#because i didn't have much motivation or ambition to do this in the first place

[glitzglamgunpowder-if]

"You were destined for a life better than this. A life free from violence, from bloodshed. But here you are once again, it's like you never left."

YOU were a child destined for greatness, for your name to be written into the pages of history. Whatever happened in your past didn't matter anymore. You were born with raw talent and charisma that couldn't be wasted, that people can only dream of. But your innate gift didn't mean your path would be easy. After the circus shut down, you stumbled through life delivering each performance like it was your last. You thought you've reached your peak, until a mysterious offer suddenly throws you into a life of crime.

Play as a male, female, or nonbinary performer

Customize your MC’s physical appearance, façade personality, and choose a pseudonym for them

Befriend or Romance 4 ROs

Dedicate yourself to honing your natural talent

Choose your end goal and earn the fame you have craved your entire life

How do you want the public to perceive you? To be respected, or to be feared?

Learn more about the secrets of your dark past. Will you learn how the circus fell? How you ended up here of all places?

Will you acquire the fame you deserve, or will you fade into history?

Outline of Stats/Routes!!

Alistair/Alice Delacroix - THE RIVAL

AS you adjust to your new life, you hear rumors about your fated rival. One whose mind was poisoned to despise every fiber of your being. It's no surprise they're known for their ambition, their cunning, their ruthless nature. Their path led them to inevitable darkness, but will yours?

Trope: Forbidden Romance/Enemies to Lovers

Samuel/Samantha "Sam" Kaminski - THE BOSS

YOU are an acquired talent on behalf of the current wealthy owner of the elusive Spotlight Syndicate, one of the most popular bars of its time. They're one of the few people who don't question your mysterious past, who trust you as implicitly as the air they breathe. You know deep down they have a soft spot for you, one of their greatest assets, but they're motives are...difficult to discern. But is there a possibility your relationship could go beyond transactional business?

Trope: Boss x Employee/Age Gap

Hendrik/Helena Rietveld - THE BODYGUARD

YOU don't know much about them, nor do they seem willing to give you any more information than necessary for your safety. But one thing's for sure, they're loyal to the ones they serve. And given your new...circumstances, that may be exactly what you need: someone who would travel from heaven to hell and back if their duty called for it. Will you be the first to crack the unsolvable's code?

Trope: Bodyguard Romance/Potential Grumpy x Sunshine

Jesse Lê - THE FRIEND DETECTIVE

YOU never expected to see them again after...never mind that! They stand before you now, a completely reinvented version of themself. A stranger to everyone they encounter. Will you be able to slip off the carefully curated mask they've built and heal from your past together? Or will that smoking gun be laid to rest once and for all?

Trope: Childhood Friends to Lovers -> Detective x Potential Criminal

Physical Description of the ROs!!

Despite being a frequent IF player, this is my very first time trying to create an IF myself as someone with little coding experience (I'm more of a writer if anything). I'm definitely learning as I go, and I understand this may lead to mistakes or disappointment at times, so I preemptively apologize for them. I tend to become overly ambitious, and I want to make sure I always deliver on the promises I make. I say this because some of you may have ask about certain features being implemented and I will have to say "Sorry, I don't really know how to do that yet, but I'll try and learn how!" Hopefully, this will be a fun learning experience, and you all have a fun time on here! Sincerely, Mira <3

DEMO || BETA TESTER FORM || PLAYLIST || BLUESKY

[tokiro07]

Been getting some notes on my post about Ichi's complacency with death and it got me thinking a little bit more about how Ichi seems like a direct response to Luffy

In One Piece, standing and fighting is, more often than not, the objectively correct answer in most scenarios, as backing down, turning tail, running away, those are all moral failings where the person in question is giving up on their ambitions or compromising who they are for something as petty as "survival." If you live knowing that you didn't stand up for your beliefs, what was the point of living in the first place?

Of course One Piece is more nuanced than that, with characters like Usopp espousing that survival allows one to make up for a failure, but Luffy specifically represents the romantic ideal of never compromising on your dreams or backing down from a challenge

Luffy's dream is worth fighting for, and if it comes down to it, worth dying for

Ichi, as I said previously, has no dream, and instead is simply living until he dies, even if it means dying right now

This brings us to the first World Hater fight. World Hater was primed to destroy a village with an untold number of lives in the balance, and because of Ichi's sense for bloodlust, he was the only one who was able to make it onto the scene and stand in the World Hater's way. If it weren't for Ichi, all of those people would be dead

Except...that's not entirely true

For one, Ichi was not fighting to protect anyone. While he didn't want anyone to die, that was not his primary motivation for confronting such a strong opponent; rather, it was his opponent's very strength alone that motivated him. The fact that people were in danger was merely the catalyst, the excuse that Ichi needed to abandon his current task at hand (proving himself a better hunter than Togeice) and instead assign himself a new objective: kill the World Hater, or die trying

If Ichi were trying to save anyone, he wouldn't have been so contented with his failed murder attempt. After stabbing the World Hater's neck, Ichi's thoughts were not on his regrets for how he let everyone down, but rather the mild disappointment that he wouldn't get to sate the curiosity of how he could have won instead. I would argue that he was even excited that he failed, because it meant that if he did survive, he would get another chance to play with his food again later, as the thrill of the hunt is more important than anything else

Secondly, while Ichi's botched hunt is portrayed as stalling the World Hater and buying time for Desscaras to break into the barrier, this is missing a crucial detail: if Ichi had taken the chance to escape when World Hater told him to, Desscaras still would have gotten in

Yes, Ichi held off the Lancemen, but Desscaras destroyed them, a feat that would have been accomplished that much sooner and allowed that much less collateral damage if Ichi had considered that he wasn't alone

He could have teamed up with Desscaras to both save the villagers and draw out the fight with World Hater and learn more about how to go about hunting them if he only had the strategic sense to look outside his own desire for instant gratification and lack of self-preservation instinct

When a bad decision works out for the best, it is retroactively decided that it was "the right thing to do," but a better outcome was easily attainable with a little bit of forethought and caution, and the worst outcome was narrowly avoided by a little bit of luck

For Luffy, running away is a moral failing because doing so is portrayed as endangering his crew and his dream, but for Ichi, it was staying to fight that was the moral failing because it endangered everyone present for the sake of a dopamine rush

[mask131]

What Oz could have been: The Great and Powerful

I first heard about the original script for Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful" through a fan art of Theodora by the brilliant artist hwilki65 over at DeviantArt. The fan-art in question is gone now, but do not hesitate to go check the artist's gallery over at DeviantArt, he is one of the most thorough Oz artists of the Internet with tons of clever and beautiful takes on the Ozian world.

Everybody remembers Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful", right? This Disney movie that attempted to be a prequel to the MGM movie, and yet couldn't really because Disney didn't have the rights? This VERY divise 2013 movie which was a big flop in terms of Oz adaptation? You remember, this thing which took a very cool concept of prequel, a lot of beautiful visuals and impressive visual effects and just... drowned it in cliche plot points, wasted opportunities and the most insufferable characters you ever met?

Yeah, this movie.

In his description for his fan-art, hwilki65 evoked the original scenario for the movie. His fan-art was of the "original" Theodora, not the one from the movie - and while the final product might seem like a simple cash-grab attempting at reclaiming the MGM heritage, these early drafts proved that the movie ACTUALLY started out as much more faithful to the Oz books and more sincere in its attempt at reconciliating the various Oz heritages into something new.

Of course, the idea of a better original version of the movie, that eventually was butchered into the story we can see today, was very intriguing. So I checked out the original script for the movie (but not after YEARS of searching it around, because it wasn't disponible online at first). And OH MY! The original scenario is indeed very different from the final movie, and quite better in term of overall quality! I did a full breakdown of this script back at my Oz side-blog (@witchesoz ), but to give you a taste of what we lost, and to encourage you to go seek this original scenario, here are some key points different from the final movie:

Oscar, the Wizard of Oz. In the movie? A selfish, greedy, womanizing jerk who starts out as the villain of the story, and his evolution arc is basically just him learning to be a decent human being. In the original script? He was such a positive character - in fact I will dare say he was a saner and cleaner version of Jack Sparrow. He was this kind-hearted, goofy, extravagant stage magician VERY good at his job (he was also a ventriloquist like in the novel, AND an escape artist/contortionist), but unfortunately unappreciated by the folks of 1900s USA, so he was forced to do snake-oil selling just to survive. He wasn't motived by greed or lust, but by his day-dreaming and ambition at being the greatest magician of all time, acclaimed by the masses - and the reason he played into "Yes I'm the Wizard of the prophecy" wasn't because of some girls or riches, but simply because Oz was the first place where his magic tricks actually impressed someone.

Remember this little winged monkey fella that Oscar saves the life of in Oz, and so the monkey swears a "life debt" to the wizard and becomes his funny sidekick? In the original script it was the reverse situation. Oscar was helped by a winged monkey, and thanked the talking animal for saving his life, swearing he had a "life debt" TO THE WINGED MONKEY, not the reverse.

In the final movie, when Oscar is in the tornado, he just whimpers and begs for his life. In the original script? He underwent a King Lear-like monologue, insulting the winds and defying the storm, insulting the tornado and daring it to kill him.

Theodora... Oh, Theodora! The character was originally designed as the very opposite of what she ended up as. She wasn't a shy, naive, nice girl - she was this strong, confident, majestic witch. Oscar didn't manipulate her like a teenage girl: she was the one who manipulated Oscar like a puppet by pretending to be a good witch and forcing him into the role of The Wizard of Oz. Yes I say "by pretending" to be a good a witch. Because originally, Theodora was a wicked witch FROM the start. She knew and was in league with her sister's evil plan. The only difference between the two is that Theodora, as the younger and less experimented sister, still had some humanity left in her - feelings of kindness and human decency that the wizard managed to "wake up" by just... being nice to her and treating her like a regular human being. There was the whole "I give you the music box" scene, but it was the reverse? In the original draft Oscar didn't lie, he just gave her a random music box as a gift for helping him in Oz, just out of kindness without expecting anything in return ; and that DID touch Theodora because indeed, since she is a wicked witch, she never had such a genuine gift out of pure kindness.

Originally we would have the backstory of the Cowardly Lion. Theodora, wishing to "test" if the Wizard truly had powers or not, secretely turned a rabbit into a lion, and had it attack Oscar while he was alone and presumably defenseless... Only for the Wizard to shoot it with a gun, causing in this rabbit-lion the fear of humanity.

Originally the servants of the Wicked Witches were the various terrible tribes of the novel "The Emerald City of Oz", monstrous outsiders the Witch sisters had Oz invaded with. The Growleywogs, the Whimsies, the Nomes (well rather the Gnomes)...

In the movie Theodora "turn to evil" is literaly just "Oh, a guy cheated on me, I'm heartbroken, let me nomnom on some evil". In the original draft? SO MUCH BETTER! Evanora, noticing Oscar had rekindled the last piece of goodness in her sister, first tries to convince Oscar he should kill Theodora because she is "in league with the wicked witch". When Oscar refuses to commit murder, Evanora tries to convince Theodora Oscar was trying to kill her... But Theodora doesn't buy it and, even though the Wizard knows she is a Wicked Witch, she still helps him escape Evanora in return for the kindness he showed her. And afterward, Evanora spends many, many scenes abusing her sister, at first verbally, psychologically, finally physically, to convince her to give up on the last of her humanity and enter a deeper, more monstrous stage of wickedness. Theodora does end up burning her skin due to the tears - but they're the tears her sisters make her shed with her torture. And Theodora resists' Evanora poisonous words, only to give up when Glinda causes a siege on the Emerald City and the Witches must prepare themselves to directly confront and fight Oscar.

And can we speak about Glinda? She was SO MUCH closer to the Glinda of the books! She was this majestic, beautiful and powerful warlord-witch living in a grand palace in the south, all on her own (because, since she is a witch, she literaly needs no servant). As soon as she saw Oscar, she cut through his bullshit and shoot down his dream of grandeur, because she knows what real magic is (all Witches do, but the Wicked Witches played along to better manipulate Oscar). She gathers an ACTUAL army of thousand of people to besiege the Emerald City ; and during the war she uses so much more her powers, bu unleashing blinding mists and huge snowstorms, and literaly stopping or unleashing the winds. Oh yes, and all possible romance between Oscar and her is also clearly made impossible when it is revealed that Witches cannot kiss humans - else humans DIE (which also puts Theodora's loneliness under a new light).

Oh yes, and in the original draft, Oscar's development was actually him going from this ambitious daydreamer who only wished for a fantasy land to escape to, where he would be a great and acclaimed wizard... to him actually being fed up with Oz where everybody wants to kill or manipulate him, and dreaming to return to Kansas to settle down with those he truly love, and live there a mundane, quiet, normal life, as a regular man... Something he ends up being forced to give up, because he is needed to prevent the Wicked Witches from overtaking Oz, and so he literaly is trapped within his own dream and forced to give up what he realized too lat was what he wanted all along...

Seriously, the original draft for the movie was SO INSANELY COOL. It was still a rough draft and it had pacing problems, and some cheesy stuff that definitively needed to be cut, and also some weird phrasing that made it sound somehow racist sometimes? But outside of that, the characters and plot were truly so much better than what we got!

[radiostudio07]

Huntlow establishes earlier??? How did that happen?!? (Sorry I just love toh AUs and yours along with your art just scratches my brain in the rigth way....)

HEEHEEHEE THIS IS A BIGGUN

YOU DONE INCURRED MY WRATH ANON >:) okay so! the timeline of events is stretched out further than in the show, so the day of unity is further off, the hexsquad is in the human realm a bit longer, etc etc. in the au, hunter actually does take up Luz's offer to stay at The Owl House!

and lots of his time spent there is like... being another source of information like the echo mouse was! he was way more in-the-know about Belos and his motivations, so he actually had some valuable knowledge that Luz ends up utilizing down the line

buuut the majority of his time was spent being carefully and slowly 'de-programmed' with the help of Luz and Eda! ofc a side effect of that was he got to be warmed up to everybody sooner since they'd check in with Luz and also see a very very lost Hunter roaming the halls and ofc they gotta ask about that

but they slowly help Hunter get better! he learns to not take everything as an order or a task to be completed. he gets to mess up without the threat of punishment and another scar. but it's not exactly enough to completely undo everything that Belos put in his head

things like Penstagram and Scrolls as mobile phones arent really a thing in this au, so Hunter and Willow didn't start up on conversation through Penstagram after the equivalent events of Any Sport in a Storm, so when Hunter started staying at The Owl House, they got to visiting with each other there in person! and ofc Willow helped out with looking after Hunter, so plenty of time to connect

they dont really become a thing right then and there, but they do when they're in the Human Realm!

see, i've mentioned Hunter as extremely robotic before and thats true! but an important note is that behavior is a side-effect of his time as the Golden Guard

when he has nothing to do, he just stands totally still, head down, staring into nothing. it's just what he would have done when he was in the castle, awaiting new orders...

and in the Human Realm, it takes the hexsquad quite a bit of time to accept Hunter, this prior menace and valuable servant to Belos, as... a person, more or less! and thats not on them, they've all been witness to some of the terminator shenanigans he gets up to. you ever watch GOTG and see how Nebula heals broken bones? he did that shit on the DAILY and has absolutely taken lives in front of them. even if they know that his atrocities were because of the control Belos placed over him, they have a hard time making that seperation at first.

they do try, but they often had 'habits' when talking with him, ones that only served to accidentally dehumanize Hunter in subtle ways, like...

kind of just gently moving hunter by the shoulders instead of asking him to move

really being overly thorough and slow with explanations like they're talking to Siri

ppl checking to see if hes 'awake' via just. waving their hands in his face or snapping. happens most often when hes zoning out

talking about 'humankind' and 'witchkind' as if they're seperate from him

not all of these are exhibited by the entire cast, ofc, that'd be awful! but it should illustrate how he was viewed for a while

the only person to really speak to him without any undertone, without any minute trace of the aforementioned behavior was Willow!

for that, Hunter adored her. even atop of the admiration he formed with the Emerald Entrails stint, he found so, so much joy in just hearing her speak to him, totally devoid of the subtle inadvertent judgement he had been dealing with his entire life...

and we all know about their respective labels (Caleb, half-a-witch, etc), the difference between their true selves and the names placed on them by others...

but with this, Willow didn't get the time to really learn and process that Hunter is just a shy teenager held down by his ambitions as the Golden Guard, because that's not what this is

this Hunter had absolutely no outlets, no earthly connections or desires because that was the person Belos had broken him into from a young age. the mask of being the Golden Guard wasn't a facade to hide a soft interior. no, there was nothing behind it in this case

being the Golden Guard was everything that Hunter ever knew. he was a blank slate and totally lost without the mask, which was proven with how he behaves after the events of Hollow Mind

Willow got to witness firsthand that he is just.. so absolutely broken and empty without his life in the Emperor's Coven, even if that life was miserable without him knowing it. his blank stares and lack of drive to do anything were because of some part of his mind still grasping onto the """comfort""" of being the Emperor's most trusted tracker

again, a blank slate.

and Willow was able to see through the idleness, his constant "i'm fine" reassurances and pick up that he needs all the support he can get. everything to assure that he viewed himself as more than the empty pit he became. Luz had gotten started on establishing that general message, of Hunter being his own person, but it was Willow that really solidified that with him

she was NOT going to let him go down that dark path at all and started guiding the others in helping him out! making it clear what he needs! he started forming hobbies, getting into sewing because of Vee and Camila, getting into Cosmic Frontier with Gus... all of this teaching him not only that he is his own person, but that he can do things for himself!

and hunter absolutely noticed what Willow was doing for him, how she set things into motion that would save his life and completely clear Belos' influence from his mind

[creatuesfromthedeep]

Here are some tips for making a character that is usable in a long-term narrative and/or roleplay, from someone who's been writing and roleplaying for over a decade

You shouldn't know everything about your character immediately. Those 50-question bios you see floating around? Disregard them for now. You don't need to know their favorite type of pie, or small details about their backstory. Free yourself from the assumption they need to be a fully articulated being before you write a single sentence of lore.

You'll need MOTIVE (what drives them?), FEAR (what are they scared of happening?), and ATTITUDE (are they calm? easily angered? hyper?); with these three things, you can easily create the illusion of depth.

Real depth comes later. Much later. 5000+ words of narrative storytelling later.

To break these three core elements down a bit:

Motive: Your character needs some kind of ambition or desire to guide them. Do they want to lead the clan someday? Do they want their cozy little farmstead to not get flattened by Luminax? Do they want to be a good father to their hatchlings? Do they want to escape their dark past?

Don't be afraid to pick a small motive at first, because motives will change and adapt to the circumstances of your plot. Luke Skywalker didn't start off his journey knowing he'd face Emperor Palpatine, and your character doesn't need to have the faintest idea of the places they'll go or the choices they'll be forced to make.

Fear: This is what you get when they can't achieve their motive, or essentially, the motive for the motive. Are they scared of not having control? Do large changes scare them? Are they worried about becoming their father? Are they terrified their dark past will catch up to them?

Thinking of fears is sometimes difficult, and sometimes too easy. I recommend starting off with one foundational BASE FEAR, aka the fear from which all other fears flow. A good tip is to ask "why is my character afraid of this?" and keep going until you hit a major part of their backstory. Ex:

I am scared of spiders (Why?) Because they have too many legs (Why is that scary?) Because it's gross (Why do gross things scare you?) Because it makes me feel unclean (Why does that scare you?) Because being dirty reminds me of the day my father died (Bingo!)

By digging back and finding that base fear, you've successfully a key component of your character and given yourself a useful tool to begin explaining your character's trauma. That's not to say that fears always tie back into extreme trauma, but it should be important to your character.

Attitude: This is how they react to social situations, or essentially, how their motive and fear translate into their personality. A character who wants to be in a leadership role and dislikes not being in control may have a big issue with authority, and authority-adjacent characters. If they're a farmer who wants to be left alone, they might be exasperated with all the hub-bub. A character who really wants to be a good father might have a fatherly aura even around other adults. A character on the run from something might be battle-hardened, or they might be neurotic and anxious! Potentially even both!

However, you need to remember, Attitude is not personality. Attitude is how a characters' motive, fear, and personality intersect with their ability to socialize. It informs their level of patience (and if that changes depending on the person!), their ability to joke and be silly, and what kinds of things will get on their nerves. Ex:

I am very short-tempered and impulsive. I am afraid of authority because my teacher used to hit me for using my left hand. I want nothing more than to be left alone. I'm not going to listen to anyone and I'm going to do the first thing that comes to mind, even if it's detrimental to myself or others. I will push people away and I will avoid emotional vulnerability.

Those five sentences already tells me how this character will interact with every other character. I can now slot that character into any scene I want to, and begin envisioning a larger character arc and character development.

Remember, not every character will get along, and no character is capable of charming every person on the planet. The most perfect, gentle, patient, leaderly, kind, hilarious character probably has one character with self-esteem issues who HATES their guts.

Quick checklist:

Name

Pronouns

1-3 distinct appearance traits (height, notable piece of clothing, and the color of hair/scales/fur/etc are the big 3)

2-4 personality traits (plenty of lists online, just grab a few one-word descriptors)

1 Motive

2-4 bullet points of backstory (Do not write a long backstory, and only do this AFTER you've done Motive; you are not writing a character for their backstory, you're writing them for their place in the present story)

1 (base) Fear

Attitude

Once you have all those things, you are fully capable of writing an interesting character within a long-term narrative or roleplay setting. Yes, that's it.

One thing to remember about narratives (and roleplays) is that the most interesting part should be DURING the narrative. Setting up a character who can have interesting reactions, has a solid basis for a variety of dynamics with other characters, and has some set desire has the highest likelihood of facilitating an interesting narrative.

The fun thing? Now that you've got all this set up, you can set your character loose on whatever world you've got, and expect that they'll get into trouble on their own without the narrative needing to drag them into it.

[kradogsrats]

Thinking about this scene, because lbr it just kind of loops in my brain constantly so there's probably a 70% chance I'm thinking about it at any given moment.

It's easy to make the assumption that everything in Viren's dream is connected to him healing Soren, because it's a convenient place to point to and say "obviously that is where everything went wrong." It's definitely a pivotal moment in his life, and deservedly has a lot of screen time in this sequence. In some ways, it is lurking beneath all the other scenes.

But it doesn't seem to be what Kpp'Ar is talking about at any point here, like:

I always knew you'd go far. But I didn't know how far you'd go to get there.

Everything going on in Kpp'Ar's dialog—"eager student," "elegant finery," "overcome the disadvantages of your upbringing," "I always knew you'd go far"—is about ambition. Not morality or necessity, just a pure skewer of you've never done anything for anyone but yourself, and you know it.

Viren, as is the theme(tm), protests, "I had no choice. I did what I had to do," to which Kpp'Ar, again, absolutely drags him:

You made the choice you've always made. The one that gives you power.

Which, like... you could twist this to be about Soren, and start asking questions about exactly what power Viren stood to gain from healing him—my money would be on the Staff of Ziard—but I actually don't think that's at all what this is about.

This scene in Viren's dream also cuts almost directly into the Twin Peaks scene, in which Viren is king, and which itself culminates in the battered and bloody crown, i.e. his death.

So I think there's a couple things going on, here: 1) the Kpp'Ar scene (and the Twin Peaks scene, but I'll talk about that some other time) is actually referring to everything Viren did that culminated in the events of s1-s3, and 2) we as viewers are being primed by that to look at his other choices in the same critical way.

Now, you'd have to be pretty oblivious to have watched all of s1-s3 hearing Viren's constant refrain that he's doing everything he does for the sake of humanity's future, etc. etc., and been like "oh yeah, that seems totally legit." So we're basically being explicitly told here something that we already knew: everything that Viren has done, he did on some level to secure or consolidate power for himself. Some of those choices are a lot more obvious than others, but pretty much all of them circle back to power, control, and/or the "narrative of strength."

Having framed all of Viren's choices that way—particularly after he has denied that they were choices—we are being implicitly asked to consider his choice to do anything to save his son within the same framework. Was it something he had to do? Was it worth it?

For some viewers, this is the first time they are encountering the revelation that Viren saved Soren from a fatal illness during his childhood. It's a choice that is very easy to sympathize with, and one that we the deep fandom have discussed to death—seeing it for the first time, a viewer is likely to be sympathetic, or automatically believe it was justifiable. In starting with the scene with Kpp'Ar and reminding viewers of all Viren's other choices, their motivations, and their consequences, the sequence is asking us to consider this critical choice, sympathetic as it is, in that context. It's similar to the way we are asked to consider Harrow's choice regarding the Magma Titan, though much less explicit.

So, then... what's up with this?

Viren's immediate response to Kpp'Ar's statement that his choices have always been about power is the first callback to his little mantra:

I've always done what protects my family. However dangerous. However vile.

Why does he say this, when literally nothing in this scene has been about family? Well, first of all, it's another priming device for linking Viren's s1-s3 actions with his healing Soren. It's also a fun little callback for those of us whose reaction to it first being dropped in s4 was "HOLY SHIT it's the thing he said to Kpp'Ar!" in that here he is, saying it to Kpp'Ar again. But we also get told exactly why, a couple scenes later:

We have Harrow—specifically Harrow in the context of his death, the inciting event of Viren's s1-s3 spiral—linked to Viren's concept of family, and his willingness to do anything in that context, in what is a kind of hilarious contrast with, y'know, literally everything Viren did after Harrow's death.

So, as with the rest of the sequence, it's all about Viren framing himself as having no choice while he makes the absolute worst choice possible at every turn.

[hoperays-song]

What are you thoughts on Suki Lane!!! She personally my favorite Sing character and I love her so much <333

AAAAAA Suki!!! I love her so much!!!! Thanks for the chance to talk about her! - <3 Gooseless

I genuinely love Suki's character and think she is actually really well utilized within the story, despite being a side character. We are able to gather a fair bit of information about her as well, and from there build a pretty plausible picture of who she is and her potential motivations for everything.

To start with, the first time we see her, it is hinted at that she is likely extremely smart. She is notably young for her position, something the main cast points out immediately, leading one to assume she must have been a rather remarkable candidate to have secured it, likely without much experience under her belt. I've mentioned before that her just being a talent scout seems highly unlikely and while that is not the point of this, if I am right, it only speaks more to her benefit that she was so promising to become a CCO that young.

Her intelligence comes back into play later, as its revealed rather naturally that she is well aware of what her boss is actually like and that she was trying to prevent more victims from occurring. That shifts the perspective of what she had been doing up until that point drastically, as she was trying to protect the troupe by scaring them off, and in a way where she wouldn't face repercussions either. In the final confrontation, Suki is seen being just a background figure in Jimmy's group until the moment to strike came, allowing her to turn on Jimmy when she was sure he wouldn't be able to retaliate, an extremely good movie considering the man is very down with murder.

She was calculated, careful, and very decisive in every decision we see her make, something that becomes apparent after her revealing her true nature. Which was wonderful as it made the audience reevaluate everything we had seen her do up to that point completely.

Another thing about her that we do know is she does very much care for the shows that she helps put on. She felt enough loyalty to the troupe to inform them of the Majestic's offer, instead of just forwarding the message (and in a parallel scene, I love those, very narratively satisfying if done right). She knows what kind of show would strive in Redshore and is set to making those happen, doing whatever she can to keep things running smoothly by her constantly checking on everyone.

We also can kinda fill in a few gaps in the Suki story with the information we are given. Suki and Jerry don't get along, why? Well it seems to be because of Jerry's loyalty and idolization of Jimmy. Suki seems irritated by it constantly, hinting towards their loyalties not aligning as well as the ending's resolutions for them. Suki is notably young for her position, why is that? Well, she could be an early graduate, as that would make sense with her intelligence and seeming ambition. This would have also likely caught the attention of Jimmy, as having a promising early graduate working for him would be a good move for him industry wise.

There is only one thing that does confuse me in regards to her is the idea that Suki is/was an antagonist. To which I say she's basically Judith 2.0. She's not a villain. She never was. She was just doing her job. And then Buster showed up and threw it into a tailspin. She didn't do anything actually wrong at any point.

Overall, Suki is a very smart and cautious character, which allows her to be unassuming until the reality of the situation hits the audience in the face and she reveals her true colours. Her character building aspects are pretty naturally displayed story wise, mostly by being woven into side dialogue, and don't seem forced or out of place. I do wish we saw more of her and I especially would like to see her interact with Mizuki, seeing as Mizuki is the theatre's social media person and Suki seems to work in that field, so I think that that would be fun!

[thethndr]

would chick hicks ever be a mentor to a younger racer ? how would he act , etc

With the power of AU... anything is possible...

This is the type of AU I would be GENUINELY tempted to write if I had the time or energy. Alas, multi-chapter fics still elude my ability, so you get a multi-para analysis instead xD

YES I really do think he could/would! The setting does matter though because I can't really see him taking anyone under his wing being as conceivable when Chick himself is still racing, EXCEPT maybe at the tail-end of his career (maybe it would be part of the motivation behind retiring! aside from, uh. just getting old lol)

If it's a down-on-their-luck newbie then all Chick's going to basically say is "dang, uh, maybe like. just git gud? lmao"

Chick doesn't inherently hate rookies, he just hated Lightning BECAUSE the guy was so successful his rookie year. More or less unheard of in anyone else. And y'know, rookies are just inherently bright-eyed and cocky in a way that peeves Chick in JUST the right way.

Really, initially for him, it's entirely a question of "what do I have to gain from this?", because I don't think he'd vibe with taking on someone at first; that's a lot of extra baggage to take on suddenly and insists a level of familiarity that he refuses for almost anyone. I think it'd have to be something that kind of slides into place slowly.

Basically, he wouldn't like them at first, and over time he would just kind of pretend to not like them in a way that it eventually becomes obvious to him and everyone else that he's just pretending. It could start off when the newbie actually takes whatever backhanded advice he gives, and then more comes their way, a bit less contentious, a bit more sincere.

It just kind of leads from there. Chick wouldn't be the best mentor, but, y'know, nobody could say he didn't try, and there'd definitely be a kind of tough love attitude to it; the examples of coaching he could glean from his own rookie years are pretty much nonexistent because everything he learned was directly on his own, firsthand, trial and error. It's a school of hard knocks mentality and he'd definitely use and pass that on.

I honestly think Chick himself would have maybe even more to learn from a dynamic like that, at least mentally speaking, because it'd force him to retroactively put into perspective his own whole career and his ambitions. Does his own dependency on winning take precedence even when he's not the one at the helm? Where would the self awareness eventually come into play when he realizes he's basically perpetuating himself with the kind of lessons he's driving home?

ANYWAY. I digress because that's more or less character analysis stuff and we're both here for the DYNAMIC. Basically what Chick dislikes in one rookie gradually becomes endearing qualities to him, though he'd never admit it. And the idea of retiring becomes a little easier when he feels like he's left a more effective mark in the sport he's spent most his life in than just a scuffed Piston Cup win; there's somebody out there folks will remember him by. Hopefully for the better, this time.

[nedstarkfortnite]

Mikey reads ASOIAF: Catelyn VI AGOT

Short summary: The ragtag group reaches the Vale and Catelyn is summoned by her sister Lysa, taking the thrilling and dangerous road up the mountain to the Eyrie. 

Our group at last makes it to safety! Thank god there’s a 20 something dude to escort them during the final stretch. (Do you sense my 22 year old sarcasm). I’m being mean, I know, there’s a difference between me the female room dweller and the guy who has been obsessively training to be a knight for years on end. I still think Ser Donnel should be grateful Lysa is forbidding him to go deal with the clansmen though. Even if this is something that needs to be done I doubt he would be the one to do it. He's just baby.

God. Imagine the smell and looks of our gang. Just disheveled and covered in little battle cuts and then Roderick with his wound that definitely stinks by now. Poor dudes (and Catelyn). I’m surprised Tyrion doesn’t loathe her on the account of losing his access to hygiene as a noble.

Catelyn notices how Tyrion has befriended Bronn and I hate to do this, but; may I be nitpicky and say this is tell don’t show? Martin makes sure to go back to this and make it show, but I just wanted to note it here in case someone reading this feels insecure about their writing; Even GRRM sometimes has to rely on it, and that is actually fine as long as you don’t become dependent on telling the audience and you make sure to strengthen the scenes with scenes showing us character dynamics. I’m sure this has happened several times before and that I just haven’t felt an urgent need to comment on it. On a similar note, let's ignore my own style of writing and pretend it’s all good and totally not obvious that English is my second/third language teehee.

Tyrion robbing Marillion of the cloak is something I wish we could have been around for. Why does Martin hate me?

“Could I be wrong? Catelyn wondered, not for the first time. Could he be innocent after all, of Bran and Jon Arryn and all the rest? And if he was, what did that make her? Six men had died to bring him here.”

See, this is what I like about these books. They allow people to be openly flawed but also self critical when we’re in their heads. In a way Song can be analyzed as a book series investigating the vast difference between the things we say outwardly and the things we keep to ourselves, mainly out of shame or pride. Catelyn cannot reconcile with the guilt she has placed upon her own shoulders as a motivator, and so she is stuck ‘believing’ that Tyrion did murder Bran. I notice how she also adds him as a knowing participant in the other conspiracies, which might be to make the likelihood of her judgment being correct greater. She definitely has reasons to believe he isn’t responsible for Bran’s assassination attempt, and so she decides to condemn him as a Lannister who surely must have been in the know, even if he didn't do it himself.

To an extent she is correct; Tyrion knows about the incest and has chosen to stay quiet about it to protect Jaime, Myrcella and Tommen. He is one of the people actively undermining the current King, whether he is driven by good or bad intentions. 

This is so good. I am absolutely thrilled to be analyzing such great characters.

Brynden Tully or the Blackfish, Catelyn’s uncle, is introduced and he is allowed to have auburn hair like the rest of the family (though long gone because of old age). It always bothered me after reading the books to know how much of the visible family traits were chopped for the show. Oh well. He seems pretty sweet. Did the show ever include this detail about him being the adult they relied on? Hoster Tully was absent most of the time, so he was more available than their actual father. It’s cute. I also did smile a little (like last time when I read it) over the Blackfish tale. It’s a really neat and organic way of introducing individuality for these people who are so tied to their houses and shared ambitions. He’s a cool dude 10/10.

Also how much do we know about Catelyn’s mother? She’s only mentioned once here in reference to her often being “too ill” to engage with her children. Anyone know anything about that? Once again I have to mention My Little Thought Tree and his videos on these characters. He goes into Catelyn’s upbringing in a way that I couldn’t possibly hope to replicate, but it is certainly there at the back of my mind.

I do find it curious that Catelyn doesn’t seem to have visited the Vale before. She uses phrases like “Ned had told her” when visualizing the Eyrie for example. She has met Robyn before, but mentions only how young he was at the time, not how the land or the castle looked back then. Was there a King’s Landing road trip? 

Catelyn is almost amusingly surprised that Marillion made it this far, and then has a little silent feud with Bronn over him being impolite and also buddies with Tyrion. I am reminded of the fact Bronn the sellsword inherited the title of Master of Coin by simply. Being there, and I choke on my own froth and die. Let’s move on.

“She had other messages to send as well; the commands that Ned had given her for his bannermen, to ready the defenses of the north.”

Not much to say about this, I just found it sweet that she is thinking about Ned’s situation and the things he tasked her with. They’re a loyal and determined couple.

Vale report: Things are tense and weird and no one likes Lysa’s son. Put her back in the incubator program and breed a better one.

See some of you are going to think I’m weird as hell for this but I don’t think Lysa is purely a villain. Deranged, sure, but you can still tell how her life has taken a toll on her. It's a bit like Cersei and how she is a victim coping in the worst possible ways and inflicting pain upon others, rather than deal with it. Lysa barely grew up, and then had to let an old man have his way with her whenever he wished and this was followed by an unfortunate string of miscarriages and stillbirths that must have been really tough on her. And finally, finally, when she gives birth to a living child, people still aren’t happy with her. Her true love doesn’t even like her 😭. It's just tragic. This is the world medieval patriarchy creates for women, one where they WILL be driven insane.

“She sounded so cocky that Catelyn had to smile. "Do you have a name, child?"

"Mya Stone, if it please you, my lady," the girl said.

It did not please her; it was an effort for Catelyn to keep the smile on her face. Stone was a bastard's name in the Vale, as Snow was in the north, and Flowers in Highgarden; in each of the Seven Kingdoms, custom had fashioned a surname for children born with no names of their own. Catelyn had nothing against this girl, but suddenly she could not help but think of Ned's bastard on the Wall, and the thought made her angry and guilty, both at once. She struggled to find words for a reply.”

Wow, the Jon business truly did affect her. I do think it’s a positive thing to see her be so self aware that she feels guilty. Catelyn really does struggle, and it’s a very human struggle where she knows what she ought to feel and still cannot quite convince herself to get to that point.

Mya is the bastard of Robert Baratheon, isn’t she? The firstborn child.

Mya and Catelyn ascend the mountain and it’s mostly descriptions of wind and darkness, so do forgive me if I skip over it altogether. We get a nice little moment of Catelyn losing courage at a particularly narrow pass and allowing herself to be helped, then swallowing her pride even further and going up to the Eyrie in the basket previously joked about. Not sure why people insist that she is really arrogant and prideful, because I don’t get the same impression of her. Determined, sure, but her stubbornness is often a mask she keeps on. Overall, when she has the wits about her and the world isn’t crashing down, she is quite sensible.

“It had been five years, in truth; five cruel years, for Lysa. They had taken their toll. Her sister was two years the younger, yet she looked older now. Shorter than Catelyn, Lysa had grown thick of body, pale and puffy of face. She had the blue eyes of the Tullys, but hers were pale and watery, never still. Her small mouth had turned petulant. As Catelyn held her, she remembered the slender, high-breasted girl who'd waited beside her that day in the sept at Riverrun. How lovely and full of hope she had been. All that remained of her sister's beauty was the great fall of thick auburn hair that cascaded to her waist.”

Wow damn okay Catelyn, way to be kind to your sister. Like Sansa I’m guessing she’s been fed her share of the internalized misogyny. It’s sad to see. Not that Lysa Arryn is particularly likeable (she isn’t) but it’s worth saying that her weight or appearance is not as urgent as the rest.

In regards to little Robert, What do we reckon the “shaking sickness” is supposed to be? I honestly don’t know much about children’s diseases beyond those itchy red marks you got as a kid.

We are shown how Lysa keeps coddling Robert and it’s also quite sad. Now he may also have a condition that does indeed make him more dependent on others, but it seems like he’s suffering from being kept in a state of toddlerhood that really cannot go on forever. I can see why Lysa might do this, but I also see what Catelyn means when she reminds her sister of the dangerous times ahead. If only Lysa knew how her own story would end…I do hope Sansa protects Robert from Littlefinger. It would be pretty upsetting if he was murdered for the sake of the game.

It’s cool to be introduced to a new part of Westeros so I did enjoy the descriptions of the Vale quite a fair bit. Still having a hard time piecing together the layout and how the mountains look, but it’s mountainy for sure.

[egg-emperor]

What's your opinion on the Sonic Prime Eggmans? /gen

Do I get to talk about regular Eggman too? At first I thought this was asking about him and I really wanna gush about him again but now I realize you probably mean the council more lol

I really loved the Prime version of regular Eggman! It was literally only five minutes worth but a very beautiful five minutes at that. Deem Bristow and Mike Pollock play huge parts of why I love Eggman and find him so entertaining so I didn't know how I was gonna feel about the change but Brian Drummond doesn't do a bad job, he could easily become my next favorite voice after them if he worked on it a little more.

I enjoyed how simplistically enjoyable Eggman was. Funny and silly and getting up to evil to find and steal the paradox prism and use it in his schemes. His ambition and motivation to take over the world there strong as ever and talking about wanting a world that's more him in neon was cute, I like and am fascinated by bright colors and pretty lights and want everything to be about you too Ivo dhfisbgjsbgkdh

I love the classic bickering and scolding Orbot and Cubot. I love how he tricked Sonic and went the route of taunting him then targeting his best friend Tails to piss him off enough to bait and make him snap for his plan to work, being a real bastard and calling him "stupid as Tails is ugly" lol. I loved how happy he was for it to work and how he laughed maniacally and looked like such an adorable evil bastard doing it!

Everything I love about Eggman was intact there and I was looking forward to seeing more. I expected it was gonna have the vibe of my favorite parts of X as that's what that five minutes felt like and that's exactly what I've been wanting for years, for modern Eggman to come back in a show and be just like that. I really miss Prime Egg and I wish he would come back but they threw him out in the first ep :(

He was so beautiful and charming and entertaining 🥰

I miss hiiim but I'm gonna bet that he won't return in any form beyond the prismatic titan until the very end of the show or something

As for the Chaos Council, I unfortunately have much less to say as I'm personally not a fan of them. The concept certainly had the potential but the execution is lacking. They just don't have a lot going for them, they're kind of just generic character archetypes such as Baby, Teenager, Hipster, Old Man, Not Eggman, etc. They don't have regular Eggman's personality and charm and are just like strangers in his skin.

I really wish I could like them more but both their designs and personalities don't grab me. For that I only watched the first eight episodes and never watched the second batch besides the prismatic titan Eggman parts. I'd at least have been happier if they had kept regular Eggman with them, as depicted in the concept art as he was going to be a part of the council but they decided to rid of him completely.

The most cool and interesting part of Prime to me outside of regular Eggman to me is New Yoke City. I always love seeing a world taken over by Eggman and I'm a huge sucker for the dark controlled industrialized polluted dystopian hellscape where there's propaganda everywhere on the walls, orders and rules constantly being enforced through the robot patrol saying stuff like and over PAs blasting through speakers

It's an "Eggman" ruled and controlled place, a dark shitty oppressive place and people are just mindless zombies and slaves to the harsh system because they feel hopeless to break out with no freedom, controlled, restricted, and watched. The way it's spelled New YOKE city so it sounds like "yolk" like egg but is potentially a reference to a "yoke", a type of leash to control cattle, fits how they're oppressed and controlled was right up my alley.

Seeing the real Eggman in a place like that leading the Chaos Council would've been so cool. Then it could've looked like the concept as the version that I liked a lot more than the look of the final for all the regular Eggman designed inspired assets, it even has the beautiful neon and cool lights like he wants! And I just love how much it looks like Eggmanland hehe. I really wish they'd tapped into that potential.

[brooklynislandgirl]

💚 That Strange Doctor, Stephen

Imagine You and Me || Accepting

{{and tagging @tangleweave for a third time}}

Oh, Nonny. Dunno if you're the same one, but do buckle in. This one promises to be extensive.

How do I love him? Let me count the ways. Aside from my first exposure to the Xmen, which got me into comics in the first place {one of my prized possessions is an in-plastic is Uncanny X-men #266. The first appearance of Gambit}. But being the person I have always been, it was magick that drew me in deeper and that's when I found, at the same time, both Stephen and Constantine.Yes, my two favourite wizards, by whatever name you wish to call them. Originally, I was so mad about Benny being cast, I almost boycotted the movie, but my gaming group decided to see it as a group and for a friend's birthday so I was obliged. I left the theatre in awe. He looked the part. He sounded the part. And for some hours {and years, clearly} later? I was a kid all over again, experiencing it like it was new. A wonder I haven't felt often in a long time. I also owe a dear friend of mine about a decade or so worth of apology because I didn't understand Benny's appeal...until his cheek bones cut the diamond of my wedding ring in half.

Prologue concluded, onto the show.

Matt's Stephen is absolutely perfect, even when he thinks he isn't. Upon us discussing plotting, I put forth the idea...which I had already sort of HC'd about 4 years give or take; that Beth *had* been at medical school to be a Neurosurgeon. That she'd gone to Columbia, and then dropped out during her residency {so technically she does have an MD, she's just not a doctor}, and I never stated why, but that this all happened around the time of Andy's 'death'. Which if we match up timelines, puts Stephen working at and lecturing for Columbia, around the time of the Chitauri invasion. Everything lined up for Beth being Stephen's student, and Matt ~gracious and generous to a fault~ agreed to let that be a case, giving them an almost instant rapport, as they would have by now known one another for years. And this is where everything becomes...complicated. Beth being who and what she is often needs time to even find someone attractive beyond whether or not they are aesthetically/artistically appealing. Check and check. She needs to bond with someone to feel the slightest bit motivated to want anything beyond friendly interaction and good heavens does that person have to be intelligent {the quickest way to a girl's heart is through her brain and/or empathy}. Again, check. She appreciates a wicked sense of humour, a compassionate or humanitarian soul, and it doesn't hurt when a person can keep up with her familial lifestyle, and her need to ditch it all for some time away from the cut-throat world of the .001% wealthy and ambitious. You can see where this is going. Stephen is, and was, literally the most perfect man on the planet. So why didn't...? Because she literally met him between the ages of 16-18, when he was already at least in his mid twenties, if not slightly older. She was also his student, and say what you like about Stephen, he isn't a predator. Yes he admired her brain. Was proud of her skill and her adaptability. Maybe even marvelled, pardon the pun, at how quickly she could pick up his wavelength, and be an extra set of hands and senses for him. The drive, the ambition, all of that maybe reminded him of himself. Stephen claimed her, when no one else would. But then she left him, without ever saying why. She sacrificed her life, her career, and any potential for the sake of not damaging his reputation, tarnishing his image, or being faced daily, hour by hour, second by second, the one person she couldn't love.

She really should have had a chat with him, is what I am saying. There is so much more I could say about this, that it could be broken into many parts of this length or longer, or go under a read more. I'm going to stop myself. In various verses, regardless of ships {respected and appreciated and loved even if the other mun doesn't know it} there really is no verse in which Beth doesn't love Stephen. As a friend, a mentor, as someone who believes in her when no one else would, with every ounce of soul she possesses. It doesn't matter the circumstance. Beautifully, tragically, I believe Stephen feels the same again, with respect and admiration, regardless of verse and romantic partner. {Some of the best ones are actually those in which say... Eddie and Beth are a couple, and Stephen is with Wanda or Sigyn and each is cheering the other on and sometimes giving unsolicited advice. Maybe especially these, like 15-Verse Stephen.} But yes. I stand by the "I love you, in every universe." {{?????/10 because I can't even}} {{I also blame Matt entirely}}

[awellboiledicicle]

People kept saying that Gale and Anders would get along but you must remember that Anders is an iconoclast freedom fighter and street doctor from a world where his birth made him a liability.

Gale is a man from privilege that has never hidden a day in his life because of his magical talents, and has actually gained acclaim from them. His ambitions would lock him squarely, in Anders mind, in the place of "magister without the political power".

They'd get along in the same way Anders gets along with Merrill, but without as much patronizing because Gale is both human, a man, and not currently using blood magic.

I love him, but Anders is no longer the cheerfully sarcastic mage he was in Awakening. Granted, he wasn't exactly lighthearted in Awakening, but it wasn't as bad as when he went to Kirkwall and everything else happened. He's going to be a prickly old man about some shit until some good old trauma bonding happens.

It doesn't help that Gale absolutely would want to spend ample time with Hawke, to learn about another world and how things work there.

The only thing to chip through the initial icy 'they are my person, my reason, my anchor' response would be Gale switching to asking HIM to explain how magic and spirits work, in exchange for explaining how magic works in Faerun.

This is all, of course, predicated on the idea that he'd been sitting in a cave [enclosed spaces not great for him, underground also not good in general] waiting for Hawke to return to him like they always do, fighting with himself over how many losses the war has come to but hoping it ends out for the best.... only to receive a letter carried by one of Varric's people. It is short, to the point. Hawke is gone, the one rampaging across thedas with all the rifts has an archdemon and Varric wants him not to do something stupid with this information. At first he allows some small part of him to wonder if this is a fantastically poor joke. And then to let the crushing realization drown it out, falling to his knees and wondering why he isn't crying yet. He lays down, like that will help, as his world spins and his heart beats painfully. Again he's lost someone, again he's alone and again if only he'd been there maybe he could have done something. The plan comes to him after approximately five hours of laying on the floor, staring blankly at the wall and crying. Justice flared behind his eyes and across his skin, not quite manifesting; there was no danger to be fended off, only emotions he could not process for Anders. It was the flickering of fade-light through the small fissures in his skin that spurred it, really. If Hawke was in the Fade--physically in there, and Varric had escaped it with his Inquisitor--then it was possible for them to be alive in there. Trapped. Rifts into the raw fade were opening up all around the world, doorways letting things out-- but maybe also in. Plan might have been a generous term for the conviction that he was going to go get his Hawke or die trying. A very generous term for hunting down a rift several miles away, long ago giving up any thoughts of stealth, and--once he had dispatched the demons pouring out--thrown himself through. It certainly didn't apply once Justice found himself forefront and physically in the Fade, with no real driving motivation beyond his purpose and the desire to find Hawke. Which they did, after a long trek and many battles. And then they fell from the sky into someplace else and got captured before they could figure out what was going on.

Basically i'm saying Anders and Hawke in this are cagey for a bit before things calm down and Anders would need 100% less of Gale's excitement. Because logically he knows things are different but also it's weird.

[waves hands] I'm thinking about this much too hard

[silverview]

misc thoughts that didn't fit into those video posts:

the way he says "take it" in that final scene of s1 is completely unlike anything else he's ever said. it's like he becomes a different person for a moment and we get a real glimpse under the surface, at his capacity for darkness & greed. extremely horny moment, 10/10. makes me wonder exactly how much of his usual sweet bubbly personality is a deliberate performance vs how much has he "become the mask" vs how much is he naturally like that. i really don't know what i prefer, though that i do think it's some combination of all three

(i really hope we get to see some of this darkness & ambition in s2. as much as i adore slob gamer bf colin. i really want the promise of world domination delivered on, somehow. oof reminds myself never to expect anything straightforward from dh...reminds myself if i live to see s2 i will be blessed enough already.....)

on a similar note, in the sharespace flashback, he talks about going "as far away from here as possible," suggesting his motive for leaving was not just a desire for adventure/power/whatever, but actually an active hatred of marscorp itself. in the same scene, you can kinda infer his contempt for the other employees by the way he talks about them & excuses himself to hang out alone with david. and he does make a sarcastic remark about our beloved mars. but he never goes into specifics about why exactly it sucks so bad. david is more explicit in saying i hate this place, but he doesn't go into specific reasons, either. i would be fascinated to hear them both (pre-incident) give their honest, unfiltered opinons on marscorp.

staying in this scene bc oh my god it just has everything – when david talks about getting locked up (foreshadowing). so colin teases him about sharing a cell & being roomies (foreshadowing). so david says if i had to live with you, i'd kill myself (f...foreshadowing......??) ... god i love their dynamic so much. mean rude grumpy snarky aggro david, gradually being won over by colin, until they're both CACKLING together in the club........

based on that s2 clip, i am so so so curious to see if colin can still have this comfort-buddy effect on david in the present day. tbh, he doesn't seem to be putting in as much effort as he used to! he seems kinda checked out! a) because they have this argument every week, and he takes it for granted by now that david won't stay mad? b) because he's fundamentally changed into a more arrogant/lazy/self-absorbed person? c) because he doesn't feel he really needs david anymore, so it's nbd if they have a falling out? d) because he's drunk/high? all plausible. also i know i did mention this before but when he crunches his little snack 🥺❤️🥺❤️ give him a little snack in every scene of s2!! let him get really excited about having human food to eat for the first time in 10 years!! he's got to make up for lost time!!

[jiminsass-istant]

???

I never ever said JK was forced. Infact even cleared it in my last post you have quoted. (Do you not read?) But I stand by the fact that his schedule was too much. Members RM and Jimin were not concerned that JK didn't have time, they were concerned about his HEALTH. He was partially sick when he was promoting Seven too. You could hear it in his performance. But since he's an amazing vocalist, he still managed to sound great. Listen to BBC lounge live, that's not JK's top condition at all.

And we saw how much he was flying everywhere. Obviously he wouldn't if he didn't have the ambition and motivation to do so. If you remember, Seven happened when JK suddenly received the song and liked it. You can't tell me that Golden was already planned by then. Infact they hadn't even planned for 11 songs in the album. So i stand by the fact that Golden was made in a hurry. And hence the promotions were all crammed up. That is exactly what you call as bad planning. Obviously JK did it because he wanted to and pushed himself to deliver. And it wouldn't be the first time bts have pushed themselves to their limits.

I have said at least 10 times now, that my issue is with Bangpd and his team. If i was in his place, I would have put together a better plan for him. Idk how, but that's THEIR job.

Secondly, about Golden. Please look at the other 5 albums and compare them conceptually. You can't tell me Golden has a better concept than any of the other 5 albums. (Not including jin because it was a single song) And no! This is not JK shade. This is a combination of personal opinion and objective facts. Golden was a commercial album with the sole purpose of establishing JK as a solo artist in the US. In the short time period, that's all they could do. Golden's concept was literally "Jungkook"- visually. But he himself said lyrics are not autobiographical. So it's almost an irony to me. So is it about JK or not? Golden refers to Golden maknae but the songs are not about him? That itself makes it clear that it was a commercial album with the aim of promoting JK as a solo artist.

About euphoria- I wasn't in the fandom at that time, so idk about the backlash. I like the song , especially the DJ swivel remix.

About Jimin's ' rumoured' all english project, if that happens and Jimin gets no credits anywhere, i am gonna be critical. I'm not gonna lie. If that happens , you can come back and check my review lol.

I am critical of artists who don't have any credits in their own song. It takes away from their artistry. No matter how big they are. If you don't connect with your lyrics in some way, (even if you didn't write them), how are you going to build a connection with your audience?? Like..this was the lyrics in 'Too sad to dance'--

"Pops"? it's such an American term, I can't even..

That is not something JK would say, like ever.

Dynamite was extremely American too, but it was literally a tribute to American pop culture and bts were pretty open about it. The basketball, the disco, MJ inspired choreo, "keep your eyes on the ball"? It's like spending a day watching American TV. It was 2020, everybody was rotting at home and BTS literally said "Hi America, let us remind you about how fun your pop- culture is! Now get up and dance!" I found it hard to like Dynamite until i realised that it was literally BTS knocking at US's door, wearing US outfits, doing US things- like topping charts. That song is literally a statement. Anyway, I'll save my love-hate rant about Dynamite for some other day.

I know that no matter how much I separate my views on Golden from my views on Jungkook, people will still think I'm shading him.

Jungkook deserves all the achievements he's getting, not just because of his solo chapter, but because of the 10 years worth of blood, sweat and tears he has put in and built a huge fanbase.

And that's why I still trust him and BTS members to give us good, heartfelt music. That's why I'm still anticipating JK's future releases and hoping for more.

Anon, you also addressed someone in your ask who has their asks off, so I'll just put your ask here without mentioning them-

About creative input. Again, absence of credits doesn't mean creative input is zero. But of course, it was not enough for him to be credited. Which means the songs were not made from scratch with him. Tae also had zero credits, but definitely had creative inputs. But somehow, his album sat very nicely in the niche of his genre. It represented everything about Tae. The whole mood, even the songs.

Jk is capable of making melodies, getting involved in production and even lyrics if he tries. And that's why my expectations were high.

And anon, thanks for mentioning the festa thing. Why do you think his older collection of songs were not chosen for his solo debut? Why was that solo project that he was excited about not released? It seemed like he had songs ready too. Definitely not Golden's songs.

Maybe those songs will be released in JJK2?! But why do you think so many things changed? Hint: scooter.

Scooter wanted to bring his producers, his connections into it. And Jungkook's ambitions to be a big global popstar fell right into his hands. Do you think Scooter would promote a project so massively which he didn't help create? The answer is no. And if those songs were Korean, Scooter would be even more unwilling to provide such a focused promotion to a solo artist.

I genuinely want JK to release stuff that he deeply immerses himself in ( which includes credits and concepts). Because I'm selfish and I want to feel connected too.

EDIT: Had more thoughts after this post that i realised after better thinking- Click here

Also anon if you still feel like fighting, just block and move on. I get like 5 likes on my opinions. You don't need to fight it if you don't understand.

[lilacsolanum]

I'm really feeling grateful for the unspoken rule in fandom that if you don't like a fic, just click off. It's free and it's a hobby, so there's no need to leave a critical review. Every now and then I'll see people whine about that, which. Wild. But like. Hey, don't.

In 2020, I lost more than just my job. I lost my entire life path. I lost the future I had planned for myself. I worked in the service industry, and that industry will never, ever be the same. It might look like it's snapped back from the outside, but it hasn't. Obviously, everyone life changed permanently, a literal global level of shift, and I'm not exactly special. Myself and my family and friends all came out of it healthy and I'm so grateful. Still, man, for me more than most people I know, shit was like the Thanos snap. One day, half my life was gone.

I had two choices: despair, or make the best of it. I've been called to performing my entire life, but never pursued it due to self-doubt. Well, when I was unemployeed and desperate, I suddenly decided to jump into audiobook narration with no plan and no training. And somehow, I got gigs. I started working with an author who was on the verge of blowing up, who didn't have the budget to find a trained professional at the time so used someone with potential who would work for an appropriate payrate. I recorded my first series giving 200%, which is 100% more than anyone wants to listen to in an audiobook narrator. I'm incredibly proud of my first efforts and invested the money I made in coaching and equipment upgrades, but as the author's fanbase grew, so do people's expectations of the narration.

It's been uhhhhhhhhh a wild ride. I'm so grateful that I got lucky, but also, do not recommend this situation to anyone. While I am improving and growing, most of my books are a little rough, and the one star reviewers are fucking LETTING. ME. KNOW. All caps, rage filled, terrible spelling and b'grammar'd passionate reviews on every audiobook retailer imaginable are out there for me to obsess over in at my low points. Which is often. Remember when I said I suffer from crippling self-doubt? Mama I am dragging my stubborn ass through this accidental career pivot of mine out of spite rather than pride. It's not fun.

They have a right to speak their mind, as most of them paid for the book! So if you hate it, go off! But still! Sometimes I combat that by reading comments on my fanfiction. The majority of comments I receive on AO3 are positive with a few mild exceptions, and those are easy for me to shake off because of the support I've received. The positive comments motivate me to improve my writing just as much as the negative comments on my acting do, except being positively motivated makes that improvement go faster and a more pleasant journey. It's a nice, safe place for me. I don't appreciate the culture of no negative comments because I don't accept that negative criticism is a part of putting yourself out there creatively. I accept it very much. I appreciate them because I AM a professional creative and people pay for products I've produced and have every right to express their opinions on it and it's so important I have a space where I don't have to deal with that.

So thank you, those who suppress the urge to leave negative comments on fanfic. And thank you to people who leave kind reviews. You never know what someone is going through, and my god, kind comments on my fic inspire me to work even harder as a performer, because one day, I want to receive equal positivity for both ventures. Thank you for fueling my ambitions with kindness.

[lasenbyphoenix]

10 Characters I Fell In Love With in 2023

I liked doing this retrospective so I'm bringing it back. I feel like I didn't watch many shows in 2023 but of the shows I did watch there were SO MANY good characters that making this list proved to be difficult to narrow down.

1. Tang Lian, The Blood of Youth.

The Blood of Youth gave us a main trio of an exiled prince, a chaotic monk and a himbo firestarter, but it was Tang Lian the ace shixiong who was the first in the series to make me go oooh he's mine. Was it the purple clothes? The grey streaks in his hair? The romantic awkwardness? The hyper competence with small deadly weaponry? The crisis over following orders vs following his heart? All of the above probably. And I'm very glad the creators of the bonus episode decided to agree with me that HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO DIE otherwise I would have been throwing hands.

2. Sikong Changfeng, The Blood of Youth.

While the main trio are very fun to follow along with, they are also very young and at my age now I find myself gravitating towards appreciating some of the older generation just as much. Sikong Changfeng is one such character, and chosen because he's someone I think I'd like spending time with. He's a practical man among outlandish people, a doting father, and the fact that he'll throw a tantrum in public when one of his fellow city lord's decides to slice their training tower into pieces is a refreshing change from the great and aloof martial experts of his generation. And just look at that cloak!

3. Di Feisheng, Mysterious Lotus Casebook.

I came to MLC for Cheng Yi, and watched with amusement as other tumblr users fell head over heels for the moody antagonist until I got halfway through the show and had to mentally apologise to everyone because y'all had the right idea, omg how do I explain how Di Feisheng endears himself right into your heart and stays there? He's very show-no-weakness especially for someone who gets constantly nerfed - and boy do I like watching a strong man being whumped - he has the aesthetic of a total Boss and a sword named Sword.

He's unapologetic about his ambitions to be The Best Ever, which comes across as a bit shallow until you learn that his entire goal to be strongest ever is to be able to overcome the mind control bug forced onto him by the slave driver who raised/trained/tortured him as a kid and kick the guys ass. Which is the best and most heart breaking reason for a character to do anything and if that doesnt make you love him then the cuteness of the A'Fei amnesia arc certainly will.

4. He Xiaohui, Mysterious Lotus Casebook.

Again the older generation appealing to me, Fang Duobing's mother is absolutely a character you want on your side in a crazy place like this show. Taking in her sister's son as her own, she doesn't hide what she thinks of the jianghu when Fang Doubing runs away from court life, but also happily creates an accupressure torture machine when he needs a prisoner interrogatated. A little haunting can't scare her off from a bargain for her new dayspa empire, and she's barely rattled after being kidnapped. She's just so fun.

5. Yang Wuxie, Heroes.

Clever, loyal and funny are 3 easy ways to win me over. But they also went ahead and wrote a man who said "you're my only friend" and proved it with his every action -

- The way he pauses at the door to plaster a smile on his face before entering the room when Su Mengzhen is sick,

-  "can you take the archers on that side?" "Yes, but I'll die."

- clinging to SMZ's robe and weeping that he can't find him

- being trusted with the final blow, and crying all the while....

I really don't have the words. End me now.😭😩

6. Di Feijing, Heroes.

Again the loyalty of the subordinate is what moves me in this show and I chose Di Feijing for this list because I didn't expect to be moved by him. At first everyone in Six Half Hall seems to be there for their own greed, which is good for them but can be a very flat motivation to watch. It's after the death of Lei Sun that his story unveils itself and his protection of Lei Chun comes to the foreground and you learn that he's a moral person stuck in the middle of corruption and obligation.

I kinda feel like he got shafted by being ordered to stay out of things, because I reckon if given the chance he could have actually sorted a bunch of shit out?? I liked the handful of interactions between Di Feijing and Wang Xiaoshi and wish there could have been more.

7. Lee Rang, Tale of the Nine Tailed & Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938.

Protagonist's little brother with severe abandonment issues and a grudge to match, deadly but secretly a softie? Sign me up. The spurned sibling is by far the most relatable and likeable of the antagonists in season 1, and you get the joy of seeing him turn from the dark side due to the Power of Family, but still cuss and sulk the whole time. They created such a fun sibling dynamic that they had to go back in time for season 2 so that we could have a whole nother season with the two of them bickering and fighting for each other. Also, the looks he had going in season 2 were stellar.

8. Li Wu, Pledge of Allegiance.

I'm predisposed to liking Zhang Yunlong, and Li Wu was both very fun and very angsty to watch as he lied his way into and out of all sorts of trouble.

As Li Wu would tell you, he's just a theif! Selfish, no moral compass to see here..(Rescues kid from being arrested, finds kid a job)(shares his money with his friends in the alley)(helps them flee when he thinks they're in danger because of him)(keeps the knife as a reminder of the death he feels responsible for)(helps the son of the man he killed when he finds him again)(how many times does he save Lu Zheng from himself and all the people gunning for him??)(unravels political conspiracies)(and so much more). Just a theif! Sure thing Jan.

9 & 10. Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, The X Files.

Having only started watching The X Files for the first time in 2023 (and only as a filler show when I was too tired for subtitles,) I now find myself in season 7 of the show, entirely because of these two leads. What can I say about Mulder's non-threatening, hyperfixating, dorky ass and Scully's brainiac does-everything-he-does-only-backwards-and-in-high-heels competency that hasn't already been said? They're just *chefs kiss*

If anyone else wants to do a similar review I'd love to be tagged and see your 2023 blorbos!