#it's in the damn script lol

[randomnameless]

I didn’t know people were starting shit now

https://www.tumblr.com/raxistaicho/726578348498812928/httpswwwtumblrcomrandomnameless7265622248591?source=share

Sometimes it's funny how people follow predictable patterns!

I wonder if this means I'll get new "totally unrelated" anon asks or not?

[juaneloriginal]

wow death

i love drawing black like like this, makes him look kinda scary

@blackkatdraws

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[charmac]

Cut Mac and Dee scene from The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby in which Dee attempts to leave D.B. at a police station:

[michaeljoncarter]

can somebody please sound the alarm and get that little bitch from kotaku back on the bioware beat because i desperately need to know how the hell something like veilguard even happens

[stupidhany]

Thinking of them again

[no1ryomafan]

I’m not someone to complain about dubs cause I REALLY don’t care what people watch unless it’s a really inaccurate dub but there is something so infuriating about a dub that has a solid voice cast and direction but then you compare the sub and quality wise there on a similar level but then you see how they change lines, pause and go “what the fuck”

(I am talking about the casshern sins dub which- god damn it funanimation)

[cerealmonster15]

Actually I am in fact having a very silly fic idea and I want to write it but it’s well past 1am and I should be ASLEEP!!! But im jotting down notes….

[hecksupremechips]

Ralsei deltarune is literally so sketchy but also have we considered. That’s hes cute your honor have we considered this

[0dotexe]

Hello hi I am so normal about my current fictional crush (P03)

[randomnameless]

Artbook stuff on the contract ceremony which ultimately led to writing rapport conversations!

There was a timeline where Alain might have been able to marry a polar bear !

All jokes aside,

They first planned to only have the six "princesses" to be romanceable aka Scarlett, Berengaria, Virginia, Yunifi and the elf twins.

(Alain wasn't supposed to be able to go after Monica and ruin Clive's life lol)

Ultimately they wrote rapport conversation to make the "and I pick you as my wife!" flow better, and ultimately, by allowing every character to get the ring, we got convos for everyone.

Also confirmation the rapport conversations weren't all written by the same person?

Ultimately, while I stil think some of those conversations and the maiden ceremony feels forced - because it has been thought with "romance" in mind - at least some of them kept the character's network, and didn't sever it for "romancing the lord" purposes.

Like, Berengaria - while being romanced and all - ultimately returns to her brother, which is the culmination of her character arc, accepting that her brother misses her and spending time with him instead of pushing him away.

But, there are still weird things like Yunifee not returning to Bastorias, and no mention or Ramona or Morad in her Alain ending, when the Bastorias arc ended up with Yunifee telling Morad she'd forever hate him if he left without saying a thing, because of some perceived "I don't belong here" feeling.

I mean, it's surely the loc "flowery" script, but Yunifi calling her beloved Bastorias "her frigid home"??? Bastorias sure is cold because snow/north/blizzard and all, but it's holding because the people form warm bonds regardless of their tribes/race (at least in Ramona's mind, and Yunifee is her adopted daughter!).

and then lol for Alain ditching the throne to travel around the world once the restauration is complete, somehow didn't read the Gerard memoirs

That being said, bar ranting about some MC related stuff, rapport convos between characters who aren't Alain don't serve any purpose in the "maiden" quest...

And yet, I'm glad the devs considered them, because while it might have been compared to some FEs (remember people, FE10 had no support conversations!) it, imo, tremendously helped in fleshing out Fevrith, and developing more the characters. Hell, I wouldn't give three figs about Jeremy (i lie he's a good unit when he can hit) if he didn't have his rapport convos with Mordon, Gilbert or Berenice. Ditto for Eltrinde who can only appear for the later half of the Elheim plot, but is a more vibrant and interesting character in her rapport convos.

Rapport convos were a good idea, even if they were first thought with the "dating sim" aspect in mind : they ultimately became the way through which your units aren't mere generics with a special face and a mission each, but characters you can grow fond of!

(which is why I'm a bit sad for the Albion and some Bastorias characters, they don't have a lot of convos :'( ).

[hua-fei-hua]

due to a series of wacky hijinks, am watching a recording of a peking opera called "a drunken concubine", but the only subtitles are in simplified chinese so like fuck me i guess. anyway having read a summary in english beforehand i at least know the gist of the plot, and i am, like, surprisingly enthralled by what's going on

[anders-hawke]

you could even say that greek mythology is my achilles heel

[grandmofftarkinsuggestions]

i'm assuming this is an alt cut/take. i've talked a bit about how much i love the physicality of peter cushing's acting, and, while i think these line deliveries are weaker (and even the word choices are blander) than what was in the movie, i do find his body language here fascinating.

peter was all about small mannerisms and subtle details with his characters, and he utilizes this when tarkin physically intimidates leia in this scene (physically backing her up against vader, grabbing her chin, etc.,) in both this take and the one actually used. his physical proximity to the camera by being filmed from the waist up (something they initially weren't going to do until peter requested so to be able to wear more comfy shoes on set) could've severely limited the scenes with tarkin, but instead just add more emphasis to his subtle movements and physical intimidation.

even the parts when he isn't standing directly next to leia, the camera is angled in a way that makes him take up so much of the screen that he feels closer. part of me wishes that they had kept/shown him pushing leia back with his arm after he turns away from her, but the final cut feels more claustrophobic, powerful, and emotional by instead focusing on leia's anguished reaction as she lunges forward.

[pxper-cranes]

TikTok trying to create their own Goncharov without understanding the first thing about its conception and why it was effective. Istg there's always someone trying to outdo the doer

[aromanticasterisms]

collei's coming back to mond for windblume :'']]]