#i'll probably do one at the end of the season if i'm motivated enough

[allovesthings]

Things I'm looking forward to: video edits on youtube with the music from the Lightning thief musical and the show.

We deserve a Good kid tribute for Percy (and maybe the reprise with Luke), my grand plan with Annabeth and the tree on the hill for Grover.

[menaceoffandoms]

LMK fanfics i want to write:

An AU where a new cycle is started after season 5, in which Mk doesn't exist. However, he did something at the end of the last cycle to preserve his friends memories, leading them remember everything one by one and eventually going on a mission to find Mk -- currently writting, am almost done with the first chapter and have 10 planned so far. God help me.

A rewrite of season 5 where I give it a special, basically a what if scenario of what could have been if the writers and animators were given more time, more of a restructure than anything if I'm honest -- not started but planned up to episode 5

A rewrite AU of season 5 where I fulfil what I thought the ink curse from season 4 was foreshadowing: ""you're friends will abandon you, seeing you for the monster you will become" -- not started or planned. Btw I promise I don't hate s5 it just gives me a lot of insperation

And finally

An AU inspired by @/renmist on twitter who made some wonderful art where Wukong was trapped within a lantern that Macaque owned -- not started or planned at all, I just really liked the art and wanna write something to fit the concept but I'm struggling to think of why Wukong is in the lantern in the first place

That's everything my brain has latched on to so far. I love writing but I've never published anything I've written before so the fact I'm inspired enough to want to is kinda a big deal for me, only problem is getting the motivation to do it... if I finish the first one (which is probably the most complex concept of them all, why have I done this to myself) then I'll definitely write the others, but if not I guess other people can take these ideas and run with them!

Also if you've read any fanfics that fit these ideas pls share them I will happily consume tehe

[lara635kookie]

"Tell us you didn't got Snowy Serenity and Eternal Attachment without telling us you didn't got Snowy Serenity and Eternal Attachment"

Me:I try to do everything that slightly remembers a kissing scenario.

Bonus one I accidentaly made of Zayne pinching my MCs nose because it's funny:

On a more serious note, I think I am the only person in the fandom who has bad luck enough to not have gotten not only just one but both of these cards. Yay. Not the kind of exclusive conquest I wanted but I guess it counts.

It's hard to tell which one I wanted more because besides the fact that both cards add important facts to the lore, they are completely different. This is really the only thing they have in common.

Snowy Serenity has everything I like:Angst, a strong woman saving her man, Zayne being clear about his feelings WITH WORDS, a really dark aesthetic that I really like and they kiss MORE THAN ONCE. And they go right into it because those kisses were DEEP. PASSIONATE. Not that I don't like the Doomsday Card, I love it, but THAT ONE RIGHT HERE is the card they were kissing like the world was about to end and that would be the last time they would kiss. Also those kisses show MCs face and not just her back and her hair like all of the other kissing scenes we had so far not only with Zayne but with Xavier and Rafayel(because we haven't got Sylus yet and knowing me I will probably try and lose his too). I also like the fact that Zayne tries to contain himself even though he is THIRSTY and never wanted, never NEEDED, anything in his life like he needed that kiss and he STILL only goes fully into the kiss when he realizes MC is closing her eyes and reaching out too.

However, Eternal Attachment has SMILEY ZAYNE. Seriously, he never looked happier. And never looked more IN LOVE. No, I swear, if MC had any doubts this man was hers she threw them all in the trash after this because OH MY GOD, ZAYNE YOU ARE RAISING THE BAR WAY TOO HIGH!!! STOP BEING THE STANDARD, WE'LL NEVER FIND SOMEONE LIKE YOU IN REAL LIFE!!! No angst at all, just fluff everywhere which is something that I love. And while the kisses were the standard kisses in this game, more delicate and soft and not showing MCs face, MC is the one who starts them! And then Zayne kisses her again. And even though it were just two kisses(in Snowy Serenity you lose count of how many they were), the romantic setup, the buildup to the kiss, the fact that is his birthday, autumn being way too pretty of a season and the perfect scenery(as much as I love Snowy Serenity, an abandoned hq is not exactly the most romantic place in the world), everything is just so perfect. Even though I like angst my man Zayne needs a break from it every once in a while.

What makes me more calm about it is that 1:They are definitely times they kissed off screen or that there was a kiss implied but they didn't show, so I can imagine those. 2:I got Hidden Motive and they definitely had sex in this card so I'll just assume they kissed too during it. And I like how, along with Xavier's, Zayne's card is the one that leaves the impression that they had sex the most. I mean, look at this:

Specially with Xavier, MC goes like:"The memories of last night are still livid in my mind." And then puts a bandage on a "red mark on Xavier's collarbone." I'm sorry, but it doesn't get more obvious than this. Meanwhile, with Sylus and Rafayel I was like "Okay...Did they really have sex or was it just a really intense makeout session?" Because with Rafayel they kiss on the bath tub(that saliva string was SOMETHING) and go back to the room still clothed and we are inclined to think they didn't go all the way because Rafayel is a lemurian, not a human. So does he even know how to do it? Because he probably never done it before and we know how sensitive he can be so is he even ready to it? Can he even take it? And with Sylus we are in the bathroom and it shows him carrying us somewhere so I think this card didn't need much to imply that we really got there. Just something like "After that, we left the bedroom" or anything similar to that would do the work. But instead we just jump to them on the balcony in a way that implies that nothing meaningful happened after the bathroom because both MC and Sylus are not acting different from the start of the trip to the end of it. It seems like they didn't even kiss after leaving the bathroom. It's understandable choice tho because we didn't even got a kissing scene and a confession scene with Sylus yet so jumping right into it would be skipping a lot of steps that the other boys got, which would be unfair to Sylus and us; Sylus girlies. 3:We will probably have a rerun eventually. I don't think we'll have it anytime soon but I imagine it will happen one day so I'll have a second chance. And 4:There will most likely have more kissing cards. I can't miss all of them, right??? (Pls don't answer that)

[drdtfuitgumies]

season 3 summary: july 2024

this summary is mainly for my personal documentation (i like documenting stuff), but i thought i'd post this in the blog too just in case anyone else was interested!

STATISTICS

as you can perhaps tell by the "header", ace is first place for this month with seven appearances! ...though considering the situations he was involved in (most notably an undignified jumpscare, being put in air jail, and being put in a repurposed jail by the name of Arei's Haul), it may be more of a curse. arei, j, and whit all tie for second place with six appearances, which is a very normal occurrence at this point.

PERSONAL FAVORITES (in chronological order)

1) Teruko falls down the stairs (ft. her three* best** friends***) (CHAPTER 2 SPOILERS)

i really like eden and charles' sideeyes here. and drawing teruko falling down the stairs was always one of my main goals with this blog, so i'm glad i could accomplish that!

2) Class is NOT going well (CHAPTER 1 SPOILERS)

the people really liked this one too, it seems! i finished in time for their birthday, too... i'm bound by law to apologize because they happen to be a friend's favorite character. orz

3) Whit shows Xander how to wear a blazer

i've drawn this sprite twice now. he just looks endearing in what i like to call The Stupid Idiot Dog way. I promise I mean this with as much affection (and cuteness aggression) possible. maybe i'll draw more sprites in the future... especially the ones that barely get used

4) Do you see this shit, Min?

another meme redraw! not much thought here. i just want them to be friends, even if it starts from a shared exasperation with practically the rest of the class.

THE POWER OF HINDSIGHT

sometimes i think of adding punchlines in the situations, or fix errors after i've put them in the queue, but forget to actually. do that

veronika jumpscaring ace was supposed to have a dark background but i thought veronika jumpscaring him with a flashlight in broad daylight was way funnier. the end result would still be the same anyhow

as mentioned in both "class is NOT going well" and "min and mai eat taiyaki", the latter was supposed to be min's birthday post. but i saw the meme around a week before her birthday and i couldn't NOT draw it. and i actually finished it in time!!

levi's dialogue in this situation was supposed to allude to him putting ace in air jail, but i didn't know how to make j's dialogue MASSIVE while also leaving just enough words for the viewer to ponder about what exactly levi was doing beforehand

also about the above situation; j's second piece of dialogue was supposed to be lowercase. i try to modify everyone's dialogue according to how they'd probably type (from the top of my head arei, eden, and whit speak in lowercase and sprinkling in emoticons/kaomojis; ace and j also speak in lowercase but they often switch into Titlecase and UPPERCASE for emphasis). that time i forgot to proofread the capitalization though. i guess this is incredibly minor and doesn't even matter that much

arei was supposed to steal hu's butterfly pin off-screen and the situation would be hu recalling the incident to someone like. levi, eden, or david idk. and going "I am unfortunately disappointed but not surprised" with a serene expression. i thought the punchline of hu just giving her pin and arei considering it a defeat was funnier, so i ended up going with that

I really, really wanted to find proper motivational words that Arturo would say,,,,,, ach.....

OTHER REMARKS

i tried to mimic arei's canon handwriting for that header image! also that is indeed the jail cardboard box being repurposed as arei's inventory of stolen items. i guess ace lives there for now

i want to do vocaloid mv redraws... i think i've mentioned it here once before, but i'd like to try. although i probably can't do more "serious" songs

that one comment asking if arei brought ace in her suitcase (since she's wearing some stolen accessories) still makes me laugh because how does one even begin to approach that conclusion. you can freely interpret arei's bigger suitcase as a sign that a whole ass Ace Markey is stuck inside there, i suppose! thank you for the mental image!

unfortunately, my schedule this year is taxing enough that i literally can't draw fuit gumies everyday anymore (unless if it was just one single character standing). i'll still post something for everyone's birthdays, and i plan to draw something to start off september at least, but i'll wait until that post for a more concrete schedule

thank you for your support!

as promised, whether you've seen it or not; here is the miro canvas for the first three months/seasons! i've since moved into another one since it started lagging enough to annoy me.

[duckduckhjonk]

I just finished watching the new tpot episode and ouhhggggghhhhhh I have thinks and thoughts

Massive spoilers ahead, this is kinda a full episode review atp, I ramble a lot

First off I really liked One's area, it's super pretty and mystical but somehow feels sinister in a way? Like it's a little too dark to be fully whimsical and fun and mystical without a sinister hint to it.

This kinda also pulls towards my thoughts on One themself. I think they're pulling a cutesy coverup to something evil. I do not trust this number at all. And I pray this doesn't lead to her getting all these contestants eliminated because I am personally biased and will cry the day Fanny gets the boot.

Similarly, I'm really glad to have this storyline start going off. I really wonder what One wants from these characters. Are they as sinister as I am suspecting? I feel like One is moreso a Deal with the Devil type character and I don't think they're actually good friends with Two. I think that's a lie.

The characters themselves that are chosen are also really interesting picks. Fanny, Ice Cube, Basketball, Bell, and Bomby. It's kind of "what do these characters have in common?" I suppose it's they all needed something? Not entirely sure on that though, I mean yeah they probably do. A mouth, legs, help with Robot Flower maybe? An escape from being eliminated? It gets harder with those three to decide what they could get from One to be a part of their scheme.

At least I'll get to hopefully see more Bomby despite his elimination :3

Moving on, I really like the new teams. I think again Death PACT Yet Again is gonna be my favourite but the other teams are super fun as well. Truly devastating news that Golf Ball and Tennis Ball got separated. I fear neither have long left because of this. But on the off chance they do last, I'd like to see how they develop apart.

The challenge felt a little uninteresting but I think it was much more of a catalyst for figuring out team dynamics rather than be a focal point. Still pretty decent and a good finish to it. I personally love that Robot Flower ended up with Death PACT Yet Again.

Also really looking forward to one of the original exitors joining! I feel some of them were vastly underutilised in previous seasons and some got the boot just before getting interesting, pretty namely Dora and Liy come to mind. I voted for Dora because I'd like to see where she's going and what she'd do on TPOT. I think another interesting option would be Match. As much as I dislike her, I think she also has a lot of potential. Maybe a respark in her rivalry with Fanny, I think it would be interesting despite Bubble not being there. Maybe she would also serve as some motivation for Book to try and become better friends with Ice Cube before Match regains her trust.

Speaking of Bubble, I think I'd like to know what the BFB characters are doing. I don't think I'd like them to join the cast/show fully but maybe a check in? We already got Tear Drop in TPOT so none of them could join the show, but it would be interesting to see how they are.

I think in the future as far as theories I have go, I think One is going after either Golf Ball or Tennis Ball next. They're apart and need something and make pretty good targets. Although if it's a 1 per team deal I would also think Donut would be a good choice. He does have his arms missing but also I think he's been the most misused imo. He had a lot of potential on the pre split that I think wasn't utilised, especially with having Four's powers. I think this could be just what he needs.

As for further theories with One, I think they're definitely the weakest of the Algebraliens. Maybe their motivation is having all of these chosen champions and their "favour" is them giving One Twos power at the end of it. That's what I have so far, I mean I haven't seen enough to know 100% and I don't think that would be the case but that's my best theory.

Thanks for listening to me ramble 👍 lmk what you think!

[shiroen]

🔪 - Any characters you don't like?

💬 - Any fan theories you've had or currently have?

🎤 - Any hot takes?

Hello anon! Thank you for sending in an ask. I'm going to answer 🔪🎤 first as they will be shorter answers and then dive into the fan theory part that will have a read-more break because it'll be pretty long (with screenshots).

There are a few character in ITGR that I don't like, but one of my least favorites, if not my least favorite, is Chase. Who, I do notice, is quite the fan favorite, possibly second to Brook. SORRY for the slander if you like Chase by the way uhmm I definitely understand the appeal of his character, in season one, he's a self-righteous idealistic man who takes it in his own hands to do anything he can to improve the state of the world regardless of whether people see it as morally correct. Hell, I like Light Yagami (not Shiro mentioning something from another fandom on his ITGR blog? Breaking his own rules, eh?) even, so of course I can see the appeal of a character like this, but after season three starts, that whole image collapses. He loses his plot involvement and direction as a character, in the end no longer caring enough about the world to take the steps he did before to improve it. While this is a fair development of a character like him, in ITGR, it just renders him near useless. After the arc where they attempt to uncover Scarlet's backstory, he turns into an accessory purely as a motive (taking care of him) for Scarlet, and to an extent holding her back. Going from whip-smart detective with unrealistic ideals to A Guy. A nerd who kinda bums around as the ITGR discord would describe it. It's all a realistic turn of events but nonetheless that doesn't make him a likeable character to me. Not saying that a good character has to necessarily be plot relevant and etc. at all it's just my personal preference that they are.

Sorry. Going to yap a bit more about Chase regarding the hot take I'll be talking about. I personally do NOT think Chase should return and that Zero is Chase, and I don't think he should be from a storytelling perspective. Many have talked about how much they'd like Chase's return and have been hoping for Zero to be Chase, not taking into account how Chase, if he returns, because there is just no way for him to be plot relevant at all as of season four's current plot. All he'd do is be an accessory to Scarlet and hold the plot back. It also feels disrespectful for him to be brought back after that very heartfelt send-off in season three, just taking away all its merit and significance. If Zero turns out to be Chase—I think that takes away the whole merit of his character. His largest appeal to, at least me, is the unsteadiness of his sense of identity, careening between the feelings of a dead man and his own role as an archreaper. I don't know about you, but I think it'd feel very invasive to feel the emotions of someone else that you wouldn't have otherwise, and then being forced to put those emotions (and memories) into conflict with the current identity you have (for Zero, as the most powerful archreaper, directly in opposition to Scarlet). Grave has set up such potential with Zero already, and a reveal that he was actually Chase all this time would be so disappointing IMO.

Fan theory time. Discussing archreaper Three and Five's identities... this is a theory shared by the ITGR discord as I'm actually not great at making theories aha.

FIVE'S IDENTITY

I haven't seen a lot of theories about Five's identity actually. Out of what I know, I can infer that it'd probably be pretty likely in some readers minds that Five could be Ana, considering that she was sentenced to the fifth circle (Episode 11).

However, I propose a different idea: that Five is not Ana, but Natasha (Brook's sister).

Natasha has a very similar sin as Ana, who was sentenced to the fifth circle for killing her own son. If qualifications for the fifth circle is killing a family member, whether indirectly or directly, then Natasha fits the bill (with killing Brook by ordering a subordinate to do so).

In the first archreaper appearance, Episode 155, Five's first words are "...Cease your squabbling, fools," and, "It's unsightly. We should behave with the same status as our stations imply." While we never heard Natasha directly talk to Brook within his backstory, this sounds quite, pretentious? Comes off high and lofty, as if coming from a "woman of high nobility," as Jordan notes. This falls in line with Natasha, the head of her clan and company, who can be assumed to be, if not nobility, then at least rich enough to seem so.

Five's sihlouette, at higher brightness, has hair very similar to Natasha in Brook's backstory.

Comparing that, to:

It's not a perfect match, though it isn't out of the realm for Natasha's hairstyle to have been altered a bit, as Everette definitely underwent a more pretty drastic hairstyle change as well. Now, if we look closer at that image of Five at a higher brightness, if you can, look closely at her pupils: the shape of a crosshair.

Natasha, in Brook's backstory, has been seen with guns:

It would make sense for the archreaper with crosshair pupils to have used firearms in their life, and use them in the afterlife as their main weapon.

Now, examining the silhouettes revealed on Episode 194, here is Five's:

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Five's temperament with her silhouette; a woman with large horns and hair in a braid that falls down to her knees. She appears to be wearing a dress. Everette says: "Five is really scary! She's got a sharp temper! She also thinks she's better than everyone else, which... I dunno, she is pretty smart, but if I talked to her for too long, I think I'd cry...!" The background is bright pink.]

Five's hair has changed, from Episode 155, it being down, to 194, it being braided. That's fine, Vincent's eye color changed from brown to light orange to match his little sister better, Grave has done this before. Also, the background, bright pink, is probably her demon, which is a very similar color to Brook's accent color, yeah?

As for the personality description, we don't know that much about Natasha's temperament, but it fits well for a businesswoman who ran a company. Whip smart and with a sharp temper. Probably makes subordinates cry, or at least fearful.

I think... I've solidified my case of Five's identity pretty well with what we have released at the time of writing this. It also makes sense plot-wise as a way to reinvolve Brook into season four's plot, by exploring parts of his past once again. Their (likely) confrontation will be very interesting to see in the future.

THREE'S IDENTITY

I think Three's identity has been most popularly theorized to be Natasha, but with all that I've said to convince you of Natasha being Five, then who do I think Three is?

I've already disproved Natasha as Three pretty clearly, as her sentence would likely be greater than the third circle for murder (Liam was sentenced to fourth for murdering someone random, while Ana was sentenced to fifth for murdering her own family).

This will be mostly based off my own conclusions and inferences rather than concrete text evidence, so take it with a grain of salt if you will, I believe Three's identity to be Ashe's daughter.

It would make sense plot-wise, if Natasha is a way to bring back Brook and make him plot relevant, than if Three is Ashe's daughter, it could be a big arc of character development for him. At the moment, Ashe's role in season's four plot is kind of... boring? He's kind of just there to fight, not super useful, but if he encounters someone in his past he'd be made plot relevant. Both a backstory reveal and a way to explore Ashe's character.

The only concrete evidence we have of Three being Ashe's daughter is from Everette's description of her in Episode 194.

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Three's temperament. Three's silhouette is displayed as a woman with hair let down reaching her lower back and wearing some sort of dress, probably a kimono. Everette says: "Three is a very put-together lady, and she doesn't speak much. Despite that, I can tell she isn't from the modern day!" The background is a red with a slight pink tint.]

The personality doesn't give much, Ashe's daughter could be anyone with any kind of temperament. However, Everette notes that she notably isn't from the modern day, and she is the only archreaper to which Everette says this. In addition, her silhouette seems to be fitting for someone wearing a kimono, which would make sense considering the time period the Ashe was from in Japan.

I don't have much more to say about Three, but, Jesus christ, this was a huge fucking post. Sorry for spilling this huge yap onto you, anon, and if you did read it all the way, thank you for sending in the ask! The amount of times I've said plot in this post is ridiculous

[rainbowyumy]

I JUST THOUGHT OF AN EVIL AU FOR AVIVA (Probably gonna be ignored of forgotten so just set aside when I have time)

This is inspired by littlecrittereli's "Reprogram AU".

A malfunction almost risk the life of Martin, and Chris gets super angry at Aviva. This results in a nasty dispute between the two and Aviva being scarred by Chris's harsh words. An enraged and depressed Aviva sides with her own ENEMY, Zach, for the sake of getting revenge against the team (mostly Chris.)

Aviva would use her tech building skills and her smarts to create defenses and weapons for herself and Zach. She would also use her smarts and great reflexes to physically attack her rivals, since I thought she would be the type to get her hands dirty.

Chris, already regretted what he said to Aviva in the past, and is constantly trying to apologize to Aviva and get her out of that state. But it fails to no prevail, at least during the beginning. Unsurprisingly, he's the main target whenever Aviva attacks them.

Martin is treated similarly, but not as bad as Chris. Martin didn't like how Chris yelled at her during the dispute, and therefore understand Aviva's reasons and uses that to get to her. Due to her being the cause of his injuries, Aviva is still a bit regretful of him. She's less aggressive with him during battle, but that doesn't mean she would spare him.

At one point, during her evil state, she almost kills Martin. Ironically, the second time since the malfunction. Luckily, MK is rescued before fatal consequences occur. This would be the perfect time for Aviva to question her actions. But it wouldn't fully convince her enough to redemption, yet. At least in my opinion.

Despite working with his enemy, Zach would be extremely thrilled. He always wanted to defeat the Kratt brothers and their team, and this advantage to Aviva's great inventions and strong traits would be in his favor. I'm not sure if he should concerned or even more happy of Aviva's brutal methods. (There will be no shipping involved, however. This would be more story based than shipping based.)

Koki would be as regretful as Chris, for a similar and different reason. She would think it's her fault for not being more supportive to Aviva and not standing up for her during the dispute. Just like Chris, she would try to get her to listen and convince her to stop. However, these attempts would later lead to Martin close death encounter.

Despite Jimmy's flaws of being in the side lines, that wouldn't stop him from assisting his team and getting his friend back. The whole event made a big impact on Jimmy as he willing to break his personal boundaries just to save his friends and stop Zach.

Aside Varmitech, I'm still wondering what to do with the other villains. I did have the thought of also having Paisley being involved, but due to her redemption arc in the season 7th special "Our Blue and Green World, " it wouldn't make sense. Donita would design Aviva's battle outfit, though.

I'm not sure if Aviva would be mind controlled (since that's the usual method many Wild Kratts evil aus do) or she would be mostly motivated by anger. I'm also unsure how she'll redeem herself in the end, but I'll figure both ideas out later.

This is still a draft. Any constructive criticism would be very appreciated. ^^ (I'm not good at make story by scratch, my apologies! )

[initiumseries]

Hi,

I searched your blog but didn’t see anything, not sure if I’m using the wrong keywords.

I’m watching Angel for the first time and I’m wondering what your takes were on Spike being a champion and the whole Nina/Angel relationship.

Thanks for looking! I haven't talked too much about s5 because usually on a rewatch I'm sick of the show by season 3, but I've contemplated skipping s4 entirely or just watching episodes and then jumping to s5 to refresh me. But anyway, I never really had strong opinions about Nina and Angel. I think at most, I was glad we were finally no longer acting like sex was off the table for Angel, because it never was. Sex with Buffy is off the table and that's because, well, true love. So with Nina came the acknowledgment that there was not the same kind of feelings there and that was fine. Especially after the whole horrible Cordelia thing, it was a breath of fresh air at the time. I don't know if I'll still feel that way now, but I did at the time.

As for the Spike thing...well...hmm. Lol. I don't believe Spike earned his position as a Champion. I think that they made Spike a poor man's Angel and I think his character deserved better than that. Angel's soul was thrust upon him, sure, but he rose to the occasion when called. Spike, did not. Spike lamented his circumstances despite doing it to himself. He whined and self pitied and then was used against the side of good to kill potentials for the first because he was so weak willed. I don't think he did a single think in s7 BTVS to deserve being a champion other than sacrificing himself, which, honestly, isn't enough, because again, he didn't do that to save the world, he did that to save Buffy. Spike's motivations for being "good" have always been either, because he still got to kill (when he had the chip), and then eventually because it got him closer to Buffy. In Angel, s1-3, Angel is put through hell because he is still atoning, but Spike...just gets to be a Champion now? Lmao. He doesn't earn it, and it's insulting honestly. But I think shows struggle with characters changing while still maintaining their core personalities, because it requires a longterm goal and plan.

Consider Zuko's redemption arc. It's probably the best redemption arc ever done on television. But it's because from the very beginning, Zuko was not irredeemable. He struggled, but he received love, he was forced into situations that exposed him to the violence of the fire nation, and ended up on the receiving end of that brutality. He was stripped of his royal status and had to interact with every day people, seeing the scars of war. It fundamentally changed him as a person. And even then, when the time comes for him to make a big choice, he makes the wrong one. He chooses his home, his sister, his previous life, and Aang nearly dies for it. But he had idealized the palace, and when he returns, and his uncle refuses to speak to him, he feels shame and regret. He realizes he isn't the same person he was when he left. He finally makes the right choice, and seeks out the Gaang, and they don't accept him easily. When they do, it's because Zuko *acknowledges* how he hurt them and how he plans on doing better. And even after ALL that, he still has to win over Katara.

But Spike? Lmao. Spike gets a chip in his head - which on its own is hilarious and fun - but becomes exhausting after a while. He doesn't spend more time around the scoobies and begin to see value in what the scoobies are fighting for. He doesn't begin to realize all the fear and harm and damage demons do to humans. He doesn't even actually save anybody, he just kills demons because it's the only people he can kill. He creates the buffybot out of his obsession with Buffy, and she rewards him for it. He doesn't go out and save people on his own, he kills demons on his own. He doesn't begin a path to redemption and keep trying to do right. He manipulates Buffy into spending time together "fighting evil" to expose Riley and stands outside her house so long he leaves piles of cigarettes. When he keeps Joyce and Dawn safe, it's to impress Buffy. It's not really about Joyce and Dawn. Sure, he likes them, but if they weren't an extension of Buffy, he wouldn't care about them nearly as much. He has no path to redemption, no reckoning with who he used to be, no guilt even. With a soul he mocks Robin, and wears his dead mother's jacket. Angel was ANGUISHED over what he'd done before. Spike tries to rape Buffy, then gets a soul to punish her. He never truly apologizes or is forced to confront what he did to Buffy. The scoobies aren't even allowed to be mad at him over it, much less make him work for their forgiveness. Buffy just lets it all slide. Then he self immolates and he's a champion? Where's the path to goodness? Where's the redemption? Where's the amends? Angel has an entire episode dedicated to making amends. Spike? Lol.

So all that to say, I don't think him becoming a Champion is any more earned or deserved than I think it made sense for Cordelia to suddenly take Buffy's place cuz she got visions.

[reiderwriter]

Hello!!If you were part of the writers on criminal minds,what would you have done differently when it came to the romantic relationships of it all and whats your opinion on some of the ships?Which would you erase and which are your favorites?I'm willing to read as much details and analysis you are willing to give on this lmao😂I loved the analysis on Reids sexual evolution season by season and am really curious on what you think on the ships like Reid and JJ,Reid Lila,Reid and Maeve,Reid and Elle😂Personally I would have created a diffrent character as a love interest for him all together.

This is practically an essay so I'm just going to apologise in advance of this. I'm not going to say I'd change much because the end product we got is my favorite show for a reason but yes, here is me talking about all the romantic relationships I can think of in CM and my opinions on them!

(Spoilers for season 1-15 of CM, CME, and season 8 of NCIS - yeah that's how long this post is).

Reid Ships

I think Reid ships are the ones most people have issues with in Criminal Minds so I'm going to start here with personal headcanons and my personal highlights. It's going to become clear that my biggest pet peeve in CM is when the writers want to give the characters a love interest and then just gender-bend their personalities, so let's start with Maeve and Spencer.

I've already talked at length in other posts about how I think the Maeve/ Zugzwang plotline wasn't my favorite. It was some amazing acting from MGG and Beth Reisgraf, but personally, I think it suffered from "serialized cop drama" plot line status. This show airs week after week with another case to solve in 45 minutes and they don't have the time or the format to pause through moments that in a standard drama would be very impactful.

To go on a slight tangent, that is partially why the relationships between the main cast are usually the only ones developed very well over extended arcs (I'll return to this when I talk about Jeid).

So, when you're trying to have an emotionally resonant moment, and you only have a handful of cold opens and one full episode to do it, you're going to have to make the characters motivations, personalities and back stories mesh in a way that makes you think: "holy shit they're perfect together."

Maeve and Spencer aren't that. I hate to use this term, but Maeve is like a manic pixie dream girl for Spencer? She's written as if she's too good to be true, which is why we're supposed to feel so sad when she dies. But they also tried to make her a complex character and didn't have the time to really do it, which is why we're given a back story that makes no fucking sense (as Spencer's DOCTOR no less) and some hints that she probably doesn't feel the same way as Spencer does for her (fiancé she never told him about etc.)

When Spencer's character starts evolving in later seasons to being more than just a genius, but a genius with trauma, they pull a similar stunt with Cat Adams/ Max

The show runner Erica Messer did mention that the Maeve plotline was always designed to be a three act plot: she's introduced, Spencer is in love with her, she dies. But, in my opinion, we didn't get enough of an introduction to her for me to feel really all that bad about it? They banked a lot on the audiences attachment to Reid, so when you feel bad about Maeve's death it's all about Reid - why do bad things keep happening to HIM, I wonder how HE will get through it - when she is the one who was just murdered. Those kind of dynamics always kind of throw me in romantic relationships.

I'm going to be clear, I do not ship Cat Adams and Reid either and I have pretty much no opinion on Max other than that if she were real I'd probably avoid her (teachers who hate teaching and blame the kids are weird! And I'm a teacher so I can say that I think lol).

Cat Adams is girl-Reid if he had a villain arc. She's 100% again there to push Reid's character development, and she's used as an action rather than a character. Max is the same. In season 15, with the entire team at a crossroads, they have to allow Reid two outs: one villain arc where he gives into his lust for Cat Adams, and one happy ending where he gets to start something with someone who is totally normal and a way out of the BAU the way Savannah was for Morgan. But it can't be as easy for Reid, and that's why we're left with the Cat/Max dilemma because he is really attracted to Cat, despite the fact that she was threatening to end the lives of members of Max's family.

By the end of the show, Reid had been actively on the team the most out of all the cast members (bar Penelope, but she wasn't out on cases first hand, so there's not as much emotional baggage there for her). He can't have an easy exit, so I kind of view this "love triangle" bullshit as a metaphor for Spencer choosing a normal life vs a continuation with the BAU.

Which is why I think that if CME continues, I think we're unlikely to see or hear from Max, because that means he's picked the BAU.

Okay now, not to sound like a broken record but, Jeid:

Before Truth or Dare, there is one single suggestion of Jeid being a possibility and it's a suggestion, from Gideon of all people, in season 1. It is CRAZY to me that after thirteen seasons they just decided to develop that one plotline again because jesus CHRIST.

My main problem with Jeid is that, actually, I think it had a lot of potential. Like I said, serialized dramas only have time to develop relationships between their main cast members, which is why we end up with a pseudo-found-family vibe no matter who happens to be on the team at any given point. A lot of similar dramas go down the route of coworker/ team mate relationships (think Ziva and DiNozzo in NCIS or Mulder and Scully in The X Files).

There was absolutely the potential for an opposites attract relationship with Jeid, but I think the minute they abandoned that after that small dialogue we got something WAY FUCKING BETTER. Their friendship is entirely underrated, Spencer regularly babysits her kid, she comforts him after Emily "dies," enough for them to have arguments about it after the fact. Your honor they are SIBLINGS. That is UNCLE SPENCER. Not your future step-dad.

When they decided to commit to JJ and Will, they should've stuck to it, and as a big fan of the Season 7 finale + Hit and Run it is very shitty seeing them trying to retcon both of these characters amazing developments and growth over 14 seasons and have them regress to shit tier versions of their Season 1 selves.

"But Kacie, there must be some Spencer relationships you like," I hear you ask. And there ARE:

Lila Archer is a great foil for Spencer. She has a happy, glamorous life until their paths cross, and then we can assume from dialogue in season 6 that she continues having a pretty fucking glamorous life after everything goes down. I don't think Spencer works best with characters that are traumatised or overly smart the way he is, because he needs something to return to after the cases that switch off that part of him, to help him forget the horrifying shit he sees on the job.

So Lila Archer was kind of a great love interest.

Another one that I'm so annoyed they didn't explore more is Austin. She's the bartender in the Season 4 Episode "52 Pickup" that is charmed by Spencer's card tricks. She is never mentioned again, but they had a great chemistry, she was quick on her feet and managed to spot the unsub first, and she was a really great foil for Spencer as well; it was a street smarts/ book smarts kind of dynamic. If they'd carried that character forward and had her reappear a few times, it could've been a great romantic plot.

I will just quickly note that the reason we most likely didn't see many romantic plots for Reid was because Matthew Gray Gubler didn't like the idea of giving him a romantic plotline, stating that there were so many more interesting things to do with the character - and he's right!

I'm a fanfiction writer, and the allure of characters like Spencer Reid is they are mostly romantic clean slates - you can write whatever you want for them within reason without having to disregard canon relationships. This is why similarly, Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Venom, and young "Marauders" fanfictions are pretty popular here imo too - canon compliance isn't disregarded, the reader is just written in. So I don't think I'd change a thing for Spencer to be honest (apart from maybe not kill Maeve off and give her the actual villain arc, but I say that so regularly I'm beginning to sound like a broken record).

Also I'll just quickly mention Elle because you mentioned her - outside of fanfiction there are literally zero hints (imo) of a thing between Elle and Reid lmao there's more of a case to be made for Elle and Morgan, but for some reason, writers and fans alike don't like committing to giving Morgan more than simply platonic connections. THEY SHOULD!! THE MAN IS SEXY AS HELL!!!!!!! GIVE ME A MORGAN WHO IS REGULARLY FUCKING!

Hotchner Ships

Speaking of characters that have a long time where they are single! Aaron Hotchner is another fandom favorite to write self-insert fanfiction for, because of the gap between Haley Hotchner's death in 100, and the introduction of Beth in season 7.

In general, I like the way Hotch's relationships play out on screen. Let's start with Haley:

You can tell that the writers really enjoyed the dynamic between work Hotch and home Hotch, because they played on it so much across the four first seasons. The very first time he is introduced he's in his bedroom picking out baby names with his childhood sweetheart, so any further scenes of him being more stern or serious are always in contrast with that introduction. It's a cold open to his character that immediately let's you know that there is more going on in his world than just the BAU, and he is the only member of the season one team that has that.

Then, they really LOVE taking that shit away from him. I'm not going to go into detail here about how fucking wack the time line is for Criminal Minds, but it is stupid and that's important here because:

I think Haley's reasons for divorcing Hotch are stupid.

She says that she married a man who was a prosecutor, not a man that was an FBI Profiler but realistically by the time of their divorce, he'd been in the BAU like 10 years. They rely more on the audiences sense of time (we're two years in, so they've all been on the team two years etc) to push this character motivation off. And for a while it makes sense that they were separated, until the events of 100. But also: in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, you literally signed up for whatever the FUCK happened, that's what a marriage vow IS.

Now I'm a sucker for the angst of 100,but would it not have felt 10x more emotionally disgusting if Hotch and Haley were talking about reuniting? If they had never celebrated in the first place, and had just finished working through their marital issues when Foyet comes back into their lives and Haley has to be whisked away again? Yes. Yes it would.

There's an episode in season 9 that really pisses me off, and it's the one that Hotch passes out from an old tear in his Foyet stab wounds and he goes into surgery and talks with Haley and Foyet in heaven while watching the rest of his life after the events of 100 on a cinema screen. It's cliché and also has no pay-off because it doesn't change the way he views his relationships after that, and it's not like he's at a crossroads at that point, so it means nothing to the audience except as a remembrance of an issue and an episode so far in the past that it feels like flogging a dead horse. They do this twice, btw, and this is the more successful use of this plot (the first time they do it to Elle in Season 1/2 during the events of The Wicker King - she talks to the father we didn't even know was dead, who died decades ago in an unrelated time. Not to keep bringing NCIS up, but I think the only time I've seen it done well is whenever Gibbs kept seeing Mike Franks in the diner scenes). They do not out enough effort into these plots to achieve the emotional resonance they are aiming for in my personal opinion.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this could've been the beginning of the era where Gibson was having a lot of issues with the cast, because it just felt like they didn't want to use him in the on-location shoots for a while lmao. Anyway, all that to say, Haley should've stayed dead, and not come back as a stupid phantom.

After the dust has settled on Haley and Hotchner though, we get Hotchner and Beth:

This is going to be a short note, because I actually really like the relationship between these two characters. They have the very slow cold-open build up that Maeve and Spencer get, but there's a lot more and a lot less to Beth's character that makes the dynamic between them really enjoyable to watch.

We're once again treated to the out-of-work Hotchner that had been missing since Season 4 (his in between scenes with Jack are cute but there's always the tragedy hanging over them). Beth is running a marathon in honor of her dad, Hotch is doing something similar for the FBI Triathalon, they train together the tension builds, they start dating. Now obviously it wasn't the purpose or aim of this character introduction to build to tragedy, and I think they just genuinely wanted to show a happy Hotchner again, but its still a valid criticism of the weird voyeuristic Maeve build-up that they literally succeeded a more sympathetic and audience engaging late minor-recurring-character EARLIER THAN THE MAEVE ARC.

I'll shut up now, but yeah, I like Hotch and Beth.

Penelope Ships

This post is getting ridiculously long, so much so that I'm even contemplating adding a fucking word count, but let's continue and dive in to my next issue.

Penelope's romantic life is used as a punch-line for the first 11 seasons and I HATE it.

There is no easy short to say this, but I despise Kevin. He is stupid, and a joke, and I hate him and I am SO HAPPY that she dumped him. They made her really pathetic about him for a few episodes, and then he kept fucking coming back too which was even worse.

Kevin is literally male Garcia but with all the worst attributes. He's clingy, and needy, and he may be smart but in a very "incel" way. In my opinion, Kevin is less a fully fledged character and more a joke line/ convenient plot point for when they need more tech analyst work. The best moment in the Kevin/Penelope arc is during the The Gathering, where she really lays into him and tells him off for being jealous of her ukelele instructor AFTER THEY'D BROKEN UP.

Penelope deserved so much better than what they gave her romantically in these seasons. First, her date tried to kill her, her boyfriend was a joke, etc. She never gets the serious romantic plotline that her other teammates do (Hotch/Haley, Spencer/Maeve, Derek/Savannah, JJ/Will, Emily/being a big old lesbian etc). Penelope is really great levity for the rest of the cast because she is happy and she is positive and she is unapologetic in her positivity. It's annoying that they don't let her be more than that in the romantic relationships they give he during these seasons.

Then Luke Alvez is introduced and there is some hope! Galvez truther's please, rise they are so adorable.

Anyone involved in the writing of CME - what the hell was that? Now I haven't seen it myself, to be completely fair, but I know enough to ask the question - really what the HELL was that?

Tl;dr Penelope's sexuality and romantic relationships should not be used as punchlines.

The Aversion to Homosexuality

This is just a general note, but the writers originally did plan to have Emily Prentiss be gay - amazing, great, it's a completely different time now, please let her have a gay awakening soon. It was obviously scrapped early in, but there's a lot of subtext that can be interpreted in that way.

They did commit with Tara, and she gets a gf in CME, so I want to see some Temily in the future if we do get more CM seasons.

So just so you know, everytime I mention Emily flirting with someone in my fic, assume it's a woman if you aren't already, lmao.

(They did also talk about making Reid bisexual as well, which would've also been great, but again, I don't think we're ever getting any more romantic plotlines from Reid).

Other Characters

Here's just a rating and short mention for all the other character couples I can think of in Criminal Minds, because this is already thesis length lmao:

Morgan + Savannah - 8.5/10, no notes, really just the gender bent love interest but done right.

Alex Blake + Husband - 7/10, solid couple, very much enjoyed when they started bringing in the people in established relationships again lmao.

Kate Callahan + Husband - 5/10, same as above but I wasn't as attached to her character rip.

Matt + Kirsty - 10/10 really no notes, I too would be called a breeder if I managed to lock that man down, damn.

Rossi + His 3 Ex-Wives - Make total sense for his character, very enjoyable to me, love that he has a nice moment with most of them again throughout the series, not going to rate it lol.

Rossi + Strauss - 3.5/10 - Last ditch attempt to make Strauss a sympathetic character, but I felt more attached to her growth after being called out by Derek rather than the effect that her death had on Rossi.

Gideon + the friend of his who is murdered by that Frank guy at the end of season 2 - stupid, worst way to go out, made no sense for the character, but I know Mandy Patinkin wanted OUT and honestly, anything for you Inigo Montoya.

Why I think Criminal Minds is Better Without Romance

Generally, I really do agree with Matthew Gray Gubler when he said that there were more interesting things to explore with these characters than their romantic attachments. It does frustrate me to no end that they focused on some of them more than others, and that post Henry, most of JJ's big moments are tied to motherhood and being a mother/ wife, but that change in her character is still amazing and leads her to a lot of growth (not mentioning Truth or Dare again, sorry it doesn't exist at this point in the post)(also I didn't have much time to mention Will and JJ, but I do love them).

Their best moments are the ones we get of them together as a team, saving people and putting away murderers for life, it's a perfect Found Family!!!

Also, no more romance = Spencer Reid can be mine. In conclusion, I am delusional. Thank you for reading this far.

[avissapiens]

Jockbull Summer Final Week Set A (1/1/24-7/1/24)

Model Used is Tsonghan Wu

Here we are bros. I decided to end it early since I accidentally started the Jockbull summer in like the last month of Spring. So we’ll call this a season. 8 weeks and then onto the next. Additionally, interest largely seem’s to have waned and I wanna focus on giving some more stuff that’ll keep your attention rather than flooding your dashboards lol. These will be my last set of diary write ups. And then next week I'll have a retrospective detailing how things went and what I'm likely to keep

1.

I’ll be straight and real with yall. This was probably the worst week yet lol. Mentally i just wasn’t here. Lots of stress and strain. I do have a new workout structure, that includes AMRAP pushups near the end. Diamond push ups that really tire you out by the time you finish all your other training, but its not quite the same or for the same purpose. I tried to sort my time table so that Pushups were combined with the times i wanted to work on my PT cert early in the day. But that has yet to really work out.

2.

Keeping with the smite idea from previous weeks I managed to go on a 3 game win-streak. Total ez streak, possibly because my Elo was reset from not playing in such a long time. But dunking is still dunking and you still get the mental endorphin rush from winning. Only thing that broke the streak is that my Duos partner (yet another Muscle brained Gym bro that i’ve known for years) had to dip mid game. Tragic.

3.

Since this is the last week and its even I didn’t throw anything out. But I am going to have one final push to get some of the last chunks of shitty oversized clothing out of my life. Gonna make an attempt to throw out 4 more pieces of clothing and then the lot will be going to the charity/thrift shop.

4.

I’m good enough at this. I’ll use it more often. And I am 100% going to do that Bro voice file at some point in the future.

5.

There is an episode of Baki where the main character is lying in bed with his girlfriend horny as hell, and they are about to fuck when Baki’s father, Strongest man in the world Yujiro, appears out of the darkness to cheerlead them fucking. And more than cheerlead. This man encourages the most relentless rauchy unending stream of fucking bitches from his 18 year old son. Literally morning noon and night boning down. It sounded like a passage from Alpha breeder. Unbelievable. Why doesn’t this show have more fanart?

6.

A kind of gymbro failure story which makes me sound like a bit of a douche but i also don’t care.

I’m pretty regularly one of the bigger guys in the gym at any given time. Not always. And that’s not really a compliment to me and more of a dunk on the kind of establishment that my gym is. So this one dude has kinda latched onto me as his story for hope cause of all the weight i lost and how much i’ve grown. I think he’s convinced i’m going to give him the secret formula and not just tell him “Just keep training and eat properly.” He came up to me this week and asked if he could come and workout with me another day. Gave some spiel about needing someone to motivate him and keep him going. He’s another immigrant too. So I commiserate with that and I told him sure, even tho i don’t particularly like training push with other people. But then on the day he was supposed to come at the time we had set up he just…didn’t show. Which makes sense. I tried telling him, motivation should be internal. Consistency comes from discipline. But he didn’t want to hear it. And so the outcome made sense. I wasn’t super broken up about it, Just meant i got to train push on my own in peace and quiet.

[tailsbeth-writes]

Saw the open tag from @taste-thewaste on this! This took me down memory lane a bit 🥲

How many works do you have on ao3?

61

What's your total ao3 word count?

138,797

What fandoms do you write for?

Red, White & Royal Blue mostly but I'm happy to write Heartstopper and og Skam.

I've written for Riverdale, Teen Wolf, Skam France, Wtfock, Druck, Skam Italia & Shadowhunters in the past.

Top five fics by kudos:

Digital Love Letters (RWRB)

i try hard to get back inside your arms alive (RWRB) - and particularly insane as I posted this last week! 🥰)

Right Kind of Wrong (Riverdale)

your heart is your masterpiece (RWRB)

a frightening magic I cling to (RWRB)

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! They make my day, I screenshot my faves. I also love when someone finds a fic that has lots of chapters & I get a flurry of comments 🤌🏻

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Tricky, I don't usually finish on angst. Echo (Wtfock) follows on from a very horrendous part of the show or Season 5 - Magnus (Skam) never got finished so it's been left in the midst of angst.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them end on a happy note but Love, Henry (RWRB) is probably the happiest.

Do you get hate on fics?

I think there was a little back when I started in Riverdale but I think it more anger on their part for a topic I could have written more sensibly I suppose? I've had critique on fics now but never hate.

Do you write smut?

I've written it one time years ago & it felt weird. I loooove writing foreplay though! But I've not ventured into smut in my current fandoms. That might be something I do though, my bigender Alex fic might go into that if there's sequel.

Craziest crossover:

I've only done one and it was a Riverdale meets Teen Wolf, it was a Christmas special and they had to help reunite Santa with his reindeer. While I haven't watched Riverdale for ages, I'm still really proud of that fic!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, thankfully!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, I'd love that though 😄

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I'd absolutely love to collab this year, in the RWRB fandom in particular y'all are so talented 🥲

All time favorite ship?

Firstprince (RWRB) probably. Wilmon (Young Royals) is a close second atm, I'd love to write some YR fics soon. I'm still a massive Yousana (Skam) and Davenzi (Druck) shipper too. Oh and Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel (TBSATDH) - can't remember the ship name! That show got cancelled too soon & it was basically like a fix it for the books.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Teen Wolf reader insert fic with a pregnancy story line that I left on a huge cliffhanger but frustrates me but not enough to motivate to finish it. I also have my Skam season 5 - Magnus fic that I'd love to finish one day but I haven't found the plan I made for it originally.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and character voice I think?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting? I'm good at writing scenes but writing a longer storyline in fanfic is something I struggle with.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

If you can do it, go for it! I wish I could incorporate more Spanish in my RWRB fics but alas I only got French or German at my school, I only stuck with French. Maybe I'll brush up & add some in for Henry (RWRB) or Nick (Heartstopper).

First fandom you wrote in?

Riverdale, I haven't seen it in years 😅

Favorite fic you've written?

i try hard to get back inside your arms alive is the probably the one I'm proudest of and while it isn't finished yet Her Royal Highness is up there cause it combines so many of my favourite things, I'm getting to explore darker topics in some scenes while also putting Henry in drag - fanfic catnip for me quite frankly!

I'm not sure who has done this already but I'll tag folks I want to see answer this: @heysweetheart-writes @candyspandemonium @firenati0n @onthewaytosomewhere @callumsmitchells & of course, open tag 💛

[emily-prentits]

tagged by @crime-wives <33

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

59! (one of which is actually not mine, but it's been passed off to me so i can write the ending. its a long story)

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

170,144 (I DONT WANNA TALK ABOUT IT 😭)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

at the moment i'm a little all over! i have wips for grey's anatomy, silk comics, and the 2019 carmen sandiego reboot.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Dance With Me - 326 kudos (Carmen Sandiego)

lately she's undressing for revenge - 298 kudos (Grey's Anatomy)

used to think loving meant a painful chase (but you're right here now, and I think you'll stay) - 250 kudos (Grey's Anatomy)

all the cuddles are for you - 222 kudos (Carmen Sandiego)

kissing you (again and again and again) - 199 kudos (Killing Eve)

5. do you respond to comments?

i try to! and i always get around to it eventually, unless it's a comment asking me to update etc otherwise it's not worth my time or energy.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

you're gone (and I'm all alone) for sure. the first and only time i've written main character death (so far).

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhh. i don't do a lot of that. but if i had to pick from my sparse collection, i'd say You Are In Love :) short and sweet and ridiculously fluffy. my love letter to meddison <3

8. do you get hate on fics?

i don't think so! i don't write for gigantic fandoms, so the people that read my fics are usually too glad to have a new fic to nitpick my writing lmaoo. and honestly if i did i don't remember, so it clearly wasn't that important to me. shrug emoji

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

yep! as for what kind... well. i'll write anything if i have a strong enough vision and motivation lol. even in my one multi, there's a vast range of stuff. i'm always open to explore!

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

i don't write crossovers, personally i don't care for them, unless aus count.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope :) and if someone tries it i will make their online life a living hell :)

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

yeah! i've co-written twice so far: burning (this is not a love story) with @which-star and it was intentional with @jackie-shitposts :))

14. what's your all time favourite ship?

thats a tough one 😭 but i'd have to go with silkcat from marvel comics. literally who is doing every dynamic so well like they do (no one is)

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh so many. SO many. including but not limited to: meddison season 18/19 neighbor au, meddison bloomington au, and are you mine? (i'm not quite yours). its exhausting having all these ideas and no motivation to write them :(

16. what are your writing strengths?

i'm told that i write complex/angsty feelings really well! and i'm glad i do lol because why is my brain like this if not to be a storyteller

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

little movements. i love them and need them. they kill me.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i'm open to it! i'm not fluent in any languages other than english, but i could probably string together some sentences in spanish if i tried (don't ask me about my latin abilities, pls and ty.)

19. first fandom you wrote for?

the 2019 carmen sandiego reboot on netflix! that show got me into writing and is also how i met my partners :)

20. favorite fic you've written?

oh boy you're making me choose 😭 i'll say that revenge is my top 1 SO FAR. second and third is tied between intrigue (hold your breath). and already yours. these three are some of the only fics i've written that i like enough to reread.

no pressure tagging: @walshies @which-star @lisascumslut78 @itsdappleagain @peridotglimmer @sucker-for-emily-prentiss and any other writers that want to! i always forget which of my mutuals write when im tagged in stuff like this. whoops

[martymcflown]

Oh boy, okay. I just finished Veilguard. I'm going to split my thoughts into non-spoilery and spoilery. I yap a lot.

Non-spoilery:

In terms of enjoyment? I'd say a 8/10. I was emotionally invested in all the characters. I enjoyed the fight mechanics a lot as a warrior (we'll see how I feel in my mage playthrough). I actually felt a lot of motivation to complete as many quests as humanly possible, which is quite different from how I felt during DA:I where a lot of the time I felt like I was running in circles most of the time to complete quests that felt like they didn't matter (and I say this as a DA:I defender).

I do completely understand the critiques from people who say the lore is really lacking. I didn't personally feel like the rich history of Dragon Age mattered much during gameplay. Even choices that can be made in the beginning for your Inquisitor didn't seem to matter much for me (I didn't even get to see the partner I'd chosen for them, kind of lame). I've only heard tell of one variation that matters to the narrative and it's only at the very end. I wish choices like that mattered more, and that the sociopolitical aspects of the series had a greater impact.

HOWEVER, I'm also not as invested in the lore as others clearly are so it didn't detract enough from gameplay for me to say I was unhappy. More like, I think it could have been better. Most of my negative opinions are in the spoiler section though. So, uh. I do recommend this game! I think it was a ton of fun! I'm already playing through as a different character because I was itching to try different choices, even knowing the ending. This is definitely one I'll replay a lot, potentially even more than the last game which I invested hundreds of hours into.

Spoilery thoughts:

Complaints:

-The Varric twist had some emotionally impactful moments, but also I find it pretty cheesy and hard to believe? It was something I'd guessed early on because Varric never interacted with anyone else, but then I convinced myself it was too cheesy to be the actual twist. WELL.

-I thought the ending was pretty anticlimactic, all things considered. I'm pretty sure I got the "good" ending (I only lost one party member...well, two in my opinion because I count Assan as a party member). I guess I sort of expected something like DA:I where there's a celebration at the end where you get to have pleasant goodbyes, as opposed to just "Hey we're about to die but I love you kiss kiss."

-In general, the pacing of the game felt kind of bananas. I can't tell how much in-narrative time passes in the entire game, but if you told me it was only a week I'd believe you. I don't know if I have a great solution to that. Maybe some indication that seasons are passing, or maybe a wait time is necessary between certain quests ("We have to wait for the frost to melt before we can go through the Gate of Blorbus" or something). Part of my disbelief for the Varric twist in part is that NOBODY talks about his death, not even Harding? They've known each other for years. But I guess the breakneck pace is partially to distract you from that.

Random things I really liked:

-Manfred and Assan. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE ASSAN IS GONE, BYE. I also just realized some people have played a version of this game where you lose both Manfred and Assan. I'm so sorry. ANYWAY. Positives. I just think they're precious.

-Loved the environments. Dock Town was probably my favorite, but I enjoyed exploring every map I encountered. Which, big improvement on DA;I (where if I saw one more green expanse where I had to run for three hours to get to a quest marker I would have killed everyone in this room and then myself).

-Thought it was a great touch that companions would continue their conversations after a fight. "Where was I?" etc. It's a small thing but I found it really added to feeling engrossed in the world.

-I like that the companions all have relationships to one another and that there are little touches throughout the game to show they each think about each other. I know there were complaints that everyone...acted like friends? Which, I dunno man. Have you ever made friends? I guess to each their own but their bonds all made sense to me, as well as how the various pairings developed their relationships.

-Even if some of the gender identity stuff felt clumsy at times, I love that it's an option to explore. I love that being trans or nonbinary provides specific dialogue options or changes Rook's relationship to certain characters. I can't imagine playing the game as a cis Rook now.

-I thought there were some fantastic performances from a lot of the cast. I really liked my Rook's VA and was shocked at how moved I was at certain moments in the ending. I think the performances were a major contributing factor to how attached I became to everyone, particularly Lucanis and Emmrich and Taash for me. Oh man, and Harding during her personal quest? Amazing.

-THE LIGHTING!!!! SO GOOD!!!!

My romance with Lucanis:

-Loved it. This is one thing I really don't understand the complaints about, but maybe that's my asexuality showing. I found his character arc really moving and I think the romance added a really nice layer to that. Also, the fanfic potential of Lucanis falling asleep and Rook + Spite playing naked cards? Come on.

My friendship with everyone else:

-I think most of the companions had one really strong theme that carried through each of their narratives. Some of them connected more with me personally than others, but I enjoyed all the personal quests and I cried at pretty much all of their resolutions. I think the only one I found lacking was Neve's? But that's probably my fault for certain choices I made. I'm so sorry, Neve. I doomed our city for the sake of Crow bussy.

-Some of the writing for Taash's storyline felt a bit cheese. However, I'm coming at that from the perspective of a trans and gender nonconforming person who's consumed a lot more media that discusses queer themes than vidya games. So, Taash's storyline sometimes felt like "baby's first coming out", but that was probably for more general audiences who consume the game (and I think the complaints about the game being "too woke" are just...outrageously stupid).

[nerdalmighty]

Make me choose between two things:

Ok if you insist. 😈

Only one of these can exist, which do you choose? Good Omens season 2 or Baldur's Gate 3?

-anntickwittee

What an absolutely vile question (affectionate).

To be honest? I know I'm currently obsessed with BG3 so I'm probably biased, but I think I'd rather keep BG3 over GO2. AND I HATE SAYING THAT!!!

My reason being: We were all super content with GO S1. It followed the book pretty closely and added elements that I think made it even more enjoyable than the book (In my opinion! I know it's beloved in its book form and I love it too, I just love how the show expanded on things). I truly didn't know what to expect from S2 because S1 was so well self contained and that's all fans thought we were ever going to get. I am THRILLED we got an S2. It's gorgeous and perfect and I'm beyond excited for S3 (which starts filming in January!!!!)

With BG3, it's really gotten me out of my comfort zone in terms of gaming and storytelling. In the past, I steered clear of big open world games because I was way too overwhelmed and prefer straightforward paths in games like Pokemon and Deltarune (I know there are multiple endings and ways to play, but for the most part there's an order in which to do things). With BG3, there are truly so many options that each gaming experience can feel brand new and pan out incredibly differently from a previous game. I love that there's replayability and that I'll be able to keep replaying it for years to come.

It's also helped push me in terms of playing and understanding dnd. I've been playing for a little over a year now and watching actual plays for longer, but I understand even more now having played this game. There's always a little feeling of excitement when the DM or people I'm watching play mention something that I learned because I've played BG3.

Additionally, something I've been struggling with recently is feeling motivated to be creative. I love my job and the people I work with, but there can be a monotony that creeps in since I work from home and have a fairly regimented schedule (animation production is NO JOKE! And it RULES!). Baldur's Gate has consistently inspired me to create (mainly write, which is what I've always wanted to do) and I'm so grateful for that after feeling lost for a long time.

Granted, I'm still feeling lost and unsure of my abilities, but getting to practice storytelling with characters I love and settings and elements I find interesting is really amazing. Yes, Good Omens 2 could have inspired something like this in me, but for whatever reason, it was BG3 that did. I read (and continue to read) a good amount of GO fics, but I was never inspired enough to create my own (though it DID inspire me to make some fun gifsets which I loved making). With BG3, not only have other fics inspired me, but there are moments between cutscenes and story beats that I've wanted to write and expand on since the game is so huge and the writers and developers could only expand on so much themselves. Ultimately, I want to be able to create those fantastical worlds and lovable characters and I'm really thankful BG3 reminded me of that.

Do I have any big ideas currently? No. But the intent is there and that's huge! So I'll keep persisting :)

POINT IS: I love both pieces of media and they're both deeply special to me, but since BG3 has helped reawaken a part of myself that's been snoozing for a long time, I'll pick that FOR NOW.

[lonewolflink]

non chronological scene collage….oh you are speaking my language…..i love love love (plus jihyo!!! ahh!!!! jihyo!!!!!!!! <33333) 2yeon was the ship that got me into kpop fic and therefore they will always have a special place in my heart

as for fanart. i cannot promise it will be good (harken back to the bit where i have NOT practiced drawing the itzy girlies yet) but ive been thinking abt all of them all day so. who knows!! potentially incoming!!!!

also every time you talk about all the arcs and whatnot i want to get a corkboard with red string and deduce like. i am so excited. no 1 wsc fan here. i watched a hockey match yesterday and ive never watched a single sports game in my life. i think it’s taking over like some sort of infectious mold. -hambbyong

keep asking about 2yeon and i'll probably do it lmao they're so fun (irl, in fic, in every universe, i just love that dynamic. and especially when jeongyeon had the fluffy blonde hair. oh my god. not to be thirsty on main but, uh, ma'am)

my twice research for writing hockey au made very clear to me early on that the ships i gravitated to were michaeng, 2yeon, and to a lesser extent dahmo. can't quite tell if those are sort of the OG favored ships that are now outdated, but those are the ones that made most sense to me! we already have a little 2yeon in hockey au and an easter egg of michaeng with them as a d pairing...i'll have to see if i want to do anything more than that with the twice ships. i'll say nothing about sana until we meet her in chapter 3 ;)

the thought that anyone is enjoying my au enough to even think about drawing fanart for it, no matter the quality, is incredibly touching (and makes me feel so motivated to keep writing tbh). can't wait to see what you come up with if/when you commit to doing it, and i'm sure it'll be amazing :)

also LMAO with the corkboard you have no idea i literally have 4 planning documents, one of which is over 100 pages long. i have an entire excel spreadsheet tracking season stats for every named player in the league (aka the members of literally EVERY MAJOR GG IN 3RD/4TH GEN KPOP because i'm fucking nuts), many of whom probably won't even appear in the fic (...though quite a few...will...keep an eye out ;) ). i...went completely insane on this one idk it just GRABBED ME and i couldn't stop, blame my adhd hyperfixation, i hope it never ends

me writing hockey au (shouting at @ddeongies and @snowddeong):

[lysteriaposts]

OBX 3 TIER LIST

i wanted to make a review but um... it took me like a week to finish the whole thing.. which should say enough.. and honestly i don't really feel like rewatching the majority of the episodes lol. i'll just give my reasons for the tiers instead.

this is probably my most unpopular one yet.

the only emotional journeys i connected with this season was topper, rafe and pope.

cleo could've been there if they actually focused more on her as a person rather than being thrown into a relationship and having that be the focus of her arc, same with kiara. still, i find cleo / pope duo way more watchable than jj / kiara. and she is a nice character.

i actually wished we'd seen kiara be kidnapped half of the season at singh's so that, a) the reunion actually feels more earned b) her and rafe's scenes were gold and probably the most interesting things for her character this season c) we could learn more about the "new, evil villain" and his motives. instead he felt out of place.

as for singh, he could cut it with the "you knows" ....

topper and kiara delivered on the comedy this season though, which is one reason they placed higher.

CAN'T FORGET BARRY

jj's whole "i don't want to be loved" thing felt half assed and he didn't crack me up the way he did s1-2... the humor felt kind of cartoonish (crabs 🫥). i still don't like how they dumb him down to an actual caricature, it was endearing and believable in s1 but it's just gotten worse each season for cheap slapstick. it's not funny.

i wanted more conflict between him and pope and their friendship

i didn't need jj / kiara to be honest... had no relevance to what was going on, and felt very dry. like they were trying to churn out something that just isn't there, and i didn't recognise the characters either.

rafe just elevates any scene he's in and any character he's with. i give props to drew 'cause even though the writing feels more serious for his character than the others, it probably wouldn't come across as good as it does without a good enough actor. luckily enough he's been spared from most of the corniness on this show.

the john b/sarah/topper thing is repetitive but i'm glad we got to see a story where topper isn't villainised (in the show, just by the pogues). he saved sarah's life, yet gets used and discarded. she keeps making the same mistakes, and the john b/big john stuff was just atrocious. he suddenly trusts the dad who abandoned him for years over his ride or die friends? the gf who sacrificed everything for him?? yeah ok dude.

the complete absence of rose but wheezie especially is unrealistic as hell. i don't understand why new, annoying characters are introduced (limbray.... singh... jb's dad) when they don't amount to anything in the end and there is no investment in them. we could've seen so many good family relationships and dynamics, how does the completely overlooked youngest sibling view everything? actually an episode from her POV would've been hilarious and also insanely interesting.

as much as i prefer ward over jb's dad and liked him as a villain... he didn't play a big enough part in this season to keep (he is also irredeemable). i think they could've killed him off in s2. and rafe could've dealt with the aftermath of that this season instead of s4.

the treasure thing felt contrived and way too much for one season. i don't really get the pacing, they don't need to find something new each season they can take a break once in a while and have like every other season be more obx / character focused. and the rest plot. that way when they do find something it feels much greater! what they did over the course of these three seasons could've easily been stretched to six seasons with better writing and giving the story room to breathe, develop a lot of other things etc... instead of making up "blackbeard" 💀

there's much more to say, and a lot of issues with the production and more nitpicky faults, but these are probably my biggest issues with the story. in the end it was a very disjointed season, probably my least favorite so far.