#it’s genuinely so nitpicky and annoying

[littencloud9]

.

[nyaskitten]

Okay, after a bit, I've realized what exactly is off with Zhen to me. It's not the voice (although Awkwafina's voice is... very grating to put it as politely blunt as possible,) no, it's the overall design. I'm not here to be all nitpicky and annoying, but genuinely, her design feels out of place in this universe. Kung Fu Panda's designs are so heavily shape-focused, their shapes and sizes are so unique and special to them! So when you bring someone like Zhen, who looks ripped straight from Zootopia, it just feels... lame. And It's not like this applies to ANY of the new characters we see either!!! Look at the Chameleon vs. Zhen!

The Chameleon has this unique shape to her, she's so skinny, her shape intentionally reduces her fear factor, she's small and puny, so thus she would also be weak, no? But you're WRONG, she's a more powerful threat than you could imagine! Meanwhile with Zhen I can't even tell if she's a fox or a wolf, like I had to go to the wiki just to find out she's even a fox!

All her design tells me about her is she's some bandit or something... again, Kung Fu Panda is KNOWN for its unique shapes and sizes, it's stylization is something to gawk and marvel at, with just how GOOD they are... and Zhen just doesn't deliver... which really sucks, especially if the theory of her being the new "Dragon Warrior" is true...

[onyourhyuck]

Dirty Laundry. | H.RJ

— Prologue: “Did you put your dirty laundry into my laundry pile by any chance?”

— Summary: Where your germaphobic clean freak roommate Renjun finds your panties in his laundry pile one day.

— Genre: Smut smut smut. Sex on top of the washing machine(?) dormitory roommates. Sex in like almost public setting. Exhibitism. Dom!renjun. Rough sex (kinda). Back scratching. Cum-play. Bigdick!Renjun agenda. Angry sex. Renjun’s a neat freak. Clit overstimulation. Unprotected sex but pulls out to cum on Y/n’s face.

— Notes: Feeding the injeolmis today.

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The dormitory you have been staying in for the past year and a half was a sharing compound building between other university students. Therefore everything was being shared other than your own bedroom. The kitchen was a large open space with a tv too so it was almost like an open space between two rooms. The bathroom was a shared area, it’s rather small and private. If anyone wants the toilet they have to fight for it to get in first if you want to use it so it’s a bit of a hazard war out there.

Moreover one more thing you and your roommates share and have to do was your own laundry in the downstairs room. It was out of your dormitory almost. In a way this room was very secular and just hollow. It has a bunch of washing machines and a long table in the middle to separate your clothes from the basket. Bunch of hanging pegs and a long string hung across a wall to the other where you can hang your clothes to dry too.

The dorm wasn’t so bad. At least you thought it wasn’t until you started to see the revealing signs of your roommates and their flaws that you start to notice about them after living for so long together. It’s natural to get nitpicky and annoyed with them. You try to mostly be civil.

But you know someone who doesn’t try to be civil at all even if it was a small or big deal. That someone is one of your many roommates.

Huang Renjun. He was a transfer student from China who got accepted into your university. You didn’t speak to him much for the next three years until he put up a sign that he needs roommates so they can split the bill together. He said he doesn’t care how many there are. As long as they split the bill and make it more affordable for him and the others. You were the first one to reach out.

That is how you and Renjun met. You like to think you’re not so different but that’s a little bit of a lie considering he is quite the opposite from you. You’re laid back and you prefer to not confront anyone even if it was a huge problem that should be spoke about. Renjun on the other hand is slightly less bothered about how the other person feels. He can come off as a bit nagging. He’s also a massive clean freak which makes everyone in the house a bit tense.

He doesn’t like how his roommates aren’t as clean as he thought they were going to be originally. Especially you.

Oh how wrong he was about you. You’re probably the messiest girl he’s ever encountered and Renjun was slightly shocked at first. When the beginning started you tried to hide how disoriented and disorganised you are and can be. So he didn’t quite catch on until later on few months have passed now and he came back to your room completely trashed. It genuinely looks like you haven’t cleaned it in like a century; it sounds exaggerated and dramatic but it is not. That’s how Renjun envisioned a room to be so dirty it wasn’t cleaned out in a century. When he saw your room you thought he would faint or something.

But that was months ago. Renjun managed to convince you to let him clean your room out and it took a few desperate ‘please’ tries to get you to say yes to him.

He cannot stand dirtiness. He cannot stand anyone’s life being that way so he would rather clean it out for them just so he could sleep peacefully tonight.

The boy even made out certainly laundry schedules for the roommates. He said only two people each day can wash their clothes on a certain day because then the clothes would get messy together and it would be a hectic week of organising clothes on which one is theirs. They agreed because it sounds like a smart plan actually. Renjun’s always a great thinker when it comes to chores and house work.

Today was yours and Renjun’s day to wash your clothes. You’re not surprised because when you came down you saw Renjun already putting the dark clothes on one side and the light clothes on the other side now. You wish you could say he did surprise you at all but it didn’t.

“Good you’re here.” Renjun said now as he noticed you coming inside the downstairs washing area. You let out a soft hum. “I didn’t forget this time.” You smirk sheepishly and tease him now a little. Last week you missed your washing day and Renjun had to lecture you now.

He said your clothes would smell out the entire house and honestly it lead to a slight mishapping argument with him. Although you quickly made up and said you’re going to do it on his day with him to make Renjun feel better.

Renjun rolls his eyes as he noticed you’re talking about last week incident and so he just didn’t say anything and continues to do his laundry by separating them. You start to run your hands through your clothes doing the same thing; putting the dark to one side and the lighter clothes to the other side. There was a momentarily silence as you both did this and you’re clearly focused on doing this before you can start doing another thing.

As you’re too busy with your own clothes, Renjun lifts his large white tee shirt putting it to the other side with the light clothes similar to the colour white too. He then scrunched his eyebrows when he saw a silky and lace fabric between his clothes. Renjun couldn’t tell what this was at first. He doesn’t own anything laced. His first expression went through all the grief stages. Renjun lifts it up with the prickle of his fingertips in the air. It was white lace panties and they are definitely yours because you’re the only girl in the dorm house.

Renjun’s eyebrows fell flat as he looks with slight discomfort. He wasn’t even sure if they’re clean or not clean. It didn’t even matter if they were clean because Renjun never touched another one’s underwear before and he didn’t once felt so embarrassed and confused until he is now.

How did they even get there?

He felt slightly perverted too. It’s not like he wanted to look at them. They happened to be in his pile of laundry and now he has to get your attention and give you your panties back.

He’s going to make you think the wrong idea too. He hates this. Renjun swears he’s going to have a word with you.

He walks over to you now with the panties in his hands. You turn around back so you could face Renjun. You wondered what he wanted from you and that is when he saw your round eyes resemble a ball of fire now when you were met with your panties.

Renjun clears his throat as he saw your cheeks heat up and he hates to admit it. You being embarrassed over this was making him even more uncomfortable and his heart was racing because of you.

You point at them. “What are you doing with my panties?” You exclaim now shocked.

“Did you put your dirty laundry into my laundry pile by any chance?” Renjun snaps slightly as he pushed the panties back into your hand. He feels very much embarrassed as much as you are right now.

You look at the panties he dives into your hand, your head turns back to Renjun. “I don’t remember mixing our laundry together, ever.” You now said back crossing your arms against your chest suspiciously at Renjun.

You’re now assuming he stole them. But Renjun would never ever do such a thing essentially because it involved touching another person’s clothes they wear. He’s too much of a neat freak to be able to do that. So now you’re just thinking he’s either playing it cooly off now or you probably were clumsy enough to drop your panties in his laundry pile last week.

Renjun scowls at your interrogation right now. What is this? Police detective that you’re playing at? It’s obviously clear you’re the problem here right now.

He slants his empty laundry basket now away on the side and put on the black clothes pile into the first washing machine while he puts the lighter clothes in the second washing machine to start washing them. “So you’re now saying it’s me who would steal your panties? Please Y/n who do you think I am.” Renjun said clearly offended you’d think of him such a way. You roll your eyes. “I seen you checking up my shorts before, don’t act so innocent.”

Your sudden words calling him out on his behaviour that he was so sure you weren’t in knowledge about made him stunned in front of you. He turns to you with his eyes slightly avoiding eye contact now and he cleared his voice.

It’s clear he tries to be as calm and composed. Renjun puts on an unbothered look on his face. “You must’ve imagined that, Y/n. Not everyone wants to fuck you just because you’re good looking.”

He mocks you slightly so he can make this a little more believable but you didn’t seem to fall for it especially after how he’s avoiding your gaze. You scoff now putting in your laundry in the other free two washing machines. The dark and light separate. You close the washing machine door and put in the time to start it.

“I didn’t say you wanted to fuck me though?” You smirk out now catching him say that.

“Renjun you’re a very bad liar.” You said with slight sarcasm now. You can’t believe he’s trying to just slide past this now.

Renjun frowns coming up behind your back now his hands on the sides of your body and when you turn around you’re very close to him. Still there’s slight distance between the both of you. But now his hands are on the sides of your washing machine. You look up at him raising your eyebrows in surprise. You weren’t expecting him to come forward like this but he did to make a proven point.

He wants to prove to you that he really didn’t stare at your ass that time and checked it out. When he did actually but he was never going to admit that to you or anyone else. It was a mistake as well. Renjun couldn’t help himself. It’s like his eyes were forced to look at you in that moment.

He swore he would never do something like that again however, it’s kind of ironic now, Renjun was gazing you down on your face. “If I’m such a bad liar then look me in the eyes and listen to me.” He said to you and you look at his eyes. They were beautiful. They remind you of a crescent moon.

You’re staring at his eyes now and he repeats firmly as if he was now saying it to convince himself too. “I did not check your ass out that time.”

Your face leans closer and your breath and voice became lower and deeper now which makes Renjun’s skin cover with goosebumps. He hates that you’re very much an attractive young woman. It’s so much more unfair because Renjun can’t seem to handle the closeness between you and now that you only leaned more close towards him — it makes Renjun unsteady and his voice felt like a hitching spike in his throat that couldn’t even be moved.

Your eyes tell him to not lie to you. It’s like you’re telling him to just admit it and move on knowing you were not buying it. No matter how much he tried to convince you it’s not going to work on you and what you saw. You’re pretty much convinced already by your own belief.

“Did you take my panties?” You now ask him trying to see if he actually did or not.

Renjun groans as you now asked him again. He told you that it couldn’t be him and that it’s probably your silly fault because you’re the most non-organised roommate he has. And that says a lot knowing he has Mark Lee living with him too. “I didn’t take your damn panties Y/n.”

You scoff. “Well what did they do in your pile then?” Renjun told you with his eyes, like a warning threat that if you keep on trying to leer him into your interrogations he would do something to shut you up.

Renjun has enough when you were about to speak again and say something that could really set him off the edge and so he grabs your face. The hands on the side of your face pushed you forward where your lips crash against his own mouth now. He kissed you a bit harshly, to make a proven point to shut you up. It did work very much because this has shocked you as much as you hate to admit it too; your roommate was a great kisser. You let out a soft groan against the kiss when Renjun switched your positions pushing your body up against the washing machine now that you are using. He didn’t break the kiss at all and so your lips were now in a fiery state of making out on top of a washing machine. He pushed and deepens the kiss when he told his head to go in a tilting motion. It made you sighing in a deep grasp.

You looked irresistible so he couldn’t help himself at all. Renjun dislikes it when he cannot control himself around you. You made everything so difficult. Maybe because you are a very difficult person to be around with, to live with all this time, but without you Renjun’s life would be very dull that’s for sure. You felt your body go into a frenzy lockdown now. Your hands were on the sides of the machine until you attach them on Renjun’s neck pulling him slightly closer so he was pressed between your legs now. Your tongue pushed out of Renjun’s mouth causing a long string of saliva connecting your two red mouths. It was a hot sight to see Renjun so riled up and breathing heavily too.

You lean your head on the side when Renjun’s eyes couldn’t leave your shirt that you’re wearing. He felt annoyed that you’re fully clothed for once. He wished you were slightly more revealing right now. So his hands made it obvious now that he stripped your shirt off and you could feel the cold air coming from the room hitting your warm body.

Renjun groans against your neck as his rough grazing mouth explodes around your soft skin. It felt like an explosion when he’s kissing you so harshly like he was almost punishing you for pushing him off the edge by not believing him.

You squirm in the position he has you in. The way his weight was pressing down on your body it very much leaves you anticipating what’s to happen next. Renjun saw you whining and squirming now because of his mouth attacking your neck like it was nothing. He didn’t say anything to you but let’s a cruel smirk shown.

Your evidence was proven right. Renjun was here to simply pushing you a little now. You couldn’t do anything about it and you didn’t want to. You enjoyed seeing Renjun look so pissed off. All this built up anger in Renjun it was a rare sight but somehow you managed to get it out of him. You love it. You get to see his eyebrows arch down at you there was not a single happiness in those eyebrows he’s doing with them. You didn’t care if he’s going to tear you apart as much as he can. You didn’t care as long as you get to see that burning rage behind his eyes that you caused him to have.

It’s like you’re asking for it.

The fingers brush along your zipper to your jeans and he slips it down along with your jeans off your ankles it leaves you with your panties now. Renjun’s hand cups your sex now and this ring finger brushed to your clit clothed behind your soft fabric panties. You let out a pleasant smile and a groan now that he touched you somewhere you could react to in a good moment.

He scowls when you’re looking like you enjoy this situation. You’re not meant to be enjoying this but he cannot help but get annoyed even more that you’re practically begging for him to give you what you want now. “You’re not meant to be enjoying this, Y/n,” You heard him say to you.

He pulls his hands away from your area between the legs and now you’re left stranded. You let out a whine. “Do you have to be upset at me?” You groan. “Did you or did you not steal my panties…” You now ask with a little smirk behind your frustration on the face.

Renjun raised an eyebrow at you. “You’re asking me again?” He lets out a scoff now that your asking him again with your suspicions and so the hands at his belt unbuckled it taking off the trousers down the waist. He lets his jeans fall to the ground now and he looks at you with a dark warning gaze that said you shouldn’t ask him such a question again. “I told you three times already that I didn’t. So why bother repeating it?” He now said clearly unbothered by replying to you once more.

You feel your panties taken off and you couldn’t help but position your hands behind as he now slams himself in very subtle. Your mouth drops shaped in a little wide open posture as you creep in your moans. You swallow the harsh air and you feel his length taking a good place in your womb making it it’s home. You hate to think about your roommate this way but you always wondered how big he was and now your answer was given.

“God I can’t believe I’m about to fuck you without a condom…” Renjun closed his eyes reassuring himself that you must be clean. At least he hopes so. You furrow your eyebrows now at him, reassuring him slowly.

“I’m clean Renjun. God. You and your neat obsession—“ Your voice was cut off.

“Just shut up and take it.” He vows now telling you to be quiet. He doesn’t want to hear another word of complaint from you.

He was freaking huge and thick. You couldn’t really imagine him being inside you now but he was very slowly earning a spot and living inside your walls. Each stroke was meant with the anger inside him and that made you fall deeper in the pleasure. The depths of his rage and annoyance you put him through not just today.

No. It wasn’t just today’s anger you’re giving him. It’ was all the anger you made him feel all these months living with you for so long. The pettiness you give. The messiness you make wherever you go. Renjun just feels his head remembering all the things he holds against you that you weren’t even aware that he held against.

The time you left your dirty dinner plate lying somewhere. You didn’t even bother to clean it? It pissed off Renjun. That was a month ago. He didn’t mention anything because he cleaned it for you. Obviously you wouldn’t clean it because if he told you to do it you’d reply with ‘Okay!’ And then forget again. He sometimes wonders if he’s your servant or if you’re just trying to get out of doing your chores.

He groans now that he slams himself even deeper. The thrusts became cruel and aggressive. You hung your desperate expression against your palm. Your one arm was positioned behind on the washing machine so when you move your hips against the cruel countering and dangerous thrusts you can’t help but bury your moan in your palm hoping it doesn’t explode out like a combustion. Your droopy eyes were like a comet to Renjun.

They fell down on earth for him when he was deeply thrusting and pushing in and out of your direction to your pussy. His dick made you feel a lot more than just pleasure. They made you associate yourself with how much you trouble Renjun and you can’t help but feel like your pressure was going haywire.

He angrily leans forward now capturing your mouth with his. He kissed you hungrily while he keeps thrusting in and out of you way more quicker now than before and it caused you to break the kiss with your panting voice.

“F-fuck… Renjun…” You weren’t supposed to be enjoying this but your insides were squeezing so tight you feel your stomach sucking in. He was kneading inside you like you’re a folding bread that he was making from the compounds.

You’re like a toy that was broken up into pieces by Renjun and then fixed up brand new. It felt like this with his enlarge hands on your hips pushing you forward now even more as you’re on top of the washing machine spread like a statue just for him, just for Renjun.

It was a public setting too which was completely out of your idea until now. Renjun didn’t seem to care too much. He was too focused on your beautiful face looking so fucked out when he’s ramming inside you non-stop in your insides and with each squeeze you’re milking him to his climax.

He wasn’t being the kindest to you. As much as this was very intimate with him and he held your body close so he could devour your insides like the next Hanging Babylon. When Renjun wanted to torture you some more he rushed his free hand over your clit and rubbed it in a flicking motion with all his fingers as he keeps thrusting into you at the same time; Renjun’s multitasking to have you coming undone. It’s like punishment for you.

You moan helplessly out now. Your moans were coming off as a desperate wail.

Punishment for being a nightmare to live with. But as much as you’re a nightmare and a complete health hazard to share a home with. He was thankful for you in some ways. You’re not thoughtful for other’s space. You’re clingy when you’re bored. You break things. You’re clumsy. You are the messiest person on earth. Yet he wouldn’t swap you for someone else even if it meant the world was ending.

Maybe he grew attached to you. Maybe he was feeling something for you nowadays.

Your hands were scratching underneath his shirt that he has on, running down the smooth soft and olive-like back he has. Renjun let’s out sweet groans close to your ears as you did this action. He seem to be in heaven when your fingers crossed his skin. It felt like magic you’re doing to him.

“I’m so close.” You bite your bottom lip as your head pressed against his chest when Renjun came closer now and starts to look you in the eyes as you’re standing on the very tip of the cliff now.

He stood with you there because he, himself, was very close now to his own climax and Renjun frowns when each thrust brought him closer. “I’m going to pull out.” He warns and when he did suddenly pull out Renjun made sure to get you your orgasm. He can be nice you see?

He brushed his fingers inside your pulsing walls and he managed to finger you to your nearest orgasm. He loves seeing you squirm against his hands now because it shows how good he’s making you feel. Renjun feels almost proud when he saw your orgasm and he feels it reaching his fingers.

It was a bit messy for his liking but maybe he likes seeing you become a mess when it’s him doing it to you. Only a little.

You slowly regain your concentration and you slide off the washing machine as you go on your knees now. You suddenly wrap your hands around his hard twitching cock that’s begging to have its own climax now and you’re here to delivery that.

Renjun’s eyes darken as he saw you on your knees looking so pretty with your trembling legs because you just had a massive orgasm; however it’s not fair that you’re the one orgasming and he couldn’t. You should return the favour. Your hands stroke his cock up and down and it didn’t take long to have Renjun groaning.

You feel his member twitch in your hand and then the liquid came out all over your mouth and face. You let it drip down a little and you didn’t mind it. You prefer it messy anyways. You feel the warmth emitting on your skin and you take a lick and wipe yourself once he was done with a silent groan as you pushed him to his orgasm.

To you he looks like the most dreamy guy. He shut his eyes for a little before regaining his sight back and he pulls away to take a deep breath.

You move your sinewy back to the nearest wall and slowly start to pull your panties up and your jeans. You seen Renjun doing the same as he pulls his trousers up to his waist now and you can’t help but have a smirk.

“I remembered now.” You exclaim with your mischievous eyes. He looks at you raising an eyebrow wondering what did you remember?

“What is it?” Renjun said with a confused expression.

You smirk. “I dropped my panties in your laundry pile when I was walking back to my room after laundry.” You announced with a little laugh.

You guess you really are a messy roommate. And Renjun was right.

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@onyourhyuck please refer from translating copyrighting and plagiarising my work thank youu! Reblog this Fic and Follow me for more updates it helps a girl out. <3

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

On today‘s episode of „moments in the show that confuse me“, s5ep19 has a piece of dialogue that goes something like this

Marinette: (about how Gabe doesn’t approve of her) He thinks I‘m one of those fans who follows you around everywhere, showers you with gifts and knows all your (Adrien‘s) middle name days

Kagami: Isn‘t that what you used to do Marinette?

Marinette: Yeah but I did it out of love

This scene is so odd because it feels weirdly self-aware but at the same time it really isn‘t? To me it seems like the writers sort of admit that Marinette‘s crush was written like a celebrity crush, but then this doesn‘t go anywhere? It‘s basically just „it‘s the same as a celeb crush but it isn‘t actually🤪“

Like what kind of writing is this? I know I‘m again beimg nitpicky but hey I love hearing your thoughts on the show so do you have thoughgs on this?

I'm honored that you enjoy my rambled! And, yeah, I have a few thoughts on this one. To begin, here's the full quote for proper context:

Marinette: Oh, hey Kagami! How are you? Kagami: Hello, Marinette. I'm fine, thank you. Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette, it's my fault. I just couldn't talk to my father. Marinette: No, don't apologize! It makes sense that you didn't make it work because that's you! I mean, not you, you but you, as in, not me. Your dad doesn't have a problem with you anymore, he's even become super cool, making you pancakes, giving you all the freedom you need. He's come such a long way and that's amazing. But he does have a problem with me. He feels worried and I would be too if I were him. He thinks I'm one of those fans who follows you everywhere, showers you with hand-knitted gifts and knows every single one of your middle name days. Kagami: Isn't that what you used to do, Marinette? Marinette: Yes... except no! I mean, yes, but I was doing it out of love and, besides, I've changed a lot. Kagami: You are correct. Marinette: Really? You think I've changed a lot? Kagami: No. Well, not that much. But you're right to want to talk to Adrien's father.

This is not a terrible piece of writing. There are pieces of media where this would be genuinely funny. I've previously talked about the fact that Marinette's crush on Adrien is written like a celebrity crush and not a crush on a real person or even a proper stalker obsession. In that post, I also discussed media that features a fan getting to date their celebrity idol:

Whenever stories do the thing where someone meets their celebrity crush and actually gets to know them, there's normally a noticeable shift in their behavior as the character mentally goes, "Oh shit, you're real now." They lose the freedom that came with this being a mere fantasy.

That is the type of story where this dialogue would be funny. A story where Marinette started out as a fan or former fan with an idealized view of Adrien, but ended up viewing him as a real person by the time they started dating. A story where her view of Adrien shifts, but the things she does to show affection don't because it's not exactly weird to want to know everything about your significant other or to want to shower them with gifts. The only concerning thing on the list Marinette gives is "following him everywhere", but she doesn't actually do that in the show, so we're going to ignore that one and focus on the actual problem here.

The problem is that Miraculous never gave Marinette a reality check. There is no point where dream Adrien vanishes to be replaced by real Adrien. The Adrien that she starts dating in season five appears to be everything that she's ever dreamed he would be. He is #boyfriendgoals where he only exists to make her happy. He never shows off his more annoying behavior (and let's be real, Chat Noir can be pretty annoying at times) or spouts any bad puns that make her roll her eyes in a mixture of annoyance and amusement. He is perfection and it's terrible. This is not how you write a solid romance. There's no learning about each others flaws or even meaningful personal growth for Marinette.

We spent four seasons watching her struggle to ask Adrien out only for the resolution to be that he asks her instead. She never has to overcome that personal hurdle. After that, her biggest struggle is being brave enough to tell her boyfriend that she loves him even though he has showered her with love and affection, proving that there is literally zero risk involved here. It's a deeply unbalanced relationship that feels totally unfair to Adrien.

To be fair, there are stories where the Marinette-can't-say-nice-things-to-Adrien plot point could work. However, they're stories where a lot of focus is given to Marinette's trauma and her journey to overcome it. Miraculous didn't do that. Marinette's trauma and Adrien's response to it are handled horribly by every metric because of course they are. This is a formula show that can't handle a plot like this with delicacy and grace.

There's also the issue that, for this plot to work, the romance needs to be way more balanced. We need to be shown why Marinette is an amazing partner for Adrien who just has an area where she's struggling. We need to want them to get past this trial and be together. As-is, it's impossible to support this relationship because there's no substance to it. They're barely even friends before they get together. I have no idea why I should want Adrien to struggle through helping Marinette or why I should want Marinette to work through her issues with Adrien. There are other fish in the sea! Now that the identities are out, she can go back to Luka who she had no issues with!

This all feels very badly written YA or New Adult drama and there's a reason that I don't read those! I don't enjoy wildly unhealthy couples whose main draw is their endless drama and baffling sexual tension. I want couples who I love but, at this point, I can't even summon mild enjoyment for the canon love square.

[olderthannetfic]

oh MAN, im genuinely at the edge of a mental breakdown whenever the femslash numbers discourse resurfaces, like at this point it just elevates my blood pressure, i dig my nails into my thigh, and i go to one of my trusty fandom friends to complain about other people's complaints. i ship pretty much across the board without preference for gender combo, altho by virtue of my favourite character archetype niches being occupied by men, i end up with comparatively mostly m/m and m/f with only the occasional f/f. almost all of these end up being rarepairs with at least one supporting or minor character that are eclipsed by whatever juggernaut ship the fandom prefers but never compels me. im used to looking into a ship tag and come up with less than 100 works, most of the times it's less than 50. does this annoy me on the odd occasion, be it because i think X/Y is so much more cooler than uh, A/B that the fandom is obsessed with? sure, but i see no reason to rain on people's parade - i just mute tags and mentions and seethe in silence or private DMs. i write for my unpopular rarepairs, i reblog stuff posted in tags and cheer in my own tags, i chat with people who are also into it, and get overjoyed whenever there's a new fic in the AO3 tag (or elsewhere) that I can read. to me, the femslash situation feels very similar - you like the ship between two blorbos, there's enough fan made stuff for them to fit in the shell of a hazelnut, and 80% of the fandom will swoon over the two people who you personally couldn't give two fucks about even if someone paid you. and shoutout to the people who DO make the fan stuff, the art, the fic, the meta, the discord servers, who request and put up prompts in fic exchanges to inspire others... but by god, if the whiners aren't the ones who dominate the conversation, which i wouldn't mind as much if they'd do ANYTHING besides whine. no, they will scream and shout about how the "yaoi empire" needs to be taken down (how about you just move to FFN? Wattpad?), but then it's either obnoxious nitpicky fucks who haven't posted a single fic in their entire miserable life, or it's m/m shippers who are Not Like The Other Fujoshis and got, uh, i dont fuckin know, 30 works for hockey RPF and 10 for two guys from The Terror who canonically interacted like two times under their belt while they mostly blog about the guys from Interview with the Vampire. they want God, everyone's mother and all the slash shippers on Hedy Lamarr's world wide web to prioritise femslash but don't practise as they fucking preach, tear the work of the people who DO indulgently write about gay women, and think they're oppressed because no one will write exactly what they want. the code for AO3 is for free - unionise along with your fellow femslash enthusiasts, beat the drums really loud, open those google docs, and get some shit started! granted, you're unpleasant cunts and will probably go "actually, no boys allowed in here! get your boy cooties away from this forever!!!! if you like men fucking, go back to ao3!" which will inevitably drive people who like f/f as well as m/m away, so you might be doomed to fail but in the words of that adorable little kitten poster: hang in there!

--

[atopvisenyashill]

What are your thoughts on GRRM’s new notablog post on HOTD S2?

omg i'm sorry so i did not get notified that i had a few new asks, i didn't even see this until i logged in on desktop. tumblr eat shit smh.

ANYWAYS.

I actually agree with Xiran Jay Zhao, here, where they said this was a warning shot. It feels like a warning shot. Like a "hey I'm being nitpicky and pedantic now but if you think I won't go scroched earth you got another thing coming." I've seen so much "this is unprofessional" "this is annoying" "why is he complaining" and I think it is not only mind boggling to side with a corporation and the idiots running these shows (and we know I mostly like Condal and Hess, but come on Condal was the mastermind of Sansa Bolton why are we defending him right now!!), I think everyone is blowing his comments wildly out of proportion. He didn't take a dig at anyone but the writer's room and more specifically Ryan Condal, who he has had a working relationship with for well over a decade. He didn't shittalk any casting, he didn't shittalk any specific writers or directors except one of the main showrunners, he compliments the special effects, he has consistently had (and imo is careful) nothing but praise for the actors, even minor roles like Blood & Cheese. This was an incredibly milqtoast "please remember that every change has huge affects on the narrative later" critique and the people handwringing over his behavior are absolute losers, I'm sorry.

And beyond the fact that he didn't make any huge digs, I think this conversation also wildly ignores the way authors have no control over their own characters once they sign the rights over. They can be completely bamboozled by changes and they have no recourse to go "what the hell are you doing." And yet, signing your book's rights away (even if the production sits in developmental hell for decades) is usually what nets these author's the most money - GRRM surely makes a shitton off his books, but most authors get paid absolutely nothing even when they're wildly popular because of how book deals work now. Take, again, Xiran for example - Iron Widow was a huge runaway hit, a good and fresh take on this new boom of culturally based sff. And yet Xiran has talked about how they immediately set to work writing a middle grade novel because they desperately needed the money because they got paid 16k over two years for their runaway hit that made their publishers significantly more than 16k. I think George is not only mad for authors with less control than he has but also, obviously, for himself - I've said time and again, but I do think Dark Daenerys is where we are headed, and the fact that they completely botched showing it has got to smart. And if the ending for Dany is anything other than Jon killing her, that has got to smart too. So he watched these people fuck up his original series and push him completely out of that writer's room as they made more and more changes, and now he's watching s2 of HOTD and seeing some changes and getting some real bad vibes. It's not doomerism to think s3 is going to go massively off the rails when we have seasons 6-8 of the main show to show us just how off the rails it can go!

So anyways, that part of my rant over (and please believe me when I say I checked myself here because I could rant for hours about how it's genuinely so upsetting to see people call him unprofessional over this when not only did he write the fucking series, but he's lived in this series for three decades!!!!! this is his whole life, this is his legacy, of course he's feeling some type of way about how it's handled jesus christ on a cracker, there's people who have said worse about their mediocre nyt pushed bestsellers getting adapted badly!), when it comes to the actual meat of his post....I'm sorry idk how anyone is annoyed by this post because it was hilarious to me. He spent a whole blog post whinging about how Dead Baby #4 and Kingsguard Man #12 are gonna get cut out of the show. I think he framed it in that goofy way on purpose to hide how annoyed he is but you can see where the real annoyance lies - the changes to Helaena, losing one of his grisly death scenes, and being willfully mislead about potential changes to the plot. I think a lot of people missed those points but EYE am not a goofy ass like those people and I can guarantee you that Condal and HBO got the point too.

Of course, I do think he is also irked about Maelor and Ser Rickard's scenes being cut out. He wrote a long ass, highly meticulous, near unadaptable work, and I think when he handed the IP over he assumed he was giving it to people who would rise to the challenge and only make cuts when absolutely necessary. And that just clearly hasn't happened. Incredibly important characters get cut, main characters get their plots wildly changed for no reason, and people get personality transplants on a near constant basis for no other reason than D&D and Condal thought it would look cooler. I think if there was more dedication to keeping him in the loop and keeping true to the story, he wouldn't have bitched so much. But Hess is on record saying she doesn't feel loyal to the story and at a certain point, you reach your breaking point there and I think he has finally reached his. AND GOOD FOR HIM. LET THAT OLD MAN GO APESHIT THEY'VE COMPLETLEY FUCKED HIS WORLD UP!!!

[astra-galaxie]

Sorry, sorry, one more question: what is something that genuinely ticks you off, your least favorite thing, for each season? It can be something that's isolated to just one case, or something season-wide. The sky is the limit!

Finally! An excuse to rant about some of my issues with Criminal Case! Thanks, asharkapologist!

Season 1 - Grimsborough

Am I allowed to say the Johnson family’s smiles? Those grins give me the creeps!

Jokes aside, I think my least favourite thing from Grimsborough was that we didn’t get a lot of character development. I know it's the first season, but I wish we could have focused on specific characters (especially the teammates) like we do in the following seasons. It makes a lot of their stories feel incomplete and lacking in uniqueness. I know it's not that big of an issue, but it annoys me that unless a character returns in later seasons, they never get a chance to get more development and time in the spotlight.

Season 2 - Pacific Bay

The geography. HOW DOES A DESERT EXIST NEXT TO SNOW COVERED MOUNTAINS?!?!?! WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!?!

I admit, I thought it was a cool concept when I first played the season, but revisiting it later in life made me realize how weird Pacific Bay is. Logically, there's no way the districts could exist beside each other. And I know MotP’s geography is a little strange, too, because of Coyote Gorge, but that’s just one district, unlike several. While I think some of PB’s district environments are interesting, having so many unique districts coexisting gives me the impression of trying too hard to make something stand out and just ending up making it confusing.

Season 3 - Save The World

While STW is in my top three seasons (it used to be number one, but MotP took that spot months ago), some things annoy me. One is that it was never explained how the Bureau had labs/offices everywhere they went, even in the smaller, lesser-known countries. It may be trivial and nitpicky, but I couldn't help but wonder. Did they have offices in every country? Did they just rent labs and transport their equipment everywhere they went? How bad was their jet lag?

(Okay, the last one had nothing to do with my original point, but you can’t tell me the Bureau’s sleeping schedules weren’t constantly messed up by the ever-changing time zones!)

Even if there had been an off-handed comment, it might not have been so confusing. I think it was only once stated that they visited a country’s Bureau HQ during “The Impossible Dream,” where it opened with the title card “At the Bureau’s Spanish office…” But do they have Bureau buildings everywhere or not?!

Season 4 - Mysteries of The Past

While I love almost everything about MotP, one part that annoys me is that we moved past the Flying Squad's initial purpose (taking down police corruption) almost right after the first district. Don’t get me wrong; I love the districts' plots and how they flow together, but for something as serious as police corruption (especially a city-wide one!), we dealt with it rather quickly! I never noticed until someone pointed it out to me, so now, when I revisit the season, I keep wondering why dealing with police corruption didn’t last longer or get focused on more!

I still love the season regardless of this fact, but I wonder how it could have changed if we’d focused on it longer… Using police corruption would have worked in districts like Crimson Banks with the gang wars and later on with the Rochester situation (I could see some of them paying off the police).

Season 5 - The Conspiracy

When I first played the season, it annoyed me how long it took us to learn what was behind the dome and get into the Ad Astra plot. The idea is cool, but whenever people talk about the dome before Misty Grove, I would think, “Come on! Can we find out why this is so important already?!” I get teasing, and foreshadowing keeps people in suspense (stars know I love doing it with my stories), but it was to the point where we were unnecessarily delaying the plot since, after the reveal, it and Ad Astra became the main focus of the season.

Season 6 - Trave In Time

The gameplay. I don’t know why they changed it to Travel in Time, but I HATED IT! It made it impossible for me to get immersed in the season like I did for others, and for a long time, I couldn’t bring myself to like it despite the incredible plot and characters. Eventually, the season grew on me, and I came to enjoy it outside of its gameplay, but I don’t know if I could make myself replay it… It's nice revisiting the lab analysis cutscenes, but beyond that, I have no desire to replay the game.

Season 7 - Supernatural Investigations

I hated how PS ruined George Mathison’s character development. I thought his story and development were amazingly written, and I loved the clueless-human/FBI-agent-obsessed-with-arresting-the-hunters-turned-ally storyline! It was an excellent plot for him! They should have kept Mathison like that and not added the “surprise plot twist” in the final case, which destroyed all that character development…

I also hated how generally rushed the ending was and how poorly they finished off the characters’ stories.

Season 8 - City of Romance

Cases 1-17 (/jk)

But in all seriousness, it might be quicker to ask me what I liked about City of Romance! I keep saying it has potential, and given the right rewrite, it could become a good season, but sadly, the canon one is very lacklustre… However, disregarding how rushed and unpolished the season is, I didn’t like how overly sexualized it was and how bad the representation was. Paris is the city of love, and love isn’t just sex; there are countless other ways it can be shown. I wished we could have seen better gender and sexuality representation like in previous seasons… And also not finish with the most rushed and confusing wedding in CC history, but that’s a rant for another day!

And that’s a wrap! I have other issues with the game, but I think I covered enough in this ask. Thanks for the request!

[artthoufruity]

Americans can come up with the most idiotic and outright disrespectful things imaginable so effortlessly. I saw a post about an American "witch" claiming that she saw a "Celtic fae" in her back garden (in TEXAS) "picking flowers and eating berries" and the next day her husband told her she was "speaking gaelic in her sleep" (her words) first things first the Irish language is called Gaeilge NOT gaelic, gaelic is an adjective essentially we use it in things like gaelic football etc, secondly I can guarantee she did not see a fae in Texas??? Like that should be common sense??

Thirdly faes and fairies are VERY different things, if you're going to pretend to be knowledgeable on Celtic legends and lore at least know the bare minimum, faes are not friends, they are not a force to be reckoned with, if you somehow meet and annoy a fae it can and most probably will harm you and everything you love both physically and mentally.

And I know I can't be nitpicky but if you are going to use Irish words in your vocabulary please for the love of life at least try and pronounce it right, wtf is belt-tane (bhealtain) and Fawm-hair (fomhair)

Our language and culture is not you magical, fairy, witch aesthetic or lifestyle, it is genuinely disrespectful. We have such a rich, beautiful history and it's so easy to learn and talk about it in a respectful way, infact I think everyone should learn actually Irish/Scottish/Welsh history because it helped shape many things in our world e.g religion and fairytales.

If anyone who sees this wants to know more about Ireland or Celtic history/folklore or lore please ask me I'd love to share

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for accidentally ostricizing a friend and getting annoyed over it?

Everyone involved is 16-18, I don't know specific ages.

I and a few other buddies have been fans of a series we'll call Dog Game, because I'm thinking about dogs. We've been fans for a few years now, and our friend group was primarily made about a year ago for Dog Game. Red, Orange, and Yellow are all part of this original friend group, and Orange has been friends with Green and Blue since childhood, along with Yellow.

I've been a big fan of a series we'll call Cat Game, for just as long as Dog Game. I introduced Orange to it, and she LOVED IT, much like I have. It's been a huge interest of mine, after all, and I recommend it to whoever shall listen (they usually like it, after all). Orange had told it to Green and Blue, and I talked to Red about it, so all of us but Yellow are really into this series now.

Yellow is pretty disliking of the series at a glance, and refuses to try it. They don't "have the attention span for it" and they have many issues with the concept of the game and of the characters that seem really nitpicky and like they were trying to make up excuses [saying stuff akin to "I don't want to play because all of these characters have the color purple on them a little bit and I don't like wearing purple" or "I don't like that all of them have different hairstyles" for example]. Me and Yellow have always had a strained relationship, so I was genuinely thinking they might be refusing to try it to get back at me for... something?

Recently, they asked how long it would take to finish the Cat Game series. I was ecstatic! But then they started talking about how our friend group had drawn away from Dog Game, and how it really upset them, and thought they should just watch Cat Game and be over with it. They started saying stuff like "I don't belong here" and when we tried telling Yellow that it was still for Dog Game and that we do have a specific Cat Game spot, they pointed out how we still end up talking about Cat Game in the main talking place. They say that no one in the friend group talks to them anymore [which is false, we talk with Yellow a lot especially me because I'm the only one awake with them frequently]. It kept on going back and forth like this ["It's not like we STOPPED liking Dog Game!" "You care about Cat Game first and foremost now!" "I'm the only one that cares about our Dog Game stuff anymore" "What? We still care, we just have more recent Cat Game ideas!"]

It was honestly annoying the hell out of me. It came off as unintentional guilt-tripping, and I did start getting upset at them. It really felt like they were trying to make us feel bad for being Cat Game fans, but nothing I said was worse than what Yellow had said [mainly just "you're putting words in our mouth, why would we stop caring about you just because we have more than one thing we're interested in", etc.] Orange is playing mediator, but me and Yellow are butting heads now and we aren't really talking anymore.

I don't really feel bad about it, but I do think it's a dumb issue that they brought up, and whether I'm more at fault or not for them getting upset.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[y-rhywbeth2]

So, that last reblog about Ilmater and a few of your other cleric-related posts reminded me of a question/issue that has bugged me for a while and that I haven't found a good answer for. (Don't worry, it's not about BDSM, though I am very ??? about Ilmatari sexuality. But I digress.) As a more casual DnD player, I don't have many of the source books, so I mostly have to rely on what I can find on the internet, which is very … *gestures vaguely* let's say, hit or miss on reliable information. I also know there may not be a "canon" answer, even if just to leave room for DM/player shenanigans, but maybe you might know or have an opinion.

So, my understanding is that priests are people who enter the clergy (voluntarily or not) and learn the doctrines, how to perform rituals, etc., while clerics are basically people that a god points to and says "I want that one," and may not ever have or have had anything to do with the official clergy/religious hierarchy. But to me, it seems like the clergy would have some process to establish that a person who claims to be a cleric of their god is actually legit.

The extremist cult mentioned in that other post happened during the Time of Troubles, so that wasn't exactly normal circumstances, but it seems like that sort of thing would be a concern all the time. I know the gods aren't supposed to directly meddle in each other's affairs, but it seems like some of them would try anyway if they thought they could get away with it. (Looking at you, Shar.) And I'm sure there are plenty of other entities that would deceive, brainwash or mind-control a mortal into thinking they're a cleric so they can slander a god. A truth-serum doesn't seem like it would be enough, because the person may genuinely believe it.

To be honest, I haven't been able to find much at all about where clerics fit in with the clergy. I'm sure some gods would be fine empowering people who wanted to serve as long as they're doing the things the god's clergy or clerics do. Other gods, like Bane, no doubt demand that a cleric undergo training in doctrines, etc. and have a clearly established place in the hierarchy. But even beyond what the gods themselves feel about it, I imagine the clergy would want some verification process for anyone who would represent their faith.

Is this a thing, or are we just supposed to head-canon it however? I know it's a sort of nitpicky issue, but it seems like it would be important thing to know for anyone wanting to play a cleric -- for backstory reasons if nothing else!

(By the way, if you answer, I don't mind if you snip this ask into whatever pieces you want to respond to. I realize it's a little long.😔)

-

So, my understanding is that priests are people who enter the clergy (voluntarily or not) and learn the doctrines, how to perform rituals, etc., while clerics are basically people that a god points to and says "I want that one," and may not ever have or have had anything to do with the official clergy/religious hierarchy.

Everybody working at the temple doing the daily chores and dedicating themselves to a life of worship is a priest, but the priests in charge and the ones leading the rituals and speaking for the deity are the clerics (or druids). A cleric/druid does have to be part of the faith, and if a god wants this mortal as a cleric they’ll typically direct them towards the nearest actual cleric/druid and place of worship for that guidance and training. (Favoured/Divine Souls, as the spontaneous casters, are the annoying bastards who fuck up the hierarchy, but they’re rare. Don't need to follow the rules or pray for your god's power when you simply have it by existing.)

As far as I'm aware a god can't force a person to be a cleric/druid/paladin/ranger; divine magic requires some degree of faith and willingness to serve, even if for selfish reasons on the mortal end. They can bestow their power on a mortal, but the classes require a certain dedication. You can psychologically condition people into willingness though.

But to me, it seems like the clergy would have some process to establish that a person who claims to be a cleric of their god is actually legit.

For a random, already initiated priest you've never met before: Aside from a series of rites and secret handshakes or whatever - plus the assumption that few are going to be suicidal enough risk pissing off the gods - they do, it’s called asking the god.

The extremist cult mentioned in that other post happened during the Time of Troubles, so that wasn't exactly normal circumstances, but it seems like that sort of thing would be a concern all the time.

It kind of is is. Not even just enemy gods disguising themselves, but different religious leaders having different interpretations of the same deity.

I know the gods aren't supposed to directly meddle in each other's affairs, but it seems like some of them would try anyway if they thought they could get away with it. (Looking at you, Shar.) And I'm sure there are plenty of other entities that would deceive, brainwash or mind-control a mortal into thinking they're a cleric so they can slander a god. A truth-serum doesn't seem like it would be enough, because the person may genuinely believe it.

There’s a couple of factors, one being that pesky free will that mortals have to have, plus faith remains true to its definition (because even when gods are demonstrably real ‘I don’t need empirical evidence for what I believe in to believe in it’ still stands).

Even within a single faith there are heresies and splinter sects: worshipping their god in different ways, interpreting doctrine differently, and getting mad at each other over it.

The god then has a choice to make: cut off one of the sects, losing followers and power and leaving that sect to potentially be picked up by an enemy god who will empower them (possibly masquerading as them) but not causing disunity in the church or potentially altering their own nature; or empower both, maintaining their power (maybe creating a larger pool of potential worshippers with new avenues to the faith), but decentralising their power on Faerûn as the faith fragments, and potentially changing themselves as mortal faith ‘evolves’ them.

Sometimes gods treat heresies – even if they’re born of a masquerading enemy - as tests of faith for the misled mortal, or think they can get something out of it.

To be honest, I haven't been able to find much at all about where clerics fit in with the clergy.

They’re the authority, as handed to them from on high. The hands and eyes of the god upon the mortal realm in a way that a lesser priest is not. A cleric/druid is intimately and inextricably tied to their god; They have the god’s ear and speak and act for them, and the rest of the faith follow. A priest who isn’t a divine caster serves the temple and god out of faith, but doesn’t wield divine authority. It’s not quite the same thing, but imagine that the non-divine casters are volunteers helping the people running the place, and the divine casters have taken oaths and have to live according to a set of ecclesial laws the rest of the world doesn’t have to. I mean most clergy took rites and responsibilities, but nowhere near the level a divine caster did. Picture the difference between a fighter and the old fashioned LG paladin. Perhaps both may serve Tyr faithfully, but the paladin has a code, powers and mythos that the fighter doesn’t.

You don’t really get into the higher ranks of the clergy without divine casting.

But even beyond what the gods themselves feel about it, I imagine the clergy would want some verification process for anyone who would represent their faith.

They often – maybe always – do have that, assuming the god hasn’t singled you out for service in which case the clergy are getting sent divine omens that say ‘this is my new cleric/druid’ and then they shut up and do as they’re told or face divine punishment (clerics and druids are not to refuse their god’s commands).

If you’re just a standard acolyte looking to take vows and serve the faith, the Ilmatari have an example:

The senior priest takes you for a quiet walk where you discuss your views on life and your desire to join the faith, ending in a meal where you voluntarily allow yourself to be drugged into a trance where the priests will examine your mind for any ulterior motive or anything hidden that makes you unsuited to their life. If all goes well: welcome to the faith, if not tough luck.

There are also vetting processes for climbing the ranks, which both mortal tradition and the god is involved in: 'Clerics in the service of a god will advance only if they please the god, by remaining faithful to the god's rules and aims, and acting as the god wishes.'

Non-clerics usually fill the bottom ranks, maybe never prograssing past acolyte or having their own vows idk (non-divine caster priests are generally overlooked and recommended as npcs only). Ascending ranks usually means divine caster, and involves a greater level of study, rites to pass, and getting further and further involved with your god (meaning more loyalty required and harsher sentences for betrayal and failure). Spell levels 1-2 come from training, like wizards. 3-5 are being granted by divine servants and messengers of the deity (solars, elementals, fiends, etc). 6+ are coming straight from the god.

Priesthoods tend to be extremely secretive about their inner workings, a good example found in how they treat their holy books*: those are often warded to high hell to make sure the wrong people (alignment, religion, intentions...) can’t get near them, and will insist on putting outsiders that want to see them through an obstacle course of tests and tasks and then still want to stand to the side and watch the visitor like a hawk while they read, ready to act if they do anything sketchy or blasphemous.

*Not like standard parables or the occasional history, like the really important sacred stuff straight from the deity, full of divine spells handed to their most holy. Holy relics and etc.

[ragingstillness]

Ok I have issues with tonight’s SVU:

26x8

I think something that the writers need to learn more about is closing off loose ends. Sometimes they do an excellent job, sometimes they do so poorly I think they’re not even trying. This episode was unfortunately the second one. Closing off loose ends is a relatively simple storytelling concept: if you want your audience to believe in the tension you created, you have to close off all obvious possible solutions besides those you present.

In this episode that looks like answering questions like:

By law there should be a back door to the building the bodega is in not to mention it’s on a corner so there should be a side door. Why did no one use it?

If Carisi was willing to tackle Boyd and fight for the gun why not do it sooner?

Why didn’t any of the hostages think to get a handmade weapon? Carisi was right next to the hot coffee pot at one point and it’s a bodega, surely they sell stuff like lighters and pocket knives.

Why did Diante not know about accomplice liability if he’d been to prison?

Why did Carisi and the red headed girl sit in the back and cry when Diante wasn’t paying them attention when they could have stormed in and rescued the girl being raped?

Why didn’t the redhead run when both she and her friend were shoved out of the door as meatshields?

Why did the cooler seem to have a door but also have a wall that was just strips of plastic?

Why didn’t they try to communicate with a megaphone?

Why didn’t the shopkeeper have a weapon behind the counter?

Why didn’t either of the girls try to fight?

How was it that they needed money to drink but Diante also said Boyd was already drunk?

Did the bodega have security cameras?

Now these questions are not genuine complaints and I don’t need complex answers for them, but a simple line here or there or a camera angle can answer all of these questions and it’s just that little attention to detail that makes the tension more engaging. As long as these questions are answered they aren’t lingering in the minds of the audience and the episode is more immersive.

Now onto my actual complaints. The HNT people were beyond rude to Liv and Amanda for no reason. They wasted so much time just squabbling. Liv was first officer on the scene and she outranked everyone else she should have been calling the shots without question.

Why is Liv’s name in Amanda’s phone “Olivia Benson.” Maybe this is nitpicky but according to the show they’ve been friends for thirteen years and Liv is the godmother of Amanda’s children it felt very impersonal.

If Amanda and Carisi were both at work who was watching their kids? They’ve put some emphasis this season on Carisi’s relationship with his children but they don’t even appear in this episode. That leads right into another complaint: why did Amanda not want Sonny around the girls? They gave no real reason for it besides “you’re not ready” and that was so vague it didn’t make sense. Aside from tackling Boyd, Carisi committed no violence that day, he wasn’t a threat to the children the way Amanda potentially was when she had PTSD and pulled a gun in her home. Did Amanda want him to herself to reassure herself he was safe? Kind of weak but more reasonable and if so why didn’t she just say that? A much better reason would have been something like “you’re probably going to have nightmares and I don’t want the kids scared/worried” or “the kids are already asleep” but that whole scene felt a bit patronizing and mean. Like they didn’t even offer to FaceTime the kids. Honestly, it felt like Amanda was cutting him out as a parent and some have said trouble in their marriage is going to be a plot point so I guess we’ll see.

Stop asking people if they’re fine/okay when the answer is clearly no! It’s annoying and dumb. Even something like “you’ll be ok” is less frustrating.

The robbers were just so stupid on so many counts. 1) robbing a bodega a few blocks from 1PP and the courthouse 2) not knowing what accomplice liability is 3) thinking the police would actually charter a flight for them 4) thinking they’d actually be allowed to leave the country 5) for Diante specifically, thinking that Carisi had any sort of debt to him because istg if Carisi feels guilty about double-crossing him I’m gonna scream 6) holding up a bodega for cash when you can get cash so many different ways that are also less risky 7) for Boyd, thinking he had time to rape someone and also that it wouldn’t turn his buddy or the other hostages completely against him. I mean, he turned out to be right on the first count but it was stupid. 8) not taking the money and items they already had and running. They never even found out how much was in the safe and it could have been traceable and how much fucking money do you need to get drinks?? I know they’re expensive nowadays but you should have been golden with that $300 for the whole night.

Taking Carisi’s wedding ring was just mean and I expected it to be a much bigger thing than it was.

Someone needs to shake Liv and tell her to stop being so self-sacrificial, I swear every time she ends up in a standoff she just forgets she has sole custody of a child.

Kind of amazed Liv didn’t have a drop gun. Also what’s the point of checking her ankles when she also has a massive coat with who knows how many pockets?

No Bruno this episode and I love him.

When is Liv going to just come out with it and claim Carisi as her son, this whole “my friend” thing should be reserved for her and Elliot being dumb with each other.

Still don’t like Amanda’s job at Intel.

Where even was Amanda? I’m guessing 1PP but that conference room looked like it was in the U.N.

No cliffhanger to keep us watching. Just a bad idea.

The few things I liked:

Neither Liv nor Carisi got shot.

The chick playing the rape victim was fucking amazing and her freak out after the fact felt so raw and real it was stunning.

Liv looked very pretty in the diner.

Carisi remains king of hugging he just like cuddles into everyone he hugs it’s so cute.

Side note from last episode: I am thoroughly convinced that the 1-6 is trying to spend all of Bruno’s money and it’s hilarious and I want to see it more.

[buckgettingstruck]

I also agree that theyre letting the storyline breathe!! I just think to some people its feel unproductive, even though I think sometimes its supposed to feel that way and thats getting lost in the sauce to some people. And then thats where a lot of the dooming/criticism is coming from. Also agree I never want them to bring up kim again its just bothering me that we dont know who knows why chris left 😭 its just nitpicky tbh (Hopefully my asks didnt come off as dooming though because honestly I feel far from that. 911 is all just vibes to me at this point <3 if the writing feels bad to me then so be it I’ll still be tuning in every week until I’m not. But genuinely I’ve enjoyed like 80-90% of the season so far)

yeah same honestly. i think your points are fair!and its like. i do get being upset by it and everything. its annoying. and eddie didnt deserve any of that. i just dont see the point in complaining yknow. i know they want to handle the actual storyline well and im just trying to have faith in that for now even if it takes a while longer

and no dw you dont sound like dooming!! my inbox has been full of it for some reason idk why

[snickerzanddoodlez]

I just don’t like Violet from Wordgirl. To be honest, I think she’s a bad friend.

I’d like to say: Violet is not a bad character. Some people may find her annoying, but I really don’t! Violet is fudging hilarious, her delivery is perfect and the show wouldn’t be the same without her.

But I don’t think she’s a good friend.

To clarify, this is an opinion! It’s not fact! I think early season Violet is a sweetheart and deteriorated later on. If you disagree? Great! Opinions are awesome!

Also, I know they’re ten haha, so don’t take this too seriously. I hold Violet to much different standards than I would an actual 10-year-old.

Also: I know Becky isn’t perfect! She has her off moments, but I think we see consistent effort from her to be as good a friend as she can.

I think there’s more to this story than just the events of “Rhyme and Reason”, but I think they’re worth acknowledging.

She reacts poorly, getting upset, offended, etc….but she isn’t the only one to go through this.

Scoops finds out about her secret identity as well, and expresses that he’s offended by it- but he does not go through the same guilt-tripping theatrics that Violet does. Yes, Violet and Becky are closer friends than Scoops and Becky, but it’s worth acknowledging.

I’ll elaborate more on Rhyme and Reason later. There’s another episode that I think displays some issues with Violet as a friend.

In “Too Loud Crew”, Becky- after avoiding being truthful- admits that she doesn’t feel comfortable at Violet’s house. Violet immediately takes offense to this- “Well, maybe I don’t feel comfortable at YOUR house!”- storming off, etc.. We see why Becky is uncomfortable at her house (the singing stone and things of the sort), and even while she’s trying to apologize Violet insists that she has to follow the house rules.

In the end, Violet says “just tell me how you feel next time”….and she did! This line wouod be more understandable if she overheard Becky complaining about Violet’s house to someone else, but Becky did tell her how she felt. Yes, this is nitpicky, I realize that…..for me, another example of something that I wouldn’t get mad at if there weren’t so many other things I was made at.

It’s sad, because I don’t think Violet was always a bad friend. Especially in the early Birthday Girl episodes (I.e. The Birthday Girl and Slumber Party Pooper) she seems much more genuine and does much more for Becky’s sake.

Upon watching “Slumper Party Pooper”, (an episode where Violet accidentally tells Eileen about Wordgirl’s slumber party, and she comes to disrupt it) @skwangly-fingers and I joked that if this were a later episode, Violet would be mad that Becky was ruining Eileen’s birthday. Though we were joking, we do think there’s a sharp decline in Violet’s overall “good-friend-ness”.

Something else that rubs me the wrong way is that Violet wins who matter what. I don’t think this in itself makes her a bad person and would be funny to me if it didn’t feel like she always gets whatever she wants.

For example, in “A Vote for Becky” she wins the class election without even running. This is played as a joke, and isn’t really Violet’s fault- but I think how often she gets things she didn’t even ask for has not helped my resentment towards this child.

Art’s Parts is an episode I think is worth mentioning. It displays negative traits from both Becky and Violet….and I think my main issue with it is that the argument of “which is more powerful, art or words?” only ends with Becky realizing art is powerful, not both sides learning to understand each other…..which (this could be incorrect) feels like a theme in the show. Becky always seems to bend to fit Violet’s wants, but barely vice versa.

I think Violet gets much more upset during their argument than necessary, but so does Becky. The argument is here at 2:15 https://youtu.be/clKDbs6XqrQ?si=De4XZwaObUuHJIN8. This scene I felt was important to include.

I just think as the series goes on, she becomes more ignorant to Becky’s feelings.

Now, onto everyone’s talking point: Rhyme and Reason.

I would like to point out that evidence finding out Wordgirl is Becky, Violet seemed to really look up to Wordgirl, at least early on. She makes some less than flattering remarks, but we have to remind ourselves that Violet did not realize she was talking to Wordgirl herself when she said them.

I think Violet’s theatrics when she discovers Becky’s identity don’t paint her in a very flattering light. Yes, I understand that it’s there to build suspense, and I think it’s very good writing! But keeping some of her other behavior in mind, it can really come across like Violet is playing mind games with her.

“All you’ve ever done is lie to me.” I understand that she is emotional, and that could be causing her to say some things she doesn’t truly mean, but this line especially rubs me the wrong way, especially because Violet never apologizes, nor is she ever implied to be in the wrong, when I’d argue that she is for at least some of what she says.

I think it’s the difference between “Have you ever meant anything you’ve said?” and “All you’ve ever done is lie to me.” One is a genuine question born out of emotion, one feels more as though it comes from a place of bitterness.

Again, I think the moment is masterfully written, but I don’t think it’s very flattering to Violet. And again, I don’t think this scene would bother me so much if Violet herself didn’t do so much outside of it to provoke me.

I think Athena P puts her opinions very well. I don’t agree with everything she says, but I think it’s important to include (also, Athena P is one of my favorite YouTubers. Very based. Pog, if you will. Go watch her, she has some spicy takes but is very entertaining and is the person who got me into the show.)

ATHENA P: “So at first I thought Violet infuriated me because she gets everything she wants. She’s dating Scoops- the guy Becky likes-, she was the lead in the school play, she even won class president despite her not even running. But what really threw me over the edge was the Halloween episode where she’s just eating up that everyone thinks she’s Wordgirl……

But what really gets me, the real reason I am beefing with this ten year old, is her entitlement.

In Too Loud Crew, Becky tries expressing to Violet that she just feels uncomfortable in Violet’s house. So instead of Violet hearing out her friend, she immediately jumps to defensiveness. Why don’t you want to come over to my house? Oh, you’re uncomfortable? I always hang out at your house! So Becky, as always, tries to compromise, she goes over to Violet’s house and tries to make herself comfortable until Violet points out that Becky is holding the SINGING stone which means that Becky has to sing her feelings- actually, it was even stupider…”

“I really think that they wrote her to be annoying. So if anyone feels otherwise I’m sorry but this is my video. This leads me to the two-part series finale where Violet realizes that Becky is Wordgirl. This earth-shattering realization leads Violet to say that they can’t be friends anymore and she doubts they were ever friends to begin with- Violet, you are not the first person to realize that Becky is Wordgirl and no one has reacted this mellow-dramatically.

I understand the use of the “I feel lied and deceived” trope, I understand that it builds tension and makes people feel like they weren’t let in on an important part of their important friend’s life. That being said, it’s also just stupid. I’m sorry. I think they dropped the ball in the finale. I don’t think they’re realized it was gonna be a series finale, ‘cause it was a fine season finale.

I also don’t blame Becky for not telling Violet when Violet couldn’t even keep her mouth shut about Becky’s first sleepover to the only person Becky didn’t want to invite! …. My theory is that Violet isn’t used to her friend being the exceptional one.

She’s used to her friend being a word nerd but not THE word nerd. She even says something along the lines of, “but you’re not just Becky! You’re Wordgirl, you’re so much more” which if I were Becky I’d be very insulted by.”

If you have any disagreements or anything you think I should add to this post, please let me know! All I ask is that you’re respectful….I wouldn’t hold real ten-year-olds to the standard I hold Violet to, haha!

Again, this is my opinion, if you like Violet, great! Again, I think she’s charming and funny, I just think she’s not the greatest friend.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Katara Propaganda

"She's smart. She's powerful. She an eco-terrorist. She's got the ability to grow as a person. She's a victim of misogynistic fans who codify her as an annoying bitch (sadly not affectionate) cause she's the "mom character." And that's all she will ever be is "The mom character." She bested Azula and could blood bend your ass but won't cause she's chosen not to be a monster! But she's the annoying mom instead."

"if i have to hear ONE MORE *touches necklace* joke i’m gonna mcfreaking lose it"

"despite being one of the most well-written feminist characters of children’s TV, the fandom decides to define her based on her very realistic 14-year-old girl flaws. Ignoring her complex independent arcs and motivations, people love justifying their hatred towards her based on her one line directed at Sokka that he didn’t love his mother as much as she did. Which, if we’re being nitpicky, isn’t so harsh given that it was Katara who shouldered most of the burden of her death, as well as Sokka’s admittance that he doesn’t even remember his mother. Not to mention that ALL the characters make selfish mistakes given the fact that they’re all aged 12-15??? (Aang hiding Katara and Sokka’s father’s letter, anyone???) She really is an elegant breakthrough of the typical female character molds of “girl who is badass” and “girl with a crush on the mc who sits on the sidelines” and it’s so frustrating to see her get the most hate out of the Gaang"

Yukari Propaganda

"YUKARI PROPAGANDA: SHE IS LITERALLY SO CORRECT ABOUT EVERYTHING. People call her a bitch for uhh [checks notes] having a a brief freak out after she's shown live footage of her father's gruesome death? For [checks notes] accusing Mitsuru of lying to them about important information (which turned out to be COMPLETELY TRUE, by the way, but fans still mock her for this)? For [checks notes one last time] being mean to Junpei, who gives as good as he gets with rude and sometimes sexist comments in response? And even then, several times she apologizes or reassures him that she was just kidding when he seems genuinely upset by her words, so it's not like she isn't compassionate towards him. She is also routinely mocked and villainized for (huge spoilers) wanting to risk it all to attempt to save the protagonist after he passes away saving the world. To be fair, this turns out to have been the wrong choice, but let's be real -- she was a grieving teenager trying to save her friend slash crush. Yes, she was emotionally all over the place during The Answer. Of course she was! THE WORLD ALMOST ENDED AND HER FIRST LOVE HAD TO DIE TO SAVE EVERYONE. LIKE, THAT JUST HAPPENED TO HER. And everyone somehow just expects her to behave perfectly rationally when she's a 17 year old girl who just lost someone important to her and also almost died with the rest of humanity. Girl is traumatized and grieving and all people can do is call her a hysterical bitch or whatever other shit they wanna come up with." (by @ragecndybars)

"she's NOT a bitch she has a hard time opening up to people + she's a 17 year old dealing with grief after one of those people dies leave her alone!!"

[yanderefairyangel]

Pocket Mirror for the choose violence ask meme

Oh all of them ?

the character everyone gets wrong Fleta I think. People keep flanderzing her as that bratty spoiler kid forgetting she is that side of Goldia who just couldn't enjoy her childhood.

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom Goldia isn't ready for any of this.

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr I don't think I ever saw any ?

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person? Aside from pornbot, I don't block anyone

worst discord server and why I am not on discord

which ship fans are the most annoying? I don't know any annoying ships fans within this fandom, but there again the shipping landscape for PM varries from very tame to non-existen

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? Oh I don't think I have any for that game

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about Fleta isn't just an annoying brat

worst part of canon The fact that the bad endings have no real relevance to canon since you still need to finish the game

worst part of fanon I have no idea

number of fandom-related words you've filtered I have never used that feature

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them Is Lisette unpopular ?

worst blorboficiation Whoever looks at the Mysterious boy and says "He did nothing wrong" because "he is a literal child"

that one thing you see in fics all the time There is PM fic ?

that one thing you see in fanart all the time Call me nitpicky, but the character's hair color being wrong. In all fairness, it's Kira who admitted to have choosen the wrong palette

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) Aside from the shipping with some characters I don't see anything and the shipping part is just because in PM I genuinely do not care about romance

there should be more of this type of fic/art Goldia and Elise family fluff

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... Goldia's brother, Henry

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like... Egliette. There I said it.

part of canon you found tedious or boring Hum ... does something like this exist in PM ?

part of canon you think is overhyped The Fleta phase of the game. I know it's the longest but it's not the most exicting part

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores The fact that Platinium is not talked about more along with Goldia's DID is a crime in itself

ship you've unwillingly come around to Idk Goldia x Mysterious boy ?

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse Please tell me there isn't any discourse in the PM fandom

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing Goldia is not a Mary sue.

[derekscorner]

Witchy Timez: Origins

Part Five & the art-style so good it's supernatural

Welp I finally got to playing Origins a while back. Finished it a week or two ago. I wanted to add it to my other Bayonetta rambles (listed at the end) but I wasn't sure what to add really.

I found the game good and very pretty. It's art-style is genuinely it's greatest asset. They wanted to portray it like it was a storybook and they did it so well that it's hard to put into words.

Gameplay was fine too. I had a few personal issues at most.

Game-Play(ed)

My biggest complaint was the lack of a mini-map. I felt the game needed one badly. I was opening the menus to view the map every few minutes and got lost more than once.

Which, yes, is a bit funny because the purpose of the Avalon Forest is to be a maze but it can leave you frustrated if you plan to track down all the items and Wisps.

My second issue was a very personal and nitpicky one. I didn't like Cheshire's forms by the end of the game. It got a tad annoying to swap repeatedly when I'm having to control both he and Cereza at once.

Had I no experience with TWEWY in my youth I imagine I'd be even more annoyed with the set up there. That said, I do like the abilities so rather than forms I wish Cheshire had abilities rather than forms.

Something to streamline the annoyance of color-coded enemies regardless of how lite they are used.

Hell, I wouldn't even have this complaint at all if I had free access to unbound Cheshire after you complete the game. His unbound form is what I would prefer in this situation.

They'd have to nerf it compared to the unbound form naturally but it would be a welcome idea....watch someone comment that you can unlock unbound Cheshire as soon as I post this.

Dat Story

I don't even know what to say on a base level here. The story was solid given what we've seen of young Cereza in Bayonetta 1. Watching her befriend a newborn demon is cute even if their squabble arc could be seen a mile ahead.

It also makes you genuinely curious about the fairies as a facet of the Bayonetta universe. Several things in this game make you more curious about the Bayo-verse in fact.

Such as Prince Lukaon, Morgana, and the whole unseen backstory of the fairy kings. The whole nature of the mischievous creatures is fascinating and they offer an odd parallel to humanity.

Hell, let's just dive into the broader strokes of that multiverse.

The magical & non-magical

As we learned in Bayonetta 1 & 2, humanity itself is weak. They lack magic and die easily. They only gained a semblance of power through Aesir's mercy but even then they couldn't do much.

The whole reason Lumen Sages & Umbra Witches form pacts with Heaven & Hell is to gain power. Their magic is tied to that and their soul is the cost they pay.

But like I mentioned in a previous post, the world of chaos is fittingly full of parallel timelines and pocket dimensions because it is, by definition, without solid order.

There is a future for every human there is to shape that future. Purgatory itself only exists as a pocket space between Chaos, Heaven, and Hell.

However, as if to exist in counterbalance, Chaos does have it's own form of magical being, the Fae. We don't know where they came from nor do we know which timeline they hide in.

Going by Bayo 3 and Origins they seem to pick specific worlds to hide in implying they have a means to jump them. It's possible that Avalon Forest itself branches into more than one world given how it feels as if it's a world unto itself when you play Origins.

Vast enough to have warring kingdoms and kings. Countries hidden in illusions. It's all very fascinating stuff and I find myself hoping to see more of it....well with caveats.

Baoynetta 3's Shadow

You know I would have to bring it up when it's shown that this Cereza is the younger version of Bayo 3. If you complete the Jeanne chapter you even see ol' Singularity himself. We also see that this Jeanne is the one that'll die in the third game.

This...did not sit right with me. Many others praise this reveal because they feel it fixed some of Bayonetta 3's story but I had the opposite impression. It felt like patch work, a band-aid.

Just like Bayo 3 it also opens up other cans of multiverse worms. Such as Prince Lukaon and his relationship with King Lukaon and every version of Luka to exist ever.

How can the king of Fae be Luka's variant if the prince Lukaon died? There's several ways theorize theorize that question of course but it's the question existing at all that kind annoys me.

Is Luka the prince's reincarnation? The game does make a note to point out the unknown destination of fairies when they die. Is King Lukaon a version of the prince that lived to adulthood? Probably.

Then there's the question of this backstory. The extra chapter makes it explicit that this is bayonetta 3 Cereza as she's referred to by the 3rd games villain via the name "Arch-Eve Origin".

Yet, the issue of Bayo 3's ending splitting the previous titles crops up. Sure, we know that young Cereza in Bayo 1, this Cereza from Origins, and the Bayo 3 Cereza are the same person.

But what about Cheshire? Why does Viola have Cheshire when it's made clear she's not this specific Cereza's daughter. Does Cheshire have variants due to being a young demon or is he just a single demon that's partial to Bayonetta in all forms due to his experiences?

Hell, does this backstory also apply to the Cereza of Bayo 1 & 2? Does it apply to even more such as Beta Cereza (viola's mother)?

From what I can tell the devs are being smart enough not to clarify but I do think this makes Bayo 3 messier in ways. It doesn't harm this games story or fun to me.

These questions only really pop up if you've played Bayo 3 and the Jeanne chapter....

THEN THERE WAS THE FUCKING EYES

I was trying to ignore it but I can't. I had a whole separate post for these eyes because it's a personal irk of mine. Do they still exist? Don't they?!

Sure, this is in the past. We saw Baldur regain his right eye once he was thrown back to his proper time but that just amplifies the headache!

On the one hand, her having the eye still explains how she defeated a fully matured witch BUT ON THE OTHER WHY IS IT STILL HERE?

To hell with arch-eve's. If the eyes still exist then Singularity is a fucking fool for not trying to claim them. Arch-Eve's & Adams may be a way to collapse the timelines but by hell the eyes are the objects of a god.

They MADE that world of Chaos. They briefly gave it order. He could find a timeline, steal the eyes, and be done. The eyes and eves existing in tandem adds to the headache. I don't understand if they were erased from one timeline or all of them.

Do they just cease to exist in the present due to Bayo 2? If they persist regardless then why have this stupid Arch-eye plot? Just go for the fucking eyes.

The worst part is that I'm unsure I even want an answer. The multiverse as presented in Bayonetta 3 hasn't been that well done and even this mini tangent I've added at the end is mostly my nitpicks.

But I do worry they will double down. If you can't construct it well or at least pass off the paradoxes with levity then don't try it. Please.

Conclusion

All in all a good game. Love the art-style, love little Cereza's story, I even love how the game goes from this new thing to full on Bayonetta in the final battle.

You can quite literally feel the shift from beating up fairies to kicking a witches ass as soon as Cereza says her iconic "let's dance" line.

It's just the minor things that annoyed me at worst. No mini-map, lite color-coded enemies, all the multiverse sh*t t hey snuck in with Jeanne's chapter.

As with any Bayo game it's very good as is. It's only someone like me who'd be bothered by what's mentioned. Not for story consistency so much as character consistency.

Action game stories tend to be less serious and more setting so any time you see someone mad at a Bayonetta or Devil May Cry type of game it's usually because it's really bad to play or a character was just did wrong.

Anywho, bye now~

==========

For the rest of the Witchy Timez Ramblings go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/Witchy-Timed