#i would've been into a little more development of her character tbh

[blackknightgargiemoviephile]

Venom: The Last Dance

This movie.

Has.

Broken me.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

I know I have a lot more backlogged movies to review in my drafts section, but I watched this movie last weekend and I am still recovering from the depression I feel from watching this movie.

The story itself and the in-between pacing, to be fair, is a little bit mellow and a little bit dragged out. I mean, I get it, we're looking at the perspective where it has only been a year (a year? Really? Only that long? I thought it felt longer) in this movie universe timeline since Eddie and Venom's relationship began, so not much extra development can be said other than the fact that they have to be on the run and the plot sorta takes place almost straight after the events of Venom 2, but come on. I thought it would've been a little bit more of an exciting adventure than just running around getting drunk, getting over hangovers, losing and acquiring shoes (which is a pretty funny gag, ngl) and just traveling and hitchhiking in the middle of the desert.

The part where Venom hitchhiked on a plane to get to NY was pretty hilarious though, and the part where Venom infects a horse to give Eddie a faster ride kinda reminds me of their bike scene in the first movie, and that was pretty epic. Them having to get away from Strickland's men and wrestling with them in the water was also pretty exciting, and I was like screaming internally for Venom to quickly reach Eddie before he drowns or dies or get caught, got my heart pumping there.

When they added Martin Moon and his hippie family into the mix, tbh, they were technically kinda an unnecessary plot device. I mean, I guess they were sorta just there to give the human element? To fill the gap that was supposed to Eddie's ex-fiance's spot that she had been occupying for the first 2 movies? Yeah, totally unnecessary. They could've just have a very short scene of him hitchhiking with Martin (or any other person for that matter) without needing to delve into their character development or building any sort of bond, and just leave it at that and not get them involved in any part of the alien battle, that would've been fine.

Also, there can be no Venom without Mrs Chen LOL Their little dance scene was maybe a little cringe, but at the same time it was just hilarious and cute at the same time

The other symbiotes were interesting and got me guessing which symbiote is which based on the colour and my limited knowledge of other symbiote characters (thanks to Wiki and Tumblr), though I couldn't remember when exactly was the part where Mulligan got infected by a symbiote, but then the story had him infused with another symbiote to save his life, which felt a little odd since I've never seen this version of a symbiote anywhere in the comics or online, and that symbiote kinda reminds me a little bit of that fish man character in The Shape of Water LOL

The Xenophage alien was pretty cool and brutal at the same time, and the symbiotes, after they merged with the humans (which included Christmas and Teddy), look really really cool. It's a shame the fight scene on that one was a little short. Could've worked in a bit more fight scenes with the other symbiotes, and Teddy/Agony moment was also kinda short, but Christmas' symbiote was pretty awesome. I have a feeling her and Mulligan's symbiote were sorta an OC of sorts coz they defo did not seem to exist in any research I've seen of the symbiote characters.

And don't tell me I didn't see the attraction between Teddy and Christmas. My gaydar for men maybe a little weak, but my gaydar for women seems pretty spot on between them.

The climax. OMG the climax. The part where Eddie and Venom agreed that as long as they're both alive, Knull would just keep sending in more Xenophages, and Venom sacrificed himself and tossed Eddie out so he can die along with the Xenophage army, and when he said "Goodbye for now" instead of "Goodbye" like in the first movie... and then this scene...

I just cried. I cried and I died and my heart was just ripped to pieces as I watch Venom just melt before my eyes. The sacrifice he made for his Eddie. The way he said "I'll never forget you" and "Don't forget me either". I cannot. I just cannot...

And the ending scene where Eddie wakes up in the military hospital and realized Venom is no longer in his head for reals, the way he said "I need him", and the way he walks through the city alone with flashbacks of him and Venom from all three movies while Maroon 5's "Memories" was playing in the background? Oh god, it just broke me into more pieces and I cried even more. I've never cried harder than I've ever cried for a ship. The last time I cried this hard is when Dreamworks killed my Toothcup ship, and now this? I'm crying even harder. I'm still crying now as I'm typing this. I will never hear this song or feel about it the same way ever again.

The only other beef/nitpick I have for this movie is that the villain Knull was kinda weak. He hardly had any role in the movie, and it was just wasted cameo by Andy Serkis in there. All he basically did was just sit there in one spot and just sent the Xenophages to do the dirty work, which any Tom-Dick-Harry villain can do. I know now that's they're sorta setting him up as an intro character like they tried to do with Kraven, so hopefully? Maybe? Knull would end up in more of the SSU verse and also maybe MCU's upcoming new Spiderman film that'll be in 2026? Hope so.

Also, why did they need to end this amazing franchise?? They have so much more potential. When they put the end credit scene in which Eddie/Venom woke up in the MCU verse, I was hoping that it would spark a nice crossover movie or two about Peter "Tom Holland" Parker would have to deal with Venom and have an adventure or two (or three, or four, I'm not complaining). Let Spidey and Venom have their hero-villain rivalry moment before Venom slowly becomes established as an anti-hero or something.

Remember one of the end credit scenes in Spiderman where Eddie and Venom gets sent back to their universe thanks to Dr Strange's spell and a small piece of Venom was left behind? I've heard rumours about maybe that would be the tie in for SSU and MCU and for Venom to return and shine, but I also know it may be that MCU wants to have their take on a Venom for Tom Holland's Spidey, but to go through all that all over again with another new backstory for Venom and another character playing Venom? No. No way. There is no one else that can be a better Venom. Tom Hardy's Venom or bust.

Anyone who stayed all the way to the end to see the end credits for Venom 3 (seriously, the credit role was way too long though), there is a hint that the tiny piece of Venom that Strickland had captured when Venom also left behind at the bar in his universe maybe free, and that there is hope that this Venom would make his way back to Eddie and they can become whole again but still, they said that this was the final installment of the SSU Venom franchise, so...

Fuck you, Sony.

You and Dreamworks have officially killed another ship of mine.

I love and hate this movie at the same time and I. AM. BAWLING.

[numericalbridge]

TOH rewatch semi-liveblog. Season 3 Episode 1

- tbh i don't know why i made a separate post for this episode instead of doing all three episodes of season 3 together, but i guess i rewatched this one separately, so here it is.

- Maybe i was in the wrong mood while i was rewatching it, but i didn't particulary enjoy it this time, even though on the first watch this episode was easily my second or third favourite episode of the whole series, and it made me very excited for the rest of season 3.

But this time, while i still appreciate Luz's and Camila's character development and backstory, and i still think it had utilized the limited time fairly well, and the montages were great, the episode overall wasn't really that enjoyable. Maybe it's because now i know how the rest of season 3 goes, and episode 2 was a great disappointment. And there is too much focus on Hunter - which would've been fine if the episode finalized his arc and then moved the focus to other important characters, like Gus, but knowing that this won't happen... really doesn't help the enjoyment.

- (Unless he was meant to sound sarcastic to help Luz see that their friends wouldn't do something like that) I am actually glad that the part from the storyboards with Hunter listing to Luz all the terrible things their friends would do to them if they knew their secrets was not included. It seemed too over the top for this stage of their friendship development, unfair towards Willow, Gus and Amity without time for any proper examination of it, and more in line with the fanon clueless woobie Hunter.

- yes, i forgot the word 'storyboards' so in my notes i was calling them 'frames'.

- The opening montage is so good though, a great way to convey the passage of time and show the interactions that couldn't have been fully included. I wish episode 2 did something similar with the Boiling Isles instead of everyone just becoming puppets. Music is great too.

- The other palismen looked at Flapjack like the grandpa was finally losing it.

- Camila's s3 design is so good. I don't think anyone can be 'hot' in toh's style, but interesting how she is barely ever included with the adults who are supposed to be hot, even though her design is so much more visually appealing than many others, and somehow there are more people who think Belos is hot (i wonder why😒)

- Willow helping with Hunter's haircut is actually cute. I disagree that it 'should've been Amity'. Yeah, Amity has the plot of changing her hair to reflect character development, but Willow's somewhat rocky path to become the witch she always wanted to be (as well as the half-a-witch plot) were connected to Hunter's story since ASIAS and has parallels with some of Hunter's identity issues in the episode.

- Hunter's haircut was also good, i wish he kept it. Idk why people were panicking about that.

- Wish we saw at least a little bit of Luz and Vee interactions even just in the montage. And i know Luz is isolating herself, but still would have been nice to have some at least background moments with Willow and Gus too, since she still gets moments with Amity and Hunter.

- But what i really dislike is that the show barely touches on Gus's feelings about missing his dad and the Boiling Isles (and, of course, what he did to help Luz and Hunter and how seeing Belos's memories could've affected him are the plot points that are completely ignored). He basically confesses that he is unhappy despite all the outwardly cheerfullness, and then the show never actually digs deeper. And it would've been OK for this episode to just throw some hints, if more was done with Gus's story later and if he wasn't sidelined since s1, and if the show didn't immediately jump back to Hunter in such an obvious way. And Gus then had to immediately cheer him up and introduce the Cosmic Frontier for his sake? It is so clear which character is prioritized.

- This is a minor thing compared to Gus's treatment, but i also lowkey hate Hunter's comment about Darius's stitches. I understand that expecting some actual meaningful dialogue about Darius was not realistic; and anyway, i would have preferred if Gus had the chance to talk about Perry instead. But it was an odd addition after Hunter seemed to worry about Darius in KT. Alongside that comment in the interview about Eda and Darius potential team-up (that made it clear that any team up was never intended which hinted that Darius original role was likely very limited - which on itself is OK, just a little disappointing), this moment really made it obvious that there would be nothing done with Darius later in the season, and that there was no plan to continue the narrative conflict from ASIAS, and i am still bitter (though at least there was a moment of Darius and Eber opposing the other Coven Heads in the finale, which was a nice touch).

- I actually like Amity in this episode, probably because for once she actively interacts with the other kids.

- Montage in the Gravesfield is also cool. The giraffe bit was funny.

- The kids welcoming Vee as their friend is cute, but the whole lampshading that Amity, Willow and Gus were not really friendly before, feels so off and manufactured. On the rewatch it seemed less insincere than the first time, but still it feels more like the response to the fan criticism - like, 'see actually this all was addressed, it's the audience who was impatient!' - rather that something included organically. If the writers really cared about their friendship or lack of it, they could've included just small moments prior to it, like Amity mentioning to Luz that she wished she knew how to befriend Gus, or Gus's opinion on the Willow and Amity situation.

- What i do love is that Willow is the one who gets the camera and makes the album, and that Camila was the one who gave it to her. Willow was the one who bottled up her feelings (and still does it) and was going by 'out of sight out of mind' motto, and was willing to burn her own memories in the mindscape because they were painful. And we saw her having her friends' photos before this, but here she starts to actively collect and cherish new memories of being together with her friends, and that's nice. And the Nuceda home is full of family pictures, so its also nice that Camila, despite her own problems and grief, got to help her. (And, look, it has barely anything to do with Hunter!)

- Hunter is actually pretty mature overall. Really, a completely different person from the fanon version.

- the scene with Luz telling Hunter he is family and him crying was so good too, but, really, they could've finished his arc with this.

- Luz's and Camila's moments and their development are all good.

- Jacob's appearence also seems to be there just as a response to fan theories. (Also i've always disliked the theories that Jacob should be a Whittebane descendant because they were full of weird implications)

- When i first watched, at first i thought that Luz was intending to sacrifice her palisman to somehow open the portal, lol

- Amity's abomination looks different during the fight with Belos. But i think in the episode's beginning it looked normal? Anyway, interesting how the human world abominations would work, and whether they require human/animal/plant remains.

- Not to victim blame a bird, but Flapjack made so many terrible decisions in the episode, from being ok with Hunter touching Belos' goop to stealing the map from Amity to trying to peck possesed Hunter.

- The fight with the possesed Hunter is good, but the outcome is... meh. I think the possession would have worked better on its own, without Flapjacks death, if it finalized Hunter's arc with him fighting back and getting reassurance from his friends, and then the show moved to other characters. Because there is no time to properly address Flapjack's death anyway, and the show already struggles to balance its cast, so a simplier, even if slightly more cliche, plotline would've worked better.

Imo, this whole trauma upon trauma thing works for fanon continuations, but hurts the overall writing quality and pacing. Tbh, while i much prefer that Darius gets to adopt Hunter, i would have been OK with Hunter (with alive Flapjack) just staying in the Human World with Vee (edit: temporary until Belos' and Collector's threats are resolved), if Gus got an arc, and the show had time for proper interactions between Luz and Gus and Willow.

And some would say that Flapjack's death was necessary for Luz's guilt, but i think there were other things to focus on.

- What is going on with Amity's profile in the final part of the episode, lol

- Camila leaving Vee on her own is so 'yep, this is a kid show' moment😭

- But the scene of Luz and Camila going into the portal together is so good. Maybe my favourite moment of the series. Tbh i wouldn't have been mad if it ended with it.

Conclusion:

There is a lot of good stuff in the episode, but the heavy focus on Hunter and the way the possesion and Flapjack's death are utilized are dragging it down, especially knowing how episode 2 will go.

[idkjustletmescroll]

Warning: if you liked the dragon prince as it is, go right ahead and scroll on by :) this is basically what I would have done differently/liked to see, even if I did really like the show overall

We're just going to get right into it. This pretty much only pertains to act 2. I liked act 1. Anyways!

1: Ezran stays in katolis in season four; sunfire elf plotline rewrite

It's no secret that most people dislike the sunfire elf sideplot, and, despite the fact that janai and amaya are both my fav characters and my fav ship, it doesn't fit in to act 2's overall story. I'd have liked for them to continue the human/elf plotline both through sunfire politics and katolis', as well; there's no way ezran's speech in the graveyard in season 4 just made it a non-issue. Tbh, I didn't feel like ezran contributed much to the gang's journey in season 4, and, considering that act 1 had it be such a major plot point that the kingdom needs its king, I'd have liked for him to stay in katolis and, along with the sunfire plot, develop a plotline about humans and elves not only needing to reconcile, but come together to defeat aaravos (elf magic + human creativity and resourcefulness).

Also, the show mentions janai's grandma, queen Aditi, ALL THE TIME, and then never really does anything with her character--or the orphan queen. Since lux aurea canonically has a massive and ultra-important library ("bookery"), time could've been devoted to research there, too. It would have been a way to work in plenty of exposition.

2: The Terry issue

My issue with Terry is that he's just not important. I don't care about this guy. I spent most of act 2 dreading when he was on screen because I just don't care. Sure, he's sweet, but...why is an elf involved with a dark mage? How does he even get involved with claudia? How does he justify all the terrible things they're doing? I think it would've been interesting to see an elf who not only doesn't mind dark magic but defends it, presenting more issues for the main cast (i.e. callum) to think about. In my opinion, he should have either died or abandoned claudia fully in either seasons 5 or 6. He would have been the last person who loved and supported her unconditionally leaving her, one way or the other, and therefore leaving her fully vulernable to aaravos' manipulations. I'm sorry, but most of what he did in season 7 was centered around getting the gang not to hurt claudia, and it was pissing me off. No, you don't have to agree, this is just an opinion.

3: Rayllum

Yes, I know, I know, it's just a kid's show. Yes, I know rayllum is an audience fav, and even if it's not mine, I understand why people like it so much. It's cute, it's fun. My issue with act 2 rayllum is that it feels like the show focuses a lot more on their relationship than on the individual characters. I'd like rayla to actually explain to callum why she left: she was paranoid, she wanted to make sure viren was gone for good. Could she have finished him off herself, if it came down to it, looking him dead in the eyes and using her swords? There's a question that keeps coming back to haunt her: is she able to end a life? Why couldn't she have let callum and ezran help her? She's failed at everything else (in her eyes). She can't go home, her own adopted fathers either banished her or tried to kill her. She couldn't fail at this, too. She had to do something. That's interesting.

And on callum's side, I think it would have been cool to see him connecting with the ocean arcanum...without the finnegrin plot, bc I didn't like it. He sees ezran growing up, and that's kind of scary, not always knowing what his little brother's thinking or feeling anymore. Callum's growing up, too, and, as much as he loves being high mage, he still wants to explore the world and learn new things outside of katolis; he's getting political marriage offers; his life is going to change soon, one way or the other, and that's scary, and he doesn't really have a parental figure to talk to, with Amaya being away. He can't always control or predict rayla, and he can't control or predict or prevent all of his losses, either. Since that's the ocean arcanum's whole deal, I think it would have been a neat way for him to get it.

There we go, plotlines for individual characters instead of the whole relationship, that still include and effect that relationship. Also, I would somewhat tweak callum's decision to help rayla in s7. First, he would also have his own conflicting feelings about runaan. He agrees runaan should be allowed to go to his home and husband, but insists that ezran will be easily convinced as soon as things settle down, "in a few weeks." Rayla goes through with the breakout anyways, callum's hurt but decides to go along with it, and--and this is very important--HE DOES NOT LIKE RUNAAN. He does not FORGIVE Runaan. Maybe they talk it out, but either way, runaan being the one to have killed harrow effects callum in some way. S7 made it more of an ezran thing. Callum also feels a lot more torn up about betraying ezran, maybe seeing some sibling pairs in the silvergrove that make him think back on his brother.

4: The key of aaravos

Just some resolution to the key, guys. It's been emphasized CONSTANTLY in the show since s1 episode 4. Idk what it would be, I just want it to be SOMETHING.

[gooeygoldies]

Y'know what surprise post it's Otacon time he's on my mind rn (I have had some of the songs I've assigned to him on repeat lately) pokemon au is back!! Og mgs, mgs2 and mgs4

BUT YEAH!! POKEMON!!! he's one of my -if not the- most developed character au-wise in regards to pokemon and teams and things so yuh yuh under cut my insane person rambles

Okay SO we are going by game.

Mgs

- Porygon and Magnemite: Very straightforward the hacker/engineer pokemon duo!! He got them in college. His buddies his pals

- Sobble: actual plot here! It was a gift by Sniper wolf, who had Intelleon as her main pokemon. It is very much like him in the first game (cries and can turn invisible, in this au he got the camo gear idea from Sobble!!) and is perked upon his shoulder always. Also the water type is a sad little connection to the.pool. yeah. Anyways, he leaves it behind after leaving shadow Moses cuz he isn't a crybaby anymore!! Character growth!! The Sobble is okay don't worry about it

- Venonat: in au-lore. Originally assigned cuz I felt they looked alike, also a nocturnal pokemon to accompany him! But it was a pokemon he saved from being attacked by wolf's mightyenas (stand-in for wolves) it helps him sneak around shadow Moses thanks to its enhanced sight!

Mgs2 (now we get more into my own lore)

- Porygon2 and Magneton: Evolved!! Thanks to philanthropy that is, now they battle alongside snake and Otacon and are key helpers in all things electricity. Magneton is especially key in destabilizing electrical power sources

- Patrat (Shiny): Shiny bcs the color scheme felt cuter, but aside from that its here to match the 'eyes in the sky' role Otacon has now. A little sentinel! It keeps guard if accompanying snake or Otacon in missions.

- Swadloon: its all cozy and cooped up like. Like a nerd. But beside that, and it's role in the future (aka MGS4) it's main function is to sew up any torn garments, and helped Otacon make the new sneaking suit.

- Joltik: you know the bug things set to record conversations in spy movies? Make it an actual bug. Also it eats electricity so its a rlly good pal to have on the computer.

- Helioptile: It's actually a power generator!! Solar powered friend and I'd feel it would've been caught while moving around for philanthropy

* Venonat: He's still there!

Mgs4

Porygon2 & Magneton: Same ol' guys

Galvantula, Watchog, Heliolisk, Venomoth: They all evolved! Even if they spend most of their time in the nomad, Otacon took the time to train all of them after Snake's health started deteriorating just in case they needed to protect Sunny.

Leavanny: Honorable and separate mention! The nanny pokemon and it evolves by friendship. Evolved not long after Sunny arrived into his life, as the pokemon category implies, it takes care of Sunny as well!! Main caretaker whenever Snake and Otacon need some backup in that regard

Rotom: you know Rotom dex? Think metal gear Rotom... Rotom gear. But it's the mk.II instead. Rotom powered! The little dude also helps with every day appliances with it's usual forms

Beheeyem: It matches his sleeker, cooler look. That concept art with the coat? It's the cooler nerd pokemon

Porygon-Z: Used to be Emma's, and it ends up being the last puzzle piece in FOXALIVE in this au. She gave it to him before, y'know, spoilers but dying and all dat!

Well that's it!! I love Otacon he's so me I'm so him. Nerds with big glasses... Hopefully if I get the energy I'll do more deep dives like these but tbh for Snake his team is p static. Whatever !!! Ty guys for listening gn !!

[jaydenix]

W.I.T.C.H Fucking Sucked, change my mind

Oh look, another Winx Club fan who hates W.I.T.C.H, as if the world hasn't seen enough of those

But seriously, I saw absolutely nothing in this show that was really worthwhile. It's very boring and I enjoyed almost none of it. Honestly surprised I was able to finish all 52 episodes but I was very glad to be done in any case.

So like, let's talk about the main cast, the W.I.T.C.H in W.I.T.C.H if you will, and so if you will, let's talk about Will and co. (I am such poetry): Honestly the main five don't feel compelling at all, I take almost no interest in any of them as individuals. All it seems this show is focussed on is showing what they do as Guardians for the most part. Like, we never really see any emotional development with them, how being a Guardian affects their life or the pressure of trying to keep their identities hidden or prevent the bad guys from winning. We don't see of any of that and this just makes them such uninteresting characters. To be honest, they barely even have different personalities. I don't think I can point to a single thing that makes Irma much different from Hay Lin for instance, like they just all feel the same with only minor differences. Cornelia is the one exception as the blonde brat type similar to Stella (Winx) and Sasha (Amphibia), and she's probably my favourite just because of that, but that's not good grounds for a favourite character, it's just winning by default because of low competition.

The episodes also feel very intentionally separated and on their own. I get it's an episodical show but sometimes the characters can be so sporadic it feels like every episode was written by a different person with no synchronisation, characters feel so weirdly different from episode to episode sometimes, and the show regularly has arguments will happen for the dumbest reasons and I just argghh I hate it. This show sucks.

A few other characters that exist: -Blunk is like moderately funny at times -Caleb is... okay I guess he exists -Phobos is an alright villain but he just kinda sits around and waits and doesn't do anything, doesn't really come off as very threatening but there's not too much to hate about him per se -Nerissa is definitely a pretty threatening villain and learning about her backstory and plans and stuff was one of the more fun parts of the show for sure -Most of the characters in the rebellion don't feel very interesting tbh

Also the amount of times this show does stuff like very obviously in public view despite the fact it's still a secret just feels really weird, they've done so much that so many would've spotted them by now it made no sense.

Oh also the opening song is pretty banger I'll give the show that. "WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE W.I.T.C.H" it goes so hard

OKAY SPOILER TERRITORY NOW SKIP TO THE END IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILT:

Now it's time to talk about probably my biggest issue with this show, and that is Elyon, I hate everything about her. In the first half of season 1 we barely see her at all, which is insane because what happens next with her is easily the most important thing to happen at that point in the show. She goes onto join Phobos and it's discovered that she is actually his sister, which I think was pretty obvious throughout most of the first half of season 1. In any case, HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS NEEDED MORE TIME LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. Elyon's departure felt so one-sided and rushed on two major fronts. The first was her grievances over being left out by W.I.T.C.H. This one is annoying because we only see a few instances of this happening, when Elyon was clearly way more important than that in the grand scheme of things, she should've been obviously left out way more and become more frustrated without answers. We see a little bit of this but not enough, like there should've been a lot more moments of W.I.T.C.H (and especially Cornelia) having to cover up why they didn't show up for things or had to leave and she knows they're lying but doesn't know the full story, it's a common trope but it would work. Additionally, being distrustful of her parents, when they appear IN THE SAME EPISODE SHE FUCKS OFF TO MERIDIAN, like we're just expected to accept that? Not like see what they've done to raise her slowly but surely and eventually decide to take matters into her own hands especially when her friends are unreliable but no she instead runs away with the creepy librarian who has gaslit her into distrusting anyone else??? Fuck off, this whole plot of Elyon in the first half of S1 is just so poorly planned, it needed WAY more attention that the show could have afforded if it chose to focus on what was actually important but of course not. And it only gets worse from here.

Elyon after this becomes so obnoxious in the way she speaks and acts. She talks like she's in some fucking play of sorts with this grandiose way of speech and it's so frustrating, and also she acts so annoyingly loyal to the sleazy guy who apparently is her brother with basically no hesitation. I probably wouldn't mind this as much if her departure felt actually justified and fleshed out but of course that's not the world we live in. God I hate Elyon so much.

Otherwise I will say I did not see Caleb being Nerissa's son at all. Nerissa being a former Guardian and trying to recruit her old friends is pretty cool. Also when she kidnaps Matt and transforms him into that guy was a bold move, I like when villains get personal like this it makes them feel very threatening, Nerissa is definitely makes season 2 better for sure, though that doesn't mean it's that good.

The ending of the show was kinda strange with them bringing back Phobos thinking that would go swimmingly and then he gets eaten by his green monster friend and then everything happens it was a very odd ending that I felt extremely neutral on. Like it's just kinda there, what you see is what you get. But I was glad about one thing that this show was over, I didn't want to watch it anymore lol, I didn't really feel excited that the characters overcame something because it just didn't feel like there was anything to care about, I wish this show didn't suck so bad.

END OF SPOILERS

So yeah, this show is not that good, it has some okay moments but most of the show is boring, uneventful, and poorly written. I do know about the comics and I haven't actually read them I've only watched the show, maybe those are better and I know only a small amount of them got adapted for TV. But from what the show gives me, it's not great

I give season 1 like a 4/10 and season 2 like a 5/10 so 4.5/10 is my personal rating for W.I.T.C.H.

I've been very negative about this show but to be totally honest I didn't want to be, I was genuinely excited going in knowing it was similar to Winx Club, hoping to remind me of what made me like that show so much in the first place, but I was quickly hit with the reality this show was just not great, though since then I rewatched Winx Club S1 and I can say I definitely don't like it as much as I did before, Winx S1 had always been my favourite season but pending my rewatch of the others I think there's a good chance that could change. It seems since I last was into Winx I've learnt how media analysis works, I can take that. Anyway, that's my opinion of W.I.T.C.H.

P.S: Pls don't hate me this is just my opinion if you like this show and I know plenty of people do it's totally okay we can all like what we like and dislike what we dislike and I just happen to not like W.I.T.C.H very much OKAY? Have a good day.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

hello!

If you don't mind, could you elaborate on how sasaki deserved better writing? And what you would've done if you could give her that?

I think she's really interesting and I want to think abt her more :)

Hey!

Honestly, it's mostly to do with her seriously botched portrayal in the anime adaptation - I'm sure anyone who's read the original light novel can attest to the weakening of her character, and the story line as a whole. For this reason, a lot of anime-only fans kind of forget about her or don't find her that interesting, and from that portrayal, I kind of can't blame them.

Even in the original book though, I think you can tell a little that it was the first of the light novels - Sasaki and Rokuzou aren't nearly as fleshed out or given as much focus as later light novel characters, imo. Most of Sasaki's true character is revealed right at the end, in two scenes - the graveyard visit, and her death. In a way, this is effective, because the point of her character is that she is a) very clever, b) completely unassuming, and c) intentionally left morally ambiguous, even after her death. However, I do think there are other ways in which her character could've been elaborated further or given more focus. Also, there's the fact that female characters in the light novels tend to be uh... not as well-developed or given pov chapters like their male counterparts. For as much as I love Wells and think she's really cool, we really don't get much of her perspective or backstory - again, much like Sasaki and even some of the other female cast, she's a "mystery" until a big reveal happens.

I don't really know what else I would want from her character tbh, but I think it might've been more interesting to have her end up more wrapped up in the progression of the mystery somehow. Her methods are a direct parallel to Dazai's, after all, and a few scenes that truly showcase this before her final scene I think could've been really interesting, both for Sasaki herself, and to further Kunikida's internal puzzling of both his new mysterious coworker and this intelligent woman who is also not as she appears.

[regaliasonata]

Also character ask ZIGGY

Character Ask: Ziggy Grover

First Impression

-Definitely falling under the average green ranger stereotype of being the silly but less engaged member of the team, though that is quite alright cause he'll probably give some positivity to the team due to the state they are in via the season

How I Feel About The Character/Impression Now

-.....I love this twink and honestly me and everyone else should love him, the fact that he was in a mafia, managed to escape, gave medicine and supplies from said group to orphans in needed AND GOT OFF SCOT FREE WITH HIS TOASTER BOYFRIEND speaks volumes.

Favorite Moment

-So far has to be that scene between him and the cartel where he's got that serious face, I'll have to go back and fully complete RPM but seeing Ziggy look so cold is amazing.

Idea For A Story

-okay think of this....Ziggy as a Peter Pan type character who was reborn in another world that raises orphans or children who've passed early and they live in this alternate world with magic, at the same time he's an assassin that's teaming up with Dillon and Tenaya(who also have powers based on fairy tales) to steal ancient treasure from a tyrant king in order to rule the rule, Once Upon A Time walked so this can run.

Relationships

OTPs

-Ziggy/Dillon....obviously, can't have a happy twig without his grumpy muscular emo boyfriend.

-Ziggy/Scott, Ziggy/Flynn. Both these work really well in my opinion.

-Crackship idea if this crossover was ever a thing...Ziggy/Jarrod/Dillon/Casey, imagine all that chaos together with those four like(I'd pay to see a one shot of this tbh). Heck not even a crossover needed because JKP exists in the RPMverse and assuming the entire team is alive then this could fly, crazy twinks and the emo duo.

BROTPs

-Ziggy/Dr.K, honestly feel like he understands Dr.K and they are really close when it comes to hearing each other out, plus Ziggy might actually get her to enjoy some hobbies.

-Ziggy/Casey...seriously Disney fucked us over from ever getting this interaction, be happy with marvel I guess but imagine the send off you could've had.

-Ziggy/Tenaya, she needs earplugs every time he talks about Dillon...

Unpopular Opinion

-Kinda wish we got even more of a backstory for him or seen Ziggy encountering other green rangers. I feel like both him and Trip would get along quite well to be honest.

One thing I wish would/had happened in the show

-....We serious? That Jungle Fury/RPM crossover obviously because ALL THOSE INTERACTIONS AND SUCH WOULD'VE BE LEGENDARY.

-Even if he didn't end up with Dillon we should've had Ziggy kissing some guy.

-Imagine a scene of Ziggy hacking Venjix down with his axe after he found out the program's intention for Dillon, or if Venjix succeeded and Dillon died...it would've been brutal like Ziggy would be shown Venjix why the cartel kept him around🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡

Headcanons

-The RPM team technically has sentient zords because in reality they hold secret Engine Souls like their Go-Onger counterparts. This is actually a result of humanity evolving and without the vitality from Earth's nature so their animal spirits evolved into Engine Souls, thing is the team hasn't unlocked them but when they do the zords will be able to talk(a little fib of my JFAU movie arc idea with RPM cause we deserve that crossover).

-Ziggy's fingernails can turn dark green because of Venjix exposure, some humans after being exposed to the virus during their apocalypse developed small traits via their survival(Scott having sharper canines, Summer being able to detect metals for tools, Flynn when growing out his hair has white highlights and can absorb radiation, Gem and Gemma can see people's dreams and Dillon can purify dirty food and water).

-Ziggy sleeps with a huge dolphin as a pillow or just something to hold whenever he's sad. If he can't morph then he'll fill it with rocks and beat down venjix monsters with it.

-Sometimes when he would leave the dome(before the world began to return to normal) he'd walk miles until making it to the ocean since it wasn't fully destroyed and enjoyed watching the waves. Plus that spot is the only one in the world where the stars in the sky are still viewable.

-After RPM Dillon, Tenaya and Ziggy ventured out into the world to see what needed to be fixed, they built a railroad and it oddly began to glow with energy. This led to the team getting powers via trains and soul power with imagination, humanity's will to keep going(ToQger adaption), villains born from the deceased malice of humanity aim to take advantage of this world and others leading to the team having bigger stakes than last time.

[that-rackin-frackin-varmint]

#5— 07/24/2022 12:53 AM

Ok so Idk what y’all said about that video, but I’ve deduced that this interesting piece of cut content was leaning towards:

1) Lola probably having broken up with Bugs

2) Bugs being in oblivous/in denial of her spite towards him and looniness

3) Bugs actually being very conscious of not being “in the spotlight”

4) and a more development between Bugs and Lebron’s icy tension (like a bump between two control freaks)

I honestly would’ve been into some elements of this version of the story being used instead of what we ended up with.

Lola being fed up with Bugs makes sense since in SJ, she really didn’t have looniness in her. She was very bland to say the least. This version of their dynamic would be a lot more tragic when you know TLTS exists (where their relationship there was thriving). But otherwise, it would’ve opened up a lot of opportunity for a more fleshed out version of SJ Lola.

Her being annoyed with Bugs’ looniness is understandable if you were in her shoes. Like, realistically, not just anyone could tolerate Bugs’ chaos day to day. Plus, she did seem like she was gonna get written with more emotional depth than what the looney tunes cast are usually on brand for.

So her having an added arc of wanting to permanently separate herself from the toons would’ve been so much more interesting for her character. And also the fact that Bugs seemed more overtly fixated on the basketball game being what will bring them back to the spotlight in a semi-metatextual sense.

Bugs in this video is a tad more unlikable and fallible than he usually is for better or worse. And he seems more at odds with Lebron. Even if it’s not really staying true to Bugs’ character — it would’ve been fun to see more angst and implied rocky relations between the toons. I would’ve preferred that over the whole basketball game format tbh.

Present day thoughts:

Lola was plenty looney in the original Space Jam. At the time of this original ramble, my standard for looniness was based on characters like Daffy and Wile E. Coyote. But nowadays, I've kinda concluded that she was just as looney as any other looney tunes love interest more or less. The movie went ahead and straight up retconned what little distinct personality she had.

Also, I still believe this premise would've been more interesting than the final story we got. I'm not particularly invested in the preservation of the looney tunes' characters in something as corporate as the Space Jam movies so might as well lean into the ooc-melodrama of it since the final film was just Lebron-lip service atp.

[eskawrites]

[Director's commentary] Any crumbs you can throw my way about the Oh Death, Where Is Your Sting? series (aka Raise Dead series my absolute beloved) will be much appreciated! Few fics hurt as much and as good as this series does tbh lol <3

yes oh my gosh raise dead my beloved <3 a few fun facts:

the original working title was 'Revivify' because that is a much more common resurrection spell in modern D&D, but Revivify 1) has to be cast immediately after death, so it didnt work for the story and 2) didn't exist in original AD&D, so that's not what they'd be calling it anyway

Dustin talks a little bit about how the spell needs to be cast in a certain amount of time (one day per cleric level) or else it won't work. El obviously doesn't have actual levels as a spellcaster, but I did equate it to her age. She's 14, so they had 14 days to cast the spell or else it wouldn't work. They cut it pretty close. Dustin tells them all his theory 12 days after Robin dies, and they revive her on day 13

there's a lot of Critical Role inspiration in this tbh, to the point that I was tempted to write a Matthew Mercer style resurrection ceremony for Robin. El battling to free Robin from Vecna also took some vague inspiration from Percy and Orthax in the Vox Machina campaign. but by the time I started writing I strayed a bit away from that and turned into a good ol' fashioned demodog/vecna mind battle fight instead because that fit better

part 2 of this series, "what could've been, would've been," was written entirely just so I could write out Robin's happy memory of everyone hanging out by the pool

there is zero actual plot in my notes for the rest of this series, even though i do have a lot of notes and scenes written out. that's part of why i haven't returned to it yet--i don't really know what the deal is with vecna now that he no longer has robin, and tbh that i don't reallyyyy care all that much. but what i do want to explore is the impact that dying and resurrecting has on robin. it's an idea i love to think about in actual D&D--when resurrection is possible, what does that mean for the characters who experience it? how does it affect the natural cycle of life? in the "real world," aka stranger things canon, how does it affect the way el sees herself and her powers? or the way robin views herself and her place in the world? and what kind of impact does it have on her body? her mind? her emotions? her relationships with everyone around her?

there's a part of Robin that worries she's too broken to be loved, after she comes back. the more symptoms she has because of her death, the more she thinks she's not good enough for Nancy

there's also a scene with her and Erica, which tbh is the thing I'm most looking forward to writing in future parts of this series, where she steps between Erica and a demodog and it fucks them both up a little bit, the idea that Robin could die again protecting the people she loves, and the idea that Erica could lose her again because she's protecting her

Nancy develops a habit of feeling Robin's pulse anytime she gets stressed or scared. it gets to the point that Robin will grab Nancy's hand and place it over her heart as a way to calm her down or steady her. Nancy is embarrassed by it for a while, but it is the most effective way to comfort her

[katyspersonal]

Since Elden Ring, the DLC and now Nightreign I've noticed the community in general has become a lot more toxic in a lot of ways, even when it comes to critique. SOTE for example had so many sky-high expectations set up for it that a DLC was never going to meet that people screamed bloody murder over not happening, accusing it of being a 'rushed cash-grab''. It doesn't even feel like people enjoy these games. Was it always like this? I feel like you're a balanced voice of reason, but sadly an outlier.

fhsdhf I was going to passionately agree but you NEEDED to make it awkward with a compliment at the end XDDD 😳 Thank you, I appreciate this!

Though I feel like I am not very "balanced" on this regard; I take my sweet TIME to see flaws and not-so-solid decisions, and I am clearly biased towards SOTE's outstanding greatness! x) I think I can work with literally anything, even the dreaded Promised Consort Radahn idea! I know Fromsoft creates base game with the assumption that they won't get to make the DLC in mind, so this is why most of foreshadowing gets obscured or misleading. I knew how it could work in timeline before thinking of it from development standpoint, because Miquella wanted to recreate Marika's order but "better" ever since he literally created an Erdtree but better so having "Godfrey but better" and reserving role of Malenia to Maliketh-like is NOT far cry besides Godwyn was already married to Fortissax xD. He's always been a little copycat after his mother despite clearly dreading her flaws, which is kind of endearing tbh

Okay I side-tracked. Meanwhile, actually "balanced" people still were disappointed by at least a couple of choices! :p I am just... not. It helps to have prior experience with Fromsoft's games to not have unrealistically high expectations from their games, of course! And no, "playing Bloodborne but reading literally all of it through the lense of fandom's memes and mischaracterisations" is NOT prior experience with Fromsoft! I mean stuff like, being aware of development HELL of Dark Souls 2 and 3, what developers say through interviews all the time, all that!

Here is a very good compilation of every interview and every art work by Fromsoft so far, and trust me there are some interviews that you won't find in public that was also helpful so far! This stuff, and being aware of every other bit of cut content that is very insightful in most cases!

1) Fromsoft notoriously bites more than then can chew, 2) Fromsoft's base games are made with the assumption of the game flopping and thus DLC not being made and 3) Fromsoft lets out their intentions through nonverbal or indirect means are three crucial things to keep in mind when criticizing their writing! (I feel like people who complain that Fromsoft "accidentally promoted genocide by not explaining through words that Hornsent are people too an that Marika's trauma doesn't excuse her" need to internalise number three more often... :/ )

You just must try to understand how they create things, because they have very distinct approach, and above all, they are honest. There are so many decisions in both character designs/comebacks AND gameplay that would've sold way better, yet they still don't stoop to them if that's not what they believe in.

And yes needless to mention I have no idea what is wrong with kids these days (I am 27, kinda old) thinking that to engage with media and to have fun is to constantly find MORE reasons to be upset at both creators and the fandom. How is this fun to engage with something you clearly hate? We all feel pity for Youtubers who can do nothing but pump out the videos about how bad this new videogame or series is basically inventing reasons to nitpick and wanting to stay mad, wondering whether criticism is dead as a concept and if getting exposure by rage bait is worth it, but it should not be different for seeking reasons to trash on something on sites like Twitter and Tumblr.

Just, generally I loathe the approach of "oh this game is so stupid writers fucked up on so many levels every character's writing is problematic there is so much misogyny in their works they are so transphobic they wanted to cater to that type of fans I hate but pls don't think I am a hater this is still my most fav game ever uwu". Put aside that every time, for both Bloodborne and Elden Ring, these "reasons why Fromsoft fucked up" are literally invented; if they are truthful in their eyes, what they are DOING here? Why bother engaging with a "shitty" piece of media by "shitty" people that you have to urge fellow fans to "fix" into something "actually good"? Why not go and engage with something that is already good and already made by good person? ..ah, right, they fucking CAN'T, because their insistence to invent reasons to get mad makes all those good things and people look also bad for THEM so they've got nowhere to go because in every fandom they take their seething selves WITH them.

fsjujhdds sorry lol.

I guess I could consider "staying mad and always wanting better" as one of the ways to express love and passion somewhat; for example, I am a type to harshly criticise someone I actually care about, because otherwise they won't improve. Only, when these people's reasons to be angry are just wrong and forced, and when they also attack fans that see things differently, and when they also weaponize their identities to have an excuse to be malicious (seriously wtf?!)... yeah, that's not "passion expressed differently". That's just being a jerk.

[you-call-it-obsession]

Alrighty. My multichapter fic (Believe Me, Darling) is done. And I need to talk about it because I am excited.

First of all, I should've used Amnesia Was Her Name for all the chapter titles for this. I was listening to the song earlier (to check the lyrics for the final two chapters) and thinking Fuck. These lyrics work so much better. I did have those last two planned since the very beginning, but still. "C'est l'amour / et blessures" especially would've worked so well at some point.

The reason Jon loses his memories is partially from being undercooked (waking up too early) and partially from the Unknowing having Effects! I don't thiiink that was ever explicitly said.

-> Fun Fact I forgot the reason that Jon lost his memories and retconned it so it would fit with the timeline in the original pod. Might go back and change that now that it's all posted because that makes more sense. However the reason I did that was so that Lukas was settled in the Institute and had taken Martin properly, because I wanted him to have something Lonely to give Jon at the end there.

A couple of chapters into writing this I saw someone (unrelated to this fic) say "Every line Elias says has to be secretly shitty" or something along those lines and that changed how I wrote him, I think. I was being wayyy too nice too early on. He wasn't enough of a bastard! He can be nice once he's had character development, but to begin I need to want to put him in a blender

Elias sees Jon losing his memories as a great opportunity to manipulate him (and he's right tbf) and doesn't start by loving Jon. However, he catches feelings.

This does not change what Elias actually does, though, apart from taking moderately more care than he normally would have.

Elias vaguely forcefems Jon (and does other things like that) because he's possessive of Jon. He has control over Jon and he wants to show it; Jon is, of course, happy to oblige because he knows no different.

Jon was really hard to write for this reason and I'm not sure if I did him justice. He doesn't remember anything from during canon, which means he would be different from how we know him. He also has Elias' influence, telling him to act differently (and encouraging him to do things he wouldn't've done in canon, e.g. feeding)

It is a shame he didn't get to realise the horror/harm of feeding, there just wasn't time !! That would've been really fun to go in to

He is much more Eye-coded for this reason, willing to do what Elias tells him is right. Because it feels right to him, and he's being told it's right, so it must be, right?

He's also very afraid of Elias. He is essentially a stranger to Jon. He was literally in prison for murder when they first meet (which I completely forgot until right now. Probably should've addressed that tbh.) But the fear of what Elias could do to him motivates him to stay with him.

And what else could he possibly do in this situation? He doesn't know where his own home is -- he was told he lives with Elias -- and he's been told that everyone wants to hurt him (which is partially true tbf). So where else would he go?

This is vaguely addressed in the fic, but not to the extent I would've liked. Probably should've just given Jon a soliloquy at some point where he can just air his grievances, but that probably would've been dull to read and ooc.

One thing I've learned from this is that I should finish writing fics in their entirety before I start posting them, especially if they have a specific ending/plot

If it's just a sandbox then it's fine -- a less specific au would probably be alright because they're doing something different each week yk? There's no end point to work towards

but while writing this I kept forgetting little plot threads, which caused the story to become a little disjointed and confused

Fun fact #2: This fic was built around 3 plot points that I had in my head. 1- Jon going to Elias with no memories, and misunderstanding their relationship (as the Tumblr post this stemmed from said). 2- Jon enacting the ritual and the Assistants interrupting. This was supposed to be when they saw Jon for the first time post-coma. I forgot I planned this and did the whole Archives thing instead. Whoops. 3- Jon Remembering at the last moment, and not being able to take it back. I got this one right, thank God.

For a moment I was considering Jon being able to stop and ganging up against Elias w the Assistants, but decided I liked Bad Ending more. What can I say, I love tragedies.

Fun Fact #3: This whole story was originally thought of during Whumptober, and was going to be a smutty dubcon one-shot. Jon was going to be spat out from Michael's Corridors with no memory in Elias' office, and Elias was going to take advantage of this weakness. I found the draft after finishing the last chapter, dusted it off and finished it :)

Finally, I think I'm done talking about this. I've been working on it for 4 months, and now I will finally put it to rest. Good Lord. Goodnight.

[laylabahiti]

HSHQTASK059: FAREWELL SEE YOU LATER!

when did you join ? what made you join ? what do you remember from the plotlines that were current at the time ? where were you in life when you joined and where are you now ?

i joined september 2016 when this was vikrp! i was a junior in college and had been writing indie rp for a minute before that kinda died down, so i took a peek at the tags. vikrp/haisociety/highsociety had the pairs aspect to it back then, so i fulfilled someone's jade thirlwall wc but they went inactive like right after i was accepted asjdfka. i believe the revamp to haisociety happened in december/january, truly a time to be alive. i started as a junior back then and i'm ending as a junior in my second bachelor's degree💀, a homeowner, and within the next couple years, i'll be married and have a kid*. *tbd when we're both done with school and onto other careers

which characters have you written over the years ?

layla, cameron (early days), tobias (early days), katalina, gabriel, mikolas, alaina, dmitri, juliana, ettore, emerson, tamiko, kaira

what is your favourite plotline that you've been part of ?

too many to choose from! tbh the aslan/layla/olivier triangle was fun just because of the silly ic drama it caused. i'm pretty sure it was during haisociety when i messaged e about layla/olivier, because layla has the "he helped me, i love him" mentality and we just went with it askdfa, not really planning anything or knowing what would come of it. also love the egypt plotline and anytime those siblings interacted. and the early days of barbie and layla's friendship, how barbie pretty much took layla under her wing and got her out of her shell.

what about other people's plotlines ?

definitely the chaos of england and the murder mystery event. if i remember any more i'll edit this jaksdf

who is your favourite character from the ones you've played ? why ? what made you love them ? what made them so fun to write ?

no surprise here but layla. in the early days, layla was meek to the point she hardly spoke, took everything literally, and asked too many questions. she developed her voice and learned to be a little selfish in the later years, but she's still a crier.

if you could relive a plotline, which would it be ?

the greek invasion. it might have been one of the most well-constructed events i have been a part of. i remember traveling during it and writing replies on my phone just so i didn't miss out. every character was affected one way or another, and that event was a turning point in layla's personality.

is there a plotline that you'd edit now if you could ?

i wouldn't necessarily say edit, but it'd be interesting to see how things would've panned out if layla kissed olivier back and still felt guilty enough to tell aslan.

what's a plotline you wish you would have been able to finish before closing or just write more of ?

egypt<3 getting to see amon's coronation and both of them trying to rectify the family's image. life got way too chaotic over the past year, but i love mine and lina's headcanons

what is your favourite ooc memory ?

late 2018, someone kept sending rude/hateful anons to muns and the main, and everyone banded together to keep hshq alive and well. i submitted a whole essay to the main with my comments not thinking the admins would actually post it and they DID, 2018 was an interesting time here. also in the early days when we started listing how all characters were connected and making full circles of connections, simpler times.

where can others find you if they want to get in touch ?

you can always reach me on discord! i'm in the hshq server so feel free to add me or message anytime. i have a few socials if you want those as well - if this is farewell, you've earned my real name ajkdlfj. tbh this is probably my tumblr exit, i don't have much time or mental capacity to write full threads and join something new, but this blog will remain.

what else would you like to say ?

hshq is truly the only reason i've stuck around tumblr this long. almost 8 years of my life has been spent communicating with you all! in some of my worst moments, i was able to turn to hshq and escape reality for a bit. i feel like i'm missing a lot but trying to dig up memories from 8 years ago is difficult lol.

[insomaniacat]

Asking you all of them from 1 to 20 ^^

OMG GLADLY

1. whos your favourite character

Kim Dokja 🫶 (fragment behavior)

2. what was your favourite arc?

Revolutionary arc my beloved

3. do you have a favourite quote?

Out of context would probably be "Even if there is an insurmountable wall between me and them, even if it isn't heard by the person beyond that wall, I can write something on the wall and at the very lease, the wall will change" from Jang Hayoung

In context would be when Jung Heewon said "I don't know anything about the future. However, I do know this. You said that you want to save this world? It's the same for me, too... That man is the world I wish to save" (that gave me goosebumps when I read that lol)

4. do you have any characters you wished interacted more?

Jung Heewon and Han Sooyoung! Han Sooyoung's relationship was basically the opposite of Yoo Sangah's with Jung Heewon. They developed quite a bit of beef with each other during the 3 year time skip while Kim Dokja was away, and it was really interesting seeing it get resolved due the Proof of the Stars scenario

5. if you could ask the authors any question, what would you ask them?

Probably if there's any experiences they've had that's contributed to orv's development

6. whats a headcanon you have that you absolutely believe is canon?

Han Sooyoung would've either a) gotten multiple degrees or b) attended lectures in various unrelated fields understand a topic before writing if the epilogues hadn't happened

7. conversely, whats a headcanon that youre just pulling out of your ass but you love anyway?

Not a very wild heacannon but Kim Dokja would've gotten into watching esports when he was a teenager but maybe after like two weeks of looking around at the major streamers he would've dropped it entirely because none of them looked like how he imagined Yoo Joonghyuk to look like

But he keeps up with esports news in a very casual way (probably the random news article here and there 💀)

8. whats your least favourite arc?

Peaceland arc 💀 I like all the arcs in orv but I felt like it dragged a lot. To be fair, I think a bunch of orv arcs drag on a bit, but Peaceland was so early on that it made me stop reading for a long time during my first read of orv

9. any popular thing in the fandom you love?

Not really a popular thing but more like a popular idea - that you can only take out as much meaning in a story as you are willing to. You can glean as little as you want from a piece of media or give it more meaning than what the author may have originally intended

10. any popular thing in the fandom you cant stand?

Not really

11. any character you wish we saw more of?

Lee Seolhwa or Jang Hayoung! They have so much relevance in twsa but not too much in orv, so I’m curious about them!

12. are you more of a reader, writer or protagonist?

I’m more of a reader. This kind of ties back to my kinship to Kim Dokja, because he lived to see the next chapter update of his favorite novel, which is something I did, too

13. if you could meet any character, which would you pick and what would you say?

Yoo Sangah. I’d just like to have a normal conversation with her tbh.

14. favourite theme in orv?

The broad theme has gotta be love. It’s been said before but you step into orv thinking its an isekai powercreep fantasy and it is quite literally Han Sooyoung with a metal chair LMAO

15. any characters you didnt love at first but grew to adore?

Jung Heewon. It's less of 'didn't like' and more 'neutral' at first. It was only during my reread that I came to appreciate her a lot more :)

16. what part in orv made you realise it was gonna be a favourite?

Honestly, everything going on in the Demon World.

17. any controversial takes?

Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung would've been fleshed out better if they had a relationship that foiled Kim Dokja's and Yoo Joonghyuk's (Life and Death companions, but where kdj and yjh lean more towards the 'death' part and jhw and lhs lean more towards the 'life' part) instead of romance

18. who would you choose as your sponser?

Probably Prisoner of the Golden Headband. I'd like to see more about his powers

19. whats your favourite duo?

Han Sooyoung + Kim Dokja

20. be honest - are you making it to the epilogue?

Absolutely not lol

[the-black-bulls]

Top 5 Luck and Gauche potential friendships?

put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer

say what?! you're my favorite person anon!

let's see... in general, the black bulls have MANY amazing friendships that didn't get enough exploration or weren't explored at all, potential friendships, underrated friendships, friendships that could've offered the characters a lot of depth and growth, and so on, may be personal because I love gauche and luck but I think their characterizations are so unexplored compared to most BBs, so thank you for giving me the chance to ramble a little about their potential.

starting with honorable mentions:

Luck with Zora (both lost their parents and lived their life hanged by their shadows while acting overly joyful despite their suffering), with Yami, and we can never get enough of his brother-sister dynamic with Vanessa!

Gauche with Noelle (both tsunderes with big/little sibling issues), with Magna, and with the other girls besides grey be it him vibing with nero or bickering with vanessa.

top 7 from least favorite to most favorite:

7

Gauche & Charmy - again I think gauche should be around the female members more, but I feel like it'll be hysterical to see him spend more time with his senior equal in age, charmy!

---

6

Luck & Nero - HE. NAMED. HER! I think dynamics between people with polar opposite personalities are always fun to explore.

---

5

Luck & Liebe - if asta and magna can bond over being hothead loud peasants then luck and liebe should bond over their dead moms and impish, mischievous nature! I think liebe should bond with any black bull tbh but luck and nero are the ones I'm interested in his dynamic with the most.

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4

Gauche & Finral - this is probably me but I really thought there's gonna be more of their growing friendship after gauche's arc since they've got some good moments together, they even got that older brother nobles connection to bond over.

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3

Luck & Charmy - listen this is my comfort friendship and you can pry it from my dead cold hands!! I have no complex reason I just think they're besties ever since they went to heart kingdom and later elsiya together, I respect tabata as a person but my man dropped the ball in this one they could be a hilarious duo or a beastlike duo they could be the squad's lucky charms (duoble puns intended) and so more, I love their short-termed trio with leopold but still!

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2

Gauche & Zora - I did not post over thirty quotes of them bickering like two asshole tsunsderes who don't know the first thing about friendship—nah not at all, I also didn't think too much of how similar their backstories and characters development are—I MEAN, they definitly didn't word-by-word repeat the exact same line... what am doing putting them in this list they got zero potential in friendship, silly me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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1

Luck & Gauche - I think this is the best and most wasted friendship for each of them because we already have magna & zora as a duo to parallel them and it'd have been interesting to see them working side by side with their shared experience of being possessed by elves and similar character stories... most fans think of gauche's dynamic with grey as his next natural step in development, but I've always felt that him and luck would've made a lot more sense.

(everyone stop everything and give this link a look I'm begging you it provided everything about this duo you'll understand my point when you see it JUST CLICK IT!)

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alright that's all, thank you once again for the ask! :D

[sirellas]

Left Hand of Destiny (1&2) stream of consciousness review

Overall thoughts: I really liked this book! Or technically 2 books but the second is just the continuation of the first so in my head it was just one long book (~500 pages all in all). This is only the second trek book I've read and also the second written by the actor who played the character in ds9 (shoutout to ASIT, though this one has a non-actor co-writer as well), but even beyond the star trekking of TLHOD, this was a really good read in terms of writing style, pace, emotion. It was very action and character focused which I enjoyed, and especially the characterization of Martok was so great and obviously JG Hertzler had a lot of thoughts about the character he played that translated really well on page.

The memory alpha article on TLHOD says this but I didn't really start to see it until the last half of book 2, but this is very much a King Arthur story (btw don't look at that memory alpha page unless you don't care about major spoilers lol). Down to a lady in the lake handing out mythical swords. That instance was a little heavy handed in my opinion, but I did like all of the prophetic dreams and talk of glorious purpose.

That's something to note though: if you don't like dream sequences, this is not the book for you. There are A LOT of dreams. In fact the opening scene is a dream, but it's now my new favorite opening line in a book because it jumps right in by telling you who this guy is and what his deal is:

I personally am a big fan of overt symbolism like this (even a well done cliché or two), myths and repeating cycles of heroism etc etc. And I think this book melded Arthurian drama with Klingon drama well. The Klingon-ness of this book was great. What better way to get to the heart of Klingon culture in a story but by focusing on the guy chosen to lead his people and getting it ripped out from beneath his feet and having to decide that he actually wants to be chancellor. In a lot of ways this is a story of outcasts finding their way back to where they belong, which isn't always what they expect or want in the beginning. Which leads me to...

The supporting characters really made this book. Without Pharh the Ferengi who got bullied for being as ugly as a Klingon as a child and now runs a landfill on Qo'noS, there would be no book. He's my favorite (little buddy coded to the extreme) but most of the major side characters are really well explored in terms of motivation and actions. Worf, Sirella, Ezri, Darok, Kahless, Alexander, to name a few. Alexander and Kahless were two of my other surprise standouts. And because no one who hasn't read this book knows about my new favorite guy Pharh, I will now include a couple passages I highlighted to spread the word about how great he is:

Wide array of well developed side characters aside, this book is awful for women. Yes the main antagonist is Martok's insane ex, but her character is kind of too outlandish to really have much depth. Ezri shows up at the end of book 1 and plays a big part in book 2 but honestly I'm not sure why she was even there (apart from loyalty etc, but I mean story-wise she didn't add all that much to keep the action moving ((anyone else could have been subbed in for her 9 out of 10 times and it would've made more sense tbh)) except to be another explainer of Klingon things to the reader). Sirella has a few great scenes, but not nearly enough and she wasn't allowed to do much either in terms of agency and impact on plot. Martok's two daughters are barely afterthoughts.

The main plot is that a usurper attacks Qo'noS (and specifically goes after Martok), swaying the Klingon people to their side through a combo of bioengineered charisma and the people's growing resentment toward progressive ideas that Martok (and Worf) represents. That's really only the problem in book 1, while book 2 deals more with Martok accepting the hand fate has dealt and deciding to win so they can save the decaying Klingon heart and so on. But even with the kind of cheesy setup, it rarely felt overwrought or unearned with the emotional beats. The antagonist lady is, yeah, she's a bit over the top. And before 2016 I would've said the quick flip to xenophobia and Make Klingons Great Again (I'm pretty sure they use that phrase almost exactly) in the general public was unrealistic but hey, cycles of destiny and evil constantly shifting and repeating, am I right??

There were... quite a few deaths. I guess I should've expected that, being a Klingon setting and all, but some of them hit me hard. And a few I don't think really needed to happen and kind of weakened the narrative.... maybe I'll put a spoiler section below a cut at the bottom of this to discuss those 🤪

This paragraph will haunt me for a while I think... 😀 sorry for inflicting it on others now but hey that's show business

Even with some hiccups (see spoiler section below), I loved the book pretty much. Shocker: tumblr user girlmartok loves the Martok book, but it was better than I had hoped even. The Martok focus was so good and the side characters just made it even better. Much more of a heroic fantasy than most star trek settings, which fit really well and also was refreshing. It's long! But I would recommend it if you have any interest in Klingons and/or fun little guys who go on adventures and think a lot about death.

SPOILERS ⬇️

Okay ripping the bandaid off. The way Sirella died was not chill. I mean even having her die was not something I would have included, because the story really didn't dive all that deep into her and Martok's relationship. But ramming an enemy ship so Martok could flee near the beginning of book 2... and she doesn't even kill any major bad guys doing it?? It just served no point narratively (the bad guys still outnumbered them, still caught up to them not long after) and it didn't even really affect Martok all that much beyond like one paragraph where he wants to turn around and go on a murder spree in her name... He doesn't even get to go on a murder spree in her name!!!

Bandaid rip #2: PHARH MY LITTLE BABY BOY DIES???? I was glad I had forewarning about this one because I would've been mad otherwise. I am not exaggerating saying he was my second favorite character in this book after Martok. The humor he added, yes, but also just his role as an outsider who's seen as weak by both Ferengi and Klingon, and he befriends the chancellor of the Klingon Empire, HOLDS ONTO THE CHANCELLOR'S RING FOR MOST OF THE BOOK AND BECOMES HIS SQUIRE BASICALLY 🫠💔 I don't know how anyone wouldn't fall in love with him. At least his death was done well, even though I don't think it should have happened. He at least got a murderous rampage in his name 😤 and Martok basically adopted him so he could get into Sto'vo'kor 🥺

Those were my main two criticisms of the book, and really ties into why this wasn't as great a story as ASIT, for example. A lot of things happen to Martok, but some things don't get the resolution they would need to influence him on this character journey he's going on. One of Martok's defining characteristics in ds9 is that he's a wife guy and his wife doesn't take bullshit. But then his wife dies suddenly and he's upset but he's not Upset upset, if you know what I mean. It didn't feel earned and it didn't feel necessary. Literally the first and only time it did feel like a reasonable plot device was at the very end when Worf tells him that people love a tragic victor even more than a victory. The problem is just that Martok doesn't ever explore what that tragedy really means to him.

Justice for Shen and Lazhna, Martok's daughters, who in addition to dying off screen are only brought up to highlight how shitty of a dad Martok has been. He just thinks of them (and his son Drex too but he gets more characterization solely by virtue of appearing in the narrative) in terms of himself and his love for them is more on the side of pity rather than real emotional attachment. Sirella should've been way meaner to him about that tbh.

Non character death related but a big focus of the first book was Martok losing public opinion pretty much immediately. Old friends turn against him and that really shakes him. But then in the second book... that's not really brought up again? The whole second book takes place away from Qo'noS, and yeah they mention that people will probably become less affected by the dumb bioengineered charisma after time, but I cannot stress enough how much the entire planet hated him. So he won the big battle against his foes etc etc, came back to Qo'noS and... just told everyone all that?? That goes along with the lack of fully exploring the consequences of some of these bad things that happen to Martok. It felt like a little too much piled on him and not enough resolution.

[the-sprog]

Ranma 1/2 episode 1 review (?)

The first episode of the Ranma 1/2 reboot came out and BRUH they gave him magical eyeshadow that shows up when he turns into a girl. I thought the pink instead of red hair would be the (overall) insignificant change that would piss me off the most but the "putting eyeshadow on him because he's a GGGGIIIIIIRRRRLLLL now" kinda worse. At least the pink hair paralleled Akane's blue.

I've been made aware it was probably supposed to be an omage of the illustrations that the magaka did of Ranma in girl mode, but to me it's different when it's a one off static illustration where the assumption is that he dolled up, and the eyeshadow magically appearing when he turns girl mode. And if you don't know about the old Ranma stuff, the vibe it gives you is just those cartoon animals sexual dimorphism. And the fact the eyeshadow is pink is an aggravation. It could've been purple, like some of the illustrations. But no. Doubling down on the pink.

I do appreciate that they didn't try to set it in 2024.

NOW here's some differences I noticed while going through the old and new anime ep 1. (I don't have the manga, but it seems like the new version is a more faithfull, with less (but not void of) gratuitous nude scenes, of the manga.

The old one starts with Ranma and his dad fighting and the fight is a lot less grandiose. It ends a lot quicker and the slapstick is less cartoony.

Akane is at the dojo demolishing some cinder blocks (karate chop not even punching like the new one) from the get go instead of out running.

The general dialogue seems to be the same, but I can't tell since I'm watching online fansubs and the netflix new one has closed captions for the dubs instead of translated subs for the japanese, which is bound to have some differences.

Nabiki is dressed in traditional clothing in the scene where dad explains who Ranma is. It's cute but ultimately not really part of her characterization, so it's not a big deal that they changed it. I'm not even sure why she's dressed like that in the old one.

I do like that they've made Ranma a little more cutesy and bashful in the new one with the expressions and the camera angles. It parallels Akane being a tomboy. It wasn't something necessary, and it would've been fine if they hadn't do it, but I welcome this change. It's not that big, but there's some.

They took away some of the pervy scenes. Or lessened them. Like, instead of outright groping him they just point or poke.

As I said, the fights seem to be more shonen-like in the new one. They're faster with cooler sound effects and camera angles and movements. Good change tbh. I'd have to check again but I think they made the clothes less wrinkly. I think they looked a lot... stiffer and smoother in the new one. I'm noticing because in the old one it's obvious girl!Ranma's clothes look a little too big on him, but in the new one it didn't give me that impression.

They seem to have cut out some fluff. Instead of showing Nasumi showing Ranma around they just have it implied with later dialogue. here we have directly a scene of the older sister going "this is your room, you can go take a bath". They condenced it but it's fine because we aren't really losing anything of value. There was no funny joke sacrificed, no information or character development.

They did keep some of the gratuitous nudity of no nipples Ranma, which I think we could've gone without.

In the old one, for the bathub scene Akane knew that Ranma was in there because she saw the clothes, but in the new one she didn't know and didn't, rightfully so, just assume that this random girl she just met would be ok with bathing together. Improvement!

All new voices are a little more shrill.

Akane is also less curvy. I remember she got called flat and all that a lot in the old one but looking at it... she's really not. In the new it makes a little more sense. Again, I really like that Ranma is a little more bashful and cutesy, even in boy mode.

The animation of Ranma getting thrown in the pond is funnier in the new one, even if it's more dynamic in the old one.

They really hammered down the "it's so shameful to have a son like this" in the old one oof.

They shortened the time line it seems. In the old one they were like that for a few months, the new like 2 weeks (as far as the italian dialogue is concerned at least). They also cut the joke about them swimming to China and went directly to talking about the cursed ponds.

The scenes seem longer in the new, but more fast paced. There's more slapstick and the fighting lasts longer, but the pauses between dialogues and the silent scenes are less or shorter. They condensed the exposition a lot. There's some unnecessary details in the old (like the EXACT location of the ponds and it's told once in narration and once by the chinese tour guide), and they say that the ponds are explicitly a training ground while in the new they're the weirdos for doing training in a cursed place (although they had that guide book that told them it was such, the tour guide was like "??? what the fuck are you two doing???").

Also the Chinese tour guide speaks... yeah. they didn't seem to do it in the new one, but I don't speak Japanese so I can't tell if it's a sub translation decision or not. In the old they at least listen to a bit of what the guy says instead of rushing to do their thing. Which makes admittedly less sense. It makes more sense that they just ignore him since it's established later that they don't speak chinese and that they didn't know about what the ponds really were. Also again this fight scene lasts very little. Genma falls in the panda pond immediately.

There's more toxic masculinity in the old one. Which I'm torn about. On one hand, it was one of the themes of the OG, on the other, it seems to have been an addition to the anime that wasn't there as much in the manga, and that they didn't really learn anything from in the OG. So, I'm hoping it's not a "Avatar live action series but we took away Sokka's sexism to be progressive" and more toning it down to be more accurate for the manga. I hope they'll do something with it though.

The actual exposition of Genma not knowing chinese is better done in the new! it was very much show not tell, while in the old anime we're getting a bunch of monologues by Ranma to explain why it's all Genma's fault. improvement!

I like some of the dialogue in the new one more, but that might be because of quality of translation.

More exposition of Nasumi having to tell us that Akane is sweet but violent, which in the new was done more show not tell with Ranma's flashback to "let's be friends" and him thinking about her hitting him (which still happens in the old! For some reason they thought we needed it explained twice).

Akane's flashback was more mocking in the new version. They also added nipples in the second bathtub scene. To both Ranma and Akane. Why. Doesn't happen in the new anime! Thank you!!!!

I do like that we see Akane's slap connect to Ranma's face in the old, and I prefer the less exaggerated redness on his cheek of his old one. They really upped the cartoony anticks in the new one ahhahaha.

While rewatching the old anime I got so much nostalgia for the old opening. I don't really like the new song. The visuals are AMAZING, but the song is a little more... chill? The og was HYPE, and had a lot of word play with Ranma's name.

You can see it in the op too how much more bashful and girly they made Ranma in his mannerisms. He gets blushy a lot and he poses more bashful-like. Though he still stays mostly confident, he has some moments and it is paralled to Akane being more tomboy-ish in some scenes in the op. I'm ok with this.