#like if the writer can't decide on the plotline either

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Ya know what would be really fun for books? If the reader had options within the book itself. Like a choice book where, at the end of the introduction in chapter 1, you get a multiple choice option at the end like 'character goes into the door, go to chapter 2', 'character doesn't go into the door, go to chapter 3', 'character calls into the room, go to chapter 4', and 'character books it in the opposite direction of the door, go to chapter 5'. And you get choices at the end of other chapters too.

Shit would be cool, I think.

[genericpuff]

Was the Hera×Echo thing for real?! Was it like planned??? It doesn't feel like it was planned! It feels like Rachel just wanted to queerbait to gather more new readers wtf

yeah it's exactly that tbh

FASTPASS SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

like what more realistically happened is she saw people headcanon'ing Echo and Hera and went "yeah sure I'll do that!" without actually writing the fucking relationship.

This was even a problem back in S2 with Echo's character as a whole, she's introduced as this mysterious 'double agent' character who's almost definitely working for Zeus-

-but then aside from two scenes involving Echo accompanying Hera to the motel to retrieve Persephone's things and Echo warning Daphne that Apollo clearly isn't 'over Persephone' (because he had, y'know, barged into Hera's office demanding Hera's blessing) the whole "Echo is a double agent for Zeus" thing was only confirmed after Daphne was turned into a tree and Echo said "FUCK YOU ZEUS, I'M NOT GONNA DO YOUR DIRTY WORK ANYMORE!" which ... huh? Where's the plot? It feels like there was an entire story there that just got dumped entirely so that Hades and Persephone could play golf with diamonds.

Like this was presumably where Echo ditched her obligation to Zeus, but it had nothing to do with Hera, it was because she heard (I'm assuming from Thanatos) what happened to Daphne.

After that we only ever see Echo again when it's implied that her and Hera had some kind of falling out. No idea what over, maybe it was Hera finding out that Echo was a double agent, maybe Hera called her a slur, we have no clue what. But it's sorta just tacked on during an ongoing monologue about how Kronos has affected her.

The only other 'hint' we got towards it was Ares calling Echo Hera's 'girlfriend' but that doesn't mean a whole lot when we've literally never seen these two have more than two scenes together.

So now Rachel making them kiss feels more like her taking credit for writing a plotline that doesn't exist and was fabricated entirely in the audience's headcanon. And this is something Rachel does a lot, she basically relies entirely on her audience filling in the blanks for her nothingburger plot and then of course gets to take all the credit for being a "smart and inclusive writer". Where? Literally where the fuck is the actual writing?

Imagine if we had gotten a proper B-plot showcasing the relationship between Echo and Hera. Echo is working for Hera as a double agent and doesn't want to blow her cover, while Hera is suspicious because she worries her husband is up to something. Over time they work together, grow closer, Hera realizes that Echo makes her feel a kind of happiness that Zeus hasn't made her feel in a long time, Echo realizes that she can't keep lying to Hera about why she was hired and decides she values Hera's loyalty and respect over Zeus' because she has feelings for Hera now. Maybe Hera finds out about Echo being a double agent, either by overhearing a conversation between Echo and Zeus or because Echo outright tells her, and eventually it resolves with them finally admitting their feelings towards one another and Hera realizing that she's felt trapped in a loveless marriage that's essentially serving the same purpose as her union with Kronos, sacrificing her well-being for the good of a King. They kiss and Hera confronts the original perpetrator of her trauma, Kronos, ready to end the cycle of her abuse once and for all.

Like, the plot is right fucking there but Rachel keeps dumping it in favor of focusing on the boring ass heterocis nightmares that are Hades and Persephone, who get SO MUCH FUCKING SCREENTIME of just telling each other how amazing they are and how much they're in love (meanwhile we didn't even actually get to see or hear what Hera wrote in the letter to Echo, we have to just assume) but still tries to take credit for writing queer stories by just vaguely hinting at a queer relationship that has had zero development or actual screentime. It's Hestia and Athena all fucking over again.

It also doesn't bode well for LO passing the whole "bury your gays" test because Hera is literally marching to what she's expecting to be her death. So she's established as a bisexual character, just for her to be sent to her death, while Echo will undoubtedly get shoved out of the plot again.

And, I shouldn't even have to remind y'all of this, but Hera has been racist to nymphs in the past and Echo was her direct subordinate, her personal assistant.

It just makes zero sense to me why Rachel would suddenly force in a queer relationship between two characters who weren't traditionally gay in the original myths (once again removing the queer aspects of CANONICALLY LGBTQ+ GODS AND GIVING THEM TO THE STRAIGHTS INSTEAD) when Hera's story had more than enough to work with through her trauma from both Kronos and Zeus and her loyalty as the goddess of marriage that's kept her trapped in a loveless and abusive relationship. So now instead of having a subplot that could have been about the goddess of marriage realizing that no one should have to stay in a marriage that's robbing them of joy and the "sanctity of marriage" isn't worth being miserable for life, we have a subplot where the goddess of marriage who is racist to nymphs routinely cheats on her husband and now confesses her love to a nymph who we never even saw her interact with outside of two instances where it was simply a working relationship.

[jujus-bizarre-blog]

SOC and CK allegories for the queer characters (and other thoughts)

I was going to make a separate blog to yell about books but I decided to do it here.

I AM NOT DONE CROOKED KINGDOM AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS SO EVERYTHING I SAY IS HAVING ONLY READ HALF THE BOOK SO FAR.

The Grishaverse doesn't seem to have any form of homophobia, but SOC and CK are chalk fulllllllll of what I can only see as plots that mimic queer experiences for the queer characters in the main group.

We have four queer characters (that I know of at the moment): Jesper, Wylan, Nina, Kuwei.

So let's start with the obvious, three of the four are Grisha. Obviously not all Grisha are queer, but all the Grisha in the party are. This gives them an automatic plotline of "hide who you are".

It could be said that since Nina is Ravkan she wasn't raised that way, and no, she wasn't. However since leaving Ravka she has been forced to hide for her safety, and not only that but she is frequently told she's "too much" which sounds a lot to me like what some people say about queer people when they think queer people should be less queer. Also Matthias is all about being "traditional" and "proper" and Nina's whole thing is that she is neither. Traditional and proper sound a lottttt like some people's arguments to be homophobic.

Jesper's I think is rather obvious. His father has a clear concern for his son being Grisha since it can put your life at risk. In Jesper's argument with his dad he goes off and asks his dad why did he never let him go to Ravka where he could be himself and learn about himself and his powers. Oh not to mention the fact that him and his dad talk around him being Grisha like it's some sort of virus that can be caught by simply speaking the word.

Kuwei's took a second to hit me but when it did I was like "ah yep, makes sense" and this is probably because it took me a hot second to realize Kuwei was queer. Yeah, apparently him being jealous that Jesper only looked at Wylan a certain way didn't tip me off... ANYWAY THOUGH. Kuwei is also told to hide who he is, but his dad goes the extra length of literally making a drug to help him hide himself. Is it giving anyone else Dorian's dad from Dragon Age vibes??? Blood magic for the gay son???

FINALLY, I will talk about my baby, the character I love more than anything else. Wylan. Here's the thing about Wylan, while I was reading SOC I wasn't sure if homophobia existed in this world yet and I was half convinced that his dad disowned him because gay. While his dad obviously didn't do that, I still think at the end of the day it portrays an experience that is very similar. Wylan is shamed, hidden, and ultimately his dad tries to have him killed, all because he can't read. His dad loathes him over such a stupid reason, especially since Wylan is absolutely brilliant at tons of stuff and the cutest lil guy. But I think it's that hatred of his son over something so trivial that really lends itself to being about something else entirely, Wylan being queer.

All four of our queer characters in the main group have different plots, but ultimately they all circle around the idea of hiding who you are and being ashamed of who you are. That sounds like a very common queer experience if you ask me.

I don't know if this was intentional or just a huge coincidence. As a writer myself I am all too aware of how easily accidental metaphors and symbols can happen. But I think about it a lot as I'm reading so I wanted to shout about it either way. I also have no clue if this is a common idea or not, I just know when I pointed it out to my friends who had read the books prior, one of who loves and reads them yearly, they both kinda went "oh damn, you right," but didn't see it before I mentioned it.

Anyway, if I missed things (or you wanna yell at me about how wrong I am, which is usually the more likely option) I'd love to know thoughts :)

AND BONUS THOUGHTS

This one is super obvious but I just wanna say it. Jesper is ADHD and no one will change my mind in the history of ever. This man cannot sit still, has been described as having limitless energy, and he seeks constant immediate gratification in the form of gambling and adrenalin rushes. COME ON MAN. I know I know, there's a lore reason, something something Grisha not using magic blah blah. No. No. He is ADHD and you cannot tell me otherwise. And I love him dearly.

Also, not a theory or anything but, y'all, I love Wylan so much. I just wanna give him a hug and a lollipop and tell him it's okay. He's so cute.

[giggleeqween-but-not-so-gigglee]

ok so uh here u go, @pencilgutz @rigor-meowtis @gemorycave and @nefarious-nebula

i'm not like a 10 yo wattpad writer so forgib me for bad storytelling and/or english 😔✊️

ok so season 1 is the exact same EXCEPT in the beginning OJ tells Mephone to let him win. Mephone is like ok but it's gonna cost ya. a few minutes later and they decide on OJ's soul for the payment.

at the end of the season, Salt and Paper see how successful OJ is and are like "i need that money".

so they decide to try to seduce OJ

salt wins and they get married for ~10 years

during the first few is when OJ decides to build the hotel for everyone

then season 2 happens but in the beginning when OJ realizes that he didn't get in which means he can't win again, he starts to argue with Mephone

Mephone reminds him that he only sold his soul to win season 1, not 2

so OJ is like wtf and has an existential crisis when he realizes he will never get it back which means he probs won't get more money

during that crisis he realizes he wants a son to continue his legacy (he's sexist in this, bare with me). salt won't give him a son because she doesn't want any children so he divorces her.

then paper is like oh wait now i can get with OJ. so then they marry

a few years later, OJ is like ok lemme ask if he wants to adopt a son or smth

paper says no

they get in a huge fight and in that fight OJ started physically hitting paper so paper is reasonably like wtf

so paper starts telling people (one of those people being Pepper) so OJ gets angrier

he argues with paper again and then kills him because of anger

OJ is scared that he'll get caught so he (poorly) buries Paper's body in the woods (remember that for later)

next, OJ marries Pepper and she says yes bc she doesn't want to go missing like Paper (no one knows what happened to him but she's reasonably suspicious of OJ) and she says yes to a son

so they get a child and Pepper realizes she won't be able to do anything ab what Paper said so she writes a letter ab it and gives it to Salt secretly since they're still friends

OJ accidentally kills Pepper while they are arguing bc she's like made of glass and was also too scared to protect herself

next that one plotline in season 2 happens where like Taco and Microphone alliance

and since they're like in the forest sometimes they find Paper's body

before they can tell anyone, OJ sees them bc he was going to bury Pepper's body

they make a deal that OJ won't kill them too if he can marry one of them, Taco agrees hesitantly since she likes Microphone and Mic agrees instantly bc of fear

he picks Taco because she was in season 1 and he knows her already (there's more details but that would make this post way too long lol so lemme know if you want a separate post for Taco and Microphone)

one day, Taco decides to visit Salt to ask for advice since she married OJ for like 10 years

after a half hour or so of talking, Salt gives Taco the letter

Taco realizes she can't do anything ab it but still keeps it just in case

later, OJ divorces her since he realizes he's being pulled down famewise because of her and decides to marry Microphone and, despite her instead wanting to marry Knife (yes I ship them, its kinda like a love triangle for this au lol), she says yes anyway in fear of her own life

Taco gives Microphone the letter and she decides she's going to do something ab it

she tries many times to tell someone, but she gets too scared bc of what happened to Paper and Pepper, so she decides to kill him instead

i won't get into these details either since it would also make this post too long but she's only able to succeed after ~7 years

also season 2 gets canceled but i won't get into that in this post so lmk if u want to hear ab that+tacophone/kniphone (think that's the ship name)

[sugoi-and-spice]

My actual prediction for [REDACTED's] fate at the end of MHA, and just my big ol' meta on the whole situation.

Sadly, I don't think Shigaraki is coming back to life. I really fucking hope he does, but I can't believe it for two weeks and then watch it not happen, I will break . Yeah Horikoshi loves his fake out deaths... But idk, Shigaraki 's body is pretty damn gone. And he tends to pull his punches less when it comes to villains (Twice anyone?!)

I truthfully think the best chance we have of seeing him again is through One for All.

Shigaraki 100% transferred OFA back to Deku with that last bloody fist bump. That moment was a huge part of Horikoshi’s original ending with Bakugo, and I wouldn’t be surprised (or mad) if he decided to try to work it into this new version of his ending.

I think we probably will see Shigaraki again and get some more of that context and closure that we’re looking for, but it will be as a vestige within OFA. That’s my prediction, that’s the best direction that I can imagine this ending going in my little lizard writer brain. And I don’t think I’ll be mad about that. (But idk man, talk to me again in like 2 weeks lol).

I’ve always had a hard time believing that Shigaraki was going to make it out of this series alive. Of course, I’ve always wanted Horikoshi to find a clever way for him to do so without totally betraying his character -- I never believed that Shigaraki should fully join the side of the heroes. It’s just so antithetical to his mission and the message of MHA, nor could he ever just… live a normal life with every crime he committed, and him spending his life in prison would be just as miserable as him dying like this imo, no fucking freedom there. Sure, the simp in me wanted an ending where he got a redemption and life, but I certainly wasn’t optimistic. It would be a HARD fucking thing to do. I certainly don’t know how I would do it if I was in Horikoshi’s shoes, as a fellow professional writer (not just of romance either. I write and edit YA action fiction in my normie job, fun fact). I had hoped Horikoshi would figure it out, and a part of me is obviously hoping that Kurogiri managed to pull some hijinks and somehow warp him away, then he and his friends go on to live like little rats the way they have for the majority of the series, forever, buuuut-

I did always have a feeling he was probably going to go the Vader route.

Honestly, him dying beating the shit out of All for One is a pretty great exit for his character, feels more true than him sacrificing himself for the heroes’ side or humanity’s sake. It is the quickness with which this all occurred, the off-screen rescuing he had by Nana Shimura, and the lack of bodily autonomy in his death that I think is pissing people off. (It’s certainly what’s pissing me off). If we had even just gotten a moment of him having full control of his body again, looking up to the sky and seeing his friends waiting for him as he decayed away – or you know, just a death that lasted longer then two damn pages – I think the reactions wouldn’t be so visceral.

That being said. Horikoshi is a master chef, particularly when it comes to stories of recovering from trauma and getting closure, as well as tying up loose threads imo (remember when everyone though that he FORGOT the traitor plotline? Boy was that an embarrassing time for the fandom lmao),  and this man has been cooking for a while now. MHA has been the best it has ever been in this Final Saga and I don’t think he’s done with this dish just yet, nor do I think he’s done with Shigaraki. Physically? Probably. But everything that Shigaraki represents and stands for in this series, no I don’t think this is the end of that. Just because we didn’t see those moments we wanted in this last chapter, doesn’t mean we won’t see them in the next.

So as shell-shocked as I am right now to see my ultimate comfort character (who I have a tattoo of by the way lol) fade away into dust, I’m gonna trust the process and Horikoshi for now.

It ain’t over til it’s over, as it were.

Peace.

(And all that being said, I probably will still write a fix it fanfic where he lives instead, regardless of how this is handled lmao)

[kinnenvy]

In defense of season five Brian Kinney

(this has been in my drafts for months because i'm scared to post it sjkfhs)

We all feel a certain kind of way about season five, it's like... kind of unfortunate from beginning to end lmao. BUT STILL the one thing that I will always do is try to defend that babygirl, I will carry him out of the storm of criticism princess style and take him home on a white horse.

disclaimer: this is a confused stream of consciousness and I will get some things wrong because it's the season I've watched the least lol.

Why does Brian act the way he does? We know why he acts a certain way throughout the series and to me his behaviour in s5 is not that unwarranted or different from the other seasons.

1) At the end of season 4 he asks Justin to move in, he talks about wanting to spend more time with Gus, but does any of it happen? no.

Justin leaves and Brian is happy and proud of him, but honestly I would also see why that would make him feel a certain kind of way. He already thinks he doesn't deserve love and companionship and one of the few times he asks for it he doesn't get it. He prepares a trip to go see Justin, but at the last second he decides not to go, he gets cold feet because it sound like Justin is leaving him forever. Sort of, kind of, but it's enough. The same happens with Gus (imo). Like he's accepted that with time all his relationships will end and no one actually wants him to fight for them, because no one actually likes him enough to want to stick around. But do you know who will always stay by his side? Michael. Until...

2) Confession... I don't hate the assimilation plotline. It was handled horribly, but I still think it's pretty cool they dedicated so much time to it. They were doing this in the early 2000s and now most lgbtq+ media can't handle to seriously get anywhere close to it.

Brian and Michael's roles are on the opposite spectrum of the debate and Justin ping pongs between them way too pointedly, because (imo) the writers decided to use him as a plot device instead of a character. (Unironically to me Justin feels the most like Justin when he is being a dick to his mom about her boyfriend) (and even then I find myself questioning whether s4 Justin would do or say any of that)

ANYWAY Brian sees his best friend/brother travel where he can't follow him. Michael has a family, he is married, he has a house in the suburbs, new, more mature friends and Brian is looking at him from afar, wondering why he suddenly thinks the life they've shared is a meaningless, shameful thing of the past. Not directly, but in a way wondering why Michael can't just accept him the way he is anymore.

BTW Brian might have celebrated the wedding of his friends... but that doesn't mean he changed his mind on weddings as a whole. Actually his wildest marriage nightmares are proven right by the two married couples he knows. He probably looks at Mel and Lindsay destroying each other, stuck in a legal battle with Michael /and/ Ben, looks at the kids trapped in that mess and is glad that will never be him.

UNTIL IT IS. Justin, in his infinite wisdom, decides he wants all of that actually and he tries to "tame" (quoting Cowlip) Brian until he leaves him behind because the domestication isn't sticking and him alone is not worth as much as weddings and kids. There's supposed to be something MORE. Staying with Brian suddenly means settling for something lesser than what Michael has. This process starts way before the break up (talks of... puppies?) and it's there where (imo) Brian just breaks.

No Michael, no Justin, constant talk of marriage and kids and divorce and custody. No one fucking cares Brian has a reason to behave the way he does. It's normal to want different things in life, but no one in the cast has experienced what Brian has and no one tries to understand it and understand what he wants and why either.

Brian's entire existence in the series is being questioned: his worth, what he has to offer, what he can't/won't give as well as what he can/will give, what HE IS, everything amounts to literally nothing. he is being left by everyone, he's wrong and not enough. Meanwhile he hates being alone, he's needy and touch starved and sweet, he needs his special people around, but why would he ask them to stay, when they make it so clear that they think he is not worth anything? (he's left with literally only Lindsay who is so bad at keeping her mouth shut and just offering support and Ted who's mostly just thinking about his own dick 24/7 and is more of a distraction than anything else).

The only gateway to attention and affection he has left is sex except that isn't working as well anymore.

[2.2) (little aside about Justin) To me he is a bit like a moth flying into bright, shiny things. He's still stubborn and driven, but in season five his decisions feel shallow, like he's doing things out of boredom. At the start of the season he's coming back from hollywood, where he was happily living in kinney-like debauchery, and he's disappointed to be back to his old life. So (imo) he finds a new thing to obsess over: marriage. Then he gets to go to new york and weddings, kids and manors are suddenly a thing of the past. This is why to me, in season 5 he's just a big nothing of nothing, genetically modified to accompany the brian/michael assimilation plot line and then Brian's ending.]

3) Confession n 2 I don't hate Brandon and even though the competition is SO cringe, it's meant to be that way (i hope at least), to me the way it ends is what makes it clear. We get a glimpse of season one Brian, broken and lost, terrified, hanging onto the one thing that makes him feel wanted, safe and alive (sex). He wins, but the ending to the competition is not satisfying, Brian doesn't claim his prize (he doesn't want it). We get an unsettling, super close close up on Brian and Brandon instead, the lines are not good, but the visual storytelling carries that scene effortlessly. Past and present looking at each other, the future looming over them right out of frame where none of us can see it.

Aging is a main theme throughout the story and to me it feels very fitting to ham it up towards the ending. Justin spitefully telling him he looks good after sighing and moping around for entire episodes can't fix Brian's lifelong obsession with the loss of his youth. Brian is left to deal with it on his own when it's at its worst. He is old and lonely, Brandon and the competition is an escape, one last glimpse at what it's like to be the young, hot, reigning stud of Liberty Avenue, while being fully aware that his time is up.

In conclusion, Brian has not taken steps back imo, he is struggling to come to terms with the changes around him, while also feeling confident about his own convictions. Sometimes he is bitter and lonely and we get to see him say extreme things, but he's also more well adjusted than he was in season 1. He knows what he wants but he's still scared to admit it. Partly because (and the failure with the moving in thing could be a factor in this) he doesn't think he should ask for anything, partly because the people he loves are expecting him to change even more and against his will.

A the same time, he is able to question himself because he has grown and worked through some of the trauma that shaped him, also he has found a new kind of intense love with Justin, different from the codependency he has with Michael (and Lindsay) and the surface level friendship he has with everyone else, which is something that has made him realise so much about himself and what he wants and would like to be.

For the same reasons he is able to look at his empire crumbling and accept it, because during the show he found other reasons to fight and stay alive. When those same reasons are taken away from him, or he doesn't find the courage to go after them, he tries to comfort himself through sex, even if it's unsuccessful, but he's not closing into himself like he used to. He still thinks he'll get Michael back eventually and he's happy to let Justin go if it means he'll find what he is looking for, Brian doesn't want another relationship he doesn't care for it, the only reason Justin became his boyfriend is because he forced his way into his life and his heart ugh cringe lol. Obsessing over sex, age and fighting with his loved ones is not necessarily a sign of regression, just a momentary way to cope with the world pulling the rug from under his feet.

He went from attempting suicide to celebrating being cancer free. He wants the people who make him happy to be happy, even if it hurts him. He's not possessive and he's not particularly brave when it comes to relationships, but he's also growing constantly, willing and unwilling he changes and moves forward in his own way, sometime turning to look at the past but with no excuses, no apologies, no regr[GUNSHOT]

Then episode 10 comes and a lot more shit happens that i could write another 20 pages about but im done for now lmao ok bye

[guardianbee]

I just realized that what sets Netflix's Stretch Armstrong above the rest of contemporary superhero cartoons is that it gave each protagonist a rich inner and personal life, both separate from their superhero identity AND serving as their motivation to become a superhero. Compare Jake, Nathan, Ricardo, and Riya to Marvel's Spider-Man's main protagonists - Peter, Miles, Anya, Gwen, and Harry.

Out of the five MSM protags, only Peter has his personal life consistently explored. Harry's personal life is explored but only in opposition to Peter's, and once Harry's arc concludes in S1, he drops off as a protagonist entirely and becomes a supporting character in S2 & S3. While Gwen gets some personal life development in S1, it is to only forward the villain-of-the-week plotline. Once that resolves, Gwen is hardly given any real character growth except in a few key episodes with Anya. We never see her father or what her life is like outside of Horizon High. Miles and Anya both have a single episode that explores their family dynamics and THEN we only see Jefferson and (a fake!) Maria as poorly-executed villains to add drama to the last half of S3. Neither Miles or Anya organically develops without either Peter or Gwen around.

With Stretch Armstrong, each of the protagonist's family and past are explored. You get the backstory, you get familial dynamics, and you get motivations. Jake wants to be a hero to both escape the confines of the rigid expectations his father places on him AND because he feels like he can finally put all the lessons his dad taught him to use. Nathan wants to be a hero to protect his family and stay close to his friends. Ricardo wants to be a hero because he finally wants to belong somewhere - he wants community, and he wants friends that he doesn't have to leave behind. Riya's primary motivation is avenging her parents and taking down Rook before his corporate schemes go too far. And notice how all their motivations are distinct to their family dynamics and personal ambitions!

Why do Gwen, Anya, and Miles want to be heroes? We don't learn about Miles' desire to protect his neighborhood until S3! What are they motivated by? Just a desire to help? They're just naturally good people and want to make the world a better place? But why? Where does that desire come from? What do their family and community think of them - how are they motivated by those factors? MSM hardly explores that - MSM is primarily in service to the fantastical elements of Peter's life. And, when we do have time to catch up on the protags' personal lives, it is almost always Peter that has these moments. The MSM writers wanted to give Peter a team but then they never explored that team, never gave the audience to care about them other than "they're Peter's friends," while Stretch Armstrong gave Jake a team and THEN chose to develop each protagonist into their own fully-realized character. The show was about Jake but his team was not there to just serve his character and story - they each had their OWN character and OWN story. Had SAATFF been picked up for an S3, I'm almost positive Erika's personal life outside of Nathan would also have been fully explored to the point of being a main character rather than a secondary one.

IDK man, it just feels like contemporary superhero shows and comics in general can't balance the fantastical with the average, day-to-day lives of their protagonists. That's why ITSV and ATSV are so revered and stand out - because of that balance. Miles is a compelling character because he deals with and endures all these fantastical elements of his life WHILE having problems with his parents and deciding what his future will entail. Gwen is a compelling character for similar reasons. Their romance is compelling for these reasons - balancing the fantastical with the mundane - Gwen protecting Miles by keeping him away from Spider Society and all of its secrets, but still feeling jealous when Miles eyes Margo; Miles coming along with Gwen to earth-50101 to help her and then slightly panicking upon learning Gwen has been staying on another earth with a dude named Hobie.

If superhero writers have forgotten this, if they can't find that balance and explore it, then we're really in fucking trouble for years and years to come.

[nikethestatue]

Ok I am going to vent. Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie being crowned Carynthian's so so stupid. Rhys, Cassian and Azriel barely made the cut and they had YEARS of intense training to accomplish that. The Valkyries? Like 6 months. It's just....such bad writing. Like because they wanted it and through the power of friendship and love they beat this almost impossible task? NO! And when you point this out to Valkyrie stans you're called misogynistic and sexist. It's not misogynistic to point out a flaw in the writing, and that it's just really corny. Them just not dying would have been a perfectly fine outcome, or even being named Oristian (getting to the mountain but not the top)

This has nothing to do with sexism. No one is saying that they can't complete the BR. No one is saying they aren't capable of becoming Carynthians. But not in 6 months. It's like me going to the Olympics now in vaulting and getting a gold medal, because I took up vaulting today and the Olympics are in what, June?

Lots of balls were dropped in ACOSF but this, along with the pregnancy plotline, are just not good. Honestly, if a fanfic writer wrote something like that and posted in on AO3 they'd be ridiculed.

Also, if SJM decided to go that route after all that, I would've at LEAST liked to have seen some self-awareness from the 3 to say 'guys, we know we wouldn't have done it without weapons and Made bracelets. I don't think we should claim the title."

Instead, we get a pouty whine from Gwyn who says that 'I don't even wanna be a Carynthian. I am a Valkyrie!" You aren't either. But who is splitting hairs?

[diamondcitydarlin]

"The DA writers realized, eventually, that as soon as you make a character romanceable it limits the type of character they can be and the types of stories they can tell. They become beholden to their romance arc and their need to, ultimately, be appealing. Why is that a limitation? Because not all character story arcs are defined by being appealing to the player. Even if the appeal of an arc is for a relatively limited audience, the requirement of having appeal inherently restricts the potential stories to a fairly limited band. It's why the DA team, after a discussion during DAI's development, eventually decided to keep Varric as non-romanceable. Already I hear some fans groaning in disappointment, even though we did it so as not to *destroy Varric's character*. You can't have it both ways, I'm afraid." - David Gaider on X

Okay, so...are we then to assume that every character who got a romance arc in DA:I had their characters destroyed, or that they just weren't as *special* and unique as Varric so it didn't matter? This also hinges on a kind of a narrow idea of what 'appealing' means (which is different to every person) and I'll say for myself and others that Varric is pretty 'appealing' for his entire arc anyway that, for some reason, just couldn't bear to have been interrupted by a romance story (though given I have written an entire romance arc that incorporates all the benchmarks of his original canon arc, I find that claim suspicious). But romance stories don't always have to be 'appealing' either and that brings me to, say, Blackwall and Cassandra's romance arcs for example- both of these stories take some pretty depressing/stressful turns that can end the romance completely in a pretty tragic way, so I wouldn't say that the team always stuck with 'appealing' romance storylines either ('appealing' here having the meaning, I assume, of always being flirty and happy and nothing bad happens ever or something). This also fails to account for characters like Dorian, Sera, Iron Bull (all of them that are romanceable really) having strong plotlines outside of their romance arc anyway, things that can happen even if you do romance them. Soooo...I don't know, I guess my point is that I'm just not buying the argument that there's something so different and special about Varric that would have been ruined by having a romance arc option with him in either DA3 or DA2 (that which could have been completely ignored by the player if they so chose, which I guess is neither here nor there). I think what it really comes down to is that they had a very rigid and specific idea of what Varric needed to do and be and just didn't want to deviate from that (which, for all David complains of fans making their disappointment into bigger issues, I feel like that's exactly what he's doing every time he writes an essay about the integrity of Varric's character and how a romance would have ruined him or whatever, like no one has the gall to just admit they didn't want to do that whether it would have logically worked or not- they were opposed to it from the beginning, it was never going to be seriously considered). They're protective of his character, which I get to an extent, but on the other hand, I feel like these sort of games are supposed to be about player choice and escapism. I understand the need to be faithful to plotlines etc etc, but surely in a game about choice and customization there should be, yknow, multiple choices of outcome. There should be some willingness to adapt storylines to different options. At the end of the day I really, really believe that if a Varric romance story had been available the people who chose it would not have been disappointed or feel that Varric's storyline was 'ruined'. I think the people who would have chosen that would have been very happy with it- and the people who wouldn't have because they think it would 'ruin his character' would also be very happy because they don't have to romance him. Of course the romance arc option wouldn't have been for everyone because none of them are !!! No romance option is indisputably for 'everyone' because EVERYONE is going to want to play their game and write their story differently. If more or total control over what happens to the characters is what you want then maybe work on a game that doesn't incorporate choice or customization?? I feel like that's how most games are lol.

Anyway my point is- I wish the people who worked on DA would stop coming up with elaborate backflips in logic as to why they didn't make Varric romanceable (bc this has been happening for a few years now, since the game was released tbh) and just admit that they didn't want to and therefore never really put any effort towards seeing if it was viable because that's really the only explanation that makes any actual sense.

[wasted-women]

ROUND 1B, MATCH 1 OUT OF 8!

NOTE: As Warriors is a book series with limited art, only Storm's portrait is official art. Bumble and Bright Stream's pictures are fan-made from the Warriors Wiki. Thank you for providing these arts, Warriors Wiki.

Cause of Death & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Bumble

Cause of Death: Murdered; Either by a predator fox or a fellow cat

Propaganda:

Welcomed the new cats warmly even when they were extremely rude to her for daring to be looked after by humans. She helped Turtle Tail leave the wild and her controlling boyfriend, and showed her what being a kittypet is like. She told Turtle Tail that her kits will be taken by the twolegs, even though she knows that will make Turtle Tail leave to the wild again. Meaning that Bumble would be alone with Tom (abusive asshole cat who the writers decided can get to cat heaven anyway) and Tom would target her even more because she caused Turtle Tail to leave with his kits. She fled to the wild after Tom was constantly beating her up in a way that the twolegs wouldn't see. She is rejected from the wild cat groups because she is a kittypet and therefore fat and lazy and can't hunt. She tries to live in the wild anyway because she can't live with Tom and her twolegs and dies because the cats are fucking prejudiced. :(

Storm & Bright Stream [Mod's Note: Since the person who submitted these characters was the same and wrote propaganda together, I combined them for this entry]

Cause of Death: (Storm) Killed by Twolegs & (Bright Stream) Snatched by an eagle; assumed to be eaten

Propaganda:

I had to submit them both together, because combined they are the worst cases of fridging in the warriors series. Basically Bright Stream is the mate (essentially wife) of Clear Sky, one of the main male characters of the series, who dies tragically while she is pregnant to make Clear Sky angst and make his turn to villainy tragic and try to get the audience to sympathize with him even when he does horrible things and agree with his brother Gray Wing that he should be redeemed. (Gray Wing is also implied to be in love with her so he gets to angst too). Ok that's bad enough but then in the SAME book (the first book of the series), they introduce Storm, ANOTHER love interest for Clear Sky who Gray Wing was also originally involved with romantically, who ALSO dies tragically (again this is all just the first book of a six book series), because obviously Clear Sky needed double the dead wives to make him double tragic and sympathetic. This does lead to a plotline where Storm and Clear Sky's son (who has no surviving sisters so this is still only about the male characters) is abandoned by him out of grief and Gray Wing adopts him, leading to him having to choose between his two fathers, which COULD HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED WITH JUST ONE OF THE TWO BEING HIS MOTHER AND DYING! Not that that would have been ideal either but the double fridging is just so especially ridiculous. Also both are manipulated/treated over protectively by Clear Sky (he pressured Bright Stream into leaving their home to find a better place with him, the journey on which she gets killed, and then tries to control Storm to keep her from wandering off because of his grief for Bright Stream). This is never resolved with the female characters standing up to him because they just die, and in fact Storm dies apologizing to Clear Sky saying he was right all along to not let her go anywhere or do anything and this proves it, setting up for more Clear Sky justifying a lot of horrible crimes with just trying to protect everyone. Because the abuse they suffer doesn't matter, just how their suffering tragically pushing Clear Sky into villainy. Oh yeah and Clear Sky also has a baby sister who dies tragically of starvation to make his belief in eugenics and the disabled being kicked out for population control "so no one starves" more tragic and sympathetic (just a sister, both of his brothers are fine), because there's only one way the authors know to develop his character.

[daydreaming-nerd]

SJM ask game

Thank you so much to @kennedy-brooke for tagging me, I hope I did this right (I have zero competence) I hope you guys know that when you tag me in these I totally kick my feett and giggle I get so tickled.🖤

1) What’s your favourite SJM book? A Court Of Silver Flames, that book literally changed my life

2) Which is your favourite series (tog, acotar or cc) Oh my god, it depends on what I last read, which right now is ACOTAR but TOG is my baby

3) Who is your favourite character? (And why?) Nesta and how much time do you have? I'll say this, I'm Nesta through and through, I had a friend who once said I looked like her. Nesta is how I feel about myself and seeing her working towards being better makes me want to be better too.

4) Do you have a favourite quote from one of the books? "So Nesta had become a wolf. Armed herself with invisible teeth and claws, and learned to strike faster, deeper, more lethally. Has relished it. But when the time came to put away the wolf, she found it had devoured her too."

5) Favourite ship? I'm going with Nessian or Rowaelin because I hope I can find someone that sees all of me and chooses to love me anyways too one day :)

6) Elriel or Gwynriel? Or neither? If you're holding a pew pew to my head I'm going Gwynriel. Because I love Lucien too much. but honestly neither.

7) Who’s the most underrated SJM character? This is SUCH a hot take but Tharion Ketos. Has he had his moments recently? yeah. But the way that guy flirts? Oh I would be giggling and kicking my feet.

8) Which character do you wish to learn more about? Eris Vanserra, did I tear him to shreds in my Cassian series? yes. Do need him in a carnal way? Absolutely. I just know he's got shit going on.

9) Are there any characters you don’t like? Ithan Holstrom and I have beef...

10) Favourite bat boy? Shoot me it would hurt less. Honestly I think if I was in a room with them and none of them had mates I'd run to Rhys first. He's a scorpio and so am I (shocker) so I know we would vibe. but on the official mate quiz I got Azriel so???

11) Favourite court?/ Which one would you most like to live in? I'm a night owl (but y'all knew that) and a scorpio, so either night court or autumn but honestly, I think autumn.

12) Favourite SJM villain? Arobynn Hamel, simply because I think good villains are people you absolutely despise and I would find so much catharsis from curb stomping him.

13) If you could change one thing in any of the books what would it be? Might be a hot take but the Nyx plotline. It makes no sense for Rhys and Feyre to be like "we have all the time in the word" and then decide they want a baby right after. like what?

14) Favourite SJM theory? That Ruhn is a shadowsinger (maybe this isn't a theory but I have a fic coming about it soon so shut up)

15) Favourite Archeron sister? I think we all know...Nesta

16) A character you feel is over-hated/ underrated: I can't say my real answer or y'all will kill me so I'm gonna say Tharion Ketos again.

17) Aelin, Bryce, or Feyre? AELIN ASHRYVER GALATHYNIUS

18) What’s your favourite character from each series? Aelin, Nesta, and Rhun

19) If you wrote an acotar book what would you call it? A Court of Blood and Embers (and it would be the blood duel with Az and Lu Lu)

20) Who is your favourite acotar blogger? @tadpolesonalgae (I seriously love everything you.write)

21)What fics would you recommend to people who love the series? I'm not answering this one ONLY because I'm actually working on a fic rec list for y'all

Questions for writers

22) Easiest character to write for? Rhysand, I feel like I am Rhysand (scorpio buddies) so if I would say/do it so would Rhys.

23) Hardest character to write for? I haven't written anything for them yet (plz request) but I'm gonna go Rowan and Lorcan. Only because it's been a while since I read TOG

24) What’s a character you’d like to write for but haven’t yet? ERIS VANSERRA, y'all I am begging you, send me your Eris ideas. I want to write him but I have no ideas.

25) What’s a court you’d like to write about more? Day (incoming jealous Az fic you are all going to love) and Autumn.

26) What’s a character you won’t write for and why? Probably Elain, I just don't know enough about her to be able to do a good enough job.

27) If you could only write for one character ever again, who would you pick? Azriel, he's just such an easy guy to write for right now, and I think people like reading Azriel fics the most.

28) Whats your favourite trope to write about when it comes to Azriel? Reader being Rhysand's sister, I will literally make the reader Rhys' sister in every fic Idgaf, I want our girl to be a pretty princess. and the on top of that JEALOUSY.

29) What do you think is the best/favourite acotar fic you’ve written? I gotta pick between my babies... aight.

How Did It End? put my heart and soul into her and it flopped.

I'll Crawl Home to Her again, put my cooch into this and flopped.

The Prophecy (Azriel's Ending) guess what? put my cooch into it and it flopped.

so bascially if I liked it? It flopped, jail time.

30) Who are your favourite friendships to write about? Cassian the reader, I haven't gotten a chance to do much with it but I hope to soon.

31) For first time readers to your blog, which three fics would you recommend they read? *cracks knuckles*

You want plot? Young Love, Old Money or The Bonds That Break Us

You want smut? You Want a Baby? or Our Girl

Angsty af: How Did It End? and Implode

Tagging (and no pressure if you don't want to do it! ps love y'alls work) : @honeybeefae, @marvelsmylife, @throneofsmut, @azsazz, @sarawritestories

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

I watch The Danny Thomas Show every Saturday with my parents and every time I watch it... I can only seem to compare it to The Dick Van Dyke Show in my mind. Pretty much the same production team made both. Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas both produced TDVDS and TDTS. The big difference between the two was that Carl Reiner was the creator of TDVDS and I believe that Danny Thomas created TDTS and that clearly made all the difference in the world.

Today I was watching Season 11 Episode Episode 16 of The Danny Thomas Show called "Kathy, The Secretary" which aired on January 20, 1964 and I was comparing it to Season 3 Episode 22 of The Dick Van Dyke Show called "My Part Time Wife" which aired February 26, 1964. As you can see these two episodes aired within just a little over a month of each other. But the difference in these two episodes are light years away. In some ways they are very similar. Both have to do with the respective protagonist's wives going back to work for a little bit.

The Danny Thomas Show did not deal with this plotline at all well. It starts with the typical old plotline of a wife spending too much money on clothes and hats and whatever she wants and their joint account being overdrawn because the wife can't budget money and only cares about what she can get for herself. This is such an old plotline that was done in I Love Lucy and a billion times after. It's old and it's very much depicted in a sexist nature. After a fight between them she almost on a dare decides to go back into the work force as a secretary for Danny's talent agent. The rest is a typically sexist series of events where the joke is that Kathy is a ditz and bad at her job. At the end of the episode she stops working to continue to be a housewife. I have nothing against housewives, I come from a long of them. My mom was one for a long while. My sister is currently one and honestly if I had kids and my husband had a well paying job where I didn't need to work I would definitely consider being one myself. But back in the days these plotlines were depicted on TV in a very sexist nature in so many ways that I can only begin to describe. For one, women were unappreciated for the work that they did at home. And again women were always depicted as not having the ability to even do that well. Like women were always making their husbands crazy and putting them in the poor house. And raising children was shown to practically be a breeze when they were even shown raising their children.

You compare that to the Dick Van Dyke Show and the difference is huge. Firstly the reason that Laura went back to work was different. Sally was working temporarily on another show and as usual the guys in the office were lost without her. Which was actually a pretty ahead of it's time concept. Sally was a career woman and an integral part of her job. She did everything well. She was an amazing TV writer and typist. She could do everything the men could do and then some. Either way Sally was off and Laura offered to help out at least with the typing while Rob and Buddy were writing the show. Where TDVDS really sets itself apart from TDTS was unlike Kathy, Laura ended up being amazing at the job. Not just in typing but she was also coming up with hilarious jokes for the show. Laura came into her husband's job and arguably did it better. Certainly that week she was doing it better. And that was the source of the conflict was that Rob was being a bit insecure about his wife coming into his job and getting bigger laughs than him. Don't let this synopsis fool you though, as insecure as Rob could be he was never as insecure as Danny was. And Rob always appreciated Laura and appreciated what she did. Also there were episodes where Rob helped out with housework like cleaning the dishes and stuff like that. That may sound small and insignificant now but at the time that stuff was considered "women's work." Men brought home the bacon and took the garbage out but women did the housework. So to depict a man who secure enough to help his wife out and to do the housework even when he was teased by his guy friends was really ahead of it's time. Rob and Laura were depicted as a team. It was them against the world and that was so incredibly ahead of its time on TV. But getting back to the main point. Laura was always depicted as being so good at her job and also so good at being a housewife. But it also wasn't shown as being super easy. Back in the day women were shown as never really having emotional breakdowns but Laura was allowed to be messy, sometimes both emotionally and physically. Like there were times when things got difficult. Laura wasn't shown as being emotionally immature but she was also allowed to be vulnerable and messy sometimes... and that's just life.

I really respect how TDVDS strove to push the envelope. How they strove to depict women, black people, and marriages differently and better than it had been in TV. It seems like every show was just trying to be like every other show that had succeeded in the past 10 years just trying to be another I Love Lucy. But even I Love Lucy pushed the envelope in some ways. So they weren't really trying for the spirit of I Love Lucy they just made a bunch of generic watered down versions of I Love Lucy. Carl Reiner went into TDVDS wanting to make something different, wanting to depict marriage in a more realistic way. To depict everything in a more realistic way but also to push the envelope of what was acceptable in some ways. I'm not saying that TDVDS always did things perfectly but I love how they strove for it. How they depicted a married couple (Jerry and Millie) going to couples counseling/therapy. How they depicted the main couple as being sexually attracted to each and depicted them as a team. It really blows my mind that a show like TDVDS existed in the year 1964.

[purrincess-chat]

I think I know now why the writers decided in favor of pre-reveal Adrienette. Adrien desperately needs someone to be there for him in his civilian life and inspire him to solve his problems. Unfortunately, Ladybug can't do it without one or both of them revealing their identities, and I guess now isn't the time for an identity reveal yet. What do you think?

I think what a lot of people in the fandom forget is that seasons 4 and 5 were written together, so this whole arc over the last couple of seasons was planned at the same time. It wasn't a random occurrence or the writers just up and deciding to throw something in for shits and giggles. It was deliberate, and likely important for whatever plans they have moving forward.

As a writer, I understand the importance of having the whole picture, which is why I often just tell people to wait and see what happens. Additionally, because I am accustomed to view storytelling from a writing lens, I can say that pre reveal Adrinette wasn't that surprising to me. I saw the hints and signs of it since s1, and especially after what happened in s4, I can see why Adrinette is happening over the other sides. There were certain key developments throughout season 4 that lead to where we are now.

I think the other factor goes along with what you're saying in that we don't fully know the extent of the Agreste plotline yet. We have a lot of speculation, but we don't know it as well as the writers do. I definitely think there is something to what you're saying. Adrien can't go to Ladybug about his home life, which is a very huge problem for his character. His home life has been at the center of this show just as much as the love square. His home life has been the main plot since s1 because everything in the show is linked to it. And one of the main reasons I've appreciated this season so much is it's finally allowing Adrien to speak up and realize that something in his life is very wrong, and he needs help. He needs someone to support him and help him stand up for himself because he can't (either because he's a sentibeing and literally cannot bc he is being controlled or bc the psychological abuse is so bad. Possibly both). And you could argue that they should just reveal their identities already, but the thing is, canon only gets 1 shot to do the permanent reveal. It's not like fanfic where we can write as many reveals as we want. Canon gets 1. And idk about yall, but as someone who has been in this fandom for years, I want that 1 moment to be the biggest one in the show because it has been the whole shtick of this show since it premiered. I want it to be good, ya know?

The way I see it, this season had a two fold problem as it relates to Adrinette. The first one is the situation with Adrien and his homelife, and they set Marinette up to be his person for that at the end of s4 (I mean honestly she kind of has been for a while, but Risk really drove that point home). The second is Marinette's trauma surrounding love. Because of everything, she convinced herself that she was not worthy of love and could not have love because it leads her to making big mistakes. It's clearly an issue the writers wanted to resolve before the reveal. Why? We will have to find out, but my best guess is they have other plans for post reveal that require them to be past this point and go through all of the development they're going through. Everything I've seen and read has told me this season is wrapping up the Agreste plotline we've been following since s1, and we are seeing evidence of that with how things have been progressing. I'm not gonna spoil later episodes for those who haven't watched, but it's clear that something final is going to happen on that front this season. And with how fucked up that whole situation is, yeah, I can see why they gave Adrien a cute gf to hold his hand and help him through it just like I can see why they gave Marinette a cute and patient bf to hold her hand and help her through her shit. Narratively, with everything we've been given, it makes sense to me.

So, yeah, I can see where you're coming from. I think there is more to it, but I think that is one of the reasons we're seeing pre reveal Adrinette this season. I think we also forget that the writers like the love square too. I'm sure they've been waiting for this moment just as long, if not longer, than we have. But they have to be purposeful with how they do things in order to tell the story they're trying to tell. I think this season as well as s4 will make a lot more sense once we have all of it, and we can go back and watch everything in context and see where all the threads were leading. MLs biggest struggle has always been the broadcasting schedule and leaks. People get spoiled to things they don't have context for yet and then run with wild assumptions and bad faith interpretations. It's unfortunately been this way since s1, so I don't see it getting better. 🤷‍♀️ Either way, I think you're definitely on the right track, and I'm curious to see how the rest of their relationship unfolds and bridges the gap we have between episode 11 and episode 20. I think the missing episodes will provide a lot of context that we are missing.

[darklordgorblax]

Why does Mass Effect hate Gay Men?

So, I know I'm pretty late to the party, and plenty of people have said it better, but I've finally been getting around to playing the Mass Effect games, and I can't sleep until I get this out there. Also, apologies that I'm all over the place. It all just adds up, you know?

Disclaimer: There is a lot to really like about Mass Effect. This isn't a review, just an attempt to voice a frustration.

Where to start? I first played Mass Effect in ~2010. I was in college, and still very repressed pretending that homosexuality is totally a choice. Like most people, I imagine, I really appreciated the way that I could tailor Shepherd to my vision. He wasn't a blank slate self-insert, but had just enough flexibility that it was really easy to slip into that skin and imagine I was a badass commander out saving the galaxy.

Then the end happened and Ashley raped me. Obviously with Shepherd it was consensual, but for me identifying and connecting with Shepherd it felt deeply violating. I was leaning heavily into Paragon, and genuinely thought I was just being a good nice person. I had hardly ever spoken with Ashley, and I didn't think I had said anything particularly suggestive that was the direction I wanted to go. As a result I swore off everything Mass Effect for over a decade.

I've grown a lot since then. It's finally time to give it a fair shake. I still don't want any unpleasant surprises, so I did a bunch of research to figure out what I want to do about romance. Of course I ran into the same problem that every gay man playing Mass Effect runs into. Where are the m/m romance options? It's fine though. I decide I'm going to save myself for Gay Kaiden, and honestly it's very poignant. It's frustrating that it took 3 entire games to pay off, but even that worked into the character arc nicely.

So I played through the trilogy, hated the ending, but overall really appreciated the moments I got with Kaiden. It was pretty emotional for me too, just because it made me realize how much I needed that kind of representation. It was a catharsis to the trauma of being pushed into sleeping with Ashley a decade ago.

Moving on to Andromeda, there's still not nearly enough gay representation, but it's ok. I'm down with Gil. Then there was the scene that set off this spiral. Gil casually mentions that his only friend Jill gives him crap for being a gay genetic dead end. I tell him that's not cool, and he brushes it off. This is deeply uncomfortable, but maybe they salvage it. I have to know more.

End preamble, begin rant: Why does Mass Effect hate Gay Men?

What the ever living fuck. Gil's *entire* character ark is his "best friend" pressuring him into being her baby daddy. The first thing I had to know is who wrote this and are they gay. If they're gay themself, then maybe they're just speaking to personal experience that I happen to find distasteful and unrelatable. I couldn't find out much about the guy, but I suspect not.

So first - To straight writers writing gay characters: Just write them straight. Kaiden was written in such a way that it works either way, and it *works*. Yes, I want gay characters that deal with uniquely gay issues, but I don't trust you. To explore something as deeply personal and fraught as a gay man choosing whether or not to have children and how is not a plotline you just slap together. Just write them straight and then flip the pronouns and descriptors when appropriate.

But now I'm just gah! We've already established they're extremely lacking in the m/m romance options, but let's take a look. Gil and Cortez, the two exclusively gay men. Why are there no gay men party members? For fuck's sake! Every single exclusively gay (and lesbian?) romance option is confined to the ship. Just... I think you already know how fucked up that is, so I'm going to stop.

To move on to character arcs. I've seen people defend this, but frankly shove off. It's like these narratives' primary purpose is to make sure that everyone knows they're gay. It's show don't tell gone horribly, horribly wrong. You want to know how you show that a gay man is gay? Show them flirting with men. You don't need to consume the entire character arc showing how Cortez has a dead husband and Gil might not have children. I can cut Cortez some slack since dead spouse isn't a specifically gay arc, but even the way it's presented just puts way too much emphasis on the "husband" part.

But speaking of specifically gay character arcs... Maybe whether or not to have children isn't specifically to highlight that Gil is gay... Oh wait it totally is. This game is *loaded* with interspecies romances that will never have children. Why is the only relationship where this "problem" is highlighted the one for which it might be deeply traumatic?

I can't talk about interspecies romance without talking about the Asari. Perhaps it's the first problem, but for me it will have to be the last. I know it's been beaten to death, and scrutinized from every angle, but it's just so bad. In many ways the Asari are at the heart of the "Why does Mass Effect hate gay men" problem. A mono-gendered, naturally bisexual species that exists to fetishize lesbians for the benefit of a straight male audience. (Anyone who says they aren't technically female deserves to be punched in the face)

So with that I'll conclude: Bioware owes gay men big time for this travesty. Make a mono-gendered, naturally bisexual species that's coded as male. I dare you.

[bubblegumflavor]

As a fellow fic writer in this fandom I get how you feel. Back in 07, when I wrote fics in Live Journal you'd always get at least one comment even if it was from a mutual. But I'm a bit used to sending things out into a void and not always getting a response.

You gotta do what's best for your creativity! Keep writing for yourself if that's what makes you happy :)

PS~ I love your art~~ you draw them so cute together like I always wanna squish them.

Hi Anon~ <3

I remember when I started (2005ish maybe?) and I wrote in several fandoms since then, I got a good 15 comments per chapter, sometimes 20 sometimes 9.. but that was a regular count depending on the fandom. It got less over the years, sometimes updates with zero but next time a couple of comments and so on. I got used to write with very little response and made my peace with it. I always say if there's one person who enjoys it with me and who is happy about my writing, it's worth sharing!

However..

There's a difference if I see like people subscribing, leaving kudos, active page hits that go ~100/150 per upload... and NO ONE leaves a comment? I got lucky for my last fic, I had a good 3~5 people (out of 70 subscribers) who regulary commented. Not everytime always but enough to keep me going. I cut the story short in the end, ngl. I had planned much more but not only for that but also for me, I cut it short and that helped me decide to do so because even out of those 5-ish people, it got less towards the end.

I had another story in a more or less dead fandom where I always said I had a basic planned plotline with options to expand (I always have XD), to do 'road trips' and stuff... no one spoke up, I ended the story basic planned, people complained that there wasn't more. And I wonder... why do you come now when it's over not while I was writing and asking if people wanted more?

I am totally okay with little response.. that's all I want, some interaction with readers, knowing if people are there and if me sharing my story does something for anyone. I even started again to say: 'please leave a comment if you liked the chapter ' and out of 200 hits, no one does. It's pretty hard to not start to take it personally if I am completely honest, especially on a bad day. You wonder why people can't spare a minute to leave some kind words. It's not about having the most liked most commented most awarded story of all, I don't care about clicks and counts and comparing myself to others.

You start a new story and back in the days people used to leave some motivation like: I'm interested, I'm curious to see where this is going. Something like that... now... Nothing. Now finally a few people made themselves visible but after what? Me begging and honestly considering to not keep posting. I'm annoyed about myself that I see no other way than beg people to interact. I feel pathetic for doing so but I don't wanna just suck it up either, if that makes sense..

So yeah, maybe I will switch to.. finish a story for myself and then decide if I share it. It won't be the same fun I used to have but it has an impact on my motiviation, I can't deny that. If the story is done, it's done. Maybe I can spice it up with some artwork then or sth.. idk.

Thank you so much for reaching out, it means a lot! And I am happy you enjoy my dumb fluffy art-stuff =) <3

[whatyourusherthinks]

AFRAID Review

Well I hate that title. It's a horror movie about AI, what's wrong with it? I dunno Buggnutz, it just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe because of the way the pun is formatted. Looks dumb. Otherwise, I only got the trailer once, and my opinions was, "It's a horror movie Blumhouse is making a movie about the dangers of AI... Huh." Trailer looked alright. I like that the director is also the writer. I heard it was stupid from my coworkers and the reviews were bad, but this wouldn't time I've disagreed with both of those group of people about Blumhouse specifically in the past, so maybe this movie will be another Imaginary. I'm not exactly optimistic, but it could be something.

What's The Movie About?

A family gets chosen to host an AI called AIA (No way. Yep. Look at the poster.) and it slowly forces it's way into every aspect of their lives. But is it for the better? (No way. Yep. As in you are correct to say it isn't.)

What I Like.

I dig the premise, actually. To risk a spoiler, the story heads in a very Mommie Dearest direction with AIA's motivation and how she manipulates the family. I think it's a whole lot more realistic than the "Robot decides humans a weak/detrimental to their development/the real problem for the earth and so they will kill all humans" angle, anyway. I also like how AIA manipulates the kids, it was incredibly creepy and would absolutely work. They don't, like, try to stab their parents or anything so it's not ridiculous, AIA just bribes them and gaslights them into putting themselves in danger. The ending is pretty damn dark and I was there for it. There's actually a pretty interesting mystery about what AIA is specifically and I kinda dug where it ended up, it seemed like a pretty cool bit of satire. Speaking of which, the way that AIA takes over the main characters' lives was just the extreme of what AI is doing now, which was incredibly smart. I felt like the writer was doing the classic dystopian focus-on-one-aspect-of-society-and-make-it-absurd this which was pretty cool and scary. There were some pretty tense moments over all, especially when AIA is able to convince the younger kids into basically walking into danger. All the acting was good too (except the younger kids, which I will not hold against them or the movie), as well as the cinematography. Nothing too crazy cool, but there's some fun focus shots and I liked the actors who played the parents.

What I Didn't Like.

The characters are kinda dumb. Almost all of them seem to flip flop on a dime on whether or not AIA is cool or totally evil, and none of them give a second thought to the AI taking over their phones until like, the end of the movie. The younger kid was fine, but the two other kids' plotlines my eyes were glazing over during. The older daughter's would have been fine as it's own separate movie, because it is weirdly horny! It's not just the teen's plotline, there's a couple other moments that I felt had out of place sex jokes. Prude. I mean, I guess, but the jokes weren't particularly gross or anything. They just felt out of place when the main plot is this very sterile, tech-corporate futurist atheistic. Also, while I liked the ending, it does feel like it jumped the shark a little bit. There's like five twists back to back and while none of them are particularly outlandish, it did make some parts of the climax seem absurd until I thought about it a little bit. And as tense as some scenes where, there was an equal amount that were trying to be scary and were either bland or silly.

My final point is that I can't figure out of this movie uses AI art or not. It seems like they do, but it's purposefully bad and uncanny because it's supposed to part of the message of the movie. They credit a company for the digital images, and when I looked it up all the articles where about how the story of the movie talks about the dangers of AI images. (Which, I don't need to say this, but the images aren't strictly speaking the problem. Most sensible people can tell they are fake. The problem is that people will use an AI generated images instead of hiring an artist, thus giving money to a big tech company than a flesh and blood human being.) But isn't it on theme to use AI art in this movie? It's all about how dangerous AI is. Read my aside closer. Can you guess what I'm about say? *Sigh* To pay an artist to fak- PAY AN ARTIST TO FAKE IT, YES. Give no quarter everyone. Read my Late Night With Devil review or listen to the Video Brews podcast about the Borderlands to see what I mean about this. Man you've really sold out Roan. I'M SELF PROMOTING. Also I don't get paid for any of this shit.

Final Summation.

This movie's aight. It's biggest failing is that it tried to bridge the gap between a sterile horror sci-fi dystopia, and a some-what grimy slasher modern 'splotation movie that creates tonal dissonance. I'm annoyed it's not better to be perfectly frank. The movie is a great idea, but tries to spread itself too thin. Still, worth a watch. But not worth a "How I'd Fix It'? Nah. I'd have to rewrite the whole movie, not just a few parts. And if I'm gonna do that I need to get a writer's credit, got it?