#anti sab writers

[black-rose-writings]

I know that Genya and David had to leave and be terrified of the Darkling, because they were on Alina's side in the books (like, I still don't really get why they turned on him beyond "Nichevoya icky" which still doesn't make sense. Like, I guess "something, something, Alina's forgiveness", but that's even more dumb so I'm choosing to ignore it). But honestly, I just wish they had stayed.

I wish we had scenes of Genya being one of Sasha's right hands. Maybe have her take over the Healers' wing for the time being, because so few Healers made it out and a mix of Tailoring and Heartrender's first aid powers is the best they're going to get, anyway.

I want Genya to come into the lab, pull Vladim and David away from their desks and remind them to eat, because they've both been In The Zone and forgot to eat since breakfast and it's almost sunset. I want Genya to chat with them over the dinner and let them bounce ideas off of her, because she's an expert in her own right and because she's as much a Fabricator as she is a Corporalnik.

I want Genya to ask Vladim to make some salves for the Healers' wing, if he has time, and commenting on his unusual techniques, because he's self-taught. Maybe giving him some pointers from her own experience.

I want Genya to sit with one of the rescued Grisha, who had been through hell at the hands of their former comrades-in-arms, trying to heal them with her limited abilities, apologizing when it does not work. I want her to hear the stories of noble Healers, who sacrificed themselves so that the others could escape. I want her to ask them, if they want to keep the scars - some do, because scars are a good reminder, some don't, because it pains them to see those same reminders.

I want Sasha to walk through the Healers' wing, offering amplification to Genya and the Heartrenders, so that they might save a life.

I want to see the Loyalists train together, joke together, offer encouragement to a Grisha summoning for the first time after a traumatic injury, or finally walking after being bedridden for weeks.

If Sasha must suffer through Merzost, I want the to look at him with sadness, not fear. This is their leader, their savior, and he's being killed by the very power he needs to save them, save Ravka, save the world.

I want a toast raised for their fallen allies. I want to hear them give goodbye to the fallen the Grisha way. No Saints. Just the inevitability of "They have returned to the Making" "As we all shall".

They have lost so much, and will lose more, but in the end, it's worth it, because it's for the greater good. For the Grisha in Ravka today, tomorrow, for Grisha everywhere.

[greensaplinggrace]

aklsdjf imagine hating your own characters and the people who like those characters so much that you wont even speak to a fan of your work about them. girl this is embarrassing for you

[fiora-miriel]

The problem with Nikolai

If you think about it... Nikolai Lantsov (with that weird plot twist that he is behind the almost kidnapping), is indirectly responsible for both Alexei's and Marie's death on the show.

And for what? He wanted to kidnap Alina from the LP, from Os Alta to do what? She was already serving in the Second Army, indirectly working for the Lantsov monarchy. So what did Nikolai want with her?

Was it his plan to overthrow his father and brother with her? There is no other explanation for this, am I right?

And Alina never really questions that? She is like totally fine with the almost kidnapping, she never asks about Marie with whom she seemed to have a good relationship with. (pretty heartless?)

[andthespidersfrommars]

six of crows is meant to be set in like the 17th century and aerial silks were invented around 1959 and my sister and I were just talking about how weird and out of place it is that show inej had a silk performance?

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Portrait of a Dead Girl

Summary:

Alina Starkov was given to Duke Aleksander Morozova of Os Alta in marriage when she was fifteen years old. Within a year, she was dead. The official cause of Alina's death was marked as putrid fever, but many at the time believed, and many in the future will go on to believe, that she was poisoned by her husband.

-

This fic is completely inspired by The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrel, which is a work of historical fiction based on the real lives of Duchess Lucrezia d'Este (née de' Medici) and Duke Alfonso ii d'Este of Ferrara. You don't need any prior knowledge of The Marriage Portrait or history to read and enjoy this fic, but know that my writing is very much going to mimic that of O'Farrel in format and although I'm hoping to write the story in my personal usual writing style I will definitely be borrowing a lot of my descriptors, symbols, and so on and so forth from O'Farrel - there will be some of mine too though :)

Warnings for this chapter: child marriage reference

AO3 link

Chapter Seven - Through A Curtain, With A Rabbit

Os Kervo, six years ago

If you were to ask Gregor Starkov about his marriage, he would say it was for love. If you were to ask Milana Starkov about her marriage she would probably tell you the same thing, but she would not specify whose love it was for. 

Alina asked her parents to recall the story of their meeting so often that they began to sigh when she requested it, but secretly they were pleased. Not only because they liked to tell this tale, which was hardly a secret, but because it was a relief to hear, from their unruly and complex daughter, something of a romantic intention. There was hope for yet, they thought, every time she asked. 

But the real reason Alina asked, and asked so many times, was because it was the only, desperate way she had found to try and route out some connection between herself and these distant, glamorous people from which she’d sprung. She would ask her mother for one version of the tale, and then her father, and then pick them apart and lay them side by side, study every detail and every difference, before she asked them all over again. Sometimes when she couldn’t sleep at night, or when she was kneeling to pray in the dvorets Chapel, she would think about the thirteen year old girl in Shu Han, and the young Ravkan page who spied her past the draping edge of a curtain. Of the boy who carried the image of that girl home with him and held onto her for years. Of the boy who, upon being chosen to become the next Grand Duke, declared that this girl, and this girl only, would be his wife. At first no-one had been convinced that this was more than a passing fancy, but Gregor had refused every other offer, every piece of advice, every more politically advantageous match, until his people finally sent word to the girl’s father in Shu Han. He, the nobleman father, considered the proposition before offering his eldest daughter instead, but Gregor would have none of it. No-one, he insisted, but the girl he’d seen those years ago. 

Alina didn’t really know what a noble house in Shu Han looked like, but she embellished it quite beautifully inside her head. She imagined her father, so young, in the clothes she knew for pages in Os Kervo, catching Milana - or whatever her name had been then, no-one had actually told Alina what it was - in the corner of his eye. In her head Alina saw her mother’s hair elaborately braided and raised over her haid, the front pieces flowing long and free down her face and to her hips, her chin perhaps raised slightly higher than was strictly proper, her restless eyes roaming over this group of foreigners and landing on Gregor Starkov. Alina liked to imagine that she smiled at him, just a little, in this moment of brief, almost-contact before one of them vanished from the room and they thought they would never see each other again. 

When the proposition had been agreed upon and the two were officially betrothed, they began to share letters with each other that Milana liked to tell Alina were all still kept safe in a locked box inside their chambers, though Alina had never been allowed to see it. Milana had started to learn Ravkan, or rather had started to learn the Os Kervo dialect since her nurse had been Ana Kuya and she had taught her that of Keramzin, so that the pair would not require a translator, and soon these letters were their only pass times. Finally, years later, Milana travelled to Os Kervo. The journey was made longer by a desire to avoid the Unsea, which was so terribly unlike the rest of the mountains that stood between Rava and Shu Han, and Gregor had become so impatient to behold her once again that in the end he - much against the wishes of his advisors - travelled South to Ivets and met her there so they could travel the rest of the way to Os Kervo together. 

The first time that Alina met her husband-to-be she was somewhere near to ten, and he was betrothed to her elder sister, Zoya. They were on the battlements at the top of the dvorets, Zoya and Aleksander seemingly because they were taking a walk together, Alina because she had found a rabbit that she thought must have escaped from the kitchens and was hiding to make sure no-one would find the creature snaffled inside her jacket. They’d been walking towards her together, speaking in soft voices that Alina didn’t think sounded very interesting. She was barely paying them any attention, too busy stroking her secret rabbit and peering over the edge of the battlements to see if there was anyone shouting around about missing meat, until they were practically on top of her and the sound of Aleksander’s voice drew her upright. 

“Who is this child?” he asked, looking down at Alina and the rip on the hem of her dress and the wriggling lump inside her jacket. 

Zoya glanced at her, sighing a sigh that said she was really quite done with Alina’s antics by this point, and said:

 “One of my sisters,” with an almost imperceptible crinkle of her perfect brow. 

She swished onwards, telling Aleksander that if they reached the next turret they would find a most beautiful view over the city. Aleksander followed her, but as he passed Alina he reached out and gently stroked her cheek with one finger. She looked up and saw that he was smiling, and then - to her surprise and disbelief - he crinkled his nose and twitched his face in the exact manner of a rabbit. 

Alina laughed aloud, the sound brief and joyous and bursting from her without decision or intent; before she’d even finished his face had returned to normal, all over so quickly she could barely tell if it had been real. How did he know so perfectly how rabbits could look? 

Sometimes Alina wondered, as she laid out the pieces of her parents’ story and her own, whether after that day her future husband had held onto the image of her, of a small child and a hidden rabbit, just as Gregor once had done of Milana. He had done it, she was sure, just to make her smile - and without Zoya knowing, too. That made it even more precious, like it was a secret present for her and her alone. Alina had stroked the ears of her rabbit, smiling as she watched her sister and her betrothed walk away. 

[starlessmistake]

Eric Heisserer: Of course I love all the crows equally. There's...

Kaz, the main and most important character

Kaz's girlfriend

Kaz's best friend, the walking bisexual stereotype even though as won't let him actually describe himself as bi

Kaz's best friend's boyfriend

Waffle girl

Shirtless guy

[girl-bateman]

not to be a negative nancy here, but the cringy dialogue, undeserved and speedrun relationship developments and choppy storylines, is almost making shadow and bone unwatchable. im pulling this face every 5 minutes

[cabin12kid]

anyone actually associated with the show look away GOD THE SHADOW AND BONE SHOW WAS SUCH A FUCKING ASS ADAPTATION. LITERALLY FUCKED UP EVERYONE. I THOUGHT THEY DID IMPROVE A LOT OF THE SHIT FOR S&B/KOS CHARACTERS BUT THEY STILL FUCK LITERALLY EVERYONE UP AT THE END??? GOD. SHIT WAS ACTUAL ASS. FUCK. disgusted. They butchered fucking everything and has SUCH A PERFECT CAST TOO. nothing to the cast absolutely nothing no notes you all did beautifully with the COMPLETE FUCKING PISSROT SCRIPT YOU GOT.

[scentedmiracleobject]

Some delulus out there act like this season was better than many other Netflix series that hadn't been canceled is just hilarious

My reasons for disliking the Shadow and Bone Netflix adaptations had very little to do with its “book accuracy” and had more to do with it being a terrible adaptation. In fact, I would’ve preferred if the writers had taken some liberties and revised certain flaws of the original trilogy to create a more compelling narrative.

However, they instead made superficial changes that added little to the value of the show and were bandaid solutions to deeper problems with the source material. They didn’t expand on the original story, they only narrowed the scope. This, was its ultimate flaw that ended up culminating in a watered down version of what we once knew.

For example, the rehabilitation of Mal’s image seemed agreeable initially, but harmed the story in the long-run. The writers understood that book!Mal was disliked, but instead of re-examining that character and expanding (and perhaps improving) his arc, they refashioned him into a boring and frictionless character that offered little to the emotional stakes of the story. This choice, was a prime example of the dilution of the characters and story for the adaptation that ended up creating a weaker experience altogether.

The girlbossification of Alina, the lobotomizing of the Darkling to make it easier for the heroes to defeat him, cramming the Crows into a plot that didn’t concern them, blaming Grisha persecution on the Darkling, making Zoya a racist/the Darkling’s side chick, all of those idiotic flashbacks, were symptomatic of the writers inability to take risks.

[eerna]

the sab writers very much give "he has learned that good directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned *why*" energy. they know they like the crows, but they dont really understand *why* they're so compelling.

they know that jesper is funny, but not that he often uses humour as a deflection against emotionally connecting with a person or situation because he has commitment issues, so they write him as a post-marvel 'quippy' sidekick. they know that nina is (rightly) a vocal defender of the grisha, but not that it's because ravkan identity is heavily entangled with the national mythology of grisha and nina is a patriot moulded by military propaganda, so they write her as an activist. they know kaz is intelligent and feared, but not that it's because he spends a shitton of time investing in learning what motivates his targets and figuring out how best to exploit their nature, and how being incredibly ruthless is itself a tool for him to wield to his own benefit (and also indicative of a vindictive streak), so they write him as an anti-hero instead of a villain. as long as they lack understanding about the underlying reasons behind the casts' motivations, they will never write a good soc show.

Signed stamped approved. I don't think Kaz is written as a villain, but yeah they totally missed the fact that he has approx 5 schemes happening at any given time and 2 of them are manipulating the rest of the Crows to do his bidding.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

I don't know if you've seen it or not, but sab acc on insta was making a q&a recently and when someone asked what is your favorite moment from s2 (you can find a pics of these answers on twitter easily), they answered darkling's death and anything with… m*lina? Like... what? I don't know if it's trolling from their side or they are serious, in any case it all looks absolutely unprofessional and stupid. Everyone doesn't care about m*lina, do they really not understand this? Also if it wasn't the darkling/darklina, your shitty show would have been closed after s1

I did not see this but it sounds messy. I mean they obviously would have been told to push that narrative, its the same narrative they've been pushing for a while, darkling evil, M*lina for the win, hold on while I roll my eyes.

But at the end of the day its not going to really matter, people will still watch the show for darklina and Aleksander because they are the most interesting/popular ship and character. I mean I have shipped canon couples, non canon couples, the most popular ship and the least popular ship, endgame ships and non endgame ships and nothing any actor, writer, producer or anti has ever said has stopped me from shipping those couples. I ship what I enjoy and honestly as disappointing as it can be when your ship isn't canon or endgame, I still find I am happier if I just ship and let ship and not worry about other peoples views, even if its the people working on the show. Anyway in danger of rambling tangent here so I am going to stop now lol.

[coochiequeens]

ByYuliah Alma July 2, 2023

A trans-identified male who was profiled as a struggling “mother” in a recent ITV News video on soaring water bills in the UK is now defending himself amidst backlash for “breastfeeding” a baby. Mika Minio-Paluello, a man who identifies as a woman, is calling criticism of transgender breastfeeding “anti-trans hate.”

On June 28, ITV published an article about the country’s biggest water supplier, Thames Water, reporting that the company risks collapse due to soaring debt. The broadcaster shared a video along with the article that featured a trans-identified male presented as a Thames Water customer. During the video, ITV Consumer Editor Chris Choi stated: “This customer fears that either bill payers or taxpayers will end up picking up the tab [of the failing water supplier].”

Minio-Paluello then gives his input on the current state of affairs but curiously refers to himself as a “mother” during the interview. "The idea that we’re going to have even greater water bills, soaring bills, a time of prices already being hiked, and we have to pay a lot for food… that’s tough if you’re a mum like me already struggling to get the things that my kid needs,” Minio-Paluello says. The very next day, UK writer and broadcaster Paul Embery shared the clip of Minio-Paluello and wrote: “ITV news did a piece about the impact of soaring water bills on an everyday mother. So naturally they got a man to play the part.”

As of writing, Embery’s tweet has garnered almost six million views. The clip generated a massive amount of backlash, with women’s rights advocates concerned about ITV being complacent in the erasure of mothers. Member of Parliament Rosie Duffield shared the clip of Minio-Paluello and added her own commentary, writing: “Dear @itvnews, I am sure this is a lovely, intelligent and decent human being. This was an important piece. This is not however a struggling ‘mother.’”

Early on, some users also noted that Minio-Paluello appeared to be washing a breast pump during one of the scenes in which he is at the kitchen sink. User ‘Gender Is Harmful’ posted a close-up of the breast pump, prompting concern from users questioning why he would possess such an item.

"Okay, I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this. It’s not there in the initial wide shot, but then it’s suddenly there for the dish washing close up. I immediately recognized it and was wondering wtf it was doing in this clip about a man concerned about his water bill,” one user wrote in response.“Hopefully, it belongs to the child’s mother, and she’s expressing her milk before work, or whatever,” another user speculated. As commentary continued to swell on social media, Minio-Paluello responded to the intense social media backlash following his appearance in ITV’s video. On July 2, Minio-Paluello shared a thread of 17 tweets to address the situation, beginning the lengthy response with a photo of himself and his child watching drag queen Aida H. Dee. As previously reported by Reduxx, Aida H. Dee, the drag name of performer Sab Samuel, has previously raised concerns on social media for his conduct around children in addition to having fundraised for the funeral costs of Darren Moore, a fellow drag queen and convicted child sex offender. Later in his thread, Minio-Paluello included a photo of himself “breastfeeding” his child in an apparent effort to address the breast pump questions, and asserted that “trans women can breastfeed, and I did breastfeed my child.”

He says that the “anti-trans hate” he’s received is a “distraction from the actual issue” he was interviewed on. He calls for solidarity in times of inflation and wage loss but adds: “Adoptive mothers are mothers. Lesbian mothers are mothers, whether they birthed the child or not. Step mothers are mothers. Trans women can be mothers. It’s not up to a [Member of Parliament] or anyone else to march into a family & enforce what a child calls their parent.”He continues in all-capital letters: “JUST LEAVE QUEER FAMILIES ALONE,” as he rejects the comments he has read online that have called for his child to be removed from him.

Minio-Paluello then lists a slew of issues that impact women and families and inserts himself into the issues of motherhood, saying: “Mothers are always judged for our choices, made to feel guilty for not being perfect, told we shouldn’t be working, or aren’t working enough… Is this because trans women exist?” He goes on to address the ITV feature specifically and tells readers how he was chosen for the video interview, and also reveals the breast pump that had caused controversy in fact belonged to his housemate. But he still defends the idea that if the breast pump had belonged to him, it wouldn’t be noteworthy, as “trans women can breastfeed.”He rounds off the questionable string of response tweets with the assertion that concern over a man being labelled a mother is a “right wing distraction tactic” to “obscure the real struggle.” He says, “Ultimately, the weird hate I’ve faced these past days is a distraction from the real fight. Water companies are ripping us off. Inflation soared with corporate profiteering. Real wages have fallen. Austerity has robbed us of safety nets. Nature and climate collapse is here. That’s the real fight. Women, black people, disabled people, queers, workers (and especially those in the intersections) face the biggest burden. Creating a safe, just, more equal society now and for our children – it’s not easy, but it’s possible.” He urges those reading to avoid being swept up in the “right wing distraction tactic,” stating: “Don’t fall for it.”

The controversy surrounding Minio-Paluello feeding a baby comes on the heels of multiple recent incidents involving trans-identified males inducing lactation. In May, Child Welfare Services in Illinois was contacted by concerned citizens after a transgender porn model announced he had induced lactation to breastfeed an adopted baby.

That same month, Reduxx reported that two women in Australia received notices from Twitter informing them they broke the law after tweeting about an Australian trans-identified male who had been breastfeeding a child. One of the women, Jasmine Sussex, is a veteran breastfeeding consultant with nearly 20 years of experience in maternal healthcare. Speaking to Reduxx, Sussex stated that she believed induced lactation in males was “biologically and psychologically dangerous” for all those involved.“Men who covet female physiology in this way are, in my opinion, either suffering from a serious delusion or sexually motivated by the idea of themselves as lactating women,” Sussex said.“There is no evidence that drug-induced secretions from a male nipple are in any way equivalent to mother’s milk. It is more likely the secretions are akin to galactorrhea, which occurs when abnormal levels of prolactin are released from the pituitary gland in females who aren’t pregnant or males with disease.”

[cabin12kid]

I'm almost done with shadow and bone season 2 and as a soc book stan who couldn't have given a fuck about the shadow and bone book characters...... I'm in so much pain.

[bogunicorn]

The one thing about Shadow and Bone that frustrates me is that Mal and Alina's habit of sabotaging themselves (and lowkey each other) to stay together is like... validated? The idea that Alina struggles with her powers because she holds herself back to keep pace with Mal is just dropped.

Oh also I hate that Mal/Alina is a thing. He should be her brother. They suck as a couple. I could forgive how fucking boring Mal is if he was her little brother and not her love interest.

[fiora-miriel]

Both show and the books mention it in passing, but then don't build up on that idea, which is infuriating because it is so interesting

One of those things that made Grisha relatively novel concept is that their powers are vital part of them. They need to summon to be healthy, that’s why they don’t get ill, or why they live longer than muggles. That’s also what makes them so easily exploitable. It’s almost effortless to spot Grisha in hiding, to overpower them if they don’t practice, to kill or disect them.

The show decided to ignore that. Casual viewer doesn’t see why are Grisha oppressed, when they obviously have physical power. They can see nice clothes of Second Army, hear Malyen’s bigotry and think it justified. They don’t see Alina dying at the begining, nor withering away while she’s on the run…

[sancastarcs]

the way shadow and bone ruined like every character of grishaverse outside from mal😭😭😭😭 it's so hilarious to me like they ruined. every. single. character. in the books. except the one that literally everybody hated and made fun of! he is THE ONLY part that is not only somewhat okay, he is like... good.....