#i didn't get bored of them i just found more fun fandom things to do skdhbcjs

[copia]

endless ghifs 33/? ⛧ source — "In God you trust!"

[gffa]

Hi there! I just wanted to thank you for your many MANY thorough explainers of Jedi Culture, Philosophy and just, everything!

I had kind of fallen out of the fandom when I stumbled across your blog, partially because of the more toxic part of the fandom, partially because I was frustrated with my perceived version of the Jedi. While I never got as far as blaming them for Order 66, I was stuck in this "I want to like them but there forbid love and want you to suppress all emotions and not care about anything and that seems wrong!"-cycle but couldn't resolve it on my own.

Suffice to say that your posts have absolutely rewired my brain chemistry about Star Wars, the Jedi and the prequels and I have a much bigger appreciation for all of it now, so thank you, and may the force be with you!

This was such a lovely message to get and I'm honored! I've found that there are a lot of us who walked a similar path--I started out as very Jedi-critical as well, to the point that I borderline was blaming them for Order 66, and eventually many of us wandered over to this viewpoint instead. For me, I think that explains why I approach fandom the way I do--in part, I just really really get a charge out of word of god commentary and reference guides and collation of details of worldbuilding, that kind of thing lights my brain up. But it's also the kind of thing that evolves my view on things, not only does it scratch the itch, but it's exactly what got me to become such a hardcore Jedi fan--because I sat down to really examine TCW and the movies in detail and I found, oh, there are actually a lot of instances that didn't fit with what I thought of the Jedi, and when I put it all together and read Lucas' commentary, a whole new viewpoint emerged for me. I saw how often they were roadblocked when they were trying to help people. I saw how often they forgave mistakes. I saw how often they made themselves available. I saw how often they risked their lives and even often died to save other people, just because they cared. That's not going to be everyone's journey and that's fine, there should be plenty of room in fandom for all kinds of different opinions, setting aside that bigotry shouldn't just get a pass. We should leave real people the hell alone because their opinions on fiction is not a good metric for understanding them as a person--how they treat REAL PEOPLE is much more important. If I can help draw someone over to enjoying the Jedi through a more positive view, to show that they don't suppress emotions (they would have been SO BORING if they were just emotionless robots! why bother hiring Ewan McGregor if you're not going to let him ACT, you know? 😂), to show that the choices they made were because they were in an impossible situation and the narrative does a lot to show that there just weren't better ways out, to just show much fun it can be to love the Jedi with us, then that's such a win for me. Nobody's ever obligated to join us, but if you want to, a lot of us are having a really good time over here. (Most of the time. It is still Star Wars fandom. 😂) I'm so glad you're here, fandom is always more fun when there are people to play in the same sandbox with, like I don't need the whole fandom to agree with me, I just need some wonderful people to be here and I have that, so thank you for being part of it and I'm honored if I could help drag you over here with us! XD

[icyrambles]

the cassettes are a group of characters where if i think about them for too long i start to get physically ill.

because i really like the cassettes. they're really fun and i adore the concept of a guy who happens to have a gaggle of goons to do his dirty work. the combination of making them actual cassettes who live inside of soundwave (and/or blaster but this is gonna be a soundwave cassette focused post) is really interesting.

unfortunately most bits of canon (and fanon to be entirely honest) do not treat the cassettes as actual beings with their own thoughts, feelings, and personalities outside of "soundwave's little guys."

for the sake of clarity i will only be talking about the continuity that i have the most experience with, that being idw1 and my post will mostly be talking about those versions of the characters. i've been told that the cassettes feature more prominently in the g1 marvel comics but i haven't quite gotten around to reading those in depth so i won't be discussing those.

back on topic.

i always feel so disappointed at the actual cassettes as characters. they're often sidelined into being background characters and the majority of the time when they show up in fics they're never majour characters, just background guys to pad out the cast. i'm honestly not gonna judge fan writers and fan artists too harshly because most canon sources don't really feature the cassettes as actual characters worthy of having attention paid to them.

idw1 is specifically the continuity where i feel a bit sick whenever i think about the cassettes because they go through sooooo much shit and it's never brought up. like okay, laserbeak, buzzsaw, and ravage are mostly chill. obviously they probably have the whole beastformers are lesser beings thing going on but they're overall the most well rounded of the cassettes. (ravage especially since he's actually allowed to be a character outside of soundwave)

rumble and frenzy are were my stomach starts to like... explode. because they didn't get a choice in being soundwave's cassettes and it's never brought up, ever. megatron basically tells them that they're gonna be reformatted and neither party ever brings it up. like do rumble and frenzy just tolerate soundwave because it could be so much worse? do they genuinely respect soundwave and fight beside him because they want to see him succeed in a similar manner as the beastformers? like... phase 2 shows them reformatted again into motorcycles and they seem okay with it, like neither of them seem to be hung up on no longer being cassettes.

but also i have issues and problems with rumble and frenzy always being shown as a package duo. like i think they're a fun combo, especially as siblings because i adore platonic relationships but most pieces of canon treat them as interchangeable. like it's an ongoing joke in the fandom that they swap paint colours to fuck with people and in actual canon sources they don't have consistent colours so it's harder to actually treat them as genuine individuals. and that makes me soooooo mad. i don't like it when twins/duos in media get treated as a weird conglomerate individual with two names. it's boring and it's lazy and i wish it would stop happening.

side tangent. i hate what how skybound treats the cassettes. like okay yeah sure it's fun to see soundwave go "you hurt my ravage" but what about his other cassettes. either rumble or frenzy is dead and soundwave just doesn't fucking care? does he play favourites, boy i sure would like to know but daniel warren literally fucking said that he killed off one of the twins because he found the colour debate to be annoying and that grinds my gears a bit. if you don't like them, don't fucking include them or idk, have mike spicer, the colourist, keep their palettes consistent.

and skybound also treats ravage like an object. he's not an actual character with thoughts and feelings and emotions, he's a fucking toy for soundwave to moon over whenever warren needs soundwave to be less of an asshole than shockwave. like yeah sure, soundwave being so desperate to get ravage repaired in skybound is good for his character but that dynamic, where ravage has no actual dialogue and no actual personality outside of "soundwave's cassettte" makes him so much less interesting to me. skybound is getting a small benefit of the doubt because there's only 11 issues so far, but i will critique it to all hell because any emotional tension involving ravage and soundwave falls apart for me because ravage could easily be replaced with literally any other cassette. he's not special and the comic doesn't do anything to make me genuinely care about soundwave and his relationship.

tangent over. i'm going back to talking about idw1.

specifically it's time to talk about the fucking elephant in the room that i'm always thinking about whenever soundwave's cassettes come up; ratbat.

now to preface this little rant of mine. ratbat sucks. he's a terrible person who actively believed and contributed to the oppression of millions of cybertronians. he used soundwave as nothing more than a tool and proved himself to be a slimy scumbag with the few moments that he was on screen.

however, that does not stop me from feeling just a tad bit bad for him considering how soundwave treats him. it's one thing for the decepticons to murder the whole senate, those characters don't really matter in the long run, they're nameless, they never get brought up ever again and the story just doesn't care about them once they're dead.

but ratbat is different because rather than killing him, soundwave shoves his dying spark into a cassette body and for all intensive purposes, turns ratbat into his slave. because ratbat doesn't get a choice, he doesn't get the ability to say no. he just has to be toted along and do whatever soundwave tells him to do and that alone makes my opinions on idw soundwave.... well they're not great. because later stories treat idw soundwave like he's a good guy, he's the dude who wants to make the decepticons what they were originally, he wants to be done with cybertron's bullshit.

and i have to sit there, fist clenched, wanting to grab him by the fucking shoulders and ask "WHAT ABOUT RATBAT? WHAT ABOUT THE GUY WHO YOU LITERALLY MADE INTO A SLAVE FOR AT FOUR MILLION YEARS AND WHOSE DEATH YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY REACTION TO WHATSOEVER? DOES LIBERATION AND EQUALITY ONLY MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO GUYS WHO DIDN'T PERSONALLY FUCK YOU OVER?"

ehem, anyways, yeah i do not like the fact that idw just brushes over the fact that ratbat is not willingly soundwave's cassette. they do not ever focus on the fact that soundwave stuffed his former employer's spark into a completely different frame and then proceeded to do exactly what ratbat did to him for around four million years. and then didn't react whatsoever to ratbat dying.

like in early idw1, ratbat doesn't have any dialogue. he's a nothing burger character like all the other cassettes. but idw phase 2 specifically makes him a political rival. he's the guy in charge of the cons (along side shockwave to some extent) and then prowl fucking orders arcee to kill ratbat and no one ever talks about him ever again...

i have complicated emotions regarding ratbat because the story really wants you to see his treatment and go, yes, he deserves this treatment, he's evil and he was mean to soundwave and therefore he deserves to be imprisoned by another and used as a weapon for four million years and once he's dead we'll never talk about him ever again.

and i don't think that's fair. ratbat should've been a crucial character to soundwave after he died. soundwave should've had a moment in phase two where he realises that the decepticons have been terrible from the beginning, that he was actively a part of that terribleness, and he should've made the active decision to change the decepticons into something that stands for equality and freedom and peace.

i'm gonna move onto ravage because i feel so bad for ravage. he got shafted hard. oh the one hand, i love mtmte ravage, i adore seeing the cassettes in environments that don't involve soundwave because it means the writers have to actually care about them as more than just little guys that soundwave bosses around.

unfortunately, ravage goes from being soundwave's little guy to being megatron's little guy in mtmte. which like... okay, fine, megatron needs a guy who he can bounce off of and ravage fits that role pretty well (though i'd argue that having megatron potentially bounce off of an autobot whose morals are a bit lax is much better than simply having a decepticon who already likes him.)

but the point is, ravage, rather than being his own character who has thoughts and opinions, only exists to be a buffer for megatron. the devil on his shoulder if you will, trying to see and understand and coax megatron back into being the fearsome leader he was before. and it works to some extent, ravage getting fatally injured is literally what prompts megatron into ripping the djd to shreds. but unfortunately, that's ravage's only real purpose in the story. we don't see him interacting with any other characters means that he's entirely dependent on megatron for any insight to his character development. nautica is an exception but i have my own issues with the fact that she treats him like a pet upon first meeting him and like... to my knowledge she never really gets over that whole cute kitty aspect of their relationship.

and this makes me so mad because ravage is really interesting. he's older than most of the characters on the lost light and should reasonably be a fascinating insight to how beastformers are treated and discriminated against during the pre and post war eras. but instead he's relegated to a side character who gets murdered to further the arc of megatron, a character who sort of forgets about ravage as soon as lost light starts. this isn't helped by megatron's character arc being rushed and happening mostly off screen but ravage's death feels so unnecessary to me. he would've been much better had he been forced to be separated from megatron for most of lost light.

and unfortunately this is much the same for most other continuities. transformers prime my forever detested treats laserbeak like a fucking drone. it doesn't have any voicelines, it's just a little creature hooked up to soundwave's chest. (i haven't read the books because i cannot be bothered with aligned continuity and also if i have to go to external sources of canon beyond the original show to get key character information, it probably wasn't too important to begin with)

earthspark is fun in season 1, i'm happy that frenzy and laserbeak are allowed a few moments of time outside of soundwave but they're very minor characters and unfortunately ravage isn't much of a character considering he can't speak (which is weird because laserbeak can) and only gets a few scenes throughout seasons 1 and two.

cyberverse only has laserbeak and once again she/he (i don't think they state their pronouns) only exists to be soundwave's little guy.

tfa soundwave is so nothing burger that i genuinely forget that he exists 90% of the time. so his cassettes, as to be expected, not characters and just random objects to be played around with.

my point in all this is that the cassettes deserve better. they deserve to be actual genuine characters who are treated as more than just set pieces for soundwave and the other decepticons. i hope that in later transformers series, the writers give the cassettes the opportunity to shine.

[wandixx]

Greeting comrades,

I’m Wandixx, a history enthusiast, baby writer and budding artist. Grab your tea/coffee/juice or whatever else beverage you favor and let’s go!

I’m part of the DPxDC fandom so my fics are from here. And this list exists so we all can find anything on this blog, welcome!

Here is my AO3:

My finished fics/prompt fills:

“Blood Blossom”:

Desperate times require desperate solutions. When, after escaping GIW, Danny gets trapped by the Justice League, he has only one way to get out of it. Eating a Blood Blossom. (this one includes a sad and happy ending!)

“Contingencies”:

Danny lives with Bats and it all seems to go pretty well. Until they find his contingency plans, including ones against himself, that were just over glorified suicide to-do list. How the hell are they supposed to handle that (that’s a chunky boi, over 20k)

“Ghost of fries and hero of cookies”

Duke wasn't expecting to wake up from his quick rooftop nap to some meta kid with fries. He also wasn't expecting kid to stay Or Danny asked Dani to stay safe while she was in Gotham. Where would she be safer than under the wing of a local hero? And he looked like he needed a bad day combo anyway. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, art AO3 link

“Reverse summoning”:

It’s always DC characters summoning Danny. How about we do this another way around? Danny was desperate for a mentor and help (and some cold medicine). How- What- Why is Wonder Woman standing in his bedroom? 

“Unknown, the Wandering Hero”:

Unknown was who Justice League called the friendly anonymous hero, who kept helping them with ghosts. Only one with powers working on them. It just turns out, they were much younger than everyone expected. Danny went through a lot lately and the less people knew who he was, the less likely he was to return to the operating table.

M'gannxDanny one-shots: (their ship name is 💚Spearmint💚) (I love them so much, can you tell?)

M'gann and curious case of disappearing cities

M'gann was bored out of her mind and her monitoring shift with Green Arrow just started! Sure, it was important thing to learn and all, but also just a bit more interesting than drying paint. And then entire city just disappeared from the feed, so she stormed out to investiagate. And it went downhill from there

Fight over the Mars

Danny was ambushed by Vlad when he was minding his own buisness. It wouldn't be unusual if he didn't have a portal gun, that send them all over the world and then to the freaking Mars. And then Miss Martian showed up. Yeah, Danny was absolutely normal about that part

Relationship reveal with ghost summoning on the side

Young Justice fumbled a bit a mission involving the cult. Yeah, they managed to summon the wish granting ghost and only Aqualad had a way to touch her. Not the best look... But then Miss Martian said she had an idea! The idea was to summon another ghost... And it worked and he attacked the first ghost! Wait, when exactly did petnames get on the table?!

Actively posted fics:

"You'll never find the answers"

M'gann was having an amazing day. She met with her civilian friends, drank an amazing smoothie, saw a cute dog. For a few hours, she didn't have to think about problems that took more than 20 minutes to solve. For a few hours, she could just be Megan. And then there was a scream of a woman, mother, who thought too loud and faded too fast and M'gann wasn't enough to save her and it made her whole world come crashing down. And then Danny found her, with a soft smile and patient voice. He kneeled beside her to pick up the pieces. And shards cut them both in the process. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 AO3 link Art by Clockworkclown

"GIW made a lot of mistakes and the biggest one was going against Young Justice" (may change hah)

Young Justice wanted a chill afternoon for once, hanging out at amusment park. And then, Danny was attacked by some freaks in white suits. Well, it seems there are villains to make fun of and... did somone mention ✨an evil lab✨? part 1

Stuff that I shared snippets of:

"Danny and Wally are chaos incarnate"

"Dani's dress-up game and Batman's rouge gallery" (also known as "serious chaos one-shot snippet")

"GIW made a lot of mistakes and the biggest one was going against Young Justice" part 1

"Danny, the Young Justice member" random ideas part 1, part 2

The stuff I have somewhere on paper and would love to share if asked.

Make yourself at home, and I hope you’ll like it here!

[curiouspupsicle]

Fan Fic Writer Interview

When @possibility-left tagged me a while back for @cheeseplants writer interview game, I didn't feel worthy. I had only written one fic.

But then @missunderstoodlyrics tagged me. And since I've now plotted out a new, long fic and written several chapters, I guess it's time to stop lurking in the shadows and call myself a fan fic writer (not necessarily a good one, or experienced one, but a fan fic writer nonetheless). So here we go: What fandoms do you write in? Good Omen all day long. Never read any other fan fiction (even for fandoms I love). Never written any other fan fiction. How many words have you published in 2024? Ooh, this looks sad. 1,077 in my short bit o'fluff. But I've published millions of non-fiction words since I started my first WordPress blog in 2010. So apparently, like Nina, I have things to say. If you're curious about my typical writing, check out Honey and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day. It will be relevant to a future fan fic. What is your greatest achievement this year? It's a tie. First, managing to work, feed myself, and care for my dog rather than reading exquisite fan fiction hour after hour and day after day. And second, finding the courage to write fan fic at all despite being much older (and less talented) than the wonderful writers I enjoy. But, at the risk of my anonymity, I have written a few blog posts on the joys of doing new things badly (click the link to find the inspiration for that mantra which also ties into my next big fan fic project). So I guess I have to live my words. What are your favourite top three fics you wrote this year? Well, as a newbie, there's only one published: Will You Ever Stop Surprising Me? In it, Crowley worries that he'll get bored after averting two apocalypses just to find his angel still has some surprises in him yet. It's pure fluff set in a sex toys shop. (And no, I'll probably never write actual smut. At least not if the voices in my head when I'm reading it--are you kidding me? people in their 50s can't kiss from that position!--are any indication. What was your biggest pit of despair moment? Probably haven't seen it yet. But even in the pits, I look for hope. So I guess it was the pit where I told myself I was definitely spending too much time in fandom works when I should be looking for more paid work and taking care of my boat. But struggled to make progress. Then I realized that the long fic I was obsessing over was actually helping quell the anxiety that kept me from, well, looking for more work and taking care of my boat. What have you learned?

That it's lovely to learn from young(er) people. I admire the craft of people as young as teenagers. And the maturity and vision of writers young enough to be my children. It's fine that I don't have their skillset. I'm a beginner, after all. What three fics have you read this year that you love?

Just three? What, are you insane? Okay, since I share faves regularly on FanFic Friday (follow me if you want to be sure to see them), I guess I can limit myself. But You are an Ocean by megzseattle - After reading thousands of words with Crowley crawling into a whiskey bottle after Aziraphale returned to heaven, this fic read like a fresh breeze. Crowley moves to the South Downs on his own and befriends the protective women of the village. Extra points for BAMF!Aziraphale off-screen and found-family joy. A Portrait in Synesthia by DiminishingReturns - God creates the universe over and over trying to perfect it. She wipes out the memories of the angels every time. But somehow Crowley and Aziraphale find each other in each new iteration using their synesthetic senses. It's stunning. Delectable But Not Edible by AppleSeeds - Human AU - Aziraphale visits a Lush soap store where Crowley works determined to sample those delicious looking confections. I laughed out loud the whole way through. And while I love my clever angel, it was very fun to see him being so obtuse--while clever enough to get past the crazy embarrassment any normal person would have felt in the same position. And finally, What ideas are percolating for next year? I'm SO excited by a new fic I'm working on in which Crowley and Aziraphale are sailors who compete against each other in a singlehanded, round the world race. It will have banter, some angst, peril at sea, our boys demonstrate their feminism, and more. I don't think you'll need advanced knowledge about sailing or racing to appreciate it. And I'm using this as an opportunity to bring some events from real life sailing history to a new audience. Click to read a little snippet of I've written so far. And to see some great footage of sailing off Cape Horn. Why is this such a passion project? While I've never raced, I did live and cruise full time on a sailboat for 7 years. My boat (although I am not) is capable of doing a circumnavigation. So far, the writing and research have helped me tremendously with healing after unexpectedly ending my cruising life two years ago. Tag, answer any Qs that suit and play along (apologies if you're been tagged before and I missed it)! @pookasluagh, @di-42, @dragonfire42, @itsscottiesstark, @shadesofecclescakes, @lavendermoonlitskies, @serenity-black, @holycatsandrabbits

[oodlyenough]

arcane s2 act 1

alright might as well collect my thoughts for posterity

first and foremost: obviously the triumphant cackle i was doing the entire hexcore scene. huge W for me, personally. did it always feel like the most logical and narratively satisfying extension from s1? sure. do i trust television to do the most narratively satisfying thing? no. especially not after fandom spent years of the hiatus trying to convince me otherwise

really all the jayvik scenes were, more or less, exactly what i expected/wanted and very satisfying lmaooo. i knew jayce wouldn't give a fuck about the shimmer or unethical experiments. i win!

other stuff i liked:

in the hiatus i've now seen all of yellowjackets and it has made me fonder of ella purnell and by extension jinx, lol. i love sevika and i think their grudging alliance in the wake of silco's death is a fun direction. jinx finding a random dumpster baby and adopting them immediately, silco would be so proud lmfao

i love caitlyn's dictator arc. i have to be honest i found her disney princess schtick in s1 pretty boring, so this is finally something more flawed and dynamic for me to invest in. yes girl get worse

ambessa rules. i was a little rolling my eyes at the "wow she was pulling the strings all along" reveal, bc it was so obvious and i was sort of hoping they'd do something more interesting with her. but this show has never been subtle. either way it still seems ambessa believes she's protecting mel? so i AM curious about how that plays out

i don't know shit about the league lore around the black rose stuff and don't want to <3 knowing league lore has never improved my arcane experience. but those sequences were very cool and took me by surprise. some good body horror with elora. good luck in the nightmare labyrinth mel!

stuff i liked less:

i think the stylized music video sequences are being a little overused. maybe s1 did them as frequently and I forget? anyhow, the police brutality one really worked for me, because it's the kind of info that def needs to be montaged, and the style was cool and engaging. cassandra's funeral ... i understand why they did it but i didn't like the regular arcane models mixed with the charcoal bgs, i found it distracted me from what was meant to be the emotion of the moment. and the jinx montage i found kind of mid.

i do think the pacing feels as breakneck as ever, to its detriment. i said above the jayvik stuff all played out basically as i wanted, which is more-or-less true, but viktor just be like I Have To Go Now was a bit abrupt. i can excuse a lot of that on the basis that i don't think viktor is really himself anymore because of the hexcore -- very flat emotionally, etc. and i assume we'll see them butt heads again later in the season. but still, the hextech weapons, the nonconsensual hexcoring, etc, would've expected something a little more explosive lol

plus, then we shift from that scene to the Furby Comedy Hour and jayce and heimerdinger having like a nonreaction to each other despite how acrimoniously they parted or how emotionally charged jayce must be sleeping next to viktor's empty cocoon etc... felt whiplash-y to me. but i hate heimerdinger and ekko teaming up to begin with lmao (and ofc ekko directs his frustrations with piltover to jayce, and not the 300 year president furby he has no beef with for some reason)

this extends to vi's decision to pick up the badge, etc. stuff just happens really quick and the fact that the passage of time in the show isn't very clear doesn't really help. i can understand why riot didn't want to spend two decades making five seasons of this show, but 2 seasons will probably feel too short imo.

[utilitycaster]

🔥 each member of vox machina

Vax: really the sadboy narrative for Liam has always been stupid but it's egregiously bad that it started with Vax, who is like, sad for maybe a fifth of the episodes and largely because Liam O'Brien's actual mother was dying, like, with all due respect what the actual fuck, fandom.

Vex: I am the founding and probably only member of the "Vex is my favorite character and also I am 100% cool with Colville's depiction of her." The generosity she shows even very early on in C1 is still a generosity borne of some degree of security - they have a keep by then - and I also just don't think you have to like a character to write them fairly. Granted it's been a minute since I read early VMO but nothing stood out to me as out of line with my understanding of Vex.

Pike: repeating myself once again but I like Pike a lot and wish we could have seen more, but because we didn't, people who say she's their favorite in C1 do tend to turn me off in that I feel they're looking for a relatively flat and widely praised character to project onto rather than a character who goes through more messy development.

Grog: I think he's often underestimated and I was guilty of doing so myself, to be honest, until I saw Travis play more and until I personally got better at D&D. Also I still maintain that playing INT 6 sensitively and well is infinitely harder than playing INT 16, all things considered, and this is yet another reason why people should play high INT more often.

Scanlan: Also underestimated; I do understand being turned off by the whole extremely horny playboy thing but as I've said before Bard's Lament is a major litmus test for me: if you think Scanlan is completely at fault here, you are wrong, and if you think he's not partially at fault, you are also wrong.

Tary: I genuinely love him and think he's a great character and one of Sam's best, but while his character arc is strong the Taryon Darrington Arc of the VM Campaign, through no fault of his own (and partly bc I personally think D&D Hell, especially pre-Descent Into Avernus publication, is kind of boring), is one of the weakest parts of the campaign because it's kind of a grab bag of loose ends. With that said I would happily watch more Darrington Brigade-one shots.

Percy: Percy is also generally a litmus test in that it's like. Is he a good person? Eventually I believe he becomes one, and even before that I think he's very sympathetic and deeply traumatized and like, 24, so I get it, but also, who the fuck cares. This ties into the Essek and the Ashton opinions and all kinds of other stuff but why are people so invested in fucking absolving their blorbo of all sins? I want someone who's lived enough of a life to have done some heinous shit because that's fun and interesting and it's pretend and also because then they can have a rewarding character arc by either working towards redemption or coming to terms with who they are or spiraling into tragedy.

Keyleth: I like Keyleth a lot but I am, as this post indicates, far more sympathetic to Vex, and so while I do think Keyleth is a fairly good person she is also extremely sheltered and naive and terrified of doing the wrong thing and I would have, like Vex, wanted to scream at her half the time were I just a random NPC wandering about the campaign. On the other hand C3-era Keyleth? fantastic no notes she has grown up in such an interesting way.

Tiberius: I think we, and by we I mean people capable of separating the art from the artist, can recognize that his concept actually fucking slapped and unfortunately he was played by someone who absolutely sucked in a myriad of ways. I would love to see the alternate universe in which the same general concept (prodigy sorcerer from Draconia who is full of themself) had to face not just the destruction of their civilization but the realization that they were taking advantage of the Ravenites and while they did not deserve to be killed by Vorugal, had done nothing to justify aid from those they had subjugated either. Like, the alternate world in which one of the current cast members or like, a close friend of the main cast (Ashly, Erika, Mary Elizabeth) played this is one I'd love to see.

[xjulixred45x]

Ling Yao x Abused Reader

This is technically the last part of a series that my sister had asked me for at the beginning of my account but that I forgot over time and I apologize for that (I may write on my own about this fandoms in the future I have several ideas but now I'm going with this).

Genre: Headcanons

Reader: female

Warnings: Mentions of child marriage, implications of physical and mental abuse, bad parents, egregious and alarming age difference, Hurt-Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending.

To be fair, these two already knew each other in Xing.

(reader) is the only daughter of the war secretary of one of the many clans that were under the emperor's orders, the Han Clan.

But despite this, her father was not very interested in teaching her his work or making her stand out in general, he wanted her to become a "proper society lady" so he forbade her to come into contact with activities that could distract her from that task.

Her mother teach her, giving exhaustive lessons in etiquette, posture, manners, preparing tea and giving it a try (even if you didn't like it, since according to her "that would please your future husband"), teaching cooking, throwing dishes bad things in the trash or your head, etc.

Your parents prohibited or banned any type of material or activity that incited rebellion or that seemed "inappropriate for a girl." Learn to fight? "Boys don't like girls to have muscles" Politics? "Keep quiet you look prettier" Any type of physical activity that was not related to what is traditionally feminine? "It's not attractive to be running around like a beast."

And sometimes it was just too boring.

So you went out to see REALLY interesting things, like fights!

That's how you initially met Ling.

You both knew each other superficially through your parents, but when you started showing up to watch the Yao Clan's training, he became curious.

From time to time Ling would go straight to talk to you, thinking that maybe you wanted to join the fighting practices, but you couldn't really risk getting caught, so you would just talk or watch the other clan members train.

You went to Ling when you needed a break from the "lady" life your parents imposed on you. It was very liberating.

Ling, even at a young age, understood that kind of pressure quite well, not only having to fit into the mold but also having to constantly compete with his brothers and sisters.

Thanks to this they made friends quite quickly. You run away a lot more often just to be able to play with him. He was the only boy your age you REALLY got along with after all.

Your parents, even if they were against it, couldn't do much once you stepped on Yao land or found out WHO you were playing with, so it was AMAZING for you to finally be a girl.

Ling was more about acting before thinking, while trying to keep a cooler head, which made for a fun dynamic to watch.

At some point you even gave in and Ling taught you some basic fighting moves! Nothing great but at least it was a lot more fun than your dance classes.

Ling would even secretly pass you books about politics or books that your parents had forbidden you to read (things that you shared very lightly) and you would finish them in DAYS (but not without first giving Ling a kiss on the cheek as compensation, for his delight).

I think it's a little obvious that Ling may or may not have had a case of a childhood/youth crush on (reader) while they were growing up, but after a certain...situation, he didn't have the chance to really realize it.

Because one day (reader) simply disappeared.

She stopped going to training, she didn't go to the places where one normally found her to play, she stopped showing up.

What Ling didn't know was that (Reader)'s family had come up with an idea to end this rebellious phase and benefit once and for all now that she was finally of age.

Arrange a marriage, with the son of the emperor of the Han Clan...he was an adult and you were just a teenager.

Ling only found out out of mere courtesy of the clan.

And for a couple of months it was a pain trying to contact you. Not because he didn't want to! But because your family (and new "husband") made it very difficult.

The clans themselves had a complicated relationship with each other, after the emperor get sick it was even worse. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't risk generating even more conflict.

Although he had a chance to see her before he had to travel to Amestris, at a "family meeting" where the Han clan was.

Where would it be (reader)

....part of him is grateful he went and part of him wishes he hadn't.

Because when Ling came and looked for (reader) and found her, it was like seeing a ghost.

(reader) had become somewhat taller in recent months, she was well dressed and with several capes of makeup on her face, with a vacant and empty look, quite distant from the happy and unrestrained version.

She also didn't talk much before Ling arrived. Or even when he arrived, but at least her expression changed, that made Ling feel a little better.

Luckily her husband was busy enough getting into discussions about the country's military with his other brothers that he didn't notice Ling quite close to his "wife."

Despite everything, Ling was happy to see her being just as friendly, but quite tired, they took the opportunity to catch up.

(Reader)'s husband...could be worse. According to her. It wasn't easy, it's complicated, he got angry very easily and his friends are... shameless. but (reader) had been able to survive the situation well thanks to certain charms.

Even if (reader) is trying VERY hard to maintain control, Ling can see the anguish in all of this. They comfort each other in the situation.

The time before Ling goes to seek immortality, he spends it making small secret visits to the Han house or rather, visiting (Reader).

Try to make them have good memories before you don't see each other for a while :')

Imagine Ling drops the "I used to have a GIANT crush on you when we were kids" bomb☠️

During much of her trip in Amestris Ling thinks about (reader), sometimes she even buys things that she thinks she might like there (accessories, a book, things like that).

I can even see Greed making fun of him for that when it takes over his body☠️

When he eventually returns to Xing, he is mentally preparing to see (female reader). By coming up with a plan, you may not be able to help (reader) directly, but you can definitely do it externally.

(Reader) is DEFINITELY very surprised when Ling arrives not only completely changed, without Wu, and with his sister from the Chang Clan, but also comes with IMMORTALITY ITSELF...he achieved it..

All the commotion of Ling's arrival and her triumph over her other brothers means that (reader)'s husband does not notice when she sneaks away, wanting to have a talk with Ling.

They don't manage to say much to each other, precisely because of the rush and urgency of discussing Ling's appointment, but at least she manages to give him a big welcoming hug, telling him that she misses him and that she's glad he's okay.

Ling freezes for a solid second before returning the hug tightly and pulling away. Temporarily.

(female reader) is also present when he is declared the new emperor some time later.

Knowing Ling, he, May and Lan Fan will probably look for incriminating evidence of adultery on the part of (reader)'s husband so she can divorce him without problems. They leave the evidence "anonymously" but (reader) can recognize Ling/Lan Fan's writing patterns very well.

Ling and (Reader) keep seeing each other at family events, which is hilariously awkward for almost everyone but them, since no one can REALLY say anything to Ling now that he's the emperor, not even (Reader)'s husband, who He only stands on the sidelines while his wife and half-brother catch up on the adventure he had in Amestris.

When (Reader) decides to divorce of her own free will, guess who makes it official? ;)

If we look at their current relationship, it's better than either of them would expect!

Ling was pretty depressed after Amestris, Wu and Greed, but at least (Reader) never fails to make him smile or laugh, which helps his mental health a lot.

You can even bring out your old habits, like embarrassing/angrying (reader) a little and see her expressions, it doesn't matter if she gets her butt kicked. It was worth it!

(reader) must be the most sheltered woman in all of Xing, and no wonder, although at least she always has someone to talk to ☠️

When (reader) goes outside with Ling they have to have limited physical contact for etiquette issues, but Ling always holds her hand or hooks her arm around hers to keep her close :3

Both at some point can talk more openly about their traumas and cope with them with each other's help lots of cuddles during bedtime on those types of days.

At this point they would be very lucky if (Reader)'s parents are even still in Xing after what they did to their daughter and Ling becoming emperor 😅

This man is cuddly as fuck! Sure, you have to reserve the PDA in front of the other clans for appearance and etiquette issues, but once you're alone or with privacy? Nothing stops him. Especially with hugs.

I think Ling would be very interested in his partner learning basic defense, especially with Lan Fan being highly trustworthy. Even if (reader) is contrastingly protected, she knows that she is never too much.

In short, very sweet love that rots your teeth❤️

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

[mirageofadesert]

Looking back on my first year as a c-drama fan!

This year I fell - first down a flight of stairs - and then (because I couldn't walk properly for a few weeks) down a rabbit hole of cdramas!

In total, I have watched 28 dramas since May. I actually finished 17 of them. I re-watched 8 of them at least once. My most rewatched show is Till The End Of The Moon, followed by Love Is Sweet and The Untamed!

Shows I loved

Till The End of The Moon: This drama triggered my hyperfixation, and I still love it so much. Tantai Jin became my new obsession.

Love is Sweet: This one surprised me because I don't usually care for romantic dramas. It made me more open to different genres.

The Untamed: I watched this for the first time in 2019, and now I can appreciate it even more.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasties: It took me several tries to get into the drama because the political setting was too complicated. I'm glad I didn't give up. Wang Zhi became one of my favorites!

New Life Begins: I was just looking for something light in between and was quite surprised how much I liked the show.

Things I learned as a newbie:

Cdramas are an acquired taste. Sometimes it's worth going back to a drama that you initially gave up on.

To avoid spoilers, it's best to skip the intro and especially the outro.

I love my characters unhinged.

Apparently it is okay to share leaks from filming.

Never believe anything that comes from yxh accounts.

Shippers are toxic in any fandom.

C-drama fans are a bit older than K-pop fans, but they can be just as unhinged and have trouble distinguishing between how to treat actors and the fictional characters they play.

My ADHD is better regulated when I watch shows in a foreign language while reading the subtitles. I don't get bored watching TV, which is rare!

Shows I dropped, and what I learned from it:

Hidden Love: I still don't like romances that have no significant plot beyond the relationship. Especially if I don't care about the characters at all.

Back from the Brink: Sometimes dramas that start well become an unwatchable, rage-inducing mess halfway through, and it's not worth sticking it out to the end.

Beauty of Resilience: I'm a character-driven audience. If the characters aren't compelling and the story isn't interesting, I don't care about the show.

Ashes of Love: I hate childish FL with baby voices and naive personalities. I need better written female characters. I'm on my 3rd attempt to watch this show and I only have a handful of episodes left, so I'll actually make it to the end (eventually).

I've dropped a lot more shows and actually watched some to the end that I didn't like very much in the end, but those are the ones I learned the most from.

What will stay with me:

Tantai Jin: I'm still obsessed with this character. He is everything I need in a fictional character.

Luo Yunxi: This will come as no surprise to anyone who follows me, but my obsession with TTJ soon extended to Luo Yunxi.

Bai Lu & Sun Zhenni: While I appreciate both of them as actors, it's their fun and uninhibited personalities that made me fall in love with them!!

Costumes: I adore the detailed costumes and hanfu styles, and do prefer costume dramas to modern ones.

Food & drinks: I'm now looking into more Chinese foot now and how to cook vegetables in more interesting ways. I also bought "moon cake stamps"... so wish me luck!

New online acquaintances: I have made some new friends online who I can fangirl with to my heart's content!

What I'm looking forward to in 2024:

I'm really looking forward to Luo Yunxi's upcoming dramas, Follow You Heart, Shui Long Yin and Immortality (🤡). I'm also looking forward to Sun Zhenni's first leading role!

There are still many dramas I want to watch, but haven't found the time for. Like A Journey to Love, Goodbye, My Princess, Nirvana in Fire, Then Miles of Peach Blossoms and The Blood of Youth.

I'm not sure what else I'll post here next year. Probably more reviews and content related to my favourite actors. Let's see if something triggers my hyperfixation soon!

Happy New Year!

[themundanemudperson]

Power Rangers Dino Charge: End of Season Review

So I thought making reviews for every Power Rangers season that I've seen would be fun! (And I'm ignoring the physics lab report I have to do lmao)

Don't really expect anyone to read this but eh this is for fun

Fave Character: Prince Phillip III of Zandar. He's my little bitch babygirl <3

Fave Ship: Chiley!!! Green/black ships my beloved. My fave rarepair is Phillip/Ivan. The gay devotion in knight/prince ships is peak

Fave Non-Romantic Relationship: Kendall, James, and Phillip. Auxillary Rangers ftw!! (fuck Zenowing)

Fave Episode: The Tooth Hurts! Chiley ep of all time

General Thoughts:

Dino Charge was the first season of Power Rangers that I'd ever seen, and was the thing that got me into the fandom, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. But even rewatching it recently has it hold up.

The characters in this show are what I think makes it one of the best Power Rangers seasons, and the best Neo Saban. All of them are so great, and while they never got too much depth (curse you adults that think kids can't handle complicated things) but they're still such interesting people. Dino Charge had a large cast, and they didn't always handle that many people that well (the auxiliary Rangers unfortunately get little to no attention), but the cast, in my opinion, is what made it so great.

The main cast is so lovable. Tyler, while he can be a little bland at times, is a little cutie so he's great. Chase is an interesting character that's very fun to watch. Koda is the heart of the team and he's a perfect little angel. Riley is our canonically gay (via the actor) overachiever representation. Shelby is also overachiever representation, with academic pressure from parents too! Then you have Ivan. Our loyal and chivalrous knight out of time. The gay devotion is real with this one.

I'm going to cut myself off here, because you probably get the point. I love the cast of Dino Charge. Barring Zenowing and Keeper. They're just useless to me

And because these characters are interesting people, they also have such fun dynamics with each other. I love that the Rangers really feel like a found family. You can examine any relationship between the Rangers and have something to talk about. I mentioned Kendall, Phillip and James earlier as my fave platonic dynamic, but there are a lot more to look at. Tyler and Chase as himbo bros, Riley and Shelby as gay besties , Koda, Kendall and Chase with their familial bond as they were the first Rangers together... they're all great.

And the villain situation in Dino Charge was.... interesting.

The concept of fighting a bounty hunter that captures his monsters from all over the universe is cool, especially because it gives an explanation as to why the monster of the week fights so hard - they'd win their freedom if they brought back an energem. But Sledge himself was kind of a boring villain to me. He never actually has any kind of motivation for getting the energems - we don't know if he wants them for universal domination or to sell them to the highest bidder. So he felt kind of flat to me. I did love Poisandra, Curio, Wrench and Fury though. I liked that they had more personality. And Poisandra is my girl and I love her. She should've gotten a redemption arc. Fury was also an interesting character because of his rivalry with Ivan. I do wish they explored it more, but what we did get was cool.

And after Sledge was defeated, we got Heckyl and Snide! Quite obviously a Jeckyll and Hyde reference, these two were much more interesting to me than Sledge. Heckyl's backstory is so sad 😭 and I love him more for it. The concept of a villain infiltrating the Rangers place of work and pretending to be their friend was so awesome. I wish he was a double agent for longer (and that they didn't wipe his memory of their base) but I liked it.

Then you had Arcanon for a little bit. This was so fucking stupid. Dino Charge made an original villain in Sledge, so I think they shouldn't have bothered with trying to work Arcanon in there (his Sentai counterpart was the head villain). It felt too rushed and they could've introduced the dark energem with something else.

And then surprise! Sledge again! Also hated that to be honest. They defeated him the first time. Why bring him back.

We don't talk about that finale. We don't

Technically I have to if I want to talk about Dino Charge (unfortunately) so all I'm going to say is that it's stupid and I hate it. Ivan and Koda never leave and they never fuck up the timeline with that dumbfuck idea thanks <3

(Genuinely there's a discussion to be had about the character assassination that was committed by making Koda and Ivan - who had accepted that they were men out of time and living lives with their new family - went back in time for some fucking reason, but that's for another post)

Now! Onto something I actually want to talk about! The Sentai adaptation vs the Power Rangers. I've seen both, so y'all are getting my thoughts as to how well they adapted it. I think Dino Charge did an amazing job. They didn't take what happened in Kyoryuger and copy that exactly (cough cough Samurai cough cough). They made their own story and used the footage well

I also want to talk about the thing that makes Power Rangers iconic - the actual Ranger bit. I'm talking about the power source, the suits, the zords, and the Super mode.

I really liked the energems as a power source. The idea of ancient stones created at the dawn of the universe that bonded to dinosaurs, then people, is really cool. I have issues with the "energems give them immortality" bit (because I'm sad that they have to watch their friends and family die) but it really does make sense. They are bonded to something that is ancient and powerful, and there should be some side effects from that.

Now for the suits! (One could argue that the suits are more of the Sentai's influence but I'm treating them as solely Dino Charge right now). I really love the Dino Charge suits. They already get points in my book for not having fucking lips (which I hate with a burning passion), but they do look cool on their own. I love solidly coloured suits that don't have white or black pants. The helmets are also really cool, and I love the dinosaur heads incorporated in them. So the DIno Charge suits are great to me

The zords in Dino Charge are also awesome. They look really cool. I wish they could be small to hang out with their Rangers, but alas, we can't have everything 😔

The Super mode in Dino Charge was a pretty solid one. I liked that Rexy could be small to fight alongside Tyler. Don't love the white on the suit, but at least his normal suit is a nice, solid red.

So yeah! That's my Dino Charge review. Thanks for sticking around after that word vomit lol. I love this season so fucking much

[necrotic-nephilim]

18, 19, 20, 22!

for the chose violence ask game!

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

oh SO SO many things. so many things this fandom sleeps on, by proxy of a lot of people not reading the comics. i think the fandom is sleeping on the fact that Jason was Red Robin before Tim. i think the fandom is sleeping on Batman: Prodigal, the *first* time Dick was Batman and Tim was Robin with him and how they bonded during that era, when it was just them. (the DickTim potential. it's all i'm saying.) i think the fandom is sleeping on Helena Bertinelli in *general* and her connections to the Batfam. i think the fandom sleeps on the family that the Bats have outside of the Batfam. (ie: Cass' siblings, Damian's family on his mother's side, Dick's sister, Steph's mom, etc) i could go on forever. but i think the main thing is family, just bc to me i always find it odd when the Batfam are stripped of their family and important relationships outside of their little sphere bc i find it wildly unrealistic and boring and sometimes i wonder if the fandom knows these characters even exist.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

BAD PARENTS JANET AND JACK DRAKE. it's my guilty pleasure. and i KNOW it's not canon and OOC from the information we have. i even actually really enjoy Jack Drake as a character and i especially enjoy Dana Winters, Tim's step-mom. in canon i find these relationships are really nuanced and rich. but for fanon? everytime i will always lean into the Drakes sort of sucking. i'm just unhinged for concepts where they're cartoonishly neglectful, members of the Court of Owls, literal criminals/psychopaths, etc. it's so fun to add that layer of nuance to Tim even though the whole point of Tim was he was a normal kid with a normal life who happened to find out Bruce Wayne was Batman. like i will always defend Jack Drake when discussing canon. but i will write him as an evil, evil bastard in fics. i can't explain it. it just calls to me.

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

when Bludhaven blew up and the whole One Year Later thing. it felt sloppy and so fucking needlessly petty on behalf of Dan Didio. he wanted to kill *one* character he had a hate boner for, and an entire city gets nuked and then we flash forward a year? it's just such needless writing. it's tedious to work around in fanfiction and i always ignore the entire thing. nothing about it was done to develop Dick or any other character, or done to have real consequences and a thought out plot compared to things like No Man's Land, it was just Dan Didio trying to kill off Nightwing. so i don't like it. i also found the era when Jason was Wingman pretty boring. i think it could've been fun to try to pivot Jason's character but the whole thing is bland to me and i ignore it, even as a pre-Flashpoint Jason stan. also, the entirety of War Games. but i wouldn't say i find that boring, more-so i find it infuriating how much the writers despised Stephanie Brown and bent over backwards to make her the villain and put so much destruction on the back of a teenage girl just trying to be good. also i find most Crisis Events tedious and i ignore them. i simply cannot be made to care.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

oh this is so tough to answer without repeating answers from above oh god. i think the fact that Helena made Cass' Batgirl suit is a big one for me, and that she was briefly Batgirl. there are so many interesting things to be done with Cass wearing a suit that Helena made instead of making her own. and that the mouth covering is something we associate with Cass' verbal issues, but it was Helena who put it there first, meaning Cass didn't pick it, but she leaned into it anyway. i think you could do a lot with that character wise. also Bette Kane. i would like her to stop being ignored. oh and the entirety of Knightfall. how is such a massive arc in the comics largely glossed over by the fandom, i will never understand that there isn't at least *mention* of Jean-Paul in fics where Tim is Robin.

oh ALSO my favorite thing, that Dick has hallucinated Jason multiple times while Jason was dead. that will never leave my mind. the common thread of most of the Batfam hallucinating people is just neat in general.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

MAC HI don't mind me i just finished the genloss founders cut and im putting my ful lreview in ur inbox bc u said u weren't gonna watch it i think but i want 2 share my thoughts with someone who will not rip me to shreds for criticizing it even slightly <3

OK. I'M NOT GONNA LIE. IT KINDA SLAPPED. maybe i just think it was really good in comparison to the original four hours of streams that dragged on. i honestly thought the original streams of genloss were longer but NO all three streams add up to about four hours???? it just felt so much longer when i originally watched it i guess!!! u can understand why i am sure. but the founders cut was like two and a half and oh my goddddd cutting out a lot of it made such a huge difference. holy shit. like i definitely did get bored and skip through a little bit but honestly i didn't skip through much!! every time i got to a part where i was like "oh fuck not THIS bit that goes on for 30-45 minutes god dammit" it ended up being like maybe ten minutes at most which was SUCH A GODSEND. i am delighted to report that they cut the half hour cooking bit in the first episode down to like 7-8 minutes <3 the best surprise ranboo could have given me tbh. like with the way things were cut down and framed differently i actually laughed at a couple points????? WILD. did not think i would find any genuine comedy here. lowkey there were points that were funny. insane

honestly with the unfunny bits being cut down, it actually let the slightly more serious lore bits shine more, and the payoff for when it got to the third episode felt SO much more deserved. like. the original streams i'd probably give a 3/10 collectively and that's being generous but i would unironically say the founder's cut deserves like a 7/10. maybe a 7.5 if i found it in myself to ignore the bad special effects. (there was still plenty of bad comedy ngl i still don't know why charlie slimecicle's face was superimposed on a towel. that scene was nothing. it was literally nothing. they could have removed it and it would change nothing but they kept it in idk why)

ANYWAY. if they had released genloss like this first maybe i would unironically be a fan of it now. tbh. i would still be making fun of the bad comedy and the horror that was barely horror but i think i would actually be like participating in the fandom a lil and i would probably find it in me to find some charm in the bad special effects. all in all Not Bad!! not good, but not like actively bad. ofc im still running on the adrenaline of the ending because episode 3 was objectively the best out of them all so maybe my perception is skewed but. kinda decent. 7/10 👍 anyway i hope ur havin a good day i hope to finish pd season one soon over the next couple days!!!!!

taking the cowards route and putting my thoughts under the cut bc a lot of my mutuals these days really enjoy genloss and i don't want them to be mad at me

(genloss crit/neg/whatever under the cut)

dude this makes me so unironically sad . why the FUCK was genloss what it was the first time around when this was obviously the better route to go from the very beginning. I am still staunchly in my "I don't like genloss" position but. I DID WATCH IT. i sat through ALL of the original streams and it was so miserable for me. im not going 2 watxh the directors cut or whatever bc i dont hate myself enough to sit through all of that again but i trust your opinion!! if only it would've been planned out thought out prerecorded videos from the start I also probably would not hate it as much as I do!!! maybe I even would've liked it !!! (<< not likely bc i do have Other Issues with it than just the fact that it was too long too unfunny too unfocused etc whatever im getting into hater territory sorry. always welcome 2 genloss fans to try to explain to my why its Good Actually so i can recommend them actual horror media)

like . the streams added absolutely NOTHING to it other than that final choice scene or whatever. and even if they wanted to do that still u know what would've been an awesome smart choice??? prerecord and edit the whole thing and then premiere THAT video on twitch- then when it comes time for the final choice you can still have people vote!! then you can have two separate endings prepared based on which way the vote was swaying. like. its that easy. it would've made the whole experience so much more enjoyable . ughhghghg the fucking wasted potential on HOURS of unfunny badly improvved bits is so devastating

personally I still cant excuse the bad effects considering the amount of times ranboo bragged about the genloss budget like. maybe you should've used your resources better and also if it would've just been prerecorded from the start things wouldn't look as rushed as they did but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what do I know !!

anyway I'm so glad this version was better but for me it will always ALWAYS be tainted by the . misery I felt while watching the streams lmaoooo . I wanted to like genloss so bad. I tried so hard. head in hands !!!!!!!!!!!

[variablejabberwocky]

started watching delicious in dungeon/dungeon meishi (sp?). or as i like to call it

~*AUTISM COOKING DUNGEON*~

dear god y'all have undersold this to me. and like i get it. spoilers and all that. but holy shit

our boy isn't like... "tee-hee little-bit of autistic, just a smidge" like you were all making me think. no no. no, this guy is DEEPLY autistic. we're talking "normally we only give THIS much autism to aliens and robots" kind of autism. the "i need an allistic translator for my social fubars" autism (rip your sister dude). the "i learned a thing! so now im not gonna shut up about it for at least an hour" autism.

and they gave this to THE ONE SINGULAR HUMAN IN THE PARTY. this guy is a HUMAN FIGHTER/KNIGHT-type that is like the MOST BORING/NORMIE shit in a d&d style setting. that is "why are you even playing a fantasy game?" level of normie shit.

and THAT is who gets to be The Party Freak(tm)

i love it. completely unironically/unsarcasticly i love it. they took the "that much autism isn't human anymore" bullshit thats so prolific its basically a trope and went NOPE FUCK THAT NOISE

what i find unforgivable though is that none of you mentioned he's a Kronk too.

boy sounds SO SO STUPID but is so so smart when you actually listen to what the fuck he's on about now (and think on why he's on about it right then). he's a big tank (literally in the fantasy class sense) that just wants to help everyone and do his little special interest shit on the side. and it is on the side because the other two seem like they had no idea it was more than trivia until he didn't have to help micromanage a massive party. like this shit has clearly been on repeat in his brain in the background for A WHILE but he was so busy helping/keeping everyone alive it got shoved aside of his outward behavior unless it was useful. he is a lovable dorky himbo and NONE of you mentioned this.

anyway, i'm also loving the way this whole show is basically only like this because him and senshi are vibing on the same wavelength and the other two are basically just along for the ride to save their friend/part member

the whole thing has a Green Eggs and Ham kind of thing going on with it too. but like...environmentalist about it? like it was more subtle about the whole "hey maybe work WITH your current environment rather than against it" bit and then we found out what senshi normally does and subtlety just went right out the fucking window on that front.

i'm also liking the way it both explores the horrors of dying in a world where being brought back to life is common, while also kind of...poking fun at it? like its reminding me of a thing i heard something like "the difference between comedy and tragedy is how far from it you are" kind of concept.

like they are so fucking ... how the fuck do you spell it blase? with the little "/" over the e. that. the story is so bland in how it handles how people came back from horrific deaths and yet when the characters have to face things that remind them of their own it gets heartbreaking very quickly. but like...chillchuck. goddamn. we get just enough from his perspective that its harrowing but the way its shown to us the reader/viewer is like a comedy skit

cause like...its both.

these guys keep dying/nearly dying to THE. SAME. FUCKING. SHIT.

mage elf is slimebait, chillchuck is basically Dungeon Canary with an emphasis on mimics, and himbro over here is gonna get himself killed trying to pet/eat a new monster no one else knows about at some point. probably why his sister seems to have specialized in healing magic.

i know the fandom is thinking once they get his sister back that she's gonna be Just Like Him but i think it would be much funnier AND more 'realistic' if they were classic autism-adhd alliance but siblings about it. like him being better at staying on a task and her being better at navigating social cues and shit. and both of them with their own little special interest energy. i'm betting her's is magic. and thats why even magic elf is like "omg shes so good at magic i'm no where near that level" about it. i mean its also the lesbianism but there IS more to that than thirst from what i've seen.

anyway i'm 6 episodes into what seems to be 12 available on netflix and i'm already hooked. might have to see if i can get my hands on the manga or something too

[mdhwrites]

The Uselessness of Filler

Filler is not useless. Filler is flavor. This is about how useless the term 'Filler' is to modern discussions, especially with non-adaptive works.

First I want to get into what I mean by 'Filler is flavor' though because it gets into what the modern, rhetorical definition of Filler is. See, plot, action and drama are great and when those elements are high, very few people will even consider calling such a piece Filler. After all, it clearly serves a purpose and often has the big payoffs we want out of the thing we're watching... But it's not actually always what is most memorable about the story in general. After all, these moments are big, flashy and they mean a lot but they're the ones that usually paint in the broadest strokes for most pieces because they actually have to have a goal they're accomplishing.

Meanwhile, an episode that lets the characters breathe, flex smaller elements of themselves, etc. like that get listed as filler. After all, no plot or character development happened so it can just be thrown away, like one would useless, bland filler. Except how often are those episodes bland? A LOT of filler does something a lot of more plot driven episodes can't do: Character and world EXPANSION. It can get into their hobbies, the small ways in which a world works, it/the characters' quirkier elements that make them feel more distinct from their archtypes, etc. like that. It's important for making them feel fully fleshed out instead of feeling like they're just the archtype. A story without filler after all has no room to make it so a redeemed character is anything but their redemption, not if every scene and episode is only focused on moving the plot forward.

But this raises an even bigger question: What the fuck does this term mean when there isn't a plot? Or when the main focus of the plot is just interactions? We have after all made a rhetorical term, that a LOT of people seem to think is deeply important, that straight up doesn't apply to certain genres. If a comedy doesn't push the plot of the show forward but is hilarious during that episode, is that Filler? If a slice of life show showcases the characters cooking for an episode and just seeing how those personalities bounce off of each other in that situation, is that Filler? In a romance, if the two leads have a fun day out but don't deepen their relationship by the end of the chapter, is that Filler despite getting to see the two interact?

And a lot of people would go "I mean, those are fun and good so they're not filler" which is actually even true for the traditional definition and use of Filler. It originates originally after all from anime adaptations that will fill time because the manga they're adapting is out of material but they want to keep putting out animated material for it. So they have to come up with a plot that doesn't actually change the status quote to fill time. When done poorly, it's lambasted for being filler. When done well, it's PRAISED for how good its filler is.

That doesn't feel fair. It's almost like it being filler ISN'T the problem. The problem is whether or not it was any good. A LOOOOOT of what is branded as 'Filler' with Western, Non-Adapted media is just what the fandom or person doesn't like. 'I got nothing out of this so it must be filler'. That's just bluntly not true. If that is what the definition is, then the term is just "This is my opinion" while trying to sound like it's an actual, structural critique, especially for someone who cannot actually verbalize why they disliked it besides just not gelling with it. Which it's okay not to like something but you shouldn't try to deepen the reason why if all you have to say is that on a rewatch, you'd skip it because you found it personally boring. Because it didn't cater to your tastes.

And for anyone going "Well, this is just your opinion. Can you back it up with an example?" I can actually.

Hazbin Hotel exists after all.

That is a show that has such a breakneck pace that it'd be almost impossible to call any of it filler... But also it struggles to remember that it needs to actually sell us on the characters, world, etc. before getting into status quote shake ups and major plot beats. That's how you get a show that is spending its first episode simultaneously going "Look at our hotel for redeeming sinners" and "Alright, we are ramping up the conflict with Heaven to set up an eventual war."

I don't know about you but I don't feel like those should be happening at the same time. But... If Filler HAS to move plot and character arcs along, the base premise of Hazbin is literally flawed. Having a random sinner of the week would be Filler. Tackling a failed method of trying to redeem someone would be Filler because technically would be accomplished or moved along. Instead, it HAS to immediately go its big plot because that's how you justify it as a real story in a modern, critical context.

That's just a flawed way of seeing media to me. How many classic works have been rendered almost entirely without merit by this way of thinking? Monster of the Week Sentai like Power Rangers? Come on, can't you cut that down to the couple plot relevant monsters and episodes in each season? Who wants to see them fighting weird, fun concepts after all, there's a big bad to kill! Classic modern shenanigans like Ed, Edd and Eddy? There's no plot so it's an entirely ephemeral product. Literally ANY sitcom from Friends to Frasier to Seinfeld, etc. can be just said as being filler and so not be meaningful and where is the usefulness of that.

And if the term is ONLY for genres with plot like adventure series... What the fuck do you have to say about Journey to the West, one of the most influential books of literally all time... Most of which is spent on obstacles that accomplish literally nothing, except maybe reinforcement on a theme, besides enabling them to take ten steps before the next obstacle slams in front of them? Are you telling me that Journey to the West is fundamentally flawed when so much of its episodic pacing is part of why it has been able to be influential and inspirational?

The more we lean on hard criteria like Filler over whether or not a piece was effective or entertaining or anything like that, the more we narrow what media is allowed to be. What a story can be. Rhetorical tools like these aren't meant to do that. They're meant to help express our discomforts and annoyances with a work. That is why we have terms like 'Repetitive,' 'Pointless' or 'Bland'. These all specifically address a problem within the work, rather than dismissing it outright simply because of its position in a narrative. They all touch on reasons why people call something Filler without being able to be misinterpreted or misused. They require the person to actually state what they don't like about it than using some arbitrary criteria in order to dismiss something.

Filler as a term doesn't even have that flavor, making it more pointless and rote than the media with that label.

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[maxwell-grant]

🔥 Venturebros?

I'm not sure what constitutes a "hot take" in this fandom but,

I like the Order of the Triad a lot and I'd be in for a spin-off for them on principle, but I'm not super into the idea of a comic spin-off, when the biggest reason I like these characters is their voice performances.

I totally and mostly respect Doc and Jackson's willingness to do whatever they feel like and keep stuff they think works even if the fans would prefer something else (see: Billy & Pete White, who used to be fairly unpopular, but they stuck around and carved up their space very nicely), by no means am I a "listen to the fans!" advocate, God no. But, I reeallly think they should have listened to the Season 4 feedback more and just dropped Sgt Hatred. Look, the voice is super funny, I get it, you had way more fun writing him for the bodyguard than you ever did with Brock, I get it, but no, nope, still do not think it was remotely worth it, and I'm definitely not alone here. Single biggest reason I can't watch the show with anyone else. Hatred drags the entire thing down.

I love the Venture Bros like no other cartoon show but I totally get people who just refuse to give the show a chance on the basis of how long and complicated it is or because of particular jokes that turned them off or character concepts that strike them as offensive. The show is indeed A Lot, and sometimes it is straight up Bad, and even the creators admit as much.

I have no love for Sean Connery or Sean Connery parodies so frankly Colonel Gentleman does nothing for me, I actually hate him.

Baron Underbheit sucks, but I don't think he sucks as bad as the creators say, I think it's mostly his two focus episodes that dont hold up. I think they found a pretty nice little groove for him as the excitable horrible idiot friend in the later seasons and I think they could have gotten more out of him, as the Beavis to the other villains' Butthead. He could have fit pretty well in the Peril Partnership.

Giving Triana Orpheus a bigger role would have definitely done a lot for the show's popularity online, maybe even enough to save it from obscurity or even cancellation (the internet economy of cartoon goth girlfriends is brutally potent), but I'm glad they didn't. Triana is boring and she's pretty much supposed to be boring and I'm glad Doc and Jackson kept shooting down the fan demand bugging them at cons to make it The Triana & Kim Show.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

It's Not A Fairy Tale Anymore

Ok, I will admit to two things: First, this book was leaps and bounds better than ACOTAR in terms of pacing. I was not bored and I wasn't begging the book to HAVE SOMETHING HAPPEN. Second, I think I hated the last six chapters. Like a lot. For some objective and some deeply subjective reasons. And bonus third admission: My reading buddy for this series and I officially have Stockholm syndrome from these books, so we're going on to ACOWAR. But that's getting a bit ahead of myself, so let's talk A Court of Mist and Fury.

Yeah, hi again. This is your SPOILER WARNING. I am going to SPOIL THE END of this book, as well as the beginning and the middle. Consider yourselves warned.

CONTENT WARNING: Some mention and brief discussion of sexual assault and consent.

Ok, so first and foremost: this book understood pacing and it understood plot and I thoroughly enjoyed like 98% of it. I also appreciated that we managed to expand the world a bit, because ACOTAR felt very, very small geographically and politically. Getting to see Velaris, the Summer Court, and getting a wider sense of the politics and intrigue went a long way toward making me feel like there were stakes and point to this book.

Another thing I absolutely adored was the Shadow Fam. I said that Rhys doesn't have found family, he has trauma pack bonds, and I stand by that assessment. That said, I really genuinely LIKED Az, Cass, Mor, and Amren. Yeah, they all have varying flavors of tragic backstory and trauma to facilitate the trauma pack bond, but after an entire book of just Feyre, Tamlin, and Rhys, I was desperate for more characters, and I will say that at the very least, I wasn't mixing up the Shadow Fam in my head. They had distinct personalities, and frankly I'd read the hell out of a novella that really digs into Mor's backstory in particular, mostly because SJM is developing a worrying habit of denoting bad characters by making them rapists (See: Amarantha, Ianthe, Mor's entire goddamn family, a worrying number of non-Shadow Fam Illyrians, etc.) and I want to see how complex this world's conception of consent is. Because Mor's entire situation was coerced, which means that the only non-fucky consent thing is her deciding NOT to sleep with Az. Because no matter what she told Cass, she was having sex with him in a situation where she very well might not have if she wasn't under the duress of a forced marriage. Literally she either didn't tell him anything and just went "Let's do the sex at each other" and he said "sure," or she went "hey, help me get out of this forced marriage by taking my virginity so other dude won't want me" (excuse me while I vomit at the pedestaling of virginity) and he said "sure." While knowing (I'm pretty sure) that Az has the world's biggest crush on Mor.

Literally nothing about this isn't messy AF, and I would a) like to see how we handle the consent stuff and b) eat this up with a SPOON.

But even in the here and now of the book, the whole Shadow Fam have individual relationships with Rhys and Feyre, and I thought that was decently well done. To be clear: its not Tolkien. It's nowhere near the same level. But for popular fun books, I have absolutely seen worse, and there was enough here for me to hang onto and enjoy. If they leaned a little into archetypes and stereotypes, well, it wasn't too egregious.

I think this is where I get to talk about Rhys a little bit too. So I have only read ACOTAR AND ACOMAF as of writing this, but I'm in a lot of book and fandom spaces, so I've heard everything from "Rhys is the embodiment of toxic masculinity and an anti-choice piece of shit" to "Rhys is the pinnacle of a male partner, can do no wrong, and I would let him rail me in a cabin on a mountain top." I'm not going to stand here and say that masculinity in these books is wholly unproblematic, but again: I have seen worse. My biggest problem with Rhys at this point, frankly, is that SJM keeps trying to have it both ways with him. But the "he's half mysterious, slightly evil Shadow daddy and half trauma puppy with a dreamers heart" was super not working for me, not even in a context where it maybe should have. Like, yeah, evil Shadow daddy as a role to protect Velaris makes sense, but then literally everything else we get is a cross between a traumatized dudebro with his buddies and trauma puppy making eyes at Feyre. The gap between the two sides of Rhysand just hit a point where my credulity stretched and broke. That's not to say I didn't enjoy both halves of Rhysand, but they didn't sit comfortably in one fae high lord lord me.

I just also want to briefly address the man pain, because after the Dresden Files, my patience for angsty man pain is THIN. I literally rolled my eyes and went "what the actual fuck" when Cassian provoked Rhys into beating on him for an hour after Feyre accepts the mate bond. Dumbass "if you can't fuck, fight" nonsense has never been my thing, and on principle I don't like it, but given that Feyre is alive and well and grabbing a snack with Mor, I can't argue too much. Battle Ground really set a new low bar for me, so I wasn't even grouchy about Rhys's POV man pain chapter right at the end of the book, because again, Feyre is alive and well and made a choice. I will allow it, but its getting some light side eye. Finally, the other major man pain scene is when Rhys is...I'm gonna call it groveling because I'm not feeling generous, but he's basically giving us a chapter-length recap of the previous book from his perspective. It's tearful, it's earnest, it's all kinds of angsty...And like...I was kinda not here for it. It was not the worst, your mileage may vary. I'm mostly just grateful it was one chapter and not an entire POV-swapped book.

I also want to just real quick tall about tokenism and some...potentially problematic things with the Illyrians. They have some savage warrior stereotypes attached to them that them being Fantasy Scots in the Fantasy UK makes sketchy, given the highland clearances and the generalized othering the England did to basically everyone. Then we get their cultural treatment of women, and the whole thing feels...deeply uncomfortable. I can't even make an oomaks joke about Illyrian wings (despite the fact that Illyrian wings have all the issue that Ferengi ears do multiplied by a factor of ten because THEY'RE WINGS) because I cannot banish the fact that they clip women's wings, which has some deeply uncomfortable resonance with female genital mutilation in the real world. Literally not even the Ferengi did that. And then we get Rhys, who is only half Illyrian, and the token "good" or "progressive" Illyrians, Az and Cass. They're trying to facilitate gender equality and banned wing clipping, but like...its made deeply clear that it's not working super well. So the general message is that of primitive, sexist Illyrians...except for the three good ones. And y'all...I kinda hate that. I'm not complaining that we have Rhys, Az, and Cass, but the Illyrians are deeply uncomfortable in a lot of ways that the version of me that did a PhD is screaming about.

And now we come to Rhys and Feyre. Rhys and Feyre, who spend 89% of this book flirting like dumbass teenagers before Feyre falls right back into the pattern she established with Tamlin where she decides she is going to give her literal all for a people, and I guess we just have to hope she has a partner who won't let her and then smother her to death. Because she is in the EXACT SAME POSITION, the only difference is Rhys. At this point, Feyre going all in is a feature, not a bug, which just makes her assertion that she belongs to herself first feel a wee bit hollow...

But I will say that Rhys and Feyre understanding that they can leverage their bond and Tamlin being just...the biggest dipshit in creation...to actually get an upper hand in this war, and I actually think that now that we've got the teen flirting out of the way, Feyre and Rhys might be a good team. I hope. Please God let them be a good team. I know we won't get Evey and Rick in The Mummy Returns, but I would take even a pale, bat-winged reflection of that relationship.

I guess we have finally arrived at Tamlin. I'm with Feyre that he's not good for her, but uh...the MASSIVE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION at the beginning of this book felt wildly gratuitous. Like, Feyre is wasting away. She's not emotionally ok. She isn't dealing with her trauma, and Tamlin isn't helping. WE GOT THAT. But that was only like, the first ten-odd chapters. So it was a speedrun character assassination, but I thought we were done at that point.

Holy shit, I was wrong.

So, there is a writing school of thought in which every villain needs to feel like they're the hero of their own story. I don't even think this is a bad tack to take. It can help motivate villains or make them sympathetic. And when Tamlin swaggers into the castle room in Hyburn after the king has captured Feyre and the Shadow Fam, you can bet your ass that he feels like he's the rescuing hero swooping in to save his true love from the shadowy douchecanoe who put a mind whammy on her to take her from him. (Which I actually think we might have Lucien to blame for that angle? Since he had to have reported back that Feyre fought him? But the timeline on that isn't clear, so IDK for sure.)

Unfortunately for Timtam, his ENTIRE PLAN makes him look too stupid to live. He KNEW what Amarantha was like. He KNEW that the King of Hyburn was a factor of ten worse than Amarantha. And he STILL made the deal to let Hyburn invade through his kingdom and somehow thought he would HAVE CONTROL OVER THE SITUATION???? And yes, I stand by this, because he keeps trying to tell the king to stop doing shit or do shit differently, and is ABSOLUTELY FLOORED when the king quite rightly laughs in his face. Talk about not thinking a plan through. Literally, I'm pretty sure Timtam was thinking, "I will win her back and be super heroic" and that thought eclipsed all other thoughts, his common sense, and his critical thinking. Which just take the character assassination of Tamlin and skyrockets it. I get that he's not the one, SJM. I got it six different dick moves ago.

Since we're talking about the last six chapters, I also want to just touch on the faeification of Elain and Nesta. Literally all I could think when they dunked our girls was one fantastic chapter title from the fantastic How to Read Literature Like a Professor: "If She Comes Up, It's Baptism." That metaphor doesn't really map perfectly over this situation, but it also isn't really a stretch. It also harkens back to the really old cauldron mythologies, which tracks for fae mythology. Mostly though, if Nesta doesn't murder the King of Hyburn after that foreshadowing (which had all the subtlety of a two-by-four to the skull), I will riot.

Hoo boy, this was a long one, but I think it's time to wrap it up. The TLDR is that this book was really fun as long as I wasn't thinking too hard about any of it. When I do think about it, I can shred it to little tiny peices, but honestly that stops being fun really fast, so I choose fun.

Also my reading buddy and I have Stockholm Syndrome with this series, so stay tuned for my eventual ACOWAR review!F