#for my mental sanity if not for a compelling arc

[jewish-jonathansims]

Autism is so funny because I can take one line and become obsessed with it's implications so now I am obsessed with the character as a teenager even though we are never showed that character as a teenager and my brain never leaves them and how the fuck do you explain it to people because it's one fucking line

Yes this post is about Aaron Hotchner

[kyouka-supremacy]

so, kyotag, your super honest opinion about bsd characters please (aka, who is your fave and who is your least fave. i promise, i am not trying to get you 'cancelled', i am just curious!) 🎤

Ever since I've gotten this ask I've been trembling, I don't think I can ever give bsd honest opinions for the sake of my own future mental sanity LMAO. The upside is, I can talk plenty of the characters I like!!

My favourite character is Kenji! For real, ahah. I'm just always drawn to characters that are just... Good. little guys only trying to do their best and be kind. I suppose there's also a factor of “that's who I want to be” that makes me like them in particular. I don't like the direction they went for Kenji's character in chapter 100.5, but really? I wasn't particularly let down by it either, like it's so fundamentally coherent with the worldview bsd expresses, if anything it was chapter 13 that was out of the scheme. I'm a professional canon ignorer at this point and I'll keep doing just that ahah.

↑ Saw this scene for the first time in the anime, went “Slay! Communist king!”, and he's been my favourite ever since lol.

Although, if we count in Beast, then my favourite character overall must be Beast Atsushi. I mean, have you seen him... Most fucked up guy ever. He went through unimaginable trauma and he still kept being so soft at his core. He just wants to live but everyone is making it so hard for him. He cares for Kyouka so much and he cares for Dazai so much and (to me) he cares for Akutagawa so much like little traumatized boy how did you manage to save all that love in you despite the Horrors. I can't put in words how much I love him but really he's the only character I can say I really sympathize with, like, I want good things to happen to him. I want him to spend the rest of his life coddled and adored.

I love all the female characters <3 I ADORE Kyouka, I think among the other female characters she's the most multilayered and complex character with a structured and compelling story arc. I think she's seriously nice, I really love this stark contrast between her sharp, cynical side and her side that is so sweet and kind and so utterly 14 y/o, and I love how these two sides aren't really in conflict but just come to be together and make her so authentically Kyouka. She's so dear to me. Also, she's the only female character who can compete with the s.kk / ss.kk four for the role of main character, so like, I'm rooting for her ahah.

I adore Yosano for self-explanatory reasons lmao. The chapters of her backstory may not be my absolute favourites for a mere matter of personal taste but I definitely think they make for the best written chapters in the whole manga. I really like how sensitive she is of others' suffering, I think she's amazing– I think her compassion is truly amazing. I want to read more stories of unapologetically compassionate characters. I also generally really really love “older sister” kind of characters!!

I love Kouyou with all I've got. I'm sorry, I genuinely think her story was this good on mistake, but still. I think her backstory makes her genuinely intriguing, I think she's extremely cool and powerful and a joy to see in action, I think toxic mother / daughter relationships are super fun to explore, I think she deserves so much more spotlight and should be back as soon as possible.

I love Mitchell lmao. Like I know it may not look like it but I truly think about her 24/7. I just love women that are kinda silly and over the top. She's got like four lines and every single one is a gem and I adore all of them. She's got those big evident flaws and they make her so human and likeable!!! She's my best friend. Not to mention how loyal she is and how much she cares about her family, I really like those traits of her. Oh, and gowns! I love love love gowns.

Okay but seriously I love all female characters. I didn't like Lucy in particular at the start but she's really grown on me and now I adore her with everything. Wells is spectacular and I need her back as soon as possible. Every woman I didn't mention, from Higuchi to Egawa, believe me I love with all my heart.

I went off a tangent I'm so sorry </3 I know you asked for one character, but how can I not mention the others??? It's just been so long for me in the fandom now and I just can't but grow attached. And I've got so much untapped love for women I never get to talk about on my silly blog that focuses on two men. Following up the list, would be Akutagawa. And I don't want to talk about him because I suppose there's no need to after having made one trillion posts about him but also can I just say? I like him for the same exact reasons I like Kenji. She's just a guy trying to be good. The difference is that he sucks so bad at it, and it makes him SO fun to explore as a character. I really have so much fun playing with him. Then would be Tachihara, Jouno...

... ........................ For the characters I like least, I suppose, R/anpo. I'm so sorry peoples. In R/anpo's case, it's just... Why do you have to be so mean and disrespectful all the time. Seriously, dude. Why is he always treating others as less than he is. I'm sorry, I really am, but I just can't help but find it displeasant? Like it takes zero energy to treat other people with common human decency, c'mon dude. At least Akutagawa is trying to do better, but everyone treats R/anpo like he's entitled to be a jerk? Idk man.

K/unikida. In his case, I Do Get why he's the way that he is (and genuinely can relate to him to an extent), it's just... For the way I am, I consider to try and forcibly impose your own ideals on other people to be about the most insulting thing you can do. And he does that a lot, with Atsushi and Dazai and everyone else. He also has this whole forced lack of empathy thing going on like... I get why he does that, and I get what he went through that made him like he is, but that doesn't change the fact you're kinda being a dick to everyone all the time dude. Please get some therapy.

That doesn't mean there aren't moments when I've genuinely liked them both and found them seriously cool!!!! I still think K/unikida is an interesting character and I genuinely get why people like him. I love the helicopter scene, I remember when I was reading the manga for the first time, when he said “no one ruins my schedule”, I was like, whaa, I was completely in awe. For R/anpo too, the Untold Origins arc from what I could see from the anime was really nice, and I also highly enjoy that one scene of his in chapter 81, the “To tell the truth, I had absolutely no assurance they'd believe me”.

Thank you for the ask Nyusa!! I hope you could find this at least a little bit interesting (?). If anything, now you know a little more about me, ahah. Also not talking about Dazai this time because really I can't be here the whole day.

[caitlinsfandomthoughts]

A film fan’s reaction to reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time.

I’ve been a big fan of the Peter Jackson films (extended versions - nerd that I am) since I was about 11 and I think I know all of the big changes made in the adaptation: Arwen, Faramir, Aragorn falling off a cliff. I did read the first book around the same age (in the first of many waves of my lotr obsession) but I only really remembered Saruman of ‘Many Colours’.

However I have always wanted to properly know the book version of the story so finally started listening to an amazing full audio book reading by Steven Red Fox Garnett which I highly recommend:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLvFU2onc7cPIEBee-_xMw

………………………………………………………………………………….

And here are my silly reactions and occasional analysis of the differences between book and film that I didn’t know about.  

The Fellowship of the Ring part six, one, two, three, four, five

The Great River:

Oh Boromir’s feeling tempted

The first time Sam sees Gollum, he tells someone (Frodo) and actually voices his suspicion that it IS Gollum. Frodo’s been seeing him since THE SHIRE, and probably suspected who it was since Moria? At least Lorien, but is like nah I’ll keep this info to myself. Oh Frodo you are too much like me.

Sam says he’ll watch for tonight but Frodo insists that he wake him during and they share the duty. I want to see more of this breaking down of class boundaries.

The build up to seeing Gollum has had legitimate tension in it that it doesn’t in the films so much as he is only seen once, or twice, I think twice. And every scene when he is ‘seen’ has been frightening, as has the Balrog and Moria in general. This is a credit to the book but I also wonder if these scenes in particular work well with the medium of audiobook. The times I have been listening to them have often been in bed at night with the lights off, so that adds to the experience.

TIME works differently in Lorien! Is this how elves experience the world? Is this how they live forever they’re just on a much slower timeline?

The third Aragorn-Boromir moment I miss from the film is when Boromir is actually trying to get Aragorn to face up to his duty to Gondor (I really love how he switches between ‘Gondor needs no king, and ‘Aragorn please come to Minas Tiriiiith it’s really preeeetty!’) and Aragorn says something like ‘I will not lead the ring within x leagues of your city.’ Film Boromir is currently filling the role of heir to the leadership of Gondor that Aragorn should be. His temptation by the ring is also a reason Aragorn is afraid of taking that role. The film not only makes Aragorn less perfect, but also weaves his and Boromir’s arcs together in a way I would’ve liked in the book.

 The Breaking of the Fellowship:

Boromir is not dead! What?! Boromir lives! Well for slightly longer than I thought, I really thought I knew all the changes like this but nope.

I mean, I probably wouldn’t really leave Frodo, the guy with the ring, alone when they know the enemy is close behind them, even for an hour but ok.

I like Boromir’s give me the ring speech, it’s similar to the film, but there is just more of it, he mostly comes off as genuinely believing his justifications rather than being power hungry, and they are pretty convincing, it’s easy to see why he would believe them. A couple of people just ‘simply walking into Mordor’ with no real plan and their most powerful and wise member of the group dead is really unlikely to work. He does eventually say that he would be king, but this doesn’t really seem to be his true motivation to me, it’s more the ring’s influence, I think he is more deeply moved by the fear that this plan will fail. I do actually love that idealism wins in the end and the message that using power, or a terrible weapon always corrupts. But I also love that Boromir isn’t strawmanned I guess, that you can see both points of view even when you ultimately only agree with one makes it a more compelling conflict.

Frodo take the ring off! Seriously though I do like that it is difficult to do that, it makes sense, and we get to hear that Frodo is fighting an invisible battle (while invisible himself hehe) when he puts the ring on, I think it is a little clearer here than the equivalent moment in the film.

It’s been way over the hour that Frodo said he needed and you still haven’t gone to see if he’s ok?!!!

Sam knows Frodo best, he knows why he would try to go on his own (for the sake of the others not in spite of them) and he also knows it’s a dumb idea and he needs someone/him. I also love that Sam is the first person Frodo thinks of when he thinks of the others he cares about, then Merry and Pippin, then ‘Strider’ I don’t think it necessarily would have been that way when they first set off.

Frodo you would be dead so many times over or just be in a cave somewhere with the ring if it wasn’t for Sam! Or really anyone, you need people. It’s interesting to look at it from a mental health lens, particularly the way the ring affects the hobbits. Frodo, was already a little bit of an outsider in the Shire, now with the ring he slowly has to battle more and more to maintain his sanity. Frodo doesn’t ask for help enough, he doesn’t tell anyone about Gollum, but Sam does (even if that person was just Frodo and not Aragorn) and now he thinks he’ll be better off on his own, with a combination of I can’t trust others, and those I do I don’t want to put them in danger, don’t want to burden them with my burden. And Sam is like, that’s not possible, no one can do that, you need people to help, especially given the burden you carry. I know that Sam is very influenced by the WWI batmen, and Frodo and Sam function as an idealised version of a master-servant relationship. But because I’m not a big fan of that I like seeing Sam’s relationship to Frodo as being that of a carer (as well as friend) in a mental health setting, through this lens he is a reminder to Frodo, the one figuratively struggling with his mental health, that you don’t have to, nor should you do it all alone.

And while I realise the reasoning of ‘I can’t go with the whole fellowship cause they’ll all go the way of Boromir’ is sound, I think Frodo takes it too far the other way by thinking he can/has to do it alone and I think we’re meant to see it that way, hence Sam.

Aragorn doesn’t see Frodo after Boromir does like in the film, although I liked this scene I think it works better without it, Aragorn letting Frodo go on his own seemed pretty unrealistic, and Frodo being assured that Aragorn can be trusted, unlike Boromir, lessens the believability of him deciding to go on his own. Here while they all give him way too much time to think given the danger, no-one seems to be saying we should let him go on his own, and they all rush off to find him when they realise he’s trying that. There’s more chaos as everyone goes off without listening to Aragorn, that’s a scene I would have liked to have seen in the film, and I think I’ll add it to my own personal collated headcanon.  

 *And that’s the end of book 1. I think I’ll post some final thoughts on it at some point then move onto the Two Towers*

[zayashmaya]

Gods and Monsters - 3 - Off to the Races.

Other chapters here!

Marvus x Reader; SFW

Your favorite clown comes to your rescue.

My ... man is a tough man But he's got a soul as sweet as blood red jam And he shows me, He knows me Every inch of my tar-black soul

- Lana Del Rey

You didn’t see Lanque for the rest of the evening, which was all fine and well once you were two drinks into some serious shit on the dance floor. Remele certainly knew her audience — the purplebloods in attendance had quickly taken control once they trickled in with fashionable lateness, and everything had been set up for the ensuing clownery that followed. With Marvus at your side and your veins flooded with dubious alcohol, you felt nigh unstoppable, letting loose your inhibitions among a sea of trolls who would have killed you on the spot in a fit of capriciousness.

But a few of the clowns had come by to ruffle your hair and honk at you in recognition for having been a frequent presence in the church. You’ve certainly come far from the days of running for your life and getting trapped in an alleyway with a purpleblood seconds away from bludgeoning you to death. You kind of like them now.

And you definitely liked the way Marvus watched you as you swayed to the dizzying rhythm of pulsating music. Even his hands caressing your bare skin sent ripples of ticklish excitement throughout your body. It felt so different from when you had danced with Lanque. More on your terms, so to speak, and thus more thrilling. All in good fun, you thought. It’s not like he was serious about his flirting, anyway.

The purplebloods finished off the party with a frenzy of rapping that Marvus felt compelled to join. Stelsa had found her way to your side and eagerly followed your lead as you both giggled and danced your sanity away. You recognized some of Marvus’s lyrics from a few performances you had attended, and screamed your head off with the crowd as you sang along, feeling the heat of the lighting and the blurring colors collapsing all over you in swirling synesthesia, until you embraced the euphoric sensations and became one with the music.

Chucklevoodoos, a voice whispered through the cracks of your fraying mind.

Who cares, you answered back. I want this. I want this.

I feel whole.

Marvus was watching you. You felt compelled to direct your entire attention solely to him, not to any other highblood or to Stelsa but to him and him alone, and for a moment you heard the cheers of partygoers distorted into screams of pain before he beckoned you over with his arms spread out in theatrical showmanship. You clawed your way through the masses and into his waiting embrace, laughing for no reason and yet there was every reason to laugh —

“Snap out of it babe,” he said as he directed the microphone away from him, and even though the cracks were suddenly breaking and collapsing like shattered glass, all you could think of was how he said it just for you, only you, only you —

“What if I don’t want to,” you whispered, but nobody heard your admission.

As your fingers dug into the lapels of his jacket, you pressed up against him and scanned the crowd in a moment of clarity. Stelsa. Was she safe? Did you imagine all of the blood and death and fire?

Marvus’s arm was wrapped around your back as he held you close during the madness. You ran a shaky hand through your hair and wondered where the night would lead, because the highbloods were getting a little too rowdy. A gentle pat to your behind pulled you out of your thoughts, and you threw a scandalized look to Marvus as he grinned down at you. With the microphone poised before him, he called out to the partygoers, “Hey.”

That simple word held all the weight of an important command. The crowd fell silent, and a shiver rolled down your spine. You pressed your forehead to his side and tried to make yourself seem as small as possible, conscious of being stared at by so many people.

“Yall havin a good time??” The crowd roared to life in answer. “Lemme hear u give it up for the mutherfxxer who made it all happen, ufeelme?!”

Amidst the chorus of cheers, Remele bounced up to the clearing where Marvus waited for her, snatching the microphone out of his hand and baring her fangs in a wide smile as she addressed her attendees. You huffed a quiet laugh as you listened to her shill out her latest art pieces and advertise her gallery.

“ — and I woulde like to thank one of my best supporters, my very goode friend and my darling muse!"

You jerked your head towards Remele as she zeroed in on you. “Please, no — “ you begged, but she already grabbed hold of your upper arm and snatched you out of Marvus’s embrace. You looked back at him in a silent plea, but he only winked at you and flashed his toothy grin.

Remele whirled you around to face the crowd. The spotlight was on you now.

You meekly waved and prayed for the ground to swallow you whole. “Tonighte, dear guests, I have a confession to make,” she dramatically said, her eyes flashing in excitement. “Were it not for our resident alien, my gallery might never have gotten so muche recognition! Because she was responsible for the gruesome murder of a highbloode mere steps from my gallery, all of those perigees ago!"

”Remele!” you screamed in a whisper, withering away from the crowd as it erupted into bewildered laughter and indiscernible heckling. “What are you doing?! They’re going to kill me!”

And not just the attendees, but Marvus, too. God, you could hardly bring yourself to look at him, because even though Remele was technically the one who killed the purpleblood, you were still pathetic enough to get yourself into trouble in the first place, and the last thing you ever wanted was for him to catch wind of your fucked up escapades, and now your mind was racing a mile a minute but Marvus was just looking at you with raised eyebrows, and he didn’t look angry, just thoughtful —

“Oh, relax,” Remele cut into your mental breakdown, ignoring your attempts to claw your way out of her grasp — she was ridiculously strong — and continued her speech. “In honor of my muse, I have channeled my inspiration for that fateful nighte to create — “ She threw her arm out in a wide arc and directed everyone’s attention to a covered canvas mounted to a wall. ” — this!”

A rustblood scuttled over as if on cue and tore down the white fabric covering the canvas. All eyes were on Remele’s latest painting. Perhaps now was your chance to abscond? Maybe you could use this precious time to find Stelsa and hightail it out of here with one last ‘fuck you’ to Lanque —

Except your attention was entirely captured by the painting as soon as you dared to glance at it.

You were the subject, pressed flat against a dark wall and limbs splayed out like a cheesy damsel in distress, gripping the brick behind you as you stared at the viewer, all wide-eyed and afraid. And, much to your mortification, you were naked — or rather, lacking any sort of clothing while retaining no bodily features characteristic of your sex. Remele had never seen you naked, after all. Rather imaginative of her to paint you completely sexless and alabaster white, with red and purple stains blotched over your figure as though you were covered in blood.

What the fuck, Remele. Did you really look that pathetic to her that night?

Your mouth simply hung open in shock while the audience ascertained the painting with thoughtful murmurs. Remele waited with baited breath, whispering to you, ”Just you waite and see, I’m gonna be fuqueing loaded after this!”

Suddenly, a voice rose high over the crowd and called out what appeared to be a price.

Remele squeeled. You felt your soul leave your body. That better not have been Zebruh.

As if on cue, an intense bidding war began over the painting. You closed your eyes and hung your head, letting Remele flop your arm around like a limp noodle in joy as the price rose higher and higher still. This was it — your lowest point. Your cowardly self on display for other people’s pleasure, awaiting a lifetime of being gawked at by a privileged highblood. And worst of all, you weren’t even going to get a cut of the profits.

Within minutes, the haggling price had skyrocketed to what you imagined to be astronomical numbers. Most of the bidders had dropped out as well, with just a select few voices trying to outbid each other. A small part of you was surprised that they hadn’t attempted to resolve the conflict with good, old-fashioned murder and mayhem. Judging by the growing agitation in the bidders’ voices and the heckling of the crowd, that outcome might not be far off from the future.

And indeed mayhem ensued. Four highbloods had rendered each other into a pile of limbs and — and bicycle horns — before Remele threw her hand into the air and called out, “Looks like it’s time to wrap this shitshowe up! Going once, going twice, to the gentlemane with the facepaint and broken horne — "

A hand came down over your head and ruffled your hair. Somehow, you knew everything would be okay.

“Na b i’ma take dat home tonite,” Marvus cut Remele off. “I’ll take it for dubble tha price k :o)“

”Solde!” she shouted into the microphone, and you breathed a sigh of audible relief.

Yet your momentary reprieve was ruined once you realized that Marvus had spent a ridiculous amount of money on a scandalous painting that he had no need for. A sense of guilt hung over you as Marvus waited for the canvas to be brought to him, keeping a steadying grip on your shoulder and commanding someone nearby to hand over the payment on his behalf.

“You really didn’t have to do that, Marvus,” you quietly said, tugging on his sleeve to catch his attention.

He merely grinned. “I did dis for a more selfish reason than u think.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you actually wanted that thing?”

“Fxxk yea i did brohime, i wanna b lookin at dis erry day to remember i got one dangerous lil mama who could knock me flat on my azz n paint da walls w my blood. Shit’s hot yo.”

“I’m sorry to break the fantasy, but Remele was pretty much embellishing her story. I didn’t actually kill anyone, I would never do that!” you whined.

“Mebbe not then,” he said, his eyes staring straight through you as though he knew more than you let on. “But u prolly did a whole lotta damage to otha ppl jus by being on dis planet. A wicked shorty like u can’t survive here for dis long w/o causing sum mischief. Basically, u iz one dangerous lil alien.”

Discomfort gripped your heart. Marvus was right; you were inadvertently responsible for a few deaths. Thankfully none of your friends suffered from your magnetic ability to welcome danger —

— Karako bleeding out from his stab wounds, seadwellers laughing in the distance —

— Daraya engulfed in flames as she fought through the pain —  

— Boldir’s life withering away right before your eyes —

— Zebruh’s limbs torn apart in a frenzy of bloodlust —

You jolted and blinked through a haze of phosphenes coloring your vision. What were you thinking about again?

“Hey, it b ok u know.” Right, Marvus. Focus back on him. The painting is under his arm now, mercifully covered up so you didn’t have to look at it again. You welcomed the cold seeping into the skin of your shoulder from his touch. “U ain’t gotta b lookin so sad, doll. It just b dat way around here.”

You sucked in a shaky breath and mustered up a smile. “I know. And I guess if there’s anyone who I’d rather keep the painting, it would be you.”

Marvus lightly papped you on the cheek with the back of his hand. But before he could get a word in, Remele suddenly draped herself over you from behind. “Hello my sweete muse, please text me whenever you’re free againe; I’m going to make a livinge off of you!”

“Of course," you hastily replied, eager to worm your way out of her grasp and disappear. “I’m so … grateful that you painted such a — a charming rendition of me. You’ve truly outdone yourself!”

“It’s fxxn aces,” Marvus pipped up.

“Thank you so muche!” she gushed, and you had a sneaking suspicion she was amping up the charm for his sake. Her tactics were so shameless sometimes, but you loved her for it. You weren’t that much different from her in that regard.

“By the way, Remele, have you seen my friend Stesla anywhere around here? You know, the  tealblood who speaks without stopping to breathe.”

“Ummm,” Remele hummed, tapping her cheek with a finger as she looked around. “She shoulde be lurking somewhere in the back, methinks. Thanks for introducing us, she’s gonna be so fuqueing useful in the long run. Juste like you!”

“How kind of you to say,” you humorlessly said.

“Mhm! Anyway, I muste get going. Goodbye, sweete muse!” And off she went, gone in a flash to conduct more mischief.

Marvus tapped you atop your head. “Hey.” You looked up to his sneaky face. “U lookin about as done w all dis as i b. Wanna bounce?”

Oh you sure as fuck did. The weight of tonight’s eventful party was finally starting to come down on you. “How do you always know? I’m starting to think you have some sort of savior complex.”  

“Juss for funny lil hornless aliens who hang around weirdos.”

“Are you a weirdo, too, Marvus?”

He wiggled his eyebrows at you. “Hellz yea fam, but maybe not as much as u.”

“I am not!" you laughed, lightly swatting his forearm as you two walked towards where your instincts told you Stesla might be. “But seriously, thank you for getting me out of here."

“Don’t b thankin me just yet lil mama — maybe I got sum nefarious plans cookin in my think pan,” he teased and winked.

You chuckled. “I’m sure whatever you’re thinking of would be a million times preferable to being mobbed by frenzied trolls.”

“Ye tru. Lemme take u home, babe. Need me a lil bit of company in my sicknasty limo.”

“Oh, you didn’t come here with the other purplebloods?”

The corner of his grin turned up higher. “Sure did, but they ain’t who i’m lookin’ to take home tonite.”

You furrowed your brows at the strange phrasing — why would Marvus be so eager to take me back to my dilapidated hive instead of enjoying his friends’ wild company — but Stesla’s fashionable physique was in sight beside the restrooms, dabbing her face with a small powder puff while looking into a compact mirror. You called out to her in greeting, and she instantly perked up, hiding her cosmetics away in her purse before skipping up to you.

“OH MY GOODNESS DARLING THERE YOU ARE I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER GET TO YOU TONIGHT HOW ARE YOU DID YOU SEE THAT INCREDIBLE PAINTING MY IT WAS SIMPLY EXQUISITE I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THE MARVUS XOLOTO ACQUIRED IT — “

You practically pounced on her with a killer hug that would have knocked the air out of a human. But Stelsa was a force of nature in her own right, and as such, merely squeaked and hugged you back.

“I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now, Stelsa,” you confessed, murmuring into her chest before slinking out of her grasp to look at her. “I think I’m ready to leave now. Did you want to stay a little longer, or can I drop you off back home?”

“I SIMPLY CANNOT LEAVE JUST YET THERE IS STILL MUCH TO DISCUSS WITH REMELE AND SO MANY NEW POTENTIAL CLIENTS TO MEET HERE I WILL HAVE TO STAY BUT DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME PLEASE HURRY ON HOME AND REST YOU MUST BE EXHAUSTED AFTER THAT BIDDING DEBACLE AND I SEE THAT A CERTAIN SOMEONE IS WAITING FOR YOU — “ Stelsa peered over the top of your head in the least discrete way possible. Unbeknownst to you, Marvus waved back. “MY OH MY IT’S A GOOD THING I MANAGED TO PRIMP YOU UP BEFORE THE PARTY JUST LOOK AT YOU GETTING LUCKY HMMM?”

Your mind had wandered during her monologuing, so it took you a moment for her last statement to shock you back into reality. “Th — that, that isn’t what’s happening!” you hissed in a quiet whisper, blushing brightly at her implication. “He’s just my ride home, don’t be preposterous. Anyway, are you sure you’ll manage on your own here? I’m worried about leaving you with all of these highbloods around. What if you get caught in another deadly moshpit or whatever?”

Stelsa giggled and placed her hands on her hips. “DON’T BE SILLY I CAN HANDLE MYSELF JUST FINE I DON’T WORK OUT FOR NOTHING YOU KNOW.” Oh, that’s right. You forgot Stelsa was ripped.

“I’ll trust you … but I’m not letting you go that easy!” You fished out your phone and quickly got to texting. “I’m going to let Tyzias know that I need to leave you here. And you better send me a message when you get home, or else I’ll go looking for you, and you know what happens when I have a mission in mind; things can either go horribly right or horribly wrong — “

“YES YES DARLING I WILL BE SURE TO DO SO THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH A LOVELY FRIEND NOW DON’T KEEP YOUR OTHER FRIEND WAITING TOODLES AND BE SAFE!”

She urged you along before you could get another word in, and you nearly stumbled like a clumsy fool if not for Marvus catching your fall. “Reddy reddy, buddy?”

“Ready ready,” you breathlessly replied, graciously allowing him to lead you away hand-in-hand.

The crowd parted for the both of you on your way out. You caught a glimpse of a few glares and reddened eyes being thrown at you, and if you had a death wish, you might have stuck your tongue out at them. But you were a flimsy human with too much to lose now, so you stared straight ahead and focused on matching Marvus’s quick strides.

The quietness of the outside was jarring to your senses after enduring the loud music and boisterous socializing. Alternia's twin moons cast their colored rays onto your shimmering skin, lighting it up in a dazzling shine that could not meet its full potential under artificial light. Your vibrant glow must have caught Marvus's attention — he turned to look at you with widened eyes and paused his step. “Damn, lil mama,” he smoothly cooed, beckoning you into a twirl as he admired you from all angles. “Now I know I said earlier that u be lookin good an all dat, but dis is sum wild shit.”

You giggled. “It’s just the wicked glow of the Mirthful Messiahs watching over me,” you said and pointed to the sky with a smile. “Get it? Two moons, two prophets.”

“Amen, baby. The messiahs are errywhere and in errything,” he replied, guiding you towards the limo with an arm swung around your shoulders.

The driver was waiting patiently, bowing in respect as he opened the door for you. For a brief moment, you spared Lanque one final thought and wondered how his night had gone after your mini feud got cut short. But with Marvus hot on your heel as you clamored into the limo, you decided that your mental energy had better trolls to focus on.

[daresplaining]

Iron Fist Countdown: 2 Days

Mary Walker/Typhoid Mary/Bloody Mary

    One of the neat aspects of any adaptation is the chance to experiment with new stories, character interpretations, and relationships. The Marvel Netflix shows have brought together many characters who don’t have any particular connection in the source material. Comics Jessica Jones and Patsy Walker aren’t much more than acquaintances. Comics Karen Page never met Frank Castle. But the shows have used this undeveloped territory to craft some fascinating new character dynamics. Thus, we’re extra excited that Typhoid Mary (and her various other personalities), while typically a Daredevil and Deadpool comics mainstay, will be making her MCU debut in Iron Fist Season 2!

    Mary first appeared in 1988, in Daredevil vol. 1 #254. Ann Nocenti, who created the character, intended for her to be a revolutionary amalgam of tropes. 

“As for where Typhoid came from, you'll have to ask the shrink I've as yet never gone to. I think I wanted to shatter the female stereotypes-- virgin, whore, bitch, ditz, feminist, girl scout, all-suffering mother, et al.-- into tiny fragments and yet keep all the pieces in the same little female bundle.”

    Mary is quite literally a character built of layers. She suffers from an exaggerated, comic book science version of multiple personality disorder, resulting in an unpleasant childhood of psychiatric testing. 

“Code name Typhoid Mary. One of the most fascinating cases in psychiatric history. Subject spent most of her life institutionalized, undergoing every known test-- yet she continues to baffle the entire scientific community. The child’s dual personality was first discovered in infancy. In the Mary persona, she is fragile, sickly, prone to epilepsy and other disorders. As Typhoid, she is utterly unapproachable, uncontrollable, a murderous little girl. Pure poison.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #254 by Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr., and Christie Scheele

    This original version of the continuity suggests that she was born with at least two of her personalities. But later, J.M. Dematteis pulled a snippet from Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear origin retelling into the main continuity: an episode during Matt’s first vigilante outing in which he accidentally kills a sex worker. Joe Kelly then took that tidbit now made canon, and decided that the woman in question was Mary, and that this final act of violence committed against her by a man was what fractured her personality. (We’re not big fans of this change, but it is what it is.) 

    Either way, Mary is literally a multifaceted person, with each personality battling for control. As Mary Walker she is a sweet, naive, gentle person, who is horrified by any kind of violence. As Typhoid Mary she is gleefully violent, power-hungry, and wields her sexuality as a weapon to control the men around her. These two personalities hate each other, and they turn her body itself into a battleground. 

Mary: “Feels good to fluff out my hair, get that makeup off... Hot in here. Sweating... Do I have a fever...? Feel sick, do I look sick--? Oh! My hair... my face...!! I don’t look like myself... I look wild... It’s you! It’s that woman...! Oh, god, no-- have to warn myself...”

Typhoid: “Shut up you sniveling twit! Get back in there and shut up! Typhoid’s back on top!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #256 by Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr., and Christie Scheele

    As if that weren’t enough, Typhoid also possesses an array of psychic powers, including telepathy, telekinesis, and-- most famously-- pyrokinesis. Mary doesn’t get any of these fun tricks.  

Typhoid: “Matthew, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for quite some time... Burn...”

Daredevil vol. 2 #46 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Matt Hollingsworth

    Mary’s mental state evolves and fluctuates over time. For a while she has three identities: Mary Walker, Typhoid Mary, and an avenging angel named Bloody Mary, who hunts down and kills men who abuse women. 

Bloody Mary: “You beat two of them to their deaths! Did they ask for that? Did they beg you to kill them? For your crimes you will die!”

The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #214 by Ann Nocenti, James Fry, et al. 

    This arc even results in a short-lived, “healthy” all-encompassing identity who just calls herself Walker. But that is a rare occurrence, and in most modern comics Typhoid pretty much stays in control, opposing all attempts at recovery. Mental health is at the core of many of Mary’s stories, and she has been placed in therapy at various points, sometimes of her own free will but usually not. 

Matt: “I heard what you said. You’re not wrong about Mary. [...] Mary’s trapped in a revolving door of crime, jail, and misery. Her crimes are addressed-- but never her sickness.”

Wade: “What if... what if we had another option?”

Deadpool (2015) #13.1 by Gerry Duggan, Paco Diaz, and Israel Silva

    But she’s such a compelling character as she is that it’s unlikely any treatment will last long. It would be like permanently restoring Matt’s eyesight. Nobody wants that. 

    Given the trend toward groundedness in all of by these shows, we’re expecting Netflix Mary’s personalities to be taken down a notch, with more of an emphasis placed on the mental health angle. Alice Eve has had really evocative things to say about playing Mary, and about the degree to which she immersed herself in the chaos and violence and pain inherent in the character: 

“I’m not sure any of us are lucky enough to be completely mentally sane. Mental sanity is society’s construct so that we can all function together, but, you know, we all go to bed with our minds and we all know what they do to us. [...] So I just kind of swam in that deep ocean for a while and really let myself think the thoughts that mindfulness and meditation and all those things tell you not to, and embraced all the disorder in my mind, and enjoyed that, and felt that pain and lived that. [...] I like Marvel for being able to hinge these issues on this construct they have of exploded powers and exploded weaknesses, and make them big, like they feel to us inside.”

    But the multiple personalities will still be there, splitting Mary between gentleness and violence. The Iron Fist Twitter account has posted several images that seem to be messages Mary has left for herself: 

    Our big question is whether she’ll still have her psychic powers. We really, really hope so.

    As for how she will play into the events of the season, it’s still anyone’s guess. It seems that she encounters Danny and Colleen as Mary, while also running rampant as Typhoid. In the comics, her introductory arc follows her time as Wilson Fisk’s assassin/girlfriend. He instructs her to break Matt Murdock’s heart and then kill him, but she ends up falling in love with him along the way. This seems like an odd plotline to adapt to Iron Fist, so we’re expecting/hoping for something new. It’s also worth nothing that she bears a strong resemblance to Trish... and we’re wondering if they might end up being related in this universe. That would be a neat twist. 

    In any case, we can’t wait to see how she is involved in this story, and to watch her kick maximum butt. ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT!

[thiswholewriterland]

You guys are (mostly) right and y'all should definitely say it, but there's just one thing the overall compelling arguments miss and I think I should remind you: all the homophobic jokes made don't erase the fact that Dean was still a queer-coded character. And that, my friends, is what makes all the difference in this 15-year-long equation.

Queerbaiting, such as its tropes (like Bury Your Gays, Bait-and-Switch, and all in between), is a result of homophobia (search for Hays Code), and even though this is something we all know, sometimes we don’t realize that it’s something that impacts absolutely everything around us and the midia we consume, especially in how things will get to come together throughout all sorts of stories. In Dean's case this is even more obvious, blatant, and unique. 

The thing is: the homophobic mindset back in the day doesn't erase everything he is, everything he was made/meant to be, it actually highlights a lot of these things. (And aren’t we all done with this kind of narrative in which we continuosly downplay ourselves and our own freaking sanity? I mean, just look at Shakespeare, Dickinson or Da Vinci.) It's made clear that Eric Kripke (even if he might didn’t get to realize that beyond his own subconsciousness) thought so too with the "compensating" scene and the siren scene just off the top of my head, amongst many others, which were some pretty extremely... interesting scenes (if you know what I mean). I'm not a big fan of the guy, but Kripke certainly played into the Hays Code more than once, a code which still impacts Hollywood till this very day.

It's important to have all of it in mind 'cause it was never some sort of "straight character in distress with gay shit" kinda situation. The fact that Dean was (especifically) a queer-coded character hits differently than it would have if he were like Sam, a non-queer-coded character. Being queer-coded puts everything in a different perspective, and when you come to think of it, it’s always been this way with Dean. That’s precisely why we all see ourselves in him so easily.

Think w/ me about it in this way: SPN was a show that resonated majorly with its queer audience because of its themes (like found family, traumas due to abusive/toxic parents, mental health issues...), a look at Sam Winchester's S1-S3 arc is all you need to make sure of it, but the thing is: Sam was NOT queer-coded, he never was. Although he was also the target of homophobic jokes (just like Bobby [and any other godforsaken character was for that matter]), he was never expected to be gay because the story itself, the writers themselves never implied that. There are some queer ships with him, sure, mostly because of the other halves of the pairings (like Gabriel), who showed somewhat of an interest in him, but Sam himself was always presented like the Cool Straight Guy™ in the squad, unlike Dean.

Want some examples of characters just like Sam? Okay, then here we go:

• Robin (How I Met Your Mother)

• Chandler (FRIENDS)

• Nick (No Good Nick)

All this to say that bringing up the Death of The Author Card™, therefore excluding the hard work of so many, while also reducing this incredibly nuanced situation to a matter of comic relief and all that is... difficult, to say the least. (And don’t get me wrong, this is not me denying the fact that yes, to some of the supernatural writers, queerness was always the punchline). All I’m trying to say here is that there’s a bigger picture for us to look at, and we shouldn’t miss that. So, yeah, I don’t know if death of the author is the best solution given all the circumstances. (But death of the 15x20 definitely is.)

Long-story short: the homophobic jokes definitely do not erase how Dean was BUILT as a (queer) character (from the very beggining) and we need to be very careful when analysing these things ‘cause heteronormative is imperative, especially when it comes to stories and the way they should interact with its audience (or how it can still play tricks at us, even years after our own acceptance), so we gotta learn our own history as queer folks as well as the machinary in which the lines/barriers our oppresors created/put up for us work first.

I’ll leave y’all with a piece of interesting thinking I couldn’t get out of my head since the passage I mentioned Shakespeare, Dickinson and Da Vinci: sometimes we give the heteros more credit and power than we do ourselves. Isn’t it something to think about?

I’ve been rewatching early seasons of spn and I just can’t help but be angry all over again. This is a stale take so feel free to scroll past but I gotta rant. It is astoundingly clear that they did not intend to write Dean as bisexual. It was all meant to be a joke. I grew up in the Midwest and it is evident to me that all those instances we use to prove dean’s bisexuality were meant to be comic relief, because what’s funnier than a Macho Dude Accidentally Getting Into Gay Situations??! This doesn’t surprise me, like I said I grew up here and for most of my life gay stuff was considered funny. We’d play gay chicken at parties and call our friends gay slurs and everyone would laugh. That’s not new. Dean gets flirted with by a guy and gets flustered? That’s funny! Comic relief! Dean does something vaguely construed as effeminate? That’s gay! Haha! It’s not new. It is actually insidiously familiar. To the supernatural writers, queerness was always the punchline. What bothers me is that at some point, when they realized that their intended audience wasn’t actually their most devoted audience, when they noticed it was us, the queers, who loved the show and related to the characters, they took advantage. Because to us, those little instances weren’t funny, they weren’t comic relief. They were instances of character development that we desperately needed, that we related to. With our willingness to choose to see goodness, we decided Dean Winchester was not the vehicle for a poorly executed homophobic joke, no, he must be one of us. The writers have known the whole time, and instead of just backtracking, instead of ceasing with the the homophobic comic relief, they purposely continued to bait us. They did that knowingly. They did it knowingly for so long that they created the gayest ship to ever sail and then made fun of us for pointing it out. Did it get better or worse in later seasons? I’m not sure, it definitely got different, but those early seasons are damning. And listen, yeah this colors my opinions of the show to an extent, but if being in the Harry Potter fandom has taught me one thing, it’s death of the author. Yeah they didn’t intend it, but the supernatural writers accidentally wrote the best bisexual character in television history and his name is Dean Winchester. And I love that silly little dude

[luanna801]

So as a Fruits Basket fan I have to ask: Favorite characters? Least favorite characters and why? Fave ships, least fave ships and why? :3

Awesome, thanks for sending this!

Favorite Characters: Honestly, I really love most of the characters in this story? I think the main three are all fantastic, and I love the balance of their three very different personalities: Tohru is bubbly and warm, Kyo is passionate and volatile, and Yuki is (usually) calm and reserved. Watching the three of them play off each other is fantastic, but I also think they’re all great characters in their own right. I love how Tohru is so deeply good and kind and yet she’s also one of the most proactive characters in the series? When she sees Akito hurting someone, she steps in. When she realizes how the curse is hurting the Sohma family, she starts taking steps to end it. She’s kind but she’s never passive, and I really appreciate that. So many people equate softness with being bland and ineffectual, but Tohru is honestly really strong.

Yuki is great because Yuki is the character who seems so incredibly perfect on the surface: He’s literally nicknamed ‘the Prince’ at school, he’s handsome, he’s well-mannered, he’s kind, he gets perfect grades, all the girls love him, etc., etc., etc. And yet he’s honestly really flawed and interesting? He can be an absolute brat to Kyo, just as much as Kyo is to him, and I actually love that, because it makes him so much more human. And the way his insecurities and how his abuse affects him are just done so well? That boy’s self-hatred runs deep, and he’s constantly afraid to believe he can actually have a future and people might actually like him, much less love him. And what I love is that (with the admitted exception of said brattiness to Kyo), he really never takes out his issues on anyone. He’s so kind and sweet and caring, and yet he never thinks his kindness is good enough?? He’s constantly worrying he’s selfish and that if he focuses on himself that’s wrong, and it just kinda breaks my heart?

Kyo is… oh my gosh. Kyo grows up so much over the course of the series??? He starts off so prickly and angry and constantly lashing out at the people around him, and that’s understandable when you know his story, but of course that doesn’t excuse it. But the best thing is he knows that, he knows he needs to change and he works to do that. And it’s honestly beautiful to see how much he’s able to open up and let go of some of that anger? He’s such a sweetheart when he lets himself be - you see that side of him even in the early arcs, but you see it more and more as the series goes on and I love it. He’s also so damn selfless??? Like, when he realizes he’s in love with Tohru, he has no hope it could actually work out (you know what I was saying above about Yuki’s self-hate issues? Yeah, he ain’t the only one) but he just wants to spend any time he can with her and make her happy in any way he can, and just… break my heart, why don’t you. I hate the way Kyo’s been made to feel like he can never be anything but some destructive force that hurts everyone around him, and the way he’s been made to feel like he can never have a normal future. But seeing him fight back and start to move past that mentality is so, so important and rewarding.

And that’s just the main three, but honestly, there are so many more characters I could talk about here? I freaking love Hatori. I love the way he’s so often the only level-headed one in this ridiculous family, I love that he’s so serious and reserved and pretty no-nonsense honestly, but he’s also really deeply kind and trying to do the right thing? And even when he’s completely given up on finding happiness for himself, he just wants to protect Tohru and Yuki and Kyo and keep them from making them same mistakes he did? I just… I have a lot of feelings about Hatori, okay.

And Hanajima and Uotani are really great too? I love that they’re not just there to be Tohru’s Best Friends, they have their own stories and internal struggle and you get to really see inside their heads, and honestly both of their stories are fascinating? Like… I would legitimately read a whole spinoff series about Hanajima and her brother. Goth kids with superpowers who freak out everyone around them but are actually complete sweethearts and totally devoted to each other? Sign me the heck up. They’re Addams Family-esque in the best possible way. (Also, can we talk about how you know there’s a lot going on in this series when the fact that Hana has literal superpowers and almost killed someone with them when she was a kid is honestly a pretty minor subplot?)

I also really love Momiji and Rin and Hatsuharu but uh. This is super-long so I’ll stop here. (It’s really nice because I almost never have this feeling of ‘Ugh, why are we focusing on this character?’ no matter where the story goes. Even the characters I dislike as people, like Akito, are really interesting and compelling and doing their part in the story really well.)

Least Favorite Characters: Well, Akito, obviously. I have very little tolerance for abusers, and what she’s done to her family is effing horrifying. I mean, I don’t think this one needs much explanation. She pushed Rin out a freakin’ window for daring to get a boyfriend. She almost blinded Hatori in one eye and made him feel like it was his fault. She psychologically tortured Yuki for years and tried to completely break him. She put a twelve-year-old child in the hospital just because another twelve-year-old had a bby crush on her. I… really have very little time for sympathizing with Akito. I know she was abused too, but after a certain point… I don’t care? It in no way excuses the absolutely horrifying things she’s done to people who did absolutely nothing to her? Abuse messes with you as a person, absolutely, but she’s still responsible for her own actions. The people she’s abused were all seriously messed up by it too, but they didn’t torture other people because of it. And when they do lash out over it, that’s something they have to work on and realize they’re acting in a way that’s not okay. Having been through a lot isn’t a free pass to excuse anything you do.

I’m also reeeeeeeally not fond of Shigure. I find it particularly chilling that he… honestly seems amused by the things Akito does a lot of the time? It honestly mostly comes across like he can’t be bothered to take any of this seriously, and that’s gross. I find that kind of complete moral vacuum almost as hatable as outright villainy. (Also, as I’ve mentioned in the past, the way he continually pervs over teenage girls, particularly Tohru, and the series plays it off as a joke? Gross. Gross, gross, gross. Even if you assume he’s joking - which I tend to hope he is for my sanity - it’s still creepy as heck that that’s his idea of humor.)

Favorite ships: Kyo/Tohru, of course. Honestly, the whole central love triangle is done really well. (With the exception of a few things that I won’t get into here because I’m saying what I like.) Both relationships make sense and are well-developed and have some incredibly sweet moments. But ultimately I’m really happy with Kyo and Tohru ending up together.

I also really like Mayu and Hatori (no surprise since, as I mentioned above, Hatori is another fave of mine), and I enjoy how… normal and mature their relationship is? There’s no big drama, they’re just two nice, likable adults who get along well and are good for each other. That shouldn’t seem so rare in fiction, but it honestly does? Rin and Haru are also a great and fascinating relationship and tug on my heartstrings in so many ways. (I’m also not quite up to their relationship yet in my reread, but I think Yuki and Machi seem good? I know they end up together and I like how her character’s been developed so far from where I am in the story, so I’m excited to see how it goes.)

Honestly, I was thinking the other day that Fruits Basket is a rare series because basically all the canon ships work really well for me? There are some I’m more into than others, but for the most part I think they all work really well and are likable/interesting in different ways, and I wouldn’t want to change how anyone’s paired off with one notable exception. That’s rare.

Least Favorite Ships: *looks up at my Least Favorite Characters* … It will stun everyone to hear that I’m not very fond of Akito/Shigure, I’m sure. :-P

Also, I think the whole thing with Uotani and Kureno really comes out of nowhere and… really doesn’t work for me at all? Like, they meet two times and suddenly we’re supposed to believe that they’re so important to each other and be invested in this whole star-crossed lovers thing and it just… really doesn’t feel believable? At all? I mean, I know sometimes people are very smitten right from the first time they meet, but in a series which usually takes the time to develop relationships so believably, it feels far too sudden. Also I don’t get why it was necessary to give them such a big age difference? Like… she’s in high school. He’s almost a decade older than her. If Takaya wanted to pair them off, why not make Kureno closer to Uo’s age? Like, you could still have an age difference, but make them like.. 17 and 21, instead of 17 and 26. That would feel far less squicky to me.

… But honestly, just pair Uo and Hana instead? That would’ve made so much more sense to me, and gives you a wlw couple in a major role too.

[project-rebirth]

A Notice

I’ll be honest, my motivation for this blog is pretty much dead. It seems like no matter how much I try to figure out what to do, I just feel burned out afterwards. I haven’t been feeling threads as of late because 1. My muse for certain characters has been dropping as of recently, and 2, because I have partners either heckling me, or even guilt tripping me into replying,, which, in  all honesty, makes me not want to do these threads at all. Then there are just a ton of other things that are o my mind lately that’s completely soured my mood and further causes my sanity to drop, to a point where I considered downing a bottle of pain pills at one point.

Between a lot of this, mainly revolving around current events, and my concerns for other people, flooding my mind, I’ve reached an impasse as to what to do regarding this blog.Part of me feels compelled to just nuke everything on this blog and start anew, because really feels like that most people aren’t that interested in what I’ve had been planning and were only passersby, and as I mentioned before, I’ve been losing muse for a lot of characters.

Essentially, I’m hitting a similar issue Ive had with Sephira, and the thing with Sephira, is that the reason why I’ve somewhat stepped away  from it, is because I wanted to figure out what I should do going forward, because I haven't been that impressed with what the final result of some, if not most of the chapters  were. I’ve been debating just going in and rewriting parts of some chapters so that they mesh well with what I have going forward, because the first arc was basically the only arc that wasn’t planned properly and I had to wing it, which resulted in something that left a little to be desired.

I could go on and on as to why I think the first 8 chapters of Sephira could have been done better, but the important thing to note is that the issue I had with that is similar to what I’m having now, only this time, it’s more burnout related than me not being impressed.

Regardless, I just don’t know what to do anymore. My motivation is dead and my mental health hasn’t been that great. I never gave any indications of it because I don’t want to completely destroy my reputation and have my blog crash and burn to the ground, or receive anons telling me to go off myself, because I couldn’t keep my emotions hidden. Well, now I’ve put that out there, so no doubt anons will be coming to eviscerate me on the spot like many a time before.

So as of this moment, until I figure out what to do with this blog, or until my motivation returns and my muse for these characters comes back up, I’m placing this blog on indefinite hiatus from rp’ing. This means that all ongoing threads have been put on hold until further notice and any starter calls I put out will remain inactive until then as well. I will still be lurking from time to time, but for the moment, there will be very little activity for this blog as far as rp is concerned.

In the meantime, I will try to recover what little of my sanity I have left and try to take things easy. And I think I will try and work on Sephira related things like rewriting some chapters and making some changes to the wiki.

It is time to close the pages of this book for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

---Administrator Zero

[dingoes8myrp]

Orange is the New Black: The Road So Far

Now that I’ve finished the fifth season, here are my thoughts on the show.

For the most part, I feel like this season was 80% filler, 2% character development, 8% set-up, and 10% compelling story.

I should mention, as a viewer and as a reader, I loathe filler. I’m a minimalist. I probably write this way, too. I like every piece of dialogue, every description, every scene, to either move the story forward or give important information. I like to be constantly moving or thinking. My perfect movie, episode, or book is one where I’m captivated and engrossed. And this doesn’t have to be a high-octane thriller either. Really, it just has to keep me moving or keep my brain working. I lose interest in books with paragraphs and paragraphs of detailed descriptions (George R. R. Martin and Cassandra Clare). I tune out of shows or movies with a lot of side-stories with no real bearing on the main arc (The Vampire Diaries and Game of Thrones), or with a lot of expositional dialogue and unnecessarily long shots (The Walking Dead). I’m not a fan of old Westerns with their wide, expositional shots and slow-moving stories (3:10 to Yuma). However, I’m captivated by mysteries and thrillers with unsettling suspense (The Killing and Gone Girl). I love a story that focuses on character development even when the plot doesn’t move much (Titanic and Lost). Just an aside so anyone reading understands where I’m coming from before I get into the nitty-gritty of this.

Season 5 of Orange is the New Black wasn’t bad. It was well-written, and some of the performances were absolutely amazing. Danielle Brooks (Taystee), Uzo Aduba (Suzanne), Selenis Leyva (Gloria), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Aleida), and Brad William Henke (Piscatella) were particularly stand-out for me. However, there is a stylistic difference in the later seasons of the show versus the earlier ones. The first two seasons in particular were well-paced with a steady arc and compelling characters. I couldn’t stop watching because I felt like I was being pulled through the story by what was unfolding. Last season and this season in particular felt different: drawn out and inconsistently paced with an overarching story that was muddled and unclear. I believe this trend began in season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 focused on Piper’s arc as the main story with everyone else’s stories revolving around it, much like the spoke method used by Seinfeld. Other stories and characters were artfully folded into this main arc, but Piper was the show’s heart: the lens through which we viewed the world. Gradually, other characters came into the spotlight with Piper. Dayanara’s relationship with Bennett became its own strong story. Nicky’s battle with addiction and her relationship with Morello became a compelling story on its own. Meanwhile other characters became near and dear to us through compelling personal arcs: Taystee with her dynamic personality and her drive, Red with her no-nonsense Alpha vibe and maternal role, Suzanne with her troubling but endearing quirks, and of course Alex with her anti-hero road-to-redemption arc. There was a nice structure and momentum to the first two seasons that made me feel grounded, and managed to reveal layers of individual characters while balancing a few different side-stories without losing sight of that main grounding arc.

Season 3 began to lose this balance. The departures of Bennett and Mendez drastically changed Dayanara’s story and took something away from the dynamic of the guards. Nicky’s stint in Max left Morello with nothing to do and removed an entire layer of story from a lot of other arcs Nicky was involved in. Larry was ultimately written out of the story, which removed a complication from Piper that made her relationship with Alex less dramatic (so other plot elements were added, presumably to keep the drama going). Meanwhile new characters were introduced or focused on, and those characters didn’t have two seasons of story under their belts to help them carry the weight. As a result, we started getting these “filler” episodes that focused on an underdeveloped character to sort of catch them up to everyone else (i.e. Boo in “Finger in the Dyke,” Flaca in “Fake it Till you Fake it Some More,” Chang in “Ching, Chong, Chang,” basically the bulk of the episodes). We were introduced to a whole new cast of characters and their stories while the characters we’d gotten to know took a back seat. While I appreciated some of these episodes individually, I didn’t appreciate them as a part of the whole. Pulling so many new or background characters into the spotlight so quickly created a need to hit “Pause” on a number of stories and slowed down the show’s momentum.

Seasons 4 and 5 continued this trend of introducing or expanding characters, but also reintroduced characters that had been minimalized or written out. This has bloated the story to the point where it’s difficult to discern the main arc or to keep up with all the side stories and character arcs. We’re picking up threads of stories that were back-burnered trying to remember where we left off while some newly introduced stories are put on pause and some even newer stories are being set up. There’s just way too much going on, and the 10% of it I’m actually invested in has gotten lost in the shuffle. Aleida being released from prison was a big deal at one point, and I was very interested to see how she adjusted to life outside. However, a very small amount of screen time was spent on this compelling story and instead Aleida’s role became relative to Dayanara’s story (which stopped being compelling as soon as she lost the gun). Alex killed a man and buried him in the garden and that somehow wasn’t even in the top 5 storylines. It was just something we were reminded of every few episodes through expositional dialogue, presumably so we didn’t forget that this was once an important plot point. Poussey, a beloved main character, was horrifically killed. Instead of the fallout becoming the main story, as was set up in season 5’s premiere, it somehow became a setting in itself rather than a plot. This is actually something I’ve seen in other shows, where a character’s death becomes a part of the atmosphere (Sons of Anarchy and Outsiders come immediately to mind). However, if Poussey’s death wasn’t the overarching plot, and the riot it caused wasn’t the overarching plot… then what the hell was? I still don’t know.

My major problem with season 5 is that it took way too long for anything to move forward in a significant way, and when it did everything happened all at once. Red, Lorna, and Suzanne are all competing for Little Miss Crazypants of Litchfield. Piscatella’s in the house and he’s also throwing his hat in the Crazypants ring with a side of torture just for funzies. Humps died and no one seemed to give a shit despite his death being a BIG FUCKING DEAL because all the negotiations between the inmates and the gun-toting officers hinge on the fact that no one has died, and because a beloved character shot the guy while another blew into his I.V. for shits and giggles, and another whole shit load of characters fought like hell to save him. All but one of the remaining guards got out, which was also a big deal. An overzealous S.W.A.T. team stormed the prison. I mean, Jesus, we couldn’t have spaced this out a bit to make the previous 8 episodes more interesting? As entertaining as it was to watch Angie and Leanne fuck around like Lucy and Ethel, I really didn’t need as much of it as I was given and I would have loved more of Alex or Almeida or even Pennsatucky. As fun as Linda as an inmate was, that was an entire storyline I could have done without in the grand scheme. Brook’s grieving was super compelling and we barely got any time with her. 

This brings me to my secondary problem with season 5, which was the fact that a number of compelling stories and characters got lost in everything going on. Lorna got pregnant and doubted her sanity while playing fast and loose with everyone’s medications. Burset became a badass MacGyver style medic and then disappeared for the rest of the season when she could have been super useful to have around. Pennsatucky engaged in a consensual relationship with her rapist and somehow that wasn’t the most interesting thing going on. Bayley was having a straight up mental breakdown because of his role in Poussey’s death and it’s just a side story we get a glimpse of here and there. Instead of focusing on any of this, we spent a lot of screentime watching Caputo and Taystee negotiate with Figueroa. We followed Leanne and Angie around while they decreased our brain cells with their stupidity. We hung out with Red and Flores in an office for some reason. We watched Frieda and company smoke pot in a bunker because why the hell not? We watched Boo court Linda despite the fact that her friend Pennsatucky was clearly in need of some sort of support. We watched Piper walk around talking to people while Alex rolled her eyes (legit, that is the extent of their plot this season as far as I can tell).

Oh my God, that ending. Really?? You’re going to cram all the good stuff into the last 3 episodes and then end with a fucking cliffhanger? Not an earned one, either. This reminded me of the end of season 6 of The Walking Dead. Whatever impact the S.W.A.T. team storming into the bunker is going to have, they just cut it in half by making us wait a year to finish watching that fucking scene. I’m not a fan of that trick. So, they could kill off anyone in the bunker and they’re shipping the bulk of the cast elsewhere (“probably not max” is all we know). So, does this mean we’re going to be splitting our screen time between THREE different settings next season? Or does it mean virtually ALL of our beloved characters are being written out? Either way, it doesn’t look good.

All told, while this wasn’t a bad season, I felt like we were focusing on all the wrong things, and it slowed everything down while hurting the flow and momentum of the other stories. Not my favorite season by far.

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Last time on Nanoha, catgirls are discovered to be just as cruel as full cats, Arisa and Suzuka suddenly discovered magic was real the hard way, the city got pink nuked, and Fate was dissolved into a data stream.  Let’s see how that works out for her in episode 11, “A Gift For Christmas Eve”.

* Arisa and Suzuka are teleported to the school, no doubt questioning their sanity.  But on the plus side, at least they don’t have to deal with the BoD’s fire fountains, tentacles, and aura of DOOM like Nanoha does.

* Amy assures Nanoha that they’re still picking up Fate’s vitals, she’s just trapped in a pocket dimension right now.  …You know, thinking about it the Athura having that kind of capability shouldn’t surprise me.  She navigates dimensional space, she’d be in pretty big trouble if her sensors couldn’t peek across dimensions.

* Nanoha rejects the concept of immutable eternity.  Which to be frank isn’t really something I expect 9-10 year olds to have a firm opinion on.

* Oh hey, is that the Garden of Time?  Huh, I did not remember this being here.  I guess this kinda explains a little about it, apparently it was a ruin Precia built her home outside of way back when.  Because of course a powerful sorceress is gonna want to find ancient ruins to call home.

* Man, everybody is suffering from SAN loss today.  Fate’s is especially WTF inducing though, what with Alicia being there with her and Arf in a happy past that never really was.

* I also can’t help but remember that Alicia may be the “big sis” despite looking physically younger, but if you take when Alicia was born into account she should be around 31 or so.

* Fun fact, that bed wasn’t wet until after Linith said Precia was waiting for them.

* Seriously though, while I’ve read about it, I forget if this show ever actually explains anything about Linith.

* There’s something distinctly creepy about non-evil Precia.  Mind you, not as much as evil Precia, but in a different sort of way there’s still that feeling of “this should not be”.

* Also speaking of things that should not be, ludicrously long dining tables for 5 people max.

* There’s something indescribably sad to see Fate flinch back from a loving mother.  Or knowing that this can’t be real because she is loving.

* Meanwhile in another unreality, the BoD tries to convince Hayate to stay asleep.

* It’s odd to see Hayate in her wheelchair despite her not having it when they fused, or in what is a purely mental space.  I suppose this could signify that Hayate has been in one so long that “in a wheelchair” is just how she pictures herself.

* Meanwhile back in reality the BoD shows she knows how to cast Fist.  And the fight has at some point relocated to over the ocean.

* Huh, those fire pillars from earlier are still goin’ off in the background.

* Nanoha just described the world-ending artifact that’s kicking her butt as a whiner.  She really is one of a kind.

* RH insists on getting put into her super mode, despite the warnings that she’s not ready for that yet.

* It’s surprising how anti-climactic the actual transformation is.  Congrats, the staff is now a spear.

* It’s interesting how once Fate gets Alicia alone and points out the plot holes for this dream with them both being around, Alicia doesn’t bother to deny it.  Instead her defense is to try and say it doesn’t matter that it’s a dream.  …And in the other dreamscape, Hayate disagrees.

* Nanoha’s ACS attack is pretty impressive.  Enemy has a powerful barrier?  Slam through the thing physically with a narrow point of attack and blast them at point blank range.  Sure, she had to burn through a ludicrous amount of cartridges to pierce the BoD’s shield, but she did manage it.

* And of course her reaction to that resulting in a no-sell is to figure she’ll just have to hit even harder next time.  Despite dwindling supplies.  And RH agrees wholeheartedly (wholecircuitedly?).  This girl and her boomstick are both nuts.

* Back in the mindscape the BoD confesses to Hayate that part of this is her partially sharing the Wolkenritter’s feelings, and thus not being able to forgive herself for slowly killing her master the way she has been.

* Hayate is the Master, and you WILL OBEY HER!

* Back in Fate’s dream, Alicia hands over Bardiche when Fate insists she has to go.  Which shows the weakness that was in the BoD’s trap.  She tried to hold Fate there by providing her with love.  But as somebody that loved Fate, Alicia wasn’t going to hold Fate against her will.

* Cutting once again to Hayate’s dream, the BoD is now openly crying her own tears of despair. Because no matter what she may wish, she can’t just fix her broken programming, can’t stop her “self-protection” program from going haywire. Can’t stop herself from hurting those she loves. It’s what really makes this season of the show so compelling, there are no truly evil people in it.  The Wolkenritter, Graham, and even the Book of Darkness, all of them were victims struggling to find a way to make the hurting stop, and hating themselves for their actions.

* Hayate does her best to hold the BoD in reality back and get word out to Nanoha.  Yuuno is quick to make a plan, and Nanoha’s part is hitting it really, really hard.  Sounds like a plan she can follow!

* And thus we get to the climax of the episode.  While the special song plays in the background Nanoha blasts the protection program, Fate shreds the inner dimension with a big lightning sword, and Hayate grabs admin rights and renames the Book of Darkness as Reinforce.

* But of course it’s not all fun in games.  The full force of the protection program is about to come out, Chrono is racing to the scene with Durandal, and Lindy has got the key to the Arc-en-Ciel handy, though she hopes it won’t come to that.

 And that’s all for episode 11.  This is a great one.  We get some nice action, but more than that we finally get to know the Book a bit, and the heroines all get a chance to shine, Hayate included.  There is one downside though.  In the end, there was absolutely no explanation for Linith. This really is a pretty big weakness, as while it’s made clear that her being there means something to Fate, we have no idea what because we have no idea who she is.  I can’t blame the writers for not wanting to go over something that was already explained in supplemental material, but at the same time you can’t assume your audience has gone over the supplemental stuff.

 But besides that this was a great one.  And there’s only two left to go before I have to figure out how to get my hands on season 3 and eventually get to stuff I haven’t seen.