#i wonder if that could have been better
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prosebushpatch Ā· 1 year ago
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Was trying to figure out why Hansel and Gretel randomly appeared in a book I was reading, with candy house backstory and everything, in a story that otherwise was not directly informed by a specific fairy tale. At least to my knowledge, it all felt pretty original, until the villainous antagonist started spinning straw into gold and mentioned being betrayed by a miller's daughter and I cupped my head in my hands like, ah, th-the way to defeat him... they gotta figure out his true name... this whole time... he's been rumpelstiltskin.
#rose and rambles#okay but actually im going to agonize over this choice a bit#like i feel like the hansel and gretel was specifically to prepare us for rumpel but if you took out all three of their names#i wonder#i wonder if that could have been better#because the world building and everything felt *really* spectacularly original and obviously more fae inclined than either#of those fairy tales and the main narrative was not rumpelstiltskin the rumpelstiltskin fairy tale was just backstory#and it was kind of jarring when Hansel and gretel appeared midway for a chapter or two but i guess it contextualized the world for me#Because I *hadn't* been thinking of it as having *direct* fairy tales in it#i think having two characters be like 'ya a woman tricked us with a house made of candy' is obviously a reference to hansel and gretel but#i think it could have felt more natural if it wasn't *directly* hansel and gretel#but a bro and sis with different names that fit the main characters better?#BUT THEN rumpelstiltskin's name does come into play and how else are you going to lead up to the fact that a character has been using a fak#name? you can't have a villain just randomly being like CURSES YOU GUESSED MY TRUE NAME#WHICH IS JOHN#like there's no way. you have to build up to it but once the audience is like oh ya we know hansel and gretel were here and the straw into#gold? got it. know the villain has a different name before the protagonists and also *know* the name to boot. Great#but then the name didn't seem............. necessary in the end anyway because they had him with a contract and they used that to get#the name out him??????????#So maybe it could have been a different name????????#idk#i will say i did love the main characters#They were pretty incredible actually
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poorly-drawn-mdzs Ā· 7 months ago
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Unsolved Mysteries.
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peachyutdr Ā· 1 year ago
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i finished it, was kicked out of the game, and then spent the next 10 minutes drawing this. i will now go take a shower, most likely cry, and then go through the emotional turmoil of convincing myself to reset so i can do a geno run. i hate it here :D
#undertale yellow#uty#my art#<- ifg#spoilers under these tags beware. although it is mostly just me being very very sad#that entire thing was heart wrenching. anyways#CEROBAS FIGHT??? HELLO???#i had to exit out of it the first time (i got to the last phase) to get better items but i came back and won pretty quickly#but THE CUTSCENES?!?!?#JFC NO WONDER THIS WOMANS SO MESSED UP. HER HUSBAND PRACTICALLY DIED IN HER ARMS AND THE LAST THING HE LEFT HER WITH- HIS DYING WISH- COULD#ONLY BE FULFILLED BY PUTTING THEIR ONLY CHILD IN DEATHS WAY. AND THEN WHEN SHE TOOK THAT RISK THE WORST THING HAPPENED AND SHE NOW HAS TO#LIVE WITH THE GUILT OF BEING THE ONE TO. MOST LIKELY. KILL HER ONE AND ONLY DAUGHTER#ALL THE WHILE SHE WAS PUSHING AWAY HER CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND AND CONVINCING HERSELF THAT SHE WAS IN THE RIGHT TO SACRIFICE CLOVER WHO HAD#BEEN ONLY KIND MERCIFUL AND JUST THIS WHOLE TIME. EVEN TO THOSE WHO WERE TRYING TO KILL THEM. FUCK.#AAND WHEN CLOVER HUGGED HER I DOUBLED OVER IRL BC *THATS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO DO IN THAT MOMENT* I HATE IT (read: love it) HERE#n dont even get me STARTED on after that. when clover started moving on their own and the gd white screen came up and we got flashbacks of#everyone's words. thats when the tears rlly started coming bc it clicked for me. 'oh. this is it. isn't it?' and IT WAS#WHEN THEY GAVE THEIR FUCKIGN HAT AND GUN AWAY TO MARTLET AND STARLO WELL THATS WHEN I REALLY STARTED CRYING#AAND THE GROUP HUGG#I WAS SOBBING WHENEVER I HAD TO WATCH THEM CRAWL UP AGAINST THE WALL AND DIE AND HAVE FLOWEYS WORDS PLAY OVERHEAD#AND THE FUCKOGN#THE F U C K I N G#AFTEWRCREDITS SCENE WHERE WE GOT THE 'You heard someone calling for help. You answered.' I GOT CHILLS SO BAD#to think that all the other souls have stories just as expansive and emotional as clover n frisks. how fucked up is that. in a good way tho#and finally the last scene where we got all 4 of our main friends sending us off in waterfall and we see clovers items end up in the dump#just waiting to be found by bratty and catty. fucken hell man this was a masterpiece#anyways time to reset and obliterate everyone and never emotionally recover from that ever!! really is feeling like 2016-17 again w the way#this game has me sobbing my eyes out and feeling the guilt of knowing that i dont HAVE to kill them all but im too curious not to#oh well. at least i have the balls to do it this time around instead of letting a youtuber do it for me ig
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muffinlance Ā· 7 months ago
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Read "Suki, Alone". Liked it in general. But can they please, please hire someone who knows both the show's actual events and how to follow through on a character arc? Because guys. Guys. That comic is not implying about Suki what they meant it to be implying, and all because of literally one line.
So like. From a writer's standpoint:
What they meant to do: show Suki as a community-oriented person who cares for her people, and believes in everyone succeeding together.
As opposed to (spoilers): the thief girl they set her up in contrast with, who's pretty upfront and consistent on primarily looking out for herself. She betrays Suki for one (1) corn chip to improve her own life at the prison, no surprise.
But the problem is: they give Suki an inspirational line to the effect of "we're all working together and we'll all break out together"
You know
The thing she does not do in the show
So if both the show and this comic are canon, then instead of setting up a compare/contrast with the thief girl, they've just set up a comparison. One were Suki is arguably worse, because she's been leading a significant number of prisoners on with her "we'll all fight and win our freedom together!" business, only to straight up cut them out of the escape loop and abandon them, whereas the thief is only leading Suki on in the sense that Suki keeps telling her what it's morally correct to think and confuses snide replies with agreement
My dudes. My fellow writers. You people actually being paid for this. There were so many ways to fix those awful implications against our girl's character, the simplest of which would be to not include that line. Or they could have, you know, made it canon compliant with what actually happens in the show, so that this comic doesn't set Suki up as a betrayer instead of a community builder. Like... just send all her good prison buddies off to other prisons in the wake of the warden finding out they're colluding. Have it timed to be right before the next new prisoners arrive, thus setting it immediately before the Boiling Rock episodes, so Suki didn't have anyone left in the prison she'd want to take with her on a breakout. For bonus points, include a page or two of her and her Kyoshi warriors opening up the cell of one of her prison friends post-war, thus implying she's tracking down and actually fulfilling her promises. Maybe even show her doing the same with thief girl, who was established as being imprisoned on false charges anyway, and also showing that Suki is A) the bigger person, and B) willing to acknowledge her own role in mistakes (because I cannot emphasize enough how much thief girl was not hiding her own priorities, and it was Suki who approached HER with all this, not the girl ever doing anything special to weasel her way in) (this would also open up an opportunity for paralleling Suki's earlier in-comic mistake of not listening to one of her friend's very valid thoughts and feeling, which lead to the girl leaving their island alone pre-canon; a "seeing people as they are, not what you want them to be" moment)
Anyway yeah enjoyable enough for a quick read but another one for the "this can't be canon or the characters are So Much Worse than they were in the actual show" pile
At least Aang didn't promise to murder anyone in this one
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lunarin64art Ā· 8 months ago
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That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you sayšŸ˜©šŸ˜­šŸ’”
#scott pilgrims precious little life#scott pilgrim vs the world#spvtw#spto#scott pilgrim#wallace wells#lisa miller#scollace#kim pine#natalie adams#envy adams#don't rlly know if I like how this turned out but oh well;;;#hope its obvious that this is based on the song ā€œScott Pilgrimā€ which the creation the comics were inspired from#the lyrics always make me think of Wallace and Lisa's feelings for Scott every time I hear it#ofc you could also relate it to Kim especially since the singers voice kind of reminds me of her#but overall the lyrics fit these two much better since Scott never truly ā€œsaw them that wayā€ despite how long they've liked him#and they always seem happier to see him compared to Kim#Im surprised tho that I havent yet seen anyone draw these two together now that their dialogue parallels have been acknowledged more lately#also tho I wish more people pointed out that they both got cucked by red heads LOL#and Kim and Envy actually do look really similar when scott first meets them#makes me wonder if Scott subconsciously went for Envy since she reminded him of Kim (which would be fitting given that you could argue that#Envy dated Scott because he reminded her of Todd. Since he and Scott are confirmed to be meant to be seen as similar to one another#so much so that even their first and last names rhyme#last thing I'll add tho is that while Wallace and Lisa are very similar even personality wise#the one big difference is that despite that whole conclusion on vol4 of Scott not cheating on Ramona with Lisa because he loves her#the writers apparently think it would be ā€œorganically correctā€ for him to have an affair with wallace LMAO#but I guess we shouldn't be surprised since Wallace and Ramona are both in the front of the official valentines art which is clearly#a deptiction of Scotts wet dream or smth (oh and you could also argue that Wallace and Lisa parallel on that art since they're both#shirtless with white socks.. which could be a reference to how lisa wears skimpy clothes for Scott and Wallace often only wears boxers#to like sexually frustrate Scott for fun or smth
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dirtytransmasc Ā· 6 days ago
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was... was Sevika just left to assume Isha was dead? Jinx didn't come home. she gave up. Isha wasn't with Vi or anyone who left the battle field. word probably spread of the explosion. but did anyone actually tell her Isha was dead? or did she just have to wait and wait and wait, waiting for news that would never come, until all she could assume was that Isha was dead. Jinx was gone. the war waged on. Jayce called them to fight. that was that. cause that's fucking awful.
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demaparbat-hp Ā· 4 months ago
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I used to just think Zutara was cool because Zuko and Katara had that whole fire-water duality, had more chemistry with each other than their canon love interests, Kataang gave me this sexist pseudo-incestuous vibe while Mai was just way too under-developed to interest me (Zuko gets the most character development out of all the characters but they pair him off with the most boring character in the series?).
Now when I actually think about it more deeply, Zutara genuinely made more sense for the narrative and characters too. Aang was told he had to let go of Katara so he could become a fully realized Avatar but then he just gets a deus ex machina so he doesn't have to. They dropped an entire arc just for Kataang to get together and made it happen in the most stupid way. The lion turtle deus ex machina was already badly done but at least it sorta made sense with the lore. The rock was just beyond ridiculous. Aang solved his problems by randomly hitting a rock even though they already established how Aang had this unhealthy attachment to Katara because she was his coping mechanism for his lost people. Instead of letting her go, Aang keeps that attachment and becomes even more possessive of her. He never learns to prioritize the world over Katara even though it is his duty as the Avatar! He didn't have to sacrifice or learn anything to achieve his goals and the way he became a fully realized Avatar NEVER made any sense. Katara and Aand were not always intended to end up together if you look at the IP Bible. Katara goes back to the SWT to help rebuild it while Aang goes looking for the hidden Air Nomads. There's hints early on in Book 1 that the Air Nomads are still alive (like how Aang was able to get a bison whistle from some merchants but they never explain where they got it from).
Meanwhile the whole Maiko relationship seemed like it was a metaphor to represent Zuko's false destiny and dissatisfaction with his life since Mai encouraged him to sink into his bad habits and ignore everything else, and Azula actively encouraged them to get together so she could control Zuko easier and keep him in the Fire Nation. Zuko leaving Mai behind felt like him embracing his true destiny. This entire thing falls apart when they get back together though, and them being so toxic in the comics is just further proving how dysfunctional they are (like, do they think this is going to sell us on the ship?). I also thought it was strange that apparently Zuko and Mai liked each other since they were kids but Mai never bothered to write him his entire banishment, Zuko never thought about her, Iroh never mentions her, Zuko was totally fine with going on a date with Jin (which Iroh also encouraged), and Iroh thought Zuko and Katara would make a good couple as soon as he saw them interacting as friends. It makes me think Bryke just created Mai and put her with Zuko as a way to discourage Zutara shippers but then forgot to develop her properly. Zuko doesn't even think about Mai after she risked his life to save him lol.
I'm about to make this a long answer, sorry about that :)
I love narrative, and I love to analyze how it is built. Narrative is the way a story is shaped to express its themes. Narrative is using the events within the story to build metaphors. Narrative is the smart foreshadowing, the parallels, the foils. Narrative is intentional, until it isn't.
I am not a professional. I do not have a college degree on this subject. I just like to think about what can make writing be great or lacking. I am merely expressing my personal opinion on this show and these characters, not stating an universal truth.
ATLA is such a well-written show. It treats its themes maturely and builds the story and characters masterfully. Of course, it isn't perfect, as nothing made by human hands is meant to be. ATLA has issues with its storyline and characters and, ultimately, with the narrative itself.
Aang's character arc is different to Zuko's in that, while Zuko's is focused on change, Aang's ultimately ends with him standing his ground. (And isn't that poetic? That in order to grow they need to embrace the philosophy of their opposite element?)
Zuko was forced to change in order to survive from a very young age. He learned to suppress his true, compassionate nature, to become The Perfect Princeā€”that which Azula embodies. When Zuko fails to do this, he is burnt and tossed away and forced to change once more. He has been hurt and thus is the farthest he has ever been from his true selfā€”Zuko almost forgets who he is.
Zuko's arc, in that way, is similar to Aang's. It's about staying true to himself, but also about learning, about opening his eyes to the horror and using that same passion he has always had to do the right thing. Zuko changes, not into the person he was, but into someone who could, in the future, turn into the better version of himself.
Aang is different. Aang is a child born into peace, who does not have the personal, terrible experience of his people's genocide or the hundred years of war that have left the world wrecked. Aang's arc is about changing and learning and adapting to this new reality, about accepting his role as the Avatar. But it's also about standing firm and saying, "This is who I am, this is where I come fromā€”pain will not break me".
Aang's struggle to control the Avatar State was all about that. The Avatar State meant that Aang lost control. It meant the pain and the hurt had turned him into a thing of anger (righteous as it was) and instinct and awe. Aang needed to be at peace with himself in order to control the Avatar State.
That tiny rock at the final battle felt like an easy way out. It felt like taking from the sheer terror of watching yourself almost kill a man as if from afar. The real moment of triumph for Aang in the finale happened when he stopped. It happened when he took control back and ended the Avatar State, stopping himself from betraying what he believed in.
Was not killing Ozai truly the best choice? I won't get into that debate. I know where I stand on it, but it's not really the point I'm trying to make here.
Aang's triumph, character-wise, happens when he stands his ground and refuses to abandon who he is and what he believes in. And for someone whose flight or fight response almost always turns to flight, this is a huge deal.
Now, where do Katara and Mai stand on this?
It has always been clear to me (even as a Maiko shipper) that Mai was always supposed to be a narrative device. Her relationship with Zuko is supposed to give us, the viewers, and him, another reason to see that this isn't the life he wants, that everything isn't perfect even when it should be on paper.
Zuko goes back home. Zuko is welcomed by his nation with open arms. He is revered. Loved. His father tells him he is proud of him. Zuko has a doting girlfriendā€”a beautiful, noble girl who can kick his ass and is everything a Fire Prince could wish for. She is adequate and things with her are easy, untroubled. Zuko has everything he could wish for.
And yet he is not happy.
Mai and Zuko have issues that should not be pinned fully on either of them. They had trouble comunicating. They wanted different things in life. They had different ways to look at the world. Different ways to look at each other. Different ways to cope. Different ways to express themselves. Different expectations.
And that's okay. It's possible to make a relationship like that work. Nobody is perfect and no relationship is flawless. Opposites attract and it's possible to find a middle ground in which they can both be happy.
Except they never truly did.
Mai and Zuko's relationship was a plot device. One that did its job damn well... Until it didn't.
If your relationship with the girl is supposed to symbolize the lowest point in your life, and going back into being someone you don't like anymore, then why get back to her when the story is over?
As for Katara, well...
Many things have been said about the abandoned Letting Go Of Katara arc. I'd like to avoid that discussion right now, if that's okay.
I think Zuko and Katara's relationship would have made a lot of sense both narratively and thematically, but also (and most importantly) it would have made sense character-wise.
Give them a few years, let them explore the beautiful friendship they had at the end of the series. Let them find themselves and grow into their roles in this different, exciting new world. Let them reconnect.
If they fall in love in the process? Well, maybe it was a long time coming.
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illegiblehandwriting1 Ā· 6 days ago
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"Sky, wait. Wait!" He grabbed Sky's wrist. "We love you. I love you! You do know that, right? You know I love you. Right?"Ā 
Sky stared at him, his bright blue eyes widening. Was thatā€¦was that shock?Ā 
"Right?" he pleaded. He felt his face crumple into something desperate, something scared. There wasn't enough left in him to hide it. ā€œCā€™mon, Sky, tell me you know that. Please, tell me you know that!"Ā 
-
i think that's my favorite fucking thing right now. Just letting you guys know.
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youngyoo-apologist Ā· 7 months ago
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I think my least favorite thing ever of all time is when Iā€™m reading a fanfic and Basen and Lily are villains like NO my children would NEVER
Itā€™s usually the case in OG Cale fanfic, now donā€™t get me wrong I love the guy but also his family was not all horrible, and Basen and Lily were NEVERRRR at fault. Lily is literally like, seven years old and Basen is fifteen neither of them hate their brother either. Any child wouldnā€™t know how to approach their older brother who doesnā€™t talk to them and is distant(+ is known for having a bad personality) like that isnā€™t their fault šŸ˜­šŸ˜­
OG Cale distanced himself from his siblings to protect them, thereā€™s no one to fault in this situation for things turning out this way because it happened due to so many combining circumstances. Like IDK! I just donā€™t like it when Lily and Basen are treated like bad people cause I just find it a bit ridiculous.
Basen and Lily couldā€™ve tried talking to OG Cale, but the real question is if he would let them talk to him ykwim, his act was perfect with literally no flaws. The reason it worked so well was because no one KNEW him and he probably knew that part too. The sadness to their situation is that they all had their reasons and cared for eachother but there wasnā€™t really any communication
Tbh it should have been Deruthā€™s job to ask Cale what was wrong, heā€™s not like the worst father ever okay but he also has extreme communication issues! The Henituseā€™s middle name is practically ā€˜communication issuesā€™ like none of them are very good at it I fear. Deruth clearly cares for his son a lot, but he doesnā€™t know how to approach Cale possibly out of guilt/fear heā€™ll hurt his son even more. Which is why he just letā€™s Cale do what he wants
I think itā€™s important to note that the family did have faith in Cale, they all knew he wasnā€™t a bad person but they were all just so distant from eachother. I donā€™t think Deruth would have offered KRS!Cale to go to the capital after like a weeks worth of changed behavior unless he knew that there was more to his son than what the public thought. Again I think the big issue with the Henituse family is their communication
The characters all have complicated dynamics and personalities and itā€™s just something I donā€™t like when everything is treated very one dimensional
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villainvirus Ā· 6 days ago
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turn your back / hello world
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starsailores Ā· 7 months ago
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one of the many things in threads that breaks my heart is that, when kosika asks nasi what holland was like, the only thing she said was 'lonely'. any other character who survived acol would have called him powerful, closed-off, perhaps even brutal, and many of them would have been all too happy to list all of his sins. any other character would have either demonised or sancified him. but nasi - despite only being a child, and only having caught glimpses of him - was one of the few people to see him for what he truly was. tired and alone. a man, not a magician, or a martyr, or a god.
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teafiend Ā· 2 months ago
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#Jeong Nyeon: The Star is Born press conference#10th Oct 2024#Jung Eun Chae#all my thanks to PD-nim and the creative team behind JN#PD-nim has the vision for JEC as Moon Ok Gyeong and I will be forever grateful#like I am to the PD-nim and creative team behind ā€˜Sohn: The Guestā€™#for giving such amazing roles to JEC#and thankful to Jung Eun Chae for accepting and excelling in those roles#you all have my love as a fangirl#you made my fangirl dreams come true#THANK YOU āœØšŸ¤šŸ–¤šŸ«¶šŸ½šŸ‘šŸ½#seated for JN#though have to be prepared to not have her onscreen most times#since Moon Ok Gyeong is at most a secondary character#I wonder which queer romance will be incorporated in the drama#at least please give us the obvious one of Ok Gyeong/Hye Rang#šŸ¤žšŸ½šŸ¤žšŸ½šŸ¤žšŸ½#I do wonder whether PD-nim/writer-nim had ever watched TG and whether that show gave them any hints šŸ¤”#because I watched TG and through my fixation am convinced JEC would be awesome for a more androgynous character#because JEC is one of the few K-actress who could carry stunningly gorgeous AND handsome effortlessly#but I hope there is little pushback on JN and its stories though#due to how much misogyny there is (overt or internalized)#especially not for wlw stories onscreen (mainstream) though I know it has already been done in some other dramas too#but JN is also women-centric and men are background characters at best#praying for success for JN and its casts and crew#I hope there will be better projects ahead for all involved#and especially wondering what 2025 will have in store for me as a JEC fangirl#but have heard little so far so am a bit concerned unless it is just because she wants to slow down???#JEC could really carry that suit šŸ–¤šŸ¤šŸ¤©šŸ„°šŸ„µ#she looked so much better than some of the men I saw sporting similar fashion
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poorly-drawn-mdzs Ā· 1 month ago
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A gift horse for @piosplayhouse
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angelmush Ā· 1 month ago
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starting to feel my enjoyment of cooking seeping back in after a long period of intense burnout that had me really slogging along preparing meals with gritted teeth for a good month there. i credit the return of this spark to the much needed break i took on our 3 day vacation that resulted in us eating solely theme park food. while delicious, in all its greasy overpriced glory, i found myself missing the kitchen. so last night for dinner i made heavily spiced chicken wings with crushed peppercorns and garam masala that rendered slowly in its own fat while roasting in the oven, resulting in flavorful charred crisp skin and a really juicy bite. we picked them clean over steamed rice with lime and scallions. i also baked a loaf of marbled pumpkin and dark chocolate bread yesterday for my neighbor as a thank you for doing me a favor last week. it looked delicious. the crumb was tender and plush and velvety, the spiced ginger molasses pumpkin batter swirling alongside the bitter dark chocolate espresso batter, with puddles of dark chocolate bubbling across its top. it looked so lovely i whipped up a second one for us to have for ourselves that's in the oven now, i think it could be a really good breakfast pastry for us this week.
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barnabyboppins Ā· 3 months ago
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Hopefully lukewarm take (i havenā€™t checked)
I recently finished reading the Heroes Of Olympus series (having read pjo immediately prior) and I think itā€™s pretty shitty that the worth of all of our good guy characters are, to a notable degree, measured by their ability to find and engage in romantic relationships and are then greatly defined by those relationships. (Disclaimer; I donā€™t think Iā€™m in a justified position to discuss lots of the racial criticisms for HoO but I do agree with a lot of em and that aspect does factor into this topic)
7+ important recurring characters is quite a lot of people to balance, even in a five book series and all of the non-pjo characters suffered immensely for it. But one character arc I anticipated over and over again that never ended up happening was any one character finding fulfillment from the non-romantic relationships around them by de-prioritizing the idea of a perfect someone in favour of accepting the support of their friends/comrades/campers/family/etc. (Second disclaimer: I donā€™t expect a novel saga from 2010 to have characters declaring their orientations (or lack thereof) aloud but the idea of a character learning to define themself by or through something outside of romance isnā€™t a new one)
I think Percy and Annabeth are very cute and work well as a couple (are they the only white couple?) and I donā€™t really see any chemistry between Piper and Jason (I feel like theyā€™re on very different paths from each other and Piper stagnates greatly in favour of supporting jasons development) but I think literally every other Good Guy character had the potential to not need romance in their arcs. Frank could have been raised to praetor by consensus and recognized by his peers and grandma, actively validating his growth rather than him achieving great feats and no one noticing or really caring except for Hazel. Hazel couldā€™ve been shown learning about the modern day with Frank and Nico during downtime and reconciling her identity and trauma with the diversity of today while discovering a new freedom in acceptance (from the Seven) of who she is from back then and who she may yet want to be (and also not dated a 16 y/o at 13).
Leo, Reyna and Nico were the main ones I was thinking would forgo the need for a partner at least as a necessity for their growth/healing as all three have severe familial trauma, are distanced from other demigods socially somehow, and all were explicitly ousted from conventional romance in-writing.
Initially with Leo I had hoped he would confront his struggle being the ā€œseventh wheelā€ by expressing how he was feeling overlooked as a friend (and as the ONLY shipwright) in favour of everyoneā€™s romantic interests, which would lead into further emotional vulnerability in the party but, that never happened save for a few stoically non-communicative gestures of support to Frank and otherwise weird hang-ups on Hazel before he fucked off to Calypso, letting his friends think him dead for weeks. Leo lacked connection and felt inferior and less important than the rest of the Seven and the narrative validated that by only fulfilling him through an a Rapunzel-like hot babe trapped on an island who is physically dependent on his emotional dependence on her. Thatā€™s not a recipe for healthy relationship! I related to Leo initially as an aromantic person with 9 siblings, half of whom are already coupled so it was very disappointing when I realized by the third book that RR just didnā€™t take what was to me the most obvious arc for a character who is vitally important to a team but least noticed. Also the Hazel-Frank-Leo pseudo-love shape didnā€™t need to happen, at least in the way it did, and I think the Leo-Hazel-Sammy weird love thing was stupid.
I think Nico and Will are a very cute couple and Iā€™m looking forward to reading their book when I come around to it but I felt unsatisfied that the thing that got Nico to stay at camp after 5 books was a guy who had little significant presence until the last book and not like, any of the other deeply important connections he made during his journeys? Nicoā€™s been talking about never returning to either camp for a while and none of the Seven or Reyna (I think) thought to check in with him? I get that Will is supposed to be like the first person to insistently want Nico around but if Will really is the first then thatā€™s kinda fucked up given the whole like, eight books worth of people heā€™s met. Itā€™s a bit fucked up that after years of Nicoā€™s presence, seemingly the first connection to anchor him down is an unspoken suggestion of a romance
Reynaā€™s character journey confuses me because I donā€™t if I missed or forgot it but I donā€™t remember her having a conclusion to her internal struggles. Aphrodite telling her sheā€™s doomed to singledom gets brought up again and again and itā€™s mostly just to make you feel bad for her. She doesnā€™t tell anyone else. She doesnā€™t seek fulfillment in the platonic or familial connections she has. They visit her house, trauma dump about her abuse AND fakeout her sisters + the hunters + the amazons deaths just to have Reyna be even more hurt. Reyna and Nico come to understand each other while theyā€™re travelling but by the conclusion of the series sheā€™s just gone back to her isolating and stressful role as the praetor, but now with more work to do! Aphroditeā€™s words are never explained and their veracity is never tested and all it serves is to give Reyna more misery porn.
I guess what Iā€™m saying is I think the story would have been better if The Seven & Co had a little more connection with each other and not just with their respective partners and if we could have seen some internal growth come from that.
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chemicalarospec Ā· 2 months ago
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"behind every gay person is another, more evil gay person"
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