#especially when the main topic has to be tragedy from love

[sporksaber]

My current english proffesor has a habit of refusing to focus on female characters (even though the majority of the stories he chose have female main characters). He didn't talk about antigone at all, just about how tragic haeman is and how if you think about it creon is also a tragic character just as much as antigone.

[drchucktingle]

work of jordan peele is BIG influence on chuck this is correct. there are quite a few similarities actually, especially when you consider both of us are coming to horror from place of comedy (i personally do not see tinglers as comedy but obviously this timeline has placed them there and i am perfectly okay with this trot).

we are both creating horror stories for our own historically marginalized groups and in particular, writing stories that are SPECIFIC to those groups.

for example when thinking about QUEER HORROR there is plenty of queer horror where the horror itself has nothing to do with queerness, or the queerness is subtext. for instance you could have a slasher where the main characters happen to be gay, but their queerness is not necessarily part of the fear.

on the other hand, CAMP DAMASCUS is directly commenting on a queer issue

BURY YOUR GAYS is directly commenting on a queer issue

by the same token GET OUT is directly commenting on a race issue

US is directly commenting on a class issue which is, of course, going to be wrapped up in topics of race and marginalization

it should be said that the other kinds of horror where issues of the marginalized groups is more in the SUBTEXT are not wrong. there is a time and a place for that. the book that will likely be chucks next horror novel is about bi erasure, but it is much more about the subtext and symbolism. there is a bi lead, but also a monster that does not seem to be about bi erasure AT FIRST. it is much less direct. so there is a time and a place for both kinds of approaches.

but i think the biggest thing that is similar about jordan and chucks approach (and what has been a big influence on me specifically) is that our goal is NOT: 'how HORRIFYING AND TRAUMATIC AND MESSED UP CAN WE MAKE THIS?'

we are doing something else

processing trauma by exposure can be a common goal for horror AND honestly i think it is also totally dang fine to make art like this. there are some incredible pieces where trauma and tragedy is the goal. however (and i will speak for myself here) when you are coming from a buckaroo community that has been through so much of this trauma in real life, i PERSONALLY find that goal to be a little too boring.

my goal is more like this: how can we use this genre of fear and tension that i love to comment and explore and say something new? how can i pull apart an issue and deconstruct it in a way that is cathartic and maybe even changes minds?

so i cannot speak for jordan but i feel like our approaches are similar in this way. i see a LOT of reviews that make comparisons between CAMP DAMASCUS and GET OUT and i am always very flattered

[yzy-dragon]

I absolutely ADORED S2E9 "Three Stories" of Link Click and was a bit surprised to see the discontent here on Tumblr, and I totally understand the reasons why people didn't like it, especially in the context of the pacing of the rest of S2 (which I also have some opinions on but I won't talk about that here), but I also felt the need to just get my heart out why I love it so much. A bit of background, I'm Chinese American but have lived in and visited China numerous times.

Music and theater. As a western classical musician and an amateur Chinese opera singer enthusiast (I saw someone else post about the possible inspo this episode got from Chinese opera), I VIBED with the artistic direction of this episode SO much. The three-part structure was almost like a sonata/symphony (and remember that one scene where Qian Jin was air-conducting in a previous episode!!) or scene changes in a Chinese opera. Nothing needs to be said about the animation style that hasn't been said already, but I like how scenes from the three individual "stories" were interwoven and reused like leitmotifs. Especially that crazy, tortured laughter. Idk if any of the parallels were intentional on the part of the director, but it's what I got from it due to my personal experiences. I know that's a highly subjective takeaway though, which brings me to my next point....

Qian Jin's "tragic" backstory. I know a lot of people were upset that the extent of Qian Jin's tragic backstory was "oh his wife cheated on him", but I think the "basicness" of his struggles was the whole point (by the way, this segment displayed various attitudes towards work, family, marriage, individual pride, and life in mainland China so subtly but so well!). I also don't think sympathy was the main thing we were supposed to feel for him, although of course there is some. The whole "tragicomedy" aspect of Qian Jin's story is that it's not some horrible, terrible, rare thing that happened to him, but a common problem faced by so many hardworking but busy married men trying to provide for their families: infidelity. But Qian Jin sees himself as the main character of an elaborate play that rivals the great dramatic classics (which, funnily enough, often depicted very DRAMATIZED versions of a rather basic series of events). And his viewpoint is validated when....

Qian Jin meets the twins. That segment is still largely from Qian Jin's perspective, because we still don't really know how LTC and LTX even feel about him. But for Qian Jin, it's a stroke of fate and fortune that could only possibly happen in theater. He's very far removed from reality at this point. Reality is that a cop whose job it is to investigate violent crime comes across two kids who are the victims of a violent crime. Again, nothing particularly special or even coincidential. It's comical like that.

The fairy tale section.  Unlike the first two, I think this segment is from Xixi’s perspective, which not only justifies the cartoony artstyle but also makes it heartbreaking, due to her childlike innocence.  Like Qian Jin, she also perceives her reality as something it’s not, but unlike him, she doesn’t have delusions of grandeur of being a tragic protagonist.  It’s just a little fox trying to survive in a forest full of predators and hunters.  

All that tortured laughter. I’ve actually noticed in a lot of Chinese media that they like to use laughter as a way of signifying a person’s complete mental breakdown due to the tragedies they’ve suffered.  It’s a very internal thing that has people on the outside going, “WTF?”  In this episode we have a lot of characters crazily laughing together at the same time and it seems like they’re relating to each other, but in reality they’re all trapped in their own nightmarish hells and motivated by selfish purposes. 

Back to the topic of Qian Jin, even though he (innaccurately) may see himself as the hero of his own story, it's not enough for him. He wants to use Cheng Xiaoshi to change the past. He wants to become the director of the play.

I know a lot of people were disappointed this episode didn't advance the plot, especially in regard to Cheng Xioashi and Lu Guang's storylines, but I was actually prepared for a backstory episode and couldn't have been more satisfied. Again, I have other opinions on the rest of S2 but at least standalone, I think this episode was nearly perfect. And I really wasn't expecting this, but it's really elevated Qian Jin to one of my top characters.

[magic-is-something-we-create]

- BETA READERS WANTED -

Do you like Grimdark Fantasy? How about Horror? Noir? All of the above? Do you want to watch fictional women dole out incredible violence as their lives get worse, and still find hope in the world? Are you a sucker for enemies-to-lovers, especially of the kind that's convoluted and messy in their emotional attachment? Have you been yearning for more disabled and/or trans protagonists in your life?

Do you want a story where love corrupts instead of redeems?

Do you want to read a tragedy that was inescapable long before the story began?

My novel Whispers is in need of some beta readers!

Marika Swiftfoot has hidden from the Shadow of Fowden for ten years, but ten years isn’t a life complete.

She has a debt to pay, and the Whispers have finally come to collect. And once again, she is ripped away from everything she calls home as the result of a poor choice she made years ago, when she didn’t know what would come.

But she will not go to Fowden without a fight.

And she swears the man who brings her there will die by her hand, no matter how much she once loved him.

Lorelei, too, is steeped in the regrets of her past, for she is known by three names: Softheart. Witmouth. Vowbreaker.

She wants to earn Hopebringer before her legs give out for good.

But first, she needs to find out what happened to her little sister. First, she needs to find the man who has disappeared just as untraceably, thirty years later.

First, she needs to end the Shadow of Fowden.

For she is not her father; she does not break her vows.

Content warnings, beta reading details, and sign up are below the cut!

Boosts are appreciated!

Important basics:

- It's 172,000 words, or about 750 pages.

- First-person, dual POV narration. Most of it is present-tense, but one POV features frequent past-tense flashbacks.

- The target audience is Adult. It dives headfirst into a plethora of dark topics, and reader discretion is advised.

- The main critique focus is on plot effectiveness and points of potential confusion. I'm especially looking for whether the twists are too predictable/too unexpected, and whether the ending is satisfying. If you won't have time to read all of it, please don't sign up.

- The hard deadline for critique completion is July 1st, 2024. The document will be sent out on January 10th at the latest.

RECURRING CONTENT WARNINGS

Body horror, gore, violence, and death. Emotional abuse. Transphobia and sexual assault. Harm to children and implied child death. Police brutality. Ableism and physical abuse. Fire.

STILL INTERESTED? You can sign up to be a beta reader here!

[a-couple-of-notes]

I’m curious what makes you ship Rio/Alice (I also love the ship and glad more people are on board)

Oh, boy. Sorry for the wall of text that's about to hit your eyeballs, anon.

First, the main reason is that I love unexplored dynamics. It's more fun for me to write rarepairs that I have to work to justify or understand, that aren't necessarily scaffolded by popularity or a whole canon romantic storyline. Actually, I tend to avoid writing pairings that a lot of other people write or that feature heavily in canon--kind of a strange feeling of "if you don't have anything new to add, don't say it." (Which, to be clear, is not how one has to approach fandom at all. I genuinely enjoy reading my favorite tropes and premises over and over again! I like seeing ten different people gif the same moment! It's just that I, personally, like the narrative space of rarepairs.)

So for me, Rio and Alice occupy that fascinating grey area of having maybe one and a half canon conversations (super rarepair) but also being such strong characters independently that the threads of behavior and backstory are there to connect if you want. (I want.) To wit:

Rio and Alice are two people (person and entity?) whose natures fundamentally oppose each other--Alice is a very mortal protection witch whose natural instinct is to save, to be good, and Rio is the immortal Death, whose job it is to reap, to take, to be villainized. Put them together, and they'll clash in a fun way--especially since, unlike Agatha, Alice is terrible at running away or deflecting. It has the potential to be really toxic, and it has the potential of coming out the other side to actual growth and understanding. (This is what makes Alice so easy to ship/write for me, by the way--I mean, yeah, she's my blorbo, but also her sincerity and instinctive selflessness offer a great counterpoint to, like, every other character. The others, who are balls of lies and deflection and worse coping mechanisms, clarify when placed next to her.)

They also have interesting similarities: they're both bound by duty. Both forced to accept senseless tragedy. Both grieving. Both, in a way, willing to be truthful.

There are so many entry points into it from canon: Rio following Alice through her life via the curse, Alice seeking Rio (death) at some point in her life (which is not exactly canon but you can argue it by...well, Alice's whole deal pre-episode 4), Rio being jealous of Alice saving Agatha (I wrote that one), and of course Rio reaping Alice. Come on. That cheek touch. Like, we saw someone walking beside Rio into her realm, and it wasn't Agatha.

And, well, there's the Agatha of it all. The way I write Rio, you simply cannot cut Agatha out of it. It adds an extra challenge to figure out how Rio and Alice would have a relationship that would stack up in any way to Rio and Agatha's (and what that would look like). If you do it right, it gives extra meaning to Rio/Alice--it's not the destined love, but it's one they had to choose.

And finally, the two other, very shallow reasons:

I wrote a fic about these two, and I put so much of the stuff I like in there that I played myself and got interested.

Aesthetically, Death and her puppy dog girlfriend in a Hot Topic leather jacket? Fire.

[nightcolorz]

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what was going on in armand's head in the books after he turned daniel. do you think the lack of telepathy between them was a factor? do you think he felt guilty for turning him or just sortof didnt know what to do now that it was done, or both? what do you think changed to allow them to get back together in the end? do you think anything could have gone differently so that they didnt separate after qotd? also unrelated loving the kill marius tag 10/10 I hope he explodes and dies forever

TY I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!!! And thank u lmaoo so true Marius die challenge.

I’ve kind of talked about a lot of this before in my post about why I think Armand and Daniel’s relationship ends in the books but I’ll make this post into a sort of tldr lol. for my own comprehension sake I’m going to answer ur questions in an autism friendly list, lmao

do you think the lack of telepathy between them was a factor? —Yes absolutely. Armand struggles a ton with verbal communication as well as being open and vulnerable with his loved ones (especially Daniel). I think that Armand definitely had a crisis after he turned Daniel bcus he was feeling a ton of grief and sadness after his turning and in addition, had his most comfortable mode of communication stripped from him. Armand in tvl doesn’t speak out loud for most of the book, which makes me think he finds telepathy much easier then speaking, and it was definitely a big part of his dynamic with Daniel. Armand defaults to using telepathy when he has trouble speaking about certain topics, or is in a headspace where he has trouble talking in general. it’s very likely armand wasn’t commutating with Daniel at all once they didn’t have the telepathy bond which was def a factor in their relationship falling apart. Daniel probably felt neglected by Armand and didn’t know why since he suddenly wasn’t talking. Get this boy a communication device 😭

do you think he felt guilty for turning him or just sort of didnt know what to do now that it was done, or both?—I think he felt guilty, and also like a failure. Armand’s vow to never turn someone into a vampire is incredibly important to him, and possibly one of his only moral standards he is dedicated to holding onto. Armand considers turning someone into a vampire an unforgivable evil he would never want to participate in, he thinks that the maker and fledgling dynamic is doomed from the start bcus fledglings will always grow to hate their makers, and he thinks that this is inevitable bcus vampirism is a curse that no one will ever get anything good from. As Armand sees it, him turning Daniel was both selfish and cruel, bcus he cursed Daniel horribly out of the selfish desire to keep him alive against his own good, and it was also a forgoing of his most important boundary and therefore a forgoing of his humanity and his morals. So needless to say Armand is kind of going through it after he turns Daniel, lmao

what do you think changed to allow them to get back together in the end?—I think that Armand’s complex about vampirism and his own trauma fueled perspective on the world was the main contributor in Daniel and Armand’s relationship ending, and I think they are able to make it work during the Prince lestat era bcus Armand goes through a lot of growth since queen of the damned, especially in the vampire Armand. After his suicide attempt and his gaining of his human children Armand begins to become genuinely more content, confident, capable of overcoming his trauma set backs, self aware, etc, and I think Armand just being a more happy and optimistic person in itself did wonders for his relationship with Daniel. He always thought of their dynamic as a doomed to fail tragedy, so when he reunites with Daniel and takes on a more optimistic approach they have a lot less conflict. I also think Daniel no longer being an unhinged alcoholic and going through his own growth period helped tremendously lol.

do you think anything could have gone differently so that they didnt separate after qotd?—I tend to see it as an inevitability that their relationship ended that way. The only thing u could change would be making Armand and Daniel completely different people and changing everything about their relationship, lmao. Every little thing in the devils minion chapter, including Daniel and Armand as characters, is a small contributor to a relationship that is about to burst in flames 😭😭 I’m just happy they work it out later on lol

Thank u for the ask!!!! I loved answering and thinking about these questions!!

[citrinitxs]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG!

NAME: Navina! However, people call me by different nicknames and alias/es, such as Navi, Nav, menace (/aff), and even by my anon alias, ✨!

PRONOUNS: they/them!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: tumblr asks & dms, but if we're friends/mutuals and we can vibe, then discord <3

NAME OF MUSE(s): main muses are albedo, kaedehara kazuha, alice! The rest that arent my mains are on my carrd, which you can check because Im too lazy to list them all out

BEST EXPERIENCE: personally, I think my best has been w/ meeting new people and discovering what they like from our muse dynamics. I absolutely love talking abt how they may act and how, in certain verse/s and plot points, their relationship develops. I have a particular fondness for those who are doomed by narratives to only say "fuck you" and REWRITE the damn thing themselves... or just be tragic for the sake of the majority <3

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS:

- no communication. I refuse to tolerate people who can't communicate how they feel with me, especially if I did something they don't like. got an issue? talk to me! I promise you, I will be more supportive and willing than me finding out you talked shit about my style, muses, or me in general.

- acting/proclaiming we're exclusives WITHOUT my prior knowledge NOR consent. I personally am not interested in being exclusive with people unless we're genuinely close friends (and there's chemistry for our muses to the point I can see it), and even then, I would prefer if we talked about it and we're both FINE with the idea. However, if you say that I'm ONLY allowed to speak/interact with your muse and NO ONE ELSE'S? That's a hard block. This is an auto block if we are not mutuals and you proclaim I am exclusive with your muse.

- romanticizing dark themes and/or glorifying it. Enough said. I have some issues that I refuse to talk about and I am also sensitive with certain topics, and I refuse to glorify anything that can be considered dark. I may tackle on it sometimes (be it by muses, myself, etc.), but if you romanticize or glorify themes like sexual assault/harassment, incest, and the sort? Instant deal breaker. "Don't speak to me again" type of deal breaker. Don't test my patience. (bonus is if you try to defend it. You will be blocked the moment you try, so don't bother.)

MUSE PREFERENCES: characters that have genuine potential and dynamic where you can just see how fucked they can be, how you can make each other worse, how they can be each others' star-crossed lovers and forever in tragedy. They can literally be the most normal couple to exist or something, just so as long there's chemistry & where we can channel our inner conflict together for them to conquer! (Bonus points if they're ALSO a doomed by the narrative character. dw bestie, we'll redeem them ourselves...... after they go through hell and back ofc LMAO)

PLOTS OR MEMES:  BOTH AND I'LL DIE ON THIS HILL. Listen, plots fit a LOT for me because then, we can plan out how our characters may act + make it easier. It's also long-term for me, esp for ships and muses I'm interested depending on the fandom. Memes, however, are good pick me ups because I will send them en masse. Woe, meme be upon ye, y'know?

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: Ok, both (for my rp partners), BUT not 1 sentence short. Please add depth. If you need the minimum, 3 to 5 sentences is good! Just go wild! I personally write a lot because ranting abt things have me hyped, so expect like. maybe? 3 paras? probably 4 or 5? Just medium length rlly, but if I am EXTREMELY hyperfixated on a verse/muse/plot/dynamic...... yeah gl LMAOOOOO

BEST TIME TO WRITE: goddamn, it's when my brain can focus. it can be late as fuck and I would be too into writing to sleep, and sometimes, its IN THE MORNING. LIKE. HELLO? so yeah what's time actually. (/silly)

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): In my personal opinion? Not really (esp not Albedo lmao??) but. apparently my friends think. that I do?? honestly ask thea and a few of my mutuals, they'll answer this better than I can tbh

TAGGED BY STOLEN FROM: @glacialswordsman & @poswiecenia (lmao hi I live in ur notif walls <3) TAGGING: @vagrantshiraeth ; @amemoire ; @constarellations @lorendiel ; @livingakasha ; @bloodied-bets ; @ anyone else (hi I will live in ur walls soon, move over /j)

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

Hello <3

I've listened to both songs and I love both of them, but I like "Cast your spell uranus" a bit more, because of the lyrics - and drumming of course. I like these lines a lot: "Take me to the tower Make love to the Moon" Just lovely <3

But daaamn, "You can do voodoo" is hella catchy!

So, as I'm in your ask box... Could you tell me your 5 favorites songs by Russ? And why you like them?

OMG HI

okay yes i have to agree with that too, actually! though i love that russ did just about everything on that solo album 'you can do voodoo' is from himself, it was kind of like him making use of his new freedom to do whatever he wanted after he left the band, so that's one of the reasons i love that album. AND it was not long after he did that one that roger asked him to write for/produce his ride a rock horse album, so he must have liked what he was doing too.

i can't think about that anymore without thinking of the story russ told, which i think more or less went like this:

roger: russ, can you write some songs and produce my next album for me? russ: yeah roger: great, i'm going to the caribbean for six weeks, bye russ: NOOOOOO russ: i won't know what key you're gonna sing in! roger: I CAN SING IN ANY KEY

it's better when russ tells the story, the way he does the "I CAN SING IN ANY KEY" in roger's voice, and he sounded pretty close too

AND THEY TOURED TOGETHER TOO in the 80's, russ played guitar for him. i always think about the way, before russ did one of his own songs in the set, roger introduced him and was like "he's a great singer" the way he said it was so. like. awwwwwwwww. sounded so genuine.

this picture was from the same tour:

(a fan handed the flowers to russ to give to roger and i believe russ has this picture on his wall in his studio)

i THINK that was the first tour he did since he took like a decade off of touring to be with his kids when they were born.

and then they were part of the rd crusaders later for charity.

okay anyway, i ramble a lot and go off topic sometimes

oh my god i have to only choose 5 songs???????? IMPOSSIBLE

okay wait i'll try

no wait, I'LL DO A DOUBLE LIST(still difficult to choose when i love literally everything) and then if you want to listen, you can either choose between the lists or both of them if you want. one from argent and one from russ.

from argent, i'll chooooooooooose:

liar <- i love this one because it was the main one that stuck in my memory after i first watched their set of six video where i couldn't stop thinking about it for months before i actually got into them more(the video the massive gifset of bob henrit drumming was from(also i am once again thanking @burn-on-the-flame forever for showing me argent in the first place, hello i love you)) three dog night did a cover of this, which made it a hit. (they also did a cover of their song 'chained'.)

it's only money <- both part 1 and part 2. this is me cheating in an extra song because they're technically two songs. i just really love the way these sound

thunder and lightning <- i love the sound of this one too, and the lyrics. like, just everything.

gonna meet my maker <- same with this, i love everything, but especially russ's voice in this, i can't listen to it enough. also you can never go wrong with adding harmonica to songs.

tragedy <- CATCHY and CORRECT

and from russ AFTER argent, i'll choose:

winning <- this was about his life, i love the catchiness and the lyrics. santana did a cover of it, most people know that version.

rock and roll lover <- another catchy one. bob drummed on the album this was from, into the fire, and the album before it, barnet dogs

dream on <- this is one of his motivational songs, he loves putting things like that in a lot of his lyrics. he always does a little intro speech for this when he does it live, about how life makes sense when you have a passion and he always encourages people to find one.

just like me <- this is from my favorite album ever, book of love, which is like a concept album about his life. he said this song was a true story.

in to the light <- i love the lyrics of this one too. i actually love the lyrics of every song on that album, he's been helping me so much with my own mental health, it's almost unbelievable how much progress i've made since learning he exists

this is from his website, what he said about that album:

[istherewifiinhell]

okayyyy also. tagged by @joelletwo for 5 topics i could talk about for an hour with no prep.

now. two things. 1. i have infernal podcast dude energy and could say a lot about nothing. weird trait to have if u dont like talking to people? hard to say. 2. GESTURES AT BLOG. im ALREADY. talking at length abt my beloved shit. so im just ruling out turtles, alien robots, trek, etcetcetc all the shit thats been a main blog topic for the last past. 4 years?

I'm gonna say.... western voice actors? not that i could really. Give a lecture so much as. I'm way more familiar with them that than I am live action actors. And I'm kinda just CONSTANTLY like. Oh you know so and so from every cartoon youve ever fucking seen? And FEEL a real. gap. with people when they dont have a same reference point. probably like how ppl feel with me when i dont know their acting guys jhadbgjfga. Like u can name 5 VAs from ur childhood cartoons/animated movies right? And personal interest like, hey btw u know like the entire cast of tng was in disneys gargoyles? U know keith david can SING? And diego luna? Hey you know about Canadian actors who are in all the dubs and video games and yeah cheap shit? You know Scott McNeil right? You know Ian James Corlett? You know. THE IAN. of being Ian. Hello. is this thing still on?

I really like and care about the topics of education, children's rights and pedagogy? Not academically so much as, personal interest. What seeing very clearly that there was a lot of arbitrary rules that involved things like. The Government. and Systems. as a child does to a motherfucker I guess? I'm always INTERESTED in a discussion about it, is how i mean I guess. Like focuses of multiple intelligence and "applied knowledge" (and short comings there of). I mean long and short of it. Kids are full human beings and until u can grapple with that their feelings and opinions um. Actually matter. I hate you? jdhbgjhdb. And Naturally the world being good for kids has the prerequisite of it not sucking ass for adults too....

UHhhh guh. User design/civil engineering? You'll hear it from me until the day I die, crushed under the tires of a ford f1 giga truck with the LED 20million watt bulbs. PROTECTED BIKE LANES. for the love of god. I just know a lot of designers I guess and like engineering, conceptually. But like, u know that famous bridge everyone crashes into. If theres 80million warning signs and people are still crashing... maybe theres. other factors. Or you know ofc like, traffic planning, vehicle accidents, structural disasters. A lot of them are not just. Things happening. Tragedies. There's politics there. Usually a lot of Money stuff. and structural racism. The real reason your fridge is full is that there's a bunch of half empty condiment jars hiding all your forgotten left overs. And widening the roads isnt gonna do shit for traffic.

Jackass entry: Themes and motifs of anyyytthing ive watched with another person or saw, and like they also know it. I realllly like, visual theming and narrative shorthands. Anything that breaks like, maybe people in this setting dont have the same customs, but their gonna do something so you the audience can recognize it. Non literal/accurate use of colour and lighting, for mood and clarity. Breaking the physical shape and scale of things so they can appear and be readable on screen. COSTUMING COSTUMING COSTUMING. A well styled character can do soooo much for your understanding of a work, especially with large casts, and a poorly styled one can take me right out. Well. anyway. yes i love animation u all knew that.

uhhhhh Thatgamecompany/giantsquids studio. im giving myself a free space. lol technically I DO. blog about this. the music. at least. BUT beloved. games. Me and everyone else I guess. Hey speaking of u know its laura bailey and troy baker as the voices in the pathless? And you know how a lot of the games have themes of coming into being/growing/rebirth. And LOTS of environmentalism. And implied cultural world building, and wordless stories. and beautiful metaphor rich otherworldly visuals. and gameplay styles that really connect with the emotional story their going for. and ofc, the music. oh the leit motifs. well. there u go. sword of the sea when?

tagginggg. uh did anyone get @deadgrantaires or @army-of-bee-assassins yet? anyone elseeee who wants to regale me with things they knowww about. id love to know.

[aimfor-theheart]

i’ve been reading godmaker for the first time and i’m not super far into it (i’m on the third chapter) but it’s reminding me a lot of sharing beds like little kids insofar as the readers have similar abilities and the tragedy hovers in the atmosphere similarly. i’m not sure how to articulate it but it’s that foreboding feeling that all of this has been decided already and we’re all hurtling toward inevitable heartbreak. and i think that’s u grappling with the existing tragedies present in the source material of the manga/anime but i wanted to let u know that it’s a really great atmosphere for the fic. it hurts a lot to know that the hope within these fics is very small and proportional to how powerful and how deeply constrained the main characters are by their situations in life. whether it’s hawks with being a hero or dabi becoming a villain or gojo becoming a god i think it’s really interesting that u grapple with these themes. it’s really interesting to draw a through line across these two fics. it also makes me think about coin toss a bit and how you’ve talked about how that’s like The Story u wanted to tell about tomura. it’s really resonated with me since u published it bc it really encapsulates the tragedy of tomura and hero society. and i just wanna say thank u that u approach these topics in ur fics bc they’re not easy but they’re really rewarding as a reader trying to engage in the source material in a way that isn’t really done by the creators of the mangas themselves

woah….anon i’m not gonna lie to you….this is maybe the most seen i’ve ever felt about my writing?? lmao?? does that even make sense?? but ig i think you just captured entirely, exactly what i set out to accomplish with those fics and it is very insane and incredible and i’m just?? a little lost for words

i just really really appreciate you—not just taking the time to read my fics but then come to my inbox and articulate your thoughts and dissect my writing and—literally Get It like spot on!!!

there are several things to know about me: i love tragedies. i love stories dealing with time. i think there is a great deal of room for tragedy within plots centering time. and like you said, i just really wanted to tease out those elements of tragedy that i saw within the original works.

in general with heroes (or gods)—there’s this fate tied to them. you know? when we deal with such titan figures, there is a myth and fate tied to them. gojo especially to me is like…so macbeth-ian (perhaps getou is moreso but. they both are) in the sense that….was he always going to be a god? or did he make himself that way because that what was expected and told to him? does it matter—if he by his own violation or not would still become one?

and i like inserting a reader that further emphasizes or complicates that. i also just like my very powerful, all-knowing, cassandra readers.

anyways. i just can’t get over this ask. thank you SO much. thank you from the bottom of my heart. it was rewarding to write it!! even more rewarding to hear that it was captured well and something that you enjoyed and sunk your teeth into!

thank you thank you thank you 💗💗

[wildkitte]

Aeneas and Creusa

As much as there is discourse on Aeneas’ part in Creusa’s disappearance, it is made clear that Creusa was indeed important to Aeneas (this is what I will personally fight Perkell on, even when I find her other opinions on the topic to be fascinating). Not only is there the mad dash to the burning city (“I’m determined to incur every risk again, and retrace all Troy and once more expose my life to danger”) and the admittance of this being “the cruellest sight” in all of the destruction of the city (her absence), but also some little details like word choices and intertextual references. So let’s talk about my favourite Aeneid couple for a moment.

(Here I use Austin’s commentary as my main source.)

I spoke a little of Aeneas and Creusa’s parallels to Orpheus and Eurydice in my first post – Creusa’s name being ‘Eurydica’ in some versions is the most obvious clue, but Creusa’s loss mirrors the way Orpheus loses Eurydice. The commentary of today’s email had a good interpretation of this parallel: they’re a bit of a reverse Orpheus and Eurydice, Aeneas loses Creusa because he doesn’t look back. But a direct parallel can also be drawn – technically Aeneas does not lose Creusa until he looks behind. There are also textual references to Vergil’s Georgics, like how Orpheus and Creusa both call their spouses “dulcis coniunx” (Aen. 2.777 and Georg. 4.465), and like i.e., Austin’s commentary points out, this is certainly no accident.

I also find the repetition (of Creusa’s name and the iterumque iterumque vocavi I mentioned in the last post) in the passage where Aeneas searches for her interesting. This reminds me of the last passage of Orpheus and Eurydice part in Georgics: Eurydicen toto referebant flumine ripae (‘Eurydice’ echoed the banks all along the river; 4.527), the theme of calling out for the lost wife’s name, all in vain. I don’t really have too much to say about this parallel in particular more than this (I haven’t perused Georgics closely enough to dare a further interpretation/comparison, but if someone else has please let me know your thoughts). Truly this interpretation of them, as repeating the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, makes these two all the more dear to me.

But let’s talk about those vocabulary choices now!

Every once in a while, Vergil does this interesting register change from the language of the epic to Roman comedy. This happens a couple times in scenes featuring Creusa. In 2.739, erravitne via seu lassa resedit (did she stray from the path or sit down in exhaustion), Austin directs the focus to lassus, tired. Outside of comedy, it is rarer than fessus (though it has been used by other authors like Horace, Ennius, Lucretius, Cato and Catullus). Another example of uses of Roman comedy’s vocabulary is in Creusa’s line to Aeneas in 2.786: aut Grais servitum matribus ibo (nor will I end up as the slave of Greek matrons). Here Vergil uses a supine, servitum, that is more common in colloquial and early Latin, being especially common with Plautus. Austin’s interpretation is that this register switch, from epic Latin to a more colloquial level, makes Aeneas and Creusa seem more relatable to the audience. The conversation, with its grounded vocabulary, communicates to the Latin-speaking audience a sense of familiarity: this couple is just like us, and they talk like married couples do. The casual language communicates affection.

Creusa’s speech is overall really sweet, with her calls of “sweet husband” and trying to console him in his immense grief and finally the request to protect the love for their child. My favourite line here is lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae (banish your tears for your beloved Creusa; Verg. Aen. 2.784) and Austin has something to say about the adjective dilectus. This is also a bit of a rare word in the Aeneid, it appears three* times in total: Sychaeus is dilectus (1.344) as he is loved by Dido, and Atys is called dilectus (5.468) in relation to Iulus (poeroque puer dilectus Iulo, boyish love of the boy Iulus…whatever that means in this context), and of course here in Creusa’s speech. Dilectus is used to emphasize an especially warm and deep relationship between the characters.

One could, and will, make the observation that in Aeneas’ telling, Creusa calls herself dilecta, that she is the one who calls Aeneas dulcis coniunx – but here I think it is useful to remember that Aeneas is also the one narrating this. He may be putting words in his wife’s mouth, but he is the one choosing to speak of their marriage in these terms. Her loss is devastating (I bring up vidi crudelius again) and Aeneas never utters her name again in the rest of the epic (though Andromache mentions her, and Ascanius namedrops her in Book IX). I think that Creusa’s loss haunts the relationships he has with women in the future – he can never give himself or his love fully, as it was lost like a light breeze, a winged dream.

(Btw, Sarah Ruden translates ‘lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae’ as ‘so weep no longer, though you love me’. Devastating. Sobbing inconsolably. Never the same again.)

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about divine Creusa and also why you should be a little unwell about her too.

*later edit: i actually made a mistake here, it does appear more than three times - perhaps i was thinking of those three times as an epithet for a person

[faithfulmaiden]

little girl having a tea party with a lobster &. a hawk, 1938. childhood’s little depiction.

the image’s used as an inspiration.

rabene tonsort received love from parents only if succeeding or exhibiting genius ideas for a painting or admirable projects but without errors as the main condition. in boring hours, chess game would nurture one’s wits alongside selecting a random magazine to ken actualities. isolation &. pressures never has strengthened the descendant of tonsort family, drawing green shades for abandoned forests plunged in winters or reclusiveness in varying shapes like twisted entities with no face &. blurry appearances veiled by layers of albescent dusty clothes expose the maiden’s psyche at only ten years old, already savoring disputable explorations before hiding papers under draps or behind a closet, trapped in high expectations of hypocritical parents who despised failings or possible imperfections. the topic of young flaws has been equal to venom in the house, anticipating nauseating events that smear a family tree’s reputation after tolerating one mistake. this, a compound of boundless folly &. obsessive perfectionism.

sometimes, imagining a landscape with bizarre figures &. adding obsidian with virescent colors easily frighten a normal person, but not when realistic scopes mingled with clear negligence as prime foundations &. unjustified demeanor towards offsprings has alternated rabene’s entire viewpoints on miscellaneous issues, leaning on philosophical–related cognizances &. the healing process when focusing on humane yearnings through soulful incandescence &. emotional maneuverabilities. so hereafter grueling assignments, the gifted child’s occupied with quizzes, waiting for debatable results like vastness before all lucidities &. correct answers. unfortunately, forlorn moments come to weaken a brittle &. demure spirituality, especially when mothers begin a lecture with tears, the index pressed against the child’s temple before adding the nail to impose &. fathers quench a thirst for dominion with copious beverages, reinforcing quotidian indubitable disciplines to satisfy their blithering egos. name those poor events signs of hardship.

the fruit of affection in home just stopped growing, resting under the surface, deprived of cares. unthinkable is an ounce of genuine support : put aside doting trait, catch the grotesque aspects of this exploited world, diligent incandescence &. fragile balance, but no marigolds, talents give purposes. an orphan prepared to unravel woven threads of ancient novels in solitude, engrossed in half-ripped parchments thrown into hideouts like boxes under the desk, questioning the expanse of life, then parents busy with accomplishments &. jobs interrupt the pursuit of knowledge with complaints, reinforcing this loop of awfulness. hesitation obscures individual motivations, guiding a consciousness to a bubble of pessimism &. even succeeding in locking up dreamy ambitions. with all those insufferable memories that often haunt rabene, tragedy’s the prime root of all creativity &. inspirations nestled within her mournful spirit — that’s why feeling like an orphan becomes an identity when responsible adults proffer negligence but at least encourage offsprings to seek independence instead of yearning for regular mansuetude because the world’s a plane laden with free wills &. ersatz innovations amongst sly disguises &. all–consuming varieties that often target naivety.

&. the rest’s history.

[hellisanhonourstudent]

Luke being a bad person/doing bad things makes him more tragic as a character,not less

This is(mostly) a copy-paste from a meta I wrote on Reddit. Besides,I'm only talking about the books,the tv show is 100% ignored in this analysis.

Disclaimer:this isn't to excuse Luke's actions or to diminish their severity,it's just that his terrible deeds are a fundamental part of his character as a sympathetic villiain when it comes to both words,not just the latter one.

Luke's life was extremely turbulent. First,he was raised by a mother who not only couldn't properly raise her kid,but she also yelled about his terrible fate while her eyes had a supernatural glow. To top it all,Hermes didn't give any sign,no matter how much Luke prayed. An unpleasant way to get introduced to the divine,I'd say;

Because of May's "crises",Luke ran away from home. There,he had to deal with all of the crazy stuff homeless kids/teens have to,besides the monsters wanting him as breakfast. Perhaps it was during this time he learned about how dangerous the demigod life was,plus desensitization to violence - at least,the beginning of it. Another amount of time Luke prayed for help,but none came until he was 14. To top it all,Hermes said growing up in the streets "builds character";

Camp Half-Blood itself. It surely beats living in the streets(being protected from monsters,training,regular meals),but it's far from flawless. The place has a blasé attitude towards violence and death. Besides many demigods(especially unclaimed ones) going on suicidal missions just to get claimed and/or a smidge of the godly parent's affection,people get slaps on the wrists as punishments for maiming and killing other demigod campers during Capture The Flag(no desserts). If Luke wasn't indifferent towards murder before CHB,he surely became. Now that I think of it,Sally is the only one who deserves credit for Percy's moral code when it comes to authority figures;

After all that happened,Kronos appeared and decided to manipulate Luke. TBH,I think the failed quest was just the last drop. Luke had way too many reasons to get angry at the system,two decades of trauma(he was 19 in TLT,but I'll round it up). Kronos was a bad influence to Luke,using his ressentment to make Luke undego several kinds of decay - including moral;

Using seduction as a weapon on young teens isn't such a dealbreaker for me,as a Luke fan,and even that is part of the tragedy of Luke Castellan. Not only he had to grow up early and his ideas of youth are warped,but there's also the infamously small demigod lifespam. Besides,Luke's exposure to the good parts of the mortal USA moral code might very well be limited(not to mention he himself was unprotected by society). On a tangent,him falling for Annabeth is stupid - whether it's canon or not (I don't want to debate it). Rick wrote them as having a sibling relationship,makes a big deal about a "family promise",then decides to make a love triangle? Way to trash an emotional arc. Now,back to the main topic. Luke being a manipulator and victim of manipulation at the same time is a great way to show how "hurt people hurt people";

Negative emotions. Rick Riordan said Luke's fatal flaw was wrath,and it surely fits. However,another thing that repeatedly doomed Luke was some sort of emotional fragility. First,Luke said Kronos paid him compliments and gave him important stuff to do as a sign of appreciation. Then,the Titan Lord himself said Luke hated and envied Percy. Envy is very hurtful and often stems from a feeling of lack. Luke also was shown as someone who needed validation. From TLT(namely the praises),to TLO(Luke,hosting Kronos,mentioned something about how Chiron "said the gods cared about me"). Even to save Olympus,Annabeth had to offer Luke support.

[midnitevintage]

Characters I Headcanon have Bipolar disorder

(From the perspective of someone living with Bipolar 2)

**Disclaimer**

This is all meant to be in good fun and I’m no mental health expert; merely someone who has been through lots of therapy

Let’s Begin!

1. Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist

I’ve always related to Rin Okumura, especially during the time I was under the mistaken diagnosis of ADD. I was surprised to learn from this that a lot of symptoms of bipolar can look like ADD/ADHD at times.

For example, Rin is shown to be someone who is easily distracted or fixated on new topics. He also tends to sleep a lot which is confirmed in the manga by the fact that this boy sleeps 12 hours every night. And finally a major factor that clued me in is how easily he is swayed by his emotions which leads him to act impulsively.

Rin’s emotions tie him to his demonic half which in turn can cause a lot of inner turmoil for him. I’m sure anyone with bipolar can relate in feeling like their change to either a manic/hypomanic state can cause them to feel like a demon and out of control. But as is shown in the series, by practicing to focus on his emotions, Rin learns to lessen and control his symptoms.

2. Gangle from The Amazing Digital Circus

I know I know, I’m lowkey pulling for stereotypes here with the tragedy and comedy masks. And on top of that this is a series with only a pilot so we hardly know anything concrete about her character. 😂

Everyone in the digital circus seems to play a role based off of their avatar given to them. As a being with two different masks, Gangle is very sensitive to the way in which she acts when her comedy mask is broken.

She tends to be very anxious and sensitive to the events that unfold around her both physically and mentally (she unravels from a mere bowling ball being thrown her way by Jax).

In some fandom interpretations of her character I’ve seen interesting depictions that also heavily give bipolar vibes like Gangle having an abstracted self tied to her ribbons or forcing on her comedy mask. I love Gangle and this pilot.

3. Captain SpaceBoy from Omori

Oh poor Captain SpaceBoy. He’s so heavily influenced by any mood swings he experiences that he seems to take on an entirely new persona whether it be SpaceBoyfriend, Space-ExBoyfriend, SpaceHusband, or Space-ExHusband.

When you first meet his character, you can clearly see he is depressed as he refuses to leave his bed and throws away any special possessions that remind him of his heart ache. Later on he even goes as far as to isolate himself on top of a snowy mountain when the heartache returns to him again..

He is also easily consumed by a rage which seems similar to a manic/hypomanic state that leads him to fight the main cast of characters. Also when it comes to his special boss battle I find it interesting how you can only defeat him by fighting him in certain states of emotion.

4. Howl Jenkins Pendragon from Howl’s Moving Castle

Howl is undeniably a drama Queen, but some of the ways in which he takes certain actions give me some bipolar vibes.

There is of course the infamous scene in which he throws a tantrum due to Sophie organizing his hair dye potions. He swings very quickly from being irritated and enraged to absolutely inconsolable and depressed. He even spends that next couple hours in bed after this scene.

Howl also tends to lead himself to danger as he appears to be in heightened states of euphoria when he pushes himself to the limit with his magic. He is also rather impulsive when it comes to the relationships he makes with others if we are going off of his book persona.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But above all!! All these characters are shown to be good people who genuinely care about the feelings of others and try to do their best to help even when their own mental health is bringing them down.

Bipolar individuals are more than their disorder; we are all kind people ♥️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s all! Lemme know what you think :)

[knightotoc]

Poor Things spoilers:

This movie puts a lot of work into stopping its themes (such as reproduction, scientific experimentation, misogyny, and death) from developing. Instead of pushing these ideas to their conclusions, as Mary Shelley does in Frankenstein, Poor Things freezes these ideas in place. In any story with such a horrific premise, are happy endings inherently conservative?

In the story of Frankenstein, Victor delays his marriage and its socially acceptable method of reproduction, and instead seeks companionship with other men and a new method of reproduction which gives him more control. But he underestimates his creation, and ends up losing all his relationships and control over anything. Adam has the opposite attitude to marriage; he wants a wife as soon as possible, and he needs Victor to get him one. While Adam's priority is emotional, Victor fears his creations' hypothetical ability to reproduce themselves. These characters have strong, sympathetic, and incompatible motivations, which leads to conflict and tragedy.

The motivations in Poor Things are trapped in a cycle of abuse, which, when paired with the movie's comedic tone, gives everyone a base level of unchallenged emotional (and financial) security. Godwin's father experimented on him, so he experiments on Bella. Bella travels the world, but in the end wants to stay at home and continue her father's scientific work.

The undeveloped theme of reproduction especially bothers me. It is hard to separate such a storyline from the upsetting news coming from pro-life states right now, and the movie's historical setting makes the lack of concern even more glaring. In Bella's past life as Victoria, her pregnancy caused her to kill herself. The madame at the brothel is taking care of a baby, which she uses to emotionally manipulate Bella. So even though this is a bizarre fantasy world, pregnancy is still a problem ... except when it isn't.

The idea of someone who discovers sex before she knows it leads to pregnancy is interesting, but this movie does not address it. It feels like too big of a problem to just omit, especially since it would tie other concepts in the movie together: heteronormativity, free love vs marriage, bodily autonomy, her own body vs mind, and the heart of the story, her relationship with her dad. Even a short clarification that she is now infertile would at least have filled a couple plot holes, but I really feel like this should have been a main theme.

The dynamic between Godwin and Bella is similar to the one between Coop and Murph in Interstellar. She is a smart, angry daughter, the superior to her foolish sibling. Though she emotionally rejects her father at first, she always intellectually supports him, and by the end is completely on his side. I appreciate that Bella has a more positive attitude toward her creator than Adam does -- as they discuss, without the experiment she would not exist -- but I still feel like she should have had more complicated feelings about the purpose of all this scentific work. Instead of becoming aware of the harm science has done to Godwin and herself, she simply uses science to punish someone else.

Her arc toward maturity feels incomplete: we see her learn to move, talk, want things, and think for herself, but the movie stops just short of getting her adult perspective on its own difficult topics. Young Frankenstein accomplishes this by having creator and creation transfer some of their brains to each other, so that the monster winds up more articulate and wise than the scientist. The original Victor does not give Adam this opportunity, but Adam still becomes independent by his own sheer force of will, and forms original, critical opinions on society, family, and the future. While Poor Things has more disturbing situations, its characters aren't as affected by them, so their arcs feel stunted and unsatisfying.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Ok, giving you an update as I finish up Season 3!

Claiming Liv for BPD rep. With the mood and Personality swings (+ related interpersonal problems) I feel very seen :)

This might me just my Aro vision making it hard to see, but I don’t get MajorxLiv. Like with all the other pairs, there’s a path there or they shared interests and worked their way closer. But with these two we’re just told that they are meant for each other because ??? , but everytime they are together it’s just…why?

Liv has had better chemistry with every single one of her dead Boyfriends and she deserves better

Watching Blaine go from the main villain to that annoying bastard you can’t get rid of makes me so proud! I love characters like that! He’s the best, I wish him to never achieve his dreams! :D

On that note, the series has consistently fun villains. Good Job!

Big fan of the Meal montages that started with Season 2. And with how the brains keep their colour and consistency unless turned into mush. As brains are known to be x)

Fillmore-Graves has taught me that my armor for puns is still sore

I just like Jimmy, I’m glad he keeps showing up. He hates working with the Morgue Crew so much and it is so funny!

Fave episodes: “Astroburger” “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter” “Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind” “Zombie Knows Best” “Looking for Mr. Goodbrain 1+2”

4 more days and 2 Season to go!

*braces for the LARP Episode*

!! You weren’t lying when you said you were speed-running! I was worried you might not be able to make it through the show before the end of June but you’re making headway!

- Oh, I love that (re: Liv BPD rep) – I never thought about it before but that is really interesting to explore! Tbh I often think of the zombism as a metaphor, e.g. Liv’s early zombism as a parallel to the PTSD symptoms that someone would experience after the boat party. And some specific brains having her adopt different neuro-types (e.g. the “hot mess brain” really struck a chord with me as someone with ADHD) – and the thing is, BPD would also make a lot of sense, especially with the age of onset often being in someone's 20s. Plus, it makes me even think in literal terms and not just metaphorical ones – Liv always seems to be more strongly affected by the brains than most other zombies on the show and I think it would have been interesting to explore how zombism and related brain-effects would interact with different mental health conditions and neurotypes. (The thing is, I have at least the working theory that the underlying personality as well as the willingness to engage with the new personality affects how and how strongly zombies are affected. A big example for me is Liv having a vision the very moment she ate one of Lowell's orphan brains while he could surpress it. Or in Conspiracy Weary, when Liv, Blaine and Don E are on the same brain and Liv does stuff like putting gum on her friends' webcams and wants to protect them, Don E likes to talk about celebrities (we see him do that on other occasions like with Christina Ricci or Gwyneth Paltrow) and Blaine is very opinionated on Tupac and the symbolism of Makaveli (music being a big deal to him)

-- The thing is, I think MajorxLiv might just be one of the most contentious topics in the fandom. I know people who really love them together and the tragedy and drama and the doomed-lover-ness of it all and I know others argue more from the point that such a major (ha!) point of the show is deconstructing the seemingly perfect life Liv had at the beginning of the show and he realisation that it wasn’t perfect at all and that she mostly lived for the expectations of others and didn't really have anything that mattered to her. And that part of that should have been realising that Major and her weren’t meant to be married-two-kids-picket fence and that they should have just embraced being friends and that it defeats the narrative. I also think it might be because they’re one of the only couples we don’t see originally falling in love – with Peyton and Ravi and Clive and Dale we see what attracted them to each other in the first place and watch their relationships develop (though I must say that I have more fun with Clive/Dale than with Peyton/Ravi but that’s no hate on the latter, I just enjoy the dynamic between Clive and Dale more). But Liv and Major were a thing from the beginning and you can tell that the writers very much prioritised them over other relationships these two had (rip Nathalie especially, you deserved so much better) which I alo think leads to some frustration. Personally, I don't really feel that strongly about it either way but I wish there were some aspects that they had gotten into more. Also, I wish they had prioritised Liv dealing with the deaths of so many of her boyfriends more?? Dude, the trauma of that. The guilt!

--- REAL. It goes from Blaine being a child-butchering monster to Blaine and Don E being the Pinky and the Brain of zombism (and also having the main-gang on speed dial). I like that they didn’t even go the route of redeeming Blaine or making him less evil. He actually continues to do things just as evil (and worse) than what he did in season 1. But even the morgue gang doesn’t really prioritise stopping or killing him anymore. I bet they run into each other in supermarkets or at the bank sometimes lmao.

I think it’s partially because he’s the long-distance runner of iZombie villains – most of the other baddies contain their evil to one season, maybe one-and-a-half. So it’s much easier to keep track of where they wronged you. With Blaine, the list is so long, it’s really hard to keep track of it all. Plus, a lot of his schemes don’t even directly affect the gang or they never learn about them. The show just gives like…a good amount of screen-times to tuning in to Shady Plots or the Scratching Post to show us what stupid schemes these two clowns are up to. (Also, I like that David Anders said that Blaine actually really likes the morgue squad and spending time with them. Those are his best friends who hate him <3)

----I also kind of dig that the meal montages really only started happening with season 2. Because early on, Liv’s zombie meals being more depressing (the instant noodles she does in the pilot for example) makes a lot of sense because she still feels defeated and lost being a zombie. But later on, she starts having fun with it! And I think it goes well with stuff like her refusing to tan or dye or putting on a scratchy wig – she really starts owning being a zombie and the fun meals are part of it!! I love that for her!

----- iZombie drinking game: Always taking a sip when there’s a silly pun somewhere. (doctors do not recommend this)

------- They put so much energy and thought and screen-time into their non-primary cast! Jimmy! Vampire Steve! Enzo! Johnny Frost! They’re just like: “here’s another perplexing little guy. We will not elaborate.”

--------- These are all fun! I always find it kind of hard to say which one of my favourite episodes are but I also really like The Whopper for all the drama happening there and Conspiracy Weary – Oh, and in season 4 you have Brainless in Seattle and Goon Struck coming up which I also really love (you might already be there, even. Not to spoil but: Major and Don E on a roadtrip! That was fun.). And in season 5 The Scratchmaker and the noir episode are really fun!