#i'm not getting into it on main but imo it's very obvious what was driving everything and why things happened the way they did

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I was wondering, what's your interpretation of tTPD as a whole?. I know a lot of people think it's a 31 album dedicated to one main muse minus 2 songs for his ex long term relationship but i was curious about your thoughts.

Also, some theorists are talking about a potential 10 years situationship between taylor and one muse and it makes me feel... weird. Because she was committed to someone else and i don't know how to feel knowing the other muse could be in some of my fave albums... sorry for the long rant

So there’s a lot going on here and it’s nuanced.

I don’t think it’s as simple as “it’s all about one person minus two songs.” There are several muses woven in both the text and subtext of the songs. And what happened with one muse in many cases was only possible because what happened with another. There are some songs that are explicitly about specific people’s actions, but overall things get muddy because situations are muddy.

This is a cop out answer, but ultimately to me the album is about Taylor. It’s about her pain and grief and trauma and also healing and recovery and joy. To reduce it to a man in particular discounts that she is the main character of her own life and story.

I do not think the story she put down in TTPD is one of a decade long situationship. As I said yesterday, I will gladly change my mind if new information comes to light. The story I picked up in TTPD is one where someone entered her life at a very vulnerable time, exploited their shared history to sow the seeds of this fantasy life to her that she was desperately grieving in her very real current life, which caused her to play revisionist history with her memories because she needed to make it “real” to herself as an escape hatch.

But even if that isn’t the case, and if it turns out that yes, she was pining for this person for ten years… it doesn’t take away from the fact that her past music is excellent, regardless of the inspiration. IMO fans would be better served to not always recall the muses when listening to music for their enjoyment. I know Taylor’s music is different because her life is so well documented and she used to be so open about who she was writing about, but very few artists do that and their music still hits. I don’t think at all about the artists’ lives when listening to any other band; hell, even in well-known messy situations like Fleetwood Mac, I’m not thinking about Stevie and Mick, I’m thinking that Landslide is beautiful and Rhiannon is a banger or whatever. If you think too much about the artists’ personal lives, you’re gonna get twisted in knots and may find there are few people you can listen to, because humans are fallible and messy and make mistakes. Like Taylor says, once the songs are out in the world, they’re not hers anymore, and you need to ascribe your own meaning to them.

Which is not to say I wasn’t surprised when I first figured out who she was writing about when I listened to TTPD, and yes the first few listens of the album made my head spin a bit for the lore of it all, but i truly listen to it like any other album now. It’s good music plain and simple.

What I’m trying to say is that you have to set your own boundaries I guess. If it really bothers you then you don’t have to listen to or engage with it. But personally I’m also not going to moralize Taylor’s or anyone else’s music because she’s human just like any of us and we all make choices in our lives. She was just brave enough to share the mess. It’s not a condoning of her actions because she doesn’t need my or anyone else’s approval for her choices. She’s recording a moment of time in her life and turned it into art, and now it takes on new meaning for listeners.

(Also if people are moralizing her choices because of the “commitment” thing well… I think they weren’t picking up on other parts of the album but. Well.)

Also my pet peeve is that I hate the word “theory” when applied to real people. They’re humans with lives, not characters in a TV show. This isn’t directed at you anon, just a general sentiment.

[thecraftyninjacat]

Mahoro, Matakara, Aladdin and the Princess

I think Episode 8 finally confirmed to me that the role of the Princess in the Aladdin allusion was actually split between Mahoro and Matakara, rather than it being one or the other. There's a reason why they're both represented by Jasmine-chan during the Nyan Nyaight Love cutaways!

Preface; imo Bucchigiri's narrative takes inspiration from both Disney's Aladdin and the original Aladdin story, so I'm going to switch the Princess's name depending on which version of her I'm referring to. So Jasmine -> Disney's Aladdin, and Badroulbadour -> 1001 Nights Aladdin.

From what I saw in the 1001 Nights Aladdin, Badroulbadour didn't have much of a personality, so it makes sense that a lot of Mahoro and Matakara's personalities were taken from Jasmine, while their roles in the story were slightly more influenced by Badroulbadour.

Mahoro: The feistier side of Jasmine. She has a sharp tongue and always speaks her mind, regardless of potential danger. Eg. Mahoro stands up to Akutaro after he gains the upper hand on both gangs, similarly to how Jasmine refuses to bow to Jafar when he becomes Sultan.

She's also regarded as pretty desirable, and has charmed several men to get them to do what she wants (something that both Jasmine and Badroulbadour do at some point to trick Jafar/the sorcerer). Arajin falls for Mahoro at first sight, similarly to how both versions of Aladdin fell for both versions of the Princess, and like Aladdin his crush on her becomes his driving motivation throughout the series. Akutaro also talks about turning her into a NG Girl and…abusing her, a la Jafar. Ik it's just to trigger Arajin but yk what I mean!

Matakara: The gentler, more naive side of Jasmine, in that he trusts/believes in Arajin...a lot more than he should, really. The main 'lying' plot point between Disney's Aladdin and Jasmine is directly implemented into Matakara and Arajin's relationship. On a surface level there's also their blue colour schemes and phonetically similar names (Asamine -> Jasmine). Near the climax of the 1001 Nights version, the sorcerer tricks Badroulbadour into giving him the lamp with the genie in it, similarly to how Akutaro manipulates Matakara into shooting himself with Ichiya. Both actions trigger a Very Bad Turn of Events that Aladdin stops/will have to stop with the help of his own genie.

Also very interesting how Ichiya has a moon motif, and Badroulbadour's name is a metaphor for female beauty meaning 'full moon of full moons'. Totally not losing my fucking mind over that no sir

Though they both fit the Princess allusion, the entire show is screaming that Matakara is Arajin's true Jasmine, and Arajin is going to realise he was what he needed all along. Honestly, it doesn't get more obvious than Episode 9.

That's not to mention how Mahoro and Matakara also have many, many parallels to each other via their relationships with Arajin. (Both visit him one-on-one at his mom's restaurant to convince him to do something and order the exact same dish, Arajin thinks of child Matakara after seeing both current Matakara and Mahoro get hurt, his meetings with both of them are juxtaposed with one another and described as a 'fated meeting' in this trailer, etc.)

Aside from that, there's also a lot of little stuff that the two have in common! (Both suck at cooking, both deeply care about their older siblings, both are cute as hell etc etc.)

(it's also pretty neat how they're technically both the respective 'princesses' of Minato Kai and Siguma, being the younger siblings of the leader/former leader of each gang!)

[butchjesus]

I find it fascinating that in the 2015 film instead of naming victor's brother after one of his two brothers from the novel, they call him henry. they have not one but two brother names to choose from, they could have easily called him william or ernest, but they didn't. they also could have had the character be a sister and named her elizabeth, but they didn't. however, the name they picked wasn't out of thin air, either—they named him henry, like henry clerval. I know this film was by no means faithful to its source material, nor is it required to be, but this is just such a strange point in the writing to me. this was an intentional decision. why would they do that?

the way I'm choosing to spin it is that they wanted the inciting incident, the death that haunts the narrative and drives victor's cause, to be (at least inspired by) the person who victor loved most (and of course with this particular victor that couldn't possibly be a woman), and so they chose henry, victor's very best friend and character foil, with whom many have expounded upon the queer subtext present in the novel. but why make them brothers? could be a handful of reasons, maybe what kept them from leaning into the other queer themes obvious in the film. the likely culprit (if any) by my guess is that they wanted to solidify motivation for the relationship with victor and his father as "the family disappointment," a position sharpened by the loss of his older brother for which victor takes the blame. narratively I understand this choice, it's cleaner and a recognizable trope foothold, and also it sets up the brother/other motif with the creature*, but I think they could have just as easily done the same if henry was the child of close family friends or something to that extent, closer to the setup of the novel, because then his death could tarnish the whole family's reputation and relationships in addition to the internal turmoil, etcetc, thereby underlining the themes of the main story with victor and igor.

(*though by victor's own admission, he isn't trying to replace or bring back henry, but rather even a scale of life and death, so the connection of the creature to his literal brother also seems like something that could be effectively subverted to the story's benefit)

it could also potentially be that they did pick a name at random that just happened to be another novel character's—henry is a common name for the context, after all. but what a coincidence that would be (and far less fun than the alternative).

all this to say imo they could have left the rest of the origin story the same with henry filling the clerval role as victor's childhood best friend and still had his death play out as it did, and the rest of the story would be equally supported, but with stronger queer themes and overall narrative reinforcement in terms of the character relationships.

so, here's my rework:

victor and henry are teenagers, best friends since childhood, from two close and wealthy families, the frankensteins and the clervals. victor's parents adore henry, and so does victor (the latter in ways he cannot fully process, but he loves him differently than he loves his siblings, a way he's never loved anyone before). the two of them were always finding excitement and adventure, always together, and henry inspires so much wonder and ambition in victor, always eager to combat the bouts of malaise and despair that take victor every so often. his bright side, his sunlight.

one night when henry is staying with the frankensteins (a frequent occurrence), victor convinces henry to sneak out with him to play, giddy kids of maybe fifteen always looking for adventure. henry agrees, they go out, the storm hits. they get stuck. there's nothing to do but try to stay warm. they cling together, terrified. time scrapes on at an agonising crawl. victor gives up hope, sure they are to die there, and laments it being all his fault. even then, henry wants to comfort and cheer victor up, and so he gives up a piece of his clothes, maybe a housecoat or something, and wraps himself around his friend, despite victor's concerns and protests. henry insists they keep hope that someone will find and rescue them.

finally, someone does—but it's too late. henry is already dead, his cold body stiff and frozen, still shielding victor from the wind and cold of the calming storm. victor is bad off, barely still breathing, but alive, only because of henry's sacrifice. they have to pry henry's clinging corpse off of victor to get them both home. when they're back and the families get victor to explain what happened, they are shocked to hear that it was victor's idea to go out, and both parents blame him for henry's death, the clervals in grief and the frankensteins in shame (though all are grieving the loss of such a sweet and promising lad).

victor is understandably devestated. he not only lost his truest friend in the world, his first love that never got to fully blossom, in such a traumatic way, but now his parents were disgusted and angry with him, leading his siblings to keep their distance; the clervals have shut him out; and everyone else they know has heard the news from the adults that victor frankenstein killed the clerval lad with those crazy whims of his. victor lost everything in that storm, and now he is alone and disgraced.

the film is a love story already. what better way to drive home the turmoil of victor and igor's relationship and victor's character arc in general than having the big reveal be that victor feels responsible for killing his best friend and first love, and having the physical manifestation of his guilt and unresolved feelings and relentless obsession with overcoming death (the creature) drive him away from and literally try to kill his new love?

anyway, the sketches at the top are reworks of my novel clerval design to have him be about fifteen or sixteen when he died. if you read all this I'm giving you a very smooth river rock or a piece of seaglass

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 18 Thoughts: Dead Letters

Another really great episode. Feels like the show has hit its stride now and it just keeps getting better and better IMO. I can't say I entirely get the episode's title though. This one feels fairly strained to me and I feel like it must be because I'm missing something obvious.

Spoilers for episode 18, and some lightly implied spoilers for TMA, below the cut.

Teddy and Alice being Teddy and Alice isn't something I have a huge amount to say. I'm never 100% sure how you're meant to read these two. Teddy having his own little story in the background is interesting though because the framing of this implies he's very important to the narrative. His leaving is the instigation for two of our main characters to be able to join the OIAR, his leaving party is the opening scene of the show, and every time he's been in it since something about him has progressed. It could just be a grounding element so that not every character is wrapped up in it but it seems fairly obvious that his story is going somewhere.

Fun Fact: I've mentioned it before but as it was name dropped, Robert Smirke was an architect for the Royal Mint.

Lena continuing to be very Lena about everything really does warm my heart. She could just be entirely disinterested, distancing herself from the employees for their safety, or other reasons beside. Either way "Oh, is that its name?" is wonderful and she should never change.

This statement was really great. Augustus being back is a massive highlight. Tim Fearon has killed both of his episodes and I want more of him than we're getting. A haunted house narrated by him is really a treat to listen to. The literal contents of the experience we hear narrated back to us isn't something I have too much to say on. It's got some strong Hilltop Road vibes but is at Church Street. Church Street itself doesn't have anything too important to mention about it. Milton Court, however, is interesting. Violet was seemingly the victim of the same thing that killed Drowning Victim a few episodes back, likely [Error]. But what's interesting about the Milton Court Open Space is that it's about 20 miles from where Drowning Victim was. These cases happened 3 days apart which is ample time to cover that distance but it's interesting because it's largely along the path you'd drive if you were coming from Manchester, where the Institute's ruins were, back to London and taking the M40. You'd drive passed Ickenham. I would not be surprised if we see a similar case from early further north along that route. Another thing of note here is the extreme malnutrition. I think a lot of people are going to link this back to Darrien from the last episode but I think it's more obviously a physical symptom of reliving said experience. Violet wandered though a house with no exit until she starved, like how Drowning Victim, well, drowned. No notes otherwise, great incident. Well, "Some figure reaching asking questions in an alley?" is curious phrasing but I won't get to into that.

Alice and Sam's chat directly addressing the contents of the case is something I love to see. Alice is trying her best to bury all that, bless her, but Sam is for sure never letting this drop. It's just great to see this stuff not washing over them now and it's all becoming more and more relevant. Although it does bring into question why Augustus read this one out. Chester seems to read things that nudge people to act a certain way but this one seemed almost cruel. Like Augustus was trying to get under Alice's skin. In any case its hard to find a thread between this and Taking Notes, at least as far as "motivation" goes.

Oh Gwen. Poor, poor Gwen. Finally opens up about her truly fucking awful experiences and Sam laughs in her face about it. To be fair to Sam leading with Mr. Bonzo is a perfect wind up and I would've laughed too. We all would've laughed if our co-worker said that. To be fair to Gwen, Mr. Bonzo has traumatised the shit out of her and who else is there to really lead with? And as always Anusia killed it here. What a glorious F-bomb too.

Backing up just a little bit, there is this quote during that interaction:

GWEN In the cases, you know how there are often things or places or people or whatever who… aren’t right? Who seem to be causing all the awful things to happen.

Which is fairly interesting if you've been reading theories. Specially about what CAT# means. The most common theory by far is "Person/Place/Object". Meaning that CAT1 indicates a supernatural person in the incident, CAT2 a place, etc. Now, I have written an essay all about this subject entitled "Putting the CAT# Back in the Bag: The Flaws With Person/Place/Object". So, y'know, I don't buy it. Gwen mentioning it now feels like a red herring too given how early it is. Obviously that feeling is rooted in my current belief about said theory. If I don't think it holds water I won't think this is a clue about that. But it's not just that. I think this is too early from a narrative stand point, CAT# standing for those things pointless from a narrative standpoint, and if Gwen has settled on those three things it's not much of a stretch to link it back the the case numbers and part of the point of them is they're inscrutable to everyone there.

Because all of the above isn't enough for this already stellar episode we meet two new characters. Georgie and Jack. Both at long last as they've both come up before. It's hard to talk about this without getting into TMA stuff. I'll try to be light on TMA spoilers but Celia and Georgie have history. Now, unlike with Celia, this very much seems like TMP's version of Georgie. She's a conspiracy theorist instead of a ghost hunt, she's paranoid instead of fearless, and she seems to know as little about Celia as you'd expect. The conspiracy angle is also really clever. TMA was very much just about supernatural encounters but TMP has the cast working for the government. So Georgie has stayed fairly consistent in this regard it's just the shows themes that changed. Celia finding Georgie makes a lot of sense to me though. Their history makes her a good touchstone here and as she's still podcasting about strange things it's a good cover as any. However whatever is happening with Celia is clearly getting worse and she's not lying about it well.

GEORGIE Celia, I’m saying you don’t need to lie to me. CELIA I’m not! [zzzzzt]

Sure you're not, Celia. Sure you're not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet and Terminology Sheet

DPHW Theory: 2374 not much to explain on this one I don't think. Spooky house that you can't escape from gets you spooky house you can't escape from numbers.

CAT# Theory: CAT1 is semi-interesting for the theory I think it definitely isn't (see here). Because for that theory to remain consistent corpses end up as objects. Which you'd think would put this in CAT3 if assessors were applying those themselves, and if they aren't all headers of this type being people seems very farfetched when we've seem objects that compel already.

R# Theory: C seems reasonably to me. Having a spooky memory and talking about it seems like the sort of thing no one would care about.

Header talk: Memory (Derelict) -/- Compulsion. Two interesting things here. Firstly, the section being Memory implies that this experience actually happened. Either to Violet or someone else. It could be a ham-fisted section choice if there isn't anything for hallucinatory experiences of this nature but I'd assume there must be. This system is so specific and as that would be a large oversight it seems unlikely that it isn't there. But it's hard to say how much any given assessor knows about what they're picking. Misfiles are always possible. The subsection is the other interesting thing. Derelict is such a specific subsection here that Memory must have 100s of them.

[stellar-constellations]

I think Yuri is still likeable for lot of fans but his story is still very lacking and the growing of his character didn’t shown as obvious much as other main character. And his angry behavior is easy to got hates and judges. Which is sad though because I believe when he’s getting softer and meet different people, we will see a different side of him. That’s why it’s very interesting to see his interaction to other character because most of the times we only see his comedy sides whenever he interact with the Forgers.

I’m do think for a request, I want to know some side story of Yuri and readers in daily life when they still in sss. I do like the details of the reader making brownies and Yuri enjoying it. I do think it will be cute if Yuri invited the reader to the flower store and met his mother grave and gave the brownie as a gratitude. ( or the brownies remind him of Yor or his mother cooking) As something that he wants to make a vow or a promised to taking care of his loved one. It’s will be heartwarming imo but if this is too out of your league ( and since we didn’t have much material of Briars past yet) then it’s okay if you could ignore my RQ.

I do read your updates btw I love it.

        

      Fem! (Y/N) x Mean! Yuri Briar

        This can be read with or without reading my Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader series: An Alliance (part 1)

        Setting is BEFORE the reader rejoined WISE (so after she declared her resignation to Twilight).

        (Y/N) as her own background in correlation to the Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader series for plot purposes!

        Yuri is unnecessarily rude to (Y/N).

        Baking is very important for (Y/N). You can take away many things in life; a person's home, their family, their friends, their confidence, their drive, but you can't take away tradition. Tradition is something that will always be passed down, from generation to generation, it can never truly die out, it will always remain in the world. 

        (Y/N) has certain values and traditions that cannot be swayed by anyone, not even the infamous Yuri Briar, a valued lieutenant in Ostania's State Security Service, can change that. Nobody can change (Y/N)'s love for cooking, for family, and for laughter. 

        The first time Yuri woke up without (Y/N) in his bed was a few months ago and he almost had a full blown meltdown. He quickly ran out of his bedroom, half-dressed with his arm stuck in his jacket, hopping on one foot as he tried to slide on his boots.

        "Yuri?" a voice from the kitchen spoke, peeking their head out of the kitchen.

        It's (Y/N)! Yuri smiled, glad she didn't escape. I didn't want to get fired by loosing her, or  have to track her down and kill her in the streets at three a.m. when I could be sleeping.

        "What are you doing?" Yuri hissed, holding his guard up high as he walked into the kitchen. 

        "Jesus, Yuri! You should've said something sooner! I would've stabbed you!" (Y/N) huffed.

        Yuri's eyes traveled to her hands and his eyes widened.

        "YOU WERE GONNA STAB ME?!" Yuri shouted.

        "NO!" (Y/N) shouted back, placing the knife on the counter. "I thought you were an intruder! Like a Westalis spy finding out that I'm working with you or something like that!" 

        "Do you understand that if you stab someone in my apartment, I'll most likely be arrested too? I'm not helping you get away with murder." Yuri hissed.        

        "Boo-hoo." (Y/N) teased sarcastically, a frown on her face. "Just go back to bed." 

        "No! How do I know you're not planning on stabbing me while I sleep? Or trying to run away?" Yuri spoke, then paused as he smelt something drift in the air.

        It was something sugary, something sweet, and something that smelt divine (not that Yuri would ever let her know). 

        "What are you doing? Are you trying to set ablaze the whole apartment complex?" Yuri questioned, moving past (Y/N) to the dessert in the oven as he crouched down, looking into the small window. "Was dinner not enough?" Yuri rudely sneered, causing (Y/N) to throw a wooden spoon at the back of his head. "HEY!"

        "DON'T HEY ME! THE AUDACITY OF YOU!" she shouted, grabbing an oven mitt and throwing it at him.

        At least that's softer... Yuri thought before sending (Y/N) a glare.

        "I just wanted something sweet! You won't let me leave the apartment so I figured I'd make brownies since you have all the ingredients." (Y/N) sighed. 

        "Are they drugged? Are they laced with poison?" Yuri questioned, giving (Y/N) a suspecting glare.

        "You're really insecure and sensitive, you know?" (Y/N) commented.

        "I'M NOT!" Yuri shouted, his pride slightly ruined. 

        "You're also absolutely terrible with social cues! We have neighbors!" (Y/N) hissed.

        "Like you weren't screaming a minute ago!" Yuri huffed.

        "You called me fat!" (Y/N) claimed.

        "Indirectly..." Yuri mumbled.

        "It still held the same meaning!" (Y/N) spat out, before sighing, deciding not to entertain him any longer. "Whatever. Since you're up, be useful and do the dishes." 

        "You're the one baking at three A.M. You do it!" Yuri groaned.

        "Yeah? Well, you're going to be eating some too!" (Y/N) replied, before allowing her composure to falter. "Please... do the dishes..?"

        "Fine. What are you even doing up anyways?" Yuri sighed, walking to the sink.

        The question made (Y/N) frown, a nasty glare shot Yuri's way.

        "It doesn't matter why I'm up. It's not like you actually care anyways!" (Y/N) accused quit boldly (and rudely).

        "You want me to be nice to you but you're so defensive." Yuri groaned, complaining as he rolled his eyes and turned on the sink faucet.

        "I just couldn't sleep, alright? Just some nightmares..." (Y/N) mumbled.

        I understand that... Yuri thought, his hardened angry red eyes softening to plush red, before he put the mask up once more. No! Don't get comfortable! She could be trying to use you for any information from the SSS! Or Yor!

        "You still get nightmares? At your age?" Yuri smirked. "I thought Flower was supposed to protect you?" 

        "Ugh! See? You don't care!" (Y/N) huffed, crossing her arms as she adverted her eyes. "I don't know why I bother when I do!" 

        "No! I'm sorry, sorry!" Yuri spoke quickly, as if afraid she'll leave him. "I... understand. I woke up too because of a nightmare..." he admitted, swallowing his pride. 

        "What was it about?" (Y/N) questioned, scooting closer to Yuri as he started to wash her dirty cookware.

        "You don't nee-" Yuri paused, remembering her words from just a few seconds ago. "Ah..." he grumbled, then took a breath. "I lost my parents too. My mother's affected me the most. Yor looks so much like her, you know..." Yuri took another breath. "Just miss 'em."

        "I understand. My brothers were always at each others throats, including mine. We fought all the time. It's crazy that despite living in the exact same situation, we had completely different views on the world." (Y/N) smiled, reminiscing the past. "My younger brother was so brave and careless, he never let anyone boss him around, so he got in a lot of fights with my dad and authority. My youngest brother was cold one second, then lovey dovey the next. He had some learning problems, but he really just wanted someone to be proud of him..." (Y/N) paused, thinking of her next words. 

        "I had an older sister too, and an older brother. My older brother was really cold, very distant and all. He was kind of like you, believed everyone was out to get him; he wanted to be independent and be his own person." (Y/N) giggled as Yuri paused from washing the dishes to instead watching her smile. "And Yor? God, she reminds me so much of my older sister. My older sister was always looking out for us younger ones, and she was so kind too. I really miss my dad too, he really helped me with who I am today." (Y/N) paused, realizing she was rambling. "What about you, Yuri?" she questioned, turning her gaze to Yuri, surprised to see he was already looking at her. 

        "Oh! Uh..." Yuri gasped, adverting his eyes as he got back to washing the dishes. "I miss my mom... She would make me and Yor this southern stew and it tasted really good, unfortunately, I don't know how to make it." Yuri sighed.

        "Does Yor know?" (Y/N) questioned.

        "Well, she's trying to replicate it. I love Yor's cooking, but... her stew doesn't quite taste like our mom's." Yuri spoke, cracking a smile. "She's buried here in Ostania, in fact, I should go see her sometime. That'd be nice..." Yuri trailed off, getting lost in his own past before he remembered (Y/N) was present and redirected his attention back to her. "So... what about your mom? I just, never heard you mention her, at all." 

        "I don't know much about her." (Y/N) confessed. "She stayed in (birth country) when my dad moved to Westalis for his job. She cheated on my dad and left all of us." 

        "Oh, I'm sorry." Yuri spoke on reflex, but he couldn't help but feel a tinge of pity.

        "Don't be. She never stuck to a mother role even when she was apart of my life. When she left, my dad and I had to start caring for our family. My older siblings weren't reliable with jobs; she had a neurological problem and my older brother was still defying against authority, teenage angst and all. I couldn't have my six and five-year-old brothers working with me, they were still exploring the world and worrying about what game to play next. I forced myself to grow up early since I knew my dad needed help, so I took up that job at the bakery. In fact, that's how I know this brownie recipe!" (Y/N) smiled.

        "Huh..." Yuri muttered, thinking to himself.

        Even before the war, (Y/N) still had a lot to deal with in her life. When was the last time she really had a break? Yuri thought to himself. Whatever. I shouldn't be caring about that! Everyone goes through some hardships secretly, she's no different!

        "Hey, Yuri..." (Y/N) started, pausing to think.

        I want to ask him about his dad, but he hasn't said anything about it (and unlike him, I understand my words can affect people)... (Y/N) thought to herself. 

        "Yeah?" Yuri hummed.

        "...Uh, you think we can skip work Friday? We've just been working soooo much, it's getting boring." she questioned, immediately coming up with an excuse to replace her real question as she smiled stupidly.

        "Don't be ridiculous." Yuri huffed. "We have a job together now, I'm not going to allow you to run back to WISE!" 

        "Hey! I told you in the contract that I'll work with you guys, sheesh! Besides, I was able to get a resignation message across to them." (Y/N) sighed.

        "When? Where? With who? When was this?" Yuri questioned immediately, slamming his hands against the counter.

        "Don't worry! Now back to the dishes with you!" (Y/N) huffed, changing the subject.

        "Fine..." Yuri grumbled. "You know, what's with you doing all the cooking? You're aware I can help out too?" Yuri questioned.

        You're raised by Yor, and I heard from Twilight that her cooking isn't quite edible... (Y/N) thought to herself, avoiding to give him that reasoning as he'd probably throw a knife at her for saying that.

        "You can only take so many things from me, but you can't ever take away what I've learned from my da. Cooking reminds me of my home. Whenever me and my dad had the time, we'd make meals together for the family." (Y/N) explained. "I may have a bad memory, but the day I let go of my family's legacy is the day I die."

        "You're so human that it's a little weird..." Yuri mumbled.

        "That's because I am human!" (Y/N) exclaimed. "You act like I'm a monster or something." (Y/N) sighed, a little disheartened.

        "Westalis sp-"

        "Shut it!" (Y/N) growled, cutting Yuri off. "The rare occasion we actually have a decent conversation, you go ahead and ruin it!" she exclaimed, checking the brownies before grabbing a mitt, removing them from the oven and onto the counter with a towel under the pan, then turned the oven off. "I'm not in the mood for sweets anymore; I'm going to bed." (Y/N) huffed, walking out of the kitchen and turning the corner, disappearing from Yuri's sight.

        Yuri stood in the kitchen alone, thinking of the events prior to her leaving.

        Maybe I was a little mean... Yuri admitted to himself. It doesn't matter. It never said in the contract that I had to be nice to her. 

        It might've not said it in the contract, but Yuri's aware of what little human decency he has towards anyone but Yor, he's aware he's a little too harsh on the poor girl. He knows if he ever acted like how he treats (Y/N) to Yor, he'd cut his own tongue off (after telling Yor over and over about how sorry he is). 

        In truth, he really doesn't know how to act with someone who isn't his sister, much less a girl, much much less his once-enemy (since she does work with him now).

        Yuri didn't have friends growing up, he was too focused on his studies so he can change the world into something better for Yor, so he's never really had the social interaction he should have. Even in school when he had to work with others in groups, he would take the task on by himself because he believed they'd get in his way. 

        Yuri also doesn't have much luck with girls too. Sure, he's attractive and it helps bring in potential suitors, but he's too obsessive over his sister which usually steers girls off (that, or he's convinced they're a spy [which is technically true in this case] trying to get information from him because why would someone say "hi" to him without wanting to betray their country? [Yuri really needs to get a grip]). 

        Yuri finished washing the dishes that (Y/N) requested from him and stared at the pan of brownies, deep in thought. 

        She did say they weren't poisoned... so... I guess I can try just one? Otherwise this'll all go to waste! Besides, she did say I was going to eat them too, so she had it in mind that we're sharing. Yuri thought, convincing himself of why he should give into the ex-spy's cooking.

        He cut a brownie out of the pan and was surprised by the chocolatey delicacy. It had extra chocolate chips in it and it was a perfect mix of fudge and cake. He took another one to eat, then another, and another after that one. He was halfway through the pan before he realized and stopped himself, remembering her words.

        ("...Cooking reminds me of my home")

        ("I'm not in the mood for sweets anymore, I'm going to bed.")

        She made these for herself, but she did have the intent of sharing them with him, so he supposes he can leave some for her. 

        He covered the leftover brownies with aluminum foil and placed the pan to the side, turning off the lights and walking back to his own room, already seeing (Y/N) in his bed and sleeping.

        "Oi, wake up." Yuri spoke, shaking her shoulders.

        She groaned and ignored him, causing him to get a little frustrated and shake her awake a bit harsher. 

        "Wake up!" Yuri hissed.

        "What?" (Y/N) huffed, annoyed she got woken up. "You know how much sleep I need and today's our day off so I wanna sleep in!"

        "I'm sorry..." Yuri muttered.

        (Y/N) looked up at him, a little confused as she sat up from the bed.

        "Sorry...? For what?" (Y/N) questioned.

        "For being rude... and I guess for waking you up..." Yuri huffed.

        "You guess...?" (Y/N) deadpanned.

        "Don't expect so much from me!" Yuri exclaimed. 

        "Oh, don't worry, I'm not." (Y/N) smiled.

        "HEY!" Yuri screamed. "You can never take anything seriously!" Yuri grumbled.

        "I'm messing with you, Yuri. Hop in." (Y/N) giggled, grabbing his arm and pulling him under the covers with her.

        "H-hey! Let go of me!" Yuri shouted, a dark blush on his face as he was shoved in her cleavage.

        "To be honest. I've never heard someone apologize to me before—it's very gratifying." (Y/N) admitted.

        "You're so full of yourself. AND LET GO OF ME!" Yuri screamed.

        "You're such a tsundere..." (Y/N) sighed, obliging as she unwrapped her arms from him. 

        They got comfortable together in the sheets as Yuri closed his eyes, feeling himself slip off.

        "Yuri, earlier you said I never take anything seriously." (Y/N) spoke up.

        "And?" Yuri questioned, his eyes still closed.

        "That's not true." (Y/N) confirmed.

        "...And...?" he questioned.

        "You should be less serious, have some fun. Trust me, it makes life a lot better." (Y/N) smiled. "They say laughter heals a broken heart, and judging by your personality, you could use a good laugh."        

        "Your face is enough for me." Yuri muttered.

        "Aw th— hey!" (Y/N) exclaimed.

        Yuri let out a small chuckle, one that brought a grin on (Y/N)'s face.

        "See? Just like that? You should do it more often..." (Y/N) muttered, her voice a little softer and more sultry than usual.

        "Shut up and go to bed..." Yuri huffed, ignoring the blush growing on his face. "Tomorrow, I'll take you somewhere."

        "Ooo, like a date?" (Y/N) teased.        

        "NO! AND I SAID SHUT UP!" Yuri screamed.

        .

        .

        It was (Y/N)'s turn to wake up alone, confused on the whereabouts of her fake husband.

        "Yuri?" she called out, hopping out of bed and walking out of the bedroom. 

        "Kitchen!" Yuri answered.

        (Y/N) walked into the kitchen and noticed the aluminum foil on the pan. She shot Yuri a curious glance who immediately avoided her eyes. She lifted the foil from the pan and saw half the pan gone, now understanding Yuri's guilty expression. 

        "Damn it! Should've done a larger dose..." (Y/N) muttered.

        "W-what?" Yuri questioned.

        I don't remember it tasting funny? Unless the divine taste was poison?! Yuri thought, alarms going off in his head.

        "Kidding, kidding!" (Y/N) smiled, then loud out a laugh as she recovered the pan. "I saw an opportunity."

        "Ha ha..." Yuri grumbled sarcastically.

        "You like 'em?" (Y/N) questioned.

        "...Yeah..." Yuri muttered, crossing his arms as his face heated up. "Hurry up and get dressed."

        "Where exactly are we going?" (Y/N) questioned. 

        "You'll see." Yuri dragged on.

        "Fine..." (Y/N) sighed.

        (Y/N) walked to their shared bedroom, grabbing a pair of clothes and changing into them real quick as Yuri waited for her in the living room. 

        "Are we visiting Yor?" (Y/N) asked, fixing the sleeves on her shirt. 

        "Close." Yuri replied, causing a delightful smile on her face.

        "We're visiting your mother!" (Y/N) beamed, then ran into the kitchen.

        She grabbed the pan from the counter, returning to Yuri. 

        "What's that for?" Yuri questioned.

        "It's normal to bring offerings to the dead, yeah?" (Y/N) smiled.

        "I guess..." Yuri muttered, then grabbed (Y/N)'s arm. "Let's go." 

        "You can hold my hand instead of my arm, unless I'm courting you? That's cool too." (Y/N) teased. 

        "It's so you don't run away." Yuri reaffirmed quickly, quick to assure (Y/N) wouldn't get the wrong idea as he unlocked the front door and walked out with (Y/N), closing and locking the door behind him. 

        "We're supposed to be a couple, remember?" (Y/N) smiled, shaking Yuri's grip from her forearm and instead holding his hand.

        "If that's the case, let me hold that." Yuri sighed, grabbing the pan from the hand that wasn't in (Y/N)'s grip. 

        "I'm glad to know chivalry isn't dead." (Y/N) teased.

        "Don't start it." Yuri warned.

        .

        .

        Yuri drove to a flower shop, making a quick stop and getting a bouquet of forget-me-nots, having them wrapped in a red ribbon. They re-entered the car as Yuri handed (Y/N) the bouquet, driving to a place unknown for (Y/N).

        "It's really cute you got forget-me-nots." (Y/N) commented. 

        "They were my mother's favorite." Yuri replied, crouching down to the polished gravestone as he held out his hand, signaling for her to give him the flowers.

        (Y/N) obliged immediately, handing him his flowers as she patiently waited for him to finish his internal conversation with his mother from beyond the grave. It must've been a good twenty minutes of watching Yuri silently mourn before he finally stood up from the dirt, clearing his throat.

        "Ready?" Yuri questioned.

        "Can I talk to her?" she questioned.

        "Talk? I mean... I guess? She won't say much though." Yuri smiled.

        "Starting to take to my humor. Huh, pretty boy?" (Y/N) laughed as Yuri shook his head, a blush on his face. "Wanna wait in the car? Or somewhere where you can see me? I wanna have a private conversation with her." 

        "I guess I can. No running off though." Yuri spoke sternly.

        "Yes, sir." (Y/N) saluted playfully, smiling as Yuri walked back into his car, climbing in and shutting the door as he watched her through the window.

        "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Briar. Would you look at that, we have the same title! Well... kind of. It's not official or anything." (Y/N) smiled, kneeling down to the dirt and talking as if she was really present. "I have a gift for you. They're brownies. Yuri ate some, but I hope you enjoy the rest." She spoke, placing the covered pan in front of the grave next to the flower bouquet. "My name is (Y/N) (L/N), my real name that is. In case you're wondering, I'm from Westalis. I do hope it doesn't bring any ill intent or memories to you, I'm not quite sure how you died, but I feel the war might be apart of it. Is that why Yuri dislikes Westalis so much...?" (Y/N) trailed off, before regaining her thoughts. 

        "You have two very beautiful kids, inside and out. Yuri is very entertaining, and Yor is very sweet. I may not be Yuri's official wife, but I really think I'll stick around for some time, or at least until Yuri gets sick of me, which is probably soon." (Y/N) chuckled. "I know we just met, and this is definitely out of the blue, but... I'm starting to warm up here in Ostania. I promise I'll look after Yuri for you. I can tell he's had it rough; I see myself in him, stubborn and determined." 

        "I'm not good with goodbyes, but I don't think that's necessary anyways. You're very important to Yuri, so you're important to me now; sorry, you can't change my mind on that part." (Y/N) smiled. "Yuri's waiting for me. He doesn't trust me at the moment, but I'm making progress. I'll make sure to visit you again, Mrs. Briar. We're in-laws now, so take care of yourself." 

        (Y/N) stood up from the dirt, swiping the dirt and grass off her feet as she bowed, showing her respects to Yuri's mother before running back and joining Yuri. 

        "You have a nice conversation?" Yuri questioned, starting up the car.

        "She told me to tell you that I'm her favorite girl you've ever brought to meet her." (Y/N) joked.         

        "You're the first one." Yuri deadpanned.

        "It's a joke." (Y/N) explained. "But, in actuality. I bet she was really lovely. I mean, she's a good listener, that's for sure."

        "Whatever." Yuri smiled, resisting the urge to laugh. "Let's go home. Find a movie to watch or something. We still have the day off." 

        It's a learning process for the both of them, to learn how to share a space and cooperate with each other. (Y/N) was raised to deceive and kill, Yuri was raised to follow his heart's content (even if his life goal is a bit... peculiar). It's a lot of work to be around someone when you've been alone for most of your life.

        (Y/N) didn't have a family to return to, a friend to tell secrets to and for them to stay alive long enough to keep, a crush to confess to. She had to become everything she wanted; her family, her home, her best friend, and her number one supporter. Yuri didn't have a mother or father to greet once he's come home from school. It also didn't help his sister was working a lot to help support him. He was never greeted home with a warm home cooked meal from mother and a football session afterwards. He didn't have time for things a normal boy would do; get into trouble with his friends, ask a girl out, or even play childish games such as "tag". Now that they have each other, they can be each other's friends, family, perhaps over time, even lovers. Even though they've both been hurt by their afflictions to either the West or East, they can still learn to care and love each other. 

        After all, as the saying goes, only time can heal a broken heart. 

        BONUS! (Daily life + headcannons!):

        This is intended for the Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! (Y/N) series and there are SPOILERS for the story down below! Click here to read the first chapter: Part 1.

        (Y/N) and Yuri wake up at 5 A.M., a good ten minutes is spent of Yuri fighting (Y/N) out of bed. 

        It's become a habit for (Y/N) to make them both coffee while Yuri reads the daily newspaper. 

        Depending on how much work they had the previous day and how they feel, they either make breakfast together or go out to eat at a nearby breakfast club. 

        (Y/N) and Yuri either drive to work or take the bus, it really depends on how Yuri is feeling (did Yuri drink last night or no?) 

        Yuri refuses for (Y/N) to drive since he's convinced she'll try and drive them off a bridge. 

        Yuri once had to take (Y/N) to the clinic to get her flu shot and was awestruck at how scared she was of needles ([Y/N] cried before they even stuck a needle into her).

        (Y/N) is afraid of needles because of how many she had to see during her time in the Westalis military. Needles usually didn't mean good things. Since there were many injuries in the war and not many supplies or technology, some nurses and doctors had to bullshit their way through things. She saw someone have a bad reaction to one of the needles and it traumatized her since then. 

        Yuri holds her hand when she gets shots (she almost broke his hand from holding it so tight, but Yuri sucked it up [despite having a terrible pain tolerance] and didn't let her see in case she got worried for him). 

        Flower ([Y/N]'s stuffed bunny) was retrieved in the rubble of (Y/N)'s childhood house by Hujo and given back to her at the military shelter. Flower was a toy her father had given her once and it's only the only physical thing she has of her childhood home.

        (Y/N) has a short temper but tries her best to hide it (especially since she lives with Yuri now, everyday is a patience test). 

        (Y/N) sleep-talks (Yuri figured that out the hard way). 

        (Y/N) and Yuri once watched a horror movie together in a drive-in theater. That same night, (Y/N) muttered phrases the demons said in the movies, Yuri was convinced (Y/N) somehow got possessed and hit her awake with a pillow (he did not apologize after [Y/N] explained that she sleep-talks).

        (Y/N) adores Anya and spoils her. (Y/N) doesn't believe she'll find real love in the future, so she doesn't believe she'll have kids (either she won't find someone, or she'll die from the SSS or WISE). Because of this, (Y/N) treats Anya like her own daughter and spoils her with peanuts (Anya likes [Y/N] more because of this). 

        Yuri once had a two-hour study session teaching (Y/N) and Anya basic algebra (the girls both ended up falling asleep as Yuri quietly muttered to himself about how hopeless they are).

        When Yuri got shot during their mission saving one of the Eden Academy buses, (Y/N) refused to leave Yuri's side during the whole healing process. 

        When (Y/N) feels guilty of deceiving Yuri (go to part 8 to understand why), she cooks a lot for him. Her father once told her that food is a way to a man's heart and she fully believes that.

        (Y/N) once ran into one of the WISE agents with Yuri in public, but the agent didn't know Yuri was apart of the SSS! The agent tried to talk to (Y/N) but got punched in the face by (Y/N) who claimed he was a pervert (it was that or being executed). 

        Yuri keeps a close eye on (Y/N) in public, not only so he can make sure he doesn't try and run away, but also so (Y/N) doesn't get injured since she's very clumsy (he lost count with how many times he watched her trip over air or walk straight into still poles). He walks on the side with traffic so she doesn't accidentally walk into ongoing traffic.

        Yuri falls asleep really easy since he's tired from his job, but he'll secretly wait until (Y/N) sleeps so that he knows she's not getting up to any mischief (is what he says, in actuality, he enjoys spending his time with (Y/N). 

        The teddy bear (Y/N) gave Yuri in part 9 is now (Y/N)'s pillow (even though it was meant for Yuri). Yuri gets very jealous of it; he can deal with the small stuffed-rabbit, but the huge teddy bear taking up his bed is very annoying since (Y/N) will subconsciously hold it in her sleep instead of Yuri. 

        I hoped you enjoyed this fanfic and thank you for your requests and support! Feel free to ask for anything else or any other characters from my masterlist! This applies to everyone reading, follower or not!

[padme-amitabha]

I just saw a post calling ahoska and obi wan anakins truest loves and uh what? It brought up the mortis arc of tcw and essentially minimizing the anidala love for one another as some form of escapism and how its poison ( even tho vader literally gets saved bc of luke - padmes son🙄) Its so strange how ahsoka fans want to make her a more prominent character than she really is. Also a recurring opinion that gets brought up is ahsoka knowing/understanding anakin better than padme and obi wan when she didn’t even know things about him (like he was a slave) and we consistently see anakin confide in padme its just so odd how alot of star wars fans diminish her

That doesn't surprise me at all since Star Wars is Ahsoka Wars at this point. And even if it wasn't, you have to give the Skywalkers at least some rest uk? The constant retconning and addition of new stuff most people didn't even ask for is tiresome. Ahsoka from the start felt very OC-ish to me because she was constantly hyped and favored in a way not even Anakin was. She felt like a self-insert jedi character so her place is canon is just weird. And forcing her to be important in places where she's not needed just shows Filoni's favoritism. At least GL wasn't ever really biased towards Anakin and Luke. Anakin mainly suffered through so much and had enough flaws and complexies which Ahsoka never had. She's constantly in a plot armor and just overpowered imo. But ofc she's a badass Jedi so she is more popular than Padme. I cant even.. I just hate the way TCW and Filoni wrote her. I don't see Anakin as being a big brother to anyone. Or being a teacher. The only other natural interaction he has except Padme and his mother is with Obi-Wan and even that took time. They didn't get along well in the first two movies and although he does joke around with Obi Wan in ROTS, he has his own slightly awkward and shy way of doing it. And I imagine he's semi reserved and shy with other Jedi. Or when we see him interacting with Padme's family. But to make him a responsible master is strange because even in ROTS he was too young and not mature enough to be level-headed and responsible all the time. And I like that because he has flaws but he was trying to learn and wanted to be a good father. And I do believe he really gained that maturity (which was stunted due to obvious trauma) and fatherly affection for Luke after ESB and not before. I think he would have had trouble connecting with Leia as well post ROTJ because he wasn't prepared to and had no experience being a role model for anyone. Meanwhile, 22 year old TCW Anakin with Ahsoka acts like a 30 year old man with anger issues...

It's also frustrating to see Padme being reduced to a love interest when she was a main character and part of the trio. She, like Han, didn't need to be a Jedi to be one of the main characters and it's boring to see a trio of Jedi only. I don't really blame Ahsoka fans - only Filoni for constantly dragging her into everything and I'm glad it's backfiring because I see fans who previously liked her are beginning to get tired of her being shoehorned into every single SW thing and acting all Mary Sue. Also, see the amount of concept arts and storylines they wrote for Padme during the prequels. She had more arts than Anakin and Obi-Wan. GL clearly wanted her to be important even more than Leia in ANH because we see much more of Padme and the first movie directly involves her and her planet with Anakin's discovery being a sideplot. It's disrespectful to reduce her to a love interest.

This video puts it really well (although he isn't a fan of the prequels as far as I can remember): "Dave Filoni's biggest problem as a writer apart from his complete inability to write interesting dialogue or craft stories that are more than just fetch quest for Magical McGuffin or create people who actually make smart decisions or his borderline fetish for the boring mediocre character he's trying so hard to insert as the driving force behind the entire Star Wars narrative is his constant [ __ ] around and reconning of past events and World building to suit the needs of his own narrow story. It's like he's staying in a hotel room for a couple of days and decided that he now has the right to completely remodel the place because he feels like it. This isn't your job Dave you're supposed to work within the rules of the world that George created not write a whole bunch of new ones just to suit yourself that now affect everyone else."

Lol applause for saying that out loud

[kyogre-blue]

Played about 2.5 hours of Wuthering Waves tonight. I was hoping to unlock the dailies, but I only made it to Union level 4, which I think is too low, but whatever.

My impressions are fairly mixed, but given how many gachas I've now started and dropped pretty much immediately, WW is doing quite well for itself.

I have to say tho that I deeply pity it for how much it will be compared to Genshin.

For positives, I think WW has a rather solid opening section. I focused on the main story to advance the Union level faster, but it seems like you get your main tutorials out of the way fairly quickly and can go and explore from there. Given the complaints I have about being railroaded in other games, that's nice.

Additionally, I think the story is nice if unremarkable. It's paced better than Genshin early parts imo, which were ridiculously rushed, and it benefits from having multiple characters who talk to each other and have different personalities. Yangyang, Chixia and Baizhi invite the harem jokes, but they are a friend group who decide to look after this amnesiac they found. They frame it as a combination of responsibility and friendliness, which I think works. Aside from that, yes, the game certainly leans into the MC being someone super special and important, but it's treated as an actual mystery and the current driving point of the narrative. Plus, the male MC is rather cute, so I can forgive a lot.

Compared to a whole bunch of other gachas, I am actually mildly interested in seeing where this is all going.

For the neutral points, WW actually has a fairly different tone and vibe than Genshin. The colors are more muted, the music is notably less upbeat, and there is a vaguely scifi aesthetic underlying the setting. It also has a lot more... what I read as Chinese cultural influences. You do start in the China region, but there's also stuff like the goofy gourd gadgets everyone has. I have a general impression of what mythological thing is being referenced, but it really does come off as goofy. However, those details are kinda... cute? narm-charm? I guess, when you consider that it's a Chinese developer. It also just has a different flavor from the most common settings, which is always a nice change.

For the negatives, I think the game does lack a few points of polish compared to Genshin. The movement controls feel kinda floaty, the designs (especially the adult female ones) are just not as competent or appealing, the proportions on the models look a bit off at times, and there are even minor bugs, with stuff like dialogue boxes being unable to fit all the lines of text (with no log feature in the scenes themselves), the auto advance moving too quickly and cutting off voice lines and sometimes even making it impossible to read the text fast enough, some awkward visual elements, textures loading kinda poorly, etc.

All of those are very small details and I'm not going to stop because of them, but they do create a certain impression in accumulation.

Examples:

The bottom of the image was also the bottom of the screen. A line or two of the text is just invisible, and this happens quite often.

Weirdly sized and spaced apostrophes.

Bad spacing on the wishing menus.

Weirdly poor textures on this guy. This happens once in a while. There are also very obvious cases of pop in that can get quite distracting during story scenes.

For the spacing stuff, I do play in windowed mode, but like... that's an option they give you. It shouldn't be like this.

All that aside, I'm going to continue for at least a while, though I plan to take it very casually, maybe even as a non-wishing account. The exploration and story can probably be cleared even with welfares... I hope.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Jimin, dude, man, bro, wtf? What in actual goddamn fuck???

Listen, there like 3 Jimin solo songs I like and I am not a big fan of some of his vocal choices but let me tell you I was really hyped and hooked when the teasers came out. The drama, war anthem-ness, the grandeur of everything, I liked it all. So I was quite disappointed when the news of him rapping came out because I've heard him rap before and it was bad, and I especially was reluctant to watch the whole MV after I heard a snippet of it on my tl (the stylistically autotuned rap part, yeah). I was afraid to be disappointed after such great teasers.

despite my fears I finally watched the MV... fuck... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK PARK JIMIN??? It's so damn good! Even the rap part??? I LOVED it. Separately it doesn't sound very nice but combined and mixed it somehow works well. And his stylistic vocal choices, the way he changes his voice all the time, it's amazing, it keeps you hooked and anticipating what comes next, it keeps surprising you, even shocked at some point. I haven't been a fan of bts songs since the fake love era (even black swan is not IT for me, it's really good but not THAT great) so it says a lot. this one is easily one of my faves EVER in their discography.

The song is a statement. A grand opening. Empowering.

BTW, the song is totally a type of song that you would play in your car while driving around with your friends and singing-shouting along. Wow, just wow.

*

Ask 2: Opinions on set me free pt. 2 seem to be divided in some circles 👀👀👀 ofc because of the vocal processingz that’s a common complaint for so many years already lol. I mean Pdogg is the main producer of the album so idk what they expected… personally i love the song and i think the vocal processing works but i think i can understand some people have different tastes and expectations… at the end of that day it was a choice consciously chosen by jimin and his producers. It’s there for a reason imo. I’m happy though that jimin really tried something different!!!!! So many people were expecting a ballad for this title instead we got a banger lol… and like you said Yoongi’s style is obvious even when he doesnt have a hand in making it directly… now i’m so curious what like crazy will sound like!!!! But i wanna ask if youll be making a post for set me free bpp???

***

Posting these two asks now because my inbox is already getting out of control and between getting zero sleep and a flight I've got to catch in exactly 73 minutes, I'd rather briefly get out some thoughts now, regardless of if they're coherent or not, because I don't know when next I'll have time.

Hi Anon(s),

I don't think I'll ever write a full review for this song, because there's a lot about it I don't want to talk about, a lot I don't want to share and would rather keep to myself.

That said,

Everything about Set Me Free Pt. 2 is right up my alley and objectively brilliant. Every single thing about it: the melody, the autotune, the chants, the rap, the fact the whole thing plays out in the same prison, the way Jimin uses his body as a canvas for inscriptions that only enhance his storytelling, the performance.

I have nothing to say to anyone who doesn't like this or that about it. Rapper Jimin was in my wishlist for PJM1 so... and I'm a hiphop head who listens to Travis Scott-type autotune at least a couple times a day. Plus I've got Yoongi, that nasty, autotune-loving, foul-mouthed cat as my bias. Joon and Hobi aren't that much nicer either. Anybody reading this to hear me say something critical about this song should wake up and smell the matcha.

Some things I want to gush about:

First of all, the instrumentals. PDogg went stuuuuuuuuuuuupid on this track goddamn.

This song is pure trap. An orchestral, haunting trap anthem is what Set Me Free Pt. 2 is.

It is so sick. So maddening in how good it is. No wonder he was so excited about Jimin ending k-pop in 2023, the song he produced is easily the best produced Korean song so far and believe me when I tell you that is really saying something, because the competition this year has been stiff.

*

The Vocals

Jimin's voice is the most emotive in BTS. That's one reason I love it. Another reason is because nobody's vocals in BTS, in k-pop, fuck, in all of Korea, drips as much sauce as Park Jimin's. I've said before, Jimin sounds inhuman almost, I describe his voice as serrated steel coated in honey and wrapped in silk because it sounds distinctly metallic, but can be oddly soothing. But with Jimin, there's a tone he takes sometimes that has this undercurrent of nasty, of unapologetic vulgarity, and in Set Me Free Pt. 2, he uses autotune to amplify it to brain-piercing perfection.

PDogg brilliantly uses autotune to aid Jimin in sending a message.

The shrillest, most distorted we hear Jimin is when he raps after the first chorus, and that's by design. The use of autotune in this song is intentional, and we can see this because every time it ratchets up, Jimin is being crude and uninhibited - as though it's a second voice, an alter-ego, or Jimin himself speaking the deepest truest thoughts he holds, pushing them to the surface after suppressing them for nine years.

PDogg has used this sort of autotune on Jimin's voice before, in the second chorus of Black Swan (timestamp: 2:24 - 2:50)

It's hidden in the backing vocals in Black Swan but felt in full cathartic force in SMF pt 2. And it feels incredible.

Stream:

*

The Message/Lyrics

This is the part I don't want to write about because I'd rather keep my thoughts to myself. Not because I have special insight or think I've discovered something no one else sees or whatever, but because it's the only thing about this song that stayed within my expectations of who I think Jimin is. Plus I'm certain various interpretations will be offered by many other bloggers, so I'm okay sitting this one out.

That's the most I'll say now.

[fereldanwench]

i finished my rewatch (well, rewatch of s1-s5 + first watch of s6 bc i hadn't seen it before) of lucifer last night so some thoughts

spoilers under the cut

the relationships--platonic, romantic, sexual, parent-to-child, all of them--is the absolute best thing about this show and what keeps me here even when shit gets dumb. the friendship between all the ladies is my fave, but i was extra fond of dan this run and his friendships with amenadiel and chloe were just 10/10. i always liked that he and chloe didn't fall into the hostile ex tropes and were good friends who could co-parent

s3 remains my least favorite and the biggest slog to get through imo, but i still get a kick out of the episode with the undercover sting that has lucifer and pierce pretending to be a couple

s4 also remains my favorite--i feel like it just best encapsulates everything that drew me into the show in the first place

perhaps an unpopular opinion, but i was never a big fan of deckerstar being a fully realized thing. it's obvious that was always gonna be the endgame, but i just like the dynamic between chloe and lucifer a lot more as platonic partners with a little sexual tension and a lot of good-natured ribbing

s6 has some individually good moments, like eve and maze getting hitched--although i saw some people say that came out of nowhere and i respectfully disagree. they're both incredibly impulsive, i think it was very fitting and adorable, and I'm getting teary-eyed again thinking about maze realizing she is capable of loving and deserving of being loved

but anyway the A plot is built off a premise i hate so much: time travel. i loathe time-traveling shit in stories like this, where could it be explained as plausible (and they try, with chloe, i think, pointing out like 'well your brother can freeze time, is this really that much different?' yes, writers-via-chloe, it is, because you used the time-freezing in interesting moments and time travel is all around stupid) but it otherwise comes out of nowhere. and with a fuckin' future kid driving that plot? gross, no thanks

i mean, rory was mostly inoffensive, minus her telling lucifer she wasn't going to the suit fitting and then getting mad when he wasn't there, like girl, you did that one yourself. but if you're gonna introduce a main character in the last season of a show, that character had better be fuckin amazing, and she was not

i suspected i was probably never gonna be wild about how deckerstar wrapped up just because that was like the only relationship i was never super into, but again, the time travel shit is just dumb. I'm just really annoyed at the time travel loop thing being essential to lucifer finding his true calling or whatever and it was nice to see that chloe was always surrounded by friends even after he was gone, but omg what a fucking sacrifice on her part for real. i think it was meant to be a mostly happy ending with their reunion and it just did not hit that way for me. chloe deserved better

but ranting aside, i do still think it's a really fun show and there are so many prime comfort-food-watching moments that were perfect for a little casual holiday viewing <33

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Do you think something snapped in the dynamic between army and taehyung? It's kinda crazy to me seeing so many people openly admit that they don't want him there~ some of the people I follow on social media are very close to coming out as jikook ot2 but I have also seen actual ot7 armys say that even though they'd like to see content from different subunits within bts they don't feel like V was a necessary addition to the show. Many jikookers who used to swear they loved all members and they were nothing like taekookers were openly shading V on main and, even though from most of them I don't see the absolute malice and disgust taekookers have to talk about jimin, it is now pretty obvious that they can't stand V at all. I'm not actually mad about this, I think it would be healthy for army to move into a mindset where it's acceptable not to like everything they do or not loving all members. I mean, I've always been a fan of bands where I love some members and I don't know or actually don't give a fuck about others lmao so getting into kpop and seeing that not loving every member of a group as if they were your children was treated as a crime against humanity was kind of insane to me, but yeah, seeing this sudden change has been interesting

I think V has become one of the most divisive members. His solo music wasn't very impactful, either in terms of popularity or artistry, and most of the content he released was variety with non-members and photoshoots, which isn't necessarily the content fans want. On top of that, there's the whole Jennie thing, him working with MHJ, and even people judging him for some of his Wooga squad friends. I think the other members' solo ventures resonated more with Army, so he probably isn't as talked about anymore.

And of course Taekookers hating Jimin would create resentment among Jikookers, staining their opinion on V. Since Jungkook and V hung out so much in chapter 2 while Jikook's bond was constantly questioned, a lot of Jikookers are angry at V, even though it's not his fault. However, V dropping a pic with JK when Muse came out and AYS got announced, without acknowledging Muse at all, made a lot of Jikookers pretty mad, as they interpreted V's post as an attack against Jimin and Jikook. And that's not even the first time Jikookers accused V of not supporting Jimin or fueling Taekookers. If it weren't for Taekookers, Jikookers wouldn't even be upset about any of this... This is what happens in fandoms...

But I haven't seen the same treatment towards V from non-Jikookers though, even if V, imo, doesn't have the same standing in the fandom as before. I think his path in chapter 2 diverged from what the other members chose to do, in terms of priorities, which kind of separated him from BTS and the fandom a bit. He's still well loved though.

And being OT7 to me has always meant appreciating the group as a whole and respecting each member and dynamic individually. I love BTS and each member as family, but I've never felt the same about all of them. Jungkook is the only member I have true devotion for. I love, defend, keep up with, and appreciate the others members, but without the same drive. I'm also a lot more interested in Jimin than the other 5 members, and while I love Jin as much as Jimin, the content he releases isn't for me, so I'm not looking that forward to it (just the album and performances + Run Jin to a lesser extent). This is all personal taste. Love and loving someone to the point of being able to stream their music all day are two different things. Love is a spectrum, and we don't love or need any two people the same.

The fandom is very OT7 because Armys know there are many solos, shippers, and people who hate one of the members. BTS are strong as seven, as a group, so Army can't let the fandom fracture. It would lead to worse results for BTS and make the fandom more toxic and unruly. Armys need to be organized, focused, and share the same goals. They also like to cover all bases and ensure BTS don't have any weak links. Moreover, OT7 is part of BTS's branding and something BTS themselves are very committed to, and Army always defend BTS's interests. Promoting OT7 is strategic in many ways. It's also a way for fans to recognize like minded fans. But no one is truly OT7 in the sense of treating and loving all seven members the same. That's practically impossible.

[vermillioncrown]

eh, it doesn't really read as sanctimonious. makes sense. do you do anything in particular to develop the internal worldview of characters and how they "tick", besides writing interactions? do you keep character profiles or anything of the like? have a good day, and thanks for answering the first ask :)

okay good, it might have sounded a little "touch grass" for a minute there...

=

hmm...i don't do formal "character building exercises" or the like. even those character questions tire me out.

but yeah i keep notes. example of older notes that have little points of character development or relevant parts of them popping up per chapter, vs the overall notes above the timeline (tim and jason were harder to nail down so i needed notes vs dick):

or as @rozaceous has laughed at me... tallies and excel sheets, but those are so spoilery it's not even funny, but it'll be very funny to show when we get there bc. yeah.

not organized like a profile, but the main drive to write is something about this character sticks out at you (if fandom-related), thus let yourself imagine whatever scenario about that character with that salient point as a start.

example: dick grayson accidental child acquisition bc he's the one nice enough for a "child" to approach + looks old enough + plausible reason to be away from oversight -> build out connection to his job, history, where he is in canon, current connections. and i didn't figure out everything since ch 1; it's like peeling an onion lol. and as long as you don't overdo what you depict, you always have room to reveal and develop more

(example, i didn't think too hard on his relationship w bruce, tim, and jason until i had to. but the room i left in how it was only about his interactions with korvin + him being someone mission focused out of necessity and habit means you don't have to constantly sadboi introspect)

(another thing is...people usually don't introspect too deep if they're decisive and take action a lot. they can't afford to. and people don't completely know themselves, so it's okay to be wrong, as long as their wrong answer leads to a logical wrong conclusion)

(or you're writing someone completely bonkers and loose, then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but they still have their internal logic)

i balance between "lol wouldn't it be funny/sad/emotional if..." and vetting for the blorbo in question to connect it back to their canon. because the first part drives the desire to write, and the second makes the what-if have impact imo.

(you can kinda see that process happen simultaneously when i answer au what-ifs--unless something got posed where the central conceit was too far removed from the original point of the divergence)

when i don't need to iron out details i usually don't note it down, because i can always refer back to my previous bits or it's very obvious to me from the canon. if it's a difficult aspect to nail down, i take notes and keep them as an example to refer to.

i also walk a fine line between depicting idiosyncrasies vs flanderization. people are creatures of habit, right? but it's too easy to use that as a way to easily make characters distinguishable that it's like an overwrought performance rather than one of many traits in a complex individual. i keep habits in mind bc they're usually easy enough to remember by the time i'm writing out a whole thing vs note taking.

e.g. i wonder if you notice that in dick in my chapters doesn't swear much until he's under duress? he's very controlled, very practiced in keeping the mood light, such that it's just part of his internal narration.

Vs. babs, i have her more readily to be sharp and swear bc that's indicative of someone who's less outward facing on the daily compared to dick (she's only 2-3 years out from her injury and becoming oracle, and you need to imagine how someone who used to be so able as to be batgirl would feel to lose use of her legs. even if she does eventually accept her new state of being, it still sucks to say the least)

he's also an adult with a job (haha real life example), so his immediate concerns are very different from tim's as a comparison point.

=

there's not a hard formula. just take notes as you think (notepad, phone, computer), use the fun of blorbos and fandom to motivate you, and don't be afraid to revise and correct yourself. and don't let organization paralyze you (don't let perfect be the enemy of good).

uh...the easiest things for me to keep in mind are: vocab (internal and external voice), initiative (active/reactive or passive person), and mindset focus (do they introspect more or spend more time observing others)? -> and then i build out from there

and when you finally write something, read it out loud to yourself. make different voices. it's pretty easy to find when someone will say a thing vs if no one on their life would say that vs only an anime character would say that

[the-lark-ascending69]

I wish I were as optimistic as you 😭 personally, I don't think byler will be canon or that Will is ever going to confess his feelings (again, the queer characters don't get to come between the straight main couple). I do hope his pain is given some meaning, by which I mean... I hope it's one of those experiences that help a person grow, y'know? Idk how exactly, but maybe it's one of those things he has to face in over to heal? I don't need them to get together, I just wish all of these characters became characters again.

As for ronance, what drives me up the walls is one very very specific scene, which was Robin getting on her knees for Nancy. I don't even consider it the most "romantic" scene (that one would be the hand-holding 🥰), but I feel like it's the only scene in which there was a shred of intentionality, or rather, unintentional intentionality? As in, I don't think they would have made Robin do that if she were straight. It's this gentlemanly act that just screams "lesbian", like... of course a lesbian would chivalrously get down on her knees for a girl! And obviously, lesbians being chivalrous isn't necessarily a sign of attraction, but there's the accidental implication that Robin feels the seed, the germ of attraction towards Nancy that girl lovers generally feel towards most girls, simply because Nancy is a girl.

(Though it's not like the Duffers would realize - straight people are really really good at ignoring any possible queer implications in the texts they write. You could have Robin and Nancy making out and they'd still think it was a normal way for girl friends to show affection).

Though, yeah, I'm sitting here like a delusional idiot hoping Robin gets a real character arc in S5 and gets upgraded to the front-row sphere. I feel so frustrated with what they did to her in S4, just... since when is the girl notorious for comforting crying girls in public bathrooms after Steve broke their hearts, pushing one of said girls to go back with him? Did these people even read the books they themselves commissioned for their characters? "Rebel Robin" Robin would NEVER. And "Surviving Hawkins" Robin would be a lot more concerned about being unable to fit in with other girls (i.e Nancy) than whether or not Stancy becomes canon.

It's painfully obvious she was conceived as Steve's future girlfriend and when they changed their minds, rather than focus on platonic Stobin, they tried to force Stancy 2 Electric Bogaloo down our throats, because they couldn't go for five minutes without wasting time on half-assed heterosexual romances. Imagine of all the time dedicated to Stancy in S4 went instead into having Nancy and Robin talk about Barb! Or in actually developing Robin's relationship with Vickie... literally anything would have been better.

I really liked S4 but generally it was all over the place and the only characters that really shone were Max, El and Nancy, while everyone else went from OK to miserable imo

I'm sorry but I have a very real problem with Vickie as a character. A fan-favorite character is revealed to be queer in the previous season and gets a love interest shaped appendix with no plot relevance or personality, created only to be Robin's trophy girlfriend, in a way that is so painfully and obviously different from how they did it when they tried to make a new character entirely to give her a love story with an already existing main character.

I'm talking about Robin herself, and how, despite not having the deepest character arc in S3, she still had some meat on her bones. She still had some stuff to work with. She was actually important and involved with the plot and had real chemistry with her would-be love interest, Steve. Making her a lesbian at last second pretty much saved both her and Steve's characters and made the Scoops subplot, the only redeemable subplot of S3, actually salvageable. By recontextualizing Stobin with that revelation, you go from a forced, heteronormative/amatonormative "love story" with mysoginistic undertones (because what are frmale characters if not trophy wives for male characters!) and 1) you give Robin actual stuff in her life that has nothing to do with Steve, turning her into a real character on her own, yet also shows why their friendship is so valuable to her, giving her a mini-arc in the process about overcoming isolation, alienation and loneliness, and 2) you wrap up Steve's arc the way his character clearly needs to be wrapped up - by moving on from his immature pursuits of women as romantic/sexual fulfillment and his highschool persona constructed on that, and embracing maturity by working on himself with the help of the people who challenge him the most, his platonic bonds (Dustin and Robin). Like I'm being 100% serious when I say making Robin a lesbian somewhat saved season 3.

But you can tell the brilliance of that move did NOT come from the Duffers' mastermind because they couldn't even attempt to replicate their unexpected success with Robin and Vickie. Because even before Robin was made into a lesbian, she still had SOMETHING. Vickie has nothing. She's a non-character. And it's interesting to note the difference in treatment when it comes to straight male characters vs. queer female characters. You can make the case that Max's introduction in S2 followed a similar pattern to beta!Stobin - new character paired up with pre-existing character. But you wouldn't say Max was added just to give Lucas a girlfriend, because even if her plot relevance in S2 was rather lackluster, she still had... so much more than even Robin in S3, and she's simply uncomparable to Vickie. She feels like her own person right from the start. We know the Duffers like to add wayy to many characters, making the show feel crowded and inevitably leaving a few characters behind, but when they add new characters in a given season, they're actually pretty good at making us fall in love with them quickly. Max, Robin, Eddie, hell even Billy if you're into that - like I said before, there's always some work that goes into them that makes you care about them.

Sure, there are less important characters that don't get half the effort put into them - Heather, Benny, idk, Barb's parents? And many others I can't remember right now. Not every character needs to be a fan-favorite.

But none of these guys were a main character's love interest. Not even for like, a second-row main character like Robin. Lucas gets a girl and she gets proper character development. Steve was originally intended to get a girl and she gets plot relevance, screentime and charisma (and a bit of character development pre-coming out too). Robin gets a girl and... it seems like Robin and her girl don't matter that much.

Which makes me question, why give Robin a love interest at all if they weren't going to do anything about it. My guess is that, well, she's a lesbian, so of course she gets to kiss girls. Character arc? What is that? Just watch her gush over a girl without last name and not care about anything else for most of the season. The writers just didn't know what to do with her now that she's no longer gonna be Steve's trophy girlfriend. Just throw in a poorly put together gay subplot, because everyone knows gay people only get to kiss other gay people and there's nothing else about the lesbian experience worth talking about (like, idk, the loneliness? The alienation?). I'm of the belief that, if you're gonna half-ass it, don't write a romantic subplot at all, regardless of the characters' genders and sexuality. But what bothers me isn't a shitty romantic subplot. It's the difference in treatment that the queer characters get vs. their straight counterparts.

And it bothers me because it could have been fixed SO easily! You get three options:

Give Robin a character arc that's not a romantic subplot. That doesn't mean she doesn't get to have a crush, but it should be in the background. My idea would be to make it about her, Nancy and Barb, and their old friendship + Robin's sense of alienation. Robin learning the truth about Barb's death, and her and Nancy helping each other heal. Robin and Nancy becoming friends through long conversations about their feelings, through which Nancy gets a sort of "second chance" at having a friend again and Robin gets to connect with someone who initially hated her in her own special way. The point is to not make r0vickie obviously endgame, EVEN if it turns out to be that way next season, because if it's obviously endgame it suddenly begs for a deeper development and the lack of it becomes a problem. An easy solution would be to give Robin multiple crushes, to signal at how unserious they all are at the moment.

Give Robin a love story with a newly introduced main character. And the obvious option is *rolls drums" genderbent Eddie! Or Vickie in Eddie's place. Best and easiest solution imo. It may sound weird but if you think about it, it all makes sense - plot relevance, character development... only problem would be killing your gays if you squint, though Robin would be alive and ready for a new character arc next season, as a changed person. Sad, angry, possibly seeking revenge and seeking to assert herself as a threat after hiding and running her entire life. Robin's feelings are suddenly plot relevant now. I'm picking Eddie here (or rather, his role) because he's the most important one out if all the new S4 characters, and the one that spends time with the group the most. It's clean, minimalistic and practical.

Give Robin a love story with a pre-existing main character, i.e Nancy. As a ronance shipper, I maintain that pairing up Nancy and Robin would have been original and unexpected in the best way. I feel like I don't even need to explain why this would have been a good idea - tons of people already have. Mostly, I want to lament the impossibility of this option, which links directly to the point I'm trying to make.

Robin was never going to be paired with a main-main character, old or new, because queer relationships on-screen need to be pushed to the sides as to not interfere with or threaten the straight main characters. Nancy, as the main girl, was never going to get a romance with a girl. Vickie was never going to get the centrality that Eddie got. Straight relationships get to be taken seriously, even if they're writen stupidly, like whatever the fuck happened with stancy and jancy in S4. Queer relationships don't get to be more than silly forgettable subplots. Queer characters like Robin need to be inobtrusive. She could never fall in love with Nancy, even if one-sided-ly, because that would create a conflict straight audiences don't want to see.

And if a queer character DOES fall in love with a main straight character, like Will, it's all meant for pointless suffering. Not the kind of suffering that's vital for a character arc, or the kind that gives depth to a character. It's not a kind of suffering that leads them to change, to take any given decisions that they wouldn't otherwise have taken. It's not a suffering that could possibly interfere with the straight main couple's happiness. It's not a pain that causes conflict. Queer love and pain doesn't get to be part of the conflict in straight-dominated stories. So Robin can never fall in love with someone from the front-row sphere and Will suffers pointlessly, even though that pain has no real effect on him.

[mmmthornton]

I am, once again, up late thinking about South Park meta

I got thoughts i wanna put down about the kind of character I think Tolkien is. This will probably end up being a combination of why I think Stolkien is feasible and some thoughts on what part i think he'd play in my (completely incomprehensible) South Patho AU.

Something I think is interesting about Tolkien in particular and the boys from Craig's gang in general is that there is a very simple reason that they're not the protagonists of the series: they don't want to be. the 2 parter Pandemic episode with Craig was the most obvious, but overall despite existing in the same universe Craig-and-those-guys just kind of...opt out of most adventures that the M4 get involved with. For Tweek, even though he was a main character for a bit, the pressure of driving a narrative is too much for his methed-out nerves. Clyde is probably too vain or self interested to carry out significant actions relevant to the plot - except in Stick of Truth of course but thats....different for obvious (spoiler) reasons. Jimmy is in it for the goofs but sees the morality judgements - classic South Park "I learned something today" and otherwise - as an impediment to his free speech and comedy (who knows, maybe i'll have a similar post to make about him because he's also not really well understood imo). Craig's main character trait is apathy, and we know the only two things he cares about are his Guinea pig and his boyfriend so he's out as an involved protagonist.

Tolkien though? He excuses himself from protagonist-ing because he sees standing out as an invitation to critique and limitations. I don't necessarily think that's because he's controlled by peoples expectations for him the way that someone like Kyle is though. I think Tolkien feels like the judgement of others, even when its complimentary, takes away from his agency and individuality especially being a minority kid in a very white environment. We saw that pretty clearly in the episode where Nichole moves to the town and, despite the fact that he DOES like her and want to get to know her, the fact that it means the "only two black kids" would be together makes him very resistant. For his (incredibly racist), suspect motivations, Cartman's actions are what push those two into sweet and legitimate relationship that Tolkien otherwise wouldn't have pursued because of the concern he'd be "playing in" to what others expect of him! Thats pretty big characterization right there.

Tolkien gets embarrassed when he has reactions in public that he can't control and he gets angry when other people single him out in ways he can't control. He ALSO gets mad when other people act like they're standing out, and has the unique ability (in South Park's universe at least), to see through bullshit. He's not against confrontation, and doesn't let those actions slide if he has the ability to correct them. Also interesting is that while HE doesn't want the limelight on himself, he's very willing to put it on others for his own gain. That shows that he's clearly smart enough to know what that attention can do to AND for other people, and like any good smartass he knows where he wants to put himself in relation to that attention.

If I'm still making sense here...thats why I think Tolkien would be a really interesting one to pair with a kid like Stan. Stan REALLY wants to be a good person, and he wants to see himself as a good person! It isn't enough for him to have the approval of people around him; we've seen in multiple episodes how that sort of acclaim wears very thin very quickly for him in particular. Still, this is why Stan believes the kind of manipulative suggestions (Randy telling the whole family that they need to reach out to the "black community" SPECIFICALLY to get Stan to invite Tolkien over), that would fall flat on other members of his friend group. Stan IS a protagonist, and when given a Call to Action in the problem-of-the-week he takes up the cause he can believe in. Obviously though...this approach is not without its drawbacks and Stan suffers a lot from trying to be The Strong One. He puts his feelings wayyyy behind this desire to be "a good person", and that puts a strain on the kid's already-taxed mental health.

So what does that have to do with Stolkien? I'm gonna make a comparison here to Style using the "he asked for no pickles" meme of course!

Stan and Kyle go to a restaurant. Stan finds that there are pickles on his burger. Kyle channels his Sheila Broflovsky (see other posts of mine about how much i love that Kyle takes after his mother lol), and gets their meals comped after making it VERY clear to the server what they did wrong. Stan got his burger with no pickles, AND its on the house, but he also has that uncomfortable feeling of being "responsible" for getting a rise out of Kyle. *Note here, I don't really hate Style, I just think that Stan might be a little...sensitive for Kyle's often oblivious emotionality. It can still be really cute though imo, I'll reblog cute hc's and art if I see 'em.*

Stan and Tolkien go to a restaurant. Stan finds that there are pickles on his burger. Tolkien being Tolkien doesn't make a scene, but tells Stan its not a big deal and that he can take the pickles out or ask for another one. He brings it up to the waiter when they come over to check on things. Stan might still have the burger, without pickles, or gets another depending on the restaurant policy and its an experience that reinforces that asking for stuff the way he WANTS them doesn't have to be a big deal. Tolkien probably would pay anyway because you know, rich kid.

On the flipside, I think something Stan would contribute to Tolkien's life as a friend / otherwise is that caring about things doesn't have to make you less of an individual. Being involved in something that is important or fulfilling may or may not make you loved/hated/noticed for good or bad reasons, and Stan really HAS learned about the value of getting involved in causes/interests for their own worth and not for what others think about them. I think this is something Tolkien is really receptive to as well...after all, in the final scene of The Big Fix we see them playing a Lord of the Rings tabletop (at least i think it was, it looked like the Isengard game i remember from a few years ago? I'm not as up to date on my board games as i used to be tho), and this was AFTER he'd made a public announcement about how LOTR is a bunch of "jive-ass dragon shit." I could cite his involvement in the other pretend games the boys all play - including the actual VG games themselves - but the one-on-one interaction here is what makes that special as opposed to going along with the group.

I hope this made sense to someone who isn't me...I didn't even get into the Patho stuff but now that i've gotten this all out there that might be easier to do as a separate post anyway. Anywhoo, i'd love to see more Stan and Tolkien or Stolkien thoughts out there so i don't have to keep reblogging my own meta garbage theeeenkkkssss.

[coldgoldlazarus]

I think I've talked before about this, but I have kind of a weird relationship with the Metru-Nui arc. Because like, there's lots of stuff about that era (The Toa Mangaia, the Dark Hunters, the Brotherhood, all the EU deeplore nonsense) that I just do not care about at all, that a lot of the fandom tends to fixate on for some reason. On some level, even just the aesthetic departure from the early years' tropical vibes to more of a like, traditional science-fiction futuristic urban style, I'm in theory not really a fan of? Plus the the shift from mythology to a more superhero-adjacent framing of Toa as a concept.

But at the same time I also really love the characters and the main story of those two years, and I think taken as a complete but isolated package, it's Bionicle's peak of storytelling and Greg's writing, even if it doesn't have the same scope as the Ignition Trilogy or the iconicness and level of immersion as the Mata Nui years.

And like, a big part of it is Vakama's personal growth, of course, but IMO that's only the most obvious area where it succeeds. The whole thing is a remarkably complete and internally consistent package even with the movies and their novelizations making for something of a disjointed presentation in some spots. But like, the story being told has a very consistent mood and atmosphere, and a lot of the story beats and character development is shaped by a key driving thematic thrust.

Tone-wise, it is a noir detective story first and foremost, and an action adventure with magic robots as a bonus to that. The first book's title establishes this pretty plainly, and most of the novels are driven by a mystery of some sort. What happened to the Matoran, and who is the traitor? Where is the Morbuzakh coming from, and why? What's hidden in the deep tunnels? What is the 'heart of Metru Nui' and what is Dume's plan? Where are we going now? Where did these mutated Rahi come from? What happened to the city while we were gone? Were we not meant to be Toa all along? How can we save Vakama? What happened to the timeline?

These are admittedly a bit of a reach in some spots, and there were definitely some weaker installments in among there, (*coughMazeOfShadowscough*) but regardless, the general idea holds true. Even though the movies very much depict Metru Nui in that alien sci-fi style, whenever I read the books, I usually just wind up picturing an old-timey 1910s big city straight out of a black-and-white Noir film, with those more futuristic elements lightly sprinkled in on top. And of course, as many have pointed out, Vakama's arc, particularly in 2005, is very noir.

But that's still like, mainly an aesthetic, a vibe, but that doesn't really say much about what it's about. And I definitely think it's about something.

First of all, I think it's helped in part by being a prequel to the original years, so the overall aim of the story and where it's going is already locked in, and everything else is inherently built around that. We have to explain why and how Metru-Nui fell and the Matoran ended up exiled to Mata Nui in the first place. Simple idea.

And even though 2005 wasn't originally part of the plan, I think it adds to it, because it creates this one-two punch of tragedy and aftermath. 2004 is all about the dawning realization of how corrupt and oppressive the city truly is, and that the goal isn't to stop it's fall, but just to save the people who called it home. Even if it aided Makuta's plan, one could argue that Metru-Nui needed to fall, and there's a lot of evidence to suggest that it was a totalitarian nightmare well before he began posing as Dume, and he was simply taking advantage of and intensifying the pre-existing issues.

(There's also a supporting point to this idea alluded to in The Darkness Below and Voyage Of Fear regarding Rahi, that I don't quite know how to properly phrase but that will probably get its own text wall when I do.)

But then in 2005 they have to return afterwards and see the aftermath, the ruins, and have it rubbed in their faces that despite everything that was fundamentally wrong with Metru-Nui before, it was still their home, the only home they knew, and they have lost that now, and there was nothing they could have done about it. They had lives and homes and a place in life, and that's all gone now.

(And we as the audience know that they will go on to build something far, far better and happier in Mata-Nui, but they don't know that.)

Everything from Krahka's arc in The Darkness Below and Challenge Of The Hordika, to the in-depth look at Le-Metru's fate in Web Of The Visorak, to the displaced Tahtorak, to Vakama getting to re-experience the glory and oppression of the pre-fall city in Time Trap only to have it ripped away again and revealed as the illusion it is... I could list examples all day, but nearly every element in those books ties in, one way or another, to the overarching theme of loss and exile that defines those two years.

It's somewhat ironic, then, (and portentous of later developments) that the framing device in those books is about the islanders preparing to return to Metru Nui, when everything in that story is exploring how you can never go home again.

[alyona11]

French musicals recs (aka my previous special interests listed in one post)

Actually I wanted to make a post a while ago, since there're some nice musicals that mostly go unnoticed by tumblr even though they are really cool (and have a DVD records)! Before I start I wanna say that these are very different from what Broadway or West End usually stages, so I advise you to just relax and enjoy without purposefully comparing the two together. I bet this gonna be a pretty big post, so clock on "read more"! @machine-without-feelings, hope you'll have fun!

I'm a little extra so it took quite some time to write, so please join me in my weird interest leave a like/rb. Under the read more you'll find:

1) My excited rambles

2) Links to these musicals (proshots with English subs)

3) Some songs to vibe check whether it's something you'd enjoy listening or not

1) Notre-Dame de Paris! Gonna start with this one since it was one of the main reasons I've started to learn French. There was a time where I would watch it every single day. I probably watched it a millions of times by now and was obsessed with it for a good couple of years.

About: What can I say? It's a Hunchback of Notre Dame adaptation that sadly usually goes overlooked when English speakers talk about the book. Which is a shame! Cool French-Canadian cast, good grasp of the original, really nice lyrics and music. Love from the first song for me.

Where to watch: here with English subs, the quality isn't the best, I have a better one on my google drive so you can DM me for link. Plus there're some DVDs of different productions (notably Italian one) just waiting in the internet for free.

Songs recs (to get the vibe of the musical): Actually it's hard to choose, because I love the thing so much, but here're some.

Classic Belle, Le Temps des Cathédrales, Ma Maison C'est Ta Maison, Pretty Guys In Pants In The Background song, Song after which I became Daniel Lavoie fan lmao could add some more but you haven't got all day, just check the whole thing.

2) Le Petit Prince! I said that I wanna promote it and I will. As I said earlier I really liked Daniel Lavoie (aka the guy who played Frollo) and here he plays the pilot!

About: A very very very good adaptation of The Little Prince book. Literally quotes the book in most songs. The music is written by the same composer as NDDP, so it's good. The set and costume design is amazing! It's very colourful and inspired by author's illustrations. I cry each time I watch it cos it gives me FEELS. Also a good musical for beginner French learners imo, not as hard as NDDP, can be an addition to reading the original book. Wholeheartedly recommend, it's criminally underrated.

Where to watch: There's a playlist with English subs, French subs are also to be found on YouTube if you want them.

Songs: Dédicace, C'est un chapeau, Apprivoise-moi.

3) Well, cannot avoid mentionning Roméo et Juliette. Kinda a classic, to be fair. Was probably the 2nd French musical I've heard. More active in terms of music, some tunes gonna stuck in your head for days.

About: Well, it's obvious from the name. Kinda cool actually? Weird in some places but not in a bad way. Good musical to have a fun time (well. at least act 1 is fun, right?). The costumes are a bit cheesy, but that's not important. Still sad the pandemic ruined its tour I hope to see it live one day.

Where to watch: Actually it has two DVDs of different versions from different productions. Some songs changed, I vibe with the earlier version more, but the newer one is nice too.

Songs: Oh these slap, haut my mind since the second I first heard them. Kinda pop. But not that boring pop that modern French musicals have, it kinda has its style. Here're some of my favs: Vérone, Les Rois Du Monde, Aimer (aka the song I can listen for hours).

4) Starmania. Speaking about classic. To be fair, never watched it, only listened to the albums, but I mean it's still looks more like a concert.

About: deppressive cyberpunk and anti-utopia. A lit of bandits. Evil capitalist included. A classic. If you were interested in French songs you've probably heard some of these multiple times.

Where to watch: here

Songs: SOS d'un terrien en detresse, Le Monde Est Stone, Le Blues Du Businessman

5) Le Roi Soleil. Ok, I cannot explain why I like this one. Can't say I was obsessed with it, but I liked it a lot. I like the songs, enjoy relistening from time to time.

About: Louis 14. That's it, that's the musical. Kinda about his romantic relationships and king issues. A bit about La Fronde. But mostly about romance, lmao.

Where to watch: boop

Songs: Être à l'hauteur, Contre Ceux D'un Haut, Un Geste De Vous.

6) Mozart L'Opéra Rock. Was kinda hesistant to add it to the list because I mostly wanted to mention least well-know stuff and it feels to me that Mozart is kinda hype-ish? But I got that it may be not so well-known for the English speakers and it's worth checking out!

About: Well it's about Mozart and it's rock! The songs slap! probably will get in your head and you gonna whistle Le Bien Qui Fait Mal or something. Also Mozart and Salieri are pretty gay.

Where to watch: here! and the quality is great!

Songs: L'Assasymphonie, Place je Passe, J'accuse mon père, Bim Bam Bim Boum

Ok, I'll stop there cos this post took me a few hours to write, I could have added some other musicals, but I guess I need to rewatch them first, cos I barely remember them.

[impalementation]

if you're interested, i'd love to hear your thoughts on That scene in empty places, bc the way that i've seen most people talk about it doesn't always feel very nuanced and like... i get being frustrated and i for sure think some extremely unfair things to/about buffy were said, but i don't think it's as cut and dry as buffy being totally blameless (even though i love her) and everyone else (particularly the main scoobies, who don't have her responsibilities but have fought alongside her and earned the right to disagree w her imo) being terrible. Like it may have gone too far?? But idk, I have trouble articulating why, but I think there's more nuance to the situation than people want to say, so I'm curious about your thoughts

Anonymous asked:

whats your take on empty places and the scoobs kicking buffy out of her house?

Anonymous asked:

Why did Buffy allowed Dawn to kick her out in Empty Places?

Wow, so many questions about “Empty Places”! Sorry, as ever, that these took me a while to get to.

I actually agree, I think there’s more nuance there than it’s given credit for. I talked about that a bit in this post a while back. I wouldn’t say that the character build-up to that scene is as well-executed as it could have been, but it hardly comes out of nowhere, and it’s not some random thing. Or, as I’ve seen people suggest, simply there to make Spike look good and push him and Buffy together. I’m sure their romantic arc was a factor in the storytelling, but to call that the only motivation seems to me a vast oversimplification and dismissal of ideas that were built over the course of the season.

Season seven is, as I’ve discussed before, about how the Slayer system is broken. It’s a system that isolates Buffy and puts all of the decision-making in her hands. Meaning that it’s a system that is neither good for her, nor good for anyone around her, no matter how strong and brave Buffy is. All season long, we see Buffy struggle with both the limits of her power, and the demands of her authority. She wants to be able to save every girl, and fight every ubervamp, but she simply can’t be everywhere and stronger than everything. She wants to be a caring friend, but when she’s the one who has to make decisions about whether people should live or die, she can’t always be. When she’s the one who has to make all the hard choices, that means the blame always falls on her shoulders. When she fucks up, there’s nothing for her to fall back on. The fact that Buffy is forced to be this kind of sole authority means that the people around her are right to feel that they aren’t being listened to, or fully considered. Because often they aren’t. They see the people around them getting maimed and killed and suddenly realize that maybe it isn’t right that all their eggs should be in Buffy’s basket. But at the same time, they’re wrong, because they’re the ones who put their eggs there. They’re the ones who kept looking the other way as Buffy made hard choice after hard choice on their behalf. They’re as complicit in (and victimized by) the broken system as Buffy is.

Keep in mind the season’s perception themes. Everyone gets mad at Buffy, and Buffy gets mad at herself, because they’re all too close to the situation to see that the problem isn’t really Buffy, it’s what being the Slayer has forced Buffy to be. The dynamic it’s forced between her and the people around her. Notice how in the very next episode, Faith finds herself dealing with the exact same problems that Buffy was. The same hard decisions, and the same ambient resentments. It’s actually very important that Faith has to be a leader for a bit, in order to show this--the fact that the problem is being the Slayer, not Buffy. I’d even argue that it’s the much more thematically relevant motivation for the scene than getting Buffy and Spike alone.

As far as thematic motivations go, I also think it’s crucial that Buffy is thrown out of her house. That is some powerful symbolism for a season that leans so hard into the symbolism of Buffy’s house in general, and it’s disappointing to see people ignore it in their eagerness to be mad at everyone. The house is a lot of things—the familiar, the stable, the normative, the safe—but most importantly it’s also Buffy’s self. Notice how Spike and Faith, both Buffy’s shadow at different times, hang out in Buffy’s basement: the realm of the id and subconscious. Notice how as the house breaks down, Buffy gets injured as well.

So for Buffy to be thrown out of her house, it’s the climax of the season’s isolation themes not just in terms of story, but also metaphor. She has literally been cast out of herself. She’s been banished from her identity and role. But at the same time, once she’s on the outside of that myopic, claustrophobic system, she is able to connect with her shadow (Spike) and see the situation with new eyes. The reason that Spike is the one who can talk Buffy back is that firstly, unlike the Scoobies, his later seasons arc is all about learning to not ask Buffy for things that aren’t appropriate--romantic reciprocation, moral structure. Secondly, he was once the tool and symbol of her isolation, the icon of her shame and guilt and belief that she needed to isolate herself. For her to make peace with Spike is about her rejecting that isolation and shame, and transforming it.

Of course, I can talk about symbolism all I want and it doesn’t necessarily matter if the writers didn’t make it believable on the object level too—the level of character and plot and all of that. It’s a regular problem on Buffy, the writing caring more about symbolism than sense. While I think that most of the characters have adequate motivation for the scene—really, it’s been building from the beginning; remember the confrontation between Buffy and Xander as early as “Selfless”? or Buffy fighting with Giles and Wood two episodes earlier? or the way she argued with everyone in “Get It Done”? or the Potentials doubting her from basically their first episodes?—the one character that seems truly undeveloped is Dawn. She got that warning from the First in “Conversations With Dead People”, but the season doesn’t follow up on it well enough to draw a clear line between that seed of doubt and her attitude in “Empty Places.” Given that Dawn is Buffy’s “humanity” or “youth” or what have you, it’s symbolically significant that she would be the final one to cast Buffy out. But that seems like a clear case of the story not earning its metaphor, unfortunately.

To answer the third ask: as far as why Buffy let Dawn kick her out, on a character level I think she was pretty defeated by that point. But symbolically, I think the part about Buffy’s human self rejecting her is important for that. Buffy has a tenuous relationship to her belief in her humanity at the best of times, so it’s pretty easy for me to believe that she would feel lost and numbed enough by being rejected by that part of herself, that she wouldn’t fight it.

(Controversial opinion, but I actually kind of like that “Empty Places” isn’t due to the First sowing obvious discord. I’ve seen lots of people suggest that that would have been the stronger and more believable choice, and I get the instinct. But if the point of the season is to show that the villain is the Slayer system, then it makes more sense for that to be the thing that drives the conflict, and not an external force influencing them. There might have been a way to use the First that was compatible with that, but it wouldn’t have worked if the problem was just The First. Imo, of course.)

All of which is to say, that if you see the season as being about faulty perception, broken systems, and the dangers of isolation, then “Empty Places” actually makes perfect sense as a climax of the season. The problem really comes down to whether you think it was earned enough (which in some cases I think it was, and in others it wasn’t), or generally handled well, and whether you think those ideas are interesting in the first place.