#i'm kidding i do know he serves a narrative function and there's a reason he exists. i just hate him and think he's kinda badly written <3

[transmascutena]

i cannot get over how much ruka feels like a bad self insert fanfiction character. "suddenly this cool handsome guy shows up who was the true captain of the fencing club all along (and he's just as strong- no, even stronger than juri is) and, um, the reason he hasn't been mentioned until this point is because he was in the hospital (he's tragic too!!). and he of course gets to duel, because he has a super special rose seal too. and he's doing it because he's selflessly in love with juri and nobly wants to save her from that evil bitch shiori who i- i mean who he hates. and every girl in the school is deeply in love with him." and then the narrative itself has to kill him off to get him out of there because none of that was supposed to happen

[mformarsala]

ok long-ish post with my thoughts on how tbb might end

Kinda of a fixed point we have is that Hemlock's research should be successful to a certain degree and lay foundation for cloning Palpatine.

My understanding is that Omega's blood function as a medium, substrate that allows to clone force sensitives while maintaining M-count. So you need Omega's blood and someone force sensitive.

Therefore, either Omega stays at the Tantiss (and tbb all die) or she stays just long enough for them to get enough blood (and than gets rescued by tbb)

While tbb casually kills a lot of characters it does not feel in the tone of the series to go the first glum route (and it does not really fit into overall plot).

I think there will be another time skip where they get enough data of Omega before she is rescued and it will serve to explain why after s3 the empire is no longer after Omega or tbb.

Plus partial success would explain why remnants of the empire are after Grogu in the Mandalorian. Say tbb rescues the force sensitive children and Omega, than the empire has enough of Omega's blood but needs more force sensitive children for experiments. And Hemlock is demoted because of the fiasco and it creates the delay till the Mandalorian in the program.

In s1e2 Cut says "You wanna know how to dissapear? Put being a soldier behind you and make a new life for yourself." so it seems likely to me that the ending of tbb is going to be akin the ending of the Mandalorian and they'll settle as farmers somewhere out of the way.

Maybe with the force sensitive kids, maybe they'll offload them onto someone "who can train them".

Emerie is probably going to defect and stay with the kids.

I hope clones imprisoned on Tantiss will be rescued by tbb. Omega keeps bringing it up for a reason, right?

Comandos... Tbb does not seem to be too focused on forcefully removing chips/programming so they'll probably be reassigned to other projects (in assumption that Tantiss closes at the end of tbb) or disposed off screen.

As I'm writing this I'm realizing that i see tbb ending either with a small farm just for tbb and Omega or a big farm for tbb and all the kids accumulated on the way. My money on the small farm though.

There is a possibility I suppose that Omega IS force sensitive and she goes with the other fs kids and tbb goes to live somewhere else.. But like the only thing that suggests that ending is that one line from Ventress. And I think the whole obsession with Omega's blood works differently. It's not confirmed high M-count, it's confirmed high M-count replication.

With how little Echo was in this season it does seem likely that the rumors are true and there will be another animated series. The story of Emerie, comandos, and freed clones might continue there.

Big question of course is the identity of CX-2.

Narratively I think the only option that makes sense is Tech. Plus observations I have seen online regarding speech patterns and fighting moves do seem convincing. However, I do have some reservations here. CX-2 is almost.. too good to be Tech? Absolutely no shade to Tech but he was always part of a team and not a sole operative and focused on technical aspects and his weapon of choice were pistols rather than a rifle. Idk if time skip was enough to retrain him.

CX-2's distorted voice is different from CX's distorted voice. On one hand Tech's voice is different from reg's so it's a point for team Tech. On the other CX's voice sounds nothing like clone's and it was a bit of a reveal in s2 that the operative was a clone so maybe it's neither here nor there.

The second obvious option that comes to mind is Cody. Rampart knows about CX program; a clone that expresses doubts regarding empire is send to a secret reconditioning program and if anyone asks "he went AWOL". I mean it sounds plausible. Plus Cody is usually depicted wielding DC-15 either carbine or rifle so it's perhaps an easier switch to the CX's rifle. Though this season noone is mentioning Cody so it does seem far fetched. Unless face reveal is like the final frame of s3 and is used to pivot into the new series.

[paragox]

I've been thinking about this since 2025 leaks were out and since rn I'm waiting for a client's response and my phone to charge I figured I would just go ahead to share it.

So I think some of the faults one could have with Dragons Rising can be because of the fact is working as both a sequel and a soft reboot so it's trying to keep old fans and bring in new fans.

Overall I think it's been doing an amazing work at that, but it kinda affects the writing at times.

For example a new fan won't know anything about the Ninja or anything that happen prior, this isn't much of a problem, old fans get a bonus of getting the references and getting hyped for old folks or themes and stuff.

But it can bring problems when writing a character or scene, or even managing the amount of characters, this is up to P1 S2 btw and I won't be including leaks info so no spoilers there.

One instance we can see this is Zane, on one hand I truly believe they're playing the long game with him and we will see more evolution of him as next season rolls round, Doc said it himself "we will be rolling in and out characters according to the plot", but as of right now he's not... Zane, at least not the Nindroid we know, he's been in the sidelines as has been incredibly robotic, yay.

Cole is another one in a lower instance, he's there w the finders but... that's it, he doesn't do much tbh and I won't blame any kid whose watching Ninjago for the first time and says he's not his favourite, because they haven't seen him shine.

And then there's Jay, which is in a kind of limbo, one one hand the new watchers might get interested in him because everything surrounding him is suspicious on the other hand there's not much to care since he's been on screen like 2min over two seasons, but I've seen characters been the same amount of time on screen and still loved so.

But here's the thing, we gotta slowly show his character, the old one, the ninja side of him, but he's amnesic and not the focus rn so how? Enter Nya, this, I believe, is the reason why the fear section was used to bring in Jaya, sure in part is because is for the emotional punch but on the other hand serves well enough as a first time exposition for new watchers on Jaya and how these two characters are correlated.

We can argue about Nya writing all we want all day, but all in all I don't think it's that bad in DR, instead you could argue she's being used as a tool for exposition and such why we got that scene. Some of the writers here worked on Seabound, I really don't think she's being that misunderstood as some people might make her be.

Because of the two when one is not there the non-functional one is Jya, not Nya as she tends to resort to Anger when something happens, and she's been working just fine these years, especially because she grew up having to be self-sufficient at an early age, she misses him but it's not really crippling her.

I could argue they're just not showing their worst deepest fears because on a character analysis there are usually something related to stuff like self-doubt, isolation, etc.

The fears we see in DR are used as plot points and honestly with that in mind it doesn't bother me as much as it could've if I stick with the "oh this is my worst deepest fear ever", "of course is Jay, of course is Zeatrix, of course is Arin's parents", they're valid fears, but they're not the deepest, they're however points to have in mind for next seasons.

I also see they're going on a very long run story, it reminds of a book or a visual novel, plot points open, some close, other more are open and some won't come back to closure until you're 20hrs+ into the story and you're reminded of it.

I don't think that's bad, basically is a long waiting game, sure DR does have a pacing problem at times, especially in parts 1 (I hate you ep 6 of s2) but for what I've watched it's not the worst thing, it might work better or worse but at my eyes is just another narrative structure than the self-conclusive one we're mostly used to and honestly? I think they're doing a decent job at it.

We're gonna see plot points be shoved aside until they're relevant again, we're gonna see characters sidelined during half a season or a season until they bring them back, we're gonna slowly get answers as the parts go on and some mysteries might not even get answers and I think that's okay.

[heretichromia]

Reed Alter Good, on a conceptual level.

Or, the logistical reasons why Alters don't necessarily suck.

I'm mildly disappointed that the reveal didn't end up being Mandragora, but only mildly, because I've been saying that Reed Alter should be a thing for a long time.

Alters are...going to be a thing. And they're a thing we're probably going to have to be okay with. And that's okay! Because they don't have to suck, and Reed is probably the least problematic one we've gotten yet.

(Thankfully, for those worried about powercreep, Ch'alter actually did pretty poorly by Alter standards, only performing better than Nearl; they seem to have learned that gamebreakingly powerful units don't actually necessarily move product more.)

They're a consistent source of income, but on a logistical level, they're a good way to draw excitement towards an event or a banner without trying to shoehorn multiple new characters into the spotlight. That spotlight is getting rather crowded. We have over 200 playable characters right now, and around half of that cast couldn't matter less to any of the major narratives floating around. The necessity to introduce new characters with every major development is a serious problem for the writers to grapple with.

Look at Stultifera Navis. It's a story about Specter, about a pre-existing character (and a 5*, at that). That's simply not a thing you can easily do if you're also going to tie it to a big-name event like an Anniversary. Anniversary events need a big banner, and the marquee unit will necessarily be the focus of the event, because otherwise, you're setting up for disappointment. The integrity of the narrative is important, but Hypergryph is a company, and they're looking to make money. The big events need to come with big, exciting banners.

Irene is a great character, and I love her dearly, but I have serious doubts about her capacity to carry an Anniversary banner on her own—and, if she was going to, you'd need to make the event significantly more about her. You'd need to drum up hype for her debut, shine the spotlight on her, and change the story so that it's much more about her blossoming from a bookish, naïve apprentice to a fully-fledged hero. And that could have kind of worked, admittedly. They'd still be able to tell the story of the Abyssal Hunters through her perspective, but it would need to be a much different event..

But Irene wouldn't be the only 6* released. Events require 3 new units, and Under Tides set the precedent that, for Anniversary events, all 3 are 6*s. Usually, it's no problem to just release 5* characters like Corroserum or Blacknight on these banners, with little to no relevance to the story. Even the welfares can be characters like Iwona, given some lip service in the plot, but no actual major role. But 6*s are different. There's an expectation that all 3 characters will serve some kind of major narrative function in the event.

That's a really hard task to accomplish without the story seeming super contrived.

Let's look at the one new character we did get, Lumen. Jordi was...sort of awkwardly hamfisted into the story in order to justify his existence. I don't dislike him as a character, and they actually did manage to tie his narrative to the themes of the plot quite well. The fact remains, however, that they needed to spend a lot of their time budget in the story setting up and explaining this character in an event about Specter. We spent a large portion of this event just...getting to know this otherwise completely average guy, when we could have spent more time with the Abyssal Hunters, or the Inquisition. Every moment we spent on Jordi was time that we didn't spend with the other characters, and there was a lot of room to do more with them. And, again, to the writers' credit, despite the circumstances all but ensuring that I'd hate this new guy for stealing time away from the things I was actually interested in, I didn't. He's a good kid, and the setup about Gran Faro was a good way to comment on the Abyssal Hunters—specifically, Gladiia, as her aspirations most directly align thematically with the doomed hopefulness and blind nostalgia of Gran Faro—without directly talking about them.

Imagine if we needed to do that twice.

Don't @ me about Ulpianus. It's not his time yet, just like it wasn't Irene's during Under Tides. Rushing Ulpianus into playability would also be quite bad as a narrative decision. Besides, if Ulpianus survives the events of the story, he will probably serve the same function as Irene for the third installment of Fish Lore, whenever that comes around. If I had to make wild, hopeful speculation, on the banner alongside Gladiia Alter, if we're continuing the trend. Maybe with an Andreana Alter as a welfare, if we're allowed a little bit more hopium?

Stultifera Navis was allowed to be a good story about Specter because her Alter bridged the divide between the goals of telling a good story and making a lot of money. The latter will always win out, if they're ever forced to choose. Embrace the business decisions that actually rock a little bit, because if they're not embraced, we're probably getting something worse in their place.

I'm just glad that the consensus seems to have been that Overpowered Swimsuit Skin should not, in fact, be the basis for Alters moving forward. Instead, every Alter since has represented a significant development in the character's narrative. And that's cool! They changed as a person, so they changed as a unit, too.

Why Reed?

Okay, so maybe Alters are necessary. Why Reed, though? There were plenty of other candidates for this 6*—Mandragora was the most commonly speculated one. The answer is probably just that they...wanted the event to focus on Reed, and releasing another 6* here would necessitate otherwise.

But, like, beyond that? She's also just a good pick.

Reed is not only a 5*, but a criminally bad one. "Worse than her 4* equivalent" bad, though part of that is Vigna's fault for overperforming by 4* standards. For being such an important plot-relevant character, her actual unit is a major disappointment. She doesn't even fall into the category of generally bad 5*s where she technically has a niche that can make her good in some scenarios (but are too niche to really matter), like Tsukinogi. Using her not only means downgrading from Bagpipe (not the hardest sell, Bagpipe is Very strong), but downgrading from Vigna.

Especially as the story focuses more on her, the problems with her unit would become more apparent to a larger number of people. Arknights doesn't really do reworks, and buffs via modules wouldn't solve the problem of her offering no utility beyond "Worse Bagpipe" anyways, even if they were good (they aren't).

Surprise! People like playing with the characters they enjoy! It's generally a pretty bad thing for players to attach themselves to characters through the story, and then be disincentivized by the game to play with them. That turns people away. Reed kicking off the trend of non-limited Alters is honestly probably a step towards fixing that issue, since we're probably never getting the major kit reworks that'd be necessary for many of these older units to shine.

[mauesartetc]

Since you said that when designing a character "its important to draw inspiration from real life sources instead of riding another designer's coattails. If you're using other animated characters as reference, you're doing it wrong.", I want to ask you a character design question:

I'm designing a character heavily inspired by Strickler from Trollhunters:

His name is Theodore Carter and he's also an antagonist and supernatural being disguised as a human high school teacher. His human form looks like this:

Similar to his inspiration he's also a tall, thin older gentleman with a prominent hooked nose and wearing a tweed costume. He's supposed to look friendly and dignified, yet slightly eccentric.

Do you have any criticism for my design? Does he look different enough from his inspiration and do you think it is possible to evoke the same feel as the character he was based on (a classy gentleman with a dark secret, can be friendly and charming one minute and threatening in another)?

I guess the first step would be to ask yourself how married you are to the similar elements. How important is it for this character to have a hooked nose, for example? What does it say about him? Does it tie into his personality, or perhaps hint at his supernatural form? (I'd guess a human disguise with an aquiline nose would represent an appropriately eagle-like creature, like a griffin or thereabouts.) Maleficent's horned headdress in Sleeping Beauty performs a similar function, foreshadowing her transformation into a dragon at the film's climax.

Also, why does he need to be a teacher? What narrative purpose does that serve? Is it to make him a mentor figure to children? Because that would still be the case if he were a librarian, a coach, a scout leader, etc etc. Hell, what if he were a parent of one of the school's students? What if he joined the PTA and volunteered as a chaperone for field trips? What if he were the cool dad all the kids liked, never suspecting for a second he was hiding something?

This is where you want to really interrogate your design choices. Ask yourself, "Why is this here?"

I could easily say there are no wrong answers to this question, but that'd be somewhat disingenuous. For our purposes, there are two answers that aren't wrong per se, but they're red flags that a design isn't as fleshed out as it could be.

Because [insert existing character here] has it

Because I think it looks cool [and that's the only reason]

Now. Caveats.

If you're including elements from an existing character as an homage to that character rather than a rip-off, that's... fine? Not ideal in my opinion (and I'll get to why in a bit), but fine. But what’s the difference between an homage and theft? Subtlety, usually. If your work includes a little shoutout to another work that only those aware of it would catch, that’s an homage. If it has so many obvious similarities with some other thing that it might as well BE the other thing with a different coat of paint, that’s a rip-off.

Here’s the problem with homages, though: If they aren’t subtle enough, you risk the audience thinking only of the other character when they see yours. You know how easy it can be to look at something while your mind wanders somewhere completely different? Same principle.

Zootopia handled homage well, using two illicit substance manufacturers named Walter and Jesse to make a Breaking Bad reference. But they were basically background characters with only a brief mention. Using a major character as an homage for another feels like a disservice to the character’s potential. Every main character we create deserves the chance to stick out in our audience’s memories rather than get sidelined by their original inspiration.

As for the “I think it looks cool” answer, a design element looking cool is a point in its favor (and hell, drawing aesthetically pleasing stuff is part of the fun), but if that’s all it has going for it, you might want to rethink it. It could look cool and serve a practical function (stylish glasses, for instance), employ visual symbolism, hold some sentimental value for the character, or some combination of the above, but simply looking cool on its own isn’t enough. (Also note that there’s a difference between aesthetics you like and aesthetics the character likes.)

Now let’s try to bring out more of this guy’s personality through the visuals. The “dignified” bit comes across fine, but the “friendly” and “eccentric” aspects could use more attention.

A little smile goes a long way when making a character look approachable, and a slight head tilt to the side is great for making them seem a bit “off”. It’s not so obvious as to immediately give away the twist, but it hints that there’s something about this guy other characters might want to keep an eye on. Then they’ll be able to tell if he’s the harmless kind of kooky or if there’s something more sinister afoot. And as usual, shape symbolism is a factor here.

I’ve talked about twist villains before, but to sum up: You’ll want to consider how the dude’s motivations affect his presentation (that is, the version of himself he shows to the outside world). How much of his true self does he reveal to others on a regular basis, and how much of it is an act? Where does he draw those lines, and how do these choices benefit him?

The “gentleman with a dark secret” has been done many times before. What matters is how you can do it differently. 

Hope that helps!

[variousqueerthings]

fear makes companions of us all

I was letting a friend know about my little watch and ratings thing, and by chance he's a few episodes ahead and he described the opening of this era as joyless. and yeah, it's. it's a bit. I'm slogging, I really am (luckily next episode is Time Heist!!!)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 4/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 3/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 4/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 4/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 5/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 3/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 46/100 (if I can count….)

oh this is such a weird one. a mystery that isn't a mystery, a recontextualisation that makes earlier lore worse, a messy forwards and backwards that's sort of centred around a date between Clara and Danny Pink, but doesn't manage to centre it, an insight into the Doctor that tells us nothing new...

OBJECTIFICATION: so Clara is on a date, which means that the Doctor for some reason is constantly commenting on her appearance. AAAallll the time. it's not technically the most egregious example of this on the show, but the fact that it's coming from the Doctor and it's directed at his companion, it's just got a low-level patriarchal discomfort the entire time

PLOT-POINT: Clara is on a date and she made a joke that made Danny uncomfortable (which, Danny being a soldier isn't the main point I'll make about this episode, because I don't remember where it goes at the moment), and then they go back in time and meet kid!Danny who's an orphan, and future descendant of Danny who's at the end of the Universe, and then way way back to the Doctor's personal timestream to meet kid!Doctor, whom she comforts

you get the point here? the point is that this is not about Clara, even though it's Clara's date that this thing all attempts to twirl around

I'd say the one thing is that she knows a bit more about Danny now

COMPLEXITY: oohohohooo for a plot that's not really a plot, it's all over the damn place. there's the date, there's two different pasts, the end of the universe, and it's all to find something that doesn't exist. and on some level the Doctor driving themself up the wall with nothing to do isn't bad, but it's just a pointlessly involved plot to get to a particular point that I'm not convinced is a point at all

it's really all about the callbacks, which we will get to...

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Doctor's meanness is ramping up. will Clara eventually start calling that out? the Doctor fully yells at her in this one, and it's disconcerting -- I don't know that it was the right choice, even though we're going by an edgier Doctor this time around

there's a careful balance of the Doctor being compelling to watch, which is heavily influenced by their treatment of their companion. if the Doctor is dismissive, cruel, hypocritical towards their companion I need a damned good reason, beyond "this time around my feelings are just a flipping mess"

Danny is an orphan who grew up afraid of the dark (and with something on his bed?) and met Clara as a kid briefly

oh the Doctor was raised in a barn, literally... no, we'll get to some of this in a point further down... and the Doctor was bad at being good at soldiering and was a softy I guess? no, I'll take that, Beta Shrigma was an emotional sad mess of a child, of course

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara's just running around after the Doctor in this one, buuuut she's there to provide emotional support to both a young Danny and a young Doctor

in fact, it's highly suggested that Clara not only inspired the sonic screwdriver, but also inserted the idea of the Doctor not pressing the big button during the timewar, through the power of being in the right place at the right time I guess

we will get more into that!

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor isn't technically godlike in this one, but it is in the end all about the Doctor, specifically the Doctor as someone who has a brain that's very loud (which we know) who doesn't let things go (which we know) and wasn't a natural fit for the academy (which... ok we only know that for sure if we watched classic who or read the novels or heard some audio, but it's definitely inferred in nu!who as well)

in a way it feels like it's about calming the Doctor down, which could be an interesting episode in the sense of "the Doctor as neurodivergent and mental health issues coded" but instead isn't interested in those things, beyond forgiving every temper tantrum the character has, because the Doctor is deeper than other characters and was sad as a child

there's... a nugget in this. it is not enough for it to be a good plot

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: oh hey, remember how Clara inspired the Tardis and nobody liked that plotpoint? she also inspired the screwdriver, affirmed the Doctor's idk... latent pacifist ideals, and planted the idea not to end the Time War in a bad way

and if that wasn't enough, she also first said a line that's kind of iconic from the very very first serial "fear makes companions of us all."

it's fascinating in the way M*ffat both doesn't seem interested in Clara much beyond what she can do for the Doctor, but then also needs to make her the originator of any and all of the most important parts of DW lore... or maybe... it's just that his imprint needs to be all over original DW lore. conspiracy theory with no stakes unlocked

no but seriously, M*ffat's versions of Classic!Who lore only cheapen the original narratives, and I wish he'd stop. ironically he also fucks with his own lore by not making the undoing of the Time Lord genocide a choice that the Doctor makes based on their own journey, but also something randomly implanted way back as a kid

it's similar to the way he would bring back the Angels over and over again, and to the way I know he's about to bring the core principle of Silence of the Library back again and again, and the "little kid who met someone they will want to make out with as an adult" plotline -- here gender subversed because it's a young Danny meeting Clara as a kid (does he not remember that?) or super special sexy scary woman who's a series of mysteries, rather than a character

my guy has his core Things and he beats at them until there's no blood left, it's truly a fascinating thing to watch someone fucking with their own lore

I confess I did read a bit of others' opinions on the wikipedia after writing above and truly wish to know what they saw that I didn't. "an interrogation of the Doctor's character"? huh?

also this episode was nominated for a Bram Stoker award, and that's also shocking to me. it's not... scary? or even that compelling as scifi. the idea of mystery at the end is a non-idea, even considering there presumably was a creature around and about, and that the Doctor figured out what it was (we don't, because fuck us)

the more I think about this episode, the less I like it

“SEXINESS”: nothing beyond the weirdness of how Clara is classified via her looks. why would the Doctor care? why would the Doctor -- if written as someone who doesn't care -- be mean about it? it's not technically "sexiness" but it feels in the same vibe of things, as it's about the jokes of sexiness

INTERNAL WORLD: I mean, it's... Clara's still a teacher on a date. the Tardis is there. Danny has a little more depth. apparently the Doctor slept in that barn he would eventually Not Destroy Gallifrey from

it's just kind of bland. Oh, Danny's descendant somehow travelled to the end of the Universe I guess. I'll allow that scifi stuff got them into the barn, since the Doctor was unconscious, but it doesn't tell us anything of interest

the world is backdrop, but not fleshed out backdrop

POLITICS: apart from the rampant body-shaming of Clara, this episode doesn't have much to say on soldiering, surprisingly, considering it

a. starts on that ill-fated date with A Joke About Killing Someone which goes awry (because it's kind of a fucked up thing to say to someone you're into)

b. has a continuous thread of little soldier figurines, of which one of them noticeably doesn't seem to have a weapon and is preferred

c. that figurine is given to the Doctor, who is a kid that is considered ill-suited to go to the academy to "learn to be a soldier" (which, I have questions about lore within that, as far as I'm aware there's more to the academy than that, but I'm not sure enough to make that A Point)

there is this one rant Danny goes on about how they "dug wells" and it wasn't all shooting people, but this is something I might talk more about in future, because, well... I mean I'm against the military institution, and considering Danny was an orphan there could be narrative about how those institutions target vulnerable teens, and as a Black man who's possibly navigating ideas of how people perceive him and what it means for white kids to ask if he's ever killed a person... who am I kidding, this won't matter will it?

however, I know there's more coming up, so I won't dwell too heavily on it, but it is a missed opportunity to ground this story thematically, to connect Danny and the Doctor, since there is no grounding

it is a groundless helium balloon of an episode

[klavierpanda]

I just saw a questionable take about omori. They said that the game excuses Aubrey's bullying of Basil because of Aubrey's home situation and because she breaks down in tears about it whilst basil isn't even there. The post compared Aubrey to a "more compelling" bully character: Susie in Deltarune but I want think the reason Susie is a more compelling bully is because Aubrey isn't supposed to be the bully-that-becomes-softer type.

Every character in Omori is flawed and that's the point. The whole point of the story is exploring how the trauma of losing Mari affected them all and then overcoming that by eventually coming back together again. Aubrey bullies Basil because he defaced the photos and is lashing out because she thinks everyone else moved on too quickly. That doesn't excuse what she did we aren't supposed to hate her either nor are we supposed to hate Basil for what he did. Because they're all fucking kids who are dealing with the loss of someone extremely close to all of them. Her breakdown serves as the climax in her arc. The fact she feels shitty for bullying her childhood friend and the realisation that this would not have been what Mari wanted isn't supposed to redeem her. It functions to show her growth as a person over the course of the game.

Deltarune isn't finished. We don't know how Susie's story will play out. We don't really know that much about her. I feel like comparing them in this way doesn't make much sense because we don't know what the entirety of Susie's narrative will be. For all their similarities, I do think their functions within their respective stories are different. Also as far as it seems, Omori and Deltarune aren't about the same things.

I'm not very good at literary analysis so this isn't exactly cohesive and I don't know the proper way of talking about things but yeah

[rosebud-anonymous]

Will coming back to Tumblr bring back my teenage angst?

So, it's been a hot minute since I've done anything worthwhile on this website - if I did anything worthwhile in the first place is questionable.

As I've grown older, I've come to learn that I'm a person who loves to write (even if it's total trash), and inside me is an overwhelming need to share my voice and thoughts (without absolutely steamrolling my friends and family).

If you don't know what steamrolling means in this context, I'm basically saying that I don't want to turn into one of those raging pain in the ass people who dump all of their unsolicited thoughts and opinions on their loved ones. I care about them too much and frankly, anything I'm writing about is probably not something I'm forwardly proud of, and that's why I've chosen to keep myself anonymous. Sometimes there is shit that I want to get out there (don't worry, I'm not hateful or racist) but I don't actually fancy discussing it with anybody. Essentially, I've been inspired to jump on here and purge whatever's inside me in the form of written word. Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to find this interesting (but I'm impressed if you've read this far). I'm here to serve myself and myself alone.

My first thoughts about this platform actually lead me back to a stressful time in my life - being 17. Ha, I know, STRESSFUL. As if.

I like to laugh at myself for thinking that life was genuinely stressful at this age, it's easy to look back on your past self and cringe over something like this. But I think it's time to change the narrative and stop this intergenerational trend of who had it harder, or in this instance, dismissing the feelings of my past self because I know I have dealt with worse things since then.

At this age, you start to experience many new feelings and experience things you've never experienced before. Every time I think about Tumblr, I think about a boy hurting my feelings and making me feel like an absolute knob. Laughable now, but I'll give you a quick summary of what happened.

I'm 17 years old, I've recently left my years-long high school relationship and have started dating a boy a few years older than me. That's right, I'm the cool kid on the block with a boyfriend who has already left school and can buy my tobacco for me. Hell yeah. But oh, what's this? The ex girlfriend he was completely over and 'hated' was still trying to get in contact with him. No problem, he was ignoring her and I was his number one. Hell yeah.

We're four months (ha!) into our relationship and what do you know, the little shithead found a very cunning way to keep in touch with her without me or anyone else knowing - that 'ask an anonymous question' function on Tumblr. They would send little messages to each other as 'anonymous' via the question box, delete the message they had received and then send their replies anonymously back via the same function. Almost like an anonymous Snapchat, if you will.

Fortunately for me, he made the grave error of checking his message/question inbox in front of me which revealed my worst horrors. It was clear as fucking day who was behind that anonymous title, and you bet that was a clean cut 'fuck off' from me after that. It didn't stop my feelings from being hurt or the humiliation that followed though. Over ten years later, I still find this act incredibly snakey, but I'll give them ten points for creativity. This was the short story about why I associated Tumblr with teenage angst, and still do to this day. This story alone has sent me back to those tough days as a heartbroken teen.

This particular individual had some dirty secrets, and one day I might reveal a thing or two. I guess it will depend just on how petty I'm feeling - there's a reason I've chosen to do this anonymously, ha!

That's the end of today's waffle. Enjoy the maple syrup.

[gothicprep]

i think it's pretty obvious per my posts that i'm a big fan of breaking bad & better call saul (the abqniverse?). anyway, like, someone in a group chat i'm in sent this chart of the ratings per episode of both shows. they're basically inverse of one another.

there are a couple of reasons for this, i'm guessing: the first of which being that breaking bad aired from 2008 to 2013, and this was before the streaming boom. the second being that saul is a more character driven story, while breaking bad is more event driven, so enjoying breaking bad doesn't necessarily translate to enjoying saul.

i also think that saul fumbled the premiere a bit, hence why there was such a big dropoff in viewership after it – like, tuco salamanca is literally in the first episode, and i was a bit worried when i first watched it that it was going to be fan service-y, as i'm sure a lot of other people were. but tuco turned out to be more of a guest star than anything, and the scene was functionally a means of introducing jimmy to nacho.

it's a shame too bc imo, saul is by far the superior show. i feel like my main beef with breaking bad is that there were too many characters in it, and a lot of their arcs are either incomplete or they just aren't characterized very well.

the whole thing with bb is that, while walt is absolutely the most egregious out of all the white/schrader adults, they all are guilty of doing illegal shit when it supports some personal end for them – hank having his distaste for due process, skylar turning a blind eye and helping ted cook his books even though she knows something is off (plus her later involvement with walt's meth shenanigans), and marie shoplifting as a bad coping skill.

but marie is, like, really underdeveloped. and it sucks because understanding marie is important to understanding the show as a whole – she steals shoes after complaining that her work sneakers are ugly and being embarrassed by a rude retail girl at the store, she goes to open houses and lies about who she is (and steals things because, like, of course she does) after hank starts lashing out at her because of his ptsd. i don't know what the baby tiara thing was all about, but i have this dumb pet theory that marie and hank can't have kids and this was some kind of power move related to that – it's not lost on me that marie lies about having children every time she makes shit up about herself during her real estate klepto bender.

she's sort of a low-stakes version of walt's fractured ego & dissatisfaction and she, by my interpretation, serves as a foil that highlights just how silly the heisenberg shit really is.

the white/schrader family serves the narrative as an exploration of "why do some people become heisenberg while others don't". but, like, as much as i love the show, i think it really fumbles the execution of this. or my read could be totally wrong, i'm not sure. either way, the pieces are all there, but they don't always explore them fully.

there's also a joke in some of the sillier abqniverse fan communities of calling walt jr/flynn "breakfast" because the overwhelming majority of his scenes are him eating breakfast lmfao. he's just kind of, like, There.

the character dynamics in bcs, though, are sooooo good. the relationships between jimmy and chuck, jimmy and kim, gus and hector, mike and nacho are all well-developed and textured. i love how lalo's audacity and gus's cold cruelty play against each other. and bcs uses the tragedy of inevitability to its advantage – we know almost all of the characters (barring jimmy/saul/gene... we'll see what happens with kim and howard) are dead in the breaking bad timeline. but overwhelmingly it's just sad to see. it's dramatic tension of a different kind.

plus, bcs establishes just how terrifying gus really is. if you liked him in bb, you'll be salivating in bcs.

i don't know, i think it's criminally neglected even though it's critically acclaimed. my child will watch better call saul.

[dangermousie]

Heelo mousie! Love your blog! Do you mind recommending some of your favourite Chinese BL novels or shows?

I've seen the untamed and read it. I'm currently reading heaven's official blessing and I saw the donghua. Anything other than these two?

Awww, thank you!

Novels: I am gonna be lazy and literally copy/paste the entire danmei section of my top 10 web novels post (except MXTX’s stuff since you are already reading it.) Let me know if you need help finding any of these.

Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor   antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both  as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men   always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be  friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest  parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is  also finding the middle path between their two very different  philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or  dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of “if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and  setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period  setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with  character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our   protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant,   sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s  servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as  we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and  occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named   Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers  and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both  out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely  likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two  take up farming, get involved in  the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

The Wife is First - OK, this one did not make my top 10 web novels but it’s a sweet, fun gay cottagecore fest. Our ML, a royal prince, and his spouse, a smart if delicate aristocrat, keep house, eat noodles, play with their pet tiger, make out and spoil each other rotten, while occasionally fighting battles and outwitting their court enemies. It’s so very mellow. That couple redefines low drama - they are both nice and functional and use their brains. It’s as if a nice jock and a nice nerd got together and then proceeded to be wholesome all over the place.

I mean, the set up could be dramatic - our ML the prince, lost his fight for the throne and is about to be killed. The only person who stayed loyal to him is his arranged husband the aristocrat guy who ML never treated nicely since he resented marrying him (marrying a man in that world is done to remove someone from the ability to inherit the throne.) And yet the husband stood by him not out of love but beliefs in loyalty blah blah. Anyway, he transmigrates back into the past right after their wedding night and is all “I got a second chance OMG! I don’t want the throne what is even the point? I want to live a good long life and treat the only person who stood by me really well!” And he proceeds to do so to the shock of the aristocrat who had a very unpleasant wedding night and generally can tell the man he just married would rather eat nails than be married to him. But soon enough (no seriously, it’s not many chapters at all) he believes the prince is sincere blah blah and then  they get together and they pretty much become cottagecore goals.

In terms of dramas, I only do period dramas (or novels) so I am not the person to be able to recommend any modern BLs. There is a flood of upcoming (hopefully) period BL dramas but it’s relatively thin on the ground now. The two I will recommend is Word of Honor (which is AMAZING) and Winter Begonia (which I just started watching but which owns me already.) I have a tag for both - the one for the former is huge and I cannot recommend either strongly enough. I’ve heard good things about The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, but I am not big on mysteries so haven’t watched it for myself.

In terms of the upcoming BLs, the ones I am most looking forward to are Immortality and Winner Is King, but The Society of the Four Leaves also looks promising.

[variousqueerthings]

AND LAST OF S5: THE BIG BANG

Soooooo I don't dislike it. All the kid!Amy stuff I really really like even!

but does it stick the landing?

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 7/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or having her emotional agency ignored by the plot): 5/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 7/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 5/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 5/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 56/100 (if I can count….)

Better than Pandorica Opens!

OBJECTIFICATION: Not too bad, good start. Amy is wearing (most of the time) the same outfit as last episode, and River is also just vibing

PLOT-POINT: This episode is ostensibly all about Amelia Pond's first Moment with the Doctor as an eye of the storm, and I like that

but Amy never really talks about it or does anything related to it. she does have a bit where she says she doesn't regret their journeying, but for some reason she's the main person who never really seems to... feel anything about it, like actually this genuinely was sorted back in end episode 1 for her

and the whole purpose of her having had this encounter is to bring the Doctor back from non-existence. there's a version of this story, where Amy's conflicted feelings about being abandoned, and even tbh about marriage are at the centre of the conflict

River is just there to be mysterious, you'll see later what's going on with her... maybe...

COMPLEXITY: A lot of forwards and backwards in time and the Tardis is exploding and we still don't know why, in the end they're baaasically running through a museum and the Doctor hooks himself up to the Pandorica and yeets himself into the heart of the storm

It's not egregious/it's possible to follow... there are unanswered questions.....

I also think it's hilarious that after all that supposed set-up, Rory just... takes him out of the box again. Into the box and out of the box

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I need to ruminate on this a bit. getting married as plot is not a bad thing. I'm not a massive fan of the Amy/Rory romance and how it progressed (mainly because it mostly didn't and then suddenly shifted into a slightly different parallel universe where they're madly in love), so I'm not sold on Amy's adultness being centred in marriage

but this is not only a M*ffat thing. this show is very based in alloromance. it's just whether it makes sense that Amy... wants this... or if the plot just decided that now she does

do I think characters got closer? kinda yeah. Amy and Rory are married now, even though Rory is still characterised as permanently unsure of where he stands with Amy's "moods" (angry moods, sexual moods, sad moods, etc)

Rory: Are you okay? Amy: Are you? Rory: No Amy: Well shut up then!

I was kinda struck by how venomous she was at him, and then they hug and it's fine, but that's kind of what it feels like between them a lot of the time

Amy: are you just saying yes, because you’re scared of me? Rory:... yep

anyway, it changes things for the next season perhaps, now they are firmly married and not in the "will Amy or won't she" boat

and the Doctor came to the wedding! didn't disappear when he was called!

there is plot To Come that is set up... why did the Tardis explode? what is the Silence?

COMPANIONS MATTER: they're there for most of it, there's this whole backstory of Rory protecting the Pandorica for 2000 years, which is the basis of Rory and Amy now being this epic romance, and taken on its own it's pretty cool

Amy is there to experience things happening, so that she can remember it later on, and then she gets married, because in the end all of s5 is centred around the Marriage Of The Ponds and Amy learning that she can grow up (get married) and have adventures with the Doctor and those things don't cancel each other out

the Doctor does things and they all follow

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: eh, the Doctor solves everything and everyone's just tagging along, but I like the "we're all just stories in the end" bit. the Doctor is also just a story

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: not much of previous Doctor Who in this so... not terrible technically

“SEXINESS”: Why is Amy doing her whole "I'm gonna snog the Doctor" schtick? There's this bit also where she and Rory make out for ages and the camera lingers on it, because now they're passionate lovers, and fine, I guess, it's not the worst thing M*ffat has done

I am deciding to add River's whole... making the Dalek say Mercy. it's kind of a fantasy badass moment where she's being badass with a gun

and here I'm unsure whether to put Amy making Rory afraid or not, because it's definitely a M*ffat fantasy, but it also relates to Amy's whole... why this a good relationship? anyway. we'll put it here, because I'm sleepy, fuckit

Amy sauntering up to the Doctor and saying "We haven’t even had a snog in the shrubbery yet" is unfortunately just. it's in my brain

INTERNAL WORLD: we've met Amy's aunt! in that other world where the stars don't exist and the Universe is ending. and we've met Amy's parents! (wonder if we'll see them again)

it's kind of rebuilding things after episode 1 already gave us something of her life, but none of those character reappear. it's also hard not to know what comes next, which is.... nothing with any of this

especially considering Amy not remembering her parents is presented as a Big Deal in this episode, so her life is now straightened out (I was going to say normalised or returned to the ideal status quo, and realised all three of these are hiding the truth, which is that Amy's life is normative now -- she got married at last, and she has two parents like Normal)

POLITICS: Nothing much one way or another in this

FULL RATING: 56/100 (if I can count….)

I think this episode is defined by being not the worst of the season. It's strongest suit is not being super offensive, but it's also not extraordinary. Its weakness is in the companions again. Are they there to experience the Doctor doing cool stuff, or are they there to have narratives centred around them? How does Amy feel about her entire existence being bait? About being helpless to do anything in this whole thing that revolves in some way around her memories? she just kind of bounces into whatever the plot needs someone to do, never being particularly affected by what came before