#and like i'm not even insulting every other drama. obviously there are ones that are good. what i mean is lost is so fucking good

[simptasia]

the best reminder that LOST is a masterpiece is to watch any other drama series

[abbyfmc]

Yandere Emperor! x Female! Reader #3:

Continuation of the previous part.

-"I like to see those wounds, because I know that I was the one who caused them to you."- In the event that the yandere emperor is a sadist, and there is a chance that you disobey him or catches you in an escape attempt, of course the emperor himself would punish you and then heal your wounds and perhaps caress them in a moment, kiss or something like that.

-"What's wrong? Do your wounds hurt? Well I'm glad and I hope this reminds you of what will happen if you dare to run away."- It would be the same as the previous case. The emperor would punish you physically and then heal you himself.

-"I wait for you tonight / Wait for me here tonight."- If we see possible historical records of the emperors and their harems, there were what were "night services in bed" for both the concubines and consorts, as well as for the empress (legal wife of the emperor) in which the emperor could have fun with them or just sleep. You would not be the exception; so the yandere emperor would summon you to his room, he would take you by force, or he himself would go to your room and close the doors behind him.

-"Take off your clothes, I want to see that beautiful body. Do it for me; I want to see and touch every area of ​​your body, as well as lick every fold of your skin."- During night services in bed, he will like to have you at his complete mercy. There is no further explanation for this.

-"I will allow your parents to visit you, only if you behave well to me."- In the past, they rarely let the empress or concubines be visited in the palace by their relatives. The yandere emperor would use this to his advantage, as well as keeping a close eye on every visitor you receive.

-"There's only one thing I'd like you to do, and that is have our children."- Many emperors used their empress or concubines to expand the imperial family. There were emperors who expressed love for their empress and the occasional consort or concubine, and children were born from these unions, but then there were women from the harem who were simply used to have babies. Here the emperor loves you madly, and obviously he will want you to get pregnant probably not once, but several times perhaps.

-"Anyone who dares to attack her will be severely punished publicly as a warning not to mess with what I love."- The yandere emperor obviously won't let even his own empress (if you're just a consort or concubine) or any of his other imperial women touch you or insult you. The thing is worse if the person who trates you badly is a guard or servant, but whoever it is, the emperor could punish him with: slaps, whippings, forced labor, capital punishment, capital punishment to his family or clan of origin, etc.

-"How dare you slap my beloved? Who do you think you are?."- Well, that's what the yandere emperor would say when he sees how the imperial women or some other servant hurt you.

-"I want to surrender to your majesty, but only if it ensures the well-being, safety and happiness of my children. You must also promise not to harm my babies or the children of the other women in the imperial harem."- If you have seen a few historical records, as well as some historical palace dramas (especially those that come from China), you will know that there have always been fights and palace intrigues between the harem women and their children to reach the top; for reasons such as favor, family pressure, safety and well-being of their children, etc.; leading to things like: accidents, poisonings, attempted murders, attempted abortions, and more terrible things.

Well, although I cannot manipulate the thoughts of the dear reader, I imagine that if you live in an environment of this style, in which you have children who could be in danger, you will want to take advantage of the loving obsession that the yandere emperor has with you to protect your children and ensure them a happy future, right?

10. -"Try to kill me? You are very naive."- There isn't much explanation. You tried to kill the yandere emperor and he stopped you in time, teaching you a lesson in the process.

11. -"If you have a child with another man, I will have no shame in sending the brat away and killing the idiot."- Just another stern warning.

12. -"Like, what am I doing here? Did I scare you? I think I did because those eyes of yours looking at me with fear… I love it."- It is likely that the yandere emperor is capable of sneaking into your room at night while you sleep, and that on one of those nights you woke up when you felt him lay down next to you and gave you a tremendous scare.

-The End.

[archduchessofnowhere]

We talk about portrayals of Sisi, but I think that Franz Joseph was, if anything, even more misrepresented by the recent period dramas. How would you rank the portrayals of him you have seen/read (in historical novels)? Is there any piece of historical fiction that actually captures his character accurately?

Hello! YES I always focus on Elisabeth but he is also completely butchered in all these new series. I think I've said it before, but basically it's very hard to reconcile who FJ actually was (both as an emperor and as a person) with him being a love interest we as an audience can root for. Specially in these new adaptations in which Elisabeth is outspoken, mature and actively politically involved in the events of the empire (and not just the Compromise). Why would our Girl Boss protagonist want to be with a man who was bureaucracy made flesh, very conservative, and just kinda boring in general? It doesn't work. Thus, his personality also gets rewritten.

I don't really have a decided ranking, but off the top of my head I'd say these are my least to most favorite portrayals:

Sisi & Ich (2023): Do you hate Sisi adaptations that turn FJ into a horrible, abusive husband in order to make his wife look good? Well, this portrayal does just that. He is only very briefly in the movie but I hated every minute of it, personally I was mostly fine with the movie despite all its inaccuracies but there was one scene from this part that was a deal breaker for me. This movie should've been just two hours of Irma and Elisabeth traveling and nothing else.

Die Kaiserin (2022-): The solution of the screenwriters to the problem of "how do we make FJ likeable?" Basically turning him into his brother Maximilian lol. You see, he has liberal ideas but his evil mother doesn't let him pursue them! Oh, and he had nothing to do with those executions, that was also his mother! In fact everything bad he ever did was all his mother's fault, because he is not even governing, his mother is. By season 2 it almost seems that FJ has absolutely no idea what's going on in his own empire and needs to be explained basic thing like Italian nationalism. This series sanitizes FJ in levels that just aren't seen in any other adaptation, not even the Sissi Trilogy. You are watching the show and can't help but think "who is this guy???". The only thing he has in common with the real FJ is that he loves his wife, but the way their relationship is portrayed is so unlike the real couple that not even that makes him similar to his historical counterpart.

Sisi (2021-2024). This FJ is in the opposite end of the same spectrum as Die Kaiserin's FJ. Season 1 had the original take of not making FJ likeable, but instead they turned him in a borderline cartoonishly evil, violent and smug man. He smiles as he orders executions, he beats his aids for not reason, he openly cheats on his wife and publicly insults her in a fit of jealousy. Honestly I was baffled by this take, because even after all these bizarre changes they still went for a "Sisi and Franz's great love story!" approach for the series. Which was. A choice. They obviously wanted to make him like that so that he could go through a redemption arc thanks to his relationship with Sisi, but it was just not a well written arc, and when his personality does change in later seasons it doesn't feel like earned character grow but simply that the writers decided to tone down their original approach.

Yet I will admit I'm lowkey fond of this portrayal, I liked most of his storyline in season 2 (he spends most of the season bonding with a feral child and also definitely has a thing going on with Andrássy you can't convince me otherwise), and in season 3 I found myself agreeing with him. So yeah, utterly butchered FJ but in an entertaining way at least.

Sissi Trilogy: I'm honestly overall indifferent to this FJ; he is basically the blueprint for every posterior depiction that portrays him as a Prince Charming love interest. Yet, for all the overomantization of Elisabeth's early life, the movies don't shy away from telling us how FJ was directly responsible of the counter revolution executions. We even see how he is still hated in Hungary and Italy (at least until Sissi comes into the scene). A certain show from a certain straming service could learn that it's not necessary to completely sanitize his image and pin all his faults onto his mother to make Franz Josef into a palatable love interest.

Sisi (2009). I feel about this FJ almost the same as I feel about the Sissi Trilogy's FJ, but in this portrayal we do see more of him than just "Sisi's love interest". Also it's not always all the color of roses, he and Elisabeth disagree and fight more than once. His relationship with his brother Max is also really interesting, pity they only interact in like three scenes. Overall a solid take, if a bit romanticized and not particularly remarkable.

Kronprinz Rudolf (2006). Not a bad take but for what I remember they portrayed Taaffe as having this great influence over FJ and putting him against Rudolf. And like no the evil minister was not responsible for FJ distrusting his son He Was Like That.

Elisabeth das Musical: the only depiction on this list that I truly like, and it really proves that the only way to have a good FJ is to not make him into a love interest. He is only a supporting character and yet the musical nails the most important bits of his personality and his relationship with Elisabeth outstandingly well (loved his wife but never understood her, cheated yet still longed for her, let her go but always hoped she would comeback next to him). There's even room to also show his relationship with Rudolfl! The only thing that I don't really like is that they do portray his mother as having a lot of influence over him, but that's mostly because the musical has an outdated take on Sophie (which works pretty well in a storytelling level nonetheless!). Boote in der Nacht is the saddest song in the entire musical, and the musical is not even about FJ and Elisabeth as a couple. Just a great, nuanced and engaging take!

I know I'm missing a lot FJs but these are the ones that came to my mind right now; I don't think I've ever seen Franz Josef in a piece of media that isn't about Elisabeth or Rudolf. Thank you for your question!

[velvetvexations]

Really love how every time I argue with people on here about how actually trans men do not generally have it meaningfully better than trans women, people avoid actually explaining their points or providing sources and start calling me a little boy. Very fun. Love that. It's so fun to be insulted for asking asking people to explain their point

No one can actually explain that.

rhea ripley is so hot. and for what

for me to be all Weird Trans Woman about her

Honestly as an non binary person, I feel more and more pushed out of the community with the serious adherence to the binary. "if you Id as this you MUST be this thing, you're you're a liar and a faker and you're hurting other trans people" that, and the denial of trans men's oppression. It's just cruel and bitter, and seeing other trans people go down this path is pretty disheartening

it's so depressing

Well, you see, it's not like saying they're transitioning from black to white, because OBVIOUSLY, just like race, your soulgender is immediately apparent to everyone as soon as you plop out the womb

lmao so true

(also I've heard soulgender is a Black thing and it should be spelled with like, a space or a hyphen? so I'm probably gonna do that from now on)

"Trans men are the White People of the trans community" Oh okay so yeah this is just "Ace people are the White People of the Queer Community" all over again huh Begging other whities to stop comparing race and gender like this, makes you look stupid as fuck

pls

Fascinated to know if the "All trans women are nonbinary" crowd also believe all trans men are nonbinary

you'd think so the way they insist trans men cling to being AFAB lmao

Went to check /-/'s blog and she's reblogging pro Chat-GPT and anti-copyright posts now

I'm tapping the sign.

as a nonbinary thing i feel like so much tma/tme shit just completely fucking forgets us like im not „occasionally mistaken as a trans woman” its a fucking coin flip!!!!!!!! my „AGAB” doesbt matter 2 ppl outside the the internet!!!!! all that matters is no matter what i wear no one wants me i their bathroom!!!!!

people don't even just hate you for when they mistake you for a trans woman anon they hate non-binary people AFAB too

i kinda feel like the discourse is becoming more mainstream now. im seeing a lot of trans bloggers who dont post much about trans issues making posts about it (usually along the lines of "can we be normal about trans guys please" which is nice)

good maybe the backlash will finally kick in

Idk if this is me generalizing but I’ve started noticing that headcanons of canonically male characters as trans women that get traction are usually skinny and have trauma or coded with anxiety or depression. Like idk if that means literally anything but just a weird observation I had

a lotta people on here literally define being a woman as when bad things happen to you lmao

I was looking at the Patricia Taxxon stuff (funny enough, did actually see you @ ed in deleted replies) and I saw the sentence “However, being discriminated on the basis of being perceived as a manly woman is just an adverse effect of transmisogyny directed towards trans men.” Which. Hey now. What about butch women. Like how does that not uniquely apply to cis butch lesbians, even if we ignore trans men entirely.

MAINSTREAM SOCIETY LOVES TOMBOYS

Man. It really sucks when a popular-ish figure you look up to turns out to be transandrophobic. Should have seen it coming ig. She was intersexist too, and those often go hand in hand.

well I mean it sounds like you shouldn't have looked up to her already lmao

IIRC from old drama, Patricia Taxxon also thinks toxic masculinity isn't a real thing that can harm men because it's just splash damage from misogyny and they should get over it, lol, so I'm not surprised if she's turned out to be weird about trans men

lmao literally just that radfem-libfem feminism-is-for-women comic huh

Tragic: local man forced to actually read Serano's writing for the theory he's trying to make even though the way she talks about transmasculinity and female gender nonconformity gives him a headache

F

[valjeancrazylover2]

So... Who's Gérard?

Thinking about his stupid ass so I'm making a post LOLLL

If you saw my post about Marius' friends, you'll have read about the infamous Gérard Ambroise - hes a bit mysterious, a bit of a dickhead, but sticks around regardless. So.... who is he exactly , you might be asking?

Pre-note.... shoutout to @24601orwhatever as per usual for helping me develop all of this and being the one to suggest gérard be canonised in the first place! he wouldn't be alive without you! most of what you will read below in the byronverse section will probably have been suggested or , like. "yes, and"-ed by him. THANKYOUUUU!

Let's begin ! (this is going to be a bit long, sorry.)

FROM THE META ANGLE:

For those who are not part of the like, 5 people worldwide who are In The Know (or maybe there are actually people who pay attention to my deranged rants on my main blog, i dunno), Gérard is, technically, an actual character in Les Mis. Officially he is an unnamed student, and has some iconic lines such as Our world! and Marius, sit down!. You may also spot him at the start of the ABC café scene seemingly arguing with enjolras centre stage.

The character who runs that track is not called gérard of course, though i call every actor who covers or plays the role in previous productions "Fake Gérard"s. Gérard is ONLY Gérard when played by Jordan Simon Pollard, on the West End. He's even in the programme, twice!

Here's some more pictures, with his iconic glasses. (Didn't have em in the programme for some reason.)

The surname Ambroise is completely invented by me. The name Gérard however, the man himself told me, for which I am eternally grateful Thanku hero

And thats basically all there is to know about the "canon" character, other than funny little details i spot. Keep an eye out for him. His track runs usually further offstage so you might miss some of the drama (or him completely if you're watching a bootleg) but if you're like me you probably prefer to watch whatever the fuck the ensemble are doing instead of the leads (sorry, enjolras).

SO IT'S PROBABLY IMPORTANT TO MENTION that the Gérard in the show and the Gérard in my head are two different guys. The interpretation I have of his character comes from my insane mind flanderising little interactions into oblivion until he became this man with a personality like sandpaper. The interpretation that Jordan Simon Pollard himself has on the character is most definitely entirely different. If he somehow sees this, sorry promise i'm normal.

That brings us to...

THE BYRONVERSE ANGLE:

In the brick, i think its mentioned that 5 students escaped, disguised as national guardsmen? well... regardless...... somehow Gérard survived, a slightly meta inside joke about the fact that the first time i was actually paying attention to him in a show, i lost track of where he was on the barricade and he seemingly just vanished and therefore theoretically could have survived the barricade. However the last time i saw him he did indeed take a bullet to the face (while screaming insults, might i add). My canon doesn't follow brick canon word for word anyway, as i like some details of other adaptations better and they work better with my characterisation - whatever. not important right now ,, kinda ,,,

anyway, gérard was one of les amis d'ABC, obviously. A law student, like marius, but cared more about activism, politics and debate than he did his degree, hence joining the revolution. he locked horns with enjolras a fair bit, but was not all that outspoken or loud, usually preferring to keep his head down and judge the rowdy students from afar, shaking his head in silent disapproval.

During the rebellion, suddenly he was faced with the reality that he may very well die, but was still determined for the cause and fought hard, gaining himself a nasty scar to the jaw and a few injuries here and there , yknow, the normal stuff. (another slightly meta note here, in the show, i dont know whether it's jordan not being able to act firing a musket or what, but i first interpreted his shooting during the Attacks to be him looking away from where he was shooting before he fired. this was probably me misinterpreting a very quick glimpse i saw, but whatever, #adoptingintomybeliefsystem.

He got out alive, laid low for a bit, continued his habit of wall-hugging everywhere he went, returned to his studies as a student. His injuries were not so grave like marius' that he took significant time in bed, plus he's a stubborn bastard so would've been up and about anyway if he didn't have anyone to play dramatics around for sympathy.

Emotional scarring however WAS there, of course, and caused him to become a lot more withdrawn and bitter. He became highly defensive and generally abrasive. If he was not a people person before, he certainly was not now. I suppose that's his way of trying to keep his identity low to avoid, yknow.. getting arrested for being an insurgent. just glower at everybody so they leave you alone.

He met marius completely by coincidence - if you read my last post, and as you'll find out if you read the fic when it releases, he was drawn in kind of against his will by Marius' friend René (another law student who dngaf about the law, just wanted to meet people and get the gossip) who saw his Mysterious Aura and got chatting. Gérard noticed something familiar about Marius and vice versa, and found them strangely drawn to each other.

They find each other utterly annoying. They cannot be left in the same room or marius will feel so awkward he will literally fold up and gérard will burst a blood vessel. Gérard will not shut up about politics, which reminds Marius of Enjolras, which brings back memories, which- its just a whole mess. but they have a warriors bond nobody else understands.

and thats the gist, i guess?

so its time for my favourite part ...

INCONSEQUENTIAL CHARACTER DETAILS THAT I THINK ARE FUNNY

He's an absolute train wreck of a guy, as i'm sure you've already gathered. he's rude, unpleasant, a repressed homosexual and an outspoken radical.

Another little meta joke - there's another ensemble character Jordan Simon Pollard plays in les mis. another unnamed character, but he in fact gets TWO lines, in the intro to Master of the House - "Landlord, over here!" and "God, this place has gone to hell!". He told me this character is called Willy Wonka, so we'll call him wonka for now, because previously i was calling him Tall Jean or Jean 3, and willy wonka i fear is more insane and also the OFFICIAL name from the guy himself so who's to argue.

anyway my point - Gérard has a brother. i'm sure you guessed it's wonka. we did indeed canonise that connection, for a laugh .

Yes the only official photo of him has luke's arm in the way. Oh well! You know it's wonka because of the red coat and brown hat. yknow... like willy wonka...

Anyway. his deal. sometimes in the show he will pull out some perfume and spray himself, so let's assume he's a) gay b) into perfume. He seems to be a much more amiable guy than his brother, chatting with other patrons at thenardier's inn (and even sometimes flirting with other men. saw him sit on a dude's lap once. most recently a guy came up to him while he was stood in the doorway gayly and the guy dragged a finger down wonka's stomach seductively. sometimes he dances with the ladies too, so he's either a gay for the girlies or bisexual, you choose) and even dancing around and joining the festivities, overall having a GREAT time , GOD he is SO fun to watch onstage i can HIGHLY recommend. he's tall, dressed in red, camp, and always smiling, he's hard not to miss.

Him and gérard don't really talk. He won't come up much in future, but he's here and he's queer!

(there has been some discussion of other JSP ensemble characters being relatives of Gérard, such as the wedding guest in Beggars at the Feast - who thenardier flirted with and nearly kissed last time i saw the show - but none of it has been wholly funny enough to be canonised at all. From a byronverse standpoint, Marius did not know Gérard at the time of his wedding, PROBABLY? timeline is still, uh, nonexistent?)

(the timeline issue also struggles with wonka's age in relation to Gérard's, becuase obviously Master of the House is 15ish years before the ABC café, so should wonka be significantly older than his brother....? yes. probably. but i don't think about it too hard. he's just......... older than gérard by a nondescript amount of time.. it's not really important and i can tweak stuff to make it work, WHATEVERR)

AND LASTLY, the funniest shit ever, the Gérard Ambroise situationships.

When jordan was on with milan valjean, they'd talk and interact during drink with me off to the side. I'll let you make your own assumptions there.

As mentioned, he's a repressed homosexual. he is in close quarterd with the aforementioned (some time ago) René Gignac, who is VERY camp, very effeminate, participates in the homosexual underground of Paris, the WORKS. Gérard has very conflicting feelings about this man, because on one hand René just LOVES to rile him up by saying purposefully stupid things whenever Gérard makes a political comment. and he can't just back down.

he assumes the hotness he feels in his body is to do with the anger, surely nothing more.

Anyway they at some point get together, its weird, its uncomfortable and awkward, they break up. and get together. and break up. and get together. and this repeats, like, a thousand times throughout the time they know each other. literally the WORST couple ever, to the point where everyone kind of loses track of whether they're together or not, because it's really hard to discern when they are, becuase Gérard is a bit ashamed and René is purposefully trying to piss him off.

René this whole time also has a crush on one of the other members of the friend group, Albéric, but this is mostly superficial and he just thinks he's hot . Albéric is not interested and René knows and respects this, however this does not stop him from pretending Gérard is Albéric whenever they kiss.

There's not much to it. it's textbook toxic yaoi .

it does get funnier however when René does, one day, meet Gérard's brother WHO you will remember is also effeminate and likes perfume - just like René. Needless to say they get on SWIMMINGLY, wonka probably sells rené a perfume or two, and ultimately get together. René does not tell Gérard this. he does however find out because René is wearing Gérard's older brother's perfumes, and Gérard is furious . you can imagine the kind of argument that'd follow.

Whether rené and wonka end up happy i DON'T know. havent thought that far but it was the funniest outcome to me after the disaster that was rené and gérard's "relationship".

ANYWAY! thats all i have to say on this freak. hope this was at all comprehensible. here's an audio clip of one of his wonderful lines in Red & Black.

[yellowcry]

Isabela headcanons

 

Isabela Belén Rojas Madrigal. Born 7th of August 1928

 

Childhood

Was the golden child since her birth. Obviously, she wasn't forced into perfection since day one, but still was favourised for being the first grandchild.

Isabela said her first word when being babysat by Pepa and Bruno. Pepa called her brother "dumb". Isabela had repeated. (Can you tell me Pepa wasn't crying from how proud she was?)

Extremely stubborn. You couldn't make her stop if she wanted to do something. No matter how many candy you'd give her.

Used "I'm older so you should listen to me" card all the time. Especially when it came to her sisters.

Friendly teased Luisa for being younger. It didn't happen with Mirabel much because Isabela was busy exploring her cool new gift when she was born.

Was fascinated with flowers. Enjoyed making flower crowns even before getting her gift.

She was slowly rising in perfection even before Mirabel's ceremony. But it wasn't very obvious. Failed ceremony just made the process way faster.

 

Adult years (pre-movie)

 

Enjoyed reading about various plants. Could easily give advice about any plant. Did anyone used it? No

Actually pretty good in sport. Had won several award in school, mostly for gymnastics. Probably the second most sportive Madrigal after Luisa.

Made flower crowns manually in her room as a way to distract herself and calm down when she was overwhelmed.

Started to date Mariano because she didn't want to upset him or Abuela. Mariamo was the one to confess his feelings (ableit to his Abuela), Alma didn't set them up.

Had thoughts of running away several times to escape perfectionism and always felt guilty for it.

Started to have gray hair at the age of seventeen. Always styled her hair the way when it would be hidden. As Isabela thought it wasn't perfect

If she has to go on a date with Mariano, she'll try to get them to the meadow. There Isabela could at least withness a beautiful nature.

Disliked Mirabel because felt that her sister wad getting everything without an effort. And was jealous of the fact that their parents were closer to Mirabel. Isabela didn't realize the full extent of how her actions hurt Mirabel too.

Had nearly no relationship with Luisa, taking how busy they both were.

If anyone dared to misgender Dolores, even prior WECID, they would wake to see their house wrapped in roses. Thorns work just as good as cacti.

Post-movie

Changes her dress every odd day. Coloring it, cutting, whatever she can think off. Girl knows no consistence. Her favourite colour also changes constantly. Today it's sky blue, tomorrow will be green and yesterday it was gray.

Same goes for her hair. She regularly paints it. And don't forget glimmering silver! She doesn't hide it anymore.

Julieta cried when she saw Isabela having gray hair. Because it made her realize just how much she had grown up

Experiments with herself all the time. How else should she find herself?

It took her a while to get comfortable with showing her true self to people outside of the family. Sometimes she still wonders if others actually like her.

Grows avocado around just to add it to her food. She's allergic to avocado.

Adds milk to people's coffee just for the sake of it. Only drinks café con leche with an extreme amount of sugar.

The biggest drama queen you could meet.

The favourite niece to both Bruno and Pepa.

The most talkative and outgoing out of her sisters, won't shut up if you say a word about plants and will spend hours talking on it.

Protective. Will join Luisa on fighting whoever had insulted their sister/cousins. If not fight all by herself of course. 

Relationship.

Alma: Has a bit hard time with her post-movie. Doesn't hate her grandmother and probably still close to her, but does have troubles with expressing herself to her for the first few years. Eventually gets over it and starts to show her messy side in all its beauty.

Pepa: They are very similar. Isabela adores her Tía. Pepa probably often joins to gossip with Isabela and Dolores. Both are emotional and very dramatic. Pepa also helps Isabela with expressing her emotions via plants with her gift. Same way the weather express her emotions. .

Bruno: Isabela likes her Tío. But feels awkward around him for the time being. The last time she saw him was when she was eleven. And he was barely socialising even back then.. She likes him. And Bruno seems to understand her pretty well, as he was the favourite back in his youth too. She probably the first one ut of grandkids to be comfortable around him.

Julieta: Likes her mother, but they aren't overall close. Isabela is an adult, and way more active and crazy than calm and responsible Julieta.

Agustín: Closer to her dad, expessially as she doesn't smell like flowers all the time anymore. But the thing of being an adult is still in work. It's easier to open up to her Tíos rather than to her parents.

Félix: Cool but pretty distant. 

Dolores: Best friend since childhood™, gossip about everything. Isabela was the first person Dolores had confessed her feelings for Mariano after the engagement failed. Attached to the hip and together almost all the time. They were close even when both still were involved into the whole thing with Mariano.

Luisa: Grew closer as both became free from expectations. They like to tease eachother and playfully fight (which is usually Isabela trying to hit Luisa and Luisa blocking her). Isabela uses her muscles as a pillow whenever she wants. Luisa pays the favour by using Isabela as an armrest.

Camilo: Arguing and competitive relationship. Both are active for the sake of being messy. Probably will fight eachother just for the sake of it. Isabela was very jealous of Camilo and found him annoying pre-movie (even more than Mirabel). She still thinks Camilo is annoying but enjoys messing with him.

Mirabel: Now both are pretty cool. They still argue from time to time, but it's never even half as bad as it used to be. Mirabel encourages Isabela from time to time, and Isabela looks after her sister especially when Luisa's not around. Both try to make it up for all the problems in their relationship

Antonío: Wasn't close to him before, giving an age gap. Now adore spending time together as two the most passionate about nature. Isabela often takes Antonío out to show him wild outskirts where he can see many animals

Nicknames:

Isa (by Mirabel, Luisa, Dolores, Agustín and Felíx)

Bela (By Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Julieta, Pepa, Alma and Bruno)

Hermanita (By Luisa when Isabela annoys her. Or when she wants to annoy Isabela)

Señorita Perfecta. (Mirabel when Isabela annoys her. Other grandkids as a joke. Isabela herself when she refers to her old self)

Mi Flor (Alma, rarely her parents)

[lizlives]

Something that's always kinda been a pet peeve to me is how people talk about Archie Sonic Preboot and Postboot. Often in conversations there's this idea that the old world is old hat, and anyone upset about the way it went out is just stuck in the past, with the implication that we really didn't lose much in the transition.

To me this reads as incredibly disingenuous and dismissive. Putting aside the obvious fallacy in claiming not much was lost (two decades worth of original lore, much of which was either good to begin with or seeing redemption in better writers), the transition was so obviously rough.

In the middle of one of the most emotionally harrowing sagas and well-written arcs in the entire series, the Mecha Sally Saga, readers who were keeping up with the behind the scenes drama basically had to watch every month as more cracks started to show. At the start of the Endangered Species mini arc, issue #243's text is obviously altered to remove any references to specific characters and events. Then next issue, in the most lowkey way possible, without so much as any real fanfare, the entire echidna society is erased basically for good. The rest of that saga is one long drawn out fight between Knuckles and Thrash, that they tease could end a number of ways, but again, anyone following the behind the scenes drama knows that the characters are never coming back. The sheer inevitability of the conclusion almost feels chilling reading it now, like a Greek tragedy. There are lines that almost feel like the writers venting their actual feelings, how they feel angry that all of this has to change.

The final shot of Knuckles in the entirety of preboot archie is him punching the floor in rage because his entire species and family, his mother, his baby brother, and the love of his life are all gone forever. A mini arc arc that was originally conceived as a way of bringing Knuckles out of his depression arc was transformed into one where all his worst feelings are completely justified. Jesus Christ.

Then one more issue, and just as Sally is rescued, the world is re-written by a Genesis Wave. What follows is a Megaman crossover arc that would be fun in any other circumstance but following everything else we've seen just feels bizarre. Then it ends with Sonic attempting to restore their reality but just... failing. Again, knowing this moment's repercussions now reads extremely bleak and tragic. If it weren't for the fact that it was all done because of external forces it would be artfully tragic, idk maybe it still is.

The reboot that follows immediately hits the ground running, and very slowly you realize what you should've realize all along. Two decades worth of lore was just wiped with simultaneously too little fanfare, but also in the most tragic and bleak way possible. The reveal is made that the entire multiverse is wiped out as well, great.

No attempt is made to explain the mechanics of the fate of people who didn't find their way into this new reality, because they literally can't legally. Did they become other people somewhere? Did they just die? We don't know, and to make it worse, they even acknowledge that the characters are just losing their memories of the previous reality? The sheer dissonance in how the characters are acting vs how they emotionally should be treating this is kinda insane.

But you know, after all this, the reboot is fine. It's really fun actually. Really, I don't hate it. Any and all of my issues stem not from it itself, but from the fact that it was necessarily marketed as a continuation of the old story, it just isn't. That's not an insult, it just isn't and can never be.

I'm not kidding when I say they should've just canceled the comic, said we're sorry that we couldn't finish it, and just started a brand new comic from issue 1. To me, these are two separate series, that's I think the best way of thinking of them, because trying to think about the reboot in terms of the fact that an entire multiverse was wiped out and we're never implied that some characters weren't just wiped out in every way permanently, is just so bleak. Like the old reality or not, it doesn't change the fact that trying to just move on from something like that with no catharsis or explanation is weird.

So yeah, I kinda got distracted remembering how conflicted the whole situation makes me lol, but to make a long story short, I think that people should stop treating the reboot like it was a natural continuation of the original story, and stop treating people who liked and/or still like the old reality as stupid. It was imperfect, even very imperfect, but it was a lived in world that was allowed to develop and was only going to improve more if it was allowed to.

With the reboot, we basically started from scratch and given Sega's restrictiveness, we probably weren't gonna see as many off the wall concepts like we did previously. Many people might have seen that as a boon, but to me it takes away from what I like the most about Sonic, that being that it's a franchise that isn't afraid to be weird, to be wacky. I think tbh that's what I miss the most about the preboot era.

[cxcewg]

This will go down like a lead balloon with the person who has been messaging you, but the sanctimonious attitude all over social media toward Lando this weekend is every bit as awful as anything he did or said.

99% of those people, including I would put money on the person who has been messaging you, could not have cared less about that trophy before it got broken and I can guarantee knew nothing about its origin or worth and yet now they are acting like he deliberately smashed it against a wall and then personally insulted the artisans. Half the F1 fandom including a lot of the people who have been sending him abuse on social media, were calling it ugly and saying it looked like an urn and should be used for grandma's ashes last week. That is far more disrespectful toward the artist and company than anything Lando did. Not once did he or Max or Red Bull aim any of their jokes toward the artist or the company or the trophy itself. Their jokes were purely aimed at each other.

He apologised to the company who said they weren't angry at him and know it was an accident. They are the only people who deserve an apology. He doesn't need to send them a five page handwritten note self-flagellating himself and publish it on social media for the satisfaction of a bunch of jackals who would then only tear him apart for being 'insincere' or 'only doing it for pr'. He found out how much time went into it and what it meant and he said sorry to the people who made it. He owes nothing else to anyone else, regardless of what those who sit in self-appointed moral judgement believe. There is a nothing wrong in pulling someone up in a polite way or having an opinion that someone is being bit of an ass. However sitting on their high horses and passing judgement and acting like someone's faults makes them the worst person in the world and demanding public apologies for mistakes (I'm not talking bigotry or hate here obviously, that's a different thing entirely, I'm talking the kind of faults that EVERYONE has, yes even those of you who act like self-appointed moral judges) does not make those sitting in judgement good people. Quite the opposite in fact. It's one of the worst parts of online culture, this pitchfork mentality where people go on self-righteous mob crusades. It says nothing good about the people who do that.

The stuff on the radio - EVERY driver gets rude on the radio. They are driving at huge speeds with adrenaline coursing through their bodies and have engineers wittering in their ears often at the worst possible time when they are trying to concentrate. I can promise you that not a single engineer in F1 cares or takes it personally when a driver gets snappy. F1TV only play select radio clips, usually ones that either are important in terms of the race or they think the commentators can turn into some kind of drama. Lando, Lewis and Max are three of the drivers who fall victim to this more than others and every time it happens, people go on a tirade about them being rude whiny awful people and yet in reality they are the 3 drivers who have the best driver/engineer relationships on the grid. They are genuine friends with their race engineers, they have worked with them for years andt their engineers love them. That should tell these judgemental people how much anyone cares about people snapping or getting stressed on the radio in F1 but no, it apparently makes them the devil incarnate.

The comment about the backmarkers - it may have sounded rude but in that instance he was absolutely right. Yuki held him up for almost two minutes, passed 17 blue flags and had to be told 3 times by his engineer to move out of Lando's way before he finally did so and even then he made Lando go out on the marbles to pass him. Checo made up 3 seconds on Lando in that time Yuki was quite frankly being an ass. Magnussen and Zhou were also very slow to let both Lando and Checo past (Checo also complained about it after the race) - not as bad as Yuki but they also held them both up for the best part of a lap allowing Lewis to hone in. People dragged Alex every which way last year when he did the same to Charles in Monaco and Charles said something similar on the radio to what Lando did, and everyone went with 'poor Sharl, evil Alex', but because it's Lando who said it, he's the villain not the guys who almost ruined his race. Not one of those drivers was fighting for anything at the time - they were alone on track, nobody anywhere near them, them getting out of the way would have cost them nothing but some dirty tyres for a lap. Lando (and Checo as well) had every right to be angry.

As for the absurd 'he was so rude about Lewis' carry-on - No, he wasn't. All he did was stated facts. There is something about certain parts of Lewis's fanbase who for some reason lose their minds when anyone points out he has been in front-running cars for the vast majority of his career and even when he has had cars that are not so great, they have not been backmarkers, not even the 2009 McLaren despite what they try and claim. I watched that season, I can promise you it was not close to the slowest car on the grid. Nobody is putting Lewis down by pointing this out. Not Lando, not other drivers in the past who have mentioned it, not the media, not other fans. They are simply stating facts. Max openly says he wouldn't be where he is without having the best or one of the best cars and his fan readily admit it as well, and he spent more time not in front-running cars than Lewis ever did. But when it comes to Lewis, his fans cannot accept the same is true. There have been times in the last 18 months where Lewis has carried on like he is driving a 2021 Haas. Yes he's used to having the best and it's all relative, but can you imagine how galling it is for those who are truly driving cars that can barely fight for p15 week in week out to hear him moaning about having a car that is still capable 90% of the time for fighting for high points scores and podiums? I can promise you they all think far worse things about Lewis and his woe is me comments than Lando's jokes about Lewis never having fought over 19th & 20th. There was more than one race this season where Oscar and Lando were doing just that, where they were dead slowest car on the grid. Also Lando adding "it's the one thing I've achieved that Lewis hasn't" is not a dig at Lewis, it's a self-deprecating joke about himself and how awful McLaren were in the first part of this season.

Lando has joked about this stuff in front of Lewis before. Lewis is not offended. Lewis doesn't care. Lewis likes Lando and his sense of humour and actually knows him and chooses to spend time with him. He's a grown man with his own agency capable of making his own decisions about who he likes and hangs out with. He does not need a bunch of chronically online people with massive parasocial relationship issues getting endlessly offended on his behalf. There is a reason he liked that awful twitter fan's tweet saying she would unfollow him if he posted the selfie he took with Max and Alonso and then posted the selfie a few minutes later. He's not proud to have those people as his fans. He's too polite to say it directly, but knowing what we do of Lewis, I have no doubt he finds them disgusting and has no interest in being associated with people like that. If they think he would admire them or thank them for behaving as they do and going after people he likes and respects like a bunch of rabid dogs in his name or in his behalf, then they know nothing about who he is.

Sorry this is so long, just really needed to rant about all of this. Some people's behaviour in the last couple if days has been abhorrent - far worse than anything Lando has ever done.

please let it all out :)

first of all A-freaking-men.

but this is exactly what im saying, they'll find any excuse to target him. they didn't give a shit about the trophy until it was broken.

to be honest, it's funny how friendly all the drivers are (i can't think of one driver relationship that is bad right now) and how the fans are just at each others throat constantly.

and the backmarkers thing is something that needs to be repeated. lando got held up for almost TWO MINUTES. as an athlete i empathize because i get frustrated all the freaking time and i say things that i wouldn't say if i wasn't chock full on adrenaline.

but thank you.

[swearyshera]

Was the bit where Catra mentioned Prime said she and Glimmer had "sexual tension" supposed to be a pisstake at Glitra shippers, or at least the ones who love to dig into the interactions they had in this portion of canon? I mean it was obviously foremost to underline how much of a gigantic invasive sleaze Prime is, but it is also the former thing? It seemed pretty pointed to me, but I'm me. I'm the most vindictive mfr I know.

I know the allure of enemies to lovers is guaranteed to ensnare pretty much any two characters with a sufficiently volatile emotional charge between them, but people glomming onto this really rubbed me the wrong way, especially in the shrieking void that was the lack of any acknowledgement of Catra's part of Angela's death*. And here its difficult to imagine it being founded on any more solid ground given the verbal hammer kick to the solar plexis Glimmer gave Catra during the "apology". Still lowkey reeling from how great that scene was.

I dont want to directly s*it on anyone who likes exploring the dynamic of these characters. Two characters with every good reason to want each other dead in a gutter suddenly being each others only real possible refuge in the face a greater evil is obvs great ground for drama and exploring uncomfortable, conflicting emotions, its just using this situation as outright ship fuel given the history btwn them makes me uneasy and made me read into that comment more than I think was intended.

Apologies if I'm completely off the mark with this.

To a small, gently mocking extent, yes. Now don't get me wrong, I love the idea of 'I can't stand you... but secretly I want you' - heck, I'm currently writing a show about a couple with exactly that vibe - but I just found it funny how no matter how much I had them argue or insult each other, someone would always tag it with #glitra.

Honestly, I think it's one of those ships where you just have to take a step back, say "These two would be a disaster as a couple" and start laughing about just how much of a disaster they'd be. Don't think too seriously about it and it's great.

On a more serious note, I think that the apology scene between them on this blog would have given them both a lot more respect for the other. From Glimmer's point of view, the fact that Catra is even offering up some kind of acceptance of her role in Angella's death (I know she's not dead in the show, she is here because we're allowed to say it) is a sign that something inside Catra wants to atone. It might be a tiny part that gets drowned out by everything else, but it's there. And from Catra's point of view, seeing Glimmer react in a much more mature way than she expected - on past performance, she'd be yelling insults and trying to smack her in the face.

When you compare their interaction to, say, Ties That Bind, the hard lessons they've learnt along the way are starting to take effect.

[cryptid-catnip]

Marigold, you're a Lily Orchard stan. You don't fucking think ANY trans creators other than her and Blaire White make good fucking content. It's literally in your BEST INTERESTS to hate what extremely popular, progressive trans women have to fucking say. Because of how much this completely destroys the credibility of the object of your evangelical obsessions. Contrapoints, PhilosophyTube, Jessie Gender, Lily Simpson, etc. all make incredibly well-researched and actually insightful content into media, politics, transphobic, etc. You're just creepily obsessed with a delusional far right grifter, so you have ALSO adopted the violently anti-intellectual beliefs that Orchard's been propagating for fucking YEARS at this point.

Which have played a MAJOR goddamn role (to say the least) in the both of you reactionary shitheads harassing/bully progressive trans women and LGBTQ+ people/artists/creators for fucking YEARS at this point. Brazenly in SPITE of you lying dipshits claiming to not even want to fucking INTERACT with TERFs or any types of right-wingers at all. Despite relentlessly insulting, mocking, and screeching at trans women online for money being literally the MAIN FUCKING THING that basically ALL TERFs and far right shitheads love doing!!!

Y’all are just so fucking angry, ALL the goddamn time, that actually progressive, politically literate trans women/LGBTQ+ people just. . . . .DON’T agree with or parrot the same reactionary, violently fascistic crap that you jackasses do all the fucking time. Hence treating every other trans women (obviously taking GREAT care to exclude the dangerously neo-Nazi loving ones of course) online like your own fucking personal drama mills that you can come back to for posts/videos over and over and over and OVER again!!!! It’s this disgustingly capitalist mindset where only ONE trans women gets to be “the best” and the one that everybody listens to, rather than helping out each other in order to succeed in their respective fields/paths.

TONS of other trans women make amazingly content online Marigold, you’re just too much of a vile fucking coward to more explicitly interact with the very conservative groups of people. That you’re demonstrably ALREADY a part of in every other fucking way at this point!!!!!

What. The fuck. Did I just read.

Fuck it

"You don't think any trans creators other than her and Blair White make good content"

Where did you get the impression I like Blair White? /srs

I have right-wingers in my dni (which is the first thing in this ask that makes me think you never even looked at my blog).

Also, this is based off the idea that I hate all other trans creators or something, which is patently false. Even among the creators you listed, Lily Simpson is one of my favorite YouTubers, and ThoughtSlime and EthanisOnline are another two great YTers that you didn't mention. I'll be honest, I don't really much care for PhilosophyTube's videos, they're just kinda... really boring and pretentious. Same with Contrapoints, except the idea that she's even remotely progressive is just a fucking lie. She talks about how she "sympathizes" with the misogynistic mass killer machine that is the Manosphere in her Incels video, and her tweets are... certainly something.

Here's her being a weird truescum.

Her videos are the definition of performative, not doing anything actually good, and just babying the alt-right while alienating her actual trans leftie fans with transmedicalist rhetoric, and just dresses up in silly costumes while talking about fucking nothing. Like, I don't know, talking about Twilight WHILE THERE IS AN ACTIVE GENOCIDE GOING ON IN PALESTINE.

Your entire idea is that I'm somehow right-wing because I'm not labeling a fellow trans person as an incestuous pedophile.

Go fuck yourself, asshole.

[tdpriya]

there is no universe where i don't ask you on your opinions on my lords and saviours: jo, eva, macarthur and lindsay

you don't need to do all four if it's too much!

no worries, i can do all of them!!!

Jo

Sexuality Headcanon: She's sapphic in some kind of way! I don't solidly headcanon her as pan, bi, lesbian, or anything of the sort but I do think she's into women. Gender Headcanon: Cis woman. A ship I have with said character: Jomaria is so cute tbh. A BROTP I have with said character: Jock!!! Her and Brick's whole rivalry thing is one of my favorite parts of TDROTI and it always has been. A NOTP I have with said character: Her x Cameron. Also her x Lightning. I just really can't see it working but I do like her being friends with them. A random headcanon: She isn't flexible at all and she really wishes she was. General Opinion over said character: One of my favorite Total Drama characters!!! When I was a little kid I think she's part of what awoke my taste in tough women. I'm pretty sure I had a crush on her as a kid. I love her fierceness and competitive personality and her really dumb insults are pretty funny to me. I like her way of playing the game and wish we got more of her in All Stars.

Eva

Sexuality Headcanon: Lesbian! Gender Headcanon: Cis woman but nonbinary butch Eva is also a cool idea. A ship I have with said character: Evzy! Her and Izzy need to kiss please. A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Noah! I love Team E-Scope sorry. A NOTP I have with said character: I don't dislike any Eva ships except the obviously bad ones (her x Chris or Chef). A random headcanon: She struggles to express gratitude towards others and struggles to show others she likes them. Her social skills aren't great in general but she does try! General Opinion over said character: Even if she doesn't have as much screen time as other gen 1 characters I absolutely love her. Fierce girls are one of my favorite things and I find her overbearingness to be kind of funny. I wish she was a competitor outside of Island 2007.

Macarthur

Sexuality Headcanon: Lesbian. Gender Headcanon: Cis girl but I could definitely also see her as trans. A ship I have with said character: Macsanders of course! I think they'd make a cute couple. A BROTP I have with said character: Not sure actually.  A NOTP I have with said character: I haven't watched Ridonculous Race in a long while but her and Brody never appealed to me. At all. A random headcanon: I think she used to get injured a lot when she was younger because of her brashness. General Opinion over said character: She's okay! I didn't have that strong of an opinion of her when watching Ridonculous Race and I feel like I'd need to see it again to form a solid opinion of her.

Lindsay

Sexuality Headcanon: Sapphic! I sometimes see her as bi and sometimes see her as a lesbian. Gender Headcanon: Trans girl! She's very proud! A ship I have with said character: Lyler. They're wlw to me. Bethsay is also cute! A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Gwen! Their interactions in Island 2007 are kind of funny. Also her and DJ! A NOTP I have with said character: Her x Chris/Chef and also her x Heather. It's just a kids cartoon and I don't think shipping her with Heather is the most heinous thing ever but I just don't get it. A random headcanon: She's very tall! She stands at around six feet, even without her heel boots. Tyler is shorter than her. General Opinion over said character: She's sooo good. She's one of the most memorable characters in my opinion and I find her so adorable and funny. I don't like how she gets dumber every season though.

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love - Overall Review

It took a few years in the making, but there we are and finally I finished my recaps of this series. It was somewhat challenging since I knew all of the major events to happen, yet I had to make sure not to include them in any of my recaps before it actually happened. My fingers might have slipped here and there, but I truly did my best.

Plot

It’s quite the feat to manage summarizing the story of this drama in a few lines without revealing everything. Let’s just say that this about a love story between two immortals, spanning on three different lives. There is a lot of trials, a lot of pain, but also a lot of magic, in any kind of way you can give to this word. Since elaborating on the plot line itself would risk giving away spoilers, which is not the point of this review, I will focus on the characters and their relationship.

We can all agree that Bai Qian/Si Yin/Susu is the main character of this story. She's there from the beginning to the end. I would like to mention the complexity of this character. At times she's quirky, at others she's an elder that no one would dare confront. What I liked about her is that she's very consistent in her character. She's a proud lady and she won't take being insulted, although she's actually a softy deep down inside and can't really hold a grudge for real, it's only to keep face. She's also extremely loyal. I loved that we got to have a strong lady as a main lead. A strong lady that hates to depend even on her partner, even though she relied maybe a little too much on her master, but that's a different story. She made sense, from A to Z. She wasn't perfect, no she had plenty of flaws, but that's what made her even more relatable and actually admirable. Her relationship with Yehua sometimes evolved weirdly, it felt maybe like we could have used a little more development, but at the same time... it wasn't illogical at all.

And I can't talk about Bai Qian without mentioning Yehua, right? Seriously, that character is everything. I loved how we portrayed his struggles, why he strives so much to please everyone and do the right thing, all the time. It was painful, yet blissful to see his growth, seeing him discover love and happiness along the hardships. The guy was obviously a little too powerful, but I liked the openness he had about his feelings towards Bai Qian, how he was set on one thing and wouldn't change his mind. He needs still to learn about communication, because that would have solved many issues and saved a lot of tears on my part, but he's still young. 70 000 something years old, that ain't that old right?

The one part of the storyline that I really didn't like is the one between Donghua and Fengjiu. My problem isn't that their love isn't fated to be fulfilled, but rather that it's pathetic. To me, Fengjiu liking Donghua doesn't make sense. It feels more like a fan who is mistaken between feelings of love and feelings of admiration. I'm also not a fan of people hanging on to others, even though it's not meant to be, it's just annoying. She kept clinging onto him and I just don't appreciate seeing women portrayed that way.

But let's talk about one my favourite pair of characters: Zhe Yan and Bai Zhen. Those two. Seriously. Who wouldn't like them? It's obvious that they are a little bit more than friends, even though it is never openly said in the drama. But they just fight like an old married couple all the time. I think one of my favourite moment is when Zheyan makes a new arm for Yehua, arguing that it would look bad on his wedding day with Bai Qian if he only had one, and that just totally made sense as an explanation to Bai Zhen, who also agrees. It's just lovely how they always think of each other, in every circumstances. Plus, even though most of the time they are rather carefree, they both are really powerful characters and I think without their help, our main characters would never have found each other.

Li Jing is also a character that has shown a lot of growth during the drama. Perhaps under the influence of Bai Qian. He really broke my heart, because he did try his best, even though that wasn't enough.

Now let's mention the two ladies antagonizing Bai Qian: Xuan Nü and Sujin. Whereas Xuan Nü is pitiful, Sujin is despicable. Both ladies got to grow up next to people who were important, but the first one was always remembered of her low status, while the other one felt entitled to everything. They both tried to take away the men from Bai Qian and both failed. And I must say, I really liked Xuan Nü's character. To be more correct I guess, I must say that I liked disliking her. She's ready to do anything to get whatever she wants and gets delusional in the end. Basically, she created her own hell herself, crafted it one piece at a time. Her downfall was slow, painful and led her to lose her mind. That was actually fabulous in way. On the other hand, Sujin character's didn't impress me as much. She's just a spoiled lying brat who's used to get what she wants, on the pretext that her family died for the celestial group. She has always coveted what doesn't belong to her so yeah. They just made her into an ugly character that didn't have much depth. I don't like female characters like that, because I think it puts woman in a bad light.

Over all, the plot was pretty decent. I remember though when I tried to explain it to my sisters, they thought I was crazy for watching something like this haha. I mean, stuff happens in Chinese dramas sometimes, it's okay. It wasn't perfect and some stuff were very frustrating, but it's an overall 8/10 for me.

Acting

Here, I would say I'm biased. I'm a huge Yang Mi's fan. She's just great. So to me, she did an awesome job, with all the little habits the character has. She keeps pushing them forward and it looks natural. I loved the subtle differences between Susu and Bai Qian, coming from her memory loss. Loved also when she was acting as Xuan Nü stealing Bai Qian's face. You can see that she's talented and polyvalent. There's not a time I didn't believe that what happened. was real.

And I can't say one thing wrong about Zhao Youting's acting either. He was beyond expectations, as Moyuan and Yehua. How much his gaze would mean a lot, you could know what he felt just through his eyes. Both Yehua and Moyuan weren't very expressive characters, mostly cold to anyone but Bai Qian (as they should), but it didn't feel like the usual "I'm trying to look like I'm cold so I'm just not acting". There were nuances all along, making it alive instead of zombie like. You could feel all the warmth those two characters had to offer once they started liking someone. Especially as Yehua, who was a character that grew up with so much pressure on him.

I'm not going to spend too much time on the other characters, because otherwise this review is going to be overly long. However, I still have a few actors to praise. Both Sujin and Xuan Nü did an amazing job, especially Xuan Nü towards the end, when she was on her downfall and getting crazier by the day. Those two ladies, albeit having a not so nice personna did a very good job. They made me feel exactly how I should towards them. Pity, hatred, resentment... All of that. The actor for Siming was also hilarious, while very good at the more serious occasions. Loved loved Alan Yu as Bai Zhen, but this guy is just so precious, I always want to pinch his cheeks in general, but even more so in this character. Do I have to mention baby Ali? That child is soooo adorable. Obviously, they were pretty young back then so it wasn't perfect, but it felt so naive and real, I loved it. Even though I am not a fan of Fengjiu, Dilraba Dilmurat did an awesome job. She's a master at pouting while still looking adorable. We could feel all the melancholy of her character from her unfulfilled romance. She did great also looking all feisty for her aunt when she felt she was being bullied.

The only character I wasn't so fond of his acting was... Gao Weiguang as Donghua. Whereas Zhao Youting portrays beautifully a cold character, it didn't make the cut for me in Donghua's case. It felt very awkward for me. Not to say he didn't do a good job, it's just that compared to Zhao Youting, it didn't stand a chance.

Overall, this drama gets a lot of point for the acting. I didn't even mention all of the wonderful characters, because there are just too many to talk about each of them. However I would say a majority did a stellar job. So this gets a 9/10, losing points for some of the side characters that were a little less enticing.

Soundtrack

I think it is no secret that I just looooove Eternal Love's soundtrack. Both the opening and the ending of the drama are on my playlist, I almost never skip it when it comes along and they both figure on my KTV must sing list. It's just beautiful, it pairs well with the drama and the story. What else can I say?

But it's not all about the opening and the ending. Whenever there was music in this drama, I couldn't help but be delighted. It always was most fitting to the actual action right at that moment. It was perfection. Whenever I heard the notes starting to play, I was right into the feels, it set the tone for whatever was happening. They did an awesome job in my opinion.

Overall, this is a 10/10, it was just perfect. I couldn't ask for anything better than that.

Aesthetic and costumes

So this being an older drama, it's going to lose a little bit of points here. Not because it's bad, it's just... old. If I did my review right when it first aired, the score might have been different, but how well.

Let's first talk about costumes. I would say I loved most of them? It wasn't all perfect, but the costumes really fitted each of the characters personality, and very well at that. I especially enjoyed Yehua's costume and his head pieces. Lexu and Sujin were also beautifully dressed all the time. I think they had the most intricate costumes of the drama. Perhaps alongside with Xuan Nü as she was queen of Yi. I wasn't such a fan of Bai Qian's clothes half of the time. I liked her monocolour clothing more than the multicolour ones. Sometimes the colours kind of didn't fit together and it bothered my eyes. I also couldn't help but think that her headpieces must have been very uncomfortable. But one thing I really liked was the consistency of the hairstyles for the Fox tribe people. Their hair were pulled back in a similar manner for all of them, except Fengjiu and Bai Zhen, for some mysterious reason. I also liked the general simplicity of the costumes for most characters. As much as I like beautiful clothing, I enjoyed that instead of focusing on what they were wearing, I would focus more on their facial expressions and their body language.

About the visuals... There were beautiful scenes (especially in Kunlunxu, Qingqiu and the Peach Blossom forest), but the unfortunate thing was that most of it were painting or pictures and we could see quite clearly the cut around the actors. It wasn't very seamless and kind of ruined part of the thing for me. Also, the beasts and creatures looked really cheap. Probably because they weren't as advanced in that field. But if I look back, it wasn't that much better in Till the End of the Moon which is much more recent. So overall, they really didn't do too bad, right?

So overall, this would be a 7/10, but mostly because it didn't age that well. It's pretty impressive for back then and this is actually a pretty good rating in my opinion.

Should you watch this drama?

I 100% recommend to watch Eternal Love. I think it belongs to the classics in terms of drama, even though it's not that old. It has everything a good story needs. The character development is super interesting. The acting is superior. The story is enticing and of course, there are some toxicity as to be expected of something a little older, but it's not overly present compared to other dramas. Actually, toxic traits during the relationship was something to work on. Seriously, this is a solid 9/10, I watched it twice and if I ever have some more time, I would rewatch without hesitation.

List of full recaps

All / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33 / 34 / 35 / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40 / 41 / 42 / 43 / 44 / 45 / 46 / 47 / 48 / 49 / 50 / 51 / 52 / 53 / 54 / 55 / 56 / 57 / 58

[ohwiseswami]

Let's Talk Stans For A Second

This post is a long time coming (and will be very long by the end) but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'm tired of kpop stans treating adult idols with kid gloves, so here are a list of grievances on this point.

A lot of this mostly applies to bg stans.

Idol Critiques. It's fine if you wanna baby actual minors, but stop excusing every fuck up of adult idols. On the opposite end of the spectrum, stop admonishing other fans (or even casuals) who make entertainment out of the things your favorite member says/does. I don't really stan people but I do have favorite groups/members, so I'll use them for example. I like Yeonjun, some people find him extra. This is not my problem and I don't care. I like some NCT songs. Some people see them as a noise factory. Doesn't matter, it's not their preference. My point is, stop getting mad over people having opinions. As long as no one is like actively in Doyoung's face bullying him or something, I don't see the problem in critiquing/openly disliking something your faves do. And when I say bullying, I really mean bullying (like going to someone's face and harassing them for existing, calling them slurs, insulting them when they've done nothing wrong, etc.). Not stuff like being upset with Dream for constantly bullying Haechan for his weight and skin color.

Idol Perception. So many stans get upset when others' perceptions of their faves aren't the same as theirs. So-called soft stans get upset if you think an idol looks sexy with their hair pushed back. I don't usually see hard stans get upset at soft stans about too many things but I do think they can be very hypocritical about perceiving idols. For example, some hard stans will list out every single thing they want San to do to them but as soon as someone even jokes about Wooyoung being an icon for the bis they get extremely aggressive and protective (even when it's not coming from a sexual angle!!!). It's almost like they see anything non-heteronormative as inherently sexual, but even worse, it's sexual and perverted to them. Suddenly, they're all about protecting the idol's image/privacy/dignity when moments before they were talking about wanting him to cum in their eyeball. And don't get me wrong it happens with soft stans and gg stans too, but I wanted to point out the particular hypocrisy of straight bg stans.

Idol Image. This is very similar to the perception point, but more so about the way so many kpop fans think they know EVERYTHING about their faves including their faves inner thoughts. Do you all know how many times I've heard things like: "OMG!! Don't do/say that because Taehyun doesn't like it!! Source? Just trust me, I have an *emotional connection* with him!!" stated in complete seriousness? It's one thing to JOKE about idols becoming their real selves when they breathe the good old red, white and blue air, but to project your specific thoughts and feelings onto an idol (without clarifying that it's your headcanon) is too much. Y'all do NOT know these people. Joke (and hell even speculate) all you want, but it's obvious to everyone when you've have stopped joking and have crossed the line into wanting to literally just lying about what idols have actually said to fit your narrative of who they are (a good example of this is the unnie/hyung line raised the maknae narrative every fandom has).

Idol Image pt. 2. And on this note, I want to address the other part of the fandom who think any speculation/gossip about an idol is unacceptable/inappropriate/morally wrong. I feel like I've said this in the past but it merits repeating: if you are a public figure, you sign up to be discussed up to a limited extent. Clearly, people should not go out into the world and stalk/harass idols. It's just that idols are not immune from a little drama about being seen at a club or having a significant other, etc. Idols are celebrities. They have a public side and a private side. Obviously, fans need to know the line between harmless gossip (and even news reporting of actual crimes...) and harmful harassment. It seems like fans of non-kpop idols completely understand the assignment. For example, there's gossip all the time about Shohei Ohtani (especially now that he's being accused of federal gambling crimes), but his fans are not out here wearing capes about how you shouldn't discuss certain things because it's *private*. I feel like as long as you're being normal about it (i.e., not harassing idols) and treating gossip as what it is (unconfirmed information), it's human nature to want to know things/know the truth of things that have evidence. Examples of relatively normal gossip includes wanting to know: if an idol has recently had cosmetic/plastic surgery, if an idol is secretly an asshole (or a sweetie pie) off-camera, if an idol endured harsh training conditions (or, alternatively, if they were the golden child who got everything they wanted), etc. Where it crosses the line is trying to find out their address/phone number, unsubstantiated allegations of crimes (like what happened with Beomhan), etc. I feel like people engaging in gossip culture should and often do know the difference between those things but fans treat it all as harmful if it doesn't specifically serve their fave. I can personally attest to seeing the same fans who denounce gossip culture loving that very same thing when it supports their view of their bias. For example, whenever there's rumors about idols who treat staff very well no one has a problem with it. Or rumors about idols practicing all hours of the night (meaning they're a hard worker) or rumors about them being very close to their members (meaning they're a team player), etc. But let there be a harmless rumor that doesn't suit their narrative (like the idol having a romantic partner, the idol being a club bunny, etc.) and suddenly it's "all gossip is bad and I'm better than those who engage in it because what they do offscreen is none of my business." Meanwhile these same people have entire headcanons about their bias based on some cookie crumbs they heard about him being a good person one time. 5. What is a Koreaboo, anyway? In case someone needs to hear this again: liking kpop, being attracted to your bias, learning korean, being interested in Korean culture, and making friends who are Korean doesn't make you a koreaboo. What makes you a koreaboo is reducing korea down to kpop and othering korean things as utopian/godly/divine, when it's just...another country that's different from your own. Too many kpop stans will accuse someone of being a koreaboo when that person is just interested in kpop (or korea because of kpop) when that's not what a koreaboo is. It's like calling a korean person an americaboo because they want to travel to NYC or LA and love American entertainment (dramas, music, etc.). What would make someone an americaboo is if they had an unhealthy obsession with all things US to the point where they had wholly out of touch assumptions about the US and reduced the US down to those few assumptions. THAT's the difference. But liking American movies, culture, celebrities; wanting to learn english; etc. wouldn't make someone an americaboo... So just apply the logic in reverse.

Anyway.

[poolboyservice]

ngl US schools need to actually fucking learn about disabled people

Keep note that it has been a few years since I've been to a school that isn't online, and (I hope) things have probably changed since then.  Along with this, this is from my personal experience and only my experience in a few schools I've been in, coming from the state of Florida, so it could be different for you or anyone else. So do take this with a bit of salt.  This isn't really a PSA as it's more of just a rant, but I just want this off my chest. 

Having said that, let's start. Also FYI I made this post on a different site, but I am putting this on here to maybe bring awareness on what I went through and/or bring light to others that may be going through this.

To put simply, TL/DR: Schools (especially the students and.. certain counselors) don't give a flying fuck about if you're disabled, if you don't have a cane, walking chair, crutches, or don't exhibit the most stereotypical form of a person with a disability: you will get mistreated. If you want more specifications, read below

In the amount of years I've been in school before 2020, almost every year actually sucked. Don't get it twisted, I love somewhat most of my teachers from that time, and one bus driver was pretty cool, but aside that, being at school actually sucked. I was disregarded of my emotions, and if I were acknowledged, I would either be belittled or treated with a form of "I'm actually so annoyed by your existence but I'm gonna pretend I'm not because you're a child and I don't wanna get in trouble". In cases I weren't treated like a idiotic drama queen, it was either my teachers/bus driver, or someone who tried to implements rules so I could actually focus and be okay, only to have it backfired because of everyone else.

By everyone else, I mean: bus drivers allowing violence and verbal abuse (not even kidding with that ngl), counsellors being belittling, insulting, and ignoring quite obvious issues, being dragged by quite a few teachers despite my willingness to walk by myself, ignorance of my disability/disabilities (hearing impairment and possible undiagnosed ADHD), lack of awareness of my quite obvious deteriorating mental health and rise in suicidal thoughts, and, obviously, semi-almost every employee's disregard and/or even prejudice to disabled people, specifically neurodivergent, hearing impaired people, and/or like the two in general.

An interesting example and pattern I've noticed are the students. Of course, kids are kids, and they probably don't give a shit, but in terms of disabled folk, they really didn't give a shit. Almost every single day, I and probably a few others had to endure a day of constant noise, unsolicited touching, insults, harassment, constant overstimulation, and even abuse in some instances. Hell, I remember one day (around the last year I was in IRL school) I actually snapped and had a mental breakdown on the bus, I was hitting myself, screaming, crying, you name it, I was most likely doing it. All because of the students. Despite them being told multiple times there are people who are very sensitive and need special treatment, they didn't listen at all, they never did.

As much as I was a bit sad for having to stay home in 2020 as I really liked my 3rd and 5th grade teachers (one of them bcz ngl she's one the reasons I'm still here and alive), I am beyond fucking glad that I didn't stay a year longer, because while I had some good memories, it was honestly kind of a nightmare, which led me to bottling up my emotions and pretending I wasn't hearing impaired for the sake of others, this obviously caused a lot of insecurities forming because of it.

(apologies for weird formatting, I'm not exactly used to writing big paragraphs on this website)

[kouslut]

shoujo-brain-masahiro:

They fell into a comfortable groove very quickly. Their body language and words forming a pleasant banter that belayed a comfortable relationship outside the "student" and "teacher" labels they wore. With such friendly ribbing, Masahiro assumed there was a friendship between them and decided to act accordingly. That was made even clearer by the casual use of the character's given name rather than calling him "sensei" or using his surname.

"An ad hoc test? That doesn't sound very fair, Yoshiki-san," he protested, but then settled into a fairly serious look. "It really surprises me when you act like a proper teacher. I'm not used to it."

The words were a mixture of insult and awe, sort of the thoughts he had held from the moment he saw this actor. He had been unprofessional at first, but he was attractive and was talented enough. It was easy to work with him. Much more so than in any previous audition he had done. If a miracle occurred and he was actually given this role, it might even be fun to work with him.

He tried not to think about that though. Actually being cast in this or any drama was as unlikely as stumbling across a million yen on the way back to his conbini job. Instead of hoping for the impossible, he would just enjoy every moment of the audition. It was the most someone like him could ever hope for.

“It surprises you?” Kousuke readily retorted, as if the words had genuinely struck a nerve. Then he easily slipped into the familiar attitude of playful superiority that belonged to him as much as Yoshiki. The one that any decently empathetic person would have been able to recognize as a means of deflection to hide insecurity. “I’ll have you know I always act like a proper teacher. And I am plenty fair.”

The challenging look he tossed over to Masahiro was more of a personal test than it was an in-character action. He hadn’t failed to notice the boy’s stares, of course, and he figured they couldn’t have been anything but an expression of shock at the serious effort he was obviously putting in despite his initial slip-up. He had to somehow let the other know that, yeah. He always acted like a proper professional also. That was the Ohshiba Kousuke he was going to deal with, and no other. If the guy was going to be impressed anyways, he was going to give him a reason to. He rather liked the looks of admiration he was getting, if he had to be honest, and he certainly didn’t mind the idea of showing-off.

He leaned in to teasingly ruffle the boy’s hair, as per script, and let his hand linger to the side of his head, just short of pressing against the temporal section of his skull. Now that he was looking from a shorter distance, he had the passing thought that Masahiro’s wide and expressive eyes were definitely a good trait, as far as the job went. Had Kousuke cared to be good or better at what he did above the baseline: “I like the attention,” level, he might have been a little envious. But he wasn’t, not really. They were nice to look into, that they were.

“You’re the one who’s never acting his part, Makoto,” he fondly remarked, chuckling gently. “You may be the only delinquent in the room, but you’re also the one I thought to ask, no? It isn’t for nothing. Ah, on that note, how are you faring?”

He delivered the last line under his breath, with a tilt of his head and a hesitant caress, like he was trying to exclude the theoretical sides from the conversation and prevent them from listening in, tellingly hinting at the wider plot. He may have been under an NDA, but surely it was easy enough to tell anyways, no? What fucking teacher talks like that to a student? Not that he disliked the script. But still, it had to be obvious.

Masahiro’s knee bounced erratically as he looked around the waiting room. Apart from him, there were at least a dozen other guys his age, all bright eyed and smiling eagerly as they waited for their turn to do their audition. While it wasn’t the first he’d been to, he was determined to make it be the last. It was awkward trying to achieve this dream that wasn’t even his, when he knew everyone else around him genuinely cared. He could tell in the way several of the other young men devoured the small script of lines they had been given, or kept watching the door with the hopes it would be their turn soon. It was something Masahiro had never felt as he waited at an audition. He didn’t think it was possible for him to want it.

Ever since he could remember, his mother had been trying to find ways to make a living without actually working. Megumi believed herself too pretty, too irresistible to men to actually work to support herself and her child. He had experienced every get rich quick scheme Japan had to offer. None of which had panned out. Each of which had left them increasingly more in debt. It had gotten bad enough that he had decided to go to work as soon as he graduated middle school, deciding that high school was a dream he couldn’t even attempt to wish for. 

He wasn’t able to bring home much, but between his late night job working at a local conbini and an evening job at a ramen shop, he managed to pay their rent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for his mother. No. She had read an article at the “salon” where she “worked” about some young actor who had gotten picked up off the streets by a talent agency and eventually built his family a house. Megumi had somehow gotten it into her head that he was just as talented as anyone, and could become a big star and fill their struggling bank accounts with money. But, after six months of attempting to appease her by going to auditions between his shifts, he hadn’t managed to get even a small background role.

Not that it surprised him. Luck and he had never been friends, never even acquaintances. The possibility that he could somehow land a role in a drama and break into the acting scene was almost laughable. No matter how hard he worked at anything, he would still fail in the end. It was his lot in life to be courted by the gloomy goddess known as Misfortune.

So, of course he wasn’t expecting to get this role either. It didn’t take a genius to realize that even if he did have that elusive “talent” people spoke of, he didn’t exactly have the appearance of a celebrity. Compared to the other boys in the room, he was almost invisible. He didn’t have lustrous dark locks, or a charismatic jawline. What he had was bleach blonde hair and numerous piercings (useful at keeping punks who wanted to pick fights early in the morning at bay). There was nothing about him that screamed “star power.” If anything, he looked like a washed up child star that had fallen into hard times with a rough crowd.

He was considering just getting up and walking out, determined to save himself the wasted time of another failed audition when a polite looking casting assistant called his name from the door. He stood up, trying not to notice the stares from the other acting hopefuls, and followed the assistant through the door, down a hallway and into another room. 

It was there, in a small booth that he came face to face with someone who was the opposite of him in every way. The man was tall, beautiful and carried himself in a way that said he knew all of this. Without even knowing who he was, Masahiro could tell he was an actor. He was too handsome not to be. 

When the man noticed him, he held out a hand and with a fixed smile on his face began to welcome him. Then he froze and looked him over. Masahiro could feel himself shrink from his gaze. He knew he wasn’t what anyone expected in an audition, and he honestly didn’t have the time or the money to try and fix that about himself. Every extra penny he had went to some kind of bill, or trying to fill his constantly aching belly. He couldn’t be what these people expected… but why did it hurt so much to see that confirmed in this man’s eyes?

He reached out and took his hand, shaking it as firmly as he could manage. “I’m Masahiro Setagawa, it’s nice to meet you. Are you the lead I’ll be doing the scene with?” It couldn’t hurt to be polite and deferential, even when he knew what the answer was going to be. “I have the script sample they gave me, so I’m ready whenever you are.”

There. He hadn’t flubbed his greeting or made himself out to be someone he wasn’t. Just firm, polite, and to the point. He had no doubt he would fail this audition as he had all the ones before, but there was no reason to take it out on this man. He didn’t know him or his situation, so polite was the way to go. It was the best way he knew how to keep his misfortune at a tolerable level. Just grin and bear it.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

Vulnerability and Morality in OFMD

Continuing from my post looking at how vulnerability is a major theme of Our Flag Means Death, I want to go even further and argue that the show's entire sense of morality is about vulnerability. It's a show where all the main characters are pirates, so obviously it's not going to line up perfectly with what most people consider ethical in real life; there are zero qualms about stealing, even from poor fishermen, and violence is generally portrayed as comedic. In place of any real-world values, the show places value on being vulnerable--on allowing people to see you, on living authentically, and on emotional honesty.

Whenever a character chooses to be vulnerable, they're rewarded for it by the narrative (usually). Lucius is the most vulnerable character in the show and it works out great for him (until the end); he has friends and lovers and basically no drama in large part because of his willingness to be vulnerable. He's nearly always portrayed as being in the right, and he's the one who talks to Stede and Ed when they're struggling--he tells Ed that Stede put the treasure hunt together for him; he helps Stede during the breakup in episode eight; he helps Ed in the blanket fort. He serves as a role model for how to be vulnerable, and I'd go even further and say that he acts as the show's voice of morality.

On the flipside, characters who reject vulnerability are punished by the narrative. Every time something bad happens to Izzy, it follows an instance of him either refusing to be vulnerable or opposing someone else's vulnerability. In episode five Lucius throws his fear of being seen (as someone who threw up once) in his face. In episode nine he tries (badly) to seem authoritative and invulnerable, and it nearly gets him thrown overboard. In episode ten, he insults Ed for his vulnerability and then Ed makes him eat his own toe. (To be clear, I'm not commenting on whether Izzy deserved any of that, or if any of it was justified, or if any of it was his fault; I'm just observing a pattern where he suffers as a result, direct or indirect, of his refusal to allow for vulnerability). According to the rules of the show, rejecting vulnerability leads to suffering.

Stede is fairly neutral by these standards for most of the show; he refuses to ever be vulnerable himself, but he embraces Ed's vulnerability. In episode nine, he's given a golden opportunity to be vulnerable with Ed; they're both metaphorically stripped bare and Ed puts himself completely out there for him. Despite that, he doesn't say anything about his obvious hesitance over running away to China, and he doesn't mention his guilt over leaving his family the way he did. In the end, he's finally honest with Mary and with himself, and he's set up to start embracing vulnerability in season two.

Ed is good by these standards for most of the show. There's the implication that he wasn't in the past, making Fang kill his dog being the clearest example, but during the show itself he's very vulnerable with Stede and, later, the crew. That changes in episode ten, when he decides to completely reject vulnerability. He literally tries to kill the moral center of the show and then acts like a cartoon villain just to hammer home that he's bad now. The show doesn't usually take maiming and attempted murder seriously; his real moral transgression was choosing to turn his back on vulnerability, and that colors all his other actions afterwards.

Izzy actually qualifies as a proper villain by these standards, albeit an ineffective one. Nearly everything he does is in direct opposition to the basic moral principle of the show; he's basically only there to oppose any kind of vulnerability. That being said, he's made incredibly sympathetic by the way the show plays with genre. He isn't aware that he's in a romantic comedy where vulnerability is the most important thing; he thinks he's in a setting where showing vulnerability poses a real threat, and he acts accordingly. I'd love for him to gain some genre awareness, just to see what he would do with it.

It's interesting to look at the show from this perspective; divorced from any real-world concepts of morality, I can kind of (real emphasis on the kind of) understand the takes that Izzy is evil and Stede and Ed are innocent, because Izzy is the one who tries to put a stop to any kind of vulnerability. I could go on to discuss the show's morals in relation to actual moral philosophy, and someone smarter than me definitely should, but this post is getting long and I think I've said what I wanted to say. Vulnerability, or a willingness to be vulnerable, is what determines if a character is a good person in OFMD.