#apparently i had more opinions abt this than i thought

[sammygender]

im new here- is dean abusive?

imo yeah. smarter people than me have written dissections of the way he treats sam & others (he’s also Awful to his psuedo-son jack, but i haven’t gotten to that season yet), i’ve probably reblogged a bunch of them.

he certainly doesn’t mean to be & i don’t say it to condemn him as a person or as a character & i’m still very attached to him & he loves sam very much (not that that makes a difference in whether u abuse someone or not) - but the way he treats sam a lot/some of the time is emotionally abusive and sam is clearly badly impacted. s4 and s8 come to mind as his worst moments also ofc moc era - after that there’s less interpersonal conflict (up to where i am at least) but that’s because sam mostly stops disagreeing with dean not because dean actually gets much better <3 spn is cycles of abuse show after all. family is hell. dean’s learnt pretty much everything about how to behave from his abusive father and as a result. well. cycle continues

[mwagneto]

okay phew. my thoughts on watson episode 1. might put a readmore coz it'll probably get long. anyway um

so 💥 IN MY OPINION 💥 it was not good but it wasn't bad either it's the exact perfect mid i usually get with american episodic tv especially one trying to adapt something from england. not even a complaint btw i would've been shocked if it was good. i do think they needed a much stronger pilot but it was like... fine? like i had a good time with it overall and then sometimes i went HRHRGH WHAT. but anyway let's go category by category otherwise this'll be even more incoherent than it already is. so yeah cut incoming this is gonna be long as hell i was right

1) characters

watson: i elaborated on this topic in an earlier post but to sum it up, i think watson's personhood, by nature of being the pov character in the novels, revolves so strongly around holmes that it's an incredibly difficult task to define who he is without holmes, and especially to portray it. so far nothing this watson has said or done made me go "he wouldn't fucking say that" but at the same time nothing's made me go "he WOULD fucking say that" either. no actually him immediately jumping into a waterfall without any hesitation coz he saw holmes go in was extremely in character he would fucking do that. but like that just comes back to the whole issue of like, that's in character for him bc it's about holmes. but the rest? like who even is he? esp here where he can't even be defined by his position in his society or his era or his city because he's in modern day americatown instead of victorian england. so like overall i like the guy but as soon as the scene isn't about holmes he stops being watson and just becomes generic medical show leading man. i'm very curious to see if they can manage to make me feel like i really am watching dr john watson instead of just a random guy. but again outside of not really being watson i like him he seems fun

adam and stephens: i don't know why the showrunners would fuck themselves like this like why are you making your job so much harder by having 1 guy play 2 guys. edit ok apparently it's literally coz the showrunner wanted something challenging. well i hate it. also i don't think the twin thing works on any front it just makes me very uncomfortable to watch a guy trying his absolute hardest to pretend to be two separate people. it sucks. hopefully their plots will be interesting at least. calling it now there's gonna be a plot where they switch places

ingrid: i like her she's really hot imean interesting but her energy is so millenial i feel like she's gonna drop an umm that just happened! any second now. but that's not the character's or the actor's fault it's just a vibe i get

sasha: i had to look up her name on wikipedia icl but i only know the other people's names because every time a name was mentioned i rewound and paused and said OK THATS [insert name]. DONT FORGET. she just didnt get a proper namedrop ig. anyway i have 0 thoughts abt her other than her first line being about her accent which then proceeded to completely disappear in her 3rd line and then come and go as it pleased for the rest of the episode was really funny. the adoption thing is interesting tho let's see where they go with that

mary: mary-s (maries?) tend to be very strangely written bc every time they're included the writer wants to do a subversion of the generic irrelevant wife from the victorian era stories so she's usually a plot relevant badass which like. i don't think that's necessary. like you don't have to be doing all that. like i don't mind i'm usually neutral abt any given mary i just think it's annoying that they all default to that instead of doing literally anything interesting. so it's a relief that i actually like this mary coz even though she's still the usual plot relevant badass, it's not accompanied by her being watson's epic cool girlfriend she gets to be her own person. like as far as i can tell they're not gonna get back together #i ❤️ divorce. she's even bisexual!! sweep

shinwell: whyyyyy does he talk like that omg. please. also guy from the east end is a criminal duuuuude thats crazy however do they come up with these. sucks so bad. i'm gonna like him out of spite but he's such a bad character what are we doing

moriarty: what can i fucking say man. why is he here. also the acting was so bad??? like wh??? ???? why was it this bad. i guess you could blame the script but like, second takes exist yknow. you can do another one if the first take sucks. are you aware. anyway i hate it when moriarty is a big bad but we'll get into that in a later section... can't say much abt his character he was only in 1 scene. usually i'm a huge fan of colourblind casting but i don't get making him a poc if you're gonna make him the horrible evil mastermind but hey at least he's not a black woman killing orphans for money like in enola. still don't know why they did that. getting off topic anyway why did he also get hit with the yankify beam. does anyone remember england. sherlock holmes was there

2) the plot

the episode's plot: it was... fine? like it was stupid as hell but it's a medical drama so whatever. patient needs mouse bites to live. this vexes me. etc. i do think the whole today☝️ we're 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 NOT ❌ doctors ⚕️ we're 😎 detectives 🕵️ was kinda cringe but it's like the entire premise of the show so it's very much a megszoksz vagy megszöksz situation. how do you say that in english. my way or the highway. take it or leave it. you get what i mean

the overarching plot: i mean obviously this was one episode so i can't reflect on the entire thing but i CAN look at the setups and think about them. it's nice that a major part of this show seems to be watson coping with the absence of holmes. i think they should focus on it slightly more, like acd watson's life was essentially over and pointless post reichenbach and i don't think they fully emphasise the severity of that but we only have one episode so we'll see. i am very very annoyed that moriarty is a presence at all in this show and especially that they didn't even have enough faith either in the audience or their own material to wait a bit before revealing him. episode one bam he's there and he's immediately named. it sucks. we do not need him. hold my hand. look me in the eye. it's ok to write a holmes adaptation where moriarty doesn't keep coming back from the dead. it's ok to have a different villain. or just regular ass criminals that aren't masterminds. it's fine. it's ok. you can just have moran if you're desperate. in fact you SHOULD have moran we're literally post final problem pre empty house this is moran's main time in the spotlight. but whatever what's done is done. i just think what's done is dumb as hell

3) the technical stuff that reviewers love talking about to make themselves sound smarter

the dialogue: chief. it's not good. like it's not outstandingly bad but there were some lines that made me go 😬 and some of them are just. so bad. eugh. like i alluded to in ingrid's section, if a script feels like it could smoothly fit an mcu style quip without it feeling out of place, maybe reconsider the lines you're writing.

the lighting/colours: i actually really like this, i think it gives the show a very distinctive look. i do think it's weird how ambient all the lighting is in this hospital but it's a lot nicer than the horrible white and blue you'd normally get, plus as a serial surgery haver i would much prefer to have this to the inhumane buzzing leds. not to mention i'm eastern european so compared to our hospitals, this place is like a spaceship.

cinnamon topography: i just watched brilliant minds last week which had some of the most beautiful shots i have ever seen and easily the most beautiful shots i've ever seen in an episodic medical drama which is unfortunate for this show because it's also very competent in this field but my standards are all the way up. but yea overall the shots range from generic-good to pretty good so no complaints there. i really liked the shot of watson and mary talking with the garage pillar separating them, and the overhead shot of a board that says WE LIE in big red letters made me laugh really hard

4) miscellaneous

my cat just crawled into my lap while i was trying to spell meschallenios everyone shut up. ok she was there for an hour and then left so back to it

acd story references: i always think these are fun and very satisfying to clock, and by god there were a lot of them in just this one ep. my episode was like 240p so i couldn't really observe the background details (to be remedied once i get my paws on 1080p) but even then there was a ton of stuff to go duuude 🫵 at. the 1881 robot (year study in scarlet is set in) which was then immediately revealed to be called clyde (elementary turtle) was really funny like why are we referencemaxxing. like i mentioned in the john watson post, i hope they won't overly rely on them, but it was fun to pay a little extra attention to everything to see if there was a reference hidden anywhere

5) overall

my general faith in this is. very little. a lot of people have a lot of goodwill for this show, both because of elementary (which i haven't seen sorry) and because of morris chestnut (who i didn't know before this but i'm very much the kinda person who prefers to not even know the names of actors) but neither of those have any impact on my opinion or my trust in the show, nor do i think it should. even if elementary was my favourite show, i'd still expect watson to win me over just by itself. i'm also very worried about some comments the showrunner made, especially the one abt adler being holmes's lover (what?? 💀) none of which inspire confidence but again that's not part of the show either and if the show itself is good, i don't care what the showrunner thinks.

but is the show itself good? i mean, it's not bad and i never expected it to be good. i'm a huge fan of holmes adaptations and have seen way too many of them (pretty much every single one that's not unwatchably bad, and then some) so i'm always hyped when there's a new one. i don't hate this by any means, i'm glad it exists and it was a fun way to spend 2 hours watching something that's 40 minutes long and then an entire day writing a review of it.

like i said at the beginning of this unnecessarily long post, it's perfectly mid with some tentative swings in both positive and negative directions which is probably why i was able to write this much about it. if it was good i would've just said IT SLAPS YAYY YIPPIE and if it was bad i would've said "holy shit this is the worst thing i have ever seen" and that would've been it but instead here we are. hope you're glad you spent the past 7 hours reading this instead of war and peace. thank you for coming and hopefully my review of episode 2 will be a more managable size coz lowkey what the hell am i doing lol. goodbye

[infernothechaosgod]

One thing imma be real one thing i don't like about some mouseverse comics is that some characters just straight up look so human, and honestly I think that theres some good missed potential with some of them like the phantom blot la creatura

Before I got into the comics for good I thought the phantom blot was suppoust to be a human and that was one of the reasons why he freaked mickey out so much bc he's just straight up activating his uncanny valley/ is somewhere where he's just straight up not suppoust to be so he doesnt look like anything mickey's seen yet but apparently he's suppoust to be a dog

I think blots design is very good without his mask he looks like one of these rich people way over their head (its bc of the mustache, brows and half closed eyes half of the time im telling you he looks like he has 500$ of spare change in his pocket at all times )

(He'd rob me out of my money on etsy)

But blots design really doesnt look like a dog and I honestly think for him thats a strenght for a couple of reasons I dont wanna fully write out here bc id be getting into character design study for like 4 pager out here but the main point is Blot is the villian and a well masked one on top of that his design being highly diffrent from others is a good thing bc he's already not like others he stands out and he's evil and he's suppoust to be creepy so I think not really looking like a dog despite teachnicly being one has its purpose and even metaphor to it if you wanna go that route (maybe bc he views himself so above everyone and so humanized compared to them that he ends up sticking out, because he is so above them he's no longer one of them and its visible in his design)

But the points above start to fall flat and explode like a comicly large firework when you consider eeeeeh

All these are background/one off characters so I understand why the designs arent exactly thought out on the same level as main characters that would honestly be ridiculous but some of them just don't look like any animals and some straight up look like humans with slightly altered face structure

And that unfortunately also goes for my best girl samantha

ily but you do not look like a dog girl T T

When I was first reading that comic i thought she got the "kitty kat" treatment but turns out its just a thing for one off/side characters

Also there are some alternative designs for already existing characters that look more human in animation that arent used for some reason probably bc the animation and comic departaments being quite diffrent and also having a giant brick ball between eachother or disney just refusing to re-brand or re-design things that are already somehow well known

Comic o'hara design ^^^

Animated o'hara design ^^^

There very slightly diffrent but I can easily tell animated o'hara is a dog while the comic ver had me a bit confused (especialy since I didnt see the ears at first)

Also o'charas first apperance IN COMIC FORM looks alot more charming to me for some reason, the same goes for other police officers

he's so fat here I love it

They look alot cuter that way imo I like their snouts alot more in that form Plus they do the side eye every dog ever gives you at some point you know exactly what im talking about 🫵🫵🫵🫵

I dont know it could just be me being picky but I feel like there would be some ways of making the side characters look more animal but still easy to draw and design, maybe something like character base's for diffrent animal species that can get altered for diffrent one off/side characters...or giving the comic artist more time to do their job crazy idea i know

Idk like i said it could just be me being picky but I just don't like that and think there are some ways to change that

This is just my opinion and rambling though so lemme know what you think maybe im missing something or you preffer them that way Id love to hear others opinion since I know there are ppl out there who put alot more thinking abt the mouseverse than i did and probably ever will

ye

[7waystreet]

hi everyone ♡ LEGACIES ch.9 will be out next week ^.^

it took me a while to write this bcuz after LEGACIES ch.8 was published, some readers were unhappy with how y/n was so kind to kth and so easy to forgive him (same with how she's moving past her issues with pjm and jjk without really putting up a "fight"). i think some ppl want or expect y/n to get revenge back on them for more of an "enemies to friends" vibe but i want to share in detail why i've chosen not to do this:

both y/n and the boys have realized with time how she is NOT like them. that's the whole point.

1. the legacies express negative emotions thru revenge or "action" (for ex. jjk's anger via destroying her watch, pjm's defeat via the shower confrontation he pulls, kth's unresolved grief via the poem fiasco) but y/n deals with negative emotions thru "inaction" (for ex. distancing herself from them, ignoring them until she has time to process her feelings). it doesn't make sense for her to scheme elaborate plans to enact revenge bcuz that is not in her inherent nature

2. y/n understands the legacies are untouchable and that she holds no power to make any impact against them at the uni even if she does try to get revenge with "action". this is apparent from the poem fiasco and this is also why i've included pjm's dad as a reoccurring character, bcuz she learns these things right off the bat with all of the interactions she's had with him. she convinces mr. park to allow pjm to dance by simply using impactful speech, and yes, she could've easily been evil and made pjm's life worse by feeding complaints abt him to his dad, but again, she's mentioned multiple times to pjm how she is NOT like him

3. y/n's strength is her ability to voice her opinions. the theme i've enjoyed incorporating in this story is that rational words > inherent privilege. an idea can sometimes change lives more than the influence of money. she doesn't have to "do" anything except confront the boys with her style of banter or simply share her thoughts thru a convo. she forces the boys to think abt their feelings and reflect on their actions, which is something no one's ever pushed them to ever do. we see jjk respecting her for this and doing a 180 with his malicious intentions, pjm easing up on her after she verbally discourages him from hurting others and focusing on himself instead, and kth only agrees to seek help for his fucked up behavior when he experiences her compassion, which he's never gotten before in that raw way, esp from someone he's brutally wronged. she holds up the mirror for them to look at themselves and encourages them to become self sufficient for their own happiness, instead of making others miserable for their own joy

at the end of the day, all four of them are just college kids figuring themselves out, and they have personal trauma which they have potential to bond over. y/n and kth have lost a loved one while her and jimin have troubled parental relationships, which is why she is able to care for them quicker, as deep down, she can relate. she's been a bit tougher on jjk as they're the same age, total opposites of one another, and don't have a lot in common, so its a slightly diff arc

sorry for rambling, but i had to get this out! i hope you look fwd to the next ch. releasing this week ♡ — with love, ae-mi

[bright-and-burning]

january books

masters of death by olivie blake

a fun time!! read this in 3 hours straight right after deciding to get off tumblr for a while. a really fun ensemble cast whose various connections constantly had me gasping (at one of the reveals i gasped so loud my dad thought something was wrong), an interesting enough mystery that was fed to the audience in bite sized chunks. gay people! which i genuinely missed the lgbtq tag on storygraph; what a joy to be surprised with. honestly almost cried at the end... which is less of a book thing and more of a me thing.

the city & the city by china miéville

picked this up on my dad's recommendation, since it's one of his favorite books ever. i kind of got confused by his explanation (and by the fact that he had watched a sci fi tv show w a similar premise except involving two cities occupying the same space in a like. pocket universe sense) so i went in thinking it was going to be like, two cities with dimensional borders. so it took me a minute to pick up what was going on. FASCINATING spec fic. much chewier than masters of death lol. it's two cities that occupy the same Physical space. and all the people in one city Unsee the people and architecture and cars in the other. and then there's a MURDER! that seems to involve illegal border crossing between cities! extreme reread potential. has anyone read this? please somebody have read this i dont even have anything intelligent to say i just want to shout incoherently with someone.

organizing solutions for people with adhd by susan c pinsky

ok this one shouldn't count lol. but . whatever. lots of interesting ideas; the ones i've started putting into practice have in fact been game changers, so. the whole philosophy of like, maximizing efficiency and kind of lubricating your life makes a lot of sense!! im about to reorganize my whole kitchen bc of this lol

the department of rare books and special collections by eva jurczyk (DNF)

i was promised a mystery. this was not a mystery. a very expensive very very very rare book is stolen from her library, and the main character is getting drunk with her ex (and current employee/colleague) from 30 years ago in the stacks instead of paying attention to idk the employee who has disappeared or suspicious behavior or ANYTHING! that would lead to finding the book!!! got about a third of the way through and was so fucking frustrated like 'when the hell does this become a mystery' and then i googled it and apparently it was originally marketed as a "women's book" (whatever the fuck that means) not a mystery. and honestly yeah if i wasn't reading it explicitly bc i thought it was a mystery set in a special collections library it would probably be a fine book. maybe even a great one! but it was a bad mystery. and i was not willing to read 200 more pages just to get to SOME attempt at investigation. much less 400 more to get to the answers. so... DNF. :/

the da vinci code by dan brown

haven’t finished this yet (please don’t spoil anything for me… i have escaped any kind of knowledge abt the contents of it and i’d like to continue that way) since it’s my train book and i have slowed waaaay down. need to be more deliberate abt reading bc i really do hate reading on the train when i can’t finish it in one sitting. anyways potentially controversial opinion i like it so far!!! i love a mystery. love a mystery soooo much. and i love art (and bonkers art history). and im squicked out by catholicism. so perfect for me. realized like idk 70 pages in that it was a sequel and was like well fuck but i think i can go back to the first one without being terribly spoiled on anything. also only just discovered there’s a MOVIE??? with fucking TOM HANKS??????? what the hell.

january overall summary: read three books in four days and then fell way the fuck off once i got back to my own place. but i do now have a library card for libraries not several states away. and i know im currently capable of reading like crazy if i just sit down and do it. so february we work on that…

[menlove]

I don't know if somebody already asked you, but what do you think ACTUALLY happened in India?

in myyyy opinion I honestly don't think anything major happened 😭 I have a Couple Reasons and it's mostly bc I'm a "they were fucking the whole time" truther, but I can see where people that view paul as being repressed & rejecting john would find india as the most likely Catastrophe Spot

i'll just toss some of my thoughts under the cut fdfasf

but basically for me it just comes down to:

the Biggest shifts in their attitudes to each other seemed to have happened when brian died & the subsequent mmt disaster, when john started going all in with yoko, and finally at Some point between the rooftop concert and the abbey road sessions. none of those, to Me, line up w something major happening in india. they were already a little strained after brian/mmt & they seemed to be still at that "strained but still friends" point after india

apparently, paul & ringo leaving india early was pre-planned out. there was like an article that mentioned that they'd be leaving early before the beatles even left for india, mentioning that paul would be coming back early to deal w some business stuff. so this, to me, is a hole in the Big India Shift theory

and IF they were fucking the whole time like i personally believe (i may be crazy it's fine), i think that fits pretty well with the lil reference we get in get back. bc john blows that mic with GUSTO & paul isn't acting nervous or like someone who just got called out for ditching him after fucking him, he's just sort of giggly/flustered like john's just referencing a time they fucked that they can't talk about in front of people lmao

so for MEEE what i Actually think happened was probably just....... things getting More uncomfortable (what with john constantly getting telegrams from yoko & the fact that cyn was there and her and john were Not getting on well) & them possibly fucking but it not really being a big deal bc it was just already a thing that they did.

i Do agree with one take i saw in the general beatles fandom world that part of the reason things started to go sour for everyone after india was just that they were all sober for the first time in fucking AGES & when that happens you kind of look around at yourself, your life, and the people you're around and start questioning things. i think by that point they were all becoming highly individualized people & without the security blanket of drugs it became apparent that they'd drifted apart. not just john and paul, but all 4 of them (& cyn and jane, for john & paul respectively).

i mean i could be wrong! if i'm wrong abt paul just being closeted & them having had an acknowledged sexual relationship going on, i can see where the logic would follow that maybe something happened in india. but honestly, for me, even in that case i just don't see enough evidence of smth happening. i think it's a Good Spot for something to happen, like narratively/for fanfiction, but as far as it being like a solid theory for me i just don't really buy it? it's kind of like how for me personally i think a "good spot" for them to have a tender moment would be after the "bigger than jesus" incident, but it's not something i have evidence for or necessarily Believe, i just think narratively it would be neat. same goes for india, so like i can and do still enjoy fics/headcanons about it, i just personally don't see enough actual concrete evidence to lead me to believe in it seriously.

and this is absolutely not to shit on anyone or judge this theory at all. like i said, i can see why people get here, i just don't see it myself. and that's mostly due to my own core mclennon theories that they were fucking & paul is just a closeted bisexual lol. if people believe otherwise, that's totally fine! keep on theorizing and having a blast yk

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

Any more thoughts to share on a carmen sandiego and ieytd fusion?

enter my beautiful mind palace with me

vile and zoraxis have heard about each other, but neither of them know everything abt one another. pre the ending to ieytd2, all vile knows is that zoraxis has a facade, but not how vicious and evil its underbelly is. zor, meanwhile, knows that vile pull heists and schemes, but don't care much about them considering they stay out of each others way

post-ieytd2, i can see zoraxis with their tail tucked between their legs, willing to ally themselves with zor in order to have more reach after their facade gets publicly exposed. all they really share is resources, though. beyond that, the two probably wouldn't have much to do with each other

as aforementioned, cleo would absolutely know who fabby is, and would be chomping at the fucking bit to get a chance to talk with her.

i don't know whether or not solaris would still be with zoraxis at the time, but i think vile would be obsessed with her potential. what the fuck do you mean this engineer was the backbone of the death engine project??? what do you mean?? that's fucking crazy.

i think solaris would be unused to this much attention but very flattered. its honestly about time someone appreciates her work for what it is

i think carmen understands that there's something amiss with zoraxis, but keeps vile her top priority, so she doesn't often interject with their plots

also, zoraxis doesn't do many cultural heists, so more often than not it doesn't even come up on her radar

the one time she crossed paths with them, funnily enough, was when she mistook some of their activity for a vile scheme

she caught some zoraxis operatives on the tail end of stealing some nice, but relatively culturally benign spanish artwork (the stuff you can find in zor's madrid headquarters). she never managed to track down where they went and if she's honest with herself she's still kind of bitter about it

i think phoenix and carmen would actually get along pretty well and probably be able to work well together. however, both of them are good at a very niche set of things, and would be completely out of their element fighting the other's freaks of the week

phoenix is thoroughly surprised the first time they fight a vile operative and realize how young they are. normally they're willing to 'stoop' to lethal combat but they are not killing these?? children?? no absolutely not.

sometimes they sneak agency calling cards into their pockets after knocking them unconscious... just in case they need someone to help them drop off the map, like anna did (they're not going to recruit those children for the agency. that would be just as irresponsible, if not worse)

carmen, meanwhile, is unprepared to deal with operatives who are so willing to murder first and ask questions second. sure, vile lackeys can be hostile, but most of them were her graduating class so there was time for a little banter in between throwing wild punches. none of them had fucking guns, you know??

phoenix is not at all surprised by this considering carmen has essentially trained herself by fighting c-lister villain high schoolers ("college graduates") same difference.

zach and ivy are fine but DON'T let phoenix know about player i think they'll have a hernia

on a more positive note, though, it is nice to be able to talk to someone fluent in sign languages (and/or whatever other language you think phoenix would be fluent in). i think that would be a very pleasant surprise for them

more often than not when phoenix and carmen cross paths, phoenix doesn't let the agency know about it. mainly because carmen is a vigilante and as such probably wouldn't be seen in a great light by the agency anyways. and apparently she already has an agency tracking her down?? so they're not going to add to that that sounds like a lot

i also think acme would have a very bad opinion on the agency due to how many agents they wind up getting killed but this isn't abt them this is abt the cool guys

and this isn't really a headcanon this is just me having fun, but literally just yesterday i was looking and realized that there's a cultural artifact in geneva that would make for a good mcguffin for a carmen episode: the world's first swiss wristwatch, commissioned for the countess of hungary in 1868, and held on display in geneva's watchmaker museum. occasionally confused for the first ever wristwatch, (which was actually made in france in 1810), but both are steeped in an equal amount of culture and we also have no physical evidence of the first ever wristwatch so this is the next best thing and its in geneva

anyways all this to say i got a little silly about it last night. my whimsy. the timeless timepiece caper or whatever. swag.

ft mothbeasts jumpscare. ragh

[mazzystar24]

Hi, a 'BT' here! (Although I also happily ship buddie too because multishipping is so valid!) I come in peace and just looking for some discourse if that's okay? I saw the ask in regard to apparently BTs are saying that all the focus on rg means he's leaving? I haven't seen anyone say that on either side so a strange one huh!

But it was more your comments in terms of pushing for Tommy to replace Eddie as lead when Ravi is right there and I just wanna say I agree! And I have seen many bucktommy shippers including myself pushing for Ravi to be main cast. He absolutely should be and deserves it and is an absolute darling angel and I love what he brings to the whole dynamic!

My biggest hope for Tommy is for his to be recurring much like Karen! Speaking of, there's another character I'd love to be main cast and who I think is ahead of the queue in front of Tommy to be main cast. Heck I'd love if all of them got to be main cast but, as much as I love bucktommy, I definitely can see there's an order to who should be main cast and don't want any 'queue jumping'

One other thing I want to out out there as food for thought, is that on both sides I see a lot of discourse thrown out through anonymous asks of 'oh the bts are saying this' or 'the buddies said this ridiculous thing!' And something I would love both sides to seriously consider is... did they really? Or are there just a few people out there who feed on the chaos that it all brings and will send out anon asks that they know will increase this 'fandom war'and pretend they are kn the other side when doing so just to get a reaction and give ammunition to 'their' side to make it seem like one side is delusional and the other side isn't?

Tldr I just wish we all got along and stopped taking messages intended to stir up hate as gospel.

Peace and love

Glad you agree on the Ravi/ main thing front!

As you know I want tommy out already so no recurring hopes from me sorry 😔💔 ngl at first I was like hmm it can be interesting and I’m not opposed to exploring bt and their potential dynamic and maybe they can redeem him and make him likeable it’d be perfect (like my comparison was if they wrote him like Hannah from bones) but like buddie endgame but as eps went on both he and a section of the fandom became so insufferable to me that I’m like I don’t care about the potential juicy storylines I just want this man off my screen - but it’s totally cool if you like him and ship them it’s just not my cup of tea

For the other part I totally get what you mean and that may be the case like I totally agree that that is possible but I hear like so many things that happen in the bt fandom secondhand cos I’ve got so many of the toxic/annoying ones blocked (my block list is a mile long genuinely) and so many have me blocked too but usually stuff that my anons mention will be talked abt by more people in the fandom (like this is) or like there have been times where if I ask my anons for elaboration links ss etc and they are able to do so

That’s why half the time when I reply it’s more so like “damn didn’t know that if that is the case then xyz” you know? Or if I saw something I’ll mention it and be like oh yeah I saw xyz and this is my opinion on it or answer

Also like I’ve first hand seen things that are like 10x worse or more delusional than the “rg must be leaving and s8 lfj main” thing like no lie some of this stuff makes that seem tame in comparison so it’s like the chances they’ve said this are like HIGH

Genuinely I agree with you on that last point I do wish that this fandom was how it used to be and more peaceful but certain things I follow this kinda mental rule I’ve always had which is that I won’t respect a disrespectful opinion

Like from the very start of the discourse I’ve been very oh let ppl ship what they want and enjoy their fandom space and from the start I’ve encouraged proper tagging to help people do that and like even if you’re fully delusional abt your ship I fully respect that (not saying YOU are but I’m saying like let’s say one side is like yesss they are getting married in s8 and having a baby on the first episode I would genuinely just mentally be like woah that’s a bit delulu but love that for you and move on)

My only issue really has been where people from the bt fandom (not saying they are the only ones who do this but I’m saying personally speaking it’s what I see and what I experience also not saying it’s all the bt fans and I do try to say that as much as possible) being disrespectful whether this be through being racist, being ableist or rude to the buddie fans just to boost their ship

Like I’m so not against hating stuff like seriously idc hate whatever you want rant about it and make twenty posts and make so many jokes but when you’re being disrespectful or when it crosses certain bounds it’s like you’re a piece of shit

Anyways I got carried away but thanks for being so nice and respectful in your ask 🫶

[tricksterkisses]

I’ve decided that I will no longer actively engage with discourse or social justice conversations on this website.

This decision comes down to a simple but frustrating realization: this platform seems to prioritize syntax and performative correctness over actual, tangible change. The energy I’d need to expend being Perfect for the people who (wrongly, in my opinion) claim to be my allies is better spent continuing the work I already do in real life: outreach, mutual aid, and community care. That’s where I can make a difference ngl, where my efforts are about action and impact, not linguistic perfection.

Recently, I made a post abt the oppression I face and how people like me are treated. To be honest, I expected pushback from people who disagree with me or the existence of trans-androphobia as a concept. But that’s not what happened. Instead, I was condescended to by people who call themselves my allies—because I made the apparent mistake of not using one word in a sentence. A single, ultimately irrelevant word.

Let me be clear: I wasn’t raised in the U.S. English is my third language. I don’t think in English, and I’m not going to pour endless time and energy into perfectly tailoring my words in a language that’s not even my own, just to appease people who are ostensibly on my side. This experience has taught me that this platform and many of the people on it, cares more about sounding right than about being right, about effect or praxis; thats not a value I share. I’d rather hear someone use imperfect language to say something important than see someone tear another person down because their linguistics weren’t pristine enough to pass an arbitrary standard.

In the real-world spaces where I do mutual aid, outreach, and harm reduction, this isn’t an issue. We’re too busy helping people to nitpick language. No one there questions whether someone deserves solidarity based on how “correctly” they phrase their sentences. That’s why I’ve decided that while I’d love to discuss the oppression and casual dismissal people like me face, I will not be doing it heree. This space rly just isn’t built for it. If you care more about the performance of words than about the reality of harm reduction, then you’re not my ally, and I don’t want to try to talk in spaces where that’s the standard.

I’m likely going to turn reblogs off on my one post about trans-androphobia and edit it to direct people here. I understand that some of the people who ‘corrected’ me probably thought they were helping, but their impact speaks louder than the intent. And the impact is this: it’s taught me that I cannot trust even my supposed allies in these spaces to care about the Movement as much as they care about the Words.

It was my wife, in fact, who had to sit me down and explain that what was happening wasn’t just frustrating and that it was punitive. I was being punished over semantics. That realization was rly eye-opening.

For those of you who are here because you want to see more of my thoughts about oppression, trans-androphobia, or other issues, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I won’t be using my own words to talk about these things on this website moving forward. I’ll still reblog pieces that resonate with me, and of course, @/velvetvexations is welcome to continue sharing thoughts I’ve expressed in private conversations. But as far as direct engagement goes, this is where it ends for me on Tumblr.

I’m genuinely glad that some people here have the comfort to focus so heavily on language. But I live on the brink of homelessness every month. I struggle to feed my family. I simply can’t afford to use the little energy I have navigating the minefield of linguistic perfection to avoid being torn down by “my own side.” If that’s something you can understand, I hope you’ll respect my decision. If not, I wish you well anyway.

srry.

[cardiganloser]

will probably try and script more coherent thoughts on ofmd s2 tomorrow and my opinion is overall very positive but i really don't like the way they're handling jim/archie and olu/zheng. to clarify i would be 100% okay with a more open/poly version of jim/olu, esp since vico ortiz is poly irl, but this just feels underbaked.

1) jim and archie only interact a few times in the first episode before one of their first scenes in the second episode is their kiss. i think archie will be a fun character and her banter with jim was decent but to me there really wasn't enough build-up to pay off a kiss, esp after jim/olu was a well-done plot line last season that was built up by a series of good, genuine moments across all ten episodes. i don't think a slow-burn is always a definite requirement for a good romance but more than like three scenes of build-up is.

2) olu fully admits in ep 3 he had no idea that zheng was flirting with him. full honesty i was expecting zheng to be a lesbian (idk why just vibes) but really? she apparently grows a crush on olu through all his visits to her soup stand, of which we see one where they have a normal, polite conversation. then they join up with the revenge, jim and olu reunite and five minutes later olu is making out with her in her office? i'm aware olu was probably still surprised by the jim and archie situation but it genuinely felt so out of nowhere to me. tbh her random crush on olu was the only thing abt zheng i disliked, other than that she was fantastic and i'm very excited to see more of her. her feelings read like an unrequited crush to me.

3) jim and olu were a fantastic couple in s1, i was and still am obsessed. again, poly/open relationship is fine if done right, but this just reads like they forced relationship drama. we are only three eps in and maybe they aren't even going the poly route but in that case why make this a thing in the first place? why have jim and olu make out with other people when ed and stede are clearly giving us all the relationship drama? yeah, they thought the other person was dead/didn't know if they'd see them again but surely they'd be holding out hope or still grieving after what's been a year at most.

anyways, like i said, overall a good start but this plot point is rlly dragging down the early eps for me. hopefully it resolves quickly.

[mosswitch219]

Some thoughts on Bad Batch Season 3

SPOILERS

First off I want to say this is going to be a very unpopular opinion and if you liked the szn this probably isnt the post for u, but I feel I have to speak my mind.

Overall after watching season 3 I honestly feel let down and unsatisfied with the events and especially the ending.

1. Techs death is probably the biggest thing that frustrated me because when you kill a character off you should either have your other characters morn and grieve them and learn to accept the loss or bring them back.

However they didn't either of those, instead they pretty much forget he existed they barely reference him and only say his name like twice, it would be fine to show characters in denial about someone's death but it's more like the show is in denial. This is why many bad batch fans were expecting tech to come back, if you don't morn a characters death than the story arch feels incomplete a ppl will wait for it to "end".

Not to mention techs story didn't seem over he left on weird unfinished terms with Phee and it seemed like they would touch on it again but nope.

Also they introduced CX-2 and made it seem like he might be tech, such as having the same build and teasing the identity like it's important and like it will mean something and then at the end for CX-2 and all these super soldiers to mean absolutely nothing.

2. So many unfinished questions, I can't believe this is the end of bad batch and apparently the last clone show. Especially when we still don't know where tf Cody is and all we're told is that he's gone AWOL (mentioned like it will mean something in the future) and then we never see or hear anything about him again.

Then there's Wolffe obviously we know he's in Rebels but what happens between then and now?

Then there's Echo same as Wolffe what happens to him as we never see him fighting alongside rex in Rebels.

Then ventress she was introduced back and then she leaves and we never see or hear about her ever again, she didn't rlly add much they revived and went "look ventress is back" for one episode and then that's it she's no longer important all she did was say "yup omega has a high M count" and then left.

3. Omega and the other force sensitive children could have patched up the plot hole of "somehow palatine is back" by saying using omegas clone DNA that can sustain high levels of a M count and a force sensitive child they were able to figure out how to clone palatine or smth but no it all meant nothing and we never rlly knew what the tests where for even when they had a golden opportunity to reveal it when Rampart forces Nala se to tell him everything abt the experiments

Honestly season 1&2 were great and so I went into season 3 expecting the same amount of quality but I didn't get that. They usually tie everything together and I never felt unsatisfied or confused in szn 1&2 but I did in szn 3. I kept waiting for things to start to tie together especially when the had so many moment where it seemed like the scenes where there just to make things make sense but no they were all there for nothing.

I walked away from szn 3 thinking it must have been rushed or gotten a new writers team bc wtf was any of this, it was so out of character for the writers to make such bad decisions.

I understand if other people like the ending bc we don't usually get somewhat happy endings but this was more like a half-assed happy ending to me, I would have preferred a well written devastating bad ending but this is what we got instead and I am so disappointed. All I could think of szn 3 was about how angry, let down and confused I was and that it was a lame and made me feel meh.

[canadianno]

Hello! May I ask your opinion and headcanons on Forneus and Haro? Any thoughts about the Hundred Gods era before the Bishops? Drink water, eat your fruits.

OKAY I had to do a little research for this one ngl. Ramble under the cut!

FIRST OF ALL. Forneus. I love her. This is apparently an unpopular headcanon, or so I've been told, BUT. AU territory here.

Forneus is Narinders' mortal sister and no one can change my mind. She misses her brother and her sons deeply, and recognizes the crown apon the lamb as evidence that Narinder and her babies 'live' on. She treats Lamb with extra care, knowing that if her stubborn brother has trusted them, they must be pretty special in his eyes.

(Note.^ you are FULLY allowed to disagree with me here. We don't know alot abt the lore here yet, this is just my speculation and I think it fits my au the best!!)

NOW. Haro. Had to do research here. Haro seems to be the fallen god of the Hunt, which is fair enough. Love that for them. I do have the headcanon that, among the gods before the 5 of the old faith, Shamura was the last to remain standing with their crown in hand. My guess to what I'll do with this, is that crowns can be- not so much destroyed as extinguished. All the crowns of the old faith (red, yellow, green, blue, purple) are millennia older than their bishops, and their bishops were simply chosen by the crown. I have a LOT of info to drop on the crowns, if you can't tell by the name of my au lol.

Haro was the "sibling" of Shamura (as much as the current gods are considered siblings) and when Shamura rose to fell the others, they extinguished Haros' crown but let him live unharmed. Haro is slowly becoming more mortal with time without any power in the crown, and will one day become mortal enough to pass away. For now, he traverses the lands, wise and careful, occasionally visiting his younger sibling when they feel called.

Haros' crown will be important in my au :]

[decepti-thots]

☕️ actually been meaning to ask you about this for ages bc you've mentioned before you have thoughts abt it; cdrw having less fic about them then you might expect for a canon couple?

I think there are a few reasons!

One is that the CDRW arc in the comics is not the kind of romantic arc that tends to appeal most to fandom. A lot of ship fic is "getting together" fic, because that's a way to make the ship the built-in plot of the fic. It provides a ready made beginning, middle and end that is near-guaranteed to be satisfying to anyone invested in the ship. But CDRW are introduced as a long-established couple, and their story is tied much more strongly to the overarching plot of the comic than it is to conventional romance beats.

Two is that it's actually kind of hard to find an obvious canon gap to write a story in during the events of the comic. Their arc is really... jam packed? So many of the big emotional moments of it just play out on page, is the thing. By contrast, look at, say, Dratchet. There is so much room to play with there. Even with Cygate, there was a period during the comic being published where you had room to write ahead and pre-empt the actual resolution we got, during the downtime. CDRW doesn't have as many options there to do that, and I feel like it might seem a less obvious choice for someone looking to write A Romance Fic.

Three is something I realised after talking to folks about the ship, which is that anecdotally I have discovered that a lot of people like CDRW but find it harder than expected to get a grip on. Chromedome in particular seems to stump people; I've written a little bit before about how I think the structure of his arc in the comic winds up catching people off guard because of how it doesn't follow the expected emotional trajectory post-Overlord. And I think between that and the fact that he's a character who people sometimes struggle to get a handle on the interior motivations of, he can be hard for some people to really find the voice of apparently. And Rewind, too, is deceptively tricky, because he is actually a very weird character. His motivations are weird, his intensity is weird, I find a lot of people who haven't revisited the source material recently tend to misremember him as a much more straightforwardly tropey character than canon Rewind actually is. A lot of the CDRW stuff out there I have seen tends to do this to both of them actually, slot them into a kind of m/m ship template that they vaguely resemble on the surface but is totally inadequate once you start paying attention. (Cygate also got this.)

When you put all of this together, I think CDRW grabbed people as fic fodder a lot less. And there's the built in sense of "canon gave us everything" that comes from them getting so much focus that I think smooths over that absence so it doesn't really seem obvious in fandom, where they just tend to hang around in fic as a background pairing.

anyway. people. we should write more cdrw fic i think. they are Insane and there are actually a bunch of things the comic brushes over tbh. and the AU potential! oh my god, there are so many opportunities for weird plot divergences!!! i am guilty bc i have a halfwritten longfic that i never managed to wrangle fully in google docs that i am sheepishly avoiding eye contact with (but will one day return to i swear) (look i'm in Big Bang mode right now folks but one day)

Sidenote: I'd love to hear other people's perspective on that third point... do people have opinions on this? I am going off stuff from a while ago and I know there's been a bunch of folks doing rereads lately. How are we feeling about CD and Rewind as characters these days.

[braemjeorn]

more thoughts on teuksora bcoz sora ogling teuk's arms is #mood

man is even more built now gosh

[sometimes I'm like HE's 40!! followed by AND SO WHAT ABT IT???]

that is the whiplash that happens when sakuya is a 07 baby...anyway

the tango lesson where he just did squats with her in his arm

then the night after, i think it was their second night together in that house? like lawd, jangwoo-eunjeong visited them for their 50th ep while teuksora only had 29 ep, do you know how sad i am by that they had that little time together?

the matching pajamas and massages owo

just me noting that i wouldn't be that calm if a man was massaging my calf like that honestly but i guess being an actress with frequent skinships help you

AnD AHHHH THEIR PHOTOSHOOT

when they lay down in bed like sleeping prince and princess and the eye contact got them shy again and teuk just tucks her into a hug

MY HEART

THEY WERE SMILING SO HAPPILY

WHY ITS NOT AMONG THE RELEASED PICS

ALSO

to kiss or to not kiss, that is the question

istg the panelists and staff were just dying to see them kiss and then the fluffy retriever dog crashed in on them

[APPARENTLY WE ONLY GOT A KISS KISS THEM IN THE LAST EP??? LAWDD]

him carrying sora and shouting out to her parents: THANK YOU FOR YOUR BLESSINGS the SM passion flew out gakglkdfjlksl

the tarot card reading after the blind dates was also quite wild

about leeteuk: "man's gonna have twins" "just hold hands or a kiss, you'll get pregnant"

many factors are at play, but i was overthinking about how that reading also pointed out why we didn't get teuksora irl

it's a show, i know, i know! the possibility of any wgm couple getting together is 0.01%

but like leader teuk was 28 then, he not married yet until now (unfortunately) but at that age the desire to have a family is vewy normal

while sora was 21, normally you'd just be out of college

her career was blooming, she might want to try out things and all before settling downs (i think the tarot reader said that she should grab her chances for that year, i guess that meant she'll do well and all career-wise)

there's personal/family life too; i heard teuk also had a hard time in the military, though he managed to give a ment for their best couple award, which is why we could never know! these folks are professionals and we don't know so much about them!

i heard she supported him on his musical and occasionally he greets her as an MC, as an ex-husband, fellow entertainer, which is cute but then…

and also how i think marriage is just SO much more laxed in the k-actors sphere rather than it is for idols, I feel like you can count with your hands 2nd gen idols that are married with groups still active annually

again, that was a personal opinion (which is proved wrong after seeing a video pointing out how actors in their 40s arent married yet so i lose)

they might match up well with each other but maybe some wants and things are not that well aligned if you know what i'm saying??

[right person wrong time? mr kim namjoon sir i'm sorry i havent heard your newest baby yet]

she ended up passing over him in marriage i don't know whether to laugh or cry

back to the tarot card ep, still cackling over their conversation over pasta after where they're discussing "when's the right time for a kiss between us, we're getting to know each other and all?"

sora was like "when it's right, just naturally? when i feel you've become my man?" and teuk was like "like now?"

"but it's a broadcast…"

teuk, to the staff: "give us a moment, will you lot? leave a camera here and get out"

and at a later point, i forgot how did the conversation went there, but sora was giggling crazy at the thought of a kiss and teuk was like "you want it? twins? you remember what that tarot reader said, we have to be careful." WHY IS HE SAYING IT LIKE IT'S THE DOCTORS' INSTRUCTION--

very assertively and manly said, leader-nim, my heard did flutter

leeteuk has this composed air most of the time, combined with his gentle, calm voice and all

but then he does things like covering the face of sora's screen partner with a sticker and brings around a lifesized picture of sora around (and the things he says to flirt with!!?) i was just like… yeah he's suju's leader alright

i've watched a few clips of them, including their last ep, but i don't wanna watch it again that i've seen almost all of the 28 episodes chronologically…

i did after a few weeks, and i am utterly heartbroken

but they're both thriving, as suju and now sora as a mom of two

thank you two for doing the show, it was enjoyable, and i hope became a sweet memory for you two

and to leader teuk, to quote shakespeare… GET THEE A WIFE, MR LEADER OF A 19YO GROUP!!

him mcing eunhyuk's sister's and ryeowook's wedding instead lawd

[inchidentally]

Firstly just want to say I love your posts and opinions <3 Sorry this is a bit long, I only lurk around so I wanted to share my thoughts with someone (if that’s alright!)

As a Lando fan through all his teammates, I really love his dynamic with Oscar the most. I love that Lando always brings up how good Oscar is (even though everyone in the world loves to spread the narrative that Lando is washed because a rookie beat him*), and I love that Oscar is always supportive of Lando’s achievements too. They both put the team first before all else, and what happens in the race will stay in the race (no hard feelings after). Despite what the media pushes them to say or the narratives in articles, they both have a quiet understanding of each other and a lot of respect. What they have now is really sweet and I’m really hoping none of this would change for the years to come, even if they have a race winning car. Of course as a Lando fan first, I want him to win all the races, and I’m sure Oscar fans want Oscar to win all the races, but I hope that everyone can also learn to let what happens in a race stay in the race, just like them. For me anyone who shades/hates on either of them in any way just gets an instant block, I don’t want to hear it <3

*I hate how people always turn to shitting on Lando instead of saying Oscar is also good and equally competent?? I know Lando is supposed to be more experienced but he’s also young and he’s apparently never allowed to make mistakes. And I think not giving Oscar the credit is also disrespectful to him.

I also do hope this year they are even more comfortable with each other and will hang out more outside of races (even if they don’t share it). More than the media stuff, I am always so much more happy when they do something on their own, like how we found out Oscar was also in one of the planes from the recreating Instagram photos video, or that photo of them playing cards, that photo of them eating together in the paddock, or “what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas” that still haunts my mind….. (hate Vegas GP though, burn it).

tldr; Oscar is good for Lando and Lando has always been good in Oscar’s eyes, and can next season come faster

tysm anon and I'm sorry to be so late replying !!

god I am the same anon - I don't personally have favorites bc his dynamic with Carlos and Daniel was so much abt him being the baby duckling (and that on track Lando struggled privately w insecurity so much his rookie season whereas his confidence was building separate from what Daniel was experiencing). but what I love about the Oscar era is the way Lando just like, blossomed into McLaren being his home and his team when Oscar made such strong gestures to acknowledge Lando that way.

like so many ppl questioned Lando's ability to be in the senior/experienced/leadership role and wondered if he'd always prefer to be a little brother for a couple more years yet (and I think Lando wondered that too).

god yea I am so happy to leave ppl who try to pit teammates against each other in their own filth. like, enjoy being full of impotent rage ig?? bc apart from a VERY few instances these teammates are always able to be professional - and if they were already friends, remain friends. not only has Andrea instilled this from the start with Lando and Oscar, neither of them literally ever has had a history of friction w teammates or w each other. we've been through Monza before their relationship had even gotten settled so we're fine lol

and anon so far I'm genuinely amazed at how much content we're getting of them, of their own volition and McLaren's sm. the McLaren media fell off so hard right when the double podiums happened so I was worried that was how it was going to stay for 2024. hopefully stays this way!

[llycaons]

further thoughts on atogai

the knife attack was sick. I love kadou

I complained earlier he doesn't have any hobbies, but he really is a very well-educated and intelligent young man with an apparently sincere interest in the economy, public works, wines...he's got stuff going on

kadou at one point calls evemer 'tricksy' which had me screaming...gollum moment

why is evemer so obsessed with being trusted? what's HIS baggage? he doesn't really seem to have anything going on in his backstory.

he really is quite like lwj. not expressive, strict with himself, rule-abiding to the point of rigidity, solitary, only opens up to his mom...but like, what great hurt is HE hiding? lwj was in mourning since he was 6 years old, and it informed his behavior towards wwx later in the story. evemer might have more internal depth, but he doesn't appear to have much in the way of backstory and I kind of doubt his character is going to develop very much beyond 'coming to realize kadou is The Guy He Wants To Serve' and then falling in love etc.

it's nice to see him talk back more to kadou...honesty is important

EOZENA MVP 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

siranos is being extremely fucking suspicious. screwing up the investigation in so many small ways and nobody even thinks to suspect him?? it's so obvious I hope it's a red herring

also I think eozena's gonna die. she just said something about getting old. I don't think she'll make 76 :/

kadou getting all twisted up about his position and his relationships presents the opportunity for some drama down the road. like omg him and evemer are so in love...but they cant! they musn't! their POSITIONS....

all temporary until he gets promoted, ofc. or...demoted. this doesn't seem like that kind of unpredictable story but who knows

I'm enjoying their semi-friendship tho. it's nice to see them joking around and communicating and stuff

I think tadek is going to die :(

it's pretty neat how deftly the author is juggling this complex relationship dynamic and how completely they're avoiding boiling the interactions down the mere jealously or desire or Love. kadou cares for tadek and respects him and doesn't want to hurt him and he also really likes evemer in a genuinely serious way and tadek really cares abt kadou and is loyal to him and IS a little jealous of evemer bc he feels like he's been pushed aside and he kind of has, and evemer thinks low of tadek but his opinion is improving...but tadek isn't an antagonist or a bitter ex and he's still likeable and important and kind and loyal...it's interesting

and he's also not in love w kadou. like he loves him and he is deeply loyal and affectionate but I don't think he's IN love

ohh now they're having it out...nodding nodding

oh lmao 'As indulgent and satisfying as your favorite fanfiction.' I wonder if the author is offended bc they write fanfic but this is THEIR original stuff...I think it's better in a lot of ways than most fanfic but I wouldn't say it's as satisfying as my FAVORITE fanfic

their only chance is if they deliver that sex scene like they didn't in unstrictly ballroom COME ON MX. ROWLAND!!!

oh my god NO now they have to kiss to pretend like they weren't spying? god I hate this trope it's so stupid and its unbearably embarassing ����😭😭 my estimation of this book just dropped like. not insignificantly

not even joking I don't think it's problematic or anything it's just annoying and I had to stop reading to anxiously make this post bc I do NOT wanna read this. ugh here GOES I GUESS

okay can it be behind us now 💀

I was worried this would play into orientalist tropes but besides some titles and names of food and instruments, this setting doesn't seem to have much of a connection to the real-life SWANA region. names, religion, the social and cultural system, geography...all looks original to the book. I'm a bit disappointed (I liked the passion and research that infused SFC's city of brass series), but at least there's not much of stereotypes to worry about. and COB handled many things...very clumsily. this isn't a book abt geopolitics and I'm glad

I DO find it a little annoying when royals are like 'oh woe is me I must marry for something besides love' but the narrative recognizes that this is just the assumption for the rest of the kingdom and not the reality necessarily. like kadou has his every need seen to, is unimaginably wealthy, is extremely well-educated and well-cared for, and has a retinue of personal guards to see to his every comfort. he does have those attacks but when he genuinely starts complaining about his position I'm like. dude come on

to his credit he usually doesn't tho! that would be unbearable. the narrative doesn't talk much abt the other people in the city or kingdom except the guards have an insane schedule but they ARE the future government and they get paid like crazy so it's kind of like doctors doing insane hours right. not that 72z-hr weeks are GOOD. damn

evemer hasn't seen his mama in like...weeks. I want to meet her!!!!!

help so the sister is inviting a hot french guy down to try to set him up w kadou and kadou thinks it's for HER so he's like 'I better stay out of her way so she can fuck him :) wow I love my sister I can't wait to have a niece. go get it girl'

if she's trying to make a political alliance she should at least tell him...

oh this could be awkward. I kind of hope frenchie is a nightmare. for the drama

honestly it seems like a glaring oversight that evemer didn't report that conversation to eozema. of course kadou dismissed it but it was clearly pertinent!!!

I can see the echos of some of wx in this but like...idk it doesn't feel as earned as wx did. they've known each other for less than two months. 'evemer was safety' it's been like 6 weeks my guys. wwx knew lwj for years. you can't even hope to compete with THAT dynamic but it's kind of cute to try

well well well. I have to stop reading to make dinner and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. such is life as an adult. but the convos are interesting