#but simone was better with developing relationships and characters while not necessarily being great a characterization.

[mysteriousbeetle]

going from chuck dixon's run of bop (1999) to gail simone's run of bop (1999) things just get a little less sexist and a little more racist. and while the writing itself feels pretty different, it doesn't feel better or worse necessarily, it just has different focuses.

[chat-noir-always-here]

Debunking “Adrien is perfect”

  To voice a rather non-Marinette-like opinion of Adrien: He’s not perfect. He’s never been perfect. He has, in fact, been riddled with flaws from the very beginning. Part of the reason Chat Noir gets hate is because he serves to exaggerate Adrien’s flaws and make them more obvious, destroying the perfectionism façade. And the sooner Marinette tosses the “I love the perfect Adrien” filter in the trash where it belongs, and starts actively recognizing and acknowledging his faults, the better off the endgame relationship will be.

 Long post is long and I don’t like cuts, cuz i’ve lost a few posts in the past using them. Please filter the tag “long post” I use it for walls of texts like these. 

First of all, flaws are just one of the many things that happen when someone either learns something the wrong way, spends too much time in the wrong environment, lack any decent role models... really there are a plethora of causes. What i mean is character shortcomings aren’t necessarily reasons to hate the character themselves. They’re more or less internal obstacles put there to be overcome in order to portray character growth. Of course spending an exaggerated amount of time with these characters without seeing them overcome particular shortcomings is frustrating it does not necessarily mean they will never be redeemed or developed and are/were deserving of hate.

 Except for Gabriel. That creature belongs behind bars.

 Most of Adrien’s flaws come from his toxic home situation:

The Miraculous Wiki puts Adrien at fifteen. Meaning Adrien has only been actively leaving the house (for public school and the occasional social get-together) for about a year. His fourteenth birthday was one of the earliest episodes and im assuming his fifteenth birthday happened off screen between the s3 finale and the new york special.

Regardless the majority of his life was spent in isolation and his only company was his immediate family, Nathalie, Felix and Chloe. None of whom are particularly good role models except for Emilie. Maybe.

He’s rather overworked for a 14 y.o. boy. On top of school, he has fencing, piano and Chinese lessons. This leaves him with very little time for himself. 

He lost his mother. In Feast, Adrien expresses Emilie was a source of joy in his life--”Only Mom can make me laugh like that.” Felix marked the one year anniversary of her disappearance.  Worse still, we’re led to assume all Adrien knows is that Emilie disappeared. Did she abandon him? Was she kidnapped and killed? He doesn’t know. He has no closure regarding her absence. 

On top of losing his mother, his only remaining parent is an emotionally manipulative and abusive prick. Gabriel has denied Adrien a birthday party, threatened to take Adrien out of school just because he can, never lets him have friends over for any reason, hardly ever makes time for Adrien and only once in a blue moon will actually sit and eat a meal with the poor kid.

And on top of all of this he’s not out of the woods yet. He’s still living with his abusive father. He’s still not allowed to see his friends outside of school much. He’s still got a packed schedule. He still doesn’t have closure regarding his mother’s “disappearance.”

Looking at it like this paints Adrien in a rather sympathetic light.

 Marinette doesn’t know Gabriel is Hawk Moth either, but she does understand Adrien is lonely, isolated and in need of a source of love and comfort. She also understands to some degree that his heart is delicate, so she constantly handles him with kid gloves and looks on him with a perfection filter. 

We see how Mari reacts to upsetting Adrien in Malediktator when she softly whispers an apology after Adrien expresses his sorrow over everyone celebrating Chloe’s departure. She’s seems pained and distraught over causing him to be upset. Thus the reason Marinette calls Adrien perfect isn’t that she never sees any of his flaws--she just cannot acknowledge or process them under these conditions. Shes too busy trying not to hurt him. She also has shown some signs of having extreme anxiety, which messes with ones head and makes it difficult--nearly impossible--to think straight. She wants to be the source of love and comfort he desires (and already is in a way) so his faults go unprocessed.

But what are Adrien’s flaws?

1. He has trouble standing up for himself. 

He’ll take a stand for others.

 He stood up to Chloe on Mylene’s behalf in Horrificator and on Marinette/ Cheng Sifu’s behalf in Kung Food. He stood up to Lila in Oni-chan and Ladybug. He stood up to Gabriel in Simon Says--but as Chat Noir, not Adrien. 

There have only been two-ish instances of Adrien, not Chat Noir, standing up for himself. I say -ish only because he was kinda standing up for Lila in the first and Chloe in the second. 

First in Volpina he stood up to Ladybug for how she handled the situation with Lila. He personally believed she handled the situation poorly (which she did--there were/are serious consequences for that. still) and although he was kinda wishy-washy in conveying that it was only because he was scared of sounding too much like Chat Noir. Her partner. Her chief-of-staff. Who can and will call her out on such behavior. 

Second in Malediktator, when he more or less told Marinette she was wrong to be happy about Chloe leaving. Granted this was partly him standing up for Chloe, but aside from her—he, Adrien, was deeply upset chloe was leaving on such bad terms and made sure Marinette understood that. 

Abused children tend to be somewhat submissive/agreeable/etc. They have trouble speaking out when they’re uncomfortable or don’t want something or think a particular action is wrong. Usually because they are anticipating some kind of punishment for speaking out or afraid of offending the other person to the point that said person wants nothing to do with them anymore, or both.

 For Adrien to fix this particular flaw, he needs to prioritize himself and his own wants more. However he also needs someone who doesn’t chastise him for doing things he likes, tending to his own needs and setting boundaries. Kagami is not that person--she’s actually quite demanding of him and cold. Her understanding of relationships isnt great either, which is why these two really aren’t that great for each other. 

2. He puts his faith in the wrong people

  Adrien’s fucking household is about as toxic as it can get (please don’t take this as a challenge, S4). On top of his immediate family consisting of his abusive, toxic, terrorist father, there’s his cousin Felix. Felix who squished cheese under Adrien’s pillow, stole his phone, pretended to be him and sent an outrageous and awful video to his friends. 

 There’s also his mother Emilie whom, despite his love and adoration of her, lied to him for who knows how long and messed around with a broken miraculous to the point it forced her into an indefinite coma and left Adrien at his father’s mercy. There are theories that she did this for her family but nothing concrete or canon has been proven--all we know is that Emilie had been having frequent dizzy spells while she was still awake and using the peacock miraculous, and that she anticipated her fate and Gabriel apparently promised to save her.

There’s Lila, as well. “She’s not dangerous. She just craves attention.” Wrong, Adrien, she’s very dangerous. She is conspiring with your father to spy on you, attempted to get Marinette expelled from school, tricked you into leaving Ladybug alone with a supervillain whom she personally requested to kill Ladybug, pinned Marinette against a bathroom wall and almost got her akumatized, actually got Marinette akumatized and nearly cost you both the Ladybug Miraculous and TIkki. She isn’t just dangerous she is an actual threat, whether or not she is the future Hawk Moth who sent Timetagger after you when you were children with time-sensitive powers. Adrien has a slightly better understanding of that after the events of Ladybug and Oni-chan, so hopefully he will be on his guard at least in regards to Lila.

 The reason for Adrien’s overly trusting nature may lie in the fact that literally everyone closest to him, everyone for the first thirteen years or so, was toxic and/or a liar. You know what happens when you can’t trust anyone around you? You live with it. You accept all these bad people as they are, without making any effort to establish healthy boundaries. Adrien certainly lived with it--how’s an abused, isolated boxed-and-sheltered son supposed to know what healthy boundaries are when he’s lacking any healthy connections? I bet he can just barely endure all the anguish but he can’t stand to be alone so he just tolerates it. Not to mention the most guilty is his father. Where else is he supposed to go?

Like a frog sitting in a pot of water, you don’t realize you’re in trouble until the water is too hot. So you just accept it--all the bad feelings--you accept it, live with it and it still hurts but you rarely complain. Because anything is better than being alone. 

I think Adrien understands, deep down, that the love he is clinging to, the love provided by his relatives, isn’t really there. But if he looks at it too long and lets this knowledge sink in he’ll lose it. He really did lose it in Chat Blanc-- just that sky-crashing-down-on-him realization that he didn’t have his fathers love, hadn’t had it for a long time, just completely ruined our boy. 

 Of course the knowledge is there. It’s literally right there in front of his face and it’s only a matter of time before he is forced to turn and look and face the music. At which point I hope Marinette knows who he is and has a plan to save him otherwise Chat Blanc is just going to happen again. 

3. Yes, he takes the flirting too far sometimes

No--that doesn’t make him toxic.

Yes, Adrien overreacted to Ladybug never showing up in Glaciator. He shouldn’t have been upset with her in Frozen for not accepting the rose. He should have told her the damn truth about being forced to leave the city at the same time she was in the New York special. 

 However, he also apologized for overreacting in both Glaciator and Frozen. And again, abused kids live in anticipation of punishment for their mistakes. Adrien’s father has taught him that the slightest mistake can result in loss of freedom or trust, even if its circumstances beyond his control. And he now understands that Ladybug isn’t going to blindly punish him for being honest with her, which he now knows to do. 

 He makes mistakes, apologizes for them, and learns from them. That’s not fucking toxic--it’s natural, human and allowed. 

 He’s flirty and suggestive, yes, but the minute she signals she doesn’t want it or isn’t feeling it he stops. He has had immense trouble with not flirting with her, despite her telling him she isn’t interested multiple times. That much is true. But he truly and deeply cares for her and he would never force himself on her and it isn’t because he knows she’ll kick his ass if he does. It’s because unlike the vast majority of his family, he’s actually a decent human being. 

 He has even begun to “flirt platonically,” toasting their partnership and friendship rather than offering a romantic relationship she can never say yes to. If that isn’t the most soft and respectful fluff I don’t know what is.

 4. He is leading Kagami on

Did he cheat? I’m actually not sure. Thomas is being vague in his tweets and won’t give us a decent answer (because he likes “watching fandom burn”--i mean MOOD but clarify please). 

 Here’s what we know and have observed: 1. Chat Noir told Ladybug “I have a girlfriend” 2. He immediately followed that up with “It’s not good at all. I just said that to make you jealous”  3. He allowed Kagami to kiss him in the new york special 4. but he has trouble telling girls not to touch him--been a problem since episode one. Yes its generally cheek kisses chloe gives him but sometimes its not and he looked downright uncomfortable in a lot of cases of physical contact with her and with Lila 5. he seemed rather comfortable with kagami kissing him--except he did say no to her kissing him in the finale 6. but he’s also trying to move on from Ladybug and be with Kagami  7. If he were in a relationship with Kagami, he’d likely keep it a secret because both of their parents are controlling of them and may not allow it 8. His understanding of relationships and girls is kinda dreadful due to not having his mom around for advice and his father’s general lack of a concept of what healthy romantic relationships and boundaries are, and, as Nino put it, not being able to understand signals very well

Adrien’s current relationship status is up in the air. I’m about eighty percent certain he’s dating Kagami--but there’s still that twenty percent chance he’s not.

 Putting aside the question of whether or not he and Kagami are official, Adrien’s been attempting to move past his feelings for Ladybug. Which--won’t sugarcoat it--he kinda sucks at. At the same time, Kagami is aware he is in love with another but lacks the understanding that his moving on will take time. 

 The main issues here is that Adrien knows who he wants but can’t have her. Kagami is a wonderful person herself and he wants to get to know her better, but they aren’t really a good match and they are both going to get hurt in the end (Love Victor anyone???). Until that happens we are going to have some questionable moments in the show, and we just need to remember that Adrien is a child with a poor understanding of relationships, and not an evil person. Kagami doesn’t necessarily have a great understanding of them either--”Your indecision hurts me Adrien,” “Adrien you and I are perfect for each other!”--and she has flaws of her own she needs to unlearn. 

 For the time being, Adrien is leading Kagami on (it needs to be said--even if they aren’t dating he’s flirted with her, given her roses etc.) I say leading her on because, no matter how much Adrien believes Marinette is just a friend and they weren’t flirting in New York, loyal boyfriends who wish to be monogamous don’t dance with other women.

 Or look this happy when that other woman touches them

Does this make Adrien a deceitful and hateful character? No. Does this make him an unworthy character? No. It makes him an abused child with little to no concept of healthy relationships. 

Also Adrien’s friends, including Marinette, have no reason to believe he is dating Kagami. They know he is interested in her and she in him, but as Nino said, Adrien has a hard time picking up signals and understanding their meaning. Not to mention the boy is fifteen. Flirting skills, understanding boundaries, and other relationship concepts are a challenge even for ordinary fifteen year olds in healthy environments to grasp--case in point: Marinette.

Adrigami and Lukanette are simply not going to end well. The Love Square is the endgame and ultimately both Lukanette and Adrigami are going to fall apart to make that happen--I knew that going into the possible Adrigami and Lukanette  territory that the finale created.

 Kagami is a strong, intelligent person--she’s likely going to be the one to end it given what we’ve seen. I don’t like to think about what might happen then--she may be akumatized and Chat Noir would feel rather guilty and may not be able to fight her. But they will both come out of it with something they needed--Kagami will understand (as Marinette needs to) that Adrien isn’t her perfect soul mate incapable of making mistakes. Adrien will understand relationships better. 

 Its unfortunate that this has to happen in order for Adrien to learn due lessons, given that he actually does have someone who can talk to him about girls and relationships and loyalty: Nino.

 Given what Nino wasted no time in scolding Mari for spying on Adrien and Lila when she confessed doing so in Chameleon, as well as how he treats Alya, I undoubtedly believe Nino would be the one to come out and say “You can’t dance with Marinette when you’re with Kagami.” 

 Assuming he is with Kagami. 

In conclusion: Adrien is flawed but not deserving of hate. He is a traumatuzed child stuck in a toxic household who lacks proper mentors. Marinette, Alya and Nino are out of the loop about his potential relationship with Kagami. And Marinette and Kagami both need to acknowledge Adrien is imperfect. Nino and Adrien need to do guy talk like two seasons ago. 

Also Marinette probably has some intense anxiety issues. But more on that later.

[crossdressingdeath]

Just a reminder that if you have time and feel like writing that post you mentioned about how you would rewrite each DBH character’s story given unlimited runtime, it would be very cool to read.

Ah, right. Quick note that I don’t know much about Connor’s machine path or the violent revolution path or any ending to Kara’s story that doesn’t involve successfully getting past the border guard so I will be skimming those parts of the story. Also it’s going to be pretty vague because Details Are Hard. (Also I’m tired so this is probably not going to make a lot of sense or be in any sort of reasonable order.)

Okay, general points first. I feel like the three stories should intersect more, even if only in a “seeing the aftermath of their actions” way; maybe Connor and Hank are sent to investigate Zlatko’s death after Kara and Alice have gone through, for example. You’ve got three protagonists active at the same time and they barely interact! Come on, give us a little conversation. And of course the public opinion system needs to be used a lot more; it only effects two things in the whole game, come on! It doesn’t impact any of the major human characters, and that just feels wrong. I’ll. come back to this in Connor’s section because I feel like it would be best used there (since there really aren’t many humans in the story outside of his parts and the ones who do show up have reasons to side with or against the deviants outside of public opinion), but if nothing else I’d like it to lead to us seeing humans demonstrating/fighting with the deviants. Also I would like to see at least a few examples of androids deviating peacefully, like Connor does; I don’t believe for a second that there weren’t androids who deviated in a place where they were surrounded by people who were with them all the way.

So, first off: Markus. Mostly I’d just want to extend the timeline a bit and add some more Jericho missions, because oh my god you cannot join an organization of people with no weapons or resources of any kind, become their leader, and successfully change society in less than a week. So just... more evidence of Markus slowly winning Jericho over and helping them gather supplies and resources. Show him helping them set up actual supply lines! Rescuing deviants! Winning over allies! Including human ones, because the idea that there isn’t a single human working with Jericho when pretty much every major human character is in fact on the deviants’ side is... dumb. Also, individual missions with North, Simon and Josh; it would be good to spend more time getting to know them, since as it stands it’s... kind of hard to care all that much when they die. I might also add short scenes where we see Connor’s targets arriving in Jericho if they survive, just to add more connection between the stories (and also I like them and wish more had been done with them). And make Simon a love interest (because this is a choice-heavy game and so I should be able to make the choice to play exclusively as gay androids if that’s what I want), and make it easier to avoid having a love interest; let’s not create a situation where entering into a relationship less than a week after gaining emotions is all but mandatory, hm? Also, maybe Markus should meet Kamski one time? As the guy fulfilling Kamski’s deviant-related plans? Come on, one meeting. Maybe clear up Kamski’s motivations just a bit. And, crossing over with Connor’s story, maybe a bit of stuff them both being part of the RK line and how it went from a caregiver android to a detective android. Oh, and change it so that you’re not guaranteed to have fatalities on the violence path, because insisting that only pacifism can possibly end happily when fighting against oppression seems kind of... not great, all things considered. Frankly given the androids’ combat abilities it kind of makes more sense to have unavoidable deaths on the pacifism route, or alternately to have different unavoidable deaths on both routes, but being admittedly a softy I am very happy to have it be possible to have no deaths on either route. I don’t necessarily expect it to be easy to save everyone (it might make sense to add in missions where you make preparations to increase their odds of survival, or do something similar to Simon’s possible death in Stratford Tower where one of other protagonists’ actions has an effect on the sequence of events), but it would be nice to have it be possible.

On to Kara; I mentioned this before, but instead of her story being a cute-but-boring game-long escort mission where you have to protect a small child who is entirely useless I’d give her a story about uncovering how deviancy works and the history of it. Whether it really is just a glitch or something more, what rA9 actually is... all that fun stuff. No idea how that would actually go, but it would be more interesting than just running to Canada. If nothing else we could get more backstory on how the hell Kamski managed to create androids who are so realistic that that they can develop emotions. And if it is just a glitch there can be more discussion on whether or not simulated emotions are as real as actual emotions, because the fact that they brought up the concept of deviant emotions being a simulation and did nothing with it just feels like a massive waste of potential. And I’d add some more ways to live; from what I understand it’s really hard to keep everyone alive unless you maybe possibly condemn a couple and their baby to freeze to death or get killed by a revolution and keep things peaceful in Markus’s story. While I do want more interaction between the stories, I don’t think your choices in one story should automatically lock you out of getting the best ending for one of the other stories (with the obvious exception of the situations where that actually makes sense; can’t get the best ending for Connor and Hank if Markus nukes the city while Hank is in it, for example). At least with Kara; her story is so separate from Markus and Connor’s that it doesn’t make sense for Markus’s actions to lock her out of escaping to Canada! Also, it adds nothing to the story to have Alice turn out to be an android and robs Kara of her close human companion who has a massive impact on her life; yeah, there’s Rose, but she’s in... what, two missions? That’s less than Karl, who has the additional story impact of having been Markus’s father figure for (if memory serves) years before the start of the game, so there’s no dynamic to build; it’s already there. Keep Alice human! It’s a completely pointless twist! ...I recognise that this does mean that Connor can get a young human girl killed by succeeding in stopping a deviant, but it wouldn’t take much to rewrite his run-in with Kara to not involve a chase across a freeway. Again, I’ll come back to this when I get to Connor’s section. But imagine the impact of things like Todd’s abuse and Zlatko’s section if Alice is human; showing that these villains don’t necessarily see androids and humans as different, but in a negative sense this time. Also, I’d like a sort of prologue to her story featuring the incident that got her broken and led to her being repaired at the start of the game.

And of course now we get to Connor, the best boy who deserves the best. I’ll start with the things I said I’d come back to. First, the public opinion system: imagine if Hank’s thoughts on deviants (instead of just changing for no apparent reason beyond a handful of meetings with people who generally kick his ass and then run away or die with at most a bit of conversation) could be altered by public opinion of the deviants’ cause. Even better; by that and his relationship with Connor. Picture a situation where Hank doesn’t trust or like deviants at all due to them running around killing people but still helps them because he wants to help Connor. It would just be very good. Also, since Connor is the only character hanging out exclusively with humans (what with the station full of cops he’s working out of): imagine more missions taking place (or at least starting) in the precinct where Connor can interact with his sort of coworkers and how the conversations with them could change as time passes and public opinion changes. Also again the possibility for a conflict between dislike of deviants and fondness for this particular android, just for fun. And, also just for fun, maybe a bit of character development for Gavin where he’s still a dick (because honestly he’d be less fun if he wasn’t) but if public opinion is high he’ll pretend not to notice Connor sneaking into the evidence locker and fucking around in there for a while when he really definitely isn’t supposed to. Come on, if you’re going to have heroic cops you could at least do something with more than one of them. Also, more Captain Fowler. All we know is that he and Hank are old friends and he’s totally okay with Hank beating the shit out of Perkins; all in all I’d like to know a bit more about him. And with Kara and Alice: the freeway chase works, sure, but I would like the option for Connor to at least try to save Alice; by this point Connor is already showing signs of software instability, if we change it so that Alice is human him putting the mission aside to save a little girl makes sense and gives us a good sense of who he is as a person, and it fits neatly into steadily escalating refusal to complete his mission that eventually reaches full deviancy. If I’m remembering the order right it’s Ortiz’s android (who you can’t let escape), Kara (who you can let go based on Hank’s orders), Rupert (who you can let go to save Hank), the Tracis (who you can let go just because), and then Markus (who you have to deviate to spare); changing it so that you can let Kara go to save a little girl she’s protecting fits the escalation (you could easily argue that Connor has something in his programming about saving human lives, and as one of his earlier missions shows him being specifically trying to save a little girl it makes a great deal of sense that he wants to protect Alice. Also like. Imagine having the option to push Alice out of the way of a car at the cost of Connor’s life. It would be very effective, I think. Also it’s another opportunity to make Hank like you because he would for sure react well to you saving a small child from getting hit by a car.

Alright, moving on; I’d like some more assignments with Connor before he joins the DPD and gets partnered with Hank, showing him actually earning the title of deviant hunter? Also that way we aren’t stuck with the conclusion that CyberLife decided to send their prototype out into the world to partner with the police in investigations after one mission, which said prototype may well have failed to complete. And we could show more of Connor struggling with what he’s being ordered to do but having no way of stopping himself due to a complete lack of any interaction with anyone with functioning emotions, except for maybe CyberLife technicians. Actually, I’d also like to see what it’s like for Connor going to CyberLife for repairs and debriefing and such, because I doubt it’s fun. Other than that... well, Connor’s story is pretty good all things considered, but there are a couple tweaks I’d make. Aside from the previously mentioned exploration of what it means that he and Markus are both part of the RK line, I’d maybe cap off the added early story for him by adding him being hesitant about turning in Ortiz’s android if you’ve been pushing for more software instability and only going through with it when it becomes clear that if he doesn’t all he’ll achieve is getting himself caught not doing his job, which wouldn’t be a good look. I feel like the most effective way to do it might be if it’s not under player control; if his software instability is high enough he’ll be uncertain about it, and if he’s not he won’t be. And if he is uncertain you could add some options to the interrogation where he can win trust by telling the android he was scared of what would happen to him if he didn’t turn him in (followed by him immediately insisting that that was just a cunning ploy and in no way true when pressed on the matter if he did it out loud and not through an interface). Also: why wasn’t it Hank who pushed Connor to deviate. You spend Connor’s entire story with Hank! He is Connor’s tie to humanity! Why does Connor deviate in one conversation with a complete stranger and not his dearest friend! I desperately want a situation where Hank learns too much or something and Connor is ordered to shoot him and you can either go through with it (killing Hank) or deviate and shoot whoever gave you the order instead. Also then there could be hugs. And maybe forehead kisses because please. Connor deserves a little smooch honestly. He’s earned it. And then if your relationship with Hank is low enough that he’s already dead at this point you can have the conversation with Markus. Also, I would love an addition to the machine path where if you have a high relationship with Hank you can choose to deviate before fighting him (instead of just walking away despite that preventing Connor from finishing his mission quickly) or to deviate after fighting him when he’s got Hank hanging off the edge of the roof. Think about it; a moment of horrified realisation where Connor’s software is finally pushed to the breaking point by having to choose whether or not he will kill his only friend for the sake of his mission where he’s left desperately asking himself what the hell he’s doing? Like, if nothing else it would hammer home the fact that at this point Connor is choosing to remain a machine (assuming his software instability is high enough) to have to choose it twice even at the cost of Hank’s life. Actually three times, because the initial choice would be before this point. Also going that way it would be possible to play through the machine path up to the fight with Hank and still net Connor’s best ending, which would just be nice I think. Also, more hugs. Hugs are good.

...Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Also it’s uh. almost 1 AM here and sleep is in fact important. So I’m going to wrap up here; maybe I’ll make some more posts later if I think of anything else.

[stevishabitat]

“These are the perils of working from home,” mutters David Tennant, typing into his phone, filmed by his computer and watched, bemusedly, by me.

The 49-year-old actor has been texting, intermittently and apologetically, throughout our Zoom call. One of his five children (aged 18, nine, seven, four and eight months) has returned to school, and it seems pickup arrangements have been miscommunicated.

Tennant’s correspondent – I assume it is his wife, Georgia – is messaging from inside the house; Tennant is in the garden, his long lockdown locks pushed back into a Beckham-style headband. Over yonder, he gestures off-camera, a homeschooling lesson is under way: “I came outside to avoid the maths.”

Yet Tennant seems to have embraced the realities of home life, with two BBC projects drawing on his experience of raising a family. In the meta, of-the-moment series Staged, he and Georgia play versions of themselves in lockdown in their Chiswick home, while There She Goes (which returns for a second series tomorrow) captures an oft-unspoken truth about parenting, says Tennant: that “it’s sort of a slog”.

Coupled with doing interviews from his garden – Tennant tips his camera to show me Myrtle the cockapoo, flopped at his feet – it offers a surprising glimpse into the family life of an actor who has previously been reluctant to reveal any of it.

“We’re not quite as squeamish as we were,” he agrees, not least because his eldest son, Ty, is now also an actor. “I don’t think we’ll ever be sharing pictures of our children in Hello! magazine, but I think a lot of that comes from an insecurity about being uncovered or invaded. The longer you’re together, the less that feels like a threat.”

Tennant met Georgia (then Moffett) in 2008 on the set of Doctor Who – her father is a former Doctor, Pete Davison. “As our relationship was born out of people trying to stick lenses through windows, it’s taken us a long time to slough off that residual nervousness about sharing anything.”

These days, their guard is low enough for Georgia to post on Instagram a shot of herself breastfeeding – and to rail against Mark Zuckerberg when the image was removed by Facebook for breaching community standards (“I’ll come round there and squirt you in the eye”).

But, Tennant adds: “It’s still important to us that the characters in Staged are not us,” “David” being “more pathetic” than Tennant and “Georgia” more indulgent of him. “We’re not telling the actual story of our private life.”

There She Goes, however, he praises as scrupulously honest. The comedy stars Tennant and Jessica Hynes as parents of a child with a severe learning disability, based on the experience of the writers Shaun Pye and Sarah Crawford with their daughter, who was born with an extremely rare (and still undiagnosed) chromosomal disorder.

Tennant plays Simon, the character Pye based on himself: a loving but somewhat hapless father, always out to foist young Rosie on to his wife so he can head down the pub. Tennant says he tried to catch Pye out on set: “I’d go: ‘This bit we’re doing today – that didn’t really happen, did it?’ And everything is true.”

The first series was widely praised for refusing to sugarcoat the realities of parenting and marriage, while still finding moments of sweetness. Hynes won a Bafta for her turn as Emily, Rosie’s harried but devoted mum who, in a low moment, admits to struggling to love her newborn.

Simon, meanwhile, leans on booze and dark humour. There She Goes can be an undeniably uncomfortable watch. But the dual narratives of each episode – switching between a challenging but joyful time for the family and a more desperate early one – provide relief and perspective.

Tennant considers the series a mainstream comedy. Yet there had been trepidation within the BBC about how it would be received, he says, “because it lacked a certain sentimentality and political correctness – there was a real fear”. He disdainfully recalls a journalist at the press launch playing devil’s advocate, warning of a coming “shitstorm”: “He said: ‘You are going to be destroyed for putting this on television.’ We all hoped he was wrong – but we feared that he might be right.” And this was after the huge critical success of the police drama Broadchurch, which might easily have convinced Tennant he could do no wrong.

The casting of a non-disabled actor as nine-year-old Rosie – who is non-verbal, with the mental age of a toddler – was one sensitivity, says Tennant. The possibility of casting an actor with a learning disability had been explored, he says, “because, of course, that’s a live issue and one that has to be rightly unpicked”. But the demands of the role were found to be too great for a young actor with a disability. “Anyone who appreciates the kind of challenges that a child like Rosie would have doesn’t doubt that it would not really have been possible.”

Miley Locke, who is now 11, was “an incredible find”, says Tennant, praising her as nimble and uninhibited in a challenging role. Locke has met Jo, on whom Rosie is based, and has “an incredible capacity to find the truth of that character”, he says. “She’s also very game – I’m endlessly having to pick her up and fling her about and yank her around …”

Any parent will identify with “that constant sense that you’re falling short”, he says – now, perhaps, more than ever. A scene in which Emily tries desperately to work in the face of Rosie’s demands has taken on new relevance during lockdown. “Well, quite,” says Tennant, while texting in response to the latest news from Georgia. “Erm. Sorry …”

A big part of the challenge of shooting Staged was finding moments when the children were “either asleep or quiet”, but Tennant counts himself as “phenomenally fortunate” to have had the work, given how acting has been affected by the pandemic. This October, he was due to appear in CP Taylor’s play Good; that now seems unlikely.

Even when theatres are able to reopen, Tennant does not foresee audiences flocking back, “to sit there watching three hours of Chekhov as someone coughs all over them”. The impact on British culture could be catastrophic, he fears, even for institutions such as the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. “It’s a huge bill just to keep those buildings running … We could be left with a cultural scene that’s vastly changed, and that’s a huge part of who we are as a nation.

“Even if the theatre is of no interest to you, even if it feels like an elitist playground, it’s places like that that all the other creative industries feed off,” he says, adding that the arts make a significant contribution to the UK economy – nearly £11bn in 2016, more than agriculture.

Tennant’s career first developed in theatre. As a teenager in Paisley, the son of a Presbyterian minister, he became one of the youngest students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Even as his work in television and film has taken off, Tennant continues to be a regular on stage, especially with the RSC.

It faces a “titanic problem” in the pandemic, he says, having furloughed 90% of its staff. Government intervention is needed to support theatres until they can reopen, he says, but he is sceptical of it materialising. “If one felt more inclined to trust this government, one might relax, but they haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory thus far.” In fact, since I spoke to Tennant, the government has promised the arts and heritage sectors a rescue package worth £1.57bn, which the playwright and funding advocate James Graham described as “surprisingly ambitious”.

A longtime Labour supporter, Tennant appeared in an election broadcast in 2015 before becoming disillusioned with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership (to summarise various diplomatic responses to interviewers). Asked if he was a fan of Corbyn in 2017, he said he was a fan of the party – although its ambivalent position on Brexit (which Tennant has called a “shitshow”) was a sticking point.

Before last year’s general election, he said he was not even sure if he would vote for Labour. He did – to return Ruth Cadbury to her Brentford and Isleworth seat: “And, also, what was the actual alternative?”

He admits he found Labour’s defeat and the postmortem “disappointingly predictable”, although he still struggles to fathom how so many red seats turned blue. “How do you go from ever being a Labour supporter to supporting Boris Johnson?” he asks, dumbfounded.

He expresses some limited sympathy for politicians handed a pandemic when they thought they “were only going to have to talk about Brexit”. “But if you choose a cabinet purely to surround yourself with people who won’t disagree with you, you’re not necessarily getting the greatest brains in the country,” he says, although a caveat is quick in coming. “One might postulate, were that to be the case, and I’m not for a minute suggesting it is …”

Last year, Tennant singled out Michael Gove’s call for “enough of experts” as a “political lowpoint”. That attitude has had deadly consequences during the pandemic, I suggest. Now the government is “hiding behind them”, he agrees – “selectively, of course. If the experts then say: ‘We told them not to do that,’ suddenly they’re evil again.”

He shakes his head in despair. “Ugh! It’s a very sad state of affairs. Remember when there used to be clever people? When you look back on David Cameron and George W Bush with some kind of sentimentality, you think: ‘Jesus – how low have we plummeted, when they look like better options than what we’ve got currently?’”

Under Keir Starmer, Tennant says Labour “are looking a lot stronger”: “We’ve got a clever grownup in the room, which makes the other side look as ridiculous as they are. Let’s hope he can fulfil his early promise.”

Tennant has said he was inspired to act by watching Doctor Who at the age of three. When he was cast as the 10th incarnation of the Doctor, in 2005, he quipped that the first line of his obituary was written. Ten years since ceding the role to Matt Smith, Tennant remains as connected as ever to the programme, recording a new Doctor Who audio drama while in lockdown. “It’s a nice show to be associated with, because people feel kindly towards it,” he says. “You may not be a fan, but it sort of sits there in the cultural firmament. As a nation, I think we’re quite proud of it.”

Unlike many vehicles for British nostalgia, the malleability of the format has allowed Doctor Who to move with the times, he thinks. “It absolutely comes with all that nostalgic goodwill, but it also manages to live in the moment.

“It felt like a very different show in 2005 than it did in 1963, but it also has that link to the past – which is a positive, rather than preserving it in aspic in any way.” And the Doctor, defined by his (or her) kindness, a peaceful champion of the underdog, is “a wonderful character to aspire to. It’s about being the cleverest person in the room, not the strongest.”

Tennant, meanwhile, remains in his garden, the school pickup plan no more clear for all the messages sent back and forth over the threshold. “Probably would have been quicker just to go and have a conversation,” he says, cheerily. “But less fun for you, obviously.”

[zutaralesbian]

Top 5 lgbtq+ movies/tv shows

I have to admit that I haven't seen a lot of LGBT movies. The only thing I've seen is Love, Simon lol. So this is going to be mostly TV shows. I'm gonna be ranking them based on how much I personally enjoy them, not necessarily how quality the representation is. (For instance, I obviously think Black Sails has better LGBT rep than Killing Eve. But I like Killing Eve better as a show overall).

1. Killing Eve

I've always wanted a show that features a gay dynamic between two women as the main relationship and this show delivers in a very unique way lol. Both Eve and Villanelle are developed and fascinating characters and their dynamic is equally as interesting and captivating. It's truly such a fun show. The toxic wlw representation that I deserve.

2. Black Sails

If someone asked me to rec a show based purely on gay rep, this one would probably be it. Five canon lesbian/gay/bi characters. Four of which are mains. (One of them being the MAIN main character). On a PIRATE show. And while the characters aren't at all reduced to their sexuality, some of the arcs they go on has their sexuality play a part in their arcs in such a beautiful and organic way. (Especially Anne). I don't think it's flawless like some people say, but it has some truly great stuff and deserves more recognition.

3. Euphoria

This show is hella problematic tbh. But the main relationship is between a black wlw and a trans wlw. And they truly are the mains. They get the most screentime and interaction with each other. (I REALLY hope it stays that way in S2). And while the relationship has a a lot of issues, the actresses have great chemistry with each other and are portraying something truly beautiful imo. I have hope for Rue and Jules.

4. Love, Simon

I know some people shit on this movie now but I still love it lol. It was fun and lighthearted. And a lot of Simon's thought processes and experiences with coming to terms with his sexuality were REALLY relatable to me. You can tell that this movie was directed by a gay man. I haven't read the book it's based on and from what I've heard about the author, I don't think I ever will. But as a movie alone I find it very enjoyable.

5. The Fosters

I stopped watching this show because I got tired of Br*llie. (I did hear that it wasn't endgame though so maybe I'll catch up eventually lol). But in the early seasons, I think it has a lot to offer. We have Stef and Lena, an interracial lesbian couple who are very loving. We see them adopt and parent kids. And Jude is probably the only character I've seen realize he was gay at a really young age and I think that kind of rep is important because too many people act like kids are "too young" to know they're gay and that gayness is strictly an adult thing. I wish the stuff that irritated me about it didn't exist because it truly had a lot going for it as a show lol.

Honorable mention to Booksmart. I don't really classify it as an LGBT movie but I love that it depicted a loving friendship between a lesbian and a straight girl.

LGBT shows/movies I haven't watched yet but want to: Sex Education, Rafiki, Gentleman Jack, Moonlight, Tell it to the Beas, Siren, Killjoys

(I'm also always open to hear recs)

Thank you! 💕

ASK ME MY “TOP 5/TOP 10” ANYTHING!

[cookiedoughmeagain]

I was tagged by @misscrazyfangirl321 : Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions (don’t cheat!).

Haven

Buffy

Firefly (& Serenity)

Dollhouse

White Collar

1. who is your favorite character in 2? Spike. 2. who is your favorite in 1? Nathan mostly, closely followed by Duke and then closely followed by pretty much all of the rest of them. 3. what’s your favorite episode of 4? I'd probably say the series finale, because it does so much in such a short space of time, it shows us how magnificent seven seasons of this show could have been if they'd been allowed to make them, the writing and the acting is wonderful, and it is heartbreaking and tragic and hopeful all at once. It makes me cry and then it makes me want to watch the whole thing again. 4. what’s your favorite season of 5? Hmmm probably season 2. The whole U-boat plot is fun and there's not too much tragedy going on (so far as I recall). 5. who’s your favorite couple in 3? Simon and Kaylee are pretty cute:) 6. who’s your favorite couple in 2? Willow and Tara are very cute. 7. least favorite episode of 1? I'm going to go with 2.09 - Lockdown just because of how things go for Evi :( 8. favorite episode of 5? I can't think what it's called or really remember any of the specifics right now, but there is one where Neal and Peter basically have to go under cover as each other. It is the closest thing to a body swap episode you can get in a non-sci-fi thing, it's really well done and it's hilarious. 9. favorite season of 2? Hmmm let's go with 6. For all the Spike content;) 10. how long have you watched 1? I started watching season one I think at some point in 2014. Or in other words not long before the final season was airing :/ I am often late to things. 11. how did you become interested in 3? I saw that the creator of Buffy was behind a new sci fi show so I got my hands on it as soon as possible. Which iirc meant buying the DVD when it was released here, which fortunately meant I never had to watch any of the episodes in the wrong order. 12. favorite actor in 4? Well, they are all wonderful. Eliza Dushku does an amazing job with all the different characters (as do all the others who do that), but I'm going to say Tahmoh Penikett because he is the most 😍 13. which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5? I love all of them but Haven is the one that drew me into fandom, the one that I want to not only watch over and over but also watch all of the interviews and commentaries and whatever else I can find, the one that I want to know every single little thing about. I love Buffy, I've had it all on DVD for years and it's cheered me up some times when I've really needed it. But … I've had it on DVD for years and never watched any of the commentaries or extras whereas with Haven I am pouring over them. With Buffy I just want to watch it, with Haven I want to Know All Of The Things. So I don't know if I necessarily prefer Haven to Buffy but it is definitely the one that has worked its way into my head more effectively;) 14. which have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3? I've seen all of all of these. Haven has more episodes to it, but I've watched Firefly more times. 15. if you could be anyone from 4 who would you be? Oh jeez. None of them tbh. No one has a good time in that show. If I have to pick, I guess … maybe Adelle DeWitt. Because she has no super strength or special fighting skills but she is a badass anyway and she's damn stylish while she's doing it. 16. would a crossover between 3 and 4 work? Um, well, not easily given that Dollhouse is set round about now and Firefly is very much in the future. Potentially some kind of Dollhouse situation could be a kind of prequel to Firefly? Maybe? Or I suppose you could merge the concepts and have someone in the Firefly 'verse reinventing the Dollhouse technology. That could be interesting actually, I wonder what the Companion's Guild would make of that!! 17. pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely ok couple. Hmmm depends how unlikely you're going for I guess. I don't really see Duke/Dwight as a thing on screen, but people write really good fic for them, so maybe they're not so unlikely afterall. Dwight/Jennifer has maybe some potential but I just think she’s so tiny and he’s so huge he’d just squash her by mistake ;) 18. overall which show has a better storyline, 1 or 3? Oooof. I would argue that Haven has better character development (Firefly probably just didn't get the chance for it what with being cancelled so early) and interpersonal relationship development BUT it also has multiple not-insignificant and thoroughly intractable plot holes (which I guess is what you get when you have not one but two time travel episodes) so in terms of the overarching plot probably Firefly. 19. which has better theme music, 2 or 4? Oh that's tough. That's really… impossible because they're both great but OK Firefly.

An extra random little fact about these five shows - they are all linked by their cast: Eric Balfour is in Haven and also (the first two episodes of) Buffy. Nathan Fillion is in (the final season of) Buffy and also in Firefly. Alan Tudyk is in Firefly and also in Dollhouse. Eliza Dushku is in Dollhouse and also in (one episode of) White Collar (and also in Buffy!).

Tagging anyone who wants to do it - @dukewuornos @burgundysparked @mythoughtsaretroubled @parker-haven-wuornos @spankedbyspike @demisexualnathanvuornos @dickardgansey @whitneylj01 @serendipityxxi @queenbookwench @yumearashi if you need something to do have a go at these if you like, or feel free to ignore if not!:)

[beatriceeagle]

I know its not the tag but I would love for you to talk more about your thoughts on the good place season 3 and the latest season of Bojack. I agree with you completely, I love both of them but didn't find either season emotionally satisfying enough and a little cobbled together. (Although the eulogy ep of Bojack is one of my fav episodes of TV ever probably). ALSO, thoughts on American vandal? Season 1 or 2? Feel free to ignore this, I just think you talk about TV really coherently and well!

I can do this thing!

BoJack

I know I said that BoJack Horseman was showing its age in season 5, but I actually think there were a couple of things going on that made its latest season feel a little less satisfying than the previous three, and neither of them are really directly about how long its been running. For one thing, the characters still mostly aren’t in the same place. That was kind of an interesting dynamic in season 4, but at this point it’s starting to wear. They tried to ameliorate it using Philbert as a way to connect people, which was both smart and a lot of fun, but it still didn’t entirely work, somehow. BoJack, in particular, is kind of always off in his own story, because just about everyone in his life is keeping him at arm’s length.

Which ties into the other thing: This was a season about BoJack’s lonely toxicity, which is a story we’ve seen before, and after a certain point, a story that just gets very draining to watch. I remember, after season three, reading an interview with Raphael Bob-Waksberg where he said that the show needed to move on from the constant cycle of BoJack being self-loathing and destructive, hitting rock bottom, and realizing the need for improvement. That at a certain point, you had to say, okay, we’ve brought this character to his lowest point, and now it’s time to do something different.

And season 4 really was something different! As dark as it could be, season 4 was also a deeply healing season. BoJack fucks up, but he fucks up, you know? He is on an upward trajectory. And although the main cast is off in their own worlds, the addition of Hollyhock and Beatrice means that there is a very real sense of connection.

Whereas season 5 is the story of a backslide, and of isolation. And while I can appreciate that any story about recovery is going to necessarily include stories about relapse, this particular relapse was a season long and like five orders of magnitude darker than the immediately previous season. We’ve had three seasons of BoJack fucking up and doing nothing about it, and only one season of BoJack really learning. And so instead of feeling like, “Oh, okay, we’re still telling a story about a recovery, but we’re in the backslide part,” it feels like, “Oh, okay, this is fucking BoJack being BoJack, round five.”

I think that in the very admirable desire to reckon with BoJack’s previous actions on the show – which I do think is something that had to be done in some manner – Bob-Waksberg just lost sight a little bit of the larger picture of “doing something different.” Because fundamentally, I don’t believe that BoJack Horseman is a show that believes we’re stuck in an endless cycle of misery and toxicity. For all that it’s very tapped into the voice in our heads telling us that the world will always be like this, I don’t believe it’s a show that thinks we can’t change.

All of which is to say that I’m hopeful about season 6!

The Good Place

My central problem with season 3 of The Good Place is that it just got swallowed by Eleanor/Chidi. I don’t have a problem with Eleanor/Chidi in principle, but a) this is the third time we’ve done this plotline, and I’m not enough of a shipper that that works for me, and b) the particular way that Eleanor/Chidi is being handled is indicative of some broader problems in the show.

To start with, let’s talk about the fact that this is the third time we’ve done the Eleanor/Chidi plotline. At least one person’s mind has been wiped after every time, so we’re going to get some version of a fourth plotline, too. It’s too much. It needs to stop. 

There’s something inherently disconcerting about the way that The Good Place wipes its characters’ memories at the end of every season. It makes it hard to track character progression, and it can destroy really lovely dynamics in ways that are hard to get back. (I’m still in mourning for the Janet/Jason of season 1.) But it’s also weirdly freeing. In theory, it allows them to reinvent everything anew, anytime they want. They can have a season where Eleanor and Chidi are platonic partners in crime, and a season where they’re soulmates. They can have a season where Eleanor/Tahani actually happens, instead of just getting teased all the time. They could have a season where Chidi and Jason’s friendship takes a central focus, and wouldn’t that be amazing? They can have a season where no one hooks up at all, but they all still make each other better.

But despite having clear evidence of how interesting that could be – season 2′s “Dance, Dance, Resolution” – they’re really determined to quickly force everyone back onto the correct path, every time. And because they keep retelling this same story over and over, it forces them to construct a narrative that this story is preordained or destined, when we actually know for a fact that although these people always make each other better, there are plenty of timelines in which they do it very differently.

And although Eleanor/Chidi is the most obvious case of repetition, it’s really only a symptom of the larger problem. Janet/Jason has started to feel kind of tired – I loved watching those characters fall in love, but I had no need to watch them do whatever it was they were doing in season three – and frankly, I’m ready to see these people start interacting in some different configurations.  Because when I say that Eleanor/Chidi swallowed the back half of season three, I’m not really exaggerating. When was the last time that Eleanor had a plot with Jason? With Tahani? With Janet? When was the last time that Chidi had a meaningful plot with anyone who wasn’t Eleanor? There are only six people in this cast. It should not be that hard to develop their individual dynamics, but Chidi gets maybe one scene with Tahani a season, and Jason never seems to break out of the the Tahani-Janet bubble. These people all used to get plots with each other, but by season three, we’re spending so much time rebuilding Eleanor/Chidi and the Janet/Jason/Tahani dynamic and sending Michael and Janet off to do plot stuff, that the little time leftover generally has to go to ethical discussions.

It’s just a little disappointing. I was talking in an earlier ask about shows that are beholden to the Way Things Are Going to Be, and The Good Place is beset by that both in and out of universe – characters keep finding out who they were in love with in previous timelines and then realizing that they’re in love with them. It’s happened to Eleanor twice! The Good Place is a show that could be doing literally anything, and it’s using that power to put the same six characters through the same events over and over and over. We’re even back in the old neighborhood now.

This is all a very longwinded way of saying that, for a show that started out feeling breathtakingly daring, The Good Place has come to feel somewhat formulaic. It’s beholden both to its own specific formulas – the endless cycles of memory loss and relearning – and to Mike Schur’s preferred formulas of low-key epic romance, which Eleanor/Chidi very much fit into.

(My one actual problem with Eleanor and Chidi as a couple is that they’re built up to fit Schur’s Ben/Leslie paradigm of one, true, soul-altering, best-friendship love, without ever having been given the time to grow into that space. They never have more than a season to get to know each other at any one time, and every time they fall in love, there’s an element of someone first telling them that they should be in love. The best thing about Ben/Leslie and Jake/Amy is how specific and lived-in those relationships feel, even as they take on mythic weight within their shows, but Eleanor/Chidi are by necessity talked about way more than they’re lived in, so I have a really hard time connecting to them. Which is a shame, because I’m basically rooting for them. It’s just that despite all the time the show devotes to them, I feel like I’ve never really spent any time with them, as a couple.)

HOWEVER, and let me be very clear about this: I love The Good Place. It remains a perpetual bright spot in my week when it’s airing, which I wish it were doing all the time. Despite running into a bit of a standstill when it comes to the relationship dynamics, it remains wonderfully inventive from a worldbuilding and comedy perspective, it’s absolutely packed with detail and humor, it’s thoughtful and humane and warm, and I do love its ethics. And I love the characters! I’m just hoping that season four will push them to new places. Shake things up. Get back some of that sense of surprise that made season one so magnetic. And there is some reason to believe that it will: Most of the characters survived season three with their memories intact. The moral arc of the season took them from “improving each other” to “improving all others,” which is a huge step, and one that really distinguishes season four’s aim from the aim of all previous seasons. And Simone is there, which can only be great!

American Vandal

I’m not sure I actually have all that much to say about American Vandal except to say that it’s shockingly good and that its cancellation was a crying shame. I think that what made it such a watchable show was that it was such a perfectly executed version of the very thing it was parodying, and it really nailed every detail. There was no exaggeration or mockery, and if there had been, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. The humor was all about subject matter and scale.

I do remember wondering, in perfect true-crime docuseries fashion, how they were possibly going to pull off a second season, and then they did it. It’s a little broader than season one, a little more bloated -- it lacks the inherent joke that comes from comparing the size of the crime to the intensity of the documentary -- but it’s still just as fun to watch, and genuinely affecting by the end. Some of the performances are fantastic.

[soiread-blog1]

So, I read... Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston [Book Review]

I got to admit that at first, I thought I wasn’t going to like it. And I guess I still don’t like some things from the beginning? However, I was gladly surprised by the novel. At first I thought this was another story written by a straight white woman essentializing, fetishizing and fantasizing about gays; which kind of made me realize that I’m an asshole, as the author is not straight and I didn’t even took my time to research about the author. There’s room for growth in this blog, so I learnt my lesson. That being said, I don’t mean that straight people cannot write stories with LGBTQ+ characters or stories which main plot is about LGBTQ+ people; it’s just that sometimes it feels like a ‘token’ character for inclusion or that (mainly) gay men are cool just because they’re gay. I think that Becky Albertalli did a wonderful job when writing Simon vs The Homo-Sapiens Agenda, which makes sense as she worked as a child psychologist. Anyways. Did I like it? I has some issues with it, but I ended up loving it.

 Red, White and Royal Blue is about the son of the first female president of the US, Alex Claremont-Diaz. For a reason that is not really that important, Alex hates Henry, the Prince of England. And guess what? Henry hates Alex too. After being a drunk mess, Alex and Henry got into a really small fight, but they end up screwing the royal wedding cake. Of course, such a scandal ends up in the news, and in order to keep everything great, they have to spend time together to make people think they’re actually like best friends. It’s not really a spoiler, as it is on the back of the book, but they go from being a drunk mess (well, actually Alex was the only one drunk) to be a cute mess.

 I’ll start saying what I didn’t like because I want to end this review in a positive note, as I truly recommend the book. Also, most of what I didn’t enjoy have to with tropes that I personally don’t enjoy more than the quality of the book, so if you actually love what I don’t like it’s completely okay.

I know that it’s the trigger for the story to happen, and that’s why I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy the book, but I couldn’t like the fact that it was a foes-to-lovers story. It might be because I hate this trope, but I found the rivalry between to be kind of forced and very unnecessary. Their ‘hatred’ towards each other was only important on the first pages, so it didn’t work for me. I would’ve preferred if it was more like they met each other for the first time, or after years of a small talk they had, and start to know each other and ended up liking each other. However, that’s just a personal preference, so if you liked their rivalry, great for you.

Another thing that I didn’t enjoy that much was the ‘you have no friends’ stuff that was happening, especially because [SPOILER ALERT I GUESS] they told Alex that his sister and Nora could not be his only friends, but at the end of the book the only additions to this group are Henry and his sister. Don’t misunderstand me, this group of friends is amazing, I truly loved them. But I didn’t think it was necessary to say that over and over when it wasn’t going to be a great deal.

This is just a stupid complain that I have, but the first pages are super weird when it comes to the terms they use. First of all, for a while I felt that Alex and Henry were treated just as sexual body parts? Does that make sense? It was when the rivalry was still relevant. The first 50 pages (I think) were all about Alex’s ass and Henry’s penis. If you’re reading it for the first time, pay attention to that, because it’s so weird that it’s almost funny? Almost, though. And the other thing that called my attention was that, when they were not even friends yet, the terms used by the characters in order to refer to Alex and Henry’s ‘forced’ friendship (when it was still a plan) were related to couples. And I guess the author did this to ´foreshadow’ their relationship, but we already knew that that was going to happen, so I don’t really see the point on doing that.

And the last thing that I couldn’t stand of the book, for at least the first half of the book, was Alex himself. He was too much of an asshole, in my opinion. I know he’s the protagonist, but he made everything about himself. That’s even stated in the book, so I guess that was the point of it. Now, I hate the ´bad boy changed by the good girl’ trope, but this is completely different. At the end of the book I genuinely liked Alex, but because I could see him grow because of Henry’s influence. He was never a bad boy, just annoying. So, I truly appreciated that.

 Now to why I liked this book. Yay!

I was pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of bisexuality in this book. I thought that it was going to be the usual ‘and I suddenly discovered that I actually never liked women’. I know that it’s something that could happen in real life, but in media it tends to happen that bisexuality does not exist at all. You can just go from straight to gay. Because apparently the only letter in LGBTQ+ is the B. Speaking about that, I must admit that I said out loud ‘Yass. Bitch. Work.’ when I read ‘the B is not silent’. Not because of the impact in terms of narrative, but because it’s inherently political and related to our own reality. Also, Nora kind of acknowledges that realizing about your own sexual orientation just happens, and it’s not that you wake up at 3 AM with lights in your eyes while a storm is outside your window and a spirit comes to tell you ‘hunty, you gay’. Sorry if this seems confusing, but I had this picture in my head and I needed to write it.

Although some sex scenes were a bit confusing (which might be because English is not my first language), I was really pleased with the portrayal of safe sex as something important, even if it was just a glimpse of it. And I’m not only talking about condoms, but also the inclusion of lube as something important. I know that in 2019 is way easier to take care of yourself and your sexual partner when it comes to STI’s, it’s still important to keep acknowledging the significance of safe sex. Also, I loved that the author portrayed their sexuality as very versatile. I think that media tends to create a binary relationship, in which one has to be a top and the other one a bottom, when in reality that’s not necessarily how it works.

Even though I loved the film ‘Love, Simon’, one of my issues with the movie was that, in my opinion, it gave a little bit the message that being an asshole is okay if you’re suffering. So I was really moved by Alex when he stated that it was unfair for his sister and Nora to be treated as objects in order to cover the main couple. That’s what I mean by the ‘growth of Alex’, he realizes that it’s knot okay, and not only because he feels uncomfortable not being himself publicly.

I know it’s a touchy subject, so I appreciate the inclusion of the problematization and treatment of sexual harassment. I like that the author states that it’s not something about sexuality, but rather about having power over another human. I would like to know more about this situation, maybe in a spin-off or something like that.

 I truly recommend you this book, in case you haven’t read it. Consider that it has various sex scenes, in case you want to recommend it to a child or someone who’s sensitive about this, or more conservative or whatever. However, please consider that this is not only a cute story. Is very political about issues regarding the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a great book to read this pride month, as I think it ends making you feel hopeful about the world.  The world can change, but we need to fight for it. No one is going to give us our rights if we don’t fight for them. As the author says in the acknowledgements ‘Keep fighting, keep making history, keep looking after one another’.

 Story: (3.5/5)

As stated before, I wasn’t a fan of the premise. I do think is way better than I thought it was going to be, but the rivalry was unnecessary for me. And not only that, it didn’t work for me. However, it is a really cute and uplifting story, and I really enjoyed reading the book, so I only have problems with the beginning of the story.

Style: (3.5/5)

At the beginning I felt like the characters were not fully developed. By that I mean the narrator had to state ‘[character] is [adjective]’, instead of showing it. This is a bit dumb, but I also didn’t like the use of couple terms at the beginning. However, I do think the narrator is very good at being at Alex’s perspective. You know what he’s thinking, what he resents, even when he’s not talking. That also makes me think that it might be an unreliable narrator, which is great.

Narrative: (4.5/5)

It’s really easy to keep up with the reading. The emails make it more likable, in the sense that the way it tells you the story is not only through narrative, which feels kind of like a break. I love that, which might or might not be related to the references. What I didn’t like was a specific paragraph that I found unnecessary, and that at some points I found myself skipping some parts that I didn’t find engaging.

Characters: (4/5)

I love the wide variety of character. I felt that each of them was unique in many ways, so it was great. It might be because of the narrative, but I felt that the only character that was detached from his own reality was Alex. There’s a moment in which it is stated that he ‘genuinely care[d] about people’, but I didn’t start to feel that it was true until the end, so I don’t necessarily think it was well developed. I think the author had the idea of the Alex at the end but didn’t realize he wasn’t like that at the beginning. Again, I give it the benefit of the doubt because I want to believe that it was an unreliable narrator, but I don’t really know.

Overall: (3.8/5) Yes. I’ll give it 4 stars in Goodreads.

 Fun facts:

-          History, Huh?

-          I think it’s the longest review I’ve ever written.

-          kensingtonemail.com is the worst email I’ve ever seen.

-          I shared one of my favorite quotes a few days ago, in case you want to share it too.

-          When June was talking about Drag Race I couldn’t help myself and I wrote ‘I’m so into voguing right now’.

-          I didn’t took a picture of the book because… I read it on my kindle.

 You can also find me in Instagram, Goodreads and Pinterest: @soiread

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Shadowhunters 3x15, To the Night Children -- Review

You guys are in for a treat this week. I'm actually doing this review way earlier than I normally do. But make no mistake, this absolutely doesn't mean that I enjoyed this episode and I was just so excited to talk about it. Quite the contrary, I didn't enjoy this episode. Just like the previous episodes, I found this episode boring and completely unnecessary in the grand scheme of things as most Heidi centric episodes tend to be. Again, it leaves me with the questions, "what was the point?" and "when is the plot going to finally start?" So let's discuss Shadowhunters 3x15, To the Night Children.

I would like to preface this review with saying that I am NOT a huge supporter of this show. I do enjoy certain elements of it but I'm not what would be classified as a devoted fan. For me, Shadowhunters is not a good show and I do get very critical of the show in my reviews. Honestly, for me, I watch the show because 1) I'm too curious not to and 2) I find that this show can be so bad its funny and that's how I reap enjoyment out of it. I am not at all invested in this show or its characters anymore. I'm just watching to see what happens. If you're a die hard fan and you lash out at everyone who has a different opinion than you, you might want to skip these...I'm just saying. My reviews may not be for you. If you do decide to be a total troll, well then pay attention to the below disclaimer.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. If you're the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that's on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that's the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I'm not telling YOU how to think and feel. I'm telling you what I, quirky and socially awkward me, think and feel. So please, lets discuss with dignity and respect. If I'm critical about this show, it's only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters, I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It's great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn't mean I'm not going to point out the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do like the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my fondness for the books. I don't really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as the changes are good, it makes sense, and it doesn't create plot holes within the confines of the world the show has created. My problems with this show are problems I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it's perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world building, and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the books and movie. 

How is it possible that we're half a season in and we've only had filler episodes? Seriously, the endgame plot for this show better be something fantastic to make up for the pointlessness that has been these past few episodes. You could skip this episode and you wouldn't miss anything. 

What Is The Point of the Heidi Plot

Seriously, what even is the point of this plot? Particularly with how it was closed out in this episode. This plot did nothing for Maia's character arc, it did nothing for Simon's character arc, it was a complete waste of time. It was a horrible usage of what happened to Simon's family. None of our characters had any sort of emotional attachment to Heidi and I highly doubt any of the audience has any sort of emotional connection to her. No one cares about her so why on earth was there so much time the show doesn't have devoted to her? And I can now say that without a doubt that the Maureen plot done in the books was a 100x better than what happened here in the show. It was actually kind of epic. And this isn't me being mad that the show changed stuff from the books, this is me looking at the plot objectively and remarking that the books did it better. How does Heidi die in the show? Maia kills her for killing her pack, nothing more to it than that. How does Maureen die in the books? Via collusion between Lily the Vampire and Maia that results in an alliance between the vampires and the werewolves and effectively ending conflicts between the two parties that stems centuries; Lily becomes head of the vampire clan and Maia becomes alpha of the werewolf pack and together along with Magnus and Alec's guidance, they work through downworld drama one conflict at a time. What's the difference between the show outcome and the book outcome? Well, the book outcome has a lasting impact on the world, it actually does something for Maia's character arc, it gives her agency. What does the show outcome do? It gives Maia vengeance, I guess. I'm not sure what else. And to be perfectly honest, it's never felt like show!Maia was all that connected to the pack to begin with. It always kind of felt like she hung around them because she was obligated to and not because she genuinely thought of them as family. The only wolves she really socialized with were Luke, Jordan, and Bat. 

And I think it's a little unfair of Simon to be looking down on Maia for killing Heidi considering it's not like he hasn't done the exact same thing for Clary before. Maia had every right to take vengeance for her pack especially when we just proved in an earlier scene that Alec had made a deal with Heidi. In Maia's eyes, it looked like she wasn't going to get justice for the pack. And can I just say how utterly pointless it was that so much work was put in to bring that girl out of her coma to "out" Heidi when Maia literally killed Heidi in the very next scene. They wasted so much time on that when they could've been doing something with the actual plot.

Malec Stuff, I Guess

What was Malec up to in this episode? Well, they were dealing with the implications of Magnus losing his apartment. Alec is letting Magnus stay at the Institute but the other shadowhunters aren't super fond of that idea. And in the biggest surprise I think we've gotten in the entire series, there's an actual cafeteria where shadowhunters actually congregate and eat with each other. I had no idea. I was honestly contemplating the possibility that they might not even eat, period. Seriously, why don't they use this cafeteria setting more often? It would be so much more interesting instead of scenes constantly being done in the war room. But as Magnus walks into the cafeteria with Alec, everyone just kind of stares at him like he's the new kid at school or something. Magnus contemplates that maybe they should go out to eat and Alec tells him not on "pancake day" and I'm very confused by this. Does NYC not have anywhere that serves pancakes? The NYC Institute must be serving some bomb-ass pancakes, let me tell you. These better be pancakes so awesome they would make the angels weep. Highly doubtful considering what I saw on the plates looked barely edible. And apart from the questionable pancakes, I did notice something else in this cafeteria scene. Alec goes to sit next to Clary and Magnus sits next to Alec. And just the body language Alec and Clary had sitting next to each other was just so much more positive and open than the body language of Magnus and Alec sitting next to each other. And Clary's body language was certainly more open towards Alec than it was to Jace. Honestly, it felt like Alec and Clary were the ones romantically involved with each other. While I don't ship Clalec by any means, I can't help but notice their chemistry and its certainly more pallatable than the chemistry Kat has with Dom or the chemistry Matt has with Harry. I'd be very interested in visiting the alternate universe in which Matt was the one who played Jace. 

But there's a little bit of drama when Magnus is talking with this other shadowhunter dude, and the shadowhunter dude reveals he's glad that Magnus and Alec worked things out. You know, that fight they swept underneath the rug in 3A? You might think this is finally the moment in which that conflict will actually be dealt with. You would be mistaken. There was enough time to highlight some Clave bigotry but apparently not character development it would seem, that's Shadowhunters for you, though. The whole debacle is laughed off as jealousy and ends with Magnus saying he doesn't mind if Alec airs their relationship's dirty laundry with his co-workers. And I'm just like, "What?!" Who could possibly be okay with something like that?! I tell you, this show is trying really hard to avoid that whole immortality conflict. But my question to the writers is if you didn't want to deal with it, why on earth did you bring it up in 3A to begin with? It was pointless then and you're treating it as if it's pointless now. Can we please have these two deal with a conflict like the actual adults they're supposed to be?

And this all culminates into Alec and Magnus deciding to move in together as throughout this episode Alec had been realizing he can't be an effective leader if he doesn't follow the same rules as those who are under him. Since it's against the rules for a downworlder to stay at the Institute, Alec and Magnus decide to find an apartment and move in together. And this whole leader business kind of showcases why I don't necessarily like that Alec is the head of the Institute this early into his character arc. This whole being a stickler for following the rules and then not following the rules and then following the rules again. It's far easier for your heroes to bend the rules if they're not in this position and at the end of the story, Alec's character arc is to become a leader so he can now make the changes he wants. But with Alec in this kind of situation, it's just kind of a "bleh" character arc that really doesn't go anywhere and it's full of plot contrivances and whatnot. Alec hasn't made any changes to the system at all and it's become quite evident that the Clave doesn't trust him and it really leaves you questioning why the Clave continues to leave him in charge.

But anyway, the episode ends with Magnus having a seizure and Alec calling out for help. What is up with this season's awkward endings? Sheesh. And I guess now we're going to have another filler next week to deal with this BS as well. 

The Plot This Episode Should've Focused On

We have Clary trying to deal with her own guilt about letting Jonathon go in the previous episode and it just keeps on highlighting how I dislike how this story is being handled. Jonathon basically arrives to taunt Clary about the fact that she can't do anything to him and once again, can we get this plot going already? It's taking forever. Even though I still hate how this show is executing this plot. Clary basically has no sense of agency, there's no kind of personal reflection in it. It's like the show is doing the bare minimum to get by with it. Probably because they have so little time to actually do anything with it so they're trying to keep it as minimal and simple as possible. But this is one of those things where I don't want it to be simple. I still think Jace would be a better option in terms of being the subject of Jonathon's obsession. The show wasn't willing to do the Clace incest angle so why are they so ready to dive into this incest plot? Obviously, I know why. It's because Jonathon's evil. Shadowhunters has never been known for its subtlety. 

Miscellaneous Stuff

There's an altercation between Clary and Aline in which they're sparring and Aline is making it very obvious that she wants to hurt Clary if it'll hurt Jonathon, maybe even kill her. It eventually gets out of hand when Clary loses control and starts beating the crap out of Aline basically. Jace pulls Clary away and asks Aline not to turn Clary in and I'm just rolling my eyes at this point. What does this show have against holding Clary accountable for anything...or admitting that she’s selfish, for that matter? I am kind of happy that we got a character here in the form of Aline who doesn't automatically worship the ground Clary walks on, though. It's about time. Clary is so worshipped on this show that I'm beginning to think she has a bigger ego than book!Jace. Just serves to further prove that Clary has way more in common with Valentine than she does with Jocelyn. And wouldn’t that be an awesome character arc for her? Where she has to come to terms that she has a bit more of her father in her than she cares to admit?

Clary has a conversation with Luke at the precinct and Luke tells her he's planning on holding himself accountable as he feels guilt for leaving the pack and potentially leaving the pack wide open for this kind of attack. Clary tells him he shouldn't and while this certainly wasn't Luke's fault, I can respect what Luke is doing here. It's too bad Clary doesn't understand the concept of holding oneself accountable when you feel you've done wrong. But she convinces Luke to stop with his current way of thinking because she still needs her father and I'm just like, "Since when?" When has it ever been shown that she's needed Luke in any sort of fatherly capacity. She certainly didn't need Jocelyn. I mean she decided to use the wish to bring back a guy she's only known a couple of months as opposed to her mother, her entire motivation for all of Season One. But whatever, I guess. 

Izzy decides to prosecute Raphael due to the role he played with Heidi. And once again, I don't understand the whole point of all of this. It's a thing that happened I guess so I suppose I should take note of it. And once again, we're stuck on this whole Rizzy thing and I can't stand it. 

As I mentioned earlier, this episode was hammering pretty hard on our heroes needing to quit bending the rules and follow them full-scale and it's just something that leaves me very confused on. Because it's not like they don't know the Clave has been doing some shady shit. So it's like they're turning a blind eye when they're making these kinds of decisions. And I'm particularly confused about why Simon is so big on this whole followoing the rules thing. When has that been a prevalent aspect of his character arc? 

This episode continues to make me ask the questions, "What was the point?" and "When is the plot going to start?" I'm sick of these filler episodes. This episode gets a C for me. It's an episode that's just kind of there. As always, let's hope for better next week.

[hellyeahheroes]

Characters That Should Be In Young Justice S3, Part 4: Legacy

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Many characters in Young Justice are connected by the theme of legacy, being sidekicks of heroes from Justice League or in another way following their footsteps. As such, this time I looked at characters that could continue with this theme and expand on it, carrying a legacy of characters we already have seen on the show, or others, whose history we haven’t yet explored.

Number Ten: Firestorm

Firestorm is a weird character in that he went through multiple identities and adaptations are happy to cherry-pick for their own interpretation. In Justice League Action it’s a teenage Ronnie Richmond and professor Stein, in Batman; the brave and the Bold it’s adult Ronnie and teenage Jason Rusch, in Injustice 2 it’s Jason and Stein and in Legends of Tomorrow it’s Stein and an adult Jason. In New 52 it was teenage Ronnie and Jason as separate Firestorms who could fuse into one bigger Firestorm called Fury. And that’s not even getting into characters like Firehawk, Gehenna or Mikhail Arkadin that were thrown into the mix over the years. Or that time with fire elemental. As such, I feel it would be interesting to see Young Justice’s take on the concept. Maybe we could have multiple people able to merge into different Firestorms, with their own relationships and conflicts, with the Team or the Light trying to gain some of them as allies?

Number Nine: Jessica Cruz Green Lantern

As I’ve mentioned recently, DC Rebirth managed to push Jessica to the popularity that allowed her to become the representative of Green Lantern mythos in both DC Comics Bombshells and DC Superhero Girls. I’d say let’s strike the iron when it’s hot and give her appearance in Young Justice. While the concept of multiple Green Lanterns isn’t new in this Universe and has lead to a pretty nice joke about Guy Gardner in season one, we never had a Green Lantern actually working with the Team and while Jess is an adult, she is a rookie so it would make sense for her to be assigned to the Team first. For the better fun, I’d also suggest bringing in her partner and fellow Lantern, Simon Baz - I want to see them in the early days, clashing and bickering and the Team having to help them get along, before developing beautiful friendship we know from comics.

Number Eight: Mary Marvel

Fun fact: Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. actually are supposed to exist in Young Justice Universe - one bit of obscure information reveals they operate under codenames Laurietant Marvel and Sergeant Marvel. It never came to be, but honestly, I’d love to see it happen - in a more serious, dramatic and sometimes the outright dark world of Young Justice a ray of sunshine here and there won’t hurt and she could fill nicely in the spot missing since Billy stopped being a regular part of the team now.

Number Seven: Tanya Spears Power Girl

Tanya is a relatively fresh character in DC universe, but she already managed to leave an impression and gain few fans and her appearances in Deathstroke prove she can work very well in darker stories as well, especially in contrast between her naivety and idealism and more cynical people around her. Being a super genius who can change the size and has super strength makes her a kind of addition the Team doesn’t really have and her connection to Superman family allows us to have a character from it without someone with similar powers stealing Conner’s thunder. And, as a bonus, in the previous part I have brought up introducing second, younger Wally West from New 52 to Young Justice - seeing how these two are now friends and looking out for each other, I wouldn’t mind seeing it on screen.

Number Six: Kevin Kho O.M.A.C.

O.M.A.C. lives....SO THE MAN CAN LIVE! Holly shit is the concept of O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps) just freaking awesome or what? A normal person turned into a literal one-man army by a supercomputer on a satellite, Brother Eye. Be it to carry orders of mysterious and maybe not so benevolent as it looks Global Peace Agency or Brother Eye’s own agenda, he is a force to be reckoned with. There were multiple incarnations of the character over the years, but New 52′s Kevin Kho or his teenage version from DC Rebirth, Kevin Cho, seems best suited for a story in modern times. And it helps in this version O.M.A.C. is basically the Hulk - powerful, giant monster that can give even toughest enemies a pause. Carrying orders that not necessarily need to align with the Team’s mission, he could as well be a valuable ally or a dangerous enemy. That being said, Kirby’s original 70′s series was years ahead of its time and I’d gladly see if some of its influences or antagonist have found their way into Young Justice. Especially with how it’s been implied that story’s O.M.A.C. is being manipulated and his superiors are not as good as he thinks.

Number Five: Stargirl

A legacy character to both Starman and Star-Spangled Kid, Courtney already has made her way into other shows, having minor roles in Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League Action. As such I’m interested in seeing what would be the take on her from writers of Young Justice. She is another one of those characters who can bring more optimism in darker moments, but also have some potential for drama on her own (especially if we go with New 52 version where she is motivated by the death of her brother). For a bonus, she was a love interest for Captain Marvel and YJ Billy should be of that age by now, so...

Number Four: Emiko Quinn Red Arrow and Number Three: Connor Hawke Green Arrow

Arrow family is strong on Young Justice, with Artemis as one of the main characters, not one but two Roy Harpers and Arrowette coming to join the cast and some small but sometimes surprisingly emotional appearances by Oliver Quinn himself. So why not add more? I could totally see Emiko, Olivier’s half-sister and Connor, his son, as his newest protegees and potential recruits to the Team or allies helping them on occasion. I’d love to see either of them interacting with Artemis in particular.

I also have a different idea - Green Arrow was beating himself on how he has failed Roy Harper, both of them and even more on the supposed death of Artemis. Maybe we could see him trying to somewhat do better by retiring as a Green Arrow and becoming a full-time mentor for younger members of the Team...while his City is protected by new Green and Red Arrow, who obviously show up from time to time?

Number Two: Zachary Zatara

Zachary is Zatanna’s cousin, who also possess magical abilities like her. He does have a different personality, being more arrogant and confident with his magic. He calls himself the world’s most popular teenage magician. While not earning many friends, he does seem to gain fans in and out of Universe. In Young Justice, his addition could be interesting both because Zatanna herself was a part of the Team and he could be a great contrast to her for the fans. But also because of the fact Zatanna is now on Justice League. And so is Doctor Fate. I can totally see him calling her out for not having yet saved her father and his uncle from Fate but outright working with the guy who took Giovanni from them. And I can certainly see him trying to do something about it himself.

Which leads us to our last entry on the list

Number One: Khalid Nassour Doctor Fate

I never really forgave myself sleeping on when DC You Doctor Fate book launched. So here is a small bit to make up for it. I want Khalid to show up in Young Justice and take a part in finally saving Zatanna’s dad from the Helmet of Fate and then put it on himself, maybe figuring a way how to not end in the same situation as Giovanni and others before him (he is Kent Nelson’s grand nephew, he could have found a way). He is an interesting character in his own right and I want him to have more spotlight.

- Admin

[wingsofwriting]

So I read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda after seeing Love, Simon

Warning: Spoilers but not super major ones (I’m not gonna reveal who Blue is directly, but I may imply it in ways that make it obvious). And I’m definitely talking bout some important plot points in detail. So you’ve been warned.

What follows below is most my rambling on why I love both the book and the movie. Even though they are quite different in some ways. And some rambling about why i think certain changes were made.

I feel like the book and the movie both set out with different purposes, and as such, they told similar but different stories. They both have their strengths and their weaknesses, and it’s okay cuz both of them are clever, delightful, insightful and heartfelt. Also, I love that there were several important moments that the movie was utterly faithful to. I love when I find book to movie translations that have lifted dialogue wholesale. It makes for better movies.

The movie set out to be exactly what it’s becoming. The first positive gay love story from a major media outlet. It set out out to be a feel good film but still an emotionally heartfelt love story. A movie that’s a little about coming out. A little about being a teenager. A lot about growing up. And a lot about being the movie that it’s about goddamn time we had.

The book sets out with a simpler purpose. It has less to prove. Beautiful, heartfelt, happy gay love stories have existed with decent popularity in YA fiction for awhile now. It’s a good book and important still in some of the themes it tackles (ones the movies still tackles), but it’s not necessarily as groundbreaking. It’s important, and I don’t mean to trivialize it, but it’s also in this regard not the very first of its kind.

There’s things I like in both better than in the other one. And this is all personal preference, but I kinda want to talk about those, and I think it comes back to what places in the book and movie have in the cultural and social context that makes them have to tackle the narrative slightly different.

First, things I think the movie did better.

The quest for Blue in the movie was more enjoyable for me than in the book. I liked Simon seeing Blue in everyone he met rather than being mostly certain for a good portion of the narrative that it was one person (and being wrong in that). And I think this fed a little bit into the movie really pushing forward that idea of ‘why should straight be the default.’ The book certainly touches on this, but the movie works to really drive this point home. So Simon seeing the potential for all these boys to not be straight works to forward that. Because for LGBT people that’s how we perceive the world.

Though this is not to say there’s not value in the way the narrative is told in the novel. The novel in many ways feels more how something like this would actually go. Because it’s very clearly that Simon has a crush on this one kid, so clearly he’d hope for him to be Blue. That makes sense. But I think the movie grants more way to the potential that any one could be gay. So anyone could be Blue. And I found that more enjoyable and impactful.

Simon’s parents. Overall, I liked Simon’s parents more in the movie. And that awesome, awesome seen in the movie with Simon’s mom was a stroke of brilliance, and I’m legitimately sad it wasn’t in the book. I also find the plot of Simon coming home drunk better in the movie. Though I kinda wish I could combine how the movie did it and how the book did it. I think that’d be my ideal handling of that scene. There were still good moment’s with his parents in the book, but all those scenes still existed in the movie, and I think they handled them infinitely better in the movie.

It felt more like his parents got that their child coming out needed to be handled gingerly in the movie better. Which, with the movie having it’s point to make, it needed. It needed the parents to be awkward, but ultimately they had to be the leaders in acceptance, not Simon. The book could take some more freedom in that and so his parents could handle the whole situation slightly worse. Be a little less perfect. But the movie hit me where I live a bit stronger just because it’s amazing to see that model of how parents should handle their kid coming out.

Also the scene with Simon and his dad and apologizing for his jokes. It’s in both the book and movie (one of the scenes where dialogue was basically lifted wholesale). But in different spots in the narrative. In the movie, it feels like Simon’s dad realized his insensitivity on his own. While, in the book, Simon had to push him forward. Overall, it made the scene better in the movie. Because it implied self-growth from consideration, rather than from being confronted directly with the fact that he’d implicitly hurt his kid.

Simon’s friends, particularly Leah. I simply bought that they were friends better in the movie. In the book, they seemed to not really have anything in common with Simon. And just kinda be friends of convenience (which may be true to the high school situation but is to something I would expect teenagers to realize). Also, Leah was just better in the movie, except for one thing (though her having a crush on Simon in the movie worked, but it wasn’t necessary). I don’t like the whole dynamic between Leah and Abby in the book. It seemed pointless.

I’ll have to see how I feel about Leah in her book, but I figure she’ll be a more developed character, as it often felt like she was shoved to the sidelines in the main narrative of Simon’s story. I do however think that both handled the fallout with Simon’s friends from Martin’s blackmailing, differently, but equally well.

Creeksecrets. This one simply comes down to mechanics. But I can’t fathom how Creeksecrets works as a Tumblr in the book. Like, Tumblr doesn’t function in a way that anyone can just post to a random tumblr page. It has to go through a moderator before it could ever be posted. Martin could not just randomly post his thing outing Simon without at least one other person being complicit in it (and then go back and later delete his own post). I don’t know how it’s supposed to function in the movie, but I imagined something more like the Whisper app. Which makes more sense. Though I will say I do like how it’s not as BIG of a deal in the book. Like it’s a big deal to Simon, but it’s not like everyone in the school immediately knows everything that happens on Creeksecrets cuz they’re all just constantly tuned to it. That treatment, at least, seems more real than how the movie does it.

Things I liked better in the book.

The relationship between Blue and Simon (both pre- and post-reveal). This simply worked better in EVERY WAY in the book. And it comes down to the book’s focus. The book has less focus on the politics of coming out than the movie. Because it has the freedom to be less focused. So it doesn’t have to grant as much focus to the things I mention above. Instead, it can be this gorgeous, funny love story between two boys.

I didn’t realize it initially watching the movie because i hadn’t read the book. But Blue is actually largely sidelined (while also not being, it’s weird) in the movie. Like who Blue is is still very much a focus of the movie. But we don’t actually get to know him very much? They do attempt to balance this out a bit more by developing who Blue is a bit more than he is before being revealed in the book. But you can miss that if you don’t know who Blue is.

And we get so much more of Blue (and by extension who he is) in the book. Since we see so much more of their emails in the book. And it works. And I love that it works. It foregrounds the love story. Two boys just falling in love. Which is it’s own statement. Perhaps a less bold one than is ultimately shown in the movie. But just as important in the end.

How this wasn’t a THE whole school new everything type story. This is entirely the fault of Hollywood and how it approaches high school. But I do like that while Simon’s whole world was being shook. And the school was certainly gossiping, it wasn’t like everyone was tuned into Simon’s life. And that Blue’s reveal was private and just for them. The whole declaration with the ferris wheel and everyone deserving a great love story. That’s gorgeous in it’s own right. But it felt more special in the book for it to be just between them.

The presence of more queer characters. This is simple. But it’s important to mention. In the movie there are arguably three present queer characters and a fourth mentioned. And there all gay men. The book doesn’t have too many more in physical presence, but more are mentioned and I’d say some even implied. But their presence is larger and there is more variety. Do I wish both had a little more? Yes. But the book handled this better. Easy.

Things that I liked about equal but deserve discussing.

Martin, how he blackmails Simon and the particular nature of him outing Simon. There’s a few differences but this functions over all largely the same in the book and movie. However, I feel like Martin’s character is important to discuss. From what I can tell people revile him. And I get that, I do. The guy’s a dick. A colossal dick. But, here’s the thing, I don’t think he’s ever deliberately malicious. Like, he’s selfish and his actions are very much all about serving himself. But I do genuinely believe he had no clue how harmful his actions are. Which makes him all the more important as a character. It’s the same as Simon’s dad’s jokes. It’s putting a spotlight on even when you don’t mean to be harmful, you can still be. And guess what the people you’re hurting are still allowed to be mad at and hate you for it. Like. I love that in both the book and movie, Simon doesn’t forgive Martin. Simon shouldn’t forgive Martin. But both do a good job of showing that Martin has at least learned to be slightly more considerate through this experience.

It isn’t a redemption arc, but it is an educating arc. It teaches people that when you hurt somebody. It doesn’t matter how much you try to make amends. You still hurt them, and they’re in no way obligated to forgive you.

And maybe this comes a little bit from me being 27 and watching a movie and reading a book about high schoolers. But I do fully believe Martin could learn and could learn and grow as a person to be an amazing ally. And that this could be the beginning of his journey.

Doesn’t stop him from being a colossal dick. But that potential is there. And it’s important that it is. Because people, with a little effort, can learn. And we can all learn to be better allies and more understanding of others. (Which is actually part of Simon’s journey too, which makes the fact that it’s part of Martin’s journey more important).

~

Overall, I really enjoyed both the book and the movie. The movie is so important and I don’t think I need to fully touch on that. There’s plenty of people already doing that already. It’s a movie we deserved years ago, and I’m so glad we’re finally getting it. And i hope it’s just the beginning of many more movies like it to come.

Also, I feel this is one situation where I really enjoy the fact that the book and the movie take different approaches to the same narrative. It allows each to serve it’s own purpose and goals, and still tell wonderful, happy stories. There are a few changes the movie made that are a bit unnecessary (the inclusion of the vice principal even though he’s a funny character, deleting Alice,  and the entire Halloween sequence). And there’s small changes in it made that make sense mainly because they served to reduce complexity. But most of the major changes they made were educated decisions. Designed to highlight different parts of topics discussed in the books. Very rarely did the changes feel like they were changed just because. They were thoughtful and insightful in those changes. And it shows the care put into the movie.

But both are really well made and really fun and enjoyable and important. It’s good that both of them exist. And I’d highly recommend that anyone who hasn’t read the book but enjoyed the movie to read the book. It’s a quick read (I read it in about three hours all told). And it’s worth it. If only because Blue is utterly adorable and I don’t think they captured that enough in the movie.

[nylonsandlipstick]

Hi there, would you mind explain why you consider cc and tmi books problematic? I mean they are a somehow flat especially compare to tid/tda but I don’t think i would called them problematic. As for Claire I have hear people to complain about her in the past but always judging by her books I can’t see why. Now this not to say you are wrong or anything like that. I’m just curious on the matter.

Hi! First I’d like to thank you for being so polite in your ask! I know a lot of CC and TMI fans, even casual fans, can be very rude about anyone who views CC or TMI negatively.

So, I’ll start with the analytical book stuff and then go on to the author gossip so that you can have some legit criticism and then read the gossip-y stuff if you’d like and I’ll even direct you to some posts that explain certain things in better details and offer sources so that it doesn’t seem like I’m just offering a bunch of baseless rumors. Also, be warned, I write long analytical posts as I have no chill lol so this post is going to be rather long even though I'll try to cut to the chase.

The Mortal Instruments books aren’t the best books I’ve ever read, not even by a long shot, but the plot itself isn’t problematic. While I don’t like how the books come off more as a series of events strung together by a halfhearted central plot with rather bland and one-dimensional characters, it’s not those things that make the books problematic but rather the characters and the way Clare handles them.

Let’s start with Clary since she’s the main character. She’s rather bland and just really whiny (not a character I disliked or liked, she kind of feels…there) but what makes her problematic is just how she seems to hate all female characters that are prettier than her and could be possible love-interests for Jace. The books give her a weird relationship with Izzy but it’s nowhere near a friendship. She’ll spend so much time kind of side-eyeing Izzy and judging Izzy for how she dresses and basically slut-shaming Izzy and it’s not even because Clary doesn’t like girls that dress like that and sleep around but rather just because she believes that Izzy is a main contender in the competition of winning over Jace. One thing I don’t like that Clare did was play on that stupid trope of girls only seeing each other as competition for a guy (we even see a bit of that in TID with Tessa immediately viewing Jessie as competition for Will but, thankfully, moving past that quickly as she understands that Jessie has no interest in either Will or Jem for that matter). I also really disliked that Clary uses Simon during that godforsaken faux incest plot just to make Jace jealous (which is so wrong on so many levels, but I’ll get to the incest later). Clary also used Alec’s sexuality as leverage against him which is so wrong (Alec’s reaction to Clary realizing his sexuality wasn’t great either).

I think Clare just doesn’t know how to make good female characters in the first place as she makes Izzy super bad too. She’s written as a character that’s supposed to be a slut in no uncertain terms, and that’s just so bad. It’s not like Clare even tries to make it so that Izzy is super comfortable in her body and everyone accepts her because the way she dresses doesn’t make for her intelligence and her ability to fight (which we all know she’s good at). Clare just makes Izzy a pretty face with nothing but boys and how to dress provocatively on her mind, which I don’t think is necessarily bad, if it weren’t for the fact that Clare makes those things out to be bad. I absolutely adore female characters that love dressing up and love constantly dating and don’t care much for fighting if they’re properly developed because I’m so tired of the “I hate dresses and makeup and I’m not like other girls, I’m one of the guys” female characters that are just so annoying at this point. Clare just acts like being feminine and being comfortable in your body are such bad things when that’s not supposed to be true at all. And Izzy really isn’t even there as an actual main character but rather to make Clary seem like the better of the two girls because she’s not what Izzy supposedly represents (femininity and sexuality) and eventually only there as Simon’s love interest (so to further a male character’s love story).

So, as of now, Clare really isn’t seeming like the feminist she claims she is as she not only poorly represents her female characters, she uses them to further male story-lines and there is a huge difference in the female to male ratio in the series (the story is honestly so male-dominated and there’s no balance in female and male characters whatsoever, e are about three main female characters with a dozen of main male characters).

Jace really isn’t problematic in his characterization like Clary or in what he does aside from the faux incest subplot. He’s definitely unlikable and a total Bad Boy trope with untapped potential for being an amazing multi-dimensional character and has an unnecessarily complicated backstory but that’s not really bad outside of writing-wise. So, because I really don’t want to push it off anymore, I’m going to talk about the incest subplot. First of all, incest should very much not be used as some sort of obstacle a couple has to go through to prove their love for each other or whatever. Anything else would have been better, even having Izzy as a legitimate love interest for Jace would have been better. I found it just so uncomfortable having to read through that Seelie Court scene. And the fact that Jace and Clary continued to have feelings for each other and didn’t even try to squash their feelings down and try to see each other as full-blooded siblings just made it all worse. I was so relieved when Valentine admitted that he pretended to be Jace’s father (again, the unnecessarily complicated backstory)…then almost threw up when Sebastian came in and showed romantic interest in his own sister. I understand that Sebastian is supposed to be creepy and unlikable, but, damn, Clare could have done without the incest subplot. It makes it all more irksome that Sebastian is very aware that Clary is his full-blooded sister and yet he still somehow can’t control his feelings for her? The only time I want to see any incest in any form is in an episode of Law & Order: SVU where the main detectives spend the entire episode denouncing incest and calling it wrong in every aspect.

One of the bigger problems I had in the series was Alec. So that you know, I do not like Alec at all, and don’t care for him. Just because Matthew Daddario plays him in the show doesn’t mean I suddenly like show!Alec over book!Alec (although show!Alec has some redeemable traits). I don’t like him at all, period. That way you know that my criticism about Alec isn’t because “Well show!Alec is better and book!Alec this and that, and Matthew plays him which makes him so much better” as I’ve seen a lot of people do. Matthew seems like a kind and likable dude, but I cannot just get behind Alec at all. Aside from being such a stoic and bland character (I don’t really do serious characters, they’re not very fun and they remain rather static throughout stories which is boring), Alec is such a gross character and such a poor excuse for homosexual representation. I think it’s so sad that Clare made her only gay (male homosexual, I only specify since gay is used as a blanket term a lot of the times) character so unlikable and very biphobic. Not only does Alec threaten bodily harm to Clary so that she doesn’t reveal his sexuality (which is a huge no-no, that’s a terrible way to handle a closeted character’s anxiety over coming out), when Alec’s sexuality is finally revealed, it’s in Simon’s point of view which is just so…ugh. Alec is such a huge slut-shamer too; he’s right on par with Clary. He spends so much time egging Magnus about his past relationships and acting like Magnus, a hundred-something years old man, would never have had any relationship before Alec at all. What makes Alec’s slut-shaming so much worse is that it always points back to Magnus’s bisexuality. As a bisexual myself, I hate seeing people slut-shaming us bisexuals (when we’re not being out right ignored, that is) because we go both ways. It’s as if a heterosexual or homosexual isn’t as likely to cheat or be sexually promiscuous at all. It’s just so gross and uncomfortable and what made me absolutely despise Alec. And anyone, even a bisexual, who supports Alec’s biphobia because it’s “realistic” should remember that the Shadowhunter world is full of angels, demons, werewolves, vampires, and magical objects with few poc and lgbt+ characters; CC is far from realism at this point, she could have done without the biphobia.

Magnus isn’t perfect either as he’s so unnecessarily rude to Alec for not coming out quickly and basically attacking Alec for not admitting his sexuality to everyone. You’d think that Magnus, a bisexual man born in the nineteenth century, would understand that it would be difficult for Alec to come out as gay and that he should be so supportive of Alec and help him through it.

Racial/ethnic and sexual representation is at such a minimum and Clare just doesn’t seem to know how to handle her poc and lgbt+ characters properly at all. We have only four lgbt+ characters, one of which is biphobic (Alec), two whom are super minor and there to further other characters’ stories (Magnus and Aline), and one who doesn’t even appear much in general (Helen) and the only two lgbt+ relationships in the entire TMI series seem to have to go through so many obstacles that either the heterosexual relationships don’t have to go through or if they’re in a similar circumstance is easily resolved (like the immortality question for Malec is somehow unable to be resolved and actually made more difficult while Sizzy resolve the immortality question so quickly and easily). And as far as I can remember, most of the TMI characters are very white. The only non-white/ethnic representation we get are Simon (Jewish), Maia (biracial, black and white I believe), Aline (Chinese, if I remember correctly), Magnus (biracial, Indonesian and Dutch), and Jordan (ethnically and racially ambiguous). That’s five characters that I can remember from a very, very long list of characters. So, Clare isn’t much of a good white ally either.

Those are just some of my main problems with The Mortal Instruments books that I feel make them problematic. I know some people can pull out a lot more things I forgot as it’s been a while since I even touched those books. I understand that those books were her first ones to be published and writing changes (as seen in her other series), but Cassandra Clare as a person really does not seem to change.

I’m not as well versed in the problems with Cassandra Clare so I’ll link you to a couple of posts as I give my brief points that explain everything better and give sources (because in situations like these, sources are necessary so that you don’t come off as some Gossip Girl).

So, for Cassandra Clare, you’ll have to bare with me as she’s done a good amount of things that even I can’t keep straight and I’ll definitely miss out on some stuff.

She has a history of cyberbullying fans and continues to do so (x)

She tried to scam the fandom in something that’s called LaptopGate (x)

She plagiarized the hell out of other authors’ works and she won’t apologize for it and won’t even admit it (x)(x)

She seems to have a need for taking down anyone who tries point out her plagiarism/any problematic content her books have and then cries anti-bullying because she got hurt (x)

She’s was and still is hateful of the show (x)(x)(x)

She basically told a fan asking for positive Muslim representation that it won’t happen (x)

She claims that people dislike her because she’s a woman (x)

She claims that the reason why she couldn’t include much Malec (or LGBT+ rep in general) was because her publishing company was conservative which is a bald-faced lie (x)(x)

She tweeted about Magnus currently identifying as bisexual even though she headcanons him pansexual because he would date someone nonbinary which just goes to show her ignorance about sexuality (x)

I really recommend you go through the anti CC tag. There will definitely be a lot of negative things said as many people are angry at CC but you'll get a better understanding as to why people are mad and believe CC and TMI are problematic.

Just for the record, I will say that I am a fan of the books Clare writes. I really enjoyed The Infernal Devices (although I had a few problems with the series but most of them being plot-wise and not liking a few characters) and I’ve heard better things about The Dark Artifices (I’ve also heard it’s got a few problems with its representation but that it’s a step up from The Mortal Instruments). While I don’t agree with and dislike a lot of the things she’s done and written, I think the books are wonderful. I believe that it’s absolutely possible to enjoy a book or television series or movie or whatever and acknowledge that it’s problematic. And I will also say that while I like Shadowhunters better than The Mortal Instruments books, I don’t think that the show is flawless and free of problems. It’s still rather problematic with it’s use of stereotypes, whitewashing/scooting around the ethnicity of certain characters played by pocs (the Lightwood and Lewis families), sidelining of pocs, inherent homophobia (basically queerbaited with Malec and didn’t even show tons of scenes that would have been shown for a straight couple), and a few other problems. But the show is definitely a step up from the books. They really change a lot of things that just didn’t sit well with not only myself but a lot of the book readers and they also fix a ton of plot holes that were in the books.

Anyway, I digress. I really hope that you see this as actual criticism and not me just hating for the sake of hating. You can totally disagree with some of the things that I mentioned and view things differently than I do as that’s your right. But, anyway, I hope this explained things well!

[mermaidwetbar]

Who is Legion

FX is airing a new show called Legion based off of the character Legion from X-Men. The show exists in the XMCU which means he lives in the revamped timeline where Cyclops is alive and none of those first horrible movies existed but it’s not necessarily going to have any connections to the X-Men yet. The character Legion is also going to be an original take on the character but he is so great that I’m going to give you the canonical history of his life so far. It’ll be interesting to see what the keep the same; they definitely kept his mental illnesses. 

Legion’s real name is David Charles Haller, a Jewish man from Haifa Israel who canonically can’t grow his hair into anything but a gigantic mohawk, and he is an omega level mutant which means he has practically God–like powers.

His father is Charles Xavier, Proffessor X himself, but his mother, Gabrielle Haller, kept that a secret for a very long time. Gabrielle met Charles at a hospital where he was using his psychic abilities to alleviate trauma of the Holocaust survivors. They had a short fling in which David was conceived but Gabrielle, suspicious of his psychic abilities, kept David a secret and David’s godfather, Daniel Shomron, stepped in to help raise him.

When Gabrielle entered the Israeli Diplomatic Service she and her family were attacked by a Palestinian terrorist cell. Gabrielle and David survived, but Daniel used his body to shield David from the bullets and was killed. The trauma activated David’s mutant genes early (he was 10 years old and they don’t usually manifest until puberty) and as his psychic abilities turned on he killed all of the terrorists. David went comatose and absorbed the psyche of one of the terrorists who took control of his body, still comatose, and fought the growing alter egos forming in David’s Mindscape due to his DID

Gabrielle turned to the renowned geneticist Moira MacTaggert, coincidentally another one of Charles Xavier’s ex girlfriends, who insisted Charles come to treat him personally. Charles found that David had very similar mutant abilities to his own, only much stronger, then found out he was his father.

By joining the war in David’s Mindscape Charles was able to wake David back up and most of the alter egos were destroyed but they continued to develop unchecked.

Legion/David gained and lost control of himself many times, hurting many people even murdering Destiny, Mystique’s wife, when she tried to intervene with him and he saw through her precognitive abilities how devastating his future would become.

David decided he would realize his father’s dream of mutants and humans coexisting and to do that he traveled back in time to his own conception to kill Magneto who Charles was also with at the time.

Time travel shenanigans ensue and Bishop ends it by showing David what future he is actually creating. David was ashamed and in the reconstructed timeline he was thought to be dead, his mother even questioned his conception.

Years later David was discovered trapped in a concrete box and once he escaped he was transported forward in time where Bishop resided. It was a dystopian future and David was immediately captured and put into slavery. He got out of it somehow, these sort of things happen quite a bit to him. The X-Men finally took him in and Karma and Magik began working with him to get better but he still had major reality twisting hiccups while he was trying to be good but his ever increasing alter egos keep taking over. Meanwhile his relationship with his father continued to be estranged; Charles seemed to think he was too dangerous unless he wanted to utilize his powers or alternate personalities. Magick  is the only one that seems to consistently try to help him but sometimes with ulterior motives

Now for the really good part. X-Men Legacy: Legion written by Simon Spurrier.

Up until this point Legion was very inconsistently written because he had been a very minor character but in Spurrier’s Legion series the loose ends of the story are tightened and we actually see David as David. Before he only momentarily surfaced to find that he had caused a disaster and everyone was debating on whether or not he should be put down.

Charles had sent David to a secluded place for rehabilitation and never came back, as is his pattern with David. After the event of Avengers vs X-Men where Charles dies David finally had to face the fact that his father was never going to come for him, he was never going to publicly acknowledge him, and he never planned to let David return to the real world.

When he felt his father pass away David’s power surged and he wiped out the community he was living in, before his Guru died he told David to wait for the X-Men to come to relocate him again but David left, deciding he finally needed to change the pattern of his life, get a grip on himself, and find a way to see his father’s dream of coexistence come true. He does this by making himself somewhat of an invisible mercenary, trying to save mutants the X-Men hadn’t gotten.

David turns his Mindscape into a prison to keep all of the alter egos contained which worked relatively well, all things considered

Blindfold, a mutant nearly as powerful and ostracized as he is, seems to have an instinctual connection to him.

Blindfold is Ruth Aldine, and she takes after her legendary grandmother Destiny. The Destiny that David accidentally murdered years before. Ruth has a very traumatic history; she was powerful she was born with her mutant abilities already developing and she was born blind, specifically she was born with no eyes at all. When Ruth’s father left her brother Luca blamed her because she was a mutant and tried to kill her but accidentally killed their mother instead. Luca joins a radical anti-mutant group and ends up fracturing her mind which gives her schizophrenia and a very prominent speech impediment

She takes refuge in the X-Men mansion/school but the way she speaks, looks, and is unable to restrain herself from reading everyone’s minds makes her a social outcast

The X-Men eventually track David down with the help of Ruth’s powers

 And David isn’t having it

The X-Men try to keep Ruth from him but through their mysterious connection Ruth easily enters David’s Mindscape where she is partially able to speak normally, depending on her mood

She is able to get through to him until one of his altars breaks out and attacks her, knocking her out.

David lets the X-Men take the mutant children he had found and secretly follows them back to watch over Ruth who is now comatose. He enters her subconscious and sees her whole life, specifically her bullies

He brings her back to consciousness and they meet briefly as he escapes

She keeps track of him by following him in her astral body, not understanding quite how powerful he is and that he always knows where she is

 He tracks down the radical group her brother had joined and sets out to destroy them and her brother. She “reveals” herself to him telling him to knock it the fuck off.

She makes him promise not to hurt them so he sort of complies by messing with their minds so they will no longer be a threat. David continues on his mission to save mutants and impress Ruth and she continues to be his conscious while they secretly meet on the astral plane

 As this is all going on David is trying to deal with what looks like his father’s consciousness personified in his Mindscape jail. The entity does claim to be Charles Xavier and it continually terrorizes all of the alter egos and mocks David, among other things…

 The golden pervert, David and Ruth’s inherent connection, and because it’s X-Men everything is leading to a future dystopia where David loses control again but this time destroys everything. Ruth will have to kill him because she’s the only one strong enough and deeply embedded in him to destroy all of the alternate personalities along with David

 but David insists that he can change fate. He’s powerful enough and with Ruth as his one that gives him “purpose” he’s pretty sure he can pull it off

 But he’s going to do it by changing the will of people that will influence the dystopian future. Ruth argues that it’s immoral, especially to punish people for things they haven’t done yet. It was against Charles Xavier’s dream to force people into anything (although he often did it, unbeknownst to them) but David isn’t empathetic, in fact he already took out Aarkus before asking her permission. Ruth was mad but soon thereafter she sought him out again by using Cerebra

 But he had already made a deal with the golden pervert in his brain that in exchange for checking on the future again the pervert could have controlled his body for one minute. (Each of David’s altars personify one of his thousands of powers.) David sees the apocalyptic future he creates and runs off to an ideological facility that “cure” mutants by giving them medication that will give them brain damage, blocking their ability to use their powers. Ruth goes to her peers and the X-Men asking for help to get David out of this but it takes a lot of convincing

 David he realizes that although the patients seem to be well their minds are really shattered but another apparition of his father appears, reminding him of his failures and making him feel guilty for denying his heritage but David blocks amount and decides to go through with the cure anyway

 The operator of the facility reveals himself to be the Red Skull and the one that caused him to see his father because he had implanted Charles Xavier’s brain into himself, hoping the shame of giving up would make David want to fight but David still doesn’t want to

 He is given the medication and they air his conversion live on TV

 Ruth appears with X-Men she had convinced to come help her save him which is what the Red Skull had apparently been aiming for and the X-Men are live on TV appearing suddenly in what appears to be a peaceful facility to stop a man who admits to being a monster from “rehabilitation” but David had planned on him planning this and uses that moment to bring in a young mutant he had saved earlier. The boy’s ability was that everyone immediately loves him and believes anything he said, practically giving him the ability to change reality. Through live TV he convinced everyone watching that the mutants weren’t their enemy. He tries to evoke empathy but that doesn’t work as well

 Of course a battle with Red Skull ensues which is when the golden pervert who looks like Charles Xavier comes to take his one minute with complete control of David’s body. He wants Xavier’s brain for himself.

Ruth fights to get the minute to run out so David can take control of his body again and then we have this really funny moment

Obviously this isn't the end. Not only because it's comic books, but because this is a cliffhanger. The ending is kind of amazing so I want to encourage you guys to go read it.

You can buy them on comixology, book retailers, but check your local libraries as well. My local library is nothing but comic books and VHS copies of Titanic.

[putris-et-mulier]

Who is Legion

FX is airing a new show called Legion based off of the character Legion from X-Men. The show exists in the XMCU which means he lives in the revamped timeline where Cyclops is alive and none of those first horrible movies existed but it's not necessarily going to have any connections to the X-Men yet. The character Legion is also going to be an original take on the character but he is so great that I'm going to give you the canonical history of his life so far. It'll be interesting to see what the keep the same; they definitely kept his mental illnesses.

Legion's real name is David Charles Haller, a Jewish man from Haifa Israel who canonically can't grow his hair into anything but a gigantic mohawk, and he is an omega level mutant which means he has practically God–like powers.

His father is Charles Xavier, Proffessor X himself, but his mother, Gabrielle Haller, kept that a secret for a very long time. Gabrielle met Charles at a hospital where he was using his psychic abilities to alleviate trauma of the Holocaust survivors. They had a short fling in which David was conceived but Gabrielle, suspicious of his psychic abilities, kept David a secret and David's godfather, Daniel Shomron, stepped in to help raise him.

When Gabrielle entered the Israeli Diplomatic Service she and her family were attacked by a Palestinian terrorist cell. Gabrielle and David survived, but Daniel used his body to shield David from the bullets and was killed. The trauma activated David's mutant genes early (he was 10 years old and they don't usually manifest until puberty) and as his psychic abilities turned on he killed all of the terrorists. David went comatose and absorbed the psyche of one of the terrorists who took control of his body, still comatose, and fought the growing alter egos forming in David's Mindscape due to his DID

Gabrielle turned to the renowned geneticist Moira MacTaggert, coincidentally another one of Charles Xavier's ex girlfriends, who insisted Charles come to treat him personally. Charles found that David had very similar mutant abilities to his own, only much stronger, then found out he was his father. 

By joining the war in David's Mindscape Charles was able to wake David back up and most of the alter egos were destroyed but they continued to develop unchecked.

Legion/David gained and lost control of himself many times, hurting many people even murdering Destiny, Mystique's wife, when she tried to intervene with him and he saw through her precognitive abilities how devastating his future would become. 

David decided he would realize his father's dream of mutants and humans coexisting and to do that he traveled back in time to his own conception to kill Magneto who Charles was also with at the time. 

Time travel shenanigans ensue and Bishop ends it by showing David what future he is actually creating. David was ashamed and in the reconstructed timeline he was thought to be dead, his mother even questioned his conception.

Years later David was discovered trapped in a concrete box and once he escaped he was transported forward in time where Bishop resided. It was a dystopian future and David was immediately captured and put into slavery. He got out of it somehow, these sort of things happen quite a bit to him. The X-Men finally took him in and Karma and Magik began working with him to get better but he still had major reality twisting hiccups while he was trying to be good but his ever increasing alter egos keep taking over. Meanwhile his relationship with his father continued to be estranged; Charles seemed to think he was too dangerous unless he wanted to utilize his powers or alternate personalities. Magick  is the only one that seems to consistently try to help him but sometimes with ulterior motives

Now for the really good part. X-Men Legacy: Legion written by Simon Spurrier.

Up until this point Legion was very inconsistently written because he had been a very minor character but in Spurrier's Legion series the loose ends of the story are tightened and we actually see David as David. Before he only momentarily surfaced to find that he had caused a disaster and everyone was debating on whether or not he should be put down.

Charles had sent David to a secluded place for rehabilitation and never came back, as is his pattern with David. After the event of Avengers vs X-Men where Charles dies David finally had to face the fact that his father was never going to come for him, he was never going to publicly acknowledge him, and he never planned to let David return to the real world.

When he felt his father pass away David's power surged and he wiped out the community he was living in, before his Guru died he told David to wait for the X-Men to come to relocate him again but David left, deciding he finally needed to change the pattern of his life, get a grip on himself, and find a way to see his father's dream of coexistence come true. He does this by making himself somewhat of an invisible mercenary, trying to save mutants the X-Men hadn't gotten.

David turns his Mindscape into a prison to keep all of the alter egos contained which worked relatively well, all things considered

Blindfold, a mutant nearly as powerful and ostracized as he is, seems to have an instinctual connection to him.

Blindfold is Ruth Aldine, and she takes after her legendary grandmother Destiny. The Destiny that David accidentally murdered years before. Ruth has a very traumatic history; she was powerful she was born with her mutant abilities already developing and she was born blind, specifically she was born with no eyes at all. When Ruth's father left her brother Luca blamed her because she was a mutant and tried to kill her but accidentally killed their mother instead. Luca joins a radical anti-mutant group and ends up fracturing her mind which gives her schizophrenia and a very prominent speech impediment

She takes refuge in the X-Men mansion/school but the way she speaks, looks, and is unable to restrain herself from reading everyone's minds makes her a social outcast

The X-Men eventually track David down with the help of Ruth's powers

And David isn't having it

The X-Men try to keep Ruth from him but through their mysterious connection Ruth easily enters David's Mindscape where she is partially able to speak normally, depending on her mood

She is able to get through to him until one of his altars breaks out and attacks her, knocking her out.

David lets the X-Men take the mutant children he had found and secretly follows them back to watch over Ruth who is now comatose. He enters her subconscious and sees her whole life, specifically her bullies

He brings her back to consciousness and they meet briefly as he escapes

She keeps track of him by following him in her astral body, not understanding quite how powerful he is and that he always knows where she is

He tracks down the radical group her brother had joined and sets out to destroy them and her brother. She "reveals" herself to him telling him to knock it the fuck off.

She makes him promise not to hurt them so he sort of complies by messing with their minds so they will no longer be a threat. David continues on his mission to save mutants and impress Ruth and she continues to be his conscious while they secretly meet on the astral plane

As this is all going on David is trying to deal with what looks like his father's consciousness personified in his Mindscape jail. The entity does claim to be Charles Xavier and it continually terrorizes all of the alter egos and mocks David, among other things…

The golden pervert, David and Ruth's inherent connection, and because it's X-Men everything is leading to a future dystopia where David loses control again but this time destroys everything. Ruth will have to kill him because she's the only one strong enough and deeply embedded in him to destroy all of the alternate personalities along with David

but David insists that he can change fate. He's powerful enough and with Ruth as his one that gives him "purpose" he's pretty sure he can pull it off

But he's going to do it by changing the will of people that will influence the dystopian future. Ruth argues that it's immoral, especially to punish people for things they haven't done yet. It was against Charles Xavier's dream to force people into anything (although he often did it, unbeknownst to them) but David isn't empathetic, in fact he already took out Aarkus before asking her permission. Ruth was mad but soon thereafter she sought him out again by using Cerebra

But he had already made a deal with the golden pervert in his brain that in exchange for checking on the future again the pervert could have controlled his body for one minute. (Each of David's altars personify one of his thousands of powers.) David sees the apocalyptic future he creates and runs off to an ideological facility that "cure" mutants by giving them medication that will give them brain damage, blocking their ability to use their powers. Ruth goes to her peers and the X-Men asking for help to get David out of this but it takes a lot of convincing

David he realizes that although the patients seem to be well their minds are really shattered but another apparition of his father appears, reminding him of his failures and making him feel guilty for denying his heritage but David blocks amount and decides to go through with the cure anyway

The operator of the facility reveals himself to be the Red Skull and the one that caused him to see his father because he had implanted Charles Xavier's brain into himself, hoping the shame of giving up would make David want to fight but David still doesn't want to

He is given the medication and they air his conversion live on TV

Ruth appears with X-Men she had convinced to come help her save him which is what the Red Skull had apparently been aiming for and the X-Men are live on TV appearing suddenly in what appears to be a peaceful facility to stop a man who admits to being a monster from "rehabilitation" but David had planned on him planning this and uses that moment to bring in a young mutant he had saved earlier. The boy's ability was that everyone immediately loves him and believes anything he said, practically giving him the ability to change reality. Through live TV he convinced everyone watching that the mutants weren't their enemy. He tries to evoke empathy but that doesn't work as well

Of course a battle with Red Skull ensues which is when the golden pervert who looks like Charles Xavier comes to take his one minute with complete control of David's body. He wants Xavier's brain for himself.

Ruth fights to get the minute to run out so David can take control of his body again and then we have this really funny moment

I'm stopping here for two reasons

1. I want you to get the comics you can see what happens for yourself because David is one of my favorite characters and this was such an amazing series I want to give you an incentive to read it firsthand

2. Comixology is selling every appearance of Legion including this whole series for $0.99 a piece. Check it out

And if you are interested, this whole week all I will be posting on my X-Men blog are some of my favorite Legion moments

I'll be doing posts like these for sexual and gender minorities, POC, and disabled characters through The Discourse now. I hope to see you there.

[kelasparmak]

001: Vorkosigan Saga. 002: Charles Gunn/Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.

OH MAN THIS GOT LONG

Vorkosigan Saga:

Favorite character: Hmmm, tough one. No, just kidding, everyone who’s ever met me knows Bel’s my favourite, hands down, no contest.

Least Favorite character: I mean, there are a lot of baddies to pick from. Ryoval, Ser Galen and Bruce Van Atta all rate highly.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): This one actually is tricky, since I really really like a lot of the canon relationship dynamics. Byerly and Ivan definitely, Aral and Cordelia (and Oliver Jole, though it’s Aral and Cordelia’s dynamic that I’m particularly fond of), Ethan and Terrence, Simon and Alys, and I think Miles and Bel. (Honourable mentions go to Bel and Nicol, Ivan and Tej, and Elli and Elena, which is a pairing I’d not actually really considered until I got desperate for Vorkosigan fic and ran the Russian works on AO3 through Google Translate and found some really interesting fic.)

Character I find most attractive: My mental images of book characters are generally super vague and I’m eh about attractiveness anyway, but thinking about it I’d probably say Rish, Taura or Dono Vorrutyer.

Character I would marry: I’d be quite happy marrying an awful lot of them, really. Bel, for preference, since I’m practically in actual bona fide love with it.

Character I would be best friends with: I’d like to say Bel, but I don’t think I’m exciting enough. My actual best friends through life have mostly been more like Tej or maybe the younger Kareen, so maybe one of them? Tej and I could definitely bond over language learning. (I would also love to be best friends with Byerly, but again, I don’t think we have the same idea of a good time.)

A random thought: The first thing that springs to mind is my fascination with the fact that Bel and Jole had a fling back in the day. When was this? How (hilariously) would Miles react? I would love for Bel, Nicol, Garnet Five and Corbeau (since he’s the Barrayaran Imperium’s ambassador or attache or whatever to Quaddiespace) to visit Sergyar and pop in on Miles, and have that awkward ‘yes, we’ve met’ conversation when Miles tried to introduce them to each other. Well, awkward for Miles and Jole, at least; Bel and Cordelia would no doubt find it hilarious.

An unpopular opinion: Iiiii don’t really like that more or less everyone ended up paired off to an Appropriately Gendered Spouse, with a bureaucratic position and babies ever after. I mean, that’s an oversimplification and there are exceptions (like Elli, or Ethan and Terrence, though that’s implied rather than explicit and since Athos is men-only it feels a little ‘for lack of alternative Terrence might end up with a guy and if he does it’ll probably be Ethan’) but that’s how it feels to me. I don’t know how unpopular that opinion is, though.

My canon OTP: Aral/Cordelia

Non-canon OTP: Byerly/Ivan (I mean, we’ve essentially had this question already)

Most badass character: I think Taura or Elli, probably? Miles is definitely a contender too, but I suppose because you see him wallowing in self-pity or making it up as he goes or doing extremely silly things pretty often the overall effect is perhaps diminished a little. Though I think overall the sheer amount of obstacles, self-imposed as well as external, that he manages to overcome, might put him at the top of the list.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Leo/Silver, probably. I don’t think it was very ethical for Leo to get involved, at least not at that point - I’m not sure if she was canonically a great deal younger than him or if I’ve just imagined that, but there’s a huge gap in terms of life experience, and I think that given the way Van Atta had exploited her very very recently, Leo should have given her some space and time and the tools to figure out what she wanted before he got involved with her.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Bothari’s portrayal made me pretty uncomfortable at times. Not sure if it was necessarily a screwup because she writes other mental illnesses pretty well, at least as far as my understanding of them goes, but I felt like with Bothari there was a very fine line being tread between a very complex depiction of schizophrenia (specifically traumagenic schizophrenia) & cyclical abuse on the one hand, and the ‘dangerous and barely-human crazy person’ stereotype on the other.

Favourite friendship: So many. In the interests of not just repeating myself from the shipping questions, though, I really like the development of Miles and Ivan’s relationship from not really Getting each other at all in the first book (and Miles in particular being pretty contemptuous of Ivan), to a close (if constantly mutually exasperating) friendship once they’re a little older.

Gunn/Wesley

when or if I started shipping it: Gosh, it’s been absolutely years since I watched Angel and I only watched it the once, so any of these answers may be completely wrong, but honestly I think it was from the first time they argued.

my thoughts: I really liked their 'odd couple’ dynamic - it reminds me a little of a much more extreme version of Eliot and Hardison’s initial impressions of each other, in that they each have a lot of preconceptions about the type of person the other is and about their worth, but pretty quickly get over it and come to respect each other and (shockingly enough) realised that it was actually really useful that they’d had such different experiences and that they worked much better together than separately. I’d have liked more episodes dealing with their very different backgrounds and attitudes in a more casual setting - I don’t remember how often that came up but I don’t feel like it was very often, or at least not often enough for my liking :P I just wish that phase

What makes me happy about them: I guess I’ve just said it. Got a bit carried away there I guess. 

What makes me sad about them: The goddamn unnecessary love triangle! And everything getting fucked up! Why did this happen! I prefer to pretend that storyline, and the Illyria storyline, and the Grimdark Wesley storyline, didn’t happen, because they were silly and unnecessary. Whedon, you didn’t even have to let my kids be happy, but making them miserable because of internal conflict that wasn’t even in-character for them wasn’t even lazy writing, it would have been lazy writing with different characters, but this required effort! To be bad! Why! (Caveat: possibly the Grimdark Wesley storyline isn’t so much objectively bad as I just didn’t like it. I don’t mind him being emo, that’s a-ok, but his behaviour toward Gunn and Fred was straight-up gross, and while I quite liked Wesley dealing with the consequences of his mistakes, I’d have been happier if he’d learned from them instead of getting worse, lol.)

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: Iiii actually have never read any fic of this series, I don’t think, so I guess I don’t know. I can imagine some things that would and that I wouldn’t be surprised to see done.

Things I look for in fanfic: Well, nothing, but I guess it would be the dynamic that I liked between them in the Good Times. Preferably a ridiculous shenanigans, some near-death experiences, actually talking about their feelings, and a healthy dose of fluff (or h/c). And Gunn being smart as hell, because he is and arguably is better at applying that in practice than Wesley.

My kinks: I am a pure and innocent soul and I don’t even know what a kink is. (Okay, but leaving out the sexual element, I guess even though I was talking about how much I hate Grimdark Wes, I’d probably be interested in hatesex fic set during that period if it was concerned with working out their frustration and betrayal rather than just uncomplicated angry sex) (Also, I can see Wesley being super into Gunn being smart as fuck generally, and specifically into his Lawyer Talk after he got essentially the entire corpus of law and G&S downloaded into his brain. In my head this is not a very sexy thing, it’s very ‘Ooh Mr Darcy’, Wesley is hopelessly enamoured and Gunn is initially bemused but flattered and very quickly gets tired of Wes swooning every time he says something smart, which is way too often for it not to have lost its effect AND YET. And especially if they’re working for Wolfram & Hart together in this scenario, in which case Gunn uses advanced legal terminology often on account of it being his job, which makes it hugely impractical for Wesley to try and jump his bones every time it happens. He’s probably just into the legal jargon and not the Gilbert and Sullivan because that would be a very weird kink and not one I can imagine being sexy at all, but now that I say it, if someone wrote that fic I would read it just out of morbid curiosity.)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Fred! As well as each other! Guys, polyamory, it’s a thing! (If it had to be other people, I’d probably go for Gunn with Fred and Wes with either Angel or Spike. Probably not Lilah.)

My happily ever after for them: No one dies and Gunn has high self-esteem and Wesley stops fucking up everything he touches. Nothing bad happens and The Gang never have to deal with apocalypses or implausibly huge conspiracies or anything, they just hang out being supernatural detectives and doing Season 1-2 type stuff forever. Possibly they are in a triad with Fred but this is not necessary.

[caitlynmellark]

North & Josh are definitely very on dimensional in terms of their beliefs, however, so is Simon technically. By being constantly neutral, he doesn't necessarily grow. Sure, him siding with your particular side could count as growth since he makes that decision instead of just wanting to rot in Jericho, but he doesn't really do much in terms of make decisions or grow. He sides with you, and he always sides with you. He doesn't really have any particular conflicts with Markus unless it is something small. The most he's conflicted with Markus (as I have seen, anyway, I am unsure if it is the most) is if you choose to shoot Simon on Stratford Tower.

"I don't have a choice," Markus says.

"There's always a choice," Simon says.

Then you shoot him.

And I agree wholeheartedly with the thing of Hank & Connor. That is also why I think Connor is the favorite character of the fandom. His story, arc, relationships, etc are all very well done. Markus & Kara, and everything they have got the shorter end of the stick because Connor was just so good. His arc of becoming deviant or staying a machine was great. His relationship with Hank was great. However, that also means relationships with other characters look very faulty. North & Josh look faulty when you look at Hank, but as you said, that is more so bad writing than them being bad characters.

It is just me being confused. I am not looking it up currently, but if I recall correctly, you could do the scene without interfacing with North. If I am wrong, however, please tell me. It would take a long time for me to look through every rooftop scene to find this one potentially non existent scene. But yes, I would like to continue to state that it would take a lot of trust to share emotions or memories.

If you became a deviant (something that is rather taboo, scary, emotional. you didn't truly feel anything before this moment, and now you are suddenly hit with true emotions and no limits on what you could do), those memories would be rather powerful. The moment you break down the walls and are your own person. The fact that Markus & North share these powerful, stressful, and emotional memories together shows deep trust between them. The fact though that you can go from Neutral to Lover is, again, bad writing. I think you should be given the choice of if you want North as a Companion or Lover when that comes up.

I say that pacifist thing because I can see people being upset that they gained a lover, but now can't do anything with it. The game has ended, and now you just have a lover you can't really do anything with. I think most players would be fine with Lover North being placed at the end of pacifist, but the ones that hate things are the most vocal. The few people that would hate it would be in uproar about how "OH SHE BECAME MY LOVER AT THE END". Or they could be pissed off that they'd throw a random lover at the end of the game when you don't need it. Again, most players would probably enjoy it at the end, but angry people are loud.

Personally, I think any romance with North is pretty rushed in the game. Sure, it makes more sense for her to be your lover if you are violent, but that doesn't exactly make it more right. That is basically just saying "hey, you're kissing her ass, so now you deserve her more". And while I think it makes sense that violent Markus and North would have it better, you still just met this woman and all you did was destroy some stuff and kill some people. That doesn't really develop their relationship more as it just gives it more reason to exist.

Simon & Markus would be rushed in the fact that this game is still within the span of about a week in time. Simon even has less missions with Markus than North, if I recall correctly. And while they could push Simon in as a potential partner for raiding Capitol Park instead of just North, I still do not think that would help develop a relationship above Friends.

A lot of it still comes down to bad writing and bad timing. The missions didn't need to be spread one day after another. And I think that is what hurts any relationship Markus has the most. You can be North's lover within 3 days.

Lemme show you.

November 6th - Markus Finds Jericho

November 9th - Markus & North are Lovers

(Reminder: Raiding Capitol Park & Freedom March happen within the same day, November 9th. Stratford Tower happened November 8th. Spare Parts happened on November 6th. November 7th I guess was a resting day??)

That is way too little time for an actual relationship to form for anybody. If it was all spread out a bit, even just by another week, maybe it could work. North & Markus need more time together, and so would Simon & Markus if he was going to be added in as a partner.

Also, please ask for clarification if I am confusing. o: I might be rambling, and that happens a lot, so never worry about asking for clarification ^^ I will not bite

Here is something I would like to tell the Detroit Become Human fandom.

*ahem*

They cannot all be Simon.

People like to fight over NorthxMarkus and SimonxMarkus. Understandable, you want a gay route.

However, I would like to advocate for the fact that the characters in DBH cannot all be Simon.

You might be wondering: What does that even mean, Caitlyn?

Well, lemme tell you.

People are angry that when you act pacifist, North’s lil relationship meter goes down. People are angry that when you act violent, Josh’s lil relationship meter goes down. Do you know whose meter stays basically the same no matter what?

Simon.

And that is fine; you have a violent person, a pacifist person, and a neutral person.

However, people get angry that North & Josh go down a lot? Well, what did you EXPECT to happen with characters with conflicting ideals?

People get angry when they see the little vvv happen in their game. Simon does that so rarely, I assume people have forgotten that Simon could even do that. They hate North & Josh because their meters can actually go down (mostly, anyway. there are other reasons, this is just the big one).

Guys. They cannot all be like Simon. If every character was neutral to what you did, it’d be a boring ass game. Relationships wouldn’t even matter because they would all like you no matter what. This wouldn’t be realistic. Sometimes, you will disappoint people. Sometimes, you will make them upset.

Do you know what is truly realistic, though? The way that North & Josh will follow you even if you don’t side with them. The way that North doesn’t do violent things like she wants to if you say no. The way that Josh doesn’t do pacifist things like he wants to if you say no. They keep pushing you to do it, but they never do it without your go ahead. North will not do anything violent against humanity until you do it. Josh will not do anything pacifist against humanity until you do it. Why is that?

Because they respect you. They respect your decisions as the leader of Jericho. They will be disappointed, but they will not stop listening to you. You know what is best for their people.

And that is something people need to understand. You can still respect someone, even if they go against your ideals.

That also can help explain the age old question, “Why does North love you even if you are pacifist?”

Look, MarkusxNorth isn’t perfect. It is rushed. I love it, and I understand completely why people wouldn’t like it. However, there are some crucial things about it.

Why does North love you even if you are pacifist?

Well

Because you are not a violence/pacifism beacon for her.

North sees you as a person

She sees you as the leader of Jericho, and she respects you.

She sees you as somebody who could understand why she is violent, and not judge her, even if you yourself are not violent.

Notice how every scene after the rooftop scene (where they interface), she seems to suggest violence less. She suggest violence as last resorts after that point.

Why?

Because you two shared memories.

She understands why you do the things you do. No longer does she question your reasons why.

Yes, NorthxMarkus is rushed.

But think of it this way;

Even if NorthxMarkus was gone, & it was SimonxMarkus

You would just have a rushed gay ship.

A very rushed, poorly done gay ship.

Just because Simon is a man won’t make it any less rushed.

I love SimonxMarkus. I love NorthxMarkus. They both can coexist, for they have their flaws and their perfections.

*Note: I am not bashing any ships. Ship what you want. Hate what you want. I just want the knowledge to be out there*

Thanks for listening to my TedTalk.