#i guess? i'm not dissing the characters or the ship just the way the show is being presented

[invisible-pink-toast]

fjsdlfkhasdhfasldfhsadlf i cANNOT BELIEVE that this is how they finally kiss. like i gave up on this show YEARS ago because it was just downward spiralling, but there are still people who watch and love it and THIS is what they get??? 

after sticking with this show and this ship after everything?? all these years of nonsense?? the romantic equivalent of a scooby doo door gag?? and this is the big damn kiss!!! 

and it’s so ugly sajdflksahdfl;sahdfaslfh 

they look like they’re grimacing! why? it looks like she’s trying to crush his face? or tell him he’s an idiot sandwich? what’s going on with all the arms??? why is his hand up so high on her head it looks so weird like he’s about to start quoting hamlet and talking about yorrick. there’s skulls on her dress for some reason. they don’t have lips. her nose looks like it’s trying to fuse with his nose. i just can’t believe it looks that bad. 

like, look at some other kisses from cgi tv shows: 

literally fine! romantic, sweet, sometimes with a cool background, hands are placed perfectly normally. keep in mind that some of these are the Big Damn Kiss moments, and some are just a kiss after they’re already together. and yet they all look waaaay better then the mlb one. 

note especially callum & rayla’s sad/emotional kiss where her hand is cupping his face - and yet it still looks normal! so it’s achievable

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Alright can we just talk about shipping culture nowadays because honestly it is very much starting to get on my nerves.

So i guess shipping for me had always been part of my fandom experience not in every fandom tho, i get invested in some ships sometimes and last years others i may just get them but not actually ship them and others i ship for a while but they may not be intriguing enough for me.

the point is shipping had always partially been about considering different interactions for certain characters sometimes by keeping said character as they are and sometimes by shifting certain aspects in how they behave or how they are to fit them in said ship and that's honestly fine everyone has there own way of enjoying the fandom

however it is the change in shipping that is absolutely horrible nowadays , it is just not about the characters anymore , it is just tropes I don't know ,has it always been like this ?

Like discussing ships used to be writing a whole analysis about how these characters would fit together and maybe even creating a little background for the characters or just a sufficient 'idk i just like them together'

But now it is just 'well enemies to lovers , guy fell first , redeemed villian what's not to like ' and worse anybody who doesn't agree with said interpretation seems to have no part of the fandom anymore.some characters in canon just can't fit together in a romantic relationship so if shippers want them to fit they are going to have to change their personality entirely and again that is fine but i don't want a whole long ass essay about how YOUR interpretation YOUR own take on the character is how this character actually is in canon so you can ship your characters together and diss on everybody who doesn't agree with you.

This is in both the loki fandom where i don't think anybody talks about anything regarding the show other than loki and sylvie's "chemistry" or loki and mobius , loki is being reduced to this narcissist how needs someone to teach him a lesson or to humiliate him in order to be better , in order to do so most shippers twist sylvie and mobius into these loving caring people they are definitely not to fit this troupe in their heads of " love made the villian turn into a hero", same in the star wars fandom specifically the new triology , it is all about shipping rey and kylo together which i used to enjoy in just for fun really but i don't even want to start talking about how the majority of the shippers were in this fandom 🙄 (also rey deserves better anyways), fandom has been narrowed down to ships , and ones the hype is over most of these fandoms collapse , cause they are just built on liking troupes and imaging the character infront of you regardless of how they actually are to fit this troupe , so if another Show/movie/book series does the troupe better or has a hype right now you look for these troupes and move on from said fandom.Fandoms collapse so fast right now and i believe a huge part as to why is this new shipping culture , shipping is becoming a must in every fandom right now you can't enjoy a fandom otherwise .

This is just my theory really i have been in many fandoms for a long time and weither this is actually what's happening or not, something has definitely changed about how fandoms are right now.

*Phew* sorry about the long rant

Hey, for what it's worth I enjoyed your rant 😉

I have never been a shipper myself so I don't have much insight into this, I'm afraid. I'm glad people have fun with their ships, as long as it's in good faith and they respect those who don't like their pairings or see them in a different light.

The only thing I have seen as of late (as in, the last few years) is that it would seem some people label certain ships as 'morally right' or 'morally wrong' and judge the shippers accordingly. It sucks because the way I see it, shipping is supposed to be good fun for those engaging in it and it shouldn't require a full-on disclaimer from a fan stating they're a good person to justify their favourite ship.

I see what you mean about fandoms collapsing pretty quickly and being narrowed down to shipping. Perhaps a part of that is the fact that many series have their entire seasons released at once, and we have such a huge pool to choose from (and a rather weird idea that we have to consume as much as we can to be in the loop with other people) that folks go from one to another like maniacs, which leaves us with the most basic engagement of shipping a few characters, too little meta and eventually nothing at all.

I definitely agree that in the SW fandom, the Reylo craze was a little too much to handle - and Rey deserved so much better (I say that as a big Kylo fan, by the way), and in Loki's case I think it's funny because they switch the roles: in the series, Loki is good and caring, and Sylvie/Mobius are selfish criminals who only care about themselves. But when it comes to shipping a lot of people switch them and pretend Loki is the selfish criminal and Sylvie/Mobius are the loving and caring ones.

It is one thing to do that if you're writing something canon divergent or you're retconning them for some reason, but to claim that characterization is canon is just wrong.

[sweetescapeartist]

DBS COLORING BOOK CHAPTER 74 REVIEW

*spoilers* I liked this chapter in isolation.

*spoilery spoilers* I dislike this chapter when comparing it to other chapters.

Here's the battle Vegeta fans have been waiting for...! (Glad I lowered my greatly expectations)

First, let's talk about use of panels real quick. When there is action, Toyo has done better and uses about 6 panels max to convey the fight. But when there is dialogue, he uses too many panels. Like 7 to 9 panels on one page. That is too much for dialogue. And he has pointless reaction shots often.

It begins with the axolotl inspired Sugarians leaving their fishbowl homes through cleaning-tube roadways. I like their aquarium-like city and their buildings.

And here we are on page 2 with the Toyotaro dialogue. 😒 How can I tell? Compare it to Dragon Ball and you can easily tell the difference between Toriyama's dialogue & Toyotaro's dialogue. (Toriyama has been more focused with working on the DBS movies. I highly doubt he contributes as much to the manga as some fans believe.)

Vegeta sounds like Mr. Satan when calling fusion and cloning "tricks" lol. And no, I doubt Vegeta's Forced Spirit Fission would work on Granolah. Granolah split himself in 2 with a technique. It is still all Granolah & he hasn't absorbed anyone. Forced Spirit Fission is useless here.

Granolah sure is chatty again after he kept saying how he really really wants to kill these Saiyans. Vegeta tells him he parted ways with Freeza and he is an enemy now, as to which Granolah laughs. Granolah thinks Vegeta is betraying Freeza to spare his own life. This just let's us know what kind of person Granolah is...

Granolah is a nonsensical idiot who doesn't know how to reason well & doesn't listen to truth because he assumes he is already right. I don't like ppl like him who refuse to grow mentally. I went from liking Granolah, to not caring about his bland personality, to disliking him. 😑

Oatmeel's input is pointless because he doesn't sway Granolah into believing the Saiyans may not be lying. He quickly gives up and becomes quiet. Vegeta informs Granolah that he was a child when Planet Cereal's ppl were killed and wasn't part of the attack. But he doesn't care and Paragus wants revenge against the royal family... I mean, Baby wants revenge on all Saiya... Granolah wants to kill all Saiyans.

Then we get Vegeta saying he will kill Granolah after barely talking to the guy who was willing to talk. I guess Vegeta just wants to fight and test his power instead of trying to redeem himself like earlier chapters implied and fans theorized. Throw that out the window.

He turns SSB Evolution & Hakai's large rocks around Granolah. But Granolah appears behind him and shows Vegeta true hakai. He elevates a big chunk of the ground & blows it up then the force pushes Vegeta to him and Granolah strikes him. Cool way to use the environment in battle.

Also, Granolah knows Hakai. He shows it off by using his own more powerful Hakai & suggests Vegeta's training with Beerus is lacking.

There is some cool looking art. Their fight moves from forest to river to lake. Interesting environment s for DB. Reminds me of the Cooler movie and the fights on Namek a bit.

This entire time, Vegeta is on the defensive and has to run. But, I find pages 16-21 silly.

Why is Vegeta swimming when he can fly through the water?! Swimming is slower & Granolah is firing fast ki blasts at him!

YOU: "But, Vegeta is swimming so Granolah can't detect his ki."

Granolah can see him! His right eye is supposed to see blood flow and stuff. He nearly hits him multiple times. And lets not forget he was sniping them long distance and his Goku in the neck and almost took him out. Why does Granolah need aim assist now? I'll tell ya why. To make Vegeta look more impressive than Goku by making Goku look like a poor fighter. And this was a Goku who was using Ultra Instinct and still got messed up by Granolah while Vegeta is just using SSB Evolution. Character sabotage... 😒

Back to my complaints about Vegeta swimming. The swimmin' would work in OG Dragon Ball but not here. It would work on Namek with Freeza who can't sense ki, but not here with Granolah who can sense ki (& maybe even god ki) & his eye can percieve all kinds of movements of the body.

And why does Vegeta momentarily pop up out the water then go hide back into it? Don't say its 'cause he needs to catch his breath. He aparently did training holding his breath while on the Heeter's ship, so he should be fine holding his breath. It was for a short period of time anyways. It just doesn't fit and is unnecessary in multiple ways.

Vegeta Hakai's Granolah's big blast to escape it and it blows him out of the water. Interesting kinda... Until you realize that Vegeta's training that we were shown was lame. He just Hakai'd logs & rocks! It should've shown him trying to Hakai ki blasts from Beerus. Make his training look cool darn it!

Chapter 70 Established that Hakai has changed. It no longer is just erasing things from existence in different ways. It has to have a *boom* explosion to it. So when Beerus Hakai'd Zamasu in chapter 19, there should've been an explosion instead of turning him into sand? So, now whenever the Hakai is used, there will always be an explosion...? I don't like how Toyo is quick to change what he set up just for his convenience...

Granolah brags about himself then Vegeta brags about himself-...! That's why I dislike Granolah! He's just like Vegeta! Maybe if I stop thinking of Granolah as a "good guy" then he will be cooler? I did like evil Vegeta as an evil character. We were supposed to hate him. So, if I imagine Granolah as an evil Vegeta... It worked! Granolah's unappealing attitude works perfectly if you view him as an evil enemy! (Still kinda preachy tho)

VEGETA: "But I'm still going to win."

Vegeta fans rejoice! Your prayers have been answered by the great Zalama! Vegeta announced victory...! Wait... I've seen this before... Yo... Vegeta fans, prepare for Vegeta to be defeated just in case. He has a record of announcing victory then ultimately losing. Don't get your hopes up too high.

Lol Granolah disses Vegeta's ego 👌. But Granolah is unknowingly talking about himself too XD. Dummies. Vegeta mocks him by calling him "Mr. Strongest" & Granolah has nothing to day. Granolah can dish it out but can't take it.

Goku wakes up and sees Vegeta fighting Granolah. Who cares? How are you gonna be caught off gaurd in a form that reacts on its own? Go back to sleep. I'm not mad at you, Goku. I'm just disappointed.

Vegeta fires a barrage of ki at Granolah and Granolah Hakai's them. Then Vegeta fools Ganolah into destroying an ancient city of the Cerelians.

VEGETA: "I can tell, you know... That you only recently acquired this absurd strength."

GRANOLAH: "How? How can you tell?"

VEGETA: "Thank you for confirming."

There's the Granolah we know. Quick to give out valuable info. Also, this is to make Vegeta appear "smarter" & a "better fighter" than Goku. Realistically, a master martial artist like Goku would be first to notice that Granolah recently acquired this kind of power. But, Goku is being dumbed down for Vegeta's sake.

VEGETA: "Need I repeat myself...? You may be stronger but... there's no gaurantee that I'll lose to you!" *attempts to break Granolah's leg*

So says the guy who always loses unless the opponent is weaker than him. But, he even lost to weaker opponents on Earth before, so....

Vegeta fans calm down, calm down. This is basic Vegeta dribble. Let's be real. When has Vegeta ever defeated an opponent that was stronger than himself? Never. When has Vegeta become stronger than his opponent and defeat them because they're weaker than him now? Always. Does Vegeta ever win when he is too cocky? Nope. This is to hype y'all up. Don't be mad if he loses. Y'all know this routine. The arc ain't even over so the chances of him winning are low.

Now let's examine Vegeta's fight in comparison to Goku's fight.

Goku goes through all his forms & uses Ultra Instinct in base, SSJ, SSG, SSB, & then goes silver haired UI when fighting Granolah. Then, he loses in every form. Vegeta goes straight to Blue Evolution and only seriously gets hurt once.

Goku keeps getting hit despite having a technique that is all about evasion. Vegeta gets hit far less & doesn't have Ultra Instinct.

Goku was struggling to fight a clone that was half the power of Granolah. Vegeta fights Granolah at his full power and struggles less.

Goku complains about his training and how he is struggling using his technique. Vegeta who had less time with Hakai training isn't complaining about struggling with Hakai.

Goku far surpassed Vegeta in the Moro arc, yet they are crippling Goku to let Vegeta catch up & make him look better. Vegeta has literally gotten a handout that he didnt have to work hard for in order to catch up with Goku... This chapter is fine when isolated and you aren't thinking about any other previous chapter. But, it is a convoluted mess when you look back at the previous chapters, the piss poor storytelling, & Vegeta's poor Hakai training that leads up to this chapter.

Where'd that "heroic" Vegeta and that "redemption" stuff go? Its as if Toyotaro decided he should stop tying to make Vegeta the hero & main character instead of Goku being the main. (Thank God.)

But... Vegeta says that he loves fights that are unpredictable?? That I disagree completely with. Vegeta wants fights to go in his favor through all of DBZ and will throw a fit when it doesn't.

In RoF: it was going in his favor so he loved it.

Destroyer Tournament arc: he didn't like that things didn't go his way in the end.

Future Trunks arc: he was upset when losing to Black, but loved it when he thought he was going to win.

ToP: angry when everyone else surpassed him, happy when he gained an upperhand, upset when he lost the upperhand.

Moro arc: Vegeta is upset that Moro is stronger but even more upset that Goku is stronger than him. When he is stronger than Moro he is loving it. Then when he loses the advantage, he is upset.

Vegeta doesn't love unpredictable fights, Goku does! Vegeta loves predictable fights in his favor.

Granolah asks how many lives were sacrificed for Vegeta's carnage. Vegeta doesn't answer. Why? Because its best to ignore the fact that he has killed billions of ppl so that Vegeta fans can ignore his bad actions (Yet many say that Vegeta has developed so much without acknowledging his terrible past). Can't have Vegeta looking like a bad guy in this chapter, right?

Oh boy! Page 37 is more "Vegeta hype!" He doesn't care about strongest or second strongest ('cause he has never been 1st place) & he basically explains Dragon Ball to us.

Roshi already taught Goku & Krillin that there will always be somebody stronger, so they need to keep reaching higher and higher.

If Vegeta is stronger than he was a few minutes ago, would that mean the same for Goku when he was fighting? Why did he perform so poorly? I wonder... 🤔

Granolah jabs Vegeta in the stomach, but Vegeta manages to slow it down (how come Goku using Ultra Instinct couldn't do that?). And cool. Blood. Anime has better writing and cool character development/moments. The manga has blood... Well, I guess blood is cooler to some ppl.

Vegeta is looking like Goku in the ToP before he attained UI. He has his head down & all. Vegeta just isn't talking about hownl much he sucks. Why does Goku keep insulting himself? N-nevermind. This is about Vegeta who keeps complimenting himself.

Why did Granolah become scared of Vegeta suddenly? Wouldn't he just see him as a mad dog and use his amazing power to put Vegeta down before he can do anything? He hates them so much, but keeps letting them live.

Uh oh... Vegeta doesn't like protecting and saving? BuT I tHoUgHt hE wAs a hErO! Where is his development going?? Ya mean the real development he had in the anime or the pseudo development in the manga?

But even after saying all that... I prefer manga Vegeta to be like this instead of a wannabe hero. Wannabe hero doesn't fit. This feels like Vegeta is in character again. I like this. I was just criticizing how Vegeta was written in past chapters in comparison to this one. A more chill Vegeta who loves battles? This is what I've wanted from DBS manga Vegeta for a long time!

Oh snap! Vegeta's transforming? I wonder what it will look like (thanks for the warning from the leaks 👍). Oil... Why are you even in this chapter? We don't care about you right now & you're boring without Maki. Goku says it ain't "any old god ki."

I wonder how Goku never knew about this new form if he and Vegeta trained on Beerus Planet together. Ya think he would've sensed and saw it & even wanted to fight against it.

So is this new form a spur of the moment thing? So Vegeta has a new form that he never trained... And he asks if Granolah has been training his new power on page 34... Sounds hypocritical of Vegeta, or he is being thrown a bone to make him look capable. Is Vegeta gonna pull a Golden Freeza by not training this new form? Or maybe a UI Goku at the ToP and lose the form?

Page 43, Granolah shoots tiny ki blasts at Vegeta's tower of flaming ki and he is surprised it did nothing. Why not try again but this time use that one big blast instead. No? Gonna let the guy of the race you hate finish transforming? Just gonna be scared and shocked to make Vegeta look impressive? Ok.

Pages 41, 44, & 45

Oh! Here it is! The new form...! Aaaand I still don't like it. Also, he healed up like Goku did last chapter too. Odd. Why does transforming heal them now? Didn't before.

No build up to make the form more cool, it's just

"Here, Vegeta. Goku has one more form than you do & he has mastered UI, so we can't let you fall too far behind. So I just pulled this crap transformation fresh outa my butt and gave it to you."

Another undeserved handout. Can you please make Vegeta earn a new form in the manga? PLEASE?!

Vegeta looks like he is in his own UI Omen form (like how Vegeta fans begged for Vegeta to get for the longest time). Dark hair with sone lighter coloured higlights, light coloured pupils, new aura. But this is what I see...

SSJ3ROSÉ of DESTRUCTION INSTINCT OMEN (or just "SSJ-ChexMix" for short)

Looks like in the end, Vegeta needed to resort to his own Ultra Instinct equivalent!

Oh no... I criticized Vegeta's bad writing too much! I bet some Vegeta fans are gonna automatically assume that I hate him because I want him to be written better without plotholes! 😱

IN CONCLUSION:

This chapter is good when isolated on its own. But, this chapter is filled with inconsistencies when you look back at previous chapters. Overall, it's... a mixed bag that I barely like. It's just so retarded that Goku had to be dragged through the mud just for Vegeta to look better. That is insulting to Vegeta and it either shows how much he sucks or or how weak the writing for Vegeta is. But we got what we got...

Wanna know how to make Vegeta look good without making Goku look pathetic? Goku never uses MUI! Goku defeats Granolah's clone with SSB. Then, Granolah merges back with his clone & catches SSB Goku by surprise and knocks him out.

Then, the reason why Vegeta seems to be doing better is because Vegeta is using SSBE, unlike SSB Goku who was caught off guard. Why make the MUI form & Goku both look like trash just to give Vegeta his own Ultra (Destructive) Intinct? Is Vegeta really that trash?! 😓😴

I don't wanna see the Heeters anymore. My hype for them died, but maybe a later chapter can make me like them more. Idk.

Where is my homie, Moniato?! 🐌 (BEST CHARACTER OF THE ARC SO FAR!)

Oh yeah...I was supposed to complain about not seeing Freeza again like I do every chapter... Who cares at this point? If Granolah is stronger than Goku & Vegeta, what can Freeza do? Hide for 3 yrs and let Granolah die?

What are my predictions for next chapter? More Vegeta wanking of course. More gloating & looking down on Granolah too. A battle of overinflated egos. Bad dialogue and decent to good art. I'll probably find it mostly boring but I may be surprised (that could be a good or bad thing). Vegeta will appear to be winning before...

Vegeta gets defeated & certain Vegeta fans will rage & be annoying. Those ones will complain about how Vegeta always gets the short end of the deal (that's what he gets for being shorter than Bulma & 12 cm taller than Krillin). This one should happen imo based off of Goku's performance.

Vegeta's fight will get interrupted before the battle ends so that Vegeta fans don't get angry. Make Vegeta fans feel that Vegeta could've won and keep them grasping on to hope. (How manipulative.) This one is most likely to happen to "satisfy" all fans.

Vegeta will win and Vegeta fans will rejoice & some will be very annoying. Despite the fact that he had terrible training, was handed a new form just to stay relevant, and Goku had to underperform & UI had to be nerfed just to make Vegeta look good. This one may happen just to appease Vegeta fans. (That is the worst outcome imo.) If Vegeta gets "a win/a W" against a main villain, make sure his training looks impressive and he has some sort of connection to the main bad guy. That way the victory feels well deserved.

If the final enemy is Freeza, then Vegeta defeating Granolah isn't "a win" against a major villain. Granolah will just be a bump in the road. He's already set up to not be a "bad guy." In the end, the main bad guy will be either Freeza, Gas, 7-3, or someone. Vegeta fans shouldn't care if Vegeta wins or loses against Granolah. He isn't the "final boss."

[zmediaoutlet]

I saw you dissing the Loki tv show in the tags, and I totally agree. I don't know how but the Loki tv show totally killed my interest in Loki, who was pretty much the only mcu character I loved. I know everything in mcu basically just advertises the next big thing. But it didn't even have a story, just a baffling 'romance'.

Too bad that it killed your Loki interest! I'm not totally there but... I mean, it was better than F&WS but that's not exactly a high bar to clear, lol. I didn't mind the 'romance,' such as it was, because it was such a Loki-esque way to make his way to loving himself: externalize the self, give that self problems and cruelties even bigger than his, realize that all of those things can be dealt with and you're not lost even despite it, etc etc. Loki also actually Made A Friend outside himself, thereby proving to himself that he can trust. That was the character arc plot. The "plot" plot was clearly just setting up the multiverse, but I actually liked that pretty well. The bad guy was interesting, the worldbuilding was fun.

My bigger problem with it is that it wasn't written for TV, and its scope and production and scale was alllll wrong. Similar to the problems with F&WS, although at least the character interactions in Loki were somewhat believable. How is it possible that Wandavision was the only one that actually worked with the medium?? Somehow Loki failed to be a united-whole miniseries story, where you carry a satisfying plot and thematic through six-ish eps and nail internal conflicts within each episode; and also failed to be, like, a series. It's like they didn't want to commit the money/time to go for a 13 episode thing where all of that could be done better with room to breathe, but for some reason also didn't want to just make a single movie where the same plot/character goals could have been accomplished succinctly and elegantly. You're left with this lurching taint of an artistic product where really no one's happy. Except people who just like looking at twhiddleston, I guess. And he's a very good actor, but I'd rather just watch The Night Manager again.

Oh, well. I suppose I'll watch the next thing, but I hope they take it... a little more seriously. Trouble being that all us obedient MCU fans just trot up to the next thing with money dutifully in hand, so there's no incentive to do better, lol. Fingers crossed, tho.

(--to be clear, just in case this was part of the ask's frustration: I don't care that they didn't somehow throw a bone to thorki or to Loki/Owen Wilson's Character. I don't watch stuff for the shipping, I just want it to be coherent and well made.)

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Vox Machina/Critical Role Rambles

You all may have noticed, I've been going a little crazy with the Vox Machina posts. What can I say? I started watching The Legend of Vox Machina earlier this week and I kind of got hooked.

Now, I didn't know much about this show before going into it. Really the only thing I knew about it was that it was an "adaptation (I guess?)" from the first campaign Critical Role did. And I knew about Critical Role very loosely, knew it was a D&D tabletop stream done by voice actors but beyond that, I'd never really checked them out before. I had wanted to but then I kept on hearing things like "they're overrated" "or they've become over-serialized and too commercial" and whatever. But then I realized, you know, I haven't watched a D&D stream since the Natural Oneders from TFS at the Table and maybe it was time to get into another D&D campaign. And since I have so little experience with streamed D&D campaigns, how am I going to be able to tell "who's too commercial" or "who's overrated"? And really, these kind of comments will typically always pop up whenever something becomes successful -- we humans are jealous creatures and sometimes we let our envy get the better of us, so maybe I shouldn't listen to judgements on something I've never seen before. Now if anyone thinks they're overrated or too commercial, I'm not dissing you in any way, not saying you're not entitled to your opinion or anything or that you're jealous or envious of them, I'm sure you have your reasons. But just in my experience when people use phrases like overrated or overserialized and stuff like that, I've learned to take a grain of salt with that.

But anyway, whilst watching the show, I also started watching the campaign 1 on Youtube while iIm at work. Mainly because while watching the show, I found out Vax is voiced by Liam O'Brien, whom I have a HUGE vocal crush on (ever since listneing to him in GunxSword) and if you're telling me that there's a stream that goes on for hundreds of episodes with him in it and I can listen to his voice for hundreds of hours, then yes, I'M ALL IN. Listening to Liam O'Brien is like constantly being in the throes of vocal passion and pleasure to me and I'm not sorry. I kind of forgot how quickly sometimes the day can go by while at work and you're just listening to a D&D campaign. It's been fun and its fun to go back to the show after watching a few installments of the campaigns and finally understanding some of the inside jokes they put in the show.

Now the actual show, The Legend of Vox Machina, particularly in the beginning feels pretty clunky. You just don't know that much about the characters when you're first introduced to them and then them having these character moments a few episodes in, you just don't know how to feel because you don't really understand the characters that well. But perhaps this was done on purpose as a call out to the beginnings of Critical Role. I mean, when Critical Role first starts, we're essentially all dropped into a campaign that they've already been running for 2 1/2 years prior so there is a bit of a period when you're still trying to get used to and understand the characters, there's all these inside jokes and character dynamics you don't have context for). Plus D&D in general is also not super great when it comes to story telling in general, it definitely has its own flavor of story telling but you know, when you're bound to some dice rolls, and characters, their decisions, and where they go are dictated by several people, the story can go places that don't always make sense and don't always have a semblance of a cohesive story. So in that respect, you can definitely see the D&D flaws within the show. BUT give it a few more episodes, and you'll find you don't really care, you've fallen in love with the characters at this point so you kind of forgive early show.

Obviously my favorite ship is Vaxleth (Vax and Keylethe). They're both my favorite characters and they are so awesome and so awkward all at the same time, I mean come on, I have a weak spot in my heart for rogues and awkward characters, there was no way in hell I was not going to ship them. Now, whenever I listen to music, I keep imagining them in my head, might create a playlist in Spotify for them. And I seriously CANNOT wait until I get further in the campaign to see Liam and Marisha roleplaying this dynamic I saw in the show. I don't necessarily like how at the end of the show, Vax just says "I'm going to walk away now" after Keylethe rejected him especially since I've seen snippets of what Liam actually says in the campaign stream and it is just the most romantic, intimate, understanding, wonderful speech to being rejected that I've ever heard, like Liam O'Brien is just a total romantic sap and I AM HERE FOR IT. It's like why would you not use that speech! It is such an integral soft vulnerable part of Vax. But at the end of the day, maybe they'll use it at a different point in time (also, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about because I don't have context but whatever). And I get it, the "walk away" line is probably a call back to the campaign stream where everytime Vax talks to Keylethe, at the end, Liam will say, "and I walk away".

I also love Vax and Gilmore too. I think those two together are really fun. And who knows? Maybe with a little more confidence from Keylethe, we could end up with an Ot3 on our hands.

But anyway, I just had thoughts that I needed to get out and here they are. Thanks for reading and putting up with my fangasms.

[katnissmellarkkk]

I'm a bit boring, my favourite trope is "happily married"😅 (I'm a bit tired of slow burns, miscommunications, jealousy, love triangles, cheating, etc, I guess I'm old now🙈 I prefer fics where my ships are already together, and facing the plot as a team secure in their love and relationship. I still enjoy a dramatic and angsty story, just no relationship drama and angst) Oh, and and another trope is time travel! And fix-it-fics. And for Everlark: "This would have happened anyway" fics

Okay, edit after finishing typing all this out : I’m really sorry I basically just started ranting out all my feelings about slow burn / fast burn couples (mainly from tv shows over the years). I probably talked too much and lost my point along the way butttttt. Here’s my over the top rant??? Sorry if it’s not the response you wanted 😭😭😭😭😭😭.

OH MY GOSH. Okay so like, my favorite trope is enemies to lovers and I love a moderate burn. Like the rushed couples (like the ones on Riverdale) I can’t get into. I cannot enjoy couples who get together and fall in love so fast. But also I’m with you, slow burn is *too* slow most of the time. Like if it takes more than a season of working to get them together I don’t want it, tbh. And I don’t mean like one season of a show as much as one season of setting the couple up.

I don’t know if you know the couples I’m referring to but it’s okay, because you really don’t gotta.

I’m gonna use Joey/Pacey from Dawson’s Creek, Logan/Veronica from Veronica Mars and Donna/Harvey from Suits. It’s not necessary to have seen any of these shows to understand what I’m saying here. I’ll explain this very simply.

Joey and Pacey were never set up to be a couple in seasons 1 and 2. They each had separate storylines and love interests and did not intersect romantically. But in season 3 the show did a moderate burn to build their friendship and budding romance up into a love story, until they got together at the end of the season and were together all of season 4 (and ended up together in the series finale). So technically it took 3 seasons to get them together but it didn’t really.

And then we have Logan and Veronica from Veronica Mars. They interacted together from the pilot (they hated each other) but it took 18 episodes for them to kiss and pretty large amount of screen time to build them up to that. Even after the kiss it took much longer for their relationship to progress into love. Which I like. Nothing feels cheaper to me than a sudden love revelation after three kisses in the span of two episodes.

Okay and now we have Donna and Harvey from Suits. I couldn’t think of a better one, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to diss them because they’re still cute but the writing for them could have drawn me in because the actors have serious chemistry but nope. The writers waffled back and forth on them too many times, dangled it before the audiences faces and then didn’t pull the trigger until near the end of the show. To me, by building up that much suspense, it makes it unsatisfying by the time the romance actually begins.

I just realized Barry/Iris from The Flash also definitely fit the “took too long and made me lose interest” bill but I don’t wanna get into them…

And then there’s certain fast-ish burns like Jamie and Claire from Outlander that I really enjoy because they’re the two central characters on the show and the shows about their romance so like, what are they gonna do??? Not build them up to get them together quickly when it’s what makes the most sense??? Like I suppose this whole rant could be summed up with, I really wish more tv show writers knew when to get couples together at the natural point it would make perfect sense. Drawing a couple out for three-plus seasons doesn’t work for me at all.

And then you also reminded me how much I love established relationships on shows and books and movies! Like, okay. Fran Dresher, the writer, producer and star of The Nanny, claims that getting Fran and Maxwell (Mr. Sheffield) together is ultimately what killed the show but I think that’s a lie. I love Fran and Maxwell so much, they’ve been one of my favorite couples since I was a little girl, but what killed the show was all the baiting and switches they did to prevent them from getting together. And what I love about them is the episodes after they got together.

But if you look at any of my really hardcore hyperfixation couples (which would honestly be Edward/Bella from Twilight, Spencer/Toby from Pretty Little Liars, Logan/Veronica from Veronica Mars and now Katniss/Peeta from Hunger Games) you notice there’s always a significant time portion after they fell in love that the story goes on and we see them as an established couple. Okay, Katniss and Peeta are really weird in this regard. Like they don’t fit this bill but they actually do???? Makes no sense but it makes perfect sense at the same time. Like I can’t ship a couple if it’s all build up and then fade to black. Or if it took too many years and attempts and take backs to get them together.

Because how are you supposed to have faith this couple will survive after the story ends if you don’t actually see them in an established relationship??? Yeah, some writers really need to take that into consideration.

Cheating drama is a huge no-no in couples for me. I mean there are some that I can still enjoy if they’re really messy and they cheat with each other on their other partners. But I only really like that if the couple is kind of crappy people to start with and they’re supposed to be like anti-heroes.

Now I’m a very jealous kind of person admittedly so I can support this only if there’s significant like, work through for the couple after the jealousy. Like in To All The Boys I Loved Before 2, when the main girl saw her boyfriend holding his ex and she wasn’t okay with it and got jealous and upset, there was not even a fraction of the kind of aftermath there should have been.

Love triangles are so old and overtired now like I’m completely over them altogether. I don’t mind the love triangle on Dawson’s Creek or One Tree Hill or even Euphoria now because it feels purposeful at least but lord. Too many shows do these love triangles and they literally suck the life out of the show if there’s zero purpose to them. Also we’ve seen enough of them so please, like literally, all tv / movie writers, just stop writing these things.

Like yesss my favorite thing is when the couple has an interesting story (with angst and cuteness) that gets them together but then once they’re together, they’re just together. The whole “we have to break them up for drama!!” is a lie uncreative people tell themselves. You can just create outside drama and let the couple be solid and good together. Like yes. Let them have occasional angst and fights but even that gets stupid a lot of the time with unnecessary issues just thrown the couples way but let them stay together and be there for the other in the hard times and the good. It’s not all just sex and break ups, writers. Seriously.

Lololololol I don’t know if I’ve ever really watched a show or read a book with time travel before. Is it good????

Oh wait. I spaced. Outlander, duh. My mind went right to Phil Of The Future and lemme tell you. Phil and Keely were my second grade otp.

Omg I haven’t read enough “it would have happened anyway” fics but the ones I have I have loved every time! They all hit right, no misses in sight. Recc me some if you wanna, because I may not have read it yet!

And fix it fics are my thing in every fandom for every situation ever.

[willthecleric]

i really wanna have hope that byler will happen, and i agree with all of the subtext you've pointed out, i just have a really bad feeling that they're not gonna pull through :( i haven't watched the movies on the s4 list, so maybe that's why i feel less certain, but i'm just generally unsure that it will actually happen, despite really wanting it to? how can you be so sure that it will? love ur blog by the way! :D

Aww, thank you so much! Well, I used to have doubts too, so I get what you mean. But remember a few different things:

1. Mike is clearly written as gay, seeing as he is very much comp het in S3 (bisexual boys can imagine themselves in love with females, it isn’t some foreign concept and ‘something old people do’). Many straight guys found Mike’s behaviour with El strange. For a reason: he was trying to be straight and took it too far. He was especially mimicking Lucas. Seeing Mike as gay also recontextualizes a lot of his behaviour in S1 and S2. I just don’t understand why they would make Mike gay and give him so much coding for it if they were planning to have him with a girl. Makes more sense to have him bisexual or straight then. I’m not exagerrating when I say that Mike’s main story arc is about him realizing he is gay and coming to terms with that and accepting his love for Will.

2. When originally writing the S1 script, El was supposed to die. They changed it, my guess, because she helped them with a few plot points (mainly as a beard for Mike). I’m not sure why they’d have wanted her dead initially if Mileven was planned as endgame. That on top of Mike being gay is another strike against Mileven.

3. El is way behind Mike intellectually. Mike is very smart, and El doesn’t even know what a State is. It just doesn’t work and Mike is way older than her intellectually. It is creepy and will just get worse and worse. Not sure why they would do that if Mileven was meant to be endgame.

4. The Duffers parallelled Mileven with ET and Elliott multiple times in S1, and told Finn that Mike saw El as an alien or a puppy. Not at all romantic. Mileven was paralleled to Dustin and Dart in S2. In S3 it was mentioned that Mike saw El as a pet. Mike doesn’t trust El. He couldn’t answer when she told him to trust her, and changed the subject when Max said he doesn’t trust her. Mike was also justifiably upset about El spying on him (which El never felt bad about). Mike lies to El and El stalks/spies on him. Most of S2 Mileven was El stalking and spying on Mike and they used ominous music (so clearly it is not meant to be romantic). Mike had no idea she was watching him, and we saw in S3 how he would have felt if he found out about her doing that. They danced to a song about a stalking ex. Multiple movies hint that El stalks Mike in S4 (which is supported by her in S2 and S3). Those S2 Mileven scenes weren’t meant to be romantic, they are meant to be creepy. Not that I blame El. She is confused and doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know any better. The Duffers hate Mileven. They have dissed it many times (which kaypeace has shown examples of).

5. Mike and El do not share interests or even seem to like each other. El thinks Mike’s interests are dumb and that he talks too much. They don’t trust each other, and trust is essential to love. Period. Neither even sees the other as a person. She has been a tool/weapon to him. And an alien/puppy. It’s a part of his using her as a beard. He doesn’t feel bad about it because he doesn’t see her as a person. He did feel some guilt over her death, but most of him wanting her back in S2 was wanting her to fix him. His attitude problem and issues with Max in S2 were about his growing feelings for Will, NOT about El. Mike was angry at Hopper at the end of S2 because he blamed Hopper for keeping his beard away from him. He thougnt if El was there, he would not have these feelings for Will. Mike blamed Hopper for everything. Why he was so angry with him in S3. And El doesn’t see Mike as a person either. To her, he is a sense of comfort and normalcy, like her teddy bears and Hopper’s shirt. She also projected a soap opera character she liked onto him. El only found Mike attractive when she thought he was a bad boy. She didn’t know if she liked kissing him after months of making out. She referred to him as her first boyfriend, implying she was thinking of dating others in the future. There is a reason why she came to Mike three months after the main events of the season. Comfort. She lost her dad and was moving away from her new home. She was seeking normalcy. Mike is that to her.

6. They made the ending with Mileven ambiguous as far as if they are dating or not. Which idk why they would do that if Mileven was the main ship. Why make it ambiguous? I think it was intentionally done that way. El was acting romantic while Mike was more platonic in nature. I think that is to hint towards them not being on the same page. As I mentioned, numerous movies and show canon hints to El stalking Mike and spying on him. Multiple movies have Mike frustrated and not interested. And we already saw how he felt about El spying on him. I think El believes they are dating and doesn’t get it when Mike and others tell her that they are not. She doesn’t understand.

7. They made numerous Mileven and Byler parallels in S3, of S2 Byler moments redone for Mileven, and things happening between both ships in the same season. Byler always won by a landslide. They completely destroyed Mileven instead of building it up, which makes no sense if it’s endgame. Mileven had poor development from the start, and if they wanted to pull it off, makes more sense to work hard to build them up instead. Also driving away the fandom so it’s not popular anymore... why do that? It makes no sense. Queer baits don’t do that. Seems more like a straight bait to me.

8. In S1, homophobic Troy was: shoved by Mike (who is gay), forced to piss his pants in front of the school who laughed at him, had his arm broken, and was made to look like a fool. This shows what they think about homophobes. They also have posted LGBT+ positivity on Twitter. They are not homophobic and do not support homophobia. They are not going to work to please a bunch of homophobic Milevens.

9. According to multiple movies and show hints, Byler is essential and key to fixing everything. The Never Ending Story was repeatedly in S3 for a reason. It’s a hint. Not just at Will being the chosen one instead of El, but also... ‘and there upon a rainbow is the answer to a never ending story’. It’s outright telling us that Byler is the answer. Not only because rainbows are a gay symbol in itself, but Mike is also connected to rainbows as a part of his coding.

10. Multiple movies hint that Stranger Things is a book written by Mike for Will, sharing his story and their love story. Mike is the character who wants to be a writer, and the episodes are called CHAPTERS. That supports Stranger Things being a book. And the book is always written by the Mike character for the Will character. They let it be known that Mike wants to be a writer. It was mentioned as his career goal in his yearbook page, and he writes most of the D&D campaigns (besides the one that Will wrote).

11. Byler is the biggest and main relationship of the show. It’s the relationship that gets the most development, the one that gets the most romantic scenes, the one that gets the most coding by far. And every single pairing (minus Jopper and Ted/Karen as far as I can tell) parallels Byler while it is healthy and happy. The moment that stops being the case, they start paralleling Mileven. Not a good sign for Mileven. And Mileven only parallels Byler a lot because Mike has been using El as a substitute for Will (something that is mentioned by the Mike character in a number of movies, using the El character of the movie as a substitute to the Will character).

Hopefully this helped you (and anyone else) feel better about things. 😃