#its not a totally ridiculous premise like these other ones

[bloomfish]

If something isn't on here I either consider it objectively a decent episode, or completely irredeemable/boring in a way that doesn't count as "so bad it's good" (killed by death, for instance.) It needs to be that specific kind of ridiculous early Buffy campiness that ends up being very entertaining!

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

i think you're onto something with the romance novels world and plot points needing to mirror the kind of outlandishness of the love story. bc the main characters are already inherently acting absurd just by falling madly in love in a month or whatever and then if you add in the contrivances of romance tropes, it starts to feel like whiplash trying to pretend the characters live in any sort of grounded "normal" world. Like when the author adds in a family conflict subplot where the MC is like in absolute shambles because her mom said something slightly passive aggressive at lunch. that reads as more jarring to me than like conflict being something ridiculous that her mom doesn't want her being a marine biologist bc they come from a long line of fishmongers. Give me absurd drama to match the over the top dialogue and character emotions, I knew it would be unrealistic it's a romance novel! I guess this applies more to romcoms, but the same would apply I think to an analogous serious scenario. Or at least that's my take on it

okay so having just finished genuinely the most boring romance novel I have ever read in my LIFE I'm going to expand on this a little so thank you for sending an ask that gives me such a great platform to do that

I personally generally prefer a romance that just gets fucking silly with it, like really outlandish. A Lady for the Duke (Alexis Hall) is obviously the dream, being a whole swoony historical trans-affirming fantasy, but contemporary fake relationship stories can also be fun in their sheer ridiculousness, like Love, Hate, and Clickbait (Liz Bowery), which I actually liked, and Unfortunately Yours (Tessa Bailey), which I did not like but was very funny. and let's not forget queen Helen Hoang's Bride Test, which has a premise that dances perilously close to human trafficking but all works out in the end!!!

BUT HAVING SAID THAT. I don't think that something needs to be totally implausible to be a good romance. two of my very favorites romance novels anywhere ever are Helen Hoang's Heart Principle (no one should be surprised Hoang is on her twice I adore her) and Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. both of these books are very grounded in reality but with very uncommon situations to heighten emotions and add urgency; in Hoang's case it's a character's adult autism diagnosis + death of a parent and in Emezi's case it's a very sudden and #problematic attraction coming out of absolutely nowhere. the stakes are very real, mostly centering around being true to yourself v disappointing your family, but the circumstances are still wild enough to make you say "god DAMN" and keep turning pages. hell, I'll even be extremely generous and include Mistakes Were Made (Meryl Wilsner) which is kind of a flop but does have the intriguing premise of "what if you were fucking a milf but her kid was YOUR BEST FRIEND and it was a secret?"

those are like the two sweet spots TO ME, and this book I just read (which was Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz, I feel so bad putting it on blast but I know people are going to ask) really solidified it for me because TYFS didn't fall into either of those categories. I'm going to say something absolutely insane, which is that multiple times while I was reading it I found myself wishing that the book was fanfic, because on its own it just... didn't bring a lot to the table? it falls into the grounded category but doesn't really bring any of those heightened stakes to the story, it's just 330 pages of people in their late twenties complaining about dating and their office jobs. if I wanted that I could just ask my group chat! there's nothing particularly particularly gripping about watching made up strangers do it!

but then I was like oh hang on... if this was two fictional characters who are usually fighting with swords or throwing cars at each other or something this would be so gripping. it's literally the coffee shop AU principle, right? like seeing people in a very mundane setting having an office job and going to a bar is very shrimpteresting when they're normally defusing space bombs. I was explaining this to my housemates and I couldn't think of a straight couple to apply it to (the book is m/f) so I said Naruto and Sasuke, which is crazy because I've never seen a single episode of Naruto, but like. idk Naruto being a museum curator who has to work with Sasuke, a marketing specialist who he had beef with a summer camp 14 years ago, sounds kind of compelling, right? definitely more than just two people I don't know.

there's a post on here that I think about a lot that talks about why advertising a story with tropes doesn't work for original fiction as well as it does for fan fic because knowing the tropes is more helpful when you already have a sense of investment in the characters and their personalities, and I think this is related to that! I think sometimes you NEED to have a wider sense of scope for the characters for them to be interesting in a very mundane setting!

ANYWAY. much to consider, etc.

[communistkenobi]

re: Trek: I was hit with a lot of the same feelings when I finally went and watched TOS a couple of years ago. There's a brand of Star Trek fan who really believe in what the show wants or at least claims it wants to be--a progressive vision of the future--but are incapable of seeing it for what it was lest they cede ground to the fans on the reactionary end of the spectrum who like it for pew pew guns and sexy green ladies. For what it's worth, the Federation isn't portrayed as a post-scarcity post-money society until TNG but it's not something they do more than pay lip service to

I think this gets into the limitations with individual character representation as a metric for “good” politics in a show. It has a comparatively diverse cast and that is historically significant, I understand that it’s groundbreaking, and I’m not downplaying that or saying those things don’t matter or had no impact culturally. but those individual representations are imbedded within the undergirding logic of the show, which is that the Enterprise is a ship meant to make contact with “new” “undiscovered” civilisations, measure their “development” on a singular scale that is premised on settler colonial ideas of land development & capitalist logics of expansion and growth, and then force those societies to fit into that particularly colonial mould. Multiple times the resolution to the plot of an episode is destroying any unique aspects of a culture that cannot be captured by those development metrics, and this is unambiguously presented as a good thing. This show is deeply invested in the maintenance of racial hierarchy and western hegemony, and its diversity and progressive elements must always be placed within that context. It’s racially progressive in some ways yes, but only narrowly, and in fact the necessity for good racial representation is the fault of those undergirding logics! We wouldn’t need good racial representation in the first place if those systems did not exist. “Good intentions” on the part of the writers do not negate the fact that the final product uncritically reproduces a western vision of culture, one that sees the west as manager, mother, teacher, and policeman to the rest of humanity.

I think Said’s discussion of Orientalism is once again very instructive: it’s not just that the show might be individually racist or sexist to particular characters or groups of people in a given episode. These things are bad yes, but they are surface level bad, and focusing only on them obscures the larger issue at hand. The deeper problem is that it operates on an orientalist epistemology, a way of knowing and seeing the world, one that necessarily excludes the basic conclusion that, like, the measure of a civilisation does not need to be premised on economic growth or European cultural modes, & in fact the idea that you can “measure” a culture unilaterally is itself a western construction. that scale is a tool of colonial development, one that is backed by a system of racial hierarchy that must be violently enforced to be realised in the world. Star Trek is by no means unique or special in this regard; this is the state of western media in total. I’m just uncomfortable with how uncritically fawning people are about it.

I’m also not privy to the discourse around this show, I’m an outsider encountering Star Trek for the first time as an adult and I’m largely ignorant of the 8-odd decades of discussion about it. But like, you don’t have to allow the reactionary crowd to control your understanding of the show! Saying it’s a fundamentally colonial narrative does not dismiss or diminish claims about racial diversity or representation in other areas, nor does it mean a reactionary interpretation of the show holds more weight. Those people are not worth considering, they have nothing of value to contribute to the discussion of the show’s politics. Like you can accuse me of having high standards or that my demands are ridiculous given the show is old, but I’m being bombarded (and have been bombarded) with claims that Star Trek is socialist, is progressive, is better than Star Wars politically, etc. and I don’t think those claims stand up to basic scrutiny unless you are willing to downplay or dismiss how deeply racist, ableist, misogynist, etc the show is, and further you have to ignore the basic fact that the show does not work if you reject or take umbridge with its imperial framework

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Things are Very Mixed

May 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 3 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - The subs are janky on YT, so you might want to watch this on Gaga. This is such a good show, it just feels so much more authentic to an office environment and first job then anything else I’ve seen in BL. Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). While the authenticity may be a little triggering for some, I love how much tension it adds to the leads’ dynamic and the quality of the narrative. I also really love the brothers’ relationship, now that we got to see them on screen together for a bit. Walk of shame was great! Oh look, character development, how novel. This is what Boss & Babe should have been. Not sold on the sides tho it’s nice to see a faen fatal as the main character in a dynamic for a change. 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - This one is really grabbing me by the throat. I love the starter concepts, what a fantastic twist on a meet cute not to mention soulmates. I hope we spend more time with the vet and his coworkers, they seem awesome. And another surprise, the guy we think is being set up to be the brother’s love interest is now clearly interested in the wrong brother. I love the trope subversions going on with this show! 

Our Skyy 2 (The Eclipse) eps 5-6 - FirstKhao are just ridiculously cute as a couple. Honestly? Aye just seems like he would be a lot of work as a lover. I’m not as wild about the premise of this installment, with the film clips and stuff (as I was of NlMG’s installment). And then, the singing. Oh well, you can’t have everything. I gotta say, First is a great crier, although I don’t think this story warranted his tears. In the end? My feelings on this installment were mixed, the movie storyline didn’t grab me and the birthday storyline seems a touch mean spirited, but I do think it adds substantially to the original Eclipse rather than feeling superfluous or slapdash like many of the other Our Skyys. So I’m going to go with 8/10 

Future (Thai Sun YouTube & Gaga) ep 6fin - More of the same (which I like) but I’m glad it ended. Didn’t need to get dragged out. Such drama over nothing. In the end? This is just a soft sweet cotton candy fluff piece about a younger boy who pursues an older boy and then manufactures silly gay drama. Nothing wrong with that. But I don’t think this style of BL really appeals to a very large market share. Will I rewatch it? Sure. Will anyone else? Nope. 7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS.    

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 9 of 12 eps - And now the amnesia trope. I’m not a fan. This is such a pulp. At least it ends next week? Groan, no 3 more eps.  

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 10 of 12 - one thing I realize I like about this main couple’s dynamic is that the seme/uke seems earned, where it didn’t in Echante. I don’t have much else to say except it’s crazy when a narrative betrays its characters like this and why to poor ForceBook keep having to deal with it? 

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - Honestly, who wears an all white outfit to play around with coffee beans in the countryside? I LOVE the faen fatal, he’s so good, courageous, honest, and morally sound. He even gives his rival fair warning. Nan should totally go out with him. I made awwww noises over the faen fatal! I NEVER do that. I guess Phu was right all along? Nan won’t date a friend. Ultimate friend zone. Well shit. This show. Ouch. 

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) ep 1 of ?? - There seems a slight horror element which I do not like and it’s also confusingly like Melrose Place or something. Everyone is sleeping with, or wants to be sleeping with everyone else. It’s kinda hilarious to watch something where all the actors are supposed to be good actors but it’s a pulp so they just really aren’t. So far my main issue is I can’t keep them all straight in my head (pun intended). 

Tin Tam Jai (Tues Gaga) ep 10fin - There is very little I enjoyed about this show. The entirely forgotten side dishes gave us 5 min of excellent high heat and then vanished, but otherwise this show sucked in the wrong way. It’s forgettable and I intend to do just that. 5/10  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - The way these two are very quietly yet thoroughly falling in love with each other is executed with such grace and subtlety that only Japan could have handed this out. It’s not even “falling” it’s more like sliding gradually into love. 

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 1-2 of 8 - Launched very much openly gay so that’s fun. Also very much bubble too, so no one around them cares. So: Seo is a player jaded older uke (fun character type we don’t see often) and his seme is a romantic if arrogant weirdo. Can you see my hands clapping? Combative trope activation! Absurdity. How fun. Also workplace harassment but hayho that’s BL for ya. (Also a nonBL Kdrama specialty.) ALSO whole office in on seme-stalker’s side? All in all, it’s odd and questionable, but I’m into it. Why am I like this? 

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - OK I’m not super into the main couple but I love all of the surrounding characters. The overly protective best friend with a crush is giving bad advice but it’s understandable and he’s super hot so I forgive him. And the idol character is a wonderful addition, he is my baby. Also, evil ex is v evil. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YT ) - I thought this was gonna be Tiktok only but apparently it’s showing up on YT too. It’s cute! My cat boyfriend (which is more common that it should be) and this seems to be Vietnam’s installment (we got Thailand’s last year). The boy playing the cat is the prettiest human being on the planet. Fight me. No fight him, get scratched. Serious tho. Holy hairballs. Look I don’t really like vertical content but I am watching this for him. Meow, indeed. 

The Day I Loved You (Vietnam YouTube) eps 2-3 of ? - BL Express’s first impressions mirror mine. Niks is so flipping cute. Rich kid is so into him, so is bestie. So much gay macho posturing. So much bi fear and het shame. But also it’s killer to get a femme main characters who isn’t being mocked. Dancing trope continues (better than singing together). It is kinda Heartstopper goes Pinoy BL. Honestly, I prefer kids a little drawings to terrible sound effects. This is better than it or we have any right to expect. 

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - There is a lot I like about this drama, except the weird central conceit of the naked dining. But the romance part is cute, if a tad simplistic. 

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - chukchuk went missing and so did my interest in this show. I’m DNFing this one. 

Dancing together, the baby sub-trope of 2023. (The Day I Love You) 

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, this pilot holds together as its own little short too.

Stormy Honeymoon (Vietnam) - meh

In Case You Missed It

Actors Bas Suradej (2 Moons etc...) and Copter Panuwat (so much BL) have left Starhunter. So Copter and Kimmon will part ways as an on-screen pair (RIP KimCop). Their upcoming show Boy Never Smiles will still air, but will likely be their last together. (source) 

Restart After Come Back Home (highly recommended), Athlete, Capture Lover, Tkumi-kun, His the movie (recommended) and also a bunch of the dark stuff like Forbidden Love and Shortest Distance are all leaving Gagaoolala soon. So watch ‘em while you can. A few are also on Viki, but many will be difficult to get hold of without Gaga. 

I finally finished the second season of The Reason Why He Fell in Love with Me (Japan Gaga) and gave it a 4/10. I just don’t like or recommend any of the installments of this franchise, but if I had to pick, it’s season one. 

Make a Wish finished at 6 eps. Stars Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in medical-fantasy about a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish. Based on a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). I will watch it if I get hold of it, but for now... who knows how it went? 

Here’s a really interesting podcast ep from 99% Invisible on captions and captioning.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming in May 2023:

5/18 - Starstruck (Korea ????) - A boy has had a crush on his childhood friend for a long time. Stars Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush).

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ?????  (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

Defining Gut Wrenching from The Promise

Honestly you gotta be so careful who you case as the faen fatal, sometimes he steals everyone’s hearts. I caught a BAD case of second lead syndrome. 

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Future reviewing itself for us. 

Tiny king of the GMMTV cameo. (Our Skyy et al)

Frankly if this weren’t such a bad story, Cher might be one of my favorite BL characters. (Boss & Babe) 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? BTOB's - Wind & Wish (I don’t consider myself Melody but I make no case for that statement)

[corvuserpens]

So yeah, yesterday I decided to FINALLY watched The Meg bc everyone kept saying it was a silly fun shark movie... AND THEY WERE RIGHT. It was AWESOME.

I went in expecting practically nothing, and it blew me away. The story premise is ridiculous and it totally feels like the director, actors and crew 100% knew that and embraced it! The movie never takes itself too seriously, it practically tells you to just kick back and enjoy it for what it is, which is exactly what makes it so much fun. It's an exciting comedy horror about a giant prehistoric shark in present day Earth, the CGI is dubious but the cinematography makes up for it with some great, well composed shots. For example, when Suyin is in the trench and is being attacked by a giant squid? That in itself is pretty cool imagery, but then you see the Megalodon swimming over her sub with the squid in its mouth in the gloom, illuminated from below?? WOW????

Then the characters are like, surprisingly deep? They have interesting backstories that inform us on who they are and while Jonas is the only one who gets some screen time for his Big Trauma, we later learn that Lori might have blown up a whaler ship for an environment organization and that's how she learned to pilot? And that Suyin had a tough relationship with her dad but they love each other so much that with his dying breath he tells her how proud he is, that she already surpassed him as a scientist and he hopes Meying will grow up to be just like her? And we get all of that with some very organic, short dialog or like 3-4 minute scenes, which is rare these days. Legit good writing where it is most needed, all the more sober scenes are well-acted and so immersive, the characters are so likable I ended up rooting for all of them to survive (except that billionaire whose name I didn't bother to learn, everyone else I remember except him, FUCK that guy). Even the side characters, though flat, were interesting because the actors gave them so much personality!

And, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A WHOLESOME CISHET SHIP WITH JASON STATHAM WITH VERY LITTLE SEXUAL TENSION BUT A LOT OF ROMANTIC TENSION?? WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT??? Seriously, I was shipping Jonas and Suyin so hard, their interactions were adorable. How he goes from being the typical Tough Manly Man Who Is Super Competent And Punches All The Bad Guys While Wearing The Same Tough Guy Face All Movie to genuinely caring for the whole Mana One crew and respecting Suyin as an accomplished female scientist in her own right who knows what she's doing and is also brave and headstrong herself... Much 'aww'ing' was done.

Not to make this too long a rant, I love talking about movies I enjoyed, sorry, but a few other small things I liked about it: that Lori and Jonas remained good friends who care and support each other, and want the other's happiness even being divorced, we need more of that! And Dr. Heller apologizing to Jonas and meaning it for saying he was crazy and basically ruining his life (plus Jonas forgiving him in the end), definitely wanna see more of that! Jonas' friendship with Meying, THAT WAS SO CUTE, I COULDN'T GET ENOUGH OF THEM!! The gags were all genuinely funny, I was laughing through most of the movie, and the jump scares got me more than a couple of times (though that might be a fault on my part, I'm a big wussy and I am not afraid to admit it). The action is so. DUMB. But it's the kind that it's so dumb it's good, y'know?

Final note, I gotta say, let Jason actually act more because he's really good and directors keep hiring him to play a stoic emotionless hero when he can do so much more? He has impeccable comedic timing, his line delivery no matter how bonkers, always lands, he's REALLY CHARMING and y'all are wasting his potential imo. Given, I haven't really watched many of his movies after the Transporter franchise, but for example, I loved him in The Italian Job and a couple of weeks ago I started watching Homefront and I was enjoying it because he gets to play a widower with a young daughter in a new town, and now I definitely need to finish it bc I'm a sucker for father/daughter dynamics.

Anyway, yeah, if you like sharks, B-movies or just something fun to watch that will make you laugh, go watch The Meg. It's good enough to convince me to go watch the sequel next August. Can't wait!

[therulerofallpotatos]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

I'm cheating and adding five more.

And the Walls Come Crumbling Down which is a stallison fic and the only one I ever wrote. It's special to me. I love how people responded to how I wrote Scott and I loved exploring the potential between Allison and Stiles. I wish we had more of them bonding in canon. I really do.

We are Who we Choose to Follow which is another steter fic. Statistically likely to be steter, this list. I wrote and posted 74 for the teen wolf fandom, 99% were steter. Looking at the premise you can see I have a type

Through Thick and Thin I Stand by You which is a pregnant Stiles fics where she gets an abortion because I'd read a thousand where she kept it and I wanted to try the other way. It might have been the first common trope I looked at, loved, and wanted to go left instead of right when I finally wrote it myself. This is the same habit that led to me writing Hold Me Close and Pin Me Down (unposted).

Will You Press the Button? was also special because it was so dumb but I really loved what came of it. I don't write crack fic. I write serious fic and then marvel in the irony of the objectively ridiculous premise. Other people call it crack later.

I'm going to put Warning: She Bites for the last one because it was a good experience writing a kink I don't have in the slightest from the pov of someone who very much has that kink. There was the slightest bit of discomfort at times that I feel is good for you as well. Keeps you grounded. and exploring the nature of certain things has its own value as well. Plus, yknow, it was fun. It was a fun thing to write.

Tagging ten authors total: @wincestation, @leavesdriftinginthewind, @nonamemanga, @beri-allen, @badmoodbatflowers, @realisticintentions, @cosmic-lullaby, @graciebirdie, @chaoticstupiddm, @insomniac1994

[littleraeofsunshineda]

I've decided in my nostalgia for mid-2010s fandom (ah blissful torturous teenagehood) what this fandom/pairing needs is more fic rec lists

To that end, and without overestimating my total lack of influence whatsoever, I present the first installment of

Cullrian Fic Recs

This inaugural list featuring my favourite trope for them of all the tropes: Misguided Pining/Insecurity

Various AU lists will be forthcoming but for now these are shorter fics which also mostly fit the game canon. Enjoy!

take all my loves, my love - susiecarter - M - 2566 words

If you need a tasty treat to sell you on Cullrian in under 3k, this will do it. They're fuckbuddies. Dorian thinks he know what it is: he's obviously wrong. Deliciously angsty miscommunication, achingly lovely resolution, all in a ridiculously tight package.

this song is about you - susiecarter - M - 11,257 words

Now your appetite is whetted, enjoy its sister-fic - these are the only two cullrian fics susiecarter ever wrote and I mourn that fact routinely. This features some truly delightful imaginings of a second Wicked Grace game where Cullen isn't the one losing clothes. Also featured: hot drunk sex, Dorian's hang-ups, exquisitely sweet virgin!Cullen that is never soppy. 9/10, losing a point because there's not 100k of it. Cullen’s POV.

Checkmate - Kauri - E - 6521 words

Another lovely thing that packs a whole bunch of feels into a very few words in a way I'd frankly kill for (my style is more... verbose). Progresses from Dorian setting out to seduce Cullen to a romcom-worthy yet understated confrontation with his own expectations for relationships.

Mutually Beneficial - Verayne - E - 13,364 words

Billed in the tags as Dorian's fairytale, this delivers - the two make a political alliance to encourage positive interactions between the Templars and rebel mages in the Inquisition force. There are sexy duels that also smack you in the heart. There is my second favourite Inquisition trope after the Wicked Grace: the Winter Palace. The end makes me squeal every time.

Treading Water in the Wishing Well - springdreaming - E - 11,672

I'll avoid saying too much about the plot of this one because it'll give spoilers, but the fantastically romcom-worthy premise is that Sera fancies Lavellan, but Lavellan and Cullen fancy each other. What does she do? Recruits Dorian to help split them up, obviously. Genuinely funny at times which is as you expect with good Sera writing. Pining like an exquisite knife. Dorian's POV.

[hyog-blog]

The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion review/opinion

Okay, I've just finished watching The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion, and despite all its setbacks and numerous plot holes and excessive dramatization /and I mean there's A LOT of drama in the second half of the whow/, I just loved it to bits. Zhang Zhehan and Ju Jingyi look ridiculously cute together. He's the reserved type of guy who doesn't show his emotions easily /but when he does it's a treat for the eyes/ and she's a young sweet thing with a very mischievous character, carefree attitude towards life, and a darker undertone /with her being able to glimpse into the future and trying to prevent things from happening/.

So, watching these two stumble upon each other in a series of (un)fortunate events was real fun and how they slowly developed feelings towards each other (although she was desperately trying no to, but while avoiding the guy she just kept stumbling upon him more XD). The second couple was also beyond sweet, but in a hotter and more cheerful way - they actually got to have some time to develop their romance naturally, without being dragged into all possible near-death situations, so in that sense, they are a more classical couple, but exceptionally delicious, watching them develop feelings for each other was very yummy and they do look very good together.

Also, the sisterhood is strong in this one, like a very healthy sisterly relationship that is both sweet and protective and very natural. Basically, I loved everyone's acting in this, the main evil-not-so-evil guy, of course, was far from original, but I was kind of okay with the screen time he was getting, but I've got to admit I skipped a lot of scenes with him XD /the character was slightly annoying in the second part of the series, but the actor is very good-looking/

The plot had some fun and strong points (mostly relationship-wise), the RuYi Pavilion's secret identity was a cool touch, the owner was also kind of badass (while she was there). The whole premise of kill-em-all to take revenge is a bit old but bearable. The characters are quite fresh and the actors delivered them masterfully. I won't say anything about the ending, but it was a bit of a floppy flop XD Well, I wasn't too disappointed, despite being invested into the main characters to some degree. I say the whole show is an emotional roller-coster but in general, it's very enjoyable.

DO WATCH the modern-day specials wtih ZZH and JJY, those shorts are beyond lovely. A type of reincarnation AU I'd totally watch. Plus, they do look ridiculously good together as a modern couple as well.

After watching the BTS, I'm really amazed at their acting skills because they laughed SO MUCH, omg, ZZH and JJY are like two kiddos giggling, dancing, and playing around, an absolute bliss to watch.

[fridayyy-13th]

20 questions for fic writers

tysm @three-magpies-in-a-trenchcoat for the tag!!

How many works do you have on Ao3? 4

What's your total Ao3 word count? 13,296

What fandoms do you write for? i used to write for the Hermitcraft fandom, but i've discontinued the one fic i started for it and moved on to The Magnus Archives. i've got a couple story ideas for other fandoms, but idk if they'll go anywhere.

What are your top five fics by kudos? well, i've only got four! but from most- to least-kudosed, there's: - Double Trouble (Hermitcraft, rated G, incomplete multichapter) - Know What Can't Be Shown, Feel What Can't Be Known (TMA, rated T, oneshot) - Time Enough to Spend Some Time Alone (TMA, rated T, oneshot) - Here, Nowhere, Somewhere With You (TMA, rated G, oneshot) and i'm totally not salty my two most kudosed fics are an incomplete work and something i posted at 3am, respectively.

Do you respond to comments? hell yeah! i love answering comments <3

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? gotta say Time Enough, bc it's more refined than its predecessor, Know What Can't Be Shown (man i really need to stop giving my fics such long titles, i always end up shortening them when referring to them). but for reference, both are pre-Unknowing jmart kiss fics; it's a favored headcanon of mine. Time Enough also spends more time musing on how Jon and Martin are feeling—that is, they feel Bad. Absolutely Terrible. sad and scared, both for the Unknowing and for each other.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Here, Nowhere, Somewhere, absolutely. the ending itself is pretty open, but Jon and Martin have reunited post-MAG 200, admitted they still love each other after its events, and found themselves Somewhere Else. it's the most hopeful.

Do you get hate on fics? not yet, thankfully. i'm not a well-known enough author for that lol.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? i do not! and i doubt i ever will. props to everyone who does, though.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? i don't really write crossovers, at least none i ever planned to publish, but i do have a couple fusion AUs in the works (that is, taking one story's premise and combining it w/the characters of another). and funnily enough, both are based on songs.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? i sure hope not.

Have you ever had a fic translated? no. though if someone offered to, i'd be honored!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? technically? a friend of mine and i made a couple AUs for a few different MCYT fandoms that never really went anywhere, but i've never co-authored something that's made it to publishing.

What's your all time favorite ship? probably jonmartin. i've read a ridiculous amount of fanfic for them, and i think pretty much all my WIPs feature it if both Jon and Martin are there (sometimes i'll make them queerplatonic, and sometimes they'll be part of a poly ship like jongerrymartin, but jmart tends to be pretty Do Not Separate in my mind lmao).

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? ages ago i was reading this one rom-com webcomic where two people wound up as roommates bc the landlord accidentally rented the single apartment to both of them, which i thought was a really cute premise, but then BAM there was some really awful transphobia in it. when called out in the comments, the author doubled down, so i snatched up the concept and decided "i'm gonna make this t4t out of SPITE." but uh i've found spite doesn't work very well as a fuel source for my work, and i can get the same awkward domesticity/mutual pining out of a safehouse fic, so it'll probably just stay buried in the WIPs folder.

What are your writing strengths? dialogue. or at least, making a character's dialogue sound like their voice. vocabulary, things like stammering or using filler words, cutting oneself off or pausing a bunch, that sort of thing. though sometimes the dialogue itself feels a little clunky. i also think i'm rather good at writing emotional scenes, especially once i'm in the editing stage of things.

What are your writing weaknesses? over-editing. my utter beloathed. i sometimes get really caught up in trying to make everything as clear as possible, when that just makes the work 5,000 words too long and takes way more time to do. i'm trying to be better about it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i think it's neat! but if you're monolingual you should read up on writing bilingual/multilingual characters beforehand, don't just wing it.

First fandom you wrote for? probably Pokémon? i'm not entirely sure.

Favorite fic you've written? Time Enough, hands-down. (though uh, hypothetically, if i wanted to make some small edits to it, would it be weird to do so? especially seven months after posting? there's a handful of lines i wish i'd phrased a bit differently.)

tags (no pressure!!): @radical-dadical-rafael @dramaticdads @winterswrandomness @ollieofthebeholder @ladydragonkiller @incandescentis @cornmazehater @jewishjon

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Tagged by @batrachised. Thank you!

1-How many works do you have on AO3?

102. We will not discuss the number of fics posted on the ff.net account I maintained in high school.

2-What's your total AO3 word count?

298,956. Lower than I would have expected, actually. My longfic days were primarily, again, in high school, so on AO3 it's mostly shorter one-shots.

3-What fandoms do you write for?

Currently on a Blue Castle kick. Previously my main fandom was Les Mis, mostly bookverse, and prior to that I spent a decade or so as a Harry Potter girl. I have dabbled in other things, but none of them deeply enough for me to consider them actual fandoms that I am in.

4-What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In the darkest time of year -- Hadestown, post-canon. I believe this is also the fic with the most notes on tumblr.

The Black Sheep and the Mad Muggleborn: a love story -- HP, post-canon. I really liked writing this one and, like all my HP work, now have deeply conflicted feelings about it.

And I could be enough -- Power Rangers 2017, character study. I only wrote 2 fics for this movie and I adore them both so much.

Stormforged -- ASOIAF, alternate ending. This was written for Femslash February and represents the sum total amount of time I have spent thinking about ASOIAF since reading the first four books in a week during standardized testing week back in high school.

We rose with voices ringing -- HP, alternate post-canon. Can you tell I default to song lyric titles a lot and also enjoy musicals?

5-Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I am trying to be better about this! For a long time I didn't because I hated everything I wrote the moment I published it and the only way I could publish at all was to throw a fic out the door and never think of it again.

6-What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

You know, I'm not sure. I haven't done full on angst in a long time. Probably either Waiting for sunrise (LM) or With nothing to remember (also LM). Honorable mention goes to Real in its consequences (still LM) which exists solely to take a ridiculous premise seriously.

7-What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

It's new and still my beautiful child, so this one goes to Ties That Bind, Bonds That Strengthen (TBC).

Oh! Honorable mention to The title of citizen (LM Animates-verse). It's... it just has to be read to be understood, tbh.

8-Do you get hate on fics?

Not since the old aforementioned high school era ffn account, where I once got flamed for writing het. Ah, the good old days. (It wasn't even endgame het, lol.)

9-Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nope. I've played with some fade to black and a couple, like, sensuous bed scenes, but I find it boring to read so I don't write it.

10-Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have come to love crossovers, honestly. I like putting characters into Situations. Can't think of any particularly crazy ones though.

11-Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've ever found or been told about, although realistically with how much I've written and how long I've been doing it I'm sure there are some out there.

12-Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, but I can't off the top of my head remember which ones, unfortunately.

13-Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No. I am a dreadful co-writer. I will, however, build a world with you at the drop of a hat. Shout out to @steelplatedhearts for the PoTC mermaid worldbuilding we did years and years ago that I still think about fondly.

14-What's your all-time favourite ship?

It varies. Right now unfortunately it's the two leads from the Forbidden Hugs story, which is unfinished original fiction. Fandom wise, I still like me some Logic and Philosophy.

15-What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Anything started earlier than this year, unfortunately.

16-What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I have gotten decent at having an entertaining narrative voice without it being too distracting.

17-What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot? What plot? Plot is when people sit in rooms and have conversations about their feelings, right? What do you mean Events must occur? I'm calling my manager, this doesn't sound right at all.

18-Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Mostly feels needlessly pretentious, honestly. I don't know if I've ever really even considered it.

19-First fandom you wrote for?

HP, starting at age, oh, 14 or so.

20-Favorite fic you've ever written?

Again, Ties That Bind is still my beloved child, but I have a huge soft spot for both Power Rangers (2017) fics. Oh, and underdog fav status to Never go anywhere, never see anyone, the nichest of niche crossovers where Mary Bolkonskaya befriends doesn't-even-get-a-canonical-first-name Aunt Gillenormand.

Tagging @lemeute, @manyswarmsofbees, @amarguerite, @ohhgingersnaps

[treesap-blogs]

Saturday evening post!! “The Merciless Ones” review by Namina Forna

Hello, Tumblrians! As you all might know, I read The Gilded Ones back in January, and really enjoyed it! Namina Forna pulled me into the story with the brutality outlined in the first half, as well as the strong friendships that powered Deka’s journey throughout, and all of the possibilities for exploring the series’ world. Unfortunately though, the ending was clunky to say the least, and it..created a bunch of flaws in the narrative that’d been set up until then. Overall I wasn't jiving with it. But! Seeing as it was still a solid novel, and it displayed Forna’s potential as a writer (it was her debut novel I’m pretty sure? I’ve unintentionally read a lot of those, goodness), I immediately put The Merciless Ones on by TBR! To which it was ordered by a librarian, and it arrived around the last week of the month :).

I have incredibly mixed feelings about this book, though. Of course, when reading a book that expands on an ending that I disliked (the same thing happened with Six Crimson Cranes to some degree?), it’s logical to assume that I as a reader wouldn’t really enjoy it as much, although I was hoping it would show some promise. It did, in some part! Firstly, I was waiting to see some of the political aftermath of the ending, and we saw that with the Alaki’s treatment, and a bit of inclusion on how the blood ceremony was handled after that (it was basically no longer practiced, spoiler). It integrated more of that brutality present in TGO, especially with the beginning starting off with a bang, as the first sentences are literally about two corpses Deka finds.

Overall though, it had the same issues as its predecessor but intensified: Plot twists felt predictable(except for one?), and the foreshadowing was very obvious because of that. Around the 1/3rd mark I just started making fun of Deka’s “guesses” being proven right again.

SPOILER SECTION!! If you want to read ahead, sure.

Firstly, Melanis got to be cartoonishly evil in the ending. I actually giggled when Deka (foolishly and half-hazardly) tried to convince Melanis into joining her side because The Gilded Ones were lying the entire time (..shocker), to which Melanis just prided them on their sexist cruelty lmao💀 like okay “that just makes me love them even more!” jdkwnfkensof 

Actually, everyone gets to be cartoonishly evil by the end?? Goodness.

Speaking of the gods and their sexism, I..don’t know how to feel about how it was handled here. It felt like there was too much “both sides-ism” in the narrative now, even if Deka’s internal monologue says multiple times that the male monarchs/authorities went totally overboard and shouldn’t have created the misogynistic society that literally tortured Deka (and literal millions) in this series!! But now we have a reason for that oppression(kinda), and it feels weird. Why does there need to be a logical reason for it? Fine, I guess it’s for plot reasons because of how the Merciless and Gilded Ones are counterparts of each other (the former essentially being a genderbent version of the latter), and eventually turned against each other, yada yada yada…

It felt like Forna wanted to make the gods complex or interestingly evil but..I don’t know, execution wasn’t really that great. 

Deka is also ridiculously overpowered?? I completely forgot she was said to be wholly immortal in TGO, and for most of the book it just makes her feel detached from the other characters and a chunk of the stakes of the narrative. Especially with how she literally is for most of the time?! I might not be original for stating this (shoutout to a helpful Goodreads reviewer, I wish I remembered your user, bless), but what made the first book really stick was that even with the fantastical elements it still felt human. Britta and Deka’s unconditional friendship, how the Alaki supported each other, their very human emotions and struggles despite what you’d expect from the premise carried it. For TMO, we got a false(?) McGuffin, along with Deka being very different from her friends..being truly immortal, the only one who can communicate with the gods, kind of being a god herself. It’s..huh. AND NOW SHE CAN GIVE OTHER PEOPLE ABILITIES?! NOT JUST ABILITIES BUT IMMORTALITY?!?! SLOW DOWN😭 (At least we establish she has some limits though, because her physical body is taking physical damage by the end. How the hell does she even work though?! Is she a soul? Something incomprehensible to the human mind, vast and cosmic?? But then how was that formed, is she just..separate from the body she was born/created with? That raises so many questions!!?)

Anyhow. It really set in that I kind of excused how rushed Kaita and Deka’s romance was? They started out with a rivalry or “hating each other”, had one conversation and suddenly they got googly eyes for each other. I’m thinking of this because their “development” was mentioned somewhere in the book, as a way of signaling to the readers how far they’ve come. But it?? Sure doesn’t feel like it in retrospect haha. He also doesn’t do a ton in the book, except for when they legitimately tried to redeem Deka’s father because he’d “realized his mistakes” or some bullshit and he talked some sense into her (BC HER FATHER LITERALLY TORTURED HER?? WILLINGLY!! SHE LITERALLY CHANGED HER APPEARANCE TO NO LONGER HAVE HIS CHARACTERISTICS BECAUSE SHE WAS TRAUMATIZED BRO🧍). I like that Kaita did that actually because I was like “TALK YOUR SHITTTTT” like Deka wdym “I hated my father all this time😔and for what reason😢” Kaita literally was like HE BEHEADED YOU!! Such a stupid part of the book like girlie I get having parental issues but I was gonna lose my shit fr if Forna used his death as a means of redeeming him chkwncosnfoenforn.

That rant aside though, again, Kaita was mostly useless.

I also just found a lot of stuff to be unintentionally funny this time around because the plot got to be nonsensical after a while. There was one part I did find genuinely funny though less so because of the bad writing and more so just the way events played out?? One of the highlights of this book in my opinion was when the Merciless Ones(the male gods) were trying to mess with Deka’s memories and she knew and was just so fed up of being manipulated by gods she just walked out of their chamber lmfao.

One last complaint! Not digging the sudden introduction of romantic relationships for this book. The first one was so based around platonic ones, and found family even, that it kinda took away from that :(.

Ok! Complaints aside! I’m a little intrigued by what they established with White Hands — will she get to explore her own gender and identity outside of what the Gilded Ones pushed onto her in the next book? (Does that mean they could be non-binary like Thandiwe?) Are they technically intersex, therefore making their story also kind of work as an allegory for forced intersex surgeries? I’m kind of intrigued, as a non-binary reader.

Last things I feel like discussing for this section!! I was pretty stoked that Karmoko Thandiwe was revealed to be non-binary! They were my favorite of the Karmokos in the last book, probably one of my favorite characters overall, their introduction just stuck with me and was so metal. (The “I’ll cut your tongue off and put it in a jar to keep me company” thing caught me so off-guard lmao but it was also kinda badass.) I do feel like the confirmation of it was a little awkwardly worded, though (as are most instances of NB rep unfortunately because it’s often expected that the audience won’t automatically catch on, so we gotta have their gender and pronouns be explicitly stated). Karmoko Huon being trans surprised me though! I’m not gonna lie, maybe there were some hints I could’ve been missing out on because Deka was like “oh yea! I guess I picked it up from the specific way she was shut out from society and ostracized” and I just? Couldn’t remember any of that really standing out?? Or maybe it’s like the Kaita relationship thing where not as much really happened? Anyhow. The influx of queer representation was unexpected but good, although I feel like they only got surface-level on how queer people are oppressed in a multitude of ways in this world, specifically in the case of alaki/women? I guess I get why that was the case though, because Deka is our POV and she’s not queer in any way. Point is though I just wish there was a bit more time spent on that, not because I want to see people suffering on the pages even more(heaven knows there’s enough of that for this series), but so there could be a little more care put into discussing it? 

I think that’s all the spoiler-y stuff I have to discuss!

End of spoiler section!! You may proceed :)

Like the first book though, I liked the action scenes! Even if the plot they were part of was kinda clunky the way the fights played out were solid in my opinion. (And there were a couple times where some batshitery popped up mid-battle and I was like “OH FUCK!” and nibbled on my imaginary popcorn.)

Overall, it feels too harsh a descriptor to call this “worse” than TGO, but I just wasn’t vibing with it as much. All the gripes I had with book one were more prominent here; it felt like the feeling I had reading the ending was extended to approximately 300 more pages. (I’m aware the book is longer than that. The number is there for a reason because it wasn’t that the entire time.) Deka’s backstory stuff just gets increasingly convoluted.

But, with all that’s said and done, I’ll still be seeing how this series ends, because I enjoy most of it and am too far along this journey with these characters to just abandon them. Consider TGO a complicated favorite, if you will.

Book rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.

Paz, signing off!

(Book trigger/content warnings: Torture, gore, PTSD, grief(death of a parent), references to homophobic and queerphobic abuse.)

[refriedrambles]

Like when I say the Evil Doctor is the most influential and persistent character in Tymes, my fantasy world, and I hate him I mean it. He is so deeply intertwined with everything and everyone it's ridiculous. I couldn't remove him without the world collapsing in on itself. He and his twin are immortals, basically demigods and they have their hands in all the pies. All of them!

I would like to note I don't usually refer to him as Evil Doctor, he's got a name, but I made it when I was like 8 and am a little embarrassed. His twin Doll Maker does not have a name. I love Doll Maker.

It's really weird that I just like hate him. He's like Asmodeus (my Asmodeus) where I just villainized the shit out of my own character? Neither have any redeeming qualities and they're both so powerful that their actions seem more motivated by whims than anything else. Maybe that's it? I guess I might like him more if I actually like fleshed out Maliph's story with him more then their falling out. Maliph's pretty broken up about it, but like their isn't a major shift in their character beside a stronger distrust towards other healers or doctors. He's so major to the plot with Maliph and yet he's also a foot note.

Actually I really don't get it. Cause like why does Korokay work as a villain for Maliph when Doc doesn't? They're both recurring forces in his/her life and they destroy seemingly everything thing they touch. They break and shatter Maliph. Sure his influence wasn't much when Maliph learned his secrets and looted his books and razed him lab, but when he got his revenge he fundamentally destroyed who Maliph used to be. Korokay is the embodiment of fear for Maliph, but I don't think it'd be wrong to say the Doctor was the embodiment of betrayal.

So why doesn't he work? Why does Gray work with Krysa when Doc doesn't with Maliph?

Why is the Blood Witch so effective?

Why is Doll Maker compelling?

In Maliph we get whisperers of who Korokay used to be before she fell into madness, but if anything I think that undercuts the fear. I think it's the premise of her character that works so well. An immortal, soulless monster that villages shudder at the name of. A natural disaster that leaves behind only blood, embers and a single survivor wherever she visits. Entirely numb to physical stimuli with the exception of being on the brink of death and thirsting for it wildly. A monster going on and on about heroes and justice to her victims coaxing them to come back one day and kill her. To become heroes. Not for any moralistic reason but to chase a high she only felt once in her far too long life

I fucking love her. To be fair I loved her before I thought up that she 'd ever been a reasonable person at some point twisted by a rush. I loved her when she was just the force of nature with nothing behind it.

She also can't use any sort of magic. All she's got is her insane regeneration and the total lack of touch, taste or smell

With Doll Maker it's harder to say. It could be the hints at his like 180 development or his many quirks or maybe it's just cause he's the most affable out of the three. His absolute hatred for his brother is pretty funny. So at the most basic of basics Doll Maker is a merchant. He has tiny one man stores all over the continent and travels between them when he feels like. Mostly he makes clothes for people and dolls for himself. He controls the dolls with his magic strings and has them help with his work. Most of them are life sized and it freaks people out. Which is fair cause some of them used to be people but most don't know that. In his past before Korokay lost her mind he was a slaughter on the battlefield of the thousand year war. Entirely merciless he left no on behind. And now he despises the touch of getting his clothes dirty.

Like their was a period of time where Doll Maker was the most fucked of the three and Korokay just when by what was the most logical and Doc was soft and scared. That really got flipped on its head

Doll Maker is usually up to help people out and work on unusual requests. And his little shops have a lotta secrets. When people need Doc, but really know who he is they go to Doll Maker instead, because even if he's not as talented as his brother and dislikes the idea of treating people he learned an awful lot before there falling out. To Maliph he's one of the few people they can trust and doesn't expect anything from them in terms of leadership or anything else. He's a freak but so is everyone else she meets. He's safe for them despite the many things that might scream danger to anyone else

I don't think Doc has a core. He's got a motivation he's fleeing death by any means necessary, but I don't think that reflects in his character

Doll Maker doesn't have much of a motivation, but I do think he has a core. He's someone that did horrible horrible things and recognized it. He changed and learned to live with himself. Hell at some point he wrote of killing entirely. He saves people when they seek him out and not just to keep up an image like Doc but because he sees potential in almost everyone, even if he's preferred to be making clothes with his dolls at the edges of the wilderness

Korokay has a solid core and a motivation. She's chasing a high and she has been for the last three thousand years. She's the prophet, the prophesized evil and the catalyst for the hero. She's intentionally orchestrating her own death for the rush of it

Another note about Doll Maker is he can control people's movements with this puppet string and does occasionally still does it to fuck with people's heads. While he is the friendliest and most good natured out of the bunch he really does enjoy unsettling people

[vyrim]

Replayed through Dogma 2 and only really found out that I was missing some side quests. I'd give it a solid "ok" and that I wish I could love it but it really sucks.

The setup is good and the combat is good, but as I progressed through the game it felt like alot of decoration without substance. Its like a ball of dough thats been put in the oven for too little time, so you have this really good looking exterior, but the moment you take a bite its still an unpleasant ball of goo in the center. Which sucks because the idea of going through all these quests to get your throne back is a really good foundation, but the moment you hit the part where youre supposed to head to Batahl it just starts violently falling apart.

-You start really feeling the weight of the tedium put in to the game, the majority of side quests are just point a to point b fetch nonsense which get worse the moment the areas become far less accessible to reach in decent time. This is only made worse by the fact that most of the world is very much just empty, bloated with enemy spawns to give the illusion that youre making good use of your time with all the traveling youre doing.

-Pawns went from silly to downright insufferable, having replaced their "wolves ill like fire lines" with either commenting about your party being full of women only or being ridiculously passive aggressive to other pawns and the player for trying to do anything. Its a real curling of the monkey paw's finger scenario where I wish they'd go back to inane combat tips rather than whining at me about pressing the sprint button for a couple seconds.

-The writing is still absolutely garbage save for the intro premise. Characters appear and vanish from the plot at the drop of a hat, the merc you bump into in Batahl and later saves your from being scapegoated shows up at the end of pre post game to ask for this dramatic duel when, in reality, he has shown up only three times total in the game. Worse still is that all the buildup from gathering evidence, gaining support to best the queen is wasted on a "months have past after your major battle" incident that leads to post game. All your work is thrown away by a twist that ultimately removes your world from the dogma cycle, making it a world without you in it. -Post game also sets itself up to be this exciting race against time where you get end game materials to make yourself as strong as possible. Problem is, by the time you've explored and fought the new, harder variations of enemies, all the fighting is already done. Unless you plan on going to ng+ you have already likely done everything the game has to offer, a problem since most of that completion occurs before you even reach post game. Not to mention that the trigger for forcing you into ending the game, which forces you to ng+ btw, looks similar to the other bosses, meaning you can end up like me and accidentally beat the game. Just like its predecessor there was alot of potential for this game, and while I enjoyed pieces of it enough to not call it a waste of time, they couldnt make up for the whole being an undercooked, halfbaked disappointment. I will say its definitely better than 1, but its one of those games im probably never picking up again.

Also I pray for anyone looking to 100% this game, god help you in your struggle cause its gonna suck.

[braintapes]

Had maybe one of the stupidest dreams today I've ever had today.

I was browsing the comic book shop and spotted a Patrick Bateman/Batman crossover comic. I tried to show it to some people to laugh at it because the idea of it was so stupid, but everyone was just like, "Yeah yeah, the Patrick Bateman/Batman crossover. We've all seen it." Like it's this infamously bad comic, known and widely mocked for its obviously stupid premise, made for stupid reasons (ohh haha they both had the same actor what if they were the SAME GUY heehee) along with an extremely edgy and ridiculous story played completely straight.

Then it got made into a movie and I found myself trapped in the theater while it was playing. I had just enough awareness to know that if I left, I could shift the storyline of my dream to something, ANYTHING other than fucking Patrick Batman. I tried getting out quietly and non-disruptively, but there were no walkways or sidestairs anyway. Just rows and rows of seats with no way to leave.

So I'm climbing over seats and pushing past the people in the seats who are totally enraptured by the movie, while in the background Patrick Bateman AS Batman (NOT Christian Bale but like literally the character Patrick Bateman is just inexplicably also Batman) is doing increasingly absurd spy-movie type getaways from villains. He's doing over the top action movie stunts, ziplining across power lines, beating people up as he makes his way to wherever he's going.

Simultaneously I'M scrambling to leave this shitty movie and apologizing to people for having to get past them and everyone is getting increasingly angry with me, NOT because I'm being disruptive in a movie theater but because I'm not showing this extremely important cultural staple the proper respect it deserves. Like people are reverential about this movie and are aghast anyone could not be.

Patrick Batman's escapade culminates in him hang gliding around an island that's about to explode from both an earthquake and impending volcano eruption. He's hooting and hollering and having the time of his life and also trying/failing to make witty one-liners because he's still like, a complete loser he's just also in the batsuit while this is going on. And the audience is supposed to think this is legitimately COOL and something to look up to.

I don't make it out of the theater but I DO get distracted enough by someone with a sick ass metal contraption costume that I can move on until I wake up but god. GOD. why did i dream about this. what's going on my life that caused this.

[misfits-of-zaun]

"You got Floaty first?!"

Of fucking course she'd named it Floaty.

Ekko wasn't sure what to make of her bout of unrestrained giggling. On the one hand, it sent a pang of nostalgia through him to hear his old chilhood friend's laughter again. On the other hand, he felt a lot like he was the butt of the joke here - like she was laughing at him - and it made his shoulders tighten up in self-conscious defensiveness.

A caustic retort weighed on his tongue, but before he could snap it out, she patted at his arm.

Outwardly, Ekko didn't react. Inwardly, he felt as though she'd just ripped out his stomach, shaken it thoroughly, and shoved it back in. He gripped his watch more tightly, the leather of his glove creaking under the strength of his clenched fingers.

If he squeezed with every inhale and eased his grip on every exhale for the next 33 breaths, he wouldn't fuck this up.

"Woulda been lucky if Round 1 wasn’t a million miles away, huh?”

Naturally, the capsule Powder chose for herself didn’t do anything stupid, and hit its target in a burst of blue. Ekko narrowed his eyes at her.

"You rigged this, didn’t you?"

With how each capsule was painted individually, it would have been all too easy for her to mark the good ones in a way only she understood, so as to avoid choosing the stupid prank ones. Was she just using the premise of their old game to lure him into a round of humiliation, getting her amusement at his expense?

This was her way of getting even for the beeping clockwork cockroach, wasn't it?

“Nope. Just one Floaty.”

Maybe that was true. But that didn't mean there weren't other equally garbage choices amongst the pile of capsules, just waiting to sabotage his next go, did it?

Inhale, squeeze. Exhale, release.

"You totally lose Round 1. Floaty Curse. It's the rules."

Ekko started to scowl at her, visibly unhappy with this verdict, but his desire to argue the point was overruled as she delivered a consolatory addition to the rules of the game.

"The gooooooooood news is, you get to pick round two."

Grudgingly mollified by this, he sat back and pondered which new challenge he had the best odds of winning for this round. Without any knowledge of what was in the capsules, he was going in completely blind.

Fuck it.

"....Fine. Whatever. Longest time the capsule takes to hit the ground, after you throw it, wins this time."

Ekko scooped up a second capsule, weighed it up in his hand for a moment, then launched it directly upwards as hard as he could, clicking the timer on his watch as he did so (inhale, squeeze, exhale, release.) He was still braced for some kind of detonation, or for Powder to be a fucking liar and another damn parachute to come out.

He wasn't remotely prepared for the high-pitched whistling wheeeeeee noise the capsule made as it sailed through the air, or how it abruptly pitched down into a wobbly whooooooo noise as it lost upwards momentum and started to plummet. The sheer absurdity of the installed sound effects, and how almost human they sounded, pulled a startled bark of laughter from Ekko.

"What the hell?" He was significantly more entertained by this capsule choice. So much so, that he almost forgot to squeeze his watch as he inhaled, almost ruined his count. Speaking of counting - he clicked his timer again the second his capsule hit the ground, breaking apart with a puff of smoke and a ridiculously loud squeal. Well. That certainly was one way to distract your enemies.

"Seventeen seconds," he concluded upon checking the time on his watch. Yeah, okay, that wasn't too bad.

"Beat that."

@just--a--jinx

"Nice watch." ((@just–a–jinx))

Naturally, the change to his routine did not go unnoticed. The simple act of him leaving The Last Drop, alone and unprompted, became a spectacle that everyone seemed compelled to comment on. And for every comment, Ekko was equally compelled to snap back an acerbic retort.

"Where are you going?"

Out.

"You never go out anywhere."

How fucking observant. Being my stalker still won't get you that pay rise.

"Project going that badly, huh?"

Mind your own damn business.

With every exchange, he felt his teeth grinding harder, his shoulders inching higher with acutely self-conscious defensiveness. Why was this being made into such a big deal, anyway? There was no rule against it. He could go out, if he damn well wanted.

He just... didn't usually want to.

Now he was remembering why.

The streets were an assault on his senses - bright neon lights, loud bustling crowds, sickly incense mixed with stale sweat and a clashing cocktail of different food smells from competing stalls. Working girls waving and cooing and trying to catch any wandering eye, merchants hollering for attention and coralling any prospective prey to launch into their sales pitch. Hungry shadows flitting through the throng of people like sharks, seeking unwary pockets to pick. A veneer of vibrant colour and novelty and hedonistic temptation over a dark, dangerous cesspit.

Ekko flinched away from the cacophony of it all, and took to the rooftops. Followed the old routes he'd once known like the back of his hand. The muscle memory was still there, even if the company he'd used to climb with was not.

By the time he'd reached the looming skeleton that remained of Old Hungry - a decrepit shell of a clocktower, long past any serviceable use - a strange, seething feeling had started up under Ekko's skin. He felt twitchy, oddly on edge, as he began to climb on autopilot. Higher. Higher. Past his old perch, which had once been a boasting point. Past the foothold where Mylo had slipped and nearly broken his neck. Past the broken window where Claggor had settled, challenging Vi to try to do better. Past the spire where Vi had done better. Leaving all the ghosts behind.

Static gnawed at the edges of his thoughts, as he took a seat with his back against the clock face, surveying the world below. It was quiet at the top of Old Hungry. Too quiet.

There was no sign of Powder.

With a restless flick of his wrist, Ekko checked the time - nine bells, over an hour after the night markets had opened. Swung his watch down by the chain, then rolled it back into his hand. Release, catch, release. He shouldn't have come out here. This had been a stupid idea. Was that the thrum of a hoverboard?

"Nice watch."

He didn't flinch at the sound of Powder's voice, sudden and close. He didn't react at all, except to slowly turn his head in her direction. His expression was reticent, almost somber, with a tentative little quirk at the corner of his mouth as he drank in the sight of her.

"...You showed up." His voice was mildly surprised, and cautiously pleased.

"Y'know, I'd forgotten about this place. Kind of a shithole, isn't it?"

@just--a--jinx

[ultraericthered]

“BUT HE WAS THE FINAL BOSS AGAIN!”

I will preface this by stating that I’m not a fan of how Dr. Eggman’s character was handled and utilized in Sonic Frontiers, and have some issues with his portrayal in the English version at least. I’ve no defense for how dirty he was done by this game. There is none.

That said, I’m posting this because I’ve been seeing the titular line thrown around as a defense not just to say that Eggman’s roles in the previous main Sonic games with the scripts written by Pontaff were better than what’s in Frontiers (which tbh is correct since in those games Eggman was at least a villainous character who did shit and fought Sonic with his machines, as we all expect him to be), but that this one single factor is what makes all four major Pontaff entries superior to Frontiers and even some of the pre-Pontaff Sonic titles.

And I don’t....really think...it’s that black and white.

This is all in reference to four “Meta Era” games - Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Forces. And I have some opinions on both the Eggman final boss fights themselves and the stories that built to them...and how well or not they did so.

Colors - The final boss is really good, and Eggman as the bad guy all the way to the end was not only a refreshing return to form after he’d had Big Bad or final boss status denied to him far too often in past games, but it made sense seeing as Eggman was the one and only main villain of this game. The one thing it’s lacking? Any established sense of Eggman as a legitimate threat. This game had Eggman playing the clown in all of his scenes, and not only being the butt of jokes but being the joke itself (”Baldy Nosehair!”), and it erroded any menace and sense of urgency and stakes from his role in the plot, which saw him threatening colorful aliens with genocide, something that should warrant him being a threat who is taken more seriously.

Generations - The final boss is solid, and it being controlled by Classic Dr. Robotnik carrying out the plan of his partner, modern Dr. Eggman, is perfect. A game with this premise could have no other conclusion but Classic and Modern Sonics VS Classic and Modern Robotnik/Eggman, and the actual portrayal of the two doctors as characters and their combined efficency as a villainous threat to the other characters is the icing on the cake. Pontaff got it right here.

Lost World - The final boss is about as easy as all the boss fights in this game, yet still the best boss out of them all, and Eggman’s portrayal in this game is a medium - not as strong as Generations but not as weak as Colors. But like Colors, the problem is again the story and all its tonal messiness did not properly build up to this fight or earn it as a narrative payoff. In fact, it’s probably the most unearned  “Eggman as the Final Boss” scenario in the entire series. It’s not quite “Bowser as the Final Boss in Super Mario Sunshine” levels of bad since Eggman is at least present with a lot of screen time in this game, but he was not the main villain for this story - Zavok was. And I do love the idea of Eggman seemingly doing good by Sonic and his friends only to then stab them in the back while revealing his heroism was all a ruse, that is textbook Eggman. But in this story it honestly feels like a cheat so that Tails can feel smugly vindicated about his dislike of Sonic working with him, which does no one any favors.

Forces - *Heavy sigh* This one. Pretty much every single one of Eggman’s scenes in this game totally nailed him as a villainous figure, so he’s definitely got that going for him. But sadly only that. His actual Big Bad role and the handling of it in-story is ridiculously half-assed and underplayed compared to what you’d expect given this set-up, and that final boss is honestly kind of trash. It’s called a “Death Egg Robot” but looks nothing like the Death Egg Robot we’re used to. Plus at this point, I was kind of done with the whole  “big machines piloted by Eggman as the Final Boss” shtick - I wanted a final boss where Dr. Eggman himself is visible for the whole fight. Something that supercharges him with power in addition to the big mech weapon he’s comandeering, sort of like the chaos-powered Eggman in the Sonic 2 movie if he was outside the bot rather than inside it. Instead, it was a lackluster finish to a lackluster game story.

So for Eggman character/villain portrayals in these games, I’d rank them: Generations > Forces > Lost World > Colors.

For the final boss fights, I’d rank them: Colors > Generations = Lost World > Forces.

For how the games narratives earn the final boss, I’d rank them: Generations > Colors > Forces > Lost World.

(Clearly, I find Generations the best of the Meta Era games, and one of the best Sonic games in general, as it’s the only one that never ranks last here, and even ranked first twice!)

Point here I guess would be that the quality of a Sonic game and its story is not inherently lesser if Eggman is not the full-time Big Bad and/or final boss in the end (the Adventure duology and Unleashed didn’t have him as the final boss - even if that last one totally needed him controlling Dark Gaia - but were still solid game experiences), nor is the quality inherently greater if Eggman is the full-time Big Bad and/or Final Boss (as I feel Lost World and Forces proved.)

But for reals, if Ian Flynn and Sonic Team have no intention to give us more evil Eggman goodness next mainline game, I shall boycott!