#he didn't really utilise them as musicians

[triple-starsss]

idk if you’ve already been asked this or if you just can’t answer it or smth, but how did the mm members react to everything with ivo once it all came out? were they shocked? upset? indifferent? i’m jus curious, don’t gotta answer if you don’t wanna :]

they weren't surprised at all really, mostly amazed by how long it took for Ivo to finally be called out.

they always knew that if they were the ones to start spreading allegations it wouldn't get far, either Ivo would have it shut down or people would blame them for just being petty and jealous (which i mean, not wrong!) and trying to stir up drama.

i think when it starts becoming apparent even to the public just how overworked T☆S were, they all started to feel somewhat grateful they were dropped when they were. Ivo never had such a vice grip on all of MM's decisions as a band like he did with T☆S, and sure maybe they would've risen to fame much faster if he did but would it really have been worth it in the end?

like this doesnt make them feel any more sympathetic towards T☆S, more or less just a quiet understanding between the two bands. they still hate eachother of course <3

[tsarinatorment]

TSATS was just. Bad. But there are parts I'm carefully picking out that I did like, for instance that Will is working on developing his photokinesis! Thought it was stupid until Apollo gushed over it, now he's not only taking pride in it but actively starting to test his limits. And... he can make (what are implied to be) Curses of Delos magically start to grow when he sings? That's such a dumb and useless power that Apollo would be completely thrilled over. I love that.

Hello, anon! "TSATS was just. Bad." is a very accurate summary. You didn't need to add the extra sentences and I was worried when the preview showed me that "But-"

But then I read the rest of the ask and [throws aside a large rock] actually I'm not mad at you, because I am actually doing a similar thing. There are some very small details that can be lifted out from this otherwise rubbish tip and repurposed for better use, and Will's photokinesis powerup is certainly one of those!

The "Care Bear" thing is a bit cringey - initially I appreciated the description, because I have fond memories of watching a Care Bears VHS in my childhood and could visualise what Mark was trying to describe there (unlike some younger friends who I had to find old gifs for to show them), but then I did some digging and realised that Care Bears has now been swallowed up by the behemoth that is Disney+ and therefore that this was actually some badly shoved-in marketing, which, urgh. Don't do that. However, I do like that Will has now, effectively, weaponised it (or is in the process of trying to).

You're right that it's a great continuation on from what started in TON - where Will has gone from embarrassment over it, to being proud of it, to actively working on it to see what he can actually do with it, which could well have been inspired by Apollo in TON himself, when he strips Nero's divinity and shatters his fasces. That concept is absolutely fantastic (although we could have done with a better, less cheesy, application; the implication of it being his heart's light is neat but it shooting out of his chest with no real direction like he's got a random inbuilt laser beam there is certainly not where I'd have taken that, personally...) and best of all - it's conceivably tied in to TON already so it's a detail that makes sense even without TSATS and can therefore be utilised without actually having to acknowledge TSATS as canon (win-win!)

On the flip side, the Curse of Delos thing is a little much, imo. I love powerful!Will but he's still got to stay within the constraints of being a demigod, for me (yes, I do believe that if he chose it, Will could ascend to godhood and would deserve it; I also believe he would never choose that). Curse of Delos is explicitly stated to only grow on Delos and around Cabin Seven - Apollo's two most sacred places. There's no way Will, a mere demigod, could literally consecrate ground in his father's name like that. At a stretch, we could say that this scene is actually Apollo hearing Will's hymn (given that it's stated to be one of his healing hymns) and... idk, growing him some flowers as some sort of message? But then that begs the question of where the fuck is Apollo in this story and why is all he's doing, growing flowers when Will sings? It also just doesn't fit Will's general theme, because while in theory yes, music could make flowers grow (especially if sung by a child of Apollo or Demeter), Will is also not a musician. He's very explicit about that back in BOO, so he, of all Apollo kids, being the one to summon flowers when he sings? Doesn't actually track. Give that power to Austin when he's playing the sax or something.

Yes, there are some very small details in TSATS that are worth not discarding (although almost all of them still need reworking, so really I should say concepts that are worth not discarding), but there's not many of them...