#but there really is a fine line that needs to be considered imo

[jayparked]

oh!! and another thing i wanted to mention but forgot to add in my last ask ^^;; (you don’t have to post this, ofc it’s your choice! i’m just afraid it’s gonna cause an uproar)

i was going through your blog and your reply to one of the asks regarding riki smut was just 🤌🏻. “it’s not about your age, it’s about his”. THANK YOU. if 18 and you’re comfortable seeing/presenting yourself in that way, good for you. but don’t do it to someone else… (i’m ~5 months older than him and even then the thought of someone sexualizing me in that way right now gives me shivers. like, it doesn’t matter whether you’re older or younger, please don’t think about me that way!!!!)

the amount of times i’ve had to block blogs that post niki smut (and usually it’s while i’m scrolling to find enha fluff too SMH) and i’m still not safe… (or like those moan videos of him?? i thought it was a prank at first…)

from now on, this is going to be my response. thank you for your wisdom, all mighty snail lolol

i love being outspoken on this topic because it helps weed out the weirdos from my blog so here are my thoughts expanding on yours and my previous ones!

someone who is 18 can write/read smut. that's not an issue because they are legal and they can make that decision for themselves to consume that content. they are actively deciding to consent every time they proceed with those warnings

riki is someone we don't know. he's a real person out in this world. he's not here to consent to this stuff (and i know the other members aren't either but for this sake lets just talk about riki) that's why for me i dont want to read/write nsfw content about teenagers. let them have their childhood

is it wrong for someone who's 18/19 to write/read nsfw content about riki? no. but that's not the point. i've stated that i'm not comfortable with it and the majority of my followers have agreed with me/supported me with that stance and i'm really thankful for that! it's always made me uncomfortable when people wait for an idol to turn legal to start writing smut about them. even when i was 18 in the fanfic community i found it weird and had preferences to read smut about idols who were already in their 20s.

at the end of the day it really is about him and not us. "well, they're legal so..." is such a gross mindset for someone to have. literally just imagine yourself in his position, it wouldn't be a good feeling. at least wait like damn 😭

i've had moments of inner conflict where sometimes i'll feel really guilty for writing smut about celebrities but then i remember that i just use them as face claims really. all my stories are just characters and i take basic parts of their personality to enhance my characters. i have no clue how they are in real life and i would never project my written characters onto their real person. and i think that's what separates me from quite a few people 😬

[seraphdesire]

Regarding Donna Beneviento and her characterisation in the fandom, I think it's important to note that she really isn't the shy awkward adorable blushing mess that everyone depicts her as being.

This got long but I did a mildly extensive read on her character under the break! :)

Here are the notes I took a screencap of, written by Mother Miranda, which talks about the suitability of Donna being a vessel for Eva:

There's the evidence you need that she is severely mentally ill, so babying her just feels... wrong anyway, all things considered.

Note - "and has divided her Cadou among her dolls in order to control them from a distance." While I'm on my 3rd replay of re8 I still don't fully get how the Cadou works, but what I think is essentially happening is Donna is literally splitting off parts of herself and putting them in her dolls.

The main one being Angie, of course.

I always used to consider Angie a separate character entirely but she's linked deeply to Donna on a very personal level. Considering what she's like and what all the other dolls are like - loud, funny, sarcastic, rude, etc - and how Donna is literally the one directly controlling Angie (that's the only way she moves lol, because Donna is carrying her places. Which is also why, when you kill Angie, the illusion melts away to reveal that you've actually killed Donna), I think it's safe to say that's what her actual personality is like.

Also, her only spoken line of dialogue? Please listen to it. For those who are hard of hearing, like me, she says: "don't leave... I can't let you."

Bearing in mind the way she speaks? Her tone? She sounds confident imo. Determined. And perhaps even a little angry at Ethan for thinking he can escape her.

Just a last addition as well, can I say that her abilities as one of the Four Lourds is genuinely evil? Everyone else has physical intimidation - Alcina has her height and her claws and mutation, Heisenberg has his ability to control magnetic fields and metal, and Moreau can mutate into that huge fish-with-legs thing that vomits something akin to acid? Oh yeah and he can swallow you whole too.

Donna, on the other hand, doesn't have physical intimidation like that. She only has the threat of psychological damage (which makes sense considering she's severely mentally unwell). When Ethan goes through her gardens and has to solve the puzzles in the house, she makes him hallucinate about his wife whom he thinks is dead, and about his baby who is somewhere in this unknown country with a bunch of mutants who only have bad intentions.

It's even worse in the Shadows of Rose DLC imo. As Rose, Donna makes her hallucinate the bullies from back home, being called a freak and a weirdo, made to relive the worst moments of her life. And the puzzles too? Hell. Having to actually recreate the scenes of her bullying with wooden fucking dolls. I remember feeling really sorry for Rose while playing through that part.

And yet Donna is still "the uwu baby" because what? I don't know. People love to declaw female villains just because they're attractive (looking at Lady Dimitrescu here). They love to reduce the characters down to their looks and not consider their actual lore or background or the role they play in the franchise (looking at Leon especially...)

Which, ya know, of course people are allowed their headcanons for characters and Donna doesn't get enough screentime to really have her personality even thought of, let alone to be made canon. But I think it's fair to say that Angie and Donna are basically one and the same because they're literally the same Cadou.

This is a quick reminder that you are, of course, allowed to disagree with me. Everyone has their own opinions and that's fine. If you would like to politely debate about this in my comments or in my DMs, or even in my asks, then you're more than welcome to! Please remember debating and arguing are two different things though.

If it really irks you that bad then please scroll, it's not hard. If you don't want to do that then feel free to block me - the button is free of charge after all and should be used more to cultivate your feed to your liking.

[rom-e-o]

Manfred asking where babies come from.😅

Hey, he's a curious boy! You know he asks it with point-blank delivery, and 99% of the time, Emmrich is more than capable of providing a perfectly accurate and anatomically correct answer. He'll provide diagrams, all without so much as a blush. In his mind, there's nothing embarrassing about anatomy or procreation, and sexual behaviors are perfectly normal. Plus, I mean ... it's not like it's knowledge he has use for. It's not like he's a horrible boy

I can see the conversation starting in so many ways. Some humorous. Some somber. Some embarrassing, haha.

For example, if the team is passing through a town and Manfred sees a woman nursing her baby, he might point like:

"Tiny! Human?"

And Emmrich, after apologizing to the woman for Manfred pointing at her, gently corrects him, "That is an infant, Manfred. A newly born human! A baby."

"Baby? Baby! Cuuuute!"

"Ha! Very much so. Hmmm, that's right. I suppose you've never seen one before. No wonder you're curious! It's perfectly lovely to pay compliments to others, but please remember your manners and take care to not point next time, okay?"

"Okaaay!"

After all, Emmrich and Manfred mostly keep to the catacombs of the Necropolis, and there aren't many births there, haha. There are wonderfully staffed and clean medical wards, cozy homes, and other places for that.

Another possibility, albeit a macabre one, is that Manfred sees a baby for the first time when Emmrich is tending to the last rites of a group of victims after a terrible accident. Sad, but not impossible, considering Emmrich's line of work.

Now, the favorite option, imo? If Manfred asks at a completely inappropriate time.

Imagine Rook and Emmrich announcing to everyone that they're having a baby. I see them (him especially) favoring a more intimate approach, where they tell everyone the news individually.

When they tell Manfred, he just sits there for a moment before saying, "Baby?"

"Yes," Rook says, patting her belly. She's a few months along, but Manfred wouldn't have known what that meant. He just saw her tummy changing shape, nothing more.

"In a couple months, you'll have a new sibling! Isn't that exciting?"

Manfred leans forward, staring at Rook's stomach from a very close distance. Then, very gently, he pokes her. She laughs, and Emmrich encourages gentleness. "Carefully, my boy. Very gentle."

"Baby ... whereee?" he asks Another poke. "NO baby!"

"Well, it hasn't grown yet!" Rook says. "Well, not all the way, anyway."

"Growww?"

The realization hits both of them as Rook gives Emmrich an amused smirk. "Ah. You haven't had 'the talk' yet, dearest? That's surprising."

"Well, um ... why would he need to know?" Emmrich offers meagerly and with a little blush.

"Emmrich! Your own boy, walking around without basic anatomical knowledge? I'm positively shocked."

"He's a skeleton! He's never asked, and I'll confess, I had no reason to really think about it. At least not before meeting you."

"Aww, how sweet."

Meanwhile, Manfred is not satisfied. "Where? Howww?"

Rook lets out a delighted guffaw and Emmrich sighs, his cheeks now undeniably pink. He mumbles softly against his hand, "Oh, dear."

You see, explaining sex and procreation is all fine and dandy when they're concepts between to hypothetical people. But, explaining it to Manfred when Rook is pregnant involves a little self-admission. Something pretty much any parent could feel awkward about, I'd imagine, haha. It's already a big topic (so big that there are some adults that are even ignorant to how it all works, sadly) AND you add the caveat of Manfred knowing his parents did that deed. And Manfred isn't known for being timid or keeping secrets well, haha.

I imagine that's a LONG night of answering questions (lots of repetition) but ends with Manfred laying his head over Rook's belly and hugging her softly.

"New sibling! Yay!"

[skepticalarrie]

That anon that talked about Louis wanting to create his own identity away from Larry. I agree and just wanted to share my interpretation of something and see what you and others think?

I know most people think there was some weirdness or off-ness during the end of 2022 and 2023 in regards to Larry. At least that's the period people usually point to when discussing a break-up or lack of signalling or whatever.

Up until Louis' first album release and then first tour, all Louis had to hold on to was the support from mostly Larries. During the years between 1d ending and his first tour, I think Louis was still operating on SBB mode a lot because that's all he really knew - all the signalling, clues, hints, etc. That was the fanbase he was accustomed to.

So his tour starts and it's very Larry. It's in a lot of his outfit choices (one that comes to mind is him wearing the red trackies with the embroidered butterfly ONLY ONCE amongst all the black jeans and the day was either harry's bday or valentine's day I forget now), it's in the screaming of the Princess Park line, it's in the Larry posters and Larry dolls that people brought, the rainbow lights and pride flags to an extent.

I think once it really set in for Louis that he could have a successful music and touring career and this wasn't just going to be a once off, he decided he wanted/needed to make some changes. He didn't want his whole identity to come down to Larry. I can imagine the support being nice but equally if not more frustrating. And I think that's when he started pulling away and creating boundaries and shifting the vibe of things. Because the vibe of fitf tour was quite different to walls tour. And some of that can be attributed to different fans coming in but it's also people taking their cues from Louis.

Anyway I don't love the way he's gone about some things and it hurts like a bitch to know that he had some of the most loyal and hard core fans that saw through a lot of the bullshit and were there for arguably "the real louis tomlinson" (or at least more real than the public narrative version) and he essentially saw us and was like "Yeah...thanks, but no thanks. Don't need you guys anymore."

On a side note, I'll never understand how it can be fulfilling for an artist like Louis and Harry to have all these fans that are fans of essentially a made-up version of them. Like if I was up on a stage and I had all these fans that cared a great deal about me but they cared about the person that is straight, and a womaniser, and a father, etc. That would feel a little empty but I'm not them so.

If you read all this, bless you.

I see where you’re coming from, anon, and I understand your points. But honestly, I feel like this discussion is missing the point. IMO, it’s not really about IF Louis is trying to distance himself from Larries, or even WHY he might be doing that. It feels broader than that.. it’s about how it’s being done for me.

In my opinion, it boils down to the fact that I fully believe both Harry and Louis likely want to keep their relationship more private. And I think that has been there since the band ended. If we look back, Harry has been criticized A LOT by larries for years because Louis seemed more “engaged” in the scavenger hunt of larry clues for a while now. Since Louis released Walls he’s taken on more of that role in the dynamic, while Harry built an entirely new fanbase away from that.

And here’s the thing: it’s perfectly fine for them to want to rebrand, attract new fans, or disassociate themselves from certain parts of their image. I don’t see it as a bad thing, it makes sense, especially if they want to keep some things private and you know.. considering all the mess with their closeting during the band. The issue, for me, is how it’s being done. The way this shift is happening feels like gaslighting, and that’s where my frustration lies.

Let’s face it, Harry went through similar criticisms when he made his changes, and Larries tore him apart at the time too. But maybe it didn’t sting as much back then because Louis was still “feeding” us little clues. Or maybe it’s because babygate is harder to swallow. Perhaps it’s the difference in their approaches.. Harry has remained silent on Larries entirely, while Louis has made shady comments and leaned heavily on Larries for support for much longer.

So regardless of the reasons, the way things are unfolding feels like a slap in the face, especially given how much they’ve both benefited from Larry speculation over the years. For Louis, it’s particularly upsetting because of babygate and it really creates this massive cognitive dissonance that’s hard to swallow. I’m definitely curious about their new eras when the time comes, especially Louis’.

[dawnbreakersgaze]

NOPE

NO

NO THANK YOU

I don't like the way those are lining up AT ALL.

"Broken free of the shackles of natural law"

We've heard/seen Zayne be referenced as "shackled" at least 3 times before at this point. By Raymond, by the 'Narrator' ("remains shackled to time"), and in reference to the Foreseer myth. This makes the 4th. I genuinely hurt every single time the story so heavy handidly reminds me that Zayne really is a dog on a chain. The Foreseer robes even have a LITERAL collar of thorns over the neck of it ffs. It's painful to watch at this point and it breaks my heart.

"Why persuade Zayne? What he really needs is a pair of hands. Ones that can carry out God's mission and allow for God's descent."

Between this, and the one below of-

"At least he has another option. His last one"

I'm torn on which one is referencing Astra. On one hand, Astra really could be a modern made "God". An elevated man of great power, someone Zayne turned to in his 11th hour to try and save MC (though we all know how that turned out, unfortunately). It would seem that Xander Sciences is playing at God, and if we know anything about the sci-fi scene, it's that human experimentation ALWAYS ends up going ~soooo well~ and nothing ever goes wrong there 👀

On the other hand, the "last option" really gets my gut feeling going. My theorist brain is telling me Zayne is gonna go full Warlock pact and make a deal with an entity in exchange for MC's life. Only it's gonna go tits up and be a Fey pact, and because we all know how MC and he end up, clearly Zayne did NOT read the fine print (or more likely, Zayne thought he could out maneuver the rules). Ever since I read the Mt Eternal anecdote and realized the Tower and Mt Eternal are in the same location, I could not shake the feeling that Zayne already has made contact with whatever "Astra" is. Be it a very powerful person, an actual God, or someone else entirely different (like another time traveler, such as Xavier and the backtrackers). We know he's traveling back there multiple times by himself, conducting research of an unknown variety, that only he and Dr. Noah are privy to. I'm just saying if ever there was a cover up for having contact with a supernatural being/aliens/a God, that's a really fucking good one.

Whatever it is, this new lore drop has really really spelled out in big bold letters, that Zayne is thought of as a tool by a LOT of people. Xander Sciences, Astra, even the Dean of the medical academy had a moment there. My poor man even thinks of himself as a tool, one that is meant to save MC (from himself he even says at one point 😭😭😭 like oh my God Zayne stoppppp). He literally considers himself expendable so long as he saves her. Once he's done his job and secured her future, even if that means passing on the ability to save her to someone else, he's fine laying down his life for that.

And that's seriously the saddest part of this whole fucking game imo.

[gffa]

Honestly, I felt touched by your answer to the other anon. It must be very tiresome to deal with shit like that for so long.

People are rage baiting, throwing ready-made arguments abt everything. From serious topics like politics to fans enjoying a movie. Respectful discussion doesn't exist.

I've seen an answer inside a thread that I think apllies: if someone says rude things online to a damn stranger, said stranger has no obligation of being polite back or to try to understand. People need to rethink how they interact online. And, in some cases, there's no solution, jerks will be jerks.

Sorry you have to deal with that. Be good out there.

Hi! Thank you for the very sweet message, I appreciate it. And goddddd I have so many things to say about the state of respectful discussion (and the lack of it) in Star Wars fandom, because I don't think I've met a fandom where it's so complicated to even just understand the boundaries of a given discussion. Like, okay, let's say I'm going to have a conversation with someone who is Jedi-critical and we want it to be a respectful discussion--what does that look like? Because I've had discussions that I thought were very civil and fruitful, but then later almost every time I would see the person comment something like "Jedi fans are so blind they can't admit the truth." on someone else's post, often about a subject that we'd discussed. So, what initially felt like a respectful discussion then becomes completely soured and another source of contention in the fandom imo. And then there's the consideration of, what constitutes respectful discussion to both parties--if I completely disagree with everything you say and state my views with confidence (frex "Attachment is not the same thing as love, because the Jedi are primarily influenced by Buddhists on this aspect and both word of god commentary and the canon source material itself are extremely consistent on this."), does the other person consider that disrespectful to them if they disagree? I don't consider it inherently disrespectful, so long as we're talking about the content of the canon and not about other real people, because, babe, you can just not agree. I'm not doing anything to stop you. But I've found a lot of people think I'm trying to force them to agree with me when, no, I'm just stating things on my own blog as things I view as facts. People are free to disagree with me, just as I disagree with them, but a lot of people often seem to think differently as far as I can tell. I've seen so many discussions where people are like, "Finally! A respectful discussion in Star Wars!" and it's like. 90% of them just agreeing with each other. Like, yeah, it's easy to have a "respectful discussion" when you largely overlap opinions. But would they be that considerate if the person didn't largely agree with them? Would they still consider it respectful if the other person maintained their disagreement? And then there's the thorny, "What do we even consider 'canon'?" because, for me, I'm not really that into the Legends continuity for example. It's a very cool continuity, there's so much there that I love, but my heart is with Lucas' continuity. Some people really don't accept anything from the Disney continuity. All of that is fine, but to have a discussion, you have to figure out if you're using supplementary material and where each of you is coming from. And if you mix-and-match, that's another thing you have to address, because not everyone does.

And this is all over some fictional made up stories! Politics is easy to see why it gets so contentious--real people's lives are really on the line, anyone who can calmly discuss life and death situations for a lot of people like they don't matter is someone I'm going to have a hard time understanding. But over Star Wars? Having to overcome all of the above and pour a ton of energy into being compassionate when you've been burned so many times, all because of a fictional space story?? A lot of times it just doesn't seem worth it when there are better uses for our time and it's not like anyone's life is on the line here. (Like writing up a reference guide or silly Jedi Temple Life headcanons! So much more productive feeling!) So when someone comes into my inbox with bad faith commentary, I can only set down my boundaries and refuse to dance with them on the subject they're trying to needle me with. If they want a real discussion, they can pull up their big person's undies and approach me with good faith. Ultimately, I'm more interested in talking about how we treat each other and thinking that maybe that can provide some progress, rather than arguing about the same things we've done forever, because people are going to settle where they will, so many of us just aren't moving because we've done the homework, spent our time in the mines, and come to the conclusions we have after a lot of thought about it. Discussions where you're trying to move someone who doesn't want to be moved don't feel fruitful to me, I need a different purpose to engage and I'm doing my best to convey that that's where my boundary is, to people who come into my inbox. Genuinely good faith discussions are welcome, but you're going to have to pour a lot of compassion into it, because I'm going to be pouring a lot of compassion into a good faith discussion, too, otherwise I don't see it going anywhere. And people who try are going to get the same response they always get. I'll try to be gentle as I can about it, but seriously. Eight years of this. Extend me some grace, you guys, okay? 😂

[nico-esoterica]

How To Deal With 'Fans' If You Have a Celeb SP 👀

You're in control of your reality, first and foremost. Your person also only wants you. That's it.

But should shit get to you one day, here's some reminders approached from a business-like and detached perspective:

They are lining your sp's pockets. That BTS-fandom rich emotional currency that creates the memes, fanfiction, sold out shows, and economic demand in real time is just making your person richer. Think about how they're gonna spend all of that on you. Fan devotion is excellent soil to plant your dreams in.

Anyone who seems really obsessed, even if they're a spiritual girlie who thinks they have a connection w/ them will not have them in your reality. But you need to be firm on that. No one is going to successfully 'manifest away' your person unless you think it's possible. You need to start thinking of yourself as their only choice.

Said fans are in love with a projection of them. It's their industry image that's palatable and carefully tweaked to appeal to specific demographics. This also may sound harsh but most of those fans will not think they can successfully or functionally be with them. They believe in social limitations and work with limits you've decided you don't have. You will be in the 'unrealistic' 1%. They will not.

Super locked-in and obsessed fans will eventually get bored and stop wanting your sp or won't as intensely. The real world's going to get more demanding, lifestyles and obsessions change, and they will inevitably focus on something or someone else. Gen Z's attention span is notoriously short and non-committal. Someone that seems like a fandom vet can stop updating their socials at random because of work, school, etc.

Even stalkers, saesangs, etc, inevitably get bored or have real life obligations. Putting that much energy into being a criminal, weirdo, etc will take a toll on their mental health sooner or later. From a safety pov when manifesting, imo, I like to think of them from a human view so I can minimize/prevent any harm they can do in my reality. Even if you're unmedicated and running on fumes, your obsession w/ a celeb will negatively impact your health, funds, relationships, and is not sustainable long-term. Therefore, I don't consider any creeps in my sp's life to be effective enough to cause harm of any kind. It's good to think of your relationship as a fortress they can't penetrate. They don't have the energy or disposable income like the girls used to bc of the global economy lmao. Just keep some safety affirmations on deck and you're fine.

Like I've said, their negative assumptions work to your advantage. That's why I said before that most creep behavior won't be seen positively by your sp w/ them bc they're terrified they'd hate them. They're insecure, don't think they have a chance with them, that they're out of their league, and all of these limiting ideas that industries concoct for money. All of this is working for you. That's a home-grown defense.

But you need to pair that with reminding yourself of how in love with and infatuated your sp is with you and no one else. This is why, imo, so many wives married to famous men wind up with infidelity. Despite being chosen, they still thought there'd be someone waiting in the wild to snatch their men up..and it'd inevitably happen. They had incredibly limiting beliefs about their men and assumed that because, 1, they're men, and 2, limitless access to women as an option meant they'd automatically go for it. So you need to get your boss bitch game up and start reveling in how amazing your person is and how they'd choose you over a million ig models or groupies. You need to think of yourself as the magical exception at all fucking times. You are a unicorn. Act like it!

IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU ARE THE EXCEPTION, YOUR CELEB SP WON'T EITHER!

[yourqueenb]

As a continuation of this ask that I responded to, all the things I mentioned are just parts of the overall issue I have with Blades…. which is that, in the grand scheme of things, I feel like MC is simply a plot device for the other characters rather than a fully developed character who has a fully developed and satisfying arc herself. It’s clear that Nia’s is the story the writers really wanted to tell considering how intertwined her characterization/development and the overall world building are. They basically even admitted as much.

So my question is why not just make her the MC if that’s really what you wanted on the not so down low? They still could’ve incorporated the skill mechanic. Why create a whole player character just to have us running to solve everyone else’s problems/support them while acting like everything that happens to us exists inside of a vacuum in the meantime? So far, all we’ve really been doing in this book is reporting where the group needs to go, telling them what to do, having heart to hearts with them when they need help moving to the next stage of their development, and then being spoonfed information through the lore tablets, which are apparently more for the players’ benefit than MC’s since they barely affect how we respond in game anyway. I’m fine with being the leader or the glue that holds everyone together, but to me it’s unsatisfying that that’s all we are as the main character.

We somehow become more competent due to the skill mechanic but no less clueless at the same time. We have all this terrible shit happen to us, but are only offered a few lines’ description of how that’s affected us. And then the rest of the attention goes to setting up the light vs. shadow conflict and our friends, who get to have personal and compelling conflicts of their own. I mean I feel like MC is more of an emotional support animal to them than an actual person with dreams, feelings, and a (minimal) background. Imo the only character who’s getting shafted almost as much as us is Imtura.

And all of this might make it sound like I hate Blades, but it’s quite the contrary actually. It’s still one of my favorite series and has a lot of fun moments and lovable characters. But I think at this point, its flaws have become too large for me to ignore. So that’s still affecting my enjoyment a bit and probably the reason why I’m so upset with how certain things are being handled. Of course I’m aware that Blades isn’t the only book that has some of these issues though. I think it’s just a little more disappointing because I expected more

[synergysilhouette]

Another 10 Disney hot takes/probably unpopular opinions

Check out part 1 here.

Not a fan of Meg and Hercules as a couple. I ADORE them having an innocent male lead and a jaded female love interest, but Meg's situation with Hades makes it feel very toxic. The movie is kinda confusing on whether or not she can refuse Hades; one minute he uses incentive to get her to do what she wants (which is bad enough; her freedom for Hercules' death), and then when she tells him the deal's off, he reminds her that she has no say in the matter. Following this, she rejects his deal and he forces her into being exposed so Hercules will make a deal. She does sacrifice herself for him in the end, but it still feels very iffy for me, particularly since the backbone of her resisting him isn't even "I can't let this guy get killed" but instead "I don't wanna fall in love after getting my heart broken and having sold my soul" (which is EXTREMELY valid, but so is the other point). Had Meg been a normal human and made a deal with Hades to save Hercules or help him earlier on during his training, it'd be so much better.

2. Disney needs needs to stop making sequels just because of financial success and actually work to craft a narrative that requires a sequel or two. It's risky (considering the first film could have negative critical or commercial success, as well as take time and resources away from other films at the studio), but would have a better payoff, imo. I enjoyed "Frozen 2" despite it's flaws, but the fact that it felt independent of the first film did make it feel like we could've used an entirely different cast and made the same story.

3. I need more musicals with a male lead--The last one we had was "Tarzan"--or "Hercules," depending on your criteria. The revival era has had female leads for all their musicals, with a male playing as a co-lead or a deuteragonist. I know the girls are MUCH more valuable at Disney due to the Disney princess line and musicals with a male lead may be harder to market (well, not really; "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" were the highest-grossing animated films at one point, and their remakes grossed over $1 billion).

4. "Moana" needed a bigger (main) roster--Something I love is a nice-sized amount of main characters in a movie. "Moana" only had Moana and Maui for most of the movie, and thus it wasn't as enjoyable for me in that respect. "Moana 2" is introducing new characters, so I hope they can hold my interest.

5. Involve the Anderson-Lopez team in more musicals outside of the "Frozen" franchise--they almost got to do this with "Gigantic," but it fell through. Their music has been great, so I really hope to see them in more musicals for Disney outside of Disney's "Frozen."

6. NEVER return to hybrid animation for a feature film--It's too disorienting for me personally, and while the animation for "Wish" wasn't bad, it definitely didn't have the storybook vibe it was going for except with backgrounds. It would look fine if it was a video game, though.

7. "Gigantic" should've been Disney's anniversary film instead of "Wish"-- I already did a post on this, so I'll just leave it at that.

8. Raya is one of the best Disney leads in a while--Granted, her movie could've been much better and I wish the color of her clothes reflected her culture instead of going for neutral colors, but Raya is the blueprint for a great protagonist. It's been mentioned before how she's a feminist icon without having to really show it in ways others have in films, by being a confident warrior with no discussion of marriage or gender inequality brought up in the film. She's also deliciously sassy and quick on her feet. I may have preferred her OG concept of being stoic, but her swagger makes her one of the more engaging Disney leads, particularly as the adorkable trait started to show up. Speaking of...

9. Ariel and Mulan are the best adorkable leads for a Disney protagonist--While I don't have much issue with Anna and Mirabel and don't really find Rapunzel or Moana that adorkable, Ariel and Mulan were the blueprints for a funny female lead, and they felt less forced than later leads.

10. Aladdin is one of the worst Disney princes--DON'T KILL ME! He used to be my favorite Disney prince, until I watched a "therapists react" video to Disney couples and they brought up the fact that Aladdin had lied to Jasmine several times over the course of the movie. Him being insecure is a great character trait (a common one with Disney leads since the 90s, really), but it's poor writing to make his romance with Jasmine be based on a lie. I'd rather he just kept tight-lipped about his identity when Jasmine caught him the first time rather than covering up with another lie.

[sunshowersanddandelionwine]

as a former rower, i have to give my latest brainrot seat assignments or i will EXPLODE

coxswain: the only one facing the front of the boat, the cox is arguably the most important member of the team. As such, the two main coxs are farah and horangi, who switch out depending on the need. Farah is the default cox, because she’s extremely calm under pressure, has exceptional leadership skills, and knows exactly how to get what she wants from her boat. She has never looked anything but perfectly relaxed in the stern, face focused and intense. She doesn’t have to yell or scream, but she will if necessary. Horangi, on the other hand, doesn’t cox as often but when he does, he is at an 11 at all times. He makes jokes, taunts the other boats, jeers and snarks at his rowers, and generally does a Lot. It’s not always the best strategy, especially with the wrong person in the stroke seat. But when he works? He fucking WORKS.

eight: also known as the “stroke” seat, they set the pace for the rest of the boat. They have to be steady, sure, and solid. Which is why I think Ghost fits this seat best. He doesn’t let the rush from the bow get overwhelming, he can keep a high stroke-per-minute count without burning out, and he and Farah have a rock solid connection. He sometimes swaps with König (usually when Horangi is coxing because he doesn’t jive as much with his style) but most of the time? That man is in the front

seven: SOAP. SOAP SOAP SOAP. There’s no one else I could think of to be ghost’s seat pair. And not just because I’m a ghoap girlie at heart lmao. But a good seat pair is a balance that’s hard to come by. You have to pull at the exact same time with the exact same force and movements, and soap is incredibly perceptive to ghost’s every move, and always knows without having to see his face exactly what he’s thinking. He has some rush issues, because he gets WAAAAY to into things, but ghost’s immovable pace is the perfect counterbalance

six: the first of the “engine room” middle four, six seat is a powerhouse. They bring the speed and the momentum. And I think Gaz is the perfect six. He’s a leader of the middle, but he’s not quite experienced enough to be stroke. In a few years, he’d have it in the bag for SURE. But for now? He’s got a fire in his eyes and a need to prove himself. He also loves to snipe about the “eyesore” that he’s forced to look at for the entire race.

five: ALEX! Another member of the engine room, five isn’t as focused on technique or finesse. However, it’s the heart of the boat and the core of the team. And Alex has heart in spades. He and Gaz are an amazing duo, and honestly could be a powerhouse stroke pair someday. He’s the connection between the stern four and bow four, keeping everyone in seamless sync.

four: as the middle of the boat, not a lot of people consider four seat often. Which is perfectly fine with König. He doesn’t have to have the absolute perfect technique like the outer four, he doesn’t have to lead like stern pair, and he doesn’t have to think about anything but pulling as hard as he fucking can until they cross the finish line. However, he does sometimes get swapped with Ghost whenever Horangi gets to cox. And while he’s not a fan, he doesn’t seem to mind as much when he is forced up front.

three: three doesn’t get enough love imo. In my mind, it’s the jack of all trades seat. It’s part of the engine room, but far enough to the bow where technique matters a lot, and there’s really only one person I could see doing it well. Roach is the perfect three seat - inconspicuous and seemingly underwhelming but incredibly versatile and flexible. He can also sit in any seat, regardless of whether it’s a starboard or port-side oar (like me when I still rowed! :D) and used to be Ghost’s pair until soap joined the team. He’s not upset about it at all, because three fits him much better lol

two: the bow pair are the farthest from the coxswain, and the most vital for both rush control and technique. Rush comes from the bow and bleeds into the rest of the boat. Which makes alejandro an excellent two. He doesn’t have to be as strong as the middle four (though he is still very very strong, don’t get me wrong), but his form is almost unmatched.

one: there’s only one person who has a more perfect form than Alejandro, and that’s Rudy. He’s straight out of the dreams of coaches everywhere, and often gets recruited as an example for newbie rowers to learn how to sit and how to hold onto their oars. He’s the farthest from Farah, but he is so on point with what she wants from him it’s like there’s no distance at all

price and nikolai are a former pair who moved to coaching after winning a few Olympic medals. Price deals with technique and Nikolai deals with strategy (ie when to hold back and when to open the tank)

kate and her wife are the team managers and owners

Other honorable mentions:

hesh and logan have a pair. hesh is in the stern because hes Big Brother. keegan has a single scull.

(oc warning) cash, mickey, zora, and lia have a four that's coxed by lucas. hes their Baby Brother and they can and will kill for him. ross and larkin (their coaches) look the other way because they would also kill for him.

[29daffodils]

hard agree with the fact that some jokes should stay in private discords or very closed channels and not anywhere the artists or management could see it amplified.

it's simply about being respectful and even if he was a close friend of someone that's still a private joke.

people forget how conservative asian media and audiences can be and beyond the artist himself this type of new gen stanning could backfire into the artist having less contracts or exposure (which after having bdsm scenes on tv) can already be a risk. Those artists don't come from old money empires they can rely back on.

hellow nonnie!

haha, glad at least someone agrees. i've been on the verge of plucking my own hairs off in trying to make these people see how calling strangers "whore" is not it... but oh well. imo a lot of them are younger stans i think? or i could be wrong.

personally i'd say, as someone who uses a loooot of cuss words and derogatory terms regularly with my friends, it is fine as fuck as long as it stays between friends. when there is that kind of understanding, it's all cool.

i made a thread about this stating how the word whore and it's connotations reflect badly in most cases, especially when you consider this is being said about an asian BL actor. i dunno how management or stuff works tbh, but from a purely human point of view, all i wanna scream is, “DIDN'T YOUR PARENTS TEACH YOU MANNERS!!”

again, sorry about the long rant, but. imo this could spectacularly backfire for everyone involved, but if everyone's fine with it, that's really none of my business. whether first is fine with it or not is his business, but i just think as fans we need to draw a line at how closely we interact with our artists.

again, thanks for the ask nonnie. have a good day!

[sophfandoms53]

Finished the Knuckles Show and uhhhhhhhhhh it’s certainly a show.

There’s good stuff buried in every episode especially where Knuckles is concerned. They set up a very interesting arc for him and just didn’t really explore much with it. After the first episode Knuckles is shoved to the side CONSTANTLY and is made the B plot more often than he should be as the TITULAR character.

Every criticism that said Wade takes over the show is correct.

After episode 1, Wade takes over every A plot and Knuckles is only ever in the B plot that has either minimal time focused on him or he’s just straight up not around (episode 4 is the worst offender here but it’s an issue from eps2-6). They actively write Knuckles out of the plot constantly and it’s very frustrating.

If you like Wade and enjoy his personal journey about his family then this’ll be fine. I, for one, thought it was interesting on its own but 100% it has no reason to be here in a SONIC MOVIE KNUCKLES spin off show. This is not Knuckles’ show. It’s Wade’s and that’s the biggest let down.

Knuckles IS there but that’s it, he’s just THERE.

And it sucks because Movie!Knuckles himself is very well crafted and very entertaining and engaging to watch. The show is at its strongest when it’s about Knuckles and spending time with him. Episode 1 is the only episode that it feels like what it was advertised as - the Knuckles show.

Sonic, Tails, and Maddie only show up for the first episode and never come back. Which is wild because part of the plot is Maddie has grounded Knuckles and he sneaks out but there’s never any consequences shown once he gets home nor do we see how anyone reacted once they noticed Knuckles is gone. These three are just abandoned after episode 1.

Tails has like 6 or 7 lines, my boy deserves sm better LMAOO

A big highlight, however, I LOVED Sonic in this one episode. The way you can see and FEEL how he’s grown from movie to movie and in this first episode is very well done. He’s truly becoming the Sonic I know and when he and Knuckles had their conversation on the roof where he tries to help Knuckles see the beauty in Green Hills, his home - that entire scene was PURE Sonic’s golden heart on display. He does still have his jokes that remind you Ben Schwartz is his actor and that he’s a silly kid but he IS still Sonic at his core and I loved that. It made me very sad we didn’t get to see more of him but I appreciated seeing Sonic handled this way. It makes me very eager to see how movie 3 goes about him considering everything Shadow brings to the table and how different of a threat he’s gonna be for Sonic.

Episode 2 is alright but GOOD LORD episodes 3-5 are such a waste of time. There’s good sprinkled in them in isolation but as full blown episodes, a waste. You can skip most of what’s happened and be fine.

The big climax fight in the finale just HAPPENS. The plot armor literally comes bursting through the wall and yanks Knuckles out of the plot for way too long and we only get TRUE and INCREDIBLE Movie Knuckles action (his fire fists which were insane btw) in the last 5 minutes and it only lasted like 2 of those 5 minutes.

Overall, it’s not entirely unwatchable but it’s not worth a majority of people’s time. You don’t need this for movie 3 so if you wanna skip it - I’d recommend that. If you really watch though, I’d only say watch the first episode and the finale and just google the context for what’s in between bc eps 2-5 are total slogs after a while.

If you like silly dumb fun - this is the show for you. But it’s not the show many Sonic fans may have wanted or expected.

I’m not angry or anything like many people have been. It’s not worth getting angry over. I’m moreso just disappointed because I can see a good show about Knuckles hidden in there. They just opted to give more time into Wade for whatever reason.

Just an overall let down imo.

Knuckles deserved better❤️

[mychlapci]

Episode Two - Darkness Rising, Part 2

Okay so Starscream establishes that the Decepticons have access to multiple energon mines, with the one shown at the beginning of the episode holding the most energon. He also calls one of the vehicons, drone, which implies that they’re not sentient beings. This would make sense since they’re canon fodder and mostly serve to flesh out the actual army that the Decepticons have since making a ton of unique character models would be expensive as fuck. 

However, we see in later episodes that the vehicons can speak, a feature I find odd if they’re just meant to be mindless drones following order. This brings up a whole bunch of horrifying implications since the Autobots regularly rip vehicons to pieces in battle. 

I’m gonna be 100% honest, I hate the dark energon plotline. Not only because it completely undermines Megatron as a leader and makes him look like a fucking idiot for just shoving it directly into his spark chamber, but also just because TFP is going to have soooo many plotlines down the road and out of all of them, dark energon will just continue to stick out like a sore thumb. 

I do appreciate that Ratchet is just a hater. Like he just wants to leave and 100% respect him. So far he’s the only character to have actually funny lines. 

God I forgot how ugly Fowler’s model is. Like the other humans look okay, but they did him dirty. 

“BULKHEAD I NEEDED THAT!” 

Optimus for the love of god put your mask back on. Please man you actually look hot that way.

“Pretty big bearings, for a human.” What did he mean by this? Bulkhead what did you mean by that?

Starscream will continue to be the only right person in this show. Like it will literally be Megatron’s fault that they loose their biggest energon mine because he decided to reactivate Cliffjumper’s corpse in the middle of it. And then, when things start going south, he’ll just order Starscream to blow up the entirety of the mine instead of trying to save it. Like TFP Megatron is a terrible fucking leader and from what we’re told, Starscream was actually doing a pretty damn good job of collecting energon considering in the three years that Megatron was gone, no one even once noticed the cons and their mining operations. 

Basically TFP Megatron is a terrible leader and IMO the show would’ve been 10000% more interesting if they actually let Starscream be a competent individual instead of just turning him into Megatron’s chew toy. 

Grrrr. Listen Miko, girl, I think you’re fine and all but good lord read the goddamn room. Every single one of the robots are talking about their friend, who has been presumed dead and you’re asking about the fight? I don’t think I would actually mind this behaviour if Miko actually had other things going on with her character. Like we hear about her host family a lot but not once do we actually see them. Perhaps her extreme thrill seeking behaviour is a result of being shipped off to nowhere Nevada by her family back home, or maybe her host family ignores her and she resorts to getting into danger as a method of acting out. 

Still sticking with my opinion that TFP Optimus is built like an uppercase T. He’s gonna fucking fall over he’s so top heavy. 

God the size shifting in this show is insane. Like Arcee is like 3x the size of her actual altmode. 

I really wish Jack wouldn’t compare his fucking girl problems to Arcee’s partner literally dying. Those two things are not even remotely comparable in terms of emotional damage. Also it just makes him sound really fucking childish and petty that she has the audacity to be angry and annoyed about being forced to babysit some human teenager. Maybe they could’ve had Jack say “I know what’s it’s like to loose someone too Arcee…” Instead of just making him complain about girl trouble. That also would set up a potential plotline involving his absent father. Maybe he died?

It’s really funny that June didn’t see Arcee in the garage despite the fact that she’s literally in the driveway when Arcee reacts to her pulling up. Like there is zero way that she didn’t see the massive robot sitting in her garage. 

WHY DO THEY KEEP SETTING UP WEIRD ROMANTIC NOTES WITH JACK AND ARCEE?! HE’S SIXTEEN FOR FUCKS SAKE. 

ONCE AGAIN COMPLETELY UNDERMINING MEGATRON AS A EVEN REMOTELY COMPETENT LEADER BY MAKING HIM SHOVE AN UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE INTO HIS SPARK CHAMBER!!!! 

Other Notes

They should’ve put Megatron down. 

Episode Three - Darkness Rising, Part 3

Okay the little gesture Miko does when she pats Bulkhead’s interior and then puts her hands in her lap is so fucking cute. Bulkhead and Miko dynamic my beloved <3

At this point you could replace Soundwave with a piece of cardboard and literally nothing would change. Like… he just stands there, repeating other people’s voice lines. What even is the point of him? 

5:22’s Transforming scene between Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead really demonstrates how big the bots are and how fucking ridiculous their altmodes really are.

Ratchet should be allowed to kill I think. 

Okay Optimus says ‘Late in the war’ when referring to the energon deposites on Earth but like… it had to have happened before humans became a fully fledge civilization creating species, because Ratchet seems confused about Earth being a potential battlefield. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE TIMELINE MAN?????

I will never forgive what they did to Laserbeak. Like what the fuck is that ugly ass thing? Also adds to the continued problem in TF media where the cassettes don’t get to be actual characters and are instead just tools to be used by Soundwave. At the very least if they actually gave Soundwave a proper personality we might’ve been able to glean information about Laserbeak. Or hey maybe an inverse where Laserbeak acts as Soundwave’s voice, speaking for him in front of other characters. That would’ve given both of them an interesting dynamic. 

OH AND THE FACT THAT LASERBEAK IS ALSO AROUND THE SIZE OF A GODDAMN HELICOPTER???? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK???? That cannot possibly be right. And Laserbeak has tentacles… yeah okay fucking whatever I guess. 

Gah I don’t like the Agent Fowler kidnapping plotline. It feels out of place when the focus should really be on Optimus and Ratchet trying to stop Megatron. I think it would’ve been better suited for it’s own episode outside of the five pilot episodes. 

“About five years ago, the government started microchipping their agents.” As an American, yeah that is something my government would do. 

Y’know what, I think I would’ve been 100% okay with Miko throwing herself headlong into danger if she actually got a character arc where she realised how fucking dangerous and stupid of a decision that is. Like obviously TFP isn’t actually going to injure their child protagonists, but like… the show also wants me to be worried about the kids getting injured when they end up in situations and it falls flat when the Cybertronians are constantly telling Miko not to do stupid shit and then she never really learns her lesson, despite it nearly getting her and her friends killed on several occasions. 

Honestly if they’d just moved Fowler getting kidnapped to being it’s own episode, we probably could’ve cut down Darkness Rising to four parts instead of five. 

I think the showrunners should’ve allowed Ratchet to fucking maul Megatron right out the gate. It would’ve been funny and would’ve put Megatron out of commission way earlier. 

Episode Four - Darkness Rising, Part 4

I enjoy the little detail that you don’t actually see Miko getting out of Bulkhead when Raf and Jack do. 

Once again good lord I hope the vehicons aren’t sentient. Because otherwise Bulkhead is just killing so many people. 

Bulkhead’s voice actor nailed that MIKO?! perfectly. 

HOW THE FUCK DID MIKO JUST SLIDE ACROSS THE FLOOR LIKE THAT? HUMANS DO NOT HAVE THAT LEVEL OF TRACTION. 

Y’know for as much as the fandom and the show love to hype up Soundwave as this guy who can see everything on the Nemesis and knows exactly what is going on at all times, he’s sure doing a pretty shit job of noticing three autobots breaking into the ship with their human companions. 

ONCE AGAIN I REALLY HOPE THAT THE VEHICONS AREN’T SENTIENT BECAUSE OTHERWISE THE AUTOBOTS ARE GOING TO BE SO HYPOCRITICAL WHEN THEY SAY THEY CARE ABOUT ALL LIFE. 

Why did they animate Raf putting the backpack on? Literally why did he do that instead of just running with the backpack in his hand? 

Y’know what, shoutout to Jack for having the most normal reaction to being put in a life threatening situation. Miko is acting far too chill about all of this and I think it’s really weird how they keep having characters tell her that she could keep dying and then the dialogue serves no purpose because she just turns around and goes ‘Well I almost died too.’ Like girl that is not helping your case. Your actions nearly got yourself and a twelve year old killed. Again this wouldn’t be a problem if Miko actually learned a minor lesson about throwing herself headlong into danger. But she doesn’t learn. 

She can still be weird girl extraordinar who loves robots and Bulkhead and metal music and thrill seeking without putting her friends in harm’s way. Like that is perfectly feasible!

LMFAO RATCHET IS SO FUCKING READY TO BE DONE WITH THEM. God he truly is the funniest part of this show so far. 

Ugh… yay the first of many Starscream beatings. It is kinda funny how he sounds like he’s being choked but Megatron’s foot isn’t anywhere near his throat. 

Okay Miko, your speech is falling on deaf years because you did actually almost get people killed. Like… girl… you did almost die and I don’t think saying ‘Oh well I went to the best school and had a loving family but I was stifled and didn’t get to be as weird as I wanted to be which is exactly why you should come back to hang out in a place that is liable to get you killed with me.’ will the change the fact that the guy you’re trying to convince nearly died. 

Other Notes

Honestly, as much as I was ragging on Miko for the last couple of paragraphs, I do not actually hate her. I actually enjoy her moments with Bulkhead and the rest of the human cast in the base quite a bit. What I hate is how the show really wants you to think it’s super dark and gritty and oh my god the characters are at risk of getting injured and dying and then one of the main characters literally runs headlong into danger, nearly gets her friends killed, and then refuses to really sit down and understand why exactly her behaviour is dangerous for everyone around her. 

Like genuinely, think about it, what happens if Miko gets injured? Her host family all of a sudden have to deal with the fact that a child they’re legally responsible for has been hurt and then they have to explain that fact to her actual parents. Then the Cybertronians will be liable for Miko’s injuries as well. Like her actions could have genuine consequences for so many other people than just Jack and Raf and if the show actually decided to commit to the fact that she could get hurt, we might have actually had an interesting plot line on our hands. But no, Miko will continue to throw herself into danger because ‘Oh the big robots are so cool and even though they’re literally in a war that’s actually causing them physical and emotional harm, i’m going to continue to talk about it like it’s a video game.’

God girl… I wish you were written better. 

Episode Five - Darkness Rising, Part 5

Why does Megatron keep hating on Starscream, he’s literally just standing there 90% of the time. He hasn’t even done anything wrong in the five episodes he’s existed. 

I think it’s really funny that Soundwave has to be at the radio array in person to deal with the goal of getting the space bridge to turn towards Cybertron. And also that scene is so funny because he’s just hunched over, tentacles sucking away at a random console, not even in any of the ports, just latched onto the box itself. What is he even doing? How do those tentacles even work in terms of extracting data? 

Literally the very next scene shows Soundwave flipping through the cameras remotely so why does he even need the tentacles? And also what the fuck was he doing in the last episode when the autobots were breaking Fowler out of the brig, was he just taking a nap, or does he not have access to the Nemesis’ camera system?

I wish Megatron would’ve stayed dead. The maybe Starscream could be an actual character instead of a punching bag. 

RATCHET WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE? TREAT HER DAMMIT?!

Other Notes

Okay so despite my less than stellar reviews so far, I would actually rate the Darkness Rising Arc with a solid 6.5/10. Like they're not bad episodes, especially not as a set of opening episodes to get people hooked on the show. I merely have the benefit of having watched the show before and am therefore able to make judgements based off of preexisting knowledge.

------

alright and here is part two of my tfp watch through! another person recommended that i watch the rest of the darkness rising episodes since they're very much meant to be viewed sequentially in a single sitting. i technically watched eight episodes since i do an initial watch through and then a second watch through where i take notes.

-burnt ice anon

scrolling through this wall of text going Hey what the hell Until i realized we just passed a friday, and we’re reviewing tfp every friday now.

I’ll be completely honest with you right off the bat I will have to disagree, I fuckin love tfp Megatron I think he’s so funny. I have zero notes, his dark energon plotline is also funny to me. I get where you’re coming from about his character and role, but I guess but I love a good crazy bitch. He’s a hater after my own heart. 

one thing i guess i just have to dedicate an entire paragraph to is the Jack comparing his girl problems to Arcee’s loss because I also always thought it was weird, but upon rewatch I realized that… he doesn’t? Like if I’m not mistaken, he’s referring to Arcee as his girl problems. Which is, admittedly, still kinda rude, but it makes more sense, considering that she (albeit by accident and unwillingly) dragged him into mortal danger. Sorry, I just thought that was interesting. 

as for Miko… I always have to defend her. She’s fourteen, lacks self-preservation skills, and is insensitive at times because her excitement gets her faster than social norms do. She’s got a brand of adhd i sure know well. She IS however out of place with her excitement, considering how like, gritty and real tfp is trying to be, she would actually fit much better in a more lighthearted tf show. The writers never seemed to know where to take her, always keeping whether she’s learnt her lesson semi-ambiguous just in case they have to find an easy reason for the bots to be at a specific place or do a specific thing. But to be completely honest I never had any desire to see Miko learn her lesson. Also, people do need to cut her some slack, all she really wants to do is watch Transformers, something we get to do on tv, but she has to sneak through ground bridges and stuff to get a tiny piece of action. Sorry, this turned into a Miko appreciation paragraph. i can’t help myself.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Do you think they made Dave a bit of a straw man near the end of Pahkitew? Like it always felt to me they needed someone to use as a hate buffer you know since they couldn't use any of the antagonists they had already made. And this is coming from someone who likes Dave. He was just a pathetic guy who had some charm to him if explored and used them correctly but in the end he was... Mauled by a robotic bear? The punish may fit the crime, the culprit sure doesn't.

-Pahkitew anon

Total Drama in general has a problem with over punishing it's antagonistic characters in general. I mean, Heather's head getting shaved off is fine imo? It's harsh, but also a punishment in line with her character; if her hair's the hottest thing about her, taking it is a fitting punishment (again. Really fucking harsh). Same with Justin's downfall, caused by him actually liking a girl instead of just charming one. I haven't watched the ending of Action so i can't say anything for how Courtney's elimination is treated.

However, as the series went on, the antagonist punishments started going... way too far. I think the writers just thought that making Ezekiel a weird creature was funny and the volcano erupting would've made for a dramatic finale, but making Alejandro both get burnt alive by it and then stuffing him in a robot suit for over a year is just overboard. Same thing with Scott in ROTI; the trauma chair's implications just get worse the more you think about it - at least Alejandro could speak in the machine at first!

I won't cover the Reboot in this context, but i will cover PI: mostly because this season seemingly has 2-3 antagonists, and most don't carry the plot. Scarlett's an actual antagonistic force for a single episode and doesn't get any punishment on screen outside of elimination (and being sent with Max). Sugar is who im pretty sure the writters wanted to treat as an antagonist? But she doesn't feel like an overarching vilain since she's mostly just doing her own thing all season and the show's just... really mean to her? The narrative repeatedly treats her as unattractive, annoying and dismisses her abilities (specifically in singing) when she's like. Fine. in those aspects. She's also not the smartest, but knows how to use the rules to her advantage (see Ella's elimination, probably the worst thing she does all season)

Getting to the actual topic of your ask now, Dave's heel turn to murder just... feels a little off. Oh sure if the writing insisted on the conditions on the island wearing him down and having Sky be the only positive connection he had (especially considering his attitude towards relationships), having it torn down like this could make it work? At least a little better? But by the episode he's eliminated in he seems to be doing ok.

In general the finale just seems to exacerbate Dave's worst traits for either comedy reasons or plot reasons (pre and post Sky-has-a-boyfriend reveal), but i could personally excuse it if his reaction was more akin to one he'd have before. He would not have reacted well to the reveal, hell him trying to stop Sky from winning could've worked but like??? Not like this man! Im not asking the Total Drama teenager to have a reasonnable reaction, im asking the Total Drama Writters to stick with the character they wrote, and frankly it would be funnier if he failed miserably in trying to get back at Sky or something. Out of all the seasons i feel like either TDAS or TDPI should've ended with the contestants fighting back against Chris instead of the actual endings we got.

Also, as a final clarification: Dave wasn't mauled by a bear (onscreen), Scuba bear was just standing behind him as the entire season ended. I guess my big problem is that he gets consequences for his actions during a single episode and not actions from over the course of the entire season; frankly Sky rejecting him is enough consequences, the dude's pathetic and didn't listen to her 'but', multiple times.

[terraliensvent]

r we saying its problematic to post sfw artwork of a character with a nsfw alt cause thats rlly stupid

i agree the toyhouse should not have been linked without that art being maturity locked but as long as the art sent in the server wasnt nsfw which it appears it wasnt i do not see the issue.

not allowing sfw art of characters who have anything nsfw on their th seems rlly strict for no reason when they could just don’t allow the nsfw stuff or not allow the th to be shared

i would like to see both sides here fully bcuz no offense vibez is petty and aggressive af even if some of their points r valid and this feels like it could have been solved by asking them to just maturity lock the art in the th

post related

i think the bigger issue with it is the sheer hypocrisy of it.

smile demons is a species that has a history of being unsafe for minors and not taking proper action when dangerous people are reported, there are strong connotations to nsfw themes like leather play and bdsm, but its perfectly fine to post them in terra server because its (wrongfully imo) a “16+” species, yet symps (which are arguably more sfw) arent allowed because you cant advertise 18+ species. i find it pretty irresponsible that youre allowed to advertise a species that minors really shouldnt be playing around in (again, because of the suggestive theming and nsfw connotations, the fucking thumbnail for most of the myos is a character in leather gear), especially considering the fact we have proof of minors owning and interacting with others that have these fetish oriented characters

theres also the hypocrisy of being allowed to post characters/species with nsfw connotations when terra staff is so insanely strict about the nipple rule that you cant even post reference images without getting a warning

its, again, incredibly irresponsible to have someone on your mod team who argues leather gear and BDSM imagery is sfw, and who blurs the line to the point where they will link to a toyhouse with blatantly suggestive art and art where the character is wearing a GIMP MASK, with none of it being mature locked.

if youre gonna have a “minor friendly” server with adults in there too, you NEED to be as strict as possible with these things, the line shouldnt be blurred when it comes to NSFW shit because its incredibly easy for predators in discord servers to use plausible deniability to push the boundaries of what is and isnt ok to have around kids. ask yourself, would you be okay with seeing your 13 year old child be shown characters with gimp masks?

i think its one thing if youre just posting a normal sfw pic of your fursona who also has MATURE LOCKED nsfw on their profile. but its another thing entirely when youre posting a character with direct connotations to BDSM, who is part of a species that has heavy ties to BDSM and kink and has had issues in the past with minors, and linking that profile where none of the images are mature locked (and again, in the screenshot where they link the TH profile, a minor directly replies to them). you can bring up the hypocrisy again here, because terra staff HAVE taken issue with people posting th links in advertisements that contain art going against their nipple rule or other rules in the terra server. i also think its an problem that, when the issue is brought to tycho, he deflects and tells vibez to directly talk to the person theyre making the report against. thats just irresponsible from a moderation standpoint as well, and the cherry on top is banning them over this. they made a reasonable point, this character shouldnt be posted in the server, but because they bothered the mods enough in other situations this constituted a ban.

i said it in the og post, you can feel however you wanna feel about vibez being a bit of a dick lately with starting fights in terra server, but they shouldnt have been banned for bringing up the fact that characters like this should not be posted in the server. it seems like blatant loopholing around “no posting nsfw” and “no posting 18+ species.” like, in a fucked up alternate universe where succubuns was 16+ instead of 21+, would you say that should be allowed to be posted in a server full of minors that might want to join upon seeing the art?

[cabeswaterdrowned]

18 for trc? 🥺

A plot hole that makes me want to tear my hair out

I honestly consider myself a pretty laid back person when it comes to plot holes for most media and especially for trc; plot holes on their own I’m usually fine to gloss over they only bother me if they coincide with something character related or thematic that I dislike, then I’ll bitch about them, but other times they are simply not my priority compared to other things. And TRC & TD3 are extremely character driven so that’s especially true regarding it, I’m sure there are more major plot holes but the ones that actually bother me would be: 

not addressing in Greywaren when all the magical or dreamt creatures go into a coma because the ley line energies are dead, that Gansey is also a ley line powered creature and should be fully dead rn… like… if we’re going to jump through so many hoops to not bring in or address what’s going on with Gansey Blue and Henry, I feel like you should just address it and/or bring someone in… 

This is more a dropped thread (I was actually making a list of plot holes that borrowed me in trcverse and then realized most of them are actually dropped plotlines so only addressing the two that are kind of both) than a plot hole but the fact the tapestry of women with Blue’s faces never gets brought back beyond that tidbit about it being a sweet metal which isn’t even related back to Blue and her plot line so I don’t think that’s satisfying enough. Part of me wonders if there was going to be a Blue is related to Gwenllian and therefore Glendower thread, or something about other mirror women in Gwenllian’s time. Also think it’s possible this was Mstief playing with the concept of adding clones to the verse before she’d really fleshed that out and committed to what she’d eventually do with the Hennessy girls. Women having to be reflections of the world around them or other people is such an interesting theme to explore and it is sort of a through line in the verse between the Blue as a mirror, the Blue and Gwenllian stuff in BLLB and the Jordan/Hennessy and Aurora/Mor dichtomities (which also gives Blue’s Extreme Distaste for Aurora and more ambivalent discomfort with Gwenllian interesting connotations imo), but it’s only really properly explored with Jordanessy and then not even to it’s full potential. And the red hands… okay I need to save some of this for when I get to taking BLLB notes which will be real soon. But I have many thoughts on how it was not used to it’s full potential at all which includes the lack of explanation

This is also like partially plot hole partially just dropped storyline but the lack of follow through on the thread in MI about Ronan’s fear about Adam being bonded to him because of Cabeswater not being followed through on is sooo odd. Like yes that’s more about his self esteem + abandonment stuff and it’s obviously not true but the fact we never witness a conversation where Adam is like “no your wrong because I made the deal with Cabeswater of my own volition, it was separate from you etc.’ I won’t go into all my thoughts on this am planning to have it come up in my Reading TRB fic as a conversation between them to deal with some of my own gripes… I think td3 on some level is meant to address the consequences of the sacrifices deals choices etc. of trc for Ronan and Adam but it’s also very adamant about not engaging with huge chunks of trc canon like the other chars or dynamics or locations or magic … and like there’s certainly a way to flop as a spin off from trying to be too closely tied to the og series so if she was trying to avoid that I get that impulse, but the desire for the series to be about thematic consequences of the first series while also having nothing to do with the first series and it’s themes…. resulted in some truly bizarre choices imo. So this is an individual example that brings out a lot of my frustrations with this lmao. Also with my gripes about how Pynch’s arc and conflict is handled in td3 but I feel like I’ve spoken on that enough I don’t have to go into it here.

There are things about TRK I’m sure count and Gansey’s resurrection might count but I can’t really articulate my thoughts there rn well say what I have to say on this reread.  thank you