#is an allegory (or maybe not even allegory it isn’t subtle at all)

[crazynerdandproud]

I’m looking for anyone who is a fan of/ has read either The Kingdom series or The Knight of Arrethtrae books. Both series are by Chuck Black. I’m honestly beginning to question if anyone other than me has even read them. It’s an obscure fandom and I think I might be the only member but I’d love to talk to others who were fans of the books. So if you know what this series is and enjoyed it please give this a reblog or something.

[blakbonnet]

AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: @adhduck

Please give it up for the nicest and one of the most creative writers in this fandom: Duck! I'm just such a fan because not only does Duck manage to write the softest, gentlest, loveliest Ed and Stede (both together and apart), their fics somehow perpetually keep me looking like 🥹 all the time ough. And they were very very nice about sharing their writing process with me:

What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?

Mostly it’s the Taika “look at a document for 8 hours and then close the document,” honestly. I’m a very slow writer and lose motivation very easily, so I mostly get by on the muse’s fire hydrant and forcing myself to write those fifty words even when every single one feels so bad.

I go moooostly beginning to end because even though I’m generally an outliner, I always end up with little details that will affect later scenes and I don’t wanna lose continuity or have to rewrite a bunch. However, I do definitely let myself do a [finish this scene later] and move on to the next scene because otherwise I will get really fucking stuck, and sometimes I’ll write a line or a paragraph I thought of that sounds really good and tuck it away for a later scene.

Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?

Ooooooooh, I don’t know if this is a trope but there’s just nothing I love more than huge feelings contained in mundane stories, of feelings so big you can’t actually express them and so they’re this constant hum throughout the story. I also love writing about touch for both of them, how Ed gives casual touch to hide the deep well of desire for intimate touch, how Stede is so unused to touch and craves it so deeply. (Can you tell I just really like subtle yet overwhelming emotions? Maybe it’s the aroace in me idk but that shit hits HARD.) Oh, and I love a fuckin’ allegory or object to discuss all those big feelings, whether it’s monsters or gardening or peaches or what the fuck ever (I have used all of these lol).

Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?

I think Ed’s voice comes to me faster because the way I personally speak is closer to Ed’s voice, but it also means I’m sometimes double-checking myself to make sure I’m still deep in his voice, not my-voice-but-Ed. Stede isn’t necessarily harder for me, I’m just doing all that double-checking to make sure I’m not slipping into Ed voice or, god forbid, Aziraphale-lite voice. So, idk! I love writing them both, the little details of each of their inner dialogues are SO important to me (Ed’s tangents and his pshh-I-don’t-care moments, Stede actively avoiding thinking about things he doesn’t want to face, etc etc etc).

Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read

For the longest time it was There is Love That Doesn’t Have a Place to Rest, mostly because it was posted the day before another fic and, while I find them to be siblings and equal quality,  the other one got way more attention. That fic is about the time between signing the Act of Grace and getting to the academy and I think I really nailed where the two of them are at.

However! (And I know this is cheating okay shh.) Nowadays the one that I wish people read the most is Not Only the Sugar, But the Days. It’s the sequel to my “offscreen 30 year slowburn friends to lovers finally get together” fic and I put my whole fucking heart into it, honestly. The two boys basically go on a bunch of dates to live out the teenage experiences they never got together and work through the biggest feelings and I just! Really want people to see it! (It also can be read as a standalone, which I didn’t advertise super well lol.)

What is the one word that you think you use a lot?

Unfortunately it’s probably “just” or “a little” or filler words like that. Also obviously if the word fuck counts then, yeah, that. Maybe warm? Or something about yearning??? If I have a classic word please tell me I’m fascinated by this idea.

Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?

The person who beta’s for basically all my fics is Owen @trans-top-stede and they are sooooo fucking helpful and incredible. So good at catching all the little things I miss, making sex scenes make sense, reminding me positioning in general is a thing, cheerleading me on, etc etc etc. My fics are so much better for their help.

Why OFMD 🥹

Ed and Stede just fit so fucking well into all sorts of AU’s (they try to invent their own AU’s in canon, even) while also having so much fun space to explore within canon. Their range is also perfect perfect perfect for writing fics—they can be in the wells of misery and fluffy as fuck and obnoxiously cheesy and realistic all in the same fic, if you want, and it’s completely accurate to their canon selves. It’s also helped me to embrace being silly and cheesy and earnest because life is about being yourself and finding your people and feeling deeper, feeling bigger, feeling more authentically without fear of being too much. Fuck I just really love these boys. (Also they’re so pretty and the whole crew’s so pretty we WON.)

Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)

[robinnsblog]

✨The meaning behind the tapestry✨

First of all, the changing tapestry in Elise’s home is probably based on one of the seven tapestries that make up The Unicorn Tapestries/Hunt of the Unicorn.

The resemblance, as you can see, is uncanny.

Unlike the original tapestry, however, the unicorn is not being hunted and then later trapped. It doesn’t surrender itself to a virgin maiden either, unicorn and lady being one and the same, and she (the unicorn lady) has already been contained in the garden.

But the connection between the tapestry and the one found at Elise’s home doesn’t stop at that. It’s curious to note that one of the interpretations of The Hunt of the Unicorn is an allegory of marriage (according to Wikipedia, at least), and then we have the hunter trying to propose to the unicorn lady in the other one.

Either because he didn’t take well the rejection, or because he wasn’t aware that the lady and the unicorn were one and the same, the story takes a tragic end. The fact that she’s crying while she rejects him and that she’s always found crying in her unicorn form, adds to the tragedy: she could have reciprocated his love, but thought that her being an unicorn made their relationship impossible.

But there is something interesting and that isn’t present in the original tapestry: the apple.

A single apple is hanging on the tree until the hunter shots the unicorn, in which it begins to topple. Later, it’s on the ground, next to the dying lady, and someone has taken a bite out of it. And in the last tapestry, there is almost nothing left.

An apple has plenty of symbolisms, it can mean love, knowledge, wisdom, joy, death (there is plenty of it here) and/or luxury. However, an apple has appeared before in the universe of Little Goody Two Shoes (Pocket Mirror) and it might have a different meaning…

It’s hard to tell who is offering it to who:

It’s either the demon to Elise, the apple symbolizing the wish/promise. That it later has a bite but is on the ground, might signify that even if Elise accepted the deal, she later refused to fulfill their agreement by not giving Goldia to the demon.

Or Elise to the demon, and it symbolizes the Gifts or the payment she owed him.

Either way, their relationship went down in flames. Nonetheless, I can’t overlook the subtle resemblance between the hunter and the form the demon took in Elise’s past.

Maybe the meaning behind the tapestry relates to our dear Strange Boy? A secret backstory? Maybe he surrounds himself with Golden Maidens to fulfill the void left in his heart? Maybe that’s why he requires you to sacrifice your love as a Gift — since his own didn’t come to fruition, neither will yours?

Or well, the meaning could be more straightforward: young love ending in tragedy over a misunderstanding, foreshadowing Elise’s poor choices if she realizes too late the fate of the Good Company.

Food for thought, anyway. 🍎

[ryuichirou]

I’d love to hear a hc list about Epel being seduced by the ever so crafty Rook! I love Rook/Epel and people sleep on the charm it has too much imo- not to mention something about Rook claiming this “sweet” little farm boy and sinking his teeth into Epel like an apple is so appealing!!

Alright I’m finally done with these! Took  me some time because apparently I wanted to make every single one of them 41410 pages long, so I think 7 hcs is enough for now..

All of these are basically focused on one possible scenario, but there are a lot of ways for Rook to seduce Epel. Rook is a great hunter, and Epel is super naïve, so…

So yeah, as you can see, we also agree that these two have some nice potential. The apple allegory works with them quite nicely~

Rook’s interest in Epel seems rather subtle, but “seems” is the key word there, because Rook is always watching him. Even when he isn’t around, he knows what Epel is up to pretty much all the time, ever since they’ve been introduced to each other (mainly because Rook was amused by the fact that this kid was bold enough to challenge Vil). Epel is quite an easy target to stalk, but that doesn’t make him less intriguing from Rook.

Rook’s always found it amusing that Epel laments about wanting to be in Savanaclaw. When Rook finally told him that he was a Savanaclaw student once, he played it off like he just completely forgot to mention it, but in truth he was just waiting for the right moment to drop this piece of information on Epel and casually blow his mind. He knew that it would change the way Epel sees him forever, and this is exactly what happened: Rook almost immediately started noticing that the way Epel looks at him has changed: he is curious, invested, even drawn to Rook.

Rook’s mind games are too complex for Epel to catch on. When Rook helps him with homework, he seems both focused on the task and playfully flirty. He tells Epel not to get distracted in his calm and deep voice, but at the same time tickles his ear with his breath, boops his cheek with a pencil, sometimes even touches Epel’s knee or massages his shoulder. But if Epel addresses how weird it is, Rook acts as if all of that was just subconscious and he didn’t even notice he was doing that, or say something about Epel being too beautiful.

Epel is confused, because Rook is clearly flirting, but then again, this is how Rook always acts, so… maybe he’s not? Epel would love to ignore it, but unfortunately he started enjoying this kind of intimate attention at some point. He can’t help but feel butterflies in his stomach. He’d never confront Rook about any of this though, because if Rook tells him that he wasn’t flirting and Epel got the wrong idea, Epel would literally combust out of embarrassment.

At some point Rook is going to take Epel hunting. And this is where Epel is going to fall for him completely. What Rook was doing before felt a bit weird: Epel was conflicted about being treated like a pretty flower or something (it wasn’t Rook’s intention, but it’s Epel we’re talking about), so when Rook told him that he wants to teach Epel how to use a bow and that Epel would make a fine hunter, this “weirdness” disappeared, leaving Epel with nothing but adoration and admiration for this man. And also lust, because it kind of accumulated over the past couple of months…

And frankly, this is exactly what Rook was hoping for. He could’ve easily “bitten” the apple anytime he wanted, but this wouldn’t be as fun as watching Epel’s feelings and desires grow overtime, watching how the way Epel looks at him changes, how Epel clearly wants please him with his good grades and with how well he’s doing with the bow.

Rook won’t sleep with Epel the night he takes him hunting though. He knows Epel is expecting it and wants it, but he also knows that he can take this feeling of desire further and make it even stronger by refusing to touch him. Epel’s little face is just too beauté when his mood is soured with frustration~ Thus, the game continues.

[biblioflyer]

What is lost by leaning into "realism"

Discovery and Picard are not entirely unique in challenging Star Trek’s conventions and daring to show a more complex, more challenging universe where logic and empathy are not always triumphant, at least not right away. DS9 and Enterprise certainly blazed that trail. Some of the arguments I’m making may also fit them, but they’re not the ones that get piled on and they're too distant in my memory to fairly judge.

I think I hit upon a critique of Picard that both rings true but also still leaves many unanswered questions. In updating the tone of the show to reflect modern expectations of “prestige drama” in terms of the aesthetics, acting styles, content, dialogue, and the overall world building Star Trek is being positioned to explore more fully Ben Sisko’s observation that “it's easy to be a saint in paradise” and thus keep Star Trek honest. 

It keeps Star Trek honest by committing to the enduring tradition of introspection and questioning norms of both storytelling and mirroring back uncomfortable truths about society. The Federation can be a fundamentally good place but if it is entirely free from fault, it has nothing to teach us. 

Star Trek needs to have room for its characters to be fundamentally good moral actors: people who care deeply about core Trek values like justice, mercy, and curiosity but if they are always in possession of the right information and free from internal confusion or distress when making their choices, then the only drama to be found is in going around and lecturing rubber forehead aliens. 

Now there has always been value in this, even if it feels more than a little neo colonial or very 1990s Francis Fukuyama style triumphalist. Self criticism makes us reflexively defensive and thus allegory is often easier to swallow. Yet it is also quite problematic if we never take time to ask ourselves if maybe this week we are the problem instead of the Pakleds.

However, the particulars of how Discovery and Picard update the franchise also have undeniably made these two series feel like everything else on TV. The mystery boxes, the way all of the characters are constantly suffering, the shocking twists, the ignoble deaths, the not so subtle implication that it isn’t even enough to punch a Nazi er I mean alien gangster you have to vaporize her. There’s no other form of justice or harm reduction available.

I’m not even saying that Episode Five (and yes I’m still salty about Episode 5) did a bad job of setting up the trolley problem that Seven solves through summary execution, but in creating a scenario in which executing a noncombatant, even one as heinous as Seven’s rival, is the most morally defensible course of action, Picard crosses a line where it feels like The Witcher. It feels like The Expanse. It feels like Andor.

All of which are amazing shows but their grim moral dilemmas are functions of their core conceits. Namely that people are mostly terrible and will reliably build nightmare societies in which exploitation is inevitable. At the very least, breaking free from cycles of abuse and exploitation in these settings is not easy or safe.

Star Trek has a long tradition of relatively straightforward “stop the bad guys” stories but it also has a tradition of finding win/wins and harm reduction over direct violence. To be fair, Picard’s first season does end through enshrining classic Trek values of achieving mutual understanding via open mindedness and exposing false assumptions that have brought people to the edge of apocalyptic conflict. The journey to get there with episode after episode of hard choices and backsliding, is not an easy one.

And maybe it shouldn’t be because Star Trek has always had its critics that it undersells the difficulty of resolving conflict and appealing to people’s better nature. Yet, if everyone else is doing a phenomenal job of making the quest for a better world seem as dirty and torturous as it may really be, does Star Trek actually need to do that too in order to be a “responsible” show? 

Is there a moral argument to be made for simpler narratives and inspirational parables rather than cautionary tales?

For now I think Strange New Worlds has the balance just right. Although I have concerns going forward based on the Season Two premiere stinger that it may be tempted to become too naive and simplistic in some ways and too cynical in others.

For more like this check out my other essays reevaluating Star Trek Picard and interrogating the widely held fandom criticism that Picard made the Federation into a Dystopia.

[marxist-amy-rose]

I think we’re targeting the wrong things here. Sega did Forces wrong. They should’ve let Forces be a revolutionary allegory and kept the cold war era aesthetics.

(Too many more thoughts underneath)

I think most of Forces issues come down to management errors, rather than conceptual ones. They chickened out of fulfilling Forces true potential as a story and game because Sega was afraid of trying things from the past that either failed totally or had a messy history, or being over ambitious (and in Sega’s view of Sonic at the time, that means being ambitious at all) because that’s what lead to their messy histories. instead opting for this botched synthesis of Generations/Colors/Lost World Sonic, and 06/Archie/SATAM Sonic. And rather than expanding the ideas laid forth by their predecessors, they dumbed every one of them down, so that they could fit together and not appear too complicated or ambitious. Except they hyped it up too much and couldn’t deliver.

They just slapped a bunch of things together and hoped it would kind of work, without actually giving a damn! In trying to avoid the mistakes of their past, they fell back into their old ways that lead to said mistakes.

Forces isn’t even super “bad”. It’s just the most inferior Sonic game of ALL Sonic games, because it does everything set before it, worse, and delivers nothing it promises. It’s solid and doesn’t collapse under its own weight, it’s not a flaming pile of [Mess], but what’s standing isn’t impressive, fun, or interesting. Technically it’s superior to other kinds of Sonic games, (namely 06) it’s just so bland and tasteless. Everything kind of balances out until it’s nothing really. And it’s like that because Sonic Team then didn’t want to make anything too ambitious, but wanted to make a next installment in the franchise, and didn’t want to bring back any of the old controversial stuff, but wanted to show you something that would maybe make you interested, and so everything new they do is boring, and everything old they bring back is tiring. It’s very middle of the road and safe, but then it tries to be kind of cool and unique, which flops miserably. Everything is watered down, and that’s probably because someone actually had ideas they wanted to present and use in Forces, but out of fear, Sega made sure it wasn’t too much, and so it became nothing. A waste really. Which sucks even more because some things could’ve been really cool. F’s and L’s across the board.

Forces can’t do anything right, and it’s because it’s a botched product of fear, pandering, and empty promises that crippled itself. The Worst Case Scenario for Forces, happened to Forces.

Luckily these don’t seem to be quite issues anymore, and both Sega and Sonic Team have learned from their failure. The way Sega and Sonic Team learn though has me thinking we won’t have anything like Forces ever again, even done right. And that means likely no returning elements from Forces, or attempts to do right by something they wronged. Forces then, is the ultimate missed opportunity, past present and future.

It is offensively nothing, leading to nothing. It’s a blotch, a stain of transparency, but it’s lead to many bizarre outcomes that have had a major impact on the fandom that bleeds back into the franchise and its production. Like the reviews ot the game, fandkm outcry, Infinite, fan favorite around specifically because he sucks so much, and our beloved Ian Jr., that have had subtle influences to the overall mentality of the fandom, and it probably led to the strange wave of 06 appreciators, because 06 is the exact opposite of Forces, and in disgust and anger over it, they turned to 06, and since that paradigm shift the fandom discourse and discussion had majorly changed. It’s like Forces altered the timeline in neither a good nor bad way, but like it wasn’t supposed to be in our universe at all, and then it was. It’s why people still talk about Forces to this very day, it’s become a kind of Meme, in both the Modern and Classical sense of the word. Such a mediocre product that had such sweeping effects, it’s quite unreal. Confusing even.

HEY. be nice to forces. its trying its best

[ididntsignupforthiscrap]

I need less not-so-subtle dp reveal fics being used as an allegory for parents rejecting their lgbtq+ kids. I mean Im not gonna tell you to stop writing them if you really need to vent something, but like guys…

The Fentons canonically accept their son for who he is TWICE, not even counting PP. so THREE TIMES. It is canon that Jack and Maddie love their dead gay son okay.

So maybe instead of reveals gone bad, we can focus on the fenton parents getting super introspective now that they have to confront their previous biases and the faults that led to those biases in the first place?

Jack is an especially interesting case. We know his ancestors were ghosthunters and pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower. Was his family as religious as his ancestors were? We know He isn’t particularly religious, what if Jack himself turned away from all that because he found his family’s way of life backwards and toxic. The idea of doing something because of tradition and some scripture was nonsense to him because there is no evidence.

No. Jack Fenton does not believe in scripture or dogma, he believes in theories backed by evidence and research. He follows the math, and the math says his family is full of crap and maybe a little abusive (your miles may vary).

But Ghosts are totally still real and when has there ever been a good haunting??? Conclusion: ghosts are evil obviously.

Just because Jack decides to cut off his family ties doesn’t mean he wants to hunt ghosts any less. He’s just going to do it better: WITH SCIENCE and a partner who doesn’t look down on him for his ideas and quirks. So he dedicates his life to hunting ghosts HIS WAY.

At least until he finds out Danny is half ghost. His own son, a boy Jack knows doesn’t have an evil bone in his body. Now Jack has to look back and ask himself was he really any better than his parents at all.

I might continue this later but Thats all for now i guess

[bigbraincel]

ok so. bit more of a serious post. not here to cancel the creators or anything. i’m new to the franchise so i’m just reacting as i play, i’m not taking into account what the creators have said, i’m reacting purely to what i’ve seen so far in-game right, so, is using nazi imagery/allusions/symbolism/references etc. with your villains bad? obviously not (necessarily). it happens all the time in fiction, especially in fantasy and sci-fi. stormtroopers come to mind. hell, we see it with scar from the lion king. it’s pretty common for writers who are reaching for the most evil thing they can think of or want to make pulpy stories feel a bit weightier. someone who’s smarter than me can go deeper into that. i personally find genre fiction that tackles real world systemic oppression to be way to be more effective than allegory, as allegory can kind of dance around the issue & even weirdly distort the actual mechanisms of oppressive systems. i mean... just look at the treatment of goblins, house elves & muggles in HP. the waters can get muddied real easily.

sometimes more subtextual stuff can be effective too. i was enjoying DA2 when it handled these problems more along those lines. no, the subtext wasn’t subtle, but dragon age as a series isn’t exactly known for being subtle and that’s not why i enjoy it. although, i will say, i have been pleasantly surprised by a few moments i thought were actually quite deft! and then anders dropped this line about “the tranquil solution” and “the mage problem”. yeah, sure, templars, the tranquil, & the whole circle system is fucked beyond belief, but mages are dangerous in a unique way that actual human beings aren’t. so when templars go, “but mages are dangerous”, they have a point. when nazis say jewish people are dangerous, they’re full of shit. accidental parallels are one thing, that’ll happen when you’re writing ~fantasy oppression~, i just find it unfortunate that they made such an intentional allusion. for this reason, i’m always a little wary of writers positioning the mages or magical people in society as an oppressed class, although there are examples of this that i think are really well done (e.g. ’the broken earth’ series by n.k. jemisin). it’s obviously not inherently bad!

and to play devil’s advocate for a moment, maybe i’m being a bit unfair. it’s possible this wasn’t meant to compare templars generally to nazis, but more specifically ser aldrik to hitler. in that case, the iffy implications are still there, but i can understand it’s just a clumsy attempt to highlight his fanaticism. either way, the writers clearly had the best of intentions. if you see it in a different way or think i’m wrong, please let me know!

[ponett]

hi i watched the new my little pony movie and it was... pretty good! it was very cute, i like the new cast a lot, there were some nice heartfelt moments that had some surprising depth, all the locations were really pretty to look at, the poppy musical numbers were fun, the character animation is really lively. it's a solid little fantasy adventure flick for kids. i do have mixed feelings about the story though. here are some casual-ish thoughts. (i posted some of this on twitter last night but i have even more thoughts now. i'm sorry. i'm so sorry)

spoilers below the cut

okay so, i liked it a lot when it was just letting the new characters play off each other, but unfortunately my fears came true and almost the entire movie is laser focused on the oversimplified extremely on-the-nose trump era racism allegory plot. i do have to cut it some slack for their good intentions, and this is a 90 minute animated movie for 5-year-olds, so there's only so much they can do. it did also have a bit more nuance than i expected at points. (it's more nuanced than zootopia, for what it's worth. not that that's hard.) and hell, friendship is magic also screwed up its attempts at similar topics, and y'all know how much i still love that show. so it's not like i hate this movie. but it has such an oversimplified "we should all be friends!" take on real issues, and it frustrates me that it completely dominates the film, being the main focus of almost every single scene

there's some interesting stuff where they show how those in power are stoking peoples' fears to maintain their own power. like the big factory in the earth pony town is essentially an arms manufacturer capitalizing on the fear of outsiders, the cops mainly exist to uphold the laws segregating the ponies, the pegasus royal family pretends they still have the ability to fly and this lie seems to be the only reason they're in power (the queen literally gets arrested the second the truth comes out lol). but then they all just kind of... see the error of their ways shortly after meeting other types of pony, and there are no repercussions? not saying this toy commercial cartoon for little girls needs to fuckin kill the bad guys or throw them in jail or whatever, but we don't even get like a "they made them turn the arms factory into something else" type resolution, and no one even really acknowledges that these characters did anything wrong. no one is considered an oppressor, the movie takes for granted that these people in power who derive their power from bigotry were just misguided, and that they'll totally change their beliefs as soon as they're presented with new information. society is fundamentally unjust, but none of the individuals maintaining that unjust status quo are at fault for doing so

i also don't know if it's a good or bad thing that there's no explanation for why the ponies hate each other now. like on the one hand at least there's no historical backstory that inadvertently justifies the prejudices (like zootopia and its story about how the predators used to eat the prey). but on the other hand... how the hell did they get from g4 to here in the intervening centuries? at my most uncharitable it feels like this whole story about how equestria used to be this land where everyone got along and now everyone is divided is a heavy-handed metaphor for The Sudden Division Of America In The Trump Era as it's perceived by a lot of liberals. history didn't logically lead us to this point, no one is really at fault, everyone just arbitrarily started hating each other at some point and we just all need to put that aside and get along again. it's almost the FiM episode about how the cowboys and the natives should just learn to share all over again. (again: i will admit this is an uncharitable read of the film)

(sidebar with BIG SPOILERS: the very end also really bugged me, but that's more just a personal taste thing. in the leadup to g5 i was excited to see them make an earth pony the protagonist. i thought that was a nice change of pace after nine seasons of twilight. but then in the end of the movie, after sunny delivers the moral, she's magically turned into an alicorn... like oh we're just doing that again huh. okay. it also doesn't really gel with this story where the different types of pony are being used for a racism/xenophobia allegory)

i feel a little bad hyper-focusing on the way the allegory falls apart like this, but like. the allegory is the entire fucking movie lol. they are constantly talking about it in every scene, the first song mentions "building a wall," the main antagonist (who may or may not be intended to evoke trump???) manipulates the earth ponies' prejudices to make them all go full fascist, etc. it is not subtle. of course, this story isn't ALL bad - the adventures along the way were fun, i was relieved when everyone realized that the macguffin wouldn't magically make everyone get along again (although realizing this DOES make the macguffin restore everyone's magic which seems to mostly fix everything, so... lol), and a message about looking past stereotypes and misinformation to befriend people who are different from you definitely isn't a bad one for a kids' film. and obviously a story with this target demographic is ALWAYS going to have to simplify reality a bit. it's just extremely obvious that they wanted to go for a nuanced topical political story that would surprise the parents in the audience and maybe teach kids a thing or two, and it turned out messy

but again, i liked the characters. it was nice to look at. it was cute. i'll gladly watch a new show with these characters. i hope the inevitable show focuses less on this political allegory though lol

anyway there's a shot of fluttershy and rainbow dash in the opening scene so 10/10

[qaraxuanzenith]

okay but i’m not awake enough to give it a full proper analysis but this side of paradise is such a gay allegory it practically isn’t subtle. it isn’t even an allegory it’s like.

[spoilers for star trek TOS this side of paradise, which aired like 50-60 years ago, below?]

okay. listen. six years ago leila had a one-sided crush on spock which he was not capable of reciprocating (BECAUSE HE’S GAY).

spock always feels like an outsider (both because he’s half-human half-Vulcan and seen as Other by both, and because he’s gay and it’s the [twenty-two-]sixties).

spock gets DRUGGED by the spores and suddenly he reciprocates / believes he reciprocates leila’s feelings. (this could be a conversion therapy analogy or any sort of brainwashing, really.) note the unrealistic quickness with which he’s abruptly like “actually i love you” and what thrills him, more than anything about her personally (does he even say anything about her personally?) is that for the first time he feels like he belongs. he doesn’t feel Othered. he feels “normal.” (need i say more?)

kirk takes spock’s joining the spore people as a deep personal betrayal. obviously, because they are dating. it pains him to insult spock to the point of breaking him out of it but it also pains him when spock says “i don’t belong anywhere anymore” just look at kirk’s troubled expression when he says that bc he’s thinking “excuse me, you belong HERE. you belong WITH ME.” but spock has a lot more internalized homophobia than kirk ever did and he can’t express that.

and then. and then. when he beams leila up and she tries to manipulate him to re-brainwash himself by being like “you can belong again” (honestly her entire MO this episode is just... awful, i don’t like her) spock, despite being tempted due to his personal insecurities, says “but i have a duty to this ship. and to that man on the bridge.” (if i misheard that line, don’t correct me, because i am in love with it.)

and then the piece de resistance, the little kirk-spock-mccoy exchange on the bridge that’s standard for every episode, kirk’s speech is just - chef’s kiss.

“maybe we weren’t meant to just waltz into paradise. maybe we were meant to scratch and claw our way up.” i just. i just. we all know who the “we” are here and it’s us. i’m not saying this is the gayest star trek episode bc they’re all gay but oh my god i was afraid to rewatch this one bc i just vaguely remembered “spock said he loves this random girl does this episode mess with my ship” but no it’s the opposite. oh my god it’s breathtaking the beautiful gay message of this episode.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

idk how many people would even want to see this BUT i wanna yell about Leela and Brax so here's a list of all their scenes togethr/scenes pertainng to them that i can recall (pLEASE add on if i missed anything/ you have any additional thoughts!! i could talk about these two all day!)

right off the bat in Weapon of Choice when Leela is on the outskirts of the Citadel and Brax goes to bring her back (which is interesting in and of itself, bc usually i would imagine a chancellery guard would go do that so what made Brax decide to instead??), Leela kinda goes off at him bc she's hurting and instead of trying to actually explain what's going on Brax doesn't even try to argue he just says "we need you" which is great bc Leela has that instinctive desire to be needed and to help people and he's speaking right to that -- also as far as we know, this is Leela and Brax's first actual meeting in canon? it's implied that they know of each other, which makes sense, but it doesn't seem like they've ever directly interacted before: Brax seems almost slightly uncertain, and Leela is combative, but when he's gentle with her she's actually quite receptive

the literal next scene after that, where the OT4 is all in one room for the first time (they still kinda hate each other at this point but still !!!). Narvin explaining Gryben and being a real jerk about it and Leela (understandibly!) questions if Gryben is a prison world, and Brax (who to this point has been mostly quiet as Narvin and Romana brief Leela) jumps in to both clarify Narvin's previous xenophobic statements while also maintaining the inherent questionable/negative connotations

(btw it's actually pretty important to note that Romana self-edits herself a lot when talking to Leela, especially in the earlier seasons; you can actually hear her revising the things she says to put it in terms that she thinks Leela will better understand. and i mean she does it out of genuine consideration for her friend associate but it often comes across as varying levels of patronizing. Narvin also obviously "dumbs things down" when dealing with Leela early on, but like... Brax never does that on any level. the only difference i can tell in how he addresses Leela vs how he talks to anybody else is that he seems much more kind with her than almost anyone else???)

their conversation about the Matrix in The Inquiry: this is REALLY important (and if you've ever talked to me on ao3 i've probably gone off to you about it lol) because it's layered. they're talking about the Matrix but they're also not because in answering Leela's question Brax is making a very thinly veiled allegory (which he outright states a minute later) to Time Lord society/politicians/most importantly HIMSELF -- he's actually strangely open about his morals/beliefs in this scene and i'm living for it tbh -- and i find it very interesting that even though he does directly explain what he means ("how do you know all this?" / "because i am a politician.") he also leaves it for Leela to work out the implications. like it's a very nuanced conversation bc there's double meaning in it and most people on Gallifrey seem to think that Leela is tone-deaf and can't pick up on that stuff (even Romana sometimes oversimplifies things to her) but Brax totally just lets her take from it what she will bc he believes her intelligent enough to understand. he doesn't think her any lesser because she's human.

ALSO on a secondary note to the above: the fact that Leela has a question/needed clarification (sorry, haven't listened to this in a while i forget how it actually happened) and actively sought out Brax to talk to about it?? like she knows Romana better she could have gone to her but i feel like Leela kinda imprinted on Brax and someone she can go to for help if she needs it; maybe it's partly bc she knows he's under marginally less pressure than Romana is but also the truth of the matter is that Brax was the most genuinely helpful person to her in the previous stories and that probably means a lot to her (esp. bc he acts like the essence of everything she hates about Gallifrey but he doesn't treat her the way she would expect from that). btw this topic is gonna come up again in a hot minute

that part where Brax gives her that information that might help her re: the Andred thing, even though he really probably shouldn't have done that -- it kinda makes me think about what he must have been like with Theta tbh???

actually this is mostly my own conjecture but there's some neat stuff in Spirit bc during the *waves hand vaguely* bodyswap dream sequence thing, Romana is very "!!!! Brax can help us !!!" which is tecnically Leela brain talking, so like there's the implications of the stuff i've said above about Leela having this idea of Brax where she knows he's someone she can go to for help

can u tell i'm soft for them

Leela sounding really sad/distracted when she talks about how Brax isn't there YES i'm grasping at straws but a lot of this relationship really is conveyed through the voice acting bc of how little direct focus there is on the characters. there's actually several scenes in Mindbomb where she mentions him and she outright says that she misses him during her discussion with Matthias

that implied scene with them in Mindbomb!! i have a Lot of thoughts about that!!! it's all conjecture and fanfic fodder!!! but the reason i mention this is because it seems pretty meta that out of the whole Gally Gang, it's Leela who first sees Brax when he comes back to Gallifrey and in turn she's the first person (besides Matthias, i guess) that he sees upon his return?? idk i just feel like that's somehow a meaningful detail??? also her reaction of utter shock after spending the entire episode missing him and how worked up she is when she tries to tell Romana, like I desperately need to know what happened in this missing scene MR RICHARDS PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED

Leela insisting on going with Brax when Pandora starts hurting him and their whole conversation there is just. so good. like they're both just so soft and then when Darkel comes in Leela instantly goes into protective mode. like they just have such an open relationship bc Brax doesn't even try to be all pretentious with her, like he doesn't even try to keep up any facades when he's with her he's just very genuine and it really says a lot about both of them -- Leela is so good at seeing people, like getting down to the core of who people are and what makes them them (which is why she's good for Romana, btw, bc Romana has a lot of identity issues) and Brax is so tangled up in who he presents himself as that he barely knows who he actually is anymore but Leela can see that and she makes it so he can truly be himself and he doesn't have to hide. also she's so gentle with him when they talk about Pandora, she's very caring and empathetic and wants to make sure he's okay and i am WEAK

it's been a hot while since i listened to Panacea but I think i remember Brax being really soft with Leela when he first brings the gang to the Axis, like just sounding really glad to see her

ok other than the fact that Brax is lowkey relatable in Reborn (daydreaming fanfic about yourself/people you know? simping for Mary Tamm Romana? yeah mood, my man) there's that scene where they're first appraoching the Citadel on the alt!Gallifrey and it seems like none of them, and Brax specifically, have seen it from the outside in a good long while bc he's very in awe and he tells Leela that he wishes she could see it and he sounds sO hEcKiNg sOFT oh my word-

and once again with Leela thinking of Brax as someone she trusts for help: in Dissassembled when everything is going to crap she straight-up says that she wants to go find Brax bc he'll know what to do/be able to help

at the beginning of Annihilation when Romana is depressed and questioning if Brax truly was her friend and Leela INSTANTLY, NO HESITATION assures her that he was; i lost where i had her exact lines written down but she actually kinda goes off to make sure Romana gets the point

literally forcing myself to talk about this bc it makes my brain stall out but like,,, the Brax Hound in Annihilation,,, Leela being like "goodbye, Braxiatel... again" she sounds so sad and like UGH i always kinda forget how sad it actually is for them to lose Brax in Dissassembled bc like, it was so sudden and they didn't get to say goodbye and Leela is always losing people and i have many many feels about this scene and how all that emotion is made very clear in how they each respond to the Hound (might make a separate post abt this later if anyone is interested ::eyes::)

Enemy Lines is utter bullcrap about these two and I will never stop being salty about how they not only sidelined the very good, very subtle friendship they had in s1-4, but they??? made Leela acutally not trust Brax??? when literally this entire time she's been the one person who probably genuinely trusts him the most?? what the heck, David

I haven't heard TW3 or 4 yet but i'm assuming there's nothing worthwhile in those with regards to this duo (correct me if i'm wrong tho lol, i would love to be mistaken in this assumption)

TL;DR Leela and Brax mututally imprinted on each other and have probably the most open and healthy relationship within the OT4 and it is an absolute CRIME that nobody besides Gary Russell and Justin Richards cared enough to actually build on it in canon

[hageny]

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman

1. “Hey Shiv”.

At the beginning of Vaulter the team is discussing how best to deal with Stewey’s public attacks against Logan and the charges that he’s making about Logan’s ability to run Waystar. Gerri speaks up and suggests that laying low and not firing off a response right away is the best course of action to avoid looking rattled; Shiv disagrees--”So let Stewy sway all the shareholders while dad sits there with a thumb up his ass?”-- at which point Roman looks at Shiv and shoots back, “Hey Shiv”. What he says is not anything significant on the surface, but in reality it serves to highlight what will become important later in the season: that Roman is very uncomfortable with people attacking Gerri in any way and won’t hesitate to stand up for her, in the same way she’s done for him in the past.

2. Upstairs. 

When Roman goes to visit Gerri’s room in Argestes, he does something that is subtle but perhaps foreshadows the course of their relationship in the future. As he comes in the door he briefly peers upstairs, presumably to where Gerri’s bedroom is. This is significant because 1) Roman has obvious intimacy issues and 2) it serves as another reminder of the way in which Roman sees Gerri, which is different from how he views his girlfriends. Tabitha, for instance, is propped up like arm candy, usually seen at events or in public settings, whereas Gerri is often seen alone with Roman, and depicted in a more sensuous, sexualized way. This is not so much solely for audience interest as it is a look at Gerri through Roman’s eyes, who has an interest in her that he (almost) never displays toward the other women he dates. Even the girlfriend preceding Tabitha, who gives her number to the waiter at the gala in Sad Sack Wasp Trap, is only interesting to Roman when she gives someone else her number, and then it’s not so much that he’s interested in her but in punishing the other guy. Her character disappears soon after, while Roman’s interest in Gerri grows.

3. Vaulter.

When Logan gathers Roman and Kendall together to discuss the fate of Vaulter, the camera pans in on Gerri’s face twice, once while she’s listening to Kendall’s pitch, and once while listening to Roman’s. It’s obvious from her reactions that she is impressed with both the effort and thought Roman has put into his decision, especially when he mentions he took the staffers out and suckered them into providing information to him. This demonstrates two things about Roman that Gerri sees that no one else cares to recognize: when pushed, he is more than capable of doing a good job, and he has the people skills and tenacity to go places that Kendall does not, something that Gerri also possesses. As the audience, we’re supposed to notice now what becomes important as their relationship evolves, namely that Roman desires Gerri because of the way she views him, and who she can help him become--someone he is unable to be on his own without guidance and reassurance, so lacking in his childhood.

4. Belief. 

Later in Vaulter, Roman is talking to Tabitha about how his father has taken his advice about what to do with the company. Still somewhat shocked, he tells her that perhaps he is intelligent and capable--”Maybe I’m smart”--to which she replies, “Sure. Maybe. You did a thing. Mazel tov.”. This highlights an essential aspect of Roman’s personality: that he is looking for belief and approval from those around him in his abilities, and is repeatedly denied it. This part of his nature stretches back into his childhood, which is touched on Prague. Roman recounts the ‘dog cage’ story, and on the surface it’s just another anecdote that highlights the absurdity of the Roy children’s upbringing, but what Connor remembers is the most important part of the story: that Roman asked to be put in the cage in the same way he asked to be sent off to military school. Roman remembers things differently, that Kendall forced him into the cage, put a leash on his neck, fed him dog food to bully him, and that he (Roman) was sent away when he “cracked”. It’s noted that the cage was at his mother’s house, which is presumably where the game took place. This could be an unimportant detail, or could be interpreted to mean that not even in his mother’s home--which could be symbolically read as a ‘womb’ of sorts--was Roman safe. She presumably did nothing to stop the game, and the siblings all took part. What the truth of the circumstances were is hard to deduce. Did Roman really want to go in the cage, or was he forced to and then sent off to St. Andrews because he lost it? Maybe it makes no difference. What is the line between self-flagellation and whipping by another? In Roman’s case, there is none. Whether he entered the cage of his own volition or was forced in, the fact is the act of him ending up inside of it is indicative of his families’ attitude toward him: that he is like a pet, small, fun, but ultimately useless. From his earliest years Roman has believed that he is useless, has been treated as such by everyone around him, and is still viewed in this way by his girlfriend, where the theme loops back around in his life. One could even find in this story an allusion to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, wherein Plato recounts a group of people chained to a wall; these people watch shadows projected on the wall in front of them from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and believe this is reality. It isn’t, of course, but because of their chains they cannot leave and don’t know the difference. For so long, Roman has been chained in his own way, and his reality--his lack of self-belief--is the shadow darting on the wall in front of him, created by the people who should have nurtured him. Only Gerri ever breaks the chain, by believing that he can accomplish whatever he sets his mind to. 

[carter-13]

fuck it, here’s a wholeass post about the skrull sharon theory because literally nobody can stop me.

so! for anyone who’s somehow managed to miss this, there’s a relatively prevalent fan theory right now that the sharon shown in tfatws was in fact a skrull. the reasoning behind this is that there was a VERY significant change in her personality, ideals and motivations that happened offscreen, with the audience left knowing virtually nothing about what her deal is. her being the power broker goes against everything we’ve seen of her so far, and against her comics character, so it seems like a very strange decision.

coincidentally (or not!) this happened at the same time marvel just so happens to be setting up secret invasion - a project that presumably follows a plot similar to the comics in which key characters and prominent figures are replaced by skrulls. with sharon’s current powerful status, she would make an ideal person to replace, and the fact that she was alone in madripoor for several years (note: she wasn’t actually blipped, and the reason for her being shown as missing in endgame was due to her status being unknown by the avengers) means she would be easily swapped without anybody noticing. additionally, the only post-credits scene after the tfatws finale was sharon getting a pardon. this is interesting since the two most recent projects (far from home + wandavision) both had skrull post-credits scenes. what if tfatws’ post-credits scene was secretly a skrull scene too?

altogether, these things seem to make for a plausible theory that would explain some otherwise very strange writing choices. however, right now, i just don’t think it holds water for a few reasons.

first up, there’s the fact that this would undermine sharon’s current anger directed at everyone who fucked her over. because man, was she ever fucked over. she effectively became a fugitive for the guy she kissed, only for him to leave her stranded for years before promptly travelling back in time to be with her great aunt instead. endgame steve, man. the fact that she’s bitter about this is very much justified, and i don’t really like the idea of them just getting rid of this entirely by turning around and stating that actually these were never her own feelings all along. plus, the idea of them waving away the anger of specifically a female character doesn’t feel like a great choice. the mcu is still very much in its baby stage when it comes to writing female characters who are allowed to actually show emotion, so i doubt it’s something they’d really want right now.

second, i think secret invasion probably won’t play out the way a lot of people are expecting based on the comics. the skrulls in the comics have served as an allegorical tool a few times. in the early years, they were mostly a stand-in for the red scare (pretty cringe stuff). during the plot of secret invasion, though, they read more as an allegory for religious extremists infiltrating a society in order to destroy society. if i’m being entirely honest, i kind of hate it. this run was published in 2008, right when the ‘war on terror’ was a significant focus of american media. as a result, the skrulls were written as a not-so-subtle stand-in for islamic extremists, which is exactly as bad as it sounds like. i definitely don’t have the time or the knowledge to fully break this down, but just know that it’s insensitive at best and downright harmful at worst. i’m sure there are things to like about secret invasion (hey, the un-fridging of bobbi morse! can’t complain there!), but i think an adaptation of it would be absolutely abysmal without major changes.

luckily, there’s fair reason to assume there will be. captain marvel handled skrulls very differently to the comics, instead making them a stand-in for an oppressed minority of immigrants. it’s overall an adaptational choice i like very much, as this is able to do good rather than harm. this also, however, means a by-the-book adaptation of secret invasion would be catastrophic. making your immigrant allegory secretly evil is pretty inexcusable, and i doubt there’s a way they can pull it off without it coming off exactly as xenophobic as it sounds.

because of this, for the plot of secret invasion, i think it’s more likely that the skrulls will instead be working alongside fury as allies. this isn’t a post about my own personal secret invasion theories though, so i’ll leave that there. my point is that so far, we don’t have any reason to assume the skrulls are evil aside from how they’ve been portrayed in the comics, and i don’t think for these reasons that the comics are a good basis for theories on this particular topic. tldr: the skrulls haven’t been shown to be evil yet, so assuming a villain is one is a bit of a jump.

additionally, the argument that sharon being the power broker means she’d be a good target for a skrull is a pretty flawed one. for sharon to have this power in the first place, she would already have to be the power broker, which means her new character direction can’t be waved away like that. the alternative here is that she was replaced before the skrull became the power broker - however, a fugitive ex-agent who can’t leave madripoor without fear of being arrested is pretty low down on the list of desirable situations, so i doubt any skrull would want to be her in the first place. she had very few existing links, and no real connection to power before clawing her way up through Crimes™️. in short, it doesn’t really make sense.

finally - and this is more of a personal preference - it just feels like lazy writing. i know, i know. the tfatws reveal wasn’t exactly paddington 2 levels of media artistry. but undoing a character’s arc (even if that arc was offscreen!) by just stating they were a skrull all along is pretty lame. it sets a bad precedent for the future. i don’t like erasing bad writing with more bad writing, and i don’t think the skrull theory really solves anything here.

so yeah, here we go, i don’t think sharon’s a skrull. could i be wrong? absolutely! this might actually be the most glorious, incredible twist of all time. or maybe it’s a horribly written twist that i’ll hate. either way, i don’t currently think it makes sense, so here’s this. sorry for the horrible formatting (mobile, lol) and the rambling (maybe i’ll clean this up later, maybe not, who knows)

[cutie--q]

alegria654 replied:

Okay, sell me that show, I have no idea if it's worth watching

i don’t know how to persuade people really, so i decided to make a list of my pros and cons of we bare bears instead! i feel like this will be more helpful in figuring out whether you want to start watching it or not :)

pros:

it’s a slice of life show.

the show feels... warm?? if that makes any sense??? (it was actually intended to be that way by the creator!)

the character interactions are SO sweet,,,

the character dynamics are just really fun in general.

the show was made by the crew for the crew, meaning that they made it so it can be enjoyable for both minors and adults!!

this is a subtle thing that’s not acknowledged in the series, but ALL of the characters are socially inept. they’ve all been pushed away by society in some shape or form, whether that’s because they’re put on a pedestal so much that they can’t trust anyone who genuinely wants to befriend them (nom nom), or because they’re LITERALLY bigfoot and they’ve been chased/judged all their life that they’ve never had a lasting group of friends before (charlie). in a show, if there is someone who’s socially inept, it’s usually just one person (and even then, they’re just shy or ~quirkily~ awkward), so it’s incredible to see a show whose FULL CAST is socially inept!

on that note, bigfoot is a recurring character. that’s enough of a reason to watch this show. /joking

haha found family lovers go brrrrr

it’s definitely comfort show material!!

the relationship between a panda bear and bigfoot is something that can actually be so gay coded

these are the classic gay coded characters, folks. ya got the one who is VERY affectionate (charlie literally kisses panda and only panda sometimes??? for no reason????), them risking their lives for each other time and time again, that one scene in “chicken and waffles” where they’re just staring and stammering at each other (i seriously can’t see that scene as anything but romantic), them having a child in some way, it has it all.

the bears being mistreated by strangers in the show has always been an allegory for what it’s like to be a person of color in america. this was not only highlighted in the episode “grizzly the movie,” where grizz is casted into a movie that negatively depicts grizzly bears, but also in the show’s official movie, which is centered around the government trying to separate the bears and force them to “go back to where they came from.” (the movie is the most serious part of the series. it genuinely messed me up for days.) it’s very impressive that this allegory wasn’t added in later on; it was always intended to be apart of the show.

cons:

panda.

there is no character development in the show. the show would have you thinking there is, but it’s so painfully slow and gets taken away whenever it’s convenient for the plot that it’s just best to not get into it :/ (especially since the show got cancelled RIGHT when the characters were actually changing)

there’s also not that much continuity/ongoing plot. (this isn’t really a con, but it’s an important thing to know.) the only thing resembling that is “icy nights,” which was a continuing story in the show that only had two episodes and is unfinished. although the crew talked about how they wanted to wrap that up, so at least you can have closure in that regard.

the creator laughed at people who harmlessly shipped his characters :///

the characters kinda take a backseat as the show goes on. what i mean by that is that the episodes start making the WaCkY situations lead more than the characters and their personalities. this starts to happen in the less well received season 4, tho, so it doesn’t take up too much of the show.

also in season 4, they start to have a LOT more baby bear episodes than usual. baby bear episodes are episodes that focus on the bears as kids, but the thing about these episodes is that they’re just “awww, cute!�� material for 11 minutes straight (it doesn’t have that much substance). getting these episodes sometimes?? a nice change of pace, it’s kinda interesting to see them interact as kids. but when these episodes take up a quarter of the season??? not so much. (who knows, maybe this increase in episodes gave CN the idea to cancel wbb and make a show that focused on them... as kids. they basically made a show that excludes their friends, who are the foundation of this show, cause, y’know, that’s a good idea :|)

in the show’s movie about racism, a cop was the hero even tho it would’ve been VERY easy for their friends to have been instead 🙃

[punksungjin]

just flower shop things [kim wonpil]

the mandatory florist!wonpil bc he is so soft and cute. alternatively: everyday wonpil looks forward to seeing his favorite customer, but it has to take a little bit of jealousy to get him to admit he likes them.

pairing: kim wonpil (day6) x reader

1.5 k words | florist au, fluff

Your visits are the highlight of Wonpil’s day. 

The flower shop is a lot of things, brick and white concrete and earth, but boring is how he would choose to describe it. Not a lot of people buy flowers during regular days, and most of the time Wonpil just lounges behind the counter, occasionally spritzing and pruning, then taking a nap. Boring, Wonpil thinks. 

Until you start visiting.

You come in everyday. He’s memorized your routine: in the morning, you’re first to walk in—he’s lucky enough if any customer comes after you—so much that the wind chime tinkling before 9 AM has become synonymous with your return. Coming in, you’ll inhale all the scents of the shop—cherrywood and leaves—and walk to his counter with a renewed bounce in your step.

Wonpil thinks you’re pretty.

“Good morning,” he says brightly, when you come into his shop that morning. He doesn’t usually like acting cute on purpose but it just comes out when you’re there. He’s giddy when you visit, and grateful because you’re giving him business. “What can I get you today?”

Wonpil knows your order by heart, but he lets you say it anyway. He likes the sound of your voice. Friendship flowers, please. “Friendship flowers, please. I think I’ll get those pink ones.”

Pink? That’s new. He flashes you a smile, taking the pencil tucked from behind his ear, writing you a slip.

“What will you be giving me?” You peer over the counter to look at his handwriting. Then, Wonpil can only focus on your head, which he can see directly as you lean over, and he thinks even the back of your head is beautiful. “Ooh, freesias. I bet that’s pretty. Everything you do is pretty.”

Your compliment sends a zing up Wonpil’s feet. He disappears into the backroom for a bit, collecting your flowers. He considers adding another one, but stops when he remembers the flowers aren’t for you anyway.

When he returns, you’re still there, tapping your fingers on the counter. Wonpil’s noticed you like watching him work on the bouquet with his hands, so he spreads it out on the nearby table and beckons you to come closer. 

“Your friend must be very happy,” Wonpil hums. A strand of hair has fallen astray on his forehead and he’s pretty sure you’re staring at him. Cute. 

“She is,” you murmur. You’re fixated on his craft, folding and creasing, bunching and tying. “You make such good art with your hands.”

Wonpil feels the blush rise in his cheeks. “Ah, I meant she must be very happy because you’re thoughtful—”

“Really, you deserve more traction.” He looks at you and you’re grinning, all crinkled eyes and teeth, and he thinks your eyes are especially pretty today. “My friends like your work. You’re amazing.”

You’re amazing.

Even hours after you leave, Wonpil can still hear you talking fondly about him. He can practically hear the smile in your voice. You’re amazing. He shakes his head and buries it in his hands, aware of how giddy he’s feeling.

The next day, you walk in, same pep in your step, same cheer in your voice. Except—

“Do you have any flowers for... Someone you love?” You rub your arm shyly, and Wonpil feels like... Well. He doesn’t know what he feels like. It feels like jealousy, but the rational part of him condemns it, because while he truly does like you, it wouldn’t matter. You’re clearly not interested, anyway.

He settles for ‘dread’. “Roses?”

You smile. Wonpil has heard of the idiom of smiles lighting up rooms before, but he didn’t really think that sort of smile was real until he met you. “Roses it is, then.”

When Wonpil turns around he frowns so hard it feels like his head is going to explode. Maybe he should have confessed his little crush earlier.

Reluctantly he gets the roses and wraps them—he doesn’t even put on a show for you to watch. When he’s done he thinks about how the flowers are pretty and so are you, and how you’re going to give the flowers to someone you like, and it isn’t him.

Nope, not jealous. Definitely not.

Wonpil puffs his cheeks out and exhales, walking back to the counter where you’re waiting. “Here you go,” he says curtly, mouth in a tight smile. He’s holding the bouquet with both hands like a schoolboy offering flowers. 

You look at him curiously, taking the flowers from Wonpil. “Are you... Are you okay?” An awkward laugh punctuates the end of your sentence. “You look angry.”

Immediately Wonpil glances at his reflection on the nearby mirror and realizes he looks like a fool: lips pressed together, brows scrunched, cheeks flushed scarlet. “Oh, sorry—!” He drops the expression. “Sorry, I think I just—”

You cut him off with a laugh. “What was that? That was cute.”

“Ah...” Wonpil laughs nervously, allows himself a smile. He rubs a hand on the back of his neck. “Thank you.”

You give a bright nod to him. He looks at you starting to leave and suddenly one thing is clear to him: he likes you, and he wishes he could give you all the flowers in the world.

“Wait,” Wonpil says,  before you can leave. You’re paid and leaving, and he thinks if he doesn’t say it now, he’d never get the courage to say it. “Y/N, wait here, please.”

“Um— “ You freeze in your spot. “Um, okay...?”

He leaves you bewildered when he goes in the backroom. Hidden, Wonpil tries to even out his breathing. Then, systematically, like he’s done countless times before, he takes a couple of flowers, wrapping them together in a small, simple bouquet. It doesn’t look like much compared to your roses.

Still, these are the flowers that remind you of him. They’re direct and pretty. Just like you.

“Here.” Wonpil holds out your bouquet in the same manner again, and he doesn’t even meet your eyes. You look like a deer in headlights, but eventually you put down the roses—Oh, thank God!—and take the flowers, brushing against his hand in the process.

“What’s this?”

“Peonies and baby’s breath,” he says, fidgeting with his hands. “They’re sweet and pretty, so they match you.”

Wonpil’s a bit pleased to see you flustered.

“Wah, Pil, they’re...” You sniff the flowers. “I think I’ll just pay for this one.”

“What?” Haha, what? “They’re for you.”

Silence. Wonpil rubs his hands together awkwardly.

You blink. “For me?”

“Yes,” he says, “take them; they’re free.”

“Aw, Pil, thank you but I couldn’t really—”

“Take them,” Wonpil blurts out, waving his hand dismissively. “I made them for you. Just... For you.”

“What—” Your eyes widen with realization and he winces, preparing himself for the rejection. Oh, well. At least you would be kind enough to turn him down nicely. “What is—Are these really for me?”

You sound so bewildered he can’t help but laugh. “Um, I like you,” he says quietly, but you catch the words anyway.

“You like me?”

His head whips up to look at you. Why did you look so surprised? Surely you’d caught on with his pining, he wasn’t exactly the most subtle person.

“Yes, and I think you like someone so I’m going to say my feelings now before they get deeper,” Wonpil says earnestly, glancing at the bouquet of roses on the counter.

You hang your head. “Wonpil...”

Here it comes.

“I don’t really like flowers,” you mumble. Like some kind of cruel allegory, he actually feels himself wilt under your gaze. You didn’t like flowers? Why were you buying so much, then? Flowers were all he could offer, and you didn’t like them. “I don’t really like flowers, Pil, and—”

“Ah, okay. So I’ll just take those?”

“No!” Your voice surprises the both of you. “I don’t like flowers and... I only ever go in here to see you. That’s why I go here, to see you. Sorry if... That’s creepy. But I like seeing your smile and you’re cute and you make good bouquets so—”

What you’re saying slowly sinks in. You like him, too. Wonpil’s mouth quirks upward in a smile. “You’re cute.”

You’re gripping the bouquet too hard. “I think you’re cute, too.”

The two of you exchange shy glances at each other for a moment. Then, he asks, “So who are the flowers for?”

“My mom’s. It’s her birthday.”

“Ah.” Wonpil didn’t know it was possible but he smiles even bigger. He even giggles, and the sound rings through the shop. “I’ll take the roses back, then. Cotton would suit her better. Wait here, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll be here.”

Before he leaves again for the backroom, your hands brush like they always do. But this time, you aren’t in a rush to draw away, and you flash him the smile that makes him feel all warm and funny inside.

Okay, I’ll be here.

Definitely, your visits are the highlight of Wonpil’s day.

[radramblog]

Yuppie Psycho

Once again, I get sucked into something and hyperfixate on it when I have an imminent exam. And while it could definitely have been worse, it’s a habit I should proooobably quit. On the other hand, now I’ve done an exam and finished this gem of a game, so who’s the real winner here.

Yuppie Psycho, a 2019 survival horror title by one Baroque Decay (that’s a fun name) is a real love letter to early genre classics like Resident Evil and to works of fiction like American Psycho whilst being a scathing parody of 90s work culture, all wrapped up in a tidy bow of solid gameplay and a e s t h e t i c. It’d been on my Steam wishlist for a while, and then it was 50% off, so I bought it, and I burned through it, and now I’m talking about it.

The story of Yuppie Psycho starts like this. Our protagonist, Brian Pasternack- dorky, shy, nervous, lower-class- has received the invitation of a lifetime working at Sintracorp (subtle.), one of the most prestigious corporations on the planet, despite his humble origins and nil credentials. When he finally reaches the office where he’s to sign his contract, after one of the coolest title cards I’ve seen in gaming, he’s met with this.

Which is obviously a lot to take in.

So begins Brian’s journey through the bizarre world that is Sintracorp’s headquarters, meeting new coworkers, figuring out what the hell his job actually entails, and hopefully, making it through his first day alive.

It’s pretty clear that Yuppie Psycho was designed with the premise- survival horror in an office building- in mind before anything else, because all the trappings have been adapted for their new environment in cute little ways. Instead of scrounging for first aid kits or painkillers, you’re brewing coffee or making sandwiches. The majority of loot containers in the game are file cabinets or toppled shelves, one of your main weapons being literal pencils. The way you save the game is by shoving your face in a photocopier, complete with a bunch of unique and silly images of Brian doing so.

Magnificent.

As far as horror goes, the game is relatively tame. Jumpscares aren’t super common, unless you’re the type to rush in blindly into everything, which is a great way to die very quickly. And while genuinely horrifying things are pretty much all over the place in this building, the rather cute pixel art look keeps things tamer than a more realistic aesthetic would.

What Yuppie Psycho does that sets it out, I feel, is the constant mix you’re spending most of the game in between the horrors of how the witch has twisted the company, and the banality of dealing with said company’s bureaucracy. One minute you’re dealing with giant spiderlike creatures in a claustrophobic archive, the next you’re attending a group motivation session. In order to help Kate, a friendly character you meet at the very start of the game, you have to herd some of her coworkers back to their “desks”- except there’s poison and mines everywhere and if you piss the coworkers off they’ll attack you instead of coming with you. This and the aesthetic makes Yuppie Psycho come off as a critique or an allegory (or a parody) of actually starting a new job- it’s utterly alien and terrifying, and while it might not be as literally deadly as Brian’s first day, it can sometimes feel like it.

Speaking of aesthetic. The game is revelling in those early vaporwave vibes, and it shows. Most explicit, of course, is the virtual reality segments, literally having Greek busts and columns to hammer the point home. But the rest of the game is soaked in the grease that is the 90s, from the technology to the suits everyone’s wearing, the floor designs, even some of the later spoilerific elements of the story which I won’t discuss would be right at home in a cheesier property from that decade. This is compounded by a stellar soundtrack, which is no surprise since it’s another Garoad work- he’s better known as the composer for VA-11 Hall-A, in case you’re wondering how I found out about this game. And it turns out his skills in 80s-inspired Cyberpunk Synthwave translate well into 90s-inspired Hypercapitalist Vaporwave. I might have to buy the OST.

I’m not sure at time of writing if Yuppie Psycho is still on sale- if it isn’t it’s only like 20 bucks or something, so it’s not a massively pricey title. Even if you aren’t a horror fan, I’d recommend giving it a shot- the story and gameplay are both quite compelling, and while I don’t think the ending is super excellent, the rest of it on the way is great. I will say, before I go, that don’t be fooled by the “new DLC” bit on the page- late last year “DLC” was added, but it’s free and completely integrated into the main game. To the point where I got halfway through the DLC content by accident before railroading back onto the original version’s path. It’s pretty confusing, maybe use a guide the second time through. Anyway! Good game.