decent food, i have pictures of cute animals, and i even have my friends despite the fact that trying to talk to them can just make me feel even lonelier at times. i have love, and i have to live long enough to give it to people, hopefully people who deserve it. i'm not giving up just yet. i've lived through things just as bad as this, and i'll live through even worse if need be. i have to, for my own sake if nothing else.

[midnightsunnyday]

Spoiler warnings for the Shout Your Heart Out Devilgram but...

for those of you who expected a good romantic romp with Diavolo after being given literally crumbs these last two seasons...

The entire Devilgram is nothing but you third wheeling as Diavolo reads from an entire scroll, in front of an entire audience, how amazing Lucifer is. That's it. That's the story. Dude is literally just listing off every quality Lucifer has and at the very end, all MC is treated with is what essentially feels like to me, a pity kiss.

And considering that NB has significantly decreased in its romance, I couldn't help but feel cheated. Like, who is this for? Clearly, the DiaLuci shippers, but Lucifer behaves so indifferently to Diavolo, that it even drops the ball on that. It especially fucks up the DiaMC moment by having our entire existence in that story serve as a fucking wingman for another character.

I already ranted about this with a few others on Reddit, but the entire Devilgram just left a sour taste in my mouth, and it's gotten to the point where sometimes I can't tell whether Diavolo's obsession with Lucifer is written for laughs or purely romantic, but I'm tired, y'all. I don't even know if it's right to call it queerbaiting or not, but Diavolo says so many off the wall things about Lucifer that it's hard to interpret his feelings as anything less than friendship. Either say the quiet part out loud or stop waisting my emotions in believing these characters actually care about romancing me, seeing as you've been lacking in that aspect for MONTHS.

And I know this sounds so fickle, but as a yumejoshi we rarely get games like this where an MC is non-descriptive with the ability to self insert as we please. Despite what you assume, otome players don't tend to self ship. Most enjoy reading the story seperate from the MC and that's a pretty large sum of people in that fandom. This story is literally a slap in the face to that.

Lilke, tell me the truth, y'all. Am I overreacting? Is it crazy to assume that an otome game, or what advertises itself as an otome game, should focus on the MC and their relationship with the LIs? And if you weren't going to make Diavolo a serious romantic option, then why make him an LI to begin with? Frankly, he was better off as a nondatable because it doesn't even feel like he gives a shit about the MC. At least in the OG game, there was a balance. Now we don't even have that.

Like, fine. Give the people their fanservice, but it just feels shitty that in a game where the point is to romance characters and have them love you, you're treated as an afterthought by the characters you're suppose to be dating.

[candyskiez]

What gets me about Mogami arc is that it would've been so easy to say that Minori was being mind controlled and that she wasn't actually like that. That's what I was fully expecting to happen. But the fact that she IS like that is both way, way more interesting and also way more fitting with the themes. Like if they'd gone "Nobody is worthless and the idea that you are allowed to decide who lives and who dies or who is beyond redemption is fucked up. You do not decide other people's worth. You do not decide if people are capable of change." but then had Minori being actually really nice, that wouldn't have had nearly as much impact.

Because sometimes people are fucking awful! Sometimes people do horrible, fucked up things for selfish reasons that you would have every right to never forgive them for! And you still don't get to decide if they deserve to die for it, because you do not have the right to decide what someone's life is worth. Community means community for everyone, even people you despise. You can decide to never see someone again, like Mob did with Minori, but you do not get to decide if they should lose everything for it. Because that is a dangerous mindset to have.

And Minori actually realizing the consequences of what she was like and all she could say was sorry, knowing it wasn't nearly enough? That shit was devastating. She knew an apology wasn't nearly enough. But what else could she say? He just saved her life after she'd been horrible to him. And it's not about if Minori deserves forgiveness. It's about the fact it's better for her to be one more person trying to do good than for everyone she met to suddenly be grieving. It's about the fact that now one more person is trying to put good into the world, and might help more people, and might end up becoming a good person. It's not about if she deserves it. It's about the fact debating whether or not someone deserves forgiveness doesn't help. Pretty much everyone has someone who views them as not deserving to be saved, so the whole "punish everyone who does something bad" idea becomes even more dangerous when you take that into account.

I really like how MP100 handles it because it isn't about whether or not Minori deserved forgiveness, it's about the fact that the idea that there's a point where your life stops mattering because you've done enough shitty things is really messed up, and ultimately encourages people to stop trying to change at ALL (as we see in separation arc. God the way this story is structured is ridiculously good.) It's better for there to be one more person trying to do good than for yet another loss that will have massive collateral damage. It's better to trust that people can be good, even if you never want to see them again.

I feel like one of the reasons this arc gets me so hard is because it essentially shows Why someone would be pushed to behave like how we see Mob start to. Of course you'd stop holding back and being kind to people if you weren't given a reason to believe it'd work out. Of course you'd become jaded. Of course you'd turn out like that. It puts you in that situation and makes you *get it*, and goes "Horrible things will happen and it will make you feel like there's no point being good, because it will only blow up in your face. But doing that will only hurt more people. You will only become someone else's reason for giving up. Keep going. There are things that are worth trying again for." And I want to bite a wall over it.

I don't have the words to explain it right now but like. I also feel like if Mogami was a pure evil villain it wouldn't have felt as hopeless. I don't know how to explain it. I really want to explain it but I don't have the energy right now. Do you get what I mean. Help.

This is incoherent because I have had A Day, but. Mogami arc good. Have I mentioned Mogami Arc good yet. I love mogami arc guys .

[goodwithwood]

Hello again! Hope you are doing okay :D

I have a question: While I was reading again Wicked Grace, I was wondering How does Hawkes's house and carpentry shop look like? :O I'm very curious to see how the rooms are disposed and place? :3

Thank you and welcome back again

Full of love and encouragements for the next part <3

OHH THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION!!!!! admittedly i don’t have any detailed floor plans designed so much as just Settings In My Mind Which I Try My Utmost To Convey but i’ll try to explain them in broad terms here! :D

generally speaking, the vibe of all hawke-associated zones (namely, his house, the carpentry and leandra-and-the-twins’ house) is very much that of the hawke estate from the actual game. it’s all very comfortable and warm. i always hear the hawke family theme in the bg whenever i’m writing scenes set in them lol. the hawkes all subconsciously gravitate towards dark brown and red furniture and they tend to be a bit on the cluttered side (though leandra is by far the most organized of the lot. conversely, malcolm was the most cluttered HAHA – carver has since taken the title over), so everything always feels really... lived-in! in a nice way! (as a lil aside, fenris’ place is the same way; i think garrett literally thinks ‘this place feels cozy and lived-in’ when he first sees fen’s place haha.)  

but anyway!!! garrett’s house is a two-story house which he rents from meredith (who is also his neighbor) (yes that goes as well as you’d think). the ground floor has a spacious living room which is VERY cozy because garrett doesn’t joke around when it comes to coziness. it has red carpeting, an extremely plushy old sofa, a couple of armchairs and a tv set. there’s a low table in front of the tv (basically just a coffee table) and another table next to the couch with some family pictures on display. the domain of the 500 straws aka the kitchen is attached to the living room - you get into it by going under a pretty wide arch (it isn’t sectioned off from the living room by a door or anything; you can see into the kitchen from the living room and vice-versa, hence why characters sometimes have conversations across the two of them). the kitchen is your standard kitchen with its counters and normal implements and stuff, but it’s also really cluttered. not in the unhygenic way but... you know. cluttered. there’s a cupboard in there that’s solely dedicated to chip storage. maybe even two cupboards. maybe even… a pantry. anyway. a part of it is put aside for dining upon the famed table which fenris drunkenly called shitty, but garrett usually takes his food elsewhere. like he probably eats on the couch in the living room more often. there is also a downstairs bathroom that you can get to from the living room… which i don’t think has ever been mentioned in wg…? but there it is. HOT LORE OFF THE PRESS!!!! dgdflhk but jokes aside that bathroom also combos as a laundry room.

the staircase leads up from the living room! it has another arch entrance which matches that of the kitchen, but it’s smaller because obviously the staircase is a lot narrower haha. the top floor has garrett’s bedroom (with an attached bathroom), a guest room, and another bathroom (‘the guest bathroom’ aka the domain of merrill’s gift-soaps). that bathroom isn’t attached to the guest room, but it *is* right across the hall from it. the hall is pretty tiny but it has some cabinets set up along it for extra storage. garrett actually keeps a lot of his extra stuff at the main family house since it’s way bigger and has a really spacious attic/basement situation.

the hawke family’s carpentry is definitely a lot vaguer since i’m not a carpenter so i am 100% giving the au’s characters who are trained in such things their own free rein of the place LOL but it essentially has a reception area and an area that’s totally off-limits to (most) clients. that off-limits area has a bunch of rooms – the workshop being the biggest one, with its heavy-duty tools and machinery (saws, workbenches, dust collectors, etc. SHARP THINGS!!!! be careful in there). there’s also a large room designated for storage, a breakroom with an attached bathroom, and leandra’s office for more administrative stuff. everyone drifts about but you can typically find leandra in her office, morrigan in the reception area, and the hawke siblings and zevran scattered around the workshop if they’re not doing a house call. leandra is a HUGE stickler for safety so everything is really up-to-par in that department. obviously, the hawke family���s tendency to be a bit cluttered is suppressed a whole lot in the workshop. if anything is out of place for too long the wrath of Mother Hawke WILL be incurred and no one wants that. seriously.

in terms of notable décor, the reception area of hawke’s carpentry has few of malcolm hawke’s (rest in peace, king) woodworking projects on display. he did a lot of big wooden sculptures and the like so, you know… obviously… There’s Birds. A Certain Bird In Particular. I Wonder What That Would Be. (hawks haha – two big ones on either side of the entrance to the workshop, almost like pillars.) there’s also a huge plaque of the family crest which him and leandra made together back when the carpentry was brand new. it’s on display right behind the reception desk so it’s pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in. it was garrett’s inspiration when he made the shield that fenris would later claim as his own.

so there you have it – a little run-down of these lil garrett zones! apologies if this wasn’t as detailed as you were looking for, i tried to keep it on the more general side. :D ty for the question and the warm welcome back!!!

[abnormalpsychology]

Hear me out. Brad and Janet, and Tom and Shiv— two failmarriages who may have more in common than you’d think:

inversion / parody of gender roles hetero romance

they are trying SOOOOOOO hard to be a normal married couple and it is just Not Working Out

very very hot sex symbol girlboss woman obsessed with another more powerful guy (Logan, Frank) and extremely unreliable but sometimes present sense of self-awareness and craves independence

dorky asshole malewife bottom trying desperately not to be a malewife as hard as he can for the entire media but yet the malewife genes overcome his efforts valiantly again and again and aGAIN

they cheat on each other a bunch of times (but they don't mean it guyssss 😩)

YES. they cheat on each other. BUT it's made known to the audience that they feel really bad abt it Imao

a premature WEIRD proposal done in a close-proximity-to-death situation yet they’re still like “okay 😊!” like would you rather I propose to you in the hospital while your dad is in intensive care from his brain hemorrhage OR in a graveyard after another person’s wedding while a funeral goes on right next to us featuring a suspiciously child-sized casket? romance central am I right

dedicated loving relationship struggling to survive in a crazy environment that is directly corrosive to dedicated loving relationships

horrible communication where the lack of communication in their marriage is kind of essential to the plot in and of itself

a threesome kinda happens in canon (more an orgy. this is abt rhps obviously) vs they almost had a threesome and then didnt... basically a threesome could've fixed all of them

"yes I cheated on you. Yes I still love you and would protect you as best I can in a traumatizing situation where a key extremely complex and kinda shitty person we both kinda love dies in front of us. We exist."

protection motif is a huge thing for both of them and in the end it's pretty clear that delusion is really what's actually been protecting them

most importantly: getting into marriage and being like "wow bitch!!! you are not who I thought you were"

they both end up in this really subjective completely destroyed irrevocably changed and entirely mortifyingly known position in their relationship like "who knows if we even love each other anymore"

"lol we both betrayed the other's trust beyond repair. does the love matter anymore lol Imao"

way too many people rightfully think there's no way to work their issues out but I am so delusional I don't give a shit <3

married couple that gets pitted against each other and have all these reasons to hate each other but you can tell that all of the love can’t be gone and like the evolution somehow emphasizes the love that was there before = PEAK ROMANCE. TO ME

[captainsolocide]

not my usual content but. I've been very obsessed with gta v lately and I finished the game today (not 100%, but the credits rolled). I chose C, and I didn't feel like save scumming to do the other two endings, especially cause I didn't think I could really stomach killing Trevor (unfortunately I've become very obsessed with him) so I went to youtube to watch play throughs of A and B and jesus. first of all I was right, I would NOT be able to stomach killing Trevor. The fact that you have to chase him down the highway before Michael crashes into him at the oil fields. that is just so sad to me for some reason. like he really was trying to be loyal and a good friend and he knows he's gonna die but he's just trying his hardest to get away from an impossible situation. idk if this is just how the person did it, but they didn't have Franklin kill him and Michael eventually does it himself. Is that how it has to happen? Does the game not let Franklin kill Trevor? Is Michael always the one who has to do it? Usually the wording when you have to kill someone in the game is "eliminate." For Trevor it was "put down." He doesn't even get the luxury of a quick bullet through the head. He's burned alive as you watch. Michael walks away basically fine and he gets Trevor's share of the Union depository score. Pretty sure if I chose that, I would have walked away with the most empty feeling in my chest. Then B comes. Now, Michael is the main character who most consistently annoyed me throughout the game, but even with that I don't think I could do B. He's got a family that he loves. I really do think he truly cared about Franklin, and while he shows that even in this ending he's willing to turn on Trevor (even when Trevor refuses to turn on Michael) I do think he was telling the truth about wanting to help Franklin, not just use him. In the play through I watched, the person choose to save Michael when he's dangling from his arm, and instead of letting that happen, Michael headbutts Franklin and essentially kills himself. Why does he do that? I cannot for the life of me fathom why he would do that. I mean, obviously in the game he has to die cause that's the option you chose, but what's the Watsonian reason for Michael killing himself there? Matter of fact, why even give the player the choice to save Michael at all? The assumption is you've already decided to kill him, why reconfirm that choice with an action that isn't even a choice at all cause the end result is the same? You leave B alone, literally, and you feel that as the player too. Franklin calls Lamar, says they should hang out sometime. A small irony, given that the last conversation they had if you choose that ending is one where Lamar tells Franklin what a shitty friend he's been lately. A and B are so clearly the wrong choice for the ending, it boggles my mind. Why have bad endings to your game? Were they worried C wouldn't hold up narratively so they added two shit endings to make it look that much better? I admit, there are definitely some loose ends with the character side plots, but it's my understanding that there's still game left to play even after the credits roll. Even then, C is a fantastic ending all on it's own. I just don't understand. I almost wish I hadn't seen the other endings cause it almost ruins Michael for me, you know? Knowing that in two of the three endings he's willing to turn on Trevor on a dime. There's nothing to say that he wouldn't do that in C given the chance. But Trevor doesn't turn, even when he's offered. I noticed in the graveyard scene that Trevor throws his gun at Michael before he runs away — he never takes the shot. He never takes a shot at Michael. Michael shoots at Trevor as he runs. he misses, but he still shoots. I'm not saying Trevor was always on Michael's side — he could care less when he learns Michael's been kidnapped, but he was never going to actively harm Michael. And that's the whole justification for A, isn't it? That Trevor's too crazy, they *have* to kill him cause he'll kill everyone else eventually.

But C is proof that that isn't true. Trevor will stay your friend, he will stay loyal. So then A was never necessary. You never had to kill Trevor. C is proof you don't have to kill either of them. idk.

[transfemmbeatrice]

parker's personal much ado primer

i'm gonna keep posting much ado shit so here is some background on my personal favorite interpretation of the characters; this is not a primer on the actual play and these opinions somewhat differ from my like. canonical readings of these characters. this is what my personal action figures are like when i'm talking about aus. i'm mostly leaving physical descriptions out bc they can vary quite a bit.

when i say "we" i mean me and my wonderful spouse @zaxal because so much of this we sort of developed together over the years and none of these characters would be quite who they are to me without them.

Beatrice: beatrice is a trans woman to me!! i talked about this a bunch here. she will also always have red hair to me (thanks catherine tate for that one). she's hot, she's confident, she doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks about her, she has relatively good judgement, she sometimes struggles to be vulnerable or soft with other people, she loves hero more than anything. she's also arrogant as hell! and often quite angry. beatrice is all fire all the time, she is alive and loud and proud and really likes having the last word. you will always know when she is in the room.

Benedick: oh this man is such a slut. grade a whore. pansexual as shit too. always cracking jokes to cover his own insecurities, desperately needs to be liked or if not that at least the center of attention--even if people don't like him, if they're thinking about him and watching him, that's good enough. he loves being witty and he is prideful and acts somewhat detached when in reality he feels things the Most and gets desperately attached to people and doesn't truly believe they could love him back.

Pedro: strong sense of duty. pedro is one that tends to vary more wildly because we've fallen into "suffocated by responsibility and shitty father, actually kinda shy and dumb and kind" which i love but in the play he is mostly just kinda shitty but i don't WANT him to be, so sometimes we try to lean more into the shitty side of him but often he is an earnest idiot (affectionate)

John: as mentioned in my beatrice post, i hc him as a trans man! sometimes more genderfluid or nonbinary. he's quiet, serious, and calm, and has been done fucking dirty by his dad/the world. generally our thought is that he was raised by his mom until about age 12 when she died and he got dumped on the palace steps and the king extremely resented taking him in and everyone was shitty to him because he's illegitimate. everyone thinks he's a villain and he knows he'll never convince them otherwise so he doesn't try; he just keeps to himself and doesn't form many attachments.

Hero: usually soft spoken but whip smart, doesn't like a lot of attention, stem major, big lesbian facing comphet vibes. she and beatrice are basically sisters. she's insightful but she doesn't share those insights with most people, and is by far the one who calls beatrice on her shit the most. we've ended up friendshipping hero and john because they're both such flat characters who exist at the whims of others and i love the idea of two wallflowers finding each other.

Claudio: obviously the villain. there are lots of different approaches to this--he might be an entitled golden boy, or a rich kid not used to hearing no, or an incel--but essentially he's a bully. i think its most interesting when he appears very nice at first and then when there's any amount of pushback things get ugly but i hate him so much i often make him pretty rancid from the start.

Margaret: outgoing and fairly relaxed, a jock, bi, in love with hero.

Conrade: john's bf, utterly loyal, and by a twist of fate it has become a running joke that he has tumblr disease (purple eyes/white hair). we usually depict him as similar to john--stolid, serious, not interested in taking anyone's shit, but lately i've been wondering if maybe he should be the bright sunshine in contrast to john.

Borachio: essentially a stray dog john and conrade adopted. he comes and goes. he's a mess.

Antonio: beatrice's surrogate parent, and elder queer genderfuck who uses ve/vir pronouns. general chaos agent.

ship abbreviations:

b&b: beatrice/benedick bbp: beatrice/benedick/pedro benepedro: take a guess beap: beatrice/pedro heromeg: hero/margaret johnrade: john/conrade

[estellamiraiauthor]

Some thoughts on the Ken Hill Phantom in Tokyo—both the show itself, since I’d never seen it before (only partial recordings, never even a full video) and this particular production.

Apologies in advance that I do not know the names of much of the cast… only three cast members are named on the website. I guess you had to buy a program to get some credit for the others, which seems a little shitty… they all did a great job and I’d like to be able to give credit where it’s due… if anyone happens to have a full list, let me know and I’ll add that information.

So, overall thoughts… it was a lot funnier and more fourth-wall-breaking than I expected. Not all of the jokes quite landed (either with me or with the audience in general), but it wasn’t because they were especially dated either, which is always nice in an older show. Just some moments that were like “I know I’m supposed to laugh here, but the joke’s just not that good.”

The banter between Richard (the only new manager in this version) and the old manager, and between Richard and Remy (his assistant or manservant, who kind of fills the role that a second manager sometimes does) usually worked, and all three of them were talented actors. Richard is the former manager of a railway company in this version, which he brags about quite a bit, and I think it was an interesting attempt to showcase the difference between a businessman who really doesn’t appreciate or even attempt to understand opera at all, vs. the Phantom, to whom art should be everything… unfortunately I feel like overall, the Phantom’s characterization was a little weak, which really hurt the emotional impact of the second act. More on that later.

Jammes sort of fulfills the ALW-Meg role here, and this was an interesting character for me because she wasn’t really very good of a dancer? What she did, she did competently, but definitely came off as “actress who has taken ballet lessons” rather than professional ballerina. It also didn’t seem to be much of a singing role, so not a case of choosing a singer over a dancer… I suppose she was maybe supposed to be comic relief, but the actress played her pretty straight?

Paul Potts as Faust is one of the three credited actors, alongside the Phantom and Christine. I LOVED him on Britain’s Got Talent, and watched a few videos of more recent performances when I learned he would be in this, but I wouldn’t say I’ve seriously followed his career. I was surprised in general that the role was such a funny one, and that he was extremely funny in it, because the image I had of him was definitely “Super Serious Tenor”. He was extremely enjoyable, both as a singer and as an actor here. For those who are wondering, because I Googled the role and didn’t find much, “Faust” is essentially the “Piangi” character here, except we never learn his actual name (although we do learn Mme. Giry’s!). He actually had a bigger role than I expected based on his first couple of scenes, unlike poor Mephistopheles, who got killed off fairs soon, for the actor to return as the Persian!

The other major character we meet in that first scene is Raoul, who is Richard’s son in this version. The whole “Little Lotte lost her scarf in the sea” backstory never seems to have happened. Christine and Raoul are already in love from the first scene, but we never learn where or when they met. Interestingly, while the whole “Raoul as aristocracy would never be with an opera singer” issue is not addressed here, since he’s not aristocracy, he does bring up how inappropriate it would be for Christine to be alone with a man in her dressing room. (Not that that stops HIM from barging in!) This Raoul was Sweet and noble, and I really wish I knew the actor’s name because he was a beautiful singer as well.

Christine actually didn’t get a chance to sing until fairly late in the show, and I’m pretty sure the first time she really sings is at her father’s grave, not during a performance or rehearsal! Tayla Alexander as Christine was AMAZING. It’s nice in general to see a Christine who actually is an operatic soprano (although I know that’s not really the POINT of a lot of versions, and don’t mind at all when they don’t, it’s refreshing to see a Christine close to the Leroux character?) She was a great actor too, and this is definitely a Christine with agency. I thought it was an interesting choice to have her come straight out and say “I PITY you!” at the end… that IS possibly a bit of “datedness”? Leroux, or at least the translation I have, also says “pity,” but pity isn’t necessarily seen as an emotion people WANT others to feel about them these days… not sure if that’s an evolution of language/evolution of disability culture thing, or just that this Christine is brutally honest?

So I guess this brings me to the Phantom… he also doesn’t show up until almost the end of Act 1, which is a choice I respect… mystery is good for this character! But I also feel like less interaction with Christine ultimately just made him come off as a creepy incel? I have to say, I did not love Ben Forster in the role. I just went and Googled him because other than playing the ALW Phantom, I wasn’t familiar with him at all, and it’s not at all surprising to me that he got his start in JCS and Rocky Horror etc… I’m much more interested in seeing him in those roles, because he has this like… rock-n-roll twang? To his voice that just did not fit a mostly-Leroux-faithful, generally-period-appropriate Phantom. He was overshadowed vocally not only by Potts but by the woefully uncredited Raoul and the Persian, and if the Phantom doesn’t have the most angelic voice on that stage, it just doesn’t work. I’m curious to see him as the ALW Phantom now, because I surprisingly don’t hate SOME more rock-ish voices there (Paul Stanley isn’t my favorite, but he’s far from my least favorite)… Looking those videos up once I get home!

Since I’m going through all the characters, this version actually has Mme Giry AND the Persian, although Mme Giry is in her original role as box manager! Mme Giry was another great actor and singer, she had a few nice funny moments to break up the overall gravitas of the character.

The Persian… well, this gets into the whole weakness of the second act and of the Phantom character in general. The actor who played the Persian (as well as Mephistopheles) was great, and I didn’t really have a problem with HIS character so much as the needlessly convoluted backstory they gave him and the Phantom. Just about the ONLY sympathetic backstory we get from the Phantom comes from the Persian, and he’s actually pretty brunt about it, just outright calling him “disfigured” rather than a monster or a devil’s child or whatever… which yes, is correct, but it just feels like it’s never really communicated to the audience with any degree of emotion how the Phantom (who never gets a name here) has really been robbed by society’s fear of any chance to have a normal life.

Christine doesn’t have that moment where she sees his face and is initially horrified. She doesn’t see his face at all until the end, so never gets to speak sympathetically about him to others. The Phantom never talks about his OWN past. And what we get from the Persian is mostly about how good at torture he is, oh and that he killed their parents. Because the Persian is his brother.

And I just… that feels so unnecessary? And I think, throws something in there that doesn’t need to be, because is this story set in France, written in English, now commenting on the treatment of children with facial differences in Persia? I don’t really think so, I think it was just supposed to be a big reveal, but it really fell flat. And honestly, if the dude’s parents neglected and abused him… we’ve all been following the Gypsy Rose Blanchard thing for long enough to say, maybe not that it’s OKAY to murder an abusive parent, but it’s certainly a lot more sympathetic than the Persian makes it out to be.

So, in the end, the Phantom is trying to force Christine to marry him by… yelling at her and telling her Raoul is dead. There’s no scorpion and the grasshopper, no Raoul held hostage. If she says no, he’s probably going to kill her, but he’s planning to do that anyway, so it’s a little hard to say what either of them hope to get out of the situation.

And in the end I guess he repents and kills himself, and then all of a sudden all of these people who have been physically and psychologically tormented by him gather ‘round to sing about how he won’t die without a friend? And Christine says he was once her angel of music, but because we’ve never really seen them in the same scene before this, it’s hard to really feel anything about that.

The second act just felt like a huge disappointment after the first… and a lot of that just hung on the Phantom, both the way he was written and the way he was played and sung. I’m glad I saw it, and it’s really interesting to see the parallels either way certain scenes that probably inspired ALW. I was particularly glad to be introduced to Tayla Alexander. But I’m also not going to be going back, at least not during this run.

[ask-artsy-oncie]

Idk why it was the first thing I thought upon waking up, but it really, truly is sad to me that the Scott Pilgrim movie seems so much more popular and talked about than the comics. And it's specifically sad because of why that is.

I mean I know one of the reasons why is because people do tend to just watch media rather than read it, even if the reading is comic books, because one is a bigger time investment than the other, and harder to multitask during, etc. But the sad reason is that Scott Pilgrim the movie only really exists as a showy, shallow, condensed retelling of a story that retains some of its humor and very little else. The major themes are either gone or rushed so quickly that they're kind of hard to process and easy to ignore. It's one of those adaptations that (in this case, it's likely for time restraints) reduces a piece of media to a bullet list of events rather than something with a story to tell - and because of that people can glean whatever they want from it.

One of the most unavoidable themes of the Scott Pilgrim comic books is that both Scott and Ramona are terrible people!! They've hurt others, sometimes irreparably - Scott is literally introduced to us having done so!! They both run away from their problems - namely their mental health issues - rather than confront them. And because of that, they relate to one another in a pretty self-deprecating way, and being together is what allows them to want to be better. They slowly begin to actually tackle their own problems, rather than asking the other to do so for them. And in the end they essentially face oblivion together.

Really, all the movie has done (and I know it's said time and time again) has allowed people like Scott and Ramona, pre-character development, to feel validated in the way they act and react to the world around them. But I feel like when people say that, they're implying that it's because these people purposefully ignore the character development, or the meta-commentary the story is trying to give its audience, and I don't think that's the case. I think the movie itself just lacks both of these things and doesn't challenge people like this, the way that the comics do.

I just never liked this movie, even as an awkward teen who loved the comics but didn't have the life experience yet to fully relate to them - and more importantly, who tended to just enjoy and hyperfixate on whatever movie I most recently saw in theaters! Like this movie could have easily hit it out of the ballpark for me, but even back then I was able to recognize it as a shallow adaptation with style and little substance. So that should really illustrate how egregious the disconnect between the two versions is. And I'm just sad. Sad that making such a shitty adaptation was so rewarded.

[piganatur]

THE EIGHTH SENSE EP 1

The eighth sense is: - the type of production that I tend to inhale - giving me such k-indie film vibes I’m humming with joy

I watched the first two episodes like two days ago. Rewatched them again the next morning. Pondered for a day, then watched the first ep again. At that point I accepted: this show lives rent free in my brain.

It’s something about: - the opening sequence because it literally plunges us into the middle of what this story will tell and what it’s about. It’s the wave crashing over our heads and after seeing nothing but the confusing (but crucial) bits, much like the white crest of said breaking wave, the scene in the bar slows down. We’re up at the surface again, waiting, building for the next wave

It’s something about: - how funny it is that in the bar, there’s noise, everyone chats loudly, there’s ought to be the dynamic of life and fun – a certain kind of rush to the scene – yet it’s the opposite. I’ve seen people describe it as too boring and long of a scene. It’s fascinating to think that it’s our timeout before the next wave. Two conversations from the bar: 1, about getting dumped/love life and 2, about getting rejected/ finding a job AND THEN we have the table with Jaewon who’s about to look for a job + broke up with his gf + is about to meet Jihyun... I already love this sm

It’s something about: - how everything Jaewon’s friends say about 1, him being impressive (for not taking time off school, for interning at a foreign company, for doing his military service then getting certificates and straightaway acing TOEIC… so things he had to do) and 2, him being backed up (by connections, family, money… essentially the reason why he had to do those things – bc they’re expected of him *just think about his mum’s messages*) COMES INTO FULL CIRCLE His friend says ‘when I see you I feel like I’m suffocating’ >> man… imagine what it’s like for Jaewon. He’s angry but stifles it and it builds in him. He’s trapped in that scene (background sounds and music fades out as Taehyung’s accusations echo through his head) until he’s literally knocked off his seat. And that’s when he shows his anger. And Jihyun embraces him and pulls him away from that (and the scene slows down again!!!)

- Jaewon knows what they say about him is true but that’s a double edged sword when others only see the positive side of it. Seeing how korean media represents university friendships, the way his friends act is (sure, shitty… but also) kinda typical. If they all met at the start of university, besides attending school and working on their social connections they drink/have fun together. The mention of someone’s connections or money (especially in their final year) is simply their drunken-jealous bitching about how easy it is for Jaewon, how he has no worries. And Jaewon also pretends to be drunk so he can let it go and make up with them but he’s obviously so fed up like… ppl just look at him and see

It’s something about: - the scene where Jihyun and Jaewon first talk. Jihyun not only gives Jaewon two cigarettes… he also has the lighter on him while he hands Jaewon those cigarettes but chooses to light one for him with his very cool bbq lighter instead. So then he can give the lighter as a farewell gift a few minutes later!

It’s something about: - Jihyun’s allure and that it’s his lack of preconceived assumptions about Jaewon. Jaewon doesn’t have to be any certain way around Jihyun and sometimes that’s the best someone could wish for

It’s something about: - Jihyun drinking with his boss lady. That scene is so magical because Jihyun is portrayed as a quiet countryside boy full of fears but he still pulls people in, connecting with them even when he doesn’t try (also I’m pretty sure boss lady is the tteokbokki shop owner from WYEL, where are my fellow WYEL enthusiasts at?)

It’s something about: - the scene w/ Jaewon at the gate of his house. Everything about that scene is just *chefs kiss*

It’s something about: - Jihyun trying to follow Jaewon and losing him vs Jaewon catching Jihyun eating lunch by himself (yo, I’m vibrating on a cellular level)

It’s something about: - Jaewon almost pissing his pants when caught talking w/ Jihyun in the cafeteria. It’s too funny to me

It’s something about:

this damn shot that makes me go feral - Jihyun follows Jaewon out of the bar to talk with him, they’re framed together yet there’s a line between them with the mirror/double images (I’m biting the edge of the table) BUT the moment Jihyun talks to Jaewon it’s all gone. Jaewon’s 'I didn’t see you earlier' is so telling

There’s also the scene with Jaewon and the therapist lady but I’ll come back to that in ep two

[sketching-shark]

So since you’re The Person Anons Go To To Complain About Lego Monkey Kid; I figured I’d get this out of my system while also asking for your two cents.

I don’t think the LMK crew have read JTTW. Best case scenario I think they either got some word of mouth stories and read some wiki articles.

And a lot of this comes down to their characterization of SWK and the way the world treats him.

In the book, SWK has a kingdom of monkey, but they’re YAOGUAI monkeys who are capable of speech, making an army, are enslaved several times, and were straight up referred to as his family multiple times. Meanwhile, the show just… doesn’t acknowledge his subjects? They’re at best represented as regular monkeys who wander around the island, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen SWK or MK interact with them on screen. They’re essentially background dressing.

Then you’ve got the season three episode where SWK has stage fright, which… he never really had any fear of public speaking (even to Buddha himself), and straight up gets into a massive public competition and cuts out his own entrails just to prove another guy isn’t immortal. (Even in their own series, they have confirmed SWK starred in his own movie and did voice acting for a game)

Honestly, I get the vibe that the writers care more about the archetype boxes they can fit SWK into rather then who he really is. The rest of the JTTW crew should still be alive? Well no, we need SWK to be our Hermit Mentor. We’ll just imply they’re all dead (or abandoned him for no reason). Sun Wukong has a family of monkeys? Well we can’t have that! Make them regular monkeys so he’s Truly Alone (and also ignore that he can talk to animals).

Sun Wukong is a king, and has been shown to be incredibly comfortable in his public speaking? Well we can’t have that! Because Macaque is our resident theater kid, and we need them to be Literary Parallels! Nevermind the fact Sun Wukong barely interacted with him in the book, but deeply loved Demon Bull King, and DBK has an actual reason to feel betrayed by him.

I’m not bothered by the changes like Macaque having been his old friend at one point or dead characters being alive or even the choice to not acknowledge SWK’s buddha status (in fact, I enjoy some of these), but it’s… really disheartening to see my favorite character be relegated to Lonely Mentor and Macaque’s Sun. He deserves a lot better then the show is giving him, honestly.

SADFAWEGDFGAD anon that was something I said as a jest but haha wow I guess I'm starting to get a reputation (X_X).

But ANYWAY okay folks you know the drill I sometimes find it fun to be a hater so heads up for that and remember that "don't like, don't read" goes both ways <3.

---

But to get to your main gripe anon, now that you've said it I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case...like as it is there's already been a number of cases I'm aware of from twitter where members of the LMK crew have put their collective foot in their collective mouth & came across as pretty insulting to Chinese deities for it, & then doubled down with that whole "it's our interpretation uwu" mentality which is, to put it mildly, a kind of shitty thing to do. And in regards to the main monkey himself--and in full acknowledgement of the very blatant hints they've given that there's a lot more going on with lego show Sun Wukong then has been revealed so far, it does at times seem like they're making their version of the Monkey King more in line with the "dumbass monkey who breaks everything" western stereotype than the complex trickster figure you find in the og classic...like of course there are indications that this Sun Wukong may be the one of the more tragic Sun Wukongs out there in that he's been left after the journey with no friends, no companions, no kingdom in any real way, and everyone in the entire world who's met him in person, with a few exceptions, seems to hate his guts. And you could actually refer to Xiyouji itself for explanations on why a lot of that might be: the monkey yaoguai of Mt. Huaguoshan go through centuries of lethal trauma even before the Six Eared Macaque treated them as his personal tools while he was "Sun Wukong," which could have convinced the survivors that the real monkey king had become a wicked tyrant and thus they all ran away in fear; Sun Wukong may have ended up with a case of stage fright from the journey itself because of all the times that Tang Sanzang tortured him for speaking his mind; and Sun Wukong did enrage the entirely of heaven pre-journey before largely becoming an enemy of yaoguai during the journey itself...hell, in the og classic he even starts weeping because after he was banished from the pilgrim group he feels like he has no place he could go :(.

THAT SAID, during the events of Monkie Kid itself Sun Wukong often does come across as a doofus who's doofery gets everyone into serious trouble. Just to give a few examples: him joking around & not focusing during a high-stakes situation is the reason a 4th ring of samadhi was created which got embedded into Bai Longma & eventually into Long Xiaojiao; him lying to Qi Xiaotian & telling him he was going on "vacation" even though he was running around looking desperately for a way to stop the Lady Bone Demon is a major reason she became as powerful as she did; and his entire plan to stop the Lady Bone Demon, massive threat that she is, is presented even by him as flimsy and paper-thin, something made all the worse by the danger the monkie crew was put into in the effort to get the rings & by his refusal to share all the details of it with them until it's too late. And then of course there's the Six Eared Macaque's whole thing where he's violently obsessed with Sun Wukong because they apparently used to be the best of friends before the Monkey King got power hungry, betrayed everyone, and then killed him. So far we haven't gotten so much as a brief flashback that gives Sun Wukong's thoughts about of any of this, so you can see why even if it's not the overarching intent many people would take the message to be "Sun Wukong = sucks." And it's something you see reflected in a lot of the fanart and fanfic around Monkie Kid; practically the only person the Monkey King's ever depicted anymore as being in a good relationship with is Macaque (fandoms tend to hyperfocus on 2 dudes who despise each other but have a more friendly history), many AUs make him an irredeemable selfish asshole, and/or he's being depicted as someone who fully deserves to be yelled at & hated by everyone because of the bullshit he pulled that got everyone hurt. In many ways, LMK Sun Wukong does have numerous similarities to TLJ Luke Skywalker in the way these sequels to their stories made them fail-hermits.

Now of course it must be acknowledged that across the centuries that Sun Wukong has been a popular figure in Chinese culture's he's gone through a TON of different retellings and interpretations. The monkey king has been depicted as everything from a pious and devoted monk to a crude and lecherous yaoguai to a being that is simultaneously monkey, human, yaoguai, and buddha and who is defined above all else by the capacity for great violence, great restraint, and a powerful and active love for those he considers his family. Even so, it is kind of disappointing that even with allowing for the possibility of Monkie Kid still being able to give satisfying answers for why their Sun Wukong acts the way he does, a good part of his lego show portrayal so far has just been him acting like a careless jester with disastrous consequences and, even if he doesn't mean to, hurting one person after another to the point where his actions, even if inadvertently, even if largely against his will, played a big part in helping the Lady Bone Demon almost succeed in her attempt to destroy all of reality.

Like...how do you even try to atone for that?