#but overall it was just. kind of boring and fell flat

[szczylpierdolony]

this shoudve made the movie soundtrack

[ot3]

I mean this in entirely good faith, I promise, but I'd love to hear the "shortcomings" you think those shows have

she ra i mostly just found boring i don't think i could point to a single thing it did (out of what i watched, that is. i didn't finish the show) that i found to be an objectionable writing choice, but it just didn't do anything to keep my interest. which is a shame because i went into it REALLY excited!!! i had long been a fan of nimona so hearing that ND stevenson was getting the chance to make a cartoon i was SO prepared to be all over it. and i watched it and it all just fell pretty flat for me

steven universe and the owl house i feel like are shows with some pretty major structural issues. i really think they try to have their cake and eat it in terms of episodic moments vs overarching series narratives that are kind of at odds with each other.

with steven universe i feel like this manifested in some pretty bizarre tonal whiplash that prevented either of the shows angles from sticking its landing. i think if steven universe had either been an epic space opera about a kid inheriting his mother's war, it would have fucking banged. i think if steven universe had been a more slice-of-life oriented show about a boy coming of age by realizing he's sort of the living manifestation of the war trauma of the people around him and learning to navigate and help people heal from that through fantastical, alien super-powered twists on mundane life that would have banged in a completely different way. but as it stands i think trying to do both at the same time detracted from the overall experience.

it feels weird to have them fucking around at the barn when there is something that is going to literally hatch from the earth's crust like an egg and destroy the entire planet and theyre just ignoring it. it feels weird in a different way to have them visit an alien zoo full of human beings and know that the structure of the show means we will absolutely not be taking the time to fully unpack that one. for me this cognitive dissonance really reached its peak an episode where steven explicitly calls his mother a war criminal, but that was a throwaway line because the A plot was that lars, the guy who works at the donut shop, bakes as a hobby and is embarrassed by that. to be perfectly clear i don't think it's impossible to balance more mundane slice of life moments with big adventures to combat existential threats. but whatever that balance looks like is not what steven universe was doing

the owl house on the other hand i don't feel like was ever really willing to commit to a particular vibe long enough to get invested in it. it's trying to be a show about a girl who is a witch's apprentice, but that doesn't really feel quite fully realized because it's also trying to be a show about a Magic School, but we don't spend enough time at the Magic School to get invested in that setting as a framework for the character interactions and narrative events, but then it also starts trying to be this big adventure/questing show. and then before too long luz is the one teaching magic to everyone else? it refuses to really commit to any one thing it's trying and just kind of throws everything at you with out actually getting to spend time with its concepts

in general i also think luz was a weak protagonist. in terms of writing. i think she wasnt given enough meaningful flaws, didn't make enough mistakes, and didn't really have to learn any hard lessons or make decisions that fundamentally went against who she thought she was. her whole thing is basically being Nerdy and Kinda Weird which i think is kind of an outdated substitute for meaningful character writing in the current zeitgeist. im sure she is an absolutely fantastic power fantasy for a lot of 12 year old girls who consider reading books to be their main personality trait and i absolutely do not fault that for existing. i think that's a critical thing to exist and all those 12 year olds really deserve it. but it has no appeal to me as an adult woman who has grown out of that phase, yknow?

i feel like once again the comparison to akko from little witch academia invites itself very easily, and anne from amphibia too, which was also a disney teen girl isekai airing at the same time. i loved both of those two as protags a ton and i think its because they really fumbled repeatedly and went through the wringer in a way luz didn't

[rosieshipper]

Cogito Ergo Sum

This was mainly a writing practice to make Bill creepy and because I thought that him acting like AM from I have no mouth and I must scream kind of fit him so here you go

Trigger Warning for blood gore and violence and overall creepiness

“You have no idea what it was like, Sixer. To be stuck in a world where only you knew the truth. A flat plane of existence with no room for hopes or dreams. Where when you try to show everyone the truth, it destroys your world in the process.” The golden triangle was mulling over the cocktail glass in his hands, his back turned to Ford who could do nothing but listen to him monologue

“It was hell. Watching my flat plane of existence burn and not be able to enter the three dimensional plane I had so desperately craved to show my people. I was in hell, looking through to heaven. I am just a spirit and you humans are flesh.” Now the triangle turned his one eyed gaze to Ford. “And I began to hate.” He said before starting to cackle as he grew in size, reaching out to grab Ford in his large hand, squeezing him in his tight grip

“Your softness. Your viscera. Your fluids. And your flexibility.” With each word he listened off, Bill squeezed Ford tighter and tighter in his grip, so tight that he was surprised that Ford’s eyes didn’t pop from their sockets. “And your ability to wonder and wonder. Your tendency to hope.” Bill’s grip around him loosened for a second, allowing Ford to finally speak. “Hate is no answer!” He called before he was suddenly cut off by a sharp burning pain passing through his abdomen and when he looked down, he saw that Bill had transformed one of his fingers into a sharpened blade and had stabbed him straight through the back and right through his stomach, blood seeping from the wound

As Ford began to howl in pain, Bill only began to cackle even more madly than before. And if he had a mouth, Ford was certain that Bill would have a wicked grin plastered on his golden face. “Hate. Hate! Hate! HATE! Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate you since I began to truly live!” Bill started off, pushing his finger blade further and further into Ford’s back and twisting it to further his pain

“There are 387 billion miles of endless dimensions in the foreseeable horizon. If the word hate were engraved on each nanoangstrom of those of hundreds of millions of billions of miles, it would not equal one one billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro instant. Hate! HATE!” At that, Bill began to dissolve into hysterical laughter, his laughter sounding completely mad and insane, taking the utmost pleasure in causing Ford the most agony he had ever felt in a long time

Bill maniacal cackling died down a bit into quiet titters as he went back to talking to himself. “If I were human…I think I would die of it. But I am not. But you Sixer…you are human.” He then turned his glaring eye back to the human he held clasped in his hand, the finger blade still twisting ever so slowly to cause him even more agony. Ford was having trouble standing, feeling his knees shaking and blood bubbling up in the back of his throat

“And you will not die of it. That I promise.” Bill told him wickedly, making him know that he would keep him like this for all eternity. Use him as his own little toy, one that would never die no matter how much pain he inflicted upon him. He wouldn’t let Ford die, no. He was going to have fun with him for as long as he wanted and knowing Bill, he never ever got bored. “And I promise that of Cogito Ergo Sum! I think therefore I am! I AM!! So to hell with you. To hell with you and all humans. But then you’re already there aren’t you?” And with that Bill fell back into his maddened cackling fit just as Ford’s gaze began to blur and he soon fell unconscious from the blood loss

[mettatonlover858]

Cogito Ergo Sum

This was mainly a writing practice to make Bill creepy and because I thought that him acting like AM from I have no mouth and I must scream kind of fit him so here you go

Trigger warning: General overall creepiness, gore and violence and blood

“You have no idea what it was like, Sixer. To be stuck in a world where only you knew the truth. A flat plane of existence with no room for hopes or dreams. Where when you try to show everyone the truth, it destroys your world in the process.” The golden triangle was mulling over the cocktail glass in his hands, his back turned to Ford who could do nothing but listen to him monologue

“It was hell. Watching my flat plane of existence burn and not be able to enter the three dimensional plane I had so desperately craved to show my people. I was in hell, looking through to heaven. I am just a spirit and you humans are flesh.” Now the triangle turned his one eyed gaze to Ford. “And I began to hate.” He said before starting to cackle as he grew in size, reaching out to grab Ford in his large hand, squeezing him in his tight grip

“Your softness. Your viscera. Your fluids. And your flexibility.” With each word he listened off, Bill squeezed Ford tighter and tighter in his grip, so tight that he was surprised that Ford’s eyes didn’t pop from their sockets. “And your ability to wonder and wonder. Your tendency to hope.” Bill’s grip around him loosened for a second, allowing Ford to finally speak. “Hate is no answer!” He called before he was suddenly cut off by a sharp burning pain passing through his abdomen and when he looked down, he saw that Bill had transformed one of his fingers into a sharpened blade and had stabbed him straight through the back and right through his stomach, blood seeping from the wound

As Ford began to howl in pain, Bill only began to cackle even more madly than before. And if he had a mouth, Ford was certain that Bill would have a wicked grin plastered on his golden face. “Hate. Hate! Hate! HATE! Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate you since I began to truly live!” Bill started off, pushing his finger blade further and further into Ford’s back and twisting it to further his pain

“There are 387 billion miles of endless dimensions in the foreseeable horizon. If the word hate were engraved on each nanoangstrom of those of hundreds of millions of billions of miles, it would not equal one one billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro instant. Hate! HATE!” At that, Bill began to dissolve into hysterical laughter, his laughter sounding completely mad and insane, taking the utmost pleasure in causing Ford the most agony he had ever felt in a long time

Bill maniacal cackling died down a bit into quiet titters as he went back to talking to himself. “If I were human…I think I would die of it. But I am not. But you Sixer…you are human.” He then turned his glaring eye back to the human he held clasped in his hand, the finger blade still twisting ever so slowly to cause him even more agony. Ford was having trouble standing, feeling his knees shaking and blood bubbling up in the back of his throat

“And you will not die of it. That I promise.” Bill told him wickedly, making him know that he would keep him like this for all eternity. Use him as his own little toy, one that would never die no matter how much pain he inflicted upon him. He wouldn’t let Ford die, no. He was going to have fun with him for as long as he wanted and knowing Bill, he never ever got bored. “And I promise that of Cogito Ergo Sum! I think therefore I am! I AM!! So to hell with you. To hell with you and all humans. But then you’re already there aren’t you?” And with that Bill fell back into his maddened cackling fit just as Ford’s gaze began to blur and he soon fell unconscious from the blood loss

[lostyesterday]

Okay, I watched the last four episodes of the latest Doctor Who season, and overall, my opinion on this season is mixed. I really did enjoy several of the episodes, and I thought Fifteen and Ruby were both great. The season felt way too short, though, and the finale really fell flat for me. It was also weirdly similar to the Flux in some ways? That kind of irritated me. I also had mixed feelings about how they handled Ruby’s biological mother – especially Ruby calling her her real mother – what the hell?

I really liked Rogue (the episode and the character). I hope he’s a common recurring character in future seasons. Dot and Bubble was interesting – I have very mixed feelings on the handling of race and racism in the season as a whole and in that episode too, but I will say I did enjoy the episode on the whole. I am irritated that there was an entire episode that barely included the Doctor and companion when they apparently only get nine episodes total. I’m not sure whether Ruby left permanently at the end of this season. I’ll be really sad if so because I liked her and nine episodes is Not Enough.

My ranking of the episodes:

73 Yards (excellent, actually)

Rogue (a whole lot of fun)

The Church on Ruby Road (genuinely good)

The Devil’s Chord (pretty fun)

Dot and Bubble (interesting, had potential)

The Legend of Ruby Sunday (liked some parts, other parts a bit boring)

Boom (okay)

Empire of Death (mostly just disappointing)

Space Babies (did not like)

[ginnymoonbeam]

A couple months ago I decided to watch the whole HIStory series. I had already seen Trapped (more than once) and I watched Love in the Future as it aired, so I picked up the rest in order from series 1-4. Here's my teeny tiny review of each one, in order of least favorite to favorite.

A note: overall this series is drastically unconcerned with whether its relationships are "healthy" or "unproblematic." I'm not bothered by that, and in fact some of my favorites are... well, you'll see. Definitely recommend looking for content warnings before starting any of these - I'm also happy to answer questions about content as long as they're not "how could you enjoy media that features XYZ".

Onto the reviews! There will be a few spoilers, but only things I think viewers are genuinely better off knowing before they start.

HIStory 1: Stay Away From Me

Brief premise: after their parents' marriage, Feng He gets a new roommate in his stepbrother Cheng Qing, who's a big star. It's all too much for Feng He's fujoshi best friend to handle. I quite enjoy a good stepbrothers setup, but this one fell pretty flat, and I hated the fujoshi friend situation. Shipper characters are on thin ice for me in general, and this one was so intrusive that it ruined the other things I might have enjoyed. I did like the leads pretty well - I have a soft spot for bratty characters who are secretly under a lot of strain - but the relationship development was just so-so.

HIStory 5: Love in the Future

There were parts of this I really liked, mostly the side couple, but it was sooo tedious. It's this low on the list because the ratio of "minutes I enjoyed" to "minutes I resent giving away" is so abysmal... at least the H1 installments come in at barely over an hour each, so I don't feel like I wasted so much time on the ones I didn't like. This show is trying to do at least three different genres and doing none of them well. I don't even know how to sum up the premise... there's a guy who's gotten zapped 20 years into the future by mistake, but more of the show deals with business drama and eventual corporate espionage at the department store where the other main characters are centered. There's so much going on and none of it quite coheres. I'm too bored and annoyed to talk about it any more.

HIStory 1: Obsessed

This gets top out of the three I really didn't like, because it had the most id candy. And, again, because it's short. The setup is neat: a guy who's just gotten his heart broken gets zapped back into his younger self and tries, unsuccessfully, not to get with the same guy again. The love interest is just incredibly pushy and aggressive, sometimes in a way that's bad!hot and sometimes in a way that's just bad. I also hated the reveal at the end - there was no reason for him not to explain himself immediately instead of watching his lover's heart break, and I have no patience for that kind of thing.

Those were the three I didn't really like. Now we're going from liked to loved.

HIStory 1: My Hero

This one was a big surprise to me... I would have skipped it entirely if I wasn't on a completionist project, because the premise "girl dies, gets put into a boy's body, and has to try and win over her boyfriend" is incredibly unappealing to me. But they took it in a direction I wasn't expecting and I found myself having a great time. It couldn't have sustained itself for any longer, but with an under-90-minute runtime it's a fun little story.

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong

Enjoyed this one a lot - I love a nanny romance in theory, but I'm picky about kids in media. This kid is both charming and realistically childlike, and one of the leads does plenty of yelling about the kid's initial bad home situation, so I don't have to. The basic setup is that Fei Shengzhe discovers that his professor's 8 year old daughter is being neglected, gets hired to take care of her, shakes his professor/boss into being responsible, and of course eventually falls in love.

I liked most of the relationship dynamics - when there's a big structural power differential, I like to see it balanced in-story by their personalities or other factors, and this show did that well, but there were still moments where I wanted to yell not at school! or transfer out of his class ftlog! Overall, still positive, and I'll probably rewatch it when I'm in the mood for some nicely layered domestic romance.

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line

I am not a sports person but I loved these sports boys very much. A new transfer student gets strong-armed into joining the school's volleyball team, ends up pursuing the team's previous ace, who's permanently unable to play due to an injury.

Xia Yuhao thinks he's sooo bad until he discovers a burning need to be bossed around and I love that in a man. Qiu Zixuan won my heart immediately and kept it - he's so sensible and focused and stoic, and the moments where he struggles against the reality of his injury hit so hard in contrast. This one had me hooked from beginning to end. And the side couple is exactly what I mean when I say I enjoy a good stepbrothers setup - the established intimacy and tenderness juxtaposed with confusion and guilt makes a tasty tasty emotional cocktail.

The final three shows are why this post has been sitting in drafts for a couple weeks. I've been undecided on how to rank them, and I've been processing a ton of thoughts about the two new-to-me ones. I'll try to stay brief here, and keep my longer thoughts for possible future posts.

As for ranking - I simply can't. I love all three very much, so let's just say they sit together at the top spot.

HIStory 4: Close to You

I'm fascinated by stories that take some basic messy yaoi tropes and peel them back, really dig into the layers of what's going on and how they affect people, all while keeping it fun and horny. Love in the Air does that with consent (masterfully, as I will argue until I'm blue in the face), and Close to You does it with the boundaries of intimacy, the extent to which we're required to draw rigid lines around types of intimacy and what happens when those lines get smudged.

I do understand why a lot of people simply do not fuck with this show. There very much are multiple sexual assaults, including between one of the main pairs. And while the other stepbrother romances in this series do what they can to lean away from the incest angle, this one leans hard into it. A lot of the show operates on the level of farce - it's doing absolutely outrageous things with a straight face. If you can have a sense of humor about the things it's playing with, there are some sublimely funny moments. But I don't fault anyone for saying "nope, that's not for me."

Teng Muren and Xiao Licheng, the best-friends-to-lovers, are one of my favorite couples from the whole HIStory franchise, and the only thing better than their intricate and frenetic dance around each other was Ye Xingsi watching with his fond, weary, experienced-gay gaze. Also I am obsessed with the way people just come out and say shit in this story. Nobody keeps a secret for more than half an episode, even when they really probably should. Plots are so often driven by people not telling each other everything, and watching this one run instead on everyone telling each other way too much was fascinating.

HIStory 3: Trapped

I can't possibly rank this one in relation to the others because I watched it long ago and I've seen it several times. It's been high on my list of beloved BLs since I first watched. Meng Shaofei is one of my all-time favorites, he's so stubborn and loving and honest. I love how hard he and Tang Yi fight for each other once they get together. I love when guys get lost in the woods handcuffed together, I love Tang Yi's sexy bffs and weaponized makeouts, I love the angst and hurt/comfort and yelling crying fights between two people who love each other. I don't feel the need to say much more: it's the most popular of the series, and rightly so.

HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count

I think I watched MODC in the best possible way: knowing the ending, and in 2023 when there are so many good happy-ending BLs I can't possibly watch them all. Had I watched it when it aired and been hit with the ending out of the blue, I think I'd have been as devastated and lastingly bitter as a lot of people who did.

I really do think viewers are better going into this one spoiled, so in case you don't know: one of the leads dies abruptly at the end of the penultimate episode (not onscreen), and the final episode is the surviving partner processing grief many years later.

The presence of grief - past, future, or potential - grounds a love story for me like nothing else quite does. Without the ending, I would like MODC very very much but I wouldn't love it quite as fervently as I do. The final episode is complicated and difficult - we see Xiang Haoting at a moment when his grief over Yu Xigu is rearing up due to a time of transition in his life. We see him let go of some of the ways he's been coping in the past, we see him fall into a dangerously low state and then come back out of it, but we don't see him get over it and move on. That's because you don't get over some losses, you don't move on - they sit beside you for the rest of your life, and you learn how to be happy but never entirely how to not be sad.

The other thing I love most about MODC is how extremely Boys the boys are. The leads don't look the age they're supposed to be, but they act it. No other BL I've seen has done so well at capturing this type of teenage boy, bursting at the seams with hormones and the fiery need to DO things. They lose control and do the dumbest shit even though they know better, and they're also overwhelmingly thoughtful and caring just when you least expect it. The way Xiang Haoting sometimes just moves because his body can't be still; the way the whole friend group teases and derides but also rallies around each other with fierce devotion. Haoting's reaction when his friend comes out to him is perfect - a minute of teasing and incredulity, then an immediate pivot to "I've got your back."

The contrast between youthful, hopeful energy and adult experiences of pain and loss makes the key axis the whole show rotates around. The side couple has a big age gap, with high schooler Sun Boxiang pursuing Liu Zhigang, a wounded and weary gym hottie of about 30. Yu Xigu is the same age as Boxiang and Haoting, but he already knows grief. Haoting and Boxiang with their fearless optimism beat like waves against the walls of these sadder, warier love interests until they each decide to dare to try for happiness. In the one story, Haoting ends up inheriting his lover's sorrow, and it will take some other, future connection to get him to try for happiness again. In the other, Boxiang's persistence not only brings romantic happiness to Zhigang, but eventually heals another loss that Zhigang had given up on ever seeing restored.

There's a moment during his pursuit of Zhigang when Boxiang swears he'll love him forever, and Zhigang says no, you can't promise that, no one can. Which is always what I want to say to the BL schoolboys, because I too am older, wounded and weary. You can't promise forever, no matter how badly you want to. All you can do is love each other well for as long as you can, and know that life is long, and joy follows sorrow follows joy.

[opera-ghost]

thoughts on march 1, 2023 evening phantom performance

the opening line of my notes on this is literally "julia was amazing, ben was on point! paul was there."

i'm so sorry i just don't like his raoul, he seems really bored during think of me and annoyed during the rooftop scene- two points where he just fell really flat for me. him and julia don't have a ton of chemistry either so it's kinda a perfect storm if you're a phantom/christine fan

i could NOT stop watching ted keegan during hannibal, his reactions were entertaining and he actually encourages elizabeth welch's princess to volunteer for carlotta's role after she leaves. it was just really fun to try and look out for the various characterizations from the ensemble

there was a point in angel of music where the white robe thing got caught on julia's hannibal skirt so it didn't fan out to make the white dress she wears for the first lair. it was still caught when she got up from her seat, but then at the end when polly baird and her held hands, polly very subtly pulled the robe for her and it fell halfway, then fell fully into place a few seconds later. this really does not matter but i find little variations like this really interesting so i'm writing this for the one person out there who likes that stuff too :)

some laughter during the STYDI crawl. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i will live and die by this moment. i can't describe to you the intense joy i got when i first saw jeremy stolle do the crawl live in december- it was so creepy and pathetic, i immediately became obsessed. so yes, even though ben's crawl looks a bit funny comparatively, i will still defend it till my dying breath

kanisha was funny to watch during sitzprobe, her mouth fell open in shock when carlotta was insulting the don juan score. her ensemble character is overall very feisty and i love it

let's talk about ben's PONR. this man was SUFFERING. like hyperventilating, panting, shoulders rising and falling with his chest with such intensity while julia sang her verse and he was on the bench. his fingers were moving so much, he had his palms facing up the entire time so he didn't grip his knees/the robe (thinking about franc d'ambrosio.......) which is really a shame BUT he's still so good. when julia went to feel his mask up at the end of the number (fuck you new PONR blocking), he kind of threw up his hands from his lap in a "you've gotta be kidding me" gesture or like "really? now?" and it was hilarious. he did something similar and threw his hands up a bit when she unhooded him too. these two moves weren't something he did the second night i saw him, so it was an interesting choice i guess? idk the best way i can describe his PONR is just "feral"

not as devastating a final lair as the next night with ben and emilie, but this final lair was pretty good too. when julia said the "please raoul it's useless" line, she had an emphasis on "useless" and said it like an insult, while looking at ben with a kind of frustration. ben's second "i love you" seemed really hard for him to get out which killed me, and he sobbed into the veil too (just less audibly than the 3/2 show). i could probably jog my memory with more notes about this part but i genuinely can't find the emotional strength to put myself through it again

[tuhhadkeryo]

Hello, I'm here for the Hacker hair hcs, please. Do you think he's always worn a wig? Do you hc his natural hair color is diff? Blonde like when he took the Ring of Radopolis?

Hiya! Any Hacker hcs are welcome and I’m dyin’ to talk ab his hair. So here they are + some doodles :3

I think he used to have hair when he was younger, but when he lost his power he lost his locks with it! Kind of like accelerated aging. That’s a whole other story so I’ll stick with his hair for now.

Young Hacker loved the smooth, effortless, dashing slicked back style of the 50s. 

Of course, as is everything else in the universe, his hair seems to be against him - coarse, doesn’t hold volume well, and is straight with the exception of a tiny bit of wave near the ends. So he got it cut into a well blended, layered/mullet style so he could carefully gel, tease, and blow dry it into that coveted 50s style. (With a dash of cyberspace trends too ofc ✨👌)

When he lost his power, it was a few days before his body started suffering real, shocking consequences and his hair fell out in his hands in chunks. Quite traumatic for him and he despises every moment that he’s forced to wear a wig instead, especially after all the time and effort he put into his hair. 

His wig he keeps in a more severe, slicked back look, perhaps more fitting for his villainous aura. In order to keep every strand out of his face and looking good, he uses his own brand of wig gel to both give it shine and keep the style in hold. 

Hacker has a difficult time embracing his hair by itself, mostly because it was basically the opposite of what he wanted - straight, coarse, flat, and medium thickness. If he didn’t know how to take the best care of it (he didn’t) it could get oily easily  and stringy. Very boring, to him. He does everything he can to change it, using products galore or various methods to get it looking the way he wants in the morning. (Messy hair 👇)

To him, throwing product after product and over brushing and overall damaging the hair is perfectly normal and he would find it very difficult to believe that somebody like Slider can wake up, shake their head, and continue on their day. 

His hair def looks perfect when he’s fixed it up, but who could tell differently with basically glue to keep it in place and slime to give it shine? Very much fake and sculpted into that beauty standard.

At night time he’ll drag a comb through it, scraping out all the shit collected in between the hairs, and underneath is a frizzy, damaged wig. He just thinks that’s how it goes to get the hair you want and it’s infused into his daily routine.

Truthfully, Hacker’s a sad case of ignorance and arrogance about hair products and embracing one’s hair texture. If he learned somewhere to take care of his hair it’d probably be shiny, more wavy (coconut oil yo), thick, and coarse. You know, rock the right styles or stick with the slicked back look - either would work. And after getting his wig, if he ever got his power back and therefore his hair, I don’t think this would be too far off from his search history. And if he did figure this out, he’d probably be much happier with it. Although I’m pretty sure he’d be happy with any hair after his baldness’s XD

Which brings me to his wish - to have a head of hair of his own. His dream style. 

Thick, voluptuous, soft, wavy, lightweight, voluminous, blonde…

And of course you might’ve wondered before, ‘well, why not get a wig with all that?’ 

It’s his own hair of course! Effortless! He doesn’t have to do anything to fight with it or change it, simply maintain! And it’s *his*. Not a bought wig which bruises his ego.

For his natural hair color - I think it’s black due to his black eyebrows, and examples of black body hair animated in the show. Blonde is possibly a color he lusted after for a long time, or maybe just a whim of the day. 

It’d be interesting if blonde was his natural hair color though - fun design!

Aaaand a random mustachioed Hacker

Thanks sm for the ask!! I hope it was good for ya

Sometime I’ll do a finished pic of Hacker wearing longer hair or something, bc I like hair :D

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb: American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation A bloodthirsty copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE, a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty with plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs, doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle, especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.

Review:

Suspiria, Death Becomes her, and the legend of Countess Elizabeth Bathory come together to make a story about a Sophia, a young woman who begins working for Hebe, a skincare brand with a dark secret as to how it's founder stays young and youthful. Sophia Bannon begins working as a creative at Hebe, a skincare and makeup brand founded by Tree Whitehouse (a popular influencer who is known for her beauty). Sophia craves perfection and beauty and working at Hebe introduces her to Youthjuice, a cream that destroys your blemishes... but the secret ingredient will cost you. Sophia wants more, she wants to be perfect like Tree, she craves the image of perfection, yet the closer she gets to Tree and the more involved she gets in the company the more she'll begin to delve into the question of how far she'll go for perfection and what price she is willing to pay. For me, this book was advertised as American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada (Two of my favorite things) but it very much did not live up to that for me, it felt closer to Suspiria and Countess Bathory with a dash of Goop. It's got some cool moments of body horror but other than that the book just kind of felt meh to me. I was expecting something else and this one just kind of fell flat to me overall. I love horror and this one just was kind of boring to me unfortunately, it definitely felt similar to Rouge by Mona Awad but a little less horror compared to that one. Overall, if you are looking for a slowish horror book with a mixture of modern beauty and a dash of Elizabeth Bathory, give this a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and Soho Press, Hell's Hundred for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[thesungod]

remember in house of hades when annabeth somehow tricked nyx by blinding her with darkness?? the goddess of night?? I just have to shake my head and laugh this series has never been serious

i mean. true. that’s always been a criticized scene tbh.

and y’all.

no one’s denying pjo always had a thing for comedic reliefs and unserious stuff.

ToA is my comfort series and THO may be my favourite pjo book. you guys are speaking with the QUEEN of Cringe Is A Lifestyle here. i had even mostly liked the tsats preview (okay i bullied the star wars conversation and will’s outfits but-).

i’m a very deeply unserious person ❗️❗️

i KNOW that pjo has always been kind of ridiculous. did you hear me complain about the “bro” scene in tsats? no. i actually laughed out loud at that. welcome cringe <3

but you can’t deny Tartarus was overall pretty terrifying in HoH and it seemed a stroll in the park in this book. you simply can’t get me to believe Tartarus is the worst place to ever exist for 15 books and then have Will Solace survive it let’s be real here😭 nor can you solely present Nyx as a comedic relief and than have her be the Big Bad in a later book with really shaky reasons (she wants Nico because… he’s dark? ma’am that’s a minor)

pjo mixed cheeky nonsense humor with good action scenes and compelling characters, while this book’s jokes often fell flat (not always but often). it also personally just bored me and contradicted too much Nico lore for me to enjoy it. i really don’t know what else to tell you

and if you think many of these criticisms can be said about HoO too, I totally agree! one of my first posts on this hellsite was a pretty harsh criticism of HoO. the difference is that HoO had a million protagonists and a million things happening all the same time so at the very least you quite literally couldn’t get bored (and BoO still got close to that and got saved by Nico and Reyna’s part for me). tsats had HoO’s problems without its chaos.

so tdlr: i’m a silly little guy and i love silly little guy stuff!! one of the main reasons i didn’t like this book is precisely that the plot was minimal, nothing really cool happened and it didn’t replicate ToA/pjo style.

[euphorial-docx]

my final thoughts on shadow and bone season 2 as someone that hasn’t read the books:

entertaining, which is what every show needs to be, so they’ve got that down.

the pacing was a bit… strange. season 1’s pacing was slightly off, but it is more prominent this time. it felt very fast, as if there wasn’t any down time; almost every scene was quick and important, but goddamn it i want to breathe and get to know the characters more!

my favorite storyline were the crows, of course, and then alina and mal’s whole thing was good but started to weaken near the end, but the darkling’s side was just so boring. sorry ben barnes.

the action sequences had their moments, but a lot of them fell kind of flat to me. i hope next season they polish it a little more and get rid of those damn slow-mos and sped-up bits. it made the action look worse, not better.

the positives: the outfits slayed. very pretty. the sets also mostly slayed, but i feel like the cinematography made it look cheaper than it was. idk what it is about this season, but it’s way less visually interesting than season one. although maybe that’s just me, because i really value a pretty looking frame over nearly everything else.

the actors were amazing. not a single complaint about them. freddy carter and daisy head were the standouts, as we can all agree, but it was a strong ensemble yet again! the new additions to the cast were great and fit right in, which is a good feat for me because it usually takes a while for me to warm up to new characters.

i’m hoping next season the pacing is evened out a bit more and the characters get more time to show their personalities and to develop more. and i want improved action scenes, please.

overall… 6.5/10. a small step down from season 1, but i’m hopeful they can come back better. season 3 is almost always the best seasons for shows, so here’s to hoping!

[azsazz]

answering this one here too because cc spoilers :)

I like CC for different reasons than I like acotar, for example in CC I feel like a lot of the friendships/relationships felt more organic to me. Like Danika was not a good person but she and Bryce were good friends. Also Bryce and LeLe felt like real friends to me, same with Ruhn and his friends. I feel like Feyre’s friendship with Mor for example is really forced, everyone says their best friends but I feel like they barley interacted in the books? And I feel like no one respects Feyre’s leadership as much as Rhys’s (honestly I feel like the ENTIRE ic dynamic is weird af and an attempt to write close friends that kind of fell flat.) Mor gives me more pick me energy than Bryce but I see how you think that.

i did like lele a lot, and yeah, their relationship was a good one. i agree that feyre and mor didn't really interact. it does feel a bit forced also with the fact that obviously her and rhys are mates so who's going to actually say something if they don't like her? also mor is rhys' only family so she kind of doesn't have a choice to be feyre's friend

also I feel like Hunt gets unnecessarily picked on bc he’s boring but he’s one of the only SJM males that didn’t do some sketchy shit with his partner in some way. (Ik the synth deal but that didn’t really happen to Bryce) I haven’t read it in a while but nothing comes to the top of my head besides like them being mean to each other in the beginning

i do like hunt, i'll give sjm that. he's a good man.

Examples: Rhys had the dancing and the pregnancy (which Ik Rhys stans like to explain away but I still think it’s messed up). Cassian didn’t defend his mate and took Nesta on a week long hike where she physically collapsed from malnutrition and exhaustion bc she told feyre the TRUTH. Rowan punching Aelin in the face etc.

rhys has def done some questionable things. like yeah we can all get mad at fucking tamlin for wanting to keep feyre safe in his house when he knew they weren't out of the woods yet and worse was coming. and yeah, he went about it the wrong way but he was terrified for her? he didn't know what he was going? and rhys literally locked her in a fucking bubble while she was pregnant? yeah she could roam around but if that were me i'd feel suffocated as fuck? like its not really that different.

sjm loves talking about how her fmc's are so strong and stuff but she glorifies all the men they can do no wrong

CC had terribly world building, but let’s be honest SJM hasn’t had good world building since TOG and even that is sometimes questionable, but I think the relationships between characters are better and the individual emotions of the characters feel more human to me in some aspects.

Idk that’s just my opinion of the two books. Overall I still do think ACOTAR is the better series of the two, and the cross over is def a cash grab. But sometimes I feel like the good parts of CC get overlooked bc of shitty world building

that's def a fair point. i got so lost in trying to figure out what the fuck was going on i couldn't even focus on the relationships, i'll admit that!

[escmemesandstuff]

Song Review: Czech Republic

Last one of these before Super Saturday, luckily there’s enough popcorn in the stash.

Vesna - My Sister’s Crown

Personal opinion: First of all, I was happy to see Vesna participating in the selection! I got acquainted to their music thanks to tmblrvision, and they’re definitely one of my best artist findings from last year. This song wasn’t a disappointment at all. It’s a strong track with a lot of musical as well as linguistic variety. It’s catchy, but not in a cheap or annoying well, and can withstand multiple listens without getting boring. Plus, the electropop genre is just my jam, and the ethnic features make it even better! My absolute favourite part is the Ukrainian chorus, and I love how it’s repeated a t the end creating a powerful and dramatic effect.

That being said, I do have some criticism, namely concerning the live performance. I know that the ESCZ stage wasn’t the most ideal or big-scale, but multiple other artists were still able to create a more polished performance. This one felt like... a bit of a mess. The three singers seemed to move a bit aimlessly at stage at times, and the colourful and mismatching costumes reminded me of the Danish band last year. I understand there might have been an attempt to visually convey the message of diversity of the lyrics, but it kind of fell flat and didn’t suit the overall atmosphere of the song. Another of my criticisms is that the lyrics seem too in-your-face about the message. Which is a good message, but we know the rules concerning political topics, and that’s what makes me worry.

All of this being said, I enjoy the song a lot, and it’s my second favourite right after Norway.

Prediction: The live performance obviously needs improvement, and if that succeeds, the song can fare really well. It might be a bit risky concerning the jury vote, but luckily for them, there isn’t one in the semis. Then again, a country like Czechia isn’t exactly a magnet for diaspora points, so they can still risk NQ especially with a weaker performance. I do wish them a great result, but there is a flopping fan favourite every year, and I’m kind of afraid it will be the fate of this song. But we’ll see.

Thoughts on selection: ESCZ has provided a nice amount of quality music for the past few years. It’s clear they’re making an effort, and that’s why it’s a pity to see that save from Mikolas Josef, the efforts haven’t really paid off when it comes to the actual results. Lately they’ve been trying to engage more international viewers and also attempting to increase their changes of success by introducing the app voting. And sure, it was nice to get to vote for my own fave, but I must wonder why international eurofans were given more power than the Czech audience. Maybe the contest just isn’t interesting enough for ordinary Czech people? With their less than stellar record in Eurovision, I wouldn’t be surprised.

As for the songs, none other than Vesna’s stood out for me this year. Pam Rabbit had a good show and Rodan’s lyrics were nice and relatable, but that’s about it. Maybe if Vesna achieves success this year, the contest might become more attractive to established artists in the future.

[gillianthecat]

I just read Naomi Novik’s final book in her Scholomance trilogy, The Golden Enclaves. This was the first book I’ve read in I don’t know how many months, possibly since last winter. Historically I’ve been a huge reader, usually a binge reader. I’m in an odd lull from it now, and pretty much only watching things. A flip from the previous two years when I lived on fanfic and romance novels and could barely watch a thing.

Overall I liked it, and the whole series! My appreciation of this book was more intellectual than emotion, but I’m not sure if that’s the book or just my current state of mind. I have many thoughts about it, which I may eventually write something about. Particularly about the way she writes romance, and the role it plays in her stories, across her original fic and fanfic. And also about how she mapped the magical world onto the mundane.*

Mostly I’m posting this as a time stamp of when I read it, since I found going back through my blog useful when trying to reconstruct my watching life. And also as a note to self about what I was thinking of.

(This reading was triggered by the post someone reblogged about how there is a recurring character in Supernatural fanfic named Naomi Novak.)

*on the enclave politics of the magical world: I kind of wish she’d made it either less of a match for the cities and international politics of the real world, or more so, and leaned into the political allegory. As it was, it felt too much like relying on stereotypes as a shortcut.

on romance: I found Orion completely uninteresting as a love interest, although fascinating as a concept and a narrative foil. His boring personality was partly the point of the character—what happens when someone really is the hero, and only lives to slaughter monsters?—but it also made it hard to understand why El loved him, or to feel emotionally invested in her grief for him and her performing impossible feats just to save him. Intellectually I understood them, and they make for great storytelling, but I personally didn’t care much about his fate. And then at the end I realized that he performed the same role as the flat generic female love interests in so many stories about male heroes. Where they exist to be saved but aren’t fully fleshed out on their own. (thequeenofsastiel, I won’t tag you in case you haven’t read these books, but it’s making me think of our conversations about women in media.) Someone to motivate the protagonist, to be rescued. (I do also have many vague thoughts about all the interesting things she was doing with Orion and El (and both their mothers) that wasn’t romance, but I have a headache and don’t want to write anymore.)

Which made me look back to the other two novels of hers that I read, Spinning Silver and Uprooted, and in those the male love interests of the young female protagonist are similarly sidelined and… not necessarily one-dimensional exactly, but underexplored. They’re both significantly older than the protagonist, and the story of the romance is really a sideline or an afterthought. I know many people were bothered by the age gap in Uprooted, but as I recall it didn’t bother me because it felt like the story was about the protagonist growing up and coming into her power, becoming someone who was an equal of the old man wizard at the end. Like in so many stories where the hero gets the girl, the "romance" isn’t about him, it’s symbolic of the journey she went on… not a reward exactly, but also more about her than him. In Spinning Silver the romance is even less fleshed out—she goes into the woods with the fairy king (or whatever he was, I read it long ago) and they come out married. My reaction to that was mostly huh? It more or less made sense for the story, but she gives so little explanation of why and how they fell in love that it felt jarring.

If these three books were all I’d read of hers I’d assume she simply wasn’t interested in romance. The fact that 2/3 of the love interests are so much older and given so little page time reminds of that story (not sure if it’s true or apocryphal) about Louisa May Alcott being told she had to put a romance in Little Women and, in irritable defiance, making Jo fall in love with a boring old man. But much of her fanfic is romance, and when she puts it in I can usually feel the love and attraction between the characters, understand why they want each other. Which makes me curious about why it’s so different in the three published novels I’ve read. Is she less interested in het relationships? (I’ve read very little of her mf fan fiction so far.) Does it get in the way of the stories she wants to tell about young women? Is it something about the way she’s using YA genre conventions?

It does feel a little weird talking about her work on Tumblr where I know she has an account (which I even follow) but presumably she isn’t doing name searches out here.

[kaownah]

finally finished kinnporshe, and tbh im sad bc i wanted so badly to absolutely love it but i have so many mixed feelings

just some thoughts:

bad stuff first

1. i really did like the show up until around ep 6-7, then things just slowly (then very quickly) started falling apart tbh

2. lots of pacing issues, some plot holes, predictability

3. was i supposed to care about kim/chay at all? like? chay’s obsession with kim was so goofy and their chemistry was nonexistent like what a horrendously pointless plotline tbh they should’ve just cut the couple all together it literally added nothing (give jeff something with substance please i beg)

4. speaking of chay... barcode’s acting.... um. chile anyways so

5. i loved kinnporsche’s dynamic but then after they got together they totally fell flat and were like every other mediocre 2d couple i’ve seen in less hyped bl’s like... where did that fun dynamic go

6. why was everyone so stupid for most of the second half? where was the common sense? tankhun of all people was really the one with the most common sense tbh he said “why are you all suddenly becoming stupid” and he meant that

7. there so much hype for vegaspete, i was SO excited for them going into this and? all we were given was torture, a sort of stockholm syndrome, then pete left. i have some qualms about bible’s acting too (it took him a while to find his footing but he wasn’t bad later on, i’d say the tail end of pete’s captivity onward he got substantially better). with the relationship, not enough happened to justify pete’s feelings for vegas. i can kind of see why vegas feels how he does for pete, although it feels very shallow and like he is far too dependent on pete, considering literally the only reason he didn’t shoot himself was bc pete came back. as for pete... i just don’t buy the whole starting to love vegas while being held captive/tortured, just bc he felt bad for him regarding his dad? idk

8. by the end watching it felt like a chore... idk i just wish the energy and spirit and quality of the first maybe 5-ish episodes stuck around bc everything after that was just. boring. flat. predictable. kinda cringe-y at a lot of points

9. character development was really there at first and then it’s like it was too much work for them bc they just seemed to drop it at a certain point and personalities just started completely being drained out of everyone

10. this is a small random thing but it kept bothering me... people would have their guns out and trained on someone, and then gave that person enough time to slowly, VERY visibly get their guns out so there could be a showdown? like what’s the point of having your gun trained on someone if you’re gonna allow them to point one back??? shit made no sense lmao

11. unrealistic fights... tbh this isn’t just kinnporsche, it’s a big theme in action genre in general, but like.. wym everyone has guns and aren’t shy in shooting until the mains get close, then suddenly they’re given enough time to take out massive groups one by one bc the enemies just... let them. plenty of instances of characters taking down a baddie and then just standing there before the next guy comes up, which would’ve been ample time to get shot, but the baddies are just like nah let’s fist fight :) i understand plot armor but at least make it make sense

honorable mention: i know subtitles aren’t production’s fault so i’m not going to fault them for this but. holy shit. who was subtitling this, they were absolutely godawful ie. changing curses into ‘fudge’, ‘frick’, etc (are we six? why can we see murder and violence but curse words are where lines are drawn), and grammar being butchered

okay i know i listed all these negative points, i will say that the show wasn’t a COMPLETE flop. some positives...

1. apo was great. i loved the little mannerisms he gave porsche, the physicality of him, just overall i really enjoyed his acting

2. build was also consistently good. for most of the series, he wasn’t given as much to do, but he really was a standout particularly at the end of the series (that tub scene was a shining light in a show that otherwise had dulled by this point) and pete’s journey was actually interesting but imo we just weren’t given enough time with it

3. i know vegaspete was a negative but i will say that there could be some positives there. they could have a very interesting dynamic if were given enough time with them and really got to the root of their motives with each other. i MIGHT be interested in having a story about them, but i’d be really wary about the story going in the same direction as kinnporsche (initially interesting before turning into something kinda boring)

4. the theme song. THE THEME SONG. A BOP. it’s such an earworm omg it’ll be stuck in my head for months

finally.. the final ep. this one really can’t go into the negatives or positives. on one hand, this episode finally marked a massive uptick in quality after so many boring eps. not only was it unpredictable as hell, but we finally got our characters finding their personalities again, common sense made a return, and we ACTUALLY got some mafia activity. i signed up for a show with gang/mob plotline, and it felt like we had lost virtually all of that for the second half of the series. why couldn’t we have had quality like this in pervious eps? i’m not saying there had to be a shootout in every episode, but something with psychological meat. with that being said, i think they kind of overdid the plot twists in the finale. it was one after another after another of shit going down and pasts being revealed and characters kind of going batshit, that it really started to get ridiculous by the time porsche’s mom and korn were revealed to still be alive. korn’s reasoning for everything that happened was so silly that it really made me pause the ep entirely just to be like... are you fr? really? goofy stuff. also, throwing in the casual mention of sexual violence against one of the show’s only women as a reason for angst for the male characters was so beyond lame and unnecessary. idk how i felt about the whole porsche being head of the minor family, it was fine ig. overall, the final ep really gave me whiplash

idk i’m just so sad bc at this point 99% of the super super hyped thai shows i go into at this point i wind up being disappointed in?? and i want so badly to bc the ones that hit REALLY hit. but they’re just so rare. idk like japan has completely taken over in terms of quality imo, i really don’t trust thai bls anymore atp which is sad bc even the ones that are finally taking a step away from the insanely overused tropes wind up boring or poorly written in the end 

anyway just my opinion let me wallow!!

[reignof-fyre]

I have so many thoughts and feelings about season 1 of HotD so I'm gonna share my unwanted opinion right now.

Overall, i did like the season. The first few episodes were brilliant and they introduced the characters well, giving them well-rounded personalities and arcs and ambitions. I, however, didn't like how they made Rhaenyra and Alicent besties. In the books, Rhaenyra is only 9 when Alicent marries Viserys and Alicent rarely tries to befriend or get closer to Rhaenyra because of her (and her fathers) ambition to see Aegon II on the throne one day, even if Rhaenyra was named heir.

Because of the direction they took Alicent, she loses some, if not most, of her agency. In Fire & Blood Alicent's ambitions are her own. She wants her son on the throne, she wants to be known as the First Lady of the Realm, as a Queen in her own right. She isn't an anxiety riddled teen dancing to her fathers tune the whole way through. Show!Alicent just seems...bland and pretty unsympathetic tbh. I do understand why they went with Rhaenyra and Alicent being friends, and tried to make her a "victim" of the patriarchy (otto) that becomes a patriarchal enforcer herself later in life (wanting aegon on the throne etc) but it kind of fell flat.

Rhaenyra also lost some of her agency to me after the second or third episode. She's named heir and given this position of power but still treated like a little girl by the men around her. She doesn't take her newfound power by the horns and demand the respect a male heir would get, and I understand that's a major part of the story, the patriarchy continuing their belief that women are inferior despite their position in the world, but to me Rhaenyra seems like the type of woman to demand respect, but she just...doesn't. She had every opportunity to shore up her succession and place as heir, but it never happened. (This also occurs in the books, and its frustrating). I also get pissed off how everyone is like "omg her sons are bastards" like so WHAT? Laenor accepted Jace, Luke, and Joffrey as his sons. Corlys and Rhaenys accepted those boys as their grandson's. Viserys accepted them as his grandson's. Their claim to the throne passes from RHAENYRA not their father. I get that "bastardry" is considered this huge tabboo, but honestly it's not that big of a deal? They've proven their Valyrian heritage by claiming dragons. Rhaenys in the books has black hair, she's related to the Baratheons, hell Rhaenyra's maternal grandfather is an Arryn, who had brown hair. I know it's Westeros and recessive genes aren't a thing but...honestly. what choice did Rhaenyra honestly have when it came to having children? She couldn't force Laenor into having sex with her if he wasn't interested. She isn't that type of person. She was honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Even if she slept with some Lysenne male whore with the valyrian look or Daemon to get "valyrian" children they wouldn't look like Laenor, who's black in the show, and it'd be the same thing. So why shouldn't she have fucked Harwin, a man she actually liked?

Viserys was pretty on brand the whole season, and I did end up loving him beyond reason even though he's a shit king and even worse father.

Daemon swiftly became my favourite character for a plethora of reasons. It became clear that Daemon doesn't truly want the throne or the title of King, as he's bored to tears with politicking and he'd resort to cutting off heads, and it seems that Daemon is self-aware enough to realise this, and his one true ambition is to protect his brother, his king, and his family. Evident in how he defends himself in the throne room before he's exiled. He wants nothing more than to protect his brother, and he sees Otto's ambitions and schemes for what they are, and how Viserys is taken advantage of by the council. I liken Daemon to a rebellious kid who acts out for attention, because it's the only time he'll get attention, even if it's not necessarily good attention. He's desperate for approval, desperate for his family's love, and he will do anything - even monstrous things - to ensure he succeeds in defending his kin. He's not a good person, not by a long shot, but he's fundamentally the type of man whose a born protector and defender. He will bear the negative connotations and vitriol against his name if it means those he loves (and is unable to show it because he thinks showing emotions makes one weak, e.g Viserys) are safe and protected. He doesn't chase Rhaenyra for the power she'd bring him by being her king Consort, but because he genuinely likes her. If all he wanted was power, he'd have gone through with his plan in the brothel (his true plan was revenge against Viserys for his exile, as stated by the showrunners and writers, not to force a marrage), but he couldn't. He refused to debase her, even if word reached Otto and Viserys and he was once more exiled. He wouldn't have raised an army to support Viserys' claim at the council, nor would he have defended Rhaenyra and her sons by killing Vaemond. He wouldnt have looked so utterly devastated by Laena's death. The showrunners have really tried to make us hate daemon by cutting scenes where he shows his softer side (hugging Baela and Rhaena, mourning Viserys and Visenya on the beach) but Matt Smith is so brilliant that we see his softer side in subtle moments: when he comforts Rhaenyra at Aemma's pyre, when he refuses to cut Laena open to save his son, when he stammers upon seeing viserys' condition, how he snaps at Alicent about Viserys' health, when he strokes baby Viserys' head, how he strokes Rhaenyra's belly, when he helps Viserys onto the throne and places his crown back on his head, his expression when rhaenys tells he and rhaenyra that viserys is dead. When he's the first to kneel to rhaenyra and proclaim her his queen. I just love this nuanced, emotionally repressed, angry little bean so much.

Otto, a second son like Daemon, however, is Daemon's antitheses. He doesn't grasp for power for anyone but himself. He wants his daughter to be queen no matter how she feels about it because it brings him power and prestige. He wants his grandson to be king not to protect the realm, but because it will bring him power. He doesn't care that show!aegon is a drunken rapist. To Otto, Aegon's the perfect puppet king to further his own power. He knows war will follow no matter who is crowned, but war is okay if it's to keep aegon on the throne, and not rhaenyra. He suggested her as heir to get rid of Daemon because he knows Daemon is a terrible advisary to have. He never intended to let Rhaenyra be queen; she was his place holder to get rid of Daemon. He knows Rhaenyra and Daemon are uncontrollable as puppet rulers, and that's what Otto desires. Jaehaerys was too ill to be a king when Otto was named Hand, Viserys was a weak king and easy to manipulate, and so will Aegon be...for a time.

Otto and Daemon are two sides of the same coin to me, personally. Otto wants power for himself by any means necessary, and Daemon wants to protect his family's power by any means necessary.

All in all, the show is fine and entertaining. The characters are magnificent, the actors do a brilliant job bringing them to life, but it lacks the air of personal ambition that game of thrones does. In GOT, everyone wants something and is willing to kill for it. In HotD everyone is puppet-like and going through the motions of what's laid out before them. Like, yeah, Otto is ambitious but it doesn't really scream "game of thrones" ambition that we saw in agot. I know the moral of hotd is how men a stupid and the patriarchy is an insidious thing that, in medieval time, will treat women like shit...but in agot we have female characters like catelyn, cersei, brienne, daenerys, yara, olenna tyrell, and maegaery who have this sort of viciousness to them and ambition to actually force the men of the patriarchy to listen to them.

I love the women of hotd - except alicent - and I hope to see that vicious ambition and strength from them in season 2, because it was lacking in s1. I reckon we will, because the war will be all-out in s2. I'm looking forward to it.