#it's a super common and excellent trope

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Thailand is back in charge

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

June 2024 Week 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Goodday (Sat YT) ep 7 of 12 - There is so much to love about this pair. But one of the things I truly adore is what great communicators they are about what they want & need as friends & as lovers. As boyfriends? Not so much. But the way they can (and do and did) communicate speaks well to their ability to communicate in the future, once they have resolved the inevitable doom the BL gods will reign down upon us over the next 3-4 eps. I guess what I am say is... these two are gonna be awesome husbands.

The break up was sad but inevitable.

Yay for a crying kiss. I do so love a crying kiss! 

Can we talk about the fact that all that tension was worth it?

Excellent kiss all round from GreatInn. Possibly one of the best of the year. Their only issue in winning this category in 2024 is that they're up against OffGun, TayNew, and JimmySea, not to mention BillyBabe... and MosBank coming soon. But I gotta say, for a new pair? Fantastic work boys.

My Stand-In (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I literally spent this whole show saying “Oh, Poor Joe!” Which is now the actual name of his character: Poor Joe. He's like the country music sad sack. How much is this narrative gonna keep kicking him while he's down?  

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 - Star Hunter + MosBank + a beloved familiar face? You ready? Let's go. I got a lot to say.

Unexpected supernatural historical paranormal mythological Sign-esk elements happening in our dream sequence opening. I’m not mad about it. But I do think it’s going to be mishandled in the dubious hands of Star Hunter. My BLabies, no matter what else, with Star Hunter we can rest assured there will be chaos and narrative mess. And now, lucky us, there will be a supernatural mess. But at least it will be sexy and high heat.

Honestly, I'm not worried about MosBank and I know what to expect from Star Hunter,. So we're all on the same page.

Meanwhile, enter a cute side couple (normal for this studio). WAIT a second I know that face! That's Tenon of PitchBank fame (side couple, and only good thing about, Golden Blood). I’m sad to see his pair busted, but delighted to see him pop up again in a BL.

Tenon appreciation time: He kisses beautifully everyone, and he is a killer eye-emoter. We are in for a real treat with this actor. (Especially if we get to a place in the narrative where he pines. OH PLEASE MAKE HIM PINE.)

Okay back to the show. I love Tenon but I also LOVE his infiltrating, wicked smart, younger brother character. This role is great for him. I adore an industrial spy. I enjoy a rich boy pretending to be an intern in his family's company (yes it's a trope, just not common in BL). Excellent work Thailand. No notes.

In conclusion?

It’s a cheesy silly office BL and I am enjoying it immensely because I have no expectations. So don't burst my bubble. Star Hunter is bound to do that on its own without tumblr's help.

We Are Cute (Weds iQIYI) ep 11 of 16 - Oh my God they are all so cute! I love the beginning bit when Peem was feeling down and Phum tried to cheer him up. Ridiculously charming. All the sides were super adorbs too. The actual name of this show is "We Are Cute". Meanwhile, Kluen = the only boy in a BL ever to take his unfinished drink with him? I like him even more now. 

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - New take on the umbrella trope to be trapped under a parasol together. NO SINGING. Honestly? I am not loving this as much as I really wanted to love it. It's the middle of the rankings for good reason. I do like the idea of historical Cinderfella BL though. Why isn't that what I'm watching? The play with in a play is a dangerous trope to deploy, it only distracts my with attractive possibilities. 

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - I'm gonna try to cycle back to ending this rap-up week on Saturdays, which means the recap for this episode will be in next week's weekly (so to speak). Meanwhile, I am doing a Trash watch on this show. Hopefully that will get updated tomorrow.

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - It’s fun enough. Kind of a pulpy lark. Best + Seng = a surprisingly good match.

Only Boo! (Sun YT) ep 10 of 12 - Good kiss from the sides. No surprises there. The main’s kissing was fine too, I guess. I like that they had a genuine struggle with being an idol and not being able to date. It’s nice to see that depicted on screen in a BL. I wish we had a bit more of a montage around the rise & success of Moo's boy group. But I understand the money in play for this kind of show prohibits that. All in all? It’s fine. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - Oof. This ep was painful. So much awkward desperation and confusion. Oh Japan, must you?

Crazy to be in a place and time where there is no other noted non-Thai BLs airing. Not even from Korea. What is going on? Are we in 2020 all over again? Please no.

It's airing but...

The Last Time (Thai Fri YT?) - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Can't find it.

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ???) 10 eps - I can't find it. Comments from last week suggest this is not my thing anyway, but Lee Long Shi very much IS my thing. I've put the search on hold for a bit and y'all can let me know if it's worth tracking down. Also, who knew Frank & Big could kiss like that? Not me.

ARGH could Monster Next Door please just start airing. I am SO tired of waiting for Big to lead out a BL. It should have happened years ago. *grumbles in chronic second lead syndrome*

In case you missed it

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru 2 AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai 2 Haime! (Japan movie) - Continues the (frankly) lackadaisical story from part 1 ans was meant to drop yesterday. We thought maybe Gaga, but nothing so far.

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. Devastated this hasn't had international distribution.

As others see us: NuNew's 'Awful' Performance in BABYMONSTER's 'SHEESH' Goes Viral - I don't like BL being noticed by Kpop stans. I flipping LOATHE this song and I'm not wild about Babym. This is all 'round uncomfortable making and I want it to stop.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

June Releases Still Coming

6/26 The Rebound (Thai Weds Gaga) - MeenPing are back in their 3rd BL together, a basketball based romance (Meen was a national basketball player, so yay for that). I like this pair better than most (I still do miss Meen with Est but Est has a fantastic looking new BL coming from GMMTV so yeah...) Anyway I'm up for a sports romance starring a man who, yah know, actually played that sport so... I'm game (pun intended).

6/26 I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) 10 eps - A new series adaptation of beloved yaoi I Hear the Sunspot (first adaptation was feature film Silhouette of Your Voice 2017).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Forget "boyfriends but they don't realize it." These two are married but they don't realize it.

Praise be, he didn't leave his full drink behind. BEST BOY.

It was a great make out sesh.

THAT LIP BITE.

All round excellent ep this week, We Are Cuties.

Top tier flirting banker from the fuck buddies though. Man, their innuendo is on point. And I do mean that point. (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity

@rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember.

[bethanydelleman]

I'm usually pretty diligent about keeping my Kdrama obsession on my sideblog, but everyone, you need to hear about Queen of Tears.

You know the super common trope of mysterious, work-obsessed, emotionally-constipated rich guy falls for a "poor" (usually middle class), spunky, every-girl? (what Pride & Prejudice is commonly mistaken for) Kdramas LOVE that trope. They love it to death. And because their format is almost always 12-16 episode miniseries and then done, you end with a marriage and "happily ever after".

Queen of Tears is set three years later and the Happily Ever After Couple is headed for divorce. Turns out that even true love can't overcome terrible communication and awful families. Maybe acts of service done in secret isn't a great love language. Their Destined, Soul-Mates relationship has crumbled and it's all due to very logical fall-out from trauma and their personalities. It is excellent. It's also gender-swapped for extra fun.

I love it to death and more people need to know it exists.

[mikuni14]

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo - Ep 7-8

There have certainly been many smart words written about the finale, I've managed to read only one post so far (and I totally agree with it), I've got a busy end of the week and don't really have time to read more. So I'll quickly list what I particularly liked about the finale:

as far as I can tell, the series probably wrapped up all the threads. Some things may be a bit incomprehensible, but I think that may have been the creators' intention, so that we could guess many things rather than be told specifically by the series. Like, for example, the reasons why JuYeong stayed and took care of DoHoe's father. There could be several such reasons and each one is good (and each one could be wrong lol). Such a wrap-up of threads, a satisfying finale and leaving viewers with a sense of closure is not that common in BL series, especially those that aspire to be more serious, we all know that 🤷‍♀️ so I really appreciate it!

the actors are excellent, I really liked, for example, how looking at DoHoe's body, figure, face, one could clearly deduce his current condition. This zombie-like rigidity, apathy versus ease, a broad smile, uncontrollable bursts of laughter... it was just 👌

I liked this juxtaposition of the oppressive, homophobic, obedience-enforcing and punishing version of religion, with the positive version of religion, i.e. "and the truth shall set you free" :) Because yes, truth, honesty, liberated DoHoe, made him feel free at last, made him feel at peace

I liked this "simple, ordinary" ending in general, where the answer turned out to be a simple, ordinary truth and honesty. Even if it involves pain, loss of something, consequences. And how even these consequences cannot overshadow the overwhelming sense of freedom and peace that is immediately visible in DoHoe. I like the lack of a sugary-sweet ending: DoHoe suffers the consequences of his lies, although as viewers we root for him and want him not to be punished at all

I absolutely love JuYeon's unconditional feelings, how he helps DoHoe over and over again, just like HyeonHo, who, even when rejected, after a difficult conversation, is still ready to help DoHoe

just like the unconditional standing by the child, even at their own expense

JuYeong, when he is serious and so matter-of-fact, when he sees reality for what it is, not believing DoHoe's "mean" but also empty words about breaking up. How many such situations have we seen, when one rejects the other for Noble Motives, or Out of Fear, or for some other Bullshit Reason, when due to an irritating lack of communication the other leaves hurt and then, frustrated, we watch them suffer for several episodes convinced of their unrequited love 😬 JuYeong is not like that, he knows DoHe, he believes in his love, he doesn't believe DoHoe's words because he knows him - this knowledge of the other person, their past, their personality is something I love in my romances, and what makes me believe in love watched on screen as a viewer. Personally, I can't stand this trope when someone is pretending or saying something ooc for them and the other person just buys it. I always ask then: do you even know who you love? Because it's so obvious ooc for them! 😤Super happy that JuYeong is like "I'm not going anywhere and I don't think you actually mean it"

I love how they talk about themselves, their relationship, their life together, their future together, like a real couple, real people 🥰

I love JuYeong because he educated himself in various, sometimes serious, sometimes funny topics 🤩 I often hear men people complaining that they can't handle various things because their parents / school / no one taught them, while Google and books in the library are free. JuYeong asks the internet how to live and how to be a perfect little boyfriend for his pookie and the internet answers him lmao, this is just so simple and perfect. JuYeong is the best!

teddy-bear pajamas! (I will put a gif of them later, love it so much!)

HyeonHo is so fiiiiiine

(apologies for the screenshot from the gray pages but I can't make them on Gaga)

To sum up: I won't hide the fact that whether it's my own fault, or the fault of the subtitles, or the plot, or the aura of depressiveness, but episodes 4-7 were incomprehensible and chaotic for me in some parts, overly complicated at times with conversations full of ambiguities and understatements to the point of being incomprehensible (but I also completely buy the fact that I'm just too stupid to catch all the nuances lol). Overall, the series is very good, although unlike Where Your Eyes Linger, I can only watch it once. The series showed the long-term effects of domestic violence very well, realistically but with respect for the victims, without sugarcoating, without idealizing the victims. It also showed struggling with traumas, which is not always successful, it also shows how important unconditional support is, but also coming face to face with the unpleasant consequences of untreated traumas. It shows the value of love, friendship, honesty, doing what is right, without irritating moralizing. The series had a very realistic vibe, I was able to imagine all of DoHoe's feelings, and the actor convincingly played him as a lost kid, tangled in his own guilt, traumas, lies, yearning for love and hope - even though he is an adult.

The only tiny reservation I have about the series is that I would like more of JuYeong, who has also suffered so much, but from the beginning he has been a strong,leading force in their relationship and is often "the adult one". However, his type of personality, his openness, courage, honesty and straightforwardness are responsible for the fact that he copes relatively better with difficult situations. So it's not really any complaint, more an observation ;)

But apart from that, this series is really good aaaand has a good, happy ending, yay!💖

[raribella]

THE FIVE TIMES YOU SAID NETEYAM'S NAME AND THE ONE YOU COULDN'T | N.S.

© raribella 2022, do not repost, modify or translate!

summary: a super angsty take on the trope. self-explanatory I guess.

pairing: Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan x Metkayna!reader

genre: strangers to friends to lovers. angst with no happy ending.

involves: major character death, omaticaya x metkayna, learning the metkayna clan's ways, scolding, slight fluff, angst.

word count: 1,3k

notes: I wanted to write this very quickly as soon as I had the idea because I have three other Neteyam ideas (another blurb and two one-shots) but I think this one is an excellent way of launching my writing on the Avatar fandom. I adore this movie since I was 5 years old it's just so emotionally important to me and they kill off my love in the first movie of the saga I watched at the cinema?? gross. I'm not used to writing a sad ending to angsty stories but this is no fix-it fic, really, it's just me in my feels. I'm watching AWOW for the third time next Tuesday and I'm so excited!

NETEYAM? – As you met with the Omaticaya family for the first time, noticing how their skin was adorned with a darker shade of blue, their eyes shined in a nearly neon shade of amber, and they had feathers and colorful seeds adorning their braids. As the Toruk Makto, known by the clan since the war told his family in a stern tone to greet your Olo'eyktan Tonowari, you repeated their eldest son's name in your mind, liking how it sounds, feeling a different pull towards the family, like Eywa herself wanted and needed you to be a part of their journey here.

IS- IS NETEYAM HERE? – As you asked for the boy in front of the mauri the Sullys had accepted for themselves. It was shy, you were starting to get to know each other as you helped Tsireya and Ao'nung with teaching the family the Metkayna ways. You were part of a simple, common family in the clan, but being close friends with Tsireya, she giggled as you told her before of how the eldest son of the Sully had struck your attention, and she vividly nodded, saying that Lo'ak, the youngest, made her feel like she was being pulled into them. After that, you started helping her with the swimming and breathing lessons, and as you patched Neteyam up after he fell off his ilu, trying to make the bond, inkimaya, for the first time, you discovered how the both of you had so much in common, and so much to contrast, that it became routine to walk the waterfront while talking about your day. Neteyam would tell you stories about the forest, how he learned to fish, how he flew his ikran, and the pressure he felt sometimes, and you would tell him about the creatures you usually saw, about your soul sister, Epeyfwa, and how she would soon come with the tulkun migration, as the bioluminescent seaweed would make the glowing waves slightly brush your feet.

NETEYAM, you skxawng! – As you reached to hit his forehead, the both of you on top of your ilus, him cocking his head to the side with a grin, chuckling. You always told Neteyam that he didn't need to actually be perfect, and he always felt so at ease when he was with you. Time spent with you was time he actually forgot how much he missed home; but Neteyam knew how much you cared for the sea, and he adored pushing certain animals over to see funny reactions or how they flew with the water, and, secretly, to see how lightheartedly stressed with him you could get. It was only in times like this that you frowned in his direction or called him a skxawng. And he could see now how, even though his parents met with Neitiry trying to kill Jake, they grew to love each other so much.

NETEYAM! – As the adrenaline of flying for the first time made you laugh so much that your stomach started to hurt. In your nightly conversations, you told Neteyam about how only warriors rode with the skimwings and could fly for a certain timespan, he took notice of how he once told you about his Ikran and wanted to be the one who took you flying for the first time. One day, he took you to the shore and started whistling to call his Ikran, leaving you confused until the batting of its large wings forced you to close your eyes to avoid sand getting in them, warning you of Neteyam's intentions and making an iced chill run through your spine. When the Ikran landed, you looked at the boy wide-eyed, muttering a small "no, no, I can't believe it- no, 'teyam I'm actually scared", and with his pleas being said in between laughs, assuring you you could ride on the front and he would be holding you the whole time, you complied, and did not regret it for one second as he held your waist tightly, the Inkimaya formed with the creature and your loud screams meeting with wide laughs that made you breathless while cutting through the air.

NETEYAM. oel ngati kameie. – When you fight with your parents after an adventure with the Sullys and Tsireya and her brother, being back only after the eclipse, you rush out to the Sullys mauri again, the path becoming familiar ever since your first apparition looking for Neteyam; since you were all grounded, you didn't think about rushing in or having his parents know you were there. It was late, and you didn't really have a plan, but when his unmistakable eyes and bioluminescent traits appeared in your line of vision, you relaxed ever slightly. He was pacing, and he saw you. Neteyam quietly left the pod, asking what were you doing in there, since he knew you were punished for being "reckless and impulsive", as you responded that you felt safe around him and just needed a bit of comfort and his soothing energy, his chest puffed forward with pride, though his cheeks turned a shade of purple. You blurted your feelings out, ears pointing down and a frown on your face. You complained about how you hated and felt scared to disappoint or disrespect your parents, but with their protectiveness being overwhelming, you felt like anything could make them feel that way, and this was making you feel suffocated, how you hated the heavy responsibility of being promptly perfect. At that, Neteyam looked at you ever so thoroughly, his eyes deep into yours, his eyebrows arched up; his tail brushed slightly over your leg as he reached to cup your face, "this is not your burden to carry, y/n. trust me, I'd know... you know it, right? I... I see you." your look upon him became soft, you sighed rapidly, feeling the weight get off your shoulders. You didn't know if it was because you were finally understood by someone you knew went through something similar, or if it was because he said it. He said it first, and he felt it too. "Neteyam...", you smiled, both hands touching his chest. "oel ngati kameie."

NET... – you couldn't bring yourself to finish it as you felt the guttural scream coming from your throat coming to interrupt your calling at the sight you were met with. After rushing to Epeyfwa to warn her and the tulkuns that swam near you, you came back to the village, asking if your help was needed anywhere else, but got orders to just keep yourself safe; it was after eclipse when you went out of your mauri pod, anxious, preoccupied and missing your friends, especially Neteyam. As you walked the shore, you took in the rushing people and the shifted energy, gloom and revenge written on all of the Metkayna it was disturbing. Nearing the beach, you spotted the Sully family, backs slumped forward and tear-stained faces, an energy of loss even though they were back that took over you as soon as you saw them; eyebrows knitting together and steps becoming vigorous as you missed Neteyam. Halfway through asking for him, you noticed Jake carried a curled body, legs hanging from his arms. With a shift, you saw Neteyam's peaceful looking face, but bloody chest, as a whole wounded his torso. Your throat went dry, hurting as you screamed, your soul was cut in half as a third person held you by your arms, trying to avoid further commotion. Your knees fell to the sand as thick tears started to fall from your eyes. As you lost a sense of fullness you only gained when you first learned his name, when you first saw his eyes, when the Sullys first landed in Awa'atlu. As pure rage invaded your being from being robbed of something so early, from having this allowed by Ewya. From having your heart bruised in a deep shade of blue.

[raconteur-wanpi]

nice to see meta/effortposting on reiju <3 she did hit me hard as someone who came from an abusive and toxic home life. the sibling dynamics of: here's the family scapegoat who acts as a lightning rod for all negative attention, here's the quiet one who skirts under the radar by toeing the line because- as much as they empathize with the scapegoat despite not being supposed to- if they don't grit their teeth and bear it, they're the one who will end up in that role if they rock the boat, and here are the ones who don't seem to be suffering at all and excell at embodying Our Family's Values- is something i lived growing up. i was mostly the problem kid scapegoat but the roles shifted around musical chairs style

it struck me a lot during whole cake that she really didnt have options, like, as awful as they were to sanji you cant really convince me reiju would have fared any better in his place bc A. that type of family situation WILL ALWAYS have a scapegoat to practice in-group bonding through malicious othering (god forbid there be any bonding rituals with a healthy basis) B. even if she was a partial success on the genetic engineering front she was already playing with a handicap from the get being The Girl One in *that* family. like can you imagine the misogyny flavored abuse and ridicule if she ever wasnt the exact right balance of competent and withdrawn, yknow. and as eyeroll as i think it is in theory to write the girl sibling as the one with the emotions bc of course women are the sensitive empathetic feelings creatures (sarcasm), it speaks to a real dynamic that can occur within the family unit where young girls are implicitly expected & groomed (from within the family and without, bc it's cultural messaging too) to be mature-beyond-their-years emotional mediators, conflict diplomats, & general Vibe micromanagers for the whole household. just one domestic facet of the larger systemic phenomenon of adultification of young girls really

as happens with one piece, the vinsmoke family picture really manages to capture some resonant shit through blunt, broad, story-for-adolescent boys strokes.. like, the survivor's guilt about being the one who got out when you know someone is still there suffering in silence. the weird tense resentful but forgiving bond with the person you survived it all with. the mutual wonder at the rest of you who turned out exactly like your awful guardian and don't outwardly seem to be eaten away at by your collective childhood... is all their hurt (like we have) so deeply repressed for them that it would take an earthshattering shift in worldview that has a one in a million chance of happening to uncover? is it that they were just born wired completely different from us? is it obstinate willful ignorance operating on some protective unconscious level? is it that they were genetically engineered to be impervious emotionless color coded tokusatsu mercenary supersoldiers. etc.

Anyway sorry for rambling at you lol.

Don't apologize this is soooo good! Never apologize for meaningful discussion within Fandom space, that's what I and many others come here for. I agree entirely!

Especially on the point about how Oda handled the trope of "the one woman being the one with emotions", because I do think that, on the one hand it's definitely part of Oda's sexism, and particularly his difficulty with writing villainous women in his story, but on the other hand it does end up, even accidentally, as you said, feeling like a narrative on the emotional labor expected from women and specifically the misogyny of the Vinsmoke family, which is dominated by the violence of men. It is super intriguing to me how her narrative kinda both exhibits sexist tropes while also having an underlying feminist tone to it as well.

One Piece unfortunately does this a lot, and I do think it is the result of Oda being ideologically feminist while also being practically sexist. It's a very common attitude unfortunately, and if OP wasn't as well written as it is, I would have less patience for it, but hopefully I find myself able to look at the silver lining of it all. Oda does this a lot with his queer characters as well; OP is an unapologetically, openly and obviously pro-queer narrative in every sense, and you're meant to love its queer characters as the audience, but that doesn't stop many of them from being very out-of-touch and sometimes even mean-spirited stereotypes at the same time. Either way, I try to look at the positives, and at the end of it all, these are indeed extremely interesting, humanized, and well written characters.

On the narrative of abuse, I'm not someone who can speak on it since I'm lucky enough to not have experienced it, but both from your message and from what I've seen other people say, I can definitely see how even in its exaggerated cartooniness, many people have found the depiction of it within the Vinsmokes (and the Charlottes) very familiar or relatable.

I think her situation hits even harder when you remember that the whole "she was also supposed to be born emotionless" thing was a mistranslation; she's not a "partial" sucess, all the modifications she had were successful! There was never an attempt to remove her compassion etcetera, since it's implied her father tried that for the first time ever on the quadruplets. In other words, it's implied her family fully knows she has emotions, since she never had that operation done to her, the cold-heartedness and all that other stuff is not technically expected of her. But it is still demanded. That's the horrible part, isn't it? She's expected to artificially emulate her brothers, when that's not something that was even initially asked or expected from her.

Reiju is a character that's extremely relatable to me in a lot of other ways. The high expectations put upon her, her practiced emotional constipation, her... complicated relationshp with her stubborn reactionary stemlord ex-military father (what is projection), her trying to fit the role of the "responsible perfect model child" etc etc. The whole situation feels viscerally realistic despite being in a silly shonen manga. I desperately hope we get to see her again.

[benjaminrydersnest]

One thing I've found super helpful in writing characters is thinking about what is most fundamental to their character. If you take everything away from them, at their core, a few emotions and a common, overarching theme shows. It doesn't matter if they lose their memory, are down on their knees having suffered the greatest loss of their life (in battle, a loved one, etc.), this trait will stay with them no matter what. If it doesn't, they've betrayed their character, which can be useful for corruption/redemption/distillation arcs. Let me use an example to illustrate my point. One of my own characters, Trevor Steele, has the "hand squeeze," a thing that his sister Angela used to do to him when they were young to comfort him from anger or sadness. He remembers this, and uses it to calm others as well as to ground himself sometimes. This trait is so fundamental to his character that taking it away would change him radically. And I think that is a very important thing to know. Not every character has something this deep, Pure Evil villains in particular don't really need more of a fundamental trait than being evil, but I think it's interesting to explore, for the characters you've created, what their most fundamental aspects are. It can be an object, a person, an emotion, a mindset, themselves, their partner, or literally anything else ridiculously important to them specifically. Does it motivate them? Does it drag them down? Is it healthy or unhealthy? What happens if you take it away? All very interesting questions to explore, even if just for fun.

For more talk about fundamental aspects of characters, but in a more literal sense, I also made this post: https://www.tumblr.com/benjaminrydersnest/732451994465402880/but-maybe-this-doesnt-apply-to-all-of-the For more writing advice in general, check out: https://www.youtube.com/@OverlySarcasticProductions They do an excellent series called "Trope Talks" I highly recommend for learning more/improving on writing.

[danthediamondminecart]

So all this questions are very random and these have been renting free in my head for a while. I don't know why on earth was I so nervous to ask the questions but here I am.

1.) I am more of a new fan so first one is gonna be simple question. So, when did you start the TMA au and what is full form of "TMA". Since you have been posting arts of it I thought it would be good for me to just catch up with the context.

2.) I can NOT be the only one who thinks PinkLeaf and TanqR are like human versions of Yin-Yang☯️. Now I know this is not a question but I still wanted to know if there was anyone else who thought of this way. Everything from their personality and even their colour palette, it is the complete polar opposite of each other. Even their uhh... roles (look I forgot the word), it is the complete opposite. PinkLeaf is an angel and TanqR is a demon. The two common things they have is that they are from Robloxia and they both have been a competitor of RB Battles.

3.) When are we getting TanqR's backstory? Like this guy is a literal man of mystery. I really need to know it to clear my questions from the BLSMP like, "Is he different from other demons? (If there WAS other demons that actually exist) or is he like every single demon we know.", "What does he mean 'I am more use to the cold'? Is he from a cold frosty place or something?", "Why did he have a mental breakdown when he broke the deal? Did anything like this ever happen to him in the past?".

4.) I feel like all these questions will be related with TanqR and PinkLeaf but speaking towards the TanqR's side, why does he hate PinkLeaf so much? I know this will be one of the classic 'A Demon hates An Angel' thing but is this really the reason or is there anything else about it or am I questioning the very obvious answer ever.

5.) And last but not least, What's PinkLeaf's relationship with IBella? I know I know, another very obvious answer, but still, I am still curious to know the very obvious answer that everyone knows.

Ok, that's all my questions! ':D

Lotsa Tanqr and Pink questions, lets go!! And don't be afraid to ask me questions, I love talking about my RBB headcanons bc I barely get to talk about em lol

Q1) TMA stands for The Magnus Archives! The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a creative commons attribution non-comme Ahem. The Magnus Archives is a horror podcast! I love TMA because of the way it treats fear and the supernatural - it has a super interesting taxonomy and the worldbuilding is great. I'f you're like me though, you might not like the main cast much, lol. I'd recommend listening to it if you're able to handle the content! (I'm sure Episode 6 will put people who are too young off). The TMA AU is me taking that excellent worldbuilding and throwing the RBBers into that world. To see what they do.

Q2) I actually have a different opinion - Tanqr and KreekCraft are the opposites. They're the perfect example of the Red Oni Blue Oni trope (a trope that I absolutely love), where Kreek is the loud, overzealous, vaguely insane one, and Tanqr is the sarcastic, laid-back and controlled one, but both are confident victors with a love for contest. Their colour schemes even match! Though interestingly, they do the opposite of what their 'oni' normally does - Kreek is the Red Oni, but he specialises in puzzles and intelligence, Tanqr is the Blue Oni but he specialises in combat and fighting. It's a fun dynamic that I love exploring, as you can tell by the fact that I almost always have them butting heads in some way no matter the AU. To me, PinkLeaf is the Purple (or, well, Pink) Oni - the one in the middle, the third party. He's not loud like the other two, he's got a different playstyle, but...he's still equally competitive, he's still equally as ready to win as the other two.

Q3) Maybe one day - but not during BLSMP. BLSMP focuses on the present, on the there and now, backstories (aside from what's relevant, like the previous life games and RB Battles Season 2) won't be delved into at all. But I have written him a backstory! I encourage you to refer back to this post for more information on him. To answer your more specific questions:

A little personality wise - his brutality and bloodlust isn't a common factor between demons, that's a Tanqr thing. Otherwise, no.

Yes, other demons exist. Hoopie and Rainway are two of them.

He just prefers cold temperatures! See the post I linked for details.

Demons value deals as their main form of commerce and often their morality revolves around them. So Tanqr basically just broke important demon code, even if it was by accident. (He would be forgiven for that, but because he's not spent enough time around other demons, he doesn't know that.)

He's never broken a deal before, if that's what your asking. He sticks to the words of his deals - loopholes or not.

Q4) As per this shitpost - Tanqr doesn't hate Pink because he's an angel. He has no problem with them. He hates PinkLeaf because he's a little bitc--

Okay, but in all seriousness, they hate each other because they're both scared of / annoyed by each other. Tanqr hates anyone he sees as a 'threat' to his standing and position - so Kreek and Pink both fall into this category, due to being able to match and surpass his skill in certain areas.

Q5) Close friends! Bella pushes Pink to do things he'd not normally do due to his cowardice, Pink pulls Bella back from doing anything stupid due to her recklessness. Of course Bella has recently becoeme good friends with Kreek too, and Kreek and Pink don't mesh that well together, but they try for Bella's sake.

Thank you for asking!!

[archerygun]

The ninth doctor is Northern (and why I think that’s cool)

So the ninth doctor was a very successful attempt at reintroducing Dr. Who to the British public, working under the assumption that they might never have seen the show before. And it was so successful that there was major upset when he left after one season. Even my grandma found herself watching Dr. Who with me and my mum because it’s!!!!! Christopher!!!!! Eccleston!!!!!

The reintroduction of the character of the doctor is straight up genius in my opinion and my brain will not shut up about it. They play off a trope in a lot of British media that I’m going to call the Big Friendly Northerner trope. Think characters like the BFG, Maurice Flitcroft in The Phantom of the Open, Kempton Bunton in The Duke, that one guy in the Railway Children movie (actually a lot of them). Characterised by stubbornness, childlike qualities, cheeriness, not always being the brightest in conventional settings but very practical/resourceful/excellent at what they do, a mix of comedically arrogant and heartbreakingly humble (to the point of seemingly not caring about themselves at all), etc. An ‘atlas complex’ or compulsive need to help and please everyone is also common but not necessary to fit the criteria.

They play off this trope for the character of the Ninth doctor with his chaotic all-over-the-place energy, parental qualities, childlike sense of wonder and cheery disposition.

And then they make it their own to give you more of an idea of the Doctor’s nature. His cheerful demeanour at times becomes almost sociopathic when he doesn’t react in the face of horrors (which definitely helps it sink in just how ancient the guy is). The ‘atlas complex’ is his years and years and years building up on him and his desire to protect life that cannot protect itself.

This is a genius way to introduce the Doctor back to British audiences who may not necessarily be familiar with the character but are certainly familiar with this trope (even if they can’t identify it).

And hey, it puts a big Northern guy with a thick accent as a godlike genius who’s constantly stated to be super smart and I am here for saying fuck you to the idea of who ‘smart’ is and what ‘smart’ looks like. Like fuck yeah Christopher Eccleston go play an alien genius with your thick accent fully intact, fuck yeah “Lots of planets have a North.” and having Northerners be part of sci-fi without needing a good explanation. (This honestly goes for having diversity in accent and dialect in general, always a Grade 9 from me). I just. It makes me happy. Gives me the feels.

God I have a lot of feels about this.

I love subversions/twists on this trope (see The Phantom of the Open and how they use it to make the suicide scene so much more heartbreaking).

And I mean hey it’s always good to see Northerners thriving in this country.

[groenendaelfic]

ˏˋ°*♡➷ get to know me ༊*·˚

Thank you @sflow-er for the tag!

The aim of this tag game was to take your favorite movie, character, animal, drink, song, season, book, color and hobby and create a mood board.

I apologize for the super long delay. Was there a common tag everyone used? I was on a grief retreat mountain wondering about the meaning of life and so missed everyone's entries and I'd love to catch up.

Movie: Enter the Phoenix (2004) this movie is full of my favorite tropes. Secret & mistaken identity, power dynamics, competence kink, enemies to lovers friends, swords, loyalty. It also has a well written and portrayed out and proud queer lead. It didn't age super well, but it makes me nostalgic of the Hong Kong that once was, especially from a queer perspective, and remains my favorite comfort comedy.

Character: Methos from Highlander the Series. Wilhelm is my precious and my baby and I love him, but Methos has had an almost thirty year head start, okay? Maybe after season 3 and with some time to digest things will change, but for now it's still Methos all the way.

Animal: Elephant. I also like cats and guinea pigs but elephants always made me feel safe (as a kid elephants where about as real to me as dinosaurs)

Drink: Assam tea. Never come near me with Darjeeling. In a pinch a strong espresso macchiato will do. Bonus points if there's some vanilla in there as well. (Ostfriesen Sonntagstee ftw, even if it's kinda tricky to get here)

Song: Sogno di Volare by Christopher Tin. I've had musical anhedonia since I was eleven so I don't really listen to music, but hearing this always brings be joy because it means I have hours of playing Civ ahead of me. Also the lyrics are cool.

Season: Summer all the way. You can be outside, the days are long and I've always associated that time with freedom and carefreeness.

Book: 琅琊榜 by 海晏. I adore this book. All the tropes from above (except not explicitly queer) and with bonus historical low fantasy elements and lots of elaborate politics. Also all the idioms and very well written. Better known by the title of the excellent tv series it inspired and which I never have the time to rewatch called Nirvana in Fire. (won because it's great and because the three defining book (series) of my youth turned out to be written by authors of varying degrees of horridness)

Color: light turquoise green. Is that what it's called? Anyway that color.

Hobbies: writing about power dynamics Wilmon fic

[chibivesicle]

Dunno why you're harping so hard on the "muh mystery" aspect. A feature literally only existent in the 98 anime, because they added a shit ton of filler to make up for so little manga material at the time. The actual source material tells us this is all Knives's fault volume ONE! We know super early on why they're stuck here and who is at fault. The actual mystery the manga and stampede are setting up is not "who did it" but "why did knives do it"

Hello hello,

Yes, I'm one of those people who isn't happy with Stampede revealing a lot of information out from the get go. I 100% admit it. I think that this is going to be an issue for a lot of viewers, especially for people who have a high fondness for Trigun.

I think this comes from a lot of different places and combines in the general feeling of 'meh I don't like this as much'.  I’m surprised how quickly I saw the new series and was like ‘Noooooo!’ but didn’t even know why my immediate reaction was like this. 

1.) What was available at the time you watched the anime. When I watched the anime, it was on a fansub. The DVDs were released between 2000-2001 and the box set at the end of 2001. Therefore, this was all you could go on. If you wanted the manga it wouldn't be out until 2003 via Darkhorse in North America. You could have bought the current tankobons and then found a website where there was a text based translation of the speech bubbles. This was before the common use of fan scan translations. The ability to find a manga before it gets an anime was really freakkin' hard in the 80s and 90s. It was almost the reverse - you'd see the anime and then quest for the manga and hope it got picked up by a publisher who'd then publish it over several years.  They’d only gamble on a title if it already had a strong anime fanbase.

2.) The unique nature of the source material lead to an unusual but clever adaptation of that limited material. Studio Madhouse didn't have enough material for a full 26 episode run. They were brilliant to focus on a new point of view to introduce the viewer to the world. There is nothing wrong with a show that can be episodic, sure, we want stories with a plot driving them forward but episodic shows allow for more character development. The same situation happens, but characters behave differently and Trigun does this well. Having Wolfwood show up and hang out with the group from episodes 9-11 gives him more time to get to know them. The manga has Wolfwood and Vash as close friends, but before the Fifth Moon Incident they only rode on the bus together. Episodes 9-11 gives us more time for them to be dorks together and makes for enjoyable antics. 3.) The air of mystery fits in perfectly with the 'Western' genre. In the classic American Western, you frequently have a drifter who comes into town. He's a skilled gunman who never stays in one place but tries to stand up against injustice against the locals. He might be genuinely good. He may be on a redemption arc. He might be doing this for penance due his past deeds. Hell, he might just be bored.  What he does have is a mysterious past.

Trigun used this concept its advantage for the slow reveal of events. It went for a stronger ‘show, don't tell’ than either the manga or Stampede. Vash looks like a goofball drifter, why isn't he? What type of pain has he been through? How has he survived? This also worked for Wolfwood who won't reveal his full mystery either and the bits here and there in 9-11 add to it.  What is this traveling clergyman doing with a giant 100kg cross that he literally carries? Why would he accept carrying such a cross?  Why would he lie about being able to shoot a gun when he’s excellent at it?

4.) Meryl and Milly vibed with a Western audience more. I'm appalled at how Roberto is currently treating Meryl in the anime. It is setting up a different trope that didn't exist in the original anime or manga. I think a lot of women will not like this as much, the manga didn't have romance since Yasuhiro Nightow said he couldn't write it. But it means that the anime easily passes the Bechdel test which is good for female representation and motivations. I agree with the idea that Meryl and Roberto are written to be a much more culturally Japanese dynamic.  It honestly would make a lot of sense if they are trying to make this more of a domestic success than the original.  We’ll give it the gritty realism of the Japanese office culture!  That will resonate with people!  Maybe this brings in more Japanese women who sympathize exactly with Meryl now? 

I had no idea that Badlands Rumble was released in the States months before Japan.  It seems Trigun is like Escaflowne.  Saw great success outside of Japan but locally was a bit of a flop.  23 year old Meryl is just starting her career, but remember, women over 25 are ‘Christmas Cake’.  Past their best buy date and should be married.  And this is a term that exists in the present, not the past in Japan. 

Other people have hypothesized that Milly was eliminated due to her rare role as a canonically large girl who could take you on.  Other than the fact that she uses a non-lethal weapon, is the youngest child of 10, and the sweetest person ever.  I always loved her dress shirt, tie and suspenders look but it isn’t very ‘cute’ in a moe sense.

5.) Having a fresh comparison of the anime and manga.  With the Stampede hype, I watched the anime.  And then binged the manga.  Overall, I like the anime better.  It is more character driven, the pacing is right and the twists and turns work well.  The only weakness is the manga background lore is lacking but they more than compensated for it for the most part. 

I don’t generalize that I like a series based on a manga that the manga is inherently better than the anime.  Golden Kamuy was an anime that would have benefited from more of the manga chapters included for the first three seasons.  Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was better with the full background from the manga.  Gintama messed around with content all the time deciding to move plot vs comedy.  Honestly, it always just depends on which one you ultimately prefer.  And I make this on a series by series basis.

6.) The power of nostalgia and a less saturated anime environment of the past. Now, you can essentially watch anime every day or read current manga for an entire year and not overlap with series other people are reading.  The 80s, 90s and very early 2000s were a sparse anime/manga ecosystem.  The internet wasn’t quite at your fingertips.  This then resulted in a more cohesive fanbase.  You all saw the same things due to limited titles to choose from.  Distributors in the States leaned hard into releasing more obscure OVAs since they were cost effective.  OVAs had more adult content than conventional titles so a bunch of us were exposed to some rather mature things likely before we should have.  A lot of 90s anime had that gritty feeling which I don’t think was an accurate representation for it across the board in the 90s but what made it internationally.  The first con I went to was full of Deedlit cosplayers. Why?  You could rent Record of Lodoss War at Blockbuster and it was a well known fantasy anime with a hot elf chick.  The hardcore people were the Inuyasha and Utena cosplayers since they’d not had a domestic release yet and were fansub/text only translation at the time.

With less titles to choose from, you spent more time on the limited series and really dug into them.  Thus, to the western fanbase, Trigun has risen to an important point on a lot of people’s lists.  Or it was the introduction to anime for a lot of people when my introduction had been series like Macross/Voltron/Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2.  Were these ‘pure’ versions - nope but it was what slowly sucked me into more series. 

This also means that in this supersaturated environment, there is more competition for eyeballs.  Do you want to reboot a series that had modest niche success in Japan that was a blockbuster hit in the States?  You have the advantage of the series being complete now; you can draw from all the source material.  But it is a product of its time and the look can be easily dated to the mid-late 90s. 

There are two ways you go with this.  1.) The CLAMP approach - who cares about current styles and trends, we are gonna keep our chara design pretty standard for the original and that will give us our visual advantage.  2.) Adapt it to the current look - which I think is a gamble.  You lose your visual pop factor by making it look more current but it would appear how current series look so people might be willing to give it a shot not knowing the source material. 

With such high saturation, you end up with so many series with characters that all look similar.  I find this to make it hard to distinguish the isekai/fantasy/school set series and they just keep coming out.  I’ll watch a new anime and be like, ‘It was fine.’  but it will quickly blur into the next series that was just as ‘fine’ as that last one. 

In conclusion, I think all of these factors and likely more are why many fans who watched the original anime (and may have even read and enjoyed the manga as well) are so bummed out by this choice to put so many things up front.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have time to fit in more characters and they may instead be swapping out characters for manga specific ones that weren’t written yet and dropping other manga and anime ones.  I have a gut feeling Midvalley will not appear.  If he does, I will be pleasantly surprised.

I think the reason why so many people love the slow reveal is that it rewards you for your time getting to know Vash.  And with other characters meeting him and wondering why he’s so weird it helps you to focus on it as well before the reveal of his origin.  From a narrative perspective it worked well and I think that contributed to why so many people love the anime and are fine with it if it was the only Trigun media they knew.

[rowarn]

sorry i wasn't specific with my ask! if you could just give me some ideas on how you get your inspo and word usage, that's mostly what i'm looking for! anything is appreciated though, thank youu. :))

RIGHT ON! its okay, i would have given random tips but i wasnt sure if there was something specific you were looking for!

my inspo largely comes from other media. tv shows, movies, edits, fucking character ai bots, other fics; literally anything that i enjoy i typically wind up using in my fics. its not for me personally but plenty of people get inspired by music! songs and music videos

other fics are excellent inspo bc u can see how readers respond to tropes that they've done. age gap, dilf, aus, and stuff like that. its also rlly great to see characterization. as long as you're not plagiarizing then emulating and learning from other writers who are doing the same thing you do or want to do is excellent. i love reading fics hehe

ik that sounds like super basic and boring but having a repertoire of existing tropes and stuff is super great!

as for word usage, it's all super subjective bc my tastes and stuff will not match up for everyone. but if u like how i write and want to emulate it then there are a few things i can say! i focus mostly on smut and dialogue.

first, it's important to have a good vocabulary. knowing synonyms to words you want to say is important. u don't want to have a paragraph that uses the same word over and over again, you want to break it up and make it mentally appealing to read. it won't be interesting to readers if you don't expand your vocab!

i am primarily a smut writer so that's where most of my focus is on intentional word usage. all my narration and plot is pretty basic i'd say. nothing incredibly special except for my dialogue which i put a lot of thought into.

i don't use metaphors that much. so, say, for smut u won't catch me using "globes" in reference to tits. i much prefer to just come out and say breasts, tits, chest.

i also don't use like Correct anatomy language. so i don't use penis, testicles, vagina or clitoris. i use.......porn language bc that's what im writing; cock, pussy, cunt, clit. just to keep it......erotic bc i personally (again, subjective) find correct anatomy language to be more off-putting than erotic.

smut is where it becomes difficult to use broad language. there's only so many words you can use for a dick. so don't be afraid to bust out some wattpad words u know? length, member, etc. ik they can sometimes be cringey and u don't like them but use them at the right time and using it sparingly and most ppl won't rlly notice. it breaks up reading the word cock and dick over and over and over again for 2k words.

for some examples,

for dicks u can use; dick, cock, member, shaft, length

for the puth u can do; pussy, cunt, folds, core, sex isn't bad

clit i use clit, bud, and nub mostly...but ppl use pearl or button, i don't but it doesn't bother me when i see it

i also don't use flowery language. i know in creative writing or whatever it's common to use poetic word usage but i find it to be more confusing than anything. i can't read rlly flowery fics bc the meaning of what im reading just genuinely gets lost. it's all lost on me. i'd say im a much more direct writer with my words and scenes? i utilize a fair bit of narration and exposition in my writing.

i find dialogue style to be quite important. if you read my stuff (like the fics, we dont look at my word vomit LMAOOO) you'll usually see i make the characters talk in specific ways.

simon cuts off his words "goin'" instead of "going", "somethin'" instead of "something", like that. i dont use a ton of language to depict his accent other than that, i leave the leg work mostly up to the readers bc they know what he sounds like. but some writers do like british slang, "wanker", "mate", "innit" LMAO i just don't and thats my choice. i choose to just cut his words off and call it a day. he has a more casual way of speaking in Taking What You Need as compared to konig in Experience.

konig, in Experience, has a specific way of talking as well that is opposite to simon. he doesn't use contractions. i did that intentionally bc i wanted him to have a more intimidating, professional, cold kind of way of talking. "do not do it" comes across different than "don't do it"!

i personally would say that a large part of my characterization comes across in dialogue and the style of dialogue i choose. i think that makes it more enjoyable for readers!

all in all, i basically just emulate what i personally like to see in writing. that's how i keep finding it enjoyable. i love giving fics for ppl to read but if i didn't write straight up what I wanted to see then the actual physical task of writing would be a lot worse.

idk how helpful this was since i basically just told u.....what i like to do LMAOOOO but i hope it gives u some kind of idea of what i focus on and how i get my writing to be the way it is?

EDIT: important that i also use inclusive language to the best of my abilities!

instead of saying like "your cheeks turned red" i use "you feel your cheeks heat up" or something along those lines since people with darker skin tones won't have their cheeks turn red when they blush!! but feeling your cheeks BURN is smthn we've all experienced.

i also try not to use any "running your hands through your hair" bc not everyone can do that! i can't even do that i have curly hair hehe. an alternative would be pushing a stray strand out of your face or tucking some behind your ear or something like that.

also, i don't mention nipple color or vagina color or anything !

[blueinkedfrost]

So you made some foolish decisions in your life. Maybe you were downright evil. And you definitely got punished for your actions and inactions, probably by the death penalty. Anyway, your father / emperor / other authority figure was so much worse than you.

Good news, hon. You're in an isekai. You get to live your life a second time with access to all the memories of your downfall. You can change your past and create a better future thanks to your excellent knowledge of all the cheat codes.

Now you're the better, more mature, well-informed version of yourself, you're super nice to the authority figure from the past timeline. He's nice to you as well. Hardly surprising, you're giving him everything that you know he wants. Congratulations! Did you tame the tyrant?

No. You bent over backward to appease him. Nobody can hold that advanced gymnastic position forever. Abusers don't change because their abuse victim is extra nice to them. Abusive people change because they choose to change. The logic, 'If only the victim had a different personality the abuse would never have happened' is victim blaming. He has altered nothing. Even if he doesn't abuse you this time, he will abuse other people.

Honey, congratulations on working hard to change your destiny, but you deserve so much better than that bullying shithead. Kick him in the delicates and run.

(Pronoun Note: People of any gender can abuse people of any gender - my gendered language here is due to common fictional tropes.)

[jennawynn]

Chronotrek TOS to series finale

oops, I did it again... I forgot to update. got lost in the sauce. or something.

Honestly, I thought I had been updating at least once a season, but I guess not. Also got distracted binging the entire series of The Expanse in about a week over the holidays. BUT I just finished the Original Series. So I guess we'll go broad strokes since the play by play is pointless.

TLDR: How fucking disappointing an end.

Season 2-

Unlike much of TOS to new!Trek, T'Pring is spot on for appearance. Not that I think it's important or even a _good_ thing for most of them to be beholden to the original, but I was impressed by that. Though the whole 'property of the victor' thing is very squicky. I thought the Vulcans were 'evolved'. And then I guess he didn't gotta fuck after all.

By 2, Uhura's actually doing work. She's not just eye candy on the bridge. But then they have Jim say that finding a girl on the ship is losing an officer. Because women can't fucking exist without being partnered and can't be partnered and still work. This bullshit was actually still happening in the Navy when I was in. Men were unwilling to invest time and training in women because we'd just get married and get out to have babies anyway where a man is likely to stay in and retire. The men in my class in boot camp were told by their instructors that women join to find men, not because we actually wanted to serve or excel.

8- (Jim across the intercom) Scotty! Scotty! Stop getting your ass kicked and respond so I can tell you there's an intruder in your area! Scotty! Scotty, respond!

I hate this so much. Like when Jim and Uhura were in cells and the dude was obviously assaulting her and Jim kept shouting 'what's happening? are you ok? what's happening? what are you doing? are you ok?' like Jim, ffs, use some context clues, some deductive reasoning, and stop shouting for people to acknowledge you and DO SOMETHING.

Rainn Wilson was a good choice for Mudd in New!Trek though.

Why would they have to pay royalties? I thought this was post-currency? Post-scarcity? Is there still money?

9- This one was also squicky. So obsessed with gender. Body takeover, "love" that isn't recognized as such until it's wearing a pretty face. But of course one is a man and one is perceived as a woman so therefore let's change everything we thought so we can stay together and call it love.

10- Amanda's a pretty good reconstruction too, if aged down in New!Trek.

14- I wasn't expecting them to go the "Jack the Ripper is an immortal alien" route.

It always cracks me up when they cut to a super wide angle shot of a fight to sub in stunt doubles who are really obvious, though I suppose they wouldn't have been on a 60s tv.

19 Heeeey Dr. M'Benga!

This whole thing with the exotic witch women and how sexual she is and how she's dressed. Like that's not dumb enough, she lets herself get grappled more than once posturing with the phaser but defaulting to the dagger. Shoot one and they'd fall in line! But gotta keep reinforcing the idea that men are stronger than women.

21- Jim's look of indignation at Spock's statement that he would fit right in as a Nazi lmao

22- I don't know why I never realized that Trek is all (at least so far) in the Milky Way, that they don't even get as far as Andromeda.

26- so they can just. time travel. at will. what?

Season 3

3- hold up, roll that back. there's an ancient pregenitor superrace that seeded humanoids everywhere? This is the first I recall it being mentioned in Trek (though the trope or a version of it is also in the expanse, mass effect, etc.) "Preservers". Is it ever explored more? It's a surprise to Bones and maybe Spock too- certainly not common knowledge.

This is from before 3, but I really like the way Bones and Spock have this begrudgingly respectful relationship, like brothers. They tease and pick at each other, but have each others' backs against anything (besides Jim maybe)

4- Kirk can see the kid doing the thing. Fuckin' ground him.

Spock says fuck them kids.

Ugly = Bad was alive and well in the 60s.

5- And then they somehow have a discussion that Good =/= Beautiful in the very next episode.

Gen Obs- It feels like TOS spends more time on the bridge than other shows. The Bridge or the planet they're on. The other shows so far show more engine room, hallways, ready rooms, bunks, etc. Other places on the ship than just the bridge. They have them in TOS, but they seem underutilized. I don't have the data to back it up and couldn't find it (which was surprising to me).

Another obs- they overcommunicate for the audience's sake, but rarely with each other. Kirk never explains his thought process or orders to the people he leaves in command. When something planetside affects the ship, he doesn't tell them, he just says 'I'll take care of it down here'. His crew and his backup are often left in the dark.

13- There's so much in this one I don't like but the line about Kirk being into spanking made me smirk. Canonically in love with the Enterprise indeed.

14- Jim: Mr. Spock and I are brothers! Spock: Captain Kirk is speaking figuratively and with undue emotion Kirk: *offended face* Spock: However, what he says is logical and I do agree with it.

19 Kirk did seem to become more of a manwhore the longer the season went, no? Why did they all lose their shit so much around women? It's exhausting.

22- I love that Scotty gets to wear tartan/kilt in dress uniform.

heeeyyyy Kahless

24- And the disappointing end. In this idolized utopian setting, not only is it not permitted for a woman to be a starship captain, but then they "prove" that women are too emotional to command.

The last line of the whole series: "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's if only...."

Not as rich as any person's. And if only she'd been content to her 2nd class status and not pushed for equality. How fucking disappointing.

Everyone always points to 'the actresses WANTED to wear miniskirts because empowerment' when they talk about the sexism of the original series, and I tried to watch with that in mind, but that just feels like a smoke screen for the actual shitty sexist takes.

The show equates a woman with emotion and sexuality. She's a good officer right up until she falls in love (or someone falls in love with her), then she's just a woman- a liability and a pleasure object. They only use women in episodes that require someone to be or fall in love with them. Even Uhura and Chapel aren't completely immune, though they are the biggest exceptions and the only recurring female characters. Though of course Uhura's the comms officer (cause women talk) and Chapel's a nurse (not a doctor).

Like even if you remove the miniskirts and the gross inappropriate touching from the equation, there's still a lot of ick happening. They can imagine a future where the races are equal but not the sexes.

[king0fcrows]

The defensiveness on this website over ever the mere existence of art critique is exhausting

I just saw an old post that called out another user over a list of “amateur” poetry trends/tropes���and yeah it was a bit snide but it was also *right* in that all those trends are currently super common and over saturated (aka “amateur”)

And what more, they seemed to be just making a point on their own blog

(didn’t reference any specific works or link to anything—that I could tell—just seemed to be a general critique of current popular trends)

But someone was loosing their goddamn *mind* in a massive reblog about it, just caps lock yelling “fuck you all, not everyone has the same skill or education level, let people enjoy things and let people be bad at stuff, how dare you try to make people feel bad”

And it’s old but the sentiment is obviously still going strong because it’s still circulating, with people heartily agreeing with the reblogger—

To the point that there’s a bunch of comments about OP trying to “gatekeep poetry”

…for having a somewhat snide opinion on art that none of them agree with?

Look, if a person wants no criticism in their own space and/or is fine never honing a craft beyond the basics they start with because that level is all that’s necessary for personal satisfaction—awesome! Enjoy!

(Genuinely—not facetiously. They are absolutely correct that it’s okay to do things simply for pleasure without the intent to excel.)

BUT

a huge swath of people ARE interested in actively developing their personal crafts beyond just what the average person can produce

And/or

are only interested in engaging with art that meets personal standards of what they feel is “quality”

And they’re not wrong for being dissatisfied with, unimpressed by, or just straight up not liking art that doesn’t meet those standards

And most *importantly*:

they are not wrong and not actively attacking you for sharing their opinions—even negative ones—in a public forum

(If they’re coming to you directly to rain negative opinions uninvited on your parade—then yes, they’re out of line

Which ironically, the person doing all the caps-screaming was kind of doing by reblogging OP’s post just to scream at them

They could have easily made their own post)

And it’s not gatekeeping to disagree with you on that matter

And to all the people who are echoing the “well their negative opinions are discouraging my desire to create” because your own creations resemble what another person says they don’t think is good/quality

you’re not owed positivity from strangers

Other people don’t exist to just prop up your internal emotional landscape—

They don’t have to lie about their thoughts and feelings to ensure you never feel negative emotions

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes We Get Together With Friends and Play Catch-Up

Ok, so I didn't actually go through the all-too-common Greek and Roman mythology phase that lots of pre-teen kids and a startling number of future history majors do. I got caught in fairy tales and dragons, so I absolutely missed the Percy Jackson books as they were coming out. I just wasn't interested. Then I had a classmate in Continental Literature in undergrad and every sentence out of her mouth for that entire 16-week semester was "Well AHKSHUALLY, in Percy Jackson..." and at that point I you couldn't have gotten me to read those books at gunpoint.

A dear friend of mine also missed the Percy Jackson books, so we decided to read it together. Y'all...I have THOUGHTS. Let's talk Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

SPOILER WARNING. I will spoil this book, so if you haven't finished this almost 15-year-old children's book and care about spoilers, catch us on the flip side.

Ok, so first and foremost: I can absolutely see why these books are beloved. If you were a Greek mythology enthusiast between ages 9 and 13, I can absolutely see why you'd inhale this book. It's also quite well-written, even at the sentence level, which is not always the case with middle grade books, where plot can occasionally overtake writing style.

The characters and plot were also on point, with a lovely balance of plot action to development. Grover and Annabeth had great development and the tension to friendship balance with Percy was excellent.

I also absolutely love Sally going "yes, let's turn my dickhead, abusive husband into stone and then make fucking BANK selling him as a statue to the 'super-ugly neorealism' enthusiasts." That was just GOOD.

I would also like to give this book major kudos for pulling off "everyman: for kids!" really well, in contrast to lots of chosen one and super special genius/jock/[insert category that only a limited number of kids can relate to here]. I think this would have spoken to so many more kids than other titles that were floating around in the early 2000s, and that is so, so important for kids' self-esteem and self-worth. I am never not grateful for books that made kids in a really challenging point in their lives feel seen and understood and perhaps even brave or strong or full of potential that they had the power to tap into.

So all that said, I think overall The Lightning Thief is a net positive for the world, and Rick Riordan has been a hella net positive for publishing and children's literature.

I do also have a pretty key issue with this book, and the issue is also just baffling to me. Rick Riordan rather famously said that

Percy was his way of telling his son, "Learning differences don't mean there's anything wrong with you. In fact, it is a mark of being very special indeed.” It was a message he says Haley “had no problem believing.” Seeing himself in fiction “empowered him,” Riordan adds. Since The Lightning Thief debuted in 2005, the story’s reach has moved well beyond Riordan’s child, the author’s work now sold in 37 countries. No matter where they live, Riordan notes, “It can be really empowering for kids to know that they are seen and understood. They may behave or process information differently in a classroom setting, but that doesn't mean they are flawed.”

Which is awesome and kids with neurodivergence and "learning differences" should feel seen and supported. This is great, I have no beef with this.

What I DO take issue with in this book is the truly baffling prejudice against physical disability and the reiteration of some genuinely harmful disability tropes, including a variation on disability drag.

Even in 2005, using "crippled" to describe people with physical disabilities was absolutely uncool, yet "crippled" is the terminology that is used throughout the book. Robert McRuer wouldn't publish his seminal Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability until 2006, so it wouldn't be realistic to expect Riordan to use "cripped" instead, but literally ANYTHING ELSE than crippled would be nice, because that word sets my teeth on edge. In this vein, we also get Annabeth leaning into the pervasive idea that disability and beauty cannot exist together, and the book does not check her or correct her, suggesting a tacit agreement. Here's Annabeth's contribution to disparaging physical disability:

There was literally no reason to connect what is implied to be an orthopedic disability with handsomeness or a lack thereof. The two have basically nothing to do with each other unless we're leaning into the moralizing about how disability is a visible sign of moral ugliness. That is an old, OLD disability trope, and we hate to see it because it moralizes bullshit beauty aesthetics and suggests that if you are physically disabled, you cannot be beautiful. Like, I cannot imagine being a physically disabled kid and reading this in a book and not being just absolutely crushed. Like...a pretty girl in a book has just said that she (and in a kid's mind, the leap to "and any other pretty girl" is less a leap and more the logical next step) will never find you handsome. That would be devastating.

Ok, so strictly speaking, "disability drag" is a term that describes the Hollywood predilection for casting abled actors to play disabled characters. That's not strictly what is happening in this book, but it's an easier shorthand than "character is faking a disability for [reasons]." The fact that Grover and Chiron are faking physical disabilities to "pass" for mortals is genuinely harmful.

PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD RIGHT NOW THINK THIS IS WHAT DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD DO. AND THOSE ASSHOLES MAKES LAWS AND POLICIES THAT MAKE IT HARDER FOR DISABLED PEOPLE TO ACCESS EVERYTHING FROM EDUCATION TO MEDICAL CARE. Perpetuating the idea that disabled people are actually faking their disabilities to deceive others or game social systems does real harm. It also can lead physically disabled kids to wonder if they might actually be faking (and holy tits, do not make kids self-gaslight, that is so damaging) and/or push past their physical limits and HARM THEMSELVES to prove something to abled adults or peers, and disabled kids do not owe ANYONE proof.

Honestly, the way that Grover and Chiron were faking physical disabilities ruined the reading experience for me. Especially since Percy himself is over here at the beginning of the book calling Grover out for faking a disability because he walks awkwardly but can run faster than most kids. Like...this is just bullshit and harmful. Even though it is "explained" by the fact that Grover is a satyr, the fact that the book doesn't call Percy out for making the worst possible assumptions about a classmate's body isn't something you want kids thinking is acceptable. And I don't think that going "oh, he's a satyr" does anything to show that assuming that your classmates are lying about their physical disabilities or differences is KIND OF SHITTY.

It genuinely baffles me that Riordan has completely split the mind from the body in this book and made having ADHD and dyslexia a sign that you're a hero while simultaneously shaming physical disability. I literally cannot comprehend how this split makes logical sense. I am CONFUSED.

The friend I read this book with and I will be watching the new Percy Jackson series, so I'm curious to see how Disney is going to address this absolute contradiction that is inherently baked into the book.

[halliescomut]

2022 BL opinions

Now...I suppose I'm decently new to BLs, not the general concept, but I've only been super actively engaged in watching eastern BLs for about a year...I think I started around February, but I can't be sure. I can be sure that I started with Gameboys, and I still adore that show. Anyway....someone here (if I can find the post I'll tag it in edits) shared a chart for you to put your opinions on...and I love to share my fully subjective opinions....so this is a scatter graph of all of the eastern BLs I watched in 2022. This is NOT limited to ones that came out in 2022. It includes anything I fully finished before posting this, so Remember Me is included even though it's last few eps were in 2023. So here you go...

I know everything is super tiny, sorry about that...so I've also included my excel sheet:

Now, for some caveats! When marking technical quality, 90 % of that grade is behind the camera, it's writing, it's sets/ production design, costumes, storyline/plot, all of that. Actor skill can improve quality...good actors can elevate a poor script, so it may add points, but 'poor acting' doesn't take them away for me. Anything that I found to be just mid as far as production value started at one, then points were added or deducted based on good plots, quality writing, costuming, etc.

I am honestly super easy to please as far as enjoyment, there's very few things I just flat out dislike, and if I did...I didn't finish the show, so it won't be here. I tried to be kind of harsh here, because if I wasn't then almost everything was going to be 7 or above. Mid for me is 0, if it's positive I liked it, if it went into the negatives that's something I don't necessarily regret watching, but I definitely won't be recommending. If it got above a 5, that's something that's going to get recommended, and it's also something likely to get a re-watch.

In terms of shows that are known to be problematic as far as themes...I'm generally not here to yuck someone's yum, these shows get made because there's an audience. If it had story elements that reduced my enjoyment that obviously does deduct points. But I'm also not going to find some things as disagreeable as someone else might. I also try my best to be cognizant that these shows have a long history in their respective cultures and there are tropes or common story points that either are problematic, or can be problematic. So when I'm watching I'm trying to take these shows as they are, not viewing them solely through a western lens. That being said there are some tropes that I have no issues with that many other BL fans absolutely despise.