#i could identify aspects of it in every episode but writing about every single episode for a single ask isn't realistic

[a-random-whovian7]

*LONG POST WARNING*

What your favourite New Who Companion says about you (absolutely no offence meant towards anyone, this is just for fun):

Rose: Either the most vanilla person alive, or an RTD era purist. Has spent years fighting for the honor of the RTD era. Ships Ten and Rose to the degree that they shudder at the thought of the Doctor having a relationship with someone else. Is constantly at war with Amy stans. Part of the reason for the RTD enjoyer vs Moffat fan civil war. Usually nice in real life, and quite nostalgic for the Tennant era, so usually OK to be friends with. Unless they say Mickey was treated fairly, at which point, you should run.

Mickey: One of the most kind-hearted, empathetic people, who saw how Mickey was mistreated by Rose in S2 and immediately just wanted to check if he was OK. Is able to hold decent relations with Rose stans due to Mickey's character development after the relationship, and has a surprisingly strong alliance with Rory fans. Was gutted when they heard about Noel Clarke's horrible behaviour and actions.

Adam: Let's be real, we all forgot this guy existed and for good reason.

Captain Jack: Every night, they lie in bed, haunted by the ghost of Torchwood. Loved seeing Jack again in S12, but felt disappointed after his lack of presence in Revolution of the Daleks. Has modelled several aspects of their personality on the Captain, and has the dating life (or lack thereof) to prove it. Cried at the deaths of Ianto and John Barrowman's career.

Martha: Basically Rose fans, except with slightly more indie music taste. Either that, or a person who knows how integral Martha is to 10's character arc. Has attempted to defend the "Space Jesus" scene a couple of times, and cried with happiness when Harbo Wholmes said that it worked in his review. Has a bit of a patchy relationship with Rose stans due to the Doctor's rebound arc, gets along better with Donna stans due to the fact that S4 acknowledged that 10 mistreated Martha. Generally has good taste and is nice to be around, just don't mention how undeveloped her relationship with Tom was.

Donna: Either a child of the late 90s/early 2000s who had the joy of watching New Who at it's peak in 2008, a person who really appreciates great character writing and an excellent series, or someone who just wanted a break from the companion having a romantic subplot. Often gets into heated arguments with Amy stans by (correctly) saying that Series 4 was better than Series 5. Uses Donna's funny dialogue and quips to hide the fact they are still recovering from one of the cruellest companion exits in the show. Generally nice, but very defensive of The Doctor's Daughter.

Wilf: I love these guys. Knows that a) Wilf is the single best character in the entirety of New Who and b) he counts as a companion. Has the best possible taste, and is an absolute joy to be around as a result of it. An emotional wreck after every single rewatch of The End of Time, especially now that the legendary Bernard Cribbins has left us. Has excellent relations with Donna stans, and was similarly overjoyed when they heard about the 60th. Refuses to admit that The End of Time would have possibly worked better as a 90 minute special.

Amy: Definitely has followed the eons-old teaching of "gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss" at some point. Refuses to admit A Good Man Goes to War was mid and that Amy really badly mistreated our sweet prince Rory in a large chunk of S5. Is really happy that Karen Gillan made it big in Hollywood. Friendly unless you say you prefer Rose to Amy. Could not be comforted after that cameo in Time of the Doctor.

Rory: Their favourite episode is usually The Girl Who Waited. Loyal, friendly, introverted and lovable, they of course identify with Rory's slightly long-suffering but accepting and funny character. Understandably annoyed at how Amy mistreated Rory in S5, but happy that S6 & 7A fixed that marriage. Thanks to Rory waiting for 2000 years, their bar for any personal relationship has been set insanely high. Celebrated when the BBC actually allowed Arthur Darvill to style his hair in S7A. Had to check Rory was definitely dead at the end of Angels Take Manhattan due to Moffat killing him whenever more tension was needed in a story.

River Song: Divided into two groups. Those who like River Song's more nuanced appearances in Silence in the Library, A Good Man Goes to War and The Husbands of River Song are awesome. Those who prefer the episodes that Moffat wrote with one hand, less so. Was overjpyed to see the Moffat Era reappraisal of 2020, only to be slightly disappointed when people said S6 was his weakest series. Wierdly enough, gets along nicely with all other companion stans. Has definitely said "Hello sweetie" to their partner/partners/friends/pets. If they prefer 12 and River to 11 and River, pass them the aux on a long journey (trust me on this one).

Clara: From my personal experience, there is a 60% chance that they are a closeted bisexual. Doesn't get why Clara was so overhated, especially in S9. Is wierdly OK with admitting that Victorian Clara was slightly more interesting to begin with, but knows that the character worked so well in 12's era. If they ship 11 and Clara, keep an eye on them. They haven't fully earned your trust yet.

Bill: Heterosexuality was never an option. Gets along well with Clara stans, as they both know how much the 12th Doctor's era s l a p p e d. Had their emotions mangled during the S10 finale, but fortunately came out intact thanks to that puddle and a happy-ish ending. Loved that Bill called 12 out on his bullshit and asked all the trivial questions we were all thinking. Singlehandedly drove the Moffat Era reappraisal over quarantine. Has the best fashion sense out of all the stans.

Nardole: A terrifying enigma. Looked at all the companions with complex stories, interesting arcs and major development, but instead went with the comic relief. Yes, Nardole is funny and a great support character, but... er... how? They can be nice. They can also be fans of Little Britain, which is a red flag. It's a roll of the dice.

Graham: Bradley Walsh was the highlight of the slightly undervalued S11, and they know it. Definitely has the vibe of being 10+ years older than they actually are in terms of attitude, but in the best way. Has definitely owned a pair of cords in their life. Goes into Doctor Who just looking for a fun hour of entertainment rather than lore. Great to hang out with. They always bring snacks.

Ryan: Tries to ignore the fact that Ryan has the most fucking insulting depiction of dyspraxia in any form of media (sorry, I have dyspraxia, and the way it was treated in S11 & 12 just really rubbed me the wrong way), but is also helpful and really in favour of spreading awareness. We're cool for now.

Yaz: One of the nicest, most well-intentioned people you will ever meet, always defending the underdog, supporting others and just being sweeter than a tea with six sugars, but also a master of illusion. Has read so many fan fictions, seen so much fan art and shipped Thasmin so much that they have tricked themselves into thinking Yaz is a three-dimensional, well-written character whose story was not completely made up on the go by Chibnall. Little more than a defeated husk after Power of the Doctor, being rewarded for all those years of fanfics, shipping and defending the era with a couple of longing stares and some hastily written "will they/won't they" scenes before 13 unceremoniously booted Yaz out of the TARDIS. Thinks Demons of the Punjab is the best 13 episode when it is really The Haunting of Villa Diodati.

Dan: Is more of a fan of John Bishop and his charisma than they are a fan of Dan, or is a terminally online person who thinks quoting "Evil Dan" videos makes them the funniest human alive (it really doesn't).

Want more of this for some reason? Try your Favourite Doctor or Favourite Master

[krispykroissant]

DrPGame Time!

@npfannen

"Identifying as members of a community is powerful in supporting learning. Find and share an image of something from your favorite TV show - explain why you love this show."

⚠️WARNING!⚠️ Cringe up ahead!

Doctor Who! Also known as "British People's One Piece" xD!

This is definitely one of my favorite shows of all time and has been since I was a kid. There are many reasons that I could list on and on for hours on end, but particularly there are a few that come to mind:

The weirdness. From the very beginning of the series back in 1963 and all the way up to the current/modern seasons, Doctor Who has been fascinating because of its creative, spontaneous, and overall weird nature with science fiction scenarios that are completely different from any other show you can think of. Besides the nature of the plots, characters, dimensions, and whatnot, there is also the weird style of filming with elements of technical/compositional absurdity that is just so intriguing. It was seen as a very experimental/progressive show at the time that it was created, and it certainly has maintained that reputation to this day. Extra-dimensional beings/creatures range anywhere from semi-faceless aliens who you forget exist when you stop looking at them to little tiny marshmallow-shaped creatures made almost entirely of fat, and super evil, Nazi-like aliens who use giant tin trash cans with bumps and a plunger for a hand.

In addition to this madness, every single actor who has portrayed the Doctor has had their own unique aspects in every single category. The original idea to have the Doctor "regenerate" his body as a way of cheating death was originally not even a thing until the actor who played the first Doctor was getting too old to continue playing the role. This is such an important aspect of Doctor Who, because if regeneration didn't exist, Doctor Who would not be relevant today. But because it exists, Doctor Who is now the longest-running TV serial ever (to the best of my knowledge)! With each new generation comes a new face, new clothes, new sonic screwdriver (a special all-in-one time lord tool), a new TARDIS (the time machine, in the shape of a police call box, which is bigger on the inside), new companions, new (and old) enemies, new theme songs and intros/outros, just about anything you can think of. This is such a masterful concept since the show can be refreshed every few seasons and always has something new to offer for old fans and a way of consistently bringing in new fans.

Every special episode/movie has always been very consistently loaded with (non-sexual) fan service with references that usually only hardcore Doctor Who fans will get. This awareness from the writers and producers of the show is so important for fans since they usually listen to what fans have to say and are an active part of their communities. There have been only a couple of "bad" Doctors, who have really only been a victim to poor writing or other unfortunate circumstances, and those have been few and far between. Culturally, this show makes such a huge impact, that I would consider Doctor Who to be the Beatles of fictional television entertainment (and don't get me started on the Beatles!)

Such a quirky show can simply not go under anybody's radar. I can't recommend this show enough. If you're interested, I can share a link to all of the classic episodes from 1963 up to 1989 that you can watch for completely free, and some streaming platforms have the modern seasons as well.

[d-criss-news]

20 Questions With Darren Criss: How Acting Has Helped Him Make New Music

While Darren Criss has graced our TV screens with a range of characters, from high schooler Blaine Anderson on Glee to serial killer Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, he was last spotted just being himself, on our For You Page on TikTok. “I’m walking to rehearsal with a guitar on my back with a Trader Joe’s bag ... I did not bring an umbrella because I forgot that it was raining. I’m rocking that NYC musician life,” the Glee alum explained in the hilarious clip posted three days ago.

While Criss’ acting work has earned him acclaim and stardom, he leaned into making music during the pandemic. On Aug. 20, he dropped a new EP, Masquerade, featuring five new tracks that Criss says were inspired by the different characters Criss has embraced throughout his career. After Criss wrote songs for his musical comedy web series Royalties and Apple TV+’s animated sitcom Central Park before the pandemic struck the United States, he then used those experiences as a precursor to his new EP. As Criss continues to promote his new music, he answered 20 of Billboard's questions – giving us a peek into how his new EP came together, and how growing up in San Fransisco shaped him as an actor, singer and all-around artist.

1. What inspired your latest project, Masquerade?

Although I would have preferred that it come at a far less grim cost, I finally had the time. Before the pandemic, I had written 10 new songs for my show Royalties -- along with an original song for Disney and another for Apple’s Central Park. These were all assignments in which I was writing for a certain scenario and character. Go figure. It was the most music I had ever written in a calendar year. This really emboldened me to rethink how I made my own music— to start putting a focus on “character creation” in my songs, rather than personal reflection. The latter was not proving to be as productive. The alchemy of having this time and having set a new intention with my own songwriting and producing made me put on a few of my favorite masques and throw myself a Masquerade.

2. How do you think your background as an actor complements your music?

They are one and the same to me. I treat acting roles like musical pieces— dialogue is like scoring a melody; there’s pace, dynamics, cadence, tone. Physical characterization is like producing -- zeroing in on the bass line, deciding on the kick pattern. Vocal characterization is like choosing the right sonic experience, choosing the most effective snare sound, and mixing the high end or low end. It goes without saying that it works in the complete opposite direction. Making each song is taking on a different role literally and employing the use of different masques to maximize the effectiveness of the particular story being told.

3. On Instagram  you wrote that “Masquerade is a small collection of the variety of musical masques that have always inspired me.” Which track do you identify with most in your real life?

Everybody absorbs songs differently. Some key into the lyrics, some into the melody, some the production, some into vocal performance. When I listen to songs, I consider all of their value on totally different scales. So it’s hard to say if there’s any track I “identify” with more than any others, since I -- by nature -- identify with all of them. I think I just identify with certain aspects more than others. If it helps for a more interesting answer, I will say I enjoy the slightly more classical, playful -- dare I say -- more Broadway-leaning wordplay of “Walk of Shame,” but that’s just talking about lyricism. I enjoy the attitude of “F*kn Around,” the batsh--t musicality of “I Can’t Dance,” the relentless grooves of “Let’s” and “For A Night Like This.” All have different ingredients I really enjoy having an excuse to dive into.

4. What’s the first piece of music that you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?

Beatles audio cassettes: “Help” and “Hard Day’s Night.” I just listened on repeat on a tape-playing Walkman until my brother and I got a stereo for our room with a CD player in it, which was  when I just bought the same two albums again, but this time as compact discs.

5. What was the first concert you saw?It’s hard to say, because my parents took us to a lot of classical concerts when we were small. But I guess this question usually refers to what was the first concert you went to on your own volition, and that my friend, was definitely Warped Tour ’01. My brother and I went on our own— two teenagers going to their first music festival, in the golden age of that particular genre and culture. It was f--king incredible.

6. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid?

My dad was in private banking and advised really, really wealthy people on how to handle their money. My mom was, by choice, a stay-at-home mom, but in reality, she was my dad’s consigliere. They discussed absolutely everything together. They were a real team, and I saw that every single day in the house. They both had a background in finance (That’s how they met in the first place.) and were incredibly skilled at all the hardcore adulting things that I absolutely suck at. They were total finance wizards together. So of course, instead of becoming an accountant, I picked up playing the guitar and ran as far I could with it. Luckily, they were all about it.

7. What was your favorite homecooked meal growing up?

My dad was an incredible chef. For special occasions, I’d request his crab cakes. They were unreal. I’ve never had a crab cake anywhere in the world that was good as my dad’s.

8. Who made you realize you could be an artist full-time?

I don’t know if I’ve actually realized that yet.

9. What’s at the top of your professional bucket list?

The specifics change every day, but the core idea at the top is to continue being consistently inconsistent with my choices, and to keep getting audiences to constantly reconsider their consideration of me. But I mean, sure, what performer doesn’t want to play Coachella? What songwriter doesn’t want to have Adele sing one of their songs? What actor doesn’t want to be in a Wes Anderson film?

10.  How did your hometown/city shape who you are?

San Francisco. I mean, come on. I was really lucky. The older I get, the more grateful I am for just being born and raised there. It’s an incredibly diverse, culturally rich, colorful, inclusive, vibrant city. By the time I was born, it had served as a beacon for millions of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to gather and thrive. I grew up around that. The combination of that with having parents, who were unbelievably supportive of the arts themselves, laid an incredibly fortunate foundation to consider the life of an artist as a legitimately viable option. It’s a foundation that I am supremely aware is not the case for millions of young artists around the world. I was absurdly lucky.

11.  What’s the last song you listened to?

I mean probably one of mine, but not by choice. I know, lame. But I’m promoting a new EP, what’d you expect? But if you wanna know what I’ve been listening to, as far as new s--t is concerned: a lot of Lizzy McAlpine, Remi Wolf, and Charlie Burg.

12.  If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would it be?

The Beatles is an obvious "yeah, duh." Sammy Davis, Mel Tormé, or of course, Nat King Cole. I would’ve loved to see Howard Ashman give a lecture on his creative process and his body of work.

13. What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen happen in the crowd of one of your sets?

I feel like just having a crowd at all, at any one of my sets, is pretty wild enough.

14. What’s your karaoke go-to?

The real answer to this I’ll write into a book one day, because I have a lot to say about karaoke etiquette. I have two options here: I can either name a song that I like to sing for me, for fun, or I can name a song that really gets the group going. The answer depends on what kind of karaoke night we’re dealing with here. So I will say, after I’ve selected a ton of songs that services a decent enough party vibe for everyone else, then I would do one for me, and that would be the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling.”

15. What’s one thing your most devoted fans don’t know about you?

What I have up my sleeve.

16. What TV show did you binge-watch over the past year?

Dave is a stroke of genius. There are episodes that I believe are bona fide masterpieces. Also, My Brilliant Friend is a masterclass in cinematic television.

17. What movie, or song, always makes you cry?

It’s A Wonderful Life.

18. What’s one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

Get used to sharing everything about yourself and your life now, or more astutely, to the idea that you don’t necessarily get to control how your life is shared. I know it’s not really your thing, but you’re gonna have to get used to it, so start building up those calluses now. And don’t worry, all the stuff you love now will be cool again in your mid-thirties, so keep some of those clothes because you’ll be a full-blown fashion icon if you just keep wearing exactly what you’re wearing. Oh nd also, put money into Apple and Facebook.

19.  What new hobby did you take on in the last year?

I’ve always been a linguaphile. My idea of leisure time is getting to study or review other languages. This past year, I took the time to finally dive into learning how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Other than making music, it was one of the biggest components of my 2020-2021.

20. What do you hope to accomplish or experience by the end of 2021?

I hope I get to play live shows again.

[stagandsteer]

Complete transcript of the Wonderland interview, by Catherine Santino, below the cut :)

In 1993, the year in which Freeform’s new thriller series Cruel Summer opens, actor Froy Gutierrez was yet to be born. Chat rooms and beepers, just two of the symbols of 90’s culture featured in the show, were absent in Gutierrez's own childhood. Instead, the 22 year old grew up among the endless, glowing feeds of social media — and the inevitable pressures that they create.

“There’s a kind of self-awareness that comes from growing up with the internet, which everyone in our cast did,” Gutierrez, who stars in the upcoming series, tells me over Zoom — his boyish charm tangible across the screen. “We’re all technically Gen Z or like, older Gen Z. And so you have to unburden yourself from curating a persona online.”

Due to the dizzying evolution of technology in the past two decades, Gutierrez and I had drastically different experiences with the internet growing up — even though he’s only seven years my junior. I fondly remember a time without the prevalence of social media, while Gutierrez was born into an era where internet presence was not only common, but expected.

Like most of Gutierrez’s peers, the actor was active on social media from a young age, but his presence has quietened over the years — even with 1.7 million instagram followers. “If there’s a general consensus on the internet of a certain readership or viewership, you know about it, because people tweet about it directly to you,'' he says. “There’s a kind of lumping in of the character you’re playing with who you are, that people do. I don’t know if it’s intentional. It’s probably just a human thing, but that happens. And it can be hard not to internalize what you read about yourself, you know? Words have power.”

In 2017, Gutierrez appeared on supernatural MTV drama Teen Wolf, a show with a massive internet fandom. Suddenly, fan theories and commentaries about his character, Nolan Holloway, came in droves, something that the young actor wasn’t necessarily prepared for. “I was still a teenager,” he says. “Around that time, you're an adult, but you’re still figuring things out. So I learned where to set my boundaries because I didn’t know where they were beforehand.”

When Cruel Summer came around, Gutierrez assumed he would be portraying the “desirable young male” he was used to auditioning for. “The first time I read the character, it definitely felt like an archetype. When I auditioned for it, I walked in and was very much myself, and Michelle Purple and Jessica Biel responded very well to it.” However, after he got the role and production ramped up, he was pleasantly surprised. “It didn’t really hit me that they were wanting to take him in such a unique direction until I showed up for wardrobe one day to do my first fitting for the pilot,” Gutierrez recalls. “I looked at the mood board for Jamie and it was like, young Heath Ledger, Keanu Reeves and Kurt Cobain. And I was like ‘Oh shit, I need to step my game up,’” he laughs. “I couldn’t get by doing the same thing that I’ve always done when it comes to characters like that.”

Cruel Summer takes place over the course of three years — ‘93, ‘94, and ‘95 — showing splices of each year in every episode. Produced by Jessica Biel, Tia Napolitano, and Michelle Purple, it centres around the kidnapping of a teenage girl and the fallout of the crime in her community in Skylin, Texas. Gutierrez plays Jamie Henson, the boyfriend of the missing girl, Kate. In her absence, a quiet nerd named Jeanette suddenly rises the social ranks and assumes Kate’s place — including dating Jamie. When Kate returns, Jeanette is suspected to be involved in her disappearance, throwing Jamie into some seriously challenging circumstances. His character could easily be a one-dimensional archetype — and truthfully, I expected him to be — but Cruel Summer took the opportunity to explore toxic masculinity and its widespread impact.

We see Jamie caught in the middle of conflict, unsure how to respond to a traumatic event that certainly no teenager expects to be faced with. He’s not a hero, but he’s not a villain either. It’s unclear whether we’re supposed to root for Jamie or not, which makes him that much more interesting to watch. “He talks a lot about his desire to protect the people around him, regardless of whether or not they asked him to protect them,” Gutierrez says of his character. “He kind of superimposes his own idea of what the people around him need. In order to maintain the peace of the people around him, he kind of robs the people around him of their agency. It’s just a really fascinating character to play in that way.”

Gutierrez has also been able to explore the ethics of true crime in a time when the genre is exploding in popularity. Though Cruel Summer is fictional, it questions the effect that public opinion can have on criminal cases — and perhaps more importantly — the well-being of the people involved. “When it comes to the investigation of a crime, you have to weigh the good it can bring into the world versus the bad it can bring. Or making one person seem suspect, or airing the dirty laundry of a private citizen for the viewership of loads of people.”

Despite his eloquent reflections on Jamie throughout our conversation, it’s clear that Gutierrez doesn’t take himself too seriously. He speaks into the camera like we’re old friends on FaceTime, and when my dog unexpectedly jumps into my frame, he gushes excitedly and asks what her name is. He’s able to laugh at himself one minute and share poignant truths the next. It’s refreshing, much like Cruel Summer.

Another likely contributor to the show’s authenticity? The fact that the cast was kept in the dark when it came to overarching plot points. Instead of knowing the show’s trajectory ahead of time, the actors would receive scripts for the next episode while they were filming — and they were subject to change. “We didn’t know where it was going,” Gutierrez says. “And we were told, “‘This might happen here, or this might happen there.’ And it would shift around.”

Without foresight into their character’s arc, the actors have no choice but to focus only on where they were in that moment — a difficult task when a single episode spans three very different years. Gutierrez faced an even greater challenge, as, unlike the two female leads, his character didn’t undergo any drastic physical transformations over the three years.

“I didn’t really compartmentalise the character,” he explains. “I kind of thought of the different years as different phases in my own life. The first year, ‘93, was a complete absence of any regret. You’re still very young, I was just thinking of like, a complete golden retriever,” he laughs. “A 16-year old boy who just wants the best and isn’t aware. ‘94 is me right before I made the decision to go to therapy, where I was making all these bad decisions and I didn’t know why. And then ‘95 was a whole desire to wrestle with those things and really look at yourself in the mirror and take accountability.”

Gutierrez didn’t only infuse personal experience into his behind-the-scenes work — some aspects made it onto the screen. The actor, whose father is Mexican, grew up spending time between Mexico and Texas and is a native Spanish speaker. Because Cruel Summer is set in Texas, Gutierrez suggested creating a similar background for Jamie.

“I was talking with Tia Napolitano, the show-runner, and I was like, ‘Hey, you know what would be really cool? What if the character is half-Mexican, too?’” Gutierrez says. “And she's like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s write it in the script.’ And I got to write a couple lines in Spanish, which is really cool. [Jamie] could have been this mould of a cool, likeable jock. And then he ended up being this very nuanced human being, which is awesome.”

Though he is learning to appreciate all parts of his heritage, Gutierrez hasn’t always embraced his identity. “I remember feeling like I might have been not American enough for America, and not Mexican enough for Mexico,” he says. “And I remember having a bit of time in which I had an accent in both languages. Even my name — in Mexico I always went by ‘Froylan’, which is my full name. And then in the U.S., I went by Froy, because I thought it would be easier for other people to say.”

He continues: “I identify as Latino, but I”m also very wary of auditioning for Latino roles because I’m aware I don’t look like a typical Latino person. I don’t want to be someone that you can just sub in for that role, when I’m really white and blonde. And so whenever I do get a role like this, one where he’s not written to be any particular direction and we’re able to collaborate, I’m able to inject some of myself in there. So it’s been really cool to embrace all sides of my history.”

But of course, as is true for Gutierrez, Jamie’s cultural background is only a small part of who he is. Cruel Summer is committed to portraying him as a nuanced character that breaks the moulds of masculinity while tackling complex inner conflict. “Living in his shoes and walking in them, a big question that came up for me was, ‘What is the difference between guilt and shame? [Jamie]’s coping mechanism was terrible and unhealthy, and caused more pain for the people around him. But at the same time, the shame that he internalized made it worse for him. One thing I really learned, is that shame is about yourself and beating yourself up. And guilt is about taking accountability and apologising, moving forward without expecting the relationship to come back. It's just about trying to heal what happened and then moving on, on the terms that the other person sets. It’s not about you, and I think that’s what the character learns throughout the show.”

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Michelle Kiefer

Michelle has 55 stories at Gossamer. If you haven’t read them, what are you waiting for?! She has great takes on Mulder and Scully. I’ve recced some of my favorites of her fics here before, including Christmas in California, Making Other Plans, and Six Inch Valley. Big thanks to Michelle for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I’m not sure anyone is still reading my stories.  I haven’t migrated my X-Files ones to AO3. I don’t think Gossamer provides any viewing statistics. I’d be very happy to hear that people still like my work.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

My X-Files fandom experience was amazing.  I remember that sense of excitement and immediacy.  It was thrilling to write stories (and read those of other authors, of course) in an active fandom for a show that was on the air.  It was truly my first experience in an online world--a parallel world to my real life existence.  I learned how to keep a foot in each world.  As I recall, it was very hard to keep my focus in my “meat” world, when the online one was so fast moving and thrilling.  But I did get some balance in my life as time went on.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Message boards and mailing lists were my experience.  They were primitive compared to the pretty screens now.  I forged some amazing friendships, some of them with people I discovered lived relatively near me.  All I wanted to do was discuss episodes and fic.  The flame wars were a little intimidating, but also amusing if you didn’t get swept up.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

I was very passionate about the fandom--as I said, there were times when my online life seemed to overpower my real life experiences.  I learned to manage that, and think I’m all the better for that.  And I found some amazing friendships that are active and thriving today.  I learned a lot about writing with XF fanfic.  The level of quality was stunning.  A decent percentage of fic were as good or better than traditional published fiction.  But there were so many writers!  I wanted to make an impact on the fanfiction world, but that meant taking my writing very seriously and learning to develop a story, pace that story, make it compelling and believable.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I had a couple of coworkers that talked about the show all the time.  I was curious, so I watched an episode.  I believe it was the cannibal town one.  I thought David Duchovny was odd looking and wasn’t terribly impressed.  But I tried another episode - Wetwired, which blew me away with the morgue scene when Mulder thinks he’s going to identify Scully’s body.  Ah...I thought, now, I see what everyone is talking about!  And from then I was hooked.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As I watched, I wanted more.  I was fairly new to the internet (frankly, the internet was new to almost everyone)  I found episode reviews, and some of them were fantastic.  Some mentioned fanfiction.  I was unaware of such a thing, though to be honest, since childhood, I’d been spinning stories in my head about characters on TV shows.  I found some fanfic. The first couple of stories were not great (at least one was horrible) but then I found some that were very good.  Probably a bit soap-operaish, but still readable.  And then I became voracious as I plowed through the mass of stories looking for the good stuff.  And boy was there good stuff.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I’m not estranged from it, but I don’t spend much time with it after all these years.  I’ve found fanfic in some other shows that I like and only occasionally read old XF stories.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I’ve not been as involved with any other fandoms, i.e. following commentary on the show.  I tend to dive into TV shows well after their heyday, so I’m always late to the party. I do read fanfic from other shows, and have actually written fanfic for other shows, but I need a really good idea to write.  None of the other fandoms for my other shows are as busy and active as XF, even ones currently in production.  And none of them have as much fanfic and certainly not the level of brilliance that we had in XF.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to go for interesting partnerships, very much in the XF fashion.  And a flawed hero is always a plus!  The partnerships don’t necessarily have to be romantic---in fact I find I prefer those that are not.  Really, Mulder and Scully were the only ones I felt deeply as a pairing, probably due to the chemistry between the actors. But the partnerships have to be well-balanced and realistic.  I loved the characters on Sleepy Hollow.  The two main characters were very much in the mold of Mulder/Scully.

My newest passion is British detective shows and I’ve completely fallen for the “Morse-verse” shows, Inspector Morse, Inspector Lewis and Endeavour.  Less of an XF feel, but compelling characters with interesting backstories.  Other favorite partnerships in the British detective genre are on Inspector Lynley and Broadchurch.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

A bit less now, though I’m still involved with a wonderful group of ladies who love the X-Files.  When we get together for a yearly weekend, we binge episodes and eat impressive amounts of junk food.  XF isn’t on network TV these days, but if it was, I’d probably watch it.

A couple of years ago, I listened to Kumail Nanjiani’s XF podcast on my long commute.  I loved the commentary and interviews so much that I did watch some old episodes.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I don’t read much XF fic.  I’m currently reading in some other fandoms, but it’s harder to find good stories--the ones I follow aren’t very active these days and the quality just isn’t what XF was.  We were so lucky.  We had maybe 20 incredible top authors at any one time, then maybe another tier of 50 to 100  good to maybe great writers.  And with new episodes, there was so much inspiration. We were so spoiled.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Everything from Syntax6, MaybeAmanda, Kel.  A special story for me was “Strangers and the Strange Dead” by Kipler because I remember reading that very early in the morning in my unheated basement in the winter because that was the only time I could use our single computer without others in the family complaining.  I remember actually gasping at the big reveal in the story.  I can even remember the story’s opening line!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I was just learning how to write fiction when I was involved in XF, so I’m not sure my best work is there, though the bulk of my stories are there.  I liked some of the work I did with others.  I wrote Bone of Contention and Out of the Everywhere with Kel and I think that those stories got the best aspects of both of our styles.  For stories I wrote myself, I think they’re not bad, but they are rather short and it’s always easier to maintain a theme and style for a short story.  I liked Black Cherry Velvet.  I’m writing some Inspector Lewis stories that I think are pretty good--they benefit from the years of experience that I was gaining through XF.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Never say never, but I probably won’t write more XF.  I used to burn with it, but I think that got burned out a bit.  Still, I have such wonderful memories of the whole period.  It might be worth looking at again.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

As I mentioned, I am currently playing in the Inspector Lewis world.  It’s sad--it’s a very small and not terribly active fandom.  Sad that my best work is in an inactive fandom where I’m lucky if 20 or 30 people are reading them.  It doesn’t help that I don’t write the most popular pairing.  

But I’m really enjoying it.  I occasionally write for Man From Uncle, which really shows my age, as that was a childhood obsession.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

With XF, it was always a take on an episode--did I get a tiny idea that I wanted to develop, or was I not thrilled with the way something went on the show.  Now,  it’s usually a “what if” kind of thing where I get inspired by a possible event and explore how that would play out, i.e.  “What if this character had a one night stand resulting in an unplanned pregnancy?”  What would happen?  How would he handle the consequences of this?  How would it change his life?

What's the story behind your pen name?

It’s literally my own name.  I SOOOO wish I’d used a pen name.  But I was naive and fandom was so new to me that it never occurred to me that a pen name would be better.  I always told myself that my real name sounded like something made up, like a TV newscaster name, and I hoped people assumed it was a pen name.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My husband and my kids were the only ones who knew about it for many years. Then I went to a fandom/fic gathering for three days and had to explain to a few other family members and my work mates why I was going to Chicago on my own. It’s still mostly a need to know thing and they don’t really need to know.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

I’m on AO3 as msk.  And everything I wrote for XF is on Gossamer.

(Posted by Lilydale on February 2, 2021)

[brawltogethernow]

So on the whole, how useful would you say Death Note is for teaching someone how to write a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters that's at least... 50% watertight?

General disclaimer that I haven’t touched the source material directly in many years, and all my dn posts are me feeling my feelings. But yeah, I can shake my 8-ball about this.

There are two components to dn’s approach to “a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters”, and they’re only roughly stapled together. There’s the rivalry/characterization part, which is both compelling and silly, and is mostly about aesthetic. That never really concludes in a satisfying way. It’s not TRYING to, because the characters are pretty much there to hold up the thought experiment premise, which demands a lot of grit and unpoetic death and not solid foundations of character/relationship work. Like there’s stuff there but you’re really deep-mining for it and doing a lot of the work yourself, and that’s by design. All of the character arcs, which are pretty thin on the ground, trend in a negative/dismantling direction (because it’s a tragedy), and few of the relationships play out all the potential they have (because it’s not a tragedy about relationships).

The character aspect of the chessmaster stuff is heavily reliant on the conceit that once people are smart enough they will start reaching the same conclusions in the same way. Like there’s a single most ideal train of thought for every situation that even people who should have very different thought processes will reach with the assistance of enough little gray cells. This isn’t uncommon in smartboi stories, but dn went absolutely ham on it, if you want to make a study of that trope.

The biggest takeaway there is probably noting how the creative team seems to have been unaware that a lot of their audience was actually buying into that between the lead and their rival as a “meant to be enemies” kind of thing and didn’t realize that faction would be less interested once it became obvious that no, all geniuses in this world are taking turns using one brain. I’ll freely admit I deliberately misread this element to maximize my own investment.

Then there are the tricks and puzzles. The odd logical hole is inevitable, but overall they’re solid. They’re also just procedural plots delivered in a less formulaic story than that usually makes one think of. There’s nothing distinguishing them from the weekly puzzle of a House episode or a Detective Conan arc except for raw creativity and panache. There is rarely any characterization going on whatsoever. The twists require players, but you never get the sense that only whoever is being pulled to act could fill their part. They’re always stand-ins for perfectly generic individuals, putting their distinctive quirks and intense personal philosophies aside. This is that idea that there’s one way of thinking that everyone is accessing at staggered intelligence levels in play again. People are simplified until they can be pieces in contraptions no more complex than Light’s exploding desk drawer trap.

This is why the trick plots of dn don’t get pored over a lot by fans. They’re looped too loosely to the rest of the story to have an emotional impact that will make them memorable long-term. They’re deceptively simple, too. Kind of the opposite of a story twist that makes you rethink everything that came before it in a new light. You can’t dismantle dn and reassemble it like pentominoes very easily. A lot of it is grand set pieces, and if you tease out any of the puzzle plots they sort of lose structural integrity and flake away. This is why most canon divergence fic for dn is “diverging” by asking the question “what if Light were less of a shit”.

Ultimately, Death Note only gives the impression of being a complex engine made of moving parts. Its strong suit is its showmanship. It’s very good at carrying you along from twist to twist in a state of mild beffudlement that doesn’t quite escalate to belligerent and securing that “Oh wow! That was clever!” reaction. The mastermind-offs of are deceptively static, pretty much coming down to one party either failing or succeeding to thwart a plot laid out by another in advance without a lot of combating each others’ machinations in real time. Once resolved, twists vanish from the consciousness like disappearing gold. There’s no fiber to them, just flash.

This isn’t critique! Most elements of this story do what they’re deployed to do. (If the tricks needed workshopping, people would analyze them more, ironically.)

I’m myself shit at (de)constructing brain tingler twists and can’t really identify if dn’s are useful for instruction purposes. Not for people who don’t already have a natural talent for them, I guess! It might be interesting to identify why they’re not immediately identifiable as bloodless trick plots, except I suspect it might just be that the rest of dn is so insane and dissimilar from stories that usually contain those? Like I already compared it to two Holmes descendants, and it definitely has BBC Sherlock “let the asshole speak, genii are a protected species” vibes, and the criminal protagonist facing off with a detective premise is Arsene Lupin-y, yet I still feel weird identifying Death Note itself as in this broader genre because *gestures to all of it*.

It’s the least formula-reliant example of the breed I can think of right now, which is neat. (Annnnd also definitely feeds in to people being dissatisfied with it because they miscalled what it was trying to be. Dn is just generally pretty unique, and I imagine the team was making up a lot of its playbook from scratch as it went along, which leaves the audience in kind making up the experience of consuming it.)

All of the above is incidentally why dn is infamous for being very compelling in the moment but then having people revisit thinking about it and decide the he-knows-that-I-know-that-he-knows conceit is actually ridiculous and needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

So uh. This all SOUNDS like bad form, but that’s arguably me being a basic bitch who “likes when plot and character and aesthetic inform each other”, and that’s just fundamentally not what Death Note is. Also it’s kind of a lofty starting goal and writing is hard. Like! This approach worked! We are discussing a very successful property with many fans. (And a weirdly finite cultural impact for its popularity but this isn’t necessarily why.) I guess this is an acceptable playbook, and the takeaway is that you CAN successfully Frankenstein together different unconnected storytelling methods, and it will look dazzling and impressive and barely leave any of your readership feeling confused and hollow inside and likely to return and make fun of themselves for accidentally liking your work wrong.

Oh, also, dn as do’s and don’t’s of building a mastermind character. Do give headlining characters eye-catching, memetic traits. Don’t fail to trace those traits down so they actually represent something at your character’s core because you crossed over the line from “spinning characters out as foils and parallels who compare and contrast to each other in interesting ways” into “all of your smart characters are basically the same challenge-seeking misanthrope stamped with different surface features” -- except WHO ELSE IS GOING TO HAVE THAT PROBLEM? THAT’S NOT NORMAL.

So yeah you COULD study Death Note, or you could binge some crime dramas and then some X-Men issues that have battles in the center of the mind over the same weekend and get basically the same net effect.

[strangertheory]

i’m sure this has been talked about somewhere but regarding the will has DID/created the upside down theories, what are people speculating the source of his powers to be? like was he experimented on at a young age, or did they come from lonnie/joyce, or what? this has probably been covered but i’m not sure where to find it

I can share with you the two hypothetical interpretations that I myself have considered for the source of characters’ powers in the Stranger Things universe. I don’t want to speak for any other fans that are discussing the possibility that Stranger Things is about a DID System because we all have our own unique thoughts on the way it might play out within the series, and I have yet to speak to a fan that is entirely enthusiastic about the second layer of hypotheticals that I’ve personally considered regarding where characters’ powers come from.

To me: Stranger Things is like an onion. This story has so many possible layers. And as we peel back the layers of what is going on in the story there are new possibilities revealed at every single layer.

I’m going to tell you about the two different layers that I’ve considered regarding where characters’ powers come from and how those powers manifest themselves within the story.

▪️ ▫️ ▪️ ▫️ ▪️ ▫️ ▪️ ▫️ ▪️

My “first layer” theory regarding where characters’ powers come from in Stranger Things is that they might be like the X-Men or the espers in Akira and have genetic mutations or evolutionary predispositions to developing their abilities. Agent Connie Frasier appears to be seeking to identify intelligent children in the Hawkins area when she asks Mr. Clarke if he has any students at Hawkins Middle that would be interested in an Indiana AV Club program. It’s implied that the Lab seeks out precocious children for their work because they believe there is a correlation between intelligence and psychic ability. Stranger Things basically offers us the “first layer” explanation that the events of the story are inspired by the historic experiments (and abuses) done by MKUltra on human subjects in the United States in its efforts to unlock the potential of the human mind and potentially control that power and wield it against perceived domestic and international threats. Within this “first layer” theory we can speculate that perhaps children with latent psychic abilities are more likely to learn to control their powers at an early age when they are pressured to do so under extreme circumstances. For El these extreme circumstances could be the abuse that she experienced at the Lab, assuming that she was there her entire life. For Will these extreme circumstances could be Lonnie’s abuse during his early childhood, or extreme circumstances that Will experienced elsewhere (perhaps also at a medical facility or at the Lab.) A person’s instinctive need to have control over their powers while responding to a threat (or after attempting to use those powers very intently and with deep focus within a perfectly calibrated lab environment?) could account for those powers being recognized, used, and trained.

Within the DID Theory the question of which circumstances were the origin-point of El’s powers becomes more vague. Was El created as an alter within the DID System while Will was being abused by Lonnie? Is the Lab and El’s backstory actually a distorted trauma memory that has been fictionalized by the DID System as a defense mechanism? Does the Lab exist as an explanation that the mind subconsciously invented in order to explain to itself the terrible things that happened in a way that it was willing to face and cope with? Or, perhaps, was there a point in time that El emerged from Will’s mind into the real-world and then  imprisoned by the lab and experimented on by Dr. Brenner? Do El’s memories of the Lab and Dr. Brenner reflect memories that she experienced as an alter in a DID System while she was still sharing the same body as Will, and Will’s consciousness was dissociating and depersonalizing a traumatic experience that would have otherwise been his own? Or are El’s experiences at the Lab completely separate from Will’s own story? 

Before I leap to my “second layer” theory, I’d like to comment that I strongly suspect that we will find out precisely how El and Will’s stories intersect in season 4. I believe that we will find out the way in which Will and El are connected to both Dr. Brenner and the Lab and each other. I look forward to seeing how the writers peel back that layer of the Stranger Things onion. I think it’ll be a huge plot twist and most fans will not see it coming.

Now. My “second layer” hypothetical regarding the way that characters’ powers may (or may not) work in Stranger Things is based on the circumstances that are often faced by alters in a DID System that are called "fictive alters.”

Fictive alters have a fictionalized sense of who they are that is not grounded in the rules that exist in our “real” world. Fictive alters may have superpowers. Sometimes they might be based on a character from a movie or a book or a song that the child was familiar with. The fictional aspects of their identities will be often very real and accessible to them when they are conscious within the internal worlds of the mind and inside the DID System. However, whenever a fictive alter is “fronting” (meaning: when they are conscious of the outside “real” world) then that fictive alter will no longer have superpowers: they will only have whatever abilities that they have learned as an ordinary human person in our world. Within the mind they have their superpowers, and in the real world when they are conscious they will not have superpowers because they are in an ordinary human body with the limitations of an ordinary human body.

Now: why am I summarizing information about fictives? Because one possible hypothetical scenario that I could see being the case with Stranger Things is that it is a story-within-a-story. Perhaps the story that we are watching, which has each of its episodes named as a “chapter,” is being written by a character within the Stranger Things universe. Perhaps this character is telling the story of “what happened.” Maybe what we see in Stranger Things is an imaginative representation of the experiences of alters in a DID System that is explained from their perspectives or explained by a friend retelling their story.

And if this is the case, then I propose a “second layer” hypothetical: perhaps there are no “real” superpowers within the Stranger Things universe at all, and the supernatural events of the series are either taking place within an internal world exclusively or some of the supernatural aspects of the series are supernatural because the character that is writing the story of “what happened” is embellishing the events with their own imagination as they write it. This could mean that although certain characters do have powers within the DID System, their powers only manifest when they are interacting inside internal worlds that exist exclusively within their mind. Or, as another possibility: perhaps their “powers” are merely imaginative explanations that the writer who is sharing “what happened” is granting these characters in order to explain circumstances that they artistically prefer to represent in a more fantastical way. (Ex. My mom threw a plate at me. vs My mom threw a plate at me with her mind.)

Am I effectively saying “many events in the show might simply be taking place within the mind of certain characters?” Yes. Sort of. Am I saying that all events in the show might only take place within the mind of certain characters? No. And even if they did: the “realness” of the story is still, to me, intact. Even if these events are taking place within internal worlds of a DID System the events that we are seeing in the story are based on real memories and experiences that the characters experienced at some point in the “real” world. In this “second layer” theory, I am proposing that characters’ real experiences and memories are being transformed into a creative and fantastical re-telling of “what happened.” This might be part of the mind’s way of coping with traumatic experiences.

I know that many of you reading this are probably thinking “No, no! That’s way too meta for my taste. We need more grounding in the story than creatively-embellished memories alone!” And I completely understand and respect that reaction. It would be quite a dramatic departure from what we currently understand as “true” in the series: even more than if we interpret the story as being about a DID System whose alters (and internal worlds) have supernaturally escaped the mind and become flesh and blood in our real world because characters have the ability to bring them to life.

Even when I do consider the more extreme “none of the powers are real” hypothetical I still think that many characters that we’ve grown to love would be introjects (or NPCs) based on figures that the DID System knows in their “real world.” I argue that those relationships would still have emotional weight and importance and meaning because they are based on real experiences and real feelings: but they might not manifest quite how we expect them to in future plot twists.

I understand if most fans visiting my blog prefer to take the “first layer” interpretation of the DID theory: that there are real psychic powers in the Stranger Things universe and that through supernatural means the alters from the DID System have escaped the mind and have become “real.”

But I wanted to address the “second layer” interpretation that I have considered because if we imagine that all the alters share not only one mind but also one body just like those who have DID in real life: how does that impact our interpretation of each of the events in the series when we re-watch it? To me, the incredible way that certain scenes in the series are transformed by this “second layer” theory’s lens make it worth contemplating this second layer as a possibility whether or not it’s actually what’s going on in the show. Many scenes in Stranger Things take on added depth if you watch them with this concept in mind. I think some scenes become much more powerful within the “nobody has 'real’ powers” interpretation, whether it’s what the creators of Stranger Things had in mind when writing the series or not.

Keep in mind that I entertain multiple hypotheticals at any given time, and sometimes my thoughts regarding what is happening in Stranger Things might appear to contradict each other. I like considering multiple possibilities all at once. I am not devoted to my interpretation that there are no “real” powers. I am equally charmed by the idea that there are real powers and that the alters have escaped the mind into the “real” world in Stranger Things.

Thank you for Asking!

[queenangst]

hi I'm the QM anon from some days ago and was just wondering if you have any tips on writing good body horror. I consider myself a semi-competent writer, but I just really want my readers to squirm. I really need that visceral feel, no?

i’m sorry nonnie i don’t know which ask ur referring to (i have so many and i can’t think of what QM refers to), but i’m still going to try to answer your question!

writing good body horror 

do your research. the best thing you can do for yourself right now is sit down and find some good body horror before you start writing it. find the ones that really make you react, physically or emotionally (or both). pick your favorite works. i’d pick maybe two or three. then grab a notebook or open a document and start analyzing. 

ask yourself: what is it that these writers do that make you uncomfortable? is it their style? their descriptions? what do they emphasize, and what do they not? how do they narrate a sequence of events? what information do they give the reader, and the characters? how do other characters react?

plan your goals. regardless of whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, it’s a good idea in this scenario to think about your writing goals. you’ve identified one—you want to make your readers squirm. think about what emotions you want the readers to feel, what reaction you want them to have. “i want my readers to feel disgusted and horrified because of x mutating” is a good place to start, and can help you pin down how to write.

figure out your angle. should the readers sympathize with the character, or should they fear them? that can shape your storytelling a lot. 

leave a little to the imagination. honestly, i find this really important. you shouldn’t be describing every single thing in excruciating detail. rather, paint the picture just enough so readers know what they’re looking at, but let their minds fill in the rest. our imaginations often get the best of us; your descriptions should be vivid, but you don’t want it to be over-the-top and desensitizing your readers, either.

explore the senses! i’ve talking about using the senses to your advantage in writing before, but focusing down onto a few sensations and cranking them up by one hundred can leave a lingering impression on your readers’ minds. alternatively, the lack of a particular sense can affect a story as well.going off of number 4 and 5, i remember there was a podcast episode that really scared me just through sound and the suggestion of clamping down on your own hand and the feeling of tightening. with just dialogue to describe what was happening, leaving a lot to the imagination—this was something that i could picture happening to my own hands, and that was what scared me!

emotional states and fear. this is really important to target in a character. whether the body horror is affecting the pov character or a different one, how the pov character and other characters react emotionally can make or break a story. what is it particularly that they’re scared of? is it the loss of humanity? is it seeing a friend become… something else? are they fearful for their life? emotional state is really important because it sets up how the readers are feeling. in the end, readers probably aren’t going to remember every detail of a grotesque description, but rather the feeling it leaves behind. 

an element of realism. leaving just a touch of realism to your work can ground the fact that the basis for everything is still very human, and having that “human” connection makes us feel and empathize deeper. emotionally and physically.

remember to pace it. with horror, draw it out. keep the readers on the edge of their seat. the characters don’t know what’s happening, the readers don’t know… keeping everyone in suspense and creating a dramatic buildup adds a lot to horror. take your time to set everything up—and then a terrifying drop into fear.

bodily changes and their effects. body horror generally is all about violations to the human body, so dive deep into this. what part of the body changes—and what changes subsequently in a character’s life, behavior, and mannerisms? one great aspect of horror is making the ordinary un-ordinary. things like picking up objects, eating, speech; things you do everyday that have suddenly been completely changed as well. not just the body, but the consequences of a physical change to your body. and don���t forget the pain!

what scares you? and how can you make that a narrative?

i hope this helps a little bit. i’m not that experienced with writing body horror, though i’d love to write some horror myself, but this is how i’d approach it. sorry lol, tbh my approach is just crank up the angst by 2000x and let things play out

here’s TVTropes Body Horror page, where they also have plenty of examples of body horror that you can look through for inspiration. Fan Works/Body Horror page. try just looking up ‘Body Horror’ on AO3 as a tag and see what you can find.

here’s a post by an artist about drawing body horror, which can be an interesting visual reference and you can take advice and bring it back to your visual descriptions! if it looks scary to you, putting that into your descriptions (ex: contrast -> lighting in a scene, etc) can help.

and here’s an interesting article about illness and how that relates to body/horror, a read which could be helpful in relating something from real-life to fiction.

happy writing!

[xdaughter-of-bloodyfacex]

Serial Killers and Their Kids: It’s Complicated

Some offenders who harm others protect their own—others include them.

The offspring of serial killers used to shun media attention. Some changed their last names or went into hiding, and many asked a friend or relative to screen all communications. Recently, we’ve heard from a few in books and on podcasts and talk shows. After their criminal parent’s double life was exposed, many wondered just what this predator had actually felt for them.

How serial killers view their own children turns out to be complicated. I’ve seen comments from enough of those with families (and from family members) to form some basic categories: 1) they care about and protect them, 2) they include them in the crimes, 3) they kill them, and 4) they maintain the deception. 

Let’s look at some examples of each.

1. They care about their kids.

When Israel Keyes was caught after murdering a young woman in Alaska, he knew that he’d be linked to a double homicide as well. He had more to say and he wanted to trade it in a deal that would protect his young daughter. “I want an execution date,” he told officers. “I want this whole thing wrapped up and over with as soon as possible. I’ll give you every single gory detail you want, but that’s what I want because I want my kid to have a chance to grow up… and not have all this hanging over her head.”

Dennis Rader, too, was concerned about his son and daughter when he was arrested in 2005 as the “BTK” serial killer in Wichita. He said he knew he’d made them suffer and he wanted to prevent them from further harm. (Even so, at his sentencing hearing, he dehumanized them by calling them “social contacts” and “pawns,” which infuriated his daughter, Kerri. (I reviewed her book here.)

Kerri looks back on things her father had said that now have new meaning. What had once seemed like loving advice about deflecting intruders, for example, now rang with a sinister tone: he’d described what would deflect him. “It’s horrible to realize that as my dad was raising children,” Kerri writes, “he chose to take another mother away from her own children. He was about to have a daughter, yet took two more daughters away from their families.”

Although Albert Fish molested and murdered kids, he raised six of his own as a single parent, seemingly without harm. When he was tried for the murder and dismemberment of Grace Budd, his children testified. They thought he’d loved them, but none had guessed the extent of his problems. Observing aspects of his odd deviancy, they’d thought him merely eccentric. None reported abuse.

2. They included their kids.

Sante Kimes was a born con artist, and even got her two sons involved in her criminal schemes. Kent Walker, her oldest, describes life with Sante in Son of a Grifter, in which he sorts through why he ultimately rejected her while his younger half-brother Kenny went along with the crimes. Sante and Kenny came to national attention with the disappearance of a wealthy philanthropist, Irene Silverman, from her Upper East Side home in Manhattan. They’d finagled a real estate document with Silverman's signature on it, but the notary public would not sign it. Soon, Sante and Kenny were arrested. A search of their stolen Lincoln Town Car turned up Silverman's passport, a pair of handcuffs, several syringes, a handgun, stun guns, wigs, and papers that suggested they’d done away with Silverman. Kenny described how they'd done it together. They were convicted of her murder in New York, as well as for the murder of David Kazdin in California. Kenny also confessed to the murder of a man in the Bahamas. Joseph Kallinger killed one of his sons for insurance money and coerced others to get involved with his criminal acts. He and his fifteen-year-old son Michael were suspects in a seven-week, three-state crime spree that involved robbery, rape, and murder. Their fingerprints were matched to those found in one of the homes, and the victims identified them. Kallinger was convicted of multiple crimes. Police suspected that he’d taken his son Jimmy on at least one of these expeditions.

3. They killed their kids.

Indiana’s Belle Gunness and England’s Mary Ann Cotton are among those mothers who murdered their kids for insurance money. A few others, like Marie Noe, had mental health issues. Stacey Castor tried to kill her daughter to stage a suicide, hoping she could pin the murders of two men on the girl. Gary Ridgway, the “Green River Killer,” came close to murder, but for a different reason.He used the fact that he had a son to make his potential targets feel comfortable. He’d flash his wallet to make the boy’s picture visible. If he brought a woman home, he’d show her his son’s room. "They look in the bedrooms, nobody's in there," he told investigators. "There's my son's room, hey, this guy has a son, he's not gonna hurt, anybody."

In 1982, Ridgway picked up a woman while the 7-year-old son was in his truck. Ridgway was in the mood to kill, so he found a wooded area and parked. He got out, let the woman out and left his son in the truck. He guided the woman to an area that he believed was beyond his son’s line of sight. After sex, he killed her, leaving her corpse in the woods. He told his son that she’d decided to walk home. Another time, while his son slept in the truck, he found the decomposing corpse of one of his victims and had sex with it.

Two decades later, Ridgway told a psychologist that he was sorry about that episode. When the psychologist asked what he’d have done if his son had gotten out and seen him, Ridgway denied that he’d have killed the boy, but then hedged: "No, probably not, I don't know." He admitted it was possible. He'd considered it.

4. They maintain the deception.

Several offspring of serial killers have told me that they cannot have a relationship with their criminal parent, because they can't trust them. They've been betrayed and even after the parent went to prison, he or she continued to scam or lie to them.

Yet some cling to hope. The daughter of a man who’d killed 13 prostitutes claimed that he was sincerely remorseful, which made it possible for her to feel close to him as a daughter. Yet he'd told her he had a disorder that blocked him from feeling remorse. She didn’t know what this meant, but she believed he was now a good man. That’s the kind of naiveté that psychopaths exploit. From what I knew of his lifelong duplicity, I doubted he'd changed—especially if he used a disorder as an excuse.

Even those who care about their kids have lived secret criminal lives for so long that they might be unable to care the way they think they can. Israel Keyes killed himself when he couldn't get the deal, ensuring a public legacy that will always hang over his daughter’s head. The entire time he was committing his well-planned murders, he had to realize that if he got caught, he’d be exposing her to what he'd done. His life of crime was entirely narcissistic.

Rader, too, lacked appreciation for the harm his crimes would cause his children if he got caught. When I suggested that even the decision to kill undermined his avowed love for his family, he bristled. To him, it was simple: “It didn’t occur to me that they’d be hurt, because I didn’t expect to be caught.”

[rayroute-clear-saeran-text-sound]

The Making of Ecstasy (Saeran x Reader)

Not sure if this is a little long for tumblr, as I’m not used to writing on this platform! Will this get slept on? probably. This is based off of Casual and Deep stories’ prologue bad end, apologies if it’s ooc. Of course my first piece on here had to be Saeran, who else would it be?

You were the only one in the intelligence room at the moment, and although it was dark, it was nice and peaceful. The usual furious clicking of keys was absent, instead replaced by the dull hum of computers and the light scratching sound of your pen against paper. Luckily, the dark circles under your eyes were hidden in the shadows of the room. The only light available to you was the minute amount cast from the several monitors you were staring at. Not that it mattered, what you were doing had no importance considering the logs existed permanently within files Unknown had stored. In other words, if your work was illegible, it wasn't the end of the world. Unknown would only punish you for it if he was in a bad mood or if he had a killer headache. You were tasked with making hard copies of every single chatlog from the RFA chatroom, a job given to you with no other purpose than keeping you busy, tired, and irritated. 

"MC is so gullible..." You murmured to no one but yourself. Unknown had originally tried to get you to play the role of party coordinator for the RFA, but you weren't having it. You did show up to the apartment, but you had ignored everything he told you and wouldn't step inside. Unknown somehow decided that you would make a good assistant, and you only agreed because he had you at gunpoint at the time. Now you were living at Mint Eye with Unknown, so numb with tiredness that you stopped caring if you lived or died. You weren't considered a believer yet, as you hadn't taken any elixir. You saw how it made Unknown feel, and you wanted no part of it. Sure, you may not have the freedom to roam around Magenta, but at least you had your sanity. If you wanted to go somewhere, you had to have the permission of the savior and be accompanied by Unknown. It wasn't as if you had grown to like Mint Eye and Magenta, it was more that you had gotten used to it, which meant you had become comfortable with it on some level. Your eyelids began to flutter shut as you closed the last chatlog, job done until another one opened at one point or another. Just as your head began to drift slowly into a light cat nap, you felt fingers dig into your shoulders tightly and suddenly, causing you to jolt up and scatter your papers everywhere. You whipped around to come face to face with a pair of mint green eyes that held mischief.

"Did you miss me, princess?" You huffed as you bent down to pick up the papers on the ground, holding back the urge to strangle him in order to make that laughter stop right in his throat. 

"These papers all are out of order now, I hope you're happy, Unknown." He shrugged, obsidian eye tattoo catching your attention as always. 

"I don't care." He took the stack of logs from your hands and threw them haphazardly into the filing cabinet that he put all of your work in. In actuality, there was nothing really of value, just a lot of Zen bragging about how handsome he is. You had grown to hate the RFA as well, probably because of how much time you had spent around Unknown. Naturally, he had rubbed off on you. He was the only one you were allowed to see after all. Your eyes analyzed his face cautiously, as there was a vague, worrying excitement in his features that you had yet to place.

"What's up? Are we going somewhere again...?" You couldn't help but become equally hopeful at the prospect, you didn't get to leave Magenta very often.

"No. Savior gave me a special assignment, and I need your help." You raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Her special assignments usually meant cleansings, and you hated those. You mainly helped to restrain the unlucky souls who were the subject of the ceremony, and whenever Unknown was the one doing the cleansing, it was a bloodbath. Everyone at Mint Eye knew him to be ruthless, and you supposed it worked to keep everyone in line. It still didn't change how scarring they were to be a part of, and how much they scared you. You found yourself wondering if he would ever do those things to you, but you figured not. The most he had ever done to you since becoming his assistant was yell at you or smack you, and usually not very hard. That was all when you first started, and since you had been with him for a while, he had become softer with you. Unknown smirked at you, sending a slight shiver up your spine. You didn’t get much time to wonder how how he always had that effect on you. "Relax, it's not a cleansing. We're making a batch of elixir." You asked yourself why he needed your help, as he was perfectly capable of completing the task himself; he did it all the time. You thought it was a bit suspicious, but figured that he was asking for your company in the most indirect way possible.

“Fine. I’m your assistant, I have no choice in the matter, right, Saeran?” His eyebrows quirked up at the use of his real name, bringing you to cast your eyes towards the floor. “I mean, Unknown.” He shrugged, black jacket slipping farther down his shoulder while he cracked a grin.

“Whatever. Let’s just go get this done.” He seemed rather upbeat, which was odd to you. “You know the drill.” You nodded curtly as he placed his hands over your eyes, his gentleness surprising you. The not knowing aspect of everything killed you every time you walked out of the intelligence room, but you had grown used to the disorienting feeling of the unknown. You used to take short and nervous steps whenever you couldn’t see, but now you would take long and sure strides, knowing full well that anyone would move out of your way and that Unknown wouldn’t let you get in harm’s way; you were his assistant after all, so if you got hurt, it should be on his own accord. That was his fallacy anyway. As far as you knew, Magenta was big, but it seemed to take ages to get to the lab. “Stop.” Unknown’s voice was strong and commanding, and you of course listened without question. He finally uncovered your eyes, and you had to blink several times in order for your eyes to adjust to the harsh contrast in lighting. He was digging out his ID that doubled as a key card for the more secure and private rooms of the Mint Eye while you were still stuck on why he wanted you there.

“Unknown, are you sure I can be here?” The large and bland metal door made you nervous, and you had no idea what was behind it. You knew deep down that the savior had no idea you were attending the crucial task, and you were vaguely able to grasp that Unknown didn’t want her to know. 

“Tch. Of course.” His eyes screwed shut as he faced away from you, turning his attention on the door. “And don’t call me that!” Your eyes narrowed in question, as you were absolutely sure you had called him Unknown. “Call me Saeran...at least for the day.” 

“Um...okay.” Another red flag went up immediately within your brain. He was contradicting himself, something that had you wondering if you should run back and get his medication. When he began to heavily oppose himself it usually meant he was going to have an...episode. In actuality, you weren’t sure how to describe them. It was almost as if his persona was splitting apart. That, or he would have one hell of a headache. He swiped his card and the light on the handle blinked green three times, granting the two of you access. He swung the door open, holding it open for you with a smug grin.

“After you, princess.” You entered wordlessly, concern for him still in the back of your mind. You never liked seeing him in immense pain. You weren’t stupid, you could tell when someone was innocently being exploited. Not only did you want to get yourself out of Mint Eye, you wanted to get Saeran out as well. But, that was an issue to solve another day...perhaps in another life. Your breath caught in your throat at the sight of everything. You had made plenty of cult jokes during your time at Mint Eye, but somehow the image of a large, witch-like cauldron was no longer funny now that it was presenting itself right in front of you. There were countless cabinets, the contents a mystery. Saeran closed the door behind him, leaving you alone with him in a room that smelled intensely of hallucinogens. In college, you had tried them once and vowed never again. However, you were more than familiar with them because of your roommate. “You’re going to want to grab the jars with the blue and green stickers, and the bottle with the pink sticker.”

“Yeah, sure.” Saeran dragged a large bowl out from somewhere, along with tools to blend and mix. It seemed the two of you were only making a small batch, which brought you circling back to the subject of why he needed your help. You hopped up onto the counter to grab the required items, and by seeing them through the jars, you could identify them well. “You use peyote and mushrooms in this?” You felt your stomach sickeningly sink, and were definitely glad you had refused any elixir given to you. 

“Huh? I guess.” His reply seemed to give off the impression that he had no clue about any of the ingredients in the elixir, he only knew how to make it. 

“Do you...know what those are?” You asked tentatively as he continued to prepare your work station. He shrugged. You took a sniff of the bottle, and the pungent alcohol smell made the liquid in question easily identifiable. “ And methanol?!” It was not at all surprising that he was always wrecked after taking the stuff. It was a wonder how he wasn’t dead from how much he was taking on a regular basis. “Saeran…” 

“It’s fine! It’s the elixir of salvation, it’s necessary...”

“Salvation isn’t supposed to be pain, Saeran.” If he heard you, he was ignoring you. You wanted no part in the actual making of the elixir, you only watched as he skillfully mixed the drugs and chemicals together with other hazardous ingredients until it came out as a toxic chemical punch with an unnaturally vibrant blue hue. Once he was done, he turned to you with a teasing glint in his mint green eyes. “Uh oh...” You murmured to yourself, despite feeling your lips curve into a slight smile.

“Why don’t you be the taste tester?” He held one of the bottles that he had funneled the batch of elixir into out to you. It did look a bit mesmerizing, the way the light reflected off of the heart shaped glass, the liquid inside looking as if someone had bottled neon signage.

“No.” You shook your head, pushing his arm away.

“Oh come on, I need to know if it’s good!” You knew he was joking by the way his words were broke by giggles. You were glad that he felt comfortable enough alone with you to relax a bit and let loose without being violent. 

“No, and that’s final!” Your own giggles tumbled out past your lips.

“Okay, fine. It’s probably for the better. Once you have the elixir, you can roam wherever, and then you won’t be mine anymore.” Your eyebrows furrowed in both concern and confusion, as he had immediately snapped back into a deadly seriousness. He stayed as silent as a grave as his eyes raked over your frame, finding they’re purchase on your face. A bad feeling began to settle in the pit of your stomach. You knew he had been acting strange, and at first he seemed to settle, but now there was an unsure look in his eyes that didn’t necessarily scare you, but it did worry you a bit. 

“Are you...” You trailed off as Saeran took a step toward you. You responded by stepping back, but for every movement back, he advanced forward. You weren’t afraid that he would hurt you, not at that moment. However, it didn’t stop you from being intimidated. Your breath caught in your throat when you felt your back bump into a counter, and at that moment you were trapped between Saeran and the counter. There seemed to be a storm brewing in his eyes, and you had a feeling the downpour was about to begin. “Saeran, what are you doing?” Such a simple question seemed to be a tablespoon of baking soda added to the vinegar that was Saeran’s emotional well, as he exploded. 

“You...you won’t leave me, right?!” Despite being taken aback by his sudden prompt, you were going to respond. However, he didn’t allow you the chance. “You can’t!” His voice cracked as tears pricked his eyes. “You and my savior, you’re the only ones I trust.” He dipped his head, bleached locks falling into his eyes while he put all his weight on his palms, which rested on the counter on either side of you. He began to throw himself into a dizzying spiral of repeated doubts, begging you not to leave him. You were caught like a deer in the headlights, heart hurting from hearing his broken words. Even though you wanted to leave the Mint Eye desperately, you couldn’t. You wouldn’t. Not without him. He’s told you all of his stories of betrayal, and you wouldn’t do that to him too. Even though you would both annoy each other, you cared about him and his well being when it really came down to it. 

Is he having an episode...? You thought to yourself as he continued his breakdown, his body shaking. You would always fetch his meds without question whenever he had a headache, usually before he ever snapped at you that his head was pounding and that he needed them. You felt so close to him, because you honestly were, you had been close to him after becoming his assistant, you were by his side at almost all times. So naturally, you would just know something was happening before it blew up into a huge problem. What you just couldn’t grasp was why he was so suddenly begging for you not to leave him. 

“You can’t leave me, okay?!” He was all but sobbing, wiping the tears that were threatening to spill with his shoulder. 

“What? Saeran, if you need your meds, I can run and get them if it’s your head that’s the problem-”

“Agh, no! You’re the problem!” He snapped at you, cutting you off. Admittedly, you felt a little hurt by his words, which was the first time since becoming his assistant that his sharp tongue had truly stung you. He saw your expression shift, and you thought you saw a flash of panic in his eyes. “It’s-” He huffed, shutting his eyes tightly and then looking at you once more. “You make me feel so damn complicated!” You bit your lip as the counter continued to dig harshly into your back. You could feel Saeran’s body pressed flush up against your own, as well as a fierce heat that rose to your face. 

“Saeran, I...” In truth, you weren’t sure how to respond. He made you feel equally as complicated. Did you love him? You thought so. Deep down, behind all of the trauma, you knew there was a good person. You wanted to confidently tell him that it would be okay, that everything he was feeling was natural, and that he deserved all of it. Hell, even spill your own feelings. However, all that managed to slip past your lips were incomprehensible and incomplete stutters. You didn’t have to stumble over your words for long, though. Saeran roughly slammed his lips onto yours, in an attempt to get across all that he didn’t know how to say. You were thankful, as your words were failing you as well. You moved your lips in time with his, hoping he would get the message. He seemed to regain his confidence as you two parted.

“You’re mine, and only mine.” He growled huskily in your ear. You knew that getting him out and away from Mint Eye would be a challenge, but you hoped that maybe this would be a step in the right direction. 

“Yes.” You spoke that single hushed word, and that was all Saeran needed. He pressed his lips against yours once more, with as much unbridled energy as before. He smirked against your lips, slipping his hands underneath your shirt, running his hands up your sides. You shivered as his fingers danced along your skin, still continuing to kiss him back. Just as he swiped his tongue gingerly against your bottom lip, the door to the lab was opened and the sound of someone awkwardly clearing their throat bounced off the floors. Saeran immediately distanced himself from you, face flushed as red as his tank top. You cast your gaze to the floor, unwilling to look at the believer who had interrupted the rather intimate moment.

“Unknown, the savior is looking for you.” The believer’s eyes darted around the room, never once catching Saeran’s. The believer was equally embarrassed of the scene he had just walked in on, judging by his blush that rivaled Saeran’s.

“Yeah, sure. If you tell anyone about this, I’ll make sure I’m the one doing your next cleansing.” The believer nodded quickly and briskly left the room, leaving you two alone once more. The mood had been killed, but it was probably for the best. It sounded as if he was needed elsewhere, anyways. “C’mon, let’s go. I’ll walk you to the intelligence room.” He once again placed his hands over your eyes when you were out in the hallway, leaning in close to your ear. “We’ll pick up where we left off later.~” He chuckled lowly, continuing to guide you through the many corridors of Magenta.

[docmurph12]

Ok review time. And remember, there is no war in Ba Sing Se.

My next request comes from my very good friend. The last time he and I sat down and tried to watch this was after we cleared through every episode of the animated series this movie was based on. We didnt get through ten minutes. So this was a fun, frustrating challenge. For those noticing, yes this is a retroactive review, instead of a "live" one. Reason for this is that as a fan it would be really difficult to be as objective as possible (given I already know this thing to be really bad) if I was distracted.

So what I know going in is that Shyamalan had a couple big flops and that he picked out this series to be his resurrection, thinking going the large scale epic route would be beneficial to his career. What happened was a ruthlessly infamous flop that resulted in nearly 6 years of silence, jokes, and memes prior to "Split" bringing Shyamalan back to relevance again.

First of all, this film could literally have been directed by anyone. Looking back at my review for Aladdin, I recall saying that I was shocked to find out it was directed by Guy Richey, because all of his hallmark signatures were missing. Same story here; The Last Airbender feels like a basic level cookie cutter epic filmmaking school project. Everything that makes a Shyamalan film is gone, which is crazy because the levity that makes ATLA (the acronym I'll use for the show going forward) is gone too. I have always said that as a director your job is to take what is written (which in this case was written by Shyamalan as well) and use your style to create a visual aspect that compliments the story told by the dialogue and events. Think of this writer/director relationship like one in comics between the writer and the artist. The artist is selected because stylistically he matches what is needed for the story. Great example of a good match is Sin City (picked because of loudness of its specific style). That story doesnt get told the same way or with the same impact with different color palettes, camera work, or actor direction. The Last Airbender is missing everything that gives a person a reason to select a specific director, especially one known for work in small scale supernatural thrillers.

The writing is.....super bad. There are a couple simple tools I like to use to identify if a film has scripting issues as opposed to anything else. First, is the dialogue done in a way that feels contextually natural? Do real people talk this way or is it written like shlockey, overly dramatic stage dialogue (think the Star Wars prequel trilogy)? Second, how easy is the story to follow? Are there gaping plot holes? Is it subtle with a good surprise? Does it hit you in the face with a story shovel with a handle made of heavy handed expositional dialogue?

Lastly, how hard are the actors trying to act around your script? Is it a good film where great performances outweigh poor to middling dialogue (Batman V Superman), or is it Bloodrayne? I've said enough on that, you get the point. That said, I am not sure the actors could have been saved by a better script. The cast was very poorly selected. Insensitive at worst (though I genuinely think the brown dude that insisted on the specific and coincidentally white folk he picked probably DIDN'T have a whitewashing agenda given what he said prior to release), out of touch with the source material at best, picking the virtual unknowns that he did really didnt pan out for him. The kid cast as Aang (pronounced AAng, goddamnit, not ONG, more on that later) got the role because he looks like the character, kind of, and only had a week of acting school worth of experience prior to filming the movie. Let's just say it definitely showed.

I am not sure TOTALLY crucifying the cast is entirely fair, so let's move the witch hunt to almost everything else. There is some good though, I promise so hang in there.

I really hope the editor got sent back to school. The purpose of editing is to make a cut that not only maintains but heightens interest in what you are watching. Cutting the fat in order to get to the point while not giving the movie away. Sometimes that means giving more than a 90 minute cut (which Shyamalan has taken at least partial responsibility for in this case) in order to preserve the story. There are scenes where the continuity from one cut to the next doesnt match up. Like consecutive cuts in one scene with massive distances traveled between cuts and even in at least one case a partial or complete costume change. It's extremely jarring. Something else about cuts--generally you cut to another angle or scene because the film requires you to in order to display more information that you wouldn't get in one single long cut. Usually a film has choppy cuts in it because the scene requires an character to do something the actor can't, or because the director or editor are bad at their job. The story, or sometimes in lucky cases just one scene, suffers as a result of bad or needless cuts. This is the case here. The strange thing is there are truly WONDERFUL long cuts of fight scenes that really suck you in, but the wierd juxtaposition between great non-editing and strange and bad editing really kicks you in the head. Enough on that. On to the next.

I did NOT see this movie in 3d. I understand that the conversion was really bad, but that said what I CAN speak to is the VFX. This film, with the exception of the lighting, was pretty well put together in terms of effects. There were really only a couple issues that were glaring in terms of VFX, but by and large it wasnt awful. There are definitely newer films that look worse. In standard. I dont know about 3d.

I think the thing that makes this film more frustrating than anything is that there are things about this movie I love. They are few and far between, but I really do love them. The intro was a really neat callback to the series intro to each episode. Then the movie happens. Then, the flying bison appears!! Then more movie. Then, a scene where Aang (not Awng) uses the glider in his staff. Then more movie. Then, all the practical martial arts, then, yet more movie. It's like this the entire way. Best comparison here? Green Lantern. It's like the Shyamalan said, "Hey, I like this and need a career boost.", then proceeded to cherry pick things from a beloved series and then ham and egged a movie with a confusing plot that absolutely requires you to be super familiar with the source material. There are a lot of assumptions made by characters in the movie that made sense given background provided by the show, but make absolutely none if you are going in blind. "Those are air bending tattoos, and I think he might be the avatar, despite he fact that I havent seen him bend anything and airbenders havent even been seen in over 100 years! Before my time!" Fucking come on. Throw the newcomers here a bone man.

The long story short here is I guess in spite of the casting decisions, editing, and direction, a good script could have made at least a fun movie. This movie should not have made it past script in the form we all saw it though, and it makes one wonder how much pressure was on everyone involved (almost all of it internally applied, Shyamalan did this project almost entirely on his own volition and cast a bunch of almost unknowns with the exception of maybe Cliff Curtis, so of course they said yes) to join in and take part in this without asking questions. Its upsetting to know the original showrunners were as ostracized as they were on this thing.

I dont see myself going back. Yes there were things that made me smile a little, but the film as a whole is so overwhelmingly bad in the face of those things it is just not worth it. I AM however going to go and rewatch the series with my wife and the kids for their first time, and maybe as a result of having to sit through this war crime of a film adaptation.

Final Verdict? I give it a D-. Purely out of respect for the very small handful of things I did appreciate. Next up?? The Lobster. Really looking forward to that one.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD6x04 – “The Colony”

6x04 – “The Colony”

I really, really, really hate this episode. (By the time I finished revising and editing this commentary, I was physically shaking.)

I hate what this episode (and subsequent story) says about people who are abused. By the end of this episode, we’re supposed to feel betrayed by Lotor and confused about seemingly being betrayed by Shiro. Instead, I feel betrayed by the EPs and the writers of this show.

We start at Daibazaal. While Lotor and Allura are going through their launch checklist, preparing to test to see if Lotor’s ships can go into the rift and collect quintessence, everyone else is on the bridge of the Castle Ship. As they discuss things, Lance says that being in the rift “turned Zarkon evil,” but if you’ve read any of my previous commentary on this attempt to retcon Zarkon and Hoverva/Haggar, then you know I fundamentally reject the idea. Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar were terrible people long before the show started trying to blame it on quintessence.

At least Shiro backs me up here, saying, “Zarkon fell prey to his own evil instincts. The quintessence field didn’t create them, it revealed them.” And yet, given how the story continues to unfold, the show does expect us to forgive/absolve/redeem Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar. It’s like the show is trying to have it both ways. The show, outside of what Shiro says here, wants us to think it’s not really Zarkon and Haggar’s fault that they spent 10,000 years as brutal dictators (and abusive parents) because they were poisoned. In a way, the show tries to make Lotor into being worse than Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar because he’s revealed in this episode to have been a deceptive villain all along, whereas they were (the show claims) poisoned into it. What message is this show sending by trying to say the man who was abused by his parents is worse than his abusive parents?

Lotor and Allura take the ship into the rift. While they’re in there, Keith arrives via an Altean pod. This is the first time any member of Team Voltron has been shown talking to Keith since 4x06 “A New Defender” with the big Naxzela fight, and this episode is the first time anyone from Team Voltron has been face-to-face with Keith since 4x01 “Code of Honor.” It seems like such a long time for a show supposedly about friendship.

In the rift, Allura says, “In the hands of the wrong person, this power could easily corrupt” to basically be a giant flashing warning that the show’s about to turn Lotor into a villain and wipe away all the character development he’s gone through.

Keith boards the Castle Ship, and he aggressively says they have to stop Lotor, “he’s been lying to all of us!” About what? “Everything!” says Romelle. What lies he’s supposed to have told, I don’t know.

While in the rift, Allura, being subject to the exact same quintessence as Lotor, says that the experience is “like my whole being is more alive.” The show is doing this to trying to justify reducing Lotor to nothing but another villain. It’s different for Allura because she’s somehow perfect and has nothing negative about her character to be “revealed” (as Shiro put it earlier). Allura having a positive experience with the quintessence negates the idea that exposure to quintessence in the rift accentuates one’s bad qualities.

Haggar continues to stand awkwardly in the center of her room. She’s using the clone to spy on Team Voltron.

Krolia thanks Shiro “for raising [Keith] to be the man he is today.” That’s such an odd thing to have her say because the show has not included any of that detail about Shiro and Keith’s past at this point. All we’ve gotten from the show to this point is that Shiro was something of a mentor for Keith, nothing to the level of Shiro “raising” Keith. This is another example of the difference between showing and telling in writing. We were just told this; we haven’t been shown it. It’s a significant aspect of Shiro and Keith’s relationship, but all we get is a little exposition. (We do eventually get the flashbacks in 7x01 “A Little Adventure,” and then Shiro and Keith’s relationship pretty much ceases to exist.)

Romelle begins her tale. She’s from a planet of thousands of Alteans who’ve lived there since the war with Zarkon began (so she, being a descendant of those first Altean colonists has been taught about Zarkon apparently). Alteans who weren’t on Altea when it was destroyed went into hiding. I really do like that that the hiding Alteans used their shapeshifting ability as part of that hiding. Lotor found some of these Alteans and told them he was trying to preserve Altean culture. This makes sense since we know that part of Lotor being abused by Zarkon was that he became eager to embrace his Altean heritage. This is clearly a good thing, and it is clearly genuine, but again the show wants us to ignore these parts of what we’ve been and are being told about Lotor and instead think of him as being nothing but a villain. He told these Alteans that he secretly set up a haven that will help protect them from the Galra.

I’m suddenly thinking of the parallel of the show having both Lotor and the clone each work to protect people only to be rendered into a simplistic “evil” by the poorly written surprise twist the show uses to kill them this season.

Romelle continues that the Alteans eventually started to “worship Lotor.” She says that also eventually, Lotor told them that he was creating another colony far away from this one. He had every Altean subjected to a series of tests that resulted in some of them being taken to the other colony. No communication between the colonies was allowed.

“This was the world I was born into: one of unquestioning devotion to a supposed messiah,” Romelle says. This is supposed to be getting us to turn against Lotor as a character, priming us to accept the premise that he’s always been a villain, but it’s more that it just turns me against the writing. It makes me feel like these Alteans are being written purposefully unintelligent, that they’re little helpless sheep. I don’t buy the idea that these Alteans would all just give up their agency like this.

“My brother Bandor was always faithful, but I had questions,” Romelle says. There’s also this really heavy-handed attempt to do a story about faith versus doubt and the value of always questioning things, and that’s a fine story premise, but Romelle’s story has no finesse. We find out through her storytelling flashback that her parents were part of those taken to the other colony. Are we really supposed to believe that they just gleefully left their children behind? Really?

We get another instance of Alteans being tested, and Bandor is selected to go to the other colony. And off he runs to board the ship. He doesn’t even want to say goodbye to his sister before going. This is not realistic behavior. Honestly, these Alteans are all creepy. The show wants me to identify with them and thus feel affronted through them over this Lotor retcon/plot twist, but I can’t become invested in what’s going on with them because they don’t feel like actual people. They’re not characters, they’re caricatures.

Bandor’s absolute lack of emotion about being separated from his sister makes me question Romelle’s story and her reliability as a narrator. Lots of fiction is written with unreliable narrators, but this show doesn’t reveal Romelle to be one. Kknowing where the story is going, I don’t think the EPs and writers realized that Romelle functions as an unreliable narrator.

Romelle calls out for Bandor, who has no problem with leaving, and she cries, “I’ll never see you again! Don’t let him tear our family apart!” Bandor does not seem to really care that his sister is in distress. Also, I usually think this show does a decent, sometimes even great, job with voice acting, but Romelle’s performance here feels absolutely hollow.

Bandor secretly gives Romelle a communicator. “Will I be able to talk to you on the other colony?” she asks. How did someone think this line was well written? Also, Bandor giving her this instantly destroys his character because the show has presented him as the unquestioning faithful who just a few moments ago rejected Romelle’s concern about their never being able to communicate with those who’ve been taken away. So, this is more of this show’s infamously inconsistent writing.

Also, his giving the communicator to her is inconsistent within just this single scene. Once he was chosen, he went running off to jump on the ship, not caring about saying goodbye to her. But then now, just a few seconds later, he has a communicator to give her? If she hadn’t run to him to hug him as he was ignoring her and running to the ship, he never would have been in position to give it to her.

She says she could never get Bandor’s communicator to work, but one night Bandor contacts her through it. He tells her that she was right and that he’s in the forest outside of town. We have no idea how much time is supposed to have passed.

She runs to find he’s crashed an Altean pod through the holographic sky and crashed into the ground. He’s emaciated and has stripes on his face. “The other colony, it’s all a lie,” Bandor says right before he dies.

The crash through the holographic sky, with the area Bandor’s pod broke through now not functioning, makes me realize that I don’t know if Romelle and the other Alteans know they’re living in a holographic environment. I mean, at least the sky is holographic, even if the buildings and trees and water are real. Romelle is never shown reacting to the new hole in the sky.

Lotor slowly walks like a cliché villain to the crash site. Romelle overhears him ordering the wreckage to be cleaned up and no evidence left behind. Are Lotor’s forces really that good that they can repair a non-functioning hole where holographic sky used to be without anyone in this colony seeing them do so?

Romelle says she knew “the truth or at least part of it” and that she knew no one would believe her. But when she saw Keith, Krolia, and the space wolf, she then knew she had a chance to learn more about what was happening. I’m not sure how reasonable it is that she would trust them on sight, especially with Krolia being obviously Galra, but whatever.

The show then connects the missing Alteans with the quintessence that Blades have been tracking. Keith, Krolia, and Romelle discuss things, and Keith says that given how weak Bandor was, wherever he had been had to be nearby. Krolia suggests a nearby moon. Romelle has an idea about how to get to the moon: she takes them to some more Altean transport pods, which she says they “haven’t been used in generations. None of the Alteans in the colony would know how to fly one if we desired to.” (And yet, her brother piloted one with precision from the other colony back to this one while under severe physical distress.)

This transport pod is in a small shack-like hangar very much in the Altean town. There’s no way they’re getting out without a lot of people knowing it. But the show doesn’t show any of that, instead it just cuts to them having left the planet and heading toward the moon. So, did Romelle know that she and all these other Alteans lived inside a manufactured environment? This is the first time she’s ever been off a planet, that’s a big deal, but we don’t know how she reacted to that. Despite Krolia saying that there was a nearby moon, we actually see three of them, so that feels like the animation not matching the dialog.

They descend to the other facility. Inside, they find emaciated Alteans floating in liquid filled pods, cables plugged into them. In typical fashion for this show, Keith instantly understands that “Lotor’s harvesting their quintessence.”

Flashback complete, we return to the Castle Ship.

“All this time,” Pidge says. “I can’t believe he fooled us,” Lance says. “He’s a monster,” Keith says. At this point, the show expects us to feel excited because look at this big plot twist. It doesn’t feel earned though. When a deceptive villain’s deception is revealed, it still should feel in character, but this doesn’t. Lotor has not been written to be a deceptive villain except for now in the moment that the deception is revealed. That’s why this feels like a retcon rather than a character arc.

Lotor and Allura are returning. “Once Allura is secure, we will take Lotor down,” Shiro declares.

In the hangar, Lotor is holding Allura close to him. They kiss because the show thinks that it reaffirms how villainous and manipulative Lotor is. None of Team Voltron is subtle, standing in a circle around Lotor and Allura as they enter the room. They aim weapons at Lotor. Lance tells her to step away from Lotor, and she stands between him and Lotor. It feels like this small part of this scene is supposed to be some of Lance being right and Lotor wrong, and Lance having been there for Allura all along but she was just too stupid to realize it relationship plot.

Romelle out of nowhere yells, “Lotor is a monster and has been harvesting Altean quintessence for generations!” Does Romelle even know what quintessence is? Also, this is the first time Allura’s seen Romelle. Did no one think that maybe they should have hidden Romelle and arranged for Allura to meet and speak with her before jumping right to confronting Lotor? Between all of them, none of them thought that it would be better to work this situation more smoothly than this?

“You killed my brother and thousands of others,” Romelle yells. Pidge adds, “Lotor has been lying to us the whole time. He’s a murderer, just like his father.” I have to agree with those who’ve strongly criticized this show for doing this. Lotor was abused by his father, and this show did not care about the message it was sending here by saying that if you’re abused by a parent then you are doomed to become an abuser just like them. This is horribly offensive.

Lotor says, “You know nothing about what you speak. […] I’ve dedicated my life to preserving Altean culture. Now that we have unlocked the quintessence field, all of your people who would have been hunted down long ago had it not been for my intervention can live in peace. Were some lives lost in the process? Yes. But they were martyrs to a noble cause. I sacrificed a few to preserve a future for millions.” I won’t defend his killing the Alteans, just like I won’t defend his killing Narti. But his argument is a complicating one. Unfortunately, the show does nothing with that complication. It’s wiped away, left to be forgotten, in turning him now into a maniacal villain. He���s not wrong that these Alteans would have been hunted down and killed by the Galra. He’s not wrong that there has to be something to serve as a lever to shift Galra culture, and he was hoping a source of quintessence that doesn’t require killing to do that. By turning him into a maniacal villain, the show doesn’t deal with any of this. Whatever complexity Lotor was adding to the Galra as a whole, it’s now instantly destroyed by the narrative. By writing Lotor this way through this plot twist, the writers are making the story world narrower.

Allura grabs him and throws him across the room.

Somehow Axca and Ezor have gotten onto the Caste Ship undetected until the exact moment that they’re stealing Lotor’s ships.

There’s a flash, Haggar is affecting the Shiro-clone’s mind, and he falls down in the pain of it. “You are mine now, give in!” Haggar says. Shiro attacks and knocks out Hunk, Lance, Coran, Allura, and Romelle. He picks up Lotor’s unconscious body.

In the hangar, Pidge, Keith, Krolia, and the space wolf are too late to stop Axca and Ezor from taking Lotor’s ships.

Allura comes over the intercom, “Shiro’s gone mad! He’s escaping with Lotor!” as he runs past Pidge. Pidge hesitates to attack Shiro though.

“Good,” Haggar says, “now bring him to me.”

Keith asks if the Paladins are in condition to fly their Lions. Keith declares he’ll pilot the Black Lion. Black lets him.

Keith tries to contact Shiro, but Shiro turns off the communication. The Lions attack Lotor’s ships, but Lotor’s three ships are better at fighting than the five Lions, which honestly seems unrealistic to me. The Paladins form Voltron, and the episode ends with them in a standoff.

I really hate this episode.

Here’s part of my problem: I don’t care about Romelle. The show has given me no reason whatsoever to care about her as a character. The show clearly wants me to think through Romelle’s story that Lotor is a horrible person but to do that I have to care about Romelle and these Alteans. Given what the writers are trying to do in this Lotor’s-evil-surprise-twist, I’m supposed to feel betrayed by Lotor. But the emotions of feeling betrayed are fundamentally connected to a person’s sense of investment. I am not invested in Romelle. Here telling this long tale is the first thing she does in the show, and it’s pretty much the only thing she ever does. Romelle ends up being more of a gimmick than a character.

I am attached to Lotor as a character though, and this doesn’t make me feel betrayed by Lotor’s character, this story makes me feel betrayed by the EPs and the writers. They are the ones who wrote Lotor to be abused by his father. They’re the ones who wrote Lotor to want to connect to his Altean heritage. They’re the ones who wrote Lotor to want to find a way to change Galra culture. Throughout the first half of this show, it seems our heroes thought they could stop the Galra Empire by killing Zarkon and that that would take care of everything. Lotor introduced a more realistic depiction of what it would take to change the Galra through his argument about wanting to find a source of quintessence that would allow for significant supply but without destroying life. They wrote Lotor to be sympathetic, and they apparently did so all the while planning on destroying that because they thought they were being clever in creating a surprise plot twist.

They purposefully manipulated the audience. I don’t come away from this story feeling elated through the surprise. This story leaves me feeling offended. Not only does it offend my sensibilities as a storyteller, it offends me as someone who was abused by his father. It offends me that this show made it look like they were telling a story through Lotor about struggling to overcome being abused, only to then declare that Lotor is as bad, if not worse, than his abusive father. As I said earlier in this commentary, I think the show is actually saying Lotor is worse than Zarkon because the show blames Zarkon’s behavior on his being poisoned by quintessence, while Lotor’s behavior is just because he’s inherently evil and has been a maniacal villain the entire time. In a way, it feels like the EPs and the writers of this show are gaslighting their audience who are upset at how this twist destroys Lotor’s character and all his depicted struggle to overcome his abuse and Galra cultural toxicity.

And finally, I hate what the show does with the clone twist that’s been fully activated now. I hate how the EPs and writers so easily discard the clone as a character, again, acting like there’s something wrong with us for being bothered that this plot twist erases all the good we’ve seen from the clone up to this point. The story is written that the clone is being psychically manipulated by Haggar, the clone has had his agency taken from him, and the show wants us to think that he’s an “evil thing” because of it. Haggar is abusing the clone just like she and Zarkon abused Lotor. Between Lotor and the clone plotline, the show is giving us a double punch that those who are harmed by others are to blame for being harmed. That those who are harmed by others are inherently evil.

[muchmorethanwhispers]

GOT S8 EPISODE 4 - Spoilers and Theories

This is just a list of thoughts I have so far:

1. JON SNOW KNOWS NOTHING: how does he just throw his whole Stark identity out of the window like that? Telling “his brother and sisters” they are practically nothing. Is like Lyanna’s ancestry doesn’t weigh on his. He is still a Stark. I understand he was raised to feel inferior but he was always proud of Ned and loved his singlings. And why the fuck does he just dismissed Ghost like that? Ghost is in his fucking sword! Is he gonna have it reshaped to be a Dragon now? Ugh 😑 I think the whole Ghost thing is either foreshadowing Jon’s return to the Night Watch or even beyond the wall or his lost identity that will be his downfall... as Sansa mentioned on this episode: “Stark men dont do well in the South”. He does not deserve the Iron Throne even though every one keeps shoving it down his throat. I’m done with Jon/Aegon. What is he thinking: he doesn’t identify as a Stark, he said he loved Dany but still went ahead and told the other Starks their secret... uuugggh. The worst is that he is the only character who doesn’t want to live and I think he is going to make it until he dies of old age 🤦🏻‍♀️

2. SANSA WTF? Selfish little Sansa... I loved her moment with The Hound, her moment saying good bye to Theon but that’s it. She’s the new Littlefinger, but I dont think she really wants the Throne, she just wants some sort of justice for the North. However, what she just triggered by telling Tyrion is going to reshape the whole story. And I think in the end the North will be the new capital and she will be the new queen but won’t be happy... she’ll mirror Cersei and Littlefinger in many things.

3. DANY... I am convinced now that she will be indeed go full Mad Queen. After all that she’s lost (2 Dragons, her best friend and her loyal protector plus the entire Dotraki army and like 75% of the Unsullied) only to see how a man takes all the credit is definitely going to take a toll on her mental state. She meant well by trying to be righteous and destroying the wheel but now she’s all about revenge. She doesn’t really trust the people around her anymore and she’s been held back many many times... I’m sure she will do whatever she wants and this will trigger Varys to act against her. However, I really think Jon will kill her, a new Queen Slayer and this will be her 3rd betrayal. I think Drogon is gonna burn the hell out of Euron.

4. VARYS AND TYRION: I can see Dany executing both of them for conspiracy. And then Dany will suspect Jon as well because he was the one who told Sansa the truth. Maybe Tyrion could survive but I’m not so sure.

5. JAMIE and CERSEI... I truly want to believe he is going back to Kings Landing to try to fix things with Cersei, and try to convince her of running away together or something. I could see Cersei killing him for being a traitor, for leaving her and accusing him of the loss of their unborn child. She’s paranoid so I think that once she sees herself loosing, she will kill herself by Jamie’s corpse side. Very Romeo and Juliette like.

6. ARYA... it was very on point for her to refuse Gendry on those terms of being a lady at a castle. I think she will help the Hound kill the Mountain and finally giving the Hound the gift of mercy. Afterall she’s regained contact with her humanity. I do see her going back to Storm’s End and being with Gendry but as a Master of arms or something on her own terms and him of course supporting her.

7. BRIENNE AND POD: I can see Brienne as the hand of Sansa and Pod as a Knight. Also, there’s room for Brienne to be having Jaimies twins. Afterall, it was kind of foreshadowed during thr drinking game by bringin up thr fact that she was an only child and a virgin.

8. Sam: I’m not sure if Sam’s role was just to read about dragon glass killing the white walkers but I’m sure he will write everything that happened on that night and will go back to his family’s castle.

9. Bran: I’m sure his line to Tyrion about being too much in the past will pay off. There’s still some kind of twist coming for Bran. Probably to open room for the spin off series.

—————

My bittersweet ending would be:

Dany’s dream of ending with corruption ends dead along with her. Jon bitter and alive at The Wall, back to his roots. Sansa alone being the lady that conquered it all with her smarts but is still alone and unhappy, nit necesarily a bad leader but hinting shades of the past ruthlessness. Brienne with the things she never thought could achieve (a family, knighthood, etc) but still suffering by the toll it took. And new generations growing up in spring (Sam, Brienne, Arya’s kids)... maybe Drogon will fly off and lay new eggs but will someone be able to hatch them? And finally Bran, dwelling in the past by the weirwood tree.

_________

Overall I think the producers underestimated this last season. They focused mostly on CGI and visuals, and sacrificed the writing which was what made the series great. They took for granted many aspects (like how could you spend millions on a dragon but overlook a cup of Starbucks right in the middle of the frame). I think we’ll have lots of unanswered questions and many angry fans all over.

I’m also sure the books will be completely different so that’s something I look up to.

[helsaguy]

DC fan again. On your Top 5, as someone who's less than 200 eps from catching up, and considering Kogoro is nowhere near growing into a more serious char (if that's what you meant by 'getting his act together'), shouldn't he not be on the list? That aside, interesting choices, even the special mentions, you're one of the very few that did put none if any of the Gosho boys (or Sera for that matter) up there with their favorites. you can answer in your other account if you like^^

I'm not replying on my other blog because I'm feeling a little lazy right now xD But also, if you wanted me to reply over there, why not write on my other blog in the first place? lol

What I wrote about Kogoro getting his act together was mostly an inner thought. Nothing to take too seriously, I know he isn't "getting better" any time soon XD I like wacky Kogoro and he has always been one of my favorite characters since I was a kid. He's fun. No need to take him off my list, really.

Oh boy, here comes the most controversial opinion any DCMK fan could ever encounter. I didn't mention any of the "Gosho Boys" because 1- I hate Kaito Kid. Yes, this isn't a case of just not liking the character, I hate the guy. And 2- I don't like MK characters in general (hence why not even Hakuba's on my list) I don't find any of them interesting nor fun, or entertaining. I cannot stress how utterly bored I get when I see MK characters crossover to DC. They either bore me or annoy the hell out of me. However, I would watch the episodes of MK that feature DC characters :P

As for Shinichi and Heiji. Well, I always liked the characters and Heiji has always been of my most favorites. But as I grew older my perception of the characters, some more than others, has changed.

On one hand while we all know Shinichi and Conan are the exact same person, I find Conan a better character than Shinichi. How does that work? I don't know but it does to me. However Conan isn't on my list because like you can see I find a whole lot of other characters more entertaining or interesting than him.

On the other hand there's Heiji. I have always identified with him in that we can be idiotic hot-headed guys. Because of his fiery personality he rushes on getting cases done and sometimes comes up with the wrong conclusion, as it happened on his debut episode. What I don't like is how because of this aspect of his personality some may perceive him as an inferior detective to Shinichi. I don't believe Heiji is better than Shinichi and I don't believe Shinichi is better than Heiji. I think they are just as good as the other only that they work differently.

My biggest issue with Heiji is that lately his competitiveness against Shinichi has got way too ridiculous. Stop trying to "be better than Shinichi", what matters is to get cases solved. That shouldn't be a battle of egos. Heiji especially can be seen as an idiot since he is the only one of the two high school detectives who is interested on a competition in the first place. Shinichi only focuses on getting the case solved. And here's the kicker. Can he stop with this stupid idea of making his confection to his love interest more spectacular than that of Shinichi's? What the heck is wrong with you man?! Heiji and Kazuha's relationship isn't the same as that of Shinichi and Ran's, and the worst part is that Heiji and Kazuha's history isn't as developed as Shinichi and Ran's relationship.

On a side note; I think is insulting how out of these two couples Kazuha alone lacks development.

Why the need of having a bombastic declaration when you see each other every single day?! Shinichi confessed because he was put in a tight spot. He could have turned into Conan any moment and Ran doesn't get to see or talk to Shinichi every single day. Why Heiji can't cut with this crap and just confess if Kazuha means that much to him? It's not like any of them is still figuring things out. They know they like each other, so go on and say it once and for all.

If not Kogoro at the top of the list, who would I move up? Wouldn't that be Sonoko since she's second on my list?

[ineffable-celestial-lovers]

A new Headcanon and meaning of names in Good Omens

New Morning, new Headcanon. And also some research of the name Ashtoreth later and what that has to do with Madame Tracy.

So for some days I’m trying to write a fanfiction about the time Crowley and Aziraphale raise Warlock. I came to the point of asking myself, what first name would Crowley choose for his nanny persona.

I came up with Lilith.

Let me explain:

From what I have read up so far, Lilith was the first woman created from the same clay as Adam. Because of this she thought she was equal to him and refused then to lay under Adam while he also refused to be in a bottom position. She disobeyed him and muttered the ineffable name of god and was therefore able to fly out of the Garden of Eden.

Three angels were sent out to retrieve her, but she refused to come back again and again. In the end Lilith accepted that every day 100 of her children would die, while she swore to not kill children (= all offspring of Adam and Eve and later generations) that would be protected by an amulet with the names of the angels engraved. She is associated with the death of babies by sickness or strangling them during night, since she holds power over boys until they are 8 days old and over girls until they are 12 days old.

That is what most of what I have read agrees on. But I also found websites that say, that Lilith had demonic offspring with Adam, or an Archangel or even with numerous other demons at the red sea where the angels found here. Therefore she can also be seen as the mother of demons. Some texts seem to portray her also as a demon that comes in the night to tempt single men into sin and stealing their life energy (like a succubus), sometimes also as drinking their blood (like vampires).

And here comes another interesting part: Sometimes she is portrayed as the serpent that tempted Eve to eat the apple. And on a side note: Many depictions I have found of her, portray her with red hair.

As for my headcanon, I think in Good Omens that Lilith didn’t exist, but both Crowley and Aziraphale are aware of the texts and legends around her. So he likes the link to him as serpent and the implication of Lilith being the mother of demons as well, since he is going to raise the Antichrist.

What About the name Ashtoreth?

I was curious, if the name Crowley chose himself for his persona had any meaning and surprise, it has: But here it get’s complicated and there is a lot of:

Ashtoreth was also called  Astoret / Asherah / Astarte (and many, many more) by different cultures, ect. but others say those could be different entities similar to Ashtoreth. So sorry, if I mess some things up here.

But it appears that Ashtoreth was a goddess of war but also of love, or at least sexual love. I quote: “ Asherah was also identified as the moon goddess who belonged to the family of gods associated with Baal the sun god (Judges 3:7; 6:28) Worship to her included sexual immorality, prostitution, divination, and fortune telling”. Another website adds sensual and ritual prostitution as part of worshiping her. I also found that sometimes she was called the Queen of Heaven and became a demon of lust.

So alone that Crowley chose Ashtoreth as his Nanny name tells us something about his preference to call himself...

An interesting link to Madame Tracy

At the end I stumbled upon something that made me raise an eyebrow: “Queen Jezebel also worshiped Asherah and supported 400 Asherah prophets (1 Kings 18:19)” We know, that Madame Tracy’s is called Jezebel by Mr Shadwell in the second episode and last episode where she corrects him that she is now “retired Jezebel”. So maybe that was kind of her ‘artist’ or ‘medium’ name. Or maybe the name she would go by for he appointments on Thursdays for “intimate personal relaxation and stress relief for the discerning gentlemen.”

It appears that Queen Jezebel who also worshiped Baal, is described in the bible as a murderer and enemy of god, since she ordered the killing of god’s prophets. But also as a prostitute and some interpret the circumstances of her death, when she knew someone was coming to kill her, that she made her hair and put make-up on that she might have tried to seduce her killer. Some say she was the worst woman of all the bad ones in the bible.

So yeah. I really didn’t thought it would take me more than 2 hours to write this post. I originally started only with my headcanon, but then I also researched some more and surprised myself with what I found. But if you want to know more details I encourage you, to do your own researches. Those are complex texts/legends and can vary very much depending where you read. And I tried to break them down to the ‘interesting’ aspects that could be linked to Good Omens.

If you have more info, please feel free to share. I want to read it!

[dent-de-leon]

Because I’ve gotten countless asks and shitty replies on all my posts about this, I’m addressing it right here and now--why I still ship sheith and it’s not “dead,” here we go:

So, let’s get started with the dreaded ages thing that always comes up, just get that out of the way. According to the guidebook, they were 18 and 25 respectively at the start of the series. Shiro hasn’t aged in the astral plane. Since, you know he’s been dead. And it's more or less implied that Shiro has been gone for months, and then they meet Lotor and there's the whole time that conflict plays out, then we fastforward to after he lays low and keith says "Lotor hasn’t been seen for months.” We can infer that more or less a year has elapsed since Shiro’s death/disappearance. Adding in the two year time skip, that puts them at about 21 and 25 respectively. You know, a completely reasonable age difference. 

There’s literally nothing indicating Keith was adopted by Shiro period. You realize the guy was probably like 19/20 around that time, right? No 20 year old is out here going to college and thinking ‘hey, why don’t I adopt a teenager?’ I should know--I sure as hell aren’t. You barely feel like you can take care of yourself and a houseplant at that point, let alone a whole other person. 

People claim that Shiro had the “power” to send Keith back to the home because he was his guardian?? That’s not the case. He vouched for Keith, which is how he ended up in the garrison in the first place. When Keith tells Shiro to just throw him back in the home, he’s referencing something said by the other officer only moments before--the only reason he’s here is because of Shiro. One word from Shiro, and literally the whole thing’s off. Keith has very limited options here, and he knows it. 

Shiro seemed to be a recruitment officer sent to Keith’s school to look for new cadets. We can tell because Keith isn’t in the cadet uniform in that shot--he’s in a school setting in plain civilian clothes. Shiro is standing at the front of the room in his officer uniform, and it seems that the teacher is introducing him as a kind of guest speaker. Then there’s the flashback where he and Keith are standing beside Kogane’s hoverbike, implying that Shiro saw his skill as a pilot firsthand and was determined to get him in the garrison--to secure him a better future. Krolia’s thanks to Shiro is in relation to what we already know--that Shiro was there for Keith when he had no one, that he led him down the right path and changed his life for the better. His “guiding light,” as the show runners have said. 

But then they got older, and it’s very clear their relationship changed. The two are equals from the start of season 1, that much is obvious. Now that Keith is older, he’s able to protect Shiro in turn. In fact, more often than not, he’s shown to be the one caring for Shiro instead of the other way around. He’s the one always running to Shiro’s rescue and saving him from certain doom. Some people are so stuck on the flashback, but it’s painfully obvious that he’s no longer a child--after the time skip, he’s been explicitly referred to as a man. I think Keith looked up to Shiro a lot when he was younger, but now that he’s so much older and they’re closer in age, now that he’s had all this time to ruminate on it--there’s clearly something else there.

And Shiro sees Keith in a whole new light in turn, which is clear when he’s so thrown off by seeing older Keith. “Lance is right. You have changed.” I don’t understand how people can acknowlege two characters can change without their relationship evolving in turn--these have always been dynamic characters, nothing is static. It’s like how people claimed Allura was still annoyed by Lance and wanted nothing to do with him after she explicitly said she enjoyed his company. You can acknowledge that characters’ relationships are subject to change, that they can grow and develop and be organic, and move on. 

People latch onto the brother line and insist I can’t read, but then promptly ignore the fact that Kuron was completely unmoved by it. The thing that actually breaks through to him, that yields a very gutting, visceral reaction--that’s Keith’s breathless admission of, “I love you.” He also looks completely shocked by it, which doesn’t make any sense if this was coming from a familial love context that he was familiar with. 

In this season, sheith also covered a number of timeless romantic tropes reserved for a character’s love interest. The same exact tropes that fans praised as High Romance when they presumed it would be in relation to k/l, but then immediately backtracked to “oh,, it’s just familiar!!” as soon as those plot points were given to sheith instead. Shiro and Keith’s relationship is also shown to directly parallel Kogane and Krolia, as well as Zaggar--both canon romantic relationships. Not to mention the very noticeable korrasami parallel. You know, as if their relationship was designed to be interpreted as romantic. 

This is also literally the one and only declaration of I love you in the entire series, something not even explicitly romantic couples like Keith’s parents or Zaggar have shared. It’s completely unique to Shiro and Keith’s relationship, and holds just so much gravity to it. This isn’t even taking into account that distinctly romantic variations of “love” were used in other dubs, such as the Japanese aishteru. 

Nevermind that it’s common for someone that’s gay to refer to a close friend of the same gender as being “like a brother/sister” to avoid confessing their true feelings. Hell, I’ve done it before. And I’ve seen so many other LGBT people express relating to that aspect of Shiro and Keith’s relationship, that it’s a struck a cord with many other fans like me. 

When you’re talking about wanting LGBT rep--rep that Lauren and Joaquim mentioned they have been working towards and fighting for since the beginning--but then you willfully ignore and tear down the one relationship that’s been built up like that, when you understand that they might not have been able to get the explicit rep they wanted but still demonize the subtle hints of it, when you make actual LGBT fans feel like shit for identifying with this sort of narrative--you’re really missing the point. 

You know what else is very telling? That this was the one episode Joaquim directed himself--he cared so much about Keith and Shiro’s dynamic, he wanted to just go all out and really made the episode his. That’s how much this episode--this dynamic between Keith and Shiro--mattered to him. Here’s some commentary on it:

Marc: “Speaking of credits we’re not used to seeing—Joaquim, you wrote an episode!”

Joaquim: “I did!…Super excited. You know, it’s one of those things that I wanted to do for many, many years now, and finally got to an EP position. I said, ‘Guys, I’m just gonna write one of these things. And, you know—I’m emotionally attached to both Keith and Shiro, and had some ideas on how that episode could play out.”

Marc: “So you’re the one that has to decide how the battle between Keith and Shiro pans out.”

Joaquim: “Somewhat. Along with a consortium of awesome writers, and Lauren, board artists—yeah.”

Lauren: “Everything in animation is teamwork, but it was definitely Joaquim’s brain child. 

Joaquim: “…when you’ve gotta go back and do painful story edits on scenes that you wrote, it feels like somebody’s limbs are getting cut off.” (source)

Let’s also not forget the brother line has been used for a number of relationships that still became canon--Aang and Katara, Ed and Winry, Ginny and Harry, ect. And lastly, before you still want to call me a monster, let’s not forget that the staff supports sheith in a romantic context, and has since the beginning. They also are more than happy to talk about their intimate relationship. But I mean, of course,, the staff must hate us for this, right? Surely, they never intended for this relationship

to be interpreted as

potentially romantic,,

And sure, it could be that sheith will never be canon--or that it will to some degree, but not explicitly--either way, there’s literally no reason to demonize other fans for shipping it. Especially when the staff themselves have always supported it. If you think you need to take the time to comment on every single sheith post that “they’re only brothers!! You’re disgusting!!!” ect, don’t expect the staff to ever support or even tolerate you, becuase you are the reason both they and the fans are feeling alienated, you are the ones continually harassing the staff for just wanting to have fun. Besides, Shiro and Keith already have “the closest relationship” in canon--Joaquim’s words, not mine--and they love one another. Literally nothing can take that away from them, and if LGBT fans see themselves in these characters, who are you to lash out at them for it?