#if I have one complaint it's that the story feels incomplete

[2-late-2-the-party]

okay but am I the only one who doesn't hate the ending of Never and Forever? Like yeah, it could've been better, but I don't think it's the disaster that everyone makes it out to be.

[bomberqueen17]

deep in the obsession

ok so IDK how much I've talked about my Special Interest in the Bronze Age on here. At one point (like nanowrimo of 2003 or so) I was trying to write a novel set in the British Isles Bronze Age and I researched as much as I could and there just wasn't much information and I wrote some stuff anyway but it petered out. And ever since then I've kept checking back on various avenues of research and every time there's a new find I'd read as much as I could find about it. And then they discovered the remains of a pile-dwelling settlement in the Fens in England and they've finally just now published the results of that? Well of course I've been obsessively reading about it. (I had actually emailed the Cambridge Archaeology Unit a couple of months ago to ask where I could find the publications, so the timing was good.)

I mean the long and short of it is, they've got a site exposed by modern quarrying activity, which consists of five remaining buildings, which burned down and collapsed into the river channel with all their contents in the 9th century BC; the inhabitants escaped with very few of their possessions, and the rest of the assembly of the items they used in their daily lives are largely present, very well-preserved; whole sets of pots and woodworking tools, as well as textiles and textile-processing materials, foodstuffs, wooden tools, and enough building materials to almost entirely reconstruct their dwellings; a enormous wealth of information about their diets, their ways of living, even some feel for their aesthetic sensibilities. The circumstances of the buildings' collapse even means we know how they laid out their living spaces.

So I am going to infodump about what I've pulled out of these rather dense and dry reports (I have zero complaints, they're perfectly appropriately-written), so buckle up.

Firstly, if you want to read these yourself, the publications are open access PDFs hosted on the Cambridge Archaeology Unit's website here.

There are also a fantastic series of blog posts both from during the excavation and from during the initial analytical "post-ex" phase on the site's website, which I devoured while waiting for the final reports.

I admit I was first drawn to the whole thing, when I first saw stories about it, because of the mystery. It seems to have been a whole settlement, a village maybe, and it all burned down at once, and no humans seem to have died in it, but everyone left everything behind, even leaving a dog in one of the buildings, and some penned little lambs in a couple of them-- what caused this? Were they attacked? Were they forced out of it? It had a palisade around it as if for defense, did they build it because they were afraid, and rightfully so?? Why did they not come back to try to salvage anything? The water would have been shallow, surely they could at least get their axe-heads and things back.

But the thing that has sustained my interest now is that it appears to have been an unexceptional village after all. There's no evidence that these were elite people living here. There weren't any unambiguous weapons found-- part of a broken sword, in what was obviously a recycle bin (a wooden bucket), waiting along with some broken chisels and a bent axe and part of a broken bronze bucket for a trip back to the nearest metalworker. Some spears, but likely used for hunting, stored outside the houses all together leaned up against the palisade under an overhanging roof eave. Axes, but the sheer quantity of woodworking in the site means they were very obviously woodworking tools, and weapons only by technicality.

Other contemporaneous sites are preserved so incompletely that there are always "was this a place people dwelled or was it a ceremonial gathering place" kinds of questions. Artifacts are found either discarded in middens, broken, or deposited in hoards, "ceremonially?". But all this stuff is in-context, in the house, which burned down and collapsed straight down. This was the kitchen area, obviously; all the houses had most of their pots in the same approximate spot, caches of grain in the same area. This corner is where we find stuff they were working on-- one house has probably a loom, and tons of textile-related stuff scattered around it. (There's only evidence for a loom in one or maybe two of the buildings, but there are spindle whorls and bobbins of thread in three; several spinners providing one weaver, as is common throughout history.)

Some of the pots had been broken before the fire, and some of them had been partially discarded and partially kept, like for example a well-shaped broken bit of rim was being used as a scoop or something, while the little unusable shards had gotten chucked into the river where they threw their trash; the archaeologists could reunite fragments to prove this, and could derive the information that these shards would all be associated with the same house; they weren't shared, they were using the broken pot in the same house where they'd used it before it was broken; they seem to have cooked their meals separately, and kept separate inventory of basic household necessities. But the extra stuff seems to have been stored in the communal storage shed, so they could all get to it.

There's a large but incomplete sheet of bark that in places has a second sheet adhered to it with moss in between, which was likely bedding.

There are textiles, not just woven ones but also weft-twined ones made from lime bast cord-- mats, or hats, or capes. There's a knotted fishing net that was rolled up and in a pile with other things in an area that seems to have been a storage shed of sorts. (Near the "recycle bin" full of broken metal.) There's a collection of prepared fiber, ready to be made into cordage or spun into thread, and it's all prepared the same way in standard-sized bundles-- tantalizingly, regular enough as if for trade, stored in that storage shed next to a nested set of new pots-- like somebody had bought or made them and they weren't put to use yet, OR someone had made extra they intended to trade offsite for stuff they couldn't make themselves.

The whole sets of pots are broadly the same among households-- similar numbers of large vs. small, coarse vs. fine. They all resemble one another, though some are better-made than others-- as if several people made them, but under the guidance of one experienced worker.

Several pots and wooden containers have food residues. Hauntingly, there's a ceramic pot that was still half-full of porridge, with a wooden spatula/spoon still stuck in it. The porridge was made of ground wheat cooked in a liquid containing animal fats from a ruminant-- either sheep/goat or red deer-- possibly an early example of frumenty.

Enough of the structural timbers remain from the buildings, many with markings on them from where other structural elements were touching them and alternately exposed/protected them from fire so it is possible to reconstruct shapes and connections in more detail than if they were unburnt ruins, that the buildings can be nearly completely reconstructed, which is novel because most buildings of this era are known only from footprints/post holes. Almost no material survived from the walls, but because of these ghost "protection marks" it's possible to know that the walls existed, how wide they were, that they were attached in a particular spot, that they were made of a series of small uprights-- and to then surmise that some of the fragments of "wattle", woven panels, must have come from the walls in some cases. And it's possible to reconstruct the innovative, never-elsewhere-seen sprung floor system of bowed joists that kept the floors securely above the water below.

Anyway, I've devoured Vol I and am most of the way through scouring Vol II for interesting tidbits.

Yes of course I want to write a novel with this as the setting but I also am just completely fascinated.

[mothbeasts]

hi. going to speak on something that's been bothering me for the past... however long, since it seems like complaint posts have been cropping up lately. putting this under the cut.

Maybe I'm reading too far into things. Maybe I'm wrong. But I feel like there is a massive difference in how this fandom treats the women versus the men.

Again. Maybe I'm wrong. I sincerely hope I'm just wrong. It's hard to think that, though, when I see the differences in how people treat the major antagonists of the series.

John Juniper is a fandom favorite. I feel like people have talked about him more than any other character I've seen, save for Agent Phoenix and perhaps the Handler. I see people come up with any reason for him to not actually be as bad of a person as we see in canon - despite the fact that he wants to launch nuclear weapons. He wants to kidnap and impersonate public figures. He's having a good time playing the villain. I've seen his actions excused in any number of ways.

Meanwhile... When people do talk about Solaris, it tends to be to remind people of very surface level information, rather than to do any sort of in depth analysis style posts. I see information that's incomplete or just not really true passed around a lot. The Fabricator is flattened down so incredibly often to just one character trait - her anger, typically exaggerated to be comical hatred of John Juniper in particular or just... Violence in general. And yes, she gets angry frequently, but I never see her given the same depth to that anger as John Juniper is given to his. And Prism? An antagonist that gets as much screen time as Juniper, if not more? I hardly see her mentioned at all these days. And even when she was talked about, I don't recall seeing many people analyze her character. Or talk about her motivations. Definitely not in the same way Juniper gets talked about, at the very least. All three of them are mischaracterized often, from my observations, flattened to pave the way for... John Juniper, mostly.

And that's not even getting into the background women who aren't talked about at all when compared to the men with similar story roles.

It's... Frustrating. I surround myself with people who enjoy the characters I do, who find it interesting to talk about the women in this game. I make the content I want to see. But the last time I said anything outside of those close circles, I was told to... Make the content I want to see. To engage with the content that's out there. And that frustrates me, too. Because I'm making it. I had been making it. I was actively working on Biomechatronic at the time. I was drawing, posting my art, and ever since I entered the fandom I've focused mainly on the women - The Fabricator, in particular. And I don't make art just for views or internet points or what have you, but it is discouraging to feel like the fandom doesn't care about what I have to offer.

Like whatever characters you want to like. I'm not trying to tell anyone to stop making the art or posts they enjoy making. But... I have noticed a trend, and it's one I find somewhat concerning. That's all.

[lurkingshan]

If you could rant about one thing in BL, what would it be? (This could be either a complaint or a soapbox)

Thank you for the invitation to climb on my soapbox, I love it up here. Something that’s been on my mind recently is bl second seasons, so I will take this opportunity to talk about why I both anticipate and dread them in equal measure, and what makes for a strong second season in a romance narrative. I would apologize for this being so long but it's you, Emperor of the Long Post, so I don't even feel bad.

First of all, let me just say that part of the reason I love Asian dramas in the first place is because they don’t have multiple seasons. Unlike American TV, you don’t have to invest literal years in a show only to have it blow up in your face when it (nearly always) goes off the rails for one reason or another. The vast majority of Asian dramas are one and done–they tell a complete story in one limited run, and afterwards you just get to move on to the next story. As a result they tend to have a higher hit rate because they’re not trying to stretch their story beyond its limits to keep it going and going, and even when they fail you only spent a few days or weeks on it so it doesn’t feel like you wasted a lot of time. There are a few exceptions of course (lately kdramas on Netflix have started splitting into two “seasons” that are really just one standard kdrama episode count split in two and airing a few months apart–high key annoying IMO), but by and large that’s how it goes. 

So the bl genre’s propensity for second seasons already goes a bit against the grain of what I love about dramas, and add to that the very nature of bls—they are romances, which typically end at the point that the romantic conflict has been addressed and the characters decide to stay together. So in general, I am primed to be suspicious of second seasons in this genre. Many second seasons are clearly driven by capitalism more than anything else–the pairing is popular and so the production company is looking to cash in while their commodity is hot, and whether or not they actually have any more story to tell is a secondary concern. So my first questions when approaching a second season is why was this made and what is it trying to accomplish? 

I think there are a few buckets here:

Continuing the narrative season 2s: These are the shows where the story was not complete at the end of season 1, and season 2 is actually necessary to provide some resolution. Love Sick 2 and Make it Right 2 are prime examples; those narratives were incomplete after the first season and season 2 finished them. What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 also falls in this category but for a different reason: it’s a slice of life show and the narrative never really ends. They could make 10 seasons of that show and it would make perfect sense (not that I am begging or anything).

Cash grab season 2s: These are the ones with little or no real narrative purpose. They’re more like long specials, and their purpose is primarily to provide additional fluff for the audience while they sell products (including the actors, they are also products here). Cutie Pie 2 You, Still 2gether, TharnType 2 are all good examples of this. Now I am not saying these shows are inherently worthless–they gave Aof the reins for 2SG, for instance, and he managed to make something of it and even repair some damage from the first season–but they are definitely inessential. 

What happens after the HEA season 2s: My favorite kind, these are the ones that move into the next phase of the romance, once the characters have decided to be together, and take a look at what their relationship would actually be like. Their purpose is to deepen the relationship and character development and examine the types of conflicts that would naturally come up between the two personalities. Gameboys 2, I Promised You the Moon, Minato’s Laundromat 2, SOTUS: S, Together With Me: The Next Chapter, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all fall under this category. Some of these are more successful than others, which I will unpack below. 

Something like Our Skyy and Our Skyy 2 runs the gamut between these three types, with each installment fitting into different categories. The Eclipse OS2 is a great example of category 3, whereas My School President OS2 is more of a category 2, and you could make a case that SOTUS OS is really a category 1, since it puts a nice cap on the narrative of that whole series.

So, with that said, what I actually want to talk about is category 3, because these are the shows I am most interested in and where the decisions made in the writing are most crucial. Because this type of second season has real potential to either strengthen or damage the couple and how we see their relationship. The best second seasons of this type build on the established characteristics of the characters and take us through some natural conflicts that would arise as they continue their relationship. For instance, in Gameboys 2 we see Cairo and Gavreel spend prolonged time together in person for the first time after maintaining a long distance relationship and work through what physical intimacy looks like for them as well as how they intend to keep their relationship strong despite distance. I Promised You the Moon, SOTUS: S, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all build on their characters’ well-established flaws from the first season to explore how that would manifest in conflict as these relationships continue and offer plausible scenarios for how the couples might make it through those issues (and it ain’t always pretty!). All of these are very successful second seasons, because they build naturally from what came before and directly address the doubts we had when those shows first ended about whether the couple can actually make it long-term.

Where this type of second season goes really wrong is when the writing violates character or the established patterns of the relationship in order to create conflict. In Together With Me: The Next Chapter, the show uses cheating as a plot device, having Korn cheat on Knock in a one-off hookup with a shitty villain character, and to add insult to injury, they juxtaposed it against Knock finally coming out in a poor attempt at dramatic irony. The reason this sucked was not just because it hurt our feelings; it sucked because that behavior was contra everything we knew about Korn, his devotion to Knock, and his well-established patience with Knock’s internalized homophobia. Now, don’t get it twisted: I do not believe cheating is an inherently bad plot device. It was actually used very well in I Promised You the Moon, a decision I will defend to the death (in fact, you can tune in to the conversation pod in a couple weeks to hear me do just that!). But its use in TWM:TNC did not make sense for the characters, and thus rather than deepening their relationship development, it irreparably harmed it. 

Another way a second season of this type can go wrong is when the writing is not committed to the narrative or leans too hard on first season nostalgia rather than dealing with the current iteration of the characters. Minato’s Laundromat 2 just did both of these things, which was especially frustrating because for nine weeks it was on track to be a very successful version of this type.The show started out tracking the painstaking and slow process of Minato dealing with his internalized homophobia and becoming a decent partner to Shin, but for reasons I can only speculate about, the show balked in the final act, backing away from finishing its narrative in favor of an amnesia plot and several episodes of first season nostalgia bait, ending with a happy resolution that felt wholly unearned and thus deeply unsatisfying. This was especially infuriating because the show got us invested in the growth arc before failing to complete it.  

So what is my point here? Second seasons can be very worthwhile, but only if there is a clear vision for what the story wants to explore about the relationship that is rooted in what we already know about the characters. There are rumors about other second seasons coming our way from shows like Big Dragon, Blueming, and The Eighth Sense, some of which have more potential to add to the original story than others (T8S is particularly primed for a solid second season IMO, because it left so much character development and natural conflict for the next stage of the relationship on the table). But regardless of where they decide to go with the plot of these additional seasons, the thing that will be most crucial is whether they keep fidelity to who the characters are and how their relationships work. That is how you successfully build from an origin romance in a way that feels meaningful and worthwhile.

[melliemd]

One thing I keep seeing in response to any complaints about season 3 not showing us a number of interesting scenes and instead only showing the aftermath is “you don’t NEED to see it. We know what happens!”

If the thing driving the decision to have a challenging scene or not is “do we need this in order for the audience to know what happened?” I feel like that just highlights the problems with the narrative.

No, I don’t need to see Keeley stand up for herself to know that she turned Roy and Jamie down and sent them on their way. But I WANT to see it. Keeley has been wrecked by the narrative all season and I WANT to see her have her moment of seizing her life for herself.

No, I don’t need to see Rebecca, Bex, and Kakes discussing what to do about Rupert to know what they did to him. But I WANT to. Rebecca has never spoken with Kakes, she’s never spoken to Bex without Rupert lurking nearby. That scene would be INTERESTING.

No, I don’t need to see Nate quit West Ham…but since we didn’t see him do that, it sucks even more that he simply avoids eye contact with Rupert in the finale. So now I don’t know—did he stand up to him? Did he just quit through email? I want to see Nate stand up for himself and stand up to Rupert specifically…we don’t need it to understand the story beats, but how is that not important to the character?

And no. I don’t need to see Ted dropping his truth bomb on Rebecca or saying goodbye to anyone to know it happened. But it sure does feel hollow and incomplete to not see it.

The story beats aren’t the only things that matter. Character beats matter, too, and you miss out on so much when you skip over the difficult, complex scenes and just jump to the next step in the progression of the plot.

[birbinky]

A Silly Rambling Segment

@sonicranger1 well if you insist >:] (sorry for the @ tho I hope I wasn't disturbing you TvT)

I'll be info dumping about my silly ridonkculous story au thing I made when I was in 5th or 6th grade (a.k.a it's cringy) so read at your own will.

INTRODUCTION :

The story starts out with a human girl named Tiara. She shares her love for art and is a skilled artist. However she was struggling with finding a job she likes. Even though she can make money from her art, it's not like it'll be enough for her living expenses. She didn't want to be stuck with a boring office job, or meet sketchy individuals from behind the 24/7 convenience store cashier, or get a complaint that the pickles were suppose to be on the right side of the bun from a middle aged woman.

However one day she accidentally go transported into another world called Shaydeon (don't ask about the name, I used a name combiner tool on google to get that). The world was filled with anything you can imagine, literally. As long as it has been on paper or any art medium it can exist in this world.

THE HUMANS :

If you've ever made art with your full heart and passion, then in the world of Shaydeon you can be called a creator. They're usually artists like painters, illustrators, sculptors, etc.

THE PEOPLE :

The citizens of Shaydeon are essentially fictional characters and creatures that have been made by humans/creators. Rather than people they're usually called characters. They're born because of the care and love they get from their creators. They say the more attention you give them the more lively they get.

THE HEROES :

In this world there's a specific job that everyone always praised, that is being a Guardian. A character can enroll to a Guardian Academy and train themselves to become the next protectors of Shaydeon. In a way they're kinda like the army or police, just more flexible? However their number one enemy has always been the Corruptors.

THE MONSTERS :

Corruptors can be born in 2 ways (atleast from what I remember). They're either born from drawings that were made with hatred or drawings that were scrapped and thrown away. When they're born into the world of Shaydeon they'd attack any character and then feed off of them, or a saying that's popular in Shaydeon "corrupt them". Reason why is because inside they feel empty and incomplete. Their desire to feel loved urges them to feed on any character with the most love to fill that empty void.

THE MAIN CAST :

Like I said the story had 4 main characters. Originally they were Tiara, Molly, Cuphead and Bendy.

Tiara : The Human Girl

Cheery

Out-going

Curious

She's the golden retriever of the team and also plays the leader role. After finding out about Shaydeon she did not hesitate to explore more and end up training to be a Guardian herself. However at times she can find herself in a sticky situation cause of her lack of self-awareness and overwhelming curiosity.

And I hear you asking "what's up with the cat features then?" There are no lore related explanations for that....it was a phase okay :,D

Molly : The Moon Angel

Studious

Perfectionist

Goal-oriented

The nerd of the team a.k.a Molly. She wears a black dress, a black and white scarf around her shoulders, and a blue pendant around her neck. She also usually does her hair in pigtails.

She's very passionate when talking about her future of being a Guardian, being honored by characters from all around Shaydeon. She trains her agility, strength, and intelligence everyday, wanting to surpass all her peers and be the best. But that's what made her competitive and sometimes even think lowly of others around her.

She also likes baking, so yee :D

Bendy : The Ink Demon

Charming

Talkative

Nonchalant

Inky boy Bendy, as we all know. In this universe he's a popular performer or widely known as a beautiful singer. His outfit changed through time but he always wears his iconic white bow. He's very used to the fancy celebrity life that whenever he goes on a mission to defeat a corruptor he'd be the most scared one out of the four.

Not gonna lie, his motivation on why he wanted to be a Guardian was because he had a crush on Molly. Which at the time really made him look like a simp.

Cuphead : The... The Cup Man

Okay I'm not even gonna bother giving him key traits cause most of the time his story was just sad.

Instead of accidentally killing Mugman like Q!Cuphead, he accidentally killed grandaddy kettle cause of his recklessness, and that made Mugman leave him. News about a character killing his own kind spread and made people hoped he was a corrupter's next victim.

He turned to the Devil's casino cause no one else accepted him, which made his image worst. Because of this he never liked socializing with people and was scared to use his powers. He hated whoever created him and wished he could take everything back.

But after being a Guardian he did became more confident, alongside with Tiara's emotional support. Which lowkey made me liked the ship.

"It's not that I hate you, you're just a good candidate for unnecessary trauma" - Me at the age of 12

What Happened to the Story?

This story filled most of my childhood and has evolved through time. Some of the concepts and lore I've told has actually been scrapped and or rewritten.

I remember I wanted the remastered version to become an animated series one day. So I replaced Cuphead and Bendy with my own OCs.

Candlewick, which I've shown before

And Peter

I can definitely say they were far more developed. However I haven't finished the story due to burn out and lack of motivation. Which is why I haven't drawn my own OCs for a while.

So yee, have this remastered version of the Shaydeon gang to end this info dump post (Peter is not here cause I haven't gotten around to draw his remastered version yet)

[howyoustudythestars]

I've sat on this for FAR too long... Here are my thoughts/review for "Coco Moon" by Owl City!

A while ago, I stated that I was planning to make a YouTube video discussing both the ARG and Coco Moon. However, life happened (as it always does), and while I haven't scrapped the idea per se, I do want to share my thoughts on the album sooner rather than later. So here are my thoughts on Coco Moon!

Warning: Long post ahead!

Shortly after the full album came out, Adam made a TikTok describing this album as perhaps his favorite one he has ever put out. And honestly, I can see why! On first listen, while I will admit the more religious elements threw me for a loop after the more secular-sounding singles (as well as the first time Adam said "hell" in any song), I can honestly say there wasn't a song that I disliked, which is a first for me. Even back to Ocean Eyes, there was at least one song that I didn't like, even if it wound up later growing on me. Dental Care, Kamikaze, Bombshell Blonde, Unbelievable, and of course, ALL MY FRIENDS were songs I didn't like for one reason or another upon first listen. Save for All My Friends, those songs have all grown on me. Thankfully, that hasn't happened on Coco Moon. I've liked all songs from the beginning, and my appreciation for the album has only grown with time.

If I have any criticism for the album, it would likely be the way the tracklist is arranged. I'm not sure if there is another way of reorganizing this album so it flows better (and I have tried several times), but my main gripe is that the album ends with My Muse. It's a bit like if Maybe I'm Dreaming ended on This is the Future. Without West Coast Friendship, you're just left yearning for the next song, and the album feels incomplete. That's how I feel with Coco Moon. I know the more likely complaint from critics regarding this album is the run time. While Cinematic suffers from the sheer number of songs on the album, Coco Moon's problem, according to some critics, is that nearly every song is too long. The average length of each song on Coco Moon is 5 minutes, but I think none of the songs overstay its welcome. And each song has something to offer.

The final thing I'll say before I dive into each song is that this seems to better capture the old-school Owl City magic and charm than Cinematic did. However, a lot of the songs are, in fact, story based. Cinematic is as well, but I think the main issue with Cinematic is that the songs are so literal that its hard to find entertaining, save for a few songs. HOWEVER, Coco Moon is much better at storytelling. Maybe it's because very few songs are autobiographical, or maybe Adam just improved as a songwriter. Whatever the case is, it's like he listened to some of the critiques on Cinematic and tweaked his process when creating the songs on Coco Moon. It's also easily one of the best produced albums from Adam. It's really a great listen.

The first song on the album is Adam, Check Please. I don't think it's strong as far as being the opening track on an album, but it's still a great song. I will say that as a single, I wasn't as fond of the song at first. It seemed to skirt too close to the Cinematic territory lyrically. However, the lyrics did grow on me the more I listened to it. You can see why in this Reddit post I made when the Studio Door opened for it: https://www.reddit.com/r/OWLCITY/comments/10m8ld1/my_take_on_the_lyrics_to_adam_check_please/

Adam, Check Please has a lot of tempo changes and is one of Adam's best produced tracks. All in all, it's a fun song and a great start to the album (even if it's not the best choice for that position in the tracklist).

That title should go to the next song, Under the Circus Lights. This is probably my favorite song from the album (but there are a lot more songs I really love). For starters, it feels like a Maybe I'm Dreaming track... between "the girl on the flying trapeze" sounding a bit like "a gymnast happily swinging on the uneven bars tucked in a somersault" (Super Honeymoon), the whimsical description of falling in love, and the slightly sad and heartbreaking twist at the end. Also, holy key changes, Batman! Adam once again shows his skills at producing songs. It's also one of the only songs who's Instagram post contains music similar to what's in the actual song its teasing. Upon first hearing ringmaster Adam saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most spectacular show on earth!", I immediately connected to Adam's tweet about this being the album it was meant to be. Plus, the scores influence is great. I dare you to find something bad about this song; it's epic and beautiful!

Then, there's Kelly Time, the other song who has music similar to its Instagram teaser. However, this was the first song where I noticed the mix is different from the single version. The harmonies are louder, and the final chorus has a synth choir playing chords, which is either not there or buried in the mix on the single version. But overall, it doesn't detract from the song. Only Adam could come up with the idea to retell the film Cast Away in song form from the perspective of Wilson the volleyball. Plus, the rap doesn't sound like a rap. I get a lot of All My Friends (Alt. Version) vibes from this track. It's like Adam listened to the criticism of All My Friends and created a track that's much better. Plus, it's the first time in a long time that I feel the lead single for the album fits. The last time I can think that happened is for Alligator Sky from All Things Bright and Beautiful. Other albums either had the better lead single as the second single instead (Vanilla Twilight and Shooting Star), or had songs that are forgettable (Verge) or downright irritating (All My Friends). Kelly Time nails it, and it best gives a representation of what the album is like and got people pumped for the then-upcoming album. Plus, the song was released 1504 days after his final tour appearance for the Cinematic tour. This makes the song sort of poetic. I don't know if that was the long-term plan or if it just happened, but I find it serendipitous.

Now, we get to Field Notes. If I'm being honest, after the three songs we've heard so far on the album (four if you count the final single Vitamin Sea), the religious message of the song threw me for a loop. All of those songs were secular, even if Kelly Time had some faith-based inspiration (if the commentary is anything to go by). As someone who has (mostly) stopped listening to Contemporary Christian music (with a few exceptions), I wasn't prepared for a more faith-based album. At least this song doesn't fall into the cliché worship song territory so many of today's Christian songs tend to fall in.

The other thing that I found... strange was Adam's use of the word "hell" in this song. I mean, it is a religious song, but the way it was used makes it sound less like it's referring to the literal place of hell and more so closer to using it as an expletive. Now, it's more innocent than other words, I will admit. It's not me becoming a Kidz Bop mom or anything like that. I just find it odd as someone who associates Adam and his music with innocence. I'm almost wondering if part of the reason Adam took so long to release the follow-up to Cinematic is because he was looking for a team to work with for Coco Moon. I can see many secular pop management teams turn him down for being too religious, and I can also see many religious agencies turn him down as well due to his use of the word "hell" here and in The Tornado. But at least Adam didn't start dropping F-bombs all over the place, so there's that. I also think Adam found the right team with Rise Up Artists. They have been very nice to me in my few times of brief correspondence with Adam's new manager. I hope he stays with them long-term.

But anyway, on the whole, Field Notes isn't that bad of a song. Adam really took one of Jesus's parables and told it with more space than it takes in the Gospel of Matthew:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

(Matthew 13:44 NRSVUE)

It's not as interesting of a song as others on the record, at least where the lyrics are concerned. However, right when you think the song is about to end, it instead transitions into what should be a brief instrumental interlude. And that interlude is impressive! It reminds me of some of the old-school instrumentals from Owl City's early discography. If there's any reason not to skip the song, it's this interlude!

But then we go from one of Adam's weakest Christian songs to his best one in Sons of Thunder. Yes, I didn't say "one of the best Christian songs from Adam"; I really mean that Sons of Thunder is Adam's BEST Christian song in his entire discography. There are many things I like about it. From its anthemic nature to some of the lyrics that really speak to me as an autistic Christian, it's probably my second favorite song from the entire album (but it's really close between this and Under the Circus Lights). Some of the lyrics I like include:

Oh, we are the odd music makers We are the dreamers of unusual dreams We all face the forces of nature But bravely, we'll take great leaps of faith

...and:

We are the heirs of adventure And we are explorers of wondrous, new worlds We are the gifted inventors And even though we are strange and exquisitely scarred We don't need to pretend to be anything we aren't

The latter is actually on my Facebook cover photo. That's how much this song speaks to me!

And before I continue on about this song, one thing I wish to address is the interpretation by some Christians that this song is referring to The Rapture. But I don't see it that way for a few reasons. For starters, in Adam's Instagram post about the song, he mentioned nothing about it. But perhaps the biggest reason is because I don't believe in The Rapture... At least as far as how some people interpret it. Yes, the world is going to end, and yes, Jesus is going to come again. There might even be a singular anti-Christ before the end comes. However, I describe my beliefs as amillennial. That means I don't believe in the traditional pre-millennial interpretation of the End Times (as in a pre-tribulation Rapture followed by the rein of the Anti-Christ for 7 years, then the return of Jesus, the Ressurection of all Believers, a literal 1000-year period of Jesus reigning on Earth, the defeat of Satan, the Resurrection of the Unbelievers, and the Final Judgment). Rather, I believe that the "1000-year reign" described in Revelation is symbolic of the current age, and when Jesus returns, the Resurrection of everyone (not just believers) will occur, and then the Final Judgment.

I actually find this more comforting and in line with what the Early Church believed. Consider the logic of Jefferson Bethke (the person behind the "Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus" video), as described in his book It's Not What You Think: If the "core claim" of Christianity is something like "Jesus died for your sins, and if you believe that, you go to Heaven when you die," Romans wouldn't be persecuting Christians to the point of death to the extent described in the Book of Acts. But if the core claim of Christianity is "Jesus is King right now," that would imply to ancient Romans that Caesar is not King. That would be a bit like saying "Joe Biden isn't the President of the United States right now; Jesus is." (And believe me: It was especially helpful to remember that Jesus is on the Throne and in control of this world when someone like Trump was President.) And because to Christians, to die is to gain, the fear of death (the main cudgel of oppressive regimes like the Roman Empire) loses its power to control people. That's why ancient Romans were so opposed to Christianity in the 1st Century.

But I digress. I do see a lot of Heavenly imagery in Sons of Thunder. Indeed, the song reminds me of how important my faith is as an autistic Christian. As someone who constantly feels like an outsider or misfit in the world, who regularly needs to mask who they really are in an attempt to fit in, Sons of Thunder is a reminder that God sees who we really are and loves us unconditionally. Additionally, through Jesus, we have hope that we will live forever with Him in Heaven. I know some of these themes also apply to LGBTQ+ people, and even queer non-Christians find solace in this song's message. And to queer Christians, they find solace much in the way many neurodivergent people like myself feel. Someone best described this song as "the Christian anthem to those that feel like outsiders". This is exactly how I feel whenever I listen to this song, and it's been an amazing comfort to me and my faith.

Now, I know some people have said that they were on board for how abstract the song feels at first as it relates to its religious theme, only to do a complete 180 and go full-blown religious towards the end with the lines, "So take heart wild one / For there is a God / Who loves you to death / No matter what you've done / So don't lose hope / For He will lead you home". Personally, I don't think this is as off-putting as the other religious songs, including Field Notes where the religious theme seems to come out of nowhere upon first listen. But here, Sons of Thunder is right on par with Galaxies, which doesn't seem religious at first until the bridge. If the only difference is that Galaxies says, "For He is the saving grace of the galaxies," instead of "For God is the saving grace of the galaxies," then I don't know what to tell you. This song is miles ahead better compared to something like "My Everything". While I could see it being used in Worship, I don't see it exclusively as a Worship song, and it's certainly not all "Hallelujah, God is good, praise Jesus, etc." that much modern CCM has turned into. That is a plus in my book.

But I've taken enough time on this song. Just know when I listened to this song for the first time, I was blown away by how great of a song it is. I kid you not, right as this song was finishing, I thought, "That song was such a highlight! The next song is going to have a hard time living up to this song..."

Yeah... Safe to say, I was not prepared for how hard The Tornado was going to go! This song makes the album skirt into Twenty One Pilots territory, especially with that screamo section! Also, the use of the word "hell" here doesn't seem as out of place as it did in Field Notes. There also is some religious imagery in this song, but while it seems to come out of nowhere, it also doesn't feel out of place. Someone on Reddit also pointed out how The Tornado could be symbolic of an autism meltdown, and I can totally see that. I don't know if that was Adam's intent, but I believe this interpretation has merit. It's a fantastic song (and not at all Adam's cringy attempt at a Bohemian Rhapsody moment... jk I love you Jon from ARTV!) and while I might say that it's a tad overrated within the fandom, I really do enjoy it!

Now, how would I describe the next song, Vitamin Sea? You know the Ocean Eyes-era single Vanilla Twilight? And how Up All Night would be that song had it appeared on The Midsummer Station? I'd describe Vitamin Sea as sort of the opposite... taking a single from The Midsummer Station, Good Time, and turning it into a song that would feel at home on Ocean Eyes. Plus, both songs are duets: Good Time with Carly Rae Jepsen, and Vitamin Sea with Abb-- wait, sorry, (checks liner notes) Colbi McCallister. (More on this later)

The one thing I will say is after the roller coaster of a song that is The Tornado, Vitamin Sea feels a bit out of place. We go from a dramatic, metaphorical storm to wishing to be on a vacation in Hawaii? But it's still a solid song... even if radio listeners in Northeast Wisconsin don't particularly like it. The song is definitely close to "Song of the Summer" territory lyrically. And musically, it sounds like a more rock-leaning version of The Yacht Club. This is the most dreamy song that would fit on Ocean Eyes. It's my favorite of the three pre-release singles (although Kelly Time is a close second). The only strange thing about it is that its Instagram teaser, Take Me Back, sounds nothing like Vitamin Sea to me. I did think it could work as an extended intro leading into the final song, but other than that, it just seems the most out of place compared to the actual song. Still, Vitamin Sea is definitely a highlight for me.

Now, what can I say about Dinosaur Park? Well, it's a good song, but it also was the song that took the longest for me to warm up to. I think that's in part due to the fact the first few verses sound closer to a Scores-influenced Sky Sailing track instead of a Scores-influenced Owl City track. It's like the lyrics are so dreamy and depict what should sound like a bombastic Owl City track, but instead, it's very stripped back. (Maybe there's an alternate version that isn't as stripped back? After all, this is the one that was teased through my favorite Instagram teaser, Signs of Life.)

However, I do love that breakdown after the second chorus. This sounds very Euro-dance-influenced. I almost like that section better than the other sections. Thankfully, it shows up again after the final chorus. To me, it sounds like Sky Sailing meets Euro-dance and not Owl City. This further blurs the lines between the two projects and it makes me wonder if Adam could even find a differentiating thing between the two if he released a follow-up to An Airplane Carried Me to Bed. But it's still an amazing song. Lyrically, it depicts a Toy Story-esque scenario about Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota. It's a real-life park with giant dinosaur statues, and the song imagines if they come to life, Night of the Museum-style, when no one's visiting the park at night. That sounds like the perfect topic for Adam to cover in a song, and he delivers on it! This is by far the longest song on the album, but it still doesn't overstay its welcome.

Then, we move on to Learn How to Surf. What's ironic to me is that this is the most radio-friendly song on the entire album, but it was never a single. Instead, they created butchered radio edits of Vitamin Sea and Kelly Time, and in the case of the latter, doesn't even flow together as a story compared to the original album version. (Both of these versions are available on YouTube if you want to check them out). But I digress. Learn How to Surf also sounds like it could be a song that appears during the end credits of a family-friendly movie where surfing somehow comes up.

Musically, I love that retro-sounding percussive record skip. It reminds me of Smash Mouth's All Star. It feels very 90s-esque, but not in a heavy-handed way like in Unbelievable. Lyrically, we actually heard much of the first chorus in a preview for the entire album. It sounded very metaphorical, comparing the troubles of life and getting through them to surfing. (If that one old blog reader who asked me anonymously years ago for a song about if Adam had a song with a similar theme... if you're still out there, then this is that song!) However, it's also strange that it seems to tell a story of Adam (or some other dude and Adam takes their point of view for this song) who sees a heavily tattooed lady and asks them what the tattoos mean. It just seemed to come out of nowhere given what we heard from the chorus in that preview. But at the same time, it did give me fodder for a meme on Discord's listening party for the album:

Still, I really do enjoy it. It sounds like typical motivational Adam, in the vein of songs like Shooting Star and Beautiful Times. This is probably my third favorite song from the album.

Now, as we approach the final two songs on the album, it seems to slow down too much. This is especially true considering I had the long-shot hope that the final song would be more upbeat following the next song, The Meadow Lark. Now, I don't dislike The Meadow Lark (But I do have a pet peeve whenever I see people type out this song's title as "The Meadowlark"). In fact, I do like the song's story and themes of forgiveness and grace. And I wouldn't speed up this song in any way.

Lyrically, the song is about someone at war who meets an enemy soldier. They both aim their guns at each other, each prepared to shoot the other. Then, a bird (presumably a meadow lark, given the song title) arrives on the scene and later is joined by more. They start singing as if nothing was happening. But my one critique is that much like Field Notes, the religious 180 comes out of nowhere. Suddenly, one of the soldiers hears from God to "love your enemy", echoing Jesus's words in Matthew 5:43-45 (NRSVUE):

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

This isn't as egregious as Field Notes. Perhaps it's because it tells a full-blown original story set in a war (presumably the Civil War, given how it borrows the melody from the Adam's score album Courdory Road), as opposed to Field Notes, which is just a dramatization of a one-verse parable from Jesus. And I do like the song's message, especially given how it ends: With the soldier lowering his gun, showing him "yield on bended knee". This moves the soldier to do the same and turn away. To me, the whole song sounds very similar to the plot in the Doctor Who Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time", except that story is set during World War I. I won't go into detail as to how they're similar, as this post is already long enough, but if you're a Whovian, you'll know why I said this. All in all, it's a beautiful song and very emotional.

Finally, we reach the closing song on the album: My Muse. It's a sweet, slow love song. This song makes a stunning announcement (even though some people in the fandom, including myself, knew this already), which also explains why Abbey is credited under the names Colbi McCallister and Sissy Willow instead of her own (apart from her general desire for privacy after public backlash for her now-deleted YouTube videos on Cinematic). That announcement? Adam and Abbey got married! Many HootOwls could see this being used as the first dance song at a wedding.

With that said, I'm just going to come out and say it: Be Brave is a better song than My Muse. My Muse could be seen as Be Brave, Part 2, but it just doesn't have the same level of emotional and poetic storytelling that Be Brave shows. My Muse is more to the point and literal, but Be Brave feels like an Owl City song. In fact, I thought for sure Adam would have sung Be Brave and then transition into My Muse on the To The Moon tour, but that never happened. That would have been cool. But My Muse by itself doesn't do it for me the same way Be Brave does. Plus, it being the final song on the album doesn't help.

With all that said, I do like the song. It's sweet and innocent enough, and it's one of the few songs from Adam that I could see a couple slow dance to. The first verse recaps what happened in Be Brave, the second talks about their wedding day, and the third talks about the future. Musically, it's just a simple piano ballad with backing vocals from Abbey herself. It's also the shortest song on the album. I just don't think it works as a closing album moment. Most times I listen to Coco Moon, I add Up to the Cloud to the queue, and then it feels complete. But as it stands, My Muse doesn't seem as memorable as other moments on the album, and that's a problem.

Overall, the album Coco Moon can feel bloated given its lengthy runtime, but no song overstays its welcome even though most songs are over 5 minutes. It's also a solid album, and also Adam's best release since All Things Bright and Beautiful. Cinematic didn't age as well as I thought it would, given that the album is extremely long (even if the average song length isn't compared to Coco Moon), and the fact that I typically only listen to one or two songs from Cinematic at a time as opposed to the full album in one sitting. I can more easily do that with Coco Moon. Still, Coco Moon isn't a perfect album, given a few questionable choices and a strange tracklist arrangement. But I do like it, and I'd give this an 8.5/10. (I probably would have given this a 10/10 closer to release time, but now that I've sat on it for a bit longer, I feel more confident giving a lower rating. It's still probably my top album of the year.)

Wow! If you made it all the way through this post, thank you for reading this rambling attempt at a review. This has been saved partially in drafts for a long time. Please let me know what you think of the album. I appreciate you taking the time to read this! Thank you!!

[gargusscp]

Decalog 1: Enigma - "Fallen Angel" by Andy Lane

Cracking through the utter avalanche of Doctor Who books in my backlog and rambling about them on tumblr because this site deserves someone who cares to post about the short story anthologies.

The first of Virgin's anthologies uses a pretty standard set-up for its wrap-around segments, entitled "Playback": Seven has lost his memories, stumbled into a private eye's office in the mid-1940s, and together they seek out the help of a psychometrist, whose visions sparked by assorted objects in the Doctor's coat serve as glimpses into interrelated stories from his past. Obviously I can't judge the thing until through with the book, but Stephen James Walker seems to have an alright imitation of period detective novel descriptive language, and it's neat seeing a guileless Seven when one knows a Virgin-era story means there's some overly-convoluted plan in the wings once his memories return.

As to "Fallen Angel" itself, we kick off with as close a crossover as Lane and Virgin can publish without a lawsuit. The narration most commonly sticks to the thoughts and experiences of one Lucas Seyton, a gentleman thief whose shady family history compels him to give back by robbing the world's rich criminality their ill-gotten gains, for both justice and the fun of it. He aliases under the story's title, leaves a calling card with a little stick figure doodle of himself, brushes elbows with working-class friends who enable his adventures, and lives life to the fullest with no apology for his criminality or compunctions as to its righteousness. His voice is also described in tones evoking Roger Moore. In other words, he's a thinly-veiled analog for Leslie Charteris' popular hero Simon Templar, alias The Saint, and the story is basically Lane bumping him against a fellow 60s British telly alumni so they can exchange banter, save each other's bacon, and generally compliment how brilliant they find the other despite differences in philosophy.

S'not a bad thing by any shot. Seyton's an amiably-written perspective character whose blase attitude and observations about the Doctor's eccentricities are amusing, especially opposite so disheveled an incarnation as Two, and Lane uses the homage as excuse for all the classic pulp adventure staples. Rough alleyway encounters, morning after recuperation and pleasantries, high-flying biplane dogfights, desperate manor-bound shoot-outs, the works. Highly amusing to imagine Troughton bumbling and panicking through the best realizations a mid-60s ITV budget could manage, or exchanging quotations from Winnie the Pooh opposite Moore.

The actual plot of the thing is deliberately incomplete, as you're supposed to piece things together through the whole anthology, though I've a complaint all the same. The Doctor accidentally lands the TARDIS in a manor house that's secretly a Time Lord prison for warmongering aliens whose punishment after defeat was confinement in a convincingly faked forever war, and barely escapes the automated security on his lonesome. All the business with Seyton goes down, the Doctor revealing little details all the while, they bust into the manor, and find the prisoners dead, having killed each other over some petty dispute long ago, their robotic guards still viciously attacking any intruders because the Doctor forgot to program their deactivation if their charges died. It's always irksome to me when Wilderness Era stories decide the increased focus on Seven's machiavellian tendencies means all prior incarnations were equally duplicitous and scheming, cause it never fits how One was written or played to imply he was some brilliant Time Lord mastermind with fingers in all their devious little projects. I know we're stuck with it because "Remembrance of the Daleks" is a classic and the Hand of Omega plot point is super memorable, but I'm a stickler for Doctors feeling right, and this bit ain't it.

(Also it's a Jamie and Zoe-era story in which they barely feature, so boo on that too.)

Beyond a bother introduced by the frame story's needs, I'm happy with this self-indulgent fannish runaround. Nice tribute to the then-recently deceased Charteris. I'd say it's pretty solidly...

GOOD

[trisscar368]

I know this is a small complaint but between the big games floating on my dash and the ones I’ve started playing recently, there’s something that’s just so [cat left outside on a cold day] when looking at the perception in others who love this thing, the heart of fandom, between a game’s storyline and the romantic subplots.

It ends up feeling like I’m missing half the game — like even though I complete every quest and find every secret I can — I’m left with something shallow and incomplete if I don’t engage in the romance storylines. Taking the options where you’re friends with your companions doesn’t seem to mean much beyond keeping that character around.

(I care, I love you, but you won’t share so much of your heart until I say Yes.)

Whatever resonance and immersion I had with my OC always withers and dies if I force myself through the romance/sex scenes. Instead of an avatar in a story it becomes something robotic, divorced and dissociated and disposable. It’s the same way I play an evil run — not caring about anything but ticking off boxes to get the achievement or points. Either I sacrifice my connection point with the story or I miss out on what draws everyone else back to replay and what sparks so much fannish creativity.

Haven’t I had enough of this from life without needing to face it in my fantasy too? Why can I only love one person. Why is sex the only way I can show it and have it matter.

[tainbocuailnge]

While it's very obvious from your most recent posts that you had a turn on Setanta, what I want to know is what specific part of the story caused that change of thought?

the first timelock honestly because my complaints were 1) he doesn't feel like he was written to be the same person 2) they're not providing any narratively satisfying reason for him to even be a character, and this event immediately resolved the first one and gave enough material to predict how they'd resolve the second one. like i want to avoid overhyping an incomplete story but i'm having a fantastic time here and I hope this writer gets to do a lot more for fgo

[myreia]

Bound by Faith

Chapter One: Philia

Chapter Rating: T Pairing: Aureia Malathar (Warrior of Light)/Thancred Waters Characters: Warrior of Light, Thancred Waters, Urianger Augurelt, Ryne, Alisaie Leveilleur, Alphinaud Leveilleur, Y'shtola Rhul, Cyella Chapter Word Count: 5,377 Story Word Count: 5,377 Story Summary: With their enemies defeated and the First saved, the Crystarium is alive with celebration. Despite the joy around her, Aureia is uncertain about the next steps to take. So is Thancred, for that matter. The puzzle of their lives has sat incomplete for years, but finally this last, precious piece may be able to slide into place. Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for the end of Shadowbringers base. Notes: This chapter does not contain explicit sexual content, but a later chapter will.

🡒 Read on AO3 🡐

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Alisaie says after a moment. “This moment of peace. It doesn’t feel real. It’s something we’ve dreamt of more times than we can count, and now it’s here… I can’t shake this feeling there is something we’ve forgotten. That some imminent crisis is going to raise its ugly head and undo everything we’ve fought so hard to achieve.” “I know,” Aureia replies. “The thought has occurred to me, too. I don’t doubt we will ever be free of one crisis or another.” “And that’s the problem, is it not? I dislike feeling this unsettled. It’s hardly fair after everything we’ve been through. I have this unrelenting need to do something, Aureia, as if taking a moment for myself is never enough. I’m not like Alphinaud. I can’t slip so freely into rest and respite. For all his complaints, I know he prefers the quiet. Not that I wish desperate times on anyone, that’s not what I mean, but there is a restlessness in me that needs to do something. And perhaps it’s easier to placate it with thoughts of what could go wrong in the future, rather than accepting that nothing has in the present.” She lets out a long sigh and shakes her head. “Bah. I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to become so introspective, not on a night like this. You certainly don’t need to be weighed down by my useless thoughts.” “They’re not useless, Alisaie. If anything, I share them. When you have achieved that singular goal you spent years pursuing, how do you come to terms with that? I don’t know if there is an answer.”

[butterflydm]

wot reread: a personal evaluation of The Slog (tm)

This does have spoilers through A Memory of Light, because part of how I evaluated The Slog was which scenes & plotlines didn’t end up mattering in the final books (to the best of my memory).

There are many complaints about The Slog in the middle-late books of the WoT series, as well as arguments about when The Slog starts and what it means. How I personally defined The Slog:

Books begin to run together in my head because they no longer contain discrete plotlines, as the major plot-threads spill from book to book. There is excessive padding in the form of storylines that either end up not serving enough of a purpose or are simply bloated and repetitive.

By my definition, The Slog begins during Lord of Chaos and runs all the way to the end of the Jordan books. It starts slow but really explodes in Winter’s Heart and beyond.

In the first five books, every single main plot was completed in that same book where it was introduced.

In this second set of books (comprising of 6 books), we have:

Egwene: Spends SIX books on getting to the White Tower, confronting Elaida, and becoming Amrylin and still has not completed it by the end of Knife of Dreams. She has one job and will do it as slowly as possible lol. But there’s enough variety and new stuff in her plotlines that she doesn’t feel too sloggy.

Nynaeve: Shares plots with Elayne and Rand but doesn’t have any solo plotlines. Almost drops off the page entirely in CoT & KoD.

Rand: defeats Sammael in two books. Fails to repel the Seanchan invasion in The Path of Daggers. Successfully cleanses saidin in Winter’s Heart. Final task (make truce with Seanchan) left incomplete in Knife of Dreams, as the baton is handed over to Sanderson, because Rand is barely on-page in CoT & KoD. Two successes, one failure, one left incomplete (and is on two books atm). Of the successes, one took two books to complete. He’s still mostly on track and not terribly sloggy when it comes to his plotlines.

Perrin: After saving Rand in Lord of Chaos, a quick one-book success, he spends the next FIVE books on his task to fetch Masema and bring him and his Dragonsworn back to Rand. And it is still left incomplete as of Knife of Dreams (and not looking great, as Masema has betrayed him and is in the wind again). So much slog.

Mat: fails at all the major plot-threads in this entire six-book section, being prevented from going to Caemlyn with Elayne by the Seanchan invasion, and then never returning to Rand’s armies by the time we end Knife of Dreams, also delayed due to the Seanchan, though he does finally reunite with the Band of the Red Hand. But he mostly just spends a lot of time failing in this set of books and dithering around.

Elayne: She manages to complete the Bowl of the Winds plotline in the first three books and the Queen plotline in second three books. Not as quick as Rand’s track record, but better than everyone else and she doesn’t notch up any failures.

Book by book, the rankings are:

LoC: One completed storyline; two incomplete storylines

ACoS: One completed; one failed; three incomplete

TPoD: One completed; one failed; two incomplete (no Mat)

WH: One completed; four incomplete

CoT: Five incomplete (none completed)

KoD: One completed; four incomplete

These six books could have easily been three books. Two if you aren’t precious about keeping all the major plotlines (I would have been willing to cut out the Shaido and Tylin-Tuon storylines entirely; instead have Perrin actually just deal with Masema and have Mat be part of Elayne’s plotline in Caemlyn; this would have saved tons of story space; since Rand is the one who is forced to do the Seanchan deal anyway and Mat brings nothing to the table there, just do that plotline without Mat).

Or, three books and keeping all major plotlines would give us: Elayne, Nynaeve, & Mat go to Ebou Dar in book one; use the Bowl in book two and Elayne and Nynaeve escape to Caemlyn; and Elayne completes her queen arc in book three. Perrin helps Rand in book one; goes after Masema in book two; saves Faile in book three. Mat works with Rand and then Elayne in book one; gets trapped in Ebou Dar in book two and escapes it, meeting DotNM; we endure Mat & Tuon in book three and he reunites with tBotRH (but maybe Mat actually is productive and worked out a tentative treaty/truce with Tuon). Egwene gets to Salidar and establishes herself in book one; gets to the White Tower in book two; puts the White Tower under siege and gets captured in book three. Rand gets kidnapped & defeats Sammael in book one (& I guess sleeps with Min); fails against the Seanchan & takes care of the traitors in book two; cleanses saidin with Nynaeve’s help (& does the group bonding) in book three. Every one of the books would have its own identity and not spill into the other books.

However, one of the profoundly disappointing things for me in this run of books was the number that it did on Mat as a character and, in general, how Jordan flips from showing us how horrible the Seanchan are, with touchstones of hope that they can potentially change (like Egeanin) to both Mat and Perrin basically deciding Slavery Is Too Hard To Fight, Better Make (genuine!) Friends/Lovers With The Slavers. It really did feel, as I did my reread, that the story was saying one thing about Seanchan and slavery in books 2-9, and then flipped to saying something completely different (nearly the opposite) about slavery in books 10 & 11.

My speculation on this (which I’ve mentioned a bit in my reread posts) is thinking that it was between writing Winter’s Heart and writing Crossroads of Twilight that Jordan came up with the idea of the Seanchan outriggers.

Because all the way up through the end of Winter’s Heart, it feels like the story of the Seanchan is going to be told in this story. We are given so much set-up in WH to the idea that Tuon will struggle with being a potential marath’damane in this story. Then, in CoT & KoD, it’s suddenly Someone Else’s Problem In The Future and Maybe Slavery Is Okay Sometimes and basically made me want to spit rocks every time we went into a Mat or Perrin section of the story. When I was doing my first read of the books, I absolutely did NOT expect Mat or Perrin to become Seanchan/slaver sympathizers, yet that happens for both of them by the end of KoD, with Perrin thinking his slaver friend is a good egg while she’s enslaving the Shaido and Mat thinking that Tuon, future head slaver of them all, is worth defending and protecting even when she is actively attempting to enslave and torture his allies that he already rescued from slavery once.

These two books are also where we get the horrific “both sides are wrong” rhetoric where the people who DON’T WANT TO BE SLAVES are treated as if they were just as ‘petty’ and ‘wrong’ as the person who WANTS TO ENSLAVE THEM and it’s horrifically out of character for Mat, who was vehemently anti-slavery in Winter’s Heart, which only takes place a week before his storyline in CoT starts.

Yet the story acts like this is just a petty dispute between characters and even falls on the side of supporting Tuon because Mat has decided ~her eyes are pretty~ and whatever other nonsense. We also get Seanchan PoVs that glorify Tuon and the Seanchan more in these two books, whereas pretty much every Seanchan PoV in earlier books pointed out the downsides of their society (not usually intentionally from the PoV of the character, but clear to the readers) by mentioning the constant unrest in the homeland, etc.

Here, when we get news of civil wars in Seanchan, it’s implied to be because the Imperial family is dead, but there were ALREADY constant conflicts in Seanchan -- we learned that in TPoD and WH. It’s more likely that now that the Imperial family is dead, it’s easier for news of the unrest to spread because the Empress isn’t able to immediately jump in to crush the rebellions and suppress the news of the unhappiness of her people.

An alternate plotline I floated with markantonys to make Perrin and Mat’s plotlines better (imo of course):

No Shaido. The Shaido are played out by LoC. But Faile & co could still get captured by the Seanchan. This would make sense, because Morgase can (just barely) channel, so if a sul’dam/damane patrol gets close enough to them, they would sense her ability and snag her up to collar -- likely sweeping up her companions as well for testing. We still get to see Faile being clever in a time of great stress but without the nonsense of the Shaido still being a threat and without Perrin buddying up with slavers and thinking they’re just swell at the end of it. If you want to deal with the remnants of the Shaido, have them also be captured by the Seanchan. Faile can even meet most of the same characters that way.

Meanwhile, in Mat’s plotline, he doesn’t just give Tuon an infinite number of free passes to be an asshole. Setalle Anan acts like a real person and doesn’t bizarrely side with the head of the invasion force against one of the people who helped her escape Ebou Dar. Let Mat actually stand up against Tuon and have conversations with her about slavery. Let the secret of the sul’dam actually MATTER in Tuon’s storyline (like if you have the horrific moment of Tuon collaring the Aes Sedai, the tables should then be turned on her and she should get collared in response, making her realize that she can be affected by the a’dam - this could actually be a moment of growth for one of the former sul’dam characters, having one of them, probably Bethamin, chose to collar Tuon to show her that she’s ‘just’ a marath’damane too, just like them). Let Tuon actually grow as a person. Selucia should not be here and should never have left Ebou Dar with Tuon. Tuon should NOT have her brainwashed slave BFF on tap to remind her that Slavery Is Great Actually.

Mat and Tuon could still get (politically) married to cement a genuine alliance between the Seanchan and Rand’s forces but then he has to send her back to Ebou Dar so that she can actually enforce said alliance. There is zero reason to have Mat soften his stance on slavery at any point in this storyline. All that does is trash the ‘great and good’ man that we knew in books 1-9.

How much more interesting the Mat & Tuon storyline would be if it were about two intelligent people on opposite sides trying to work out a compromise and coming to a treaty agreement. But as it is, the M&T storyline is so... pointless. Mat should have been the one to make a treaty with the Seanchan; it’s literally the only thing that would have made Mat & Tuon’s marriage worth the page time spent on it (and worth being a prophecy). And yet... instead it’s treated as a (toxic) romance. Absolute waste of time. (ah, also just thought! If Mat is the one to make a deal with the Seanchan, this frees Rand up to deal with the Black Tower, like he SHOULD have done; just scrap everything that Rand does that relates to the Seanchan in CoT & KoD and have him do a plotline about the Black Tower instead).

And the Rand & Mat reunion would have been so much more interesting if Mat had walked in with a complicated and messy alliance with the Seanchan that Rand has to make work. THAT reunion would have been more likely to have all the depth and complexity that I am used to getting from Rand & Mat in the earlier books.

And in this new dual storyline, we have contrasting elements in Perrin and Mat’s storylines -- in Perrin’s storyline, we are seeing The Institution of The Seanchan Invasion, while in Mat’s storyline, we are seeing individuals cut off from their system of government, figuring out who they are when they’re not being told who they have to be. Instead of both Perrin and Mat deciding Actually I Like Slavers Sometimes, have Perrin rescue the Shaido in addition to his own people and then show us a variety of responses to the idea of living out from under Seanchan rule over in Mat’s plotline.

...and while I’m thinking about it... in Rand’s plotline... I’ve already proposed that the Rand x Min storyline should be adjusted so that she doesn’t Change Herself For A Man. (I think the show will probably do this and we won’t see Min painting herself into skin-tight breeches and growing and curling her hair because she thinks it’ll appeal to him more). I would say that Nynaeve should be given more to do in Rand’s plotline rather than dropping off the face of the earth after she helps him with the cleansing.

My way of fixing the whole ‘Rand just drops the topic of Mat after Nynaeve doesn’t give him an answer’ would be to shift timelines slightly. Have Tuon arrive directly with the initial invasion of Ebou Dar and shift that whole timeline up a month, so that by the time Rand hears about Mat being in Ebou Dar from Nynaeve, Mat has already escaped the city itself (and maybe Rand is able to see this through the color swirl bond, that Mat is with a circus instead of surrounded by Seanchan, so he feels like it’s safe not to worry about him for now while he focuses on the cleansing).

I would say that Rand & Nynaeve’s post-cleansing plotline SHOULD have been the Black Tower and dealing with that issue rather than Rand having Yet Another Allying With The Seanchan Plot just like the other two ta’veren boys. Nynaeve has already been deeply involved with helping men who can channel - she Healed gentling and she helped cleanse saidin - so being one of the people who investigates the Black Tower would have been a perfect fit for her character arc.

Elayne and Egwene are perfect and don’t need to change. 😘😘 Haha, on a more serious note, I would make some slight adjustments: Elayne’s pregnancy should be a non-issue for her in these books; she is BARELY pregnant when we open up in CoT (it’s been less than a week since her sex marathon with Rand). I genuinely do not believe that Jordan had a single conversation with a person capable of being pregnant when he wrote Elayne’s storyline. But her actual storyline is solid and I wouldn’t change anything.

In Egwene’s storyline, I would say that instead of Talmanes hunting her down so that she can try to talk him out of rescuing Mat, actually have HER go to TALMANES and tell him that Mat is in trouble and let him know he should head south with tBotRH (with the timeline being shortened by a month in Mat’s plotline, this would work out). Everything in her own storyline is fine; just needs to be tightened up a bit. Otherwise, they are both perfect. 😘😘

IF Rand and Nynaeve have already dealt with the Black Tower AND Mat has already made a deal with the Seanchan, then you probably COULD have finished the series in one more book after KoD rather than needing three more -- Perrin would already be in place to be a better leader by choosing to save the Shaido alongside his own people; Mat would first have a plot of saving Moiraine and then take the reins on the Last Battle; Egwene could actually do her planned ‘hearts and minds’ plot from within the White Tower (or have Semirhage be the one to launch a Seanchan assault on the WT, before Tuon is back in charge), etc. Maybe two books.

But, yeah, the slog was pretty sloggy. In terms of plotlines dragging on, CoT was definitely the worst offender, as absolutely no one completed any major plotlines in the entire book.

Another way to evaluate The Slog is how much character growth occurs:

Egwene: grows into her role as genuine Amrylin over the course of six books and is confident at the end, even in the face of being captive in the White Tower.

Rand: spirals downward book by book. After the triumph of TFoH, LoC, ACoS, and TPoD all end on darker notes. Brief triumph at the end of WH, then back to spiraling down in Cot & KoD, though he doesn’t get that much screentime in those books.

Mat: mostly just gets traumatized over and over; is abused by someone in a position of power, is horribly injured; resigns himself fatalistically to his fate and just does his best to make it as palatable as possible by trying to get Tuon to fall in love with him. Decides that slavery is acceptable under some conditions. Ugly stuff.

Perrin: obsesses over his wife, buddies up with slavers.

Nynaeve: uses BotW! breaks her block! gets married! embraces being a queen! helps cleanse saidin!

Elayne: uses BotW! bonds Rand! wins over the nobles! gains a first-sister!

Rand, Mat, and Perrin all basically go through negative character arcs of depression, failure, and obsession while Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne all experience positive character arcs of growing into themselves as people (though Nynaeve does mostly disappear after the cleansing, which sucks). Which leaves Rand, Mat, and Perrin all needing to go through MAJOR character growth in the last three books because they have regressed so much from their mutual character high point of roughly the middle of Lord of Chaos.

On the... plus side? I did find in my reread that Mat’s character is destroyed so abruptly and with so little narrative justification in CoT & KoD that it’s relatively easy to sever that characterization away from his books 1-9 character. His character has been so blatantly warped to fit the ‘fall in love with a slaver’ storyline that he doesn’t even feel that much like Mat from the very first pages of his PoV (where he’s suddenly not insightful enough to retain an insight about the Seanchan invasion that he’d had back in Winter’s Heart). Jordan had to kill Mat’s compassion, his intelligence, and his stubbornness (THE Two Rivers’ character trait) in order to make him fall in love with Tuon, so merely adding those things back in fixes his character and his storyline, because books 1-9!Mat would make profoundly different choices in CoT & KoD than CoT!Mat did.

In terms of unnecessary scenes...

Obviously, which scenes are and aren’t necessary is going to always be a somewhat soft category that changes based on individual priorities. The things I judged on:

Does this actually Matter in the end? i.e. does this affect our endgame choices in the Last Battle, since this is a reread and I Know What Matters, lol (this is why I chucked a lot of the romantic subplots into here, because a. they ended up having no purpose and b. Jordan is not good at romance so there isn’t even good character development going on)

Is this just the repetition of an earlier plot? (Rand’s Can’t Hurt A Woman thing fits into here)

Are we just expanding on incredibly annoying characters who are not going to appreciably impact the endgame? (aka a bunch of Atha’an Miere scenes)

So these were scenes that, to me, felt unneeded in the end and could have been trimmed out in order to leave us with fewer books that had less padding. Mostly, this involved unnecessary subplots, side quests, or badly-written romances. I’ve been keeping track of them as I’ve gone through The Slog (though I didn’t start until ACoS but LoC still has a mostly good pace, so it probably wouldn’t be so bad), so this is just the sum-up of those percentages.

Unnecessary scenes totals:

ACoS: 91 pages (13.7% of the book)

TPoD: 79 pages (11.7% of the book)

WH: 332 pages (43.3% of the book)

CoT : 427 pages (51.9% of the book)

KoD: 338 pages (44.4% of the book)

Note that this does not include scenes that were simply too long and could have been trimmed down, which there were tons of in this six-book set.

But that does align fairly well with how much of each book felt like wasted space to me, honestly. LoC-ACoS-TPoD each had some minor bad/bloated plotlines that could be cut but WH-CoT-KoD were just... overstuffed with bad plots. And it was left in a bad place, too, with all the characters separated from each other. It was ridiculous, imo, for Jordan to think that he ever could have finished it all up in one more book, given how widely he’d spread everyone out and how much time he’d wasted.

Well, next up is my reread of New Spring, which will probably end up being two posts and will probably be... a lot more positive than most of my posts during The Slog (tm). And then I will be on to Sanderson’s books! I’m actually very interested to see what my opinion of them will be. The first time around, I liked his prose here enough that it got me into reading his own books, but I’ve definitely had harsher critiques for a lot of the plotlines in Jordan’s books than I remembered from earlier reads, so I’m interested to see if my feelings on the Sanderson entries change as well.

[thundercrackfic]

Processing GO S2

It’s been two nights of poor sleep after watching Good Omens season 2. I have so many FEELINGS. I’m overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted. It’s wild and even a little embarrassing to have so strong a reaction, but here we are. 

I wrote about my feelings below, and through the writing, I convinced myself that for my own mental health, I shouldn’t rewatch right away. I’m not leaving the fandom or anything -- despite these feelings, which I hope are temporary, I still love Good Omens and its wonderful, thoughtful, remarkably queer fans! I live here now! -- but I can’t handle watching again yet.

Spoilers below.

Being a scientist, I’m finding it useful to sort my feelings into categories and try to address each category individually.

First of all, I’m just SAD. Aziraphale and Crowley are my emotional support characters and the end of Season 2 left them in a very bad place: separated, isolated, miserable, and threatened with annihilation. While I understand the structure of trilogies and I have faith that the sequel that Gaiman and Pratchett plotted will reunite them, no such sequel has been greenlit, and the SAG-AFTRA strike and studio intransigence mean we won’t find out whether and when Amazon will actually produce a third season for the foreseeable future. So Aziraphale and Crowley are sad and I’m sad. I want to rewatch but I’m worried I’ll get even sadder. Since I have depression, this is actually a health risk to me.

I’m also angry, because the viewers were not given crucial information necessary to understand Aziraphale’s final decision. Yes, I understand what it means that this is the second act of a three-act story, but I’m still saying that this act’s story was incomplete. My main complaint is that we do not actually see Aziraphale’s full conversation with the Metatron, we only see what he reports to Crowley with lots of agitated hand-wringing. I love Aziraphale, but he is NOT a reliable narrator. The cut away from the conversation to Aziraphale’s proposition to Crowley, followed by the Metatron coming in and asking “how did he take it?” makes me certain that there are shenanigans afoot. Aziraphale is, at the very least, not telling the whole truth to Crowley, is lying about some part of that conversation either by omission or outright. For which I am sure he has good reasons, and I’m sure at least some of the reasons being discussed in endless metas will eventually be revealed as true, or close to true, when the third act comes out. But for now, we can’t know. Without witnessing the full conversation, I can’t possibly understand Aziraphale’s terrible choice, and I don’t have any hope of understanding Aziraphale’s motivation until such time as Gaiman tells the rest of this unfinished story. (Yes, I know Gaiman said he’d tell the story even if no third season is produced, and that promise is some comfort; but in the meantime we are in limbo.) I’m sure there are lots of clues and hints we’ll all pick out with rewatches, but it’s as if Season 1 ended with Crowley in Hell facing the bathtub and Aziraphale in Heaven walking toward hellfire. Sure, in hindsight the clues at the body swap are evident, but we couldn’t have known what canonically happened and there would have been lots of other theories and scenarios. Imagine having had to wait four years to find out whether and how they survived their trials? My anger won’t be salved by watching again.

There are things I disliked about Season 2 that, in my opinion, seem to contradict the story/character development as presented in Season 1. The big one is what I saw as a power imbalance between Crowley and Aziraphale that I didn’t see in Season 1. Not just the Throne?Dominion?Archangel? Crowley thing. Aziraphale was always slow, stubborn, in willful denial of things he didn’t want to look at, and Crowley always coaxing and tempting Aziraphale into change, yes. But in Season 1 Aziraphale also was a vast storehouse of wisdom who solved puzzles that 400 years of Devices couldn’t, and rules-lawyered Gabriel and Beelzebub into confusion (with Crowley not leading, just cheerleading) at the airbase. In Season 2 Aziraphale just seemed dim compared to Crowley on every dimension, not an equal party to their relationship at all. Aziraphale’s adorable in both seasons, but in this season he seemed infantilized in relation to Crowley, and not in a cute/funny (Jimbriel) way. While both he and Crowley had their idiot moments, Aziraphale’s weren’t balanced with brilliant moments, I felt. Like, his moral quandary in Edinburgh seemed far too simple to be so late in his character development, and both in history and in the present Crowley came across as professorial or even paternal in relation to him, which is a huge squick for me. Maybe this impression of power imbalance isn’t correct, and will change on rewatch. I hope so.

There are things I disliked about Season 2 that originate in conflicts with my own headcanons and/or story preferences. This, at least, is something I can work on, trying to recognize the stuff in my head that I couldn’t reasonably expect Season 2 to produce (or not produce) for me. For example, I really do not like all the hints at Crowley having been, and remaining, an especially powerful entity. I liked thinking of them as having equal unimportance, totally substitutible for each other despite their different “sides,” exemplified by the Arrangement, how easily they performed each other’s jobs. Reflecting now, I can admit that even in Season 1 Crowley clearly had a different status to Aziraphale -- he was chosen to deliver the Antichrist, after all, and demonstrated powers that Aziraphale didn’t (stopping time, sensing whether or not others were watching). So I should be able to reconcile that, with time. I also personally hate it when character conflict results from disastrously poor communication. This one, I recognize, is especially unfair to the source material, because it’s true that for all their conversation, they canonically aren’t great at telling each other anything important. (The most common theme of my comments on fanfic is “TALK TO EACH OTHER YOU WALNUTS!”) Even so, I’m still struggling with some of the character decisions this season because I don’t feel like they demonstrate the growth that especially Aziraphale underwent across Season 1. Other things that bugged me were Aziraphale’s gluttony scene (I’ve imagined 1001 scenarios for Aziraphale’s first taste of gross matter, and none of them featured anything like him gorging like a hyena on blackened ox ribs), and I was disappointed not to see more fluidity in Crowley’s gender presentation. All that stuff has to do with my own expectations, so I should be able to compartmentalize those and be at peace with Season 2 canon, with time.

I would like to watch again. I think it probably hurt my understanding of the story to have binged the six episodes in three days rather than watching them one a week. I didn’t really want to watch them that fast, but I felt pressured to watch quickly so I could participate in discussion with fandom friends. I’ve heard from some friends who had initially negative reactions that they’ve warmed up to it on rewatch, with a clearer understanding of the story that was being told. I want to rewatch and experience that. But the sadness and anger I’ll feel about the end of the season and the impossibility of my understanding it won’t go away on rewatch, I’m afraid. Not until the third act’s story arc is revealed along with the obscured elements of the second act’s story. And I’m not in a good enough place emotionally to willingly invite more sadness and anger into my head.

So I guess I’ve talked myself into not rewatching for a while, which itself makes me sad. But it’s what I need to do.

I love all you queers. To the world. 🍷

[hollytanaka]

I finished the MWIII campaign and here are my thoughts 💭

Obviously, MAJOR SPOILERS below. Remember to filter #mwiii spoilers if you want to avoid them from me.

The Structure & Ending

I finished the campaign in one sitting, which I usually never do with games. So, my initial complaint that it felt short might be because I literally rushed my playthrough of it. But if others felt the same, l'd love to know!

The ending felt incomplete. I feel like it's basic/traditional writing knowledge that you don't end the story on the climax unless it's like a major cliffhanger. This was not a cliffhanger. We ended it after Soap being killed in cold blood by Makarov, and we see the rest of the 141 mourning and spreading his ashes. The only way I could be nice about this, is if we just describe the story not as a triumphant story of military victory and defeating evil but as a tragedy. A story that ends in failure (a la Ghosts [2013]). But the rational part of my brain says, no, this was just the writers cutting the story in half so that they can bank on a Modern Warfare 4 in the future—and use MP seasons and co-op/raids to tell the rest of the story.

Still, I'm glad we're actually moving along with the Makarov story and what was actually the story for MW2. The reboot timeline is so slow and slow delayed because of adding Farah's backstory and Los Vaqueros. We're finally getting to the good stuff from Modern Warfare, that classic story that everyone loves. So, that's a plus.

Los Vaqueros & El Sin Nombre's Absence

My major complaint about MWII (2022) was that for a game that bases itself on a lot of real-life geopolitical conflicts, the inclusion of Valeria's storyline as a female narco boss in relation to Hassan, an Iranian villain, didn't really make sense (and this is from me, someone who has multiple degrees studying Latin America). So I'm glad Valeria and her cronies did not re-appear in this campaign. They just do not fit.

I liked Los Vaqueros in MWII, but I think the writers were right not to include them either—at least for this installment—just because they would've had to juggle too many things at once. Already, we have to juggle a lot with Farah's forces and Shadows being our allies. Having to deal with additional characters would've made the game lose its pointed focus. I wouldn't be surprised though if for "modern Warfare 4" both groups make a comeback.

It's just funny how much fans and Activision were hyping up Valeria so much, including in MWIII's live-action trailer, just for her to not make even one appearance.

Open-Combat Missions

Not gonna lie these missions stressed me the fuck out. I could NOT stay in stealth no matter what. But I think that's somwhat good, since a lot of grouchy fans who follow COD complain that every campaign is essentially the same—just move up, aim, and shoot—with just a slightly different plotline about either some Russian or some Arab villain. And I think we can commend COD now for try to shake up the campaign a little, even if I'm not a fan of Warzone (lol) and OCMs are essentially Warzone-ified campaign missions.

But mixing traditional campaign missions with these Open Combat Missions felt like a bad idea. I get that they're trying to gradually gauge our reaction to them by slowly introducing it. But it also felt disorienting switching between just following directions in one mission to in another having total liberty to do whatever by scavenging for guns or certain field-upgrades.

Either make them mainly all OCMs or all traditional.

Makarov as a Villain & Soap's Death

Yuli's work as an actor is totally praise-worthy! It's hard to step into the shoes of Makarov after the notoriety the OG Makarov gained in the original games. I think he isn't as cartoonish and weak as some of the other COD villains have been so far in the reboot—a complaint I once again have of how the narco villains were written in MWII. He actually generates fear and intimidation and we can see his power and resources—unlike villains like Hassan and whoever the generic Russian general was in MW2019. They were not memorable at all. If MW4 gets developed, it'll be great to see Yuli work with that character more.

Now, Soap. I AM HEARTBROKEN as well as PISSED. I'm pissed because we got to see Soap in the OG games grow & develop so much. Hence why so many veteran COD fans love Soap, perhaps more so than Ghost even though the latter has gotten more popular recently. We saw him going from just entering under Price's wing to becoming a Captain; and that growth of him as a character made his death so much more painful. It warranted Price yelling out in horror and shock when he realized Soap was dead before his eyes in the OG MW3. Even the background music to his OG death has become so iconic too.

We only got introduced to reboot!Soap last year with the release of MWII. We did not get to see him in the campaign in MW2019. He's still a very new character and the writers did NOT develop him properly enough in my opinion to warrant a tragic death/killing scene. I think that's part of why his death here hurts so much for me. Because it was also a killing of his potential as a character. And it sucks that Neil won't get to work with this character more in a MW4 storyline unless they do more memory/flashback scenes.

Hell, Farah gets more development and more screentime than Soap and the rest of the 141 task force aside from Price. I understand she's a main character now, but it sucks that first in MW2019 we sidelined Price as a character (in my opinion) for Farah's storyline. Now, Farah is taking up a lot more of the agency and space in the story once again at the expense of other characters taking less charge. This is honestly just me having a hard time accepting this new dynamic with Urzikstan with the rest of TF141 that the writers have been trying to cement with the rebooted series.

-

In sum, it does feel like some of the grouchy COD fans who were saying off before release that this was going to be a glorified DLC were right in hindsight. It's clear they put a lot of work into the geography, the missions/game-play, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it. And of course, the VAs put a lot of work into their craft. But plotwise it does feel like they gave us only a partial campaign with a very abrupt ending... but I also liked it anyway and had fun. And that’s what matters :-)))

[admirableadmiranda]

Do you have any fic recs where WWX's characterisation in particular really shines? Preferably longer ones, but shorter ones are fine too.

Thank you!

I do have some recs! I'm usually a bit more picky on LWJ's characterization than WWX's, so more of my fics are once where LWJ is standout, but I am sure some of them will delight.

First I would recommend glitteringmoonlight and Rynne for being incredibly consistent across many stories, both short and long.

As for individual fics, here are some of my favorites where WWX is super stand out.

WWX's Birthday Oneshots

A bunch of little prompts all celebrating Wei Wuxian in some way, so it's a glory of different points in his life.

A Glimpse of Past Glory

Wei Wuxian gets challenged to a duel by a ghost.

fish & wild geese

More LWJ centric, but WWX is fantastic in it, this is a farming au I still like.

make this chaos count

More CQL WWX than MDZS, but he still retains his depth of character. Is smutty, but not the whole fic, so easy to enjoy even if you're not the smut type.

CSI: Gusu Edition

Same goes here; he's a little more CQL than MDZS, but oh is he fantastic in these stories, brilliant and kind and funny.

Four Parts Honey and One Part Vinegar

Back on more MDZS styles, here he is post canon being fantastic and confusing the juniors.

shadows in the sun rise

Lan Wangji is cursed and Wei Wuxian takes care of him, definitely a more introspective look, but as we all know, LWJ can get in deeper than anyone else.

The Guests of Cloud Recesses

Wei Wuxian solves a little mystery in the Cloud Recesses, features him being fantastic both in the flirting and the guidao sides.

feel better love

Incomplete, but lovely! Features both MDZS and CQL WWX and that rare balance of an author who can write both rather than an arrangement of the two.

Letterless

Foxxian and Dragonji, where it captures a lot more of that young-twenties level flirting that most authors seem to struggle with. Also has a smut scene near the end, but a lot of story around it.

And not to toot my own horn too much, but I would recommend checking out some of my own fics if you haven't already, over at Admiranda. Wei Wuxian is one of my favorite characters to write and I haven't had a single complaint yet!

I hope this gives you some good reading material!

[not-krys]

[Repost] Nurture-Houki

Part of this set of WIP Wednesdays

Notes: Incomplete, fluff, pregnancy

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"It… should be …there. I think." Houki looked up at the tall shelf, her quarry a leather-bound book on one of the upper tiers. She tilted her head, mentally judging the distance from her feet on the floor to her desired book, teasing her at the height above her head.

A natural solution to her problem would be to use the nearby stool, logical, something anyone would conclude to do in her situation.

But, she couldn't use the stool to reach for her book. Five months ago, she would have done that without thinking and no one would have batted an eye. Now, however…

She laid a hand on her stomach, staring longingly at her prized book. Even with her layers of kimono and her larger form, there was still the hint of her growing middle that had nothing to do with Lord Masamune's good food and everything to do with those long nights spent in Mitsunari's strong arms. If her mother saw her now, the fit she would throw…

Another thought could be to go and find someone to get the book down for her. Her beloved Mitsunari would've loved to help, as would Lord Hideyoshi or Ranmaru without complaint. Lords Masamune and Mitsuhide would tease her horribly, and Lord Ieyasu would just refuse and walk away. And who asks the lord of the castle to get down a book for them? Certainly not her.

However, Mitsunari and Lord Hideyoshi were away on a mission so she couldn't ask them. She also didn't hear any passing footsteps outside, no servants or maids she could ask about Ranmaru's whereabouts, or for their help in getting the book down.

Unless she was willing to endure the merciless teasing of Lord Mitsuhide or Lord Masamune, she was alone in her endeavor.

She looked at the high shelf once again, putting her hands on her hips.

Well, nothing was ever accomplished without trying, after all, she thought to herself and walked close to the shelf, enough that she was nose to wood to it. She rose to the tips of her toes, using one hand as leverage and balance on the shelf, the other reaching skyward, her fingers just brushing the smooth, cool leather of her desired. Her belly pressed into a few spines and she could hear the crinkling of paper as it was pressed, but still she continued straining her arm for the book, feeling a tenderness developing in her shoulder and neck.

"Just… a little… further!"

She heard a few books hit the floor, but she continued reaching, slipping her fingers under the spine. She pulled herself inches taller by holding onto the shelf frame, lifting her leg behind her as if it would help her.

She blessed the founder of gravity as the book leaned precariously, tilted towards her. Houki smiled, released her grip on the shelf and held her arms out to catch the falling book.

In blessing gravity, however, she forgot to balance herself and she was falling backwards, also a victim of gravity like her book.

"Ah!" she squeaked, stumbling with her book in her arms.

"Careful!" a familiar voice called out, her body soon finding something solid. Not floor solid, but person solid, and strong arms circling her.

When Houki looked up, pushing her glasses up on her nose, she saw a familiar set of violet eyes and gray hair framing them.

"Mitsunari! You're back?"

"Only moments ago." Mitsunari smiled, helping her stand back on her feet. "The campaign was a complete success, so Lord Hideyoshi and I returned early. He's giving the report to Lord Nobunaga now."

"Shouldn't… you also be giving your report to Lord Nobunaga?"

"I couldn't wait to see you, so I asked Lord Hideyoshi if I could give mine later."

He looked at the book in her arms.

"A book of children stories?"

Houki felt her cheeks warming.

"It's… caught my eye for a while, ever since I noticed it a few days prior." She held the book closer to her chest. "It seemed a strange thing to be kept in the archives when it's mostly just inventory, battle histories, and medical texts here, so it made me curious."

"Lord Nobunaga does acquire some strange treasures every now and then." He reached for Houki's hand, locking pinkies with her as he pulled her closer, "perhaps it was misplaced and ended up here?"

"It's possible." Houki nodded, walking alongside Mitsunari, the other slowing his steps for Houki, as was his practice for some time now. "…but I would like read through it first before asking where it's supposed to be returned to."

Mitsunari smiled.

"A little naughty of you, Houki."

Her cheeks warmed again.

"I prefer to call it curiosity."

Mitsunari tightened his pinky on hers affectionately.

"I won't tell if you won't."

"Now whose being the naughty one?"

The two walked pinky in pinky until they reached his room, surrounded by the familiar piles of books and the singular desk by the wall. Mitsunari sat against the opposite wall, pulling Houki into his lap, his chin resting on her shoulder. Houki giggled.

"I'm out of practice when reading aloud, just so you know."

"I love the sound of your voice," Mitsunari replied, his hand cupping her belly, "and I'm sure they will as well."

Houki giggled again, opening the book to the first page.