#but we as the audience know the truth so it feel more immersive to me and it let you connect with the character more

[vitamin-zeeth]

Just watched saltburn it was pretty good but Ripley did it better

[comicaurora]

How do you ballance lore dumps and exposition. Whenever I see a friend ommiting a lore dump, it feels the rest of the story gets a massive plot hole, where if you state it later it feels like a lazy retcon.

I try to avoid lore dumps if possible, because they tend to feel like textbook reading and are very easy for me to skip over, leaving me subsequently confused when the information buried in the lore dump becomes relevant. In my experience, if the audience absolutely needs information in order for the plot to make sense, there are ways to communicate it in-story that aren't just a wall of text - even if it's just "letting a character deliver the wall of text in a way that works for them."

Lore dumps and "as you know" dialogue are frowned upon because they disrupt immersion, typically because they're a conversation between two characters who should both know this fundamental truth of their world and thus have no reason to state it plainly for a hypothetical third party. But there are plenty of ways to frame a conversation that communicate that information without having to go with "as you know-" or "we both know that-", like

A knowledgeable character explains to an ignorant character why the ignorant character's plan or idea won't work (so they have a legitimate reason to provide that information and the other character isn't just sitting passively and absorbing the information)

Two characters reminisce about a situation they both remember rather differently

A character makes an oblique reference to something without providing further detail (because why would they reference more detail when everybody present knows what they're talking about), and another character responds with a telling emotional reaction that tells the audience at least how they feel about that thing and implies more information about it (like that the thing was Very Bad And Upsetting, and maybe they'll even explain why if another character notices and asks)

Two experts in a fictional field get really into the weeds about how fascinating something they're working on is

Two experts in a fictional field have a furious argument about a disagreement they're having, dropping lore tidbits the whole time

An expert in a fictional field gets really excited about explaining something cool to anyone who'll listen

A villain monologues about the brilliance of their evil plan

Even in the space of exposition, there are ways to let a character's dialogue reveal key information without making it a wall of text, and it mostly centers around making the character want to provide that information, turning it into a character conversation rather than a hand-of-the-author situation.

I've also found that the process of planting and payoff can be strengthened significantly if the information planted is planted multiple times in different ways, rather than just being exposited. If a lore drop is necessary for a plot point to make sense, just saying it once and then leaving it alone will not necessarily work to get the audience aware of its true meaning, since until the information is actually relevant in the story the audience is liable to forget about it or file it very far back in their heads. Exposition and lore dumps need to be connected to something tangible in-story for the audience to get a feel for, or they're basically just more pointless flavor text.

For instance, when the mechanics of divine incarnations needed to be planted, I worked them in in a few different ways - first, showing it with no further explanation -

then showing it in a few different ways, establishing that the appearance of a god can change over time -

then showing that gods have a degree of direct control over their incarnation's physical appearance even outside of that -

all so that when a god did THIS, nobody was confused as to how.

Because it was kind of important that this scene hit the way I wanted it to. I needed the reaction of "OH SHIT" instead of "wait that's bs how did he do that" and that meant I needed the audience to have just enough intuitive understanding of what divine incarnations could and couldn't do for this to make sense.

It's a delicate balance, but in my experience a slow build is better and more effective than an all-at-once lore dump.

[ahenvs3000w24]

10: The Last Reflection

Hi folks!

Here we are, the final blog post of the term. For myself, it feels like just yesterday I was sitting down to write my first response, attempting to break down what nature interpretation meant. Prior to this term, I was not familiar with the concept of nature interpretation, and I was naïve to assume everyone has experienced nature in the same manner I have. The journey that this course has facilitated, I believe, came at the perfect time in my life, both personally and professionally. As I approach graduation this summer, I’m reminded that the skills and metaphorical toolbox that I have developed over the past four years will guide my future endeavours.

To get started I would like to provide you all with a quote. The frontispiece of our textbook stated that,

“Finding beauty in a broken world… is the work of daring contemplation that inspires action” (Beck et al., 2018).

Prior to this course, I was familiar with the negative aspects and areas of improvement that our natural world consisted of. Habitat destruction, the climate crisis, food shortages; the list goes on. It is through university courses that I was made aware of these issues and asked to research possible solutions (Hooykaas, 2024). When talking to my parents or even friends who are not in post-secondary education, there is a large disconnect in the knowledge and an emphasis on the problem rather than solution. This course was the work of daring contemplation and a self-reflection of how I see myself as a nature interpreter. I am now an active vessel to communicate the values and successes of nature and am knowledgeable of how to do so. I have found a passion for bridging the gap between those who are able to access our natural world and those who do not. 

To be an effective communicator there are several aspects of self that must be strengthened and actively worked upon. It was not until this blog prompt that I had considered what my personal ethic is regarding nature. A definition that I used to curate my personal ethic towards nature was “the ethics that a person identifies with in respect to people and the situations that they deal with in everyday life.” My personal ethic as a nature interpreter is to be honest and always maintain integrity when relaying information to audiences. As discussed in course content, it is not only the quality of interpretation that effects the audience’s engagement with the topic but the way it is presented (Beck et al., 2018, Chapter 3). We all have a hierarchy of needs and if we are motivated to fulfill these needs, life will be more enjoyable (Beck et al., 2018, Chapter 3). Ensuring I am transparent to audiences with how much I do know and recognize the gaps in my knowledge will instill trust in my audience and increase retention rates. 

Similarly, I recognize the gaps in knowledge that people of different socioeconomic status may have and the privilege I hold attending a university, receiving an education in environmental science (Beck et al., 2018, Chapter 7). I vow to be a beacon of truth and encourage differing perspectives. There is an immense amount of misinformation circulating in mainstream media that can be difficult to trust. Those who are less informed may be incredibly susceptible to this misinformation and can make uneducated conclusions. I have a responsibility to utilize the skills I have learned in this course and my education to filter through this information and support my audience. 

In my childhood, I was fortunate enough to attend several nature related day and overnight camping experiences. I have immersed myself in the natural world and have experienced the value of an effective nature interpreter. Now that I am of the age of previous camp councillors and teachers, I am passionate about the natural world, specifically aquatics, and am eager to be the voice for the next generation. Little 5-year-old me would be ecstatic to go down to the lake and collect stones and listen to my nature guide. I think that without this exposure and exceptional guide, I would not have the same relationship with nature that I do today.

Experiencing nature in my past and this course in the present, I have a comprehensive understanding of how I would relay my knowledge about the natural world in a digestible manner. I would focus on my passion for our freshwater great lakes and the Muskoka area that I have spent countless hours exploring. As a visual learner that recognizes there are other learning styles, a YouTube show would be an ideal source to share my knowledge with the most amount of people (Beck et al., 2018, Chapter 6). Most people have access to a digital device, if not personally then at their workplace or school. With children being exposed to technology more than any previous generation, I believe a short YouTube video weekly could be engaging and an amusing way to learn. The experience I gained through creating our podcast assignments leaves me feeling better equipped to tackle such a project.  

This course has inspired me in my future aspirations. Leaving Guelph, I have the responsibility to myself and to my peers to share the knowledge we have gained in traditional study and apply it to our everchanging world. It is important to remember that regardless of what the future holds, our natural world can provide us with answers. We must support each other in our call to action and have an open mind to new possibilities and perspectives. I believe we all have been working on finding our own voice this term and I am excited to see where our values, beliefs, and interests take us. 

I hope that you all can appreciate the evolution of me and my experiences outdoor through this digital scrapbook of my life through the images.

Cheers to a great term and staying curious!

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world: Chapter 3 Values to individuals and society. Sagamore Venture.

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world: Chapter 7 Serving diverse audiences. Sagamore Venture.

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: for a better world: Chapter 6 How people learn. Sagamore Venture.

Hooykaas, A. (2024). Unit 10: Nature interpretation’s role in environmental sustainability. University of Guelph. https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/858004/viewContent/3640015/View

[rise-my-angel]

I really appreciate your fic for the clear amount of love and effort going on. It's one of the few reader inserts that I find myself going back to. I just don't see a lot that makes the insert an actual person because most of them are a blank slate that winds up loving, dating and fucking a canon character. While I'm not gonna judge people for that sort of thing, I like to feel like the "reader" is an actual person who earns a part in the canons characters lives. So it does bother me when reader fics get a bad rep, because what they're accused of doing is the exact opposite I am looking for. This is a very weird and long winded way of saying I love HoGW for the character build up you do and the great dynamic reader has with everyone.

I actually really appreciate this a lot, a major aspect of writing this story is trying to forge real dynamics between characters. I look at each person involved and try to imagine the truth behind their interactions and be honest about it. The relationship with Robb seems to move fast, but that's beacuse looking at it, I think it genuinly would. They've known each other for almost fifteen years, and Robb is a naturally more assertive person with what he wants and the advent of war would push them close together and in such stressful times they would end up relying a lot on the other to keep them grounded. So they move fast, beacuse their lives are moving even faster around them anyways.

It's why Jon is such a painfully long slow burn. The second they seperated on the Kingsroad, I knew it was going to take a lot to even remotely find a way to get them in the same room again. And I did the work to force it to be realistic as I could. The post red wedding plot is heavily influenced by that idea. By realizing what would the slow, painful truth of the readers situation really be and the answer was it would be fucking miserable. And not showing that truth felt disingenuous.

We can relate to characters in fiction despite it not being us, we watch shows and movies and see ourselves so greatly in such well established characters. So, my thought process was, it's the same for a reader insert. It has the advantage of a point of view perspective so that you more directly can place yourself in the story. But there was no reason to make the reader too generic. Your brain will naturally struggle with the immersion if they feel to blank slate, you as a human require the small nuances of a dynamic character for you to relate too because otherwise they don't feel human enough.

I know the way I write the reader in HotGW isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's the slow development of what a real person would go through in events I force them to experiance as they would genuinly happen. I write towards the plot I want, but I want the journey to be as genuine as possible. It's why there's so much tension between the reader and Catelyn despite how much I adore her. They would naturally find themselves at odds with one another often despite that they do look at each other as family. It's why even in their small interaction with Brienne, it's incredibly tense and they clearly do not like the other. I love Brienne dearly but the reader would not and Brienne wouldn't like you so why would I ever pretend otherwise? You as the audience would subconciously know those dots don't fit.

The reader isn't a badass, they aren't a spitfire sassy girl, they aren't even very charming. They have more flaws then pros at times and that is beacuse flaws dictate who we are just as much as our good qualities. I asked myself who would this person really be, and I continue to question every step of the way how genuine am I being towards that goal. It's why so much of Jon's story was told in very scattered short pov's. His story would remain much of the same and you would have very little influence on the actions he takes. What's different is the mentality of certain dynamics and that's where I explore what is a more realistic path of this story.

The reader post the red wedding too is clearly very different, and that darker mentality is not going away anytime soon. Beacuse that isn't realistic. They aren't the same calm and collected stone faced person they were before. Things have changed and I refuse to write away those aspects beacuse we as humans know that I would just be lying about what the true experiance of deep trauma and unnatural inhuman experiances would have on a persons psyche.

It's why I love writing their dynamic with Theon. It's a fucked up kindred spirit in the other of absoute torture and realizing that would bond you both in a way that would be impossible to dismiss as casual. So he becomes important in their life and yours in his beacuse that's what path felt the most natural for them.

I just think reader inserts have no reason to shy away from writing fully realized readers with unique identities. Unique identities are what we find relatability in. Make them too blank slate and they feel like a puppet for the author to dangle in front of the other characters.

[37q]

11 spending a lot of time on r/AmITheAngel for like a month straight late this winter rly helped me flesh out this tension in my cranium about mass public "socialization" in the post-modern internet. a little too much detachment on there for me but its honed my skeptic eye for that mediums social propriety and writing. they could stand to identify fetish stuff a little better but theyre pretty keen compared to, like, the rest of the internet.

12 oh for some context the premise of the sub is that, like, most of the content on r/AmITheAsshole is manufactured, self-serving BS, and so they pass their time on /AITAngel by taking potshots at OP's embarrassingly obvious agenda and psychological issues. "16 year old trying to find non-scholarly quotes for their creative writing prompt", "boyfriend provoking argument material for his weird obsession over getting babytrapped" etc etc. anyways

21 so like ok weve long-tempered the observable materiality and truth of these online social domains. like weve screened for all bullshit and loopholes, people are only engaging here in formal avenues of real feeling and good faith, moderation is swift, vastly codified and arbitrarily enforced. but oh wait 99.5% of members are viewers... and commenters are encouraged to speak outwards to hypothetical audiences...

31 hm gotta admit too the reality of it makes great, free, and "natural" educational material. or cringecam footage. or fetish fuel. or argument enders. or just mundane attachment to things we think we know and things we use to fortify those assumptions!

212 nothing gets you more engaged than totally immersing yourself in the totality of a "truth", however theres a conflict in that kind of detachment, the subject-object utility. either we genuinely give a shit about all these mf's miserable lives and get offended by some commenter's moral code, or we detach, confirm, reproduce, and make it a theater.

213 and the theater isn't a fun one, either, the cynicism and objectification will rot your brain. we can slap together some semblance of critical meta-engagement -- yknow like consumption as a consumer, collecting this to use it later, self-aware bordering on parasocial viewership (my god when a lurker mentions a "well-known" commenter by name... EW!) -- but in the end our consumption of the material will mediated by the fact that, like, we can only find use of it by suspending (and IMO fundamentally sundering) the scrutability of what we hold to be true. the authenticity gets all garbled up in the process, like this is hilarious bullshit for their sense of reality but also i kind of dont think deception or gullibility is very funny for weird stuff...

2141 see right there! "weird stuff", i have a threshold based on propriety of what i consider recognizable, authentic, "real" or socially legible expressions or behavior

22 so anyways!!! somewhere down the line after weve cleared out all the riffraff and its all respectable legit service usage and socialization, and funny enough the people suddenly have no place to put their neurotic internalization of unstable social systems and mundane life, the only solace is in a simulation of reifying and legitimizing their feelings. radical expression is demoralized, and emotional authenticity is quite literally socially determined. what the hell is an outlaw

23 heres where we get into the meat of it. remember AITAngel's premise? yeah, so, writing exercise, self-confirming or -serving, 99.5% viewership, most OP's post from a throwaway account (although when they dont its INSANE), people are commenting on the OOP like "what's up with the spike in vegan child-free weddings lately"... at soooome pooooint viewers have trouble suspending their disbelief. just a lil artificial, make it a one-liner karma game with algorithmically generated prompts cuz why not. a circus! lets dress up as elephants

32 now were starting to see how we can make use of this charade. want all the dads terrified of sexism to come out of the woordworks and give you the soundbites they wish they couldve used in their custody battles? need to farm some philosophical talking points for class? do you feel alone, scared, on your last leg, and are in need of others to console you over how you allegorically represent and sterilize your series of misfortunes and poor decisions? you want validation that you didnt sit next to your mom during your friday family outing? do you need disgust, horror, shame, or really any genuinely visceral reaction to your fantasies from strangers to make it real enough to get you off? easy reification machine

[cgenger-blog]

Facts vs. Insights

So, what is the difference between a fact and an insight? I feel like almost anyone can memorize a list of facts, waiting to pull the right one out at a social gathering when the perfect moment strikes. People like to have facts on hand because they’re easy to memorize and they can’t be disputed. But without context, meaning, and depth, those facts are just random pieces of information that have no emotional appeal.

According to Alex Lam from Medium.com, “Both facts and insights explain a truth, however, insights are worded in a way that you can follow up with, “Why is this important?” and “What can we do about it?” that can directly influence the audience or product that the insight is about” (Lam, 2016).

I think those follow up questions insight provides is the most important part of what differentiates a fact from an insight. Insight will tell the audience why they should care about the fact. I find this similar to how I learned observations and inferences to work in lesson three of COMSTRAT 476. Facts and observations are objective and usually show the initial information that was gathered. Insight and inferences involve a deeper understanding and reasoning based on those facts and observations.

Your friend might tell you that Universal Studios is currently building a third theme park gate in Orlando which will be called Epic Universe. That’s a cool fact, but without insight, it just feels random and meaningless. To add insight, your friend might include how the attractions and experiences within the park are going to revolutionize the theme park entertainment industry as we know it today. They might also add that aside from immersive theming and the integration of popular intellectual property like Super Mario, Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon, the park will push the boundaries in technology, virtual reality, highly themed dining experiences, and captivating live shows (Mitchell, 2023). By adding insight to fact, it provides whoever you’re sharing the information with a deeper, more complex understanding of your fact and why you’re sharing it with them in the first place.

Sources-

Lam, A. (2016, April 18). Facts vs Insights. Medium.com

Mitchell, B. (2023, April 24). Universal Epic Universe: Everything You Need To Know. Blooloop.com

Photo Credit-

[celestialpotat0]

recent gratitude list

sat with matt, edwin, and scott at Taylor Swift's concert. in my last post i just wanted to jot down my ranking of her albums prior to attending the concert to compare if my ranking would change afterward. Eras tour taught me a lesson to be more grateful and fully appreciate every moment as I'm living in it. before the show, i didn't feel excited for some reason. during the show, i was cramped, the stranger next to me kept sneezing and coughing on me, and i didn't enjoy hearing the audience screaming so loudly that i couldn't even hear Tay singing. the person in front of me was very distracting, and she grabbed my beer and tried to drink it. i had paid an obscene amount for terrible cold hot dog and fries. i know i sound extremely negative but it was the truth of what was distracting me in the moment.

it took me a little bit to get over all the unpleasant things but by the time we'd reached the evermore era i was fully immersing myself into 1000% enthusiastically dancing and singing along and not giving a F about any of the negative things. which is a shame bc the lover and fearless eras are amazing and i enjoyed them during the concert, but was still trying to adapt/get over the distractions at that point, grew progressively more carefree during evermore, but it prob wasn't until reputation that i had reached my full-forced frenzy of completely rocking out in my trance-like state. and no, i did not do drugs. all it took to feel euphoric was the concert itself!

i had so many blissful times during that concert. it's true what they say, it's a surreal, out-of-body experience. like whoa did i actually just watch this legend perform live in front of my eyes. so many songs when nothing else mattered and i was ecstatic to be there in the cool summer night screaming out the songs in my feelings and knowing i was privileged to be there and reminiscing about my youth. and afterwards i felt like all i want is to be there to experience it all over again, so that i might absorb it all more, take it all in more, seal my senses that night more tightly in my memory.

the eras tour was a prime example of my erroneous behavioral habits. i tend to focus on the negatives in the moment, then afterward in retrospect i wish i had embraced the experience more. constantly going through life thinking of the struggles, but then looking back and wishing i appreciated the experiences more, if only i could have seen all the beauty.

---

i've gone to the pool every weekend for the past 4 weekends, plus again on tuesday. for the first two weeks i swam laps in the 25-meter pool, another time i stood in the pool and read, another time hung out with friends while catching some rays and drinking homemade frozen strawberry daiquiri and hard cider by the pool. this last time just swam laps. consistently taking the time to slow down, however irresponsible it may be to neglect homework and errands, but enjoying the sun's heat burning my skin and sweating profusely. can it always be summer.

---

andrew gave cathy, matt, and me a tour of meta's campus and we dined and drank there. we played DDR and perused many libraries. i was EXTREMELY sleep deprived that day but hopefully it didn't show. the sun set in a pink and lavender sky as we walked across the lush garden rooftop and looked out into the distance into the expanse.

---

when i was 14, i discovered taylor swift and spent god knows how long downloading her songs from questionable sources onto my ipod mini. i sang along to debut and fearless in the shower throughout high school. i was also 14 (or 15? don't remember) when i created a facebook account. times were much simpler and life was good. nostalgia for the bubble of arcadia high and the first iteration of fb that i experienced. but as favorable as my impression of the past is, objectively 31 year old me lives a better life; i just watched taylor in concert w/o blinking an eye at the cost, and i just spent an evening on meta's campus for leisure. 14 year old me woulda never imagined. so this is a reminder to myself about how i should open my eyes more everyday to how fantastic life is at 31. taylor swift has built a successful empire from (rather) humble beginnings, and i am so happy for her. i am lucky to have amassed treasured experiences, managed to find some true friends, and no longer have to worry about being able to afford things, which I worried about when I was growing up.

[rookie-critic]

Knock at the Cabin (2023, dir. M. Night Shyamalan) - review by Rookie-Critic

Anytime the name M. Night Shyamalan appears on a new trailer I feel incredibly conflicted. On one hand, I'm a huge Shyamalan apologist. I am fully aware of the After Earths of his career, but I know he's fully capable of making amazing movies, even now. However, I have to be fully honest with myself, there are a lot of After Earths and Last Airbenders that plague his IMDb page, and his overall track record is right around 50%. When I heard about Knock at the Cabin, I was incredibly excited in spite of these conflicted feelings. Shyamalan teaming up with Dave Bautista for a truly Twilight Zone-esque tale? Count me in! After seeing the movie, I'm not disappointed, per se, but I don't think the film lived up to the expectation I had set for it, nor the potential I know Shyamalan is capable of, although neither is it an addition to the negative side of his counter. I think Cabin falls in a Shyamalan net neutral, with the pros only slightly outweighing the cons. I'll start with the negatives then end with what I thought really worked.

This story is incredibly flimsy, and unfortunately the script, especially in the final act of the film, completely crumbles in on itself. Plot threads are kind of left dangling, important questions that the film seemed to be asking are, in my opinion, abandoned for an ending that not only feels rushed, but also unearned and, frankly, uninteresting. Whereas the majority of the rest of the film has this incredible, knot-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach tension, the final act dips into something more akin to melodrama, and it broke the immersion for me. I get that a big part of the pacing of those big climactic scenes towards the end revolve around the fact that things are happening fast and decisions need to be made, but it all just felt rushed. Shyamalan and his co-writers Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman had not positioned the story to end in any kind of satisfying way by the time we reach that "no turning back" point. It really feels like Shyamalan wants the audience to have just as much faith in him as our central trio is being asked to have in their four assailants in the film. A character says "this was [x]" and I guess we're just supposed to believe that with no backing or basis for why or how that would be true at all. Faith and divinity have always been major players in the Shyamalan sphere, dating all the way back to his directorial debut, Praying with Anger, and that's fine. It's tended to work out when it has been used before, but the implications of that divinity and what it means for the gay couple at the center of this movie didn't play well. It brings up a lot of questions that I don't think Shyamalan was even thinking about in the first place, much less willing to answer.

With all that in mind, let's move on to the film's pros, the biggest of which, both in contribution to the film and physical size, is Dave Bautista. The former WWE superstar continues to pleasantly surprise me with his acting ability with each new role he plays, and the performance he puts on display in Knock at the Cabin is absurdly good. I won't spoil the true outcome of whether or not the four antagonists are telling the truth or not, as that is the entire crux of the film, but every single time Bautista speaks, you believe him. Not because of the evidence his character presents or anything concrete, but because he sells his character's heartbreak at the position he feels he's been put in with such conviction that it makes you think "how could any of this be fake when this man is clearly so mortified and repulsed by what he feels he has to do?" Really, the acting by all of the main ensemble is outstanding, with special kudos going to Bautista, Ben Aldridge, and newcomer Kristen Cui, who plays Wen, the main couple's adopted daughter (although I wish she had been given more to do past the film's opening). Also, as I kind of mentioned previously, it is absolutely enthralling up until that final act. I sat there in a state of stressed dismay for two-thirds of the film because that is how well done that part of the film and the script is. Shyamalan knows what he's doing, even if he doesn't know how to do it consistently.

I wanted Knock at the Cabin to be great, I want M. Night Shyamalan to win, to prove everyone wrong, but he just couldn't quite stick the landing on this one, and that puts in the "just fine" category. I will be awaiting his next project, hoping for some of that former glory. I really need it, because with each passing loss, I get more and more frustrated with championing someone who seems to just barely meet the bare minimum half the time.

Score: 6/10

Currently only in theaters.

[steveskafte]

HOLDING MY TONGUE I am the middle ground, talking between the tide and mainland, evenly tied to both. I didn't get into art to have an opinion – I don't think that most folks do. I'd been looking for a way to medicate myself, scratch that hard-to-reach itch I'd only had hints of reaching from what I saw other artists doing. I was consumed with feeling, absolute emotion, the only truly primal reason to create (in my mind). It seems like a very different world from when I started my daily journal in 2007. The internet was a younger and more innocent place, fewer folks consumed with having a say on every current issue. I was so disconnected from the news in those days, that when Obama was elected – it was the first time I even heard his name. I'm not making an argument for ignorance. I'm all for knowing what's happening, how things are faring in your country or the next. But not everything is fodder for content, especially if your audience is after an escape. There are songwriters I love who deeply inspired me in the early days, but as age slowed their output and dampened their drive – it hasn't stolen their desire to speak. Some pour their frustrations into ongoing events, rather than working it out in lyrics. They haven't recorded new work in years, but the internet knows exactly what angers them regularly. They've forgotten the truth that great art is eternal, but most opinions turn abstract in a decade. Most time capsule denouncements from your favourite childhood artists have aged awkwardly. The alienation is very real, drawing lines of Conservative art for Conservatives, or Liberal art for Liberals. As someone who grew up immersed in the reclusive world of Christian art for Christians, I feel disquieted by this practice. All art in this form becomes oriented for a cause, all your fans with differing views get driven away, and the echo chamber left seems almost like amplification – at first. The walls close in almost imperceptibly, as your listeners get sick of listening to you whine. Even the ones technically on your side. I've seen struggling artists martyr themselves this way, trade universality for pats on the back, then slowly grow bitter over failed careers. They say the system is to blame – as it always is in part, of course – but no personal blame is accepted by the artist themselves. I know that my audience is split between the major political parties, evenly bent toward religious belief or unbelief. There are a wealth of incompatible philosophies among them. But if we agree, they don't need me in the club. If we disagree, they don't need me to save them. My followers run the full gamut of age groups and personality types. I've got fans who die of old age regularly, and others still in high school. Most are wonderful folks; a few are real jerks – but the latter have no idea that's true. I could be real-life friends with some, and am. Others couldn't justify a conversation between us. So what holds us all together? Holding my tongue. Finding the exact amount of (hopeful) truth to tell without getting in a fight. It's a hard lesson to get when you've got ears hanging on your words. No one wants to get shut up, but I've learned to speak a little less by choice. December 14, 2022 Hillsburn, Nova Scotia Year 16, Day 5512 of my daily journal.

[shyvioletlife]

Very understandable! Even though I think they did a good job making the changes consistent and work within one another, I’m always going to prefer the version of nami that we get in animanga as well. I don’t think it’s lame in the slightest to feel protective of it. nami’s story is the first diamond you come across in one piece, and to change the circumstances of her past feels off putting regardless of how much thought they put behind the changes. I’ve also got too much emotional attachment to the original version to ever be able to prefer the way they did it in opla, and I do wish they had made at least a few more details of nami’s backstory match animanga nami so that we could get more of the same story beats and get the relive that full experience again.

Truth be told, my first reaction as the scene was happening was that it’s just “time for the scene to happen” and not that the on screen emotion had crescendoed enough to feel earned, specifically because they cut out all those rising bits of tension that you described earlier - nami confronting arlong, being betrayed, running to try and convince the villagers that it’s okay, only for them not to listen and decide to do something about it themselves. Literarily speaking, the progression nami’s story goes through is a tragedy - as it happens we watch nami realize on screen that she is about to lose everything. It’s *her* realization that drives the breakdown. When luffy steps in the cathartic relief of seeing someone actually be able to help is what makes the arc so satisfying.

In opla, it feels like the audience is put in the position of knowing more than nami does. Her breakdown seems to stem from the fact that we know it’s supposed to happen right now, not because the character has actually reached the peak of her tragedy. Just because I can retroactively write an essay on tumblr about why it still makes internal sense within opla’s take on nami doesn’t make the emotional climax of the arc feel more earned, unfortunately.

Also, can we talk about how weird the video editing is in arlong’s speech that he gave while nami is having her breakdown? The way it’s cut up is so bizarre and took me out of any emotional immersion immediately because all I could focus on was how they edited the show, which makes nami’s scene feel even less earned since they happen back to back.

Ok so, I just wanted to kind of pick apart my problems with the Arlong Arc in the Live Action a bit. And I’m going to avoid the whole “needed more time/should have cut some of the marine storyline” complaint and just focus on the details that didn’t quiet work and were kind of baffling.

And I want to reiterate this before I get into it: I loved the Live Action. It was fun and goofy and the passion behind it was palpable. And this isn’t me going “argh, how dare they deign to change anything! I wanted a shot for shot remake! Argh!” No. I’m okay with changes. I love that all we get of Don Kreig is Mihawk humiliating and then killing him because god was he annoying in the anime. Least favorite arc I sat through. Nami’s one on one conversation with Kaya? Fantastic! I’m not even that big of an OP fan, but this kind of made me wish I was.

I just really love the Arlong Arc in the anime (horribly paced fights aside). It’s honestly the only arc I care this much about so I wanted to talk about this.

- Arlong’s Betrayal: Ok, so in the anime Arlong makes it very clear that he will let Nami and Coco Village go once she hands over 100 Million Berry. It’s made explicitly clear that he’s a fishman of his word and that he’d never go back on a deal involving money. And then of course he sends Nezumi to steal Nami’s money once she has it all. Ok. So that’s all pretty much the same in OPLA.

However, in the anime, Arlong does not immediately move to destroy the Village. In fact, when Nami comes charging in after realizing Arlong’s betrayal claiming he broke his word, his reply is “When? When did I go back on our deal exactly?” Because he technically didn’t! And instead of moving to destroy Coco Village, he tells Nami (to paraphrase), “guess you’ll just have to start over with stealing all that money because a deal’s a deal. Oh, and if you think about bailing then I’ll kill everyone in the village.” This way Arlong keeps both his chart maker and he gets to keep extorting the Village. This shows that Arlong is very cunning and slick, as well as a terrifying force.

But, in OPLA, that’s not the case. The fact that Arlong in OPLA is really just going to wipe out the village now that Nami got all that money is so wasteful. And if there was one thing Arlong wasn’t, it was wasteful. If he could use someone he’d do it, provided they paid his fee. Arlong in OPLA, while still a decent threat (the actor does give him some serious presence), he kind of comes across as an idiot.

- Nojiko/Village Knowing: In the anime, we find out very quickly that Nojiko did know about Nami’s deal with Arlong. Little Nami told her sister after they made it, and after Little Nami put on a big show of betraying the village so they wouldn’t go fight and die. The kicker is, when Nezumi comes to take Nami’s money, Genzo reveals that the village also knew about her deal, and pretended to hate her so that she wouldn’t feel bound to come back if she ever decided to leave, to escape Arlong.

Also, because Nojiko knew, she got her tattoos as a sign of solidarity. Little Nami talked about how she hated her tattoo and how it made her feel like Arlong owned her. So Nojiko, being the amazing sister she is, got her tattoos so Nami wouldn’t feel so alone. It was a symbol of their bond. Now in OPLA I guess she just… got tattoos… because they’re cool?

- The lead up to the breakdown: Okay, so this one kind of lends into the “they needed more time” category but also I just wanted to mention this. While I still say Emily Rudd gives the best performance in the series here (my opinion, don’t @ me) and I did feel emotions, I really feel like we needed just that extra smidge more.

We needed that moment where everyone is ready to fight and then Nami walks up, putting on the biggest, most fake smile, ready to absolutely throw herself onto a metaphorical sword again so that everyone she loves won’t run toward their deaths, only for Genzo to pull her into a hug and tell her “it’s okay. You’ve done enough. You’ve carried this burden too long by yourself. The least we can do is try to win our freedom ourselves now, and if we die then… hey, you’ll be free.” So when the Village ignore her pleas to stop and move to basically die, Nami finally just collapses because everything she worked for, everything she spent eight years trying to achieve was all for freakin nothing.

This moment more than anything shows who Nami is at her very core. And it just… doesn’t exist in OPLA.

- Rapid fire, minor complaints that don’t actually ruin anything but I did notice: It is really bizarre that they never say Bellemere’s name out loud. It’s on her grave marker but that’s it.

While I don’t think Nami should have been a baby when Bellemere found her and Nojiko, perhaps just a smidge younger?

The catalyst for the argument in which Bellemere slaps Nami after Nami says they aren’t an actual family. In the anime Nami says this because Bellemere has been skipping meals and only eating tangerines so that she can give all the food to her daughters. Nami’s guilt over that and the fact that she believes if Bellemere didn’t have to look after them she could afford to take care of herself leads into that fight and slap in the anime and it’s Genzo that tells Nami about Bellemere’s backstory after she runs away.

Could have used Nami denying help just a little more when Luffy stops her from stabbing her tattoo. Throwing dirt, telling him to leave, just this horrible last ditch effort before… “Luffy. Help me.”

[lokiondisneyplus]

'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"  

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.  

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."  

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.  

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.  

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

Credit: Charlie Gray for EW

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.  

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

[frostironfudge]

Hi, can I request a tom hiddleston imagine/headcanon (you choose) where you're both co-stars in Betrayal and Tom falls for you? Like, you meet on set and as the days go by you both get closer and start dating, etc? Thank you, your writing is amazing ❤

hello! thank you for the prompt! and thank you so much for your lovely words!

i hope you enjoy the way i've written it sort of headconon + imagine mixed together?

----

Word Count: 982

proof read not done therefore some mistakes mat be there

---

- First Meet:

the auditions were completed over a month ago, your agent reminds you of a casting dinner scheduled tonight she doesn't tell you what cast though.

Your mind cannot get out of the reverie for being casted as Emma in the play.

Night rolls in and you make you way up the steps to the hotel where dinner is held, the flurry of flashing lights has you trip on the last step. A hand grabs onto your left arm to steady you,

looking up, you see Tom for the first time in person, he looks concerned.

"Th-thank you." you manage to say, as he walks with you to the entrance.

He politely smiles in return, "the flashes always take me by surprise too," he adds reassuring.

you look up at him, wanting to laugh that an actor of his caliber is taken by surprise by the paparazzi. You chose not to say anything, nodding instead.

He smiles once more and walks alongside you as you both make way to the restaurant.

You work up the courage to ask him is he on the same dinner list as are you, but when you enter the restaurant a woman comes forth to the both of you.

"Ah there are Robert and Emma!"

"Congratulations, Y/N" Tom smiles, a wider grin and you feel ecstatic.

"Congratulations, Tom."

- Before the first show:

You tend to always take a peak at the audience, theatre is your beloved form of showcasing the art you were entrusted with, your ritual was to always take a peak at the crowd.

"Y/N?" Tom had stepped behind you, two bottles of water in his hand,

"Tom?" You let go of the back curtain and your spying.

"Here, I remembered you saying before your last showcase you were parched." He hands you a bottle and you smile at him.

"I believe I said that quiet a few months ago, thank you for remembering."

He lets out a small laugh, looking away, "well they need me back in dressing." he says trying to clear some of the tension.

"I'm headed that way as well." you inform him.

Tom and you fall into step on your way back.

- During the show on broadway:

Scene: Emma(Y/N) admits to her affair with Jerry to Robert (Tom)

There is a shift in Tom's eyes, as though he is immersed much more than he lets himself, he can feel it as well.

The emotion shifts as the scene progresses, you notice him pulling the veil between himself and the character stitched into place.

- After the show at the hotel the team is being accommodated at:

You look into the mirror hanging on the white bathroom wall, "fuck it,"

grabbing your phone and keycard you leave the room and head towards tom's room as you find the pdf sent to you with everyone's room list in your email.

"2609, twenty-six oh nine.." you mumble searching through the floor for his door. "Ah" you stop at the door raising your hand to knock, only for your hand to land against Tom's shoulder.

He chuckles, "Yes, Y/N?"

then it hits you, that you probably over thought the entire process, over thought the way things had changed between the two of you, from banter to a tad bit flirting here and there.

"Y/N?" Tom's eyebrows furrowed, "Is everything alright?"

"fuck," you shook your head

"I'm sorry?" He was taken aback, he knew you swore often but never directed it at him.

"No, not to you, I well, I was worried about you."

"Why?"

"Well today during our scene where I tell you I've been betraying you, well not me and you but our characters..." You trail off gesturing with your hands.

"Yes..." Tom's cheeks redden, he didn't think you would have caught on.

"Well it seemed like Tom was on stage for a brief moment and then Robert came in." You finished.

"Would you like to come in?" Tom opened the door wider. You nodded.

He closed the door and leaned against it, you stood a few feet away, he was grateful because the impact of the next words was unknown to him.

"I did have a slip between myself and my character." Tom sighed, his shoulders relaxing.

"I want to explain why, if you will let me." Tom gestured towards the two chairs in the room near the window.

"I'd like to hear you out." You assured him.

After you both sat down, Tom looked out the window, gathering his words or donning a persona you couldn't tell.

"The past months, we've grown as friends, do you agree?" He looked at you, his blue eyes searching yours for any form of an answer.

"Yes, we have." it was the truth.

"Recently I have observed that the banter we have has been, well, sort of flirtatious?" He let out a nervous laugh and tried to distract himself with a piece of lint on his pants.

"Yes, it has, Tom?" You maintain your eyes on his face. his hair longer, glasses slightly sliding off the bridge of his nose.

He looks up, fixing his glasses.

"Do you want this, us to be something more than co-workers?" You ask, hesitant to know his answer.

"Yes, I would want to pursue us as a relationship if it goes there." Tom runs a hand through his hair.

And the cards you both were holding have been revealed.

"Where does this take us then?" You ask.

"I presume on a date, first?" Tom smiles sheepish.

"It does yes." You agree.

- A few months and various dates later:

You smile as Tom exists through the gates at Heathrow, Loki's premier event just a day away. He smiles as he sees you. Both of you waving at each other as he walks over.

He leaves his bag at his feet, embracing you.

"I missed you." you both whisper as you tighten the embrace.

----

Hope you enjoyed it!

[mandosnewpants]

My opinions on The Book of Boba Fett

Now that The Book of Boba Fett has been out for a while I've been able to collect all my thoughts on the show. I think I have finally landed on how I feel about it and that word would probably be underwhelmed. Perhaps that was partly on me and the certain expectations I had before the show aired. I was expecting something a little more gritty and deeper than what I got.

Before I get into what I didn't like I do want to say that there were parts that I really enjoyed. The first thing would be the Tusken Raiders. I love them and I was so happy that I got to see so much of how they live. Their whole culture was always vague and a mystery. We got so much new lore about them and their traditions. Less of them being savages and more of them being a civilized community. It was refreshing. They also played a huge part in Boba Fett's character growth from the last time we saw him in Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Which was very important for the basis of the show.

I also loved the collection of found family members that he collects over the season. The young kids from the working district and then also Black Krrsantan. Even the two Gamorreans I got attached to. It's one of my favorite tropes and I always enjoy seeing it.

Lastly but most importantly, Peli Motto. She's amazing. Her charm and humor brings me absolute joy. Her and Mando have peak character dynamics. She is so eclectic and chaotic and Mando is the exact opposite and on screen it works so well.

Now onto the things that I didn't enjoy or left me disappointed. I am going to put the rest under the cut because I don't normally like saying negative things and I want people to have choice of reading it or to choose not to.

I am going to start off small and move my way up on the list. Starting off, Tatooine has this dusty cowboy aesthetic which is in my opinion the best part of its charm. So when they added shiny skittle colored bikes that the street gang kids rode it was honestly immersion breaking. I am also going to group all the mods and costume design that the gang wears in with that. Now if this had been the only complaint I had with the show it wouldn't be that bad but it isn't and it just adds to everything else.

Next would be the lack of politics. Now I know the majority of the show revolves around politicking and I think that's why I am irritated. The whole plot of the season had to do with Boba stepping into a new role that involves a lot of socializing and pleasing people. Things that he has never had to do and is clearly a fish out of water especially regarding public service acts. While we get to see that aspect of it a lot of other things are happening unknown to him. I would have enjoyed seeing scenes with the crime families discussing Boba and their opinions and plans regarding him as the new Daimyo. A lot of what's going on is happening around Boba and we the audience are never privy to seeing it. We are forced to be in the dark along with Boba. I just wish we got to see some of those interactions between the mayor, Pykes, or any of the crime families. Especially the crime families! I found them so interesting and this would have been a great opportunity to explore their stories.

I think the next thing would be the overall lack of storytelling. This is excluding the flashbacks we get of Boba after he escapes the pit. Those I enjoyed. The present storytelling was lackluster. It felt like so much was happening in the background and on screen we saw very little. It was boring. Harsh as that might be but truthful. I was bored. Nothing was happening except Boba struggling to get a grip of what was going on. As the viewer I should have been more privy to what Boba wasn't seeing. Again the politics we didn't get.

Now I am going to get into the biggy. That being Mando's huge part in the show. This actually took me quite a while to articulate because I had to seperate my love for Mando with his role in The Book of Boba Fett. I will start with saying that I appreciate an episode dedicated to him and how he has been faring after we left him at the end of season 2 of The Mandalorian. I think from a writer's point of view it was needed if they wanted to bring him in to help Boba at the end of the season. I also believe from a billion dollar corporation's view it was a safe move to include him because right now he is Star Wars golden goose. At the end of the day for Disney it's about the money so I can't exclude that from trying to figure out why they decided to include him in such a large way. I am assuming the writers and directors had their hands tied to an extent regarding that.

I don't believe they should have given him a second episode. Everything revolving around him in Episode 6, this includes Grogu, Ahsoka, and Luke, I don't think should have been in the Book of Boba Fett. I was actually really surprised when that happened. It all seemed like storytelling that would have better fit in the next season of The Mandalorian or even the new Ahsoka television show.

I would have rather seen Episode 5 end with him saying he needed to go pay a visit to the little one and then Episode 6 revert back to the escalating situation on Tatooine without us seeing Mando at all. This would have been a great opportunity to get some of that storytelling that I mentioned above. Then have Episode 7 happen without Mando still and then half way through have him show up in his new ship and be that extra little support that they need to win. As much as I love to see Grogu I really didn't like that he was in the show. I personally didn't think he was needed to progress the story. I would have prefered to see his and Mandos reunion in the next Mandalorian season.

Now the largest problem I had has to do with Boba Fett. His character has always been vicious and calloused. I am aware that they were trying to set up a storyline that explains why he has "softened" a bit. I don't believe that him joining a Tusken tribe would have completely changed who he is to such a strong degree. I was expecting to see him be more forceful, with more fighting. More aggression. I can't picture him sitting around for most of the show playing nice. It would have been more believable that as soon as he got wind of a problem he would go in and be an enforcer. Take care of the problem before anyone could get the jump on him. Have his character arch progress through the show from him barreling into things guns blazing to slowly learning that he'd get a lot farther by being a good leader instead of being a hardened bounty hunter.

There was I think only three separate times in the whole show that Boba did something badass. The first was killing the lizard monster in one of the flashbacks. The other two times happen at the end of the last episode. Him killing Cad Bane and him riding in on the rancor. For a show literally about Boba Fett I was expecting more of the typical Boba Fett. I felt like he was out of character even in comparison to what we see of him in The Mandalorian. Slower character development I feel would have been better than what we got.

To wrap this up I again just want to land on that one word, underwhelming which is disappointing. I was so excited for this show and I had high hopes. If we get a second season of Boba Fett I hope they take it in a different direction. I believe the best thing for this show would be to slow down the character development and amp up the storytelling. Also to go all in, don't use Mando as a crutch. People love Boba and I think he can hold his own in a stand alone tv show. They just have to go all the way. Don't half ass it.

These are all just my personal opinions and takes on the show. I don't want to make anyone upset or angry especially if you loved it. At the end of the day it's just entertainment and if you were entertained then the show did its job.

Feel free to add your own hot takes. I would love to hear them.

[vyeoh]

this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.

okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon

I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.

c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.

But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.

This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.

So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.

So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.

My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.

Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7

Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.

One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.

It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.

He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.

My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?

Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.

I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.

Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.

As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.

Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.

However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."

Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.

After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.

Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3

[babygirlgiles]

the thing about Will between the s3a and s3b gap, those years when Hannibal is in prison, is that his sense of purpose and direction is very suddenly taken away. Up until that point, for years now, he's been a man with purpose, the primary being to catch the Chesapeake Ripper, even as the meaning of that and the shape it took changed as Will's feelings. All through gallivanting around Europe, a la Around the World in 80 Days, all the way back through his time in BSHCI and before that, before he even knew what Hannibal was-- all that time he's been driven to an end goal that is very clear cut, despite his motivations becoming muddier and muddier.

But with Hannibal captured, that's it. Mission accomplished. He can pat himself on the back for a job (not so well) done. And so without being driven forward (without even really knowing what's pushing him or where he's headed at times), all that pent up grief and traumas would just comes crashing down on him. Not so much over Abigail's death, I think (he's already resolved that because he had to as part of his larger purpose to pursue Hannibal), but over the injustice of having been forced to grieve her twice. Over the death of Beverly, his only friend. Over the life he's lost, the one he spent years carefully crafting to fit him in a world that will never really accommodate people like Will Graham, the meticulous construction that turned the repairman's son, born into instability, into the college professor who owns a home, who raises dogs, who lives what's a generally normal, if lonely life. Over his shattered sense of self-- because his sense of self is just... completely confused, in tatters, and that doesn't matter when he has one driving purpose (to have Hannibal, which never really changes even while what he plans to do with him once he has him constantly changes).

It's just that... the depths of the loses he's experienced since meeting Hannibal. And as the gaps in his life have grown deeper and more numerous, he's filled them with this sense of purpose, like stitching closed a wound before disinfecting it. Now the stitches have been removed and he's open and festering, but we really don't get to see any of that as the audience because by the time we meet him again, Will is as content as he could probably possibly be given the circumstances. He's sad, but life can be sad. He's lonely, but who wouldn't be given just how... unique (to say the least) his life experiences have been? It's barely been 3 years and he's spent the previous 3 years before that immersed in a lifetime's worth of horrors. But despite that he's calm, probably calmer than we've ever seen him before. He's relaxed.

And that's why Molly is such a fascinating character to me and why I desperately wanted more of her. From the handful of on-screen moments we get with her, she's perceptive, quick-witted, observant, clever, emotionally intelligent-- and I think she would have to be for Will to choose her company over solitude. None of the other reasons I can imagine that he would marry Molly-- him deciding he is soooo normalcore (just look at my normal little nuclear family in my normal little house), him doing it to spite Hannibal, doing it just to prove to himself that he can-- have ever felt sufficient to me, there just has to be a truth that he prefers Molly's company to being alone, that he enjoys being around her (as much as Will can enjoy anything at that point). And for someone who has spent most of his life preferring solitude over anyone's company for over 30 years-- never having met someone who could make him decide that companionship was worth the inherent sacrifices of being around other people, until Hannibal-- what kind of person must Molly be for him to decide that he's finally met someone who's companionship is better than being alone? And on the flip side, what kind of person must Molly be for her to accept his company and companionship? Who can look at someone who is so clearly at the bottom of a deep, deep well, who's lost basically everything and is now subsumed by the grief of that, and choose to be with him? Because I don't think Will is as good at hiding his emotional state as he thinks himself to be, I mean when Beverly was still just his sometimes-co-worker she was like "hey are you alright", I think there's a million reasons why each of the characters don't always notice what's going on with him. But like, regardless, his suffering was probably so intense at the time that of course Molly saw it on him, and she chose to connect with him anyway, to be a part of his life just as she becomes a part of his. I wish we could've seen more of her because what kind of person does that? How did she manage to see past all of that to find his (kind of wicked) sense of humor, his gentleness, his intelligence and thoughtfulness, the morbid curiosity, the kernel of darkness he cradles inside himself like a precious gemstone? And even then, she still accepts him and lets him into her life. It makes me insane.

[softbean]

“capable of such magic”: cherry magic and Adachi’s ordinary power

Good day! I’m here to write a short essay on Cherry Magic after briefly ranting about “(extra)ordinariness” on twitter. I’ve once written my many thoughts about this series into a fic, but I wanted to elucidate some points about the show that are important to me and point them out exactly as they are, and present my interpretation of the show through something tangible, so here I am!

Here is my thesis. Are you ready?

Adachi is ordinary, but more incredible than he gets credit for, and in the same way, so are every one of us that identify with him.

Sections

1. Introduction 2. Adachi’s Self Perception 3. Adachi’s Courage, Honesty, Confidence 4. Audience Perception and the Point of it All

Introduction

When I first started watching Cherry Magic, I felt myself immediately pulled into the show because of Kurosawa. Machida Keita is just so good at embodying charisma in his role! Together with his kindness and gentleness, Kurosawa really felt like the ideal partner someone can have. On the other hand, at least with the way the “30 year old virgin” trope initially frames it, Adachi seems to blend into the sidewalk, have no outstanding qualities, and his virginity at 30 is actually supposed to add burden to his character.

Now, after finishing the show (4 times), stewing on it a bit and trying to understand why I loved it so much, I can say that Adachi is my favorite character hands down, and based on what I’ve seen, I have a feeling that Adachi’s character is actually hugely underrated. Hence, I am here to write an essay standing up for all the ordinary ways Adachi is incredible in my eyes.

We know that over the course of the show the perfect boyfriend/undesirable loner trope is actually flipped on its head. Repeatedly, the show challenges Adachi’s assumption that he shares nothing in common with this person he perceives to be in a different league from himself. Kurosawa and Adachi share the same interests, they both sometimes feel disappointed in themselves, they both feel anxiety and fear and uncertainty, they’re both genuinely good people, and so on. The gap between ordinary and extraordinary is bridged, and I think that’s the whole point of the show as I’ll explain in the rest of my essay.

Adachi’s Self Perception

As consumers of media, we are not aware of it while immersed, but our opinions of characters are subtly influenced by the characters’ own self perceptions. This often prevents us from seeing a character clearly and developing accurate judgment about what kind of person they are.

Adachi is one good example. Adachi is always putting himself down with thoughts like “I don’t have Kurosawa’s positive traits”, “I shouldn’t try things I’m not familiar with because I’ll fail”, “I run away all the time”, the list is so extensive that by episode one, we have a good idea what kind of character trope he’s supposed to be, and along with this understanding we attribute traits of this trope onto him, whether they are accurate or not. Let’s take a look at the text for a minute. Adachi always blames himself for being a coward and not daring to take a step forward, but is that really true? 

There is a certain degree of truth to Adachi being inclined to avoid scary or difficult situations (he does, after all, run away a couple of times). But the truth is, so do most people. That’s how people are built: to feel fear, which tells us to avoid some kind of danger or potentially undesirable outcome. Adachi fears Kurosawa’s feelings, but more so than that, he fears his own feelings, he fears what would happen if he did return those feelings, and fears he will disappoint Kurosawa if they were to get together, and so on. But these are normal feelings that, when put into words, most of us can relate to, especially in a situation with so much uncertainty and so little experience to support him. Adachi may consider running from Kurosawa “chickening out”, but isn’t it normal to hesitate when getting closer to someone you know has complicated feelings for you?

In other words, Adachi has a tendency to take normal human flaws and make an identity out of them. Because he’s so attached to his identity as a loser, we see him through this colored lens.

What, then, about the continuous effort Adachi makes to to open himself up to Kurosawa, the effort to give Kurosawa a chance, the moments when he doesn’t run away, or the moments when he proactively seeks Kurosawa out? 

These are moments of courage that Adachi doesn’t credit himself for.

Adachi’s Courage, Honesty, Confidence

One of the themes of the show is that mutual love makes two people better people together. Being loved gives you confidence, having someone else behind your back makes you more courageous. Adachi himself attributes his change in character to two things: his magic, and Kurosawa, but he neglects the role played by himself in carrying out these feats.

Kurosawa gives Adachi encouragement, but I wonder if it’s possible to give someone courage, if there was none there to begin with.

When Fujisaki is in trouble, despite almost peeing his pants wanting to run, with his voice cracking Adachi would stand and defend her. When Kurosawa is in trouble over the mont blanc, Adachi steps in and reads Hashimoto’s mind to save him. Despite thinking competitions aren’t for him, Adachi applies. Instead of pushing Kurosawa away after finding out his feelings, he works up the courage to get closer instead and eventually the courage to confess, despite how extremely difficult it is for him.

We also can’t forget about the times Adachi’s courage to be honest has saved lives. When the aromantic Fujisaki is troubled by her mother’s expectations to date, Adachi speaks up to encourage her that she’s doing well exactly as she is. When Rokkaku has the thought that he’s lame for giving up dancing, Adachi speaks up to encourage him that there’s nothing wrong with changing one’s dream. when Tsuge is having a hard time believing in himself and his chances with Minato, Adachi speaks up honestly about his relationship with Kurosawa to encourage Tsuge that he can do it too. 

And, of course, the start of it all, years ago when Adachi recognized Kurosawa for the person he is and not the appearance he was born with, and made Kurosawa feel seen and fall in love with himーspeaking his mind honestly there was an act of courage.

Not only courage, but Adachi also has a degree of confidence in himself that easily gets overlooked. Like an average person, Adachi doesn’t hate himself, but it’s hard to say he loves himself either. Still, when he hears Kurosawa’s thoughts of praise when getting the scarf wrapped around him, his reaction is not to dispute any of the praise that is being said, but to feel overwhelmed that someone else is seeing him for the first time. That means that he does see his own strong points, his attentiveness, his care, his hard work and self-sacrificing nature. To a degree, I imagine, these traits must also be important to him, something he puts effort into expressing instead of something that just happens to be. 

Adachi has his own life philosophy, as we can see from him telling Fujisaki about the romance part of it. He tries to live in a way authentic to himself and what makes him happy. This is why I believe that Adachi tries his best to be a person that he himself can approve of, and why being acknowledged for his efforts feels so satisfying. To this extent, Adachi must have some confidence in the way he has chosen to live. 

He has confidence, has dignity, in his way of living without romance.

He doesn’t let Urabe push him around when it comes to his personal choices. He doesn’t succumb to societal expectations, and that shit is heavy in Japan.

And so, with all these instances compiled, is it really fair to say that Adachi is the kind of loser he paints himself to be? He’s got a comfortable amount of confidence, is able to speak up to help others, and has acted out of courage many timesーso what kind of a person is he, really?

Audience Perception and the Point of it All

Something I’ve noticed here and there, and just always assumed (based on how gender works between female audiences and BL tropes) is that a lot of viewers, especially women, tend to identify with Adachi much more than they do with  Kurosawa. One, given the demographics of BL drama viewers, this makes sense. Two, all demographics aside, it still makes sense, because the average person probably relates to the ordinary Adachi more than they would to the extraordinary Kurosawa. Kurosawa tends to be seen as the prize, the “what have I done to deserve him”, and Adachi is seen as the undeserving self, lucky as if he had won the lottery. 

I hope that after my previous sections you’ve come to appreciate the strength behind ordinariness a little more, and that the gap between Kurosawa and Adachi feels a little smaller. Actually, the whole point of me writing this essay is that I wish more people loved the ordinariness that can be found in Adachi and within themselves!!

And this strength isn’t dependent on magic. In fact, I would argue that the message being sent by the show is that none of us need magic to become the person we want to be. All it takes sometimes is for someone else to believe in us, and most importantly, for us to see that there is no real distinction between us and those people we perceive to be extraordinary and alien from ourselves. Adachi was able to believe in himself because he saw the vulnerability in Kurosawa, realized they are both human all the same, and started to believe that maybe he can possess the same positive traits too. It wouldn’t be too far to say that the entire story revolves around empathyーthe magic of being able to read someone’s mind is the power of empathy...but that would be an essay for another day.

Think about it another way. If the storytelling in this series is really as good as I think it is, then The Magic doesn’t happen arbitrarily, it comes and goes with a purpose. I think of The Magic as a gentle guiding hand. It’s a hand that believes in the power of empathy, in this case, empathy that is shared between a romantic relationship. Assuming virgins like Adachi have never experienced this wonderful feeling because of a difficulty with connecting and communicating (I am rolling my eyes a bit, yes), The Magic allows them to get a taste of this connection by giving them access to knowledge about other people that they would otherwise have to work to obtain themselves. And, if losing one’s virginity is any indication of having successfully connected with someone (XD?), then The Magic calls it a day and leaves because its work is done.

Its work isn’t to make relationships work for you. It’s to make you realize you can make relationships work. Isn’t the point of having magic in the show so that Adachi knows, with or without it, he can be this powerful, because he’s already experienced what it’s like? Adachi may have visualized these new and scary situations going poorly for himself, and his perception of himself makes it difficult to believe something like being loved is possible, but when he has experienced it in his own body thanks to magic, then it feels real, then it feels achievable. 

The magic vanishes, yet rather than disempowering Adachi, it leaves him with a craving for more, as if it’s introduced a whole new world of possibilities to him. It makes him want to “ask for the moon”, to aspire towards things that had felt impossible for him before. Having magic has taught him that he can read the hearts of others and get closer to them if he just had the courage to try. 

And that’s what I think we should all take out of this series, on top of a wonderful love story. That by opening ourselves up to understanding others better, we start to see the rigid divisions between self and other dissolve, and things that we feel we lack that others have start to feel a little bit less unobtainable. As a side effect, we soften our hearts towards others too, because we feel their joy and their pain, and in so doing we find ourselves with more and deeper connections than we’ve ever had before.

In the end, we are all ordinary. You are more powerful than you think, if you believe in yourself, if you see the ordinary power you possess, if you see yourself for who you really are.

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Thanks for reading my essay! If you enjoyed it, I’d appreciate any kind of engagement. I’d love to hear your thoughts or further this discussion if anything sparks an idea. If you’ve never seen Cherry Magic (!) I highly suggest watching it, or if you have, why not watch it again!

Have a great day!