#its the most important for character development tbh.

[cheddargoblin]

23, 24 and 25 for Meisi and Deidre

prompts

hi again baron love uuuuu i think you wanted me to answer both for both? ill do that anyways 23. What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember? (assuming its for one and the other, vice versa) For Meisi, i think he'd feel guilty for not having enough of a hand in keeping an eye on deidre due to involvement with an undisclosed dragon-slaying/watching/raising/helping guild. He'd feel like he couldve been there to better assist and guide deidre AWAY from becoming a perpetually shellshocked little mordrem medic, maybe a little 'hey buddy maybe i can help you find a home outside of the military to acclimate to life in' In turn deidre is guilty about.. most things. while they dont specifically have much association with Meisi, due to being a lowly medic vs one of the vigil's warmasters, hed still manage to try and apologize for things, like the damage the asura took during the maguuma disaster & mordrem outbreak. "im sorry about the events i wasnt involved in hurting you, i feel guilty about them anyway' type beat. love you you silly little anxiety lizard. 24.Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it? Meisi probably bought the cookie jar or put the cookies in it, and hes taking a fig newton or something else fruity. Dee is refusing to steal from it but staring at it from across the room like a cat that Wants Something. If offered, would prefer Shortbread. 25. What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

Meisi actually has a background and knowledge in archaeology, and to a lesser degree, anthropology! (is there a term for that that covers multiple sapient races). He enjoys herping and picking up weird snakes a as a hobby but hes got some actually decent knowledge about old history and weirdly niche things. area man that will recite the histories of human civilizations with extreme detail and boredome and then stop it all to show you the rare two-tailed gecko or something. Dee doesnt have MUCH of a life outside of being a pact medic until recent years, but his desire to help as well as his unique anatomical position have allowed him to get a wealth of knowledge on the differences between sylvari & mordrem physiology, as well as how they are cross-applicable, such as grafting woulds and regrowing limbs! He's trying to make it a medical book for people to cite, hes very eager for it to help save more lives.

[wildstar25]

What physical part(s) of Arsay does her partners find the most attractive! Is it the same for all partners or does it differ between them?

(also optional bonus ask of what part(s) of/about Arsay generally do they love the most, physical or not!)

Meanwhile, if you were to ask the same of Arsay:

[warabidakihime]

Rules and Roses Chapter 2

★ characters: kibutsuji muzan x reader x akaza

★ plot summary: Kibutsuji Muzan has finally decided to expand his empire, and the way he intends to do so is by running for the highest political position. With you, his darling wife, at his side, he believes he can achieve and have everything the world has to offer. He is, after all, the Phoenix of Phario.

★ fic playlist: sometimes, same day, as time stops, wolf’s song (this is also the vision board for the fic). 

★ content warnings : implied violence and abuse, profanities, toxic relationships, smut.

★ Previous Chapter

a/n:

hello!!!

first of all, i am so sorry for taking so long to update this story. ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

life happened and i got sooo busy. the time i uploaded this fic was when i just started at my new workplace and shortly after a few weeks, i was already preoccupied with work. at first, i was laser-focused on getting used to my new work and the culture. then later on, i found myself playing a more important role in the office that required my undivided attention lol. besides that, so many things happened in my personal life as well that i didn't have the time and energy to write.

btw i'm now a writer by profession as well so oftentimes i would feel drained af after writing corporate write-ups. tbh, i also got hit by writer's block, especially for this fic because the plot i have in mind for it is lowkey intricate, and for the most part, i haven't decided on what route i should take story-wise. so during those 2 years, i was constantly trying to reconstruct the story in my head, and here we are!

i'm back but i'm not so sure about updating regularly as i'm still incredibly busy, but i will do my best! the latest kny seasons inspired me to write again (aka my crush for muzan lol).

hopefully, everyone is still here to read this. ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

as always, comments and kudos are highly appreciated!

happy reading!

-

"Can you outline your key policy platforms should you be elected President of Phario? Given your extensive background in the human resource industry as well as your rich connections owing to your business ventures in Obelisk Kibutsuji, do you first plan to address the pressing issue of the national unemployment rate?"

"Indeed, that's correct. As President, one of my top priorities will be to strengthen our nation's workforce, which is crucial for advancing our economy. I have a comprehensive plan focused on job creation, vocational training, and support for small businesses. These initiatives will not only reduce unemployment but also stimulate innovation and competitiveness within our economy.

I also aim to implement policies that ensure equal access to education, equipping our citizens with the skills needed for the evolving job market. Healthcare reform is high on my agenda. I'll ensure healthcare assistance is accessible to everyone, public hospitals are well-maintained, and healthcare workers are fairly compensated and protected by the state in any dire situations. Additionally, I'll push for technological advancements and infrastructure development to attract both local and foreign investments.

Addressing social issues is equally important, and as a devoted ally of these communities, I'm committed to fighting all forms of discrimination, especially against women and the LGBTQ+ community. We must ensure everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or identity, has equal opportunities and protections under the law.

Moreover, I'll advocate for the rights and welfare of people with disabilities, ensuring they have access to the necessary resources and support to lead fulfilling lives. This includes improving accessibility in public spaces and promoting inclusive employment practices.

Animal welfare will also be a significant focus. We need to enact and enforce laws that protect animals from abuse and ensure humane treatment.

Lastly, I'll champion the rights of minorities and immigrants. Our nation is built on the strength of its diversity, and it's imperative we create an inclusive society where everyone feels valued and respected. This includes reforming immigration policies to be fair and humane and implementing programs that support the integration and empowerment of minority communities.

In essence, my administration will be dedicated to creating a sustainable and inclusive economic environment where every Pharian has the opportunity to thrive and contribute to our nation's progress."

Muzan stood confidently at the podium, a modest yet proud smile gracing his face after addressing a journalist's question amidst a room bustling with media personnel.

Today was the day where presidential candidates shared their platforms, which also served as an open forum for engaging with the press and fielding inquiries on a wide array of topics—from current events to personal matters.

With his seasoned composure before cameras and crowds, Muzan navigated the spotlight effortlessly. His articulate delivery drew admiration from all corners as he outlined his plans for the presidency, filling you with pride as you watched from the audience.

Among the attendees, your smile beamed with pride and unconditional support for him. Akaza, who is sitting right beside you, maintained a stoic demeanor outwardly, though inwardly, he couldn't deny a hint of impressed regard. Muzan's comprehensive platform and commanding presence left an undeniable impact on him.

Eloquence had always been Muzan's forte, a skill honed through years of being a businessman and somewhat of a public figure, as among his peers and in the business landscape in general, he is well-revered and widely celebrated.

Beyond his ability to articulate ideas, he possessed a magnetic charisma—an invaluable trait for navigating the intricate world of politics and public service.

Several hours later, the policy speech slash press conference finally ended, and now you were on your way to meet up with Muzan at the lobby of the hotel where the gathering was held when a few journalists spotted you among the sea of people who were also exiting the function room.

Akaza was right behind you and is also on full alert, an important instruction your husband told him when he appointed him as your personal bodyguard a few years back. Committed to his duty, he stood there in a stance where he is ready to take action should anything happen that is out of the ordinary.

Mics were stretched out and placed within just a few inches of your face, and one of them took the liberty to ask you a question: "What are your thoughts on Kibutsuji Muzan's campaign platforms?” 

Very much like your husband, you also wore a modest yet confident smile on your face as you held eye contact with the journalist who asked you that question before displaying your own version of eloquence as you answered,

"To say that I am proud while listening to him share and advocate for the causes he wholeheartedly believed in would be the biggest understatement of the decade," you said with a fond chuckle before continuing, "even before he filed for his candidacy and even way before he became the man we all know now, he has always been outspoken about these things. He would always share with me his desire of making significant changes in the world, hoping no more children would have to endure what he did. As many of you know, Muzan, my dear husband, came from very humble beginnings, and unlike me, he has faced challenges far beyond my own. His vision and intuition surpass that of most, and so, as cliché as it may sound, his words and strong convictions carry a weight and authenticity that are strong enough to enable him in doing the impossible and inspire others to believe that a better future is within our grasp."

Akaza listened intently to your answer, finding himself captivated by your words. The way you addressed the press made you sound like a candidate yourself who's also sharing her platform. In that moment, he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming surge of pride as he continued to absorb your statements.

The journalists surrounding you mirrored his sentiment, clearly impressed by your response—no surprise from the esteemed Ballerina Queen of Phario.

It had been quite some time since you last entertained interviews, having retired and chosen to stay away from public engagements.

"Among the plethora of initiatives he wishes to take action on once he's elected, what resonated with you the most?"

You paused, contemplating the list of campaigns your husband had presented earlier. Just as you were about to respond, an arm encircled your waist and gave it a tender squeeze.

It was Muzan.

"Knowing my wife's love for animals, I'm certain she's most excited about what I have planned for animal welfare," Muzan interjected warmly.

You playfully rolled your eyes, eliciting amusement from not only your husband and your respective bodyguards but also the press. "You say that as if it's a bad thing," you quipped.

Muzan chuckled fondly. "Not at all, my love. Your passion for animals is one of the many reasons I fell for you."

The same journalist who had asked you the second question now directed his attention to Muzan, eager for his response. "Based on the most recent public survey, you're likely the most favored candidate to win the elections. What can you say about that, Sir Kibutsuji?"

Muzan smiled bashfully at the reporter, his eyes reflecting a mix of humility and determination. "I'm incredibly honored and thankful that our fellow countrymen have placed such faith and confidence in me. It's a humbling reminder of the trust they have in our vision for a brighter future. This campaign has always been about bringing real change to Phario, addressing the pressing issues our nation faces with innovative solutions and inclusive policies. The support we're seeing reflects not just my efforts, but the collective desire of our people for progress and unity."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping across the room, before continuing with renewed conviction, "Though I would like to emphasize that I don't take this trust lightly, it actually fuels my commitment to serve with integrity and purpose, to listen to the voices of every Pharian, and to lead with compassion and foresight."

By now, the press was highly satisfied with the answers both of you had given, granting you the freedom to depart. Clearly spent after the eventful day, you exchanged farewells and well-wishes before going your separate ways.

With Muzan's arm still draped around your waist, he guided you towards the grand entrance of the hotel. Meanwhile, Akaza made his way to the basement parking lot to retrieve your car, preparing to drive you both home. Kokushibo remained close to Muzan, ensuring your security as you awaited the car's arrival.

Turning to Muzan, unfazed by the bustling activity around you, you placed a tender kiss on his lips, smiling warmly. "Great job out there, my love. You did so well today. I'm incredibly proud of you."

Clearly elated, Muzan mirrored your smile and returned your affection with a gentle kiss on your forehead. "Thank you, darling. Your support means everything to me."

"Truly, I was beaming throughout your speech. You were absolutely amazing. Phario is fortunate to have such an admirable leader like you," you praised sincerely.

Right there and then, Muzan couldn't help but raise his eyebrow and playfully smile at you, prompting a confused raise of your own eyebrow.

"What's that look for?" you asked.

Muzan shook his head with a playful smirk before replying, "You're not showing favoritism now, are you, my love? I know you adore me, but let's keep it fair, hmm?" he teased, his tone light-hearted and affectionate.

You rolled your eyes at his playful accusation. "Ha-ha. Very funny, Muzan. I'll take it back, then."

Muzan laughed wholeheartedly, drawing attention once again. "I was just joking!" He then smiled warmly at you, his eyes reflecting pride. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "Hearing that from you means more than any applause, you know?"

You reached out to pinch his cheeks. "You play too much sometimes, you know?" you said with a chuckle before continuing, "But like I said, hearing you speak today—and in all those times you shared your aspirations with me from when we were students up to now, as you finally have the opportunity to make all come true—it's evident how deeply committed you are. Beyond your skills and capabilities, your passion is what makes you so compelling, Muzan. It's what makes me believe in you, too."

Minutes later, while waiting by the entrance, Akaza finally pulled up with the car. You and Muzan bid farewell to those around you before stepping into the comfort of your vehicle.

As the city lights blurred past the windows, you reflected on the day's events.

"You know," you began, glancing at Muzan beside you, "I have a feeling your speech today touched more hearts than just mine."

Muzan smiled softly, intertwining his fingers with yours. 

"I hope so. Though the election is still months away, and who knows how things might shift, that's why I don't want to take any of this for granted. I'm in this for the long haul. You'll be there with me, won't you?"

He looked over to you, and in that moment, despite his big words, he looked absolutely adorable, with his ruby eyes shining at you and his lips slightly pouty as he waited for your response, which you gladly provided through the means of placing yet another sweet and passionate kiss on his lips and squeezing his hand reassuringly. 

"I'll always be here for you, Muzan, through every challenge and triumph."

"I love you," he whispered lovingly, his expression sincere and heartfelt.

"And I love you," you replied with equal affection.

With a comforting squeeze of your hand, you nestled against Muzan's shoulder, feeling a sense of contentment as the car navigated through familiar streets towards home.

Meanwhile, in the driver's seat, Akaza's face remained unreadable. He was outwardly indifferent to the tender exchange between you and Muzan, but inwardly, he was seething with rage.

You think you're so clever, spouting all those promises and pretty words, playing the saint for the public eye. But I see through you. You're nothing but a manipulative snake, a liar wrapped in a facade of righteousness.

His gaze hardened and his grip on the wheel tightened as he stared ahead, the streetlights casting shadows on his determined expression.

One day, your mask will slip. 

I will fucking rip it off your face, even if it's the last thing I do.

[raleighrador]

Most fics I have read - even/especially the very good ones - that include Anakin having a relationship with Obi-Wan after Mustafar (or AUs where something similar to Mustafar occurred) are almost always frustrating to me. At least unsatisfying.

Anakin having any kind of positive relationship with Obi-Wan post Mustafar always seems to rely on a level of introspection and self awareness that frankly my head canon of Anakin is totally incapable of.

Anakin is not a forgiving person, even at his best. He is kind and generous but not forgiving. He remembers every slight (real or imagined). He holds onto those memories and lets them fester.

He also remembers all the good. He never forgets them. He cherishes them and polishes them and places them on a pedestal.

It's why (and a symptom of) he's so fucked in the head when it comes to his most important relationships.

He has no synthesised view of Obi-Wan or Padme or Palpatine or Luke. They are all of the things they have ever done to or been to Anakin.

What changes is the weighting Anakin gives to each of these things, with a massive recency bias.

I don't see how Anakin, in the full knowledge that Obi-Wan is the man who cut off his limbs, set him on fire, left him to burn, left him for Sidious to find, and then stole and separated his children before Padme's body was cold...

Could ever forgive him.

The why's and the intentions and who deserved what just wouldn't matter to (my head canon) of Anakin.

In lieu of self-awareness many fics give Anakin basically limitless self loathing. So instead of dealing with Obi-Wan or Padme or whatever he just hates himself so much that he doesn't have time to hate Obi-Wan anymore.

There is a lot I like about this (narratively/as entertainment) but I think the thing it misses is that is how Anakin worked prior to Mustafar anyway. He already hated himself almost limitlessly and he still found the time and energy to hate Obi-Wan.

After Mustafar he would have so much more justification for that hatred and resentment. So why would his self loathing get in the way?

The longer the timeline of these stories aligns to canon the more true this becomes.

I think by the time you get to Ghost Anakin at the end of ROTJ the things he would regret most are (in no particular order): choking Padme, handing Luke to the Emperor, torturing Leia, chopping off Luke's hand. MAYBE he regrets Alderaan but only in as much as it made Leia sad and means she hates him.

And he would likely blame everyone and anyone but especially Obi-Wan for this.

If Leia's surname was Skywalker, if they weren't separated, if Luke wasn't lied to about who Vader/Anakin was, if the Jedi hadn't filled Luke's head with lies and trained him as a weapon etc.

The rest of it? I just don't know that Anakin would really regret that much of it. I don't think he would see much difference - even with hindsight - between what he did as Vader in service of the Empire and what he did as Anakin in service of the Republic.

Killing the Jedi younglings probably sits in its own category. However, I maintain that Anakin would believe this was an acceptable price to save Padem IF it worked.

That might be his biggest regret - that none of it worked, that he lost Padme and his children anyway.

But any time travel force shenanigans where Vader uses the dark side to yeet himself into the past such that he can save Padme etc.

He would think that was a good deal.

There is the final (meta) element to all of this which is that Anakin's eventual forgiveness of Obi-Wan seems to generally function more as a narrative tool to assuage Obi-Wan's guilt, rather than some kind of real character development for Anakin.

And TBH I just want Obi-Wan to suffer/don't cate about him but that is another post.

I do however have sympathy for this - because I think Anakin is really, really hard to write.

A "redeemed" Anakin in my mind isn't one who suddenly becomes some kind of virtuous rules based utilitarian like the Jedi aspire to be, like Obi-Wan is.

A redeemed Anakin is one who chose his son, chose his family. A redeemed Anakin is one who was finally put in a position where choosing his family WAS the greater good. Anakin chose to save Luke - and kill Sidious - for the exact same reason and applying the exact same logic he applied to every other major choice he ever made.

And I don't see that Anakin as ever getting over what Obi-Wan did to him and his family. At best I see him not killing Obi-Wan because it would make Luke sad.

[rowanisawriter]

10 years, 10 stories

2024 is my 10th year on ao3. i’ve been writing for a lot longer than that and have had some years where i didn’t write anything at all. in a way ao3 is like a timeline for me or a diary, i can track my adult life with it. i wanted to pull like 10 stories that i’ve written over the course of these past 10 years that i think kinda define me

1. fantasy and fallacy (young justice/dc)

this isn’t my most popular young justice fic but it is my favorite. i wrote it a long long time ago and copied it into ao3 when i first got my account. looking back on it now it’s when i started developing what i think is now my true writing voice, focus on emotions and atmosphere rather than dialogue or plot strictly speaking

2. runner (assassin’s creed)

this is the first thing i wrote that felt experimental, free form before i understood what that really meant. i write like this all the time now and love it, but it felt really novel to me at the time

3. lucky one (avatar/legend of korra)

i’m still proud of this fic, i always remember the feeling i had writing it, how i was exploring something really emotional and strange. it’s about the relationship between siblings, jealousy, maybe even hatred. i have a complicated relationship with my own siblings and this story helped me untangle some of the feelings back when i was in the middle of it

4. heretic (bg3)

this story connects a lot of my favorite things about my writing—religious themes, selfish and power hungry characters, flowing and rhythmic prose, it feels like one of The stories for me tbh

5. self aware (mass effect)

i think this is my most important story because i wrote it after a 6 year writing break, when i had completely given up on ever writing anything again. i had just had my baby, i was fighting for my life with post partum depression, covid etc, it felt like the world was ending. so i wrote this and in some ways it fixed me, it fixed everything

6. butterflies (dragon age)

i’ve written so many dragon age fics but this one is important because it was my first multichap ever! i realize now i like these short multichaps where each chapter has its own theme (usually the chapter title) and now i do this all the time but butterflies was the first

7. real world (stardew valley)

not sure where this one came from lol i have a lot of feelings about being a parent, about the life i chose when i became a parent, how tiring it is, how unprepared i was even though i wanted it, all of that is distilled into this fic that i very much wrote for myself

8. starry-eyed (bg3)

i like to read poetry but haven’t written any before, so i try to infuse my writing with the rhythmic style i like to see in poetry. starry-eyed feels like it hit that rhythm i look for while still holding onto some semblance of plot lol i’m very proud of it

9. the fall (hades)

weird writing, allegory, symbolism, mythology, these are my favorite things to read and it just so happens the bible is full of that lol so i rewrote lucifer’s fall as a short thanzag fic and rereading it now feels so natural, i feel like i was born to write like this

10. glass slipper (classics)

i usually prewrite an entire story before posting it. for this one, i had about half down and a vague outline for the rest and it was an experiment kind of, to post and just go with the flow, and it worked, i didn’t abandon it, i felt connected to it the whole time while people read and liked it, and now i feel like i trust myself more as a writer tbh

[ushouldwatchhaikyuu]

Haikyu!! dumpster battle ramble akdbsjsbdd

warning for slight spoilers?? (i mention scenes but i dont say anything about who won or stuff like that lmfao) and also caps lock lmfao

aight. HINATA BEING TERRIFIED THAT KAGEYAMA WAS GONNA STOP SETTING FOR HIM. JUST LIKE HE SAID WHEN THEY FIRST MET. CAUSE HINATA WASN'T BEING NECESSARY TO WIN. AND HINATA TRYING SO HARD AND BEING NOT ONLY FRUSTRATED THAT IT WASN'T ENOUGH, BUT ALSO SCARED THAT IF KAGEYAMA SAW HE WASN'T USEFUL. HE'D LOSE INTEREST IN HIM AND STOP SETTING FOR HIM. nekoma cutting off Hinata's wings not only to stop him from flying, but to make kageyama stop helping him fly.

and kageyama sees that. realizes that hinata isn't being useful to him or the team. AND HE FINDS A WAY TO SET FOR HIM ANYWAY.

he sees Hinata can't get up on his own and everything is telling him to drop him- the most reasonable & rational thing would be to stop setting for him. and y'know what kageyama does? HE TELLS HIM "GO AHEAD, FLY"

HE SETS FOR HIM ANYWAY and finds a way to make him fly even higher. WHICH IS SO DKSBSKSJSJSKS IDEK HOW TO DESCRIBE IT. like not only does that tell hinata that no matter how much people try to stop him, kageyama will help him fly anyway- but it also speaks about kageyama A LOT. cause there wasn't a strategic reason to keep trying to use hinata- in fact, he could've used nekoma's focus on him on their favor and instead set for other players.

BUT NO, he chose to keep setting for hinata. because at that point it wasn't just about winning, for kageyama. yknow how important is that? kageyama, who only ever cared about winning, thought setting for hinata was more important to him than winning.

IF THAT DOESNT SAY A LOT ABOUT HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IDK WHAT WOULD

also??? kenma feeling like shit about doing that to hinata?? EVEN THOUGH HE CAME UP WITH THE IDEA. kenhina bffs they're so adorable wtf.

but then again the "we're just friends scene"??? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK???? DKSBSJSK it made me feel stuff lmfao such a good way to portray their friendship & rivalry

also!!! kuroo, bokuto & tsukki crumbs!!! i love their friendship sm its so cool that they had their moments in the movie. bokuto was adorable sksnsjsjsj

the animation was also so cool tbh, specially that one scene of hinata and kenma staring at each other. yknow the one.

this one lmfao

ALSO everyone's talked about the scene where kenma keeps hinata in a birdcage but i still gotta mention it cause ITS SO COOL WTF

and everyone also said it but like. literally a kuroken movie (/p or /r). i loved how they showed that development of kenma's love for volleyball and how hinata felt so proud and happy and accomplished when kenma said their match had been so fun fksbdjdjdjdj HE HAD THE PERFECT REACTION.

also kuroo's laugh??? BEAUTIFUL and also a very good reaction lmfao.

yeah those r my main thoughts. overall a very good movie, perhaps the pacing could've been a bit more intense/nerve-wrecking for my liking? like i wasnt so "in it" as i was with many matches in the anime. still, i think it had a bit more of a focus on relationships and background stories and character development, specially through flashbacks, symbolism & but impactful quotes, so it's still chefs kiss. very much recommend watching it if u haven't.

[tlbodine]

Overthinking: Say Cheese and Die

Say Cheese and Die! is the fourth classic Goosebumps book. It's written in third person (which would soon become nearly completely phased out in the series) and features more of an ensemble cast than anything we've yet encountered. It's also a Goosebumps story that feels more Fear Street-like to me, but we'll get into that later.

I remember reading this one as a kid, although I don't recall having strong opinions about it one way or another. I was probably about 11 when I read it, checking it out from the library during a summer when I read a lot of Goosebumps (and other books).

So, how does it stack up against others that we've read? Is it worth a read as an adult? And, most important of all, is it still scary? Let's find out as we continue on our quest to Overthink Goosebumps.

First, the Plot: We begin in the little town of Pitt’s Landing, where we meet our gaggle of friends: Bird (the jokester), Mike (the fat one), Shari (the chick) and Greg (the sensible one). They have some other personality traits too but…not many tbh. They’re bored and decide to amuse themselves by exploring an abandoned house where resident weirdo goth/homeless eccentric Spidey is known to hang out. While poking around, the crew finds a Polaroid-style camera.

Greg (played by a lil baby Ryan Gosling in the TV show) likes photography and becomes immediately enamored with the new camera. But when he asks Mike to pose for a picture, Mike falls through a bannister and hurts his leg. When the picture develops, it shows Mike falling — even though he fell *after* the shudder snaps.

Later, Greg takes a photo of his dad’s car, only for the photo to show a mangled wreck. Not long after his dad is in an accident and totals the car. He takes a photo of Bird that shows him sprawled on the ground, not long before he’s knocked out with a baseball to the head.

Does this camera capture the future, or cause bad luck? Greg isn’t sure, but he wants to get rid of it. But first Shari convinces him to bring it to her birthday party and snap photos of her. But she’s not even in the frame — she’s disappeared from the shot! Not long after she disappears for real. Cops show up, they question Greg, everybody is real on edge and he doesn’t think anyone will believe him about the camera.

He rips up the photo of not-Shari and then….she’s back! She reappears with no memory of where she’s been for two days. Weird!

Now Spidey (remember him?) shows up and skulks around for a bit. Greg and Shari go back to the house to return the camera and find Spidey, who reveals that he 1.) is a scientist who 2.) helped invent the camera but 3.) stole it from his partner so he could have all the glory so 4.) his partner cursed the camera and it ruined Spidey’s life by killing everyone he knows, I guess?

Idk man, at one point he literally says, “I’m evil, you see.” So that’s about as much motivation as this guy is operating with lol.

Anyway now that the kids know his secret (??) Spidey won’t let them leave so there’s a tense chase scene and at one point Shari takes a picture of Spidey which literally causes him to have a heart attack and die (!!) and they pretend they just found his body like that when they call the cops later.

And then at the end a couple bullies we briefly met earlier find the camera and the cycle starts anew or whatever.

Overthinking It: The goofy title and skeleton family suggest a book of a significantly different tone than what you actually encounter within the pages. All things considered, Say Cheese and Die! feels like an unusually somber Goosebumps book.

I didn't have as much fun with this one as the others I've read so far. It feels bloated, for one thing, with a lot of its word count spent on character banter and frankly pointless small talk. I mean, for fuck sake, we spend actual pages admiring a Ford Taurus and its (checks notes) cup holders. Characters will say things and then other characters will say basically the same thing again. Unless of course they’re just cracking jokes. The banter may have annoyed me less if I liked the characters more, but no one stood out strongly enough for me to feel any real connection.

It’s usually explicit that Goosebumps characters are 12, but I don’t remember that being stated here. I feel like Greg’s crew come off as a bit older, which is one reason this feels more like a Fear Street title to me.

There’s also the matter of the scares. Usually, the Goosebumps books we’ve seen so far have had a supernatural threat standing in for unsettling real dangers. Here, the camera may be supernatural, but the nature of the threat is mundane and uncomfortably realistic. This isn’t a guy turning into a plant or a dog growing as big as a pony, this is friends and family having accidents and getting really hurt.

Normally I might like the sense of real stakes and danger, but in this case it falls flat for me, I think because the book just isn’t very *fun*. A Goosebumps book should have some sense of novelty and adventure to it, a capital R Romantic desire to be in the story even though it’s scary and dangerous. You want to play with that weird slime. You want to see the plants with human faces. We don’t get any of that texture here.

The idea of a camera that predicts the future could have been interesting if the characters had leaned into that more, like if at first they took snaps as a form of fortune telling before they realized it was actually cursing them. But instead the characters bafflingly insist that the camera is “broken” as if that in any way could explain its photos. This is an instance where insisting on skepticism just makes you sound stupid.

“My camera curses people” is a problem with a really simple solution, which is, stop using the camera you dumbass. It’s not like this was a curse set in motion that you are now powerless to stop. You could sell this concept if you leaned into the cosmic horror angle of it, if someone became so obsessed with trying to figure out how it worked that they couldn’t stop themselves from using it. Or if the camera itself could seduce you into using it. But we don’t really get either sense here. Mostly we just see Greg being sad and scared and lonely and worried about people as he gets buffeted around by the plot, which is largely nonsensical.

What was the invention Spidey was so eager to steal? A camera that doesn’t need film or batteries? A camera that tells the future? It’s never clear what the big deal is about the pre-cursed camera or why it would be worth screwing a partner over for it, much less why scientists were working on it to begin with.

Not only is Spidey a poor villain based on his lack of motive, he’s also absent throughout most of the book. There’s no real sense of malice coming from him. It would be one thing if Greg was being harassed and stalked and it was plausible that Spidey was the one causing all the bad things to happen, but that’s not really set up or hinted at.

The whole thing just feels poorly conceived and thin. The title and cover are the only really memorable things about this, which is a real shame because there are several directions it COULD have gone that would have been really interesting. Oh well.

If you liked this, THESE will really give you goosebumps:

For all my belly aching, the idea of a cursed camera can be compelling. For a very similar premise executed much better imo, turn to Stephen King’s novella The Sun Dog, wherein a dog keeps showing up in photos….and it’s getting closer.

For another excellent and chilling take on the "I did something bad and now all my photos have unsettling shit in them, I think I'm cursed" motif, try Shutter, either the 2004 Thai original or the 2008 Japanese remake.

If you like the idea of teens trying to escape an inevitable fate, the Final Destination movies are a classic. (The first two are the best, becoming increasingly silly as the series wears on). For a similar take in a different direction, by Stay Alive, in which a group of teens who die in a video game soon after die in real life the same way. (It's not a good movie, but it is a fun one).

So, those are my recommendations. Do you have any camera horrors to recommend? Any Say Cheese and Die apologists out there?

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 20

welcome to the twentieth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics. 

1. for we are the beautiful thieves by @caimani-ao3

Keith and Lance go undercover (sort of) at General Iverson's gala to steal back an Altean artifact the general stole while treasure-hunting. Keith's job? Sneaking away in the middle of the party to find the artifact. Lance's job? Looking pretty in a dress.

love love LOVE adventure fics this shit ROCKS. voltron?? thief archeologists whose main goal is to steal artefacts from rich asshole collectors and return them to where they came from?? iconique!! klance playing the pretty distrction?? iconique moreso!! 

2. ring my bell by @dumdum692 [EXPLICIT]

And granted, Keith has always been a sore spot for him in this way; Lance has always felt at odds with his domesticated temperament, and Keith holds absolutely none of that. Keith doesn't give two whopping shits about getting pimples, or if Stacy in English class thinks he has bad breath. Keith isn't standing zombie-eyed in the purple lights of a party, plotting woe-is-me narratives of his own melancholia and loneliness, gazing detachedly into a red Solo cup full of jungle juice - he just is, and that's always made Lance, in equal parts, devastatingly embarrassed and devastatingly horny.

Sadly, this scale weights significantly more towards the horny end as of late, because Keith is developing quite a few, very distinctly Galra characteristics, and it's driving Lance absolutely buck fucking nuts.

______________________________________________

Keith goes through puberty. Devastation ensues.

this fic is a proud truther of two important things: a) lance’s type is literally anyone who can kick his ass and look good doing it, and b) lance has a big vocabulary entirely so he can be as melodramatic as possible whenever he so pleases. and i for one am thankful for its service.

3. Cross My Path by @wittyy-name [EXPLICIT]

Lance owns a witch themed cat cafe that rescues black cats. Each one has a unique collar and color coded name to help tell them apart. He's not supposed to play favorites, but he's already adopted his favorite, Red, as his own. Cold and distant to everyone, Red is extremely affectionate to Lance. Needy. Clingy. Protective. But Lance doesn't mind. He makes Lance's home a little less lonely. He's a little weird, but aren't all cats? He loves his baby boy, and he's eternally grateful for the day that little black fluff ball crossed his path.

Lance doesn't think twice about Red's odd quirks. That is, until he wakes up with a naked stranger in his bed.

And hey! Turns out Red is actually a witch named Keith who's been cursed to be a cat for twenty years. A really hot witch who's still very affectionate towards Lance.

any fic that’s tagged with catboy keith is a winner in my book tbh. and this fic is AMAZING the entire concept is unbelievably cool and the storyline is adorable!! also healthy relationship boundaries and expectations for the win!! plus rough sex also!!

4. know by petalloso

Keith couldn’t feel his legs. Upon further realization, he couldn’t feel his arms either, or his hands. He could, however, feel Lance’s hands, and they were all over him, running up and down his chest in inspection, tilting his chin this way and that, pulling him up from the floor where he figured he’d landed probably because his knees had just given out on him.

“Stupid,” he heard Lance say. “You blew out your legs.”

those 2016 fics man!! they never miss they just dont!! insane to me that this author apologises for being ooc as if their portrayal of keith is not the most in character portrayal possibly ever lol. AND this fic has oldest child lance my beloved

5. stud by petalloso

“Ow.”

Keith stops in his tracks, listening. The voice comes again, louder and more elongated this time, muffled behind the door.

“Ouch,” it says, and then, “shit shit shit.”

lance IS the type of impulsive dumbass to pierce is own ears, and i thank this writer greatly for pointing that out. this fic is cute and sweet and silly which are my three for three basically

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!  

[mauesartetc]

While we're waiting for Millie's shine in later episodes, how would you develop Millie and how would you write her?

PFFF uhh I expect we'll be waiting indefinitely tbh. But I guess the first step would be to ask a lot of questions and figure out which pieces are missing from the puzzle. Here's a list of what's on my mind about Millie, in no particular order:

In "The Harvest Moon Festival", she hugged her dad upon seeing him, but not her mom. Was she closer to her dad growing up? Why?

What first attracted her to knives and axes, and who taught her to use them as weapons?

What was her favorite job on the farm growing up?

Who was her first love?

How did she meet Blitzo and Moxxie?

What occupations did she have before joining IMP?

Does she ever hang out with anyone other than her coworkers and her husband? What are her friends like? How did they meet?

Does she want to have kids someday?

What's her educational background? If she went to college, which subject/s did she major in?

What hobbies does she have outside of killing people?

Millie's aggressive, violent side is emblematic of Wrath ring culture, but does she have any traits that clash with it?

What's her favorite location in all of Hell, and why?

Standard job interview fare: Where does she see herself in five years?

Why doesn't she ever stand up to Blitzo when he berates her husband? (I mean, in a meta sense, we know why, but what's the reason inside the narrative?)

What does her extended family look like? Do they all live in Wrath, or are they spread out across other rings?

What does she love most about Moxxie?

What did she and Moxxie do on their first date?

What's her most prized possession?

Most of these questions are fairly surface-level, like the kind of thing you'd ask someone you just met at a party. But the thing is, we've barely been introduced to Millie through this entire series. It'd help if she spent an episode or two away from Moxxie so we can see her personality as an individual rather than part of a set. These writers seem to think true love = being attached at the hip, but that's not how strong relationships work. You need a balance of the partners spending time together and having time to themselves. If a relationship leaves no room for independence, it'll get stifling pretty damn quick.

Maybe at some point, Millie gets burnt out from work and decides she needs a solo vacation for her mental health. This would separate her from Moxxie and provide an opportunity to glimpse parts of her life that don't revolve around him and IMP, as well as delve into the fractured mental state of a character who's usually a pillar of strength. To co-opt and rephrase a meme real quick: Everyone asks "What can Millie do for me?", not "How is Millie doing?"

Ideally, the whole episode would focus on her, with no B- or C-plots. She could meet her friends for coffee, or maybe visit extended family members. Perhaps learn some things about herself she never knew before. This all sounds very low-key and lacking in spectacle for this show, but any plot can crackle with deft storytelling. It'd be preferable if the episode answered multiple questions (not too many, but multiple) about the character at its center.

But when all's said and done, it seems the most important question is: What does this character currently struggle with the most? What do they want, and what's preventing them from getting it?

One major problem Millie and the other IMP employees have is that they don't seem to want anything. There's not much driving their actions.

Blitzo presumably wants his business to succeed, but what does that look like to him? What specific goal is he trying to reach? The Goetia family has a bit more direction: Stolas wants a deeper emotional connection with Blitzo (God only knows why, but that's what's presented to us), Octavia obviously wants her parents to stop fighting (though we have no idea how she plans to achieve this), and Stella wants Stolas dead (though she didn't think the consequences through, somehow) but everyone else is a big ol' question mark.

Anyway, that's just a basic overview of how I'd approach it.

[mullettaegi]

i know the galra had ten thousand years and unlimited resources to build up their defences and offences, to create an insane amount of weapons, to do evil experiments, and rule far across the universe, but HOW does it go from voltron being the defender of the universe, the most powerful weapon in the universe, something that zarkon has been hunting after for ten thousand years, something that made sendak (a very strong galra commander who would not let anyone stand in his way, according to himself) gasp and RUN.

yes he didnt fully run away but he retreated; he watched his battle cruiser get blown to fucking pieces, and remember this is the first time the paladins formed voltron. there was no sword. it was like their second or third time flying in their lions, and the only one that has had consistent flight simulations and training for however long is lance, and even then i think we saw him struggle to strategise a battle plan when going after the yellow lion with hunk because we heard him say he would cover hunk, we saw him carry that out but then get overwhelmed by the galra fighters in the air and take off after them.

hes a damn good pilot, and they all are, especially in the lions, but this is on a next level to what they could've been training for at the garrison.

so, this takes me to my point, why in the fucking world was voltron so fucking nerfed in the later seasons. like yes i dont want an easy win for voltron every battle, yknow, its about them working together as a team, its about voltron not always being the solution (aka when its better for them to split off into lions while they strategise), its about them actually coming up with strategies instead of just going in voltron first and hoping for the best.

its been a while since i watched the later seasons but rn im mostly thinking of atlas. like it just doesnt really make sense to me tbh? to build the atlas, yes, its essentially a replacement for the castleship, a place for a team to watch voltron from the sky, provide back up, but then to have it form into a voltron-esque robot ??? i just dont think thats where they should have taken it.

im glad for the castle of lions to take an important role in some episodes, where again the answer lies outside of JUST voltron, but it doesnt really make sense to build another giant robot.

it kind of takes away the development the paladins are supposed to go through as well, to work together better and stronger as a team thus opening up more weapons from voltron and learning how to fight in different ways.

idk i think the entire thing was kinda over-thought at the end as they were trying to keep the show going, but missing some of the other storylines they could've gone down, (black paladin lance, lotor redemption arc (which he did seemingly have but all along they planned to throw that in the bin), the team coming together as friends more often developing their bond as voltron but also as people, the team seeing their families again, not killing off shiro's FUCKING CANON BOYFRIEND IN A STUPID FUCKING SHITTY WAY ADAM DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE YALL ARE JUST COWARDS, and also the team kinda reflecting back to how they were jn the beginning and realizing they have grown (i say the team but i mostly mean lance and hunk because the writers just did not give two shits about them they really didnt get the chance to become fully thought out characters, they just had some insecurities and interests that were ignored until convenient then ignored again)).

[minsarasarahair]

My thoughts about Devil Venerable also Wants to Know by Cyan Wings after finally finishing it. It took a while for me to finish this because I'm obsessing over You Yao donghua...

Well, it was fun and very insightful read. I believe the message of the book are:

Be a critique to what you read and don't consume everything you read as if its the only truth available. Perspective matter. Look at the bigger picture. (God of Annihilation vs Abusive Romance)

Difference between a hater vs critique (Commenters vs Wenren E questioning the plot holes)

The balance between good and evil is important for the cycle and order of the world. World is not Black and White. (Baili Qingmiao character development)

Roles matter in relationship. You should know what your partner wants, strength and what role they are comfortable with if you want the relationship to work. (Yin Hanjiang & Yin Hanjiang story)

Real love is not abuse nor about social order. Its about equality and healthy communication. (Wenren E, Yin Hanjiang, He Wenzhao & Baili Qingmiao story)

I know there's a lot and it varies depend on what the reader noticed but that's what I remember that are the most important for me. I really love it when danmei point out some issues I barely see in straight romance. For example, this story shows the difference between fiction media for male and female. Male demographic care about the strength and power of MC while the female demographic are either annoyed to the naïve heroine or protective of her. Its really interesting to see that different media have different types of people. This is why its important to consume different genre to improve your media literacy, people!

As for the characters, I really love Wenren E as the protagonist. He's very aroace-coded and levelheaded so its easy for me to relate to his thoughts. Even if he's the leader of a demonic sect and chose a path that is harmful to him, he's very rational. His character explore what I wish MDZS Wei Wuxian should care. Demonic cultivation is not the issue here but MDZS Wei Wuxian dismissing the fact its harmful to him so it got worse to the point where there's no turning back. Wenren E on the other hand, know the stake very well so he focus in cultivating his mind seriously. But well, MDZS WWX is younger so it make sense he's more reckless and Wenren E is already jaded by his past experience. Anyway, I love both characters okay? Tbh Wenren E reminds me of SPL's Gu Yun more than WWX because they are both generals. I'm also thankful that Wenren E is very knowledgeable about the cultivation world and explained to the readers how it works while adding his own input about it such as heavenly tribulation is a thing, dual cultivating, bonded weapon etc. I don't really have a problem with him aside from the fact he use the ABUSIVE romance book to try to understand love in the beginning LOL That's like the worse book choice to understand what real love it.

Yin Hanjiang's journey in accepting what he desire is very compelling to me. I love that he was never submissive or yes man originally but he's more like playing the role that don't fit his personality at all. Thanks to that, the result is he became mediocre or he can't progress. All this time he's suppressing the real him with the thought of being afraid it won't fit to Wenren E's standard. I like that their whole fighting dynamic was changed in the ending. He used to just assist Wenren E like a typical righthand man or side kick but later we found out he shines more if he's the one who charge first or be in offensive. I like that in the final battle he become the star of the show while Wenren E became his support.

Baili Qingmiao is the heroine of Abusive Romance. I admit I'm annoyed to her in the beginning because I hate naïve mary sue heroines with romance-driven mindset. It turns out she just need Shu Yanyan, Zhongli Qian, Qiu Congxue and Wenren E's guidance to realize what she's doing is wrong. Revolving your life to just one person especially if this person is not even worth your sacrifice is not the way. Life is not all about Romance. Its about love that comes in different shapes. That's why platonic relationship also exists. Self-caring and caring about the world are also love. I also love her realization that the world is not black and white. Even the righteous sect has bad apples in it and it don't mean righteous sect is entirely bad just like how Xuanyuan demonic sect is not pure evil either. They have demonic cultivators and ruthless, yes but that don't mean they are guilty to every bad thing happened in their world. But that don't entirely excuse them that their sect is still one of the most cruel sect when it comes to brutality. At least they have rules that they only harm cultivators and not commoners lol

There are so many interesting characters to talk about. We have Shu Yanyan the right protector who was always seen scheming against Wenren E but always failed, the scholar-like handsome gentleman cultivator Zhongli Qian as the most reliable supporting character ever, the insufferable He Wenzhao who treat women as his stepping stone to advance his cultivation, etc. But I'm afraid this post will never end if if I talk about it more so I only chose these 3 because I think they are the most important to the story. Just read it if you want to find out more.

I think I recommend this to people who read MDZS, and TGCF if you want to know how cultivation world works because it covers the immortals, gods and cultivators. I also recommend it to You Yao and SVSSS fans because it has the comedy that make fun of story stereotypes. And yeah, to Tian Ya Ke fans because of antiheroes couple with healthy relationship. I will read the Governor is Sick next because I'm thirsty for this dynamic.

[yannig]

I need someone to theorize with me about the Pit Babe 2 trailer

Ok so I thought a lot about Tony and Way being back. And I think we've got 3 options, ranked in how likely I think they are to actually happen.

They are actually alive (faked their death, resurrected, or maybe even clones/evil twins).

They are ghosts/spirits/whatever. They are there but still dead.

They are not here at all. All of their apparitions are due to nightmares, hallucinations, paranoia, flashbacks, etc.

I am entirely uninterested in them being actually alive, one way or another. I think this is largely the most underwhelming option out of the 3, and yet also the one we're most likely to get. For me, Tony and Way being back from the dead would just negate most of the impact of the first season.

Oh Way sacrificed himself to save Charlie as an attempt to redemption? Yeah no he's still alive actually. Tony was finally put done by the son he always treated like a dog, and who at last managed to escape his hold? Nope, he survived.

Talk about a way to undo major character moments. (I hated Way's death, but it was still an important character moment. and Kenta turning on Tony was great.)

(for Way as his own character, it could actually be interesting. Like "yeah no, you don't get to just die and be done with the guilt. you actually have to work for redemption". but 1) I don't think it's where they're going; and 2) I'm not convinced it would stem interesting development for anyone else.)

The ghost option could be fun, I guess. I don't really have an opinion either way tbh, depends where they go with it. Ghost possession could be a fun threat.

I know what my favorite option is, and it's definitely n°3, which sadly I don't think we will get. Mind you, Babe would be perfectly justified to have nightmares or flashbacks about these 2, considering how much trauma they gave him. Also Way giving Babe trauma flashbacks might help me forgive what they did to his character. But well. The show hasn't seemed very interested in talking about trauma before so...

Basically, I think the most interesting option is for the show to toy with its characters' (and its viewers') paranoia, by leaving all 3 options open for as long as possible. Done well, it could make for a very good thriller.

Are they actually back or is Babe just hallucinating in broad daylight? Are they actually vengeful ghosts that need warding against or is Babe just having very justified nightmares? Is there a threat at all or are they all just paranoiac after everything that happened? Is it really paranoia if they're really after you? They all thought Charlie was dead, didn't they? Does anyone ever stay dead?

I'd argue that if that thriller part is done well, all 3 options could work as compelling endings. I also don't think (from the writing in season 1) that they could pull it off effectively.

Or even that they would try. Season 1 wasn't a thriller in the first place, and the S2 trailer isn't giving thriller either. My problem being: I'm not really interested by their return if it doesn't turn thriller.

Basically, what I'm interested in is what impact their return would have on the other characters, after thinking they were finally safe. Especially Kenta and Babe. Kenta who finally escaped, finally managed to turn on Tony, to get free from him. Babe who is finally safe after spending the last 10 years looking over his shoulder, after so many betrayals, after loosing his best friend in all possible ways, after thinking his boyfriend was dead. Imagine how terrifying the prospect of Tony's return would be.

But beyond that? I have no interest in what they would do as independent characters. Tony has plans? What does it change from S1? Way is being an idiot, either working for the villain or clumsily trying to earn his redemption? I don't care. That is the exact same thing they were doing in S1.

Basically, I'm afraid that by bringing them back, the show is just being lazy and re-creating the S1 status-quo instead of imagining new stakes. And I am entirely uninterested in sequels that just undo the original story's ending. Which is exactly what I'm afraid they'll do.

TLDR: the psychological impact of the potentiality of Tony and Way being back is much more interesting than them actually being back.

Sure, give me confirmed omega characters (Jeff and Kenta at least), give me AlanJeff and BabeCharlie being cute together, give me Sonic and North finally getting somewhere and maybe involving Kim (or aro/ace/aspec Kim, that would also work, but only if explicitly stated in the show), give me heats and mpreg and stop being cowards. I'll watch it for the relationships between the main cast if nothing else.

But I'm worried about what the big conflict is going to be.

[faelapis]

elemental has turned around at the box office and gone from flop to doing well. it seems this is pretty much entirely because of word of mouth. maybe theres other factors im not considering, but thats pretty fucking impressive.

and i think it deserves it tbh. it is far from perfect, but it might be my favorite pixar film of the 20s so far. granted, the bar isn't as high as the 10s or 00s, but hey, the decade is young. its pretty good!

i think what i liked about it was mainly that it was really emotionally sincere. like. its not too snide or self-aware, it just deeply cares about its characters and is totally committed to the world.

so many newer pixar flicks have this "popcorn filler" middle where there's zany antics that barely connect to the emotional journey. this movie doesn't. its all about these two main characters bonding in a way i found organic and compelling. and there's very little cringe humor. that one annoying tree guy is basically just in it for two seconds. idk why disney marketing still (wrongly) believes that kind of eyebrow wiggle humor is popular, because that made the movie look WAY worse.

anyway. its definitely good for a movie that was written off en-masse as cringey and generic and a lazy race metaphor. i don't think its any of these things. i think the main creative voice speaking about their own immigrant experiences does the job in a decent way.

also, that one clip of "fire girl being racist" is ignoring the crucial context that SHES the immigrant whos discriminated against, not some white-coded karen who needs to learn to be less racist. shes aware that shes less privileged and doesnt want to rock the boat.

also-also, i'm not even going reason with the badfaith twitter take that "she doesn't wanna date the tree boy because she's RACIST instead of it being because he's a CHILD?? #groomer alert!1!!"

like. come on. she's clearly not interested in him, she doesn't need to Spell Out that its because he's a child. that's not the point of the movie. thats just the most lazy twitter hot take for the sake of morally justifying that you found a thing cringe. don't be that person.

if you don't wanna see it, hey, don't. its fine. i'm not gonna go to bat like its the most important movie ever or anything... but its nice seeing pixar have more well-rounded, developed girl characters, after decades of being the emotionally sincere boys club. about time.

also, the romance is cute. i totally get why the aroace community in particular relate. like. its a romance where they Literally cannot touch each other, so its a relationship that actually develops because of their personalities rather than anything physical. its nice :)

[sadquickchristmassnowman]

hi! what do you think are the best/most tolerable episodes in season 4 of community? it’s widely regarded as the worst season and I never know which episodes to watch each time I go through a community rewatch binge lol. so, I figured I would consult the encyclopedia! (this is my first time using the ask feature so I apologize if I am not using it correctly)

heyo! this is a great question. I actually have an abbreviated season 4 watchlist that cuts out the worst episodes (in my opinion), while staying comprehensible and making sure you're still able to follow the season's overarching plots:

4x01: history 101

4x03: conventions of space and time*

4x05: cooperative escapism in familial relations*

4x06: advanced documentary filmmaking

4x08: herstory of dance

4x11: basic human anatomy*

4x12: heroic origins*

4x13: advanced introduction to finality

the episodes with asterisks* are the ones I actually really enjoy watching. the others on the list are pretty mid, but are, in my opinion, important enough to the overarching plot and character development to be worth watching. when I'm showing other people season 4 for the first time, I adhere to this watchlist lol.

I’m going to do some (hopefully quick) explanations of how I came up with this list, but you don't have to read it if you don't want to lol:

✅ history 101: it's the first episode of the season, so it really does set the tone and establish some important details (jeff wants to graduate early, troy and britta are dating, this is their last year at greendale, etc.) as with most of season 4, the weirdness seems really contrived and unnatural, but it does have its moments of being genuinely funny. it's also a pretty abed-centric episode, which is always a bonus lol

❌ paranormal parentage: I don’t hate this episode, but it's just kind of boring and doesn't really add anything to the season. I love megan ganz but... yeah. a lot of the jokes seem forced, and there's way too much pierce for my liking. there are a couple good one liners ("you should probably tell your boyfriend's boyfriend" "I remember when this show was about community college") and it does help set up jeff finally contacting his dad, but imo it doesn't quite make the episode worth watching

✅ conventions of space and time: I’ve heard that some people hate this episode? couldn't be me. way too much trobed for me to hate it lmao. there is a lot of jeffannie in it too, but that resolves with the conclusion that annie is just a romantic who loves to fantasize, and doesn't actually have real feelings for jeff. it actually fuels my lesbiannie agenda tbh, because she is evidently just in love with the idea of a man but doesn't actually put that into practice. but that's another post lmao. we have some great one-liners, we have britta helping troy through his jealousy, we have "troy will find me :)" we have some more inspector spacetime lore, etc etc. I love this episode and rewatch it frequently.

❌ alternative history of the german invasion: for me, this episode has almost zero redeeming qualities. the jokes are lame, I hate professor cornwallis, there is so much discontinuity, it has zero importance in the bigger picture of the season and the show, it's out of character, etc. the one thing I like is the end tag.

✅ cooperative escapism in familial relations: this is a big one for me. I never see people talking about it, but to me this episode is one of season 4's saviors. we have HUGE jeff development, jeffbritta moments, some much needed shirley screentime and development, some great jokes ("-to eat garbage dip WHY DID I HAVE TO GO THIRD), classic trobedison shenanigans, and the shawshank redemption homage is very funny to me. plus! adam devine cameo! I like this episode more every time I watch it. unsung hero fr.

✅ advanced documentary filmmaking: okay so I won’t lie, I fucking HATE the changnesia arc. I think it is so incredibly stupid and uncreative. there are a million different and better ways they could have brought him back. but, this episode is just too important in the season's development to skip. and, honestly, if I ignore the whole premise, there are a lot of funny bits and jokes in this one. troy constantly smiling at the camera (read: smiling at abed), troy and annie being the silliest ever, jeff's trust issues, and ken jeong is truly very funny, I just hate this arc so much. but ultimately it's too important to cut. imo.

❌ economics of marine biology: I basically feel the same about this one as I do about alternative history of the german invasion. it's boring, the premise is stupid, it's out of character, it's unfunny, the guest character is lame, and it's pointless to the overall plot. abed and the delta cubes is a little bit funny? and I guess you could argue that the jeff and pierce development is important? but I’d refute that very quickly. it's pierce, who cares. not. worth. it.

✅ herstory of dance: this episode is honestly the upper end of mid, but it has enough good jokes and development to make it worth it. it is also Very abed-centric, which we've established is always a plus imo, and his whole bit with going on two dates at once is very in character. he also meets rachel, who comes back in season 5, so that's important. it also has some great jeff & britta development!!! which is sort of few and far between in the later seasons!!! yippee!!!

❌ intro to felt surrogacy: tied for my least favorite community episode of all time. it's clear they tried to do something similar to what they did with abed's uncontrollable christmas, but it is so incredibly contrived that it is physically painful to watch. I hate the puppets. the hot air balloon story is so stupid and out of character. the songs are bad. how dare they sully the legacy of my third favorite episode (lmao). the only redeeming qualities are troy as a whole (all of his lines are good, and that moment when he pretends his puppet is falling asleep is very funny), and the fact that pierce is not physically in it. but those do not make up for how horrific the rest of it is. in my opinion. haha.

❌ intro to knots: once again! Tied For My Least Favorite Community Episode! they're right next to each other, how convenient. and again: bad jokes, bad premise, I fucking hate professor cornwallis, the changnesia shit is back, the plot is ALL over the place, there is little to no actual character development, the dialogue just goes in circles, and it ends with a random litter of kittens that are never mentioned again??? I guess the only mildly important thing is the end tag with the evil study group, which comes back during the season finale. but yeah. not worth it. disgusting.

✅ basic human anatomy: and here we have a HUGE jump from the last one. this is my favorite season 4 episode, and is probably in my top 15 from the entire show. I could talk about this episode for hours. the troy development alone is so so so good and important. add abed into the mix and Oh Boy!!! britta is great in this one, jeff and the dean's whole thing is so fucking funny, shirley and annie competing against leonard for valedictorian on a technicality is very in character and silly, danny and donald's acting in this one is commendable, etc etc etc. there really isn't much, if anything, I dislike about this episode. jim rash being the credited writer makes me love him even more. legendary. outstanding.

✅ heroic origins: I actually really like this episode. it does still have that sort of unnatural and off-putting vibe that the majority of season 4 has, but I think it holds up. it's in character, it has some great jokes and one-liners, and although it does have its moments of discontinuity, it does a surprisingly good job of staying compliant with what has already been established. certainly much better than alternative history of the german invasion. abed's whole bit with the star wars prequels makes me laugh, the annie's boobs lore, footage of annie and troy in high school (surprisingly well done if you ignore the discontinuity of troy's injury), etc. it's also massively important for the overarching season plot, and we finally get to the conclusion of the stupid changnesia arc. I could go on and on, there's just a ton of really cool callbacks (including one to the pilot, which I only noticed a few months ago and am obsessed with), and I just. wasn't expecting this one to work out as well as it did. pleasantly surprised, all in all.

✅ advanced introduction to finality: this one is not great tbh, but it's too important plot-wise to skip. and, I mean, it does have some good moments. abed immediately recognizing evil jeff, the whole thing being in jeff's head a la remedial chaos all being in abed's head (insert something about how this being yet another demonstration of how fundamentally jeff and abed understand each other, which I could expand way more on but won't in this particular post), season 2 of the cape, "one of us is out of bullets" "is it you" "...yeah" "why would you tell me that," and more. overall, yeah, worth watching imo.

I do also want to say that I think season 4 is a bit overhated. I do agree that it is the worst season, I think most of us can agree that that is an objective truth, but it does have its moments and I do get slightly frustrated when people write the entire season off.

I’m also happy to hear anyone else's opinions on what you think is/isn't worth watching in season 4, especially if you really strongly disagree with me. I’m curious to what your reasoning is lmao.

okay! this is definitely way more elaboration than you needed, but I hope this was helpful 💯💯💯

[justasensitiveplant]

As promised here is a post about the blorbo of my own making, Niki! I'll go into a bit if a trip with this so buckle up. Details under the read more

@the-great-old-grump here goes

Stats

Age 30

Married

(Ex) Navy

Idk what else

While I adore the boat design and want to continue and develop it further, Niki is originally a human. Her story aims to restore a bit of faith in humanity and help me understand it as a whole by answering what exactly is the human nature. The AU premise generally assumes that vehicles have a human origin and their personality is an imperfect mirror of what humans perceive as themselves. Now, to some backstory.

Niki, in both HAU ( Human AU) and CAU (Carstober AU) is somewhat mysterious in a sense that her past is not really known by anybody. She has served in the navy for a good amount of time and has seen a thing or two, and she has also taken part in recon missions. More so in HAU she has managed to go up in  the ranks quite a lot, and in both she has managed to get herself quite a reputation. After some significant jading and general no-fucks-left-ification we can assume she falls solidly in the aloof mentor type. She's a solid and calm person, very dependable and, with a matter-of-fact quality, its hard to find a situation she'd be embarrassed by. She generally devoted her time to protecting her found-familly, since it consists of generally very traumatised people ( and that way she can project and avoid her own issues !! Yay!!). With a series of complicated events she ends up meeting and falling in love with her husband (major "cringe" warning here)

Her husband originally ( as originally Niki was an oc insert in Cars 2) was Siddeley the jet (humanised). The thing is, nowadays the characters share a name and appearance, but the backstory, personality, and any other thing of substance is changed. So much so that his appearance in the movie barely makes sense. That's generally not a problem when I'm staring at a wall daydreaming but this is a public space, so we'll say the character has been switched with an original one of similar make. Idk man. Do I know how I got here? Yes very much so. Can I explain it? Not really....

No matter who represents her husband, they are irredeemably in love, and together they heal past trauma, learn to be vulnerable and whatever other tooth rotting fluff you can imagine. Someone told them that to love another you must love yourself and they both went like "bet" and aggressively got to work.

Another important part is that she is disabled! As a human she has had and over the knee amputation and is using a prosthetic, most days with a walking stick.  The scar across her face is a mystery one, she'll tell a different story every time sb asks. The dragon one was an all time favourite.... I'm working to figure out a way to translate that into her boat design....

I want to also make kind of clear that she's usually not so murder happy as the Carstober artwork suggests. She can do it, and probably has tbh, but there exists an exaggeration for spooky purposes, and the victims are usually past antagonists.

Anyway, here's a little thing of info for Niki.... She is a work in progress for the last 10 years so there's much more than this. I don't even know if this has a coherent train of thought.  My asks are open if there's anything that doesn't make sense or isn't touched upon

[thelordofgifs]

On Maglor’s Fate

(and why it’s a good thing)

I’ve seen several excellent posts by people far more knowledgeable about HoME than I pointing out that Maglor’s fate in the published silm – wandering the shores in eternal lament – was in fact taken by Christopher Tolkien from a single draft of the legendarium, and that JRRT’s later conception of Maglor’s fate was that he died by suicide at the same time as Maedhros, casting himself into the sea along with his Silmaril. This is a very good point, but despite the fandom’s general lack of adherence to published silm canon (see the prevalence of crispy Amrod truthers, or the lack of consensus on Gil-galad’s parentage) most people seem to have cleaved rather strongly to the idea of Maglor’s survival. Why?

Well, I would like to argue, because it’s SO much more interesting.

Of course, your headcanons are valid! If you prefer thinking that Maglor died at the end of the First Age, go for it; most of the texts support you! But for all the Maglor girlies (gender-neutral) out there, here’s a non-exhaustive list of reasons why Maglor’s survival is better, more satisfying storytelling, and you should continue to cling to this one outdated draft of the silm.

It fits Maglor’s arc better. For such a popular character, I always find it interesting that Maglor is only really developed in the final chapter of the silm – but what we do get in that final chapter is so fascinating. He takes pity on Elrond and Elros, he speaks against stealing the Silmarils, and, most pertinently to my point here, he effectively relinquishes his claim to Eärendil’s Silmaril. The straight line from "its glory is seen now by many, and is yet secure from all evil", to wanting to surrender to Eönwë, to actually throwing a Silmaril into the sea is SO delicious. A lot of that character growth is wiped out if Maglor instead casts both himself and the Silmaril into the sea.

It better sets up Maglor as a foil to Maedhros. I will never shut up about how Maglor's last debate with Maedhros is the best and most heartbreaking dialogue in the book. Its construction is exquisite, and one of the things I love about it the most is the way they mirror each other's words, becoming, in a way, reflections of each other. ("Who shall release us?"—"If none can release us...") All of Maglor's actions in the final chapter are in direct contrast to Maedhros': compare the fostering of Elrond and Elros with Maedhros' failure to save Eluréd and Elurín, and then consider why it is that Maglor still seems to have some hope that things will all work out (which is why he wants to surrender) while Maedhros despairs completely. That contrast makes it important to me that Maglor reacts in a different, more optimistic manner than Maedhros to the Silmarils burning them. ("More optimistic" by the bleak bleak standards of the end of the silm, at least.) I also really like the kidnap fam parallels of Elros and Maedhros both choosing death in very different ways, whereas Elrond and Maglor both choose life - E&E almost repeating M&M's decisions in a healthier and more wholesome manner.

It better preserves Maedhros' arc. Leading on from the last point, but, I think, separate. Maedhros' suicide, in addition to being just ridiculously tragic, is fascinating. The despair, the profundity of the realisation that it was all for nothing, the idea that Maedhros, who spent decades as a captive of Morgoth, is the one person knows exactly what being burned by the Silmarils means - aahh it's so good I can't dissect it all here. But do also consider Maedhros begging Fingon to kill him, and how he finally got his wish, centuries later! That terrible fall from grace is Maedhros' story. I think having Maglor also die by suicide actually diminishes Maedhros' tragedy, with the rather perverse outcome that two deaths end up being less sad than one.

Unresolved endings are good. This is a rather more personal one, tbh - but I love those last messy loose ends, and Maglor's survival is a quintessential one. Don't the great tales never end? There is, of course, so much excellent fanfic potential in Maglor still wandering Middle-Earth into the Second and Third Ages. Here's a legend from the Elder Days, and you can have him stroll into Rivendell if you want! So much more satisfying than neatly wrapping the story up and tying a bow on top.

As far as I can tell, Tolkien's own reasons for having Maglor die instead were that he wanted Galadriel to be the last surviving leader of the rebellion of the Noldor; I've also seen it argued that Maglor needs to die so that Celebrimbor can be the last surviving Fëanorian. To be honest, I don't think Maglor's survival does much damage to either of these arcs. He's effectively a non-entity after the First Age; the text specifies that he "came never back among the people of the Elves". So you can definitely prefer a version of canon where Maglor lives without losing all those Very Important Feelings about Celebrimbor!

There are, of course, myriad self-indulgent reasons why you might also prefer to think Maglor doesn't die. Maybe you just like him and it would be too sad if he dies; maybe you ship him very specifically with someone born in the Second Age; maybe you just want Elrond to have one thing left after everyone he's lost. I didn't include these in the above list because that was attempting to focus more on literary reasons why Maglor's survival makes for a better story, but they are all so valid and I agree with all of them! But hopefully Points 1-4 can be emphatically whipped out the next time someone implies that the fandom is clinging to Maglor's survival for solely sentimental reasons. There are good, solid grounds for wanting Maglor to live, we promise! It actually improves the story!

you're just jealous our blorbo survives and yours doesn't—