#but the story? really underwhelming imo

[cureblogging]

Gonna say something potentially controversial:

I think Heartcatch suffers from the Up phenomenon in that people remember it as an excellent, if not flawless masterpiece when it actually has One (1) excellent, if not flawless moment in the beginning and is otherwise nothing special.

[hella1975]

Hi hella!!!

I feel like i always start these off or end them by saying that these things are going to be incomprehensible in some way, mainly bc i have trouble translating whats going on in my mind into written words so i really dont know how much of my list thingies make sense to you but this one is especially probably going to not make much sense. (also bc i send them a lot when im either very tired or not sober, but i am sober and wide awake rn so this might be a different kind of incomprehensible)

I found one of my old drafts for an ask from around a year ago and it was a follow up response to the last chapter you posted at the time, so im not sure how its going to sound without the context of that specific chapter, but i also mentioned in one of my other asks that i add stuff in last minute and that ask i added a shit ton of stuff so i dont have any of that pretyped out so im going by memory.  But im sending it again bc i havent seen you answer it 

(please do not interpret this as ‘why didnt you answer my ask >:/’ or me rushing you to answer asks or anything like that, but like I said its been a year so im assuming tumblr ate it.  If not and you just havent cleaned out your ask box and you find the original, congratulations you’ll know what i originally said.  Bc idk how accurate this will be)

SO

Theres two different ways that you seem to write metaphors (idk if thats what theyre called im not caught up on my literary terminology)

 (im scrolling through your blog rn looking for my other asks and tumblr really did you dirty in your asks system like i started scrolling and the third one down was from 2021 and im fighting for my life trying to find my tag (thank you for my tag btw its very useful to me))

Anywho, most of your metaphors ( to me) can be split into two categories.  Theres the simple ones and the complex ones.  Now this might seem obvious but im going to explain to you how these have different effects on my brain.  

An example of the ‘simple’ ones is  

““If Nanook’s tone had a note of seriousness, then Zuko’s was the entire orchestra.”” (idk what chapter this is from its been a while)

You have a lot of these kinds of whatever the haick kind of literary technique this is (is this a metaphor i’ve been trying to google it for like ½ an hour and i cant figure it out) BUT these type of things that are simple and easy to process is one of my favorite things about the way you write.  I think this is a very common technique but the way you do it to me is just a lot more unique than the ways ive seen it done before.  Its extremely fluent with the voice of the characters and brings a perfect kind of vibe to the ‘conversation’ (or story, text, whatever) and it paints the picture of what your trying to say perfectly.  I also really like how these types of things arent ever in Zukos pov a lot (sometimes it is, but not nearly as much, I’ve noticed) and its not in the more serious like revelations that you drop these in.  Like I said, it adds to the voice of the characters, bc of the contrast of Zuko constantly having revelations and dramatic archs and stuff, and the other characters just in general being a lot more calm.  Its like when youre listening to a song and you have the lyrics and the like ‘main’ music behind the lyrics, but then when you listen to the song a lot you notice the smaller, like backup music that adds a lot to the song and makes it a lot more enjoyable than if it was just the lyrics and the louder more up front music.  

Then in contrast you have the bigger ‘metaphors’ 

An example of this is ‘You curse in words already invented’ 

THIS IS MY FAVORITE LINE IN THE ENTIRE FIC.  

OF ANY FIC OR BOOK EVER READ

AND THIS IS WHY

When I tell you I could not figure out what this meant for months I am AWFUL with stuff like this and interpreting it my english teachers hate me bc of it.  Id have the question ‘why were the curtains blue’ and my answer would be ‘bc the people who decorated the room like blue maybe theyre interior designers and it goes with the room 😊 and thats so hot of them bc i love blue too’  

But even thought i couldnt figure it out it stayed in my head and i probably thought about it once a day (i mean this literally, i think about that part all the time) and i cant remember the context for that or anything but i do remember that i knew it was a wonderful phrase.  

I’ve mentioned in my other asks how whenever im reading anything at all that you’ve written (whether its tams, or toab, or in the tags of something even if its like 10 words), everything you type comes out so fluidly like a formula or a color wheel or however i put it last time i talked about this.  And this is on the prodigious end of the spectrum of this.  

But phrases like that are another part of the fic, theyre like the lyrics of the song.  Like the phrases that gets all the attention and gets put in fanart and that gets quoted in comment sections because they deserve that recognition and you deserve that recognition and are just a reminder of how incredibly talented you are.  

I mean that in the most sincere way that i know how to express.  

I am constantly in awe of you and your writing style, and i really do think of you as one of the most talented writers of everything ive ever read.  

And something else worth mentioning is that it isnt just your ao3 that portrays that.  Like if I were to just read your ao3 I’d be like ‘oh wow this person is an amazing writer’ But your tumblr persona plays into it a lot more (In my opinion).  Because then you see like more ‘backround’ stuff on ao3.  And more of your system (im not articulating this in the way i mean it very well) and you get privy to the fact that you’re not a 30 year old with a masters in english and that you’ve never had any formal education on writing.  I vaguely remember you talking about a story about a sailor (??? i might be misremembering that) that you wrote when you were a child and thinking ‘oh wow so she’s always been like that’.  And its stuff like that that you dont get on ao3 that kind of reaffirms how incredible of a writer you are.  

And this (to me) makes you a really easy person to admire.  (ik i touched on this in a different ask but i dont remember if it was one of my list asks or not) but as someone who probably isnt going to ever be able to get an education around writing, it kind of reassures me that i dont need that to be great at it.  

(i kind of feel like a lot of the stuff in this ask is too like ‘simple’ or obvious to be given a lot of weight, but this whole thing is about the kinds of things you do that brings me personally joy and the metaphors are one of them so)

Also on an off note when i was looking through your asks to try to find my tag, I noticed that i send you a heavy percentage of your anonymous asks (mainly without my alias) and I thought that was funny.  But also i hope it doesnt come across as obsessive or weird, I swear i do that to a lot of people on here, I’m just a very social person.  .😂

Also Im in your tbos server (lurking in the shadows) and someone pointed out that whenever you do the reaction emojis you always do the white ones, and thats going on the official ‘my favorite things about hella’ list because that was genuinely one of the funniest things ive seen. 

Also the ‘anytime you type its very fluid (im too lazy to scroll up and see how i put it rn) also carrys on to discord.  I think that i could probably block out the user names and be able to figure out that its you talking every time, you have a very distinct way of talking.  

Also i wanted to mention that every time you answer these i read them again and i want to say like 1/3 of what i sasy, i have no recollection of. And i never have any idea what im talking about. so i think thats funny.

LIST ANONNNNNNNNNNNNN BAWLING MY EYES OUT HELLO BABY WELCOME BACK FROM WAR IVE MISSED YOU IM JUST HERE LIKE THIS RN

[strfe]

finished rebirth & i'll maybe write more about it some other time but for now i'll just say it was ok

[lesbiten]

me and my roommate have been talking about supernatural since shes seen most of it and she was talking about how she doesnt like sam bc hes so mean to dean and never wants to do anything and "dean is just a better written character objectively" and i just cant relate to ppl who see it like that 😭

[blueskittlesart]

I saw the thing at the end of today's Echoes of Wisdom trailer and was hoping you'd have some thoughts about it. I don't want to be more specific so as not to spoil it, but it's interesting that this kind of thing Keeps Happening, no matter who the hero is.

well the good news for you is that i wrote down my thoughts in real time as i watched it!! i am. incredibly excited. that little teaser of a link vs zelda boss fight may have singlehandedly fully sold me on the game. (not that i wasn't gonna buy it, ive had it preordered since the first direct, but i wasn't sure I was gonna like it lol) the implications in terms of story are REALLY exciting to me, because, while this has happened before with puppet zeldas, it's never quite been executed perfectly imo. twilight princess was underwhelming for a multitude of reasons, and while totk's puppet zelda was GOOD i do wish they'd let us fight HER instead of immediately pivoting to phantom ganon for the actual battle. this specifically is really compelling to me BECAUSE of the roleswap--link is not only zelda's friend but her knight, her protector. and it's BECAUSE OF THAT that he's such a force to be reckoned with in combat. this is a case of link and zelda's relationship being used against them in a very calculated, devastating way. it's not just zelda being forced to hurt someone she cares about who is no longer in control of themself, but it's zelda, a girl who doesn't have a lot of combat experience, being forced to fight against an extremely skilled combatant who explicitly only uses that skill for her benefit when he IS in control of himself. when link wakes up, if he wakes up, he's going to HATE what he nearly did to her. it opens up really great avenues to explore the idea of corruption and control and how power is a double-edged sword. tldr i am SO excited for this game now

[poisonpercy]

Ok just finished the 3rd episode of the show. From a completely outside perspective without comparing it to the books, it’s a fine episode. The writing does fall flat imo, and it doesn’t keep my attention. It’s also still very hard to see what’s happening when it’s supposed to be dark. When will Hollywood let dark scenes be visible again?

Ok, now for more specific thoughts:

The scene with the Oracle sucked in my opinion. Idk it just seemed so much more grander in the book. The scene in the show lacked the mystic and off putting nature of the Oracle, so it kinda just didn’t work for me. I did like that they remembered that Gabe was the voice of the Oracle in tlt, so that was nice

How Percy chooses his quest mates in the show is different in the show than in the books. This isn’t a bad thing, but I do miss Annabeth volunteering herself to be Percy’s 3rd quest mate like she does in the books. Idk I just think it really showed her eagerness to prove herself and get a quest. The show scene doesn’t do that, but I’m not mad at the change

The interaction between Grover and Percy when Percy tells Grover he was chosen to go on the quest was so cute. I love those 2 boys. Besties for life

Percy telling Luke that he thinks the drachmas are from Chuck E. Cheese was hilarious

With Luke in mind, I love how manipulative he is. Like he is so nice, but it’s because he has ulterior motives. I do like that his manipulation is not overt, so you don’t know that he’s the one that ultimately betrays Percy

I personally didn’t find the “she met a pine cone’s fate” line that Percy said funny. It honestly came off kind of rude. It’s definitely something that Percy would say in ttc when Thalia and him are beefing, but not when he finds out about her death. Percy is supposed to be kind and empathetic, and he shows so much sympathy for Thalia and her fate when he hears her story in the book. Idk just felt like that line was ooc during this moment in time

Grover’s song was so cute and funny, it had me cracking up fr

Percy trying to get all of them to vote throughout the episode is hilarious. My boy just wants to have a say in things

Annabeth grabbing all that candy was perfect. It really shows she’s just a 12 year old girl that didn’t get to experience the joys of childhood (also, I feel like overall that the show is forgetting that Annabeth is not a stoic character. Like she very much acts her age. I hope the writers let Annabeth have more personality in later episodes)

I miss the book fight sequence with the furies on the bus. It was so chaotic and there was so much tension. Percy steering the bus and crashing it and the bus exploding was perfect, and I’m sad that they got rid of that in the show. The fight scene in the show was just so underwhelming. I feel like those should be the knock out moments of the episodes but they breeze past them so fast and give no tension. It just falls flat (curse you Mickey Mouse!! I know it’s your fault!)

I do appreciate that Grover keeps trying to diffuse the fights between Annabeth and Percy. They are both his friends, and he can see why they keep butting heads. If only the 2 would listen to him

I do miss how the trio finds Auntie Em’s in the book. Like Annabeth and Percy were dumbass 1 and 2 that followed their stomachs while Grover freaked the fuck out. That was so fun. The show had Grover find and follow the smell instead which is fine, but the og scene was better imo

That being said, they guessed that it was Medusa way too quickly in the show. I like the mystery of Auntie Em’s identity in the book better tbh

“I definitely trust my mom” <- Percy exceeds the momma’s boy standards

I don’t mind the change to Medusa’s character. I actually really enjoyed her (the actresses voice is so gorgeous and calming). I like how she’s like “we’re not our parents until we choose to be them.” It really sets up the ultimate direction of the series imo

Regarding the fight scene with Medusa, it sucked. To begin with, you can hardly see what’s happening bc it’s so dark. Also there was no tension or chaos. It kind of just happened? I also didn’t like that Medusa was killed when Annabeth’s cap was on her. I know it’s because Disney probably thought the death would have been too graphic or whatever, but I would have liked to see what happened

It was cool that Percy used Medusa’s head to kill Alecto

I felt so many emotions when Grover said “He’s not like the others. He doesn’t look afraid” about his Uncle Ferdinand

The beginnings of Percy’s and Annabeth’s friendship is so good. Annabeth not taking the deal with Alecto to give Percy over and killing her sister. Percy not taking Medusa’s offer to get rid of Annabeth and Grover so he can save his mother. It’s perfect. They’re going to become each other’s chosen person and they don’t even know it yet

LMM as Hermes jump scare. Still not a fan of the Hermes casting

Anyways, overall the show just isn’t working for me. I do appreciate Walker, Leah, and Aryan because they are perfect. They are honestly doing such a great job! The writers, however, are not. I’m trying so hard to think of this show as its own entity so I can enjoy it more, but I haven’t been able to so far. Despite that, I am excited to see where the show ends up going (even if I end up not liking it)

[lovingeddiediaz]

9-1-1 rant. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this season and a lot of them aren’t good. Love this show, I’ve been watching live since season 3 but yikes that finale was a mess imo definitely one of my least favorites for sure. Very underwhelming. The whole season in general was wacky.

I’ve been feeling this way for at least 2 seasons now. I feel like 911 has been trying to fit these LARGE stories that they don’t have time for or are failing to make time for in these episodes. I get that this season was shortened, but if they can’t properly flush out a story in time, they should figure something else out instead of simplifying it and cutting out so many parts that it loses the build up and the emotion and captivation.

So much happens off screen that I feel like should be SHOWN. like we didn’t get to see Chris upset in the moment when he saw the Shannon lookalike, the scene cut out after he said mom. All we see is just him in his bed telling Eddie to go away later. We didn’t see the confrontation with Marisol and Eddie and her leaving, just an offhand comment of her not coming back later. We didn’t see the phone call that had Buck rushing over. We didnt get to see Eddie at his house alone after Chris leaves, just him leaving with his grandparents and boom, cut scene. We didn’t get to see hen or Chim at Bobby’s bedside.

We don’t get to see the aftermath of ANYTHING. The show keeps cutting the scenes just short and it has been pissing me off so much. They’re missing out on so much depth bc they’re doing too goddamn much at once and too quick.

All action, no build up or payoff. Just one thing after another. You don’t even have time to let your emotions settle and follow the characters bc it’s over so soon. You don’t get to worry and grieve alongside the characters. Bobby almost died and then boom he’s fine again like nothing happened. Like what am I supposed to be emotional over? He almost died in the desert just a couple episodes before that and then he was fine, no mention of it again.

Idk it seems like this show has been doing a lot of telling instead of showing when it comes to what are supposed to be emotionally charged scenes, like Buck saying how he was worried he was gonna lose Bobby but we didn’t really see that. All we got was a teary eye when Buck told Eddie he was in the hospital. Didn’t get to see the team actually save bathena in the beginning, so seeing them get the medals held no weight, like cool we’re told they saved them but we didn’t see shit. We didn’t get to see any of the madney wedding buildup like picking flower arrangements and a venue and dress/tuxedo shopping or anything like that, just assume off screen obviously XD

Buck’s sexuality arc being reduced to background noise also sucks. He kissed a man and then they said ok cool good enough moving on now. Not even bothering to deepen/develop his relationship with Tommy (are they even together or are they still going on dates?? No fuckin clue lmao), instead of a meaningful conversation between them in the finale it’s turned into a sexual joke like come ON, besides the first kiss and the second kiss that Buck initiates, their scenes are meaningless imo and that’s sad bc I was so excited for this storyline in the beginning but again, there’s nothing there. No substance.

And don’t even get me started on henren’s storyline. How many times are they gonna recycle the ‘person gets in the way of henren expanding their family’ bullshit before they finally get creative and think of something new? What is that, 3 times now? It’s just annoying at this point lmao I’m over it.

Why is Tim so against happy storylines? I know he said something along the lines of people wouldn’t watch if the characters were happy, but I think that’s bullshit. If you can’t captivate an audience with positive stories then I think you have a skill issue. Big drama and angst doesn’t equal good story telling and writing. Couldn’t even give madney a nice wedding like wtf.

Idk. I hope next season is thought out better.

[snapscube]

I see a lot of people sending ffxiv asks. What's something you're hoping for in dawn trail? Personally I would love to do some food tourism with the gang and go on a bar crawl that ends with drunk karaoke with Urianger

LOL those are extremely understandable desires

Honest to god i have zero expectations OR hopes for the story in Dawntrail specifically. It's a brand new arc! I kinda just want to see where they take it. I know it's not gonna reach the same heights as Endwalker for me, purely by virtue of it not being An Ending To A Decade of Meaningful Storytelling. If anything I expect it might feel a little underwhelming at first, but that's fine! I'm with this game for the long haul, I wanna trust that they'll be able to build to something great again at the very least.

As for OTHER hopes i have, there is one thing I am really specifically hoping for. It's like, disgustingly specific:

PLEASE INTRODUCE BETTER ANTI-ALIASING IN ONE OF THE GRAPHICS UPDATE PATCHES

I would KILL for them to find some crazy fucking way to implement something like DLSS/DLAA however unlikely it is but AT THE BARE MINIMUM this game desperately needs some MSAA or hell I'd even take TAA.

And then aside from the pipe dream of getting some AA upgrades, I just hope they have some actual multiplayer/battle-focused large scale content in Dawntrail like Bozja. Or SOMETHING with a little bit more Meat on it. I was hyped as hell for Island Sanctuary but in retrospect I feel like THAT much development effort going towards content that is purely single player and designed to be incredibly low-stakes and, quite frankly, kinda boring was a bit of a mistake in the long run. It had potential but they didn't really sell it at the end of the day imo. They've mentioned there is going to be some more "lifestyle" content in Dawntrail, which is nice in its own right! But I hope that it stands alongside something with a lot more depth to it, cause as it stands a large majority of my playtime in Endwalker has been catching up with legacy content I missed on my way through the leveling.

[blindmagdalena]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the underwhelming reveal of homelander’s surrogate mother. I just kind of assume that she was a human.

But I’ve been wondering how that reunion would go had she not died. Homelander wanted to make a father-son connection with soldier boy because soldier boy was his hero growing up and he was powerful. A plain human woman cannot exactly measure up to that.

Ryan also has powers and Homelander can see himself in Ryan which is something he can’t really do with an older human woman.

Do you have any thoughts on if homelander would seek out his mom if Barbra had mentioned she was still alive? Homelander does have a strong sense of blood related family but I do think his mom would have to prove herself to him somehow.

i’m not entirely sure i buy the story about Homelander’s mother/surrogate. it’s so close to the lie that Vogelbaum told Homelander about Ryan, so it’s either also a cover story, or Vogelbaum tried to lie with the truth by attempting to pass off Homelander’s birth story as Ryan’s. to me it just felt like another manipulation tactic to throw him off the trail and make him feel even more alone, though. he’s easy to manipulate when he’s lonely.

either way, it wouldn’t matter to Homelander if his mother was exceptional or not. like Madelyn, his mother’s role is much less about what she is and what she’s capable of, and more about who she is and how she can make him feel. he would want her to validate him, see HIM as exceptional, and make HIM feel special. it doesn’t matter that she’s technically beneath him because he craves her approval and her love. he sought Vogelbaum’s approval just as much as Soldier Boy’s. it’s so much more about who they are in relation to him, and what roles he believes they should play in his own self image.

while he does regard supes as higher beings than humans, they’re all ultimately still below him. he’ll crush a supe without mercy just as swiftly as he will a human. the whole “supe supremacy” schtick doesn’t actually come from a place of respecting supes. it comes from a place of continuing to elevate himself above all others, and rejecting humanity for how it has hurt him. hurting them back.

she would be better than other humans based solely on her connection to him. she birthed a miracle and survived: that alone makes her worth more than comp v alone. she’s inherently elevated by her proximity to him. of course he would have lots of questions for her: did she know about him? does she care about him? why didn’t she seek him out? and those questions would matter.

imo the only thing she’d have to prove is that she—unlike so many before her—can actually love him.

[melrosing]

hotd thoughts. I don’t remember what number episode this was

again with the heavy handed boring ass ‘they will not listen bc i am a woman and i am sick of the ways of men’ shit like im actually about to fall asleep i am SO fucking bored

are we done w the freaky daemon visions?? i feel like that kind of petered out

rhaesaria yes but would’ve been more interesting if they weren’t both so fuckin dull this season. you can say at least that this plot makes them both more interesting and also canonised the queer rhaenicent reading imo

still mad about the prospect of nettles being erased just so they can conflate her story with rhaena’s. like how hard is it to give rhaena a story of her own

daeron mention!!! is he maybe criston’s and that’s why he was sent away?? I might’ve found that compelling once cos of the hypocrisy it implies on Alicent’s part but they have proven time and again this season that they are just too cowardly to really explore those complexities w their female characters so. sad!

Aemond is so boring this season also actually how the fuck did they manage that. like the change they made to Luke’s murder was a pretty interesting change and yet they’ve not done anything w it this season beyond one line???

smallfolk stuff is very underwhelming and like I said last week asoiaf does this side of the story SO much better

seasmoke stuff….. idk the hull bros don’t seem very interesting yet like their secret is so far the most engaging thing and once that’s revealed idk what the writers are gonna do w them

why is Jace literally just there to offer commentary I’m BORED

larys/aegon convo…. don’t feel any particular way about this really, I think Larys going ‘look we now share a common theme of disability’ is one of the more pedestrian approaches they could’ve taken there

yeah i think ‘bored’ is my prevailing mood this season I just feel like they’re writing w the brakes on and they’re not confident enough to really push the boat out with any of their more exciting ideas

[thealias0]

I might have came up with alternate resolutions for both The Giggle and Empire of Death in the shower

I think that those resolutions are both really underwhelming and deserved more. So, let's start what i came up with The Giggle.

Originally, The Toymaker was defeated by him just messing up. No clever play from anyone. 14 and 15 haven't displayed one of their biggest traits, which is their Time Lord super intelligence. They only displayed their ability to play catch, which is just such a waste imo. My proposal: Game of catch goes just like it did in the episode, but eventually 14 and 15 look at each other in understanding. They have cooked a plan. 14 catches the ball and throws it to 15, but he misses and ball falls off the edge of the rooftop. Both act shocked and 15 immediately sprints into the building. Toymaker looks at what just transpired and laughs and screams. "Go ahead, run if you wanna play hide and seek next. You will not escape me anyways." Turns to 14. "Are you proud? Your next incarnation revealed himself to be a coward! I expect many things from you, Doctor, but that sure surprised me. Now, you lost the game, so now's time for me to collect my reward." 14 smirks. "I wouldn't be so sure, as I believe... it is still falling" The moment he said that, the ball hurling from the entrance to the building hits The Toymaker and falls to the ground. In the way stands none other than 15 visibly exhausted from running and expression of relief on his face. Toymaker visibly angry, scared and confused asks: "Wh- What?! How did you... No... don't tell me-" "That's right, Toymaker" 15 expeled. "There are no rules forbidding the usage of time machines" 14 finished the thought. Then the flashback plays out showing the whole thing from 15's perspective. He runs as fast as he can straight to the TARDIS passing himself on the way, travels to the time and place where the ball is supposed to land, catches it, travels back and runs back to the rooftop passing himself on the way back. The rest transpires as it did in the original. I'm not claiming it's the best, great or even good alternate ending, but i think it would be more satisfying than what we got.

The resolution for Empire of Death is one of the most disappointing events I've ever seen in Doctor Who. It made Sutekth into a complete joke. Are you really telling me that the supposed most powerful being in existence. A god so powerful and terrifying that even The Toymaker ran in terror, wasn't able to handle a fucking rope? I don't care if it's a "smart rope" whatever that means. Toymaker was able to turn bullets into confetti, people into bunch of bouncy balls and implied he could turn galaxies into figet spinners or whatever. Sutekth is supposed to be more powerful than that and he couldn't do anything about it? Sutekth deserves much better than this. So this is what i came up with. It isn't nearly as detailed as the toymaker stuff, but i hope you'll enjoy the concept. So, i decided to actually use the spoon to save the universe in hopefully interesting way. I didn't think of any good scenario yet, but here's my idea for the concept itself. What if Doctor defeated Sutekh by using his power against him using the spoon. By that i mean that The Doctor could psychologically manipulate Sutekh into believing that the spoon through some classic Doctor Who technobabble, power of love and fairy tale salt spilling mumbo jumbo became an actual weapon capable of defeating him. Sutekh being a god and having power over reality itself could subconsciously make that story a reality and unknowingly empowering the spoon with his own power, which then Doctor could use to defeat him.

So that's what i came up. I am not a writer, so i apologize if that's an unbearable slop of a read. I'm not claiming that the dialogue i wrote is any good, as im just not experienced in writing. All i did here was not very thought through and only served the purpose of conveying my core ideas about the alternate resolutions for those stories. Hope you enjoyed and have a nice day

[will80sbyers]

Love is important in Will's storyline because the Duffers decided it would be... They started with the script of season 2 where Will looks at Mike and El dancing, then in s3 they made him say this and fall completely for Mike, he's jealous and heartbroken that Mike and El are together and he realized he couldn't deny his feelings for Mike anymore

THEN in season 4 his whole freaking storyline is about how he's in love with Mike

so deeply that he wants his happiness before his own happiness

so he uses his feelings to help Mike and El "fix"( AKA PUT A PRECARIOUS BAND-AID ON!!!!!) their problems.... And that brings Mike to this thing here that he was scared to say for two seasons (imo also probably because deep down,even if not consciously, he knows El is not his "destiny", Will is.)

and Will to be heartbroken and resigned to never have Mike

It's the ripping of his band-aid but at the same time Mike doesn't know he felt secure enough to say the ily only because of Will and not El and that is a big lie that will be discovered and Mike also doesn't know Will is gay...

So what's the point in keeping this up next season if not to do a "Will they, won't they"situation and keep the love triangle going? (Aka queerbaiting if it doesn't end up in byler)

Will coming out to Mike and Mike only saying "oh yeah sorry bro I love El but you're my bestie so I accept you" would be underwhelming af as a story, it could happen but it would be shitty towards Will's character for what they made him go through all these seasons to not give him a big fucking win in the finale and get him THE boy he loves with such intensity and care...

Even if him coming out alone would be important for how they wrote his story it would not be enough of a pay off for a finale, they wrote the storyline of the painting making him make that stunning speech because we had to root for them to end up together and see how Will is a better fit for Mike than El ever was...

And also El and Mike's story is stagnant and repetitive and having another season like that would be just boring, they did everything they could to ruin their relationship this season and make them look mismatched and like they don't really get each other and this was intentional, it doesn't happen randomly!!!

Mike is going to find his own match in Will, he's going to be loved exactly how he wished to be loved all his life and it will be an happy ending for the 3 of them!!!

El's priority was always family since season 1 and she has her family now, "There's MORE to life than stupid boys." is something they decided to include right after the love monologue in Eleven's story because she's not focusing on romantic love now, she doesn't love Mike like Will loves Mike it simply has not been presented to be that intense

Will is going to be completely loved and accepted for who he is and Mike will have the same with their relationship and they can make a great story writing this in, they can make history and as writers they KNOW it's the best option for a happy ending because they are the ones setting it up and writing themselves in a corner

[dweamofsweep]

I’m gonna try to withhold judgment of the show’s contents until we actually get to see it, but man, the visuals have a lot going against them. Especially because the last full-blown remake was 2003 which was (IMO…and I think I’m right lol) the best looking AB adaptation thus far, and made right at the very end of traditional-media-based anime (with those showstopping backgrounds and painted animation cels… beautiful lighting and color choices and the look of being shot on film UGH). It has major league competition and I’m guessing it doesn’t have the budget necessary to match the scale and grandeur in looks alone.

It’s not even that the new stuff is atrocious, I’ve seen much worse trust me. It’s just kind of underwhelming, also considering that 3D animation has been making some very cool stylistical advances (like Spiderverse ofc but also Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Nimona, etc.) The images presented thus far seem to be avoiding visual innovation, and that bothers me more than the random lines everywhere on him or the somewhat uncanny eyes.

In terms of story, I was thinking a bit more about it, and I think there could be potential here in the “keeping the fact that he’s a robot secret” sort of thing. I think that moves the allegorical element of being a robot from an identity that you can’t hide, usually race / something visual, to one that you can conceal, like being closeted gay or trans for example. But of course in real life, hiding your authentic self or feeling like it’s unacceptable to others has a lot of psychological consequences. So I think if they at least touch on that aspect that would bring up some interesting points and issues!

It does bother me that the synopsis suggests that Astro is the only robot with feelings / is special in that regard. I think part of the original intent of the story is that all the robots have a soul of some kind, have feelings and thoughts, but because humans have convinced themselves that robots are just machines designed to serve them, they disregard this. Humans play god with tragic consequences for the robots (especially in stories like Greatest/Strongest Robot on Earth). Astro happens to be the best equipped to //appeal// to humanity because the way he looks, and expresses himself, are both very close to being human, but he also still understands and empathizes with the experiences of robots. His origins are very much that of a robot: created with a particular, finite purpose in mind, and when he failed to fulfill it, he was cast aside like a broken tool or machine. However, he was brought back to live like a human kid: go to school, make friends, come home to parents and a sibling(s). So he can form the bridge of understanding between both groups as he integrates into the human world while maintaining his connection to his own kind. The new synopsis makes it seem like all the robots really are just machines without true personalities or consciousness, which is rather uninteresting and kind of raises the question as to why Astro would even care whether humans will accept or treat them well? However, we have to see how this is actually carried out in the real episodes, they may be keeping it vague or misleading on purpose.

So yeah, I think that’s my beef with what I’ve seen so far. Also I’m afraid of what the other characters are going to look like. Astro is usually the one who gets the LEAST messed up. And what exactly the reasoning is going to be for that secret identity thing — if they follow the original canon of him being a government project, that seems super unethical, lying to the public 😂 What do y’all think? I’m also curious about whether or not they will adapt specific stories from the manga, but we likely won’t find that out until much later.

[velvetvexations]

I think one of the main reasons I dislike Fantasy High Junior Year is because of the way it was marketed. Like, there's an entire video explaining how Kristen is gonna go through this major character arc and ditch some of her more wacky antics as she realizes that the chaos she creates isn't cute anymore... and then there's absolutely no payoff. Instead, Kristen is at her quirkiest and most chaotic and other than a few dressing downs from some NPCs that she completely ignores nothing happens.

Like, I've never had a problem with Kristen's disaster personality. I think they handled it just fine in the first two seasons so that she never became too annoying or unlikeable. But it's just dialed up to 11 in Season 3. To the point where its genuinely not funny. And if chaos isn't cute, that'd make sense. It'd be on purpose, so everything can come crumbling down Fabian style and she'd have to become a better person. But that doesn't happen. So you're left sitting through all this garbage with the promise of a payoff that doesn't exist, which just leaves you bitter at the end.

It's especially frustrating when a few characters try to lead her in that direction. Like, Riz is working his ass off to get Kristen the presidency, something she only really wants as an ego boost, with no real platform or plans she can think of. He's the one joining all the clubs. He's the one making all the plans. Hell, he's the one making sure they're all doing well in their classes. And it gets to the point where his mom flat out tells Kristen that Riz would make a better president than her.

In any other story, that would immediately que the audience in to how Kristen's arc is gonna get resolved. With her abandoning the presidency and giving it to Riz, apologizing for making him do so much work for her and rewarding him for his effort. This followed up by deciding to be better for Cassandra, another person she mistreated and took for granted.

But she doesn't. Instead, she just makes Riz her vice president at the end and pushes all the work onto him AGAIN, to the point where it undoes the only character development he got all season (him shifting back to coffee from tea the moment Kristen makes him VP). And it certainly doesn't help that its the middle class white girl making her poor minority friend do everything for her.

Like, why market it as Kristen getting serious when that doesn't happen? Why act like she has some arc when she doesn't? It only makes the audience bitter when they went in expecting serious consequences and got nothing.

The marketing was very weird. Not only was there the false advertising with Baron's second form, which really hurts me to say as someone who sees Dropout as a bastion of ethics-based capitalism, but something just didn't sit right with me about the hype blimey got when it happened. Like, yes, it was funny, but like...ultimately I was like, alright? It wasn't anything actually important? It was specifically something Brennan was once again pushing really hard for them to succeed at because it was something they had to pass to continue to the next leg of the story?

Back when the Second Place episode of Game Changer came out, I saw someone complain about Dropout going back to the Brennan monologue well. I was like, hey, I love that shit, if you don't like the premise of a show don't watch it, right?

But here the commercialization of the cast's quirks and specific styles might have, I think, crossed a line, because of just how underwhelming blimey was compared to how it was built up. Like, Ally's quirky insane rolls drive Brennan crazy, haha, okay. The Brennan monologue well is, IMO, far from dry, but D20's hysterical theatrics in situations like that is getting stale, or at least that's how it felt this season.

[seriouslysam8]

Sam, as a resident expert on all things Sirius Black, do you think JKR killed him off as early as she did because she couldn't figure out how to handle a character that complex and how to build the plot for Book 6 (which imo, would've been a much better point to kill him off) in the way where Sirius' participation wouldn't simply steam roll the horcrux hunt?

Like, as painful as his arc was in OotP, he serves as a fantastic plot device to show the depth of corruption of the Ministry, the prejudices in WW (on both sides of the conflict, gosh, as much as I hate Manipulative!Dumbledore trope, he really earns his morally grey card in that book, like did this man with an isolated sister not know what isolation does to a person?).

I understand why in the context of the "child hero" story that HP is the wise mentors (Dumbledore) and parental figures (Sirius) have to die. But why did she have to kill him that early and in such an underwhelming way, why? And given that the books are from Harry's POV how the fuck did Sirius' death not leave a Mariana trench-deep gaping hole haunting the narrative for the rest of the series (dunno if you read ASOIAF, but good example of that would be Ned Stark's death haunting everyone, including Theon)? Like, wtf, JKR tried her best to whitewash Snape in DH, she redeemed him in Harry's eyes via Albus Severus' name and that speech in the epilogue, but Sirius dies and it's all nice and forgotten throughout the 1/3 of HBP? Did she genuinely hate his character or what?

*rant over, why did I even start re-reading the series past the DoM battle

LMFAO! I would hardly call myself an expert. The way I write Sirius isn't even 100% canon given the fact that I adore the old school headcanons involving leather jackets and tattoos.

I've heard people say she killed Sirius off so early, because she hated Wolfstar. I don't think that true, but I could be wrong.

I've also heard people say she killed him off so early because he was based off an ex-boyfriend and she hated that he was so popular. I have no idea if this is even true or where this even started. But, if it is true, her loss because Sirius is the shit.

Then, I've heard the age old everyone needs to die so our hero can go at it alone bullshit. You know what I'd rather read? I dunno some orphan boy who had to go it alone his entire life and finally have someone who would go to the edge of the earth for him and have them go at it together. It would have been so much more interesting than the camping trip from hell storyline that was DH. Instead of Neville at Hogwarts running the DA with Ginny, it should have been Ron. Like the trusted best friend and sidekick becoming the main character in his own right.

But, anyway, I agree with you. Sirius' death should have been more impactful than it was. I mean, this was Harry's ONLY family and yet... he's fine not that long after it happened? I would think our boy would be FUCKED UP for a long time, especially after hearing the contents of the prophecy.

But I do wish he would have stayed around a bit longer. Instead of Hedwig dying saving Harry in DH, what if Sirius had? Like swooping into the line of fire just like Jily did? It would have been a more impactful and would have hurt your soul a lot more than being killed by fucking curtains.