#but a few ideas - if executed a little differently etc - would have been very good!!!!

[gasolinerainbowpuddles]

Okay, let's talk about NC/Ra*e Kink

disclaimer: Thoughts are under a cut due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

disclaimer: This is not a post endorsing or condemning the kinks. It is simply a discussion about them.

Some kinks are more niche than others. Some kinks aren't widely accepted. Some kinks are very nuanced and will elicit contradictory or confusing feelings.

When I first came across non-consensual (NC) and rape kink fics, I was a little bit jarred. I couldn't understand why someone would want to write it or how someone could enjoy reading it. To me it was very triggering and upsetting, so I didn't interact with "dark fic" like that.

Still, I had a genuine curiosity as to why people were attracted to the kink even if I didn't enjoy it myself. Sexuality is a very broad spectrum, and I try to be open minded if not for just gaining the understanding of a different point of view.

I wanted to ask questions to readers and writers of the kink, but it's such an inflammatory subject in fandom that I couldn't figure out how to do it without it coming across like I was being rude or condemning. Eventually I was able to talk directly to people about it who knew I wasn't coming from a place of judgment. This was on top of looking into things on my own (like reading articles, think pieces, historical/social takes on it, etc.).

Here's a quick list of what I learned:

SURVIVORS: WRITERS — Many of the writers of the kink had been subjected to sexual violence. When you're writing, you can dictate the characters, the dialogue, the plot points, etc. You are in control of what happens. For some survivors, it is a therapeutic exercise in "rewriting" an experience where they had zero control into an experience where they control every facet of what happens.

SURVIVORS: READERS — Readers of the kink have the buffer of a fictional exploration of it and can choose to exit out of a story if they no longer enjoy it or it becomes too much for them, which was not an option in their actual lived trauma. There is also the distance between themselves and the story, which creates a safety buffer where they can engage with the sensitive topic in an indirect way if they so choose.

SEXUAL AUTONOMY — If you pick up any given romance novel, there's a decent chance the kidnapping trope is in there. This roughly entails some physically bigger/stronger man whisking a woman away against her will and then forcing her into a sexual situation where she ends up enjoying it despite it not being consensual. There might even be bits of "this isn't supposed to feel good" and "why do I feel like I'm enjoying this?" sprinkled into it. This trope is in large part due to the limited sexual freedom of women in the past (and present, but notably in the past). Because the woman wasn't initiating or even agreeing to the sexual act, she is relieved of the responsibility of said act. She didn't ask or choose for it to happen, so she does not have ownership of the sexual act. (I know this isn't reality because unfortunately many women are burdened with the "responsibility" for their assault, but please keep in mind I'm speaking on the fantasy/fantasizing aspect of this.) Because of historical and social expectations of chastity in women, one of the few ways that it was even "acceptable" to explore sexual acts was through means of coercion. The fantasy that you don't have to endure the societal repercussions of your sexual act because you didn't initiate it or execute it is sometimes the only way that women knew or felt comfortable in accepting a sexual experience.

SEXUAL DOMINATION — For some people, the idea of being completely sexually dominated and controlled is their biggest fantasy. There's a thrill to not knowing what will happen or when it will happen or how it will happen. Having zero control is akin to being able to turn their brain off and just exist and feel. This bleeds into consensual non-consent (CNC) kink and domination/submission kink as well with NC kink being the more "extreme end" of the spectrum imo.

These points do not exist in a vacuum, and it is not a comprehensive list of factors. Again, this is not an endorsement or a rejection of the kink. I am simply sharing my thoughts on what I have learned over time in the hopes that it can clarify things for others who maybe were curious like me but weren't sure how to learn or where to start.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

I’m newer to tumblr but an Arcana Veteran so coming across your account is a blessing 😭 your hcs are really good and I look forward to your posts!! I had an idea that I never executed on my own and i thought I might as well share it, so here goes nothing 😋

How would the M6 react to MC changing something drastic about themselves?

To be more specific, say MC always had long hair, more of a coolheaded attitude, or were always quiet and polite. And then out of the blue they’re shutting everyone out, slowly erasing almost every trace of their presence and being off the radar for a few months.

The LIs are worried because not a single soul has seen them. And then they suddenly return, and it’s like a new person, but very obviously still themselves. Shorter hair or other physical differences, soft-spoken personality, etc. But they come back to the M6 regretfully, never saying what *did* happen.

Assuming what they had was some strive for change, depression, or something else, it may be hard to explain to their dearest, but they eventually will. All they want is to be home.

just a silly idea of mine ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ



The Arcana HCs: M6 when MC changes without them

~ thanks for the ask @vegaspng! Sorry it took me so long to get around to but here it is. I'm writing this to be similar to what it's like in the recovery stages of PTSD or chronic depression, because I live for that kind of bittersweet hope. To anyone experiencing ot hoping to experience this, best of luck! You're not alone! - brainrot ~

- a little backstory-

The Devil is defeated. Vesuvia is safe. And your loved ones are building a new life with you that promises to be better than anything you can remember. Which is why you have to leave.

You've learned so much about yourself, your past, even the body you have now, and you're not sure what to do with it yet. That aside, you took on responsibilities and accomplishments the likes of which no single person could reasonably hope to carry, and you pulled it off. You didn't have to do it alone either. But now that things are going back to normal, you're stuck drifting in your own brain because you have no idea what normal is supposed to be like.

Your beloved has been wonderful. They've shown more patience than you ever asked for, listening to you process for hours and doing their best to help. You've worked through who you were after being brought back from the dead, you've worked through who you became through your fight against the devil, but you still know nothing of who you started out as. Which means you're not sure who you're supposed to be now. And you don't want to build a new life without knowing who you're building it for.

So one fine morning, you pack a bag, arrange for your absence, and kiss your beloved goodbye with the promise to return.

The journey is difficult, but rewarding. You travel across realms both magical and human, collecting traces of your past and encountering moments of who you used to be. You don't recover all of your memories, but you get the important ones. You find out who you used to be. It's less than you thought, but it's more than you had, and it's enough to move forward. So you set your sights for home and return to Vesuvia.

Your loved one is overjoyed when you return. They have a little adjusting to do, you have some mannerisms you didn't used to and they can't predict your behavior in the same way. But they're quick to recognize that it's all still you. Slowly, they get to know all the pieces you're building yourself with and fall in love with each one. And as time goes on, you get to hear about the whole thing from their point of view as well. What was it like for them, when you left? And what does life look like now that you're back?

Julian

The hardest part of you leaving was trying not to take it as a rejection of his love for you

He knows in his head why you need to do this, hell, the reason he ended up in Vesuvia was because he needed his own journey of self discovery

He just has to fight off his own inner demons telling him that you're going to realize you're better off without him and not come back

Which, for someone who found the drive to keep his own life because it had you it, can be quite the struggle

And because he's actually quite intelligent, he recognizes that it's not good to stay dependent on you to be his sole purpose in life. That's not your responsibility to carry

So he keeps faith in your promise to return, and puts all of his energy into becoming a better man for you to come home to

He spends time with Portia, getting to know her as an adult and becoming the kind of brother she says she wants and not what he assumes she needs

He seeks out time with Nazali so he can continue his medical studies and get more mentoring

He reconnects with Nadia and puts his knowledge of public hygiene to use with her plans for Vesuvia

He even manages to build a healthy friendship with Asra (who also misses you) and resolve their past toxic situationship

It's not easy, but he wakes up every morning a little more ready to face the day

When you come home, he's over the moon. Nothing and nobody can replace the happiness you bring him

He notices your changes right away, but he's too relieved to know that you actually came back to focus on them

Once you're settled back in with him and it's more apparent, he has a raging battle of opinions in his head about whether he should ask you about it or wait

He ends up asking you extremely vague, open-ended questions just in case you want to talk about it, but not letting himself pry

As time passes, he gets to know more of who you are and you begin to tell him some of the things that happened on your trip

He's fascinated, asking questions whenever you're in the headspace to answer them and connecting dots with you

He's never had the zest for life that he does now. Every night that he goes to bed with you, he's already looking forward to what the next morning will bring

And the best part? So do you. The future has never so been so desirable as it is now

Asra

They completely understand where you are coming from. In fact, they were the one who suggested the trip

He didn't suggest you going by yourself though

In the end what they care about more than anything is your happiness and wellbeing. So they'll give you every piece of advice and connection and helpful item they have, and promise to watch the shop while you're gone

But oh, he misses you desperately

When they gave up half their heart, it was in the form of their ability to have connections with other people. You being in their life covers for that

The only person he had a strong connection with before you was Muriel. And when you died, he went into the darkest, most twisted headspace he'd ever been in and did things he couldn't later comprehend

Their decision to bring you back, and the way they did it, is something you two have talked about once or twice, but there isn't much else to do besides try to forgive them and make sure it doesn't happen again

But this time, you're not alone. Which means he isn't either

Every day for the next week, someone new drops by the shop at your request to check on them

First it's his parents. Then it's Nadia. Muriel. Julian. Portia. Selasi, the baker. Natiqa on her way through town. Even Lucio at one point, with an apology letter that took months to help him write

Every time they feel like packing up and taking off until you return, they remember their promise to stick it out for you

And slowly, he begins to stay for other people too. It doesn't hit him until one month in that for the first time in his life, he's a part of a community because he's wanted there and wants to be there, not because he's with you

You're still their anchor, but now they have ties apart from you that give them a semblance of home, family, and belonging

The moment you return he's dropping everything. He will maintain some form of physical contact with you for the next 48 hours

They're one of the only people who remembers you before the plague, and seeing glimpses of that in who you are now makes them so proud and happy for you

You don't have to tell him everything right away. Though he is going to apologize profusely for every time he left you for a long trip with nothing to do but watch the shop and wait for his return

For every piece and memory you're ready to talk about, they will give you their undivided attention and then lavish the new discovery with all the affection they have

Nadia

She's torn. On one hand, her greatest joy is providing for you, so seeing the way you have an unmet need and can't come to her to fix it is hard for her

On the other hand, she perfectly understands the need to get away from it all to find yourself

And she's perfectly aware of how dominant her personality can be. You having access to your own space is very important to her

So she'll make sure you have everything you need and offer every available resource to you, and let you go

It's hard at first. You had been the one to wake her from her sleep, you had been the one to bring back her faith in herself

So without you around, her old insecurities begin to resurface. She didn't grow up in Vesuvia. She wasn't even the active ruler until several months ago

There were literal demons serving as her courtiers and she didn't do anything about them until you called them out

How is she supposed to speak with confidence if she doesn't have you to back her up?

And that's when, slowly, people start to drop by, and she's finally ready to accept their support

First it's Portia. Then it's Asra. Even Muriel drops by briefly. Julian makes a couple of calls as well

And then, it's her sisters

First it's Natiqa, crashing her lonely dinners and making her laugh with her wisecracks

Then it's Nasmira, quietly sweet talking the more stubborn courtiers into compliance

One by one, and never more than two visitors in the palace at a time, each family member stops by, taking their cues from Nadia and being her backup

And little by little, every childhood memory that haunts her gains a new light

She still gets tired of them and feels stifled every now and then, but she doesn't feel alone any more

It soon becomes known that Vesuvia doesn't just have an incredible Countess, their Countess has an army of loving supporters

When you return, she takes the next few days off and trusts her support system to handle the city for a bit

She'll ask questions, but as soon as she senses hesitation she'll give you space

She sees all these new flashes of personality in you, and as much as her heart aches for your trials, it flutters as you become more yourself

She already knew you were a worthy companion, but as you share more and more she's left in awe of who you are

The world is not ready for the power couple you two are going to make

Muriel

He understood what you needed to do right away. Going on a trip in search of his roots was exactly what ended up saving him

And getting to know you in the process was a delightful bonus

But when he realizes you're going alone, he's undeniably hurt. He's not the type to be selfish, but you went with him on his journey. He was vulnerable with you and it brought you two together

So why don't you trust him the same way? Why won't you make space for him in your life the way he did for you?

It's tricky to answer, because he makes a fair point and because he's never asked you for anything like this before

You're eventually able to explain the difference, how your trip is about finding out who you are on your own terms, when everything you've gotten so far has been on somebody else's

It's still painful for him, but he'll agree and let you go. He's not afraid of being alone

Until, for the first time in his life, he gets bored and starts wondering if someone's going to come bother him

Which is completely new. He's never had that train of thought before in his life

The closest was when Asra stayed with him and he wouldn't know if they would be back late or not

But now the hut is almost too quiet. The bed is too big. The forest is too peaceful. The eggs are too bland

And so, after two weeks of trying and failing to fall into old habits, he goes into town, grumbling under his breath the whole way

The panic that Asra greets him with when he walks into your old shop is almost enough to make him turn around and leave

Muriel? In town? By himself? Without being summoned? The world must be ending!

When he's finally able to mumble something about just wanting to visit and pick up some spices, Asra shatters a teacup

He's never been the one to surprise them before. It's fun. He could get used to this

And so, visits to Vesuvia get more frequent. Usually to the shop. Often to the palace. Several times to the community theatre, without needing to hide in the rafters

He's so relieved when you get back. You can hold a conversation with other people much better than he can

He notices the changes immediately, but he doesn't address them at all. His only desire concerning you is to be your safe place

He's come to appreciate the beauty of human complexity, so seeing new layers like this in you is heartstopping

You never have to worry about opening up. If you do, he'll accept you. If you don't, he'll accept you. He just loves you for you

Portia

Not gonna lie, it triggered her a little

She knows how this goes. You get tired of your quaint little life, you go off on an adventure without her, and you leave her to rot where she can't reach or help you with letters full of empty apologies

The conversation you facilitate between her and Julian after that rant is one of the hardest things you've ever done, but it's worth it

After things have settled, she lets you leave and holds onto the hope that you'll be back

And while you're gone, she distracts herself with work. She's got boundless energy, she needs to put that to use so she can't think too much

And so begins the craziest three weeks of her life. From the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep, she does nothing but work

Normally, you're her reason to take a break. You put her back in the main role of her own life so she can let her hair down and live the adventure she's destined for

But without you around, the only role she's used to playing is support. So that's what she does, to the point of completely forgetting about herself

It takes a burnout induced three day fever to make her pause. Especially when she begins to recover and sees the sheer number of worried faces in her cottage

Nadia's spending every free evening with her. Julian's sleeping over most nights. Mazelinka's covering the daytime with her mysteriously perfect soup and brandishing a wooden spoon to keep her in bed

It makes her realize two things. First, that while it looks different, she has her brother's tendency to take on the world's problems to avoid taking care of herself

And second, that you shouldn't have to be the solution to that

It's rough, but she learns self care. Not just an extra step in her skincare, but letting herself do something just for fun. Putting herself first

Learning to sit and do nothing without feeling guilty because nobody can make some kind of profit from it

When you get home though, it's like she can fully relax again. You give her an importance that she has to fight to hold onto otherwise

She has the hardest time giving you space. All the changes you've made are so exciting to her, she wants to hear all about your adventures and growth!

You'll have to tell her plainly that you're not ready to talk about it right away, and she'll be very understanding even if it's hard

Every time you open up, she'll hang on your every word. You two are the main characters in her story, and she can't wait for the plot to develop with you by her side

Lucio

He doesn't make it easy for you to leave

He doesn't mind you going on a trip! Trips are fun! And even when they're serious and scary, like what he had to do with you in the Arcana's realms, they're always better with a loved one!

So why are you trying to go without him? Who's going to protect you?!

And equally important, who's going to be with him?!

He's thoughtless sometimes, but he's not dumb. He knows he's a better man because of you

And he also knows that he's not perfect. Deep down under all that bluster and ego, he's still a kid who never learned to love

You helped him with that. You unraveled every tangled oopsie with him, you didn't flinch when you saw the worst of him, and then you picked up his forgotten heart and filled it up with love

So why else would you be leaving except because you finally realized that he's not worthy of you?

You're able to explain it to some extent. You need to go on a journey similar to his. Only you need to do this by yourself because it isn't about fixing oopsies, it's about finding out who you used to be

He'll let you go because it's what's best for you. And he believes you when you say you'll come back. But what he can't bring himself to tell you is how afraid he is that who you used to be won't be able to love him

When you kiss him goodbye, he resigns himself to it being the last he'll ever get

At first he sulks. He crashes people's parties and picks fights with every bandit he encounters

But when he has the option to get blackout drunk? Take all the goods from the bandits for himself on top of the bounty money?

He can't

You taught him the importance of taking responsibility for his actions. Well, you made him a good man. So you're going to have to take responsibility for that and give him the chance to prove himself worthy of you

Which he does. He wakes up early. He moderates his drinks. He does the jobs he finds. He saves the money he earns

When you get back and fling your arms around him, his knees buckle from relief

He can tell you've changed, but it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. He can tell you all the ways he's changed instead!

If you were worried about his reactions when you do open up, you quickly realize you don't have to be

He doesn't expect you to be perfect. All he wants is for you to be you, for you to be happy, and for him to be the one you choose to do that with

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Author's notes about the Tanza and Auren fragment, because I keep having too many thoughts about it.

It's a good thing Auren started watching the movie only after his fictional self escaped from the rebels, because reliving his capture and near-execution might actually have been traumatizing.

He also missed out on the trauma of seeing fictional versions of his dead family and friends, who got much less flattering portrayals.

Tanza's desperation to stop the movie before Auren figures out what it's about is partially out of concern for his emotional health, but also out of sheer embarrassment at the idea that he's going to find out this exists (and maybe find out about her embarrassing tweenage obsession with this story).

(I can't believe I got the actor's name wrong for the first half of the story. I've gone back to fix it.)

(Also, if anyone thought this universe had good worldbuilding, I have fooled you all, because writing this I wasn't sure if tephans had chairs. The original story mentions an office chair, dining chairs, and folding chairs, but nothing about the seating in a living area. This scene gave me a minor crisis about this.)

Not only was the film a sensation that made its lead actor a star--he also became a Colin-Firth-in-Pride-and-Prejudice level heartthrob. (Which makes the real Auren a bit of a letdown to a lot of female tephans.) Tanza will never tell him about that.

Tanza was interested in the story because of its romanticized drama and the focus on the historical period. She did not have a crush like other girls. (If she did, it was toward the idea of this noble, tragic hero, not toward the actor.)

If there was a level of attraction toward the fictional Auren, it might be my window into imagining her romance with the real one. I can see Auren being attracted to Tanza (and in the original story there are two moments specifically where he's acting like a man in love), but I've had a harder time imagining Tanza developing romantic feelings for him. But there's something sweet in imagining this abandoned little girl (with her prickly outer shell hiding a vulnerable soul) falling a little bit in love with the story of the noble hero, never imagining that she'd grow up and find out the real man is so much better and in love with her. (There's also something weird about it, so it might be better not to go that way).

At some point, Auren is going to meet Corphan Holbrith at one of those political events/charity fundraisers he always has to attend. Holbrith is going to mention that he's overjoyed that the real Auren was found, because if the real prince hadn't shown up, Holbrith was half-afraid people would put "Prince Auren" on his own tomb.

(The two of them get along very well. Tanza just about dies from how surreal this moment is.)

The premise of the Prince Auren story has always been that there's been an Anastasia-style legend surrounding Prince Auren's survival. But now I'm sad that I didn't go full Anastasia, and make Auren discover that they made an animated musical about his alternate self.

The only reason I'm not immediately making a sequel about this premise is that I'm not sure Arateph has animation or musicals in the way that we know them (it might go a few steps too far in making them like humans).

There definitely is some kind of musical storytelling format (tephans have several strong musical traditions across their various regional cultures), and there's definitely at least one retelling of Prince Auren's imagined history in that format.

If we imagine the Prince Auren story works like the Anastasia story in our world, then there's a pretty good chance that Auren's survival story has become almost its own fairy tale, with lots of different reimaginings and retellings. Which makes it awkward after the real Prince Auren shows up. Can we keep telling versions of this story/putting on these beloved stage plays, etc.? Is it a fairy tale that has become public cultural property, or history that we need to stop circulating now that it's fully debunked?

[h0undeye]

raises hand waves waves waves id like to hear abr ur homestuck au

im making the executive decision to put this under a readmore

first things first this takes place centuries into the future of the alternian empire. ive yet to decide if hic is still the reigning empress but. whatever. thats kind of irrelevant and youll see why

the alternian empire has extended FAR. an expansion so vast that its caused a societal AND governmental shift in priorities. further colonization has taken a backburner as scientific advancement has been prioritized

ysee i have a theory that alternian spacecraft literally does not function using electricity and is solely powered by psionic goldbloods. this is due to little details, like planes not having been invented, the idea of electricity powering things being thought of as laughable, etc. so with how great the empire has become, they need to improve

so, the black mesa research facility is founded, directly funded by the empire itself. it is staffed by adult trolls, as there is no longer a need for adults to immediately be shipped off to war

most of the scientists employed end up being cerulean or indigo due to the bias of the empire. the caste system is still very present. further, most of the security being staffed are olive, and its rare to see anyone below such color in the wings of black mesa

enter stage right gordon freeman. hes a bronzeblood, BARELY making it in via recommendation by isaac kleiner, his former mentor. this is where the story is pretty much as we remember. the resonance cascade occurs, gordon fights the creatures of xen, yknow

and so heres the thing. xen is in an entirely different dimension. alternia and xen are not from the same world. thats why xen was not colonized by the empire at all. this is also how alternia avoided detection by the combine. so, similarly to in half life, the portal fuckery between xen and alternia alerted the combine to the existence of the alternian empire. since the combine is so fucking large they do manage to also gain control of the empires colonies (afterall, what they allotted to earth was NOT the full extent of the combines empire). while alternia CERTAINLY wasnt defeated in 7 hours, they most certainly did fall under combine rule eventually. notably, the combines most influential act was the murder of the reigning empress and all other living fuchsias, recognizing how this would destabilize the alternian government (plus most of the few fuchsias in existence had died in the war itself and werent directly executed)

see why i said the empress wouldnt be too important?

narratively, i think this also provides a more,,, natural(?) reason for wallace breen serving as the ambassador for the combine, as alternians would gravitate towards having the next highest caste to rule, and breen is a violet in this au (all colors will be listed at the. hes violet because black mesa is directly ran by the empire so theyd naturally appoint a seadweller to run it)

anyway! when it comes to how alternians FEEL about the combines rule, well. id say theyre just as revolted, if not MORE than humans. theyre really good at PRETENDING theyre happy under these conditions, but the resistance is definitely bigger, not even just because alternia has a larger population, but even when it comes to percent of the population a part of the resistance

WHICH speaking of this leads me to a really shitty transition to talk about SIGNS because i am writing this in chunks and forgot to include it earlier. the combine have also eliminated the use of signs. they represent a level of personality and individuality that just wont fly w the combine. so no one has a sign anymore. EXCEPT the resistance. who have adopted gordons sign instead. for one, gordon freeman is who the combine are wary of the most, so bearing any memento of him is already a huge fuck you. but his SIGN? the most identifiable part of him which is also the aspect of a troll the combine are MOST against? thas rebellion 101 baby

and something of note is that, while casteism is still an issue, its not a fundamental aspect of society. upholding the caste system is pretty much pointless in the current day, HOWEVER, those ideals were instilled so deeply into society that biases and internalized casteism do still exist. SO people are more willing to dawn the sign of a bronze, but that doesnt mean that theyve achieved perfect equality

i think thats enough lore? character time!

first, colors. i'll use the names i use for character tags on here

burgundy: joshua

bronze: gordon freeman, gordon martinis freeman, gordon freemind

gold: alyx vance, russell, tommy coolatta

olive: barney calhoun, barmey calhoun, forzen

jade: gina cross, judith mossman

teal: colette green

cerulean: isaac kleiner, eli vance, darnold pepper

indigo: arne magnusson, adrian shephard, dr coomer, mindrian shephard, all hecu marines excluding forzen

purple: the black ops assassins

violet: wallace breen, bubby

fuchsia: oops! all dead

notable exceptions: g-man (hlvrai and half life) who is not a troll but presents as a tealblood. benrey who is not a troll and presents as olive but can and does change his blood color at will

so what the fuck is up with alyx joshua and tommy i hear you ask?

alyx was a young troll who eli decided to mentor after her lusus died. eli got her into science as a whole, but specifically engineering and mechanics

the g-man found tommy, also with a dead lusus, and thought "this is neat. im keeping him". whatever species g-man is has a concept of family, which g-man teaches to tommy, so tommy is the only one in the group who knows what the word father means

joshua was taken under gordons wing, similarly to alyx and eli, but joshuas lusus is still alive. however, his lusus is sickly and unable to care for joshua on his own, so gordon helps out and also teaches josh cool science things but is not his sole guardian

and yes, this au includes half life, hlvrai, and the mindverse. i imagine this au not being ONE universe, but a collection of universes that are kinda parallel to each other? its like an umbrella au. i dont know if i'll do any crossuniverse shenanigans or not. id probably have to refresh myself on homestuck timeline n multiverse mechanics

ive written so fucking much. i can explain my choice of blood colors but i'll only do that if asked because HOLY SHIT

[justiceforc3po]

ANDOR is great, but not like that

Ok, here we go. I need to talk about Andor - I love this show so much, and so I've been watching lots of content about it, especially analysis videos. And while I would technically immediately join in on praising this show into absolute oblivion, I often find myself disagreeing with one specific idea - that Andor is "The Best of Star Wars".

When I first heard someone say that, I didn't know why I hesitated to agree. After all, technically, I'd say they're right - Andor is brilliantly written, has great dialogue, beautiful practical and CGI effects, incredible characters, acting, themes, etc. But I realised, there's a few reasons why I do not think that Andor is or can be called the epitome of Star Wars. First of all - I don't think there can be such a thing as "The Best of Star Wars". The franchise is far too massive and varied to pick something out as the best thing. You simply can't compare Andor, a live-action show with a very dark story and incredibly tragic characters, to The Clone Wars for example - an animated childrens' show that will simply have different restrictions (and benefits!). But secondly...while I adore Andor, I think that it does lack something important to even be considered the best of Star Wars specifically for me. Quite simply, Andor is just too different from the rest of the franchise. It isn't Star Wars enough. Does that make it bad? Oh hell no. They shouldn't be trying to make it more Star Wars! It's perfectly fine as it is! But I think that while it is better on a technical level than most other Star Wars media, putting it on a pedestal over the rest of the franchise is doing a complete disservice to what made SW so popular in the first place. Because no, the OT and especially the PT are not better stories, or movies, than something like Andor. They're kind of cheesy, sometimes a bit muddled, and campy as hell. But I also wouldn't change them one bit (ok, I do have some bones to pick with the PT but shh)! Luthen's speech is amazing, it's beautiful dialogue, nothing in those movies comes close to it on a technical level! But Star Wars didn't get popular through dramatic speeches. In fact, the sometimes stilted dialogue is part of it's charm as a series. The campy sci-fi elements, the humour, it's all part of what makes Star Wars what it is. Andor is excellent at highlighting the more gritty part of the story, and executes the political themes wonderfully. But in Star Wars, for me, it will always just be showing one side of what the franchise has to offer. This isn't a bad thing. I'm glad Andor does its own thing. But it simply isn't close enough to the heart of this franchise to be the best part of it. And now, here we can argue all day, but for me, the core of Star Wars is and always will be the OT and the PT combined. While I might enjoy the OT more, the PT is undeniably incredibly important to what the franchise is today and so so much to the table. I don't think I need to mention the sequels (but jar-jar binks had more goddamn plot relevance than several sequel characters. just saying.) But, what I will say, it is the best of what Disney+ Era Star Wars has to offer. Because shedding the classic Star Wars feel for Andor was a decision that makes it a little less Star Wars to me - but it also makes the show work better in its own merit. And at the end of the day, no lightsaber battle, no cute reference, no beautiful scenery will EVER make up for how much these shows are simply empty husks lacking any real passion or fresh ideas for the franchise. And it's a real damn shame, because they could all have been beautiful. But Andor works - not even because of how damn good it is, but honestly because there has to be someone who truly makes us want to love these characters, because they cannot rely on us simply knowing them already. And that's when Star Wars is best! When someone makes something new, and you can just feel the passion and love for the world and the story and characters through the screen. And wether that be through how much George Lucas filling the PT with bad CGI just because he CAN, or through how beautifully tragic Cassian Andor's story is, I truly do not give a fuck.

I went a bit off-topic there lmao, but TL;DR: Andor is brilliant, and better on a technical standpoint than most other SW media. But not only is the franchise too vast to have a "best" part, Andor only shows a very specfic facet of what the franchise can be, and that's completely fine. It's definitely better than all other live action Disney+ SW shows though.

[semifinel]

February - 2023

Games

Disco Elysium- I’ve actually been slowly going through it for over a year (I would play for a few days and then take a break for a few months and then forget where I am and restart). However I finally finished it and I can very easily say it’s one of my favorite games ever. The writing, the style, the music- what’s not to fucking love.

I could talk about this game for hours and I have actually done that enough to convince friends to play it as well. But I probably can’t say anything that hasn’t been said before me.

Great game- I might be in love with Kim kitsuragi.

Rain world(?)- to be honest I haven’t played it (yet?) but I spend way too much time watching gameplay of it and videos about it, went into a deep dive in the wiki. This world absolutely fascinates me, the ecosystem is just wow- even though it seems like a very difficult game I might actually get it one day.

Decide to include it cause it’s my list and I make the rules, also it ate a chunk of my month.

Monster hunter rise- this is my second time trying to get this game and last time I (apparently) quit before even going on a mission. To be fair it was a combination of my own stupidity and the game’s absolute horrible tutorial that made me drop it so fast.

However given a second shot I’m already having more fun, flipping and riding and monster hunting.

I have no idea if anyone ever cared about a character in this game but the monsters are cool and I love them lots.

Why is there a tower defense section is beyond me- I never liked any kind of tower defense, but this is very much the wrong game for it.

Can’t wait to try a hunt with friends- I heard it’s awesome.

Start again: a prologue- a delightful lil rpg that made me feel a lot. I love time loops as a concept already and this was executed so well- I will cry about it.

Can’t wait for in stars and time!! I need more of this cast and world.

Lookouts- another game I’ve been making my way through oh so slowly, no reason here since it’s not really long. It’s a visual novel and I have trouble focusing on reading, that’s my main issue.

However I’m happy I played it- trans cowboys on opposing sides falling in love and find a way for them to have a life- I am the target audience. I love them.

Hue- sure was a puzzle game. And it was a nice one, pretty sure I got it for free and I mostly used it as something to play while I listen to podcasts. It’s cute and not very long and the puzzles were nice.

Shows

Mob psycho s2- still doing my rewatch, still love my sons.

Darry girls s3- finally got around to it, honestly liked it less then the other seasons however it was a nice end to the show as a whole and I’m glad they wrapped it up nicely.

Animation vs Minecraft- what if I told you the animation you used to watch on YouTube as a child kept going on while you looked away. That there is now a storyline spanning several hours which is very neat and dear to my heart.

How simple are your blorbos? Mine are literally just different colored stick man (they are my sons and I love them very much).

I want everyone to watch it, you can’t understand how hard it goes in the final episodes you don’t understand ahhhhha.

Podcasts

Something rotten- did I start this podcast just cause I wanted more Jacob Geller? Yes.

Am I happy I did that? Also yes.

I do not care even a little about the games they talk about but it’s still fascinating to hear them talk about them (along other kind of related topic)

Personally never heard of Blake Hester before but glad I know him now.

Can’t wait for next season where I might play along since I have one of the games in my library for some reason.

Etc?

The prince by Abigail throne (philosophy tube)- so like one of my favorite trans creators writes a play and uploads it in full- I had no doubt it was gonna be good.

Love the characters, love the themes, and the setting (of being stuck inside a play) is very fun.

But man do I not understand Shakespearean speak but that’s more of a me thing.

Felt a lil cliche/sappy at times but it was cute so I had no problem with it.

[spitzchi]

I SAW AVAT AR HERE ARE MY OPINIONS

overall a stinker with a few cool elements. worth pirating only if youre not watching it sober but like. don't give them any money for this LOL

the most glaring and immediate issue with it imo is the performances. the cgi characters suffer from a lack of microexpressions which may have been present during the on set performance, then filtered out during mocap and were not fully reconstructed during anim polish. like if they're not intentionally making an expression theyre just slighty grimacing by default. and the live action actors are even WORSE. every human character gives the impression that for every line they're looking off camera for a cue to say their line, theres no engagement with the scenes whatsoever. tbh to me it seems like for a mocapped character, they were directed with the knowledge that performances could be rounded out in post, but the same directorial techniques were applied to non-mocap characters whose performaces werent revised and well. you get what you get! na'avi were stiff and humans were flat.

there's also some issues with the effects which im willing to chalk up to delgo syndrome (massive project takes so long to complete that the technology progesses past it, leaving the final product appearing dated on release). im not the most fluent in vfx technicalities, but (according to my bestie who is) a number of assets weren't properly blended with the enviornment. like the characters and fire had different lighting from the background.

but the BIGGEST issue with it was structure (shocker). im more willing to attribute this to poor writing as opposed to poor editing, since with a movie like this writing and structural editing are done together in the previs/prepro stage. the first thing i noticed that were issues was starting the movie out with back-to-back timeskips. first we go through a ten year family raising montage, then we skip time a full year forward for the antagonist to develop. i think if there was a way to intermesh the time skips it wouldnt have felt as stilted, which i understand is difficult but well. they had a whole ten years to figure it out. the next thing was the TIME. i know im not the first one to say this, but this could have been a full hour shorter than it was. ive seen movies with a similar runtime that feel half the length of this one, because they don't suffer the same overall structural weakness as this one. and that's the fundamental issue with this movie! the story itself was just not strong enough to support the grandiosity of the concept and the world. the beats are repetitive because they don't intensify within each leg of the story (the same rising actions happen again and again because the main characters are functionally just waiting for the antagonist to arrive, and the climax drags because the only tension is between death-by-weapon and death-by-drowning.... for like a solid 40 minutes). there were moments where i could tell the film language in terms of music, shot composition, etc was telling me i was supposed to care but. i just couldn't. because there was nothing there.

for some positives-- there were a few good scenes, especially the ones involving the whale species. the initial whale hunt did make me a little sick tbh and the final moby dick style boat battle was very cool. theres also some nice visual elements-- when the effects are well-executed by today's standards they're gorgeous and there's some cool creature and tech design (i love those crab bots). also zoe saldana's performace stuck out as the only engaging, believable, remotely evocative one so. props to her and her alone. i also thought the idea of shrinking the scope to be more personal was a good idea, because im sure they'll ramp back up to saving the world again. but in due time.

tldr; it's an ouroboros of mediocrity where if any one of its problem elements were strong, its glaring issues would be forgivable. not quite aquaman levels of shitassery but close. 2/5

[usagirotten]

Movie Review: Five Nights at Freddy's is a horror that is not worth it

As we already mentioned before, video game adaptations to the big and small screen have suffered great failures, since the 90's this genre has not been able to find a balance between a good story and a good director. Within this genre, we have the horror subgenre which has not done very well at the box office either, in 2023 one more adaptation hits the big screen, Five Nights at Freddy's, a supernatural horror film based on the video game franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthon, which has enjoyed great success among locals and strangers. The video game saga also has adaptations in novels, comics, and endless merchandising that includes collectible figures, stuffed animals, t-shirts, posters, notebooks, etc. The premise is simple, it puts the player in the character of a night security guard who watches a local pizzeria, the goal is to survive five nights in a row, and each level becomes increasingly scarier.

What is the film about?

Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) goes through a family trauma, without money he is hired as a night security guard to work at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, what seems to be a quiet night at work he soon realizes that surviving in that place will not be not easy. This type of cinematographic work must have the basics necessary so that the viewer who has never played the game has the necessary elements to understand the plot, likewise for those who already know it, that balance is what defines whether it will be successful or not, this genre With its subgenres and what it occupies, it is very difficult to adapt, its base story has already been outlined and there is very little that can be modified. Having said the above, we already have a fixed idea of what to expect, the game is about surviving an abandoned Chuck-E-Cheese where monstrous murderous beings live, when we talk about environments and scenarios that would be creepy whether abandoned or not, haunted or This place is not one of them, its atmosphere must be enveloping and keep us expecting that something terrible can happen at any moment. Establishing the rules imposed by the genre, we must be faced with a place that not only scares us but makes us feel it, in these cases the visual is what is taken into account the most, along with this, a well-established plot that develops the subplots very well. and have an ending that leaves us satisfied with the possibility that there will be more installments and that each one of these will be more terrifying, without losing track of what the plots on which it is based are, by saying that it is based we hope that stick as closely as possible to what is known and not take creative liberties to give it a different personality. We can say that the film as a final product has elements that can be used very well, we have a small cast, few locations, and a plot that can go from being simple to complicated, the execution of its action must live up to or exceed the expectations that are based on the video game but this does not happen here, this is done so that adults like it and that teenagers also like it without having to be extremely explicit. We do not know exactly what director Emma Tammi wanted to do with this material, the script written by Scott Cawthon, Seth Cuddeback, and Tammi herself does not have such a solid foundation that it can sustain gore entertainment for adults, the plot, although Based on the video game, the subplots are the ones that fall far below what was expected, we know that Mike Schmidt's character suffers from a family tragedy because his brother was kidnapped, hence all his traumas come from, we have Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) a police officer who is investigating the first crime that opens the tape, then we have Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard) who hires this guy as a security guard, then we have Abby (Piper Rubio) Schmidt's little sister. As the story develops on the screen we can see that there are long and meaningless sequences that create subplots that do not conclude anything and that only fall into the comfort zone of extending longer than necessary, distracting from all the action that should have occurred. , the moment in which it is revealed that these animatronic dolls possess the souls of children who were kidnapped and murdered no longer has a strong impact, when we expect that at the end of a twist that will excite us and take this to the place it should be. Having no impact either, the revelation that Steve Raglan is the one who kidnapped children including Schmidt's brother is very guessable and not at all surprising.

This has characters that resemble those of its base material, having all the necessary elements to make this a successful film franchise as a quality product it does not fulfill what it promises and remains a deficient product that is just waiting to be, It's like the slightly more mature version of the series Are you afraid of the dark? which was basically for children, the same thing happens with this film, there are no sequences of violence that should be violently explicit, everything that happens off screen and its director fails to leave it to the viewer's imagination, which is a great stupidity. because what we want to see is exactly that. The biggest flaw it has is very evident, this wants to be popular at the box office, causing morbidity and a movement in which all those involved attend and are partially satisfied with the misleading promise that it will be a franchise in which things are told and developed. little by little to maintain interest, it loses its place in the horror genre because it is more focused on entertaining and advocating for the nostalgia of those who played the video game but also to attract new generations. It is to be expected that in a work like this that does not intend to enrich or contribute anything to the genre it occupies, there is its family message, the importance of working as a team, of not losing hope, overcoming our traumas and being better people, than all the bad things. It has a good side, that we must believe that everything can change for the better, and everything above fails, they are good messages of that we have no doubt but they are very poorly placed because we are in a supposed horror movie where exactly the opposite is going to happen. Another very obvious flaw that we found is its production design, from its opening credits things do not go well, it is not clear if they are making a tribute to the horror B movies of the 70s and 80s or it is making fun Of that, the design of the animatronics complies but it is not what would be expected, what could be extremely terrifying is just a bunch of stuff, not to mention that they appear very little, which should be a spectacular appearance as we all expected from Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy remains on a very secondary level. The setting goes from being a location to being a studio with very little care in its details, there are television series with a lower budget that achieve much more than what happens here, everything it achieves and promises will be in its first minutes of production. Diluting to nothing, the plot becomes repetitive, heavy, and boring, its best moments are when we wait for something to happen with the dolls and nothing happens. Its ending leaves us thinking that what we have just seen is a plagiarism of the best moments of films like Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Saw, Halloween, or When a Stranger Calls. It happens that everything is left open for a possible sequel, everything concludes with a post-credits scene that tells us that this can continue.

There was an opportunity to make this a multimillion-dollar and successful fan franchise that would vindicate the genre, instead, we were left with something that could have been and was not, we were left with a forced drama and black humor that is not funny, with very weak ones that could have been deeper, we were left wanting to see something with much more dedication and production and of course more gore. The cast is made up of Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard who do what they can with what they have, good actors with a terrible script where there is not much to do and almost nothing to develop. The music composed by The Newton Brothers complies with having the dolls' songs and those pieces that help raise an almost non-existent tension, a good job that would sound much better in another project. In conclusion, Five Nights at Freddy's is an adaptation that fell far short of what could be expected from a source that has been successful in recent years, a completely mediocre film that aims to be horror for those who feel nostalgic for a game, one more opportunity that is lost for something that we repeatedly mentioned on purpose could have been better. Five Nights at Freddy's is now out in theaters across the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJS2sYYpz6o Read the full article

[maybeweshould]

In 2021 there was almost none there given the Covid restrictions.. That was the first time he actually performed in front of the whole music industry. Performing badly can happen even to the greatest of all times. But i have to say that i think the performance would have been underwhelming even if he sang perfectly. It was poorly put together in general.

But really.. He and his team are known for half-assing things, especially since his fame skyrocketed with Fine Line. Very little effort and that's the result

I totally agree with you in general- the best can do bad performance and mistakes are forgiven. But if the bugs are common, then something is not right here.

Harry and his team love to make publicity around everything but Harry's music for example professionalism, being nice, fashion, etc. And it turns out (not for the first time tbh) that this 'fashion' and this 'professionalism' are smoke and mirrors and it starts to be so visible that even media are talking about this.

There was no need for this red carpet outfit, which was supposed to be a strong entrance (the outfit was supposed to be loud) and a factor for Harry to be in the spotlight, just to do a mediocre performance. The general idea of ​​the performance itself was quite ok, but the execution was poor. A few things would be interesting if it was better thought out, e.g. combining a silver outfit with red lights and red turntable was OK. Recreating the choreography from the music video itself was also good idea but two smaller turntables with a stage for the band in the center would be a much better solution. One table for Harry and the dancer, the other for the rest of the dancers in matching clothes and preferably in contrasting colors like blue, on which the camera would be directed, when Harry is not dancing or singing with the band, or when Harry is moving around and we already have a more interesting effect. Small things but big difference.

[earl-of-221b]

Alright here is the full plot of TV Lotus Lantern ‘05 adaption 

Sanseng Mu marries Liu Yanchang, they have Chen Xiang. Erlang Shen and his posse come down and beat her under a mountain, but not before Sanseng Mu could fight all of them at once and use magic to send Yanchang and baby Chen Xiang away.

16 years pass.

Chen Xiang starts to show celestial powers, which gets him noticed by Erlang Shen. Erlang Shen is all ‘I knew your mother.....u can call me Uncle’ and Chen Xiang is so happy to find family. Is very sad because no mum.

Meanwhile, the heavenly peach banquet is about to happen in Heaven. Erlang Shen the fairly new Upholder of Heavenly Law (its a job title) gets contacted by Queen Mother about his sister. She tells him to summon Sanseng Mu to do the banquet arrangements.

Erlang Shen goes to Sanseng Mu’s underground mountain prison and tells her “renounce ur family and I will let you out without telling anyone lol.” The reality is that Erlang Shen was never ordered to trap Sanseng Mu at all - he just did it...cos he did it....like sure it was the law but he was NEVER coerced into it. He did it. (Queen Mother and the rest of the court finds out very soon and is like ‘lmao keep her in prison. They had no idea about any of this until Erlang Shen slipped up and told them.)

Chen Xiang finds out what Erlang Shen really did through-

1) his dad

2) Fourth Dragon Princess of the Eastern Sea, friend of his mother, whom he calls “Auntie,” who visits him every birthday. Also, it’s Chen Xiang’s birthday.

Chen Xiang, after some shenanigans involving running away from Xiao Tian Quan (played by both an actor and a real dog) and getting captured by Bull Demon (plot relevant later I guess???????maybe??) he is cornered by Erlang Shen who wants to murder him after some disappointed feelings about being unable to control him keep him in his village. But yes he attempts to murder him once or twice. Or in the very least “capture” him.

So down comes some other of  Sanseng Mu’s friends - the “Hundred Flower Goddesses” 百花仙子. They are only able to fight off Erlang Shen because they have this juicy af gossip that they can tell on him about, which will get him fired.

The Hot Goss:

Erlang Shen loves Chang’e, went to creep on her at her Moon Palace. Overheard Chang’e say she didn’t like him at all, only has heart for dead husband. So in a rage he punches a tree. Not kidding. This tree, however, was some kind of heavenly treasure (the jade tree that was made from one of the eye lashes of Pangu the earth-sky separator). So he’s in deep trouble. And Chang’e told the hot goss to the Hundred Flower Goddesses.

Now Chen Xiang is safe because his Aunts have the Hot Goss. So Erlang Shen, an absolute thot, thinks up this crazy plan in order to catch Chen Xiang. (Not clear what he wants to do with Chen Xiang in the end - he wants to stop him from saving his mother.) He gets into cahoots with Bull Demon and coerces him into imprisoning the Hundred Flower Goddesses. So Bull Demon does this because he is intimidated by Erlang Shen. Also the Mei bros are here.

Shenanigans happen and Chen Xiang, with his Aunts all captured and Dad floundering, is free to roam the earth. He meets Love Interest 1, Xiaoyu, who is a fox demon. (Subplot: Fox demon’s Aunt has been conditioning her to master the Sky Splitting Final Move and fulfil her life’s purpose: Avenge her murdered demon parents.)

Chen Xiang also meets his inner friend group: Eighth Prince of the Eastern Sea AoChun and Love Interest 2: human girl sharing a character of his name, Ding Xiang. (Sub plot: Chen Xiang’s parents set up an arranged marriage for their baby (????????) and she’s Ding Xiang. Ding Xiang wants this arranged marriage to go ahead, falls in love with CX. CX loves fox demon Xiaoyu however. Love triangle time.) Also hangs out with Nezha for a while.

More shenanigans happen and everyone on CX’s side minus CX (powerless) gets into a big fight - culminates in Erlang Shen KILLING Fourth Dragon Princess, Chen Xiang’s Aunt. Straight up splits her soul from her body. Things are very very sad. Can’t remember all the details but CX also hides out with Zhu Bajie for a while.

Meanwhile, fox demon Xiaoyu’s Aunt pressures Xiaoyu into stealing and eating the core of the Lotus Lantern. So now Chen Xiang has no lantern. (Demon Aunt dies via Mei Bro #6) Xiaoyu’s gotta focus on revenge.

At one point, Liu Yanchang is also at Zhu Bajie’s and Erlang Shen’s posse try to catch him. The Eldest Mei Bro, Kang the boss, surprises everyone by taking Liu Yanchang out the back and giving him money to escape. He is very worried about what he’s seeing in Erlang Shen, hunting down his nephew like a dog, imprisoning his sister, lying to the court, breaking Chang’es tree, killing fourth princess, blackmailing Bull Demon King, lying to his sister etc etc etc. Kang thinks he has lost his honour. He warns Bro #6 as well, but Bro #6 and the others are too loyal to Erlang Shen. (Actually a good plot line about the Mei bros, though very small.)

Zhu Bajie, ofc, knows where to find the mvp: Sun Wukong. Skipping lots of stuff - Sun Wukong is in Heaven, Jade Emperor makes a bet with him and tricks him into hating Chen Xiang. Chen Xiang arrives at Sun Wukong’s and Sun Wukong’s like ‘nah.’ He’s got to convince Sun Wukong to teach him or Erlang Shen will murder him and his dad.

Too late, cos Erlang Shen has already killed his dad via torture. (Also he has a torture chamber at his place just fyi.) He throws Liu Yanchang into hell and pays the King of Hell Yanwang to CONTINUE TORTURING HIM. Also, he tosses his body back to earth lol.

In addition to this, Erlang Shen goes to Sanseng Mu’s prison and tells her this wild lie about Sun Wukong wanting to kill Chen Xiang because he accidentally killed a monkey on his mountain. L I E S. Now Sanseng Mu gives some Plot: she helped Sun Wukong subdue monsters on the journey, he should spare her son because of it. Erlang Shen is all like ‘he doesn’t care he gonna kill him. Gimme the Lotus Lantern password.’ So she does. Now Erlang Shen has the Lotus Lantern password :( (yea you need a password to activate it.)

Now Sun Wukong realises Chen Xiang was a lot like him in his wild young days so he decides to teach him. Meanwhile, the love interests are just at home being sad and maybe doing some training. Erlang Shen is mercilessly staking out the mountain Sun Wukong and CX is at (got orders not to go on monkey turf), and also hunting down Xiaoyu who ate the Lantern core, so he can use her blood to light the lantern and be undefeatable.

At this time, he has stolen the coreless Lotus Lantern and Xiao Tian Quan who’s nose and tracking ability has been destroyed by Sun Wukong (when they attempted to catch Chen Xiang right in front of him) is sad. So Xiao Tian throws the useless Lantern down. Erlang Shen goes into a rage and kicks his dog who has worked for him for literally thousands of years back to earth, now powerless. Xiao Tian has to scrape a living as a real dog, ends up being rescued by Love Interest 2, Ding Xiang.

Sun Wukong takes Chen Xiang on a heavenly pill splurge and now Chen Xiang has better powers. Chen Xiang is like ‘thanks, I’m ready to fight now bye” and leaves. Love Interest 1 hangs around the mountain that Chen Xiang’s mother is under.

Meanwhile, the peach banquet is getting very close and Queen Mother is like ‘where tf are the Hundred Flower Goddesses when I need them?’

Ding Xiang also comes across the Lotus Lantern that has been tossed back to earth. Xiao Tian Quan sees it, commits suicide, and goes back to Erlang Shen.

tbc

I will write up part 2 if anyone is actually interested in knowing the TVLL plot without watching it. Does this interest you?

[jostenneil]

Do you mind elaborating on what you dislike about Winick’s writing?

it’s a couple of different things, but where i think it stems from is the idea that some jason fans have of jason being turned into “the angry robin” as only a recent development, and that winick returning to the writer’s mantle would fix that issue, as if he didn’t ascribe to this version of jason in his own writing of under the red hood, and that influenced so many of the versions of jason thereafter. as much as i hate starlin and what he ultimately did to jason, i think there’s a distinction that has to be made about his writing. he didn’t think jason was a generally angry kid. in quite a few of his stories, jason is bright, nervous, insightful. he’s still very much a good kid. the central aspect to his writing of jason and how that eventually leads to a death in the family is his depiction of jason as reckless due to emotional involvement or naïveté, sometimes both (as can be seen in the case with sheila). and while that’s a bit annoying given the earlier issues collins wrote, where jason was capable of exercising restraint and patience, the part about him getting too emotionally involved at times is at least not all that far fetched given the issue where he learns two-face is responsible for killing his father. but that’s about as far as the portrayal goes, and even in aditf (which is immediately subsequent to the garzonas issues, the content of which obv deeply upset jason and that he also got emotionally involved in), the concern from bruce is that jason hasn’t had enough time to properly cope with his parents’ death, and that if bruce can help him then maybe he’ll be able to patrol normally. there’s never the idea that jason’s some angry kid with a mean streak, and while the thing about his “mean streak” is only a single throwaway line in under the red hood as a whole, i think it exposes the problem with winick and jason writers in general. they don’t want to acknowledge the fact that his issues pre-death were specific. he wasn’t hurling himself like an infuriated ballistic at every criminal. truly there were only two cases where that happened, and one involved his father’s murderer, obv a sore point, and the other a woman who hanged herself bc she couldn’t escape her rapist. (ig if you wanted you could also count him going overkill on the drug bust at the start of aditf, but that was the kind of temporary mental place starlin was leading jason to with the garzonas issues, rather than something that necessarily spoke on his character as a whole.) ascribing all of that to him having a mean streak and not just. . . the fact that he was a deeply empathetic person who was upset by these things that happened to good people is kind of bizarre to me. and yeah, i know winick writes jason killing people who harm children, but it’s the way he goes about writing jason’s attitude that bothers me bc it feels purely driven by rage as if jason’s feelings about certain criminals didn’t stem from a deep compassion for and personal connection to their victims. when you center so much of jason’s post-resurrection motivation around the joker and little else, you forget what drove jason to get emotionally involved with cases to begin with. more than self righteousness about what criminals deserved, it was compassion, and i think winick really missed the mark on that.

on another end, i also think ignoring the case with his father specifically has spelled a kind of disaster for his character. jason’s father worked as a lackey for one of gotham’s biggest crime bosses, and jason initially thought he’d been abandoned by willis until he learned two-face killed him. i think it’s crazy that his philosophy regarding who deserves to die and who doesn’t wouldn’t account for that deeply personal experience, esp since he loved his father. that’s not to say that every person he’s ever killed is suddenly in possession of a conscience and that every head, lackey, etc. was as sincere of intentions as his father was, but i think what winick’s vision lacks is the idea of jason having to contend with difficult questions. what is the definition of “bad”? how do you get to decide who lives or dies? what marks the point of no return for a criminal? it’s that lack of specificity that to me has harmed the character as a whole, not bc i think drug lords and rapists don’t deserve the absolute worst, but bc i think jason should come across situations where he’s forced to ask himself what gives him the right to play god, esp since a part of his philosophy is that he’s unperturbed with killing people who get in the way of him exacting what he calls justice (also this is not to say i agree with how urban legends handled this; while i enjoyed the premise i think the execution was lacking). people like to say there is a lot of nuance to jason’s introduction as the red hood but i don’t really think there is. the film version of the comic marginally improves on things but it’s still far from a genuine analysis on crime or the question of what criminals deserve what punishment, and how one would actually decide on that or on their right to decide to begin with

ultimately, i just don’t see how people believe subsequent writers are what drove jason to end up as the resident batfam psycho by the end of preboot, or as the angry robin in more recent years, when i very much think it’s a direct consequence of winick’s writing. so long as people hold that writing on a pedestal devoid of any criticism whatsoever, jason’s never going to improve as a character, and i’m still going to be of the belief he hasn’t been written well since before he died

[fanimesenseiwrites]

Ok, I know I just gave you a request before this, but I actually would love to see how the brothers + the Angels (and the Succubi 😏😂) react to an MC that ACTUALLY HAS BDE, and is a total fucking Dom down to their core (No submitting for this bitch, they literally can’t without being severely uncomfortable and that’s not sexy at all 😤)

I really love this idea so much actually.

And it's not that I love this one more than your other one, but this one felt a little easier to write to me.

NSFW-ish : nothing explicit but mentions of bdsm and sexy times

Everyone's Reaction to a Dominant MC:

Lucifer:

Before he comes to like the MC he HATES their dominant personality.

To him it comes off as defiant and bossy (talk about the pot calling the kettle black)

But after he gets to know the MC and grows to love them, he finds it incredibly attractive

The problem is that, he's normally the dom...

He's a bit conflicted.

MC doesn't like being dominated at all and he's only into it every once in a blue moon

So they end up being more of kindred spirits, and exchange "advice" about dominating their partners

Mammon:

He thinks the MC is kinda bossy, which he'll say he doesn't like, but he actually kinda likes it...?

But when MC praises him? That's what he really likes.

He'll do anything if MC will praise him for it

It doesn't even have to be sexual, he'd stop stealing if MC calls him "my good boy"

Well, he says he would. He can't help himself sometimes...

But if MC doles out the punishment? He won't even run.

He can't quite figure it out, (he's a fucking sub he just won't admit it) but it's not so bad when MC punishes him. And it's not because MC goes easy on him.

Leviathan:

Both him and the MC are in for a bit of a surprise when they're getting onto him about his messy room one day

It's really not unusual for his room to be messy. But for whatever reason, MC is really upset about it today.

"... you lazy, pathetic shut-in...!"

"Ah... don't stop..." Levi whines.

MC is taken off guard at first, even blushes a little. "Wait... so you want me to call you names?"

Levi goes red as a cherry. "Y-yeah... I mean, if you want to..."

MC grins. "So you want me tell you how pitiful and filthy you are?" They run their hands over his shoulders teasingly.

Levi nods. Did he get even redder??

MC grins mischievously. "Okay... but you gotta clean your room first."

Levi frowns. "Wait..."

"Do it or I'll compliment you."

"Don't..." he begs softly.

"Levi, you're so smart and handsome and good at video games..." MC teases.

"No! O. M. G. Shut up!" He immediately starts cleaning up.

MC is grinning like the Cheshire Cat after figuring it all out.

Satan:

Satan only likes MC's dominant side when they turn it on Lucifer. He just finds it entertaining as hell.

But he absolutely does not like it when it gets turned on him though. Because, well...

They remind him of Lucifer when they're like that.

Also, he tends to be more of a dominant personality himself so...

MC will be nice and not act like that with Satan, but they can really just be friends in that case

Asmodeus:

MC being dominant is really really sexy to him

Asmo isn't so much of sub as much as he'll kinda just do whatever to get off

But Asmo is definitely bratty, he thinks it makes it more fun if MC has to work for what they want

MC doesn't mind so much, they like to play too

They're also an excellent brat tamer 😏

Beelzebub:

Beel doesn't mind MC being dominant if that's what they like

He really does prefer them being on top anyways

MC can't bring themself to do anything crazy with Beel though because he's just such a good boy

They'd feel bad even if Beel says he's cool with it

And he really is cool with it, he's really chill as long as they communicate

(Which you should be doing anyways!)

Belphegor:

This man is the definition of brat energy.

It's just so much easier to not do something than to do whatever MC wants them to do

Belphie is a little torn about how he feels about MC being so dominant

On the one hand, he loves fucking with them and he likes that MC wants to do all the work more or less

But on the other hand, they get pushy and bossy and then they remind him of Lucifer

Definitely not sexy to think about your older brother, whether you like him or not

Diavolo:

Ya know those CEOs, etc that spend all day being in charge and so every once in a while they just wanna let go and be dominated? Yeah, that's definitely our crown prince

He's such an obedient little sub, he'll do anything the MC tells him to do, he's just so happy to not be in charge for once

MC is really good about being respectful to Diavolo in front of folks, but as soon as that bedroom door closes... 😏

Barbatos:

He loves MC being dominant as long as it's being used for keeping the brothers in line or helping Lord Diavolo relax...

But when MC is dominant towards him... ehh....

He's really more of a switch himself, and even then he's not into anything... hardcore.

While he doesn't hold the same status as Lord Diavolo, he still is a person who is very much in control and sometimes he needs to let go and relax

But he also likes being in control.

So if he can't ever dominate MC, he's more than happy to just be friends with them

Solomon:

Solomon is... an interesting case.

We all know this man radiates brat energy. Like all day long. To everyone.

And MC kinda loves it, but they also hate it.

At this point in his life, Solomon finds having power kinda... meh

I mean, when you were once a king and have been the most powerful sorcerer, at some point having power just isn't interesting

So he likes playing the part of the (bratty) sub

But its Solomon, and he likes to push the envelope...

He tried to do something domineering with MC ONCE, and it caused him to be defenestrated.

Solomon is decidedly not a brat for a long time after that.

Simeon:

He finds it amusing how the MC bosses the brothers around so easily

But when they want to do... things with him, he's a little unsure.

It's not new territory for him in terms of knowledge, but it is in terms of practice.

MC is fascinated by the idea of dominating an angel. In a way, it feels like they're corrupting him.

Well, Simeon's willing to try (almost) anything once.

MC is gentle with Simeon, even if their words aren't

Simeon actually likes it. And he'll never be into impact play but he enjoys being tied up.

Luke:

Luke is LIVING for MC bossing the brothers around.

It's only what they deserve (so he thinks)

But sometimes, MC will say something bossy and their voice sounds different, lower...

Then Simeon covers his ears.

He doesn't know why Simeon keeps doing that. He really wants to hear MC boss the brothers around...

Succubi:

They're astounded. They're in awe. They're horny af watching MC boss the brothers around.

They talk amongst each other about MC so much.

"Do you think they're really a dom or are they just bossy?"

"Do you think the brothers like it or is MC just like this all the time?"

"... do you think they'd... with me?"

They all think that. They all hope for that.

And they really really wanna ask but... well they're all subs, god demon king bless them.

A couple of them get the courage to ask but then they get nervous during the execution and MC is not exactly the sharpest tack...

So MC literally has no idea how many demons want to fuck them....

Until Valentine's Day that is.

Dom MC is not easily overwhelmed. But the sheer amount of presents they get... and how many of them are from succubi that want to be dominated by them...

MC is really flattered but also wildly embarrassed. They lock themself in their room for a few days while they think of the best way to easily let down a bunch of horny succubi.

It goes better than one would expect saying "no" to a bunch of demons would... but it is not without disappointment and more embarrassment.

MC locks themself away again after having to do all that.

MC will be okay, but they might need some mental aftercare from their favorite boy afterwards

[lucemferto]

Hey girl, don’t mind me, I just quickly went and rewrote Dream SMP Season 2.

I’m focusing on the big plot stuff from Season 2, which makes it really easy for me to make it good, because I don’t have to contend with all the hard parts like dialogue and scene pacing and stuff. As an additional challenge to myself, I try to change as little as possible. If I don’t mention stuff (like the Egg-Arc) then that means I’m fine with them the way they are.

I wrote this in an hour, so don't expect it to be good, pls.

Whether you agree or think this is trash, I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts!

ACT I

Fundy’s early arc with Ghostbur, Eret and Phil is great and should stay the way it is. It sets up the character relationships and potential for conflict that we can explore in the future.

Similarly, I wouldn’t change too much about the conflict during Exile with one exception: Both Tommy and Quackity don’t want to include Technoblade. Instead, they believe that they can take one Dream by themselves – this is important for Techno’s, Tommy’s and Quackity’s personal journey later on. In this rewrite, Quackity also didn’t found El Rapids, but instead recruited George & Sapnap to L’Manburg – because his stated goal is to make L’Manburg the strongest nation on the server, so why would he make a rival nation with a plotline that goes nowhere?

What’s also important is that it’s revealed that Dream has a spy in L’Manburg around here. Maybe Tommy confessed his burning of George’s house during a cabinet meeting and word still got out to Dream. Who knows, but it’s important for later.

Something big that I would change about this Act I is that I would give Techno an actual B-plot. As it stands, Techno’s early plotline was just “Grrr, I’m angry that Tommy would use me like that! Someone killed my cows and robbed me! L’Manburg will know my wrath”

3 weeks later

“Nevermind, I’m a pacifist now and live in the arctic”

Instead, we pick up where S1 left off. Techno is intent on destroying L’Manburg and instituting anarchy. During that time, he comes into conflict with Quackity’s henchmen (Fundy, George, Sapnap, etc.) to establish that L’Manburg could be an actual threat to him.

We also have some conflict with Phil. They’re old war buddies, but Phil’s son built L’Manburg and Phil himself is unofficially Tubbo’s advisor. I think them reconstituting their friendship will take up this early part until Tommy’s exile – it makes for a nice foil to Tommy’s and Tubbo’s friendship falling apart.

Technoblade also tries to recruit people like HBomb and Niki to his cause, but they’re hesitant, because, you know, he sent Withers to destroy their home. Not the best first impression. Techno is hurt, but convinced it’s because of L’Manburg propaganda and they don’t want to work with him, because they don’t see him as useful.

ACT II Part 1

Exile-Arc basically stays exactly the same – with one notable difference. When Technoblade comes to visit Tommy it’s not to mock him – it’s as a final attempt to convince Tommy to join him. It’s a first culmination of Techno’s character journey so far: His previous interactions with the citizenry of L’Manburg has left him shaken, but not shaken enough.

Tommy truly does need “The Blade” right now and he has no reason to further believe L’Manburg’s propaganda. So, by Technoblade’s inner logic, Tommy should accept.

But he doesn’t. Tommy viciously rips into Technoblade and gets very personal (he’s in a bad space, understandably) – Techno can play it off nonchalantly, but either the cinematography or some later moment shows us that he was hurt by this.

Nevertheless, he gives Tommy a compass that points to his HQ, showing us that he cares about Tommy, like he did during their early days in Pogtopia.

This is where we implement some big changes. The story of Technoblade and the Butcher Army becomes the A-plot, while the Exile becomes the B-plot.

It makes perfect sense. The Exile-Arc is a very inward-focused, almost a character study of Tommy and Dream. It doesn’t have a lot of big narrative movement – so the perfect time to execute on that narrative movement in the storyline that has a lot of moving pieces.

So, after Tommy chewed him out, Techno is hurt and meets with Philza. Techno then explains that for him anarchy always was the natural order of things – to fight for a world where only the strongest survive – but pursuing anarchy like that has left him empty. Philza then explains that anarchy should be more about helping people and building an equal community.

We’re all but stating a major thematic conflict of this storyline: Fighting those who wronged you vs. Helping those in need. All this while also exploring the philosophy of anarchy with Techno and Philza serving as symbolic stand-ins for some different thoughts on the matter.

So, while Tommy’s Exile is going on, Techno refines his approach. This goes hand in hand with Quackity using his henchman to turn L’Manburg into a totalitarian police state in order to root out Dream’s traitor (told you it would become important later).

This will be the main conflict here in the first half of Act 2. Quackity and Philza will play shoulder-devil and shoulder-angel respectively for Tubbo and Fundy, pulling them in different directions. Ghostbur also hangs around L’Manburg – a constant reminder for Tubbo of the most sanitized version of President Wilbur and the lofty ideas he stood for.

This is another big thematic conflict for this storyline – externalized in part through Ghostbur’s presence: When do the ends no longer justify the means? It also feeds into the motif of Tubbo and Tommy becoming like Schlatt and Wilbur respectively (even if that’s still mostly superficial).

During this political turmoil, Niki is getting into Quackity’s crosshairs. She opposes his policing and brutal methods. So Quackity really focuses in on her and she has to live with constant surveillance, searches, etc. Niki tries to talk to Tubbo about this, but he says it’s necessary to keep L’Manburg safe. Slowly, Niki grows disillusioned with L’Manburg.

It is during this time that Niki gets into contact with Techno and the two start to form a bond and helping the citizenry hold out hope during this time (I don’t know who would be the citizenry, probably people that don’t have their own storyline going on such as HBomb, Vikkstar, Lazarbeam, etc.)

And we can have a few lorestreams like that, where the conceit is that Techno’s sneaking into L’Manburg to help people and there’s actual tension.

All this culminates in Hog Hunt. Fundy sees Phil, Niki and Techno team-up. He confronts them after Techno left and Phil begs Fundy to not out them – but their divide has grown too deep (and we’ve actually shown that during Fundy’s streams this time).

Quackity has Phil and Niki incarcerated (L’Manburg has a prison now, it’s not as good as Pandora’s Vualt). Tubbo is deeply disturbed that Philza and Niki would betray him by working with the man that took one of his canon lives and finally gives the Butcher Army his presidential approval. Quackity was already prepared and the events of Hog Hunt play out as we know them.

ACT II Part 2

Again, plays out relatively similarly, except for one major difference: Tommy comes to Techno with the explicit purpose of asking for his help. Exile has left him really hardened, probably more so than we have currently.

This would a.) make Tommy a bit more proactive in his partnership with Techno and b.) actually gives some weight to Techno’s later beef with Tommy, because now it’s based on more than just some flimsy phrasing during S1.

Otherwise, this plays out relatively similarly – Techno and Tommy maybe share a few more character moments, just to drive home that Techno cares about Tommy. Also, none of that dumb keeping it a secret whether or not we destroy L’Manburg – that’s some contrived nonsense and I hate it.

Tommy knows that Techno wants to destroy L’Manburg and while he’s conflicted, he ultimately goes along with. Once he gets his discs back, everything will be over after all. The destruction of L’Manburg will have been worth it.

Part of the rising action will be breaking Phil and Niki out of prison instead of the petty bullshit about Techno’s items that he doesn’t need. This is where we have the initial confrontation between Tommy and Tubbo (and Techno doesn’t ruin the moment by being his worst self).

Other plot points include: Techno receives the Wither Skulls over the course of him and Tommy working together by some mysterious benefactor. This is after he and Tommy confronted Dream. He doesn’t tell Tommy who the benefactor is, even though he knows (spoilers: it’s Dream).

Meanwhile, Tommy, Techno, Niki and Phil are secretly rigging New L’Manburg with TNT a la Wilbur, just to really drive that comparison home. Niki is getting really angry; she has suffered enough and she’s really gonna get revenge.

One of her big moments of terrorism before the Green Festival is burning down the L’Mantree (maybe we can include some character conflict Fundy, so we have these two people who were once really close friends now so warped and torn apart by these two sides at war).

Meanwhile, Quackity has figured out that Ranboo was the traitor and is pushing for Tubbo to execute Ranboo for the greater good of L’Manburg. Tubbo is hesitant, but as there’s no moderate voice in the cabinet anymore, he concedes to the idea.

Finally, the Green Festival is here. This part is really … tough to rewrite, because you have to accommodate so many different character arcs, but I’ll try my best.

In a move not unlike during the Red Festival, Ranboo is revealed as the traitor and put in the execution cage (because those parallels). Tubbo feels really bad about it.

This is when Tommy and Techno start their assault and unleash the whithers. L’Manburg is under attack and we have the big fight between Tubbo and Tommy. We get the big shout-out “The discs were worth more than you ever were” and the ensuing epiphany on Tommy part.

Techno’s calling for him to explode the TNT, but he doesn’t do it.

Quackity is calling for Tubbo to execute Ranboo, but Tubbo has an epiphany himself and refuses. Both their personal conflicts are resolved here. Also, we have some nice parallelism between Quackity and Techno as Tubbo’s and Tommy’s respective bad influences.

Techno – understandably this time – feels betrayed and hurt. He and Tommy have their shouting match. Quackity tries to attack Techno, but during their match they accidentally trigger the TNT. Quackity’s hunger for power has created the grave of his ambitions.

(Niki is also pissed at Tommy and Fundy is fully distraught, because L’Manburg was everything he had left from Wilbur).

Dream steps out of the shadows and reveals that he was Techno’s mysterious benefactor. He gets his hands on the second disc and gloats to Tommy. The scene from Doomsday plays out only that Techno shows some stings of remorse for helping Dream accomplish what he wanted. (Quackity flees the ensuing chaos).

Dream tries to goad Tommy with the discs, but Tommy doesn’t bite, because he has resolved his Want vs. Need now. Dream is frustrated, but retreats for now.

ACT III

In the aftermath of ACT II, I think it’s very important to hammer home that this wasn’t a win for Techno, Niki or Phil. For that to work I think it’s important to make clear that Tommy’s and Techno’s bond was genuine and that they really cared for each other during the Bedrock Bros thing. Neither of them is happy for how this turned.

Niki is plagued by nightmares and sleeps in a prison cell like in the current canon. She stands in symbolic for the emptiness that vengeance brings. Phil is shaken from his talk to Ghostbur and he’s the one who brings up that maybe what they did wasn’t for the best.

Then Techno and Phil have a discussion about the nature of anarchy again, calling back to that earlier conversation at the beginning of Act 2. Techno also feels empty – his vengeance and the destruction he wrought left him no happier.

Meanwhile, Punz and Tommy are actually spending some quality bonding time. Thanks to the medium, they could simulate that pretty well. Punz actually gets attached and when Dream mentions his coup-de-grâce, the cinematography shows that Punz isn’t too happy about it.

Tommy and Tubbo prepare to fight Dream on their own terms. They know, they have to stop him lest he hurts the people they care about (this makes both of them a bit more proactive in the finale). Punz (as per Dream’s orders) tells Tommy where Dream is hiding. Tommy thanks him, oblivious that Punz is a traitor, but Punz feels bad. He has grown attached to Tommy.

During the Final Disc War we actually get two perspectives: One is Tommy’s and Tubbo’s as we know it (only without the constant “Your discs or Tubbo”-stuff) and the other is Punz’s. He has decided to help Tommy even though there’s nothing monetarily in it for him.

First, he goes to Quackity, but Quackity says that Tommy has betrayed him and L’Manburg and that he gets what’s coming to him.

In a last-ditch effort, he goes to Techno. Here’s where we resolve that thematic conflict (Vengeance vs. Charity) for the Techno-Butcher Army storyline: Quackity has chosen to perpetuate the cycle of vengeance (because he will be the villain in S3), but we want some nice character development for Techno.

Niki is against it and stays put, but Techno and Philza ultimately decide to go with Punz and the others to help Tommy.

Finale plays out the same. Stuff’s still awkward between Techno and Tommy/Tubbo; they haven’t resolved all their problems, but it’s a first step. Some good set-up for S3.

And that’s my basic rewrite. It’s long and probably not the best.

[ariiikat]

So about all of the Raya and the Last Dragon critique vids…

SO! Firstly, I know that this movie’s fanbase is dwindling overtime, which makes sense, it’s been a while since the movie came out and Disney also did a pretty crappy job in advertising it so-

Anyways, recently, the few people in this fandom have been noticing, over the last few months, a lot of critique videos have come out about this movie in its cultural execution, story, themes and so forth. And while it may hurt some people in this fandom to watch someone absolutely dog over our favourite movie…

They are totally right.

TBH, I’ve noticed a lot of these flaws within the movie since I first watched it and put out that rant about me loving/critiquing the film (which is here if you wanna read :3). And just to make it clear to everyone! It is absolutely okay to still like this movie despite its flaws.

Like yes, Disney did do a wrong move with how they decided to make an amalgamation of different SEAsia cultures rather than focusing on one. Cause while I did feel represented in some factors, it wasn’t an overwhelming feeling of YES THIS IS THE MOVIE, it was more like aw, nice warm and fluffy… even as an animation student I knew I only would refer to this movie when talking about the animation more than then cultural representation.

Which I will still say, that while Avatar the Last Airbender had this same amalgamation treatment… it is still regarded as one of the best animated shows in existence. Why is that exactly? Well, like I mentioned in my previous review of the movie, it is because it had more time.

TIME

From my own previous experience with writing, animating and planning stories/short animations, time is what makes or breaks a story. And this can mean anywhere, like in production, run time, release dates, when movie/show airs… etc. In Raya’s case, while the animation was absolutely amazing, the runtime of the actual movie is what was its downfall. And even though I had a paragraph of this in my previous rant, I’ll be more in depth here:

THE IMPACT OF RUNTIME on Raya and the Last Dragon:

The two main things that time impacted the movie by was four things: Themes, Story, Character, and Character Relationships.

The STORY - The story is already such a large and complicated story. I was surprised when I was first watching that they decided to go through this route because the story was so massive, that trying to cram it in under two hours, nicely, it such a huge undertaking. So already, with such a limited amount of time, a lot of exploration of the world and a natural unfolding of the story felt so rushed. This is why I agree with the sentiment that this story should have been given the ‘ATLA treatment’ because so many shows (both animated and live actions) that had gone through this, getting enough time and space to really pace out their stories… which ended up with such breathtaking and amazing stories being told.

The THEME of TRUST - This theme would have been a good idea to explore as it is very nuanced and there are different views of approaching trust across different cultures. However, with how little time they had to focus on the nuances of trust, they decided to go for a more black and white viewpoint. Which definitely did disappoint me since this is such a good theme to investigate! With how polar both Raya and Sisu are with their viewpoints in trust, it could have led to compelling situations about discovering the ‘grey’ of the themes of trust. But, the movie went in the route that Sisu was right with how she trusted her siblings for her to be able to help save the world. However, with the runtime, I understood that it led to all of these nuances being smoothed out with an iron since they didn’t have enough time to focus that with a large story, multiple characters, and it needing to be an action movie too. This all resulting in a theme that was unsubtly shoved in the audience’s faces at times rather than a more paced and subtle one.

The CHARACTERS - I mentioned this in my last review of Raya, but the reason so many characters felt one-dimensional was that a lot of them didn’t have time to actually show or explore their own personalities and backstory, which is an absolute shame since having visual explanations of what happened to them would have me even empathise with them more. So, because of time, a lot of the characters got shortened down to their character gimmicks or types. The only ones really felt fleshed out was Raya and Namaari.

The CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS - One thing this movie definitely forgot it… is that particularly in any Asian countries, the connections to family (blood or not) is really important. That these ties between your friends and ties and obligation to your family is what really cements a large part of our cultures. While the connection between Raya and her father was made, a lot of the relationships between the characters didn’t get explored too much. Again, a shame since this could have been totally a ‘found family’ situation! And let me tell you, I’m a sucker for those. Like I totally imagined Boun being the closest to Raya since he was the first human to join on their quest. Even blood relations, such as Namaari and her mother, could have such a compelling dynamic. But it was left towards the end to create some last minute tension… just imagine how their relationship would have changed over time! But alas, time totally cut it off.

So yes, I still have a lot of feelings about this film, and how it could have done things so much better. So does that mean I hate it? ABOSLUTELY NOT! You’d have to pry this movie out of my stone cold hands. I’m such an asian mum about this as I show my love through ‘critiques’ (and liking all the Rayaari post :3).

SO… of you all agree with my points and haven’t checked out my fanfic… Shameless plug but check it out! It’s the whole reason why I decided to write a rewrite, cause I love this whole film’s premise and just want to bring it to the heights it should’ve gone!

[dormarunt]

Do you think martín is religious? in his talk with sagasta i don't think it's just a figure of speech - he believes they both pretty much go to hell for their sins. and when he offers monica to kill arturo - so that her soul can be saved? (plus for him it doesn't make a difference and andrés is also burning in hell lol). in boom boom ciao he says "i don't say God didn't give you the ability to feel pleasure". and maybe there's more. for me he believes in god, afterlife, heaven/hell etc.

This has got to be one of the most thought-provoking questions I've had lately. I can tell you right off the bat, I am not qualified to answer it. But I am going to try, if only because it's a really interesting question that I've been thinking about on and off throughout the day.

So. We know about Martin Berrote that he's an engineer originally from Argentina who's also gay and out. I am neither from South America nor a Catholic (or generally religious) so I only know a little bit from my - no doubt - superficial research. Given the references that Martin makes to Hell I'd say he's Catholic - but whether he's practicing or not, or a believer or not--

He does mention God in the Boom Boom Ciao speech (thank you for coming up with all these examples! It would have taken me longer to think of them than it took me to find the exact scenes themselves - I'm half-magical at this)

But he mentions his/their conscience when it comes to executing Arturo, and he may refer to it in terms of non-religious morality. Because - again, I'm not a Catholic but a different ~flavor of Christian - I don't see how any religious person could justify executing someone? Even if it's essentially a mercy-killing. Unless I misunderstand things?

Now back to his "trade" - he's an engineer. A man of science. I know quite a few of these IRL and most tend to not be religious. But again, I know some that are, and manage to make room in their beliefs for both faith and science - whatever one manages to find meaning in, is absolutely valid. <3

But-- by his secondary "trade", Martin is a thief. Yet another one of the Ten Commandments that he's breaking (along with "thou shalt not kill", which is implied that he's done before via his dirty conscience or stated that he's got no problems in doing, "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods”, and I'm taking the "coveting of thy neighbor's wife" to mean having sex outside of marriage which I'm pretty sure he's done - though maybe not with "wives").

This all isn't to say that he can't be religious. Many queer people find comfort in their faith, whatever that may be, just as many scientists do. So it's very possible that he is religious or at least he believes in the whole framework of heaven/hell and sinning, but he takes responsibility for all he's doing. Self-aware sinning, accepting the consequences of his actions.

I think maybe he's been raised Cahtolic and, while not particularly religious, he still uses the whole "framework" in his life now. But I may be projecting because I am not a religious person, and I do find myself making references to God and Heaven and Hell and sins and all of that, while I may not necessarily believe in them.

But I do like the idea that he's religious and aware of the path that he's gotten onto! And maybe he took Andres' "one day time will bring us together again" to mean that they'll meet again in Hell. The only place fit for these two assholes. <3

[metvmorqhoses]

i was pretty disappointed as well, because the idea of linking vampirism to religion - or more precisely, the christian ideology of "life after death" and "sacrifice" and so on - sounded quite promising.

but yeah the execution of the angel was done very poorly, they could have at least used either biblically accurate depictions of angels (anything from multiple faced or winged, or flaming sknakes, or inhuman-shaped with numerous eyes etc... the list goes on) which would have made sense for a setting where the bible gets recited All The Time.

(but i guess it's also very fitting to only pick the things from the bible that agree with one's worldview or whatever serves them in any given moment and ignore the rest - which is also what is shown in the scene where they put islam/the quran vs christianity/the bible.)

they could also have at least made the angel appear "beautiful" since vampires are told to be charming and "angelic" looking to lure in their prey if i remember correctly? (as well as beauty being rather threatening when it's too flawless.) i would think it also more convenient when trying to convince people to do your bidding, being able to say "look at this beautiful angel, come to save us all" instead of "look at this hideous bastard i found in the desert". but no, instead they went with "has to look somewhat scary because horror-genre" but then again "not too much because we need to stay mainstream because we want as many viewers and as much money out of it" and then chose the boring old "vampires are bats". that's just lazy

there were a few other things, for example none of the elderly islanders recognising pruitt after he returned looking exactly like he did when he was young. if i were to meet a person that looked exactly like someone from my childhood village 20 years ago, i'd at least freak out a little. i mean we're not talking "vague similarities" that you get from a relative or even a stranger but EXACT SAME PERSON. hello? the overall ignorance of the islanders had me really annoyed early on.

Totally. I was actually so baffled the show ultimately turned out to have such a lack of direction and, quite simply, mere sense.

I don’t get what the intent of the writing even was. A metaphor so interesting, done so poorly? Why putting so much effort in turning horror into existentialism if you then don’t even bother to follow your own theme?

They used a really intelligent expedient just to leave everything so utterly meaningless? And if lack of meaning, nihilism was indeed the final message of the show, even in this case it was just executed poorly, to say the least.

I mean, as someone who understands how to construct a story, I can see the writing here only going in two major and very different directions, both very deep and promising in their own right:

1) The terrible satire: fanaticism puts on people’s eyes blindfolds so potent and terrible to prevent them from even being able to critically analyze reality anymore, even a most obvious and disturbing one, to the point of seeing a monstrous vampire doing average vampire things and wanting stubbornly to believe it a proof of their own personal faith and ideologies. People see just what they want to see and nothing else matters. Is religion a fabricated reality of our own invention? Is fear what makes us construct it? Was Monsignor Pruitt afraid of death to the point of masking it in beauty and miracle the moment he saw its terrible face and deluding himself to have been chosen to eradicate it altogether from life? Was his very denial the downfall of an entire small population?

2) The terrible truth: everything happening is real. That vampire-looking creature is indeed an angel. No real distinction exists between angels and vampires. Culture twisted reality into legend and only the Bible remembered the truth, but no one interpreted it correctly anymore. In truth Christianity has always worshipped beings who rule with a vampire-like logic. Is God really good? Is that the reason we all suffer? Is God the Devil? Or is he just hungry all the time? Is eternal life eternal night and horror? Should we accept it or oppose it?

As you can see, both had endless potential. The show had the potential to be beyond riveting and interesting. Even more so, in my opinion, making the two interpretations parallels and the show split in two parts, five episodes following the first and five following the second - the ending never revealing the truth and leaving it up to debate.

It would have been a masterpiece. Instead they opted for a third option, being going... nowhere?

At first I thought they were going for the satire, tbh. When I saw Monsignor Pruitt’s encounter with the vampire, seeing Dracula and crying angel with tears of joy, I was hysterical. It was deadly funny. That was a vampire doing the most basic vampire stuff possible and here he was, reveling oblivious in his own delusion. It was very fitting, it shows perfectly how narrow-minded and self-assured religious fanatics could be. I can totally see certain Christians seeing fucking Cthulhu and singing praises to the holiness of God.

But as I said, everything soon loses itself in implausibility and plain nonsense. No one seems to have a damn clue about basic general culture, no one ever says the word “vampire” once. No one suspects a thing even when pretty obvious stuff is thrown at highly educated people. Moreover, among fervent Christians, a bat, blood-sucking figure like that would have immediately been identified with the Devil, just as Dracula always is, case closed. Instead they let the vampire turn pretty much everyone on the island. The small number of people who tries to fight against this madness seem to only react out of a normal fear of death and not because they are questioning what is going on. In the end, after hell itself is unleashed, everything resolves itself with Pruitt saying “you know what, I think I was mistaken, never mind”. What the actual...?

Also I loved how everyone just stood there and waited to burn with the break of dawn, an army of immortal vampires, because “there was no shelter anymore”. Hello? You are on a ISLAND, you CANNOT DIE. The freaking OCEAN surrounds you. Are you afraid to catch fire and crumble to dust? Go fucking underwater maybe instead of trying to dig a hole in the sand??? You don’t need to breathe??? I dare say those vampires all died of natural selection in the end.

Plus Riley very selflessly deciding to sacrifice himself in order to make his beloved see the “truth of things” (no one would get the vampirism thing anyway), to give her the best chance to survive, sailing with her as a vampire on a fucking small wooden boat and waiting for dawn with her in close proximity in the middle of the ocean, plotting to die in a blaze of fire? Totally Very Safe and Loving (tm)

I swear, for the death of me I cannot understand on what sort acids the writers were when they thought this show out.